Clint Miller
[0:00] Well good morning and welcome to Village Church. My name is Clint and I serve as [0:07] Serve Team Director at this moment at Village Church. I’ve been part of the youth group in [0:12] the past and various other various other roles in Village kind of almost since its beginning. [0:20] And so it’s my pleasure to be able to preach to you today to be able to bring from the scriptures [0:26] God’s word for us. God’s inerrant word the word that that he speaks to us today and so
[0:36] I have the privilege of talking about mission today the missional life and and it was really [0:42] this talk of what the missional life was that really drew me to Village Church. It really drew [0:48] me to Jesus that really drew me to to living my life for his mission and and I can remember [0:55] coming to Village Church back when they were meeting in an elementary school cafeteria and [1:03] I was fairly new in the faith and was struggling to understand why these guys were setting up a [1:10] church in a cafeteria of an elementary school and I really didn’t have an answer when I showed up
[1:19] and and really what God did through Village Church through the speaking of his of his word [1:24] through being in community with believers who were about living the mission of Jesus. I just [1:30] kind of got drew into that and God took over my heart and for the last five years I’ve been [1:36] serving here at the church and and more importantly following Jesus with my life and so it is a [1:45] privilege to talk on this topic today. I hope to make it clear what the missional life looks like [1:52] and I hope to just give you some things to kind of to kind of marinate in to kind of stir your
[1:59] affections for Jesus and and the lost and then to go out and live. So today before we get to our [2:07] main text which is going to be Luke 5 verses 1 to 11 you can you can open to that if you would like [2:13] Luke 5 1 to 11. I just kind of have to set the scene for for what this missional life is about [2:20] we really can’t start with anything other than this. What is the mission of Jesus? What was the [2:25] mission of of Jesus? In other words why did he come why did he leave his throne after creating [2:31] the world? Why did he leave his throne show up on earth? Live this perfect life? Actually go to a
[2:38] cross and die though he did not sin though he didn’t commit anything that was worthy of death. [2:44] He would go do that and then rise and then reveal himself to the world and say hey [2:52] you need to know me I came to do this and so Luke 19 verse 10 really gives us that picture [3:00] in about the shortest way that we can do that and and that’s very helpful for this morning. He says [3:06] for the son of man came to seek and save the lost all right this is not hard to understand [3:13] the son of man came to seek and save the lost. Son of man Jesus came to seek he came to find he
[3:20] came to interact with he came to sought out people and and those people were of course lost and he [3:28] sought to save them and how did he save them? Well he he went and did the work on the cross he died [3:34] for our sins he imputes to us his righteousness and he saves us and really how that is how that is [3:44] it’s spoken through the lives of those who know it and and so this morning we have to understand [3:50] this that that’s the mission of Jesus. It’s easy to forget the mission of Jesus sometimes [3:54] when we get caught up in church culture we get caught up with our lives and just living the
[4:00] daily routine of things it’s it’s easy to forget that hey Jesus was about seeking and saving the [4:06] lost not only just me becoming a better person me becoming holier me becoming more of a Bible [4:13] reader me going to more Bible studies me coming to church more those things are all great but [4:19] they’re all aimed and primarily for the purpose of living the mission and so if we do all those [4:26] things and we don’t live the mission we’re missing a big piece of the puzzle and so that’s what I [4:33] want to get at this morning. So turn with me to Luke 5 1 to 11 we’ll read the text I’ll pause
[4:43] at a couple places but we’ll get through it once and then we will return to a couple other places. [4:50] Luke 5 verse 1 on one occasion while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God [4:56] he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret and he saw two boats by the lake but the fishermen had [5:03] gone out from them and were washing their nets getting into one of the boats which was Simon’s [5:09] he asked him to put out a little from the land and he sat down and taught the people [5:15] from the boat and when they had finished speaking he said to Simon put out into the deep and let
[5:22] down your nets for a catch and Simon answered master we told all night and took nothing [5:30] but at your word I will let down the nets and when they had done this they enclosed a large [5:36] number of fish and their nets were breaking they signaled to their partners and in the other boat [5:42] to come in the other boat to come and help them and they came and they filled the boats so that [5:47] they began to sink but when Simon Peter saw it he fell down at Jesus’s knees saying depart from me [5:55] for I am a sinful man oh lord for he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish
[6:03] that they had taken and so also were James and John sons of Zebedee who were partners with Simon [6:09] and Jesus said to Simon do not be afraid from now on you will be catching men [6:17] and when they had brought their boats to land they left everything and followed him so this [6:24] text gives us a nutshell of kind of what the gospel does the gospel comes it addresses you it says [6:30] hey I’m Jesus here’s what I’ve done here’s who I am we respond to it and then we do what Jesus [6:38] asks us to do and it’s that simple that sounds like an oversimplification oftentimes but it is
[6:46] really that simple and so what we see in verses one to three we see Jesus on mission this is [6:52] him going out he’s simply preaching the word to the folks he’s come with this message that I’m [7:00] going to redeem man I’m going to save man he’s left his carpentry trade and he set out on his [7:08] three-year mission and that’s where we find him in verse three he’s demonstrating the preaching [7:14] of the word this is Jesus going out and seeking and saving the loss he didn’t set up and say hey [7:20] come to my carpentry shop he went out and seek to seek and save the lost verses four to eight we see
[7:29] this miracle right I mean we see this great miracle we see that we see that there’s this [7:36] ginormous catch and in a kind of weird predicament because here Jesus knowing really knowing that [7:45] Simon and his partners had caught no fish the night before fishing was mainly done at night [7:50] that was the best time to catch fish and so how would a fisherman be after spending a night of [7:56] hard labor laboring and coming up with literally nothing still having to come back and do what do [8:05] work clean up the nets do all the things that fishermen had to do so Simon’s probably fair to
[8:11] say he wasn’t in a good mood anybody ever fished and not caught anything doesn’t put you in a good [8:19] mood especially if you’re a professional fisherman and it’s your life all right and so now we kind [8:25] of see discipleship 101 taking place because Jesus shows up and Simon knows him as a rabbi [8:31] he knows him as a gifted teacher who’s teaching with authority and there’s a lot of buzz about [8:36] him and so he kind of shows up and he says Simon guess what it’s time to go fishing put put out [8:44] your nets in the day so so picture you know you you just had a terrible day at work and you know
[8:51] Steve or nate or james show up and and they they tell you how to do your job
[8:58] they tell you how to do your job this would be especially funny if any of you have construction [9:01] jobs i’ve seen that go i’ve seen some of that go down all right so steve comes up and and tells you [9:10] how to put a roof on i’ve seen it [9:14] uh you would not be you would not really be happy but but peter we kind of see his reaction [9:22] and he’s like all right well um you know what jesus let’s give it a try
[9:29] i’ll show you you want to go catch okay let’s go do it probably expecting not to catch any [9:35] fish probably to be like yeah told you jesus what’s up man you know something like that [9:40] just trying to be the smart alec and so peter you know or simon simon is peter simon will become [9:48] peter if you don’t know that now you do i’ll probably confuse those often today it’s the same [9:55] person all right um simon is simon is simon pre jesus so after he comes to trust in christ his [10:05] name is peter and so really we see here the biggest catch that
[10:14] that simon’s ever seen all right and so this guy had the best day at work he made the most [10:19] money he’s ever made you know you’d be pumped all right and and really what it comes down to [10:25] is it’s actually jesus catching the fish jesus has filled the nets jesus has kept the fish [10:30] from being in the net the night before fishing for jesus is easy all right he’s he’s like the [10:38] fish finder xp you know 9 000 all right so he just gets on the boat and bam i mean so simon’s [10:49] probably thinking at this point and this is this is a good guy to have on my boat i’m gonna catch
[10:54] fish i’m gonna get rich that might be what he was thinking uh but but we’ll see he has other [11:01] thoughts soon and so um this was absolutely a miracle and what is the purpose of jesus’s miracles [11:10] jesus demonstrates his authority this is number one today the power and authority of jesus demand [11:16] that we join him on mission all right the power and authority of jesus demand that we [11:23] join him on mission so we see this that the whole purpose of the miracle is to testify to [11:30] what he wants to say so if somebody does something great if somebody does something that it’s
