Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Hello, good morning. Is that good?
[00:00:08] Give me a wave if you are happy and you're enjoying your Sunday morning.
[00:00:12] This is my second time actually ever speaking in front of a large amount of people. Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on.
[00:00:18] And it can never go as bad as my first time.
[00:00:21] So my first time was three years ago. I went on a mission to Brazil and I had a translator next to it me and everything that I said, they obviously said it in their own language. But when she came to me at the end, she gave me the story of what she thought I said and she actually said a completely different thing to what I gave her. But it was alright in the end. But yeah, I have the privilege of bringing you guys the word this morning and I feel very honored that the team would allow me to come and speak. I'm very happy about that. Before we dive into the message though, I. I want to introduce myself to people who don't know me as well. My name is Sam and I've been a part of the Rediscover Newton Abbott church team for just over two years now. August 2024.
[00:01:06] I lead the youth ministry, but I originally did not want to lead the youth ministry.
[00:01:13] I saw there was a need for someone to step in and I told leadership team, I'll do it for a very, very, very, very, very short period of time, like two months. And I said, please tell me when you find the right person to step in for the job. And then they came back to me after two months and said they had found the right person and it was you.
[00:01:31] So a two month period turned into two years.
[00:01:36] To look at the kids, who they were when they first started and to compare them to now is a massive shift. And watching their faith stories unfold over the years has and could still bring me to tears.
[00:01:49] We won't talk about that anymore. But God is moving among the young people and not all of them are sucked into their phones all the time.
[00:01:56] There is a real hunger and desire to know God and you can see that.
[00:02:01] I'm so proud of all of you who come and talk to me about your stories on a Friday night and at church on a Sunday.
[00:02:06] It's so inspiring to see how God is using their lives Now.
[00:02:11] I have a short PowerPoint. It's only going to be two minutes long, I promise. I have a short PowerPoint on an introduction of my life. So this is my family, this is my dad, my brother. Remember my brother's face because he's going to come back up in a second and that is my mum. Oh, Mum. Rachel. Brother Ollie. Dad, Des.
[00:02:32] Next slide. And this is my new family. Matilda, Matilda, Minto. We have a lovely house down in Exminster. Esther. We're loving life.
[00:02:43] Next slide. This is Newcastle United.
[00:02:46] I think they are my family, but they are not my family.
[00:02:50] And they are the best football team in the country. I was going to say, sorry, Phil. It says right, sorry Phil, but sorry, Ruben, sorry Esther, because Phil's not here.
[00:03:00] So before we get into, as you saw, the title said the Great Commission. It was actually my fault. I didn't actually send the title to Jacob, but it is on the Great Commission.
[00:03:08] It was called Presence, Power and the Mission.
[00:03:13] Before we get into actually reading the words, I was praying earlier this week and the Lord put something on my heart really strongly on specifically Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
[00:03:23] All throughout the evening, I was praying heavily.
[00:03:27] And it was simply this, that people have not been sensing the presence of Jesus in their day to day lives. That as they've been reading their Bible or if they've been praying or if they've been worshiping, they just don't feel that connection. I just wanted to pray for that this morning as we start.
[00:03:40] At many points in my day, I try and stop and acknowledge Jesus and acknowledge his presence and give him the glory. And you'd be surprised that you can actually feel the spirit as you're lying underneath a lorry or fixing a car.
[00:03:52] There is no other feeling that compares to the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love that he pours out to us in that moment.
[00:04:00] So I feel very stirred to give the Lord two minutes this morning before we start.
[00:04:05] I want to use this time if you do actually feel the presence of the Lord this morning, just to rest in that and just to acknowledge that. But if you don't ask the Spirit to come into the room with you right now and just allow this space to speak to him.
[00:04:20] When you ask the spirit to reveal himself to you throughout the day, you will notice things start to change throughout your day.
[00:04:26] I started asking the Lord to guard my words and to be with me when I began evangelizing when I was 16.
