but Lord that we would daily walk closer with you Lord we thank you that you draw us in to walk closer with you and Lord when we veer to the right or to the left Lord you’re so kind to bring us back but thank you for your abiding never ending steadfast love we just pray that Lord your grace be upon us and we would learn from your word and that Father you would speak to us in the spirit and our ears would hear and our eyes would see

Father we pray that you would bless our tithe and our offering everything that you call us to give to you Lord that we would gladly sacrificially give Lord knowing that you take care of every need knowing that Lord your kingdom is what matters and what lasts Lord we just pray that our dollars would be put in the right place and that you would multiply that and continue to do your work here among us God so Father we just love you and we pray these things in Jesus name Amen

Well good evening it’s so good to be with you it might be a little noisier than normal we have all of our young kids in here with us today so that’s alright I’ll just talk really loud and drown it out so but it’s all good it’s good to be with you and thank you so much to Kate and to Alicia for putting together our children’s ministry Sunday school so that’s exciting yeah we can clap for that that was a lot of work for them so we’re so excited just to have a time for our kids before service to just learn about Jesus on their level so that was so big so thank you guys so much so this morning or evening I still say morning this evening I want to do something slightly different periodically I like to remind us of who we are as a church and what we’re called to do right so it’s the beginning of a new year and what do people do at the beginning of a new year they make these goals right and you make these goals because you stopped doing what you were supposed to do right you stopped eating well you stopped improving in that craft or hobby you didn’t build that back porch you said you were going to build all the things that we say we’re going to do we don’t do them and we you know try our best to improve friends that’s that much more important on a spiritual level because you and I we are called to follow Christ and the work of the local church is the work of eternity it’s what lasts and so unfortunately we are not free as followers of Jesus from mission drift in our hearts and minds we have a really hard time we have a really terrible way don’t we as followers of Jesus of getting comfortable in life getting comfortable in church and just kind of going through the motions and we forget what is it all really about so I just want to walk through with you a verse a passage that I’ve preached probably three or four times since we’ve been together as a church in the last three or four years I never look back at how I preached it previously I end up saying the same things but I think in slightly different ways because we need to hear the same thing in slightly different ways to be reminded of who we are and how God is using us and calling us to go about the work of being the local church I want to be in Matthew 28 verses 16 to 20 if you want to turn there with me in your Bibles if you have one Matthew 28 verses 16 to 20

it says now the Lord has called us 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 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 the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age you could imagine for these disciples their disillusionment they had been following Jesus around for three years and this Jesus had been performing miracles He had been raising the dead He had been teaching in a way that was authoritative in a way that no other religious leader taught and they think that this is going to be the pinnacle of Israel’s life as a nation and it was not in the way they hoped right because Israel was hoping for this king to come and set up this earthly kingdom and that’s not what Jesus did and they’re confused they’re discouraged they’re feeling hopeless and afraid because Jesus who they thought was the Messiah He’s died and there’s a lot of confusion for them and they’re scared and they don’t understand but lo and behold Jesus raises from the dead Jesus was always doing exactly what He said He would do and Mary and Mary Magdalene they see the angel the angel says tell the disciples to go up to Galilee so they’ll travel a hundred miles up think about how many things are going through your mind traveling from Jerusalem north a hundred miles up to Galilee there’s no flights to Galilee there’s no trains to Galilee they’re probably walking maybe they have you know some sort of you know donkey or something to travel on so this is a long ride back and Jesus says we’re going to meet Him in Galilee and all of a sudden everything that they thought had fallen apart it’s it’s just as it should be and they’re worshiping Jesus realizing that God always knows what God’s doing God always does exactly what He says He’s going to do He’s going to do it the way He says He’s going to do it and God’s going to get the glory for it

