WEBVTT 00:00:00.650 --> 00:00:03.169 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:06.209 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:06.870 --> 00:00:08.750 It's our hope that these sermons will draw you 00:00:08.750 --> 00:00:11.169 more into the life of following God, Father, 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:14.150 Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:16.469 joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am in 00:00:16.469 --> 00:00:18.809 the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find 00:00:18.809 --> 00:00:22.329 us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook, 00:00:22.629 --> 00:00:25.030 Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this 00:00:25.030 --> 00:00:30.089 sermon. God Bless. Let's pray again. Lord God, 00:00:30.149 --> 00:00:34.289 thank you for your Word. Thank you that you have 00:00:34.289 --> 00:00:37.270 given it to us and you have used it throughout 00:00:37.270 --> 00:00:41.549 your world to bring many repentance into faith. 00:00:42.469 --> 00:00:47.030 Lord, your Word goes out with power. It's like 00:00:47.030 --> 00:00:50.609 a seed that is tossed out. And Lord, today we 00:00:50.609 --> 00:00:54.070 pray, looking back on that parable from a few 00:00:54.070 --> 00:00:57.390 chapters earlier, that we would be fertile soil 00:00:57.210 --> 00:01:00.530 We would bear fruit, keeping with repentance. 00:01:02.149 --> 00:01:05.150 God, that we wouldn't be like hard ground, but 00:01:05.150 --> 00:01:06.689 that we would be fertile, that your word would 00:01:06.689 --> 00:01:11.730 be planted within us, and that we would bear 00:01:11.730 --> 00:01:15.590 the fruit of living with Christ and being indwelt 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:19.290 with the Holy Spirit. God, bless your word now 00:01:19.290 --> 00:01:22.450 as we give our attention to it. In your name 00:01:22.450 --> 00:01:28.930 we pray. Amen. Okay, so I read this sentence 00:01:28.930 --> 00:01:34.609 this week. American Christianity wears the history 00:01:34.609 --> 00:01:39.670 of the United States on its congregations. American 00:01:39.670 --> 00:01:41.989 Christianity wears the history of the United 00:01:41.989 --> 00:01:43.890 States on its congregations. So it's almost like 00:01:43.890 --> 00:01:47.150 a garment in a way that you can see it when you 00:01:47.150 --> 00:01:50.109 look. I thought this was just a really interesting 00:01:50.109 --> 00:01:53.469 statement and initially I kind of read that and 00:01:53.469 --> 00:01:56.120 I wondered, I don't, I wonder. What does that 00:01:56.120 --> 00:01:58.879 mean? What's that look like? And I thought, of 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:02.879 course, of the 17th century history of the Puritans 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:04.819 and the Congregationalists up in New England. 00:02:05.140 --> 00:02:07.359 And I thought of the role of the, particularly 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:11.319 the Methodist riders, you know, oftentimes given 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:15.000 just a Bible and a horse and sent out West with 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.300 Western expansion. I thought, my wife is from 00:02:19.300 --> 00:02:21.639 Louisiana, of the Catholic influence and the 00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:23.840 Catholic history there in Louisiana, where counties 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:29.060 are not counties, they are parishes. I thought 00:02:29.060 --> 00:02:33.400 of our own Commonwealth in Pennsylvania, with 00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:39.319 William and the Quakers, and that Quaker influence 00:02:39.319 --> 00:02:42.939 that then later, of course, they invited over 00:02:42.939 --> 00:02:45.860 the German Mennonites. And then, of course, the 00:02:45.860 --> 00:02:52.539 Lutherans and the Presbyterians. The German Reformed, 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:55.759 a significant part of our own history. Maybe 00:02:55.759 --> 00:03:00.740 some of you know this. Do any of you know that 00:03:00.740 --> 00:03:05.680 the first Presbytery, the first Synod, and the 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:08.560 first Presbyterian General Assembly all took 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:16.129 place right here in Pennsylvania? Yeah. Citing 00:03:16.129 --> 00:03:19.590 history, right over there in Philadelphia, first 00:03:19.590 --> 00:03:22.889 Presbyterian 1706, the first general assembly 00:03:22.889 --> 00:03:28.669 1789. But there's a truth to this, that American 00:03:28.669 --> 00:03:30.590 Christianity wears the history of the United 00:03:30.590 --> 00:03:33.090 States in its congregation. And the reality is 00:03:33.090 --> 00:03:37.849 that in some ways is very interesting and maybe 00:03:37.849 --> 00:03:41.870 good, and in some ways is also unbelievably tragic. 00:03:44.669 --> 00:03:49.189 We all know, you probably all have heard that 00:03:49.189 --> 00:03:52.629 the greatest hour, celebrated hour in the United 00:03:52.629 --> 00:03:56.990 States is Sunday mornings. Let me tell you about 00:03:56.990 --> 00:03:59.430 Richard Allen. Richard Allen was born into slavery 00:03:59.430 --> 00:04:05.389 on Valentine's Day in 1760, February 14th. He 00:04:05.389 --> 00:04:11.590 was born in what is now Delaware to a property 00:04:11.590 --> 00:04:15.819 owner Benjamin Chu, he was still pretty young. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.319 He and his siblings, he actually had five siblings, 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:24.019 and his mother were then sold to Stokely Sturgis 00:04:24.019 --> 00:04:27.819 who worked another plantation. Sturgis got into 00:04:27.819 --> 00:04:31.160 some financial trouble and so Richard Allen's 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:36.779 own mother and three of his siblings were sold 00:04:36.779 --> 00:04:42.379 to another family. Torn apart. family torn apart 00:04:42.379 --> 00:04:45.939 by slavery. His older brother and sister remained 00:04:45.939 --> 00:04:50.459 there with the Sturgis family and actually they 00:04:50.459 --> 00:04:54.759 began to attend a Methodist meeting, a meeting 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:59.620 of the Methodist society that was specifically 00:04:59.620 --> 00:05:04.300 targeting in a way, caring for, specifically 00:05:04.300 --> 00:05:08.000 trying to share the good news with slaves. And 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.439 he gave his life to following Jesus. He gave 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:13.560 his life to following Jesus when he was 17 years 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.399 old. And what he did is he began evangelizing 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.699 other slaves, telling them about the good news 00:05:18.699 --> 00:05:21.519 of Jesus. Well, after the Revolutionary War, 00:05:21.699 --> 00:05:23.839 which was almost exactly right around that time 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:26.839 when he became a Christian, there were a number 00:05:26.839 --> 00:05:28.779 of Methodist preachers. Actually, this happened 00:05:28.779 --> 00:05:31.319 really throughout the Eastern Seaboard, but here 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:33.220 in the Mid -Atlantic, there were preachers that 00:05:33.220 --> 00:05:36.019 were going throughout. teaching the good news 00:05:36.019 --> 00:05:39.160 of Jesus, but also preaching emancipation and 00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:42.480 encouraging landowners to free their slaves. 