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[00:00:10] Speaker A: Didn't know.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: I didn't.
[00:00:11] Speaker A: Look at the time.
Now look, I've got three pairs of glasses up here. Look at Carol Joe. I heard that.
So did the ladies. Dana and Linda. They're all teasing now.
[00:00:54] Speaker C: I was an orphan lost at the fall running away when I'd hear you call father, you worked your will.
I had no righteousness of my own I had no right to draw near your throne father, you love me. Still and in love before you laid the world's foundation.
You predestined to adopt me as your own.
You have raised me up so high above my station.
I'm a child of God by grace and grace alone you left. Your home to seek out the loss you knew the great and terrible cause but, Jesus, your face was set I worked my fingers down to the bone nothing I did could ever atone jesus, you paid my debt by your blood. I have redemption and salvation.
Lord, you died. That I might reap what you have sown.
And you, Rose? That I might be a new creation.
I am born again by grace and grace alone.
I was in. Darkness all of my life I never knew the day from the night spirit you made me be I swore I knew the way on my own head full rocks a heart made of stone the spirit you moved in me that your touch, my sleeping spirit was awakened on my darkened heart the light of Christ has shown called into a kingdom that cannot be shaken heaven citizens by grace and grace alone so I stand in faith by grace and grace alone I will run the race by grace and grace alone I will slay my sin by grace and grace alone now we'll reach the end by grace and grace alone morning, Sam.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: What a joy to be together today. You guys are awesome. It's good to see you. I want to welcome you, especially if you're visiting today. We're so glad you chose to worship with us here at Emmanuel. We have a gift for you. If you're a guest on the table back there, there's a coffee mug and a book. Feel free to grab that on your way out.
We're glad you guys are here. I want to make you guys aware of just one specific thing before we jump into it. Today we're going to celebrate the gospel. We're going to dig into the Word. But before we get to that, I want to let you guys know we are officially into Operation Christmas Child Season.
And if you don't know what that is, it's just a missional, opportunity for us to just share the gospel and share generosity with people in need around the world. And so there are some shoeboxes in the back of the room. You can take one of those home. You can take several of those home, fill them up with toys and all sorts of items for kids. There's a list online that you can see this online. You can also see it in the bulletin. Fill that up with stuff, bring it back here by Sunday, November twelveTH. We're partnering with our sister church and our association, Fellowship of Wildwood. They're a distribution center for Operation Christmas Out. So we'll gather them up here, we'll take them over there, they'll go to Kids in need and they'll help empower missionaries and local churches to preach the gospel to kids. So it's a really cool thing, you guys. You probably already know about it, but it's an awesome thing. We'd love for you to be a part of that. Guys, today we get to celebrate the gospel. Amen.
[00:05:53] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Regardless of what you brought in with you this morning, whether you came in here hurting, you came in here excited, you came in here with anything in between, we all get to come together around the cross of Jesus today. We get to remember that because of Christ, there is a way for us to be right with God. Amen.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: So let's stand if you're able, let's sing loud. Let's celebrate the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:06:35] Speaker C: Above all kings, above all nature and all created things, above all wisdom and all the ways of man.
You were here before the world began.
Above all kingdom, above all thrones, above all wonders the world has ever known.
Above all wealth and treasures of the earth there's no way to measure what you're worth crucified lay behind a stone you live to die rejected and alone like a rose trampled on the ground you took the fall and thought of me.
Above all, above all power, above all kings, above all nature and all created things, above all wisdom and all the ways of man.
You were here before the world began.
Above all kingdom, above all thrones.
Above all wonders the world has ever known above all wealth and treasures of the earth there's no way to measure what you're worth crucified lay behind a stone you live to die rejected and alone like a rose trampled on the ground you took the fall and thought of me above all bless the Lord o my soul.
O my soul.
Worship his holy name and sing like never the sun comes up. It's a new day. Dawning.
It's time to sing your song again whatever may pass and whatever lies before me let me be singing when the evening comes now bless the Lord, O my soul o my soul worship his holy name and sing like never before oh my soul I worship your holy name you're rich in love and you're slow to anger your name is great and your heart is kind for all your goodness I will keep on singing 10,000 reasons for my heart to find so bless the Lord o my soul o my soul worship his holy name and sing like never before oh, my soul I worship your holy name and on that day when my strength is failing the end draws near and my time has come still my soul will sing your praise unending 10,000 years and then forever more forever more now.
[00:13:39] Speaker B: Bless.
[00:13:40] Speaker C: The Lord, O my soul o my soul worship his holy name and sing like never before oh, my soul I worship your holy name god, I'll worship your holy name.
[00:14:41] Speaker D: Usually we use this time to pray for one of our missional partners that we support throughout the year. And we've decided to give you a report on Columbia. And so before I do that, I wanted to fill you in on a legacy of this ministry which has extended for over 20 years. We have sent over the last 20 years 40 different people from this church and current members of our family, such as Deb Cross has gone to Columbia 17 times. Carol Simpson has gone 15 times, adam Busby, ten. Lucas Montaigne. Eight. Anna cross. Six. Chuck Simpson five. And Lori Bud four. And this recent trip is my fifth time here, and I've been actually to Columbia three times in the last ten months.
We're all thoroughly excited to see the next generation brittany Jordan and Kurt Helmer as first timers in our last trip with Lucas and Anna returning this year. After some time this trip, we saw 103 adults and 23 kids trust Christ as their savior.
