Purpose of the Church: Missions

[0:00] If you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew chapter 28 verses 16 through 20.

[0:16] If you don't have a Bible, there are Bibles in the pews that you can use. And if you don't own a Bible, please take that Bible home with you today as a gift from our congregation to you in hopes that you'll continue to be reading the Word of God.

[0:29] So this month we've been going through a series of sermons that are seeking to answer the question, what is the purpose of the church?

[0:40] What is the purpose of the church? And so today's scripture is Matthew chapter 28 verses 16 through 20. If you are there in your Bible, would you please stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word together.

[0:55] Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some doubted.

[1:09] And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

[1:31] And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. May God add a blessing to the reading of His Word. Would you please be seated? So again, we've been going through this series of sermons, seeking to answer the question from Scripture, what is the purpose of the church?

[1:54] This past week I was reading and I saw this quote that has really stuck with me. The quote said, And that really stuck to me because I feel like that's exactly what we're trying to do here on Sunday mornings as we answer this question.

[2:20] That the way forward for God's church, the answers to find about our purpose and what the Lord wants us to do, they're found in His Word. They're found by looking back.

[2:32] Not looking to the world, not looking to anybody else within the world to try to tell us what our purpose is, but to look to the Bible and to look back to what our Lord has instructed for His church and to see how His church early on followed through with that instruction and where they failed and how they were encouraged to get better.

[2:59] And so if you remember the first week in this series, we looked at the fact that the church is a body. It's not a building. It's a body.

[3:11] That it's also local, but it's also universal. And that we have a part to play both in the local church and in the universal church. And the second week, we saw that the church, or last week, that the church serves as a pillar and buttress of truth, that the Lord has called us to proclaim the truth that He has given to us, that that is our job, that is our task, that is our responsibility, especially right now in our nation and our world, that we are steady, we are firm, and we are firm because we have been founded upon the Word of God.

[3:52] And that is what we proclaim. And now today's focus about our purpose for the church is going to be on missions. And really, if I could change that, it was too late, but I really am focusing today on missions, yes, but more specifically on making disciples.

[4:12] The church's purpose is to make disciples. It's part of our purpose. You know, one thing I've heard more recently, and maybe you've heard this as well in church circles, is that some churches have gotten this title, this label, of being a missional church.

[4:37] Have you heard that? They call them, well, that, you know, what can you tell me about that church? You know, a pastor or a Christian might say, and they might hear in response, well, they're really a missional church.

[4:49] And what they mean by that is that their church is active in missions, whether that's active in giving, but really more of what it means is that that's a church that sends people into the mission field.

[5:01] That's a sending church. That's a missional church. And that's great, but you know what? What I think troubles me when I hear that is the fact that all churches should be missional, shouldn't they?

[5:18] That shouldn't describe one church. That should describe the church, all churches who say that they believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

[5:30] We should all be missional because He's commanded us to be. Can a church, I wonder, truly fulfill Christ's purpose for it if it's not missional?

[5:49] I don't think that it can. I've shared this story before, and I know I shared it last Sunday night when we were going through our application questions.

[6:00] The story of a church that I was familiar with back in Kansas City as a part of our cluster of churches there. We did a lot of things together.

[6:12] I remember the pastor there on a couple of different occasions. One, we were talking about VBS and what our plans were for VBS, and he was brokenhearted because he said, you know, this year we are not going to have VBS.

[6:27] I thought, well, why? Why not? You don't have enough volunteers. Something wrong with the building. You need space. And it was none of that. It was because he said we don't have the kids to come.

[6:39] But I know that church, and I know where that church is located, and it's located right in the middle of a neighborhood. And I've been there and driven by it, and I've seen little kids running around and playing in that neighborhood.

[6:50] And so, you know, we asked him, well, there's a lot of kids in that neighborhood. Why don't you reach out to those kids? Why don't you invite them to come to your VBS? To which he responded, well, we don't want those kids.

[7:03] They're bad kids. Then tragically, a little while later, going inside the sanctuary, you know, as a pastor, I love sanctuaries.

[7:14] I just, I think it's so neat. Whenever I drive by a church, one of the questions I have is, I wonder what their sanctuary looks like. So I was eager to go inside of this church's sanctuary. And when I went inside, like most of our churches, our Baptist churches especially, the baptismal is located behind the pulpit.

