May 6, 2025 • 61 mins
Pastor Scott continues in our series "Believing For The Impossible", challenging us to identify our personal responsibility to the harvest and to stop hiding behind excuses that prevent us from being effective witnesses for Christ.
• God doesn't need our help with generating a harvest - the problem is finding laborers willing to work
• When Jesus told disciples to pray for laborers, He was preparing to commission them as those laborers
• Being "Christian at work" isn't enough if we never speak about the gospel due to fear of rejection
• William Carey revolutionized missions by challenging the passive belief that "if God wants to save people, He'll do it without us"
• The Holy Spirit empowers believers specifically to be witnesses, not just for personal spiritual experiences
• Our commissioning progresses from local to global impact as we mature in faith and obedience
• God strategically positions His people like dealing new hands from the same deck of cards - same people, different assignments
• Complaining about others not meeting expectations reveals our hearts are set on pleasing people rather than God
• True compassion for the lost, not just desire for converts, should motivate our evangelism efforts
• We must overcome our humanity through faith and accept the impossibility of doing God's work in our own strength
If you've grown complacent in your witness, recommit today to being empowered by the Holy Spirit to share the good news without excuses or fear.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week.
For more information about ourchurch, please visit
therockfamilytv Now.
Join us for a message fromPastor Scott Silcox.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
If you don't know the idea of what this is's actually
a series that really she prayedinto this for a very long time,
just believing that this wasthe next step for us in our
church and the topic that wereally needed to get into, and
she did a fantastic job, kind ofsetting the stage with the idea
what is impossible with man iswhat Possible with God.
(00:43):
Right, and then the first placewe see that language of
something being impossible isreally where we have to overcome
our humanity and we literallyhave to lean into a faith for
salvation.
How many know that salvationhas to be believed in?
There's something on the otherside of that.
(01:03):
It's not just a loving Savior,but there's a step that we have
to take into the possibility ofbeing saved.
Right, and that what the Lordsays is impossible for us to do
in our own strength.
He graces us in that moment todo it.
Now, for most of us you shouldknow this is that you didn't
come to salvation because youfound Christ.
(01:24):
Christ found you.
Can I get a good amen?
Yeah, christ found you.
Christ pursued you.
I will take it a step further.
It's the Holy Spirit that drewyou, even into himself.
So this is the beauty of ourGod.
He not only makes provision foryou, he makes hunger in you
(01:49):
through himself.
So you just got to get yourhead wrapped around this.
This is how much he loves us,how much he desires to be with
us, how much he wants to knowyou.
And can I tell you today, ifyou have not met Christ and
you're in this room today, can Itell you don't go another
minute, another second Life hasand will continue.
(02:11):
It's so much better with him.
It's so much better with him.
There's so much joy and there's, yeah, life happens.
But Christ in us gives us thegrace to walk out the things
that come, and I'm just tellingyou, last week was an incredible
foundation for that, like theidea of understanding that
salvation A is valuable,important and is for everybody,
(02:35):
and it's going to require us toovercome our humanity to do it,
and the Lord provides a way.
This week, I want to talk toyou a little bit about the
harvest, the harvest way.
This week, I want to talk to youa little bit about the harvest,
the harvest Now.
Immediately.
When I say the harvest, many ofyou will immediately go to the
scripture of what Do you guyscan recall?
One right.
The harvest is and the laborsare few.
(02:59):
We all know that.
Isn't that amazing how easy wewere able to pick that up in our
little index there.
So everybody knows this,everybody knows the scripture.
But I want to just kind of seta stage for you.
This is Matthew 9.
And if you go back and look atMatthew 9, this is fascinating
to me.
Matthew 9, it starts with anentire like glossary of history
(03:24):
that Christ is having.
He's doing healings, I meanlike massive healings he's
having.
He's neck deep in the demonic.
This is chapter nine.
Just go back and look at itLike it's.
He's doing business with thepeople of Israel.
He's shown up on the scene.
(03:45):
He's anointed to preach thegood news.
He's anointed to do the workright.
And in chapter nine he startsdoing the work and in fact it's
so overwhelming that there arepeople just dragging the sick to
him Like he's just he's justcamped out.
I'm going'm gonna stay here.
(04:06):
People are just saying like thisguy's doing miraculous stuff
and honestly I'm telling afamily member I'm getting them
here because they need a touchfrom Jesus.
