It is Time for the Church to Go to the World

Our Theme for 2021 is “Redeeming the Time.”

We are living in some crazy times.

It even snowed in Texas last week. If that’s not a sign of something, I don’t know what is!

However, I believe, as has been prophesied, that there is going to be an opportunity for a great harvest of souls for the Kingdom.

I want our church to be riding the wave of what God is going to do. So let’s get out ahead of it.

Let’s review what we have said thus far:

We started by talking about the Kingdom; recognizing God’s rule and authority.

Then we talked about the importance of obedience; actually doing what God would have us to do.

We learned that we are all reporters and that sharing our testimony is the best way to spread the truth about Jesus.

We talked about making disciples who make disciples; that’s multiplication and that’s when you know you’re in revival.

We also talked about how all of that needs to be done in a spirit of love and creating a community where we become all that God intended us to be.

Last week, Doug Kozub talked about making disciples by getting into the Word of God and then bringing it into our interactions with people.

So I just have one more questions: How does all of this happen?

I don’t know if we would say it, but I think most of the time we think that God is just going to sovereignly save the world.

If you study the Bible, you find that He uses people - imperfect and sometimes reluctant people- but there are always people involved in God’s plan.

God empowers His people to take His message to the places where it has not heard.

This strategy requires full participation- it is the mandate for every believer.

God sends people.

Matthew 9:35–38 ESV

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Pray for laborers.

When I say that God sends people, I mean ordinary people, not superstars.

Praise God for people like Billy Graham and Rienhart Bonke, but I think we can fall into the trap of thinking that if we are not as good as them, or your favorite TV preacher, that you should leave evangelism and discipleship to the “experts.”

But what if we could mobilize more people to do the work of evangelism and discipleship?

Which is more effective, mass crusades or one-on-one discipleship?

“Each One Win One” was a book published by Stan Toler and Louie BUstle in 2006. The idea is to mobilize every one in the church to do the work of evangelism and discipleship. If you were to lead just one person to christ and disciple them over the course of a year. The following year both you and they do the same thing. You are effectively doubling the number of disciple-makers each year. At the end of ten years you will have led over a thousand people to Christ and discipled them to do the same. At the end of twenty years you would have reached over a million people.

The so called “experts” are just people who have responded to the call of the Holy Spirit.

You have the same Holy Spirit.

Jesus says to pray for laborers; people willing to do the work.

Has it ever occured to you that if you pray for laborers for God’s harvest field, you might just be the answer to your own prayer?

Be moved by compassion.

If you’re like me, those numbers overwhelm you.

If we stay focused on the numbers then our witness feels rigid and mechanical, like we don’t care about people just numbers.

OK, so lets focus on people then. What do you see?

I see people just minding their own business, just like me.

This is what Jesus saw:

Matthew 9:36 NLT

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Next time you look at a person, ask yourself, “Who is this person?”

They are a person created by God.

God loves them like a son or daughter - do they know this?

In fact, God knew them before they were born and has a plan for their life? Are they aware of it?

God sent His Son to die for their salvation. Are they clueless?

What do they think their life is about?

Making money? Success?

Having fun? Education? Entertainment?

Maybe family love or loyalty?

What if any of those things were taken from them? Would they be able to find a sense of purpose?

Have you ever thought about living for a purpose greater than yourself?

Proclaim the Kingdom.

We are coming full circle because we started by talking about the Kingdom.

Having a Kingdom mindset means its not about how big our church is or how many people we influence. It’s not about getting people to follow us, its about us following God. Its about helping them see that they need to obey Him!

So all of this talk about numbers, multiplying disciples and methods for doing so; its not really about any of that. Those are means to an end.

Its all about God and His rightful rule and authority.

Its about seeing people set free from sin, sickness and bondage- doing the stuff that Jesus did.

Its more than just information and living a good life, its a supernatural encounter with God.

Sometimes our efforts get derailed when we get so busy with church that we forget about God.

Ironic, I know! But we can go through the motions and forget why we do what we do.

We can get distracted by so many good things and miss the truly important things, the one thing that God asks us to do; obey.

Our service to God gets twisted and becomes about us feeling good about ourselves- “self-righteousness” the Bible calls it.

But when we walk with God through the Holy Spirit, He keeps bringing us back to obedience and devotion and our labor for God flows out of that.

God empowers those who are sent.

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.”

The Holy Spirit - don’t leave home without it.

In the 1970’s, American Express credit card published what is considered to be one of the most recognizable slogans of all time. the idea is that you not travel without their credit card which is so widely accepted that you are sure to have access to money wherever you may need it.

Jesus essentially instructed his disciples to view the Holy Spirit the same way - he told them to wait until they had received the Holy Spirit.

If you have recieved Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit, but you can always have more.

Jesus promised that He would baptize, or immerse, his followers in the Holy Spirit.

Immerse implies more than just a little bit; its a state of being filled to overflowing.

So the whole purpose of sending the Holy Spirit is that Jesus followers would be empowered to accomplish His mission.

They were to be witnesses, just like we talked about.

Not just bearing witness to what God has done, but demonstrating through the power of the Spirit what God is still doing.

That is why Jesus wanted His followers to have access to supernatural direction, insight, provision and power.

Are you trying to witness from your own head or are you following the leading of the Holy Spirit?

How will you know the difference?

You will have practiced enough to recognize when you are moving in the Spirit, beyond your own ability.

You should begin at home with the people that you already interact with- that is your Jerusalem.

