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Salvation for Everyone: Embrace the Call Beyond Your Comfort Zone (feat. Marcos Mercado) · Real Life Theology Podcast

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  Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode on the Real Life Theology Podcast.
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  Today's episode features Marco Mercado on salvation to everyone. Today's episode will
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  help us surrender our biases and comfort zones so we can embrace and engage God's calling
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  to make disciples among people who are different from us.
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  I want you to do me a favor. Just look around. Look to your left, to your right. If you're
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  bold enough, turn around, look around. And, you know, if we are called to be disciples
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  and disciple makers, this is what heaven is supposed to look like, right? I don't know.
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  I mean, is heaven supposed to look like us or is it for everyone? Is it supposed to be
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  that we're called to reach people that are different? You know, if we look at the first
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  century church, I mean, sometimes they were reluctant, right? The apostle Paul himself
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  was reluctant to go not to his own people, but to the Gentiles. And so just for a moment,
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  I want to ask you for your permission. What qualifies me to speak to you about this other
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  than I am a disciple and a disciple maker, the fact that I have the microphone right
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  now is I want to ask for your permission to disciple you for a few minutes. Let's pray
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  first. Holy Father God, I pray that we'll hinder, anything that will hinder, God, that
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  we would surrender it to you, God. Our biases, our pride, our insecurities, our accomplishments,
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  our shortcomings. Most importantly, God, I pray that we will get out the way so that
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  we can be made to be disciple makers. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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  You know, I really appreciate this opportunity to be here. And, you know, we've read the
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  scripture over and over again. And if there's anything, if you're anything like me, you know,
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  I love the scriptures because you can read something and then all of a sudden you read
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  it a little bit later, you read it another day, and it just speaks to you in a different way.
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  And so resist the temptation to look at the scripture and say, well, you know,
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  we've read this many times. It says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power
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  of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. First to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
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  For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. A righteousness that is by faith,
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  from first to last, just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith. And let
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  that sink in for a minute because, you know, Paul wrote this and you can tell,
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  I don't know about you, but you can tell from this passage, I can tell that, you know,
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  he struggled because he felt called to the Gentiles. That's who Jesus, you know,
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  called him to. That's what God designed for him to be. But really, if it was up to him,
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  it was, he wanted to be the apostles for his people, but he surrendered.
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  And so I want to invite you to ask yourself what God and the Holy Spirit and the voice
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  of God is calling you to do. Is he calling you to reach people that are like you?
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  Then amen. But he's asking you and calling you to go and get out of your comfort zone
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  and reach someone that's supposed to be in heaven with you, but that doesn't look
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  like you or talk like you or act like you. You know, my experience as a disciple was
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  very unlikely. I mean, I was a kid in the Bronx, grew up in pretty much agnostic
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  family, and God interrupted that. You know, God decided to call me to be a disciple,
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  but he put a very special man in my life, a brother that to this day,
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  30 years later, is still my mentor in the faith. But, you know,
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  our relationship has changed throughout the years and we help one another.
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  But at that time, he was the youth pastor, I was new to a church,
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  I was new to Christianity. And lo and behold, it wasn't just about helping me
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  to have a relation with God, it was discipling my character.
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  He was a godly man who was allowing himself to become a disciple maker.
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  And so what he did is he taught me everything that he was being taught.
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  And then he went into the full-time ministry. That brother, Mike Patterson,
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  is here and he's trained many men to do this. But at that time, I had no idea
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  what that meant. He didn't even know what he was in the middle of doing.
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  And so here we are, we're trying to figure it out. I went to an old boy's Catholic
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  school and I became a disciple. So what do you do? You go back and you
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  teach what you know. And literally, like, so many people study the Bible and they
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  were like, no, we're not interested. No, we're not interested. But, you know,
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  God moved and I was able to make my first disciple in high school.
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  And then that guy helped me to make another disciple. And I look back now,
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  this is like 29 years ago. And to this day, there are men who were converted,
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  who were baptized, who became Christians at that moment that are still disciple
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  makers to this day. Some of them have gone on to be missionaries.
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  And this was unlikely, this wasn't our plan. If you would have asked us like,
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  what's the plan? We just were happy to help people to have a relationship with God.
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  But we had no idea of the impact that it would make. You know, Paul himself was
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  called and he writes this and he's like, listen, there's a plan bigger than I am.
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  And let me tell you, Paul was an amazing man and he made a lot...he had a tremendous
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  impact, but this was even greater than him. And so even if we feel like we've had
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  a great impact or not, this is bigger than we are. It's bigger than us here
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  in this room. You know, we need to embrace what God calls us to do.
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  Now, this is not a confession time, but I'll confess, I'm not always the first one
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  or the one that easily embraces what God calls me to do. I wish I could tell you
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  that I'm that spiritual and I fight God. I don't like it. I feel like, you know,
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  there's something in me that resists. And at the same time, I love God,
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  so I surrender, but I don't always embrace it. Sometimes it takes time.
