WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.639 us. We're glad that you're here, and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:11.040 seats, but because we're following Jesus together as one community. And as we follow Jesus together, 00:00:11.040 --> 00:00:16.679 we become convinced that there's no one so good, they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad 00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:21.879 that they can't have it, which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us 00:00:21.879 --> 00:00:28.820 in his word. As you know, we're taking a break from our series in the book of Judges for several 00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:34.159 weeks for our Grit and Grace Generosity Initiative. And when you hear those words, generosity 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:39.600 initiative, of course you think, well, this is going to be about money. We are, as a church, as I've said 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:45.920 many times, we are about a mission, not about money. We just happen to need money to fuel that mission. 00:00:46.179 --> 00:00:51.179 And so what we've been talking about is our mission together as a church. You'll see that mission 00:00:51.179 --> 00:00:56.240 summarized in the back of your worship guide. And so we've been going through and talking about the 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:01.320 different elements of our mission. We began by talking from Matthew chapter 5, that the church 00:01:01.320 --> 00:01:07.099 is a city set upon a hill. It's the light of the world. And then we looked in 1 Corinthians chapter 00:01:07.099 --> 00:01:12.840 3, and we talked about the fact that we're a gospel hub. We're constantly receiving and sending. 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:19.439 We looked at 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We talked about the fact that we are a thick community. 00:01:19.960 --> 00:01:25.820 When one rejoices, all rejoice. When one suffers, all suffer. And we're continuing doing that very 00:01:25.819 --> 00:01:34.039 thing this morning. We're going to be talking about robust discipleship. That word, discipleship, 00:01:34.099 --> 00:01:40.319 gets at this question of what is the mission of the church? What is our task? And more narrow within 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:45.699 that, what is our task when it comes to discipleship? And discipleship simply comes from the word disciple, 00:01:45.839 --> 00:01:51.899 which means a student. So what we're asking, what we're looking at is what does it mean? How do we 00:01:51.900 --> 00:02:00.620 develop good students of Jesus Christ? How is the church supposed to help us as we learn to follow 00:02:00.620 --> 00:02:06.400 after Jesus and become more and more like him? As we do that, we're going to be looking at two 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:11.879 different passages. You'll see this on page 7 of your worship guide, Matthew chapter 28 and Acts 00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:16.719 chapter 20. And so I often say, hey, you can turn on your phone, you can turn in your Bible, you can turn 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:21.379 on your worship guide, and all of those will work this morning. Your worship guide will work especially 00:02:21.379 --> 00:02:27.919 well, since we'll be jumping between two passages. So I invite you now to look with me at Matthew 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:35.379 chapter 28. And we remember as we come to this, that this is God's word. God tells us that his word 00:02:35.379 --> 00:02:41.539 is more precious than gold, even the finest gold, and it's sweeter than honey, even honey that comes 00:02:41.539 --> 00:02:46.560 straight from the honeycomb, which is why we read now Matthew chapter 28, starting at verse 18. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:53.680 And Jesus came to them and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:03:00.099 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of 00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:06.419 the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, 00:03:06.419 --> 00:03:14.259 I am with you always to the end of the age. And then Acts chapter 20, starting at verse 24. 00:03:14.259 --> 00:03:21.679 But I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself. If only I may finish my course 00:03:21.679 --> 00:03:27.899 in the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 00:03:28.780 --> 00:03:34.859 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom 00:03:34.860 --> 00:03:42.620 will see my face again. