Doing What Jesus Did | Ps. Keith Pittman

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Hello everyone.

Welcome back to After the Message.

It looks a little bit different today, and I'm flying solo, missing Pastor Nate, but today is a unique day.

And let me give you some context as to why that is.

Many of you guys who've been a part of our celebration family know that we have just concluded a series not that long ago called Reclaim.

And the whole premise of that series was really to kind of unpack what does it truly mean to be a follower of Christ, to be a disciple?

One of the words that we would often use to interject with that would be to be an apprentice.

What does it mean to truly be a person who's committed your life to following Jesus?

This was going to be a quick, powerful three-week series where we unpacked a couple of overarching principles.

It was going to be like, what does it mean to follow Jesus?

What does it mean to become like Jesus?

And then ultimately, what does it mean to do what Jesus did?

This is the pathway of discipleship or apprenticeship.

But midway through this series, we began to kind of discern in our community that there were some unique things that we needed to speak to.

So we made an adjustment, we called an audible, and we inserted another sermon that was called Following Jesus Through the Storm.

And I think that's a relevant message for all of us where we're following Jesus, we're disciples, we're apprentices of Jesus, but we still find ourselves navigating through some difficult seasons.

And how do we do this well?

So we we made an audible and we we preached that sermon instead, but we still knew that we needed to close out this series while simultaneously moving forward with what we believe God had for us next.

And so we decided that we're going to conclude the series on our after the message podcast format.

So it's going to be a little bit different than what you will see on a typical Sunday, but it's also going to be a little bit different than what you would typically see in After the Message, where it's going to be me unpacking these thoughts in a different setting, in a different tone, but nonetheless still creating the same experience of us having almost a living room dialogue around some really strong biblical principles that I think can truly be transformative for us.

I just want to put this out here.

If you did not catch any of our messages, or if you've missed any of them, go back and check them out because I do think that we're on a progressive journey that continues to build and that this is coming to a closure.

So don't stop this.

You can finish this and watch it in its completion.

But then go back and watch the other message to see kind of how it all fits into this journey that we find ourselves in.

As we close into this series, I do want to read a passage of scripture that I think is going to beautifully encapsulate where we're going with the rest of our time today.

If you have your Bibles, then of course you can open them up.

I'm going to be looking at the Gospel of John chapter 14, and we're going to be looking at verses 12 through 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

Let me read it for us into our hearing so that we can begin to prepare ourselves what I believe God wants to ultimately speak to us today.

Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do.

Remember that.

The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do.

He will even do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

And whatever you ask in my name, I will do.

So with the Father be glorified in the Son, and if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

I I gotta believe that just for me personally, the Gospel of John is probably one of my favorite gospels in a sense of giving us an intimate look into the life of Jesus, the impact that he had, but also revealing his deity to us.

But I also enjoy um chapter 14 because this is Jesus preparing his disciples before he's about to go and be crucified.

And so he spends a lot of time in chapters 12 and 14 and 13 and just unpacking some really weighty things to help us understand the significance of what's about to happen.

So he's talking with his disciples in preparation for him going to the cross, and he's telling them, hey, you guys have been my disciples for quite some time.

You have been my apprentices for quite some time.

So watch this.

Now that I'm going away, you're going to do the exact same things that you saw me do.

In fact, you're going to do even greater things.

Now that may seem a little bit mind-blowing to us as believers when we read the gospel and we're very familiar with the impact and the ministry and the miracles of Jesus.

But what if I were to tell you that Jesus has created a system for us to be able to do the same things?

He's empowered us through the Holy Spirit for us to be able to do the same things.

Now, wait, there's more.

Let's pray and let's unpack a little bit about how we can approach this in a way that I think is honoring to God, but also activates the God that's in us.

Lord, we thank you so much for this incredible community.

Um, those who may have stumbled upon this podcast, those who are intentionally here, um, no matter how they find themselves with us, I just pray that this is a time that we can quiet ourselves and lean in to your word and be sensitive to what it is you're speaking to us through your spirit.

I just ask over the next few moments that you give us open eyes to see you, open ears to hear your truth, and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

So many of you guys know that that last summer, you know, for those who are looking at a timestamp, last summer, um, Megan and I had an incredible opportunity to go and spend about three weeks in Greece.

And it was absolutely life-changing, and it's still stories and lessons that I find myself unpacking.

When we first got there, there was a small town that we found ourselves staying in called Marathonos.

