Next Steps for Mercy Hill Church
Matthew 28:18-20
Let’s turn to Matthew 28. If you need a Bible, please raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Matthew 28 is on page 836 in the Bibles we are passing out.
This morning I want to talk about the next steps Jerry and I and the home group leaders believe God is calling us to take.
I believe in being transparent, so let me start by saying that the last couple of years have been hard for us here at Mercy Hill. And the main reason is because we have had a number of people leave. In some cases that’s been because they’ve had to move for job reasons. In other cases it’s because they came to see that they’ve got a different vision for church life than we have. And in some cases it’s been because there’s been misunderstanding or unintentional hurt.
At the same time, we have seen God bring us wonderful new people – many of you – and that’s deeply encouraging.
We are also in the midst of change regarding our worship leader. In February God impressed upon Dave Clark, our worship leader that God was calling him to be sent out by Mercy Hill to help another church with their worship. So the way we set it up was that when Dave received an offer, he’d give us a month to train up a new worship leader before he left – or if we have a worship leader in place then we’ll support him for two months while he looks for where God is sending him.
Now we know this is God’s leading, but we love Dave and Jasmine, so it’s still hard.
At the same time God spoke to Dave Clark that Phil Wright should become our worship leader. Phil has never been a worship leader. But Phil has been working on this, and Dave has been pouring in to Him, and we are encouraged at his growth.
Dave’s leaving also means we need a new high school leader. And God has raised up David and Kate Nees to pursue this. David and Kate are a wonderful couple who teach at Valley Christian High School, and who deeply love the Lord and love high schoolers.
So there’s been lots of transitions. And this has stirred me, along with Jerry and the home group leaders, to ask the Lord – What are you doing here at Mercy Hill? Where are you taking us? What are the next steps? And we’ve laid everything on the table – and I mean everything.
And we believe God is saying two main things to us.
One is the God is pleased with our growth in Faith and Community.
Our vision can be summarized with three words: faith, community, and mission.
It starts with Faith – we want each of us to learn what it means to live by faith in Jesus Christ. What we have found is that many of us know that we are saved by faith, but we don’t know how to live by faith. So I started a blog on this topic, which has taught me a ton, and has been helping us grow in this area.
And one of the best ways to grow in living by faith is by being part of a Christ-centered Community – which here at Mercy Hill means being part of a home group. A home group is not just a meeting you attend. It’s a group of 8 to 15 believers who love each other, bear each other’s burdens, strengthen each other’s marriages, disciple each other, and encourage each other to lead others to faith in Christ.
We’ve been working hard on Faith and Community – and our sense is that God is pleased with our growth in Faith and Community. And I’d like Michelle Ramazzina to share how she’s been experiencing that in her home group.
Thanks Michelle. Now we are going to keep working on Faith and Community. But our sense is that God is pleased with the growth that has been happening.
At the same time we believe God is calling us to grow in Mission. By “Mission” we mean helping people who are not trusting Jesus Christ, people who are in bondage to Satan and facing hell forever, helping these people come to trust Jesus Christ, be forgiven for all their sins, drink of the living water of God’s presence, and become part of our home group communities so they can grow in Faith and Community and Mission.
Now there’s lots of reasons this is important – it glorifies Jesus, it saves people from hell and brings them into the joy of knowing God. But there’s another reason taught in God’s Word that we easily forget. It’s that when we take steps to help people come to faith – God specially pours His Spirit upon us. Whether people respond or not – God meets us and fills us.
Much of the joy of following Jesus here on earth comes as we take steps to help people come to faith. So if we are not engaged in that, then we will not experience as much of God’s heart-satisfying presence.
But Jerry and I and the home group leaders want you to have as much of God’s heart-satisfying presence as you can have! And you want to have as much of God’s heart-satisfying presence as you can have. So that’s one reason why it’s crucial that we grow in Mission.
And to help us see this I want us to look at the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20. Look at what Matthew writes in these words --
18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 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,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Here’s three questions from these verses. First, who is Jesus calling to go and make disciples. Here he’s talking to His apostles. And some have taught that this was only for the apostles, and that it’s not for us today.
But notice that last promise – “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This promise continues until Jesus returns. And He has not yet returned. So even though he speaks this command to the apostles, the fact that this promise continues throughout church history means this is Jesus’ command to all believers throughout church history.
