The Church - 2025 - Part 2 - A Sent and Spirit Filled People on a gospel centered mission.

GREET EVERYONE-

Good Morning Loved Ones

If I have not had a chance to meet you; My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship.

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Open it to Matthew 28 and verse 17 today as we continue in our new teaching series exposing what God says about His Church -

The Word, the Bible, AKA the Scriptures, tell us what the church is.

In general terms the Scriptures say

The Church - is a People

A saved people

A regenerated people

A people who were once dead in their trespasses and SIN but who are now made alive in Christ Jesus.

A people who are God’s workmanship, Created in Christ Jesus, To walk in the Good works that God had prepared in advance for us to walk in.

A People

A Spirit filled people!

A sent people All with three different names or titles in the Scripture.

Church - Which means the assembly of the called out ones. which means multiple together

The Body of Christ - with its many members working together - Again assembled

3. the Bride of Christ -

Who is the Church?

We are the Church!

PRAYER OVER SERIES

Is that every one of us would be

reminded,

renewed

or maybe for the first time it would be revealed to us

by the Holy Spirit through the Word

what the Church is and we would come to realize what the church is not.

I’m Praying that Through this series the answer we so fervently give “We are the church!” will become more and more of a reality that you and I live out together.

and as we live that out

we would experience an ongoing and possibly huge change in our lives and in the lives of others around us.

and That change is that we would all be changed from consumers of Church to Disciples of Jesus who make up the church.

over the past 70 or so years, we have managed here in in the western church, to make consumers and very few disciples of Jesus.

Fans and not devoted followers!

Jesus, does not call people out of the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous light, just to secure a seat in heaven and between here and there what ever happens happens -

you see loved ones

If you read the Auto Biographies of Jesus called the Gospel of Matthew Mark Luke and John.

Here is what you will find about Jesus -

And this may upset some of you because I am going to reveal something about Jesus that you might not like all that much.

Jesus was Real good at chasing off people who liked him.

People who wanted to get to him because He did something for them and they like him becasue of it.

People He considered FANS -

I heard it said recently that He intentionally chased off the fans so He could keep the ones devoted to Him.

Jesus chased the fans off - Because Jesus wants devoted followers.

PRAYER OVER MESSAGE

IS that as we grow in understanding our Identity in Christ - and that if we are His followers we are His church and we are to designed to be a part of each other lives..

That we are a Spirit Filled, Sent, Gospel Centered People

His - His body, his Bride - His assembly of the called out ones - His Church

And as HIS church HE has given us a gospel centered Mission.

ENGAGEMENT –

Mission Statement are an interesting phenomenon.

Seem like the idea of mission statements came about as a thing about 50 or so years ago now.

IT started with Companies having a mission statement or developing a mission statement.

It helps define why the company is a company.

and the Idea of a Mission Statement the purpose of a mission statement.

What a mission statement is supposed to do is define what you as a company are supposed to be doing.

and it also may give some broad definition and articulation to the How you are supposed to do it.

it is an evaluator of decisions and of behaviors.

You take the decisions you are making as a company and you reflect it against the mission statement and it helps you evaluate those decisions as to whether they all help you accomplish the mission of your organization.

It also helps evaluate behavior and results -

Do the employees actions support the accomplishments of the Mission of our company or not

and if we look at the results are we accomplishing the mission, doing things that by reasonable thought would lead us to accomplishing the mission or not.

If the answer is no we are not accomplishing the mission then the behaviors and the decisions we make must change to give us a result of the mission.

Then several years ago the Idea of developing a personal mission statement came rushing though our culture and people began developing their own mission statements.

And this gave people purpose and definition as to why they were here and it also allowed people to put up save boundaries and all kinds of things that felt good and healthy.

Here are some personal mission statements of some people you may have heard of.

1. "To make people happy" –Walt Disney

2. “To serve as a leader, live a balanced life, and apply ethical principles to make a significant difference.” –A CEO of Campbell Soup Company

3. “To have fun in my journey through life and learn from my mistakes.” –Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group

4. “Not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” –Maya Angelou

6. "If something is important enough you should try, even if the probable outcome is failure" –Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla

10. “I shall not fear anyone on Earth. I shall fear only God. I shall not bear ill will toward anyone. I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.” –Mahatma Gandhi

You see what a Corporate mission statement or a Personal mission assumes is that the people possess the skills and talents and abilities to accomplish the mission.

and all of them corporate or individual they are all drafted, designed, determined, and defined by self

Self interest, Self preservation, Self advancement, Self aggrandizement or Self achievement.

TENSION

This Idea of a personal and individual mission statement can have some interesting effects when Jesus calls us to faith.

You see what Jesus does -

Jesus takes away our self imposed identity and our Self defined Mission.

Jesus gives us a new Identity A gospel Centered people

and Jesus gives us a now mission a gospel centered mission

Our mission is no longer ours to draft, design, determine or define.

AS individuals - it cannot be our mission that we define and design and

And certainly not as His assembly of the called out ones. His church!

You see the scripture says a couple of very phenomenal things about this.

WE are not our own we have been purchased at a price.