Jesus came and He said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me all authority now Jesus had authority before He came to earth as the pre-incarnate you know Son of God we read in John chapter 1 in the beginning was the word the word was with God the word was God He was in the beginning with God all things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made so Jesus says plainly I made everything Jesus said to the religious leaders before your father Abraham was I am so that’s a huge thing for Jesus to say that I am because He’s saying I am equal with the God of the Hebrews who you worshipped so Jesus is saying I am I am Lord of all creatures inanimate objects and Jesus proved that didn’t He through the way that He did miracles and He healed blind people and He produced food out of nothing Jesus showed over and over and over and over again in His life that He was God but Jesus is talking about an even greater authority that He has that no one else has and Jesus has this authority because He according to the will of the Father came as a baby which we just celebrated at Christmas time, right? Jesus lived this perfect life fulfilled the law of God that no one else could fulfill and then Jesus died a sacrificial death bearing the sins of many and so was resurrected from the dead Paul says in Romans 4 to this end Christ died and lived again that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living and there’s that very popular Philippians passage God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that’s above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord why? does Paul tell us that? because Jesus conquered sin Jesus conquered death Jesus is the one man that Satan could not get the best of Jesus is the better Adam He’s the better Adam go back to the garden and what was Adam supposed to do? He was supposed to have perfect fellowship with God the Father and with the Trinity He was supposed to have this perfect relationship with Him and He did He was supposed to have this perfect relationship with His wife and all people who were supposed to come after Adam and Eve could have perfect fellowship and then Adam and Eve had the gift of themselves they had the mirrored image of God on them perfectly and the created world was to their enjoyment to remind them of the goodness and glory of God but Adam lost all that didn’t he? when Adam and Eve chose to sin their relationship with the Father was ruined the image of God on themselves was marred it introduced hate and dissension between human relationships and of course the created world it’s marred and it’s broken and it’s fallen but Jesus comes as a baby and He grows up to be a man and He dies a murderer’s death but He’s resurrected Lord and King the scriptures tell us of the first fruits of a new creation so when Jesus comes up out of the ground Jesus represents a new creation that’s coming and in this new creation this new world that’s to come those who are in Christ this one man who’s overcome sin and death and the fall they can again have perfect relationship with God they can again have the image of God restored on themselves they will have perfect fellowship with other people and they will be in God’s new heavens and new earth and that’s everything that you and I are learning about in the book of Revelation so you see how Jesus comes and Jesus establishes a new and a better kingdom that the first Adam never could

Jesus has been reigning ever since He was resurrected and ascended into heaven Jesus since His resurrection has been advancing His kingdom but I want you to catch this I want you to catch this just like Jesus’ crucifixion seemed to indicate this is a weak kingdom man Jesus’ means for establishing His church seem like He’s weak how could Jesus be the Son of God if He would get up on a cross that was for like the worst criminal of course Jesus was a phony He got crucified yet that was God’s means for how He would save us the cross was a form of weakness in which Christ died but was resurrected powerful and in the same way we say well that King that Messiah He must have a really effective means for advancing His kingdom on earth and it’s like not really I mean it doesn’t seem like it because you know what Jesus’ means for advancing His kingdom on earth is take a look in the mirror friends it’s you it’s me it’s every local church all over the globe that is strictly and only God’s plan to advance His kingdom that’s it there’s no plan B it’s the local church you and I were these little outposts of heaven we’re citizens recruiting citizens of this fallen kingdom to switch their allegiance to the prince of light Paul says in 2nd Corinthians Christ was reconciling us to God and He wasn’t counting our trespasses to God against us and what He gave you and I was the message of reconciliation we are Paul says ambassadors for Christ we’re ambassadors for Christ so that means as impotent as you feel as ill-equipped as you feel as hopeless as you feel you definitely are God’s game plan for advancing His kingdom and if we’re going to go off Jesus’ past record He said He’s pretty good at pulling off whatever He does even at the moment you think He doesn’t know what He’s doing Jesus’ game plan of advancing His kingdom setting up His kingdom through the local church it will work because it’s God’s plan and friends I think we don’t spend enough time worshiping God to know even in the worst parts of life in the darkest valleys or when we feel like abject failures as Christians or we don’t feel like we’re seeing our church do the thing we want to see our church do there’s no reason to fear because Jesus will accomplish it through us and we can worship Him for what He is doing through us not what we’re doing for Him

