Matthew 28V16-20 - David Burrowes (5th July 2026)

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So Matthew twenty-eight verse sixteen to twenty. Here's what it says. So the context is the Lord Jesus speaking to his disciples, and this is what Matthew says. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee and to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him. But some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. This is God's word to us this morning. David is now going to come up and he's going to explain and preach God's word to us.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Hey, good morning, everybody. Good morning, Wincy. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, everybody. So we're continuing our series looking at what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. So we've just heard the very last words of Jesus spoken before he ascended to heaven. So this kind of should demand our attention. We've been looking lots of last words. But so Jesus says, have you looked back in your Bibles, keep them open? And yet, younger ones, there's there's stuff to fill in. You're welcome to do that. And actually older ones, we're going to have stuff for all of us to fill in towards the end of times. And look, if there are those that would be helpful for uh kind of to helpful kind of to touch into to play with things, there's a there's a box at the back there uh just to pick up things to help you uh listen in to what's going on today. Um so look, if you look in your Bibles, you'll just see it's it titled in our Bibles the Great Commission. Do we see that? We see that the Great Commission. Now that can make us um uh think, okay, commission, okay, commandment. And if you read this and if we heard these words, which may be really familiar to a bunch of us, you know, to go and make disciples of all nations, we think, whew, now this is already beyond us. This is something reserved specially for uh those uh kind of special disciples. But we're hopefully going to see as we look through this and share this together, this is a commandment to all those who believe and trust in Jesus Christ as their saviour, to all disciples, for all of them to be involved. Now, if you're not at that uh stage, still there's a lot to listen into uh to find out about our Lord and Saviour. You know, for those of us who call ourselves Christians, uh who disciples, you know, being a Christian actually means, you know, being being disciples, it means also going and making disciples. That's all about being a disciple. It's a little bit like I was trying to work this out, and I've been searching around for saying, how could I just first of all, this way? It's a little bit like a honey bee. Isn't that honeybee? Yeah, you see quite a lot of those around summertime. This honeybee is getting stuck into it's a lone sort of scout honeybee, actually, probably. It's getting it's discovered a really juicy flower. Okay, you can see them around, and a flower full of nectar. Okay. Now, the issue for this little honeybee there is that it can't harvest the nectar alone. On its own, it will die. And the hive back back in the home, the hive will starve without something happening. So, we're gonna find a little bit how I spent too much time looking at honey bees and what they do. And I have to say a quick little story is that um I also learnt about honeybees, they do this extraordinary waggle dance, right? I learned that because when some people were trying to get me interested in supporting the cause of honey, which really makes the world go round. There were these bee makers who went to this place in London in Westminster, actually, and they did a little waggle dance all around, okay. Okay, and I will do I will do a bit of the waggle dance, and you can maybe remember that about this sermon. But this is what, if you just go to have you got the video, this is what honeybees do. Okay, so so what they did, this honey bee flies home, finds a tiny huddle of just two or three bees, and performs this precise figure of eight movement called the waggle dance, okay? And through this dance, it it passes on. This is the location, this is the coordinates where you can go to find the food source to find the nectar. And then the three or so bees will come together and then they'll fly out and they'll go together and taste that lovely nectar honey, and then they'll dance around, then they'll return back to the hive, okay, and then they'll do this sort of waggle dance, you know, it's like that. It's like figure of eight, waggle dance, right? And then they'll do that again, and