Tyler Lynde: So we are finishing up a sermon series called Discipleship Matters.
Tyler Lynde: Discipleship Matters.
Tyler Lynde: Have you enjoyed this?
Tyler Lynde: I know that it's been very good and helpful for me.
Tyler Lynde: As we went away as an elder team this last uh fall, we asked the Lord what we should focus on for 2026.
Tyler Lynde: And we felt like the Lord spoke the word crisis to us.
Tyler Lynde: Now, crisis, obviously on its just on the base level, sounds pretty scary.
Tyler Lynde: Sounds like something that we want to be uh extremely cautious about.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know crisis isn't something to be feared?
Tyler Lynde: Crisis is just something that does happen.
Tyler Lynde: If you live long enough in this life, you're going to face crisis of some point, some some type.
Tyler Lynde: And so as we asked the Lord for wisdom on how to address readiness when it comes to crisis that we might face, we felt like the Lord spoke to us that discipleship was one of the big keys to this, all right?
Tyler Lynde: And we kind of walked away with this slogan, which is sharpened Christians are best equipped for crisis.
Tyler Lynde: Sharpened Christians are best equipped for crisis.
Tyler Lynde: It's easy to go through this life, sort of dull and uh and not really affected by anything that's going on and not inspired or uh, you know, passionate about anything.
Tyler Lynde: But I'm here to tell you that God desires for us as Christians to not live that way.
Tyler Lynde: He desires for us to be on the cutting edge.
Tyler Lynde: He desires for us to be sharpened so that whatever might come our way, that we are prepared for it.
Tyler Lynde: Amen?
Tyler Lynde: And so as we look at this idea of discipleship, we thought about Jesus, who is the greatest discipler of all time, right?
Tyler Lynde: And how he took a few ordinary men and walked with them and talked with them and prepared them to continue his work that he began so many years ago.
Tyler Lynde: And how many of you realize that we are here today as a direct result of those followers of Jesus being obedient to the call of God when it comes to discipleship?
Tyler Lynde: And so we're so grateful that Jesus was so wise and that the Trinity working together instituted this plan that we have the privilege now of carrying forward to the next generations.
Tyler Lynde: Um, it's not going to happen just by osmosis, it's not going to happen just because children are born into Christian homes.
Tyler Lynde: These are things that must be taught and must be caught as well.
Tyler Lynde: And so we have the privilege of helping with both of those things.
Tyler Lynde: So we've been looking at a journey of four steps that Jesus took with his disciples.
Tyler Lynde: And the first one, remember, was come and see.
Tyler Lynde: Come and see was all about invitation.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus was saying to the masses, come and see, check this out, see what the kingdom of God is all about as he healed the sick and raised the dead and cast out demons and uh caused fish and loaves to be multiplied to feed the masses.
Tyler Lynde: Come and see, come and experience, come and learn about this Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: And how many of you know there's a next step to that, and that is follow me?
Tyler Lynde: And that's a deeper uh invitation.
Tyler Lynde: It is an invitation to imitation.
Tyler Lynde: Come and see and follow me, learn from me, see what I do, hear what I say, and then you begin to do the same.
Tyler Lynde: Follow me.
Tyler Lynde: And then the third one was be with me.
Tyler Lynde: And be with me is all about transformation.
Tyler Lynde: It's about relationship.
Tyler Lynde: God doesn't just want us to have a static relationship with him, where he's up in heaven and we're here down on earth.
Tyler Lynde: He wants to have a continual developing relationship with us.
Tyler Lynde: And so he invites us to abide with him, to be with him, to experience things that he experiences, to learn of him, to know him, and for him to know us.
Tyler Lynde: And then fourthly, and this is the one we're going to focus on today, go for me is about multiplication, is about multiplication.
Tyler Lynde: We know that there are millions of people on the face of this earth, and probably even billions, who are followers of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: And we thank God for that.
Tyler Lynde: That is an example of this discipleship movement being multiplied and multiplied and multiplied.
Tyler Lynde: And again, it is our time and our day and our destiny to walk in this newness of life so that we can be an example to other people and call them to follow Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: So last week, Kelly did a great job of helping us to understand that making disciples is literally the one thing that Jesus requires of us.
Tyler Lynde: It is the primary focus for us as believers in Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: We are called to make disciples.
Tyler Lynde: He reminded us through the be with me call of Jesus that true transformation comes in our lives as we walk in right relationship with God.
Tyler Lynde: And we know again that Jesus made a way for us to be in right relationship with God by the way that he lived his life by his death and resurrection, right?
Tyler Lynde: And so today we're going to consider the fourth part of a natural discipleship progress progression or process as we look at Jesus' imperative to go for him.
Tyler Lynde: His desire was for the few disciples that he had poured his life into to pour their lives into others who would in turn pour their lives into others as well.
Tyler Lynde: So the title of today's message is Go for Me.
Tyler Lynde: Go for me.
Tyler Lynde: We've been referring to a passage from the book of Matthew, chapter 28, called The Great Commission, and we've learned a lot from that.
Tyler Lynde: It's a theological treatise.
Tyler Lynde: It's an amazing passage, but we're going to look at its sister passage today, found in Mark chapter 16, verses 15 through 20.
Tyler Lynde: And this reads a little bit more like a playbook than a concept.
Tyler Lynde: So we're going to learn from this passage as well.
Tyler Lynde: So let's read Mark chapter 16, verses 15 through 20.
Tyler Lynde: And he said to them, this is Jesus speaking, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Tyler Lynde: Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.
Tyler Lynde: But whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Tyler Lynde: And these signs will accompany those who believe.