00:05:43.699 --> 00:05:46.980 So Sturgis actually offered all of his slaves 00:05:46.980 --> 00:05:50.779 the ability to purchase their freedom. And so 00:05:50.779 --> 00:05:54.439 Richard Allen did that. He actually worked extra 00:05:54.439 --> 00:05:58.819 hours and gained his freedom. Here's a pretty 00:05:58.819 --> 00:06:00.439 remarkable thing. A few years later, Richard 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:03.959 Allen was actually, he passed the exams and he 00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:07.620 was So he qualified and then he was admitted 00:06:07.620 --> 00:06:11.360 to be a preacher there in and around Baltimore 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:15.459 within the Methodist Church, the Methodist Episcopal 00:06:15.459 --> 00:06:17.180 Church, which was the early Methodist Church, 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:19.920 Methodism coming out of the Anglican Church in 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:22.160 England, particularly this movement in Oxford 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:26.139 with the Wesley Brothers. Here's the thing, even 00:06:26.139 --> 00:06:30.899 though he was licensed, he was qualified to preach, 00:06:30.899 --> 00:06:34.079 he was not allowed to vote in their meetings. 00:06:34.890 --> 00:06:40.029 Why? Because he was black. So a couple years 00:06:40.029 --> 00:06:42.029 later, he moved to Philadelphia where he took 00:06:42.029 --> 00:06:44.769 a preaching role at St. George's Methodist Episcopal 00:06:44.769 --> 00:06:49.290 Church. There, he moved there in part because 00:06:49.290 --> 00:06:53.230 of this conflict over race. Now he comes and 00:06:53.230 --> 00:06:56.129 he starts to have all these people come and listen 00:06:56.129 --> 00:06:59.110 to him. The black congregation under his preaching 00:06:59.110 --> 00:07:01.069 was growing and growing, but the vestry of that 00:07:01.069 --> 00:07:03.269 church said, you cannot actually worship with 00:07:03.269 --> 00:07:06.689 us. It's dominantly white congregation. You have 00:07:06.689 --> 00:07:09.670 to worship at the earliest time and be done before 00:07:09.670 --> 00:07:15.110 all the other folk come. So after this discrimination 00:07:15.110 --> 00:07:19.810 and after this segregation continued, he actually 00:07:19.810 --> 00:07:22.350 gathered a friend, Absalom Jones, and they began 00:07:22.350 --> 00:07:26.519 the Free African Society in 1787. about this. 00:07:27.100 --> 00:07:30.800 1787 in Philadelphia, there's also a very important 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:32.959 event that happened in Philadelphia in that same 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:39.259 year, which was the Constitutional Convention, 00:07:39.579 --> 00:07:42.360 right? Who are the leaders there? George Washington, 00:07:42.579 --> 00:07:48.240 James Madison. Freedom! And yet in the church, 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:53.029 it's reflecting the history of our country there 00:07:53.029 --> 00:07:55.310 is this great segregation and this great divide 00:07:55.310 --> 00:08:00.089 that takes place. So in that very same year the 00:08:00.089 --> 00:08:03.129 African Free Society happened and then later 00:08:03.129 --> 00:08:06.589 on that moved into what that developed out of 00:08:06.589 --> 00:08:10.930 Richard Allen's leadership into the African Methodist 00:08:10.930 --> 00:08:12.990 Episcopal Church. And some of you know that the 00:08:12.990 --> 00:08:16.129 AME continues to be one of the great historic 00:08:16.129 --> 00:08:18.829 and most influential black denominations in our 00:08:18.829 --> 00:08:22.810 country. Now, I share this with you because it 00:08:22.810 --> 00:08:24.949 shows in some ways that there is something that 00:08:24.949 --> 00:08:27.649 is very lovely going on and something also deeply 00:08:27.649 --> 00:08:32.870 tragic in how we wear sort of the world that 00:08:32.870 --> 00:08:36.909 we live in. How the church itself sort of puts 00:08:36.909 --> 00:08:40.370 on a sort of garment and it's reflecting the 00:08:40.370 --> 00:08:44.149 world that it's sort of soaking in. So of course, 00:08:44.230 --> 00:08:46.649 the question is, what are you soaking in, right? 00:08:48.169 --> 00:08:53.370 What kind of world are you putting on? American 00:08:53.370 --> 00:08:54.970 Christianity wears the history of the United 00:08:54.970 --> 00:08:58.730 States on our congregations. And at times that 00:08:58.730 --> 00:09:01.370 is beautiful and at times it's very, very ugly. 00:09:05.250 --> 00:09:07.389 People have truly given their lives to following 00:09:07.389 --> 00:09:09.929 Jesus and planting churches and evangelizing 00:09:09.929 --> 00:09:14.470 and loving their neighbors. And people in the 00:09:14.470 --> 00:09:19.000 church have pushed each other out. I've said 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:23.220 our union has primarily to do with our skin rather 00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:27.740 than our baptism and our union with Christ. Our 00:09:27.740 --> 00:09:29.460 union primarily has to do with our political 00:09:29.460 --> 00:09:32.240 identity than our Christian identity. I mean, 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:34.460 think of Richard Allen's story. In some ways, 00:09:34.460 --> 00:09:39.659 it's so remarkable and so lovely. A preacher 00:09:39.659 --> 00:09:44.179 going to the slaves and him giving his life to 00:09:44.179 --> 00:09:46.950 following Jesus. and evangelizing and telling 00:09:46.950 --> 00:09:48.850 other people and then working hard enough that 00:09:48.850 --> 00:09:51.470 he could get his freedom and then going and working 00:09:51.470 --> 00:09:54.190 and becoming a preacher. And then there's so 00:09:54.190 --> 00:09:56.669 much loveliness in it. And there's of course 00:09:56.669 --> 00:10:01.610 so much sadness in it also. Think of it, it's 00:10:01.610 --> 00:10:04.870 full of beauty and tragedy. But I think it forces 00:10:04.870 --> 00:10:09.090 us to ask sort of what is shaping our church? 