Our Mission, Our Vision, Our Values - Part 4

Brother Jim: Four weeks ago, we started a series on the Great Commission.

Brother Jim: Kind of scratched the surface of what it was.

Brother Jim: The following Sunday was Pentecost.

Brother Jim: The Great Commission is the mission.

Brother Jim: The power comes from Pentecost for the mission.

Brother Jim: Now, last week we started

Brother Jim: heading into what a dying church

Brother Jim: can be because in my mind, we

Brother Jim: need to know what we're facing,

Brother Jim: what we're dealing with before

Brother Jim: we go.

Brother Jim: And this Sunday, next Sunday, we're going to talk about the

Brother Jim: mission of the other, the mission of Satan.

Brother Jim: And believe you me, he has a mission just as strong as we

Brother Jim: have our mission.

Brother Jim: And I asked earlier in the beginning of the church service,

Brother Jim: are you feeling dangerous today?

Brother Jim: Well, Brother Jim, what is dangerous mean?

Brother Jim: I mean, do you have the power of

Brother Jim: the Holy Spirit running through

Brother Jim: you to where nothing is going to

Brother Jim: stop you?

Brother Jim: No fear comes into your heart, your mind, your eyes, your soul.

Brother Jim: You are jacked and ready to go.

Brother Jim: Just putting it out there.

Brother Jim: Are you feeling dangerous today, church?

Brother Jim: Well, what better place to start in the Scripture?

Brother Jim: The scripture Ephesians six twelve tells us, and I want you

Brother Jim: to listen to these words, my friends, for we do not wrestle

Brother Jim: against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against

Brother Jim: powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,

Brother Jim: against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly

Brother Jim: places, the principalities against the power.

Brother Jim: And yes, they have power.

Brother Jim: Rulers of the darkness.

Brother Jim: Yes.

Brother Jim: Satan is a ruler.

Brother Jim: Satan has his kingdom, does he not?

Brother Jim: And again, Satan's number one job is to draw you away from

Brother Jim: God, to break that communication, to pull you away,

Brother Jim: to make you suffer, to make you miserable, to lie to you by any

Brother Jim: tactics deemed necessary by him and his minions.

Brother Jim: His goons.

Brother Jim: How many people sitting here

Brother Jim: this morning believe that life's

Brother Jim: greatest battles are against

Brother Jim: difficult people, difficult

Brother Jim: circumstances?

Brother Jim: The government, forgotten passwords, pin numbers, spam

Brother Jim: emails and phone calls, or perhaps even against ourselves.

Brother Jim: Yet God's Word reveals that

Brother Jim: behind many of the struggles you

Brother Jim: and I face is a much greater

Brother Jim: reality.

Brother Jim: There is a spiritual battle, and

Brother Jim: I hope you understand that today

Brother Jim: there is a spiritual battle

Brother Jim: going on.

Brother Jim: Do we truly comprehend this

Brother Jim: morning that there really is one

Brother Jim: though?

Brother Jim: Do we understand that that's

Brother Jim: being fought every hour of every

Brother Jim: day around you and I, around

Brother Jim: this church, around our

Brother Jim: families, and yes, even within

Brother Jim: our own hearts, our homes, our

Brother Jim: schools, our workplaces, our

Brother Jim: government buildings, our

Brother Jim: hospitals, our nursing homes,

Brother Jim: and yes, even within our

Brother Jim: churches.

Brother Jim: The battle is taking place.

Brother Jim: Now, God's Word teaches us that Satan is real.

Brother Jim: I hope you believe you know that Satan is real and that he

Brother Jim: actively, actively, actively opposes the purpose of God.

Brother Jim: Satan wages war against humanity not because of anything we've

Brother Jim: personally done to him, but because of who created us and

Brother Jim: what God intends for us.

Brother Jim: The devil's hatred for mankind is ultimately rooted in his

Brother Jim: hatred for God.

Brother Jim: Now we'll all agree we are

Brother Jim: created in God's image, loved by

Brother Jim: God, and offered a future with

Brother Jim: God.

Brother Jim: And guess what?

Brother Jim: Satan despises every one of those things.

Brother Jim: So once again, Rockford Church.

Brother Jim: Do you believe that in our world today that there is a real

Brother Jim: active and violent, yes, violent spiritual battle taking place, a

Brother Jim: war that rages unseen by many.

