May 6, 2025 • 38 mins
What if the five things people typically live for—success, relationships, pleasure, impact, and fulfillment—were actually byproducts of living for something greater? Through a captivating story about glowing waters in Jamaica, we discover how our lives can illuminate the darkness around us when we embrace our divine purpose.
The Great Commission isn't just a biblical concept; it's our greatest mission imaginable. Breaking down Matthew 28:19-20, we explore what it truly means to "go, make disciples, baptize, and teach." The command to "go" doesn't necessarily mean traveling to foreign lands—it means bringing Jesus' authority and power wherever you already are. When we hesitate or doubt this calling, we miss divine appointments that could transform lives, including our own.
Making disciples requires both evangelism and discipleship—like two pedals on a bicycle that must work together for forward momentum. We're called to disciple people of every ethnicity, nation, and background, recognizing that every human bears God's image equally. From the symbolic power of baptism to the responsibility of teaching both through words and actions, every aspect of the Great Commission invites us into something transcendent.
Throughout this journey, we're never alone. Jesus promises His presence "to the end of the age," empowering us with everything we need. Whether you're just beginning your faith journey or looking to deepen your spiritual impact, the Great Commission offers the meaningful purpose you were created for—the "more" your heart has always longed to discover.
What would happen if you stopped pursuing those five things directly and instead embraced the mission Jesus has uniquely equipped you to fulfill?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, good morning, put your hands together if
you're excited to be in churchtogether today.
It is good to see everybodyhere, patter Springs.
God is so good.
I'm so thankful for what he'sdoing in your life, in our
church family and in your family, and, man, we are just so
grateful for the way that God ismoving.
First of all, I just want toremind all the men in the room
(00:21):
all the men say, yeah, men inthe room we've got a men's
breakfast coming up thisSaturday at 7 am.
Brand new restaurant opening upcalled Big Doug's Place, right
over in Hiram.
If you've ever eaten at the oneover in Emerson, it's amazing,
and this is going to be arelaunch to our men's ministry.
So all the men are invited,boys are invited, any men that
(00:45):
you know they can come and we'regoing to go and just have a big
men's breakfast there and youget all you want to eat because
it's on you, okay.
So, man, it's going to be agreat.
It's a great time together andwe can't wait to be there.
Just this past Sunday we had ourNext Step Lunch.
I just want you to know we had18 people in our Next Step lunch
(01:06):
.
Many of them said we wanna joina group.
We wanna get involved inministry.
We wanna join the church.
Put your hands together for newchurch family members.
We're so thankful for the waythat God is moving and that he
is growing.
First Baptist Church, powderSprings.
Let me pray for you, heavenlyFather, in Jesus' name, I just
pray for all of our men, all ofour women, all of our boys, all
(01:28):
of our girls here in this room,everybody online.
And Father, we just want to saythat this is your church, we
are your people, this is yourword.
So we pray for your work in ourhearts and God, we ask in
Jesus' name that you would justaccomplish your will in us and
through us.
We pray these things in Jesus'name and all God's people said
(01:49):
amen.
I remember back in my 20s I gotto go on a mission trip to
Jamaica.
To Jamaica there are worseplaces to go on mission trips
than Jamaica but we were therefor a week and I was in college
at the time and it was a missiontrip where we were doing just
mission, hard work, hard labor,honestly all week long.
The last day was kind of thatfun day where you get to see a
(02:11):
lot of the country, you get tomeet a lot of the people, you
get to eat a lot of the food,and so, man, we just had an
amazing time in Jamaica the lastday.
The last thing that we did wasat night it was a Friday night
and they took us to a placecalled Glistening Waters, and
Glistening Waters was arestaurant, and so you would go
and you would order fish thereand they would literally catch
(02:32):
the fish in the Caribbean Seafor you and they would grill it
up, and while they were catchingit, while they were grilling it
, they would take you out on aboat ride in the Bay of the
Caribbean Sea.
So there we are in a boat, andas we're going out, it is pitch
black at night, it's late in theevening, and so we're thinking
what are we going to see, right,when you're out on the water in
(02:53):
the Caribbean Sea and it's darkoutside.
But then we noticed some of youhad heard me tell the story
before that the water coming outfrom the boat began to glow.
So we thought maybe there werelights under the boat.
There weren't any lights underthe boat, because we could see,
10 to 15 feet out, fish thatwould be swimming around.
And so the captain of the boattold us that in that part of the
(03:16):
bay, in that part of theCaribbean Sea, there were
billions and billions ofbillions of little microscopic
phosphoritic organisms that arebasically like microscopic
lightning bugs that would lightup when they get stirred up.
So whenever the water wasstirred, it would look like the
water was lighting up.
Here is a picture that it wouldkind of look like right there.
(03:37):
And so the captain asked whowould like to jump in.
I said I will jump in second,as long as somebody goes first,
in case there's any sharks right.
And so somebody jumped in first, I jumped in second.
We're all jumped in, we're allplaying man and everything's
lighting up.
We're glowing like thoseorganisms are in our clothes and
all this kind of stuff.
And then everybody got realstill so it would get real dark
(03:57):
because the water would stopmoving.
One of us did not get in.
His name was Porkchop.
Porkchop was about 350 pounds,right, and so we had stopped
moving.
Everything got dark.
We were going to splash again.
Well, porkchop was on the sideof the boat.
He decided to jump in.
Boom, everything was glowing.
You could see us from the moon,right.
And so everything was glowingin the bay because of how much
(04:17):
fun we were having.
And that was just anillustration.
It was a story for me that Iwill never forget, because it's
always a reminder for me that aslong as I'm living, as long as
I'm moving, as long as I'mobeying, as long as I'm sharing
the gospel of Jesus Christ, thatthe Bible says that Jesus is
the light of the world and hehas called us to reflect his
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light, to glow like him, and sothat's what I want us to see
this morning is how your lifecan make a difference by being
different.
I believe the Bible sayssomething that is true about
every single one of you.
It's true about me and it'strue about you that we were all
made for more.
You were made for more.
(05:01):
Everyone say more.
The question is what is themore that we were made for?
We were made for more than what?
Well, I looked it up on theinternet, so you know that it's
true.
It said it talked about the fivemain things that people live
for today.
What are the five things thatpeople say?
(05:21):
This is what my life's allabout.
This is what makes me happy.
This is what makes me happy.
This is what makes me satisfied, the five things that people
live for today.
Number one success.
Number two relationships.
Number three pleasure.
Number four impact.
Number five fulfillment.
And what I want to share withyou this morning is that God
actually wants all five of thosefor you.
(05:44):
Is that God actually wants allfive of those for you.
God wants you to experience allfive of those in your life, but
you will not achieve them whenyou focus on them.
You won't achieve them when youare trying to accomplish them.
Rather, you achieve them whenyou are living your life for the
(06:05):
mission of Jesus Christ andthen God gives you success.
Then God gives you therelationships within that
mission and pleasure and impactin the lives of others and
personal fulfillment withinyourself.
And we see it in the mostimportant passage of scripture
in all of the Bible that I'vebeen waiting to preach to you,
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and it's on the Great Commissionof Jesus Christ.
Can I ask us all to stand forone minute?
This is about a six-week-longseries.
We did it last week, we'll doit for the next four weeks after
this and I just want us all tostand together and we're going
to read the Great Commission.
Then I'll ask you to sit down,stand together and we're going
to read the great commissionthat.
I'll ask you to sit down, butthese are Jesus's final words
(06:49):
recorded on earth, and thesewords were his disciples, and
these words were for you, andthese words were for me, for
Matthew 28, 19 and 20.
Let's read together.
Go, therefore, and makedisciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, teaching themto observe all that I have
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commanded you and, behold, I amwith you always, to the end of
the age.
Put your hands together forwhat Jesus told us to do.
You can have a seat.
God is so good.
What does the great commissionmean?