00:10:09.429 --> 00:10:14.600 What's shaping ministry? Who or what is shaping 00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:17.059 the church and what is it to look like? I mean 00:10:17.059 --> 00:10:21.080 think if you were to just ask like What are the 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:23.720 prominent names in Christianity? I mean a lot 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:28.059 of people might say things like Joel Olsteen 00:10:28.059 --> 00:10:31.220 Steven Furtick Andy Stanley, maybe Mark Driscoll 00:10:31.220 --> 00:10:34.240 in a bygone era or depending upon where you live 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:37.059 But what does that say is it just it's a reflection 00:10:37.059 --> 00:10:40.559 of a celebrity culture Which is the culture that 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:46.460 we live in? Celebrity culture. We wear, in a 00:10:46.460 --> 00:10:52.000 way, the world that we soak in. When many people 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:54.659 think of the church, many think of Christianity, 00:10:54.740 --> 00:10:58.059 they might think primarily of a voting bloc. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:00.080 You get all those people to vote in a certain 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:06.620 way. I mean, you very likely could largely at 00:11:06.620 --> 00:11:08.779 least guess how somebody votes by the church 00:11:08.779 --> 00:11:12.320 they attend. Which does sort of, the question, 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:17.000 are they more united around that or around the 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:21.019 personal work of Jesus? Anyway, we are back in 00:11:21.019 --> 00:11:27.480 Mark after last week's snow break. And we have 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:29.559 this little passage and Jesus is sending out 00:11:29.559 --> 00:11:32.220 the 12, right? That's how it begins. He's sending 00:11:32.220 --> 00:11:35.980 out the 12. In fact, pretty interesting. If you 00:11:35.980 --> 00:11:40.970 look back a few chapters, to chapter 3 when he 00:11:40.970 --> 00:11:47.269 calls them, when he calls the 12 apostles to 00:11:47.269 --> 00:11:50.490 himself, it says, and he went up on the mountain 00:11:50.490 --> 00:11:52.970 and called to them those whom he desired and 00:11:52.970 --> 00:11:55.990 they came to him and he appointed 12 whom he 00:11:55.990 --> 00:11:59.549 named apostles. Apostle means sent one. so that 00:11:59.549 --> 00:12:02.610 they might be with him and might send them out 00:12:02.610 --> 00:12:05.590 to preach and to have authority to cast out demons. 00:12:05.870 --> 00:12:08.090 So we know from the get -go that this is the 00:12:08.090 --> 00:12:09.769 intent of this group of people that he's gathered 00:12:09.769 --> 00:12:13.529 together to him, to be, in a sense, his ministry 00:12:13.529 --> 00:12:18.429 for the world. That's from the get -go. Jesus 00:12:18.429 --> 00:12:20.690 calls these guys to himself for the sake of sending 00:12:20.690 --> 00:12:23.389 them out. But here he's actually doing it. Here 00:12:23.389 --> 00:12:25.830 the ministry is happening. The apostles are the 00:12:25.830 --> 00:12:29.860 sent ones. And here's Here's the ministry happening. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:32.460 And so this morning I want to sort of address 00:12:32.460 --> 00:12:37.559 two things that I think this text sort of invites 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:40.159 us to reflect on. The first is it's like, what 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:43.700 is ministry about? I mean, what is the church 00:12:43.700 --> 00:12:48.600 supposed to be about? That's part of it. And 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:51.360 then the other is, how's ministry supposed to 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:53.100 be done? If we can kind of look and say, oh, 00:12:53.259 --> 00:12:56.419 we're influenced by, you know, sort of the history 00:12:56.419 --> 00:12:58.200 and the place and the setting that we're set 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:00.580 in, well, what are we supposed to be about? And 00:13:00.580 --> 00:13:03.980 what is it supposed to look like? So what's ministry 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:09.240 about? Well, you just heard from chapter three, 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:12.779 verse 14, that he calls these guys to himself, 00:13:13.019 --> 00:13:18.159 these apostles, these sent ones, that he... send 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:19.960 them out to preach, it said that he might do 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:22.539 that and that they might have authority to cast 00:13:22.539 --> 00:13:27.039 out demons, to preach and heal. And in our passage, 00:13:27.100 --> 00:13:29.539 I think pretty interestingly, these two things 00:13:29.539 --> 00:13:33.059 that he called them to himself to then do are 00:13:33.059 --> 00:13:38.580 done. They're in fact, I think the main things 00:13:38.580 --> 00:13:40.759 that are taking place. So look with me down at 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:45.639 verse seven. Verse seven says, and he called 00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:50.490 the 12, and began to send them out, two by two, 00:13:51.029 --> 00:13:56.429 and gave them authority over the unclean spirits." 00:13:56.429 --> 00:14:01.269 Now, what we know so far in Jesus' ministry is 00:14:01.269 --> 00:14:03.710 that he has this authority. He has authority. 00:14:03.789 --> 00:14:06.429 In fact, what we had just seen in the previous 00:14:06.429 --> 00:14:10.110 chapter, right, are these three different narratives 00:14:10.110 --> 00:14:12.690 of Jesus displaying his authority and people 00:14:12.690 --> 00:14:15.440 going, whoa. That guy's got authority. You know, 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:18.039 you remember the wind and the waves, you know, 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:20.000 story about Jesus, the disciples and the boat. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:22.679 And you probably remember Jairus's daughter whom 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:24.500 he heals and he raises from the dead and the 00:14:24.500 --> 00:14:28.039 woman with the bleeding, all of that. And then 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:31.360 right in between those stories, there's this 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:35.179 man who is said to be a demoniac. He has a demon 00:14:35.179 --> 00:14:38.179 and he's living among the tombs and he was out 00:14:38.179 --> 00:14:45.669 of his mind. In fact, we kind of have a sense 00:14:45.669 --> 00:14:47.690 that he was out of his mind in such a way that 00:14:47.690 --> 00:14:50.289 he was hurting himself. It says he would take 00:14:50.289 --> 00:14:53.450 stones and cut himself, but also in a way he 00:14:53.450 --> 00:14:57.330 was hurting others. One of the texts says that 00:14:57.330 --> 00:14:59.289 people tried to bind him and they couldn't, why 00:14:59.289 --> 00:15:01.210 would they do that? But that he was actually 00:15:01.210 --> 00:15:06.909 harming those around him. All this to say is 00:15:06.909 --> 00:15:10.669 that in the most immediate context of this story 00:15:10.669 --> 00:15:16.179 right here, What we have is Jesus having authority 00:15:16.179 --> 00:15:19.919 to cast out demons, of course, over the wind 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:23.320 and the waves and over somebody who has a discharge 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:27.059 of blood, a hemorrhage, and also over this child, 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:33.340 this 12 year old who dies. So he has the authority 00:15:33.340 --> 00:15:38.059 to heal and now he's saying, you do it. But part 00:15:38.059 --> 00:15:40.019 of what I wanna say is that ministry has to do 00:15:40.019 --> 00:15:43.620 with this act of healing. Ministry is for the 00:15:43.620 --> 00:15:47.059 life of the world, for the good and for the blessing 00:15:47.059 --> 00:15:51.899 of others. And ministry is about, in some ways 00:15:51.899 --> 00:15:54.980 we could say from that text, ministry is about 00:15:54.980 --> 00:15:59.779 healing from our own self -destructive ways and 00:15:59.779 --> 00:16:05.879 community destructive ways. Okay. And this is... 00:16:05.899 --> 00:16:10.000 This passage is also saying that the need for 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:13.419 healing is always connected to a spiritual reality, 00:16:14.740 --> 00:16:16.600 which I don't mean, actually, this is important 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.700 to say. When I say that healing is always a spiritual 00:16:19.700 --> 00:16:21.539 thing, that they're supposed to cast out demons 00:16:21.539 --> 00:16:24.960 here in this passage, that does not mean it's 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:27.799 non -physical. Spiritual and non -physical don't 00:16:27.799 --> 00:16:30.600 really, that's not an antithesis in the Bible, 00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:35.480 okay? The demon had all kinds of physical effects 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:39.700 on the man, right? And that man, because of that 00:16:39.700 --> 00:16:41.759 spiritual reality, had all kinds of physical 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:45.000 effects on the community that he lived in. But 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:46.820 that man couldn't be healed of the things that 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:49.659 were destructive to himself, or the things that 00:16:49.659 --> 00:16:52.279 were destructive to the community, unless the 00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:56.299 spiritual reality healed. So the spiritual problem 00:16:56.299 --> 00:17:03.090 was the root problem, okay? Jesus doesn't just 00:17:03.090 --> 00:17:06.269 tell his disciples to go out, work for the healing 00:17:06.269 --> 00:17:09.769 of the world, which in itself you'd say is a 00:17:09.769 --> 00:17:11.430 good thing, but he says go out and cast demons 00:17:11.430 --> 00:17:15.710 out, right? Work for the healing of the world 00:17:15.710 --> 00:17:18.549 that is connected at its root to a spiritual 00:17:18.549 --> 00:17:24.309 problem. So, you know, we're going to have our 00:17:24.309 --> 00:17:26.069 congregational meeting after the service. And 00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:27.069 one of the things I want to encourage you to 00:17:27.069 --> 00:17:28.809 do is to get involved in the life of the church. 00:17:29.379 --> 00:17:30.819 And one of the ways you get involved in life, 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:32.359 the church is through ministry teams here at 00:17:32.359 --> 00:17:36.180 our church. So is our benevolence team doing 00:17:36.180 --> 00:17:39.339 ministry? Well, yes, right? I mean, as they care 00:17:39.339 --> 00:17:41.779 for those who can't pay their electrical bills 00:17:41.779 --> 00:17:45.039 maybe when it's freezing outside, they're working 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:51.099 for the healing of the world. But that isn't 00:17:51.099 --> 00:17:53.740 Christian ministry per se, unless it's also saying, 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:58.079 let me tell you about a spiritual reality, right? 00:17:58.279 --> 00:18:00.539 That there is something that is going on within 00:18:00.539 --> 00:18:04.099 our hearts that is actually hurting ourselves 00:18:04.099 --> 00:18:08.240 and our communities. That for Christian ministry 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:10.299 to be Christian ministry, it is for the healing 00:18:10.299 --> 00:18:12.700 of the world, but it is healing at a spiritual 00:18:12.700 --> 00:18:16.720 level also. Our English language classes, are 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:20.160 they doing the work of ministry? Yes and amen. 00:18:21.160 --> 00:18:22.880 And by helping others learn English, they're 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:27.299 addressing a very practical and very real need 00:18:27.299 --> 00:18:29.980 that people have as they've come from other countries. 00:18:30.019 --> 00:18:32.279 They're settling in our city and they are wondering, 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:37.140 how do I do life? But that physical need goes 00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:41.140 hand in hand with a spiritual need. Let me say 00:18:41.140 --> 00:18:44.279 this. If you are interested in caring for immigrants 00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:46.519 in our community, get involved in our English 00:18:46.519 --> 00:18:48.859 language classes. It's a very practical and very 00:18:48.859 --> 00:18:53.650 helpful way to do that. Part of what I'm suggesting 00:18:53.650 --> 00:18:57.630 is that ministry is about the healing of the 00:18:57.630 --> 00:19:00.990 broken world, but that broken world that has 00:19:00.990 --> 00:19:04.730 all these physical effects in the world, right? 00:19:05.630 --> 00:19:10.190 Divorces, estrangement from loved ones, all kinds 00:19:10.190 --> 00:19:13.089 of things that happen that harm our world, they 00:19:13.089 --> 00:19:15.369 have at their root this spiritual reality that 00:19:15.369 --> 00:19:18.190 needs to be healed and is only healed in Christ. 00:19:20.339 --> 00:19:22.319 So that's partly, I think, what's going on here. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:25.279 Ministry is healing, but it is healing that says 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.000 there is a spiritual root problem that needs 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:29.940 to be addressed along with the physical reality, 00:19:30.299 --> 00:19:33.480 the physical healing. But beyond this, in our 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:35.279 passage, I think one of the main things that 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:38.420 it's saying is that ministry is preaching. Now, 00:19:38.420 --> 00:19:39.900 I don't want to say necessarily that it's preaching 00:19:39.900 --> 00:19:41.259 like what I'm doing right now. I'm standing up 00:19:41.259 --> 00:19:42.619 in front of, you know, not all you're supposed 00:19:42.619 --> 00:19:46.359 to do this, but it is proclaiming and it is encouraging 00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:49.799 and it is actually calling back. to life with 00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:53.700 God. So Jesus sends them out and he gives them 00:19:53.700 --> 00:19:57.980 authority over unclean spirits. But when he instructs 00:19:57.980 --> 00:20:00.900 them, right, he talks about his disciples being 00:20:00.900 --> 00:20:04.460 in a place that will not receive them. So if 00:20:04.460 --> 00:20:09.920 you look down, actually verse 12 and 13, no, 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.660 11. And if any place will not receive you and 00:20:12.660 --> 00:20:17.339 they will not listen to you, Right, so he says 00:20:17.339 --> 00:20:20.039 actually what the thing that they're not doing 00:20:20.039 --> 00:20:21.500 when they're not receiving you is they're not 00:20:21.500 --> 00:20:24.640 listening But the assumption is that you part 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:28.240 of ministry is you are talking And you're talking 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:30.460 in a way that they are either receiving or not 00:20:30.460 --> 00:20:33.799 receiving you Now if we keep going actually it 00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:36.980 says more specifically verse 12 so they went 00:20:36.980 --> 00:20:44.250 out and proclaimed that people should Which is 00:20:44.250 --> 00:20:46.730 why I say ministry is preaching. Because what 00:20:46.730 --> 00:20:51.049 does Jesus do? He preaches repentance. And his 00:20:51.049 --> 00:20:55.170 people are proclaiming with their words, turn, 00:20:57.049 --> 00:21:01.630 turn. So what is ministry about? Ministry is 00:21:01.630 --> 00:21:04.690 about healing, but three is also about preaching 00:21:04.690 --> 00:21:09.890 and proclaiming repentance. Ministry is about 00:21:09.890 --> 00:21:14.099 sharing the good news. that the way that you 00:21:14.099 --> 00:21:18.880 are going in life can actually turn around. That 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:22.880 the path you're going down that is isolated and 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:26.700 solitary and self -seeking, that is going away 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:32.700 from God can actually come back to life as it's 00:21:32.700 --> 00:21:39.039 meant to be with God. Change can happen in Jesus. 00:21:41.059 --> 00:21:44.940 to repent was to turn around, or is to turn around. 00:21:45.339 --> 00:21:49.940 So I didn't tell her that I was gonna share this. 00:21:50.259 --> 00:21:52.859 Kathy and I were talking earlier this week and 00:21:52.859 --> 00:21:54.859 she shared with me of a local counselor friend 00:21:54.859 --> 00:21:58.039 of theirs, Jake Thiessen. And maybe some of you 00:21:58.039 --> 00:22:00.380 know him. He's written a little book called, 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.839 A Tiny Shift. And there's this great encouragement 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:06.500 that Kathy shared with me. And it's just a simple 00:22:06.500 --> 00:22:09.259 question. And yet the simple question feels so 00:22:09.259 --> 00:22:12.269 significant. And it's a question for married 00:22:12.269 --> 00:22:14.089 folk, but maybe it can be a good question for 00:22:14.089 --> 00:22:16.869 friends or siblings. And the question at the 00:22:16.869 --> 00:22:19.950 end of the day was this, have I hurt you today? 00:22:22.390 --> 00:22:25.390 And all of you married folk know, oh, that sounds 00:22:25.390 --> 00:22:30.490 like such a short, simple question to ask. But 00:22:30.490 --> 00:22:33.289 we know it's not, because what does it invite 00:22:33.289 --> 00:22:38.670 us to do? It invites us to repent. That's not 00:22:38.670 --> 00:22:41.720 an easy thing. Because to repent is to say, I'm 00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:45.700 sorry, and to turn, right? Say, I don't want 00:22:45.700 --> 00:22:51.299 to do that, I'm gonna turn. Change my ways. It's 00:22:51.299 --> 00:22:54.839 a question that invites repentance. The disciples 00:22:54.839 --> 00:22:59.200 proclaimed that people should repent. To find 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:00.980 that there is a new way of doing life, there's 00:23:00.980 --> 00:23:03.980 a different way of doing life. And change is 00:23:03.980 --> 00:23:08.059 possible in Jesus. Ministry is about calling 00:23:08.059 --> 00:23:12.240 people back to God. Ministry is calling people 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:15.440 away from focus on self, what we can grab, what 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:20.259 we can take. The tree looks beautiful and delightful, 00:23:21.099 --> 00:23:24.099 right? The fruit of the tree. Yet it brought 00:23:24.099 --> 00:23:28.299 death. And God says, where are you? Come back 00:23:28.299 --> 00:23:34.019 to me. Ministry is calling people back to God. 00:23:36.279 --> 00:23:37.980 The Old Testament scholar Christopher Wright 00:23:37.980 --> 00:23:42.599 actually included one quote from him. in our 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:44.500 meditation quotes this morning, which is written 00:23:44.500 --> 00:23:47.420 pretty extensively on the idea that the Bible 00:23:47.420 --> 00:23:51.380 is not just a book that has missionary texts 00:23:51.380 --> 00:23:54.140 in it. Like I mentioned, Psalm 67 is one of the 00:23:54.140 --> 00:23:56.200 great missionary Psalms. Or you think of the 00:23:56.200 --> 00:23:58.799 great missionary text of Matthew 28 and the Great 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:02.119 Commission, right? When Jesus sends out the disciples 00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:03.779 there at the end of Matthew, or you think of 00:24:03.779 --> 00:24:05.319 the whole book of Acts. A lot of people think 00:24:05.319 --> 00:24:06.880 of that as one of the great missionary texts. 