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Hello and welcome to the Church 
Newtown Square podcast. 

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If we can serve you in any way 
or if you'd like to learn more 

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about our church family or the 
X-29 network, please visit us at

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church nsq.org. 
That's CHVRCHNS q.org, and now 

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let's listen in to today's 
teaching. 

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Back in 2015, my wife and I went
on the only cruise we've ever 

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been on. 
It was a cruise in the 

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Mediterranean, seven days out of
Athens, Greece, and we up in 

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Istanbul, Turkey. 
It was amazing. 

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The ports of call were amazing. 
We went to Ephesus, Santorini, 

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Mykonos. 
It was amazing. 

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And we dream at someday we're 
going to go on a river cruise in

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Europe. 
That's sort of our my wife 

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doesn't allow me to call it a 
bucket list. 

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It's a bouquet list bucket 
sounds too like morbid for her. 

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So our bouquet list a cruise on 
a cruise ship is all about the 

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comfort of the people on board. 
It really is. 

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By the way, if you go, make sure
you get a balcony room, OK, Just

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the recommendations. 
It's about the comfort of the 

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people on a boat. 
Now keep that in mind. 

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Cruise ship comfort of the 
people that the the passengers. 

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OK, now I want to talk about 
another kind of boat. 

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My mom was born and brought up 
in New London, CT where there's 

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this big industry called the 
electric boat where they make a 

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lot of like submarines and 
things. 

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But also it's the home of the US
Coast Guard Academy and the 

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Coast Guard has in their fleet 
of boats these things called 

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Coast Guard cutters. 
Now they can arrange from 

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anywhere from 45 feet long to 4 
or 65 feet long to 400 feet 

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long. 
There are different size 

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vessels. 
Those vessels have food, they 

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have a, they have a mess hall, a
kitchen, they have places for 

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the crew to sleep. 
They have a, a medical unit. 

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But those boats aren't designed 
for the comfort of the 

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passenger. 
They're designed because often 

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one of the missions of the Coast
Guard is to search and rescue 

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those who are in trouble. 
Let me use those two analogies 

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of two boats to say, often it's 
easy for us as Christians to 

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look at the church as a cruise 
ship and it's about our comfort 

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on our journey to paradise when 
in reality, with a lot of the 

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same systems and structures, we 
really are meant to be a Coast 

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Guard. 
Carter, that exists because 

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there are people who need 
rescuing and once they're 

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rescued, they can then be 
trained to be crew members. 

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I'll keep those two word 
pictures in mind and think about

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the tension that creates because
the priority of the mission of 

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God demands that his people on 
this mission have a posture 

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towards the mission. 
And so I want to talk about the 

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mission of God and church 
planting. 

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Jesus had this nagging habit of 
hanging out with sinners. 

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This this story we just read is 
not the only time you go to Luke

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chapter 19. 
The same thing happens. 

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And what does he get? 
He gets guys who are very 

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religious, who are in their 
comfortable religious setting 

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going, you're messing with our 
boat. 

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You like, you put yourself on a 
cruise ship and let's just say 

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someone is a, a, a boat is 
sinking and, and the cruise 

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ship's captain, I don't know if 
this is even possible, but they 

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divert their cruise ship to 
rescue people who are drowning. 

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Now, if that happened once, you,
you kind of go, oh, you can 

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actually tell the story, you 
know, Oh, our cruise, we, you 

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know, we, we rescued somebody. 
But if the captain decided, you 

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know what, we're not going to 
stop at the ports of call. 

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We are going to now just sail 
the Atlantic or Pacific or the 

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Mediterranean and look for those
who are lost. 

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The people on board might get a 
little upset. 

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And that's what the scribes and 
Pharisees were. 

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Jesus was messing with them 
because he cared about sinners 

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and in this case tax collectors,
which were were very wealthy 

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elite who were oppressive to the
poor. 

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Jesus said I came into the world
to save sinners. 

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Now this text, Luke chapter 15 
is the only time I think is I 

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think in all of the teachings of
Jesus where there are Jesus 

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tells three stories back-to-back
to to emphasize the same point. 

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And I think the reason this Luke
15 is so significant is because 

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it it keeps before us the 
mission of God and the rescuing 

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of the lost. 
And so we've already read that, 

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that first parable, the lost 
sheep. 

