(audio cuts out) And so they would be like, "Pastor Peter, Pastor Peter!" And then, you know, like, yeah, of course I would turn around too, but then my first reaction would be like, "Oh, don't say that! "Like, who's saying that?" I just wanna say that I'm very appreciative of SBK and very thankful for just how he's been coming out to China and supporting our work and, you know, just being a good friend and older brother to us.

And I also wanna thank you guys as a church for supporting us, for praying for us. It's been really, really wonderful to have your guys' support as well. I just wanted to share this one quick little thing. It was really good to see all the children up front, right?

And I noticed that one of the children's was named Jedediah. And I was like, "Oh, man, that was the name "that I wanted to name my son." But Pauly didn't let me. (audience laughing) I was like, and then also our parents couldn't pronounce it. (audience laughing) I've been out in China for the past five years, and I noticed that a lot of things in America have changed.

And one of the things that I noticed was that, you know, I would hear from different people that may come and visit us, or as I came back, I would hear just from different friends about this word that's been kind of popular these days, and the word is missional.

And a lot of people say that they wanna be a missional church. They say that we wanna live a missional lifestyle. Have you guys heard of this term before? I don't know if you have or not. But this idea of being missional is like being kind of intentional. And we've heard a lot of these types of terms in the past, like we wanna be a missional church, we wanna be a healthy church, we wanna be an intentional person, we wanna be a church with a vision, or maybe some of us have heard, you know, I wanna be more passionate.

These are all carrying the same idea, and we understand the meaning of it, of this word missional, but I feel like maybe it's not very helpful, it's not necessary to use this word. Missions, for a long while, was specifically defined as Christian ministry done cross-culturally. Missions is about going to a place that is not your home, that has a different culture, maybe a different language.

Going to a completely different place that you don't know about, that you haven't grown up in, and doing God's work there. That's what missions is about. Now, if we use this idea missional in our lives, it could kinda confuse the idea, the definition of missions. And I think that it could also possibly elevate missions as this spiritual, highly spiritual activity.

Because, you know, we say we wanna be missional, and so it means like, oh, because people that go out on missions, it's such an important thing, and it's such a spiritual thing, and so we kinda elevate missions like that. Or, it can actually lower the idea of missions, because we say, you know, we could be missional anywhere.

Wherever we go, we could be missional here, and so we don't necessarily need to go overseas. In any case, I feel like we don't necessarily need to use this word missional. We could just use the word that we've always used, and that is, we need to be people in a church that make disciples.

You may recognize today's passage. Today's passage comes from Matthew chapter 28. If you have your Bibles or your cell phone Bible apps, please open up to Matthew chapter 28, and verses 18 to 20. You guys may recognize this passage as a passage that's maybe spoken a lot on during like mission send-offs, or when a pastor wants to speak on missions, and it's good, it's a good thing.

Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 to 20. A lot of us know this passage as the Great Commission. And we'll find today that the Great Commission is actually the work that all churches and individuals who are followers of Christ should be involved in. All of us should be involved in it.

And so, this is the reading of God's word. Matthew chapter 28, verse 18 to 20. 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." Let's pray. God, we thank you so much that you are the God of this universe, you are the God of this whole world, and we know that people all around the world are worshiping you today.

Lord, I know that my friends in China have already worshiped you hours ago. And Lord, I know that many others have been worshiping you during that time. And Lord, and now it's our turn to come before you today to worship you, to hear your word. And I pray, Lord, that everyone here, as we look to your word, that you would teach us, that you would grow us, and Lord, that we may understand and obey you.

And so, we lift this time up to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (congregation applauding) Before we look at the actual command of this passage, I started today's passage by looking at verse 18. And a lot of other people, when they speak from this passage, they may start from verse 19.

But I started from verse 18, and I want us to look at that verse 18 again. It says, "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." If we think about the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew was largely written to a Jewish community, largely a Jewish community.