Tyler Lynde: So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, and they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.
Tyler Lynde: Let us pray together.
Tyler Lynde: Father, we thank you for your wonderful word.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, we thank you that you have called us.
Tyler Lynde: And if you've called us, then you've equipped us.
Tyler Lynde: And so we ask, Lord, that you would help us to catch your heart for going for you.
Tyler Lynde: We pray that we would not be content to sit back and watch other people go for you, but it would be of our hearts and our mindset and our deliberation, Father, that it would be a part of us that we would go and make disciples.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, we thank you for helping these words to come alive to us, helping us to learn from them.
Tyler Lynde: And Father, changing anything that you desire to change in Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: Imagine with me this group of people who's grown now to a little bit over 120, and they're all standing with Jesus, and Jesus is giving them sort of his farewell address, and he's getting ready to ascend into heaven.
Tyler Lynde: Remember, these same people had observed him doing all of the things that I talked to you about before.
Tyler Lynde: They had heard the words of life that he had spoken.
Tyler Lynde: They had seen his way of living and learned from that, that he was not just all talk, but what the way that he lived, his heart, passion, everything that flowed out of him was a representation of his heavenly father, right?
Tyler Lynde: Can you picture that?
Tyler Lynde: Can you put yourself in that kind of scenario?
Tyler Lynde: I wish that I could just for a few days experience what they experienced.
Tyler Lynde: And I know that we're going to have eternity to experience the presence of Jesus and to know him like he wants to be known fully, right?
Tyler Lynde: But here on this earth, we have this privilege and opportunity to continue to know him, to get to know him, to operate in this realm.
Tyler Lynde: And so here's these disciples.
Tyler Lynde: We know that that was John the Beloved, right?
Tyler Lynde: We know those poignant words that Jesus spoke from the cross as he looked at his mother Mary and said, Mary, this is your son, and to John, John, this is your mother.
Tyler Lynde: In other words, John, I'm asking you to help take care of my mom from now on.
Tyler Lynde: Imagine that.
Tyler Lynde: And so then you can, the devastation of having lost him, and he's buried, and he's in this tomb for three days, and then all of a sudden, he's raised from the dead.
Tyler Lynde: He appears to Mary Magdalene first, and then you know, Peter and John run to the tomb, and they he's he's not there, and an angel has to give them the news that they've already heard from Mary.
Tyler Lynde: And there's just all this excitement around the fact that Jesus, who had told them all along that this was the plan, actually fulfilled what he said that he was going to do.
Tyler Lynde: And they walked and they talked with him in a newness of life, right?
Tyler Lynde: You can imagine it was like everything started to make sense.
Tyler Lynde: Everything started to come together.
Tyler Lynde: In fact, there's one passage that says that Jesus gathered together and he breathed into them the breath of life, and they became alive to God.
Tyler Lynde: They were born again as a part of the process of Jesus having died and being raised from the dead.
Tyler Lynde: What a powerful thing.
Tyler Lynde: What an exciting thing to think about and just to wonder about.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus shares in the context of all of that these final words.
Tyler Lynde: And final words are very important, aren't they?
Tyler Lynde: Um and so this is what Jesus is saying before he ascends to heaven.
Tyler Lynde: So let's look at this closely.
Tyler Lynde: Number one, we are commanded to go.
Tyler Lynde: We are commanded to go.
Tyler Lynde: It says, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Tyler Lynde: We are commanded to go, right?
Tyler Lynde: Now, uh we've talked about this and rightfully so over the last few weeks.
Tyler Lynde: We've highlighted the fact that the largest imperative in the Matthew 28 passage is that we are to make disciples.
Tyler Lynde: So the verb make is very essential and very important.
Tyler Lynde: But that doesn't divorce us from the fact that we also need to be prepared to go.
Tyler Lynde: And as we are going, we've talked about that.
Tyler Lynde: As we are going, make disciples.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus is referring to the disciples.
Tyler Lynde: Remember, when he first called them, was what?
Tyler Lynde: Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
Tyler Lynde: What was Jesus' original intent?
Tyler Lynde: He didn't hide anything, he didn't like ease them into it, he didn't wait until they were viable Christians.
Tyler Lynde: He started out this journey with them with the understanding that they were going to need to go fishing, right?
Tyler Lynde: They were going to need to go fishing for men, for people.
Tyler Lynde: And this is what he's now calling them in this address to embrace.
Tyler Lynde: And just as he is calling them, we are also commanded to go.
Tyler Lynde: You and I are commanded to go.
Tyler Lynde: And we have Mark and Amy Medley right now that are in Poland and getting ready to go to India and Sri Lanka, and they are obey, they are obeying the order to go.
Tyler Lynde: They're doing that, they're on the front lines.
Tyler Lynde: Pastor Neil and I are going to be leaving on Thursday to go to Puerto Rico because it's just too cold here.
Tyler Lynde: Actually, we're going there to minister to a group of churches that are a part of Master Builders.
Tyler Lynde: And Neil has had a longtime connection with them.
Tyler Lynde: And I just feel so privileged to be invited along to go along to be a help to him and also to get to share with some of the churches there.
Tyler Lynde: So we'll be gone just for a few days over this weekend.
Tyler Lynde: So we we do covet your prayers concerning that.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know you don't have to go?
Tyler Lynde: Uh, and uh Max just got back from Ukraine, spent some time there, and uh his wife was asking him to get lower in the building because there were things happening in the skies that uh indicated to a wife that it would be best for him to be lower in the building.
Tyler Lynde: And that's completely natural and normal and human, and uh, and what my wife would be saying to me as well.