then keep going, and then coming back, bringing more of the bees out there, and then that single discovery of that one nectar mobilizes an army of thousands going out there, right? You're probably starting to understand a bit about why I'm saying this, because when Jesus stood on the mountain, okay, Matthew 28, and told eleven men to go and make disciples, okay? What then happened? He was effectively commanding discipling, like the honeybees, spiritual waggle dance, you know, figure of eight waggle dance. You can do that later, work out the I can we can do a waggle dance together. But it's like a spiritual waggle dance saying, Okay, you've gone and found the vine. Remember that from last week? The vine? Remember Lossit? The source of life now. Grab two or three people and together show, we're gonna show the exact coordinates of how to follow me and taste the blessed life, be connected to the vine, and then go back. More waggle dancing and make more disciples throughout the world. Okay, so that's kind of a little bit about what it's gonna be about. Go and make disciples of all nations. Matthew 28, verse 19. So let's start with go. Okay, it's an action word, of course, go, right? And when you say go, often things happen. Go. Things happen. Because it's this time of year for those of you who are at school. Okay, hands up who's at school? Yeah, who's at school? Teachers or others? School? Okay. Parents, any parents who who've been at sports days or about to go sports days, been at those. Uh so when you hear the word go, what do you do? You run, okay. So what we're gonna do, okay. I want one or two volunteers, okay. This may go hard one, but uh any uh volunteers, we can have one of those. Any others? We need some uh we have one from each family, so others? Uh uh Toby, good, Toby, and okay, if Toby's there, Isaac's there, good. Any others? Um any parents that have done this the the sack, the Egg and spoon raise thing. I want another parent, a parent, any parent? A parent, any parent? Others I pick Gareth, great. Okay, so come up here, right? I want you to come up here, right? I want you to stand, right? And we want kids, what come kids, kids, kids, another child, another another kid, another one, anyone else? Anyone else want to come out? Anyone else? Anyone else want to come out? Okay, what we're gonna do is you're gonna have to find your way without completely destroying the communion table. You want to, okay. I want you to stand, you've got to put your hands against the wall, hand against the wall, okay? Right, hand against the wall, right? And when I say go, obviously you're gonna go and you're gonna run and you're gonna touch that uh the red sofa there. In fact, if you could try and touch the map on the back there, that's quite fun. You could climb up, that could be chaos. Let's go for the red sofa. Okay, red, okay. When I said it, I want you to do this. So let's see what happens when happens with a word say, okay. Honey monks. Give it some item. I want you to do a minute, do a minute. Oh, can the muscles happen? Good job, good job. Sit a hand, everybody, whether I'm pretty. Send them a look. It's a powerful moment, it makes things happen. Let's it makes things happen. And so look, if I see anything just uh drifting off in the heat, I'll start. I'll maybe we'll do it again halfway through. In fact, what what Janet suggests we do is a bit like kind of World Cup. We have a hydration break, sort of on the way through my maybe that's okay. If you want to do a hydration break, you can go and have some water there in between, in between. It's also there for adverts, I think. Um so okay, so in powerful words, when we say go, it makes things happen. Um now Jesus says to his eleven disciples and to his disciples here today, go, right? And it's just actually it's nothing new that Jesus, it's Jesus' last word, but it's this word go has been going on throughout the whole Bible. It's the whole story, isn't it? You know, he said, go, look, go, God said, go to Abraham to leave his land and to go, then to Moses to go to lead his people out of slavery, then it's to Gideon, go and rescue my people, and then to Jonah. Remember Jonah? Jonah, go to Nineveh. So Jesus says as well, go. So let's pick up when Jesus said go in verse 16. Have a look at uh your Bibles there. Then the uh in verse 16 of 28, chapter 28, then the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. Matthew, right? Now Matthew, who's writing this, is one of these disciples, okay? He wrote that there were 11 disciples. Do you notice that? It's the first time it's meant eleven. Do you know why it's 11?