And when we look at the book of Matthew, we'll see that, we can see that there are a lot of passages that refer to the Old Testament. There are a lot of references that may make more sense to a Jewish audience than to a Gentile audience. We see that through the book of Matthew, we see that Jesus is the Messiah that was to come.

And towards the end of the book of Matthew, we see that Jesus Christ was, suffered. He had his passion, he suffered. And then he died on the cross, he was crucified. And then in the last chapter, in chapter 28, we find that Jesus Christ, okay, I have to say this.

I've been in China for five years, and my English has gone down a little bit. So please excuse me if I stutter a little bit. We find that in chapter 28, Jesus Christ, he rises again from the dead. And Jesus comes and appears before all of his disciples, and he says, "All authority in heaven and on earth "has been given to me.

"I have conquered sin, I have conquered death. "I am the true Messiah that was to come. "I am the king, I am the king of all kings, "and I come before you, my disciples, "as the king to give you this command." And so as the king gives us a command, we find that the Great Commission is not just something that we listen to, and maybe it's what the missionaries do overseas.

We find that this is a law for us. This is something that we must do. All of us must be involved in, and it's something that we need to constantly be conscious about in our everyday lives. So what is the command that Jesus gives to us? In verse 19, it says, "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." This is the command, to go and make disciples of all nations.

And then it says, it says make disciples of all nations. You know, a lot of times we think of this as like going overseas somewhere, but it doesn't necessarily have to mean that. What it could mean is, go and make disciples wherever you go, wherever you are, in your workplaces, at home, wherever you are.

Make disciples. And how do we make disciples? The passage tells us, how do we make disciples? It says, "Baptizing them in the name of the Father, "and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, "and also teaching them to obey." Okay, how do we make disciples? The first step is that we need to baptize them.

And baptizing them doesn't necessarily mean just like, you know, hey, baptized, boom, you know? Baptizing means that you need to go through the process of evangelizing to them, of being a witness to people that don't believe yet. Baptizing them incorporates this whole process of working with people that don't believe, so that they may come to believe, so that they may be baptized, and recognized as a believer in Jesus Christ.

Now, I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail about baptism or evangelism. There are a lot of other times that we could talk about this. But the Great Commission, I wanna say that the Great Commission is not just about evangelism. The Great Commission is not just about going somewhere and telling people about Jesus Christ.

Because in the second portion in verse 20, Jesus also says, "And teaching them to obey everything "I have commanded you." The Great Commission is also about teaching what Jesus Christ has commanded. These two things, baptizing, evangelizing, and bringing them to Christ, and also teaching them and growing them, is all part of the Great Commission.

And so how is this fulfilled, especially the teaching aspect? It's primarily done through the church. Every single Sunday, a message, a sermon is given teaching us what Christ has taught us. And that's why the message, the sermon, is so important. I can't stress this enough. What our pastors do coming up here and teaching us God's word is an important, an extremely important thing, and through that, the Great Commission is being fulfilled.

Because the message teaches us, the sermon teaches us how to view this world, how to act in our daily lives, how to look at this world through God's eyes, how to live in God's ways. But not only is discipleship done through the speaking of God's word, not only is discipleship done through the teaching on the pulpit, but discipleship is also done through our live examples, through how we live our lives in front of other people.

Let's look at Jesus. Let's look at his example. Jesus Christ was with his disciples for three years. Jesus Christ was with his disciples, and the disciples followed him wherever he went. They saw him sleep. They knew how he slept. They saw how he woke up early in the morning and prayed, how at times he distanced himself from them and took time to pray.

He saw how he, the disciples saw how Jesus Christ went to those that were poor, that were sick. They saw how he went to the sinners, to their homes, and ate with them. Jesus Christ was an example to them. The disciples weren't just learning through what Jesus taught. They were also learning through everything that Jesus Christ did.

And so we, all of us here, are making disciples by what we do as well. What we do carries a message as well. Not only do we need to teach people, but the passage says that we need to teach them to obey. We know that it's important for us to obey.