00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:09.980 Or maybe think of Revelation chapter seven, where 00:24:09.980 --> 00:24:13.319 every tongue and tribe and nation is there falling 00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:18.519 down before the lamb who was slain. But instead, 00:24:19.500 --> 00:24:22.019 what Chris Wright says is the Bible isn't just 00:24:22.019 --> 00:24:24.299 a book that has missionary texts, but the Bible 00:24:24.299 --> 00:24:29.200 is itself a missionary text. That the whole point 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:32.109 of the Bible The revelation of God who is calling 00:24:32.109 --> 00:24:34.930 people back to himself. The creator God that 00:24:34.930 --> 00:24:36.609 is saying, I'm going to come and get you and 00:24:36.609 --> 00:24:38.809 I'm going to call you back to myself. That the 00:24:38.809 --> 00:24:42.569 whole point of it is a repentance. Come back, 00:24:42.829 --> 00:24:46.329 turn from your ways, turn from your sin and find 00:24:46.329 --> 00:24:52.650 new life in Jesus. Ministry is about healing, 00:24:53.049 --> 00:25:00.440 but ministry is also about repentance. This is 00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:03.420 why very truly ministry really does happen in 00:25:03.420 --> 00:25:08.339 the context. In the context when we can hear 00:25:08.339 --> 00:25:13.500 God's call, often through another's voice to 00:25:13.500 --> 00:25:16.200 repentance and we can act and we can change. 00:25:16.819 --> 00:25:19.079 So what I want to suggest to you is that actually 00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:24.539 ministry often does happen. in this kind of setting, 00:25:24.819 --> 00:25:26.759 right? When you hear God's call to come and worship 00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:28.140 and you're like, okay, I'm gonna come. And when 00:25:28.140 --> 00:25:29.720 we hear God's call to repent, you're like, I'm 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:31.839 gonna repent. And you hear God's words and you 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:33.839 say, oh, I'm forgiven. And that's really God 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:36.119 doing ministry in you. And it's in this setting 00:25:36.119 --> 00:25:38.339 where you hear preaching and it's in the setting 00:25:38.339 --> 00:25:41.039 when we hear God saying the Lord bless you as 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:42.500 you go. And you're like, okay, I'm gonna go. 00:25:42.900 --> 00:25:44.859 But also it often happens, and you know this 00:25:44.859 --> 00:25:47.099 happens, ministry often happens when you're having 00:25:47.099 --> 00:25:50.299 like coffee with somebody. And there's an honest 00:25:50.299 --> 00:25:53.480 conversation that's taking place. And maybe it's 00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:57.339 an encouragement. Keep following Jesus. You are 00:25:57.339 --> 00:26:01.599 doing something good. Walk in His way. Or maybe 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:06.059 it's actually when your friend says, hey, the 00:26:06.059 --> 00:26:08.079 tone that you have with your wife is actually 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:12.390 deeply harmful and it's not for healing. and 00:26:12.390 --> 00:26:14.490 you can change and you can repent and you can 00:26:14.490 --> 00:26:16.890 find new life in Jesus. And ministry happens 00:26:16.890 --> 00:26:19.109 in that context, right? So often ministry, this 00:26:19.109 --> 00:26:20.809 is what happens in the gospel. So often ministry 00:26:20.809 --> 00:26:24.150 happens around a dinner table where people are 00:26:24.150 --> 00:26:27.970 talking about life and they're saying, oh my, 00:26:28.730 --> 00:26:31.750 let me encourage you to repent. Let me encourage 00:26:31.750 --> 00:26:34.529 you to follow the Lord. That's so often ministry 00:26:34.529 --> 00:26:36.670 is happening. Ministry is happening in community 00:26:36.670 --> 00:26:39.430 groups and ministry teams and Bible studies. 00:26:40.569 --> 00:26:45.049 As you gather together and you proclaim a new 00:26:45.049 --> 00:26:49.690 life, a repentant life in Christ. What I'm suggesting 00:26:49.690 --> 00:26:51.750 to you is that ministry is healing and preaching. 00:26:52.470 --> 00:26:54.390 But here's another thing that I think is really 00:26:54.390 --> 00:26:56.009 lovely about this passage is that it doesn't 00:26:56.009 --> 00:26:58.130 just talk to us about what ministry is, but it 00:26:58.130 --> 00:27:00.549 also talks to us about how is ministry done. 00:27:02.130 --> 00:27:05.009 There's a few things in this passage, okay, about 00:27:05.009 --> 00:27:09.259 how ministry is done. The first thing that is 00:27:09.259 --> 00:27:10.960 actually really significant here is that ministry 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:15.759 is done in community. So there is no Christian 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:20.980 life lived in isolation. And there is no Christian 00:27:20.980 --> 00:27:26.599 ministry that is done all alone. If you notice 00:27:26.599 --> 00:27:28.779 this passage, it begins like this, and he called 00:27:28.779 --> 00:27:33.819 the 12 to him and began to send them out two 00:27:33.819 --> 00:27:37.160 by two. Interestingly, how that two by two is 00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:39.839 written is actually sort of unique. There's not 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:42.759 other instances of that sort of phrase in ancient 00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:47.859 Greek texts. It's just duo, duo, two, two. And 00:27:47.859 --> 00:27:49.740 people think that maybe it was written like that 00:27:49.740 --> 00:27:52.880 because it's emphasizing it. It's wanting you 00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:54.079 to go, wait, that's not how you say it. Wait, 00:27:54.119 --> 00:27:56.660 I need to pay attention to that. It's two by 00:27:56.660 --> 00:27:59.720 two. You cannot do ministry. alone. Ministry 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:01.440 is just not something you do in isolation. And 00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:03.240 of course, this is the pattern of the Bible. 00:28:03.619 --> 00:28:06.079 God calls a community to Himself. He creates 00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:08.859 a community, male and female, right? He creates 00:28:08.859 --> 00:28:11.960 them together. He calls a whole family to Himself, 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.119 and He says, you're going to multiply, and through 00:28:14.119 --> 00:28:15.799 you, all the nations are going to be blessed. 