Notes:
More and Better Disciples
How Does GCCOB Make Disciples?
THROUGH GROUPS
Intro: Whoever you entrust yourself to will color the lenses through which you see God and clutter the filters through which you hear Him. Prov 13:20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
It matters who you walk through life with – everyone has at least one small group of influencers. But not everyone has a small group of the wise and redeemed. This is the paramount reason we have a ministry of small groups. We believe God when He says to walk with the wise. How can we obey the 30+ “one another commands” of the NT if we are only with “one another” at the large gathering on Sundays? How can each of us minister in the body of Christ unless we get in a smaller setting where we cannot hide? The greatest small group leader in the Bible was the Lord Jesus. One of the first things He did in His earthly ministry was gather a small group of disciples around Him to pour His love and grace into them and send them out to minister. We are simply following the example of our master when we gather in small groups to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
WHY DID JESUS START A SMALL GROUP?
Mark 3:13 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him.
Mark 3:14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach,
Mark 3:15 and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons
- to be with Him – to be with Jesus now only happens in the gathered church.
Matt 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
- to be sent out to evangelize – we are more likely to declare the good news to sinners when a small group goes with us or is praying for us.
- to have power to minister – healing those who need it and helping others be set free from their strongholds almost always happens in a group setting.
If Jesus were leading a small group in your church, do you think you would sign up for it?
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE IN JESUS’ SMALL GROUP?
It was filled with delight and frustration
He taught them much
Matt 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.
Matt 5:2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
Matt 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
You can learn the Scriptures on a different level in a smaller group because you can ask questions and get answers.
Jesus could be difficult to understand
Mark 4:5 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.
Mark 4:13 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”
His best students did not immediately grasp His most essential parable.
Mark 9:31 For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.”
Mark 9:32 But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.
His closest followers were even slow to comprehend His most important message – the Gospel!
The other members of the group said and did strange things
Mark 10:35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”
Mark 10:36 And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
Mark 10:37 They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.”
Mark 10:41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.
illus: “I want to spend time with people like me – who share the same interests…I don’t have much in common with those in my assigned small group.” Does this pass the Bible test? What was the makeup of the roster of the 12 apostles? 4 fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James, John – teenager!); 2 political rivals (Matthew the tax collector, Simon the Zealot), a doubter (Thomas), a complainer (Philip), an impostor (Judas), 3 wallflowers of whom we know little to nothing (Bartholomew, Thaddeus, James the less)
It was temporary
“But pastor, what if I find myself in a small group I don’t particularly care for?” You are not stuck indefinitely.
As good as it was, Jesus designed His small group to multiply
John 16:5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’
John 16:6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”
What was the result of having been in a Jesus small group?
Acts 2:46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
Acts 2:47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Application:
Transcript:
Let me talk to you for a minute before I preach. The hope for America is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not an election in November. It is not a shooting at a political candidate. We are in a mess.
And so when we are in a mess, I need to teach our church that our first inclination is nothing, that the solution is political.
The solution is spiritual. And so when there's assassination attempts on political candidates and there's rhetoric on both sides, and the country is divided in the middle, and there's no even charity to either side, it's time to pray and seek the Lord. Because God says in proverbs that he takes the heart of the king like a river. He moves it wherever he wants to. And so it's not like God was in heaven yesterday going, well, look at that.
What am I going to do about that? No, God is in heaven. And the Bible says he does whatever pleases him. Yes, he's sovereign. He's in control.
And it's the lion of Judah who rules the world, not donkeys and elephants. And so we need to pray right now, and we need to call on God and we need to confess sins of the nation. So would you bow with me, Father? We confess that the hope of the world and our country is the risen Lord Jesus, the cross of Christ. And so, God, I pray for this weekend, next week, when the political conventions begin and the rhetoric ratchets up even more all the way through to the election in November, which we'll hold here in this building.
God, I pray for peace.
