But I would ask you, as you think of Australia and the gospel there, please do, pray
So I'm sure.
Because voices inside my head.
Yeah.
Churches are doing really good things, and people are coming to to Christ. And there are new areas that are being developed in Australia because of immigration, and so.
We. We look at that as an opportunity to take the gospel into those places.
Good things are happening.
On the flip side.
There's always been.
What's.
That's going to as a religious exemption for Christian organizations. So, for example, we don't have.
Higher.
Certain.
Gender preferences or sexual preferences.
And there's legislation being worked on that would strip those sort of exemptions. And that would have a big impact. Obviously, on a seminary. A lot of people go to Christian schools, and that would have an impact on who they can hire. So we're praying.
That that would be held back. That would be restrained. And I'd I'd love to know that you're praying as you think of us.
In that same way that there would be what we would consider.
Should I say common sense, or godliness, or whatever you want to call it, with respect to these particular issues? And I know you're dealing.
Your own.
Similar challenges pretty much every day as these things come along, so please do.
I'll pray for us in that regard.
Let's pray, and ask the Lord to bless our time together.
Father, we are grateful.
That you are a God of love. You have loved us, and you continue to love us. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who by his shed blood has brought us into a relationship with yourself and with one another.
We thank you that you've given your Holy Spirit.
To guide us and teach us, and lead us in righteousness.
And we pray that as the word is open today, your spirit would be active, and we would hear your voice speak with clarity to us, teaching us about the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what we should do as your children.
Your beloved children.
We thank you for the opportunity to hear from you today.
We pray that you would bless this assembly, and.
Provide wise leadership.
That you would strengthen the the homes and the marriages that make up this congregation.
That you would.
Give wisdom to.
To people as they gather together, and also as they go into their everyday lives, bringing the Lord Jesus with them.
Please help.
Each one of us to do that in a way that's pleasing to you, and effective, and drawing people to the Savior.
Probably that you would hold back the forces of evil and restrain the Evil One.
That your Grace.
And your light would permeate.
And barefoot.
We pray that you would bless this nation in particular, as
Decisions are being made.
Please.
Guide in wisdom and truth.
And raise up leaders who will honor you.
And.
Lead a nation in a way that is appropriate before you.
Pleasing to you, even.
So we asked these things.
With confidence, because we know that you do love your people.
And you will bless your word.
Please, now this.
Thank you.
Well, 1st there was the.
Republican National Convention.
Then there was the Democratic.
National Convention. And then today, right here in this building, we have the.
Columbia Convention.
Oh, sorry. I'm working on this. Yeah, that's right.
Confusing.
So
I think it was mostly unplanned, but God is.
Gathered a bunch of a.
Colombians and people with Colombian Venezuelans right here. So.
We're watching the Lord move. But anyway.
It's good to be here with you again.
Great to be here. It's been a while, I think it was.
2,018. The last time we were here.
And at that time.
We were.
About we had.
Alright! A few months prior to our visit here we had moved.
To another town, a half away from the capital city. After many years of ministry in the capital city of Bogota and Columbia.
And then, after returning about a few months.
After that after our visit here.
We got involved with a church plant in in the town. It's called Laira.
The town that we're we're in there.
And so
Most of our ministry since then has been.
Focused around in in this church plant. So what I'm gonna do is show you
A video.
And so you to catch you up on the things that are happening there in Myra.
Jesus said.
Go and make disciples of all nations.
Hello! We're the Loudins in Columbia.
And we'd like to tell you the story of family church.
About 5 years ago several families, including us, got a vision for planting a new church in La, a town about 45 min away from the capital city.
For more than 5 years now, as a church we've worshipped together, evangelize together, and shared our lives together.
Here are Jorge and Amparo, who have been with us from the beginning.
Voila.
Hey, Jose?
Indonesia.
Delegatesia.
You know. Yeah, for myself.
Info can.
This was, you know, in this year.
Jesus said.
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, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
As laid out in the great Commission. Discipleship has 3 aspects, baptism.
Obedience to Jesus, and making more disciples.
1st is baptism.
Baptism into God's family.
Nico is a special young person who has baptized a few months ago.
Here's Nico with his family.
Hi nico.
Tell us why you decided to become a disciple of Jesus.