I think the words from Henry Black will be in his book Experiencing God, where he says, find out where God is working and join him there. And that's what we experience every single time we go to Columbia. So I want to encourage you to consider joining us on a trip next year. There's more than likely we'll be going a couple times again, and we really want to see younger people, the next generation get a passion and a fire for this as well. Deb crosses out of town this weekend, and she asked me to share a story on her behalf. And she says we often use the phrase divine appointment in hopes that if we're sensitive to God's leading, we'll have encounters arranged for us. Saturday had us visiting an area that was swamped with rainwater, so much so that the street my team was assigned to was impassable. It was so disappointing to not be able to finish visiting everyone on the street that we had been with days before and to continue down the street where we had not been. My thoughts were, Why would God let this happen? We've come a long way. We're here, we're willing. We want to share this life saving message. Now we're turning back because the road is flooded out, but then we see a different road that appears to be passable. We notice an older woman leaning out the front of her house, watching us, so we decide to go there. As we talk, we find out that her daughter, 24 year old granddaughter, six year old great granddaughter, eight year old great grandson and seven year old great nephew are all in the house together. They listen to us share the good news of Jesus, and they all pray with us to trust Christ. The 24 year old tells us she's learning so many things she didn't know. She reads one, John 513, that once she trusted Jesus, she could know for sure that she had eternal life. As her face lights up, we were watching her go from death to life right in front of us. She then shares that her six year old daughter has been scared, experiencing unsettling visions. We pray over all of them in their home. She's told about the VBS that will be at the neighborhood church on Monday morning, and we'll visit her in the afternoon to share some more truths and comfort from the Bible. On Monday, all three of the children are at the VBS. The family is home in the afternoon, and we're able to share the scriptures about God guarding your hearts and minds and bringing you his peace. We encouraged her to attend the meetings held at the church and how important a church family is to her, growing in her newfound faith. We were only at this house because it rained and flooded our assigned street, making it impassable. What seemed to be a huge disappointment ended up being a highlight of my time in Colombia. The bottom line is, when I don't know what God is doing, he most certainly does.
And so we have a number of people that actually going to come up and share, because for most of them, it may be their very last trip. And since they've been there many times, I just wanted to give them an opportunity to share one highlight and so sit and listen to what God did. Greg, why don't you come on up?
[00:18:25] Speaker E: First of all, thank you to everyone who has supported this effort financially, and also with your prayers.
I was asked to share an encounter. This is one that comes to mind. We were in an area called La Congrega on Friday and Saturday the 13th and the 14th, and our team consisted of a couple of national ladies from the church there our translator, Carlos Romero, Donna Brouss, and myself. And we were able to visit with a lot of people from the neighborhood, almost all women, who were remarkably open to what we had to share over those two days, several heard the message of hope and understood and prayed to place their trust in Jesus and receive eternal life.
We were in that area again on Tuesday the 17th for the purpose of following up to strengthen these new believers in their faith. And as Jim mentioned, from what Deb had shared, it had rained that morning. The roads were very difficult to navigate, and it looked like the entire day might be a rain out. But in the afternoon, the rains stopped and we all went out only one of the national ladies went with us, and our translator was different that day. But this particular lady remembered the house of every person that we visited previously that received Christ, and we were able to visit with almost everyone.
It was evident that the time we spent allowing them to ask questions and praying for their needs meant a lot. And we left with a sense that these new believers were indeed strengthened. There was one young mother from our initial visit who had come out to the children's program, and I was hoping to be able to visit with her before we left. Hers was the last house of that day, and we only had about 20 minutes before we had to leave to catch our ride back. Upon arriving at her house, she was not home, but her mother and sister were there. So we shared the good news with them. They both understood and prayed to receive Christ.
As we were leaving, the young mother arrived and was glad to see us and really, really overjoyed that we had returned to speak with her. Even though time didn't allow for it, we were able to leave her with some information about the and the national lady encouraged her to connect with a local church. So that, for me, was a big highlight.
I had been quiet about my faith for many years. I'm grateful for the opportunity to join God in advancing his kingdom, and I'm seeking Him for boldness here at home.
[00:21:16] Speaker F: First, I wanted to thank everyone again for your prayers. It meant so much for knowing that you were all praying for us. Kind of felt like times that we had an army going before us and behind us because of your prayers.
Just a little background. First Tuesday, I came home from work and finished packing and put the last load of laundry in the dryer, and our electricity went out, and I were in the dark, and I'm like, okay, no way, Satan. You're going to get me on this one. I'm not going to get ticked off. And of course, my husband from the other room goes, what? And I'm like, I'm not talking to you right now, okay?
I just want to tell you that I'm not going to let this get me down.
I was reading a devotion, and it said, we come to him and find rest, and we go for Him with the love of love in our hearts.
We spent the three days in Lacandra Guerra. Hopefully I did that.
Okay, good.
And one particular family really touched my heart. The family was from Venezuela. The mom's name was Joanna.
The children's names were Paolo, Louisa, and Mia.
So I don't know if you don't all know, but I have a granddaughter named Mia, and of course, my daughter's Joanna. So we kind of got a little chuckle out of, you know, with many of the people there in this area, life seemed more like survival, very minimal basic needs.
Joanna's family were living in a temporary housing, small, and her teenage daughter was trying to do homework and was asking when she was going to be able to have her own space, because it was a very small area. And I can see Joanna's eyes swelling up within her tears. She wanted more for her family.
After we presented the Gospel and prayed with her, we asked her if there was anything else that we could pray for her. And she said she wanted to know if we can find scriptures that could help her find wisdom and peace.
Now, she could have been asking for material things, she could have been asking for a job, but she asked for wisdom and peace.
And so we went back and Chuck and several of us got about 15 verses together.
And we went back the next day or the day after, and we presented the Gospel again and showed her, and she was elated that she actually had verses that could help her through this.
The last thing is, before we left, I had received this little note card from one of the interpreters, Grace.
And it touched my heart. And she said, Lori, we are God's masterpiece.
He has created us anew in Christ so we can do good things. He planned for us long ago.
Coming to Columbia has been a part of God's plan for you. Thank you.
Thank you for serving us with all your heart.
And so I'm grateful that I did get to go, and it might be probably the last time, but who knows? God knows. So I'm very grateful for this church.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, I'm Carol.
I usually have a story to tell about my mission trip. Something interesting or touching or sentimental or sometimes even funny.
But this trip was different. And I could title this trip All About Me, but that sounds conceited and prideful, but it really isn't. I could describe this as pure joy. I smiled through this entire trip, inside and out. And I certainly don't mean this as prideful or conceited at all, because it is about me and my personal growth. Actually, I'm the one that's been there 15 times and I am still growing and changing before each of my past trips where I spent time praying to make me an empty vessel. I still lacked confidence in my ability to have just the right words to say and the right verse to share. I know all the questions that people ask down there.