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 00:03:43.200 --> 00:03:50.680 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. I invite you to pray with me 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:58.000 as we come to this portion of God's word. Our Father in heaven, we come and thank you again 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:05.340 that you haven't left us alone to figure things out by ourselves, but instead you've given us your 00:04:05.340 --> 00:04:10.300 word and you haven't given us a little bit of it. You've given us a lot of it. You've given us 00:04:10.300 --> 00:04:16.800 your whole counsel, everything we need to know to walk after you in this life. We ask that you would 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:23.560 remind us of that this morning, of your grace in sustaining and directing us, and that you would 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:29.500 convict us and move us to follow you more and more. And we ask these things in the mighty name 00:04:29.500 --> 00:04:31.680 of Jesus Christ. Amen. 00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:44.420 If you are a student of military history, which I know a few of you are, the date July 2nd, 1863, 00:04:44.420 --> 00:04:50.779 will stand out to you as an especially important date for the history of military and also the history 00:04:50.779 --> 00:04:58.199 of our nation. You may recognize that as the middle day of three days of the Battle of Gettysburg during 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:04.799 our civil war here in the United States. And that was a decisive battle that ultimately led to the 00:05:04.799 --> 00:05:11.519 victory of the Union and the defeat of the Confederacy. Not only was it a decisive battle, but there was an 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:17.839 important moment in that battle that proved to be decisive. And it was when, if you know, Joshua 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:25.419 Chamberlain mounted at a fence of a hill, the hill of Little Round Top, and his job was to guard the left 00:05:25.419 --> 00:05:36.479 flank of the Union. He did this with the 20th Maine Infantry, and his brigade commander gave him one job. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:44.299 He said, your job and your only job is to hold the left flank. In fact, he said this, you must hold 00:05:44.300 --> 00:05:55.240 the ground at all hazards. In other words, no matter what happens, no matter what casualties you suffer, 00:05:55.680 --> 00:06:05.220 the left flank of the Union cannot fall. And so Chamberlain sustains six attacks from the Confederates. 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:12.340 He realizes after the sixth attack, they do not have the bullets left to sustain another one. 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:20.359 And so he decides they are going to do what they have to do, right? At all cost, at all hazard is what 00:06:20.359 --> 00:06:25.959 he's been told. And so he tells his soldiers to fix their bayonets. And at the seventh attack, 00:06:26.060 --> 00:06:31.799 they are going to go on the offensive and charge towards the Confederates. Of course, this has been 00:06:31.799 --> 00:06:39.279 immortalized in movie history. You know what happens? He leads his men himself, and he routes the 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:48.379 Confederates and sends them scrambling. It is his faithfulness there in that moment that wins that 00:06:48.379 --> 00:06:54.659 battle, that battle that sends the Confederates packing back to the South and ultimately leads 00:06:54.659 --> 00:07:03.219 to the victory of the Union. And then in 1893, 30 years later, Chamberlain receives the Medal of Honor. 00:07:03.220 --> 00:07:11.060 I tell you this story because it highlights an extremely important element of military doctrine, 00:07:11.060 --> 00:07:19.040 which is the commander's intent. The commander's intent is when the man who is in charge lays out 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:26.480 not the strategy, not the tactics. No, he says this is what the ultimate result must be. This is the 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:34.439 end state. You figure out as things change on the ground, as situations develop, you may have to 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:39.800 adapt your strategy and your tactics. You may have to change your approach. No matter what you do, 00:07:40.080 --> 00:07:48.560 the end state remains the same. Chamberlain knew no matter what, he must hold the ground at all hazards. 00:07:49.540 --> 00:07:55.319 And so he did it, right? He adapted. He tried first with bullets for six attacks. He ran out of those. 00:07:55.319 --> 00:08:00.920 He had to adapt. He changed to bayonet. The brilliance of the commander's intent is it does 00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:07.060 not describe the road. It only describes the destination. And so it's up to those on the ground, 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:13.319 right, to figure out what are we going to do in the moment to achieve the end state. 