Made For Mission Week 3: "What is my My Message?"

Music.

The good news that Jesus died for our sins was buried and rose again according to the scriptures.

It's the most important message in the world, and God has chosen us to share it.

If you've ever felt nervous or unsure about how to explain your faith,

this message will help you clearly understand and confidently share the life-changing

power of the gospel. Let's jump in.

A few weeks ago, we launched a series that we've been calling Made for Mission.

And in week one, we talked about the fact that we're all called to the mission that God has for us.

And we looked at the calling of Matthew, the calling of Levi,

and we saw that the mission of God is to be lived out every day in our lives.

The mission God has for you doesn't start someday.

God's good plan and God's purpose for your life doesn't start someday.

It starts when you come and you yield your life to him.

In week two, we asked the question, what is the mission of God?

And we looked at Luke 9, where Jesus laid out some bold and uncompromising truths

that we have to deny ourselves. We have to pick up our cross and live for him every day.

It's a daily mission, isn't it? it's not just a one and done.

It's a daily mission that we walk in every single day of our lives.

We talked about the fact that our mission is to reach the lost and dying with

the hope and the love and the grace and the mercy of the gospel.

And so today, we're going to dive into that question, what's my message?

If we've all been called to live on mission and we're all trying to live a life

of purpose and we have a message, we know that we have a message,

what is the message of the gospel? What's the message?

Have you ever tried to communicate something and it didn't come out right?

I know I cannot be alone. I can't be alone. One of our overseers,

Pastor Jason from Celebration, recently got a fishing boat.

He had his father, who lives in Tennessee, bought a new fishing boat.

And so he said, Jason, if you want this boat, you can come get it.

And so Jason went down to Tennessee and he picked up this fishing boat,

this bass tracker, and he hauled it back to Iowa. And it's been sitting in Treyer for a few months.

And when I was meeting Pastor Jason a few weeks ago, I said,

dude, when are we going to take your boat out and go fishing together?

He's like, man, I'm too busy. I don't have time to clean it out.

It's been sitting for a long time.

It's got a few inches of water in it. There's leaves, there's,

you know, pine needles and vermin.

I don't know. There was, it was just a mess.

And so he's like, you can take it. And if you want to, I'm like,

yeah, he just wants to use me to clean it up first.

And so I did. I went over there, Easton and I drove to Trair,

we hooked up the boat, we got all the water out and the vermin.

I got stung by a wasp. There was a wasp living in there, apparently.

We vacuumed it out. We got it all cleaned up. Mason charged the batteries and

we just were like, man, this is going to be amazing.

We love to fish. And so we took it out. We went to Big Woods and trolled around and caught some fish.

And we went to the Cedar and we went to Brinker Lake a few times and we fished

and we swam and we had a blast.

We took, of course, anywhere I go, my black lab, Gunner usually goes.

So Gunner went with us and he had a blast.

We took one of the puppies, Cooper, you know, our little tiny puppies we got

at Christmas that are now like 60 pounds.

They're a huge Cooper. you know, Easton was having a little panic attack because

Cooper just wanted to jump over and I let him and he jumped over and swam.

And I'm like, buddy, that's why they have webbed feet. They're fine.

He's fine. He's going to be okay.

But I was feeling very confident. I was feeling very confident in my boating skills.

Okay. I felt like I had this under control, been on boats a lot off and on through my life.

And, you know, we, we've had a great week and a half of, of riding in the boat, no issues at all.

But if you're not familiar with boats, there's a small, but important piece

that screws in on the backside called the plug.

And if you do not have that plug screwed in firmly, something like this could happen.

Now, for the record, this is not the boat, and those are not my feet,

because I wasn't on the boat when this happened.

This just happened to be some other kid and some other dad filming.

But we almost, so here's what happens.

A lot's been going on in our life. Busy, busy, busy.

Last, I think it was two Sundays ago. Maybe it was a Saturday.

No, it was a Saturday night.

I said, okay, let's go out. We're going to go to George Wythe.

So as I back out

you know back to the boat ramp I put

it in park I tell Hudson to get in I'm gonna launch him out and do the straps

and do you know the frame that you have to undo to let the engine down the motor

down and I did everything I thought I back up Hudson into the water I release him He's gone.

He's 20, 30 feet out into George Wythe Lake.

I start to walk away.

And I had the thought, oh, crap.

It's a biblical word. I said, oh, crap.

The plug's not in it. And I literally turned to Hudson. I'm like,

Hudson, you're going to sink.

The plug and neutral started ramp.

And I'm just like screaming at him, not making any coherent sentences.