Tyler Lynde: So, but he went because he he has this call to go, to go.
Tyler Lynde: And I could go on and on and on.
Tyler Lynde: Uh Kayla's here, the Ellis's, we could just go on and on about all of the people within this body who heed the call to go.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know going doesn't require a stamp on your passport?
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know when you leave this building and head out the doors, you are going somewhere.
Tyler Lynde: So as you are going, guess what we get the privilege of doing?
Tyler Lynde: Make disciples.
Tyler Lynde: We are commanded to go and preach the gospel.
Tyler Lynde: Preach the gospel.
Tyler Lynde: That's the second part of this.
Tyler Lynde: We will not make disciples of Jesus Christ just by being nice to them.
Tyler Lynde: To people.
Tyler Lynde: Now, is it good to be nice to people?
Tyler Lynde: Absolutely.
Tyler Lynde: You know, some of the nicest people I've ever met are Mormons and Jehovah's Witness and others who are living a works kind of religion that says that you have to be good in order to achieve some kind of ranking in heaven, right?
Tyler Lynde: So being good itself is not enough.
Tyler Lynde: It's important, but it's not enough.
Tyler Lynde: Our goal always must be to speak the message of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Our goal is not to preach ourselves, it's not to preach our church.
Tyler Lynde: Our goal is to preach the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: The Apostle Paul spoke boldly about this in Romans 1:16.
Tyler Lynde: You guys know this?
Tyler Lynde: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Tyler Lynde: The gospel itself is laced with power that God uses to cause dead souls to come alive.
Tyler Lynde: And we as believers in Jesus Christ have the privilege of sharing this gospel message with others.
Tyler Lynde: You see, God uses the message of the gospel to save us, to transform us, and keep us.
Tyler Lynde: He saves us, he transforms us, and he keeps us, and he uses the grace message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to do all of these things.
Tyler Lynde: Paul further defines the message of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15.
Tyler Lynde: Read this with me.
Tyler Lynde: Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved.
Tyler Lynde: So you see the sort of progression of that?
Tyler Lynde: You were saved, you are being saved, and you will be saved by this message.
Tyler Lynde: If you hold fast to the word, I preach to you, unless you believed in vain.
Tyler Lynde: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture.
Tyler Lynde: Do we need to understand, first of all, that we are sinners?
Tyler Lynde: Do people need to understand that they are sinners?
Tyler Lynde: Or do they just need to hear that God loves you and has a great plan for your life?
Tyler Lynde: That is true, but we must start with the fact that we are sinners desperately in need of grace, right?
Tyler Lynde: So Jesus, this Paul is wrapping this up.
Tyler Lynde: He's sort of giving the first importance things.
Tyler Lynde: Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scripture.
Tyler Lynde: The fact that Jesus came to this earth, lived a perfect life, died and took our sins upon himself on the cross, that he was buried in a borrowed tomb, and on the third day that he rose again, proving that he had defeated Satan, hell, and the grave.
Tyler Lynde: This is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: So the gospel is not based on my work, it's not based on my words alone, it's not based only on my lifestyle.
Tyler Lynde: The gospel is the good news of work that's already been done.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know Jesus is not going to go back to the cross?
Tyler Lynde: You may think, you may look around this world and say, well, maybe we needed another.
Tyler Lynde: No, no, no, no, no.
Tyler Lynde: It was once and for all.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus was the final sacrifice.
Tyler Lynde: If you read the book of Hebrews, you can't help but be just overwhelmed with the idea that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice to bring about salvation to those who don't deserve it.
Tyler Lynde: The gospel is based on the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: It is the grace of God that gives us the ability to walk in newness of life.
Tyler Lynde: It's not my own ability, it's not my own desire, even.
Tyler Lynde: It is the grace of God.
Tyler Lynde: It is God's ability in me to do what I can't do in my own strength.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you tried to be good without God?
Tyler Lynde: And even if you could outwardly be good, how many of you know on the inside what happened?
Tyler Lynde: We were not good.
Tyler Lynde: We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Tyler Lynde: So we are commanded as followers of Jesus to go and as we're going to what?
Tyler Lynde: Preach the gospel to the ones that we really like, to the ones that speak our language, to the ones that look like us, to the ones that we share party affiliation with.
Tyler Lynde: To what does it say?
Tyler Lynde: To all.
Tyler Lynde: The gospel of Jesus Christ is intended to be preached to every tribe, every nation, every language, and every people for all time.
Tyler Lynde: You may be disappointed in heaven if those people out there bother you, because some of those people are going to be in heaven.
Tyler Lynde: Because Jesus came to save all who would turn from their ways and believe in him.
Tyler Lynde: This all includes those that we love and those who we wouldn't naturally be drawn to, and those that we would like to purposely avoid those people in our lives that annoy us, that bother us, that we would honestly say, I'm not really even sure that I care if they're a Christian or not.
Tyler Lynde: God cares.
Tyler Lynde: We don't get to choose who the Lord saves.
Tyler Lynde: That's his job, and we get to participate with him.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know he's God all by himself?
Tyler Lynde: And his choices are right and pure and holy and good.
Tyler Lynde: And our job as followers of Jesus, remember, we're followers of Jesus, is to follow him and follow his leading and his guiding, his example, his way of doing things.
Tyler Lynde: The Lord saves and we get to participate with him.
Tyler Lynde: So what is the proper response?
Tyler Lynde: The proper response to the gospel of Jesus Christ is to repent and believe.
Tyler Lynde: God does his good work that only he can do.
