Why Not Them | Sunday 11:30am

[Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] good morning mercy while you're standing with us [Music] [Music] he has done great things [Music] see what a savior is [Music] he has done great things [Music] [Music] [Music] oh jesus [Music] [Music] you have done great things [Music] and i know you will do it again for your promises yes you will do crazy [Music] [Music] [Music] is oh jesus [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] you've done [Music] you have done great days [Music] your name is us [Music] [Music] i search the world [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah you put me back together and every desire is now satisfied we're hearing [Music] [Music] nothing is better than you [Music] yeah i'm not afraid to show you my weakness [Music] my failures and flaws the lord you see them all and you still call me friend in every season mercy and grace you won't find me again here we go [Music] [Music] let's remember who we're singing to this morning what he's done is nature [Music] [Music] [Music] you're the only one [Music] [Music] is [Music] you're the only one who cares [Music] you don't have the authority [Music] creation owns the voice that spoken to the void the breath that brought the dust to life and sing the stars to form the darkness fears your voice oh you drove it back before and though the night is long i know your light will drive it back once more there's one word [Music] [Applause] your word it's true things change on your authority you believe that this morning oh my fight is in your hands i worship you because i know all things [Applause] [Music] [Music] it's true jesus things changed [Music] things changed [Music] it's true [Music] i will not deny the glory that is his [Music] is [Music] and i will not deny you the glory that is my god is for me [Music] it's true is the glory that is [Music] just want to work from you things change on your authority your work [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] one [Music] we believe the [Music] [Music] spirits is the spirits will be is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] you guys sound good today that's a good place to start in it i grew about ready to start church now father we worship you we exalt you in every heart and we're not gonna let fear we're not gonna let our false beliefs rob you of glory that you deserve through our lives you have given every beautiful person in this room and online all of your creation amazing gifts you put your image on us god you put your glory your spirit inside of us and we're not gonna we're not gonna hold it back we're not going to let it get squelched in because of what's what the world has told us we're not going to believe that we're going to believe your word god and we thank you that you do have that authority and we know your desire for us is good you plan to prosper us not to harm us your father who gives perfect gifts who knows the timing of those gifts too you're a perfect shepherd who we can trust to lead us even when it doesn't make sense and seems like you're taking us the wrong way we can trust you you're a perfect provider we lack for nothing god we thank you that it's your desire to take care of us it's your desire to fight for us and i said this in the last service but i feel like today the lord's saying some of you have been fighting some battles that i never asked you to fight and i definitely never asked you to fight him alone will you let me fight for you will you let me start fighting for you we thank you that your desire for is good and we also thank you that you have the authority we just sang about to speak universes into existence with one word you're a beautiful god you deserve our worship and our entire lives god so thanks for reconciling us back to you our creator so that we can figure out what it looks like to really live out the the way you designed us to live the freedom that jesus showed us that's not bound by anything in this world god we want to we want to bring heaven to earth it's your desire we want to partner with you in that place of authority so we give you this time we set it apart for you god in your name we pray amen great to be with you guys this morning you may be seeing hey everybody thanks for joining us today both online and in service we are honored that you took time out of your busy schedules to be here with us this morning okay so i know that people are joining us from all over the country and the world right now through the power of the internet so get your phone out right now share this live feed of this service with your friends on facebook or youtube because you never know the impact god can make today just by click share so get your phone out and share [Music] okay while you have your phone out we want to connect with you here's what you do text the word connect to 317-526-4520 and fill out that digital connect card or you can scan the qr code it's super simple we won't send you a million texts we just want to get to know you and we want to pray for you if you are in service with us you can fill out the old school paper connect card right on the bottom of your program if you are a first-time guest here today be sure to tear that off and take it out to the guest center after the service and exchange it for a free coffee mug our staff prays over every single card every week and we're just really glad that you're here today right now is also our missional moment where we give back of our time talents and treasures our goal is to give away 50 of our total giving outside the walls of the church to help those in need in our communities there are a couple of different ways for you to give one you can drop donations into the giving stations in the lobby at any time and two you can text to give by texting the word give to 317-689-0975 thank you all for giving generously and making a huge local impact it's really incredible what god is doing through you if you're looking to get connected here at mercy road we want you to rsvp for the first step class this class