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Good morning everybody. 
It is a good morning. 

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Despite the snow outside, it is 
a good morning. 

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Yesterday was the first time 
that I used a pickaxe in my life

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to shovel all the snow out of my
driveway. 

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Took about an hour and I 
discovered that it was a time 

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for sanctification and holiness.
So in that sense, it is a good 

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morning. 
The snow is good, helping us 

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become more like Jesus. 
If you are new, my name is 

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Somane Megadi. 
I'm one of the pastors here. 

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We are in the book of Matthew, 
and today we're going to be 

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talking about being disciples on
mission with Jesus, being 

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disciples on mission with Jesus.
When Jesus began his ministry 

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back in chapter 4 of Matthew, he
first of all goes to the 

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northern part of Israel, not to 
Jerusalem, but to the northern 

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part of Israel where there were 
a lot of Gentiles, but still 

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part of Israel. 
And these people were living in 

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darkness. 
They were the unreached people, 

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so to speak. 
And then he calls his first 

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disciples Peter, Andrew, James, 
and John. 

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And in Matthew chapter 4, verse 
23, we read Jesus was going 

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throughout Galilee teaching in 
their synagogues and proclaiming

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the gospel of the Kingdom and 
healing every disease and every 

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sickness among the people. 
And that's the pattern that we 

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see in Matthew from that point, 
chapter 5 to Chapter 9, that 

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Jesus is going about healing and
teaching. 

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So chapters 5 to 7, the Sermon 
on the Mount, Jesus interprets, 

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explains the law of God, and 
then he comes down from the 

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mountain and it's healing, 
followed by healing, followed by

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healing one after the other. 
He cleanses A leper. 

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He marvels at the faith of a 
centurion and then heals his 

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paralyzed servants at a 
distance. 

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He heals Peter's mother-in-law 
of a fever. 

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Then many people bring their 
sick ones to him and he heals 

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them. 
He cast out legions of demons 

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and then he raises somebody from
the dead. 

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He is on mission. 
He is indefatigable. 

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He's just moving. 
He's just moving and moving. 

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And then we come to our passage,
Matthew Chapter 9, verse 35 to 

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10, verse 15, if you want to 
follow along, it's on page 764 

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in the Pew Bibles in front of 
you, the ESV, the black Bibles 

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in front of you. 
In that, in that at the 

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beginning of that passage, 
Matthew repeats what he says in 

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Matthew 4, verse 23. 
He says Jesus was going through 

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all the cities and villages, 
teaching in their synagogues and

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proclaiming the gospel of the 
Kingdom and healing every 

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disease and every sickness, 
almost word for word. 

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What he said earlier, it's an 
intentional signal to us to help

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us notice the pattern. 
Jesus has been going to 

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unreached places. 
He's calling people to himself 

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and he's teaching and he's 
healing and he's about to repeat

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the cycle again, but he's doing 
something different this time. 

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He's going to send out 12 
disciples, 12 apostles to the 

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unreached, to the House of 
Israel that is lost, to teach 

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and to heal and to proclaim the 
Kingdom, to do what he's been 

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doing. 
So he's calling his disciples to

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be on mission with him, just as 
he sent them. 

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He has sent us as well, we who 
are surrendered to Jesus Christ 

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and see him as our Lord. 
We are his disciples. 

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And so today we're going to look
at certain things that we need 

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to do that Jesus does in US that
helps us, that help us to be 

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disciples on mission with Jesus.
The first thing is formation. 

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Any disciple on mission with 
Jesus needs to first of all be 

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formed by Jesus. 
So up to up to this point in 

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Matthew, Jesus is doing 
everything. 

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He's teaching, He's preaching, 
he's calling people to himself, 

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he's healing, He's doing all 
these things by himself. 

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And the disciples, they're 
watching, they're learning, 

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they're participating in the 
background. 

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Jesus is forming them by the 
sort of passive presence with 

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him. 
First, he wants them to have 

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compassion on the harassed and 
helpless. 

