I want to talk to you this morning about missional discipline.
Missional discipline.
Because this is a church plant, you don't get the luxury of not thinking like a missionary.
In a church plant, everyone must act and think like a missionary.
Because kind of like what Seth was talking about a couple weeks ago,
where maybe when you're a part of a bigger church,
you can rely on part of the healthier, more established parts of the church
and not realize whether or not you're actually doing those things
or pulling from the right sources.
You can't do that anymore when you're in a smaller church.
The props are pulled out from underneath you.
There's no one else who's going to do it if you don't.
And for a church to be established and for a church to grow,
there's no one to farm it out, no one you can farm out mission to.
Like, well, if I don't do it, they'll do it.
Who?
Who's going to do that?
You know, look around.
You're looking at it.
You can't say, oh, somebody else will do that.
That is a church that will not get off the ground.
That is a church that will not really reach people.
And I know that you all have a sincere desire to reach people for the gospel.
But your sincere desire to reach people for the gospel,
although admirable, is not going to cut it.
Desire isn't going to get you anywhere alone.
Desire alone will not get you anywhere.
It must be accompanied with missional action,
and I would say even more specifically missional discipline.
And I'll explain that in a second.
But let's just ask the question.
And don't laugh.
If Raytown were a foreign city,
it may feel that way sometimes,
but if Raytown were a foreign city,
and you just got sent here as a missionary,
what would you do?
Okay?
Like if this was like a foreign country,
and you got plopped into this foreign country in America,
and this wasn't your home country,
and Raytown was the city you got plopped into,
okay?
But you speak the same language, okay?
What would you do to establish a church?
How would you spend your time?
Where would your focus be?
How would you plan?
What would you prioritize?
This isn't hypothetical.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Like that sounds like a hypothetical question,
because in one sense you didn't get plopped here,
but in another sense,
by God's sovereign will,
you are plopped here for a purpose,
to establish his kingdom on the earth,
through the church,
by making disciples of those who don't know Jesus, okay?
And so you must think that way.
And that's not just for the apostolic leader
to think that way,
although he should be the tip of the arrow.
We all have to think that way.
And you'd say,
well, I don't know if I want to think that way.
Sorry, if you're a part of the church,
you have to.
You have to.
That's not an option.
You're a part of a church plant?
Not an option.
You have to think that way.
You have to be someone
who is willing to embrace
building something from nothing.
This is your task.
Should you accept it?
Okay?
It is a mission that seems impossible, right?
Right?
That you are building something that doesn't exist.
You can't see it.
Okay?
You're building,
you're not taking materials that exist
and then building something from those materials.
The apostolic task
is to build something
from nothing.
And that's what you signed up for.
Here you are.
Here we are.
Okay?
My main text is from 1 Corinthians 9,
19 to 27.
1 Corinthians 9, 19 to 27.
Paul says,
For though I am free from all,
I have made myself a servant to all,
that I might win more of them.
To the Jews I became a Jew
in order to win the 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.
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 the law.
To the weak,
I became weak,
that I might win the weak.
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,
that I may share with them
in its blessings.
Do you not know that in a race
all the runners run,
but only one receives the prize?
So run that you may obtain it.
Every athlete exercises self-control
in all things.
They do it to receive a perishable wreath,
but we an imperishable.
So I do not run aimlessly.
I do not box as one beating the air,
but I discipline my body
and keep it under control,
lest after preaching to others,
I myself should be disqualified.
So the title of my sermon,
Missional Discipline,
comes from that last verse.
I discipline my body
is his conclusion
from all the stuff he said before.
Let's look at this a little bit.
Okay?
He said,
though he's free from all,
he made himself a servant to all.
All right?
So he,
though he doesn't have to be restricted,
he voluntarily restricts himself
for a specific purpose
that is higher.
What is it?
That he might win more.
That he might win more souls.
Okay?
If you want to win souls,
there's a sense of restricting
missional discipline
that must take place.
Okay?
Where we restrict ourselves
from legitimate pleasures
of this world,
legitimate ways of using our time,
legitimate things
for the greater things
of seeing people come into the kingdom.
This task of mission
requires us to give up
things that aren't bad
in and of themselves.
Clearly,
you should give up sin.
Clearly,
you should give up
the deeds of the flesh,
this kind of thing.
Okay?
But Paul's talking about
something altogether different here.
Paul is saying,
though I'm free from all,
I've made myself a servant to all.
Voluntary restriction.
Voluntary servitude
that I might win more of them.
And then he goes on to say,
I become like all these
different groups of people.
Jews,
Gentiles,
under the law,
not under the law.
He's the weak.
He's becoming like all these people
in order to win them.
Okay?
And then he makes that
amazing statement
in verse 22
that I just,
is like the quintessential
mission statement.
You don't get any more
quintessential than this.
I have become
all things
to all people.
It's the first thing he says.
Okay?
