8:30am - Sunday Service - John Craft - 10032021

here gentlemen okay wow i'm sorry well know uh dog oh everybody's getting really quiet [Laughter] well good morning church it's so great to be together this morning i want to just welcome you this morning say hello to those joining us online we're glad that you are here and we'd love to connect with you we do that through connection cards we have the physical paper cards and the seat back in front of you one of our ushers can get one of those from you we use those for prayer we use those to uh to answer any questions you may have about our our ministry here and uh we just uh we would love to be able to pray and connect with you so i invite you to stand with us as we worship is [Music] we worship the god whoever more will be he opened the prison doors he parted the raging seas my god he holds the victory there's joy in the house of the lord there's joy in the house of the lord [Music] today in the house of the lord our [Music] we shout out your prayers we sing we sing to the god who heals we sing to the god who saves we sing to the god who always [Music] [Music] joy in the house of the lord there's joy in the house of the lord today but we won't be quiet we shine our true praise there's joy in the hearts of the lord [Music] we were the presidents [Music] let the house of the lord sing free is [Music] we won't be quiet [Music] all you are all that you've done [Applause] hey man man please have a seat mr jeremy you get so quiet so quickly i was actually going to have you guys do something before you sat down but i can let you do it while you're seated you know one of the things we used to do pre covid was we would greet one another and everybody would turn and shake hands and and then we went to elbow bumping and fist pumping and doing all that i want you this morning because you people always sit right here and you people always sit right here okay caleb you wander but that's just what you do i want this side over here to pick out somebody over in this look at them make eye contact wave to them and you over here pick somebody over here say good morning and if you're online i don't know what to tell you but it's good to see you this morning or you get to see us you know it's difficult in this time to really get together with people and i i want to encourage you to make an effort to do that we get so isolated so easily and so maybe you people over here really need to go meet these people over here because they're really nice people because i usually wander before and after services so anyway it's great to be in the house of the lord this morning and worship him and if you're visiting with us online it's great to have you as well and we hope that you're blessed and encouraged today we've got some great things to talk about i am extremely excited there's a lot of things that are going on in our in our church family we want you to be aware of that our community closet which is one of our biggest outreaches uh we have a we have a time this week where you can do some sorting of the close uh that happens this thursday at 1 pm in the chapel we would encourage you if you got some time come and help it's a great time to fellowship with one another and also serve the lord guys we have a men's breakfast coming up this saturday morning you've been waiting for it you've been talking about it you've been wanting to come it's this saturday wives you're probably going to have to remind them it starts at 8 a.m and then they're also going to do a work time afterwards so you don't have to work but it really is a good time to enjoy one another's company again and serve the lord so we would encourage you to do that and then we ladies ministry is putting on a very special bridal shower for faith bruhman that's also coming up this saturday at uh nine it's excuse me it's at one in the afternoon october 9th here so uh make yourself available to that as well we have a ministry that is restarting once again and it's got a different name it's the epic epic and that is what is it see if you say it then you'll get it we're going to have a lunch coming up on the 14th and i do need to have you sign up for that we're going to have a great time of singing and worshiping the lord and enjoying one another's company in the foyer there's a place that you could sign up if you have questions about it you can give me a call at the church and i'd be happy to tell you what we're going to do and what we're looking forward to do in the future so yeah give me a call one last item you were probably aware hopefully by your surroundings that you realize october is always a special month at red and christian fellowship it's our missions month and so this morning we're going to be talking about missions a little bit but one of the things that we did last year that worked really well and i'm excited about doing it again and that's the harvest of hope food drive on the last sunday of this month as you come into the church parking lot you will see up front the good news rescue mission truck out there and we're going to be receiving goods from you to help stock their pantry it's been a difficult year for them to keep food supplies where they should be and so we just want to encourage you to be a part of that you can drop that off in the morning we're going to have a people out there before services and after services so we just want you to be aware of that and be a part of that we we love that ministry and we want to uh encourage them and to be a part with them so keep your eyes open for that and remember that and you can plan ahead so i'm going to open an award of prayer and then we're going to continue with some other things that i'm excited about talking about so let's pray together father we are so grateful for your goodness and your mercy and the way that you meet the needs of of us as a church family the way that you have met the needs of our missionaries around the world this year and