If I haven't met you before, my name is Michael, and it's great to be here and have the privilege to preach God's word. So if you got a Bible, go ahead and turn with me to second Timothy, chapter two. Second Timothy, chapter two. We will get there in a second. But this morning, we're going to continue in our rhythm series that we've been going through here at the beginning of the year. And this idea is that there are spiritual habits that we need to form that develop into rhythms in our lives. And as they develop into rhythms of our lives, it increases our intimacy and closeness with the Lord. And that's what we're going for, guys. It's not to just say, oh, I read my Bible a lot, or I prayed a lot, but for us to say, I love my God. That's what we're going after. And so this morning, surprise, surprise, the rhythm is mission. The rhythm is mission. And I'm just so thankful for Jamie and Jess and their commitment to the mission of God. And my hope is that when all of you leave this morning, you're just as committed. Now some of you are going, whoa, you're expecting us all to move to Taiwan? No, I'm not. I don't think all of you should move to Taiwan, but I think we should all be just as committed to that mission. Now, last Sunday, I had the privilege to preach at our Urbana church plant. And last Sunday was there first Sunday in their new building. They have their own building now, which is really exciting and just a testimony of God's faithfulness and goodness, because they've been meeting at the Centerpoint Urbana Intermediate School for a long time. They get up early every morning, set up chairs, tear it down, set up classrooms. And so they had their first Sunday in that new building. And I think when that church plant looks at that and you go, oh, this is awesome. We got our own building. We've kind of arrived. Now, that's not true, right? And then I think for us as a church, we could kind of look back over the past 11, 12 years even, and look at this church and say, man, God's doing a whole lot of stuff, right? I hope you can say that. Like, evidenced by lots of baptisms, lots of great things. God's doing a lot in our church. Amen. Yes. He's been so faithful and so good to us. Now we can look at all the things that are happening, like a booming kids ministry and a thriving youth ministry and a growing college ministry. Lots of people getting baptized. Now. We've Got this building that seems to be finished. Maybe we'll see. But there's a. Most of the space is taken up now, and you can kind of look. And you can look at it, and you go, man, this feels really good. And we can get really comfortable with what we have. And while nobody in this room would ever say it out loud, you might be tempted to go, man, maybe we've kind of arrived as a church. And that makes me kind of want to vomit because it's gross. Because what I want to do to start out is to show you what arrival actually looks like. In Revelation, chapter seven, this is the picture of arrival for the church. Revelation 7, 9, 10 says, after this I looked, and behold a great multitude that no one could 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 arrival looks like. That's what arrival looks like. When the church is standing before the throne of God, praising him because salvation belongs to him. When every people and nation and tribe and language are there doing that, that's when we have arrived. Like, picture that for a second. People from all nations and tribes and languages worshiping our God. John Piper, in his book Let the Nations Be Glad, says this missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn't. Missions exist because worship doesn't. Like, there will be a day when there is no need for the mission to go forward because we have arrived and we are standing before God Almighty and we will praise him forever because he's worthy of it. Because worship is the goal of the church. But, guys, we're not there, right? So how do we get there? How do we get where all nations are praising our great God? Jesus would say it this way at the end of his life, his life here on this earth. Sorry, not the end of his life, because he came back from dead, you know, so Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20. And Jesus came and said to them, this is his closest followers, his apostles. And they're kind of waiting. After he's lived his perfect life, he's died and been crucified. He rose from the dead, lived a little while longer, and then all of a sudden, he's gonna ascend into heaven. And these are his final words before he ascends to his closest followers. Really important things. Remember, guys, like, if final words are so important, Right. Like, nobody gets to the end of their life and just goes, well, how's the weather outside? Right? You don't talk about surface level things like, what was the score of the game? When you know your life is about to end or life's coming to a close, you say really important things or you should say really important things. Right? And this is what Jesus says. Jesus came to them and said, 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've commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. So Jesus says, all authority has been given to him, the one who has authority over life, the one who has authority over death. You better pay attention to what he's saying, right? He's the king who can conquer death. Pay