And while we were there, that was our hub of operation, so to speak.

And we would be there at this beautiful Greek Bible college where we stayed, and then we would go out and venture into different parts of the cities and even parts of the country to explore and to learn the different cultures and even learn some of the biblical foundations that we see richly expressed to us through scripture.

But then one day we were walking and I noticed a statue of a man in the middle of the street, so to speak, and he was running in a direction, just like in the posture of running.

And so I remember talking to someone, I'm saying, like, okay, that's such an interesting thing, a statue of a man who's in the process of running.

What's the story behind that?

Because everything in Greece has such rich history and stories connected to it.

Well, then they begin to unpack to me the story of Marathonos.

Marathonos goes back to over 490 years before Common Era, before Christ, so to speak.

And what was happening is that the area of Greece was being invaded by a Persian army.

In fact, in that very same area, they were outgunned, they were outmanned, and it didn't seem as if they had any chance of being successful in victory.

They were coming in on this side of Marathonos, and they were going to spread out to Athens.

And so the people in varying parts of the country were filled with fear and they were exhausting their resources and trying to figure out the best way they could survive.

But they had an incredible strategy here at this beach front in the Marathonus area that allowed them to successfully defeat the Persian invasion.

So there was a one soldier who was given a responsibility to communicate the message of their victory to the team back in Athens.

And so history tells that this man, this man wearing armor, ran from Marathonos all the way back to Athens.

This is about twenty six miles, that he ran full speed without any preparation.

And when he made it to Athens, the history tells us that he makes it to the commander.

He says to them with his last breath, we won.

And then he breathed his last breath, and then he died.

And so now history has begun to recognize that this man literally gave his life to communicate the message of their victory over the invading military.

As years move forward, they created the Olympics, and as the Olympics began to spread, they wanted to find a way to honor this man.

So in the Olympics, they created this idea of people running with endurance, and it was a way of saying, okay, we have the endurance to win the victory.

And where and to honor his sacrifice, this is how we're going to do it by implementing it into this, and we all are going to carry this message of our beautiful victory.

It was their way of preserving their culture as they were losing it through the years of invasions from other uh neighboring countries and communities.

Marathonos is where we get the word marathon from.

And the exact distance that that man ran from Marathonos all the way to Athens is the exact distance that we still now have marathons that have been memorialized and we didn't even realize where it all came from.

It all came from this small town in Greece.

But now the message and the method of that has been continued on for generations to generations.

Here's why I bring that up.

I think it's a beautiful example of how a person's singular sacrifice can go from carrying this message at great expense to themselves, but letting the rest of the people know that we have victory.

That, my friends, sounds so much like the gospel message.

In fact, it sounds a lot like Jesus, who defeated the enemy, and then he gave his life communicating that we have victory.

And the way that he did it was by saying the words, it is finished.

And beautifully, after Jesus has spread these words to us and that's where he was resurrected, he then gave us the assignment to carry on that legacy, to carry on that same message.

In the same way that marathons are ran literally all over the world, we too have the opportunity to now carry the message of our victory everywhere that we go.

This, my friends, is what we refer to as sharing the gospel.

You see, in the mindset of the people of God, discipleship was never meant to be a transaction that was connected to individual salvation.

Discipleship was never meant to be I'm in relationship with God or I'm in relationship with my rabbi and that's it.

It was always understood that a part of being a disciple or a part of being an apprentice was at some point I'm going to pick up the skills of the trade, and then at some point I am going to turn around and invite more people into this trade.

Simply put, my father is an electrician, and he tells often stories about when he went through his apprenticeship process, where he sat with a man who walked with him through after he got the education and showed him the practicality of what it was going to look like.

And then at some point he was released to now function as a fully licensed electrician, and then he turns around and now he becomes the person that is looking for apprentices that he can then raise up.

The expectation was always to be that now that I am an apprentice, I am going to do the work of an electrician, and I'm also going to bring other people into what that apprenticeship looks like.

That is exactly what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Being a follower of Christ has never been about just being an individual who now has secured eternal salvation, but it's been about knowing that I'm in relationship with Jesus, and now I have an opportunity to live a life and invite other people into this incredible journey that I have experienced.

Now many discipleship and apprenticeship models have been fleshed out over the years, but there's four overarching principles that I think we see through the ministry and life of Jesus that translates to us that hopefully we can begin to embody, carry out, and then invite other people into.

Here's the first one.

I do you watch.