Brother Jim: And unfortunately leaves

Brother Jim: devastating casualties in the

Brother Jim: wake.

Brother Jim: Here we go.

Brother Jim: A little bit of reality right here.

Brother Jim: A war where marriages are attacked.

Brother Jim: Families are divided.

Brother Jim: Truth is distorted, faith is

Brother Jim: weakened and souls, yes, souls

Brother Jim: are lost.

Brother Jim: A war that is not fought with tanks, missiles, or armies, but

Brother Jim: with deception, temptation, fear, pride and unbelief.

Brother Jim: A war that each day produces eternal consequences.

Brother Jim: As countless souls are drawn further away from God.

Brother Jim: This God who loves you, who loves them.

Brother Jim: Church.

Brother Jim: The battle is real.

Brother Jim: The enemy is real, and the stakes are eternal.

Brother Jim: It's not like we're going to go out and lose the game and have a

Brother Jim: new week to come up to prepare for the next battle, the next

Brother Jim: opponent, eternity is at stake.

Brother Jim: The question is not whether the war is taking place.

Brother Jim: The question is, are we prepared to fight the battle God's way?

Brother Jim: Again, this morning I am talking about the war of good versus

Brother Jim: evil, a war that is waged around you and I and me.

Brother Jim: Just think about it this very moment.

Brother Jim: How many of you sitting here right now?

Brother Jim: There is an internal conflict in

Brother Jim: your heart, in your mind, a war

Brother Jim: being raged because Satan is

Brother Jim: whispering.

Brother Jim: Satan is trying to tear you apart.

Brother Jim: And guess what?

Brother Jim: Your soul, my soul, your eternity, and my eternity, they

Brother Jim: are at stake.

Brother Jim: And if you do not believe that, then you need to wake up and

Brother Jim: open your eyes to see what God's Word clearly teaches.

Brother Jim: And let's be honest, this morning you might be sitting

Brother Jim: good with God and praise God for that to your loved ones, their

Brother Jim: eternity is on the line.

Brother Jim: The war has been raging.

Brother Jim: Let's be honest, the war has

Brother Jim: been raging since it first found

Brother Jim: its way into the heart of

Brother Jim: Lucifer.

Brother Jim: Let's go beyond Adam.

Brother Jim: It started with Lucifer in heaven.

Brother Jim: And this battle is not merely

Brother Jim: political, cultural, social, or

Brother Jim: even philosophical.

Brother Jim: It's a spiritual battle for the hearts, minds, and souls of men

Brother Jim: and women of children.

Brother Jim: So who's involved in this war?

Brother Jim: Who are the soldiers, brother Jim.

Brother Jim: Who is the enemy?

Brother Jim: The war involves you and I. Yes.

Brother Jim: Hear me on this church, you and

Brother Jim: I, as believers in Jesus Christ

Brother Jim: around the world, believers,

Brother Jim: it's just not designated

Brother Jim: Rockford Church.

Brother Jim: It's around the world.

Brother Jim: Standing against us is Satan.

Brother Jim: Anybody disagree with that?

Brother Jim: This morning?

Brother Jim: Satan, his demons in a fallen

Brother Jim: world that often follows his

Brother Jim: influence.

Brother Jim: Is that getting through to you?

Brother Jim: Looking around our world today, what our society is producing.

Brother Jim: Riddle me that one, folks.

Brother Jim: Prove me wrong.

Brother Jim: Look around what the world is producing.

Brother Jim: It's a fallen world.

Brother Jim: And we so often follow its influence.

Brother Jim: His influence.

Brother Jim: Now, as we've said, Jesus gave his followers a mission known as

Brother Jim: the Great Commission.

Brother Jim: Satan the enemy.

Brother Jim: God and humanity.

Brother Jim: We all have a mission.

Brother Jim: Again, God has a mission.

Brother Jim: Satan has a mission.

Brother Jim: Christ seeks to save.

Brother Jim: Satan seeks to destroy.

Brother Jim: Christ seeks to bring truth.

Brother Jim: Satan seeks to spread lies.

Brother Jim: Christ seeks to give life.

Brother Jim: Satan seeks to bring death.

Brother Jim: Christ seeks to offer hope.

Brother Jim: Satan seeks to spread despair.

Brother Jim: Christ seeks to set people free.