You know, premiere.
Cure.
Pieces, every k.
Kiera, salvo.
Yes.
The winner case.
Be weird.
After baptism. It's time to focus on obedience to Jesus.
Obedience is central to the new life we have in Jesus.
Obedience is doing God's will here and now, as it is in heaven.
The crystals already pull out is.
To cement the.
We hear the number, ink.
Dominos.
See, in case I look at maybe most Durant.
The 3rd aspect of discipleship after baptism, and taking on the life obedience to Jesus, is making disciples.
Hosea and chairman are immigrants from Venezuela Lee hardships there. They have been with us a few months.
What attracted you as a new family to the church.
Maguta says.
My unrestive them being.
A more.
Muncha Muncha. Mr.
There can sometimes be a real cost. When people decide to follow Jesus.
This is Ines has been a follower of Jesus for over 50 years.
Don't say they got Arminos.
The the bypass that they have been telling us.
And so if I'm.
They get.
Highly.
Yeah. Enjoy me.
Thing that must be addressed.
And so Joe Macroly put Cohen his posse.
Look at me immediately.
But so many people today need is hope, especially young people, but all kinds of people as well, not the hope of wishful thinking, but the hope of the expectation that Jesus' vision for the world will become a reality at the proper time.
And that Jesus's disciples can actually live it. Now.
Please pray for us. The Loudies and for family church.
To grow as disciples in love.
To make more disciples.
To be able to do some remodeling of the house where we meet.
That God's kingdom will come, that God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Thank you, and God bless.
28.
Verse, 18.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying.
All authority.
Has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations.
Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son.
And of the Holy Spirit.
Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.
And lo! I am with you always.
Even to the end.
Of the age.
So the the.
After baptizing the key.
Issue here is teaching them to obey Jesus.
And one thing that helps me in in thinking about what this involves.
Is understanding the difference between conditions.
And expectations.
Conditions are something that if they're not true, then the thing doesn't happen, or it has to be fulfilled in order to make something happen.
Whereas expectations.
Are something that are expected.
But not necessarily in the sense of a condition so.
At.
This obeying Jesus.
Is not a condition to be a disciple.
We're saved, and we become disciples through faith alone.
In Christ alone.
But when we become disciples when we get saved, then there are expectations for us.
And so they're not conditions of becoming that or of remaining that. But they are expectations. And so the word expectations is, is more helpful, because it's kind of like. If you have a healthy friendship.
Healthy marriage.
There's not conditions there. There's expectations there, and the difference is that when the expectations are not met.
The relationship isn't just over.
When the expectations are not met, it creates a tension.
Attention that is going to have to be resolved somehow. But it's sort of open-ended how that is going to get resolved.
And so expectations are a more open, ended kind of thing when they're when those expectations are not met.
So.
The becoming a disciple of Jesus.
Comes, brings with it.
These expectations.
So to zoom out then, and have a.
Of how the great Commission, and these expectations, and and the work of making disciples.
Fits in with.
God's greater purpose. Let's go to Psalm 8.
Psalm 8.
And here we're going to find.
God's creation, purpose for humanity.
Why did God create humans? In the 1st place.
So psalm 8.
Says, Oh Lord, our Lord.
How excellent is your name, and all the earth.
Who have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants.
You have ordained strength.
Because of your enemies.
That you may silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens.
The work of your fingers.
The moon and the stars which you have ordained.
What is man, that you are mindful of him?
And the Son of man.
That you visit him.
For you have made him a little lower than the angels.
And you have crowned him.
With glory and honor.
You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands.
You've put all things under his feet.
All sheep and oxen, even the beast of the field.
The birds of the air and the fish of the sea.
That path.
Pass through the paths of the seas.
Oh, Lord our Lord! How excellent is your name!
In all the years.
So here we have.
God's creation, purpose for humanity.
And we've zoomed way out from the great Commission. But we're hopefully we'll be able to see how these 2.
Ideas fit together. So here, at the furthest zoom, where we see the whole picture.
We have Psalm 8.
And it begins and ends.
With exactly the same words.
O Lord, our Lord! How excellent is your name in all the earth!
This is sort of bookends.
Of a book.
It!
Marks.
The what, the.
Wholesal is all about.