00:08:14.379 --> 00:08:20.100 One man says this, describing the commander's intent. The commander's intent is another way of 00:08:20.100 --> 00:08:27.820 describing the clear purpose and desired end state of a mission. This statement is usually brief and 00:08:27.820 --> 00:08:40.420 exceedingly clear. Some have compared Jesus' words in Matthew 28 that we just read as his commander's 00:08:40.420 --> 00:08:49.540 intent for the church. Notice that Jesus here does not lay out any sort of strategy or tactics. He does not 00:08:49.539 --> 00:08:54.480 tell the disciples how exactly they are going to accomplish this mission. No, instead he just 00:08:54.480 --> 00:09:02.019 describes the end state. What is the end state? These folks are going to be baptized and they are going 00:09:02.019 --> 00:09:09.399 to observe everything that I have commanded you. In fact, it fits the description that I just gave you 00:09:09.399 --> 00:09:19.779 of an end state. It is brief and exceedingly clear. In other words, Jesus has not left us to wonder 00:09:19.779 --> 00:09:28.360 about the commander's intent. Jesus has not left us to question what it is we're supposed to be doing 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:36.419 as a church. No, he has outlined the end state as clearly as he could. What is the church to do 00:09:36.419 --> 00:09:46.819 at all costs? Well, we're told here. First, the church, this is Matthew chapter 28 verse 19, the church 00:09:46.819 --> 00:09:52.500 is to go. And what is the church supposed to do when it goes? Well, it breaks into two broad categories. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:59.379 The church is meant to do evangelism and discipleship. The church is meant to reach those who do not know 00:09:59.379 --> 00:10:05.240 Christ, to bring them to a saving faith, and then it is meant to develop those people, to teach them and 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:11.279 train them and disciple them, that they would know, verse 20, all that I have commanded them. 00:10:13.259 --> 00:10:18.000 And so I asked you earlier, what is our mission? What is it we're supposed to do when it comes to 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:23.060 discipleship as a church, when it comes to raising up followers of Jesus Christ? Well, it's spelled out 00:10:23.060 --> 00:10:30.399 for us here. We are not left to wonder. Verse 19 and 20, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:36.319 in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I 00:10:36.319 --> 00:10:45.480 have commanded you. Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say teaching them all the things that you 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:53.179 happen to be interested in right now. It doesn't say teaching them only the things that are nice and 00:10:53.179 --> 00:11:00.339 happy and encouraging. It doesn't say teaching them only the things that are especially controversial 00:11:00.339 --> 00:11:09.179 and offensive. It doesn't say teach them here and there as you feel like it. No, the commander's 00:11:09.179 --> 00:11:16.979 intent is explicit and broad. Everything I have commanded you. Now, we could try to make that narrow 00:11:16.979 --> 00:11:22.159 if we want. We could say, okay, we're going to be red-letter Christians. This Jesus clearly just means the 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:28.819 words that have come out of his mouth. And yet we read Acts chapter 20. The apostle Paul helps clarify 00:11:28.819 --> 00:11:34.000 that for us. Of course, Jesus taught many things. Among the things he taught was a great respect for 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:43.839 the Old Testament. And we hear Paul's words here in Acts chapter 20. He says this. What did he teach? 00:11:43.839 --> 00:11:50.860 Verse 27, I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 00:11:50.860 --> 00:12:00.879 What is the church meant to teach? All 66 books of the Bible. How does the church instruct its people? 00:12:01.560 --> 00:12:11.360 In everything God has given us in his word. Which topics do we cover? All of them. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:24.340 Which passages do we teach? Every single one. Which parts of the Bible do we avoid? None. 00:12:27.340 --> 00:12:36.180 In April of 2015, the New York Times ran an obituary for a man named John E. Walsh. And of course, 00:12:36.259 --> 00:12:40.220 to get your obituary in the New York Times, you have to have done something quite important, 00:12:40.220 --> 00:12:45.440 right? The rest of the world needs to know about your passing. Most of us, probably none of us, 00:12:45.540 --> 00:12:50.720 will have that privilege of being featured in a major newspaper when we die. And so what was it that 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:57.720 John E. Walsh had accomplished? What was his claim to fame? Well, Walsh was famous because he had produced 00:12:57.720 --> 00:13:06.480 his own abridged Reader's Digest version of the Bible. He went through and decided what was important 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:15.360 and what was unimportant. He ended up cutting the Bible by a full 40%. His obituary said this, 00:13:15.420 --> 00:13:23.360 he cut the Old Testament by 50% and the New Testament by 25%. None of Jesus' words were changed, 00:13:23.800 --> 00:13:31.480 but about 10% were deleted. Mr. Walsh says he was initially appalled by the notion of tinkering with 00:13:31.480 --> 00:13:36.620 scripture where the book of Revelation warned against changing the words of the book of this 00:13:36.620 --> 00:13:41.740 prophecy. But Mr. Metzger, that's someone who was helping him, concluded that the warning really 00:13:41.740 --> 00:13:51.580 amounted to an ancient copyright notice. And so he decided 40% of the Bible was unnecessary. 