[11:36] undeniable that this person is on a higher level than you and in this case this person’s god god’s [11:42] in your boat he just showed you that he was god what are you going to do i hope you’re going to [11:52] and so that’s that’s kind of where we’re at here simon’s in a place where he has to listen [11:58] all right i said earlier in the service the earlier service i don’t know where this came from [12:03] and i said if i was able to pick up a car and throw it 400 yards some of you would think about [12:09] listening to what i had to say it would testify to the the fact that i am something greater now i
[12:15] can’t do that so don’t listen to me on that listen to me on the basis that i’m preaching from the [12:20] all right that’s better authority anyway so that’s kind of what we see the point here is that what [12:27] is jesus demonstrating he’s demonstrating this power that he is jesus that he’s god and simon’s [12:34] reaction here is depart from me have mercy on me for i’m unclean this is very reminiscent if [12:42] you ever read out the book of isaiah where isaiah comes to encounter god and he’s immediately [12:48] uh he’s he immediately realizes that he doesn’t belong in this picture so so simon being in the
[12:55] boat with jesus is a problem simon realizes his sin if we see it we just read it right there
[13:03] simply says depart from me for him for i’m a sinful man he doesn’t mean jesus jump out of the boat [13:10] he’s basically saying i know i’m unclean have mercy on me i’m a sinner i don’t belong here [13:17] and we all have to come to that realization that all that we don’t belong with god [13:23] yet he’s made a way for us to know him to receive him to know him as father
[13:30] all right and so that that really is the case of the gospel another part of the scripture where [13:37] we see this power and authority demonstrated uh and actually made clear is the great commission [13:42] we must understand the great commission and so let’s read a portion of it here in matthew 28
[13:51] follow along here in verse 28 says and jesus came to them this is after he’s ascended after he’s [13:56] or after he’s risen he’s getting ready to ascend into heaven he says all authority in heaven and [14:01] on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in [14:08] name of the father and the son and of the holy spirit teaching them to observe all that i have [14:15] commanded you and behold i am with you always to the end of the age all right so jesus’s foundation [14:24] for giving this command is that he has authority over everything just like he had authority in the
[14:30] boat over the fish he has authority over everything in the universe and because he has authority we [14:36] need to listen to him and because he has authority over everything and he will catch fish in a sense [14:41] translate he will catch men he will make people uh he will save people he will make people his own
[14:52] do do what he says do what he says and that’s that’s his kind of argument here [14:58] you know him saying i am with you always to the end of the age is that comforting for us [15:04] is that sending you out alone is that saying go do something you can’t do he’s saying i’m with you [15:11] i’m in charge i have authority over everything therefore go therefore go and make disciples [15:17] go to nations around the world but don’t just go to the nations go to places where there are lost [15:22] people you know where those lost people here your neighbors your co-workers your friends
[15:32] by the way it’s a good thing if you have lost friends you know why [15:36] you get to share the gospel with them all right we’ll talk about that later [15:41] if you think about if you have no friends who are lost you’re going to have a difficult time [15:46] following this command what are you going to do save the saved jesus says he didn’t come to save [15:52] the save he says he come to save and seek and save the lost prostitutes came and seek saved lost [16:00] tax collectors people people didn’t want to talk to people that we talk to and interact with
[16:07] on a daily basis and if we don’t we need to he calls us to love people doesn’t say who [16:13] just means everybody
[16:19] point number two this morning from now on your life exists for the mission of jesus [16:28] from now on your life exists for the mission of jesus let’s pick it up in luke 10 or luke 5 [16:35] verse 10 and 11 verse 10 and 11 i’ll start in nine because it makes more sense for he and all [16:43] who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken and so also were [16:50] james and john the sons of zebedee who were partners with simon and jesus said to simon [16:55] do not be afraid from now on you will be catching men and when they had brought
[17:02] their boats to land they left everything and followed him so simon has made this declaration [17:09] he said lord leave me forgive me have mercy on me and now we get jesus’s reaction here’s [17:18] jesus’s reaction it’s kind of twofold here first don’t be afraid don’t be afraid
