The Mission Is In Motion
26th November 2024 • Restoration Church • Restoration Church
00:00:00 00:42:07

Transcripts

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Well, good morning.

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How's everyone doing?

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Doing good.

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I want to say good morning to

Milton and Plymouth and Bethlehem

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and anyone watching online.

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And if I could get help with a

table, that would be fantastic.

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Um, I can try to juggle all this, but

it wouldn't end well, I promise you.

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I think you guys would

enjoy that, but I would not.

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Uh, it's a blessing to be here.

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It's a blessing to, uh, it's always

a blessing, uh, when we get to come

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home to family at Restoration Church.

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For those that do not know

who I am, as Pastor Victoria

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said, I am Travis Nicholson.

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My wife actually works, is

on staff here at Restoration.

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Uh, but, uh, due to my job, uh,

yeah, you can cheer for her.

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She's awesome.

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Uh, due to my job working with the

district, we live in central Maine

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and, uh, we're constantly traveling.

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So, uh, the, uh, when we're not

traveling, we try to make it down here.

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Uh, and then sometimes I get blessed

and honored to be asked to speak here.

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And so, first, let me, uh, Before I

continue, just thank Pastor Nate publicly.

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Uh, it's not, uh, likely that

I take the honor of speaking

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in another pastor's pulpit.

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And, uh, or on their

stage on a Sunday morning.

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And so, uh, I want to thank Pastor

Nate for his trust, uh, in me

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and his trust in this church.

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Um, and let's get into it.

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Um, actually, let's not get into it.

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Uh, because before I jump right into the

message, I do want to take just a moment.

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And, uh, and offer some recognition

and, and honor someone that needs

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to be honored within your church.

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As Pastor Victoria said, I'm

the district youth director.

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What that basically means is I just hang

out with teenagers and I get paid for it.

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It's great.

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But part of that is that Speed the Light.

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I, I help champion and cast

vision for Speed the Light.

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If you don't know what Speed the Light is,

Speed the Light is within the assemblies

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of God, it's teenagers giving to missions.

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For And here at Restoration, we've put

Speed of Light under Kingdom Builders.

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So, uh, your teenagers, when they

give to Kingdom Builders, they're

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giving to, uh, Speed of Light.

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And, uh, for those that, We just want

a quick history of Speed of Light.

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In 1944, a man by the name of Ralph W.

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Harris, who at the time was the National

Youth Director, he was in charge of youth

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ministries all across the nation, he saw

the need to disciple students in missions.

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He saw the need to disciple

students in generosity, and

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he said something can be done.

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He said our, our, our missionaries

still need help on the field, and

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teenagers can be a part in that.

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And so in 1944, he created what

we now know as Speed the Light.

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And since that day, teenagers

across our nation have been, uh,

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giving generously to Speed the

Light year after year after year.

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And so this year in 2024, uh,

we, uh, developed the Ralph W.

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Harris award.

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It is an award that is given to a student

in our district in Maine, Vermont, New

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Hampshire, that we believe not only

personifies generosity and missions,

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but also inspires others to do it.

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When we decided to come up with

this award, we knew who we knew the

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moment we came up with it, who would

receive the inaugural Uh, Ralph W.

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Harris Award, because he has inspired

not only this church to get into

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missions, he has inspired not just

those around him to get into missions,

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but he's inspired our entire district.

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It's it's because of this family.

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It's because of this church

that we've seen missions and

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generosity become a focus across

Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.

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And so would you please join me in

recognizing Benaiah Gagney as the

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inaugural receiver of the Ralph W.

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Harris Award across all locations.

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You are blessed.

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You are blessed.

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With Pastor Nate as your

pastor, you're blessed with the

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Gagney family and your church.

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You are blessed as a church to focus on

generosity and missions the way you do.

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And it's because of Restoration, I

can't say it enough, that not only is

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New England becoming more generous and

more mission minded, but the nation is

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seeing what is happening in New England.

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And so we thank you, Gagneys.

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We thank you, Benaiah.

