The Faith Walk

Guest (Male): Today, on The Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans.

Jonathan Evans: My dad would often say if you were convicted of or charged of being a Christian, many of us would be found innocent of all charges. Because we come to church and then leave and just do our own things, like Jesus is dead and has no authority.

As we go, we're called to make disciples and plant seeds. People should look at our lives and say, "How you do that? How do you handle conflict like that? How you been married so long like that? Like, what's the secret?" That we're making disciples. Jesus is just trying to get us to play a healthy childhood game called Duck, Duck, Goose.

Guest (Male): You're listening to The Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans. In a moment, Jonathan will continue today's message. But first, I want to briefly let you know that this week we have two gifts for you to thank you for your support of this ministry.

The first is the audio series called Discipleship for Everyday, equipping you to live out your faith with authenticity and impact every day. And the second gift is the book, Your Time Is Now. In this book, you'll understand that God has a purpose for you, even if you think you're not ready to make a difference.

Later in today's program, I'll give you more details about these special gifts. Or you can visit tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222. Right now, let's get started with Jonathan's message.

Jonathan Evans: Luke 10:19 says, "I give you the authority to trample on scorpions and snakes and every evil scheme of the enemy." That's why Matthew 16:19 says, "I give you the keys to the kingdom and whatever you bound on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." He's trying to give the disciples authority. But if you're at the meeting like you've got the authority, you won't get what he's got.

But be praying for a purpose. And he's like, "I can get heaven to bow down and I can't get y'all to bow down." He has this official authority and so he starts the meeting out with his authority. And then once you understand that and you understand to live on your knees and not trying to make him Robin so you can be Batman and stop thinking that this is about serving the "me, myself, and I" trinity and that you've been given a job at your job.

Then he says, "Good. Now that you understand who's in charge and now that you've humbled yourself to it, go. Go therefore and make disciples. Because it's not as hard as you think when you live your life under the authority of Jesus Christ." When he gets to call the shots and you just salute and take your marching orders and go do it. That means that you have to be in opposition to your feelings.

You have to be in opposition to your past. You have to be in opposition to your anxiety and what you think and what somebody else told you. You have to be in opposition to yourself to take up your cross and follow Jesus. And he tells you to go. Y'all know my definitions. Go means go. It means don't stay. As you go means this is your whole life.

As you go to the mall, you're thinking making disciples. As you go to the barbershop, you're telling your barber to come to church with you. As you go to the salon, you're talking to your stylist. As you go play ball with your boys, you're letting them know we've got church on Sunday. As you go, you're talking to people about Jesus, giving your testimony, putting them in position to hear and see the things that are going. If we have empty seats in this church, we ain't going.

There's a venue every Sunday we can invite all these people we talk to all week, who can learn to think different, be different. What is this about? It's supposed to be... When I was studying this, the Lord clearly told me, "Pastor J, just because you preach on Sunday doesn't mean you're making disciples." He said, "Don't get it twisted. I've called you to do that but you even have a bigger job. You make sure that you're there teaching your children how to go."

You make sure when you're at the barbershop... When I was back there before this message, I sent him the link because he said he'll watch it virtual if I sent it to him. And I sent him the link right before I walked out here because I told him, "Hey, I'm preaching on Sunday, you should come through." And he said, "Man, I'm not sure I'm ready to come yet, but send me a link." I said, "I got you."

As you go. See, we're trying to get Jesus to do things for us. He's like, "Man, I'm trying to get y'all to do something for me. I'm trying to get you to be unleashed in the sphere, your neighborhood, in the spheres where I have placed you. And you're complaining about your job but I put you there to go. I put you there to be the light." As you go.

And then he says, "Go to do what? Make disciples." In order to make disciples, you have to be one. You have to be someone that it's obvious that they follow Jesus.

Guest (Male): More of The Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans in a moment. Did you know that God has a purpose for you right now? You may think you're not ready to make a difference in God's kingdom or that you're too young for others to take seriously. But that's not what God thinks. We want to give you a book by Jonathan called Your Time Is Now. This book is our gift to you as a thanks for your donation to help support the ministry of The Alternative.

