This morning, I'm going to talk to you about putting the missional in community.
Putting the missional in community.
Charles Spurgeon said, every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.
Pretty strong words from Charles Spurgeon there, but I agree with it.
Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.
I think it's a great time.
We got our, add another missional community, move some people around.
So we got three missional communities.
And it's easy to just think of our missional communities as communities.
Forget the M and the MC, right?
Just think, oh yeah, it's community.
It's good people, people I like to be with, people I enjoy being with.
But we must never forget about the missional side of things, right?
So as a church, I think this is a great time for us to really focus and lock in on mission.
I'm going to look at a few verses.
None of these are going to be, these are all very familiar verses to you,
but I just want to kind of meditate on them together and just kind of think about them together, okay?
First one, Luke 19.10.
Luke 19.10 is this small little verse here talking about the Son of Man.
It says, the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost, okay?
Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Now, oftentimes, most Christians, if they have any bit of health in them, right?
If someone comes along their path, you know, and there's an opportunity for the gospel or ask them about Jesus, you would take it, right?
You would talk to them.
I mean, that's kind of a no-brainer.
If you're a Christian and that isn't happening, you might need to check your spiritual pulse, okay?
Say, like, if you actually are, right?
That's the gimme.
That's what we would most often think, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But that's not what this, it's not the only thing this verse said.
It didn't just say, well, if people came to Jesus, he would save them.
There's two things he's doing in this verse, right?
He's not just saving the lost.
He's seeking them.
And I think a lot of Christians live in such a way that if, you know, if someone came my way, you know, if someone at work just started asking me about the Lord or my neighbor got a little curious about what I'm doing every Sunday morning, you know, yeah, then I'd talk to them.
But my question to you in light of this verse is, do you seek the lost?
Or do you just wait till they come to you, you know?
And it's easy to do that and it's easy to fall into that as Christians.
But that's not what Jesus did.
Jesus wasn't just a saver.
He was a seeker when it came to the lost.
He not only saved people, but he sought out people to save.
He sought out the lost.
He sought, he was on a mission, right?
He was on God's mission.
God sent him and he sent him to lost people.
And we are to do the same.
We'll look at that a little bit more, you know, why that is.
But just from the start here, he came to seek and to save.
And so my question to you for starters here is, what does your seeking look like when it comes to the lost?
Is it there?
Do you do it?
Is there any kind of strategic seeking in your life of lost people?
Do you ever reorient your life or your plans around how you could reach lost neighbors, lost family members, lost friends?
Go down the list, whatever, whoever.
It doesn't matter, right?
Are you just ready in case someone comes along?
Are you just praying in case someone comes along or that someone would come along?
Or are you actively seeking out lost people?
Looking, how can I connect with lost people?
I can get more in relationship to lost people.
How can I be more exposed to lost people?
How can I do that together with my church?
You see that?
Jesus, this is what he was doing constantly.
If you look at the Gospels and you're seeing his life,
clearly he was doing the work that he was called to do to save.
But that saving didn't just happen on happenstance.
He was seeking to save people.
And we should do the same thing.
And so I want to ask us, are we doing that?
And if you can't answer with some kind of specific way that you're doing that,
don't be self-deceived into thinking that you're doing it.
We have to be able to be saying, hey, how am I seeking out lost people?
I think it's a really good challenge for all of us.
And it's so easy.
You know, it's like D.A. Carson says, nobody drifts into holiness.
Well, no one drifts into evangelism either, right?
You have to be intentional.
You have to be thinking, how am I going to seek out lost people?
Because you can go your whole life and just not do that really.
And just kind of coast.
But especially as a young church plant,
we must be people who not just ask God to save the lost,
but that we seek lost people, right?
So that's the first thing, seeking and saving.
Are you just thinking about the saving and not the seeking part?
Secondly, Matthew 4.19,
Jesus says to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
Okay?
So the first one was seek and save.
Second one's following fish, right?
When you follow Jesus, something happens.
When someone follows Jesus, he automatically makes you into something.
What is it?
A fisher of men.
One of the marks of someone who is a follower of Jesus
should be that the thing that accompanies those who are followers of Jesus
is in their life.
Mainly, he said, if you follow me, I will make you fishers of men.
If you're not being made into a fisher of men, you've got to ask the question,
am I following Jesus?
Am I following Jesus?
Because if you follow him, guess where he's going?
He's going to seek and save lost people.
And if you're going to follow him, that's where you're going to end up.
You're going to end up with lost people.
You're not just going to end up with your, you know, Christian friends.
As great as those people are, right?
As you follow Jesus, he's going to make you into something specific.
That specific thing that he's making us into is fishers of men.
Okay?
Fishers of men.
Now, if you've ever fished before, most people's,
Samir's fished before a few times.
Okay, if you've ever fished before, most people aren't fishing thinking,
oh, it's just really nice to be on the boat and, you know,
maybe a fish will come by.
Maybe a fish will just jump into my boat.
You know?
Nobody does that.
Like, I'm just going to go fishing without,
I'm going to go fishing without,
is someone, is there people parked in the way there or something?
I just saw one of the next door people peer into the window.
Might just take a look.
Okay, so when you're fishing,
typically you would never go out into the boat without a pole
or without any bait or anything.
Like that or a net, right?
You're going with something to catch fish.
