but we want to embrace our role in local and global evangelism. The screen says global evangelism, but I say local and global because we have to remember Indianapolis is part of the globe. This is our Jerusalem, our Judea, and missions work starts here. That's why Jesus says at Jerusalem and at Judea, and he works from inward to outward, and we have a role to play. And it starts here, but it does go across the earth to all the nations. Yes, you and I can have an impact on the Lord's building of his church around the world. It's a wonderful privilege, and it's a distinct responsibility that we bear as believers. We're going to look at his commission for us. If you can turn to Matthew 28, and the last three verses there, familiar verses. But as you're turning I want to remind you of our key verse in our Ephesians study from chapter 3 and verse 21 And this is what we're all about to him That is God the Father. To Him be glory. And we're paying attention to where that happens. What's the context, the venue for that? It's in the church. Not because there's something special about us or because we can glorify God of our own power or determination, but because Jesus Christ is working through His body in the church to build the church. And so it's God's glory in the church by Christ Jesus. It's not an overstatement to say, based on this verse, and by the way, if you have a bullet in the back of that, it has an outline. The verse is there so that we can compare it to this next statement. If your life is to glorify God, This happens in the church by Jesus Christ. We're here for God's glory, right? This, our commission as a church, we want to glorify God. Ephesians 321 tells us that if this is going to happen, that it happens in the church. That doesn't mean you can only glorify God at 1700 East Thompson Road or at 11 o'clock on Sundays. Remember, we've got to get it past our minds that the church is a location or a building. or that the church is a time I'm going to church because church is at 11 or something like that. Yeah, it's okay to talk that way as long as we're remembering the church is you and the church is me, the church is us together and it's 24-7 and it's global, it's not just confined to one space. This is the context that God has ordained that in this age would be our venue for glorifying him, to him be glory in the church. If your life is to glorify God, it happens with these people. It happens in this context. It happens as we assemble and band together and mobilize for Christ's kingdom work. It happens by his power. And so here in Matthew 28, verse 18, Jesus says, all power is given unto me and then he looks at his disciples and says, go ye. So how can I do it? How can I glorify God in the church by Christ Jesus? That's what Ephesians 3.21 is about, that's what Ephesians is about, that's what the New Testament is about, the Bible is about, life is about, the cosmos is about glorifying God. And if in this age it's done in the church by Christ Jesus, how can I do that? What does it look like? Well, it happens on two levels. There's an individual level and a corporate level. Individually, it starts with an individual summons. It's where Jesus says to his disciples, those very first words he says to them are this, follow me. It's an individual summons. It's a summons to salvation. which happens in the church, we're saved into the church. Baptism, we're baptized within the church. And then sanctification, it's as we are growing within the context of the church. Now, when Jesus said, follow me to his disciples, the church had not been established yet. So for these points where we're kind of borrowing from the birth of the church, let's go back in our minds to Acts 2, late in that chapter that we've looked at a few times this year, where it's they that gladly received his word, salvation, were baptized, baptism, and the same day were added unto the church, 3,000 souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and breaking of bread and a prayer. That salvation there it's baptism and then it's continuation in that doctrine. It's sanctification. It's service. It's growth This is jesus summons to you He says follow me Just in those two words There's so much gospel It tells us that in in life. We're on a direction Your life since your birth has gone a direction The Bible teaches that our default direction is sin corrupted, that our hearts are wicked innately, that because Adam sinned, and that same sin nature is in us, and because we choose to sin, it's not Adam's fault, we make the same choice, that our default direction, and we are going in a direction in life, you're not stable, you're not stagnant, you're not motionless, you are, moving a direction and Jesus when he says follow me indicates that you're going a direction and that direction by default is not the right one that there is needs to be a change in your direction and it's a change toward a person he says follow me it's Jesus that needs to be the object the the the goal the focal point as we turn from one direction to follow in another direction it's not following a A goal a course a 10-point plan. It's following a person a being it's jesus christ And his summons to you if you've never been saved if you are not a follower of jesus Maybe you say well, I believe in jesus or maybe I pray to jesus But are you a follower of jesus? Has there been a time in your life where you realize the direction of your life was wrong that before god in his eyes that as a sinner you stand guilty and you've never committed, you've never repented, to change that direction of your life toward not your good works, not your best plan, not even the church's best intention, but toward the person of Jesus Christ. His summons to you as an individual is get saved. Follow me. in this age again after he said follow me for the church then he shows us what that looks like in the context for it and baptism that shows outwardly what has taken place inwardly in your life spiritually and that's just the beginning because now the rest of your life you're learning to grow and really find out what it means day to day to follow Jesus. But Jesus doesn't, that's the first thing he says to his disciples, follow me. But that's not all he says. There's a follow me and, right? Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. There is that individual summons, but then what we have next is a corporate commission that first Jesus fishes for us. Hey, come follow me. And then once he has us, he makes us fishers. He gives us a commission to go and reach others. It looks like this, now that I'm saved, that's my individual summons. Now I'm looking to my corporate commission. I want to help others, help unbelievers get saved. When we get saved, we call it salvation. When believers help others to get saved, we call that evangelism. Evangelism means sharing the good news. Hey, there's a Jesus and you can follow him. Then we want to help them get baptized once they're saved baptized into the church as we've been baptized we want to help see them get sanctified within the church and when we help others in their sanctification that's called edification we're building each other up okay so just on these two sides of the screen are Our individual summons and our corporate commission so much of scripture in particular. The new testament is just Encapsulated by by this idea. It's all about hey get saved get baptized get growing get someone else say get them baptized get them growing and rinse and repeat continue where We're commissioned to do what jesus was doing and then the last thing he says before he leaves The first thing is follow me and then the last thing he says before he leaves is now go make more followers Go make followers. Let's look at these verses again, verse 18 of Matthew 28. Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations. Now, on your bulletin, I have the new King James. Say, go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. And that's what the word teach that's literally just in that Greek word is is not just to help someone learn content. But to help someone follow a person it's it's the word disciple in a verb form in a command form go make disciples. So if you're looking at the word teach in the Bible in your lap, you've got a pen in there. Make disciples of. It's really the clearest and most powerful, the accurate way to understand what Jesus' commission is. It's not just a didactic pedagogy that's going on. It's a personal introduction of others to Christ. So go ye therefore and teach all nations. What is that? Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations. It's help others who are unbelievers get saved into this church. Evangelism. We've got a circle around that because that's where we're going to focus today. This is the part of our commission that we want to focus on. Now, there's more of the New Testament that deals with that bottom bullet point of building each other up. As we work through Ephesians, we see that's where the focus is, and really through the New Testament, a big part of our commission. In fact, I believe the primary part of our commission as we seek to glorify God is to build one another up. Very interesting how much attention in scripture is given to that. Pastor Jeremy will teach on that next week. Today, we want to focus on that evangelism. Jesus says go, and make disciples of every nation. We're going to see how we embrace our role in doing that. But it doesn't stop there. He says, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Once they're saved, we want to see them publicly identify with Christ and surrender their lives to invisibly in the context of the church. And then it doesn't stop there. Okay, notice the end of the verse, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. So we're just getting started. It's not once a person gets saved, go, go quick, find someone else to get saved. No, there's, there's this discipling that has to take place in the new disciples life, where now they're teaching They're learning to obey everything Jesus taught. That is a lifelong journey where in personal sanctification and corporate edification, we're seeking to grow into conformity of Christ's image, obedience to Christ's commands. But we are disciples. Jesus summons to you as follow me, literally be a disciple. So when you hear that word disciple, don't just think about 12 guys in the first century, you know Israel Jesus calls you to be a disciple if you're a believer He wants you to see yourself as a disciple, but not to stop there. He says then Go and make disciples. So first you're a disciple second. You're a disciple maker and See that as part of Jesus' identity, his job description for you, not just foreign missionaries that serve in cross-cultural contexts, not just pastors that minister in vocational settings, but every believer is to have a part in this commission to go make disciples. You're a disciple, you're a disciple-maker. And then he says, teach them everything I have commanded. So you're a disciple, you're a disciple-maker, and you're a disciple-discipler. That's when you help those disciples that have now been made disciples to be growing as disciples and learning everything