10% of 00:13:51.580 --> 00:13:59.000 Jesus' words could be done away with. Of course, there's a bigger issue than simply cutting words 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:05.120 and abridging, right? It is the issue of, well, what about those, that 10% of what Jesus had to say? 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:15.879 It doesn't fit into Matthew 28, verse 20, all that I commanded you. Jesus doesn't say, teach them 90%. 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:26.120 If you cover 80% of the textbook, you can get credit for the course. No, Jesus says, teach them all that I 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:40.179 commanded you. Why? Why is the reader's digest version of scripture not enough? Why are 90%? 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:47.159 Why is 90% of Jesus' words not going to get us where we need to go? Why does he tell us everything 00:14:47.159 --> 00:14:53.299 I've commanded you? Well, Paul again helps us understand this. Acts chapter 20, verse 26. He says, 00:14:53.299 --> 00:15:01.919 I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all. Why is he innocent of everyone's 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:11.500 blood? Verse 27, because I taught you the whole counsel. Paul's getting at a basic principle of life 00:15:11.500 --> 00:15:19.199 here, that there are some things that certain people are obligated to share. And if we do not share those 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:26.560 things, we can be legitimately accused of negligence. So imagine for a second that I'm in the middle of 00:15:26.560 --> 00:15:31.940 preaching and a deacon comes up to me and whispers in my ear that, you know, the back of our church 00:15:31.940 --> 00:15:37.660 building is on fire right now. And I say, thank you for sharing that with me. That is an interesting 00:15:37.660 --> 00:15:49.180 piece of information. And then I keep preaching. What might you say? Matthew had blood on his hands. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:55.420 Right? There was something he was supposed to share. There was information he was obligated to 00:15:55.420 --> 00:16:02.820 distribute and he didn't. What do we say when someone in government does something negligent and 00:16:02.820 --> 00:16:14.740 people are hurt? We say they have blood on their hands. Paul is saying here, I must share with you. 00:16:14.740 --> 00:16:21.340 Not some of what God's word says. No, I must share all of it. That's how critical and important it is. 00:16:22.419 --> 00:16:27.440 Part of the reason I'm passionate about this, not just because it's in the Bible, but also because 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:33.019 growing up as I lived in the church, there were plenty of things that we did not talk about. 00:16:34.259 --> 00:16:42.340 I heard about tithing and giving to the church only at home. I heard about the Christian sexual ethic 00:16:42.340 --> 00:16:51.440 almost exclusively at home. And sometimes I wonder where I would be in this life if I had only learned 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:59.800 about God's word in church. Because I don't think I received the whole counsel of God. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:09.299 In other words, we need God's advice and counsel and commands. We need his wisdom for every element of 00:17:09.299 --> 00:17:13.899 our lives. We need it for our financial lives. We need it for our relational lives. We need it as we 00:17:13.899 --> 00:17:19.799 think about how to plan and execute the tasks that God has given us. We need it when we think about 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:24.940 being children and being parents. We need it as we think about families and careers and vocations. 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:28.460 We need it as we address the challenges of our mental health. 00:17:28.460 --> 00:17:39.100 These things, Paul is saying, are a matter of life and death. And it is the job of God's leaders of the 00:17:39.100 --> 00:17:46.500 church to lay out not some of what God has taught us, to lay out all of what God has given us in his word. 00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:56.759 We are not simply or just or merely speaking about matters of salvation. We are not just talking about 00:17:56.759 --> 00:18:02.779 heaven and hell. Paul doesn't say, I taught you about salvation, therefore there's no blood on my hands. 