Now I would just stop righthere to say, uh, that the thing
that that hurts my heart mostthan anything is to see, uh, the
of Christ and the church not behungry enough to bring those
(04:27):
that are lost and broken anymore.
And it's oftentimes becausewe're struggling ourselves on
our besetting and our cyclicalsin cycle in our life that we
don't want to bring other peopleinto the middle of that.
Till we get it right, can Itell you that that that'll take
(04:48):
eternity.
Come on, don't look at yourneighbor right now.
Right, come on, help me knowthat that that's going to be a,
that's going to be a minute.
So we can't, we can't just holdon on this message.
But here's, here's a couple offacts here.
Let's read through thisscripture first, and it says
(05:10):
this Matthew 9, verse 35 through38.
We're going to read thesecouple of scriptures and I'll
read them to you, you can followalong with me.
And it says and Jesus wentthroughout all the cities and
villages teaching in theirsynagogues and proclaiming the
gospel of the kingdom andhealing every disease and every
affliction.
And when he saw the crowds, hehad what Compassion for them.
(05:34):
He had compassion for thembecause they were harassed and
helpless, like sheep without ashepherd.
And then he said to hisdisciples here it is, the
harvest is plentiful, but thelaborers are few.
Therefore, pray earnestly tothe Lord of the harvest to send
out laborers into the harvest.
Now, this is like aquintessential.
(05:57):
This is like you learned thisat the earliest age.
Possible, because this is whatwe usually teach when we want
people to get up and dosomething.
Possible, because this is whatwe usually teach when we want
people to get up and dosomething Right.
This is the motivation.
It's like when it's time to doevangelism, micah, this is the
scripture I'm giving you.
When it's time to get out anddo Huntsville Dream Center, this
is it.
Hey, the laborers are few, theharvest is plenty.
(06:19):
Don't sit on your hands, comeon, come on, son, let's do this
Right.
That's typically how we woulduse it, but can I tell you, I
think it's a misuse of theScripture altogether.
I actually don't think it's thebest use of the Scripture, and
I want to just point out acouple of things that I think
are interesting.
And again, today, our whole goalis to identify this idea of
(06:40):
what is my responsibility to theharvest.
Shaquan and Lindsay are heretoday.
Look at this.
Shaky making an appearance onSunday morning.
Thank you for bringing lovely.
That's really all we wanted tosee.
So I'm just saying that is themost beautiful child I've ever
seen.
I love her, sorry, side noteQuestion is Tommy is like what's
(07:08):
my responsibility to theharvest?
What's my responsibility,what's my job to it?
I want to just start by this andrecognize a couple of things
right out of the gate.
How many know that Christ is ina unique posture when he is
concerned about the harvest.
First and foremost, he is undera demand on what he carries.
(07:29):
Just go back and read chapter 9.
There's a demand on what he'scarrying at the moment.
There's deliverance, there'shealing, there's power in him
and there are people that aredrawing on it.
But it says this he finallygets to the points where he has
compassion for them.
I would just say this if anytime we endeavor to step out and
(07:53):
to be his witnesses and weendeavor to step out and
proclaim the name of Jesus inour communities, if you're doing
it without a heart ofcompassion, it's in the wrong
motive right out of the gate.
If it's in the motive ofsalvation alone, it's even the
wrong motive.
Careful, that's hard, that'shard to hear.
(08:14):
But the truth is, if I'm justgetting out there just to make
converts, I got to get converts,and I'll do whatever it takes
to get converts the truth is, ifyour motive isn't rooted in
compassion in fact, it'scompassion that makes you
passionate about souls and aboutsalvation.
It should be compassion thatcompels us into the highway and
(08:35):
the byway.
It should be compassion, joe,that gets you excited about
doing what you do.
And here's what's sad about theWestern approach.
What we do is we tell ourselvesthat when we're at our
workplace, we're doing God youdo.
And here's what's sad about theWestern approach.
What we do is we tell ourselvesthat when we're at our
workplace, we're doing God'swork.
Because we're Christian atGod's work at this work, because
(08:55):
I'm Christian at this job, thenI'm really doing the hard work
of going after the harvest.
Folks, this is real.
This is a lie that we'll tellourselves.
We'll just be convinced we'retotally at work with the kingdom
of God.
We're partnered with whatChrist is doing because we're
Christian at work.
(09:18):
What does that mean to you,christian at work?
Most of the time?
Most of the time, it just meansyou quietly have a devotion to
the Lord and you think of me.
