Putting The Missional In Community

This morning, I'm going to talk to you about putting the missional in community.

Putting the missional in community.

Charles Spurgeon said, every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.

Pretty strong words from Charles Spurgeon there, but I agree with it.

Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.

I think it's a great time.

We got our, add another missional community, move some people around.

So we got three missional communities.

And it's easy to just think of our missional communities as communities.

Forget the M and the MC, right?

Just think, oh yeah, it's community.

It's good people, people I like to be with, people I enjoy being with.

But we must never forget about the missional side of things, right?

So as a church, I think this is a great time for us to really focus and lock in on mission.

I'm going to look at a few verses.

None of these are going to be, these are all very familiar verses to you,

but I just want to kind of meditate on them together and just kind of think about them together, okay?

First one, Luke 19.10.

Luke 19.10 is this small little verse here talking about the Son of Man.

It says, the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost, okay?

Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Now, oftentimes, most Christians, if they have any bit of health in them, right?

If someone comes along their path, you know, and there's an opportunity for the gospel or ask them about Jesus, you would take it, right?

You would talk to them.

I mean, that's kind of a no-brainer.

If you're a Christian and that isn't happening, you might need to check your spiritual pulse, okay?

Say, like, if you actually are, right?

That's the gimme.

That's what we would most often think, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But that's not what this, it's not the only thing this verse said.

It didn't just say, well, if people came to Jesus, he would save them.

There's two things he's doing in this verse, right?

He's not just saving the lost.

He's seeking them.

He's seeking them.

And I think a lot of Christians live in such a way that if, you know, if someone came my way, you know, if someone at work just started asking me about the Lord or my neighbor got a little curious about what I'm doing every Sunday morning, you know, yeah, then I'd talk to them.

But my question to you in light of this verse is, do you seek the lost?

Or do you just wait till they come to you, you know?

And it's easy to do that and it's easy to fall into that as Christians.

But that's not what Jesus did.

Jesus wasn't just a saver.

He was a seeker when it came to the lost.

He not only saved people, but he sought out people to save.

He sought out the lost.

He sought, he was on a mission, right?

He was on God's mission.

God sent him and he sent him to lost people.

And we are to do the same.

We'll look at that a little bit more, you know, why that is.

But just from the start here, he came to seek and to save.

And so my question to you for starters here is, what does your seeking look like when it comes to the lost?

Is it there?

Do you do it?

Is there any kind of strategic seeking in your life of lost people?

Do you ever reorient your life or your plans around how you could reach lost neighbors, lost family members, lost friends?

Go down the list, whatever, whoever.

It doesn't matter, right?

Are you just ready in case someone comes along?

Are you just praying in case someone comes along or that someone would come along?

Or are you actively seeking out lost people?

Looking, how can I connect with lost people?

I can get more in relationship to lost people.

How can I be more exposed to lost people?

How can I do that together with my church?

You see that?

Jesus, this is what he was doing constantly.

If you look at the Gospels and you're seeing his life,

clearly he was doing the work that he was called to do to save.

But that saving didn't just happen on happenstance.

He was seeking to save people.

And we should do the same thing.

And so I want to ask us, are we doing that?

And if you can't answer with some kind of specific way that you're doing that,

don't be self-deceived into thinking that you're doing it.

We have to be able to be saying, hey, how am I seeking out lost people?

I think it's a really good challenge for all of us.

And it's so easy.

You know, it's like D.A. Carson says, nobody drifts into holiness.

Well, no one drifts into evangelism either, right?

You have to be intentional.

You have to be thinking, how am I going to seek out lost people?

Because you can go your whole life and just not do that really.

And just kind of coast.

But especially as a young church plant,

we must be people who not just ask God to save the lost,

but that we seek lost people, right?

So that's the first thing, seeking and saving.

Are you just thinking about the saving and not the seeking part?

Secondly, Matthew 4.19,

Jesus says to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

Okay?

So the first one was seek and save.

Second one's following fish, right?

When you follow Jesus, something happens.

When someone follows Jesus, he automatically makes you into something.

What is it?

A fisher of men.

One of the marks of someone who is a follower of Jesus

should be that the thing that accompanies those who are followers of Jesus

is in their life.

Mainly, he said, if you follow me, I will make you fishers of men.

If you're not being made into a fisher of men, you've got to ask the question,

am I following Jesus?

Am I following Jesus?

Because if you follow him, guess where he's going?

He's going to seek and save lost people.

And if you're going to follow him, that's where you're going to end up.

You're going to end up with lost people.

You're not just going to end up with your, you know, Christian friends.

As great as those people are, right?

As you follow Jesus, he's going to make you into something specific.

That specific thing that he's making us into is fishers of men.

Okay?

Fishers of men.