Along with the book is Jonathan's six-part audio series, Discipleship for Everyday. This six-part collection goes beyond routine religion, equipping you to live out your faith with authenticity and impact every day. It's designed to help you grow as a disciple and inspire others to do the same, leading to stronger families, more vibrant churches, and communities transformed by the Gospel.

Both the book and six-part series are our way of showing appreciation for the continued support of listeners like you who make this program possible. Get all the details online at tonyevans.org. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or you can call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Find your way out of distractions and into God's purpose for your life. Now, let's get back to Jonathan.

Jonathan Evans: And after the first part of simple "go," he says "and baptize." There's spiritual baptism, which is when a person is saved. That's why in Mark 1:8 it says, "I baptize you with water but one who's coming who's going to baptize you in the Spirit." That is salvation. That's why in Acts 10 they received the Spirit and then were baptized. So spiritual baptism is salvation.

It's when you give your life to Jesus Christ. You recognize that you're a sinner and you come to him for salvation and you believe in the death and resurrection for your sins. That's the Gospel of Jesus Christ: that he lived a life you couldn't live, died a death you should have died, and rose from the grave so that you can be alive with him. That's the Gospel. That's spiritual baptism. That is salvation.

Physical baptism is not salvation. It is the physical, visible evidence of the spiritual reality that's already taken place. That's why 1 Peter 3:21 says "baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for good conscience." So it tells you, preacher and a water has no power. A preacher dipping you in water, that's not... it's the visible evidence.

And we want people to be saved and display "I'm accountable, I'm here now, I'm a part of the family now." The more people being baptized means the more we're going out and evangelism is going. And they're coming in and they're getting baptized and they're saying, "I'm in, I'm here." This is important why. So if you're not baptized, get baptized because what you're saying is, "I want to be married but I don't want the accountability of the ring."

My wife... you know, men, we've got to check in. My wife walks around with no ring. The reason why is because before she puts it back on, she wants to go get it appraised so we can put it on the insurance so if she happens to lose it... so she's got a good reason. I'm kind of nervous about this appraisal because she's going to find out. I haven't said nothing but I'm like, "Oh, you want to get it appraised?"

She's going to find out. Several years ago, a brother was struggling. I mean, the ring be glistening but it is cubic zirconium. We was trying to get by and she's trying to get an appraisal. I'm like, "You can just lose that one. We'll get you another one." When she goes out in the community without the ring, sometimes she comes back with stories of dudes trying to holler at her. Because there's not any evidence.

She'll be at the store and she'll come back kind of giddy. I'm like, "What you...?" All happy like "you still got it?" And she'll be like, "Yeah, they said this, whoop-de-whoop, they said this." And I'm listening, "Oh, okay. What you say?" Because without the evidence, that opens you up to the culture because you're lacking accountability. A lot of people don't have the ring of the wedding.

The commitment is the spiritual baptism. The ring is the physical baptism. It's where the whole church gets to see publicly, "We got another one!" and you're held accountable. Because if you don't have the ring on, the world will try to holler at you and you don't have any accountability otherwise. And he says baptize them. In other words, he's saying that we come under the authority of God, we go, as we go, we are disciples.

People are asking questions. We're inviting people to church. We're telling our testimony when the opportunity presents itself. We are living a life that's worthy of being followed because it mimics Jesus Christ. And then he says, "Well, change identities, baptize. Go down, died with Christ, raised to the newness of life." That is the symbol of baptism. So people ought to be learning the Gospel and having a new identity and then becoming accountable to the church.

This is the rubric he's telling you: "I got all authority," then he tells you exactly what to do. This is the rubric. He says baptize them and then the third part of simple is after they have become a part of the family, then teach them what to do. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. Observe. We like to talk. Observe means teach them how to do it.

They need to... When somebody says, "Ah, you're just like your daddy," it wasn't just because he talked. It's because you followed him so long that you picked up his mannerisms. This is why we don't like making disciples, because it takes your life. It takes time to walk with somebody and show somebody how to handle conflict, show somebody how to forgive when it's hard, actually show somebody how to live in a marriage that has some difficulties.

