The Community Church: Sermons and teaching

Text

Thank you. We're in Matthew 28, the last book in Matthew and verse 18.

We know what our mandate is spelt out very clearly for every one of us expressed in the last words that Jesus spoke to his disciples before He went to Heaven. We're going to speak the last words people are ever going to hear from us. We'll pick those words carefully to make a lasting impact.

Matthew 28 and 18. Then Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you and surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age.

That is not a suggestion. That's a command. And the gist of it you can find in those four words. Go and make disciples. Go and make disciples. You might have heard me suggest before that if Jesus had a favorite word, that word might be Come, come, maybe to somebody here today in this auditorium, somebody watching this on video at a later time.

And he will say, don't look elsewhere or stop looking elsewhere. But come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden come to me, says, Jesus, and I will give you rest. Anybody who's sick and tired of being sick and tired come to me. And his second favorite word and the second word we'd like to hear from him is the word.

Go first. Come then go. Go and be my witnesses in Jerusalem. In Judea, in Samarra, and to the ends of the earth. Go and be my witnesses. But for most of we don't need a ticket. Julie mentioned that. God willing. 14th of February, we go to the Cape, take part in an All nations conference. There. Born of the nation of alpha and leader fame.

Many of us know and love them there in glory now. But the vision lives. Just the baton has been passed to others. And two weeks today, God willing, I'm booked to speak at Herman Abraham's church in the morning. Some remember Herman. If the opening address at the conference in the evening of the 18th. You can tell I didn't do the scheduled need a ticket for that?

That's the 14th of February. Things are three and a half weeks, God willing, on the 20th of February, if I've got my date right, Jeff, and I'm going to listen to you for two weeks to a church which is relating to carry these carriers, their apostle and the church to which this couple have been many times for a good number of time as a platform of relationship when they go in faith, will be kindled.

Now, when you mention, scuse me, talking to Jeff for a moment, but when when when you mentioned a few weeks ago that Jeff and Pam and John and Julia were going traffic created February voice behind me a bit disparaging said that are me sounded like David Oliver to me. Okay. Really? No but just so feel the commission. Most of us don't need a ticket.

Look at our mission field is on our doorstep. It's in our neighborhood. It's the people we work with, the people we study with, the people we share accommodation with, the people in our own circle of contact. That is our mission field. God says, Go to them. Ask your question. Now, when you're a teacher, you don't name somebody and ask the question because the rest turn off.

You throw the question out and they don't know where it's going to land. So you ask the question first and then you mention the name. I understand that probably in any class you've got those people perhaps less gifted academically, not with a lot of confidence and never volunteer drops a question. If they got it wrong, worst dread would be the class would laugh at the so you'd pick for them a question which you knew they would be able to answer.

And when they did, you'd say, Well done, you'd commend them. So my question did Jesus command us to go and win converts or to go and make disciples and I'll find somebody in my category. Keith You're a shy, retiring young man. Logic. You must encourage him. What do you think you will win? Convert to make disciples you make disciple of didn't?

E.J. Well, next question How do we make disciples? you say, Well, we teach them all that Jesus commanded us. Yes, but there's a proviso, there's a condition. Do we know what that is? We ourselves have to obey the commands before we teach others what those commands for themselves and hence the essence. If we are going to make disciples, we are first going to have to be disciples of ourselves.

That makes sense. Think of the people in my life who most encouraged me to run off to God. I thank God for them. They had hearts burning with hunger for the living, God themselves. They were running off to God. They had an anointing on their life. They had a quality of life about them, which I yearn to have for myself.

I didn't want to clone them, but I wanted to learn what they had and how they had it. And I thank God for them and I don't take them for granted because when they came across my life, they could have been nowhere in God. They could have been lukewarm on. They could have put me off instead of encouraging me forward.

Anybody here know it possible to have a safe soul and a wasted life? Anybody here know that we are never going to lead people higher up the mountain of God than we ourselves have climbed? So that's another incentive to keep climbing for their sake. As well as I've now the essence of discipleship, the quality absolutely essential if we grasp it.

Luke 923 And the words if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up a cross daily and come after me and follow me. If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up a cross daily and then follow me. If we don't carry a cross, we don't begin to know what it is to be a disciple of Matthew 1015.

Hey, who does not take up his cross is not worthy to follow me. If we're not willing to take up a cross, we're not even worthy to carry his name. That's what the Scripture tells us. So we say, Well, what is this cross you're talking about? John? Are you saying my cross is my mother in law? No. You're saying it's this There's hay fever, which I have all the way through the year.

It's a cross. I know. Well, it's an ornament where a child might have paddle the pendant on a necklace. I have nothing against that. If it's meant if it's worn meaningfully, it can be a conversation starter. But the thing we are talking about is not a precious silver or gold ornament. It is a means of death. It is a method of execution.

And if you I saw a man carrying a cross in the day when Jesus was alive upon, this planet, one of two things were going to happen to that man. He was either going to be rope tonight cross or when he was going to be nailed to that craft and he was going to hang until he died. And sadistic man had never devised a means of execution to cause more agony to last a longer number of hours than that.

So the invitation is the life of self crucifixion. A life of self crucifixion. That's the invitation. The essence will read it in John 1224 Jesus speaking. I tell you the truth, He didn't need to say that he only told the truth. But just emphasis here this. I'm telling you the truth. If we don't understand this, we haven't even got off the starting block.

