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Clarify the Mission
July 22, 2025 · 54 min
Reflect on the heavy responsibility of carrying Christ's mission as His followers.
Series Clarify the Call July 22, 2025 · 54 min · Clarify the Call
Reflect on the heavy responsibility of carrying Christ's mission as His followers. ...more Show the full description Show less Reflect on the heavy responsibility of carrying Christ's mission as His followers.
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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The Weight of the Gospel Mission 0:00 Well, good morning. Will you help me welcome all of our brave campuses that are worshiping with us today? Great to worship with all of you. And as we continue our worship, let's prepare our hearts for the living and0:10 active word of God that we're about ready to hear. Would you pray with me? Our father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise. Lord, what a privilege it is to gather with your people to celebrate you.0:21 Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for the gift of your son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins and rose victoriously from the grave. We thank you for the Holy Spirit that indwells all of0:33 our hearts who believe, and we thank you for his convicting work in us to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ. Lord, we're encouraged this morning to be with your people, and we're certainly0:45 encouraged to hear your word, Lord, because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that you are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to0:56 hear. And so now for all those who have gathered, who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you, and who will, by faith, put into practice what he shows you, will you1:06 agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. Amen. Have you ever been entrusted with something so valuable that you immediately felt the1:18 weight of that responsibility? Perhaps you've been in a job where all of a sudden, you've been looking forward to promotion and then you get the promotion and now you're in charge of a group of people that you were part1:29 of before and you immediately begin to feel the weight of that responsibility. Or maybe you were a second or third string player on a team and you got promoted to be the starter, and now all the responsibility is on1:40 you, for that position. Or maybe in life, for the first time, you were entrusted with keys. Maybe to a car that you'd wanted to have or maybe to your first home that you needed in.1:52 Once you got in there, you realized there there's a lot of responsibility that comes with this. Or or how about personally? After you said your I do's and you realize there's a lot of responsibility that comes with being2:04 a wife or a or a husband. Or how about this 1? For those of you who are parents, what about when you held your child for the first time? And as you've been looking forward to that child, you you you thought, hey, can't2:14 wait till he or she is here, and then you're holding them. And then you begin to think as a parent for the first time, how in the world am I gonna take care of this child? There is no way I'm qualified for what I've been2:26 entrusted with. Friends, Jesus Christ entrusted us with the mission of the gospel, and that is the heaviest weight of responsibility that we could ever2:38 have. He not only stayed on the earth, he ascended into heaven and gave us the responsibility for all of that mission. And if you really understand the gravity of that and you feel the weight of2:49 that, that will change the course of every step you take from here going forward. In the next few weeks, we're gonna be doing a series called clarify the call. We're gonna be in acts chapter 1 and acts chapter 2 as we3:01 walk through that series. And really what we're trying to do is clarify if God's really saved us, what did he save us for? If God's really making us born again and calling us into his family, what's that family3:13 for? And what is God trying to accomplish? And what's he trying to do? And how do I fit into that? And so today to start that series, we're gonna clarify the the mission. What is the mission? What are we supposed to be3:24 doing? Because anything that you would sign up for, whether it's a sports team or a a drama team that you're a part of or to be a teacher at a school or to join the military, whatever you sign, there's a mission or3:36 assignment that's involved. And the clearer that is, the more you're gonna understand your responsibility. So today, I want to clarify the mission of the church of Jesus Christ and what the gospel is all about. So ifUnderstanding the Mission 3:47 you'd open your Bible up to Acts chapter 1, we're gonna be in the first 11 verses this morning of that book. And as we do that, then once we've read this together, I'll give you 4 truths about the work of the mission3:59 of Christ. Here's what he says. The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken4:11 up to heaven after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. To these, he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs,4:24 appearing to them over a period of 40 days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the father had promised,4:36 which he said, you have heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when he when they had come together, they were asking him saying, Lord, is4:48 it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, and it's not for you to know the times are epochs, which the father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy4:58 Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. And after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they5:10 were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold 2 men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, men of Galilee,5:22 why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. And so here, as this book is being5:33 written by Luke, we're seeing exactly what the mission should look like. And it's imperative for us to understand, if this is your first time ever in church or if you've come to church for 505:45 years, what in the world are we doing here? What what is the purpose of all of this gathering? Why would we why would we do this? And this section of scripture answers that question for us. And5:57 so I wanna give you 4 truths about this work, about the mission of the gospel, and what Jesus wants us to do. And if you understand these 4 truths, they will change the course trajectory of6:09 your life. And the first thing you need to understand when it comes to the work of the mission, as we clarify it, is that Jesus finished the work. Jesus Christ finished the6:21 work. Make no mistake about it. He says to you in the first chapter, the first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. This is Luke writing this6:33 book. He's writing to Theophilus, who's a man that he's is entrusted him with the writing of this word. He says, I've written the first account. That's Luke. 24 chapters. 1 to 24. I6:44 wrote that to tell you all that Jesus began to do and teach until he went up to heaven. Acts is Luke chapter 2. Acts is after Jesus ascended all that Jesus continued to do through his church from6:56 heaven through his people. That's what the book of Acts is all about. So both of those are a companion series. Luke is the prequel to Acts. And so this is what we see. And he's writing and he's saying this, until the day7:08 when he was taken up into heaven after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. Well, what orders did he give to the apostles? If you turn in your bible back to the end of Luke, in Luke7:19 chapter 24 verses 46 and following, as he opened their mind to understand the scriptures after he had been risen from the dead, he said to them, thus it is written that Christ would7:31 suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day. He told them the most significant thing that you need to understand is my death, burial, and resurrection. And so he reaffirmed that that was what had happened and7:41 that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem. So he says, the truth of this is gonna be proclaimed in every nation and so that people can7:53 repent of their sins and trust in my shed blood for their forgiveness. And this is gonna start in Jerusalem. And then he says this, you are witnesses of these things. And behold, I'm sending8:05 forth the promise of my father upon you, which is the Holy Spirit, but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power on high. Those were the instructions that he had given to them. And then as we get to8:17 verse 3 in Acts chapter 1,8:30 a Jesus, when he died, rose and then showed himself to all of those who said, we saw you die. That's impressive. Now, when we're in church, we8:41 forget just how impressive that is. Right? I've officiated a number of funerals, been to a number of funerals, nobody's ever got up out of the casket and said, just want you to know, I overcame death. Never happened,8:52 never will. Jesus Christ is the only 1. That's why he's the way, the truth, and the life and no 1 comes to the father except through him. If you want to trust in someone that can give you9:04 life, you have to go to the 1 who's alive. Jesus is the only 1 who's conquered death ever. Okay? So this is what he does. He goes to his disciples. He shows himself and notice what he says. He presented9:16 himself alive after suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. So what were some of his convincing9:28 proofs? Well, you remember 1 of his disciples, Thomas, when the other 10 had said, he's risen from the dead. He's like, well, unless I could put my hands in the marks on his hands, unless I could put my hand in his side.9:39 I'm not believing. So a week later, Jesus comes through the wall and said, Thomas, I hear you've been having some doubts. Why don't you place your hands in my hands? Why don't you touch my side? Stop doubting and9:48 believe. That's a convincing proof. Meeting them on the beach, having breakfast together as they have fish on the beach, that was a convincing proof. But Jesus not only showed himself to the 11,10:00 which would be proof enough, we know from the history of what those 11 did subsequent to him showing himself was significant proof that Jesus rose from the dead. These were 11 men10:12 that were scared for their lives, that were no longer scared for their lives. As a matter of fact, they didn't even care if you punish them, beat them, or killed them. All they cared about was the fact that they could10:22 tell everybody that we followed the Messiah. You killed him. He's been raised from the dead. We're gonna proclaim him. He's the only way of salvation. You can do to us whatever you want, but we can't stop talking about10:33 what we've heard or seen. So their testimony was evident, but they weren't the only ones that saw Jesus. Notice in first Corinthians chapter 15, it Notice in first Corinthians chapter 15, starting in verse 3 where Paul10:45 says, for I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the10:55 scriptures. Then it says this, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12. Now watch this. After that, he appeared