The Gospel Is...: MIssional | Ps Ben Moir

and you've joined us on the last week of

our series, the gospel is as we wrap up

this series. Uh, and it comes out of our

word for the year. And our word for the

year is

>> our word for the year is

>> make room.

>> Come on. We we can do better than the

nine. Come on guys. It is make room. And

it comes out of Isaiah uh 54 where it

says, "Enlarge the place of your tent.

Stretch your tent curtains wide. Do not

hold back. lengthen your cords and

strengthen your stakes. We are believing

uh that in 2026, God wants to do a new

thing in our lives that as we make room

for him, he will do miracles in our

life. He will come and and do what only

he can do. He will stretch our our tent

wide. He will he will increase our

capacity. However, we love all of these

things. But if we want to see this, we

must, the last line, strengthen our

stakes. We must have a strong

foundation. And as we grow bigger, as we

as we stretch our tent, we need to go

deeper into the foundation. We need to

continually dive deep. As we grow, we

need to continually uh increase our

strength in our foundation, which is

Jesus Christ. It is the Bible. It is the

gospel. So, that's what this series has

been about, talking about what is the

gospel, what is not the gospel. Uh, and

if you are a guest with us today, or if

you're if this is your first time in

church, or maybe you've been a Christian

for a while, but you've just not had uh

the correct words to uh clearly

articulate what is the gospel. I'm going

to give you four words, four simple

words that will help you remember what

is the gospel. Number one, God. God is

the creator of heaven and earth. He is

outside of time. He is before time.

There is no one like our God. He is the

creator of heaven and earth. Uh he is

perfect. He is holy. There is nobody

like him. Two, he created man. He

created you. He created me. But because

of our free will, sin entered into his

creation. And it wasn't just Adam and

Eve when they ate of the fruit. No, no.

Every person since the beginning of time

has sinned because of our free will. And

because of this sin, there has been a

separation or or a or a breaking of

relationship between the creation and

the creator. We now because we are

sinners are no longer allowed to be in

the presence of God. Our relationship

with him has been fractured. However,

God sent number three, Jesus. Because

Jesus came, he lived a perfect life. He

died and he rose again. And he paid the

debt that you and I could not pay.

Instead of us, he died. And because he

died, we now have the opportunity to

step back into relationship with our

creator, back into relationship with our

God. We now are able to stand in right

standing with our God. However, it

requires number four, a response. We

need to respond. Are we a going to

accept this free gift of grace, this

free gift of salvation and and repent

and turn to Jesus and say, "Yes, thank

you." And then we get to live with God

in heaven forever and ever after we die.

Or are we going to reject God? Are we

going to reject him and say, "No, I

would rather live my own way."

And therefore, we live an eternity after

we die, separated from our God in hell.

There's only two options. Repent and

turn to God or reject God. There is no

third option. It's A or B. And as

Christian, well, as people, we need to

respond. And if you've never responded

to the gospel today, or maybe you have

responded, but today you just feel like,

you know, I need I need to respond. I

need to make my life right with Jesus.

At the end of the service, I'm going to

give you an opportunity to to fulfill

this fourth point to respond to the

gospel me message. And when it comes to

our salvation, it is a a once off

decision. It is once we are saved, it

says in the book of Ephesians that we

are now sealed with the Holy Spirit. We

we once you are saved, you're saved.

However, when it comes to how the gospel

is working in and through our lives,

it's not a once-off decision. It's a

daily decision. It's a daily response to

step in and say, "Yeah, I'm going to

live for you today, Jesus." So, that's

what we're going to talk about today.

And the title of my message is the

gospel is missional. So that's what

we're going to talk about. So if you got

your Bibles, let's turn to Mark 16. Uh

and we're going to read through what we

call the great commission. So from verse

15, it says, "And he said to them, Jesus

said to them, go into all the world and

proclaim the gospel to the whole

creation. Whoever believes and is

baptized will be saved, but whoever does

not believe will be condemned. And these

signs will accompany those who believe.

In my name, they will cast out demons.

