"Making Kingdom Disciples" - Dr. Tony Evans

for a long time I've wanted dr. Tony Evans to be with us here at New Hope and so today's with us a prolific author and one of the leading voices and Christian evangelical leaders and circles and he's a pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Texas but today he's chosen to be with New Hope Christian Fellowship would you give a warm welcome to dr. Tony Evans as he comes good morning I've told every service any excuse to come to Hawaii is a good one and so I am delighted to be with you here today I am honored to be with such a great church having such great ministry great pastor it's a privilege to be with you thankful my son of course Anthony has ministered to you I hear my daughter priscilla shirer will be with you soon so we might as well buy a house on the island and let the family come over here because we are indeed a blessed for the privilege of being able to minister to this great church and this great flock of the Lord here so thank you for allowing me to be with you they said I brought four books Kingdom man and Kingdom woman how to be a man and a woman under the rule of God and then our victory and spiritual warfare how do I'll do our determine what the enemy is trying to do and how to get over on him before he gets over on you and then destiny how to see and know where God is trying to take you so those books will be available afterwards but we're delighted to be with you today and to be able to proclaim God's truth I I've served as chaplain of the Dallas Cowboys let's see we have some spiritual people here and when the Cowboys take the field three teams take the field there's the home team then there's the visiting team and the home team and the visiting team are in conflict they're never going to agree because they head it to two different goal lines one is going this way another is going that way and so they clash as they try to stop each other's progress it's perpetual conflict because there is no point of agreement but in the middle of these two teams there is a third team placed on the field the team of officials now this third team the team of officials are on the field but they're not of the field see they don't belong to either of the two teams they blown to the league the league office is 300 Park Avenue in New York City behind the executive chair sits Roger Goodell he's the Commissioner of the National Football League the Commissioner in New York has representatives on the field of play called officials their job is to bring the governance and guidelines of the kingdom in New York on to the field of play each official has been handed a rulebook that rule book gives the guidelines by which all decisions are to be made on the field of play an officials personal opinion becomes irrelevant his emotional attachment to a team becomes irrelevant because his job is to make the calls on the field that come from the office above sometimes the official will be cheered because everybody would like the call he made other times the officials will be booed because people don't like the call they made but the officials are not on the field for a popularity contest they're on the field to bring the rules from above into the chaos below to bring the governance that belongs in the kingdom of there and bring it to the chaos on the field down here you and I are part of another kingdom you and I have a commissioner another king and each one of us as followers of Jesus Christ has been duly authorized to be his officiating crew in a world in chaos you and I are living in a world that is collapsing upon itself we're living in a nation that is collapsing under the weight of its own demise you and I have been placed here as followers of Jesus Christ to act on his behalf his officiating crew since he is seated in the kingdom up north he has placed us on the field down south in order to represent that kingdom in this location Jesus called a meeting that meeting is recorded for us in Matthew chapter 28 we know it as the Great Commission it is the only meeting Jesus ever called between his death and his resurrection and excuse me his resurrection and his ascension to heaven he only called one meeting he had a number of meetings but only one that was scheduled three groups attend this meeting that he called verse 16 says the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated so the eleven disciples are at the meeting that is - Judas 1st Corinthians 15 says that more than 500 brethren attended the meeting the eleven are part of the 500 so around 489 that attended this meeting on the mountain there's a third group that attends to me because verse 20 says and lo I am with you always even until the end of the age well the age has not yet ended so you and I are at the meeting so since we've been invited to the meeting why don't we mosey on up the mountain to find out what all this meeting is about and how it applies to you and me God's officiating crew in history we're told in verse 17 that when they saw the resurrected Christ when they saw him they worshiped him but some were doubtful some had question marks questions about him questions about the resurrection questions about this new responsibility questions about the establishment of the church they had questions but their questions didn't keep him home their questions brought them out because it says that they came and worshiped with questions they had doubts perhaps you're here today with questions questions about our world questions about your faith but your questions didn't keep you home they brought you out so did theirs after the worship service was over after the songs were sung the prayers were prayed Jesus steps to the podium and this is what he says in verse 18 all Authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth the risen Christ says all of our day has been given to me in heaven and on earth translation I'm in charge