1: CHRIST, MISSION, AND THE CHURCH - Not Church, Mission And Christ - Time To Come Back To Jesus

The Call of Jesus

Welcome to this first lesson where we are
going to look at the first chapter

in my new book "The Call of Jesus".

I have done this book and
I'm doing these videos to help you.

I want to help you to come in and live
the life Jesus has for you.

I will sometimes provoke you.
I will really challenge you

and I want you to start to think.

I will also try to give you some
practical tools

how you can best obey
the call Jesus has given you

and how you can bear good fruit for Him.

You know that time is very, very short.

It's time for us to wake up.

It's time to be radical.

We have done it our way.

Now it's time to stop doing it our way
and start to do it His way.

We need to do it the way
Jesus has called us to do it.

The first chapter in my book is called
"Christ, Mission, and the Church".

In this chapter we are looking at
what our call is.

Some years ago I came in a church,
in a church setting,

where there was a lot of focus
on finding our personal call.

What is our call? What is my call?
What does God want me to do?

What is our specific call as a church?

It was something we spent a lot of time on,
at that time.

And it was like, every person has its own
specific call.

Every church has its own specific vision.

We focus a lot on finding the personal
vision from the church,

or the call from the church,
and our focus, what is my call,

like, what does God want me to do?

Does God want me to be a worship leader?
Does God want me to be a businessman?

What is my call?

But, where do we find all of that
in the Bible?

Where do we find in the Bible, in that way
that we have a specific calls and things

we should do, that are different from
what Christ is saying?

And that is the problem, that we focus so much,
at that time, on our call and our vision,

that we actually forgot looking at
what it is Jesus was saying.

Yes, you can maybe feel that you are called
to be a worship leader,

you can feel that you are called
to be a businessman, but...

you still need to obey Christ.

It's all about Him.

No matter what church you are part of,

no matter what your call and vision is,

your call and vision should not be different

than what we read in the Word of God.

Jesus is not only our savior,
but He's our focus.

He is our goal in life.

As I said, some years ago,
I was busy finding my call,

I was busy trying to define a call
from our church.

Now I'm free from all of this.
I am so free from all of this.

Now it's just Jesus.

My goal is to obey Him, His words,

and my vision and my call is what I read
in the Bible. Nothing else.

Now it's not what I am called to,
it's not what I want to do.

It's: Jesus, what are You saying in Your word,

and then I will do it the way
You are calling me to do it.

Matthew 7:24-27 is saying this:

"Therefore, everyone who hears these words
of Mine and puts them into practice

is like a wise man who built his house
on the rock.

The rain came down, the streams rose,
and the winds blew against that house,

yet it did not fall, because it had its
foundation on the rock.

But everyone who hears these words
of Mine and does not put them into practice

is like a foolish mane who built his house
on sand.

The rain came down, the streams rose,
and the winds blew and beat against that house,

and it fell with a great crash."

What we read here in Matthew 7 is not about
hearing the Word.

It's about putting the Word into practice.
It's about obeying the Word.

So, it's not enough that you hear
Jesus' word.

You don't build on the rock by sitting
in a church and listening to the Word

or by reading the Word.

You need to obey it.

We need to do what it is Jesus is saying.

And so, it is really not about just having
a faith, in that sense.

It's not about coming to church
and listening Sunday after Sunday.

No, we need to obey.

Not our church tradition,
not our own vision, not our own call,

but we need to obey Jesus' word.

And it's so clear.

Let's listen to what Jesus is saying
and then do it.

It's so simple.
Let's listen to what He's saying

and then obey what He's saying.

And if you're doing that, it's not only
going to transform your life.

It's also going to transform the lives
of all of those people around you.

If we look at the church today, there are
three big subjects we can talk about.

If I use big words. There is ecclesiology,
missiology and Christology.

If you've not heard these three words
before, it's very simple.

Christology is teaching about Christ.

Missiology is teaching about mission.

Ecclesiology is teaching about church.

So, we have those three things.
We have Christ, mission and church.

But which one of those three
come first?

Let me read something from my book.

"There are three big subjects in the Bible
that people speak about today:

ecclesiology, missiology and Christology.

Ecclesiology, missiology and Christology
include teaching about the church,

teaching about mission,
and teaching about Christ.

My question is this: which of these three
subjects should come first in our lives?

If we look at the church today,
we find it often places its focus

around the teaching of the church.

The next teaching the church focuses on
is the mission, and then lastly,

it focuses on the teaching of Jesus.

I admit that some years ago,
I too was focused so much on teaching

about the church that I forgot the most
important teaching of all; Jesus.

Of course, I did not stand up on the church
platform and say that I forgot Jesus.

I did not even realize at the time that I had
forgotten about Him

because everything I was doing was
because of Him.

