Good morning, church.
I'm really excited to bring the word this morning.
! I'm excited to talk through God's word this morning with you guys.
! I'd like to go ahead and pray for us before we start, though.
So let's pray.
Father, thank you so much for all the people you've given us this weekend
to pour over the scriptures
and consider what it means to press pause,
to prioritize prayer,
to prioritize scripture in our lives.
Lord, as we continue on this morning
and we look how we can press play,
God, I pray that you would hide me behind you,
that you would speak mightily through the word this morning,
and God, I pray that you would just,
I pray that you would continue to move in these students' lives.
We talked about highlights,
but God, I pray that you help us to remember how to carry on,
how to carry on from here with what we've learned,
and God, just help us to remember the things that we've learned this weekend.
Lord, thank you for all you've done.
Thank you for what you're going to do this morning.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Well, if you are planning on following us this morning in the scripture,
Matthew 28 is where we're going to start.
So Matthew 28, if you'll turn there really quick.
I already did this, but I just want to say it again.
Thank you so much to everybody who helped out.
If you prayed, if you brought snacks, if you did all those things.
Man, I'm telling you,
my team was awesome.
The people who were able to be boots on the ground right there,
moving things back and forth.
You guys are lifesavers,
and so I'm just so grateful for all that you all have done.
I also want to let you guys know that this week,
yes, there was a lot of great gospel conversation.
I want you to know that it was definitely a fruitful weekend.
I'm not going to say the name of the student,
but someone has professed and confessed faith in Christ this weekend.
Someone's trusting Jesus this weekend.
So that gives a round of applause right there.
Absolutely.
Praise the Lord for that.
And I had another student talk to me about baptism as well.
So the Lord is definitely moving in this place,
and we do worship Him.
We do worship Him.
One thing we did this weekend,
you may have seen some of the pictures up there on that recap video.
We did a gospel service project, basically.
So what we did was we went out to a couple neighborhoods,
went to the Centennial, went to Country Club,
and we did a canned food drive.
And so some of our students went around,
knocked on doors,
but we had gospel tracts.
If you know what a gospel tract is,
and I have to thank Wade Pierce for helping me out with that,
get some gospel tracts.
Gospel tracts are basically just little ways
that if you don't know how to share the gospel with your words,
you can say,
I wanted to give this gift to you.
And it's a gift of the gospel.
And on that little piece of paper
or whatever form or media it may be,
it is just a gospel laid out for somebody.
So our students went to homes,
knocked on doors,
asked for cans of canned goods.
We're going to take to the mission
or to the outrage here in town.
And then they also said,
well, thank you for that
or thank you for your consideration.
Wanted to leave you with this.
So they got gospel tracts.
So our students got to participate
in sharing the gospel this weekend.
And that's another mighty way that God moved,
that our students got to partake in evangelism.
So that's another major thing in the Christian life
is baptism and evangelism.
Sorry.
The other thing I want to report
is we only had one bloody nose.
And if you guys know me,
if you heard me talk about this,
my students know,
what's my one rule in youth ministry?
No blood.
So we only got it one time.
We did really good.
It's okay.
I won't say who did it.
I won't say how it happened.
But I will say that it did happen
at the last junior high involvement.
So that gives you any indication
of what group this may have happened in.
And it was at Dodgeball.
It was in Dodgeball.
So that was really fun.
I also wanted to let you guys know
that this is really interesting
how God works on things.
I hadn't really planned
and thought through how I wanted to do it,
but the sermon series we've been going through
with the youth on Wednesday nights
has been called Follow.
So we learned what it means
to be disciples of Christ.
And so the first session was going through
that Christ initiates relationships with us.
He initiates it.
We don't go to Him.
He comes to us,
which makes a whole world of a difference
because if I tried to go to Him,
I'm always failing on that.
I'm always failing on going to Christ.
But Christ came and found me
in my spiritual death.
And then we talked about,
the second thing we talked about,
sorry,
the second thing we talked about
was how Jesus does not just make change possible.
It is going to happen.
If you are a disciple of Christ,
your life is changed.
And I give this illustration
to students all the time.
I won't use it
because I don't have a whole lot of time.
But basically the idea is that
if I came before you
and said that I got hit by a bus yesterday
and I stand before you like this,
did I get hit by a bus?
I'm lying to you.
I've not been changed.
And so when we encounter the gospel,
we're changed radically.
And it may not be immediately
that it happens all the time for us.
