Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] It's a privilege to bring the word this morning. My name's Mike. If we haven't met before, we're going to start in Matthew chapter three this morning.
[00:00:12] And I love that this testimony that we've just heard is evidence of a God that can take a life and change it and turn it around.
[00:00:21] Can anyone else give a testimony of God's faithfulness? A broken life that became something of a miracle? God is so, so good.
[00:00:32] And you know what? God is so kind also.
[00:00:36] He does that work in our lives. And it's amazing. We're going to read from Matthew, chapter three, verses one to two to begin with.
[00:00:44] In those days, John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word, Lord. Your word transforms us when we come under its authority.
[00:01:03] And so, Father, I pray today, Lord, as we walk through these early chapters of Matthew, Lord, would you reveal to us what you are asking us to do?
[00:01:13] Lord, every sermon is a summons to repentance, an opportunity for us to walk closer with you. And I pray that every heart today that we would respond to the leading of your Holy Spirit, that we would come under your word and we would respond accordingly. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
[00:01:32] I believe we are in a critical time in church history.
[00:01:37] Evidence of that is what we are seeing week in, week out.
[00:01:41] We are seeing people walk into church, not even sure why they are here.
[00:01:48] Where in the past we needed promotional material to get people into church. People are looking for truth, they are looking for answers, they are looking for hope. And they are walking into churches through invitation, some just arriving because it seems like I've got to find a church.
[00:02:08] And there is such a hunger for truth in people's lives today.
[00:02:13] And God is working powerfully in people's hearts. There is a longing for truth.
[00:02:19] And when we look at this passage, the invitation is so clear.
[00:02:25] Jesus is calling to everybody, Come to me.
[00:02:29] Come to me. I want to continue on from our theme of faithfulness. From last week. I've been reading through the Book of Matthew again. And as I watch the journey of John the Baptist and his interaction with Jesus and the way Jesus stepped into ministry, I just felt that nudge again from God saying, are we doing the same? Are we still in the process of taking those steps daily with Jesus walking from step to step?
[00:02:58] All of us are in different places in our relationship with God.
[00:03:02] But what I would hope is that none of us would ever stop or stay or remain stagnant.
[00:03:08] There is an invitation daily. Come, follow me.
[00:03:11] Come, follow me. Imitate me. Paul said, as I imitate Christ, there is an invitation to come.
[00:03:20] For some of us, the journey of faith is new.
[00:03:23] I would say if we did a show of hands in this place, there would be dozens of people who. Your journey with God just started in the last 12 months.
[00:03:34] Your knowledge of him, your understanding of him is new. It's fresh.
[00:03:39] What I also know is that there are people who in the last 12 months have given their lives to Christ, are now chasing after God so much that they want to learn how to make disciples of others.
[00:03:49] Their hunger is there. They don't want it just for themselves. They know there is a world that is lost, that is desperate.
[00:03:57] And so they are equipping themselves to be a disciple maker.
[00:04:02] And I believe as a church, we have to. To be on that journey of making disciples.
[00:04:08] Now, it's no surprise you're hearing this from me again, and I'll keep coming back to it because for some reason, the church has been resistant to discipleship.
[00:04:19] For some reason, we've been content to just be here in church and do church and even connect and connect groups. But there is a need for us to grab hold of others, walk alongside others, walk the journey with somebody, speak into their life, listen, pray with them.
[00:04:41] What I love is that we see in the journey of Jesus that he taught us, but he also modeled it. He walked the journey. He walked the talk, so to speak.
[00:04:52] Jesus had to make decisions around his own feelings, his emotions, his anxious thoughts.
[00:05:01] He had to take on the flesh in order to be that sacrifice that would qualify to make things right for all.
[00:05:11] But I love that Jesus modeled a journey of trust, complete trust in His Father, and he modeled discipleship.
[00:05:19] So we're going to walk through five steps today with an invitation to every single one of us.
[00:05:26] Would we take the next step?
[00:05:28] Because as I said, there are people in different stages of the discipleship journey. But would each of us say, jesus, I'm ready to take my next step. I don't want to stop. I don't want to stop at any point and say, this is enough.
