I'm back with you. Just thankful to be here again. Very thankful for all the good reports while I was gone and the messages that were preached and just the Lord's blessing on the church here. Also thankful just for a productive trip, a very good trip while I was away. I appreciate all the prayers that were going up on my behalf and Brother Timothy and Brother Zach, and the Lord answered those in just a way that was very evident while we were there. Also appreciate all the good feedback from the daily updates from the Remind app. And then if just every now and then I need to throw this out, if you're not getting anything from those Remind messages, whether it was from Nicaragua or really on a more practical level from what's going on within the church, if you're not getting those and you want to get those, let me know and we can add you to that group. A lot that I could say about the trip, and if you tracked along every day, then you got pretty much the highlights, but I told Brother Timothy and Brother Zach that we were going to have to do a presentation this year. We talked about that last year, and it just kind of fizzled out. They're not really presentation kind of guys. I am, and so I'm going to win out this year, and we're going to do one, hopefully, in the near future. The church there in Nicaragua sent their greetings and just their thanks. The last day, as we were saying our goodbyes, they wanted to make sure that we let our churches know how much they appreciate just the support in sending us over. And then also wanted to make sure that you knew that that they view you as a integral part of the work there in Nicaragua. It's not just the men that are sent over. It's the churches that stand behind those men and that support those men. And so they just wanted to express that. For me, it was a very good It was better than last time because last time it kind of gave me a little bit of a baseline. I didn't know the people there. I didn't really know any of the dynamics there. And so to go back this year and to just be able to track the growth, it was obvious in so many ways that the Lord is working there. And we'll say more and more about that, maybe some this afternoon, certainly some in the days to come. But I just want to just thank the church for your support. in sending me. I also just want to thank the Lord, not only for His blessings on us, but again, as I was listening to the messages that were preached while I was away, I was just so thankful for the Lord's blessings on the church. Every message that I heard was a message where it was obvious that Brother Steve, Brother Robert, Brother Caleb had taken the time to study the Word and to open up the Word in an edifying way. And I'm just so thankful for that. So if you have your Bibles, I want to turn to Matthew 28. I want us to think about the Great Commission this morning. We're going to do that on the back end of this trip. One of the reasons, anyway, this is on my mind is because the last couple of weeks has been an opportunity where we as Ripley Church are taking at least one small part in fulfilling this and obeying what Christ has called the church to do. So I want to spend some time there this morning, maybe a little bit this afternoon, Matthew 28, very familiar passage for us. Starting in verse 16, Matthew 28, starting in verse 16, says, Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. And Jesus came and He spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. that we have here, what's commonly called the Great Commission. That is, Christ's last commission here to His church. It begins with Him making this declaration in verse 18. All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. All power is given. That is, all authority is given to Christ in heaven, and in earth. And so right away we see this authoritative declaration, this authoritative command that Jesus is getting ready to give. This isn't just a announcement on Jesus's part that just in case you didn't know, the father has has given me this authority really Verse 18, in this pronouncement that all authority is given, all the power is given to me in heaven and earth, is really the mark of a fulfillment. That is the fulfillment from Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 and 14. I'll turn there and read that. In Daniel 7, verse 13, it says, "...I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven." and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." Jesus comes in Matthew 28, and He says, that power that was prophesied, that dominion that was prophesied, the kingdom that was prophesied, the people and the nations and the languages that should serve the Son of Man that was prophesied in Daniel 7. He says, with all authority, I'm commanding that you go out. and that you fulfill not just the immediate command that I'm giving you, but fulfill what was prophesied all the way back in Daniel's vision. That is, this authoritative Christ. Sometimes the emphasis in Matthew 28 has been placed on Jesus giving His authority. I think that's the wrong emphasis. Jesus is emphasizing, Matthew is emphasizing that Jesus is declaring His authority as He commands the church what they ought to be doing in His absence. The declaration of this authority, again, is going to reach back to some of those Old Testament prophecies of when the kingdom should come in its fullness. So Jesus, the One who has all authority. Brothers and sisters, as we participate going into all nations, as we participate really in the proclamation of the