It's intentional.
You're becoming a fisher of men means you're trying to catch fish.
In the same way, when you follow Jesus,
he makes you someone who's intentional while catching souls of men, right?
It's something that you're thinking about.
It's something that you are strategic about.
It's something that you are,
as far as your life goes,
you're thinking,
you know what?
This is what I want to do.
Because as I follow Jesus,
the more I follow him,
my heart becomes to do what he wants to do.
His will is my will.
And the followers of Jesus are made into fishers.
The followers of Jesus are made into fishers.
Let me ask you the question.
Are you being made into that?
Do you have a desire to go fishing?
Not for fish, Samir,
like for men, right?
For men.
To say,
hey,
I want to see people saved.
I want to get out into the,
get out there
and get in a place where the fish are.
Right?
If someone said,
man,
I'm really into fishing
and they never go near water.
You'd be like,
uh,
I don't know about that.
I don't think so.
No,
no,
no.
I'm really,
I love fish.
But they never go by the water.
Like,
I don't think you love fishing.
Why don't you ever go by the water?
It'd be like someone says,
well,
I love Jesus,
but I never go by lost people.
And not specifically trying to go fish for lost people.
You got to say,
are you following Jesus?
Cause that's where he is.
And if you follow him,
that's where he's going to be.
That's where he's going to take you.
Okay.
So we seek and save
and we follow and fish.
Right?
Right.
A third one,
Matthew 28,
18 to 20.
Again,
these are not obscure verses.
You should be familiar with all these,
right?
This is go and make.
Jesus said to them,
all authority in heaven and 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?
So here you have
him saying,
go therefore.
What is therefore therefore?
You know,
what is that?
What's that all about?
Well,
what was before that?
He said,
all authority in heaven and earth
has been given to me.
Again,
this is a really important reminder.
I would say that
one of the main reasons
a lot of people don't evangelize
is because they think
nobody's going to get saved.
I think that's one of the main reasons
people don't.
It feels hopeless.
You feel impotent.
You feel like,
is this really going to do anything?
I mean,
I've seen the gospel
so many times with people.
I haven't seen many people get saved.
That's why
you can't just think of the go
make disciples
without thinking of the therefore.
He said,
go therefore.
Therefore what?
Therefore in light of what?
The first,
right before that,
he said,
all authority in heaven and earth
has been given to me.
That's an important part
preceding the Great Commission.
That the one
who's telling you to go
and the reason you are to go
make disciples,
the reason the going is there
is because,
hey,
all authority has been given to you.
It's been given to him
and he's the one sending,
right?
And so if he has authority,
you know
he's the one
who's doing the saving.
It's just our job
to give people a hearing
and it gives you confidence.
Do you have confidence
in the gospel?
You know that great verse
that Martin Luther got hit with,
Romans 1.16,
that the gospel itself
is the power of God
for salvation
of those who believe?
Do you believe that it's power?
Do you,
do you think that way
when you think,
oh,
I'm going to save the gospel
or I'm going to share the gospel?
Are you thinking,
I'm about to share
some potent stuff right here.
I'm about to share
something powerful.
I'm about to share something
that if the Lord
is drawing and saving,
they can't resist.
Like,
he's going to save them.
Have you thought about it that way?
That this is a,
that all authority
in heaven and earth
has been given to the Lord,
therefore he says,
go.
Therefore,
go and make disciples.
And you make disciples
by preaching them the gospel.
They got to hear.
Okay?
Which goes to the last one
I want to look at,
Romans 10.13-17.
Send and preach.
For everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
How then will they call on him
in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him
of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear
without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach
unless they are sent
as it is written?
How beautiful
are the feet
of those who preach good news.
But they have not all
obeyed the gospel.
For Isaiah says,
Lord who has believed
what he has heard from us.
So faith comes from hearing
and hearing
through the word of Christ.
Faith comes from hearing.
This is another reason
you should be confident
when you're preaching
the gospel.
Why?
Because you're hoping
that they have faith, right?
There's no salvation
apart from faith, right?
Grace comes through faith.
Grace through faith.
Ephesians 2, right?
Well,
so the only way
they're going to get grace
is if they get faith.
But how do they get faith?
Through hearing.
It says,
faith comes from hearing
and hearing through
the word of Christ.
The only way
they're going to believe
is if they hear.
And so often we think,
man, they're going to hear
and then they're not
going to believe.
Well, it's like,
wait, hold on.
This just says
the opposite here.
It says,
faith comes from hearing.
They need a hearing.
They've got to hear.
That's where the faith comes.
How are they going to believe?
Unless they hear.
And how are they going to hear
unless someone preaches?
And how are they going to preach
unless they're sent?
And so here we are.
Lord, send us.
Send us.
Send us to preach.
God, send us to the lost.
Send us to the ones
you're drawing.
It's not our job to save them.
It's our job to give them a hearing.
And then God gives them faith
in the hearing.
That's the way he does it.
Again, that's confidence building.
It's not my job to save them.
It's not my job to convince them.
It's my job to give them a hearing.
And then God uses the hearing
to give them faith.
That's powerful.
Okay?
And so,
I want us to be thinking
about this a little bit more.
As we start these
three iterations
of missional communities,
it would be good for us
to not just think of this individually,
but to think of this corporately
in each missional community
and say,
okay,
how are we doing
on the seeking and the saving?