father we pray that even as we talk about the missions ministry of reading christian fellowship lord we want you to receive all the honor and glory you are such a great god and we love you and we worship you in jesus name amen one of the one of the things that i'm extremely excited about is the fact that this church has been a missions church for so many years and because of the efforts of of our church our youth ministries we've had people from our own congregation go into full-time uh missions work i have a quick video i want to show you and then i want to introduce one of our missionary partners so watch this video so again teach beyond is a wonderful ministry and i'm going to invite our partner where are you andrea i thought i saw you here somewhere there we are right down front would you welcome andrea craddock andrea i have to admit i'm extremely proud of uh she is a product of reading christian fellowship she came to christ here and she's gone on many of our mission trips through the years and she has been with teach beyond now 10 years that amazing i i really want to sing her praises for a minute this last year has been a very difficult year as we're all very well aware of andrea chose to stay in prague and to continue to serve while this pandemic was going on and um teach beyond has a wonderful missionary care support group and i had a gentleman from back east that gave me a call and was telling me how much they appreciated andrea andrea stayed there were many teachers that had to go home because their funding dried up so teaching spots became void there were administration spots that became void and andrea filled all those gaps and they are so grateful for her and i just wanted to share with you how much they appreciate her and how much we appreciate her so thank you andrea for your faithful service she's home on a short short furlough so to speak she'll be here through christmas at least but you've got some exciting news and and why don't you share a little bit about that would you yeah um i'm really excited to be here it's um actually this is the first time in years i've been able to be here with the flags up for missions month so i was telling jerry the other day how excited i am to be here for missions month um but one of the things that i've noticed with teach beyond over the past 10 years is that there are more and more schools that are opening up in countries where it's not safe to be openly christian and one of the things about teach beyond that i love and why i've stayed with teach beyond is their commitment to transformational education not only for the students and the families but also for the community and so what that means is that we have a number of schools who can't work with organizations that have even the word christian in their name and one of the things that you all have at least seen is the word accreditation attached to schools it's a very important essential part of our schools that allows students from all different countries around the world to actually go to that school and to receive a diploma that lets other secondary education and even universities know that they received an education that's quality and so all of that is to say that i've been asked to serve schools that are in countries where it's not okay or safe to be a christian and to help them navigate the accreditation process in order that they can keep students from that country and from foreign countries in the school while also maintaining their accreditation status and also because we'll have to work with organizations that aren't christian to help them maintain that accreditation status we also want to work very hard to make sure that we help them as schools maintain that quality level of christian education that teach beyond really values so i will get to start doing that in january isn't that cool that's a it's a very prestigious position and we're we're we're glad you're able to do that uh steve and carrie wendell are still in prague that's where andrea has been for how many how many years have you been in prague now uh six six years in prague and so we still have a presence in prague there but one of the things that i really want to point out is teach beyond is so much more than education it really goes into the heart of the community and they share the love of christ they teach biblical principles they teach bible in in many of the locations and so it's much more than just education it is really a chance to speak into the lives of international students not necessarily just those that are from prague but international students that would come in so what what what kind of children do you see as far as your students who are they um so not just the students i had but really this is teach beyond schools in general you have students who are local so at my school in particular we would have czech students but also you have students who are from families of diplomats those who serve like at the embassies that are located there you'll also see a lot of students from different groups that have come to certain parts of the country so like in prague for example there's quite a large korean population so we have a number of korean students that come to our school and so one of the challenges that all of these schools face is learning how do we meet the needs of korean families who want to send their children back to korea to go to university or those korean students who then need to take who need to take that and then go study in the us or how do we help those american students stay in the czech republic and go to your university there versus um versus going back to the states and it's so important because education for children is still one of the main reasons missionaries leave the field and so part of what i do is not only working with students and families but the work that i do helps missionaries stay on the field and i think that's one of the things that's so exciting about teach