6.7.26 | The Great Commission | 9:00a Worship x Grace Ridge Church Online

And that is the crux of the entirety of this text. The commissioning, the mission for God's people in the church is to make disciples. That is it. That is the sole mission of the church, to make followers of Jesus Christ, and this is the command that is given. A lot of people make the focus, a lot of churches make the focus wrongly that it's about going or it's about baptizing or it's about teaching. That's not what it's about. It's about making disciples. [00:35:30] (31 seconds)  #MakeDisciples

And we're limited not by the authority and power of god. That's been given to us. What are we limited by? Ourselves. Man, I'm so busy. You don't understand. And to to you that say you're so busy, I don't understand. You're right. Because, truthfully, what we're really declaring is that something takes precedence over making disciples of Jesus Christ. Well, you don't understand. I I love when people don't tell me I understand. You're right. I don't understand. And I make a joke to them, like, I don't understand because I think you're nuts, not because I don't understand. [00:44:54] (36 seconds)  #PrioritiesOverMission

All he's saying is all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, and I'm giving it to you. And then at the end, he says, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. This is not something that comes and goes. This is a permanent understanding that the lord our god has given us the authority to go into the world, and it's not optional. It's a command. It's not a recommendation. It's a directive. It's not a suggestion. It's a dictation. This is what we are to do. [00:48:04] (38 seconds)  #CommissionNotSuggestion

Do you want others to love Jesus? I sure do. Absolutely more than anything. The greatest joy in life is to watch other people come to acknowledge who Jesus is. And then the question that pierced my heart was simply this, well, then how far will you go? And this is where it normally stops because it means I'm gonna witness and tell I have a relationship with somebody that maybe is weird, or I'm gonna get so far in a relationship where I find out stuff I don't want to know. [00:43:50] (28 seconds)  #HowFarWillYouGo

And he made it very clear that I was wrong. And I wonder how often that happens in my life today still where I'm so busy and I'm so hungry and I'm so preoccupied that I miss seeing the people where God has put in my way, in my place with an opportunity to build a relationship and tell them of Jesus Christ. This lady is dying in her own sin, and we have that which can heal her. And we keep it to ourselves because we're preoccupied with our own stuff. I hope you can hear the opportunity in this that changes our priorities, that changes our perspective, that changes who we are. [00:50:12] (48 seconds)  #SeizeMissionalOpportunities

We don't go in our own strength to make disciples. We don't go in our own power. We go under the authority of Jesus Christ into the world. That's why he says when we are sharing the good news with somebody and they don't receive it, he says dust off your sandals and go to the next place because they're really not denying you. They're denying me is what he says. So think about that for a minute. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. Now in this commissioning ceremony here, all authority in heaven and on earth has now been given to you [00:42:38] (38 seconds)  #GoUnderChristAuthority

Now we understand the church is not a bit a building. It it isn't a structure. It isn't an idea. The church is the people of God who have said and declared with their hearts that Jesus is my savior. That is the church. That is the fullness of the body of believers. That is us as a unit, whether you're online, whether you're in person, the fullness of the kingdom of God together of all God's people who declare that Jesus is their savior and Lord, that is the church. [00:28:25] (29 seconds)  #ChurchIsPeople

Not disciples of Mike, not disciples of Grace Ridge Church, make disciples of Jesus Christ. That is our focus Jesus Christ through transformation work traditional worship, active missions, and engaged youth in Wayne County and beyond. But the focus of that is making disciples. That's why we exist. That's why we are here. And notice make disciples of who? And I love this because this is where we get jacked up in our culture and our community here. We make disciples of people that look like us, that act like us, that that seem to be like us. And that makes complete sense. Why? Because while going throughout the day, that's the disciples we're making. [00:37:31] (45 seconds)  #DisciplesOfJesusOnly