After Jesus rose from the dead, He met His disciples at a mountain in Galilee. There He shared some final words before returning to Heaven. And from His final words, we draw our final message in our series on the Gospel of Matthew as we learn about some good things know for the Christian life.
Transcription (automatically-generated):
We finally made it. We finally made it all the way through our study of the Gospel of Matthew and we're finishing this whole entire book in this message tonight. We want to know how long it's taken us to go through this book of the Bible. Let me give you an idea. We started this series back on September 10, 2016, and at that time we were a different church. Technically speaking, God Rock hadn't even been planted as a church back then.
And today it's April 11th, twenty twenty one. And we're finishing up the book of Matthew as a different church altogether, one that's joined with New Hope Church to become Gospel City Church, which is pretty cool. It goes to show you that a lot can change in four and a half years. And I wonder what God's going to do and where he's going to take us in the next four and a half.
So if you have your Bible with you, and I hope you do, please have an open to Matthew chapter twenty verses 16 to 20. If you know me well, you know that this is one of the most pivotal passages in my life. This passage shapes everything I am and everything that I do as a follower of Jesus, which makes it kind of weird that I'm going to preach this message with some self-restraint tonight.
I'm going to read this passage tonight like God is treating the 70 weeks of Daniel. We're going to do the first part of this passage now and then.
I'm going to leave the last bit for a later date. Now, I'm sorry, that's a bad Bible nerd joke, but if you get it, you get it. So why are we splitting our text up like this? I think it'll help if I tell you where we're going over the next several months as gospel city church. Tonight, we're wrapping up Matthew, starting next week. And for the next several weeks, Jeff will be wrapping up our study in the Book of Exodus and walking through the last few chapters of that book.
After that, I'm going to preach a three week sermon series titled Who is Gospel City Church. We are a brand new church. And so Jeff and I figured that people need to know what we're all about. And here's what each of those three messages in that series will be called, what we believe, what we love and what we do.
I can even tell you right now the answers to those questions in case you're curious what we believe, the Bible, what we love Jesus and people and what we do make disciples. And that third message on making disciples I'll be walking us through, Matthew, chapter twenty eight, Verse is, 19 and 20. And so I'm not going to spend much time looking at those verse is tonight, even though those verse is are a part of the passage in Matthew that we're looking at right now.
We'll get to verse 18 tonight, but we're going to save Verse is 19 and 20 of Matthew for later. Then after the series, who is Gospel City Church, Jeff is going to lead us through an in-depth sermon series, taking us all the way through the Book of Revelation.
He's going to handle the bulk of the preaching in that series. And when I say he's going to handle the bulk of the preaching, what I'm really saying is he's going to preach all of it with breaks in between here and there. I'll handle some mini sermon series along the way, most likely sermon series that will set the stage for establishing the membership process for us here at Gospel City Church.
And so there are exciting days ahead for us.
So that said, let's now get into our Matthew text and wrap up this series, let's set the stage for our scene. Jesus died. Jesus rose on the Sunday morning that he rose both an angel and Jesus told the woman who came to the tomb to go and tell the disciples to meet the risen Jesus in Galilee.
The disciples took the woman's word to heart and they went to meet Jesus there. That's where we pick up the story in our text. So with your eyes in your Bible, follow along.
As I read Matthew chapter twenty eight verses 16 to 20. Now, the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted and Jesus came and said to them, 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.
There are three things we can draw out from Verse is 16 to 18 of this passage that highlight some truths we need to know about the Christian life.
Here's the first one and it's the first fill in on your outline. Obedience today provides new opportunities to moral obedience, today provides new opportunities tomorrow. Here's how this principle works out. Jesus gives you something to do and then you do that thing and then he'll give you something else to do. And after you do that second thing, then he'll give you your next assignment and so on and so on and so on. That sensible. But if you won't do the first thing that Jesus tells you to do, can you expect to receive the second, third, fourth, fifth assignment from him before the first one is ever done?
Jesus told the disciples to come to this mountain in Galilee again in verse 16, we see that now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And they came as they were directed, they obeyed him, and once their Jesus gave them a new command that would change the course of the world forever. On the mountain that day, Jesus gave his disciples the command to make disciples of all nations.