They'll speak in new tongues. They will

pick up serpents with their hands. And

if they drink any deadly poison, it will

not hurt them. They will lay their hands

on the sick, and they will recover.

This is the great commission. My

question this morning is, are you living

it? It's not the great suggestion. It's

not the great advice. It's the great

commission. God has called us to live

this way. So that's what we're going to

talk about today. So let's pray.

Jesus, we just thank you so much. We

love you so much for what you did on

that cross. But this morning as I as I

preach, Lord, I pray that it is not my

words, but it is yours.

Tell me what to say. Stop what needs to

be stopped. Translate that which needs

to be translated. And Lord, I pray

nothing falls upon deaf ears this

morning that your word will not return

void. Open our eyes to see. Open our

ears to hear. Lord, speak for your

servants are listening. In your mighty

name I pray. Amen.

Have you ever bought something or maybe

you received a gift that when you opened

the gift, it didn't quite do what it

advertised it was going to do? Like you

jumped on to Teeu and you bought the

best thing and you'd got it back and

you're like, "Yep, classic Teeu." For

me, I've been an avid iPhone user for 15

years. I love it. I have an iPhone. I

have a Mac. I'm on the cloud. My wife

has an iPhone. Mac. I know exactly where

she is. She's in Brisbane right now

because my iPhone is telling me, not

because I woke up this morning. Uh my my

kid has an iPad. We're all connected on

the cloud. I can protect everything

except for a few years before me and my

wife were married. I jumped to the dark

side. I know. I got an Android.

I know. I'm really sorry. I got Because

I I trusted my friend and he he he knew

tech. He was very clever. He he still is

very clever.

Uh but you know he I trusted him. I was

like you know what if he he's like he

said you know what just jump

one time give an Android a go because

it's it's better than an iPhone in every

way. And I was like fine I'll trust you.

I trust you. Let's go. Let's do it. So I

I bought an Android. I didn't realize at

the time for some reason I had bought

the top-of-the-line Android. Everyone

was like why did you buy that? I'm like

I don't know. My friend told me to. It

had everything. It had the best camera,

the best resolution. It had um like I

think for one time the battery lasted

for almost three days, which is like

hallelujah, right? Like today, like

three hours, you're like yes. But it had

everything else. You know, internet,

games, social media, you name it. But

there was just one problem with the

phone. When I tried to call people, it

wouldn't work.

The one job it had, the one reason a

phone was created was to call people so

I could hear their voice.

It didn't work. I would call people,

they would see it, they would answer.

Silence,

nothing. And I was like, why have I got

this phone if it doesn't do the one

thing that it's required to do? So, I

got rid of it and I'm back on the light

side. I've got an iPhone. It's been

great. Hallelujah. God saves.

But I wonder if heaven sometimes looks

down on us, down on the church, down on

you and I, people that we call ourselves

Christians, and they wonder the same

thing. We have all the bells and

whistles. We have amazing church

services. We have amazing life groups.

We have all these amazing people in our

lives. We have spiritual gifts. You

know, prophecy is popping up. We're

seeing people healed left, right, and

center, but we are not fulfilling the

great commission.

See, we are made for the great

commission. You and I are made to

proclaim the gospel, to tell people

about Jesus. This is what Jesus did

throughout the gospels. He was telling

people the good news. He then commands

us to go and tell people the good news.

tell people of of the testimonies of God

and the goodness of God in our lives.

This is what we see time and time again.

But when we when we read the Bible as

humans, we can kind of go what what can

I get out of the Bible?

But we shouldn't be asking what can I

get out of the Bible. We should be going

look at what God has done for me. How do

I need to respond to the Bible? How do I

need to respond to the truth? Right? But

we say we we we we say and we believe

for revival, but we don't want our small

group of friends to change. We we are

believing for salvations every Sunday,

but we're not willing to give up our

seat.

We are praying that our city be saved,

but we're not going out of our way to

tell anyone about Jesus because we're

going, it's just a little bit out of my

comfort zone. It's not who I am. Or the

cra Christian catchphrase,

I don't think I'm called to that.

