back to index2015-05-03 BCC Vision 4
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If you look at the bottom from the front page of our program, we'll give you the fourfold 00:00:11.960 |
Our vision of bringing community to church is to glorify God by establishing a church 00:00:17.460 |
that engages in God-centered worship and not man-centered, two, a church that equips every 00:00:22.940 |
believer with God's inerrant word, three, a church that builds a community through love 00:00:28.220 |
and accountability, and four, a church that reaches out to its community with the gospel 00:00:38.740 |
Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for your goodness. 00:00:43.160 |
We thank you for your patience, your endurance, your love that pursues us, Lord God, while 00:00:55.620 |
We thank you, Father God, for your grace, and by your grace alone, Lord, that we're 00:01:01.780 |
able to come here and worship you, to call you our Abba Father. 00:01:06.260 |
Help us, Lord, to never take these things for granted, but in view of your mercy, that 00:01:12.100 |
we would give our bodies as a living sacrifice, that we may live lives truly worthy of the 00:01:20.140 |
We pray for your blessing and the power of your Holy Spirit to lead us this morning. 00:01:25.100 |
>> Some of you guys may have read or been following the news about the six foreigners 00:01:34.660 |
Some of you guys may have heard of it, some of you may have read it. 00:01:37.620 |
Basically what happened about six years ago, this bunch of foreigners got caught smuggling 00:01:42.640 |
drugs in and out of Indonesia, and their punishment a couple years ago was that they were going 00:01:50.820 |
And so it was big international news, so Australia, from different places from different countries 00:01:55.740 |
were trying to get them to stop that, and Indonesia went ahead and did it, and they 00:02:00.060 |
spared one lady, and everyone else got executed by the firing squad. 00:02:03.940 |
Well, you may have heard the news, but one of the men who got executed this week, his 00:02:09.300 |
name was Andrew Chan, and he's from Australia. 00:02:13.140 |
And the reason why he was somebody that I took notice of was because he was a confessing 00:02:19.900 |
Christian who was actually evangelizing to the others who were sentenced to death. 00:02:25.020 |
And he ended up bringing the Gospel to the people in jail, and there was a big talk about 00:02:29.020 |
him and his fervency for the Lord, and obviously many people were praying for him to be released. 00:02:36.620 |
An Australian pastor, one of the pastors for Hillsong in Australia, reached out to him, 00:02:41.020 |
was meeting with him on a regular basis, and he basically gave his testimony before he 00:02:45.740 |
passed, before he was executed, about his conversion. 00:02:49.580 |
And at the latter part of it, obviously a lot of people were praying for him, and he 00:02:52.700 |
spoke specifically about a day when he had to go into court, knowing that the possible 00:03:00.740 |
But let me read you an excerpt from what he says. 00:03:06.500 |
Just before my court date, where he would receive the death penalty, I remember reading 00:03:10.420 |
Mark 11, 23-24, where it says that, "If you have enough faith, you can say to this mountain, 00:03:19.020 |
So I said, "God, if you're real, and if this is true, I want you to free me. 00:03:23.540 |
And if you do, I'll serve you every day for the rest of my life." 00:03:27.780 |
I went to my court hearing, and they convicted me and gave me the death penalty. 00:03:32.620 |
When I got back to my cell, I said, "God, I asked you to set me free, not kill me." 00:03:38.440 |
God spoke to me and said, "Andrew, I have set you free from the inside out. 00:03:43.900 |
From that moment on, I haven't stopped worshiping him. 00:03:46.340 |
I had never sung before, never led worship, until Jesus set me free. 00:03:51.020 |
What a powerful testimony of a man who was sentenced to death and was actually executed 00:03:57.620 |