happens once a month and is the very first thing to do along our engagement pathway so stop by the first step table and rsvp for this casual one-hour class to meet the pastors here at mercy road hear from them personally and hear easy ways that you can get connected or you can rsvp right on your connect card if you've already been to the first step class the next step is to go to rooted so rooted is a 10 week small group experience that connects you to god the church and your purpose rooted is for everyone whether you are new to your faith or you've been a christian for a long time the current session started last wednesday but you can still register today and students we launched a student rooted too so be sure to stop by the rooted table in the lobby or go to mercy road dot cc slash rooted for your last chance to register for this session you'll hear us talk about outposts a lot here at mercy road outposts are groups of people that meet all around the city during the week and are united around a specific mission or passion there are many already moving that you can join brand new ones that are just starting out or actually we invite you to start your own so stop by the outpost table in the lobby to check it out or go to mercyroad.cc outpost for a full list of outposts and info on joining hey everybody i am excited to share with you that coming up on sunday september 26th we are having the biggest celebration in the history of the mercy road family of churches dude i'm telling you we are going all out if you've been around mercy road at all over the last year or two this is gonna be the biggest thing we believe we've ever done it may be a terrible idea but i think it's gonna be the coolest thing as three of the four mercy road churches are all going up to the anderson property on sunday september 26th for a giant outdoor worship celebration we're gonna have worship pastors from all three churches all three league pastors are going to be there on stage it's going to be incredible time of family and fun here's the best part we're going to have food we're going to have full children's and junior high programming we're going to have all kinds of live animals and fun activities it's going to be a blast get ready inflatables it's not going to end you can even get a tour of the building i can't wait to see you there we can't wait to see you there thanks for rsvpn right now man get your phone out and you can go to birthdaybash2021.com you heard that right birthday bash 2021.com and register an rsvp right now you can just show up but we need to know how to plan so please don't wait even an hour on this rsvp right now on your phone birthdaybash2021.com we'll see you then okay now we're going to take our social 15 where you get 15 seconds to welcome each other here you ready 15 seconds starts now [Music] [Music] good morning everybody how you doing this morning you look good you look good can you put your hands together welcome those who are attending live online right now glad you're here share this man share this live service uh i'm pumped to be back with you uh i've been gone the last three weeks i've preached at mercy road northwest downtown and then echo church multiplayer indiana church plant and i just want to tell you the gospel is on the move in our city man and i cannot wait to see 10 years from now we're coming up on 10 years of the existence of our church 10 years from now the wake of impact that the lord will have had and i think what we're going to talk about this morning is the dna that must be prevalent in order to see the expansion of god's kingdom in our lifetime to happen that said i'm going to invite you to power on your bibles or turn in the one of the book rack to acts chapter 11. acts chapter 11 as we're kicking off a brand new teaching series called why not them now don't miss next week rashad is going to be here he's going to look at acts 13. it's a short two-week teaching series leading up to our 10-year birthday celebration i'ma get into all that but what i want to tell you uh this morning uh if you are new here and you felt uncomfortable coming into a church building we started this church for you we say it every week that the church should be a hospital for sinners not a museum for saints and so wherever you're at spiritually thank you for joining us and you're gonna get to hear really the dna of our church this morning so for those that were here in august we did this four-week teaching series about the underground movement of jesus going over our four movement maker statements in the lobby and the fourth one if you remember at the end of august was to see a million people come to know jesus and be discipled in the state of indiana before we die and we've even set the date of the year 2050 and that that vision has been our vision since before we launched the church and it's a silly vision because there's less than seven million people in the entire state but it requires us to think beyond how much we could grow at church our goal isn't to grow mercy road church our goal is to reach people who are far from god disciple them into a passionate relationship with jesus we want to be known more for ascending capacity than our seeding capacity and i believe what we read about in acts chapter 11 is still possible today it is really a turning point for a lot of the the new testament and for the early church in its expansion all over the roman empire if you're not familiar with the teachings of the book of acts i want to summarize very quickly acts is a part of a two-part book called luke acts the gospel of luke it's written by the same author luke he was a first century physician that traveled with paul around the roman empire for his missionary journeys and he writes the gospel of luke about the life death and resurrection of jesus and then the book of acts is about how the early church got started and in acts chapter 1 jesus ascends to the right hand of the father and then the holy spirit the counselor is given to the early church in acts chapter 2 is their meeting and they're praying on the festival