Tyler Lynde: And our proper response, every person's proper response to Jesus is not just to go to church.
Tyler Lynde: It's not just to read the Bible, it's not just to pray, it's not any of those things, although those things will follow.
Tyler Lynde: The response, the proper response to a holy God is to repent and believe.
Tyler Lynde: In our passage, it said, Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Tyler Lynde: The only sin that will ultimately send somebody to hell is the sin of unbelief.
Tyler Lynde: Not believing in Jesus Christ is the sin that sends people to hell.
Tyler Lynde: It is the epitome, unbelief.
Tyler Lynde: Is the epitome of darkness.
Tyler Lynde: It is what the God of this world uses to blind minds.
Tyler Lynde: There are people that are in your lives right now that are infiltrated, that are overwhelmed by unbelief.
Tyler Lynde: God has called us as the Church of Jesus Christ to not shrink back, to not be like those people who don't believe, but we are called to be believers in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: And as we are believers, to preach the gospel to all, and their response based on the work of God working in their hearts and us helping them in the process is for them to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Our prayer needs to be: please, if you pray nothing else, pray this.
Tyler Lynde: God, would you open the eyes of the blind that they might see you as you truly are?
Tyler Lynde: Many times, as I've witnessed to people, I've gotten to a point where it's obvious that they were finished with the conversation.
Tyler Lynde: And I would, I would say, do you know what I mean?
Tyler Lynde: By the way, you learn some social cues.
Tyler Lynde: I mean, we as believers don't need to be, we don't need to walk away from conversations all the time with people feeling like that's why I'm not a Christian, right?
Tyler Lynde: So you make sure that we're we're being sensitive and thinking about the person that we're speaking to, and not just like we're not just talking at them, we're talking to them.
Tyler Lynde: So many times in evangelism, what I've seen people do wrong, including myself at times, is talking at people about something instead of talking to them about your best friend.
Tyler Lynde: We have no problem talking about our favorite movie, our favorite restaurant, our favorite book, our favorite whatever it is.
Tyler Lynde: But sometimes we even get religious when we start talking about Jesus, right?
Tyler Lynde: So let's make sure that we're we're we're we're being cautious in the way that we do that.
Tyler Lynde: But one of the things I will ask people is, would you mind if I prayed that God would reveal Himself to you in a very practical way?
Tyler Lynde: I've I 95% of people have said, sure, you pray that.
Tyler Lynde: And boy, that's when I go deep into the well of the spirit on the inside of me, and I by faith pray and ask God to show this person who he is.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know God is up to that challenge?
Tyler Lynde: Like that's not a prayer that he is like, oh, don't pray that.
Tyler Lynde: I'm not ready to do that.
Tyler Lynde: No, he loves to hear that prayer.
Tyler Lynde: And when a person opens himself up enough to at least allow you to pray that prayer over them, God moves.
Tyler Lynde: God moves, right?
Tyler Lynde: Can I give you a little bit of relief this morning?
Tyler Lynde: It's not our job to save anyone.
Tyler Lynde: My job is not to save anyone.
Tyler Lynde: I can't save anyone.
Tyler Lynde: I can't save myself.
Tyler Lynde: Right?
Tyler Lynde: That is God's job.
Tyler Lynde: It is our job to share the truth of the gospel, which calls mankind to repent of their sins and put their faith, hope, and trust in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus Himself made this very clear in Mark chapter 1.
Tyler Lynde: We're going to be reading this as part of our small circle groups.
Tyler Lynde: Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, proclaiming the gospel.
Tyler Lynde: And what are the words he was using?
Tyler Lynde: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.
Tyler Lynde: Repent and believe in the gospel.
Tyler Lynde: Repent, turn away from.
Tyler Lynde: Repentance is really not a spiritual term at all.
Tyler Lynde: It's a natural term.
Tyler Lynde: It means you're going on the interstate and you realize you've gone one exit too far, or maybe a lot of exits too far.
Tyler Lynde: And what do you do?
Tyler Lynde: You get off the exit and you get on the other direction.
Tyler Lynde: You're going north, I'd say.
Tyler Lynde: You were going south and you turn and you start going north, right?
Tyler Lynde: That is repentance.
Tyler Lynde: It means recognizing my need to change.
Tyler Lynde: This isn't working.
Tyler Lynde: What I've tried up until this point is not working.
Tyler Lynde: I need help.
Tyler Lynde: I need a savior.
Tyler Lynde: And then we put our faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work.
Tyler Lynde: You see, the word conversion, theological word, is our willing response to the gospel in which we sincerely repent of our sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation.
Tyler Lynde: And I don't want to leave this morning without making a declaration here that some of us have grown up in church our whole lives, some of us have been around Christianity time and time again, but you may not yet have actually done this.
Tyler Lynde: You may not yet have been converted.
Tyler Lynde: You may not have responded to the truth of Jesus Christ by repenting of your sins and putting your faith in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: I encourage you, don't let today pass.
Tyler Lynde: We're not promised another day.
Tyler Lynde: Today is the day of salvation.
Tyler Lynde: Choose this day whom you will serve.
Tyler Lynde: Now he also mentions baptism in this passage, and I want to make it clear: baptism is the outward testimony of what God's doing on the inside of a person.
Tyler Lynde: It's showing outwardly that I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
Tyler Lynde: I have been transformed and I am being transformed by the grace of God.
Tyler Lynde: I'm being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: And I want the whole world to know that I am a follower of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Our prayer this year is not just for discipleship.
Tyler Lynde: Our prayer is to have tons of baptisms, because that means that people have become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ who want to take it public, right?