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And in a minute we'll read about
a lost coin and it ends with a 

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lost son. 
But the priority of our 

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existence is not primarily our 
comfort. 

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We will be comforted forever. 
There's a day coming. 

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There's a rest for the people of
God. 

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Every tear, sadness, every 
brokenness, every pain, will we 

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be wiped away. 
Our hearts cannot begin to 

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imagine the kind of joy and 
peace of heaven right now. 

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God has a mission and his His 
mission has a church. 

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And our job is to take a posture
that inclines us towards the 

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messiness of the brokenness of 
people around us. 

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And one of the outcomes of that 
will be not just more people 

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coming to Jesus, but more 
churches being started where 

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there are needs for outposts of 
the gospel. 

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So let's start start by looking 
at this first, this first 

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parable and think about this, 
the priority of the mission. 

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If you had 99 sheep and you lost
one, you might not think that's 

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a priority of we work with the 
Acts 29 church planter. 

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By the way, great video. 
And and Chris they, they 

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actually just in January, they 
finally after 10 years were able

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to move to a Sunday morning. 
They had an old Presbyterian 

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Church that was declining and 
approached them about merging 

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and they went through like an 18
month process. 

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And now they meet in this 
beautiful stone church with 

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stained glass windows on Sunday 
morning. 

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But every fall, his church takes
a group over to Uganda to do 

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that Pastors conference. 
They'll have 100 pastors being 

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trained. 
And if you want to go call 

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Chris, he's a great guy. 
Actually be in town for the 

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prayer thing tomorrow and 
Tuesday. 

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This priority of the mission is 
because something vulnerable 

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needs rescuing. 
Jesus is getting critiqued 

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because he's hanging out with 
sinners and tactically electors 

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people far from God. 
Friends, you and I are called to

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be witnesses of Christ saving 
work in our lives and we either 

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have the opportunity to be on 
board with God's mission or 

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complain because it's messy and 
uncomfortable. 

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I mentioned Luke chapter 19. 
Jesus was going through a town 

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and healing people and there was
another tax collector. 

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I don't know why all these tax 
collectors, I mean, they were 

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the wealthiest guys in town. 
They seem to be attracted to 

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Jesus, Zacchaeus and and these 
guys here in chapter 15, but 

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Zacchaeus was one of these guys 
where again, he wanted to see 

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Jesus. 
Jesus came after him. 

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Jesus said I'm coming to your 
house and the same thing 

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happened. 
The complaint about Jesus 

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hanging out with a Sinner. 
Now let's back up for a moment 

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and just think for a moment. 
If Jesus primary purpose is to 

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save sinners, everything else 
matters like our sanctification.

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If you're new to Christianity, 
following Jesus is a is not just

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you're in and done. 
You're in and begin. 

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It's this journey of following 
Jesus and every stage of life. 

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I'm in the last quarter of life 
and, and, and there are new 

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challenges, new sins to fight. 
Like it's it's a whole, whole 

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new ball game for me. 
I'm almost 63 And like that, you

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know, as you get older, we can 
get cynical, we can get envious.

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Like I wish I was young again. 
We can get cynical like that, 

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generate these young people just
so dumb. 

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We just be. 
We could be, we could be like 

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dark thoughts spin around in 
there. 

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Or we can check out. 
We we go like I put in my time 

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with Jesus. 
I'm just not going to go play 

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pickleball or something. 
There is an urgency to the 

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priority of the mission because 
something vulnerable is in need 

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of rescuing and something 
valuable has been lost. 

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This leads us to that second, 
second parable. 

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Let me read it verses 8 through 
10. 

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So Jesus is telling. 
Remember this is the only time 

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he's ever done this three 
stories to get at one point he 

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says or what woman who has 10 
silver coins, if she loses one 

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coin does not light a lamp, 
sweep the house and search 

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carefully until she finds it. 
When she finds it, she calls her

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friends and neighbors together 
saying, rejoice with me because 

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I have found the silver coin. 
I lost this in this day. 

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This was about one day's wages, 
but it's still valuable, right? 

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It's, it's the reason Jesus 
tells the story is I think first

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of all, because of the, there's 
a value to like, let's just say 

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you make 25 bucks an hour. 
That's about $200 a day. 

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I think I, maybe, I don't know, 
I'm terrible with math, but 

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let's just say you just lost 200
bucks. 