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Jesus sees the crowd and what he
sees are harassed and helpless 

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people. 
The same crowd that others would

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look at and see sinners that 
they just want nothing to do 

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with. 
The same crowd that others would

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look at and see rabble rousers 
good for nothing except for 

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taxes and tribute. 
Jesus sees harassed and helpless

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people, sheep without a 
shepherd, and he has compassion 

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on them. 
And the disciples are being 

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formed to see the crowd in this 
way, to see that without Jesus, 

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all of us are plagued by 
darkness, by sickness, by 

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disease. 
So ask yourself, is this how you

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see the crowd, the people in 
your own life? 

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I have been in rooms where from 
the mouth of professing 

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Christians I have heard things 
like I wish we would just nuke 

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the Muslims and just get it over
with. 

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I've heard people mistreat 
others that are harassed. 

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I have witnessed atrocities. 
Sometimes I have treated myself.

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I've treated people with 
nuisance or just completely 

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ignored them. 
The person sitting by the side 

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of the road I just they are, 
they are a problem, not an 

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opportunity. 
I need to repent of that. 

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What Jesus sees is a harassed 
and helpless crowd. 

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He wants us to have that 
perspective as well. 

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He wants us to be formed in that
way and to have compassion. 

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For out of that compassion comes
the kind of prayer that then 

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Jesus says for his disciples 
should pray in verse 37. 

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The harvest is plentiful, but 
the laborers are few. 

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Therefore, pray earnestly, 
earnestly to the Lord of the 

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harvest to send out laborers 
into his harvest. 

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A heart of compassion for the 
crowd helps us to pray earnestly

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for God to send out laborers 
into the field. 

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Now here's something 
fascinating. 

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The word that is used in English
for send outs in Greek is the 

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same word that Matthew uses to 
describe when Jesus casts out 

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demons. 
It's a word that implies force, 

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that implies urgency. 
There are simpler, gentler words

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for sending out that Jesus could
have used. 

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He chose this one Ekbalo. 
Like just throw it out there. 

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It's almost like he's like he's 
saying, ask the Father to drive 

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workers into the field to launch
them out like arrows into the 

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harvest. 
When we have compassion on the 

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harassed and the helpless, this 
is how we'll pray. 

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We will pray earnestly and 
urgently for the Lord to send 

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laborers into the field. 
So they're being formed to see 

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the world the way Jesus sees it 
and to pray the way he wants 

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them to pray. 
But the disciples are also being

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formed by Jesus's teaching and 
his healing ministry. 

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They're not just, you know, 
absorbing contents, memorizing 

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all the lines, etcetera. 
They're doing that, of course, 

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but they're also by following 
him, committing to live by his 

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teaching. 
And when I say teaching, I'm not

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just, I'm referring to 
everything the Scripture teaches

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here, all of the Old Testament 
as well, for the for the 

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apostles, but for us, the whole 
Scriptures, God's truth. 

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And because it is truth, it 
inevitably shines light on the 

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lie. 
It shines light on what is 

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broken, what needs to be freed. 
So just like the first 

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disciples, we will always need 
Jesus to heal us. 

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Because when you subject, when 
you submit yourself to the 

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teaching of Jesus, you'll 
realize that teaching reveals 

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what needs to be healed in you. 
Because that's what teaching 

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does. 
And sometimes that includes 

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physical healing, but it will 
always include spiritual 

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deliverance from the Kingdom of 
darkness. 

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We will continue to need this as
we follow Jesus, submitting to 

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his teaching and receiving his 
healing. 

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Now, there are churches that 
pride themselves in getting the 

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teaching right. 
There are churches that pride 

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themselves in getting the 
healing right. 

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Jesus does not separate the two.
It's all part of the gospel. 

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So we need to be a church that 
does both. 

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We need to strive to be that 
kind of church. 

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It's one of the reasons why 
we're carefully developing a 

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healing and deliverance ministry
here at the church. 

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It's in response to Jesus's 
pattern in Scripture. 

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So disciples on mission with 
Jesus need to be formed to have 

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compassion on the harassed and 
helpless, to pray earnestly and 

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urgently for more laborers, and 
to receive Jesus's healing and 

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teaching formation. 
That's the first one. 