beyond because they're not just interested in that part it's really this large overall holistic service i heard you were learning korean just for fun i'm not going to i'm not going to korea just just for fun okay [Laughter] well we love you and we appreciate you we're so grateful for all that you do andrew will be in the foyer at the close of the service if you have some questions for her we would certainly encourage you to seek her out and she'll be around and so you'll be able to see her so would you thank her for coming this morning thank you one of the ways well the way that we support our missionaries is through our faith promise and hopefully you picked up one of these when you came in this kind of explains the way that we fund our missions program here at reading christian fellowship there's a card inside that is just between you and the lord but it's something that we would encourage you to prayerfully consider how you might help support missions this year and it's not anything that i need it's not anything that we do a thermometer or anything like that to show the funds that are raised um but it is a way that you can physically look at something pray over it and wait on the lord to see what you might do financially for missions our missions is a totally separate budget from the church budget and so it's totally independent and i want to thank you up front we were able to meet all of our financial needs this year and even had a little surplus and in uh in this era that's that's an amazing thing and all glory goes to the lord but thank you for your part in that we have another missionary couple our partners that have served in uh england for many many years i'm going to invite the lincoln's to come up erin and diane and i'll have you grabbed up mike there you know talking about our church being sending church as far as i know the lincoln's were the first ones to actually be sent out of rcf as one of our missions people yeah uh aaron was our youth pastor here many many yeah just minnie i won't go four minis i'll just go three minutes and then diane grew up in this church this was her home church and you have served now in the british isles for how many years 28. they don't look old enough no no we were 12 that's my line at this point we were 12. what what is it that you guys have done in those 28 years i know but let's let's share with them some of the accomplishments that that you're looking back at accomplishments we definitely should say you know god's been doing some good things in england and we've had the privilege to participate with that uh we've we've worked in uh three different towns the first couple towns we were uh worked with our uh some of mission colleagues to start some churches in each of those towns and in most recently in the town of rugby for the past 11 years we partnered with a local church and we're part of their second site congregation but also worked town wide with some ministries taking the gospel outside of the walls of the church building because as much as we enjoy our sunday gathering and as much as we enjoy hearing and sharing the good news on a sunday morning the vast majority of folks aren't interested in their in terms of their first contact with the gospel sure to come on a sunday morning that's just kind of a strange thing to do but we know the blessing that it is to be together and we so we we go out there take the good news out where people are so they can see it and then they go um and then they begin to wonder you know what is it we do here on a sunday morning in a gathered worship so yeah those are some things we've done yeah i got to join aaron one night we start at 11 o'clock at night i think it was and went until four in the morning walking the streets of rugby helping those who had partied just a little too much to find their way home and you think how does that minister the gospel it's amazing it's amazing that touch and that encouragement that they get and the safety that they felt around street pastors and it opened doors that were amazing and so thank you for allowing me to do that uh i'm glad you survived i i am too i am too you guys are home uh kind of on furlough although living 28 years in england this probably is almost as strange as us going to england in some ways um what's your next step i know there's some exciting things in the future yeah so uh we have been on a kind of extended furlough um visiting partners and uh just this last month in fact we installed our younger son finn uh at george fox university so that's a big life transition for him but in january we will return to the uk which is home in a in a normal sort of daily way this is home in a particular way where we grew up but england is home and we're going to be moving to a almost but not quite determined location so we are we are refining and working with where we're going to go next and the vision is really that we're we want to join a young new church plant younger church planters to come alongside them and you know empower empower them and be a part of the team we want to be involved in that community outreach again things that are outside the walls of the church and we want to be bringing up other leaders uh to be to be really doing the the good work that we need in england yeah we talked briefly about street pastors but there are other ministries that you guys have been involved with that are nationally recognized in in england maybe you could share one uh the financial maybe peace yeah um christians against poverty cap is what it's called um it's a national ministry it's started by a guy who was in in a situation of unmanageable debt and he saw god get him out of that and he said there must be others that uh need to have this kind of encouragement as well and so he started cap this is some more than 20 years ago and so basically we have an 800 number that's known nationally and shared nationally and and in hundreds of places across the uk there are