Missional Discipline

I want to talk to you this morning about missional discipline.

Missional discipline.

Because this is a church plant, you don't get the luxury of not thinking like a missionary.

In a church plant, everyone must act and think like a missionary.

Because kind of like what Seth was talking about a couple weeks ago,

where maybe when you're a part of a bigger church,

you can rely on part of the healthier, more established parts of the church

and not realize whether or not you're actually doing those things

or pulling from the right sources.

You can't do that anymore when you're in a smaller church.

The props are pulled out from underneath you.

There's no one else who's going to do it if you don't.

And for a church to be established and for a church to grow,

there's no one to farm it out, no one you can farm out mission to.

Like, well, if I don't do it, they'll do it.

Who?

Who's going to do that?

You know, look around.

You're looking at it.

You can't say, oh, somebody else will do that.

That is a church that will not get off the ground.

That is a church that will not really reach people.

And I know that you all have a sincere desire to reach people for the gospel.

But your sincere desire to reach people for the gospel,

although admirable, is not going to cut it.

Desire isn't going to get you anywhere alone.

Desire alone will not get you anywhere.

It must be accompanied with missional action,

and I would say even more specifically missional discipline.

And I'll explain that in a second.

But let's just ask the question.

And don't laugh.

If Raytown were a foreign city,

it may feel that way sometimes,

but if Raytown were a foreign city,

and you just got sent here as a missionary,

what would you do?

Okay?

Like if this was like a foreign country,

and you got plopped into this foreign country in America,

and this wasn't your home country,

and Raytown was the city you got plopped into,

okay?

But you speak the same language, okay?

What would you do to establish a church?

How would you spend your time?

Where would your focus be?

How would you plan?

What would you prioritize?

This isn't hypothetical.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

Like that sounds like a hypothetical question,

because in one sense you didn't get plopped here,

but in another sense,

by God's sovereign will,

you are plopped here for a purpose,

to establish his kingdom on the earth,

through the church,

by making disciples of those who don't know Jesus, okay?

And so you must think that way.

And that's not just for the apostolic leader

to think that way,

although he should be the tip of the arrow.

We all have to think that way.

And you'd say,

well, I don't know if I want to think that way.

Sorry, if you're a part of the church,

you have to.

You have to.

That's not an option.

You're a part of a church plant?

Not an option.

You have to think that way.

You have to be someone

who is willing to embrace

building something from nothing.

This is your task.

Should you accept it?

Okay?

It is a mission that seems impossible, right?

Right?

That you are building something that doesn't exist.

You can't see it.

Okay?

You're building,

you're not taking materials that exist

and then building something from those materials.

The apostolic task

is to build something

from nothing.

And that's what you signed up for.

Here you are.

Here we are.

Okay?

My main text is from 1 Corinthians 9,

19 to 27.

1 Corinthians 9, 19 to 27.

Paul says,

For though I am free from all,

I have made myself a servant to all,

that I might win more of them.

To the Jews I became a Jew

in order to win the Jews.

To those under the law,

I became as one under the law,

though not being myself under the law,

that I might win those under the law.

To those outside the law,

I became as one outside the law,

not being outside the law of God,

but under the law of Christ,

that I might win those outside the law.

To the weak,

I became weak,

that I might win the weak.

I have become all things

to all people,

that by all means,

I might save some.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel,

that I may share with them

in its blessings.

Do you not know that in a race

all the runners run,

but only one receives the prize?

So run that you may obtain it.

Every athlete exercises self-control

in all things.

They do it to receive a perishable wreath,

but we an imperishable.

So I do not run aimlessly.

I do not box as one beating the air,

but I discipline my body

and keep it under control,

lest after preaching to others,

I myself should be disqualified.

So the title of my sermon,

Missional Discipline,

comes from that last verse.

I discipline my body

is his conclusion

from all the stuff he said before.

Let's look at this a little bit.

Okay?

He said,

though he's free from all,

he made himself a servant to all.

All right?

So he,

though he doesn't have to be restricted,

he voluntarily restricts himself

for a specific purpose

that is higher.

What is it?

That he might win more.

That he might win more souls.

Okay?

If you want to win souls,

there's a sense of restricting

missional discipline

that must take place.

Okay?

Where we restrict ourselves

from legitimate pleasures

of this world,

legitimate ways of using our time,

legitimate things

for the greater things

of seeing people come into the kingdom.