Christ has instructed. So you set up your social media account or you put your job resume and you've got to describe yourself. How about disciple of Christ, disciple maker for Christ, disciple, disciple in Christ. Well, maybe not on your job resume, but certainly in your heart, in your mindset for who you are and what we're doing here and how we're going to glorify God in the church. This is it. This is it. Haven't got to your blanks yet. Don't get nervous. You haven't missed anything. Been out of the pulpit a few weeks. You might have to give me a few extra minutes this morning, but let's get into it. Here's our commission. How do we do that circled one? What does that look like in the context of the church? If we are going to fulfill our commission corporately to help unbelievers get saved in the Christ church, we've got to cultivate a culture of evangelism. Individually, we're made up of a corporate body that is to be evangelistic. Jesus wants us to make disciples of all nations. Are you ready to embrace your role in that? We've been instructed so well on that these last couple of weeks. I just want to kind of personalize and tie a bow on and give you some concrete ways of what that looks like in our context. Number one is to give, and that is your first point. Give. Invest in the sending of disciple makers. Now you know it's Matthew 28 doesn't talk about giving these verses don't say go go give to make disciples. But it is a logical inference because when he says go make disciples of all the nations well can you do that by yourself. Can you make disciples of all the nations single-handedly? Well, Paul thought he could. He did the best about it. Anyone could, even with limited transportation, the means of his day. But no, we can't do that by ourselves. And even corporately, as a local church, if we banded together, could we 100 or 150 or whatever we are, could we fulfill the Great Commission by ourselves? And if we try really hard, just this group in this room will reach all the nations. No, we can't. There is a cooperation, a co-dependence, a strategic partnering that is going to be necessary if we're going to fulfill our commission. Christians as the body of Christ across the earth partnering together, sending together Yes, sending through giving through support network is a very organic biblical idea. What is Romans 10? Tell us that if you confess with your mouth to Lord Jesus and believe in your heart, you will be saved. That's it. We want to see people do that, but. Before they can believe in their heart, Romans 10 says, they first have to hear in their ears. And how are they going to hear in their ears until someone preaches it with their mouths? The disciple maker goes and gives the follow me message to someone else. But how can that person go to Yemen? How can that person go to Malawi? How can they go to Thailand or Brazil unless they'd be sent? And so this is where the great commission work is a corporate commission work, not only for us as a local church body, but as we partner with and support, network with believers from here, from there, sending them out strategically moving across the earth, we will not fulfill this commission. So there's going to have to be a giving. 2 Corinthians 9, 7. Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, So let him give not grudgingly or necessity. God loves a cheerful giver. The previous chapter, verse 14, but by inequality. that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be a quality in context. Paul is talking about when there's a group of believers that are suffering in terms of material provision, and there's another group of believers that have an abundance in terms of material position. There is a, an opportunity, a responsibility for those who have much to share with those who have little. Down the road who knows they may be though much bones with much in weight We may be in need and they give to our little there This is this is sharing the strategic partnering partnering that happens through giving hey as you think about our missionaries serving around the world and compare their situations their material provisions to what we enjoy is there a quality of You know, it's not this idea of equity that it's gonna balance out perfectly because there are different needs and different standards of living in different contexts. But when we see a great and wide discrepancy, a great and wide disparity, there ought to be something in us that says, I ought to give from my abundance as God has blessed me to provide for those in want. Our missionary in Madagascar, Brandon Bowen, shared that they were, that you don't get pizza in Madagascar, I guess. So they're going to make pizza. If they make pizza, they had to start with milking a goat and straining out the hair and doing whatever you do to goat milk to make it into cheese. And I'll use this whole, I think it took them eight hours to make pizza. That's how they use their day off. One week said it turned out great. What do you have to do to get a pizza? Because sometimes we think, well, I don't have abundance. Okay, but if I compare my situation to our brothers and sisters in Zambia who just this year finally for the first time have electric lights in their church building, is there an opportunity, is there a responsibility for our abundance to meet the need of their want, their lack? Now it's not just financial. To give and to invest in the sending of disciple makers doesn't just mean writing a check. Doesn't mean less than writing a check, but it has to mean more. You can give your time to write to a missionary, to send them a