Now, the disciples had to first stop Jesus by coming to this mountain before they could receive the great commission from Jesus, if they didn't obey Jesus to come to the mountain in Galilee, they would have never received the world transforming command to make disciples.
What can this look like in our lives, you might say something like this, I want to experience more of Jesus in my life. I want my life to make an impact for the kingdom of God. I want to be used by God in mighty ways. And I would say to you, that's great. I want that, too. I want that for me and I want that for you. But if you ever get to a place in your life where you're frustrated that God isn't using you the way you think he could be, that I would ask you some questions like these.
Are you currently doing what God has asked you to do? Has God asked you to do something that you're putting off?
Is there any area of your life where you're not obeying him? I don't need to give you a list of examples of what that might be for you. Like, are you doing this or that or are you not doing this or that? I don't need to give anybody a list.
If there's something in your life that you are not obeying, Jesus. And chances are really good that you already know what that thing is, because if you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, leading you into all truth.
He is convicting you of sin. He is leading you into the will of God for your life.
Have you heard him or are you listening to him? Are you turning that area of your life over to him?
Everybody wants to experience more of God in their life and we want them to move in many ways, even while we're living in this obedience to him, but then we turn around and get frustrated with God because he's not moving powerfully in our life or using us in ways that we think he might be calling us to.
And God's like, I want to do something amazing in you. I'm just waiting until you're ready to obey what I've already given you, when you're ready to obey me and that then I can give you more to obey.
But we can't skip this first step. The disciples had to obey Jesus command to meet him on the mountain before they could receive their next marching orders, Jesus works the same way in our lives today. Is there a mountain in your life that Jesus has directed you to go to? Will you go and meet him there and then see what he has for you next?
Obedience today provides a new opportunity tomorrow. That's the first thing about the Christian life that we can draw from our text. And here's the second one, and it's next fill in on your outline. There's room for doubt in the Christian life, there's room for doubt in the Christian life, we see doubt pop up in our text in verse 17 and it says when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. What does this mean? They worshiped him, but some doubted worshiping Jesus and doubting Jesus in the same verse.
What's going on here? Doesn't the Bible say that the righteous will live by faith? Isn't faith the opposite of doubt? How can worship and doubt coexist or can they coexist? Let me give you two possible explanations to what's happening in our text. First, the worship and doubt were experienced by the same group of people.
In this scenario, the 11 disciples worship the Jesus and some of these same 11 also doubted.
Have you ever heard the phrase, I can't believe my eyes, someone says that when they're witnessing something that's so incredible that they're having a hard time processing what they see, they see it.
They believe what they see because they can see it, but they also can't believe what they see because it's too amazing. The 11 disciples have already seen the risen Christ before this encounter, but now they're seeing him again.
And it's still it's still such a wondrous sight that some of them are having a hard time processing what they're seeing.
They believe, but they also can't believe it at the same time. Worship and doubt by the same group of people. That's one way we can understand what's going on in the scene, but another way that it can be understood to the second way we can look at this and understand is that the worship and doubt were experienced by different people. We know there were more than just the 11 disciples who heard the report from the women coming back from the empty tomb on Easter Sunday in Luke's gospel, he records the scene after Jesus death where two disciples were walking when Jesus came up to them and began walking with them in the conversation that they had.
These men relate to this piece of information to Jesus talking about the women who are at the tomb.
Luke Twenty four, verse nine, says this. And returning from the tomb, they which is referring to the woman, told all these things to the 11 and to all the rest are.
There were more than just the 11 disciples who were who heard the report from the women who are at the tomb this large, a group of people were gathered together after the resurrection of Jesus. And it's this group of 11 plus people who may have went to the mountain Galilee to see the risen Christ. And out of this group, the 11 disciples worshiped and some of the others doubted. That's a very real possibility to you can study these two explanations further on your own and come to your very own conclusion.