Brother Jim: How many of you are free today because of the Holy Spirit?

Brother Jim: Because of Jesus Christ?

Brother Jim: How many of you are held in bondage because of what Satan is

Brother Jim: doing in your life?

Brother Jim: Jesus said in John ten ten, the thief does not come except to do

Brother Jim: what he comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

Brother Jim: And guess what?

Brother Jim: I have come that they may have

Brother Jim: life, and that they may have it

Brother Jim: more abundantly.

Brother Jim: And my friends, I want you to understand this morning.

Brother Jim: No matter what AI says, no matter what social media said,

Brother Jim: there are two kingdoms.

Brother Jim: Can we agree on that this morning?

Brother Jim: There are two kingdoms.

Brother Jim: There is God's kingdom and there is Satan's kingdom.

Brother Jim: There is heaven and hell.

Brother Jim: Nothing in between.

Brother Jim: And you ain't coming back as a

Brother Jim: butterfly or a unicorn or

Brother Jim: whatever else some of them

Brother Jim: believe.

Brother Jim: I hate to burst your bubble.

Brother Jim: I'm not coming back with a head full of hair.

Brother Jim: But you know what?

Brother Jim: As I said last night at his abilities.

Brother Jim: I do believe I'm me and Samson.

Brother Jim: We're going to be trading hair ideas.

Brother Jim: I'm thinking of a man.

Brother Jim: But as Jim Hartsock said, we

Brother Jim: might try out deadlock

Brother Jim: dreadlocks.

Brother Jim: But again, death is death.

Brother Jim: You got two choices, my friends.

Brother Jim: And every day, every soul is moving toward one or the other.

Brother Jim: That is why this battle matters.

Brother Jim: If you really care, that is why the gospel matters.

Brother Jim: That is why the Great Commission

Brother Jim: matters, because souls are at

Brother Jim: stake.

Brother Jim: Do we understand that souls are at stake?

Brother Jim: Eternity is at stake and the enemy.

Brother Jim: Guess what?

Brother Jim: He never takes a day off.

Brother Jim: Now we all like our days off, don't we?

Brother Jim: Except for you, retired folks.

Brother Jim: Every day is a day off.

Brother Jim: But Satan, he never takes a day off.

Brother Jim: And Satan loves.

Brother Jim: He seeks to spread lies to you, my watered down the truth.

Brother Jim: AM I getting warm here?

Brother Jim: Watering down the truth.

Brother Jim: And mankind is often so sinful and gullible enough to believe

Brother Jim: almost anything except the truth that God put right before us.

Brother Jim: Plain and simple.

Brother Jim: But we think we know better, do we not?

Brother Jim: So many people think they know better.

Brother Jim: Or maybe we're just lazy and we don't want to get in the word

Brother Jim: and take the hard way at times.

Brother Jim: Christ seeks to bring people to eternal life.

Brother Jim: Satan seeks to keep people from God by any means possible.

Brother Jim: And believe me, oh, believe you

Brother Jim: me, if you've been in the

Brother Jim: trenches, if you've been in a

Brother Jim: battle, if you've went down to

Brother Jim: the darkest places, you can

Brother Jim: understand how bad Satan can

Brother Jim: bring you down and try to keep

Brother Jim: you there.

Brother Jim: The pits of hell is what I'm talking about.

Brother Jim: So this morning let's you and I examine the battle plan.

Brother Jim: Let us compare Christ's great commission with the work Satan

Brother Jim: is attempting to accomplish.

Brother Jim: And yes, he's attempting very

Brother Jim: hard because I truly believe he

Brother Jim: knows his days are numbered on

Brother Jim: this earth.

Brother Jim: Does anybody agree with that today?

Brother Jim: His days are numbered to take souls.

Brother Jim: Again, Jesus Christ's mission is to reach the people.

Brother Jim: And guess what?

Brother Jim: I don't care if you're tattooed.

Brother Jim: You're bald.

Brother Jim: Multiple colored hair, earrings, piercings everywhere.

Brother Jim: Dressing funny.

Brother Jim: He loves you.

Brother Jim: So how dare we say, oh, that

Brother Jim: person doesn't deserve God's

Brother Jim: love?

Brother Jim: Well guess what?

Brother Jim: Let me look in the mirror.

Brother Jim: My friends.