How are we doing
on the following and the fishing?
How are we doing
on the going and the making
in light of his authority?
And how are we doing
on the sending and the preaching?
Like,
are we giving people a hearing?
Are we doing that?
Are we sending people
into specific places
aimed at specific people?
Are we praying
for specific people
in places?
So,
you know,
one of the things
I think that builds my faith
is hearing stories.
Hearing stories
of different people,
how people were reached.
And so I just wanted
to share a few of those
that I think have been
encouraging to me
over the last years.
You know,
I was just listening
to a young man
the other day
who was talking about
how one of his coworkers
at work
was preaching
the gospel to him
and then invited him
to his house
to kind of double down
on the gospel.
And the guy
still wasn't totally
coming along
to this message
of the gospel.
and you know
what he said to him?
He said,
hey,
today is the day
of salvation.
And I just love
how he said that to him.
And guess what?
The guy got saved.
He got saved.
He got baptized.
There's great fruit
coming from his life.
This guy's life
is transformed.
But it took someone
at work
to preach the gospel
to him
and then to preach it
again in his home
and then to press it
to him and say,
hey,
today is the day
of salvation.
What are you waiting for?
And the guy
had no objection.
He didn't have anything.
He's just like,
you're right.
It is the day
of salvation.
And he got saved.
I think,
man,
that's so awesome.
Are we taking
those opportunities?
My daughter
was talking about
how my daughter
India was with
her missional community
the other day
and they were in a park
and they were playing
spike ball together
and some young guy
walks by
and one of the guys
looks at him
and he's like,
spike ball?
He's like,
oh yeah.
And the dude
just jumps in
and starts playing
spike ball with him.
Well,
and then right after that,
you know,
the guy's going back
to his car.
He's like,
I may never see
this guy again.
And he goes and
preaches the gospel
to him,
you know,
before he leaves.
And the guy's like,
hey,
can I go now?
Wasn't hearing it.
But you know what?
Kudos to him.
Kudos to him
for preaching
the gospel to him.
I love that.
Again,
it's not our job
to save people.
And that guy
didn't get saved.
Right?
But what did he do?
He said,
I may never see him again.
So he preached
the gospel to him.
You know,
one of the,
one of the greatest
principles for evangelism
in the last 14 years
of my life
has been this one phrase.
Introduce me
to your friends.
Introduce me
to your friends.
Some of you think,
I don't even know
how I'm going to get
into evangelistic
circumstances
because I'm a housewife
who's at home
all the time
with a bunch of,
you know,
kids who can't
even barely speak English
and have speech impediments
and I'm supposed to go out
and win a bunch
of lost people.
Like,
how is that going to happen?
I'm not picking
anybody's kids.
I'm saying that's all.
But you've got to
get disillusioned.
Like,
I just talk to people
who can barely talk all day
and I'm supposed
to do evangelism.
I mean,
even with lost people.
I'm with lost kids,
I guess.
My kids,
I'm trying to win
but they can barely talk.
Right?
And you think,
or maybe I have
a circumstance in life
where I just don't,
I just don't have
any relationships
with lost people.
Maybe you're new
to a particular area.
Maybe you're,
it's your job
or whatever it may be.
But one way
that I've found
to meet all kinds
of lost people
is that simple phrase.
Introduce me
to your friends.
Introduce me
for your friend.
I mean,
there's a bunch of you
who are in my life
right now
because I said
to somebody else
introduce me
to your friends.
Right?
That's how
those things happen.
I would never know
Marianna
if I wouldn't have
asked someone else
to introduce me
to your friends.
Right?
These are,
these are,
that's a,
so I think
about that sometimes.
Sometimes when you
meet people
you just have to say,
hey,
you start getting
a relationship
to them and say,
hey,
introduce me
to some of your friends.
Who do you hang out with?
Have them over.
Do something with them.
It's just a really,
you know,
low bar to do that
but then all of a sudden
what ends up happening is
you end up,
it's like introduce me
to your friends
and then,
you know,
oh,
Marianna lives in a house
with some friends
and,
you know,
and then one of their friends
was dating a guy
who's not a believer.
That guy ends up
getting saved.
Why?
Because I said,
introduce me
to your friends.
That's how it started.
I would have never met that guy
if,
when it said,
introduce me to your friends.
Right?
And then as you keep doing that,
all of a sudden
it just keeps going out
and out further and further
and it's like,
how do you know this person?
Well,
I know that person
because I met this person
and that person
ended up,
I met this person
and then because of that person
I ended up going up
to their wedding
and then at their wedding
I met their friends
at their wedding
because I was at their wedding
and I said,
oh,
it was your wedding.
Introduce me to your friends.
They're all here,
right?
Introduce me to your family.
They're here,
right?
And then you start meeting them
and then they want to get together
with you
and then you end up
getting together with them
and it's some couple
who's living together
who's engaged
but they're living together
and they're professing
to be Christians.
So I'm just like,
and they're asking me
to do their premarital counseling.
I'm like,
why don't you guys repent
and stop living together first
and we'll see
and then we'll talk.
And then what ends up happening?
I didn't think anything
was going to happen.
I got a call a month later
that said they had moved out,
got two separate apartments
and they're like,
we're ready.
