[0:00] All right. You may be seated. Great singing. Please join me in Luke chapter number nine. Because of my inability to sing, I've never stood up here singing a song or led music, but I like to come up here sometimes when we're singing to see the words of songs like that put a smile on your face. How could you sing about being set free by Jesus and not have just the biggest grin on your face? Not all are going to smile as big as Jacob does, all right? But all of us should have a smile. And he says, I love watching you sing, Jacob. You know what you're singing about, and that's wonderful. And so we're going to look in Luke chapter number nine, and then going into chapter number 10. I'll give some information before I read that passage.
[0:41] My father-in-law always says, this morning I'd like to preach a short message to you. I've always wanted to preach a short message. I never have, but I've always wanted to, all right? And I get, I understand why that's funny, funnier now, but we do have abbreviated sermon, service to this morning, and I won't be longer than necessary. But Luke, and I guess that's my, up to your decision, right? I won't go longer than I think necessary. And before we start looking at this, I would like to get Josh and Justice and Robert up here. Thursday night was just a special send-off service for the three of them, and it was just a real blessing to have a chance to have three families, Indonesia, Argentina, and Nepal. And I just want to say a word of prayer, those watching online, those that weren't able to make it on Thursday, just to remind you when they're leaving.
[1:30] Robert's leaving, Lord willing, on Tuesday, and we're praying for that. Justice's still looking at leaving maybe the beginning of February into January as they're looking at some things to get in order, and then you're leaving on the, on the 31st, all right? And that's why we have snow today. It's because your family wanted some snow, because you won't be seeing it in Indonesia, will you?
[1:51] No, you won't. So we're just so grateful. Today we're looking at a passage where God sends out the 70. In Luke chapter number 5, he calls the 12 aside to them, and then we saw not long ago in Luke, at the beginning of Luke 9, he gave the apostles, he had sent them out to do something, but I said, this isn't the only group he's going to send out. Now in Luke chapter 10, we see that he's going to send the 70 out, and he hasn't stopped sending people out. Just in the same way that Jesus was sent from the Father, we are now sent representing sharing the gospel. Just like Jacob shared in our combined life group today, he shared the gospel, him and Katie with somebody, he was sent and sharing the gospel, sent from the Father with this message, and we're just so grateful that God is doing that. So I want to say a special word of prayer, and just remind the church to be praying for these three families, remind you of the dates that they're leaving, and we want to be helping you in every step of the way as you get ready to leave. Anything that we can do for you, we will most certainly want to. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for these three families,
[3:00] Lord, not just these families, Lord, but the work and ministry of so many families, Lord, that have brought us to this, the Christian homes that they come from, Lord, and the Christian home that, that, or Josh, Lord, had the opportunity to grow up in Indonesia, and then now getting to return, and then two other families, Lord, though not growing up on the mission field, growing up at homes that had a heart for the gospel, and a heart for the mission field, and we just thank you for that. Thank you for the involvement that we've got to have, and thank you for the privilege of being involved as they move forward. Lord, we rejoice today in the commission you give us. We rejoice in the fact that you have sent us out, Lord, even as lambs among wolves, Lord, and at times there's no place to lay your head, and at times, Lord, received with hospitality, and other times rejected. We just rejoice, Lord, that our name is written in the book of life, Lord. We rejoice that the gospel is for all people.
[4:00] In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right. I'll read to you in Luke chapter 9, verse 10, but I don't count. It's an incredible opportunity that few pastors would ever get to have to come to a passage like this, and to have three families in their church about to head to the mission field. What an incredible picture of the gospel. So we saw in Luke 9 there's a unique manner that the apostles were sent out, but we saw that more would be sent out, and we are as well. And so I would say this morning passage is a time of rejoicing, and if Brother Stephen went mine, we will end the day singing the song that we just sung because it's a great passage or a great song for rejoicing. As I read Luke 9, 57 through 10, 12, I want you to look for some key themes in the passage. First of all, I want you to see that personal security and even family duties may give way to the demands of discipleship. Jesus Christ deserves the preeminence in all things. I want you to see that Jesus demands a total commitment, no looking back. I want you to see that Jesus shares his mission with a much wider circle of disciples than the original 12. Also see that their mission is urgent, it may be dangerous, and that we should expect hospitality, but be prepared for rejection. Verse 57 of Luke 9,
[5:17] And it came to pass that as they went into the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee, whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, and the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me, but he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid thee farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.