Brother Jim: Do you think I deserve God's love?

Brother Jim: Do I deserve God's mercy?

Brother Jim: No, not one of us.

Brother Jim: But he still loves us so much he gives it to us, doesn't he?

Brother Jim: To reach the people, the lost.

Brother Jim: How many times?

Brother Jim: And if we're very honest, have

Brother Jim: we snubbed people out in society

Brother Jim: because they don't fit our

Brother Jim: standard?

Brother Jim: How many people in this church

Brother Jim: have been snubbed over the

Brother Jim: years?

Brother Jim: Now that's a quiet secret.

Brother Jim: True.

Brother Jim: I'm just asking questions this morning, my friend.

Brother Jim: But you're the one that can come up with the answer.

Brother Jim: Jesus said, go therefore and make disciples of all nations.

Brother Jim: As I have said, the Great Commission begins with movement.

Brother Jim: Jesus did not tell his followers to sit on their backsides.

Brother Jim: No, said that the other day.

Brother Jim: He said, get out there and go.

Brother Jim: The church was never intended.

Brother Jim: Think about it.

Brother Jim: We got a nice little fortress here, do we not?

Brother Jim: We're safe.

Brother Jim: We feel good.

Brother Jim: We're comfortable.

Brother Jim: Going out there.

Brother Jim: Doesn't make us comfortable, does it?

Brother Jim: Going out there, fear can come in.

Brother Jim: But Jesus said to go to be a lighthouse shining in the

Brother Jim: darkness today, O church, there are people around us who

Brother Jim: desperately need help.

Brother Jim: As Miss Buffy said.

Brother Jim: And if you don't believe, pull around after church, pull over

Brother Jim: by the side and ask her.

Brother Jim: Because every day they see it.

Brother Jim: People are just in basic need of basic ways to function, to live.

Brother Jim: If you can't feed your family, if you can't get to work, does

Brother Jim: that not destroy your hope?

Brother Jim: It does.

Brother Jim: And that opens the floodgates wide open for Satan.

Brother Jim: Families struggling with brokenness to make ends meet.

Brother Jim: How many of us go to the grocery

Brother Jim: store and pray we just got

Brother Jim: enough?

Brother Jim: How many of us go to the gas station and can only fill half

Brother Jim: the vehicle up?

Brother Jim: Because that's all we got.

Brother Jim: Families struggling with brokenness.

Brother Jim: Young people searching for a purpose and a direction.

Brother Jim: Elderly people battling loneliness and isolation.

Brother Jim: Individuals overwhelmed by fear, anxiety and uncertainty.

Brother Jim: And here you go.

Brother Jim: Now, it's hard to believe.

Brother Jim: But people who have never heard the truth of Jesus Christ.

Brother Jim: I had it last year, a young man getting married.

Brother Jim: He had no idea what I was talking about, what it was to be

Brother Jim: a godly man, what it was to even know Jesus Christ.

Brother Jim: And he's almost thirty years old.

Brother Jim: So it is true with everything around us, people still don't

Brother Jim: hear the truth of who and why Jesus Christ came to this world.

Brother Jim: Church, who is on the front line today is the pastor alone.

Brother Jim: Is the missionary serving overseas?

Brother Jim: Is it the church leadership, the governing body?

Brother Jim: No, no, no. The front line is your.

Brother Jim: It's for every believer, number one, every believer sitting here

Brother Jim: in this sanctuary or listening in the front line is your home,

Brother Jim: your workplace, your school district, your neighborhood,

Brother Jim: down the road, up the road.

Brother Jim: It doesn't matter.

Brother Jim: The front line is wherever God puts you.

Brother Jim: Every day God places people in our path who need encouragement,

Brother Jim: need truth, need hope, and they need the gospel.

Brother Jim: Now I. I'll admit I have an advantage being a pastor, but

Brother Jim: you better believe it.

Brother Jim: I see it every day.

Brother Jim: It is amazing.

Brother Jim: Marilyn's walking through the darkness here.

Brother Jim: And guess what?

Brother Jim: A shining light comes into her life right out of nowhere.

Brother Jim: You think that's luck?

Brother Jim: No. That's God putting someone in her life.

Brother Jim: How many is that?

Brother Jim: How many times has that happened to you?

Brother Jim: The question is not whether God has given us opportunities.