centers that are organized by local congregations and these local congregations work together and so if someone as we'd say rings up that 800 number and says hey my life's in chaos i know it says christian in your title but i'm still willing to have you come to my house i'm still willing to have you uh pour out my life and tell you why i'm in this pit that i'm in and is there hope and i mean what an opportunity we have just to you know again people are inviting us into their home we're not banging down the doors to get into somebody's house they're inviting us in and saying please is there hope and in the process of helping someone in their uh financial difficulty we've seen how god has transformed lives not only financially but also spiritually when they realize why would these people who don't know me come into my life not judge me for how i got into this hole but give me hope beyond again beyond just my financial difficulties helped me to recognize god loves me and god has a purpose for my life beyond amen that amazing well i'm going to pray and we're going to continue our morning worship and it's so great to have you guys here they're going to be in the foyer as well if you have questions for them if you have any missions questions at all you can call me at the church office i'd be happy i love to talk missions god is doing some incredible things and i get so excited when somebody's interested and wants to know you know what god is doing on the other side of the globe and across town so i try to stay in tune as much as i can with our partners and so if you have questions by all means give me a call let's pray together father you are so good and i'm grateful that even with a pandemic worldwide pandemic you are moving in fact you are moving in incredible ways ways that we have never planned but god your ways are always better than our ways and uh some of the things that we have seen transition this year that were so unexpected but in a positive way lord we are grateful that nothing stops you nothing and we are blessed to be a part of it thank you lord for using aaron and diane and andrea uh where you've called them we thank you for lives that have been changed for eternity because of their efforts i pray lord that you would bless them and that you would encourage them i thank you for this congregation that have been so faithful and i pray lord that that would continue to you be all the glory and honor in jesus name amen thank you so much would you thank them [Applause] well in just a moment we'll be led and taking the elements of communion uh if you if you didn't get those on your way in if you just raise a hand one of our ushers would love to to bring you some of those as we partake together as we join our hearts in worship as we work through this song i i pray that you would think about these words coming and confessing and bowing and coming before him as we prepare our hearts to remember what he accomplished for you and for me one two three [Music] [Music] [Music] my rest without you i fall apart you're the one [Music] that guides my heart [Music] lord i need your [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] oh god [Music] so teach my song to rise to you when temptation comes my way and when i cannot stand up on you jesus you're my hope and [Music] jesus you're my hope [Music] lord i need you [Music] to [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] you yeah [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] good morning rcf as we pause to take a few moments to remember what jesus christ accomplished on the cross i want to explain a new habit that i've been trying to form each week during communion for me personally over the last couple years it's become impossible for me to ignore that i am a pharisee i i struggle with it uh what i mean by this is i i want to earn my salvation when we study scripture we see that the pharisees thought that a person was going to be faithful to god and made good enough for god if they followed the law this list of rules and so the actual intention actually is that the list of rules the law would make it obvious that no one can equal the holiness of god and this law this list of rules was so unreachable it was cause attention in the believer a tension that could only be resolved by focusing on god but what do the pharisees do they focus on themselves and they strive harder and they strive harder and they try and earn that salvation so each week we gather here at reading christian fellowship and it's it's extremely important arguably the most important thing we do each week is to take a few moments and to observe communion but i have this issue you see i'm i'm a struggling pharisee i want to be a pharisee and so i'm going to say something that could be arguably controversial but i want to make a couple declarations first repentance is a really good thing it's a really necessary thing to repent is to to confess your sins and to turn away from your sins and change your life repentance is a good thing did you hear that i'm not sure repentance is a good thing for me during communion luke 22 19 and jesus christ he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he gave it to them saying this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of but who am i thinking about when i repent who am i thinking about when i repent do this in remembrance of it's not very complicated it's not very hard to understand but i'm sure not very good at it communion is about the goodness of god communion is about his love for us even though we're broken and so i fight my pharisee ness i fight my salvation by worksness by i try each week to no longer confess my sins during communion now i got the rest of the week right but for those three four minutes of communion i try not to repent because i want to draw my attention not on me but i want to draw it on the one who's worthy of worship i hope that makes sense please don't skewer me after the