URGENT SHARE // The Great Expectation // Pastor Richie Fike

Welcome to the Movement Church podcast. We want you to

know that God is for you. So you're about to

hear a sermon from one of our weekend services in

the twilights of southern Colorado. God is not a monument,

He's a movement. So we're praying that this message will

move you in a meaningful way. Listen closely after the

message for ways to get connection with us. God bless you.

Thanks for tuning in.

I realized that I'm standing in a room filled with

mostly Christian people. There may be a few of you

that are still kind of on the fence about this

whole Jesus idea, but most of us in this room

have kind of come to a decision and about who

Jesus is, where he fits in our life. It's pretty much.

If you're not a Christian, I just want to show

you a couple of things. This is what Christians believe.

We believe that the Bible is the only inerrant love

letter from God about God and for his people. That

if you want to know anything about the God who

created everything, there's a book called the Bible, and that's

a love letter from your God to your heart. So

that's number one. Well, We believe that everything that exists

exists because of God. We believe that the most significant

problem facing mankind was not that USA lost in the

World Cup this week, and it's not the price of gas,

even though that's a big problem. It's not the most

significant problem facing mankind. It's the separation between the holiness

of God and the sinfulness of man. There's a chasm

that exists between the human heart and the heart of God.

That's a big, big problem. Number four. No human being,

this makes the problem even worse, can bridge that divide

on his own. Not a single thing that you can

do or I can do that can make that distance bridgable.

And left unbridged, every human soul is destined for eternal

separation from God. That's a bad, bad problem. Good news,

God promised to do something about that divide. Even better news,

he did something about that divide. God fulfilled his promise.

He sent Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, conceived

by the Holy Spirit, to reunite the Father with his children.

And in fact, everything that Jesus came to planet Earth

to do was for that purpose, to reunite the Father

with his children. Number seven. The only way for human

beings to be redeemed is through I shouldn't say was through,

is through the sacrifice of a sinless savior. So Jesus

lived a sinless life and died a sinner's death. Everybody

with me? So far? Anybody disagree with anything? Okay? Good? Perfect?

Number eight. Jesus' death This is a kind of three

dollar word atoned for our sin, and his resurrection opened

the door to eternal life. So his death is what

paid off all of your debt, and his life is

what gives you the chance to live forever. You with me,

Everybody still with me? Number nine. The only way to

experience true communion with God on earth and eternal life

hereafter is through faith in Jesus Christ, not through works,

not through anything that you can do, not through your righteousness,

your morality. There's nothing you can do to earn it.

It only happens through faith in Jesus Christ. And here's

the last one. Deliberate steps are required of the human

being to place their faith in Jesus. Deliberate steps are

required in order for that faith to be put into action,

and they look like this, Repent, receive and respond. Okay.

After having said all of that, that was your seminary

class for this morning. Are you grateful after having said

all of that? Let me tell you this. You can

live a full Christian life on earth as a believer

in ninety nine percent of that list and be fully

prepared for the next life. But there's one word in

that whole group of ten things that I just showed you.

There's one word that differentiates the kind of Christian life

that you are meant to live. And it's a word

that most of us do incorrectly. It's a word that

most of us don't quite understand the way of It's

this word respond. What is the proper response to the

grace of Jesus Christ. How are human beings supposed to

respond to what Jesus did for us? We know about repent,

We know about receive. Repent is turning from your sin

and walking towards God. Receive is the fact that salvation

is a free gift. There's nothing you can do to

earn it, so you just receive it. But then what

do you do? How do you live your life? What's

effected of you? So much of Christianity in the twenty

first century is built around this word. But I think

in the wrong way. And I think we hear mixed

messages about how we're supposed to respond to the grace

of Jesus. Very often it becomes this behavior modification process

where we start willing ourselves towards morality or towards righteousness.

We try to become something in our own strength that

we never were before we met Jesus. We're like, well,

we met Jesus, and now we better be good. And

so we force ourselves into these habits to try to

become something that we're actually not. But at the same time,

our hearts are so tuned into what Jesus did for us.