It's about.
Freezing.
God.
It's actually the first.st
Of the Psalms in the Book of Psalms.
To be appraised. We normally associate.
Psalms with praise.
And but there are actually more songs that aren't about praise that are about other sorts of things.
But this is the 1st home.
In the Scriptures, and it's praising God.
Because of the excellence of his name.
And.
His glory.
And the words, here, there's a pair of words used.
To talk about God's greatness in my translation. The 1st one here is excellent.
And the second one is Glory.
And both of those words are focused on the majesty.
And the power of majesty, their power. Words that talk about the King in his power. He has the power to.
Create the world. He has the power to put things in order.
And it focuses, then on.
Glorifying God.
Praising him because his power is greater than any other power.
And so his his Majesty, his sovereignty.
In that sense is seen from the.
Angle of his, his great power. Both of these are power words.
That are used to to describe.
God, and.
They formed the beginning and the end of the song of praise to set the context.
We're talking about God and His.
Kingly glory.
His kingly power.
And then in the middle, we have this part about humans.
And so in.
The after considering the greatness of God and the.
Wonderful things he's done in creation that require a huge amount of power to carry them out.
Then, in verse 4.
We start thinking about.
Humanity.
So when it says, What is man that you are mindful of him and the Son of man, that you visit him.
It. It chooses to a word, in a phrase.
That refer to humanity. This isn't just men and not women. These are words that talk about humanity.
And so both of them. What is.
Humanity.
That you are mindful of it.
And the sun.
Of.
Man that you visit him.
Both of these words are weakness words. They're seeing humanity in its weakness.
The 1st one. What is humanity? It talks about.
The the word makes a reference to humanity as a very weak sort of creature.
As opposed to.
The greatness and power of God.
The second word, the Son of man.
Now, when it says, Son of man.
It, in.
The original languages. This phrase, like this in in Hebrew.
Is not focusing so much on the Sun ship aspect it so, for example, if you have sons of the prophets.
Those are profits.
And in this case.
So a son of man is a person, a human, a human being. So it's talking about human beings.
We're talking about human beings. And it's actually the word. Adam means humanity.
Or man, and so to talk about the son of.
Adam is talking about.
It's it's associating.
Adam is a play on words with the word ground. So it's talking about.
David!
The ground or the earth are dirt.
So it's thinking of humans as dirt.
We've got God.
And then the dirt creatures.
So the the marvel here is.
God's taken, these.
Dirt creatures.
But he literally formed out of the earth.
Out of the dirt.
And.
Crowned them with glory and honor. That's that's the marvelous paradoxical thing.
That this almost is reflecting on.
In the context of God's.
Unbelievable, overwhelming power and glory.
One of the things he did was he took.
Some dirt, and made some people.
Out of that dirt.
And not only that, then.
Crowned them with.
Glory and honor. Now it's interesting that these 2 words.
Glory and honour.
Are.
Different words, then he's already used. But these are the normal words that we associate with dignity and glory. God is.
Created these dirt creatures.
To reflect his own glory. The idea is not that they set up their own competing.
That's not.
The idea. That's part of man's sinfulness.
Tries to create.
His own glory. This is a reflected glory kind of like.
The the moon.
Reflects the the light of the sun.
If the moon decided. I'm gonna not reflect.
The sun's light anymore. I'm going to try to make my own light.
It's not going to go. Very well.
And so here we have.
These dirt creatures being made, and it's it's crowned. By God, they're they're made for this.
To crown something is to make it a king. So the great King of kings has created humanity.
Literally to be.
Kings, and to have this reflected, honoring.
That's what's meant by.
Well, when Genesis talks about.
Humanity being created in the image of God. That's what we're talking about here, the reflectors of God's glory and honor. It's quite amazing. But God would do that with.
These dirt creatures.
Of course. So this.
Is a vision.
More than anything. It's.
God's vision for humanity.
It's.
What God intended from the very beginning, from from creation.
It's something that has not.
Come about.
This. But this vision remains.
In.
They remained, some in effect.
As.
What God intends, and what God will do.
It's.
Not so. It's a it's an eternal vision in that sense, past, present, and future.
It's not just something that we're waiting for in the future to happen, either.
Oh, it! It's something that can begin.
