B2B (Part 12): Series Recap

Introduction

1) Why Are We Here? (Mission)

Our Mission is to Help the Lost Be Saved and the Saved Be Disciples!

To Help the Lost Be Saved…

We know that the only way a person can be saved and forgiven is through Jesus Christ!

Matthew 16:13-19 - “Who do you say that I am?”

This is the greatest question and everyone must answer.

How we identify Jesus matters; How Jesus identifies us matters; and What we identify with Jesus matters.

If we are going to be the church that helps the lost be saved, we need to make sure that hold the same regard for right and wrong that puts heaven on display and puts Jesus as the savior of our souls on display.

To Help the Saved Be Disciples…

At two different times we explored the Great Commission in our series. This was the first instance.

We established that true disciples, who experience salvation in Jesus, recognize the authority of Jesus!

They follow His instructions; they worship Him; and they yield to His authority (even in times of doubt).

We also discussed how disciples are active in following.

There is such thing as passive discipleship. Being a disciple is not for spectators, but participants who actively follow the Holy Spirit’s direction.

Finally we looked at how disciples are continuously growing.

Our lives are to become immersed and consumed in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We are to learn all that Jesus commands and teaches with the help of the Holy Spirit.

We are to not only learn them but also obey them.

This is why we exist at Talihina First Baptist Church: To Help the Lost Be Saved and the Saved Be Disciples!

2) Where Are We Going? (Vision)

Our Vision is to Be An Outpost of God’s Kingdom that Spreads His Gospel and His Influence Throughout the Valley and Beyond!

An Outpost of God’s Kingdom…

When we broke down this part of our vision we explored the concept of Kingdom vs. Castle.

We established first that what we want to promote is Christ’s Kingdom…not our own.

1 Peter 2:1-11 tells us that the Kingdom culture of Christ is different than the culture of the world. Therefore, in order to properly be an outpost of His Kingdom, we need to seek out and adopt His Kingdom’s culture, laying aside the worldly culture we are prone to.

We said that as help the lost be saved and the saved be disciples, our ambition is that in the near future, moderate future, and distant future…when the people of Talihina hear First Baptist Church they immediately think of people who are all about Jesus!

…That Spreads His Gospel…

In this message, we started in Galatians 1:1-9 and established that we must make sure we spread the real, true, Good News…not a fake or false Gospel.

We looked at what the Gospel is not…it is not a good ole boy gospel built on American-Christian culture or works…it is not a prosperity gospel that is ego-centric and built on consumerism…it is not a social gospel that tries to find salvation through political activism…it is not a cheap grace gospel where by we pray a prayer, get dunked in some water, and then only think about Jesus at Easter and Christmas if we have the time.

The Gospel is the euangelion!

It is the message that we are sinners in need of a savior! Our rebellious hearts put us in opposition to God and leave us guilty, deserving death and condemnation.

Romans 5:8 “8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus, being the incarnate Christ who lived a perfect and sinless life, willing took the penalty and shame of our sin to become the atonement for our sin. He died. He was buried. He rose again from the dead three days later displaying power of sin and death.

Our enemies have been defeated and therefore we can live!

We embrace and experience Jesus’ forgiveness and redemption when we repent from our sin and repent to Jesus as the Lord of all things, especially the Lord of me and my life!

This is the Gospel… this is our only hope… this is the message, we as an outpost of God’s Kingdom, seek to share everyone in our community.

…That Spreads His Influence Throughout the Valley and Beyond!

In this message we turned to 2 Corinthians 2:14-17; 5:14-21 and explored what it means to be the aroma of Christ among those being saved and among those who are perishing.

To spread His influence means that we seek to make Him known, to make Him seen, and to make Him heard.

Spreading His Influence means that we embrace and live as Christ’s ambassadors, no longer regarding anyone according to the flesh, but rather making an appeal to all to be reconciled to God!

We also seek to make our personal lives and actions reflective of His Kingdom, so that how we live doesn’t contradict our appeal for reconciliation!

3) How Do We Get There? (Motto)

Our Motto is Jesus Today, Jesus Everyday, Jesus Always…in All Things!

In this message we looked at Acts 4:1-20, where Peter and John were used by the Holy Spirit to heal a man at the gate of the temple. They were arrested for preaching in Jesus’ name and told to never preach Jesus again…

They’re reply “Whether it right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard!”

In this moment they chose Jesus over culture and over comfort! Why? Because only Jesus can save.

We embrace the motto Jesus Today, Jesus Everyday, Jesus Always…in All Things because this the only way we will help the lost be saved and the saved be disciples. This is the only way we will be an outpost for God’s Kingdom that spreads His Gospel and His influence throughout the valley and beyond!

4) What Truly Matters? (Values)

Our Vision is to Be An Outpost of God’s Kingdom that Spreads His Gospel and His Influence Throughout the Valley and Beyond!

As we looked to get back to the basics of who we are, where we’re going, and how do we get there…we established 5 value statements that help us stay united and to help keep us from getting distracted by personalities or personal agendas.

1) We Value God’s Word!

2 Timothy 3:1-4:4 helps to see that It is our Source for Saving Knowledge.

It is our Standard for Navigating Life.

It is our Security for True Reality.

2) We Value Dedicated Prayer!

John 15:1-5 tells us that we are to abide (remain) in Christ. Prayer is essential for this!

Dedicated prayer is the determined and dedicated display of seeking a heart connection with God.

Prayer is not about impressive words, its about sincerity of seeking to connect our heart with God’s heart.

3) We Value Authentic Discipleship!

In Luke 14:25-35 Jesus gets real about being His disciple!

We explored how discipleship is more than admiring… is establishing Jesus as first and foremost… is counting the cost… is staying the course.

4) We Value Christian Fellowship!

In Acts 2:42-47 we looked at how Christian fellowship is distinct from worldly fellowship in that is built off of a determined devotion to one another.

We also looked at how our dedicated devotion to Christ drives our devotion to one another, and how we live out that devotion to one another put’s Christ on display for the lost to truly see the difference Jesus makes in a person’s life!

5) We Value Global Missions!

This was our second look at the great commission within this series.

We established that we value global missions because Christ commands it, the Lost need it, and it is a distinctive of who we are as Southern Baptists who invest together in giving, sending, and going to spread the gospel across the street and around the world!

If we will keep our eyes on these 5 values, we will remain united in why we exist, where we are going, and how we will get there!

CLOSING

If you are on board for this journey together as His Church let’s stand to our feet!