He made away when there was no way. He decided

to put on skin, and then he allowed it to

get crushed and bruised for you and for me, And

so I want to respond to God right. And he

did all of that. He did everything he did because

he loves it. Salvation can't be bought or earned, It

can only be received. But we want to respond in kind.

You know this phrase, I'd like to respond in kind.

So if someone invites you to dinner, you feel like, well,

we better invite them to dinner.

Right.

If someone does something nice for you, you better do

something nice for them. There's this kind of transactional relationship

that we tend to have towards God. Because of all

the things that he did for you, you want to

respond in kind. And what it turns into is it

turns into basically self help. It turns into you and

I again trying to regulate righteousness, trying to become something

that we're really not. It's kind of interesting we start

policing our own behavior to become more and more what

we think we ought to be. We're convinced, we've convinced

ourselves that the proper response to the grace of the

Cross is to work harder at living righteous moral lives.

Anybody relate to this. Have you ever felt like this,

like this is what it means to be a Christian?

It's actually not. We try to make ourselves more kind,

more generous, more selfless, loving, patient, peaceful, gracious, and good.

There's nothing wrong with that list. Everything on that list

is right on. But what's the source of it is

the source of it your own strength and your own power.

If so, you've missed the whole point of Jesus. You've

missed the whole point of needing him. See the promise

of the Bible. Isn't that once you decide to put

your faith in Christ, you will then be responsible to

police or produce godly morality. That's not the promise of

the Gospel. The gospel is not accept the free grace

of Jesus and then spend the rest of your life

working off your debt. That's not Christianity. But have you

ever felt like that's kind of what you've heard or

you've understood, or maybe that's what someone's preached to you,

that it's about your morality, it's about your behavior. It's

easy to get it mixed up. The truth of the

gospel is that once you accept the free gift of salvation,

you are inhabited by the Holy Spirit, who is God himself.

And what comes of that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness,

self control. That's the fruit of you saying you know what,

I've got this throne in my heart. It's the highest

throne that I own in my heart, and I've decided

to put Jesus Christ in that throne. I've decided to

let him have dominion over my life. And what comes

of that dominion is good. That's different than saying Hey, God,

thanks for everything you did. I got it from here.

Do you see the distinction? Christianity is not about responding

to God's grace with your best efforts towards righteous morality. Really,

what I'm saying this morning, and this is good news,

I promise, is that Christianity is not about you. Did

you know that Christianity is not about you? Who's it about?

That's right? Come on, just like every little third grader

and on disco. The right answer is Jesus. Yes, that's

the right answer. Christianity is not about you. It's about Jesus.

It was never about your moral value. It was never

about your personal righteousness. If it were, you wouldn't have

needed Jesus in the first place. Amen. And yet certain

steps are required for us to put our faith into practice.

So if behavior modification is an unfruitful response to salvation,

then what is the right way to respond? What is

that one percent of the one hundred that most of

us get wrong? Here's the question we're going to be

looking at for the next four weeks. What should we

be doing until we cross over into eternity? What is

Christian life supposed to be about? What should we be

doing and I want you to hear me clearly, Christianity

is about believing, becoming, and this is the one percent

being sent. Being sent. Now, all three of these are

interesting because they are processes, not products. All three of

these are journeys, not destinations. They're ever unfolding, ever evolving.

Tell the person next to you you are a work

in progress, and mean it when you tell them, come on,

you are a work in progress. So believing it's a

work in progress. It means faith in Christ makes you

a new creation. And each day after you've decided to

believe in Christ, it gets tested and proven and refined,

but coming being set apart for sacred use the big

ten dollars. You know, theological word we use is sanctified, sanctification,

and the truth is that the moment you've become a Christian,

you are sanctified, and you are being sanctified for the

rest of your Christianity. You are a work in progress

and being sent. That's not just once, it's every day.

It's all the time. Choosing to respond to the salvation

of Jesus by making him the lord word of your life.

The phrase I'm going to say a bunch today, You're

gonna get tired of hearing me say this, but I

want you to catch it. Here's the phrase, there is

no such thing as an unsent Christian. There is no

such thing as an unsent Christian. You see my guy here,

Do you see him? You see him? You see the

couch potato Christian Here, he's got the T shirt It

says Christian. These people are on mission. This guy's watching Tdjakes. Okay, like,

this is not This is not what it's supposed to

be about. There is no such thing as an unsent Christian. Now,

with that said, there's a word that we got to

talk about in this four week series. There's a word

amongst Christians that is a proper word, but that has

become a proper slur in our culture. It's this word evangelical.