I still fumble through the evangelicube as I visited each house. But in spite of me, praise God, that they almost always prayed to receive Christ and the reasons that they heard His Word. And none of it was about me. But during COVID it caused a lot of bad results. I even had COVID. But looking back, God was using those four years for the good in me.
Without me even knowing it. He used them for my own personal growth, for my confidence and maturity. As I became more focused on Him, I spent more time in prayer and in the Word doing the Bible read through in a year. And I was obtaining wisdom that I was asking for. Not so I could have more confidence in knowing the right Scripture or having the right words to say, but so that the people saw Christ as I was standing there in their homes and not me.
I left and I went through each before I left, I'm sorry. I went through each chapter in my Bible and I was writing down the addresses in the back of my Spanish English Bible, new Testament, of my favorite verses and verses that pertain to their commonly asked questions by the people there. And I was going to be prepared and there is nothing wrong with that. God was filling me, he was equipping me. But I will tell you that I didn't use one of those verses on the trip.
They were for me, but I didn't know it at the time. And finally, when I went on this trip, I felt empty of myself and full of God. I felt pure joy. I was never nervous, I didn't have burdens, I didn't have worries. I had a smile on my face the whole time. I honestly felt completely empty of myself.
This doesn't mean that my past trips were ineffective because I know he used me, but he wanted to show me his work and the work that he had done in me these past four years and how he used it for his glory. We were unable to go the past four years because of COVID and that's when he was doing his work in me.
But no one matures in Christ by accident.
And just this morning, Sam mentioned in the discipling class that sometimes we finally reach clarity about what Christ has for us and we're able to hit the reset button and that really hit home to me. So hopefully this gives you encouragement each and every one of you to go to Columbia because you do not have to have the right words, you don't have to have the Scriptures in your head. And I know that's what people are the most nervous about. You don't have to be an expert on the Bible or have all the answers. Before I left for this trip, I wrote down a quote and I put it in my Spanish English Bible so I would have it with me all the time. And it says, if you are saved, you are equipped and called to give to give the Gospel. And I was convicted by this quote even before the trip.
But I never suspected that God wanted me to know his purpose for me as I read it again after the trip, that I am saved and I am equipped and called to give the Gospel so God wanted me to know I was convicted, but I never suspected that that's what he wanted me to learn.
This is what he wanted to show me, and this is what he wanted to teach me. I am saved and I am equipped, and I am called so coming back home, I go to the gym a lot. And everyone knew that I was going on this trip because I go to the gym every day, and I know everybody there. And so they were all asking me about this trip, and they asked me, what did you do on this trip? And they automatically think we're building churches or building buildings. And I said, we're not building buildings. We're giving our testimonies, and we're building up people for Christ's kingdom. And I have been able to share my testimony with them innocently, because they were asking what we did there. And it has really helped me. That trip prepared me for sharing here versus me preparing myself to share there. So I thank you for your fervent prayers during our trip, and I pray that this gives you some encouragement to go into the world and make disciples, whether it's in Columbia or in your own backyard, for he will be with you always. Thank you.
[00:31:42] Speaker G: First of all, thanks a lot. And those who don't know me, I'm the guy who cries, but Jesus wept.
It had been five years since I'd been there and a couple things that were running through my mind and concerns. And one was, I was wondering about the status of the Colombian missions and the churches down there.
We've been through a pandemic. It'd been five years.
They weren't known when we were going to come down for the next time and if we would be coming down. So I wanted to go to reassure them that, yes, we're still involved and we still want to continue.
But when I get down there, the churches were alive and well.
Kagrahara was just a VBS filled stuffed full of the whole church floor was completely occupied by all these kids wanting to find out about God and coloring pictures about Daniel and the lion's den in the church at Galapa, which was just a thought. The last time I went down there was a thought of a church, was now a building that was stuff full of people. And I found out that members of the church were traveling up to 25 miles just to come to this church. So God is busy at work when he's bringing that many people there. And the translators were abundant. All of us had plenty of translators to use at our needs to help us get the message across.
One of the most exciting things to find out was that our Colombian mission is expanding.
Just as in North America, there are indigenous groups, but there's an indigenous group down in Colombia, and it's on the Guadala Peninsula in northern Colombia. And this group is called the Yu indigenous group where I was shown pictures of a thatched roof that was held up by poles and there were even hammocks where guests were offered to use whenever they come to visit their church. And I want to show you just.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: A little bit of their workplace.
[00:34:47] Speaker G: We have fans bash the roof. We have Visors make these and sell these. When you go to the airport in Barranquilla, those purses are on display for sale there. And Deb Cross is actually going to be selling some of those if you're interested in purchasing those as well.
And who did God raise up to go after this group?
Jonathan Torres.
Who is Jonathan Torres? Jonathan Torres in the year 2000 when I went to my first mission group was a twelve year old Colombian boy who knew the gospel already.
And we brought down the Evangeli cubes and taught it to him and he just was on fire. I mean, everywhere this kid went, every village he went into, kids surrounded him and he went through the gospel on the Evangeli.
And this young man that I met at the age of twelve, I called the boy pastor.
And here, 25 years later, his ministry includes an evangelicube that's designed specifically for the Yu group. And so it's a little more customized than the traditional one. And there's a Bible that they have now translated into their own native language.
And how has God rewarded Jonathan?
He provided him with a wife.
So if you have a heart for supporting missionaries, I couldn't think of a more worthy candidate for your support.
All I can tell you is that little Jonathan is busy at work for us down there spreading the gospel and bringing more even to the ends of the peninsula. Thanks a lot for your time.
[00:37:44] Speaker B: Man, God is good. Amen.
On mission report Sunday. We get less songs, but man, the testimony. How good is our God?
What faithfulness to consider just man, how he's working, how he's working our brothers and sisters in Baron Kia, guys, one of the things I love about our church family is that we take time to go verse by verse through books of the Bible, right? And I think that kind of commitment to dig into the Word and just see what God has for us and not skip sections, but just engage what God has for us week by week, I think it's good and healthy and challenging.