Now, if you've ever fished before, most people's,

Samir's fished before a few times.

Okay, if you've ever fished before, most people aren't fishing thinking,

oh, it's just really nice to be on the boat and, you know,

maybe a fish will come by.

Maybe a fish will just jump into my boat.

You know?

Nobody does that.

Like, I'm just going to go fishing without,

I'm going to go fishing without,

is someone, is there people parked in the way there or something?

I just saw one of the next door people peer into the window.

Might just take a look.

Okay, so when you're fishing,

typically you would never go out into the boat without a pole

or without any bait or anything.

Like that or a net, right?

You're going with something to catch fish.

It's intentional.

You're becoming a fisher of men means you're trying to catch fish.

In the same way, when you follow Jesus,

he makes you someone who's intentional while catching souls of men, right?

It's something that you're thinking about.

It's something that you are strategic about.

It's something that you are,

as far as your life goes,

you're thinking,

you know what?

This is what I want to do.

Because as I follow Jesus,

the more I follow him,

my heart becomes to do what he wants to do.

His will is my will.

And the followers of Jesus are made into fishers.

The followers of Jesus are made into fishers.

Let me ask you the question.

Are you being made into that?

Do you have a desire to go fishing?

Not for fish, Samir,

like for men, right?

For men.

To say,

hey,

I want to see people saved.

I want to get out into the,

get out there

and get in a place where the fish are.

Right?

If someone said,

man,

I'm really into fishing

and they never go near water.

You'd be like,

uh,

I don't know about that.

I don't think so.

No,

no,

no.

I'm really,

I love fish.

But they never go by the water.

Like,

I don't think you love fishing.

Why don't you ever go by the water?

It'd be like someone says,

well,

I love Jesus,

but I never go by lost people.

And not specifically trying to go fish for lost people.

You got to say,

are you following Jesus?

Cause that's where he is.

And if you follow him,

that's where he's going to be.

That's where he's going to take you.

Okay.

So we seek and save

and we follow and fish.

Right?

Right.

A third one,

Matthew 28,

18 to 20.

Again,

these are not obscure verses.

You should be familiar with all these,

right?

This is go and make.

Jesus said to them,

all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

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've commanded you

and behold,

I'm with you always

to the end of the age.

Okay?

So here you have

him saying,

go therefore.

What is therefore therefore?

You know,

what is that?

What's that all about?

Well,

what was before that?

He said,

all authority in heaven and earth

has been given to me.

Again,

this is a really important reminder.

I would say that

one of the main reasons

a lot of people don't evangelize

is because they think

nobody's going to get saved.

I think that's one of the main reasons

people don't.

It feels hopeless.

You feel impotent.

You feel like,

is this really going to do anything?

I mean,

I've seen the gospel

so many times with people.

I haven't seen many people get saved.

That's why

you can't just think of the go

make disciples

without thinking of the therefore.

He said,

go therefore.

Therefore what?

Therefore in light of what?

The first,

right before that,

he said,

all authority in heaven and earth

has been given to me.

That's an important part

preceding the Great Commission.

That the one

who's telling you to go

and the reason you are to go

make disciples,

the reason the going is there

is because,

hey,

all authority has been given to you.

It's been given to him

and he's the one sending,

right?

And so if he has authority,

you know

he's the one

who's doing the saving.

It's just our job

to give people a hearing

and it gives you confidence.

Do you have confidence

in the gospel?

You know that great verse

that Martin Luther got hit with,

Romans 1.16,

that the gospel itself

is the power of God

for salvation

of those who believe?

Do you believe that it's power?

Do you,

do you think that way

when you think,

oh,

I'm going to save the gospel

or I'm going to share the gospel?

Are you thinking,

I'm about to share

some potent stuff right here.

I'm about to share

something powerful.

I'm about to share something

that if the Lord

is drawing and saving,

they can't resist.

Like,

he's going to save them.

Have you thought about it that way?

That this is a,

that all authority

in heaven and earth

has been given to the Lord,

therefore he says,

go.

Therefore,

go and make disciples.

And you make disciples

by preaching them the gospel.

They got to hear.

Okay?

Which goes to the last one

I want to look at,

Romans 10.13-17.

Send and preach.

For everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord

will be saved.

How then will they call on him

in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in him

of whom they have never heard?

And how are they to hear

without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach

unless they are sent

as it is written?

How beautiful

are the feet

of those who preach good news.

But they have not all

obeyed the gospel.

For Isaiah says,

Lord who has believed

what he has heard from us.

So faith comes from hearing

and hearing

through the word of Christ.

Faith comes from hearing.

This is another reason

you should be confident

when you're preaching

the gospel.

Why?

Because you're hoping

that they have faith, right?

There's no salvation

apart from faith, right?

