There was once a very pregnant woman that was driving along and she was suddenly in an accident and knocked on conscience. Her husband was traveling overseas and at the hospital they were waiting for one of the relatives to come and somebody came and it turned out to be her brother. Well, while she was unconscious, they actually had to deliver not one, but two babies. But because she was unconscious and because her husband was overseas, they asked this woman's brother if he would name the children. And so he did. And the woman woke up a couple days later and noticed that she didn't have the children and that freaked her out. She said, what happened? Said, it's okay, you were in an accident. And you didn't have just one, you had two. And she was so relieved and couldn't believe it. They said, well, we did also do something. We had your brother, since he was the only one here, name them. And she said, oh no, my brother named my children. What did he name the girl? And the doctor said, well, he named the girl Denise. Well, she was surprised. Like, well, that's, I like Denise. That's actually pretty good for my brother. I'm really surprised. What did he name the boy? The nephew. So, guys, listen to me. Whatever you do, Do not commission your dimwit brother to name your children. Today, as we're nearing the end of our series, studying the life of Christ, we're going to see that we have been commissioned by Jesus to reach the world, one soul at a time. The life of Jesus has been so interesting, hasn't it? I mean, God comes to this earth and grows up, not just born in Bethlehem, but he had to flee to Egypt, but he was raised in Nazareth, and the Bible predicted all of these things. Never sinned, was studious, was obedient, Can you imagine such a child? And he grew in knowledge and stature and began his ministry at 30. And then his ministry included such amazing things. The miracles that he did astounded people. And he showed such compassion and such care. He was the person that we all wish we were. But some people didn't like him. because he called out phonies, he called out fakes, he called out those that were playing the game, but they eventually conspired to have him arrested and have him tried and have him crucified. Now, of course, if Jesus is God, there's no human that could possibly take his life. without his consent, without his approval, without his will. So some people said, well, the Jews killed Jesus. Some people say, oh, the Romans killed Jesus. Who killed Jesus? He gave his life a sacrifice for me, for my sins, and for you. So he laid down his life. His body was put into the grave. When he died, he paid for all the sins of the world. And in three days, his body came back to life. That's the section that we're in, in the story of Jesus. We're talking about his post-resurrection appearances. And one of the last appearances he makes, we're going to be studying today, where he brings his disciples to a mountain in the Galilee. And there he commissions them. to bring the gospel to the world, and to teach all nations, and to baptize. We call it the Great Commission. And as we study the Great Commission, the commission that we are to, and I believe we're involved in this commission. I don't think it was just those that were present when Jesus was there on the mountain. I believe this is all of us. We're commissioned, we're commissioned to bring the gospel. to your colleagues, to your family, to those that you sit next to on a bus or in a train or a plane. We have that responsibility. We've been given that job, that commission by the Lord to reach the world with the gospel. So the question is, what is the gospel? What is the gospel? You say, well, that's easy. Is it? Most Christians, if I were to ask this question, what is the gospel? I would get a lot of wrong answers. It's the simplest message that's in the Bible. It's what the whole Bible's about, but we... Don't get the gospel. And the passage that I'm gonna take you to as we're to bring the gospel to the world, what is the gospel? This passage also references Jesus' resurrection and his appearances, so it really ties well with what we're going to go into in the gospels a little bit later. 1 Corinthians 15, in verse one, Paul is instructing the Corinthian believers as to what is the gospel. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you, what? The gospel. What is gospel? It's good news. It's good news. And by the way, a lot of people that give the gospel, what they're giving is not good news, because it's impossible. You have to do this, do this. You have to have this tear, or you have to have this act of penance, or you have to give this much to charity, or whatever they say you have to do. It's so hard, you can't do it. So that's not good news. Good news is something that everyone can do. Everyone can just put their trust in Jesus, right? So I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. So Paul had previously gone through Corinth, which is there in Greece, and he had already planted the seed of the gospel. People had been saved. There was a church established. He left. There were problems in the church. He wrote this letter to them to try to help them understand it. One of the problems was they were moving away from the gospel. So I declared unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also you have received. So how do I get saved? How do I go from hell to heaven? How can I be born again? You receive the gospel. How do you receive the gospel? It says it in here, you believe. Okay, that's it, it's