It forces you to not avoid difficult passages and things. But there are moments like this weekend where you just got to sit back and go, man, God, you are thinking about our church because the text God has for us today in Matthew could not be better aligned with what we just experienced hearing these testimonies of God's faithfulness to move amongst our brothers and sisters in Columbia. If you guys don't know, by the way, if you haven't gone on one of the Columbia trips or heard this testimony. We don't just grab ten people and ship them there to walk around door to door and present the gospel. This is part of a 20 year partnership with established local churches in Colombia. So yes, our folk go down there and they go door to door and they share their testimony and the gospel is shared and it's beautiful and it's intense. But those people aren't just left in that. There are local churches that have been preparing and prayer walking and engaging these neighborhoods for months leading up to us going there and who are going to continue to faithfully love and serve and disciple those folk. We get to have this teeny tiny piece of this larger ministry that our brothers and sisters are faithfully doing in that community. And it's such a cool thing. It's such a cool thing because we get to have these testimonies and hear about how God works. But also, as Carol shared, we get to be challenged and consider how we are obedient to the call to be on mission. Because I'll tell you guys, there's nothing magical about what our brothers and sisters are doing in Columbia. You know what they do? They get together and they pray for the lost in their community and then they go and they pray, walk those neighborhoods in their community and they get to know people and they share, testimonies and share the gospel and build relationship and follow up. That's what they do. They just do it in Colombia, right? Like there's nothing inherently magical about that. It's the way God has moved through his people to advance his kingdom everywhere for the last 2000 years. Today we're going to continue on in what is called the missional discourse in Matthew Ten, where Jesus is giving instruction on what it looks like, like the specifics, what does it mean to join with Christ and his mission to participate in the work of proclaiming the gospel that more might come to know Christ? And I'm just going to tell you guys, this text is going to go hard today.
This is not a softball text for us as modern American Christians in the cultural historical moment, we find ourselves Matthew Ten is going to hit hard. And so what I'd like for you guys to do, we had testimony time and so the plan is for this to be a shorter sermon than normal. And I know that that is famous last words for a pastor, but we're going to attempt it.
I want to invite you guys to pray with me before we read this text. We're going to be in Matthew chapter ten today. If you want to go ahead and turn there, matthew chapter ten. If you don't have a physical copy of God's Word with you, I'd encourage you to grab one of the pew Bibles. They're kind of spread out under the chairs. You can grab one of those. By the way, if. You don't own a physical copy of God's Word, I would really encourage you to just take that home. We really believe in the importance of access to God's Word here at Emmanuel. And by the way, even beyond that, you can tell one of the pastors that we will get you a nicer Bible than the pew Bibles if you don't have one. But Matthew, chapter ten, pray with me church, and then we're going to jump into this. Father, we ask today as we take a few minutes to consider your words, your teaching, your encouragement, your challenge to us. We ask Holy Spirit that you would be our discipler today.
God, I pray for each of us that you would give us clear eyes to consider our own moment, to consider our own context, to consider our own hearts and our own obedience to you. Father, we do not want to be children who shy away from the work because of fear, because of laziness, because of apathy.
Father, we want to join with our brothers and sisters, we want to join with you to do the work of the kingdom, to pursue what you have for us, to see more come, to know you, to see your wedding feast filled up.
Lord, move in our hearts, convict us, challenge us, empower us to do your work.
God, we love you, we trust you, we need you to do this work in our hearts. So we pray it in your name. Amen.
Guys, what we're going to see in this text today is that the mission of God is hard.
It's hard. We hear these testimonies about beautiful trips where we come a plane and we go somewhere gorgeous and we share the gospel and the spirit moves and by the way, that's wonderful and we should cheer and celebrate that those kind of opportunities are beautiful and wonderful and worth our excitement. But I think what we're going to hear in Jesus's instruction to us today is that our general expectation of what it means to be on mission with Christ is that the mission is hard, the mission is difficult, that it's costly, there's real cost to discipleship, to following Jesus. You beloved, cannot follow Jesus and then be surprised when people treat you like they treated Jesus.
You don't get to.
I know that's difficult and I think this text will be difficult for many of us. But I want to encourage us, let's trust the Spirit to guide us through this. Life in the kingdom is hard, it's exhausting, can be lonely, it can break relationships, it can cause real suffering. But what we see in the scripture and what Jesus is going to encourage us with today, beloved, is that at the end of the day it's worth it.
The kingdom of God is worth it. Yes, there is real cost here and now. But remember the promise of Jesus.
The promise of Jesus is cross now, crown later.
And guys, it's worth it.
That promise is assured, and it's worth it. Jump in with me to Matthew, chapter ten. We're going to start in. Verse 16 says this look, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.
Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. Beware of them, because they will hand you over to local courts, they will flog you in the synagogue. You will even be brought before governors and kings because of me, to bear witness to them and to the Gentiles. And when they hand you over, don't worry about how or what you were to speak, for you will be given what to say at that very hour. Because it isn't you speaking, but the spirit of your father is speaking through you. Brother will betray brother even to death and father his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of my name.
But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. For truly I tell you, you will not have gone through the towns of Israel before the Son of man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master. It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house bells above, how much more the members of his household. Therefore, don't be afraid of them, since there is nothing covered that won't be uncovered and nothing hidden that won't be made known. What I tell you in dark, speak in the light. What I tell you in a whisper proclaim on the rooftops. Don't fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Aren't two sparrows sold for a penny, yet not one of them falls to the ground without your father's consent. But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So don't be afraid, for you are worth more than many sparrows. Beloved, this is the word of the Lord for us today.
There's a lot there a lot going on here. So recall with me what we're stepping into here. We've transitioned from this series of narratives back into one of Jesus'discourses, one of his teachings. This one is often called the Missional or missionary discourse. And Matthew, he uses this writing technique that's really cool in most of the discourses in Matthew, that they start as a narrative, right? Jesus begins this discourse by collecting together the twelve apostles, preparing to send them. And it starts out like he's talking to them. It's the same way the Sermon on the Mount started, together with him gathering his disciples, and he begins preaching to them. But Matthew does this thing where it starts as a narrative, with Jesus teaching someone in the story that we're looking at. And then at some point there's this moment where it transitions from Jesus talking and teaching to the person in the story, to him talking and teaching you as the reader. The Church today you can imagine in a movie like Jesus is sitting there and he's talking to his twelve apostles and then there's this moment where he just kind of looks up at the camera and he's speaking to the whole of the audience, to us as the church. This is what we're going to see happen in our text today. Jesus began chapter 15 by speaking to the twelve apostles. He's sending them out two by two around Galilee to join him in ministry. But today as he begins to expound on this idea of suffering and persecution and what his followers can expect with that you see this point where it's no longer about the Twelve and their short trip around Galilee. All of a sudden it's about all of us.