I'm going to do it, and I want you to watch me do it.

This is the initial stage of discipleship.

Jesus demonstrates this with his disciples by inviting them into this idea of following him.

And when they followed him, they were just watching him interact with people.

They were watching him perform miracles.

They were watching him as he would share this gospel message.

And many times after they watch him, they would come and have conversations with him to try to get clarity around some of the things that they saw and experienced.

Jesus was doing it and they were watching it.

But then there's a next stage to it.

The next stage to it is we do it.

So first it's I do, you watch.

The next thing is now that you've watched me do it, I want to invite you to do it alongside of me, and we're going to do this together.

After the disciples had watched Jesus do miracles and do ministry and also saw how he treated people, they then got an opportunity to participate with Jesus alongside of them.

One of my favorite accounts is found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 15, verses 32 through 39, where we see Jesus is involving his disciples and performing one of the most notable miracles that we see in Scripture, which is the feeding of the multitude.

Matthew 15:32–39

We know the story where there's a ton of people that are there, they're getting hungry, it's getting late, and then the conversation comes up of, hey, Jesus, release them to go and get something to eat.

But I love how Jesus responded and says, You give them something to eat.

I want you to participate in this miracle with me.

Here's what I want you to do: have the people sit down in groups of one hundreds and groups of fifties, and now bring me the two fish and the five loaves.

I'm going to bless them, and now I'm going to place them into your hands.

And what scripture begins to communicate is that it's not like when Jesus prayed a blessing over that all of a sudden thousands and thousands of pieces of fish and and bread had to peer out of nowhere.

What scripture communicates is it communicates that as the disciples were handing it over to the people that were there, it never ran out.

That means that they were participating in the miracle and all they had to do is work alongside Jesus.

This beautiful principle of now we're doing it together.

But then there's the third principle, which is now you do it, and I'm going to watch you do it.

This is a place where the confidence of the disciples begins to build, and Jesus releases them and allows them to take more initiative, and he steps back and he observes them.

The Bible tells us in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verses 1 through 20 that Jesus sends out the 72 disciples.

Luke 10:1–20

You're familiar with the story where he goes out and he releases them, gives them some assignments, and they're going door to door and they're preaching, they're laying on of hands, they're they're casting out devils, they're doing these powerful things, and then they come back and they report to Jesus.

This is the idea of you've been empowered, you've been activated, I want to release you to do it, and then report back to me so we can have a discussion on how things are going.

And then we see the fourth final phase, which is now you do it.

This is the final stage where Jesus releases his disciples to now carry on the work of the ministry or to go about creating more disciples.

We refer to this as the Great Commission.

His disciples continued in this ministry, and subsequently that assignment has been passed on to us in preparation for the return of Christ.

Matthew chapter 28, verse 18 through 20 gives an account of Jesus inviting his disciples in to say, now that you have been a disciple, you've been an apprentice, now it's your turn to go out and do the work that I did and invite more people into this kingdom responsibility and this kingdom relationship.

Matthew 28:18–20

I love how in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 16, verses 17 through 18, I love how Mark summarizes the assignment of the Great Commission.

Mark 16:17–18

Jesus says this.

So in conclusion, what we see is that not only was there a responsibility attached to the principle of now that I'm in relationship with you, Jesus, and I've secured my eternal destination, it's now my responsibility to turn around and go out to invite many people into this kingdom work.

But I also have a responsibility to do what Jesus did.

Everything that we see described here was the disciples were now empowered and released to do the exact same works.

The Holy Spirit comes down on the day of Pentecost, and now the disciples have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to now activate and function with the authority and the power that Jesus functions with.

So for us, friends, now that we are fully devoted followers of Christ, we talked about that in week one.

We know what it means to be like him.

That means living a life and allowing ourselves to be molded into his image and beginning to produce fruit of a life that's in fellowship with Jesus.

We know how to follow Jesus through storms and how to continue to hold steadfast even in our most difficult situations.

Now it's time for us to go and do what Jesus did.

Now that I am following him, I'm becoming like him, now it's time for me to do what Jesus did.

And what did Jesus do?

Jesus preached and lived and demonstrated the gospel.

He preached it, he lived it, he demonstrated the gospel.

Let me break down a couple of principles really quick before we wrap up because I think this is so important for us to understand the practicality of what it means to do what Jesus did.

First and foremost, I want to address what I mean by the gospel.

We know that that's a Greek term for good news.