gospel at home and abroad, we participate in this commission that Christ gave to His church. In 1 Peter 3, 1 Peter 3. Speaking of Christ, in verse 22 it says, "...who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him." That is, Peter is emphasizing here that Christ, who has been given a name above all names, Christ who has been given authority above all authorities, who is sitting at the right hand of the Father, whom everything, powers and authorities have been made subject unto. He is the one who has gone into the heavens. He is the one who ascends back to the Father and who is seated there with Him right now and is exercising that same authority. Or we have a passage like Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1. And again, the point here that we're after is that, brothers and sisters, as we participate, receive this command from Christ as we obey this command from Christ. It's it's an act of us willfully placing ourself under his authoritative commands. We say this fairly often, and it's worth saying. The church belongs to Jesus Christ, not to us. We don't get to decide what needs to be done. We don't get to decide what gets left off. We don't get to decide what's prioritized. He does that. And if we are faithful to what he has called us to do. If we are faithful to submit ourselves to him, then we reflect. His original intent and purpose for the church. So again, Ephesians chapter one Ephesians 1. Paul prays this prayer in verses 18-23. He spends the first part of the chapter laying out for the saints in Ephesus what they have received in Christ. Now he's going to pray that they would understand that their eyes would be opened to what they have received in Christ. Starting in verse 18, His prayer is, that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you might know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above principality and power and might and dominion, that every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, And he has put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. So again, we get this picture. All power, all authority has been given to Christ in heaven and in earth. that authority is exercised as Christ commands His church what to do in His absence. One more passage here in 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6. Starting in verse 13. 1 Timothy 6, 13. Paul says, I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His times He shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in a light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen." Again, we see this emphasis. The one who only has immortality. The one who, verse 15, is the only potentate and King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus Christ is exalted. This is just one of the basic realities of the Gospel. that after His ascension, He is exalted above all. There is no authority higher than the authority of Christ. He rules and He reigns over heaven and earth. So Christ comes to His disciples in Matthew 28, verse 11. You understand that as being The apostles there, aside from Judas, the 12, the inner circle. And he makes the declaration, all power has been given, all authority has been given. The fulfillment of Daniel 7. The initiation of this kingdom that will grow has come. And then he says this in verse 19. Go, therefore. That is based on the fact that I've been given all authority in heaven and in earth. I'm giving you this authoritative command. Go go. Now. He's clearly and we'll talk about this when we get into the text, he's he's clearly calling his the disciples. I'm going to make a case for really, he's really calling the church to go and to evangelize. This is part of the church's work. Now evangelism doesn't have to be overseas evangelism. As a matter of fact, evangelism ought to be a normal part of any church's life, whether that's at home, whether that's in our communities or whether that's through open doors like this recent trip, whether that's in Siberia or India or Africa or Nicaragua. The point I'm making here is that the Great Commission is not limited to overseas travel. That's something that we ought to be doing here. As a matter of fact, as time goes on, The nation that we live in is becoming far more godless than a lot of the nations that we used to think as being very needy in terms of help. So we need it here as much as we need it there. But the point is, Christ says, go therefore. He's clearly exercising His authority over the church. He's clearly pointing back to this and saying, if you would be my disciple, if you would be my follower, if you would be obedient and bring yourself under my authority, then go. Now, there are many who have dismissed the Great Commission, they've explained away the Great Commission. And they've done it for several different reasons. One of the more common reasons, at least in our own denomination, has been a separation between the 11 disciples and the church that scripture simply doesn't make. So the argument goes something like this. We know he commissioned the 11 disciples, but that ended with them. That's not to the church. That's to the 11 disciples. And the problem with that is, well, the Bible just simply doesn't speak about the 11 disciples existing outside of the church. The disciples and the apostles had no function outside of the context of the church. When you look at Scripture, you recognize they were given for the purpose of edifying and building up the church. And you also find, and we'll see it in a minute, that they were set in