Building a Solid Foundation for Church Planting

My responsibility here during this session is to address the issue of building a solid doctrinal foundation, specifically as it relates to church plants. I am the pastor of preaching at a recent church plant in Houston, Texas. We planted this church two years ago and as a two year old church plant, and we don't we don't really consider ourselves a church plant. We consider ourselves a church planting movement. We are a church planting church. So we planted a church planting church. We are right now in the process of training and mentoring and discipling seven men with a view towards sending them out as church planters. Not all of them will do that, and that's part of what is born out in this year long process, that not everybody is called or ready to do this, but by God's grace, by the end of the year, we should. We should have our first plant up and off the ground, and we're bringing for two by the end of the year. But that's who we are, that's what we do. But it's important that as we do this, as we plan churches, that we do so for the right reasons, and that we do so with a proper understanding from a biblical perspective of what the church is, of what it means to plant a church, and how it is that we put into the DNA of that new church a proper and solid doctrinal foundation. So what I want to do here is a couple of things. First of all, I want to give you the short answer, the brief answer, the easy answer. And then after I give you that answer through a brief exposition, we'll sort of expand on that, and I'll just talk to you from a very practical perspective about some things that we have done, because I think that's valuable. But first I just want I want to give the easy answer, the quick answer. If you'll open your Bibles with me to the Book of Second Timothy. Second Timothy four and verse two A, Preach the word, Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. That's the brief answer. Preach the word. That's how you get a solid doctrinal foundation. Preach the word. But let's look here a little more broadly at this passage of scripture here, beginning of verse one, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and teaching, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober minded in your suffering, do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry now. In order to understand the significance of this passage, I believe it's important to understand the significance of its context within this Book of Second Timothy. Second Timothy is one of, if not my favorite books in the whole New Testament, at least maybe in the whole Bible. I love the Book of Second Timothy. There are just myriad aspects of the Book of Second Timothy that really draw me to this letter. But let me give you a few of them. First of all, the intimacy of Second Timothy is astounding. The intimacy between Paul and Timothy, the closeness of their relationship, the love that they have for one another is almost astounding. In this letter. Secondly, the care and instruction that you see from Paul toward Timothy in this book is it's incredibly encouraging to me to just look at the care that Paul takes as he is about to be markered and taking the time out to instruct his young protegee. And Thirdly, really the overall singleness of focus in this letter is hard to miss. That there's a two pronged theme in two Timothy as I see it, and that two pronged theme shows up in every chapter of this letter, and it is simply this. On the one hand, preserve and proclaim the truth of the Gospel. That's one side of the theme. Preserve and proclaim the truth of the gospel, and those are inseparable. Preserve and proclaim the truth of the gospel. Why preserve it if you're not going to proclaim it? And you can't proclaim unless you preserve it. Preserve and proclaim the truth of the gospel. Paul is about to be martyred. He knows he's about to be martyred. We see that at the end of the letter. I'm already being poured out like a drink offering and the hour of my departure has come. He knows he's going to be martyred. He even tells young Timothy to come to him quickly, so he knows it's going to be soon. He's aware of that. So on the one hand, here he is about to go off the scene. Remember, the New Testament is in process right now. The church is burgeoning, it's growing, but it's being attacked from within and from without. So it is important if the church is going to continue to thrive and grow, that we preserve and proclaim the truth of the Gospel. So that's forefront in Paul's mind. It has to be passed on, it has to be preserved. And on the other hand, the other prong, and this two pronged theme of two Timothy, is endure, the suffering that that will inevitably follow as a result of doing the first. That's the two prong thing, and you see it in every chapter. Look with me in chapter one, go down to verse thirteen. If you will follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, God, the good deposit entrusted to you that's one throng of the theme, this preserving and proclaiming. But look that if you were in verse eight, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share and suffering for the Gospel by the power of God, preserve and proclaim the truth on the one hand. On the other hand, in you're the suffering that will inevitably follow. By the way, one of my favorite lines in this whole book, my favorite book, or my favorite lines and this whole books right here, he says, nor be his prisoner, but share and suffering from the Gospel by the power of God. You know what my tendency is When I suffer, I believe it's it's evidence that I need the power of God. It's evidence of the absence of the power of God. So here's how I pray. When I suffer, God, I need your power to end my suffering. God, it's me, bad stuff's happened to me. I know you're probably busy, you know, doctor Nettles. You know he's over there doing his thing, and you've probably helping him out right now. However, I need your power right now to end my suffering. Paul says, join in suffering by the power of God. It's almost counterintuitive, isn't it. In other words, Paul wants young Timothy to understand that I'm suffering here and I'm I'm not shaking my fists at God. I don't think that God has somehow fallen off of his throne. I think this is part of the deal. Now look in verse two of chapter two. Rather, you'll see the same two things. You, then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus and what you've heard from me, in the presence of many witnesses, in trust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So there it is, preserve and proclaim this truth weak the next verse, share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Then again we'll see it in chapter three. Look here in chapter three, look beginning at verse fourteen. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus, Christ and again it's fine statement about the scripture. All scriptures breathed out by God improfitable for teaching, reviewing, correction, and training in righteousness. That the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. But if you go up just a few verses earlier, beginning in verse ten, there's the preservation of the truth. But right before it, what do you see? You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happen to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, which persecutions I endured. Yet from them all the Lord rescued me verse twelve. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And we've already seen the two themes in the passage that we read here in chapter four. On the one hand, preach the word verse two, on the other, endure suffering verse five. In every chapter we see this two pronged theme in every chapter. I believe that it's important for us as preaching, regardless of our context, to understand this too prone thing that on the one hand, we are called to preserve and to proclaim the truth of the Gospel, and on the other we are called to endure the suffering that will inevitably follow as a result of doing the first. We miss this and we're not on sound doctrinal ground. If on the one hand, we are not preserving or proclaiming, it's easy to understand. It's easy to understand it from that perspective. Then on the one hand, if we're not preserving this truth and if we're not proclaiming this truth, we're not going to be on sound doctrinal ground. It's easy to understand. But on the other hand, if we are not enduring this suffering properly, then we're not going to be on front solid doctrinal ground. Why Because if you're not enduring suffering, then what are you doing? Well, you're compromising the light of the suffering. And if you compromise, what are you going to compromise? Preserve or proclaim. We've got to have both sides of this coin. So why is this so crucial? I'm glad you asked back with me here in our passage in chapter four we see it in its context. Why must we be committed to proclaiming this sound doctrine. He says, first of all, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom. First of all, we must commit ourselves to proclaiming and preserving this truth, this doctrine, because it's the standard by which we will be judged. I love that statement. I mean, I charge you in the presence of God and to Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and by his kingdom. He's coming, He's going to judge the living of the dead. He doesn't just say, Timothy, you need to preach boy. No, no, no, no, no, no no. That's so much more than that. Here it lives first verse, just kind of like when I was a boy. I remember growing up as a boy. I grew up in Los Angeles, California, drug infested, gang infested South central Los Angeles, California, and I have often been asked the question, how is it that you have have have survived? How is it that you have turned out so well having grown up where you grew up. I was raised by a single teenage Buddhist mother. First time I heard the gospel was my freshman year of college. My mom was a back naming Buddhists. That's that's all I knew. So, people, how is it that you? How is it that you that you managed? How is it that you survived? How is it that you've turned out so well? And I always said two things. Number One, I haven't turned out as what did you think, Amen, better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today. Every day I realized something that's just messed up about me. Okay. But secondly, here's the second thing. The reason that that happened in my life is because there's two things I never doubted as it related to my mother, never ever ever doubted growing up in La growing up in the projects, growing up in all of that. Number One, I never doubted that my mother loved me with every fiber of her being. I never doubted that. I never doubted that she would do anything and everything for me. In fact, when I got old enough to find a little trouble, my mother, being a single teenage mother, decided it was time for us to move. And so, in my formative years, in my early teen years, we set out and we moved across the country. We moved from Los Angeles to Beauford, South Carolina. Well, why do we move to Viewford, South Carolina, Because that's where Paris Island is in Beaufort, right there, Paris Island. You know about the Marines. You know about Paris Island. Well, what did your mother take you to the Marines? Well, in a manner of speaking, yes, her oldest brother was a retired good instructor who had done twenty two years and three tours in none in the Marine Corps. I got out of trouble, you god, and so I spent a year there with him. My mother turned her whole life upside down. That I never doubted that that my mother loved me with every fiber of her being, and that helped me to escape. That helped me to make it. Second thing I never doubted. I never doubted that she would kill me and bury me in the backyard. For real. My mother would look at me and she'd say, boy, do you know what I'll do to you? Those two things in balance, grace in law kept me in line. I mean, my mother loved me, and I was so terrified of what would happen if I did what she told me not to do. As a result of that, the most powerful phrase in my life. When I was a boy, I got in all kinds of trouble growing up as a boy. It's interesting, you know, whenever one of my sons does something, my wife looks at me and she goes way back. You know, I was. I was so much trouble as a boy that the principal third grade Colleseam Street Elementary School, my principal, mister four Moore. It's just a few weeks left in the term. He brings me in and says, moody, if you can just be good for the rest of the semester, take you to eat anywhere you want to go. Third grader principals having to make deals. But there was one phrase that always put me in rhyme, and that phrase was your mama said, Well that