Just being in place is metaking ground for the kingdom?
And I have.
I've got terrible news forsomebody in here.
(09:39):
This ain't it.
This is what we tell ourselves,so that we actually don't have
to do the hard work of actuallyspeaking about the gospel.
I don't actually want to haveto say anything because I might
get rejected.
There's a fear of rejection, afear of failure, a fear that I
actually don't know what I'mtalking about and I'll get in a
(10:00):
conversation and they'll findout I'm a fraud, and so what we
do is we sit on our hands andthen we just decide I'll tell
you what we will do.
We will just be devoted, quietChristians at work and claim the
kingdom of God, and then we getin our Christian circles and we
let everybody know we'readvancing the kingdom.
(10:24):
I was persecuted this week atwork and most of you think you
were persecuted because you gotasked to do work.
It's like crazy, like that,like they actually want me to do
something for this money.
If I had known that.
(10:45):
It's just funny the way we are.
Our humanity feels like we, byclaiming Christ, we deserve
something else.
But the truth is is thatthere's got to be a motivation
in us, and this is what'shappening.
Do you know that these threepassages right, these three
(11:10):
verses are actually a pivotpoint in the dialogue of what
Matthew's doing.
Matthew has laid out all thisdemand on Christ, and it was
Christ through compassion.
Isn't it interesting that hesays right here, he says he had
compassion for them.
Why?
Because they were what Harassedand helpless.
Did anyone notice that hedoesn't have compassion on them,
(11:31):
that they're lost?
Doesn't have compassion becausethey're lost.
He has compassion becausethey're harassed.
He has compassion on themsimply because they're helpless.
Why?
Because Jesus is in thephysical form present to deliver
(11:52):
Israel and they can't see him.
Salvation is at hand.
But the thing that frustrateshim is this what makes his heart
break is they don't even knowthat I'm right here and I'm only
one person and I've got to getmore people involved in this
thing.
And this is the cool part,because he pivots and then he
(12:15):
asks the disciples.
This is who he's asking, by theway.
It's the disciples.
He's saying hey guys, I needyou to pray, I need you to pray
for laborers.
Now you just have to imaginePut yourself there for a second,
like one of the disciples.
You're following Christ, you'vebeen chosen, you're an
understudy right, anunder-shepherd right, which is
(12:39):
what I am, what our pastors arewhat we're doing right.
This isn't our church.
This is his church, right?
This isn't what I am, what ourpastors are what we're doing,
right?
This isn't our church.
This is his church.
Right?
This isn't what I want.
This is what he wants.
Right?
We're under shepherds, right?
We're not the shepherd, we'rethe under shepherd.
And so he's got a band ofmisfits that he's traveling
around with and they're sittingon the sidelines seeing the most
(13:02):
miraculous things I'm talkingabout, like people that are lame
, getting up and walking awayand the whole community being
like what is going on?
This is crazy.
Nobody's doing this stuffEverything you can imagine.
Right?
The Pharisees are close and allthey want to do is make sure
that everyone knows he'soperating from a devil.
(13:23):
He's a devil, he's praying tothe devil, he's using devil
black magic to raise thesepeople up, because when the
church can't control thenarrative, it makes its own
narrative up, when it can'tcontrol the outcomes, because
(13:45):
our systems failed, but thepower of God overrides our
system, and this is.
The Pharisees are confrontedwith this, and so they have to
start some other narrative.
Yeah, to cut this man down.
Got to cut this.
He's getting too much influence, but it's too late because, how
many know, you can't competeagainst the miraculous power of
(14:06):
God.
Look, my family member is lame,is now walking.
Can I tell you, I don't carewhat you say, but that guy is
delivering on his word Right,and yet we lack the confidence
to talk about it.
We're in here clapping it upright now.
(14:27):
Yeah well, we believe in this.
Until you get to lunch todayand somebody takes a half a set
longer to get you your food, andthen the spirit of hangry comes
upon you.
Huh, you start snapping atfamily members, you tear through
(14:51):
the rolls on the table.
Come on, we could shout allabout this, but we're talking
about there's work to be done.
I say there's work to be done.
I say there's work to be done.
Sorry, that's a anyway Forthose that know.
No, brother Barry, he's in here.
(15:18):
Three verses, he pivots.
He tells them I want you topray, pray for laborers, because
the harvest is plenty.
This isn't a harvest problem.
See, we're constantly trying tohelp the Lord with a harvest
problem.