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We thank you, Restoration.

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Uh, and so, with all that out of the way,

let's jump into the Word of God, shall we?

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All right.

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So, this morning, I know for the past few

weeks you guys have been talking about

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Kingdom Builders, and this morning I'm

going to kind of stay in that same vein.

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Uh, but I want to kind

of shift it a little bit.

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Uh, before we jump into the Word, uh,

how many of you know there's an epidemic

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that's sweeping across our nation?

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Um, And it's called road rage Yeah,

yeah, yeah, you know if if you don't

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have road rage You know someone who

does and if you don't know someone who

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does I've got news for you this morning.

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It's you

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Listen I already warned my wife

On our way to church this morning.

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I said, hey, hey, babe.

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I'm gonna use you in my illustration

this morning And she said, well, how?

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And I said, I'm gonna

talk about road rage.

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And she said, Travis, don't you dare.

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And I said, relax.

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I'm still gonna do it.

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Uh, and so, My, I, I typically drive.

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Um, just because I have

a bit of a control issue.

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Um, but also, if I'm

not driving, I'm asleep.

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Like, if I'm riding in a car,

if I'm not physically, like, you

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put me in a plane, I'm asleep.

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You put me on a train, I'm asleep.

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You put me in the passenger

seat of a car, I'm asleep.

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I can sleep anywhere,

and it's usually awesome.

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Uh, so, I typically drive.

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But every now and again, she'll drive.

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Um, or even sometimes while

I drive, this happens.

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Uh, but We pull up to a red light.

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There's a car in front of us.

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We pull up behind that car.

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The light turns green.

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The car doesn't move.

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And all of a sudden I have

to question whether or not

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my wife is truly a christian.

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I'm just kidding.

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It's not that bad.

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It's not that bad, but it is like go.

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What are you waiting for?

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Go!

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I'm like Aaron, it's literally been 0.

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01 second.

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The light just turned green.

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It's okay.

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It's okay.

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But you know that frustration when you're

stuck behind a car and the light turns

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green, and you're, you're trying to get

somewhere, you're trying to do something,

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you're trying to accomplish something,

and the car in front of you isn't going.

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And I, I, I think sometimes in life,

maybe, I could be wrong here, but maybe

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God looks at his church the same way.

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Where he's like, the light is green, go.

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Do something.

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The light is green.

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I've given you the green light.

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Go, go stop.

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You're stopped.

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Keep going.

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And so this morning when, when, when

I'm talking about kingdom builders,

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I, I want you to hear my heart here.

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We should be giving to kingdom builders.

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Generosity matters, but kingdom

builders isn't just something we give

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to kingdom builders is something we are.

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You and I are called

to be kingdom builders.

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If, if you're in this place this morning,

you've given your heart to Christ, you

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are called to be a kingdom builder.

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And so my goal this morning is to

show how the mission of God is moving.

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It's active throughout our lives

since the beginning of time.

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If you have your Bibles, you can open them

up to Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20.

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This is a passage of verses that's

typically known as the Great Commission.

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If Uh, this is the moment that we

kind of get our mission from God.

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Uh, this is the moment that we as

believers are told, this is what I want

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you to do from Jesus Christ himself.

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He's speaking to his disciples, but we

today take it as a command for us as well.

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But the, the verse here, this

is after Jesus has resurrected.

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All right, he's been crucified,

he's been resurrected.

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He, he told the women of the tomb, go

get my disciples, bring them to Galilee.

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And this is at that moment,

this is what he says.

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It says in verse 18, and Jesus came and

said to them, all authority in heaven

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and on earth has been given to me.

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Go therefore and make disciples of

all nations, baptizing them in the

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name of the father and of the son and

of the Holy spirit, teaching them to

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observe all that I've commanded you.

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And behold, I am with you

always to the end of the age.

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Father, I thank you for

your word this morning.

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I thank you that we get to be here and

hear you speak truth into our lives.

