1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,440 Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located 2 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,680 in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship 3 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:21,920 Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, 4 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:27,300 discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church 5 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:31,880 and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your 6 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:36,420 host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing 7 00:00:36,420 --> 00:00:40,320 to you and bring you closer to God. 8 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:50,720 Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. My name is David Bigford. 9 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:55,440 I'm the pastor here up in Salmon Arm and the message that I put together today is the 10 00:00:55,440 --> 00:01:02,200 Regenerating Self-Replicating Salvation-Seeking Church. A subheading for this would be Blessings 11 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:07,160 or Blessing, Fruitfulness and Increase. The text that we are going to be working off of 12 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:17,600 is going to be Genesis, chapter 1 verse 28, chapter 9 verse 7 and chapter 28 verse 3. 13 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,520 Those will be the portions of scripture that we are going to be using as a jumping off 14 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:29,120 point today. When I was thinking about putting this message together, the idea of regeneration, 15 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:37,240 self-replication is something we can see in nature quite regularly, if you will. One idea 16 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:42,400 is the breeding cycle of rabbits. Unlike many other animals, a rabbit matures early in its 17 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:50,200 life and can begin reproducing very quickly. Its cycle starts very, very early on in its 18 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:55,680 lifetime. A doe or a female rabbit will begin to breed around three to five months and bucks 19 00:01:55,680 --> 00:02:01,440 or male rabbits can begin roughly one month later in life. Rabbits are able to have about 20 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:08,920 60 babies per year. They can fully wean and raise them as expected. This is a pretty crazy 21 00:02:08,920 --> 00:02:15,720 idea even when you consider humanity and the fact of our period from conception to birth 22 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:21,640 being so much longer, rabbits being able to produce 60 offspring per year. A female rabbit 23 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:30,160 is receptive to mating 14 days out of 16 days. They are clearly built to reproduce in a rapid 24 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:37,080 succession. Female rabbits and the gestation period are much different than most mammals, 25 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:44,720 which usually has that period of time between 31 to 33 days, but for rabbits it is like 26 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:50,680 the 16 day window. Let's look at our text as we keep this in mind, the idea of the church 27 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:56,840 and the idea of fruitfulness and the idea of regeneration and replication. In Genesis 28 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:02,760 1, 28 it says, God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number, 29 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:07,440 fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish and the sea and the birds in the sky 30 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:13,280 and over every living creature that moves on the ground. In Genesis 9, 7 it says, and 31 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:19,320 you be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it. And then 32 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:25,760 later in Genesis 28, 3 it says, God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply 33 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:31,760 you that you may become a company of people. Before we jump in, it's important to note 34 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:36,200 that in society today there's often times people saying, well the times are really bad, 35 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:43,240 we shouldn't be looking to have kids. This goes against the teachings of God in the scripture 36 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,360 which is always calling us to fruitfulness. We're not supposed to be worried about the 37 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:53,200 overtaxing of the planet in terms of birth rates because what we actually see in history 38 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:57,580 right now is people telling us there's too many people on the planet. Meanwhile Canada 39 00:03:57,580 --> 00:04:02,920 has even with the amount of immigration that we've had in the last 10 years still only 40 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:08,160 has roughly 40 million people in a country that's the size of Russia. It's one of the 41 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:14,440 largest countries in the world and yet we have a very, very small population. When you 42 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:22,000 compare us to older civilizations like Russia or China or India, they have way, way more 43 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:29,760 population than we have. Russia has the population fairly equivalent to the United States, whereas 44 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:35,300 China and India have populations that are over a billion people. And yet we're still 45 00:04:35,300 --> 00:04:40,280 told that we should be fearful of overpopulation when we're called to be fruitful and multiply 46 00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:44,680 according to the scripture. And so I don't want to get off into the weeds there because 47 