Well, good morning. If I haven't met you before, my name is Michael Rhodes. I have the privilege of being one of the pastors at Veritas. It's been a while since I've been up here, and it is a sweet day, right? It's a sweet day. How good is our God? Didn't know this was coming from the beginning here. You know, probably, I don't even know, two years ago or more. We're praying through what it could look like to have a church here and to see God's faithfulness. To see God's faithfulness not just in a building, but in a people. To see so many of you that have sacrificed a lot so that more people. More people would behold our God. Because that's what this is about. Because that's how awesome our God is. Sorry, this is totally unplanned right here. Oh. Oh, I'm so thankful to be here. Thanks, Rose. My sleeve was about to be a dirty mess. If I can get these open. Yeah, just a really sweet day just celebrating our God. And so we're not going to have a new sermon series starting today, guys, because we're going to continue in this rhythm series that we've been in, and we're going to continue in it because the mission hasn't changed. You got a building. Awesome. Got the same mission, though. Same mission is true. And so this is what I want to put before you to begin with. It's a picture that we get of heaven because today can be a day that we celebrate. And this is really sweet. And this is. It is. And I don't want to diminish that fact, but this is the picture that we get of heaven. In Revelation, chapter 7, verses 9 and 10, it says this. After this, I looked and behold a great multitude that no one can number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Guys, that's what we all can't wait to see. So much better than even us sitting in this room today. Why? Because it's not just people from this region of the country. It's not just people from America, but there are people from every nation and tribe and people and languages standing and worshiping our great God. And this is what this is about. Like, pause and just think about that for a second. Get that vision in your head because it's so much greater than what's happening in this room right now? We all stand before a holy, mighty God, an awesome God. And it's not just us, but it's people, languages and tribes and nations worshiping him because he's awesome. How in the world do we get there? How do we get to that point? Is it through a new building? No, no, not at all. There's a bigger mission than us just having another building, having our own building. There's a bigger mission. And Jesus said it this way in Matthew, chapter 28. This is a familiar passage, or many of you, but this is Jesus, and he's lived his life. He's died, he's been buried, and he rose again. The one that has authority over death. He stands before his disciples, and they're standing on a mountain. And he gives his final words. And final words are really important. And this is what Jesus said. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Again, the authority of the one who has just conquered death. If anybody has authority, here's a guy who has authority to say something. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. So God in all his Jesus in all his authority, says, hey, I'm gonna give you a mission, disciples. And here's the mission. I want you to go and make disciples. I want you to make disciples. And there's kind of three components of this mission here for Jesus. There's the going, there's the baptizing, and there's the teaching. But the command is, I want you to go make disciples. And when you go make disciples, part of this mission is for you to go. You are to live your life on mission for me. And this Great commission isn't just about raising up mature disciples. This is about I'm going to send you out as everyday missionaries. And this great commission is both evangelism and discipleship. I want you to go, and ultimately, I want you to tell people about me. And when you tell people about me, I want them to associate with me and say, my life is going to be all about following Jesus. And when that happens, you're to help them proclaim what they believe about me through the waters of baptism. So you're going to go and you're going to share the gospel with People who do not know Jesus, they're going to associate with Jesus and they're going to be baptized. But you don't leave them at the waters of baptism. You teach them and raise them up into mature disciples and you teach them all that he commanded. Teach them to observe that. And you go, man, that seems big. That seems hard. Seems a lot easier just to get a new building. But the encouraging words are at the very end of that, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Jesus isn't leaving his disciples alone. He's going to send the Holy Spirit to be their comforter, to be their guide. But some of you may be sitting there this morning, you may go, man, this mission seems overwhelming. Like if we're going to have a rhythm of mission in our lives that seems a little overwhelming, seems a little confusing. I don't know what that baptism and teaching thing means, and it sure seems like it's something for somebody more spiritual than me. So what does this disciple making mission look like? Church? How can you live out the mission of God in your everyday life? As a plumber, as a farmer, as a teacher, as a mom, as a dad, as a middle school student, as a high school student? This is not just this mission that Jesus has given his closest followers. He's given it to all his followers. But what does that look like? How are we supposed to live this