Brother Jim: The question is whether we are

Brother Jim: willing to step in to the

Brother Jim: battlefield, onto the

Brother Jim: battlefield, to seize those

Brother Jim: opportunities while Christ sends

Brother Jim: his people in the world to reach

Brother Jim: the lost.

Brother Jim: Satan works tirelessly to keep

Brother Jim: people isolated, distracted,

Brother Jim: deceived.

Brother Jim: And guess what?

Brother Jim: Spiritually blind.

Brother Jim: Christ says, go, Satan, stay.

Brother Jim: Says stay comfortable.

Brother Jim: Christ says, speak the truth.

Brother Jim: Satan says, shh.

Brother Jim: Remain silent.

Brother Jim: Christ says, reach the lost.

Brother Jim: Satan says, guess what?

Brother Jim: Someone else will do it.

Brother Jim: Jim, you don't have to worry about that church.

Brother Jim: Every day we choose which voice we will follow.

Brother Jim: Jesus called you and me to be on

Brother Jim: the front line, defending the

Brother Jim: faith and advancing the kingdom

Brother Jim: of God, gaining ground, not

Brother Jim: retreating.

Brother Jim: Why is this so important?

Brother Jim: Because Satan's mission is to keep people unreached.

Brother Jim: Satan.

Brother Jim: Oh, he desperately wants believers and churches to become

Brother Jim: comfortable and complacent.

Brother Jim: As we talked last week.

Brother Jim: Characteristics of a dying church.

Brother Jim: Again, he wants us to be comfortable and complacent.

Brother Jim: And again, my friends, as I mentioned last week, traditions

Brother Jim: are great, but sometimes we can get lost up in those.

Brother Jim: Our time is now.

Brother Jim: Do we understand that our time is now?

Brother Jim: Starting today, tomorrow, the rest of the week coming up in

Brother Jim: our world, today is not time.

Brother Jim: One of the most valuable things we possess does not the enemy

Brother Jim: whisper things such as.

Brother Jim: As I said earlier, someone else will tell them.

Brother Jim: You might offend them.

Brother Jim: Keep your faith private, brother Jim Sue.

Brother Jim: You don't know enough scripture.

Brother Jim: Larry, you're not educated

Brother Jim: enough to tell anybody about

Brother Jim: God.

Brother Jim: Jim Hartsock, you are not qualified.

Brother Jim: Qualified to be a witness of Christ.

Brother Jim: Is it not better to remain silent?

Brother Jim: Church.

Brother Jim: Those thoughts do not advance the gospel.

Brother Jim: Satan does not want you and I testifying.

Brother Jim: Last week.

Brother Jim: We had some great testimonies, did we not?

Brother Jim: Of how God is answering prayer and maybe, just maybe, that

Brother Jim: inspired one of you going through something Satan does not

Brother Jim: want believers testifying.

Brother Jim: Satan does not want us speaking of hope.

Brother Jim: Satan does not want us sharing

Brother Jim: what Jesus Christ has done in

Brother Jim: our lives.

Brother Jim: How many could stand up and just

Brother Jim: say, oh, if it wasn't for Jesus

Brother Jim: Christ, I'd probably be dead by

Brother Jim: now.

Brother Jim: I would be in a place so low if it wasn't for my Jesus.

Brother Jim: Keeping us silent.

Brother Jim: So let me ask you something this morning.

Brother Jim: This morning, church.

Brother Jim: Have I become silent?

Brother Jim: Have I become comfortable?

Brother Jim: Have I become content to let someone else do what God has

Brother Jim: called me to do?

Brother Jim: The enemy knows that a gospel

Brother Jim: that is never shared cannot

Brother Jim: transform lives.

Brother Jim: Rockford Church.

Brother Jim: Ask yourself this morning whose

Brother Jim: mission is receiving more of my

Brother Jim: attention?

Brother Jim: Christ's mission or Satan's mission?

Brother Jim: My own mission.

Brother Jim: Satan's mission is to create distractions.

Brother Jim: Now, is it not true that we live

Brother Jim: in a world that we've been

Brother Jim: surrounded by so many

Brother Jim: distractions?

Brother Jim: Anybody here not distracted during the day?

Brother Jim: If so, raise your hand and tell me how you do it.

Brother Jim: Unless you're living in a little

Brother Jim: bubble with no, I mean all by

Brother Jim: yourself.

