We are the Next Chapter

I've grown a lot from it. I've been challenged a lot. I mean, Pastor Phil's message a couple of weeks ago through the storm really challenged me when he told us, when he challenged us to cut the rope and to remove those anchors that are false securities from our lives and attach ourselves to the anchor of God's worldly. That really spoke to me and challenged me in some areas of my life where I was hanging on this stuff. I shouldn't have been hanging on to instead of hanging on to Jesus. And I'm sure that you've been challenged maybe in a different area of your life over the last two months as we've been in this series called The Next Chapter. We've been looking at the first century church and looking at their example that they modeled for us the way that they went after Jesus to become more like Christ. And how we today as the 21st century church should model some of those same attributes today, nearly 2,000 years later. And as we are the church of Jesus Christ today still and he is still writing that next chapter through you and me right now. So today I wanna put a bow on this series. And we're actually not gonna look at the book of Acts today. We're gonna look at the book of Matthew which launched into the book of Acts. If you're taking notes today, I want you to write this down. The title of my message is We Are The Next Chapter.

We Are The Next Chapter. I want you to look at your neighbor and say, he's talking to you. Oh, that was cute. Now I want you to look at somebody else and tell them like you mean like, he's talking to you, man, you better wake up. Come on, Swinsburg, help me out, let's go. If you got your Bible, I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 28. We're gonna look at three verses today. That's it, three verses. But there's so much packed in here. I think we're gonna get a lot out of it. So if you've got your Bibles again, turn to Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20. It says, "Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go 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 I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." I think that's the worst somebody needs to hear today. Jesus is with you to the very end, to the very end. And do you know what the very end means for us as Christians? The very beginning, because when death shows up, that's just the start to the next chapter, 'cause then we get to go live the rest of our lives

with Christ, eternity of forever. So no matter what happens, we win. Okay, Fairview Park, can you help me out please? No matter what happens, we win. You shot me down to Fairview, thank you so much. Man, I think somebody needs to hear that you feel like you're alone, you're by yourself. God, do you see me? Maybe I'm the only one who's felt like that, and I'm a pastor, but there have been moments in my life when I go, Jesus, do you remember what your word says? Do you remember what you promised me in my life? And when I go through those moments, I have to look back at verses like this when Christ promised, surely I am with you to the very end, John Michael. I've got you, buddy. I haven't let you down yet, and I'm not gonna start letting you down now. That's a word for somebody today. Jesus is not going to let you down. I love that he starts this conversation with the disciples right before he ascends into heaven. He's with the 11, the original 11. Judas has removed himself from the earth, and the original 11 are there with Christ, and he's having a conversation with him, and the first thing he says is, all authority has been given to me. This is a conversation that I have to have with my daughters

on a regular basis. (congregation laughing) Your mom and I have all the authority. You have a zero. Like one of my favorite things that my children do is when we're all home together and we're figuring out what we're gonna watch on TV. And I'll say, "Hey, we're gonna watch this," or tell people, say, "Hey, guys, mom wants to watch this." And they go, "Well, I don't wanna watch that." And we go, "Oh, that's really cute." That you think you could talk like that. That's adorable. I think your brain has left your head, (congregation laughing) 'Cause that's real adorable. How many hours did you work today? Oh, that's right, zero. And which bills did you help cover this month? That's what I thought, none. Who provided food on the table? Who made it tonight? Who bought that couch that you're sitting on? In fact, why don't you go sit on the floor real quick? No, I'm telling you, I don't do that, I'm totally kidding. (laughing) Totally kidding. Which are you buying them? We are not equals in this house. We are not friends, some of y'all parents

need to stop being your kids' friends first and need to be their mom with their dad first. And establish authority in your house. A lot of the problems we see today in the world are because parents aren't being parents. They're trying to be their friends' kids instead of leading the Jesus. And if I'm trying to lead you to Jesus, I'm not gonna always be your friend. Also, you don't pay bills. When you pay the mortgage this month, I will be your best friend. That's okay. Then we can hang out and you can have the remote. But until then, I have all authority. Jesus shows up to his disciples and goes, "Boys, "I wanna remind you something. "I have all the authority, not just in one place." He said, "In all of heaven and in all the earth, "I have it all. "It belongs to me." And it's important that he starts with this declarative statement about who he was because what predicated from this moment was a command. But he couldn't give the command if he wasn't the one with all authority. Now, what he said here is very interesting. Everything Jesus says is always intentional. And it's no less true in these three short verses. When he says, "I've been given all authority