so what is the business of the local church then? how do we do that? how do we do that? one way just this one thing you and I are called to make disciples and that’s it that’s it make disciples we’re not supposed to get wildly involved in social movements and causes though if there is some cause in which Christians can help improve society great that’s not why we exist the church doesn’t exist to do good deeds though good deeds are good the local church doesn’t exist to do mission work though mission work is good the church doesn’t exist to help people be moral and live better lives though if you’re a Christian you will live a better life and be moral the local church certainly does not exist to entertain people period the local church does not exist to give people spiritual experiences people are seeking spiritual experiences in all kinds of strange new age and eastern religions and we’re certainly not in existence to put a positive spin on life you know life’s hard Jesus will make life less hard that’s not true sometimes he makes it harder we exist to do this one thing and it’s make disciples of Jesus Christ a disciple is simply a learner a follower I have a nephew who is graduated high school and he is gone to school to be a pipe fitter his dad’s a pipe fitter he’s going to be a pipe fitter so during the day he’s out on the job with you know a master pipe fitter and he’s an apprentice and he gets shown how to do the pipe fitting in these days industrial environments and then at night time he goes to school and he has to do the book work to be a pipe fitter he’s being taught he’s being shown a way of life so when Christ calls you and I into his kingdom he’s calling you and I to grow up in him okay and then as we’re growing up in him help other people learn his way and grow up in him so I want you to know I want to surrender to this Jesus and help other people surrender to this Jesus because this Jesus is going to come back someday and he is going to welcome in those who have been following him and he’s going to cast out into eternal darkness those who have not been following him so if I really love this Christ and what he’s done for me on his cross I’m going to be growing up in his way and if I love the way he loves I’m going to care that there are other people who are dying and they’re under the domain of his enemy Satan and they’re going to go to hell and I don’t want that so I am being a disciple and I’m making disciples period and it’s not a work I can do my own it’s the work of the spirit in me and it’s the work of the spirit through me and through you to preach the gospel and to see the spirit of God awaken in others that which was not there as the gospels preached in Christ’s presence falls on every man and woman and boy and girl so that takes us to the next part in this verse Jesus says when you make disciples of all nations you should baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit so to be baptized into a name is to be baptized into a life when you and I you know underwent our baptism I was very young when I was baptized but when I was baptized I didn’t just get to carry a label ooh Jesus that’s his chosen religion that’s not the case when I was baptized into the name of Jesus I was baptized the scriptures say into the very life of Jesus which is to say the very power of Jesus the apostle Paul says for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ so there’s that beautiful reality in the scriptures that if you’re a Christian Jesus hasn’t given you salvation he’s given you himself you’ve become one with the body of Christ you’re unified with him and your life is in him so that’s really big things theology I think that’s really powerful that God has woven me into his own body in Jesus and I’m growing up into Christ to become like Christ restored image of God on me and as I have a restored image of God on me God is restoring the image of himself into all my other brothers and sisters all over the globe and where I live locally that is what we’re about that is what the local church does how do we live? how do we follow Jesus together and make disciples then? like that how do we do that? here’s what I think the New Testament teaches okay and I’m putting it in four categories this is how I’ve always kind of seen it and I feel like it’s helpful for me to have categories and subcategories maybe your brain doesn’t work like that my brain works like that on things here’s the four things that I think it means for us as Christians to be disciples and make disciples okay if we’re going to follow Jesus together which that’s our overarching motto as a church we are then these four things we’re a Christ-centered community that’s word-saturated prayer-dependent and gospel-proclaiming I think if you had to boil the New Testament down into four categories I think you’d end up saying okay, Christians are in a Christ-centered community that’s word-saturated prayer-dependent and gospel-proclaiming we’re a Christ-centered community because amongst our diversity of persons that’s not just skin color it’s personality it’s, you know, economic status it’s God’s taking all these really different people from all over the place that never would have interacted otherwise and he’s made them this really weird, unique family alright some of us are weird alright and that’s awesome some of us are different and we’re all different in our own way and we all have quirks but Jesus’ cross is full of the supernatural love of God and he takes people who would otherwise hate each other and he makes them love one another and it’s really weird and Jesus says when all of y’all who are so different you get baptized into the same body you become this really awesome family and when you become this really awesome family it says the world will know you’re mine you’ve