service so this morning i want to encourage you as we take the elements the bread which represents the body of christ that was crucified to pay for sins that he did not commit the bread and the juice which represents his blood that was shed on our behalf for the forgiveness of sins would you pray with me lord thank you thank you for loving us thank you for offering us a restored relationship with god the father through god the son and guided by god the spirit thank you for the cross thank you for the tremendous sacrifice that you paid to an often arrogant and prideful undeserving people thank you for showering your showing your power and love your authority over death and making evident your grace and mercy you are good you are holy you are generous and may you be the one we focus on may you be the one that we worship in jesus name we pray amen thank you caleb well as we continue to worship him i'd like to read to you from psalm 27 verses 13-14 it says i believe that i shall look upon the goodness of the lord in the land of the living it says wait for the lord be strong and let your heart take courage wait for the lord let's stand and worship him for what he is doing let's you are here moving in i worship you i worship you you are here working in this place [Music] you are here working in this place [Music] that is [Music] my god that is who you are you are here touching every heart [Music] you are here [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] keep is in the darkness by god that is who you are [Music] that is [Music] that is [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my god [Music] that is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh man i am so glad i came to church this morning it is so good to worship together thanks for being with us this morning my name is john i'm one of the pastors here at reading christian fellowship and i am thrilled to have been asked to be the keynote speaker for missions emphasis sunday yes so we are actually taking a break from our journey through the book of colossians and thinking about the mission of the church so if you have a bible you can turn to matthew chapter 28. matthew chapter 28 is where we will be camped out for the for the morning we will dive into this and see what jesus has to say about his church and so i'm going to take a moment i'm going to pray for us and then we'll get right to work but before we pray i just want to say andrea we are super super proud of you thankful for you and for the way god is using you and we'll continue to use you and aaron and diane we are so thankful for your years and years and years of ministry and just again looking forward to seeing how god leads both of you so you're in like these transitional times both of you and trying to to look to the future to see how god can use you is an exciting moment and so i hope and i pray that as as you take this time that you realize that god has great and amazing things for you and that god can use you for significant things for his kingdom's sake in england in the uk in wherever in the world you're going maybe it is korea andrea and and you just don't know it yet and you're going to show up there and you'll be like you know hey or have you say that in korean so uh but it is it is just so thrilling to be a part of your journey and so i want to pray for you guys as well god thank you so much for uh for using us for your kingdom's sake for your glory sake and and for uh aaron and diane for andrea as they are in this midst of uh transition and looking to see how how you are leading and how you are guiding and how you desire to use them for your purposes god i pray that you'd give them clarity that you'd give them vision that you'd give them hope and you give them excitement as they see what you can do through them in these new bold ventures now father as we take a moment we open your word together uh and and think about jesus and think about what he has to say about his church god i pray that you would give us open hearts and minds to understand that that the mission that you have entrusted to us is so much important so much more important than sometimes we even realize or think or consider and god i pray that you would open our hearts and our minds to how you would have us to live this mission out in jesus name amen amen i love i love being a part of a good missions trip i've been a part of dozens and dozens of trips have had the privilege of traveling around the world and seeing just remarkable things we've seen here over the last summer or the last few months several missions endeavors come from reading christian fellowship as we saw a team go to colorado and to serve a church in a community there we saw a team go down to work with gleanings as they prepared food that would be distributed around the world we have seen uh just recently over the last couple of weeks the mapes go to oaxaca mexico to see the work that is taking place there through foundation for his ministry and i have to tell you i'm very excited about that and i had to really slow down when i typed oaxaca that that doesn't just flow right out of your fingers personally i've had the privilege of traveling to some pretty incredible places traveling to eastern europe to work in romania and moldova to help dedicate a church that our church in phoenix had provided funds to build to go i work with a church in uh in moldova and kishnel moldova that was meeting in a former communist propaganda theater and to think of that thing that had been built to use for the kingdom's sake was just so amazing to see i had the privilege once of going on the shortest missions trip ever i went to uh the virgin islands to st thomas for one meeting one hour long i was there i spent one night in st thomas but i've been there and i saw lots of iguana and i accidentally drove on the wrong side of the road but that's a different story it's so incredible to be a part going to egypt and speaking to a