personal gift or a message. In the lobby now, as we put up this time each year, our Adopt-A-Missionary sheet where you can put your name next to a missionary's name and by writing your name all you're committing to is you're going to keep up with that missionary's prayer letters You're gonna pray for them extra. Hope you pray for all of our missionaries, but you're gonna pray for them extra. And you're gonna reach out in some personal way. Maybe it's a card, maybe it's an email, maybe it's a Christmas gift, a birthday message. And so there are missionaries that are orphans on our board. We wanna encourage you to go partner with one and say, I wanna give, I wanna invest in the sending of disciple makers. You can give and invest by your time, your physical presence. Take a missions trip. Recent letter from the Bandas in Zambia, and several of you have gone there and ministered alongside them. They want more. They would love to have you come. They said you can come for a week. You can come for two weeks. You can come for 10 years. Those were the three options that the Bandas gave. And they'd love to have you for any of those durations we give and invest. To fulfill the Great Commission, global evangelism, it turns out, is expensive. Okay, and it's not about all dollar signs, but we know the worth of a soul is tremendous in God's sight, and it ought to be in ours. Lord, since thou hast died to give thyself for me, no sacrifice could be too great for me to give for thee. Lord, send me anywhere. Only go with me. Part of give and invest might be giving or investing your life. How wonderful would it be if someone from our body, wow, we'd hate to lose you in the sense of not seeing you every week. By the way, the fish bogs are moving locally. They're not leaving us. If they say they're moving out of town, we're not going to come help load the U-Haul for that. Harry and Mary, we want to keep you guys. But if someone was going to move to Yemen or Malawi or Thailand or Brazil to be a global disciple maker in a cross-cultural context, we'd rejoice in that. Why wouldn't we want to get behind them and give? And maybe that's you. Maybe that is the answer to the send me prayer that God has for the life of someone here today. I don't think we can all do that, or we all should do that, or God wants us all to do that, but I do believe, and we've heard this preached before, that God wants you to be willing. Hope no one would say, well, if God wanted to send me to Thailand, I wouldn't go. Hope your heart's not that hard, but is your heart soft enough to say, Lord, if you want to send me to Thailand, I'll go. There's a big difference between saying, I wouldn't say no, or Lord, here, I'm giving you the option to send me if you want to. You know the US dollar is suffering in Uruguay. Archie Perez, our missionary there, tells us housing costs are up around the world. And as we look at our faith promise goal for this year and these forms are in the lobby and they're over here in the hallway. I am not a fundraiser and I don't like talking about giving to the church. I don't know if maybe I should do that. I do it when it comes up in scripture, so I know so many churches or ministries or pastors so called there after your money. Hey, I I'm shameless and talking about money for faith promise because we don't keep any of it It all goes to our missionaries sell your bed and give to faith promise. All right, and then Find something else that's not bolted down. Hey, let's give and it we might say this hurts while we're in inflation the stock market It's bad and maybe I can do less this year or maybe that means we've got to do more Number to pray intercede for the lost and for disciple makers. We ought to be praying that people are coming to Christ, that we're ministering to, or that we have not yet had an opportunity to minister to, or that we've had an opportunity to minister to but haven't taken advantage of that opportunity. People in our community, in our context, in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces pray for the lost. People in Uruguay where the Perez's are ministering or in Zambia where the Bandas are ministering, yes, pray for the lost. And then we want to pray for disciple makers. So that means praying for your church leaders and pastors and teachers that are active disciple makers. It means praying for our missionaries across the globe that are active disciple makers vocationally Our calendar that we put out for church intentionally has on the reverse side every day one or two missionaries to pray for. Our midweek prayer bulletin has one global spotlight on a particular missionary that you can pray extra for for that week. It goes out on Wednesdays and usually on Thursdays There's this virtual missionary board where the letters coming to you and you can pray for those Particular ones that are highlighted this week trying to make it easy for you so that we can pray as God wants us to for those who are disciple makers and then we need to pray for more disciple makers to Take up that mantle What does Jesus say in Luke 10? The harvest truly is great but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into the harvest. We raise our hand and give prayer requests. Here's Jesus' prayer request. I want you to be a prayer for more disciple makers. across a harvest where it's very needy. We've got a significant percentage of our missionaries that are retirement age and don't have a replacement and help doesn't appear to be on the way. Let's pray for more laborers. Hope you prayed for the Pipers as they said goodbye to a nine-year-old grandson this past