[7:34] You can see it. It's right in the back. And so, I remember walking into this church and looking at their baptistry and noticing that it was covered with a sheet.

[7:46] And on top of that sheet were all different kinds of furnishings. There was plants. There was a big giant Bible. There were candles. And you know what message that sent to me and I think anybody who would walk into that church?

[8:05] We haven't baptized anyone in a long time. And we don't plan on baptizing anybody anytime soon. How tragic.

[8:16] How sad. You know, the world hasn't experienced a shortage of sinners. It hasn't. There's not a lack of people for us to share the gospel with.

[8:30] But what has been experienced or a shortage that we have seen are Christians willing to share the gospel.

[8:41] So much so that churches that are active in missions are set aside into this whole other category of being labeled missional.

[8:55] But again, I'd say to you, Scripture says to you, to us, that a church that isn't missional is a church that's lost its purpose.

[9:06] A church that isn't actively seeking to make disciples is a church that has lost its purpose. And so I know my prayer has been that God would use us in missions both locally and universally to participate in this great commission to make disciples.

[9:27] and He has done that here recently and certainly in the past. But specifically what I've been praying for and hoping for is that from this church the Lord would call pastors.

[9:46] The Lord would call missionaries. And we would see them going out from here out into the world into our community into the nations.

[10:00] People who were equipped here who were taught here who were loved on here who were encouraged here God calling them and sending them out from here to continue to go and make disciples.

[10:18] And you know what? I believe that that's what God wants to do. Do you? Do you believe that God wants to do that here? What do we need to do in order for that to happen?

[10:34] I think is the question that we've got to ask. And listen maybe you don't think that God will do it here but I certainly hope that you believe that He wants to.

[10:45] I certainly hope at least you believe that He wants to. That you don't doubt that much. That God actually wants to use this church to make disciples. and send men and women from this church out into the ministry.

[11:02] But in order for that to happen we've got to get more serious about what God's called us to do. I read a story in a devotional book a man named S.D. Gordon that's called Quiet Talks with World Winners.

[11:20] And in that story he talks about about a group of men who were going to climb Mount Blanc in the French Alps. And so when they got these men together they met with their guides who would take them up the mountain.

[11:37] And the guides told them specifically hey listen if we're going to make it to the top you have to obey our instructions and you cannot weigh yourselves down with any extra weight.

[11:50] Well the next day as they get ready to go to the climb man shows up in that group and he's a young guy. He's an athletic guy. He's a strong man. And so he came with a blanket he came with extra food extra water notebooks so that he could record his journey and the guides told him okay you know that's going to encumber you.

[12:15] That's going to keep you from being able to reach the top of the man. Nah I can do it. You know I'm a great athlete. Well sure enough as they went on the trail as they ascended the mountain what the guides realized as they were looking back was that this athlete this man who thought he could do it on his own was slowly starting to shed that weight.

[12:39] He was realizing I can't do this with everything else that I brought with me that is holding me back. And so finally without those extra supplies the man was able to reach the summit with the rest of the group.

[12:57] And then Gordon applies that illustration to the church and this is what he says that unlike the young climber who eventually paid the price for success many Christians when they discover they cannot reach the top with their loads simply stop climbing and settle down on the mountain side.

[13:22] Stagnant! Complacent! Content! When they shouldn't be! That tragically I believe describes many of our churches.

[13:35] Jesus and so as we come to Matthew 28 Jesus gives final words of instruction to his followers who will make up his church and he gives them five instructions or there's five principles here there's five words that we can pull out from this text that I believe when we apply as individuals and as a church it will result with our being disciple makers and so the main idea for this morning's message is simple it's the main idea of this text Jesus commands his church to make disciples Jesus commands his church to make disciples and listen we can get more specific than that Jesus commands you to make disciples Jesus commands you as a follower of his to make disciples and so how are we going to do that well I think we see from here five marks of a disciple making church now I'm coming to this text a little bit differently meaning still the same but I'm going to apply it in just a little bit of a different way because listen we have the benefit of being on the other side to see what happened these disciples we know took that instruction from our