And how you can humble yourself and take up servanthood and sanctification. In order to do that, you have to teach, life-teach. Jerry Flowers said the most dangerous thing we have in America now is everybody's got a mic. Everybody's got a podcast and everybody's the preacher and everybody's talking. But what we're supposed to be doing is living. Because there's so much more caught than just taught.

Teaching's important, but some of us don't want to talk because it holds us accountable. See, once you start talking, it's like... that's why I didn't want to be a minister for a long time. I'm like, "Oh, then I'm going to have to do all that." They're going to be... I'll be eating at Pappadeaux or something and I'm thinking I'm by myself and people just, "Hey, Pastor!" I'm like, "Uh-oh."

You're held accountable, so you don't want to do your job, you want to stay quiet about it. Because you don't want to be held to the letter like that. And we do live in a very judgmental culture. But some of us talk and we need to be quiet because you know you raggedy. But we know how to quote things and sound good. And both are dangerous. Let your life match up with your lips.

Let your walk match up with your talk so we can teach people to observe. Not just come to church, accept Jesus Christ, but come to the meeting and take the marching orders. Okay, y'all don't get it. Everybody stand up. I have one more childhood game. I know, look at y'all like... they got up out that chair like, "Ah." Now, hopefully you've heard of this game. Have you ever heard of a game called Simon Says?

Okay, good. We're about to play. If Simon doesn't say it, don't do it. You ready? It's about to go quick. Okay, practice round. Simon says raise your right arm. Put your right arm down. Okay, Simon says start over. That's why we have a practice round, because immediately... let's try it again. Simon says put your right arm up.

Simon says put your left arm up. Simon says put your right arm down. Simon says turn your head to the right. Simon says turn your head to the left. Simon says put your left arm down. Put your right arm up. I think y'all get the picture. You can sit down. I think y'all get the picture. All of y'all lost! You all lost!

You all fell off the wagon. I got a couple of generals over here, they over here like this. Simon says you can sit down. I mean, everybody said, "Hey." I did that cool, didn't I? "Okay, game over, you can..." Take out Simon's name and put in Jesus' name. If Jesus says it in our faith, we do it. If Jesus doesn't say it, we don't do it.

Because we have been reclassified in him. We go because he told us to and he has all the authority. So you teach people to play that game, and it is not a game. It is your life. And he ends by just saying, "And lo, I will be with you." "Lo" means "sho 'nuff, indeed." Because you may be saved but that doesn't mean you have the same amount of his presence as someone else.

John 2:23-25, Jesus says many believed in me, they believed in my name, but I would not commit myself to them because I knew what was in them. He knows there are many who believe who will get comfortable and sit down even if Jesus didn't say it. Who want to maximize his presence as believers. So we want to be quiet and take our marching orders.

And yes, two things are true at once: what we're going through and what he says. But on this side is where the authority sits. So we have to work it out so that when he sees us, he can say, "Well done, my good and faithful soldier. You took your marching orders." God bless you.

Guest (Male): That was Jonathan Evans. Before you go today, I want to remind you that we have a couple of gifts for you: Jonathan's book called Your Time Is Now and his six-part audio series, Discipleship for Everyday. You may think you're not ready to make a difference in God's kingdom or that you're too young for others to take seriously. But that's not what God thinks.

The book, Your Time Is Now by Jonathan, is our gift to you as a thanks for your donation to help support the ministry of The Alternative. And along with the book is Jonathan's six-part audio series, Discipleship for Everyday. This six-part collection goes beyond routine religion, equipping you to live out your faith with authenticity and impact every day.

It's designed to help you grow as a disciple and inspire others to do the same, leading to stronger families, more vibrant churches, and communities transformed by the Gospel. Both are a gift to you to thank you for your donation to help support the ministry of The Alternative. It's our way of showing appreciation for the continued support of listeners like you who make this program possible.

Get all the details online at tonyevans.org. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or you can call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Find your way out of distractions and into God's purpose for your life. Thank you for listening to The Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans. The Faith Walk is produced as a part of the Urban Alternative, a ministry of Dr. Tony Evans.