All of a sudden it's about thousands of years of Christians speaking the Gospel boldly to a world that hates to hear it.
And guys that's an important part to consider here. The New Testament is unapologetic in the idea that the Gospel is distasteful to those who are outside of Christ and that is putting it mildly.
The Gospel is foolishness to those who are outside of Christ. The Gospel is the stench of death.
Paul says to those who are outside of Christ. For thousands of years our brothers and sisters have boldly proclaimed the Gospel of the Lord Jesus and the vast majority of the time their audience hates to hear it.
It's rough but it's true.
I think on a first cursory reading of this text, this teaching from Jesus can seem like simultaneously intense and scattered, right? Like he moves really fast through a bunch of different ideas. But there is a flow here and there's a unified message that I actually think is really important for us today. So let's walk through this and just see where the Spirit takes us. So this text opens with one of these relatively famous lines from Jesus. Look, I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. The essence of this line is this the mission I'm sending you on is dangerous. This is one of those lines that is so wormed its way kind of into our conscience. Like it's kind of become a cliche like oh like sheep among wolves, right? Like that. It's easy for us to move past its plain meaning but we shouldn't.
Jesus is giving us here imagery that is stark and helpful. Sheep among wolves are generally speaking dead.
That's how that goes down. Sheep have no offensive capabilities, right? Like imagine what you know of a sheep. They're not going out there and going toe to toe with anything. They have trouble surviving against things like holes in the ground. Wolves. Wolves are a different level of danger.
Sheep have no offensive potential. They have no defensive potential. Do you know what a sheep's defense survival mechanism is?
There's a lot of us. They probably won't eat me, literally. That's how sheep survive, is they go, well, there's a whole stinking bunch of us and there's only like one wolf. So the ODS of me being the one eaten are relatively small. That's the survival mechanism for a sheep. When a wolf is present, it's die, right? Sheep among wolves are in a very dangerous situation.
Wolves are dangerous predators, and without the aid of a shepherd, a sheep is quickly killed. Jesus is sending the church out on a mission where he says there is real danger.
And so his solution is be wise and innocent, be cunning and above reproach.
Notice that neither of these characteristics are the kind of things that will actually keep the sheep from the wolves.
The mission will always be dangerous, period. But living a wise life and living a life that is above reproach can make the danger more manageable, can make it more engageable it, will not make it go away.
See, here in this opening, Jesus tells his church, expect opposition and persecution in the mission. Now, we have to be honest for a minute and just acknowledge that this idea feels really foreign to us as American Christians, right? Even as we get it this far into the text, I guarantee, like me, there's a chunk of you going, dang, this is really important, this is really intense. It's not really like that in my experience, right?
We don't think of being on mission in terms of overcoming danger.
We tend to think of it in terms of overcoming embarrassment. Right? I don't know, it seems really awkward to just tell someone about Jesus. I'm kind of scared. That's the level of danger that most of us consider when we think about the mission. And guys, we're going to talk about this a little more a little later on.
But guys, that's not the norm and that's not what Jesus tells us to expect. We live in a land where religious tolerance and religious freedom are enshrined in our constitution. In fact, we go a step beyond that and we give religious practice a privileged status in our culture. In the United States, churches are federally and state recognized nonprofits.
We don't pay taxes.
You get a tax bump for paying your tithe, right?
That is not just tolerant of your religious practice, that privileges your religious practice in our particular cultural moment. Now, this doesn't mean that it isn't hard to follow Christ in the United States. This doesn't mean we don't face real opposition.
But we have to understand that it's different from what we see Jesus describe in our text.
Jesus gives us two categories of opposition and persecution to expect. And as we look at each one, I want to take a second and consider how this has worked out historically for Christianity and how it works out most often in our context. So first, there's this idea of cultural opposition. You see this in the first chunk of the text. Jesus envisions a future where the very governmental authorities actively oppose Christian faith. Kings and governors and community leaders arrest Christians. Jesus describes criminal charges and criminal punishments for following Christ and proclaiming the Gospel. And, guys, we know that this happened historically for Christians. Very soon after Jesus's resurrection, the local Jewish authorities within Palestine persecuted Christians within months of Jesus's resurrection. And within 25 years of Jesus's resurrection, the Roman Emperor, the ruler of the world as it was known, was formally persecuting the Christian movement. And guys, you need to understand something.
This continues on today.
This is more true today than it was during Nero's persecution. I need you to hear that because we support financially missionaries in our church who are doing what's called black Flag mission, where they cannot tell us what country they're going into because there is real and present danger of them being arrested or killed if they are found out.
That's in our church, people we know, never mind the fact that for the last five years, each year, single year at a time, there have been more individual Christian martyrs year by year, 20, 20, 20, 21, 20, 22 than there were in the entire first generation of Christianity up to Nero's persecution.
More martyrs in 365 days, in 2022 than in Jesus's resurrection through Nero's persecution.
That's a big deal. Like, how is that real? It's real.
The persecution, the opposition of the Gospel that exists in our world is real.
But this kind of culturally accepted, government sanctioned persecution, guys, it's surprisingly normal in the world today, but not right here.
Not here. Not in St. Louis, not in West County. We don't see that in North America. We have a cultural history of religious freedom. Christian churches in America buy buildings. We send out advertising mailers. We join formally with community organizations for events to serve people in the neighborhood, right?
This doesn't mean we don't face hardship. Don't hear me discounting your experience as a Christian.
It's important to acknowledge that it is different.
I doubt many of us fear being arrested and brought before the St. Louis County Judge because of our faith, right? It's just not a thing we think about.
What is more common and what is more likely in our cultural moment is apathy and dismissal.
It's very unlikely that you'll be arrested and given criminal charges for practicing your faith. It's very likely that you'll be thought less of and dismissed and not cared about for practicing your Christian faith. In our context, Christian teaching on things like, oh, I don't know, sexuality, marriage, family, parenting, ethics, these things are increasingly distasteful in our culture. And more and more and more, you can expect to be looked down upon and judged for following Jesus declaring the gospel in our culture will likely get you dismissed as homophobic, outdated, overly political, and unscientific.
