Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Pastor Jeff Ministries, the Bible teaching ministry of
doctor Jeff Swarzentra, Senior Pastor of Brave Church in Denver, Colorado. Today,
Pastor Jeff begins his message, what does Jesus want from
the series The Kingdom Invasion, helping you discover how Jesus
(00:22):
empowers ordinary believers to do extraordinary work. Before we get
started with today's teaching, we invite you to check out
Pastorjeff dot com to find more resources to help you
grow in your walk. Now let's hear from Pastor Jeff
as he brings us today's teaching from God's Word.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
There is no more fascinating study in the world than
the study of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, the
more you study the Lord and the more you get
to know him through his word, the more fascinating you
see that he is. In this series called The Kingdom Invasion,
we've been taking a look at who Jesus is, and
we start in Mark chapter one and saw all the
uniqueness of his ministry, of what Jesus came and did,
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that he had always been the second person to Trinity,
he had always been God, and yet in humility he
put on incarnate flesh. He came to this world. He
had a ministry of preaching. He had a ministry of
freedom where he delivered people from demons. He had a
ministry of healing. And he loved the world so much
that he gave up his own life on a cross,
shed his own blood, and died so that those who
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would repent and believe could have a relationship with him
and with his father. Then we took a look at
some of the uniquenesses of Jesus christ ministry. We took
a look in Mark chapter five and how Jesus had
power over demons, and Jesus had power over disease, and
Jesus even has power over death. And we studied what
his ministry looked like. But we didn't stop there. We
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took a look at the commissioning of his original twelve
and how he sent them out to do exactly what
he was doing. And last week he took a look
at Matthew chapter ten, and he sent them out to preach,
He sent them out to cast out demons, he sent
them out to heal people, and he expected them to
do everything that he was doing because he was the
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one that was going to be empowering them, and yet
it begs the question, what about us? We said last
week we are here because of those original twelve and
many people, even in the church can get to the
place where they would say, Jesus is unique. He had
a special ministry and he empowered twelve people to do it.
But what about me and what about you? What does
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God require? What does God expect? What does Jesus Christ want?
Because I find that those first three messages, most evangelicals
around the country would nod their head and say, Okay,
I believe he did that, and I believe he did
that with the twelve. But what about us? What does
Jesus want from us? And if you've ever wondered that
God wants to speak to you, today, we're gonna be
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in Luke chapter ten this morning. We're gonna take a
look at the first twenty four verse of that text,
and as you turn there, we're going to answer the
question what does Jesus want? We're going to take a
look at four things that Jesus wants from you. But
just to set up that story, if you flip back
just one page or one chapter, you will see last
week we studied Matthew chapter ten. Luke, Chapter nine is
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the parallel passage. So Jesus trains the twelve. He sends
them out just as he said. And remember when they
came back, they were all excited that the ministry worked
and they wanted to get alone with Jesus. And so
Jesus said, let's get in a boat and go to
the other side of the lake. And when they did,
there was such a huge crowd of people, and Jesus
saw all these people. And even though the disciples just
wanted to spend time with Jesus, Jesus had compassion on
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the masses, didn't he, And so he began to teach them,
and he began to heal them. He began to deliver them.
And at the end of the day they had no food,
and so he began to empower the disciples to give
them the food that they needed. And the way he
did this was he took what they had, he blessed it,
and he broke it. And then what did he do.
He gave it to the disciples so they could pass
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it out to everybody, and everybody ate and was satisfied.
What was Jesus trying to do? He was trying to
teach the twelve everything that he had just taught them
that when he sent them out that they would always
have what they need for the people that they were
going to. But they needed to come back to Jesus
to receive more so that they could pass it all out.
And he was teaching them the habit. His method was
come back to me, I'll give you what you need,
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and then you go out. That was Jesus's method. His
method has not changed. The very next scene that Luke
concludes in his gospel is the amount of transfiguration where Peter, James,
and John got to see Jesus in all of his glory.
When they came down the mountain. There was a father
that had a son that was troubled. He had a demon,
and every time that the son was wanting to do something,
it would throw him on the ground, or would throw
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them in the fire or try to drown him. And
the disciples were trying to heal him, trying to cast
the demon out because that's what Jesus told him to do,
but they were having no success whatever whatsoever. And so
Jesus said, bring the boy to me. And when the
man brought the boy to Jesus, he said. The man said, Jesus,
if you can do any thing, He said, if I can,
all things are possible for him who believes. And Jesus
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freed that little boy so that he was fine. Later,
the disciples ask him, why couldn't we do that? I mean,
we've been casting out demons and healing people, but this
one we couldn't do him. What does he say? This
kind only comes out by pray and fasting. He wasn't
giving them a magic formula. He was talking about a
relationship that needed to be had in an ongoing way
and a hunger for that relationship in order to see
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the power of God released to the full measure of
that situation. And then what we see is as you
can imagine being human. Then there becomes this test of
greatness because all the disciples, as they're going out preaching
and casting out demons and healing people, they want to know, well,
who's the greatest, who's the best preacher, who's the best healer,
who's the best demon cast her outer? And Jesus overhearing
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all of this, and he begins to tell them, you
know that even the Son of Man did not come
to serve, but to be served. He began to show
them that servanthood and humility was the was the way
to move forward. And then this chapter ends with three
different vignettes of people approaching Jesus, some that wanted to
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follow him and some that Jesus was calling to follow him.