[5:54] Then we start in chapter 10, verse 1. After these things the Lord appointed an other seventy also, and sent them two and two before the face into every city and place, whether he himself would come.
[6:05] Therefore said he unto them, The harvest is truly great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. Go your ways, behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse nor scriven or shoes, and salute no man by the way. And to whatsoever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the Son of Peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. If not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give. For the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And to the whatsoever city you enter, that you receive you, eat such things that are set before you. And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto him, The kingdom of God has come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of the city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding, be you sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you. But I say unto you, That which shall be more tolerable in the day for Sodom than for that city. In this passage, we get a great understanding what is who we are, and what is the work that we are going to do. What is it that he commissioned the 70 to do?
[7:21] Obviously, there's a message that was there that told them that the kingdom was to draw nigh. That we're told to pray for laborers. That we are supposed to be, the imperative of the great commission, we are supposed to be making disciples. That we are supposed to be praying for more people to go and make disciples. We see the acceptance at times, also the rejection. But we get an idea of the life in which the 70 are going to live, how that also ought to be the life that we live in the context that God had given us. I was going to skip these passages and go to the passage on the Good Samaritan for the day, for Orange Sunday, and to talk about our ministry as a family. And I'm so thankful that in God's providence that I didn't, and as I look at this, because first of all, I'd like you to see Christ teaching on the proper place for our family in regards to prioritizing life. We cannot make more of something than God does. If we elevate it beyond the point that God would elevate it, then we actually diminish its value. What I'm speaking of is in regards to the family. Going into Family
[8:27] Sunday, Orange Sunday, and looking at that, I love that. I love family ministry. I love all of those things that are around it. And I love making much of a family. I love the family that God has given me.
[8:40] Like many of you in here, at a young age, I dreamed of wanting to be a dad, be a husband, and all of that. And I feel like I'm living out a God-given dream. But to elevate family above Jesus Christ is actually diminishing. It is not to make it in its proper place. And so this is a hard saying here. It's true for family that to see where we belong, that Jesus Christ deserves the preeminence. And so Jesus says some shocking things, doesn't He? In verse number 59, He said, follow me. And He said, I want to go bury my father. And He said, let the dead bury the dead. Let those take care of it. It wasn't that His, probably was not that His father had just passed away and that He was supposed to attend a funeral.
[9:24] That's probably not what's happening. It's probably that He was the, maybe the oldest son. He was the one responsible for that, that He had family responsibilities. And Jesus told unto him that I must be first in your life. Another one, He said, I want to go to my family and say goodbye to them and bid them farewell. And Jesus says, this work that you're doing is so important that you shouldn't, if you put your hand to the plow and that you look backwards, that the row is not going to be straight. I've never had my hand on a plow. I know I'm from Kentucky, but we were a little more advanced than that. But I have spent a lot of hours on a tractor and I have made a mess of that many times falling asleep with my little Walkman CD player, anti-skip device, trying to listen to music, all right, and trying to change that and going off and as I was cutting the grass there. But we know you can't look backwards, all right, when you are going forward. And that's what Jesus said. And so here, fulfill your responsibilities as He's breaking these core cultural norms. Don't even look back to say goodbye. Our job demands a full consecration unto
[10:31] Him. And to be concerned with family ties can jeopardize one's discipleship to the Lord. And at this point, it's my desire to water that down with an apologize for the manner in which Jesus speaks.
