181209 Jesus and His Mission

Thank you very much. I appreciate you we can wake up at working with us a Matthew 9 3538. Let's talk about Jesus and his mission noticed that sometimes well notice how easy it is to get confused about lyrics and a song of there's lots of those on YouTube videos, but it's easier some time to miss hear some of the Christmas Christmas lyrics and so a second grade teacher in Atlanta, Georgia asked her students to write out the words of their favorite Christmas songs. And so they did and she compiled some of those. So you're you're some of the results you got on the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me. True love gave Norfolk it a deck the halls with Buddy hot deck the halls with Buddy. Holly. Nobody remembers Buddy, Holly. Okay back in the day. Yeah back is what day was alright? Here's the third one. He's making a list chicken and rice. I think they miss her that song. Alright, here's one of my favorite Olive Olive the Other Reindeer instead of all out. Okay, and it with the jelly toast Proclaim. Can you imagine that in that song Hark the Herald Angels Sing from Frosty the Snowman in the meadow? We can build a tree in the meadow. We can build a snowman and pretend that he is Parson Brown. Himachal Pradesh hear songs sometimes even as adults I mishear songs, you know, I was listening to a song that my grandson was listening to the other day. And I thought what in the world what kind of music is that? Anyway, I didn't pass that judgment, but I was thinking it so we do miss here thinks but I want you to know sometimes we can miss hear the Christmas message until sometimes it's all you watches Hallmark movies and you get the feeling it is has to be warm and sentimental and mushroom gushing all of that. But to be honest with you the reality of Christmas at the Jesus came into a hard hard world and did something out to help us to save us to deliver us. So I'm going to talk about that because that's why I asked about why Jesus came to Earth And that is the Jesus God has a purpose in all things and God had a purpose in Jesus coming so Matthew 9:35 238 capsule. It's a capsule eights what Jesus was there for and Jesus went throughout all the cities and The Villages teaching in their synagogues proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom healing every disease every Affliction and when he saw the crowds he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd and then he said to his disciples. The Harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few therefore pray earnestly to the lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into his Harvest motivates. Jesus saves Jesus. I don't know hopefully this one. We're asking you to kind of look at what motivates your like what drives your life what passions are there in your own life? That's what we want you to look at Princess. When you drive a car. Where does that what does a car go when it goes, wherever your steer it. You see the direction you steer it and it goes that way when you drive a nail where does it go hopefully goes into the board. You know, I don't know about you. I've missed a few nails and hit the other kind of an A or if you know what I mean now, I'm not a golfer any we have been golfers here. When you drive a golf ball, where does it go? It goes wherever it wants to go out at all when I played golf. It just goes wherever he wants to go and I are just that's why I quit after two times. So what drives your life were thinking about? It could be money could be ambition could be fear could be security could be your ego could be something else and then you have to look at and we'll talk about this and then next year what drives a church now we all say we this is what motivates of what drives are but sometimes it's not sometimes by tradition because we've always done it that way before or could be that the goal of the church is just to make the budget while the budget is just a tool and so we're not just a slave to a budget good Beacon spiritual consumerism could be something else. I don't know what sometimes we have to really look at what drives the church the Matthew 9 3538 is a pivotal moment in the ministry of Jesus verse. I guess it's a separate of Jesus ministry at that time. And it does that with that one sentence and Jesus went throughout all the cities notice the term all all the city all the cities all the villages teaching of their synagogues proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom with and healing every disease and every Affliction know where did Jesus go he went to the village is not to the Metro areas and all there's not too many of them in Israel leaving in that day. But he went to where he went to the Villages Village was so small. It did not even count as a town to the idea. There was no place too small for Jesus to go. There's no Village witches in significance, meaning of insignificance. There's there people who feel insignificant and Jesus was saying by going to these Villages every single is important other folks feel like they do not matter and God wants to work through them and come alongside of us to come so late. You know, what you do matter if Jesus went to every village then it's our role to go to people and tell them. Hey, your life is significant. It