out as a normal person in eastern Iowa? How are you to live out the mission of God in your everyday life? That's what we're going to wrestle with this morning. What does that look like? So if you've got a Bible, turn with me to second Timothy. Second Timothy, chapter two. Some of you are like, whoa, that was just your introduction. Yep. Second Timothy, chapter two. This is, this is Paul. The Apostle Paul is writing this letter to his young disciple Timothy. And most likely this is his last letter that he's written. So here's an older guy who's lived a lot of life, he's followed Jesus for a long time, and he's writing words to Timothy to say, hey, Timothy, I need you to pay attention. I've learned some things over the years and I'm going to tell you what's important. Somebody on their deathbed is not just talking about surface level things and the weather and the score of the football game, right? There's far more important things in life when you're on your deathbed or you're getting close to the end of your life that you want to talk about. And this is what Paul is going to tell Timothy, hey, I need you to pay attention. I need you to pay attention to this. So he's going to tell Timothy, what does this look like to live out this mission. So, second Timothy, chapter two. We're going to start with verse two. And it says, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also what you have heard from me. Again, Paul telling young Timothy, the preacher, this is what you need to do. And there's four layers of people that kind of show up in this verse. You have Paul, the one teaching. He says, timothy, what you heard from me. So, Paul and Timothy, I want you, Timothy, to take what I taught you and I want you to entrust it to faithful men, third layer of people. But I don't want it to stop there. Paul, Timothy, faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Four layers, four generations of people living out this mission. Someone else taught you heard it, but it didn't stop with you. You entrusted it to others and they'll teach others also. And that idea of entrust there is to commit something to somebody. So, Timothy, you've heard something. Now I want you to commit to giving that to somebody else. And the word really means to deposit it. What you are doing is you are making a spiritual investment into somebody else's life. That is the mission that we are on. Disciple making is a spiritual investment into the lives of others. Jesus said it like this in Matthew chapter four. He's calling his first disciples, those fishermen, remember? And he calls them on the shore and he says, hey, I want you to follow me. But he doesn't just stop with follow me. I want you to follow me. And I'm going to make you what, fishers of men. You are a fisherman, but that's. Your life is not defined by your occupation. Because I'm going to give you a greater purpose in your life than just to be a fisherman. You're going to start fishing for men. You're going to be on mission for people. Guys, the word of God came to you to move in you, but also to move through you. You hear that? Like you received the Word of God and the grace of God so that it would transform your own heart and life. But it doesn't stop there. It moves in you so that it will move through you. Because our mission is not marked by hoarding the message. Our mission isn't marked by hoarding the message. We don't want to raise you up simply into knowledgeable disciples where you go, oh, I know so much about the Bible, great. But what that could become is like an old sour sponge. You can have a sponge that sits on your sink and you put water in it and you put soap in it, and you can use it to do what it's supposed to be used for. Or you could get it wet, put soap in it, and you could just let it sit there. And what's going to happen? Eventually it's going to be gross sour and not accomplish the purpose that it was set out to accomplish. Guys, we don't want to be like that. We are on a greater mission than just to fill our heads with the knowledge of God's word. We absolutely want to fill our heads with the knowledge of God's word. But it can't stop there. We want to entrust it to other people. So who are we to spiritually invest in? Paul says what you've heard in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men trustworthy, reliable people. Now, early on when you're on this mission, you may not know if this person is going to end up being faithful and trustworthy and reliable. So I don't want you to get too caught up initially in somebody that's just going to be super, super faithful, because you may not know. But even Jesus himself at one point says, hey, don't take what is holy and keep giving it to the dogs. Don't take your pearls and keep casting them to the pigs. He's saying, there are some people in this life and they're just completely antagonistic to the gospel and they're going to question everything that you say, all because they just want to trap you and trick you and get you to, like, just question everything. He's going, that's not the faithful people that Paul is talking about. Now, Paul himself, remember, he was the one that used to persecute Christians. I think he was pretty antagonistic to the gospel. If you would have looked at him, you'd have like, he's not a faithful guy. I'm not going to share the gospel with him. He. He might actually kill me because of it. But God in his power and his grace, in a moment transforms Paul's life. So I'm not saying throw away the unfaithful people, but entrust your life, Share the gospel with people that are hungry. They're asking questions and not trying to trap you in a question, but people that are serious and like, I don't know about this Jesus thing, but I got questions and I want to listen but it's not just a mission to lost people. It's people in your life that are reliable and trustworthy that you need to spiritually invest in. Paul is calling Timothy here to pass the baton of faith because Paul is saying, look, Timothy, we are in a lifelong spiritual relay race and I'm coming to the end of my years and I want to pass on to you something, but it can't stop with you. The race has to keep going. So if we are to make spiritually investing our lives into the lives of others a rhythm like what has required us, what does that look like? Paul's going to use three illustrations to describe what this should actually look like. So let's go to verses 3 and 4. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. So the first illustration that Paul is going to give to Timothy to go, hey, let me tell you about this mission, this disciple making mission that I want you on. Timothy, you need to know it's soldier like, it's soldier like. And when you're a soldier, you're going to have to suffer. And if anybody knows about suffering, it's Paul who has gone through intense, tremendous suffering for the sake of the gospel. And he goes, timothy, it's worth it. And if you're going to live out this mission, it's not going to be easy. Timothy, if you're going to live out this mission, you've got to join me in the suffering. And as a soldier, what you need to know is that you are entering into a spiritual battle. Ephesians 6 is not going to be on screen, but Ephesians 6 talks about that. We're in this spiritual battle every day and the battle isn't against flesh and blood, it's so much deeper than that and it requires spiritual armor. Guys, if you are going to have a rhythm of mission in your life, be assured it will be a battle. It will be a battle. The battle looks something like this. When you go outside and you go check your mail and when you come, you have the opportunity to go talk to a neighbor that's also outside or you have the opportunity to just go inside and be selfish. There's a battle that rages in you in that moment. I really just want to go inside. I'd rather not talk to them. I know that they don't have a clue about Jesus and I have an opportunity to proclaim Jesus, but I really, really just want to go inside or it's late at night and you're really tired and you want to go to bed. But you know that right before bed is the opportunity that your teenager is more sensitive to having good conversations and having spiritual conversations than any other time of the day. Because any other time of the day you go, hey, how are you doing? Good, Fine. Yeah. That's what you get, right? All the parents of teenagers know you only get one word answers, but you get to the end of the day, you're like, oh, they actually want to talk the battle inside of you. You could say, I'm on this spiritual mission, but I'm tired. I want to go to bed. Or you could say, you know what? I'm going to stay up late because I might have a chance to talk to my son or daughter about Jesus. The battle is, do I keep my home closed and never invite anybody in it, or am I hospitable to people that don't know Jesus and invite them into my house? The battle is, am I going to follow the narrow way, or am I going to go down the wide path that everybody else goes down? So you're in the spiritual battle, and it says, this battle requires focus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits. This idea of entangled, the same word that's used there is the same word that's described when the soldiers are making the crown of thorns for Jesus. This interweaved, entangled crown of thorns. And what Paul is saying is, this mission that is before you, you could get caught up in the ways of the world and miss what God has called you to. Don't get caught up in civilian pursuits, normal, worldly pursuits in this mission of God. Don't get caught up in it. I had a roommate at one point who had just come out of the army about a year before, and he struggled with civil civilian life. He would literally use that term. I hate civilian life. I hate it. I hate it. Because he was so used to having a really disciplined life where he got up at a certain time, he got dressed a certain way, he obeyed the orders of his authority a certain way, and that's the way he lived his life, guys. That's the same way it should be for us serving King Jesus, that we go, oh, no, I'm going to listen to you. You have all authority. I'm not just going to do whatever I want to do. I'm not going to get caught up in the civilian pursuits of fame and fortune and success and the here and the now and the things that moth and rust can destroy and Thieves can break in and steal. If you want to live out this mission of God, don't get caught up in the ways of the world. We have to be laser focused on spiritually investing our lives into others. Don't get caught up in the civilian pursuits. Don't get caught up in primarily devoting your life to lesser missions than the disciple making mission of God. Don't primarily, and this is a key word, don't miss this. Don't primarily devote your life to politics. Your primary job is not to convert somebody to the other party. Your primary job is to tell people about our great God. Don't primarily devote your life simply to physical aid. In our world, there's a bigger mission now. Don't hear me saying that you shouldn't care about physical needs in this earth. Don't hear me say that you shouldn't care for the widow and the orphan. You should absolutely care about it. In Acts chapter 6, the apostles are there and there's a need. There are widows in a culture, the Hellenistic culture, and they were often discriminated against and they needed food and there was a food distribution problem. And the apostles said, hey, we got to take care of this need. So they established deacons. Hey, you guys go take care of this need. And why were they to take care of this need? Because the apostles needed to focus on the ministry of Word and the prayer. There was something primary that needed to be focused on versus a lesser mission. Guys, don't get caught up in civilian pursuits. God has called you to something faith far greater. And what is the motivation? Look back at the end of verse four. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. The aim of life is to not please the people around you, not to please your spouse, not to please your boss, not to please the ones who look like they have it all together. Your goal in life, the motivation in life is to please please the one who enlisted you, God Almighty himself, the one who reconciled you back to himself, the one who redeemed you in your brokenness. Paul doesn't just stop with the soldier. Illustration. Let's look at verse five. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. This athlete here is awaiting a crown because he's in a competition. He's not just somebody playing football in the backyard. He's in a competition for souls. Guys, this is a soul winning mission that we are on where the enemy is attempting to steal and kill and destroy. And he says an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. There has to be integrity in the mission, not just a laser. Focus on the mission like a soldier. But you got to compete according to the rules with integrity and don't take shortcuts. Now I'm going to give you some examples of what shortcuts could be in the mission of God. Hear me out. Because they might be a little abrupt initially. One shortcut that you could take is I'll be the one that just prays. Is prayer a good thing? Yes, it's a great thing. Jesus didn't stand up before in his final words to his disciples, hey guys, I want you to just huddle in a room and pray forever. That's not what he told them to do. Did they go pray? Yes. But they eventually left that room to go make disciples of Jesus Christ. Don't take shortcuts. Don't take the shortcut that says, oh, I know somebody else will do that mission. If you are a follower of Jesus, that mission is for you. Every single one of you who says, my faith is in Jesus Christ. And then the last shortcut that you might take is, you know what? I love our church. And I'm going to be the person that invites so many people to church so that Jordan and Jess and Taylor can tell them about Jesus. Guys, that has taken a shortcut in the mission of God because you have the gospel and you can proclaim it. This is not just Jordan and Jess and Taylor's job. This is our job as the family of God. Don't take shortcuts. Compete as an athlete. This is an adventure that he's inviting you on. It's not adventurous simply to invite somebody. He's called you into something so much greater. He says this is like a soldier's work. This is like an athlete's work. And then finally, verse six, he says this. It is the hard working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. The hard working farmer literally in the Greek means the toiling tiller of the soil. The one that works hard is going to get what's natural and right. This mission is not just going to require laser focus and integrity, but this mission is going to require hard work. Hard work. This mission is going to be far harder than getting up at 6am and setting up a gym. Do you hear me, Church? Because some of you are really, really, really grateful that you don't ever have to do that again. And the mission that God has called you to is far harder than that now being a church that loves the grace of God and preaches salvation is by God's grace alone. We wholeheartedly believe that. That God, we can't earn our salvation. We can't work hard enough to be changed and transformed by God. It has to be all the work of God, through Jesus Christ, by his grace alone, through Christ's work alone, and by faith alone in that. Now when we hear this idea of hard work, some of us that believe those things, radar goes up like, whoa, whoa, Michael, hold on. Like, this whole mission isn't about us just, like, working for God's righteousness, is it? No, it's not. Because there's a difference between effort and earning. There's a difference between effort and earnings. We have the favor of God. We have the righteousness of God by God's grace alone. When we live out this mission, we are not living out this mission to earn God's favor. So if you leave here today and go, man, that was heavy. That was a lot of stuff. How am I going to do this? But I guess this is how I earned God's love. You've missed it. You get God's love by his grace alone. That was demonstrated in Christ dying for you while you were still a sinner. You have the favor of God by His grace. So we don't work hard at this mission to earn his favor. We give effort because we already have his favor. We go, oh, I'm all about this mission because Jesus has changed my life. Not, oh, I got to get my life together. And I guess I need to be on this mission so my life would change. Your life is changed because of Jesus. Now put all the hard work and effort into living it out. If I could summarize kind of these three illustrations into a couple words, I would say deep