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:49,520 this is not really going to be focused on that kind of regeneration or self-replication 48 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:54,560 but it's important that we put the Bible in context. And it's also important to understand 49 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:59,920 that while people are telling us that society is overpopulated, in reality we're coming 50 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:07,780 to a precipice of declining population. When you look at China and their demographics, 51 00:05:07,780 --> 00:05:13,000 they're getting ready to head off a cliff of negative population because of certain 52 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,960 policies that were enacted by their government throughout the history that were very damaging 53 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:23,680 to the people of China, but it's also going to be hugely damaging to their growth as a 54 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:30,800 nation going forward. Similarly, in the United States, they are down to about a 1.7 births 55 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:36,880 per couple in the United States, which is below what is necessary to even maintain populations. 56 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:43,840 So when you remove out the immigration that's happened, then you start to see a big issue 57 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:48,120 because less people are going to be born, which means there's going to be less people 58 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:53,600 to fund a lot of the systems that have been put in place. And so it's kind of like a Ponzi 59 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,400 scheme when you get down to it because we don't have the growth necessary to sustain 60 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,880 the growth that we've had in the past. And it's the only natural thing that's going 61 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:06,520 to happen is retraction. But I'm getting a little off topic here. So let's get into 62 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:11,480 why I'm discussing this, why I brought this idea up, and why am I talking about the mating 63 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:17,080 cycles of rabbits or the continued call to fruitfulness and increase that's laid out 64 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:22,720 over and over and over again in the Bible. The Word of God is a blueprint for our lives 65 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:29,840 and the hysterosity of the Bible should be the foundation of our faith. The lessons taught 66 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:34,280 in the Bible are lessons learned throughout the entirety of human history. The life of 67 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:39,520 Adam and Eve gives us the first glimpse of the desired outcome that God has or God has 68 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:45,360 for his creation. His call to the first couple was to be fruitful and multiply. And the same 69 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:51,400 call was given to Noah, was given to Jacob, and was given to many others throughout the 70 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:55,520 Old Testament. So even while the Israelites were slaves to the Pharaoh and exiled into 71 00:06:55,520 --> 00:07:01,400 Babylon, they were mandated to grow in faith and in numbers. Faith and in numbers is the 72 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:06,800 root of the command. We are commanded by God to grow in our faith and to spread that faith 73 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:12,460 to others that they might also be saved. That is why we see the language shift in the New 74 00:07:12,460 --> 00:07:17,220 Testament towards a different kind of growth. The growth of one's family and one's nation 75 00:07:17,220 --> 00:07:23,400 becomes less highlighted whereas the focus turns to our hearts and to the hearts of others 76 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:29,480 that we come in contact with. Having a massive Bible-believing family is great, but being 77 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:37,560 part of the kingdom on the move is even better. In Matthew 28, 16-20 we read this powerful 78 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:41,880 piece of scripture which is called the Great Commission and it says in verse 16, Now the 79 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:47,020 eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and when 80 00:07:47,020 --> 00:07:52,240 they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, 81 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:58,700 All authority in heaven and on earth have been given to me. So go therefore and make 82 00:07:58,700 --> 00:08:02,920 disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 83 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:08,760 Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with 84 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:16,000 you always to the end of the age. So as we read this powerful piece of scripture, you 85 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:20,520 know we have to reflect that as Christians we are called to have a different view of 86 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:27,760 the world and a different call that's being placed upon our lives. Back in April, I preached 87 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:32,680 a sermon that was last April, so this was like a year ago, that was subtitled Prospecting 88 00:08:32,680 --> 00:08:38,440 for You. The reason for that subtitle was simple. In obedience to Christ we are looking 89 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:45,800 for that next soul who is ready to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Acts 1, 7-8 90 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:51,380 it says, He said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has 91 00:08:51,380 --> 00:08:57,200 fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, 92 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:02,120 and you will be my witness in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria and to the end 