It may be over time
as we grow in Christ.
Some people's conversions,
when they come to Christ,
like I was a drug addict
and I was an alcoholic
and then Jesus saved me out of this
and that's amazing.
And then there's the really mundane one
where it's like,
well, I was eight years old
and I got saved in church.
No, both those salvations
are incredibly amazing
because the God of the universe
looked down on you and said,
I want that one.
The God of the universe said,
I sent my son for that one,
that sinner.
Everybody's equal in that playing field.
So we talked about that
in Christ,
change is not only possible,
it will happen.
The third thing we talked about
was that a disciple of Christ
is what?
Starts with an O.
Obedient.
Yes.
Disciple of Christ is obedient.
And I used a little phrase,
if you guys remember,
it says discipline produces.
That's true,
but discipline produces delight.
Delight.
Yeah, there we go.
I heard it.
Discipline produces delight.
And so what we talked about
was that in sports
or anything you do,
if you want to really enjoy your game,
the sport you play
or the instrument you play
or whatever,
it's not enjoyable
to play football
and not know how to tackle.
I can say that from experience
because my seventh grade year,
I never played football before.
I was new to the state
and I found out
that football was a religion,
especially in Berkford, Texas.
And I love my little town,
but man,
if you want to be cool,
you play football.
I want to be cool,
so I play football.
And I remember I tried to tackle
and someone told me,
they said,
like, you can't be a spider monkey.
That doesn't work.
Because I jumped on people's backs
and they're like,
and I was like,
well, I want to be like my dad.
I'm going to be a running back.
So I said,
let's give me the ball.
So I got the ball,
but I had the nose
the wrong way
and it hurt really bad
when I got hit by the linebacker.
So what I'm trying to get to,
though,
is that I had no understanding
of the game of football
and how to play it.
And in a similar sense,
if we have no understanding of Christ,
we have no clue how to walk in Christ,
we won't be able to delight in Christ.
So how do we learn
how to grow in Christ?
We go where?
To the Bible,
to the scriptures.
And as we discipline ourselves
in being diligent
in reading and in prayer,
we become,
we get to a place
where we are able to delight
in the Lord all the day long
and delight in the words
and delight in the law.
Just like when I started learning
how to play piano,
it was a grueling task
where I was still under the reign
of a teacher who used the ruler
and smacked my hand
when I did it wrong.
But then I learned
through discipline
and learning it
that I enjoy playing piano
and I can play freely
and I can enjoy it.
So discipline in piano
produced delight
in playing piano.
In a similar sense,
discipline in the Lord
produces delight in the Lord.
So a disciple,
discipline, disciple,
is obedient
and that obedience
produces delight
in the believer.
And the last session
we talked about
was almost over
the exact same thing
that we talked about
for this last session
for us this morning.
following Christ
means a disciple maker
or disciple makes disciples.
We were all disciple makers.
No one in here
is on JV
or varsity Christian.
So who,
who played a varsity sport?
I played a varsity sport.
Oh yeah,
I played soccer
at Burke Burnett.
We did really good.
No we didn't.
You guys can laugh at that.
Burke Burnett's not known
for their soccer.
We were known for basketball
back in the day
when I was there.
But the interesting thing
that we really talked about
was that Christ commands us
to be disciple makers.
If we're following him
we are disciple makers.
And so this weekend
that ties in,
that,
those messages
we've gone through
the past few weeks
with our students
on Wednesday nights
tied in really nicely
with pressing pause.
That was our theme.
If you've seen anybody
with a blue shirt on
you know it says
the pause.
And so
in true youth pastor form
what do you think
I mean by the pause?
What do you think
I mean by pause?
Okay,
yeah?
Pausing on a normal day life
to spend time with Jesus.
I love that.
That's great.
The definition they gave,
I love this definition.
Seeking God in silence
and solitude
through prayer
and Bible study.
When we press play,
so we press pause,
we're saying
I'm going to take time
to go spend time
with the Lord.
Who here,
I asked this this morning
of our students,
who here is involved
in more than three things
in your life?
Yeah.
Who here does work?
It's maybe a husband
or a wife,
has kids,
sports,
UIL stuff.
Name it.
There's probably that
in the church somewhere.
We are so busy today.
We are such a busy people
and we don't know
how to rest in Christ
and slow down.
And at best,
we may say,
I'm going to give you Jesus.
I'm going to give you five minutes
to tell me all you need
to tell me
and we're good.