But this is what we see time and time

again in scripture. God is calling us to

to proclaim the gospel. He is calling us

to tell people about him. And Pen Jalle,

he's an atheist. You might know him as

half of the comedy magician duo Pen and

Teller. He says these words, "How much

do you have to hate someone

to not procilitize?" Which is basically

meaning evangelize,

telling someone to change them to your

point of view. How much do you have to

hate someone to believe everlasting life

is possible and not tell them that?

See, as Christians, we can we can be we

can get lost in our bubble, right? We we

we can get lost in our Christian things

and we can forget that there is a world

outside our doors, outside our walls

that is hurting and broken and they need

to know the truth and the power of

Jesus.

And I get it. I get it. It's it it's

comfortable on the inside

because we are a family. We are a family

that does life together, right? If

you're here in the room, welcome to the

family. We have family reunions every

Sunday. All of the crazy uncles are

around. It's the best. But we're not

just a family. We are a family on

mission. We are a family that has a

specific goal. We want to see a society

changed. We want to see communities

transformed. We want to see people's

lives changed forever through the power

of the gospel. That is what we want to

see. Even our vision statement at

Elevation Church is to multiply healthy

local churches. Not for the fun of it,

not because we just feel like it. No,

it's to transform our city. And there's

going to be many elevations that we see

planting here in the city of Sydney. So

get ready because we want to see a city

change because that is what we see the

gospels calling us to do. That is what

we see Jesus calling us to do. And when

we go into Mark in verse 15, it doesn't

say think about. No, it says go into all

the world. Go into all the world and

proclaim the gospel. We see it in

Matthew 28. We also see a variation of

it in Acts 18 where it says and and you

will receive power when the Holy Spirit

comes upon you to be my witnesses. Not

to do fun things. No, you're there to be

witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

This is what the Bible, the gospel is

calling us to do. We need to be on

mission. And when we read through the

book of Acts, what we see time and time

again is missional Christianity. And I

get it. It can feel overwhelming when we

read that scripture that well go into

all the world. Do I does God calling me

to go to the other side of the world in

order to fulfill what he is calling me

to do? Well, no. Acts 18, Jerusalem,

Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the

earth. Jerusalem is your backyard.

Jerusalem is your workplace. Jerusalem

is your school, your college. Jerusalem

is your families. Jerusalem is your

friends. Who are in your world that you

can tell Jesus about? And I get it. I I

hear questions all the time. How do I

evangelize?

H how do I tell people about Jesus? What

if they ask me something that I don't

know the answer to? Am I the right

person to do this? What effect will I

truly have by telling someone about

Jesus?

Despite potentially changing that

person's life forever, let me tell you a

little story. In 1855,

there was this uh Sunday school teacher,

single loan Sunday school teacher in

Massachusetts that decided that one day

he was going to walk into the local shoe

shop uh and and evangelized to the shoe

maker. So, he went in and he spoke to

the shoe maker and he he evangelized. He

proclaimed the gospel. He told this man

told this man about who Jesus was. And

by the end of it, this man decided to

give his life for Jesus and he

transformed from the inside out and his

life was forever changed. This man was

DL Moody. You might not know who DL

Moody is, but let me let me join some

dots for you. Through DL Moody's

ministry, we see someone called Wilbert

Chapman come to know Jesus. Through his

ministry, we see someone called Billy

Sunday come to know Jesus. Through his

preaching, we see a man called Morai Ham

shift his life, change his life, come to

Jesus. And at one of Morai Ham's 10

crusades, we see the evangelist Billy

Graham make a decision to follow Jesus.