I'm like,
okay.
You know?
But it all just started
with
introduce me to your friends
and then it keeps going,
right?
And then sometimes
it's just through,
I think so many times
we underestimate
the power of prayer too
in this.
Do we really believe
that God wants
to save lost people?
Do we really believe that?
I doubt it sometimes,
right?
I mean,
I was thinking about this
the other day.
I was remembering
sitting in a gathering,
at a missional community gathering
and it was one of those
prayer requests
where,
hey,
my co-worker's sister
who lives in Colorado
could use some prayer.
And I'm like,
okay,
it's kind of a,
yeah,
we could pray for that,
you know?
And I'm thinking,
who is this person?
And even,
you know,
that's kind of a,
you know,
my best friend's sister's brother's
boyfriend's girlfriend
is going with this guy
who knows this girl
who passed out at 31
flavor bus.
You know,
that whole thing,
like this long thing,
that I just catch her there
with some of them.
Yeah,
you might have to.
Um,
ends up happening.
We pray for this,
this person
and then,
like,
I don't know how many years
or how many months later it was,
Gina's on a Sunday morning
at church
and meets the girl
we were praying for
and it was Amber.
You know,
it's like,
what are the chances of that?
And he thought it was just
a one-time thing,
but there was something about,
maybe it was because
it was Ben Clinton
who brought it up
and it's just the way Ben is,
but it's just like,
yeah,
we should pray for this
and we're praying for some stranger
we don't even know
and then all of a sudden
she's a beloved person
in our life.
Those kind of things happen,
right?
You never know
when you're praying about things.
I remember years ago,
I heard about this family
of brothers
who were super wild
and just kind of known
for being wild and crazy
and so I was like,
I'm going to start praying
for all these brothers
so that I get to know them.
I've never met any of them.
I didn't know them.
I had no way of meeting them,
but I was like,
I want to get to know these people
and I want to be in their life.
So I just started praying.
I said,
Lord,
bring me into contact
with these brothers
and there was like,
what,
three or four of them,
I think,
who lived here.
Every single one of them
I got in contact with
in the next couple months.
One of their wives
ended up living with us
for a couple weeks
because their marriage
was on the rocks.
Another one of them,
another one of the guys
lived with us
for over a year.
I got to talk
to the other guys.
There was all kinds
of opportunities
for preaching the gospel,
for bringing them in
and I didn't even know
these guys.
I had no way
to get to know them,
but I had this burden,
I think it was from the Lord,
to reach out to them
and I just said,
Lord,
bring them to me.
I want to get after these guys
and it ended up happening.
Even,
you know,
some of them lived with us.
You know what I'm saying?
God answers prayer.
I think sometimes
we forget
and we don't want
to pray audacious prayers
or things that seem
like long shots.
Why not?
What are you praying for
that seems impossible
when it comes to the lost?
And how often
are you doing it?
Is it just a flimsy
little throw the prayer
up there once in a while?
Are you committed
to pray for people
that God is drawing
or that God's putting
on your heart
and you just keep
praying for them?
I think these things
are important.
And I think of different times
when we've done
different events
when we did man camps
over the years.
and we met different guys.
And all the times
I got to meet
different people
just by putting ourselves
out there and say,
hey,
we're going to teach
on a particular topic
for a period of time.
Or when we did
a marriage conference once
and different families
we met through that
who were in really rough spots.
Or just opening up
to people
who were having
rough times
in their marriages
and being able
to talk to them
through their marriages,
how different
that has happened.
How many impactful things.
I think of
my own son,
Austin,
who we adopted
as an older man
in his late 20s.
Well,
what happened
is we just adopted
him into our family.
Okay?
This guy was,
he was lost
in many ways
and we just said,
we're going to adopt
him into our family.
And I think of all
the ways
that we've just
adopted people
into our family
and had people
into our life.
how,
you know,
we've had different people
just join us
in homeschooling
and doing homeschooling
with our kids.
Or we've had people
just come over
and eat at our house.
We had people
at one point in time,
maybe not the best idea,
but we gave out
the code to our house
and we'd wake up
in the morning
and someone would be
sleeping on our couch
and we didn't know
they were there.
And it's just like,
whoa,
what's going on here?
But those were,
man,
those are times
when we would
really reach out
to people
and love people.
I remember one time
we did a park night
and one of my kids,
who was really young
at the time,
asked some girl
that we had never met before
if she wanted to sleep
over at our house.
That was Allie Casey.
You know,
it's like,
never met her before.
So like,
these different things happen
and you just never know.
But it's when,
again,
my family
was doing this
together with us.
It wasn't just us.
We would pray together
as a family for people.
We'd pray,
our kids and us
would pray for people.
Our kids would pray
for people their age.
You know,
when we first started
Bellicose 14 years ago,
there was no kids
my kids' age.
Now my kids have tons
of friends,
have all kinds of,
but I say that to you
young cats,
Max and Charlie,
who are you praying for,
man?
Who are those young people
you're praying for
that are your age
just saying,
God,
get them,
save them,
bring more young people,
bring more friends for us.
Like,
those are prayers
we should be praying.
Those are prayers
we should be praying
with our kids.
We used to pray
most nights with my kids.
Lord,
send more kids.
Send kids my kids' age.
Send my kids'
future best friends.
Send them.