That's my Jesus for the week.
Five minutes.
But we're really good
at consuming ESPN,
you know,
multiple times a day,
multiple days a week,
and multiple weeks
of the year.
We're really good at,
I'm not going to try
to pick on you guys
too much right here,
but TikTok or YouTube
or whatever else.
We're really good
at consuming that.
And we talked about this morning,
I think it's really important,
we talked about how,
if you saw that silly game
we were doing with the board,
what basically happened was,
I'm an artist,
okay,
artist by nature.
I drew beautiful pictures.
Yeah,
one of them said.
I drew beautiful pictures
of layouts of my home
and if you know
what my home looks like,
imagine that,
but someone who's never done
any kind of architectural stuff
tried to draw it.
It was atrocious.
But I drew my layout
in my home
and the students
had the task
of wearing upside down goggles,
so they saw
everything upside down,
and they had to imitate
my drawing
in 30 seconds.
Where I took like
a minute and a half,
they had to do it
in 30 seconds.
So the point I tried
to make with them
was that
listening to the world,
which is what we take
in most of the time,
listening to the world a lot,
listening to the world
is like listening
to somebody
with upside down goggles
trying to imitate
the perfect drawing
that God has laid out
for us in Scripture.
Upside down goggles
make it so that
when you're walking,
like here's my hand,
it's like this,
but this high up.
And I have to look like this
and around
and try to find the right way.
We don't want to wear
upside down goggles.
And we don't want to imitate
somebody who doesn't even know
what the real drawing looks like.
Because most of the time
when they drew it,
they said,
I'm going to take
a quick look at it,
goggles on,
I'm going full blast,
going right into it.
And so that was the danger
that we have in our lives
is that we don't press pause
to spend time with the Lord
and come and know who He is.
One more illustration
I'll kind of give
and then I'll get into
the text this morning.
I think this one's really powerful.
We,
I picked on Aubrey Pierce
this morning,
but I need a new volunteer,
one new volunteer
to get picked on.
So yeah,
let's use,
I'm going to use,
I'm going to use Caleb Wilson.
He's on the edge over here.
Okay.
So you guys,
Caleb is one of my favorite people.
He's my,
my best friends.
Okay.
He is a two foot two,
heavens to Betsy.
He's a two foot two.
That's right.
He's a two foot two
basketball all-star
who hates wrestling
and can't do it
anywhere near good.
He,
he's really,
really,
really good
at being very
disobedient
and like,
he's like,
he's not good with manners.
So,
you know,
I'm trying to work on him a lot.
Guys,
is that Caleb?
No.
First off,
he's not two foot two.
If he was two foot two,
my son's taller than you,
my man.
Come on.
But,
the point is,
I'm not describing Caleb,
but I'm,
I think Caleb's my best friend.
I don't know the true Caleb.
In a similar way,
if we have a Jesus
that we formulate
or we steal from the world
as our Jesus,
we're not loving truly
who Jesus is.
And so,
that's big for us here.
We don't want to follow
a false Jesus.
There's a lot of religions
in the world
that lead us to false Jesus.
Just to name a few,
not to pick on things,
but the ones I've studied
the most,
like Mormonism
and Islam
and Buddhism
and Hinduism,
they lead you
to the wrong Jesus
every time.
They have their own picture
of him.
Jehovah's Witness,
those who believe
that he is Michael the Archangel,
we need to be careful
of what we're taking in
and consuming.
And then,
we have this danger
of hearing it
from the people
we think are the most influential.
And oftentimes,
they have it the most wrong.
So,
we'll go ahead
and dive into the word here.
This just gives you
a picture of the idea
of why we need to pause.
If we don't pause,
we run the risk
of just running
into whatever the world
says is Jesus.
Let me read the text
for us this morning.
It's Matthew 28,
16 through 20.
Now,
the eleven disciples
went to Galilee
to the mountain
to which Jesus
had directed them.
And when they saw him,
they worshipped him.
But some doubted.
And 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 the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe
all that I have commanded you.
And behold,
I am with you always
to the end of the age.
So,
I think it's important
why we did that series.
I think God is really,
really amazing
at working things out.
We went through
our follow series
that Jesus initiates
relationships.
He changes us,
calls us to obedience
and he calls us
to make disciples.
And right here,
we see that
in the Great Commission
that we are called
to make disciples.
So,
the first thing
is that Jesus
is speaking from
an authority,
not just like,
oh,
I'm the guy
who's in charge.