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I mean, and, and you know, it's 
somewhere in the house, you're 

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going to look for it, unless 
you're so stupid wealthy that I,

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I, I don't know, I don't 
understand that. 

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But like 200 bucks is something,
it's valuable. 

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And so you, you, you focus on 
trying to find it. 

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Jesus tells this story because 
he wants us to know how valuable

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people are. 
We're all called to this thing 

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called the mission. 
Now there are some gifted 

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evangelists, Billy Graham, 
you've heard that name, perhaps 

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the great evangelist of, of the 
last generation, my dad who 

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passed away in 2011. 
He was a one-on-one evangelist. 

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He he was a pastor and he, he 
just had, he was in World War 2 

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and he just had this came out of
the war and came to Christ and 

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just had this unflappable way 
about him. 

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Like he could talk to anybody. 
He, he used to like to golf the 

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local golf course and let the 
local pastors play. 3 This is in

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rural New Hampshire and and he 
would go and try to find people 

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he could play with and just 
start talking about Jesus in the

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most unassuming and confident 
way. 

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I'm not like that. 
I have to do the work of 

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evangelist, but all of us are 
called E Jesus said of you, you 

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are my witnesses. 
You say, what do I witness about

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two good illustrations? 
The woman at the well, if you 

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don't know that story, she was 
not the nicest lady in town. 

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She's been married five times. 
Number six, she went out to the 

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well at noon when nobody else 
was around because nobody liked 

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her. 
But Jesus meets her. 

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Not only does she come to Jesus,
but she goes back into town and 

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says, you've got to come meet 
this guy who told me everything 

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I've ever did. 
They said there's more. 

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We want to know more. 
No, they came out because this 

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woman had been transformed. 
And it says that after meeting 

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Jesus said we don't believe just
because of what you told us, but

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because we heard the words of 
Jesus. 

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The part of it is just telling 
your story. 

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There's another crazy guy. 
He had been possessed by demons.

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Jesus delivers them from him, 
from demons. 

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He'd been so crazy. 
He was living out in the in, in 

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a grave, graveyards, yards. 
And he comes to Jesus. 

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His mind is restored and he, he,
he, he asks Jesus if he could 

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get in the boat with Jesus and 
follow Jesus. 

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And Jesus tells us demoniac 
who's never been to Sunday 

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school, never had a theology 
class, but has only been 

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transformed by Jesus. 
Go back into your towns and 

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villages and tell them what God 
has done for you. 

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All of us. 
If you're in Jesus, you have a 

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story. 
I came to Jesus when I was a 

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little boy. 
I remember the day, I don't know

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what the Sunday school teacher 
did. 

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I said I, I think it was a 
Sunday, but I came home with 

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this weight of sin on my little 
heart. 

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I mean literally I was like 4 
years old and all I knew is I 

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need, I didn't understand the 
incarnation of Christ. 

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I didn't understand the Trinity,
although I still don't 

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understand the Trinity. 
Like I didn't, I didn't believe 

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in the inerrancy of Scripture. 
I didn't know what that was. 

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All I knew is I had weight 
inside of me as a little guy and

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I needed Jesus, who I didn't 
understand fully to come in and 

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lift that weight. 
I found my dad sitting in the 

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rocking chair. 
You know, I think he was sitting

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upstairs in his bedroom 
preparing for the Sunday night 

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service. 
I think that was what how it 

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happened. 
But he got, I still remember 

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sitting on his knee and I don't 
know what I said. 

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All I knew is I said Jesus come 
in and it was like the weight 

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lift and the light came on. 
How does God come to little boys

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in rural New Hampshire? 
That is a mirror. 

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Like we all have a story. 
If you're in Christ, you have a 

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story and your job is to tell 
the story because there are 

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people like that are valuable to
God. 

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It takes effort. 
It means we have to say no to 

230
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some of the things we'd rather 
do. 

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Our elders meet and we ask 
ourselves 4 questions every time

232
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we meet. 
I'm the old elder, the other 

233
00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:22,560
guys are out in their 30s and 
40s, but we ask what's a 

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00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:25,080
blessing you're enjoying? 
What's a burden you're bearing? 

235
00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:27,800
What's a sin you need to bring 
to light and who you're trying 

236
00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:32,200
to bring to Jesus because we 
feel like it's essential for us 

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00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,440
to hold ourselves accountable to
all those things. 