pastor's conference spending time in istanbul turkey and working with a persecuted church and seeing if we could partner together with them to encourage them and every time i come home i tell lori oh lori it was so amazing we should totally move to quiche now lori we should we should move to timoshwara lori we should move to cairo and every time she's like um no it was a little different when i said we should move to saint thomas but there's just something about being a part of god's work because as you are a part of the mission's endeavor you are a reflection of jesus command the marching orders that he gave to his church the great commission again if you have a bible you can turn to matthew chapter 28 we will we will be diving into this but before we get into matthew 28 i want to remind you of something i have said it before i will say it again until the day i can no longer say stuff which is the church the church does not get to choose its mission the church doesn't get to choose its mission because jesus gave it its mission as he stood on a mountain with his 11 disciples he stood there and he said this is what i want you to do we don't get to choose it because he gave it to us and we have to remember that as we think about the church the church is not our idea the church is not our gig the church was jesus idea and you see that in matthew chapter 16. as jesus asked his disciples who do people say that i am and peter makes a great declaration that you are the christ the son of the living god and jesus response is super important he says to peter i tell you you are peter and on this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it we typically look at this passage and we say look the church is going to continue to thrive the church is going to continue to grow i want to point out a little detail here jesus gets really possessive of the church do you notice that look he says i will build my church the church is his you know we like to say well you know this is our church no it's not our church this isn't your church it's definitely not my church it doesn't belong to any of us who does it belong to jesus this is his church and because it's his church we have to do what he wants and we have to pay attention to his mission over the last two years in some ways it's felt like kind of bound up right as we think about fulfilling the mission as we think about what the church is supposed to do what missionaries are doing around the world it felt kind of restricted i'm i'm here to tell you first of all nothing actually restricts the mission of the church secondly the church needs to be just unleashed to fulfill the mission that jesus has given to it and again we see that in the great commission matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20. jesus says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me 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 teaching them to observe all that i have commanded you and behold i am with you always to the very end of the age just a couple of thoughts as we unpack this thought and what it looks like and what it looks like for the church and what it looks like for you as we live in this unleashed mission the first is a question the question is are you a part are you a part of the mission that jesus gives to the church are you a part of the great commission that we see here in matthew chapter 28 are you a part of what jesus desires to do in our church in our community in our state in our nation and in our world are you a part the answer is yes because the great commission is for everyone the great commission is for everyone if you have your bible opened you can see it in matthew chapter 28. in matthew 28 verse 18 through 20 i want you to pay attention to the all words look at the all words all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me make disciples of all nations teaching them to observe all that i have and behold i'm with you always that's not really an all world word but i kind of made it into one all all all always particularly important in this is jesus claim his statement that all authority has been given to him jesus says all authority has been given to me who gave him that authority god the father and god the father gave him the authority to empower you and me to fulfill the mission of the church and the mission of the church is the same mission that jesus had this is what jesus says in luke chapter 19 in luke chapter 19 you see the account of zacchaeus i don't know if you're familiar with zacchaeus in the bible but zacchaeus he was a wee little man a wee little man was he in fact as you really unpack the passage what you see is that he climbed up in a sycamore tree for the lord he wanted to see so you have zacchaeus and zacchaeus is a tax collector uh which you can take the words tax collector and in brackets behind it put sinner because he was a guy who was far from god and he was apart from the culture of his people the jews he was seen as a traitor to the nation he was looked down upon because he was a cheater and a swindle a swindler i mean he just he was a bad dude and jesus looks at him and says zacchaeus come down here because i'm staying in your house and so they have this gathering and people start complaining because jesus is hanging out with this guy who is no good and jesus his response is to describe the mission that god has given to him which is the son of man came to seek and to save the lost that is why jesus came so jesus came on this mission to seek and to save the lost and then as he stands on the mountain with his 11 disciples because judas has hung himself he's standing on the mountain with these 11 disciples he says all authority has been given to me and as god the father sent me on this mission to seek and to save the lost now because i have this authority i am sending you in fact that's what jesus prays in john chapter 17. in john 17 as jesus is praying for his disciples he says as you