We keep trying to drum up morehunger.
And he said hunger ain't theirproblem.
Who will go is the problem.
(15:42):
So this is the fascinating part.
This is what he does.
Have you guys ever.
Chase knows what I'm talkingabout when I say this, and
basketball players know, butthere's a move in basketball
called the pivot.
It's a pivot.
It's where you're anchored onone side but you're pivoting.
You're able to move, but yourone foot stays steady.
(16:03):
This is Christ pivots righthere.
Matthew, really, in documentingit, is the one who pivots in
writing.
But he's basically sayinghere's a problem, here's a thing
, here's what the need is,here's Christ's compassion for
it.
And then pivot is hey, I wantyou to pray into something.
And then, just a verse later,we get this Chapter 10, verse 1
(16:26):
through 7, but we'll start at 5.
It says these 12 Jesus sent outinstructing them go nowhere
among the Gentiles and enter notown of the Samaritans, but go
rather to the lost sheep of thehouse of Israel and do what
Proclaim as you go, saying thekingdom of heaven is at hand,
heal the sick, raise the dead,cleanse the lepers and cast out
(16:48):
demons.
Now, here's the pivot, did yousee it?
I want you to pray, julie, forlaborers.
And then two, three, fourverses later, boom, prayers are
answered.
Y'all are the ones I'm talkingabout.
(17:09):
You are empowered.
You got to go, do Like.
You know those disciples.
They're kind of like a oh, I'mtrying to be nice.
You know there's people in yourlife that are, that are just
to-do list people.
You can't, they don't, they'renot gonna piece it together
(17:30):
until you lay it out.
Melinda knows what I'm talkingabout.
She gives me lists all the time, like she knows I'm that way
here at work, like I need you todo this, this and this.
If she's waiting for me todream up what that is, I'll do
all the other things, except forthe things that are on the list
.
Right, am I right?
Yes, anybody got somebody intheir family like that that you
(17:51):
know you better give the exacttask to, or it ain't going to
happen.
The disciples are like this.
They're all over the place.
So you know, when Jesus pivotsand he says, hey, this is what I
want you to do, I want you topray.
So you know, when Jesus pivotsand he says, hey, this is what I
want you to do, I want you topray.
You know they're right there.
Yes, lord, shut up.
We need more laborers.
Bring them in from the highwaysand send them in, lord, we need
(18:13):
laborers.
And Jesus is like and stop, letme just put my hands on you.
You were commissioned.
Get out of here and go dosomething with your life.
Can anybody relate?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah.
(18:35):
Sort of like what we do everyweek.
Sort of like what we do.
We come in here praying forother people to come in here
that we won't go get.
Huh, we just, we're so good atit Remember, this church is so
good at this.
(18:55):
We know how to pray, we knowhow to intercede.
We'll come together.
We're praying for the lost, butwe're not going to tell anybody
about the kingdom, like that'sfor them to find out.
See, that's how we'repartnering with the Lord.
See, this is how you justify.
We're partnering with the Lord.
He's doing the work.
We're just here.
We're just here.
We're intercessing, we'reintercessing, we're intercessing
.
We've got holes in our jeans,but we can't just open our mouth
(19:20):
.
I'm talking about when, you know, jesus swooped in and saved
your soul.
I mean, no, it don't take muchfor me to be compassionate.
(19:42):
You know what I'll show you,give you an example.
You know, it don't take muchfor me to be compassionate.
You know what?
I'll give you an example.
When someone messes up theirAchilles, right compassion
Because I ruptured mine and it'slike, as soon as I hear it.
(20:02):
I get sympathy pains, legstarts, throbbing.
I immediately do whatever.
What can I do for you?
How can I serve you?
You don't even know what'scoming to you.
It's going to be terrible.
Come on, I mean, you know likeyou can connect to somebody.
You've gone through similartrauma with right.
There's a compassion there.
Here's what's disturbing Is that?
(20:23):
Why isn't the church moved tocompassion over those that are
broken and lost Because theydon't have what?
What are we missing in therelationship with Christ?
That doesn't compel me to tellothers about his good news.
What is it that's holding meback?
What is the thing?
(20:43):
And so here's interesting to meis that the disciples are going
to get a couple ofcommissionings.
This is their first one.
Oftentimes, we don't talk aboutthis commissioning, do we?
We usually talk about which one.
Come on, you got this, matthew28.
You're all over it.
Somebody said it.
