Latest / REZ CHURCH Podcast / GO // INTRODUCTION // PASTOR RUSS CHAMBERS

Transcript

GO // INTRODUCTION // PASTOR RUSS CHAMBERS · REZ CHURCH Podcast

0:04
And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on
0:07
earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples
0:12
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
0:16
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I
0:21
have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always
0:26
to the end of the age. Good
0:39
morning, Resurrection Church, how we doing today?
0:42
So good to see you. My name is Russ.
0:44
If I've not gotten to meet you yet, we're honored that you're
0:46
here checking out church, joining us for a new series
0:48
today. This series is called Go.
0:51
It's our mission series. You're going to be meeting a lot
0:53
of our missionaries around the world.
0:55
Our point is not to have travel agents come in and tell you
0:58
about their trips, though. It's for you to realize the
1:01
scope and the scale of what Jesus is doing through his
1:04
bride, the church that he is redeemed by his blood all over
1:08
the earth. We are a sent people.
1:12
Our entire message is a message that is meant to cross political
1:16
lines, racial lines, economic lines.
1:19
It is meant to go to the worst of the worst and the best of the
1:21
best. It's meant to be proclaimed in
1:22
castles and it's meant to be proclaimed in the slums.
1:25
And we have been commissioned as the hands and feet of Jesus,
1:28
empowered by his Holy Spirit to carry that message to the
1:31
nation's. Now at Resurrection Church, we
1:33
have a mission that we exist for, and we believe it's the
1:37
church's mission in general. It's not unique to us, but it is
1:41
something that a Church of Jesus Christ is consumed with.
1:44
And that mission is given to us in the form of this thing called
1:47
the Great Commission. It's something that Jesus gives
1:50
us in the book of Matthew. What many of you may not know is
1:53
that though we build our mission statement out of the Commission
1:55
that's called great in Matthew chapter 28, is there's five
1:58
other commissioning statements that are made about the church
2:01
throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the book of Acts.
2:05
All of them have some similarities to them.
2:07
But I think it's worthy for us to take some time before we look
2:10
at the Great Commission, which is central to the mission of our
2:13
church in Matthew 28 to read through these and make 2 quick
2:17
points about all of these commissioning statements for the
2:20
local church. The first commissioning
2:23
statement outside of Matthew chapter 28 that you'll find in
2:26
your Bible is Mark chapter 16, verse 15.
2:29
It says this. Jesus said to them, Go into all
2:33
the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
2:36
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does
2:40
not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany
2:44
those who go out in my name. They will cast out demons and
2:47
they will speak in tongues. They will pick up serpents with
2:50
their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not
2:53
hurt them, and they will lay hands on the sick and they will
2:55
recover. Luke goes on in Luke chapter 24
2:58
with another Commission for the church.
3:01
Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures.
3:04
Luke 2445 and Jesus said to them, verse 46.
3:08
Thus it is written that Christ should suffer on the third day,
3:11
rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of
3:15
sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning
3:19
from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these
3:22
things, and behold, I am sending the promise of my Father, That's
3:25
the Holy Spirit upon you. But stay in the city until you
3:28
are clothed with power by the Spirit.
3:31
On high. John chapter 20, verse 21.
3:35
Jesus said to them again, peace. Be with.
3:37
You. As the father has.
3:39
Sent me so I am sending you. And when he.
3:42
Had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive
3:47
the Holy Spirit. If you forgive.
3:49
The sins of any they are forgiven them and if you
3:51
withhold forgiveness of any, it is withheld.
3:54
Then in Acts chapter one, verse 8, the last commissioning
3:58
statement outside of Matthew 28, which we call the Great
4:00
Commission, we get this Acts 18, you will receive power.
4:04
When the holy. Spirit has come upon you, and
4:07
you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and
4:10
to the ends of the earth. There's two common threads
4:13
through every one of these things that should mark a
4:15
church. Number one is the presence and
4:18
the power that comes only through the Holy Spirit.
4:21
The Holy Spirit is essential to the life of the believer, David
4:25
Platt said. Perhaps the greatest travesty of
4:27
the American church is the attempt of the local American
4:30
church to do the work of God without the Spirit of God.
4:33
It is powerless if it is not by His Spirit.
4:37
Every great revival in our country's history has started
4:39
with a cry from the pulpit of revering the Holy Spirit.
4:43
Where there is great reverence for the Holy Spirit, there's a
4:46
powerful church and there's an empowered people.
4:49
Where there's an irreverence for the Holy Spirit, there's a
4:52
religious people and a powerless church.
4:55
You and I have been called to live under the leadership and
4:59
lordship moment by moment and minute by minute of the Holy
5:03
Spirit. It is by the Holy Spirit that we
5:06
fulfill the calling that God has on our lives.
5:08
It is by the Holy Spirit that we become the people that are the
5:12
image of Christ so that we can mirror that to the nations
5:14
around us. It is apart from the Holy Spirit
5:17
that we become nothing but a self-righteous people who are
5:20
nothing but a greater noise in a world that's already.
5:24
Noisy. Looking for true hope that can
5:27
only be found in the gospel. If we do not Revere the Holy
5:30
Spirit in this church, we will die.
5:32
If we are not led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, our words
5:36
will be meaningless chatter. But it is through the Holy
5:39
Spirit that God has promised that He will not only begin a
5:42
good work, but complete that good work in US and in our
5:46
church. It is only by the Holy.
5:48
Spirit that we have confidence that the Commission we've been
5:51
called to as the local church is something that Jesus will
5:54
fulfill. And we are.
5:56
Promised that fulfillment in Revelation Chapter 7 where we
5:59
read that and the end. Every tribe, every nation, and
6:03
every tongue will be gathered around the throne of God,
6:05
declaring in one voice that He is King and Lord forever and
6:09
ever. So what do we see as a common
6:11
thread for the local church? The local church is to be a
6:13
spirit filled church. What do we see as a common
6:15
thread through an? Effective follower of Jesus
6:18
there to be a spirit filled follower of Jesus if you are
6:22
living a powerless existence is probably because you are
6:24
grieving or have not surrendered to the.