Tyler Lynde: We understand it's not a requirement in order to get into heaven, but it should be practiced by all believers.
Tyler Lynde: If you have another moment in this life where you're able to physically and you get saved, you should be baptized.
Tyler Lynde: Does that make sense?
Tyler Lynde: It should be a high priority in our lives.
Tyler Lynde: So if you haven't yet been baptized, I'll never forget.
Tyler Lynde: Just remember just a few weeks ago, Ryan stepping into the waters of baptism.
Tyler Lynde: And man, what a powerful thing.
Tyler Lynde: And he wasn't even feeling great.
Tyler Lynde: And yet God met him right there in the water.
Tyler Lynde: And we not only do that, but we lay hands on people and pray that the Holy Spirit will fill them up during the time of baptism.
Tyler Lynde: So if you haven't been baptized yet, I encourage you, first of all, make sure you're a believer in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Second of all, let's get baptized.
Tyler Lynde: So the Holy Spirit empowers believers who go.
Tyler Lynde: It says, and these signs will accompany those who believe.
Tyler Lynde: In my name, they will cast out demons.
Tyler Lynde: Steve and Mary, I don't they don't want to just be known as those people, right?
Tyler Lynde: There's it's it's the they are continuing the healing ministry of Jesus, which does at times include setting people free, right?
Tyler Lynde: So don't think of them just as those people.
Tyler Lynde: But they do operate in that, and they're going to teach people how to operate in that particular gift.
Tyler Lynde: They will speak in new tongues.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know one of the signs of being filled with the Holy Spirit is the ability to speak with other tongues?
Tyler Lynde: And not everybody has that particular gift, but Paul says you should want it, you should desire for it, you should covet it, you should ask for it sincerely.
Tyler Lynde: And God loves it to give it.
Tyler Lynde: They will speak in new tongues, they will pick up serpents with their hands.
Tyler Lynde: All right, ushers.
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, I know.
Tyler Lynde: James, James is James is an he has some snakes.
Tyler Lynde: So anyway, yeah.
Tyler Lynde: And he is one of our ushers, so he can literally do that.
Tyler Lynde: But anyway, obviously, this is talking about two things, in my opinion, and a lot of people agree.
Tyler Lynde: It's talking about uh the authority that we've been given by Jesus Christ over demonic entities and spirits that would try to influence and affect and destroy, damage, whatever the case is.
Tyler Lynde: But it's also talking about protection that God provides.
Tyler Lynde: The safest place for us to be is on mission with God.
Tyler Lynde: Did you hear me?
Tyler Lynde: The safest place for us to be is on mission with God where He's called us to be on mission with Him.
Tyler Lynde: Right?
Tyler Lynde: That's why I have full confidence that Mark and Amy, even though they're going to be going into some very difficult places over the next several weeks, and encourage you to continue to pray for them.
Tyler Lynde: They're on mission for God and they've been sent by God.
Tyler Lynde: And so they're literally the safest place on the planet for them right now, is obeying God in that way.
Tyler Lynde: So the Holy Spirit empowers people to pick up serpents.
Tyler Lynde: If they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them.
Tyler Lynde: Again, we're not going to practice on that, but God can protect us, He can keep us safe.
Tyler Lynde: He's able to do that, right?
Tyler Lynde: And there are stories from early church history where the attempt was made to destroy believers by poisoning them, that God protected them.
Tyler Lynde: We know the story of the serpents, where Paul reached down to pick up the firewood, and the serpent attached itself to his hand, and the people waited for him to fall over dead and he didn't die.
Tyler Lynde: And then they tried to worship him, and he had to fix all of that.
Tyler Lynde: Um, and then it says, uh, it will not hurt them, they will lay their hands on the sick and they will recover.
Tyler Lynde: Does this say pastors will lay hands on the sick and they will recover?
Tyler Lynde: Does it say prophets, evangelists, does it say apostles, does it say missionaries?
Tyler Lynde: It says believers, believers will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.
Tyler Lynde: One of the greatest open door opportunities with people is praying for them, that God would touch them and heal them.
Tyler Lynde: I know that many of you have experienced that.
Tyler Lynde: And so I encourage you, let's let's step out in faith.
Tyler Lynde: Even if it feels like the last 30 people we prayed for didn't get healed.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know God hasn't changed?
Tyler Lynde: He's still a great healer, and he wants us to step out on faith, right?
Tyler Lynde: It would be depressing in a way if all we were left with was a message, the message of the gospel.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know we have so much more than that?
Tyler Lynde: Jesus came to display the kingdom of God in word and deed, and he trained his disciples to do the same thing.
Tyler Lynde: He made it clear that it was better for him to go to his father so he could what?
Tyler Lynde: Send the Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit would not only dwell among them or with them, but he would dwell in them.
Tyler Lynde: The same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in us.
Tyler Lynde: And as we go, he goes with us.
Tyler Lynde: Acts 1:8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
Tyler Lynde: What is one of the primary reasons that the Holy Spirit empowers us?
Tyler Lynde: He empowers us to be a witness for Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: We have no way today in the time that we're allotted to talk about all of the benefits of the work of the Holy Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: But suffice it to say, we can't do it without him.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: And the next part is we never go alone.
Tyler Lynde: We never go alone.
Tyler Lynde: So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, and they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.
Tyler Lynde: So here we have Jesus ascending into heaven, the ascended Savior who's been given the name above every other name, continues his work on this earth through believers like you and like me.
Tyler Lynde: He partners with us in order to fulfill his mission.
Tyler Lynde: He continues to work with us, and he confirms the message of the gospel that we preach by performing miracles, signs, and wonders.