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The second thing that helps us 
on this mission as disciples is 

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Jesus's authority. 
Exercising his authority, Jesus 

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calls 12 of his disciples, and 
he gives them authority to do 

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exactly what he has been doing, 
proclaim the Kingdom, teaching 

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and healing. 
Now, authority here means the 

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right to do something in his 
name. 

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It's the same word that John 
uses in his Gospel chapter 1 of 

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John when he says that Jesus 
gives us the rights to be called

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children of God. 
That's the kind of authority 

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we're talking about here. 
And he's saying that this 

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authority for these disciples, 
these 12, is over unclean 

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spirits, diseases, and sickness.
Why 12? 

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He picks these 12 disciples. 
A motley crew by the way, James 

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and John, hot heads always 
jockeying for position and 

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wanting to call fire from heaven
down on people who disagree with

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them. 
You have Matthew, a tax 

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collector viewed by many as a 
traitor of his people. 

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And then you have Simon the 
Zealot, an anti Roman 

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revolutionary who probably got 
along splendidly with Matthew, 

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right? 
No, they have Judas Iscariot, an

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eventual traitor, and you have 
all these men's from different 

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backgrounds, economic and social
classes, political 

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understandings, different 
temperaments, and yet Jesus 

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calls them together, He gives 
them authority together and 

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sends them out together. 
There are 12 because Jesus is 

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here signalling that God's 
long-awaited restoration of 

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Israel has begun. 
Just as the 12 tribes of 

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Israel's formed the foundation 
of of God's people in the Old 

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Testament, so these 12 men 
formed the foundation of a 

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renewed people of God. 
The new Israel located in Jesus 

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Christ, what he calls his 
church, you and I. 

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And it's marked by allegiance to
Jesus. 

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Now, Jesus later expands his 
authority to include all his 

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disciples. 
We read in Acts chapter one that

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the Holy Spirit came upon them 
and they had power to declare 

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the gospel message all around 
the world. 

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And so we come, when we come to 
Pentecost, we're going to focus 

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on that, that you and I have 
also received this authority in 

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Christ Jesus. 
Yes, all of us have received 

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that authority in Christ Jesus, 
but it's never separate from the

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life of the body. 
When my nephew was four or five 

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years old, my nephew in Nigeria,
something happened to him. 

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My sister was folding laundry 
and he was playing nearby in 

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the, I think in the bedroom or 
something like that. 

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And then suddenly he screams. 
Mommy see fire. 

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And of course she's scared. 
She turns around and she looks 

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at him and she doesn't see any 
fire. 

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What she sees is her son, 
scared, petrified, looking at 

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something that she cannot see. 
And she knows in her spirit 

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something is wrong, something is
bothering her son. 

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And so she sits him down. 
She does two things. 

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She sits him down and she tells 
him, look, God is with you and 

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he is greater than you. 
So whenever you feel or see 

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something that scares you, I 
want you to say to the thing or 

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to the Spirit, get out in the 
name of Jesus Christ, you don't 

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belong here. 
The second thing that she does 

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is that she walks around the 
house and in the way that only 

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Nigerian woman can do, she casts
out the devils in the house, 

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basically saying look, you have 
no authority in my house. 

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God's presence is here, go away.
It happened again to my nephew 

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that he saw this thing, this 
fire that he was talking about, 

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but my sister overheard him 
saying, go away, evil spirit, 

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you have no power here. 
I don't belong to you. 

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I don't want you here. 
And it never happened again. 

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What's interesting is that later
they found out that their 

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neighbor was involved in a cult 
practices, which, you know, 

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indicates why he was sensing 
these things. 

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Now, like my nephew, all of us 
on mission with Jesus Christ can

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exercise this authority. 
Scripture is clear about that. 

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That, of course, does not mean 
that all authorities exercise in

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the same way or with the same 
scope, with the same level of 

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responsibility. 
When I have a common cold, I'm 

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going to go to CVS and I'm going
to buy drugs and I'm going to 

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treat medicate myself because I 
it's a common cold. 

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It's fine. 
When I have something much more 

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serious that I'm dealing with, 
the last thing that I should do 

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is go to Web MD and Google to 
try to find out what's wrong 

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with me and to try to treat 
myself. 