If someone calls you an evangelical and they're not a Christian,

they're not being nice to you, right, Because that word

carries a weight with it in the world. Depending upon

who you hear say it, it could mean judgmental, political, pushy,

closed minded, superior, lacking empathy, or just downright hateful. The

world receives and perceives evangelicalism this way. Now we've come

by it honest. Let's be honest about this. There are

some brothers and sisters within the Body of Christ who

have tainted this word for us in certain aspects. We're

supposed to be salt and light, and they are salty,

but they're tasteless in the way that they approach evangelicalism.

This word is an important word. Here's what it means.

A person who carries good news. This is a great

word to be. Evangelical is powerful. It's not a political word.

It's a convictional word, and evangelical is someone who carries

good news. It's a word worthy of Christian living. It's

a high and holy word, a righteous undertaking, a sacrificial notion.

It's the great adventure that God himself is imploring you

to participate in. It deeply matters that we understand this word,

and I really believe that it's urgent that we spend

time on it, that we talk about what does it

mean to be evangelical, what does it mean to be

and the evangelical. Some of you may know this about me.

My very favorite movie of all time is this one.

A Few good Men? Right, You want answers, I want

the truth. You can't handle the truth. I mean, dude,

I could watch that whole scene and I know every

word of it. That's how many times I've seen it.

I'm like, play all the different parts, you know you,

Lieutenant Weinberg, I know all of it. And so but

there's a moment in that scene that I want to

show you today that I think unlocks this idea of

what does it mean to be an evangelical Christian? Watch this?

Defense, calls Colonel Nathan Jessop.

Colonel jessp would you raise your right hand please, sir?

Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give

in this General Court Marshall will be the truth, the

whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

So I'll help you, God, Yes I do.

Do you have to see please, sir? Colonel.

When you learned of Santiago's letter to the NIS, you

had a meeting with your two senior officers, Is that right?

Yes? Col's having this meeting. You gave Lieutenant Kendrick in order,

Is that right?

I told Kendrick to tell his men that Santiago wasn't

to be touched. And did you give an order to

Colonel Markinson as well? I ordered Markinson to have Santiago

transferred off the base immediately. Why I felt his life

might be in danger once word of the letter got out.

Grave danger? Is there another kind? I love that so

much I thought they would be in danger? Grave danger?

Is there another kind? Love it? It's awesome, It's my

favorite thing. Think about this. What if there an interaction

went like this, Colonel Desap Are you a Christian? Yes?

I am an evangelical Christian? Is there another kind? That's it?

You cannot say that you are a Christian and detach

yourself from the word evangelical. It doesn't work. You can't

claim Jesus as Lord and not live on mission. And

yet a great number of Christians that I have met

have never ever, ever ever seen themselves understood themselves operated

as an evangelical Christian. The urgency of our participation is

doing what God is asking us to do right now

on the earth. And there's a text we're going to

look at. This will be the text that we'll study

this week in Growth group. Since Matthew twenty eight. So

if you've got a Bible and you want to open

it up, Matthew twenty eight tells us about something called

the Great Commission. You ever heard of this, the Great Commission.

It's a beautiful thing, and it's meant to be the

true North for Christians. It's meant to be our sort

of guiding principle as a believer in Christ. Listen to

the clarity of this passage and let it answer this

question for you. You're ready. This is the question for today.

What response does Jesus expect? And that is the word.

What is the response that Jesus expects of those who

call him Lord? Let's look at it. This is Matthew

twenty eight starting in verse sixteen. Okay, it says the

eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus

had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but

some doubted. So there you see, belief is a process.

Belief is this process of taking a step towards God

and maybe taking tiptoes back, but processing who God is.

They worshiped, but some doubted. Verse eighteen, Jesus came near

and said to them, all authority has been given to

me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make

disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of

the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe everything I have commanded to you,

and remember I'm with you always to the end of

the age. Now again, we call this the Great Commission.