That's a very real thing. Doesn't mean you'll get put in jail for it, but it is a very real thing. You'll be thought poorly of. You can expect guys, hear this right now 2023 in West County in our community. You can expect to be thought less of by many in our community for proclaiming Christ.
Expect that there's a perfect transition to Jesus's second category here, because, second, Jesus warns us to prepare for persecution from family and friends.
As horrible as this may sound, history plays this out at times. When larger cultural and governmental systems turn against Christianity, history bears out that families turn against one another because of Christ.
Spend a few minutes and study Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia and Communist China, and you will read about children turning in parents and siblings, betraying siblings, turning them over to secret police, to the persecuting authorities. It's real. It's a very real thing, and it's sorrowful.
But again, this just isn't the norm in our culture.
It's not what's going to happen. It doesn't mean you are safe from pain in your family and close friend relationships. But we don't have a culture where there would be any kind of persecuting authority to turn us over to, I guess, except maybe just like mocking you online. I don't know, that might happen. You might get turned over to the Twitter mob and that might be really rough, but it's not the same thing, right?
It's different.
However, we need to consider Jesus's warning here very seriously.
I know that many of us, many of us in this room have immediate family members, siblings, cousins, parents, kids who reject Christ and reject you or at least think less of you because of your commitment to the gospel.
I know that pain that many of you feel as you think about your adult children who simply don't share your faith, and they think of you as outdated and ignorant, out of touch because of your religious belief.
Guys, that is deeply troubling. It's painful, it's sorrowful, it's dividing.
And it's common in our culture. It's common to see our kids, to see our family, to see people we love wrestle with the countercultural claims of Christianity and just say, I don't want that, and I don't know what I think about you. If you do want that, that's real.
I know many of us that burdens us in our prayers day by day because these are real forms of opposition and persecution.
They're not the same as arrest and martyrdom, right? And we need to remember that. We need to be grateful for the moment we live in. We need to remember our brothers and sisters who pay a price that for many of us is just literally unimaginable because it's just not the reality we live in.
But these forms of opposition and persecution are real. And they test us.
And Jesus'advice does not change.
We must be wise. We must be above reproach. As Jesus warns us, proclaiming the Gospel will have real consequences on your life.
It will genuinely affect the way you live. Opposition to the Gospel is real, and it hurts even to experience it in the forms that exist in our culture.
This is why I think Jesus tells us to avoid persecution if possible, right? Hey, if it's real rough, leave, go to a different village. He tells us to avoid persecution if possible. We should expect opposition to the Gospel and to us as the missionaries of the Gospel. But where we can avoid persecution, we should religious freedom. Hey, guys, that's a wonderful thing.
That makes our country better, and we should protect it as much as we can. Right now, I don't think we'll be able to avoid the loss of the privileged status that religion and Christianity specifically have enjoyed in America for the last couple hundred years. But we should we should oppose efforts to limit religious freedom. That is a good thing. Good thing for our community, for our culture, for the church.
However, regardless of what happens in our culture, regardless of what happens with our religious freedom, regardless of what happens around formal persecution, jesus warns us to expect opposition.
If you decide to be obedient, to live into your calling, to live into your empowerment, to join the mission and proclaim Jesus, you will get treated how Jesus was treated. And spoiler alert, they killed him, right?
Jesus was treated very poorly, and he tells you to not just expect that, but to be content with that.
It's enough for the disciple to be like the student. And if they call the master of the house beelzebub, how much more the members of the household, they treated Jesus poorly. If they didn't respect Jesus, what are they going to think of you for following Him, for giving your life to Him?
And this leads to how Jesus ends this section of text. I love this. Don't fear man. Fear God as if he's already heavy, and Jesus ends it by taking it a level heavier. Right?
This is an intense end to the text, but a necessary one.
I mean, if you're to expect persecution and opposition, how the heck are you supposed to remain faithful if this is Jesus'sales pitch to get you to go on mission, right? Like, we heard a really great sales pitch on Columbia a minute ago. Like, I don't know about you guys, but by the time Chuck was done, I was like, can we take a trip next week? I'm, like, Ready to go to Columbia, right? Jesus'pitch here for going on mission. Not great. I think some of you guys in sales could give him some pointers.
He comes up and he goes, you guys want to go on mission? Let me tell you, it's going to be rough. You'll probably die. People will hate you. They hate me.
That's a tough sell.
How are you supposed to remain obedient and bold? How do you stick to the work? If Jesus is promising you that it will be hard and painful and cost you in society and even cost you in your family, how do you remain with that work?
Well, guys, because Jesus is worth it.
Because Jesus is actually worth the cost.
Why fear people and what they might do?
If you're on the side of the king of reality?
He controls the whole thing.
He controls the whole thing.
If you're going to fear someone, why would you fear man? No, fear him.
And by the way, we've said this a ton of times in the context of our church family here. But fear is an appropriate response to the power and authority of God, right? He controls the whole thing. That's scary. But there's more here.
In spite of this promise of persecution, we can be bold in our proclamation anyway. Because this powerful God who controls everything is on our side.
He has our back. He's for you, he makes promises to you, he takes care of you.
Now we must consider the actual promise he gives us.
Jesus is very clear in this sense to thus, especially in our text today, the promise of the Gospel is crossed now, crowned later, hardship and difficulty now. But perfection in eternity, that's a big order.
That's scary.
But beloved, you can trust it.
You can trust the promise of God. God's promise is as good as accomplished. And beloved, his promise for you is heaven.
It's perfection forever. It's restoration, it's loss of all things, sorrowful and evil and wrong.
It's you as you were made to be, forever.
It's a big promise. It's a big promise. Yes, cross now. Yes, following the kingdom is hard. Yes, there's a real cost to discipleship. But look what Christ has bought for you.
If years of comforts on this earth, an easy, comfortable life with good resources and lots of people that like you. No, the promise of Christ is forever.
It's eternity, it's perfection, it's glory in Christ. No matter what this life holds for you, you have an eternal promise.
