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Elevate - God's Church, My Church Pt 5 - The Mission of the Church
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The term "gospel" was originally a verb, meaning to "gospel" or share the entire story. The Bible reveals God's plan to restore the world and establish a kingdom. The gospel is not just about salvation, but also about living obediently and accomplishing God's mission. We can find comfort in the gospel when we feel guilty or condemned. The Great Commission in Matthew 28 shows that Jesus has all authority and is reigning over His kingdom. The gospel is the grand story of Christ and His kingdom, with salvation being just one part. The Bible is a single storybook about Christ, and every chapter leads to the time when Jesus would rule His kingdom. The gospel is about sharing the entire story of Jesus and His kingdom, not just salvation. And the term gospel would not make sense to an ancient writer because they considered it a verb. Actually, they were gospelling. And what are they gospelling about? It's about this entire story, and I'm going to prove it to you in a moment. But scripture's story reveals a master plan for God to restore the world and mankind by not just saving people, but by establishing this kingdom. This is the gospel. Welcome to Elevate, the radio ministry of Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama. We pray that it builds your faith, helps you to live a life for God that you've always wanted to live, and that it inspires you to be a fully devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Here's today's message from Neil DiQuatro. We're continuing our series, God's Church, My Church. So if we know what God's church is, then we know how to function in my church. And so we've been talking about everything from the identity of the church to the gifts of the church to the unity of the church. Last week we talked about the splendor of Christ's church and the comfort of the gospel that comes as he prepares his bride and makes us glorious. And I want to start out by saying this. Last week we talked about the comfort of the gospel, and this week we're talking about what it means to be a saved person. And it's important we don't confuse those two things, because we're not talking about if we don't do X, then God's mad at us, he doesn't love us, we're not saved. But there's two parts of the Christian walk, and they're held in tension within the Bible. The one tells us that we are forgiven and we can be confident in that salvation, and nothing we can do is ever good enough. Right? Jesus does it all for us. And we're comforted and we realize it's good news. Amen? That's why it's the gospel. It's good news. But that also doesn't mean that there isn't something that God has for us to do. It doesn't mean He doesn't want us to try. It doesn't mean He doesn't want us to strive towards accomplishing His mission and doing good works. So we flow back and forth through these two ideas. And if you ever get confused and you start feeling guilty and condemned, that I messed up, or I didn't do enough, or I fall short compared to this person, what do you do? You slide over here and find the comfort in the gospel. And you remember that you're forgiven and that you're washed. And in that, find the love and the affirmation of Christ to help you get back over here and start doing in accordance to His will. Obediently. Amen? You see, those two ideas, I don't want us to confuse those this morning. But let's get started. You know, every day, thousands of people get saved. They give their lives to Christ, they become a member of the family of God, and that's good news. Think about your salvation experience. Where were you? Were you in a church where a preacher was sharing the gospel, telling you you need to be forgiven? Were you in a special service somewhere? Maybe a Billy Graham revival or some kind of revival service with a fiery evangelist saying, You need forgiveness for your sins. Maybe you were quietly in your room, in your bed by yourself. However it happened, Christ saved you. And we've all had a different experience. But what happened when you prayed that prayer? What happened? Was it just about having your sins forgiven? Did you just want to be saved from hell? And that's certainly worth, you know, getting saved from. Did you join a church? Did you join some kind of religion? This is the question that I'm posing this morning. Because sometime later, we all joined a church. We're here this morning. And we're here as saved people trying to understand the mission of the church, the Great Commission. From Matthew 28. We see that plastered all around the church here. Matthew 28, the Great Commission. But we don't always know exactly what that means. What does it look like in the real world? And why is that? Well, I would say the confusion revolves around one word. The word gospel. Now, the word gospel means good news. But for many, the word gospel has been reduced to simply meaning salvation. So when we talk about the gospel, the gospel went forth. What does that mean? We often say, well, I've been saved by grace through faith. And that's certainly a part of it. I was lost and now I'm found. Jesus died for my sins. That's certainly part of it. But I want us to see this morning that that's only a small part of what the word gospel actually means. You see, the biblical writers had a much bigger view of this word. And it's been lost throughout the centuries. And we can recover it again this morning. You see, the gospel is a gigantic story. It's a story of the fulfillment of God's grand