WEBVTT 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:13.919 Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:19.359 You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:21.199 Thank you for listening. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:24.399 Thank you, choir, guys, for a sweet time of worship. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:29.039 Isn't it great to be able to sing that song about the faithfulness and the goodness of God? 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:30.879 He is wonderful. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:44.479 And if you don't know Jesus as your Savior, I can't preach a sermon anywhere as eloquent as that testimony from this group of people who know the faithfulness of God and the goodness of God. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:46.880 And so just want to encourage you to listen to that. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:54.880 And if you're searching today, if you have questions today about what it means to be a believer, then that right there is as great a testimony as you'll ever get. 00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:56.079 Thank you, congregation. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:13.359 Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28, and we're going to finish our little three-week study here today on the core values that we are trying to build into our church life to complete the mission that Jesus gave us in the Great Commission. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:27.120 We refer to that, the Great Commission, as a sort of a church term, an idiom that's been used through the years to explain how we go about what Jesus commanded us to do as his followers. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:31.840 And so the question is not what it is, but how to do it. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:43.680 And so these three core values we've studied over the last three weeks, and they really encourage us, they help us understand why and how we're doing what we're doing. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:46.159 It's not an accident that these things happen. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:52.799 They're all on purpose and we're all working through making all of our plans based on these core values. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:55.519 The first one we studied the first week is evangelism. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:00.640 We want to take the gospel to people who need Jesus so they can be saved. 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:02.319 The presence of Jesus. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:07.040 This is all about coming into a relationship with Jesus and being in his presence. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:16.560 I'm so grateful for the powerful message that Pastor Matt preached last week on being in the presence of Jesus and how that works. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:31.599 Corporate worship, as we just experienced that just a moment ago, to hear the voices of God in unison singing about the person of God and ushering us into his presence as our teacher, as our Savior, and as our Lord. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:35.520 And then today we want to talk about transformation. 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:37.039 See, that's what this is about. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:39.120 It's about transformation. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:42.240 There are all kinds of organizations in our culture. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:44.000 We're not an organization. 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:46.400 That's not what we are, it's not what we do. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:57.840 We are the body of Christ fulfilling the commission of Jesus to help people to enter into a relationship with him so that he can transform us into his image. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:02:58.400 Right? 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:19.199 And an incredible testimony from Gunner and Robin about the impact that that had on them as young marriage, being involved in the church and other believers investing in them, and now them giving that back into the lives of others and wanting to invest so that they can grow and walk with Jesus. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:24.080 That's an incredible picture of what we're going to talk about today in transformation. 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:29.840 I want you to uh, if you have not turned in your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 8, go ahead and do that. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:35.520 And on the screen we have uh that part that's called the Great Commission. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:40.560 But I want to back up just a little bit and get a running core into this moment. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:46.240 So you have there verse 18, but I want you, if you have your scripture, to start with me in verse 16. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:51.360 And let's see this moment here and get a context of this moment. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:04:00.879 Uh in verse 16 of Matthew 28, the Bible says, the eleven disciples traveled to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:04.879 Now, earlier in the chapter, we saw the resurrection of Jesus. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:07.280 And so he was resurrected from the dead. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:15.840 He met with Mary and those ladies who went to the tomb, and he instructed them, go back and tell them to meet me at this mountain. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:24.800 Now, in all of the gospels, if you put them together, there are a number of events that happen between that moment of resurrection and when they come to this mountain. 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:25.839 But here they are. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:31.120 They were directed to meet Jesus here because he has something very important he wants to do with them. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:36.160 Verse 17, when they saw him, they worshiped. 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:39.920 Now you think for a minute. 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:45.439 They saw Jesus nailed to a cross. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:05:04.000 They saw Jesus beaten, bloodied, and they saw him hung on a cross, and they were standing there, at least in close enough proximity, that they could hear Jesus cry out, It is finished. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:08.879 And then he died there on the cross. 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:14.800 They understood when he was buried in that tomb. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:20.079 And now they are looking at Jesus alive having conquered death and sin. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:27.680 The response that we should have to a risen Savior is always to worship him. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:30.720 He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:34.079 The Bible says he is the author and finisher of our faith. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:37.680 He is the one who accomplished what no one else could. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:41.120 He died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:58.000 And he, in a way that no one else ever could, he is the only one as the author of life, as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, as the creator of life, he walked out of that tomb, conquering death and sin in victory to offer us salvation. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:01.920 That is the Jesus that they are standing before. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:10.480 And they are worshiping him in his resurrected person, in his victory as our Savior. 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:20.639 Now that nothing should encourage our faith and strengthen our faith any more than the fact that we serve a risen Savior. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:26.399 But it also says, but some doubt it. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:30.399 Now the question in my mind is, what is there to doubt? 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:35.279 I mean, Jesus walked out of the tomb and he's standing there alive in front of you. 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:36.879 What are you gonna doubt? 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:40.800 Most likely what they're doubting is the future. 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:42.879 What's going to happen? 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:44.879 How is this going to work? 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:53.439 We had a vision for what Jesus was going to do, and he didn't do what we thought he was going to do, and then we saw him die, and then he rose again. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:55.600 Yeah, he's risen again, but he could die again. 00:06:55.680 --> 00:06:58.959 He died once, and what's going to happen to us, and how's this future gonna go? 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:04.160 And all these Roman soldiers are lying, saying we took his body and hid it, and all this kind of what's happening. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:10.959 And their eyes are not on the person of Jesus, they're on something else. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:20.240 And when we take our eyes off the resurrected Savior, it tends to allow those other thoughts and doubts to creep in. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:27.839 In that context, Jesus came near them and he said to them, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:44.160 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and remember, I am with you always to the end of the age. 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:57.759 And we see there in this encapsulated vision statement for us as a church, the instruction of what to do, the vision of what this is going to look like in the future. 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:02.240 But also we have the how-to of how this is going to work. 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:08.639 And so he is given a nutshell version that's going to be unpacked through the rest of their ministry. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:18.639 It captures the principles that he taught them all those three years that he was walking with them, leading up to that moment of the cross and the resurrection and accomplishing salvation. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:21.600 And so he encapsulates it all in this moment. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:31.759 And so it is the most beautiful place for us to understand how we go about this Great Commission and what this great commission is. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.000 That's where we get evangelism. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:41.360 He says, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:44.240 We are to take the gospel all over the world. 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:49.600 We're supposed to take it in every place where people have not had an opportunity to hear about Jesus. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:09:00.320 We're supposed to take it into the lives of each and every person who's not accepted Christ as their Savior and give them that good news of the gospel so they can be saved. 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:02.240 The presence of God. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:03.679 Look at what he says. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.879 All authority has been given to me, Jesus. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:08.720 He is the authority. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:10.639 We go under his authority. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:12.320 We go in his power. 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:14.399 He is the one that makes that work. 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:18.159 And then he says, teaching them to deserve everything I've commanded you. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:19.519 Jesus has commanded. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:23.039 And then he says, remember, I am with you always. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:29.519 As we go every step we take, Jesus is with us every step of the way. 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:31.279 He is the one empowering us. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:32.639 He is the one encouraging us. 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:35.919 He is in everything that we do. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.159 It is his presence that we seek. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:42.639 And that's why that is such an important thing for us to understand. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:44.240 And then transformation. 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:49.279 Teaching them to observe everything I've commanded you. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:52.240 And we're going to talk about how that's transformation today. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:56.320 He's not here for behavioral modification. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:10:01.039 Jesus didn't come for us to act better, do better, be better. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:13.600 Jesus came to take us from who we were as sinners and to literally transform us in every way, spiritually, emotionally, personally, our character. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:18.480 He changes us and he turns us in a completely different direction. 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:29.679 And he spends the rest of our lives here on this earth transforming us into his image, creating in us the person who would be described as a disciple. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:37.519 And then he ultimately takes us home to heaven and transforms us finally and eternally to live with him there. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:42.399 Jesus came to transform us into someone else. 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:46.720 So I'm going to use this term for our three points today: Jesus transformation. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:48.159 Because that's what we're doing. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:55.840 It's Jesus' transformation in us, and then it is being transformed into the person and image of Jesus. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:07.679 Look at what it is. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:19.039 Jesus is the one who is the object, he is the standard, he is the actor, he is the power, he is all of that. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:24.720 This is all about being transformed in the image of Jesus, and that only comes through the work of Jesus. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:26.080 Look at what he says. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:31.200 The power of Jesus, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:43.840 Man, I'm telling you what, when we do ministry submitted to the leadership and the lordship of Jesus, and the power of Jesus works through us, man, that's when things happen. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:46.399 It is the power of Jesus. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:51.039 Listen, people don't come and get saved just because we open the doors. 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:59.840 It is the activity and the power of Jesus who works to save and to transform and to work and to act. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:01.200 It is the presence of Jesus. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:02.720 And lo, I am with you always. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:05.200 That's why that's one of our core values. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.480 We must always be seeking the presence of Jesus. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:10.879 We must be in the presence of Jesus. 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:18.960 Because when people come into the presence of Jesus, then he works and acts as the one who transforms. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:26.080 And it's the precepts of Jesus, teaching them to observe everything I, Jesus, have commanded you. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:28.559 It is what He commands us to do. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:33.519 He has put together the commands in life that we are to follow on purpose. 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:38.480 They are purposeful and they work and they have spiritual power. 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:47.039 Scripture, the Bible says, is God breathed and it is powerful and profitable in our lives. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:58.000 It is the precepts of Scripture and the principles that Jesus taught and embodied and that He encourages and commands in our lives that impact us. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:01.919 The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:04.799 It is His precepts that change us. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:08.240 Listen, we're not here making up stuff or figuring out whatever. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:12.639 It's all here in Scripture and we are following what He teaches. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:19.759 It is incredible and an honor to be a part of a church that has such a heritage being rooted in the Word of God. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:31.600 If you've not had a chance to listen to some of those Legacy Series podcasts and hear some of those former incredible men of God preaching, you need to do that sometime when you're driving or whatever. 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:33.279 It changes your perspective. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.679 First of all, it's incredible to hear them preach. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:44.879 And second of all, it's incredible to think that that is the testimony of the generations of our church. 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:55.519 And it's powerful to know and to understand that it is God's word and precepts at work in us through his power and through his presence. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:58.080 Listen, I've said it before, I'll keep saying it again. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:02.399 Everything that's good that happens in the church, it happens because Jesus did it. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:04.960 He is the one who is preeminent. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:06.320 He is the one who is acting. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:07.919 He is the one that we worship. 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:17.360 Just like these people are standing here on this mountain, they are worshiping a risen, powerful, omnipotent, life-giving Savior. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:20.960 And that's what we do when we come to worship. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:24.399 When you come here, your focus is on him. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:39.679 You are taking those words as Jacob encouraged us to do, and you are thinking about who Jesus is and what he's done in us and how his mercies are new every day, and how he is faithful to us, and it is all him, and we are surrendering ourselves to him so that he can work. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:41.679 All throughout Scripture we're taught that. 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:52.720 Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, he says, I have been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life that I now live in this flesh. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.759 I live through the Son of Jesus Christ. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:04.000 In Titus 3, 5, the Bible says, Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he has saved us. 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:08.639 By the washing of regeneration, by the cleansing of salvation is what that means. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:12.639 By the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:21.840 Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2 says, I urge you, brothers, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice to the Lord, which is your reasonable service. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:27.360 And don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:29.039 Who's doing that renewing? 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:33.519 The Lord Jesus, through the presence and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:41.360 In Ephesians chapter 5, when he talks to husbands, he says, Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:45.039 And then he gives the purpose of why Jesus died for us. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:54.720 That he might present her, the church, to himself, being changed into the condition of being without spot, without blemish, or without wrinkle. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:56.960 That's what Jesus is doing in us. 00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:59.200 And it is him that does that in us. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:06.399 And so we surrender ourselves to him and we understand that the goal of what we're doing is Jesus' transformation. 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:14.399 It is people looking more like Jesus tomorrow than they did today, more like Jesus next week than they look like Jesus this week. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:17.600 More like Jesus next month than we look like Jesus this month. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:20.720 More like Jesus next year than we look like this year. 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:27.039 The whole process is my character being transformed and changed into the person of Jesus. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:29.759 Listen, just hear me a minute. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:49.039 If you're a seeker, if you've got questions about what it means to be saved, if you are struggling with something in your life and you just don't know if the promises that this church talks about, if you don't know that those are real, if those are going to work in your life, listen, it's not promises that come from us. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:52.399 It's the person of Jesus who changes and saves. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:57.279 And so if you want to know, is there hope for you in that circumstance? 00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:04.400 Listen, it is Jesus who brings that hope because he transforms that in your life and he builds that in your life. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:11.920 It is the Jesus who stood on this mountain and said, I have conquered death and sin who comes into your life and does that work. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:26.000 When you learn the precepts of Scripture and the Holy Spirit works that in your life, man, it changes you eternally because it's Jesus that is doing that work. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:37.200 If you're lonely, if you have questions, if you're doubting, if you're struggling, whatever your question is, listen, Jesus is the answer to your question. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:48.160 And all we want you to know in everything that we do is to point you to the person of Jesus. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:53.920 Well, if it's about Jesus transformation, here's the next thing we understand. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:59.839 Jesus transformation, there has to be a way for us to obey this command. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:01.680 So look at what the Bible says. 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:05.440 All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:07.359 Go, therefore. 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:09.200 That is a command. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:14.400 Because of the authority he has given us, he is giving us a command to obey. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:23.759 Go and make baptizing, teaching them to observe everything I've commanded you. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:27.119 There is a command in this commission. 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:29.839 We do not have an option. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:33.440 We must go. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:36.559 We must baptize. 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:41.519 And we must teach people to observe what he's commanded. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:49.119 And so Jesus' transformation, he's not trying to hide things, he's not trying to make it complicated, he's not trying to mess it up. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:55.039 He is trying to put it on the table for us so that we can be obedient to the command that he's given us. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:19:06.240 And so Jesus' transformation involves a clear process that can and must be followed in obedience to this make command. 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:11.039 Why would Jesus give us a command and then not tell us how to obey it? 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:12.559 That doesn't make sense. 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:18.160 Why would Jesus give us an instruction and a mission statement and then hide the ball from us? 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:19.680 That doesn't make sense. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:20.799 There's no way. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:23.759 He is giving us this command to obey. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:30.319 He is going to equip and empower us to obey it, and he's given us the process, how it works. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:31.599 Make what? 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:33.759 Make disciples. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:34.960 Make disciples. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:36.240 What's a disciple? 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:38.559 We talked about this in the first week. 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:42.880 The word disciple is an incredibly powerful and rich word. 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:59.200 And what it means is someone who's learned from a teacher who has inculcated their belief system and their behaviors and philosophy and structure of life, and they now are not only living it, but they are promulgating that same process to others. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:04.559 If you want to know a disciple, let me give you a common illustration that'll make sense. 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:07.839 How many of you, we have some folks here served in the Marine Corps. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:09.680 How many of you were in the Marine Corps? 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:10.880 Raise your hand. 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:13.519 Marines are proud to raise their hands. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.079 Marines are disciples, amen? 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:18.559 You guys can nod with me there, right? 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:20.799 Once you're a Marine, you're always a Marine. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:23.200 And they make you a Marine, don't they? 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:26.240 And you follow what the Marine Corps is. 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:41.119 And so what happens is a guy or lady who's been transformed by the Marine Corps becomes your drill sergeant and your boot camp leader and all that kind of stuff, and they build you up in the Marine Corps, and then you go out and you serve as a Marine. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:21:02.880 And then someone from that unit is going to become the next trainer who takes the history of the Marine Corps, the ethos of the Marine Corps, the vision of the Marine Corps, the belief system of the Marine Corps, the how-to of the Marine Corps, and they build the next generation of Marines. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:05.599 That's what discipleship is. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:09.039 That's what being a disciple is. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:13.599 And so he gives us that command to make and to make what? 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:14.720 Disciples. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:18.000 So there must be a process in which that occurs. 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:21.039 And that process is really clear in Scripture. 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:24.640 Teaching them to observe everything I've commanded you. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:28.400 Now, if you back up, the whole process looks like this. 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:36.480 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I've commanded you. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:37.359 So it looks like this. 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:41.359 Here's a person who doesn't know Christ as their Savior, never been saved. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:42.799 They don't understand the power of that. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:44.480 They don't understand the glory of that. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:55.200 Someone shows them the picture of Jesus on the cross, resurrected from the dead, who can forgive their sins, and they take their life and they take everything they've been, they are, and they ever will be. 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:59.519 And as a choice of faith, they give their life to Jesus because he gave his life for theirs. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.319 And then we do something called baptism. 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:04.160 Why do we do this baptism? 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:09.519 Why was baptism created in Scripture and why is it commanded as a part of the mission? 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:21.440 Because baptism was a rite of passage, obedience, where you symbolically surrendered yourself to a belief system and you committed yourself to that process. 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:24.160 In a general way, that's what baptism is. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:31.759 Now, our baptism looks like it does because it explains the gospel and how you're baptized. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:40.400 You are buried with him in the likeness of his death when you go all the way under the water, and you are raised with him in the likeness of his resurrection. 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:43.440 We are raised to walk in newness of life. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:58.960 And so this baptism, God is commanding us to baptize and teach baptism and understand that as that step of obedience coming from salvation because it is how that person identifies themselves as I am now a follower of Christ. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.599 I am now a part of the body of Christ. 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:05.279 I am now committed to the mission, and I am a part of the mission. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:11.440 And then we begin that process of taking that person and we go, here's your Bible, here's how it works, we're going to obey this. 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:19.759 God's going to take this and put it into your life, He's going to take that and put it out of your life, and according to the teaching of Scripture, and that's the process of how it works. 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:22.400 It doesn't work any other way than that. 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:24.400 That's the only way it works. 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:27.920 But here's the beauty of it: it works every single time. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:32.640 If you will give your life to Christ, he will save you because he promised to do so. 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:39.599 And then if you will walk with Jesus, he will engage in this transformation process and change you throughout it. 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:40.960 Your life here. 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:42.960 And so that's how that works. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:44.640 What is he commanded? 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:53.839 Well, there's a lot of pages there, and I'm not going to try to go through all those commands, but you can categorize them in six simple ways. 00:23:54.160 --> 00:23:57.039 This is what the Christian life encapsulates. 00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:03.599 Every one of those commands you can put it right into here because it's a part of this process of being transformed. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:04.640 Worship. 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:06.559 That's prayer Bible study. 00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:08.480 That's the picture of a surrendered life. 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:10.400 I am worshiping him with my life. 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:11.920 I am coming to him in prayer. 00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:14.079 I'm submitting myself to Scripture. 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:15.200 I am following Him. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:17.920 I am worshiping Him a surrendered life. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:22.319 Then you have transformation, or you can use the word discipleship. 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:28.079 I've chosen not to use that word specifically for our core values because I want us to see the target. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:31.920 Discipleship is how you are transformed. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:36.079 And I want us to always keep in mind that the goal is transformation. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:40.640 It is being moved and changed and transformed in the image of Jesus. 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:43.519 Transformation is a Bible word. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:47.279 Again, Romans 12, 1 and 2, that I quoted a minute ago. 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:51.920 Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:58.799 Community, when Jared introduced Robin and Gunnar and he talked about our Sunday school class, he talked about community. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:04.079 He described in that men's Bible study and women's Bible study how Christians working together. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:11.599 Robin shared an incredible testimony about people who invested in her and how that worked and all the ladies in the church that invested in their lives. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:12.640 That's community. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:14.240 That's what community does. 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:16.000 We have to be in community. 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:19.680 There literally is no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.599 You cannot do the Christian life as an individual. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:29.519 You are literally in violation of the Great Commission. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:33.839 Who are you discipling and who's discipling you? 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:39.119 Who are you sharing Jesus with if you're doing it by yourself? 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:42.559 It literally cannot be done that way. 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:45.759 And you were saved into the body of Christ. 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:47.759 It is a part of our identity. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:49.839 And so community is a part of what we do. 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:53.039 Ministry, your place in the body involves service. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:56.160 And the moment that you're saved, the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of you. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:10.559 And one of the things that He does is He activates a desire and a gift and an ability in you, a focus and a way for you to participate in the body as impacted and birthed and empowered by the Holy Spirit in your life. 00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:12.079 Evangelism. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:14.960 Evangelism is not the preacher's job. 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:18.000 Evangelism is the Christian's job. 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:23.599 When we were with our kids, we were raising our kids, and they come to us and say, Why do we have to go to church this week? 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:26.880 You're only making us go to church because you're the pastor. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:31.039 No, we're going to church because we're Christians. 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:33.839 Christians go to church. 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:36.799 That's what Christians do. 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:39.039 That's who we are. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:41.279 We're not doing that because of the pastor. 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:49.440 In fact, sometimes the pastor knows more than y'all do, and the pastor wants to not go to church more than you want to not go to church. 00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:54.160 We go because we're believers. 00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:56.319 Because that's what we do. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:01.200 And we share Jesus because we're believers, that's what we do. 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:10.319 It is not the church as a whole that's doing evangelism. 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:19.599 There's no mission project if people hadn't signed up and are going to England or to El Salvador. 00:27:20.160 --> 00:27:31.599 There's no serving on the campus like you guys did at UAFS, except you show up and you bring four tons of cookies. 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:43.759 It was awesome what you guys did, and all the people that showed up to love on college students, and to be smiling faces and to show them a picture of the love of Jesus by the way that they love. 00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:44.799 That's how it works. 00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:45.920 That's evangelism. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:48.160 It happens when everybody does it. 00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:50.079 And stewardship. 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:51.519 Stewardship. 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:53.119 What is stewardship? 00:27:53.359 --> 00:28:01.519 That's with my money and my life and my talents, I acknowledge that he is God and I am not. 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:07.440 I give not because I like or don't like what's going on. 00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:16.240 I give because Jesus has provided these resources in my life, and I am worshiping him because he blessed me. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:19.839 It is not my money, it is his money. 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:21.920 Well, no, Pastor, I worked real hard for it. 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:24.559 Well, where did you get your skill set from? 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:26.160 Mom and Dad? 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:26.799 No. 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:37.200 You got it from a chemistry that we call DNA, that the scripture explains that he knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb. 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:41.279 He designed you for who you are. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:44.880 He gave you those aptitudes and talents and desires and abilities. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:46.160 He built that into you. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:52.160 So literally, everything that we have and everything that we do comes from the Father. 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:56.640 It's not my life, it's not my money. 00:28:57.119 --> 00:28:58.720 It's not my talents. 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:04.880 And stewardship I am simply a steward of everything that God has given to me. 00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:12.240 And then that teaching to observe whatever I've commanded you, Jesus knows that there's a process in that. 00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:17.119 He's not just trying to get us to obey or march in lockstep or whatever. 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:19.440 We talk about the transformation triangle. 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:35.759 That's just one way to explain that chemistry of how a command of God and being in the presence of God and somebody encouraging you and showing you how, and then you stepping out in faith and being obedient, how that works to transform us. 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:38.480 He's not changing our behavior. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:41.680 He's changing our hearts and our minds and our lives. 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:47.440 And it works in that equilateral triangle picture that we show around here so often. 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:48.799 And it's built this way. 