I couldn't put together a sentence. I sprint to the car, grab the plug out of

the center console, And then I run back, and by now, Hudson's like,

what are you talking about?

And the boat's starting to go under.

And I'm thinking, this is my pastor friend's boat.

He's going to kill me. I'll say it's Hudson's fault.

Hudson, were you terrified? Yes, he was terrified.

And I'm yelling all these instructions, and I'm not making any sense.

And fortunately, he was able to get it started.

He had to yell, put it in neutral. What's neutral?

Put it straight up and put it straight up. And he, it started right up and it

had to have been the Lord.

Cause I've seen his boating skills.

He, he drove it right up onto the ramp. The first shot I grabbed it,

I hooked it on and I cranked it up and I started to breathe again.

And it's funny and it makes for a great story. And I call Hudson's over there

shaking his head. Now Hudson has PTSD.

And ever since we have gone, every time we go boating, 30 times before we even

launch, dad, did you put the plug in? How do you know the plug's in?

Is it tight? Is it going to leak?

Are we going to sink? No, it's okay. We got it. We got it.

But I think there's a parallel here when it comes to communicating the gospel with someone.

We understand that people are out there and they're in this situation of life,

kind of like a boat, and they're going under, and they need hope,

and they need salvation.

And if anything, I've learned this week is that life is short.

I wasn't going to get up here and talk about my mom, but I wanted to thank you

guys for praying for her and texting.

And if you've reached out to me and I haven't, it's because a billion people

have been trying to contact me.

But Friday night, my mom had a very serious stroke.

That's why my parents aren't here today. Mom is in the intensive care.

She's paralyzed on the right side.

My dad texted me that he's praying for the service, praying for you guys this

morning and to keep praying for mom, no changes, no movement yet.

And so it's a long road for her.

Other people that are not here today that are usually sitting here because they're

struggling with physical things.

And then at the same time yesterday, I got to go sing over at Cedar Valley Church

for a 96-year-old's birthday party.

And some of the young people I know have struggled with cancer and with other

things, and then you have a 96-year-old.

And here's what I know is that the rain falls on the just and the unjust,

and yet God is good in the middle of all of it, and I don't understand it.

But there's an urgency that we need to be able to yell out with grace and love.

We need to be able to communicate how they can be saved.

And it's so important.

So we have to explore that a little bit this morning. And if you're taking notes,

what is the message that we have to communicate? The answer is simple. It's this.

We bring the message of the gospel.

You've probably heard that term, the gospel. If you've been around church or

if you've seen TV, you've probably heard the word gospel. It just means good news.

But let me share with you where that's from.

Look with me at 1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 4, and we'll have the verses up here.

It says this, and Paul's speaking, and he's writing to the church in Corinth,

and he says, now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters.

He says, I don't want you to not understand this because it's super important.

I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel,

the good news I preached to you, which you've received, on which you've taken

your stand. So they had, these are Christians, they've received Christ,

and now they're standing.

It says, by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached

to you, unless you believed in vain.

Verse 3, for I passed on to you as most important what I also received.

What did Paul receive?

Paul received this gospel message that Christ died for our sins,

according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised on the

third day, according to the scriptures.

And Paul starts and he says, it's so important that you and I understand what the gospel is.

He said, I want to make sure that you understand it, that it's clear to you

so that you can hold on to it.

This message that I received from Christ and now I'm giving it to you.

He says, I'm passing on the most important thing.

And what Paul is trying to do is highlight the essential message within the Christian doctrine.

He says the most important things that you need to know and understand are these three core things.

Number one, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

That is a foundation of the gospel.

Christ died according to scriptures. Number two, that Christ was buried.

He was really dead. He didn't swoon. He didn't pass out. He was dead.

Number three, that Christ was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.

Now, in these verses, Paul is emphasizing the reality of Christ's death,

that Jesus actually was dead and buried, that he actually rose again.

Paul's confirming the atonement made for our sin, the sacrifice that needed

to pay be paid for my sin, Jesus paid.

He's confirming that Jesus has been victorious over death and over sin.

And so Paul validates all these things. But I think it's really important when

we're looking at scripture, when we're reading this, that we don't miss out on the text.

There's four words that he tags on the end of these phrases twice,

and he says this, these happened according to the scriptures.

That's an incredibly important phrase, that he died according to the scriptures,

that he was buried, and that he rose again.

And Paul is emphasizing the importance of the biblical fulfillment of prophecy.

These events had all been prophesied about in the Old Testament,

And Paul is using scripture to reinforce the continuity of God's redemptive plan.

