WEBVTT 00:00:05.628 --> 00:00:06.229 Hello everyone. 00:00:06.229 --> 00:00:07.251 This is Pastor Damian. 00:00:07.251 --> 00:00:10.236 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, orlando. 00:00:10.236 --> 00:00:14.789 At New City, we believe all of us need all of Jesus for all of life. 00:00:14.789 --> 00:00:18.807 For more resources, visit our website at newcityorlandocom. 00:00:18.807 --> 00:00:19.710 Thanks for listening. 00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:23.169 Your scripture reading from today is from Matthew. 00:00:23.169 --> 00:00:33.969 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 00:00:33.969 --> 00:00:41.046 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 00:00:41.046 --> 00:00:47.542 Then he said to the disciples the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. 00:00:47.542 --> 00:00:53.241 Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 00:00:53.241 --> 00:01:02.451 And he called to him his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction. 00:01:04.302 --> 00:01:09.786 The names of the 12 apostles are these first, simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother. 00:01:09.786 --> 00:01:15.566 James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother Philip and Bartholomew. 00:01:15.566 --> 00:01:18.147 Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector. 00:01:18.147 --> 00:01:21.227 James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus. 00:01:21.227 --> 00:01:25.067 Simon, the zealot, and Judas, iscariot, who betrayed him. 00:01:25.067 --> 00:01:42.792 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and proclaim as you go, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:01:42.792 --> 00:01:44.445 This is God's word. 00:01:44.445 --> 00:01:44.706 Good morning. 00:01:44.706 --> 00:01:45.009 My name is. 00:01:45.028 --> 00:01:45.632 Ben, this is God's word. 00:01:45.632 --> 00:01:46.114 Good morning. 00:01:46.114 --> 00:01:47.019 My name is Ben. 00:01:47.019 --> 00:01:48.647 I'm a pastor here with New City. 00:01:48.647 --> 00:02:06.174 I kind of my voice is on the fritz, I might have a little bit of a cough, so that's because I live with three Petri dishes that I call children, and so I invite you to pray for me, as that the Lord would sustain my voice as I preach this morning. 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:27.895 So today we're beginning a short, really quick two-part miniseries called Bear Witness, and when Nate Claiborne heard this, he decided to ask ChatGPT to come up with a rendition, a graphic for us for this sermon series, which looked like that my favorite part is the world is watching. 00:02:27.895 --> 00:02:32.705 What will you say? 00:02:32.705 --> 00:02:36.290 Chat GPT uses like intensity to motivate people, apparently. 00:02:36.290 --> 00:02:39.094 So okay, so this is not what we're talking about. 00:02:39.094 --> 00:02:46.830 The word bear actually has three other meanings besides large furry, carnivorous mammals. 00:02:46.830 --> 00:02:50.487 To bear means to bring forth, like to bear fruit. 00:02:50.487 --> 00:02:51.771 A tree bears fruit right. 00:02:51.771 --> 00:02:57.712 To bear also means to bring, like you come bringing or bearing gifts, you might say. 00:02:57.712 --> 00:03:12.219 But to bear also means to kind of hold up under something to endure without resistance, to kind of hold up under something to endure without resistance, and all three of those meanings are really important when we talk about what it means to bear witness to Jesus. 00:03:12.219 --> 00:03:27.724 We need to be able to do all three of those things, because to bear witness to Jesus really looks like bearing a type of fruit, bearing a gift called the gospel, and then bearing up the weight of what it means to actually speak and tell other people about Jesus. 00:03:27.724 --> 00:03:29.931 And so we're going to look at Matthew 9, which is the beginning. 00:03:29.931 --> 00:03:34.822 The end of Matthew 9, beginning of Matthew 10 is the beginning of what's called the missionary discourse of Jesus. 00:03:34.842 --> 00:03:41.543 This is a significant passage in Jesus's ministry and really what I want to look at is I want to look at what? 00:03:41.543 --> 00:03:54.109 How does Jesus show us, how we can bring forth witness from the heart, so it doesn't feel like it's this coercive thing that's imposed on us that we ought to do but don't want to, but something that emerges from within. 00:03:54.109 --> 00:03:55.051 What does that actually mean? 00:03:55.051 --> 00:03:59.250 Now I define the word bear for you, but I also should define the word witness. 00:03:59.250 --> 00:04:06.545 In Acts 4.20, it says this they said, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. 00:04:06.545 --> 00:04:15.127 Now, in that way, a witness is similar when you're witnessing to Jesus, you're witnessing in a courtroom, you're speaking, you're telling about what you have seen and heard. 00:04:15.127 --> 00:04:17.747 So I wanna take the pressure off for a moment. 00:04:17.747 --> 00:04:23.867 When I talk about bearing witness to Jesus, I don't mean you have to speak the entirety of the gospel every time you're talking to somebody. 