I pray for truth. I pray that you'll fill your people with the love of God. And I pray, God, that we'll trust in you and not our votes. We confess that we have drifted as a country far away from our founding, which was for your glory. We confess that at every turn, we've shut you out.
We confess that we have begun to trust in our political parties more than the gospel. And for that, God we repent. And we pray that the violence would end. We pray that you would intervene, even though we've rebelled against you, that you'd be merciful to us, that you would give us what we don't deserve. And that is a visit from you.
We pray for a sweeping spiritual revival, starting with us, that you would raise us up as evangelists, filled with the love of Jesus for sinners. And we won't see people as Republicans or Democrats. We'll see them as lost or saved. We pray, o God, that you would help us, that you would grow us and mature us. We pray that no one else has their life in danger over politics.
In America, only you can do it, God. And so we cry out to you and God, we ask you to forgive us for our arrogance, to think that you fix things with politics and with man made ideas. Father, we pray you would sanctify our nation by the truth. Your word is truth. Help us, o God, to trust in you.
In Jesus name. And a faith filled church said, amen. Thank you for obliging me. This summer, we are in a series called more and better disciples. We're trying to just stay with the basics, and we're asking the question, how does our church make disciples if that's our number one mandate from heaven?
My name is Trevor Davis, by the way. I'm GCC's pastor. Sorry for not introducing myself if you're new. Thank you for being with us. We answered the question, how does our church make disciples?
In four ways, and that's been four sermons here in July. This is the third one. The answer to how does great Commission church make disciples? Is with Jesus in person, through groups and on teams. Today's the third part of that I want to talk about our small group ministry.
How do we make disciples? We do them through groups. And the first thing I want to do for you is share with you a God story. In fact, I'll have two in this message that just happened last week to some members of our church and how their small group ministered to them. So the first one is from our brother named Barney Graham.
Barney loves the Lord and he has an overseas ministry. He loves missionary work and just as a faithful brother. And here's what he wrote on his ministry card. Last week, while changing a tire, I stepped off a curb and injured my foot. An x ray confirmed one of the bones in my foot was separated.
Sounds painful, doesn't it? Sounds substandard and unusual, he said. I asked my small group, the rucker small group, to pray for me. And when they did, a feeling like cold water was pouring down my back. And the next day I woke up and the bone had moved back into place.
Now look, either God's good or Barney's a liar, right? We know Barney. He's no liar. And we know that God is good. And I believe that there are certain things in your life that God is going to wait to answer for you in prayer through your small group to get you in christian community.
In other words, there are some prayers that God will only answer for you in this room, in this gathering. And there are some prayers that only God will answer for you in somebody's house, in a circle of a small group of believers. And he's saying, I'll give it to you if you'll just submit to the way I get people to follow me. And that's in the big group and in the smaller group. Now let me say something to you.
Whoever you entrust yourself to will color the lenses through which you see God. And they will clutter the filters through which you hear God. Let me say that again. Whoever you entrust yourself to, whoever, whoever you let into your life, will color the lenses through which you see God and clutter the filters through which you hear him. That's why we have the proverb, chapter 13, verse 20.
He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. And I hope that by God's spirit today you'll take some inventory and see if those you've entrusted yourself to the most are actually fool's companions that are keeping you from seeing God clearly and hearing him rightly.
It matters who you walk through life with.
Everyone has at least one small group of influencers. In other words, you already have a small group. But not everyone has a small group of the wise and the redeemed. And this is the paramount reason that we have a ministry of small groups at great commission church. We believe God when he says, walk with the wise.
And so how else could we obey the 30 plus one another commands of the New Testament if we're only with one another at the large gathering like this on Sundays? You see at this large gathering, we sit in rows and you see the backs of the believers heads. It is not conducive to helping you grow spiritually. This meeting is to worship God and inspire the crowd, but not grow the individual. Any spiritual growth you get in this room is residual.
