Skip to content What Does Jesus Want? Apr 18 · 1 hr 1 min ...more
What Does Jesus Want?
April 18, 2024 · 1 hr 1 min
Jesus Christ still wants to use His Church to do the exact same things that He did during His earthly ministry.
Series The Kingdom Invasion April 18, 2024 · 1 hr 1 min · The Kingdom Invasion
Jesus Christ still wants to use His Church to do the exact same things that He did during His earthly ministry. ...more Show the full description Show less Jesus Christ still wants to use His Church to do the exact same things that He did during His earthly ministry.
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
139K followers
0:00 Our father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise because you are worthy and you alone deserve everything that we have. Lord, as we gather here today, we are thankful that you gave us your word.0:11 You're living an active word, which every time is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that we believe that you speak. So our prayer today, Lord is speak for we are ready to hear what you have to say0:23 to us. We are ready individually and we are ready collectively as a church. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord speak, who will believe what he says to you and0:35 who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. Amen. There is no more fascinating study in the world0:47 than the study of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, the more you study the Lord and the more you get to know him through his word, the more fascinating you see that he is. In this series called the kingdom0:59 invasion, we've been taking a look at who Jesus is and we started in Mark chapter 1 and saw all the uniqueness of his ministry, of what Jesus came and did. That he had always been the second person of the trinity, he1:10 had always been God, and yet in humility, he put on incarnate flesh. He came to this world. He had a ministry of preaching. He had a ministry of freedom where he delivered people from demons. He had a ministry of1:21 healing, and he loved the world so much that he gave up his own life on a cross, shed his own blood, and died so that those who would repent and believe could have a1:32 relationship with him and with his father. Then we took a look at some of the uniquenesses of Jesus Christ's ministry. We took a look in Mark chapter 5 and how Jesus had power over demons and Jesus had power over
1:44 disease and Jesus even has power over death and we studied what his ministry looked like. But we didn't stop there. We took a look at the commissioning of his original
1:56 12 and how he sent them out to do exactly what he was doing. And last week we took a look at Matthew chapter 10 and he sent them out to preach. He sent them out to cast
2:08 out demons. He sent them out to heal people and he expected them to do everything that he was doing because he was the 1 that was going to be empowering them. And yet it begs the question, what about us?
2:20 We said last week we are here because of those original 12 and many people even in the church can get to the place where they would say, Jesus is unique. He had a special ministry and he empowered
2:31 12 people to do it. But what about me? And what about you? What does God require? What does God expect? What does Jesus Christ want? Because I find that those first
2:43 3 messages, most evangelicals around the country would nod their head and say, okay, I believe he did that and I believe he did that with the 12, but what about us? What does Jesus want from us? And if you've ever
2:55 wondered that, God wants to speak to you today. We're gonna be in Luke chapter 10 this morning. We're gonna take a look at the first 24 verses of that text. And as you turn there, we're gonna answer the question, what
3:06 does Jesus want? And we're gonna take a look at 4 things that Jesus wants from you. But just to set up that story, if you flip back just 1 page or 1 chapter, you will see last week we
3:17 studied Matthew chapter 10. Luke chapter 9 is the parallel passage. So Jesus trains the 12. He sends them out just as he said. And remember when they came back, they were all excited that the ministry worked.