[00:04:31] It's real and it works. So if we take a couple minutes now, I will time it so we don't go over. But we'll just take a couple minutes now and just rest in that presence.
[00:04:43] Lord, you are who we long for and you are who we desire.
[00:04:48] And thank you for holy moments like this when we can just take a moment and recognize you and recognize your presence, Lord.
[00:04:55] Thank you for the victory that you have in our lives, Lord.
[00:04:59] We love you, Jesus.
[00:05:01] Amen.
[00:05:03] So I imagine some of you actually have a general idea of what I'll be talking about this morning, because I talk about it all the time, and it is evangelism. That is where my heart is. And most of my time has been talking to people about Jesus and about the Word.
[00:05:20] So this morning, I wanted to share the importance of evangelism and how big of a calling it is on our lives.
[00:05:25] Ever since I gave my life to Jesus at 15, I've tried to communicate his gospel to people.
[00:05:32] And since I've known that Jesus has been number one in my life, it's always burdened me to see people who don't know who he is or the love that he has for all of us.
[00:05:41] You can walk down a single street and you can pass a hundred people who don't know Jesus. And that's the point. There's a mission to communicate. There's a mission on our lives to communicate this to them.
[00:05:51] So this morning we'll be reading Matthew 28. This text is beautiful.
[00:05:56] And it's where Jesus gives us the most. One of the most important missions we have as believers.
[00:06:01] It shows us that Jesus has total authority.
[00:06:05] And this text gives us promise of his eternal presence.
[00:06:10] So if we Turn to Matthew 28:1, there we go.
[00:06:18] After the Sabbath, at dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
[00:06:26] There was a violent earthquake. For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back and the stone and sat on it.
[00:06:35] His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow.
[00:06:39] The guards were so afraid of him that they shook when like dead men.
[00:06:44] In this text, an angel of the Lord comes down.
[00:06:47] There's an earthquake, and he rolls back the stone, the stone that was meant to hold Jesus Christ in. And then he sits in it. He doesn't push it aside or rush off.
[00:06:58] He sits down on it like a man who's just defeated something.
[00:07:03] And with the guards who are trained Roman soldiers, who are the strongest men of their day, were there for one job, which was to keep Jesus in the tomb.
[00:07:15] But here, Matthew tells us they trembled and they became like dead men.
[00:07:20] Now, if we think about this for a second. Oh, hang on. Sorry.
[00:07:23] Yeah. If we think about this for a second, the presence. And that messenger that came down wasn't Jesus yet.
[00:07:29] It was one of his messengers. And the strength of an empire falls down like dead in front of him.
[00:07:41] That stone wasn't a small thing.
[00:07:44] Jewish burial stones for tombs like this were often enormous. They were gigantic.
[00:07:50] Some historians estimate maybe one or two tons a piece.
[00:07:54] And Matthew tells us earlier in his gospel that had been sealed with Roman seal and placed under armed guard.
[00:08:01] This wasn't a door you could just nudge open.
[00:08:04] Breaking a Roman seal was a crime punishable by death.
[00:08:08] And whoever moved that stone wasn't hiding from Rome, but they were unafraid of it.
[00:08:13] And here's the thing. The angel doesn't move the stone so Jesus can get out in his resurrected body. Jesus later walks through locked doors and the stone is moved so the world can get in, so the woman and eventually us can see that the tomb is empty.
[00:08:31] The miracle wasn't for Jesus benefit. It was for ours.
[00:08:34] And that detail of sitting on stone in the ancient world, sitting on top of something you defeated, was a picture of conquest.
[00:08:43] A king's foot on a conquered enemy and a victor seated on the spoils of war.
[00:08:49] The angel isn't resting, but he's making a statement. And death is lost. And here is the proof. But because he sat on the stone, the power hasn't stayed in that garden 2,000 years ago, it never stayed there. But it follows you throughout your day. Just like as we prayed just a minute ago, that same power is here with us in the room right now.