now I'm not only in charge of their heaven I'm in charge down here earth I'm not only in charge in heaven I'm also in charge in history I'm not only in charge in eternity I'm also in charge in time he says that I am the link between time and eternity and I'm in charge now all authority so there is nothing that sits out of side of my kingdom rule nothing no one because I'm in charge now the word Authority is an interesting one there are a number of Greek words that can be translated Authority the main one in the New Testament is the word Dunamis where we get our English word dynamite from explosive power but that's not the word used here it's not Dunamis it's another word it's a word pronounced a Casilla and OSHA means authorized use of power Dunamis is just power nicosia means having the authorization to use it or the football field the players are younger stronger and faster than the officials the officials are older slower and fatter the players can knock you down but the referees can put you out because while the players have Dunamis the referees have a juicier see they've got a whistle and a yellow flag they have authority to overrule Dunamis with a coup SIA Jesus says all ague sia authority that is the authorization to use the power belongs to me your enemy this world has Dunamis Jesus says I have it GU SIA I am the only authorized one up there heaven down here earth I'm in charge now and with that he issues the Commission there are five Commission's in the New Testament Matthew Mark Luke John and acts but this one is called the great one because this is the only one that uses this command make disciples that's the command it's an imperative it's not a request it's a command don't just make converts don't just make Christians make disciples so that raises the question what is a disciple a disciple is a man or a woman who is consistently operating under the of Jesus Christ in his or her life a disciple is not merely a person who has accepted Christ to go to heaven a disciple is also one where heaven gets to dictate to them on earth a disciple is one who is a man a woman who is consistently living under Christ's rule in their decision-making in the same way that an official does not exist for the popularity of his cause sometime he's gonna be cheered other times he's going to be booed but he's not there for a popularity contest he's there to reflect in the decisions he makes on the field the ruling that comes from above in the NFL offices and he is measured by his decisions not by his emotions discipleship is to come under the rule of God in your decision making and to consistently apply that across every area of your life as you increasingly make decisions consistent with the rule of Christ you are increasingly being a disciple as you decrease in making decisions consistent with the rule of Christ you are decreasing in being a disciple even though you may be a Christian because the Siple ship is consistently operating under the rule of God plato was a philosopher who came up with a philosophical scheme that divided the physical world from the spiritual world you and I do they call it sacred and secular there's that sacred thing the spiritual realm and then that secular thing and we divide the two that came from Plato Plato had a student who studied his philosophy named Aristotle and Aristotle systematized the fart of Plato we call that Aristotelian logic where he organized Plato's thinking and he developed schools called a cat nice to train the next generation in the thinking of Plato that have been organized by him Aristotle to train these young people to infiltrate the society with this world view even though Rome was the world power in Jesus's day if you remember your history you know about the hellenization of room that is Rome was the military power but Greek thought was prevailing it that's because of the influence of Plato through Aristotle in these academies to train a generation of young people to think platonically the idea of discipleship is to have transferred to your mindset and to your functioning the thought process of Jesus applied on the field of play as it has been received from the kingdom above and to the degree that we do that we reflect Jesus's thoughts decisions and actions in our everyday life and experience the problem today is not quite that we don't have enough Christians the problem is that Christ doesn't have enough disciples he has people who will go to church but not people who will make consistently their decisions underneath his rule and the book kingdom and we talked about Exodus 34 where God in verses 23 and 24 called all the men of Israel out and he said leave your wives and children behind at home and I want all the men just the male's he says to come and meet with the Lord King your God he uses three names for God Elohim Adonai Yahweh and he says when you come meet with the Lord your God to find out what I want to tell you to do as a man when you listen to me that I'm going to send you back to your family and back to your country and when I send you back to your family and back to your country if you go back with the rule of me over you as a man I will provide for your families no nation will covet your land and you will be protected when I can get all the males to come under the rule of God what we're missing today are disciples men and women who consistently operate under divine rule even though they know sometimes they're going to be booed because the crowd won't understand or agree with the decision all Authority has been given unto me and I want you to make disciples in our national ministry we're already all across the nation and television and the like and people will order our CDs from our national ministry called the urban alternative and their order our CDs and so when they do it works something like this I get up on Sunday morning in our church and I preach a sermon and it's recorded on