[15:05] Lord and they did make disciples and so what I want us to look at is what and how they responded to our Lord's commands and to see that yes we know that they did follow through they did make disciples they did go listen you know this instruction was given back in the Middle East in Jerusalem they had no idea that Bartlesville Oklahoma existed besides Jesus Christ of course had no idea but yet here we are here we are as a result of their being obedient to the command of our Lord to go and make disciples so the first mark that we see here of a disciple making church is that they were ready they were ready look again at verse 16 now the eleven disciples went to

[16:08] Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them and so before and after his resurrection Jesus had provided his disciples with instruction to meet him here in Galilee before his resurrection in Matthew 26 before his crucifixion Jesus told his disciples you will all fall away because of me this night for it is written I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered but after I am raised up I will go before you to Galilee I'm comforted by our Lord's words here aren't you what's he telling them you're going to fall away you're going to betray me you're going to desert me you're going to run away and hide from me as

[17:11] I go through this painful death as I am crushed on the cross for your sins you're going to depart me you're going to run away from me and as I think about that I think about myself and I ask you how many times have you departed from the Lord when you knew you!

[17:32] shouldn't! Lord you know asked you to do something and instead of saying yes you said no I know for me that has happened more times than I'd like to admit but thankfully what we see here is that our Lord is gracious to us despite our failures he forgives us and he still uses us just as he did these disciples I love it that he didn't say I know you guys are going to betray me so you know what just get out of here just go away I'm going to start fresh once I come back from death no he said I know what is going to happen I know you guys are going to betray me but guess what you are going to meet me later I have a plan for you Lord has a plan for you then afterwards in

[18:32] Matthew 28 8 through 5 again he gives them this instruction but when the angel said to the woman do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who is then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold he is going before you to Galilee there you will see him see I have told you so they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples and behold meet that Jesus met them and said greetings and they came up and took hold of his feet and they worshipped him then Jesus said to them do not be afraid go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me and so when the disciples heard this word from the women they were ready and they went and though only the eleven disciples are specifically mentioned here

[19:38] I think it's pretty safe in saying that when Jesus gave these parting words of instruction they were joined by about five hundred other believers and they like the disciples were ready to meet Jesus they were ready to hear from Jesus and because they were ready they went to meet him and because they went they heard Jesus instructions and his promises his promise that he would be with them his promise that he would use them and it all began because they were ready they were ready have you ever been in a situation where you weren't ready when you should have been I think I've been here a while now that I'm starting to repeat some of my illustrations so bear with me and

[20:39] I will get another sermon illustration book I guess to help out with that but it's neat because I'm pretty positive now that in my second year in college we came to Bartlesville to play Oklahoma Wesleyan which was known as Bartlesville Wesleyan at the time pretty sure it was Dungeons Stadium down here too if I remember right but the reason why I don't!

[21:03] remember very well is because it's a game I wish I could forget I was a sophomore this was I think the first game of the year for us and I was the low man on the totem pole and I was a pitcher and I was a relief pitcher and so I went to that game thinking that there's no way I'm going to play this game my time will come later on in the season once the older guys have gotten a little bit tired and then I'll get plugged in and so as pitchers we have we had turf shoes turf shoes look like cleats but they don't have cleats on the bottom of them it's comfortable and so we would wear those all the time instead of our cleats and so we're in the dugout and it's cold I think there was snowflakes it was in February and I'm just trying to bundle up and we're in the middle of the game and I hear from the other end of the dugout our coach says

[22:04] Skrivani go get warmed up not expecting that so I throw off all of the layers that I have on I grab my glove I go down to the bullpen and I start throwing and I look down at my feet and I realize I don't have the right shoes on so then I had to stop and I ran back into the dugout and quickly tied my shoes put the new shoes on came back out to the bullpen and man I God wants to do with you in this church are you ready to say yes are you ready with Isaiah to say here I am Lord send me use me are you ready well

[23:09] I think something we have to understand in order to be ready is that we've got to be prepared and I love what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 about running a race let's look at that 9 24 through 27 do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one receives the prize so run that you may obtain it every athlete exercises self control in all things they do it to receive a perishable wreath but we an imperishable so I do not run aimlessly I do not box as one beating the air I discipline my body and I keep it under control left after preaching to others I find myself others I should find myself disqualified I mean I love that Paul is saying

