Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20230823 - Go Therefore… - Matthew 9:35-10:8

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#20230823 - Go Therefore… - Matthew 9:35-10:8 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co To learn more about the many resources
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available through a Bounding Grace media or to tune into our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary, Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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Amen, Amen. So I've titled tonight's message
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go there for based out of Matthew 28, but we're going to
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be in Matthew Chapter 9. But really Matthew 28, we we
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have the the Commission of Jesus, right.
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We call it the Great Commission and and I'm going to tie this
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into Matthew Chapter 9 and 10, I believe Matthew Chapter 9 and
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10. At least for me personally, it's
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one of the most exciting chapters of the Bible.
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It's one of my favorite chapters of the Bible.
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It's Jesus sending his disciples out for ministry.
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It's really one of the first kind of like missions trip that
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we see in the in the Bible. And Jesus is equipping and
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sending his disciples out two by two to do special ministry unto
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him. And it's exciting, and I think
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it's exciting for us as we read this for ourselves as disciples
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of Christ, that, hey. God wants to do a similar work
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in our lives that God wants to equip us and send us out for the
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work of the ministry, to preach the gospel, to love on people,
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to encourage people and point them to the Lord.
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And so as followers of Jesus, I think it's important that we
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understand that we are on a mission for Jesus Christ.
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That's one of the reasons he has left us here on earth is that
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he's given us a calling. He's given us a purpose.
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He's called us into himself and saved us and redeemed us so that
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we can go forth and answer that call that he is placed on our
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lives. And so Jesus is sending me out.
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Jesus is sending you out among our communities, among the
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nations, among the people, to represent him and to represent
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him well and to bring the gospel.
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So Matthew chapter 28, verse 19 and 20.
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Some of us might be pretty familiar with this, but this is
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Jesus's final words to his disciples here in Matthew and
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starting in verse, starting verse.
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Actually starting back in verse 18 it says that Jesus came and
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he spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me
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in heaven and on earth go. Can you guys say go with me?
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Good, good. So this is, this is maybe you
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guys remember this from last time I taught, but like trying
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to engage us with the text here, so go.
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Right. So we have the the big go right
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here. Go.
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He says, Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
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baptizing them in the name of this in the name of the Father,
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in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit.
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And then verse 20. He says, teaching them to
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observe all things that you that I have commanded you.
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And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
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Amen. And so Jesus has called to us as
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disciples. His Commission to us is to go,
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to go to the nations and to make disciples, allow the Spirit to
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work in and through our lives. And essentially, you know, I
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like this like Jesus is. Jesus is.
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Telling us here he's like hey you're you're left here on earth
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for the for this season for this time to get the job done in and
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through the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel to see people
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get saved through the Lord and he's called us to be part of
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that And I it's exciting. So it's super exciting for me.
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I'm very passionate about this verse.
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I love it. And so if you guys would flip
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back with me to our text tonight in.
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Matthew 9, we're going to kind of unpack this a little bit and
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look a little more at kind of what this looks like to go and
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what this looks like to serve the Lord and to make disciples
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go among the nations, all of that.
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And so again, Matthew, Chapter 9 at the very end, we're going to
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look starting in verse 35. At this point in Matthew, Jesus
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has been doing a lot of miracles, a lot of ministry.
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He's been going out. He has, you know, even just in
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Chapter 9. Mine alone.
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He's forgiven and healed the paralyzed man.
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He's called Matthew, the tax collector, the Sinner to
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himself. He's blowing minds through that
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like, well, how could Jesus hang out with tax collectors?
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And then he calls him to himself.
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And Matthew's following him. There's a there's a girl in in
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this chapter whose life is restored.
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There's a woman that's here healed.
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There's a blind man that's healed.
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There's a mute man that speaks. And then we get to chap and we
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get to verse 35. And.
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And and and we start to see some of Jesus's heart behind this.
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And so in my heart, as we walk through these verses together, I
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want us to look at the example of Jesus.
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I want us to look at the example of how Jesus is doing ministry,
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how He's equipping his disciples, where his heart is.
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And then we can follow that example and imitate and and
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follow after him. And so this is, I think this is
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important for us to think through about.
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You know Jesus, we we can agree as disciples of Christ that
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Jesus has called us to do ministry, to serve people, to
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preach the gospel. But it's important for us to
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kind of start with the the definition of ministry and.
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And nowhere better to look than what Jesus really defines, what
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this ministry should look like. Because we're not just called to
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go out and do whatever we want. We're not called that go out for
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any reason, by any means, for any purpose.
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But we're very, it's very specific.
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And Jesus has one purpose for us to go out among the nations to
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preach the gospel of Jesus. And so I hope we're going to see
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a little bit of how we can do that and why.
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But I was reading in a commentary, Warren Weirsby,
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great great author, great commentary, great Bible scholar.
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I love how he defines ministry and I encourage you guys to
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write this down. But he he defines ministry like
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this. He says ministry takes place
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when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels to
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the glory of God. So, he says ministry takes place
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when the one divine resources. Meets 2 human needs through
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three loving channels and four for the glory of God.
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So man, when we think about this definition, man, I, I, I'm, I'm
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encouraged to see even in my own life and my own testimony, how
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the Lord has met me in those places with His divine resources
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to meet human needs and and created me a heart that loves
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people and I'm bringing all about glory for Him.
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And so just to look at these little things this, this these
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this definition from for more in Risby I'm thinking about the
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divine resources right Jesus and and God.
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God the Father has the divine resources that we need.
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In Colossians it says that Christ is in all and contains
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all or all things exist through Christ.
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He's the He you know Jesus Christ is unlimited, unconfined,
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never ending resource of life. And John, for Jesus says that
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he's the water that we can drink from, that the rivers of water
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springing up into everlasting life.
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In Second Peter, chapter one, verse 3, we're told that his
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divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and
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godliness through the knowledge of Him who is called us by glory
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and virtue. I love that, like all things
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that pertain to life and godliness has been given to us
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through Christ. And so these divine resources.
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In Psalm Psalm chapter 50, verse 10, it says that God, God says
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for every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle on 1000
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hills. I know all of the birds of the
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mountains and the wild beasts of the field.
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They're all mine. In other words, Jesus or God.
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God here in the Psalms is is essentially he's just saying
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everything belongs to him. And so as we step out in
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ministry, as we step out in obedience and faithfulness and
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open and that calling that the Lord's put on our lives, we can,
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we can fall back on these truths that we have divine resources in
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the Lord as we step out in obedience to bring the gospel to
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the ends of the earth, as we fulfill the Great Commission
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that the Lord has called us to. I'm encouraged by that.
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I hope you guys are encouraged by that too, because sometimes
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it can be very overwhelming. Of like man, we see all the our
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limitations, we see our weaknesses, we see our failures.
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And it's like, Lord, how could you ever use me to to proclaim
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the gospel and be a channel to to help people see the Lord and
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the Lord's like, no, it's okay. I've got this because I have you
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know, as he says in the Psalms, I have the the cattle on 1000
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hills. I've got everything that you
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need and I want to pour that through your life.
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So that's the divine resources. And then as as Weirsby says, he
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says ministry takes place when divine resources meet human
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needs. And so I'm thinking about this
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as human needs. We spent some time in Uganda,
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about a year in Uganda, and that was the the first time in my
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life that I was just like hit and overwhelmed with human need.
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Just stepping every corner, we turned, it would be, you know,
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there'd be drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, kids
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on the street, starvation, disease, everything that you can
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name like was like, right in our face.
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And we know that those things happen here in the States but
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those are a little more concealed and things like that
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where in Uganda it was just like thrown in our faces.
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And I just remember stepping into that season and just being
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overwhelmed with the human need. But even thinking about our
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ministry here and our high school ministry here and and
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students here growing, you know growing up in the Lord and and
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and and some of the need that that just even our own community
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has of the the desperation and the anxiety and the depression
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and the and and. Whatever you name it like man
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our students are are facing those things and so it's like
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Lord how can I how can I help meet these needs.
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But but as we think about needs you know I I like to just bring
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it back down to the need is we we simply just need Jesus
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Christ. He's the ultimate need.
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He's the he's the need that we want to you know, he's the OR,
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he's the. He's the thing that's going to
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fulfill those needs. And so as we as we step out of
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ministry the divine resources meet human needs and then it's
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through loving channels and this is This Is Us, this is this is
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the the cool part that the Lord calls us to become.
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He's called us to be vessels in in Ephesians Chapter 2 it says
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that he's that we are his workmanship that were created
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for good works and and he's called us to be loving channels
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that his Holy Spirit can work in and through our lives.
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That he would fill us. And out of the overflow of our
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own life, and out of out of the things He's doing within our own
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lives, he would be able to touch other people in in mighty ways.
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And that's always encouraging. And that always blows my mind of
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like man, the Lord chooses to use us to express his love and
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his care for people. And so the servant of Jesus, the
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disciple of Jesus, you know, as we get into the text here, we're
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going to see the disciples. But as as we even look at our
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own lives, that we are the instrument, we're the loving
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channel that the Spirit flows through.
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But get this without love, Paul would say in First Corinthians
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that we're just a clinging symbol or a resounding or a
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resounding gong. And so we have to be filled with
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the love of God, so that we can pour out the love of God and
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that's how God's going to going to use us.
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And at the end, it says that, you know, Weirsby says Divine
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resources meets human needs through loving channels to the
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glory of God. And that's the purpose of
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ministry. That's the, you know, even just
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thinking of people getting saved, who gets the glory for
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the salvation of souls, God and God alone gets the glory for
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that. And that's our that's our heart,
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is that we would step out of the way and allow the Lord to be
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glorified as people trust. And meet Jesus Christ.
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And so I want to look at this model here in Matthew Chapter 9
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and Matthew chapter 10. I think it helps us understand
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and and just sees the see the example of of what Jesus does.
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So pick up with me Verse 35, Matthew Chapter 9.
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Jesus is cruising around. He's doing he's doing a lot of
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ministry. A lot of great things are
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happening and verse 35 it says then Jesus went about.
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All the cities and the villages teaching in their synagogues,
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preaching the gospel of every Kingdom and healing, every
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sickness and disease among the people.
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And then verse 36 it says. But when he saw the multitudes,
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he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and
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scattered like sheep, having no shepherd.
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So here we get to we see, we see here that Jesus sets the example
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and the tone of what ministry. Should look like and we get to
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follow after that example of Jesus.
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He you know and I love that about Jesus.
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Like he doesn't just call us to go do something but he's going
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to set the example of of what servanthood looks like of what
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ministry looks like. And then he's going to be like
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okay come follow with me and see you know he you know see what
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what he has for us And so he here we see that he calls the
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disciples. He calls the disciples.
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But he he doesn't just tell them what to do, but he really
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demonstrates to them with actions what it looks like to to
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serve people, what it looks like to go to people, what it looks
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like to go there for among the nations with the gospel.
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And so we see here in in Matthew 9, he was going around all of
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the region. He was teaching, he was
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preaching, he was healing people, he was meeting the needs
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of people. But if we pay close attention
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to. My Bible just closed on me.
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Let me get back to Matthew 9. Bear with me, guys.
