Fuente de Amor

Trinity Family exists to build an authentic community of Christ-followers put up mission statement slide We're committed to growing in and living out 5 disciplines that both shape us as followers of Christ and shape our church. Put up "the 5" slide I believe from the bottom of my heart that a group of people living out "the 5" will be an unstoppable force for the Kingdom of God in their community. Folks, we can transform our little corner of the world. Just as Jesus told us, we can cause the gates of hell to shake in fear. We can be a force in our world! I believe this, I know this.
At its best, when the church is living up to what Jesus imagined it could be, the church brings hope, healing, wholeness to screwed up world. We are the body of Christ in our world!
Each one of "the 5" is about discipleship. They're about us growing in our walk with Christ. You see it all throughout the New Testament, the expectation that followers of Jesus will be worshipping God, living in community, serving others, being generous. The final biblical expectation of a disciple is that a disciple will reproduce themselves. That a life lived as a disciple means that you'll helping other people become disciples as well. An authentic disciple of Jesus will be reproducing other disciples. If you're a disciple there will be other people who have started following Jesus as a result of your influence.
But a huge problem in our churches is that way too many people who claim to be followers of Jesus aren't living out this discipline. Our churches are full of people who never really even think much about investing in unbelievers.
Here's what happens. We commit our lives to Jesus, we begin to experience all the incredible life-change that comes with a life of following Jesus and we begin to isolate ourselves from those who don't yet know Jesus. We feel comfortable because we're okay with God, our family is okay with God and we ignore a world full of people who don't know Jesus. To not know Jesus in this life really sucks, but to die without Jesus is hell - literally. But we don't care because we're okay. People that don't know Jesus make us uncomfortable. We don't want our kids hanging out with other kids that will teach them bad words. It's so much easier to hang around people who think and act like us. Whatever the reason, we bury ourselves in our Christian cocoon and we say to the hurting people around us (literally) "I guess I'm not going to share Jesus with you, you can go to hell."
Folks, our actions say that all the time.
I've said that through my actions when I've been so focused on getting my lawn mowed that I'm too busy to stop and have a beer with my neighbor. Or, talk with him while he's out having a beer.
It's never intentional. None of us are saying, "I hope my neighbor goes to hell." But when we let all the others things in life crowd out a commitment to investing in unbelievers. And to fail to live out this discipline is to fail to live out Jesus' last command to his followers. Church history it's come to be called "The Great Commission."
Matthew 28:16-20
This is what I meant when I said earlier that a disciple of Jesus will be reproducing themselves. If someone is following Jesus with all of their lives, other people can point to them and say, "I'm a follower of Jesus because of your influence in my life."
And Jesus just assumes it will be happening. "You will go and make disciples." This is the last thing Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew. The book ends right after this command. You and I are Jesus' only plan for bringing salvation to broken and hurting people. He has no backup plan, we're it.
With that in mind, let's dig a little deeper into Jesus' command.
First of all, vs. 17 Don't you love the honesty? They worshipped but they still doubted. "Jesus, I trust you, but I still doubt." There's room for doubt in the Christian life. We can be living our lives as an act of worship to Christ and still wonder if things really are going to work out in the end. If we keep taking steps in the right direction, despite whatever doubts we're having, God will honor that faith. Doubting is okay, but giving up - that's not an option. Someday, folks, our faith will become sight.
Vs. 19 - Therefore, go and make disciples A more accurate translation is "as you go, make disciples of the nations." Again, Jesus is assuming that helping other people take steps toward him is just a natural part of a disciple's life.
And who are we to make disciples of? The nations. And this is where it gets interesting. To a good moral Jewish person (and all Jesus' first disciples were Jewish) nations would have almost been a dirty word. Nations refers to all those people that are different from us. Dirty, unclean, Gentiles. The common Jewish belief was that the Messiah would come only for us, for those like us, the clean and upright Jewish people. The insiders.
Yet here's the Messiah telling his Jewish followers to go to the nations. Jesus is assuming that his disciples would be in regular contact with those who aren't like them. Repeat A disciple of Jesus builds relationships with people who don't share their worldview, don't share their ethics, have different values.