93 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:12,440 of the earth. In Acts 12-24 it says, But the word of God increased and multiplied. So here 94 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:20,840 we have this powerful, powerful picture of the early church and the command from our 95 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:27,380 Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ being to go into the world and you're going to be regenerated 96 00:09:27,380 --> 00:09:34,220 by the Spirit, but you're going to be self-replicating by sharing the message of Jesus Christ as 97 00:09:34,220 --> 00:09:40,880 we seek a church that's focused on salvation. So it's from this jumping off point that we 98 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,560 need to realize and understand that we are called to be fruitful for the kingdom's sake 99 00:09:44,560 --> 00:09:49,240 and despite the conditions of the world that we live in today. How do we go about the work 100 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:55,960 of a kingdom? How do we overcome this fallen world and remain fruitful, faithful, and victorious? 101 00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:00,540 We have to learn how to regenerate. When we are injured, this can be for many different 102 00:10:00,540 --> 00:10:06,460 kinds of injuries, spiritual, physical, psychological. We have to learn how to self-replicate or 103 00:10:06,460 --> 00:10:12,020 better yet replicate Christ and others. But finally, we need to always be focused on the 104 00:10:12,020 --> 00:10:17,520 goal that is salvation for others. We need to seek out the loss for that is the Great 105 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:22,700 Commission. Now it brings me to the first point, which is regeneration. The church suffers 106 00:10:22,700 --> 00:10:37,940 in loss, but can heal itself in Christ. In Titus 3.5, it says, 107 00:10:37,940 --> 00:10:43,280 The need for us as individuals to regenerate is critical to our own faith and salvation. 108 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:48,380 Even more important is the ability for the church to continually regenerate in Christ. 109 00:10:48,380 --> 00:10:52,480 Christianity has always been under attack by this fallen world and the demonic forces 110 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:57,500 that wail against the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The crucifixion of Jesus was an attempt 111 00:10:57,500 --> 00:11:02,740 to cut off the head of our faith. This attempt was unsuccessful because nothing the devil 112 00:11:02,740 --> 00:11:08,460 can do will defeat the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That being said, there are 113 00:11:08,460 --> 00:11:13,400 times when the devil will strike through the failings of men. Back in 2021, Hillsong Church 114 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:19,440 was affected by a major scandal. The Hillsong Church scandal imperils the future of the 115 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:23,460 megachurch and the scandalous stories out of Hillsong kept piling up. 116 00:11:23,460 --> 00:11:29,060 We read a little excerpt from an MSNBC columnist. It says, 117 00:11:29,060 --> 00:11:34,120 The hits keep coming at Hillsong Church, but they aren't worship songs. The latest scandal 118 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:39,460 regarding the global megachurch involves a 2021 internal investigation report leaked 119 00:11:39,460 --> 00:11:44,420 to the Christian Post that, according to the publication, details extensive stories of 120 00:11:44,420 --> 00:11:49,380 sexual abuse and misconduct under the former pastorate of Carl Lentz at Hillsong, New York 121 00:11:49,380 --> 00:11:54,900 City. In that report, which was conducted by a New York law firm at the church's behest, 122 00:11:54,900 --> 00:12:00,460 Lentz is the accused of more than one extramarital affair. He is also accused of causing mental 123 00:12:00,460 --> 00:12:05,060 illness among staffers and volunteers and running a church where, according to the Christian 124 00:12:05,060 --> 00:12:11,300 Post, there were multiple incidents of consensual or non-consensual sexual interactions between 125 00:12:11,300 --> 00:12:15,980 church leaders, congregants, staff, volunteers, and non-churchgoers. 126 00:12:15,980 --> 00:12:20,800 Hillsong's biggest draw was the charismatic leadership that was attached to the entertainment 127 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:25,860 world as well as the political world. So what are we supposed to do when our leaders fail 128 00:12:25,860 --> 00:12:31,180 us? What is the appropriate response to these kind of situations? In our fellowship, we 129 00:12:31,180 --> 00:12:35,340 have procedures for dealing with these kind of issues. Many would consider the way that 130 00:12:35,340 --> 00:12:40,900 we deal with these issues to be quite severe, but not without purpose. We can also look 131 00:12:40,900 --> 00:12:46,180 directly to the Word of God for methods to deal with the injury in the church and how 132 00:12:46,180 --> 00:12:52,900 we can heal these wounds. Matthew 18, 15-17 says, If your brother sins against you, go 133 00:12:52,900 --> 00:12:59,780 and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained 134 00:12:59,780 --> 00:13:04,620 your brother, but if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every 135 00:13:04,620 --> 00:13:09,460 charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to 136 00:13:09,460 --> 00:13:14,700 listen to them, tell it to the church, and if he refuses to listen even to the church, 137 00:13:14,700 --> 00:13:21,700 let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. We can look at this because we had a similar 138 00:13:21,700 --> 00:13:27,060 incident happen with two other leaders of other churches recently where one called another 139 00:13:27,060 --> 00:13:34,940 out in public. All we can hope is that there was an attempt beforehand to reach out between 140 00:13:34,940 --> 00:13:41,420 the leaders before it became the scene that it was with the other leader being on stage 141 00:13:41,420 --> 00:13:49,300 and basically coming against what was happening in that event. These kind of things happen 142 00:13:49,300 --> 00:13:53,380 and we have to remember Jesus' way of handling these things is different than the way that 143 00:13:53,380 --> 00:13:58,100 we typically would want to. So when you think of Hillsong and their