- SUBMIT: I make disciples under the AUTHORITY of Jesus (Matt 28:18)
- OBEY: I make disciples according to the PATTERN Jesus gives (Matt 28:19-20)
- GO -
- BAPTIZE them -
- TEACH them -
- TRUST: I make disciples in the POWER of Jesus (Matt 28:20)
How are disciples made?
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above with your cursor for answers!
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00:00-00:05
I thought a great place to start would be to answer some questions that we have right out of the gate.
00:06-00:10
And I'll just answer the questions that, frankly, I've been getting most often.
00:12-00:15
And the first one is this. Where's James McDonald at?
00:16-00:21
He's in Chicago. Actually, on the west side of Chicago, Rolling Meadows.
00:22-00:27
And he's also preaching in Elgin this morning, so that's where he is.
00:28-00:37
And another question I get frequently is, "Well then, who are you?" I'm serving as the pastor, as I told you.
00:39-00:46
People say, "You're the pastor? How old are you, kid? Does your mom know that you put your big white clothes on?" Yeah, very funny. I'm 36.
00:48-00:54
And I've been in pastoral ministry now, blessed to serve the Lord for the last 14 years of my life.
00:55-00:58
Here's a couple more questions that I get a lot.
01:00-01:01
What kind of church is this?
01:02-01:05
Actually, we'll be spending some time talking about that this morning.
01:07-01:18
But, you know, another question I've heard a lot is, "Do we really need another church around here?" And that's a fair question. Do we really need another... There's a lot of great churches around here. There are.
01:19-01:23
We could run down a list of great churches in the North Hills of Pittsburgh.
01:24-01:28
But to say, "Do we really need another church around here?" Here's how I'd answer that question.
01:29-01:34
Do we really need another church that's proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology?
01:35-01:39
Do we really need another church that's lifting high the name of Jesus through worship?
01:40-01:45
Do we really need another church that believes firmly in the power of prayer and is crying out to the Lord?
01:45-01:50
Do we really need another church that shares the good news of Jesus with boldness?
01:51-01:52
What's the answer to that question?
01:53-01:55
We could use a church like that on every corner, right?
01:56-02:00
We need 500 more churches like that just in this neighborhood.
02:02-02:04
So let's get to the first question.
02:04-02:05
What kind of church is this?
02:07-02:21
Well, when a group gets together to accomplish a purpose, they craft a statement that keeps themselves on track and lets everyone know exactly what they're all about, and those are typically called mission statements, right?
02:22-02:27
And I was looking up some mission statements of some companies that I'm sure you're familiar with.
02:28-02:31
And I was trying to see what it all boiled down to.
02:32-02:34
When they say, "This is our mission," what are they really after?
02:34-02:36
Well, here's Toyota's mission.
02:37-02:37
Anybody drive a Toyota?
02:38-02:39
The church, okay.
02:39-02:41
Do you know what Toyota's mission is?
02:42-02:43
Here it is.
02:43-02:50
To sustain profitable growth by providing the best customer experience and dealer support.
02:51-02:56
And what does that all boil down to, to sustain profitable growth?
02:56-02:58
That sounds to me like it really just boils down to money.
02:58-03:09
And I'm not criticizing that, they're a business and I imagine they're in it to make money, but that's what it sounds like it boils down to when they say to sustain profitable growth.
03:11-03:12
How about McDonald's?
03:12-03:14
Do you know what McDonald's mission statement is?
03:16-03:21
McDonald's vision is to be the world's best Quick service restaurant experience.
03:22-03:33
Being the best means providing outstanding quality service, cleanliness and value, so that we make every customer and every restaurant smile.
03:34-03:37
So when you boil all that down, what is McDonald's going after?
03:38-03:40
Smiles, right?
03:40-03:49
And my experience has been I'm usually smiling while I'm eating McDonald's, and an hour later, I find myself not smiling.
03:52-03:55
So they kind of do their job sometimes with me.
03:55-03:56
How about Disney?
03:57-03:58
I love Disney's mission statement.
03:58-03:59
You ready for this?
03:59-04:06
We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages everywhere.
04:06-04:08
So when it all boils down, what's Disney going for?
04:09-04:11
Happiness, right, happiness.