But his testimony in prison was he recognized that it wasn't his physical freedom that was 00:04:07.660 |
And now that he's free, now he's able to worship God. 00:04:11.300 |
And again, I was reading this, and again, it's the power of the gospel, of why you and 00:04:18.620 |
If we weren't affected by the gospel, we wouldn't be here. 00:04:25.060 |
You and I are gathered here because something miraculous happened to each Christian, that 00:04:32.380 |
It wasn't because God answered our prayer and we got the right job, or we were sick 00:04:39.140 |
There was a spiritual sickness in every single one of us, and God set us free from the bondage 00:04:46.560 |
And so, every single person in this room, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, we 00:04:52.860 |
are obligated to tell this story to everyone else in this world. 00:04:58.500 |
There's a tendency for us to think that the gospel ministry is for pastors, or for missionaries, 00:05:05.020 |
or a few select people, but that's not your gift, that's not your desire. 00:05:08.500 |
You have different goals, you're a businessman. 00:05:18.180 |
Every single person who has been affected by the cross has been called to the gospel 00:05:23.300 |
It doesn't mean that everyone's called to the pulpit, not everyone has been called overseas, 00:05:29.420 |
but there's not a single person who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ, who's been 00:05:33.220 |
affected by the cross, who has not been called to the gospel ministry. 00:05:37.100 |
Paul says in Romans 1, 14-15, "I am under obligation, both to Greeks and to the barbarians, 00:05:43.620 |
both to the wise and to the foolish, so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also 00:05:49.460 |
Paul was not talking about some specific calling because he's an apostle. 00:05:53.940 |
He's talking about his obligation because he is a recipient of that grace. 00:06:01.420 |
If you and I profess to be the recipients of this grace, and to say, "You know what? 00:06:05.580 |
I believe that Jesus Christ is the answer for man's problem, that there is death and 00:06:10.620 |
judgment waiting without Christ," and to claim that we believe that, and then not feel any 00:06:16.760 |
obligation to share this with as many people as possible, there's something wrong with 00:06:23.500 |
Paul again says in 1 Corinthians 9-16, "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel." 00:06:28.540 |
He's not just talking about himself as an apostle. 00:06:31.980 |
He's not saying this because he's a missionary. 00:06:34.060 |
He's saying this because he himself was a recipient of this grace. 00:06:40.500 |
If you study through the Old Testament and the New Testament, the biggest struggle that 00:06:44.420 |
the Israelites had was they thought that they were specifically chosen and blessed by God, 00:06:50.160 |
and so they had this superiority complex with everybody else. 00:06:57.820 |
That all of these things were true, but they completely forgot that God called them to 00:07:04.300 |
They were to be ambassadors to the rest of the world. 00:07:06.180 |
The very beginning, when God called them in Genesis chapter 12, He says, "Through you, 00:07:12.940 |
See, but they completely forgot about the latter part of that, that God's going to bless 00:07:18.820 |
But then he realized that God blessed them so that the world may be blessed. 00:12:27.740 |
on what's going on, I didn't mention anything 00:12:41.740 |
it's like, "Oh yeah, they forgot about the gospel ministry." 00:12:51.740 |
everything that they're doing would be centered around this. 00:13:07.740 |
it's going to be connected to the gospel ministry. 00:13:17.740 |
we expect that from those people who've been commissioned. 00:13:21.740 |
who've been commissioned don't live that way, 00:13:25.740 |
They don't do that, it's like, "Oh, they disqualify." 00:13:41.740 |
has been commissioned to the gospel ministry. 00:13:55.740 |
only a few people that are set apart? Again, that's an 00:14:01.740 |
there's four things that we're going to be talking about why this is 00:14:23.740 |