And we could leave it there and be like,

man, that's phenomenal. But let me take

it one step further. 105 years after

that Sunday school teacher 104 years

after that Sunday school teacher decided

to evangelize to a random uh shoe maker

in the back of a shoe shop. Billy Graham

was preaching at the Brisbane exhibition

grounds where a young man by the name of

Clark Taylor had an encounter with God

and would change his life forever. Clark

Taylor was the founder of our church and

our movement. All because a Sunday

school teacher decided to be obedient

and decided to go out of his way and

proclaim the gospel to one shoemaker. We

now see Clark Taylor coming to know

Jesus, planting the first INC CO COC

church in Brisbane. And now we have over

over hundreds and hundreds of INC

churches around the world, including

this church. All because one man All

because one man decided to be obedient

to the call of God.

Because this Sunday school teacher

decided to be obedient. We see millions

upon millions of lives being changed,

including mine. And if you call

Elevation Home, including yours, all

because of one man being obedient. He He

didn't know what effect he would have.

He didn't know that this would lead to

whatever. No, he was just he was just

intentional with going, I want to be

living missionally. I'm going to live

out the great commission. And he did

that. And because of that, millions of

lives have changed. And we need to do

the same thing. We might not reach

millions of people by ourselves, but

what could your one encounter lead to?

that one person that you speak to Jesus

about, speak to them about Jesus,

what could that lead to? Did you know if

every single person uh if one person

invites one person next week and then

those two people invite two people the

following week and then those four

people invite four people the following

week, the entirety of Sydney will hear

about Jesus in less than six months.

If we just went and told one person,

we could see an entire city changed in

less than six months.

That's all it takes. That's all it takes

for us to step out and live on mission.

And I get it. How how do we live on

mission? How do we live the missional

gospel? Well, in Mark, we see three

things. The first one is this. We are to

proclaim the gospel. In verse 15, it

says, "And he said to them, Jesus said

to them, go into all the world and

proclaim the gospel to the whole

creation." Go and what? Go and proclaim

the gospel. And I know there's this

saying, preach the gospel at all times

and when necessary, use words. I get the

sentiment that we need to act like

Jesus, that we need to be like Jesus.

But what we see Jesus doing throughout

the gospels is not just living a good

life. We see Jesus telling other people

the good news. And then he time and time

again tells us to go and tell others

about who I am. Go tell others about

what God has done for you. tell people

of your testimony of the goodness of God

in your life in and of others. And I get

it. We can we can think, well,

sometimes, well, do I really have a

testimony? And I just want to tell you

right now, if you feel like you don't

have a testimony, that is a lie from the

devil. Everyone has a testimony. I know

for me, I've I grew up in church and

then kind of it felt like to be honest

just I kind of stumbled into

Christianity. So, it's like what is my

testimony? So I hear you when you go,

"Well, what's my testimony?" No, no.

Everyone has a testimony about God,

God's goodness in their life. You might

not see it, but it's there. You might

not see it now, but in a few years, you

will see how God has changed your life,

has transformed your life, because your

life looks so different to what it did

5, 10 years ago. I know mine does.

Everyone, we all have testimonies of

God's goodness. And as Pentecostals, we

we we love Acts two. But this is what we

see in Acts two. In Acts two, the day of

Pentecost, the day the church was was

born, the day the Holy Spirit came and

filled believers and then they spoke in

other tongues, it says, and we love that

as Pentecostals. Yes, Holy Spirit,

tongues, we love it. But there's a

little bit of information that we

sometimes skip over and we find it in

verses 8 and 11 where it says, "And how

is it that we hear each of us in our

native language

hear what we hear them telling in our

own tongues the mighty works of God." It

wasn't tongues for tongues sake. It was

tongues to proclaim the name of Jesus

and the gospel to all nations. That day,

the first thing that God did upon people

receiving the power of the Holy Spirit

was they proclaims the goodness of God.

And then Peter gets up, he preaches, he

opens the altar, and 3,000 people come

to know Jesus that day. This is what we

as Christians are called to do. We need

to open our mouths. We need to speak.

When we hold back our voice, we hold

back the potential of other people

coming to know Jesus. We hold back the

potential of cities being saved. What if

that Sunday school teacher said, "I just

don't think I'm called.

This church might not be here."