He's speaking
as an authority
as I am God.
And you are my creation
but you're also
my followers.
And I love you
but I give you
this command.
And this is not
to try to step
on anybody's toes
but how often
are we making disciples
right now?
In your own personal life.
This is again,
not to step on any toes
because I've not always
been the best
at making disciples
but Jesus tells us
that we are
to make disciples.
Whatever stage
of life you're in.
I don't care
if you are
12 years old
and you've come
to Christ
or you're
112 years old
and you've been
in Christ
for X amount
of years.
You don't retire
as a Christian
here on earth.
You are always
making disciples.
Whether that's
your children
in your home,
whether that's
husbands you're
helping to walk
your wives
through scripture
or wives you're
helping your husbands
understand like,
hey, maybe you're
wrong on this.
My wife's done that
to me a couple times.
But Christ comes
and gives us
authority.
He says that
he has the authority
to do these things
but he says
I'm going to give
you the mission.
Isn't that significant
that Jesus says
I have all authority
on heaven and earth
but I task you
with this mission.
That must mean
that we
have a real mission
to do.
It's not just
a, hey,
here's something
you can do
to be a good Christian.
It's a,
if you are a believer
and you love me,
you will do
as I command.
You will make disciples.
His disciples
devoted themselves
to leading others
to follow Christ
as we go through,
as they go through
in their lives
and as I said,
there are,
I love that phrase,
there's no JV
or varsity Christians.
There are no JV,
what do I mean by that?
What do I mean
that there's no JV
or varsity Christians?
Students can't answer,
but maybe an adult,
what does it mean
there are no JV
or varsity Christians
in the church?
Sorry?
There's no second string people.
You're not a second string person
in the body of Christ,
which means we're
all on the team,
all on the field,
at all times.
Some people play
different roles.
I played soccer
all my life
and the goalie
does not do
what the striker does.
The guy who scores
the goals at the front,
the goalie does not
do the same thing.
And the striker
can't even use his hands.
The goalie can.
We all have
a different purpose
in the body,
but nobody is
a second string Christian,
which means
that you have
the same responsibility
as the professional Christians,
those guys who are
the big speakers
at camps,
those guys that are
the music people
that you see on TV.
You have the same responsibility
to make disciples
as they do.
And they have
the same responsibility
to make disciples
as you do.
Because some of them
don't always live up
to what they preach.
I want to go ahead
and go to Acts 1,
verse 8.
You can stay where you are.
I'll go there really quick.
But it says this
in Acts 1, verse 8.
It says,
But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you,
and you will be
my witnesses
in Jerusalem
and all Judea
and Samaria
and to the end
of the earth.
So it's clear
from Matthew
and from here in Acts
that Jesus
has something
very specific in mind
when the church
was founded.
Jesus wanted
his followers
to be in the business
of multiplication.
That's our job.
He wanted his disciples
to be people
who led others
to become disciples
of Christ.
Christ.
And that's what God
wants for you
to do today as well.
So students,
as we've learned
about God's word,
we've taken time
to press pause.
We did two things.
We prioritized prayer
because as Pastor Mikey,
our speaker,
who spoke so well
this weekend,
said to us,
Prayer aligns
our hearts
with God.
Prayer aligns
our hearts
with God.
Which means that
when we come in prayer
and we come to the Lord
in prayer,
we are taking time
to speak to God.
And then Scripture
also does the same thing,
aligns us with God
because we are hearing
from God.
We're coming to know
who God is.
So,
we make time
to seek God
by pressing pause.
And that's how
we lay the foundation
for our life.
We have to be able
to prepare ourselves
to obey the Lord.
So,
anybody ever taken time
to look at last words
of famous people?
Is that a weird thing?
Last words
of famous people?
There's a guy
who,
it was Pope Alexander,
one of the popes,
many different
Alexander popes.
He says,
wait a minute.
That was his last word.
Wait a minute.
Caesar Augustus
has reported to have said,
the play is over.
Applaud.
I think his name
is Max Baer.
He was a boxer.
He said,
here I go.
Here I go.
Winston Churchill said,
I'm so bored with it all.
What a thing to say.
Very callous.
George Harrison,
one of the Beatles,
he said,
love one another.
You know,
like their Beatles voice,
love one another.
I can't do the British
nasal voice very well.
Teddy Roosevelt said,
please put out the light.
And then one of the most
recent ones we had
was Steve Jobs.