[00:05:42] Let me keep stepping into purpose as you would lead me.
[00:05:46] So the first thing this morning that we look at is repentance.
[00:05:50] As we read in that first verse. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.
[00:06:02] Just a bit of historical context that we need to look at when it says, in those days, what were those days that Matthew was talking of?
[00:06:13] Those days were about 400 years of silence where there was no prophetic voice that had been heard within the Israelite people.
[00:06:23] Generation after generation who knew the Messiah was coming, believed the Messiah was coming, but didn't see it in their lifetime. And their children and their children's children did not see the promise.
[00:06:35] So I wonder whether in those days, whether there was a bit of despondency.
[00:06:40] I wonder if there was a lack of hope.
[00:06:43] I wonder if there was a sense, will this ever happen?
[00:06:48] We live in a day of incredible hope, right?
[00:06:51] To hear these testimonies, to hear Marcus story of what God did in his life, we have the benefit of that. We see that. But these people in those days were waiting for the answer. The last voice that they'd heard was Malachi.
[00:07:09] Malachi. The last time he promised, he said those who revere his name would rise with healing and leap like a calf being released from its stall.
[00:07:22] That was the prophecy. That's what they last heard.
[00:07:26] And then there was a promise that Elijah would come to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to their fathers.
[00:07:36] And so John arrives in those days, in those days, not in a palace, not in a temple, but in the Judean wilderness.
[00:07:47] Clothed in camels, here, rough, probably uncomfortable. I don't know how many people have got a camel hair jacket on today, but I get the impression it probably wasn't comfortable. And the very nature of that would say that the call for John was to step out of comfort and into purpose and destiny.
[00:08:11] John's message was simple, but it was powerful. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
[00:08:18] The Greek word for repent is metanoia. It means to change one's mind or one's thinking.
[00:08:26] Bible instructs us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Christ can do that, to take us from the stinking thinking into true kingdom understanding.
[00:08:39] John was saying, change your mind, change the way you think. Move from the way the world would think and take on kingdom thinking.
[00:08:48] John's ministry fulfilled Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 3. A voice of one calling in the desert, make way for the Lord.
[00:08:56] Malachi 3:1 See, I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me. Preparing hearts for the Messiah.
[00:09:06] And John had a specific role to call people to repentance.
[00:09:13] John couldn't even see, hadn't even seen yet, that there would be a baptism of the Spirit that came as Jesus came.
[00:09:22] But John's role was to awaken a spiritually dry people and Prepare a highway for God's arrival to clear a path.
[00:09:32] A spiritual renovation project, so to speak.
[00:09:36] So let's bring that into today's context.
[00:09:39] What does that mean for us today?
[00:09:42] Is the call still the same?
[00:09:44] A call to repent?
[00:09:46] Repent also means to turn 180 degrees. So I'm heading in this direction. I turn and I go in a new direction that the direction of following Christ.
[00:09:57] The world would say, walk this way. Christ says, walk this way.
[00:10:02] Follow me, follow in my footsteps.
[00:10:06] A turning of our hearts and a direction towards God's kingdom.
[00:10:11] And becoming a disciple of Christ isn't about signing up for a better life.
[00:10:16] Okay, I'll tick the box of Jesus and my life will be better.
[00:10:20] That's not the reality. There are some things that will be significantly better in your life.
[00:10:27] What that won't be necessarily, is a removal of trouble and trial. And we'll see as we go through this passage that Jesus had to walk through the trials and the challenges also.
[00:10:39] But it's a repentance. It's an acknowledgement that sin destroys everything it touches. How many could give a testimony of that?
[00:10:47] Our own sinful nature?
[00:10:49] When that gets loose on people, my anger, my guilt, my frustration, the lust for power, for things and possessions, when that gets away on me, I can destroy every relationship that I touch.
[00:11:09] It is but by the grace of God that many of us are here today.
[00:11:14] And it's a surrender to the kingship and the lordship of Jesus.
[00:11:19] That's what changes.