And here was the thing that happened. They didn't want
to give him full allegiance. They just wanted to give
him a little bit. One guy wanted to go bury
his father first. He said, hey, let the dead bury
their own dead, but you come follow me. Jesus said,
anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks
back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven. He
begins to say, you want to be my follower, I
need you to go all in. That's the context of
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where we're going. So he was doing it with the twelve,
but he was also demanding it from everybody else that
he met. And that's where we pick up in Luke
chapter ten and verse one. Notice what it says, now,
after this, after all this, after he's appointed the twelve,
after he's shown them what he wants to do, after
all this, the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them
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in pairs ahead of him to every city and place
where he himself was going to come. So now it's
not just the twelve anymore. Now it's seventy. Your version
may read seventy two. Some manuscripts have seventy. Some manuscripts
have seventy two. Don't lose your faith. We'll just say
seventy today, because that's what it says in my Bible. Okay,
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I mean, for there were seventy elders in Israel, there
were seventy members of the Sanhedrin, there were seventy nations
in Genesis chapter ten. Perhaps that's what it is. Anyway,
don't lose your faith over two people. What I want
you to see is this is not the twelve. That's
what I want you to see. What does Jesus want.
Jesus Christ wants first and foremost total allegiance from all
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his followers. I'm gonna say it again because some of
you hurt me and you're nodding, but you don't believe
me that he's talking about you. He wants total allegiance
from all his followers. So he's appointing seventy others. Now,
who are the seventy? I mean when we say you
the ten and Matthew Matthew Chapter ten, it lists all
the twelve by name. We know Peter, we know James,
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we know John, we know Andrew, Bartholomew. We have all
of them listed. Who are the seventy? We don't know
they're anonymous saints. What is Jesus want? He wants anonymous
saints that will give total allegiance to him. See, we
live in a world where we think I gotta get
a title, or I get it, I gotta get a rank,
or I gotta get a degree, or I got to
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move myself up. No, Jesus will take you right where
you're at and pour the full measure of his grace
through whomever wants to come to him. He just wants
total allegiance. That's what he wants. So he invites the seventy. Now,
now you would think if he's gonna commission the twelve,
then for the seventy, it's gonna be a little bit
of a lighter mission, don't you think. I mean, these
aren't the real twelve, These are just seventy. So what's
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he telling to do? 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. Have we not heard this prayer before?
Have we not heard this request before? Did he not
tell the twelve the exact same thing? What's he telling
the seventy now, the exact same thing that he told
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the twelve? And what's his first and foremost that he's
asking him to do? Pray? Pray for what specifically? Pray
that God would raise up those who would go among
the loss, because the fields are white unto harvest, they
are so ripe. Now, when are the fields right? Was
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it just in the first century that there were lost people?
Was it just in the first century that there was darkness?
Was it just in the first century there were political problems?
Was it just in the first century there were social issues?
Or has it been every generation subsequent to that where
the fields are white unto harvest? See, there are people
that sit in the church and talk about how dark
it is out there. The darker it gets, the brighter
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the light for Christ will shine. Friends, we live in
one of the greatest generations for the Gospel in the
history of the church. Do not be discouraged.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Amen, this is pastor Jeff Ministries with doctor Jeff Swarzentrad
and today Pastor Jeff is sharing his message what does
Jesus Want from the series The Kingdom Invasion helping you
discover how Jesus empowers ordinary believers to do extraordinary work.
We'll get back to Pastor Jeff in just a moment,
(10:15):
but first, generous listeners like you make programs like this
one possible. And when you give a gift in support
of Pastor Jeff Ministries today we'll say thanks for the
copy of Pastor Jeff's Battle Tested Wisdom, a ten day
prayer journey for real life decisions to help you learn
to live by God's wisdom not your own understanding. To
get your copy, visit us at Pastorjeff dot com to
(10:36):
give once again. That website is Pastorjeff dot Com. Now
let's get back to today's message. For the conclusion of
this teaching from God's Word, there are people that.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Sit in the church and talk about how dark it
is out there. The darker it gets, the brighter the
light for Christ will shine. Friends, we live in one
of the greatest generations for the Gospel in the history
of the church. Do not be discouraged amen. So what's
he telling them? Pray that the Lord would send out
harvesters into his harvest field. And as we talked about
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last week, just to reiterate what we tend to think
that means is I'm a Christian. I'll pray for those
select few, maybe the three or five percent, that want
to do missions and see if God raises him up.
And then I'll pray for them to get some money
so that they can go do the mission of God.
That's what I'm praying for. Here's what you need to see.
In the scriptures. Jesus never asks his disciples to do
anything that he himself is unwilling to do. What did
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Jesus come and do? Well? He preached, He cast out demons,
he healed people. What did Jesus do He commissioned people
to go out and preach, cast out demons and heal people.
What's he doing now? He's showing another group of people,
go tell the gospel, preach the gospel. He's going to
talk about healing and casting out demons that you'll see
in this text. So he's modeling for them. Just do
what I'm doing, follow me, and I will make you
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fishers of men. So what's the prayer. He's asking all
Christians to pray everywhere around the world. Lord, here am
I send me? I'm available, I'm ready. If there's a
you can use me on mission, That's what I'd like
to do. Now why is that important? Because for most
of us we think Jesus's mission was simply to die
on the cross, so that if you believe in him
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you'll go to heaven. That you won't find that in
the New Testament. You will not find Jesus come across
somebody and they say, what must I do to be saved?
And he says, pray this prayer and ask me into
your heart, and then go live your life just the
way it is. You won't find that everybody Jesus meets
he not only wants to save. He's bringing them into
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a new kingdom, into a new family, with a new
mission to go and do something. If you are saved
through repentance and faith, Jesus didn't save you so that
one day you go to heaven, and so in the
interim you just be a good boy or a good girl.
He saved you because he has so much purpose in
your life, and your greatest purpose will be found as
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you live a missional lifestyle for Jesus Christ. Amen, that's
what he's talking about. He wants total allegiance from everybody.