04:14-04:24
But by far the greatest secular mission statement is from an internet news reporting site that's called Nutsworld.
04:25-04:29
As in crazy, but it's edgy because nuts is spelled with a Z.
04:30-04:33
And you know when something's spelled with a Z, that's extreme, right?
04:36-04:38
Like Mountain Dew with the live out can.
04:38-04:41
Well nutsworld.com, listen to their mission statement.
04:43-04:44
Number one, rule the world.
04:46-04:48
Number two, get lots of cookies.
04:50-04:52
Number three, eat the cookies.
04:53-04:56
Number four, get more cookies.
04:57-04:59
And number five, eat those cookies too.
05:00-05:05
So when you take that company's mission statement and boil it down, what are they after, church?
05:06-05:07
Cookies, right.
05:08-05:12
All right, well, I wanna tell you that we're not after profit here.
05:13-05:15
But we do hope that you smile.
05:16-05:19
And we're pursuing joy, not necessarily happiness.
05:20-05:23
And honestly I hope to get some cookies every now and then.
05:24-05:28
But what is the mission of the church?
05:29-05:30
What is the mission of the church?
05:31-05:35
If I asked you what should the church be about, how would you answer that question?
05:36-05:37
What should the church be about?
05:38-05:41
Some people would answer that question by saying the church should be about fellowship.
05:42-05:51
The church should be about, here's a group of people that I love and identify with and we kind of carry each other's burdens, and the church should be about fellowship.
05:53-05:55
Well, that's really not the mission of the church.
05:57-05:58
I'm all for fellowship.
05:58-06:03
I love my Christian brothers and sisters more than I can ever tell you, but the mission of the church is not fellowship.
06:04-06:11
In fact, if all the Lord was interested in was you having perfect fellowship, the minute you got saved, he just take you up to heaven.
06:13-06:14
So the mission of the church isn't fellowship.
06:16-06:18
Some people say, well, the mission of the church is praise.
06:20-06:21
Now we're big on worship.
06:23-06:33
And you see an amazing couple up here leading worship, who are working on assembling some more band members and adding to this piece that you see up here.
06:34-06:35
We're really fired up about worship.
06:37-06:41
But again, the mission of the church is not worship.
06:41-06:45
If God just wanted us to worship perfectly, as soon as we got saved, what would he do with us?
06:45-06:51
He'd take us to heaven where there is perfect worship 24/7, I can't wait for that.
06:52-06:57
Read Revelation chapter four and five sometime, where it's just all praise all the time.
06:58-07:00
and it is going to be incredible.
07:00-07:02
But that's not the purpose of the church.
07:02-07:04
Does the church do fellowship?
07:04-07:04
Yes.
07:04-07:05
Does the church praise?
07:05-07:06
Yes.
07:07-07:08
What about holding the doctrinal line?
07:09-07:14
Some people say, "Well, that's the mission of the church "is we hold the line doctrinally." And we should.
07:16-07:17
But that's not the mission of the church either.
07:18-07:27
Because if the Lord was only interested in us being doctrinally perfect and being amidst a group of doctrinally perfect people, where would he take us as soon as we got saved?
07:28-07:30
He takes us to heaven, right?
07:31-07:37
So these are all good things, but I want you to understand that these are not the mission of the church.
07:39-07:40
Here is our mission statement.
07:41-07:42
We actually have it on this banner up here.
07:42-07:45
This is the mission statement of Harvest Bible Chapel.
07:46-07:52
It is to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
07:55-07:57
And there is more that somehow didn't make the sign.
07:57-07:58
But the rest of it is the mission statement.
07:58-08:00
of it is in the spirit of the great commandment.
08:03-08:05
So to glorify God, first of all, what does that mean?
08:06-08:09
To glorify God means you're manifesting his presence.
08:09-08:12
You're letting God be made known in and through you.
08:12-08:14
That's what it means to glorify God.
08:16-08:22
Now in the spirit of the great commandment, you know the great commandment, when Jesus was asked, what's the greatest commandment, what did he say?
08:23-08:30
The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your soul, and all of your strength.
08:30-08:32
And the second is like it, which is what?
08:32-08:33
Somebody shout it out, you know it?