What are you becoming?
Since joining this church plant,
we're almost three,
after the end of this week,
we'll be three months in
from when we launched
those two missional communities
that we deem to be
the official launch
of our church on May 1st.
Okay?
So we're three months in.
Let me ask you the question.
What are you becoming
to reach people?
Now,
Paul had specific people.
He's like,
okay,
I got Jews I'm on mission to.
I got Gentiles I'm on mission to.
I got those under the law.
I got those outside the law.
I got the weak.
He had specific people groups
that he was reaching out to.
What's yours?
Where's your mission at?
Who are you targeting?
Who are you specifically
praying for,
reaching out?
And then what are you doing?
What are you becoming
to reach them?
He said,
I've become all things
for some people.
No,
he says to all people.
That's why he lists
all these groups.
He's like,
whatever it takes,
whatever group of people
that God has put before me,
I'll become all things
to all people.
That by all means,
okay,
whatever means
that needs to be deployed,
he's saying,
I'm in.
If there's a means
that needs to be deployed,
I will deploy it
that I might save some.
That's the goal,
that I might save some.
And then he says,
I do it all for the sake
of the gospel,
that I may share with them
in its blessings.
Wouldn't you like to share
with lost people
in the blessings
of going from darkness
to light,
from being lost
to being found?
That's your goal,
that's your vision
for the sake of the gospel,
that Jesus would be glorified
through the saving of souls.
That's the vision
that we have.
If that doesn't captivate you,
you won't become
all things to all men
that you might win as many.
If you're not captivated,
if you're not energized,
if you're not smitten
by what Judah was just saying
as we took of the Lord's table together,
if that isn't real to you,
if that's not a present enjoyment to you,
if singing songs to Jesus
is kind of like a downer to you,
it's kind of like,
let's just get this over with.
If you're not enjoying the Lord
on a regular basis
and enjoying who he is
and what he's done for you,
if you're not enjoying
the person of Jesus
and the work of Jesus,
then why in the world
would you become all things
to all men
that by all means
you could win some?
Why would you do that?
You wouldn't.
He's doing it
because he wants to save people
and he's doing it
for the sake of the gospel.
For the sake of the gospel.
I think that the first message
I preached at this church
was doing it
for the sake of the gospel.
Are we in on that?
And if you are,
then it looks a certain way
with your actions.
And he brings up,
it just happens to be
that the Olympics have started.
Not necessarily advocating
you watch it.
Maybe if you watch the races
and avoid the opening ceremonies.
But typically we might watch
a race or two
from the Olympics, right?
And they all run.
But all these people
are the greatest runners
in the entire planet.
And they're coming to race.
And they have gone
into strict training
for years preceding the Olympics.
For years.
Years of training.
Full-time.
Full-time training for years.
All to get a prize
that won't last.
All to get a medal
that people will forget about.
All to get accolades
and notoriety
that will soon fade away.
And most certainly fade away
once they're gone.
And they do all that.
And we applaud them for it.
We watch them for it.
Advertising dollars
come into the commercials
because people watch it.
Okay?
People watch this.
They're excited by it.
Because we love to see people
giving their all for something.
This is for a race.
This is for, you know,
30 seconds sometimes, you know.
These shorter races.
And that's it.
And that's what they're
giving themselves to.
He's basically saying,
you know,
every athlete exercises
self-control in all things.
They do it to receive
a perishable wreath,
but we an imperishable.
Okay?
So,
since we're running
for something way greater,
we should do it differently.
We should have
a more extreme commitment.
We should,
and we shouldn't just run.
He's saying,
those people don't just run.
It's not like the people
in the Olympics,
they just run and like,
man, I'm just happy
that I got to run.
This is great.
They're running to get the prize.
They're running for the gold medal.
Right?
No one gets on that microphone
and just says,
yeah, you know,
I didn't make it,
but I'm just happy to run.
You know?
No,
even some people
will get the silver.
You can just see it
and they're just like,
I'm the first loser.
You know,
like,
I came for gold.
I didn't come for silver.
And you can see
the disappointment
in their eyes
when they're even
interviewing them sometime.
You know,
they're trying to,
you know,
have a good attitude
for the camera,
but they wanted gold.
They're running
to get the prize.
How are you running
when it comes to mission?
You just showing up
on a Sunday morning,
doing your part
during the week?
Are you focused on mission?
Who are you focused?
What's their names?
What are the group of people?
Have you set aside
time to pray for the lost?
We inadvertently set aside
sometimes
time to complain about,
man,
I wish there was more people here.
I wish there was people
getting saved.
Well,
where's the time being put in
to connect
with the one who saves?
Where's the time being put aside
to get on mission,
literally,
to actually preach
the gospel to people,
to build relationships
with people?
If we're not putting,
if we're not running
to obtain the prize,
we're not going to.
That's why he says,
I don't run aimlessly.