Keep in mind, when we got and share the gospel,
we're not just trying to get converts. People do need
to be converted. I do believe there's a moment in
time where we repent of our sin and place our
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faith and trust in Jesus. I do believe that. But
that's not the end, that's just the beginning. The Bible
calls that being born again. It's new birth. What does
Jesus want everybody that you share with He wants them
to be on mission too. In the truest sense of
the word mission. Every Christian is a missionary. Now, you
may wear different clothes Monday through Saturday. You may wear
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them for your business, you may wear them in your school,
you may wear you know, all sorts of different outfits
to do the gospel. But the reality is, wherever you go,
you're on mission as an ambassador for Jesus Christ. So
what's the first thing he tells these seventy I want
you to pray, and I want you to pray for
more harvesters. Well, how are we going to get that Jesus, Well,
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you're gonna have to go tell them the good news
that I'm the king and that the kingdom has come,
and they need to repent and believe. And when they
repent and believe, you've got some more laborers to go
out in the harvest field. You don't just have a
convert that can come attend your group meeting. You have
people that are now commissioned by Jesus to go. Amen,
So as he told He tells him to pray. He
tells him, get ready and get ready as you share,
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because you're gonna raise up other ones. And then what's
the first word of verse three? Go? He told his
disciples to go. He's telling the seventy to go. What
is he gonna do? In Matthew Chapter eighteen or Matthew
Chapter twenty eight, Verses eighteen to twenty after he says,
all authority in heaven and on earth has been given
to me. Therefore go, Do you see the similarity in
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everything Jesus does. He does it with the twelve, he
does it with the seventy. He's gonna do it with
the masses. Go go and do what behold I send
you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. We
talked about that last week, like, the only way that
you're going to get through this is through Jesus Christ protection,
through Jesus Christ's provision, through Jesus christ direction. What was
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he saying, stay connected to me on the mission. I'm
not calling you because you're qualified. I'm calling you because
you belong to me. But you need to stay connected
to me when you go number four verse four, carry
no money, belt, no bag, no shoes, and greet no
one on the way. What's he saying there? This thing's urgent.
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Jesus saw his mission as urgent. As a matter of fact,
if you study through the Gospels, you would think that
Jesus is a megalomaniac because all he cares about is
himself and his own mission. And let me tell you
what he cares about today, himself and his own mission.
So everywhere he goes, that's what he's calling people to do.
That's why when you meet the rich, young ruler who
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comes to Jesus and says, good teacher, what must I
do to be saved? What's his question? What's the least
I can do and still get into heaven? See Those
are the kind of the theological questions we like to ask, Hey,
what's the least I can do and still be saved?
The Bible doesn't answer that. Now, theologically, we can piece
some things together. Here's what the Bible asked. What does
it look like to be a follower of Jesus. It
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means go all in, one hundred percent with everything you are.
That's what it means. When the rich young ruler is
there and begins to tell Jesus how he's kept all
the commandments since he was a kid, even though we
know the Ten Commandments and we study them and nobody's
kept any of them, but he's a religious guy. Jesus says, hey,
one thing you lack, go sell everything you have, then
come follow me, which means what I'm going to have
you do this and your reward and heaven will be great.
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And what's the man do? He walks away, sad. He
was saying, all I was asking is how to get
to heaven. I didn't want to be in this mission thing.
I didn't want to go all in with you. I
don't love you like that. I'm not for what you're doing.
I just want to go to heaven and As he's
walking away, Jesus said, how hard it is for the
rich to enter the kingdom of Heaven. I tell you
it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's
eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom.
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He said, when you're tied to the things of this
world and your life, it is so hard for you
to live for Jesus. But if you study through the
scriptures and you see this as a template for what
Jesus wanted, you will never see him lower the standard
or the bar for his mission. He expected every follower
to come die with him, and he was gonna model
that too. He said, I'm gonna go to Jerusalem. They're
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gonna hand me over. I'm gonna be mistreated, I'm gonna beaten,
I'm gonna be killed, but I'm gonna rise. You want
to follow me? Anyone who will not take up his
own cross and follow after me has no part of me.
Are you willing to come die too? I mean that
is the mission of Jesus. We've watered it down so
much that we think that the pinnacle is seeing somebody
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get saved, when in the Bible, that's the entry point
for seeing somebody know Christ that can then be put
on mission to leave many others to Jesus Christ. Amen,
that's what he's telling the seventy to do. Now keep
in mind, he's not telling the twelve. The twelve. He's
already told this. These are just seventy other anonymous saints
that are following after him. And he's like, Okay, you
want to follow me, then you're gonna do the exact
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same thing I told the twelve to do. So he's
gonna send him out. Don't worry about your money, don't
worry wry about your clothes, don't worry about your shoes,
and greet no one on the way. What does that mean?
In the first century, greeting was the greatest form of hospitality.
He wasn't saying when you walk, put your head down
and be mean to people. Don't you know That's not
what he was saying. He was saying, don't let anything
get in the way of the mission. Don't let anything
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distract you. Don't make your shopping, don't make your your resources,
don't make your relationships. Let nothing get in the way
of the mission. Because what I care about is myself
and the mission. I came to do, which was to
let the world know that there's a God in heaven,
and I have been sent by my Father to be
here for the world. That's the only thing worth living for.
That's everything she just talks about all throughout the gospels. Amen.
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So he says, when you go, whatever house you enter,
first say peace be to this house. Now, I want
to tell you something about this. I'm thankful to be
part and pastor at church that preaches the word of
God in its fullness. When you're in a church that
preaches the word of God in its fullness, God shows
you his standard of holiness. He shows you his standard
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of righteousness. He shows you his standard of truth. I
love that I pastor a church where I can do that.