Just keep this in mind, regardless of what conclusion you come to in your in your study. In a sense. In a sense. Doesn't matter. Here's what I mean. It doesn't matter if the disciples were the ones who worshiped and doubted at the same time. It doesn't matter if it was the disciples who worshiped and if it was another group who doubted, why doesn't it matter who it was, who had the doubt in the scene? It doesn't matter, because even though it's true that the righteous will live by faith, that doesn't mean that there are any Christians who lived their life with a perfect faith in God 100 percent of the time.
What, Christian, do you personally know who lives every moment of their life with 100 percent faith in God? There's only one person who ever lived like that, and technically speaking, he wasn't even a Christian. That's because he is the Christ. But every Christian follows.
Only Jesus lived a perfectly faithful life before the father. That means that every single one of us has wrestled with that in our lives as Christians.
And we've even given into that doubt at times because we're not perfect like Jesus is. This isn't bad news, this is actually really comforting news.
You're not alone when you doubt it should comfort you that your Christianity isn't forfeited because you experience doubt in your life.
Sometimes it should be comforting to know that there's room in your life to have doubt and to wrestle with it. Adult will be a part of your life. There's no avoiding it because you're not God. But let me clarify, something is acceptable that you have doubt, but it's not wise or encouraged that you get comfortable with your doubt, don't take a nap in your doubt, don't fall asleep in doubt's arms. Don't believe your doubt when it cradles you in his arms and whispers to you.
It's OK. It's OK to stay here with me a little while longer. It's OK a little doubt. Never hurt anyone. Don't give in to doubt sweet talk, it's OK that that happens because it will in every Christian life, but it's what you do with your doubt that matters. I've heard one preacher say, doubt your doubts, and that has always stuck with me, that phrase, ask questions about why you are doubting, doubt your doubts, wrestle with your doubts on your own.
Share your doubts with other people. This is a great thing to do in your home group.
As you grow in relationship with your brothers or sisters in Christ, share your struggles with each other.
And on that note, don't crap on someone when they open up and share their doubts with you. If someone opens up to you and says, Hey, man, I'm having a really hard time believing this part of the Bible in this season of life that I'm in right now. Can you pray for me? Don't respond to that with bro. I thought you were a Christian. Shame on you for having any kind of doubts ever. That kind of response would be both hypocritical and a surefire way to ruin the chemistry in your relationships in the church.
Remember, one of Jesus own disciples had doubts of his own. It was Thomas who was the one who infamously doubted the resurrection of Jesus. We can read about that scene in John's Gospel. John, Chapter 20, Verse is. Twenty four to twenty eight. Now, Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came, so the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see his hands, the mark of the nails, and placed my finger into the mark of the nails and placed my hand into his side, I will never believe eight days later his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them, although the doors were locked.
Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and placed it in my side. Do not disbelieve but believe. Thomas answered him, my lord and my God. Thomas doubted that Jesus rose from the dead even after the other apostles told him they saw Jesus personally.
And you notice how Jesus dealt with promises that he didn't avoid Thomas, he didn't chastise Thomas, he came to Thomas personally and ministered to him. Jesus did the same thing to the people in our text. He came to those who doubted look at the end of verse 17, it says, but some doubted and look at what the very next words say in Verse 8 team. And Jesus came and said to them. See, Jesus drew near to those who doubted God comes to doubter's, if you're not perfect like me, then that's music to our ears.
There's room for doubt in the Christian life. You can be a Christian and still wrestle with doubts.
OK, this brings us to a third aspect of Christianity that we can take away from this passage, and it's your third fill in on your outline. All authority belongs to Jesus, all the authority belongs to Jesus.
We see Jesus make this claim in verse 18 and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. How much is all not a not a trick question, all is all. Even if you do a Greek study of the word all, you're going to come to find that conclusion all means all. Jesus has all authority over the world. He has all the authority over every single person in the world. He has all authority over his church.
Jesus has all the authority over the physical universe. Jesus has all the authority over the unseen spiritual world. He has authority over angels. He has all the authority over demons. He has all the authority over Satan. He has all the authority over death. He has authority over how he has all the authority over heaven.
All, all, all, all. Are you getting the picture?
Jesus is the king of kings. Jesus is the Lord of Lords. Jesus is over everything that exists.
