[0:00] I want to talk to you guys this morning about for Christ and the gospel. All right? What are we doing? We're doing it for Christ and the gospel. All right?
[0:11] We've been sent. Thursday was great. Thursday was encouraging. Now what? All right? Now what? For Christ and for the gospel. I'm going to start in Mark 10, 17-31.
[0:24] If you got that, you can look at it. Mark 10, 17-31. And I got five points. First one is leaving for Christ and the gospel.
[0:35] Okay? We left. We were sent out. Right? And it was for Christ and the gospel. We're going to see that in Mark 10, 17-31.
[0:50] As he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him. This is Jesus, before Jesus. And asked him, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[1:01] And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery.
[1:12] Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. And he said to him, Teacher, all these I've kept since my youth. And Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said to him, You lack one thing.
[1:26] Go sell all that you have and give to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. Disheartened by the saying, He went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
[1:40] And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. Okay? And the disciples were amazed at his words.
[1:55] But Jesus said to them again, Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
[2:08] And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, Then who could be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.
[2:22] So, stop there. Here we have a rich man comes. Okay? So we're talking about wealth. Talking about riches. Right? He says, Hey, I'm good. I'm good to go, Jesus.
[2:34] I got this. All the commandments, I'm good on all those. He says, One thing you lack, sell everything you have. So we're talking about money and possessions. Okay? He says he was a rich man.
[2:45] Talked about possessions. He said, If you want to follow me, you've got to sell everything you have. All right? And then, you know, the disciples were astonished. Jesus says, This is difficult. Okay? So we're talking about, in order to enter the kingdom of God for a rich person, they've got to sell.
[3:00] They've got to get rid of stuff. Then we see in verse 28, Peter began to say to him, See, we have left everything and followed you. Okay? If we're keeping in the same vein right here, you would assume what he means is they've already gave up all their stuff.
[3:15] Right? That would make sense. Right? Because he's talking about the rich man and say you've got to get rid of stuff. And so if Peter says, Yeah, that's what we've done, you'd think, Oh, he's talking about stuff and money.
[3:28] Right? Next verse. Jesus said, Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house. Okay? That lines up. That goes with the wealth.
[3:39] Or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children. Whoa! Did he just change the subject there? I thought it was about money. I thought it was about wealth.
[3:51] But he doesn't just say house and lands. He says brothers, sisters, mother, father, or children.
[4:04] Okay? So when he's talking about the wealth that is necessary to give up for the kingdom, he's not just talking about money. Although he is.
[4:16] He's talking about houses, lands, a wealthy person. He throws in there the wealth of family and friends. Okay? Brothers, sisters, mother, father, or children.
[4:28] For what? For my sake and for the gospel. For Christ's sake and the gospel. And anyone who's done that, he says, will not. He says, Truly I say to you, no one who has left house or brother or sister or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mother and children and lands, with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life.
[5:00] But many who are first will be last and last first. So he says, so the reason I'm bringing this up is we got sent out on Thursday.
[5:11] Many, not most of you, shed a tear. For some of you, you're giving up more than others. But in one sense, we didn't leave Bellicose because it was a bad church.
[5:26] We didn't leave it because we didn't like the people. We didn't leave it because we had no friends or family there. You left family. You left friends. Okay.
[5:37] It wasn't just the call to do this church involved leaving. Okay. Involved leaving things that you love and care about.
[5:48] And that's difficult. In fact, Jesus says it's very difficult for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of God. You are wealthy with friends and family.
[6:01] And so it's difficult to enter the kingdom when the cost for you to do what God's calling you to do requires the sacrifice of being with the relationships you've built for how many years and now starting over again.
[6:19] But that's what's required. And you say, how do you do that? How do I turn those tears of sadness to tears of joy? Well, Jesus gives the reason.
[6:30] He says, he doesn't just say, hey, get rid of this stuff. He says, for my sake and the gospel. If you forget why you're doing this, it's going to continue to be hard.
[6:42] You're going to continue to shed tears. And they're not going to be tears of joy. If you're doing this for any other reason, if you're doing this because, I just like small church.
[6:55] Bellicose is getting a little too big. Okay. Getting a little too polished. You know, someone said to me the other day, it's too busy. It's getting to be too much like a business.