faith. Okay, which also you have received and wherein ye stand. So not only are we saved by grace, we're also kept by grace. We don't have to keep doing something to stay saved. We're saved, okay? Verse two, by which also you are saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. So this is the same way that Paul got saved, the same way that we get saved. How that Christ, who is Christ? Well, that's the word Messiah, it's the same word. It's a Greek word, in Latin. You have Christ, which is the Messiah. So when you say Jesus Christ, you're saying Jesus Messiah. And it's a promised one, anointed one. So Christ, the Messiah, died for our sins, according to the scriptures. And that he was buried. So we have the death, and we have the burial of Jesus, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. The resurrection, that's the gospel. Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again. And if you'll believe in him, you're saved, okay? Now, the proofs of the resurrection in verse four are in verse five through eight. and that he was seen of Cephas, who was that? Well, that's Peter, Simon Peter is Cephas. Then the 12, after that he was seen above 500 brethren at once. Now, if you go through the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, you're not gonna find Jesus appearing to 500 people at one time. But we do know it happened because here in 1 Corinthians, it tells us that he did. And some do believe that when he went on this mountain in the Galilee to commission his disciples, that there was 500 there. Of course it was the 11, now it was down to 11, it was called the 12, but of course Judas had killed himself. But here we have the appearances of 500 brethren at one time, of whom the greater part remain unto this present And at the time that this was written, many of those people that were part of that 500 that had witnessed the resurrected Christ with their own eyes or with their own hands, they were still alive. In other words, go ask them. Go ask them, they were there. Some had fallen asleep, some had died, but most were alive when this was written. After that, he was seen of James and then of the apostles, and last of all, he was seen of me, That's one born out of due time. When did Paul see the resurrected Savior? It was after the ascension. Jesus appeared to Paul as he was persecuting the church. He was named Saul. He had been part of the stoning of Stephen. Now he's heading to Damascus to persecute more Christians, to arrest them, and he sees the light. and he literally sees Jesus himself. So what is one of the great proofs that Jesus is alive? He was seen, right? What's a great proof that he died? They buried him. You don't bury people that aren't dead, okay? So he died and he rose again. How do we know he died? He was buried. How do we know he rose again? He was seen. All right. So let's talk about this, him being seen. People have tried to explain the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus by saying that the people that saw him were hallucinating. And here's a quote by an author that I like very much as he wrote about the proofs of the resurrection and especially the proofs of the eyewitness accounts of the resurrection. He says this, hallucinations occur generally in people who tend to be vividly imaginative or of a nervous makeup. But appearances of Christ were to all sorts of people. True, some were sensitive, but there were also hardened fishermen like Peter and others of various dispositions. Hallucinations are known to be extremely subjective and individual, the author writes. For this reason, no two people have the same experience. In the case of the resurrection, Christ appeared not to just individuals, but to groups, including one with more than 500 people. Paul said more than half of these people were still alive and could verify and tell about these events. The author continues, hallucinations usually occur only at particular times and places, and they are associated with the events that are fancied. However, these appearances occurred both indoors and outdoors, in the morning, afternoon, and evening. These appearances happened during a period of 40 days and then stopped abruptly. No one ever said they happened again. Perhaps the most conclusive indication of the fallacy of the hallucination theory, the author continues to write, is a fact often overlooked. In order to have an experience like this, one must so intensely want to believe what he or she projects something that isn't really there and attaches reality to the imagination. One might think hallucination is what happened to the disciples regarding the resurrection, but in fact, the opposite took place. They were persuaded against their wills that Jesus had risen from the dead. Mary wasn't going to the tomb to see if Jesus had resurrected. She was going to the tomb expecting a corpse to reanoint. And when they told the men what they had seen, the men said, well, you don't know what you're talking about. You're full of idle tales. Good job, guys, okay? Others thought they had seen a ghost. Thomas refused to believe. They weren't expecting the resurrection, were they? Although Jesus had told them he would. Let me continue a quote. What was it? that changed a band of frightened, cowardly disciples into men of courage and conviction? What was it that changed Peter, who the night before the crucifixion was so afraid for his own skin that three times he denied publicly that he even knew Jesus? Some 50 days later, he became a roaring lion, risking his life by saying