00:04:23.867 --> 00:04:29.824 What I mean is there's something significant just to tell the testimony, to witness to. 00:04:29.824 --> 00:04:34.521 What have you seen and heard about Jesus in your own life, in our cultural moment? 00:04:34.521 --> 00:04:39.894 A person's personal testimony, their own story, you can't refute it. 00:04:39.894 --> 00:04:42.206 And so there's a power to being able to bear witness to Jesus in that way. 00:04:42.206 --> 00:04:42.569 Now, quick caveat. 00:04:42.569 --> 00:04:44.516 And so there's a power to being able to bear witness to Jesus in that way. 00:04:44.516 --> 00:04:47.360 Now, quick caveat. 00:04:47.440 --> 00:04:56.550 I came to know Jesus through a campus ministry, and if you wanted to go from junior varsity to varsity in my campus ministry, it meant that you went out and you shared your faith with people. 00:04:56.550 --> 00:05:00.673 Now, by temperament and personality, I'm an extrovert. 00:05:00.673 --> 00:05:03.057 I've never had a hard time talking to people. 00:05:03.057 --> 00:05:06.622 I like a good verbal joust every now and again. 00:05:06.622 --> 00:05:09.673 Argument is like a good old American pastime for me. 00:05:09.673 --> 00:05:12.701 So I never had a hard time telling people about Jesus. 00:05:12.701 --> 00:05:13.523 It was not a challenge. 00:05:14.084 --> 00:05:24.192 But I want you to hear me say that was mostly natural, not supernatural, and digging into this text, I realized the true motive for mission. 00:05:24.192 --> 00:05:26.697 Digging into this text, I realized the true motive for mission. 00:05:26.697 --> 00:05:29.002 Believe it or not, it's not Christian status symbols. 00:05:29.002 --> 00:05:32.247 The true motive for mission we're going to see in the text from Jesus himself. 00:05:32.247 --> 00:05:40.822 So if you have a Bible or a device or the worship of God, get Matthew 9 and 10 in front of you and we're going to look at this together. 00:05:40.822 --> 00:05:43.244 The first point I have for you is the compassion of the King. 00:05:43.244 --> 00:05:44.966 The compassion of the King. 00:05:45.005 --> 00:05:50.391 Verse 35, says this and Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages. 00:05:50.391 --> 00:05:51.752 Now I'm going to pause there. 00:05:51.752 --> 00:05:58.528 Jesus in the gospels was a man on the move and the early church was actually really impressed with something in this text. 00:05:58.528 --> 00:06:07.524 The early church picked up on the fact that Jesus was humble enough to go to the cities and the villages, to Orlando and Bysslot. 00:06:07.524 --> 00:06:15.387 He went to the Manhattan and the Manaheim I don't even know if that's a real city, but like he went to the places that nobody really. 00:06:15.387 --> 00:06:18.682 He goes to the places where people wouldn't typically go. 00:06:18.682 --> 00:06:19.002 Why? 00:06:19.002 --> 00:06:27.826 Well, because Jesus really believed that everyone, rich and poor, important and unimpressive needed what he had to offer. 00:06:27.826 --> 00:06:29.824 And what does that mean? 00:06:29.824 --> 00:06:31.021 Around here. 00:06:31.021 --> 00:06:34.149 We often say all of us need all of Jesus for all of life. 00:06:34.149 --> 00:06:38.129 All of us do, those in the cities and those in the villages. 00:06:38.129 --> 00:06:40.466 Well, what was it that Jesus came to offer? 00:06:40.466 --> 00:06:41.865 Look at verse 35 with me. 00:06:41.865 --> 00:06:51.392 It goes like this he was teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 00:06:52.901 --> 00:06:55.406 What does Christian mission look like according to Jesus? 00:06:55.406 --> 00:06:58.973 Well, mission is both word and deed. 00:06:58.973 --> 00:07:04.990 It's both gospel proclamation and kingdom demonstration Around here. 00:07:04.990 --> 00:07:06.853 We call it work and witness. 00:07:06.853 --> 00:07:08.706 It's both of those things together. 00:07:08.706 --> 00:07:26.146 And we live in an interesting cultural moment to be Christians where there was a divorce within the Christian church of sorts, and in the divorce it looks like this In the divorce, bible-believing Christians got to hold onto things like evangelism those people were called the fundamentalists. 00:07:26.146 --> 00:07:33.153 And the culturally engaged Christians got to hold onto deeds of justice and mercy. 00:07:33.153 --> 00:07:34.665 Those people were called the modernists. 00:07:34.665 --> 00:07:35.668 So there was this split. 00:07:35.668 --> 00:07:51.026 And then in the middle there came this new group in the early 1900s called the evangelicals, and their goal was to hold these two together people like John Stott and Francis Schaeffer and they believed what God has joined together. 00:07:51.026 --> 00:07:52.130 Let no man separate. 00:07:52.130 --> 00:07:54.826 Word and deed go together. 00:07:54.826 --> 00:08:00.987 They're inseparable in gospel witness and that's why Jesus goes around teaching and healing. 00:08:00.987 --> 00:08:02.310 He does both. 00:08:02.310 --> 00:08:09.233 He's proclaiming the kingdom and then he's demonstrating the kingdom, and so here at New City, we will be about both work and witness. 00:08:09.233 --> 00:08:14.247 They both matter if we're going to be true witnesses to who Jesus is and his coming kingdom. 