[17:25] for a sinner sitting in a boat with jesus fear is typically what you’ll have why because you’re [17:33] unholy jesus is holy you’re a sinner jesus is not a sinner and so like i said he makes a way [17:38] for that this is one of comfort jesus would solve that problem of him being in the boat with jesus [17:45] he solves that problem on the cross because i’ll make a way for you to come to know me i’ll make [17:51] a way for for me to come and hold you that’s really what he does the second part of this [17:58] goes along with what i was saying about authority the second part of jesus’s simple statement is a
[18:03] command promise all right a command promise he says this he says from now on you will be catching [18:13] men that’s a command promise so in other words he’s telling peter that he’s going to go catch [18:19] men and he’s telling him that he is going to do it all right you know why because jesus knows [18:26] that he’s going to make him his disciple that simon’s going to come to great faith in jesus [18:31] that he’s going to go and serve jesus with the rest of his life that he’s going to be [18:36] one of the one of the folks the the actually uh disciple is named later on in the gospel
[18:42] that that he will build his church on this isn’t this isn’t skepticism or this isn’t rather [18:49] just lost the word in my mind but this this isn’t like a chance that this is going to happen but [18:54] rather this is this is for sure simon probably doesn’t quite know that much at this moment [19:01] but but he says you will be catching men in other words forget using me to make your fishing empire [19:09] if you’re simon in the boat you’re probably like man
[19:14] my fishing outfit is going to be awesome it’s going to be like bubblegum shrimp like he’s [19:19] going to take over uh he’s going to take over the uh the whole lake and he’s going to own [19:26] the fishing industry there and of course um that would be a sinful thought um he says uh in other [19:35] words you you won’t be fishing no more you will take the good news of the kingdom to the nations [19:39] it will cost you your business it will cost you the security of your home and your job [19:46] from the text accounts and matthew and mark we see that they pretty much
[19:50] up and left uh the gospel mark where uh this story is found also mark has james and john [19:57] leaving the boat with their father still in it i mean this is their father the guy who’s raised [20:03] them the guy who’s brought them up in this industry he’s mentored them he’s brought them [20:16] something awesome to make them do that that’s where we have to get to because that’s what [20:21] jesus is calling us to do he says there’s no mention of anything um they’re just out there’s [20:28] no contingency plans no prayer time no listening to what their father has to say no advice from
[20:34] other folks they just go they’ve seen it and they’re going uh their lives are no longer about [20:40] catching fish but rather will be about catching men
[20:48] number two under this this really gets us to a place where
[20:53] we have to consider what the gospel has done in our life and i think an easy way to do this [20:58] especially in this context and what we see in the text is that uh you know our life is to be [21:04] repurposed the question that we need to ask ourselves is what is the purpose or what is [21:08] the mission of your life what is the goal of your life if there’s one goal of your life [21:14] what is it what is it what’s driving you what are all your other goals falling under [21:22] what’s your what’s your outlook for your goal what do you want it to say
[21:25] on your tombstone when the time’s up how are you going to be remembered
[21:32] and so that’s really what i want to ask us um that’s a big question [21:38] you know what jesus’s answer to that question is so you can save the lost that’s it that’s your [21:45] mission you belong to me now you’re mine i’m going to give you the great joy because i’ve given you [21:54] joy in myself i’m going to give you the great joy of taking this message to those who don’t have it [22:01] friends there’s nothing more joyful than doing that you shouldn’t desire anything else other than [22:07] to to to help people come to know christ to lead people to jesus that’s where joy is
[22:14] that’s the only thing that will matter when it goes down in the end is did you do that everything [22:19] else will be burned up won’t matter and so we have to we have to take this seriously [22:28] all right and and i think an easy way to do this is is not only to look at peter but let’s look at [22:33] let’s look at the apostle paul so if paul was sitting up here uh you know looking old and [22:39] decrepit and beaten and scarred if he if we could get him up here on the stage and i could interview [22:44] him and say you know hey paul you’re kind of an ugly guy um what’s up man i wouldn’t wouldn’t say
[22:53] that paul uh paul what what i would ask paul is hey paul what was the mission of your life how [22:58] you see yourself was the goal of your life and was it worth it did it pan out was it everything [23:05] that you thought you would be or thought it would be would you go back and do anything different [23:11] that’s a that’s the question we have to ask and i think paul answers this question in first [23:15] corinthians 9 22 to 23 so let’s go there real quick it’ll be on the screen