I built the churches because of Him.
and I did the mission because of Him,

but I realize now that my focus was wrong.

If we are honest, I believe a lot of us have
forgotten the most important thing.

We have forgotten to spend time with Jesus,
and we have forgotten to focus on what

He is saying in His Word.
It is all about Jesus,

about what He is saying in His Word,
and about how He wants us to do His mission.

From this focus on Jesus first,
and how He wants us to do His mission second,

the teaching of the church
would arise third.

I want to say that, what we read here
is really, really, really a big problem

in the church today. Maybe you don't see it,
but when you start to see it

you would just see how far away
we have come from Jesus and His words.

If we look at many churches today,
many, many, many in the churches

are so busy serving Jesus.
They are so busy with church activities,

they are so busy with meetings,
they are so busy with so many different things,

but in serving Jesus,
they have actually forgotten Jesus.

They have forgotten to sit down and read
what actually Jesus is saying in His word.

What is it Jesus wants us to do?

It should start with Jesus.
It should not start with church

and to busy to build our church.
It should start with Jesus.

And then, when we look at Jesus,
what is it that Jesus is saying,

then the way we do mission
would be very, very different.

The way we will serve would be
very, very different.

Why? Because we don't serve
out of our church tradition.

We serve out of Jesus and His word.

So, first Jesus.
Look at Him.

Look at what Jesus is saying and how
He wants us to obey Him and do mission.

And then, second, we do mission,
the way Jesus has called us to.

And then, third, we end up with the church.

And then it's going to be Jesus' church.
It's going to be a church

that will look so different than
what we see in the churches today.

The last year, here in America,
I met many, many, many different churches.

I've been all over and been in
many, many meetings.

And most of those churches
I've gone to, all look the same.

They have a building,
they have the pews,

they have the church meetings,
the worship meetings.

It's the same songs they are singing.
It's the same idea -

we come together and we want people
to go out and invite friends and neighbors

to come to church, and hopefully,
some of them will get born again.

Almost everything looks the same
and we all do it for Jesus,

but have we ever took the time
to stop up and look at what

actually Jesus is saying.

What Jesus wants us to do?

Does Jesus talk about that we should
church the way we do it?

Does Jesus talk about that we should
have a church building, gather people

and then, hopefully, nonbelievers will
come into our church and get saved?

Or does Jesus do it very differently?

Also, when Jesus said: Come and follow me
and I will make you fishers of men.

He did not just sit down with them
and met every Sunday,

and then did a teaching.
No. He walked with them.

He was building them up.
He was making them to be disciples.

The problem today is that we are so focused
on our church, how we do church.

And that is built on tradition.
That is built on tradition of men.

That is built on church culture.

And then, out of that box,
we then try to do mission.

And as I said, that mission very often looks
like: we need to have very nice meetings,

and then, if we have right meetings
and nice meetings,

people want to come to our church
and then we get people come to our church,

very often from other churches.

We don't come together and train people
the way we were supposed to.

We don't come together and make
disciples the way we are supposed to

and let those disciples go out in the harvest
that is ready and see the harvest saved,

see the people changed.

So yes, we are so busy often, with church,
with mission, that we forget Jesus, all of that.

And I have been guilty in that myself.

Let's stop doing what we are doing.
Let's change the way we are doing

and then really try to take the time
to look at what Jesus is saying.

What does Jesus say?
What does Jesus want us to do?

Again, where do you find the fine church
building in Jesus' word?

Where do you find Sunday meeting
where people come,

Sunday after Sunday, and hear the sermon,
in Jesus' word?

I want to read a little more from the book,
chapter one.

"Today, much of what we think makes up
a 'real' church

and much of what we do today
to 'serve Christ'

is actually stealing from us our first love
for Him that we once had.

The fire we had for Christ in the beginning
is being stolen from us

because we are focused so much
on the church

instead of focusing on Him
and how we can obey Him.

We sometimes forget that Jesus
has not called us to build big,

beautiful churches with lots of members,
I am not saying it is a bad thing

to have a place to meet and gather
with others,

but I am saying
this should never be the end goal.

Jesus has called us to make disciples,
where we baptize them,

and teach them to do all Jesus has
commanded us.

This is our life's goal, and it is so clearly
written in the Bible, right in front of us.

We can sit in our big, beautiful churches
with a lot of activities

and still not fulfill the goal
Jesus has given us,

It is time to stop doing
what we have been doing

and go back to what
Jesus is calling us to do.

I know those words are very clear
and very radical,

but I just want to say
that this is the truth.

I've seen it so many, many, many times.

I've seen so many people experience
Jesus and are in love for God

and then they come into church
and they are trying to serve,

and they are so busy with activities
and doing a lot of things,

that in all of this, trying to serve Jesus
in that box,

they suddenly lose their first love.

They are burning out. They are getting tired.
They are getting frustrated. Why?