was it. Body, you need to straighten up. He's straighten up? Who are you? You have? The boss of me? Body you need thevo do you need? Whatever? No impact, However, your mama said, it's tough for you to get in the house. I'll see y'all later. Here's something more powerful than your mama said. Paul says I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and by his kingdom. In other words, this is not just me your mentor speaking to you here. This is not something that I think is a good idea. Now, this is the standard by which we will be judge before a holy and righteous God. Preach the word. Don't back down from it, and don't ever stop doing it with fear and trembling as you do it, be faithful to the word. Preach the word. It's the standard by which we will be judged. We have to do it. The second principle here, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Preach the word why, because the word is the answer no matter what the question you chiros e chiros opportune time, in opportune time, preach the word whenever, wherever, preach the word. That's who we are, that's what we do. We preach the word. There's never a time when God will call you to speak to something with any kind of authority. What's the word of God won't undergird and equip you. There's never a time. By the way, this goes back to the statement that was just made earlier, just a few verses earlier. Let's read it again. All scripture is breathed out by God, all of it, and probable for teaching with proof, correction, and training in righteousness, that the Man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work wherever God calls me to. If I want to do it effectively, I go to the Word of God to figure out how to do it effectively. If I can't figure out how to do it effectively in the world, and I probably don't need to be doing it amen in season out of season otherwise, then sometimes the word may be appropriate, and other times other things may be more appropriate. When we lived in Oxford, we went to church there. I won't say what denomination this church was, but so we went to this church. And while we were there at this church this first day, when we were preaching at this church, visiting at this church, the pastor was preaching and his text was Orwell's nineteen eighty four. He was preaching a series of messages through the book nineteen eighty four. His message on the morning we were there was titled new Speech. Since he's preaching Orwell In other words, he felt like there was something that his people needed that Orwell could give them better than God. So he felt like whatever that in need was, he had identified there was something that was more appropriate during that time than the scriptures that were breathed out by God. Listen, I understand that or Well plus wonderful nineteen eighty folk are wonderful. Forget it, how insights. I understand that, But that's not what we need. There's never a time when we don't need the Word of God. We always need the Word of God always and by the way, whether it was or Well or something that we would deem more appropriate, if it's not the Word of God, it doesn't answer our deepest needs and longings. It's the Word. We placed the Word, and we're ready in season and out of season. And as a church planner, in one of the things that we've learned in planning this church is that things don't always go according to plan Amen. It's not always you Chiross, it's not always opportune time. Some finds that's completely inopportune time. They give an example of inopportune time. A person wants to give money to church planting. They hear that you're planting a church. They've heard about your ministry. We're excited that you're planning this church. That's awesome, that's wonderful, and they want to commit to give money, But there are things in their lives that don't line up to the word, and there are things about our church that are going to be offensive to them once they find out, what do you do, we're planning a church, we can really use money. Maybe hey, maybe this is what we'll do. Maybe we'll hold off for now because it's not you ky Ross, It's not an opportune time for the word to because that eventually we're going to apply the word to this situation. But right now, it's just not an opportune time. Right now, we need the money to do the ministry. So right now we're to hold off on the word until a more opportune time because the need right now is for the finances. If you can't say a man, you ought to say ouch. It's always time for the words, always time for the word. You know what. We spoke the truth and love to those people. They decided not to come and be a part of our church plant, but they mailed us at check. Praise God now reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. This is beautiful. But well what's he talking about? Well, you just again back to what we just said. Our scripture is breathed out by God. Improfitable for what teaching? Reproof, correction, training, and righteousness. So what does he say, freach the word be ready in season, out of season? And what do you do? You reprove, you rebuke, and you exhort with complete patients and teaching. The Word does this. I can't do this. The Word does this. So we must be committed to preaching and teaching the Word because therein and therein only do we have moral authority. We have no moral authority or any other kind of authority in and of ourselves. I can't reprove you. I can't rebuke you based on me. I can't do that. I can't. You got specs in your eye. I got logs and mine. And if I'm just you know, if we're just having a spect contest, I lose most of the time. Amen, I do I do if we're just having a spec contest. Now before hey, I got something to say to you. But before I say this to you, let me see something. Let me see. Let me well, I need to measure the diameter of that speck right there. Okay, then let measure Okay, that's sorry. I just yeah, somebody else to talk to you. That's what happens in a spec contest. But if it's just the proclamation of the Word of God, I can buffet myself about the head and shoulders while I do the same to others. Amen. You just preach it. You just preach it. You know. It's interesting. As a young preacher, I remember I was helped greatly in this principle by another teaching pastor of the church where I serve. And I was just really wrestling about about preaching. When I was I was preaching, I was doing some systematic