6:27
Leadership and Lordship of the Holy Spirit in your life.
6:33
The second thread that we see is that the message of the gospel
6:36
must go to all nations. It's empowered by the Holy
6:40
Spirit, but it must go to all nations.
6:42
That means this is not a message for well put together people or
6:45
Christian people who are raised in Christian homes.
6:47
This is a message that is to go to the ends of the earth.
6:52
You have, I have. We have been sent so that the
6:56
streets will be filled with the proclamation of the gospel.
7:00
Let me ask you a question. A question that I pondered in my
7:02
journal this week is the question that's been consuming
7:04
my mind. It's a kind of awkward question,
7:07
but think about it. Why do you have a mouth?
7:11
Why do you have a mouth? To speak, To breathe, To eat.
7:23
Right. There's a lot of reasons behind
7:24
this, and the Psalms speak a lot about the purpose of the mouth,
7:27
the danger of the mouth. A mouth can dis unify a church
7:30
and unify a church. A mouth can divide it and unify.
7:33
A mouth can shoot out arrows that condemn and can shoot out
7:38
words that uplift. A mouth is a powerful weapon, in
7:41
fact. Your mouth, perhaps, is one of
7:43
the greatest gifts. That you've been given, but it
7:45
still doesn't answer the question of this foundation.
7:47
As to why you have one, why do? You have a mouth, you see from
7:53
your creation, we believe you were given a mouse so that you
7:56
could vertically. Join in with the.
7:58
Heavenly Host, in praise to God. The only reason you have a mouth
8:03
is to give God His worth in your worship through your words.
8:07
Right now there is a reality that is happening over us that
8:10
you do not see, but it is nonetheless there above you.
8:14
There is a God who is seated in the heavens in authority,
8:19
reigning and ruling. And His rule and His reign are
8:24
not just authorities that are being exerted in heaven, but
8:27
they are overarching all of human history and time.
8:30
And as He sits in that authority, reigning and ruling,
8:35
there are a created people called angels that are consumed
8:40
with the presence of God. So consume that before the
8:43
foundations of the earth, there have been a group of Seraphim
8:46
angels that with two wings, they cover their feet with two wings,
8:49
they cover their face with two wings, they are flying and they
8:52
are crying out with such heartily praise that it shakes
8:55
the heavens. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.
9:00
And they're not tired of singing that song.
9:01
They're not tired of declaring that word.
9:03
It is the praise that is befitting the God whose presence
9:07
they are in. And they cannot get enough of
9:09
declaring His Holiness in His presence.
9:12
And you and I, as created people on earth have been invited as we
9:17
observe creation and we see the glory of the Creator behind it,
9:21
to join in with our mouths in that praise, to echo that same
9:26
song that we too, as a redeemed people by the blood of Jesus,
9:30
would sing with our mouths. A vertical praise in our lives
9:34
and in our words and in our deeds and in everything about us
9:37
by the Holy Spirit that He is holy and worthy and triumphant.
9:41
And and reigning and returning so that through our praise.
9:46
The gospel would be proclaimed. You see, your mouth has been
9:50
given to you so that you would. Worship God vertically but
9:54
horizontally so that you could proclaim His good news.
9:58
It's what you're here for. The only reason the believer
10:01
lives on this earth after giving their life to Jesus is to
10:05
proclaim His excellencies to the nations that have not heard.
10:10
The only reason you're here? I mean, why are you here in
10:15
church? You know there's football on,
10:17
right? And it's going to be after 10
10:23
till you leave here. Why are you here?
10:31
To appease God by checking a box to show up Because you ought to
10:39
are to be equipped for the mission that you've been
10:42
redeemed and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live.
10:45
If my words don't equip you to change your life and change your
10:52
community and see change take place in your family, then I
10:56
have failed you as a pastor and we are wasting time with the
10:59
subpar. Show the purpose of gathering
11:06
together so that you would be encouraged enough to be
11:08
courageous when you leave here. But if what we do here doesn't
11:13
matter there, then we are wasting our time.
11:20
So what's core at every commissioning statement?
11:25
What must happen if we are to be His people?
11:30
There must rise up within us a desperation for Jesus and a cry
11:34
that calls for reverence to the lordship and leadership of His
11:37
Spirit in our life that leads to us with our mouths proclaiming
11:42
to the nation's, the worship and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
11:49
It's what we're here for. Using our mouth for anything
11:55
else is substandard usage. It's taking what was given to us
12:02
to give Him honor and glory and using it for something else.
12:05
Using our time, using our house, using our resources for anything
12:13
that's not for His gospel is to make a great error.
12:15
As a believer, there's nothing that Jesus doesn't rightly look
12:20
at and say mine in your life. Your time is His.
12:26
Your marriage is His. Your relationships and
12:29
influence, guess who they are? His.
12:33
It all belongs to Him. So this series is a series where
12:38
we are galvanizing and challenging you to remember the
12:42
calling that you've been called to.
12:45
Perhaps there's no better church in Revelation that describes the
12:48
American church than Ephesus. Ephesus was the church that
12:53
started out on fire. It was the church that
12:56
represented God greatly. But somewhere in all of the
13:01
access to knowledge and theology, somewhere in all of
13:05
their hearty defense of the faith, they forgot about what it
13:08
was really about, which was a growing adoration and affection
13:12
for Christ. Somewhere along the line, the
13:15
Church of Ephesus lost its desperation for Jesus.
13:20
So whenever John writes to them on behalf of our Lord Jesus, he
13:24
says, remember your first love. Before I remove your lampstand
13:29
church, remember your first love.
13:41
Why is it that I'm so drawn to the hymn?
13:45
Prone to wander, Lord, I fear it.