Not just to hear, I mean, it's good. It's good for us to gain more knowledge of the word. It's good for us to come on Sundays and listen to the message, to come on Wednesdays or Thursdays or Fridays to gain more knowledge of the word. But it's important for us to not only learn about it, but also obey.

In James chapter two, verses 14 to 20, it says this. What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed, and be filled, yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without the works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one? You do well.

The demons also believe and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? We may have a lot of knowledge about God's word, and we may have the knowledge of the gospel, but if you're not carrying it out in obedience, then all of that means nothing.

We can also see what Christ says in John chapter 14, verse 15. Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And so we see that obedience to Christ is also an expression of love for God. And so it's important for us to remember that in carrying out the great commission, we need to teach people, even through our life examples, and teach them to obey.

In this passage, we see that discipleship, making disciples, encompasses the whole process of bringing an unbeliever to believe in Jesus Christ, to be baptized, all the way to the point of becoming a mature believer, teaching them to obey everything that Jesus Christ has commanded, all the way to the point of becoming a mature believer.

This whole process is what the great commission is about. What that means is that all of us are still in the process of being made disciples. And what that also means is that all of us are in the process and should be in the process of making disciples. Now remember, we're not disciples of the person who discipled us, nor are we the master teacher of the ones we disciple.

We're not the person that is their teacher, their master of some sorts. Rather, we are all disciples of Christ, and we make disciples of Christ, meaning we wanna cause people to follow Christ. The easy part in some ways is bringing a person to Christ, to share the gospel with them, and they may come to believe.

That part is perhaps the easier part. The hard part is discipling them up. In China, I was part of campus ministry, and I was involved in evangelism and bringing a lot of people to believe in Jesus Christ. Not a lot, some. And as we did bring some people to Christ, we wanted to plug them into the churches that already existed there.

But one of the things that we found out was that the churches that exist there, they have a hard time discipling these people so that these people can come to maturity. One of the huge needs that still exists in China is a need for mature older brothers and sisters, mature in the faith, I mean, older brothers and sisters to go and be mentors and examples for the many believers in China.

You know, I was surprised to see that a lot of the people that I met that were in the church in China, a lot of them had only been a Christian for two years, three years, you know, less than five years. So there's this huge need that still exists in China for people to be examples over there.

Discipleship is so important. Now, I wanna focus on this idea of discipleship, and I wanna come to the first application question that I wanna ask you guys. And that is, if discipleship is so important, then whose disciple are you, first of all? Whose disciple are you? Whatever you surround yourself with, you become a disciple of it.

Whatever you let your ears or your eyes see often, you become a disciple of it. Do you watch sports all the time? You become a disciple of that. I know people that can quote every statistic. You become a disciple of that. Always looking at the needs for your children, you become a disciple of your child.

Always watch some TV show. I have a friend right now, on Facebook I saw his update, and he was like, "I just started watching Game of Thrones. "Oh, what am I doing?" And he kinda did it, I mean, he put it on Facebook, he kinda did it to brag.

Are you watching a lot of TV shows, or constantly filling your mind with that? You become a disciple of that. Are you always online, always on your phone, looking at Facebook? You become a disciple of that. Being a disciple is being a student of that person or object, causing you to begin to believe in their beliefs, their wants, and their desires.

So how are you as a disciple of Christ? But before I ask you this question, before I ask how are you as a disciple of Christ, I wanna ask, what else are you a disciple of? What else are you a disciple of? I had a friend a long time ago, about 10 years ago.

He loved Apple products. And he would be like, "Man, you're still using your PC? "What's wrong with you? "You should get an Apple product. "Look at my sleek, doesn't it look so nice?" And he's just talking about his computer, and then later on, iPhones and stuff. He was an Apple evangelist.

Like, are you a disciple of Apple? Are you a disciple of, I don't know, music? What are you filling your ears with? Are you a disciple of the latest TV show? Are you a disciple of work? Or how about Disneyland? The trouble is not that we don't believe in Jesus Christ.