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Father, I pray right now that you open up

the eyes and the ears and the hearts of

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everyone that's here, and even those that

are not, to see, to hear, and to know the

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truth that you're speaking this morning.

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Lord, we just pray right now,

God, that you give us the strength

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and the courage To be the hands

and feet of Christ in Jesus name.

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We pray.

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Amen.

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So here in these first few verses,

you see the great commission.

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What does Jesus say?

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He says, go and make disciples,

baptizing them and teaching them.

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A lot of the times when, when I, when

I hear this message preached or, or

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even sometimes when I've preached it

myself, I've, I've done so in such a

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way to say, Jesus is telling you to go.

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Or we, we talk about missionaries.

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Jesus is telling you to go to

another country or to go to another

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state or to go and be a missionary.

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Jesus is telling you to go.

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But in reality, that's not what

Jesus is saying at all right here.

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Because if you look at the original

Greek in which the Bible in the New

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Testament was originally written

in, the way that the word for go is

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translated here is as you are going.

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So when, when, what Jesus is

saying here is he's not saying

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go therefore and make disciples.

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He's saying as you are

going, make disciples.

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Baptizing and teaching.

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The only command in the Great

Commission that Jesus gives that we're

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not already doing is make disciples.

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He expects that we are already going.

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He's expecting that the

disciples are already going.

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As you are going, make disciples.

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And as you make those disciples,

you will be baptizing them and

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teaching them because that is part

of making disciples The only command

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he gives is to make disciples.

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He's not telling us to go this morning

because we as christians should

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already be going We as christians

already have the green light if you've

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given your life to christ The moment

the day that you said yes to christ

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you got to the green light to go

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But in life, sometimes we stop

at those green lights or we

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get stopped by red lights.

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I remember not growing up, but I lived

in Waterville, Maine for quite a while.

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And, uh, there's a, there's a

strip on a Waterville, Maine

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called Kennedy Memorial drive.

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It's about two miles ish from

the highway to where our church

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was and where our house was.

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We lived in the Parsonage at the church.

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It's about two, a two mile stretch

and there's like eight or nine, uh,

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stoplights in that two mile stretch.

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And we would always joke when,

when we'd get ready to go, are we

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going to ride the red wave or are

we going to ride the green wave?

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Because it never seemed like

You, you, you kind of got both.

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You either, every light was

green, or every light was red.

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And so the light would turn

green, and you'd go about 500

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feet, and the next light was red.

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And then you'd have to stop and wait.

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And then that light turns green, and

then you go, and the next light's red.

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And so then you have to stop and wait.

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And it's just exhausting.

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Going and stopping, going and

stopping, going and stopping.

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Especially if you're in

the car with my wife.

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I'm just kidding.

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I'm sorry, babe.

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I'm done.

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I'm done.

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She's gonna hurt me.

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She's gonna hurt me.

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God, forgive me.

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Aaron, forgive me.

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I'm done.

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But, the beauty of Christ, and the beauty

of God, is there are no stoplights.

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They're all green lights.

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We just, we can just keep

going, and going, and going.

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The problem is, is we stop ourselves.

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The problem is, is, is we, we

stop at a green light because we

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don't really know what's next.

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Or we're nervous about cars

coming the other way, even

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though they have a red light.

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We're nervous we might get T boned, or

we're nervous we might get side swiped.

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And so we stop.

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And then we go, and then we stop, and then

we go, and then we stop, and then we go.

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Something happens in

our life, and we stop.

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But what Jesus is telling

us this morning is to keep.

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Going.

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As you are going, I want

you to be making disciples.

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As you are going, I want you

to be baptizing and teaching.

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As you are going, I want you

to be living a life on mission.

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At no point does Jesus

ever ask us to stop.

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At no point does Jesus ever

say, Hey, actually, just take a

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break right here, and just wait

a second, there's a car coming.

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No, he's like, go.

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You have the green light.

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You Keep going, keep going, keep going.

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The mission is in motion.

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The mission doesn't stop.

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The mission continues to go and go and go.