It is not direct. So how can each of us minister in the body of Christ unless we get in a smaller setting where we can't hide?
Is it fair to say that the greatest small group leader in the Bible was the Lord Jesus? I mean, would you offer anybody else? I mean, isn't the fight for that spot number two? Jesus stands at the top of that mountain. Greatest small group leader in the Bible.
And one of the first things he did in his earthly ministry was gather a small band of disciples around him so that he could pour his love into them, he could pour his grace into them, he could pour his truth into them and then send them out to minister at our church. Our small group ministry simply follows the example of our master, when we gather in small groups so that we can grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's how my message is outlined today. Just two questions to answer. Number one, why did jesus start a small group?
And number two, what was it like to be in Jesus small group? Don't you want to know? What was it like? Why did jesus start a small group? And what was it like?
All right, question number one, why did jesus start a small group? That question is answered in Mark, chapter three, verses 13 through 15. Here's how it and he went up on the mountain and he called to him those he himself wanted.
There's some doctrine of election in that sentence, that there was just a specific group jesus wanted to start with, and they came to him. And then he appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demonstration. There's a list of three in that text, and I'm going to bring them out for you right now. Why did Jesus start a small group? Three reasons he gives us.
Number one is simply to be with him. I'm going to tell you the secret to the christian life. Are you ready? It's, you live every day as if God's alive and you spend some private time with him.
Time with God will make you like God because you talk about who you think about, you think about who you love, and you become like those you spend the most time with. So the secret to the christian life is being with Jesus. It says it right there. And how many of you have ever heard the verse where two or three are gathered in my name? I'm there in the midst of them.
Yes, you probably heard it taken out of its context, because here's what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that every time you're around christians, Jesus shows up. I mean, here's how I know that you know the verse revelation 320. Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and the one who hears my voice, I'll open the door and come inside and eat with him and he with me. When in my early days as a Christian, I always heard that used as a salvation verse, that Jesus is knocking on the door of sinners hearts.
And while Jesus may be knocking on the door to the hearts of sinners, that's not what that verse teaches. Go find another verse that teaches that, because that's revelation chapter three. And that's Jesus knocking on the door of a church that has turned him out in Matthew, 1820, where Jesus says, where two or three are gathered in my name, and there I am in the midst of them. The context is restoring a sinning believer to fellowship, or what we would call church discipline. Do you realize that?
Jesus says, here's when you know I'll be with you. When you take sin seriously enough and you take loving my sheep that are straying seriously enough, that you try to take the steps that I've laid out for you to bring them back into the fold, that's when I'll be with you.
So being with Jesus sometimes has an edge to it. He shows up and says, I need to work on some of your sins, and I really need to help you learn to love. That's what spending time with me is going to be like, and you'll enjoy that. So to be Jesus started a small group to be with him. I call that fellowship number two.
Jesus started a small group so that they would be sent out to evangelize you. Being a part of a christian small group should begin to make you care for the lost souls around you, especially the ones you're related to. If you have non Christians in your family, it's your small group that will join with you, praying for them to know Jesus. Here's what the verse says, that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. Do you see it in the text?
I'm not just making this stuff up. I didn't need just a clever list so I'd have a really polished sermon outline. Jesus said, I started a small group to get my followers to be with me, and then I'll equip them and I'll send them out with my concern for people who don't know God.
Can you imagine if you have church all year long and never baptize a single convert?
Can you imagine a church that's so focused on themselves that they never think about those that are a heartbeat away from a devil's hell that he might send them out to preach? Secondly, thirdly, Jesus started a small group to have power to minister, that they might be with him, that he might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons. What we're learning is healing and deliverance often come handcuffed together. That if you'll help people overcome their strongholds and repent of areas they've given the enemy in their life, then God often brings healing after their repentance. And so in your Bible, if you read the gospels, you'll see healing and deliverance go hand in hand.