investigation, it was 144 00:13:58,100 --> 00:14:03,300 started internally. There was a desire to expose the sin and hopefully heal from it. 145 00:14:03,300 --> 00:14:07,900 In fact, if you look at the animal kingdom, we can learn something about how at least 146 00:14:07,900 --> 00:14:13,620 one animal deals with this issue of contamination. So this is about the amazing regenerative 147 00:14:13,620 --> 00:14:18,960 abilities that we see in nature. Whether making a quick getaway or recovering from an injury, 148 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:24,540 certain creatures have incredible capabilities to regenerate parts of their body. Off with 149 00:14:24,540 --> 00:14:31,620 their head, the sea slug Elysia marginata never loses its head, but it does sometimes 150 00:14:31,620 --> 00:14:37,460 lose its body. Researchers suspect the slug detaches its head when its body becomes infected 151 00:14:37,460 --> 00:14:43,600 with parasites. The head continues crawling around until the creature regrows its missing 152 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:52,620 body parts within 20 days. Here's a powerful view of something we can look at in nature 153 00:14:52,620 --> 00:14:59,540 that God can do in our own lives. Now we can't regrow our bodies, but spiritually, the church, 154 00:14:59,540 --> 00:15:04,580 we can regenerate. In Mark 9, 43 it says, and if your hand causes you to sin, cut it 155 00:15:04,580 --> 00:15:09,380 off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands and go to hell to the 156 00:15:09,380 --> 00:15:15,700 unquenchable fire. So as a church, we have, we need to be able to continually regenerate 157 00:15:15,700 --> 00:15:21,580 ourselves in the word of God. Sometimes that means that parts are left behind. This might 158 00:15:21,580 --> 00:15:28,460 be new convictions are held to and other things are cut out from our life or the church body, 159 00:15:28,460 --> 00:15:33,180 but it is for the sanctity and the health of the body so that we do not become complacent 160 00:15:33,180 --> 00:15:39,300 to the will of God in our lives. Now I'm not saying go off and chop your hand and I don't 161 00:15:39,300 --> 00:15:44,620 believe Jesus was saying that either, but I believe it was the stark contrast to the 162 00:15:44,620 --> 00:15:51,220 culture at the time of covering and hiding sin that made his, his parable or his story 163 00:15:51,220 --> 00:15:56,900 so much more impactful to the audience he was speaking to. In Romans 13, 11 it says, 164 00:15:56,900 --> 00:16:03,080 beside this, you know that the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep for 165 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:09,320 salvation is near to us now than it was when we first believe the goal is to be a healthy 166 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:14,500 believer for Christ and part of a healthy church or a group of believers in Christ so 167 00:16:14,500 --> 00:16:22,640 that we can communally be self replicating believers and, and a self replicating church. 168 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:27,820 This brings me to my next point, which is self replicating and John eight 31 it says, 169 00:16:27,820 --> 00:16:33,260 so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word, you are truly 170 00:16:33,260 --> 00:16:38,980 my disciples. Matthew four 19 says, and he said to them, follow me and I will make you 171 00:16:38,980 --> 00:16:43,980 fishers of men as a group of believers and a church body. We are meant to grow in our 172 00:16:43,980 --> 00:16:49,100 faith and to spread that faith far and wide. Then we are meant to send out workers to new 173 00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:54,320 areas to start again and do the same thing so that the whole earth will be reached with 174 00:16:54,320 --> 00:17:00,760 the gospel. It is critical that this remains our focus. Unfortunately, many churches today 175 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:05,500 have lost this vision to seek the lost and they have become comfortable to stay where 176 00:17:05,500 --> 00:17:10,880 they are and simply maintain what they have. Churches can lose their ability to self replicate 177 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:17,280 and this is a sad eventuality. Let's look again at the animal kingdom for why. Plenarians 178 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:24,300 or flatworms, if you cut them into pieces, each piece can grow into a new worm. See cucumbers 179 00:17:24,300 --> 00:17:28,560 have bodies that can grow to be three feet long and if you cut them into pieces, each 180 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:34,760 one can become a new C cucumber. Sponges can divide can be divided and in that case the 181 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:40,920 cells of the sponge will regrow and combined exactly as before. A church should be able 182 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:46,560 to expand and grow and then when attack or is broken up like the first church was in 183 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:54,100 Israel, they can become a number of churches in a number of cities. This is critical to 184 00:17:54,100 --> 00:17:59,560 the call of God and to the health of the body believers. It is part of our necessary resoluteness 185 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:04,300 to stand for the gospel even in the face of adversity. This is even more important in 186 00:18:04,300 --> 00:18:09,880 today's day and age with everything going on even with the US Congress trying to make 187 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:15,360 certain parts of the Bible considered hate speech. And I don't have even a problem saying 188 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:22,640 this certain people on both sides of the aisle, Democrat and Republican, voted to make certain 189 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:27,000 things that if you were to read from the Bible, we could be considered hate speech and this 190 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:34,400 is a very scary thing in our day and age. So we will come under attack and we have to 191 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:40,320 understand that and we have to be able to remain a healthy body of believers when the 192 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:44,800 attacks come. And each of these examples from