This task of mission

requires us to give up

things that aren't bad

in and of themselves.

Clearly,

you should give up sin.

Clearly,

you should give up

the deeds of the flesh,

this kind of thing.

Okay?

But Paul's talking about

something altogether different here.

Paul is saying,

though I'm free from all,

I've made myself a servant to all.

Voluntary restriction.

Voluntary servitude

that I might win more of them.

And then he goes on to say,

I become like all these

different groups of people.

Jews,

Gentiles,

under the law,

not under the law.

He's the weak.

He's becoming like all these people

in order to win them.

Okay?

And then he makes that

amazing statement

in verse 22

that I just,

is like the quintessential

mission statement.

You don't get any more

quintessential than this.

I have become

all things

to all people.

It's the first thing he says.

Okay?

What are you becoming?

Since joining this church plant,

we're almost three,

after the end of this week,

we'll be three months in

from when we launched

those two missional communities

that we deem to be

the official launch

of our church on May 1st.

Okay?

So we're three months in.

Let me ask you the question.

What are you becoming

to reach people?

Now,

Paul had specific people.

He's like,

okay,

I got Jews I'm on mission to.

I got Gentiles I'm on mission to.

I got those under the law.

I got those outside the law.

I got the weak.

He had specific people groups

that he was reaching out to.

What's yours?

Where's your mission at?

Who are you targeting?

Who are you specifically

praying for,

reaching out?

And then what are you doing?

What are you becoming

to reach them?

He said,

I've become all things

for some people.

No,

he says to all people.

That's why he lists

all these groups.

He's like,

whatever it takes,

whatever group of people

that God has put before me,

I'll become all things

to all people.

That by all means,

okay,

whatever means

that needs to be deployed,

he's saying,

I'm in.

I'm in.

If there's a means

that needs to be deployed,

I will deploy it

that I might save some.

That's the goal,

that I might save some.

And then he says,

I do it all for the sake

of the gospel,

that I may share with them

in its blessings.

Wouldn't you like to share

with lost people

in the blessings

of going from darkness

to light,

from being lost

to being found?

That's your goal,

that's your vision

for the sake of the gospel,

that Jesus would be glorified

through the saving of souls.

That's the vision

that we have.

If that doesn't captivate you,

you won't become

all things to all men

that you might win as many.

If you're not captivated,

if you're not energized,

if you're not smitten

by what Judah was just saying

as we took of the Lord's table together,

if that isn't real to you,

if that's not a present enjoyment to you,

if singing songs to Jesus

is kind of like a downer to you,

it's kind of like,

let's just get this over with.

If you're not enjoying the Lord

on a regular basis

and enjoying who he is

and what he's done for you,

if you're not enjoying

the person of Jesus

and the work of Jesus,

then why in the world

would you become all things

to all men

that by all means

you could win some?

Why would you do that?

You wouldn't.

He's doing it

because he wants to save people

and he's doing it

for the sake of the gospel.

For the sake of the gospel.

I think that the first message

I preached at this church

was doing it

for the sake of the gospel.

Are we in on that?

And if you are,

then it looks a certain way

with your actions.

And he brings up,

it just happens to be

that the Olympics have started.

Not necessarily advocating

you watch it.

Maybe if you watch the races

and avoid the opening ceremonies.

But typically we might watch

a race or two

from the Olympics, right?

And they all run.

But all these people

are the greatest runners

in the entire planet.

And they're coming to race.

And they have gone

into strict training

for years preceding the Olympics.

For years.

Years of training.

Full-time.

Full-time training for years.

All to get a prize

that won't last.

All to get a medal

that people will forget about.

All to get accolades

and notoriety

that will soon fade away.

And most certainly fade away

once they're gone.

And they do all that.

And we applaud them for it.

We watch them for it.

Advertising dollars

come into the commercials

because people watch it.

Okay?

People watch this.

They're excited by it.

Because we love to see people

giving their all for something.

This is for a race.

This is for, you know,

30 seconds sometimes, you know.

These shorter races.

And that's it.

And that's what they're

giving themselves to.

He's basically saying,

you know,

every athlete exercises

self-control in all things.

They do it to receive

a perishable wreath,

but we an imperishable.

Okay?

So,

since we're running

for something way greater,

we should do it differently.

We should have

a more extreme commitment.

We should,

and we shouldn't just run.

He's saying,

those people don't just run.