Tyler Lynde: And how many of you know the greatest miracle of all is what?
Tyler Lynde: I once was lost, and now I'm found.
Tyler Lynde: The miracle of salvation, of regeneration.
Tyler Lynde: I once was dead, and now I live again.
Tyler Lynde: You see, Jesus isn't just asking us to go for him, he's asking us to go with him.
Tyler Lynde: To go with him.
Tyler Lynde: Remember, it's his mission.
Tyler Lynde: It's his mission.
Tyler Lynde: And we get to walk with him in the fulfilling of this mission.
Tyler Lynde: So let's finish up by talking about as we're going, we shine the light.
Tyler Lynde: Matthew 5, as you know, we just did a series on the Sermon on the Mount.
Tyler Lynde: You are the light of the world.
Tyler Lynde: A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
Tyler Lynde: In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Tyler Lynde: Can we be real for the next few minutes?
Tyler Lynde: Can we get down to the very bottom line of all of this?
Tyler Lynde: You see, it's not an option for us to shine the light as believers in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: It's not optional.
Tyler Lynde: We don't get to choose to engage or not engage in this process.
Tyler Lynde: We are the light of the world.
Tyler Lynde: We are called to be a reflection of the light of Jesus in our hearts and shining brightly his reflection to the world around us.
Tyler Lynde: Now there's a lot of temptation to embrace resistance to this, to sit back and to think about when Jesus is going to return.
Tyler Lynde: And how many of you are thankful that he is going to return?
Tyler Lynde: And we should be waiting for and looking for his returning.
Tyler Lynde: But we're our job here on this earth, as long as we have a breath left in us, is not finished until he comes or we pass from this life to the next.
Tyler Lynde: Satan attempts to do everything he can to keep us from being obedient to the call to go.
Tyler Lynde: He will do anything he can to distract us.
Tyler Lynde: He loves darkness because he is darkness, and he wants everyone else to live in darkness forever and ever.
Tyler Lynde: This is true and this is real.
Tyler Lynde: So let's look at some potential barriers to going as we finish up.
Tyler Lynde: The first potential barrier to going is the comfort of community.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you have heard the saying, us for and no more?
Tyler Lynde: It's very easy for us to slip into a subtle brand of this where we're thinking about only ourselves and only those that are around us when we walk closely, exclusively with those who think like us, who believe like us?
Tyler Lynde: We can easily become apathetic concerning the state of the lost world around us.
Tyler Lynde: The longer that we are in Christ, the easier it seems for us to slip into this sort of temptation.
Tyler Lynde: The early church experienced this very thing.
Tyler Lynde: They were loving the church of Jerusalem that was a megachurch.
Tyler Lynde: And so what did God do?
Tyler Lynde: He allowed persecution to come into Jerusalem for what purpose?
Tyler Lynde: Just to mess with those people?
Tyler Lynde: No, to fulfill the purpose that He told them in Acts 1.8 when the Holy Spirit came upon them, that they would be spreading the gospel to the whole world.
Tyler Lynde: And so God used persecution, allowed persecution, to stir them up so that they would take this gospel out from Jerusalem and take it to all of the surrounding areas.
Tyler Lynde: Number two, fear of the darkness.
Tyler Lynde: And this is very real.
Tyler Lynde: I get it.
Tyler Lynde: This world continues to get darker.
Tyler Lynde: Can I beg with you to not give in to the fear that is in the media?
Tyler Lynde: You realize that the only way for them to get clicks or to continue to get people to watch is to ratchet up the fear factor, to turn it up on 10.
Tyler Lynde: Did you realize, and this is not a slam?
Tyler Lynde: Please don't take it as a slam.
Tyler Lynde: But did you realize that the apocalypse of winter storm fern began on Monday with the declaration of how horrible this was going to be?
Tyler Lynde: And listen, there are people in this country right now who are suffering greatly because of this.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know we still have to use our own discernment?
Tyler Lynde: We still have to be able to go outside and say, see, it's actually raining today and not snowing.
Tyler Lynde: That's a good thing.
Tyler Lynde: That's a good thing, right?
Tyler Lynde: So let's not give in to fear.
Tyler Lynde: This world has gone mad.
Tyler Lynde: There's a lot of things that give us pause.
Tyler Lynde: We realize that there's a ramping up also of persecution around the world.
Tyler Lynde: And sometimes it feels like it would be easier just to hunker down and wait it out.
Tyler Lynde: We're just going to wait the storm out.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know only Jesus can speak into the storm and say, Peace be still, America?
Tyler Lynde: And Jesus wants to work through us to do that very thing.
Tyler Lynde: The real reality is that we don't have the luxury of this kind of mindset.
Tyler Lynde: Can you imagine?
Tyler Lynde: Think with me for just a moment, if the person that reached you with the gospel of Jesus Christ had grown afraid of the darkness so much that they didn't open up their mouths and tell you the truth.
Tyler Lynde: Where would you and I be today?
Tyler Lynde: The third thing is love of the darkness.
Tyler Lynde: Can we be real together?
Tyler Lynde: Sometimes the reason we don't want to go and shine the light is because in some way we want to live in the shadows.
Tyler Lynde: We have a Sunday morning Christianity where we put on our smiles and we carry our Bibles and we uh sing the songs and we have our Christian knees, but the rest of the week, those around us, including our families and friends and those that we work with, have no idea that anything is different about us.
Tyler Lynde: We engage in the same conversations, we use the same words, we have the same uh attitudes towards our bosses, we do everything the way that the world does it, and yet we want people to follow Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus spoke of this very thing in John chapter 3, 19, and this is the judgment.