So to stand here and say, I believe that God
created the world in six literal days and rested on
the seventh. I believe that God created only two genders,
and they are male and female. I believe that God
says marriage is only between a man and a woman
till death do you part. I believe that abortion is murdered.
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I can say all those things right, and we can
clatform that's fine. We can praise God for them at
the same time. What can develop in our heart if
we're not a mission is a callousness towards people that
don't agree with that, And so we think of them
as those people and that group. What does you just
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say when you enter their house, in other words, when
you enter their sector, when you enter that group, what
are you bringing to them? Not judgment? What peace? It
means that as you grow in God's holiness, your heart
has to stay fresh by loving the people that God loved.
And why does he love all people? Because he creates
hated all people. And who did Jesus die for? He
died so that anybody who was willing to repent of
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their sin and trust him could have a relationship. So
when you hold a standard of morality that the people
you're talking to don't, or they vote for the wrong
political leaders, or they act in a way that's different,
you love them. You're bringing peace to them because you
realize their problem is not that they're bad people. Their
problem is that they're dead and they're going to spend
eternity in hell, and you care about them, so you
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love them so much you want them to know your savior.
That's peace. So Jesus that when you go out among
the loss, you bring peace to them, just at peace.
I have given to you my peace I leave with you.
So we hold a righteous standard. And yet we're not
callous towards the loss. We want to bring peace to
the loss. That's what he says in verse six. If
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a man of peace is there, your peace will rest
on him. But if not, we'll return to you. Now
this man of peace literally a son of peace. We'll
call it a person of peace. A person of peace
is when you go out among the loss, you meet
somebody that is interested in what you have to say
and the lifestyle and whatch you're living. That's a person
of peace. As you pray to go among the lass,
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there are people that you're going to pray for specifically
some you have specific friends, specific family members and all that.
But as you pray and say, Lord, I'm going out,
bring that person to me that really wants to hear
about who you are, you will find there are sometimes
a person that will come alongside and they'll be receptive
to the things that you're saying, and they'll be receptive
to the lifestyle you're living, and there's a curiosity in
them that says, I kind of want to know a
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little more about this. When you have that, your peace
will rest on them. If you go out and share
with somebodys I want nothing to do with you, don't
worry about that. Your peace is going to come back.
You're not going to lose your relationship with Christ because
you spend time sharing with a non believer. Your peace
will come back to you. But when you go out,
what are you looking for. I'm not looking for converts,
and I'm not looking to convert a certain person because
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I don't have the power to do that. I'm keeping
my eyes open to see who Jesus may bring into
my pathway, either in my neighborhood or at a par
or on my sports team, or in my school, or
in my business, or on an airplane or in the
airport or wherever I'm going, because I'm praying that God's
gonna bring me a person to peace. And when somebody
comes along and we start engaging in the conversation, it's
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gonna be very obvious this person is a person a peace.
They're gonna be receptive to what you have to say.
And here's what you just says. Notice what he says.
When you find someone like that, stay in that house,
eating and drinking what they give you for the labor
laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving
from house to house. So he's telling him, you go
to households, and when you meet a person of peace
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and invite you in, it's okay to eat their food.
I will provide for you. I will protect you. Sometimes,
I'm gonna use other people's means to help you get
the mission done. Might not give you a house, but
I'll make sure you have shelter over your head. I
may not provide food directly to you, but I'll I'll
use somebody else to be I'll be the source. I'll
use all sorts of other resources to get it done.
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And then notice what he says, when you meet a
person of peace, stay in their house. Why Why? Because
sometimes when we think about mission, we think only about converts,
and we think our job is done when we've shared
the gospel. Well, I told him about that. I gave
him a track done with them. If they don't believe that,
that's their problem. No, and you find a person a piece,
you stay with them not only until they meet Jesus
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and are converted, but until they're on mission too, Because
what's he looking for. He's looking for laborers. So when
you're sharing the gospel, you're not just sharing and hoping
somebody's heart changes. Certainly you hope that, but you're sharing
in hopes that that person will become a co laborer
for Jesus. And why do you stay with them? Because
Jesus is not concerned with just converting individuals. He wants
to convert whole households. He wants to convert all sorts
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of groups. So you share a gospel with a guy
that's on a team and he comes to Christ. What
we tend to do is say, hey, come to my church.