00:08:15.630 --> 00:08:21.411 Now, well-meaning people say things like this preach the gospel at all times and, when necessary, use words. 00:08:21.411 --> 00:08:26.630 But as much as that sounds like a good tweet, it's bad theology. 00:08:26.630 --> 00:08:31.810 And the reason why it's bad theology is to say preach the gospel at all times. 00:08:31.810 --> 00:08:33.206 If necessary, use words. 00:08:33.206 --> 00:08:36.267 It's like me saying to you hey, can you give me your phone number? 00:08:36.267 --> 00:08:37.986 If necessary, use digits. 00:08:39.980 --> 00:08:42.529 The gospel, by definition, is news. 00:08:42.529 --> 00:08:44.365 It's a message. 00:08:44.365 --> 00:08:52.528 Now, if the gospel was good advice, you could show the gospel by your actions and then you could just say do what we are doing. 00:08:52.528 --> 00:08:55.869 But the gospel is not good advice, it's good news. 00:08:55.869 --> 00:09:02.070 It's fundamentally about Jesus Christ and what he has done and what that means for us. 00:09:02.070 --> 00:09:11.224 And so people kind of meaning well will see a picture of Christians feeding the poor or putting shoes on orphans and be like that's the gospel. 00:09:11.224 --> 00:09:12.889 No, it's not. 00:09:12.889 --> 00:09:16.328 It's a demonstration of the gospel 100%. 00:09:16.328 --> 00:09:19.068 But the gospel is the good news. 00:09:19.068 --> 00:09:28.486 It's the good news of the King of Kings has come into your hometown and he right now is offering you access to his saving reign through his death and resurrection. 00:09:28.486 --> 00:09:33.269 And anybody can get in on this if you'll simply turn to him and trust in him. 00:09:33.269 --> 00:09:34.572 That's the gospel. 00:09:34.572 --> 00:09:39.167 That is the gospel proclamation, the good news, not merely good advice. 00:09:39.167 --> 00:09:42.368 This matters for Christian witness. 00:09:42.368 --> 00:09:50.610 This matters for our mission, because that gospel is such good news that it often motivates profound works of mercy and justice. 00:09:52.181 --> 00:09:54.109 So what is that motive for mission? 00:09:54.109 --> 00:09:55.966 What is the heart of witness? 00:09:55.966 --> 00:09:58.707 Well, look with me again at the text, verse 36. 00:09:58.707 --> 00:10:04.270 When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them. 00:10:04.270 --> 00:10:15.931 40 times in the gospels Jesus is mentioned looking at people and most of those times you should go through and underline this in your Bible when you see this. 00:10:15.931 --> 00:10:23.547 It says and Jesus saw, and he had compassion, something about Jesus seeing people around him. 00:10:23.547 --> 00:10:26.133 It moved him in his inner being. 00:10:27.379 --> 00:10:34.467 There's a scholar from a few generations ago named BB Warfield who wrote an article called the Emotional Life of Our Lord. 00:10:34.467 --> 00:10:35.804 You can find it online for free. 00:10:35.804 --> 00:10:36.447 It's worth the read. 00:10:36.447 --> 00:10:46.126 And he points out that the number one emotion that Jesus has shown experiencing feeling in the gospels is compassion. 00:10:46.126 --> 00:10:58.688 Not low-grade irritation, not frustration, not anger, because people can't get in on with the agenda already Compassion. 00:10:58.688 --> 00:11:04.570 Bb Warfield goes on to say Jesus' whole life was a mission of mercy. 00:11:04.570 --> 00:11:07.024 This is the heart of Jesus. 00:11:07.606 --> 00:11:08.188 Why does this matter? 00:11:08.188 --> 00:11:16.788 Well, the whole reason why there's any witness at all is because Jesus looks out on the world and he's moved with compassion. 00:11:16.788 --> 00:11:19.125 That's the motive for mission. 00:11:19.125 --> 00:11:25.740 That's why we do what we do when we go and tell people about Jesus is because the heart of Jesus is moved for those people. 00:11:25.740 --> 00:11:30.572 Now, compassion, calm passion, means to suffer with. 00:11:30.572 --> 00:11:39.631 It's this fellow feeling that Jesus has for people who are distraught and beaten down and going through difficulty. 00:11:39.631 --> 00:11:43.328 The motive for mission is not fear or guilt, or shame or anger because of the evil around us. 00:11:43.328 --> 00:11:45.980 The motive for mission is not fear or guilt or shame or anger because of the evil around us. 00:11:45.980 --> 00:11:52.653 The motive for mission is to share in, participate in the compassion of Jesus for our world. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:12:08.423 Now my real invitation in this sermon I've got two things the kind of action steps I'm going to invite you this week to ask Jesus to let him see what he sees and feel what he feels about the people around you. 00:12:08.423 --> 00:12:10.708 That's the invitation, that's the action step. 00:12:10.708 --> 00:12:11.519 You want to know what is the? 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:12.745 What are you going to do after this? 00:12:12.745 --> 00:12:15.921 It's not you got to go give the four spiritual laws to somebody that doesn't know Jesus. 00:12:15.921 --> 00:12:18.664 It's not that yet Next week. 00:12:18.664 --> 00:12:21.408 But it is Jesus. 00:12:21.408 --> 00:12:25.434 Would you just let me see what you see and feel what you feel for the people around me. 00:12:25.434 --> 00:12:32.644 I want you to have a heart of compassion, like Jesus has, and that that would be the motive for which you would speak to people. 