season. Hope you're praying for the Trometers as they face a season of transition. The Agamemlians as they go back into a war zone to share the gospel. They're counting on our prayers. Are those prayers coming? Are we faithful in that responsibility? Number three, evangelize. That means as you give, as you pray, you've got to tell, you've got to share, introduce others to Christ. As a disciple maker, have you gone this far? I think I look around and I don't know who gives to missions and who doesn't. Treasurers are wise and kind enough to shield that information from one another's eyes, from other church bodies' eyes, from the pastor's eyes. But I believe, as I look at what comes in, I know that we have a heart for missions and it reflects in that bottom line of what comes in. We have a heart to give. I think we have embraced the responsibility of prayer, certainly room to grow, need to be more faithful there. But have we, in addition to sending disciple makers and praying for disciple makers, have we embraced the role of being disciple makers? This is part of our Lord's commission for you. The last thing he said before he left, he was the influence, he was the light, and now he leaves and says, you go. All power is given to me, you go. That's part of your job description as a believer. What's the performance review? Could you look at your life and say, I am taking, I see myself as a disciple maker and I am working on that, trying to fulfill that role. Some say giving is the least we can do. Hey, I can't go to Africa, but I'll help send you there. That's the least I can do. I think that's actually setting the bar too low. That's actually less than the least we can do. We're gonna be commission fulfillers. Well, I can pray, I can't go, but I'll pray for you. That's the least I can do. It's actually less than the least I can do. I think biblically, as we play this out and make logical inferences from the Great Commission, giving and praying and telling, evangelizing, those three together compose the very least that you can do. If there are one of these that you're not doing, you're actually doing less than the least you can do. It would be hard to reflect on these scriptures and come to any other conclusion if our hearts and minds are open. Are you a disciple maker? Are you trying to be looking for opportunities? If you say, well, that's the least I can do, that looks like a lot. What would be the most I can do? Cause that looks like the most I can do. Well, that's actually a really wonderful question. Uh, the most you can do is do more of giving and more of praying and more evangelizing because this gives us really a paradigm for almost infinite growth. You can almost always do more of these things, but we cannot do less and be obedient believers. Let's not to burden us with duty if you look at that and you have to swallow hard and gulp and say I don't know if I can do those things Or one of those is particularly just in my situation It'd be a real stretch Don't let it burden you with duty rather the knowledge of this commission should mobilize us with zeal because jesus says All power is given unto me. And then as we read these words in Acts 1.8, he says, I'll be with you even to the end of the age. He comes, he provides, he will work through you if you're a willing and obedient vessel. Hey, are you a contagious Christian or are you a camouflaged Christian? Is your evangelism strategy, well, if my neighbors see me getting up early and dressing nicely every Sunday morning, maybe they'll come ask me how to be saved. And if that's your evangelism strategy, how's that going for you? Let's evaluate ourselves. How are we doing? How are you doing? Are you a disciple maker? Hey, what is your focus? What's your mission? What do you think the church should be doing more of and you can throw yourself into? Because turning the government around might be a great mission. That's not the church's commission. Living comfortable lives with our heads filled with Bible knowledge may be great, but it's not the church's commission. Countering the agenda of the left may look like a needed mission But it's not the church's primary commission even social programs to provide services for the underprivileged As wonderful as that is is not the church's primary commission Writer said if hell really exists and if unrepentant people really are going there And if it's really your church's job to warn them then you and I need to reckon with that fact pretty quickly Now this is a church that wants to see people get saved. That does not look at the world and see the agenda and the fallenness and the immorality and say, that's the enemy. No. That's our mission field. And we are not superior to them in any way. All we have is someone to follow that they have not yet come to follow, and it's incumbent on us to tell them, Well, evangelism is hard. People are private. They don't want you to talk about religion. I'm shy. I'm an introvert. I'm not that skilled with my speech. I might mess it up. So many excuses and rationalizations that can pop into our head. Do you think Jesus gives the Great Commission and says, oh, but we'll exempt you? If you're a 21st century American introvert, then you just kind of get a pass on that. You think the commission works like that? Or when Jesus says all power is given unto me, do you believe the gospel is going to change people's lives even in a culture where people are hard hearted and private and don't want to hear and you don't do a great job of sharing it? Do you think God can work through obedience and bring fruit? Jesus is building his