I don't box as one
beating the air,
but I discipline myself.
There is a discipline
that comes with mission.
And listen,
if you're looking
for some quick fix
where all of a sudden
God sends thousands
of people to us
or hundreds
or I don't know,
whatever,
whatever it is,
the number that you're
looking for,
maybe it's just 20.
Whatever it may be,
listen,
that's just,
that can happen,
it has happened in church,
but we're not living
for revival,
okay?
We're living for Jesus.
We don't get up and down
whether there's revival
or not.
We're looking for
the steady state
discipleship,
day in and day out,
consistency.
Where are the
consistent missionaries?
Where are the
consistent prayer warriors?
Where are the
consistent gospel preachers?
Where is the consistency?
We got to have consistency.
There has to be discipline.
You know that none
of those runners
who lack,
the ones who lack
discipline,
they don't win.
They don't,
they don't win.
You know,
when they interviewed
Tom Brady now
that his career's over,
more Super Bowls
than any quarterback,
they interview him,
you know,
he talks about
these young guys
and he just kind of
scoffs at them.
He's just like,
they'll be good.
They'll be good football players,
but they're never
going to be champions.
You know,
it's like,
why?
Because they don't
put in the work
when nobody else
is doing it.
If you want to win
like nobody wins,
you've got to train
like nobody trains.
And,
you know,
he kind of just looks at it
and just says,
yeah,
you know,
it's not like
I was gifted
with all this amazing
ability.
I had to work for it.
And there is a certain
level of work
that comes into
anything that God
gives us to do.
Yes,
we're trusting in God,
we're believing in God,
we're trusting in the
work of Christ,
but that doesn't mean
we don't work with him,
that we don't co-labor
with him.
And there needs to be
a consistent
missional discipline
for us to see
a harvest.
Just like a farmer
can't just say,
well,
I don't feel like
going out there today.
He could lose
the whole crop with that.
He's got to go in
day and day.
He can't just say,
man,
it's early.
I'm sick of getting up early.
Why do I got to keep
getting up early
and getting in these fields?
Because that's what a farmer
has to do in order
to reap a harvest.
And no farmer
reaps a harvest
by just randomly
going out
when he feels like it.
He doesn't reap a harvest
if he does what he wants,
when he wants,
how he wants,
the way he wants.
There's many times
he has to do things
he doesn't want.
He has to do it
when he doesn't want.
He has to do it
when other people
are doing things
he'd rather do.
And yet he has to put
his nose to the grindstone
and say,
I've got to keep plowing.
I've got to keep
planting seed.
I've got to keep weeding.
I've got to keep
removing rocks.
I've got to keep watering.
I've got to keep doing
the things I'm going to do
or there will be
no harvest and fall.
And Jesus calls
the bringing in of the lost,
he calls it a harvest.
And his question is,
where are the labors?
He says the harvest
is plentiful,
but that's not the problem.
The problem isn't that
if the work is done,
there won't be any result.
He makes that clear.
Do you hear me on that?
Like, I think sometimes
in our mind we think,
oh, it's not worth it
to do the work
because I'll do it
and there won't be a harvest.
No, that's not the problem
that Jesus is describing.
He's not saying,
you know,
there's so many workers,
but you know,
sometimes it's just
not a harvest.
He's saying the harvest
is plentiful.
The issue is the workers.
The workers are few.
Harvest is plentiful,
but the workers are few.
There has to be
missional discipline.
Do you have
missional discipline?
And I know some of you
have discipline
in other areas.
I've seen it.
Do you have discipline
when it comes to mission?
Do you have discipline
when it comes to
the steady state,
praying,
gospel preaching,
planning,
strategizing
to win the lost?
Just like if you were
plopped in here
as a missionary,
you wouldn't just,
you know,
land in here
as a missionary
and get comfortable
with the culture
and just think,
well,
I hope God brings souls
and I hope he establishes
a church.
Now you'd get to work
doing what needs
to get done
to see people get saved.
And you'd realize
it's going to take time,
but I can't let up.
I've got to run
as someone who gets
the prize.
I've got to discipline
my body
and make it my slave
so that I'm not
disqualified for the prize.
Let's look at some
Bible verses,
some more Bible verses.
Luke 19.10,
the Son of Man
came to seek
and to save the lost.
Who are you seeking?
Who are the specific
people you're seeking?
Has God given you
a burden for specific people?
Has God opened the door
for you to reach out
to specific people?
Who are the specific
lost people
you're seeking?
You already have an area.
How are we reaching
this area?
How are we making inroads?
What are we doing?
How are we getting there?
Jesus came to seek
and to save.
He was seeking it out.
He was looking
for opportunities.
Matthew 4.19,
he said,
follow me
and I will make you
fishers of men.
Do you trust God
that he'll make you
into that?
He says,
if you follow me,
I will make you
a fisher of men.
I'll make you
a fisher of men.