[10:45] And I speak that to my shame because I'm not more loving than He is. But you know, I speak that to my shame to know that Jesus deserves our allegiance even when His demands in our life are not fashionable or against culture or even against our desire of family. He deserves preeminence here. So I'm thankful for these passages because we look at the life of the Good Samaritan and I make application in the context of how we deliver it out. Never want to speak to say that our impact in this world that we would make or that our family ministry is ever greater than the fact that we are just His disciples. Didn't have time to get to this on Thursday night. And I'd like to go back to Thursday night where I told you those families that we're sending out, as it says in 3 John 1 and verse 7, chapter 1 verse 7, it says, for His name's sake they went forth. And that passage says, for His name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles, because He was sent by God through the church, through the field. And as they did that, their needs were being met, but they went out for the name of Christ. And I remind you all through history. Pharaoh Exodus 5, 2 said it like this,
[11:56] Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. I know not the Lord. When you read the story of the Exodus and you think about Pharaoh is always the bad villain of the character when you think about him. But could you not be moved with compassion if a man would say, I know not the Lord, and that God was doing a wonderful work in his eyes to show him that he was the one true God, that God loved him? Nebuchadnezzar question, Daniel 3, 15. Now if you'd be ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psalter, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made. This is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and where they were to bow down.
[12:44] Well, but if we worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Who and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? He was ignorant of the true God of heaven. And in God's mercy, God gave a demonstration that he was the one true God because God wanted to be worshiped by his name for his namesake. And so it's not just in these world leaders, but as we looked at the three countries they were going to, we look into our community, there are people who are ignorant of the fact of the God of heaven. Matthew Westcott's an EMT over here.
[13:24] He told me something that I recently read by the CDC. He said the increase of attempted suicide by teenage girls is unlike anything he's seen in the nine years of working and driving an ambulance.
[13:38] And those numbers have begun to be reflected of that. We see the consequences of living in a world that is ignorant of the one true God, ignorant of the hope that he brings, ignorant of the rule and the reign that he has. And they have no ability to rejoice or to have their burdens removed because they're ignorant of him. And so God in his mercy is going to send people out. Jesus is going to commission people to go out and he's going to send them for his namesake. And so God wants to be known, not simply by name, but be known for who he is. Remember that story Austin Till tells about a man in China says, what is a Jesus? He doesn't even know Jesus. He doesn't even know his name. Well, there's another group of people in another part of the world that would say, yes, I know Jesus.
[14:25] He is the mother. He is the son of God. He is the son of the mother of God, which is to say they may know Jesus' name, but they don't know him for who he is. He's ignorant of them. And Indonesia, it's not that they haven't heard the name Jesus, but they have never known that he is the one true God, the one that gave his life in their place. Psalm 46, 10, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen and I will be exalted in the earth. Ezekiel 38, 23, thus will I magnify myself and sanctify myself. And I will be known in the eyes of many nations and they shall know that I am the Lord. God desired that the Egyptians would know him. Exodus 7, 5, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. When I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them, he has always been a God. We heard the day in our combined life group an estimated 107 billion people that have ever existed on this planet earth. And he has had a desire that every one of them would know him, the Egyptians. All the places at the 70 were going to be sent out.
[15:32] We saw last week, the sons of thunder said, these people have made us mad. Let's call fire down from heaven. He said, calm down. He said, the son of man came to seek and to save. That was lost. He was, I said, there's not a city. There's not a place in this world that God does not desire to be worshiped by people. There's no village outside of Camp Mendoom that Paul will ever find and have to wonder if those are people that Jesus Christ wants to be worshiped by name. He wanted the Israelites to know him. Exodus 16, 12, I've heard the murmurings of the children of Israel speaking to them saying that even you shall eat flesh in the morning, you shall be filled with bread and you shall know that I am the Lord, your God. Just that reminder that we're not only supposed to help people know as we're sent out to know God, but we are supposed to know him as well. So I said from Lucy of the Argentinian to the imam in Indonesia, he wants to be known. That there's nobody too small or too far away from him or there's nobody too close in proximity to the church and all these things that it is in our responsibility to make sure that they know that we have been sent out to speak of his great name. And God acts in accordance to wanting his name known throughout the Bible and throughout all the world. When David killed Goliath, he wanted the world to know that there was a God in Israel. So it says in Psalm 17, verse number 45, then said David unto the Philistine, thou comest to me with the sword and with the spear and with the shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied this day, will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand, and I will smite thee and take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcass of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. That's what David showed up to do today. That's what God did on his behalf. It was not just the killing of a giant, but he was letting the whole world know that the God of Israel was the one true God. It was God letting his name be known.
[17:32] It was people living for his namesake, and we see God acting on people's behalf. Abimelech, the Philistine king, conversing with Abraham in Genesis 21, 22, and it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Pishol, the chief captain of his host, spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest.