nature, it's important to notice the fact 193 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:50,720 that the worm, the C cucumber, the sponge did not become a new creature, but each segment 194 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:57,240 became an individual creature, but still the same as what came before it. So we, the church, 195 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:01,260 need to be able to withstand what the world's going to throw at us and what the world is 196 00:19:01,260 --> 00:19:07,240 throwing at us and remain faithful to Christ. That way we remain rooted in Christ even as 197 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:12,680 the world falls further and further away. We remain able to spread the seed of the gospel 198 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:17,680 further and further while remaining strong in our faith. Again, we look at nature and 199 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:23,920 we see plants like dandelions, milkweed, cottonwood, trees, and how they take advantage of tufts 200 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:28,560 of hairs attached to their seeds called papai. These papai can catch the wind like little 201 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:34,940 parachutes allowing seeds to sail for a hundred miles propelled by the wind. We need to remain 202 00:19:34,940 --> 00:19:40,520 focused on the purpose of the gospel and therefore the church. That purpose is salvation, our 203 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:47,280 salvation, yours, mine, theirs. And just like these little seeds on the wind, we should 204 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:53,920 be able to send out workers into the rest of the world where these seeds can take root 205 00:19:53,920 --> 00:20:02,680 into new lives and new churches and new converts to Christ can be born. And they can start 206 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:08,500 that cycle all over again. So this brings me to my final point, which is the salvation-seeking 207 00:20:08,500 --> 00:20:13,540 church. Matthew 4.19 says, and he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers 208 00:20:13,540 --> 00:20:21,840 and men. We read that in John 4.28.30 it says, so the woman left her water jar and went away 209 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:26,520 into the town and said to the people, come and see a man who told me all that I ever 210 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:33,960 did. Can this be the Christ? They went out of the town and were coming to him. And then 211 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:40,020 later in that same chapter, John 4.39, many Samaritans from the town believed in him because 212 00:20:40,020 --> 00:20:46,360 of the woman's testimony. He told me all that I ever did. When Jesus called upon his first 213 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:55,160 disciples, he called to them by way of their occupation. These fishermen were challenged 214 00:20:55,160 --> 00:21:00,320 to become something more than what they were. Instead of seeking fish to catch, they were 215 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:04,900 called to catch the hearts of men and women with the gospel. They were called to be fishers 216 00:21:04,900 --> 00:21:09,720 of men. They did not fully understand this. They didn't understand what this call meant, 217 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:14,800 but we know that this was the call to salvation, not only for themselves, but for the whole 218 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:20,680 world in Christ Jesus. Later on, when Jesus met with the woman at the well, the disciples 219 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:25,160 were given another valuable lesson. The woman was confronted with the revelation of who 220 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:31,720 Jesus is and we see her salvation in Christ, but we also see the immediate desire to share 221 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:37,480 the transformation to others. She becomes a witnessing machine for the gospel of Jesus 222 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:43,880 Christ. Time and again in the Bible, we see people grab ahold of the gospel. The gospel 223 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:49,000 will grab ahold of them and then they just immediately, it changes their lives. It changes 224 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,800 their goals. It changes their desires. We need to hold on to that fire. We need to spread 225 00:21:53,800 --> 00:22:00,520 that fire and share the message of Jesus Christ far and wide. In doing so, we must never forget 226 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:07,160 that the purpose is salvation and not condemnation. In John 3, 16 through 21, there's a very famous 227 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,680 scripture that I'm going to read here. It says, for God so loved the world that he gave 228 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:17,480 his only son and that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 229 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:22,760 Everybody's heard that part, but I really like this next part. For God did not send 230 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:27,400 his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved 231 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:33,200 through him, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in 232 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:41,880 him is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. 233 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:47,200 And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people loved the darkness 234 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:52,640 rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things 235 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:58,420 hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever 236 00:22:58,420 --> 00:23:05,000 does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have 237 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:12,560 been carried out in God. The prodigal son story shows us another picture of this. It 238 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:18,320 shows us how we should always hold out to the hope that the lost will find their way 239 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:23,920 home and that we should be glad for their salvation and not jealous of the immense grace 240 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:31,020 of God. And Luke 1532 says it was fitting to celebrate and to be glad that this younger 241 00:23:31,020 --> 00:23:37,120 brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and he is now found. 