I'll make you someone
who goes fishing
for men.
Someone who's
seeking out
how to catch men
into the net
of the kingdom.
Do you believe that?
Those of you
who lack confidence,
those of you
who maybe lack power
in this area,
do you believe that
if you follow Christ,
he will lead you
right into the place
of being a fisher of men?
That's what happens.
Matthew 28,
Great Commission,
18 to 20,
Jesus came and said to them,
all authority in heaven
and on earth
has been given to me.
Go therefore
and make disciples
of all nations,
baptizing them
in the name of the Father
and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe
all that I've commanded you
and behold,
I'm with you always
to the end of the age.
Okay?
He came to them
and said,
go.
Go.
You have to go.
The church has been
converted into this weird,
we've changed
the Great Commission
to come.
Established buildings
and services
and programs
that revolve around
come.
Get them to come to you.
That was never
the Great Commission.
We've turned Christianity
into some attractional mode
and I know some people
feel better about it
because they say,
oh, we don't do that
on Sunday mornings.
We don't invite a bunch
of people on Sunday mornings
to try and have them
hear the gospel
and get saved.
We're better than that.
But then we do
the same thing
in a smaller setting
called a missional community
and instead of doing
the hard work
of getting in people's life,
reaching out to people,
plowing and plowing
and plowing
in prayer
and in the gospel,
we just trade that
for a meeting invite
to a missional community gathering.
Instead of going
to where they are,
instead of going
into the world
to preach the gospel,
instead of going
to lost people
and building relationships,
instead of going
to the place of prayer
and saying,
God, open up the doors.
Who are the men
and women of peace?
God, bring them to me.
We have to go.
You have to go.
You can't stay
where you're at.
You can't stay comfortable.
You can't stay
in doing what you were doing
when you weren't winning souls.
If you've been
in a place
where you're not winning souls,
do something else.
Go somewhere,
like change it up.
Get into a different action.
God, give me
a different strategy.
I want to see it.
Romans 10, 13 to 15,
everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
How then will they call
on him whom they've not believed?
And how are they
to believe on him
in whom they have not heard?
And how are they
to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they
to preach unless they are sent?
As it is written,
how beautiful are the feet
of those who preach good news.
How are they to hear
without someone preaching?
We've got to preach.
You might say,
I don't know who to preach to.
Do you believe
that God wants you
to preach to someone?
Do you believe
that God wants
to give you those people?
Are you confident
in that prayer?
Are you praying
that with unbelief?
Are you a double-minded man
when it comes
to praying for the lost?
You shouldn't think
you receive anything
from the Lord.
When you pray,
do you believe
that God wants you
to preach,
that he has people
preordained
to hear the gospel,
people who are ready
for harvest,
that he's just waiting
for laborers to go to?
Do you believe
that that's you and me,
that we are those laborers
that God wants
to bring forth
so that they can hear
the gospel?
Do you pray like that?
Do you pray that
there's literally nothing
that can stop that?
That if I'm preaching
to someone
that God is calling,
that God is drawing,
that God is saving,
they can't resist that?
Are you kidding me?
The power of that?
Just like,
you know,
think of all the things
we did to try
to resist God.
Think of all the ways
that we stiff-armed him
and pushed him away
and said,
I don't need you
and our arrogance
and pride kept pushing
and said,
I got it on my own.
This religion stuff,
it's not for me.
I'm fine on my own
when deep inside
knowing we didn't
have it on our own.
Think of how many times
we did that
and God never gave up on us.
God pursued us.
He broke down our walls.
He broke down our resistance.
He broke down our pride.
And then sometimes
when we get in prayer,
we don't believe
that God will do the same thing
to other lost people.
We think,
oh, they're too prideful.
They're too independent.
They're too resistant
of the gospel.
Wasn't that us?
Have we forgotten
where we came from?
Have we forgotten
that we were the ones
who rejected the gospel?
Have we forgotten
all the times
that we pushed God away
and God just kept
breaking us down
and breaking us down
until finally
we received it
with so much eagerness
we actually thought
it was us
who bid it
in the first place?
That we were so eager
to do it,
we just almost,
now at this point
we kind of think,
oh, yeah,
I kind of did that.
No.
Nobody comes to the Father
unless the Father
draws them.
Right?
The Father draws people.
He's drawing people
right now.
He's drawing people
in Raytown.
He's drawing people
around us
and in our life,
even right in front
of our eyes.
But,
they have to believe
and how can they believe
unless they hear
and how can they hear
unless someone preaches?
We've got to preach to them.
We've got to preach.
So,
we've got to be confident
in prayer.
We've got to be confident
in the gospel.
If we're not,
we need to be filled
with the Spirit of God.
We need the Holy Spirit
to be poured on us
so we can speak
the Word of God boldly,
so we can be
as witnesses
in Raytown,
Kansas City,
in the ends of the earth,
wherever He may take us.