It's not like the people

in the Olympics,

they just run and like,

man, I'm just happy

that I got to run.

This is great.

They're running to get the prize.

They're running for the gold medal.

Right?

No one gets on that microphone

and just says,

yeah, you know,

I didn't make it,

but I'm just happy to run.

You know?

No,

even some people

will get the silver.

You can just see it

and they're just like,

I'm the first loser.

You know,

like,

I came for gold.

I didn't come for silver.

And you can see

the disappointment

in their eyes

when they're even

interviewing them sometime.

You know,

they're trying to,

you know,

have a good attitude

for the camera,

but they wanted gold.

They're running

to get the prize.

How are you running

when it comes to mission?

You just showing up

on a Sunday morning,

doing your part

during the week?

Are you focused on mission?

Who are you focused?

What's their names?

What are the group of people?

Have you set aside

time to pray for the lost?

We inadvertently set aside

sometimes

time to complain about,

man,

I wish there was more people here.

I wish there was people

getting saved.

Well,

where's the time being put in

to connect

with the one who saves?

Where's the time being put aside

to get on mission,

literally,

to actually preach

the gospel to people,

to build relationships

with people?

If we're not putting,

if we're not running

to obtain the prize,

we're not going to.

That's why he says,

I don't run aimlessly.

I don't box as one

beating the air,

but I discipline myself.

There is a discipline

that comes with mission.

And listen,

if you're looking

for some quick fix

where all of a sudden

God sends thousands

of people to us

or hundreds

or I don't know,

whatever,

whatever it is,

the number that you're

looking for,

maybe it's just 20.

Whatever it may be,

listen,

that's just,

that can happen,

it has happened in church,

but we're not living

for revival,

okay?

We're living for Jesus.

We don't get up and down

whether there's revival

or not.

We're looking for

the steady state

discipleship,

day in and day out,

consistency.

Where are the

consistent missionaries?

Where are the

consistent prayer warriors?

Where are the

consistent gospel preachers?

Where is the consistency?

We got to have consistency.

There has to be discipline.

You know that none

of those runners

who lack,

the ones who lack

discipline,

they don't win.

They don't,

they don't win.

You know,

when they interviewed

Tom Brady now

that his career's over,

more Super Bowls

than any quarterback,

they interview him,

you know,

he talks about

these young guys

and he just kind of

scoffs at them.

He's just like,

they'll be good.

They'll be good football players,

but they're never

going to be champions.

You know,

it's like,

why?

Because they don't

put in the work

when nobody else

is doing it.

If you want to win

like nobody wins,

you've got to train

like nobody trains.

And,

you know,

he kind of just looks at it

and just says,

yeah,

you know,

it's not like

I was gifted

with all this amazing

ability.

I had to work for it.

And there is a certain

level of work

that comes into

anything that God

gives us to do.

Yes,

we're trusting in God,

we're believing in God,

we're trusting in the

work of Christ,

but that doesn't mean

we don't work with him,

that we don't co-labor

with him.

And there needs to be

a consistent

missional discipline

for us to see

a harvest.

Just like a farmer

can't just say,

well,

I don't feel like

going out there today.

He could lose

the whole crop with that.

He's got to go in

day and day.

He can't just say,

man,

it's early.

I'm sick of getting up early.

Why do I got to keep

getting up early

and getting in these fields?

Because that's what a farmer

has to do in order

to reap a harvest.

And no farmer

reaps a harvest

by just randomly

going out

when he feels like it.

He doesn't reap a harvest

if he does what he wants,

when he wants,

how he wants,

the way he wants.

There's many times

he has to do things

he doesn't want.

He has to do it

when he doesn't want.

He has to do it

when other people

are doing things

he'd rather do.

And yet he has to put

his nose to the grindstone

and say,

I've got to keep plowing.

I've got to keep

planting seed.

I've got to keep weeding.

I've got to keep

removing rocks.

I've got to keep watering.

I've got to keep doing

the things I'm going to do

or there will be

no harvest and fall.

And Jesus calls

the bringing in of the lost,

he calls it a harvest.

And his question is,

where are the labors?

He says the harvest

is plentiful,

but that's not the problem.

The problem isn't that

if the work is done,

there won't be any result.

He makes that clear.

Do you hear me on that?

Like, I think sometimes

in our mind we think,

oh, it's not worth it

to do the work

because I'll do it

and there won't be a harvest.

No, that's not the problem

that Jesus is describing.