of weeks 50 days after the passover when jesus was slain and then in acts chapter 3 the gospel begins to expand rapidly peter preaches to thousands of people and 3 000 people come to know the lord in one day hearing the gospel spread in their native language even though he didn't realize he was speaking it because when the power the dunamis of christ is with us anything is possible and then as the gospel begins to spread eventually in acts chapter 6 they start seeing some real persecution there's this guy named stephen he's one of the early leaders of the church there in jerusalem he was one of the first seven deacons in the church and he is stoned to death for his faith and there is this man who watches it all in approval his name was saul he was a pharisee that oversaw the killing of stephen in acts chapter 9 three chapters later he's going to damascus with letters to imprison christians in damascus for their faith he's literally a religious terrorist he has an encounter with christ on the road to damascus and has his life dramatically changed it's what we got the name mercy road from was acts chapter 9 on the road to damascus so if god could do that in saul's story and turn him into paul who would go on to spread the gospel all over the roman empire and write at least 40 percent of the new testament what could he do in your life in the lives of people in our communities who are far from god but in acts chapter 11 this super dramatic thing occurs paul had been a jewish man but the gospel is going to come the good news of jesus christ what the gospel is is going to come to the gentile people if you're like dude what's a gentile it's anybody who wasn't jewish they'll refer to him in the new testament sometimes it's greeks but what they mean is these are not jewish people and that that means that they are unclean they are pagans they're the type of people you don't hang out with jesus we know invited people who were far from him to eat dinner with him and now the christians are going to begin to eat dinner with the gentiles and that brings us to verse 1. are you ready to study god's word church come on now it says this the apostles and the believers throughout judea heard that the gentiles had also received the word of god so they start hearing the the gentiles the non-jewish people the godless people the pagans are receiving god's word so when peter went up to jerusalem the circumcised believers criticized him now the way that you always knew you were part of god's family part of the jewish community was as a male you were circumcised on the eighth day after birth and so to eat meals with people who weren't jewish who were unclean and were un not righteous you did not do so they criticized peter a leader of the early church verse 3 and said you went into the house of the uncircumcised men and ate with him and the very thing the self-righteous christians of that day thought would prevent and impede the gospel from spreading is the very thing that will lead to billions of people today at least claiming faith in jesus christ as the gospel breaks out in the midst of persecution all over the roman empire it was a turning point in the new testament everything is about to change after this and this little group in jerusalem that went to 3000 will eventually set up headquarters not in jerusalem but in antioch this place that acts chapter 11 is about where the gentile believers are and it's there in acts 13 next week we'll see that they raise up and send out the first church planters and that the gospel gets spread all over the roman empire dozens of churches getting started and it all happens right here this cataclysmic moment when god in his authority with one word that we're just saying about changes the course of human history i want to talk about its implications for today see i know what it's like to see kind of a turning point in the life of a church when we started mercy road church we met at clay middle school in carmel for about a year and a half and then we leased this tiny building in off a college avenue in the carmel school district but an area noman's home place great little community and we began to meet there as a very small church that was a year and a half old and at our second birthday celebration many of you have heard me share this story so i'm gonna do it briefly we had a turning point in the life of our church at that point we had seen a little bit of growth but we hadn't seen a lot of radical life change yet a little bit and in that next six months we began to reach people in the community and we saw 12 people be baptized that sunday morning at our second birthday celebration which was the most people we had ever baptized at once and they were baptized in a horse trough in the lobby of the little building that we were meeting in and at the end of baptizing 12 people eric maitland our worship leader was up here he was the main guy back in the day he gets up and he starts singing amazing grace on an acoustic guitar and in the middle of the song all of a sudden the building shook and i almost i literally almost fell over into the horse trough i would have been number 13 that day and luckily i caught myself and i got up and you've heard me share this i'm going to make it brief but basically i was like that must be an earthquake i looked online it wasn't an earthquake must be something wrong with the building the engineer who owned the building said there's nothing wrong with the building they checked it all week long and to this day i know i don't think i would believe it if i wasn't there but to this day the only thing that i can say that made sense of it was that the spirit of god was so powerfully there it literally shook the building and it's you know you read this in the new testament but we just we don't think something like that would happen and so over the years i've looked for explanations and i share that because it became a turning point in the life of our church from then on we began to see people who were far from god like we had said begin to have radical life change and the