[00:11:21] And so there is no salvation without repentance.
[00:11:25] Christianity is not a life improvement program.
[00:11:28] It's a full and it's a total surrender to a king under his rule and his reign and his authority.
[00:11:37] Do we see Jesus as our good and best friend, or do we see him as our king, our ruler, our authority?
[00:11:46] Now, that's not to say that we don't have relationship with God, because the Bible says fear of the Lord is reserved for those who fear him, that he will share the secrets of his covenant with those who fear him.
[00:11:59] So God wants to reveal things to us from that place of holy fear.
[00:12:05] So my first question today, have we repented?
[00:12:09] Have we surrendered our life to God? And maybe for some people, today is the day where you say, I've never repented of my sin.
[00:12:18] Maybe today I'm realizing that sin is in my life and I need a solution. I need an answer. And it's not being a better person. It's saying, jesus, I surrender to you and I repent. And I choose to turn from my old way of living. And I'm going to follow you. You, you will be the king, you'll be the Lord, you'll be the one that I choose to follow.
[00:12:40] The second thing we see is baptism.
[00:12:43] The process and the journey of baptism, not just in water, but of the Spirit.
[00:12:49] Matthew 3:13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
[00:12:57] Jesus, even though he was sinless, insists on being baptized by John.
[00:13:03] Now, John, he wasn't so excited about the Jesus.
[00:13:07] I'm not even fit to untie your sandals, let alone baptize you. But Jesus said it has to be fulfilled for righteousness sake.
[00:13:17] What he did was he identified fully with you and with me.
[00:13:22] When Jesus went through the waters of baptism, it was also an invitation for us to follow in his example.
[00:13:30] Now the choice of baptism and the place of baptism was significant as well. Baptized in the Jordan river because the Israelite people, the Jordan river represented new beginnings.
[00:13:42] Coming out of the wilderness, out of the old way of life, walking through the Jordan river into new beginnings.
[00:13:52] See, when we're baptized, we go into the water and we. We identify with what Christ did when he went into the grave.
[00:13:59] When Christ was crucified, he went into the grave. And when he went into the grave, we identify with him when we go into the water. So we go into death and we are raised to life. But what was our past remains in our past.
[00:14:15] This is the power of our confession that we need to hold onto. Because we have an enemy, we have an accuser.
[00:14:22] How many people have ever heard the accuser speak of something in your past?
[00:14:28] Yeah, but what about when you. What about that time when you, if you have repented, if you have turned, if you have given that over to Christ, guess what? You can say, that is my past, that is not my today, and that is not my future.
[00:14:45] Because there is no condemnation for anyone who is in condemn Christ Jesus.
[00:14:49] So when we are baptized, we are baptized into Christ Jesus.
[00:14:56] So when we're raised to life, we're raised in Christ Jesus.
[00:15:02] And now we live and we walk and we breathe and we exist in Jesus.
[00:15:09] It's like we are safely within him.
[00:15:16] And Jesus says, I need to be baptized to fulfill what God requires.
[00:15:25] I love that testimony. I am proof.
[00:15:29] I think we could put up a hundred testimonies in this place. I am proof that when God gets a hold of a life that's been messed up by sin, I am proof that God can do a miracle.
[00:15:43] If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.
[00:15:47] The old is gone, the new has Come. So when the accusation comes, and it will, we say, by the blood of Jesus and by the grace of God, that is my past and I have been forgiven.
[00:16:02] And if you haven't, let's go back to step one.
[00:16:06] We repent.
[00:16:08] Don't hold on to that. Don't hold on to that sin. Don't entertain it. But just God, I surrender. Please forgive me.
[00:16:17] We're only ever one prayer away from being in right relationship with God. And that's that prayer of surrender, saying, jesus, please forgive.
[00:16:27] What we also see in this passage is it marks Jesus anointing for ministry parallel to the priestly consecration in the Old Testament. We see in Exodus chapter 29 and Leviticus chapter 8.
[00:16:39] And for Jesus, his baptism was different because his wasn't for the repentance of sin or as a part of the repentance of sin, because Jesus did not sin.