church. It's true, you might be ignored, you might be mocked, you might be rejected as you seek to make disciples. But because Jesus is building his church, and because all power is given to him, and because he will be with us in our going, yes, we'll be rejected, but we'll also be received. And even if we don't see that reception after years of efforts, we have to be obedient and faithful. What does Jesus' building of his church look like in this context? What does it look like when we embrace that commission? What does our church look like if we're evangelistic? I think at times we think of it as, well, the church preaches the gospel at the services and then gives an invitation for people to get saved. And that might be the primary outworking in certain ages and contexts, but folks, let's open our eyes and realize unbelievers are not flocking into the church as they might have at one time in our history where there was a social conscience and a general sense that, yeah, I ought to be in church and God really is there and really is the answer if I'm willing to listen. That attitude is not prevalent. And so if we spend our time on an invitation to asking people to come to the gospel and if you've heard preachers act like really disappointed and disgusted that, wow, 15 people should have come forward and got saved. And there might not be 15 believers in our midst. There might not be five. We know in a group of this size, there might be someone who's not genuinely saved. So yes, we want to preach the gospel always. And I want you to know that if you bring an unbeliever to church with you, they will hear the gospel. That's our job. And there's always an invitation. Every service ends with, if you have a response that needs to take place in your heart, either come forward during this hymn or come see one of us after. And even if we don't state that every time, please know that that kind of invitation is what we're here for and what we're about. And we don't have all the answers, but we're here to be a spiritual help to you. But in this age and context of ministry, If we feel like evangelism is something one church member does for five minutes every Sunday at the end of the service, our light is going to be pretty dim. If unsafe people aren't coming to us, what's the commission? Go. And so it's time for us to stop thinking about the invitation to the gospel as something that takes place for five minutes every Sunday and start thinking of it as something that takes place from Monday morning to Saturday night every week through you and through me. That's the invitation starts when we go out. It comes through our lips. It comes through our lives as we pour love into those who have not known it. The love of Jesus. Pray that God will bring unbelievers to us, and pray that as invitations are given, there will be response, and people will get saved through those avenues, but don't fall back on that as that's our church's evangelism, no. Outreach programs can help, but I don't think that outreach programs are the main fulfillment of our commission. Last year, Sarah and I went to a cave in Chattanooga. The Lost Sea Adventure. Anyone been to that one? It's hard to keep them straight. A couple people have been there. I'm sorry if you're a cave aficionado. To me, if you've seen a cave, you've seen caves. But a lot of them have something that makes them special. And the thing that's neat about the Lost Sea Adventure is that there's a sea there in the cave. Well, it's a little, I think they call it a sea or lake. It's kind of a pond. When you get down in there, though, it's really neat. It is big enough that you take these little boat rides around on the water. And as you're going there on the boat, the part of it has a glass bottom, and you see these big fish swimming around. They're in the sea, in the cave. And they explained to us, because someone always asks the question, well, where do the fish come from? How do they get in? And they admitted, well, we stock the fish. These are rainbow trout that get in here. But the water level does rise and lower, and we don't know where the inlet outlets are. And so our hope originally, they said, was to tag these fish. We tagged all of the ones that we stocked. And the hope was that they'd work their way out through one of these outlets, get caught by a fisherman, and they'd report the tag. And we'd see, oh, they ended up in this river, or they ended up in this reservoir, or that lake, or something like that, and help us kind of trace. But every boat tour, they throw out this food, these beef liver pellets that fish love, apparently. It looks like dog food. And so here come the fish to the boat every time there's a tour, every so many minutes. And because there's no natural threats there in the lost sea, you can't fish there. No sharks or anything. And because they're fed at these regular increments, here's these fish growing to abnormal size and weight. So now you've got a rainbow trout mounted in their gift shop that's almost three feet long and 16 and a half pounds. And these rainbow trout are much bigger and heavier than in naturally occurring situations. There's no threats. They're being spoon-fed every so many minutes. And what they found is that there might be an inlet or outlet, but none of these trout are interested in leaving. Because if you're fed so many times a day, and those delicious beef liver pellets, and there's no natural threats or predators, then, hey, I'm just going to hang around here. And yes, my rainbow of my rainbow trout is losing some of its luster because there's no natural sunlight. But