[00:09:12] Now, when I was younger, when I was around 15 to 18, I used to work at McDonald's on Exeter High Street. And I called myself. Yeah, I called. Oh, yeah. That's the only photo I offered for myself. That was my first day ever starting. And I never had any other photo. I used to wear a shirt and tie when I was 15 at McDonald's. Yeah, who would have thought?
[00:09:31] I used to call myself, you can take that off.
[00:09:36] I called myself the McDonald's missionary.
[00:09:40] And I would work 6pm till 6am most Friday and Saturday nights making sure. And the job role was to make sure people were okay on the shop floor.
[00:09:51] And there wasn't a shift that went by that wasn't pure entertainment.
[00:09:54] People would go crazy. They would just be throwing burgers at each other and they would just be throwing fries. One night someone threw fries at me. The craziest one was two people got into a massive argument. They start pushing each other. One of them filled up a cup with ketchup, launched it across the room and went absolutely everywhere. On top of the. Probably like 30 people. So, yeah, it was good fun to work.
[00:10:19] Oh, yeah. And if you wanted a picture of how I Looked. That's how I looked.
[00:10:23] I worked there for just over three years.
[00:10:27] Did you put it back up?
[00:10:29] I worked there for just over three years and I encountered thousands of people over that time.
[00:10:37] People I'm still in close contact with now. And I promise you a lot of people encountered Jesus in that restaurant because I was faithful when and I wanted to give God the glory in every shift.
[00:10:47] One morning, as the crowd of people who had been partying and clubbing began to thin out in the restaurant around 5am A man walked in. He had a big beard, not as nice as mine, well kept hair which still isn't as nice as mine, but anyways and round glasses on. He was just shorter than I and he went and sat in the corner of the restaurant with coffee.
[00:11:10] The Lord instantly grabbed my heart and I knew this was someone I needed to talk to in that moment.
[00:11:14] His name was Joshua and he was 42 years old.
[00:11:18] And as I sat with him he poured his life out to me.
[00:11:21] And there was only two. There was one thing that came to my mind then and it was how does a 16 year old respond to a 42 year old man's life traumas? And like him pouring his self out to me. And there's two answers to that question.
[00:11:34] First one is he can't. Well, at least I didn't know how to.
[00:11:38] I don't have enough life experience. Or I didn't know what to say to him. But the second answer is Jesus knows how to respond to him. And I knew Jesus.
[00:11:49] So at 5am I found myself sharing the character of Jesus with Joshua, explaining how Jesus has radically changed my life.
[00:11:58] And then he kept coming back to the restaurant for about three months and by the power of Christ he started coming to church.
[00:12:05] But he only came for a whole month. But he came every single week in that month. And I was overwhelmed watching the power of the Lord captivate this man and change him. Because I used to spend a lot of time with him on those evenings.
[00:12:17] But then one week there was silence.
[00:12:20] I didn't hear anything from him. I didn't see him from church, I didn't see him in the restaurant.
[00:12:25] And the next week was the same. Same thing. And then the next. Until two months had passed by, I hadn't seen Joshua.
[00:12:35] One evening I was reading the local news on my phone and a photo came up and my heart sank as I read the headline. And it was, man found dead at his place of residence, Investigations ongoing. And it was a photo of Joshua.
[00:12:53] Where his heart was in those final hours. I'LL never know. But it taught me that time is short and we need to communicate the gospel to people while we still can. There's no guarantee of a second 5am conversation or a second month of someone not showing up to church.
[00:13:10] It's that urgent. And that's exactly what we're seeing. The next part of the text.
[00:13:15] Five to eight. Sorry.
[00:13:19] The angel said to the woman, do not be afraid.
[00:13:21] This is Matthew 20.
[00:13:23] The angel said to the woman, do not be afraid, for I know that you're looking for Jesus who was crucified.
[00:13:29] He is not here and he has risen.
[00:13:31] And just as he said, come and see the place where he lay.
[00:13:35] Then Jesus, I'm sorry. Then go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.