plan of redemption through Jesus Christ. But it started all the way back in Eden. And so we're going to look at the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28, and we're just going to use that as a springboard. I'm not going to really exegete that passage a whole lot, but we're going to use each of the components of that passage to springboard us into some other scriptures that can help us understand the full scope of the gospel story and the mission of God's church. So what is the gospel? Well, let's get to our text. Matthew 28, verse 18, And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. This is what we call the Great Commission that Christ gave to the church. And Jesus is sending these people out because He has ultimate authority now. He served the mission of the Father. He died, and God resurrected Christ and put Him above all things. And so now He's the supreme ruler over all of heaven and all of earth. And this language is only fitting for a king. You see that? Who has complete and total authority. And so the Great Commission that we read actually picks up at a time where Jesus is exalted over all. And He's given all authority. Now what is Jesus doing with this authority? He's reigning over His kingdom. And commissioning His followers to be His ambassadors. You see, before the resurrection, Jesus was teaching about the kingdom. You see that? And now He's reigning over it. So it's important to see that that's the position from which Jesus is saying those famous words. And we know the kingdom is important to Jesus because He labored to teach His followers about it. Do you know this? That the term kingdom, meaning Christ's kingdom and God's kingdom, appears 53 times in Matthew, 17 times in Mark, 41 times in Luke, 3 times in John. For our math wizards, that is 114 times total. That is talking about the kingdom. But salvation of souls is only discussed a handful of times. Interesting. Now we need to be saved. I'm not diminishing that for a minute. But we have to understand where salvation fits into this bigger kingdom story. So when Jesus is talking about His work, when He's talking about the church, when He's talking about salvation, or the mission, the word kingdom is primarily what He has in view. And so there's a lot that led up to Christ's triumphant proclamation of His authority. And you do realize that. He sends something to the disciples to turn the page in the story, to help them understand what's about to happen, because He says to them, All authority is given to Me. They needed to know it. That He's now reigning. All authority has been given to Him. So this is what led up to Christ's proclamation in the Great Commission. And so what I want you to see is this. The gospel is the good news of the grand story of Christ and the ushering in of His kingdom. The gospel is not just salvation. It's the grand story of Christ and His ushering in of a new kingdom. And salvation is just one part of that story. So what's the first thing we see in our passage this morning? This, the gospel story, is about Jesus and His kingdom. So all of biblical history has been leading up to this. Think about it. From the very first pages of the Bible to where we stand today, everything was and is leading up to a time when Jesus would finally rule His kingdom. The Bible is a single storybook about Christ, including the Old Testament. It's a single story. This is why we get in trouble sometimes when we pull things out of context to make little quips and memes. Because sometimes we miss where that verse plugs into the bigger story. And so we misunderstand it and we misapply it. So picture a novel that you read. Picture a favorite novel. And page after page, chapter after chapter, the story advances. Well, it's the same thing with the Bible. And so let's run through it real fast. Let's look to see what these chapters say. We'll just call the beginning chapter 1. God created a perfect world and image bearers, you and I, and His image bearers ruined it by deciding that we wanted to be like God. We wanted to exalt ourselves above God. But every good book foreshadows, very early in the book, foreshadows how this thing is going to end. We see that in Genesis 3.15, where God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel. We understand that this is the first messianic prophecy, the foreshadowing of what's to come as Jesus stomps on the head of the serpent. Stomps on the head of the serpent. So we get this foreshadowing. And here we are in chapter 2, where God decides to build a nation through which He'll redeem the world. And He does it by calling a man. What's his name? Abraham. His name's Abraham. And this man Abraham's great grandson is Jacob, who gets his name changed to Israel. And he becomes the father of the nation of Israel. And then God rescues this nation from slavery in Egypt. And He moves all heaven and earth to do it. Why? Because this was a critical turning point in this story. They had to get free. They had to become a nation for God's plan to advance. But now they become their own nation. And then in chapter 5, even though God was Israel's king, they wanted their own earthly king, and that didn't go very well for them, as we have pages and pages of wicked kings and a couple of good ones. And eventually King David comes. And through David's lineage, the Messiah, Jesus, is promised. But then in chapter 6, Israel rejects God. And they reject God for hundreds of years, as prophets try to set them straight, in chapter after chapter. But even while Israel's an apostasy, and the prophets try to set them straight, there's also these other prophecies about