SEPTEMBER 5, 2021 SUNDAY MESSAGE
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Wild Multiplication
Transcription
Prayer for:
Afghanistan, Haiti
Fires, flooding
Hurricane Ida
Ongoing battle with COVID
Liturgical Call + Response:
O great God, glorify yourself in all the earth. Be glorified in creation, be glorified in your church, be glorified in our worship here this very morning. Though we are so small and you are so grand, help us nevertheless to magnify your name.
Lord Be Glorified in all the Earth
Help us to live and to worship in such a way that we become magnifying glasses through which our neighbors and coworkers and children and friends can see you come into focus in ways that they may not have seen before. Be glorified in our actions, service, and proclamation of you God!
Lord Be Glorified in all the Earth
When people ask for an explanation of the hope we have, give us the words to answer thoughtfully and well. When people wonder out loud who Jesus is and why he matters, help us to reply in words that will echo the sweetness of your gospel. Help us to magnify your name, O Lord, so that you may be glorified in all the earth.
Lord Be Glorified in all the Earth
We need the glory of your GRACE in a world bent on war, violence, and revenge. We need the glory of your TRUTH in a world in love with Power and lies, the glory of your HOLINESS in a world filled with tawdriness, the glory of your resurrection life in a world mired in death. The glory of your Healing SHALOM in a world that is marked by disease and brokenness.
Lord Be Glorified in all the Earth
The path of Glory on this earth is...
Less of us and
more of you (x3)
Series RECAP:
HEAT - Instead of obligation, LOVE drives us to evangelism.
As our love for God heats up so does our love for others and we and we are compelled to proclaim the Gospel
FUEL - When our love gets hot enough, our lives are gladly given over to God in acts of obedience, boldness, sacrifice, and even rearranging our lives to get behind the mission of God.
OXYGEN - The winds of Holy Spirit have the ability to fan into flame a movement that is FAR bigger than anything we could accomplish on our own!
This is what Luke writes in the book of Acts (just listen)...
Acts 2:46 With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:41 Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.
Acts 4:4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
Acts 5:14 Yet more and more believers were brought to the Lord--large numbers of both men and women.
Acts 6:1 In those days when the disciples were increasing in number...
Acts 6:7 So the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew rapidly, and a great number of priests became obedient to the faith.
Acts 9:31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced a time of peace. It grew in strength and numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.
Truth be told - I have NEVER experienced anything like this!! THOUSANDS of people coming to know God at once?! It’s not that I doubt it
DID happen or it
CAN happen
but I haven’t seen it personally!
I can maybe say that I’ve seen hundreds, at a large events, come to know Jesus:
At a camp or
A conference...
...maybe YOU have AND we can look at HISTORY and see revivals throughout the world that have been recorded from the 17th century into modern times...
Again, I know that it HAS happened and it CAN happen
I just haven’t seen it personally…
BUT I WANT TO and
I think WE ALL DO as followers of Jesus.
I think we don’t just want to SEE God’s movement, we want to PARTICIPATE in it and, to do that, I want you to see that there is more to the story than just these bigger moments!
You see, there are a couple waves of expansion taking place in the first century church.
One is big, dramatic, & EXPLOSIVE!
THOUSANDS are coming to know God at once.
It’s easy to see why people would be attracted to ministry that rallies large crowds
The SECOND is less obvious…
it starts in much humbler beginnings but the long term impact is huge and it has exponential capabilities.
It revolves around ORDINARY people reaching their neighbors, their peers, and their friends with the Gospel and
MULTIPLYING the reach of the message as those who have been discipled begin to do the same with others!
In the first century church:
The work of disciples sharing the gospel in their relational circles of influence and discipling others to DO THE SAME, results with ENTIRE REGIONS being saturated with the good news.
I want you to see the power of it
And give a modern cultural/contextual reason why we need to be more focused on this as followers of Christ and as a church!
Our example comes from the church in Thessalonica. It begins in Acts 17 so open your bibles there first. ACTS 17...
Acts 17:1-11
1 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.
5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters (snidely whiplash) from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble (good trouble!) all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
So this is how the Thessalonian church started and, by and large, it doesn’t seem to be going well (at least not compared to the instant moments of expansions)…
It is NOT explosive or big,
there are NOT thousands coming to know God in one fell swoop…
INSTEAD, it is under duress of opposition and they have to sneak Paul and Silas out at night
They are even under the critical lens of Luke (who is writing this account) it doesn’t seem to have taken hold as compared to Berea who is described as having “more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”
BUT LISTEN - don’t sleep on Thessalonica!! Why? Because there is a faithful few - a remnant of the Gospel work that happened there. “Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.”
This remnant is important because we get a little glimpse into the future in Paul’s letter to the Church at Thessalonica. Turn to...
1 Thessalonians 1
1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the first lines you get a sense for Paul’s excitement and did you catch the elements of wildfire??
“Prompted by Love” - they had a SPARK and the HEAT was turned up!!)
They labored in faith (amidst persecution)- so it looks like they’ve laid their lives down in obedience too!! They have the FUEL!
What about the OXYGEN? The wind of the Holy Spirit to fan them into flame?? Let’s keep reading...
4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction (We have OXYGEN).
So where is the multiplication? Where does it get WILD?!? Listen, it says...
You know how WE lived among YOU for YOUR sake. 6 You became (What?) IMITATORS of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a MODEL to ALL the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known (Where?!) EVERYWHERE. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. (here is a mini Gospel Presentation) They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Alright, so let’s back up and make some observations:
Who proclaimed the Gospel first?
Jesus. He was the living embodiment and He DISCIPLED that life into His followers...
Then who?