He's not saying,

you know,

there's so many workers,

but you know,

sometimes it's just

not a harvest.

He's saying the harvest

is plentiful.

The issue is the workers.

The workers are few.

Harvest is plentiful,

but the workers are few.

There has to be

missional discipline.

Do you have

missional discipline?

And I know some of you

have discipline

in other areas.

I've seen it.

Do you have discipline

when it comes to mission?

Do you have discipline

when it comes to

the steady state,

praying,

gospel preaching,

planning,

strategizing

to win the lost?

Just like if you were

plopped in here

as a missionary,

you wouldn't just,

you know,

land in here

as a missionary

and get comfortable

with the culture

and just think,

well,

I hope God brings souls

and I hope he establishes

a church.

Now you'd get to work

doing what needs

to get done

to see people get saved.

And you'd realize

it's going to take time,

but I can't let up.

I've got to run

as someone who gets

the prize.

I've got to discipline

my body

and make it my slave

so that I'm not

disqualified for the prize.

Let's look at some

Bible verses,

some more Bible verses.

Luke 19.10,

the Son of Man

came to seek

and to save the lost.

Who are you seeking?

Who are the specific

people you're seeking?

Has God given you

a burden for specific people?

Has God opened the door

for you to reach out

to specific people?

Who are the specific

lost people

you're seeking?

You already have an area.

How are we reaching

this area?

How are we making inroads?

What are we doing?

How are we getting there?

Jesus came to seek

and to save.

He was seeking it out.

He was looking

for opportunities.

Matthew 4.19,

he said,

follow me

and I will make you

fishers of men.

Do you trust God

that he'll make you

into that?

He says,

if you follow me,

I will make you

a fisher of men.

I'll make you

a fisher of men.

I'll make you someone

who goes fishing

for men.

Someone who's

seeking out

how to catch men

into the net

of the kingdom.

Do you believe that?

Those of you

who lack confidence,

those of you

who maybe lack power

in this area,

do you believe that

if you follow Christ,

he will lead you

right into the place

of being a fisher of men?

That's what happens.

Matthew 28,

Great Commission,

18 to 20,

Jesus came and said to them,

all authority in heaven

and on 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?

He came to them

and said,

go.

Go.

You have to go.

The church has been

converted into this weird,

we've changed

the Great Commission

to come.

Established buildings

and services

and programs

that revolve around

come.

Get them to come to you.

That was never

the Great Commission.

We've turned Christianity

into some attractional mode

and I know some people

feel better about it

because they say,

oh, we don't do that

on Sunday mornings.

We don't invite a bunch

of people on Sunday mornings

to try and have them

hear the gospel

and get saved.

We're better than that.

But then we do

the same thing

in a smaller setting

called a missional community

and instead of doing

the hard work

of getting in people's life,

reaching out to people,

plowing and plowing

and plowing

in prayer

and in the gospel,

we just trade that

for a meeting invite

to a missional community gathering.

Instead of going

to where they are,

instead of going

into the world

to preach the gospel,

instead of going

to lost people

and building relationships,

instead of going

to the place of prayer

and saying,

God, open up the doors.

Who are the men

and women of peace?

God, bring them to me.

We have to go.

You have to go.

You can't stay

where you're at.

You can't stay comfortable.

You can't stay

in doing what you were doing

when you weren't winning souls.

If you've been

in a place

where you're not winning souls,

do something else.

Go somewhere,

like change it up.

Get into a different action.

God, give me

a different strategy.

I want to see it.

Romans 10, 13 to 15,

everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord

will be saved.

How then will they call

on him whom they've not believed?

And how are they

to believe on him

in whom they have not 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.

How are they to hear

without someone preaching?

We've got to preach.

We've got to preach.

You might say,

I don't know who to preach to.

Do you believe

that God wants you

to preach to someone?

Do you believe

that God wants

to give you those people?

Are you confident

in that prayer?

Are you praying

that with unbelief?

Are you a double-minded man

when it comes

to praying for the lost?

You shouldn't think

you receive anything

from the Lord.

When you pray,

do you believe

that God wants you

to preach,

that he has people

preordained

to hear the gospel,

people who are ready

for harvest,

that he's just waiting

for laborers to go to?

Do you believe

that that's you and me,

that we are those laborers

that God wants

to bring forth

so that they can hear

the gospel?

Do you pray like that?