Brother Jim: Distractions.

Brother Jim: My friends look around our culture.

Brother Jim: We are consistently, constantly

Brother Jim: connected, constantly

Brother Jim: entertained.

Brother Jim: We are constantly busy.

Brother Jim: And yet, how often are we spiritually exhausted?

Brother Jim: Many churches.

Brother Jim: Again.

Brother Jim: Last week we talked about the dying church.

Brother Jim: Many churches at once overflowed with.

Brother Jim: People now have empty pews.

Brother Jim: People gathered faithfully to

Brother Jim: worship, to go to prayer

Brother Jim: meetings, Bible studies, and

Brother Jim: fellowship.

Brother Jim: And where have the people gone?

Brother Jim: What has captured our attention?

Brother Jim: What has captured your attention?

Brother Jim: Now, before anyone misunderstands me.

Brother Jim: Hey, I get it.

Brother Jim: Life is busy.

Brother Jim: I completely understand.

Brother Jim: Families are busy, work is

Brother Jim: demanding and responsibilities

Brother Jim: are real.

Brother Jim: And I understand that.

Brother Jim: But the question remains how much are we willing to

Brother Jim: compromise when it comes to giving God our time?

Brother Jim: How much do you compromise?

Brother Jim: How much do you compromise?

Brother Jim: How much do I compromise my time?

Brother Jim: And consider what.

Brother Jim: Consider what often consumes our attention.

Brother Jim: Our children.

Brother Jim: Our grandchildren, which are blessings, are they not?

Brother Jim: But then you roll into children's sports.

Brother Jim: That's a big one.

Brother Jim: How many ball fields are filled on a Sunday morning?

Brother Jim: And again, I am not anti sports,

Brother Jim: but really on a Sunday morning,

Brother Jim: Sunday afternoon, our

Brother Jim: entertainment.

Brother Jim: And again I've said we all love to be entertained.

Brother Jim: Our social media time.

Brother Jim: Guilty as charged.

Brother Jim: Our material possessions, our careers, our hobbies, endless

Brother Jim: schedules, endless schedules.

Brother Jim: And again, none of these things

Brother Jim: are necessarily sinful by

Brother Jim: themselves.

Brother Jim: Yet any good thing can become a

Brother Jim: dangerous thing when it

Brother Jim: consistently pushes.

Brother Jim: God pushes God out of the margins of our lives.

Brother Jim: And you know what, my friends?

Brother Jim: The enemy does not always try to make people evil.

Brother Jim: No he doesn't.

Brother Jim: Sometimes Satan simply keeps

Brother Jim: them busy enough to neglect what

Brother Jim: matters most.

Brother Jim: Now, isn't that a great ploy?

Brother Jim: That's pretty ingenious, isn't it?

Brother Jim: To keep you so busy to where, at

Brother Jim: the end of the day, you got

Brother Jim: nothing left.

Brother Jim: God gets the short end of the straw again.

Brother Jim: But there's always tomorrow.

Brother Jim: Tomorrow morning, Lord, I'm

Brother Jim: going to wake up and I'm going

Brother Jim: to pray.

Brother Jim: I'm going to get in my Bible.

Brother Jim: Well, guess what happens?

Brother Jim: The alarm doesn't go off.

Brother Jim: Somebody calls, hey, can you come get the kids?

Brother Jim: True work needs you early.

Brother Jim: We miss out.

Brother Jim: Neglecting what matters most.

Brother Jim: Busy enough not to pray.

Brother Jim: Busy enough not to truly worship.

Brother Jim: Busy enough not to serve.

Brother Jim: Busy enough not to share Christ.

Brother Jim: And yes, busy O. Busy enough not

Brother Jim: to notice those who are

Brother Jim: spiritually lost.

Brother Jim: Church.

Brother Jim: Are you and I neglecting God?

Brother Jim: Are we neglecting the mission Christ has given us?

Brother Jim: Are we neglecting those who

Brother Jim: desperately need the hope of

Brother Jim: gospel?

Brother Jim: Again, Christ's mission is to

Brother Jim: spread truth John fourteen six

Brother Jim: we are told, Jesus said to him,

Brother Jim: I am the way, the truth, and the

Brother Jim: life.

Brother Jim: No one comes to him comes to the father except through me.