[23:35] so [23:35] before i talk about this i must go on right down a little bit farther down on the page first [23:44] corinthians 10 31 to 11 verse 1 so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the [23:52] glory of god give no offense to jews or to the greeks or to the church of god just as i try to [23:58] please everyone and everything i do not seeking my own advantage but that of many that they may be [24:07] be imitators of me as i am imitators of christ and so some sometimes i think when we look at these
[24:15] stories we see them there’s about the disciples well jesus really wouldn’t call me to do that [24:20] or he really wouldn’t call anyone today to be like that that was for the apostles in that age [24:26] here we have in in the word of god which is god speaking to us here’s what he says he says be [24:31] imitators of me is i am imitator of christ
[24:38] this is for us guys this is for all of us your life exists for the mission of jesus
[24:47] all right and so i just want to pull a couple things out of that text that text is [24:52] loaded with stuff our goal in all our relationships is for the sake of the gospel [24:58] and so for the glory of god and therefore the advance of the kingdom and therefore that people [25:03] save how does god get glory how do you do everything to the glory of god the the the [25:09] easiest way to do that is that people get saved you know what happens when people get saved [25:13] god gets glory you know why he saves them he saves them and you get the opportunity to partake in
[25:28] that’s what should be guiding our life that’s the goal of our life everything else you do needs to [25:33] fall under that goal just some kind of more practical things to think about under this [25:44] thing is is you need to be using what what god’s made you what god’s given you the places that [25:50] he’s put you in you need to be using those things to really seek the benefit of others to seek the [25:57] advantage of others that statement seek the advantage of others you get to seek the advantage [26:03] of others it should be to others advantages that you are in relationship with them simply
[26:10] because you know the gospel simply because you know the truth about life simply because they’re [26:16] living if they’re not in christ if they’re not following christ they’re living under a completely [26:22] wrong worldview they’re probably living the american dream they’re they’re they have a [26:27] complete wrong idea about life as you did one time as i did one time and so it is to whoever’s [26:38] great advantage if you are their friend if you’re loving them if you’re seeking to share the truth [26:45] of Jesus to share the good news of Jesus you’re as a doctor is to the patient all right so if we’re
[26:53] all sick in here you know who we’re all running to the doctor one who can help us guess what in a way [27:01] we’re all doctors we have the remedy what what is the what is the remedy for sin the gospel [27:08] that’s the remedy that that’s what everybody needs we have that we must share it we must [27:16] seek the advantage of others you know what happens when you seek the advantage of others [27:20] you’re not seeking the advantage of yourself and so really if we just think about the greatest [27:26] command love the lord your god with all your heart mind and soul love your neighbor now let’s
[27:32] combine that with the great commission make him a disciple that’s it that’s all it is love the lord [27:39] your god with all your heart mind and soul you know what will happen if you do that you’ll love [27:43] other people you know what will happen if you do that you share the gospel with them that’s it [27:50] that’s what we’re about that’s what we’re doing that’s what we need to be doing if we’re not doing [27:55] that we haven’t let go of something see talked about that last week we have to surrender in order [28:02] to embark on this mission it’s going to cost you the things that you’re putting your time into
[28:07] it’s going to cost you that but it’ll be worth it in the end
[28:13] it’ll be worth it in a minute too because it’s better another practical means for this is [28:19] is is living this this life of mission orienting our life around the mission of god church planning [28:25] church planning some people say that the the the the best way to evangelize to the culture is to [28:31] plant a church people still give churches shot in our culture very much so that’s what we do at [28:39] village we are on mission as we are at church so we’re on mission this morning i mean we got [28:47] welcoming teams we got people we got everybody here who is investing in the mission to seek
[28:52] and save the lost we hope that lost people are here we want lost people here we’re breaking down [28:58] every barrier to get them here how are they going to get here well we got cards we got mailers [29:07] we got signage you guys seen the signs out front can’t miss them we got those things those things [29:14] are all great those things are all awesome we’re leveraging our resources to draw people in but [29:21] the biggest way that we’re going to get people in is if we tell people to come that that is the [29:26] number one way to get people to come to church and hear the gospel and have their life saved
