The video and audio of Ed Stetzer's message will be available for streaming and download on Monday, God willing. Here are a few highlights from his talk:
We are called to be a missional, missions-minded, gospel-centered, Spirit-filled church.
We are sent (John 20:19-21). The language precision about missional and missions is not as important as the sentness emphasis. God is a sender by nature. The Father sent the Son. The Fater sends the Spirit in Jesus' name. Jesus comes and establishes his kindgom. And we are sent by him to all peoples.
God scatters tongues (Genesis 11).
In the event of Babel, God scatters the tongues of the nations across the whole earth.
God sends Israel to bring those nations to Jerusalem.
Israel had a missions mandate. It was centripetal: they were to go out and bring the nations to Jerusalem. But Israel didn't accomplish their mission. So God brought the tongues of the nations to Jerusalem.
God reorients his mission to send the tongues from Jerusalem to the nations.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 is God reorienting his mission to become centrifugal, sending his people from Jerusalem to the nations.
God will be praised from every nation (Revenlation 7:9).
Don't trivialize the Great Commission by ignoring the nations. Don't let your church be a cul-de-sac on the Great Commission highway.
The gospel must be clear. It is a message of repentance. It's easy for us to live sent and forget why we're sent. We would be naive at best, reckless at worst, to think we can't forget the gospel while being sent.
We must have a discerning and generous methodological view point in a robust theological context. We must do gospel demonstration and gospel proclamation. We can and must do justice, but it's not complete unless we preach Jesus, and we can't preach Jesus faithfully unless we're doing justice.
We are sent by Jesus Christ to take the good news of his death and resurrection to all peoples for the glory of God.
Join us for the final session tomorrow morning with John Piper. The live-stream will begin at 11:00 AM (EDT), in English and in Spanish.