08:34-08:35
Love your neighbor as yourself, good.
08:36-08:38
Jesus said that's the great commandment.
08:38-08:41
All the law and the prophets hang on that.
08:41-08:47
So we wanna make God's presence made known by loving him and by loving people.
08:47-08:51
What I wanna talk with you is what this great commission is all about.
08:52-08:54
And turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28.
08:56-09:00
Matthew 28, we are going to be picking up in verse 16.
09:13-09:17
Now the last thing that Jesus said to his disciples is the mission statement.
09:17-09:19
And again, that is where we get ours.
09:20-09:25
That's why the title of this message is, Jesus' Last Command is Our First Priority.
09:26-09:28
And I want you to say that, I want you to make it personally.
09:29-09:34
Say, Jesus' last command is my first priority.
09:34-09:35
Let me hear you say that.
09:36-09:39
Jesus' last command is my first priority.
09:39-09:41
You didn't say that with a lot of conviction.
09:41-09:42
I know this is launch Sunday.
09:43-09:45
Maybe you're not so in it yet, let's take another run at it.
09:46-09:50
Go, Jesus' last command is my first priority.
09:50-09:51
Would you believe that?
09:54-09:56
Well, look at verses 16 and 17.
09:57-10:03
And I'll give us an on-ramp here as to what Jesus' last command is.
10:03-10:08
It says, "Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, "to the mountains of which Jesus had directed them.
10:11-10:30
"And when they saw him, they worshipped him, "but some doubted." Jesus had died, resurrected, and was about to ascend back into heaven.
10:30-10:33
But notice in verse 16 it says that Jesus directed them.
10:34-10:35
Jesus had called a meeting.
10:39-10:40
And it says some worshiped and some doubted.
10:41-10:43
That's every church everywhere.
10:44-10:46
Right? You're going to have people coming together.
10:47-10:49
Some people are going to worship, some people are going to doubt.
10:50-11:00
And obviously in this case, there are probably some people, "Is that really Jesus?" And, you know, trying to make sense of the whole death and resurrection, all the significance of that.
11:01-11:03
I just love the honesty of God's Word.
11:03-11:04
It just says some of the people there are just doubting.
11:05-11:10
Like, "I'm not sure what's going on here." So Jesus called this meeting.
11:10-11:14
Let me ask you, have you ever been in a meeting where you felt like nothing got accomplished.
11:14-11:15
You ever been to a meeting like that?
11:17-11:18
Where you felt like nothing got accomplished?
11:20-11:21
You're like, no, not me.
11:21-11:22
Well, I wanna work where you work.
11:22-11:30
'Cause I've been in a lot of meetings like that where three hours later, you're packing up and you're walking out and you're like, okay, let's make a list of the things that we got done.
11:32-11:37
Something got tabled, something got postponed, something needs further consideration.
11:39-11:50
We really didn't get anything done, But the purpose of this meeting would change the course of history forever.
11:55-11:58
Because Jesus is about to tell the disciples what their marching orders are.
11:58-11:59
I want you to think about this.
12:00-12:04
Without the Great Commission, without this meeting, where would we be today?
12:06-12:13
The story of Jesus would probably be just in a catalog of other amazing stories.
12:14-12:19
True stories that happened to people throughout history, that would probably just be in the catalog, right?
12:21-12:31
But here with this meeting, Jesus is saying this death and resurrection, this salvation that was purchased is the basis for your mission.
12:35-12:39
So this meeting Jesus is telling his disciples that the rest of the story is us telling the story.
12:40-12:44
Even though this comes at the end of the book of Matthew, this is not the end of the story.
12:46-12:50
In fact, the story goes on with this church plan.
12:52-12:55
It's exciting to consider that we are part of the story, right?
12:56-13:00
Jesus said, "Something's going to happen with this ministry that I accomplish.
13:00-13:08
It's going to be carried forth and disciples are going to make and it's going to carry And here we are today, day one of Harvest Bible Chapel, Pittsburgh North.
13:09-13:10
Wow, that sounds good to say.
13:10-13:16
And here we are, and we're carrying forth the rest of the story.
13:18-13:19
The three quick things I wanna share with you.
13:23-13:25
Jesus' last command is my first priority.