You know what he said?
Wow,
wow,
wow.
Why was he amazed?
I have no clue.
But he said,
wow,
wow.
Whether he was seeing
a glimpse of eternity
before his eyes,
whether he was seeing
the significance
or insignificance
of his life,
either live for Christ
or not live for Christ,
I don't know if he was
a believer or not.
I've not looked into that.
But those words
capture our attention
because they have
this gravitas.
They have this thing
that just kind of
draws us in.
Why would you say
those words?
Why were those
the last words
you said to us?
So we have to ask
that question.
Why were the words
that Jesus said,
why were those
the last words
he said?
Well,
he knew that these
would be his last words,
obviously.
These people did not
really know
or particularly knew that.
But Christ knew
these would be
the last words he said
and he was in full control
of the words he said
to them.
He was not waiting to die.
He knew it was going
to happen
and he was intentional
as he always is intentional.
And so,
just a little aside,
we said something
this morning
and it's just been
hitting my heart
since I heard it.
The same God
that you believe
is slow to answer
your prayers
is also slow
to punish you
in your sin.
The same God
that is slow
to answer your prayers
is slow to punish you
in your sin.
Which leads me
to say that
he is a gracious,
merciful God
and that you
can trust him,
you can love him
because he is intentional
with what happens
to you in your life.
You may believe
on him.
So,
Jesus knew
the exact circumstances
that were happening
around him
and he knew
that they were
going to be recorded
as scripture.
We've seen Jesus
tell the followers here
to be disciples
and to make them
but
we have to ask
the question,
what is a disciple?
We kind of talked
about that with the youth
the other day.
What is a disciple?
A disciple
is one who learns.
The original youth
was just like
one who learns,
a learner.
So,
if you're a disciple
of a rabbi,
you are a learner
of your
rabbi.
If you're a disciple
of Dallas Cowboys,
you are a learner
of the Cowboys.
If you are a disciple
of X, Y, and Z,
you're a learner
of that.
That's kind of
the original use
of the word.
But it means
that learner
is very devoted
though.
Very devoted.
So,
as we go to,
we're in a lot
of scriptures
this morning
so you don't have
to turn around
everything,
but Luke 14,
27,
it says this.
Luke 14,
27.
Let me turn around.
It says,
whoever does not
bear his own cross
and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
So,
a disciple is not
just a learner.
Jesus took the word
disciple and gave it
a whole new meaning
and purpose.
A new power.
Anyone who does not
carry his cross
and follow me
cannot be my disciple.
That doesn't just
mean I learn.
That means I'm
going to be
interacting with
exactly how
what I'm learning
from did.
And also in Luke 14,
33,
he says,
in the same way,
any of you who does
not give up everything
he has cannot be
my disciple.
And then Luke 9,
23 also says,
if anyone would
come after me,
he must deny himself
and take up his cross
daily and follow me.
So,
the idea of being
a disciple is not
just,
as it used to mean,
just a learner.
It's actually that
we are to be
totally sold out
for following Christ.
It's putting our
devotion to Christ
first and everything
else second.
A better way to look
at it is not even that.
A better way to look
at it is like,
someone mentioned
the,
I think,
one of the small group
leaders actually
mentioned this to me
on a car ride.
We shouldn't look at
like Christ as
a slice of the pie
or the biggest slice
of the pie.
We should say that
Christ is the crust,
the foundation of the pie
and everything else
sits on it.
Because,
yeah,
the pie filling
is good and tasty,
but let's be real,
the crust,
crust is kind of
the most important part.
Because without it,
you just get soup.
You just get pudding soup.
And that's,
it's a whole thing.
You don't want that.
But the crust,
the foundation,
is the most important part.
Christ is the foundation,
not the first
or second thing in life,
the foundation
of our lives.
So that means
being a disciple of Christ
is living as God's children,
taking on His ways
and His purpose.
As believers of Christ,
we are called
to make God known.
We're called to lead others
into a saving relationship
with Christ,
which is amazing
that that happened
this weekend.
One of our small group leaders
was able to walk a student
into understanding the gospel.
And this person did this,
not just once,
this person wanted
to be diligent.
Three or four times
they went through things
and I got to go through things
and the answers
were always Christ,
His righteousness,
what He's done,
not me.
We were able to be,
we were able to live out
that calling.
But here's the real thing.