I like to think of it as the Great co Mission,

because Jesus says I'm with you always. So the idea

is that we're on mission to go with him. We're

not going rogue. It's not like we're out here going God.

I got it from here. It's a co mission. We're

meant to join in what God is already doing. But

when I read this, when I read this passage, and

increasingly as I get older and over, I don't read

it as an invitation. I don't read it as an opportunity.

I read it as Jesus's great expectation for his followers,

for you and for me. I read it as Jesus saying, hey, listen,

until the moment when we're all face to face again,

I'm going to make it really clear to you what

I expect of you. That's how I read it. The

great expectation Jesus is clearly defining for us what a

life lived in response to the Gospel looks like this

is what response looks like we all know that we're

meant to commune with God. But God says, yeah, that's cool.

I want to commune with you, But I also want

to commission you. I want to send you. Now. Inside

of what we just read, I see five really clear

clarifiers that help us to make sense of God's expectations

for us, and so I want to point him out

to you. Here's the first one. In verse eighteen, it

says Jesus came near and said to them all authority.

Everybody say all how much? All authority has been given

to Jesus. In heaven that's a lot of authority, and

on earth that's a lot of authority. And so because

I have all authority, I will now tell you go.

So first clarifier, all authority, therefore go. This is massive.

Jesus didn't say most authority has been given to me.

I gave a little bit to Richie Fike. I gave

you know, some to this president, some to this. No. No,

all authority has been given to Jesus. And since Jesus

has all authority, we had better listen carefully to what

he says. Says next, you're with me now, all of

us have a choice who we're going to let have

authority over us. Maybe you have a boss, or a coach,

or a teacher, or a landlord. Everybody in here has

the opportunity to choose who we're gonna let have authority

over us. And what happens is, let's say you have

a boss and the boss asks you to kind of

flub some of the numbers for the sake of the company,

but they're asking you to be deceitful. Your ultimate authority

is God, and so you have to decide in that moment,

am I going to submit to this lower level of

authority or the guy that I put at the highest

throne of my heart? What level of authority does this

person have as compared to what Jesus does you with me?

We all have choices to make. If you were on

a football team and let's say you're playing defense and

the coach tells you to go head hunt the quarterback

and just break the rules and try to break his knee,

there's you know, there's an authority that the coach has,

But somewhere inside of your heart, on the highest throne

of your heart, you have to say, what is Jesus

telling me about this. Does that sound like something that

God would want me to do? Whether my coach said

to do it or not, we have the opportunity who

we're going to submit to. And the point is all

authority has been given to Jesus. By the way, if

you're a pastor demands that you obey him, I want

you to hear me. Run, don't walk to the nearest exit,

and never ever come back again. I will never ever,

as your pastor, tell you to do something that contradicts

the word of God. And if I did, you should

not obey it. Amen. Okay, good, it's a pretty good

picture of me. Jesus has all authority and he's not

sharing it. He has all authority and he's not sharing it.

He didn't say all authority has been given to me

and I'm just going to pass a little bit out

here and there. He's got it all. He doesn't say

most authority has been given to me, and the rest

I give to the apostles. He doesn't do that. He

says all authority is mine. So go, okay, what's our

second clarifier? Go and do what? Go therefore and make

disciples of all nations. Now it doesn't say it I

wish it did. I wish it'd said it in parentheses,

like my point is going to But notice that Jesus

doesn't say, go and make converts of all people. He says,

go and make disciples of all people. Okay, well, what's

the difference between a convert and a disciple? Think about it.

Both are good, one's better. Both are good, but one

is expected. The idea of a convert is a person

who initially comes to Christ. What's a disciple a mature

follower of Jesus Christ. You with me, don't make converts,

make disciples, man, I'll tell you as a pastor this.

All the time, I see people who have made a

decision to come to Christ and they go, I'm in, Yes,

I have decided to follow Jesus. Right, they're all in.