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:07.779 No, Paul says, I taught you everything. 00:18:09.859 --> 00:18:19.299 I laid out God's will for every element of your life. I taught what was comforting and I taught what 00:18:19.299 --> 00:18:25.440 was challenging. I taught what was easy and I taught what was hard. I taught you what you already knew 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:32.700 and I taught you what you didn't know. As you walk in life, you can never come back to me, 00:18:32.840 --> 00:18:41.640 Paul, and say, I made this mistake because you never told me. No, he said, I taught you everything. 00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:47.200 I laid out God's word from beginning to end. 00:18:47.200 --> 00:19:03.940 Why does Jesus present this as the commander's intent? Because the scriptures are the way to life. 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:13.620 Not just part of them, all of them. We don't need its guidance in one area, but not another area. 00:19:13.619 --> 00:19:21.519 We need it for everything. That's why I remind you guys over and over of what we're hearing in the 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:31.659 Psalms, that the Bible is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We need it in every single way. 00:19:33.379 --> 00:19:39.039 And so that explains some of our tactics here at Cheyenne Mountaineer. Remember I said the commander's 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:44.659 intent does not lay out the path. It just outlines the destination. And so it's left to each church to 00:19:44.659 --> 00:19:51.279 figure out how are we going to accomplish what our commander has given us. There's a variety of 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:55.659 things we do. There's a reason that we alternate in the books we preach between the Old Testament 00:19:55.659 --> 00:20:02.619 and the New Testament. Remember, we were in the gospel of Mark before. Now we're in Judges. Why? 00:20:03.139 --> 00:20:06.899 We weren't going to do another New Testament book until we'd return to the Old Testament. 00:20:06.900 --> 00:20:15.480 Because we want to teach the whole counsel of God. Why is it that when we pick a book, 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:22.519 we don't skip chapters? We preach it from beginning to end, no matter how boring or exciting it might be. 00:20:23.860 --> 00:20:26.840 Because it would be tempting for us in our human hearts to say, 00:20:27.280 --> 00:20:31.060 well, these are the portions that really matter and these are the ones we can take away. 00:20:31.060 --> 00:20:34.600 Hey, there's actually that chapter that's weird and disturbing, 00:20:34.599 --> 00:20:40.359 and it would be much simpler for us to skip it. No, we discipline ourselves. We say, 00:20:40.699 --> 00:20:45.579 whether we want to teach this or not, we are going to do every portion of the book. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:51.959 So that we can have what is easy and what is hard, what is challenging and what is comforting. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:57.539 We can have things our culture might agree with us on and things our culture strongly disagrees with. 00:20:57.539 --> 00:21:05.579 We hold ourselves accountable to learn everything God has for us in his word. 00:21:07.099 --> 00:21:10.200 Why do we outline our adult Sunday school in the way that we do? 00:21:10.259 --> 00:21:12.440 Why do we outline our children's Sunday school in the way that we do? 00:21:12.500 --> 00:21:17.579 Our children's Sunday school is set up to go from the beginning of the Bible to the end. 00:21:17.579 --> 00:21:24.439 If you are in our program from beginning to end, you will receive the whole counsel of God. 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:28.339 What do we do with our adult Sunday school? 00:21:28.399 --> 00:21:34.460 We're trying to set it up so that we're consistent in covering different types of issues and topics, 00:21:34.579 --> 00:21:39.359 different portions of scriptures so that we have the whole counsel of God. 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:48.699 Why is our worship guide set up in the way that it is so that we would know not just what we do, but why we do it? 00:21:50.159 --> 00:21:56.059 And so that's why we say as a church, we are about robust discipleship. 00:21:57.199 --> 00:21:59.719 We don't want to teach a few things. 00:22:00.219 --> 00:22:02.779 We want to teach all things. 00:22:02.779 --> 00:22:06.960 We want to be able to say what Paul said here, 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:13.799 Innocent of the blood of all, for I declare to you the whole counsel of God. 00:22:15.619 --> 00:22:22.460 Our vision as a church is that our members would be equipped for all of life. 00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:29.500 Our vision is that as our members go to other parts of the country and the world, 00:22:30.059 --> 00:22:34.380 they will have received teaching from not just the Old Testament, but the New Testament. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:39.700 They will not just be taught in one area of life, but in another. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:43.600 We will not ignore what's going on in the world around us, 00:22:43.600 --> 00:22:47.779 but we will talk about the things that are controversial and hard. 00:22:47.779 --> 00:22:55.359 We want to be faithful in executing the commander's intent. 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:05.539 We want to use whatever strategy we have to at the moment to reach the end state that Jesus has outlined for us. 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:10.359 We want at the end of the age to hear Jesus' words, 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:14.059 Well done, good and faithful servant. 00:23:14.059 --> 00:23:21.179 And so that's why our vision includes not just joyful worship, not just gospel hub, 00:23:21.559 --> 00:23:25.480 not just thick community, but robust discipleship. 00:23:26.539 --> 00:23:32.960 That has been and is and will be a priority of our church. 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:38.299 You'll notice in the back of your worship guide, 00:23:38.460 --> 00:23:42.019 we have our image that goes along with robust discipleship, 00:23:42.299 --> 00:23:44.980 and it's the image of the grapes. 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:47.279 On page 13, it says this, 00:23:47.380 --> 00:23:52.559 Under the grape image, discipleship begins by being connected together to the vine. 00:23:53.700 --> 00:23:57.600 This is an allusion to Jesus' words in John chapter 15, 00:23:57.700 --> 00:23:58.059 where he says, 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:00.480 Abide in me, and I will abide in you. 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:03.140 What does Jesus go on to say? 00:24:03.220 --> 00:24:04.059 He goes on to say, 00:24:04.460 --> 00:24:08.900 Apart from me, you can do nothing. 00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:15.779 And so our goal as a church is not that we would simply be an educational center. 00:24:16.519 --> 00:24:21.819 It's not that we would be great in putting out information that you are downloading. 00:24:21.819 --> 00:24:27.480 No, our goal is that we would be connected to Jesus by his word. 00:24:29.059 --> 00:24:33.419 And that as we're connected, we would grow more and more. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:41.039 As we're connected, we would see all of God's purposes for all of our life. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:49.659 And as we grow, of course, growing in the vine, we're talking about growing to maturity in Christ. 00:24:50.500 --> 00:24:53.259 We are also growing as a church numerically. 00:24:54.519 --> 00:24:58.399 As I've said, I think every Sunday now, there are many things that we disagree about in this church. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:04.059 One thing we don't disagree about is that this community is getting larger and larger. 00:25:04.059 --> 00:25:13.859 As this community grows, it is more and more challenging for us to achieve robust discipleship with the resources that we have. 00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:22.159 And so this is another reason that we are moving forward in mission together with the goal of bringing on a second full-time pastor. 00:25:22.539 --> 00:25:29.519 We want someone who's going to come and help us continue to achieve the commander's intent. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:35.059 I've told you all before, there's going to be basically two elements to this individual's job. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:38.639 We want someone who's going to help us lead us in outreach and evangelism. 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:43.539 We also want someone who's going to lead us in discipleship, that we're going to go deeper together as a community. 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:46.200 Much of that's going to happen in our small groups. 00:25:46.279 --> 00:25:50.379 That's why we've talked about having five to seven new small groups by 2026. 00:25:51.079 --> 00:25:55.920 We also want to have a more detailed and intentional discipleship plan. 00:25:55.920 --> 00:26:04.120 We want to have a map that says, okay, when someone comes to Cheyenne Mountain, what are all the ways that we're developing and discipling them over two to four years? 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:07.220 Are they receiving the whole counsel of God? 00:26:08.039 --> 00:26:12.100 What are the strategies and tactics that we need to adopt to get there? 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:21.060 And so that's why, again, we're inviting you all and challenging you to join us on this journey as we aim to raise $800,000. 