expositions and I came to a passage about marriage, and so I just said to him, and again I was a younger, you know, in in the ministry, and I hadn't been married all that long, and I just I was struggling. And he could see that I was struggling, and he said, what's the what's the deal. What's the problem. Man, I'm just struggling with with preaching this. I mean, there are people out there who've been married forty and fifty years, and I'm gonna stand up and preach to them about marriage here and I don't even have ten inn and I'm gonna stand up and preach to him about marriage. And he looks at me and he goes, this, you'll never pitch about heaven then, and he walked up. I'm just sitting there, I'm going, yeah, huh. I started thinking about all the things that I would never ever preach about if I had to be the authority. Are you smiling when I'm stepping there? But when we're just preaching the word, we just handle the text as honestly as we can, and sometimes that means that we get a beating all week while we're prepared the message. But you know what I've noticed, Because what I've noticed when I preached passages like that, I enjoy coming to the pulpit, not because my beating is over, but at least other people get to share in it. Then I'm just going to be me anymore by myself. How do you do that? It's the word. It's the word. If you're committed to preaching things that you know and have come to understand better than others have come to understand them or things that you've mastered in your life. Number one, you're not going to preach very many things. And secondly, when you do, you'll ultimately be a hypocrite because you don't know them, nor have you mastered them as well as you think preach the word because they're in, and they're in, only is any moral authority. And then here's the other and it gets us to what we're talking about here, this issue of planting churches and sound doctrinal foundations. He says, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and will wander off into myths. Now that next phrase is has for you. He here's what's interesting about that phrase, ask for you. In chapter three, here's what we have. We have a picture of ungodly men who have a form of godliness but deny its power. That after that, right after this verse thirteen, where he says evil people and impostors will go from bad to words deceiving and being deceived, he says, but as for you, so in chapter three we have this great divide between us and him, and both us and them preaching something. The difference is on the second half the but ask for you have what does he say to Timothy? But ask for you? Number one? You know the word, You've been taught the word, You've been brought up in the word. And oh, by the way, the word is the answer. The difference between you and them is the word. Now Here again we come to but ask for you. People are going to wander off into myths, away from the word. But as for you, why must we be committed to preaching sound doctrine? Here's why, because our flesh wants to be liked and wants big crowds. Let me correct that my flesh. Now know you guys are probably above and beyond that. My flesh wants to be liked. My flesh is happier when there's more people than when there's less. So, you know what, my flesh may have a tendency to do. My flesh may have a tendency to look at individuals who are growing large and who are growing rapidly, and to do what they do, as opposed to looking into the Word of God and discerning what I'm called to and doing that and trusting God for the increase. People are going to a chum the teachers for themselves, and you at times won't be one of them. You won't be their favorite, you won't be as liked, it will not be as endeared to you. Remember this is all in the context of preach the word. It's the standard by which you're going to be judged. Preach the word because no matter what the question is the answer. Preach the word because they're in lies moral authority. And oh, by the way, preach the word because people are gonna like others who are not doing it. And you may be tempted. But as for you, what do you do? Always be sober minded in your suffering. You're the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your minus they're in life success. Always be so reminded in this context, I believe again this is about us and the word and the word in us. That's the only way I can be so reminded. When I get into the word, I get the word into me. Ask for you, you be so reminded, Keep you ahead about you. He's saying here that there are people who are not going to keep their heads about them, that they're going to go off into the new thing. You, however, keep your head about you. You be so reminded you endure suffering. I remember what we were talked about earlier. This is going to be a form of suffering. And in for Timothy, it's very real that is about to die. If he just preached differently, he might not have gotten martyred. By the way. I believe this is why. Because another thing that's striking about Second Timothy, He's read twond Timothy Pauel knows he's about to be martyred, and he never flinches at death. Not once does he flinch at death. If I know I'm about to be martyred, and I'm here in this setting and I'm writing a letter, here's the letter I'm writing. I'm writing a letter. I'm saying, hey, Timothy, brother, I love you and everything. But do you remember that group who got together and had a prayer meeting when Peter was in jail and the angel came and got him out. Yeah? Yeah, find those people they did. But that's not what he does. Why his why because basically his second Timothy, Timothy, they're about to kill me for preaching. When they do take my place. How can you say that and flinch at death? Answer? You can't. If I'm not willing to lay it down, I can't ask you to lay it down. And Paul's willing to lay it down. And he calls upon Timothy to follow his example endure suffering, and then he says, do the work of an evangelist? Do the work of an evangelist. Interesting. You know, oftentimes we think about evangelistic preaching as not being doctrinal preaching. There was already a mention earlier. I believe you mentioned Lloyd Jones in his book Preaching and Preachers. One of the sections I love and Preaching and Preachers is where he deals with that myth. Lloyd Jones argues that evangelistic preaching ot to be more doctrinal than any other preaching. Amen, finally, fulfill your