And I read you a story, a real life story, to start this message today, to let you know that you're in a group of people. You're in an environment that we regularly see divine healing in our church. Not all the time. We don't claim it. We're not word of faith, we're not prosperity.
Nonsense. We just believe Jesus when he says, if you always keep on seeking and always keep on asking and always keep on knocking, I'll hear and open the door and I'll do for you what you read that I did in the Bible. Do you believe that God still heals? Everybody says that. Do you believe that God still heals through the prayers and the touch of christians?
That's the dividing line. Well, this is why he started a small group. Healing those who need it and helping others be set free from their strongholds. Almost always happens in a group setting. So that's why he started a small group.
Now, I have a hypothetical question for you to answer. If you're ready, say yes. If Jesus were leading a small group in our church, do you think you'd sign up for it?
Wouldn't it end up being the only small group? So now it's a big group because nobody would dare to sign up for anybody else's. If Jesus were here in the flesh and said, hey, for the next six months, I'm leading a small group, everybody would sign up. And if you signed up, he would teach you to be with him, he would send you out to evangelize, and he would give you power and authority over illnesses and demons. You sure you want to be in Jesus small group?
All right, well, here's our, here's our second question, the end of the sermon. What was it like to be in Jesus small group? I'll bet some of this surprises you.
I'm going to give you two major headings under what was it like to be in Jesus small group? Number one, it was filled with delight on one hand and frustration on the other. Everybody, look at me. Jesus small group was not perfect. He was.
But all he had to populate his small group with were sinners.
And so the imperfections came by the group members. So it was filled with delight and frustration. Delight. He taught them much. What is the name of Jesus most famous sermon in the Bible?
The sermon on the Mount. You find that in Matthew's gospel, chapters five, six and seven. Here's how the sermon on the Mount begins. Matthew five. One, two and three.
And seeing the multitudes, jesus sees the crowd so he goes up on a mountain, a more secluded place. And when he was seated, the crowds don't come to him. At first, it's the twelve. His disciples came to him. So do you understand that the sermon on the mount was given to believers, or at least Jesus small group first.
Then he opened his mouth and he taught them, saying, and the first beatitude we covered a few weeks ago, blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Can we agree that the sermon on the mount is a pretty good sermon? Like, if you memorized it and learned it and internalized it, it would change your heart, wouldn't it? I mean, it's some of the most powerful teaching any leader or guru ever gave.
And I want you to realize that he gave it to the twelve first. Like, they get the benefit, they get this advantage of the teachings from heaven. So here's what I want you to think about. You can learn the scriptures on a different level in a smaller group. And here's why.
In a smaller group, you can ask questions and have those questions answered. Everybody, look at me. You'll learn the Bible better in a smaller group setting than you will from my sermons. And my sermons are okay. I mean, I hope you think that.
If not, you guys are amazing actors. I mean, but the vehicle of preaching is to inspire you to go read your Bible yourself. It's more inspiration in a setting like this than it is transformation. You get transformed when you're in a smaller setting. And people can ask the next week, how'd it go for you this week?
Cause you can't hide. So you learn the scriptures better. So he taught them much. That was the delight. But it was filled with delight and frustration.
Let me talk to you about some of the frustrations of being in Jesus small group. He could be difficult to understand. Look, I don't want you to think, man, I come to this church, and everybody seems to groove on everything that's being said. And half the time, I don't really understand what's even being taught or what we're singing. I don't know the words.
I just feel out of place. If that's how you feel, you would have fit in Jesus small group perfectly, because the men that he used to turn the world around with weren't academics, and they didn't grow up going to Sunday school, so they didn't understand him. And we read in Mark, chapter four, verse ten, the beginning of the parables of Jesus, after he gives the parable of the four different soils. And here's what he says. Before I get to mark 410, he says, look, there's a guy.