This is where we're going
to kind of land
our big,
big point this morning
is we have this mission,
this daunting task
to be disciple makers,
to be obedient to Christ,
to follow and to be,
to not be hypocrites
before the world.
But how?
When do we do that?
We have to prepare ourselves
before we go to battle.
Always.
I never realized
how much
the Christian life
is a battle
until I got into
full-time ministry.
And I say that
because I have seen
so many ways
in which
this pulls you this way
and this pulls you that way
and this issue
comes down this way
and you got this
and then,
you know,
the whole kind of
cliche that,
you know,
when you're working hard,
the devil's working harder
to pull you away.
There's just so many things
trying to work
on someone's life
when they want to really
be pursuing Christ
to pull them away.
And so,
I never realized
how important it is
to prepare
for battle,
spiritual battle.
and I learned that
and this weekend
helped me to really
put things more
into perspective.
We have marching orders
but how do we prepare
for that battle?
Do we just charge in
with nothing but gusto?
Okay,
so whoever,
who's ever just like
said,
you know what,
I don't know how it's
going to work out
but I'm going to go do it.
I'm just going to go
head first,
right into it.
How'd that go for you?
Apparently pretty bad
because no one wanted
to say anything about it
but I've tried just saying
like,
you know what,
just give it a shot.
I'm going to go in.
Head first,
no planning,
just went straight in.
Doesn't work out.
It never works out
because you don't think
about all the other parts
of the issue.
Instead of just charging
with all this gusto
to go in,
we need to plan
and prepare
plan and prepare
to take on
the spiritual battle
we have.
One of the ways
I like to look at this
as a military kid
I grew up in a military house
and ranks are really important.
You can't just go
do things
with your soldiers
and say,
just go,
let's go do this,
we're going to go
take care of this.
No,
you go to the general
for the plan
and you execute the plan.
You go to the general,
the commander in chief,
get the plan,
execute the plan.
And so that's how that,
that's how that works there
in the believer's life
is that we go to God
in prayer
and in the word
seeking his guidance,
seeking his wisdom,
seeking to know,
Lord,
how do I do this?
Whatever X, Y, Z may be.
How do I make disciples?
How do,
how do disciples make disciples?
You go to the word
and you go into prayer
and ask God,
send me the one.
And this kind of draws back
into what Pastor Sam
has kind of pushed on us.
Who's your one?
I just want to take a little time
to harp on that.
We did this one time
at another church
I was a part of.
Who's your one?
And we saw the church grow
massively.
This is not a church grow
technique necessarily,
but this is one where
as the body of Christ
here in Henrietta,
this particular body of Christ,
we are to be ones
who are seeking to grow
the community in faith,
lead people to Christ.
But if you don't pray
for that person
and you just start going,
knocking on the door,
at some point,
it might shut you out
because you're trying
physical,
man-made tactics.
You need supernatural power
to move in.
Supernatural power
that is from the Lord.
So I urge you,
if you don't have your one,
choose your one.
Pray for them diligently.
Work on them.
Students,
if you don't have your one,
maybe your one's next to you.
Maybe your one's behind you.
Maybe your one's in front of you.
Really consider who's your one
as you take time to pause
and consider
how to battle for the Lord
for that person's soul.
Because remember,
we're not in a battle
against flesh and blood.
We're in a battle
against the powers
that be around us,
our evil adversary.
An intimate relationship
with God,
His word and His ways
are the groundwork
for living our lives
on God's mission.
And as believers,
we are always on mission.
How you speak,
how you think,
how you act,
that will determine
what people think about Christ.
Oftentimes it does.
If you come in guns blazing
saying,
I'm going to show you
how your religion is wrong,
they oftentimes will be like,
wow,
you're hateful.
Why would I want to know
this God that you know?
But if you come in
with kindness
and the gospel,
if you come in
not a hypocrite
leading a double life,
saying,
I trust in Christ,
but I live my life
a completely opposite way
in the darkness.
Scripture actually has something
to say about that,
being a double-minded man.
He is unstable
in all of his ways.
A double-minded man
is unstable
in all of his ways.
Don't be the double-minded man,
or you will see
all of your ways crumble.
Things will break
in your life.
Because I've seen it
in many of my friends' lives
I have known.
I've known many people
who have fallen
to the double-mindedness.
I want to look back
at Matthew 28 again.
This is
verses 19 through 20.
And it says this.
It says,
Go therefore,
make disciples
of all the nations,
baptizing them
in the name of the Father
and of the Son
and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to deserve
all that I have commanded you.
