Belong
Movement

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Good morning church and Happy New Year! It’s good to start a new series today. We’re starting a new series today, entitled, “Movement;” we are making disciples who make disciples.

Why do we call this series, “Movement?” It’s because, 2000 years ago, Jesus commanded His disciples to go and make disciples. Ever since then, the church has been called to be on the move. You see, the church is not a place, it’s a people. The church is not a monument, it’s a movement. If you think about it, when somebody asks you where your church is, you should ask them a question back, You should say, “Well, on what day are you asking? On Sundays we are here and during our small group nights we are there. On Sundays, we’re here at 2301 Montgomery Drive. During the week we are scattered all over the place. We’re either gathered or scattered because “the church is not the steeple, it is the people.”

The church gathers for strengthening and it scatters for service. The church gathers for worship and scatters for witnessing. The church gathers for praise and scatters in power. The church gathers for fellowship and scatters by faith. The church is walking by faith in the Lord Jesus; we are the body of Christ. That’s who we are; we’re on the move. The church is on the move and Jesus is on the move. It’s an adventure to follow Him.

Don’t you wish you could belong to this movement? Do you belong to this disciple making movement? We are called to be a part of this. When someone asks where your church is, you should ask him, “When and what day of the week are you asking?”

Speaking of movements, just so you’re informed, there is going to be a movement of construction workers in our building starting this week. If you show up next Sunday, and I hope that you will, you might have to come in a different entrance. I don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re going to start demolition of the lobby and some of the classrooms that are off of the lobby. We’re doing some improvements for the next eight to ten weeks leading up to Easter. We’re hoping and praying that it will be ready by Easter weekend. There’s going to be a lot of demolition and construction. Get excited because we’re preparing for more people to come and know Jesus! We’re on the move now.

If you want to be sure that you belong to this Jesus following, disciple making movement, we’re going to be talking about this today. We would like to check our “spiritual pulse” today. It’s the first of the year. It’s a good time to get a physical and see how your body is doing . It’s a good time to look at your finances to see if they are in order. It’s also appropriate, maybe even moreso, to check your spiritual pulse and see how you are doing with God today and as a body since the church is us.

A good way today to check your spiritual pulse would be to give you an opportunity to get a spiritual exam. For the next ten minutes, we are going to do a spiritual transformation survey and ask all of you to participate. We’re joining four other churches, so there are five total churches in Wilson County that are doing the same survey. A couple of them have already done it. I called pastor Rusty at Peace Church. They’ve already done the survey at their Sunday morning service. I asked him, “How long did the survey take?” He said, “We gave them seven minutes and some people didn’t finish.” So, we’re going to give you ten minutes to do it, so you have plenty of time.

We’ve joined with Peace Church, Forest Hills Presbyterian, Impact Church and Mount Moriah Community Church. There are five churches that are forming a core group right now; we’re praying and working together to attract as many other churches in Wilson County so we can make it possible for every man, woman and child in Wilson County to hear the gospel. Here’s what we believe: We can’t do it by ourselves. A “movement” means there’s a lot of people involved.

Here’s my word for the year. I always come back from my study break with a word. The word for this year is “collaborate.” We’re going to work together with each other because we need one another. We’re, also, going to work with other churches that are gospel believing, gospel preaching churches. We’re going to pray that God starts it because we can’t do it. Only God can start a spiritual movement in our city, so that every man, every woman and every child gets multiple opportunities to hear the gospel. The only way that it’s going to happen will be all of us working together to carry the gospel to everyone.

Let’s check our pulse and see how ready we are to do this. We’re going to check our readiness. Barna, who does regular surveys of churches is telling us things like this, tells us that people who go to American churches are being more and more under the influence of the culture than they are of the word of God. More and more people, if they are asked the question, “Is Jesus the only way to heaven to have eternal life?” they will say, “He’s one of the ways , but there are many other ways.” If they are asked, “Is there one absolute truth or are there many truths?” they’ll respond, “Well, there are many truths.” There’s a lot of discontinuity, discontinuity with the word of God and people in churches today. So, I wanted to “check the pulse” of the body of Christ called Wilson Community Church. We’re also doing it at our Rocky Mount campus, as well.

Here’s our starting point. Here’s what we believe about ourselves when it comes to reading the bible regularly and sharing our faith. How close do we feel to the Lord? These kind of questions are asked. I’m going to report back to you next week how we responded. I know it’s kind of odd to come to church and the first thing we do is take a test, but you do it at the doctor all the time , right? You take a test and get the results later.

You really can’t be part of a movement unless you belong to the movement. That’s what we want to talk about today. We’re going to be looking at the text today from1 John 5: 11-15. We’ll be looking for three ways that you can have assurance.