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Here we go. So I then in high school
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ministry, we teach through the NLT.
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And so I bought this new NLT Bible that I thought I was gonna
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really like. But the spine wasn't broken.
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And like every time I was teaching just like flops back
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over closed. And I'm just like, no.
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So this is my good old king, new King James that stays open.
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But then it closed on me. So I was like, what?
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What's happening? But anyways Jesus.
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So if we if we pay a close attention to what Jesus is doing
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here, we see, we see his heart, we see his heart and his
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attitude. In verse 36 it says that he saw
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the multitudes and he was moved with compassion for them.
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That's his response as he's aware of the depth of human need
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and he's seen the need for not just physical need but the the
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the spiritual need, the need for a savior, the name need for
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Messiah, the need for forgiveness and salvation.
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His response was that he was moved with compassion for them
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and I and I like to highlight this, this area and the
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scripture because this idea of moved with compassion.
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I think it's key for us as we follow a ministry, a model of
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ministry. We have to be moved with
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compassion. I think a ministry without
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compassion is not going to be an honoring ministry to the Lord.
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We have to have that compassion. As we talk about ministry is
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looking at the more of the original language here this,
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this, this word compassion. In the original language was was
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like the strongest word for compassion.
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It describes the compassion. Which moves a man or a woman to
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the to the deepest, deepest depths of his being.
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It was like the deepest, most inward part of who Jesus was,
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was moved with compassion. It wasn't just a a quick
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emotional reaction, but it was like his whole soul and his gut
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just like moved as he looked upon the people with compassion
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and he was moved to the depths of his being.
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I I appreciate this is of Jesus as well because we see that
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Jesus wasn't void of emotion and feelings.
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As he went about ministry, he was in tune with the human needs
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around him. He's in tune with the brokenness
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and the hurt around him. And he felt those.
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He felt that pain. He felt that hurt.
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He was moved with compassion and mercy.
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His heart was is broken as he looked upon the needs of
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humanity. We have that throughout
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scripture as he you know he looks over Jerusalem.
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He's weeping over Jerusalem as his friend Lazarus dies.
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He's weeping over the death of his friend and and watching his
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friends more and over and like we see that this is a model of.
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Jesus's ministry and then even looking at Paul's life Paul and
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Acts Acts chapter 20. As he was talking to the the
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elders of Ephesus it says that he was was sharing with them.
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Like you've you've seen how I've done ministry with you among you
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with tears and it's like man that's that's part of the
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ministry of like man we we can't just become hard and cold to to
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the people around us and so we have to pray.
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As we look at this, we have to pray.
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And ask the Lord to keep our hearts soft like his.
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Because again, the the amount of need that can be around us could
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be overwhelming, overwhelming. As disciples and ministers of
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Christ, there's going to be burdens that you can't carry.
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There's going to be problems that you can't solve.
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There's going to be, there's going to be people that we
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can't, you know, help or and there's going to be issues that
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can't be fixed without the Lord and and and we're going to be
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overwhelmed if we're trying to do those things in our own
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strength. In our own in our own wisdom.
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And if we're just trying to go through the motion of like
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solving everything that comes our way.
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And so we see here you know as as the needs are here.
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Like, I just encourage this guys.
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Like as the consistent needs of people continue to come in and
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through your lives and I and I. You know, I promise you as you
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open up yourself to the Lord and be like Lord, use me and send
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me. He's going to show you and
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reveal to you more and more need around you.
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But be encouraged that the Lord wants to use you in that.
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Don't be overwhelmed by that. Don't be growing, don't grow
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cold or hard towards that, but instead have the heart of Jesus
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here. Noticed that he was moved with
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compassion, not just about the sickness of people, right?
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It wasn't. You know, I don't even think
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that that's necessarily what he was moved with as he looked at
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the at the multitudes. It wasn't.
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He wasn't moved with compassion because they were sick.
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It wasn't it wasn't because they were poor.
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It wasn't because they were under the oppression of the
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Roman Empire. Or at least those weren't the
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main things that he was moved with compassion about.
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He was moved with compassion because we see here in verse 36.
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It says because they were weary, they were scattered like sheep,
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having no shepherd. I believe Jesus was moved with
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compassion here because the people had no shepherd.
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The people were dying spiritually.
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No one was shepherding their soul.
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They were getting ripped off spiritually.
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They were neglected. They were abused.
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They're, you know, and you know, like the the whole Jewish
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religious system was really just ripping people off spiritually.
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And Jesus saw. Man, he just saw, oh, how they
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needed a shepherd, how they needed the shepherd of their
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souls, how they needed God to come and step into their lives
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and shepherd them to salvation and forgiveness.
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And so I encourage you guys as we read this and we look at this
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and as you ask the Lord would you use me and you make yourself
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available to go there for I think it starts, I believe it
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starts with compassion that helping people.
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You know just seeing people and then helping them come under the
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care of the Good Shepherd. Right again we can we can be
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moved with compassion and and do the wrong thing of like, okay,
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I'm going to step and I'm going to solve all these people.
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No. Like we want to be moved with
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compassion and then point them to Jesus Christ.
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When, when we were, when I was pastoring in Zapparosia,
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Ukraine, you know, we. Moved, moved to the city.
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There the church was just going through some things and
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leadership change. And so we came in and just asked
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the Lord give us a give us a fresh vision for the city, give
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us a fresh vision for this, this church specifically.
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And he gave us something super simple, just Hebrews chapter 12.
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He says just that one phrase looking unto Jesus.
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And I was like, man, OK guys, this is this is our vision.
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This is the purpose of our church.