attention to what he's saying. He has all authority. He's the king. He gives out the marching orders. And he says, here's the marching orders. I want you. There's only one command in that. The command is to make disciples. This is what I want you to do. Closest followers. I want you to go make disciples, and I want you to make disciples of all nations. Why? Because remember that picture from Revelation 7? All peoples and nations and tribes and languages are standing before the Father, worshipping, but we're not there yet. So Jesus says, the mission for us is to go make disciples of all nations. And that great commission, that idea, that command of making disciples has three going, baptizing and teaching. There's the going aspect. We are to live our lives. We are to continuously go in our lives to share the gospel with people who don't know him, to proclaim Jesus to the lost and dying world. That's how we are to live our lives. That's the mission that Jesus has called us to. So we're to go and live our lives like this. And then as we share the Gospel and people respond in faith, through the gift of faith that God has given them, and they're to say, inwardly, I have declared that I'm going to associate my life with Jesus. And as I do that and declare this, you're to challenge them and say, okay, it doesn't stop there. Inwardly. Now I want you to proclaim what you inwardly believe through the waters of baptism. And in Urbana last week, they baptized three more people. Sweet, sweet day. So you're to go. You're to baptize people, but it doesn't even stop at the waters of baptism. Then you are to raise them up and to teach them everything that Jesus has commanded. And this is the mission before us, the Great Commission, to go make disciples by going and baptizing and teaching. And it involves evangelism and discipleship. You're to go do this, you're to proclaim Jesus. But you don't just proclaim Jesus and make converts. You're to make disciples by teaching them to follow Jesus. Seems kind of difficult, but here's the great promise at the end of it, he says, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. You're not going to do this on your own, right? And this is familiar to a lot of us in this room, but for many of you in this room, this feels overwhelming. It might even feel confusing, like, wait, I'm supposed to make disciples in my life? I don't really know how to do that. And my guess is that for most of you in this room, you would say that's for somebody more spiritual than me. And that's not true. This is the mission for every single one of us in this room who says that Jesus is Lord. Every single one of us. So what does this disciple making mission look like? Like, how can you live out the mission of God in everyday life as a plumber, as a farmer, as an IT worker, as a nurse, as a mom, dad, high school student, college student. How can you live out the mission of God as a normal person in eastern Iowa? How are you to live out the mission of God in your everyday life? You ready? Like, whoa. That was just the introduction. That was just the introduction. Guys, we got a lot to go. Alright? So go with me to second Timothy, chapter two in second Timothy two. What you have here, since we're jumping right into it, is the Apostle Paul. And this is probably the last letter that we have that he's written. So in this last letter, the Apostle Paul is writing to his young disciple Timothy nearing the end of his life. See a pattern here. Jesus, near the end of his life on earth, is telling his disciples to go make disciples. Now listen to what older Paul is going to tell Timothy. Second Timothy, chapter two. We're going to start in verse two, says, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So Paul is saying, timothy, you've heard stuff from me, now you need to take it to other people. And they need to take it to other people. Because you have four generations of people just in this one verse. Paul, the one that's teaching Timothy. Timothy's the one hearing. But it's not to stop with Timothy, Paul, Timothy, I want, Timothy, what you've heard, I want you to entrust to faithful men. That's the third generation of people. But it doesn't even stop with those people. Then it goes to who will be able to teach others also. Someone else taught. You heard it. Now you entrust it to others and they'll be able to teach others also. So what is Timothy to do? He's to entrust this message that he's heard. He's to commit to it and deposit it. The things that he's heard, he's to deposit and commit to other people. You hear that? He is to make an investment, take the things that he's heard and invest them into other people's life. Because that's the disciple making. Mission is a spiritual investment into the lives of others. What is making disciples? It's a spiritual investment into the lives of others. Now, Jesus would say it this way. Early on in Matthew chapter four, he's calling his first disciples, and he's walking along the shore and he sees these fishermen and he's going to call them and he says, hey, follow me. But he doesn't just stop there because he says, follow me and I will make you what, fishers of men. Here's these fishermen that are fishing for fish, right? And he says, hey, guys, I want you to follow me and I'm gonna give you a greater purpose in your life than just your occupation. The same is true for all of us in