The Great Commission: Part 3 - Living On Mission
Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 2:9
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
Excited to be with you guys this morning. We are going to be wrapping up our Great Commission series. If you have been with us the last few weeks, we have been able to share interviews with some of our missionaries who are associated with our church and are doing God's work around the globe. We have another one of those to share with you this morning. But I want to kind of just remind us of where we are and what we've been talking about. We've been talking about this thing called the Great Commission. It's something that is specifically given to us from Jesus—some of His last words that He gave us before He left earth and went back to heaven. He commanded us to go and make disciples. That's part of our vision and mission here as a church: to see our community saturated with the glory of God through making disciples in the everyday stuff of life.
Jesus was incredible at this. He had a core group of people, the disciples, that followed Him, but He had an even larger gathering that followed Him regularly. He would just do life with them. He would teach them His truth, teach them God's Word, and teach them who God was and His character as He went through life. Jesus would often be found just teaching, maybe alongside a field, and then even using the field as an illustration to teach. He just went through life with His people. So, we have a heart here at Spring Valley Church to do the same. But it says this in Matthew chapter 28: "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"
Pastor Lauren last week focused in on this scripture and said, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations." What's awesome about the word "go" is that, as you look at the original Greek writing, it actually meant "as you are going." So, as you are going to the grocery store, as you are going to your neighbors, as you are going to work, as you are at work, as you are going to school—wherever you are going—we are called to give and show Jesus to everybody. And it says there, "to all the nations." God is doing some incredible work around the globe. In these interviews, we have only seen a snippet of what is happening in the Lord's kingdom around the world. Our calling is to go. I'm going to talk about that a little bit after the video. But it also says in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, which Pastor Andre dug into a little bit in week one. If you know the region of where this was written during Jesus' time in Israel, these are larger, circling areas of influence. So Jesus says, not only here in Jerusalem, this city—so maybe not only in Rocklin and Roseville—but also in Judea or Placer County, and all the way to Samaria, California, Northern California, the West Coast, and then to the ends of the earth, the entire globe. This is our calling: to spread the word and love of Jesus everywhere that we go.
Maybe that means you're leaving the States. Maybe that means you have to go two doors down to that neighbor. Maybe it means caring for and loving on that family member who might have a little different view of life than you. Maybe it means that person in class with you that nobody talks to. Maybe it means that person who cut you off this morning on the way to church. But our calling is to go, and with the power of the Holy Spirit, to be witnesses in all of these places. So this morning, we're going to show another video. This is another one of those missionaries where we can't really share specifically where they are at. This is Cory and Jennifer. Cory actually grew up at the church that I did—the church that planted this church. So there's a connection there, and he and his wife have been where they are for quite a few years. But what's cool with them is their missions work is a little bit different. They're doing and supporting local pastors on the ground through caring for, teaching, and raising them up. So we're gonna hear a little bit more of those stories, but I'd love for us to turn to the screen.
Well, it's pretty amazing and humbling, right? To hear some of the ways and conditions that some of the missionaries are working in around the world. I mean, I'm still baffled. I've watched this video, I don't know how many times—obviously, I was in the conversation. But to hear, "We just need heat, not even plumbing," it's like, whew. You know, sometimes we come into church and the AC might not have kicked on early enough. But it's running. It's just a little warm in here, and we're like, "Oh man, I can't. Whew, hard Sunday." And it's just like, man, hard Sunday of sleeping on the floor, no plumbing, and just praying to stay warm. That's incredible.
Well, I'd love to share a couple of thoughts as we wrap up our series this morning and focus in on what Jesus might be calling us to do. I love what we've heard through all of these stories of missionaries. We've heard stories of the power of prayer. Cory was talking about the shaman who went and just did a prayer walk, and then the shaman was like, "What's your deal? When you show up, I can't—my stuff isn't working. There's something more powerful happening here. I want to know more." How incredible is that? We've heard stories of the power of people's lives and witness. This girl who gave up her job and went against family cultural norms and said, "No, I got a greater calling in life from Jesus to do something different." And she was beaten. She was abused—physical, verbal, emotional abuse. And yet she stayed faithful to that call. Because of that, her actions spoke louder than any words that she could have said to her family. Because of that, there are more people who are going to heaven for Jesus because of it.
So, where do we go from here? Well, first thought is we are all called to share. We're all called to share. Cory talked about this, and in his conversations he has with other faculty at the college and other students, I think sometimes we go, "Well, I don't know what to say." Well, sometimes it isn't knowing what to say; it's just showing up and letting them ask the questions. And going, "You know what? I might know that..." Cory and I talked offline that some of the conversations he has, he's had to go back and say, "You know, I don't know. Let me go do some research, let me study, but I want to come back and give you the answers." We freak out and think, "I don't have all the answers." It's okay to not have all the answers, but it's about continuing to show up in people's lives. We're all called to pray. This has been a theme all throughout these interviews, if you guys haven't noticed. And specifically, Darla last week, in her and her husband's ministry, she even said on the call, "Sometimes it's not the financial part that we need, it's the prayers. We need the prayers." And Cory was a witness to that—the power of prayer to go out to those villages. Sometimes you go, "Well, you know, I don't have the money to be able to give to these missions, but we can pray." We can take time every single day to pray over these workers who are on the front lines. And then we are all called to go. This might be uncomfortable for us. This might mean, for Darla, it started as short-term missions and then it turned to long-term missions. Sometimes it's just going to our neighbors. Sometimes it's going to our family. But mostly, honestly, it's to continue to be faithful where we are. Tomas talked about the story of the two ladies, about how she just started inviting people into her home to just have tea and to just talk about life. And when those spiritual conversations or questions came up, or the open door opportunity, she wasn't afraid to take those. Sometimes we think going means, "Well, I got to leave the United States." I don't know if you've noticed, but the world is a much smaller place than it used to be. And we live in a very diverse location here in California. Guys, the nations are here. The nations are among us. The nations are around us. We don't have to necessarily... I mean, Cory was talking about how he's doing work with people in California that are from his nation that are doing work here. Missionaries are coming to the States because the people have gathered here in these locations. There are people in your life that God has given you relationship with for the sole, number one purpose of sharing His love with them. We've thought about that. You guys have people in your life that I will never know. And sometimes we think, "Oh, well, the pastor's gonna be the one who's gonna lead them to Jesus." No, you're the one that's gonna lead them to Jesus. You're the one that's gonna show up in their life. You're the one that's gonna pray for them. You're the one that... Another translation says this: "But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests, a holy nation. God has brought you out of the darkness into His marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that He has done."
We are called to share. We are called to pray. And we are called to go. So how are you going to live intentionally as a missionary in your life where you live, learn, work, and play? We're all called to this. So how will we show that love to the world around us? Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you for this morning. God, we are super grateful for people like Cory and Jen, God, who are on the front lines in a place where they really can't be open about you. But God, you've given them favor and opportunities, even within that country. God, to talk to friends, to talk to coworkers, to talk to students, to talk to those in their lives, God, that they have been specifically placed near to share that love. And so God, I pray that we would go intentionally, focused, thinking about, Jesus, who have you placed in my life that needs to know Jesus? And how do I need to start praying and showing up and showing them the love? God, we thank you for this calling. We pray for your kingdom work around the globe. We love you, Jesus. We thank you. Amen.