Deployed by the King

Introduction

Last session we left off with Jesus leaving the town of Nazareth after the many unbelieving people there were so offended at His preaching that they tried to murder Him. Jesus was unable to do many miracles there because of their unbelief. This does not mean that unbelief strips power from God, but that God has chosen to respond to faith, and when faith is not present, He is not obliged to perform miracles. Remember, we talked about faith last week being a belief that drives me to action.

So Jesus leaves Nazareth and heads back to Capernaum, preaching and teaching in all the towns as he heads back.

We pick up today in Matthew chapter 10 where Jesus is about to change up the disciples’ routine.

Matthew 10:1–8 KJV 1900

1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

As we progress in our study today, we will be looking at the various aspects of the mission that the disciples received here, but first, before we analyze the mission itself, I want us to look at the heart behind the mission.

The Heart behind the Mission

We find the heart behind the mission in Jesus’ words and thoughts that recorded in Matthew 9:35-38

Matthew 9:35–38 KJV 1900

35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

We find Jesus once again being followed by a multitude of people, and as He looks around, verse 36 tells us that

Matthew 9:36 KJV 1900

36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them…

The heart behind Jesus sending His disciples to go and preach about the kingdom of heaven and to perform miracles, was simply a heart of compassion.

This fits in perfectly with what Jesus was telling Nicodemus in John 3:16

John 3:16 KJV 1900

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The Father sent the Son to earth because He loves people. He was moved with compassion for mankind. I want you to notice that when God loves somebody, He sends somebody.

The motivation to send the disciples was loving compassion toward the people He was sending the disciples.

The Reason for the Mission

Next I want us to see the reason for the mission. In Matthew 9, we read two ways that Jesus envisions the people that He has compassion over.

He sees them as scattered sheep. Matthew 9:36

Matthew 9:36 KJV 1900

36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Jesus, being the Good Shepherd, sees the multitudes, and again, even though outwardly these crowds of people are following Him like sheep would follow their shepherd, Jesus sees the hearts of the multitude and knows that many of these hearts are far from Him. They have no shepherd; they are scattered abroad, doing their own thing; they are living for their own desires and their own selves; and they are headed to certain death.

So he is moved by compassion because these sheep are not being cared for by a shepherd. They are not being fed, protected, guided to safety and still waters. These are sheep that, as they wander into the valley of the shadow of death, they will fear every evil and struggle through these valleys because God is not guiding them nor are His staff and rod offering defense against the lurking evils.

This breaks the Good Shepherd’s heart.

But then, He directs himself to the disciples and says this:

Matthew 9:37 KJV 1900

37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

There is a huge harvest. Jesus has been telling His disciples this since He sat at the well with the Samaritan woman. If you will remember what John chapter 4 has to say about that instance, you will remember that after the Samaritan woman puts her faith in Jesus, she goes back to the town to tell everyone that will listen to her about this Messiah that she has met at the well. As the Samaritans come out of the town to see Jesus, Jesus looks out over them and tells His disciples, “Look, the fields are white unto harvest; they are ready to be harvested.” And of course, Jesus is speaking about the people that are ready to put their trust in Jesus.

And here, in Matthew 9, Jesus points out to the disciples, the harvest is plentiful. The fields are ready, but there exists one problem - the laborers are few.

The Mission’s Needs

The harvest is plenteous! This is always good news. That is exactly what every farmer wants to hear about his crops - “There is a lot of crop to harvest.” However, if there is no one to harvest the field, then the crop will go to waist. The fruit or the grain that is growing will rot and wither on the plant that it was growing. What a terrible waste!

Imagine being the owner of a farm with fields and fields and fields that have been seeded, irrigated, and fertilized. You have taken really good care of it and made sure no pests have begun to ruin the crop that is just about to ripen. Suddenly, a man bursts through your front door and says, “I’ve got really good news, and I have really bad news. The good news is that the seeds we planted are producing way more fruit that we had expected. The harvest is truly plenteous! But the bad news is that there is no one out their work, and if we can’t find people that are willing to go out there and work. If we don’t get some more workers, the crop is going to be worthless.”

This is exactly what Jesus is pointing out to the disciples, and He tells them to do something - Matthew 9:38

Matthew 9:38 KJV 1900

38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

He tells His disciples to pray that God will send more workers to harvest the fields.

For Where Your Treasure Is...

