From My House to the World: One Mission

Introduction

Dismiss Children

Personal Introduction

So glad you are here this morning.

I’m so thankful for our hopitality team that helps create a welcoming environment and experience each Sunday you attend our services.

Today is a great day, we are beginning our missions emphasis month: From my house to the World.

Faith Promise Giving.

The title of todays message is One Mission.

As a believer, we have one mission to live out for Christ and that mission doesn’t have an endstate like a typical mission.

Most missions you go on come with direct orders, processes, and and end state. Something that is to be accomplished. A deliverable if you will.

However, our mission as believers doesn’t have an endstate that we will see this side of Heaven.

The mission is to disciple everyone.

That’s really what worldwide evangelism is about. It’s about creating disciples, or followers of Jesus that develop followers of Jesus.

Are you a follower of Jesus this morning? Are you intentional about making followers of Jesus?

Are you here today and you don’t believe in Jesus? I’m glad your here and pray that you are blessed by todays message. I also pray that you will consider trusting in Jesus as your Savior.

Knowing Jesus is the driving motivator of us living out our mission.

That mission is found in

Matthew 28:18–20 KJV 1900

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Matthew 28:18-20

Exegete: This passage is taking place after Jesus has resurrected, been seen of more than 500 people, on earth for about 40 days, and is now about to ascend back to Heaven.

He has gathered his disciples and leaves them with this closing remark.

All Power is His. Power over life and death. Power over all things.

Because of this, go and tell others.

Tell them about me. baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to identify with me, and continue teaching them everything I have taught you.

It’s important to understand this verse as it is written in Greek to better see the application here.

Notice where the Bible says “Go ye therefore” When we look at this statement we see a verb telling us to move from this location to another. However, it is in the greek language that we see it is not a one time event, it is not a specific location, or a specific time or day, it is meant to be understood as “As you are going…As you are living your life, make this apart of it.”

Kenny Buchard writes- “The point in the Great Commission is not to “go”; that is not the imperative in the passage. Rather, we are to disciple as we are going. The imperative is to “disciple.” Kenny Burchard writes, “The Greek word is a verbal command, not a verb followed by a noun. In other words, the text does not say ‘make disciples’ (verb/noun) like ‘build a house’ or ‘grill a steak.’ It does not say to verb a noun. It says simply… ‘DISCIPLE!’ which is like saying ‘RUN!’ or ‘JUMP!’ In reality, you can’t ‘make’ a disciple. You can only disciple. So, in the great commission in Matthew, disciple is not an outcome (like a product that you end up with), but it is rather a process that you are doing. The grammar is not telling us to make an object. There is no noun in the text at all. There is only a single imperative verb. Only a command. Only an action word. Only something to do. And what is it? It is ‘disciple!’””

Being a disciple isn’t a life that a person can impose on you. No one can or should force you into a relationship with Jesus and living for Jesus.

A relationship with Jesus starts when we come to Him willingly accepting ourselves as sinners and trusting in Him as our Savior.

and it’s from that point we are filled with the Spirit and not conformed to this World.

Illustrate:

Have you ever asked yourself what being filled with the spirit looks like, vs what being conformed to the World looks like?

Ever asked yourself which situation you would rather be in?

I’ve got a quick demonstration that I’d like to get a couple volunteers for...

Toothpase…roller or ssqueezer

Go ahead and start squeezing that out.

This is what conforming to the world looks like. The world is always chanign, the circumstances of life will always be squeezing you and trying to force you into their mold, the people around you will always have expectations of you.

and when they are done with you…they throw you away and your all spent...

However, Jesus said my yoke is light. Abide in me and I will abide in you. The Holy Spirit will fill you and work in your heart from the inside out. You can be transformed into the image of Jesus.

Apply:

You see the life you live is determined by your faith. When you have your faith settled you can determine who is going to have an affect on you and how you will live.

When you are more concerned with keeping up with the Joneses than living for Christ, you will find yourself poured out and spent. However when you allow the Holy Spirit to work, and you yield, He doesn’t empty you…He fills you. He provides rest, he provides longsuffering, He helps you know the grace of God because obeying Him allows you to experience God.

Experiencing God comes from living for God. Living for God, means living out teh great commission as a disciple or follower of Jesus.

Jesus told the disciples, He tells you and I to go unto all the nations and impact them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are praying that you will decide to go from your house to the world this month as you prayerfully consider not only your impact on worldwide evangelism but also your impact on the spread of the gospel in your home, in your church, and in your community.