Because we do so much, we put so much
into it, we spend so much money

and we see so little fruit.

And I've seen it so many times
how people are losing that first love.

I think it's time for a reformation.

It's time that we come back and do it
the way Jesus is saying it.

We can go one way, as we have done,

we can continue doing the way we
did it and see some fruit, as we have seen it.

But I believe there is a better way.

There is a way where we do it exactly
the way Jesus did it.

Where we lay down our vision, our plans,
our goals, our idea of the church

and how to do church
and how to make disciples,

and then really take the time to look at Jesus
and what He is saying.

One of the things He's also saying
is in Matthew 11:28-30. He said this:

"Come to Me, all of you who labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and My burden is light."

This is what Jesus is also saying,
that His yoke is easy.

He said we should come to Him
and find rest.

Why do we see so many today
get tired in serving Jesus and falling away?

Why do we see so many pastors and leaders
getting stressed and stop doing ministry?

I've seen that again, and again, and again.
Why do we see that when Jesus is saying this?

Could it be because we are so busy doing
other things

then what Jesus has, actually, called us to?

I think so. Because I've seen that
again, and again, and again.

There is a freedom in serving Jesus.
There is a freedom in doing it His way.

It doesn't have to be so full of activities.
It doesn't have to cost so much money.

It doesn't have to be so big burden.

The way Jesus has called us to do
is so much more simple,

it's so much more easy,
it's so much more powerful,

it's so much more fruitful.

So again, we need to stop doing
what we are doing

and look at what Jesus is saying.

Let me read a little more from the book.

"...the truth is that today,
2,000 years after Christ was on earth,

we are spending our time, our energy,
and our money

to get our churches to succeed.

We spend our time, energy, and money
to get people to come to our church meetings.

However, we do not do
what Jesus told us to do.

Maybe this is the reason
we see so little fruit

and why we see so many people
losing their faith and their first love for God.

We, as Jesus' disciples, have been fishing
the whole night without catching anything,

as Jesus' disciples did in John 21:3-6.
Now it's time we do what He says,

that we act on His word.

It is as simple as casting the net
on the other side.

Let's not focus so much on the church fist,
mission second, and Christ third.

Let's start with Christ first
and then let Him reveal the mission to us,

then let the church unfold
the way Jesus has planned.

Amen. I want to encourage you
to take the time,

stop doing what you are doing
and then let's look at Jesus' word.

What is He has called us to do?

What is it He has called you to do?

Many years ago I was guilty
in what I'm saying here.

I was guilty in doing church first,
mission second and Christ third.

I want to admit it, I was so busy
in doing church and mission

that I really forgot Christ.

But then I took a time
where I was really looking at Jesus' word.

I was looking at what He was saying.

And then I changed the way I did things.

I started with Christ first.

And I looked at Him and His words,
what is it Jesus is saying,

what is it Jesus has called us to do,
how does He want us to do mission.

And then I started to do mission,
not my way, not the church way,

but Jesus' way.

And it changed everything.

The fruit was amazing.

And then I saw how Jesus was building
His church.

Wow! I love it! The fruit is so amazing now.

We have seen the world transformed.

And it's not a heavy yoke.
It's an easy burden to carry.

It's so much different to do it
Jesus' way.

So I really want to encourage you
to say "yes" to the call He has given us.

I know you will love it.

I know you will see so much more fruit
if you do it the way He has called you to do it.

So I hope you are ready to say "yes"
and follow Him.

And until next time we will see,
I want to encourage you

to take some time and read Jesus' word
in Matthew 10 and Luke 9 and Luke 10,

where we read about how He sent out
the 12 and how He sent out the 70.

Read what Jesus was saying
to the early disciples.

Read what Jesus wanted them to do,
how He called them to go out and do mission.

Read Matthew 10, Luke 9 and Luke 10.

And then ask yourself:

Am I, are we in our church,
really building on the rock?

Are we really obeying Jesus
in His words and what we are reading here

or are we so busy doing other things?

Please do this. Listen to Jesus' words,
obey what He's saying

instead of just being busy doing
other things.

And let's work together.
And together we can come back

and do what Jesus has called us all to do.

And then let us see what Jesus is saying,
that the harvest is ready.

Let us see that there is a great harvest
waiting for us right now.

And let's make workers that are ready
to go out in the harvest.

And then let's find a person of peace
Jesus is talking about.

Something I will talk about
much more later.

God bless you all out there.
Please share this video

and help other people to
get the focus away from church first,

mission second and Christ third,
and go back to Christ first.

Christ, Christ, Christ alone
and then we do mission

the way He has said, and then we end up
with a church that would be so different,

so powerful, so much like we read
in the Book of Acts.

God bless you all out there!
Share this video.

See you next time.
Bye-bye!

The Call of Jesus