Do you pray that

there's literally nothing

that can stop that?

That if I'm preaching

to someone

that God is calling,

that God is drawing,

that God is saving,

they can't resist that?

Are you kidding me?

The power of that?

Just like,

you know,

think of all the things

we did to try

to resist God.

Think of all the ways

that we stiff-armed him

and pushed him away

and said,

I don't need you

and our arrogance

and pride kept pushing

and said,

I got it on my own.

This religion stuff,

it's not for me.

I'm fine on my own

when deep inside

knowing we didn't

have it on our own.

Think of how many times

we did that

and God never gave up on us.

God pursued us.

He broke down our walls.

He broke down our resistance.

He broke down our pride.

And then sometimes

when we get in prayer,

we don't believe

that God will do the same thing

to other lost people.

We think,

oh, they're too prideful.

They're too independent.

They're too resistant

of the gospel.

Wasn't that us?

Have we forgotten

where we came from?

Have we forgotten

that we were the ones

who rejected the gospel?

Have we forgotten

all the times

that we pushed God away

and God just kept

breaking us down

and breaking us down

and breaking us down

until finally

we received it

with so much eagerness

we actually thought

it was us

who bid it

in the first place?

That we were so eager

to do it,

we just almost,

now at this point

we kind of think,

oh, yeah,

I kind of did that.

No.

Nobody comes to the Father

unless the Father

draws them.

Right?

The Father draws people.

He's drawing people

right now.

He's drawing people

in Raytown.

He's drawing people

around us

and in our life,

even right in front

of our eyes.

But,

they have to believe

and how can they believe

unless they hear

and how can they hear

unless someone preaches?

We've got to preach to them.

We've got to preach.

So,

we've got to be confident

in prayer.

We've got to be confident

in the gospel.

If we're not,

we need to be filled

with the Spirit of God.

We need the Holy Spirit

to be poured on us

so we can speak

the Word of God boldly,

so we can be

as witnesses

in Raytown,

Kansas City,

in the ends of the earth,

wherever He may take us.

Right?

But someone's got to preach.

We need some beautiful feet.

Are your feet beautiful?

You know how your feet

are beautiful?

Not because you manicure them

and you,

you know,

stick them in a pond

with those fish,

whatever,

that eat all the bacteria.

Your feet are beautiful

when you preach good news.

Those are the feet

that are beautiful.

Do you have beautiful feet?

Do you have feet

that come from

a body

that is preaching good news?

Okay?

So what are we going to do?

We got to get specific

on this.

What are the people

and places

you're targeting?

Like,

if you can't answer

the question,

the who,

like,

who are you targeting?

What places

are you targeting?

Or,

where are you already

spending your time?

And you don't have

any kind of

strategic focus

on that

as a missional

community together

and most certainly

individually

at a minimum,

you have a,

and the difference

between the two,

right?

They're not the same.

You're always going

to be called

to be on mission

wherever you're at.

The people

you're on mission

won't always be

the same people

that your missional

community will be

on mission together with.

Now,

as much as possible

you want to do that,

but don't have

this weird expectation

that every single person

you're on mission to,

your missional community

is going to.

You start with

getting on mission

yourself with people

and then as much

as possible

as you can bring

people together

that you do that.

But,

we always have to be

on mission

to the people

we're working with,

the people that are

around us,

the people that

we're interacting with

and then as much

as possible

as we can see,

okay,

where there's

intersections

between who,

we're all,

people that have

already been placed

in our life,

the places

we're already

frequenting

and,

you know,

where we spend

our time,

where do we,

can we intersect

with other people?

Are we looking about that?

Are we having

conversations about that?

How many conversations

have you had with people

like,

okay,

where's the

missional

intersections

of our lives

where we know

some of the same people

and we're reaching out

to them,

we visit

or frequent

the same places

or businesses

or small business owners,

you know,

whether it's the same place

we get our hair cut

or get our car fixed

or grocery store

we go to

or coffee shop

we frequent,

whatever it may be,

what are those

same places

and then what are we

doing to specifically

reach them

or what are the

new people in places

and just getting

specific about that,

like,

who are these new

people we want

to reach out to?

Praying for God,

like constantly

just crying out to God,

are you doing this

daily?

Are you doing this

before the Lord

as a church plan?

I'm saying,

I know I want

to do this more.

I need to do this more.

I'm convicted myself

of not praying

enough for this.