Well, great means there'snothing greater.
Commission means the com incommission means to do it with.
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Com means with.
In other words, we're doing itwith Jesus, we're not doing it
alone.
Com also means together.
We're doing it with Jesus andwe're doing it together.
So, again, you're not doing italone.
Mission means that you have beensent by Jesus.
It means that you've beenassigned, you've been appointed,
(07:53):
you've been empowered, you'vebeen sent on a mission to
accomplish for him.
In other words, this is yourgreatest mission imaginable of
your whole life.
This is your greatest missionimaginable of your whole life.
This is your greatest missionimaginable.
Everyone has a mission,everyone has a vision, everyone
has a goal, everyone has agenda.
This is the best mission thatyou could possibly ever live for
(08:19):
, and it tells us to do fourthings.
Jesus says he wants us to go, hewants us to make disciples, he
wants us to baptize and he wantsus to do four things.
Jesus says he wants us to go,he wants us to make disciples,
he wants us to baptize and hewants us to teach.
Let me walk you through thosefour quickly together this
morning.
Number one is go.
Everybody say go.
This is what Jesus said Matthew28, verse 19,.
He said go, therefore makedisciples of all nations,
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baptizing them in the name ofthe Father, of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit.
First thing, I want you to seethat Jesus called you to go
because Jesus is the first onewho gone.
He's the first one who went.
Jesus left heaven and he cameto earth as the ultimate
missionary.
He stepped out of his home, hecame to our home and he lived on
our behalf sinlessly,righteously.
(09:04):
He went to the cross on yourbehalf.
He died for your sin.
He rose from the dead.
Jesus is the ultimatemissionary who came for you and
now he's calling you, he'scalling us to go for him.
It's not gonna be on the screen,but a couple of verses back.
In verse 16, it said that the11 disciples this is right after
(09:26):
Jesus had risen from the dead,right before he ascends back to
heaven, it says the 11 discipleswent to Galilee, to the
mountain to which Jesus haddirected them.
You understand that Galilee wasa hundred miles from Jerusalem.
Jesus called them to go toGalilee, to travel 100 miles by
foot.
That would be five days to goto a specific mountain.
(09:48):
And when they got there, whatwould they experience?
They would get to see the risen, resurrected Lord Jesus.
He was worth the trip and theygot to hear the great commission
that Jesus had for them and forall humanity.
In other words, what is going?
Going is simply going whereverit is that Jesus has called you
(10:12):
to go.
And what happens if they didn'tgo?
They would have missed themoment, they would have missed
the miracle, they would havemissed something incredibly
special that Jesus invited themto be a part of.
And in the same way, when Idon't go, when you don't go
where Jesus has called us to go,then we miss the moment and we
(10:36):
miss the miracle that Jesus hadfor us.
The Bible says in verse 17,.
And when the disciples the 11disciples who had been following
him when they saw him, it saidthey worshiped him, but some
doubted.
Isn't it interesting that theBible keeps bringing up doubt?
(10:56):
Jesus talked about doubtwhenever Peter was walking on
the water.
And what did Jesus do whenPeter doubted?
Jesus didn't stiff, arm him.
Jesus reached down and grabbedhis hand.
The Bible says that when Thomasdoubted, jesus didn't say well,
when you start to believe, thenI'll show myself.
No, jesus came up to Thomas andsaid Thomas, here I am.
(11:16):
Do you need to touch my nail?
Pier scars, thomas.
Do you believe me now?
What does Jesus do when youdoubt?
What does Jesus do when I doubt?
Jesus comes into our doubtsbecause the Bible says that some
worshiped but some doubted.
I just think it's veryinteresting that he doesn't even
tell us how much of eitherworshiped or doubted.
(11:38):
But because Jesus had risenfrom the dead, of course some
doubted.
You believe in a man that camefrom heaven.
He was fully God.
He became fully man.
He lived a sinless life.
He lived a righteous life.
Nothing he did was wrong.
Everything he did was by theword of God.
He did miracles in front ofeverybody.
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Jesus died for the sin of theentire world.
He suffered and he died.
He was buried in a tomb forthree days and he rose from the
dead.
I mean, that is an unbelievablefaith.
You're gonna tell me that youdon't doubt sometimes.
Of course you're gonna doubtsometimes.
In fact, I believe that often,the more real your faith is, the
(12:20):
more real your doubts are.
But can I encourage you thismorning?
What should you do when youdoubt?
Did you know the Greek word fordoubt means to hesitate, and
what the devil wants us to doinstead of worshiping Jesus, is
just to hesitate, is just tostop, to calculate and to wait.
(12:42):
But what is Jesus telling us todo, even through your doubts?
Worship Jesus to calculate andto wait.
But what is Jesus telling us todo, even through your doubts?
Worship Jesus.
If you want God to have powerover your doubts, worship Jesus
through your doubts.
Verse 18 says and Jesus came andsaid to them All authority in
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heaven and on earth has beengiven to me.
So sometimes, when we hear thisverse, go, therefore, and make
disciples of all nations andwe're baptizing them in the name
of the Father, the Son and theHoly Spirit, we're thinking,
well, that's for everybody else,but that's not me, because I'm
no super Christian.
I know my sin and I know mydoubts and I know my struggles
(13:24):
and I know my darkness and Iknow my past and I know my
weaknesses.
So I know that Jesus couldnever use me like that.
Jesus just uses everybody elselike that.
But actually Jesus said.
He said the authority is not onyou, the power is not in you,
the ability to do this is notfrom you, jesus said.
(13:47):
He came and he said to themthat all authority in heaven, on
earth has been given to him andtherefore he gave it to you
when he saved you.
He gave it to you when he savedyou.
What a tragedy it would be ifJesus gave you his authority and
(14:08):
his power at your salvation andyou never use it for his glory.
Jesus said that, as he had allauthority and he proved it to us
the way in which that he calmedthe storms, the way in which
that he healed the sick, heraised the dead, he fed the
5,000, he forgave sin.
(14:29):
He has all authority and theBible says that he gives it to
you in order to fulfill thegreat commission.
That word go if I can just be aBible nerd for just a second
that word go is porothentes, andporothentes to go.
It literally means this youready for this as you're going,
(14:51):
it literally means wherever itis that you are.
So, in other words, we're notwaiting to make a difference for
Jesus when we're on a missiontrip one day, when we're out of
town, when we're in anotherstate.
No, jesus says, wherever youare, he has given you his
authority and he's given you hispower that wherever you are, he
(15:14):
has called you to go.
Jesus called Michelle and I togo.
Just over a year and a half agohe called us to go to Powder
Springs, georgia.
And here we are.
One of the greatest blessingsand one of the greatest callings
of our entire life to get to dochurch and family and ministry
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and community with you and allof Powder Springs and beyond.
We love living here, we lovebeing a part of our church, we
love being with you and, just asa reminder, jesus called you to
go here too.
Whenever that was in your life,jesus called you to go.
I just heard this past week atour Next Step lunch.
There was a couple there whosaid that they had been looking
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for a church to thrive in.
They felt like God was callingthem to thrive in a church.
He said that he works for thecity of Powder Springs.
He would drive by our churchsome 20 times a day.
He said it just never dawned onhim to come in and check it out
.
He said that people would tellhim well, if you're looking for
a church, come to our church.
He said every single personthat told him check out our
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church.
He would go online and checkout the church and God would say
that's not the church I havefor you to thrive in.
He said one day he was out doingsome paperwork on the Powder
Springs walking trails, in apart of the trail that he said
no one ever comes.
He said just needed someprivacy to get some work done.
So there he is sitting wherenobody ever comes Powder Springs
(16:41):
Walking Trails and he said thiscouple came bee-bopping down
the trail right where he was.
So he's sitting there and theystart talking to him.
He starts talking to them.
Long story short, they said wewant you to come to our church
and he said well, I'm actuallylooking for a church.