[00:16:48] But his was of identification and a commissioning into the work of the ministry that God the Father was calling him into.
[00:16:57] We see when Jesus was baptized, the heavens open and a dove ascends. It descends on him. The Spirit of God descending on Jesus and a voice from heaven. This is the Father who says, this is my beloved Son, of whom I am well pleased. Before he did any miracles, before he showed the power that he carried.
[00:17:21] The Father says of the Son, this is my son, and I am pleased with him.
[00:17:27] Some of us need to hear today, this is my son.
[00:17:32] This is my daughter, whom I love and I'm pleased with.
[00:17:37] Not because of what you've done, not because of your accolades or your achievements, but because you are the Son and the daughter of the Most High God. You have a loving Father who loves you so much.
[00:17:52] Will we wrestle and battle with sin? Yes. Today, tomorrow, and probably the next day.
[00:17:59] But we have a loving Father who loves us regardless of what we do.
[00:18:05] And then in the baptism, we also see the revelation of the Trinity.
[00:18:10] I love the theology of the song we sung with the kids earlier on. One plus one plus one equals one.
[00:18:19] God won the three persons.
[00:18:24] The Trinity, you say? I don't understand it. That's okay, neither do I.
[00:18:30] Just saying. But what I do know is that God exists as Father, Son and Spirit. And in this moment of his baptism, we see the Son in obedience, the Spirit empowering and the Father affirming. What a beautiful combination of that mutual relationship that God has within his triune being.
[00:19:00] So what does that mean for us today? What does baptism in water and in the Spirit mean for us?
[00:19:06] Every disciple must experience identity and commissioning, knowing who they are.
[00:19:12] And whose they are.
[00:19:15] And for some today, you need to make the decision, I've got to be baptized.
[00:19:21] I've heard it said, Baptism is a public declaration of an inward decision.
[00:19:26] It's me saying, I will follow Jesus, and I will boldly proclaim that to every person who knows me.
[00:19:36] One of our first services when we go back into Northern hay is going to be a baptism service.
[00:19:42] We're going to celebrate the work that God has been doing in this next season.
[00:19:50] We cannot serve effectively until we know that we are loved and called by the Father.
[00:19:58] So maybe your choice today is to be baptized.
[00:20:02] Let us know. Let us know. Talk to somebody. Fill in one of those connect cards and say, I want to be baptized. And we'll give you some information. You can go on our website and click on the link for baptism. There's a video you can watch there, and you can begin that process. Get someone to walk alongside you as you take that step to be baptized.
[00:20:20] All right, ready for number three?
[00:20:22] I don't think you are.
[00:20:24] It's the wilderness.
[00:20:27] Oh, should we Skip to number four?
[00:20:33] Matthew 4:1. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
[00:20:42] Not led into the desert by the devil, but by the Spirit.
[00:20:50] There is a principle of the wilderness, the trials and the challenges, that when we embrace that as a follower of Jesus, there is nothing that will shake us.
[00:21:04] And I'll go as far to say as if you haven't walked through a trial and a challenge and a testing of your faith, then probably you're not fully walking as a disciple of Christ yet.
[00:21:19] I remember the trials I thought were trials.
[00:21:22] I was raised in church, and I'll be honest, we had such a wonderful upbringing. My mom and dad both love the Lord, serve the Lord. Today they're in church, and I love church. I love being in the house of God.
[00:21:35] Very early on, I began serving in church because it's just part of what I did.
[00:21:42] I didn't really experience a challenge, a trial. I had friends that were going through difficult moments in their life, but my trial was maybe I didn't make a football team or something.
[00:21:55] And that was my trial, and it was a real trial for me. I missed out on selection, and I thought I should have been in. And so that was a trial for me.
[00:22:04] But the older I got, the deeper the trials came into my life.
[00:22:10] Today I can say I'm thankful for the valleys, even though they hurt like nothing else.
[00:22:19] Amy and I thought we'd have kids like everybody else would. We married young and so we were excited about starting a family. And it took so much longer than we thought it would.
[00:22:30] But the trial to have children became our greatest testimony.