And so we're saying, what exactly is this good news?

I want you to think for a moment that there's an invader, there's an invader that's coming into the foreign land, the land that you may occupy, and there's this fear and this concern about are we going to be overpowered?

Are we going to have to deal with a new dictator?

Are we going to have to deal with new rule?

Are we going to lose our sense of identity and autonomy?

Well, as we're sitting here waiting to discover what's to come of us, imagine someone comes into town and they unroll the scroll and they say, I have good news to report to everyone.

The enemy has been defeated.

You're safe, you're secure, your identity is intact, you're still a part of this family.

You can go on and make sure that you share this message with any and everyone to let them know that we have victory.

That, my friends, is the good news.

The truth of the matter is, at the fall of all mankind and the book of Genesis, we were now invaded by sin and sickness and death, and it's been something that we've wrestled with and continue to wrestle with.

But when Jesus came, the Bible tells us that He that He created victory over sin, death, hell, the grave.

And now that is good news for all of us, that if we receive it and if we believe it, we can now invite other people into it, and that is what we call the kingdom of God.

The good news is that Jesus was victorious, and because of his victory, we are now invited to be a part of his family.

All we have to do is demonstrate loyalty, stay connected to him, and invite as many other people into this great message.

So, what is the practicality of that?

How do we do that?

How exactly did Jesus do that?

I got a couple of points that I want to share with us that I think can bring this all together in a way that it can be meaningful and practical for every one of us.

I want you to write this first point down.

We have to make space for the gospel.

We have to make space for the gospel.

That's where it all starts at.

It starts with making space for the gospel message to be heard and to be received.

How do we make space?

You could put a little dash there by radical hospitality.

Radical hospitality, radical hospitality, radical hospitality.

Hospitality was demonstrated by Jesus by a remarkable act of making space for others.

This transcends social gatherings and it embodied the kingdom's inclusive and unconditional love.

In biblical times, hospitality was not only a cultural imperative, but it was also a theological statement that was meant to communicate that we are called to welcome the stranger, the same way that God has welcomed us.

Matthew chapter 25, verse 35 says it this way For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.

Matthew 25:35

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, you took me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick, you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.

Then the righteous will answer and say to him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you?

When were you thirsty and we gave you something to drink?

When did we see you as a stranger and take you in?

Or when did we see you without clothes and clothe you?

When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?

And the king will answer, I truly tell you that whatever you do to the least of these, you are doing it for me.

Jesus was leveling the playing field by telling this parable of the importance of identifying people that maybe society has deemed as the least of these and finding ways to make room to invite them into this kingdom relationship.

Before the gospel message was preached, before we were talking about death, sin, hell, the grave, the first thing we see Jesus do in so many instances is he makes space to give people dignity and to communicate that they're valuable before he begins to address the sin in their life.

I think that is something that we often lose sight of as followers of Christ.

That sometimes we're on the sidelines and we're so busy pointing fingers at the moral failures of a society that hasn't surrendered their lives to Christ as if we should be surprised at that.

The reality of it is that those same paganistic, godless behaviors existed then and they exist now.

But the way that Jesus responded to those things was always by creating space and spending time with him.

In fact, that was one of the biggest critiques that the Pharisees had of Jesus is that, hey, he's spending time with the sinners.

He's spending time with those people, those people that sometimes we don't feel comfortable with, those people that we keep an eye on when they come and visit our church, those people that we like to other.

Because they're not like us.

Those were the very same people that Jesus says, Hey, when you're doing a kind act towards them, it's like you're doing it towards me, the least of these.

And by creating space and showing people dignity and value, that's what creates a relationship that can handle the weight of the gospel message.

So often we're so busy trying to come in heavy-handed with the criticisms and the sins and the judgment that we miss that it can't handle the weight of that biblical truth because the relationship doesn't show that we genuinely care about people.

Jesus created an atmosphere where the gospel could be received by first welcoming people to his table.

I believe that the story of Zacchaeus beautifully illustrates this, which is found in Luke chapter 19, verses 1 through 10.

Luke 19:1–10

This man was a tax collector.

He was, for all intents and purposes, uh a person who was a betrayer of his own people, a thief.

He took advantage of his own people who were impoverished and he made himself wealthy as a result of it.

So you can imagine for the religious people in that context and in that culture, they would have had nothing to do with him.

But Jesus goes to his house, he sits with him, he welcomes him, he shows him dignity, he gives him value, he gives him love, and then that leads the man to a place of repentance.