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No, there's a whole institution 
of trained physicians and 

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doctors that I should go to. 
The same principle applies here 

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as well. 
We all share in Christ 

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authority. 
That's true, but not all are 

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trained to handle the same 
cases. 

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Some situations require deeper 
discernment, wisdom, experience,

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00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,520
formation. 
This is why we need to exercise 

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our authority together within 
the Church for accountability, 

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00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,080
for help. 
That's why I'm here as your 

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00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:13,520
clergy. 
That's why you have clergy here 

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00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:17,560
to help you. 
The question is, do you believe 

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that you have this authority? 
The Christ has empowered you by 

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00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:25,400
His Holy Spirit to teach and to 
heal as well. 

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Formation authority. 
The third thing is trust. 

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00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:39,600
Disciples on mission with Jesus 
Christ need to trust Him. 

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00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:44,440
Jesus tells his disciples to go 
to the lost sheep of Israel 

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00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:45,800
only. 
Don't go to the Gentiles just 

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yet. 
He does this because God's 

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promises to Israel had to be 
fulfilled first. 

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Their repentance and renewal was
the starting point of the 

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00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:55,440
kingdom's expansion. 
Like you said to Abraham, 

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through you I will bless all the
nations. 

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Somebody had to start with 
Israel 1st, and then he declares

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in verse 8, heal the sick, raise
the dead, cleanse lepers, cast 

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out demons. 
If I was one of the disciples of

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00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:14,440
this point, I'd be like, say 
what now? 

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00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:17,200
I've seen you do all these 
things. 

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00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,520
I've never done it before. 
What are you talking about? 

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00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:21,800
I would be afraid. 
I'd be worried. 

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00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:24,560
I'd be like this. 
This is new territory. 

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00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,600
I don't feel safe. 
He goes on in verse 9, verse 

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verse 8, you received without 
paying, give without pay, 

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00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:37,320
acquire no gold or silver or 
copper for your belts, no bag 

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00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:40,640
for your journey, or two tunics 
or sandals or staff for the 

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00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:45,440
laborer deserves his food. 
Now we know that this 

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00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,520
arrangement was temporary 
because Jesus later says to his 

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00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:53,760
disciples in Luke, when I sent 
you out with no money, bag or 

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00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:56,040
knapsack or sandals, did you 
lack anything? 

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00:16:56,120 --> 00:17:00,800
They said nothing he said to 
them, but now let the one who 

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00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:03,320
has a money bag take it, 
etcetera, etcetera. 

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But what Matthew is saying here 
is very, very important because 

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Jesus instructions they not only
safeguard the gospel for being 

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00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:18,880
used to gain wealth for personal
benefit, but it also teaches the

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00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:24,280
disciples and us to depend 
entirely on God's provision here

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00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:26,640
in this context, through the 
hospitality of others. 

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00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:32,240
Disciples on mission with Jesus 
must trust that Jesus will 

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00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:34,880
provide. 
Now. 

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00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:36,800
Care and planning have their 
place. 

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00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:41,080
It's important. 
But no amount of planning can 

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00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:44,760
ever account for God. 
You just never really know what 

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00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:49,840
God is going to do specifically.
And many of us, myself included,

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00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:54,560
want all our ducks to be in a 
row before we take the step into

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00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:56,280
a thing that God has called us 
to. 

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00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:00,720
We want to reduce the risk, and 
that completely makes sense. 

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00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:05,160
But that mindset can actually 
reduce faith to a strategy. 

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00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:08,040
And that's a temptation we have 
here in DC. 

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00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:12,920
We want to throw a program at 
problems, and that's not how it 

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00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:15,800
works. 
Faith cannot be reduced to 

287
00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:19,200
strategy. 
We have to be wise and 

288
00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:24,160
discerning, but our common sense
must be rooted in faith and 

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00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:28,480
trust. 
Now, not everyone is called to 

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00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:34,640
be an itinerant missionary like 
Paul or the apostles, constantly

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00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:37,240
moving from one place to the 
other and preaching, leaving 

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00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:41,360
their home. 
But every single one of us is 

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00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:45,920
cast into the world to be on 
mission with Jesus. 