he had seen Jesus risen from the dead. It must be remembered that Peter preached his electric Pentecost sermon in Jerusalem, where all these events took place and his life was in danger. He was not in the Galilee, miles away where no one could verify the facts and where his ringing statements might go unchallenged. Only the bodily resurrection of Christ could have produced this change. And that was Paul Little. the appearances of Jesus, powerful, powerful testimony that he, in fact, did rise from the dead. And if he did, it's all true. It's all true. If he did, he is God. If he did, he did die for your sins. If he did, you can be saved, okay? And all of these appearances by eyewitnesses, up to 500 at one time, show me, convinces me that it's true. He is alive and he wants to save you as well. Now, when did this appearance up to 500 people take place? Well, as I said, it could have happened right here in what we're about to read. Look at Matthew 28. And we're gonna see this, what we call the Great Commission in Matthew 28 and also in Mark chapter 16, and we're gonna go fully through both accounts to make sure we have a full grasp of what God wants to teach us about this commission, which I believe applies to you and me. All these years later, we are hearing these words, we are commissioned by Jesus until he returns. So if he hasn't returned yet, which he hasn't, We still have this job. We still have this responsibility. Some people say, well, it seems odd that once we have put our trust in Christ and we're saved, that we don't just leave this earth and go to heaven. And that would be kind of nice, except then who would tell the next person? Who would have told us, right? So this is important. And some people think, well, you know, we have a professional pastor and a professional evangelist, and we're gonna let them win the souls. And certainly, a pastor and an evangelist ought to be doing that, and that should be our main focus, but so should you. So should you, we're all commissioned in this. Okay, Matthew 28, 16. Then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee. Now remember, the Galilee is in northern Israel. It's the region that the Sea of Galilee is in, and that's where most of Jesus' ministry, all of his early ministry took place in the Galilee. Many of the miracles, his Sermon on the Mount, his feeding of the 4,000 of the 5,000, his two miracles of the great catches, walking on the water, calming the sea, all of the things that he did, the Galilee. Of course, Nazareth, where he grew up, is in the Galilee as well. And so now they're going into the Galilee, all of the crucifixion, the arrest, the trials, the resurrection took place in Jerusalem. So on our trips to Israel, we start in the Galilee, and we end in Jerusalem. Now, They're back up in the Galilee. We know that Jesus is gonna be back in Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives to do his ascension shortly after this. But they go onto a mountain. Where is that mountain? It doesn't say. And it kind of kills me because we know it's in the Galilee, but there's a lot of, I mean, this isn't like Mount Everest. But it's 1,000 feet or more tall, a mountain, very beautiful. There's plenty of those. He made his appearance before Peter, James, and John as he was transformed into his glory on one of those mountains in the Galilee. Okay, so was he back there? Was he on Tabor? We don't know exactly where it was, but they were gathered, for sure the 11, but some people think all of this large group was there, all of his disciples, and there were the 12 disciples, but there were also many others that followed Christ that were believers, and they were following him, they were disciples as well. So maybe it was 500 people, and some say, because of some of the words here, that it probably is true, So the disciples went away into the Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them in Matthew 28, 17. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Now, if this had been the 11, only the 11, I mean, he had made multiple appearances to them. I don't think any of them were doubting. Okay, so that's why I feel like it might have been the bigger group of the 11 plus up to 500 people there at one time. So they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. In other words, if you're fearful, if you're doubting, stop it. Do you have doubts? Do you have anything that you're worried about? Do you have anything that you're afraid of? You don't need to. Because Jesus, who saved us, and we are in him, and he is in us through the Spirit, has all power of heaven and earth. And did Jesus exercise power when he was on this earth? Absolutely. He exercised power over the creation. He exercised power over the wind. He exercised power over the waves. He exercised power over the demons. He exercised power over the devil. He exercised power over death. And this Jesus has power today. So don't worry, don't fear. Jesus still has all the power. Now, let's go from Matthew's account over to Mark's account. In Mark chapter 16, we're gonna read, I believe, a parallel passage. And remember, when we're going through the gospels, we're looking at some of them contained All four of them contain the story. Sometimes it was one, sometimes it was two, sometimes it was three. But here we're finding two of the gospel writers talked about this moment. And so Mark 16 in verse 15, and you get a few other tidbits here. And he said unto them, go ye into all the world. and preach the gospel to every creature. Now, does that mean you're