Well, first of all, I'd like to thank Pastor Jason and everybody behind the scenes for allowing us youth this opportunity to worship and study in front of the entire church. Now, let's begin. We all have heroes, people who have done something truly remarkable over the past week, but really over many different years. There's one person who has stood out significantly. Her name is miss tilly Bergen and she is the founder of mission to Arlington and has led it for 38 years. miss tilly Bergen is a remarkable leader. She has a far reaching visionary who is gifted in equipping people and enlisting them visions far greater than they are first in South Korea and now admission Arlington. When miss tilly walks into a room, a hush falls over. You can hear the whispers there it is. There she is. Miss Tilly, even rooms full of tired teenagers on a busy mission onto morning. There's a rare respect that commands attentiveness. But why is she so remarkable? Well, she listened to God and followed the Great Commission to great lengths and does so 364 days a year, she actually convinced herself that take Christmas day off, cannot be proud of that. Our family is so grateful to know her. See, miss tilly Bergen gives her life for the Great Commission. But wait is the Great Commission in how does it affect our everyday lives. If we want to understand these ideas better, we are going to have to look at Scriptural support in context. You see, throughout this sermon, you can think of it as a ladder, we are going step by step up this ladder to understand the great commission better. Each letter has two supporting beams. And in this case, it is the Great Commission and the historical, historical context. If we lose one, the whole thing falls apart. So we are going to climb this ladder by looking at a brief overview of the history of God's presence with humanity. And then seeing how that reflects and adds context to the Great Commission as we know it today. And adding on to that we will see the great gifts God has given humanity and once again, how to work forward with this information. But first, I can't really tell you guys about the Great Commission without actually showing the Great Commission. And Jesus said to them all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I've commanded you and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. In short, the Great Commission is God giving his people an opportunity to share the good news of salvation, allowing us to play a role in his saving work, allowing us to see him bring others into the fold into a state of Emmanuel, God with us. This shirt has been placed on every single one of us. So if we want to join the joy of our heavenly Father, and grow the kingdom, and find a deeper understanding of what this church means for us, we will want to know more. See, Scripture shows that God wants to be with his creation, the Great Commission is an extension of that will, we can see even we can even see this in the title of Emmanuel, God with us in his heart of hearts. God wants to be with humanity, he wants to be with us. Now, let's take our first step up the ladder. And let's look at the garden, the blueprint of paradise. We see in Genesis three, eight, they heard the sound of the LORD God walking the cool of the day. The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden, we see that God was present with humanity. In the Garden of Eden. This was his plan from the very beginning. This verse occurs after the fall, but we can still see that God dwelt with humanity. And he wanted to do all with humanity, he pursued humanity even after we turned away. See, this beautiful bond is the first example of a manual, the gift of the garden, God's eternal presence, and a charge to grow and expand the garden. But instead, we decided it would be better to be our own gods, deciding sin and self over God's presence. But God, he would not let that be the end of the story. Because it's 33 Nine When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, the Lord would speak with Moses. This takes us to the next step up this ladder. We go from the garden, to the Old Covenant, and with it God's desire to be with his people, and lead them. To God set out a way for his people to still communicate with him. He created the tabernacle, the place on earth where humanity in God's presence could coexist. It was a small pocket of Eden. God was once again with his people, but humanity turned from God, to sin. Once again, the tabernacle was not the final solution. Later the temple was built by Solomon, the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the temple, as we see first Kings eight, six through 11 verse in verse six, we see then the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house and the most holy place underneath the wings of the Cherubim. Then we see later in verse 10, and when the priest came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord. So the priests cannot stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. See God in an in His mercy, set a temple for Israel to come to them in our SRUC worship, where he could lead his people and guide them in a way he saw fit, and we that would prosper them, and benefit them. But the Israelites like us were still sinful, they turned to their own ways. Once again, God's people left, the gifts of the garden presents. This scene plays out over and over and over. God comes for us, but we, we turn away. The temple, like the aforementioned was temporary. Soon Babylon swept in and carry God's people to exile. The temple was destroyed, was the darkest time that Israelites had ever faced. But in that dark time of exile, a promise was made. Isaiah 714 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign, Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and Barisan and they shall call his name, Immanuel. This takes us to the third step up our ladder. After the garden in the Old Covenant, now we reach the gospel. The Son of God Himself comes to us in human form, Immanuel personified, God did not abandon us in the Old Covenant, but he went so far as to create a new one, to draw us closer to himself, the Savior of the world. At no small cost to himself, gave us the free gift of salvation. Jesus set aside his throne, for cross so that we could be with Him for all eternity. God's desire to bless His creation has even gone so far to humble himself as a sacrificial lamb. This is the continuing proof in gift of God's steadfastness, which is salvation. Three days after His crucifixion, he rose again. After he rose again, he stayed with his disciples for a short time. But he promised something he promised that a helper would come. After sending into the heavens, the disciples waited for this helper to arrive, X to one through four states. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven as sound like a mighty rushing wind. It filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues of fire, appear to them and rested on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. We have been given eternal presence with the Lord, the Holy Spirit has come down to us, bringing the gift of the garden into our own lives. Forever. God is with us. He did not abandon us. The gift of Emanuel has spread to the church, we are living in the gift of the garden.So in a short recap, we've gone up three steps the garden, the old covenant to know the gospel. We have seen the evidence of God's steadfastness, but now that we have the gift of salvation in God's presence, what is Scot Costa do with these gifts. Well, once again, let's look back to the beginning, back to the garden. God bless him and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number fill the earth and subdue it. rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves along the ground. See, God is present with us. But it doesn't stop there. He calls us to pour into the people community around us. Just as he called Adam to take care of extend the garden. He takes care of us so that we can extend the church he calls us to extend the church and this parallels the Great Commission. We are called to extend the spiritual garden. The spiritual garden is the body of Christ, God with his people, the All Knowing all powerful God is with us and He wants us to expand his kingdom and his garden, all throughout the earth. Zachary Garrus puts it this way. All God's covenants are connected and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Royal Osbourne who restores his people to communion with the Father. Now King Jesus commands His Church to be fruitful and multiply, to make disciples of all nations who one day reign with Him in the new heavens and the new earth. In fulfillment, the Great Commission is the charge to expand the spiritual garden, this charge commences to go out and minister so that the Kingdom grow. This is the charge we have been called for, since the foundation of the earth. See, this is the next step up the ladder, the fact that God is too good to leave it there, God has given us purpose. From the gospel, we see the Great Commission, this we can see the charge God has given us this gift of purpose. Matthew 2018, through 20, once again, and Jesus came to them and said to them, All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and 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. We see here that God has given us a role in his saving work, we can see that this parallels the gardens Be fruitful and multiply. Just as Adam was called to populate the world with image bearers, and expand the garden, we are called to redeem image bearers, and expend the spiritual garden. We are called to extend it in our families, and our communities. In anyone we meet. We are given a purpose to reach others administer to them, so that in God's mercy, he might reach them. This church goes down to the core of who we are, as followers of Christ, we are called to evangelize, we're spread the good news. Now this charge, I usually think of it as homework or Christian overtime. That's not at all this charge this purpose. It's a gift. How are we to be fulfilled without purpose? What greater purpose than the spreading the Good News of the Kingdom Now we have reached the top of our ladder, from the garden, to the Old Covenant to the Gospel from the gospel, we find our purpose. Now we see that that purpose is a gift. This is why we are called to life fulfillment, presence and purpose. This is why Michigan Arlington gets larger and larger. Every single year, we can see this spiritual gardening at Mission Arlington, selfless acts of sacrifice, moments of uncomfortability and continual worship. That is what our true purpose is. Now I had the pleasure of helping to lead a group Kaelyn was my co leader, and we got to our rainbow Express group. And as you mentioned, when we got there, they all spoke Spanish. I don't know if you know anything about me. I speak no Spanish So it seems that God had hung us out to dry. Like he had sent us out to be bored out of our minds, because all we can do with these kids is barely play soccer with them. That's how it felt the first day. We can't do this. We can't do anything. But that wasn't it at all. See, through our little effort that we could give God took it and he multiplied it through several people being able to translate for us in several apps like Google Translate where say, Hi, we're able to make a connection those kids glory btw God. Seven, in our group accepted Christ seven yetnow, this is why I tell you this. There was a look in those children's eyes was light was hope. It was beautiful. But something that stood out to me in particular is it didn't stop at the children, my teammates, my co leader, that same light was in their eyes. Why? Because they were experiencing their true purpose. This is what we were created for. This is what we are here for.These gifts are to be set in our lives to glorify our great God and to worship Him forever and ever. See, now I want to leave you with a few things to consider. Where can you help grow the spiritual garden? How can you reach out into the community around you and make use of the gifts God has empowered us with your power doesn't have to change the whole world. But maybe just maybe it will perhaps is just having a cup of coffee with a friend when spending time investing to the hearts and lives of young person. But God can change hearts and call people to repentance. call people to Himself. All he calls for is a little intentionality. But today is youth led worship. So I'd like to specifically if I may and intentionally apply this to my generation as we close today. Speaking of intentionality this week, we invited Dr. Richard Ross to speak at Mission Arlington. Dr. Richard Ross. My brother's namesake is a youth ministry professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Try saying that 10 times fast. We invited him to speak to our group this week. Dr. Ross's heart is for all teenagers to come to know and passionately worship. King Jesus. You'd like to quote Jonathan Edwards, the key figure in the first Great Awakening. He has said, indeed has commonly been so regarded as began any great work for the revival of the church has taken the young people and cast off the old and stiff next generation is taken. The young people you see many people think teenagers want to be entertained. While that is fun, me being a teenager, if you didn't know. But those who genuinely know believing teenagers know that they want to matter. They want to be part of some grand adventure. They wouldn't be caught up in some cause that is greater than themselves that cause secrete commission. Adolf Hitler built his new Germany on a foundation of teenage Nazis by capturing the hearts of the young people. China is right guard mostly made up of teenagers turned China up side down. Castro was able to seize the imagination of the Cuban youth and lead them into revolution. see young people can change a culture for worse or for Far, far better. And the gospel. The Great Commission is the mightiest tools of all change. You see students, students, as part of the First and Second Great Awakening the global awakening of 1904 was sparked by a middle school girl. We as teenagers long we long to accept the challenge. Twice up, consider everything else a loss, enjoying the king and changing the world through his great commission. It was his greatest adventure plan from the start. Will you join us? Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for this wonderful, wonderful opportunity you have given us as the youth to worship you before the entire congregation, Lord, I thank you for this opportunity to show them our hearts. Lord, I pray that in our efforts at Mission Arlington, you would take it you will multiply it Lord, I pray for every single child that we have come in contact with that you would speak to them and bring them closer to themselves. Lord, I pray for revival in the hearts of the young people, that you would capture our imagination and lead us further to yourself. We love you and we trust you. In Your name I pray. Amen.