If you're only around Christians and only rubbing shoulders with those who share your worldview, if your world is deeply immersed in a subculture of people just like you, then you can't make disciples. Jesus assumed his disciples would build relationships with people not like them.
It's in your going, it's in building relationships with those who don't yet know Jesus, that you share the salvation of Jesus.
So you build the relationships, then what do you do. Vs. 19 - "baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." Baptism is a public statement that we're followers of Jesus. So we're to challenge people to commit their lives to Jesus. There comes a time where we ask a person, "are you ready to make a public commitment to Jesus?" And when they're ready, we celebrate it.
It's interesting that Jesus doesn't just say, "you'll baptize them in my name" or "in the name of the Father." Jesus tells us we're to baptize a new disciple in the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. I got this idea from Rob Bell, but what if Jesus' command here has another level meaning beyond the obvious reference to the sacrament of baptism? Baptize means to immerse, Father, Son and Holy Spirit make up what - the Trinity. And what does the Trinity reveal to us about God? That God is all about relationships. The being of God exists as 3 persons living in community. I realize this idea of 3 in 1 is mind-blowing, but we can know that God exists as a relationship, as community.
And we were created in the image of God. Which means that we also need relationships. And Jesus is telling us to immerse people into community, into relationships.
I firmly believe that belonging can precede believing. That a person who is not yet a follower of Jesus encounters Christ-like love through relationships with Christ-followers, that this love will point them toward Christ. A person can experience Christ's love through a relationship with you before actually giving their lives to Christ. Belonging often precedes believing.
It happened in my wife's life. A friend invited her to youth group events at Central CON, she was a part of the youth group for almost a year before giving her life to Christ. At that church, she was loved in a way she'd never experienced before. She finally came to the point of saying, "I want what they have." Let's invite people to belong, knowing that if we love them, they'll eventually come to believe.
There are two great opportunities to October to invite people to experience our community. Love and Logic (RSVP - Oct. 14) Trunk or Treat
We baptize people into community and we also teach people what it means to follow Jesus. Vs. 20 As we're going, as we're investing, we're also teaching. Now this part intimidates a lot of people. How am I going to have the guts to talk about Jesus? How will I know what to say?
1) Trust your actions "Teaching" is more than using our words. Teaching involves using our mouths, but it's more than what we say. Everything we do is "teaching" about Jesus. If someone knows you're a follower of Jesus, then they'll connect your behavior with Jesus. "They're good people, so I can probably trust Jesus." Or, "they're judgmental jerks, why would I want to follow Jesus." Everything we do is "teaching" in one way or another. Your actions and attitudes teach. What are you teaching about Jesus?
2) Be a mentor The teaching doesn't happen just before a person gives their life to Christ. If a new believer is going to grow in their new walk with Christ, they need those who are further along in their journey to walk alongside them.
And we've got exactly that opportunity through our mentoring ministry. We are in need of connecting new believers with those that have been following Christ for awhile. We have the curriculum for you to follow, we just need leaders to step up. If you're interested, fill out that ministry sheet and get it to me or talk with Aaron Holmes after church. God has entrusted us with new believers, we must be faithful!
3) Tell the stories Talking with someone about Jesus is so simple. We simply need to be ready to listen the other person's story and to tell two really important stories. I tried to set it up so there would be room for notes on your weekly, but there isn't much room, I'd encourage you to write this down.
1) We listen to their story. You may need to ask some questions to get them talking. "Did your parents take you to church as a child? When are some times you've felt that God is close?" Questions that get the other person talking about their relationship with God.
2) We then tell our story. What my life was like before I committed my life to Jesus and the difference Jesus has made in my life. If you're like me and you don't really remember life before Christ, then be honest about it and share why you're thankful to be following Jesus.
3) Tell Jesus' story. The way I do this over and over is through a picture.
Bridge explanation

But if we're ever going to be in a place to share Jesus' story, we must first be intentional about building relationships with those who don't yet know Jesus. Are we building relationships with those who don't share our commitment to Jesus?
Prayer pray for a particular person, prayer to make the commitment to walk across the bridge