It's always great to invite people to church. People are
always welcome and brave, you know that, right, Or we
say come to my small group. People are welcome to
come to your small group. But what tends to happen
over a couple three years, if that happens, is and
for some of you, this is your testimony. You came
to Christ, you knew that you were lost, you repented
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on your sins, you got indoctrinated in the church, you
came into a small group, and about a year, two
or three later, they're saying, let's go out and share
the gospel and you're like, I don't even have any
on Christian friends anymore.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Thanks for listening to Pastor Jeff Ministries. That was Pastor
Jeff with his message what does Jesus Want from the
series The Kingdom Invasion helping you discover how Jesus empowers
ordinary believers to do extraordinary work. Before we say goodbye,
we want to remind you that when you give a
gift to keep teachings like this one going out to
(24:35):
you and others, we'll send you Pastor Jeff's battle tested Wisdom,
a ten day prayer journey for real life decisions to
help you lean on God's wisdom. Visit Pastorjeff dot com
to give That's Pastorjeff dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
And while you're there, be sure.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
To sign up for email updates from Pastor Jeff Ministries
to be among the first to hear about new resources
to equip you in your walk. Thanks again for joining
us today,
Welcome to Pastor Jeff Ministries, the Bible teaching ministry of
doctor Jeff Swarzentra, Senior Pastor of Brave Church in Denver, Colorado. Today,
Pastor Jeff begins his message, what does Jesus want from
the series The Kingdom Invasion, helping you discover how Jesus
(00:22):
empowers ordinary believers to do extraordinary work. Before we get
started with today's teaching, we invite you to check out
Pastorjeff dot com to find more resources to help you
grow in your walk. Now let's hear from Pastor Jeff
as he brings us today's teaching from God's Word.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
There is no more fascinating study in the world than
the study of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, the
more you study the Lord and the more you get
to know him through his word, the more fascinating you
see that he is. In this series called The Kingdom Invasion,
we've been taking a look at who Jesus is, and
we start in Mark chapter one and saw all the
uniqueness of his ministry, of what Jesus came and did,
(01:05):
that he had always been the second person to Trinity,
he had always been God, and yet in humility he
put on incarnate flesh. He came to this world. He
had a ministry of preaching. He had a ministry of
freedom where he delivered people from demons. He had a
ministry of healing. And he loved the world so much
that he gave up his own life on a cross,
shed his own blood, and died so that those who
(01:27):
would repent and believe could have a relationship with him
and with his father. Then we took a look at
some of the uniquenesses of Jesus christ ministry. We took
a look in Mark chapter five and how Jesus had
power over demons, and Jesus had power over disease, and
Jesus even has power over death. And we studied what
his ministry looked like. But we didn't stop there. We
(01:51):
took a look at the commissioning of his original twelve
and how he sent them out to do exactly what
he was doing. And last week he took a look
at Matthew chapter ten, and he sent them out to preach,
He sent them out to cast out demons, he sent
them out to heal people, and he expected them to
do everything that he was doing because he was the
(02:12):
one that was going to be empowering them, and yet
it begs the question, what about us? We said last
week we are here because of those original twelve and
many people, even in the church can get to the
place where they would say, Jesus is unique. He had
a special ministry and he empowered twelve people to do it.
But what about me and what about you? What does
(02:35):
God require? What does God expect? What does Jesus Christ want?
Because I find that those first three messages, most evangelicals
around the country would nod their head and say, Okay,
I believe he did that, and I believe he did
that with the twelve. But what about us? What does
Jesus want from us? And if you've ever wondered that
God wants to speak to you, today, we're gonna be
(02:56):
in Luke chapter ten this morning. We're gonna take a
look at the first twenty four verse of that text,
and as you turn there, we're going to answer the
question what does Jesus want? We're going to take a
look at four things that Jesus wants from you. But
just to set up that story, if you flip back
just one page or one chapter, you will see last
week we studied Matthew chapter ten. Luke, Chapter nine is
(03:18):
the parallel passage. So Jesus trains the twelve. He sends
them out just as he said. And remember when they
came back, they were all excited that the ministry worked
and they wanted to get alone with Jesus. And so
Jesus said, let's get in a boat and go to
the other side of the lake. And when they did,
there was such a huge crowd of people, and Jesus
saw all these people. And even though the disciples just
wanted to spend time with Jesus, Jesus had compassion on
(03:41):
the masses, didn't he, And so he began to teach them,
and he began to heal them. He began to deliver them.
And at the end of the day they had no food,
and so he began to empower the disciples to give
them the food that they needed. And the way he
did this was he took what they had, he blessed it,
and he broke it. And then what did he do.
He gave it to the disciples so they could pass
(04:01):
it out to everybody, and everybody ate and was satisfied.
What was Jesus trying to do? He was trying to
teach the twelve everything that he had just taught them
that when he sent them out that they would always
have what they need for the people that they were
going to. But they needed to come back to Jesus
to receive more so that they could pass it all out.
And he was teaching them the habit. His method was
come back to me, I'll give you what you need,
(04:22):
and then you go out. That was Jesus's method. His
method has not changed. The very next scene that Luke
concludes in his gospel is the amount of transfiguration where Peter, James,
and John got to see Jesus in all of his glory.
When they came down the mountain. There was a father
that had a son that was troubled. He had a demon,
and every time that the son was wanting to do something,
it would throw him on the ground, or would throw
(04:43):
them in the fire or try to drown him. And
the disciples were trying to heal him, trying to cast
the demon out because that's what Jesus told him to do,
but they were having no success whatever whatsoever. And so
Jesus said, bring the boy to me. And when the
man brought the boy to Jesus, he said. The man said, Jesus,
if you can do any thing, He said, if I can,
all things are possible for him who believes. And Jesus
(05:04):
freed that little boy so that he was fine. Later,
the disciples ask him, why couldn't we do that? I mean,
we've been casting out demons and healing people, but this
one we couldn't do him. What does he say? This
kind only comes out by pray and fasting. He wasn't
giving them a magic formula. He was talking about a
relationship that needed to be had in an ongoing way
and a hunger for that relationship in order to see
(05:24):
the power of God released to the full measure of
that situation. And then what we see is as you
can imagine being human. Then there becomes this test of
greatness because all the disciples, as they're going out preaching
and casting out demons and healing people, they want to know, well,
who's the greatest, who's the best preacher, who's the best healer,
who's the best demon cast her outer? And Jesus overhearing
(05:45):
all of this, and he begins to tell them, you
know that even the Son of Man did not come
to serve, but to be served. He began to show
them that servanthood and humility was the was the way
to move forward. And then this chapter ends with three
different vignettes of people approaching Jesus, some that wanted to
(06:05):
follow him and some that Jesus was calling to follow him.