I want to press in

more in prayer

for this church

and just say,

God,

give us souls.

Give us new people.

Give us people.

Give us young people.

We should specifically

be praying for young people.

This morning I prayed

for young people.

Why did I pray

specifically for young people?

What about old people?

We don't like old people?

We do like old people.

Okay?

I'm a middle-aged person

so I like both people,

right?

But no,

we need both people

but as older,

we should always be

turning our hearts

towards youth

and if we're a new church,

there's no future

without young people.

You want a future church?

We got to reach out

to young people.

We have to.

Always,

always to the end.

Always reaching out

to young people.

If you're an older person

and you get too entrenched

in your ways

and you can't reach out

to young people,

you're not being

a good Christian

because you have

no vision for the future.

If all you care about

is your generation,

you have to be turned

towards young people.

Turn towards people

and say,

this is the future generation.

I'm not going to just say,

well,

I'm older.

I don't need to do that.

I paid my dues.

I did my time.

No way.

No way.

Always turning our hearts.

Looking for double portion

sons and daughters.

Never giving up on that.

Okay?

So praying for specifically

for young people

to come into this church,

that should always be

a prayer focus for us.

That's the future.

And when older people come,

we love them

and we welcome them.

That's great.

But then we get

those older people

to pray with us

in the same way

for young people.

You know what I'm saying?

For sure.

We have to.

That's the future.

That's the future.

Okay?

Who are those specific people?

If I were to ask

the individual

missional communities

and say,

who are you on mission to?

Do you have a specific answer?

I'm not talking

about a generic answer.

And it may be specifically

that we don't have specific,

but we're praying

for specifics

and we're intentional.

We're making time for this.

Just as much as we're making time

to be a family together,

we are spending

just as much time

focusing on being

on mission together.

Don't relegate that

to the side.

Don't relegate that

to a small portion

of your missional community life.

That has to be

just as valuable.

They're not just communities.

They're missional communities.

Do you hear me?

You're just cultivating community

and not cultivating mission.

We're missing it.

Not to mention,

the best way to cultivate

community and sense of family

is getting on mission together.

Ask anybody

who was in the military

for a long,

protracted period of time

what they miss most

and they will say

they miss the camaraderie,

the sense of vision,

vision-focused community.

That like being together

on the same mission,

that mission

brought them closer together.

I'll never forget

an interview I watched

with Stanley McChrystal

saying that.

He said,

I asked him,

what do you miss the most?

A career military guy.

He said,

I miss the mission

and I miss the camaraderie

of the men.

And they go right,

they go hand in hand.

And we're not in the military

but you are in the Lord's army

in a sense.

You're soldiers for Christ.

You're not serving,

you're serving

your commanding officer.

And so our mission

should bring us together.

Sometimes we have a hard time

being brought together

by other means

because we have

too many differences

and lack of similarity.

But we always have

the fellowship of the spirit

and we always have

the mission

that can bring us together.

We always have those things.

And if we don't have

that specific

in our missional communities,

there's going to be

something lacking

in our familial community

because we don't have

something bigger

than ourselves.

If we're aiming

at something so small

as ourselves

and being in community

with ourselves,

we're missing it.

It has to always be bigger

and that's what brings us together.

That's what brings us together.

So we've got to figure out,

we've got to be praying,

Lord,

what are the friends and family

that I can be focused on?

What are the neighbors

and neighborhoods?

What are the co-workers

or workplaces?

Like I said before,

whether they go

into the same restaurant,

the same store,

same grocery store,

same coffee shop,

same barber.

I remember years ago,

one of the guys

in our missional community

is like,

I got this guy,

he cuts hair,

he's not a believer.

What do you guys think

about us all going

to this guy?

Yeah,

that makes total sense.

You're going to sit there

for a half hour,

hour and you're going to,

you know,

not going anywhere,

right?

And you're going to talk.

And what if all these people

all go in there

strategically,

praying for the same guy,

going to the same barber

on purpose,

same thing with a hair,

you could do with a hairdresser,

right?

For the women,

same mechanic,

same chiropractor,

right?

Done that before,

going to the same chiropractor,

as other people.

And it's like multiple people

are preaching the gospel

to the same person.

That's awesome

when you do stuff like that,

going to the same park,

frequenting the same places

over and over again.

I was just reading

a book on evangelism

by Mark Dever.

And he says

he always goes

to the subway

by the church building

where he's at.