Grace comes through faith.

Grace through faith.

Ephesians 2, right?

Well,

so the only way

they're going to get grace

is if they get faith.

But how do they get faith?

Through hearing.

It says,

faith comes from hearing

and hearing through

the word of Christ.

The only way

they're going to believe

is if they hear.

And so often we think,

man, they're going to hear

and then they're not

going to believe.

Well, it's like,

wait, hold on.

This just says

the opposite here.

It says,

faith comes from hearing.

They need a hearing.

They've got to hear.

That's where the faith comes.

How are they going to believe?

Unless they hear.

And how are they going to hear

unless someone preaches?

And how are they going to preach

unless they're sent?

And so here we are.

Lord, send us.

Send us.

Send us to preach.

God, send us to the lost.

Send us to the ones

you're drawing.

It's not our job to save them.

It's our job to give them a hearing.

And then God gives them faith

in the hearing.

That's the way he does it.

Again, that's confidence building.

It's not my job to save them.

It's not my job to convince them.

It's my job to give them a hearing.

And then God uses the hearing

to give them faith.

That's powerful.

Okay?

And so,

I want us to be thinking

about this a little bit more.

As we start these

three iterations

of missional communities,

it would be good for us

to not just think of this individually,

but to think of this corporately

in each missional community

and say,

okay,

how are we doing

on the seeking and the saving?

How are we doing

on the following and the fishing?

How are we doing

on the going and the making

in light of his authority?

And how are we doing

on the sending and the preaching?

Like,

are we giving people a hearing?

Are we doing that?

Are we sending people

into specific places

aimed at specific people?

Are we praying

for specific people

in places?

So,

you know,

one of the things

I think that builds my faith

is hearing stories.

Hearing stories

of different people,

how people were reached.

And so I just wanted

to share a few of those

that I think have been

encouraging to me

over the last years.

You know,

I was just listening

to a young man

the other day

who was talking about

how one of his coworkers

at work

was preaching

the gospel to him

and then invited him

to his house

to kind of double down

on the gospel.

And the guy

still wasn't totally

coming along

to this message

of the gospel.

and you know

what he said to him?

He said,

hey,

today is the day

of salvation.

And I just love

how he said that to him.

And guess what?

The guy got saved.

He got saved.

He got baptized.

There's great fruit

coming from his life.

This guy's life

is transformed.

But it took someone

at work

to preach the gospel

to him

and then to preach it

again in his home

and then to press it

to him and say,

hey,

today is the day

of salvation.

What are you waiting for?

And the guy

had no objection.

He didn't have anything.

He's just like,

you're right.

It is the day

of salvation.

And he got saved.

I think,

man,

that's so awesome.

Are we taking

those opportunities?

My daughter

was talking about

how my daughter

India was with

her missional community

the other day

and they were in a park

and they were playing

spike ball together

and some young guy

walks by

and one of the guys

looks at him

and he's like,

spike ball?

He's like,

oh yeah.

And the dude

just jumps in

and starts playing

spike ball with him.

Well,

and then right after that,

you know,

the guy's going back

to his car.

He's like,

I may never see

this guy again.

And he goes and

preaches the gospel

to him,

you know,

before he leaves.

And the guy's like,

hey,

can I go now?

Wasn't hearing it.

But you know what?

Kudos to him.

Kudos to him

for preaching

the gospel to him.

I love that.

Again,

it's not our job

to save people.

And that guy

didn't get saved.

Right?

But what did he do?

He said,

I may never see him again.

So he preached

the gospel to him.

You know,

one of the,

one of the,

one of the greatest

principles for evangelism

in the last 14 years

of my life

has been this one phrase.

Introduce me

to your friends.

Introduce me

to your friends.

Some of you think,

I don't even know

how I'm going to get

into evangelistic

circumstances

because I'm a housewife

who's at home

all the time

with a bunch of,

you know,

kids who can't

even barely speak English

and have speech impediments

and I'm supposed to go out

and win a bunch

of lost people.

Like,

how is that going to happen?

I'm not picking

anybody's kids.

I'm saying that's all.

But you've got to

get disillusioned.

Like,

I just talk to people

who can barely talk all day

and I'm supposed

to do evangelism.

I mean,

even with lost people.

I'm with lost kids,

I guess.

My kids,

I'm trying to win

but they can barely talk.

Right?

And you think,

or maybe I have

a circumstance in life

where I just don't,

I just don't have

any relationships

with lost people.

Maybe you're new

to a particular area.

Maybe you're,

it's your job

or whatever it may be.

But one way

that I've found

to meet all kinds

of lost people

is that simple phrase.

Introduce me

to your friends.

Introduce me

for your friend.

I mean,

there's a bunch of you

who are in my life

right now

because I said

to somebody else

introduce me

to your friends.