[7:05] I'm like, bro, we're not very polished. Okay. You know, but it's like you have all these different things. If you're doing it for that reason, that ain't working.
[7:18] Jesus lays it out. The wealthy will not inherit the kingdom unless they give things up. And yes, it includes material wealth, but it also requires the giving up of close family and friends.
[7:34] And you're doing that. And you need to remember. I want you to remember today. I want you to remember tomorrow. I want you to remember every day from this time. When you get sad. When you get lonely.
[7:45] When we meet on a Sunday morning and you're like, eh. Not so great. Could have been better. Really fell flat.
[7:57] Kids were crazy. The grape juice went bad. The bread was kind of stale. The singing out of key. And yeah, the message is okay.
[8:08] It definitely could have been better. And we're meeting in a warehouse right now. And you might think, for Christ and the gospel.
[8:19] For Christ and the gospel. That's what you got to remember. Why am I doing this? I'm doing it for Christ's sake. For the gospel's sake. That's why I'm doing it. Why would I give this up? Because that's what's required for the kingdom.
[8:33] For Christ. And the gospel. That's not it though. He also says, you will receive a hundredfold now in this time. You might say, hey man, it's just about eternity.
[8:45] Right? Chris, during our coming to the Lord's table, talked about eternity. Rightly so. We should be fixed on that. But this promise is not just for eternity.
[8:56] It says in the age to come, eternal life. Right? That's the promise. We can know that. That eternal reward. But it also says, you will receive a hundredfold now in this time.
[9:08] Houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions. Okay? So you can expect, hey, you gave something up to come and be a part of this church.
[9:22] Believe that God is going to give you new houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands. New family.
[9:34] New friends. New relationships. He's promising it. And he said a hundredfold. I like that. That's a good promise.
[9:45] Right? You know, when Gina and I have planted a couple churches before this, every time there's a part of it that's exciting. But there's a part of it where it's like, oh, we're kind of starting from nothing.
[9:58] There's not much here. And there's some Sundays that's really exciting. And some Sundays you're like, kind of miss something a little more established. Kind of miss my friends. Kind of miss something a little more polished, you know?
[10:11] And you've got to remember, this is unto something. God will provide that. And there were many times, and this is apostolic work.
[10:22] You are building something out of nothing. That is the nature of apostolic work. Okay? Apostles build what prophets see. Prophets can see something, but they can't necessarily build it.
[10:34] The apostolic builds what is being seen prophetically. Okay? And we need to be, as a church plan, an apostolic people that builds invisible things.
[10:46] You have vision for a church. You have vision for a family. You have vision for mothers and brothers and sisters. Houses, lands, like together, sharing in the life of God together. You have vision for lost people coming into the kingdom and being those people.
[11:00] Being your new brothers and sisters. You can't see it now. There's going to be times when you're going to be discouraged because you can't see it. You're going to need to encourage your brother and say, Hey, do you remember what we did this for?
[11:12] It's for Christ in the gospel. It's for Christ's sake in the gospel. And he promised that he was going to give us new family. Yeah, we left family and that was required for the kingdom.
[11:23] To give that up. New family's coming. And at the end of the day, eternal life. All right? That's the promise. You need to remember that.
[11:34] You need to remember that every day. You need to tell your spouse that. You need to tell the single people that. You need to remind each other that over and over and over again. This is for Christ in the gospel. You're discouraged. This is for Christ's sake in the gospel.
[11:46] You got to tell yourself and you have mixed motives. When you have motives that are selfish. What is this for? It's for Christ's sake in the gospel. Do you hear me on this? Every day from this point, you got to remember that.
[11:58] For Christ's sake in the gospel. For Christ's sake in the gospel. Okay? That's the first point. Second point. We must have mission at the forefront.
[12:11] Okay? Again, this isn't just so we can have another church. This isn't about you. This isn't about some bless me club. This isn't about comfort. Okay? I know a lot of you are sitting in couches, but this is not about comfort.
[12:25] Okay? Mission must be at the forefront. It's going to make you uncomfortable. It's going to make me uncomfortable. It's going to press us. It's going to push us. Luke 19.10.
[12:36] Jesus said, The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. That has to be what we're aiming at right from the beginning. Okay? We have to have our sights set, our focus set on mission.