Right?
But someone's got to preach.
We need some beautiful feet.
Are your feet beautiful?
You know how your feet
are beautiful?
Not because you manicure them
and you,
you know,
stick them in a pond
with those fish,
whatever,
that eat all the bacteria.
Your feet are beautiful
when you preach good news.
Those are the feet
that are beautiful.
Do you have beautiful feet?
Do you have feet
that come from
a body
that is preaching good news?
Okay?
So what are we going to do?
We got to get specific
on this.
What are the people
and places
you're targeting?
Like,
if you can't answer
the question,
the who,
like,
who are you targeting?
What places
are you targeting?
Or,
where are you already
spending your time?
And you don't have
any kind of
strategic focus
on that
as a missional
community together
and most certainly
individually
at a minimum,
you have a,
and the difference
between the two,
right?
They're not the same.
You're always going
to be called
to be on mission
wherever you're at.
The people
you're on mission
won't always be
the same people
that your missional
community will be
on mission together with.
Now,
as much as possible
you want to do that,
but don't have
this weird expectation
that every single person
you're on mission to,
your missional community
is going to.
You start with
getting on mission
yourself with people
and then as much
as possible
as you can bring
people together
that you do that.
But,
we always have to be
on mission
to the people
we're working with,
the people that are
around us,
the people that
we're interacting with
and then as much
as possible
as we can see,
okay,
where there's
intersections
between who,
we're all,
people that have
already been placed
in our life,
the places
we're already
frequenting
and,
you know,
where we spend
our time,
where do we,
can we intersect
with other people?
Are we looking about that?
Are we having
conversations about that?
How many conversations
have you had with people
like,
okay,
where's the
missional
intersections
of our lives
where we know
some of the same people
and we're reaching out
to them,
we visit
or frequent
the same places
or businesses
or small business owners,
you know,
whether it's the same place
we get our hair cut
or get our car fixed
or grocery store
we go to
or coffee shop
we frequent,
whatever it may be,
what are those
same places
and then what are we
doing to specifically
reach them
or what are the
new people in places
and just getting
specific about that,
like,
who are these new
people we want
to reach out to?
Praying for God,
like constantly
just crying out to God,
are you doing this
daily?
Are you doing this
before the Lord
as a church plan?
I'm saying,
I know I want
to do this more.
I need to do this more.
I'm convicted myself
of not praying
enough for this.
I want to press in
more in prayer
for this church
and just say,
God,
give us souls.
Give us new people.
Give us people.
Give us young people.
We should specifically
be praying for young people.
This morning I prayed
for young people.
Why did I pray
specifically for young people?
What about old people?
We don't like old people?
We do like old people.
Okay?
I'm a middle-aged person
so I like both people,
right?
But no,
we need both people
but as older,
we should always be
turning our hearts
towards youth
and if we're a new church,
there's no future
without young people.
You want a future church?
We got to reach out
to young people.
We have to.
Always,
always to the end.
Always reaching out
to young people.
If you're an older person
and you get too entrenched
in your ways
and you can't reach out
to young people,
you're not being
a good Christian
because you have
no vision for the future.
If all you care about
is your generation,
you have to be turned
towards young people.
Turn towards people
and say,
this is the future generation.
I'm not going to just say,
well,
I'm older.
I don't need to do that.
I paid my dues.
I did my time.
No way.
Always turning our hearts.
Looking for double portion
sons and daughters.
Never giving up on that.
Okay?
So praying for specifically
for young people
to come into this church,
that should always be
a prayer focus for us.
That's the future.
And when older people come,
we love them
and we welcome them.
That's great.
But then we get
those older people
to pray with us
in the same way
for young people.
You know what I'm saying?
For sure.
We have to.
That's the future.
Okay?
Who are those specific people?
If I were to ask
the individual
missional communities
and say,
who are you on mission to?
Do you have a specific answer?
I'm not talking
about a generic answer.
And it may be specifically
that we don't have specific,
but we're praying
for specifics
and we're intentional.
We're making time for this.
Just as much as we're making time
to be a family together,
we are spending
just as much time
focusing on being
on mission together.
Don't relegate that
to the side.
Don't relegate that
to a small portion
of your missional community life.
That has to be
just as valuable.
They're not just communities.
They're missional communities.
Do you hear me?
You're just cultivating community
and not cultivating mission.
We're missing it.
Not to mention,
the best way to cultivate
community and sense of family
is getting on mission together.
Ask anybody
who was in the military
for a long,
protracted period of time
what they miss most
and they will say
they miss the camaraderie,
the sense of vision,
vision-focused community.
That like being together
on the same mission,
that mission
brought them closer together.
I'll never forget
an interview I watched
with Stanley McChrystal
saying that.
He said,
I asked him,
what do you miss the most?
A career military guy.
He said,
I miss the mission
and I miss the camaraderie
of the men.
And they go right,
they go hand in hand.