Right?

That's how

those things happen.

I would never know

Marianna

if I wouldn't have

asked someone else

to introduce me

to your friends.

Right?

These are,

these are,

that's a,

so I think

about that sometimes.

Sometimes when you

meet people

you just have to say,

hey,

you start getting

a relationship

to them and say,

hey,

introduce me

to some of your friends.

Who do you hang out with?

Have them over.

Do something with them.

It's just a really,

you know,

low bar to do that

but then all of a sudden

what ends up happening is

you end up,

it's like introduce me

to your friends

and then,

you know,

oh,

Marianna lives in a house

with some friends

and,

you know,

and then one of their friends

was dating a guy

who's not a believer.

That guy ends up

getting saved.

Why?

Because I said,

introduce me

to your friends.

That's how it started.

I would have never met that guy

if,

when it said,

introduce me to your friends.

Right?

And then as you keep doing that,

all of a sudden

it just keeps going out

and out further and further

and it's like,

how do you know this person?

Well,

I know that person

because I met this person

and that person

ended up,

I met this person

and then because of that person

I ended up going up

to their wedding

and then at their wedding

I met their friends

at their wedding

because I was at their wedding

and I said,

oh,

it was your wedding.

Introduce me to your friends.

They're all here,

right?

Introduce me to your family.

They're here,

right?

And then you start meeting them

and then they want to get together

with you

and then you end up

getting together with them

and it's some couple

who's living together

who's engaged

but they're living together

and they're professing

to be Christians.

So I'm just like,

and they're asking me

to do their premarital counseling.

I'm like,

why don't you guys repent

and stop living together first

and we'll see

and then we'll talk.

And then what ends up happening?

I didn't think anything

was going to happen.

I got a call a month later

that said they had moved out,

got two separate apartments

and they're like,

we're ready.

I'm like,

okay.

You know?

But it all just started

with

introduce me to your friends

and then it keeps going,

right?

And then sometimes

it's just through,

I think so many times

we underestimate

the power of prayer too

in this.

Do we really believe

that God wants

to save lost people?

Do we really believe that?

I doubt it sometimes,

right?

I mean,

I was thinking about this

the other day.

I was remembering

sitting in a gathering,

at a missional community gathering

and it was one of those

prayer requests

where,

hey,

my co-worker's sister

who lives in Colorado

could use some prayer.

And I'm like,

okay,

it's kind of a,

yeah,

we could pray for that,

you know?

And I'm thinking,

who is this person?

And even,

you know,

that's kind of a,

you know,

my best friend's sister's brother's

boyfriend's girlfriend

is going with this guy

who knows this girl

who passed out at 31

flavor bus.

You know,

that whole thing,

like this long thing,

that I just catch her there

with some of them.

Yeah,

you might have to.

Um,

ends up happening.

We pray for this,

this person

and then,

like,

I don't know how many years

or how many months later it was,

Gina's on a Sunday morning

at church

and meets the girl

we were praying for

and it was Amber.

You know,

it's like,

what are the chances of that?

And he thought it was just

a one-time thing,

but there was something about,

maybe it was because

it was Ben Clinton

who brought it up

and it's just the way Ben is,

but it's just like,

yeah,

we should pray for this

and we're praying for some stranger

we don't even know

and then all of a sudden

she's a beloved person

in our life.

Those kind of things happen,

right?

You never know

when you're praying about things.

I remember years ago,

I heard about this family

of brothers

who were super wild

and just kind of known

for being wild and crazy

and so I was like,

I'm going to start praying

for all these brothers

so that I get to know them.

I've never met any of them.

I didn't know them.

I had no way of meeting them,

but I was like,

I want to get to know these people

and I want to be in their life.

So I just started praying.

I said,

Lord,

bring me into contact

with these brothers

and there was like,

what,

three or four of them,

I think,

who lived here.

Every single one of them

I got in contact with

in the next couple months.

One of their wives

ended up living with us

for a couple weeks

because their marriage

was on the rocks.

Another one of them,

another one of the guys

lived with us

for over a year.

I got to talk

to the other guys.

There was all kinds

of opportunities

for preaching the gospel,

for bringing them in

and I didn't even know

these guys.

I had no way

to get to know them,

but I had this burden,

I think it was from the Lord,

to reach out to them

and I just said,

Lord,

bring them to me.

I want to get after these guys

and it ended up happening.

Even,

you know,

some of them lived with us.

You know what I'm saying?

God answers prayer.

I think sometimes

we forget

and we don't want

to pray audacious prayers

or things that seem

like long shots.

Why not?

What are you praying for

that seems impossible

when it comes to the lost?

And how often

are you doing it?

Is it just a flimsy

little throw the prayer

up there once in a while?