They were in Jerusalem when Jesus gave the instruction, so that is where they were to start.

You can start at home with your family and friends or the neighbor next door.

Where is my Judea and Samaria?

So if my Jerusalem is to begin at home, where is my Judea and Samaria?

Judea was the region that Jerusalem is located in and Samaria was also nearby.

Your region is the area in which you typically move around or do business.

It’s our county, our state, or you could say the tri-state region.

There are people everywhere you go that you meet along the way.

You can use those interactions to share the gospel.

Another thing about Judea and Samaria is that they were very different, even rival people groups, despite being so close.

We live pretty close to Pottstown where there are a lot of different kinds of people and you can find just about anyone in Philly.

We can be so close in proximity, but there are so many people right around us that we wouldn’t normally associate with.

So your Judea are those in your region who are like you and your Samaria are those who may live near you but are not like you.

How many people are around us that are so different from us that we don’t even think of talking with them?

Would you strike up a conversation with someone of a different race?

How about a different language? Would you make the effort to find a way to communicate with few words?

Would you talk to a Muslim or a Buddhist?

We send missionaries around the world, but the world is also around us.

Many of these people are lonely and scared - they long for someone to relate to them.

Want to know how to reach them? Just be nice!

You can practice being a missionary without leaving the region.

Pray for a country or people group.

So what about the ends of the earth?

In the first century context, the ends of the earth meant the Roman Empire which had extended communication and travel to the four continents which were then known.

Today we have trains, airplanes and internet.

You can travel anywhere in the world in a matter of days.

You can talk to people in remote villages live on the internet.

We are more connected than ever, but we also lack personal connection.

There is so much information and so many people to connect with that we tend to hold back and not form real relationships.

We “stalk” people; we view their posts, but we don’t interact.

If you are going to have meaningful relationships, you have to decide on a few relationships and make them a priority.

When is comes to missions, you need to know where you are called.

Diplomatically, the world is divided into countries, but socially, we are divided by tribes or people groups.

Start by asking God to give you the name of a country or a people group that you can begin praying for.

Learn what you can about these people so that you can pray more effectively.

Support a missionary who is able to go. Encourage them with you letters, prayers and finances.

If you have the opportunity to go on a short-term mission trip, do it! You will never be the same.

But don’t try to do overseas what you haven’t started to do at home.

Everyone participates in the sending.

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

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.”

When Jesus said “go,” He was talking to you!

I don’t know if you have ever thought about it, but the Great Commission was not just written for missionaries. It was for the disciples - all of them.

The late Keith Green used to sing a song “Jesus commands us to go.”

You have the gospel, the authority of Christ and the Holy Spirit; what did you think it was for?

Staying should be the exception (or by staying, do we mean doing nothing?)

Rather, all of us participate in the sending.

We are all involved in making disciples.

We are all going to our Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

We partner with those who can go to the ends of the earth.

But even more than just dividing up the tasks that need to be done, we are united by this common goal and purpose.

We are working together to pass on the good news of Jesus to others.

Disciple people in their own environment.

Here’s where we get it backward; in communicating the gospel, we tend to remake people in our image instead of the image of Christ.

In other word, consciously or unconsciously, we expect people to be like us.

There’s a whole subject for conversation when it comes to ministering cross culturally.

But what about when it is just people outside of our church culture? Do we expect too much?

When’s the last time you went into a place where you stood out in the crowd?

Have you ever been to a party where you didn’t know anybody? How long did you stay?

Have you ever ate at a restaurant where you couldn’t read the menu? Or even if it was in English, you didn’t know what anything was?

Have you attended a ceremony and didn;t know what to expect? Didn’t know when to stand or sit? What to say and when to say it?

That’s the way many people feel coming to church.

So why not meet with them in a neutral place? Or better yet, on their turf?

What this means is that if you lead someone to the Lord and you have a relationship with them, you are probably the best person to disciple them.

You don’t have to know everything, just begin studying the Bible together and come to me if you need help.

Teach them to reach their own people.

One last thing that needs to be said: get them to share their faith sooner rather than later.

Why do I even have to say this? New believers are usually eager to share their faith!

Sometimes, without realizing it, we get in the way by communicating, “you’re not doing it right.”

Yes. they are going to make mistakes, maybe do or say thing that aren’t very “Christian.”

Go easy on them. You didn’t start out perfect either.

The really important thing is that the first few years of a being a believer is when you they have the greatest potential for being able to reach the greatest number of people.

They may not use the right language, but people can relate to them.

People may see the struggle or have set-backs, but they will also see the difference that Jesus makes in their life.

They might not have all the answers, but they have all the questions - keep them coming!

Too often in the church we have insisted that people be more mature before they share the gospel and it doing so we loose the momentum of what God is doing in their life.

I was challenged by the T4T model of church planting; They teach people about the great commission in the very first lesson of their discipleship model.

The first thing that new believers in China learn is how to share the gospel and make a list of five people to begin praying for.

Is it any wonder that they are estimated to be the fastest-growing church planting movement in the world today?

Action steps:

Lets pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His field. Remember that the fields we are praying for are not just far away, they are all around us. Do you think that God might call you to be the answer to your own prayer?

Ask God for a region, a country or a people group to begin praying for. Consider that there may be people from that country or ethnicity in our own area. Who is reaching the people that you are praying for? How can you partner with them?

Let’s do what we just heard. Write down five names of people who you know that need to hear the gospel. Begin praying for them. Let the Holy Spirit show you what to do next.