the church. And so when we see this command in Matthew 28, and we'll look at some more reasons in a minute, the command is given to the church to go forth and continually, we see that grammatically, fulfill these things. Before we get there, let me give you a couple of passages on the fact that it's a false distinction to say that it was to the disciples and not to the church. The disciples were the church. Ephesians 4, verse 8. Ephesians 4, verse 8. Really, we could back up to verse 7. It says, "...but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts unto men." Now let's bump down to verse 11 for time's sake. He's going to talk about some of the gifts. "...And he gave some apostles..." That's who we're talking about in Matthew 28 there. He gave some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Why did He do that? For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ. Why is it that the ascended Christ gave gifts unto men beginning with the apostles? And the short answer is, if you were to summarize what he says in verse 12, it's for the growth of the church. It's for the building up of the church. Now, when you look at another passage like 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Corinthians 12, In verse 27, 1 Corinthians 12.27, Paul says, Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church first apostles, secondarily prophets, third teachers, so forth and so on. Now I go here just to say, when Paul thought about the apostles, he thought about the apostles as being a group of men who were set in the church. They were part of the church. We could see other places in the New Testament where the apostles are the foundation in which Paul was building on, the message of the apostles. And so the apostles existed within the context of the church. So as Christ comes to the 11 disciples, who were those 11 who would be the apostles, and He gives this declaration to go therefore. This is a declaration. This is a command. It's given to His church. Now, grammatically, if you just look at what Jesus says, there are several commands within this commission that the church is to be doing in an ongoing and continuous way. The first one is baptizing converts. The verb there for baptizing is in the present tense, which just means it's ongoing and continual. It's an action that should not stop. It's something that should continue on. As long as the church is going, this ought to be happening. That is, evangelizing and baptizing those who are converted. Secondly, the kind of teaching or discipling that baptized converts receive. So discipling baptized converts to observe everything that Jesus has commanded should be an ongoing thing. Grammatically in the Greek, it's present tense. It continues to go on and on and on and on. Brothers and sisters, until Christ comes back, These two functions do not cease within the church. And we do not have the option of picking and choosing which one we may want to do or may not want to do. So sometimes people and churches have neglected this because they didn't feel this mystical burden to obey it. Well, anytime we neglect the commands of Christ because we don't feel the burden to obey it, that's the first step toward death, really. I mean, that's just flat-out disobedience. There's no other command in Scripture that we say, well, you know, I don't feel it, so I just don't feel the burden to do it. Well, the fact that Christ spoke it and He said, all authority has been given to me. Now go do this. is enough to get the church's attention. It should be enough to get the church's attention. What is it that disciples are supposed to be taught? Well, they're supposed to be taught to observe everything that Jesus has commanded. Everything that Jesus has commanded. That would include, by the way, Matthew 28, 19 and 20. That's a command. something that should be taught. And as a matter of fact, I think you can make a case that Paul is really perpetuating the Great Commission in 2 Timothy 2. We'll turn there. Certainly see the pattern there. The pattern Jesus gives is to go out, evangelize, baptize those converts, and then teach them to observe all the things that I have commanded you We might say, so they can turn around and do the same thing. Now, we certainly see this in Second Timothy, Chapter two. This is Paul's last letter to Timothy. So Paul is saying that he's emphasizing the things that are important. He's given Timothy his last word, and this is what he says. Thou therefore, this is Second Timothy, Chapter two, verse one. 2 Timothy 2 verse 1, "...Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." Paul says, Timothy, I want you to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you've heard from me, among many witnesses, the things that you've heard from me, I want you to commit those to faithful men. Why? So that they might be able to teach others also. So here's really the pattern that's laid out in 2 Timothy. You can decide for yourself if it's an extension of the Great Commission. So Christ teaches Paul. Paul teaches Timothy. Timothy would teach faithful men. These faithful men then would turn around and teach other faithful men who in turn would teach other faithful men. And brothers and sisters, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the reason that you and I are sitting here today is because faithful men continue to teach faithful men until somehow that message from Paul made its way to you. Isn't that a blessing to think about? Now, here's another thing to think about. The message that we