So he goes home and he goesonline First Baptist Church,
(17:06):
powder Springs and he checks itout and God speaks to me.
He says that's a church you canthrive in.
They come, they check it out,god calls them here and I saw
them serving this morningalready they're joining the
church and man God is alreadythriving in their life.
And I want you to hear me saythat God called him to go to
that part of the walking trail.
God called that couple in ourchurch to go walking down that
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trail to that point that nobodyever goes.
God called them to engage in aconversation so that God could
show them First Baptist Church,powder Springs, because God had
a church for them to thrive in.
Had they not gone, they wouldhave missed the moment and the
miracle.
Put your hands together rightnow for the way that God works,
for the way that God works.
I just want to remind you.
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Famous missionary Jim Elliottsaid wherever you are, be all
there.
Why?
Because Jesus called you.
Wherever you are said whereveryou are, be all there.
Why?
Because Jesus called youwherever you are.
So, wherever you are, you'vebeen sent with the power, with
the authority of Jesus.
Number two Jesus calls us tomake disciples.
Everybody say make To makedisciples.
Verse 19 simply says this.
(18:12):
Jesus said go therefore, makedisciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, to makedisciples.
What does it mean to makedisciples?
Well, people argue about it allthe time.
Some people say does it meanevangelism?
Does it mean that you arealways sharing your faith so
that people are getting saved?
Or does it mean deepdiscipleship, that you're
(18:34):
discipling people so they getdeeper and deeper and deeper in
their faith?
Well, just to Bible nerd out onyou for just a second.
The Greek word is mathesizate,mathe, I'm sorry, mathetesuate,
and so what that Greek wordmeans is literally to make
someone a disciple.
In other words, here's what itmeans.
It means both.
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It means to invite people tothe faith so that they believe,
so that they become a followerof Jesus.
It means to disciple people intheir faith so they are deepened
in their relationship withJesus Christ.
It is like having two pedals ona bike.
It's like having two oars in aboat.
You ever been in a boat beforeand maybe you're paddling on one
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side and they're paddling onthe other side and you're
paddling all of a sudden gets alot harder and now you're not
going anywhere.
Now you're just going incircles.
You look over and they quitpaddling.
What happens is, when you focuson one instead of both, life
gets hard.
You don't go anywhere.
When churches only focus onevangelism, they don't go
anywhere.
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When churches only focus ondeep discipleship, they don't go
anywhere.
When churches focus onevangelism and discipleship,
they go where Jesus has calledthem to go.
If you believe that, say yeah.
And so here's what we see isthat it is an unbelievable
journey when we get to watchpeople come to faith in the
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knowledge of Jesus Christ.
I think about my little girl,brooklyn Rose, six years old and
, for you know, probably sinceshe was about three, three and a
half, I'd ask her.
I would never force, I'd nevermanipulate, I'd never push, I'd
never pressure, but I'd say,brooklyn, is there ever going to
come a day you think that youwant to give your life to Jesus?
I was always just kind of, youknow, prodding her a little bit
(20:21):
and priming the pump a littlebit.
You ever think there's going tobe a day that you're going to
give your life to Jesus?
Three and a half four years oldBrooklyn would say, dad, I'll
do it.
I'm like, hey, no pressure, nopressure, like calm down a
little bit, I'll do it when I'mready.
I remember there was a day as wewould take her to church and
read her her little children'sbible at night and show her
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little bible cartoons in themorning and pray with her
throughout the day and talkabout Jesus, just always, just
always filling her life with thegospel, just praying that one
day she would believe, near theend of her fourth, right before
her fifth birthday.
I'll never forget the day.
It was a Sunday and I actuallywent and put her on the potty.
And I put her on the potty, wewere just having our little
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conversation there and shelooked at me and she said Dad, I
want to give my life to Jesus.
I was like right here, likeright now, and let me get you
off first, and so I let her getfinished and got her off and set
her on the ground.
I said talk to me, babe.
She said I want to give my lifeto Jesus.
I said, brooklyn, do youbelieve that Jesus died on the
cross for your sin, that he rosefrom the dead and you want to
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call on him to be the Lord ofyour life, where you want to
live for him the rest of yourlife.
And she said, daddy, I want togive my life to Jesus.
So we prayed right there.
She prayed the gospel, she gaveher life to Jesus.
I'll never forget.
After the prayer, she looked upto me and she said, daddy, I've
got the Holy Spirit.
Now I was like, yes, you do.
I'm raising a Babdacostal, Ilove it, I love it.
Man, god is so good.
(21:46):
But I want to remind you that's, that's just the beginning,
right, that's the beginning.
So she comes to faith in Jesusand now it is our job to keep
her in church.
Now it's our job to keep her inthe word of God.
Now it's our job to keep her inworship and to encourage her in
Jesus.
Why?
Because now it's our job todisciple her, to become more and
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more and more like Jesus.
And that is what God is callingus to do as a church to see
people come to faith in Jesus.
And then we get the opportunityto disciple them in his truth.
And one of those opportunitieswe have coming up is our
Vacation Bible School Week thatwe call KidVenture Extreme Week.
It's going to be the first weekof June.
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Now, hear me, this is the mostimportant week of the year that
our church does all year long,because the majority of our kids
here will not just be ourchurch kids, they will be the
kids from the community, and wedon't know whenever they're
going to get to hear the gospel,we don't know whenever they're
going to be invited to believein Jesus, and I would tell you
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right now that we still need tohave some volunteer slots open
in order for you to fill.
We've got some slots in ourone-year-old, our pre-Ks, our
second grade, our third grade,our fourth grade and our fifth
grade.
We need a lot there, and all ofour recreation time as well,
and I want to encourage you.
If there was ever a week totake off work, if there was ever
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a week to say Jesus, I am justgonna sacrifice everything for
you this week.
It is the week that you canserve Jesus by raising up the
next generation in the gospel ofJesus Christ.
It's the first week of June.
I wanna encourage you to getinvolved, because Jesus has
called us to make disciples, andnot just to make disciples, but
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I wanna remind you that he'scalled us to make disciples of
all nations.
Everybody say all Of all nations, just very quickly.
That word all nations, itliterally is ethnos, pos, ethnos
, and it's talking aboutethnicity, race, nation, country
, people, group.
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In other words, jesus iscalling us to go everywhere.
Jesus is calling us to go toeveryone.
You realize, there's 195countries in the world, but
there are 17,000 differentpeople groups.
7,500 of them are unreachedwith the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Every single person on theplanet has been fully and
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equally created in the image ofGod, and God is calling us to be
a multi-ethnic church, as Godcalls every church to reflect
their community.
You realize, in our churchalone, first Baptist Church,
powder Springs, we haveNigerians, we have Liberians, we
have Ugandans, we haveZimbabweans, we have
Trinidadians, we have Jamaicans,we have Mexicans, we have
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Japanese Americans, we haveAfrican Americans, we have
European Americans.
And who knows where you're from?
You know what I'm saying.
Like man, I'm just.
I love a melting pot of people,diverse maybe in our ethnicity,
but we are unified in thegospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Put your hands together rightnow, because God is glorified.
He's glorified when we'reunified, even as we are
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diversified.
I just want you to know you'rehearing it here for the first
time we are taking a missiontrip to Puerto Rico, a mission
trip as a church, to Puerto RicoOctober 25 to 31.
You can go online, you cancheck it out and I want to
encourage you, if there arestill spots open.
I wanna encourage you to go Ifyou've never been on Mission
(25:24):
Trip before or if you've done itbefore to go.
We're taking a mission trip toUganda to go and be a part of
Gant Morgan's mission.
Gant grew up here, he's amissionary in Uganda and we of
Gant Morgan's mission.
Gant grew up here, he's amissionary in Uganda and we're
taking a mission trip there inSeptember and I want to
encourage you to go if you'venever been or if you have before
, because we are called to be achurch by Jesus, to go on
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mission together.