13:49
Prone to leave the God I love? I mean, if there's an anthem of
13:54
my life on Monday, it is to walk out of a Sunday encounter with
14:01
the Church of God in His presence through His Word and to
14:06
wander away from the very purpose that I looked into,
14:10
knowing that Jesus died to redeem and give me.
14:16
So then that gets us to this thing called the Great
14:18
Commission in Matthew chapter 28.
14:21
The thing that we are trying to build this church off of, the
14:24
thing that continues to give U.S.
14:25
Open seats. Because when you challenge
14:29
people to do more than plop, pray, and pay, people tend to go
14:33
to other churches that'll let them do it, where they can hide
14:41
off mission, but holding on to a claim of trusting Jesus with
14:45
their eternity. This is a great travesty.
14:51
And not to the fault of those churches.
14:53
No, to the fault of disobedient believers who desire comfort
14:57
over calling, who want to be a part of big impact, but not with
15:04
the big cost that comes with it. We want to be there whenever big
15:10
things happen, yet we don't want to take up our cross and get in
15:13
the field and labor. So Jesus has one planned meeting
15:19
after his ascension or after his resurrection.
15:21
Excuse me, before his ascension, one planned meeting.
15:24
And the way that we know it was a planned meeting is Jesus told
15:26
some women just before Matthew chapter 28.
15:29
So the last people at the cross were women.
15:33
The first people at the tomb were women and the people who
15:36
called the only meeting after Jesus resurrection were women.
15:41
Why is this important? Well, First Corinthians chapter
15:43
15 tells us that more than 500 people showed up.
15:45
Obviously if you want something to get out, you tell women.
15:54
Been practicing that one all week.
15:59
They were told to go get the 11 to have a meeting in Galilee
16:02
because Jesus was going to meet them there.
16:03
Every other meeting Jesus has outside of this meeting after
16:07
his resurrection is unplanned. They're sitting in an upper
16:09
room. Jesus walks in and says peace be
16:11
with you. They are scared.
16:14
Thomas says I won't believe unless I put my hands where your
16:16
nail marks are. Jesus appears, he puts his hands
16:18
there. Jesus stands by the shore
16:20
whenever they're fishing. Unplanned meeting.
16:23
Jesus shows up for many of us. Jesus doesn't give you warning
16:26
when He's going to get you. Usually it's unplanned.
16:33
You know why? Because if He set a date with
16:35
you, you would all of a sudden get a cough.
16:42
A bunch of my pastoral friends we joke about needing good
16:44
church weather. You know what good church
16:46
weather is hot enough to where you don't want to stay home, but
16:50
not cold enough to where you also want to stay home.
16:54
It's got to be the perfect temperature.
16:55
And in Bakersfield it's a big trick because it's got to be a
16:58
perfect temperature where you can't go to the coast, but you
17:03
don't want to stay home either. Then it's perfect church
17:06
weather. It usually comes out about four
17:08
Sundays a year. Then all of a sudden the weather
17:13
aligns for you to brave it here in Bakersfield and show up to
17:16
church. So we're like, I didn't know it
17:19
was going to be this one. This is called an unplanned
17:21
meeting. Well, Jesus.
17:25
So Jesus comes to his disciples in Matthew chapter 28 verse 16,
17:30
and it says this. Now the 11 disciples went to
17:33
Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
17:37
And when they saw him, there's two responses.
17:40
They worshipped him, but some doubted.
17:43
Now this is one of the most fascinating things.
17:45
I've spent lots of time in the past discussing this, but the
17:49
sight of the resurrected Savior brings 2 responses.
17:52
Doubt in worship. Some see the resurrected Jesus
17:57
and they go how? And it's justifiable, right?
18:01
It's justifiable because we're told in Isaiah that he was.
18:05
Marred beyond recognition, most people didn't make it out of a
18:09
scourging alive. So from the neck down, it is
18:13
likely that there was little to no flesh left on Jesus's body
18:17
when he hung naked on the cross because he had been whipped with
18:20
the cat of nine tails or a flag run by a professional
18:22
executioner after having his hands stretched above his head
18:26
so that his ribs and his stomach.
18:28
Area will be exposed as a professional.
18:30
Executioner would have ripped the flesh off of his body.
18:35
If you had stayed to see. That which we know, the women
18:37
and John are the only ones that are still at the cross at the
18:40
end. All the other disciples have
18:42
retreated and run away. You would have seen him walk
18:45
down the Via Delarosa. Then he would have gotten to
18:48
Golgotha, the place the school where they would have plucked
18:50
his beard out and spit upon his face.
18:53
Then driving a crown of thorns into his head, they would have
18:56
beaten him until the thorns pressed into his skull.
18:59
Swelling would have been to a cure.
19:01
His face would be swollen from the hair that would have been
19:04
pulled out. He literally would have been
19:05
unrecognizable from the hours before his crucifixion.
19:10
So the idea one that three days later that person is walking
19:17
around, talking to people, eating food, showing up in
19:21
places where there's locked doors, that this is a miracle to
19:26
say the. Least but even 40 days in, even
19:30
if you had survived and not truly died, which Jesus died.
19:36
On the cross, the idea that you would walk away or be walking
19:40
around is still a highly unlikely thing.
19:44
Some of. You.
19:44
Sprained your knee and you're still not walking around.
19:49
You go to Walmart and get in that little and like my knee, I
19:54
got the right as you know. Jesus was scored, crucified,
20:04
buried and is walking. Around in 40 days, in three, and
20:10
then forty days after. Here's what's amazing.
20:14
Whether you come today to worship.
20:16
Him or doubt, you are all invited to the left being sent
20:19
and commissioned. Whether you came in today
20:23
worshipping God, giving Him His worth with your words, or you
20:27
came in today doubting God and looking for a reason to walk
20:30
away. You all are invited by the power
20:32
of His Holy Spirit and the example of His life and His
20:35
resurrection to walk out of here as they sent and changed and
20:39
commissioned people. God uses worshippers and God
20:43
uses doubters. Thank God He uses both.