Brother Jim: Either you believe the gospel or you don't.

Brother Jim: Now to me this word, the gospel, proclaims the truth.

Brother Jim: God created us and God loves us.

Brother Jim: Sin separated us from him, you and I. Can we save ourselves?

Brother Jim: No we can't.

Brother Jim: Christ came into this world, died on the cross for our sins.

Brother Jim: And here it goes.

Brother Jim: It gets so sweet.

Brother Jim: He rose again in victory through

Brother Jim: faith in him, forgiveness,

Brother Jim: reconciliation, and eternal

Brother Jim: life.

Brother Jim: They are all available to those who believe, and this is the

Brother Jim: truth that changes lives.

Brother Jim: This is the truth that sets people free.

Brother Jim: And here's a newsflash for you.

Brother Jim: This is the truth.

Brother Jim: Satan desperately wants people to ignore, reject.

Brother Jim: Or replace.

Brother Jim: Are we not seeing replacement today, let alone the rejection?

Brother Jim: But think about it.

Brother Jim: What we're.

Brother Jim: God's word is being replaced with.

Brother Jim: God's commandments are being replaced with.

Brother Jim: It's a free for all, is it not?

Brother Jim: Christ's mission is to make disciples, make disciples, not

Brother Jim: couch potatoes, not spectators, not believers hiding safely

Brother Jim: behind church walls, within the.

Brother Jim: Within the walls, with their bags packed, waiting on heaven.

Brother Jim: Jesus did not merely tell us to make converts.

Brother Jim: Jesus said, go and make disciples.

Brother Jim: Now here's the thing.

Brother Jim: As we come to an end here, a disciple obeys Christ.

Brother Jim: A disciple grows in Christ, a

Brother Jim: disciple becomes more like

Brother Jim: Christ.

Brother Jim: The goal is not simply helping someone pray a prayer.

Brother Jim: The goal is helping people

Brother Jim: become mature followers of Jesus

Brother Jim: Christ.

Brother Jim: Disciples learn God's work.

Brother Jim: Disciples pray.

Brother Jim: Disciples serve disciples,

Brother Jim: worship disciples share their

Brother Jim: faith, and disciples make other

Brother Jim: disciples.

Brother Jim: That's pretty simple, is it not?

Brother Jim: But here you go again.

Brother Jim: Satan's mission is very different.

Brother Jim: Satan wants people spiritually immature.

Brother Jim: Satan wants believers disconnected from God's word.

Brother Jim: Satan wants Christians isolated from fellowship.

Brother Jim: Satan wants churches filled with

Brother Jim: attenders but empty of

Brother Jim: disciples.

Brother Jim: And why is that?

Brother Jim: Because a growing disciple becomes, and here we go becomes

Brother Jim: a dangerous threat.

Brother Jim: And that's what I like that word today.

Brother Jim: Dangerous threat.

Brother Jim: Are you a dangerous threat?

Brother Jim: To Satan's mission.

Brother Jim: And if you are, then you know the truth.

Brother Jim: You recognize deception.

Brother Jim: You serve faithfully.

Brother Jim: You share the gospel boldly.

Brother Jim: You influence others for Christ, not for yourself, but for Jesus

Brother Jim: Christ and the Kingdom Church.

Brother Jim: Jesus never called us to simply occupy that pew.

Brother Jim: Jesus called you and I as well

Brother Jim: as this church, Rockford Church

Brother Jim: to follow him and help others

Brother Jim: follow him.

Brother Jim: So let me ask you this morning.

Brother Jim: Are you growing as a disciple?

Brother Jim: Are you helping someone else grow in their journey and

Brother Jim: becoming a disciple?

Brother Jim: Is there anyone in your life who

Brother Jim: is closer to Jesus because of

Brother Jim: your influence?

Brother Jim: Oh, think about that one, my friends.

Brother Jim: Because of your influence, they're closer.

Brother Jim: That's a yes or no answer.

Brother Jim: Church.

Brother Jim: The battle lines, they're very clear.

Brother Jim: Now, we like to distort them.

Brother Jim: But at the end of the day, they are very clear.

Brother Jim: Whether you want to see it, whether you want to acknowledge

Brother Jim: it or not, Jesus says, go.

Brother Jim: Satan says, stay comfortable.

Brother Jim: Jesus says, share the truth.