You've got to be
spirit-led too.
I remember one time
Gina was at some,
was checking out
some homeschool possibility
of some woman
teaching our kids
science,
and there was this
young man there
sitting cross-legged
on the floor
arguing with the teacher.
and then
Gina really
felt led by the spirit
that I want to
pursue this guy.
found out that he
supposedly tuned pianos,
I guess,
and so then had him over
to tune a piano.
And then from there,
she's like,
Josh,
you've got to meet this guy.
You should invite him
to man camp.
It was Judah Powers,
you know?
It's like,
I didn't know this guy.
But I think,
Gina,
there was this burden
for Judah at that time.
And she was just like,
I don't know what it is
about this guy,
but I'm just really,
really led to,
my heart is going out
for him.
You've got to,
can you please talk to him?
I'm like,
yeah,
I'll talk to him.
She was like,
I'm young,
you know?
Those are the kind of things,
you know?
Is the spirit leading you
towards people?
Spirit might be leading you
to ask someone
to even move in with you.
And that could change,
it could help change
the trajectory
of someone's life
or where they're going.
You know,
we had that many,
we did that many times
with different people.
Michael lived with us
for many years.
I remember early on,
years ago,
there was one guy
we were going to have
live with us
and all his friends
were like,
there's no way
he's going to live with you.
And it turns out,
it's like,
well,
I'm just going to ask him.
You never know.
And it was Josh Wears
and he ended up
living with us.
So,
I mean,
you just never know
with these kind of things.
You never know
what can happen
with your neighbors.
I remember when we moved
into our neighborhood
and we lived in Midtown,
you know,
we had this vision
to reach people
and so we're just like,
we're going to have people
over for dinner,
we're going to have people
over for barbecue.
Every single one
of my neighbors
I asked to come over
for dinner,
they said no.
I was like,
what?
This is going to be easy.
He's like,
have people over for dinner,
talk to them about the gospel.
They wouldn't come over.
I was like,
what the heck
is with these people?
This is weird.
It's free food.
We're going to eat outside.
It's not even intimidating,
but no.
No.
And more than ever,
people just don't do stuff together.
I just read an article
the other day
about how people,
young people,
spend 70% less time
partying with people
than they used to.
70%.
It's the amount of time
people spend socially
is down so drastically
right now.
It's like crazy
when you look at
the stats compared to
even back to the 80s.
And Chris is like,
it's awesome.
People just aren't doing things
socially with each other.
So you got to keep inviting.
You got to keep figuring out.
So I thought
this is going to be easy, right?
We'll just move into my neighborhood.
I'm just going to invite people over.
And so we're just going to
ask people over.
And guess what?
Everybody said no.
It's like,
oh,
this is going to be a lot harder
than I thought it was.
So we had to figure out
something else.
But every time I'd come outside
and talk to my neighbors,
they'd be talking about basketball
every single time.
So I'm like,
hey,
if I put up a basketball hoop
and put up some lights,
would you guys come over
after your kids in bed and play?
And they had an enthusiastic,
yes,
of course we'll do that.
I'm like,
all right,
let's start with basketball.
So we started doing that.
For two years,
almost every week,
we'd have people over
to play basketball.
And the neighbors would come over.
Next thing you know,
we're getting to know the neighbors.
Next thing you know,
when they go out on vacation,
they give us their keys.
And we're taking care of their house
and we're feeding their dog.
But if you know me,
I don't like feeding dogs
and I'm cleaning up dog crap
in their house
and my neighbors.
Definitely not my first thing
that I wanted to do.
But,
hey,
I want to see,
they're all lost.
I want to see these people saved.
But if I just would have gave up
because they wouldn't come over
for dinner,
wouldn't have happened.
You know,
it's like,
no,
I'm on mission to these people.
We're going to,
we want to see these people saved.
And so it opened up
all kinds of doors
for preaching the gospel.
Preaching the gospel
at basketball.
Preaching the gospel
we're overhanging on their porch.
Preaching the gospel
on a private jet to Hawaii,
I mean to Haiti,
not Hawaii,
on a private jet to Haiti
to my neighbors
who invited us on this trip.
How does that happen?
I don't know.
It just did.
Because you open up the doors
and you just keep preaching
the gospel.
You know,
going to,
I think of all the times
I would go to Oddly Correct,
you know,
during those times.
I don't,
I don't even drink coffee.
And I'm,
but that was a watering hole
where a bunch of people were.
I'd go there.
The amount of times
I would meet people there
that I didn't know.
Finding watering holes
where you can go
and just meet people
and look for opportunities
to preach the gospel.
People are frequenting
certain places
over and over again.
You know,
I had seven kids
at one point in time
in our house.
So we went to Costco
all the time,
lived five minutes from there.
There was one particular cashier
who was always more open to us
and was friendly with us
and knew us by name
and we knew her by name
and we'd talk about
each other's families.
And so no matter how long
everybody else's lines was,
we would always go to her line.
And we would always talk to her.
Eventually we had her over
for dinner.
You know,
have you ever had a cashier
over for dinner,
your grocery clerk
cashier for dinner?
Probably not likely
unless you really
keep going to that same one
over and over again.
And she came over for dinner.
You never guessed
what we talked about
when she came over for dinner.
The gospel.
Of course we did.
But it was over time
and there's all kinds of ways
we can do that.