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We're going to just look to Jesus and we're going to help
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other people look to Jesus. And if we do those things, if we
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do that one thing right, like we know people are going to be
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taken care of. We know that the people are
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going to stop being ripped off by sin and deceit and all that.
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And we just want people to come under the care of the chief
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shepherd, the Good Shepherd. And I believe that's the the
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goal and the role of ministry of pastoral ministry.
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You know, again, just just to remind us, like it's not to take
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care of every need that comes in and through the church or their
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community, but the role of us, if we have, if we're in pastoral
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ministry, if we have a pastor's heart, if we just have a heart
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for the Lord, our our role is to walk the sheep towards Jesus,
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who's the chief shepherd, and to help them drink deeply of the
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waters of Jesus Christ. And so our compassion and our
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service and everything we do should have that one purpose in
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mind that we want to just point people to Jesus.
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We just want to see people fulfilled and satisfied in
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Jesus, for he's the only one who can meet the needs.
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And so here Jesus sets that example.
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And as we continue this is, this section's going to progress a
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little bit as as we see, it's going to start with, you know,
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we're going to see Jesus. He sees the multitudes.
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He was moved with compassion. He saw the greatest need.
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And then in verse 37, instead of going to action, Jesus is going
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to just call us to pray. It's not like okay, you see the
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weary people now go and you know, do a great crusade and
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then outreach and all. No, it's like, no, we have to
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stop and we have to pray. So first 37 realize the need and
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pray. It says Then he said to the
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disciples, So I love this. Jesus is teaching the disciples
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as he's walking through this ministry with them.
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He turns to them and he says the harvest truly is plentiful but
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the laborers are few. Verse 38 Therefore pray the Lord
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of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
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So Jesus has instructions to the disciples in response to seeing
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the needs and the and being moved with compassion is
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bringing his disciples in. And like hey guys, we got to
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pray, let's pray there we see the harvest, we see the need, we
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see the the people. Like let's start with prayer.
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Jesus saw, you know, Jesus saw the opportunity.
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Jesus saw the harvest, the plentiful harvest, the ready
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harvest. And and sometimes he starts to
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reveal these things to us. And I don't know about you guys,
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but for me, like, isn't that hard to just like, stop and pray
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when we see the need in front of us.
22:57
We need to just stop and pray before acting.
23:01
That's that's really hard. Like for me maybe it's maybe
23:03
it's not hard for is it hard for you guys?
23:05
I don't know. Am I, am I alone?
23:06
But it's like, man, I see something and I'm like, okay,
23:09
let's just get it done. Let's knock it out.
23:11
But like the Lord's like, no, let's, let's take a step back.
23:14
Let's pray, let's pray for laborers.
23:16
Let's pray for the Lord of the harvest.
23:18
Let's pray that God would give the increased and and we need to
23:22
guard ourselves against this. We need to guard ourselves
23:24
against this, even with good intentions and good motives.
23:26
If we're just stepping out before the Lord before waiting
23:29
upon him before praying, before sitting, you know, just in
23:33
communion with the Lord like we can we can get ourselves in in
23:36
some big trouble of like, man. This is, you know, we're just
23:39
trying to accomplish things in our own flesh and in our our own
23:43
wisdom and our own strength. But Jesus calls us to stop, to
23:47
pray for the Lord to send out the harbors and and the the
23:51
laborers for the harvest And and get this, as this is what I've
23:54
learned in my life at least that the the Lord brought this, this
23:57
verse. He illuminated this verse to me
24:00
in a big way, you know, many years ago.
24:03
And I just started to pray and I was like, OK is if Jesus, you
24:06
know, just learning what obedience looks like.
24:08
If Jesus tells me to pray for laborers of the harvest, that's
24:12
what I'm going to do. And I started praying for that.
24:14
And before before long, the Lord revealed to me, it's like, man,
24:19
if you're like you're you're the laborer, I want to send you out.
24:23
So be careful with that prayer. Like, be ready, be ready.
24:26
If you're going to pray for the laborer, the Lord's going to be
24:28
like, hey, you're the laborer, you go because it's illogical to
24:31
pray like Lord, send, send workers, send workers while I'm
24:34
just like sitting back on my hands like, no, the Lord's going
24:36
to be like he's going to prompt and move your heart to be the
24:40
laborer, to send you out to answer the call that he's put on
24:43
your life. Often if you see a need, like
24:46
he's revealed that need to you so that you can step into that
24:49
need, you're the laborer who needs to meet that need as as a
24:53
vessel for Jesus Christ. And so often this, this answer
24:57
to the prayer is Jesus speaking to you.
25:00
And he's saying, you go, you go to the nations, you go to, you
25:05
know, wherever it is, you go across the street, you go to
25:07
your neighbors, you go onto the mission field and and allow the
25:12
Lord to speak to you through those things.
25:14
It always amazes me again, it's always amazes me that God
25:17
chooses people as his primary method to do the work of the
25:21
ministry. Jesus didn't tell, tell the
25:24
disciples here, just pray, pray that God would strengthen just a
25:28
couple work a couple laborers. Like, no.
25:30
He told us that he told us to pray that the Lord would send
25:33
out more laborers and more and like he he wants to bring us
25:37
into the fold of his his work in ministry and super exciting.
25:41
We don't we don't want to miss out on these things.
25:44
Recently we had our our summer camp at for the high school
25:47
ministry not really recently now I guess the summer's already
25:51
flown by school's already started.
25:53
Sorry guys for whoever's in school and it's already back in
25:56
session. It's a bummer, but we so our
25:58
summer camp this year our our theme verse and our theme of
26:02
that the whole camp was from Isaiah chapter 6, where God
26:06
comes and he says, who whom shall I send and who will go for
26:09
us. And and Isaiah heard the call
26:11
and he answered the call and he said, here I am send me right.