How do you have this sort of impact? You allow the gospel to impact you.

I. The Gospel can’t impact the nations through you until its impacted the heart within you

God isn’t after your pocketbook or your calendar. He’s after your heart.

It’s the heart of man that Jesus seeks to reach. The Old Testament is riddled with people that sacrificed in vain and were just checking the boxes.

The gospel of Jesus doesn’t have an impact on others through you if your heart hasn’t been impacted by it.

Matthew 15:8 KJV 1900

8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

Matthew 15:8

This is Jesus quoting the prophet Isaiah who is condeming the nation of Israel for their hypocrisy.

Our Gospel impact, locally and worldwide, is a reflection of our hearts being close to the Lord.

How many have heard people talk about change? The world’s going to hell. This generation…the next generation…that political party...

We sit and talk…we say somebody should do something…well folks…that what God said to. Somebody should do someting…You know…God says…I’ll go first…He sent Jesus

Then what? Now you go do something.

I wonder if God thought it through like this “I want them to do it…but I lnow they are weak..I made them weaker than me. They will need help. I’ll send Jesus and the Holy Spirit. IF they have faith in Jesus and yield to the Sprit…they can do great things. Yea…why wouldn’t they do that…I mean…I’m sending my own Son…surely they can tell others about me if they believe in me.”

Maybe an angel heard these musings and replied “God, dont’ you think they will fail you? They failed you in the garden. They failed you at the tower of Babel.”

God hears those words and response....”Yea…they’ll fail me. But I don’t love them becuase of what they do for me. I love them despite their works. I love them because of who I am…not who they are.”

When the Gospel impacts your heart, it will impact the world through you.

How do you impact the world though?

The Apostle John wrote in the letter titles 1 John about how we are to show love. And I believe that’s a great place to start with impacting the world, with love.

1 John 3:18 KJV 1900

18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:18

Exegete:

Let’s examine some word usage here

The opposite of deed is word and the opposite of truth is tongue.

To love in word and not deed looks like this

James 2:15–16 KJV 1900

15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

James 2:15-16

IF someone is hungry…give them food. Yes pray ofr them…but get them something to eat.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Then to love in truth and not in tongue is to show genuine love and not just say “I love you”

This is why sinners were attracted to Jesus. He loved them. He spent time with them. He met them where they were and brought them to where God had created them to be.

This angered the religious elite of the day. Those who found themselves better than others

Notice what Luke wrote:

Luke 15:1–2 KJV 1900

1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

Luke 15:1-2

Jesus lived out the gospel in action and was accused and ridiculed by the religious for it.

Illustrate:

I recetnly read a story about a young man that was walking down the sidewalk and saw another young man, both freshmen in high chool, and the one he saw was carrying all of his books home. This young man thought to himself “what a nerd, bringing all those books home on a Friday..isn’t there more to do.”

Some kids ran into him knocking the books out of his hands. The young man helped him uip and started talking to him. he learned his name was kyle and he had transerred from a private school to the public school.

The young man carried his books all the way home as they talked. He invited Kyle to play football with friends that weekend.

This small gesture began a friendship that lasted all 4 years of high school. These two young men became best of friends. Graduation was approaching and Kyle was the valedictorian of the class going to Georgetown to pursue medicine and the other young man was going to duke for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle had to prepare a speech for graduation and the day he had to deliver the other young man saw his nervousness and slapped his back and said “you got this.”

Kyle began his speech “Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach… but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.”

I stared at my friend in disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn’t have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. “Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.”

Because of one young man’s actions anothers life was cchanged.

Kyle was someone who was written off by his peers and others, but one man said…I’ll take acction.

Jesus chose to take action with those the religious wouldn’t give any time to and becuase of that they woudl trust on Him as their Savior.

Apply:

Loving in deed and truth doesn’t happen because you decide too. It happens because of what is inside you.

Being filled with the Spirit and allowing that to be worked out is what leads to love in action.

II. The impact on your heart is seen by what you do and say

Do people know you love Jesus? How are they supposed to know? They will know you by your love in acction.

The Bible says even a child is known by his doings…so are the adults.

I don’t want to ask you if you are saying or doing anything for Jesus…that is a symptom, that is a result of what has been done in your heart.