[00:13:45] There you will see him. And now I have told you so. The woman hurried away from the tomb, afraid, yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples, this is the moment everything changes here.
[00:14:02] Despair turns to joy in a single breath, and history here has changed forever.
[00:14:09] Notice who the first Notice who the first witnesses of the resurrection are. And they're women.
[00:14:16] In first century Jewish culture, a woman's testimony wasn't even considered legal, legally valid in a court of law.
[00:14:26] If this story was made up or this story was invented, It just wouldn't have counted. It would have undermined the story's credibility from the very start.
[00:14:39] It wouldn't have meant anything.
[00:14:41] The fact that they are the first two witnesses marks that this really happened.
[00:14:49] It also really tells us something about how God works. He didn't send this news through the religious leaders or the disciples or anyone with status or with name.
[00:14:59] He sent it through two overlooked women at a graveyard. And that's consistent with how God has always worked. He uses the ordinary and and the overlooked to carry the biggest news in history.
[00:15:13] That should be a comfort to every one of us who doesn't feel qualified to talk about Jesus.
[00:15:19] I shouldn't have felt qualified when I was sat with him.
[00:15:23] And that phrase afraid yet filled with joy is not a contradiction. That's what a real encounter with God looks like.
[00:15:33] Fear because they're in the presence of something far greater than themselves.
[00:15:42] Joy because that something is greater. That something greater is good.
[00:15:47] And that's not a bad description of what real worship looks like, too.
[00:15:56] If we notice what happens next, the women don't stay in the garden, but they run.
[00:16:03] They become the first people in history sent to tell someone else that Jesus is alive before the Great Commission is even ever spoken. It's already being lived out through those two ladies.
[00:16:18] Now, this one's quite funny, actually.
[00:16:21] This is a photo. You can't really see it.
[00:16:24] This is a photo of me on my stag. Do you remember that at the start? I told you you should remember my brother's face. And actually, Jack over here, these guys put together a plan and placed me in a dress and they humiliated me in front of the world.
[00:16:44] And they were people who I thought cared about me.
[00:16:47] We had a fantastic time together. And we celebrated Attili and I's wedding right before it.
[00:16:55] But during the stag do, we were watching the England game, and one of my brother's friends, Ollie, came up to Ollie and I overheard their conversation.
[00:17:04] Now, the context of this is Ollie has never been able to speak to this boy about Jesus before. He tries to, but he just shuts it off instantly.
[00:17:14] And as I was standing next to him in a dress, I overheard part of their conversation and I went straight over to talk to the boy.
[00:17:26] Well, he told me afterwards that as I was speaking to him, he went to go and watch the football again. He was distracted for probably, like 25 minutes. And when he looked around again a while later, I was still there talking to the boy for 25 minutes in the middle of a football game while I stood there in a dress.
[00:17:45] And he said he could hear me praying for him. And he said he could hear me saying the only thing he needed in his life was Jesus and that we were praying over his life and praying over his family.
[00:17:55] And Ollie brought this moment up because I forgot about it at my wedding speech just a couple weeks after, not to embarrass me, but because it stuck with him.
[00:18:04] He had watched it happen in the middle of my own stag do, of all places.
[00:18:09] And it changed how he saw faithfulness, what faithfulness looks like in an ordinary moment.
[00:18:14] This shows that we need to be equipped at all times, no matter if it's on a stag day. If it's at 5:00am, 1 Peter, it's not on the screen, but 1 Peter, chapter three, verses 15 says, but in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord.
[00:18:31] Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
[00:18:38] But do this with gentleness and respect.
[00:18:41] We've got to be prepared at every single moment.
[00:18:50] We carry on with Matthew 28, 16, 20. Next up.
[00:19:03] Then the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted then Jesus Came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
[00:19:20] Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:19:30] We'll read it again.
[00:19:32] Then the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.
[00:19:38] When they saw him, they worshipped him.
[00:19:42] But some doubted.