26:15
And so I think and I believe as we as we abide in Christ and we
26:19
allow his compassion to flow through our lives and then we
26:21
start to to pray over the things that Lord's called us to pray
26:27
that's going to be a natural response as a disciple of
26:29
Christ. The natural reply to our to our
26:33
or the natural. Yeah.
26:34
The natural response to, like, the things the Lord's doing in
26:36
our lives is going to be that attitude of Isaiah where it's
26:39
like, hey, I'll go, I'll go. Lord, send me, use me.
26:43
I'm available. I know the harvest is out there.
26:45
Would you would you use me? And.
26:46
And the Lord wants to use you in whatever capacity He's called
26:50
you in. In Acts chapter one, verse 8,
26:53
Jesus calls the disciples to be witnesses for him in four
26:56
different places, in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and then
27:01
to the ends of the earth. Right.
27:02
And so he's called us to be, you know, witnesses to the ends of
27:07
the earth, going there for it to make disciples, to make nation,
27:09
to to bring the gospel to the nations.
27:12
And I'm I'm encouraged by Acts, chapter one, verse eight, that
27:16
it's not just just doesn't fall on one person, but Jesus is
27:20
calling the church to do this, the church to be witnesses for
27:24
him in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, to the ends of the
27:28
earth. Because one person can't reach
27:30
all four, four areas. But the Church of Jesus Christ.
27:34
As we abide and answer the call, we can cover the ground that the
27:38
Lord has called us to cover. We can bring the Gospels to the
27:41
ends of the earth. We can bring the gospel to the
27:43
corner of the earth where there's unreached people.
27:46
We can be the ones who reach the neighbors across the street.
27:49
We can be the ones who encourage a person at King Supers,
27:53
whatever it is like that. We we have been called into this
27:57
together to be witnesses for Jesus Christ and so encourage
28:02
you guys where is Jesus calling you to be his witness?
28:06
As I was, as I was growing in the Lord and maturing in the
28:09
Lord in my younger years, now I'm feeling a little older.
28:13
My high school students always remind me how old I look and I'm
28:15
like, thanks guys, I appreciate that.
28:18
But as I was growing in in maturing in the Lord many you
28:23
know, praying like Lord, how are you going to use me as a
28:25
witness? He answered that by making me a
28:29
witness in a kitchen kitchen of a Chinese restaurant for many
28:32
years. And there are seasons where I,
28:34
like, despise that job. But then the Lord revealed to me
28:38
that this kitchen needed Jesus Christ just as much as the ends
28:42
of the earth. And that's where the Lord had
28:43
placed me for that time and and amazing things the Lord would do
28:47
through that. I got a, you know, years after I
28:50
had left that place and was on the mission field.
28:53
I got a Facebook message from an old coworker who who messaged me
28:56
and he's just like hey man, I just remember you talking about
28:59
the Lord and I I just ended up giving my life to the Lord and I
29:03
was like man, it was so cool because it was like man, the
29:06
things the witness that I was in this in this work environment
29:09
that was not a godly environment at all.
29:12
There was there were seeds planted and and that's stuck
29:15
with people and and the Lord wants to use you if it is in a
29:18
simple place like a Chinese restaurant slinging Chinese food
29:22
and chicken lettuce wraps and all that.
29:24
Like the Lord wants to use you in those things.
29:26
And, and and that was my Jerusalem.
29:28
And from there he called me to the globe to Uganda to Ukraine
29:31
and I went to the ends of the earth, to Ukraine.
29:33
But you know after living there for eight years Ukraine became
29:38
home. It became my Jerusalem.
29:41
It became, you know, very familiar to me.
29:43
And so like, sometimes I think like back here in Aurora, like,
29:47
man, I'm in my the ends of my earth, like trying to figure out
29:50
Aurora culture and like, but it's good.
29:52
Like this is where the Lord has us.
29:54
And you know, if Jesus, Jesus wants to just answer, you know,
29:59
answer these prayers of sending people out as laborers.
30:02
And if we sincerely and openly say, Lord, I'll go, I want to be
30:07
used. What an exciting thing that is,
30:09
how the Lord wants to use you in your own personalities and your
30:12
own giftings and your own background, all of the that
30:15
combined, the Lord wants to use you in an amazing way.
30:18
And so I encourage us to be church that prays for laborers
30:22
and sends out laborers and that we are the laborers.
30:26
And so as we go into Chapter 10, we're going to look at a few
30:28
more verses here in chapter 10 and and we're going to see what
30:34
this looks like. So kind of I want you guys to
30:37
follow along a little bit with this progression, right.
30:39
It starts with Jesus seen the multitudes, He was moved with
30:43
compassion. He saw the need for shepherd.
30:46
Then he said, OK, let's pray, let's the harvest is ready pray.
30:50
And then as we get to Chapter 10, now is like the action
30:53
chapter, it's go time for the disciples.
30:56
And in verse one, it says when he is, when he had called his 12
31:01
disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits to
31:06
cast them out to heal all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of
31:11
disease. And so something key for you
31:13
guys to jot down from this verse is that whoever God calls, God
31:17
equips, right. Whoever God calls, God's going
31:20
to equip. Chapter Pastor Chuck always said
31:22
like if God guides, God's going to provide.
31:25
And so that's key we see here and circle those words, at least
31:28
in the new King James Version, it says he has called.
31:32
He had called his 12 disciples. And then it says he gave them
31:36
power, right. He called and He gave.
31:39
He didn't just call and abandon them to their own vices, but he
31:42
called and then he gave them power.