He is the Supreme Leader above it all, because all authority in heaven and on earth was given to him. But this raises a very important question, I'm not sure if you noticed this when you read it at first glance in the text, Jesus says that all the authority was given to him.
Why did Jesus need to have all the authority given to him, isn't he God? God is the one who has all the authority. It's one of the perks of being God. God doesn't need anyone to give him anything. And so what's happening here? Why did the son of God need to be given this authority?
Let's take some time unpacking this together. First things first, Jesus. The second member of the Trinity is the eternal God. All authority has always been his has been his from eternity past. John opens his gospel with these words. Describing Jesus in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life. And the life was the light of men. Later in John's Gospel, he recorded Jesus praying these words to the father as he near the end of his earthly ministry. John, 17 Verse is, four to five, a glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do and now father glorified me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
The apostle Paul wrote this about Jesus in Colossians, Chapter one verses 15 to 17, he Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. Four by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether throne's or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. And he has before all things, and in him all things hold together.
All that the son of God had ever experienced was total and and complete authority from all eternity, that authority was in himself. No one needed to give him any of it. And then Jesus went and did something that blows our minds. Jesus became a human being. God became a man. The eternal son of God was conceived in Mary's womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. Nine months later, the first Christmas happened and God was born into this world.
This has never happened before. Theologians call this the hydrostatic union. Just a fancy way of saying that in the person of Jesus, we see two natures, a divine nature and a human nature at all times. Jesus was 100 percent God, as he has always been. And now for the first time, he was 100 percent man to both God and man at the same time. He didn't morph from God to become a man and then cease to be God.
He also didn't jump back and forth throughout his life, from God to man and man to God.
Ever since his incarnation, Jesus has always been God and he has always been man. But when God was born as a man, he lived out his life as a man. A well-known passage that highlights this reality is found in the Apostle Paul's letter to the church in Phillipi. Listen to what he says about Jesus. There have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped.
But he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death, on a cross.
Jesus is God, but he didn't cling to his God a. the scripture tells us that Jesus emptied himself, which means he set aside the radiant glory he had from eternity past and chose to walk in the humility that comes with taking on a human nature like ours, with all its limitations, weaknesses and frailties such as hunger, thirst, tiredness, temptations, pain and the suffering.
At no time did he cease to be fully divine.
He just made the decision to not display the fullness of his gladness in the walking out of his human experience.
Then, as a man, he obeyed the will of the father all the way to the cross.
Let me give you an illustration that I think might help us understand this mystery a little bit. There is a TV show on the Discovery Channel called Undercover. Billionaire billionaire Glenn Stern's suspended all benefits of his billionaire lifestyle. He gets dropped off in Erie, Pennsylvania, with one hundred dollars a cell phone, a pickup truck and an alias. He has no real money, no credit cards, no business contacts, no friends can help him.
He has 90 days to build a a million dollar company from nothing. Now, his real bank account is real, bank account was still full, he still had all his business contacts and his private jets, he just chose not to avail themselves of those things that he had during the 90 day period of the show.
I've never seen the show, but I looked up to see what happened because I was curious what the outcome of the show was. And after 90 days, Stern's built a company worth seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, not quite a million, but really impressive, going from zero to three quarters of a million dollars in 90 days. Jesus never ceased to be God, but he chose to live his human life without tapping into the heavenly resources that were always his.
Instead, Jesus chose to come into this world with the equivalent of a hundred bucks a cell phone, an old pickup truck, and he changed the trajectory of the universe forever. OK. Then how did he do all the stuff that he did if he didn't tap into his God, A. how did Jesus do all those God sized miracles if he didn't use his personal God resources?
Well, to remember what happened, that is baptism at the very outset of his three year public ministry before he performed any miracles. At his baptism, Jesus was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit fell on Jesus and empowered his humanity to do the things that he did as he lived every moment of every day in total deference to the will of the father. Jesus did the miracles the father told them to do by the Holy Spirit that was given to him.
Jesus lived a perfect life as a human being. Jesus was eternally, perfectly God before his incarnation. There is no beginning to his existence or his perfection.
But he had never been a human being before his incarnation. That was a first.