00:12:33.888 --> 00:12:38.184 Because I think one of the reasons we don't talk to our neighbors about Jesus is because we look at them. 00:12:38.184 --> 00:12:47.520 Some of them, you know, middle class, well-adjusted, seemingly doing fine on their own, and we don't think they really need much. 00:12:47.520 --> 00:12:59.389 In fact, some of us envy our neighbors who are not yet disciples because they don't have some higher power who will in any way infringe upon their authenticity. 00:12:59.389 --> 00:13:03.763 They don't have somebody calling them to hold on to some countercultural sexual ethics. 00:13:03.763 --> 00:13:05.926 They don't have somebody calling them to hold on to some countercultural sexual ethics. 00:13:05.926 --> 00:13:08.870 They don't have a God telling them what they should do with their time and their money. 00:13:08.870 --> 00:13:10.532 So we look at them. 00:13:10.532 --> 00:13:13.174 We always envy the quote-unquote freedom they seem to have. 00:13:13.174 --> 00:13:19.303 And when we look out at our world, we don't see what Jesus sees. 00:13:19.303 --> 00:13:38.003 In fact, when we look out at our world, we don't see what our world sees Right, because in the New York Times, lauren Jackson, in an article called Americans Haven't Found a Satisfying Alternative to Religion, says this peer research shows that religious people report that they are happier and healthier. 00:13:38.414 --> 00:13:40.162 Now here's the double-click on the healthier piece. 00:13:40.162 --> 00:13:51.298 People who are actively engaged in their faith are less likely to be depressed or to die by suicide or alcoholism or cancer or cardiovascular disease. 00:13:51.298 --> 00:14:05.240 Going further, in a long-term study, doctors at Harvard found that women who attend religious services once a week were 33% less likely to die prematurely than women who have never attended Last one. 00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:14.726 Religiously affiliated Americans are more likely to feel gratitude, spiritual peace and have a deep sense of connection with humanity than people without any religious affiliation. 00:14:15.155 --> 00:14:20.065 Our world is seeing that to be without jesus is to be harassed and helpless. 00:14:20.065 --> 00:14:22.168 Why can't we see it? 00:14:22.168 --> 00:14:27.542 We want to see and be moved with compassion, like Jesus. 00:14:27.542 --> 00:14:29.365 What did Jesus see? 00:14:29.365 --> 00:14:31.327 Look with me at the text again. 00:14:31.327 --> 00:14:40.582 In verse 36, it says when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 00:14:40.582 --> 00:14:46.804 These two words, harassed and helpless, they're almost like word pictures. 00:14:46.804 --> 00:14:51.384 To be harassed, you could say, is when life kind of has you by the throat. 00:14:51.384 --> 00:14:55.024 To be helpless is like when life has you pinned down. 00:14:55.024 --> 00:15:05.243 He's looking out and he's seeing people that seem to be something's got them by the throat and they're pinned down and it moves him with compassion and Jesus sees them as they are. 00:15:05.243 --> 00:15:11.144 And this is the heart of witness, not a missionary strategy, not some training or equipping. 00:15:11.144 --> 00:15:12.206 That's not where we start. 00:15:12.206 --> 00:15:12.927 We do those things. 00:15:12.927 --> 00:15:21.083 Where we start is touching the heart of compassion that Jesus has for our neighbors who are harassed and helpless. 00:15:21.083 --> 00:15:23.562 But what does Jesus think that they need? 00:15:23.562 --> 00:15:29.015 Do they need to kind of look inside and find their true selves and then they won't be so harassed and helpless? 00:15:29.015 --> 00:15:34.155 No, no, in fact, that lie, that ideology, is part of the reasons our neighbor is harassed and helpless. 00:15:34.155 --> 00:15:37.001 What Jesus thinks they need is some good leaders. 00:15:37.001 --> 00:15:40.556 He says they're like sheep without a shepherd. 00:15:40.556 --> 00:15:42.879 And so what does he do? 00:15:43.721 --> 00:15:46.145 Well, my second point is the commission of the king. 00:15:46.145 --> 00:15:48.450 Look at verse 37. 00:15:48.450 --> 00:15:55.104 Then Jesus said to his disciples the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 00:15:55.104 --> 00:16:00.624 Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 00:16:00.624 --> 00:16:12.225 What I love about Jesus is he sees all of this and, rather than being overwhelmed or discouraged, he sees an opportunity and a problem. 00:16:12.225 --> 00:16:15.844 The opportunity is the harvest is huge. 00:16:15.844 --> 00:16:18.863 The problem is the laborers are few. 00:16:18.863 --> 00:16:23.700 Now you might look at this and go the harvest is plentiful. 00:16:23.700 --> 00:16:31.263 Jesus, really Like there's just people all around me and where I live, work and play, just waiting to hear about Jesus and they're ready to like, jump on it. 00:16:32.086 --> 00:16:40.735 Yes, that's exactly what Jesus is saying, and I experienced that anecdotally, and I've got new research to show that that's true too. 00:16:40.735 --> 00:16:44.445 I've been living on this research for like six months since I read this. 00:16:44.445 --> 00:16:45.187 This is amazing. 