doesn't matter whether you are a follower of Jesus 00:14:31.740 |
is raising good children, having good friends. 00:14:33.740 |
It's just somebody does it in the name of Jesus, 00:14:37.740 |
some atheists are getting together and now they're 00:15:01.740 |
first and foremost, number one, there's four things 00:15:03.740 |
I want to share about why this is so important. One, 00:15:23.740 |
church doesn't make you a Christian. Owning a Bible 00:15:27.740 |
Even praying doesn't make you a Christian. Didn't you 00:15:31.740 |
Meriwether yesterday, as soon as he won, he said 00:15:43.740 |
do we say basically? We're following. We're going 00:15:47.740 |
Jesus said, "If you want to follow me, you have to pick up 00:15:51.740 |
So if you're going to come after me, that's where I'm headed." 00:16:27.740 |
authority has been given to me." And then He concludes 00:16:45.740 |
You know, when you're struggling, the Lord is with you. 00:16:53.740 |
You know, you didn't get into the school that 00:16:57.740 |
You're having marriage problems, but the Lord is near. 00:17:13.740 |
And so they said, "They're not going to welcome you. They're going to 00:17:17.740 |
"Don't worry. All authority has been given to 00:17:25.740 |
you go out and make disciples in that context 00:17:49.740 |
over here. How many of you are going to follow me?" 00:17:51.740 |
All of you raise your hand, and I walk out the door. 00:17:57.740 |
you guys wanted to follow me." He said, "Yeah, I want to be 00:18:07.740 |
That's not what I meant when I said I wanted to 00:18:09.740 |
follow you. When I said I wanted to follow you, it 00:18:23.740 |
What do you think Jesus meant? He said, "When 00:18:25.740 |
you come after me." Anybody who comes after me, 00:18:39.740 |
Jesus Christ." He didn't say, "Come follow me 00:20:01.740 |
you because it's hard for you to find jobs, so the 00:20:21.740 |
going to cause you to remember all that I have said to 00:20:33.740 |
very good memory because you're filled with the 00:20:37.740 |
He said, "No, I'm going to cause you to remember it." For what purpose? 00:21:07.740 |
It's for the purpose of the Great Commission. 00:21:17.740 |
because without the Holy Spirit they were powerless. 00:21:35.740 |
Jesus says, "You're going to be my witnesses, 00:22:17.740 |
whole purpose of the Holy Spirit is to give us 00:22:25.740 |
to be filled with the Holy Spirit." It's not simply to 00:22:43.740 |
do you need? Why do you need power? What do you need power 00:23:05.740 |
Holy Spirit, I need this power so that I can get 00:23:09.740 |
I need this power so I can have a good marriage." 00:23:13.740 |
The whole world is doing it without. What do you 00:24:19.740 |
that I may make it clear which is how I ought 00:24:21.740 |
to speak." I'm not going to go through all the 00:24:45.740 |
whatever you wish, it shall be done for you." 00:24:47.740 |
You can't skip through the middle part and say, 00:24:49.740 |
"Ask whatever you wish, it shall be done for you." 00:25:25.740 |
And what did He say? He turned around and told His disciples. 00:25:35.740 |
people to the right school." What did He say? 00:25:41.740 |
Lord of the harvest will send out more workers." 00:25:55.740 |
You know, every morning we would get together 00:25:57.740 |
and we would have breakfast and she would be gone 00:26:03.740 |
So first thing I thought, "Wow, she's not waking up." 00:26:09.740 |
I was there for about 31 days, and after about 00:26:11.740 |
a week and a half, I realized that she was not 00:26:25.740 |
at that period of time in China, China was not 00:26:31.740 |
on the streets. So it was a pretty intense place 00:26:57.740 |
the biggest problem that we have in our prayer, 00:27:15.740 |
praying for protection. Even when we go on to missions, we pray 00:27:23.740 |
main content of our prayer should be offensive. 00:27:27.740 |
would open doors, or the gospel may be preached, 00:27:59.740 |
and we're afraid we're going to lose it, whether 00:28:09.740 |
the things that we've earned, or we think we've 00:28:59.740 |
my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail 00:30:03.740 |