have received and the truth that we have received that's been passed down from faithful man to faithful man to faithful man, now by extension, first through Collierville and Brother Timothy's work, but now by extension has made its way to Nicaragua. Now the reason I say that, we can say that about India, we can say that about Africa, we can say that about Siberia. I think one of the special things about Nicaragua is this really is a first-generation church. I mean, it's in the context of, really, We go to the, if you look on a map, the very tip of Nicaragua in the southern part, close to the ocean, it's a tourist place. And it's probably, if you were to think through what church might it compare to, probably the church at Corinth would be the environment that these people live in. It's a touristy town. They're very, very poor people, but it's also in the middle of a very immoral culture. A lot of people coming in and out. A lot of people going there for the parties. A lot of drugs there. A lot of sexual immorality there. I mean, it's just normal. It's just rampant. A lot of drunkenness there. A lot of broken families there. It's what you would call ungodliness. And then as far as the major influences there from a religious standpoint, well, the first one you can probably guess, like many Central and South American countries, is the Catholic Church. people living just in squalor, really, most of their houses, most of your sheds are nicer than most of their houses. And then you have these enormous, elaborate Catholic church buildings where the people are brought in and really in a, more than anything else, a superstitious way, drawn into the church. with hopes that the Lord will bless them if they are faithful to do the things there. This is not surprising either, but the second biggest influence is the charismatic movement. The charismatic movement. With a big emphasis on health, wealth, and prosperity. And so these kinds of cultures are very vulnerable to that. And so you have these people who come in, they draw large crowds, and they promise and health, wealth, and prosperity. And just to give you an idea, probably the guy that makes more than anybody else in the church, we were talking to him and he was telling us about the various things that he was doing, and he said probably the best that he could expect to do in a day would be about 500 cordobas, which is the equivalent to about $13. Now, when he says a day, he's not talking about nine to five. These guys work from sunup to sundown. And they make about $13, which means they make less than a lot of people who work at McDonald's make in an hour. So somebody comes in, and you say, well, the price difference maybe would catch up. But it does not. It does not. It's a little cheaper to live over there, but not that much cheaper. And so somebody comes in and says, oh, well, if you follow the Lord and you go our way and you join our group and you give this money to this person, what little that you have, the Lord will bless you with wealth. You know this already, but in poverty stricken nations, health is a pretty big deal as well. They don't have access to the kind of health care that we do. And so that can be a big deal. So they promise health and prosperity and these poor folks buy into it and year after year contribute to making the leaders of this movement cushy and cozy while they remain in poverty. Now, the reason that I bring those two up is because those are the two movements that everyone that is a part of this church has come out of. And when you talk to them, they'll tell you, in San Juan del Sur, you cannot find a church that is dedicated to just simply teaching what the Bible says. Now, there is one now. You want to know why? Because Christ taught Paul. Paul taught Timothy. Timothy taught faithful men who taught faithful men who taught faithful men until one of those guys taught Brother Wallace, who taught Brother Zach, who taught Timothy, who went. Isn't that amazing to think about it? I mean, we're not just making that up. That's reality. You can trace that. And so, brothers and sisters, you have a small group in Nicaragua who are holding to the truths of Scripture because Christ's church has been faithful to His commission. And we want to continue to do that. Not only do you have a group of converts there, but you have a group of people who are seeking to grow. If you're on the Remind app, I'll tell you my highlight for the trip was Roger. the message about Roger. He was the guy who was converted about three years ago. He was a drunk. Did not work. The Lord converted him. Began to bring him out of that. When we were there last year, we were having to talk to him pretty sternly about being a Christ-honoring husband and providing for his family. He just would not work consistently. Well, one of the blessings of the setup of our trip to Nicaragua is we spend the whole time with the same group of people, which allows us to have a lot of one-on-one meetings. So Roger and his wife Karen came. Last year, there were a lot of burdens. This year, Karen shows up and she's glowing, ready to give us the report. Roger has been sober all year. and he's been working all year, walking an hour and a half every morning to work a hard construction job all day long so he can turn around and walk an hour and a half back home. What's going on there? Well, a man who was converted as a fool is learning to live out of the wisdom of Jesus Christ. A man who has been lazy, who's been a slugger, is learning to work diligently with