When he became a man, his humanness had to be proven that it was perfect to just like his eternal God.
And this was already was. God had to unite is perfect godliness with a perfect humanness. So God had to walk out his humanity. He had to live a perfect human life.
He had to obey the perfect will of the father. He had to reject the temptation to sing. He had to do both perfectly all the way to the very end, all the way through the hardest part, all the way through his cross. The author of Hebrews writes that the humanity of Jesus was proved to be perfect through his obedience that led to his suffering. Listen to this Hebrews Chapter two verses six to 10. It has been testified somewhere. What is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you care for him?
You made him for a little while longer than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet now and putting everything in subjection to him. He left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him, but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist. And bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. Jesus received all the authority from the father as a reward for his human perfection, Jesus eternal God ness was eternally perfect. But now, after his life, death and resurrection, his humanity was shown to be perfect to Jesus passed the test at his resurrection.
His humanity and deity were both perfectly fit to be united forever.
And then he was ready to rule the universe as the God man, not just God, like before, when Jesus rose from the dead, he was given all authority from the father as a reward for his perfect life.
He earned it as a man. He proved it as a man, and now as a man. It was his. Forty days after the incarnated son of God rose from the dead, he ascended to the right hand of the father and from there, Jesus has been ruling over all of creation as the God man.
There's a human being holding the universe together right now, and his name is Jesus of Nazareth. Listen to Paul in Philippians.
Therefore, God as highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every nation bound in heaven and on earth and under the Earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord for the glory of God the Father. All authority was given to a perfect human being. And that's why all authority was given to Jesus at his resurrection. Isn't that incredible? Now.
When Jesus reveals to someone that he has this kind of authority, that kind of revelation demands a response from those who hear it, how should people respond to this reality that all the authority belongs to Jesus?
Should we be afraid? Many responded that way when they encountered Jesus. John got a taste of fear when he experienced Jesus. Listen to John's accounts in Revelation.
I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Ray, what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches to emphasize and to Smyrna and to Pergament and to say a tyrant, a Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Leo Decir. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me and I'm turning. I saw seven golden lamp stands and in the midst of the lamp stands one like a son of man clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.
The hairs of his head were white, like wool, like snow. His eyes were a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace. And his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand. He held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp, two edged sword, and his face was like the sun. Shining in full strength was 17. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
That's a proper, maybe even involuntary natural response when the veil is pulled back and you behold the one who has all the authority fall on your face, scared to death at the glory that stands before you.
But what did Jesus say to John in the very next words in that passage, in Revelation Revelation, one second part of her 17. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, fear not, fear not, don't fear I didn't count each one. But I've heard that there are three hundred and sixty five times in the Bible where it says the same thing over and over. Don't be afraid. Fear not is a natural and proper response to fear God.
But according to the Bible, it shouldn't be our primary response to Jesus. If fear shouldn't be our primary response to Jesus, maybe it should be blind obedience to him. He does have authority. After all, shouldn't we obey the one who has all the authority?
Yes, we should obey anything Jesus says to us.
But blind obedience isn't even the primary response we should have to the one who has authority. Well, that's not fear and it is not obedience, and how should we respond to Jesus when he reveals himself to us? We should love him. We should love him. Because remember what kind of supreme power Jesus is. He's not a feral, he's not a SESAR, he's not a Stalin, he's not a Hitler, he's not corrupt, he's not hot tempered, he's not evil, he is love.
He is the one who lived the life. Each of us should have lived similarly perfect.
He is the one who offered himself up to die in our place on the cross.
He is the one who rose from the dead and then appeared to the ones who abandoned him so that he could offer them forgiveness of sins and eternal life as a free gift. He is the one who pursues each one of us while we were still in our own sins. He is the one who fills us with his very presence.
When the Holy Spirit comes to live inside his people, after they believe in him, God in us, what intimacy? The God who is love fills his people with his love.
He pours his love into our hearts, and that love should be poured out back to him.
That is the kind of all authoritative power that Jesus Christ is. Our primary response to the one who has all the authority should be love. We should love Jesus. And you can love Jesus and still tremble with fear when you consider what kind of all encompassing power he is. You can still love Jesus and still obey him. That's kind of the point, actually.