He's going to sow some seed. It's going to fall in four different kinds of soils. It's going to fall by the wayside and be stolen by the birds. It's going to fall on the stony ground and be scorched out by the sun because it doesn't have any root. It's going to fall among thorns, and when it grows up, the thorns are going to choke it out, and others, it's going to fall on good soil, and that's the only one that's going to produce a crop.
He just tells them that. And we read Mark 410. But when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parable. They said, hey, we heard your story about the four, about the farmer and the four soils, and we just frankly don't get it. We don't understand.
What was that about?
So if you've ever been in a church setting or religious setting, and you didn't understand, you're well on your way. You're going in the right direction. Does that make sense? It can be frustrating. There's a learning curve, but God's good, and he's going to help you do it.
Then here's what Jesus replied when they said, we didn't get that parable, that story you told Mark 413, and he said to them, do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? Let me tell you what Jesus just said there. He just said, you need to start with a parable of the four different soils, and you need to figure out what it means, because it's the key to unlock most of the other parables that I'm going to tell. Then after he says this, he interprets it for them, and so then they find out.
So we just learned from that, that Jesus best students did not immediately grasp his most essential story. And if you think that's bad, look what happens the first time he preaches the gospel to them. Mark 931 and 32. He taught his disciples, and he said to them, the son of man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And after he is killed, he will rise the third day.
Can we agree that Jesus being turned over to evil men killed and rising the third day is a pretty good summary of the facts of the cross and the resurrection? Yes. Can we call this the preaching of the gospel? Yes. Verse 32.
But they did not understand this saying, and they were afraid to ask him.
His closest followers were even slow to comprehend his most important message, the gospel. So I want you to know that if you're having trouble with all this, you're not alone and you're not behind. Because if this happened to his twelve and there's hope for them, then you can get this, too.
All right, let me give you one other reason why being in Jesus small group was frustrating. This one you're going to connect to. I know the other members of the group said foolish things and they did strange things.
Now, look, I know you can't really tell me right now because you're sitting around some of the people in your small group, and they'll know. But I know that you go, man. Sometimes in our small group, our small groups, people say the dumbest things and then they tell us about the even dumber things that they do. Is that just me or. No, you get this, right?
Let me show you. Mark, 1035, 36, and 37. Then James and John, two apostles. The sons of Zebedee came to him saying, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. So now you have two of his inner circle going to him and saying, master, got a question?
Will you sign us a blank check and just give us whatever we ask for? I tried that on my parents a bunch of times and never got that. Am I the only one on that right? Just, hey, there's something we want. Before you say no, just promise us you'll say yes.
So Jesus says, well, what do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, grant us that we may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left in your glory. Amen.
Master, would you sign us a blank check? And when you come in your glory, will you give us more honor than you give all of our friends? And can you make sure that we're the ones who are most identified with you?
Can we agree that that's not a godly request? How do you think the other guys in the group are going to react when they hear about this? Here's verse 41. And when the ten heard it, they began to be, and look how polite this is. Greatly displeased with James and John.
That's the Bible's way of saying they were so hacked off with their christian brothers, they were like, hey, why would he pick you when he could pick me?
And so, look, in Jesus small group, there were guys that go, there are people in our groups that are just jerks. Do you read the Bible for understanding? These guys right here, they think we're really not in this together, they think Jesus favors them over all the rest of us. You know, I hear all the time, pastor, I'd get in a small group if you let me be in a small group of people that were like me. That sounds reasonable.
Let's see if it passes the Bible test, shall we? Let's just take the twelve apostles. All right. What do you know about these guys?
What was the makeup of the roster of the twelve? Well, let's start with the ones that had something in common. The ones that you said, look, I want to be in a group with people like me. There were Peter, Andrew, James and John. Those were four fishermen.
They may even have worked for the same fisherman company. And yet, even with all that they had in common, John was a teenager and the other three were grown men. So they weren't even in the same season of life.
Also, in the first small group that Jesus had, there were two political rivals. There was a Republican and a Democrat in that group. I'm not kidding. The Democrat was Matthew Levi, the tax collector. He was a leftist.