unknown 10:00

Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Yeah, that's it. Judas, that's right. They were down one, weren't they? Because Judas had betrayed Jesus. So it's quite a profound thing to say, actually. And sad, actually. In fact, all the disciples, if they were being honest, and in fact, we look at this a bit in a bit, had abandoned and betrayed Jesus as he was led to the cross. You know, Jesus is now risen from the dead. This is where we're at. He's gathered his disciples in Galilee. Let's go back where he first chose them, in fact. And then the eleven, they'd they saw the risen Lord, and then look at that in verse 17. They worshipped him. We can imagine that. This is the risen Lord, worshipped him. But see what Paul Matthew see what Matthew writes? See that? Some, what did you see? What the word is there? Some see what it says there? Some they worshipped and some doubted. They doubted. Matthew's being honest there, isn't he? The disciples were not a bunch of faithful superheroes. They had doubts. And they were probably confused and uncertain. Actually, I mean, isn't that just it kind of encouraging for us? Disciples here, okay, those of us that call uh us Christians, you know, Jesus isn't actually looking for superhero disciples, right? But ordinary, doubtful disciples, probably, you know, like you and like me. So in this great commission, it, you know, we'd have to be honest though, that as well, that we look at this and we hear about this. Uh, it actually, let's think about these 11 disciples, it looks pretty unachievable, doesn't it? This bunch of unfaithful, doubtful disciples, that they're going to actually be triggering off and turning the world upside down with the spread of the gospel. Okay. It's a huge command. He isn't just asking them simply to go to their family or to go to the village that they live in, or even to go to the nation that they know about. He's talking about nations that they just don't know even existed. It seems like an impossible command to keep. I mean, how do you feel about this command, which is to us disciples here as well, to go and make disciples of all nations? For me to think about it, and I've been reflective on it this last week, gulp, you know. Do you just feel that same kind of weakness or being overwhelmed as probably the first 11 disciples standing on the mountain would have uh felt? I mean, look at this stat here. It's daunting when you think about it. The numbers of unreached in the world, you know, there's what 3.4 billion people around the world today, probably, that make up about 42.6% of the global population that are unreached with the gospel. So that's a huge task. But let's just take it close to home. I mean, to our street, to your street. Think about your street, where you live, your block, or flats, wherever. You may actually be pretty daunted by the number of people you think about that just don't know Jesus. Maybe you think some people are actually better than you at speaking about Jesus. You think about, maybe you think about this room you think, or about people you've seen or know, they're just better, they're they're more motivated than you at speaking and telling others about Jesus. Or you maybe just end up feeling just a bit guilty that oh, I just really should be doing more. Now, the last thing I want you to be thinking about at the end of summer is feeling guilty. Hopefully, that's the last thing you're gonna be feeling. Um but look, you're not alone, you're not on your own, because actually it's God's task. We're gonna be saying about this. It's God's task, which is unfinished. It's not on us this, it's actually on God, this uh commission, this commandment. The last command commandment that Jesus gives to his disciples was to go. But actually, we think and we reflect on it. What was the first command? This is a bit of a tester in a particularly in a kind of warm day. What was the first command Jesus gives? And we have to look at it all together, these commands. The first command Jesus gives that these disciples in Matthew's gospel. If one was to flick back, you could do to Matthew chapter 4, verse 9. 13, in fact, verse 19. You'll just see there, Matthew chapter 4, verse 19, keep one finger in there because we'll be flicking back to 28. It actually isn't the word go, it's the word come. Come follow me, come follow me, and I will send out you to fish for people. So the final command was to go, but his first commandment was to come. And that relationship that between coming to Jesus, we must first come to Jesus and going out from Jesus is really critical. We must keep that together. You know, the the plan to reach the nations does not rest on our shoulders, but actually on Jesus's. It isn't on me, it's not on you alone, it's on Jesus and his great power. And you know, that really actually just changes everything, and it should change everything as we respond to Jesus' command to go. When Jesus says, Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people, you know, disciple making isn't that sort of draining, like optional extra of being a Christian. It's actually an essential, great privilege of being a disciple of Jesus. You know, it's not so much when you think about all this about building up the courage and the strength to go and make disciples, but actually, it's God in his power sending us out. So perhaps we need to ask God, and it's very important that this God's involved in all of this, uh, to and we pray about this when you reflect on this and think about what we what what how you're going to respond, to ask to sort of