[00:22:37] Our newspaper back in New Zealand, the Herald, which is our main newspaper, just this week, told the story of our journey of how we were able to adopt our embryos out to another family where we didn't think we could have any children. God gave us an abundance to be able to adopt out to a family that couldn't have children of their own. The deepest, darkest valley of our life became our greatest story in our testimony.
[00:23:06] And so when I hear that somebody is going through a deep trouble trial, yes, I pray for them.
[00:23:14] Yes, I want them to be out of that valley. I do, I really do.
[00:23:19] But I'm also praying another prayer.
[00:23:22] God, would you give them courage as they walk through that valley?
[00:23:26] Would they stay the course? Would they allow the testing of their faith to produce perseverance which produces the gold that we read about in Peter.
[00:23:38] I've got a dear friend who's walking through a physical trial right now, praying for him, praying that the testing of his faith will build something greater than just the miracle being answered.
[00:23:56] So I would say, if you are in the middle of a trial and a challenge, hang in there, trust God, lean in, get closer, don't pull away.
[00:24:07] Talk to someone about it. Don't do it on your own. This is the beauty of the church. We are not on our own.
[00:24:15] We don't have to do it alone. We have friends, we have people that will walk alongside us in that journey.
[00:24:21] But stay the distance. Allow that temptation, that challenge, that trial to take place.
[00:24:28] So. So immediately after the high point of baptism, the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, the wilderness.
[00:24:36] In Greek, it's eremos. It recalls Israel's 40 years.
[00:24:40] 40 years of being in the wilderness. Jesus went for 40 days.
[00:24:45] Jesus fast for 40 days. The number 40 in the Bible speaks of trial and challenge and the testing of our faith.
[00:24:54] Moses did the same, Elijah did the same. Jesus was aligning himself with the voice and the message of the prophets.
[00:25:01] And the devil tempts Jesus in three areas, of provision, of protection, and of power, offering Jesus things that would satisfy those areas.
[00:25:13] You're hungry, Jesus. It's been 40 days. You haven't eaten any food. Turn the stone into bread.
[00:25:22] Jesus response was very simple, very, very quick, very sharp. It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Father. He brought the word of God.
[00:25:38] When you are deep in your trial and the challenge that you're facing?
[00:25:44] Do you have the word of God in your heart and in your mouth?
[00:25:49] Has your mind been renewed by God's word?
[00:25:54] When those anxious thoughts come, do you have a scripture that you speak to when fear rises up, what is our response to try and solve the problem? Or do we speak the word of God into that situation?
[00:26:09] When we feel like we've been rejected or we've been treated badly, do we have the word of God to forgive and to let go of offence?
[00:26:21] Jesus response, it is written.
[00:26:25] What does that mean for us? Today every disciple will walk through the wilderness.
[00:26:31] How many people love the wilderness?
[00:26:35] Yeah, I thought so.
[00:26:37] Some of you are like, yeah, I'll take a tent. I don't mind going out in the wilderness and having a bit of a tent.
[00:26:43] We don't in the natural like the wilderness.
[00:26:46] But what if we could in the middle of it say, God, I still trust you, God. Thank you for leading me through it.
[00:26:56] I love the 23rd Psalm. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, just a shadow, not death itself, you are with me.
[00:27:08] Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
[00:27:11] Jesus is walking with us through our wilderness testing.
[00:27:19] I am therefore a fully paid up member of Trials Produce Gold Club.
[00:27:27] I'm so thankful now for the trials. I wish I could have been more thankful as I was going through them.
[00:27:33] But I'm so thankful for the pain that I experienced because of what that means. Now today, could we change our prayers a little bit?
[00:27:45] Move from why is this happening to me, God to God, Are you trying to reveal something in me?
[00:27:54] Are you teaching me something?
[00:27:57] Can I listen? Can I learn? Can I grow through this experience of pain?
[00:28:06] We heard from Chris Shimon. We're going to be blessed with a message from him in the new Year. We can't wait to hear that.
[00:28:13] But he was telling me about the training and the Royal Marines and the commando unit.