He wanted more government. In fact, all he really wanted was to enrich himself with more government. And he was considered a traitor to the founders of Israel. Opposing him was Simon the zealot, the Republican. If he lived in America today, he'd wear a 1776 shirt and a MAGA hat.
He'd be wishing Great Britain enjoy work on July 4. Remember all that from last week? Simon the zealot was, it's all about Israel. And we go back to the purity of Abraham was our father. We don't mix with Rome.
And Jesus goes, you know what a great idea. I'm going to put those two guys in a small group together and teach them to walk with God together.
Also in the small group was a doubter, a guy named Thomas, who said, lord, show us the way. And then he says, I'm not even going to believe that he rose from the dead unless I can put my fingers in the nail scars and see the nail scars in his feet. I won't believe until I see that. Was one of the twelve a doubter. Another one of the twelve was a complainer.
I know you've never been in a small group with anybody that complains, but Jesus had one of these. And Philip said, kid, you nothing. John 14 eight. Philip looks at Jesus and he says, Lord, show us the way. And then he says, show us the father.
If you show us the father, it will be enough. Now, Philip said that to Jesus on the night before Jesus was crucified, which means in John's gospel. He had already seen seven miraculous signs that Jesus had done and had had a front row seat to it. Changing of the water into wine, feeding of the 5000. In John, chapter nine, the healing of the blind man.
And Philip looks at Jesus and says, none of that's enough. You have to show us the father. And I'll believe he hadn't done enough. Jesus, he complained. Also in Jesus small group there was an imposter.
Judas Iscariot the exhibit, a quintessential false convert and traitor. And then. Check this out. Bringing up the rear were the three wall flowers of whom we know little to next to nothing. They just came to the group meetings and didn't say much.
Bartholomew, Thaddeus and James the less. That was Jesus small group. That was Jesus small group. He says, if yours looks like this, you're doing it right.
He didn't go. You know what I need? I need twelve fishermen. I need everybody to be alike. I asked you if you'd want to be in Jesus small group.
You still want to be in it. Let me tell you the last thing about being in Jesus small group. It was temporary.
It didn't last forever.
Do not say amen to this. But you're not stuck in the group you're in. You're not imprisoned. It's like I have to be with these people until Jesus comes back. Now, you might have gotten in a squirrely group.
It happens, right? You know what? Jesus looked at his twelve and he said. He said, this group's not going to last forever. I pour myself into you and then you're going to go lead some groups and be in others.
I'm going to go away from you. And if I go away, the helper will come. And one small group is going to go to about 300 small groups in about a week. And you're going to turn the world upside down. But this group has to end for that to happen.
Here's what it says. John, chapter 16, five, six and seven. But now I go away to him who sent me. And none of you asked me, where are you going? But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It's to your advantage that I go away. The best thing that can happen for you is you multiply out of this group and start a new group. Because if I don't go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I'll send him to you.
We just want to follow Jesus pattern. Here's how I'm going to apply this sermon two verses very quickly. What was the result of having been in Jesus's small group? Acts 246 47. So, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God, having favor with all the people, and the Lord, added to the church daily those who were being saved.
If you'll participate in our small group ministry, here's what the Bible says. What happened to you? You will have unity of heart with the church. You will enjoy table fellowship with people who will accept you in Christ just as God accepts you. You will learn the worship of God, praising him and having favor with all the people.
You will have favor in the community because of the grace of God. And you will witness sinners being saved. Can I tell you? Sign me up for all that. We're going to start our small group ministry back in August.
And if, and if you claim this to be your church, you've been around here for a while and you want to be in a small group ministry with us and experience what I've just taught you, we're going to open that up for you. And so I want you to begin to pray. God, how do you want to change my life? In a group of about ten or twelve people, the way Jesus impacted the apostles, that's what you need because we make disciples through groups. Let's bow for prayer.