20:49
Which then gets us to this incredible Commission, verse 18.
20:55
And Jesus came and he said to them, all authority in heaven
21:01
and on earth has been given to me.
21:03
All authority. All authority that.
21:05
That is to say that he not only holds authority in what is to
21:09
come in the afterlife, but He holds authority in what is
21:12
happening within time in this life.
21:14
It's to say that what he says and decrees as a reality in time
21:18
is not going to be overruled in eternity.
21:21
Because he has authority in both places, both within time and
21:25
outside of time. So his word isn't good in some
21:28
seasons of time. His word isn't good within some
21:31
cultures or good news for some people groups.
21:34
His word is good news for all people.
21:37
Because he has all authority over all of time and in all of
21:42
eternity. Guess what?
21:43
He has all authority. So because he sits in authority
21:48
over eternity and over temporary time, you can trust that what he
21:54
says to you and what he calls you to, he is going to
21:58
ultimately accomplish and do. You can trust that if He says
22:03
you are forgiven and redeemed by receiving through faith the work
22:07
of His Son on the cross, that His word is an authoritative
22:11
word, which means it is just for God to give you what He said He
22:17
would give you, being the chief authority over all time and over
22:20
all eternity. Now, many Christians in this
22:24
room live as if Jesus has authority over eternity, but you
22:28
act. As if he has no authority over
22:29
your time. And this is where the American
22:35
church has gone off the rails. We are filled with people who
22:41
profess the name of Jesus, who believe that on the last day he
22:45
is worthy of your praise and your confidence that his
22:48
salvation, his cross, his resurrection is sufficient for
22:52
you. Yet you can live your life as if
22:55
that authority doesn't demand allegiance in your daily living
22:59
today. Why would you live banking
23:04
eternity on him whenever you don't bank the temporary on him?
23:10
It makes no sense to me. I trust you for the future, but
23:15
I'm going to sit in my worry and myself righteous greed in the
23:19
present because my plan and my purpose still seems to be more
23:24
befitting and good to me than this mysterious path called
23:29
faith. Some of y'all got to get over
23:33
that. You don't have to know
23:34
everything in order to be sent. Some of y'all got to get over
23:37
that Jesus isn't going to show you everything that he's going
23:39
to call you to or send you to or use you in.
23:42
And that's part of the fun like get over your A type.
23:50
Got to plan it out, got to have a detailed reason for everything
23:53
self and allow the Spirit of God to do what he's going to do.
23:56
Here's your plan. You ready?
23:57
Plan one. Wake up and die to your
24:03
preference, to yourself, to your agenda, to your perspective, to
24:08
what you think is possible, to what you believe to be your
24:11
reality because of your worry. Die to that.
24:17
Take up your cross and follow Him.
24:19
That's how you live. That's how you honor God.
24:23
That's how you fulfill the Great Commission.
24:25
It's you under the authority of God, taking Him at His authority
24:30
seriously, so that you can be in power with that authority to be
24:34
His messenger and agent of change today.
24:39
But many of you don't take Him at His Word and His authority
24:44
seriously. Therefore you trust.
24:46
Him for your eternity, but you rebel and grieve His spirit in
24:51
what is temporal time. All authority in heaven, men on
24:58
earth has been given to me. Go.
25:00
Therefore. Now what we're going to see over
25:02
these next few verses is the four essentials to an effective
25:06
mission. Christian, if you want to live
25:10
on mission, there's four things that the Commission says the
25:13
Spirit has empowered you to do that.
25:16
If you are in obedience to the Holy Spirit, they will happen in
25:20
your life. If you're in rebellion or
25:23
grieving the Spirit, guess what won't be happening?
25:27
These four things. So what are we going to give you
25:30
a good assessment on? We're going to give you a good
25:32
assessment on how effectively you are daily living out your
25:36
walk with Jesus. What are we going to get at the
25:39
end of it? An invitation to submit to His
25:42
Spirit to be what you're not. This is not a self help thing.
25:45
This is not a try harder thing. This is a die.
25:49
Get your cross and get out of here.
25:54
The problem is you're trying to help the situation and you're
25:57
screwing it up more. Jesus is pretty clear in his
26:02
instruction. The laborers labor in vain if
26:05
God doesn't bless the work. So you can labor all you want,
26:10
but if it's not in surrender to the Spirit of God and by the
26:12
power of God, it will not be for the glory of God.
26:18
That's good. It's 4 words #1 go.
26:24
It's the entire series. Go, Therefore go therefore and
26:31
make disciples. So first word, go, go.
26:35
And where were to go? To all nations.
26:38
To all nations. This is about evangelism.
26:41
This is about you leaving your comfort.
26:44
This is about you huddling with Christian brothers and sisters
26:47
for the purpose of leaving to represent Christ somewhere else.
26:52
This is not about you being a beast in church circles and a
26:54
coward in your neighborhood. It is about you being encouraged
26:58
in your Christian circle so that you can be courageous in your
27:02
normal living for the glory of God.
27:06
Isaiah 57 verse 14 says, and it will be said, build up, build
27:09
up, prepare the way, remove the obstacles from my people.
27:12
Unintentionally, the church has taken methods that were
27:15
effective at one time, and we've chosen to die on the hill of
27:18
method over the message getting to the nation's.
27:21
And as a result of it, what's happening is we are making it
27:24
more difficult for people to get to the cross of Christ because
27:26
they if they don't come through our method, we're refusing to
27:28
change right now. Through the way that you live
27:34
your life personally and through the way that we do church
27:36
corporately, we are either removing the obstacles for
27:39
people to come to faith in Christ or we are adding to the
27:42
problem. Now Jesus is still.
27:46
Harvesting. It's just we aren't sharing in
27:48
it and we're going, where did the young people go?
27:54
You know where they went. They went mimicking your method.
28:00
Your preference was your God. And because your preference is
28:04
more important than your message, they decided that their
28:07
preference was to be served too. So guess where they're at?