change our perspective on evangelism. You know, to look not so much at the hugeness of the task of making disciples, but actually the hugeness of Jesus. Not so much look at the hugeness of the task of making disciples, but the hugeness, look at the hugeness of Jesus. We can't obey verse 19 without understanding, accepting verse 18, so it's very helpful. Let's go back to verse 18. Verse 18, all authority on earth and in heaven, in heaven, sorry, and on earth, has been given to me. Let's break down this incredible verse and just dig a bit deeper. Because it really holds the key to us being disciple makers. So, firstly, let's look at all authority. So, what does authority mean? Authority is the right to act and the ability, the kind of the power to carry it out. Those two things go together. So, how can I make you understand a little bit about this? So let's look at things fairly relevant. Thomas Tuchel, okay? Right? As England manager, we know about him. Yeah, England manager, right? So you know also, particularly parents, uh, maybe some children, he's asked parents, give an excuse to schools for your children not being able to get to school in the morning on Monday because of watching England play football, right? That's what he's got out and said. Now, I'm not sure how you react to that. Um, you know, he may not uh really have the is an England manager, but he may actually arguably not have really the right to tell parents, and certainly not teachers, um, for children to have the day off school. But certainly he doesn't have the ability to carry that out. Isn't he? He's not gonna be able to go around the, you know, look that message from him, he hasn't got the cap the ability, the capacity, the power to carry out what he's saying. Not so he doesn't have that authority. Okay, let's look at someone else. Harry Kane. Okay, there he is. Harry Kane, England captain, just after uh winning against DR. Congo respect, I apologise for those sporting other teams, Ghana, Ecuador, and others. Sorry, guys, but never mind. You can you can all come behind us now. Um so so so Congo, okay. And it was an extraordinary moment that Captain Harry Kane got his team round, all looking at him, looking at them, looking at him there. And he said, Okay, after just having scored those goals and won it, he said, okay, and he'd scored them. No, he'd scored them, and he then said to them, okay, so we go again to win the next match. He actually could say, he had authority, the right to say that, and he had the capacity, because he's shown it already, to go and score those goals, to say we're gonna do it again. Do we get that? So in the Bible, authority actually is about that right, that ability, but it's also crucially, because when you're seeing and hearing the word authority, some of you may be thinking, it's not gone so well in this world, what I've experienced. It is also always in the Bible about for our good. You know, we we we struggle with authority, because authority is not often used for our good. It's often not used well in society. People use authority for their own use. You may well have sadly experienced that abuse of authority. And it's happened, we've seen in the media recently, about with police sadly abusing their positions of authority. Politicians, sadly, over uh many years have also abused their authority for their own interests and use. I mean, sadly, you'll notice pastors over in the in place and churches have also done that. And you know, you'll have experienced maybe even a parent uh of similarly in that situation and other relationships as well. Let's be clear, God hates the abuse of authority. It's the Bible's full of how he challenges that to harm rather than do good. Okay, but look, Jesus always uses his authority perfectly, lovingly to serve others. So let's carry on. We've had authority now. Look at authority in heaven and on earth. So firstly, authority in heaven. There's this unseen spiritual world, there are dark and evil spiritual forces we can't see. You know, Jesus says, I have authority in that realm. You know, the disciples and us, we need to know that because Jesus defeated Satan on the cross, he rose victorious. No spiritual force is too powerful for Jesus. You know, it's what when we were out and about we did the go thing yesterday, um, Michael, where's Michael? He's at the back. Michael wanted, there was a woman we came across who we met in Turkey Street, just down there, who was who believes in sorcery. And he wants, I can want you to know that don't trust in sorcery, but trust in Jesus, who's the boss. He's the ultimate authority, all authority in heaven. And no one has authority over Jesus on earth. You know, the most powerful presidents, the politicians, the parents, and pastors indeed. No one has authority over Jesus. Jesus rules over all for our good. He rules over the powers of this world, like addictions. I mean, we met uh Pastor John, who um is by little and he was struggling with being an alcoholic. Now, John and others need to know that Jesus as the Son of God has authority over the wind, the waves, over illness, over death, and power to forgive sins. Dying on the cross to save us from the punishment of eternal death that we deserve, so we can have eternal life with him, with our risen Lord. So Jesus with authority calls you to come to worship him and to go. And then the final bit of this is how he's been given to me. This authority has not been grabbed by Jesus, it's not been voted in for it, it's not won it, but it's been given to Jesus, the eternal Son of God, always from the very beginning, we know, had authority from the very, very beginning of the age. But God gave Jesus to go into this world. You know, we read in Philippians 2, you don't have to turn to it, verse 6. Rather, he made himself Nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. Incredible. Our Lord had all authority to be made in human likeness. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Then Jesus rose, has all authority. He's changed. With all authority, he's alive. Therefore, God exhorted him to the highest place and gave him the name that's above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So he has authority, all authority. And what have a look back then in Matthew 28? So he has all that authority on heaven and on earth. So therefore, that crucial word connecting, therefore, go. Only because of all that authority can we go. So we don't actually need to have the doubts like the 11 disciples had, like we may well often have. We don't have to feel that insecurity there, that worry, that worry maybe about what others think about what we're doing. Look to Jesus. Whenever you have that, and I'm not saying you're not going to have that, look to Jesus, who's the greatest, who has all authority, who says, You're mine, you are awesome, you are precious, who so much loves you that he died on the cross and then rose to life, conquering sin and death. Therefore, go. But maybe you know those doubtful disciples, maybe us, maybe we need extra assurance from what he just said about the doubts about going and making disciples of all nations. So we're listening at the very, very, very last words on earth. You see that in verse 20 here. Surely I am with you, always, to the very end of the age. That's wonderful. He's always with us. You know, when Abraham, Moses, and Gideon were told to go, they said, I can't, I can't do that. I can't, I can't do that. God said, I am with you. When Jonah said, when he's asked to go to Nineveh, I'm I won't do that. God said, I am with you. He's with you always to the very end of the age. You know, when I was in Armenia, I was um uh in March, I was facing the prospect of going there to speak to Iranians about the gospel. I I actually felt totally, what really am I doing here? I I felt pretty secure, it was out of my comfort zone. Uh you know, okay, hand out leaflets in Hartford Road, you know, not all of that's out of some people's comfort zone. It was yesterday, but I kind of can do that. I've been used to handing out leaflets to lots of people over my time. But but the streets of Yerevan to Iranians, you know, without speaking farcy, you know, the I was next to some supercharged, gifted Iranian and American evangelists. I thought, ooh. Well, God said to me with all authority, surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. So as we engage in making disciples, we know that Jesus is with us, he's there to equip us, to help us fishing through us. And this really is a privilege and a joy, whether in Yerevan or in Enfield. You know, Jesus don't get this, he's not make he's not raising up an army of activists, okay? This isn't sort of a marketing campaign he wants us to get out and do. He's calling an army of disciples, you know, full of our failings, full of our weaknesses. We need him to do that waggle dancing bee thing and together, buddy up together, to delight, to go and follow him, to keep connected to him, divine, yeah? So, second bit, go, we make disciples. Notice that Jesus doesn't command that we go and just save, but go that we make disciples. You know, yes, Jesus now, crucial, Jesus always saves us first, but then it doesn't end there. Our disciples, we're not just saved, okay, but we're saved for the purpose, the purpose to be more like Jesus, being discipled and then going and making other disciples. We're constantly waggling dancing guys. This is what we're doing all the time, okay. What does making disciples look like? It it you know, Jesus didn't say go and make clones, thankfully, okay? Go and he says go and make disciples. You know, there's a danger, isn't it? That we may think we're going to make people to be more like us, to agree with us and our particular cultural expressions of what it means to be a Christian. Look, around the world, if you traveled around with other disciples you'll see, it's a whole lot different in lots of other places. It's a whole lot different here. We are different. The way we express ourselves is different and culture different, and we must recognize that. We're not there being uh disciples of Gareth, okay? We're not there to dress and look like Gareth, right? Or me, or we're not there to just be disciples of John Piper or the Christian influence you're going to listen to, or Tim Keller, whatever. We're there to be disciples of Jesus. We've got to really particularly check ourselves on this sometimes. Our role, Gareth and mine, is to teach you, and that's important, is you do is to be taught what Jesus says about his greatness and his authority, to point you to the great saviour and great teacher. And as you and I go to make disciples, our collective job is to talk about Jesus and keep pointing people to Jesus as we make disciples. And so, what does it mean? Look at verse 20. It means teaching, verse 20, to obey all of what Jesus taught. Not all of that's going to be easy, actually, it's not going to be always popular. But when Jesus says go make disciples, it's not actually saying go make theologians. With respect to theologians, Oak Hill College and everything else, going, but we do need them, right? But he Jesus said, We want to fill our