And here was the thing that happened. They didn't want
to give him full allegiance. They just wanted to give
him a little bit. One guy wanted to go bury
his father first. He said, hey, let the dead bury
their own dead, but you come follow me. Jesus said,
anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks
back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven. He
begins to say, you want to be my follower, I
need you to go all in. That's the context of
(06:28):
where we're going. So he was doing it with the twelve,
but he was also demanding it from everybody else that
he met. And that's where we pick up in Luke
chapter ten and verse one. Notice what it says, now,
after this, after all this, after he's appointed the twelve,
after he's shown them what he wants to do, after
all this, the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them
(06:50):
in pairs ahead of him to every city and place
where he himself was going to come. So now it's
not just the twelve anymore. Now it's seventy. Your version
may read seventy two. Some manuscripts have seventy. Some manuscripts
have seventy two. Don't lose your faith. We'll just say
seventy today, because that's what it says in my Bible. Okay,
(07:11):
I mean, for there were seventy elders in Israel, there
were seventy members of the Sanhedrin, there were seventy nations
in Genesis chapter ten. Perhaps that's what it is. Anyway,
don't lose your faith over two people. What I want
you to see is this is not the twelve. That's
what I want you to see. What does Jesus want.
Jesus Christ wants first and foremost total allegiance from all
(07:33):
his followers. I'm gonna say it again because some of
you hurt me and you're nodding, but you don't believe
me that he's talking about you. He wants total allegiance
from all his followers. So he's appointing seventy others. Now,
who are the seventy? I mean when we say you
the ten and Matthew Matthew Chapter ten, it lists all
the twelve by name. We know Peter, we know James,
(07:55):
we know John, we know Andrew, Bartholomew. We have all
of them listed. Who are the seventy? We don't know
they're anonymous saints. What is Jesus want? He wants anonymous
saints that will give total allegiance to him. See, we
live in a world where we think I gotta get
a title, or I get it, I gotta get a rank,
or I gotta get a degree, or I got to
(08:16):
move myself up. No, Jesus will take you right where
you're at and pour the full measure of his grace
through whomever wants to come to him. He just wants
total allegiance. That's what he wants. So he invites the seventy. Now,
now you would think if he's gonna commission the twelve,
then for the seventy, it's gonna be a little bit
of a lighter mission, don't you think. I mean, these
aren't the real twelve, These are just seventy. So what's
(08:39):
he telling to do? 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. Have we not heard this prayer before?
Have we not heard this request before? Did he not
tell the twelve the exact same thing? What's he telling
the seventy now, the exact same thing that he told
(09:00):
the twelve? And what's his first and foremost that he's
asking him to do? Pray? Pray for what specifically? Pray
that God would raise up those who would go among
the loss, because the fields are white unto harvest, they
are so ripe. Now, when are the fields right? Was
(09:22):
it just in the first century that there were lost people?
Was it just in the first century that there was darkness?
Was it just in the first century there were political problems?
Was it just in the first century there were social issues?
Or has it been every generation subsequent to that where
the fields are white unto harvest? See, there are people
that sit in the church and talk about how dark
it is out there. The darker it gets, the brighter
(09:45):
the light for Christ will shine. Friends, we live in
one of the greatest generations for the Gospel in the
history of the church. Do not be discouraged.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Amen, this is pastor Jeff Ministries with doctor Jeff Swarzentrad
and today Pastor Jeff is sharing his message what does
Jesus Want from the series The Kingdom Invasion helping you
discover how Jesus empowers ordinary believers to do extraordinary work.
We'll get back to Pastor Jeff in just a moment,
(10:15):
but first, generous listeners like you make programs like this
one possible. And when you give a gift in support
of Pastor Jeff Ministries today we'll say thanks for the
copy of Pastor Jeff's Battle Tested Wisdom, a ten day
prayer journey for real life decisions to help you learn
to live by God's wisdom not your own understanding. To
get your copy, visit us at Pastorjeff dot com to
(10:36):
give once again. That website is Pastorjeff dot Com. Now
let's get back to today's message. For the conclusion of
this teaching from God's Word, there are people that.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Sit in the church and talk about how dark it
is out there. The darker it gets, the brighter the
light for Christ will shine. Friends, we live in one
of the greatest generations for the Gospel in the history
of the church. Do not be discouraged amen. So what's
he telling them? Pray that the Lord would send out
harvesters into his harvest field. And as we talked about
(11:09):
last week, just to reiterate what we tend to think
that means is I'm a Christian. I'll pray for those
select few, maybe the three or five percent, that want
to do missions and see if God raises him up.
And then I'll pray for them to get some money
so that they can go do the mission of God.
That's what I'm praying for. Here's what you need to see.
In the scriptures. Jesus never asks his disciples to do
anything that he himself is unwilling to do. What did
(11:30):
Jesus come and do? Well? He preached, He cast out demons,
he healed people. What did Jesus do He commissioned people
to go out and preach, cast out demons and heal people.
What's he doing now? He's showing another group of people,
go tell the gospel, preach the gospel. He's going to
talk about healing and casting out demons that you'll see
in this text. So he's modeling for them. Just do
what I'm doing, follow me, and I will make you
(11:50):
fishers of men. So what's the prayer. He's asking all
Christians to pray everywhere around the world. Lord, here am
I send me? I'm available, I'm ready. If there's a
you can use me on mission, That's what I'd like
to do. Now why is that important? Because for most
of us we think Jesus's mission was simply to die
on the cross, so that if you believe in him
(12:11):
you'll go to heaven. That you won't find that in
the New Testament. You will not find Jesus come across
somebody and they say, what must I do to be saved?
And he says, pray this prayer and ask me into
your heart, and then go live your life just the
way it is. You won't find that everybody Jesus meets
he not only wants to save. He's bringing them into
(12:31):
a new kingdom, into a new family, with a new
mission to go and do something. If you are saved
through repentance and faith, Jesus didn't save you so that
one day you go to heaven, and so in the
interim you just be a good boy or a good girl.
He saved you because he has so much purpose in
your life, and your greatest purpose will be found as
(12:52):
you live a missional lifestyle for Jesus Christ. Amen, that's
what he's talking about. He wants total allegiance from everybody.