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But the bringing to Jesus part 
is because church life can take 

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00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:44,600
all of our time. 2010, 2009, my 
wife and I joined a book club. 

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00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:46,000
In fact, we just met on Friday 
night. 

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00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,160
And these are just the lostest 
people, most of them, and we 

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00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:51,040
fall in love with them. 
We read some of the craziest 

243
00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,040
books. 
Just read 1 about cannibalism. 

244
00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,840
It's great. 
Stephen King's Holly horrible, 

245
00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:02,520
fantastic and and part of my 
job, and I believe it to be the 

246
00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:05,920
case is and now they ask, like 
Dave, where do you see God in 

247
00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:08,160
this? 
That was a hard one. 

248
00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:10,920
I said, well, I go to church 
every week and we say that Jesus

249
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gave body and blood for us. 
So that's about as close as I 

250
00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:17,480
can get. 
But we joined that group because

251
00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,680
as uncomfortable as it 
originally was, we need to be 

252
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around people who need to hear 
our story. 

253
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And you know what happens in 
heaven? 

254
00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:32,640
We, we, there was one of the 
songs we sang here, the hosts of

255
00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:34,520
heaven. 
We can't see the angels, but 

256
00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:35,880
someday we'll be hanging with 
them. 

257
00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:46,280
Like heaven is filled with joy 
when one more person discovers 

258
00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:49,040
the love and grace and 
forgiveness of Jesus. 

259
00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:52,720
And you and I get to contribute 
to the noise of heaven. 

260
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The mission of God demands 
prior. 

261
00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,320
If you're taking notes, we're 
talking about priority people. 

262
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,760
By the way, the story here is 
just like he, he tells 222 

263
00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,480
parables so far and 1, he says, 
if any of you, so he just said, 

264
00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,440
he says to all the people 
listening, any of you who have 

265
00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:18,600
sheep. 
And then he brings the woman 

266
00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:23,160
into it and he's empowering the 
women in the room saying, 

267
00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,160
listen, just like you search for
coins, you can search for 

268
00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:29,280
people. 
I love how Jesus empowers women.

269
00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:34,120
Like the first woman to ever 
declare that God's Son has come 

270
00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:40,240
into flesh was Mary and her song
Magnificent first human voice to

271
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:44,760
declare that Christ is 
resurrected is Mary Magdalene, a

272
00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:48,200
woman who had demons in her 
before Jesus she met Jesus. 

273
00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,440
This is love. 
The way these stories empower us

274
00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:55,000
all regular people to be on 
mission. 

275
00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:00,960
Well, then there's this last 
story, the longest story. 

276
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,560
This is you can hear it coming. 
I would raise Baptist those 

277
00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:07,560
three PS right. 
The priority, the people and the

278
00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:11,400
posture of the mission. 
The posture like how what's our 

279
00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:17,440
heart towards this? 
I'm going to read it as long but

280
00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:22,400
hear hear it out And Jesus said 
a man had two sons, verse 12. 

281
00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:27,640
The younger of them said to his 
father, father, give me the the 

282
00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,560
share of the estate I have, I 
have coming to me. 

283
00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:34,280
And so he distributed the assets
to them. 

284
00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:38,880
Not many days later, the younger
son gathered together all he had

285
00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:42,160
and traveled to a distant 
country where he squandered his 

286
00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:46,320
estate in foolish living. 
Some of us had kids like that. 

287
00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:51,640
After he had spent everything, a
severe famine struck that 

288
00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:55,000
country and he had nothing. 
And then he went to work for one

289
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,400
of the citizens of that country,
who sent him into the fields to 

290
00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:01,800
feed pigs. 
He longed to eat his fill from 

291
00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,240
the pods that the pigs were 
eating, but no one would give 

292
00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,960
him anything. 
When he came to his senses, he 

293
00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:13,840
said, how many of my father's 
hired workers have more than 

294
00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:16,960
enough food? 
And here I am dying of hungry. 

295
00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,080
I'll get up. 
I'll go to my father and say to 

296
00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,880
him, Father, I have sinned 
against heaven, and in your 

297
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,560
sight I'm no longer worthy to 
call your son. 

298
00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:29,840
Make me like one of your hired 
workers. 

299
00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:32,720
And so he got up and went to his
father. 