13:25-13:27
Number one, submit.
13:29-13:32
You take your notes in the back of your bulletin, drop this down.
13:32-13:34
I make disciples under the authority of Jesus.
13:36-13:38
Under the authority of Jesus.
13:39-13:56
Look at verse 18, it says, "Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth "has been given to me." Let's stop there for a second, because this is one of the biggest statements ever stated.
13:58-14:02
Authority is the power and the right to do something.
14:04-14:06
That's what authority is.
14:07-14:09
It's the power and the right to do something.
14:12-14:14
And authority is something that must be recognized.
14:15-14:18
That's why I have on your outline, we submit to the authority.
14:23-14:33
Many years ago, when I was, I took a, I took a group of teenagers up to a church.
14:33-14:36
They had this overnight retreat thing where there was all kind of movies and games.
14:37-14:39
And I was the associate pastor of the church.
14:40-14:42
And I was early 20s at the time.
14:42-14:46
And I took this group of teenagers up to this retreat.
14:47-15:00
And the pastor at this host church said, "Teenagers, I don't want you going outside unless you're with an adult." And again, did I say this was early in my ministry?
15:01-15:10
Some of the teenagers came up to me from our church and they were like, "Hey, Pastor Jeff, can we go outside and play basketball?" And my first thought was, "Oh, you know what?
15:10-15:13
We need an adult for that." And I'm like, "Wait, wait a minute, wait a minute.
15:15-15:17
I'm the adult." And it was like epiphany.
15:17-15:18
It started to click with me.
15:18-15:21
Like, "Yeah, yeah, I'm the adult.
15:21-15:26
I'm the adult." So all of a sudden I was feeling, you know, pretty employed.
15:26-15:29
I'm like, teens, I'll take you outside.
15:30-15:32
Don't worry, I authorized this one.
15:33-15:57
So I took the teenagers outside, we were playing basketball, and the senior pastor of this church comes up to us, and he said, "Hey, I thought I told you kids you weren't supposed to be out here unless you had an adult." So I stepped up, I said, "It's okay, I'm with them." I just pass him off to him, he goes, "Are you the adult?" And I'm like...
15:58-15:59
(laughter)
16:00-16:03
But I felt so, like, deflated.
16:03-16:05
Like, you don't recognize my authority!
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I'm the associate pastor guy here!
16:09-16:09
And...
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Are you the adult?
16:13-16:13
Yeah.
16:15-16:19
Or maybe, maybe, uh, I'm thinking of this, but maybe your mother said this.
16:19-16:20
Do you have a mother that said this?
16:20-16:21
I have a mother that always said this.
16:23-16:25
When she'd tell you to do something Why?
16:27-16:28
Your mother said what?
16:29-16:36
Because I said so, or my mom's variation of that was, because I'm your mother, that's why.
16:37-16:37
Right?
16:38-16:39
Anybody have a mom say that to them?
16:39-16:40
Because I'm your mother.
16:41-16:42
Well, why do I have to do this?
16:43-16:45
Because I'm your mother, and I said to do it.
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You're like, well, okay.
16:48-16:49
I see where this is going.
16:50-16:55
Well, look at what Jesus said about authority.
16:55-17:00
Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
17:00-17:03
So who's in charge here at this church plan?
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Tell me. Jesus is.
17:05-17:07
Who's calling the shots?
17:07-17:08
Jesus is.
17:09-17:14
What about in Aspinwall or Alaska or Africa?
17:14-17:15
Who's calling the shots in those places?
17:16-17:17
Jesus is.
17:18-17:18
Right.
17:20-17:22
Who is in charge of heaven?
17:24-17:24
Jesus is.
17:26-17:27
Says who?
17:28-17:33
"For that is Jesus' authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." God the Father.
17:35-17:39
Your Bible tells you that He gave Jesus the name that is above all names.
17:42-17:44
God gave Jesus all authority.
17:45-17:49
I understand that this is the biggest claim that a human being can ever make.
17:50-18:00
Jesus in this passage is saying, "I'm in charge of everything." I'm in charge of everything.
18:03-18:03
What about the angels?
18:04-18:05
Who's in charge of the angels?
18:05-18:05
Jesus is.
18:05-18:06
Who's in charge of the church?