I think it's important for us to remember that it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.

It's the goodness of God that invites us into a loving relationship that is not so obsessed with sin, but watch this.

It says that I love you so much, and what sin is is you living a life that is beneath what I have called you to do.

We often look at sin as a way of controlling people or God's way of saying, Don't do this because I said so.

But if we could begin to look at it a little bit differently, that God's desire is not to control us, but it is to protect us, and that as he creates these boundaries in our lives.

Again, it's not for us to critique and to judge, but it's to invite people into this idea that what you are looking for in the world, it will never satisfy that.

God loves you and he wants to invite you into something that is so much better.

But we start by creating an atmosphere of people feeling welcomed, feeling valued, and feeling loved.

So, how do we practically do this as a community?

I think when we're talking about offering hospitality, it's creating inclusive environments where everyone, regardless of their backgrounds, regardless of their orientation, regardless of their political affiliations, even regardless of their theology, that they feel valued and heard.

That is what it looks like to give people dignity.

It also includes engaging in active listening, being empathetic with their interactions and understanding that's the way that trauma and life experiences have shaped some people's world views, but helping us to understand through a genuine authentic curiosity how we can create an atmosphere of us willing to listen and to learn.

And it means organizing events and opportunities to listen to people and seeking to understand instead of just trying to be understood.

When we're talking about showing gospel hospitality, it's not turning a blind eye to shortcomings, it's not redefining sin by different terms, but what it is is giving people dignity by showing them love and value, inviting them into a relationship, letting them feel heard and seen, and then introducing them to a God who loves them where they are, but wants to love them to what he's called them to do.

The next thing that I believe that we need to do when we're talking about doing what Jesus did is we now need to be people who are preaching the gospel.

Now that we set an atmosphere where people feel welcome, they feel valued, they feel love, now we have an opportunity to begin to share the good news with them.

That good news is that everything that we've been trying to do on our own terms, this this pursuit of happiness outside of God, that these things that we think are going to fill us and make us feel complete, that they still seem to fall short.

But uniquely and beautifully, God has provided us with Christ Jesus.

And through that relationship and through that revelation, we can begin to feel satisfied, we can begin to feel content, we can begin to be healed and experience love and joy and recognize God's best for us and begin to orient our lives around this biblical truth and begin to steward our lives in a way that is honoring to God, that's inviting other people into a relationship with God, not one out of control, not one that seeks to steal us from having happiness, but one that's looking to lead us into a place of intimacy where our lives are complete and content in Christ.

The Apostle Paul's journey is emblematic of a person under varying circumstances, from synagogues to public squares to house churches, even during his imprisonment, that he never abandoned his message of preaching the gospel, sharing the good news, that even in suffering, Jesus is Lord, that even in my high moments, Jesus is Lord, that God is good no matter what my circumstance is.

It's inviting people into allowing them to recognize that God is for them, and if God be for them, who or what can be against him?

The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 10, verses 14 through 15, it says, How can they call upon the one if they don't believe in him?

Romans 10:14–15

How can they call on Jesus if they don't believe in him?

And how can they believe in one whom they have not heard?

And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

You know, it makes me it sometimes makes me sad when we're frustrated with people for not responding to the gospel that they haven't even heard, that we have an expectation that people are going to live lives surrendered to a Lord that they're completely unfamiliar with, or at best maybe a Lord who is not fully being represented through the actions and the behaviors of the people who say that they're followers of Christ.

Paul is simply saying that not only do we need to live lives of hospitality, inviting people in by showing kindness and grace, but then as we begin to have this conversation about the good news of Jesus Christ, because of the relational bridge that's been established, we can present this truth in a way that's going to set them free, not in a way that's condemning them and judging them.

It's it's allowing them to see their lives through the lens of Christ and letting them see that he loves them who as they are and where they are, but he's leading them to something so much greater.

But how can they believe it if they haven't heard it?

Maybe instead of us preaching at people, we need to start talking to people about the goodness that is found in Christ.

And some practical ways that we can do that is by sharing our personal testimonies, just sharing stories of faith and how we've seen God transform our own lives on this journey and how we still don't have it all figured out.

But nonetheless, we're choosing to walk by faith and not by sight.

I think it means identifying and participating in local organizations and partnering with communities, local and abroad, by just simply being a person that demonstrates the love of God.

You'd be surprised at how transformative it is.

I remember when I first started getting involved in outreach in the local community.