00:16:45.187 --> 00:16:46.155 Listen to this. 00:16:46.155 --> 00:16:53.206 66% of all US adults say that they have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important in their life today. 00:16:53.206 --> 00:16:58.846 66% of US adults commitment to Jesus important in their life. 00:16:58.846 --> 00:17:01.217 Now, listen, this is the part that's really fun. 00:17:01.217 --> 00:17:05.647 That's a 12% increase since 2021. 00:17:05.647 --> 00:17:10.000 Y'all, I don't know if you track with what that means. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:15.767 This is evidence of what you could call a spiritual awakening in our cultural moment. 00:17:15.767 --> 00:17:22.946 We're living in an incredible time to be alive, what Jesus is calling opportunity, that the harvest is plentiful. 00:17:22.946 --> 00:17:26.101 I'm saying, yeah, we have actually got research that this is happening. 00:17:26.101 --> 00:17:28.928 I mean to double click on that number even more. 00:17:29.336 --> 00:17:36.006 Among Gen Z men, commitment to Jesus jumped 15 percentage points between 2019 and 2025. 00:17:36.006 --> 00:17:39.563 Millennial men were 19 percentage points. 00:17:39.563 --> 00:17:45.642 Why this is important there has been a decline in people committing themselves to Jesus for decades now. 00:17:45.642 --> 00:17:50.319 I mean, people were wondering if the church in the US was ever gonna recover from this. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:18:00.680 And not only are we seeing that decline stop, we're seeing a reversal, and a reversal among the people who are least interested in Christianity in the last generation young men. 00:18:02.103 --> 00:18:02.884 This is good news. 00:18:02.884 --> 00:18:06.917 This is Jesus' answer, being really clear, that the harvest is plentiful. 00:18:06.917 --> 00:18:09.463 It's happening in our midst and among us. 00:18:09.463 --> 00:18:11.087 I want to be ready, I want to get in on it. 00:18:11.087 --> 00:18:13.118 What an exciting opportunity. 00:18:13.220 --> 00:18:14.744 But there's a problem. 00:18:14.744 --> 00:18:17.261 The problem is the laborers are few. 00:18:17.261 --> 00:18:20.342 The workers are minimal. 00:18:20.342 --> 00:18:30.723 This is why we're doing a series on bearing witness, because this is a real significant issue, and now I'm going to talk about some of the reasons next week. 00:18:30.723 --> 00:18:35.201 But one of the reasons why I think the workers are few is because we're so busy. 00:18:35.201 --> 00:18:50.539 I've said for years that I think one of the primary discipleship issues with the people of New City it's not necessarily how you spend your money or what you click on online or the ways in which you talk to your friends, it's busyness. 00:18:50.539 --> 00:18:55.584 Corrie Ten Boom says if the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy. 00:18:55.584 --> 00:19:02.682 This is a real issue and it's one of the things that prevents us from being able to bear witness to people about Jesus. 00:19:02.682 --> 00:19:18.689 We just have so much going on in our lives Me too and so Jesus tells us what's the answer Tighten the screws of guilt and shame Really like try harder, work better, no, no, no, it's simpler than that. 00:19:19.674 --> 00:19:21.617 Pray, pray. 00:19:21.617 --> 00:19:23.060 Look at verse 38. 00:19:23.060 --> 00:19:25.163 Therefore, that connects it right. 00:19:25.163 --> 00:19:35.050 The huge harvest, the small workers, therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 00:19:35.050 --> 00:19:43.377 I'm going to walk through this like word for word, because this verse is so important Pray earnestly, listen. 00:19:43.377 --> 00:19:48.615 If the divine source of mission is the heart of Christ beating with compassion for our world, then the human source of mission is the heart of Christ beating with compassion for our world. 00:19:48.615 --> 00:19:52.625 Then the human source of mission is prayer meetings. 00:19:52.625 --> 00:19:58.666 Like you just read the book of Acts, acts 1, acts 4, acts 13. 00:19:58.795 --> 00:20:02.685 The church was born and sustained by prayer meetings. 00:20:02.685 --> 00:20:04.795 That's why we pray every Wednesday for a couple hours. 00:20:04.795 --> 00:20:21.806 That's why the church staff here tithes our time in prayer every week, because we really believe this, that the work of God has always been preceded in scripture and in history by extraordinary united kingdom-focused prayer. 00:20:21.806 --> 00:20:24.040 So let's give ourselves to it. 00:20:24.040 --> 00:20:28.237 And so Jesus says pray earnestly, but who? 00:20:28.237 --> 00:20:28.838 To whom? 00:20:28.838 --> 00:20:31.016 To the Lord of the harvest. 00:20:31.016 --> 00:20:32.940 I love that language. 00:20:32.940 --> 00:20:33.760 To talk about God. 00:20:34.782 --> 00:20:40.121 Now there's a saying this little sidebar is only going to mean something to a few of you, but bear with me. 00:20:40.121 --> 00:20:44.499 There's a saying that goes work like an Arminian, sleep like a Calvinist. 00:20:44.499 --> 00:20:53.159 There's another saying that says pray as if everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on you. 00:20:53.159 --> 00:20:55.384 I don't like either of those things. 