"in heaven and on earth." He's establishing his claim yet again as the creator and supreme ruler of the universe of hell and of the earth and of heaven. Matthew in his gospel is writing to a primarily Jewish audience. And his whole purpose of his gospel, his main theme was to establish Christ as the king, as the Messiah, as the son of David from the royal line of David. So when Christ makes this bold claim, "I have all authority," his readers would have understood exactly what Jesus was doing. In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul calls Christ the second Adam. I'm gonna teach some of the days. I need you to put your thinking caps on, okay? We're gonna dive a little bit deep, so stay with me. There might be some new things. They're not new in scripture, but they might be new to you. So if they are new, it's a little bit deeper. Just hang on with me. I'm gonna do my best to explain it to you, okay? Paul calls Adam, Jesus, excuse me, the second Adam in the book of Romans. This is really, really important. Now, you might know the first Adam. If you're thinking about Adam and even the garden, you got that correct.

If you think about Adam, you're an extra neighbor, that's not who I'm talking about. Adam was the guy in the garden with his wife Eve, the very first couple. And Adam had been given all authority over the earth. If you remember, God created Adam and he said, "Now, I'm giving you the keys to the kingdom. You have full run of the place. You get to name all the animals. You get full control over the fish to the sea, the birds of the year, all the animals on the earth, man, it's yours. Enjoy it. Live it up, buddy. Also, I'm gonna give you this beautiful woman and she's gonna help you and you're gonna help each other and you're gonna rule together. This was God's design from the beginning. But as you may well know, Adam gave up his authority. And in doing so, gave up all of mankind's authority because that wasn't just for Adam and Eve. It was for his offspring to come as well. He gave up that authority and he failed his mission. And in doing so, sin and death came into the world. And not only did we lose our authority in our mission, most importantly, we lost our relationship with the one who gave it to us. Are you with me so far? Okay. Then Jesus showed up.

And said, I'm the son of God. And he died on the cross. And one of the last things he said on the cross was, it is finished. and all the mankind, lost in the garden, I'm restoring. Every word spoken by the prophets and by the law, I have fulfilled. I am the true and second better Adam. I did not fail my mission. I completed it. I dotted every eye and crossed every tee. Everything my father sent me to do, I've done it." And he died, gave up his spirit. And then he went in the tomb, but he didn't stay there. He rose again on the third day. And he justified his claims of being the son of God by being resurrected from the dead. And it's in that moment now when Christ is about to ascend into heaven that he says, "I have all authority, but not just on the earth." Oh no, my dad gave me the highest name above every name in hell, earth, and heaven, I have full authority as the son of God over all the angels, all the planets, all the stars, and everyone on this earth that I created. It all belongs to me. Jesus has all authority. Now, you might be saying, John Michael, I know that, why is that important? It's important because of the consequent verbs,

excuse me, verses that take place right after this. I want you to look with me now at verse 19. We're gonna read it again. Jesus says, "All authority has been given to me." Now watch what he says next. Therefore, go. Pay attention. Jesus says, "I have all the authority. Now you have a responsibility to do something with it." I have all authority. Therefore, because of this thing right here, now comes the second part. You got the first two. Now I'm gonna give you the second two. Two plus two equals four. You ready? Here we go. Go 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 I have commanded you. Jesus has all authority, and because he does, he got to do the second thing I'm gonna show you right now. The second thing you need to understand is Jesus sent the disciples. Jesus sent the disciples. And you might be thinking, John Michael, duh. We know he's in the disciples. Why are you telling me this? It's very elementary and very simple, and very simple, but you have to see how Christ

is connecting the dots. Before he writes the next chapter, remember, Christ fulfilled all of the old covenant within himself. He's flipping a page, he's starting a new chapter, and he's saying, guys, you have to understand that your authority isn't coming from the law and the prophets. Your authority to do what I'm telling you to do is coming from me. I gave the law and the prophets their power. All of that points to me. And now I have all authority and I'm sending you out. We have to understand this. It reminds me of my buddy who works for a really large company. And it's a billion dollar plus company. And he's like the number two guy there. And he gets to go and buy other companies. I was talking to him the other day. I said, hey, man, how are you doing? What's your week look like? He's like, well, it's been pretty busy. I was in New York. I got a flower to Toronto. There's a company we're gonna buy for several million over there. And then some points I gotta go to Spain and buy another company for several million. And he's buying these companies because they have one thing that they want. And instead of just buying the one thing,