[24:09] I'm going to run and I'm not running for second and I'm not running for third I'm running to finish the race first I want to make sure that my greatest desire in my life is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ can you say the same are you ready let go of those things that encumber and snare put sin to death in your life and be willing to say Lord here I am use me I'm ready ready the second word that marks a disciple making church is reverent they were reverent verse 17 look there again they were ready they came and then when they saw him they worshipped him but some doubted the disciples saw Jesus die and for three days they hid in seclusion from the world devastated fearful unsure of what to do next but when they heard that Jesus had returned they were ready to go to be with him they were ready to see him ready to be used by him and when they saw him alive and triumphant and victorious they couldn't help but fall down and worship him filled with joy when Jesus is not truly revered by his church though we will not truly serve him you see they were reverent they saw him they worshipped him they were ready what's next lord tell us we're ready to go because we know that you are the king of kings and the lord of lords but a church who doesn't act like that in the same way is a church that I believe won't take this command very seriously and so here's a question as I was thinking through this verse what do people see when they come to our church when they participate with us in worship does the tone of our worship the tone of our prayers the tone of our preaching sound more like a funeral or a celebration do we act defeated by the world do we act as if we are hopeless and helpless in the world or does our worship indicate our knowledge that

[26:48] Jesus Christ lives now and forever you know what I've experienced a lot recently and maybe you have as well is that the church in America during this time seems very dejected it seems hopeless I've had a lot of conversations with Christians who feel like this is the worst things have ever been in this world world and all you've got to do is go back and look over church history to see that while this may be the best or the worst time that we've maybe experienced in this nation one it pales in comparison to what's going on in other places in the world and two this is nothing compared to what Christians have experienced in the past be a Christian in Rome where you could be fed to the lions for your faith we're not there but listen they weren't dejected they weren't despairing they weren't without hope they continued to go they continued to make disciples they continued to worship why because they knew that the

[28:06] Lord was risen alive and coming again and that they had a very important mission until he returned the world is not our home we're going to heaven understand that we as believers in Jesus Christ are going to heaven praise God and so we should rejoice like that every day we come in here and we think when we worship I'm going to heaven I don't have to be stuck here I'm not stuck here despite whatever my problems are I know that in Christ I am saved I am redeemed I am forgiven I have hope I have life doesn't matter what this world could do to me or say about me I know Jesus God I love love that Matthew does here is that while he points out that some of them were reverent he also makes mention that some of them doubted some of them doubted the identity of these doubters isn't given neither are we told what it was specifically that they were doubting we can speculate but I'd say that every

[29:26] Sunday when we meet here we can be sure that gathered in this room are those who doubt it could be an unbeliever who we're glad to have here to share the gospel with it could be an unbeliever who doubts what we believe doubts that that God exists doubts that Jesus is the son of God doubts that he would be willing to forgive them of the sins that they've committed and want to use their life or it could be a believer who's just going through a really difficult time in their life and they doubt that God is aware of their situation may be tempted to doubt though they know better that God doesn't love them or that God hasn't been faithful to them you know maybe you're hearing again about what

[30:28] God's desire is for our church and how he wants to use our church and you may be doubting that you may be doubting that and so I love what we see here from our Lord again obviously being omniscient he knows who's doubting he knows who they are he knows what it is that they're doubting but he doesn't call them out he doesn't say okay that one and that one and that one and that one get them out of here they're!

[30:55] can't use them what does he do instead he comes closer to them he draws nearer to them isn't that what he does when we doubt he comes nearer to us doesn't kick us out of church doesn't use us as an example to tear down in front of other people he comes near to us and think of Peter walking on the water right as long as his eyes were on the Lord he could do it but once he took his eyes off the Lord he sunk and what did Jesus do like well I guess we gotta go find another I'm not gonna help this guy I told him what to do he went and he came to Peter and he pulled him out of that water and continued to use his life and so part of your doubt again might be that you doubt that God wants to use you or us and the answer for you is if that's the case turn your eyes to

[32:00] Jesus Christ and he's gonna come to you and he's going to reveal himself to you that listen God does great things through our meager efforts so don't doubt that God wants to use you pay attention to his ability!