[17:49] And then, so he said, God is with you. He recognized that God was with Abraham, the one true God. Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, recognizes God in Joseph's life, Genesis 41, 38. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, can we find such as one as this, a man in whom the spirit of God is? So when we are sent out on his namesake, we should live and act in such a way that makes his name known. Not just those three families that stood up here, but people would say, you live according to the law of a different land. You live marching to the beat of a different drummer. You live in accordance to the one true God, and our lives should be distinct and holy. Just like the children of Israel, they were given law to live that would show the distinction, would show the wisdom of God. And God's name represents his global reputation. God revealed his agenda in regard to his own name as applied to the purpose of Pharaoh.
[18:52] As we said in Exodus 9, 16, it's for this cause that he raised them up to show his power, that all that his name would be declared throughout all the earth. And has it worked and did it work that God accomplished his global fame throughout the deliverance of his people as he sent them out on his missions for him? Well, here's the words of Jethro, which is one of my favorite Bible names, one of the names, one of my sons, Jethro, but Stephanie was not for it. All right, maybe a grandkid.
[19:19] Moses, that's Moses' father-in-law, Exodus 18, 1. When Jethro, the priest of the Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel's people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt, he had heard what God had done on their behalf, and as a result, he worshiped the God of heaven. Rahab's testimony, Joshua 2, 10, 11.
[19:41] For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and that you did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the side of Jordan, signed in awe whom thou uttered, really destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you.
[19:58] For the Lord your God, his God in heaven above and earth beneath. People hear. Daniel will say that 1,500 years later that he had gotten thee renowned as this day, for we have sinned and we have done wickedly. That people are learning of the name of God by the messengers that they send and the way in which they live out their calling in life. That's why Moses in Numbers 14, 11 through 20, as the people had rebelled against them, and he is pleading on their behalf. He doesn't plead upon their goodness. He doesn't plead upon their morality. But he says in verse 15, he says, Now if thou shalt kill all these people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring these people in the land which they swore unto them, therefore he had slain them in the wilderness. And then the Lord says, verse 20, that I will pardon according to thy word. And what was his word? It was God for thy great namesake, we go forth. God, that you deserve to be worshipped. And God is zealous of his name. It's for his namesake we learn that he defers his anger. And it's for his praise that he refrains from cutting thee off. And that it was for his own sake, and his own sake in Isaiah, it says,
[21:13] How should my name be polluted, and I will not give my glory unto another? That whole story of the Old Testament of God sending people out and living in such a way for his namesake continues to our story in Luke chapter number 10. And as these people were sent out, it tells us that they were sent out for his namesake. So when we get to verse number 11, it says, And even the very dust of your city which cleaveth unto us, we do wipe off against you, notwithstanding, be you sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you, that these men that were sent off knew that they were sent out under the authority of God and for his namesake. That when they were rejecting their message, they were rejecting the one that had sent them. That we are an extension of the message that had been sent to this world. And so that's how they could act in such a way. What a strong picture that when they leave, that they took their shoes and dusted and said that we have now given you over to this. You have heard the message, that you are more blessed from hearing this message, that the judgment upon you is going to be greater because I stood there. But it breaks our heart, that balance between the two, to know that we really come as representatives of him. And that when people reject our message, they're not rejecting us on a personal level, but they're rejecting his name, the one in which we have been sent. That's why my heart goes out to Jacob Mass this morning in Life Group that shared.
[22:42] He shared with me yesterday how he shared the gospel and a person was not ready to receive it. A person was very ready to reject it. And it's a hard tension that we live in because Jacob knew that that person was not rejecting him on a personal level, but the person was rejecting the God of heaven. And that is an incredible place in which we get to live. I don't know what five words that you would give of yourself if I would ask you to describe yourself, but the word messenger ought to be very high upon any list that you would have. It's really the work that we have called to do. It is to take a message of his and to deliver it to other people. And oftentimes when I think about this, I think in regards to obligation, responsibility, and duty. But I would like to show you here in our time remaining that I would also like for you to consider it in privilege and in joy and rejoicing.
[23:37] What an incredible privilege that we get to have. Have you ever been given something to do and you knew that it was an incredible honor that you were allowed to go and to represent your school or whatever it was? I had a very bad speech impediment all through elementary school and all the way up into high school and for a few seconds every Sunday. All right, it comes back on occasion. And I quoted the speech by Martin Luther King Jr. in fifth grade and with a bad speech impediment, but I got to go and represent the school before the county. And it was a great honor to get to do that, to represent the school. Do you recognize the privilege that we have been given in this world to represent the compassion of God and the hope that he provides and the fact that the kingdom is drawn nigh? No, we're not performing miracles. No, there's not the promise that we can perform miracles, but we still live lives in a compassionate manner representing the nature and the attributes and the character of God. He always sent them out with a message and a manner in which they were to carry that message. So we'll see next week, Lord willing, in the Good Samaritan, that there is a way that a believing person responds when they see other people in need. So we go out for his namesake and we get to return with joy, verse 17. And the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. They returned with joy. If your name was Joy, like Jennifer's sister, it must be very confusing when you hear preaching. You must really pay attention, right? But they returned, not with the person joy, but with it in this heart that they had. In the book of Acts, it tells us that when Josh Ewing returns from Indonesia, he's supposed to rehearse the matter before us, and the response is there's supposed to be joy. That he goes out for his namesake, and no matter what happens over his lifetime, and no matter what happens where he comes back, he can return with joy because he went out for the namesake of Christ.
[25:46] That's the reason in which he went out. And so they return with joy. And so our joy is not found in the difference we make in this world, but in knowing him. Verse 20, notwithstanding in this, rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven, that there is something greater to rejoice in. I have a real problem in rejoicing in the lesser thing.
[26:15] I really rejoice in the fact that we can make a difference. I really rejoice in seeing something that has changed. But that is far greater, less of a reason than rejoicing in what I have got to do through God's power in this world, but what he has done for me. They had much to rejoice in. Luke 10, 18 says it like this, Jesus said, he said unto him, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
[26:41] Talk about making a difference in this world. The power to deliver from Satan's power had started to work itself out in history and among humanity. Say it just as plain as I can, these boys were making a difference in this world, all right? These 70 were going out and things were changing. Eternal things are changing. Brother John reminded me of something yesterday. I sent him a text message of a young kid that had been in our home and now he's in a great home and he sung happy birthday to me. And Brother John mentioned and he said, God has used you to make a wonderful change in his life and I pray that God will make the change eternal. That we can help people, but God can take their soul for all eternity. That's the great work in this world, isn't it?
[27:31] As that our names could be written down in the book there. And so something is happening. Yesterday, David told me, I'm going to name all of you before the service is out, all right?
[27:41] That's how you pay attention in here, all right? And Elaine's cooking next Sunday, all right? Go through the list there. And I know David was speaking about the book of life today if he would have taught, but he got canceled. He got there and we had combined life groups and I said, when you get done teaching it, teach it to me because I have questions about it. It's something that I love, but I just know that I don't fully understand. But thinking after we spoke yesterday, I found this quote in regards to this passage and it said, God penned our deepest joy in a different ink and another world in a book that promises us life long after all ministry in this life is a sweet but faint memory. I love that so much that you're going to hear it one more time. God penned our deepest joy in a different ink and in another world in a book that promises us life long after all ministry in this life is a sweet but faint memory. After the prayer letters have faded away and the emails that we send out and the ways that we rejoice together and what's happening after all that's been fade away, that another ink that's written in another world will always remain. And we rejoice in that. That's what Jesus taught them in the greatest day of ministry. He said, don't rejoice in this, guys. Rejoice that your name is written there. How is this expressed to us in doing this in the
[29:03] New Testament? The Bible says, after this manner that you pray, our Father which you are in heaven, say the next part with me, hallowed be thy name, holy, consequent, created his namesake. We want his name to be hallowed throughout all the world. In Argentina, when people know the name of Jesus and Robert says, but no, let me tell you why that name means so much to me. Why that Robert can't even hear me say Jesus today without breaking down in tears because it's such a wonderful name that deserves to be honored and revered and respected. And so Jesus unapologetically rebukes anything that would eclipse our joy found in him alone. So don't be offended in here today, the fact that he says he deserves the preeminence over your family. He loves your family. He gives it to you to enjoy, and he's thankful, and it's a wonderful thing. But it does not compare to the fact of his love towards us and that he died for us and our name is written in that. But not only does his, our love for him, should it be greater than our love for family, but it should even be greater than ministry. Jesus said, hey, you need to have your family in right order. But he said, also, guys that are serving me, you may be working around the clock and doing great things. I want you to even put that in check, that it's possible for you to, for your love for family to be too great and your love for ministry to be too great if it becomes greater or competing with our allegiance to Jesus. Paul gets it, right? He gives a summary. How will he say it? All things. Philippians 3, 7, and 8, and what things we gained to me, those I counted lost for
[30:39] Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things, family, ministry, occupation, home, all things, but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, but whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. There is no way that we would ever give more than he has given us in the fact that our name is written down. And so we should rejoice in that.