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And the thing that we need to

understand is the mission has been

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in motion for a very, very long time.

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And I'm not talking about just from

this moment when Jesus tells the

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disciples to go and make disciples.

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I'm talking about since

the beginning of time.

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Because the mission is in our DNA.

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If you flip all the way to the front

of your Bible into Genesis chapter

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one, scroll down to the bottom of

Genesis chapter one in verse 28.

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It says this, it says, and God

blessed them, them being Adam and Eve.

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And God said to them, be fruitful and

multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.

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And have dominion over the fish of the sea

and over the birds of the heavens and over

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every living thing that moves on the earth

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In the new testament we see christ's

command to his disciples to go

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into all the nations And make

disciples in the old testament the

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very first chapter of the bible.

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We see god's command To his creation

to be fruitful and multiply God has

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always been a god of multiplication

God has always been a God of addition,

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never division, never subtraction.

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We see it time and time and time again.

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He created us to multiply.

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He created us to add to our family.

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He created us to add

to the kingdom of God.

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In the Old Testament, it's

physically in the Old Testament.

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It's it he, he, he's saying, be

fruitful and multiply on the earth.

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And then in the New Testament,

we see it's spiritual.

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Go into all the nations

and make disciples.

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Multiply yourself as a Christian,

multiply yourself as a believer,

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and create new believers.

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My boss, the superintendent

of the Assemblies of God,

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he says often the fruit.

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of a healthy tree, the fruit of

a healthy apple tree is what?

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Anyone know?

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Apple?

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Not quite.

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The fruit of a healthy apple

tree is another apple tree.

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Yeah, you might get an apple from it,

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but what we want is another apple tree,

because that apple is going to drop a

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seed, and that seed, you plant it, and

another apple tree will come from it.

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The health Or, or the, the

fruit of a healthy Christian

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is another healthy Christian.

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We're meant to multiply ourselves.

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We're meant to add to

the kingdom of God daily.

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And there's this juxtaposition

between Adam in the Old Testament

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and Christ in the New Testament.

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Because really what happens directly after

this in Genesis is Adam and Eve do what?

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They disobey God.

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They, they, they take the fruit of the

tree of knowledge of good and evil.

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They, they eat of it and they're,

they're banished from Eden.

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And it's, it's in that moment that

God spends the rest of his, his

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creation chasing after us, hoping

to come back into alignment with

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us, hoping to be reunited with us.

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And that's a whole nother

sermon for a whole nother day.

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But because of Adam's

disobedience, death enters.

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Into the equation.

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But when christ comes onto the scene and

because of his obedience at the cross

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because remember christ prayed to the

father If it's your will take this cup

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from me Christ christ didn't want to be

crucified But he knew what needed to be

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done and through his obedience through

his crucifixion life enters the equation

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No longer do we have to live in death, but

we are conquerors in Christ through life.

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That's the gift that Christ

gave each of us this morning.

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Across the locations, across

New Hampshire, across the

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country, across the world.

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Christ has given us life

through his death on the cross.

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And what can be hard sometimes

is, is, is when we talk about

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the mission being in our DNA.

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You don't always get to

choose your DNA, right?

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You don't always get to choose,

like, like, you didn't choose

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the family you were born in.

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Some of you are like,

yeah, I know, I wish I did.

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Don't say that this week at Thanksgiving.

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But you didn't get to choose

the family you were born in.

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And you're dealing with being part of it.

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You're dealing with being

part of that family.

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The good, the bad, all of it.

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Christ gives us the choice to

enter into the family of God.

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But the moment we become

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believers in Christ, the moment that we

become part of this family of Christ,

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the mission is ingrained in our DNA.

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It is who we are.

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And it's beyond who we are

into how we live our lives.

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The mission isn't just in our DNA.

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The mission is our life.

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There's a quote that some people will

attribute to this person or that person.

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In reality, no one really

knows who says it, but maybe

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you've heard it this morning.

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It says this, it says to preach the gospel

at all times and when necessary use words.

