Welcome to 2025
Notes
Transcript
Sermon
Sermon
Key Passage
Key Passage
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Introduction
Introduction
Wow! 2024 was an eventful year!
I was able to reflect on that fact this week.
We have spoken a few times over the last months about our need to stop and remember what God has done.
By stopping to remember:
we can celebrate what God has done,
we remember what God has done,
we can give glory to God for what He has done, and
we can worship as a response to what God has done.
Year in Review:
Baptisms
I want to start out here because I feel this is the biggest representation of progress in our church
We hold to the vision that we exist as a church to win the world for Jesus, one person at a time.
That means in every relationship, we look to point people to Jesus.
As a result, 21 people were baptized this year.
It’s a little more difficult to keep track now because people are getting baptized in small groups, camping trips, and in other ways.
It actually seems more Biblical this way.
It is rare to find a church that is growing because people are being saved.
Praise God we get to participate in that.
Small Groups
Vision: We exist to reach the world for Jesus, one person at a time
Mission: We accomplish our vision by creating Biblical disciples in relational environments
I think every church wants to win the world for Jesus…at least every church should believe that.
But we want to spread the message of Jesus into the world by means of the method of Jesus. Discipleship.
We have grown to around 32 discipleship focused small groups in our church.
That doesn’t include a number of “off the radar” intentional discipleship groups that are simply people investing in the people around them.
I want to give a very special thank you to the people in this church who have:
Opened their home as a host
Joined a group and stepped out of “learning” into “growing”
Much of my life, maturity was about learning more
But I’ve found that maturity is about application, growth and relationship
I cannot accomplish God’s purposes in the world without relationship
It is hard for many to step outside of their comfort zone of “This is the way I’ve always done it” and embrace a different path. Not a new path. This has been the path since Jesus.
Stepped up as a facilitator
To you who lead or co-lead a group, I thank God for you.
I know you likely feel that you aren’t equipped for your role.
Good
None of us are.
My part, your part, God’s part
You understand your part is to love that person, listen to that person, present the truth, and not solve their problems
Their part is to respond and listen
God’s part is to be the solution
That leaves us in a place to simply be there and listen and love.
Myself
Another large event from 2024 was our summer.
I took a sabbatical for the first time.
It was difficult for me to step away, because this church has been a massive part of my life since 2006.
I didn’t realize it, until around the 2nd week of Sabbatical, but I was tired.
During that time, our elders stepped up in a massive way.
I asked them not to maintain the church, but to lead the church while I was gone.
And boy, did they lead!
I came back and we had rough draft drawings of a new building and they changed the name of the church!
Some might be upset with this, but I was overjoyed!
Elders, you led and you led well.
I was able to step away and rest, read, grow and spend time with my family.
This could have been a speed bump for our church, but it ended up being a catalyst for growth.
Property
One of the biggest changes this year was when we entered 2024, we owned a piece of property in Newport with a house on it.
It was initially our plan to build on that property, but when we saw that it was going to be too small and challenging to dig into the mountain for our building, we were blessed by Bobbie Ward who offered us 10 acres in Oldtown.
This year, we completed the sale of our Newport property and purchased the Oldtown property.
And for the first time in our churches history, we have a path forward for a building.
However, I’ll give this to you at a gut level.
I have never wanted a building if it was just a step for us to be more comfortable or secure.
A building cannot be our path, it must be God’s path.
A church can be a church whether it has a building or not.
We’ve been a rare church that has proven that.
But in 2024, God has made it abundantly clear that it is time for us to take this step.
He has made it clear through Bobbie making this property available
He has made it clear by closing down every other meeting location, including Parkside church
He has made it clear by bringing the people we need at the steps we’ve needed them to help direct is down this path.
And primarily, He has made it clear that the impact we feel God is preparing us to have in this community. We need space available for us to build the relationships and serve those that God brings in a number of different ways.
We have prayed and sought wisdom and this is our direction.
Clarity in action steps toward vision
Lastly, we have always held the same vision of reaching the world for Jesus, one person at a time
And doing that by creating Biblical disciples in relational environments
But now, we have action and steps toward that vision.
A building
As we just said
Expanded ministry
We have some ministry opportunities that will be presented to us that will propel our impact for Jesus in this community
Building a Legacy campaign
There has been a tremendous response in our Building a Legacy building campaign.
Nearly 70 households committed to giving money over a two year commitment to help us move forward in our vision.
Thank you!
But we will not win the world for Jesus by having a building
We will accomplish our vision by doing the simple things He has given us to do.
He is expanding the opportunity to do those things with these resources, but we don’t change what we do, nor who we are.
We are His church.
All of this is very exciting to communicate
I want to frame all of this us in a way that we can turn all of this to worship
Every baptism— God’s work
Every small group— God’s direction
Every life change— God’s hand
Every opportunity we have in front of us— God’s path
This is not celebrating Real Life Selkirk.