can be a life of purpose and then verse 36 to 38 reports a specific incident on one of those occasions and when he saw the crowds he had compassion for him for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd and he said to his disciples the Harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few therefore pray earnestly to the lord of the high. Best to send out laborers into the Harvest. So what can we learn from Jesus in the story? Well, when the first of all I'm going to say what you need to see as Jesus song if we're going to do the work in the ministry of Jesus we need to see is Jesus all presumably Jesus and his disciples saw the same seen the approaching crowd of people the Jesus saw them with different eyes than the disciples. Did Jesus saw the great need of these lost people. He saw a lot of misery lepers who will be around with and he would touch them a paralyzed man was brought to him. So desperate his friends would even dig a hole through the roof too late to lay him down and in Jesus as a blind man. We've been reduced to just begging on the side of the road. So Jesus all people who did not have enough money for. Some medicine or care desperate parents brought their children to Jesus to depress the alone Be Afraid and they were asking hey, do you see me Jesus? Do you notice me to in Jesus all the crowds he had compassion on it didn't have judgment on them. Not superiority. Not disdain. He simply saw people. several years ago in Tucson a young father name James Lee shot himself While he was in a bar in a in a phone book and remember the days of phone booth phone booths, and there was four days along before us mess before it called and told them I told the reporter that he had sent a new the news paper and envelope outlining a story. So the pranic reporter tried to trace the call, but it was too late and when the police arrived at the bar, I wear this Meg young man that shot himself the young man was slumped over with a bullet through his head and his pockets a child's crayon drawing much folded and worn on it was written. Please leave in my coat pocket. I want to have it buried with me and the drawing was signed and childish print by the man's daughter Shirley who died in a fire five months earlier been so grief-stricken stricken as total strangers to attend his daughter's funeral. So she would have a nice serve. He said there's no family to attend because the mother had died when the child was to the reporter just before he took his life. They said that all he had in life was gone and he felt so alone now, we here heartbreaking stories like that often times on the news and sometimes we might say, you know, if I were there I would have shown love to that lonely hurting man, and if we if we really knew the story we might have done that people do not wear a sign blinking love me. I'm hurting. And we have hurting people. Every week you're just hurting people around you every week. So sometimes what happens we step over them to go talk with our friends instead of engaging them or do we see them as Jesus all these people as distressed the spirited and a sheep without a shepherd with people who are hurting at home folks who are not in church and they want someone to contact them. All they want. Is he a my significant enough that you would break your routine and contact me Jesus saw this great need of lost people and he saw the Great Harvest of lost people. He said inbirth 37. The Harvest is plenty of them on another occasion after speaking with this American Woman by The well, he told the disciples John for 35 lift up your eyes and look in the fields that they are white unto harvest the Apostle Paul.

People in this city that is all your to go there their folks who do not know me yet by name but God was saying look, I've chosen some folks already there there in the city. You just need to go find them trailer for the hardest Harvest waiting to be reaped the Harvest did not depend upon our techniques, but I'm God Sovereign purpose and he has planned a harvest and he calls us to get involved and his Harvest so he would not want to hear that person over there. Like they don't want to hear about Christ or might be offended. If I were to tell them about spiritual things. Well, here's my question. How do you know that? In the second question. Why does it matter? Jesus At. The Harvest is plentiful. It is God's job to Open Hearts of the Gospel. It's our job to go to the Harvest and see to reap a crop to Jesus all the Great Harvest and thirdly Jesus saw the great need for workers for the Harvest. Jesus said the workers are few. And if you could probably go to almost every Church all over the country, perhaps all over the world and that's what people would say. The workers are few Lord. Send out more workers into the Harvest. Jesus be a great crop that's ready for Harvest, but he doesn't have enough for Reapers. It's an interesting picture isn't it will accomplish his purpose and he's going to say people with us or without us but get at the same time. He has chosen to save lost people through Those whom he has already saved. What's the time? God works through us who probably would have been more competent than we are but he chose to use us and so the plentiful Harvest means that there is always a need