a promise that's still hanging out there. It's the promise of the Messiah. And then years after silence from any prophet, Gabriel visits Mary, and tells her that she's pregnant by the Holy Spirit. And now the story comes to a climax, and we see it well spoken of in Isaiah 9, verse 6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government, parentheses, kingdom, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government, kingdom, and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Wow! Do you see this epic, gigantic story that is all about Christ? That's what the gospel was. The term gospel would not make sense to an ancient writer because they considered it a verb. Actually, they were gospeling. Gospeling. And what are they gospeling about? It's about this entire story, and I'm going to prove it to you in a moment. But Scripture's story reveals a master plan for God to restore the world and mankind by not just saving people, but by establishing His kingdom. This is the gospel the apostles preached. How do I know that's true? Well, consider Stephen. Remember Stephen the first martyr? What got him martyred? Well, when he gets a chance to speak to the chief priests and the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees, he doesn't just say, you need to be forgiven of your sins. Now, they did need to. That's not where he starts his story. He goes all the way back to the patriarchs and he schools them. He gives them a history lesson before eventually he says, after God worked so hard to do this, you killed Him. You crucified Him. What an offense. It's way more offensive when you hear the whole story told at once. So for Stephen, the gospel was the whole narrative. In Acts, we get a clear example of the gospel story. In Acts 2.12, this is where Philip is ministering in Samaria. And he says, the writer of Acts, Luke, says this, But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. And you see, it was more than just a call to get saved. It was a call to join a grand story. To join our story with Christ's story. So it's one story. Amen? You see that? That's great news. This is what they were gospelling. And so church, the Christian walk, it starts with salvation. Through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. But it's not just about salvation. It's about becoming a citizen of a kingdom. And everything that means, that's where our mission, our sense of mission, comes from. So as I share this morning, I just want to encourage you to open your heart and your mind to what this understanding of the kingdom can mean for you. So, understanding the mission of the church starts by understanding the context with which this mission exists. And that is the kingdom of God. So the gospel is the story about Jesus and His kingdom. But our passage also reveals that the gospel is an invitation into this kingdom. And that is the part that many of us are most familiar with. We'll see this in verse 19. Let's read it together. Of the Great Commission. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Go therefore and make disciples. What's He talking about? Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. So this passage here is directed at believers who have put their faith in Christ. And are already members of the kingdom of God. And so, they're given specific directions. These citizens of the kingdom are given specific directions to do three things. They are to make disciples. They're to make disciples of all nations. And they're there to baptize these disciples. And somehow, we in our culture today, what we heard when we listened to Jesus' directions was simply, go make converts. Think about that for a minute. He says, make disciples. Later we'll see where He says, teach them to obey everything I've commanded. And baptize them in some, how we've heard, make converts. But it's bigger than that. And it makes sense when you understand the kingdom story. Now, you know, getting saved is okay language. I'm not trying to nitpick this morning. In fact, we have it right here. Save people, save people. And the internet lit up when we posted that. A couple of folks were like, we don't save people. And I guess I sort of assume that we understand that. You know, it's just sort of shorthand. We know that Christ does the saving. We're just trying to say, in a short, succinct way, because we like things to match, that, right, you know, muffins with mom, that we're going to do our part to obey the Great Commission. You know? But Christ, obviously, does the saving. But, so it's okay language. I'm not picking on it. You can say I got saved when I was 10 or whatever, and that's totally fine. But I just want us to see that the missional part of being a part of the family of God is bigger, because He tells them to make disciples and to baptize. And so baptism is the entrance into discipleship. You see that? It's where we get saved. You know, for an ancient person, there was baptism, not a salvation prayer. Think about that. You need to repent of your sins. Go get baptized. Because it was an immediate action that caused them to be sort of inaugurated into the kingdom of God. So they didn't even have this context, an ancient person, of, well, I prayed this prayer, when? They just got right to it immediately. You know, they turned from their sins, they believed on Jesus, and they got baptized. That's just the entrance into the kingdom. So then why make disciples? Because when you understand that the gospel is a story about a kingdom, then you realize that Jesus is simply saying, expand my kingdom. Which is a little bit different than get more converts. There's