18:06-18:07
Jesus is.
18:07-18:08
What about the government?
18:10-18:11
Jesus.
18:11-18:15
All spiritual, physical, temporal, eternal matters.
18:15-18:16
All Jesus.
18:16-18:17
All Jesus.
18:17-18:18
All Jesus.
18:18-18:20
He's of all authority.
18:20-18:22
I looked up that word "all." Do you know what it means?
18:22-18:23
It means all.
18:23-18:26
All authority has been given to Jesus.
18:26-18:29
He has all authority.
18:31-18:39
Now, if you've read your Gospels, I'm sure you have, but you'll note that Jesus never played the authority card like this anywhere else in His ministry did.
18:40-19:02
I can't think of any other passage where Jesus said, "I want you to do something, and I'm telling you to do it, because I have all authority." Typically, Jesus said things like, "The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. The Son of Man came to serve. I came to lay down my life, and I'm the good shepherd that lays down his life for the sheep." Typically, he said things like that.
19:03-19:08
This is a unique thing for Jesus to be stating this truth.
19:09-19:33
But he's preparing to leave and he's passing on the mission and what he's saying is, "What I'm about to tell you to do is so important and you need to listen to every word that I say because I have all authority in heaven and on earth." Jesus' last command is my first priority.
19:34-19:35
We can't question His will.
19:36-19:37
We can't stop Israel.
19:37-19:51
In Matthew chapter 16, as Ken Shaw quoted, Jesus said, "I will build my church." So we have two options with that statement.
19:52-20:54
We can either get on board and participate, or we can reject or rebel against his authority involved in the blessing that is building the church but it's going to happen Jesus says I will build my church and he says all authority and heaven on earth has been given to me it's going to happen so the first thing we need to do as we consider the mission of the church we need to submit under the authority of Jesus secondly let's look at verses 19 and 20 secondly we want to obey "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." We'll stop there for a second.
20:55-21:05
The second man you're outlining, "Obey, I make disciples according to the pattern Jesus gives." was this meeting that Jesus had called.
21:07-21:12
And this is the mission statement that's still going on 2,000 years in effect.
21:12-21:16
We haven't changed it because Jesus hasn't changed his mind.
21:16-21:17
What does he call us to do?
21:18-21:24
Well, he says, "Make disciples." He's going to make a disciple right now.
21:27-21:31
And you might be thinking, well, doesn't this new church have a gimmick?
21:32-21:34
You're like a new church and it's kind of cool.
21:34-21:36
We're meeting in a school auditorium.
21:36-21:36
So what's your gift?
21:37-21:37
We don't have a gift.
21:40-21:43
You know, what's distinctly unique about this church?
21:44-21:45
We're still going with this.
21:47-21:53
We're still sticking with, under the authority of Jesus Christ, we're making disciples.
21:53-21:55
He made it clear what the jobs are.
21:55-21:57
He built a church, we make disciples.
21:57-21:58
And what's a disciple?
21:59-22:06
Well, a disciple is literally a learner, somebody who follows Jesus Christ.
22:06-22:07
That's what a disciple is.
22:08-22:12
But understand here, Jesus didn't say to go there for big churchgoers.
22:15-22:19
Go there for a big people who just think the same way you think.
22:21-22:23
What did Jesus say to go do?
22:24-22:28
He said to make followers of Him.
22:30-22:32
And what gives us the right to do that?
22:32-22:34
I had somebody tell me that one time.
22:34-22:52
You know, she said, "What gives you the right "to tell someone how to believe?" I said, "Well, actually, Jesus gives me that right "because He says that He has all authority "and He told me to do this, "so you're gonna have to take it up with Him." But the basis of our job is the all-encompassing authority of the Lord.
22:53-22:54
So how are disciples made?
22:54-22:56
This is real easy, look at your text.
22:57-22:58
Underline these words.
22:59-23:01
Here's how a disciple's made, the first thing is go.
23:03-23:05
You know, like here comes mission sermon, right?
23:05-23:09
This is where he's gonna tell us that unless we go to China, we're not being faithful.
23:10-23:11
That's not what this means.
23:13-23:21
It could mean that, but go doesn't mean, well, you can't make disciples here, you gotta be a thousand miles away before you can make a disciple.