To be a reality today, maybe one life at a time.
So it's showing us.
God's vision.
And it applies today as well.
Of course we understand that there's been a great failure here.
Starting with.
Adam and Eve, they, instead of.
Having dominion over that serpent, and throwing them out of the garden.
They instead, basically handed.
Their crowns to the serpent.
And then later.
Came.
When he was full of anger and shame.
Because God, it did not accept His sacrifice and accepted.
The offering of his, of his brother.
Instead of.
Having dominion over that beast within, so to speak, in terms of Genesis, 4.
Instead of.
Having dominion over his own beast instead of him.
Conquering his.
Anger and shame.
He!
Allowed himself.
To be dominated.
By that, and ended up killing his brother.
And then
The.
Earth became full of of.
Full of violence and and evil, and so got started over.
But.
So we see the failure, then, of God's creation, purpose.
They!
Fail to realize this or put into effect this, this vision.
To try to understand a little bit better, because we know we, we read this and we say, Okay, well.
Dominate, have dominion over all the animals and the and the birds, and.
The fish? What.
What does that have to do with our lives today?
And to to try to see that bridge.
Let's go back to Genesis, 18.
Back in our Bibles to.
Genesis, 18.
And see how this.
This ruling or this having dominion.
Begins to happen.
At the level of individual people.
And not just great leaders, but.
Ordinary.
Human beings.
So Genesis, 18.
Verse 19.
Says.
This is God speaking about Abraham.
God says about Abraham, for I have known him.
In order that he may command his children and his household after him.
That they keep the way of the Lord.
To do righteousness and justice.
That the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him.
So.
God originally in creation, had, like, we said.
This.
Plan.
To have.
Humans rule in his place. The idea is that God did not intend to be.
A micromanager. He intended to.
And his creation over to human beings who would rule wisely in his place.
No, he! He has had to come and micromanage things.
But.
If if God ends up having to do everything himself, then his purpose is not to fill, because his purpose is to have humans do it, not him have to do it.
So he's working.
God is working within humanity.
To bring them to that point.
To bring us to that point where we can do the job the way he wants us to do it.
And that's the way his purposes will be fulfilled.
And so you might say, after everything failed.
Before and leading up to the flood. Then God is now working with Abraham and his family.
Really to do the same thing, and therefore to be able to bring the creation blessings to humanity.
By blessing the people of Israel.
And the descendants of Abraham.
So what I want to focus on here is these 2 words.
That highlight. How this.
Having dominion in the world is supposed to take place.
It's these 2 words here, right in the middle of the verse.
But they may keep the way of the Lord.
To do righteousness.
And justice. 2 key words in the Bible, righteousness and justice.
Now? What.
Has happened. With these words.
Is as they pass from Hebrew, and then they get translated into Greek. Then that gets translated into Latin, and finally it.
Translate, it gets translated into English.
And we layer on that all the the dust of time that accumulates on these words, and you know, holy wax from the candles.
The holy candles on them.
They they? And then, you know.
Thick volumes of theology stacked up on top of these words.
They end up
Coming across to us in English a little bit differently than they would have sounded to.
Original readers.
Of these texts.
This pair of words is 1st introduced in the Bible together as a pair right here in this verse, and they'll come up over and over and over and over throughout the Scriptures.
To the place where sometimes you can even just.
Mentioned, one.
And then the other one is implied.
And so to get a better idea of what these words would have meant to an original audience.
The word justice.
Is.
The way that it's it's the authority.
That judges have. It's the authority that kings have. But notice, it's not just the leaders. It's all of Abraham's household that's supposed to do this. This isn't just Abraham that needs to have righteousness and justice.
It's his whole household, his children.
And even his servants.
Would have this.
Concept of righteousness and justice. So the justice word.
Has to do with the exercise of authority. It implies that there will be some authority that is expected to be exercised.
And the word righteousness.
In in in the census used here is talking about being faithful.
So a faithful exercise of authorities, not just exercising authority any old way.
It's exercising authority in a way that is.
Faithful to God and faithful to other human beings. There is a responsibility before God.
To exercise that authority.
And there's a faithful.
X. There's a an expectation also of properly treating other people in that exercise of authority, faithfulness to God, and faithfulness.
To to people.