to more than 500 brethren at11:07 1 time, most of whom remain till now, but some have fallen asleep. So So 1 time, he appeared to 500 people at the same time to say, I told you I conquered death. I mean, there's so much evidence that Jesus went through11:18 to prove I am the son of God. I told you what I was gonna do. I did everything I was gonna do, and you can see it with your own eyes. Take that in comparison to something like Mormonism, where you have a11:30 guy in the 18 hundreds named Joseph Smith that claims that he was out in the woods when the angel Moroni appeared to him and gave him these gold tablets, And he's the only 1 that can interpret them, and so11:42 therefore made the Book of Mormon. And nobody else saw it, and nobody else heard. And oh, by the way, in case you wanna trust this guy, he had about 30 some wives. Some of them were as young as 14. It's a total pedophile11:53 and polygamist. And that is womanism. That's how it all got started. Even the Smithsonian Institute won't give any credibility to it. Or take Islam, same thing, 600 years after Jesus,12:05 Muhammad claims that an angel appeared to him and gave him revelation that nobody ever heard and that he wrote it all down so that you know what Islam is in the Quran. I mean, come on, please.12:17 This book called the Bible written over 1400 years by over 40 different authors, all living in different places, many of them didn't even know who each other was, many of them at different times, and everything syncs12:29 perfectly and talks about Jesus. There's so much evidence I wanna tell you. If you're here as a skeptic and you have an open heart and say, if God really is real and if Jesus really is real, I wanna know that he died and12:41 rose. The the the evidence is overwhelming for you. It's only the hard hearted that the Bible calls a fool. Only a fool in his heart says there is no God. Fool doesn't mean12:52 uneducated. Fool means hard hearted. You have to turn off your heart to not believe what Jesus is in who he is. He is the king of kings. He is the lord of lords. And at the name of Jesus, every knee13:05 in heaven and on the earth and under the earth will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. Everybody. Everybody. Amen?13:17 And we need to understand that Jesus finished the work. When Jesus was hanging on the cross in John 19 verse 30, what did he say? It is finished. Tetelestai, it's done. It's paid in full.13:44 I did what I said I was gonna do. I took the wrath and I overcame death. And now in me, you can overcome death too. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And no 1, but no 1, but no 1 comes to the13:56 father except through him. There is no other way. There is no other way. All other religions are false. All other religions fall short because I'm not proclaiming a religion. I'm proclaiming the14:08 Lord Jesus Christ, God's 1 and only son who died for you and rose from the dead. That's it. There is no other way. And the work is when it comes to the completion of14:19 salvation, you can't add and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and14:26 and and and and and and14:27 and and did all the work. Jesus Christ took all the wrath. Jesus Christ is the 1 who extends all forgiveness and mercy and grace. Jesus Christ is the 1 who's coming14:39 back to judge this world. So when we understand the mission and we're clear on it, we realize that Jesus Christ finished the work. In Hebrews 1 3, it says that after making purification14:51 of sins, he sat down. He sat down. He's finished. It's done. The gospel's over. There's only 1 way you can truly find life and that's in Jesus Christ. And he already did everything15:02 he always said he was going to do. It's completed. Resurrection confirmed our victory. But the mission doesn't just end with the resurrection. It's just the15:14 beginning. Because what we see here is that Jesus was now passing the baton to them. And what15:28 he was saying was everything I did on the earth. The earth, he said in John 14, you'll do, you'll do even greater things than these because I'm going to the15:41 What he was saying was, everything you saw me do, everything you saw me teach, I'm still gonna do all that. I'm gonna do it from heaven through you. And the Holy Spirit is15:52 gonna do it. So what is this whole text about? He's passing the baton. He's passing the baton. He's like, now you go run with it. And like any relay race, it's only as good as the person who can take the baton and then16:04 go and continue to run. So in the same way that Jesus was doing the mission, what are we entrusted with? The same mission. What mission? The work that he completed. The fact that Jesus is the Messiah. The fact that the16:15 word of God is true. The fact that he is the way, the truth, and life, and no 1 comes to the father except through him. Which means this, it's not dependent upon any 1 person. You know why? Because all the apostles are16:26 dead. It didn't stop with Jesus. It didn't stop with them. Why? Because every generation keeps passing the baton and keeps passing the baton. God is not dependent upon any 116:38 person or group of people. It's not that God was up in heaven and he was biting his nails. He's like, can't wait till 20 2516:44 when brave church is here. Well, I'm really gonna be16:44 able to get He's he's never been dependent on any. But he's really gonna be able to get He's he's never been dependent on anybody, but his eyes are looking to and fro throughout the world to see whose heart is completely16:54 his. And when he has a group of people who are aligned, he does pour his spirit out in great measure. Amen? But isn't it true 