The sports our kids would play.
You know,
I think of the times
when we would go to
football games
or wrestling tournaments
and we would talk
to the parents
and we'd talk
to the coaches.
The opportunities
that I got to preach
to the coaches.
I was just preaching
to Judah's coaches
at his wedding
not too long ago.
Again,
another opportunity
to preach the gospel.
Think of hosting
the end of the year party
at our Airbnb house
at the time
and this Buddhist dad
talking to me
at my kitchen table
about Buddha
and I'm preaching
the gospel to him.
You know,
what were the chances
of me getting
a Buddhist dad
sitting at my kitchen table
in my house?
Pretty low.
Unless I'd gotten
people's lives
and said,
hey,
let's have the party
at our house.
Do you know what I'm saying?
So it's like
all these things happen
and one thing leads
to another
and another leads
to another.
And so you might think,
oh,
there's not a whole lot
of things going on right now.
I don't know what to,
I don't know what to do
as far as that goes.
Well,
we have to be strategic.
We have to seek and save.
We gotta be intentional.
We gotta be not giving up.
We gotta keep after it.
We gotta know the difference
between individual mission
and corporate mission.
Okay?
Every single one of us
is a Christian
that's gonna be on mission
to specific people
in our life.
That's just being a Christian.
That's like ground zero.
Okay?
You can't expect everyone
in your life
to be on mission with you.
But there are gonna be times
where it's gonna make sense
to do that.
And you need to look
for those opportunities
in a missional community.
Like,
where are the people
we can be on mission together?
And maybe it's not all of us.
Maybe it's just a few of us
and the rest of us
are praying.
Okay?
I'm on,
over the years
I've been on multiple threads
of this
in missional communities.
Right now I'm on a thread
together with a bunch of people
who are purposely
doing evangelism often.
And a lot of times
I'm not the one
doing the evangelism.
But they're telling me
when they're having opportunities
to evangelize people.
And so I'm doing
a really important part.
You know what that is?
I'm praying.
I might not be with them
locked arms
and doing evangelism
with them
but I'm praying for them.
It's just like when,
you know,
David's mighty men
came back
and they said,
and they were sharing
the spoil
and they said,
hey,
these people who stayed
with the stuff
and the women
and the children,
they don't get the spoil.
He's like,
no, no, no.
Those who stay back
and those who go
both get in the spoil.
Each part is important.
And it's the same thing
with evangelism.
Some people are out there
on the front lines
and then the rest of us
should be praying for them.
Like Adam was saying,
praying that their eyes
would be open.
Praying that their eyes
would be open.
That's an important part
because if you preach
and their eyes aren't open,
they ain't going anywhere.
Right?
They gotta have their eyes open.
But it's important for us
in our mission communities
to say,
okay,
who are we on mission to?
What are we already doing?
Where are we already?
Like take existing inventory
of what's already going on in life.
Who are the people
that are in your life?
Is there any intersection with this?
And if there's not,
because there might not be,
if there is,
take advantage of it.
Think of what you could do to that.
And if there's not,
pray.
Pray for something.
Pray for things to come together.
Pray for people
to be on mission to together.
And don't get discouraged
if it takes time.
Don't get discouraged
if you have to wait on the Lord.
Don't get discouraged
if you have to keep praying
and keep praying.
Pray for new places.
Pray to be spirit led
to specific people,
friends and family,
neighbors and neighborhoods,
co-workers and workplaces.
We're regularly going
to the same restaurant,
the same grocery store,
same coffee shop,
the same barber,
same hairdresser,
the same mechanic,
same chiropractor,
same park.
And you start saying,
I remember at one point in time,
a bunch of people
went to the same barber together
for only one reason,
to reach that guy with the gus.
You know,
I've had multiple chiropractors
that I've gone to
and that other people
have gone to
and that we've all shared
the gospel with the same guy.
Let's be on mission together,
right?
We can do this kind of stuff.
Reaching out to specific people
and then really getting
specific strategies for mission.
Do you believe
that this is possible?
Do you believe
that God wants to give you this?
I think of Acts 13 too.
It says,
while they were worshiping
the Lord and fasting,
the Holy Spirit said,
that phrase right there
is just a phenomenal phrase,
is it?
While they were worshiping
the Lord and fasting,
the Holy Spirit said,
when was the last time
you and your mission
of the community
were worshiping the Lord
and fasting together
for the purpose of mission?
We're just like,
okay,
we're just going to worship God,
wait on the Lord
and we're going to fast together
and we're going to believe
that the Holy Spirit
is going to lead us.
Do you believe that?
It says,
and the Holy Spirit said,
set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
for the work at which I've called.
Some of us are thinking,
man,
I don't know where to go.
I don't know who to reach out to.
I don't know how we can be on mission
as a missional community.
May I suggest
that perhaps you add
a little worship and fasting in.
Like we're going to have
a night together.
We're just going to worship
and fast together.
Like we're just going to pray
and wait on the Lord
and see what he says,
see how he leads.
The Holy Spirit will lead you
to seek and save
those who are lost.
But you got to put yourself
in a position to hear
and we got to be listening.
We can't just be sitting there
going through the motions
and mumbling a bunch
of worship songs
and not be thinking,
the Holy Spirit wants
to speak to us.