[00:28:18] He said they take them to the point where they can't run anymore, they can't climb anymore, they can't do any more press ups. They take them to that point of exhaustion that most of us, we wouldn't be able to get halfway there.
[00:28:34] Why?
[00:28:34] Because there's a point when their lives and the lives of the people they are defending depends on their ability to push through the pain.
[00:28:44] We follow after Jesus, who carried his own cross, went to the cross, endured pain, even though in the natural he says, father, if it's possible, would you take this cup of suffering from me? Yet not my will, but yours be done.
[00:29:03] We are following after the one who went to the cross and endured the pain and the hardship in the wilderness like no other.
[00:29:14] And he modeled it so that we would be able to walk through it ourselves. Friends, you're not alone in the wilderness.
[00:29:20] Jesus is with you.
[00:29:22] Number four, we're almost there. The message of repentance.
[00:29:27] Yes, there is a repentance moment where I repent, but then we're called to preach. You know, the Great Commission.
[00:29:35] We have the preaching of the gospel and we also have the making of disciples.
[00:29:40] That's kind of all in together.
[00:29:42] It's not just make disciples. We got to go preach.
[00:29:45] We got to talk about repentance. We have to preach the message. And each of us, we're different.
[00:29:52] That's good. And the way it comes out is different, but the message is the same.
[00:29:57] Each of us in the relationships we have with people, we have to be able to speak this message of repentance. Matthew 4:17. From that time on, Jesus began to preach. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.
[00:30:13] After John's arrest, Jesus steps into public ministry.
[00:30:17] He relocates to Capernaum, Galilee of the Gentiles, a region known for its diversity, its trade routes, mixture of culture and religions. It's kind of on the fringe of the Jews and Gentiles.
[00:30:30] And that was Jesus. He just went to the fringe.
[00:30:34] He went to the edges, and he found people who needed hope.
[00:30:39] That's what we are called to do as well.
[00:30:42] I love the work of Teen Challenge that walks the streets and says, can I feed you?
[00:30:49] And can I tell you about Jesus?
[00:30:53] You know what? The best thing we can ever do is just tell our story.
[00:30:58] This is what Jesus did in my life, and this is the gospel. God loves you.
[00:31:05] He desires a relationship with you.
[00:31:08] And yet sin has robbed us of that relationship with God.
[00:31:13] But God in his mercy, didn't leave us separated from him.
[00:31:17] But he gave a hope through Jesus, who died on the cross. And he died and he was raised to life. And because of that, our sins can be forgiven if we would surrender to him.
[00:31:28] To preach the gospel can be so simple, and yet it's something that I think we're all a little afraid of.
[00:31:36] But the gospel is offensive.
[00:31:40] It is.
[00:31:42] It's foolishness to those who are being saved.
[00:31:47] But what joy is found in salvation when someone repents and turns and gives their life to Christ?
[00:31:57] Isaiah 9:2.
[00:31:59] Jesus fulfills Isaiah's prophecy. The people living in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of the shadow of death. A light has Dawned.
[00:32:08] Jesus is that light, and his message is clear. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
[00:32:16] But now, unlike John, this call to repentance is no longer just about preparation. It's about participation.
[00:32:24] Jesus isn't just saying to us, now, turn from sin. He's saying, step into life. I've come that you might have life in, in its fullness. The kingdom of heaven has come close, has come near.
[00:32:37] And now repentance is an invitation to transformation.
[00:32:42] So what does this mean for us? Repentance, baptism in the wilderness.
[00:32:47] That's not the end.
[00:32:49] It's a part of the journey. But we must be ones that would preach the gospel.
[00:32:55] And even more as his coming, the second coming returns.
[00:33:00] The closer we get, the more we need to think about those who are not yet with Him.
[00:33:07] We can bring this message of hope, this message of repentance. We are saved from sin, but also we're saved for purpose, to live with Him.
[00:33:18] You know, disciples, we don't just attend church.
[00:33:21] We are the church.
[00:33:23] We carry his presence everywhere we go.