And it's not because

he has this particular

love for subway.

It's because he has

a particular love

for the employees

at subway

and he's got to eat.

And so he goes

to the same place.

And when he meets people,

he says,

let's go to subway.

He's like,

why do you want

to go to subway?

He's like,

because I have people there

that I want to frequently

be in interaction with

because I'm preaching

the gospel to them.

I love that.

That's great.

Okay?

Who are those people?

What are these ways

we can get in?

I remember in the early days

of Bellicose,

there was so many times

you're just like,

who are we going

to reach out to?

How are we going to,

how is this going to happen?

How is this church

going to get on its feet?

How,

who are we going

to be the people?

And in those early days,

it was hard to believe.

You're building something

out of nothing.

You can't see it.

But we,

there was this,

there's an excitement

in prayer

when you realize

God wants to give

those people to you

and that he will.

He will.

Do you believe that?

Can you pray

and get excited

while you're praying

even though the answer

hasn't come yet

because you're anticipating

the inevitability

of the answer.

Do you understand

what I'm saying?

Where your excitement

comes from the inevitability

of the not yet answered prayer

and it gives you excitement

and fuel to keep praying for it

and you begin to see things

in the spirit

that are coming

and it makes it,

it makes it less,

it's not invisible anymore,

it makes it easier to build.

The hardest thing to build

is what you can't see.

So,

you need to see it.

Well,

the only way you're going

to see the invisible

is through prayer

and the only way

that's going to happen

is when we come into unity

around these things

and pray together

and we begin to start

seeing things in prayer,

we begin to start

seeing things prophetically

and we begin to pray

into them with excitement

and a sense of an inevitability

that causes us to be

just joyful

in what's going to happen

and then we just wait

in the Lord

and just see it happen.

We do it in rest.

We're not striving.

We're not having to muster

some church thing up.

We're not feeling this pressure

to make the church cool.

We're not feeling this pressure

to make it enjoyable

and to get good friendships.

No, we are resting

in God's desire

to do for us

what we couldn't do

for ourselves

in ways that are way greater

than we could ever do

because He cares for us

and He loves us

and He wants us

to have friendships

and He wants us

to have new people

and He wants to save people.

Okay?

But we have to have

missional discipline.

We got to get,

we have to have specific

people and groups

and places.

It has to happen.

Do you hear me on that?

I know I've said that

a million times

but I don't know

if it's totally sunk in yet.

I think we have kind of this,

we have desire for it,

we have value for it.

Maybe we're lacking

the discipline in it though.

Do you hear me on that?

Have desire,

have a little bit of strategy

but do we have the discipline

to see it through?

Do we have the focus

that is required

to literally see a church established

beyond just the team

that got sent

and a few people

coming in here and there

who are already believers?

Like do we have the discipline

to see it through?

You got to ask yourself

that question.

Okay?

And then we got to figure out

ways that we're going to

engage these people.

Once you have

those specific people,

what are the ways

we're going to engage people?

Okay?

Three really easy ones

are eating,

planning events,

and serving and blessing people.

Okay?

Just eating together

with people.

Doing barbecues,

parties,

meals.

Okay?

Not inviting people

to your missional community gathering

unless you've set apart

a specific gathering

for lost people.

But just saying,

hey,

come over to have a meal

or let's go out to eat

or let's go grab something

to drink.

Okay?

Giving meals away.

Maybe having like a regular thing,

like a night of the week

where this night

is always open

to have people over.

Like I've set that aside

or Sunday afternoons

to invite new people

who've come to the church.

which,

you know,

that's a little sparse now

but maybe down the road

that'll become more and more.

I mean,

at Bellacook now

you could do that

until the cows come home

and you'd never run out of people

because there's just

influx of people.

Didn't used to be that way.

Didn't used to be that way at all.

Okay?

It's got to start somewhere.

All right?

Maybe doing like a night

of just having coffee together

or desserts together,

you know?

Especially as it gets cooler.

making it fun,

you know,

doing some kind of

food contest together.

Best dessert,

best dip,

best barbecue,

best pizza.

I don't care.

Anything like that.

Just doing stuff

that you can get around people

and build relationships.

Or events,

sports.

In one month,

football season starts.

I know that

whether you're

a Chiefs fan or not,

whether you're

a football fan or not,

a lot of people are.

And we just happen

to have a team

that's won the Super Bowl

two years in a row.

They're going to be trying

to win a third one.