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I'm going to say that again.

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It says, preach the gospel at all times.

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And if necessary, use words.

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When we think of the idea of preaching

the gospel, some of us sit back and we

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say, Well, I'm going to let Pastor Nate

do that because he's really good at it.

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I'm going to let Pastor Jeremy or Pastor

Victoria or I'll let Travis do it.

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You know, God's called

them to be preachers.

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But the reality is, is God's

called us all to preach the gospel.

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And you don't always have to

preach the gospel with words.

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You can preach the gospel and

should be preaching the gospel

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every day of your life with the way

in which you're living your life.

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The way that we live our lives

speak louder to the unbeliever

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than the words we say.

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Because if we're not living in truth, they

will never hear the truth we have to say.

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We have to understand that being the

Great Commission, being a kingdom

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builder, is part of our lives.

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Every day we wake up, it's

an opportunity before us.

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And how we live our lives and

what we do, Are we going to point

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Everyone to Christ, or are we going

to point everyone to ourselves?

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Do we live this life for Christ, or

do we live this life for ourselves?

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And it can be hard, I get

it, trust me, I understand.

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It's difficult, and it's not easy.

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But I'd never read anything in the Bible

where Christ says it's going to be easy.

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In fact, He says it's going to be hard.

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He says to take up our

cross and follow Him.

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But I can tell you, it's worth it.

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Many of us sitting in this

room know it's worth it.

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If we look back at the Great Commission,

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you go up a few verses before

Christ talks to the disciples.

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If you look at the beginning, you see

that Christ presents himself to the

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women at the tomb, and the guards at

the tomb see what kind of transpires.

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They see that there's no body in the tomb.

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And we see what happens

with the guards in verse 11.

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Same chapter, Matthew 28 verse 11,

it says, While they were going, they

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being the guards, Behold, some of the

guard went into the city and told the

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chief priests all that had taken place.

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And when they had assembled with the

elders and taken counsel, they gave a

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sufficient sum of money to the soldiers.

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And they said, Tell people his disciples

came by night and stole him away.

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While we were asleep, and if this

comes to the governor's ears, we will

386

:

satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.

387

:

So they took the money and did

as they were, they were directed,

388

:

and this story has been spread

among the Jews to this day.

389

:

There's a contrast that happens.

390

:

We see Jesus tell his disciples,

Go and duplicate yourselves.

391

:

Go and speak truth and make disciples.

392

:

And what we see with the guards

is the chief priest saying,

393

:

Go and lie to the people.

394

:

Tell them that Christ hasn't resurrected.

395

:

The guards had a decision to make.

396

:

Speak truth, speak death.

397

:

The disciples had a decision to make.

398

:

Speak truth, speak death.

399

:

And we see the consequences

of those actions.

400

:

It affects the generations to come.

401

:

We as believers have a decision

to make every day of our lives.

402

:

Are we going to speak truth that day or

are we going to speak death that day?

403

:

And we have to understand that

that decision has a consequence

404

:

for this next generation

405

:

and the generation after

and the generation after.

406

:

And I know this to be true

because I've witnessed it myself.

407

:

But I also know it to be true because

I've come across something that that's

408

:

pretty cool that I want to point out.

409

:

About sometime last week, we're

cleaning out the district office.

410

:

And for those of you who don't know, You

know, I, I work for the Assemblies of

411

:

God, our district office is in Portland.

412

:

Uh, and that place is full

of files from like:

413

:

Um, and so we're cleaning stuff out.

414

:

And we find a stack of these

old directories dating all

415

:

the way back to like 1965.

416

:

And, and I, I shared them, we,

we just had a, a, a youth leaders

417

:

retreat, uh, in which some of

your youth leaders were, were at.

418

:

Uh, but I, but I shared it

with the youth leaders there.

419

:

And encouraging them, like, look

at everyone that came before us.

420

:

Uh, and I wasn't planning on this,

but as I was looking through, through

421

:

one, uh, I came across something.

422

:

So, so, so here is the 1965 to 1966.