they just buy the whole company 'cause they can. And I'm asking him, like, how's your week going? He tells me all this stuff. And then he goes, how's your week? What'd you do to that? I sent some emails. You know, like, just different worlds. He lives in a completely different world. And he's flying on the company jet. And he's talking to these people who are movers and shakers of the world. And like when they create something, you and I do that whatever it is that they created. And he's buying those companies. But he's not the one actually buying the company though. It's not his money. He gets paid money to do that, yes. But it's not his money that he's using personally to buy those companies. And it's not under his authority that he's buying those companies. He's not just walking up to some random person. He doesn't have relationship with the one. Hey, I'd like your company. They'd be like, bro, who are you talking? I don't know. You get out of my store. What are you talking about? He's going into places. He has been sent, he has been commissioned by the owner of his company, the founder of

his company, the guy who started this billion dollar company out of his house, has released my money to go into different countries and buy other businesses that will expand their business. He's not doing it in his own authority. Jesus looks at the disciples and says, "You all don't have any authority in and of yourselves, but I do, and because I do and you're connected with me, you have full authority to go and take my kingdom all over the world." That's what I want you to do. It's not your money, it's not your power, it's not your talent or your ability or your connections. It's only because you're connected to me, the vine, the creator of the universe, the Savior of the world, now because of that, I'm sending you out. Jesus sends the disciples out and he sends them to do some very specific things. Remember, Christ is starting a brand new chapter in the story of mankind and God's redemption story of humanity. He's starting a new chapter with his church and so he's establishing it on his authority and then on some very simple tasks that he wants every disciple to follow, starting with these original 11th. First he says, "Go and make disciples." Go and make disciples. Make followers. Jesus doesn't just want people who believe in him, demons believe in Jesus. He wants people who will follow him. This must be a really good preaching because y'all are real quiet on me. I'm just, you're in the spirit, that's what you're in the spirit right now and you're just going deep and the Holy Spirit should download stuff to you right now. That's what's happening. Jesus said, "Make disciples of all nations." Christ's heart, when you look throughout scripture, it's for cities and for nations. And he sent me his disciples and said, "I want you guys to go in and I want you.

Don't just find converts. I want you to teach the nations how to follow me." Like you're going to have to infiltrate the political and financial and educational systems. Like you're going to have to take over. And remember what God told Adam in the garden, rule, reign, take over. Jesus is telling his disciples, "I want you to extend the kingdom, but it's not going to be through force. It's going to be from preaching the gospel. It's going to be from sharing your faith, reminding them of all the things that I've done, who I am, proving that I am, who I said that I was. That's what I want you to do. So the first thing is to go and make disciples of every single nation. What I love about this is that Jesus said this roughly 2,000 years ago. So America didn't exist yet, but yet he was talking about America. There were other nations in the world that didn't exist when Christ was saying this, but he was talking about those nations as well. Yes, not directly. He didn't overtly say those nations out loud, but he was talking about every nation that did and would exist. I want you to go save them. Go get them. Expand my kingdom. I have authority because I have it, and I've given mine to you. Then he says, go baptize them, and then the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is really cool to me. Jesus is doing a couple of things here. He's harkening back to Genesis when we see the Trinity show up. So in Genesis 1, 2, it says, you know, in the beginning of the heavens and the earth, it says the Holy Spirit hovered over the face of the deep. So here we see at least a couple of persons of the Trinity, just in the first two verses

of Scripture. Then you go to verse 26 and God says, let us make man in our image. So there you have God using Trinitarian language right there. The Triune God had, Father, Son, and Spirit represented right there at creation. So Christ is going back to that moment saying, I'm restoring what was lost in the garden, including, most importantly, your relationship with the Father, Son, and Spirit. So when people receive Christ and they get baptized, something special happens. But you go public with your faith to show that you have been saved through water baptism, the apostle Paul says in the book of Ephesians that we are baptized with Christ in his death in the water. All right? So Jesus is showing us the connection there in Genesis, but it's also harkening back to his own baptism and in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. When Christ was baptized in the water by his cousin, John the Baptist, what happened? It says that the heavens split open. Imagine this if you can't for a moment. The heavens split open and the Father spoke and said, this is my beloved son in whom? Well, please, you've got the Father, you've got the Son in the water, and then it says, and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove onto Christ. And many Bible scholars and theologians believe that Christ was water baptized and spirit baptized in the same moment. They're two separate things, but they happen simultaneously, which is amazing.