As Jesus's disciple, you arecalled to make more disciples.
Number three, very quickly, isbaptize.
Everyone say baptize, baptize.
Jesus said go, therefore makedisciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
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What is baptism?
Baptism is when you go underthe water, you're saying I
believe that Jesus died on thecross for my sin.
When you come out of the water.
You're saying I believe thatJesus rose from the dead.
The best I've heard it explainedis baptism is like a wedding
ring.
A wedding ring don't make youmarried.
You can put a wedding ring on,but that don't mean you're
married, right.
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But a wedding ring is a symbolthat you are married to somebody
.
In the same way, just becauseyou get baptized, it doesn't
make you saved.
The Bible says that once youget saved, then you get baptized
as a symbol of your salvation.
It's a public expression ofyour salvation.
As a wedding ring says, youcan't have this right.
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Baptism tells the devil youcan't have this.
I'm all Jesus's, amen, amen.
So I want to encourage you that,as you share your faith
wherever you go, as you witnessfor Jesus, we're calling people
to faith in Jesus and we get tocelebrate together when people
get baptized.
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I want to encourage you haveyou been baptized?
We don't guilt here, we don'tshame people, we don't force, we
don't manipulate, we don'ttwist arms.
We just encourage people in theword of God.
Have you been saved and haveyou been baptized?
Since you've been saved, youknow Mother's Day is coming up.
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Baptizo is the Greek word andit literally means to be
immersed or to go under thewater.
Mother's Day is coming up and Ican't think of a better day
than if you still need to bebaptized, as God is calling you
to be baptized, to get baptizedas a way to honor, maybe, your
mom, or all moms, as we get tocelebrate your baptism on
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Mother's Day.
You let us know and we wouldlove to baptize you on Mother's
Day.
You know, jesus said.
He said go make disciples ofall nations, baptizing them, and
hear it.
He says in the name of theFather, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
Why are we baptized?
Why should you get baptized?
In the name of the Father, theSon and the Holy Spirit?
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Because it took the wholeTrinity to save you.
Can I get an amen?
Just like it took the wholeTrinity to save me?
I've heard it said before.
You know what would it take forthe devil to get you unsaved?
And the Bible says that whenyou're saved, you are dipped in
the blood of Jesus.
The Bible says that the hand ofthe Father grips you and that
no one can open.
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The Bible says that he wrapsyou in his Holy Spirit.
If the devil ever wanted tounsave you, he'd have to unwrap
the Holy Spirit from the hand ofthe Father, the devil would
have to pry open the hand of theFather.
The devil would have to diveunder the blood of the Holy
Spirit just to get to you.
And if the devil's ever underthe blood, then he'd be a saved
devil.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, the devil can't get toyou and that's why we get
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baptized in the name of theFather, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
And I just want to encourageyou this morning, no matter who
you are or how old you are.
We've baptized a four-year-oldwho's believed in Jesus.
I've baptized a 90-year-oldlady before Last year we got to
baptize here and a lady in her80s and she was one of five
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generations from her family onher baptism on that Sunday.
Man, it's amazing what God does.
When God calls you to getbaptized, you know what he does.
He uses you as an encouragementfor someone else to follow
Jesus in the same way.
Get baptized if you've beensaved.
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And finally and lastly, numberfour teach.
Everybody.
Say teach.
The Bible says Jesus saidteaching them to observe
everything that I've commandedyou.
Behold, I'm with you always tothe end of the age Bible nerd
with me for a minute, as he saysthat teaching them to observe
all that I've commanded you.
That word teach in the Greek isdidosko.
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Everyone say didosko.
Very good, you're either noGreek or you're speaking in
tongues, one or the other, Idon't know Didosko.
Do you know what it means toteach someone the truth?
But it also means to showsomeone the truth.
In other words, we're called asa church, we're called as
Christians, to teach people inthe word of God, but we're also
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called to show them from ourlife the word of God.
That's why, as a church, we'regoing through the whole Bible.
We've gone through Genesis,exodus, leviticus, numbers,
deuteronomy.
We've looked at the doctrine ofGod, we've looked at all of the
doctrine of Jesus.
As we're in the middle of thatseries right now, and there is
something about that, when weare under the word of God,
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together in worship, and hear me, when we're in the word of God,
together in worship, and hearme when we're in the word of God
together as a group, I want toencourage you, if you're not in
a group, to get in a group,because there's a different
context than a worship service,that you get deepened in the
word of God.
Do you realize that Hebrew saysthat some of you have been
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learning for too long.
Hebrew says it's time for youto teach.
Every time we start a new group, we see new people come, we see
new people join and we see thechurch of Jesus Christ grow.
Why?
Because there's power in theWord of God.
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Just this week my littletwo-and-a-half-year-old boy,
cruz first time he's ever donethis, he walked.
It was bedtime, he walked intohis room and he handed me his
children's Bible.
Never done this before.
He handed me his children'sBible and he's very speech.
He's a little speech delayed,and so he's been struggling.
He's doing a lot better lately,praise the Lord.
But he hands me his children'sBible and he says daddy God,
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daddy, god.
And I opened up his children'sBible and my boy is like he
don't stop for nothing.
Y'all know who he is Like hejust never stops.
He's running.
It's like he just never stopped.
He'd run around all the time.
And he sat on my lap and fortwo nights in a row he listened
to me, read his children's Bibleto him, the Rhyme Bible.
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If you're a parent of kids, getthe Rhyme Bible.
It's my favorite children'sBible, the Rhyme Bible.
And he listened in two nightsthe entire Old Testament, which
was 200 pages.
I'm just telling you.
There's power in the word of God.
There's power when you teachthe word of God.
There's power when you expressthe word of God.
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You share the word of God.
There's power when you learnthe word of God.
There is power in the word ofGod.
As disciples, we are called tobe both learners and teachers.
Who are you learning from andwho are you leading?
Who are you teaching?
Because Jesus called us to goand make disciples of all
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nations, baptizing them in thename of the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit, teaching themto observe everything that he
commanded.
And Jesus promised that he willbe with you always, to the end
of the age.
You're not fulfilling the greatcommission alone.
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Jesus is with you.
We are doing this together.
I wanna encourage you to livefor the more that you were made
for your greatest missionimaginable, the Great Commission
, with every head bowed andevery eye closed.
I just wanna ask you right now,would you just say a prayer
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over our church Right here,right now.
Just talk to God.
Say God, would you help FirstBaptist Church, powder Springs,
to be a great commission church.
Help us to go, help us to makedisciples, help us to baptize,
help us to teach, and I want youto pray that over your life,
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right now too.
As a Christian, you can justtell Jesus you have all the
authority, you have all thepower.
Help me to do this, as you'vecalled me to do.
And maybe you're here thismorning and you can't pray that
prayer yet, because you've noteven given your life to him yet.
But you can.
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Right now.
You can give your life to Jesusand he will have you, he will
receive you, he will accept you,he will save you.
I can't do it and I can't prayit for you, but I can lead you
through it Right here.
Right now, you can pray aprayer like this to him and he
will listen and I believe, ifyou mean it, he will save you
right here, right now, today.
Right now, you can say dearJesus, I believe in you and
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Jesus, I need you.
And you can say Jesus, Ibelieve that you died on the
cross for my sins and I ask youto forgive me.
And, jesus, I believe that yourose from the dead and I give my
life to you.
I wanna live for you, and theBible says that if you call on
him to be the Lord of your life,you will be saved.
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So call him.
Say Jesus, be the Lord of mylife and save me.
I pray, and, jesus, we believethat we thank you for that truth
, that promise of salvation.
In Jesus' name, and all God'speople said would you put your
hands together this morning foranybody that gave their life to
Jesus?
Welcome to the family.
The Bible says that heavenrejoices every time a sinner
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repents and give their life tohim.
I want to encourage us all justto stand up right now.