Maybe they go to like a summer camp and they

have this emotional experience all this last week we led

worship at the Ponderosa Camp and there were hundreds of

high school students there and lots of them made decisions

to follow Christ. It was awesome. But guess what if

those kids don't come back from camp and have somebody

help them, They're just gonna stay converts there's a thing

that the Ponderosa does. It's pretty cool. I got to

do this last summer. When kids make a decision to

follow Christ, they get to ring a bell. There's a

bell in the middle of the Ponderosa camp. People come

up and they say their name, they've made a decision

for Christ, and people say, ring that bell. This is

what it looks like. Ready, what's this? What's your name? Carter?

And what' turkes you from?

Carter?

From everybody? Go ahead, we take from journey.

Everybody round. Okay, that's awesome. It's awesome to see all

of these young people make decisions and ring the bell

and say I'm in I've decided to follow Jesus. But again,

when they get back to their regular life, to the

way they lived last week, all of that centrifugal force,

all of that weight, all of those rhythms, all of

those patterns, all of those habits are just going to

hit them in the face, aren't they. And if they

don't have somebody to come alongside of them and go

all right, look, hey, Wellington, I saw that you rang

that bell last week. Man, listen, Can you and I

get together and read the Bible together? Can can Can

I kind of show you what the word of God

has to say? Say? Can I teach you how to

hear from God? Can I teach you how to worship God?

Can I? You see what I'm saying? Like, if someone

doesn't come alongside and help little Wellington, then it's probably

the truth that next summer at summer camp, he's going

to go. You know what, I rang the bell and

since then I haven't done anything. Jesus doesn't say go

and make converts. He says, go and make disciples. Everybody

starts as a convert, but jesus great expectation is that

a disciple is made. He's telling these eleven apostles, and

he's telling you, and he's telling me, we need to

make disciples. This is the truth that many of us

in this room know. You can be a Christian your

whole life as a spiritual infant, can't you? But God

wants so much more for you. Hear that? For you

than that. I'm not trying to put a guilt trip

on you. I'm not saying God expects more from you.

That's not what I'm saying. God expects so much more

for you. He has so much more for you. Spiritual

infancy is not it. So that's why there is no

such thing as an unsent Christian. Tell the person next

to you he's talking to you. There is no such

thing as an unsent Christian. The word disciple is closely

akin to the word apprentice. A disciple followed his rabbi,

adopted his priorities, imitated his character, and represented his teachings

to others. Jesus made some really declared of statements about

what his disciples would do. He said, if you are

my disciple, you will abide in my word. You will

love one another, you will bear much fruit. You will

deny yourself and take up your cross. You will count

the cost of following me, and ultimately you will obey

my commands. If you are my disciple. That's what it's

going to look like. A disciple of Jesus Christ replicates

anything Jesus taught us to do, in everything Jesus modeled

for us. Here at movement, we use this language diciple

as someone who grows in groups, who serves in sincerity,

who gives in generosity, who moves on mission, and who

practices God's presence. In all of these behaviors we see

Jesus teaching about this, and we see Jesus modeling this,

and so we've tried to make it really succinct for

you to see what a disciple looks like. So if

any of these categories you go, man, I'm not doing

well at that. I'm not really up to par with

that part of it. This is why growth groups matter.

This is why move groups matter. This is why digging

deep in relationship with other people helps you to grow

in your faith and to grow in your discipleship. This

is what it looks like. Moms and dads in the room.

Your primary responsibility, many of you already know this, is

to be the primary disciple maker in your home. Our

job as a church is to come alongside of you

and go, how can we help as you guide and

direct and make a disciple of your children. Justice called

at the end of June and he said, hey, let's

do this thing together called push ups and Proverbs. And

so we are reading a chapter of Proverbs and then

we're doing fifty push ups. We haven't done very well yet,

but judoh, come on, we're going to keep working on it, right, buddy,

he says, No, okay, But anywhere you've earned influence. You've

been granted opportunity to wield it for the purpose of

expanding the kingdom. This is what I want you to

understand at the end of this sermon. I'm not going

to ask you to go looking for lost people. I'm

not going to ask you to go find somebody that

you don't know and lead them to Christ. What I

am gonna do is I'm going to try to help

you to see the people that God has already put

in your life and to ask you, are you wielding

your influence with them? Yes? Or no? Okay, So Jesus

Great Expectation. Jesus has all authorities, so go make disciples.