3:29 And they wanted to get alone with Jesus. And so Jesus said, let's get in a boat and go to the other side of the lake. And when they did, there was such a huge crowd of people. And Jesus saw all these people. And even
3:39 though the disciples just wanted to spend time with Jesus, Jesus had compassion on the masses, didn't he? And so he began to teach them and he began to heal them. He began to deliver them. And at the end of the day, they
3:50 had no food. And so he began to empower the disciples to give them the food that they needed. And the way he did this was he took what they had, he blessed it and he broke it. And then what did he do? He gave it to
4:01 the disciples so they could pass it out to everybody and everybody ate and was satisfied. What was Jesus trying to do? He was trying to teach the 12 everything that he had just taught them. That when he sent them out,
4:13 that they would always have what they need for the people that they were going to, but they needed to come back to Jesus to receive more so that they could pass it all out. And he was teaching them the habit. His method
4:22 was come back to me. I'll give you what you need and then you go out. That was Jesus' method. His method has not changed. The very next scene that Luke includes in his gospel is the mount of transfiguration where Peter,
4:33 James, and John got to see Jesus in all of his glory. When they came down the mountain, there was a father that had a son that was troubled. He had a demon and every time that the son was wanting to do something, they
4:43 would throw him on the ground or would throw him in the fire or try to drown him. And the disciples were trying to heal him, trying to cast the demon out because that's what Jesus told him to do but they were having no
4:53 success whatever, whatsoever. And so Jesus said, bring the boy to me. And when the man brought the boy to Jesus, he said, the man said to Jesus, if you can do anything, he said, if I can, all things are possible for him
5:04 who believes. And Jesus freed that little boy so that he was fine. Later, the disciples asked him, why couldn't we do that? I mean, we've been casting out demons and healing people but this 1 we couldn't do. And what
5:14 does he say? This kind only comes out by prayer and fasting. He wasn't giving them a magic formula. He was talking about a relationship that needed to be had in an ongoing way and a hunger for that relationship in order
5:26 to see the power of God released to the full measure of that situation. And then what we see is, as you can imagine being human, then there becomes this test of greatness because all the disciples as they're going out
5:38 preaching and casting out demons and healing people, they want to know, well, who's the greatest? Who's the best preacher? Who's the best healer? Who's the best demon caster router? Right? Jesus is overhearing all of
5:47 this and he begins to tell them, you know, that even the son of man did not come to serve but to be served. He began to show them that servanthood and humility was the
5:59 way to move forward. And then this chapter ends with 3 different vignettes of people approaching Jesus. Some that wanted to follow him and some that Jesus was calling to follow him. And here was the
6:11 thing that happened. They didn't wanna give him full allegiance. They just wanted to give him a little bit. 1 guy wanted to go bury his father first. He said, hey, let the dead bury their own dead but you come follow me.
6:21 Jesus said, anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven. He begins to say, you wanna be my follower? I need you to go all in. That's the context of where we're going. So he
6:31 was doing it with the 12 but he was also demanding it from everybody else that he met. And that's where we pick up in Luke chapter 10 and verse 1. Notice what it says. Now after this,
6:44 after all this, after he's appointed the 12, after he's shown them what he wants to do, after all this, the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them in pairs ahead of him to every city and place
6:56 where he himself was going to come. So now it's not just the 12 anymore. Now it's 70. Your version may read 72. Some manuscripts have 70, some manuscripts
7:08 have 72. Don't lose your faith. We'll just say 70 today because that's what it says in my bible. Okay? I mean, there were 70 elders in Israel. There were 70 members of the Sanhedrin. There were 70 nations in Genesis
7:19 chapter 10. Perhaps that's what it is. Anyway, don't lose your faith over 2 people. What I want you to see is this is not the 12. That's what I want you to see. What does Jesus
7:30 want? Jesus Christ wants first and foremost total allegiance from all his followers. I'm going to say it again because some of you heard me and you're nodding but you don't believe me that
7:42 he's talking about you. He wants total allegiance from all his followers. So he's appointing 70 others. Now who are the 70? I mean when we say the 10 in Matthew chapter 10,
7:54 it lists all the 12 by name. We know Peter. We know James. We know John. We know Andrew. Bartholomew. We have all of them listed. Who are the 70? We don't know.
8:06 They're anonymous saints. What does Jesus want? He wants anonymous saints that will give total allegiance to him. See, we live in a world where we think, I gotta get a title or I gotta get a I gotta get a rank or I gotta
8:17 get a degree or I gotta move myself up. No. Jesus will take you right where you're at and pour the full measure of his grace through whomever wants to come to him. He just wants total allegiance. That's what he wants. So
8:28 he invites the 70 now. Now you would think if he's gonna commission the 12, then for the 70, it's gonna be a little bit of a lighter mission. Don't you think? I mean, these aren't the real 12. These are just 70.