1 day we're all gonna pass the baton? I don't know when I'm gonna pass17:06 the baton. Someday, I mean, I'll pass the baton of this church. I'll I'll pass the baton of the gospel. Somebody else is gonna take it. Maybe it's going to be by my choice in a transition plan, or maybe guys are just17:15 going to take me out of the world, and I'm passing it. We don't know. But you're going to pass it. How are we doing in passing the baton of the gospel? How are we doing raising up the next generation? Because if Jesus17:25 finished the work, then we need to understand the second point. And the second point is this, not only did Jesus finish the work but the spirit fuels the work. The spirit of God is theEmpowered by the Holy Spirit 17:37 fuel for the work, the Holy Spirit. Because notice what he says, not to leave Jerusalem. You see how this is a companion series with the end of Luke, saying the same thing, just picking up where he left17:49 off, but to wait for what the father has promised, which he said, you have heard from me. Because I've been telling you, I'm gonna send you the Holy Spirit of promise. I've been telling you, he's coming. I've been17:59 telling you, it's good that I'm going away. I'm telling you, here he comes. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.18:11 Now, John's baptism was a baptism in water, preparing the way of the Lord. It was outward and physical. It was baptism in water. The Holy Spirit's baptism is inward and spiritual.18:27 Able to be indwelled by the presence of God through the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is what places you into the family of God. And along with that, you're indwelled by his spirit. And the Bible says in18:39 Romans 8 9, if you do not have the spirit of Christ, guess what? You're not of Christ. Every born again believer has the spirit of God in them, and Jesus was telling them the Holy18:50 Spirit's coming. Just wait. You're gonna experience something no other dispensation has. King David didn't have the dispensation of the Holy Spirit in them. That's why when he was praying his prayer of repentance, what19:01 did he pray? Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me. Why? Because the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament would come on people and leave people, and come on people and leave people. From this point on, when the baptism19:11 of the Holy Spirit comes, when the Holy Spirit indwells you and seals you and marks you, you are his forever. He will never leave or forsake you. Amen?19:23 And it's special. It's special because now not only do we have the the word of God, but the Holy Spirit wrote the word of God. God. Now, we have the 1 who wrote the word of God living inside of us who can teach us the19:33 word of God about the word of God that we're reading. It's amazing. So you have a guide on the inside, but it's not just any guide, it's God. No other religion claims that.19:47 Islam doesn't claim that Mohammed comes to live inside of you or Allah comes to live inside of you. Mormonism doesn't claim that the angel Moroni comes Nobody else makes that claim. Jesus19:58 says, the Holy Spirit is gonna come baptize you. He's gonna indwell you. He's gonna seal you. He's gonna mark you. You can be filled with him. You can be used of him. But make no mistake about it. It's the Holy Spirit20:10 that fuels the work. Now just talk a little bit about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We'll talk about it in the coming weeks in a little more detail, but notice what he says in first Corinthians chapter 12 in verse20:22 13. He says, for by 1 Spirit we were all baptized into 1 body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, we were all made to drink of 1 spirit. In case you're wondering, do I have the baptism of the spirit, if20:34 you are born again, you've been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the family of God. Now we can talk about the filling of the spirit and different experiences that can happen and all those different things, but the20:44 baptism of the spirit is when the Holy Spirit immerses your life and puts you into the family of God. You are in Christ. You have the Holy Spirit. That's why you must be born again. I21:04 Many people around the world historically, well, I guess he probably died and rose from the dead. That's not the gospel. Believing that Jesus is God's 1 and only son who died on the cross, and here's why he died for all21:16 your sin. He took the wrath of God on the cross because you're a sinner who's already dead and already on your way to hell, and there's nothing you can do to get closer to God. You can't do enough religion. You can't21:26 join enough groups. You can't be philanthropic enough. You have to realize you're dead and on your way to hell, and you have been from the time you breathe your first breath. But Jesus died to take the penalty for you21:36 and rose from the dead to offer life to anybody who would come to the end of themselves and realize, that's me. I'm not gonna make it. I'm not gonna get there. And I repent, God, for my sins,21:48 and I trust you for all your forgiveness. And when that happens, you're born again. And when you're born again, you have the spirit of God. And 1 of the reasons you know you have the spirit of God is you can't send the21:58 same sins you've sinned before and feel as good about them. You may be able to send some of the same sins, but you're like, I don't like this anymore. It doesn't feel good. I feel like I'm so convicted. I didn't I used22:09 to enjoy this, and now I feel really bad all the time about it. Why? Because the Holy Spirit's inside of you, and you're grieving