28:11
Living in their preference. You know what they prefer not to
28:14
hear? A message that caused them to
28:15
take up the cross and follow them.
28:17
You know what they prefer? Not going to a church where they
28:19
have to leave, be a repenter and acknowledge their need for a
28:22
Savior. You know what they've done?
28:24
They've begun to worship their preference.
28:26
So they're not in our church, and they're not coming back
28:29
because we had a harvest festival.
28:31
They're not coming back because we have good Bible programming.
28:34
You know what they're going to come back for?
28:37
Because a move of God is taking place in the words of a great
28:44
soul song. Ain't nothing like the real
28:46
thing, baby. And when it comes to the Holy
28:48
Spirit, you know when the Spirit's at work and you know
28:51
when the Spirit's left the building.
28:52
And when a generation leaves, guess what it's probably in
28:56
response to? It's not in response to, here's
28:58
my favorite argument from the older generation.
29:01
Well, they left because it's just such a hard hearted
29:03
generation and we're in the end times.
29:08
And it says that people aren't going to listen to sound
29:10
doctrine and we're just sounding our doctrine.
29:12
No, you're malpractice in your practice of your doctrine.
29:16
And that malpractice is speaking to the emptiness of your church.
29:23
You have to go to where? All nations, all people, many
29:30
people don't want to go to the Middle East because there's
29:32
Muslims there and they kill Christians.
29:37
You kidding me? There's people.
29:40
I just, I just sat with the team that came back from Beirut in
29:43
Lebanon. And the harvest in the Middle
29:48
East right now is rich and the American church is scarcely
29:53
there. You know who is there?
29:55
The Church of China, Chinese people go anywhere that love
30:01
Jesus. They'll live in the slums.
30:03
They don't care. They don't need running water in
30:06
their home or indoor plumbing to carry the gospel message.
30:09
They don't care. They are out sending us.
30:12
You know why? They have a first love.
30:16
And there's a high cost of following Jesus in China.
30:18
So the high cost of following Jesus in the Middle East is just
30:21
like, well, different zip codes, same battle your privilege has
30:27
gotten in your way of your effectiveness.
30:31
Some of you got to get over this idea that you have some kind of
30:34
right to some kind of better life than what you have.
30:37
That God owes you a raise that God owes you being able to get
30:41
out of debt that God owes you like this abundant bigger house
30:45
that you think He can somehow claim and believe.
30:47
Let me just be very clear. God is not in the business of
30:50
trying to give you bigger and better.
30:52
God is in the business of trying to get you to get sent so that
30:55
you can make a difference for eternity.
30:57
At the end of your life, your kids will not remember the big
30:59
house they lived in. What they will remember, it's
31:02
the faith you modeled or the faith that you contradicted by
31:05
the life that you lived. Right now, my family is
31:09
consumed. We're trying to figure out how
31:10
to go. So you know what?
31:11
We're not doing everything that's happening in the church.
31:14
We're not doing everything that we offer because I don't have
31:17
margin in my life to live on mission, reaching my lost
31:21
neighbor if I'm here every day of the week.
31:24
So on Wednesday nights, you know what my family's doing.
31:27
Me and Luke go to the park and we shoot basketball with high
31:29
school kids. He gets the rebounds and he
31:32
remembers every kids name. It's a strange gift God has
31:34
given him. He knows every kids name.
31:36
He meets you one time, he remembers your name.
31:38
I can't remember my own children's name from time to
31:41
time. Didn't know if I should confess
31:44
that, but I feel like I'm in a safe circle.
31:46
So he remembers everybody's name.
31:49
So he runs up and calls out their names and they're kind of
31:52
like oh. But then I go and shoot with
31:54
them and I'll work on their jump shots.
31:55
And while we're working on jumpers we begin to talk about
31:57
stories. And guess what's been going to
31:58
happen at the park? They began to ask questions
32:00
like, well, what do you do? Well, I was a college basketball
32:04
player and I wanted to be in the NBA and be a basketball coach.
32:09
And what ended up happening is I met this guy named Jesus, and he
32:12
changed my life. And we start down the path of
32:15
these conversations with teenagers.
32:16
Why? Because I want to teach my son
32:18
what it looks like to live a life that's going across the
32:21
street. There's two little girls.
32:22
Her parents have been going through a lot of difficulty.
32:25
Their great grandma's been heavily involved in kind of
32:27
raising them. And every single day they're at
32:29
our house or our kids are at their house.
32:30
You know why? Because we're making margin to
32:33
go. We invited them to vacation
32:34
Bible school. Guess what they said?
32:36
No. We invited them to come to
32:38
invest with us. Guess what they said?
32:41
No. We invited them to come to our
32:43
house. Guess what they said?
32:45
Yes. More than likely they'll come to
32:47
your grill before they'll come to your Bible meeting.
32:51
So fire up the grill in the name of Jesus, set the table and
32:56
serve your neighbor. And know that when you're doing
32:58
that, you're being more Christian than the Christian
33:00
that's at church four or five or six days out of the week who
33:04
doesn't even know their neighbor's name.
33:08
So we have to ask them our questions, church.
33:10
And that is, if Jesus were here, where would he be hanging out
33:13
with the majority of his time? And the majority of his time
33:16
would probably be looking like a woman in a well in Oildale more
33:18
than it would look like a church in the Northwest on a Tuesday or
33:23
Wednesday or Thursday or Friday or Saturday for their 5th or 6th
33:26
or 7th program of the week. Jesus would be in the ecclesia,
33:30
but he would be about sending the ecclesia to the least.
33:32
Let me make sure you get the attention.
33:34
So you're not like, we don't need that church.
33:38
Don't you throw out his bride and don't you throw a punch at
33:41
her because he who defends her is a lot stronger than you.
33:45
And if you can't take the husband, you shouldn't be
33:46
talking about the bride. I'm just having fun today.