8:40 So what's he telling them to do? And he was saying to them, the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Have we not heard this
8:52 prayer before? Have we not heard this request before? Did he not tell the 12 the exact same thing? What's he telling the 70 now? The exact same thing that he told the 12 and what's what's
9:04 his first and foremost that he's asking him to do? Pray. Pray for what specifically? Pray that God would raise up those who would go
9:16 among the lost because the fields are white unto harvest. They are so ripe. Now, when are the fields ripe? Was it just in the first century that there were lost people? Was it just in the first century
9:28 that there was darkness? Was it just in the first century there were political problems? Was it just in the first century there were social issues? Or has it been every generation subsequent to that where the fields are
9:39 white under harvest? See, are people that sit in the church and talk about how dark it is out there. The darker it gets, the brighter the light for Christ will shine. Friends, we live in 1 of the greatest generations
9:51 for the gospel in the history of the church. Do not be discouraged. Amen. So what's he telling them? Pray that the Lord would send out harvesters into his harvest field. And as we talked about last week, just
10:03 to reiterate, what we tend to think that means is I'm a Christian. I'll pray for those select few, maybe the 3 or 5 percent that wanna do missions and see if God raises them up, and then I'll pray for them to get some
10:14 money so that they can go do the mission of God. That's what I'm praying for. Here's what you need to see in the scriptures. Jesus never asks his disciples to do anything that he himself is unwilling to do. What did
10:24 Jesus come and do? Well, he preached. He cast out demons. He healed people. What did Jesus do? He commissioned people to go out and preach, cast out demons, heal people. What's he doing now? He's showing another group of
10:34 people, go tell the gospel, preach the gospel. He's gonna talk about healing and casting out demons that you'll see in this text. So he's modeling for them. Just do what I'm doing. Follow me and I will make you fishers
10:45 of men. So what's the prayer he's asking all Christians to pray everywhere around the world? Lord, here am I. Send me. I'm available. I'm ready. If there's a way you can use me on mission, that's what
10:57 I'd like to do. Now why is that important? Because for most of us, we think Jesus' mission was simply to die on the cross so that if you believe in him, you'll go to heaven. You won't
11:09 find that in the New Testament. You will not find Jesus come across somebody and say, what must I do to be saved? And he says, pray this prayer and ask me into your heart and then go live your life just the way it is.
11:20 You won't find that. Everybody Jesus meets, he not only wants to save, he's bringing them into a new kingdom, into a new family with a new mission to go and do
11:32 something. If you are saved through repentance and faith, Jesus didn't save you so that 1 day you'd go to heaven, and so in the interim, you'd just be a good boy or a good girl. He saved you because he has so much
11:44 purpose in your life, and your greatest purpose will be found as you live a missional lifestyle for Jesus Christ. Amen? That's what he's talking about. He wants total
11:56 allegiance from everybody. Keep in mind when we go out and share the gospel, we're not just trying to get converts. People do need to be converted. I do believe there's a moment in time where we repent of our sin
12:07 and place our faith and trust in Jesus. I do believe that. But that's not the end. That's just the beginning. The Bible calls that being born again. It's new birth. What does Jesus want? Everybody that you share with, he
12:19 wants them to be on mission too. In the truest sense of the word mission, every Christian is a missionary. Now you may wear different clothes Monday through Saturday. You may wear them
12:31 for your business. You may wear them in your school. You may wear, you know, all sorts of different outfits to do the gospel. But the reality is wherever you go, you're on mission as an ambassador for Jesus Christ.
12:43 So what's the first thing he tells these 70? I want you to pray and I want you to pray for more harvesters. Well, how are we gonna get that Jesus? Well, you're gonna have to go tell them the good news that I'm the king
12:54 and that the kingdom has come and they need to repent and believe. And when they repent and believe, you've got some more laborers to go out in the harvest field. You don't just have a convert that can come attend your
13:03 group meeting. You have people that are now commissioned by Jesus to go. Amen? So as he told us, he tells them to pray. He tells them, get ready and get ready as you share because you're gonna raise up other
13:15 ones. And then what's the first word of verse 3? Go. He told his disciples to go. He's telling the 70 to go. What is he going to do in Matthew chapter 18 or Matthew chapter
13:27 28 verses 18 to 20 after he says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go. Do you see the similarity in everything Jesus does? He does it with the 12. He does it with the
13:39 70. He's gonna do it with the masses. Go. Go and do what? Behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. We talked about that last week. Like the
13:50 only way that you're gonna get through this is through Jesus Christ protection, through Jesus Christ provision, through Jesus Christ direction. What was he saying? Stay connected to me on the
14:02 mission. I'm not calling you because you're qualified. I'm calling you because you belong to me but you need to stay connected to me when you go. Number 4, verse 4. Carry no
14:14 money belt, no bag, no shoes and greet no 1 on the way. What's he saying there? This thing's urgent. Jesus saw his mission as urgent. As a matter of fact, if you study
14:26 through the gospels, you would think that Jesus is a megalomaniac because all he cares about is himself and his own mission. And let me tell you what he cares about today, himself and his own mission.