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00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:50,200
At your workplace, at your home,
schools, neighborhoods, wherever

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00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:52,960
you find yourself, you're 
supposed to be proclaiming the 

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00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:55,360
Kingdom. 
And we do that through the 

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00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:58,200
integrity of our lives, the 
integrity of our work, the 

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00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:03,320
integrity of the how we speak. 
That means that we need to learn

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00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:06,880
how to speak properly. 
This message, the Kingdom of 

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00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,840
heaven is at hand. 
We must know how to declare that

301
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:16,640
message. 
I remember being in an Uber once

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00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:18,360
with a friend. 
We were heading to the airport 

303
00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:20,800
after a conference and I was 
tired. 

304
00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:25,840
I was exhausted and I just 
wanted to get home and be with 

305
00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:31,160
my wife and my friend. 
God bless his heart, I love him.

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00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:35,480
Start talking, starts talking to
the the Uber driver and 

307
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,080
basically starts evangelizing 
him. 

308
00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,720
And I'm like I'm so tired. 
I am not here for this. 

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00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:47,800
Why or why? 
And we found out the driver's a 

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00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:49,920
Muslim. 
But I prayed silently to myself,

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00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,800
and I'm like, all right, OK. 
And I had to push against kind 

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00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,000
of like, the nervousness that I 
usually feel about this things. 

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00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,360
And then when I did that, I 
found myself answering 

314
00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:00,880
questions. 
And I found myself remembering 

315
00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:04,320
things that I had learned not 
just from seminary but from 

316
00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:08,920
walking with other people who 
had done evangelism to those of 

317
00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:11,840
other fates. 
And I found myself remembering 

318
00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,000
these things and just words were
coming out of my mouth. 

319
00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:16,840
A minute ago I was like, I can't
do this. 

320
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:19,720
And the moment I pray, God 
showed up. 

321
00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:26,120
And as a young Christian, I was 
always afraid of these kinds of 

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00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:30,280
situations. 
I was very studious as a 

323
00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:31,680
believer. 
Even in my teen years. 

324
00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:33,280
I was reading my dastyological 
books. 

325
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,160
I knew the contents, I knew the 
arguments, I knew how I knew the

326
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,960
words to say. 
I knew scripture well enough to 

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00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:44,320
be able to stand on my own, and 
I knew like what the the 

328
00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:46,400
pushback would be. 
So I practiced those things. 

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00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:48,080
I knew that and all of that is 
good. 

330
00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,720
That is something that we should
all do for our contexts. 

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00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,760
Know the context, know the word,
know what to proclaim, etcetera.

332
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:59,800
But I had to always fight fear 
and nervousness just to start, 

333
00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:04,320
just to begin talking about the 
gospel. 

334
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,400
I had to learn to simply 
exercise that Jesus would 

335
00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:11,960
provide the words to speak and 
He would provide the resources I

336
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,880
needed. 
My faith could not depend on my 

337
00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:20,080
preparation. 
It had to depend on Jesus 

338
00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:31,000
formation, authority, trust, 
which conveniently spells fact. 

339
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:36,080
I have one more point. 
Unfortunately, it's not S so 

340
00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:37,920
it's not facts. 
It's it's, it's you. 

341
00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:40,920
So it's for two. 
Hopefully you use for two to 

342
00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:47,760
remember these 54 points. 
The fourth point is urgency. 

343
00:21:48,360 --> 00:21:50,960
Disciples on mission with Jesus,
we need to be urgent. 

344
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:54,880
There's an implicit warning in 
this passage that I want to draw

345
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,560
your attention to. 
In verse 11, Jesus tells his 

346
00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,680
disciples, whatever town or 
village you enter, find out who 

347
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:04,600
is worthy in it and stay there 
until you leave. 

348
00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,760
He's basically saying, look for 
the person who welcomes the 

349
00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:10,600
message of the Kingdom and 
welcomes you as well. 

350
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:15,600
Bless that house with peace. 
If the person. 

351
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,440
If that peace is not received, 
take it back. 

352
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,840
If that town or house refuses 
what you're saying, shake off 

353
00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:26,560
the dust of your feet when you 
leave that town or house. 