for more workers. Dennis pethers is probably a name that you haven't heard up. I met him down at the convention had a meeting with him about a year-and-a-half to two years ago two years ago down in Phoenix. He's from the UK from United Kingdom London and I heard him speak with a group of us denomination folks there and I-80 speaks about the question website. You used to listen to his videos and all that buddy, but he speaks about the question. He raises I say he speaks around the world. Nearest church leaders. He said what is more difficult to get people outside of church to be in to get people inside of church interested in nothing people outside of church to tell them about Jesus he writes without exception in every single place. I've asked this question their answer has been unanimously the same in every place anywhere in the world. Everybody says, it's much harder to get Christians to share their faith that it is to get people outside of church to become interested in Jesus. So there is the issue not just in the America but apparently all over the world. One reason for not sharing our faith is perhaps because we feel no we feel like it's we've got to have this sales pitch down, you know what I mean? And sometimes we've been trained we got to memorize this complicated procedure of speaking it up. And then that does that's how the programs used to be the evangelism programs. I've seen and grew up with but what if you saw your task is not making a sales presentation. Did you have to memorize what if you saw your task was simply people or two notice people or to encourage people or to care for people or to share with me Florida give to people to come alongside of people what if you saw your task that God has given you some spiritual gifts and you're going to use those Spirits in ministering to other people what have you sold that as your task because that is the task at hand. We all were complicated. No need to feel second thing Jesus other people as Jesus Jesus all will lead us to the next step. We need to feel as Jesus felt seeing the people. He felt compassion for them at the Greek word felt compassion is used frequently of Jesus in the Gospels. It is related to a noun meaning in word parts or if your redneck like I was when I grew up it's the guts you got to feel it in the gut so down deep inside Jesus felt for these people. He didn't really blame them for the match neighbor and although he could have done so rather you felt compassion for them. So here's a question as we look at people. Do we feel compassion for centers for drug and think you know date They made their bed let him lion it's their own fault. But Jesus saw and felt compassion. He saw people, you know, you said look there's an orphan or there's a poor Widow over there who has no means to take care of herself. There's a there's a Pharisee over there who gets all confused about his religious issues. There's a Roman soldier everybody just hate there's a widow. Nobody notices. She has no money. She's vulnerable. There's a Rich Young Ruler everybody in being sound but but nobody knows that he has a lot of sadness going on in his heart. So Jesus ladies all of these people and he feels deep compassion because of their condition to us not enough for me when I have a friend who is suffering to Simply see it. It's not enough for me to Simply go. Hey, I see you're really having a hard time. That's not enough. I have to move beyond that. I have to move to care have to move to compassion for that friend. Bishop Miller was up for a hospital staff person. And she she says I was at work in the emergency room. I learn to stop crying and the pain around me. It was my way of dealing with all the pain that I saw with people coming in there. Just just kind of hard on myself that he sent some ice to sensitize myself to it becoming more sensitive to people and their real needs five years of the emergency room exposure a taken its toll and then one day God intervene. She says I was taking information for registering a young woman who overdosed on drugs and had attempted suicide in her her mother. I was taking the information from her mother and I was typing the information as a mother was giving it to me. The mother was unkempt should bleary-eyed. You been awakened in the middle of the night about the police to say you got to come to the hospital if something is happening to your daughter, and she could she could only speak in a whisper and here's this nurse saying to herself, you know, she was saying it inside. Will you just hurry up? Will you speak up? And slowly this woman gave me the information. She said my impatience was so wrong as I finished the report and jump to the machine to to copy the medical cards, and that's when God stopped at the copy machine and he spoke to my heart. So clearly you didn't even look at her you did not even look at her. And she says I Feel Jesus grieve for her and for her daughter and I bowed my head. I'm sorry Lord. I am so sorry. So I sat down in front of the distraught woman and covered her hands were mine. And I looked into her eyes with all the love of God the God can flow through me and said I care I really do care don't give up and she wept and she wept and she poured out her heart to me about the years of dealing with a