1 John 5:11-15 (ESV) 11”And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Sonof of God that you may know that you have eternal life. 14And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” This is God’s Word. Amen.

How to have Assurance of Salvation as those who Belong to Jesus: 1. Receive God’s Son.

Look at verse 11 and circle the phrase, “God gave.” “God gave.” He gave us a gift. What is that gift? He says eternal life. And then he says that this eternal life is found in God’s Son. It is found in Jesus. It sounds like John 3:16, the gospel of John, where he says, “For God so loved the world that he gave…”

If someone offers you a gift how do you have it as your own? You have to receive it. That’s the first way that we can respond; receive God’s Son.

Have you received God’s Son? It says, “he gave.” Literally, the idea is He gave fully to us to do with as we would. John is very clear; he is writing this first epistle probably towards the end of his life. He is the last living apostle at this point; he is probably in his nineties. It’s towards the end of the first century. He is the last living of the twelve disciples. He wrote this letter. He’s an old man. He “puts the cookies on the bottom shelf” for all the little kids, all the new believers. He wants to make it really clear.

John says, 11”And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” He’s making it so simple and so clear. If you have the Son, you have eternal life . If you don’t have the Son, you don’t have eternal life. How do you receive eternal life? How do you have an assurance that you’ll spend eternity with God? How do you have that? You have to have Jesus.

Have you received Jesus? That’s how simple he’s making it for us. He says, “this is the testimony…” This testimony, by the way, in verse 11 is God’s testimony. This is what God is saying, ‘I gave you My Son so that in Him you might have eternal life.’ This is what he is saying. Have you received Him? That’s the question.

I know that a lot of people, when they become a christian, sometimes have doubts. They wonder, ‘Am I really a christian? Do I really believe? Do I really know that I know? Is that possible?’ Sometimes I’ll ask someone, “Do you have confidence that you’ll go to heaven when you die ?” I’ll be talking to someone, sometimes in a hospital room or sometimes for counseling, and I’ll ask him, ‘If God were to call you home and He asked you, ‘Why should I let you into My heaven?’ What would you say? Have you prepared for eternity?” People will often say, “Well, I hope that He will let me in. I hope that I’ll be able to go to Heaven.” They have hope, but they don’t have confidence.

Here’s what I want to ask you, “Do you have confidence and can you have confidence? Can you know that you know?” John is telling us that we can know and he says that it begins by receiving Jesus.

John 1:12 (ESV) “But to allwho who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” When you receive Him, He receives you and you become adopted into the family of God as a child of God. You belong. When you receive Jesus, you belong and you’re adopted; you have the rights of a child of God. It means belonging.

You see, salvation is a gift and gifts are not earned, they are received. Remember what it says in Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

You can’t earn a gift. The only way you can have a gift is to receive it. Now, I try to work this out by “putting the cookies on the bottom shelf” for myself and for you. How do you receive Jesus? How do you receive Him? How do you get your mind around this? What does that mean, “to as many as received Him?” How do you receive Jesus, so that you have this confidence that you have eternal life?

I started thinking about the traditional marriage vows. I’ve done a lot of weddings in 30 years of ministry. I’ve done various versions of the wedding vows. The old traditional one says, “Do you take this woman to be your wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward in sickness and in health?” Some of the more modern vows take the same traditional vows but they say, “Do you receive this woman as a gift from God as your wedded wife, to have and to hold?” The word, “take,” is substituted with the word, “receive.” I started thinking about this; remember how those old traditional vows say, “… in sickness and in health, forsaking all others for as long as you both shall live?” “Forsaking all others.”

I forsake all others for Jesus. I say, “You are it. I’m receiving You as my Lord and Savior. I’m taking You as mine.” Jesus does the same. It’s like saying, “I do.” To receive Jesus has that sense of commitment. It’s not something that you’re just “trying on.” It’s that kind of lifetime commitment of receiving.

A lot of husbands get in trouble because they can’t remember their wedding day. Heaven help them, right? They do know they’re married. They look at their left hand and say, “I’m married.” If I could get this ring off of my finger, on the inside it says R. D. C to G W. C , 6/2/79. It helps me remember the date that I said, “I do,” to little Robin, my wife. I know I’m married but I’m a man, so sometimes I forget the date. I know that ladies have that date locked in somehow.

If I try to remember the day I received Jesus, I remember it was a Sunday. I remember where I was. I was in Wayne, Michigan at a baptist church. It was the year my father died. I was eight years old. At the age of eight, I had a sense of the reality of life and death that year. It brought me to a point where I was having nightmares and concerns and fears about my salvation. I remember going forward at a children’s church in Wayne, Michigan and receiving Jesus. Now, I don’t remember the date, but I know I was eight years old, so I remember the year. I remember it was a Sunday. You don’t have to remember the date, but you need to remember if you’re married. You need to remember if you said, “I do.”