hearts and minds, uh, not just fill our heads with biblical knowledge, but we are called, yes, of course, we're called to fill our minds to be, in a sense, to be them, to we're called to have the mind of Christ, but don't just settle with just filling our minds, right? We sometimes I I'm guilty of this. I go in into here, listening things, sermons. I can just want to fill my mind. When you come to this church and other churches and listen in during the week and you read the Bible, listen to the preaching, we're not wanting you just to be more knowledgeable. Say, what have I what do I know more about now? We want you to be more like Christ. You know, Jesus talks in verse 20 about obeying him, actually, not just knowing him. So ask yourself, whenever you open God's word, not what have I learnt, but what will our Lord by his spirit change? John T. Alcock has helpfully said as he preached on this, he said, it's not about information, it's about transformation. It's not about brains being full, but hearts being full and lives being changed. You know, discipling is not a solo activity at all. We learned that from the honeybee already, it's a shared one. These honeybees, wagwald dancing, they couldn't survive alone. We can't disciple alone. Think of you now. As you think now, and you may want to just squiggle down or just put in your mind. Think of who disciple, maybe one or two people, maybe a particular connection of people. Who discipled you? Who cared for you? Who pointed you to Jesus? Who taught you how to open up God's words, to pray, to love others. You know, this isn't actually cool here for Gareth for me, us just to go and make disciples, or just the go team to go. It's not about that. It's the whole church family. We're not here just to cheer everyone on, go on, great, go on, great job, go and make disciples. Well, no, that's not what it's about. What Jesus is saying is that it's not a spectator sport, it's a team game. Jesus is saying, disciples here in Turkey Street Church family, us guys, girls, this is us. We go and make disciples. So I'd ask you the question, and this is where you've got the opportunity to fill in things. Who are you going to disciple this week, today, tomorrow, next week? Who are you going to disciple? And in fact, here, who are you going to be part of helping to support, continue to be disciples into making a disciple? You may think to yourself, I don't know enough. You do because Jesus is with you. You may think to yourself, I just I'm not strong enough. You are because Jesus is with you. You may think you haven't got time, you have got time. Jesus is with you. And you know, discipling does take time, it takes engagement, it takes sharing life. And that is actually why we have things like community lunch for us to do life together, to share. This is us discipling each other, okay, encouraging each other to go. It's why we do grow groups, it's why we have other opportunities to disciple one another, and it's why we of we have the go um once a month as well. But how about the other times? When you just can have an opportunity to meet up or just bump into a friend, someone at the school gate or a neighbor, and you can point them to Jesus this week. But none of this can be done without Jesus. You know, we all have that role to play, to pray for each other. Like you know, rescuing someone from a cave, there'll be those that need to hang, hold on the rope while someone else is going down the cave. We're all in this, right? So finally, just finally and briefly, Jesus says, Go and make disciples of all nations. So maybe you've just about come around to the task of okay, disciple making, yeah, I'm up for that. I'll try and do what I can with my neighborhood. But all nations. All nations, really? And Jesus was reminding those disciples that Jesus came for all, you know, whatever culture, whatever people group, whatever nation, Jesus came for you. So we need to put on, and younger ones and older ones, we need to put on all uh all nations gospel glasses. Can we do this? I've got glasses here. Can we do this? Can we get a hand? And some people like Leo, Leander Trossard and others can do it like this the other way around. I can't, my fingers can't do it. But if you that's it, go like Vava. That's it. Vava, show us all. Really cool. I can't do that. My hands are level. Great. Some gold, I want some glasses, gospel glasses on, okay? Okay, these are all nations gospel glasses, okay? Right? Whenever I say all nations glasses, you're gonna put your hands up by your glasses? Right, that's it, okay. Jesus was given all authority over all earth. You can put your glasses down. Every corner, you or you can do it up, it's up to you. Every corner of the world, everyone needs to know that he is Lord of all. So as these disciples, right, they were on the mountain, they could see, how far could they see? Okay, I looked into this, right? I did this. They could see the Sea of Galilee, the the um the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights, they couldn't see across the nations, right? They need to get their all nations, let's have it, all nations, gospel glasses on, to see to the ends of the earth. Now, how far can you see, right? Okay, I'm not asking you to answer that question, right? What is your vision to see? Is it to just actually stay at home, right? Where is you maybe to your comfort zone? It maybe is it is it just to people that are a bit like you, that look like you, that have got your background, your age, your ethnicity. Sometimes we do just stick in with our own clan. It's go and make