[12:50] All right? You might have been involved in quote unquote missional communities before this that weren't missional because they had 50 people in them. No more. Missional communities will be missional in this church.
[13:02] And that's on every single one of you to make sure that that happens. No exceptions. Okay? That has to happen. We're a church. Right? This isn't about us.
[13:13] It's for Christ and the gospel. If it's for Christ and the gospel, we must be on mission. We're seeking and saving lost people. You can seek a lot of things. You can seek your own interests.
[13:24] You can seek comfort. You can seek a new little small family of believers. Are you seeking ways to save the lost? Are you seeking that? Matthew 4.19.
[13:36] Matthew 5.19. Jesus said to these ones who would be his disciples, he said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Okay? We need to be fishers of men where we are trying to catch lost souls and bring them into the kingdom of light.
[13:54] Right? Are you going to be a fisher of men? If you're not, hey, you got no business being here. This is not about anything like for Christ and the gospel.
[14:05] We're going to be fishers of men. That's what this is. All right? And that means you're going to have to, there's going to be things maybe that you didn't do in the past.
[14:15] Even this in this pyramid. Maybe you're someone who barely ever prays out loud. That needs to change. Like start now. Step out of your comfort zone. Don't just do what you've been comfortable with.
[14:27] You're the person maybe who never did this. Do it. You're the person who only did this. Do something else. Still do what you're called to do, you're gifted to do, but step out.
[14:39] We got to do whatever it takes. Okay? To go and make disciples. Matthew 28, 18 to 20. We have to go.
[15:06] That means the word go means wherever you're at, you have to move. We have to go somewhere else. Okay? Where you're at isn't good enough. Okay?
[15:17] That's literally and figuratively. Okay? You're in a place where you're not thinking about the lost. You're not going after the lost. You're not reorientating your life around the kingdom of God and Christ and his gospel.
[15:30] Then you need to move out of that place. It's time to go. You might say, I don't know if I'm ready for this. Too late. You already jumped out of the plane. You're already sent.
[15:41] Okay? The parachute's going down. You can't go back up. All right? You've landed. Go. Go what?
[15:51] Go make disciples. That's our command. There's no exceptions. It's not for some people and not other people. That's just for the evangelists. No. It's for all of us. We got to go. We got to go make disciples.
[16:03] Because they have to hear. Right? Romans 10, 13 to 15. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
[16:17] And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
[16:29] You've been sent. What have you been sent to do? You've been sent to preach the good news. How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. Okay?
[16:40] This church has to have, every single one of you needs to have beautiful feet. Do you hear me? Hey, everyone's got to have beautiful feet. How do you have beautiful feet? You're one who uses those feet to preach the good news.
[16:54] To go where lost people are at and preach the good news. The fact that he says, how can they believe unless they hear? You would think he would say, blessed are those with the lips that preach good news.
[17:06] He didn't say lips. That would make sense, wouldn't it? You're kind of thinking, wait a second. He's saying, if they don't, they can't believe unless they hear. And they can't hear unless someone preaches.
[17:17] That comes from your mouth. That comes from your lips. You'd think he would say something to the effect then. The next thing should be, how beautiful are the lips or the tongues that preach good news. But then he switches to feet.
[17:30] Why would he say that? Because in order to preach the good news, you've got to move. You've got to use your feet. You've got to go somewhere else. You've got to go where they are.
[17:41] We've got to find out where are the lost people that God is calling us to, and how are we going to get to them? That's imperative. It's not optional. That has to happen.
[17:52] We need beautiful feet. Right? This is our first Sunday. Okay?
[18:04] This is a big deal in the sense that it's the first Sunday. But it's not a big deal because this is not the beginning of Christ's church. Okay? You know, when I look back, I think it's really important that we start the church, the official start of it.
[18:21] This is the trial run right here. Okay? A little wonky a little bit. We're figuring it out. And that's why we do this. This is great. I already have about five things that I want to do differently next time.
[18:32] Okay? That's great. That's why we do this. You probably have some too. Okay? That I haven't thought of. Right? This is not the big deal. The big deal is May 1st when we launch two missional communities.
[18:45] Why is that a big deal? Because if we make the big deal the Sunday gathering, then the big deal of the church is the church gathering for themselves and for Jesus. No. It's for Christ and the gospel.