Which I know is like almost 200 years

ago,

but that is the power of one question,

of one interaction. And if you're here

today and this is your first time

hearing the gospel, if no one has ever

taken you aside or spoken to you and

told you the gospel, I want to I want to

apologize. I'm sorry that no one has

ever explained the gospel to you. That

there is a God who loves you so deeply,

so dearly that he sent his son to die

for you. That he wants to be so involved

in your life. That he wants a

relationship with you today. And it says

in the Psalms that as we live according

to the ways of God, our lives will

flourish. This is what our God wants for

you. If no one has told you that before,

I'm sorry. But now you can't leave the

room saying no one's told you. This is

the moment. This is your opportunity.

God is calling you home today.

So to live on mission is to proclaim the

gospel. The second thing is this. we are

to make disciples. In verse 16, it says,

"Whoever believes and is baptized." So,

it's a single decision. But then there

is an ongoing decision or ongoing

process that happens in Matthew 28:19.

Matthew 28:19

It says, it says, "Go therefore and make

disciples of all the world, of all

creation." And making disciples isn't

just I brought someone to church,

right? It's not just bringing them to

church and hoping things will work out.

That's like when I tell my 5-year-old

son to clean his room and he just kind

of shuffles everything into his closet.

It's not quite what I asked you to do.

But we tell people, "Read the Bible,

pray, but we never sit them down and

show them. We never sit them down and

and teach them how do we read the Bible

more or how do we read the Bible so we

can understand what God is talking to us

about? How do we pray the way God has

called us to pray? We just expect them

to kind of just come around people and

you'll understand it. No. When was the

last time you sat someone down and told

them how to read the Bible, how to pray?

We need to be making disciples because

it is a continuous journey, an ongoing

intentional relational exercise that

leads people to life change. And I'm not

saying that you need to to disciple

everyone in this room. I'm not even

saying you need to disciple everyone in

your life. But who is that one that you

can go this week and go, you know what?

Let me tell you things about Jesus that

you might not know.

I know for me about 15 years ago,

I had a I had an older guy at my

previous church that just came and he

said, "Come on, I I want to start doing

Bible study with you. I let's talk let's

talk through the Bible. Let's talk

through theology." And he sat down and

he he heard my questions. He heard my

thoughts. He answered it as best he

could. if he didn't know, he said, "It's

all good. I'll find out and I'll come

back to you because we don't need to be

the people that know all the answers. We

just need to go out and see if we can

find them." But that was where my love

for the Bible and the love of scripture

really flourished because this one man

took intentional time to sit with me and

to read and to disciple me.

And he we we don't talk anymore.

He doesn't even know I'm a preacher. But

he wasn't doing that because he's like,

"Yeah, this guy's going to be a preacher

one day. This guy's going to be a

pastor." No, he did it because he just

saw a young man that was like, "Let me

tell you a little bit more about Jesus."

And he sat me down and he discipled me.

Who is your one?

It's not a sevenstep process. It's a

one-on-one relationship to live on

mission is to make disciples. And the

third thing, as the band would come, we

need to demonstrate the power. And these

signs will accompany those who believe

in my name. They will cast out demons.

They will speak in new tongues. They

will pick up serpents with their hands.

And if they drink any deadly poison, it

will not hurt them. They will lay their

hands on the sick. And they will

recover. It doesn't say might. It

doesn't say maybe. It says will.

We must demonstrate the power. The power

is essential to living the life that is

Christian, to living a life that is on

mission, to living the life that God has

called us to live. We see it all

throughout the book of Acts. Even these

four things listed here, we see in the

book of Acts, we see people uh being

having demons cast out of them. In Acts

16, we have tongues in Acts 10. We have

someone, the Apostle Paul, being bitten

by a serpent and living in Acts 28. And

we have healing in Acts 9. Now, these

four things is it's not an exhaustive

list. There's many other things. You can

go to 1 Corinthians 12 and read

throughout what it says there. But what

we also see in the book of Acts, in Acts

2, we see radical generosity. In Acts

six, we see people serving and leading

in the local church. In Acts 10, we see

people caring for others, hospitality

taking place. In Acts 10 of all places,

we see spiritual gifts taking place. Did

you know in the Gospels and the book of

Acts, we see 100 separate occasions of

prophecy alone?