disciples to all nations. You know, Jesus not saying ignore those like you. There's often a good reason why people are look like you can can engage and connect with people like you. That's good. But don't just settle for that. Jesus is asking us to do more than that. Like, disciple, where are you disciple making? You know, not just in Galilee, but where is your Judea, your Samaria, and to the ends of the earth? You know, we've got quite rightly, we've got we've got we're committed, we've got around the wall saying, you know, we're going to love God, love our neighbours in Baltimore and Elsinge, in and around the area. That's our focus, rightly, for making disciples. That's our our Galilee. But what about, okay, we've got Turkey Street, then we've got Enford. What about London? Now there are residents in London from pretty much every corner of the world. According to the last sentence, nearly a hundred different countries have diaspora of 5,000 people or more living in London. We actually don't have to go too far to to have all nations in and around us. Or further afield, you know, at the end we've got this map I put up at the back. Just you just don't have to stand up, but you can look back. There's this lovely map by Alfreena, just at the back there. Okay, so during coffee, right? Or lunch or whatever, I want you to uh think about, well think about now, but think prayer if you think about, okay, and use these stickers, and I've started already, uh, where you've got a heartfelt concern, or where you've got a particular connection or interest or connection with another nation. I know there's a number that do have that, around uh uh beyond the United Kingdom, okay? So as we seek to have all nations gospel glasses, we want to share our church families, our church families, mission heart. You know, some have really got that heart, a particular people group, uh, ethnicity, an area. You know, we've got that's why Andy and Joyce have helped encourage us to partner with the Tinkers in Asia. It's why I know Chinamea, we prayed about Chinamea in Nepal. Um, but how about you? How about you? You know, I um just uh I went to a boat on a boat uh on Tuesday, um uh Logless Hope, okay, docked, okay, um, by the Excel Center. And uh extraordinary boat, it's uh biggest floating bookshop in the world, they've had nine million visitors over the years, it's extraordinary. Um, dedicated to world mission. Now, on that I met a number of volunteers. One of those was actually from Ghana, actually, interestingly. And I said to him, if I was going to preach about this, right, make disciples of all nations, what as you as a Ghanaian would you particularly want to do? Where'd your heart and concern? He he actually spoke about, well, for me, it would be um North North uh uh Ghana, it would be uh Burkina Faso, it'd be Mali, be Niger, be Long of Sahel. That was his concern. Now, you you would that's just to kind of help you make you think about what would be, where's your heart for the the world mission? Some of you though may it should be called to world mission to go, like on this ship, to go to another country, to support others doing mission. We must do that, we must part of that prayer free financially. We want to we'd love as a church to send out people from this church family to world mission. Let's think about it. Maybe that's you. It may be you to think about that. It's often never the best time to do that. But I'd we're gonna just plant that with you and talk to Gareth and myself about that. So, but all of us can pray to put on those nation, all nations gospel glasses. Can we do that? Yeah, because Jesus had authority given to him over heaven and earth. But finally, mostly, we're gonna be in Enfield, aren't we? So, Enfield, as far as we say go, Enfield has lots of nations. It's got like 75 nation citizens all on our doorstep. There's uh the there's the stats there, you can look at those later. Loads of nations here, and you may be the only Christian on your street who bumps into someone from another nation who has never had a contact with a Christian. You it's you there. You can be praying for them, sharing your life with them, loving them, and pointing to Jesus. You know, as we just finish now, I want you to write down, specifically, you can do this. Everyone's got a piece of paper or um a phone, write down some, a neighbor, a friend. You could say, even if you don't know their name, you could say neighbor number 22 or whatever person I bump into at on at the bus stop. And then commit to pray for them this week for an opportunity to speak to them about Jesus, maybe to invite them to church or to community hub, or maybe find a way with other Christian friends to just go be with them and tell them a bit more about him. And above all though, let's commit that we will just pray and pray for each other as we seek to go and make disciples of all nations. Let's just spend a bit of time of quietness, invite the band to come up, um, and we're gonna just uh continue to uh sing about that task unfinished. Let's pray. Dear Father, we just pray for we thank you so much, Father, that you have authority. You have authority given to you uh in heaven and on earth. Thank you so much, Father, that because of that we can have the privilege and the joy, like those first disciples, to go make disciples of all nations. Father, we pray that we will continue to be dependent on you. Father, we will continue to lean on you. And Father, you help us this week uh to speak to friends and neighbors or family members about your wonderful love for them. In Jesus' name. Amen.