This is celebrating God.
This is His work in our midst.
May this service be something of a milestone that we do not move forward without looking back and remembering what God has done.
Sermon
Sermon
I wanted to take a few minutes and share with you where we are as a church.
After our service today, we have a Direction Team meeting.
In it, we will go into more detail about some of the opportunities and updates that are before us as a church.
As was read, our passage is Matthew 28:18-20. It is a short passage, and I would like to take a different angle than normal as we look at this passage.
Jesus had walked with His disciples for over three years.
He had went to the cross and died
He had been laid in a tomb and resurrected on the third day
Between His resurrection and his upcoming ascension, they had climbed a mountain with Jesus and he made this statement to them:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
As Jesus is about to leave them for good, He leaves them with this command.
Go make disciples.
I want to imagine being a disciple in that moment.
They had walked with Jesus for a long time.
They had learned from Him. They had seen amazing things with Him.
And now, Jesus gives them an explicit command to go make disciples.
What I want to do today is navigate that command.
What did the disciples understand when Jesus said that to them?
What did they hear, based on their context?
It had to be something of a helpless feeling in that moment
Jesus did so many amazing things and taught so many unconventional, but powerful truths in their time.
Was Jesus asking them to go and do the same? No.
He was simply commanding them to go and make disciples.
Our sermon today has more to do with the METHOD of Jesus and how it connects to the MESSAGE of Jesus.
In our time, we completely understand the necessity of holding to the truth.
The truth is under assault in our world. Jesus didn’t just speak the truth, He WAS the truth.
He said, John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus is the truth, and He is the only way to the Father.
This is something that we must hold as a part of the Gospel.
But Jesus didn’t run around northern Israel spitting out statements of truth saying,
“You’d better understand my truth, because I am heading to the next town”
There was a method that He communicated the truth.
This method was discipleship.
Discipleship has become something of a buzz-word in our time
It seems Biblically clear that Jesus demanded discipleship.
But where our problem lies is in the question, “What is discipleship?”
This is where there are a variety of definitions, books, ideas and practices.
We are going to take a journey through the Bible and I want to make the case that God’s plan of discipleship is through the path of relationship.
Discipleship is not simply teaching.
If it were simply teaching or transfer of truth and information, it would be called teaching.
Jesus would have said, “Go into all the world and find students, baptize them and teach them to know what I have told you.”
But this isn’t what Jesus said.
There is a difference between teaching and discipleship.
Teaching is included in discipleship, but they are not the same.
We were never meant to follow God alone
There is a thought that our walk with God is personal and private. Sure, go to church and learn, but in the end, it is just me and Jesus.
To grasp this, we are going to take a very short trip through the OT.
I want to address this very briefly:
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
This passage is usually communicated in the context of marriage
You will find this is true of a number of passages that we will use today.
God created Adam and He was alone with God in the garden of Eden.
Was the garden perfect? Yes.
Was God perfect? Yes.
Was Adam perfect? Yes. This was before sin.
A perfect God in a perfect garden with a perfect man were in a perfect relationship.
Adam had the “God and Me” thing down.
What did God say?
It is not good for the man to be alone.
God said, “Just relationship with me is not what I created you for. I created you for relationship. Relationship with me AND relationship with others.”
That included Eve in that moment, but as we will continue this tour of the OT, we will see that it includes all other humanity as well.
understand that i can go into significant detail with a ton of verses here, but I am giving us the snapshot of this point.
The next passage I want to highlight for you is the 10 Commandments.
Now, I am not going to read the entire Exodus 20 for you today. That would take a while.
But here is a summary:
Before Moses went up on the mountain, God said, “I’m going to meet you on the mountain. I’m going to give you some laws.”
These laws were the laws that would show them what God wanted in His chosen people and his creation.
All of the 10 commandments have to do with relationship
We might think of them as rules to follow. Doing so misses the point of these commands.
Relationship is the point of the commands.
10 Commandments
You shall have no gods before me
Worship of something else breaks relationship with God— inconsistent with love
You shall not make or worship idols
Breaks relationship—Inconsistent with love
Do not take the name of God in vain
Harms relationship
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy
Honors relationship
We get so caught up in “What is the Sabbath and what are the rules?” The point of the Sabbath is relationship with God.
This is something that Jesus highlighted with the religious leaders of his day. The point of the Sabbath is setting time aside to know and grow in relationship with God.
It is a relational command
Honor your father and mother
Builds relationship— with others— Loving
Do not murder
Kills relationship
Do not commit adultery
Destroys relationship
Do not steal
Breaks trust and relationship
Do not lie
Breaks trust and relationship
Do not covet
Harms relationship
These aren’t rules to follow to keep a good score with God. These are tools used to build relationship with God and with each other.
I highlight this at this point of the sermon, because Jesus was asked which of these commands was the most important.
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
The teacher of the law asked Jesus, which of the commands is the greatest?
