TPC Connections

Sermon Notes

The Vision of the House
“Why we are here and where God is taking us”

Matt 28:18-20 “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.19 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, 20 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.” Amen.

In Mark’s gospel, Jesus’s command to “Go” is expanded on to tell us WHERE and WHY:

Mark 16:15 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
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I want to share this time on what we might call “the vision of the house”–WHY we’re here and WHERE we feel God is taking us.

I’m not going to try to come up with a fancy slogan or catchy phrase.

For me you just can’t improve on what we just read–“The Great Commission.”

In the Great Commission Jesus gave to His disciples lies the function and purpose of every true church:

GO
DISCIPLE
BAPTIZE
TEACH

So let’s look at them one at a time.

I. Go

Jesus commanded His church to have a world focus. “Go into all the world…”

So often, churches have a “we four and no more” focus. They become introverted and content with their little church group and never look out on the harvest of souls to be reaped.

John 4:35 “You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say to you, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.”

Jesus sayd, “Don’t have a ‘some day but not now’ attitude.” It’s harvest time NOW. And the fields Jesus mentions are the entire world!

So the world is the WHERE and the WHY is to preach the gospel, the good news!

–Every true church should have a soul-winning resolve and passion.

So PURPOSE number one for Turning Point church is that we exist for those that aren’t here yet!
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Then Jesus said:

II. Disciple

“Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations…”

Now, oddly enough the KJV translates the word ‘disciple’ into ‘teach.’ “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…”

But the actual Greek word is μαθητεύω, which describes the intentional, relational process by which a learner is brought under the influence of a master-teacher so as to adopt his teaching, lifestyle, and mission.

A disciple is a learner, a pupil if you will.

True discipling involves relationship and fellowship with a more mature and spiritually advanced person.

It is the process by which a new believer learns by example how to walk with the Master, Jesus Christ.

Jesus did exactly this with his own disciples:

Mark 3:14 “He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach…”

So the prototype for the church is to win them, then disciple them on how to walk with and cleave to and obey the Lord.

And this is exactly what the Apostles practiced:

Acts 14:21 “After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia,”

Phil 4:9 “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

So PURPOSE number two for Turning Point church is to nurture and grow by example totally committed followers of Jesus Christ.
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Then Jesus commanded his church to:

III. Baptize

“…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Now, why is baptism so important?

Because water baptism is symbolic of your own death to the old life of sin. Being fully immersed in the water illustrates burying the old life for good. And then raised out of the water symbolizes that you’re living a brand new life, resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit!

Water baptism doesn’t save you, it simply testifies to the world that you are saved!

So PURPOSE number three of Turning Point is to lead every new believer into obeying Christ Jesus’s command to be water baptized.
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And finally, Jesus said we’re to:

IV. Teach

“Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”

Notice WHAT the true church is to teach–Not the philosophies of men nor the values of the world, but what Jesus taught!

And not just what he taught, but teaching them to DO, to LIVE OUT what he taught in a brand new lifestyle!

The true church is to teach the red ink, the words of Jesus you see in some of your Bibles.

For instance, the precepts and values and worldview found in the Sermon on the Mount. What Jesus taught about life and living, morals, money, ethics, forgiveness, prayer, faith, obedience, temptation, God, focus, goals, love, truth, heaven, hell, Satan, healing, deliverance, freedom….the list goes on!

And this includes what his Apostles taught, for Jesus validated and sanctioned what they would later teach as Spirit inspired.

“But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.”–John 14:6 AMP

Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would supernaturally bring to the Apostles’ memory everything he had taught them, so that what we read in the gospels of all he taught and did, we can know that the Holy Spirit enabled and perfectly empowered their memory to write it down!

And then what the Apostles Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude taught we know also flowed from the Holy Spirit’s teaching and leading. Jesus said to the disciples, “He (the Holy Spirit) will teach you all things.”

And being taught of the Spirit, they communicated that teaching to us.

For instance, Peter himself validated Paul’s writings as being on par with all the rest of Scripture:

2 Peter 3:15-16 “…and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”

So PURPOSE number four of Turning Point is to faithfully follow and teach the words of Jesus and his Apostles.
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We are here to GO, DISCIPLE, BAPTIZE, AND TEACH God’s word.

WIN them, DISCIPLE them, BAPTIZE them, TEACH them.

Winning, discipling, baptizing and teaching should be the constant cycle, warp and woof of Turning Point and every other true church!
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That said, where is God taking us?

• An EVER STRONGER PLATFORM for doing these four things!

Stronger spiritually, numerically, and financially.

I’m believing God in a similar fashion to what a man named Jabez prayed for in 1 Chronicles 4:10…

He prayed, “Bless me indeed!”

I’m asking God for His blessing of favor, provision, and increased strength both spiritually, numerically, and financially.

Our one and only motive for this is so that we can better and more widely take the good news of Jesus to as much of the world as possible.
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Then Jabez prayed, “Enlarge my borders.”

In other words, Bring increase, Lord.
Strengthen this house.
Enlarge our reach.
Open key doors of opportunity.

As God commanded Israel through Isaiah, “Enlarge your house; build on additions; spread out your home! 3 For you will soon be bursting at the seams!”–Is 54:2-3

That is my prayer for Turning Point!
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Then Jabez prayed, “That your hand would be with me.”

Oh, that is my prayer! If the hand of the Lord be not with us, we labor and build in vain. But he IS with us! Jesus promised,

“I am with you always, even to the end of the ages.”–Matt 28:20

I totally agree with Moses’ prayer to God, “Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”–Ex 33:15

For this I know, “If God be for us, who can be against us!”–Ro 8:31

So where is God taking us? I’m believing him to take us forward into an ever stronger platform, enabling us to WIN more, DISCIPLE more, BAPTIZE more, and TEACH more than ever before!