14:38 So, everywhere he goes, that's what he's calling people to do. That's why when you meet the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus and says, Good teacher, what must I do to be saved? What's his question? What's the least
14:50 I can do and still get into heaven? See, those are the kind of the theological questions we like to ask. Hey, what's the least I can do and still be saved? The Bible doesn't answer that. Now, theologically, we can piece
15:01 some things together. Here's what the Bible asks. What does it look like to be a follower of Jesus? It means go all in 100 percent with everything you are. That's what it means. When the rich young ruler is there and
15:12 begins to tell Jesus how he's kept all the commandments since he was a kid, even though we know the 10 commandments and we studied them and nobody's kept any of them, but he's a religious guy. Jesus says, Hey, 1 thing
15:21 you lack, go sell everything you have, then come follow me, which means what? I'm going to have you do this and your reward in heaven will be great. And what's the man do? He walks away sad. He was saying, all I
15:33 was asking is how to get to heaven. I didn't want be in this mission thing. I didn't want to go all in with you. I don't love you like that. I'm not for what you're doing. I just want to go to heaven. And as he's walking
15:44 away, Jesus said, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom. He said, when you're tied to the
15:52 things of this world and your life, it is so hard for you to live for Jesus. But if you study through the scriptures and you see this as a template for what Jesus wanted, you will never see him lower the
16:04 standard or the bar for his mission. He expected every follower to come die with him and he was gonna model that too. He said, I'm gonna go to Jerusalem. They're gonna hand me over. I'm gonna be mistreated. I'm gonna be
16:15 beaten. I'm gonna be killed but I'm gonna rise. You wanna follow me? Anyone who will not take up his own cross and follow after me has no part of me. Are you willing to come die too? I mean,
16:27 that is the mission of Jesus. We've watered it down so much that we think that the pinnacle is seeing somebody get saved when in the Bible that's the entry point for seeing somebody know
16:39 Christ that can then be put on mission to lead many others to Jesus Christ. Amen? That's what he's telling the 70 to do. Now keep in mind, he's not telling the 12. The 12 he's already told us. These are just 70 other
16:50 anonymous saints that are following after him. And he's like, okay, you wanna follow me? Then you're gonna do the exact same thing I told the 12 to do. So he's gonna send them out. Don't worry about your money. Don't
17:00 worry about your clothes. Don't worry about your shoes and greet no 1 on the way. What does that mean? In the first century, greeting was the greatest form of hospitality. He wasn't saying when you walk, put your head
17:10 down and be mean to people. Don't That's not what he was saying. He was saying, don't let anything get in the way of the mission. Don't let anything distract you. Don't make your shopping, don't make your your
17:22 resources, don't make your relationships, let nothing get in the way of the mission because what I care about is myself and the mission I came to do which was to let the world know that there's a God in heaven and I have
17:32 been sent by my father to be here for the world. That's the only thing worth living for. That's everything Jesus talks about all throughout the gospels. Amen? So he says, when you go, whatever house you enter, first say,
17:44 peace be to this house. Now, I wanna tell you something about this. I'm thankful to be part and pastor a church that preaches the word of God in its fullness.
17:56 When you're in a church that preaches the word of God in its fullness, God shows you his standard of holiness. He shows you his standard of righteousness. He shows you his standard of truth. I love that I pastor a church
18:07 where I can do that. So to stand here and say, I believe that God created the world in 6 literal days and rested on the seventh. I believe that God created only 2 genders and they are male and female. I believe that
18:18 God says marriage is only between a man and a woman till death do you part. I believe that abortion is murder. I can say all those things. Right? And we can clap for them, that's fine. We can praise
18:30 God for that. At the same time, what can develop in our heart if we're not on mission is a callousness towards people that don't agree with that. And so we think of
18:42 them as those people and that group. What does Jesus say? When you enter their house? In other words, when you enter their sector, when you enter that group, what are you bringing to them? Not judgment.