[18:57] It has to be founded on mission. Someone says, when did Christ's church start? I'm going to say May 1st. Someone said, when did Bellico start? I say September 14th, 2011.
[19:10] Did we start meeting September 14th, 2011? No, we met in January of that same year. Well, why don't you say the church started then? Because we didn't start a missional community until September 14th, 2011.
[19:22] And if we, if it's important that built into the bricks of our foundational layer of our church is mission, is the gospel, is the sending of us into the world, is us proactively, intentionally saying, who are the people?
[19:38] Well, what are the places that we will be on mission to? And we're doing that. If we start this church and have a foundation of just us for us, we're in big trouble.
[19:54] And Christ does not get the glory. In order for Christ to get the glory, we need to be about what he's about. And Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost. And so, you have to be, we all have to be so infused with purpose right now.
[20:13] And the purpose is for Christ and the gospel. All right? Make no mistake. I love that we're doing this. And we did this. We've been sent. But get ready for May 1st.
[20:25] All right? That's when we got two new missional communities starting. And let's go. All right? That's when we're focusing on, okay, who are we going to reach out to? How are we going to get to them?
[20:36] How are we going to make a way? How are we going to put time in our calendar for evangelism? How are we going to connect with lost people? How are we going to just build relationships and bring the gospel to lost people?
[20:49] How are we going to pray towards these things? Like, that is imperative. Okay? Number three. As I said before, they had to leave your wealth.
[21:01] Not just the physical wealth, but the relational wealth. Okay? Third point. This needs to be continually costly. Okay? It's not just cost on the front end. It needs to be cost all the way through.
[21:14] All right? Acts 20, 24. Acts 20, one of my favorite chapters of the whole Bible. Paul says, I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course in the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
[21:34] He's saying, hey, if I'm not testifying to the gospel of the grace of God, my life is not valuable or precious to me unless it's being used for that.
[21:46] Do you hear that? Can you say that of yourself? Okay? Again, no coasting here. No like, oh, this is cool, dude. New. Novelty.
[21:57] New. New. Church. New. I love new. I love difference. Okay? It's not about you. It's about Christ and his gospel.
[22:10] Paul says, I don't account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. Let me prophesy to you for a second. The difficulty you will have in the coming days and month will be directly correlated to how valuable and precious you deem your own life.
[22:29] Because Jesus is demanding every bit of your life. And when you feel the pull where you're being stretched in a way that you don't want to go, ask yourself the question, is my life too valuable and too precious to me that I am not willing to give up what I have to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
[22:54] It will pull you. It will pull at your affections for other things. If your life is valuable to you, is precious to you, then it will be very difficult to pull your clenched hands off of the things in your life that God is calling you to sacrifice for the sake of the gospel of the grace of God.
[23:18] Hold lightly to everything you have. Hold lightly to your stuff. Hold lightly to your schedule. Hold lightly to your fun, your entertainment, your vacation, everything. All of it.
[23:29] It's all going to be on the altar. Right? This is the cost. This is the cost of gospel ministers. They say with joy, because they believe the gospel themselves, that I don't count my life of any value nor as precious to myself.
[23:48] Only I may finish my course in the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the grace of God. You've received this ministry as well. You've been sent out by a church.
[23:59] Don't think that that's just some formality. That's God sending you. That was apostolic sending with true affection, true tears.
[24:09] That was real. That's not a formality. Take that not as man sending you. Who sent you? God sent you. Do you believe that? Will you believe that when the sending and the requirement of sacrifice for the sake of Christ and the gospel requires you to give up something that's precious to you?
[24:30] Will you remember that God is the one who sent you? You didn't choose to be a part of this. God sent you. Do you hear me on that? If you chose to do it, you can choose not to do it.
[24:42] If God chose, if God sent you, then you don't say no to God. You say, yes, sir. I only want to please my commanding officer.
[24:53] I don't want to be involved in civilian affairs. Whatever you have, Lord, it's all yours. 1 Corinthians 9, 19 to 27. Paul again.
[25:04] For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all. Why? That I might win more of them. What's the goal?
[25:16] Christ and the gospel. We got to win more souls. Like you need to have like souls need to be stamped to your eyeballs. God, give me souls. When you get up in the morning, pray.
[25:27] God, give me souls. When you're going through your day, say, God, give us souls. When you're walking around the grocery store, say, God, give me souls. When you go to bed at night and you pray, say, God, give us souls.