Are you committed

to pray for people

that God is drawing

or that God's putting

on your heart

and you just keep

praying for them?

I think these things

are important.

And I think of different times

when we've done

different events

when we did man camps

over the years.

and we met different guys.

And all the times

I got to meet

different people

just by putting ourselves

out there and say,

hey,

we're going to teach

on a particular topic

for a period of time.

Or when we did

a marriage conference once

and different families

we met through that

who were in really rough spots.

Or just opening up

to people

who were having

rough times

in their marriages

and being able

to talk to them

through their marriages,

how different

that has happened.

How many impactful things.

I think of

my own son,

Austin,

who we adopted

as an older man

in his late 20s.

Well,

what happened

is we just adopted

him into our family.

Okay?

This guy was,

he was lost

in many ways

and we just said,

we're going to adopt

him into our family.

And I think of all

the ways

that we've just

adopted people

into our family

and had people

into our life.

how,

you know,

we've had different people

just join us

in homeschooling

and doing homeschooling

with our kids.

Or we've had people

just come over

and eat at our house.

We had people

at one point in time,

maybe not the best idea,

but we gave out

the code to our house

and we'd wake up

in the morning

and someone would be

sleeping on our couch

and we didn't know

they were there.

And it's just like,

whoa,

what's going on here?

But those were,

man,

those are times

when we would

really reach out

to people

and love people.

I remember one time

we did a park night

and one of my kids,

who was really young

at the time,

asked some girl

that we had never met before

if she wanted to sleep

over at our house.

That was Allie Casey.

You know,

it's like,

never met her before.

So like,

these different things happen

and you just never know.

But it's when,

again,

my family

was doing this

together with us.

It wasn't just us.

We would pray together

as a family for people.

We'd pray,

our kids and us

would pray for people.

Our kids would pray

for people their age.

You know,

when we first started

Bellicose 14 years ago,

there was no kids

my kids' age.

Now my kids have tons

of friends,

have all kinds of,

but I say that to you

young cats,

Max and Charlie,

who are you praying for,

man?

Who are those young people

you're praying for

that are your age

just saying,

God,

get them,

save them,

bring more young people,

bring more friends for us.

Like,

those are prayers

we should be praying.

Those are prayers

we should be praying

with our kids.

We used to pray

most nights with my kids.

Lord,

send more kids.

Send kids my kids' age.

Send my kids'

future best friends.

Send them.

You've got to be

spirit-led too.

I remember one time

Gina was at some,

was checking out

some homeschool possibility

of some woman

teaching our kids

science,

and there was this

young man there

sitting cross-legged

on the floor

arguing with the teacher.

and then

Gina really

felt led by the spirit

that I want to

pursue this guy.

found out that he

supposedly tuned pianos,

I guess,

and so then had him over

to tune a piano.

And then from there,

she's like,

Josh,

you've got to meet this guy.

You should invite him

to man camp.

It was Judah Powers,

you know?

It's like,

I didn't know this guy.

But I think,

Gina,

there was this burden

for Judah at that time.

And she was just like,

I don't know what it is

about this guy,

but I'm just really,

really led to,

my heart is going out

for him.

You've got to,

can you please talk to him?

I'm like,

yeah,

yeah,

I'll talk to him.

I'll talk to him.

She was like,

I'm young,

you know?

Those are the kind of things,

you know?

Is the spirit leading you

towards people?

Spirit might be leading you

to ask someone

to even move in with you.

And that could change,

it could help change

the trajectory

of someone's life

or where they're going.

You know,

we had that many,

we did that many times

with different people.

Michael lived with us

for many years.

I remember early on,

years ago,

there was one guy

we were going to have

live with us

and all his friends

were like,

there's no way

he's going to live with you.

And it turns out,

it's like,

well,

I'm just going to ask him.

You never know.

And it was Josh Wears

and he ended up

living with us.

So,

I mean,

you just never know

with these kind of things.

You never know

what can happen

with your neighbors.

I remember when we moved

into our neighborhood

and we lived in Midtown,

you know,

we had this vision

to reach people

and so we're just like,

we're going to have people

over for dinner,

we're going to have people

over for barbecue.

Every single one

of my neighbors

I asked to come over

for dinner,

they said no.

I was like,

what?

This is going to be easy.

He's like,

have people over for dinner,

talk to them about the gospel.

They wouldn't come over.

I was like,

what the heck

is with these people?

This is weird.

It's free food.

We're going to eat outside.

It's not even intimidating,

but no.

No.

And more than ever,

people just don't do stuff together.

I just read an article

the other day

about how people,

young people,

spend 70% less time

partying with people

than they used to.

70%.

It's the amount of time

people spend socially

is down so drastically

right now.

It's like crazy

when you look at

the stats compared to

even back to the 80s.