church grew rapidly over that next year and as a three-year-old church we bought this building and renovated it when we shouldn't have been able to and there's a whole story i'll tell later about that and we come over here and the rest has been history and now there have been 21 soon to be 22 churches planted through multiply indiana we're doing on march 20th we hope is the date to do the next march for a million last year we had 72 churches come out we're hoping to break 100 this year and pack out the circle in downtown indianapolis we're still working on all the details but like we're going to pray that god would actually really reach a million people for christ but if we don't have the heart of acts chapter 11 to go to the gentiles it will never happen and i'm using the analogy today of the jewish people being the people of god the church christians and the gentiles being those who are not and that as followers of jesus in light of this we need to ask ourselves some questions about the way that we're living as missionaries or not living as missionaries in our culture that's at the heart of what i want to discuss this morning so if you look down to verse 15 now he takes it a bit farther of acts chapter 11 as it began to speak the holy spirit came on them as had they had come on us in the beginning that the holy spirit is also given to the gentiles just like it was to the early believers then i remembered what the lord had said john baptized with water but you're baptized with the holy spirit so if god gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the lord jesus christ who was i to think i could stand in god's way i'm going to address that in just a moment but when they heard this they had no further objections and praise god saying so then even to gentiles god is granted repentance that leads to life if god has brought repentance that leads to life salvation if every human being is created in the image of god but as a choice of rather to turn to him receive the free gift of salvation of jesus crucified resurrected from the grave to repent of our sin and wrong doing if we have the choice of whether to do that our mission our goal is twofold to help those in need and proclaim the coming kingdom of god that we might see more people saved in our lifetime and if you've never joined with god in that mission i'm telling you you're missing out on the greatest journey of your life and so my question i want to ask each of us is why not them the gentiles in our culture today the people in your life that you know would never become a follower of jesus why not them you know them they vote different than you they look at life differently than you they believe different things philosophically than you do do you believe that god could reach them i know as christians the answer is yes but do we really believe it that's what i want to discuss will you pray with me god i thank you for every person here in our culture today where people don't do this gather to worship you hear your word to study it to allow it to change our life that you're the first authority in our life not our own pre-established belief system so we pray lord jesus that anything that is not lined up with you and your word that we would conform to it that we would surrender to it and whatever already is god that we would hold on onto that and not allow it to be taken from us in a culture where it can be increasingly difficult to live as a christian god we pray that your holy spirit would minister to us that we would have a turning point in the life of this church this morning that he would speak to us right where we're at god there are people in this room this was a last-ditch effort to come to a church this morning and i pray god we need to hear from you speak to us we pray this in jesus name amen amen i believe that god is up to something big in our culture today but before i get into that uh anybody watch college football yesterday come on now uh are the ohio state fans in mourning today is that what's happening we got we gotta be i gotta give it up for you know brad that's been running sound all morning uh it's a big michigan fan not only did they win yesterday ohio state lost so finally it was due four decades coming they finally had a good weekend but you know i wasn't watching any of those games because i was watching the lord's team um the notre dame fighting irish and it's been a little rough the first two games admittedly but we broke through but there was this moment in the second half of the game where i became very frustrated because there was a uh our safety who is predicted to be a top five pick and the nfl draft had a clear a clear interception about to come and he went to get it and the referee got in his way what is with referees am i right come on now and like he just ruined our he was a clear interception and then and then drew brees who uh we all love but you know used to play for a team up in west lafayette the trains you know what i'm talking about and notre dame's gonna play him next week but i know i'm not gonna say anything because this year we don't know what's gonna happen but probably gonna be a good game but he was talking about how they before they changed the rules in the nfl people used to plan on using the referee almost as a screen or a pick when they were running their routes and i thought about how they're trying to advance the ball down the field and how the mission of jesus is alive and and well today and how we're seeing the gospel expand and church plants happen in new christians and we baptize more people last year than any year in the history of our church and we couldn't meet in the building for a portion of time and there was a global pandemic going on so there is nothing that will step in the way of the mission of god except i was thinking about that past and trying to advance on the field and how the referee got in the way and i i wondered how many times we as human beings get in the way of what god's trying to do non-christians yes but even christians where the enemy knows he's not going to steal your salvation from you but he is going to trick you into thinking that the mission of god is not going to happen today that just happens 2 000 years ago don't waste your time your talents your treasures don't make sacrifices don't do this don't and eventually we actually get in the way of what the lord is trying to do i know this can happen to me in my own life so i know it can happen to each of us here this morning and i want to tell you that anything is possible if we allow the lord to work that god created every human being in the image of god but we have a choice of whether or not to be obedient and faithful to what he's asking us to do and the enemy sometimes tricks us into thinking that it's going to be miserable it's going to be miserable if you start following the lord you're not going to have as much fun the parties won't be as cool your personal life won't be as uh free as it once was you're going to have to start doing things that you don't want to do you can't be selfish about your money anymore you can't be selfish about your time anymore it's like all these and the enemy wants to tell you just don't do it i want to here's what i want to tell you this morning if you follow jesus and living as a missionary today you're going to sacrifice all kinds of time and talents and treasures and all that stuff and there are going to be things that are going to be harder not easier sometimes and sometimes you'll have to act differently at a party or live out your personal life differently than a non-christian will but you will always always always see the benefit of serving the lord in your life you will see the joy that you can't find in any other facet of life and this is kind of i didn't mean to share this this morning but eric reminded me literally right before the first service that uh i have so many memories from the last 10 years as we sacrificed together of how fun it's been with many of you many followers of jesus who have sacrificed everything in their life and how much fun and the close partnership and the gospel we've developed because and on friday i was literally that downtown church uh wrote this song live boldly loved deeply you guys seen the cool t-shirts we got i know they keep selling out of them they're trying to restock them but i thought to myself i was singing this song live boldly loved deeply and for some reason it was just my wife and i in the kitchen and i changed the lyrics on a whim and this is really dumb and really dumb but i changed it to live coldly loved jeeply and lisa was like why did you say that i was like i don't know but then the lord gave me a picture and i was like well you know megan made some really cool t-shirts i want to make my own t-shirts and so i was like i'm going to create a rival t-shirt so i text megan mellinger creative director on the team and i told her this picture of eric maitland in a jeep with the polar bear that i had in my mind about liv coldly loved deeply and she created this for me so [Laughter] live coldly love jeeply so this is the first time you see it this morning but the is the polar bear waving i've been trying to figure that out but i like how she actually got you playing the guitar and you're wearing a hat with the t-shirt because it's cold out and that might be the dumbest thing i've ever come up with but i want a t-shirt baby anybody want that t-shirt yes the seven of us we will have that made but i was thinking about i sent this picture to eric on friday about how fun it is to serve the lord together and after 10 plus years the friendships that develop and the enemy wants to tell you it's not fun you know it's going to ruin your life but there is it may not always be a financial blessing or the bless the life that you dreamed of and your selfish desires but he will bless you in your life in the way you will never have if you don't live for him and i believe that's what we see in acts chapter 11 the mission and the expansion of the gospel and the kingdom of god in their lifetime and also the joy that comes with it so here's three questions i believe every follower of jesus needs to ask themselves and the first one is this in light of acts chapter 11 who who are we to stand in god's way if we sometimes get in the way of what the lord is doing because our unwillingness to be faithful and obedient to go to the gentiles in our community who are we to stand in god's way that's what they're wrestling with here verse 17 so if god gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the lord jesus christ who was i to think i could stand in god's way even the gentiles were given the right to repentance and salvation and i was thinking about this how god is going to do what he wants to do is he has authority one word from him and everything changes if the speed limit is 55 and god decides it's 75. guess what we got a new speed limit because we can't understand the ways of god and so in this case i was thinking about what's going on in our culture the last two years has been very difficult for all of us and i think rightfully so many christians have turned to revelation and other passages that talk about the return of christ in the end of days and i believe that there are signs in our time and there has been for years of the return of christ that we can see throughout scripture and he tells us that these signs are provided for us to let us know and warn us that the return of christ is going to come and the end of times will occur and we don't know if that will be a year or 10 years or a hundred years or a thousand years it's not for us to know he is god we are not but here's where we get distracted as christians if if we can get in the way sometimes of what he wants to do why in scripture does he tell us about the return of christ and of end times is it so that we could prevent it is it so that we could protect ourselves and prese have self-preservation is it so that we elect the correct officials do we get real why does he give us the signs so that we will be spiritually ready for the return of christ and we will do everything to live on mission to prepare other people for it he does it to inspire us to live on mission because one day jesus will turn return and put the world right and there will be no more tears in shame no more guilt the old order of things will pass there will be a new heaven and a new earth and no more tears are crying anymore but this side of heaven we're like in the new testament times are going to see moments of persecution and i see sometimes as christians today we get so caught up in protecting and look i believe that we should live biblically i believe i should raise my children up in the ways of the lord and teach them how to live i believe that what we teach in our school systems matter and i believe what we believe theologically matters but that is not led to let us get distracted of what the mission of jesus is that both sides are bad protectionism and fear of people who aren't christian and at the same time giving into the culture and living as everyone else both of those are contrary to what the gospel commands us to do to go therefore to all nations and baptize in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit both the jews and the gentiles both the godly and the church and the unchurched and the pagan was that too much i just i just want to tell you that man i think sometimes as christians we get distracted today if we are called to go to the pagans the gentiles who are the pagans today i mean the gentiles the people who aren't of god's family maybe the people who look different or vote different or or maybe they're people who have done bad things or maybe they're criminals and we could list the really heinous things the murderers and the molesters and the other things that we would all agree are really really bad and we would believe that we need to stand up for god's word and for truth and there is a side of truth and justice that we are to follow followers of jesus but we are still called they were called to go to the pagans and the gentiles of their day those were the unclean people think about this for just a second how revolutionary this would have been for the early christians when god decides this that the gentiles were the unclean people who rebelled against god followed other religions participated in perverted sexual pleasures and influenced the future generation to do the same so i say that they can now receive the gospel and the holy spirit this is radical stuff what do you think god could do in our culture in our society today how are we how am i how are you getting in the way of what god wants to do to reach the future generations to reach those who are far from god if we're going to achieve this great dream of reaching a million people for christ imagine how many terrible awful sinful people we're going to have to love in the process we're going to love our prison systems and the people who are making poor decisions and choices the people that are even trying to teach our children things that we totally disagree with our job is to reach every person with the gospel until jesus returns because the signs of the end times are real so who are we to stand in god's way in acts chapter 11 but also do you believe a great number will be brought to the lord like if we live this way do you really believe a great number of people will be brought to the lord i'm convinced that we think we know that it is in the bible but we don't really think the lord would do that today and that's why we live in this kind of protectionist fear or we just uh give in to the culture and live exactly like the culture lives look what happens here in verse 19. now those who had been persecuted by the persecution are scattered by the persecution that broke out when stephen was killed traveled as far as phoenicia cyprus and antioch spreading the word only among jews at this point so quick note on this stephen had been one of those deacons that had been killed they had all witnessed it there in jerusalem so the persecution in their culture i believe we're seeing more persecution for christians in american culture today but it pales in comparison to the type of persecution they were enduring their friend had been murdered and yet god would use that heinous thing to scatter them around the eastern part of the roman empire which would lead to the expansion of the kingdom and what the enemy meant for evil the lord would use for good verse 20 some of them however men from cyprus and cyrene went to antioch and began to speak to greeks also the gentiles telling them the good news about the lord jesus the lord's hand was with them and a great number of people believed because they went to the gentiles and loved them right where they're at the unclean people that a great number of people believed and turned to the lord news of this reached the church in jerusalem and they sent barnabas to antioch when he arrived and saw what the grace of god had done he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the lord with all their hearts he was a good man full of the holy spirit and faith and a great number of people were brought to the lord that when you love the gentiles in our culture today those not in the church when we go to them that a great number of people if we do it in the way that christ says it will come to know the lord in fact if you're like oh yeah but that was 2000 years ago look what jesus said in matthew 9 37-38 then he said to his disciples the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few ask the lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field what prevents the expansion of god's kingdom today of reaching people of changing the culture around us it's not god in his authority he's still the same as he was 2000 years ago the same holy spirit is given to us it's the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few so what should we do in response guilt people who aren't working hard enough no it says pray to the lord of the harvest we need to beg the lord we need to cry out to him that's what we're doing a little bit on september 26 two weeks from today there will be no services here weather permitting if it rains we have our normal service times right here we're taking three churches combining to do one giant outdoor service it opens up at 9 30 all the the festivities open at 9 30. the worship service is at 10 30. there's going to be free food afterwards you heard that right free food afterwards and then we're gonna hang out until the early afternoon and i can't wait to see what the lord does but every church consultant would tell you that what we're doing is not a good idea because we're asking all of you to drive 45 minutes or some of you even farther up to anderson indiana to go to a place where you may or may not ever be a part of that church plant and some of you may choose not to drive up there may realize we're not having services here may go find another church to participate in and take your time talents and treasures to another church and i just think that's the silliest thing i've ever heard our goal is not to grow mercy road church our goal is there are millions of people in our state who don't know christ who were created in the image of god just like you and me and we are called with the spirit of god to live as missionaries today to the hurting and the broken and the lost and we're going to anderson to get everybody outside of our comfort zone we've done this since the beginning remember we've loaded some of you up on buses we thought you were coming to worship service we got you on a bus instead we've done that a couple of times and took you to see the next thing well this is intentional because i'm not concerned about church attendance we are concerned about the gospel reaching people who don't know christ [Applause] and what is preventing that is consumerist christians that don't allow the lord to use our lives that selfishly hide our time talents and treasures to utilize them for our own purposes and gains and i'm not condemning anybody here i'm saying the american church as a whole have lived in a way to grow a one local church rather than expand the kingdom and that's part of the problem that we find ourselves in okay i kind of got off there but i want to get to this last question what if your disciples because it's kind of like if i do that it's going to ruin my life though but what if your disciples that you reach will actually care for you one day but look look what happens here in these verses verse 25 then barnabas went to saul or to tarsus to to look for saul and when he found him he brought him to antioch antioch will become home base for the early church so for a whole year barnabas and saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people the disciples were called christians first at antioch during this time some prophets came down from jerusalem to antioch one of them named agabus stood up and through the spirit predicted that a severe famine was spread over the roman empire verse 29 the disciples as each one was able decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in judea this they did sending their gift to the elders by barnabas and saul so the the very church that the lord uses to become the epicenter for the gospel to spread to the gentiles to the unclean people will then be the ones to care for the church back in jerusalem for the people of god who had been living there who were hurting due to the famine that god has a way of bringing things full circle and that he's not looking to ruin or wreck your life he wants to give you stories to tell in heaven do you know we tell people that if you give your life to christ you will have salvation and that part is obviously totally true but we fail to sometimes talk about what we do on uh this earth matters and there will be representation in heaven one day in the new testament it gives five different examples of the crowns that will represent different spiritual things in heaven now i don't know that when you get to heaven you're gonna be wearing a real gold crown it's representation of spiritual sacrifice for the lord the five crowns are impaired the imperishable crown the crown of rejoicing the crown of righteousness the crown of glory and the crown of life the greek word for crown by the way is stefanos where we get the word stephen from the martyr who lost his faith i lost his life for his faith but the sacrifices that we make now for all of eternity you're going to get to share that story with how you were used by god and there will be representation of that it's why paul writes in first corinthians 9 24 do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one gets the prize run in such a way to get the prize everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training they do it to get a crown that will not last but we do it to get a crown that will last forever therefore i do not run like someone running aimlessly i do not fight like a boxer beating the air my question is are you going to have stories to tell by the way you're running the race currently because i believe every single believer gets the opportunity this side of heaven to do something you'll never be able to do when jesus returns or after we die and that's to tell another person about faith in jesus christ to be used by god to help those in need and proclaim your kingdom the kingdom of god and you may be here and you're like i feel more like a gentile than like the person of god we started this church for you and i want to tell you that every human being was created in the image of god and i don't care what your baggage or your past is how much you think you could never be used or be one of those good christians god took saul made him paul changed the world he can do it with you and he can do it with each of us if we stopped with self-righteousness and started believing that god could minister and change our culture and bring a great number to know the lord and began to look at our workplaces as the mission field we began to look at our schools as the mission field of christ we get to look at our homes and our neighborhoods and say god use me in the way that i can rather than just living for self-preservation i'm going to live differently than the rest of humanity i'm going to live for eternity that one day will be represented how you use my life and so i'm going to surrender everything over to your lordship and so i want to give you the opportunity to do that right now you may already be a christian but you're going to begin to live differently or you may be here and you know you're one of those who has never received salvation in christ you've never professed your faith in christ you've never prayed and received his good news and never dedicated your life to his lordship you've never repented of your sin and i want to give you the opportunity because there is no better time than now to do it will you pray with me god i pray right now for every person in this room god all of us want to see you work in our lifetime and some of us have never fully surrendered our lives to your lordship and then some of us god have known about you and have salvation but have never been a missionary for you so both people right now if you would like to fully surrender every aspect of your life to the lordship of jesus christ pray this silently as i prayed out loud god i confess i'm not perfect i do this beautiful thing i repent of anything in my life that's not of you i want to do a 180 this morning and live a life as a missionary for you and so on this day september 12th 2021 i commit my entire life to the lordship of you jesus my time my talents my treasures use me to love people well that they may see the only jesus they may ever see and that's in me i give you my life this morning i'm your vessel pray this in jesus name and all god's family son amen amen will you stand as we close and worship together some of you you've got family members you need to pray for co-workers classmates we want your team to come over here our team wants to pray with you in the prayer room this morning if maybe the lord puts somebody in this time of worship specifically on your mind to begin to pray for uh pray to the lord the harvest the harvest is plentiful the workers are few you have people in your life who are far from god some you need to divide to anderson in two weeks begin to pray about them right now but if you committed your life to christ mark that on a connect card and we just want to give you a free bible let's worship together [Music] [Music] [Music] where your spirit leads brokenness my life baby well i will give you every piece [Music] i hear you call i am [Music] here i am with openness [Music] i'm counting on your grace again less of me and more of you [Music] i just wanna see you [Music] [Applause] [Music] all i say you [Music] [Applause] [Music] and i say yes lord i am [Music] [Music] me here i am here i am you can have it all you can have it all [Applause] [Music] here i am here i am [Music] here here i am here i am [Music] oh here i am you know [Music] oh [Music] [Music] before the one who gave me life [Music] nothing is a sacrifice so use me how you want to god have you thrown within my heart [Music] i am [Music] yes lord i am [Music] you guys put your hands together this morning let's continue to worship come on faith commanded [Music] come on [Music] unstoppable impossible things in your name they shall be good freedom conquered all our chains under sin defeated [Music] mercy triumphed when the third day dawned darkness was denied when the storm was gone unstoppable god let your glory go on and on impossible things in your name they shall be done unstoppable god let your glory go on and on impossible things in your name they shall [Applause] [Music] your kingdom reigns unstoppable we'll shout your praise forevermore jesus our god unstoppable the things shall be impossible we'll shout your praise forevermore jesus our god unstoppable nothing shall be impossible your kingdom reigns unstoppable we'll shout your shall be impossible your kingdom reigns unstoppable jesus here we go things in your name impossible things shall be done [Music] [Music] wow all the glory goes to god but can we thank the band for leading us in worship again this morning it's been so fun all morning guys and as we head out of here just a few things first of all if you're new i'm going to be at the guest center come by we got a free mug for you we'd love to say hi but this coming saturday we have a special event one of the outposts of the church in partnership with 28 ministries a ministry partner of ours that eric maitland leads is putting on a live concert right here next saturday or this saturday as eric calls it this saturday uh coming up on september 18th there's information in the lobby and it's awareness for the opiate crisis that we're facing in our state in the midwest and throughout the country especially in light of the last couple of years and the levels of depression that have risen and so we'll love to have you come and join that outpost there's more information in the lobby and then take that birthday bash flyer please please please without begging you even you're not going to come like actually rsvp i'm not coming because we need to know how much food to have ready and we have several different churches coming together it is a huge huge event don't miss it pray about who you're going to invite and i'll say this last thing invite your family invite your friends everybody you know in madison county delaware canada hamilton county whatever counties there are just indiana invite them that day i think it's going to be an incredible time and another moment in the history of our church where we can see god begin something new i think we're going to see people come to christ and be baptized outdoors at that event so don't miss it thanks everybody have a great rest of your sunday go colts wow what an awesome worship experience i hope you enjoyed worshiping with us today come back next week bring a friend and live boldly and love deeply [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Mercy Road Church

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Id: 42KpAXM2iuI

Length: 78min 42sec (4722 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021