When you love Jesus, you will obey him. You will love his will over your own will. Our obedience displays our love for him. It's impossible to have the love of God poured into a heart and have that heart not respond to him in love.
Inspired obedience. It's impossible. As a side note, this is why obedience is not the primary response to his authority and its love, instead, because it's possible to obey the law of Jesus commands and still not love him.
Jesus said this about those who would come to him with obedience, but no love for him. Matthew Chapter seven verses twenty one to twenty three. Not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.
On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast of demons in your name and many, many, many works in your name and then all the clear to them. I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. The father's will is that, you know, Jesus, the father's will is that you love Jesus. Demons obey Jesus, but they don't love him, love is the deciding factor in a relationship with the king of heaven, keeping with this topic of authority.
We don't just love the authority Jesus has over our lives.
We live with this authority in our lives as Christians. We engage other people in the world with this authority. Jesus delegates his authority to his people. Picture like this ad that tells one of his sons, go tell your brother to come to dinner. And what if that son goes and tells his brother to come to dinner and his brother says, No, I'm not coming. See, disobeying his brother, no, ultimately he's disobeying his father, who commanded him to come to dinner.
That's what it's like for us as Christians, we're just telling people what that is said when we share the gospel with people who haven't heard it or believed it yet, we're not sharing our own ideas and asking people to repent and submit to our own authority.
We are only ambassadors sent with the message we've been giving. We've been given a charge by the king. He tells us, go command people everywhere to repent and believe the gospel. That's not our message. That's the king's message.
If I tell you to repent of your sins and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, if you reject me, you're not rejecting my authority.
You're rejecting the authority of the one who sent me to you. We also see this delegated authority in the church as we disciple one another in the church, Jesus said, make disciples teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. That tells us to tell each other a God's calling you to live like this. As we point people to the Bible, will you change that part of your life and live like this instead? Yes. Great. No. Are you rejecting your brother or sister in Christ when you say no to what they point out to you in the Bible?
No, you're not rejecting them. You're rejecting your father in heaven. Christians don't have any authority, apart from the word of God says to people, we appeal to the Bible. If you don't agree with the Bible, you don't have a problem with Christians, you have a problem with the God that sent them to you. OK, let me close, we've highlighted three things from this passage that we need to know about the Christian life. First, we saw that obedience today provides new opportunities for tomorrow.
Secondly, we saw that there is room for doubt in the Christian life. And then thirdly, we saw that all authority belongs to Jesus. Next week, Jeff is taking us back into Exodus and a few in a few weeks after that. We'll be back in these verse is in Matthew. And when we do, we'll be looking at another major aspect of the Christian life, the mandate king Jesus has given all of us to make disciples. I can't wait to walk through that with you as pray.
Father, I just want to I want to thank you. I want to thank you just continually, Lord, make us a people that are full of gratitude, full of thanks on our lips, on our tongues. Just coming out of us to thank you. Thank you. We have so much to be grateful for. I want to thank you, Lord, for the last four and a half years of of time that has passed since we started our series in Matthew and where we're at now and and all of the grace that we've experienced in both God, Rock and New Hope Church that has brought us together as gospel, city, church and all the stories of your grace and your love and your mercy that have happened over the last four and a half years.
Lord of Our Lives, thank you for it all. Want to thank you, Lord, for gospel, city, church and bringing us together. And I just I thank you for your work in that your hand has been so plainly seen in this move, Lord. And so we praise you, we praise you for it. And we want to thank you, Father, in advance for what you're going to do in and through us in the next four and a half years.
Lord led us to sit at your feet and behold your glory and how big you are. Give us God sized dreams, God sized passions, Lord God sized inspirations to obey you and to do whatever you say, to do whatever it looks like, whatever it costs. Give us faith to do that. Give us faith, Lord, and lead us wherever you want us to go, not just individually as Christians in Gospel City Church, but as a church family leader.
Lord lead us. We pray and we thank you for what that's going to look like in advance because we know it's going to be good. Bless you, Lord. We love you. We thank you. And we pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen.