(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Good morning, church family.

Happy Lord's Day. And we're gonna go ahead and begin our worship with this first song, "As We Gather." (soft piano music) ♪ As we gather may your spirit work within us ♪ ♪ As we gather may we glorify your name ♪ ♪ Knowing well that as our hearts begin to worship ♪ ♪ We'll be blessed because we came ♪ ♪ We'll be blessed because we came ♪ ♪ As steadfast love of the Lord never ceases ♪ ♪ His mercies never come to an end ♪ ♪ They are new every morning ♪ ♪ They are new every morning ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Steadfast love of the Lord never ceases ♪ ♪ His mercies never come to an end ♪ ♪ They are new every morning ♪ ♪ New every morning ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ We're gonna wait for Pastor Peter.

'Cause I'm not sure where he's at. I might have to pivot and do announcements. (soft piano music) Has this ever happened? (soft piano music) Yeah, you can scroll those announcements for now. (soft piano music) (laughing) Yeah! (laughing) (soft piano music) (laughing) That's a first. Okay. Yeah, I got caught up talking to somebody.

They were asking me questions. Sorry about that. My clock is broken. All right, so College Study Hall. All right, sorry about that. The College Study Hall is starting today. If you wanna bring snacks and stuff, please drop it off in the cafe area. Living While Pregnancy Baby Bottle Drive is happening, and you need to turn that in at the latest by next Sunday.

Next Sunday, Christmas service. On the 22nd, there's going to be a booth for the invite, people who are coming here to hear the gospel and participate, and make sure you take one of these to initiate conversation or invite people. There's gonna be more of it when you go outside.

New Year's Eve service at the end. Again, to inaugurate and to dedicate our first fruit to the Lord, we invite you to come to that service at 11 p.m. There is a ping-pong tournament. That's not up here, but that you can sign up for. That happens during the day, on that day.

BBA WBBA, if you're planning to sign up for that, please sign up for that. This is the last week to sign up, so there's gonna be a table outside, so please visit that after the service. Let me take my--catch my breath. All right. And then, hermeneutics. Next session of Bible study is gonna be hermeneutics, and so we need you to sign up for that as soon as possible so that we can get the small groups and the home groups ready, okay?

And so Pastor Mark will be teaching that for the next session. It's gonna start on February the 5th, okay? All right, let me pray for the offering. Again, if you brought a physical offering, please visit our box in the back as you're on your way out. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this morning.

We pray, Father God, that you would cause our hearts and our minds to be completely devoted to you, and whatever distractions that we may have brought into this room, we pray that your word, our singing, even our giving, will cause our eyes to be fixated on Christ. Help us, Lord God, to give out of joy, out of abundance, Lord God, of thanksgiving, and may it be multiplied for the sake of your kingdom.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Church family, why don't we all stand together, and as we have been doing, say hello to who we're worshiping with and around. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ If you guys have followed on our Facebook, I posted this new song.

I wanted to go over this song with you, just the lyrics. It talks about trusting in Christ and his wisdom, not our own. If you read the lyrics with me, verse 1 says, "Christ our wisdom, we are humbled when you hide your ways from us. We remember each one, good and glorious.

Help us trust when we grow weary. Free us from our anxious thoughts. Give us grace to see more clearly. You are God and we are not." I'm going to read verse 2 as well. "Christ our wisdom, be our gladness when we fail to understand. You ordain all joy and sadness to fulfill your perfect plan.

Help us know you rule with power over every raging flood. In our most uncertain hour, you are God and we are God." So as we sing this, I pray that we reflect on who Christ is, that he is God and we are not. ♪♪♪♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we are humbled when you hide your ways from us.

You have purposes unnumbered, each one good and glorious. Help us trust when we grow weary. Free us from our anxious thoughts. Give us grace to see more clearly. You are God and we are not. ♪ Christ our wisdom, be our gladness when we fail to understand. You ordain all joy and sadness to fulfill your perfect plan.

Help us know you rule with power over every raging flood. In our most uncertain hour, you are God and we are God. Christ our wisdom, we will follow. Know the way ahead is nigh. As we journey through the shadows, you display your sight. Help us cling to your commandments.

Strengthen by your faithful word. We will never be afraid. You are God and we are God. ♪♪♪♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ You take all that you see and let your light shine. ♪ ♪ I see the way that's right.

♪ ♪ I know how your heart is set. ♪ ♪ You serve and serve and serve me. ♪ ♪ You are God and we are God. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we will follow. ♪ ♪ You take all that you see and let your light shine. ♪ ♪ I see the way that's right.

♪ ♪ I know how your heart is set. ♪ ♪ I see the way that's right. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ I see the way that's right. ♪ ♪ You serve and serve and serve me. ♪ ♪ I know how your heart is set.

♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ I see the way that's right. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ I see the way that's right. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory.

♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory.

♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory.

♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory.

♪ ♪ Christ our wisdom, we adore you for the beauty of your glory. ♪ 10 verses 1 through 4. Now after this the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them in pairs ahead of him to every city and place where he himself was going to come and he was saying to them the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Go behold I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves carry no money belt no bag no shoes and greet no one on the way. Let's pray. Father we pray for understanding. We pray for conviction as you are the potter and we are the clay mold us as you have ordained.

Help us Lord God to lift our eyes to Christ and that we would hear from you and that your sheep will hear your voice and follow you in Jesus name we pray amen. We're our church is uh headed into our 28th year anniversary in maybe about four or five months and so we've been around again compared to other churches obviously a little bit longer but the temptation that I notice as we see churches kind of you know that's been planted for a long time is that you forget the reason why the church was planted and then it becomes a church where you just a church gathered together and this is where you do life together this is where you raise children together but when you first plant the church almost every church has the same goal which is to reach the lost and so usually the church plants are the ones who go out and invite people they're out on the street inviting people to hear the gospel they're the ones who have events to to to reach the the people around them but the if we're not careful we can kind of settle into just a church like this is what church is supposed to be and we forget our ultimate calling the text that we're going to be looking at today is Jesus is calling to the harvest when we think about the great commission we usually think about Matthew 28 right before he ascends he calls his disciples to say go make disciples of all the nations right baptizing the name of the father son of the holy spirit teaching them to observe all that i have commanded you and we know what that calling is it's called a great commission because that's the last thing that he told his disciples before he left but he didn't spring that just out of the blue he didn't just all of a sudden at the end now that your training is over this is how i want you to apply it he said from the very get-go when he called them follow me and i will make you fishers of men so from the very beginning everything that he did was to train them get them ready so that when christ is done with his earthly ministry that they would continue to go and make disciples so all he was doing at the great commission before he ascends was to remind them what jesus was doing for all those three years and the primary thing that he was trying to do more than any anything else more than technique was to reveal to his disciples and to people who he was so that's why at the end when he's begin to head to the cross he doesn't say are you ready now to do the work he says no who do you say that i am who do you say that i am he wanted to make sure that they properly believed who he is that they were genuine followers of christ and everything that they're going to do and the building of this church he says upon this confession i will build my church and so from the beginning from the time of christ until today the mission has not changed he has called us to the harvest the text that we're going to be looking at today i want to i want to describe in these four verses four characteristic four things that that i want us to take a look at about the harvest and and why this is so important number one every single person all of us has been called to the harvest you know sometimes i think maybe it would have been easier if he didn't call us right and you think about all the distractions and all the infighting and and the things that have happened in the church and how the church has gone astray and there's a period in the church where you know people who wanted to just read the bible would get persecuted and burned at the stake wouldn't have been easier if god just kind of didn't involve the people and just himself just opened up the heaven and and just used his god voice to say believe instead of trying to engage people who are always distracted always tempted coveting and constantly constantly having to regroup them refocus them to do this work one thing that i think we need to understand is the engagement of god's people to bring the loss to christ is just as important in building the kingdom than to just bring the people to the church let me read it that again okay it is just as important to bring god's glory and to build his church his kingdom to have his children engage and have compassion for for the others who are not here yet to bring them so it is not only important to have the lost come to christ have the people who are of this fold who are not here yet to come it is equally important that the people who are already here is engaged in this work because what god is doing is building his kingdom and building his kingdom requires his people to engage in the kingdom work you know some of you guys who are a little bit older may remember michael jordan march 28 1990 scored 69 points against the game against the calves that was the highest points that he ever scored in his in his career after he scored that you know you typically the athletes would come and the and the reporters would begin to ask them and and in one of the athletes that came it was a a rookie named stacy king you guys probably never heard of his name before and he happened to be at the podium they asked him how do you feel as a rookie that you were able to play alongside michael jordan who had a historical night tonight where he scored 69 points what does that mean to you stacy and his response was i will never forget the night that michael jordan and i combined for 70 points right he scored one point right and after that the only news that we heard was michael jordan 69 stacy king won and he put himself on the map because of that one point right sometimes i feel like that's what engagement in the harvest kind of feels like but for whatever the reason whatever the reason god calls us to engage god calls us to participate and even though it may seem trivial in the light of who it is that we're serving god calls all of us every single one of us the text that we're looking at it says he's a calling of the 70 if you remember in the beginning of matthew chapter luke chapter nine he calls the 12 and remember we said that the 12 calling of the 12 was an indictment against israel right it represented the 12 tribes the 12 leaders of israel and instead of going to jerusalem and picking up pharisees and sadducees the leaders of israel he picks 12 men completely outside of their religious norm and it was an indictment against them that the religious system that they set up has nothing to do with god in fact all through ministry he was trying to get them to repent repent bear fruit according to repentance so he establishes 12 men who are completely outside or even look down upon and they were the ones who were going to be the apostles well the choosing of the seven was not a random number either because the 70 according to numbers 11 16 were the number of leaders that was established to help moses to govern the nation of israel so in order to mimic that the nation of israel established 70 members of the sanhedrin the elders of israel they were kind of like the senators of israel that's where all the decision making and all the power lied with these 70 men so the fact that jesus chooses 70 no name nobody's and we don't know we don't know a single name of of any of these 70 people he chooses these 70 men to go to be the first missionaries to go bring the gospel to the cities that he was going to go again it was a slap to another step to the nation of israel that the system that you have established has nothing to do with me you're using my name you're reading the law but he says it has nothing to do with me so he is establishing a whole new system under these 12 with these 70 people and these 70 people according to what paul says in the new testament they're foolish they're base they're nobodies for the purpose of shaming the people who thought that they were somebody's god calls every single one of us not simply the educated not simply the articulate not simply people who went to seminary not simply who've been christians for 20 30 years but everybody because god's ultimate purpose his goal in choosing us is so that he may dumbfound the world system we typically think that if we have senators if we have rich people who have celebrities that we can outdo their temptation we can outdo their power so if we have somebody smarter greater richer more powerful that somehow we can be more effective in preaching the gospel but when you look at the way jesus chooses people he does exactly the opposite he chooses the nobodies the uneducated the base because his goal was to challenge the system their paradigm of what they think is going to bring life every single one of us has been called you know a lot of people talk about calling as like have i been called to be a doctor have i been called to this or have i been called to be that the bible never uses the term calling for any particular vocation you've been called as a soldier you've been called to do this even though the meaning behind it is god is is ordaining me and he's helping me and we can understand in that sense but as far as the specific calling is concerned the word calling is used to call sinners to christ the word calling is used to call christians to be sanctified to live holy lives the word calling is specifically used for the church to be a witness to the world that we have been called to be the light and the salt of this earth so if we are not submitting to the calling the general calling to all christians and all believers and all sinners why are we so caught up in being concerned about whether i was called to be a doctor or lawyer should i go to this school or that school the smaller things that are ambiguous that are not specifically taught in scripture we're more worried about that because it has something specific to us but the calling that he wants us to obey before any other calling is a calling to be his witness we've all been called to the harvest first corinthians 3 9 it says for we are god's fellow workers you are god's field god's building i don't know about you but that statement alone is mind-boggling right god who created the universe says i'm his co-worker i'm stacy king you're stacy king right michael jordan has called us to be on his team that's mind-boggling why me right why me and yet that's what he called that's what he says we're co-workers romans chapter 10 14 to 15 how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed how will they believe in whom they have not heard and how will they hear without a preacher how will they preach unless they are sent just as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news he's called people the church to send out people and that's a mystery why he cares about us to involve us and yet that's what he says in fact in matthew 24 he says before he comes the second time he said he's going to give an opportunity for us to take the gospel to the remotest part of the world and when the gospel has gone to the remotest part of the world when we have completed our calling to be his witness and then he said then he will come and the reason why he hasn't come yet is because he's been patient he's been patient for us to go and he's been patient for the sinners to hear the gospel and to come so the scripture says his patience means our salvation so we are called we're all called that's number one that we need to understand that this call to the harvest is not for pastors like am i going to commit my life full time the only difference between what i'm doing what you're doing is the avenue in which we do this are you going to bring the gospel as a businessman are you going to bring the gospel as an engineer as a worker that's the only distinction some people think that going into ministry means i'm dedicating my life to do god's work and if i don't go into ministry it means i'm going to live my life the way i want no christian owns his own life you have been purchased by the blood of christ the only difference between somebody who enters into full-time ministry where your livelihood depends on this is the avenue in which god will use us but all we have all been called to the harvest the second thing that we see here is that he says the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few harvest is plentiful the laborers are few the common question that we get especially now the church is growing and the concern is do we have enough leaders in order to shepherd disciple to raise up people do we have enough leaders and the answer is no and to clarify that we've never had enough leaders and to clarify even further we will never have enough leaders because the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few there has never been a time in the last 2 000 years where we had more workers than the harvest there's never been a time in church history where where people would say you know what i want to i want to go do the work of god is it but i don't know where to go because they've all been reached everybody that needs here's the gospel everybody that needs to be shepherded we have plenty of people and so we we can relax in fact the more fruitful you are the more you recognize that there is no end to this work there's never been a time where the harvest didn't outnumber the workers now i'm not saying this to say so therefore we're not gonna we're not gonna do anything he says luke 4 43 jesus himself says i must preach the kingdom of god to the other cities also for i was sent for this purpose jesus said to the people who said i'm going to follow you and he says foxes have hold birds of the airs have met but the son of man the king of israel the messiah has nowhere to rest his head part of the reason why he had nowhere to rest his head wasn't because he was homeless it wasn't because he was poor i mean jesus could have taken money gold coins out of the mouth of the fish couldn't he have just rested in somebody's home or use that money to check into an inn or something it wasn't because a lack of money it's because he was working tirelessly so he has nowhere to rest his head because he's constantly on the move constantly preaching the gospel that's why he was on a boat fell asleep while the professional fishermen did thought that they were going to die because he was that tired because the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few the reason why he tells his disciples if they preach the gospel and they reject you shake off the dust because you're not going to be able to get to all the cities continue to move continue to preach continue to work until when until he comes because when your work is done he says then i'll come until then he has called us to work second thessalonians 3 1 finally brethren pray for us that the word of the lord will spread rapidly and be glorified just as it did also with you apostle paul had a sense of urgency if you look at his short life he had maybe around 12 to maybe 18 years of ministry and if you look at his three missionary journeys even with the ferrari even with the fastest car and even if the roads were nicely paved and every city that he went had the nicest hotels waiting for him with the best food is mind-boggling how he was able to do that in that short of a period he walked most of the way rode horses maybe he was tired he was beaten he was put into prison and yet he kept on moving and preaching the gospel why did an apostle paul get burned out we typically say that if somebody does a little bit of work and and you're doing a little bit more work than everybody else usually the next thing you will hear eventually is i'm burned out or i'm afraid i'm going to get burned out now there's always a danger there's always caution that you're not outputting more than you are inputting majority of the people are not being burnt out but rusted out rusted out when something burns out it means that there's nothing more to burn if you're burning a candle eventually the candle is gone there's no more wax to burn so that's so so we use that term that it's burnt out the reason why it's burnt out because there's no more candle to burn but we don't say that of these lights we need to turn this off or it's going to burn out the reason why we don't do that is because what's lighting this can lighting this is electricity electricity and it doesn't wear out we just have to pay more what are we burning when we're working if what's fueling us is encouragement from men praise of men if these are if what we are what is motivating us to engage in god's work is man's efforts man's praise man's fruit then whenever that wears out when the discouragement comes when the accountability is no longer there then you burn out because there's nothing more to burn but there's reason why this man not just him but so many missionaries so many people the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us why didn't apostle paul while he's getting beaten sitting in prison he's more concerned about the people who are living at ease outside of prison why didn't he get burned out why didn't the apostles who took the gospel and they traveled hundreds of miles by foot most of the time some of them thousands of miles to preach the gospel and then die in hardship why didn't they get burned out because what was causing them to preach the gospel was not man was the holy spirit the power of god the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few if we are prone to use our own resources eventually you will burn out yeah our church has 1100 1200 people we have three pastors right like aren't you going to burn out and that's a common question we're concerned you're going to burn out don't pray for us so that oh we don't burn out right although we appreciate your prayer pray that the leaders of the church will be so deep in christ that we would be so deep in christ that we would have more than ample energy to continue to do even more than what god has placed on our plate because the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few when are when is my turn to rest sometimes i have that thought i have friends who are starting to retire right we're not at we're not quite there yet but we're starting to retire right and i've been at this for 35 years so isn't it time most of you you know work 30 years it's time for retirement but you know one i can't retire right i don't have enough money but aside from that i don't know what retiring means as a pastor i don't know what that means i can retire as a pastor but i don't know what it means to be to retire as a christian because i would end up doing the same thing until the day i die because the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few there will never be a time where the harvest is going to be less than the workers lukewarmness lukewarmness is either be hot or cold lukewarmness basically is adjusting to room temperature right if you leave a cup a coffee on the table it doesn't turn hot doesn't turn cold it just adjusts to whatever temperature that you're in lukewarmness in the church is just adjusting to our environment adjusting to its desires what makes them happy makes us happy what they're pursuing we pursue what we're concerned about or they're concerned about we're concerned about and we've just learned to adjust to our culture we need to recognize that we are not home we're supposed to be hot or cold in other words he's calling us out of where we're at that we don't live by the values of this world that we don't live comfortable just because they're comfortable that we're sojourners just passing through the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few therefore number three he says when you engage this harvest the opposition is going to come it says behold i send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves again a common question that we get is how come the bible says that we're going to be persecuted if we follow christ and we don't see any persecution you don't get persecuted simply because you say you believe in jesus right persecution comes because you're taking the gospel to to enemy territory right now as an example if you're if you're in this room right and we turn the lights bright um you say thank you because we need to see you can't read the notes we can't function so the light needs to be turned on because you you need the light to function but if i came to your house in the middle of the night 3 a.m and i flicked the light on would you say thank you thank you for waking me up how did you get in my house anyway right now you're going to be disturbed because you want to stay asleep so if you turn the light on if you bring the light on if you even if you turn the flashlight on a little light in the middle of the night of people who are trying to stay asleep they're not going to thank you only somebody who needs to be somewhere at three o'clock and you woke them up so that they can they don't miss their appointment they'll thank you a few of them majority of them will curse you what are you doing turn that light off the bible says that the persecution is in hardship comes because you are taking the light to darkness but if you want to live in comfort and safety just be a good church goer just stay quiet just be good to people be generous people would love you if jesus never preached and all he did was heal and he fed them he took care of them he would have been adored even by the pagans why would they hate him he's helping everybody why would they hate him they hated him because of what he said he was calling out the leaders to repent bear fruits and according to your repentance you hypocrites woe is you that there's only one way to salvation all your pagan gods are going to bring you to judgment you must repent and be baptized it was of their preaching that caused the persecution he says to go he says john 5 18 if the world hates you you know that it has hated me before it hated you matthew 5 10 through 12 blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven not only not only are we to not think and avoid it he said no you're blessed you're blessed because you know that you're where jesus is if you want to know if you're following christ see if what happened to jesus is happening to you blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me right not because you're a jerk not because you're selfish not because you're acting up at work but he says because of me because you're being my witness you're in the harvest turning on the light rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you not only did he say you're going to be prosecute persecuted not only did he say he's persecuted he said even the prophets before him every single one of them that he sent was persecuted we live in a fallen world who are in rebellion against the only true god and any representative of that god will also be rejected so every prophet that came before christ all the disciples during christ and everyone who professes christ in the future he says will be persecuted 1st peter 4 12 to 14 beloved do not be surprised at the fire ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing for your testing as though some strange thing was happening to you but to the degree that you share the sufferings of christ keep on rejoicing not only are you blessed so when difficulty and trials come he says rejoice so that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exaltation if you are reviled for my name of for the name of christ you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of god rest on you he said don't be worried if they persecute you make it difficult for you to be a christian to attend church because he said that's where you live you know we just happen to be in a country where christian value judeo-christian values have been embedded into the culture and now we live in a post-christian culture and the culture is turning against christianity more and more but he says when they make it hard for you to be a christian when they make it difficult for you to evangelize he says don't be surprised don't be surprised because you're not home this is not your home he said i will build my church and the gates of hades will not prevail against it i have called you to take the light into enemy territory and so if the enemy begins to act like the enemy don't be surprised they hated me so they're going to hate you they didn't like it when we gathered so they're not going to like it when you gather don't think it's strange that the world is turning against us this is what every christian since the time of christ has experienced it is not an anomaly what's happening in north korea is not an anomaly what's happening in the middle east what's happening in india anomaly was here in the united states don't think it's strange when they turn on you and begin to persecute you fourth and finally though the hope is that god is the lord of the harvest in luke 10 three to four says go behold i send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves carry no money belt no bag no shoes and greet no one on the way right i'm like don't raise your hand this is a rhetorical question but how many of you read this before you came how many of you just read this kind of skim through is that okay it's like they're going and he says the wolves are going to be waiting for you carry no money no belt no bag no shoes and greet no one on the way does that make sense i'm going to send you out to danger so you would think sharpen your knives that's what i would think he would say carry some money you're going to need that right get yourself ready but why does he tell them wolves are there you're i'm sending you into danger but don't carry any money no belt no shoes and just be in a hurry to get the gospel out as much as possible of the kingdom he says the same thing in luke 93 to the disciples he said take nothing for your journey neither staff we talked about that for your protection if the wolves are coming shouldn't you take the staff nor bag nor bread nor money or even a second tunic it doesn't make any sense if you're going to go fight war and he said don't take your shoes don't take your weapon just go empty-handed and just do what i say this is the same principle that he's been teaching over and over and over and over again throughout israel's history to the early church and even to this day he said because our fight is not against flesh and blood that if you try to engage the world with the same weapons that they are using you will lose because we're not people fighting people he says we're fighting against dark forces spiritual forces we're heading into enemy territory a christian who is gifted upright maybe well educated well well read very experienced who's not dependent on god is useless in the kingdom of god is useless in the kingdom of god because our enemy no matter how smart you are is smarter than you our enemy no matter how strong you are is stronger than you he knows more than you he's more powerful than you so we cannot engage the harvest by our own power you know we have a tendency to think that if we have a celebrity somebody who's adored you know and if he becomes a christian can you imagine the impact that he will make maybe a senator maybe if trump actually became a christian maybe if some of these celebrities maybe if lebron james genuinely repented then there will be revival because people would take him seriously that's what we tend to think but the bible says but the bible says the very reason why he chose the unnamed the base the foolish is because that system that we think that by our power that we're going to overcome we are deceived that somehow we're going to battle them we're going to do better than that we're going to have more money than them we're going to be more educated so we get into debates and we want to show you who knows better is your argument better my argument better and the only thing that you have done in that argument is i'm smart and you're dumb and you didn't win a single person to christ our goal is not to show the world we're not dumb we're not stupid oh you call me stupid i'll show you who's stupid you're stupid he called us to win the harvest you can't get somebody who's dead in their trespasses and argue them to life to show them your intelligence and then they're going to somehow wake up it's so foolish to think that somehow the church is going to attract people by entertaining them and when the church tries so hard to be entertaining it just looks so lame because they have billions of dollars with the top talents of this world who've given their life for their craft so that people would pay hundreds sometimes thousands of dollars to come and watch them and somehow we're going to three years of seminary education right you with a bunch of you guys that we're going to put production up here and somehow we're going to outdo them and we just look foolish we look so lame we cannot fight and reach the harvest by our own power that's why he says beseech the lord of the harvest the word beseech doesn't simply ask it means to beg to be desperate you don't be see you can pray but you don't beseech until you are desperate and every single one of us knows what it means to beseech the lord every single one of us knows how to pray when we're desperate when we're desperate when you're desperate you don't need to go you know what i'm so desperate there's something emergency happening in my life but you know i want to take a class today i want to take a class of how to worship and i want to you know go through the acronym of you know thanksgiving and supplication and no when you're desperate you just pray the most effective prayer is when you pray when you're desperate and you know what that feels like whether someone is sick exhausted all the possibilities and you come before god in desperation you're not articulate you don't need a contact you don't need people you just pray because something inside of you is urging you to pray because you're desperate but the problem is when our external circumstances in our personal life doesn't remind us of the desperateness we have a hard time praying because it's just something too it's just another religious thing to do you know at least if you read the word that you gain something and you can say i can quote the bible and i can give sermons and teach people and disciple people there's something i can gain but if you pray whether you prayed an hour you fasted for four or five days you don't have anything to show for other than to go and tell people that you did it but when you're desperate you pray but here's the challenge we have cause to be desperate every single day that we live on this earth because we live in a fallen world surrounded by people who are desperate jesus looked at the harvest and he said he had compassion for them because they were like sheep without shepherd they were distressed and they were harmed they were helpless and he said because he sees the desperateness of the people of the harvest he said therefore beseech the lord of the harvest to send out more workers the problem that we have in a rich nation is that day to day unless some financial emergency or unless there's some health crisis that's happening we don't live day to day with a sense of urgency we are living surrounded by people who are lost in their sins and if they continue on that path no matter how wealthy no matter how poor they are there's judgment at the end of this life and we don't feel a sense of urgency to pray to bring the light to them so the problem isn't our circumstance the problem is that we are spiritually dull the problem is that we think we're as long as our bills are paid as long as i have a home to go to as long as i i my life and my children are safe and my loved ones are good that we're good that we're just going to ride this out until we get to heaven and every single day we're surrounded by people who are desperately lost just in the short time that i've been in ministry for 30 some years i could think of all the people and sometimes even in this room i remember as a young pastor in my 20s and i started a council high school students and college students they would come and the things that they would share with me i would be in shock about how they were abused when they were young looking for answers and just you know i get punched in the gut because these are people that i care about and then i hear about what happened to them when they were children and looking for answers a few years ago we were out in india and this young mom in desperation asked me and asked me to come and pray for for her because you can see a limp child on her arms i mean no more than maybe about three months old two months old and it was a simple issue i forgot what the issue was and could have been easily fixed if she just went to the hospital with the baby but because she didn't have access to the hospital and she couldn't treat the baby properly and in desperation she said can you pray and i remember the baby was already grasping for its last breath and i remember i was praying for her and with her crying in tears all she needed was just access to the hospital something that could have easily just got in a car and taken care of in one day and she ended up losing her child going to the philippines seeing these young girls give their bodies to these old men who are flying in and realizing that they were doing this voluntarily some of them as young as 12 13 years years old and they're in the restaurant and they're seem happy-go-lucky but as soon as they go out to the courtyard you could see the face of disgust and once we realized what was going on this we gotta stop sex trafficking this is so bad and it is it's it's so horrible and realizing that many of them were doing voluntarily because that's the only way they could feed their family sometimes their own parents would give up their young teenage child because that's the only way that that family could feed the younger children in kenya we're driving around and i see dozens and dozens of little children and at that time younger than even my kids at the time three four five-year-old kids just walking around the street and highway the cars are going 50 60 miles per hour and you see a little girl with a little brother just walking alongside and just dozens and dozens of them and i said what's going on where are their parents they said they're all orphans like all of them and they're just wandering on the street so yeah he said the aids epidemic killed so many people that the country could not handle this so they're just kids walking around and if they're walking around you would think that people who but compassion for them will bring them into their homes and take care of them and that was happening with some in some circles and some of the churches were beginning to do that but many of these kids who are vulnerable were taken into sheds abused there's some kids that we met at the orphanage center that we were at and almost like nine ten years old and they couldn't talk and i said why can't they talk because when they were five years old somebody picked them up and put them in a shed and treated them like animals and sexually abused them this is happening all over the world all over the world because we live in a fallen world we try to dress up where we live and clean it up and make it look nice so that we're not disgusted by what we see and we're all disgusted about what's happening with the homeless out in la because we can see them visually but that's a microcosm what's actually happening spiritually all over the world because the world is in rebellion against god they're spiritually dead whether you see nice people nice homes or whether they're homeless out doing drugs all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god all have sinned fall short of the glory of god whether you go to hell living in a nice house whether you go to hell living as a homeless person doing drugs their fate is the same the reason why we don't pray is because we're not desperate we don't see the desperateness because we're comfortable the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few therefore beg the lord of the harvest to send out more workers beg the lord of the harvest to join the work to participate in the work these people aren't sitting next to you the dead people are working next to you beseech the lord of the harvest to send out more workers you this is why this church is planted this is why every church is planted this is why missionaries pack up their bags and head into difficult areas this is why the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us left their comfort safety even for their own children because the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few i want you to listen to keith green's song as i invite the worship team to come back up keith green helped me quite a bit when i was a young christian because you know some of you guys who know him he's no nonsense he gets to the point and really convicted me so i just wanted to share this song with you and then afterwards our team will come and lead us in our closing song do you see do you see all the people sinking down don't you care don't you care are you gonna let them drown how can you be so numb not to care if they come you close your eyes and pretend the job's done oh bless me lord bless me lord you know it's all i ever hear no one aches no one hurts no one even sheds one tear but he cries he weeps he pleads and he cares for your needs and you just lay back and keep soaking it in oh can't you see it's such a sin because he brings people to your door and you turn them away as you smile and say god bless me be at peace and all heaven just weeps because jesus came to your door you've left him out on the streets open up open up and give yourself away you see the need you hear the cries so how can you delay god's calling and you're the one but like johnny you run he's told you to speak but you keep holding it in oh can't you see it's such sin the world is sleeping in the dark that the church just can't fight because it's asleep in the light how can you be so dead when you've been so well fed jesus rose from the grave and you you can't even get out of bed oh jesus rose from the dead come on get out of your bed how can you be so numb not to care if they come you close your eyes and pretend the job's done you close your eyes and pretend the job's done don't close your eyes don't pretend the job's done come away come away come away with me my love come away from this mess come away with me my love oh church family why don't we all stand together let that song settle we're going to sing this song living hope that in comparison to what the world doesn't have we have so as we sing this song i pray that a sense of gratefulness and seriousness come upon us how great the chasm that lay between us how high the mountain i could not in desperation i turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night and through the darkness your loving kindness tore through the shadows my my very heart i'm where my has me you set me free me let's seal the promise so so so so so gracious and merciful father we thank you lord god that you have called us to participate and to be co-workers lord in your kingdom for the harvest as you saw us in the ugliness of our sins while we were yet sinners while we were rebelling and blasphemous and you showed your mercy and love toward us while we were yet sinners help us lord god to see the sin of this world and not simply be disgusted by what we see but give us compassion help us lord god to be desperate on their behalf that we would intercede that we would plead that we would go that we would preach help us lord god for the sake of your name to live a life worthy of the gospel that you've given send us lord god to be the aroma of christ at home at work in travel and in leisure may it all bring glory to your name in jesus name we pray amen they called him jesus he came to love heal and forgive he lived and died to buy my party an empty grave is there to prove my savior because he is i can face and life is worth the living just because blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful where your streams of abundance flow blessed be your name blessed be your name when i'm found in the desert place though i walk through the wilderness ♪ Blessed be your name ♪