Everybody's standing, as thereis a next step card there in the
seat back in front of you.
And maybe you gave your life toJesus.
Maybe you need to be baptized,maybe you want to join the
church, become a part of ourfamily.
Whatever it is that Jesus iscalling you to do, you can
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always indicate that on the card, you can bring it to me, you
can take it to our Next Stepstation right out there in our
lobby.
But we just want to help you inyour journey, in your walk with
Jesus, and I want to encourageyou.
You, your voice matters to God,your voice matters in the way
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in which that you witness, andyour voice matters in the way
that you worship.
God is listening to yourworship right now.
Let's worship him together ashis church and bring him all the
glory that he deserves.
Let's worship Jesus together.
Well, good morning, put your hands together if
you're excited to be in churchtogether today.
It is good to see everybodyhere, patter Springs.
God is so good.
I'm so thankful for what he'sdoing in your life, in our
church family and in your family, and, man, we are just so
grateful for the way that God ismoving.
First of all, I just want toremind all the men in the room
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all the men say, yeah, men inthe room we've got a men's
breakfast coming up thisSaturday at 7 am.
Brand new restaurant opening upcalled Big Doug's Place, right
over in Hiram.
If you've ever eaten at the oneover in Emerson, it's amazing,
and this is going to be arelaunch to our men's ministry.
So all the men are invited,boys are invited, any men that
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you know they can come and we'regoing to go and just have a big
men's breakfast there and youget all you want to eat because
it's on you, okay.
So, man, it's going to be agreat.
It's a great time together andwe can't wait to be there.
Just this past Sunday we had ourNext Step Lunch.
I just want you to know we had18 people in our Next Step lunch
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.
Many of them said we wanna joina group.
We wanna get involved inministry.
We wanna join the church.
Put your hands together for newchurch family members.
We're so thankful for the waythat God is moving and that he
is growing.
First Baptist Church, powderSprings.
Let me pray for you, heavenlyFather, in Jesus' name, I just
pray for all of our men, all ofour women, all of our boys, all
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of our girls here in this room,everybody online.
And Father, we just want to saythat this is your church, we
are your people, this is yourword.
So we pray for your work in ourhearts and God, we ask in
Jesus' name that you would justaccomplish your will in us and
through us.
We pray these things in Jesus'name and all God's people said
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amen.
I remember back in my 20s I gotto go on a mission trip to
Jamaica.
To Jamaica there are worseplaces to go on mission trips
than Jamaica but we were therefor a week and I was in college
at the time and it was a missiontrip where we were doing just
mission, hard work, hard labor,honestly all week long.
The last day was kind of thatfun day where you get to see a
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lot of the country, you get tomeet a lot of the people, you
get to eat a lot of the food,and so, man, we just had an
amazing time in Jamaica the lastday.
The last thing that we did wasat night it was a Friday night
and they took us to a placecalled Glistening Waters, and
Glistening Waters was arestaurant, and so you would go
and you would order fish thereand they would literally catch
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the fish in the Caribbean Seafor you and they would grill it
up, and while they were catchingit, while they were grilling it
, they would take you out on aboat ride in the Bay of the
Caribbean Sea.
So there we are in a boat, andas we're going out, it is pitch
black at night, it's late in theevening, and so we're thinking
what are we going to see, right,when you're out on the water in
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the Caribbean Sea and it's darkoutside.
But then we noticed some of youhad heard me tell the story
before that the water coming outfrom the boat began to glow.
So we thought maybe there werelights under the boat.
There weren't any lights underthe boat, because we could see,
10 to 15 feet out, fish thatwould be swimming around.
And so the captain of the boattold us that in that part of the
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bay, in that part of theCaribbean Sea, there were
billions and billions ofbillions of little microscopic
phosphoritic organisms that arebasically like microscopic
lightning bugs that would lightup when they get stirred up.
So whenever the water wasstirred, it would look like the
water was lighting up.
Here is a picture that it wouldkind of look like right there.
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And so the captain asked whowould like to jump in.
I said I will jump in second,as long as somebody goes first,
in case there's any sharks right.
And so somebody jumped in first, I jumped in second.
We're all jumped in, we're allplaying man and everything's
lighting up.
We're glowing like thoseorganisms are in our clothes and
all this kind of stuff.
And then everybody got realstill so it would get real dark
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because the water would stopmoving.
One of us did not get in.
His name was Porkchop.
Porkchop was about 350 pounds,right, and so we had stopped
moving.
Everything got dark.
We were going to splash again.
Well, porkchop was on the sideof the boat.
He decided to jump in.
Boom, everything was glowing.
You could see us from the moon,right.
And so everything was glowingin the bay because of how much
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fun we were having.
And that was just anillustration.
It was a story for me that Iwill never forget, because it's
always a reminder for me that aslong as I'm living, as long as
I'm moving, as long as I'mobeying, as long as I'm sharing
the gospel of Jesus Christ, thatthe Bible says that Jesus is
the light of the world and hehas called us to reflect his
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light, to glow like him, and sothat's what I want us to see
this morning is how your lifecan make a difference by being
different.
I believe the Bible sayssomething that is true about
every single one of you.
It's true about me and it'strue about you that we were all
made for more.
You were made for more.
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Everyone say more.
The question is what is themore that we were made for?
We were made for more than what?
Well, I looked it up on theinternet, so you know that it's
true.
It said it talked about the fivemain things that people live
for today.
What are the five things thatpeople say?
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This is what my life's allabout.
This is what makes me happy.
This is what makes me happy.
This is what makes me satisfied, the five things that people
live for today.
Number one success.
Number two relationships.
Number three pleasure.
Number four impact.
Number five fulfillment.
And what I want to share withyou this morning is that God
actually wants all five of thosefor you.
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Is that God actually wants allfive of those for you.
God wants you to experience allfive of those in your life, but
you will not achieve them whenyou focus on them.
You won't achieve them when youare trying to accomplish them.
Rather, you achieve them whenyou are living your life for the
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mission of Jesus Christ andthen God gives you success.
Then God gives you therelationships within that
mission and pleasure and impactin the lives of others and
personal fulfillment withinyourself.
And we see it in the mostimportant passage of scripture
in all of the Bible that I'vebeen waiting to preach to you,
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and it's on the Great Commissionof Jesus Christ.
Can I ask us all to stand forone minute?
This is about a six-week-longseries.
We did it last week, we'll doit for the next four weeks after
this and I just want us all tostand together and we're going
to read the Great Commission.
Then I'll ask you to sit down,stand together and we're going
to read the great commissionthat.
I'll ask you to sit down, butthese are Jesus's final words
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recorded on earth, and thesewords were his disciples, and
these words were for you, andthese words were for me, for
Matthew 28, 19 and 20.
Let's read together.
Go, therefore, and makedisciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, teaching themto observe all that I have
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commanded you and, behold, I amwith you always, to the end of
the age.
Put your hands together forwhat Jesus told us to do.
You can have a seat.
God is so good.
What does the great commissionmean?
Well, great means there'snothing greater.
Commission means the com incommission means to do it with.
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Com means with.
In other words, we're doing itwith Jesus, we're not doing it
alone.
Com also means together.
We're doing it with Jesus andwe're doing it together.
So, again, you're not doing italone.
Mission means that you have beensent by Jesus.
It means that you've beenassigned, you've been appointed,
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you've been empowered, you'vebeen sent on a mission to
accomplish for him.
In other words, this is yourgreatest mission imaginable of
your whole life.
This is your greatest missionimaginable of your whole life.
This is your greatest missionimaginable.
Everyone has a mission,everyone has a vision, everyone
has a goal, everyone has agenda.
This is the best mission thatyou could possibly ever live for
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, and it tells us to do fourthings.
Jesus says he wants us to go, hewants us to make disciples, he
wants us to baptize and he wantsus to do four things.
Jesus says he wants us to go,he wants us to make disciples,
he wants us to baptize and hewants us to teach.