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:50.559 It's an equilateral triangle. 00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:52.319 My identity is in Christ. 00:29:52.480 --> 00:30:02.880 I have been saved and I have been baptized, which means I am a part of the body of Christ in the kingdom of God, inextricably linked. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:08.000 I am yours and you are mine because I am his and he is mine. 00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:09.279 That's how it works. 00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:10.880 That is our identity in Christ. 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:18.240 And when we are standing in their identity, baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe whatever I've commanded you. 00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:21.440 That's relationship, that's my relationship with him. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:24.799 That's prayer Bible study and faith choices that he puts in front of me. 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:28.480 And in that faith choice, I am not just doing something. 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:38.319 I am listening to a call from God, an instruction from God, something he's revealed in his word and has spoken to me and it's called me to a step of obedience. 00:30:38.400 --> 00:30:41.519 And I am looking up in faith saying, Do you really want me to do that? 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:42.880 Like, are you seriously? 00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:43.839 You want me to do that? 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:45.440 Yes, I want you to do that, son. 00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:47.200 Well, you're gonna have to help me do that. 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:51.920 Well, I promise to help you do that because I promised my presence would be with you always. 00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:54.000 I'm not sure I can do that. 00:30:54.240 --> 00:31:01.680 I told you all authority and power in heaven and on earth is in me, and I will help you do this if you'll step out in faith. 00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:10.079 And then you say, Okay, Lord, I will step out in faith, and you do that, and it is a relationship with him that transforms us into his image. 00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:15.680 And that transformation process is always going to involve serving others. 00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:19.039 It is always going to involve serving others. 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:23.440 Everybody influences people around them. 00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:26.640 The question is not, do you influence people? 00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:30.960 You influence people, you have influence. 00:31:31.200 --> 00:31:38.799 Some people may have a broader scope of influence, some people may have a lesser scope of influence, but everybody has influence. 00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:45.440 A guy I used to serve with, he used to tell me that everybody has somebody that will listen to them. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:49.519 The question is not, are you influencing people? 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:54.960 The question, are you influencing them towards Jesus? 00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:01.279 Are you encouraging their transformation process? 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:04.880 Are you helping them to take that step of faith? 00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:07.279 Are you teaching them how to study God's word? 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:14.079 Are you taking them alongside you in ministry and you're showing them how to do ministry so that they learn how to do ministry? 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:20.480 When you serve and you're doing ministry and your goal is transformation, then you learn, man, I can't do this. 00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:22.079 I gotta pray over this. 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:25.039 And you grow to become more like Jesus. 00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:39.599 When you serve in a way that you've prayed over what you're doing, and you begin to see people not as people, but you see them as someone that you want to love them a step closer to Jesus, you are transformed in the image of Jesus. 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:49.599 It affirms your identity in the body of Christ because now you see everyone as someone that you have a desire for them to grow closer to Jesus. 00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:57.359 And the chemistry of that works together to help us be transformed in the image of Jesus. 00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:02.240 You see, he's not hiding the ball from us, it's all right there. 00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:13.119 Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe what I, Jesus, have commanded. 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:26.160 So if the goal of this is transformation, and then it happens through the person, the power, the presence, the precepts of Jesus, and there's a process that happens, how does it happen? 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:37.039 Jesus transformation occurs only through the investment of the disciples' own transformation into the life of another person. 00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:48.559 This is a command given to eleven people to set in motion a process that all of us have been following since that day on that mountain. 00:33:48.960 --> 00:33:52.400 Who is going to go and make and teach? 00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:55.200 It's those 11 people. 00:33:57.039 --> 00:34:13.760 They're going to find people and they're going to lead them to Christ and they're going to baptize them and teach them what that means, and then they're going to teach them about Jesus and what's happening, and they're going to encourage their walk, and then they're going to become a disciple, and then those people are going to go find other people, and they're going to begin to do the same thing. 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:26.719 You see, if the disciple is not making, if the disciple is not teaching, if the disciple is not investing their life in the other person, there's not another disciple. 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:29.199 And the line ends. 00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:43.199 If this is a classroom, a student is free to get the information, pass the test, walk out, and go live life as they want to on their own, regardless of the information they've been taught. 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:45.679 This is not about information. 00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:47.199 This is not about teaching. 00:34:47.360 --> 00:34:50.400 This is about transformation into the image of Jesus. 00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:52.880