This is the beginning of a saying that Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 6:21 holds the entire quote, but I dare say that there are those here who do not need to look it up to tell me the rest of the phrase. Anybody? “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Jesus commands His disciples to pray for workers to be sent into the fields to help harvest. Up to this point, it has just been Jesus. Yes, the disciples have been accompanying Him, but it is Jesus who is doing all the preaching, teaching, and healing. There has been one person in the fields, harvesting souls for the kingdom of heaven.

But Jesus, looking at the multitudes that have been following Him, sees that there are so many that need to be introduced to the Shepherd. When Jesus came to earth, He chose to live with the limitations of humans, and because of that, it would be impossible for Him to reach the whole world with the message of the kingdom of God. So He commands the disciples, “Pray that the Father will send more people to harvest the crops.”

The thing is, time is a treasure. Jesus is telling His disciples not just to launch a prayer up into the atmosphere every once in a while, but to beseech, to beg God that He will send workers into the harvest. The word translated “pray” here means just that - to beg, to beseech, to longingly ask for.

Jesus is telling His disciples to spend time and effort sincerely praying that God will send more workers. And the neat thing is, we see that the people God sends to work are those disciples that have been commanded to pray. And how is that? Well, time is a treasure. Fervor, passion, is a treasure. And as these disciples began to invest their time and passion praying for workers to be sent into the fields, their hearts began to love people.

And when Jesus finally does send the twelve, none of them make excuses, none of them argue, they simply go. And why is it easy for them to go? Because they have spent significant amounts of their time praying for more workers that now they find themselves loving the fields, so they willingly go.

As they began to see the world like Jesus saw it, they too would have been moved with the compassion of Christ.

Mission Deployment

Right now, we have a friend and member of this church that is deployed with the Army and another that will soon be deployed. They are on missions, meeting the needs of the Army. At a point in time in their lives, they answered the call to serve our country in this fashion, and now, they have been called up and deployed.

The disciples are about to get marching orders as well, they are about to go on a short deployment, with a particular mission. Let’s read about it.

Matthew 10:1 KJV 1900

1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Matthew 10:5–8 KJV 1900

5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. [We see first the area of operations for these deploying disciples - the house of Israel. They are to go to the lost sheep of Israel. These sheep that were scattered abroad without a shepherd were the primary targets for the message of these disciples. They were to focus solely on Jews, for now.] 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. [Then we see the message that they are to give - the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The king is here. The Messiah has come. It is Jesus. He came to to forgive sins, to set the captives free, to proclaim liberty and the acceptable year of the Lord. They were to be preaching the same message that John the Baptist had been preaching and the same message that Jesus had been teaching - “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” They were preaching the Gospel of repentance.] Matthew 10:27 gives a little more about what they were to say. [Matthew 10:27 “27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.” ] 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

Then, we see the service they were to provide as well. They were to heal the sick and cast out devils. They were supposed to do it freely. They had not bought this power nor this authority, and they were not to sell it. They were to show true love for their countrymen by serving them in these ways, and as they did, they demonstrated that the message they were bringing was legitimately from God and not of their own imagination.

Mission Logistics

One of the things that is not often thought about by those outside the military is the amount of logistical support that goes into the planning and execution of a mission. The United States military has the best logistical support of any military in the world, past or present. This has been true for a very long time. By logistic support, I mean the coordination of moving, housing, and supplying troops and equipment.

When military logistics is thought of by people unfamiliar with military life, the big picture items readily come to mind - food, ammunition, and shelter. And we might think of those as MRE’s and tents along with ammo, but it goes way deeper than that for the US military.

To give you an example of how amazing US logistic support is in comparison to other countries, I will refer you to the surprise recorded in a journal of a Nazi lieutenant who surrendered to the American forces in the Ardennes forest.

It was December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, the German army was winning this battle. Deep in the Belgian forests, German troops were rushing American encampments and catching them by surprise. They overran half-set up outposts and hastily made front lines whose trenches had not even been dug yet.

Though at this point, the German military seemed to be winning the battle, victories did not mean full stomachs. Germany was collapsing. It barely had enough food and money to feed its own military, yet alone its civilian population. On December 18, a German unit captured an abandoned American supply depot. These particular German soldiers had not eaten in two days but had high morale as they advanced through the Ardennes. However, what they found at that depot would shatter their belief in the war they were fighting.

Among the crates of supplies that lay abandoned by a retreating American force was fresh chocolate cake, real coffee, condensed milk, pre-made sandwiches, and supplies like German soldiers had never experienced since joining or being pressed into their military. The discovery was devastating. German soldiers had been told that they were winning the war and that victory was near, but standing there overseeing the redistribution of supplies to his hungry soldiers, a young lieutenant knew that it would only be a matter of time before the Allied forces won the war. His army could not even keep their soldiers fed adequately, and yet, a foreign military, whose country was over 3,500 miles away, was supplying its frontline soldiers with delicacies.