31:44
He gave them power to to cast out demons, to heal, to heal all
31:48
kinds of sicknesses, to heal the diseases he called and he gave.
31:52
And and as he calls you, you guys can trust and have that
31:55
assurance that he's going to he's going to give you what you
31:58
need to do, the ministry that he's called you to do.
32:01
Like we were praying, like he's faithful.
32:03
He's been so faithful to you in your life.
32:05
He's going to be faithful to to continue to work through you.
32:10
And so as we serve the Lord remember that as he calls you.
32:14
It's not it's not just okay like I'm called and now I can do
32:18
whatever I want on my own. Like, no, it's called.
32:20
And then we rest in the Holy Spirit.
32:22
By the power of the Spirit. Our ministry and Our Calling
32:26
must be always propelled by the Holy Spirit.
32:30
Because if we're serving in the flesh, if we're relying on the
32:33
flesh, if we're relying on our own education, our own
32:35
experience or whatever it is like, we're not going to, we're
32:39
again, we're not going to have a we're not going to have a
32:41
ministry that honors the Lord, because it's going to be our
32:46
ministry and not the Lord's ministry, not the Lord's way.
32:49
And so here the disciples are becoming that Channel of God's
32:54
mighty resources, that Channel of God's love.
32:57
They're going to be the ones who are filled with the power of God
33:00
and then demonstrate the power of God.
33:02
And God will not call you, as we're going to see here with the
33:05
disciples. God will not call you just to
33:07
abandon you. Instead, He will call you into a
33:11
partnership with Him and into a partnership with His ministry.
33:15
And he will equip you and as as the you know, as the as.
33:21
I lost my thought as Philippians Philippians 16116 says we can do
33:26
all thirteens through Christ who strengthens.
33:27
Actually, it's not Philippians 1/6 What is it?
33:29
Philippians 413 Yeah, we can do all things through Christ, who
33:33
strengthens us as he calls us as we abide in Him.
33:36
It's not by our strength or by our own power, but it's by the
33:40
Spirit of the Lord. Zechariah 46.
33:44
The problem with us sometimes as we step out, you know, we're
33:48
like the disciples. We're called here.
33:50
We can step out. We're going to like, OK, we're
33:51
going to take on, you know, whatever.
33:53
And sometimes we can mistakenly think that God has called us to
33:57
be manufacturers of his spirit. And we're just trying to produce
34:02
results. We're just trying to put
34:03
together programs. We're trying to create, We're
34:05
trying to produce. We're trying to just make it
34:07
happen in our own strength. But that's not what we see.
34:10
Jesus calling the disciples too. The disciples.
34:13
You know, it doesn't. It doesn't say that they, they
34:15
sat around taking classes. That doesn't say that they had,
34:20
you know, years of planning meetings and agendas and all
34:23
these like, no, it just says that they were called, they were
34:26
given power and then they were sent out.
34:28
And so God simply just calls them, sends them, gives them his
34:32
very own power. So we don't need to manufacture
34:36
and try to create the power of God or create the ministry of
34:39
God. Instead, we're just called to be
34:41
distributors of God's resources, of God's love.
34:45
Like we can. Just like it's freely we've
34:47
received, freely we can give out of the overflow of our own
34:50
heart. We can just just pour that out
34:53
on others. Because he alone, like we looked
34:55
at He alone has the resources. He alone has the power.
34:58
He alone has the ability to reach people.
35:01
So what can we really do other than receive his glorious grace
35:05
and His power and his, his, his giftings into our lives and then
35:08
just freely distribute it like hey freely, you know.
35:11
And we even see that down in verse 8 where it says freely you
35:14
have received, freely you will give.
35:16
That's the model of ministry for the disciples.
35:19
That's the model of ministry for us, like freely receive that
35:22
love, that free gift of salvation, that free grace of
35:24
Jesus Christ, allow him to radically change your life, and
35:28
then freely give that away to other people and God will just
35:31
keep filling you up in that. I like this, this picture, I
35:35
don't remember where I read it somewhere in in in a book or
35:38
something. But this picture of, like, God
35:39
doesn't. God doesn't call us to be
35:42
reservoirs, but he calls us to be rivers, right, a reservoir.
35:45
We have a lot of reservoirs around here, and they just kind
35:48
of sit there and they get like kind of nasty and like we go do
35:52
baptisms in there and it's like, OK, this water's not the
35:55
greatest, but there's no, like, fresh, fresh flow of water into
35:59
it. It's just like pooling water and
36:01
holding all the water in Jesus. Like in our spiritual life,
36:04
we're not called to just be reservoirs, holding in all the
36:07
things that the Lord has poured into our lives.
36:08
Instead, we're to be that flowing river of everlasting
36:12
water that Jesus has poured through our lives.
36:14
And so allow your life to be like that Channel and that river
36:17
of God's resources flying, flowing and filling your life
36:22
and others. And so here in verse one we see
36:25
God calls God quips, he gives them power he sends or he starts
36:29
to send them out. In verse two it says the names
36:33
of the 12 apostles. Just the the translation of
36:37
apostle can just simply I know it can be a title but it simply
36:41
just can be mean means the one who sent out.
36:45
And so in that sense the one who sent out a disciple of Christ is
36:48
one who sent out says that the 12 apostles are these first
36:52
Simon, verse two, who is called Peter and Andrew, his brother
36:57
James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother in verse three,
37:00
Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector,
37:04
James the son of Alpheus and Libias, whose surname was
37:08
Thaddeus, and verse 4, Simon the Canaanites and Judas Iscariot
37:13
who also betrayed him. And then verse five it says the
37:15
12 Jesus sent out and commanded them saying do not go into the
37:21
way of the Gentiles and do not enter a city of the Samaritans,
37:26
but go, can you guys say go again, good job, good job.