devotion. Guys. Devotion to any mission is intentional and it's carried out when it's not always easy and it's not always convenient. It. It's soldier like, it's athlete like, and it's farmer like devotion. The battle will never be convenient. The battle will never be easy. The crown will never be won without integrity. The crops won't be planted or harvested by you being lazy. But hear me out, church. Jesus is worth it. Jesus is worth it. The one who gave up his life for you is worth it. Guys, the mission of God is too important for you not to participate in. But let me give you some more sobering news. The mission of God is too large for you to accomplish on your own. It's too important for you not to participate in, but it's too large for you to accomplish on your own. But the good news comes back in verse one that we skipped. Paul tells Timothy, you then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. What is the fuel for this mission is for you to be strengthened, to be empowered, to keep in touch with the power that comes through grace, the grace that strengthens your soul, the grace that strengthens you inwardly to not get entangled in civilian pursuits, the grace that strengthens you to have integrity, the grace that strengthens you to work hard. Sometimes in the Bible, we see, like grace only as the thing that's unmerited, favor that we didn't earn to pardon our sins. And that's a big part of grace. But there's a second part of grace in the New Testament, and it's grace that strengthens us for the mission. Not just grace that pardons our sin, but grace that fuels our mission. Paul says it several different ways. In Ephesians, chapter two. I think it's going to be up there. Maybe Ephesians 2, 4, 6, it says, but God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places. So what did grace do? Grace saved you. Grace made you alive. Grace raised you up. The same grace that raised Christ from the dead is the same strength that you can have in this mission. This is powerful grace. Paul said it this way in Second Corinthians, chapter nine. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. So God is making grace abound to you. You're getting the grace. Why? So that you may abound in every good work. So you want to accomplish this mission and abound in every good work, Know that God is pouring his grace on you to accomplish that mission. So if this mission feels too hard, how am I going to pull this off? This is too difficult. The world is too attractive. Grace. That's how you pull it off. Because it's God's grace through Christ Jesus that strengthens you. Paul would say it this way in First Corinthians 15. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them. Paul saying, I worked Harder than anybody, though. It was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. So when you're tempted to get caught up in civilian affairs, remember that you have the strength of the grace of God to say no to those things. When you're like, ah, I can't pull this off. This is hard. This is hard. You have the grace. It's in Christ Jesus to do this grace. That's in Christ Jesus. That's the power source, guys. Christ Jesus, everything Christ did and is and does encompasses the grace that strengthens us. So how do we experience this grace, guys? We got to look to Christ because that's the only place that grace is found. If you think you're going to accomplish this grand mission of God without looking to Christ, you're never going to experience his grace. You got to look to him. You got to trust him, guys. We get grace through a relationship with Christ Jesus and dependence on Christ Jesus, because it's all about dependence. If you want to accomplish this mission on your own, you're not going to do it. But this is what I want you to know this morning. Depend on the grace of God as you devote your life to the mission of God. Depend on the grace of God as you devote your life to the mission of God. So how do you live out this mission? What should the rhythm of this mission look like? It needs to look like dependence and devotion. But I know some of you going, like, tell me all the specific ways I should do this. But I want you to see the application that Paul himself gives Timothy in verse seven. So he's told him all about this mission. Here's this mission before you. You need grace to accomplish it. So I'm sure Timothy might have been thinking, okay, well, tell me what I need to do today. And he says, think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Wait, like Paul, your response? The application for today is just think about it. Yeah. Because I think this is something that Timothy probably hasn't heard for the first time. And what Timothy could easily do is just gloss over it and go, huh, I've heard that before. Because this is not a new sermon preached at Veritas. We talk about this all the time. This is part of our mission statement. But Paul is saying, you can't gloss over this. You've got to put your mind on this. You've actually got to consider these words from God's truth. If you need to set an alarm on your phone, if you need to put it on your calendar today, I need to Think about the mission of God. Do it. You got to consider it. You can't walk out of this room and hear about the grand mission of God and just go, yep, heard it. That was great. Let's live my life. You got to think about it. Talk about it with somebody. Talk about it on the way home. Hey, what should this look like in our life? Talk about it after the kids go to bed tonight. Hey, what should. How should we be living out this mission in our life? Set up a time