You think people are going

to be interested in that?

You better believe it.

Okay?

You might say,

well,

I'm not interested in that.

Well,

other people are.

So,

will you become all things?

Maybe you become a Chiefs fan

to win as many for Christ.

You know what I'm saying?

It happens every week.

It's like a weekly rhythm.

You could literally have a plan

in place like,

okay,

we're going to watch

the Chiefs game

every week

and we're going to invite

people in

that we're on mission to.

Talk about a natural,

normal,

neutral setting

that's not going to wig people

out as some religious weirdos.

Right?

Just wait,

you're going to go,

you're going to,

you want to watch

a football game together?

Oh yeah,

I could do that.

You know,

no one's going to be like,

weird.

Okay,

but that's what I'm saying.

Like,

but planning stuff like that,

just say,

it's coming up.

I'm not saying you have to,

have to do that.

I'm just saying,

ideas like that,

looking at the season you're in,

football season's coming up,

using that for that purpose.

Right?

We're going to literally

regularly open up our home

for Chiefs games

and then bring lost people

and bring neighbors in.

Most of your neighbors

are already doing that.

Just do it with them.

Hey,

are you watching the Chiefs game?

Yeah,

I am.

You want to watch it at my place?

Like,

we'll provide all the food.

You don't need to bring anything.

Yeah,

I'll be there.

You know what I'm saying?

Like,

that's easy.

That's low-hanging fruit.

And then when you're there,

don't just watch the Chiefs game.

Talk about their life.

You know,

get it,

lay the groundwork

and as soon as you see

that open door,

you preach the gospel.

And if you don't see

the open door,

make one.

Make one.

Make the most

of every opportunity.

Make an opportunity.

Do you know what I'm saying?

You know,

we've talked about

block parties,

bonfires,

game nights,

holiday celebrations.

I think that's

always a good time.

And that's why I think

fall is such a great time

for mission.

Right?

It's always a time

to launch things,

to do things.

But Halloween comes

and all your neighbors

come to your door.

They come to you.

Right?

Do it up better

than anybody else.

Okay?

Thanksgiving is a great time

to just have people

over for dinner.

Christmas.

Christmas parties

are so easy.

Right?

Another American holiday,

Super Bowl.

Right?

Okay?

Easy to do that.

You have this holiday time

and you have all these

easy things

to just invite people into.

Are we being intentional

with those things?

Do we have a plan

for those things?

Movie nights,

you know,

dancing,

cigar pipe nights,

Bible studies,

where you just say,

hey,

we're going to do a Bible study

for this amount of nights

and we're going to invite

people to come to it.

One-time events,

weekly events,

monthly events,

whatever they may be.

Or serving people,

like how can we do

house projects,

yard projects,

helping someone financially,

neighborhood cleanups.

Just identify at least

one way to tangibly

express the gospel

on a regular basis

through serving

and then sticking with it

long enough

to move beyond

just tasks

to relationships.

Opening the door

for the gospel.

Right?

Opening the door

for the gospel.

What are these things?

Listen,

if you don't have an answer,

that's okay.

But don't be okay

with not having an answer

much longer.

Because God wants

to give you an answer.

He wants to give you people.

And like,

what did Paul do?

Did Paul just say like,

well,

I just hope God

gives us something.

He said,

no,

I'm aiming

at specific people.

He said,

Peter's called to these people,

I'm called to these people.

He's like,

I'm reaching these people

this way,

I'm reaching these people

this way.

Do you have multiple people

that you're on mission to

that you're reaching

in different ways

and you're becoming

different things

that you might mean

as many people

through as many means

as possible?

That's what church

should look like.

Not just creating

some weird gathering,

religious gathering

that majority of people

will never come to

and hoping that some come to.

That's what church

has become.

Why?

It should be us

strategically getting

on mission to people.

Never ceasing,

never stopping,

always on the offensive.

When the Bible says,

Jesus says,

I will build my church

and the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it.

Have you ever walked

by a gate

and a gate just attacked you

and knocked you to the ground

and started beating you up?

Gates don't do anything to you.

When he says that,

when he says that the gates

of hell shall not prevail,

he's talking about

an offensive attack

at the gates.

He's talking about

an infiltration

of enemy territory

that was protected by gates.

You are pressing

through the gates.

He's not talking about

some gates that are,

you know,

you're just doing

your comfortable church thing

and these gates

come attack you.