37:31
So it says go rather to the lost sheep at the House of Israel.
37:35
And as you, great great as you go, preach saying the Kingdom of
37:43
heaven is at hand, Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise
37:48
the dead, cast out demons freely you have received, freely give.
37:53
And so Jesus sends his disciples out.
37:55
It's time for them to start living their faith out.
37:58
It's time for them to go out. It's time to for them to
38:01
actively start preaching the gospel to reach the lost.
38:06
And we need to come to that place too.
38:08
And so the question I think for us is like, have we come to that
38:11
that place of realization yet that Christ, Jesus Christ, the
38:15
one who who died on the cross for your sins and rose again,
38:18
has also called you to go out. Are you actually living your
38:21
faith out? Are you going out or are we
38:24
staying just in our comfort zone?
38:26
Something that we need to remember is that God is the God
38:29
of of evangelism in the sense like God.
38:32
You know, we see that throughout, throughout all the
38:34
the scripture and that the picture of the gospel, that God
38:37
intentionally came down to earth to dwell with men, to live among
38:41
men, to save men. And so he's called us to, to do
38:45
the same, to go out as, as you know, representatives of of him,
38:50
to reach people, to call people, to allow them to see the need
38:55
for Jesus Christ. And as God does this in our
38:58
lives and we allow God to do this in our lives, it's like
39:00
it's an amazing, glorious thing to be part of the Kingdom of God
39:04
expanding, and that's God's heart to expand the Kingdom.
39:08
Second, Peter chapter 3 verse 9 is that God is not slack
39:13
concerning his promise. Instead he is patient with you
39:18
not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
39:23
And so God through the disciples expanding the ministry of the
39:27
Kingdom of God. And here we are 2000 some years
39:29
later where God is still calling and doing the same thing in our
39:32
lives and and and I'm I'm always thankful for that and humbled by
39:39
that that it's like man like I I know that I know that like the
39:46
the the God of you know the God who rose Jesus from the dead is
39:50
with me and empowering me and strengthening me so that I can
39:55
do what he's called me to do. Many times I feel ill equipped
39:58
and unprepared or whatever it may be and just like, OK, Lord,
40:01
like what am I? And it's like OK, He takes care
40:04
of those things and we know that he is faithful to do those
40:09
things and so. One one last little verse I want
40:13
to share with you guys. If we're we don't have time.
40:15
I wanted to cover like this whole chapter, but obviously not
40:18
enough time. But if you guys would jump down
40:20
to verse 19 and 20, these are Jesus's instructions for the
40:24
disciples as he sends them out. And I think that this is such a
40:28
good reminder. It says when they Jesus speaking
40:31
to them, when they deliver you up.
40:33
Do not worry about how or what you should speak for.
40:38
It will be given to you in that hour.
40:40
What you should speak for. It is not you who speak, but
40:44
it's the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
40:47
And so just that reminder to rely on the Holy Spirit as you
40:51
go out to to to remember that we can trust God in the moment that
40:56
he will speak in and through us. And this is so comforting.
41:00
This is so comforting for me because I know preparation is
41:03
important. I know study we want to be
41:05
approved. And then second, Timothy chapter
41:08
2 tells us to study, to show ourselves a proved to be conduct
41:11
to correctly divide the Word of God.
41:13
So we want to be in God's Word, we want to study, we want to
41:15
soak it up. First, Peter 3 tells us to
41:17
always be ready to give an answer to explain the hope you
41:21
have. And second, Timothy chapter 4
41:23
tells us to preach the Word in and out of season and as much as
41:27
we can prepare ourselves and be good stewards of our time as we
41:30
prepare, that's a it's a wonderful thing.
41:32
But at the end of the day as we go out we have to rely on the
41:35
spirit and he's going to, he's going to he's going to use his
41:39
spirit to to to speak through us and give us the right words at
41:43
the right time for the right people And and we can trust that
41:47
and rely on that. Because I don't know about you
41:50
guys because sometimes, like for me sometimes I have that that
41:53
fear of like man, I don't what what happens if this situation
41:56
comes to me And like I don't know what to say and like, you
41:59
know, I think we've all been there where it just like feels
42:02
awkward and like I don't know what to say.
42:03
But it's like, man, for these early disciples.
42:07
I don't think that that was their fear.
42:08
I think they were like so excited just to go out and
42:10
preach and that but that. But.
42:14
But we see that as Jesus spoke to them, it was like, man, just
42:18
that reminder, don't worry about how you should speak.
42:21
You know I I can imagine some of these guys tax collectors,
42:23
fishermen. You know just just average guys
42:26
being like okay. We're going to go out among
42:29
Israel, among this this religious nation and we're going
42:32
to we're going to preach and teach and like we're not we're
42:34
we're uneducated. We're in in in God's just
42:37
reminding them hey I'm going to fill you.
42:40
I'm going to use you. The very spirit of God the
42:43
Father is going to speak through you and that gives us great
42:47
confidence, a promise and a strength.
42:50
And I believe the glory goes to God in that just even looking
42:53
back in my own life and just like even even moving to Ukraine
42:57
and like how Lord how am I going to use like a language that I'm
43:01
like struggling to learn how can I how can I be used to to share
43:05
the gospel. And I've seen I saw time and
43:07
time again like the Lord give me even in the words in Russian to
43:11
be able to share the gospel when I felt like man there's no way I
43:14
can clearly share the gospel and it's like man thank you Lord and
43:18
and so whatever that is like be encouraged with that like you
43:20
can share the gospel with your coworker and your neighbor and
43:24
and and he's going to use you in that.