Why would he do that?

To prove and validate the divine and historical accuracy and reality of the

death, burial, and resurrection.

Everything that happened to Christ came true exactly as Scripture foretold it.

That is the core of the gospel, that Christ died for our sins according to the

Scriptures, that he was buried, and that Christ was raised on the third day

according to the Scriptures.

So why is it so important that we know the gospel?

We have to know it, number one, if we're going to be saved, don't we?

But we also have to know it because God wants to use you and you and you.

He wants to use you to take the gospel to the world. That's why we do our Saturday serves.

That's why we did our soup kitchen. And that's why we're going to continue serving

because we want to love people and let them know you don't have to live in loneliness.

You don't have to live without hope. You can live with joy. You can live with peace.

And we're representing Jesus Christ. Look what 2 Corinthians 5 says.

It says, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. You didn't know you were a diplomat, did you?

We are ambassadors for Christ since God is making his appeal.

It's his message. It's his appeal to them. But who does he use?

He is making his appeal through us.

Don't ever think that you're not valuable. God wants to use you to bring the gospel to other people.

He's making his appeal through you and through me. and here's our appeal.

We plead, not on my behalf.

We're not trying to grow Generations Church so Jeff can say there's a big, big following.

No, we're not pushing Generations Church.

Whose behalf do we take the gospel message?

On Christ's behalf. And here's the message. Be reconciled to God.

God wants to have a relationship with you. He loves you. The message is be reconciled to God.

Paul's writing to Corinth because they haven't yet come to the realization that

it's a personal responsibility for them to spread the gospel.

It's so easy to say, oh, we got the apostle Paul. He's here.

He's going to do it. He'll do it. But no, He wants to use you as an ambassador for himself.

What's an ambassador? It's a diplomatic agent who represents a sovereign state or country.

I had to Google it because I'm not the smartest or sharpest in the toolbox,

but it says they uphold the policies and interests of their homeland while living in a foreign land.

You see the parallel here? We are not citizens of this land.

We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

Paul says that Christians are called to represent the kingdom of God in a world

with conflicting values.

Now, it's important to understand this. And as an ambassador,

an ambassador does not speak upon their own authority, but they convey the message

of the one who has the authority.

So with us, who is it that has all authority?

Who is it? Talk to me. I'm feeling lonely. Who is it?

Jesus, God. Matthew 28, Jesus came near and said to them, all authority has been given to who?

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 the Holy Spirit.

Jesus has been given all authority.

He's not been given some authority or most authority. He's not just a good teacher

like some cult's teachers. No.

He is the Son of God. He is divine, and he's been given all authorities.

And our responsibility is to plead on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

See, we are Christ's representatives in the world to proclaim and to live out

the truth of the life-changing, transformational power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And there's two things there. We have to proclaim it. We have to talk about

it. We have to tell people about it.

But it takes living a life. It takes living the life.

See, the central appeal for someone to be reconciled to Christ,

we're busy talking about it. Hey, come to Christ, come to Christ, come to Christ.

It'll change your life. We're like salesmen, right? Right?

The greatest testimony for anyone is witnessing and seeing that the transformational

power of the Holy Spirit and the gospel lived out in someone's life has changed their own life.

And how do we affect the Cedar Valley as Generations Church?

If we have 65 people or 70 people or 40 or whatever we have on a Sunday,

if we were to put a map of us on the Cedar Valley, You'd have this whole section

and we'd have one little dot.

How do we take the gospel and consume the Cedar Valley?

It's by you living out the gospel where you live, where you work,

where you work out, the coffee shops you hang out at.

You're spreading the gospel and pleading with people, be reconciled to Jesus

Christ everywhere you are.

Our lives must match our talk, and our talk must match our lives.

Because what's it called when our talk doesn't match our walk?

Hypocritical. Isn't that one of the biggest things that people outside the church

look and say, well, they're just a bunch of hypocrites?

Because they say one thing, but they act a different way.

We've got to align our hearts and our mouths with the word of God.

This morning, I want to give you, you should have been handed Romans Road.

Were you handed things when you walked in that says Romans Road?

Okay, a couple of you were.

Hudson, will you go out there and grab a whole handful of those Romans Road?

It's kind of a track, but it's really just a tool for you.

I want to put tools in your hands that you can leave the service today,

and you can go out and you can feel comfortable walking through some on the Romans road. Okay.

And so maybe you've never heard of this.

Maybe you grew up in church and you knew it and you memorize it.

There's different versions of it out there, different points,

but they pretty much all are in alignment with together.

The first thing, the first stop in Romans is 323. And it's this point, we've all sinned.