to meet with Jess or Jordan or Taylor. I can guarantee you. I didn't even ask them. I guarantee you they would be ecstatic. If they're getting emails and phone calls and their calendar is full with every single person in this room saying, hey, can you help me live out the mission of God better? You guys okay with that? Yeah, there's a lot of other emails they get, but they would love for you to say, hey, can you help me live out the mission of God at my work? Can you help me live out the mission of God at my home? Can you help me live out the mission of God in my neighborhood? We want to equip you to do this, guys. The mission is too important for this not to make it into the rhythms of your life. And it says, he will give you understanding. Understanding. He will help you comprehend it. God will help you grasp this. This mission will be strengthened by the grace of God, and he'll help you understand it by his gift. What is he going to tell you? I don't know the specific rhythms. He might tell you because I don't know all of your lives. I can guarantee you what he won't tell you. He will not tell you that if you are in Christ, you get a pass. No matter how many times, how long you've been following Jesus, you don't get a pass if you are in Christ, because this is all of our mission. There are people in our church that every Friday night. I'm talking here, Cedar Rapids, different places, there are people, every Friday night, they open up their home to internationals that they've met either at their jobs or during the week. Every Friday night, this is a rhythm for them. Every Friday night, hey, come over to our house. We're gonna cook a meal for you. We're gonna share a meal together. We're gonna open up the Bible. We're gonna talk about the Bible. People from countries that we can't go be missionaries to that are literally in our world, in our city, that we work with people. That's a rhythm of Their life. I'm going to proclaim Jesus to the nations every Friday night. There are people that in our church, a couple that I know of that go on vacation to the same spot nearly every year so that they can continue to share the gospel with the workers that work there. Somebody taking the mission of God seriously even on their vacation. There are people that could scroll on their phone every day on their lunch break, but they've decided no. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to meet with my co worker that doesn't know Jesus. What an opportunity that these people are taking. And guys, these aren't special forces soldiers. They're not elite athletes. They're normal everyday missionaries. They are nurses, they are engineers and they are stay at home moms doing these things. Because if you think about history for a second, and I'm not talking recent history like this generation and the last generation, I'm talking first, second, third century. There's not many of you, at least maybe I'm assuming something here. I don't know any soldiers or athletes or farmers that were famous from the first, second, third century. Really. I don't know who those faithful people were that Timothy invested his life into. You know what? I do know that that mission didn't stop. And there's a group of people in 2025 sitting in Urbana, Iowa because somebody took the mission of God seriously. Guys, imagine a local church fueled by this kind of grace, wholeheartedly devoted to this kind of mission, not wholeheartedly devoted to this building. Our mission is far greater than seeing how many people can fit in this building. Our mission is far greater than just solving world hunger and fixing the public school system and greater than redeeming American politics. Our mission is far greater than you just getting your kid a scholarship and getting entangled in civilian affairs. There's a far greater mission in this life. And what we need is a church committed to proclaiming Christ and baptizing people as well as raising them up into maturity and teaching them all that Christ has commanded. We need a church that is committed as disciples of Jesus Christ to make disciples of Jesus Christ for God's glory in all the nations. We hear Taz, we want to be a church that in centuries to come the world might forget us. If we're a forgotten church, that's okay if we've made exponential impact for the kingdom of God. Because there's a lot of farmers that have been forgotten, there's a lot of soldiers that have been forgotten, there's a lot of athletes that have been forgotten. And if we are faithful, people that are forgotten. But God is being worshiped by all peoples, tribes, languages and tongues. He's worth it. And we will live that mission out. Let's look back at Revelation 7 to finish Revelation 7. After this I looked, and behold a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Guys, picture that scene filled with people who came to know the Lord in the decades and centuries to come. Because Veritas Urbana took this disciple making mission seriously. All for the glory of God and not for our glory. That's the type of church we want to be. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you for faithful men and women centuries before us that took this mission seriously. Lord, we would love for you to come back soon. Until then, I pray that you would help us be faithful men and women who take your mission seriously. Lord, I pray that no person would leave this place today and not think about your word, think about your truth. Please, God, help us to take this seriously, because you alone are worth it. Thank you, Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen.