JULY 18, 2021 SUNDAY MESSAGE
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Transcription (Please disregard any errors):
Y'all. It's so good to be back with y'all. I'm excited. Clap for Jesus. This is the Lord's doing, and I'm Super excited to be here with you guys.
This is my third time preaching here over the years, and I feel like this time around, I need to let you all get to know me just a little bit. So one of the things that I think Courtney can attest to this. I'm a huge self care, sole care type person. I'm an extrovert on steroids, but I do like my alone time. There's something beautiful about just getting quiet and being by myself.
And oftentimes one of the things that I do. I like to just take myself out on dates. I'll go to lunch by myself. I'll go to dinner by myself or just go hang out at a coffee shop. It's just my alone time, but one of my favorite things to do when I do take myself out on these solo dates.
I like to people watch not in a creepy lurky kind of way, but just observing people just do them right. It's really a joy for me. Humans are interesting in many ways, and that's a loaded word. Sometimes I get a good laugh when I'm at the grocery store and I see some kids doing TikTok videos and now seven, it's just really fun and funny for me. Or times when I see an elderly couple holding hands walking down the street.
It's just so sweet and I'm like, oh, there are also times when I'm especially, like, over at Parkington Park. I don't know if you guys are familiar with the area, but I'll sit outside of Tease Me Community Cafe and I get to see kids playing and their parents and caregivers kind of getting silly with them. And it just brings me so much joy when I see that the best moments of people watching for me is when I see kindness and compassion out of humanity. Watching someone ease the distress of a mom who is wrestling with their toddler because their toddler is just having a bad time.
They're having a rough time, or maybe they're just being two because two year olds have their own personality.
Or seeing some people come to the aid of someone who has been hurt in an accident or having some car trouble along the side of the road, watching people feed those in need and provide clothing or even what we just talked about with the care portal. I mean, it's just amazing seeing a group of people pray with and for each other in public. These are moments where in my mind it's like the gospel being lived out. There are moments where people are literally being the hands and feet of Jesus, and it's in those latter encounters that I get to witness that makes it so much more special is that these are people who are just minding their own business, going about their day and they see a need and they stop.
They're not letting the need disrupt their agenda for the day they stop.
And when I see these moments, I tend to pause and I often have a moment of reflection where I'm asking myself, what do you do when you see need as you're going to and froze about your day? So I'm going to invite you this morning, too, to ponder some questions that I often ask myself, what do you encounter as you go from place to place? Have there been opportunity for you to see a need and need it along your journey as you go about your day? Where are you being invited to be the hands and feet of Jesus?
This is something that as Christians, I personally believe that we all should be watchful for it's in our as we go moments where if we are paying attention, we have the opportunity to live in and live out the great Commission.
So no surprise here. If you have your Bibles, turn me to Matthew 28, verse 18 to 20, I'm going to refund the new international version and it's going to be on the screen as well.
The Scripture reads, Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. For those of you who are notetakers, the
title of my message is, as you go, would y'all join with me in prayer, Lord, let the words of my mouth and God let the meditations of our hearts.
God, let them be acceptable in thy sight.
Lord, you are our strength and you are our Redeemer sin Christ name we pray Amen so just to give a little bit of context here. According to Matthew's account of the Gospel, these were Jesus'final words that he shared with the disciples before he ascended back onto heaven. The disciples has spent the last three years up to this point with Jesus during his earthly Ministry. They were all over their hometown of Jerusalem. They were teaching and healing and meeting all sorts of needs.
Now I imagine that after seeing their leader get crucified, that there's some great fear among them and Scripture alludes to that. So they are hiding at this point and Jesus appears before them and spends some time with them before he ascends back to heaven. And at some point each gospel have a different take on this particular story. But at some point in these final moments, Jesus gives them one last word. I imagine as I read that a loved one who's passing away and wants to give final words to pass along to those who are around them.
It made me think of my Father, who was starting to transition from his earthly home. And I remember doing those months and weeks leading to his passing, how I would literally just cling to every word and everything that he would say to me, especially because we didn't have the best relationship. But our relationship was restored because of Jesus. And so in those final moments, as his caretaker, I literally would cling to everything that he would say. I imagine in this period before Jesus ascension, the disciples are holding on to every word that Jesus is telling them.
He tells them that all authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me. He says, Go, he tells them to go and make disciples of all nations. He instructs them on how they should do this. And he says, do this by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And he says, Teach them those that you encounter along the way.
Teach them everything that I have obeyed, that I have commanded you, that you have obeyed Jesus assures the disciples that, hey, I'm going to be with you, though, and I need you to do this. The great Commission was not just for the disciples in the text. This Commission is for every Christ follower to abide by.
I'm a little bit of a nerd, and I own that. I love it. It's okay. I looked up the word Commission. A Commission is an instruction, a command or duty.
It's etymology derives from the Latin word calm and mitiri. Calm, meaning with together and mitiary, meaning to release, to let go, send or throw. It is where we get the word mission from. So essentially, when we're commissioned, we have to come together, and then we must go. We have to come together, and then we must release.
We have to come together. And then we must send or throw. We have to come together to do and be on mission. It's our togetherness authority was given to Jesus by God. And now Jesus is given the authority to the disciples as he commissioned them to go and make more disciples.
That's more togetherness. And we, too, as believers, have been given the same authority. We have been commissioned to do the same. So just allow me to just Parenthetically pause here for just a moment. We're just going to bracket this.
It's one thing for us as Christians to be commissioned to do something. But does that come from our state of being here's? What I'm going with this oftentimes. I personally believe that many people think of mission just merely as something to do. We get to go to the homeless shelter and do mission.
We get to go to the quote, inner city and do mission. We get to go to India and Africa and Lebanon and any other and do mission. And that is great. That's awesome. And we should do mission.
But I want to challenge us this morning to think of mission from the framework of our being. Before Jesus was crucified, he mentioned the greatest commandment was to love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, then to love your neighbor as yourself. As Christ followers,
we are Christ representers fair. Okay. Part of that mission is to love God with all our heart, all our soul and all our minds, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Jesus says to love our neighbor, but he did not put restrictions on the type of neighbor that we should or shouldn't love. We do that loving God and loving our neighbor. Jesus said in Matthew 22, is the first and second greatest commandment. So as Christ representers, our mission should be that of Jesus. Our identity is rooted there.
So we need to be on mission. In Jesus first sermon recorded in Luke four, he quotes Isaiah 61, and he says The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim the freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight, for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. In some translations say the year of Jubilee. That's his first sermon, and he says this has been fulfilled Edie past tense in your hearing meaning it's already done.
I'm here.
He lays out his mission and proceeds to fulfill that mission throughout his earthly Ministry. It's right there in Luke Four that's his mission. His mission was the foresight of what God revealed to the Prophet Isaiah of the coming Messiah. So as Christ followers, we all said that we are Christ representers right as people who say that our identity is in Christ, then our mission should be to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom, for the prisoner, to give sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Our mission should be also to love God with all our hearts, all our mind, all our soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, regardless of if they agree with us or not, regardless of if they look different from us or not, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
So since this is part of who we are called to be as Christ followers, now we are commanded to fulfill the great Commission instructed by Jesus and His final words to His disciples.
It's easy to do something, but if our heart is not in the right place when we do it, I'm going to let that sit. So back to the text. How is this done? First, Jesus tells them to go, go and make disciples of all nations.
I got a lot of opinions. I think oftentimes many Christians believe that if they share I know I did at one point believe that if they share the Gospel with someone that they have to ensure that that person has a conversion experience like it's my duty and my job to make sure that you have a conversion experience. And I'm not saying that that can't happen. I'm not saying that that shouldn't happen. But what tends to happen is that if we go into that situation with that individual with that motive, we miss out on all the subtle ways that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus along the way.
Right before His death and resurrection. Jesus taught about the final Judgment in Matthew 25, verse 35 to 40 says, For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat and I was thirsty. And you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I need a clothes and you clothed me.
I was sick and you looked after me.
I was in prison and you came to visit. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothes? You. When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?
The King will reply, Truly, I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me. It is as we go, where we would encounter those who are hungry, thirsty who are strangers, who are in need, who are sick and who are in prison. It's as you go as you go. When you feed the hungry. When you give the thirsty something to drink, when you invite the stranger in, when you close those in need and look after the sick or visit those in prison, it's in these moments that you have done it for Jesus.
It's in your as you go moments of your journey, starting at home, starting at home, leaving your home, going through your neighborhood and community. And maybe for some of us through the outermost parts of the world, it is where you will have opportunity. If you're paying attention, that opportunity will meet you to be the hands and feet of Jesus. That opportunity will be there for you to make disciples. And I'm going to say this one more time.
Notice I said it starts in your home.
Sometimes we can get so busy with everyone else's need that we neglect what's happening at home.
Next in the Great Commission, Jesus instructs them to make disciples. Remember, as you go, the opportunity is waiting on you to be the hands and feet of Jesus. So when you go make disciples, you are literally meeting people right where they are and journeying with them. You're getting in the thick of their mess and you're journeying with them. Your hands will get dirty doing this work.
Jesus met his disciples the same way. Let me give you some examples. He meets the brothers Peter and Andrew at their job while they were struggling on their job, trying to catch some fish. And then all of them met James and John, who were also fishermen, and they were getting ready to cast their net. They're trying to do their job.
Jesus meet Matthew while he's sitting at a tax collectors booth, probably ripping off Jews and by overcharging them and keeping the profit for himself. But he meets these and this is not all the disciples, but he meets them right where they are. And it shows that as he meets them where they are, he invites them with him. He goes to spread his gospel. We have to learn to meet people where they are, to listen to them, to see their need to resist our own biases and judgments about who they are, to be open to them, just like Jesus is open to us.
And in doing so, the opportunity will come for you to share the gospel, to teach about Jesus, to baptize, to make a disciple doing this is risky. I ain't going to lie. It's scary. It was risky. And it was scary for Jesus and his disciples as they traveled with him.
Fulfilling the great Commission friends is not an easy thing. I can remember being very terrified to pray in front of people. I would be scared to even offer myself to come alongside someone who was in need or to invite a stranger in or to even just share about Jesus, even to share what Jesus was doing in my life. Like there was a moment in my life where I was really afraid of that. I was afraid of the rejection.
I was afraid of being ridiculed or mocked. And I know that I've missed some opportunities in the past. But one thing that has helped me as I go now because when you know better, you do better is knowing that God is with me.
Jesus knew the risk. He knew that after what happened to Him, his disciples will probably be more afraid than ever. He knew that. So Jesus ends his words by comforting them. And he says, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.
It don't get no clearer than that. I am with you, always to the very end of the age. And what he's talking about here is the gift of the Holy Spirit that he's going to leave behind. Jesus leaves behind the comforter, the counselor, the Spirit of truth. He leaves the Holy Spirit to be with the disciples and to be with every believer.
Being on mission with God and doing God's mission cannot be absent from the Holy Spirit. You can't do this without the Spirit. It's not in your power. The disciples started doing God's mission right at home. So here's my charge.
As you go from your home, through your community and anywhere else, God may send you pay attention to the ways in which you and your being, I should say. And your doing could be mirrored in the way of Jesus. Start with your being. First. Check that heart posture.
Remember the power to Jesus. It's been given to you. That same power that raised the dead Jesus is the same power that is in the heart of every believer. And that power will help you live out the great Commission in your community and in every place where God leaves you last thing. Remember that as you go, God will never send you to a place where His Grace cannot sustain you.
So therefore, go and trust that God is going with you. Amen.
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SAVE THE DATE: The 2020 Marriage Retreat is scheduled to be Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and November 8!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
“Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.