00:28:16.460 --> 00:28:18.559 But then when you come to the New Testament itself, 00:28:18.839 --> 00:28:20.799 as Jesus did from the very beginning of His ministry, 00:28:20.819 --> 00:28:23.519 He calls other people to Himself. Or if you look 00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:26.109 at the book, particularly the book of Luke, but 00:28:26.109 --> 00:28:28.049 also you can find this actually very little bit 00:28:28.049 --> 00:28:30.609 in the beginning of Mark. John the Baptist and 00:28:30.609 --> 00:28:32.670 Jesus' ministry go hand -in -hand even before 00:28:32.670 --> 00:28:34.309 he calls the disciples. It's like somebody else 00:28:34.309 --> 00:28:36.490 is right there ministering with him. And if you 00:28:36.490 --> 00:28:38.130 go into the book of Acts, of course you find 00:28:38.130 --> 00:28:41.569 the same thing with Paul and Silas and Paul and 00:28:41.569 --> 00:28:44.589 Timothy, or actually in Acts 18, what do we hear? 00:28:44.910 --> 00:28:47.170 Paul is in Corinth and Silas and Timothy came 00:28:47.170 --> 00:28:50.730 to him. You can think of Barnabas. Ministry is 00:28:50.730 --> 00:28:53.470 always done with others. It's always done in 00:28:53.470 --> 00:28:57.740 community. Again, I'm just gonna say that one 00:28:57.740 --> 00:29:01.579 of the best ways you can actually grow and do 00:29:01.579 --> 00:29:03.359 the work of ministry is just join a community, 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:06.720 a ministry team. Just say, I don't even know 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:08.599 what I should do. Put me on something and I'll 00:29:08.599 --> 00:29:10.079 find some place to just put you and we'll see 00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:12.380 if it works or not. But you do it with other 00:29:12.380 --> 00:29:15.519 people. Okay, the other thing that I think we 00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:18.400 see really clearly in this passage is that, so 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:20.579 ministry is done in a community, but ministry 00:29:20.579 --> 00:29:27.740 is always done in dependence on God. So verse 00:29:27.740 --> 00:29:33.779 8, He charged them. Charged them to take nothing 00:29:33.779 --> 00:29:38.500 for their journey except a staff, no bread, no 00:29:38.500 --> 00:29:43.559 bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals 00:29:43.559 --> 00:29:51.619 and not put on too tight. Now, we know from other 00:29:51.619 --> 00:29:54.559 passages that the disciples had bread. here and 00:29:54.559 --> 00:29:58.220 there. We know from other passages that disciples 00:29:58.220 --> 00:30:02.299 had a money bag. We know that. It's not that 00:30:02.299 --> 00:30:05.559 those things are in and of themselves bad, but 00:30:05.559 --> 00:30:07.480 what he's saying is if you're going to do ministry, 00:30:07.619 --> 00:30:10.720 you've got to learn dependence. You have to learn 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:13.599 dependence on me. And these other things, you're 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:15.779 tempted to find that if you can take them along, 00:30:16.039 --> 00:30:18.579 maybe you can rely on them and not on my own 00:30:18.579 --> 00:30:22.480 provision for you. teaching them that ministry 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:28.480 demands dependence on Him. Just like you cannot 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:31.019 do ministry alone, you cannot do Christian ministry 00:30:31.019 --> 00:30:35.980 outside of dependence on God. Which is to say 00:30:35.980 --> 00:30:38.500 that Christian ministry demands giving up control. 00:30:39.819 --> 00:30:45.039 And maybe, maybe that is why so often so many 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:48.099 pastors fail at Christian ministry because pastors 00:30:48.099 --> 00:30:58.549 love control. I'm speaking from experience. It 00:30:58.549 --> 00:31:01.309 also means, as Jesus says in a way, that sometimes 00:31:01.309 --> 00:31:04.289 ministry will go well, humanly speaking, and 00:31:04.289 --> 00:31:08.250 sometimes it won't. Sometimes people will welcome 00:31:08.250 --> 00:31:10.349 the message of repentance and sometimes people 00:31:10.349 --> 00:31:15.789 will not. The image that we have here is shaking 00:31:15.789 --> 00:31:19.289 the dust off your feet. And that image actually 00:31:19.289 --> 00:31:22.029 came from a Jewish practice that we know from 00:31:22.029 --> 00:31:24.950 other writings around the time of when the Jews 00:31:24.950 --> 00:31:27.430 would wander outside for various reasons, outside 00:31:27.430 --> 00:31:28.970 of the promised land that they lived and they 00:31:28.970 --> 00:31:31.910 would come back and they didn't want any sort 00:31:31.910 --> 00:31:36.190 of any bit of the Gentile world coming into their 00:31:36.190 --> 00:31:38.490 world. And so even the dirt would just kind of 00:31:38.490 --> 00:31:43.869 be brushed off, get rid of it all. And what Jesus 00:31:43.869 --> 00:31:45.769 is doing is he's sending his disciples out into 00:31:45.769 --> 00:31:50.319 Galilee, which was The Christian community, the 00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:51.819 Jewish community and saying, you know what? There's 00:31:51.819 --> 00:31:53.720 gonna be times where even they will not receive 00:31:53.720 --> 00:31:56.140 you and you've got to understand that they're 00:31:56.140 --> 00:32:00.839 unbelievers. Brush it off. Which is to say sometimes 00:32:00.839 --> 00:32:02.599 ministry, you're not gonna have the success that 00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:06.160 you want, right? We start, since I've been here, 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:07.779 we've started a few things and then we've said, 00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:11.460 you know what? Let's stop doing that. That didn't 00:32:11.460 --> 00:32:18.990 seem to work too well. What's next Lord? Anyway, 00:32:20.250 --> 00:32:25.289 let me in a way wrap this up for us. We've seen 00:32:25.289 --> 00:32:29.349 at least some of what ministry is, some of how 00:32:29.349 --> 00:32:35.970 ministry is done. One thing that's really neat 00:32:35.970 --> 00:32:37.809 in this passage is that you get this sense, it's 00:32:37.809 --> 00:32:39.849 very short, but you get the sense that there's 00:32:39.849 --> 00:32:46.039 a real success that these disciples have. Maybe 00:32:46.039 --> 00:32:48.700 you know elsewhere and in Luke they come back 00:32:48.700 --> 00:32:53.859 and they say Wow, it worked Jesus. We really 00:32:53.859 --> 00:32:58.380 did cast out demons in your name but um But here 00:32:58.380 --> 00:33:02.859 it says And they cast out many demons painted 00:33:02.859 --> 00:33:06.640 with oil By the way, nobody is quite sure what 00:33:06.640 --> 00:33:08.380 the oil is there. So I didn't get into that with 00:33:08.380 --> 00:33:11.839 the how there's a lot of different fairly compelling 00:33:11.839 --> 00:33:17.410 takes Many who were sick and healed them. King 00:33:17.410 --> 00:33:22.250 Herod heard of it, for his name become known. 