24_06_01 Run With Horses Podcast – Progressing on the Mission of Jesus
I hope to return to looking at our definition of church soon but as I am traveling and don’t have access to my notes at the moment, I am going to take a parallel path that should lead into the next topic, and Today, that topic is the mission of Jesus.
Welcome to Run With Horses! My name is Norman and my goal is to help you thrive a a follower of Jesus. It may be a long road but it shouldn’t be a lonely road because we get to travel it together with the body of Christ, His beautiful church! Thanks for letting me be part of your journey.
MY WORKING DEFINITION OF CHURCH
A CHURCH is a group of followers of Jesus who worship Him in spirit and truth, humbly offering their lives as living sacrifices, together living out the mission of Jesus as His witnesses to the world, by sharing the gospel and making disciples through teaching obedience to His commands as they edify and equip others to join them on His mission.
The next official part of the definition of church that we will look at is the mission of Jesus. It may be jumping the gun a little but I want to spend some time today going over some simple steps that you can take to grow in your direct involvement in the mission of Jesus.
I think 2 Corinthians 5: 17-20 and Matthew 28:18-20 give a good summary of the mission for now.
First 2 Corinthians 5:17-20
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Throw in Ephesians 4: 11-16 and you have a good idea of the mission of Jesus and the work of the ministry that Jesus called us to.
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
But practically what are the things that you can do to directly grow in your involvement in the mission?
0. Pray!
For your spiritual growth, for your personal ministry, for gospel workers, for your church, for the lost in your sphere of influence.
1. Remember your testimony.
Go through again what Jesus did on your behalf on the Cross and the changes that He worked in your life. Not the point of today’s show but a quick partial reminder: forgiveness of sin, reconciliation with God, adoption into God’s family, eternal life, received the righteousness of Jesus, etc, etc. Be encouraged! This is what Jesus did for you!
2. Remember the Gospel that secured those benefits for you.
Jesus did it through His perfect life, sacrificial death on the Cross and resurrection on the third day.
Review 1 Corinthians 15:1-8
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
3. Write out your personal testimony of salvation and spiritual growth with the gospel as a centerpiece. Your story is really all about Jesus. Tell His story.
4. Memorize 2 simple gospel presentations as touchstones to come back to when you share the gospel. It’s not a rote memory presentation but a place to return if you get lost and a road map to make sure you hit the key points.
Need a recommendation? Three Circles – https://multiplyingdisciples.
The Bridge – https://www.navigators.org/
5. Practice journaling as a way to stay consistent in God’s Word and help you remember the things God is teaching you. Seems like someone I know wrote a book about this. : )
And whatayaknow I just happen to have the Amazon link! https://a.co/d/4ixVVL6
6. Learn how to lead a basic evangelistic Bible study.
ABWE has the Good Soil Project to help. https://www.goodsoil.com/blog/
A Discovery Bible Study is also a great method of leading a simple Bible study that everyone should know and be able to use. There are lots of resources if you search online for them but it is basically reading God’s WOrd together and asking some basic questions. There are recommended passages to use for going through the Big Message of the Bible. https://discipleship.org/blog/
7. Get comfortable leading a small group of believers. Lots of formats, lots of things you could focus on but as long as Jesus is the center and we are focused on living lives as obedient disciples of Jesus there is value. Keep the eyes of the group focused on Jesus and the heart of the group aligned with His desire to see all lost come to repentance and all believers come to maturity. How can each one of use help the others be reproducing disciple of Jesus?
These are each things you can pursue yourself and with a group. We should seek after God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. There is nothing more worthwhile than spending our lives pursuing Jesus and obedience to His calling to make disciples.
Thanks for joining me today! What steps can you take this week to move a little closer to Jesus in your thoughts, attitudes and actions? Who can you take with you on the journey? Write me at norman@runwithhorses.net or leave a note on the RWH Facebook page, I’d love to hear from you! Whatever you do, don’t stop, keep running!