And as I was there one day and we were handing out food and giving out bikes, I remember a young man coming to me and says, Like, who are y'all and why are you doing this?

I was caught off guard by the question, but the only thing that could come out of my mouth at the time was, man, we're just here to let you know that God sees you, that He He loves you, and we hope that this will be a help to you.

And you can see that he was genuinely mystified at the idea that God loves him and that people love him and that God would use us to come and meet him exactly where he was.

And I believe that a seed was planted that day.

I believe we all have an opportunity to preach the gospel just with the life that we live.

I think utilizing our online platforms, I know sometimes it can seem a little cliche, but even moments when we can post a scripture or share a prayer that may seem a little bit uncomfortable for some of us, but you just never know who may see it, who may respond to it, and it may be exactly what they need to hear.

I think digital evangelism is very powerful.

I've heard stories of people that when they've gone to church and they simply posted a screenshot of the church service they've gone through, sharing a note, um, an image of someone on platform, just posting a picture of it and just saying, Man, went to church today, how that has created conversation that has then led to other people coming to church.

You just never know how that one single post can be an evangelistic tool that's continuing to cultivate something that God is already doing in their lives.

I think it also includes just looking for opportunities to come alongside and serve and be an encouragement for people, that genuinely praying for people and doing our best to just demonstrate what it looks like to be a person that embodies the gospel message in a way that truly brings about transformation.

Here's the third and final thing I want to share with us, but I think it's one of the most powerful things.

We now need to demonstrate the gospel.

Jesus not only spoke of the kingdom, but he also demonstrated the power of the kingdom through acts of healing, deliverance, prophecy, and justice.

These actions were signs of the inbreaking of God's kingdom, challenging the brokenness of the world and also by restoring hope.

I want to turn your attention to the Gospel of Mark, chapter one, verses forty through forty-five.

It tells a story of a man who was who was stricken with leprosy.

He came to Jesus begging on his knees that if you are willing, please make me clean.

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him, and the man was healed.

He was made clean.

Immediately the leprosy left him, and the man went away.

But he was sternly warned to not mention it to anyone because we didn't want the message to get out of control.

I'll stop there.

What we see is a man who was in a broken state, a man who was isolated based off of his condition.

But there was a moment when this man came and positioned himself in the presence of Jesus, and Jesus was willing to heal him.

Jesus prayed a blessing on this man, and this man was completely restored.

We see over and over and over again that what Jesus would often do is that he would create these welcoming environments, he would preach the gospel, and the Bible always says accompanying those things were these miraculous moments, these invasions of heaven intersecting with earth and creating these miracle moments.

Now I know for some of us the concept of miracles can make us feel a little bit uncomfortable.

We've seen it misused over the years where it seems like it's turned into a magic act, smoking mirrors, and do I gotta pray hard enough?

And I recognize that it's gotten muddy.

And I know I can't redeem all of it in the next few moments that I have left.

But what I do want to do is I want to stoke the flames of our faith to recognize that as an apprentice of Jesus and looking at the words of Christ, that he said, the very same things that you saw me do, you too are gonna do those things.

In fact, you're going to do even greater things.

It's this moment where we have to be challenging our faith and challenging our convictions that either Jesus was telling the truth or he wasn't.

Either Jesus was truly saying that you're going to be able to lay hands on the sick and they're going to recover.

Either you are going to have dominion over demonic spirits or you're not.

But I want you to begin to believe these things so that you can walk in the authority that's made available as a result of placing your faith in Jesus.

The book of Acts, chapter 10, verse 38, it says this that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and he went around doing good in healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him.

Acts 10:38

This encapsulates the essence of Jesus' ministry.

And guess what?

This is exactly what he invites us to do.

A quick read through the book of Acts.

You can quickly see that the disciples were carrying on that same kingdom and missional assignment.

And we too believe in the power of God.

We engage the presence of God, believing that the power of the Holy Spirit doesn't have an expiration date.

I don't believe that it ended with the apostles.

I believe that there's no expiration date.

So the same things that Jesus did then are the same things that we're capable of doing now.

It may look different.

There may be, there may be a little bit of a gap between the miracles because sometimes changing the page on the Bible, there may be a lot of time that passed, but sometimes we don't recognize him.

But I truly believe that the Holy Spirit is still alive in us and he's given us the exact same opportunities to declare the gospel and to demonstrate it in the community in the world that desperately needs it.