[29:31] and changed for the better always for the better and so we need to leverage our life for that
[29:40] so think about how you’re viewing church it would be our prayer that you would view church as a time [29:47] for you to be on mission that you’re not just coming here to consume but rather you’re coming [29:53] here on mission with jesus to seek and save the lost that you’re bringing your friends [29:59] that your friends are they get here and they’re like oh this isn’t too bad [30:04] you don’t have to dress up there’s cool people here whatever some cool people here
[30:11] just kidding
[30:14] but but that’s our that’s our goal and so so think about that what how are you seeing church [30:20] um lastly there just on that point uh we have to we have to know that some people are going to [30:28] be called if if if the lord is working in your heart to to say hey i want more of your life [30:35] you’d be willing to listen to them so that that’s happening in this church i mean when i came to [30:42] this church i had no ambitions of preaching no ambitions of church planning no ambitions of [30:48] living the mission of jesus i just thought it was a cool church in the beginning i was confused by
[30:53] it at least and gave it a chance some of you will be asked to make great sacrifice for the [31:00] mission of jesus regardless all of us are called to live the mission of jesus whether you’re [31:08] at your job or at your kid’s game or um at the gym or wherever it may be your own mission for [31:15] jesus that’s the primary focus and purpose of your life all right and don’t run from it it’s [31:23] great i think of one person in here who uh was kind of struggling with jesus and man jesus has [31:28] got a hold of her heart and she’s given up the next two years of her life and she’s gone to
[31:33] another country to to to seek and save the lost that’s awesome that’s awesome and we we want to [31:42] support her in that but we also want to send more we want to plant more churches you know why [31:47] because we believe that jesus wants to seek and save the lost that’s how we’re going to do it [31:51] it’s one way how we’re going to do it lastly this morning be fishers of men for the mission of god [31:56] will not fail it will not fail how could it fail can god fail no if god’s mission is to seek and [32:05] why not invest in that it’s something that can’t fail so we need to invest in that
[32:13] let’s look at axe real quick axe chapter 2 verse 37 this is going to show that what jesus said to [32:19] peter would come true that peter trusted it and here’s what happened it says now when they heard [32:27] this they were cut to the heart and said to peter and the rest of the apostles brothers what shall [32:32] we do peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for [32:39] the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit for the promise is [32:45] for you and for your children and for all who were far off everyone whom the lord our god calls to
[32:51] himself with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort him saying save yourselves [32:58] from this crooked generation so those who received his word were baptized and were added [33:05] that day about 3000 souls that’s a man fisher all right that’s somebody who trusted jesus and in [33:14] response to the authority and in response to the grace that was shown him he went out and preached [33:19] basically that you killed jesus and people repented and got saved all right that’s what [33:26] happened there you know why god wanted it to happen you know why it also happened
[33:31] jesus obeyed or jesus obeyed peter obeyed went and did it fish for men
[33:39] one more text here
[33:43] and then we’ll be done this is basically paul talking about how people get saved and i just [33:48] want to end on this it’s romans 10 14 to 15 so how do people get saved in case it [33:54] is is is not known here here’s what paul says how then will they call on him in whom they have not [34:02] believed and how are they to believe in him of whom they have not heard and how are they [34:08] to hear without somebody preaching and how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is [34:14] written how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news so the question is do you
[34:21] think your feet are beautiful are you preaching the good news to your friends do you see yourself [34:28] as somebody who is of great benefit to them do you know that they won’t come to jesus unless [34:39] they hear the gospel do you know that you’re probably the best hope for them coming to know
[35:07] you’re not sure that i ever got there i’m not sure that i ever [35:12] ever just preached it to him straight said dude you need jesus [35:15] [35:15] [35:17] i don’t know if that i ever did that that clearly i don’t know if he was saved or not probably not