33:55
We got to go. You got to go, not me like you,
34:00
you got to go like the homeless should be served by you.
34:04
You're the answer to the homeless epidemic, the
34:08
impoverished, the poor in spirit, the hurting, the broken,
34:12
the oppressed. You're the solution.
34:14
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, you are the solution.
34:18
Stop looking at government and church pastors to give you every
34:22
solution that the Spirit of God has empowered you to live out
34:24
and do here. Let me give you a blessing.
34:28
You are a chosen race. You are a chosen people.
34:31
You are a royal priesthood. I now Ding thee by the Spirit of
34:36
God. Pastors, go, go.
34:42
You don't need my approval. What am I going to do?
34:44
Oh, that, that does sound like a Holy Spirit.
34:46
Good idea. I think God will want you to do
34:48
that. Well, now you must be really
34:50
empowered to do it because fallible Russ up here said go
34:53
for it. Are you kidding me?
34:56
If the spirit is igniting a passion in your heart to go and
34:59
do it. If the Spirit is calling you out
35:01
to courageously. Act Act.
35:04
Do it? Go in What?
35:09
What's the next word? Make make what?
35:13
Make converts? No, no, no, no.
35:16
Make church members? No, that's not it either.
35:19
Not called to make converts. Not called to make make
35:21
Christians. No Make disciples.
35:26
Now it would probably behoove us to have a working definition of
35:29
what a disciple is. We used many different
35:32
definitions before, but a disciple who someone is someone
35:36
who is daily operating under the rule of Jesus Christ in their
35:42
life. A disciple is someone who is
35:44
daily operating under the rule of Jesus Christ.
35:46
It's a simple way of putting it. It's basically saying that I
35:48
live as if He is alive and living and reigning and ruling
35:51
and returning over my life moment by moment, minute by
35:54
minute, in my living. To live as if God isn't
35:59
reigning, ruling and returning over my life and desiring to
36:03
call and Commission me by His Spirit to go and be His hands
36:05
and feet is to live as a practical atheist.
36:07
You can put the word Christian on it, but you're living as an
36:09
atheist and to never make a disciple in your life is to at
36:15
best be an extremely unfaithful Christian who never got a sight
36:18
of the actual purpose for what you were left on this earth to
36:20
do. You are not a mature follower of
36:22
Jesus until you've made a disciple.
36:23
No matter how much theology you know, if you've not made a
36:26
disciple, you are not mature. You're immature and wisdom will
36:30
only make you arrogant, not effective.
36:34
If you are not about making disciples, How do you make a
36:39
disciple? Well, that's not very easy, is
36:41
it? You know why it's not very easy?
36:44
Because it requires you looking weak.
36:46
I don't know how else to put it. Paul says.
36:50
I boast in my weaknesses for Christ.
36:54
Power is being perfected in it. So there's four things I wrote
36:58
down. I'm going to talk about them.
36:59
Four things I wrote down. The keys to making a disciple.
37:02
It must be audible, number one, it must be visible #2.
37:09
It must be mimicable #3 and it must be approachable #4 it must
37:20
be audible, it must be visible. It must be mimicable and it must
37:26
be approachable. Otherwise you can't make a
37:28
disciple. It must be audible.
37:30
Why? Because we are in the business
37:33
of proclaiming Christ, goodness, message, and glory to the
37:38
nation's. It's what we're here to do.
37:41
How a lot of you have heard What?
37:42
I'm just going to let my actions speak for my words.
37:45
What you were saying is that you are a coward.
37:50
You're afraid of allowing Jesus to be the dividing line between
37:53
you and your community. I am not ashamed of the Gospel
37:59
of Jesus Christ. I take the warning that Jesus
38:03
gives us very seriously that if you deny me before men, I will
38:07
deny you before my Father. Your words speak to your God.
38:14
If all you ever do is talk about your football team and you never
38:17
talk about your Savior, then we've already identified the God
38:20
problem in your life. If all you talk about is the
38:24
government, then we've already identified the God in your life.
38:27
If all you talk about is your own finances and getting out of
38:30
your own stuff, then we've identified the God of your life.
38:34
Your words speak to your Savior so by the prayer that we see
38:41
prayed over and over again in many churches that comes out of
38:43
the Psalms. It's made the words of my mouth
38:44
and the meditation and thoughts of all of our hearts be holy and
38:47
pleasing to you to God. Your disciple making begins with
38:56
audibly talking through the gospel of Jesus Christ with
39:00
other people. What is the the gospel?
39:03
Well, we read it in in the synopsis form and John chapter
39:11
20. Nope, we found it.
39:16
Oh, Luke, Luke cites it. Luke 2445.
39:18
Here's the gospel. Thus it is written, Christ
39:21
should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.
39:25
How's that good news? There's a lot of explanation
39:28
that goes into that. But what's the core message of
39:29
the gospel? Jesus died for your sins.
39:33
First Corinthians 15 as it was written in the Scriptures, He
39:38
was buried as it was written in the Scriptures, and he rose on
39:41
the third day of victory as it was recorded for us in the
39:44
Scriptures, to which there are now witnesses.
39:48
And all of the earth. If you don't believe me, go back
39:51
to Jerusalem. Paul says it's around 500 who
39:53
saw him risen from the dead, many of which are still walking
39:56
around alive. So I put such a emphasis.
40:01
On you proclaiming audibly the witness of what you've seen God
40:06
do. You may not understand
40:08
everything about God, but you if you have a relationship with
40:11
Jesus. Have had an encounter with him
40:14
and as a result it should bring an audible message of what he's
40:18
done. It should be audible #2 it
40:19
should be visible. It should be seen.
40:23
It's why I'm taking Lucas to the park with me and we're shooting
40:26
hoops and not just swinging and staying to our own selves over
40:28
on the side. It's why we're praying nightly
40:31
about the family across the street.