Keep in mind, when we got and share the gospel,
we're not just trying to get converts. People do need
to be converted. I do believe there's a moment in
time where we repent of our sin and place our
(13:12):
faith and trust in Jesus. I do believe that. But
that's not the end, that's just the beginning. The Bible
calls that being born again. It's new birth. What does
Jesus want everybody that you share with He wants them
to be on mission too. In the truest sense of
the word mission. Every Christian is a missionary. Now, you
may wear different clothes Monday through Saturday. You may wear
(13:34):
them for your business, you may wear them in your school,
you may wear you know, all sorts of different outfits
to do the gospel. But the reality is, wherever you go,
you're on mission as an ambassador for Jesus Christ. So
what's the first thing he tells these seventy I want
you to pray, and I want you to pray for
more harvesters. Well, how are we going to get that Jesus, Well,
(13:55):
you're gonna have to go tell them the good news
that I'm the king and that the kingdom has come,
and they need to repent and believe. And when they
repent and believe, you've got some more laborers to go
out in the harvest field. You don't just have a
convert that can come attend your group meeting. You have
people that are now commissioned by Jesus to go. Amen,
So as he told He tells him to pray. He
tells him, get ready and get ready as you share,
(14:17):
because you're gonna raise up other ones. And then what's
the first word of verse three? Go? He told his
disciples to go. He's telling the seventy to go. What
is he gonna do? In Matthew Chapter eighteen or Matthew
Chapter twenty eight, Verses eighteen to twenty after he says,
all authority in heaven and on earth has been given
to me. Therefore go, Do you see the similarity in
(14:37):
everything Jesus does. He does it with the twelve, he
does it with the seventy. He's gonna do it with
the masses. Go go and do what behold I send
you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. We
talked about that last week, like, the only way that
you're going to get through this is through Jesus Christ protection,
through Jesus Christ's provision, through Jesus christ direction. What was
(15:01):
he saying, stay connected to me on the mission. I'm
not calling you because you're qualified. I'm calling you because
you belong to me. But you need to stay connected
to me when you go number four verse four, carry
no money, belt, no bag, no shoes, and greet no
one on the way. What's he saying there? This thing's urgent.
(15:23):
Jesus saw his mission as urgent. As a matter of fact,
if you study through the Gospels, you would think that
Jesus is a megalomaniac because all he cares about is
himself and his own mission. And let me tell you
what he cares about today, himself and his own mission.
So everywhere he goes, that's what he's calling people to do.
That's why when you meet the rich, young ruler who
(15:46):
comes to Jesus and says, good teacher, what must I
do to be saved? What's his question? What's the least
I can do and still get into heaven? See Those
are the kind of the theological questions we like to ask, Hey,
what's the least I can do and still be saved?
The Bible doesn't answer that. Now, theologically, we can piece
some things together. Here's what the Bible asked. What does
it look like to be a follower of Jesus. It
(16:08):
means go all in, one hundred percent with everything you are.
That's what it means. When the rich young ruler is
there and begins to tell Jesus how he's kept all
the commandments since he was a kid, even though we
know the Ten Commandments and we study them and nobody's
kept any of them, but he's a religious guy. Jesus says, hey,
one thing you lack, go sell everything you have, then
come follow me, which means what I'm going to have
you do this and your reward and heaven will be great.
(16:30):
And what's the man do? He walks away, sad. He
was saying, all I was asking is how to get
to heaven. I didn't want to be in this mission thing.
I didn't want to go all in with you. I
don't love you like that. I'm not for what you're doing.
I just want to go to heaven and As he's
walking away, Jesus said, how hard it is for the
rich to enter the kingdom of Heaven. I tell you
it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's
eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom.
(16:51):
He said, when you're tied to the things of this
world and your life, it is so hard for you
to live for Jesus. But if you study through the
scriptures and you see this as a template for what
Jesus wanted, you will never see him lower the standard
or the bar for his mission. He expected every follower
to come die with him, and he was gonna model
that too. He said, I'm gonna go to Jerusalem. They're
(17:13):
gonna hand me over. I'm gonna be mistreated, I'm gonna beaten,
I'm gonna be killed, but I'm gonna rise. You want
to follow me? Anyone who will not take up his
own cross and follow after me has no part of me.
Are you willing to come die too? I mean that
is the mission of Jesus. We've watered it down so
much that we think that the pinnacle is seeing somebody
(17:34):
get saved, when in the Bible, that's the entry point
for seeing somebody know Christ that can then be put
on mission to leave many others to Jesus Christ. Amen,
that's what he's telling the seventy to do. Now keep
in mind, he's not telling the twelve. The twelve. He's
already told this. These are just seventy other anonymous saints
that are following after him. And he's like, Okay, you
want to follow me, then you're gonna do the exact
(17:54):
same thing I told the twelve to do. So he's
gonna send him out. Don't worry about your money, don't
worry wry about your clothes, don't worry about your shoes,
and greet no one on the way. What does that mean?
In the first century, greeting was the greatest form of hospitality.
He wasn't saying when you walk, put your head down
and be mean to people. Don't you know That's not
what he was saying. He was saying, don't let anything
get in the way of the mission. Don't let anything
(18:17):
distract you. Don't make your shopping, don't make your your resources,
don't make your relationships. Let nothing get in the way
of the mission. Because what I care about is myself
and the mission. I came to do, which was to
let the world know that there's a God in heaven,
and I have been sent by my Father to be
here for the world. That's the only thing worth living for.
That's everything she just talks about all throughout the gospels. Amen.
(18:39):
So he says, when you go, whatever house you enter,
first say peace be to this house. Now, I want
to tell you something about this. I'm thankful to be
part and pastor at church that preaches the word of
God in its fullness. When you're in a church that
preaches the word of God in its fullness, God shows
you his standard of holiness. He shows you his standard
(19:00):
of righteousness. He shows you his standard of truth. I
love that I pastor a church where I can do that.