got to be in Christ-centered community because the Bible says we have to counsel one another we have to correct one another we have to confess sin to one another we have to take up one another’s burdens and hardships the Bible tells us we have to encourage and edify one another we have to fight for unity and holiness together you can’t successfully be a disciple of Jesus and not be meaningfully connected into Christ-centered community it’s a New Testament impossibility and we don’t like that today we like our individualism right as 21st century Americans right community with people over the long haul is messy and it’s hard because people are messy and hard I think about COVID and how COVID really put the fast track on virtual community right like it’s so normal to to you know log on I mean whether it’s you know friends or a multi-million dollar corporation and let’s just not even get in the same room let’s just talk about things from a distance and that’s normalizing something that I think can never be normalized for the local church there’s no substitute for being with one another there’s no substitute for that there’s no substitute for for locking arms with your friends your brothers and sisters and building them up as you’re built up the internet can never give you that and so I think you and I have to really want that one because it’s going to be easy to kind of blend into a culture that doesn’t value being physically together but again I would say to you Lone Ranger Christianity it can’t work it doesn’t work if we’re a Christ-centered community meaning Jesus is at the center and we’re all treating one another the way that we’re seeing him treat us we’re going to necessarily next be word saturated word saturated and what we mean by that is simply this when Jesus was getting ready to be crucified and ascent he said to his apostles what he said the Holy Spirit’s going to come and he’s going to remind you of everything I taught you right so here we are 2,000 years later and you and I still have what Jesus taught because he gave it to the apostles who gave it to their disciples who gave it to their disciples and God’s been good for 2,000 years to keep us in his word what did Jesus say? when Satan tempted him he said that man lives by the word of God right? the scriptures teach us that the word of God for our hearts it’s food it’s drink the psalmist says I store it up in my heart so I don’t sin against God the Bible teaches us that we should regularly memorize and meditate on God’s word so that we’re spiritually renewed in it how are you even going to know what to have a conviction on? if you don’t know what it means to be a Christian how are you going to know how to be guarded from false teachers or from a culture that says you should compromise on some of the things you believe because we don’t like it give up some things can’t you compromise on some things? friends the word of God is at the very center of what defines our community and you and I have to be okay with being labeled old fashioned or upside down or whatever to just say hey guess what? I’m not a Christian because there’s 50,000 versions of a Christian out there I’m a good old fashioned Bible believing Christian the Bible goes the way that it’s been interpreted by the Orthodox Church for the last 2,000 years I’m putting my feet down there and that’s what defines our community we’re necessarily people of the word and if we’re people of the word we’re next we’re prayer dependent because I look at the word of God and I see the perfections of Jesus and I say whoa I do not look at the word of God I do not look like that my church does not look like that God we need your help Lord I’m praying your word in accordance with your will because when I pray it’s not about me getting what I want God it’s about you reshaping my heart into who you are and if we’re going to last as Christians and we’re going to obey the great commission to make disciples I’m going to really need a supernatural wisdom and power that I don’t have and so are you so we have to be as we see it all throughout the New Testament in the life of Jesus if Jesus needs to be in the life of Jesus if you need to pray to have an effective ministry don’t you think that you and I would need to have an effective vibrant prayer life think about when Jesus gets up early to pray and the disciples come they say hey Jesus everybody’s waiting for you to come they want to see you do miracles again all these people are going to be healed and Jesus says no that’s not what I came to do Jesus says it’s time to go into the next town I came to preach the gospel so without prayer you and I are just out of alignment about who we are the spirit emboldens us fortifies us in prayer you have to be a praying person and I think it’s one of the most devilish tricks of Satan today it’s to get Christians and churches to think we’ve got to do more if I do more, do more, do more we can accomplish more and it’s God’s upside down wisdom you actually can’t do anything for God it’s when we stop doing and we get on our knees and pray God brings revival you can have the biggest, fanciest, flashiest church but you just might find your church is built on sand it’s not built on the rock so yes that’s a go and do but our going and our doing is nothing if it’s not anointed in prayer and we ask for God to come and mightily and powerfully show up I always think about Charles Spurgeon one of the most famous preachers you know he you know pastored a church that was 5,000 members strong which for you know Victorian