00:20:55.384 --> 00:21:04.037 Here's why If you believe that God is the Lord of the harvest, then he cares more than anybody about his work in people's lives. 00:21:04.037 --> 00:21:08.247 So I would rather say work like a Calvinist, rest like a Calvinist. 00:21:08.247 --> 00:21:11.699 You do the work, god carries the weight. 00:21:11.699 --> 00:21:12.961 What a gift. 00:21:13.442 --> 00:21:21.777 It's so freeing when Jesus is saying that God is the Lord of the harvest and everything we do is just jumping in on the mission he's already up to in the world. 00:21:21.777 --> 00:21:25.665 God does not have a mission for his church in the world. 00:21:25.665 --> 00:21:27.384 God has a church for his mission in the world. 00:21:27.384 --> 00:21:28.294 He has a church for his mission in the world. 00:21:28.294 --> 00:21:33.346 He's already doing the thing and he's saying you want in, it's your choice, you don't have to. 00:21:33.346 --> 00:21:37.544 You can do the boring Christian existence of sitting on the sidelines. 00:21:37.544 --> 00:21:39.878 You totally can do that and you'll be with Jesus for eternity. 00:21:39.878 --> 00:21:40.260 That's all right. 00:21:40.260 --> 00:21:40.821 You could do that. 00:21:40.821 --> 00:21:45.261 But if you want adventure, man, does God have it on offer for you? 00:21:45.261 --> 00:21:47.666 Join the Lord of the harvest and what he's up to in the world. 00:21:47.666 --> 00:21:51.097 That's the invitation of this text. 00:21:51.117 --> 00:21:51.819 And so he goes on. 00:21:51.819 --> 00:21:55.407 He says we're asking the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers. 00:21:55.407 --> 00:22:01.419 Now that word send out is the same word that shows up in verse 10, chapter 10, verse one. 00:22:01.419 --> 00:22:01.880 Look at there. 00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:02.623 10, verse one. 00:22:02.623 --> 00:22:16.734 It says and he called to him his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out, ekbalo. 00:22:16.755 --> 00:22:17.175 What's going on here? 00:22:17.175 --> 00:22:20.844 Why does God have to cast out workers into the harvest, like he's giving us authority to cast out demons? 00:22:20.844 --> 00:22:21.203 What is happening? 00:22:21.203 --> 00:22:25.460 Well, I think God knows that in every Christian church there are people who know. 00:22:25.460 --> 00:22:29.721 They know what's going on, they know the call in their life, they know the commission of the King. 00:22:29.721 --> 00:22:44.699 But until the Holy Spirit lights a fire in their life to see their friends and family members and co-workers who don't know Jesus, to see them come to know Him and enjoy Him, we've got to pray God. 00:22:44.699 --> 00:22:45.682 Would you cast them out? 00:22:45.682 --> 00:22:47.141 Would you send them out into the harvest? 00:22:47.141 --> 00:22:51.396 Would you motivate them, stir them up for an adventure? 00:22:51.416 --> 00:23:07.415 I think that's why that word is used there, but don't gloss over this to send out laborers into his harvest, his harvest Again. 00:23:07.415 --> 00:23:09.775 God's the one who is already at work around us and we just get to join in the mission. 00:23:09.775 --> 00:23:18.723 So the question is, lord, how are you at work around me today, like, what are you up to in the lives of the countless people I see over the course of a week? 00:23:18.723 --> 00:23:23.042 How are you already doing things in your harvest? 00:23:23.042 --> 00:23:24.247 I love it's the language. 00:23:24.247 --> 00:23:26.182 The call here is not to go sow. 00:23:26.182 --> 00:23:29.804 The language here is we don't have enough people to reap. 00:23:29.804 --> 00:23:33.501 The work's already been done. 00:23:33.501 --> 00:23:34.700 We just got to go gather them in. 00:23:34.700 --> 00:23:37.203 That's essentially the metaphor Jesus is using. 00:23:37.203 --> 00:23:44.445 So Paul in 1 Corinthians 3 says I planted, apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 00:23:44.445 --> 00:23:51.179 The invitation is to be faithful, to bear witness to Jesus and abandon the outcomes to the Lord of the harvest to do what he does. 00:23:51.179 --> 00:23:59.405 Now Jesus tells us not only to pray, but then he tells us to go where our best prayers would lead us. 00:24:01.035 --> 00:24:03.182 The third and final point is the call of the King. 00:24:03.182 --> 00:24:04.526 Look at chapter 10, verse 1. 00:24:04.526 --> 00:24:12.086 Chapter 10, verse 1 says and Jesus called to him his 12 disciples and gave them authority. 00:24:12.086 --> 00:24:15.412 In verse 5, it says this these 12 Jesus sent out. 00:24:15.412 --> 00:24:20.906 Jesus called, and then he formed and then he sent his disciples. 00:24:20.906 --> 00:24:28.587 That's what he does in this text and there's hints of the harvest that Jesus has in the names of these sent ones here. 00:24:28.587 --> 00:24:31.019 Let's look at this more closely. 00:24:31.019 --> 00:24:33.605 Look at verse 2. 00:24:33.605 --> 00:24:40.125 It says the names of the 12 apostles are these it says first Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother. 00:24:41.135 --> 00:24:44.405 Jesus calls people to himself through families. 