[25:42] I want to make myself a servant to all that I might win more of them. You might say, all right, we'll see if we can get a few here or there. No, no contentment. I want more. I want more souls.
[25:54] I want more of them. I'll do whatever I got to take. To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law. Though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law.
[26:08] To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law. Not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ. That I might win those outside of the law.
[26:19] To the weak, I became weak. That I might win the weak. You seeing a pattern here? Whatever I got to do to win souls. The Bible says in Proverbs, he who wins souls is wise.
[26:31] That's a prayer I pray often. God, give me the wisdom to win souls. Right? To the weak, I became weak. That I might win the weak.
[26:42] I become all things. All things. What do we have to do to win soul? Do we have to do some things? No, no, no. Paul says, I become all things.
[26:53] All things. To all people. That I, by all means, I might save some. It's for the sake of the gospel.
[27:04] Right? Verse 23. I do it all for the sake of the gospel. Let me say that again. I have become all things. To all people. That by all means, I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel.
[27:16] That I may share with them in its blessings. All things. All people. All means. Are you willing to employ all means? Are you willing to become all things?
[27:30] That you might win as many as possible for the sake of the gospel. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run? But only one receives the prize? So run that you might obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.
[27:45] You hear? There's a lot of alls in here. You hear this? Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath. But we an imperishable.
[27:56] Okay? These guys. You see what athletes do? I was meeting. Gene and I met with a professional athlete the other day. Here in Kansas City. And we're asking him all the things he does.
[28:09] Like what does a typical day look like as a professional soccer player? And half his day is just spent on stuff they do for their body. Like all just kinds of crazy training stuff.
[28:23] Diet. Icing. Light therapy. Every kind of therapy you can think of. That's like half their day. And you think, wow. This guy does all kinds of stuff.
[28:37] What? What? For an imperishable, for a perishable wreath. Something that's not going to last. You might win the trophy. That's it. You got it. It's done.
[28:48] But we, how much more should we be committed to something imperishable? Something that lasts forever. Or something that's eternal. Okay?
[28:58] You look at that and you say, that's, some people say, oh, that's admirable. He's really passionate about that. Would someone look at your life and say that what you believe and the way you act is consistent?
[29:12] Like if you believe in eternal life and eternal punishment, is the way you reach out to souls and care about souls, is it consistent?
[29:23] Is your actions consistent with your beliefs? Is the way that you orientate your life consistent with what you believe about God and lost people? Or would they look at it and say, they're kind of running aimlessly?
[29:36] Paul says, so, in light of the fact that we are going for an imperishable wreath, he goes, I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control.
[29:51] Lest after preaching to others, I should not be disqualified. That I should be disqualified. He's trying not to be disqualified. Okay?
[30:02] Run as though to get the prize. Okay? Everyone's going to be able to run in different ways in this thing, in this church. Okay? What way are you running? Are you just running?
[30:13] Somebody's just like, yeah, I'm here. All right, get off my case, man. I'm running. I'm doing the thing. I showed up. I left Bellicose. I've already sacrificed. Like it was more comfortable there.
[30:25] I had more friends there. Now I'm here. Get off my case, man. I'm here. How are you running though? Are you running to get the prize or are you just running?
[30:37] Is not Jesus worthy to run after the prize? Number four. We run with no fear. Okay?
[30:48] I would say one of the biggest weaknesses of this church up to this point has been fear. Our biggest weakness has been fear. Fear of the unknown.
[31:00] Fear of leadership. Fear of other people and their own weaknesses. Fear of our own weaknesses. Fear of the unknown. There's been fear in this church.
[31:11] Okay? I don't say that with any condemnation. I don't say that with any being upset. I do say it specifically because it's real and we should be acknowledging that and fighting after it.
[31:24] And I'm concerned that that same fear might creep into our evangelism. Because if the fear has been present in other areas, I'm afraid we might be afraid to preach the gospel.
[31:36] And you gotta say to yourself, never. We can't. We can't. If we have a church that's afraid to preach the gospel, we're not gonna have much of a church.
[31:51] All right? If there's one thing we can't be afraid of, it's to preach the gospel. 2 Timothy 1, 7-12. God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.