his hands so that he has to give. I don't remember if I put this in on the message or not, but they have two children. One daughter named Sylvia, who's old enough to work. She recognizes the financial strain their family is under. And so she told her parents, I want to get a part time job. She's in school, but she wants to work to try to help. And they said, no, you cannot. And the reason that they said, no, you cannot, is because if you're going to work a part time job in Nicaragua, it's just a given that a teenager, 17 year old is working part time. It's just a given that you're going to work all day on Sunday. And they said, you are not going to get a job because you are not going to miss church. Isn't that something? Now again, the guy on the top end is making $13 a day. If I had to guess about what Roger was making, I would guess it would be about $3 a day. And he's saying no. Why would somebody do that? For the glory of Christ, that's why. How could somebody do that? through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. That's how. Now, brothers and sisters, don't lose this. You are a part of Roger's growth in the support of the work that's going on in Nicaragua. We were talking to the two pastor figures there, and I wanted to be sure to let them know One's name is Alejandro, the other one's name is Luis. And I wanted to be sure and encourage them that the growth that has occurred over the last year is because God is blessing their teaching and their shepherding over the church there. It's not because some Americans show up once a year. Now, we're an encouragement. They love it when we're there. You know, it's a jolt of adrenaline, but that adrenaline only goes for so long. It's because God is raising up His people, maturing His people, growing His people. And you have a serious-minded group of people who say, the kingdom of God and the church of God is worth more to me than the comforts and ease that we would probably call necessities of everyday life. Well, it's a challenge to me But it's also a wonderful encouragement to me that Christ is doing exactly what He said He was going to do in Matthew 16, verse 11, and that is He is building His church. He's building His church. That work has not ended. And as we've said, I can't remember now, a couple of weeks ago, a month ago, Christ obviously uses His Spirit, but He also uses His church to build His church. So you have this committed group who meet a couple of times a week on a porch with some cheap plastic chairs and a pot of coffee. They fellowship, they sing, they open the Word, and they pray together. Christ says, all power has been given to Me in heaven and the earth. Go therefore. Go and do what? Back to Matthew 28. Go and do what? Go therefore, verse 19, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Now, this teach all nations, this is the kind of teaching that leads to baptism for those who are converted. So, this is evangelism. We're simply talking here about The basics of the gospel and the teaching here is the goal of conversion and baptism. This is just the basic message of Jesus Christ's sin and salvation, salvation in Him. This basic message that Unless you are born again, you cannot enter into the kingdom or verse. John, chapter three, verse 18, he that believeth on him, that is. Christ is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." Just this basic message of the gospel. That salvation is in Christ and in Christ alone. And the reason that you need to be saved is because you are in darkness and you love darkness. But light has come. Or Romans 3, and for time's sake, I won't read it, but Romans 3, verses 19-26. we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that the law was given not so that anyone could be justified, but so that it might drive us to Christ. And there's this righteousness that the Father has provided by faith in Him. So again, the basics. Number one, humanity has tried. fail to become guilty. It is by the law no man shall be justified in his side." It was never meant to make you right with God. And then number two, God has condemned all under sin. He has revealed His righteousness in Christ. And He has reconciled to Himself His people. who look upon the cross, who repent and who believe. These are basics. Basics that should be ongoing. We have a passage like Romans 9, I'm sorry, Romans 10. 9 through 15. The basics of the Gospel, Romans 10, 9-15. In verse 8, he ends verse 8 this way, he says, the word of faith which we preach, and so what we're getting ready to read, verses 9-15, this is what Paul preaches, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart of man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there's no difference between Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things? This whole thing is talking about an evangelistic effort here. The basics of the gospel. And the question is asked, how will they call upon Him? How will they believe if they've not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach except they be sent? And obviously Romans 10 is a passage that's been misused and continues to be misused by some orders like Armenians who make the preacher a necessity as if the preacher is saving souls through his own effort. But then some have taken Romans 10, and again, they've explained it away, they've neutralized it, they've essentially said more about what it doesn't mean than what it does mean. What does it mean? Well, it means it's a blessing when you find God's people preaching God's Word in an