00:33:24.250 --> 00:33:29.250 They obviously have this degree of success in 00:33:29.250 --> 00:33:30.890 what they are called to do, this ministry that 00:33:30.890 --> 00:33:39.170 they're called to. So how? I mean, how is this? 00:33:40.329 --> 00:33:42.069 I mean, I suggested at the beginning of this 00:33:42.069 --> 00:33:45.049 sermon, that it's significantly true that American 00:33:45.049 --> 00:33:47.130 Christianity wears the history of the United 00:33:47.130 --> 00:33:52.170 States on its congregations. That we kind of 00:33:52.170 --> 00:33:55.970 resemble in a way often for, there's some beauty 00:33:55.970 --> 00:33:58.490 in this and there's some very bad stuff in this, 00:33:58.529 --> 00:34:05.750 we resemble this world that we live in. What 00:34:05.750 --> 00:34:08.750 I wanna suggest to you is that ministry will 00:34:08.750 --> 00:34:14.400 resemble what you are soaking in. And what have 00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:19.300 the disciples been soaking in? I mean, Jesus 00:34:19.300 --> 00:34:21.000 called them to Himself in chapter three, and 00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:23.519 it said in chapter three, He did that so that 00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:26.420 He could send them out and they could cast out 00:34:26.420 --> 00:34:28.340 demons and they could preach repentance. They 00:34:28.340 --> 00:34:29.739 said that in chapter three. Why didn't He do 00:34:29.739 --> 00:34:35.099 it in chapter three? I want to suggest to you 00:34:35.099 --> 00:34:38.559 because they needed to soak in Him, right? And 00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:40.539 what do we find when we look actually in that 00:34:40.539 --> 00:34:43.300 gap between chapter three and chapter six? What's 00:34:43.300 --> 00:34:48.079 chapter four? Preaching. It actually begins with 00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:52.679 preaching repentance. Well, and there's parables 00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:55.800 and stuff, but I mean, think of the purpose of 00:34:55.800 --> 00:34:58.739 parables, chapter four, verses 12. So that they 00:34:58.739 --> 00:35:00.739 may indeed see, but not perceive, and may indeed 00:35:00.739 --> 00:35:03.300 hear, but not understand, lest they should turn 00:35:03.300 --> 00:35:06.559 and be forgiven. He's actually saying turn. Even 00:35:06.559 --> 00:35:09.420 the style of preaching is for repentance and 00:35:09.420 --> 00:35:11.880 for a revelation of whether or not he needs to 00:35:11.880 --> 00:35:15.440 brush the dirt off His foot or not? Are they 00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:18.119 hearing? Are they turning to Him? Chapter four 00:35:18.119 --> 00:35:20.539 is all about Jesus preaching. What's chapter 00:35:20.539 --> 00:35:27.159 five about? Jesus' healing, right? So the success 00:35:27.159 --> 00:35:29.860 that they have, and let me suggest to you this, 00:35:30.059 --> 00:35:33.619 the only way that we will not just resemble the 00:35:33.619 --> 00:35:38.039 world that we live in is if you are soaking in 00:35:38.039 --> 00:35:40.480 who Jesus is and what He has done and the words 00:35:40.480 --> 00:35:46.559 He has said. That's the only way. The way for 00:35:46.559 --> 00:35:49.800 Christian ministry to be done and to have some 00:35:49.800 --> 00:35:52.280 level of true effect in the world is for us, 00:35:52.519 --> 00:35:58.360 the church, to be soaking in Jesus, to put on 00:35:58.360 --> 00:36:04.119 Christ, to be Jesus, the reality of what we wear, 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:08.659 because otherwise we will just resemble whatever 00:36:08.659 --> 00:36:20.280 is around us. Friends, we confess every week 00:36:20.280 --> 00:36:23.940 when we confess the creed that we believe in 00:36:23.940 --> 00:36:29.099 the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. We 00:36:29.099 --> 00:36:31.880 believe that the Church is the community of the 00:36:31.880 --> 00:36:35.760 sent ones. The community of the sent ones, that's 00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:42.539 what apostle means. May we wear as we are sent. 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:49.599 Christ. And may he be known. May his healing 00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:53.159 be known. May repentance and faith and the real 00:36:53.159 --> 00:36:58.119 reality of a changed life be known. And may we 00:36:58.119 --> 00:37:01.960 do that together, always depending and resting 00:37:01.960 --> 00:37:06.760 on him. Amen. Let me pray. Lord God, pray Lord 00:37:06.760 --> 00:37:11.199 that we would soak in you. that we would hear 00:37:11.199 --> 00:37:14.440 that this text is for us because we are the apostolic 00:37:14.440 --> 00:37:18.139 ones. We are the sent ones. God, would we see 00:37:18.139 --> 00:37:23.280 the beauty in a call from you to heal the world, 00:37:24.940 --> 00:37:28.119 to address the needs of our neighbors with compassionate 00:37:28.119 --> 00:37:32.559 love and to not divorce that from their spiritual 00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:37.280 need? God, would we find um that proclaiming 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:41.119 repentance to one another in our families and 00:37:41.119 --> 00:37:44.659 in our in our friendships sitting around coffee 00:37:44.659 --> 00:37:48.559 sitting in a community group god in all these 00:37:48.559 --> 00:37:51.159 different ways lord attending worship god would 00:37:51.159 --> 00:37:56.940 we find that there is life in these god we eagerly 00:37:56.940 --> 00:38:01.780 do it together holding hands together and holding 00:38:01.780 --> 00:38:06.059 fast to you God, would you please, Lord, this 00:38:06.059 --> 00:38:08.659 coming year see fit to bless us as we seek to 00:38:08.659 --> 00:38:12.460 be faithful to you? God, as we are sent by you 00:38:12.460 --> 00:38:17.300 into the highways and byways, the alleys, the 00:38:17.300 --> 00:38:20.079 interstates, wherever you would call us, Lord, 00:38:21.079 --> 00:38:24.059 would we be faithful to you? And would you please 00:38:24.059 --> 00:38:27.260 bless us? How we think of the success that you 00:38:27.260 --> 00:38:30.380 gave to these apostles long ago. Lord, as we 00:38:30.380 --> 00:38:33.739 are clinging to you, as we are putting you on, 00:38:34.219 --> 00:38:37.219 as we are following in your ways. You also bless 00:38:37.219 --> 00:38:40.519 us in our ministry here at Second City. We pray 00:38:40.519 --> 00:38:44.920 in your name. Amen. Thank you for listening to 00:38:44.920 --> 00:38:47.639 Second City Sermons podcast. We hope this sermon 00:38:47.639 --> 00:38:49.900 has encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate 00:38:49.900 --> 00:38:52.780 the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing 00:38:52.780 --> 00:38:55.619 to this podcast and joining us in person each 00:38:55.619 --> 00:38:58.480 Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us online at 00:38:58.480 --> 00:39:01.659 secondcitychurch .org and on Instagram, Facebook, 00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:04.400 and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. God 00:39:04.400 --> 00:39:04.760 bless.