Here's the third piece. He says, make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit. So here's our third clarifier. Jesus

Great Expectation is that we baptize believers. That we baptize believers.

The point I'm trying to make here is that no

matter what ceremony happened in your life before you became

a believer in Jesus Christ, no matter what was sprinkled

over you, no matter what happened when you were a

little child. The moment that you make a declaration and

a decision to follow Christ. Your next step in going

public is to get baptized. It matters because your story

deeply matters to God, because you deeply matter to God.

But you were not saved simply for communion. You were

saved and you were commissioned. And this is the first

step of being commissioned. Baptism is the first step of

living on mission for Jesus. It's a public declaration of

something deeply personal. When I write the little letter that

I write to the folks that get baptized, I put

in the letter, hey, listen from this moment. Your faith

is personal, but never again will it be private. Your

faith isn't meant to be private. It's personal because it

matters to you, but it's meant to be public. Your

faith is meant to be seen, tasted, since experienced, your

faith no longer just belongs to you. It's for everyone else.

That's the beauty of baptism. Your story can unlock someone

else's faith journey. Your testimony might be the catalyst for

someone's salvation. Your story might give language to the questions

that people have been asking for a long time, just

by you articulating here's why I came to Christ. They go,

that's what I've been looking for, that's what I need,

go public believers, Baptism really matters, and just for the

sake of clarity in case people are coming from different

denominations or different religious worlds. There's nothing magic about the

baptismal water. There's nothing like spiritual about it. It's not

like laced with any kind of you know, holy water

or anything. Just tap water, especially here, tapwater in like

what do we call it those a trough. It's like

tapwater and a trough. Nothing why about it? Okay, what's

holy about it is what it represents. It's symbolic of

the old life that you lived now being washed away

and you come out of that baptismal tank clean, representing

the fact that you are now seen by God through

the blood of Jesus Christ. You've been washed in the water,

washed in the blood. You're as good as new. Oh hallelujah.

That's the idea. So the waters are symbolic, but the

obedience really really matters. Life doesn't have to be filled

with emptiness, darkness, and struggle. It can be overflowing with

all the abundance of heaven, and your story can tell

people that reality. So if you've never been baptized, if

you have made a declaration for Christ, you've never been baptized.

Just so you know, on our anniversary weekend coming up

at the first Sunday of October, we do it outdoors

in a park. We are going to be baptizing people

that Sunday. So if you're feeling like, man, this is

my moment, this is my time. Just let me know,

email me, text me, call me. We will get you

signed up. It's going to be a good day. Jesus

expects this of you, and he expects this for you.

Get in the game. Jesus has all authority. So go

make disciples and baptize them. I Love Verse twenty. Jesus says,

get them baptized, teaching them to observe everything I have

commanded you. So basically, teach them to obey me. But

what I love, what I love is what Jesus didn't say.

You know, all throughout the Gospels, better theologians than me

have come up with the numbers of somewhere between two

and three hundred commandments that Jesus made or imperatives that

Jesus made. He basically said, love and trust God, love

and serve people, differentiate yourself, participate in kingdom building, and

stay faithful. But what I find beautiful about this moment

is what Jesus said what he didn't say. He didn't say,

teach them everything I commanded, because he wasn't trying to

create Bible nerds. He wasn't trying to, you know, to

have you learn all the minutia. He just wants you

to obey him. You know how you can know the

rules but not follow them. Anybody, teenagers in the room, anybody,

you know how you can know the restrictions, but God,

that doesn't apply to me. Jesus has teach them to

observe everything I commanded. It means to keep, obey, or guard,

or practice or hold fast. It's an active, lived obedience,

not just mere informational transfer. Jesus didn't commission the church

to produce Bible experts. He commissioned the church to produce

obedient apprentices. Amen. This is beautiful. And by the way,

the way that you'll know that you are a disciple

of Jesus Christ is if you're actively engaged in making

disciples of Jesus Christ, that's what it looks like. Teach

them to observe everything I command and do. Well, what

did you just come in? Go and make disciples? Are

you doing it? Are you making disciples? I know that's

a very convictional question, like I went from preaching to meddling, right,

I get it. But this is what he says. This

is his expectations. And then this is the best part

of it. He says, by the way, you're not alone.