this room. You have a greater purpose in your life than just the job that you go to every single day. And so Jesus is saying, hey, you're fishermen. But let me tell you, when you start following me, I'm going to make you fishers of men. You're going to start investing your life in other men and they're going to start following me as well. Because, guys, our mission isn't marked by hoarding. The message. Our mission isn't marked by hoarding. The message. The word of God came to you, came to me to move in me and also to move through me. The Word of God came to me to transform my life, to make me a new creation in Christ. But it doesn't stop there, guys, because it's meant to move through you, guys. We don't want to be a church that simply raises up people into knowledgeable disciples where we have a bunch of knowledge about God, but we do nothing with it. That's not the mission. We don't want you to be raised up into sour sponge disciples. And what do I mean by that? As you know a sponge, you put water on it, you put soap on it, and you use it to fulfill its purpose to clean dishes or to clean other things, Right? But what happens if you take that sponge, you put, fill it full of water, you put soap on it and you just leave it on the sink? Eventually it's going to get gross, it's not going to be useful. And what do you have to do with it? You throw it away. Because that's not the kind of disciple we're trying to make At Veritas Church where we go, we know a lot of stuff. We have great theology. We have great theology that we better put into practice and we better take what we have heard in the presence of many witnesses and spiritually invest it into the lives of other people. So who are we to spiritual, spiritually invest in? Paul tells Timothy, entrust it to faithful men, trustworthy people, reliable people. Now, early on in this mission that you're living on, you may not know who a faithful person is. As you share the gospel with somebody, you may not know. Are they a faithful person? I don't know if they're faithful. I don't know if I should share the gospel with them. No, you go share the gospel and proclaim Christ and you be an ambassador. So you may not know initially who a faithful person is. So I don't want you to get caught up in that word initially. However, there comes a point, as Jesus would say, stop throwing what's holy to the dogs, stop casting your pearls before swines, because there's going to come a point in your life where you go, they're not faithful. They're really antagonistic to the gospel. They don't just simply ask questions because they're curious. They ask questions to try to trap you in your answers because they don't like Jesus. And at that point you can stop spiritually investing in them. You better keep praying that God softens their hard heart. But that's not the type of faithful people that we're saying to keep spiritually investing in. You don't have to make time consuming, long term investments in people who are completely antagonistic to the gospel. Now can God change those people's hearts? Yes. The one writing this, the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus when he was persecuting Christians, I would say he was pretty antagonistic to the gospel. Jesus changes his heart and life in a moment, God can still do that. But the life that the lives that Paul is telling Timothy to invest in are faithful people, those people that are spiritually hungry, the ones humbly seeking truth. So what Paul is telling Timothy here is, hey, I want to keep the baton being passed. You're to keep passing it on, because we're in this lifelong spiritual relay race. So if we're to make spiritually investing in the lives of others a rhythm in our lives, what's required of us? Look at 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 what Paul does here, this is the first of three illustrations that Paul gives back to back to back about what spiritually investing into the lives of others should look like. And the first illustration he gives is a soldier. If we're to spiritually invest our lives into others, it's going to look like a soldier. And the first thing you know is you're going to be in a battle. And the battle is going to require suffering, suffering like that of Christ Jesus. Remember older pastor who has gone through the wringer in ministry and experienced all the hardships is saying, hey, Timothy, I want you to know something. I want you to spiritually invest your lives in the lives of other people. But I want you to know that it's not going to be easy. It's going to be difficult. Why? Because as Ephesians 6 would say, you're in a spiritual battle that requires spiritual armor. The battle isn't against flesh and blood. And if you're going to have a rhythm of mission in your life, be assured it will be a battle. Now, I'm going to give you some really practical ways that this could play itself out in your life, really simple ways. So if we're to live our lives on mission, and when it warms up, you go check your mail at the mailbox and your neighbors are outside. Your neighbors are outside, and you go, you know, I've had a conversation with that one person one time about Jesus, and I don't know if they know Jesus. I need to talk. I want to talk to them about Jesus again. You go check the mail. But you know what you really want to do after you check the mail? You don't want to talk to your