00:24:44.405 --> 00:24:52.662 If you know the story in John 1, andrew goes and finds Simon, peter, his brother, and says hey, dude, I think we found the Messiah. 00:24:52.662 --> 00:24:58.586 My sister is the one who faithfully bore witness to Jesus in my life. 00:24:58.586 --> 00:24:59.881 That's why I'm standing here right now. 00:24:59.881 --> 00:25:02.903 Through families, jesus calls people to himself. 00:25:02.903 --> 00:25:13.844 Some of you, it's your parents or grandparents, some of you just the recognition that your dining room table might be the most fruitful mission field in your life. 00:25:13.844 --> 00:25:16.300 But second, look at the next group. 00:25:16.300 --> 00:25:19.325 Here it says and James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother. 00:25:19.454 --> 00:25:20.959 Jesus calls us through coworkers. 00:25:20.959 --> 00:25:22.684 There's a little bit of a stretch, bear with me. 00:25:22.684 --> 00:25:29.464 In Mark 1, 19, it says that they were quote in their boat mending the nets. 00:25:29.464 --> 00:25:31.332 These are fishermen. 00:25:31.332 --> 00:25:36.083 They're just doing their thing on their daily job and Jesus comes along and calls them to himself. 00:25:36.083 --> 00:25:42.005 We have, reasonably, simon, peter and Simon and Andrew and James and John. 00:25:42.005 --> 00:25:43.377 They were both, they were all fishermen. 00:25:43.377 --> 00:25:44.622 They were kind of co-workers. 00:25:44.622 --> 00:25:45.484 They were partners together. 00:25:45.484 --> 00:25:50.326 There's this way in which Jesus works through our workplaces to bear witness to Jesus, to himself. 00:25:51.915 --> 00:25:53.619 The third one Philip and Bartholomew. 00:25:53.619 --> 00:25:55.805 Jesus calls us through friendships. 00:25:55.805 --> 00:26:04.082 Through friendships, philip brings Bartholomew, who's also known as Nathaniel, to Jesus in John 1. 00:26:04.082 --> 00:26:08.026 And this is his beautiful but simple invitation Come and see. 00:26:08.026 --> 00:26:10.421 Come and see this guy. 00:26:10.421 --> 00:26:16.700 You're not going to believe it, but they were friends and he went and told his friend come and see Jesus, come and see what he looks like. 00:26:16.700 --> 00:26:21.816 This is how Jesus calls people to himself, there and then and here and now. 00:26:22.557 --> 00:26:31.788 And so the principle here and we're going to do more work on this next week the principle is simply that the gospel spreads naturally through networks of relationships. 00:26:31.788 --> 00:26:41.371 One of the reasons why I'm so committed to the fact that my job as a pastor is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry. 00:26:41.371 --> 00:26:50.605 It's because there are people in your network of relationships that I will never meet, that I will never, even if I were to meet them, have an open ear to talk to them about what Jesus means in my life. 00:26:50.605 --> 00:26:55.583 So, until the, I just want to put clericalism to death. 00:26:55.583 --> 00:27:02.226 The fact that I'm the one who gets to do the work of ministry and you all get to all get to give money and sit there and watch. 00:27:02.226 --> 00:27:05.184 That's not Jesus' method. 00:27:05.184 --> 00:27:15.462 Jesus' method is that the saints are spread throughout our city bearing witness to him in all of your networks of relationships, and that's how he calls people to himself. 00:27:16.635 --> 00:27:17.641 Look with me at verse one again. 00:27:17.641 --> 00:27:21.382 It says and he called to him his 12 disciples and he gave them authority. 00:27:21.382 --> 00:27:24.044 Verse 5, these 12 Jesus sent out. 00:27:24.044 --> 00:27:28.164 We call form and send disciple makers. 00:27:28.164 --> 00:27:32.202 That's our mission here at New City and we like to think we get it from Jesus. 00:27:32.202 --> 00:27:35.603 And the reason why is because witness is not enough. 00:27:35.603 --> 00:27:39.765 You see, we need not just witness but disciple making. 00:27:39.765 --> 00:27:41.602 That's what Jesus actually does here. 00:27:42.414 --> 00:27:45.305 In 935, jesus does the Jesus stuff. 00:27:45.305 --> 00:27:49.422 And then in 10, one through seven, the disciples do the Jesus stuff. 00:27:49.422 --> 00:27:50.760 I'm borrowing that phrase from John Wimber. 00:27:50.760 --> 00:27:52.724 This is what I mean. 00:27:52.724 --> 00:27:53.755 Look at 935. 00:27:53.755 --> 00:27:57.221 It says this Jesus is quote healing every disease and every affliction. 00:27:57.221 --> 00:27:58.204 Look at 10, one. 00:27:58.204 --> 00:28:01.817 The disciples are to quote heal every disease and every affliction. 00:28:01.817 --> 00:28:02.137 Look at 10.1. 00:28:02.137 --> 00:28:03.520 The disciples are to quote heal every disease and every affliction. 00:28:03.520 --> 00:28:04.323 Look again at 9.35. 00:28:04.323 --> 00:28:06.407 Jesus is quote proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. 00:28:06.407 --> 00:28:07.936 Look at 10.7. 00:28:07.936 --> 00:28:11.406 The disciples are to quote proclaim as you go, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:28:11.815 --> 00:28:15.405 Do you see how the disciples mimic the mission of Jesus? 00:28:15.405 --> 00:28:21.226 What I think is happening here is Jesus is multiplying his life through others. 