How can we teach someone
something we don't know?
How can you teach someone
the Scriptures
if you don't know them?
How can we lead someone
to obey the things
that we don't even
obey ourselves?
How effective will we be
at drawing others to Christ
when we ourselves
are distant from Him?
I've told our students
this before.
I'm not scared
to say this thing.
This is what happened to me.
I was,
before I came to Christ,
I was in a relationship
with a young lady
that was very impure
and it was not a good
relationship to be a part of.
And I did the thing,
I call it,
that's a really funny phrase,
I was trying to flirt
to convert.
You ever heard of this?
Flirt to convert?
You ever heard of this?
It's when you are a believer
and you say,
you know what?
That person's not a Christian.
I can make him a Christian.
Watch this.
You get in there
and then you start
just totally like
leaving all things
of Christendom.
You start walking away
from that.
Well,
I was not a believer already.
I was not even a Christian yet.
And I was trying
to get her to believe
the gospel
that I didn't even
fully believe.
How can we teach people
something we don't even know?
How can we teach them
to obey something
we don't obey ourselves?
How effective am I going to be
at drawing that young lady
to Christ
when I myself
am very distant from Him
and not leading her
anywhere near Christ?
So I want to go ahead
and go to,
I'm trying to land this soon.
I've got like six minutes.
Man, I see what your problem is.
Same with the timing, man.
Goodness gracious.
That just flies on by,
doesn't it?
Goodness.
So in Timothy 3, 16-17,
it says this,
All scripture is breathed out
by God and profitable
for teaching,
for reproof,
for correction,
for training in righteousness,
that the man of God,
I'll also say the woman of God,
may be complete,
equipped for every good work.
The words that were really important
that stood out for me
when I read that text
was teaching,
rebuking,
training,
reproof,
some say correcting.
The only way we can do any of that
is if we have a knowledge
of God's word.
See,
we have this issue
where we think we are called
to just be good people sometimes.
Oh, a Christian's just a good person.
A Christian's just a good person.
He follows like Jesus.
But we're more than that.
We're more than people
who follow a bunch of religious rules too.
So if you're in here today
and you think that Christianity
is just a bunch of do's and do nots,
shalls and shall nots,
it's not what it's about.
It's not about me following the rules
to get God's favor.
I can't earn God's favor.
Remember,
Jesus initiates the relationship.
But God calls all of us in here
who are believers this day
to be messengers of his story,
to teach people about Christ.
He calls us to use our knowledge of his word,
which I hope is growing now for you,
to shape other people.
And that's kind of hard for you
to grasp and be like,
oh, that's a big ask.
It should be intimidating.
It should be crushing for you, actually.
It should be something that you're like,
I can't do this.
Do you want to know why?
Because you should be relying
on the Spirit for that.
When we try to make disciples
and do things in our own power,
it always fumbles and crushes and crumbles.
We ought to be relying on the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit,
at all times for all things.
The way to be effective in these things
is very, very clear then.
We have to know God
before we can lead others to him.
And this happens by pressing pause
on our lives
to consider who Christ is.
You know,
all of you students,
I'm quite certain,
were not born before 9-11.
And all of us who know what happened on 9-11
know the tragedy.
But you also remember
that there was this big call,
rebuild those towers.
Rebuild them.
And it wasn't just like saying
that we got to get the commerce back going.
It was that we want to show
that we are strong people.
We will rebuild.
We will stand up against the tyranny.
That's a symbol of hope
is what we were doing.
We wanted to rebuild
a symbol of hope.
But to do such a thing
took a lot of deliberation.
It took a long time.
And I believe,
if I'm correct,
it was not until November 3, 2014,
when the One World Trade Center was opened.
It took a very long time
to get that built.
A lot of planning,
a lot of preparation.
There was a lot to do in that.
The rubble had to be cleaned up,
checked out,
make sure things are good.
They reused some of the material
from the Twin Towers,
the statement of hope.
Anything that important
has to be prepared for
in a very major way.
And we can say the same thing
as our lives
as Christ followers.
Our lives
are ours
to be stewards of.
It's a huge responsibility
to be a believer.
And the preparation
is as big,
if not bigger,
than the actual execution
of the thing.
Because yeah,
you might fumble
with your words,
but your diligence
to the Lord
is more important
than how well you did.
Your diligence
to the Lord
is more important
than how well you did.