[32:08] Okay? Therefore, whenever you see therefore, you look at what's before it to see what it's there for. All right? So he said, hey, you haven't been given a spirit of fear. Why is that there? Because for the next thing then he says, So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor me as prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.
[32:30] Again, why? For the gospel, by the power of God. You haven't been given a spirit of fear. You might say, but I'm afraid. Well, that's not what Jesus gave you. You're giving into your flesh, not taking the gift that God gave you, which is a spirit of power and love and self-control.
[32:48] Self-control meaning you can control whether or not you're going to give in to fear. You believe you've been given that? Are we going to act like that? Therefore, I'm not ashamed of the testimony about our Lord.
[33:00] Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor me of his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do.
[33:31] But I'm not ashamed or I'm not afraid to talk about these things. Why? Why is he not ashamed? For I know whom I have believed.
[33:43] I know whom I believed, and I'm convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Okay? Do you know him? If you're not doubling down on knowing God, you will be ashamed.
[34:00] An ashamed person is someone who's not living in that awareness of who God is. Okay? I'm not ashamed. Why? Because I know whom I have believed. So I know whom I have believed.
[34:11] Romans 1, 15 to 16. He says, I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome. Are you eager to preach the gospel? If you're not, don't fake it.
[34:22] Don't feel so bad about it that you can't acknowledge it. Just be honest about it. Tell someone, Hey, I'm not eager to preach the gospel. And then let's pray for each other. God, give us eagerness to preach the gospel.
[34:35] Why? Verse 16. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe. If you've been given something that is powerful to save people, why would you be ashamed to use it?
[34:46] Why wouldn't you be eager to use it? It's because we forget what we have. We forget that it's not up to our ability to preach the gospel well. It's up to his ability to save well.
[34:58] Do you believe that? That the gospel is power in and of itself. I say, man, I don't feel too powerful. So what? You have the most powerful message on planet earth.
[35:09] The gospel. It's power in and of itself. Every time you preach it, even though it might feel dull, might feel like, oh, this is not working good. It's not true.
[35:22] It is power. It is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe. Do you believe that? Do you believe that when you preach it?
[35:34] Philippians 1, 12 to 14. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.
[35:52] And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. How do you speak the word without fear?
[36:04] You have to be confident in the Lord. You have to be confident in the Lord. Then you'll advance the gospel. You'll do things for Christ. Paul's example caused them to be confident in the Lord, and it made them much more bold to speak the word without fear.
[36:20] Where's your confidence? Is it in yourself? Are you afraid because your confidence is in your own ability and your ability isn't that great? Or are you bold because your confidence is in the ability of the one you preach?
[36:33] It's in Christ. You're confident in Christ, and you're as bold as a lion. All right? Last thing, missional strategy. Okay? We've got to hit the ground running.
[36:47] May 1st. Start these missional communities. Right? We're going to try to do five things. All right? These five things we're going to do now. We're going to do them next week. We're going to do them next year.
[36:57] We're going to do them 10 years from now, Lord willing. Okay? We're going to pray for the gospel to be proclaimed and believed. Okay? Start with prayer. Are you praying for the gospel to be proclaimed and to be believed?
[37:10] We should be praying that. Two, we build new and existing relationships. All right? We want to build into the—remember, everything we're doing now, you're building into the culture.
[37:20] All the things you love about Bellicose, the church you were sent out of, those were—the majority of those things were intentionally built in from the beginning. And now people come in who didn't build it enjoy that stuff.
[37:34] You get to do that for this church. One of the things you want to do is we don't want to be one of those churches who has their quota of friends and doesn't want to meet new people.
[37:44] We need, from this day forward and forevermore, to always be a church that is marked by selfless interest in other people. A new person walks in the door.
[37:55] The other person you're talking to should understand, hey, we want to make sure they feel welcome. We want to make sure that people feel befriended, kindness.
[38:06] We're always looking to build new relationships with people. You see a new person, I want to meet them. You say, I'm not that kind of person. You're a Christian. You are that kind of person. You are that kind of person because the one who lives in you is that kind of person.
[38:22] Okay? So you've got to get over yourself if you're not an extroverted person. We have to constantly be on mission to build new and existing relationships. We're constantly building new and existing relationships for Christ and for the gospel.