a master CD that master CD is then transferred from the church over to our national ministry the urban alternative and put on a master duplicator the master tape is put on a master duplicator plugged into the master duplicator our slave units these slave units make copies of the master so 16 are run off at a time in the span of two minutes of a 45-minute message and then they are mailed to people who have ordered the CDs or who get our monthly CDs and they are spread around the country or around the world what people get in the mail is a copy of the master they don't get the master but they get a copy of the master but for copy of the master is so much like the master that it might as well be the master even though it's not the master because it reflects the master what God is looking for in history are copies of the master we're not the master all Authority has been given to Jesus Christ but he wants to run off on us and make us copies of him so that our decision-making will reflect his decision making the decisions on the field will reflect the decisions from the kingdom because we are reflections manifestations of his rule he says make disciples why is it important that you and I not merely be Christians accepting Jesus Christ as Savior to go to heaven but also following Jesus Christ as Lord because only disciples get to share his authority remember the connection all Authority has been given to me now make disciples he wants us to make disciples so we can piggyback on his authority I'm chaplain the dallas mavericks and have been since their inception and they give me four tickets to the games so i'll invite some of the guys from the church you want to go to the Mavi game they'll say yes i'll say now don't drive because if you drive then you gonna have to pay fifteen dollars a car to park I say ride with me because I have a free complimentary parking space right in front of the basketball arena so if you ride with me you park for free but not because of who you are is because of Who I am they don't know you but they do know me but because they know me and you're riding with me you get what belongs to me attributed to you we go through a private entrance not for general public entrance they will let you in the private entrance if you with me they're going to let you in the private entrance but not because of who you are it's because of who you're with because you're with me you get my access even though you're not me because of your affinity and association with me when we go downstairs that's going to be a four-course meal you will get to eat for free but not because of who you are it's because of your proximity to me will let you piggyback on the rights and privileges that belong to me and when the game is over we're not going to be rushing to get out of there because we're not going to everybody else is going we're going up a private ramp to a private elevator out of private door to a private parking lot and we will be halfway home before most people have gotten to their cars and all of that will happen because you with me guess what Jesus says be my disciple and you with me that the rights and privileges that I possess you can piggyback off my son Anthony who you have gotten to know somewhat in his music ministry when he first started out when he first started out he was just a poor musician trying to make it he called me said dad will you pick me up from the airport I said certainly drove out pick him up from the airport he's the third person off the plane we greet each other so we're on our way to baggage claim to get his bags halfway to baggage claim I stopped looked at him and said oh no you didn't and he laughed because he knew exactly what I was talking about you see to be the third person off the plane that means you in first class if you're the third person off the plane that means you were sitting in first class but he didn't have first class money he didn't have a first class ticket what he had was my name cuz he's jr. so I knew what he did he went up to the agent and said my name is Anthony Evans I'm an executive platinum fly with American do you have any upgrade seats and she said Oh dr. Evans this is the light to have you flying with us again see because of our relationship and because of a shared me he piggybacked on my rights and privileges as his father Jesus says make disciples because disciples get to share in Authority and all authority belongs to me you must be associated with me then he gives three participles go baptize and teach in this construction when you have an imperative with three participles the participles give you the method for achieving the imperative the first imperative is gold you can study going Hebrew Greek yogurt ik Aramaic Syriac and go means go means don't stay Matthew chapter 10 Jesus said go same word to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and tell him Messiah has come to go means to declare your allegiance Jesus says if you will not confess me before men I will not confess you before my father I just believe in God you must confess me before men he says if you deny me before men I will deny you before my father so when you go to my father and ask something and he checks with me to see whether I ok it I'm gonna want to know do you confess are you public declara of your association with me or are you a secret agent Christian a spiritual CIA representative a covert operative everybody else is coming out the closet you might as well come out too he says I want you to go and I want you to acknowledge your association with me this is a huddle looks like a huddle in the football game in here everybody in here basically basically agrees with everybody else we're Christians here you're sympathetic here you're here you're here and and and and there's no conflict here because we're on the same page the conflict will happen when you leave here when you go back into your world of work and play and all of that that's where the conflict will happen because you're no longer in a sympathetic environment my son before he went to the NFL came over to Hawaii and played in the hula bowl and we came over and watched him play and and of course in every football game they have Huddle's but but all those people don't pay all that money to watch 11 grown men bend over they don't pay all that money to look at a huddle you know what they pay for they want to see what difference the huddle makes they want to know having huddled can you now score they want to know what you're gonna do about 11 other men on the other side of the ball daring you to go public with your private conversation see right now we're huddle in a few minutes you're gonna break huddle but there's an enemy outside that's gonna try to keep you from scoring touchdowns for the kingdom of God and Jesus says you must be identified with me in enemy territory not just in the safe place of a huddle where the Christians gather he says go to a world that does not by me does not accept me and you represent me you be my disciples 9/11 was a tragic day in infamy in the United States our lives will never be the same because of 9/11 you'll never travel like you used to travel before 9/11 because of terrorism security has changed why because some evil people from halfway around the world invaded our country boarded our Airlines went into two buildings killing thousands of people went into the Pentagon and they did it in the name of their God as the plays were about the crash they shouted God is good in the name of their God they rung Harvick to a whole nation now if evil men in the name of a false god can change a nation because of they evil act but because of their radical commitment how much more should not those of us who name the true God and follow Jesus Christ should not affect our world because of our radical commitment because we are disciples of Jesus Christ Jesus is looking for disciples men and women who are visible verbal followers of Jesus Christ who have been he says second participle baptized now he not me he just got wet he says baptize them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit that's the Trinity he gives us a singular word name and then gives three pronouns these three pronouns with the singular word name you use their names when you have three pronouns but these three are one he says trinit isin baptize them in their identification with me the Greek word baptizo was used of die maker in biblical days if a mother wanted to make her daughter a pink dress she'd go buy the cloth bring it to the dye maker the die maker would take the cloth and dip it in pink dye take off the extremest dye dry it then hand the mother a pink piece of cloth so she could make a pink glass or blue dress or red dress her purple dress depending on whatever color them in other words the dye maker put put the cloth in one color and brought it up another because he dipped it or immersed it and therefore it came up looking different same cloth different look Paul says in Ephesians 6 that you were baptized in his death and raised that you might walk in the newness of life you look one way going under you look another way coming up why because you've been now a dipped in the blood your primary color man is red which means your class your culture your background your history and your race must be secondary to your faith that your faith and fellowship of Jesus Christ must shrimp any other self-definition that conflicts with it because you are now to be defined by your faith and not by anything else that defines you because you are now my disciple and you are to be baptized it should be unmistakable that you've been dipped in the blood that you belong to Jesus Christ that if you're a doctor you're not just a doctor you're God's representative in the medical field so the medical field seems with God looks like when God helps hurting people if you're a lawyer you're not just a lawyer you're God's representative in the Bar Association so the Bar Association gets to see what God looks like when God tries the case if you're a teacher you're not just a teacher you're God's representative in the classroom so the classroom seems with God like when God teaches a lesson if you're a business person you're not just a business person you're God's representative in business so the business world gets to see what God looks like when God cuts a deal that is you are to represent him having been dipped because now your color is red you have been identified with Jesus Christ then he says teach them what do you that the third party simple what do you teach him pneumatology ecclesiology eschatology angelology anthropology soteriology no he says teach him to observe whatever I've commanded you he didn't say teach him what I've commanded you he says teach him to observe whatever I've commanded you I mean you need to know what the rulebook says you need to know what he has commanded you but observing it means teach them to what I've commanded you because information without application keeps you from having transformation it is in the observing of the commandments and not merely the knowledge of the commandments that brings the impact into the world and the transformation into our lives it is not enough to come in here the truth it is not enough to agree with the truth until you act on it nothing changes teach them to observe whatever I have command you and that's what makes you a kingdom man or a kingdom woman it is your decision-making that is your observation let's say you are having a heart transplant life-or-death surgery tomorrow the doctor comes in who's going to perform this life or death heart plant surgery and he says now I want you to understand every single thing I am doing tomorrow I want you to understand it all so I'm going to go through all the details of this life-saving surgery and he gives