It was the chocolate cake that had convinced a young soldier, Corporal Hans Werner to walk away from his unit and toward American lines with his arms raised high in surrender. The simple dessert had broken his morale and that of many other men.

That is a stunning example of the US military’s ability to support its troops in the field. The Army was not the only one to benefit from this amazing logistic support. The US Navy during WW2 also had a stunning bit of logistic wonder. Each fleet of ships had at least one massive ship that was dedicated to making ice cream. They were called ice cream barges, and their whole purpose was to supply ice cream to those ships that could not make their own.

Today, the United States military can deploy a fully functional Burger King anywhere in the world within 24hrs, and have it up and running within days. That goes way beyond basic food and shelter supply. This is stunning logistics.

So, if the US military can provide this level of logistical support, what kind of logistics did Jesus, the Messiah, the King of the Kingdom of Heaven have in mind for His deploying disciples?

Let’s find out.

Matthew 10:9–10 KJV 1900

9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, 10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.

This is, of course, mission specific. This is the only time that Jesus commands His disciples to go out with nothing. There is another occasion in which Jesus tell His disciples to make sure that each of them has a purse, a cloak, and even a sword. So, for this particular mission, they were to rely on God’s provision through those that would be converted. This was going to be an exercise in faith on multiple levels. First, the disciples had to have the faith that Jesus had actually given them power to do the things that He told them to do: raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out demons, etc. Secondly, they were going to have to trust God for their physical provision.

There was no ice cream barge that was going to follow them around, nor was there any group of people making and sending pre-packaged sandwiches and cakes for them.

Mission Objectives

The most important thing to know about the mission before go out to the mission, is knowing the objectives. What constitutes a win? What constitutes mission completion? What is the primary objective? What are the secondary objectives? What objectives must not be pursued? These are all important questions that need to be answered before deployment to the mission happens.

Jesus has already given them mission objectives - preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. Now he tells them what the objective is not.

Matthew 10:11–15 KJV 1900

11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. 12 And when ye come into an house, salute it. 13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

Did you notice what Jesus is clarifying here? He is making sure that the disciples understand that they are responsible only for delivering the message, not convincing anyone about its truth.

Jesus did not say, “And whosoever will not receive you, argue with them until you wear them down and they finally see the truth,” nor did He say, “And those that don’t receive you, force them to receive you and the message that you have.”

No, Jesus said, “Go proclaim the truth of the kingdom and prove it by doing the miracles that I have been doing, and those who don’t receive you or the message, shake the dust off your feet.

Now, for the disciples, this had a very important implication. Notice that Jesus says that those who did not receive the disciples would have a more severe judgement than even the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha. When the disciples did this, they were actually announcing a judgment upon these people. Now, they were not the judges, but were relaying the message that they were under condemnation.

For those wondering, this does not contradict Matthew 7 that tells us not to judge. Jesus, the King of the Kingdom, had pronounced the judgment upon those that would not receive the message that these disciples had for them. They would be judged harshly, and they would be condemned. The disciples were merely letting them know about it.

If you will remember the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus toward the beginning of His ministry, Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:18-19

John 3:18–19 KJV 1900

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

In the same way that the disciples could not save nor forgive sins, they could not condemn anyone. So just like the disciples were there to relay the message of salvation, they would also be relaying the message of condemnation to all those that would not receive the message that had been given to them to spread.

And just like they were going to have faith that they would be provided for and that they indeed had the power that Jesus had given them, they would need to have faith that God would use the message that they were sent to preach.

Their job was not to convince, that is the Holy Spirit’s job. Their job was to relay, to communicate.

So what does that mean to us?

We Have a Mission

There are no Christians on reserve duty. There are only Active Duty Christians. And we all have a mission.

What is the mission of the church? To make disciples of every nation. We have been sent to proclaim the truth of the gospel to the lost. We have been sent to teach the things that we have learned of Christ. We have been sent to relay, to communicate the message of repentance and salvation. We are the ones that are there to preach the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:17–18 KJV 1900

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Notice that the ministry of reconciliation was given to us! It was vested in us.

So what should we do with it? The same thing Paul did with it.

2 Corinthians 5:20 KJV 1900

20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

We need to go and beseech people, beg them, “Be reconciled to God.” That is our primary mission. But you know what? For us to be successful, we must follow the pattern that Jesus set with His disciples.

