Commission: What Exactly Are We Building?

I came today with a warning and an invitation for Ambassador Church and for every person who hears this message.

The warning is this: DO NOT FALL ASLEEP.

The enemy wants to lull us into a spiritual coma induced by familiarity and disappointment

He wants to make it all Familiar

People

Rhythms, cadence, and schedule

Songs and the churchisms

He wants to fill us with Disappointed

grind of church service

the stubborn blemishes on the bride of Christ.

the wide gap between what I claimed to believe and who I actually am behind closed doors.

“mature” Christians who act like spoiled children.

the dog-and-pony show of church ministry.

I warn us to reject a kind of Christianity in which we love our weekly church fix but continue to orient our lives around our wants, our needs and our desires.

Having preached and received a fresh impartation of the Jubilee, it is time to contend with the first executive order released through Marvin Rogers.

I went back and wrote it down.

We defy the orders of the enemy. We will not bow down to his evil devices. God has not called you to be in a snare. We have not been called to walk in darkness. Aren't we the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus? Didn’t He give us the victory? We are the apple of His eye. The power of life and death are in our tongue. We defy the orders of the enemy. Our God has given us the victory. It is time out for being confused and being doubtful. You know you are! You know who you are! Now it's time to step up.

I also came with an invitation.

The invitation is to join Jesus in building His church.

We are not after what has been called “successful church” in 20th and early 21st century America.

I’m talking about the real mission of the church.

When we look at the scripture we will see that it is something radically different from much of what we see in modern American church.

Matthew 28, the resurrected Jesus commissions His disciples and gives them specific instructions on how He plans to bring into existence a distinct community, a holy and messianic people…a “church”.

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I want to preach a sermon called Commission: Understand What We Are We Building

PRAYER

The emphasis in this familiar passage is on making disciples

It’s the only imperative

All the rest are participles

Going, Baptizing, Teaching

That’s the assignment…

Disciple-making (not convert making) is the mission

A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. (Luke 6:40)

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30)

Apprentices of Jesus learn from Jesus and become like Jesus and their whole lives, every dimension of their being is better off because of it.

Apprentices are learning from Jesus how to live in the kingdom of God, and to trust him with everything, not just their sin problem.

They are learning how to experience the life they long for and are made for, under God’s gracious, loving and good reign and rule.

Apprentices are learning to turn away from self and bring their kingdom into God’s kingdom. They are learning to let him have the final say over their lives.

As they restructure their lives around him, he gradually transforms their inner being in Christlikeness.

They actually become more like him.

They don’t obey him because they have to or because they are trying hard; obedience flows out of the new heart God has fashioned within them.

What we have—by and large—in the American church is Christianity that cannot be found in the scriptures.

People accept Jesus, but they don’t trust him for much beyond the forgiveness of their sins.

Their character, values, relationships and daily life remain un­altered by their professed devotion to Jesus.

What, then, does it take to make disciples of Jesus?

The rest of the text creates the blueprint…the vision of what we are building.

4 quick descriptors or characteristics of a disciple-making church

A Disciple-Making Church Is Inspired by Victory

Bold Expectations

Free Proclamation

A Disciple-Making Church Is Embedded in Life

“Going” or “As You Go”

This is not a command to leave where you are and go somewhere else to make disciples. (Surely, God calls)

This is not a where statement, this is a how statement

Disciple-making happens in the going

Beyond Sunday meetings

How do you run a business, live with a parent or a spouse, participate in politics, engage with culture

IF YOU ARE ONLY A DISCIPLE WHEN YOU ARE HERE, THEN YOU ARE NOT A DISCIPLE.

A Disciple-Making Church Is Immersed in God

“The name” is describing the reality

This is where the glory comes in

Jn 17:5: And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

What was God doing before God made us?

Enjoying ultimate reality…trinitarian unity and love.

Just a little further down, He prays this: The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me (Jn 17:22–23)

Experience with God + Surrender to God brings you into the Glory of God.

Moving our experiences with the Trinity more and more into the open so that they can be shared

And we bring our little kingdoms under the dominion of His kingdom until we have true unity

It is this kind of unity will manifest God’s glory in the earth. (not a unity based on similarities, mutual interests etc…) but shared communion with Him

A Disciple-Making Church Is Grounded in Truth

Our beliefs and feelings cannot be changed by choice

We make a mistake to attempt to generate faith by going through the will.

We become very manipulative.

But, we can draw our attention to the things of God…we can think about different things and think in different ways. And pray that our beliefs and feelings will be steadily pulled in a godly direction.

The job of the church to wade into the details of a person’s life…into the intricate places of the soul, where we live and bring God’s wisdom, and revelation into that place

This is not a church growth program. This is a disciple-making movement.

We are not about decorating ruins. We are raising a remnant.

THE CHURCH IS THE PLACE WHERE WE HELP EACH OTHER TO GROW MORE AND MORE LIKE JESUS.

Build This House is not about getting more and more people in this room.

Build This House is about getting the people in this room to become more and more like Jesus in every dimension of our lives.

The best “outreach” is real “in-reach”

Start prospering…really prospering…and people will find out about it and show up.

And we can do it…because He is doing it and we’re really just joining Him in the work.

“I am with you always”...A direct and literal translation, “I AM WITH YOU ALL THE DAYS”

The easy days and the hard days

The the days of raucous joy and the days of unbelievable sadness

The lonely days

Are ready to join the disciple-making movement like this?

Discovering Faith?

Recommitting your life?

Ready to sign on (become a member).