it's a pretty okay life, they think. And so then someone asked, well, what happens with, you know, the population if there's no predators, and there's no fishing allowed, you just get tons and tons of fish. And I said, no, actually, Because there is no sunlight, bacteria, and other things, there's actually no natural vegetation at the bottom of the lake. And so, normally in the wild, I guess, if I understand correctly, as the trout lay eggs, those eggs kind of stick in the vegetation at the bottom of the water, and those kind of shield them until they hatch. But here in the lake where there's no vegetation in the cave, the eggs all float to the surface. Well, they could hatch and be healthy, you know, sitting there up on the surface of the water. But the problem is, the trout swimming around that sees eggs floating up on the water, goes up and, well, the tour guide told us that apparently not even fish can resist caviar. They're eating their young. And so they have to be restocked every year or two. And you know, I really thought about that, like, Is that the state of a lot of churches in America are right now? Where we've got our little dome. And there might not be a lot of light, but at least we're being fed. And every time that time comes around, oh, it's time to be fed. And I'll flock over and I'll get fed again. And then I'll just kind of stay in my bubble until it's next time to be fed again. And that's my church activity. And boy, I'm growing. Boy, I can name the 12 disciples and list the 10 commandments and tell you what chapter to find the Great Commission in. This passage, this guy up here is preaching on this morning. I've heard probably 100 messages on this, and I'm growing to abnormal size as a fish, a believer. But I don't really have interest in leaving and going out into the beyond and interacting with that scary world. I'd rather kind of stay put. And the problem is, it's not sustainable. So we don't reproduce. Unless we're artificially restocked, we'll dwindle. Most unbelievers that come in through our doors are under four feet tall. And that's not a height joke. I'm talking about our ministry to the youth and children. Okay, I think we would look at the trout illustration and say, well, at least we don't eat our young. But are we cultivating an environment that is nurturing for a next generation of disciples to thrive and grow? I think that's long been a vision here, long been a priority. This is a church that loves kids, but we have to be careful. I wanna just take a few minutes to talk about our ministry to youth, because again, a large percentage of the unbelievers coming through our doors these days are these children. And if I'm going to get comfortable and start to see the church as just a place for me to come and be fed, You know, we had a service recently where people could make song requests. It was interesting to see that a certain demographic was always picking hymns from one kind of decade or era. And then every time a young person raised their hand, it was kind of from a different era. And they're both good. Okay, but if I'm going to say, oh, just enough with these new hymns, give me the old stuff that's comfortable and familiar. where we can be so comfortable that we're not eating our young, but are we cultivating an environment that best facilitates their growth and thriving? Let me be don't sound like I'm taking sides or something In some age bracket breakdowns. I'm middle-aged now. So let me be a go-between Because I'm kind of an old soul where I don't know if maybe this is a man soul thing But like at our house Sarah has to tell me sometimes that shirt needs to go All right. I think we need a new couch Please take down this wall hanging and I'm like what we just got that 12 years ago. Why I Because for me, it's about, well, what's functional, what's familiar, what's comfortable? And granted, it was used when we got it 12 years ago, but it's still kind of new to us. All right, because I'm functional, comfortable, familiar. Sarah's mindset is totally different. What's going to be a clean and excellent environment that really helps our children grow up and thrive and our guests feel that we're hospitable? Totally different mindset leads to a different way of viewing everything. So if my thing is, well, I'd stop pushing modern Bible translations, because my, you know, Elizabethan English one is familiar and comfortable and functional, and what about our kids that need to understand, you know, these verses that they're memorizing, and now almost all the parents are, you know, want to use the modern translations to understand, and boy, that might be uncomfortable. or updates to the auditorium. I really like the way it was 30 years ago. Well, we've got to be willing to stretch, sacrifice. What was the disciples' natural reaction? Go out and play. But then when you want them to sit still, and they're bouncing off the walls, it's like, what's the deal here? They don't know what to do in church. And you know what to do. So you know you face forward in the pew. My kids, you know, you're facing forward, and my kids are like this. And that's not what you're supposed to do in church. So you could scowl at them. I'm going to go one person here where one of my kids did this in church and instead of scowling, she smiled and waved. Here's what my kid did. And they'll run through the lobby and just about knock you over and break your neck, right? But what's our, what are we here for? Are we here to be comfortable? Now let's flip it around. Hey, if you're in the younger generation, listen, if you look around that some people