You have a heaven. On the other side of this light and momentary affliction, there is a weight, a weightiness to the glory of God and it is reserved for his children.
Yes, there is. Cross now. Yes, it will be hard to join in the mission in this life, whether you live in North America or any other time and place. But guys, in Christ, the Gospel is worth it.
Beloved, jesus is worth it.
He's worth the cost. And because he's worth it, we don't have to fear persecution, we don't have to fear opposition. Look how Jesus says it in our text. Will you hear whispered to you? Shout it from the rooftops.
Take this gospel and be bold.
We can declare the gospel loudly.
Shout it from the rooftops. Who cares what opposition you face? Have you met Jesus?
Have you experienced his love? Have you seen his promise for you, pure and simple? Weigh it out, church. The gospel is worth it. It's worth it.
And our brothers and sisters have proclaimed this to us for 2000 years.
They've shown us the example in the way as they march through suffering and persecution, boldly saying, to live is Christ, to die is gain.
There's a great cloud of witnesses, great cloud of brothers and sisters who've gone before and have shown us just how worth it the Gospel is.
So what does that mean for us American Christians today?
Our persecution is so mild compared to our brothers and sisters.
What does that mean? How does that change how we respond to a text like this? I'm going to give us two thoughts to kind of land out today.
The first one is this beloved, you should count the cost of discipleship.
Christ invites you to Luke 14. Christ is about as clear as he can be, says, hey, no one sets out to build a tower unless they first sit down and make sure they have enough money to finish it. Nothing more embarrassing than a half finished tower.
Christ says, count the cost, consider what it means to follow me, look at what it will cost you, and decide now, do I actually want to do this?
Do I actually want to go through with this? Do I actually believe the promise is cross now, worth the crown later?
Jesus invites us to consider that. Are you willing to endure hardship in this world to honor Jesus and proclaim this gospel? Are you willing to pay the price? In chapter six and Sermon on the Mount, jesus warned us of the dangers here.
And I believe this is so strikingly important for us as American Christians with the level of freedom we have. You cannot serve two masters. You cannot. It is impossible. You cannot serve Jesus in the interests of this world.
See, guys, our problem is that in a context like America, it's easy to convince yourself that you can in fact serve two masters.
In a cultural moment where your religious practice is not just protected and tolerated, but is actually privileged, it is easy to convince yourself, I can have my cake and I can eat it too. I can have it all. I can pursue the comforts of this world in the American dream, and I can pour myself into gaining more and more comforts and all the things that I want in this world. And I can have Jesus too, because no one cares if I go to church on Sunday and it's only 10% of my income to Tithe. And so it's good. I can have it all. But beloved, the reality is you cannot.
You can trick yourself into thinking you can.
But I promise you, I promise you, at some point you will be faced squarely with the reality of the disparity between the idols of our culture and the call of the kingdom of God. And you will have to choose.
Will you choose a comfortable, sanitized, nominal Christianity that is so easily acceptable in our world and our time and our place?
Where you live for all the things all your lost neighbors live for, where you just work really hard to make a lot of money, to have a cool house, to have lots of comforts, to have organic food and a Netflix subscription and a fence in the back and a nice dog golden doodle. Probably right. That's the trendy one right now. You can get all your kids and travel sports teams and you can have your Hobies and you can fill up all your time with all your comforts, but you still go to church on Sunday and you tithe and you support a missionary, so it's good you can choose that.
Or will you choose the kingdom and the mission?
Will you choose to be bold, to actually sacrifice, to actually proclaim, to actually give up your comforts and your time and the life you could live and the relationships you might have so that you can proclaim the goodness of Jesus to those in desperate need of Him? Knowing full well the majority of the people you tell won't want to hear it. Knowing full well, the majority of people you tell will think less of you. Knowing full well the majority of you people you tell will treat you differently.
You'll have to choose at some point.
So beloved, count the cost now.
Count the cost now.
Second, and this is where we'll land, I would urge you, brothers and sisters, to choose the kingdom and not the easy, comfortable, nominal Christianity that our culture offers.
And James One tells us that when we face the opposition, when we find that, sure enough, Jesus meant what he said and it actually is painful to follow Jesus, you can consider it pure joy.
You can actually receive opposition and suffering and persecution as an honor because opposition sanctifies us further. It makes us all the more dependent upon the Jesus who sustains us and prepares us for eternity. And beloved, he does sustain us and prepare us.
Beloved, Christ will keep you through the hardship and the suffering.
This is the testimony of our brothers and sisters around the world for the last 2000 years.
Choose Christ. Yes, it will be hard, but Christ will keep you.
Christ will sustain you. Christ will keep you on your feet through the opposition you face and he will use it to sanctify you, to make you more holy, to make you like Him, to draw you into his forever that he has planned for you. Beloved, you can count it joy when you suffer for the Gospel. You can join the apostles in Acts chapter four and you can celebrate the truth that you were counted worthy. To suffer for the sake of Christ.
Even our small oppositions and our tiny pains are used by God to sanctify us and advance the kingdom. Beloved, in the Kingdom of God, no pain is wasted.
His promise of your forever is secure, and he uses even your suffering in this world to draw you to it.
Adam, if you want to come back up, we're going to take a minute, we're going to sing. We're going to consider what God was telling us today.
Beloved, the promise of Jesus for you today is cross now and crowned later. That is true.
And it's hard for us, that's hard for all of us. That's hard for me, just as much as it is for you. But beloved, I promise you, Jesus is worth it.
His gospel is worth it. Forgiveness of sins. Hear that, beloved? The forgiveness of your sins, it's worth it.
Freedom from sin, freedom from the bondage of this world, from the idols of this world, it's worth it. The righteousness of Christ overtaking you and making you like Him and preparing an eternity for you, beloved, it's worth it. Salvation is worth it. Heaven is worth it. So be bold.
Proclaim it from the rooftops. Pay the price.
Join in the mission, preach the word and watch as your Jesus sustains you and keeps you.
We're going to take a few minutes to pray and sing. I'm going to invite them in just a minute. I'm going to pray over us. I'm going to invite the band to sing over us. And I want to invite you to respond however you need to this moment. If you want to stand up and sing, you can do just that. If you want to get on your knees and pray, take a few minutes to be by yourself with Christ. I would encourage you to do that.