[32:18] Not your inability God can use you to be a disciple maker third the third mark of a disciple making church is recognizing recognizing verse 18 look there again and Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me so we understand here that a disciple making church recognizes Christ's authority authority there in the Greek that's exousia it refers to the freedom and right to speak and to act as one pleases and listen there is no authority greater than Jesus and based upon his authority we as his followers have a

[33:20] God given right and a freedom to proclaim the gospel we don't need any persons or any government's permission to proclaim the gospel because we have it from Jesus and because Jesus has given that right we know that he will also empower us as we execute that right to share the good news of Jesus Christ when we speak we speak for the king of kings and the lord of lords as Paul says to the Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians 5 20 therefore we are ambassadors for Christ God making his appeal through us we implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God you are an ambassador of Christ you have his permission and his expectation that you will share the gospel we know sometimes that's hard isn't it because a lot of times our focus is on what the personal cost might be if

[34:35] I share the gospel with somebody else maybe I won't this relationship that I value will end maybe I'll lose my job and we could go on and on and on and on this past week I was at Midwestern for my doctoral seminar and I met a classmate whose name is Ramesh Ramesh is Indian he grew up in India he's over here in the United States and he's working to help Indian pastors become better preachers in his native country when he grew up as a boy he was of the Hindu faith and there's many gods in the Hindu faith but he said specifically for him the one that he zeroed in on was Shiva Shiva was his god everybody in his family was Hindu besides his grandmother and his grandmother was a Christian and his grandmother would share the gospel with him and he said that in India to be a

[35:36] Christian was to be looked down upon he was of a family that was of a higher caste and so Christians were people that you looked down upon Christians were people that you despised Christians were people that you wanted nothing to deal with yet this grandmother in her faith she knew that she had the God given permission and purpose and right to share the good news of Jesus Christ despite whatever it might mean for her and her family and how they might look upon her and so he told us this one day his grandmother was asking him about Jesus and saying you know Jesus God exists in Trinity and explaining Father Son and Holy Spirit and there are and he's the only one there are no other gods it's only him and he's jealous of anyone worshipping any other god besides him you see!

[36:30] in Hindu culture Ramish was telling us they don't care these gods you can worship whoever you want right just give them their due and so she posed a question to him and she said Ramish if Shiva and Jesus were to appear to you right now what would you worship them with and Ramish said to his grandmother well I would worship Shiva with gold and I worship Jesus with mud and then his grandmother patiently asked him Ramish where do we get gold from and he said well we dig it out of the ground we dig it out of the earth we dig it out of the dirt and that bothered him his grandmother's answer bothered him he said for three days he couldn't sleep thinking about the question she had posed to him before going back and saying grandma tell me more about

[37:42] Jesus Christ share Christ we have been commanded to do this we have been told by him that he will be with us when we do this not trying to preserve our lives not trying to spare ourselves by keeping our mouth shut but opening them and proclaiming the truth giving bold testimony of who Jesus is recognizing who he is and so a disciple making church is ready reverent recognizing and they are resolute they are resolute verses 19 through the beginning of verse 20 go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you so

[38:43] Jesus is telling his disciples and he's telling us look I'm the Lord of the! I'm the one who is in total authority you are mine and I have an assignment for you but understand that while I have the authority to give you this assignment I also have the power to enable you to fulfill it do to do to do something and I want to make sure that you have the power and the ability and what you need to do it one of the things that I hate to do is to put things together to assemble things you know you go into especially if you've ever been to Ikea you go into Ikea and you see a bookshelf or table and oh it looks wonderful on display and yeah that's what we're going to get and then you go to go buy it and it's not like it looks on display right it's all packaged up and you've got to bring it into your car and you take it home and you open up the box and the instructions are terrible aren't they the pictures are terrible the hardware is not very good and so

[40:01] I whenever you have to put something together especially when the hardware is not included and they tell you well you know you got to go buy this too or whenever the instructions aren't clear and I love it whenever you assemble something and everything you need is there clear directions step by step every piece is labeled all the hardware that you need is right there in the box I love that and so that reminds me with Jesus commission here to us he's saying listen I I'm commanding you to do something and you will do it you know what I also love in putting things together when you have a helper who knows what they're doing and so he's telling us you're going to do it and I'm going to send you a helper who will ensure that this task is completed that disciples will be made that they will be taught that they will be equipped to make other disciples and so

[41:15] I think what we need to do if we haven't already done before is to look at our church to look at every single ministry within our church and ask the question is this making disciples is this helping us make disciples is this useful in equipping disciples to make disciples that needs to be the litmus test through which we funnel everything that we do as a church is this achieving the purpose of our making disciples are we involved universally in the church making disciples of all nations locally are we making disciples are we participating in that disciple making process are we baptizing and making disciples I just want to pause right there to talk about baptism for too often we especially