242 00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:42,960 So in closing, let's think about regeneration. We need to be able to regenerate ourselves 243 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:47,920 in Christ, healing ourselves with the word of God, with our brothers and sisters in Christ, 244 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:53,880 strengthening ourselves in prayer, fellowship, and through common purpose. The ultimate regeneration 245 00:23:53,880 --> 00:24:01,320 was our rebirth in Christ. We are a new creation in Christ and in Christ we are transformed. 246 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:07,600 In 2 Corinthians 5, 16-17 it says, From now on, therefore, we regard no one according 247 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:15,060 to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him 248 00:24:15,060 --> 00:24:20,580 thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has 249 00:24:20,580 --> 00:24:30,380 passed away. Behold, the new has come. Self-replicate. Ultimately, disciple-making is about making 250 00:24:30,380 --> 00:24:36,800 more disciples. It's pretty common sense, right? But a lot of this, the church has seemed 251 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:41,240 to miss. They want to be a club that doesn't require growth. They want it to be all about 252 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:47,120 pizza parties or, you know, buff, you know, what is it called? Potlucks and different 253 00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:53,000 things of that nature. Or they want one massive church where there's very, very little going 254 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:58,880 on in between the individuals there. There might be a core of believers that are trying, 255 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:06,720 but oftentimes the breaking up of that larger body is what's necessary for the members of 256 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:12,600 that body to truly grow. So it's often very easy to get so wrapped up in our own personal 257 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:18,240 growth and the growth of your specific group that it's easy to forget that one of the most 258 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:24,440 important things we can do as disciples is to make more disciples. This often involves 259 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:29,820 leaving the group we are in and starting a new group. It also involves sharing the gospel 260 00:25:29,820 --> 00:25:34,640 with the lost and leading them as they become followers of Jesus Christ and have personal 261 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:39,940 relations with them and with other disciples. Now what I meant about that, about leaving 262 00:25:39,940 --> 00:25:44,520 one group and starting, that's church planting. That's within the structure of church planting 263 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:49,200 or starting a Bible study on your own, like a small group Bible study on a college campus 264 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:55,800 or at your school. That's what I mean by that. You're not leaving the gathering of the brethren 265 00:25:55,800 --> 00:26:03,440 necessarily, but you're becoming another offshoot of growth from it. In 2 Timothy 2, it talks 266 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:13,280 about how the most well used treasured scripture verses on discipleship. And in that verse 267 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:18,680 of scripture it says, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses 268 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:26,120 and trusts faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So here's three areas of 269 00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:32,120 replication. Replicate yourself. The first arena replication is to replicate yourself. 270 00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:37,400 We will not initiate a movement if we have not successfully initiated the first arena. 271 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,240 You may lead someone to Christ and have the opportunity to show this new believer how 272 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:46,720 to meditate on God's word, pray, live in a biblical community and replicate themselves 273 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:53,560 in someone else. Perhaps you know a church member or someone of, or some small group 274 00:26:53,560 --> 00:27:00,480 with whom you could form a group around to help them better follow Jesus. But the fact 275 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:06,600 of the matter is, a mature disciple is a replicating disciple. And then you replicate the group. 276 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:10,880 When a disciple forms a new discipleship group, they should immediately begin making plans 277 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:15,040 to lead that group to start another group, or even groups. Now this is again a picture 278 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:21,840 of churches. When a group fails to replicate, it freezes the movement at a generation. It 279 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:26,360 robs the disciples in the group of opportunity to start new groups themselves, and for the 280 00:27:26,360 --> 00:27:33,520 multiplication to occur, groups must replicate, and the more often, the better. So replication 281 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:38,480 and movement. Disciple making does not become a movement until the individual disciples 282 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:44,820 are making disciples evangelistically and personally. And individual groups are replicating 283 00:27:44,820 --> 00:27:50,240 and forming more groups. Paul had a massive impact on making disciples not