423

:

They called them yearbooks back then.

424

:

Uh, it's just a directory.

425

:

Fancy term for directory.

426

:

Uh, and you can flip through it and

you can see the names of every person,

427

:

uh, that was a, uh, pastor in, uh,

Northern New England, ordained, licensed.

428

:

Uh, and so if we go to the ordained list

of pastors, if I go all the way down

429

:

to the O's, there's a, there's a name

that some of you in Dover will probably

430

:

recognize, and maybe some in, in some

of the other locations will recognize.

431

:

It's For

432

:

those that don't know, that's

Pastor Bob Oberg, who's sitting

433

:

right up here on the second row,

434

:

who was a minister of the gospel

of Christ with Assemblies of God.

435

:

This was in 1965.

436

:

I went to him before service, and I

showed him, and we were talking, and

437

:

he said, uh, yo, yes, I remember that.

438

:

And he, he knew exactly

what his address was.

439

:

He, he, he even remembered the day

he entered that church was:

440

:

65 years ago He's been living a life

where every day he chooses to speak truth

441

:

and we see the outcome Recognized in

this church his children are believers.

442

:

His grandchildren are believers.

443

:

His great grandchildren are believers

now Some are on different journeys,

444

:

but generations are affected because

of the life that he chose to live

445

:

Generations are affected because of the

lives that you and I choose to live.

446

:

I pray that one day someone

can look back and say, Man,

447

:

Travis spoke truth every day.

448

:

Now I know the reality

is, is that's not true.

449

:

There are days I wake up and nothing

but venom comes out of my mouth.

450

:

And you say, well Travis, you're a pastor.

451

:

Listen, You know what I'm talking about.

452

:

I'm a human just like you.

453

:

I have flesh just like you.

454

:

And every day I wake up, I

have to die to that flesh.

455

:

And some days I die pretty easily.

456

:

And other days it, God has

to kill my flesh a few times.

457

:

But what I know to be true is

that the impact that we have

458

:

today will last generations and

generations and generations.

459

:

The Great Commission isn't

just for the disciples.

460

:

It wasn't just when you became a

new believer, the Great Commission

461

:

is something that we live out day

after day after day after day.

462

:

The mission wasn't something that

was for back then, and the mission

463

:

wasn't something that was for

the future, the mission is here.

464

:

The mission is now.

465

:

It's for us this morning.

466

:

If we jump over to Acts,

467

:

Chapter one, verse eight.

468

:

The Great Commission was, was

what many believe to be the, the,

469

:

the first word, spoken to the

disciples after the resurrection.

470

:

And then in Acts one, uh, verse

eight, these are the last words

471

:

spoken to the disciples before

Christ ascends into heaven.

472

:

Acts one, chapter one, verse eight

says, but you'll receive power when

473

:

the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

474

:

And you'll be my witnesses in

Jerusalem, in all Judea and

475

:

Samaria until the end of the earth.

476

:

The mission is in motion.

477

:

You and I are going, as we are going.

478

:

But where are we going?

479

:

To Jerusalem.

480

:

You're like, wait, what?

481

:

No, I'm not talking about actual Israel.

482

:

Your Jerusalem is here.

483

:

Your Jerusalem is your inner circle.

484

:

It's those people that you see.

485

:

Your Jerusalem is the dinner table this

Thursday when you gather for Thanksgiving.

486

:

Your Judea, Samaria, your community,

487

:

multiple locations across New Hampshire,

The state of New Hampshire, our country.

488

:

Now, now, my prayer is that God is

calling some people in this room and

489

:

some people across our locations to be

missionaries and to go into other nations.

490

:

But you don't have to live the Great

Commission by going to another country.

491

:

You live the commission by just going,

sometimes just going across your hall,

492

:

in your house, and speaking to your kids,

and speaking truth and living truth.