So there you have all three members of the Trinity with Christ at his baptism. And here Jesus says, when you baptize new disciples, I want you to tell them that just as I was, just as the Father and spirit were present with me in mind, all three of us are gonna be present with him at theirs. We're gonna be there showing our approval. This is our son. This is our daughter in whom we are well pleased. You have the seal of approval of God's life on you, but he wasn't just talking about water baptism either. He was also talking about spirit baptism. When the Holy Spirit would come and fill the church with power so that we could fulfill what is called here in Matthew 28, the great commission. Jesus was saying, baptize them in water, yes, in the triune, the triune God's name, but also baptize them in the spirit. So they can be filled with power, and so they can go out and do exactly what you're doing. And then lastly, he says, teach them to obey everything I've taught you. Now, he wasn't saying, teaching the whole New Testament, the New Testament hadn't been written yet. It would be written based off of what Christ had told the disciples. And so he said, everything I've taught you, go teach them. So do you know why today, why we still, why we still preach the word of God here at Journey Church? And why we baptize people in water?

Why we believe for physical healing and for marriages to be restored? And why we pray for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit and they are filled with the Spirit and they receive gifts from the Spirit to build up the church of God and to be a witness to those who were lost. It's because we were taught to do so by whom? By disciples who were taught by other disciples all the way down the line to the original 11. We're not doing this because we're so smart or because we got some crazy new idea about, hey, we should have people get saved. That's not our idea, that's Christ. We are just teaching what we've been taught because Jesus sent the disciples. There would be no journey if Christ who didn't have the authority and he didn't send ambassadors on his behalf to disciple the nations. We are standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. Okay, so I've taught you some things now. Now we're gonna look at how this applies to you probably going to John Michael. That's really cool. I didn't know that, but what does that have to do with me in America in the 21st century? You said God's right in this next chapter and we are the next chapter.

So how do we live this out? I'm gonna tell you right now, it's very simple. Okay, if you're writing this down, this is my third point once you write this down. Jesus is sending us. Jesus is sending, yeah, I'm talking to you. I know how messed up your family is. Well, I don't, but God does. God knows the mistakes you've made and will make. God knows that the world may not call you qualified. And that's okay. He calls you anyway, so don't worry about them. If Jesus has saved you, Matthew 28 is all for you. It's for you. Just as Christ sent the original 11 and then all the followers of Jesus who would come because these 11 left, consequently, and they were sent out, you're included in Matthew 28. Jesus was prophesying about you and about me. That's amazing. See, in Matthew chapter 28, verse 20, I want you to look how Jesus is. I'm with you always to the very end of the age. He was referring to this season of chronological time in God's overarching story for re-bringing humanity back to himself, those who will leave in Christ. When Jesus says to the end of the age, He's talking about the end of the age of the earth. When time will stop as we know it, Jesus will come back, He'll judge the living and the dead, He'll create a new heaven and a new earth and then we won't have to do any of that stuff anymore. We won't have to preach the gospel because the time will be done, the age will be over. Jesus said, "Until that time comes, I'll be with you." Now why does that matter? Because at the end of that time, not only will He be with us, we'll also be

with Him. It'll flip. We'll get to be with Him in person, in the flesh and worship Him forever. It's going to be amazing. But until that time, He says, "I'm going to be with you." Now He wasn't just talking to the 11th. He couldn't logically just be talking to the 11th because they were going to die at some point. So who was He speaking to? You and me. All of the church that would come down the line from the original 11 till right now and however long Jesus decides to wait until the Father sends Him to come back and get us. However many people come to know Jesus, He's saying, "I'm sending you to do this, the Great Commission. You are the next chapter church. You are. Christ is sending me and He's sending you." And He says, "I'm with you and it's important for us to know. Why would Jesus tell us, I will be with you?" It's because we're going somewhere. We're not staying where we are. You see, you can't love Jesus and stay where you are. You can't know Him and say the same. When you get saved, when you get truly saved, it messes you up. You're not the same person. Like if I sat down and talked with you today, you might say, John Michael, "Man, if you would have known me 10 years ago, I was an alcoholic. I was angry at the world. I wasn't being faithful to my family. I was out drinking every weekend, but man, Jesus saved my life and I've never been the same." Or maybe, "Hey, John Michael, man, you maybe don't know this about me. Maybe you couldn't recognize it." But I came through years of abuse and neglect and I thought no one loved me and I wasn't deserving to love it. Man, Jesus found me one day and He rescued me. He saved me and I've never been the same since. That's incredible. That's exactly what should happen, but it can't stay there. Jesus is saying, "I've been given all authority and now because of that, I'm handing that back to you and I want you to go fulfill your God-given mandate to make disciples of all nations." Now, that doesn't mean though that you have to be a pastor. What does it mean to preach the gospel? I'll tell you, you just share your story. What did Jesus save you from? Well, John Michael, I don't have all the books in the Bible memorized. Me either. I don't. Pastor Phil and I don't have every Bible verse memorized. Pastor Jeff and Pastor Fred and Jose, as amazing as they are. They don't have it all together. None of us do. We're walking this journey out, too. You don't have to have all the answers. You have the one main answer that matters the most. And his name is Jesus Christ. And if he saved you, that's all you got to say. You know, I was talking about my daughter Hadley