The problem is that we believe in Jesus Christ and something else. It's kind of like the Hindus in India. You know, I went to India, and we said, like, "Believe in Jesus Christ." And they believe in all these gods, right? They believe in all these different gods. We say, "Believe in Jesus Christ." And they're like, "Okay." (audience laughs) Right?

Because they believe that, you know, they could have as many gods as they want, as long as they could find a way to get to their place where they wanna go. If you are a true disciple of Christ, your thoughts, your decisions, your actions should be solely for Christ.

And as a result, surprising to unbelievers. It should be unexpected. And it may be sometimes offensive to them. And sometimes it may be attractive. While I was in China, I was leading a Bible study. And there were, at that time, there were about eight people. It was a small group.

And that time, I was teaching them about what it is to be a follower of Christ, about counting the cost. And I was teaching them that, you know, like, I'm so looking forward to meeting Christ. I'm not afraid of death. You know, I'm not. And, you know, like, I was even telling them, I was like, you know, a long time ago, even before I was married, I used to tell people that if Christ came back, it's okay.

I don't have to get married before Christ comes back. You know, some people are like, "God, please let me get married first "before you come back." Right? For me, it was like, I don't have to. I'm so looking forward to seeing Jesus Christ. But then, like, across from me, I remember there's this one girl.

There are college students there. There's one girl, and she was like, every time she heard some of these comments, she was like. (audience laughing) Like, it was kind of distracting. I had to look somewhere else while I was teaching. (audience laughing) These things that we learn from Jesus Christ are things that should be surprising to this world.

These things are things that we need to learn and obey. And the question I wanna ask is, whose disciple are you? Have you considered the cost? In Matthew chapter eight, it talks about considering the cost. Jesus says, you might not have a place to sleep. Jesus says, you might not be able to, you may need to forego your plans.

You may need to forego your plans about caring for your parents, even. How are you as a disciple of Christ? Is your life filled with good deeds? In Matthew chapter five, it talks about that. It says, are you causing people to praise God because of your good deeds? Is that you?

Are you honest and genuine in your profession? Are you honest with your relationships? Are you honest with your family members? In Matthew five, it says, let your yes be yes. Don't make fake promises. In Matthew chapter six, it talks about prayer. How genuine is your prayer? I know for me, for a long time, when I pray, especially before a meal, right, I pray the same exact prayer all the time.

But, you know, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. My son does that, he prays the exact same prayer every time. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but I'm asking, is your prayer genuine when you pray that prayer? In Matthew six, Jesus talks about, are you forgiving others? As a disciple of Christ, I think this is one of the hardest things, especially if you've had an experience in your past where someone has hurt you really bad.

Especially in the past if someone has like, especially if they're like your close friend and they backstabbed you in some way. Or maybe your husband or your wife did something recently. Or maybe it might be someone in the congregation. You know, are you forgiving them? 'Cause Jesus Christ calls us to forgive them.

Are you willing to love your enemies? You know, is there someone in your past that, like every time you see them, you feel like awkward around them because of something that happened in the past? Are you willing to love them still? Are you willing to forgive them? What about money?

As a disciple of Christ, are you a good steward of your money? Are you giving offering faithfully? Or what about overseas, we hear about children that are suffering. And there are organizations that are working to see Christ preached to them. Are you using your finances to live out your faith?

Supporting those things as well. How are you as a disciple of Christ? In Matthew chapter six also, Jesus Christ says, "Don't worry about your life." Do you worry? Do you worry about your future? Do you stress about things to the point that you become disabled? Are you constantly filled with fear about relationships?

Are you fearful of the future? Are you fearful that someone might hurt you? Jesus Christ says, "Don't worry." How are you as his disciple? And are you willing to suffer for Christ? Jesus says, "All men will hate you." A lot of people will hate us as believers because of Jesus.