[00:19:44] Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
[00:19:51] Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And. And surely I am with you always. To the very end of the age. Sorry, I missed that bit out on the last one.
[00:20:08] Here is the last recorded encounter of Jesus with the disciples and the final words of Christ that close Matthew's Gospel.
[00:20:19] These final words are known as the Great Commission.
[00:20:22] To many, this is viewed as the supreme instruction for the church, one of our greatest missions as believers.
[00:20:31] Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations.
[00:20:37] This text here, these four or so verses give us everything we need to go out with. If we look closely at verse 18, then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
[00:20:56] Therefore go.
[00:20:58] The commission doesn't come first. The authority does.
[00:21:03] We don't go out and hope it works.
[00:21:06] We go out because he already has full authority.
[00:21:10] And we go under that authority. And we don't go under our own authority.
[00:21:15] That changes how we carry ourselves. When we speak to someone about Jesus, we're not selling something and we're representing a king who has already won.
[00:21:32] And look at what we're told. To teach. Not just information, not just facts about Jesus, but to obey everything he commanded us to do.
[00:21:43] The goal was to never simply get someone to agree with a set of facts.
[00:21:48] The goal is transformation.
[00:21:51] That's worth remembering because it's easy to think.
[00:21:58] Our job stops the moment someone says they believe.
[00:22:05] Then the very last, I'm with you always. To the very end of the age.
[00:22:14] Think back to how this gospel begins. In Matthew, chapter one, Jesus has given the name Immanuel, which means God, with us.
[00:22:25] Matthew's Gospel opens with God coming to be with us, and then it closes with Jesus promising to stay with us as we go.
[00:22:36] That's not an accident.
[00:22:39] That's the whole point of the book. Presence and mission.
[00:22:43] Presence and mission were never two separate things. They were always the same story.
[00:22:47] I have one final testimony before I carry on and it was another McDonald's story and it was this man from Liverpool called Tim.
[00:23:00] And Tim was quite an energetic man. He.
[00:23:06] I was going to try and replicate the scout's accent though I can't do it. But he would always come in and he would just go nuts. The same as like the people who were chucking the burgers everywhere. And I actually knew Tim overall for maybe like eight months and he started coming to church and he's one of them. He did actually give his life to Jesus when I was with him.
[00:23:25] Tim used to own a construction business when he was in Liverpool and he actually split up from his wife and he left his family to come down to Exeter and he was homeless and he said that he lost everything and that as we started to grow a relationship with him and as he started to come into church more you could see his whole presence and his whole character started to change.
[00:23:49] And when Tim gave his life to Jesus, everything changed for him.
[00:23:54] As he started coming into the restaurant to see me as he passed by, he said, I'm looking at work, I'm looking at new work and different kind of things. And I actually didn't see him as well for a very long time, probably about three months again.
[00:24:06] And he came back to the restaurant one Friday evening, he came to me and he said, told me that the power of Jesus and accepting Jesus has changed his life and he's moved back up to Liverpool to be of his family.
[00:24:27] And he now works back up Liverpool and he now lives with his family again.
[00:24:32] And it's Jesus who does that.
[00:24:39] Again. It's that same power that was back then when stone rolled away. It's the same power of me as I'm talking to them. It's not me who's doing it, it's Jesus.
[00:25:05] So no matter who you are, if you're 16 and you work at McDonald's or if you're 70 and working in a coffee shop, the mission is always still there.
[00:25:17] The same power that rolled the stone away is the same power that sat with me when I was at McDonald's with that bloke at 5am and it's the power that stood with me when I was in a dress next to a burger van watching the England game, telling a stranger about Jesus.
[00:25:35] The power doesn't retire and it doesn't stay in the book. It doesn't stay in this building or in Deo Gloria or it stays on a Sunday morning. But it follows you out of this room into your week and into your ordinary Tuesday.
[00:25:54] You will encounter People.
[00:25:57] And we need to be ready to speak to them about Jesus. Because Jesus isn't just something you just said so much. It's not just these things or these rules that you follow.