to preach the gospel to dogs and cats and deer and bear? Some people would rather, because they can't talk back. No, the gospel is to every person, every person. And sometimes we have more compassion and care and love for an animal than we do for a human being. And I get it, I understand, I understand the companionship that pets provide, but don't ever let an animal who doesn't have a soul supersede the human that has an eternal soul in whom Jesus died for. We are to have that same compassion that Jesus had for all people, even those that aren't very lovely. So take the gospel, As you're going into the world, preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. You say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Pastor Scudder, are you telling me that I need to be baptized and believe in order to be saved? Well, that's what it says. Well, remember, if you're ever confused by anything in the Bible, just keep reading. So what do we need to do? Read the rest of the verse. But he that believeth not shall be damned. So what is it that saves you? It's belief. If you don't believe, you're damned. Now, why does it say believed and baptized? Because people were believing, and then they would recognize that person by baptizing them. What's baptism? It's showing the world what happened inside. Your salvation is faith and no one can see that, so you're showcasing that by going under the water to identify in his death, and you come up out of the water to identify in his resurrection and new life. So the baptism, the water doesn't save you, but it's something that happens after salvation. Why do I think it's just believe? Because it says in the next part of the verse, if you don't believe, you will not be saved, you'll be damned. And these signs, verse 17, shall follow them that believe. Now you're probably thinking, okay, now if I'm saved and I've believed, I'm gonna have this following list of things that I can do. In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Now, I think it's a very bad idea to drink poison. Very bad idea. I also think it's a very bad idea to play with snakes, venomous or non-venomous. I don't like snakes. You know, some people take this literally and they say, well, I'm going to drink poison and people have. and they're snake charmers and they get bit by a poisonous snake. Guess what happens to them? They die. Well, what is this talking about? This isn't talking about you making a show and making a test that's foolish. This is talking about, do you remember Paul? Was shipwrecked and he was picking up sticks and he was bitten by a poisonous viper and everybody thought he was a dead man and he didn't die. right here. Now I don't think we find anywhere in scripture that somebody drank poison, but surely in the annals of history, someone accidentally was poisoned and God miraculously saved them. I mean, These things happen. Now, are they happening as frequently today as they used to? No. Why? Because we don't have the sign gifts anymore. Once the church was established and the Bible was completed, these sign gifts, these proofs of God working, like he was working with Moses, and he had certain signs that were happening at that time to convince Pharaoh of the truth of this, so were these signs part of establishing the church, and once the Bible was done, we don't have those things anymore. Okay? So, but when you read through Acts, you're gonna find out that Acts is full of exactly what we just read. So it's true. Okay? And by the way, God can still do all of these things. But certainly we don't do them in public meetings. You know, my dad used to run into Benny Hinn. and the religious broadcaster conventions and stuff. And he was very popular and he would be supposedly healing people and all this stuff and a bunch of other faith healers, fake healers, faith healers. And he said, hey, Benny, I wanna take you with me on a missions trip. And Benny was like, oh, wow, that'd be great. A conservative Baptist and a Pentecostal, where do you wanna go? Let's go to India. Oh, okay, what do you wanna do? I wanna go to the hospital and clear out all of the lepers and all the people with polio. And Benny Hinn walked away. Why, because he didn't have that power. It was fraudulent. And if anyone does have that power, just go to the hospital and clear it out. Don't have a big service where you're gonna make lots of money, okay? But they did have that power and it was of God and it was for a reason and a purpose and those things, I believe, have ceased. Now, we'll jump back over to Matthew's account because I think our focus here needs to be on the Great Commission. Matthew 28, 19 is the Great Commission, as we just read in Mark. 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 all way, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Aren't you glad that Jesus is with you always? And there is an end to this craziness. There's an end to the world as it seems to be spinning out of control. And the wickedness is increasing and the darkness is increasing. There's an end to all of this. So don't quit, don't give up. You have Jesus with you always. Now, If Jesus ascended and he gave us the responsibility of going and bringing the gospel to the world, and the heart of God is for every person to be saved, if you do the math on what I just said, and all of those are true statements, that means that you and I have the responsibility to bring the gospel to every person. How do we know that God doesn't want anyone to perish? How do we know the heart of God is for everybody