Take a look at your lives. Are you a disciple of Christ? Or are you a disciple of Christ and something else? Not only are we called to be disciples ourselves, but we are also called to make disciples of Christ. And it's not just through Bible studies. Again, it is primarily done through, the teaching of God's word is done through the messages on Sundays.

And we get to learn through Bible studies. But making disciples is not only done through this. It's also done through our actions. Our actions, our reactions, will teach and will be examples for others how to act and react in any given situation as a believer. An easy way to think about this, about how we might affect other people, how we might influence other people.

An easy way to think about this is when we think about children. My son, Timothy, he loves to copy what I do. And my daughter, Claire, who's only one, she's also beginning to copy us. And for example, there was one night, my daughter, Claire, I was sitting with my daughter, and then also my mom was there, her grandmother.

And my mom, she just, you know, she yawned. She was like, (gasps) right? And then my daughter, she saw that, she's only one, and she goes, (gasps) (laughs) And she doesn't know what she's doing, but then she's copying. You know, all of us, we are all, in some ways, products of what we surround ourselves with, or what we have been surrounded by.

Our families influence us a lot. You know, you could tell by, if you look at siblings, sometimes they laugh exactly the same way, right? Our parents, you know, they've taught us how to laugh, how to talk, how to walk, how to eat, what table manners are, and kids imitate their parents.

Anything and everything that we are has been a result of influence by others. And so, we are able to do the same for others. We are able to be an example in that way to others, and in this way, we are also making disciples. So through your actions, I'm asking you today, the second application question is, how are you teaching people to obey Christ?

How are you, as one who makes disciples of Christ, what are you teaching, even just through your actions, or maybe through your words as well? What are you teaching others? How are you making disciples of others? How are, what are you teaching to your coworkers about what a Christian is about?

You know, I worked for three years before I went into the seminary, and during that time, like I know, it's easy to cut corners. It's easy to try to get your way out of a project. How are you as a disciple of Christ before them? What are you teaching them?

What about in your family? What are you teaching your brother or your sister? How about your parents? What are you teaching your children? I mean, especially when I think about my son, there are times that my handsome son can be a little brat, right? And I have to discipline him.

But then every time I discipline him, the way that I do it, he's gonna learn that's what discipline is about, and he may grow up to do the exact same thing. What am I teaching to my children? (silence) How are you making disciples of your fellow church members, your brothers and sisters?

There's one thing that I noticed that has changed over the past five years. You know, I was gone for five years, and I came back, and I was really surprised to see how people's views have changed on same-sex marriage. Just their views on homosexuality. If we think about maybe five years ago before I left, or even 10 years ago, I remember that the state of California, we voted twice against same-sex marriage.

Maybe three times, I don't remember, but I know at least for sure, two times, we voted against it. This Democrat state voted against same-sex marriage twice. But now today, what do I find? I come back and I find that people think that same-sex marriage is okay, or at least don't care about it.

Just kind of thinking, oh, you know, that's what they do, but you know, whatever. And then when we find, you know, like some churches, like the PCUSA, they decided that they would recognize same-sex marriage. How are we making disciples of Christ with this kind of mindset? How are we making disciples of Christ?

What's important to you? What are the things that you talk about all the time to people? Is it sports? I mean, I bring this up over and over because I know people talk about it a lot. Is it sports that you talk about all the time? Well, what do you talk about?

Is it complaints about your work or your family? What do you talk about all the time? Is it the worries of your life about finances or your future or your kid's future? What is it that you're always talking about? What are your reactions to people that fight each other?

These are, I saw on the news recently that there are these two ladies in some store, and they got into it. They got into a fight. And it was surprising. One of the ladies, she was actually in one of those, I don't know what it's called, the ee. What is that called?

I don't know what it's called. It's like a mobile wheelchair, I don't know. And she actually got up and started fighting this other lady. And then one of the ladies actually had a son with her, and then the son wasn't like, oh. The son was grabbing a shampoo bottle and cracking it on the other lady's head, and the kid was like, yeah, yeah, get 'em, Mom.