Brother Jim: Satan says, stay silent.

Brother Jim: Jesus says, make disciples.

Brother Jim: Satan says, be distracted.

Brother Jim: Jesus says, bring hope.

Brother Jim: Satan says, spread despair.

Brother Jim: The Great Commission remains the mission of the church today,

Brother Jim: just as surely as it did two thousand years ago.

Brother Jim: The question is not whether the mission still matters.

Brother Jim: The question is whether you and I will answer Christ's call and

Brother Jim: faithfully carry the gospel into a world that desperately.

Brother Jim: Can anyone here come up with a

Brother Jim: better word than desperately

Brother Jim: that desperately needs Jesus

Brother Jim: Christ?

Brother Jim: And here's a challenge for every person here today.

Brother Jim: If every person here today shared Christ as faithfully as

Brother Jim: they were able, if you shared Christ as much as you share

Brother Jim: Facebook posts and all that.

Brother Jim: How many more people would hear the gospel this year?

Brother Jim: Think about that.

Brother Jim: Every person here this morning prayed daily.

Brother Jim: If every person here today prayed daily for one lost

Brother Jim: person, what might God do?

Brother Jim: Think about that.

Brother Jim: Church.

Brother Jim: May we choose Christ's mission over comfort.

Brother Jim: Obedience over fear, faithfulness over distraction,

Brother Jim: disciple making, over complacency, and the Great

Brother Jim: Commission over every excuse that we can come up with.

Brother Jim: May God find you and I as well

Brother Jim: as this church, Rockford Church,

Brother Jim: standing faithfully on the front

Brother Jim: lines until Jesus Christ comes

Brother Jim: back.

Brother Jim: Does anybody know that day?

Brother Jim: No. Not one person here.

Brother Jim: Not any.

Brother Jim: I don't care how educated

Brother Jim: philosophical you are, you don't

Brother Jim: know.

Brother Jim: So why take the chance?

Brother Jim: We are told to go.

Brother Jim: But first off, you better make sure y'all's inside your heart.

Brother Jim: Your soul belongs to Jesus.

Brother Jim: True.

Brother Jim: This ain't no game, my friends.

Brother Jim: This ain't no game.

Brother Jim: From the back row to the front row.

Brother Jim: To everybody in between.

Brother Jim: We are all going to answer.

Brother Jim: And again I said, there's only two kingdoms you can choose.

Brother Jim: There's only two places you're going to go.

Brother Jim: Heaven or hell, and it's your place.

Brother Jim: It's your choice.

Brother Jim: And if you find yourself in hell, don't you dare blame God.

Brother Jim: And I truly believe.

Brother Jim: When we read in revelations about the gnawing thrashing of

Brother Jim: teeth and all that good stuff.

Brother Jim: I honestly believe that is going to be people screaming out to

Brother Jim: God and damning God.

Brother Jim: Because why did you do this to me?

Brother Jim: No, you did it to yourself.

Brother Jim: You did it to yourself.

Brother Jim: So, my friends, we don't know if

Brother Jim: tomorrow is going to be there

Brother Jim: for us.

Brother Jim: So if you don't know Jesus Christ, what are you waiting on?

Brother Jim: I am pleading with you.

Brother Jim: Is there going to be no parties in hell?

Brother Jim: There ain't going to be no bonfires.

Brother Jim: Me and Jim and Jim and Joe and

Brother Jim: everybody sitting around

Brother Jim: drinking beer, having a good old

Brother Jim: time.

Brother Jim: That's what I hear.

Brother Jim: So much of that is a straight out lie from Satan, is it not?

Brother Jim: Next week we're going to get into hell a little bit.

Brother Jim: So again, we understand what the people out there are facing and

Brother Jim: maybe some of you are facing.

Brother Jim: If you don't clean your acts up and change your ways, get down

Brother Jim: on your knees, repent and ask God to forgive you.

Brother Jim: Or better yet, ask God to get you into your heart.

Brother Jim: Again, may God.

Brother Jim: May God find you and I in this church, standing faithfully on

Brother Jim: the front lines until Jesus Christ comes back.

Brother Jim: So church, I ask you, are you feeling dangerous today for God?

Brother Jim: This morning, my friends, are you feeling dangerous?

Brother Jim: I like that.

Brother Jim: Amen.