And Chris is like,

it's awesome.

People just aren't doing things

socially with each other.

So you got to keep inviting.

You got to keep figuring out.

So I thought

this is going to be easy, right?

We'll just move into my neighborhood.

I'm just going to invite people over.

And so we're just going to

ask people over.

And guess what?

Everybody said no.

It's like,

oh,

this is going to be a lot harder

than I thought it was.

So we had to figure out

something else.

But every time I'd come outside

and talk to my neighbors,

they'd be talking about basketball

every single time.

So I'm like,

hey,

if I put up a basketball hoop

and put up some lights,

would you guys come over

after your kids in bed and play?

And they had an enthusiastic,

yes,

of course we'll do that.

I'm like,

all right,

let's start with basketball.

So we started doing that.

For two years,

almost every week,

we'd have people over

to play basketball.

And the neighbors would come over.

Next thing you know,

we're getting to know the neighbors.

Next thing you know,

when they go out on vacation,

they give us their keys.

And we're taking care of their house

and we're feeding their dog.

But if you know me,

I don't like feeding dogs

and I'm cleaning up dog crap

in their house

and my neighbors.

Definitely not my first thing

that I wanted to do.

But,

hey,

I want to see,

they're all lost.

I want to see these people saved.

But if I just would have gave up

because they wouldn't come over

for dinner,

wouldn't have happened.

You know,

it's like,

no,

I'm on mission to these people.

We're going to,

we want to see these people saved.

And so it opened up

all kinds of doors

for preaching the gospel.

Preaching the gospel

at basketball.

Preaching the gospel

we're overhanging on their porch.

Preaching the gospel

on a private jet to Hawaii,

I mean to Haiti,

not Hawaii,

on a private jet to Haiti

to my neighbors

who invited us on this trip.

How does that happen?

I don't know.

It just did.

Because you open up the doors

and you just keep preaching

the gospel.

You know,

going to,

I think of all the times

I would go to Oddly Correct,

you know,

during those times.

I don't,

I don't even drink coffee.

And I'm,

but that was a watering hole

where a bunch of people were.

I'd go there.

The amount of times

I would meet people there

that I didn't know.

Finding watering holes

where you can go

and just meet people

and look for opportunities

to preach the gospel.

People are frequenting

certain places

over and over again.

You know,

I had seven kids

at one point in time

in our house.

So we went to Costco

all the time,

lived five minutes from there.

There was one particular cashier

who was always more open to us

and was friendly with us

and knew us by name

and we knew her by name

and we'd talk about

each other's families.

And so no matter how long

everybody else's lines was,

we would always go to her line.

And we would always talk to her.

Eventually we had her over

for dinner.

You know,

have you ever had a cashier

over for dinner,

your grocery clerk

cashier for dinner?

Probably not likely

unless you really

keep going to that same one

over and over again.

And she came over for dinner.

You never guessed

what we talked about

when she came over for dinner.

The gospel.

The gospel.

Of course we did.

Of course we did.

But it was over time

and there's all kinds of ways

we can do that.

The sports our kids would play.

You know,

I think of the times

when we would go to

football games

or wrestling tournaments

and we would talk

to the parents

and we'd talk

to the coaches.

The opportunities

that I got to preach

to the coaches.

I was just preaching

to Judah's coaches

at his wedding

not too long ago.

Again,

another opportunity

to preach the gospel.

Think of hosting

the end of the year party

at our Airbnb house

at the time

and this Buddhist dad

talking to me

at my kitchen table

about Buddha

and I'm preaching

the gospel to him.

You know,

what were the chances

of me getting

a Buddhist dad

sitting at my kitchen table

in my house?

Pretty low.

Unless I'd gotten

people's lives

and said,

hey,

let's have the party

at our house.

Do you know what I'm saying?

So it's like

all these things happen

and one thing leads

to another

and another leads

to another.

And so you might think,

oh,

there's not a whole lot

of things going on right now.

I don't know what to,

I don't know what to do

as far as that goes.

Well,

we have to be strategic.

We have to seek and save.

We gotta be intentional.

We gotta be not giving up.

We gotta keep after it.

We gotta know the difference

between individual mission

and corporate mission.

Okay?

Every single one of us

is a Christian

that's gonna be on mission

to specific people

in our life.

That's just being a Christian.

That's like ground zero.

Okay?

You can't expect everyone

in your life

to be on mission with you.

But there are gonna be times

where it's gonna make sense

to do that.

And you need to look

for those opportunities

in a missional community.

Like,

where are the people

we can be on mission together?

And maybe it's not all of us.

Maybe it's just a few of us

and the rest of us

are praying.

Okay?

I'm on,

over the years

I've been on multiple threads

of this

in missional communities.