Father, take the teaching of your word and cause men and women to make decisions about it today, Lord, grow our small group ministry so that we can grow people in the Lord through this. In Jesus name, amen.
Amen. Thank you, Trevor. My name is Randy Rucker. I'm one of the elders on pastoral staff here and we're going to have the joy and privilege of participating, witnessing a baptism as a young man professes his faith in Jesus Christ publicly. And there's some folks, I think, that came, I think I met Don Childer's parents.
There they are. But there's some of you here that are just raise your hand if you came here just to see Owen be baptized today. Look at this group right here. Okay. Yeah.
So I'm going to call Owen to the stage here and y'all welcome Owen up here and you can stand on that side if you prefer. That's right here. Oh, you're right here. That's good. How are you doing?
Good, good. All right, so I'm going to read portions of Owen's testimony that he wrote out for us. We had a delightful meeting with him, a few weeks ago, and a very interesting conversation and as usual with Owen, very interesting. He's a thinker, and he grew up in a christian home. He says he thinks he's been going to this church, I think he says, since he was six.
He thinks, I think that sounds right. And with his family. And he said, I've heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and what he's done for us, how he lived, how he died for our sins, and rose three days later. But I never really believed I knew the story. I heard the words, but there was always doubt in my heart.
He goes off to University of Memphis, and he had a shift in his and worldview, so to speak, or his perspective on the world. For the first time, he was kind of out of his comfort zone and making decisions on his own and then being around people who do not have a christian perspective on life. And it made him realize, you know, that they seemed lost, like a ship without a captain, which is, Jesus is called the captain of our salvation, isn't he? So, yeah, that's a right assessment. They do seem like they're wandering.
And he'd been surrounded by godly people most all of his life, so he just didn't see this other side of things. And he says, I can't point to a singular moment in my life. That was the come to Jesus moment for me. But looking back, it feels like Jesus has always been knocking on the door wanting me to receive him. For many years.
He did not understand because he had some doubts. He said, what if all of this, if somebody could prove that all of this was true? It still didn't mean I believed it. And he said, so this is when I felt I truly gave my heart to Jesus and received him. When I stopped relying on my mind and doubts and did what my heart told me was right, Jesus stepped in, relieved all my doubts and fears, replacing it with himself.
He says, I know with all my heart that he has come into my life and changed it. So it's sometimes, as I've heard it said, some people have just an aha. Moment that they can point to. But others, it's more like a sunrise, where gradually you realize, I really believe him. I really believe that he is my savior.
He died for my sins. So I'm going to ask you in front of your covenant family here, the church. Owen, is it your profession that you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins in order for you to have eternal life and you are trusting in him alone for your salvation? Yes, sir. Yeah.
Y'all hear him? Say, yes, sir. Okay. We're happy about that. So, Owen, we have a.
Oh, I meant to bring my pen up here. Trevor, don't throw one at me. Will you help me? Don't listen, Trevor, throw it at him. I wouldn't catch it if you threw it.
I'd be embarrassed because I didn't catch it. But we have a membership covenant. I think Owen has seen this before where, you know, what we kind of expect from our members is we expect. Expect them to be believers in Jesus Christ, of course, and to participate here as much as possible and to support the church and pray for the team and pray for the leaders. And so, Owen, I'd like for you to sign this right here.
And I'm going to pray for you right here. Yes, sir.
So Owen's dad is going to come up in a moment as well and actually do the baptizing of his son, which is. I just think that's a special time and he asked for that. And certainly we're not going to deny him the privilege of doing that. And.
Oh, you put your middle name there. Okay, very good. So I'm going to pray for you, Owen, and then we're going to baptize you. Father, I thank you for the power that you have to shine the light of the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ into the hearts of sinners. And then they see you as glorious and taking their place.
And I thank you, God, for the work you've done in Owen's heart. God, I pray also that as he continues his education in a place not known for being a shining light of the gospel, that he will be a shining light for Jesus Christ in an otherwise darkened place. There's other believers there. Sure, Lord. But I pray that he will influence those around him more than they will influence him.