Remember I'm with you always to the end of the age.

So this is our fifth clarifier, our final one. I'm

with you to the end. Think about this moment, though,

do you know when he says this. He says this

right before he ascends to heaven. So Jesus says, go

make disciples, teach them to observe everything I've taught, baptize them. Yeah,

and I'm with you always. Bah. I mean, it's funny

when you think about it. And there's a scene in

Acts where all of the apostles are just looking up

in the sky and they're watching him go and they're

trying to see that last little speck of him and

he gets into the clouds and like man, no, I

think I see his foot. I do. I think I

still see his foot. He's still with us, right, And

they're looking up in the sky and these two angels

come along and they go, what are you guys looking for?

What's going on? What's the deal here? And they're like, well,

looking for Jesus And they say, he's not here. He

has ascended. Okay, So how do you make sense of this? Go?

Do this work. I'm with you always. Bye. How do

you make sense of this? Well, there's this moment in

the Passover dinner. It's a beautiful moment where Jesus tells

them what's going to happen. He says, I will ask

the Father and he will give you another counselor to

be with you forever. And then just a few verses later,

in verse eighteen, he says, I will not leave you

as orphans. Look at this. I am coming to you.

I am coming to you. He doesn't say the Spirit

is coming to you, I am coming to you. What

am I saying? The Holy Spirit is not a replacement

for Jesus. He is the means by which there is

in Christ is present with his people. Matthew starts the

Book of Matthew by saying, Jesus, his name is Emmanuel.

What does Emmanuel mean? God with us? And he ends

the book in Matthew twenty eight. What we just read

with Jesus saying my name hasn't changed. I'm still with you.

John clarifies this for us. This is how Paul can

say later in Second Corinthians. The Lord is the Spirit.

They're not different, They're one and the same. It's this

beautiful misery of the Father of the Son and the

Holy Spirit. Just so you know, the Holy Spirit is

the full encapsulation of Jesus Christ himself. He is with you.

The Holy Spirit is the presence of God within us.

Jesus is with us to the end of the age.

His name doesn't change. His presence is even more powerful

because he's not just around us, He's within us. It's beautiful,

it's powerful. What I love is Jesus didn't say this,

get to work. I'm gonna be watching y'all. What if

that's how he let us get after it? I'm watching. No,

he said, hey, look, I want you to go do

this thing, and I'm with you. I'm not leaving you.

So this is jesus great expectation. Go make disciples, baptize them,

teach them to observe everything that I taught you, and

just know that I'm with you till the end. And

the reason why this matters is because there's no such

thing as an unsent Christian. This guy is not a Christian.

This guy doesn't get it. This guy doesn't understand the

mandate that is upon us to go and live out

the great commission. Jesus has all authority. I've already said that,

But can I just tell you he gave me a

lot of responsible ability. I really don't know why he did,

but he did. He gave me a lot of responsibility.

Let me show you what Ephesian says about me. It

says this, the one who descended is also the one

who uscended far above the heavens to fill all things.

And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets,

some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. That's me. That's my

kind of where I fit. I'm a pastor and a teacher,

and God gave me to you. You're welcome. This is

why to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

My job as your pastor is to equip you to

get after it, to go do the work of ministry,

to build up the body of Christ until we all

reach unity in the faith, and then the knowledge of

God's Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by

Christ's fullness. And so today this sermon, maybe you've heard

the phrase a kick in the pants is just a

few vertebrate removed from a pat on the back, right,

That's what today is. It's a little bit of a

kick in the pants for you because I love you.

But I'm trying to tell you. My job is to

remind you that Christianity is about believing, be coming, and

being sent. I bet most of us are living two

out of three. I bet most of us struggle with

being any evangelical Christian. But I'm telling you there is

no other kind. This is what it is. There's no

such thing as an unsent Christian. And I'm telling you,

I'm talking to you. You are sent. You say I

don't feel qualified, Welcome to the club. We have jackets.