23:21-23:24
What go actually means is as you are going.
23:26-23:32
Meaning under your household parents, you have responsibility to make disciples of your own children.
23:35-23:41
That means that your place of employment, you need to be seeking where the Lord's opening doors for you to make disciples there.
23:44-23:50
In your neighborhood, just fill in the blackboard, wherever the Lord sends you, what are you supposed to do while you're there?
23:51-23:52
That's the going, you see.
23:53-23:54
You're going and making disciples.
23:58-24:13
He says, "Make disciples of all nations." All nations includes Liberia, and Egypt, and Thailand, and it includes that, all nations also includes your backyard.
24:14-24:19
Not everyone is called to go overseas, go to a third world country.
24:19-24:21
Some people are, and praise the Lord for that.
24:21-24:23
But not everybody's called to that.
24:23-24:28
Like, you know, Pastor Jim, I don't really feel called to go across the ocean and make disciples.
24:28-24:30
Okay, but you know what you are called to do?
24:31-24:32
You're called to make disciples where God has you.
24:33-24:36
That's true, because we are all called under the authority of Jesus.
24:38-24:42
First of all, go, as you're going, wherever you're going.
24:44-24:45
Secondly, baptizing them.
24:47-24:48
Baptizing them.
24:50-24:58
Now, does Jesus teach them that as long as we get somebody baptized, that's how they become a disciple?
24:59-25:01
Obviously, the scriptures don't teach that.
25:01-25:18
As one of my favorite preachers says, "If that's how somebody got saved, we could just dig a hole in the ground and fill it with water and as people were walking by, we could just grab them, throw them in the water and baptize them and bring them out and say, 'See you in heaven.'" But obviously, that's not how somebody becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ.
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But obviously, that's how we get baptized.
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Sometimes in scripture, baptism is used synonymously with salvation because of the picture that it represents.
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Baptism is an outward, visible sign of something that Jesus Christ does in here.
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You see, when you become a follower of Jesus Christ, the Bible says that you are dead, and you die to self.
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And Jesus Christ puts his life in you.
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And that's the picture of baptism.
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When you go under the water, you're saying, "I'm dead." And when you come up out of the water in Romans 6, you're identifying with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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That's what Jesus is talking about.
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He's talking about baptizing people.
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He's bringing people to salvation where they are dying to themselves.
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us and the resurrected life of Jesus Christ is alive.
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Would do us any good to launch the church.
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We didn't stop there for a second.
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If I ask you, have you done that?
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Have you died to yourself?
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Have you died to yourself?
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Because if you have.
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If you haven't died, you haven't been raised.
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If you haven't identified with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you're not born again.
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Part of making disciples is to help people to understand that being a churchgoer is not being a disciple.
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Simply agreeing with some historical facts about the Bible is not the same as being a disciple.
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Simply saying Jesus is just alright with me is not the same as being a disciple.
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Being a disciple according to Jesus is dying to yourself.
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It's carrying your cross and saying it's no longer about me.
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When I was baptized Jeff Miller died.
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When they brought me up out of the water, my life was for Jesus Christ.
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And daily might I be an offering on the altar for Romans 12, a living sacrifice.
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We're going to be talking about that a lot here.
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Being a disciple means you have died yourself and been raised with Christ.
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And that outward demonstration of water baptism shows an inward reality.
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So go, baptize them, and finally he says, teach them to observe all that he commanded, all that I commanded, Jesus said.
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Teach them to observe all that he commanded.
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And that's why we stand up here and open the Bible and say, this is what Jesus commanded, so let's get on this.
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Jesus said, "Teach them to obey, to observe all that I have created." So this is the measure of our effectiveness.
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Are we making quality disciples? That's the question.
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Are we clearly and accurately preaching the gospel?
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Are we making disciple makers?
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And at Harvest we want to focus on quality over quantity.
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Again, Jesus and I will build my church.
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Our job is to make disciples.
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In Harvest speak, what is a disciple?
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Well, here's how we talk about a disciple in Harvest Bible Chapter World.
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The in-house slang is known as the three W's.
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Or as my friend Dale calls it, Trey Dubs.
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A disciple worships Christ.
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A disciple walks with Christ.