So here's some practical applications.

I believe that believers today can model this by doing two things by praying for healing.

This means engaging in prayer.

This means going on medical missions.

This means reflecting Christ's genuine concern and desire for people's physical, mental, and spiritual and emotional well-being.

We've seen in the instance that we just referenced that the man said, Lord, are you willing to heal me?

And Jesus' response was, Absolutely, I'm willing to heal you.

Then he lays hands on the man and he recovers.

I'll admit to you that healing is a bit of a mystery for me.

I know that healing is available, but I also know that healing is also a process.

And so there are times that I have prayed for things and I've seen an immediate response to it.

There are other times that I've prayed and I've seen a process, and there are things that I'm still praying for.

And I have to have the faith and the focus and the ability to handle that there's going to be things that I pray for and I see an instant response.

There are going to be things I'm continuing to pray for and it's going to take a little bit longer.

But I also am going to have to have the maturity that if Jesus says not now or not yet, that I can still stand on the fact that I know that he is good.

We see throughout courses of scripture that healing is a critical part of the ministry of Jesus and his followers.

Deliverance, another area that we often feel uncomfortable with.

But the Bible tells us stories about people who were under oppression or demonic influence.

This ultimately just is a person who was producing fruit of the flesh, things that are clearly showing signs of being influenced by the enemy.

But we see from Jesus as well as in the early church that deliverance is a powerful theme within our theology.

And it speaks of God's divine intervention with liberating individuals from varying forms of bondage, emotional bondage, mental bondage, spiritual bondage.

And this concept extends across spiritual and emotional and physical realms, showing that deliverance is not just the act of freeing someone from demonic possession, but it also encapsulates liberating them from oppression and suppression.

It's recognizing that the power of God, it desires that not anyone be left in bondage.

So we have the ability to pray and declare freedom and healing over our minds and over our souls.

Moments when we feel as if I don't feel as if I'm free in Christ.

I feel like I'm I'm being I'm being suppressed by anger or bitterness or rage that I still have the ability to be able to invite Jesus in to be fully liberated.

I believe another thing that we can be mindful of is prophecy, which is the ability to declare scripture over our lives and over the community.

We see these things that Jesus does as he invades people's reality by quoting scripture, and that's something that he's made available to us.

Another thing we see with demonstrating the gospel is justice.

This is actively participating and bringing justice to those who are oppressed.

Jesus' mission statement is found in the Gospel of Luke chapter 4, where he says that the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he's anointed me to preach the gospel, to share the good news, to heal the sick, to bring people out of bondage.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

We see that Jesus says that this is my mission, and then we see him exercise that mission, and then we see where he tells us that we're empowered to fulfill that mission, and then he tells us to go and accomplish that mission, and we see this all progressively through the gospels.

So in closing, I believe that this journey that we've been on, what it means to reclaim what it means to be a follower of Christ, first we have to follow Jesus.

That means being a true apprentice.

That means laying down our nets and truly following after Jesus.

It means becoming like Jesus.

That means that I'm willing to allow the Word of God and His Spirit to be the standard by which I form my life around.

And it's a journey of sanctification.

It's a journey of me learning and failing, but moving forward, learning how to follow Jesus through storms and difficult seasons and what endurance looks like because that's absolutely a part of being an apprentice of Jesus, of having perseverance and patience.

But I also believe that what it means to reclaim being a follower of Christ is allowing the power of our faith to be activated by knowing that I'm also called to do what Jesus did, that I'm going to create an atmosphere where people feel welcome and loved.

I'm going to be a person that shares my testimony and declares the goodness of God and invites people to experience it.

But I'm also equipped through the Holy Spirit to demonstrate the power of the gospel by believing that healing is still available, that prophetic words are still being spoken, that deliverance is still being made available, and that justice is still the mind and heart in the will of God.

I want to thank you so much for being with us on this journey and allowing me to close out this series in this format.

And I pray that while this isn't exhaustive, that this is just going to begin to be the tip of the iceberg that will stoke your own desire to dig deeper into some of the things that we've discussed.

We love you guys so much, and I truly pray that as we reclaim this gospel message, that we can be ambassadors who are now carrying out our own marathon, so to speak, and we're sharing this gospel message everywhere we go, and that is how we're going to transform the world and truly see a revival.

God bless you guys.

Love you and can't wait to see you this Sunday.

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

Follow us on social media using the handle at celebrationorl or visit our website, celebrationorl.org.