just personally 284 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:56,600 or in groups, but as a movement because he encouraged both personal and group disciple 285 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:02,220 making. So as we're coming to a close with this, we want to be salvation seeking because 286 00:28:02,220 --> 00:28:07,600 that is always the point. As we examine ourselves to see if we are in the truth, we must hold 287 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:13,880 two things in tension. God is growing us in holiness. Remember our life is not perfection, 288 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:20,440 but we should be moving in that direction. And two, we are not holy enough. If you examine 289 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,920 your fruit and recognize that you are growing in holiness, but fail to see that you are 290 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:29,480 not as holy as you should be, you'll become self-sufficient and prideful. And worst of 291 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:35,000 all, you will forget the grace of the gospel. However, if you only recognize that you are 292 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:39,560 not as holy as you should be, but you fail to recognize that God is growing you in holiness, 293 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:44,720 then you will always doubt your salvation. As Christians, you sin too much, but Jesus 294 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:50,240 died for the ungodly, which we can see in Romans 5-6. So there is no condemnation to 295 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:56,340 those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8-1. As a Christian, you will keep growing in grace 296 00:28:56,340 --> 00:29:02,120 in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 3-8. You don't do as much as you 297 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:07,960 should, but Jesus did. His perfection has been credited to your account, so when you 298 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:12,920 confess your sin, He is faithful to forgive you and cleanse you. You must proclaim the 299 00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:19,240 good news to yourself daily, or you will certainly end up in a ditch of despair or in the pit 300 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:24,560 of pride. God does not want you in either place, but rather walking with confidence 301 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:28,960 and assurance that you are His. So with that, if I could have everyone bowed, every eye 302 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:34,720 closed as long as you're not doing something where you need your eyes open. Now I just 303 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:39,240 want to come to a quick invitation. If this message has impacted you and you recognize 304 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:42,960 that either you've never given your life to Jesus Christ or you've walked away from 305 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:46,880 that and you're not right with God, but you want to be, I want you to raise your hand, 306 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:51,760 signify that up on the hand, I can't see it, but God sees everything. If you did that 307 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:56,480 and you mean it, I want you to repeat this prayer after me. Dear Lord God, I know that 308 00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:01,280 I'm a sinner, but I know that you sent your Son Jesus Christ and He died for my sins. 309 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:07,160 I repent of my sins. I accept Him as my Lord and Savior, and I thank you for salvation 310 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:14,840 through grace in Jesus name. Amen. It's a very simple prayer. It's a very simple message. 311 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:20,360 And I just pray that it really does impact you and help you to become a better Christian, 312 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:27,760 a more regenerative, self-replicating, salvation seeking Christian. And with that being said 313 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:33,960 too, what are the next steps? It's obviously to pray, cry out to God, read the Word of 314 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:40,360 God and find a Bible believing church that's salvation seeking for yourself to lock into. 315 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:44,560 You can come to the church and the seminar. We'd love to have you, but if you're not 316 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:50,080 from here and you're listening online, well then we have 3,500 churches globally and I'd 317 00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:55,360 be more than happy to help you find one. My contact information is in the show notes. 318 00:30:55,360 --> 00:31:01,080 And then lastly, I just like if this message did impact you, that you would like to share 319 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:05,520 and subscribe to this podcast. It really does help us get the word out there. We're on all 320 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:12,540 the platforms. We're on Apple. We're on RSS feed. We're on Google, I believe, and we're 321 00:31:12,540 --> 00:31:17,680 on Spotify as well. And we're also on YouTube. So with that, I just want to thank you and 322 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:22,000 I'll just close in a quick prayer. Dear Lord God, I give you all the praise and glory for 323 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,680 this message, for this time, Lord God, and I pray that you bless everyone as they go. 324 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:26,680 In Jesus' name, Amen. 325 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:36,160 Thank you for listening to the PHA Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. Be sure to follow 326 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:40,760 us on Instagram at pottershouse underscore salmon arm to keep up to date on what we are 327 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:52,400 doing. Join the conversation and discover how Jesus Christ can revolutionize your life.