300
00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:36,160
But while the son was still a 
long way off, his father saw him

301
00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:40,560
and was filled with compassion. 
He ran and threw his arms around

302
00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:44,480
his neck and kissed him. 
The son said to him, Father, I 

303
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:47,680
sinned against heaven, and in 
your sight I'm no longer worthy 

304
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:52,200
to call your son. 
But the father told his servant,

305
00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,720
Quick, bring out the best robe 
and put it on him, put a ring on

306
00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:00,440
his finger and and sandals on 
his feet, and then bring the 

307
00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:05,200
fatted calf and slaughter it. 
And let's celebrate with a 

308
00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,920
feast. 
Because the son of mine was dead

309
00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,720
and is alive again. 
He was lost and is found. 

310
00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:16,080
And so they began to celebrate. 
And the story could stop there. 

311
00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:21,520
But it doesn't because we get a 
picture of the older brother 

312
00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:25,560
who's on a cruise ship. 
How? 

313
00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:31,080
Now his older son was in the 
field and as he came near the 

314
00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:33,760
house, he heard music and 
dancing. 

315
00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,080
And so he assumed that he 
summoned one of the servants, 

316
00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,120
questioning what what, what 
these things meant. 

317
00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:42,800
Your brother is here. 
He he told him. 

318
00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:47,600
And your father has slaughtered 
the fattened calf because he has

319
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:51,800
some back safe and sound. 
Then he became this is a The 

320
00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:55,680
older brother became angry and 
didn't want to go in, so his 

321
00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:59,040
father came out pleaded with 
him, but he replied to his 

322
00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:02,320
father. 
Look, I have been saving a 

323
00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:07,080
slaving many years for you and I
have never disobeyed your 

324
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:10,120
orders. 
Yet you never gave me a goat so 

325
00:20:10,120 --> 00:20:12,320
that I could celebrate with my 
friends. 

326
00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:17,920
But when this son of yours came.
Who has devoured your assets 

327
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,960
with prostitutes? 
Who slaughtered the fattened 

328
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:28,000
calf for him, his son? 
He said to him, You've always 

329
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:30,440
been with me and everything I 
have is yours. 

330
00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:34,360
But we have to celebrate and 
rejoice because this brother of 

331
00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:38,480
yours was dead and is alive. 
He was lost and is found. 

332
00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:44,280
Listen, the posture towards the 
mission is there's a lot of 

333
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,320
broken, hurting, messing people 
out there. 

334
00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,120
And if we focus on them, it's 
it. 

335
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:55,160
It is what the Father does and 
it's we. 

336
00:20:55,240 --> 00:21:00,400
There's no loss for us. 
But it does make life messy and 

337
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:02,040
it does mean we're not on a 
cruise ship. 

338
00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:06,240
It's not about our comfort. 
It's about the rescuing of those

339
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:11,640
who are dying. 
This posture of the heart, I 

340
00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:13,520
think the reason Jesus tells the
story. 

341
00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,760
If you haven't read Tim Keller's
book, The Prodigal God, it's a 

342
00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:22,600
great deep dive into the story. 
Listen, it's easy for any of us 

343
00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:24,480
to look down our nose at 
sinners. 

344
00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:28,120
It's easy for us. 
We've got our life a little 

345
00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:31,760
Better Together and we're paying
our taxes and you know, there's 

346
00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:34,600
some semblance of order in life 
because Jesus has come in. 

347
00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:39,320
It's easy for us to think, well,
missionaries need to do the 

348
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:43,360
mission, or we can outsource it 
to an occasion like Vacation 

349
00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:45,280
Bible School. 
Nothing wrong with missionaries 

350
00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:50,480
and vacation Bible school, but 
if you're on this boat, you are 

351
00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:56,160
a crew member and consider the 
Father's heart. 

352
00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:00,400
He wants to fill the home with 
those who were lost. 

353
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:06,040
This older son had become so 
fixated on his comfort, he got a

354
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:09,320
little cranky because he's slave
for his dad. 

355
00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:14,320
That's what it felt like. 
He he, he didn't see the 

356
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:16,800
Father's blessing. 
In fact, he he pointed the 

357
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,720
father finger at his father and 
said you never gave me a fatted 

358
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:24,680
goat. 
He, he missed the whole heart of

359
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,720
God and the mission costs us and
that's our posture. 