Let me walk you through thosefour quickly together this
morning.
Number one is go.
Everybody say go.
This is what Jesus said Matthew28, verse 19,.
He said go, therefore makedisciples of all nations,
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baptizing them in the name ofthe Father, of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit.
First thing, I want you to seethat Jesus called you to go
because Jesus is the first onewho gone.
He's the first one who went.
Jesus left heaven and he cameto earth as the ultimate
missionary.
He stepped out of his home, hecame to our home and he lived on
our behalf sinlessly,righteously.
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He went to the cross on yourbehalf.
He died for your sin.
He rose from the dead.
Jesus is the ultimatemissionary who came for you and
now he's calling you, he'scalling us to go for him.
It's not gonna be on the screen,but a couple of verses back.
In verse 16, it said that the11 disciples this is right after
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Jesus had risen from the dead,right before he ascends back to
heaven, it says the 11 discipleswent to Galilee, to the
mountain to which Jesus haddirected them.
You understand that Galilee wasa hundred miles from Jerusalem.
Jesus called them to go toGalilee, to travel 100 miles by
foot.
That would be five days to goto a specific mountain.
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And when they got there, whatwould they experience?
They would get to see the risen, resurrected Lord Jesus.
He was worth the trip and theygot to hear the great commission
that Jesus had for them and forall humanity.
In other words, what is going?
Going is simply going whereverit is that Jesus has called you
(10:12):
to go.
And what happens if they didn'tgo?
They would have missed themoment, they would have missed
the miracle, they would havemissed something incredibly
special that Jesus invited themto be a part of.
And in the same way, when Idon't go, when you don't go
where Jesus has called us to go,then we miss the moment and we
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miss the miracle that Jesus hadfor us.
The Bible says in verse 17,.
And when the disciples the 11disciples who had been following
him when they saw him, it saidthey worshiped him, but some
doubted.
Isn't it interesting that theBible keeps bringing up doubt?
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Jesus talked about doubtwhenever Peter was walking on
the water.
And what did Jesus do whenPeter doubted?
Jesus didn't stiff, arm him.
Jesus reached down and grabbedhis hand.
The Bible says that when Thomasdoubted, jesus didn't say well,
when you start to believe, thenI'll show myself.
No, jesus came up to Thomas andsaid Thomas, here I am.
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Do you need to touch my nail?
Pier scars, thomas.
Do you believe me now?
What does Jesus do when youdoubt?
What does Jesus do when I doubt?
Jesus comes into our doubtsbecause the Bible says that some
worshiped but some doubted.
I just think it's veryinteresting that he doesn't even
tell us how much of eitherworshiped or doubted.
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But because Jesus had risenfrom the dead, of course some
doubted.
You believe in a man that camefrom heaven.
He was fully God.
He became fully man.
He lived a sinless life.
He lived a righteous life.
Nothing he did was wrong.
Everything he did was by theword of God.
He did miracles in front ofeverybody.
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Jesus died for the sin of theentire world.
He suffered and he died.
He was buried in a tomb forthree days and he rose from the
dead.
I mean, that is an unbelievablefaith.
You're gonna tell me that youdon't doubt sometimes.
Of course you're gonna doubtsometimes.
In fact, I believe that often,the more real your faith is, the
(12:20):
more real your doubts are.
But can I encourage you thismorning?
What should you do when youdoubt?
Did you know the Greek word fordoubt means to hesitate, and
what the devil wants us to doinstead of worshiping Jesus, is
just to hesitate, is just tostop, to calculate and to wait.
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But what is Jesus telling us todo, even through your doubts?
Worship Jesus to calculate andto wait.
But what is Jesus telling us todo, even through your doubts?
Worship Jesus.
If you want God to have powerover your doubts, worship Jesus
through your doubts.
Verse 18 says and Jesus came andsaid to them All authority in
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heaven and on earth has beengiven to me.
So sometimes, when we hear thisverse, go, therefore, and make
disciples of all nations andwe're baptizing them in the name
of the Father, the Son and theHoly Spirit, we're thinking,
well, that's for everybody else,but that's not me, because I'm
no super Christian.
I know my sin and I know mydoubts and I know my struggles
(13:24):
and I know my darkness and Iknow my past and I know my
weaknesses.
So I know that Jesus couldnever use me like that.
Jesus just uses everybody elselike that.
But actually Jesus said.
He said the authority is not onyou, the power is not in you,
the ability to do this is notfrom you, jesus said.
(13:47):
He came and he said to themthat all authority in heaven, on
earth has been given to him andtherefore he gave it to you
when he saved you.
He gave it to you when he savedyou.
What a tragedy it would be ifJesus gave you his authority and
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his power at your salvation andyou never use it for his glory.
Jesus said that, as he had allauthority and he proved it to us
the way in which that he calmedthe storms, the way in which
that he healed the sick, heraised the dead, he fed the
5,000, he forgave sin.
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He has all authority and theBible says that he gives it to
you in order to fulfill thegreat commission.
That word go if I can just be aBible nerd for just a second
that word go is porothentes, andporothentes to go.
It literally means this youready for this as you're going,
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it literally means wherever itis that you are.
So, in other words, we're notwaiting to make a difference for
Jesus when we're on a missiontrip one day, when we're out of
town, when we're in anotherstate.
No, jesus says, wherever youare, he has given you his
authority and he's given you hispower that wherever you are, he
(15:14):
has called you to go.
Jesus called Michelle and I togo.
Just over a year and a half agohe called us to go to Powder
Springs, georgia.
And here we are.
One of the greatest blessingsand one of the greatest callings
of our entire life to get to dochurch and family and ministry
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and community with you and allof Powder Springs and beyond.
We love living here, we lovebeing a part of our church, we
love being with you and, just asa reminder, jesus called you to
go here too.
Whenever that was in your life,jesus called you to go.
I just heard this past week atour Next Step lunch.
There was a couple there whosaid that they had been looking
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for a church to thrive in.
They felt like God was callingthem to thrive in a church.
He said that he works for thecity of Powder Springs.
He would drive by our churchsome 20 times a day.
He said it just never dawned onhim to come in and check it out
.
He said that people would tellhim well, if you're looking for
a church, come to our church.
He said every single personthat told him check out our
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church.
He would go online and checkout the church and God would say
that's not the church I havefor you to thrive in.
He said one day he was out doingsome paperwork on the Powder
Springs walking trails, in apart of the trail that he said
no one ever comes.
He said just needed someprivacy to get some work done.
So there he is sitting wherenobody ever comes Powder Springs
(16:41):
Walking Trails and he said thiscouple came bee-bopping down
the trail right where he was.
So he's sitting there and theystart talking to him.
He starts talking to them.
Long story short, they said wewant you to come to our church
and he said well, I'm actuallylooking for a church.
So he goes home and he goesonline First Baptist Church,
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powder Springs and he checks itout and God speaks to me.
He says that's a church you canthrive in.
They come, they check it out,god calls them here and I saw
them serving this morningalready they're joining the
church and man God is alreadythriving in their life.
And I want you to hear me saythat God called him to go to
that part of the walking trail.
God called that couple in ourchurch to go walking down that
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trail to that point that nobodyever goes.
God called them to engage in aconversation so that God could
show them First Baptist Church,powder Springs, because God had
a church for them to thrive in.
Had they not gone, they wouldhave missed the moment and the
miracle.
Put your hands together rightnow for the way that God works,
for the way that God works.
I just want to remind you.
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Famous missionary Jim Elliottsaid wherever you are, be all
there.
Why?
Because Jesus called you.
Wherever you are said whereveryou are, be all there.
Why?
Because Jesus called youwherever you are.
So, wherever you are, you'vebeen sent with the power, with
the authority of Jesus.
Number two Jesus calls us tomake disciples.
Everybody say make To makedisciples.
Verse 19 simply says this.
(18:12):
Jesus said go therefore, makedisciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, to makedisciples.
What does it mean to makedisciples?
Well, people argue about it allthe time.
Some people say does it meanevangelism?
Does it mean that you arealways sharing your faith so
that people are getting saved?
Or does it mean deepdiscipleship, that you're
(18:34):
discipling people so they getdeeper and deeper and deeper in
their faith?
Well, just to Bible nerd out onyou for just a second.
The Greek word is mathesizate,mathe, I'm sorry, mathetesuate,
and so what that Greek wordmeans is literally to make
someone a disciple.
In other words, here's what itmeans.
It means both.
(18:56):
It means to invite people tothe faith so that they believe,
so that they become a followerof Jesus.
It means to disciple people intheir faith so they are deepened
in their relationship withJesus Christ.
It is like having two pedals ona bike.
It's like having two oars in aboat.
You ever been in a boat beforeand maybe you're paddling on one
(19:17):
side and they're paddling onthe other side and you're
paddling all of a sudden gets alot harder and now you're not
going anywhere.
Now you're just going incircles.
You look over and they quitpaddling.
What happens is, when you focuson one instead of both, life
gets hard.
You don't go anywhere.
When churches only focus onevangelism, they don't go
anywhere.
(19:37):
When churches only focus ondeep discipleship, they don't go
anywhere.
When churches focus onevangelism and discipleship,
they go where Jesus has calledthem to go.
If you believe that, say yeah.
And so here's what we see isthat it is an unbelievable
journey when we get to watchpeople come to faith in the
(20:00):
knowledge of Jesus Christ.
I think about my little girl,brooklyn Rose, six years old and
, for you know, probably sinceshe was about three, three and a
half, I'd ask her.
I would never force, I'd nevermanipulate, I'd never push, I'd
never pressure, but I'd say,brooklyn, is there ever going to
come a day you think that youwant to give your life to Jesus?
I was always just kind of, youknow, prodding her a little bit
(20:21):
and priming the pump a littlebit.
You ever think there's going tobe a day that you're going to
give your life to Jesus?
Three and a half four years oldBrooklyn would say, dad, I'll
do it.
I'm like, hey, no pressure, nopressure, like calm down a
little bit, I'll do it when I'mready.
I remember there was a day as wewould take her to church and
read her her little children'sbible at night and show her
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little bible cartoons in themorning and pray with her
throughout the day and talkabout Jesus, just always, just
always filling her life with thegospel, just praying that one
day she would believe, near theend of her fourth, right before
her fifth birthday.
I'll never forget the day.
It was a Sunday and I actuallywent and put her on the potty.
And I put her on the potty, wewere just having our little
(21:03):
conversation there and shelooked at me and she said Dad, I
want to give my life to Jesus.
I was like right here, likeright now, and let me get you
off first, and so I let her getfinished and got her off and set
her on the ground.
I said talk to me, babe.
She said I want to give my lifeto Jesus.
I said, brooklyn, do youbelieve that Jesus died on the
cross for your sin, that he rosefrom the dead and you want to
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call on him to be the Lord ofyour life, where you want to
live for him the rest of yourlife.
And she said, daddy, I want togive my life to Jesus.
So we prayed right there.
She prayed the gospel, she gaveher life to Jesus.
I'll never forget.
After the prayer, she looked upto me and she said, daddy, I've
got the Holy Spirit.
Now I was like, yes, you do.
I'm raising a Babdacostal, Ilove it, I love it.
Man, god is so good.
(21:46):
But I want to remind you that's, that's just the beginning,
right, that's the beginning.
So she comes to faith in Jesusand now it is our job to keep
her in church.
Now it's our job to keep her inthe word of God.
Now it's our job to keep her inworship and to encourage her in
Jesus.
Why?
Because now it's our job todisciple her, to become more and
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more and more like Jesus.
And that is what God is callingus to do as a church to see
people come to faith in Jesus.
And then we get the opportunityto disciple them in his truth.
And one of those opportunitieswe have coming up is our
Vacation Bible School Week thatwe call KidVenture Extreme Week.
It's going to be the first weekof June.
(22:30):
Now, hear me, this is the mostimportant week of the year that
our church does all year long,because the majority of our kids
here will not just be ourchurch kids, they will be the
kids from the community, and wedon't know whenever they're
going to get to hear the gospel,we don't know whenever they're
going to be invited to believein Jesus, and I would tell you
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right now that we still need tohave some volunteer slots open
in order for you to fill.
We've got some slots in ourone-year-old, our pre-Ks, our
second grade, our third grade,our fourth grade and our fifth
grade.
We need a lot there, and all ofour recreation time as well,
and I want to encourage you.
If there was ever a week totake off work, if there was ever
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a week to say Jesus, I am justgonna sacrifice everything for
you this week.
It is the week that you canserve Jesus by raising up the
next generation in the gospel ofJesus Christ.
It's the first week of June.
I wanna encourage you to getinvolved, because Jesus has
called us to make disciples, andnot just to make disciples, but
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I wanna remind you that he'scalled us to make disciples of
all nations.
Everybody say all Of all nations, just very quickly.
That word all nations, itliterally is ethnos, pos, ethnos
, and it's talking aboutethnicity, race, nation, country
, people, group.
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In other words, jesus iscalling us to go everywhere.
Jesus is calling us to go toeveryone.
You realize, there's 195countries in the world, but
there are 17,000 differentpeople groups.
7,500 of them are unreachedwith the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Every single person on theplanet has been fully and
(24:17):
equally created in the image ofGod, and God is calling us to be
a multi-ethnic church, as Godcalls every church to reflect
their community.
You realize, in our churchalone, first Baptist Church,
powder Springs, we haveNigerians, we have Liberians, we
have Ugandans, we haveZimbabweans, we have
Trinidadians, we have Jamaicans,we have Mexicans, we have
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Japanese Americans, we haveAfrican Americans, we have
European Americans.
And who knows where you're from?
You know what I'm saying.
Like man, I'm just.
I love a melting pot of people,diverse maybe in our ethnicity,
but we are unified in thegospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Put your hands together rightnow, because God is glorified.
He's glorified when we'reunified, even as we are
(25:03):
diversified.
I just want you to know you'rehearing it here for the first
time we are taking a missiontrip to Puerto Rico, a mission
trip as a church, to Puerto RicoOctober 25 to 31.
You can go online, you cancheck it out and I want to
encourage you, if there arestill spots open.
I wanna encourage you to go Ifyou've never been on Mission
(25:24):
Trip before or if you've done itbefore to go.
We're taking a mission trip toUganda to go and be a part of
Gant Morgan's mission.
Gant grew up here, he's amissionary in Uganda and we of
Gant Morgan's mission.
Gant grew up here, he's amissionary in Uganda and we're
taking a mission trip there inSeptember and I want to
encourage you to go if you'venever been or if you have before
, because we are called to be achurch by Jesus, to go on
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mission together.
As Jesus's disciple, you arecalled to make more disciples.
Number three, very quickly, isbaptize.
Everyone say baptize, baptize.
Jesus said go, therefore makedisciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
(26:07):
What is baptism?
Baptism is when you go underthe water, you're saying I
believe that Jesus died on thecross for my sin.
When you come out of the water.
You're saying I believe thatJesus rose from the dead.
The best I've heard it explainedis baptism is like a wedding
ring.
A wedding ring don't make youmarried.
You can put a wedding ring on,but that don't mean you're
married, right.
(26:28):
But a wedding ring is a symbolthat you are married to somebody
.
In the same way, just becauseyou get baptized, it doesn't
make you saved.
The Bible says that once youget saved, then you get baptized
as a symbol of your salvation.
It's a public expression ofyour salvation.
As a wedding ring says, youcan't have this right.
(26:51):
Baptism tells the devil youcan't have this.
I'm all Jesus's, amen, amen.
