GO

On September 7, Pastor Dave preached a message titled Go, closing the summer with one word that carries both urgency and purpose. He began with humor and warmth, recalling moments from everyday life where that word changes everything—from his dad shouting “Go!” when the family was running late, to fans yelling at the TV, to the frustration of a green light and a car that won’t move. “We all know the urgency of that word,” he said. “It pulls us forward. It demands action. It won’t let us stay put.”

That same word, Pastor Dave reminded, was the command Jesus gave His disciples in Matthew 28: “Go, and make disciples of all nations.” Those two letters—G-O—became the foundation of the message. “That word is the heartbeat of my life,” he said. “It’s why I’m in ministry. Because the mission of God—to rescue people from every nation—is worth my whole life.”

From there, the sermon unfolded around three questions: Why we can go. Why we must go. And how we do go.

Before Jesus said “Go,” He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” That, Pastor Dave said, changes everything. “The reason we can go isn’t because we’re strong enough or brave enough—it’s because He reigns.” Jesus has all authority over life and death, heaven and hell, kings and nations. “Wherever we go,” he said, “Jesus has gone before us. Wherever we go, He is with us.”

Then came the heart of the message: the gospel. Pastor Dave described a Bible on his shelf, one with a single cord running through every book, every page, every story—symbolizing the one message of Scripture: God rescuing people from every nation through Christ for His glory. He summarized that message in four simple points: God loves us. Our sin separates us. Jesus bridges the divide. And by grace, we must choose to believe. That is the gospel we go with.

“We were made by a God who loves us,” he said. “But we chose our own way. The relationship was broken. And yet, even when we were far off, God came to us in Jesus—He lived the life we couldn’t live, died the death we deserved, and rose again so that we might know the Father.”

That’s why we can go. But then came the question: Why must we go?

Pastor Dave turned to Romans 10:13–15: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe if they have not heard?” He walked the congregation through Paul’s chain of logic—salvation requires calling, calling requires belief, belief requires hearing, hearing requires someone speaking, and speaking requires someone being sent. “Take one link out,” he said, “and the whole chain breaks.”

Then he laid out a staggering reality: 3.2 billion people—one in four humans alive today—have never heard the gospel. “That’s not a faceless number,” he said. “That’s a mother in Yemen rocking her baby to sleep who’s never known there’s a Father in heaven. A teenager in India searching for meaning who’s never heard that Jesus offers living water. An old man in North Africa closing his eyes for the last time, never having heard that the grave has been conquered.”

That, he said, is why we must go. “Because the chain is broken. Because Jesus has given us the mission. Because we have what they need.”

He spoke candidly about how easy it is for Western churches to grow comfortable—to make worship about nostalgia, music preference, or personal encouragement rather than mission. “We’ve made church about us,” he said, “when Jesus called us to go.” The gospel calls believers beyond comfort into obedience—to a faith that takes risks, that crosses lines, that refuses to bow to cultural Christianity.

Then Pastor Dave lifted the congregation’s eyes to eternity with a vision from Revelation 7: “A great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne.” That day, he said, is not a possibility—it’s a promise. “The blood of Jesus didn’t purchase a possibility. It purchased a people. The only question is—will you be a part of it?”

Finally, he brought the call home: How do we go?

Missions, he said, isn’t just for pastors or missionaries—it’s for every follower of Jesus. “The question isn’t, ‘Am I called?’ The question is, ‘Am I willing to obey the call I already have?’” Going begins here and now—with one person, one prayer, one act of courage.

He invited everyone to identify one person they could share Christ with this week—a neighbor, a coworker, a family member—and one nation they could pray for among the 3.2 billion unreached. “It may feel small,” he said, “but this is how the ripple of God’s kingdom spreads. One step of obedience in Monrovia can echo into eternity.”

The sermon closed as it began—with the single, urgent word: Go.

“It’s not just a word from a traffic light or a football game,” Pastor Dave said. “It’s the word of King Jesus. Why can we go? Because He reigns. Why must we go? Because the world hasn’t heard. How do we go? By starting here, starting now, saying, ‘Here I am, Lord. Send me.’”

He ended with one final vision: “One day, the multitude will gather before the throne—every nation, tribe, and language. The only question is—will someone be there because you prayed, because you gave, because you went, because you spoke?”