evangelistic context where that Word has not yet reached. Someone says, well, sounds like maybe we're putting the glory on the people. No, look, how are they going to call upon Him who they have not believed? In other words, if they don't know what Scripture says about Christ, how are they going to know what to believe? and say, well, the Holy Spirit can reveal that. Yeah, He already has. It's right here. He spent over a thousand years revealing it. And now we have it. How will they believe whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And then verse 15, how shall they preach except they be sent? Brothers and sisters, this is really a sovereignty of God in evangelism passage, especially if you work backwards. You have a preacher who sends through the church, but by God. I would make the argument because of the command that Christ gives in the Great Commission. So you have a preacher who is sent by God through the church preaching the Word that's been given to Him. And on the other end, you have the Holy Spirit working as the Word of God is coming in power and they're believing on Him, whom the preacher is preaching and teaching. And then they are calling upon Him. And then they will one day turn around and do the same. This is not an Arminian verse. This is a sovereignty of God kind of verse. He's building His church. And he's building his church through the participation of his church. So he says, go. Teach, that is evangelize. Baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And then what? Teach them to observe all that I've commanded, that is discipleship. This is the kind of teaching that doesn't have conversion and baptism in mind. This is the kind of teaching that has the goal of spiritual maturity in mind. I think one of the weaknesses to a lot of evangelistic efforts is that people go, they preach, They're very encouraged by initial conversions, which they should be. And then they move on. There's no follow through. There's no ongoing discipleship. And so what you end up with is a work that consists of lots and lots of people who are very spiritually immature because they have not been discipled the way that Christ calls us to disciple converts. So again, this is the kind of teaching that focuses on spiritual maturity. the kind of teaching that would emphasize things like Luke 9, verse 23, where Jesus says, if any man would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily. What does it mean to live the Christian life? What does it mean to live a life that's faithful to the call of Christ? Well, it's a life that's characterized as denying self. That is, putting self to death. Or maybe we could say it this way, turning from self and turning to Christ on a regular basis. The wording in Luke 9 is daily. Sometimes people have this idea that the Christian life means you profess faith in Christ, and then you ask Him to bless your agenda. And that's not it. The Christian walk means you come to faith in Christ and you spend the rest of your life repenting and by faith pursuing Christ. So that there's always a turning, a turning, a turning, and a turning. The Christian life is war with the flesh. The Christian life is an uphill battle. And one of the reasons why the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel has become so prevalent is because this kind of thing isn't taught. People are evangelized. They're converted. And then we move on. And then guys with false doctrine come in. because we haven't taken the time to try to build spiritual maturity. They're taken captive. Or maybe a passage like Colossians 1. Colossians 1. As it relates to what is our goal. This isn't just for the saints in Nicaragua. This is here. This is for us. This is for God's church wherever it is. Colossians 1. Starting in verse 25, Paul said, whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given me for you to fulfill the Word of God, even the ministry which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints." Essentially, Paul is saying my ministry is taking place in the gospel dispensation. Verse 27, "'To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ, in Christ Jesus. Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily. Paul says, this is the end goal of my ministry. This is the end goal of my labor. That we might present every man perfect, that is complete, brought to maturity in Christ Jesus. This must be the focus of any ministry effort. And there are so many ways to get sidetracked, not just as a church, but even so many ways to get sidetracked in an evangelistic effort or in an effort to try to continue to support and encourage churches overseas, like the churches in Siberia or the churches in Nicaragua or wherever. It's easy to get sidetracked and make economic relief be the entire focus. I mean, you can't help but be among those people and want to relieve some of the burden. You just can't help it. Your hearts go out to them. Brother Chris knows what it's like to be in Siberia and to see the poverty there and to even have the power to help and try to alleviate. And while it is a good expression of love to be able to do that to some extent, it also must be something that's done with wisdom and that's done in a way that doesn't become the main thing. In some of our evangelistic efforts, we've been so quick to begin to set people up with a monthly draw for money. That you have people who are just eloquent in their speech, they can make a good talk, they have zeal for a time, who jump in to become one of those pastors who's receiving the