ministry. So what would do here as we're planting these churches? Okay, for the remainder of my time, I want to look at this from this practical perspective, with this passage in mind as our context as to how we build a solid doctrinal foundation as we plant churches. And first of all, I don't want to assume that we're all on board and that we all understand this need for planning churches. But let me say this. There are one hundred and ninety five million non church Americans, at least one hundred ninety five million. They're two and a half million in Houston, where we planted our church. Our goal was ten churches in our first ten years of existence. Now people asked us, well, you know you're in the Bible, bell, you're in Houston. Why do you want to plant churches in Houston? Two and a half million unchurched people in Houston. Find me another town beside Dolt, New York, Chicago, find me another one. You can't. You can't two and a half million. There are countries that don't have that many unchurched people. Okay, my hometown has that many unchurched people. In the United States, over one hundred and ninety five million, nearly two hundred million non church in America. No county in the United States has a greater church population today than it did ten years ago. Not one county in the United States has the greater church population today than it did ten years ago. In the last decade, church membership declined by almost ten percent, while the US population grew by almost eleven and a half percent. And say that again, church decline bin early ten percent while the population grew by eleven and a half percent. Each year, between thirty five hundred and five thousand churches die in the decade of the nineties. It was a banner decade. One hundred thousand churches closed their doors in the decade of the nineties. We now have sixty percent fewer churches per ten thousand persons than there were in nineteen twenty. In nineteen twenty, there were twenty seven churches for every ten thousand people. Nineteen fifty, that number was down to seventeen churches for every ten thousand people, and by nineteen ninety six that number was down to eleven churches for every ten thousand people. Now we're below ten churches for every ten thousand people in the United States, and eighty to eighty five percent of American churches are plateaued or in decline. And finally, the majority of church growth again eighty to eighty five percent plate toad of decline. The majority of church growth occurs in churches that are less than two years old. That's where the majority happens. Listen to this Tim Newton and the founders get the founder's journal, the one who took planning, I got it last night, having me up all night listen to what he'd He writes, with projected population growth in the next twenty years, at least twenty nine thousand new churches would need to be started in the Deep South, just in the Deep South, just to keep up with population growth. And that does not consider the existing population and existing communities that lack adequate gospel centered churches. Twenty nine thousand in the next twenty years, just to keep up. And by the way, now think about this in context. Okay, the number of churches per ten thousand people has declined significantly by sixty percent since nineteen twenty. So just to keep up with where we are in our current state of decline in the number of churches, we'd have to plant twenty nine thousand new churches in the next twenty years. That's that's just the data. That's just the reality. We're not talking about the doctrine of it, the theology of it. That's just the reality. Old those are just the numbers. But there's another crisis. There's another crisis. Unfortunately, what we see is that there are many would be church planners, but most of them have more zeal and passion than they do anything else. The other thing is, many plants for just purely pragmatic reasons, and some of them quite frankly plant in protest Amen. Don't like what's going on over here. I'm gonna go planet church. Amen. A lot of young people, a lot of young guys in seminaries, they're just grown led. They're dissatisfied with what's happening in the church in America, and so they want to go plant churches, and so a lot of them are doing it for those reasons. But many of these individuals have zeal and Most of the church planting movements, unfortunately, are not coming from solid doctrinal not to mention reformed theological perspective, it's not where much of the church planning movement is coming from. So as a result, you know, there's a passage of scripture that sort of echoes in my mind. And again, just forgive me here. You can be a little latitude understand what I'm doing here. But the passages in Romans ten one through four, now here's how we see it. Brothers, My heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I've been and witnessed that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of a righteousness that comes from God and seeking to establish their own. They did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone who believes. Now here's what's interesting. You read that passage as a church planner. I've read that passage, and I've read that passage before. I'd preached all that passage before. But I just in the logical progression of the text, it's summed up. It's summed up my heart burn about what's going on in church planting. Just a couple of different words. Here it out. Now, minds you, this is again, they're with me, buns of my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be discipled and redeployed. I've been than witness that they have a zeal for church planting, but not according to knowledge, for being ignorant of the ecclesiology that comes from God and seeking to establish their own. They did not submit to God's ecclesiology. For Christ's me into the law for ecclesiology to everyone who believes. It's the same problem as those who are trying to achieve salvation by other means and not understanding the righteousness of God. There are many out there who are trying to achieve church planting by other means, but not according to biblical ecclesiology. And there's a problem. There's a problem. So what do we do? They give you these seven things. We had the number ten last night. This morning we get to number seven. Okay, they're just seven things to do. And the reason we have seven is because he took a lot of