Reach the World

This morning I want to speak on what I believe God is calling the Church to.

How we are to move forward in the coming season.

Because I believe God is calling his church to WAKE UP and to fulfill the great commission — TO REACH THE WORLD

The purpose of the Church: Worship - Equip - Reach

(START WITH WINS!)

Start with praising what they’re doing — the pointe, trunker treat, the food bank, Jason and streaming, the growth coming to the area, the lady that moved here from the women’s conference.

We are really in a prime location. It’s crazy! I believe it is the hand of God.

We are called to reach the world

CONTEXT

1 Corinthians 3:1–3 ESV

1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

I think one of the biggest dangers to the world today are Christians that are born again in their Spirit but still carnal in their mind.

They aren’t ready. They can only take milk — not real food.

Every part of our life is to be transformed by this Gospel.

I don’t get to define what love is

justice is

sexuality is

gender is

I live by the Word of God’s definitions - not my own.

That’s what it means to be mature. We are growing - we are being shaped by Christ.

Carnality - not living God’s way - will keep you spiritually immature

We are in process.

I was saved - I am being saved - and I will be saved

Justified - Sanctified - Glorified

And can I say process has very little to do with what situation or circumstance you are in and a lot more to do with how you engage with the environment God has placed you in.

It doesn’t matter what gym you attend if you never work out

It doesn’t matter restaurant you go to if you never eat

And it doesn’t matter what church you attend if you never engage with God and the people of God

Being a Christian is free — BUT TO LIVE AS A CHRISTIAN IS COSTLY

It is COSTLY to become a living SACRIFICE

Romans 12:1 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

C’mon it is time for the church to mature - to wake up - TO GROW

not for some numbers game - not for ego - not to build up a pastor’s name - not to build up a denominations name - we are not going to become some seeker sensitive bullcrap church just so we can appease culture - NO WE ARE IN THE BUSINESS OF REDEEMING CULTURE!

It is time to grow because we are going to plunder hell and take back every square inch the enemy has tried to steal from the Church.

I’m not having it anymore!

It’s revival AND reformation!

It’s revival IN THE CHURCH and its a reformation OF THE CULTURE

There is this notion in the church today that Holiness is achieved by protesting and picketing everything that appears worldly and outside of our preferences — and then judge those that don’t live by our preferences.

Hear me — Holiness has a lot more to do with what I say YES to than what I say NO to

It is my YES that empowers my NO — Not the other way around.

I am a married man so all my romantic relationships are settled …

I don’t go up to every woman and tell them NO — I gave my YES to Paula and that YES made the decision for me for everyone else.

How I treat and interact with women today - AS A MARRIED MAN - is all filtered from my ONE BIG YES to Paula

I say YES to Jesus and I am empowered to live Righteous

I say YES to the true Gospel and it empowers me to walk in maturity

Let me just say this — I love that we are a part of the community. I love that my dad is a part of city boards and counsels, I LOVE that we will have a presence at Trucker Treat on halloween

WHY?

Because the enemy doesn’t own one day, one event, and he doesn’t own one square inch of this town and I refuse to have such a small defensive theology that we don’t reach people out of the fear of what overly religious people might think

I’m not celebrating halloween — I want to share LIGHT in a dark place and create pathways for people to encounter the presence of God

To the small minded Christian everything becomes pagan because they serve a little God and a big devil.

We are Christians — It’s our job to redeem the world! To go and make disciples! To reach the world!

I will not hide out in the church while our nation and our culture are going to hell in a hand basket!

I will not sit back as new age, postmodern, occultic, demonic practices take place in my backyard and confuse and lead astray my generation.

Name me one place that has gotten better by Christians leaving it!

The problem is so much of the Church has adopted this view that our faith can be a secret and people will understand it

The problem is there can be this belief that “well, us Christians need to pull away from culture, pull away from society, go build a gated community, and wait for Jesus to come back.”

NO. That is not the great commission.

Go INTO the world - the schools - the white house - your workplace - Hollywood - college campuses - THE WORLD

We can end up living not under authority of the true Gospel - but under the authority of preference.

Taken wisdom issues and created laws from wisdom issues.

Treated OPEN HANDED issues like CLOSED HANDED issues …

So what happens? We no longer function as the Church and we end up operating as a club.

We become a gated community

We don’t reach the world - we only reach ourselves

Let’s let secondary issues be secondary and primary issues be primary and let’s win people for Jesus!

The Lord is returning and it is time to wake up, open our mouths, and speak the Truth in Love

It starts with loving our neighbors.

That (evangelism) has been the foundational principle of [true] Christian expansion ... new followers of Jesus bear witness of him to others, who in turn become disciples and repeat the process

-D.A. Carson

Its amazing to me the amount of Christians that will sit back and condemn culture and then hide in their bunker waiting for Jesus to return.

They won’t invite their neighbor to church but they’ll shame the church down the street for not believing the exact same

God commanded YOU to go into all the world and Preach the Gospel

Please hear me in this — it is not either/or. It is both/and.

We need a shallow end and deep end.

Church is a hospital and a home.

The Church is a family FIRST! The family of God

We are not a 501(c)3 first — doing humanitarian efforts first — a nonprofit first

We are a family first! But it is a family of adoption!

We are in the adoption business — and I don’t care your background, what sin you’ve committed, where you’ve gone, what you’ve seen, The Spirit of Adoption is here - THE HOLY SPIRIT IS HERE - to welcome you into the Family of God

And you and I are recruiters for this adoption agency. Haha!

I love the story of the women at the well …

God used this imperfect woman to bring this village to His perfect Son: Jesus

God isn’t waiting for you to be perfect. He is just waiting for you to be willing!

John 4:39–42 (ESV)

39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Their response is not your responsibility. Salvation is not our job.

You lead, you introduce, we open our mouths — JESUS SAVES.

Let’s not be surprised when the world acts like the world.

Let’s act like the CHURCH - Worship God, let Him form us, share Jesus — God will do the rest!

Think of Daniel or Esther… in culture but not defiled by culture.

We are not OUTSIDE of culture AND we are not CONFORMED by culture

We are not OF the world but IN the world FOR THE SAKE of the world.

You will never reach people you despise. You will never reach people you do not love.

The gospel doesn’t need your help to be offensive.

It is offensive enough without you adding an edge to it.

Don’t sanitize the Bible and don’t add an edge to it

The Gospel is offensive enough without your help

How are we going to disciple this world? …

Experience does not equal discipleship. — It can equal salvation!! But not discipleship

Jesus doesn't disciple people anymore

God uses PEOPLE through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit

Philippians 1:21–26 (ESV)

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

There are many examples in Paul’s letters where Paul expresses his desire to be with them. He is truly a pastor.

You are pastored BY A PERSON. Your spiritual authority comes from a pastor. A person

And in the same way — the lost will be won to Jesus THROUGH A PERSON.

Through you and I

Discipleship happens - we reach the world - when you OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND SHARE WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN YOUR LIFE

Discipleship isn’t passive it’s active