18:54 What? Peace. It means that as you grow in God's holiness, your heart has to stay fresh by loving the people that God loved. And why does he love all people? Because he created all people. And who did Jesus die for? He
19:05 died so that anybody who was willing to repent of their sin and trust him could have a relationship. So, when you hold a standard of morality that the people you're talking to don't or they vote for the wrong political
19:17 leaders or they act in a way that's different, you love them. You're bringing peace to them because you realize their problem is not that they're bad people, their problem is that they're dead and they're going to spend
19:27 eternity in hell and you care about them so you love them so much, you want them to know your savior. That's peace. So, Jesus said when you go out among the lost, you bring peace to them.
19:40 Jesus said, peace I have given to you. My peace I leave with you. So we hold a righteous standard and yet we're not calloused towards the lost. We want to bring peace to the lost. Notice what he says in verse 6.
19:52 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him. But if not, it will return to you. Now, this man of peace, literally a son of peace, we'll call it a person of peace. A person of peace is when you go out among
20:03 the lost and you meet somebody that is interested in what you have to say and the lifestyle in which you're living. That's a person of peace. As you pray to go among the lost, there are people that you're gonna pray for
20:14 specifically. Some of you have specific friends, specific family members and all that. But as you pray and say, Lord, I'm going out, bring that person to me that really wants to hear about who you are. You will find
20:24 there are sometimes a person that will come alongside and they'll be receptive to the things that you're saying and they'll be receptive to the lifestyle you're living and there's a curiosity in them that says, I kind of
20:34 want to know a little more about this. When you have that, your peace will rest on them. If you go out and share with somebody and say, I want nothing to do with you. Don't worry about that. Your peace is going come
20:44 back. You're not going to lose your relationship with Christ because you spend time sharing with a non believer. Your peace will come back to you. But when you go out, what are you looking for? I'm not looking for
20:54 converts and I'm not looking to convert a certain person because I don't have the power to do that. I'm keeping my eyes open to see who Jesus may bring into my pathway, either in my neighborhood or at a park or
21:06 on my sports team or in my school or in my business or on an airplane or in the airport or wherever I'm going because I'm praying that God's gonna bring me a person of peace and when somebody comes along and we start
21:16 engaging in the conversation, it's gonna be very obvious this person is a person of peace. They're gonna be receptive to what you have to say. And here's what Jesus says. Notice what he says. When you find
21:28 someone like that, stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. So he's telling him you go to households and when you meet a
21:39 person of peace that invites you in, it's okay to eat their food. I will provide for you. I will protect you. Sometimes I'm gonna use other people's means to help you get the mission done.
21:52 I might not give you a house, but I'll make sure you have shelter over your head. I may not provide food directly to you, I'll use somebody else to be my I'll be the source. I'll use all sorts of other resources to get
22:02 it done. And then notice what he says, when you meet a person of peace, stay in their house. Why? Why? Because sometimes when we think about mission, we think only about converts and we think our job is done when we've
22:12 shared the gospel. Well, I told him about that. I gave him a track. Done with them. If they don't believe that, that's their problem. No. When you find a person of peace, you stay with them not only until they meet Jesus
22:24 and are converted but until they're on mission too because what's he looking for? He's looking for laborers. So, when you're sharing the gospel, you're not just sharing hoping somebody's heart changes. Certainly, you
22:34 hope that but you're sharing in hopes that that person will become a co laborer for Jesus. And why do you stay with them? Because Jesus is not concerned with just converting individuals. He wants to convert whole
22:45 households. He wants to convert all sorts of groups. So you share a gospel with a guy that's on a team and he comes to Christ. What we tend to do is say, Hey, come to my church. It's always great to invite people to
22:56 church. People are always welcome at Brave. You know that, right? Or we say, Come to my small group. People are welcome to come to your small group. But what tends to happen over a couple, 3 years if that happens is, and