that are retired know that among the many of those scattered around our building today are people who have invested in this church for decades and have built it up and have been faithful. So it's got to go both ways, right? There needs to be a mutual sacrificial love that just wants to make an environment where one another can thrive. Jesus says if you offend a little one it's better to have a millstone hung around your neck and cast into the sea. I'm so thankful to see the way you all are so patient with children and love on them and VBS is such a highlight here isn't it? Just love to see everyone pitch in and get involved and donate and bring stuff and show up and pour into kids lives and you know VBS this year we had a kid who found a door hanger on his door. that one of you walked up and hung. It was one of the 100 or 200 that you hung, but this one was found. And that kid came to VBS because of a door hanger and got saved. Now the kid's riding our bus and asking about getting baptized. That's fruit. That's what I can help. I can help with kids program. So the choir doesn't have to stand here while Sarah runs back and forth from kids class to choir playing and all these people that are kind of running around doing double duty and stuff. I know you have a heart for it, and you can help. You can get in a rotation. Our youth leaders do a great job of just making it easy for you. Here's what you do, here's what you say, here's your craft. You know, get involved. A healthy church works hard and gives much to cultivate an environment that nourishes and trains the next generation of disciples and disciple makers. And I know we're over, but let me take this one more age bracket. And it's like not just ministering to kids. Obviously, I want you to think about me to think about because I'm preaching myself. I have so much growing to do. I've been so convicted these last couple of weeks. that we need to not just think about kids and church programs, but go beyond that to our neighbors, our coworkers, our gym buddies, our teachers, our classmates, our service providers, and go, how can I show some gospel love, speak some gospel truth into this person's life? Care about their soul, but don't just see them as a soul. I know I'm supposed to evangelize, so I'll try this person, but care about the person. Love them. Jesus loves them through us in a way that others cannot. Start praying for them daily. Look for opportunities to share your faith and don't make. It doesn't have to be all my neighbor. I'm just going to go knock on their door and have my gospel spiel ready. OK, maybe, but what about caring about the person enough to build a relationship and let them see love? Remember Esther? She had a big request for King has awareness and so she. Instead of just asking him, she's there right in front of him and she says I want to invite you to dinner. And then at the dinner, okay, what's your request? And she said, I'll come to dinner again tomorrow. And okay, come to dinner again, what's your request? And now he's really ready to hear. And some people say, well, Esther was being timid. Well, I think she is a genius. And maybe that could be an evangelism model for us. Invite your neighbors to dinner, and then at dinner, instead of trying to say, here's the main course, here's dessert, and if you still got room, here's the gospel, you know, it might be, can you come to dinner again the next week? And they come to get a dinner again, and you say, well, why would you, would you be open to like maybe doing a Bible study together? If we meet together and maybe like work through the gospel of John or something? And if that love is there, and if that obedience is there, God is going to bless that with fruit. Great commission doesn't teach us to know and recite all the things that God has taught us. Go ye therefore and know and recite everything Jesus has said. Know it, obey it. Teach others to obey it. Make disciples. A healthy church is full of disciple makers who cultivate love and care for the spiritual wellness of the eternal souls, eternal destiny of those around us. Again, this only happens through the power of Jesus. All power is given unto me, he says, and I'm with you. I'm with you when you go. You don't have to be an orator. You don't have to be an apologist. You don't have to be a polished preacher. You just have to obey and share with others. Follow Jesus. Here's what I did. I followed Jesus. Here's what it looked like, and here's how it's played out for me. You can do that. All right, so at the bottom of your outline of this, it's just our prayer response. I want to invite you to take a moment and pray through these. Not just because it's on the list, because that's what we're doing right now, but have a genuine, organic, heart, spiritual interaction between you and God right now. And if these are things that he's working on you, if you see the biblical legitimacy of these four points, I want you to go ahead and pray them. Embracing my role as a disciple maker, I'm gonna see myself through that lens. I'm gonna pray and God where you want me to send me here up here am I? Whether you want it to send me to my neighbor, to my gym buddy or to Yemen or Malawi or Thailand or Brazil. Committing resources to commission work. Have you turned in your faith promise and are you having faith and making a promise? Or invite you either mentally or with a pen to put someone's name in the blank on that final line. You start praying for them and you start looking for opportunities to show them gospel love that will open the door for you to share with them gospel truth.