40:32
It's why my wife and I, for three plus years, have been
40:34
investing in a couple that we are constantly trying to make
40:38
margin in our life for so that we can share the gospel with
40:42
them. We want them to visibly get
40:43
close enough. Our kids, our church.
40:48
So that they can see the gospel at work, we want them to see
40:51
our. Weaknesses I'm not covering.
40:53
Up my stuff. That's why I say I'm the lead
40:54
repenter of my family and I'm the lead repenter of this
40:58
church. What does that mean?
40:59
When I am wrong, which I will get it wrong a lot, Ask those
41:04
that are very close to me get it wrong a lot.
41:07
When I am wrong, I am the first to humble myself because I no
41:12
longer live in shame. Jesus bore my shame.
41:16
He bore your shame so that you, in your failure, can hold your
41:20
head high, knowing that your worth has not been subtracted
41:23
from you because of your mistakes.
41:27
I live redeemed, sanctified, freed from my past, freed from
41:35
my sin. He not only paid for what I've
41:38
done, He's delivered me from the person that I've been, so I
41:42
walk. With my head high and humble
41:45
before Him, walking in the light so that when the darkness rises
41:49
in me, it is immediately illuminated.
41:51
And it is turned from in repentance so that I can receive
41:54
the healing that only comes through receiving the grace and
41:57
the mercy of Christ. So it's got to be visible.
42:01
It's got to be audible. It's got to be mimicable.
42:04
I've got to allow you to see what God is doing in my life so
42:07
that you can see what it looks like in your life.
42:09
And this is what discipleship looks like.
42:12
I pull you in close enough to see the dysfunctions of my
42:15
attempts to pursue Jesus. You know what happens whenever I
42:20
pull you in close enough to see my life and my pursuit of Jesus?
42:23
You know what happens to me. I pay attention to the way that
42:29
I'm pursuing Jesus. I pay attention to the words
42:32
that I speak. When you know someone's close
42:35
enough to see, you start taking into regard the holiness and the
42:40
power of God in your life, and what happens is you begin to
42:43
walk a little bit more carefully than you would if you were to
42:48
not think anyone was watching. Look, the generation behind us
42:54
will mimic us. They will mimic us in rebellion
43:01
or in trying to be just like what we have done.
43:06
I do not want another generation to rise up in our church.
43:10
I'm talking about your kids who feel like they have to go
43:14
outside of the church to find the real God of the universe
43:20
because of the inauthenticity with which we practiced our
43:23
faith within it. It's got to be audible, it's got
43:26
to be visible, it's got to be mimicable #4 it finally, it has
43:29
to be approachable, has to be approachable.
43:34
Jesus removed the obstacles for people to come to Him.
43:37
I want everyone to know in my neighborhood, if you need, if
43:40
you need prayer, if you need someone to meet with you, if you
43:43
need someone to talk about and answer your questions about God,
43:45
I'm here. We had new neighbors that moved
43:49
in. Three houses on our block went
43:51
for sale. None of you bought it.
43:52
I don't take it personally, but none of you want to move by me.
43:59
But I made sure that I went to introduce myself to all of them
44:03
and I'm like, I don't know if I walked over.
44:05
Here's my opening line if you need one.
44:07
I was like in the South. I think I'm supposed to bring
44:09
you a pie or something, but I'm your neighbor.
44:11
I just want to say, hey, we're over here.
44:14
We're the chambers. You have kids.
44:16
We have kids. We love for your kids to play
44:18
with our kids. We sit in the front yard some
44:20
evenings. We love to talk to you.
44:22
And I'm a pastor and there's ever anything I can pray for you
44:24
about. I'd love to pray for you.
44:26
Now, clearly that shook the wife because her look, I was like, I
44:33
didn't know you would be here when we bought this house.
44:40
I mean, she looks like she's a Hot Topic employee that's not
44:43
just trying to mimic the lifestyle, but she's fully
44:45
engulfed in it. You know what I'm talking about?
44:47
Like, I don't smile ever. My favorite color is black, and
44:55
I like to wear it every day of the week with black makeup to
45:00
let you know that inside I feel black.
45:05
I feel like there's a hole of blackness.
45:08
Nothing's in there, so don't come and stare at it.
45:13
And I'm like. Hey, come play in our front
45:16
yard, I'll bake you a pie. I love Jesus, I don't.
45:24
Care if initially if they're afraid, I want them to know that
45:30
I'm removing every obstacle I can for them to come over, that
45:34
my door is the door they can knock on, that my life is a life
45:38
that they can inconvenience when their life is going through
45:40
turmoil. Do your neighbors know that
45:46
you're available? And that's that?
45:53
Again, do your neighbors know that you are available?
46:03
See, a lot of us aren't being approached because the way that
46:08
we're living is demonstrating, communicating to our neighbors
46:11
that we just simply aren't available.
46:15
We don't have time. I have time to talk to you.
46:19
I don't have time to hear about your problems.
46:23
Now, the other day, I was crammed for time and I have a
46:26
neighbor who pastors a smaller church in the middle of nowhere.
46:30
And he was going through it. His mother's on her last leg.
46:33
He's a single guy. He lives by himself.
46:36
The church is way out of town, so he doesn't have any week
46:38
during the week community with them that he pastors.
46:41
And he was in this dark moment and he comes out and he's like,
46:46
how are you doing? And I'm trying to blow him off.
46:51
And he looks at me and says, hey, can I, can I say something
46:54
to you? I said, yeah.
46:55
He said, man, I, I'm, I need prayer.
47:01
My mom's dying, the church I'm at, it's dying, my health, it's
47:10
not good either. I'm discouraged.
47:14
I need, will you pray for me during your prayer time?
47:18
By that point in time, I got in the memo from the Lord like,
47:21
hey, bucko, be available. And I'm like, no, no, no, I'm
47:24
not going to pray for you during my prayer time.
47:25
Prayer time's right now and we're in the we're in the
47:28
driveway with all the parents that are dropping their kids off
47:31
at the elementary school down the street.