23:05 for some of you this is your testimony, you came to Christ, you knew that you were lost, you repented of your sins, you got indoctrinated in the church, you came into a small group, and about a year, 2 or 3 later,
23:16 they're saying, let's go out and share the gospel. And you're like, I don't even have any unchristian friends anymore. I'm so Christianized now. I don't even know who the lost are. What if, what if when that person on
23:26 the team comes to Christ and you're there and you ask them this question, is there anybody else that might be interested in hearing what you just learned about? Oh yeah, man. There's 3 guys on my team and my girlfriend
23:36 and this and that. Hey, would you be interested if we started some sort of discovery group and I helped you understand how to open the scriptures and for all of them, we got to see the Holy Spirit work in all their
23:45 lives? And what if God converted 4 out of 5 others in addition to the 1 guy on the team? Would that not be exciting? That's exactly what the disciples did. They didn't just go preach and say, how
23:57 many people signed a card? Okay, good. Our job's done. They came alongside because they wanted to make disciples that were going out into the harvest field. Reminder, who's he talking to? Is he talking to the
24:09 special 12? No. He's just talking to anonymous people that said, Lord, I wanna follow you. He's like, okay, this is what you wanna do. Then this is what you do. And he said, whatever city you enter and they receive you,
24:20 eat what is set before you and heal those who are sick. So he said, here's your healing ministry. So who has the power to heal? Through Christ, every believer does according to the word of God. And when you
24:32 heal them, say the kingdom of God has come near you. It's not my gift. I have a healing gift. I have a preaching gift. I have this. No. The kingdom of God has come upon you. If you're
24:44 experiencing Christ through somebody's ministry. But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, even the dust of your city which clings to our feet, we wipe off and protest
24:54 against you, yet be sure of this that the kingdom of God has come near you. I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. What's he saying? The message
25:06 and the method is so powerful that if people reject it and they don't want a part of it, do it publicly so that the city knows Jesus was gonna come to this city. Jesus wanted to
25:18 do something in your life. He sent me here for you and you've not only rejected me, you've rejected the 1 who sent me and we'll see that later in the text. Make a public display of this. Now, why is this so important?
25:30 Because when it comes to the gospel, you are accountable for what you know. When you go out and share, it's not your job to convert somebody. I'm not very good at sales. I'm not very good at
25:42 relationship. You don't have to be. Right? I mean, in John chapter 9, there's a blind guy that gets healed and they're giving him grief about his testimony. Here's his testimony. Listen. All I know is this, I was blind.
25:55 Now I see Jesus did it. You got a problem? Take it up with him. If you know that much, you can be effective in the mission for Jesus Christ. We have this false idea
26:07 that in order to do what God wants us to do, we gotta go to a certain amount of school or take a certain amount of classes or be in church for a certain amount of time or be a certain amount of maturity. And what happens
26:16 is over time, if you're not set forth on mission from the beginning, your mission muscles atrophy and then you begin to make all excuses as to how that's just not how God wired you. If you're a Christian,
26:27 God wired you, hardwired you for mission. It's the most important thing that you will ever do and if you're on mission, all the other things work. If you're on mission, there's a hunger for the word like you'll never
26:38 see. If you're on mission, there's a desire to pray. If you're on mission, there's a desire to learn more because you need to know how to apply the Bible in given situations. And when you see somebody that comes to
26:49 Christ, there is a welling up in you unlike anything else. And there should always be a desire for converts. I mean, even now if I watch a Billy Graham crusade from say 50 years ago in 19 73 and I'm watching
27:01 a guy in a leisure suit come down with a tie about this wide and it's 50 years ago. And I'm still like crying because I'm like, there's nothing like seeing a convert. But 1 of the reasons that got moved me from being an
27:13 evangelist to pastoring in churches, I saw lots of people raise their hand and come forward to Christ. What I didn't see was a group of people. If that person is really that valuable to the kingdom, then how do you love
27:24 that person enough to put them on mission so they could experience the fullness of Jesus Christ ongoing in their life? That's what Jesus was teaching. He taught us 12. He taught the 70.