43:26
So a promise and a strength for us.
43:30
That of strength for us as we go out to testify Jesus.
43:33
So just coming back to that quote that I shared as we as we
43:37
wrap up and it says that ministry, this is Warren Weirsby
43:41
again. He says ministry takes place
43:43
when the divine resources meet human needs through loving
43:47
channels to the glory of God. And may that be a definition of
43:51
our lives as we go there for to the nations preaching the gospel
43:56
in in how the Lords called you. And so I want to share a couple
43:58
photos with you guys as we wrap up tonight because as we teach
44:02
this, we have a team in Peru right now and this is, this is
44:07
the team led by Pastor Roy and they are literally serving the
44:12
Lords to the end of the earth right now.
44:14
So they're doing great things. And if you guys could go to the
44:17
next photo, they went up on the, I believe is the Amazon River.
44:20
They're going into the jungle to help build a church and dig a
44:26
well, which is super, super cool and how the Lord's using them.
44:29
So the next photo this is the church they're helping lay
44:32
concrete floor. They're helping establish this
44:36
this church building And and I believe that they're they're
44:40
acting in the call that the Lord has for them right now in this
44:43
moment. And it's like, man, they're just
44:46
stepping out of faith. You know I don't even know if
44:49
all these guys know how to to lay concrete, but here they are
44:52
doing it right. I remember the first time I did
44:54
that and another in Guatemala. I'm like, how do I, how do I mix
44:57
this thing and I'm making a huge mess And then the the locals
44:59
came over and like, hey get out of the way we'll take care of
45:01
this. But it's like, man, here they
45:03
are like being used by the Lord if nothing else.
45:07
I know one of the team members bought 10 books of prayer like
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from Ian bounds, those little books that Pastor Avant used to
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share. And he, he took those ten books
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and he's like, I'm going to pray each day for a divine
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appointment to give this book in Spanish to someone.
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And I texted him this morning just like, hey man, just to
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remind you that we're praying for you that you, the Lord's
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going to lead you today to meet that person that you can
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encourage with that book. And so it's not so much about
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the the just the church building but it's like man, they they are
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being used as loving channels to reach to reach people in in the
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Amazon jungle. How cool is that?
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How crazy is that? And it's only because of the
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Lord. It's only because the Lord has
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has allowed them and called them and so we too can have this
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attitude to go there for and be available and be used by the
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Lord. So I'll invite the worship team
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back up as we as we wrap up. But I just want to end with a
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few scriptures just to read for you guys, for you guys to dwell
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on to to make these your own prayer.
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As we go through the scriptures, there's example after example of
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men and women who present themselves to the Lord and all
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of their weaknesses and all of their fears and failures.
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They present themselves to the Lord and they say Lord, I want
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to be used here. Am I in Exodus?
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Chapter three we have Moses at the burning Bush.
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And it says, When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer
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look, God called to him From the middle of the Bush Moses, Moses,
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and Moses replied, Here I am. And for Samuel says the Lord
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called Samuel, and he answered, here I am.
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And now the Lord came and stood and called.
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At other times Samuel, Samuel and Samuel answered, speak,
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Lord, your servant is listening in Acts Chapter 9.
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Ananias says there was a certain disciple at Damascus named
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Ananias, and to him the Lord said in a vision Ananias.
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And he said, here I am Lord. And then Isaiah chapter 6 like I
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shared earlier, God says where it says I I heard a voice of the
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Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us?
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And then I, Isaiah answered and said here I am, send me.
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And now I highly just, I just want to encourage you guys just
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to make that your prayer wherever you're at.
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You know, I know that these like week after week maybe many of
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you guys are walking through many different challenges and
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and struggles. But despite all those things
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that we're walking through, like the Lord wants to use us and we
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get to make ourselves available to that.
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And the Bible tells us even that in our own weaknesses, He's made
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strong. So I encourage you just to
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present yourself to him. And if you don't know Jesus
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Christ, if you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ,
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that's where. That's where the first Here I
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am, use me comes or just like here I am, Lord, with all my
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sins, all my failures, all my brokenness, all my rebellion
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against you, my hard heart against you.
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The the first step is just to be like, OK, Lord, I surrender to
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you, want to stop resisting you. I want to repent and be forgiven
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and saved by Jesus Christ. And so if there's anyone here
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tonight, I just want to give you that opportunity, that
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invitation to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to be saved,
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and then step into all the amazing things the Lord has for
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you that you 2 have a calling and a purpose.
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And it starts with the that relationship with your creator,
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with your savior and it goes from there as he takes you into
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into eternity and it's a glory forever, like a forever
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relationship with him. So if there's anyone here, I
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just want to give that opportunity.
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If you want to, you know, even just a public declaration of
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like I need a relationship with Jesus, I need to surrender to
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Jesus. I would encourage you to just
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stand or to to raise your hand. And I would love to pray with
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you. Pastors here would love to pray
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with you. I never want these moments to
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slip by because it's like, man, we walk out those doors and I
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want us to walk out those doors changed forever for the glory of
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the Lord. So if there's anyone here, maybe
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online or on the radio, but you guys can pray with me something
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like this where it's just, Lord, I surrender to you.
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I need forgiveness. I need salvation and I believe
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Jesus. You are the only way.
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So I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I believe in
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my heart that God raised him from the dead.
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Jesus, I surrender. I Open up my life to You.
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Here I am. Save me Jesus.
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Name. Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
50:25
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
50:28
For prayer. Call us at 87730 Grace.
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That's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
50:39
entirety or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
50:44
online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
50:49
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
50:51
this week.