360
00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:34,760
So in New Hampshire there are 
231 towns and we have discovered

361
00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,840
somewhere around 2015, one of 
the larger churches in New 

362
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:41,200
Hampshire did a study of all the
towns we discovered there are 60

363
00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:45,640
towns in New Hampshire that have
no identifiable evangelical 

364
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:51,320
witness. 60 towns. 
So in 2016 and 17 we started 

365
00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,920
2017 we started praying for 
three towns that we have people 

366
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:58,560
traveling into Concord from that
had no, that we could not 

367
00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:02,040
identify an evangelical 
gathering. 1 was Northfield, NH,

368
00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:04,080
1 was Dunbart, New Hampshire and
one was Henniker, New Hampshire.

369
00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:09,000
In 2018 we meet a young couple 
from Bethlehem Seminary. 

370
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,000
They're from he's from 
Massachusetts and he had another

371
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:11,840
buddy. 
They wanted to come to 

372
00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,400
Massachusetts to plant a church,
but they we had lunch together 

373
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,600
and somehow we tell me the story
of the 60 towns. 

374
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:19,840
The Holy Spirit used that to 
convict them that maybe they 

375
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,920
need to consider New Hampshire. 
So 2019 they brought their 

376
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,560
family out and they convinced 
that they would be graduating 

377
00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:28,280
2020, they would move to New 
Hampshire and plant a church. 

378
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:32,400
They travel around several of 
towns and, and when they went 

379
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,560
into Henniker, which is your 
quintessential New England town,

380
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:39,360
I mean, it has a College of 1000
students, 5000 residents, a 

381
00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:41,720
river that flows through it, old
buildings. 

382
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:45,200
It's just beautiful, but no 
identifiable evangelical 

383
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:47,160
witness. 
And they said we're going to 

384
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,160
come to Henniker. 
So in 2020, they moved and 

385
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:53,600
joined our church. 
And with COVID and then trying 

386
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:56,160
to build a core, it took a 
longer than we had hoped. 

387
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,320
And there were some bumps along 
the way. 

388
00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:03,320
But a year ago this month, they 
launched Hope Church Henniker, 

389
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,160
and they've already baptized new
believers. 

390
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,320
In a year, they're running 
around 100 people, which in 

391
00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,880
rural New England is a massive, 
massive blessing. 

392
00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,480
But the hardest thing for us was
sending not just Elliott and his

393
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,400
wife, Olivia and Andrew and his 
wife Lyda and their kids, but we

394
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:24,640
sent three other families. 
And we went from like 120 people

395
00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:26,760
down to like 95 people by 
sending them out. 

396
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,440
We didn't want to do it. 
We got a lot of complaints. 

397
00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:33,120
Ellie was probably the best 
preacher we had. 

398
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:36,560
He was uncomfortable. 
He was messing with our cruise 

399
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:41,400
ship. 
But there are people in Henniker

400
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:46,480
that are lost and they need the 
church to be the Coast Guard. 

401
00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,000
Card of this is we're going with
a lost car. 

402
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:54,960
I, I get to, it's a dream job of
mine. 

403
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:57,840
I my job is with X Twain on the 
North Atlantic, which stretches 

404
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,320
from Maine down to Virginia over
to Pittsburgh, 13 states. 

405
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,040
In the District of Columbia, we 
have 54 churches. 

406
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:07,560
Last year we planted 2, one in 
Manhattan, one in Henniker, New 

407
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:09,640
Hampshire. 
Both, by the way, still need 

408
00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:11,560
support. 
This fall we'll be planting a 

409
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,840
church in St. 
Albans, WV, the Radiant Church. 

410
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,720
Next year we have a guy who 
passes a large, excellent church

411
00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:20,520
out West. 
He's moving back to his home 

412
00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:22,160
state of New Jersey to plant a 
church. 

413
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,760
God is at work. 
And one of the questions I have 

414
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:32,680
for you is, are you looking at 
the church here in Newtown 

415
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:37,080
Square as a cruise ship or Coast
Guard? 

416
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:40,600
There are people that need to be
rescued. 

417
00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,880
It's messy. 
On Easter, we'll be baptizing 

418
00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:46,920
Dan and Liz. 
I just did their wedding on on 

419
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:48,560
Valentine's. 
Yeah. 