to be saved? Well, look at 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, but as some men count slackness, but it's long-suffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. My friends, That's the heart of God, and we have been given a commission to bring this message to a hurting and dying world. But sometimes we're nervous, we're scared, we don't wanna be embarrassed, and so we just say, well, let's let the pastor do it, or let's just do it within the four walls. There was a young man once, his name was Christopher, in Chicago some years ago, playing basketball with his friends, and he was shot in the chest. His aorta was nicked and he was bleeding out and his friends were desperately trying to save him. And they were able to get him within about 40 feet of a hospital. And they ran inside and they were asking the doctors and nurses to come out and help their friend. And the hospital had a policy that they could not leave the hospital. If they were to administer aid, it would have to be inside the hospital. Finally, a police officer was able to get a wheelchair and wheeled the young man in. but it was too late, for he had died. Are we gonna stay within the four walls and never leave and never share the message? Well, not as many people are gonna get saved. You know, historically, our church didn't have one night to go witnessing or one night to go visiting or whatever. My dad always said, let's do it everywhere we go, all the time. That's the great commission. Everywhere we go, all the time, we're commissioned to take the gospel to the world, and we must go beyond these four walls. As a matter of fact, I believe the primary mission of the church is not evangelism. In church services, I think the primary mission is to edify, to help people grow. Now, not to say we don't wanna see people hear the gospel and get saved here, for obviously we do. but the main thrust of evangelism is outside, and that is your, our responsibility. The Greek word go, someone noticed, is a present participle, which gives the idea of not you go and take the message, but as you go, as you're going, Bring the gospel with you. Now, some people are called to actually go somewhere to do that, and we will call that a person of missionary. But don't think if you're not a missionary that you don't have the responsibility to, as you go, share the gospel. John Wesley once was robbed. as he was returning from a service one night, and as the thief had robbed him and was leaving, Wesley called out, stop, I have something else to give you. I'm not sure if that was wise to do or not, but he did. The surprised thief paused, and Wesley said, my friend, you may live to regret this sort of life, and if you do, here's something that you need to know. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. The thief turned and ran away hurriedly, and Wesley prayed that his words would maybe one day bear fruit. It was years later, as Wesley was greeting people after a Sunday service, he saw the thief in the service, and it surprised him to learn that this visitor was now a Christian and a successful businessman. And he said, I owe it all to you. And Wesley said, oh no, my friend, not to me, but to the precious blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin. Now, I'm not sure if that's good advice for you to be witnessing to someone that just robbed you, but I commend John Wesley for doing that. because we need to make sure everybody, not just the lovely, not just the nice, everybody hears the message. We've been given that job, that commission, that responsibility, now go. and take that message everywhere you go, to everyone you see. You say, well, how do we do it? Because obviously, if you're talking to a waiter, or if you're talking to a checkout clerk, you can't just stand there for an hour and share the gospel, or even for five minutes, they get fired. What do you do? Here's what I do. You pull out a gospel track, and you say, listen, this is the best news in the entire world. Read this when you're on break. And if it's a quiz track, we have those tracks that say, what do I need to do to go to heaven? And you start checking off the things you think. And my dad will always say, now don't cheat. Oh, that would get them. Oh, sure, I would never cheat, you know. And it just kind of made them really want to read that. So think of creative ways that even if you're shy, you can still hand out tracts or leave tracts at places, okay? Let's figure out ways that we can share the gospel. We have this commission. One of the last things Jesus said was to us. to go into all the world, and not just evangelize, but also to train and disciple. That's what I love about all the missionaries we support. Not only are they winning people, but they're also training those people so that they can win people. Do you know what will win this world? Not addition, multiplication. Multiplication. That means one that you lead to the Lord, you train them to lead someone to the Lord, and if they do that, we're gonna be able to get the gospel to the world. If we don't do that, we're not able to. That's why Jesus said that. We have a commission and we should go. Now, what is the gospel? We already went over it. Jesus died and rose again. He's the son of God. He paid for our sins. He never sinned. His resurrection proves that his sacrifice was accepted. And if you believe in him, if you'll trust in him, you will be saved. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That is the gospel. That is not just good news, it's great news.