And we're not in the military
but you are in the Lord's army
in a sense.
You're soldiers for Christ.
You're not serving,
you're serving
your commanding officer.
And so our mission
should bring us together.
Sometimes we have a hard time
being brought together
by other means
because we have
too many differences
and lack of similarity.
But we always have
the fellowship of the spirit
and we always have
the mission
that can bring us together.
We always have those things.
And if we don't have
that specific
in our missional communities,
there's going to be
something lacking
in our familial community
because we don't have
something bigger
than ourselves.
If we're aiming
at something so small
as ourselves
and being in community
with ourselves,
we're missing it.
It has to always be bigger
and that's what brings us together.
That's what brings us together.
So we've got to figure out,
we've got to be praying,
Lord,
what are the friends and family
that I can be focused on?
What are the neighbors
and neighborhoods?
What are the co-workers
or workplaces?
Like I said before,
whether they go
into the same restaurant,
the same store,
same grocery store,
same coffee shop,
same barber.
I remember years ago,
one of the guys
in our missional community
is like,
I got this guy,
he cuts hair,
he's not a believer.
What do you guys think
about us all going
to this guy?
Yeah,
that makes total sense.
You're going to sit there
for a half hour,
hour and you're going to,
you know,
not going anywhere,
right?
And you're going to talk.
And what if all these people
all go in there
strategically,
praying for the same guy,
going to the same barber
on purpose,
same thing with a hair,
you could do with a hairdresser,
right?
For the women,
same mechanic,
same chiropractor,
right?
Done that before,
going to the same chiropractor,
as other people.
And it's like multiple people
are preaching the gospel
to the same person.
That's awesome
when you do stuff like that,
going to the same park,
frequenting the same places
over and over again.
I was just reading
a book on evangelism
by Mark Dever.
And he says
he always goes
to the subway
by the church building
where he's at.
And it's not because
he has this particular
love for subway.
It's because he has
a particular love
for the employees
at subway
and he's got to eat.
And so he goes
to the same place.
And when he meets people,
he says,
let's go to subway.
He's like,
why do you want
to go to subway?
He's like,
because I have people there
that I want to frequently
be in interaction with
because I'm preaching
the gospel to them.
I love that.
That's great.
Okay?
Who are those people?
What are these ways
we can get in?
I remember in the early days
of Bellicose,
there was so many times
you're just like,
who are we going
to reach out to?
How are we going to,
how is this going to happen?
How is this church
going to get on its feet?
How,
who are we going
to be the people?
And in those early days,
it was hard to believe.
You're building something
out of nothing.
You can't see it.
But we,
there was this,
there's an excitement
in prayer
when you realize
God wants to give
those people to you
and that he will.
He will.
Do you believe that?
Can you pray
and get excited
while you're praying
even though the answer
hasn't come yet
because you're anticipating
the inevitability
of the answer.
Do you understand
what I'm saying?
Where your excitement
comes from the inevitability
of the not yet answered prayer
and it gives you excitement
and fuel to keep praying for it
and you begin to see things
in the spirit
that are coming
and it makes it,
it makes it less,
it's not invisible anymore,
it makes it easier to build.
The hardest thing to build
is what you can't see.
So,
you need to see it.
Well,
the only way you're going
to see the invisible
is through prayer
and the only way
that's going to happen
is when we come into unity
around these things
and pray together
and we begin to start
seeing things in prayer,
we begin to start
seeing things prophetically
and we begin to pray
into them with excitement
and a sense of an inevitability
that causes us to be
just joyful
in what's going to happen
and then we just wait
in the Lord
and just see it happen.
We do it in rest.
We're not striving.
We're not having to muster
some church thing up.
We're not feeling this pressure
to make the church cool.
We're not feeling this pressure
to make it enjoyable
and to get good friendships.
No, we are resting
in God's desire
to do for us
what we couldn't do
for ourselves
in ways that are way greater
than we could ever do
because He cares for us
and He loves us
and He wants us
to have friendships
and He wants us
to have new people
and He wants to save people.
Okay?
But we have to have
missional discipline.
We got to get,
we have to have specific
people and groups
and places.
It has to happen.
Do you hear me on that?
I know I've said that
a million times
but I don't know
if it's totally sunk in yet.
I think we have kind of this,
we have desire for it,
we have value for it.
Maybe we're lacking
the discipline in it though.
Do you hear me on that?
Have desire,
have a little bit of strategy
but do we have the discipline
to see it through?
Do we have the focus
that is required
to literally see a church established
beyond just the team
that got sent
and a few people
coming in here and there
who are already believers?
Like do we have the discipline
to see it through?
You got to ask yourself
that question.
Okay?
And then we got to figure out
ways that we're going to
engage these people.
Once you have
those specific people,
what are the ways
we're going to engage people?
Okay?
Three really easy ones
are eating,
planning events,
and serving and blessing people.