This had obviously been a very critical argument the teachers of the law had with one another.
Jesus responds by summarizing all of the commands of the law.
Love God
Love each other.
Discipleship was never meant to be alone
Jesus had validated the point of the law.
It was not about how well you followed the rules. The baseline of the law was love.
So we look at Jesus and ask, “What did this view of God’s law have to do with Jesus making disciples?”
It was everything.
We can look at Jesus’ model of discipleship and see how His view of relationship was the vehicle for how He made disciples.
This is the beginning of that journey...
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Matthew 4:19 Definition of Disciple
A disciple follows Jesus (Head)
A disciple is being changed by Jesus (Heart)
A disciple is on mission with Jesus (Hands)
This was the disciples first view of what it meant to be a disciple.
In their experience, discipleship was something they would have been somewhat familiar with.
There were rabbis with disciples during that time.
There was a phrase that they Jewish people would say about their rabbi/disciple relationship.
“May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi”
It meant that you would be following your rabbi so closely that the dust he would kick up would get all over you.
Also, you would adopt the teachings and teaching perspectives of your rabbi.
This was called a “yoke”
It puts new meaning to the phrase, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”
The point of this is that the disciples would see more about Jesus than a certain set of theological perspectives.
They would see God’s view of humanity and His plan for humanity.
They would also see what Jesus’ method to reach a lost and dying humanity would look like.
This is why we see this passage of Jesus’ summary of the 10 commandments as important.
Jesus plan of redemption involved us loving God and loving each other.
In fact, Jesus went on to share with His disciples:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Jesus even said this of his disciples:
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command.
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
is this relational language?
It is!
It was the relational love of God for humanity that caused Him to send His Son into the world to die for our sin.
The relational love of God that He has for us is the same relational love He desires for us to have for one another.
The truth of God is intended to be communicated through the love of God.
However, this was not simply a generic love for all mankind.
He does love all mankind, but God knows all mankind.
Look at the model of Jesus relationally
Did Jesus preach to the crowds? Yes
He fed 5,000 men in one setting
But was His ministry to the crowds?
In part, but gathering crowds was not His primary target
Did Jesus have a smaller group of followers?
Yes! In Luke 10 we see that Jesus sent out 72 in groups of 2 to do ministry
Were these something of a smaller group for Jesus? Yes, they were mobilized into ministry.
He didn’t send out the 5,000, He sent out the smaller group.
12 disciples
Even smaller than the 72, Jesus invested His ministry and life into the 12 disciples
They saw Him, traveled with Him, listened to Him.
He build deep personal relationships with Him.
This was the relationship that Jesus defined as discipleship
3 disciples
In the Gospels, we see that Jesus even had an inner circle in the 12
Peter, James and John
Jesus modeled that smaller groups equal deeper relationship
Deeper relationship equals maturity as the truth of God is presented.
This brings us back to the primary text for today.
What did the disciples hear when Jesus told them, “Go make disciples?”
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This was not interpreted as a command to install a new theological perspective into the world.
I was a command for them to go and do what Jesus had done with them.
it was love and relationship while teaching to follow Jesus in their lives.
The early church made disciples through relationship
As we move into the rest of the New Testament, we see that the Holy Spirit comes and empowers the church to follow Jesus.
We can see in the rest of the New Testament that the message of the Gospel being presented in the context of relationship is paramount.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
This is another verse that is often used at weddings.
Does this sound relational?
But this is not a marriage verse. this is a verse written to a church from an apostle.
There is a vehicle the truth is intended to be presented through. That is relationship.
Let’s take a look at another verse:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
The Holy Spirit empowers us for relationship.
Why? Because God desires for us to go and make disciples. The avenue that disciples are made is through relationship.
God empowers us relationally so that His truth and His nature can be seen.
Conclusion 1
Conclusion 1
Work backwards from:
Sinful world. God’s hope to redeem the world
God sent His Son
Sent His son to love, build relationship, and demonstrate God’s heart, grace and mercy.
This was demonstrated in Jesus ministry and plan for discipleship.
This is what we talked about a few weeks ago in John 17.
I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
God gave Jesus the work to make disciples.
God’s plan for redeeming the world of sinners and broken people is not through miracles, not through great Biblical teaching, not through flashy outreach ministries.
It was through discipleship.
Which, simply put is what He created us for, what He modeled and what He asks us to do.
We cannot shortcut the truth, but we must present it as Jesus commands us to present it.
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Conclusion 2
Conclusion 2
In 2025, may we not lose perspective as a church in discipleship
May we step into a building, but realize that it is a tool that will give us the opportunity to further do what He has asked us to do in discipleship.
This is who we are.
Real Life in Action:
Head- In a few words, what stands out to you in Jesus’ call to discipleship?
Heart- Do I believe the command to make disciples is for me?
Hands- Am I growing as a disciple? Discipler?