493

:

Sometimes you live out the Great

Commission and, and crossing the, the,

494

:

the aisle of the church or Or going into

your workplace or going into your schools

495

:

or or just going into your community

Living truth and speaking truth at the

496

:

same time We are called to be the body

of christ the body of christ Now we know

497

:

that our bodies are intricate every single

part of our body is important, right?

498

:

But we are specifically called to

be the hands and the feet of christ

499

:

I want to tell you this morning.

500

:

No one in this room is called

to be the belly button of christ

501

:

Now sometimes you may feel that way.

502

:

Sometimes you may feel

like, oh, I'm nothing.

503

:

Like, yeah, I'm a Christian, but yeah, I'm

not really a part of the body of Christ.

504

:

And listen, we all have belly buttons.

505

:

We can talk about them.

506

:

It's weird.

507

:

I get it, but we got him.

508

:

Does anyone know what that thing does?

509

:

No.

510

:

It exists.

511

:

It's there.

512

:

I'm sure there's a couple

people in the audience like,

513

:

yeah, I do know what it does.

514

:

Great.

515

:

That's awesome for you.

516

:

You're ruining my illustration.

517

:

But the reality is we don't

know what the belly button does.

518

:

But we know what the

hands and the feet do.

519

:

The hands and the feet are in motion.

520

:

God's calling you to be the

hands and feet of Christ.

521

:

To do something, to go, and keep going.

522

:

God's calling you to, to go into

your workplaces, to go into your

523

:

families, to be the hands to reach out.

524

:

I think what can be hard sometimes

as Christians, as believers, whether

525

:

you're a new believer, or you've been

at this for 65 years, what can be

526

:

hard sometimes is that it gets tiring.

527

:

It gets tiring.

528

:

Spreading the gospel, speaking truth over,

especially when, when you're hearing no's.

529

:

Especially when, when you invite someone

to church and they just keep saying no.

530

:

It can get tiring and it can get hard.

531

:

But we have to remember when it

gets hard, we have to remember

532

:

how hard it was when we were lost.

533

:

It was far harder.

534

:

My life before I came to Christ

was far harder than it is

535

:

spreading the gospel every day.

536

:

My life before Christ was far harder

than it is speaking truth every day.

537

:

Yeah, it's hard to die to my flesh some

days, but my life before Christ was far

538

:

harder than dying to my flesh, because

I was lost, I was alone, I was confused.

539

:

When it gets hard, we have to

remember that Jesus says, rest your

540

:

cares on me because my yoke is easy.

541

:

When we get tired, we have

to remember that Jesus says,

542

:

rest in the shadow of my wing.

543

:

It can get hard, it can get tiring

living out the Great Commission.

544

:

If we truly want to live out the Great

Commission, if we truly want to follow the

545

:

words of Jesus, He's not telling us to go.

546

:

He's already expecting that you

and I are going this morning.

547

:

And as we're going,

we're making disciples.

548

:

But if we look back at the Great

Commission, if we look back at

549

:

that last verse in verse 20,

550

:

because it can get hard, it can get

tiring, it can sometimes be lonely.

551

:

But Jesus says in verse 20 and behold, I

am with you always to the end of the age.

552

:

I am with you always

to the end of the age.

553

:

When it gets hard, when it gets

tiring, when you feel lonely, when

554

:

it feels like all hope is lost.

555

:

Christ says, I am here.

556

:

He didn't just say, Hey, go do this.

557

:

Peace out.

558

:

In fact, he said, Hey, go do this.

559

:

I'm gonna give you the Holy

Spirit to live within you.

560

:

So then you have the strength

and the courage to do it.

561

:

Oh, but by the way, I'm

still gonna be here.

562

:

I'm not gonna leave you alone.

563

:

Christ is with each and

every believer this morning,

564

:

turning every light green

that we come across.

565

:

And we have a decision

to make as believers.

566

:

We can continue to allow Christ

to sit in our passenger seat,

567

:

yelling at us to go when

the light turns green,

568

:

telling us, don't wait, keep going, or

569

:

just slide on over, let him drive.

570

:

Cause I can tell you, Christ

is going to keep going.