Okay?
Just eating together
with people.
Doing barbecues,
parties,
meals.
Okay?
Not inviting people
to your missional community gathering
unless you've set apart
a specific gathering
for lost people.
But just saying,
hey,
come over to have a meal
or let's go out to eat
or let's go grab something
to drink.
Okay?
Giving meals away.
Maybe having like a regular thing,
like a night of the week
where this night
is always open
to have people over.
Like I've set that aside
or Sunday afternoons
to invite new people
who've come to the church.
which,
you know,
that's a little sparse now
but maybe down the road
that'll become more and more.
I mean,
at Bellacook now
you could do that
until the cows come home
and you'd never run out of people
because there's just
influx of people.
Didn't used to be that way.
Didn't used to be that way at all.
Okay?
It's got to start somewhere.
All right?
Maybe doing like a night
of just having coffee together
or desserts together,
you know?
Especially as it gets cooler.
making it fun,
you know,
doing some kind of
food contest together.
Best dessert,
best dip,
best barbecue,
best pizza.
I don't care.
Anything like that.
Just doing stuff
that you can get around people
and build relationships.
Or events,
sports.
In one month,
football season starts.
I know that
whether you're
a Chiefs fan or not,
whether you're
a football fan or not,
a lot of people are.
And we just happen
to have a team
that's won the Super Bowl
two years in a row.
They're going to be trying
to win a third one.
You think people are going
to be interested in that?
You better believe it.
Okay?
You might say,
well,
I'm not interested in that.
Well,
other people are.
So,
will you become all things?
Maybe you become a Chiefs fan
to win as many for Christ.
You know what I'm saying?
It happens every week.
It's like a weekly rhythm.
You could literally have a plan
in place like,
okay,
we're going to watch
the Chiefs game
every week
and we're going to invite
people in
that we're on mission to.
Talk about a natural,
normal,
neutral setting
that's not going to wig people
out as some religious weirdos.
Right?
Just wait,
you're going to go,
you're going to,
you want to watch
a football game together?
Oh yeah,
I could do that.
You know,
no one's going to be like,
weird.
Okay,
but that's what I'm saying.
Like,
but planning stuff like that,
just say,
it's coming up.
I'm not saying you have to,
have to do that.
I'm just saying,
ideas like that,
looking at the season you're in,
football season's coming up,
using that for that purpose.
Right?
We're going to literally
regularly open up our home
for Chiefs games
and then bring lost people
and bring neighbors in.
Most of your neighbors
are already doing that.
Just do it with them.
Hey,
are you watching the Chiefs game?
Yeah,
I am.
You want to watch it at my place?
Like,
we'll provide all the food.
You don't need to bring anything.
Yeah,
I'll be there.
You know what I'm saying?
Like,
that's easy.
That's low-hanging fruit.
And then when you're there,
don't just watch the Chiefs game.
Talk about their life.
You know,
get it,
lay the groundwork
and as soon as you see
that open door,
you preach the gospel.
And if you don't see
the open door,
make one.
Make one.
Make the most
of every opportunity.
Make an opportunity.
Do you know what I'm saying?
You know,
we've talked about
block parties,
bonfires,
game nights,
holiday celebrations.
I think that's
always a good time.
And that's why I think
fall is such a great time
for mission.
Right?
It's always a time
to launch things,
to do things.
But Halloween comes
and all your neighbors
come to your door.
They come to you.
Right?
Do it up better
than anybody else.
Okay?
Thanksgiving is a great time
to just have people
over for dinner.
Christmas.
Christmas parties
are so easy.
Right?
Another American holiday,
Super Bowl.
Right?
Okay?
Easy to do that.
You have this holiday time
and you have all these
easy things
to just invite people into.
Are we being intentional
with those things?
Do we have a plan
for those things?
Movie nights,
you know,
dancing,
cigar pipe nights,
Bible studies,
where you just say,
hey,
we're going to do a Bible study
for this amount of nights
and we're going to invite
people to come to it.
One-time events,
weekly events,
monthly events,
whatever they may be.
Or serving people,
like how can we do
house projects,
yard projects,
helping someone financially,
neighborhood cleanups.
Just identify at least
one way to tangibly
express the gospel
on a regular basis
through serving
and then sticking with it
long enough
to move beyond
just tasks
to relationships.
Opening the door
for the gospel.
Right?
Opening the door
for the gospel.
What are these things?
Listen,
if you don't have an answer,
that's okay.
But don't be okay
with not having an answer
much longer.
Because God wants
to give you an answer.
He wants to give you people.
And like,
what did Paul do?
Did Paul just say like,
well,
I just hope God
gives us something.
He said,
no,
I'm aiming
at specific people.
He said,
Peter's called to these people,
I'm called to these people.
He's like,
I'm reaching these people
this way,
I'm reaching these people
this way.