my post on Facebook, because I got an email from 00:30:11.740 |
pastors, they were lay people who had been trained 00:30:25.740 |
random beating. They went to a village and people didn't 00:30:37.740 |
some of you guys who went to India with us know that Karnataka 00:30:49.740 |
Christians could have easily avoided any of that. 00:31:33.740 |
of the pastors, "How come the Muslims are not being 00:31:35.740 |
targeted?" And they said, "They don't target them because 00:31:45.740 |
going into the villages and sharing the Gospel. 00:31:59.740 |
Now when he says godly life, is he talking about 00:32:03.740 |
Is he talking about people who are gathered together 00:32:05.740 |
for a little prayer meeting because they want to support 00:32:33.740 |
comfortable living in the darkness and you're going to 00:32:41.740 |
the need for the light are going to thank you and 00:32:49.740 |
the reason why God brought us together was for 00:32:53.740 |
nation of Israel. He said, "I'm going to bless you 00:33:05.740 |
anything else other than to live a comfortable 00:33:23.740 |
wants us to be uncomfortable. It is not that God 00:33:55.740 |
completely differently. Philippians 1, 12-14. 00:34:01.740 |
to advance the Gospel. He's sitting in prison. 00:34:23.740 |
was going, how much the Gospel was being preached. 00:34:49.740 |
you're going to end up saying things that you know 00:34:57.740 |
I hear people like, "Man, I can go anywhere but 00:35:09.740 |
I can see myself going there with the Gospel." 00:35:13.740 |
the Great Commission, you don't go because it's comfortable. 00:35:17.740 |
and air conditioning. You go because there's a need 00:36:35.740 |
looking for it. I was looking for it. I mean, 00:36:39.740 |
This is probably the first time being excited about 00:36:47.740 |
a lot of you guys got together in your homes and various 00:37:03.740 |
every time they give him an opportunity he is sharing 00:37:11.740 |
you know once you said Jeremy Lin, it's like, "Oh, 00:37:13.740 |
yeah, they were so interested." I was like, "He lives in 00:37:39.740 |
opportunity he's got he is mentioning God. In 00:37:53.740 |
"It would be great after the fight is over that 00:37:55.740 |
we have an opportunity I can tell you about God and 00:38:33.740 |
right? Top of the world. And they were showing 00:38:47.740 |
get tickets. Celebrities couldn't get into this. 00:38:57.740 |
And they have all the money. They're all good 00:39:21.740 |
wins, they're going to ask me, "Pakio, what's going on?" 00:39:23.740 |
I want to thank my Lord Jesus Christ. And he's going to mean it. 00:39:43.740 |
remember the last time I felt this disappointed 00:40:05.740 |
that during the fight I was like, "Oh my gosh. 00:40:07.740 |
What's going on?" And at the end of the fight, it's 00:40:13.740 |
kind of slipped away and went home. You know? 00:40:31.740 |
because I didn't want to get depressed. I woke up this morning 00:40:35.740 |
Pacquiao. I was like, "I don't want to read it." Right? 00:40:43.740 |
to me, I was thinking, "Man, it would have been a 00:40:57.740 |
getting ready to come to church, the thought I had this morning 00:41:05.740 |
I'll bet you they were thinking the same thing. 00:41:23.740 |
could have the power, then He could restore us, 00:41:25.740 |
then He could bring glory to God. I'll bet you 00:41:29.740 |
But Jesus didn't go there. He didn't go to the stage. 00:41:35.740 |
So you can think about the disappointment that people were 00:44:07.740 |
the people that you care about, take some time to pray 00:44:19.740 |
maybe lost a big picture of the Great Commission 00:44:27.740 |
And that God will stir us up again for the Great Commission. 00:44:29.740 |
Maybe some of you guys may remember that time 00:44:31.740 |
you went out to missions and how excited you were 00:44:39.740 |
fallen. Take some time to pray, "Lord, restore 00:44:45.740 |
then maybe there's some people, maybe you've never 00:44:47.740 |
prayed for them. Maybe there's some people around you, 00:45:09.740 |
would be in accordance to you and your life."