Tyler Lynde: The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
Tyler Lynde: We have to be careful not to love the darkness ourselves, to be drawn to it, to try to hide our light under a bushel.
Tyler Lynde: We all know the old song hide it under a bushel.
Tyler Lynde: A little louder, hide it under a bushel.
Tyler Lynde: I'm gonna let it shine.
Tyler Lynde: We need to bring that back because that is the temptation.
Tyler Lynde: Let's just hide.
Tyler Lynde: Let's just pretend.
Tyler Lynde: Let's just be like a uh, what's the lizard that adapts, a chameleon.
Tyler Lynde: If this is our disposition, what do we need to do?
Tyler Lynde: We need to repent and believe.
Tyler Lynde: The same gospel message that saved us also changes us.
Tyler Lynde: And finally, and this is the most egregious of all, hatred of those in darkness.
Tyler Lynde: It's very easy for us to judge those in darkness because they aren't acting like those who are in the light.
Tyler Lynde: Think about that for just a minute.
Tyler Lynde: We judge them because they're not acting like Christians.
Tyler Lynde: Bulletin, they are not Christians.
Tyler Lynde: That always has bothered me.
Tyler Lynde: Why in the world do we expect unbelievers to act like believers?
Tyler Lynde: And why in the world do we uh do we weigh out whether they're worthy of our time or our effort or our engagement based on the way that they act?
Tyler Lynde: Their God is the God of this world.
Tyler Lynde: They are in, they are walking in darkness.
Tyler Lynde: Don't expect for them to act like you do.
Tyler Lynde: They aren't yet in the light.
Tyler Lynde: Who are those people?
Tyler Lynde: Those people that we that we talk about with such disdain?
Tyler Lynde: Why are our hearts so tainted toward those who literally are in maximum need of Jesus?
Tyler Lynde: You could put whatever people group that you have a disdain toward in that category and ask yourself the question if I feel these feelings of hatred towards them like I do, how much more do they need Jesus?
Tyler Lynde: You see, we hate others when we forget how much we've been forgiven.
Tyler Lynde: It's easy for us to hate Jewish people and to forget that we've been forgiven.
Tyler Lynde: It's easy for us to hate Russians or Ukrainians or Mexicans or Americans or Republicans or Democrats or Cubans or Venezuelans, whatever it is, it's easy.
Tyler Lynde: Hatred is the easiest thing in the world.
Tyler Lynde: And how many of you know we are?
Tyler Lynde: Not called to be like that.
Tyler Lynde: We're called to shine the light in the darkness.
Tyler Lynde: And those that we would hate the most, we should love the most in the sense that we realize they are desperately in need of a savior.
Tyler Lynde: Just like we were.
Tyler Lynde: So let us separate ourselves completely by the grace of God from these things that would attempt to keep us from going for Jesus and let us fully embrace the plan of God as spelled out for us in the most famous verse in all of the Bible.
Tyler Lynde: Can we read it together?
Tyler Lynde: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Tyler Lynde: This is the heart of the Father, and this should be our heart as well.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: Kelly mentioned last week.
Tyler Lynde: I'm just going to quickly run through it.
Tyler Lynde: And I'm also going to give you one other next step.
Tyler Lynde: Okay.
Tyler Lynde: So the small circle model is simple.
Tyler Lynde: You don't have to know anything except how to read.
Tyler Lynde: Can everybody here read?
Tyler Lynde: Okay, that's good.
Tyler Lynde: Or you can, if you can't read, you can listen.
Tyler Lynde: As long as you can listen and push a button on your phone to listen to the Bible.
Tyler Lynde: Number two, it takes very little time.
Tyler Lynde: So this these are the reasons why it's easy to engage in this.
Tyler Lynde: It gets people reading the scripture.
Tyler Lynde: The word of God does not return empty, it achieves the purpose.
Tyler Lynde: It gets us all thinking reproduction.
Tyler Lynde: If it hasn't been passed on, it's not real discipleship, right?
Tyler Lynde: And it can be used with anyone.
Tyler Lynde: It can be used with Christians, mature believers, and it can be people used with people who are not yet believers.
Tyler Lynde: That's the beauty of this.
Tyler Lynde: So how does a small circle work?
Tyler Lynde: Invite one person.
Tyler Lynde: Okay?
Tyler Lynde: So in the next two weeks, I'm going to ask each of us to be a part of a small circle, to begin to be a part of a small circle.
Tyler Lynde: Okay?
Tyler Lynde: What I mean by that, you can either be the inviter, so you can invite somebody else to join you in studying the book of Mark, or you can somebody else can invite you to be a part of that.
Tyler Lynde: Okay?
Tyler Lynde: So invite one, and then the person that you invite, or if you're if they invite you, invite one other person.
Tyler Lynde: So the end goal is to have three people in this group.
Tyler Lynde: Does that make sense?
Tyler Lynde: I hope I'm feel like I'm over-explaining it.
Tyler Lynde: Am I man explaining it?
Tyler Lynde: Anyway, invite your one to invite.
Tyler Lynde: Try to keep it to three people.
Tyler Lynde: This is the disciple-making component.
Tyler Lynde: And then commit to read through the Gospel of Mark one chapter a week.
Tyler Lynde: Hopefully, you can read that same chapter every day of the week.
Tyler Lynde: And then by the end of the week, um write a prayer response based on the chapter.
Tyler Lynde: Just write down, it doesn't have to be, you know, three paragraphs.
Tyler Lynde: It can just be a couple of uh bullet points.