We need to have a heart for the mission. Jesus looked at the multitude and had compassion on them because they were as sheep without a shepherd, a harvest that would spoil and perish if not harvested. The disciples did not see this at first, and we often do not either. So we follow the command that Jesus gave His disciples - “Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers into the harvest.”

We have learned that no prayer should be mechanical in nature. It should come from the heart. It should be a real pursuit of God and His response. And one of the prayers that we ought to be praying is for God to send workers into the harvest. When was the last time that you prayed specifically for God to send Christians into a specific field so that the lost could be saved? I am not talking about, “God, please help people get saved.” I am talking about prayers that are fervently asking God, “God, please send more Christians to Cedar Rapids, to Hiawatha, to Marion. There are so many lost souls here. Send more people to this field. God, please send Christians to Japan, send Christians to Afghanistan, send missionaries to Peru. Send workers and save the lost in those places.”

Last Wednesday, during the “engage” section of our Disciples Path study, we got to each pick and pray for a nation and for the missionaries and Christians in that nation, and that God would send more people to spread the Gospel. But before that, when was the last time that you specifically and fervently prayed for God to send workers into the harvest somewhere?

We need to start praying like that.

But you what? There are very few Christians that pray that way. Too many Christians are afraid to pray that way because they do not want to be that worker that is sent. They look at passages like the one we have studied today, and they think, “I am just fine where I am. I have no problem following Jesus. I have no problem watching His miracles and participating in them in a passive way. It is already a stretch to get in the boat with Him and go through storms. I am good with just being an observer of Jesus’ power and His work.”

Too many Christians are afraid that if they start praying for God to send workers to the harvest, they will be the ones sent. They think, “If I start praying for that, God is going to change things in my life.” YES!! That is the whole point! There is no guarantee that you will be called to a foreign land to preach or teach the Gospel if you start praying this, but you know what will change? Your view of the mission field. Your outlook toward the lost will change.

I guarantee that if you start praying earnestly and fervently for the lost to be saved, you will begin to view the lost in a completely different manner. And the reason is that Jesus will begin changing your heart. And the way that happens is described in Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2 KJV 1900

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

You and I will be changed because our hearts and our minds will be set on praying for the lost. Again, God may not call you to a foreign country, but He might. Either way, your love and compassion for the lost at home and abroad will grow. And you know what will happen then? You’ll begin to share the message. You will realize that even if you are not called to full-time, vocational Christian ministry - pastor, missionary, evangelist, etc. - you are called into the harvest field of your job, of your family, of your neighborhood, of you friends, or your grocery store, your local Taco Bell, your gym, of you city, of your state.

And when God says to us, “I am seeking for a person to make a hedge, to stand in the gap between the lost and me,” you would be the one that says, “Oh, Lord, that’s me. I’ll stand in the gap. I’ll intercede for the lost of Cedar Rapids, of Iowa, of the United States, of Canada, of the Congo, of Ukraine, of China.” And like Isaiah, when God says, “Who will go, and who will I send,” you will say, “Here am I, Lord. Send me.”

And wherever it is that God sends you, you will go with love and compassion, because long before your feet entered that place, your heart was there. Long before your mouth ever opened up with the message of the Gospel, your heart had been dreaming and praying for the day when those people would hear and receive the Gospel.

Where your treasure is, where you invest your time and passions and energy, there will your heart be also.

So what about logistics? Don’t worry about it. Let God provide for you. Wherever He sends you, He will let you know what to take and what not to take. Trust Him, even it seems difficult or illogical.

And lastly, what constitutes a successful mission? The mission is to deliver the message of the Gospel. Our mission is not to coerce or force or guilt or convince anyone into being a disciple of Jesus. That is the Holy Spirit’s job.

John 16:7–8 KJV 1900

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

One of the reasons that Jesus left us the Holy Spirit is so that He could convince the world of sin. That He could clearly show people the wickedness of our hearts. So that He could show us what true righteousness looks like, and that it can only be attained by faith in Jesus Christ, and to show the world that because we cannot attain righteous standing with God on our own nor can we erase or forgive our own sins, that there is judgment coming.

Notice that in the description of the Holy Spirit’s responsibilities, there is not a listing for preaching or giving that message. That message is for us to give.