neighbor. You want to go back inside where it's nice and it's comfortable. And the battle that wages within you is, am I going to spiritually invest in my Neighbor in this moment, or I'm going to do what I want to do. That's the battle. How many of you have teenagers in your home? Some of you don't even want to admit it right now. You got teenagers in your home. If you go talk to your teenager after school, hey, how was your day? What are you going to get? Good fun? You might get some grunts. I don't even know what's going to come out right there. But you're not going to get much. But at the end of the day, you're tired. You're going to have a chance to tell your son or daughter good night. Guess the time that they finally want to say more than good and fine at the moment that you're really tired. The battle that wages within you at that point is, am I going to spiritually invest in my teenager at that point, or am I so tired that I'm just going to go to bed? See how this practically plays itself out in life. We make it into this big thing, but this is the battle of a soldier that's doing this mission. The battle is, am I going to keep my home closed, or am I going to invite people into it so that I can talk about Jesus and let the ministry that God's doing in my own heart overflow into the lives of others? But oftentimes, when we think about our homes, we see our homes as a refuge, guys. And you need to repent of that, because God is the only one that's your refuge. Now. Are we so thankful that we can come to our home and it's nice and it's comfortable and cozy? Yes, great. But if you don't ever open up your home, because that's your point, to get away from everybody, then you're missing the point of God's mission to spiritually invest in other people, even in your own home. Guys, the battle here is, are you going to follow the easy, wide path? Are you going to follow the narrow one? Because if you're going to live this life on mission, it's going to require great focus because he says, no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits. I had an old roommate at one point before Erica and I got married, and he had just gotten out of the army about a year before and. And he struggled mightily with civilian life. He would often say, I hate civilian life. Why? Because he was so used to getting his marching orders from the authority. This is the time you wake up. This is how you make your bed. This is how you get dressed. This is your job and he struggled when there was a lot of freedom. Cause he struggled with civilian life. And what Paul is telling Timothy is don't get caught up in civilian life. Don't get entangled. And that word entangled is the same word we get in Matthew, chapter 27 of the Crown of Thorns being interwoven together, that you're just caught up and you're woven into the ways of this world. Don't get woven into normal worldly pursuits when you're on the mission of God, the worldly comforts. When God says, I want you to spiritually invest your lives into others. Don't get entangled in fame and fortune and success and significance and the here and now and the things that moth and rust can destroy and thieves could break in and steal. Don't get entangled in worldly comforts. He says, timothy, you got to be laser focused on this mission because the world is going to be attractive and it's going to have a lot of things to offer, but you can't miss this. So don't get caught up in the worldly comforts of this world. But also don't get caught up and entangled in lesser missions. Don't get caught up in lesser missions. You don't need to primarily, and I mean that word intentionally, don't primarily get wrapped up in politics. That is a lesser mission in this world. Your primary job is not to convert somebody to another party. Your primary job is to convert somebody to the kingdom of God by God's grace and God's grace alone. Don't primarily start investing your life in a lesser mission. Don't invest in a lesser mission of simply primarily physical aid. Now hear me out here. There are a lot of hungry people in this world and they need food. There are a lot of orphans that need to be taken care of and widows that need to be taken care of. And this shows up in Acts chapter 6. In Acts chapter 6, you have a culture of there's some widows that are needing food. And as these widows are needing food, they're Hellenistic Jews. So they're kind of a discriminated kind of group, not accepted. So you got culture discrimination going on. You got hungry, you got widows going on. And. And the apostles say these people need to be taken care of. So they establish some deacons, hey, I want you to go serve. And you take care of this food distribution problem. So you take care of the physical need. But as you take care of that, the apostles said what? So that we can focus on the ministry of the Word and prayer. Because there was a greater mission than just serving the physical needs. Guys, don't primarily simply invest your life in meeting the physical needs of this world. Because you could meet all the physical needs in the world and somebody die separated from our great God. Don't miss it. Don't get entangled in civilian pursuits. A rhythm of spiritually investing into the lives of others requires being battle ready and requires laser like focus. Why go back to the end of verse four since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. The