[00:33:29] How many people work a job of some sorts or studying or. Yeah, I'll just say most of us. I would hope some of you will never raise your hand ever. That's fine. I get that.
[00:33:42] But in reality, wherever you find yourself, you are a kingdom influencer.
[00:33:48] You have the ability to bring hope and life and truth.
[00:33:55] Sometimes we can kind of hide away, and we can do our work and we can do the things that we have to do within work, and we can almost leave our faith out of it.
[00:34:05] Just boldly let that be who you are.
[00:34:10] So when people ask the question, what did you do in the weekend? Which is the normal talk on a Monday, just say, I went to church. I hung out with my church family, and we had a great time worshiping God.
[00:34:22] Now they'll look at you and go, you're weird.
[00:34:25] Great, you've broken the ice. Right now. The conversation can steer to something else. When they talk about a problem or a challenge that they're facing and the trial they're going through, they know you go to church. And so when you say, hey, do you mind if I pray for you?
[00:34:42] Do you mind if I pray that God does a miracle in your life? In that situation, it's a whole lot easier when you've just kind of unpacked that earlier.
[00:34:52] So here's our challenge for us this week.
[00:34:55] Bring church into a conversation. Just drop it randomly into your conversations.
[00:35:01] Make that a part of your, hey, how was your weekend? Watched the football or I did this or Hung out with my family. Make church the main thing you did, just bring it into your conversation. I promise you it will open doors.
[00:35:15] And you watch as God will use that opening to then pray for someone.
[00:35:21] And then would you be bold enough to pray for them if you're not bold enough to pray for them right there, say, hey, I'm gonna pray for you tonight that God's gonna do something amazing in your life, that God is gonna do a miracle in your life, that God's gonna bring healing where there's been pain and anxious thought. God is gonna bring peace to your heart.
[00:35:44] I prayed for a friend. A couple of us prayed for a friend. We saw a miracle overnight.
[00:35:48] It's his miracle to tell.
[00:35:51] But I got a text this morning going, miracle, come on, that's not good.
[00:35:57] We get to be a part of that, a little miracle.
[00:36:03] But every miracle, whether big or small, is a life impact.
[00:36:08] So there's your challenge. What did you do on the weekend? Went to church, hung out with my church family.
[00:36:14] You should come sometime. They might say, finally, about time. You've asked me.
[00:36:21] As the team come this morning, we're going to worship in a moment.
[00:36:24] You're going to be inviting us to take some steps.
[00:36:29] But then Jesus did something which he also calls us to do.
[00:36:34] He called the first disciples.
[00:36:37] Matthew 4, 1822. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers. Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
[00:36:50] That's what fishermen do.
[00:36:51] Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people at once. They lift their nets and followed him.
[00:37:02] Jesus calls everybody.
[00:37:04] He also called the Pharisees, but they didn't want to know.
[00:37:10] He will call everybody, but the only ones that answer the call are those who say, I'm available.
[00:37:19] Jesus spoke of those he called and they said, I've got to deal with a few things before I come and follow you.
[00:37:25] I gotta bury my father as Mark preached about the other week.
[00:37:29] Gotta deal with these things. And once I get to that stage, then I can follow you. But we all know if I can just get to there, then there's something else on the list.
[00:37:39] Jesus was saying, will you drop everything to follow me?
[00:37:45] The culture of the day. Disciples chose their rabbi. But Jesus reverses it.
[00:37:50] He chooses friends. Would you receive and hear that call of Jesus today?
[00:37:57] Come, follow me.
[00:38:00] Come and find rest, strength and peace in me.
[00:38:08] Jesus didn't call them because of their credentials.
[00:38:13] Trust me, credentials are wonderful, but they don't Define who we are.
[00:38:21] God says, who's available?
[00:38:25] Who will go make a disciple?
[00:38:30] Who will get close enough to someone.
[00:38:36] I saw this wonderful illustration in the week the pastor was holding a cup on the pulpit and he gave a bunch of students like a hundred ping pong balls.
[00:38:50] And he says, right, throw it in the cup.