Romans 10:13–15 KJV 1900

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? [I want to make a point that this is not a ‘pastor.’ This is a preacher - one who proclaims the truth. And the key element of that word is the word ‘preach.’ Francis of Assisi is attributed with the maxim “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” But this maxim, this saying, should never be adopted by any Christian. When preaching the Gospel, it is ALWAYS necessary to use words. Yes, we ought to live what we preach, we ought to have a peace and joy and longsuffering that draws the world’s curiosity, but we should be very vocal about our faith in ever circle that we belong to. Get vocal in your school, teens. Get vocal at you job. Get vocal with your family. Get vocal about the Gospel. “But Mike, we aren’t supposed to talk about politics or religion at work.” 1) You are in America, and there exists freedom of speech. You can talk about your faith anywhere. And 2), even if there were not the freedom of speech, there is nowhere that we find that nonsense in the Bible. “But won’t we offend someone?” Yes, you most likely will. But we’ll get into that more next week when we study that Jesus says, in this same speech of Matthew 10, that His message is not a message that will bring peace, but it will bring a sword, and it will pit brother against sister, father against son, daughter against mother-in-law. The message of the gospel is divisive, but we will get into that more next week… How shall they hear if there is no preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Before you breathe a sigh of relief thinking that you are not called to preach, let me remind every Christian here that we are sent. Every single Christian is sent and commissioned to preach the Gospel.

Matthew 28:18–20 KJV 1900

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Mark 16:15 KJV 1900

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

This is your mission. This is my mission. This is our mission as individuals and as the church.

There are no reserve Christians. We are all active duty. Don’t go AWOL, don’t shirk your responsibilities, don’t ignore your calling. Start with prayer. Catch the compassion and love for lost souls. And then, watch God empower you to go into the harvest and use you to win souls for His kingdom.

Invitation

With heads bowed and eyes closed, I want to ask a few of questions. The first question will be to those that are saved, those that have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. What is your status? Are you on mission? Are you working the fields? Are you making disciples? Are you regularly sharing the Good News of salvation at your job, your school, among your family and friends?

How many would say, “Mike, if I am honest, I have not witnessed to anyone, or even tried to, in a long time. It has been a while since I went and told someone about salvation. I have been sitting on the bench instead of being an active player in the field. Would you pray for me?”

How many would say, “Mike, if I’m honest with God, it’s been a long time since I have really, fervently, passionately prayed for lost souls here in Cedar Rapids, in my city, in my neighborhood. It has been a long time since I have fervently prayed for lost souls in the world. But today I want to start praying that God would send workers into the harvest, and that souls would be saved.”

How many would say, “Mike, if I am honest, it scares me to pray for workers because I am afraid of being sent. I know that I need to pray, I know people are dying and going to a very real hell, but it scares me to think of what God might ask me to do.” Is there anyone like that? Let me encourage you, just pray. Pray that God will change your heart. And start by simply praying for the lost souls in your city. Ask God to send someone, even if that is you, and if He does send you, trust that He will give you the power to say what needs to be said.

Unsaved?

Life Group

Warm-Up Questions

1. What, if anything, stood out to you from the sermon? Are there any questions or concerns about the passage?

2. Have you ever been asked to do something that felt “too big” or outside your comfort zone? How did you respond?

3. In your experience, what are some common excuses Christians (including us) use to avoid sharing their faith?

Scripture Focus Questions

4. In Matthew 9:37–38, what does Jesus identify as the main “problem” in the harvest, and what specific solution does He command?

5. How does 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 describe our identity and our role in God’s mission?

2 Corinthians 5:17–20 KJV 1900

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Heart Focus Questions

6. Jesus was “moved with compassion” when He saw the crowds as sheep without a shepherd. Where do you struggle to see people that way—in your workplace, school, neighborhood, or even at church?​

7. How does praying for laborers in the harvest (by name, place, or nation) begin to change your heart toward those people?

8. What fears, insecurities, or comforts make it hard for you to see yourself as “active duty” rather than “reserve” in the Christian life?

Application Questions

9. Where is your primary mission field right now (job, family, school, online spaces, neighborhood)? What would it look like to see that place as a harvest field this week?

10. How can you begin or deepen a habit of praying specifically for laborers and for the lost (e.g., picking cities, countries, or people groups to name regularly)?

11. What is one concrete, verbal step you could take this week to “preach the gospel” in your normal life—sharing your testimony, inviting someone to church, or explaining the gospel clearly?

12. If success in the mission is faithfully delivering the message rather than convincing or controlling results, how does that free or challenge you to open your mouth more boldly?

Afterthought: If God answered every one of your prayers from the past week, what or who would have been most impacted?