goal of all of this is to please God. The one who reconciled you back to himself, the one who redeemed you. Not to please your spouse, not to please your kids, not to please the world. We live out this mission because we want to honor our great God. But he doesn't just stop saying it's going to be soldier like. But verse five says an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. So if you're to spiritually invest your life, it's going to be like a soldier, but it's also going to be like an athlete. An athlete who's awaiting a crown is in a competition for souls because we are on a soul winning mission. But guys, there is an enemy who is attempting to steal and kill and destroy. And this mission isn't simply going to require focus, but it's going to have to require operating according to the rules. It's going to require integrity and no shortcuts. I'm going to give you some examples of some shortcuts in this mission, guys, that if we're going to spiritually invest in our lives, in the lives of other people, we can't take these shortcuts. Shortcut number one. I'll just pray. I'll just pray. Now, is prayer a good thing? Come on guys, you're better than Is prayer a good thing? Yes, prayer is a great thing. Should we pray for Jamie and Jess? Yes. Should we pray for each other? Should we pray all the time? Yes, pray without ceasing. Seems biblical, right? Like, yes, you should pray. But sometimes we use that as an excuse. I'll just pray. I don't really have to live out the mission of investing what I've heard into the lives of others. Because I'll just pray. As Jesus final words to his disciples weren't simply, hey, go lock yourself in a room forever. They locked themselves in a room and devoted themselves to prayer. But they didn't stay there because he said, I want you to go make disciples. Don't just pray, but pray as you're going as you're doing this. So that's one shortcut that we could take. Another shortcut would be this. Someone else will do it. Someone else will do it. Which kind of goes along with the third shortcut. I'll just invite somebody to church and someone else can tell them about Jesus. Do I hope you invite people here? Yes. Not at the expense of you sharing the gospel with them though. You are an ambassador. Me and Jake and Sam and Ian, whoever else may come up here and preach. We're not the only ambassadors in this church. You're an ambassador. You can proclaim Jesus. Don't take this shortcut in this mission to simply invite people to church. I just started my third or fourth year coaching elementary school basketball yesterday. Grand time, right? No, it's fun. So last year I was talking to one of our players after the first game and I said, hey, what was your favorite part? What was your favorite part of the game? And this kid goes sitting. What? Sitting? Yes, sitting on the bench. I just like stuck my hands over my head. There's a coach. Like, what? You're missing it. Like you missed the game. You missed the adventure of it. Guys, we don't want to do that as Christians. Don't miss the adventure of getting to proclaim Jesus to a lost and dying world and just so that you can sit back and spectate so somebody else can tell them about Jesus. There's a mission and adventure that you get to be a part of. Don't take a shortcut. It's going to require integrity. It's going to require focus. And then in verse 6, it is the hard working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. There's the soldier, there's the athlete and there's the farmer. Literally, the word is the toiling tiller of the soil. They're the ones that are getting the first share of the crop. So what's natural and right should come to them. And what is Paul saying to Timothy? Hey, Timothy, I want you to know this is going to be like a battle. You need to be focused, you need to have integrity and not take shortcuts. And this is going to require hard work for you to spiritually invest in the lives of other people. It's going to take hard work. Now being a church that wholeheartedly believes that salvation is a free gift from God, that we don't work our way to earn salvation, anytime that we start talking about hard work and effort, like radar goes up, like, oh, what are you talking about here? You talking about that we're working to earn our salvation? No, not at all. Because there's a difference in Scripture between effort and earning. There's a difference between effort and earning. Now if you think today I'm going to leave here, I heard this message about mission and I got to work really hard to earn God's favor, then you've missed the message. The message today from second Timothy, from Paul to Timothy, from God to us, is you already have the favor of God. Now go work hard. Don't work hard to earn it, but put effort into it because you already have it. That's what Paul is telling Timothy here. So if I were to summarize these three illustrations in a couple words, I would say this deep devotion. What is spiritually investing into the lives of other people supposed to look like? Deep devotion. Paul is talking about intentional devotion carried out when it's not always easy, it's not always convenient. And it's soldier like and it's athlete like and it's farmer like devotion. Guys, this battle will never be convenient and easy. The crown will never be won without integrity. And gospel seeds won't be planted or