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And obviously walking with Christ is your own time, feeding on God's word, your own time, on your face praying, but that's also being part of a small group that we'll be launching here in a few weeks, and we want you to be a part of it.
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And it means you're pouring yourself into other people, and you're allowing other people to pour into you.
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Worship Christ, walk with Christ, and the last thing is work for Christ.
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You know, 1 Corinthians 15, 58 says that we should be always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.
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And working for Christ means that we're shouldering weekly kingdom responsibility.
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That you show up and say, how can I serve? Is it to greet people? Is it playing an instrument? Is it helping with children's ministry? How can I help carry out this weekly kingdom responsibility?
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Jesus said to go make disciples and you're saying you want us to go out to a world that hates God and Tell them that the feeling is not mutual You're telling me you want me to be rejected as the religious nut You know, they kill people for that in some parts of the world I'm not sure what to say. I'm not sure how to handle the fear. Well, here's where the best news comes in And I'm going end of the age. So how do I handle all this? Well, Jesus' answer is Himself. He says, "I'll be with you." And He didn't mean that in a poetic, metaphorical sense like, "Yeah, I got your back. You go ahead. You can make disciples.
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I'll be over here watching." That's not what He meant at all. Jesus said, "I will be with you." I'm going to this last phrase, "to the end of the age." To the end of the age.
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See, this is the good news, and it's the paradox that we're commanded to make disciples, but Jesus is the one who actually does the work.
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So if you're taking notes, jot these down.
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Here's some things that Jesus did not promise.
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First of all, Jesus did not promise it's going to be easy.
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He didn't promise that.
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I think a lot of churches promote that, You know, following Jesus Christ is like Disney World.
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It's not.
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If you've been walking with Christ, really walking with Christ for more than five minutes, I'm sure you've caught wind of that.
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Following Christ is not always easy.
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Jesus didn't promise that it would be.
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In fact, he actually promised the opposite.
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In this world, you will have, back in the same John 16, in this world you will have trouble.
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He promised the opposite.
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So he didn't promise it's going to be easy.
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Secondly, Jesus didn't promise that people would be receptive.
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He didn't promise that.
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In fact, Jesus actually promised the opposite, didn't he?
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He studied the parable of the sower of the seeds and the dirt in Matthew 13.
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Using that average, 3 out of 4 people reject the gospel.
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And I don't think that was meant to be, like direct correlations.
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You know, 75% of all people you ever meet reject the gospel.
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But what Jesus was saying is more people are going to reject it than accept it.
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But somehow we think, "Well, as long as we package it nice, and as long as we get the person to like us..." I can't believe they rejected the Gospel.
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"The servant is not above his master." If they rejected Christ, they wouldn't have rejected Him.
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And people are not always going to be receptive.
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So, let's not think that Jesus promised that it's going to be easy and people will be receptive.
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Thirdly, along the same lines, Jesus didn't promise them, always going to get the results that I want.
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Actually, Philippians one says that we should only have one expectation.
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You know that?
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We go around so often with our expectations.
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We possibly also have one expectation.
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It's that I honor Christ in my body.
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That's it.
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When you expect out of ministry today, Paul, he's like, "I have one thing, "that I honor Christ in my body." Well, how many people do you think you're gonna come to Christ today?
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How many churches are you gonna plan today?
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He's like, "I'm not thinking about that.
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"I'm thinking about will Christ be ordained with my blood." That's all I care about.
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So there's incredible power in this statement.
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And there's incredible assurance.
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Jesus said, "I will be with you." There's power in presence, isn't there?
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There's power in presence.
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When I was in junior high, there was a guy that was a grade ahead of me, but about six years older than me, who said if I showed up at the dance, he was going to kill me.
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Again, he didn't mean that metaphorically.
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He meant he was going to stab me to death if I showed up.
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And you can probably guess what this was over.
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Go ahead and say it.
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Yeah, okay, you got it.
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A girl.
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He said he was going to kill me if I showed up.
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I went to the dance.
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Now, when I was in seventh grade, I weighed about 50 pounds, and that's if I had a bowling ball in each of my pockets.
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I don't know why I showed up to that dance.
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I mean, I was thinking about this this week 'cause I was gonna share the story.