So I want to go ahead
and kind of land
the plane for us
this morning.
Jesus tells us
in the very last half
of verse 20
in Matthew 28,
He says,
I am with you always
to the end of the age.
And that is
the hope
that we get to cling to
as believers.
We have daunting tasks
before us.
We have our own sin
to overcome,
our own hypocrisy,
our own hardships
in our lives
to deal with.
But Jesus tells us
that
as you go through
all this stuff,
as you seek
to make disciples,
as you succeed
and fail in it,
behold,
I am with you always
to the end of the age.
I'm going to be with you.
as believers,
we have the Holy Spirit
dwelling with us
permanently.
God's Holy Spirit
dwells in us.
Like we get to walk around
with Jesus
in our hearts
at all times.
Whereas there was a moment
when the disciples
walked with Jesus
and then didn't
and feared.
What's happening next?
Well, you know,
I know what's happening
next for us.
Because we're fighting
a battle he's already won
to draw it back
to the song.
No matter what comes
my way,
I will overcome.
I may not know
what he's doing
in my life,
but I know
what he has done.
I'm fighting this battle
not my own power though.
The power of the spear
is how I fight this battle.
And what battle
am I fighting?
The battle against
evil,
sin.
And so,
I want to leave this
with you guys here.
The call to be a disciple
is not an easy one.
And it should not
be made lightly.
It shouldn't be made lightly
to be a believer in Jesus.
It's not just a good thing we do.
It is a full commitment
of the life.
Giving over of ourselves
to Christ.
It's as if you were
a king of a kingdom
and you said,
I can't take care
of this kingdom anymore.
I can't do it.
I need to give the keys away
to someone who can
take care of this kingdom.
And you give your keys
to your kingdom
that you have inside of you
to Christ
and he comes in
and he just
demolishes the place
but rebuilds it back
so much better.
He's building in you
a kingdom.
He's building this kingdom
here right now.
And so,
know that Christ
is in you
building a kingdom.
A priest of believers
here
to go preach the gospel.
And so,
as we come to the end
of our service,
I'm going to ask
Miss June to come
play for us.
And I want to
invite you guys
into a time of
either invitation
or a time of prayer
and consideration.
I'm going to pray over us.
And if you'd like
to come to the altar
to pray,
take time to pause
this morning
from your busy Sunday,
from your busy life.
I'm not naive.
Eve,
I understand
that we all
have very heavy
responsibilities.
A lot that we're doing.
But consider
in light of eternity
your responsibilities.
Did you buy
that tool today?
Is it going to
affect you tomorrow?
Maybe.
But,
does that tool
lead somebody
to salvation?
Probably not.
Are you actively
pressing pause
in your life
to slow down
and prioritize
being in prayer
with the Lord?
Going to Him
in this secret place
by yourself?
Getting into the Word?
There's a man,
his name is
Leonard Ravenhill.
He's a pastor
of the old days.
I'm reading his book
and one thing he says
in the book
was that
a sermon
concocted in the mind
is only for the mind.
But a sermon
concocted
and written
with this power
of the Spirit
is for the Spirit
of the man.
And so my question
this morning is
in your life right now
are you
filling your mind
with the Bible
and doing your
five minute
real quick studies
just because
it's what you should do
to make sure
you feel right
as a man
or a woman?
Or are you
spending time
in diligent prayer
and diligent reading
of the Word
to really come
and know
who Christ is?
That's all I have
to say there I think.
Consider in your hearts
where are you right now?
Let me pray for us.
Father I thank you
so much for this morning.
Thank you for
all the people
who have
sat through
a message
over many different
parts
of the Christian life.
But
Lord thank you so much
for all you've done
this weekend.
Even just that
one came
to Christ.
God hearing the praises
of your people
singing praises
to you.
A humbling feeling.
Can't even imagine
what heaven's
going to be like.
All of us
singing praises
and hearing the angels
sing holy, holy,
holy is the Lord
God Almighty.
Lord I thank you
for all you've done.
Lord as we
come to a close
I pray that you
would impress upon
the hearts of those
who need to be
impressed upon
to come to Christ.
Lord those who are
who are dealing
with sin issues
in their life.
They would
seek to confess it
and kill it
just take it
out of their lives.
Lord you've been
so good to us.
Lord thank you
for even when
we think you're
slow to answer prayer
you're still slow
to handle us
and our sin
how we deserve
to be.
Lord thank you
for all you've done
in Christ.
In my prayer.