Do you have multiple people
that you're on mission to
that you're reaching
in different ways
and you're becoming
different things
that you might mean
as many people
through as many means
as possible?
That's what church
should look like.
Not just creating
some weird gathering,
religious gathering
that majority of people
will never come to
and hoping that some come to.
That's what church
has become.
Why?
It should be us
strategically getting
on mission to people.
Never ceasing,
never stopping,
always on the offensive.
When the Bible says,
Jesus says,
I will build my church
and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.
Have you ever walked
by a gate
and a gate just attacked you
and knocked you to the ground
and started beating you up?
Gates don't do anything to you.
When he says that,
when he says that the gates
of hell shall not prevail,
he's talking about
an offensive attack
at the gates.
He's talking about
an infiltration
of enemy territory
that was protected by gates.
You are pressing
through the gates.
He's not talking about
some gates that are,
you know,
you're just doing
your comfortable church thing
and these gates
come attack you.
That's bizarre.
That never happens.
That's not what gates do.
He's talking about
an offensive
into hell territory
and depopulating hell
with the gospel.
Gates of hell
shall not prevail
against the onslaught
of the offensive weapon
of the church.
Is that church?
Is that your experience
of church?
Is that Christ church
right now?
Is Christ church
on the offensive?
Is Christ church
pressing in and through
the gates of hell
to depopulate hell
through the gospel?
To literally say,
no, no, no.
Snatching people
from the fire
is the language of Jude, right?
Hating even the clothing
corrupted by sinful flesh.
You see that language?
That's not an
attractional language.
That's not,
let's just get,
you know,
the right worship team,
the right child care
and the right aesthetics
and the, you know,
the charismatic preacher
so that we can
just invite people
and have them do the work.
No, that's the language
of a missional church
that is on an offensive onslaught
to break through
the gates of hell
and to win lost people.
Can you get excited
about that?
Anybody can get excited
about that,
but can you be
consistent in that?
Can you be disciplined
in that?
Can you be excited
about it
and be disciplined
in it
and keep doing it
when no one else
is doing it
or other people
don't want to do it
or other people
are burnt out in it,
tired on it,
weary on it
or in unbelief about it?
Can you stay in faith
because you're a church plant
and you have to?
You have to.
You got to stay in faith
because who else
is going to do it
if you don't?
Who's going to lift you up
if you don't?
You got to keep
crying out to God,
keep me faithful,
keep me full of faith.
God, I need you.
If what I'm saying
doesn't drive you
into Christ,
then what does?
I'm not,
this isn't,
you need to just figure
this out on your own
and become
some self-dependent,
muster it up
kind of people.
I hope you're overwhelmed
by the task
I'm giving to you
and it drives you
into Christ.
And you say,
God,
I can't do this
without you.
I'm prone to unbelief.
I'm prone to inconsistency.
I am missionally
undisciplined.
I do it
when I feel like it
and not when I don't.
I do it
when everyone else
is doing it
and not when no one
else is doing it.
I do it
when there's a strategy
but not when there's
a strategy.
I do it
when everyone else
is praying
but not alone
in my prayer closet.
This is not,
this is not,
that doesn't work.
That's not going to work
for a church plant.
We have to be
missionally disciplined.
If I want to win
the prize,
I have to discipline
my body.
This body
right here
needs to be disciplined
missionally.
Are you?
Are you doing your part?
And real practically
ask yourself
two questions.
What will I stop doing
and what will I start doing?
What will I stop doing
and what will I start doing?
It might mean
we have to
stop doing some things
and start doing other things.
Answer those questions.
And then we get on,
we get on mission to people
and become missionally disciplined.
I,
I brag about
Christ's church
to other people
and say
it's a great group of people.
I,
I was preaching
to Velikos the other day
and saying how
I see elements
of the five-fold ministry
in this church.
I think it's a great team
of people
but a great team
of people
just like a great athlete
is wasted
if there's no discipline.
So,
I commend you
for the greatness
of this team
that God has put together
but if we aren't disciplined
and consistent
for the long haul,
I'm sorry.
It's not going to happen.
But if we are,
if we throw ourselves
on Christ
and say,
God,
we need you.
We need you, Jesus.
We,
we can't make a church
appear out of nowhere
and we've pulled out
the props
that would draw people otherwise.
You think they're going
to come into a warehouse
like this
because it's so cool?
You know?
You think that when they see
our carpet squares
at the new building,
they're going to be like,
man,
this place is awesome.
Chris is like,
yeah.
You know?
Maybe not.
But what will they see
as awesome?
Well,
these guys
love one another.
These guys are passionate
about what they believe.
They're serious
about the gospel
and I heard the gospel here
and it cut me to the heart.
It cut me to the heart.
I heard it from these people.
They weren't limited
to a building
and a service.
They were only limited
to
the Holy Spirit in them,
which is not,
not a limitation.
Right?
Amen?
Amen.
And it made it