So
What I the the phrase I'd like you to start ringing your heads, and that you go out of here with.
Is the faithful exercise of authority.
The faithful exercise of authority.
That is putting this idea of.
Ruling or having dominion over creation, and bring it down to the level of every one of us, is faithful exercise of authority.
It means making wise decisions.
And everyone makes wise decisions. Everyone has at least some authority. At the very least. One of us has authority over ourselves. Our bodies.
And that's where you could say that the faithful exercise of authority begins with our own selves, and then, depending on the circumstances. Some of us may have more authority than that. Some of us may have some authority or a lot of authority over in our families, or.
Or over other people.
Some people get raised up to the levels of.
Of of governors or kings, and then they would have a whole lot of exercise. But everyone is expected.
To exercise that authority, whatever degree it is.
In a faithful way. So these 2 words go together, faithful.
Exercise of authority.
Making wise decisions. Of course we know that
As the story unfolds in Scriptures.
The the, the failures accumulate.
And the examples of.
Faithful exercise of authority, or end up being quite few.
So that's.
God's vision of humanity and.
Using these 2 Biblical terms of righteousness and justice, or, as maybe more accurate.
Faithful exercise of authority.
That that gives us the overall picture. But then, of course.
Humanity has failed drastically from the very beginning. In that.
And that brings us up to Christ, of course. So let's go to Hebrew Hebrews. Chapter 2.
Which will quote from Psalm 8.
Hebrews. Chapter 2.
Starting at verse 6.
And these words should sound familiar because we read them in Psalm 8.
He was 2.
But one testified in a certain place, saying.
What is man, that you are mindful of him?
Or the Son of man, that you take care of him.
You have made him a little lower than the angels.
You've crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of your hands.
You have put all things injection.
Under his feet.
We're in that. He put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put under him.
But now we do not yet see all things.
Put under him.
So what this.
The the writer of Hebrews is doing.
Is pointing to Jesus as the fulfillment.
Of that vision in Psalm 8. But it's important that when we do that we understand that
The the original vision of, as we see in Psalm 8.
It remains. It's still applied to all of humanity. It's not just saying, Well, Christ did it, and humanity didn't. So that's the end of the story.
The psalm, in its original intention, in its original meaning, is not looking forward in and of itself to a coming or.
Price. Who would do this on behalf of humanity? The psalm is.
Focused.
Strictly on humanity itself.
Accomplishing this vision.
So.
That's that's the the inspired psalm. 8.
The scope is clearly.
All of humanity.
So what Hebrews is doing here. The author of Hebrews is a second inspired interpretation or an additional inspired interpretation.
To that.
Text.
But it's not replacing it. It's saying, Jesus is the fulfillment of this. But without setting aside the psalm 8 in it, in and of itself.
So.
Song, 8 still is looking.
For the fulfillment of that vision through all of humanity. What's happening here, then, is that
Hebrews is implying that Jesus, but then, on behalf of, or as the head of, or as the ruler of a renewed humanity.
And so the the vision still applies to humanity as a whole.
Price is just the one that is the 1st human to actually do it as as a man just talking about Jesus in his humanity, and then he makes it possible.
For a renewed humanity in him to then realize the whole vision. So it still applies to all of humanity that the the new interpretation that Hebrews brings doesn't set aside the old one. It complements it.
And so we have Jesus fulfilling it. Then we have a humanity who is in him, learning.
To
To fulfill it.
With the.
Expectation that.
That it will be someday completely.
And all of humanity will be doing what it's supposed to be doing.
So.
That brings us back to.
The the great Commission.
In the great Commission.
Were.
Hearing the gospel, we're saved and born again. Then we're baptized.
So it's great to hear that there's going to be a baptisms.
Or a baptism. Later this afternoon.
So that's an important.
Part of the great Commission.
And then.
The.
Teaching them to obey.
All of.
Jesus commandments, then is a process of.
Learning.
Jesus commands, and growing.
And obeying.
Growing in wisdom and maturity.
And that culminates in making more disciples.
Once a person is.
Yeah.
Ready!
Part of Jesus, central
Instructions.
Is to make more disciples, and then it becomes something that.
Creates a cycle and reproduces itself over and over.
From the original.
Disciples up until today, and that will carry on until.