rebellious daughter as a single mother and finally she looked up and think me me the cold-hearted one was no feelings. My attitude change that night. My Jesus came right into the workplace in spite of the rules that tried to keep them out and it came into Set Me Free to care again. He gave himself to that woman through me my God who so loved the world broke that self-imposed barrier around my heart now, he could reach out not only to see me not holding me and my But to a lost and hurting woman. May God give us that kind of compassion a few what is going on in others around me. And then we need to see need two people to see the saw them. We need to feel compassion. Thirdly we need to do as Jesus did and what did Jesus do? 20 minister to people's needs and he prayed for more workers people spiritual and physical needs you're some kind of a mission statement about all of us about the only certain people are called into the ministry. To be honest with you. Jesus said all of us are called into the ministry and some of those are called to be pastors or some of us called to be teachers. Some of those called me this or that but all of us have a calling on our lives to minister to people in Jesus name. It's a Ministry simply means service. So whatever God has put before you whatever GIF she is given to you you use those to honor him and his king of every question. He has given you unique gifts. He's also giving you unique opportunities to take what he is giving you and use it to serve those with whom he has put you in contact. How we we put together got signed up with the angel tree a little late this year, but we got approval back in thinking late October and finally got going on that or was it not sure that we got we got late running with it, but I just want to tell you that Roxanne Windsor did a wonderful. Is she here? No, she's working with the children this morning. She did a wonderful job of putting that together we want I want to thank all of you who took a child a child child's name brought gifts. Thank you for showing up last night. Thank you for bringing food because that's really the ministry that Jesus is called astute to minister to people like well, well, this is just one subset of the group but the prisoners families need lots of love. They feel somewhat lonely feel sometimes ashamed about their children have done they feel like or sometimes they want a church people to just going to condemn them like some folks in the world do and so it was a good thing for us to say. You know, what, God loves you God is a generous God. We want to provide something for you and your family now Matthew summarizes Jesus ministry like three things. He was teaching he was proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. He was healing every kind of illness and disease are not everyone is you know, it is gifted to teach publicly. But in private conversations you should be able to teach others what God has taught you. I mean what I want some of your better one-on-one then one on 20 or one on 50 or 1:00 on 70 or 100 400 or anything like that show, but God is giving you a gift so you can talk with somebody and eventually and say, you know, what? Here's what I'm learning from the Bible today. So you can do individual teaching not everyone is called to proclaim the gospel, but every believer should be ready when the opportunity presents itself to tell others how they can have their sins forgiven and be right with God. So the gospel Ennis briefest forms it is we've all sinned against his holy God. We deserve this punishment, but God saw us and our sins upon himself so that our sins could go to him. He paid for our sins God resurrected him on the third day. That is a simple form of the And you can learn that that's not that hard to learn Jesus also heal the sick which authenticated his claims to be the promised Messiah 101 today has a gift of healing like Jesus or perhaps the apostles in the book of Acts. We can pray for the sick and know that sometimes God will heal them and we can see people's physical needs and practical ways. So if we do as Jesus did we will miss her two peoples spiritual and physical needs. So what can you do? What's right here in our texts? That is we can pray for more workers. Jesus prayed for more workers. So why and that's what he's teaching us to pray for more workers. You heard a little note earlier that we needed some help in the children. Are you in on Sunday mornings? And maybe God is calling you that I don't know but talk to one of us about that. There's all kinds of other needs out there as well. So pray here's our first step is pray for more workers. Never remember that the scale of human need was so overwhelming to Jesus it broke his heart and just like one day turned his disciples and it's like you said, I cannot stand for this to go on for another day. I can't stand it. I can't stand for people to be trapped in their lies without God there loan us their Brokenness and their confusion Their Fear their isolation and their pain and their hurting their need are all Breaking My Heart. Do you see it? Church, I mean we can't be satisfied with our own little Community know how good things are our relationships wait, we can't be satisfied with that anymore. So I need to get another church. We're