27:36 And when we get to the great commission where he tells them all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go what? Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son and the
27:46 holy spirit, teaching them to what? Obey everything that I commanded you. Well, what's he teaching them? This. So which disciples are gonna have to do this? Every single convert is required
27:58 by God to do this. When? First and foremost, he wants total allegiance from all of his followers. Let me tell you what gets in the way. 1 thing gets in the way, my pride and
28:10 your pride. My pride that says, I don't have time right now. My pride that says, my agenda won't allow for that. My pride that says that's just not the way God wired me. He's using me in other areas. You can make
28:21 whatever excuse you want, but I'm here to tell you on the authority of God's word that if you're a Christian, you will be admitted into heaven and welcomed and loved and all of that. But wouldn't it be better when you
28:32 met the Lord Jesus Christ if not only were you saved, but you could show Lord, I don't know much, but I did the best of what you gave me. Was there any fruit that you bore through my life? Because I just love you so
28:41 much. I want other people to know about you. That's the mission and Jesus wants total allegiance. Now, if you get this and see this and you once you see it, you can't unsee it. You'll see it all the way through the
28:52 scriptures because here's how we treat people in the church. Don't leave. Don't go to another church. Don't stop going to church. Give us your money. That's not what Jesus talked about at all. Did you know that?
29:04 Jesus would say things like this, are you still so dull? Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I tell you to do? I mean, those are some of the questions Jesus was asking. You're not going to leave
29:16 too, are you? I mean, I'm not lowering my standard. If you're offended by this, then leave. I mean, that's how Jesus taught. Why? Because he wasn't just looking for converts and said, okay, I believe you're God. He was
29:28 looking for missioners. He was looking for laborers to go out into the harvest field because he needed his message to be sent out. And what's his message? It's his method. His method was
29:40 going among the lost and praying for the lost and gathering with the lost and then entrusting things to the lost so that his spirit could get the work done. And the reason you're here today is not just because of the 12.
29:51 It's because of the 70 and everybody subsequent to the 70 that did exactly what Jesus called them to do. So it's easier to talk about, ain't it cool what Jesus did? Isn't it neat the ministry he had? Wasn't it awesome
30:02 that Jesus did that with the 12? Man, I wish I lived in an era where I could see those things. Well, you do live in an era where you can see those things, but there's things that are hindering the things that you wanna
30:10 see because nobody's telling you that this is primary to what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Amen? Jesus wants total allegiance from all of his followers. You can look to your right and your left and
30:22 you can tell the person next to you, he's talking about me. Right? Because that's who he's talking about. Second thing Jesus Christ wants is this. He wants missional engagement for the purpose of accountability through
30:32 your obedience. He wants missional engagement for the purpose of accountability through your obedience. Notice what he says now. He starts talking about cities that rejected him and the
30:44 disciples he sent to that city. Woe to you Chorazin. Woe to you Bethsaida for the miracles have been performed in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
30:56 Sackcloth and ashes was an outward expression of what I'm feeling on the inside which is I'm wrong, need to get right with God. And he's saying these cities would have repented a long time ago and here we sent
31:06 missionaries to you, missionaries to you, disciples to you and you wanted nothing to do with it. He said, but I tell you it'll be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you and Capernaum you. Will you
31:18 not be exalted to heaven? You will not. You will be brought down to Hades. And notice what he says next. The 1 who listens to you listens to me and the 1 who rejects you rejects me and he who rejects me rejects the 1 who
31:29 sent me. When you go out on this mission, just know this, you can't save anybody. Your best polished gospel presentation can't save anybody. Why? Only God can save people.