Last week we talked about this, but I'm going to invite us again to this each week for a couple of weeks while we're in the missional discourse. And I would strongly encourage you to ask God to provide names for you to lost people that you can consider and pray for and keep in your prayers daily. If you haven't done that, I'd encourage you to walk to the back, grab one of those prayer cards and a pen, write down three or four or five names of people you love that you want to come to know Christ.
Take these few minutes to pray for them, pray for their soul. See how God might use you in his mission to seek and save them.
Love it. Join me in prayer and then let's respond as God leads you. Father, we thank you so much.
You are so good to us.
Father, today I pray that you would convict each of us afresh.
Lord, may we not back away from the invitation of the kingdom in fear.
May we not back away because we love our comforts.
May we not join that rich young ruler who saw the cost and said, I don't know about that.
Lord, give us fresh eyes to consider Your kingdom, to consider Your promise.
And Lord, give us boldness to jump into the work with you.
God. We love you. We trust you. We need you for this, so we pray it in Your name. Amen.
Beloved as the band sings I invite you to respond as God is leading.
[01:20:22] Speaker C: Lord, I come confess bowing here I find my rest and without you I fall apart you're the one that guides my heart lord, I need you oh, I need you every hour I need you my one defense, my righteousness oh, God, how I need you where sin runs deep your grace is born where grace is found is where you are where you are lord, I am free holiness is Christ in me lord, I need you oh, I need you every hour I need you my one defense, my righteousness oh, God, how I need you teach my song to rise to you when temptation comes my way when I cannot stand I'll fall on you, jesus, you're my hope and stay lord, I need you oh, I need you every hour I need you my one defense, my righteousness oh, God, how I need you.
[01:23:50] Speaker D: We'Re going to go ahead and participate in the Lord's Supper. And if you're in need of elements, jeremy will be coming down the aisle. Just raise your hand and pass them out.
In the beginning of Sam's message, he asked us all to consider our hearts and our own devotion and our own obedience, the cost that we're actually willing to make to live for Christ in his kingdom.
And I guess I'd ask you this morning know, and sometimes when we hear these kind of know, and I've been in these messages before where I'm just squirming the whole time because the Holy Spirit's convicted me in some way, and the question I'd ask is, how is your brand of Christianity costly?
Because that's something that Jesus really wants to speak to you about.
When we partake in the elements of communion, we do so not only to obediently observe a sacrament.
It's not just some act of religion.
It's not even something that makes us feel good or make us feel religious.
But as we partake of the elements, we purposely are remembering the cost that he paid, the sacrifice that he made, the depth of the love that he showed and the work that he did to save us by remembering. The full extent of his love, his sacrifice, the extreme price that he paid that led to our forgiveness, our redemption, our justification, our salvation. We are saying by partaking the elements that we are identifying our lives with Him, and that we're actually willing to lay our lives down in return for how he laid down his life for us.
And this is an act of grace. It's not an act of the law. It's not something that we do to earn his love, it's what we do in response to his love. And so, as you particularly elements this morning, I want you to just remember, but to remember in such a way to compel you to love and lay your life down and return to him.
The Apostle Paul writes in chapter eleven of One Corinthians for I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread and when he had given thanks, broke it and said, this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Go ahead and partake of the wafer representing his body that was slain for us in the same way. Also he took the cup after supper and said, this cup is a new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Go ahead and partake of the juice representing the blood that was shed for your forgiveness.
Pray with me.
[01:27:15] Speaker B: Church.
[01:27:18] Speaker D: Father, sometimes it's hard to thank you for a message that we hear like we heard today, because it can leave us unsettled in our hearts.
Lord, each of us knows where we stand with you right now and we know the depth of the cost that we have been willing or not been willing to pay.
And not just in the area of evangelism, Lord, but it's just in obedience and living truly for you, putting everything on the line for you because you loved us that much, we want to love you in return. And so I pray, Lord, that as we have just partaken of the elements and remembered the sacrifice that you made for us, that would cause us to walk out of here with a new understanding, a new desire and a new devotion that's welling up in our hearts. A new passion to live our lives in surrender and obedience and costly sacrifice for you.
And I ask that in Jesus name. Amen.
[01:28:28] Speaker H: Church thank you for being here this morning and worshiping with us. I don't know what word may come to your mind when you think of the word gospel or hear the gospel or experience the gospel, but today for me, I just had an overwhelming sense of the word sweetness. There is a sweetness to the gospel, there's a sweetness to the people of God. Corinthians Sam mentioned it, talks about how it is the stench of death to some, but is the fragrance of Christ to those who are being saved. And those of us in this room today are being saved. And so we thank you for participating and being here this morning. We all have next steps and we encourage you to go to Emmanuelfellowshipstl.org. Click on the next Steps tab. There are many, many opportunities for you to take a next step in your faith. I'm going to mention two this morning. The first is that this evening in this space, at 06:00 P.m., we are going to pray as a church, and we invite you into that to come and to pray together with God's people in our church for many, many things.
And so we invite you into that tonight at 06:00 P.m.. Also, at the end of this week, on Friday evening, the Glossons are once again inviting us into their home on November 3 at 06:00 P.m. For a potluck dinner, just as they did last week. They are gracious, and they're going to provide the main dish. They just ask that you sign up in the back, because there's a bit of a limit to how many people that their house will hold, about 20 people, and ask that you bring a side dish or a dessert and just enjoy fellowship. There's no agenda other than for the people of God to be with each other, to enjoy fellowship and get to know each other a little bit better. So we encourage you to sign up for that on the hospitality table or once again, go to the Emanuelfellowshipstl.org to sign up for that. That is this Friday at 06:00 P.m., November 3, at their home. And their address, I believe, is on that sheet.
The message today was a hard word, but as we leave here, Isaiah 40 has much to encourage us as we leave this place today. It says this, verse 31 for those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not become weary. They will walk and not faint. Church, as you leave here today, as you go out today and this week, go run your race and know that you go on the strength of the Holy Spirit that Christ gave us. Amen. Have a wonderful day, have a great week, and Lord willing, we will see you back here tonight or next week. We love you guys.