571

:

When that light turns green, there's

not going to be a red light before him.

572

:

He's going to keep going.

573

:

He's going to keep going.

574

:

He's going to keep going.

575

:

It's when we try to take

that steering wheel.

576

:

It's when we try to get in that

driver's seat that we stop, that fear

577

:

stops us, that loneliness stops us,

578

:

that circumstances stop us.

579

:

Or maybe you're in here this morning

and you just feel like you're just

580

:

surrounded by red lights, that your

life is just motionless right now.

581

:

Maybe you're, you're here this morning

or you're in one of our locations or

582

:

you're online and you've never heard the

truth that there's a God that loves you.

583

:

There's a God that loves you so much

that not only did he create you, but

584

:

he sent his son to the earth over

:

585

:

which he didn't deserve for you so

that you don't have to walk in death.

586

:

You don't have to walk surrounded by

red lights that you can walk in life.

587

:

If that's you this morning, if

you're saying, look, this is the

588

:

first I've heard that there's

something different for me out there.

589

:

That there's life

available for me out there.

590

:

If that's you this morning, I just

ask across our locations, just stand.

591

:

If you're saying, I want life for

the first time, would you stand?

592

:

I can promise you no

one's gonna point at you.

593

:

No one's gonna pay attention to you.

594

:

This is a moment between you and God But

you're in the family of christ right now.

595

:

You're in the body of christ right now

that surrounded you with love So if

596

:

that's you this morning you're saying

I want to give my life to christ I'm

597

:

tired of walking around in red lights,

and I just want to go would you stand?

598

:

Now if you're a believer in here

this morning Maybe you've been a

599

:

believer for five minutes Maybe

you've been a believer for 65 years.

600

:

If you're a believer in this morning,

and you're saying, I am going.

601

:

I'm going.

602

:

I am going, and I'm

going to make disciples.

603

:

I'm going this Thursday

into my family gathering.

604

:

I'm going.

605

:

In my community, I'm

going in my neighborhood.

606

:

If, if you're willing to take the

mission seriously, that God has for

607

:

you and I this morning, if you're

willing to go, would you please stand?

608

:

If you're a believer and you're

willing to go and take it

609

:

seriously, would you please stand?

610

:

My prayer is, my prayer is

that no one stood up because

611

:

their spouse pulled them up.

612

:

That no one stood up because someone

gave him a glaring eye or, My prayer is

613

:

that every single person that stood up is

serious about living the Great Commission.

614

:

About not just giving to kingdom

builders, but being a kingdom builder.

615

:

If you're not standing, I ask that

you please stand now as we pray and

616

:

get ready to enter into worship one

last time all across our locations.

617

:

God, we thank you for this morning.

618

:

We thank you, Father, for what your word

says, that we are called to be going.

619

:

Amen.

620

:

To be going to be making disciples to

be baptizing to be teaching but God to

621

:

be going And lord, I pray right now for

those of us in the room Or those of us

622

:

across our locations or online who gave

their life to you for the first time

623

:

Lord forgive them Show them lord

that you love them Show them lord

624

:

that you care for them show them

lord that you Want to be the driver?

625

:

God show them lord that you're

their father Lord, and I pray for

626

:

every single person that stood up

that says, I am going on mission.

627

:

I am going to fulfill the great

commission in my life, wherever that

628

:

looks like Lord, give them the strength

to keep going when they get, it gets

629

:

hard, give them the rest to keep going.

630

:

When they get tired,

631

:

Lord, I pray that restoration is forever

changed because we live on mission.

632

:

God, I pray that New Hampshire is forever

changed because we live on mission.

633

:

I pray that northern New

England is forever changed

634

:

because we live on mission.

635

:

And so God, I lay it all to you.

636

:

Have your way in our lives.

637

:

We thank you, Father, for

leading us to this point.

638

:

And we thank you, Father, for

leading us on the path ahead.

639

:

In the name of Jesus, we pray.

640

:

Mike Mayo: Amen.

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