watered by being lazy. Guys, this is an intense and painful battle. It's a soul winning fight and it's hard work. But hear me out, church. God is worth it. God is worth it. The mission of God is too important for you not to participate in. But here's some 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. So let's jump back to verse one. We skipped that and jumped straight into the mission. But here's the fuel for the mission. You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. You, you need to keep in touch and keep on being empowered in this mission. By what? By grace? Grace is the strengthener. And what does it strengthen? It strengthens our souls. We get this inward strength by grace to not get entangled in the civilian pursuits. By God's grace and God's grace alone, we will have integrity in this mission. And by God's grace alone, we will work hard in this mission and in Scripture grace. We often think about it as unmerited favor that pardons us from our sin. And we should think about it that way because that's what it is. Unmerited favor that pardons our sin. But there's another way that grace is talked about in Scripture, and that's how it's being talked about here. And it's unmerited power that strengthens us for the mission. Not just unmerited favor that pardons our sin, but unmerited power that strengthens us for the mission. Paul would say it a couple different ways in his letters to the Corinthians. Second Corinthians, chapter nine. We'll get to this in a few weeks. When we jump back into Second Corinthians, it says, 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 able to make all grace abound to you. But what's the point of that? So that you may abound in every good work. So God's grace abounds on you for the purpose of you abounding and the good works that he set before you. And then in 1st Corinthians 15 says, 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, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. So how did Paul work hard? He worked really hard, but it was all about grace. And where does this grace come from? It comes in Christ. Jesus is what Paul says. Christ is the power source of grace. Everything that Christ did, everything that Christ is, and everything that Christ does encompasses this grace that strengthens us. So how do we experience this kind of strengthening grace in this mission? We have to trust Jesus. We have to look to Jesus. And ultimately we must depend on Christ's grace in this mission. So this is what I want you to know. Depend on the grace of God and your devotion to the mission of God. Depend on the grace of God and your devotion to the mission of God. We are to live out the mission of God of spiritually investing our lives into the lives of others every day with dependence and devotion. So what could that look like, though? I'm going to give you some examples of what that looks like in our church. These are not made up examples. These are people that will be sitting in this room this morning. They might be in this room right now. They might be at another service. This is how spiritually investing into the lives of others could become a rhythm in your life, potentially. There are people that work at Collins or bae. Those are just the two that come to my mind. All right, there's a Lot of other places to work in this city, right? But on their lunch breaks, they don't just scroll on their phones, but they share the gospel with their co workers. They say, hey, would you go to lunch with me? And they talk about spiritual things. You could take your lunch break and just do this your whole lunch break, or you could spiritually invest in the lives of your co workers. That's what a rhythm of your lunch break could be looking like for the mission of God. Jamie mentioned this family group. There are 13 individuals in our church that every single Friday night they invite the internationals that they have met in this city, whether it's at their job, whether it's at Kirkwood, wherever it may be. Internationals in this city, they invite to their home and they share a meal with them and they open the Bible and study the Bible with people, many of them who, if we wanted to go be missionaries in their countries, their country would never ever let us into their country. But they are living among us and they are saying, every Friday night, instead of just sitting at home watching Netflix, I'm going to invite these people into my home and share the gospel with them. That's what a rhythm of mission could look like. There are people in this church that every single week, every Wednesday night, they invest their lives into the lives of middle and high school students in this building. And they make disciples with middle school and high school students. You know what? I bet many of them would prefer not to hang out with seventh grade boys on a Wednesday night, but I'm so thankful that they care enough about Jesus and his mission to do it. There are people that every single Sunday morning invest their lives into spiritually taking care of investing in kids in this church. And they're not just warm bodies in a classroom. There are people in this church that are holding babies right now. And your baby is getting prayed for tremendously because they are spiritually investing their lives into the babies of this church. They're taking the mission of God seriously. There's a couple in our