The first thing we need to communicate about the message of the gospel is that we have all sinned.

Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Paul's pointing out that we are all sinners. There's no one that's not a sinner.

Get off your high horse and stop thinking you're holy.

We are all sinners in need of salvation.

Regardless of your status in life, whether you're the richest person or the

poorest person, no matter what race or nationality,

whether you have incredible virtues or no virtues, we are all equal at the foot

of the cross. We are all sinners.

Paul uses two phrases, have sinned, which points to sinful actions committed,

and fall short, which speaks to our state of being without Christ.

Before we came to Christ, we were in a place where we had sinned and when we

all fell short of the glory of God.

God created us to reflect his glory and his holiness, but because of sin,

we fail to meet God's perfect standard, all of us.

And sin has separated us from being in fellowship with God, which is what we were created for.

I came across this quote about Romans 23 that Billy Graham once said.

He said, the message of Romans 3.23 is central to understanding the gospel.

It is the universal need for a Savior that unites all of humanity.

We all have something in common. We all are in need of a Savior.

Do you hear me? We're all in need of a Savior.

And so unless we preach and unless we speak and talk to our friends about their

need of salvation, no one's ever going to want it.

If they don't know they need it, they're not going to want it.

So we have to let them know that we are all broken.

We are all filthy in the eyes of God before we come to him. And we are all in need of salvation.

Number two, Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death. The consequence of sin is death.

Number two, here's what I do in my Bible so that I know the Romans road. And I know it, but I.

When we come into boat situations and we want to get the message out,

sometimes we don't always think clearly.

And so it's good for me if I have my pocket New Testament or if I have something

on me like these little cards, you can walk through it.

But I just write like by Romans 3.23 on that page, you'll find in my Bible, it'll say Romans 6.23.

So I know where I'm going next. Then I turn to Romans 6.23 and it'll have the next one.

So I just know where I'm going. But Paul uses this metaphor of wages to convey

an essential truth about sin.

Just as we work a job and we earn compensation, sin has a compensation too.

We're paid death. The consequence of sin is physical and spiritual separation from God.

Our sin separates us from God and leads to eternal death.

The truth is that if you die without coming to receive Christ as your Savior,

you'll be separated from God in eternity in hell.

That's why the gospel is so urgent. It's urgent because people around us are

lost in dying and headed to an eternity in hell, and we want, we love them.

And the most loving thing that we can do is try to reach out and rescue them in love, in grace.

It's an urgent, urgent matter.

But here's the incredible good news of the gospel. Number three,

salvation is a free gift from God.

It's free. You might be sitting here and asking yourself, I want eternal life, but what do I have to do?

Here's the good news. Nothing. it's been done for you.

Romans 6.23 says, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

It doesn't say through Jeff's great deeds, through Danny's holy mowing, mowing, mowing.

It's not through anything that you and I could ever do. It's a free gift.

It's an absolute free gift. Where sin pays what is due, God gives freely.

It's a gift. All you have to do is receive it. A gift is unmerited.

It's unearned. There's nothing you can do to receive it other than to accept it.

Salvation cannot be earned by good works.

There's nothing that you can

do. Titus 3 says this, not by works of righteousness, which we have done.

It's not the good things that we do in life that save us. But according to his mercy, he saved us.

Notice the work is done by Christ.

He saved us. He came. It's his righteousness.

It's his mercy. He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the

Holy Spirit. Paul says it's according to his mercy.

And there's this pivotal shift from human action to divine mercy as the basis of salvation.

Let me give you a definition for mercy. And I think I put it in the notes.

Mercy is the compassionate and unmerited favor shown by God to mankind.

Unmerited. There's nothing you can do to earn salvation. It's a free gift.

Aren't you thankful that our salvation is not dependent on us?

How scary would that be? I would be in fear every day because I know I fall short.

And yet we can have this incredible assurance, which we're going to get into.

I'm getting ahead of myself.

Number four, Christ died for us.

Christ died for us. Romans 5, 8, but God commendeth, also translated proved or showed.

He commends his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

We don't go to the righteous or the ones that have it all together.

Jesus didn't come to the righteous. He came to the sinner who said, I'm a sinner. I need you.

That's the way we should carry out the gospel. Why do we serve people?

Why do we say we want to be the hands and feet of Jesus?

Because when we serve, people feel the love of Jesus. It gives us an opportunity

to rub shoulders and sit and talk and get to know people and show them the love of Jesus.

It's his love that flows through us. That's why we do it. See,

God's love is seen in the cross where Jesus took your place in my place.