He wants to set apart people
for his work
and believe for that
and encourage one another.
Because some of you
get discouraged
on anything.
I don't know if anybody
is going to get saved.
I don't know who to talk to.
I don't know how we're going
to do this together
as a missional community.
And so there needs
to be mutual encouragement
like, no, believe.
Trust God.
When they were worshiping
the Lord and fasting,
the Holy Spirit said.
The Holy Spirit says things.
Luke 10 verse 2.
He said,
The harvest is plentiful
but the laborers are few.
Therefore pray earnestly
to the Lord of the harvest
to send out laborers
into his harvest field.
I want to focus on
part of that verse
that we don't usually focus on.
The name of the Lord
in that verse.
What is he called?
Lord of the harvest.
Isn't that an important
thing to think of?
You're not just praying
to the Lord.
Right?
Oh Lord,
please save people.
Oh Lord,
give us people to reach out to.
Oh Lord,
you know,
help us get on mission.
Help this church,
Christ church,
to be an evangelistic church
that gets in front
of lost people
and gives them a hearing
of the gospel.
Right?
You're not just praying
to the Lord.
You're praying to the Lord
of the harvest.
That's who he is.
He's the Lord of the harvest.
He owns the harvest.
He's in charge
of the harvest.
So you got direct access
to the Lord of the harvest.
We're saying,
I want to harvest.
You want to experience
a harvest.
You're praying for a harvest,
but you're praying
to the Lord
of the harvest.
The one who's in charge
of it.
The one who's doing
the work.
The one who's doing
the saving.
The Lord of the harvest.
Do you think of that
when you pray?
God,
you're the Lord
of the harvest.
That's why I'm going
to you.
We want to see a harvest.
You are the Lord
of the harvest.
You think of that
when you pray.
When you pray together
as a people.
When you're thinking
about ways to reach out
to people.
I really want to encourage
missional communities
to get specific ways
you're going to reach out
to lost people.
And please,
don't get discouraged
if they don't work.
I know,
yes,
the guys are trying
to get a bunch
of people together
even this week
for a little something.
And
it wasn't a good
showing of people.
Keep at it.
How many times
did missionaries
go into countries
and they saw
no converts
for six to seven years?
Keep at it.
Who are you praying to?
He's the Lord
of the harvest.
He's the Lord
of the harvest.
Keep at it.
Keep inviting.
Keep doing.
Keep eating with people.
Keep doing meals.
Set up things.
Like,
hey,
we're going to do
a regular night
of the week
where we just have open
and we're just
going to invite people.
Try to make it room
for lost people.
Maybe for my neighbors.
No falls coming up.
Oh,
can't wait.
Love that time of year,
right?
People are outside.
People want to hang out.
Nobody wants anything
outside of right now.
It's horrible out there.
It's hot and muggy,
but we're,
it's right around the corner,
right?
Football season
started this last week.
People are getting together,
right?
Listen,
don't just think last minute.
We need to get strategic.
What are you going to do
to get people in your life?
What are you going to do
to get on mission to people?
We're not,
we're not just coming here
to sing songs
and have a nice time
and enjoy one another
and maybe have a good time
with each other.
This isn't about us.
This is about the Lord
and the harvest.
We're here
getting to know one another,
growing closer to one another,
being a family together
so that we can be on mission.
So we got to get after it.
We can't just get comfortable
with each other.
We got to get after
planning specific ways,
spirit-led ways,
waiting on the Lord ways
where we can get
into people's life,
where we can get people
in front of us
who can get a hearing
for the gospel.
That's going to involve
all kinds of things.
You know,
the holidays are coming up.
You're going to wait
to plan that holiday party
the day before?
You're going to start
thinking about it now.
Like,
what are we going to do
for Halloween
in our neighborhoods?
What are we going to do
for Thanksgiving,
Christmas?
Are we going to have
a Christmas party?
Are we going to watch
some football games together?
Are we going to do
a New Year's party?
Like,
be thinking of that stuff
now in your
missional communities.
Have those conversations.
And then begin praying
about those things
way ahead of time.
So that you're in August
and you're praying
about a Christmas party.
Why not?
Right?
Lord,
we want to see a harvest.
We want to see people saved.
And I think some of us,
we could use a little bit
more discipline
and like,
no,
let's be more strategic in this.
Let's be more planning in this.
Let's be more focused on this.
Let's be more intentional in this.
Let's put more time
and effort into this.
I don't doubt anybody's desire
and that there is effort,
but I'm saying,
like doubling down
and saying,
okay,
we got these three little
nimble missional communities.
Let's get on mission
to some people.
Let's figure out
how we're going to do it.
Let's make a plan
and let's execute.
And let's just trust.
And if nothing happens,
we just keep trusting God.
Just say,
Lord,
you're the Lord of the harvest.
You're the Lord of the harvest.
I'm going to keep giving people hearings.
I'm going to keep making room
for unbelievers
to be in my life.
I'm going to keep being hospitable
and opening up my home
and my heart
and my schedule
to people who are lost.
I'm going to keep doing this.
I'm going to keep trying
to open the doors to this.
And I'm going to radically
reorient my life
around God's mission
to lost people.
I'm going to make time for it.
I'm going to make,
I'm going to set aside time
to pray for the,
for the harvest
on a regular basis.
Do you do that?