[42:21] I think we as Southern Baptists and I include myself in this we have looked to baptism as the finish line when baptism is the starting point when we have looked to baptism as the finish line just get them in the water and the work is done but look what does Jesus say here baptize them and teach them continue to equip them baptism is not the finish line that's the starting point and so for Jacob this morning who we were blessed to see his baptism listen church our responsibility with Jacob has not come to an end with his coming out of that water it has just begun and that's the case with anyone whom we baptize we don't look at that and say okay another check to put up we're doing great it's great and it's something we should celebrate but we've got to view it as that's the starting point now we're going to come alongside this young man this young woman and we are going to continue to be used by the

[43:31] God to equip them to be a disciple who makes disciples a disciple making church is a church that is!

[43:45] because they revere the Lord and His instruction they recognize that their strength resides in Christ and not themselves they are resolved to accomplish His will and they realize that in all of this the Lord will be with them which goes into our final mark which is the mark of remembering remembering verse 20 and behold I am with you always the Lord says to the end of the age and so this passage we've known it familiar familiarly as the great commission because it should be our greatest priority and it's a mission that requires someone great to fulfill it the Lord wants us to know and remember that he is always with us in this task he is for us he will then enable us to achieve it he wants to use us he wants to use you he wants us to realize his mighty working power amongst us

[45:02] Isaiah 55 10 through 11 for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater so God promises my word so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth it shall not return to me empty but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the things for which I sent it when we realize that the Lord is with us and once our efforts to make disciples succeed we will be a disciple making church but the question

[46:04] I still pose to you is do you believe that Charles Spurgeon once shared a story of a young pastor who came and spoke to him and I want to read that account to you he talks about this student who came to him and said I have been preaching now for some months and I do not think that I have had a single conversion Spurgeon says that he said to him and do you expect that the Lord is going to bless you and save souls every time you open your mouth the young pastor replied!

[46:46] No sir Spurgeon said well then that is why you do not get souls! saved if you have believed the Lord would have given the blessing that he continues on to say I had caught him very nicely but many others would have answered me in just the same way as he did they tremblingly believe that it is possible by some strange mysterious method that once in a hundred sermons God might win a quarter of a soul they have hardly enough faith to keep them standing upright in their boots how can they expect God to bless them I like to go to the pulpit feeling this is God's word and I am going to deliver it in his name it cannot return to him void I have asked his blessing upon it and he is bound to give it and his purposes will be answered he goes on to say the command is this!

[47:46] thy mouth wide and I will fill it and here we sit he says with closed lips waiting for the blessing open your mouth brother with a full expectation a firm belief and according to your faith it shall be done unto you do you believe it do you trust that God wants to use you to make disciples do you believe that God wants to use Highland Park Baptist church to be a disciple making church I have questioned whether to share this because I don't want to because I'm leery of people whenever they say things to me about God telling them something in a dream or audibly if ever

[48:49] I hear somebody say to me God told me alarm bells go off in my mind okay well better match what God's word said otherwise God didn't tell you that but I'm not saying that I haven't felt or been impressed or known people who have been impressed by God just laying something on their heart and them knowing it was from!

[49:10] most of the dreams that I have are strange and they're just weird dreams and just like you you wake up the next day and you think well that was weird I don't even remember what it was but then have you ever had some dreams just stick in your mind and it's odd because usually again once I wake up that dream is gone and 20 minutes after I'm awake I can't even remember what it was I remember this dream and it was this week I had a dream where I was here and I was standing back there at that door and they were open and now you understand me that this is not something where I'm encouraging anyone to say hey you know write down those dreams God's trying to say to you because a lot of times I think we just eat weird things and we have strange dreams and it's not God talking but then there are others that stick with you and you know this was short and all

[50:13] I remember what I do remember! is standing there at that door and those doors were open and they had thought was neat they paid no attention to the fact that I was back there just going about their business coming and going and going and thinking about this message man I hope that that's what happens here at Highland Park Baptist Church disciples coming in being made and are sending them out to go and do the same.

[51:05] God is able. And I believe that God wants to do it. We've got to trust that. Believe in that. God wants to use you.

[51:18] And He is able. And He will do it if you'll be doing it. He will do it.