Right now I'm on a thread

together with a bunch of people

who are purposely

doing evangelism often.

And a lot of times

I'm not the one

doing the evangelism.

But they're telling me

when they're having opportunities

to evangelize people.

And so I'm doing

a really important part.

You know what that is?

I'm praying.

I might not be with them

locked arms

and doing evangelism

with them

but I'm praying for them.

It's just like when,

you know,

David's mighty men

came back

and they said,

and they were sharing

the spoil

and they said,

hey,

these people who stayed

with the stuff

and the women

and the children,

they don't get the spoil.

He's like,

no, no, no.

Those who stay back

and those who go

both get in the spoil.

Each part is important.

And it's the same thing

with evangelism.

Some people are out there

on the front lines

and then the rest of us

should be praying for them.

Like Adam was saying,

praying that their eyes

would be open.

Praying that their eyes

would be open.

That's an important part

because if you preach

and their eyes aren't open,

they ain't going anywhere.

Right?

They gotta have their eyes open.

But it's important for us

in our mission communities

to say,

okay,

who are we on mission to?

What are we already doing?

Where are we already?

Like take existing inventory

of what's already going on in life.

Who are the people

that are in your life?

Is there any intersection with this?

And if there's not,

because there might not be,

if there is,

take advantage of it.

Think of what you could do to that.

And if there's not,

pray.

Pray for something.

Pray for things to come together.

Pray for people

to be on mission to together.

And don't get discouraged

if it takes time.

Don't get discouraged

if you have to wait on the Lord.

Don't get discouraged

if you have to keep praying

and keep praying.

Pray for new places.

Pray to be spirit led

to specific people,

friends and family,

neighbors and neighborhoods,

co-workers and workplaces.

We're regularly going

to the same restaurant,

the same grocery store,

same coffee shop,

the same barber,

same hairdresser,

the same mechanic,

same chiropractor,

same park.

And you start saying,

I remember at one point in time,

a bunch of people

went to the same barber together

for only one reason,

to reach that guy with the gus.

You know,

I've had multiple chiropractors

that I've gone to

and that other people

have gone to

and that we've all shared

the gospel with the same guy.

Let's be on mission together,

right?

We can do this kind of stuff.

Reaching out to specific people

and then really getting

specific strategies for mission.

Do you believe

that this is possible?

Do you believe

that God wants to give you this?

I think of Acts 13 too.

It says,

while they were worshiping

the Lord and fasting,

the Holy Spirit said,

that phrase right there

is just a phenomenal phrase,

is it?

While they were worshiping

the Lord and fasting,

the Holy Spirit said,

when was the last time

you and your mission

of the community

were worshiping the Lord

and fasting together

for the purpose of mission?

We're just like,

okay,

we're just going to worship God,

wait on the Lord

and we're going to fast together

and we're going to believe

that the Holy Spirit

is going to lead us.

Do you believe that?

It says,

and the Holy Spirit said,

set apart for me Barnabas and Saul

for the work at which I've called.

Some of us are thinking,

man,

I don't know where to go.

I don't know who to reach out to.

I don't know how we can be on mission

as a missional community.

May I suggest

that perhaps you add

a little worship and fasting in.

Like we're going to have

a night together.

We're just going to worship

and fast together.

Like we're just going to pray

and wait on the Lord

and see what he says,

see how he leads.

The Holy Spirit will lead you

to seek and save

those who are lost.

But you got to put yourself

in a position to hear

and we got to be listening.

We can't just be sitting there

going through the motions

and mumbling a bunch

of worship songs

and not be thinking,

the Holy Spirit wants

to speak to us.

He wants to set apart people

for his work

and believe for that

and encourage one another.

Because some of you

get discouraged

on anything.

I don't know if anybody

is going to get saved.

I don't know who to talk to.

I don't know how we're going

to do this together

as a missional community.

And so there needs

to be mutual encouragement

like, no, believe.

Trust God.

When they were worshiping

the Lord and fasting,

the Holy Spirit said.

The Holy Spirit says things.

Luke 10 verse 2.

Luke 10:2

He said,

The harvest is plentiful

but the laborers are few.

Therefore pray earnestly

to the Lord of the harvest

to send out laborers

into his harvest field.

I want to focus on

part of that verse

that we don't usually focus on.

The name of the Lord

in that verse.

What is he called?

Lord of the harvest.

Isn't that an important

thing to think of?

You're not just praying

to the Lord.

Right?

Oh Lord,

please save people.

Oh Lord,

give us people to reach out to.

Oh Lord,

you know,

help us get on mission.

Help this church,

Christ church,

to be an evangelistic church

that gets in front

of lost people

and gives them a hearing

of the gospel.

Right?

You're not just praying

to the Lord.

You're praying to the Lord

of the harvest.