sent me into the world i have sent them into the world in the same way that you have empowered me to go and to seek and to save the lost i am sending them into the world to seek and to save the lost that is the point of the church that is the mission of the church and as you think about the mission of the church it is for everyone even when you don't feel like it even when you don't feel like it this is your mission this is why you exist as a believer this is why the church exists is the great commission to make disciples sometimes maybe we don't feel like it you're still a part of it there's a really interesting uh note that we don't look at as much when we think about the great commission because when we think about the great commission we're thinking about what jesus has to say you know we look and he says all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth i go therefore into all nations baptize i make disciples baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit and teaching them to deserve everything that i've commanded you and lo i'm with you always we we think about the great commission and we dive into that but there's a really important statement that comes just before that so jesus has told his disciples i want you to come meet me on this mountain so the 11 disciples come and they meet jesus on the mountain this is what it says in matthew chapter 28 right before the great commission verses 16 and 17. it says the 11 disciples went to galilee to the mountain to which jesus had directed them and when they saw him they worshiped but some doubted i just got goosebumps thinking about that because i look and i say how can they doubt they were there with jesus they knew he died they've seen him alive again they they know that jesus walked with disciples on the road to emmaus they know they know that jesus appeared to them in a locked room and he comes and he says peace peace be with you they know they know that that that doubting thomas literally touched the the wounds in his hands and his side they know that jesus he shows up on a beach and he and he makes a miracle of a miraculous catch they know that he's alive and they know that he is the risen god but some doubt it this word is actually very important and it i think it really reveals a lot about you and me as we think about fulfilling the mission that god's called us to the word doubt here in the original language has a different meaning than well i don't know if that's true the word doubt here carries the the connotation of being between two stances being between two thoughts it literally means two stances and so as these 11 disciples are standing before jesus the risen one the one they know is god the one they know has all authority so when jesus tells him that in just the next verse i don't think he's telling them anything that they don't already know but as they stand before jesus they are caught between god's ideas and their ideas those are the two stances they are forced to decide am i going to do what god wants me to do because jesus is standing here as the risen savior or am i going to do what i want to do with my life like i'm really good at just being a fisherman i'm really good at being a tax collector i'm really good at being a zealot i'm i'm just good at this maybe i shouldn't pay attention to this and they are caught between two stances the eleven cut between god's ideas and their ideas and i think you and i all need to wrestle with this whose idea is going to win out whose purpose is going to win out is god's purpose for your life going to win out or is your purpose for your life going to win out see we all ultimately have a choice to make because the great commission is not for a select few the great commission is for every single one of us all all all always and so as we think about this great commission as we think about this choice that we have to make between god's ideas and our ideas if we are going to be the church and his people unleashed in mission how how can we do that how can we do this three thoughts and then we wrap up this morning three thoughts about how we fulfill the great commission how we fulfill the great commission to make disciples to see people come to christ so the conversion is a part of the great commission evangelism is part of the great commission because jesus says make disciples then he defines what that is he defines it by saying not baptizing them in the name of the father son and the holy spirit and so when he says baptizing them he's talking about new converts coming to christ and then he says we teach them to observe everything that i've commanded you and so there's evangelism we see people come to christ and then we we see them grow and mature and have spiritual development formation in their life so how how can we be a part of that three thoughts first go go as you look at the great commission it starts with that phrase or that word jesus says all authority's been given to me go therefore because this authority has been given to me go now it's actually not a command the only command in the great commission is make disciples the word go is a participle one author put it this way since you're going anyway make disciples every single one of us is going everyone you may go to another country you may go to your job you may go to your neighbor's house you may go to another room because you have a family member who doesn't know jesus but you are always you are always going since you are going anyways make disciple and so you recognize that in your life you are going are you going to go with the purpose of jesus are you going to go in the mission of jesus are you going to go in your own ideas and fulfill just your own dreams go secondly give you can give pastor jerry did a just a remarkable job of uh describing for us uh just the the goodness of god through his people uh throughout this last year and in a time when churches have really really struggled financially and