the Holy Spirit. And make no mistake about it. The Holy Spirit is the 1 who fuels the22:20 work. Even in Zechariah four:six, he says, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit. Here's what we need to understand. Sometimes we think about the mission, we think. If it's22:32 going to be, it's up to me. Got to work for God. I got to He doesn't need you. You're not all that great. Matter of fact, Jesus said, apart from me, you22:44 can do nothing. Your best efforts and not your strategy and not your pastor's preaching. It's not and it's none of that. It's the spirit of God that22:56 works through you to get the work done, Which means we have to live surrendered and dependent so the Holy Spirit can have his way with us. And23:09 the Holy Spirit wants to use each and every 1 of your lives. The Holy Spirit wants to come in and lead and guide in every single way. The challenge is not the Holy Spirit. Oftentimes, the challenge is23:21 us because we'll say things like this. God, you can have every area of my life except for that. And we don't usually say that out loud. We just don't pray about our23:33 marriage, or we don't pray about our dating life, or we don't pray about our job, or we don't pray about where we live because that's our business. Where I go on vacation, that's my business. How I spend my money, that's23:43 my business. Anything in your life that you say is your business and it's not God's business is a way that you're grieving the holy spirit. It's all his business. He gave everything to save you. How could you keep23:54 anything from him? Spirit is the 1 that wants to work in and through you. And the Bible says that when we're rightly related to God, that streams the living water will flow through. And there's something different about24:06 somebody that's skilled versus somebody that's filled with the spirit, whether they're an encourager, whether they're a preacher, whether they're, a generous giver, when they're filled with the spirit and it24:18 comes out of that, it's just different than when somebody is using their own efforts. God uses24:38 The Holy Spirit is the fuel to get it all done. So even that, not up to us. Right? You you have to understand that if we're gonna get to 0.3. Because it's kind of like your24:49 phone that you have is only as good as the power that's in it. You ever been on a phone like, I got like 2 percent left. You better hurry up. Because you know when it25:01 hits 1 and goes done, it turns black and it's no good. No matter how much you spend for it, Your vehicle is only as good for how well it's fueled. You can spend 2 on I learned you could I learned you could spend like25:13 250000 dollars on a vehicle. You can spend that on a vehicle, but if it's not fueled, it doesn't matter. It can be great to sit in.25:31 Churches are ineffective if they're not being fueled by the spirit. You can have religious gatherings, you can go through religious activities, you can do religious things,25:43 and25:43 there's no work of the spirit. There's no transformation in the lives of believers. There's no non believers getting saved. There's nobody that's growing in Christ, but we do all some of the same religious25:55 activity. Why? Because we're not filled with the spirit. We're not yielding to the spirit. In order to be used fully by the Lord, we need to be yielded to the spirit. And you say, well, that sounds really hard. It's26:07 not. Like driving a car when it's full of fuel versus pushing it. Well, I'm just getting gas. It's so expensive these days. I'm just gonna push my car. You would26:18 never say that. It's gonna cost me too much. No. It doesn't cost you. And oh by the way, if you open up the entirety of your heart to the Lord, even in the areas that you're uncomfortable with26:30 him touching, even in the areas that you would say, I've never let anybody in here, even in the areas that say that's too dark, or even in the areas you say, I'm a little embarrassed about that. If you're willing to open26:40 up your heart, what you'll discover is that Jesus loves you. And he can meet you in those places and change you in those places in ways that you trying to change yourself can26:52 never ever happen. If you come to church with a desire to change, that's a good thing. But if you come to church with a desire to change yourself, you can't. If you come to church with a desire to say, Lord, anywhere in27:03 my life that I'm holding back, I'll allow you to change me. That's where you're gonna see massive transformation. And when you do, you'll look back and you realize, has nothing to do with me. It was all him because I27:14 wouldn't handle it that way. That's the spirit of God in me. Amen? So the mission that we're talking about can't be done in the strength of man. It has to be only done without the Holy Spirit. Without him, we're just27:25 busy and ineffective. And there's a lot of places where people give up and talk strategy and talk vision and talk excitement and talk entertainment and talk programs and God doesn't bless any of that stuff.27:37 God blesses himself. Aligned with the spirit of God is where God can continue to use us. Amen? So keep those 2 in mind. Jesus finished the work. The spirit fuels the work. But now we get27:49 to 0.3, which is this, you carry the work. You carry the work. Notice what he says. So when they had come together, they were asking him. Now, what would you be asking Jesus? IfShow more In this video 0:00 The Weight of the Gospel Mission3:41 Understanding the Mission17:35 Empowered by the Holy Spirit27:52 Carrying the Work Forward43:07 Time is Short, Get to Work
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