more power in this. It's more faithful to what God's actually trying to accomplish on the earth. Expand the kingdom. Bring Christ's reign to the ends of the earth. You know, one of the best illustrations I can think of is just the ancient empires. We've learned about them in school. You have the Persians and the Babylonians. And then Ottoman. You've got the Greeks. Then you have the Roman Empire. I'm sure I'm missing at least one or two. Those are the big ones. And what do these empires do? Their goal is to get organized so that they can extend the empire to the entire world. And not just extend how many people were members of the empire. What came with it? The culture. The language. The way. See, that's why kingdom language is so much more helpful. It gives us a more accurate picture. Now, when these ancient empires expanded, they did it using the force that came from the sword. But as believers, we use influence that comes from the truth in love. Isn't that good? That's what the Holy Spirit helps us to do. And we see this expanding kingdom in Colossians 1. Let's go to chapter 1, verse 13. Paul says, He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us, where? To the kingdom of His beloved Son. See how this picture is starting to get into greater focus? The kingdom of His Son, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. He transferred us into His kingdom. How did He do it? Through redemption. So we see that the gospel is about Christ's kingdom and salvation is the entranceway into it. And just like in earthly kingdom, there's a way that Christ's kingdom is governed. There's a different way that it operates. It's got a different set of rules. Think about... Anyone here ever been to England? Think about it. The rules are different. You're driving on a different side of the road. You're sitting on a different side of the car. The speed limits are different. The penalties for speeding are different. It's all just a little bit different. So what are the customs of Christ's kingdom? What does it look like to be a member of His kingdom? Well, we're going to look at the same passage in Colossians, but we're going to look at the five verses or so before where we learn about being transferred into the kingdom. Because this is where Paul makes it clear the ways of the kingdom. Let's look at it. There are four verses. Verse 9 of Colossians. And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. You see, in Christ's kingdom, we learn about how to please God. It's the knowledge of His will. Verse 10, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in knowledge. You see, in the kingdom we do good works that bear fruit. Are we saved by good works? No. That's the difference. That's why we need the comfort of the gospel. But do we do good works? With the help of the Holy Spirit, we make our best effort. Verse 11, being strengthened with all power, strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might in the kingdom, we're strengthened by the Word and by the Holy Spirit, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. How did He qualify us? Through the blood of Jesus who gave us entrance into His kingdom. So now that you know that, read verses 13 and 14 again where it says, He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. This is the way of the kingdom church that He invites us into. A life of service and doing good works and learning God's Word and following His command. That's what this is all about. And the church often falls short of its mission because it's full of saved people and not necessarily kingdom people, so to speak. Think about that for just a moment. Full of saved people, but not necessarily always kingdom people. Let me encourage you with this in light of what I just said. Don't stop at salvation. Don't stop at salvation. That's just the way in the door. But the mysteries of Christ and the abundant life in Him and the eternity to come is what it's all about. And that comes after salvation. Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you areas of your life where you've gotten stuck at salvation so that you can be a fruitful citizen of Christ's kingdom. Notice I didn't say, if you didn't do enough, you're not saved. It's just that God's got more for you. And what greater privilege could it be than to join the bigger story of the Creator of the universe? When that gets into your heart, you start to get busy because you realize, oh, what an honor. What an honor. So the gospel is the story of Christ's kingdom. It's an invitation into citizenship of that kingdom. And lastly, we see that the gospel teaches us to be servants in Jesus' kingdom. It teaches us to be servants in Jesus' kingdom. So let's go back to our text. Let's go back up to verse 19 so we can just see it in context. Jesus says, "...go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Verse 20, "...