420
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,640
Valentine, she started to come 
to church because her brother 

421
00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,480
came to Christ in 2020. 
She started to come to church 

422
00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:57,920
and she and her boyfriend living
together and she comes to Christ

423
00:25:57,920 --> 00:25:59,520
and wants to be baptized. 
But we have this weird 

424
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:03,120
conversation like, you know, 
you're living with Dan and Dan's

425
00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:05,320
not a Christian. 
So I had the privilege, I was 

426
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,160
the elder assigned to meet with 
them and it was so cool. 

427
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:12,080
And Dan was totally, totally 
like open. 

428
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:16,080
And so about a year ago, he 
started attending every week, 

429
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:20,360
got a Bible, got into a 
community group, and about three

430
00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:22,720
months ago, we do communion 
every week. 

431
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:27,280
And not that sermon said, you're
either in Christ or outside of 

432
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:28,640
Christ. 
There's no in between. 

433
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,240
You either without Christ or 
without hope in the world or 

434
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,160
you're in Christ and you have 
hope for your sins and death. 

435
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,200
And Dan at that point says, I 
want to be in Christ. 

436
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,080
He comes to Christ and then we 
have the awkward conversation. 

437
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:43,640
Well, if you're in Christ, you 
can't be sleeping with the girl,

438
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:45,760
You know, like this whole thing.
He says, well, that's, that's 

439
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:47,240
good. 
Can we get married in a couple 

440
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:49,480
weeks? 
That's the we can work that out.

441
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:51,800
They get baptized on Easter. 
It's messy. 

442
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,640
It's been messy. 
That is fantastic. 

443
00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:57,120
I want to end with these 
questions. 

444
00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:04,680
God's mission. 
Let me ask you personally, who 

445
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:08,080
are you trying to rescue 
personally? 

446
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:11,920
Like who in your life are you 
spending time with? 

447
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:16,520
It's probably messy and sharing 
your story and and trying to 

448
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:20,320
answer their questions and 
trying to get them to meet other

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Christians. 
What effort am I giving to the 

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mission? 
That's a good question. 

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And how what is my heart posture
towards sinners? 

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Think of the craziest people in 
your life, and do you have a 

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heart of the father toward them 
or the heart of the older 

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brother toward them? 
And finally, this is a question 

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for the church. 
Where might the church in 

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Newtown Square be called to 
launch a rescue mission? 

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Where might there be a dark spot
around where perhaps in a year 

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or two or three or four, you 
need to send a bunch of people, 

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not just a church planter, but 
like when we used to planted the

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River Grace Church, we had a 
team of, we had a young college 

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graduate who could play the 
pelia guitar. 

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And we moved up from York, PA 
back to Concord to plant. 

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I've been down there for five 
years. 

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And this young college kid had 
been in our young adult 

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ministry. 
And I just said, hey, come spend

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a year with us. 
And he did. 

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00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:27,040
Another young couple was 
supposed to hike the Appalachian

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Trail. 
He busted his knee, couldn't 

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hike it. 
And so they said, we'll come 

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join the church plant. 
We had an accountant who joined 

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the church plant because we 
needed someone to keep accurate 

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00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:38,880
books. 
Lord knows most pastors can and 

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shouldn't. 
We had a young woman who had 

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been in my youth group, my first
church, and she's a elementary 

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00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:47,600
school teacher, and she 
volunteered for a year to run 

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our children's ministry so we 
could have a a vibrant 

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00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,720
children's ministry. 
Perhaps God would call you to be

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00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:59,240
part of a church plant, not as a
church planner, but maybe in a 

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strategic role, maybe just being
a faithful member. 

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00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:04,640
I don't know what God has to do.
That's the beauty of being my 

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00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:06,440
job. 
It's the Holy Spirit's job. 

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00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:15,720
But here friends, this You look 
at church as a cruise ship on 

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00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:20,480
your journey to paradise, or 
Coast Guard cutter on a mission 

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00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:24,480
to rescue people. 
The sermon you've just listened 

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00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,720
to is a presentation of Church 
Newtown Square. 

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00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:31,360
To find out more about our 
church, check out Church 

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00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:38,360
nsq.org. 
That's CHVRCHNS q.org. 

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00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:41,920
You are welcome to copy and 
distribute this sermon to others

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00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,720
as long as you do not do it for 
commercial purposes or alter, 

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00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,800
transform, or build upon this 
talk in any way.