As Christians, if we saw that, what would we do? Is that okay? I mean, we're called to be peacemakers, right? What would we do? I mean, I thought it was only happening in China, but it happens here also. You know when people fight or something happens? People pull out their cell phones and they start taking pictures instead of helping them.

How are you making disciples? What are the things that you show to the people around you about what a disciple of Christ is? I mean, what's okay with you? What's, I mean, it's like, you know, I know, I know, some Christians, they might kinda not like this kinda stuff, but it's okay with me, you know, it's okay.

What's okay with you? Or maybe what's not okay with you? How are you as a disciple maker of Christ? Everything that you say and do can carry a message to people around you as to what a follower of Christ is. And it may be a correct message, and it may be an incorrect message, but in the end, you are representing Christ as his follower and teaching others what a follower of Christ looks like.

So again, how are you as a maker of disciples? Now, when I think about this idea about how I need to be a disciple myself and how I need to make disciples of others, and I think about my life and just how I carry myself every day. I mean, it's such a huge burden.

I mean, again, like my example about discipling, I mean, not discipling, disciplining my son, there's like a fine line between like, you know, don't do that, don't do, being firm, and fits of rage, like, I told you not to do that, right? There's this fine line there, and it's something that all of us need to be thinking about.

This responsibility, this, man, it's such a huge burden, almost. And when I think about it, for me personally, it could be very intimidating. Now, I just wanna express to you guys that I'm not saying that I know how to do this perfectly. I'm not saying that I'm a disciple of Christ and I got it all together.

I still struggle. I struggle as a person. I struggle as a parent. I struggle to be a good husband. I struggle to be a good pastor, or even just a witness. I struggle still. And I need, as much as you guys, I need mature believers around me to help me as well, to be examples for me as well.

Because I'm not sure that I'm representing Christ in the right way, to my coworkers, to my family, to my wife, to my children. I'm not sure that I'm representing Christ in the right way. And the thing is that God calls us, Jesus Christ calls us to be perfect. And I realize that I utterly fail.

I constantly, constantly fail. Not only do I fail in my actions in front of people, but I fail even in my own heart to be pure and holy. I fail to be a disciple of Christ myself. But then that's where the last sentence is so important in our passage today.

It's a promise to us that Jesus gives to us. Jesus says, "Surely I'm with you always "to the very end of the age." And Jesus, as he's saying this, you can kind of imagine what he's saying. He's saying, "Look, remember, I'm the king. "All authority in heaven and on earth "has been given to me." Why?

Because I conquered sin, I conquered death. I already paid the price so that you might live. I have paid the price for all your errors. And you know what? All your sins in the future, I paid for them also. Whatever mistakes that you're gonna make, whatever errors you make, I paid for them also.

I already died for you. I will not reject you. I am always with you, even to the end of the age. That's what Jesus Christ says. You see, in the end, what we see is that being a disciple is about understanding and accepting his grace that came about only through the painful and brutal sacrifice of the lamb.

Making disciples then is about portraying our response to grace and causing others as well to respond to such amazing grace, whether it be to non-believers or to believers. I desire to do this wherever God leads me, whether here or in China. May we all as individuals and as a church hear the call of the Great Commission and make disciples wherever we are.

Let's pray. Father God, I thank you so much for your amazing grace. I thank you so much for your love. But even as we call ourselves disciples of Christ, there are many times that we still fail. But I thank you so much that the work on the cross is finished and that we're able to come before you confidently.

And so Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters here as well would you be working in their lives, in their hearts, in their minds. And Lord, may they be people that make disciples of yours. And I pray Lord that even when we fail, 'cause there are times, a lot of times that we fail, Lord would you remind us of your amazing grace and help us Lord in response to your grace to continue to live for you.

I thank you dear Lord and I pray these things in Jesus Christ's name, amen.