Nobody feels qualified. But I don't understand proper theology. You

know enough to tell your story? Yeah, but my story

is pretty rough. Good tell it loud. You know who

else's story is pretty rough. Every person that you talk to,

you are inviting them into this incredible mystery that is

grace and faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus has great expectations

for us. So, if I'm you and you're me and

I'm sitting where you're sitting, one of the questions that

I would be asking is cool, good story? Like how

what is it that you're telling me to go do

on Monday morning? And so I'm just gonna tell you

real quick. I'm gonna give you some steps. Step one pray,

one audacious prayer, one big massive prayer. And here's the prayer. Lord,

show me who you have already sent me to make

me sensitive to the people that you've already put around

me so that I can be on mission with those people.

I'm not going to go looking for new people. I'm

not going to go try to save the planet. I'm

not going to go get a poster board and stand

on the corner. No, who are the people that you

have already sent me to? Don't send me anywhere else. Lord,

help me to see who's already in my life. If

you pray that prayer, watch out, God's going to answer

that prayer. You with me. Step two, write down three names.

I'm going to have you do that today during our

prayer time after communion. Write down three names. Three names,

real names. Don't write down the world. Don't do that.

Los Angeles Lakers fans, don't do that. Write down real names,

real people. Maybe it's someone in your family, maybe it's

your kids. Write down three names of people that you

perceive at this moment don't know Jesus, or at least

they're not walking with him. Write down three names. Okay,

and then step three, ask those people one question this week.

That's your assignment. Whoever is on your list of your

three people your assignment this week, should you choose to

accept it? Your mission is to ask one question. Don't proselytize, pursue.

Don't go buy one of those little fake million dollar bills.

Have you ever seen those? Don't do it? And please

movement church. When you go and you sit at a restaurant,

Please don't tip somebody with a fake million dollar track

so you can lead him to Christ. That's not nice.

They don't want to read that. They're just gonna like

flip you off and cuss you out. We don't need that, okay,

That's what evangelical means to them. Don't do that earn

the right be in relationships. So ask them a question

like this, how can I pray for you? What's been

weighing on you lately? How's your family? What's giving you

hope right now? What's stealing your joy right now? There's

a guy that I played tennis with every Monday night.

His name is Mike. Hey Mike, Mike watches some of

these sermons sometimes, so what's up, dude? We played tennis

every Monday night. Mike's not a believer. He and I

have had lots of conversations about this. He doesn't understand

why I do what I do. He doesn't agree with it,

but he's still my friend, and so I ask him

questions like this almost every Monday night. Hey man, how

can I pray for you? What's going on with your business?

What's going on with your life? Why? Because I'm trying

to earn the right to share the Gospel by loving

and serving Him well. And one day, Mike, and I

especially hope you're watching this, You're going to accept Jesus

as your Lord and savior. I believe it. I believe it.

I believe he's going to come to a point in

his life where he goes you know what, I'm out

of answers. I've tried everything I know. I'm gonna call Fiight. Hey, Fike,

what should I do about this? Oh? Man, I'm so

glad you asked right. That's the idea. When you show

genuine interest in people, you earn relational capital with them

so that when they're in a pickle they call you.

So okay. Step four, this is the last one. Share

one story from your life, not a sermon, not a speech.

A story, not the Romans Road to Redemption. They don't

want to hear that. A story, something God's taught you,

something you've learned about yourself by getting closer to God. Guys,

you don't need to save anybody this week. I'm not

telling you go out and make converts. I'm not telling

you go out and get the world saved so that

we can fill up the seeds at the Movement Church.

That's not what this is about. This is about you

participating in Jesus Christ's great expectation for your life. He

is the one who saves. We are the ones who

are sent, So go and speak and serve where he

sends you open your mouth and watch him open the doors.

Because there's no such thing as an unsent Christian. There's

only urgent ones. Amen. Amen, let's pray.

So what's God leading you to do next? And how

can we help? Send us an email to info at

Movementchurch dot com and tell us how we can pray

for you and help you to take the next step

in your scripture journey. If you like to contribute financially

to our men industry, you can text the amount you'd

like to get to this number A three three seven

two five zero one three two. That's A three three

seven two five zero one three two, or just look

us up online at Movementchurch dot cove. You can find

the Movement Church on all social media platforms, and we

hope that you'll give us a follow. God bless you,

and remember God is for you, and so are we