God, I pray you make him strong in the faith. Help him to believe with all his heart and be able to plead with other sinners to give their lives to Christ as he has done. And father, I thank you for him. I pray we'd be a godly church for him, that he'd find mentors and to help him. And I thank you for your work in his heart, Father.
In Jesus name, amen. We're going to walk over here and don's going to come up it.
Put your glasses in your hat.
All right, hold on. Right here.
Is this on? Yeah. All right. So, Owen, it's been a blessing to be your dad and to call you my son. When you come up out of the water, you're also going to be my brother in Christ.
It's your testimony that you placed your faith in Jesus to be your savior. Because of your faith in Jesus and obedience of his command, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen. Amen. Hey, as you're, we're finishing up the service this morning. If you'd grab this card one last time and especially love to pray for you. If anything, you can put that on the prayer side.
But hey, great application of the message is you can see what's next. For me, there's the first box. I want to get to know people by joining a group. You can go ahead and start that process of just getting on the list that we know that as we start doing signups for small groups, you can go ahead and get be first in line there. We do have some great guests gifts, so if you're a guest, I hope you enjoyed the service.
I hope you connected with God. On your way out, hang a right. There's a huge wall that says you belong here. We have a gift for you. I love to meet you, connect with you.
I'm going to try to be out there. I'd love to shake your hand, give you a gift. We will also have a time of prayer ministry at the end. So our prayer team is going to come forward. And as we do that, as they come forward, I have a video of what our kids did last week at summer to the max.
It was ninja Warrior day. They had a great Bible lesson and then they went outside and played and played hard, man. They had a good time. So prayer ministry team, come forward. Everyone else, let's watch this video.
Sadeena. That explains why my kids were soaking wet when they got in the van after church last week. So, hey, would everyone stand with me? Come on forward to receive prayer. We'd love to pray for you.
Ask God on your behalf. Anything that your heart desires, healing, anything that you think may be needed. Hey, everyone else, you're dismissed.
Come and join us this Sunday at the Great Commission Church for a truly remarkable and uplifting experience. Great Commission Church is not just any ordinary place of worship; it's a vibrant community where faith comes alive, hearts are filled with love, and lives are transformed. Our doors are wide open, ready to welcome you into the warm embrace of our congregation, where you'll discover the true essence of fellowship and spirituality. At Great Commission Church, we are more than just a congregation; we are a family united by a common mission – to follow the teachings of Christ and spread His love to the world. As you step inside Great Commission Church, you'll find a sanctuary that nurtures your faith and encourages you to be part of something greater than yourself.
We believe in the power of coming together as a community to worship, learn, and serve. Whether you're a long-time believer or just starting your spiritual journey, Great Commission Church welcomes people from all walks of life. Our vibrant services are filled with inspiring messages, beautiful music, and heartfelt prayers that will uplift your soul. Every Sunday at Great Commission Church is an opportunity to deepen your relationship with God and connect with others who share your faith and values.
At Great Commission Church, we believe that faith is not just a solitary endeavor but a shared experience that strengthens and enriches us all. Our church is a place where you can find purpose, belonging, and the encouragement to live a life in accordance with Christ's teachings. Join us this Sunday at Great Commission Church and experience the transformative power of faith in action. Be part of a loving and supportive community that is committed to making a positive impact in our world. Together, we strive to fulfill the great commission to go forth and make disciples of all nations. We look forward to having you with us at Great Commission Church this Sunday, where faith, love, and community intersect in a truly amazing way.
Great Commission Church is a non-denominational Christian church located in Olive Branch, Mississippi. We are a short drive from Germantown, Southaven, Collierville, Horn Lake, Memphis, Fairhaven, Mineral Wells, Pleasant Hill, Handy Corner, Lewisburg and Baylia.
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