Tyler Lynde: Identify one insight from the chapter that's most impacting.
Tyler Lynde: Document one practical way that you can apply the passage.
Tyler Lynde: And also for people who don't yet have an understanding of the scripture, you could say to them, write down any questions that you have.
Tyler Lynde: Okay, and we'll talk about it.
Tyler Lynde: And then at the end of the week, participate in just a 20-minute call, a Zoom call or a phone call, and read through the prayers, talk through the scriptures, share your insight, your application, and pray for each other.
Tyler Lynde: And then once a month, get together and over a meal, hopefully, or coffee.
Tyler Lynde: For some of you, coffee is a meal, right?
Tyler Lynde: So get together over and spend time together face to face.
Tyler Lynde: And then at the completion of that time or before it actually begin to think about my next group of three.
Tyler Lynde: Okay.
Tyler Lynde: Now, that's one thing I'm gonna ask.
Tyler Lynde: And then also I'm gonna put a picture up for you.
Tyler Lynde: And this is what our coffee lobby looks like now.
Tyler Lynde: Not cool.
Tyler Lynde: So it says discipleship matters.
Tyler Lynde: And then the first, uh, and these are all dry erase boards, right?
Tyler Lynde: So the first one says, I am discipling.
Tyler Lynde: Second, I am being discipled.
Tyler Lynde: Third, I would like to disciple.
Tyler Lynde: And fourth, I would like to be discipled.
Tyler Lynde: Now, some of you may already be in more than one category.
Tyler Lynde: I signed up and I am I'm in three categories.
Tyler Lynde: That does not make me a super Christian or you know, extraordinarily uh special.
Tyler Lynde: It just means that that's the reality of where I'm living right now.
Tyler Lynde: Okay.
Tyler Lynde: So if you uh what I'd like for everybody to do over the next two weeks, there are dry erase uh markers out there.
Tyler Lynde: I would like for you to just write your name in whichever categories, and again, there may be multiples, that you can apply yourself to.
Tyler Lynde: Okay.
Tyler Lynde: And what we're gonna do specifically on the one that says, I would like to be discipled, we as a team are going to attempt to connect people up if there's not already a connection point, right?
Tyler Lynde: So you may be new to the church, you don't know anybody, uh, but you would like to be a part of this small circle movement.
Tyler Lynde: Um, and so we want to help facilitate that, right?
Tyler Lynde: So I'm gonna ask you to even take time this uh while you're leaving the service today or next week and fill this out.
Tyler Lynde: On February the 8th, we're gonna all come together as a church and we're gonna pray for each other and ask the Lord to anoint this time of discipleship.
Tyler Lynde: It's a 16-week commitment.
Tyler Lynde: And our hope is that through this year that you'll at least go through two iterations of that.
Tyler Lynde: So two 16-week periods of time that you're walking with others and talking with them about the scriptures.
Tyler Lynde: Okay.
Tyler Lynde: It's pretty cool because also our daily reading is going to be in the book of art pretty soon.
Tyler Lynde: And so that's gonna sort of correlate with this start in February.
Tyler Lynde: Okay?
Tyler Lynde: Does that make sense?
Tyler Lynde: We don't want to over-organize it or over, it's not, we don't want it to be just a program that's church driven.
Tyler Lynde: We want this to be in each and every one of our hearts and for it to be a natural thing that happens.
Tyler Lynde: But we do also want to provide some accountability, first of all, right?
Tyler Lynde: You're gonna want your name on that wall.
Tyler Lynde: I sure hope that you want your name on the wall.
Tyler Lynde: And then, second of all, we also want to provide, if there are those who need to get plugged in with others, we want to provide that kind of opportunity.
Tyler Lynde: We want to help to do that.
Tyler Lynde: Okay?
Tyler Lynde: Does that make sense?
Tyler Lynde: All right.
Tyler Lynde: Would you stand to your feet?
Tyler Lynde: And I'm gonna pray and commission you and send you out as uh disciples of Jesus Christ who are going.
Tyler Lynde: And as you're going, you're gonna make disciples this week, even, right?
Tyler Lynde: Father, we thank you for the privilege of being in your house today.
Tyler Lynde: And those who have joined us online as well, Lord, we thank you that we have this great um commission.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, you haven't asked us to do this as a form of punishment or like to make us feel uneasy or afraid.
Tyler Lynde: Father, we actually get to enjoy being a part of the process.
Tyler Lynde: Sort of like um doulas or midwives that get to help with the delivery of babies.
Tyler Lynde: We get to help you as you do the great work of causing people who walk in darkness to walk in the light.
Tyler Lynde: So, Lord, we ask that you would help us to be those people who go, to be those people who preach the gospel in clarity and from conviction.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, that we would preach the gospel to all.
Tyler Lynde: We would not be uh uh bigots in any sense of the word, that we would not hold back from being willing to share the gospel with whomever it is that you put us in front of.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you for this privilege.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, we ask that you give us in the book of Acts, the disciples asked for boldness and courage many times over when it came especially to declaring the name of Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: We ask that by the power of the Holy Spirit that you would fill us and give us the ability to share this message and our lives and to shine the light of Jesus to the world around us.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, we thank you that we're gonna have tremendous testimonies and praise reports of what you're doing, that you are confirming your word by performing signs and wonders by your great power and because of who you are.
Tyler Lynde: We thank you for all of these things.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, I pray that you would bless all of your people and that you would keep them that you cause your face to shine upon them and be gracious to them.
Tyler Lynde: I pray that you would lift up your countenance upon them and give them peace in Jesus' mighty name.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.