That's who he is.

He's the Lord of the harvest.

He owns the harvest.

He's in charge

of the harvest.

So you got direct access

to the Lord of the harvest.

We're saying,

I want to harvest.

You want to experience

a harvest.

You're praying for a harvest,

but you're praying

to the Lord

of the harvest.

The one who's in charge

of it.

The one who's doing

the work.

The one who's doing

the saving.

The Lord of the harvest.

Do you think of that

when you pray?

God,

you're the Lord

of the harvest.

That's why I'm going

to you.

We want to see a harvest.

You are the Lord

of the harvest.

You think of that

when you pray.

When you pray together

as a people.

When you're thinking

about ways to reach out

to people.

I really want to encourage

missional communities

to get specific ways

you're going to reach out

to lost people.

And please,

don't get discouraged

if they don't work.

I know,

yes,

the guys are trying

to get a bunch

of people together

even this week

for a little something.

And

it wasn't a good

showing of people.

Keep at it.

Keep at it.

How many times

did missionaries

go into countries

and they saw

no converts

for six to seven years?

Keep at it.

Who are you praying to?

He's the Lord

of the harvest.

He's the Lord

of the harvest.

Keep at it.

Keep inviting.

Keep doing.

Keep eating with people.

Keep doing meals.

Set up things.

Like,

hey,

we're going to do

a regular night

of the week

where we just have open

and we're just

going to invite people.

Try to make it room

for lost people.

Maybe for my neighbors.

No falls coming up.

Oh,

can't wait.

Love that time of year,

right?

People are outside.

People want to hang out.

Nobody wants anything

outside of right now.

It's horrible out there.

It's hot and muggy,

but we're,

it's right around the corner,

right?

Football season

started this last week.

People are getting together,

right?

Listen,

don't just think last minute.

We need to get strategic.

What are you going to do

to get people in your life?

What are you going to do

to get on mission to people?

We're not,

we're not just coming here

to sing songs

and have a nice time

and enjoy one another

and maybe have a good time

with each other.

This isn't about us.

This is about the Lord

and the harvest.

We're here

getting to know one another,

growing closer to one another,

being a family together

so that we can be on mission.

So we got to get after it.

We can't just get comfortable

with each other.

We got to get after

planning specific ways,

spirit-led ways,

waiting on the Lord ways

where we can get

into people's life,

where we can get people

in front of us

who can get a hearing

for the gospel.

That's going to involve

all kinds of things.

You know,

the holidays are coming up.

You're going to wait

to plan that holiday party

the day before?

You're going to start

thinking about it now.

Like,

what are we going to do

for Halloween

in our neighborhoods?

What are we going to do

for Thanksgiving,

Christmas?

Are we going to have

a Christmas party?

Are we going to watch

some football games together?

Are we going to do

a New Year's party?

Like,

be thinking of that stuff

now in your

missional communities.

Have those conversations.

And then begin praying

about those things

way ahead of time.

So that you're in August

and you're praying

about a Christmas party.

Why not?

Right?

Lord,

we want to see a harvest.

We want to see people saved.

And I think some of us,

we could use a little bit

more discipline

and like,

no,

let's be more strategic in this.

Let's be more planning in this.

Let's be more focused on this.

Let's be more intentional in this.

Let's put more time

and effort into this.

I don't doubt anybody's desire

and that there is effort,

but I'm saying,

like doubling down

and saying,

okay,

we got these three little

nimble missional communities.

Let's get on mission

to some people.

Let's figure out

how we're going to do it.

Let's make a plan

and let's execute.

And let's just trust.

And if nothing happens,

we just keep trusting God.

Just say,

Lord,

you're the Lord of the harvest.

You're the Lord of the harvest.

I'm going to keep giving people hearings.

I'm going to keep making room

for unbelievers

to be in my life.

I'm going to keep being hospitable

and opening up my home

and my heart

and my schedule

to people who are lost.

I'm going to keep doing this.

I'm going to keep trying

to open the doors to this.

And I'm going to radically

reorient my life

around God's mission

to lost people.

I'm going to make time for it.

I'm going to make,

I'm going to set aside time

to pray for the,

for the harvest

on a regular basis.

Do you do that?

I'm going to do it

with my brothers and sisters.

Maybe you guys hang out

with each other

for some night

and have dinner together

before you leave.

Hey,

before you leave,

can we just agree

and pray right now

for a harvest?

Yeah,

can we just take five minutes

right now

and just pray for a harvest?

Thanks so much

for coming over.

I love you.

It's a great time.

Let's pray for the harvest.

You know what I'm saying?

Doesn't that,

you don't have to pray,

you don't have to travail

for four hours.

You know?

But ask.

You don't have

because you don't ask.

Right?

And just looking