The Disciples. Here, Paul and His friends, who brought the Gospel into their midst and taught it, lived it, DISCIPLED others who IMITATED IT
So the Third Generation is...
the Thessalonians who welcomed the message - embraced the teachings and and began to MODEL their lives after them…
Guess what?! It didn’t stop there!
They modeled the behavior in front of others so well - and to the extent that - it:
poured out of their congregation and
into the streets and
Out into the towns and into the regions around them!!!
They discipled others so well that another generation emerged
So a FOURTH layer of multiplication takes place. The scripture says, “And so you became a MODEL (to those) in Macedonia and Achaia.”
Once again, it doesn’t stop there!! It says,“8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known EVERYWHERE.”
We could add a fifth generation called EVERYWHERE at the end but I’ll save you the dramatics!
...though you have to admit that when Paul (from the second gen. Of disciples) goes to a later generation and they say to him, “oh thanks for the update but the 3rd generation - who YOU discipled - DISCIPLED so well that they got to us before you did.”
THIS IS THE POWER of exponential discipleship you all!!
It reaches further and faster than anyone can on their own and THIS…IS A FIRE GONE WILD!
On TWO accounts:
It is out in the wild (as in outside the four walls of a building) because some aspects of discipleship have to be imitated and not just taught through a transfer of knowledge
AND it’s gone wild in its expansion! It’s an uncontrollable force of growth that one person could not accomplish themselves.
All of this happened because a faithful few (not thousands) grew hot, fueled the fire, let the winds of the Spirit blow on it and REPRODUCED themselves by making DISCIPLES who made disciples over and over again.
Rapid multiplication can take a region over in a way that the old way of just inviting people to the Sunday Gathering just cannot.
It starts slower…it’s less impressive than the elephant...but the scope is massive after just a couple generations.
One of the things that important for you to see is that the beginning of every church is just a seed:
Every generation of disciples must have the ability to pass on the CORE DNA of the church
Just like the rabbits who have the capability of reproducing more rabbits!
SO, what is it that you need to pass on? What is the biological mapping of the body of Christ - the DNA?
We think the essence of the church and the basic elements of discipleship can be boiled down - or summarized - into 3 things that we call the 3 Pillars:
Devotion,
Community, and
Mission.
It’s SIMPLE but that’s what makes it so reproducible and powerful.
These three things - working together - are meant to be the basic seeds of discipleship and Church reproduction
A small group of children can do it and create a church!!
If everyone in here embraced these three aspects of church into the core of who they are and what they do as a disciple, rapid multiplication is not just possible it’s unstoppable!
<Starfish and the Squid>
“Chop off an arm, and a new one grows to take its place. Tear a starfish in half, and you'll soon have two starfish on your hands. A torn-off limb can even become a brand new starfish. And what's more, they populate by releasing hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of eggs in just a few hours. Just like the house church movement through the ages.”
Our 3 Pillars function as the “double helix” running through each appendage our Church community. The idea is that the DNA of the God’s Church is hidden within every single cell of CGNE - able to reproduce at any moment.
It’s a double helix of DNA that we want running in and throughout every environment from our Sunday Gatherings > in our House Churches, and in smaller gatherings of 2-3.
1. GATHERINGS
Sunday Services gather the House Churches together and send them out to be the church throughout the week.
2. HOUSE CHURCHES
Our large group Gatherings break down into House Churches and gather the Transformation Groups together.
3. PILLAR GROUPS
House Churches break down into smaller groups of 2-3, same-gender, discipleship and mentoring relationships.
Up to this point, I’ve appealed to you based on the potential reward but I want to make a plea based on the urgency of our cultural moment.
You see, to some extent, even if you didn’t make a disciple, you could rely on the fact that a level of cultural Christian saturation would do the job for you.
Christendom had enough of a hold that people would come to church because
it was “what good people did”
They grew up in it but walked away after high school and the church banked on the idea that they would return to church once they had their fun and it was time to settle down, get married, and have kids
Even if you didn’t believe all of that Jesus stuff with the resurrection, at least the church provided good morals
BUT the season of
Christendom is over…
Great Evangelical Recession by John S. Dickerson
7-8% of Americans are Christian
Less on the other side of COVID
The missional strategy of the church has to change because all of the former things we relied on are no longer valid:
The values of the church no longer tend to agree with the culture around us
The church is not necessarily seen as a moral standard AND
You can’t return to something that you’ve never been a part of in the first place?
Church <---- ----> House Churches
X
<---- ---->
As Christendom LOWERS
HCes become more important
We don’t need to reach people by HOPING they walk through THESE doors when the front door of the church has been taken directly to them in the form of you and YOUR household living right next door!
This only happens if we take discipleship seriously and it is our job, as the leadership in the church, to equip and empower you to do it.
Here are some actionable steps you can make after today...
Join a House Church
(NEXT WEEK)
Make a disciple
If you’ve never made a disciple, this is your call to get to it!! You have a spiritual legacy that is being cut off at the root because it never got started.
If you’re a christian and you have never made a disciple, then the great commission was never realized IN you, IT STOPPED with you!!
You haven’t faithfully passed on what you were given!
There are lots of ways to do this!
Life Transformation Groups from Neil Cole
Kairos Learning Circle from 3DM
Discovery Bible Study
DNA groups from Soma
PILLAR GROUPS
We want a WILDFIRE in Northeast Indianapolis! Everything we need to accomplish it is right here in our midst to do it this Fall Season!!
Common Ground
BURN HOT with Love for God and others
BE BOLD and lay your lives down to advance the Gospel
LISTEN to the HS and DO what He says
BE A DISCIPLE who makes Disciples
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:
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.