A Love the leads to the Cross and Beyond: He Rose, Now What?

In other words, Jesus has in mind a church that looks like heaven. He says, go and meet people who may not even look like you and make disciples out of them. This is our fundamental calling. Ladies and gentlemen, as baptized followers of Jesus Christ, you and I simply put are to be about his business of making disciples. Simply put, we need to be leading the lost to Jesus Christ. That good old fashioned word, evangelism. We need to be sharing the good news of Jesus with a lost and dying world. [01:00:49] (37 seconds)  #GoMakeDisciples

But the devil is a liar. Amen, George. He is absolutely a liar and he is one who has been defeated. And so this morning, what I wanna do in your midst is I wanna remind you what Jesus reminds us of in this text, and that is what is our God given mission as followers of Jesus Christ? Jesus rose. Now what? What's our duty? What's our job? What should we be focused on? Because God forbid, we succumb to a state of complacency or confusion. [00:45:31] (32 seconds)  #StayOnMission

Because a disciple again is a believer who follows in the way of the master. In order to follow Jesus, you need to believe in Jesus and since belief comes before following, then that automatically answers the second question which is how do you make a disciple? How do you make a disciple? And ladies and gentlemen, throughout the bible, there's always only been one definitive method for making disciples and that is by taking the word of the gospel to the lost. Again, that good old fashioned word, evangelism. And I believe with all of my heart that this is the solution and the answer to our greatest need right now is the word of the gospel to the lost. [01:08:28] (44 seconds)  #GospelToTheLost

Here she was running for about 400 meters completely oblivious that she had, you know, run off course. She's running hard as she can run and she's just given it everything that she had. She's running hard, yes, but she's running hard off course. And by the time she realized it and fought to get back in the race, it was far too late. Jesse went from a certain victory to finish in ninth place. The same could be said for many churches today because many churches today are following wrong leaders and finish in last place. [00:49:05] (35 seconds)  #OffCourseWarning

We're going through all the motions appearing to be alive. Yes. We're appearing to be in the race and we're appearing to be about something, but we have no direction. We have no focus. Yeah, we have a bunch of programs, yes, we have a bunch of activities, and yes, we have many bright ideas, but somewhere along the way, we've lost our focus and therefore, our finishing last place. In other words, this is called mission drift. And many churches have succumbed to mission drift. [00:49:40] (32 seconds)  #StopMissionDrift

I don't need to convince you this morning that you and I are in an all out battle royal with the enemy, Satan. And in this this game of life, the enemy will do any and everything possible to neutralize the church if we let them. In some circumstances, it's the cynicism and indifference of our time, and in other circumstances, it's the political divide that puts many of us at odds. But in every circumstance, it's the same. Satan's aim is to isolate us away from one another, distract our focus away from the gospel in order that you and I might forfeit the plan of God for our lives. [00:44:50] (41 seconds)  #FightForTheChurch

He says, in other words, I want you to grow people up in the faith. Because it's not enough for us just to see people profess faith in Christ and it's not enough for us to just simply see people baptized. Jesus wants to see people matured, growing in their faith and devotion to Jesus Christ. And there's a myriad of ways that we can do this. Best way I believe is through life on life discipleship. Paul reminds Timothy, what you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, he says, want you to entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. [01:19:44] (37 seconds)  #MultiplyDisciples

He doesn't say, I want you to go out and fight within a culture war. No. He says, preach the word. In Acts chapter one, he says, you will be my witnesses and then he sends the disciples out to the other ends of the world. Why? Because he expects the church to be going. He expects the church to be reaching the lost. He expects the church to be on mission, ready and prepared with the word of the gospel on our mouths so that we can see souls saved for the glory of Jesus Christ. [01:09:49] (31 seconds)  #GoBeWitnesses