Are you letting Jesus work in your heart? Have you humbled yourself to the point of willful submission to Him to serve others?

To consider the states of their souls? To think of the impact of your deed and truth on their eternal lives?

How can you do that? How can you get your heart to the place where Jesus is impacting you?

Well, let’s look at a couple verses and see what the Bible has to say about this subject

Ok three verses within context and strung together I believe we can understand more what it means to have our hearts impacted by Christ.

Let’s start with James 2:17.

James 2:17 KJV 1900

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

James 2:17

Faith alone is dead. I believe in Jesus but I don’t do anything in his name. I don’t work, I don’t give, I don’t pray, I don’t serve, I just do my own thing.

James goes on to say in his letter that if you show him your faith without works he will show you his faith…by his works.

We see God revealing that faith without works shows no faith at all..

Then in John, Jesu says if we abide in him, He will abide in us.

John 15:4 KJV 1900

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

This is in reference to the vine and the branches of the vine that would produce grapes. Notice, that abiding in Jesus wasn’t just staying with him and not doing anything.

The vine would produce fruit, it would produce good works.

The vine was impacted by the branch and because of the what the branch did to the vine, the vine would produce fruit.

Then our last one…Jesus said

John 15:14 KJV 1900

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

John 15:14

Ye are my friends, my companions, my followers, if ye do whatsoever I command.

Do you notice a trend here?

There is a focus on works being produced. There is a focus on doing things with and for Jesus.

Now, let me caveat this and tell you that your acceptance from God, how much God loves you, and your salvation are not dependent upon the works you do.

You are also loved and accepted here wherever you are at in your walk with the Lord. My question is are you at the same place you were a year ago? a week ago? a month ago?

Growth comes when we exercise our faith. Our faith is exercised when we are uncomfortable with what we are being called to do.

Our faith is shown as we do it for Jesus and see Him come through.

Illustrate:

Ever had to teach a teenager to drive? I’ve worked with a few teaching them to drive stick. That’s fun. It could have contributed to my back problems but I’ll never know.

When they asked me if I would teach them I told them yes. Now what if I had told them yes, but never let them in my car?

Maybe I’d let them in the car. I;d even put them in the drivers seat but wouldn’t give them the keys…do you think they would believe me when I said I would teach them?

Now, did I believe in them? I believed in them, I saw them standing or sitting next to me and they were physical beings that were in existence but did I believe they were capable of driving a stick shift car. Of course I did…I just wouldn’t give them the keys.

What really happened, was I gave them my keys, I sat in the passenger seat, and I trusted that they could drive the car. It took time and instruction but eventually, all 3 or 4 that I taught, did it.

Now, answer me here, would I have ever known if they were capable driving the stick shift car if I had just sat in the car with them and never gave them the keys? NO

Would I have known they were capable of driving the stick shift car if I had just sat and talked with them and they with me? NO

The only way, I was able to know they were capable of driving the car was by giving them the keys and letting them go.

The only way you will ever know Jesus fully and the great God things He is capable of is if you will just sitting and talking and start saying and doing.

Becuase I was willing to give them the keys, I was able to produce other stick shift drivers. Good or bad, I was able to impact the world because I gave them the keys before I knew they could do it.

III. What you do and say isn’t about what you know, it’s about what you believe

I believed those young men were capable of driving my stick shift car.

Do you believe Jesus is capable of doing what he said he would do?

Would you like your faith to grow? Don’t learn more, do more.

Never stop spending time learnign and growing in your bibilcal knowledge of the the Lord.

But you will only know the Lord by living for Him not just learning about Him.

As we enter this missions emphasis month with a focus on my house to the World, would you let your faith be challenged to grow?

Would you consider taking a step of faith in evangelism in your home and making it a point to speak of and show the gospel to your family?

Would you consider taking a step of faith with your friends and speak and show the gospel to them?

Would you consider taking a step of faith in your community by serving through the church to impact those who come on property and those we go out to meet?

Would you consider making an impact on people you will never meet by praying for them and giving towards them?

From your house to the World, God can have an impact. He can’t impact the world through you until you allow Him to impact the heart inside of you.

Time of Response

How has God impacted you?

Have you thought about that? Think for a moment on all he has done.

Let’s take a moment and remind ourselves of who God is and what He has done.

Are you here and you don’t know Jesus as your savior? Woudl you like for the creator of the universe to impact your heart the way that Jesus does?