Luke 9:23 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 14:27 ESV

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

and in this passage of text Jesus will not only address this Personal Mission Statement issue He will explain He has the Authority to do so.

BACKGROUND

Here is where we are in the time line -

Jesus has been crucified -

HE has been buried in the tomb

The Stone rolled in front and sealed and guards placed there.

two days later on the third day

Stone rolled back by the power of God - Guards asleep.

Tomb empty

He has been raised from the dead -

He has Appeared to the disciples and to many others -

Ladies in the Garden -

Two guys on the 7 mile road to Emmaus -

Disciples in the Upper room -

Doubting Thomas with the whole place your hands into the Hole in my hands and side conversation -

Jesus appeared to all of the disciples and said to them to Meet Him later Galilee and He will meet them-

He actually used the ladies named Mary to convey this message about meeting Him in Galilee.

Jesus tells them to go to a particular mountain and when they get there Jesus Shows up.

VS17

Says “and when they saw Jesus they worshiped Him BUT some doubted”

I have often wondered what the doubting was about.

What were they doubting?

You might read this and think - They were doubting was this really Jesus.

Well by the time they get here most of not all of them have heard or known that by personal appearance to all of them and others.

So WHO might not have been the question.

So if who is not the questions than “What” has to be the question -

What is the question? - Exactly What is the Question.

You see some of the disciples were doubting - All were worshiping but some were doubting -

I think they were doubting what do they do now?

Jesus had been with them for over three years -

Everywhere that Jesus went they went - They ate with Him they camped where he camped - They saw the miracles and even did a few them selves and then He spoke of His death and that happened and then He spoke of His Resurrection and that Happened.

I am sure some of them were thinking What do we do now?

You see some of them were so unsure as to what they would do after his death and especially after his resurrection that some of them had gone back to their old life of fishing for fish.

Remember what Jesus promises of we follow Him - He promises this to them when he called them and he promises this to us when we follow Him

Jesus’ very words - “Follow me and I will make you a fisher of men”

Here is the phenomenal part -

Up and until this point , Jesus has seemingly chased more people away than he has gathered.

So far Jesus has only gathered 12 closest disciples and he actually at this point lost one - So Fishing for men is not on the top of their thinking -

So one of the conclusion that can easily be understood is “they were doubting what is next”

What are we going to do now?

What is the rest of our life going to be like?

What purpose is there to all of this?

VS18

When Jesus begins to Speak it is very interesting what He says.

This type of wording is very rare for Jesus to Speak.

In fact before Jesus was crucified He only used this type of language only 4 other times.

3 of those times He used words Like

“all things have been handed over to me by my father” Or

“the father has given all things into my hands”

The Specific speech about him having authority is only recorded for us one other time before Jesus death and Resurrection.

In his High priestly prayer - He says

John 17:1–2 ESV

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

But what is happening here is Matthew 28 Verse 18 is Jesus begins his commissioning of the church -

now we call this passage of Scripture the Great Commission

Commission what does that actually mean.

The oxford Dictionary says:

a Commission is

an instructions, command or duty given to a person or a group of people.

It is an order for something to be produced

the authority to perform certain tasks or duties.

a group of people charged with a certain function

To order or authorize a person or people to do or produce something.

What is interesting is how Jesus starts this dialog.

He says:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”

I mean think about it.

If you are wondering what you should do with the rest of your life for the rest of your life and someone shows up to tell you what to do with the one life you have it would be great to know that the person who is giving this life long purpose and mission statement to you has the authority to decide what your life should look like.

and Jesus begins with this -

He begins with the declaration that He is LORD and he is in charge.

and Here is what He says.

VS19

Go, therefore…

Some of you may have heard that the word “go”in the original language is in the passive tense.

as in “as you go along”

This is true.

It is written in the voice that would directly say “as you go”

It is interesting that none of the disciples took this command in a passive way.

They all and the church that is described with in the pages of the Bible did not respond to the commands of Jesus in a passive way.

You read this account of what happened and you would find with in the pages of this text a powerful divine aggressive movement of God’s people by the very hand of God using his people to see and save the lost.

It is a remarkable miracle of the power of God.

It is interesting that Jesus inserts the word “therefore”

The Therefor - is there for to tell us what is there and what it is for.

Here is what Jesus is saying - Directly -

becasue I have all authority to inform you what to do with your life.

Go make disciples!

Make followers of Mine from “All nations”

We have spoken of this before and maybe you have heard this -

All nations does not mean geographical areas marked off by boundaries.

What it means is people groups.

Jewish people are a people group.

Poor people are a people groups

Single mothers are a people groups.

Upper middle class, home owning, neighborhood dwelling Americans are a people group.

Foster parents and people in the foster community are a people group.

The deaf are a people group.

There are people groups all around us.

you neighborhood is a people group!

VS20

Jesus said “make disciples of his from among all of them.

and so its then a liner steps - Make a disciple - Baptize them - Teach them to do what Jesus said to do.

SO Here is what A follower of Jesus looks like according to this text.

A disciple is a student AKA follower of Jesus.

The idea back then of Following was not just walking behind someone.

Matthew is a Jewish man and He writes His gospel to Jew People and remember Jesus was a Jewish person as well.