era England that would be like 20,000 people today it was just a blessed ministry and someone once came to him and said can you please tell me the success of your ministry and he took him down into this room and he opened the door and there on their knees was a ton of people praying friends great commission cannot be fulfilled if you and I are not praying disciples we’ve got to pray I want in 2023 every last Wednesday of the month we have a night of prayer I want to see more people come and long to be a part of that you’ve got nothing more important going on in life let me promise you than prayer prayer it reveals how independent of God or dependent on God we are we believe we are can I say that to you last thing if we’re a Christ centered community that’s word saturated that’s prayer dependent we’re also going to be gospel proclaiming gospel proclaiming Jesus told us to go and to preach the gospel he told us to go and make disciples and the work of being and making disciples it starts with you and I because you and I have to sharpen one another and encourage one another and none of us are finished with that we’re not finished products when we come to Christ we’re not finished products 50 years after we come to Christ right so we’ve got to be growing but we’ve also got to let our community if it really is supernatural if it really is full of Jesus it’s got to spill over into the world around us it’s got to be proclaimed it’s got to be shown in love we’ve got to be an effective vessel for God to break through the darkness and expose his light to you know our city our town our nation and the world around us and the whole world and I think that’s challenging because it’s really fun isn’t it? to be insular you know it’s us four no more like we have our routines during the week we have our events and it’s just us that’s not that’s really convenient right? that’s not uncomfortable to step out and to proclaim the gospel and to risk persecution to risk being made fun of to step outside of my flesh and obey the spirit but necessarily it’s what disciples do it’s what disciples do it’s what disciples do all those things together how does that play out for us at Providence? how do I and the elders plan on leading in that direction? I just kind of want to talk about those few things I know this is like so much information and I’m sorry you can go back and listen to it but I just need a lot of things that I want to say the first way that we accomplish all that is just like this just like this we’re going to do this valuing for the long haul worshipping on the Lord’s day worshipping on Sunday the day that Christ was resurrected again not to pin everything on COVID but what has been greatly normalized is the idea that church is this thing that can be watched like somehow being in my boxers with a t-shirt and like chips all over myself and a lazy boy like watching some dude talk on TV that’s church and it’s not it’s not church is the definition of the word you know the assembled ones if we’re going to be the church we have to be assembled we have to be in the same room and worship and spirit and truth because here what are we doing? we’re worshipping God we’re singing the word right? that’s how we’re taught the word I’m preaching it the spirit’s doing a supernatural thing we’re not teaching it to you we’re praying together we pray in our liturgy throughout the songs we’re encouraging one another to go out out this week and to proclaim Christ so we’re doing all the things that need to be done right here on Sunday so please detach yourself from even current mentality in church life in 21st century America and don’t think that Sunday is dispensable because it’s not don’t neglect to meet together as is the habit of some the Hebrew writer says deeply value and long for Sunday gathering and let me say this just a footnote I think back to like my childhood I think back to my childhood and I just remember like we would be at church like Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night and it wasn’t a thing like everybody did that and you can probably you know if you’re my age you know what or older you can remember that as well it just you just did it you just with God’s people that’s the way it just happened and so I think of all the things you could poke on or say what the church did wrong 20 30 40 50 years ago you got to look back and say that the church in decades past in America had a commitment caliber that we’re kind of losing today we’re trying to minimize how often we get together and so so again we can’t be responsible for all the churches out there but we can be responsible for us right here so let us not fail to neglect to meet together next thing I want to say I promise I’ll have a couple is family worship and I think you know that if you’re at Providence we believe in family worship I grew up in an environment where yes we read the Bible some at home and yes those things were taught somewhat but mostly that was kind of given to the local church I assumed my kids were just learning what they were supposed to learn at church it doesn’t work I went to a small Christian school alright and I’ve said this before and parents who didn’t know how to raise their kids they would just drop them off at the front door of the Christian school and surely they’ll become Christians and good citizens of society and they were always the first ones to get kicked out with sex and drugs and whatever else it doesn’t work it doesn’t work family worship is so critical because Martin Luther put it this way your home