It's seen in the cross. He loved us when we were filthy sinners.

God doesn't require us to get our lives all cleaned up and get everything in

order and make sure we're in a good spot and, okay, now we'll come to Christ.

No, he just simply says, come. Come right where you are.

That song we said, come weary sinner.

Give him your addictions. Give him your problems. Give him your troubles. Give him everything.

Just come. He just wants to do life with you. He wants to save you and he wants

to give you a better life.

See, grace is given regardless of human condition.

Christ died for us. The act of the atonement was not a response.

He didn't come to us because we are righteous.

He came to us because we needed a remedy for our sinfulness.

Number five, we must respond in faith. We must respond in faith.

Romans 10 says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,

not my good works again, I'm confessing Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart

that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

If you believe in your heart and you confess him with your mouth,

you're saved. You're saved.

Listen to what one commentary says about this. It says, confession with the

mouth that Jesus is Lord serves as a public declaration of one's faith and allegiance.

It's not simply verbal acknowledgement, but an outward manifestation of an inner conviction.

The proclamation Jesus is Lord echoes the early Christians' understanding of

Christ's divine authority over every aspect of life.

Are you with me? When you're saying, I am going to come to Christ and I'm saying, you're my Lord,

you're my Savior, you're my Lord, I'm acknowledging that every aspect of my

life is now under Christ's authority.

Every aspect, encompassing both personal and communal dimensions.

He goes on and says, this confession holds transformative power as it aligns

the believer's life under the Lordship of Christ, impacting decisions.

Lifestyles, and priorities.

When you finally surrender your life to the Lord, it affects every aspect of your life.

My friends are different. The people I hang out with are different.

My motivation is different.

The way I spend. My money is different. I'm investing into the kingdom.

I'm investing. My goal is to help as many people as possible hear the gospel

message so that they can go to heaven.

It changes everything. It changes the music I listen to. It changes the things I view and watch.

It changes every aspect of our lives.

The last stop on Romans Road is Romans 10, 13. And it says this,

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

There's that assurance of salvation.

You can be assured that you are going to heaven because you aren't relying on your good works.

You're not relying on how righteous people think you are or even how much you

serve or how much you give or how much you do.

Your salvation is based upon the fact that you have given your heart and your

life to Christ. You've called upon his name and confessed that he is Lord and

yielded your life to him.

And I just want to ask the question, have you come to the realization and to

the point in your life where Jesus is Lord?

Lisa, I'm going to ask, if you're here, will you play? Do you feel strong enough to play?

And I just want to set the tone here. And I want to—we've talked about this

today for about 30 minutes.

We talk about it all the time. We say at Generations Church we're all about

the gospel, and I want you to understand what it means. It means we're all about

the message that we just went over.

That there's a world that is lost and dying.

Number one, we have to know the message if we're going to proclaim it.

And if you're in here today and you say, man, I've never given my life to Christ

or maybe I prayed a prayer one time, but I never just, I just...

I've never done that. The Bible says today is the day of salvation.

You're not here by accident.

Before you were born, God knew you would be here on this day.

And he's saying, my child, I created you for a purpose. I love you.

I want you to come and give your life to me. Your life will never be the same. You'll have joy.

You'll have peace. You'll have a hope that you've never had before.

So I'm going to invite you to bow your head and close your eyes.

And if you're here and you want to accept the Lord, I'm just going to ask you to do this.

We just read everything about the gospel.

It's a free gift that you can accept, that you can receive.

And in your heart, you don't even have to say it out loud. You can just say, God, I'm a sinner.

I recognize that i need you i need to be saved i'm in that boat that's going

down i need saved i recognize i can't do it of my own self.

Music.

The gap is too big the standard is too perfect there's nothing in ourselves

that we can do Would you please give me eternal life?

I accept you into my heart, into my life, and I profess that you are Lord. I will live for you.

Come into my life. I surrender. The Bible says if you pray that,

if you confess with your mouth and you believe in your heart,

both that you are a new person.

The Holy Spirit comes into you and convicts your heart.

Music.

Christians sitting in here, it's time.

If you look at the world and you look at what's going on, it is time.

We are in a state of urgency to get the gospel to our neighbors and to our friends

and to our community. It's time.

It's time to get off our blessed assurance and go and invite and bring people into the kingdom,

so that they can know that God so loved the world he gave Jesus for them.

Father, we love you so much and we ask that you would empower us with your Holy Spirit,

that you would help us to take the gospel to the nations, to the neighborhoods, to our job sites,

to our friends, we need an urgency.

So Holy Spirit, empower us to take your message.

Music.