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much great. We're hearing that. Watch my fingers. I'm telling you before, that's the one. Finger represents the big eye and the cross cross is out the big eye in our lives. A cross is out. The self we're called to a lifetime of dying to self.

Paul wrote these words. Whatever did he mean by them? I die daily. How often did he die physically? Once. But every day. Paul died to self pleasing. He died to self determination. He died Tree of rights to his own life. He lived a life of dying. Dying to self is the reason and the cause of all wars. Big wars, small wars.

This is hypothetical. I can have an argument with the person I'm sharing my life with. I don't have to takes two to make an argument if I don't want one. There is a man, but I can have one. I can have a bust up. I can have a real. And when I look back, the issue at stake was so small, so tiny, so inconsequential, so petty.

Why ever did I have World War three on an issue like we know? Because self will fight tooth and nail tenaciously to have its own way. That's why self will fight to prove that he is right my way, my is right, my way is best self will always want to demand the last word. Even if I'm flouncing out of the room slamming the door behind me, I'll have the last word over my shoulder.

Self will always blame somebody else. Adam started the blame game you gave me the woman. The woman gave me the right a follow You allowed the serpent in the garden. The serpent entice me to eat. We are carrying on the blame game. Self will never want to wait a admitted wrath. Okay I smashed the vase. Smithereens shouldn't have left you on the edge of the shelf.

I'm somebody always somebody else Self will always want to impress. One thing itself is concerned about maybe only thing. What do people think of me? That's the measuring road. It's okay to dress to impress. It's not to look smart. But if all I want to do is impress people that self having a field day self liked the limelight and self does everything it possibly can to put yourself in the limelight.

That self many manifestations of self see if the cap fits. Unfortunately, it's fairly near the size of my head on many a selfish ambition. Read Macbeth. He was a fine, noble, courageous man, but self self-assertion self determination, self gratification, self-indulgent self interest, self-importance, self pleasing self-promotion, self preoccupation, self pity, self reliance, self-righteousness, self-satisfaction, self seeking self savage, self vindication self-justification steals thousands of pounds manifesting different ways at different time.

Mankind, outside of the grace of God is intrinsically selfish to the call. Intrinsically an inherently selfish. So things don't affect me. I'm not much bothered about them. And the first item on the news they have floods in Bangladesh and hundreds have been drowned and thousands of homeless. And the fourth item on the news? Petrol is going up five per liter next Monday, which are my more bothered about only one person that ever lived upon this planet who has not been selfish.

And his name is Jesus. He lived for other people, not himself. He died for other people, not himself. And invitation clarion calls. And the Scripture is, Will you please be willing to follow me, to walk in my footprints, to walk in my footsteps? That's will not understand this life unless we understand the purpose of God for us, each one of us.

Shall I tell you the purpose of God in one sentence? He wants us to be like Jesus Christ. Likeness is what He after. But if we're going to have to be like Jesus, if we're going to have to follow his footsteps, we're going to have to embrace a life of self sacrifice, there's no way around it. I thank God for his word to the church this year.

We're going to see increase. I'm not surprised. God is a God of increase. That's the nature of the increase of his government in peace. There is no end. Kingdom of God is like a tiny mustard seed is going to grow and grow into a huge majestic tree and it's not going to stop growing the path of the righteous.

The one right with God is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until the fullness of day ever increasing revelation. That's what we had told. And it is true. And Jesus will say to everybody in this room today and listening afterwards, if you've got a heart and a hunger for God, he will say to us what he said to the panel whom you see.

So beneath the fig tree you will see very two things. We will see great. Two things we've never seen or known or experienced before. We will with our own eyes. I'm telling you, greater demonstrations of the power of God. We'll see them. We're running after him hard enough, and maybe greater things we've ever dreamed of will ever imagine.

We'll see them. But. But there's a proviso. There's a condition. Do you know what it is? John the Baptist spelt it out. Six words. He said that two things. They go together, they in tandem and you can't have one without the other. Do you remember the words Hey, Jesus must increase and I must decrease, He must grow greater and I must become less.

And maybe I need to become less in somebody else's life because they're depending too heavily upon me and I need to learn to depend upon Jesus. So I must become less in their experience.

Really excited. All the essence of the Christian life, of being a disciple of Jesus. So only then can we make disciples the essence of the Christian is a willingness to die, to die, to sell over and over, Take up your cross daily because a self remains on the throne, Jesus might as well remain on the cross. But I'll say that if Jesus is on the throne of our life, self is going to go to the cross over and over again and the measure of the life of God in us.

And don't forget we have as much of God or as little of God as we choose. Every single one of us. But the measure of the life of God and each of us will be the measure in which we are willing to die die. I'll finish with one sentence. It's not a very complimentary comparison. The next time you and I see a drainpipe, maybe we may move from this building to the next door when we get home.

There are only two qualities needed in a drain pipe. One, it's got to be in the right place, and two, it's got to be empty and unblocked. And God wants us as his drainpipes in the right place without our lives. Shout and blocked by sin and by selfishness. I'm going to move away from this podium. I'm going to cross when they're ready.

I'm not rushing it. The musicians to come up and then I believe Jeff will finish his meeting. But let's just ponder.