is your first church and dads especially if you’re a Christian if you don’t take the lead in discipling in raising your children there’s a whole world out there that’s willing to do it public schools are willing to do it government’s willing to do it the TV’s willing to do it music’s willing to do it you have got to say my home is the first church where we open God’s word every day we worship with song we pray yes there’s those unexpected moments you know your kids getting a fight in the back seat it’s like okay teaching moment Jesus doesn’t want us to punch each other like there’s those things but there’s a difference when a child grows up in a home where on a regular basis dad would say hey no we’re not watching TV tonight open everybody come here we’re opening the Bible and we’re just going to sit in the scriptures together and we’re going to sing some songs that will do spiritual formation for your child in a way that 10,000 years of Sunday school never could now that being said I’m so grateful that we have a Sunday school component because what can that do for you that can supplement and build up what you dad must be doing at home in spiritually leading your wife and your children just don’t get those two things flip flopped right so family worship is always going to be a value here and again if you’re a guest today or even if you’ve been here maybe you didn’t hear me say it we have a ton of family worship resources out there how to do it different ideas for how to do family worship so don’t let the question mark how do you do family worship stop you from doing it that’s always going to be valuable okay two things I just got two things two things okay second to last thing and this one is probably the thing I want to talk about the most and that’s discipleship groups discipleship groups so when we started or I started here four years ago it’s hard to believe it was that long ago there was just a few families just a few like a few little families and we were just happily meeting together just living on prayer and didn’t know what we were doing you know just like alright here we are and that was great because we can meet on a regular basis at that little building we were meeting and it was it was great because we could obey the New Testament command to meet with brothers and sisters and do kind of on a micro level what we’re doing on Sunday at a macro level right because it’s not enough to just hear sermons you need to be able to study the Bible with brothers and sisters hey what’s sin going on in your life what do you need to repent of how can I encourage you encourage one another in evangelism that was great a few things happened one again I’m going to blame COVID for that we lost a lot of that moment with COVID and two we changed buildings this building’s a lot bigger three and this is not a bad thing we have at this church obeyed the command to be fruitful and multiply we have more children than we have adults now I don’t know about you it’s really hard to sit down with brothers and sisters and go deep in the word of God when you’ve got toddlers like biting at your ankles for more goldfish or to tattle telling somebody it’s really hard it’s really hard and so I think that’s been a huge question mark for us okay we’re going to we need to recover that how do we do that well so just kind of talking praying through that with the elders here’s what we really want to do this fall for our discipleship groups on Wednesday nights what we want to do is is break guys and girls up that way one men can talk about things that men need to talk about can talk about and women can talk about separately and at the same time we can kind of rotate children around a little bit so ideally if men you’re at my house and we’re we’re studying that’s great that week maybe the ladies have the kids and y’all can still meet there’s a playground here there’s an indoor playground here and we’re just fellowshipping and it’s not as big of a deal if we don’t we’re not trying to get through a passage of scripture the next week flip it the ladies y’all can meet in someone’s home and there’s no kids biting your ankles crying diaper changes and guys we can meet at a park or meet here and have kids and just talk about things so is it going to be like that forever I don’t know but we can’t wait around until we have a better situation to figure out how to be in one another’s lives well so we’re planning on teaching through Colossians this semester so you know the elders will rotate and kind of teaching that but we’ll also have you know question time prayer time how can we grow in evangelism time and the ladies will be doing the same thing and Rebecca and Jessica will kind of lead in teaching through some of that as well so with that being said I do want us to meet in homes and here’s why one it’s really good to learn hospitality hospitality is very much so a New Testament biblical concept and I know if you’re like extroverted or introverted you think differently on having people in your home some of us think I can never have anyone in my home unless it’s like immaculate clean good enough for the president to show up as someone that I like has said hey let the dust balls fly alright it just may be that it’s Bible study night and you didn’t have time to clean your house and they’re going to see some fruit loops under your kitchen table or whatever that’s okay because that’s real life so I really want us to be in one another’s homes and study the Bible and grow together so I’ll have a sign up list for maybe you would like to