Matthew 28:16-20

Matthew 28:16-20 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  The highest paid public employee in your state is most likely a college basketball or football coach.  There are a few states where sanity triumphs sports, but mostly it's a tossup as to whether it's the basketball coach (Kentucky) or the football coach (Ohio).  But no matter how well that coach gets paid, and no matter how much they jump up and down and scream at the 18-22 year old men they're coaching, they can't play the game.  They don't enter the field of play -- they can only prepare the team and shout instructions from the sidelines.
  Jesus, however, doesn't only prepare and coach us on how we are to make disciples.  Behold, he is with us always, even to the end.  On the cross, Jesus demonstrates how far he is willing to go to abide with us -- even to death, and beyond, so that we are not separated from God.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus walks with us throughout our lives, in the sufferings and the joys, strengthening us and encouraging us and calming us and reminding us of the centrality of the Gospel.  The Holy Spirit calms our anxious souls and reminds us of what truly matters, so that we can be agents of grace in the world.