I'm going to do it
with my brothers and sisters.
Maybe you guys hang out
with each other
for some night
and have dinner together
before you leave.
Hey,
before you leave,
can we just agree
and pray right now
for a harvest?
Yeah,
can we just take five minutes
right now
and just pray for a harvest?
Thanks so much
for coming over.
I love you.
It's a great time.
Let's pray for the harvest.
You know what I'm saying?
Doesn't that,
you don't have to pray,
you don't have to travail
for four hours.
You know?
But ask.
You don't have
because you don't ask.
Right?
And just looking
for opportunities
to just really jump in there.
And then just keep doing
over and over again.
Praying for the gospel
to be proclaimed and believed.
Building new
and existing relationships
with unbelievers.
Preaching the gospel
to strangers
and those
who are building relationships with.
Exposing the people
we're on mission to
to the family of believers.
Introducing them
to other believers.
Getting other believers
in their life.
And then making
disciples who make disciples.
And then rinse, repeat,
rinse, repeat,
rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat.
Keep doing it over
and over
and over again.
And if it ever
starts to get stale
or if it ever
starts to get boring,
that just means
you're not being led
by the Spirit.
Maybe you need
a fresh feeling
of the Spirit.
Maybe you need
to get some
fresh Spirit creativity
of God
just to speak to you.
Maybe it's time
to forgo some meals
and just pray and fast
and say,
Lord,
what do you have for me?
I want to get after it.
Because only when life
will soon be passed
and only what's done
for Christ will last.
I don't want to just
coast to life.
I don't want to
waste my virility
on just a bunch
of things for me.
I want to use
the God-given
passion that you've
given me
for the purposes
of the kingdom
and get after
doing exciting
exploits for God
and believing that
he's going to come through.
Which means I'm going
to pray and fast
for the mission.
I'm going to pray
for boldness.
I'm going to pray
for love.
I'm going to pray
for God's heart
for the lost.
And I want to report
regularly on victories.
If there's any victories,
please make sure
you have an obligation
to all of us.
Tell us.
If something good
happened,
tell us.
If an answer
of prayer happened,
tell us.
If someone's coming over
or you're getting
together with someone
who's lost,
tell us so we can
be praying.
You should be
regularly jumping
on your missional
community threads
and saying,
hey,
so-and-so,
pray for them.
They're coming over
or I'm getting lunch
or whatever.
I'm doing this or that.
We're going to get a drink
or so-and-so's going to,
we're going to meet up.
Whatever it may be.
And then when there's victories,
tell people.
Tell people.
Just the other day
when I was hearing
that testimony
and my brother
who just said
to that one guy,
today's the day
of the salvation,
and he's like,
I got saved that day.
I was just,
I was crying.
I was like,
yes!
That's awesome!
And they led
two other people
to the Lord
at their place of work
as well since then.
That's awesome!
You know why
I need to hear that?
Because
I have preached
the gospel
to a bunch of people
in my workplaces
over the years
and I don't think
I've ever seen
one of my coworkers
get saved.
So you know
what ends up happening?
You start to think,
do coworkers
get saved?
But then when
one of your friends
says,
yeah,
four coworkers
got saved,
you're like,
coworkers get saved.
It does happen.
This is good.
I want to keep
praying for this.
I don't want
to lose faith.
I want to lose hope.
I want to seek
and save those
who are lost.
And then I think
as we're doing that,
keep reevaluating,
keep thinking about it,
but I'm believing
in faith
that starting this week
with these three
missional communities
that God is launching
us into the harvest
field in a way
that is going to
cause us to reap
a harvest.
That's what I'm
believing for.
And I'm asking you
to believe with me
for that.
I'm asking you
to pray with me
for that.
And to realize,
too,
that some of the,
even the obstacles
to familial bonding
with one another
will be taken care of
when we get on
mission together.
We'll be taken care of
when we get on
mission together.
Some of the greatest
ways to bond with
people is to do
very difficult,
adventurous things
together.
That's mission.
Okay?
That's us.
When you watch all
the old war movies,
you have people who
are totally different
than each other
becoming really close
friends.
Why?
Because of the mission.
They accomplish something
bigger than themselves
together.
And when you accomplish
seeing the kingdom of God
come on earth as it is
in heaven together
with a group of people,
it binds you together
like a family,
like no other thing can.
And that's an important
thing to remember.
Lastly, in closing,
this is not optional.
Mission is not optional
for us.
We've got to be on
mission.
We've got to be on
specific mission to
specific people and
places.
And I'm not asking you
to rush that.
I'm not asking you to
try to conjure anything
up.
But you don't have to.
He's the Lord of the
harvest.
He's the Lord of the
harvest.
He's going to give us
stuff.
He's going to speak to us.
He's going to, I mean,
even be asked, Lord,
speak to us in dreams.
Like give us people that
we see in our dreams
that all of a sudden
we like run into.
Like, whoa.
You know, give us
specific strategic ways
to get in people's
lives.
Like that's how any
missionary would think,
right?
Like I said at the
beginning, that Spurgeon
quote, every Christian is
either a missionary or
imposter.
We got to think like a
missionary.
Think, all right, I'm
here.
I'm in this part of town.
How am I going to get
in front of lost people
to give them a hearing
for the gospel?
Amen?
Let's stand.