[31:05] And I want to encourage you to rejoice, as we'll sing in a moment. Luke 10, 21, in that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit. Two times that we have this in the New Testament.
[31:16] Probably more times rejoice, but two times it said Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.
[31:32] The title of today's message is, Let's Rejoice with Jesus. It says that he rejoiced here in the spirit, and it was pleasing to the Father. The Trinity being mentioned here, there's a rejoicing here.
[31:45] Jesus rejoiced in spirit and the good in the sight of the Father. Salvation here is not just for the wise and for the prudent. Spiritual perception does not depend on intellectual capacity or education, but he revealed it to babes. He reveals it to people with childlike faith. So here's the response to the mission report. Seventy people being spread out. They went two by two in safety. That's how people give witness to something, and they went out and do that, and they're coming back, and they had healed people, and they cast out demons. And he said, Guys, that's not what we rejoice in. He says, Guys, we're not rejoicing that you had found purpose in life. We're not rejoicing in these things.
[32:25] What we're going to rejoice in is the fact that the Gospels came to the world and the people that would be despised and rejected, not just to the elite, but he came unto all people.
[32:40] And Jesus rejoiced in that, and we should rejoice in that as well. He intercedes with a note of praise that God sends such blessings to little children rather than to the wise and to the learned, which means that there's no situation that any of these three men or any of you men and women in this room will ever walk into and not know that Jesus Christ can make a difference and that he died for those people. That's what we rejoice in, not just in the ministry, but in the fact that he died for all people. So here it is. It's an incredible privilege to be sent out on a mission from Jesus.
[33:19] It's an incredible privilege. It's such a privilege to represent his love and compassion in this world. And we should rejoice with him and the father's indiscriminate love to all mankind.
[33:35] Next week, when we look at the good Samaritan and the man trying to justify himself says, Who is my neighbor? And Jesus says, Who are you? He turns the question around on him, right? And so there's not a person in this world that Jesus Christ did not love and die for and that his love is given. And we should rejoice in that, that God will make a difference in any scenario that you're currently dealing with or any scenario that you could ever walk into. So kings and prophets long to experience what we are experiencing, what the 70 are experiencing. It's such a special honor.
[34:08] In closing, let me read to you 1 Peter chapter number 1 verses 10 through 11. 1 Peter 1 10 through 12. Of which salvation the prophets, having inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or of what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel, unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into. Today, as we pray for labors for the harvest, as the passage would tell them, let's rejoice in the fact that we get to be His messengers and His servants. Let's rejoice with Jesus.
[35:07] Yes, a responsibility. Yes, a duty. But what an incredible privilege that ought to bring great joy to your heart. Sometimes my wife and I, we will fight or debate over who gets to tell something good news, right?
[35:22] If we have something for the kids, it's very likely one of us will tell the other before the time came because we love sharing good news. That's how we're made. We should love to share good news.
[35:32] We should love to see how it changes a person's life. Do you think about the great commission and the responsibility given to you as a burden, or do you see the great joy of all the ways that God could have orchestrated this? He allows us to do it, and we should rejoice in the fact that He allows us to share it with all people, that it's not just for the small group, or not just for the elite, but for the babes.
[35:59] Those childlike faith could come to Him. And so we should end the day rejoicing in that. What a great privilege that every one of us in here have, that He would use us to demonstrate His compassion and share hope in this broken world.
[36:13] Thank you.