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  And so, as a young disciple-maker, God calls this man, Mike Patterson,
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  to go down to Harlem. Now, if you know anything about the Harlem area in the 90s,
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  I mean, everyone was African-American, and it was not a pretty place to go.
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  My father, who's now a disciple but wasn't at the time, found out that I wanted to go
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  and help in this ministry, and he's like, are you crazy? What are you doing?
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  You know, friends are like, where are you going? What? I mean,
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  who moves to Harlem in those days? But I'm like, I'm a disciple.
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  So I go, and let me tell you, it was amazing. We had small groups.
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  They grew. They did great. And so, Mike, you know, has a heart for the people.
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  We're doing things together, trained me to be a disciple. I mean,
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  I was having the time of my life. And then he invites me to have a conversation
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  with another guy that was leading a Spanish-speaking ministry. And he invites him
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  and invites me, and the guy starts tearing up and crying, and he resigns.
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  He's like, I can't lead this anymore. I blew it. I've sinned. I'm burnt out.
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  And he resigns. And I don't know if Mike and his wisdom knew that,
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  or just the Holy Spirit spoke to him. But after the guy leaves, he turns to me.
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  He's like, well, you lead them. And I'm like, hold on. I said, what?
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  These are...yeah, I know I look Latino, but I don't speak Spanish.
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  I speak Spanglish. Like, it's not the same language. Spanglish is broken Spanish.
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  That's not me. And he's like, well, is it going to be me? Pick one.
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  One of...and so I was reluctant, and I go, and I do it. And man,
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  I had the most amazing time of my life. I mean, and let me tell you,
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  these were some rough individuals. These were some people who, like some of us,
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  are saying maybe they should go back to their country because they were there
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  illegally. And I can't relate to that, right, because I'm American.
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  I'm born here. I'm different. But they were lost, and they were humble,
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  and they were hungry. And man, it was an amazing time. So then that phase passes,
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  and I end up going to another ministry. And lo and behold, somebody else steps
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  down. And this time, it's a couple of hundred people, but they're not like me either.
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  These were West Indian and Jamaican in the Bronx, in the east side of the Bronx.
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  And I'm like, who are these people? They're not like me. And so a couple
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  of hundred people, they throw me to lead this ministry, and I was reluctant.
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  And honestly, I'm going to be open and confess. I said, they really need a
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  black leader. They need someone Jamaican. I don't even like the food.
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  Why am I here? And I fought it, and I hated it. I was dating my wife at the time before we got
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  married, and we would try to go out to eat on a date, and there was only Jamaican restaurants
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  in the neighborhood. And I'm like, I want some good food. This is not good.
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  And our ministry was ineffective. And I didn't want to be there. And then I surrendered,
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  and I prayed. I said, God, if you have me here, show me what I need to do differently.
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  And I had an opportunity to take a trip and go to Jamaica, and I fell in love with the people.
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  And I came back, and I shared with them that I loved their country, and I started eating their
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  food and dancing their music. And man, our ministry like blew up. I mean, it more than
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  doubled. I mean, we saw like literally hundreds of people baptized from going from a dry spell.
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  Why? Because I embraced what God called me to do.
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  You know, we all need people to help us with our blind spots. You know, no one can do this
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  by themselves. That's not the design, right? Matthew 28, the Great Commission, we love that,
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  but don't we realize that that's for us too, and that it's not just for us to go teach somebody,
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  but someone needs to teach us. And so don't do like this person that needs some help,
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  because we all have blind spots.
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  This is why we need to get disciples. This is why we need... And listen,
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  if you're going to use this as an opportunity to learn about your own... Some of us are doing that
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  because we don't have anybody to tell us, watch out, bro. Watch out, like you're going in the
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  wrong direction. Because she's so focused on something else. I really don't know what's
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  going on there other than I see her with a plate of food. Maybe she's looking for a table. Maybe
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  she's trying to find out what dessert is. Maybe she's looking for her friends. I don't know,
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  but she's focused somewhere else. And there's nobody there to say, hold on, what are you doing?
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  You know, from the scriptures, when we look at the Bible, God has always used what? His Holy Spirit,
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  right? His word. You know what I realized? It's true that he uses the Holy Spirit, and it's true
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  that he uses his word, but you know what he uses more often than not? It's other people.
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  That's just how it works. He designed it that way. Like other people help. Well,
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  it's me and the Holy Spirit and the Bible. That's not in the Bible. That doesn't work.
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  I mean, everybody, Jesus himself spent three years with these guys and then left them and said,
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  you guys make disciples, and you disciple one another. Yet I tell you, I believe that some of
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  us, what we're doing is we're hindering what God can do because we're not embracing what God has
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  called us. We haven't embraced that we need to be influenced, that we need somebody in our lives to
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  help us because we can't see it all. We don't realize it all. We don't know it all. It doesn't
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  matter how many PhDs you have, you just don't know it all. And we all need that in our lives.