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded. To observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the ends of the age." You see, Colossians 1 explained the way of the kingdom. Here in verse 20, we learn that our mission is to teach people how to live in the kingdom. Our mission in the Great Commission is to not stop at salvation, but to teach people how to live in the kingdom. And life in Christ's kingdom is a life of obedient service according to Christ's commands. It's nothing other than that. We can't describe it any other way. That's not what the Great Commission says. It says, "...teach them to observe all that I have commanded you." And when Christ says, "...to obey all that we command you," we know that the Word teaches us to be servants, serving His will, serving His people, serving the lost, serving the hungry. Can we get an amen for the man of the house? This is what being in God's kingdom is all about. That's why Jesus says true religion is taking care of the orphans and the widows. This is what it means to be authentically a follower of Jesus Christ. Yeah, there's more to that, but if you miss the serving and the service, you miss the heart of Jesus altogether. It's about putting Christ in His rule above all else and obediently serving His purposes. Discipleship, to succinctly put, is service to the kingdom. If you're not serving, you're not a disciple. Does that contradict what I said last week? No, because you may be saved, but you're still learning to be a disciple and a citizen of the kingdom. And I just want you to hear me this morning, and I'm not even condemning you for that. I just want to tell you a practical truth, that if you haven't moved into a life of service unto the Lord, and when you serve God, when you serve vertically, the fruit of that is serving horizontally, serving people around you. If you haven't gotten to that place where you serve in every area, finding what God has for you, the difference He wants your life to make, I just want to say, I'm grateful that you're saved. But will you open your heart to the Holy Spirit to help you learn how to be a disciple? To learn how to be a citizen of the kingdom? There's no condemnation there. It's just the next level. It's what Christ invites you to. And as someone who's been in the Lord for a long time, I sometimes get caught at salvation. So you're not alone. There's sometimes where I have to reevaluate, what am I doing and why? What am I investing into? Has this suddenly become all about me? So we all have to do it together, but that's what I want to encourage you to do. Consider the armed forces. Consider members of the armed forces, or the police force. What value do they have if they don't understand service? In fact, before I give this illustration, you can't talk about members of the armed forces or the police force without honoring them. So can we just honor our people who serve? And we have a handful here for sure, I know. I've greeted you this morning. But it's called joining the service for a reason. Here's things you don't hear for people who are serving in this way, who are in the armed forces. Let's do it my way. Rather, what does the commander want? What's in it for me? Rather, they say, what needs to be done? What will it cost me? Rather, they say, I willingly lay my life down. We get a beautiful picture of what a life of service actually looks like. And this idea of equating discipleship with service in the kingdom, it's not some kind of fringe, obscure doctrine that I've come up with. It's what our Lord taught us. First, He modeled it. He models it in 1 John 3.13 where John says, By this we know, love, that He laid down His life for us. He modeled it for us. So we ought to lay down our lives for others. I feel like the last three weeks in a row, I've quoted this verse, but it's just so potent. Where Jesus says, the Son of Man didn't come to be served. He came to serve. This is what our Lord has modeled for us. And then He explicitly taught it. Like in John 12.25 where He says, Whoever loves his life loses it. And whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone, what does it say? If anyone serves me, he must follow me. This is where we see the pinning together of service and discipleship. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Disciple, Christ follower, they go hand in hand. Followers are disciples and they must serve. And where I am, there will be my servant also? Wow. Where Christ is in His kingdom, where He is, there will my servant be also? That means the kingdom is filled with servants, not just saved people. And they're not the same. The kingdom is filled with servants, not just saved people. And then He says, if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. What a promise. Right? This is good news. He's with us. He'll help us. He'll be with us. So let me ask you this morning. What's your relationship with the kingdom? What's your relationship with Christ's church? What's the relationship with your church? Or this church? You see, you can learn to be a servant of the kingdom. And in doing so, become a part of the bigger gospel story. Isn't that wonderful? You can become a part of this bigger gospel story and Christ will help you in that journey. How do I know that? Because this is not a do-better sermon. This is just to help us to see what Christ has offered us and invited us into so that we can willingly, with the help of the Holy Spirit, abide with Him in His kingdom. But I know that will help us, because in verse 20 of the Great Commission, the last thing He says is this, And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. He left so He could send His Holy Spirit to help us, to convict us, to encourage us, to nudge us, to empower us, to help. This is what the Holy Spirit does. So church, the gospel, is indeed the greatest story ever told. Why? Because it's the story about Jesus and His kingdom and it's a story about the ways of His kingdom and it's a story that offers us the privilege to be servants in this same kingdom. You see how much bigger this is than just salvation only? How the Great Commission is loaded with meaning and richness of what it is that we've been called to and what we're actually inviting other people to. That's why it only makes sense to a modern person to become a follower of Jesus Christ and then sit at home and watch the preaching