So Jesus is calling ME to make disciples. And He is calling YOU to make disciples. This is just as important a command as “love your enemies.” The same Jesus who commanded us to “love our enemies” has commanded us to “go and make disciples.”
He did not say – if you have time, make disciples. He did not say if it’s easy, make disciples. He did not say if I feel called to it, make disciples. He said “go and make disciples.” Jesus has called each one of us to make disciples.
Jerry share about couple in the neighborhood.
Jason share about how he’s been doing this.
So what does it mean to make disciples? We might think it means helping believers grow spiritually. And it includes that. But notice that the command includes baptizing people, which shows that making disciples means bringing people to faith in Jesus Christ.
So making disciples means going out and finding people who are not yet trusting Jesus, and telling them about Jesus with the hope that they would come to faith in Jesus.
Think about it like this. There’s horrifying suffering in the world – poverty, sex trafficking, AIDS. These should break our hearts and mobilize our efforts. But as terrible as these are – there’s a suffering that’s far worse. It’s eternal suffering. Which is why Jesus calls all of us to be involved in going and making disciples.
Josh share how he’s done this at Google.
And how does Jesus encourage us to do this? With two powerful promises. One is in v.18 –
18 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …
Think about it. The One who has all authority has commanded you to go and make disciples. So because He has all authority, that means you are authorized to make disciples in your neighborhood. You are authorized to make disciples at your work place. You are authorized to make disciples with your family and friends.
The second promise is in v.20 --
20 “… And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
One way this encourages us is that Jesus will make His presence specially real to us when we head out to make disciples. If you’ve been saved then what you long for more than anything else is more of the presence of Jesus Christ in your life. And when we head out to make disciples, we will experience joy and fullness and peace that we otherwise wouldn’t experience.
Ian share how he’s experienced Jesus’ presence.
And the truth is that we are in a time of drought when it comes to conversions. It’s been a while since we have seen someone baptized. It’s been a long time since one of our home groups has seen someone saved, baptized, and brought into their home group.
But I’ve got good news. We have every reason to believe that this is going to happen. Now we can’t make it happen. But I believe that as we take steps God calls us to take, He will honor His Word and each of our home groups will see people brought to faith and become part of the home group.
And here’s where we see this going. The point isn’t to make Mercy Hill a big church. Our vision is to see people saved and drawn into each home group. At the same time, each home group is training up leaders to lead the next home group. And as the groups get larger, each home group will plant a new home group – and the process will continue.
And then, as we see more and more home groups planted, we are praying that some of these groups will join together to become their own church – and so a church will be planted as a result. So that’s the end game.
And because we believe this is so important, Jerry and I and the home group leaders want to call all of us to focus on this vision for the foreseeable future – to have our purpose be to make disciples who make disciples for the glory of Jesus.
But there’s a problem. Some of us are thinking – I wouldn’t be good at that. I don’t want to do that. I’ve tried that and it didn’t work. I don’t have any friends who aren’t Christians.
So let me call you to take five steps.
First, ask Jesus to help you want to do this. He will. He will give you faith, break your heart over the issue of eternal suffering, and fill you with humble love for the lost. So pray and ask Jesus to do this, and pray over the list of Scriptures I’ve included in your notes.
Second, ask Jesus what step you can take to go and make disciples. We are all different. But Jesus has called all of us to make disciples, and He will give you steps by which you can make disciples. So ask Him, share what He tells you with your home group so they can pray for you, and then step out in obedience.
Third, get trained by your home group leaders. Every four to eight weeks our home groups do training in evangelism. So participate in this and grow in this.
Fourth, each week at your home group share what steps you took the previous week to make disciples, and share what steps you’ll take the next week to make disciples. And then pray for each other.
Fifth, join your home group in fasting and praying for this. Why has there been a drought of conversions? I don’t know all the reasons, but one is that the powers of darkness are at work. So let’s commit to fasting and praying regularly for this. I believe that as we fast and pray – and go out to make disciples – each of our home groups will have the joy of seeing someone come to faith.
So here’s what God is saying to us, Mercy Hill. He is pleased that we have been growing in Faith and Community. And He’s calling us to grow in Mission. Let’s obey Him.