Have you received Jesus? Have you said, “I do” to Jesus? It’s a commitment, forsaking all others. You’re committed to Jesus. Have you received Jesus? If you’ve received Him, He’s adopted you into His family and you belong. This is the first way that we can know that we belong to God’s family.

How to have Assurance of Salvation as those who Belong to Jesus:

2. Believe God’s word.

Look what it says in verse 13. In fact, in verse 13, John gives us “the keys under the doormat,” so we can understand why he wrote this epistle. Here’s why he wrote this letter. This is what he’s saying in verse 13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” Did I read it right? Let me take another shot at it. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may (work) to have eternal life.” No. It says,“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” You don’t have to hope, you can know. You don’t have to say, “I hope so.” You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to fear death. You can know.

You don’t have to fear anything in this life. Fear is the name of the culture today. Counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists have as much business as undertakers right now. They are That’s why John wrote this letter, so you could know.

John says, 14 “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” You can have confidence that if you ask anything according to His will, He hears us and if you know that He hears us, He’ll give you what you ask. I want to ask you a question. Is it God’s will for you to believe in Jesus? John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “Whosoever” surely includes you and me that believes in His name. Is it God’s will? We’re testing God’s word out right here. This is the confidence you have if you ask anything according to His will. If you ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior and you confess, “I believe that that He died for my sins, that He was raised from the grave and that He lives today” is that God’s will for you to accept Him? I believe it is. I believe that’s the story of the scriptures. If it’s His will and you ask Him, what does the scripture say? He says that you’ll have the very thing you’ve asked for. You can have confidence. If you pray according to God’s will, you have the very thing you asked for.

Now, prayer is not magical. It’s not a magic formula. It’s the confession of your faith, saying, “I do, I want Jesus as Lord and I believe that He was raised from the grave and lives today.” That is what saves you. Not the words, the words are important, you say them, but it’s what activates the faith. You’re expressing your faith.

The word, “testimony”back in verse 11, is the word in the Greek, marturia. It’s where we get the word, “martyr.” Many people in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries gave testimony and witness because that’s what the word means, it means to be a witness or to give testimony. Many of them died for their faith, for their testimony. The word came to mean “one who dies for their testimony.” But it really just means “testimony” or “witness.” This is the testimony and Jesus died for it. If you have Jesus, you have life. If you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have life.

Do you believe that? Do you believe God’s word? Have you decided to believe God’s word? We want to believe the first part because it’s good for us. If you believe in Jesus and you receive Jesus, you have life. We have a little trouble with the second half of that. If you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have life. We have trouble with that. We have trouble with it because we’re not sure if we really believe it. We don’t behave as if we believe it when we’re dealing with our neighbors, our friends, our family, our coworkers and our fellow students. If we really believed it, we would inform the way we live in front of them and the way we talk.

Romans 10:9-11 (NLT) “For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.” If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, that’s the “I do.” That’s receiving and believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead. That’s the believing part. You will be saved. Not maybe; not later. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. Paul is making it simple for us to understand, receive and believe.

Larry King, the former host of the popular TV show, “ Larry King Live,” passed away last January in 2021. Someyears earlier, he was interviewed by Barbara Walters. She asked him, “Larry, what is your greatest fear?” Without even thinking for a second, he answered with one word, “death.” The follow up question was, “Do you believe in God?” He paused for a moment and answered, “I’m not sure. I’m an agnostic.”

Do you have to say, “I’m not sure I believe?” No, you can be sure. You can know that you know that you know. This is why John wrote the 1st epistle of John so that you could know. It changes everything when you have this, this rock of foundation, of knowing your eternal destiny and knowing that you are a child of God. It changes your identity. You live differently as a result. It’s a way of living fearlessly and faithfully, because faith has no room for fear.

2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV) 7 “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Put this scripture on your refrigerator. Put this on your mirror in your bathroom of on the dash of your car.

I remember when I was young, probably in the first grade or maybe younger. My little brother was around two years old and he had a favorite song at church. In the church that we grew up in, we didn’t have a children’s church. We were all in there together and sitting together. My little brother could sing this song and maybe you can, too. “My name is in the Book of Life, oh bless the name of Jesus.” Here’s the chorus; it’s hard. “I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know my name is written there.” That’s it. You can know that your name is written in the Book of Life.

How do you know? If you have Jesus, you have life. If you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have life. You may say, “well, Gary, that’s a pretty amazing claim.” That’s why we’re on the move. That’s why we’re a movement, to make sure the whole world knows that Jesus is the only way. That’s why we exist. That’s why we’re a movement. We can’t be static, We can’t be still.

How to have Assurance of Salvation as those who Belong to Jesus:

3. Desire God’s will.

You can believe in God’s word. You can be confident. Finally, you’ll have a new desire. You’ll desire God’s will . The real mark of a true disciple is that they want what Jesus wants more than what they want. They surrender their will to Him. They want His way. They’ve learned that His way is better than their way.

It says in verse 14, “according to his will.” John Stott wrote this in his book, “Letters of John,” “Prayer is not a convenient device for imposing our will upon God, or for bending His will to ours, but the prescribed way of subordinating our will to His. It is by prayer that we seek God’s will, embrace it and align ourselves with it. Every true prayer is a variation of the theme ‘Your will be done.’”

Verse 15 says, 15 “And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” The word, “ask,” could be translated, “beg, call for, crave or desire.” To prayas Jesus did. “Not My will, but Thine be done.”

There are two garden stories in the bible. One is early on and one is later on. The one early on involves these two people, Adam and Eve. They’re in a garden and they are deceived by the serpent and they make a choice. They want their will over God’s will and sin enters in with its suffering and death. It’s been the same ever since, until Jesus came. Paul calls Him “the second Adam, Son of God, Son of Man.” He comes and He’s in another garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, late before that Friday when He was crucified. In that garden, He’s tempted by the evil one and, in His humanity, He prays, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” You see, He’s the one.

We can be born again. We’re all born into Adam’s race. We are born into sin, born with selfishness in our heart that says, “I want my way.” If you’ve been alive long enough, maybe you’ve learned, as I’ve learned, it’s not that good to get your own way. In fact, it’s terrible. It’s much better to live according to God’s will and to surrender to it. When you pray, ask God, “I feel like I want this, can I have this?” You can ask; you are His kid. Ask for whatever, but be aware that you ask according to His will and pray, “God, is it your will for me to have this? If not, bring my desires in alignment with Yours.” What will happen is, over time, you’ll be able to pray as the psalmist writes, Psalm 37:4 (ESV) “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Your will will be in alignment with His will and you’ll want what God wants. When you pray, your prayers will be answered because you’re praying according to God’s will . Oh, what a wonderful life to live, walking by faith and living according to God’s will in your life.

Some of you may ask, “Yeah, but God can I just, in this one area, have an exception and just do this?” Sometimes He’ll let you do that and then you’ll be back with Him sometime later praying, “God, please don’t ever let me do that again. I tried something I shouldn’t have.” People get upset about what God’s word will say to do and not to do.

Being a Christian is not about the “to dos” and the “not to dos.” It’s about a relationship with Jesus. As you follow Jesus, you start saying, “I want what this says and I don’t want to buck against it anymore.”

Have you received God’s Son? You see, you can know that you belong. Have you said, “I do,” to Jesus? “I do. I want you as Lord of my life. I surrender the car keys. You drive.” Have you believed in His word? Do you believe that He’s been raised from the grave and that He lives today? Do you want what He wants? You can know that you know that you know that you belong to Jesus. You don’t have to be afraid anymore. Nothing can touch you that doesn’t first pass through the fingers of the Almighty Father. When does eternal life begin? It begins at the very moment that you received Jesus. If you’ve got Jesus, you’ve got life. If you don’t got Jesus, you don’t got life. Oh, let that be confidence and knowledge for you today. If you have Jesus, you can know that you know that you know. It changes everything.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You that You gave us Jesus, but it’s up to us now to to receive Him and believe and to follow Him. Lord, I pray for that person under my hearing right now, whether they’re watching online or seated in the auditorium right now, is it your desire to receive Jesus and to believe in Him? You can pray right where you are, right in your seat or wherever you’re listening right now. It’s not so much the words of the prayer as it is the expression of your faith. You can pray like this, “Lord, I’m a sinner and I have fallen short of Your will, but I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and that He lives today. He was raised from the dead and lives today. Come and live in me. I repent of my sin and I ask You to come and be my Lord and Savior. I surrender my life to You. Make me a child of God and adopt me into Your family. Thank you, Lord, for forgiving me and saving me.” If you’re praying that prayer right now, believing and receiving, He’ll save you. It’s His will. It’s His desire to do so. He wants you. Others are here and you’ve received Him and you believe in Him, but it’s that last part. It’s desiring His will that the Holy Spirit is bringing to your attention right now. Is there an area that you’ve gone astray, that you’re not living to what you know He’s told you to do or not to do. Would you, right now, confess it as sin, repent and say, “Lord forgive me. I know I’m saved. I know I’m right with You. I know I have eternal life, but Lord, I want Your will in my life in every area. I want my life permeated by the desire to follow You. Oh, let it be so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.