mind. A Number one development of biblical theology of church planning. Development biblical theology of church planning. Understand why we do it from a biblical perspective. And again I just encourage you to read through the current Founder's journal if you're struggling with that, if you haven't thought through that, read those articles there about church planning from a biblical perspective. It's incredibly important that we understand it from a biblical perspective because if we're not doing it from a biblical perspective, well, there's two problems. Number One, then the text that we just looked at preach the word in season out of season. Here's what some people are saying about church planting. They're saying, you know, the word that is appropriate, and we execute the word for certain things. But when it relates to planting churches, no, no, no, then we need marketing in season out of season. If we don't have an intentional biblical theology of church planting, we will be pure pragmatists. So what do we do. Let me just three things here that we need to understand from theological perspective. We plant churches to extend and to expand the Kingdom. We plant churches to extend and expand the Kingdom. Matthew twenty eight, sixteen to twenty has already been read for us. But I love that, you know, go and make disciples of Tanta every people group, Go and make disciples of every people group. You know, there's a small problem with that. The small problem is people groups tend to live in places where I don't live, and speak languages that I don't speak. In other words, church planting is inherent in the Great Commission. If we're going to reach every people group, we're not going to be able to reach them off from Jerusalem. Amen. So we have to go where people are and plant churches, and we have to plant indigenous churches because different people groups speak different languages, So we need to have churches speaking languages of the peoples all over the world. Act Scepter one, in verse eight, you say, us see power when the host grad has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judeah, in Samaria, and even in the remotest parts of the world. Now, now here's what's interesting. Oftentimes we look at Act Sceptic one in verse eight and we kind of get creative with the way we look at accept one in verse eight. We say, well, you know, when he says Jerusalem, he means kind of where we are and where we live right here. And when he says you know, Judea, you know he means kind of in our outlying region, Samaria, that's where those people live, you know, the remotest parts of the world, that's you know, Africa, whatever. No, no, no. When he said Jerusalem, he meant Jerusalem. Amen. When he said Judea, he met Judea. Samaria he meant Samaria. When he said the remotest parts of the world, he meant America. Now, think about that for a minute. I guess some of us paused why because we're all ethnocentric, and we look at the Great Commission from our perspective, and we're the epicenter of the Great Commission. No we're the remotest parts of the world that were talked about in Act chapter one and verse eight. We're the fulfillment of that. The Gospel got to us because people took that seriously. We ought to be grateful for that. We ought to be grateful that there are those who got the Gospel out of just Jerusalem, and we don't all have to go there. We don't have to make a pilgrimage, not those who make pilgrimage to Mecca in order to fulfill their duty and their responsibility to Allah no Ah. The Gospel has come to the remotest parts of the world. Ironically, now we're trying to do it in reverse and go back to the epicenter. Amen. That's okay, that's all right. But I believe church planting is inherent. Here. Is everybody from Judea going to come to Jerusalem, no gun plant churches. Is everybody from Samaria gonna come to Jerusalem. No, gun plant churches. Are all the different people groups in the remotest parts of the world going to come to Jerusalem. No, we must plant churches, extending and expanding the kingdom. Next seeing the worship of God spread among the nations. But listen, and I just want to read a couple of things. Go to Psalm ninety six. Psalm ninety six, Oh, sing to the Lord, a new song, Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Stop there for a minute. Sing to the Lord, a new song, Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Now. And here's what's interesting. Oftentimes we read that and people immediately go to the sort of debate over you know, whether we're going to do hymns or we're going to do choruses, whether or not we're going to do quote unquote contemporary music days. Just just just tweet this for us just a little bit. It's because of obedience to this that we have the great hymns of the faith from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Think about that. Now. The Mighty Fortresses our God was a brand new song. These songs, I mean, at least the songs we sing are in large part European. So because the Gospel pushed forth to the remote as parts of the earth. The worship of God begins to spring up in the tongues of people groups all over the world. And we've benefited greatly from that. And God is glorified. Amen, Praise God for that. Praise God for that. Well, look at this as well. Sing to the Lord, bless his name. Tell us salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among the peoples everywhere everywhere. Revelation seven nine lived in the hole a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, every tribe, every kindred, and every tongue. That's what it looks like in heaven, people from averwhere, not everywhere, awere beyond everywhere. Okay, every nation, every tribe, every time. Why because the Church was planted everywhere. And we see the worship of God spread among the nations and finally establishing gospel outposts. Establishing gospel outposts the only thing I love here. In Acts chapter two, Peter stands up and he preaches this Great Day of Pentecost sermon. Now, after Peter preaches this Great Day of Pentecost sermon, did they turned Peter into a road show. I mean, that's one of the things that could have happened. They could have said, oh man, we got it. We need to reproduce this right here. Let's go to another town and just wait till the fire comes again. Then you preach again, and then we know what do you see? At Acts two, from thirty seven to the following