31:41 So if they listen to you, they're not listening to you. They're listening to God. If they reject you, who are they rejecting? They're rejecting Jesus and the 1 who sent him, which is the father. So, if you share the
31:52 gospel and people reject you, don't worry about it. They're not rejecting you. It should pain you that they're rejecting Jesus and the father. It should pain you that they don't have any relationship with God. It should
32:02 pain you that when they die, they're going to hell. That should pain you. But it shouldn't I mean, we're human, so when we feel rejection, it's normal to feel like, oh, maybe I didn't do maybe I didn't do that right. I
32:12 feel bad. That's a normal feeling. But what you should really see is when people reject what you're saying, if you're faithful to God, they're really rejecting God. There's no pressure on you to save anybody. We're not
32:23 going ask you how many people did you go out with? How many people you share with this week? How many people did you save? Been in environments like that before. It's religious and it's garbage. The question is, are you
32:33 praying for the lost? Are you are you going among the lost? Is God bringing people of peace into your life? Are you learning how to entrust them with the gospel? Are you learning how to build into their friend group and
32:42 see them come to Christ? Are you learning that? Right? That's what Jesus is talking about here. And it's important for us to know that when we go out, our method and our message causes others to be accountable before
32:54 God. The more you've heard the message and the more you've seen what God has done, the more accountable you are to stand before Jesus. Here's what that means. If you attend Brave Church on a regular basis, you have way
33:05 more accountability than a church that doesn't preach the word. If you grew up in America where you can tune in and listen to biblical preaching on the radio, you have a much greater accountability than those places in
33:16 the world that haven't even heard yet. And by the way, if you go to Brave Church and you're hearing this message, you're accountable for being on mission whether you like it or not. I wish I wouldn't have come to church
33:25 today. Well, I'm glad you're here because you're accountable to that. So you can't stand before Jesus and say, Well, I didn't know. I was kind of busy with my job. I was kind of No. You know now so you're accountable
33:36 because Jesus will replay this sermon for you. That's kinda crazy to think about. But he wants you to be missionally engaged for the accountability of others. He wants you to reach people. He wants to
33:48 make disciples of all nations. But even when people don't respond, God's still using what you do. Amen? This verse has been very helpful to me as I preach. Because when I was a younger preacher, I wanted people to tell
34:00 me after I got done preaching like every time, great job. That was 1 of the best sermons I ever heard. Mean, the older I've gotten, I'm like asking Lord, am I being faithful to the word? If I'm being faithful to the
34:08 word, if people listen, they're listening to you. If people reject me, they're not rejecting me. They're rejecting you. My job is to be faithful to the word. Amen? When you go out and share the gospel, it's just being
34:20 faithful to Jesus. It's just telling your testimony about Jesus. It's telling what the word says about Jesus. You don't have to worry about results. Results will take care of themselves. Let me give you a third thing
34:29 that Jesus Christ wants. Jesus Christ wants to unleash his power through you, but he wants you to rejoice that you belong to him. Let me say it again. He wants to release his power through you,
34:41 but he wants you to rejoice that you belong to him. Many of us in church are like, I want more spiritual gifts. The Bible says in first Corinthians 14, you should pray for those. God wants to dispense them through you.
34:52 Pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts. That's a good thing to pray. However, what he's going to say is when I pour my gifting through you, don't rejoice about your gift.
35:04 Rejoice that you belong to me. Notice what he says. The 70 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. Now, if you go
35:16 back and read this text closely, he doesn't tell them to cast out demons like he did for the 12. He tells them to go heal people and tell them the kingdom of God has come near. And what do they do? What's the first thing
35:24 they talk about when they get back? Demons submit to us in your name. I mean, it's crazy. Are they excited? They're elated. They think of themselves like you and I think of ourselves. We're just normal human beings. God
35:36 saved us. There's nothing special about us. No. Jesus said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go. I'm empowering you to go. I will give you the gifting for every single thing you need
35:46 in every place that you go. And, what they're saying is, Lord, in your name or because of your reputation or because of the power you have, here's what we're experiencing. Everything you said you had power and authority
35:58 over is completely true. You weren't even there and we're telling you. I mean, you missed it, Jesus. You totally missed it. We were casting demons out of people. Man, Jesus,
36:10 you should have seen it. It was awesome. So what's Jesus said? He said, behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and
36:21 nothing will injure you. What's he saying? I will protect you no matter what. I don't think he's saying go to your local pet store and buy a scorpion and snake and jump on it today and see if it's true. We
36:33 don't have to put the Lord your God to the test. What he's saying is there's nothing that will come your way that you don't have authority and power over in my name. If it's something physical, if it's something
36:44 spiritual, you have all of my authority and power at your disposal to go and do what I ask you to go and do. He promises I will be with you always to the end of the age. That's what he's gonna tell his future disciples.
36:56 Amen? And notice what he says. Nevertheless, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. Why does he have to say that?
37:08 Because there's a tendency in our sinful self that when God does something special through us, we want to make sure other people notice. Or we want to pat ourselves in the back.Show more
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