church that tend to go to the same spot for vacation every single year so that they can continue to share the gospel with the same service workers that they've interacted with with over and over. There are people like Jamie and Jess that have given up every rhythm of their lives to tell people about Jesus because you see this, like, what could this rhythm look like? Lunch breaks and Friday nights and Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings and vacations and your entire life committed to the mission of God. Guys, these are rhythms lived out by everyday people. That literally are sitting among you right now. Not special forces missionary soldiers and elite missionary athletes. Normal everyday people. Nurses, engineers, stay at home moms, financial people, factory workers, graphic designers, construction workers, police officers, college students and retired people. Not made up people. These are real people. Guys. This disciple making mission of God is accomplished not through an elite set of missionaries, but everyday people who take the mission of God seriously. Like, think about history, guys. We can remember some athletes from our generation and a few previous generations before, but I don't know many athletes from the first, second and third century. I don't know many farmers, I don't know many soldiers. Why? Because a lot of soldiers and athletes and farmers are forgotten. The point is that we need faithful men and women who will continue this missional legacy whether they're forgotten or not. So what is the application? Look back to verse seven. It's a weird application. You get all this like, okay, be a part of this mission, Timothy, now this is what I want you to do. Think, think over what I say. For the Lord will give you understanding in everything. So Timothy, what do I want you to do with all this information? I want you to think about it. I want you to consider it. Guys, this is not a topic that you just gloss over and you just forget and dismiss because it's something that you've heard before. Paul tells Timothy, you think Timothy has heard this mission before? Yes, of course he's heard this mission. And he goes, timothy, you gotta pay attention. Don't just gloss over this. And for us, set an alarm, put it on your calendar. You gotta think about this, guys, you need to talk about it with somebody on your way home today. Talk about it. Hey, what should the mission of God look like in our lives when the kids go to bed tonight? Say, hey, we want to talk about this sermon. We want to talk about. Not just the sermon, that feels weird. Like talk about the mission of God. Like talk about God's truth. Talk about it with a pastor. I can guarantee you I didn't even ask the pastors. Like, no pastor in this church will be aggravated if we get tons of emails and have our lunches and breakfast filled up with people saying, how can I be a part of this mission? There's a lot of emails we would like not to get, but we would love for people going, how can I live out this disciple making mission in my home? Oh, let's have lunch and talk about that. How can I live out this mission in my job? We would love to talk about that, guys. That's how important this Mission is. And he says, when you think about it, the Lord will give you understanding. The Lord will help you grasp what it looks like. Because I can't tell you what the rhythm should look like in your life. I've given you lots of examples. I can't tell you who to invest in. I'm not neighbors with those people. You are. I can tell you what Jesus won't say. He won't say, you get a pass. Guys, imagine a local church fueled by the grace of Christ and wholeheartedly devoted to his mission. Imagine what that kind of church could accomplish. Not a church devoted to seeing how many people can fit into this building. Not a church entangled in the pursuits of this world. I'm not talking about a church primarily devoted to solving world hunger or fixing the public school system or redeeming American politics. I'm talking about disciples of Jesus Christ making disciples of Jesus Christ for the glory of our God to the ends of the earth. That's the kind of church we want to be. And you know what? Years from now, generations from now, the world might forget Veritas Church. And that's fine if the kingdom of God has been impacted because we took the mission of God seriously. So let's be a church that advances the mission that we looked out from the very beginning that I want to remind you of Revelation, chapter 7. After this I looked. And behold a great multitude that no one could 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, I want you to picture that scene. And I want you to picture that scene with people who have come to know the Lord in the decades and centuries to come. Because Veritas Church, Cedar Rapids, took this disciple making mission seriously in 2025. All for the glory of our God. That's the kind of church we want to be. Amen. Let's pray. God, you alone are worthy. Protect us from getting caught up in civilian pursuits. God, thank you for changing our lives. And God, thank you for the grace that sustains us. Lord, I pray that we would not, as a church, just simply try to do this, because it's what we're supposed to do. But, Lord, motivate me, motivate our church by your glory and your glory alone. I pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.