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I went, why did I show up there?
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Why in the world did I show up?
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What was I thinking?
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But I went.
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Well, he caught up with me.
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He kind of got up and squared up with me.
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And I'm thinking, this is it.
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It was a great 13 year run.
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(audience laughing)
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But it's all over.
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My knees were shaking.
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I thought, this is it.
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When all of a sudden, this giant hand comes on this guy's shoulder.
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And he turns around and looks up.
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Here's my big brother.
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He says, "Can I help you?" And this guy said, "No, I was just leaving." And my brother said, "You're right, you were just leaving." And I'm going, "Yeah, you're right, you were just leaving.
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"Yeah, yeah, you was just leaving.
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"Here, I'll get the door for you." Yeah, I was real brave then.
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Question, what made the difference?
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What made the difference?
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What made the difference was the presence of somebody powerful.
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And by God's grace, that's the only way ministry gets done is because it's his presence within us.
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That's where the power is.
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We're just earthen vessels.
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The power is in the one working in us and through us.
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Nothing in the Christian life is meant to be done in our own power.
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We can't save anyone.
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We can't change hearts.
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We can't put life into dead people.
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Here's the thing, we know who can.
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We know who can.
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One of the great mysteries of God to me is why he would choose to work through us.
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You realize God can accomplish his purposes any way that he wants to.
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Do you know that?
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Psalm 115, I believe it's verse three, says, "Our God is in the heavens.
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"He does everything that he pleases." He can do whatever he wants, but he chooses to indwell and work through us.
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There's nothing more glorious than when you allow God to be at work for you, the changing course of eternity.
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You might be sitting here this morning saying, I didn't realize this was so important, what you do now.
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The question is, what are you going to do about it?
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That's the dangerous thing about biblical knowledge, 'cause we're accountable to do something with it.
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And the one who has all authority says, "I'm going to be at work in you.
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"Now you go make disciples.
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"What are you gonna do with it?
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"You're gonna grab the cake on the way out and say, "I'm gonna think about it." There's nothing to think about.
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Jesus Christ called us to make disciples.
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His last command is our first priority.
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So you might be thinking, you signed me up, how do I do that?
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Well, here's what I'm going to ask you to do.
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I want you to be in prayer this week.
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I want you to really be in prayer.
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If you're making this church your home, we have people visiting with us today, some friends and family, and we're so glad that you're here.
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For those of you who are considering making the harvest your home, I want you to be praying about how you see yourself being involved in the disciple making process.
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If you look at your bulletin, there's a lot of ways that you can get plugged in.
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As I said, we're working on building a worship team.
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We have children's ministry, hospitality ministry.
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We have a youth ministry.
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You can read all about these things in your bulletin.
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Small groups are gonna be starting up in about five weeks.
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Many ways to plug in, that's the great thing about a church plan.
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It's not like there's a line of people ahead of you for a job that you're like, "Oh, maybe in a couple of years "I'll be able to get involved in this." We have a wide open door starting fresh like this where you can get involved, making disciples right out of the gate.
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Over the next few weeks, we're going to be calling you, we're going to be challenging you.
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We wanna see everyone that's making harvest at home to stand up and say, I want to make disciples of Jesus Christ with Harvest Bible Channel.
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Why?
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Because Jesus' last commandment is my first priority.
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Let's pray.
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Our Father in Heaven, Forgive us when our priorities get so out of whack.
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We invest ourselves in so many things, and some of them are good things.
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But not everything we invest ourselves in, not everything is eternal.
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And I pray, Father, that you would light a fire in us as a brand new church plant right out of the gate.
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We're saying the last thing that Jesus told us to do is the thing that we're going to get after.
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He has the authority to tell us and he's giving us the power to do it.
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So, Father, I pray that you would work mightily in us.
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I pray for the people that are considering making harvest their home and who are going to be visiting with us and checking us out over these next few weeks.
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I pray, Father, you would lay on their heart exactly where you would have them serve.
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To be a part of making disciples.
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To be a part of altering eternal destinies through the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Father, you are so faithful and we move ahead trusting you, God.
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You are going to work mightily in us.
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May we rest in the truth of God.
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Great is your, faithfulness.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Matthew 28:18-20
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.