00:28:21.226 --> 00:28:26.522 He's still doing that today, like this is the genius of Jesus. 00:28:26.522 --> 00:28:32.406 He knew that even he himself was not enough for the whole harvest. 00:28:32.406 --> 00:28:46.229 The only way that the harvest that this world-changing revolution that he started in the first century would actually play out, the only way is if he called and formed and then sent other people to continue doing the work that he started doing. 00:28:46.229 --> 00:28:52.539 This is why, in John 17, jesus can say to the Father I completed the work that you accomplished me to do or gave me to accomplish. 00:28:52.539 --> 00:28:53.804 Wait what? 00:28:53.804 --> 00:28:57.473 He didn't go to the cross yet, jesus why? 00:28:57.473 --> 00:29:04.057 Because he passed on this mission to his disciples, to the next generation and the next generation and the next generation. 00:29:04.057 --> 00:29:22.349 And here we are, about 2,000 years later, standing in that true apostolic succession from Jesus through his apostles, disciples to disciples, to disciples, till today, and we get to join in and he invites us to share in what is an incredible opportunity. 00:29:22.349 --> 00:29:34.008 It's astonishing to me that Jesus staked the hopes of his world revolution on these 12 dudes and on you and me, continuing it to this day. 00:29:35.355 --> 00:29:36.882 I want to close by looking at verse seven. 00:29:36.882 --> 00:29:52.490 It says this and proclaim as you go I love that as you go, I love that as you go, just as you're doing your thing, everyday life, with gospel intentionality and proclaim as you go, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:29:52.490 --> 00:29:52.912 What does that mean? 00:29:52.912 --> 00:30:00.461 Well, last night I was coughing a lot while I was sleeping and I reached over to my nightstand and I found my water and I took it and I said behold, the water is at hand. 00:30:00.461 --> 00:30:06.759 That's not true, but you track with what I'm saying. 00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:08.926 So for something to be at hand means it's near enough to grab, it's close, it's in proximity. 00:30:08.926 --> 00:30:13.423 And so for the kingdom to be at hand means it's reachable, it's accessible. 00:30:13.423 --> 00:30:20.528 The kingdom of God is God's comprehensive and definitive vindication of creation from the power of evil. 00:30:20.528 --> 00:30:22.516 That's what the kingdom is. 00:30:22.516 --> 00:30:32.155 So in verse one it says and he called to his disciples, his 12 disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction. 00:30:32.155 --> 00:30:36.424 You see, jesus came to conquer the devil and to cure the world. 00:30:36.424 --> 00:30:40.686 That's what he came to do, and he's still doing it through us. 00:30:42.093 --> 00:30:43.415 Let me tell you a quick story to close. 00:30:43.415 --> 00:30:53.703 A few years ago my brother-in-law was at Barnes Noble here on Colonial and he was in the spirituality section and he ran into a guy there, long, dark hair. 00:30:53.703 --> 00:31:01.528 Guy's name was Christian foreshadowing, and Christian was looking in the Eastern mysticism section. 00:31:01.528 --> 00:31:06.938 Now my brother-in-law already knew that I had done some study into Eastern mysticism so I could understand it. 00:31:06.938 --> 00:31:09.746 So he told Christian hey, man, you should meet my brother-in-law, ben. 00:31:09.746 --> 00:31:11.136 So we made this connection. 00:31:11.136 --> 00:31:21.886 Christian and I began meeting up every week at Dandelion Cafe, RIP, and we would sit down and we would read 1 John together and talk about Jesus. 00:31:21.886 --> 00:31:27.135 And he would talk to me about how, you know, jesus was really about aligning your chakras and this, that and the other. 00:31:27.135 --> 00:31:28.480 And I was like, no, he wasn't. 00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:29.924 Actually, this is what he was about. 00:31:29.924 --> 00:31:30.894 Look at the text. 00:31:30.894 --> 00:31:33.436 And we had this pleasant relationship back and forth. 00:31:35.699 --> 00:31:48.987 But then a friend of mine, unbeknownst to him and unbeknownst to me, was praying one morning and since that, the Holy Spirit said to him go to this coffee shop and look for a man with long dark hair. 00:31:48.987 --> 00:31:51.469 Listen, if that makes you nervous, he's not a Presbyterian. 00:31:51.469 --> 00:31:52.789 So the Holy Spirit can do that with him. 00:31:52.789 --> 00:31:56.771 It's cool, it's cool, it's all right, it's fair game. 00:31:56.771 --> 00:31:59.981 The Holy Ghost isn't bound in that situation. 00:31:59.981 --> 00:32:01.125 Okay, he's not Presbyterian. 00:32:02.596 --> 00:32:06.626 So, my friend Cameron, he goes to this coffee shop. 00:32:06.626 --> 00:32:15.801 Lo and behold, he sees a man with long dark hair and he goes up to him and says hey, I don't know if this is weird, but I was praying this morning and I think I'm supposed to talk to you. 00:32:15.801 --> 00:32:17.520 It was my friend, christian. 00:32:17.520 --> 00:32:22.567 So Cameron goes up and meets this guy, christian, and starts talking to him, sharing Jesus with him. 00:32:22.567 --> 00:32:25.022 Cameron and I eventually make the connection. 00:32:25.022 --> 00:32:27.063