[35:25] but that’s tragic
[35:29] and so the question we have to ask ourselves is are we doing this or are we content to live [35:37] with wonder are we content to live hoping that somebody else is going to save somebody else or [35:43] somebody else is going to share the gospel with somebody else that’s you that’s us that’s what [35:49] we’re here for you’re the best chance absolutely that’s what god has laid out for you to do [35:57] and we need to believe that you know why because jesus seeks and saves the lost [36:03] he believed that people are going to be saved he believed that god wants to save you ought to
[36:07] he saved you saved me i’m not going out to preach the gospel because i think i can preach [36:14] it well and people are going to listen to it because it’s me i’m going because i believe that [36:20] god wants to save people i believe that he will save people so that’s what carries that’s what [36:26] carries me into an awkward conversation you know what and if it ends awkwardly if it ends poorly [36:35] you did what you were supposed to do you were obedient to the gospel you were obedient to jesus [36:40] you fish for men will everybody be caught no maybe later you don’t know so you need to
[36:47] we need to take this seriously
[36:54] lastly here this morning i think we just want to we just want to understand that evangelism is [37:00] for everybody if we look at the last text i know i said already the last text i just want to put [37:06] this back up here to make it make us know the the severity of this let’s just look at matthew 10 [37:11] 32 33 in the context this is when jesus was sending out some of the disciples sending them out and he [37:18] says basically that that he’s sending them out knowing that some people aren’t going to like it [37:23] that they’re going to be reviled just like jesus jesus was reviled and here’s what he says he says
[37:29] so everyone who acknowledges me before men i also will acknowledge before my father who is in heaven [37:35] but whoever denies me before men i will also deny before my father who is in heaven [37:43] so i mean we can get kind of sheepish and think about what denial is and really when it comes [37:48] down to it denial is just simply not sharing the gospel silence is called denial
[37:55] all right and i know we’re all guilty of that and i know there’s grace for it i also know that [38:02] if we never do it what does it say about our faith do we have faith do you believe that god [38:10] saved you do you believe that it’ll save other people if you don’t you might want to seek jesus [38:18] and so i want i want us to take this seriously i want you guys in your in your village groups [38:23] this week to talk about evangelism i don’t have time to uh to to unpack different strategies in [38:29] evangel in evangelism i do know this it’s not that it’s not that we ever rest on our ability
[38:36] we rest on the fact that jesus wants to seek and save the loss and that he will at the least you [38:42] know your testimony at the least you know the gospel if you don’t let’s study it let’s learn it [38:49] learn how to talk to people let’s challenge people let’s not fall for the cultural norm [38:54] of not talking about anything important let’s not be a slave to that mentality understand that [39:01] that’s affected each and every one of you just like it’s affected me it’s made me think that [39:06] it’s wrong to talk about faith that’s crazy you know show up before the throne and be like
[39:13] uh jesus i thought that i couldn’t talk about you i’m not gonna do that i want to go before [39:20] the throne like paul like peter like guys who laid out their life for the gospel they put [39:25] everything into it they sought and saved the loss with everything that they had they’re not [39:32] regretting that move they’re not thinking about what they missed in fishing they’re not thinking [39:37] about what they missed and whatever we’re doing thinking about man i gave it everything i saw the [39:43] glory of god i saw jesus’ work in the lives of people i lived a joyful life and my reward is a
[39:49] hundredfold now as i’m in the presence of the lord and savior jesus christ so as we end this [39:57] morning with communion i want us to reflect on what jesus does what has jesus done jesus has [40:07] saved us in the cross and so i want us to reflect on that let’s reflect on the work that he’s done [40:12] in the cross the work that that he came to make a way for us he says remember that you know why [40:21] it’s important to remember that because we we really do remember that he poured out everything [40:26] for us his authority over us we owe him our lives and we joyfully hand our lives over to him so
[40:33] reflect on what jesus has done for you that his body was broken that it had to be broken so yours [40:41] won’t be broken understand that the blood paid for all the sins that we’ve committed reflect on [40:51] that consider what jesus wants to do in your life consider what you need to leave what you need to [40:59] pursue let’s partake in the table