[38:36] So pray for the gospel you've proclaimed and believed. Number two, build new and existing relationships. Number three, you've got to preach it. Preach the gospel to strangers and those you're building a relationship with.
[38:48] It can't just be those you're building a relationship with. It shouldn't just be strangers. It should be both. There's going to be times when we go out and preach the gospel to strangers, people we don't know. There's going to be other times when there's people, neighbors, family members, specific people we're building relationship with.
[39:03] We're targeting that we're looking for opportunities to preach the gospel. Okay? We're building relationship for more opportunities to speak the gospel into their life. A lot.
[39:13] Hey, when someone hears the gospel once and they get saved, that's great. But a lot of times it doesn't happen that way. A lot of times it has to be multiple times. Okay? So we're looking for opportunities to keep doing that.
[39:25] Number four, we expose the people we're on mission to to the family of believers. Okay? Meaning you're not doing it alone. Yes, there are going to be things that you're always, as a Christian, there will always be people you're on mission to that not everybody in the church is.
[39:40] But when it makes sense, we want to bring other people in on that mission. You know, hey, I got this guy at work I've been reaching out to. Well, you guys don't work with me. How are you going to get to know him? Let's figure that out.
[39:52] You know, let's invite them to this particular thing or let's go to where he is and let's bring a couple other people with it so that he starts meeting other Christians and sees the love we have for one another so that he can experience the love of God in what he sees in the love between us and towards him together.
[40:12] It's the kingdom of God and all of life together. We're not just all our individual missions. Yes, we all have individual people we're on mission to, but it's going to make sense here and there to bring other people to expose them to the family of believers.
[40:26] And when people see that, they're like, you know, there's no way someone's going to do what the Bible says when they say they're going to ask you for the reason for the hope that you have if they don't see on display the reason for the hope that you have.
[40:39] And that is seen when they're exposed to the family of believers. And number five, make people into disciples who make disciples. Okay. If a disciple is someone who makes, you know, if he said, go make disciples to disciples and the disciples you're making should be people who make disciples.
[40:55] And so we're constantly teaching people about Jesus constantly. We don't just win them to Christ and then say, okay, that's the pastor's job. No, that's our job. That's all our job. Right.
[41:06] Those five things. Pray for the gospel to be proclaimed and believed. Build new and existing relationships. Preach the gospel to strangers and those we are building relationships with. Expose the people we're on mission to, to the family of believers.
[41:18] And make people into disciples who make disciples. We need to be constantly doing that. Constantly doing that. So when we start meeting in these missional communities, you guys are going to need to talk about, okay, where are the existing people in places we're already involved with?
[41:33] And how can we be more intentional? Who are the new people we're going to reach out to? Okay. And how are we going to do it? How are we going to do it? We're going to take inventory of it.
[41:43] We're going to figure out, okay, how are we going to eat? How are we going to do events? How are we going to serve and bless so that we can reach other people? That's going to require two questions all the time on constant repeat.
[41:56] What am I going to start doing and what am I going to stop doing? Okay. You're going to have times in your life you're going to think, okay, in order to do this, I'm going to have to stop doing something I was already doing and start doing something else.
[42:09] Okay. That's going to, that's going to be a constant question. And then sometimes you're going to just be doing what you're already doing. You're just doing more gospel intentionality. Hey, we're already doing this.
[42:20] How come we're not being more missional in this? And we work on that together. In closing, Philippians 1, 3 to 5, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you, all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
[42:38] Remember, we're partners, but we're partners in the gospel. Okay. You're not doing this alone. You might say, well, I feel overwhelmed. Why are you doing it on your own? Doing it together.
[42:50] If you feel overwhelmed, tell somebody. You feel lonely, tell somebody. We're not alone here. You're going to feel more alone probably in this new church plant than you did in your old church. That's, that's normal.
[43:02] Don't keep it to yourself. Partner. You've got to partner together. You're going to need to be open about that. Do you hear me? Last verse. Oh, this is a great verse to close with.
[43:13] Philippians 1, 27 to 29. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So that whether I come and see you or I am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.
[43:33] And not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake.
[43:51] So whether I'm here or I'm absent, I want to hear that Christ Church is striving side by side, arms locked, for the faith of the gospel and for the sake of Christ.
[44:05] Amen? Amen. Father, I pray that you... Amen. Amen.