earlier and, you know, joking about how she and Langer and her sister, they don't have any authority to change anything at the house. But she does have spiritual authority because she's been saved. And I'm so proud of both my kids because they share their faith. Not because their dad's a pastor, but because we're Christians. That's what we're supposed to do. They challenge me to share my faith more. They'll come home and tell me stories and go, Oh, I got to step it up. Man, like Hadley, there was one Sunday last year, November, where she led, it was four or five of her friends. She led them to Jesus. They got saved. And then they all got baptized on the same day. She just turned 15 back in April. She was 14 when that happened. I saw, I was like, man, Hadley, you were challenging your dad right now. I'm so proud of you. Why? It wasn't because she went to seminary and got a master's degree and then got a PhD. You know, she didn't It's because she read the Word of God and went, oh, I have a responsibility. Jesus changed my life and he could do that for my friends. See, Dernie, whether you're 14, 44, or 104, if you've been saved by the blood of Jesus, you have been commissioned by him and he is sending you out to preach the Word with your life just by sharing your testimony. (congregation applauding) And you might, that might mean that you're gonna travel to a different country. That's awesome. God sends you as a missionary to go establish churches and dim parts the world and preach the gospel. That's great. But for most of you, it won't be that. It will be you, stay at home, mom. Loving your kiddos, teaching them the Word every single day, praying over them.

That's you sewing and watering the seeds of the gospel. That's you going to your family and preaching. That's what that looks like. You might say, John, Michael, I'm not a preacher and I can't go overseas, but I can go across the street to my neighbor and I can share my faith with him. That's what preaching the gospel is. It's sharing the good news that Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross and rose again from the dead. That's the good news and that he rescues sinners and wretches just like me and you. That's what preaching the gospel looks like. It's that simple. You don't have to have three points in 15 verses and take up two offerings. In fact, if you take up an offering, that person probably isn't going to get saved, okay? I'm teasing. But just go across the street. Go to your cubicle, made it work. And say, hey, did I ever tell you what Jesus did for me? That'll tell you how he rescued me and he restored my marriage. And now my kids are following Jesus because he saved me. Have I told you that? Let me tell you really quickly and it doesn't have to take an hour. It takes you 60 seconds.

And at the end of it, you just say, listen, if you want that same kind of life, he can give it to you. If he did it for me, he can do it for you. That is what it looks like for us to be the next chapter. It's just a very simply obey the words that Jesus gave us right here in Matthew 28 and say, I don't have all the answers, but I have the one main answer, his name is Jesus. Let me introduce you to them. And then you can baptize people. You don't do your pastor, baptize people. You can baptize people in your pool if you want. If you know somebody gets saved, you can take them down to Lake Erie and get baptized. They might grow a third arm, but that's okay. They'll be baptized, that's fine. Or they can come here and get baptized at a journey. That's great too. And then you can teach the word of God. Say, hey, you know what? Why don't you get on a Bible reading plane with me on you version of Bible. Well, let's just study the word of God together. Let's walk this thing out together and let's follow Jesus. It's that simple because you see Journey Church? Jesus has all the authority and he did send out the disciples and now he's sending us because we are the next chapter.

Let me pray for you. What I love you, I thank you for everyone under the Son of Marvel, it's right where you're sitting. Would you just say, Lord, would you show me who I need to share my faith with this week? Would you show me where I need to go this week? Maybe even today, which neighbor I should go to, which co-worker, which family member? I should call and say, hey, let me tell you my faith story. Lord, we don't have to go to Africa to fulfill the Great Commission. We can go next door. We can go to work tomorrow, Monday morning and share our faith with those who desperately need to know that Christ loves them and He died for them. Lord, here we are, would you send us? In your own words right now, Journey Church, I just wanna challenge you, surrender to the Great Commission, the great call of God in your life. Just say, Lord, here I am, wherever you want me to go, maybe He is gonna send you across the world. There might be somebody listening to me right now and God is calling you to be a foreign missionary. Wonderful, if He's doing that, let them call you and just submit to it. Say, Lord, wherever it is you want me to go, whoever you wanna talk to, today, tomorrow, for the rest of my life, until you come back, let me preach the gospel simply by sharing my testimony, by sharing my faith.

Lord, we realize that we are your church. Would you continue to write this next chapter of your incredible story of how much you love humanity through us. Send us today, Lord, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.