So I want to encourage you that,as you share your faith
wherever you go, as you witnessfor Jesus, we're calling people
to faith in Jesus and we get tocelebrate together when people
get baptized.
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I want to encourage you haveyou been baptized?
We don't guilt here, we don'tshame people, we don't force, we
don't manipulate, we don'ttwist arms.
We just encourage people in theword of God.
Have you been saved and haveyou been baptized?
Since you've been saved, youknow Mother's Day is coming up.
(27:33):
Baptizo is the Greek word andit literally means to be
immersed or to go under thewater.
Mother's Day is coming up and Ican't think of a better day
than if you still need to bebaptized, as God is calling you
to be baptized, to get baptizedas a way to honor, maybe, your
mom, or all moms, as we get tocelebrate your baptism on
(27:55):
Mother's Day.
You let us know and we wouldlove to baptize you on Mother's
Day.
You know, jesus said.
He said go make disciples ofall nations, baptizing them, and
hear it.
He says in the name of theFather, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
Why are we baptized?
Why should you get baptized?
In the name of the Father, theSon and the Holy Spirit?
(28:16):
Because it took the wholeTrinity to save you.
Can I get an amen?
Just like it took the wholeTrinity to save me?
I've heard it said before.
You know what would it take forthe devil to get you unsaved?
And the Bible says that whenyou're saved, you are dipped in
the blood of Jesus.
The Bible says that the hand ofthe Father grips you and that
no one can open.
(28:37):
The Bible says that he wrapsyou in his Holy Spirit.
If the devil ever wanted tounsave you, he'd have to unwrap
the Holy Spirit from the hand ofthe Father, the devil would
have to pry open the hand of theFather.
The devil would have to diveunder the blood of the Holy
Spirit just to get to you.
And if the devil's ever underthe blood, then he'd be a saved
devil.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, the devil can't get toyou and that's why we get
(29:00):
baptized in the name of theFather, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
And I just want to encourageyou this morning, no matter who
you are or how old you are.
We've baptized a four-year-oldwho's believed in Jesus.
I've baptized a 90-year-oldlady before Last year we got to
baptize here and a lady in her80s and she was one of five
(29:23):
generations from her family onher baptism on that Sunday.
Man, it's amazing what God does.
When God calls you to getbaptized, you know what he does.
He uses you as an encouragementfor someone else to follow
Jesus in the same way.
Get baptized if you've beensaved.
(29:44):
And finally and lastly, numberfour teach.
Everybody.
Say teach.
The Bible says Jesus saidteaching them to observe
everything that I've commandedyou.
Behold, I'm with you always tothe end of the age Bible nerd
with me for a minute, as he saysthat teaching them to observe
all that I've commanded you.
That word teach in the Greek isdidosko.
(30:07):
Everyone say didosko.
Very good, you're either noGreek or you're speaking in
tongues, one or the other, Idon't know Didosko.
Do you know what it means toteach someone the truth?
But it also means to showsomeone the truth.
In other words, we're called asa church, we're called as
Christians, to teach people inthe word of God, but we're also
(30:30):
called to show them from ourlife the word of God.
That's why, as a church, we'regoing through the whole Bible.
We've gone through Genesis,exodus, leviticus, numbers,
deuteronomy.
We've looked at the doctrine ofGod, we've looked at all of the
doctrine of Jesus.
As we're in the middle of thatseries right now, and there is
something about that, when weare under the word of God,
(30:53):
together in worship, and hear me, when we're in the word of God,
together in worship, and hearme when we're in the word of God
together as a group, I want toencourage you, if you're not in
a group, to get in a group,because there's a different
context than a worship service,that you get deepened in the
word of God.
Do you realize that Hebrew saysthat some of you have been
(31:14):
learning for too long.
Hebrew says it's time for youto teach.
Every time we start a new group, we see new people come, we see
new people join and we see thechurch of Jesus Christ grow.
Why?
Because there's power in theWord of God.
(31:34):
Just this week my littletwo-and-a-half-year-old boy,
cruz first time he's ever donethis, he walked.
It was bedtime, he walked intohis room and he handed me his
children's Bible.
Never done this before.
He handed me his children'sBible and he's very speech.
He's a little speech delayed,and so he's been struggling.
He's doing a lot better lately,praise the Lord.
But he hands me his children'sBible and he says daddy God,
(31:54):
daddy, god.
And I opened up his children'sBible and my boy is like he
don't stop for nothing.
Y'all know who he is Like hejust never stops.
He's running.
It's like he just never stopped.
He'd run around all the time.
And he sat on my lap and fortwo nights in a row he listened
to me, read his children's Bibleto him, the Rhyme Bible.
(32:15):
If you're a parent of kids, getthe Rhyme Bible.
It's my favorite children'sBible, the Rhyme Bible.
And he listened in two nightsthe entire Old Testament, which
was 200 pages.
I'm just telling you.
There's power in the word of God.
There's power when you teachthe word of God.
There's power when you expressthe word of God.
(32:37):
You share the word of God.
There's power when you learnthe word of God.
There is power in the word ofGod.
As disciples, we are called tobe both learners and teachers.
Who are you learning from andwho are you leading?
Who are you teaching?
Because Jesus called us to goand make disciples of all
(32:59):
nations, baptizing them in thename of the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit, teaching themto observe everything that he
commanded.
And Jesus promised that he willbe with you always, to the end
of the age.
You're not fulfilling the greatcommission alone.
(33:20):
Jesus is with you.
We are doing this together.
I wanna encourage you to livefor the more that you were made
for your greatest missionimaginable, the Great Commission
, with every head bowed andevery eye closed.
I just wanna ask you right now,would you just say a prayer
(33:43):
over our church Right here,right now.
Just talk to God.
Say God, would you help FirstBaptist Church, powder Springs,
to be a great commission church.
Help us to go, help us to makedisciples, help us to baptize,
help us to teach, and I want youto pray that over your life,
(34:05):
right now too.
As a Christian, you can justtell Jesus you have all the
authority, you have all thepower.
Help me to do this, as you'vecalled me to do.
And maybe you're here thismorning and you can't pray that
prayer yet, because you've noteven given your life to him yet.
But you can.
(34:26):
Right now.
You can give your life to Jesusand he will have you, he will
receive you, he will accept you,he will save you.
I can't do it and I can't prayit for you, but I can lead you
through it Right here.
Right now, you can pray aprayer like this to him and he
will listen and I believe, ifyou mean it, he will save you
right here, right now, today.
Right now, you can say dearJesus, I believe in you and
(34:52):
Jesus, I need you.
And you can say Jesus, Ibelieve that you died on the
cross for my sins and I ask youto forgive me.
And, jesus, I believe that yourose from the dead and I give my
life to you.
I wanna live for you, and theBible says that if you call on
him to be the Lord of your life,you will be saved.
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So call him.
Say Jesus, be the Lord of mylife and save me.
I pray, and, jesus, we believethat we thank you for that truth
, that promise of salvation.
In Jesus' name, and all God'speople said would you put your
hands together this morning foranybody that gave their life to
Jesus?
Welcome to the family.
The Bible says that heavenrejoices every time a sinner
(35:35):
repents and give their life tohim.
I want to encourage us all justto stand up right now.
Everybody's standing, as thereis a next step card there in the
seat back in front of you.
And maybe you gave your life toJesus.
Maybe you need to be baptized,maybe you want to join the
church, become a part of ourfamily.
Whatever it is that Jesus iscalling you to do, you can
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always indicate that on the card, you can bring it to me, you
can take it to our Next Stepstation right out there in our
lobby.
But we just want to help you inyour journey, in your walk with
Jesus, and I want to encourageyou.
You, your voice matters to God,your voice matters in the way
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in which that you witness, andyour voice matters in the way
that you worship.
God is listening to yourworship right now.
Let's worship him together ashis church and bring him all the
glory that he deserves.
Let's worship Jesus together.
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