00:26:21.059 --> 00:26:32.220 The goal of that $800,000 is to pay down our mortgage payment and free up, pay down our mortgage balance and free up the $8,000, nearly $8,000 a month we pay towards our mortgage right now. 00:26:32.579 --> 00:26:36.960 We want to take that money, we want to release it and free it towards ministry. 00:26:37.980 --> 00:26:44.500 We want it to be part of us being a faithful embassy here in Southwest Colorado Springs. 00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:49.039 And doing this takes a lot of work. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:54.159 Colossians chapter 1 is another passage that talks about robust discipleship. 00:26:54.500 --> 00:26:59.859 And Paul says this as he talks about his eagerness to present this church as mature in Christ. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:01.139 He says, verse 29, 00:27:01.879 --> 00:27:06.700 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. 00:27:07.500 --> 00:27:10.299 In other words, Paul is saying discipleship takes a lot of work. 00:27:11.599 --> 00:27:16.240 It is not simple or easy to teach the whole counsel of God. 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:22.900 Acts chapter 20, Paul, in this speech to the Ephesian elders, as he leaves the church in Ephesus, says, 00:27:23.019 --> 00:27:25.500 You all know how basically I worked night and day. 00:27:26.620 --> 00:27:32.460 I was there with you all the time, laboring to make sure God's word was known. 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:34.420 And that's what we want. 00:27:34.940 --> 00:27:43.240 We want to bring on a second pastor who will continue to help us labor to make sure the entire word of God is known. 00:27:43.240 --> 00:27:47.019 I mentioned this during the announcements. 00:27:47.420 --> 00:27:54.740 For those of you who are not here, we have 23 households who have made an early commitment to our Grid and Grace campaign. 00:27:55.539 --> 00:28:00.980 Those 23 households have pledged $314,600. 00:28:02.259 --> 00:28:04.539 That is about 40% of our goal. 00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:09.099 Of those 23 households, two of those households are our alumni. 00:28:09.099 --> 00:28:16.000 They are not currently connected to our church, which means only 21 households in our church have made a commitment. 00:28:16.419 --> 00:28:18.059 We have over 100 households. 00:28:19.579 --> 00:28:28.139 And so we're asking the remainder, about 80 more households, to come and help us close that gap, to close the gap of the remaining 60%. 00:28:28.139 --> 00:28:30.500 And that's what we're going to do next Sunday. 00:28:30.500 --> 00:28:35.559 All our elders and our deacons are committed to this project. 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:42.880 We're asking that you all would join us so that we can continue our mission. 00:28:44.140 --> 00:28:45.559 Remember, we're not about money. 00:28:45.640 --> 00:28:46.299 We're about a mission. 00:28:46.779 --> 00:28:49.259 We need money to fuel that mission. 00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:54.500 And our mission is to achieve the commander's intent. 00:28:54.500 --> 00:29:01.700 Writing about Chamberlain, one individual says this, 00:29:02.660 --> 00:29:06.660 While Chamberlain gets the lion's share of credit for holding Little Round Top, 00:29:07.099 --> 00:29:11.519 he was merely executing his brigade commander's intent. 00:29:12.539 --> 00:29:17.920 If Chamberlain knew literally nothing else about what he was supposed to do or how he was to do it, 00:29:18.220 --> 00:29:21.940 he knew that he had to hold the position. 00:29:21.940 --> 00:29:30.320 Brothers and sisters, we are merely here to execute the commander's intent. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:35.240 We are here to hold the position. 00:29:36.539 --> 00:29:40.660 And so let's be faithful together in doing just that. 00:29:41.320 --> 00:29:42.100 Let's pray. 00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:48.360 Our Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you for the gift of your word. 00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:55.819 And we ask that we would continue to be faithful in declaring everything that you have for us in learning and growing, 00:29:56.799 --> 00:29:59.579 and that we would do it as we are connected to our Lord Jesus, 00:29:59.979 --> 00:30:03.339 because we know apart from him we can do nothing. 00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:07.699 And so we ask that his power would be at work in this congregation and in our hearts, 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:11.599 that you would grow us fully into maturity in Christ, 00:30:11.679 --> 00:30:14.779 that we would love you and serve you and obey you more and more. 00:30:14.779 --> 00:30:17.799 We ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. 00:30:18.200 --> 00:30:18.420 Amen. 00:30:19.799 --> 00:30:21.920 I invite you to stand for our closing hymn.