47:33
And I'm laying my hands on him and I am praying over him in his
47:36
driveway because I want to be approachable.
47:42
I want to be a Great Commission fulfiller.
47:48
If you're going to fulfill the Great Commission, you have to
47:50
go. You have to make disciples #3
47:53
you have to be identified publicly with them.
47:55
Which means you've got to be baptized.
47:58
Just because you were sprinkled as a baby does not mean that you
48:00
have gone through believers baptism.
48:02
Believers baptism is you publicly identifying with the
48:04
death, burial, and resurrection after you come to the belief
48:08
that you need that accounted to you.
48:12
So it's not your parents decision.
48:14
You're not raised up in it. I was sprinkled as a baby.
48:17
They got me wet. But it was their commitment, not
48:20
mine that was made that day. It was their commitment that
48:23
they were going to raise me to know the Lord through their
48:25
example and not in spite of it. Does this make sense?
48:28
What we must understand, what we must do is get back to a place
48:32
of recognizing that we have to publicly profess Jesus, and that
48:35
begins with doing it His way. If you've never been baptized,
48:37
guess what you should do? You should get baptized.
48:41
I don't care if people thought you were a Christian for years,
48:43
Like if you've never been baptized since personally making
48:48
the decision to entrust your livelihood, your future, your
48:50
past, and your present to God, then you should be baptized #4
48:56
the last thing that is a part of it, baptism is a part of it #4
49:00
is we must go and teach. That is to say that replication
49:03
is the is the, is the sign that a disciple has been made.
49:07
It's the Son that a disciple has been made.
49:09
Now many of us live our whole life professing Jesus and we
49:12
don't have any clue if we actually made a single disciple.
49:18
That is because perhaps we've not been taught.
49:21
So some things that I think we must do because here's what I
49:23
want you to understand. The Great Commission is not an
49:26
idea that God hopes the church will fulfill.
49:29
The Great Commission is something that the Spirit of God
49:32
will accomplish with the Church of God, and we know it because
49:34
Revelation 7 speaks of the day when it's done.
49:38
So many of us are complacent when it comes to this mission
49:41
because we're like, Oh well, there's just so many lost people
49:44
and there's just people just don't seem to be attracted to
49:46
spiritual things. No, no, no, they're spiritual
49:48
people. They're just worshipping
49:49
creation over the creator. And you've been put in their
49:52
lives so they could, they could see someone who's worshipping
49:55
the creator of creation and stop worshipping matter.
50:01
I think there's three things we have to do to become a great
50:03
commissioned church. Number one, we must eliminate
50:05
the sacred and secular divide. That is to say, God is not
50:10
housed by our buildings and He's not housed by our meetings.
50:14
Acts 17 when Paul was before the Areopagus, he says God is not
50:18
contained in the temples of man. So if we build big temples, it
50:25
means nothing to the neighborhood if the people who
50:28
come in it aren't equipped to go out and share the message that
50:31
it professes. God's temple is your life.
50:36
He put His Spirit in you. That means everywhere you go,
50:40
you've walked into a place where the Spirit of God is working
50:43
because the Spirit of God is at work in and through you.
50:47
So stop compartmentalizing Jesus and where and when He can work
50:51
and lead in your life. That's one.
50:54
Number two, we must get rid of the idea that there's this thing
51:00
called professional vocational pastors and everybody else
51:07
accept your calling that first Peter has called you to first
51:10
Peter 29. You are a chosen race, a royal
51:13
priesthood, a royal nation, a people for his own possession,
51:15
that you, you may proclaim the effluencies of him who called
51:19
you out of the darkness into this marvelous light.
51:22
Leave this place as pastors today.
51:26
People will look at you weird if you show up at Mills tomorrow
51:28
morning. Like hey, just want you guys to
51:30
know became Pastor Dave overnight because some of you
51:32
are Christian but you still swear a lot and you've got to
51:34
work on that. OK, but you are a royal
51:38
priesthood. Then why do we have vocational
51:41
pastors to equip you? That's why I have a job that
51:49
pays me full time to be mimicable, approachable,
51:54
audible, and visible in my relationship with Jesus.
51:58
So that you can mimic me as I mimic him.
52:01
So that you can learn from my repentance and learn of the
52:06
trustworthiness of the grace and mercy of God.
52:09
That that's why I'm here. It's to equip the Saints for
52:12
works of service. If what I have just done,
52:15
preaching over my time and not apologizing about it, has not
52:22
equipped you to walk out of here as a missionary for God, then
52:26
all I have done is taken more of your time and we're 30 minutes
52:29
into your football game. But if you leave here knowing
52:33
who you are in Christ, then we have become something that makes
52:37
Satan tremble because he can take out a pastor and he can
52:42
take out a few of us with cancer, but he cannot take down
52:46
the Church of Jesus Christ. And when you know who you are,
52:51
it becomes unstoppable. It becomes a movement that
52:54
cannot be contained and it spreads like wildfire through
52:59
the streets. When you know who you are, then
53:02
you go out empowered by the Spirit walking as the redeemed
53:06
people of God. And you live out a life that
53:09
denies your preference and takes up your cross daily and pursues
53:13
His glory. And His revival comes to earth
53:15
because His harvest folks, is still plentiful.
53:19
But you are the laborers that we've been looking for in the
53:22
field, and it is time for you to get off of the bench and get
53:26
into the game. Stop watching me live out my
53:31
faith and with me come alongside me, shoulder to shoulder, and
53:36
shield to shield. And lest with the light of
53:38
Christ, push back the darkness that is in our city, so that his
53:41
name and his renown and His glory and His worship will rise
53:46
from this place into the heavens where the angels worship Him.
53:50
So that we can celebrate on this day, that day that is to come,
53:54
where faith will be made sight and will join in with the
53:57
heavenly host proclaiming holy, holy, holy is the Lord, Lord for
54:03
all eternity. May His glory reign over you,
54:06
and may it start. Today, in this place as this
54:11
people.