Disciple in the Jewish community was someone who intended to learn form the person they were following.

TO become like that person.

This was especially true in the Jewish community.

You see Jewish children were educated by Rabbis in the language and reading and memorizing of the old testament.

And the goal was to memorize the old testament like your rabbi had memorized the old testament.

Follow your rabbi

Jesus says that His disciples are His followers - his students that have some characteristics.

The are baptized and can baptize -

Baptize them in the name of the Father son and Holy Spirit.

AND the instructions were to “Teach them to observe or to do all that i have commanded”

Well these were Jesus closest disciples and He just said “teach them to do all that I have commanded” which means by pure simple implication These disciples know what Jesus commanded and were going to be able to teach others how to do what He commanded.

What did Jesus just tell them to do?

GO - Make disciples from among all people groups!

and if you read the rest of your bibles that is exactly what these guys did.

So one of the Characteristics of a Jesus follower is they DO what Jesus commanded and they teach by doing what Jesus commended and part of that command is to make more disciples.

This takes time -

This takes effort

This takes love of people

love of Jesus

but it also takes something that these disciples didn't have yet and we don't naturally have.

The Spirit of Christ in us.

You see Then Here is the promise and it is an IF THEN promise -

You go into the world and make disciples of all people groups, you baptize them and you teach them to do what I have told you to do.

Here is the deal “I will be with you”

Now this last phrase created a sort of Paradox.

Jesus has just told the disciples there guys whom He is about to launch into this culture changing mission.

That he is leaving and sending another.

So it is a great thing we have the whole council of scripture to look at so we know what is what.

We need the Holy Spirit to actually do what jesus commanded us to do.

This is what happens in the book of acts and it is wahat Jesus promised -

But there is a Catch!

He promises here in Matthew that if we make disciples, baptize them and teach them to do like wise becasue Jesus commanded it.

Then He will be with us.

And he also promised a Helper

and Here in Acts 1 8 Jesus tells us what that all looks like.

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

You see when this Help come upon us at our salvation We receive a new life

we receive a new mission

and we receive power to live that mission out!

Power - To do what?

Power to be Christians -

Christian was not a term of endearment.

It was a Slur

It was a demeaning word used first in a city called Antioch.

and What it meant was that there was this group of people that were so fervent about living out the mission of Christ that they weer characterized by representing Christ and making Him known.

This is what Paul is speaking through in His second letter to the Corinthian Church.

He is a devout follower of Jesus.

He expresses His concerns to the Corinthian church about them about being fans but not being followers.

2 Corinthians 5:14–21 ESV

14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

THE GOSPEL CONNECTION

Many of us here and on live stream this morning come to a building and we raise our hands and the songs get us emotional and we say we love Jesus and He loves me and we think that what He did on the cross secured my seat in heaven and between here and there its what every my heart desires.

You see Jesus calls us into something much more than “whatever in this life” as we are also secure and safe from His wrath in the next.

He calls us - and Saves us and Fills us with His Holy Spirit to empower us to live for Him as He sends us into the lost and dying world.

With a new Identity that we do not get to decide what that is

But he also sends us into this world with a mission that is not ours.

You see loved one it is the Love of Christ that compels us - It is the Love of God that Controls us.

We are to no longer live for ourselves.

I heard something over the last couple of weeks from another preacher that I'm going to expand on this morning.

It is so very interesting that if you read the Biographies of Jesus in Matthew Mark Luke and John.

Jesus was very good at chasing away those people who liked him.

Jesus would chase away the people who liked him so that he could lead the people who were devoted to follow Him.

You see Jesus never wanted to gather fans - Jesus wanted followers!

And there is a huge Eternal difference!

you see loved ones - We are not saved Jesus followers becasue we raise our hands in worship.

WE are not saved devoted disciples becasue the words of the worship songs make us cry or a sermon touched someplace of emotion and stirs us up.

We are not a disciple of Jesus becasue we Study the Bible or the latest bible study about what someone else says about the bible.

We are not saved disciples of Jesus becasue we go to church - or give - or serve or even pray.

You are a disciple, a devoted follower of Jesus when you come to a place where you so deeply believe, trust, and experience the love the Person of Jesus Christ has for you and His Love compels you in such a way that

no matter what He asks you to do -

No matter what He asks you to believe -

No matter where he tells you to go.

That NO matter what it changes -

NO matter what it costs -

NO matter if it makes sense -

You are IN!

You see loved ones - Jesus ran off the people who were fans so that He could lead the ones who were fully devoted followers -

and loved ones know this - The Scripture says He will ultimately run off the people that just like him and are his fans -

and He will keep the people that are devoted to Him becasue they know how much He loves them and their life as controlled and compelled by His great love.

He calls the Church of laodicia LUKE WARM - I'm going to SPIT YOU OUT

STICKY POINT

APPLICATION OR IMAGINE

So we must turn to Jesus - and we must let the love of Jesus and the person of Jesus Christ to draft, design, determine, and define for us what our mission an purpose is

For it is in Christ Jesus that we find our Purpose in this life and through Him that we are recipients of His grace in the next.

PRAYER TEAM