I've literally sat down and counted them

myself.

There is at least a hundred times that

we see prophecy take place, which is

just one of many gifts. And I'm not

saying that if you're not picking up

serpents and surviving, you're not a

Christian. Please don't go do that this

week. That is not what I'm saying. But

what I am saying is that the power of

God should be demonstrated in and

through your life each and every day.

Maybe you're called to see people

healed. Maybe you're called to prophesy.

Maybe you're called to teach. Maybe

you're called um to just care for

people, to be hospitable to people. What

is your gift that you uh could do and

use this week? Maybe your gift is

radical generosity. Maybe your gift is

just to be a shoulder that someone can

cry on.

What is that gift that you could use

this week? We are called if we are going

to live like Jesus to demonstrate the

power. God doesn't just want us to be

saved. He wants us to become like Jesus

to see a city changed through the power

of the gospel. He's not calling us to be

timid. He's not calling us to be to be

reserved. He's not calling us to be shy.

He's calling us to be bold. Because I

know a few of us, probably all of us,

when we were living for the ways of the

flesh, were pretty bold in the ways that

we lived. But why aren't we now? Why

aren't we bold now? Because God has

saved us. He has set us free. And there

is a reason to praise.

God is calling us to be bold for him,

to proclaim the good news. Who could you

tell about Jesus this week? Who could

you disciple this week?

What gift could you use this week to see

a ripple effect, to see a city

transformed? What is it that you need to

do this week?

Maybe for you today, you need to

respond.

You need to respond to Jesus. You've

maybe this is the first time you're

hearing about Jesus. Maybe it's the 10th

or hundth time, but today you just need

to respond to Jesus. Say, "No, no, no.

Today again I'm saying yes to you. I'm

recommitting my life to you. Maybe that

is what you need to do today

because we can only proclaim what we

know.

So it starts with a response to Jesus.

So, if that's you today, if you want to

respond to Jesus this morning, in a

moment, I'm going to give you an

opportunity to respond and say yes to

Jesus

because he loved you so much that he

came to earth. He put on flesh. He lived

his perfect life, but he died that you

don't have to die.

One of my favorite things about

scripture is that in the Old Testament

and early on in the Gospels, we see when

people die, that's what it says. It

says, "And they died." And they died.

But there is a moment in scripture where

Jesus shifts it. He goes, "No, they

haven't died. They're just asleep."

And that's what is available to you

today.

Because of our sin, there is a

punishment of death that is required.

But Jesus has died instead of you so

that you may not have to. And today, if

you want to respond, in a moment, I'm

going to give you an opportunity. In a

moment, I'm going to ask you to to

boldly raise your hand. Not to point you

out, but so some of our team can be

watching and seeing you so we can get

around you. So, as I said before, we can

do this life, this journey together. So

with eyes closed across the room, if

that's you this morning,

if you want to respond to this gospel

message,

maybe for the first time, maybe for the

hundth time, but today, you know, you

need to say yes, you need to respond to

Jesus.

He loves you so much that he died for

you that you don't have to die, but you

may have eternal life with Jesus in

heaven forever. If that's you, on the

count of three, I'm going to ask you to

boldly raise your hand. One, Jesus loves

you so much that he came to die. Two,

God sent his son so that you Yeah, come

on. I already see that hand. Come on.

Three, if that's you in this place, just

raise your hand up high. I already see

that one hand. You can just shoot it up

high and pull it down. If there's any

more people in this room today that want

to respond

to the gospel, respond to Jesus this

morning, just throw your hand up in the

air.

So good.

Well, church, we're going to we're going

to say this prayer together. So repeat

after me because we are a church that

does life together. Jesus, I give you my

life. I give you my all. Thank you for

dying for me.

I declare

you are God. in your mighty and majestic

name. All the saints said,