Being Sent: The Sweet and the not so Sweet.

Success

-The disciples come back victorious after preaching and casting out demons.

Now lets think about these disciples for a second. These were not hte trained, scholarly bunch. these were young men who spent little to know time in school of theology. How did this happen? POWER!

God empowers us to accomplish that which He pleases

1 Thessalonians 5:24 KJV 1900

Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

Do- bring it to pass. Make happen.

God provides the means for us to make an impact

So it is not just God saying go and do it is God saying “Lets do this!”

Now the disciples come back and they are excited.

Suffering

-After a great victory they are nailed with the reality John the Baptist is gone

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King James Version Chapter 6

But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.

-Sin and death

Shut downs and lay-off’s. death and divorce. Heart Attacks and Cancer.

-Suffering Stinks

-Reality life is not always fair

Sabbath

Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

King James Version Chapter 6

And ethe apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.

31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.

Why a cruise is biblical for every pastor.

-Satan might not take a vacation, but Jesus does.

-sometimes we just need to get away

-Rest is a responsible

Steps of Faith

-Christ had compassion. Jesus has not called us to stay on sabbath.

What was the test? 

The test was to find out how much faith Philip had. 

It would have been a different story,

perhaps if Philip had said,

“Lord, what are You…why are You asking me? 

You made everything. 

Without You was not anything made that was made. 

You are the Creator. We’ve seen You create. For all these months,

we’ve seen You create. Why are You asking the question?” 

Ah, he would have passed the test if he had put

 his trust in the power which he had seen displayed day after day,

 after day, after day, after day.  He could have said,

 “Surely, You can do all these other things, You can make lunch or dinner for everybody.”

Service

The disciples not only delivered the food they also picked up the left overs.

life is for service.