354
00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,240
Being on mission with Jesus 
means that we cast the message 

355
00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:35,040
widely. 
And then we pay attention to 

356
00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:38,600
those who are spiritually open 
to IT, people who are asking 

357
00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:41,640
questions, who are seeking 
freedom, wanting healing, hungry

358
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:45,640
for something more. 
And when we find them, we invest

359
00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:49,640
in them, we speak peace to them,
we stay with them, and we grow 

360
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:54,120
them. 
But because we're casting the 

361
00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:58,520
message widely, there will be 
many who reject the message and 

362
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:02,720
we do not receive us. 
And when that happens, we must 

363
00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,520
learn to shake off the dust from
our feet as we leave that town 

364
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,080
or house. 
And shaking off the dust is a 

365
00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:14,400
visible symbol, basically, that 
says you're you've heard the 

366
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:18,440
truth, you've rejected it. 
I leave you to the Lord. 

367
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:26,760
Jesus sets a boundary here that 
should spark urgency in two 

368
00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:31,000
directions. 1st, urgency toward 
the world. 

369
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,480
The harvest is plentiful, but 
it's not always going to be 

370
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,840
harvest time. 
Time is finite. 

371
00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:44,520
Harvest season will end, and 
after that comes the judgment. 

372
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:48,000
So the window for people to 
respond to Jesus doesn't stay 

373
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,720
open forever. 
So we must urgently share the 

374
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:54,480
message. 
We must not waste time. 

375
00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:01,280
Yet at the same time, that means
we must learn how to shake the 

376
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,960
dust off our off our feet if 
someone rejects the message. 

377
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:10,840
And that will mean choosing to 
invest in others rather than 

378
00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:13,960
chasing someone who is closed 
off. 

379
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,720
You can be a faithful presence 
in somebody's life, someone who 

380
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,520
who has rejected the gospel. 
You can continue to pray for 

381
00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:22,640
them. 
But you want to expend your 

382
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:26,920
energy on those who have not yet
heard because the harvest is 

383
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:28,840
plentiful and the laborers are 
few. 

384
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:37,280
Others need to hear and repent. 
Secondly, that urgency is also 

385
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:42,160
towards us. 
We must not reject the message 

386
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,280
that we preach. 
We must not. 

387
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:51,600
That's the tragedy of Judas. 
He received authority. 

388
00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:55,520
He cast out demons. 
He cleansed lepers. 

389
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:57,640
He proclaimed the Kingdom of 
God. 

390
00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:00,080
Freely he received, freely he 
gave. 

391
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:05,120
He went on mission with Jesus. 
But at some point, at some 

392
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:09,880
point, he stopped looking at 
Jesus and he betrayed him. 

393
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,880
And his story is a warning that 
being used by God is not the 

394
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,200
same as belonging to him. 
It's not the same thing. 

395
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:26,960
We can be active in ministry and
passive in repentance, and 

396
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:30,320
that's a dangerous place to be 
that you're preaching to others,

397
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,440
but you stopped listening to the
message itself. 

398
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:39,960
So ask yourself, are you still 
responding to Jesus's call to 

399
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:44,120
repent, to surrender, to trust, 
to obey Him? 

400
00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:48,680
Let us not preach a king that we
no longer obey. 

401
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:55,240
Let's not do that. 
This is not optional and it 

402
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,040
takes us back to the very 
beginning formation. 

403
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:03,400
The Kingdom has drawn near and 
we need to preach it. 

404
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:08,240
There is judgement coming round,
so disciples on mission with 

405
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:14,120
Jesus need to be formed. 
Exercise authority, trust in 

406
00:26:14,120 --> 00:26:22,800
Jesus and do all this urgently. 
Fatu, let me pray for us. 

407
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:32,200
We are frail creatures, Father, 
and we are able to fail you in 

408
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:37,440
many ways, but You have given us
power by your Holy Spirit to 

409
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,960
overcome these things, to be 
formed by You, to exercise 

410
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:45,440
authority in You, to trust You, 
and to move urgently. 

411
00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:50,920
Give us hearts that are truly 
surrendered to to You, that 

412
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:53,920
would commit to being disciples 
with You. 

413
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:58,480
In Christ's name I pray. 
Amen.