[00:26:08] It changes your life. And he's real.
[00:26:12] If we go back to the four verses that we just read, I want to remind you that Jesus doesn't say some authority.
[00:26:22] He says all authority in heaven and on earth.
[00:26:28] Not authority over churches, not authority over Sundays, but all of it.
[00:26:33] Which means when he says, therefore go, he isn't handing you a task he hopes will work out.
[00:26:40] He's sending you out under his authority, not yours.
[00:26:45] You don't need to feel brave enough, qualified enough already, enough.
[00:26:51] Because it was never about your authority to begin with.
[00:26:54] It's his. You're just carrying it.
[00:26:58] And notice what he sends us to do.
[00:27:00] It says to make disciples of all nations.
[00:27:04] Not to make converts, not get a decision.
[00:27:08] He says, make disciples people who follow him and people who are taught to obey everything that he commanded.
[00:27:18] Some of you are sitting here this morning and you already know who your disciple in waiting is.
[00:27:24] You already have that person in mind.
[00:27:33] Maybe it's your own family.
[00:27:36] Maybe it's your brother.
[00:27:44] Maybe it's someone you've been putting the conversation off with because it feels too awkward or too early.
[00:27:51] Let me gently say that there is no perfect moment. Ever.
[00:27:57] There wasn't one at 5am when I was speaking to that bloke at McDonald's.
[00:28:01] And there wasn't one at a football match at my stag do.
[00:28:06] There was just a window and I decided to use it.
[00:28:11] One day you will meet a Joshua, and you will meet a young lad standing next to a bagovan.
[00:28:20] But you won't know in the moment how much it matters.
[00:28:24] It could change their life and it will change their life.
[00:28:31] So don't wait until you feel ready.
[00:28:33] Jesus didn't say go if it's convenient. He said, all authority has been given to me, so therefore, go.
[00:28:45] The authority is his, but the mission is ours.
[00:28:50] The very last words of that Gospel, I am with you always to the very end of the age.
[00:28:56] It goes back to that time we had just as we started.
[00:29:00] Jesus is here with us.
[00:29:04] He is here with us. He's with us when we go to Asda. And he's with us like tomorrow morning at the lorry garage. When I'm there, I'm speaking to the mates there.
[00:29:16] I am with you always to the very end of the age. And that's a promise.
[00:29:22] And I promise you it's not. I'll check in occasionally. And it's not.
[00:29:26] I'll be with you until it gets difficult.
[00:29:30] It's always he's always there till the very end.
[00:29:39] That's the same promise that opens through the whole speaker, the whole talk, that he is present and he is not distant. He's not just here on a Sunday.
[00:29:54] He was with me six years ago on that Friday night.
[00:29:59] And he's with the groom to be at a football match.
[00:30:02] And he's with you and he's right now, and he's in this room.
[00:30:06] I can feel it. There's such a heavy presence.
[00:30:14] And he'll be with you when you meet your Joshua, too.
[00:30:19] So don't fear when you go out this week, because all authority is his, the mission is ours, and his presence never leaves.
[00:30:30] So I thought I would end the talk by giving another two minutes while we just rest in his presence.
[00:30:39] So we'll just take two minutes and we'll just ask for the presence of the Spirit just to come over the room.
[00:30:49] Jesus, I pray that over the next few weeks and few months, Lord, that you nudge us, and that as we feel that nudge, we're not scared because there's we love Jesus. There's nothing to be scared about. As we communicate the Gospel, the worst thing they can say is no, but there is someone who's there who will be waiting to hear what you're about to say, who will need to hear what you need to say.
[00:31:19] And I pray that as you're in that moment, you feel the Lord and it's the Lord speaking through you.
[00:31:26] Just like when I was at McDonald's, it wasn't me who was talking, it was Jesus.
[00:31:39] So, Lord, as this, this next week, and this next month comes by, Jesus, just let us feel your presence.
[00:31:49] Amen.