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  You know, embracing really quickly just means what? You have someone that helps you. You can't
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  embrace this by yourself. You need someone there. You got to be open. You got to be ready. You got
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  to be obedient. But you know what else? Look at this real quick. And this will lead me to my
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  second and last point. It says, I urge you then, Paul writes this a little later, right? He says,
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  I urge you then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, and intercessions at Thanksgiving be
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  made for all people, for kings and those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet
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  lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good. And please, it's God, our Savior, who wants all
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  people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, one mediator
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  between God and mankind, that man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all the people.
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  This, this has now been witnessed to all at the proper time. And for this purpose, I was appointed
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  a herald and an apostle. I am telling you the truth. I'm not lying. And a true and faithful
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  teacher of the Gentiles. What did Paul do? By this time, he embraced his calling.
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  As much as he loved his people and he wanted the Jews to make it, he said, listen, all right,
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  this is it. I mean, he even has to let us know. I'm telling you the truth. I'm not lying. I'm
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  not pretending anymore. I'm really there. There might've been a time where I was struggling with
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  this, but I've embraced this. Who am I? A faithful teacher to the Gentiles. Who are you? Who am I?
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  Some of us, we don't realize that we don't have the luxury in our positions if we're church
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  leaders, if we're missionaries, if we're disciple makers. So still figure out where we got to
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  embrace what God has already put in our hearts. Because while we wait, while we struggle, while
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  we try to figure it out, there are lost people out there. And for me, every moment that I wasted
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  trying to figure out if I embrace this, was time lost. I'm so grateful for grace and repentance
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  and other people in my life that discipled me and helped me to say, wait, Marcos, you're doing
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  this wrong. But I had to embrace it. And I believe we all do. Have you embraced God's calling?
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  I don't know what that is. I'm not talking about the traditional calling, like I'm called to
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  ministry. We know that you probably wouldn't be here if you weren't. But have you embraced who
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  God has called you to? And who are you supposed to reach? And the impact that you're supposed to
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  make? You know, real quick, let's just focus on that second definition that says,
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  embrace means to accept or support a belief, theory, or change willingly and enthusiastically.
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  See, you really haven't embraced it till you're fired up about it. You really haven't embraced it
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  till you love what you're doing. See, if you're doing it, but you're like, oh, I don't know.
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  And you know how God has a sense of humor? I've been in the full-time ministry for like 28 years.
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  And every time it's the same thing, right? God loves me. He has a sense of humor. He's like,
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  Marcus, you don't learn. I'm going to keep putting you in situations. So all these years,
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  I've never planted a church until now. Literally a year ago, I had the opportunity to plant a church
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  brand new. And I'm like, man, you know, church planters, if you know anything about church
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  planting, people tell you, man, you know, it's awesome because you get to set and design the DNA
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  that you want for the church and the culture. I'm like, oh, yes, you know, I don't have to build
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  that anyone else's messed up, you know, way of doing it. I can do it myself.
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  And so we go to Wilmington, Delaware, an area where it's 80% unchurched. And I'm like, yes,
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  this is great. It's like a blank canvas. And who does God send us? People with church hurt.
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  People that are de-churched. Not the unchurched, but the majority of our church are people who are
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  de-churched. And I'm like, no, this is not what it's supposed to be. This is, oh, can you just
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  give me someone that doesn't know anything about Jesus? Not a messed up version of Jesus that I
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  have to correct. But I have to embrace, that's who God has called me. And I have to preach to them
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  and love them. And it's not always fun, but guess what? If that's what God is using me to do,
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  then man, I'm embracing it. And I'm having a great time with it. And finally,
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  we need to engage. We need to engage what God has called us. It's not enough to embrace it.
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  We got to put it into practice. I want to read something to you here as I wrap up. And in the
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  fifties, a real well-known man had an opportunity to preach in a church in New York City. And this
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  happened to be the church where my parents got married at. My parents met, fell in love and got
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  married in New York. And they went to this big church and they invited this guy who is known
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  or was known and is famous for dreaming that people of all creeds and colors
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  will be unified. And this is just a small part of what he says.
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  He said, let us not despair. Let us not lose faith in man and certainly not in God.
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  We must believe that a prejudiced mind can be changed and that man by the grace of God
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  will be lifted from the valley of hate to the high mountain of love. Let us remember that as
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  we struggle against Egypt, we must have love, compassion, and understanding goodwill for those
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  against whom we struggle, helping them to realize that as we seek to defeat the evils of Egypt,
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  we're not seeking to defeat them, but to help them as well as ourselves.
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  God has a great plan for this world. His purpose is to achieve a world where all men will live
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  together as brothers and where every man recognizes the dignity and the worth of all human personality.
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  He is seeking at every moment of his existence to lift men from the bondage of some evil Egypt,
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  carrying them around the wildernesses of discipline, and finally to the promised land
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  of personal and social integration. May it not be that this is entirely within the realm of
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  possibility. I prefer to live by faith that the kingdom of this world shall become kingdoms of
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  the Lord and his Jesus Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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  To God be the glory. Thank you.