The return of our Lord.
So an important thing, then, is
What is involved in.
How can we put in practice today as.
Disciples, of Jesus.
That faithful exercise of authority. How can we.
Obeyed. It turns out that, obeying Jesus commandments.
Is the way that we.
Learn to have this faithful exercise of authority and.
One by one we can be begin to take our place.
In that vision of a humanity.
That is.
Doing its job in ruling over.
Creation.
In a greater or lesser.
Degree, so.
Fortunately.
We have right here in Matthew.
A great summary of.
Many of the things that Jesus commanded.
On one level. All of Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, would contain the fullness of.
Price commands are to us that we.
To obey.
But you've got to start somewhere, so a great place to start would be in the Sermon on the Mount.
So if you flip over with me.
The sermon on the mountain. Matthew. Chapter 5.
I'm just going to sort of go with a thumbnail sketch through here.
And see some of the things that are involved in learning to obey Christ.
And in doing so.
Will be.
Learning, how to exercise.
Whatever level of authority God is given, each one of us.
In a faithful way, faithful to God and faithful to others.
So
We get to Matthew, chapter 5, where the term on the mount starts.
There's some introductory things like the the attitudes and.
And then salt and light.
And the first.st
Area of our lives, that Jesus in, on.
To.
Explain to us.
And command us.
The 1st topic, so to speak, for for the life of a disciple.
Is actually really surprising when I began to see it this way. And it's reconciliation.
Of all the things.
That.
We might have put first.st
Jesus puts reconciliation. First, st he uses 3 examples.
And if you look kind of at the titles in the way your book, your Bibles, are divided. We won't.
Read it all, of course, but.
When we start with verse.
21 of chapter 5. This is where Jesus starts diving into specific topics.
And here Jesus will use.
The the example of anger.
And belittling and judging.
As examples of cases where reconciliation is needed.
And he puts a huge priority on it.
He basically says, when you start making bad decisions as far as
Creating.
Situations where relationships are broken instead of restored.
You're you're in danger of hellfire. This is a very serious thing. One small decision. Remember talking about making wise decisions. One small bad decision can lead to another can lead to another, can lead to another, can lead to hell.
So this is a serious thing, and.
Probably why Jesus puts it first.st
And what ties these different examples together, belt and judging.
Is.
The priority on reconciliation.
And I think Jesus so. Jesus says.
You know.
If you realize that you have somebody that you're not reconciled with.
Leave your gift on the altar and go deal with it. This, to me has always been.
Actually, not always. It should have been more. But.
As I realize that this is such a high priority for for our Lord that he would put it first.st
It.
Makes me reflect on several loose ends in my own life.
That
But I have not left my gift on the altar and gone away. When Jesus says it this way, I think he's invoking a little bit of of humor.
Because imagine people in line with their you know, their burn offering to take it up to the.
To the altar.
And you get there, and you put the animal in the altar. Oh, I forgot. I've got someone you leave it. There's a long line of people waiting. You run off and try to deal with it, and then come back and finish the thing there. I think this would have elicited a chuckle from the audience. It might be like today if.
If we had.
You know a worship team up here? And then one of them said, Oh, I gotta go saw something. Wait, hang on! Well, don't go to the next song. Wait for me while I go solve something, and then we'll finish the song after I get back.
It's a bit of humor, but it hits really hard and says, Wow, reconciliation is hugely important.
The second.
Topic number 2. Now number 2 is is certainly our 21st century.
Understandable. It's the topic of sexual purity.
And once again Jesus picks 2 different examples. One is lust.
And the other is divorce interesting that he.
Puts divorce in this category of.
Sexual purity.
And so.
This one really hits hard. In our 21st century.
Western Environment.
Where sexual period is such a problem and it has so many. Jesus could have listed. Or today we could list.
Much more than 2 examples.
Of things that would qualify as issues related to sexuality. This is.
Something, probably that all of us, in one way or another.
Struggle with, or have struggled with.
And it's a huge, huge topic.
In our own.
Chapel in in Columbia, and in the the.
Church that you saw in the in the video.
We've been working through the Sermon on the Mount.
We spent about 3 months on the introduction stuff.
About 2 months.
On reconciliation, and we're just getting ready to start.