chapter, to the end of the chapter, what do you see? They establish a church, a gospel outpost. In fact, when you look at those who are planting churches in the Book of Acts, one of the things you notice is the absence of Peter's name, very much as the church planting movement pushes forward. But then move back to the guy who has the thing that happened on the day. No gospel out post here, gospel out posts there. Bosspends a year year, he spends a year to half there, Gospel out posts here, gospel out posts there. The plant churches so that there will be gospel out posts. That's what we do. And again it's more than it can be said about this. But for the sake of time, Okay, we got to number one and I got like five minutes. Okay, number two, develop a culture of church planting, develop a culture of church planting. It's interesting there in chapter four of two, Timothy and Alas read this, beginning verse nine, hear your best to come to me soon. For Giveness in love with the present world has deserted me and gone to the tesslon Nica. Chrestens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me from ministry since because send to Ephesus heus. What's interesting this is Paul's not giving a treatise here on what they were doing, but just in his normal natural conversation, he couldn't help but talk about all the people who were with him in this church planting movement and where they were all over the place. We need to create a culture of church planting. It needs to be natural and normal for us to talk about planting churches. Number three, seek disciple and plant with biblically qualified church planners. Seek disciple and plant with biblically qualified church planners. All those words are important. Number One, we need to seek church planners, look for them, look for them. If church planning is important, then we need to go find the church planters. It's amazing. When there is a need in our churches, we go. Look, we start telling people, you know, hey we need an education guy. Hey we need a music guy. You know anybody, Hey we need this, Hey we need that. You know anybody? You know anybody? That's some of us who have done that here at this conference. Hey, we're looking for this. Do you know anybody, when's the last time you said, Hey, we really want to plant a church in such and such a town. Do you know anybody? Seek church planners, disciple, church planners. Train these guys. Train these guys, get them on the ground, rub elbows with them, get your hands dirty in their lives, and then plant churches with them. Plant churches with them. You know, sometimes what we do is we bring somebody in, because this is where we are right now. We bring somebody in and they just they got the goods. You know what the natural tendency is. I think we want to keep him. We'll send somebody else the planet church. Amen. No, no, no, no, no no, no, we need this. We need this on the stay right here, m h them, plant with them. We need effect. The church is planted. Man, listen to this from Bill ho For the sake of time, I'll move here number four, plant from the ground up, Plant from the ground up. And he's what I mean by that. Our starting point is important. Listen to this from Donald mc gavern. We devise mission methods and policies in light of what God has blessed and what He has obviously not blessed. Okay, the battle's already gone right now. We devise mission methods and policies in light of what God has said, not in light of what God is blessed. Mcgavern says, we do it in light of what he is blessed and what he is not blessed. But what does that mean? That basically means we look at numerical growth, and whatever produces the most numerical growth, that's what God's in. We do that. Industry Listen to this. Industry calls this modifying operation in light of feedback. Nothing hurts missions overseas so much as continuing methods, institutions and policies which ought to bring men to Christ but don't, which have to multiply churches, but don't We teach men to be ruthless in regard to method if it does not work. To the glory of God and the extension of Christ Church. Throw it away and get something which does. As to methods, we are physically pragmatic. Doctrine is something else. I believe doctrine, but methods rather a doctrinal The methods are doctrinal issues. And if you've if you've been around church planting at all, you've heard this mantra. You've heard this. This is the this is the thinking that dominates the day. Okay, no, no, no, no. We don't change the message, just the methods. I believe the message gives us the method pragmatism. And I was at an event recently, an evangelism conference, where an individual stood up and professed himself as a pragmatist. You know, when it comes to evangelism, I'm a pragmatist. Amen, huge seguvangelism conference. Oh early man, Amen, let's at it this pragmatism number one. Definition one a straightforward, practical way of thinking about things or dealing with problems concerning concerned with results rather than with theories and principles. Definition number two a philosophical view that a theory or concept should be evaluated in terms of how it works and its consequences as the standard for action and thought our passage. Again, people are going to turn aside to myths. You, however, be pragmatic. No, you, however, be sober minded. We are not called to pragmatism. And so where's our starting point? Again? Many times in the church growth movement, people start with the field, and then they move from the field to the gospel and then to the church. Here's what I mean by that. You start by analyzing your field, and once you vanalyize your field, then you determine what the Gospel has to look like based upon your field, and then you determine what your church has to look like. Listen to this from the fathers you're in church. It is my deep conviction that anybody can be one to Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart, and the most likely place to start is with the person's felt needs. As I pointed out earlier, this was the approach Jesus used. I just I'm glad I don't have time to elaborate on that. Here's our paradigm. You start with the gospel, then you move to the church, and then you move to the field. In other words, when I say gospel you start with the word of God, and in the Word of God instructs us as to what the church is and what the church is supposed to look like. Then you move to your field. So when Paul thoughts about becoming all things to all men, he's not talking about the Church and her essence becoming all things to all men. Not that he's talking about himself. As an evangelist, you sit down and you talk to somebody you know, and you speak the language that they speak. You web out those with individuals. But he's not talking about change the church to become whatever people want. He's not talking about this methodology of surveying the community to find out what the community wants. Surveyed lost people who are on their way to hell, find out why they're repulsed by God, and then give them everything except what repulses them. Lord, have mercy on us souls. That's not the way we do this. Finally, let me okay, okay. Number five, take time to develop a solid core group. Take time to develop a solid core group. It's very important. We took our core group through our membership training. Our membership training is really an eight week process, but there's six sort of really instructional weeks. Week we wanted to go through our mission and vision, and then we go through weeks on our theology on then we go through our strategy and in membership and covenant, all these things, all these things we laid out for individuals, and so I just spent and that's what we continue to take members through. I just spent an hour and forty five minutes on Monday night with a group of people in my home talking about, you know, what is the reform church. So we talked about the five Soulos of the Reformation, We talked about the five points of Calvinism, and then we talked about the six distinguishing characterist six of a reform Church. Hour and forty five minutes we talk about all that stuff. Then we fellowship. We're having a table for a while, and talk for about another forty five minutes about all that stuff. Okay, we're not trying to hide our doctrine from anybody. We want unity in the body, and unity comes when we're clear. I want we believe in why one of the goals in our membership training is that people who can't be on board will find out they can't be on board, and they'll leaf. Amen, not because we don't like them, you know, not because we don't like them, just because amen. All right. Number six, plant with a long home mentality. You know, nothing grows faster than cancer. Our church is two years old. We have two hundred and fifty people who come regularly. We have little over one hundred members in our church. In that two years that we've been there, a quarter full quarter of those people have come to by baptism. And we don't baptize bowl twelve. So a quarter of the people who we have and that week so we're all adults. A quarter of those people who have come to our church in these two years have come through baptism, okay. And so our goal is to be fiercely evangelistic. That's why we plant churches. Plant churches to reach people with the gospel, to be a gospel outposts. But it takes time out evangelistic methodologies in our church. It takes time. And mine is gone here. Let me giving them a seven. Plant here there and yonder. Here in Yon, plant here there and yonder. We see that in next chapter eight. The principle is there churches have to be planted everywhere, and so we try to keep before our people that need to plant churches in where we live, and they need to plant churches in the United States, Phoenix, you know, Las Vegas. I mean that place is all right, it's just growing rapidly meeting churches, Okay, and then all over the world one point eight billion people who've never heard the name of Jesus Christ. We need churches, we need gospel outposts. So my time is gone. I don't know, we kind of went rapidly through those last ones. But let me just let me just summon up this way. I've spent a number of years preaching the gospel, and a lot of people just know me from my attentive ministry and they think that that's me, and that's just kind of what I've already done. I started preaching in nineteen eighty nine, so it's been, you know, nineteen years, but I've been preaching. Of those nineteen years, I've spent eighteen years on a church staff somewhere. Eighteen of my nineteen years i've been on church staff somewhere. Of those eighteen years, ten of them were spent as a minister of missions, basically getting teams prepared to complant churches. This is my ministry. My life is the local church. I love the local church. I've never had a full time MY center ministry. I wouldn't love to have a full time I centered ministry. I love the local church too much. Jesus came to shed his blood to die for his bride, his bride the church, and so now they have the opportunity in the last two years to be a planter of a local church. And I love having planted this local church. When I wake up, I'll think about is planting more local churches. And my prayer is that perhaps through this time this morning, you get a glimpse of that, and maybe God will just awaken something in you and we can begin to plant churches. We can begin to plant these gospel outposts. The one thing we're praying about right now is, you know, Houston, it's either the second or third most ethnically diverse city in the United States, over one hundred different language groups. The world has come to us. What an incredible opportunity to plant churches among different people groups and different language groups right there in our city right now. We want to got one guy who's preparing to do that. But we're praying and we're seeking we're seeking because we want to do that. We want to plant churches among these people groups, and so we're seeking individuals so that we can train individuals who can then go out and plant these churches. So my prayer is that you get a glimpse of it. My prayers at Cowboy ignite this passion for you, but that we would also take a step back because right now this field is dominated by the pragmatists. I mean, hands down, no questions asked. This field is dominated by the pragmatists. And when I go places and I preach these evangelism conferences, it's the pragmatists who's had the most tangible success. He's the person who's called upon to represent church planting. I'm this guy who's plodding the way, trying to do it the slow, hard way. We haven't seen thousands upon thousands of people come to Christ, but I'll tell you what we have seen. We've seen a healthy church with a solid doctrinal foundation who is intent on free producing. Okay,