missions organizations around the world have struggled financially it has been a blessing to be able to empower our missions partners to serve jesus wherever they go and so you can continue on in that you can give someone several years ago gave a large mutual fund to the church and we've been able to to use that and to disperse some money around the world every year out of that large gift and it's been such a blessing we've we've helped elizabeth kelly as she is on a year-long trip to go to four different locations because she believes god is leading her to missions work as a career and so she's on this journey discerning god's desire for her in the future we were able to help out with her we've helped exodus farms in their important work that they do here in our area with five thousand dollars for some unforeseen repairs we were able to help as we saw the nation of afghanistan quickly fall apart and the taliban rise to power we were able out of those funds to give voice of the martyrs five thousand dollars to help christians who are in country and and facing just horrible persecution and as we describe that then additional people gave to help us support that work even more with more than a thousand dollars on top of that so you can give but don't outsource your mission here's what i get concerned about is that we will give and not care about our neighbor we will give and think well now i don't have to do anything because i got that obligation done we're not here to pay other people to do our mission the pastoral staff here we are not the ones who are like the workers of the church we are not the ones who are fulfilling the mission of the church we're a part of it our missionaries are not the ones who are like we just send him out and we're like yeah go get em we'll be back here you know when you want to come back we'll give you a hug we can't outsource our mission giving to missions is crucially important please don't take me to say anything different but when you give allow it to be a motivation for you to recognize you're going anyways so be a part of what god is doing we can go we can give and then the third g because unlike other sermons that i preached i kind of purposefully alliterated these we go we give then what you need to know about john kraft is that he's a coach at heart okay i've played on teams i've coached teams and so our third g get after it get after it make a choice right now and do it go give get after it the time is now for you to realize that the church that you are unleashed to do what god has for you so get after it because there's going to be a time where you won't be able to jesus says this in uh john chapter 9 he says we must work the works of him who sent me while it's day because night is coming when no one can work what does this mean there's a time where we can work and then there's a time where we the work will be done and here's where the time is done when the work can no longer be accomplished is either jesus is coming here or you're going there okay that's the end point of this journey either jesus comes back and sets everything right and we step from this from this time into eternity and that happens because jesus returns or our life comes to an end and and our time here is done and we step into eternity but either way the time for work draws to an end you and i we only have a few short years to to be a part of what god is doing who we only have this time on earth to use the gifts and talents and resources that god has given to us to participate in missions to support mission to be a missionary ourselves since we are going anyways to make disciples so let's get after it and do it so how can you be a part of the mission go you're going anyways allow god to use you to fulfill his purposes in your life and the people around you give support missionaries give of your finances give of your time i give of your emotional energy as you spend time in prayer for those who are serving in other places go give but get after it the time is now let's be the church and let's be the church unleashed what do you need to do where are you on this journey make the choice and let's get after it let's stand together as we wrap up our time with the word of prayer and as you consider whether you need to go or you need to give or you need to get after it don't leave here without making some sort of commitment don't leave here without making some sort of choice to say here's what i'm going to do to be a part of the all all always aspect of the great commission father we thank you for your great incredible love for us we thank you that you have called us to such an important task of fulfilling the mission of your church and father we thank you for our missionaries around the world those who have set aside their lives to to serve you with all that they are father we pray that for each one of them you would bless them that you would empower them to serve you in remarkable ways father for each of us in this room as we consider that we are a part of your mission as well whether we realize it or not we are a part of it help us to make the choice to go to give and to do it now to get after it and father that as your people do that that we truly would be your church unleashed to glorify you through making disciples around the world god thanks for this time in jesus name amen amen everyone as we wrap up if lori and i can pray for you about anything we'll be here at the front we would love to pray with you especially if you're thinking through whether you want to go or give or get after it we've got one last act of worship this morning which is to give our offering and you can do that as you make your way out in the box or online rcfellowship.org everyone thanks for being here have a great week foreign

Channel: RCFellowship Church

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Id: 2eoUGRaaL8s

Length: 81min 40sec (4900 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021