on television. Now, some of us do that from time to time. I'm grateful for the technology if we're sick or if you're in a tough season or between churches. But I just want you to know this whole idea of joining into a cause, into a fellowship of people who are members of the kingdom is a Christ-like idea. This is God's plan. This is how He set it up. There's a joining into that. It's so much bigger than salvation. Well, our passage ended with this. Verse 20, He said, And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. I want you to know that the future is bright for this kingdom that we've joined. And Revelation gives us this picture of where the kingdom is headed in Revelation 11. And I'm closing with these thoughts here. Chapter 11, verse 15, Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever. Can we worship Him? It's the climax of the story. It's the climax of the story. The kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever. Revelation 5-9 takes it even a step further when John says, And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals. They're talking about Jesus. For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people. For God, from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. He will reign, and we will reign with Him. Do you realize that? That's the gospel story that you joined up to be a part of. That it's all about His kingdom and His reigning. And not only on this side of eternity are we servants of that kingdom, inviting others into that kingdom, there's a time where He just wants to share it all with us and we will reign with Him. And in some ways, we reign with Him now through the power of the Holy Spirit and the advancement of the gospel extending His kingdom. But there's a coming a day when we're going to touch it. We're going to feel it. It won't just be spiritual. It will be your reality. And we will look at each other in the eye and go, can you believe we're here? Oh my, this is reality. Can you believe? We're not going to be sitting there strumming harps on a cloud. We're going to be in a beautiful kingdom together rejoicing with Him for all eternity. So we've seen that the mission of the church only makes sense if you understand that it's connected to one gigantic story about Jesus. And it's the story of how Jesus established His kingdom and invited us into it through the blood of Jesus. So this is why last week, I tried to move us away from the addiction to evaluating whether we're saved or not. And that is strong language, I know, but it can become an addiction to evaluating whether we're saved or not. No, when we pledge ourselves to Christ, when we truly, truly put our faith in Jesus Christ, we enter His kingdom. The evaluation comes from this. How am I doing as a servant of the kingdom? Not, did Christ kick me out of His kingdom? You see the difference? How am I doing as a servant of the kingdom? Not, did Christ kick me out of His kingdom? You see, it's a better question because it's not motivated by fear, it's motivated by love. The question motivated by fear is, am I in or am I out? But when you feel the comfort of the gospel and the security of knowing that He's got you, even on your worst day or week or month or year, then the question you ask is, out of love, oh, how do I serve Him? How am I doing as a servant in this kingdom? It's such a different way to live your Christian walk if you can grab a hold of that. It'll set me free. Set you free. Now don't get me wrong, the way of the kingdom is a narrow path. And the gate is narrow too. You can't get in believing in any God or any religion. No, it's only through faith in Jesus, the narrow gate. But I want you to see that Jesus is the narrow gate and the narrow path. People confuse the interpretation of that Scripture to mean He's talking about a list of rules and do's and do not's and this is the sin and this is less of a sin. So if you live like this and you can't... Listen, the living right comes from union with Christ as we talked about last week. But the door that's being referred to here is not the door of a list of things you don't do. Because then you're saved by works. No, Jesus is the door. He's the door. He's the narrow path. You only come through the Father through Jesus. And so, yes, it is a narrow gate. But now that we know that, the mission of the church is to be ambassadors of the kingdom of God and representatives of this kingdom through the enabling of the Holy Spirit. So let me just encourage you with this. Tell people Christ's story. Tell them Christ's story. Invite them into the kingdom and everything that that means. Teach them the ways of the kingdom. May our church never just make converts. But you only make converts when you give them a word and then you wind them up and let them go rather than put your arm around them and be life with them together. Teach them the ways of the kingdom and personally move on from simply being saved to being a devoted citizen on Christ's mission. Thank you for listening to Elevate. We pray that this message encouraged, inspired, and challenged you. Authentic Life Church is located at 3750 Michael Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. Visit our website, AuthenticLife.tv for more information about Authentic Life Church. To find out what we have going on or to make a donation, we'd love for you to join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. for our weekend service. We have excellent children's, nursery, and youth programs, so bring the family. Thanks again for listening to Elevate, and may God bless you.
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