monthly draw, who once they get enough money, end up just hightailing it out of there. several of our evangelistic efforts, which I'm very thankful for, and I have no criticism of the men who started those. But we've learned from that that you cannot go in throwing money around, expecting the gospel to be central in that sort of a setting. And so when we go there, I'm thankful for Brother Timothy and for what he's established from the beginning. The groundwork has emphasized from the beginning our relationship is not based on finances. And it shows. So whenever we had our meeting with Ricardo and Kathy and I gave them the card and they saw the money, they didn't know how much was there initially. They saw that there was some. They were very thankful. In some ways were even a little bit embarrassed. And they were very quick to let me know, our main concern is not finances. You guys do not have to do that. We're very appreciative, but you do not have to do that. And then they noticed, Kathy noticed, that the card wasn't blank, that there were messages. And so they took the money and put it in the envelope, and she spent probably the next seven minutes, eight minutes, reading your messages as the tears began to roll down her cheek. And she looked at Ricardo and said, Can you believe there's a church in America that we don't even know? And these saints are encouraging us. They're thinking about us. They're praying for us. I wish I could have captured it on video or somehow got you in on that live. It was just a very sweet, sweet moment. Other times, Kathy was sick. We didn't know about that, but she was sick. She had a very bad liver infection. Healthcare there is not good at all. She had to go to another town to try to get some paperwork that's essentially like a sick note for school but for work so that she didn't get fired because she was going to have to miss a week and take two treatments of strong antibiotics every day. So she went and spent a day sitting in a doctor's office waiting to get the paperwork and got absolutely nothing accomplished that day. They did not come out and see her. And so she had to go back the next day. And then she had to get a very expensive treatment, medicine, medical treatment. She got back to services that night and she was pretty discouraged. She could afford it, but that was about all she could afford. Wiped her out financially. And she got there and she said, I'm just trying not to be discouraged. And so. I've tried to think through and make a list of the things that that I'm thankful for. And so she said, I've just been given things that I even had the money. So many people. Would either have to live with this indefinitely, or it would just take their lives. But the Lord has blessed me to have this money." She went on with her list of thanksgivings. Later on, Brother Zach, and if you know Brother Zach, you can just imagine the picture. Kathy's giving this testimony. Brother Zach is sobbing and whimpering with a hanky, trying to get his eyes cleared out. And he pulls out some money and gives to her, and she's very hesitant to take it. And just says, it's embarrassing, it's embarrassing. I do not want y'all's money to be... I don't want you to feel like you have to give us money. And of course, in a Brothers Act way, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't think that. Don't think that. We love you. We want you to have it. And she took it. I say that just to say there are so many, so many things that could grab our attention that we could just throw money at. A brother who works as a tour guide, who obviously needed a new set of tires, whose clutch went out while we were there. And we could go on and on and on and on. Brothers and sisters, while it is appropriate for us to share financially with those who are in need, the gospel is worth far more than that. The spiritual fellowship is worth far more than that. Our commitment to discipling is worth far more than that. And so as we come back this afternoon, I want to continue to look at the Great Commission maybe even making some more applications to the recent trip. I go here this morning not to try to drive home you need to be doing this because you're not. I really go here this morning to try to encourage you that what you've participated in and supporting our trip is exactly what Christ told His disciples, His church, what they ought to be busy doing. And so I'm thankful for that. I pray the Lord will continue to bless us to observe that and to grow in that. We'll make more comments this afternoon. Let's pray. Father, Again, as always, we are thankful for Your Word. We're thankful, Lord, that You have spoken. You've spoken to us clearly. You've told us what we ought to be busy doing. You have given us insight into Your will and Your agenda for Your church. And so, Father, I give You thanks this morning that the church here has been faithful to take heed to the Great Commission there in Matthew 28. Lord, I thank You for their financial support. I thank You for their hearts that would want to send me. Also send encouragement through finances, through notes, through prayers. Lord, I thank You for their partnership in the gospel. I pray that You would be with us. Lord, I pray that You would continue to grow Your people here and in Nicaragua, in Siberia, India, Africa, wherever they are. Lord, and bless us to know what a privilege it is to be part of Your kingdom and to be a part of what You're doing in Your churches. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.