not here for us. We are here for people who do not attend this church. That's who we are here for it's not about us. It's about serving God through these as we serve these other people. Here's a question. How big is God's labor force? Well, it's tiny really it's a blip in the radar really. It's just one guy Jesus end of the workers are not available. Then the Harvest will never be gathered in so the Harvest will be lost. So what should we do? Jesus says pray, pray pray and when you finish praying pray some more pray that the lord of the Harvest will send out workers. Now we don't need Consultants nor experts no supervisors nor Spectators nor consumers not VIP CEOs in the AC. Workers. What does it work or do he works Jesus had a lot to say about that. He said I have to be about the work. My father has sent me to do he says in John night as long as it is day. We must do the work of him who sent me Jesus is asking you to do is really simple. It's a listen notice and courage care Share serve come alongside witness. Love. Jesus said to his followers pray. You have to pray that God will send out workers spiritual workers Kingdom workers because my heart is breaking and the human race is like sheep without a Shepherd. You have to pray the 12 disciples. Pray. God send out workers in the very next verse Matthew 10:1. God has Jesus said that workers and guess who got Sent out he sent out those who had prayed then there is a dangerous thing when you start praying he may call you to do that. Tell Jesus had a mission he started it was going very well was broken at the shape of our world. So Jesus had a mission and then one day he invited some people to join him in it. And I got it. Start a mission and then give it a mission know he started the mission and then gave it a church. I understand you and what if Jesus were here in our day. What what appears I'm because he is, you know, I mean what if he were to walk around the town Village of Clarkdale in in Cottonwood and we were to go with him to see what he sees and feel what he feels. How do you think Jesus would look at our area and say to us mission accomplished y'all have nothing else to do heat lunch every day every night. It'll be wonderful until you know, I think you would see that there are really some deep needs here as we converse with people as rocks and Converse with people and getting ready for a commercial with prisoner Pampers. We find out there are lots and lots of needs and so as a church, we're being childish to do something with that over the next several years know when you look at the world out there. I think you'll see more and more people living in isolation without anybody to love them. I think you and you'll see addictions that are on the rise and they are. He's see you young men young women who have no sense of purpose no sense of direction of where they're going and see all kinds of men enslaved by online pornography. We have a lot of that hit see you workaholic parents and lonely retirees and see a lot of fear fear failure fear of if you're not having enough money for the Aging fear of death for buying all those kinds of things exist out there. I think Jesus would say hey, do you see what I see? Do you feel what I feel? Do, you know? We're not here just for us. So what if every person who calls himself a follower of Jesus whose a part of this community were surrounded or surrendered and made their number one commitment Moment by moment with God here on Earth what might happen What might happen if we were all giving at full potential of our abilities of time effort energy money all that. So the question is as we think about this text the question is will you pray you look to see where God is at work around you and then join him and what he's already doing perhaps it's already where you are volunteering or maybe have a gift you haven't use or maybe have an idea that you've been thinking about him launching that idea kick around some of the folks and you don't maybe it's a God thing and it's time to get that thing going. But will you join God and what he is doing that church is what we are called to do. Let's pray. Holy God. We thank you Lord.

That this message of Christmas can really be lost certainly lost on our culture. Sometimes you can be lost on us and we think it's about gifts. We think it's about consumerism. Are we thinking it's about the tradition how we've always done things as a family as a church and Lord help us to see beyond all that to see that in this you sent your only son Jesus who came to live among us and with us and you send us out to minister to the people of our world. You'll take our gifts and sometimes Lord. We feel limited in our gifts. We feel like we're not enough and that's not a bad thought because it's true without you we can do nothing. But with you all things are possible. So Lord. We thank you that you can take the little that. We think we have and you can use it and magnify to glorify your son. Jesus help us is a church body help us as individuals to surrender our Wills to yours to seed Fields out there that are white unto Harvest to not give up and not burn out how to find the strength to keep on going. We thank you Lord God for that as we pray in Jesus name. Amen. We're going to stand for going to sing a song of.