On the sexual purity one. And I think we're gonna be there camped out for quite a long time, because there's just so much so much there, and it's so relevant.
And these are all areas.
That.
When you are working with someone.
As an older disciple, working with a younger disciple, a newer disciple in Christ.
These are all these areas I'm listing from the sermon.
Are important areas to work through with them.
And and and each one will have to apply it in different ways to their own life.
But carrying on. We see issues like personal integrity.
We see a generosity.
Loving your enemies.
And charity.
Charity as in helping it's generosity applied to.
The needy people.
All of these things are areas that Jesus are meant to be committed to. Jesus wants us to be committed to these things.
Committed to.
Prayer and fasting committed to the wise administration of money.
Committed to trusting God for everything that's in chapter 6 and chapter 7.
Committed to being self critical instead of judging others.
Look, have a look@yourselffirstst
Committed to Biblical teaching, and avoiding.
False.
Teachers.
Committed to, and and finally the end of the Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus.
Speaks of the importance.
Or disciples to be committed to.
Biblical.
To obedience to him.
And he compares himself to.
Building on the rock.
And so obedience to Jesus is foundational in these different aspects.
In the Sermon on the Mount. Very interesting the 1st reconciliation, the second sexuality, then a whole bunch of other important things as well, and the found the last one, the foundational one, is obedience to Jesus.
Listening to all these things that he said, and putting them in into practice.
And so making disciples means.
Teaching.
Disciples who are.
Younger than us.
Who have spent less time with Christ.
And as we have been putting these things into practice in our own lives, helping others put them into practice in their lives.
And then we'll add to all of this.
The.
Command that's built right in to the great Commission.
Which is to be making disciples. It's not enough just.
You know, build ourselves up.
But then we need to.
The instruments in the lives of others who are growing.
In, in, as disciples of Jesus.
Whether that's beginning from evangelism all the way up to people who are able to.
Reproduce and make more.
Disciples.
What Jesus is doing, then.
Is calling us to, to step up.
To.
On a.
Individual basis.
Individuals, and then.
Churches, families, and it spreads out from there.
Beginning.
To fulfill God's purpose for humanity.
Understanding, that.
Jesus is the 1st one to have done this, and the one who makes it possible.
For the rest of.
God doesn't want to do everything himself. He wants us to grow up and be. If we're mature. If we're grown up, then we can do this, we'll we'll make mistakes, but that's not necessarily.
The point, the mistakes, the sins that's been dealt with.
And so there's no reason, no excuse.
As we mature not to take on this role of learning how to exercise our authority in faithfulness, making these wise decisions for ourselves.
And for others.
In full acknowledgement, then, that.
God is God.
It's it all comes back to that. The great.
Powerful God of the universe.
Has.
Designed us and created us.
For this purpose.
To be.
His image models of him doing things the way he would do him.
Do them.
The only.
Only difference or main difference being that he's got all this power.
We don't have nearly as much power. We're dirt, but we're dirt creatures that have been given.
Glory and honor.
And dignity.
It's probably no coincidence that we walk on 2 feet where most other mammals.
Don't walk on 2 feet. Our heads are high, our faces are up here, not down on the ground, like when I see our dogs. They're all sniffing on the ground. We walk on 2 legs.
We've been given that dignity.
To to have dominion, to rule.
And we're expected to do this.
In faithfulness, faithfulness to God, and faithfulness to.
Other other human beings.
Let's pray.
Father, we
Are odd.
By your your greatness.
And.
Puzzled.
By your decision.
And your vision.
Of.
Giving us so much authority and responsibility.
And privilege.
And we just pray that we would be fully committed to Christ.
That would be fully committed.
To you and to one another.
Just pray that you would teach us, and.
Allow us to.
Teach each other.
In, how to.
Exercise that authority that you've given us.
That glory, that honor.
In a way that's that's faithful in a way that's.
Loving in a way that
Reflects.
Your vision.
For humanity. It's a vision that's never gone away.
And we look forward.
To seeing it fulfilled also in Christ.
But also.
Through all of those.
Of us who are in Christ.
We thank you for this amazing.
And it humbles us.
And we cry out for your help because we.
Certainly cannot.
Do it alone, and so we must depend on you.
At all times. Pray this in your name. Amen.