you the full nine yards he tells you every else and chronic thing he is going to do in that surgery and then he says do you have any questions and you say I do have a question he says what is it your question is how many times have you done this before his answer you're my first now I don't know about you but he ain't operating on me but he argues but no you don't understand I made a a and Hart plants trance plant class that I graduated the head of my clique I don't want to know your grades here's what I want to know I want to know how many times you've done this before and then I want to know how didn't people do it because if you didn't did it five times before and never made it you still not operating on me because I want somebody who's practiced what he knows not just can't memorize it and quote it what our world is needed is not just Christians who know the Bible but disciples who follow it who make their decisions by the rulebook because that's what officials do or the field of play in order to bring order to a chaotic situation if Jesus comes back tomorrow we don't have to worry about any of this but if Jesus doesn't come back for another 200 years you better worry about all of this because your children your grandchildren and your great grandchildren have got to grow up into some kind of world and it will either be a world that have been affected by Christians that is by disciples or it will be a world where the teams are in chaos because the officiating crew like last year's NFL football season has replacement officials on the field and you see what happens when replacement officials rule who don't know the book they add to the confusion Jesus closes in verse 20 by saying and lo I am with you always even until the end of the age and lo I am with you always even until the end of the age now you can't say it in the English but in the Greek text the word I is written twice it's called the ego eimi construction I even I that's what it says so the writers who translated the scripture didn't write I twice they just intensified the one eye and said and lo i lo I is an intensification of I even I but the word I is written twice why does Jesus put his name twice I referring to himself even I because of the previous verse he said baptizing in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Jesus says okay the Father the Son the Holy Spirit but when it comes to discipleship because all Authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth all authority all the okays belong to Jesus Christ and so it is your attachment and representation of Christ not merely a belief in God that affects your share of authority as as you become a disciple he says and I even I because all Christians don't have equal Authority at the end of John chapter 2 Jesus says John says and many believed on Jesus but then he says but he would not commit himself to them because he knew what was in them many got saved but they didn't get his full commitment why because he knew they weren't ready to be identified with him yet they wanted to follow from afar they didn't want be the the collection to be made yet they weren't ready to go public our world is in need of disciples we are watching our nation implode upon itself in a whole myriad of ways God wants to know does he have some visible verbal unashamed representatives who will make their decisions at home at work at play in their neighborhood who will consistently although imperfectly but who will consistently make the calls on the field in the midst of the chaos representing the Kingdom that they represent that is what he is looking for my favorite program growing up as a boy in Baltimore was Superman oh I love watching Superman of course as Clark Kent he was a bumbling idiot Lois Lane didn't like him Jimmy Olsen made fun of them and sometimes Perry White wouldn't use it oh but don't let him find a telephone booth or a closet I'd be sitting on the floor next to my brother and the criminals of Metropolis would come out and wreak havoc in the city and somebody would say where's Superman Clark Kent would take off his glasses and unhook his time I look over to my brother and say there you go he'd go lickety-split into a telephone booth went to a closet come out with a random blue jumpsuit on in a cake now he's faster than a speeding bullet more powerful than a locomotive he's not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound he comes streaking across the sky and they say it's a bird no it's a plane uh-uh it's Superman this dude would be catching bullets and breaking knives and discarding criminals and you know what he did he brought order to Metropolis that had become chaotic how could this man bring order to the chaos of his community the reason he could bring order to the chaos his community is that he wasn't from him he was from a place a long way away named Krypton but he brought the power from up there and secured it down here he brought the power from up there and lived it out down here so that down here was transformed because he was really from up there he was from up there functioning down here so they down here got changed cuz he really brought up there God is looking for some Christians and willing to go into the telephone booth or to the closet and change clothes they're willing to come out what an S on your chest is that me you Superman but it ought to be you saved that s doesn't mean you're Superman but it ought to be your seat of the Most High God so that when you break out from New Hope and they see you invade this community they say it's a bird no it's a plane no it's them super safe from that New Hope Church god bless you as you impact for the kingdom of God

Channel: NewHopeOahu

Views: 48,114

Rating: 4.7608247 out of 5

Keywords: Weekend Message, Tony Evans, W1331, New Hope Oahu

Id: BnQgdmZjuAg

Length: 39min 23sec (2363 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 05 2013