host this semester you know one time it doesn’t have to beat your house every time but it kind of frees the same one two people up from having to host you know like every week so that’s how we’re tackling it I’m actually asking you just as your pastor and on behalf of the elders to take that serious not this coming Wednesday but next Wednesday we’re going to begin to meet like that men we’re going to meet in my house first we’re going to do Colossians and the ladies you all can still meet and we’ll meet and just again the focus there is not how much Bible can we study while trying to juggle our babies but just to spend time together which is valuable and so it’s just a rhythm we’re going to try for the fall I really really really really really really want you to dive into that and make the sacrifices you need to make to be there on Wednesdays I believe we need that kind of discipling as much as we need Sunday morning discipleship okay now you may say I appreciate that but I absolutely cannot make that work in my schedule okay I would encourage you still find someone at Providence you could be in a discipling relationship with at some point if it’s like there’s no way that I can make that work on a Wednesday night because of my work schedule or whatever okay don’t deprive yourself of discipleship you need to be walking with someone in the word and being challenged so if that’s the case fine but I really just want to challenge you to value small microcosm discipleship this semester with brothers and sisters here at Providence I believe it’s valuable and we used to be good at it I think one of the should be one of the great strong points of being at a small church is we have really strong community we really know one another well you know and again I’ve grown up in churches of all shapes and sizes and maybe you have too but I think the beauty of being at a church our size is you can really know one another well and really take care of one another well and grow with one another so that’s one of my big pleas in this whole sermon is Wednesday night discipleship groups this semester okay next and last thing here local and foreign missions okay um Kate um Kate has for the last couple years done an incredible job of finding really great events things for us to connect with um both just to serve at to give money to um like the baby bottle thing we’re doing for the pregnancy center I’m so grateful for her and so we’re gonna keep finding things locally that we can give our service to things that we can go and um you know just be a presence at things that we can just financially support that are for the sake of the kingdom um you know we used to do I know COVID comes up a lot we used to do um evangelism in the park quite regularly before COVID of course COVID kills that so um you know Richard and I are talking again about what are some things we can do to begin sharing the gospel on a regular basis um in our community um and then possibly we’re talking about maybe a a mission trip um back to Mexico um this year so we’re still kind of seeing those things what will happen so all that to say this is this is who we are as a church this is how we’re following Jesus okay we’re a Christ centered community that’s word saturated prayer dependent gospel proclaiming um and there’s nothing more important than pursuing Christ together going just to the end of that passage in um Matthew Jesus says and behold I am with you always to the end of the world to the end of the age if Jesus didn’t say that I would be really worried and nervous I would be like I don’t know I don’t know but this is the amazing thing about the last thing Jesus says before he just sins I am with you is that not powerful that Jesus tells us he is with us Jesus is working in and through all things to fulfill the gospel his purpose to establish his kingdom through the local church that means we can run full force and not wonder like I don’t know is this going to work out I don’t know I don’t know what if we don’t have to play the what if game because Jesus says I am with you I am with you to the end of the age Jesus will establish his kingdom so friends you and I can follow Jesus together amen alright I love you I’m grateful to be your pastor I really am excited about this year I’m excited about the future I’m excited about I hope you are too and if you have any thoughts or questions on anything I’ve said please feel free to reach out to me okay alright I love you let’s pray together and we’ll worship the Lord

Father we we want to come to your word

fearful not in the sense of being afraid of judgment but fearful of knowing just how how serious it is just what a privilege it is to read your word that is in a lot of ways a letter to us that as your followers you are telling us who we are you are telling us what we should do you are making us promises about how much you love us and will keep us and will provide for us I pray that we would not look to the right or to the left but the cross of Christ would be before us and we would together lock arms and pursue you and Lord that in all things you would have the victory in us God that you would grow us as a church you would bring along more people that need to be grown here that Lord the gospel would pour over into the life of of so many that need to hear the saving words of Jesus so Lord this is our prayer this is our desire so we just ask for grace upon grace Lord amen amen let us know that you’re with us we love you Jesus Father we give you all the glory and it’s in Christ’s name that we pray amen