So to stand here and say, I believe that God
created the world in six literal days and rested on
the seventh. I believe that God created only two genders,
and they are male and female. I believe that God
says marriage is only between a man and a woman
till death do you part. I believe that abortion is murdered.
(19:22):
I can say all those things right, and we can
clatform that's fine. We can praise God for them at
the same time. What can develop in our heart if
we're not a mission is a callousness towards people that
don't agree with that, And so we think of them
as those people and that group. What does you just
(19:43):
say when you enter their house, in other words, when
you enter their sector, when you enter that group, what
are you bringing to them? Not judgment? What peace? It
means that as you grow in God's holiness, your heart
has to stay fresh by loving the people that God loved.
And why does he love all people? Because he creates
hated all people. And who did Jesus die for? He
died so that anybody who was willing to repent of
(20:04):
their sin and trust him could have a relationship. So
when you hold a standard of morality that the people
you're talking to don't, or they vote for the wrong
political leaders, or they act in a way that's different,
you love them. You're bringing peace to them because you
realize their problem is not that they're bad people. Their
problem is that they're dead and they're going to spend
eternity in hell, and you care about them, so you
(20:26):
love them so much you want them to know your savior.
That's peace. So Jesus that when you go out among
the loss, you bring peace to them, just at peace.
I have given to you my peace I leave with you.
So we hold a righteous standard. And yet we're not
callous towards the loss. We want to bring peace to
the loss. That's what he says in verse six. If
(20:48):
a man of peace is there, your peace will rest
on him. But if not, we'll return to you. Now
this man of peace literally a son of peace. We'll
call it a person of peace. A person of peace
is when you go out among the loss, you meet
somebody that is interested in what you have to say
and the lifestyle and whatch you're living. That's a person
of peace. As you pray to go among the lass,
(21:08):
there are people that you're going to pray for specifically
some you have specific friends, specific family members and all that.
But as you pray and say, Lord, I'm going out,
bring that person to me that really wants to hear
about who you are, you will find there are sometimes
a person that will come alongside and they'll be receptive
to the things that you're saying, and they'll be receptive
to the lifestyle you're living, and there's a curiosity in
them that says, I kind of want to know a
(21:29):
little more about this. When you have that, your peace
will rest on them. If you go out and share
with somebodys I want nothing to do with you, don't
worry about that. Your peace is going to come back.
You're not going to lose your relationship with Christ because
you spend time sharing with a non believer. Your peace
will come back to you. But when you go out,
what are you looking for. I'm not looking for converts,
and I'm not looking to convert a certain person because
(21:51):
I don't have the power to do that. I'm keeping
my eyes open to see who Jesus may bring into
my pathway, either in my neighborhood or at a par
or on my sports team, or in my school, or
in my business, or on an airplane or in the
airport or wherever I'm going, because I'm praying that God's
gonna bring me a person to peace. And when somebody
comes along and we start engaging in the conversation, it's
(22:13):
gonna be very obvious this person is a person a peace.
They're gonna be receptive to what you have to say.
And here's what you just says. Notice what he says.
When you find someone like that, stay in that house,
eating and drinking what they give you for the labor
laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving
from house to house. So he's telling him, you go
to households, and when you meet a person of peace
(22:34):
and invite you in, it's okay to eat their food.
I will provide for you. I will protect you. Sometimes,
I'm gonna use other people's means to help you get
the mission done. Might not give you a house, but
I'll make sure you have shelter over your head. I
may not provide food directly to you, but I'll I'll
use somebody else to be I'll be the source. I'll
use all sorts of other resources to get it done.
(22:56):
And then notice what he says, when you meet a
person of peace, stay in their house. Why Why? Because
sometimes when we think about mission, we think only about converts,
and we think our job is done when we've shared
the gospel. Well, I told him about that. I gave
him a track done with them. If they don't believe that,
that's their problem. No, and you find a person a piece,
you stay with them not only until they meet Jesus
(23:17):
and are converted, but until they're on mission too, Because
what's he looking for. He's looking for laborers. So when
you're sharing the gospel, you're not just sharing and hoping
somebody's heart changes. Certainly you hope that, but you're sharing
in hopes that that person will become a co laborer
for Jesus. And why do you stay with them? Because
Jesus is not concerned with just converting individuals. He wants
to convert whole households. He wants to convert all sorts
(23:41):
of groups. So you share a gospel with a guy
that's on a team and he comes to Christ. What
we tend to do is say, hey, come to my church.
It's always great to invite people to church. People are
always welcome and brave, you know that, right, Or we
say come to my small group. People are welcome to
come to your small group. But what tends to happen
over a couple three years, if that happens, is and
for some of you, this is your testimony. You came
to Christ, you knew that you were lost, you repented
(24:02):
on your sins, you got indoctrinated in the church, you
came into a small group, and about a year, two
or three later, they're saying, let's go out and share
the gospel and you're like, I don't even have any
on Christian friends anymore.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Thanks for listening to Pastor Jeff Ministries. That was Pastor
Jeff with his message what does Jesus Want from the
series The Kingdom Invasion helping you discover how Jesus empowers
ordinary believers to do extraordinary work. Before we say goodbye,
we want to remind you that when you give a
gift to keep teachings like this one going out to
(24:35):
you and others, we'll send you Pastor Jeff's battle tested Wisdom,
a ten day prayer journey for real life decisions to
help you lean on God's wisdom. Visit Pastorjeff dot com
to give That's Pastorjeff dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
And while you're there, be sure.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
To sign up for email updates from Pastor Jeff Ministries
to be among the first to hear about new resources
to equip you in your walk. Thanks again for joining
us today,
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