[00:38:53] So this barrage of ping pong balls just flew through the air and some of them were just aiming for him. And hundred ping pong balls later and not a single ball in the cup.
[00:39:08] He took the ping pong ball out of his pocket and dropped it in.
[00:39:14] He said, proximity is everything.
[00:39:19] But from the distance from me to your way, this distance is too far for discipleship.
[00:39:27] Yes, there's an element of discipleship that takes place when we sit under the word of God.
[00:39:33] But discipleship happens when I say, come on, let's do the journey, let's do life together.
[00:39:41] Many of us have already disqualified ourselves saying, I'm not worthy of discipling another.
[00:39:47] Here's my question.
[00:39:49] Can you listen?
[00:39:51] Can you pray?
[00:39:54] I think you're qualified to be a disciple.
[00:39:58] Can you bring the word of God?
[00:40:01] Your story, your testimony, open the Word. Together we can all be disciple makers.
[00:40:09] But discipleship is not a one time decision, it's daily direction.
[00:40:14] I love the response of the disciples. Immediately they lift their nets.
[00:40:20] This moment marks the birth of a community mission where it wasn't just Jesus carrying the mission, it was now a group of young man and woman that said, I will follow.
[00:40:34] So it's an invitation, but then it's also a transformation because Jesus says, follow me and I will make, I will change. I will transform you into a follower of Jesus.
[00:40:46] So it's relational and it's transformational and it demands obedience, it demands surrender, it demands faith.
[00:40:57] Just a little bit small as a mustard seed, but it's faith in the one who will never fail.
[00:41:05] So this morning we've made space at the close of our message today because we want to worship.
[00:41:14] But I want our worship to be more than just singing of songs.
[00:41:20] I wonder if our worship response today could be a worship with steps.
[00:41:28] We've got space at the front here because all of us are probably needing to take a step in one of these spaces.
[00:41:39] The first invitation is for those that need to repent, to turn, to give their life to Christ, to recognize that their sin needs a Saviour.
[00:41:51] Jesus will be that for you.
[00:41:54] He is so good, he is so faithful. He will take your sin and forgive you.
[00:42:02] For others, baptism is your next step.
[00:42:06] That the step forward is to Say, I need to be baptized, not just in water, but baptized in the Spirit.
[00:42:13] We're a Pentecostal church, which means that we believe that the power of the Spirit of God moves in and through us today, that he empowers us with graces, with gifts, and that we should be continually wanting to be filled again and overflowing with the presence of God, with the Spirit.
[00:42:36] For some of you, actually, the step is going to be, you know what?
[00:42:40] I'm in the wilderness and I hate the wilderness, and I want to get out of the wilderness. But your step is saying, I will stay in the wilderness as long as it takes, because I want to grow. I want to develop my faith. I want to be one that will produce gold.
[00:42:59] For some, it's time to preach that message of repentance.
[00:43:06] Kind of felt the fear, but haven't acted on it. For some, actually, your step is saying, I'm going to step into the boldness.
[00:43:17] Romans 1:16. I love one of the versions. I think it's the new living translation says, I am proud of the good News.
[00:43:24] It is God's powerful way of saving all people who have faith.
[00:43:29] Another one says, I am not ashamed. I like the other one.
[00:43:33] I am proud. I'm proud of the good News because it impacts and it changes lives. Maybe your step is because you need the power of God. You need the Spirit of God to enable you to preach the gospel.
[00:43:48] And then the final step, maybe for some of you, this is how I want to be a part of making disciples.
[00:43:57] We have more people responding to salvation than we have people able to disciple them. Right now.
[00:44:05] That is a problem.
[00:44:07] That's a problem. I would love us to see changed. And, you know, all it takes is probably about 50 to 100 of us to say, can we meet up next week?
[00:44:18] Can we have a coffee together? Can we open the Bible together? Can we pray together?
[00:44:23] So maybe for you, your step is to say, I'm going to commit myself to that.
[00:44:28] I'm going to go find someone. I'm going to say, come, let's hang out.
[00:44:33] Let's do the work of the ministry together. Let's explore what the Bible says about what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