I don't know where you were at.
There you go, girl.
(21:03):
Let's call my girl Butler grad,matthew 28.
We usually talk about thatcommissioning, but this
commissioning is one that'simportant.
Young people, listen to me,just listen to me for a second.
Rico, right, this is what we'retalking about.
(21:26):
This commissioning is importantbecause he limits their ability
.
You realize at this point, hedid not commission them to
minister to the Gentiles, whichis you and me.
He commissioned them to thework that he was there to do.
Now, I'm just saying this as aside note to the work that he
was there to do.
(21:47):
Now, I'm just saying this as aside note.
Young person, when you're askedto partner in a season, don't
get so easily frustrated anditchy to get out of learning how
to do the ministry at the locallevel.
Don't be duped into believingyou're just waiting for your big
platform.
Your social media is gonna blowup.
You're going to be the next,whatever.
(22:08):
No, no, no, no, no.
What the invitation is is topartner in the direction of
where the leadership is going,because in that place, you're
learning how to then what Becommissioned to the world.
It's a phase, it's a step thatwe want to bypass all the time,
because we're waiting forworldwide success.
(22:31):
This wasn't even about successfor you.
This is about learning how tobe discipled.
It's about learning how tolearn for what Christ is doing
and do the work he's given youto do today.
Stop waiting on your nextopportunity and do the work
today.
Yeah, about three of y'all arelike yeah, that sounds good,
(22:54):
sounds good.
My neighbor loves to hear thatthey need that today.
That's my other favorite partabout being in church.
We always like believe themessage is for the person you're
sitting next to, or someone inthe room like this is perfect
for them.
No, this is for you, girl, likethis is for you.
Lord's trying to get yourattention, trying to shake you
(23:15):
out of your comfort zone, right,trying to get you compassion
about the lost.
Why?
Because the laborers are few.
The harvest isn't the problem.
It's you being mobilized, yeah,but I don't like my few.
The harvest isn't the problem.
It's you being mobilized, yeah,but I don't like my assignment.
My assignment ain't good.
That's why you there it is.
(23:35):
It's why you're there, yeah,but you don't know it's hard.
Yeah, yeah, right, yeah, it'shard.
It's hard, it's meant to behard, it's meant to shape you,
it's meant to form you, right?
We don't want to bypass those,right?
All right, so a couple ofthings that I just want to
mention to you because I thinkthey're interesting.
(23:56):
There's an interesting dynamicthat happens over 1,800 years
and there's a guy that shows upon the scene in England and he
starts, as a young person topreach pretty radical teaching.
Now this is fast forward, bythe way, I'll go back to it at
(24:20):
the end.
But the first commissioning,obviously getting disciples
focused on the job at hand hey,you're released to do the work,
but there's an era that kind ofmirrors this.
That I think is prettyinteresting.
There's a guy by the name ofWilliam Carey.
I don't know if you knowWilliam Carey or not, but he's
the father of modern missions.
He's a young guy.
(24:42):
He doesn't look young here.
Obviously I was like that'ssome guys out here that look
like this guy.
When he was young he wasradical.
William Carey was a radicalpreacher, revivalist.
(25:02):
Something interesting aboutWilliam Carey that I think is to
note is he did not have aneducation, but he studied and
learned and actually becamesuper successful, became a
professor.
He was fluent in German and twoother languages Latin, I think,
(25:25):
is what it was, another onethat he was fluent in.
But the idea is that he wasstudied.
And this is interesting too isthat he was a map maker.
He would create maps, so he wasa reader and so he understood
geography and he would createmaps.
Rick isn't here today, but hewas also a shoemaker.
He made shoes.
(25:46):
That's how he was doing it.
He was young, he was makingshoes.
He's living his life, he'strying to be smart, but he gets
anointed and I use that word,specifically anointed, to
advance the idea of whatmissions is supposed to look
like.
William Carey is known for thisstatement right here In I think
(26:09):
it was 1792, he has a message toa room full of ministers and
this is what it's basically beenboiled down to Expect great
things from God, attempt greatthings for God.
To expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.
It's an incredible phrase andit's important for you to pay
attention to exactly how it'swritten, because oftentimes I've
(26:32):
read this a lot of timesactually, and I've looked over
it, but there's actually orderto it you realize that you
really can't do the attemptgreat things for God first.
This is a fundamental problemin the church today.
We don't mind attempting somethings, but this one up here
(26:53):
expecting it first.
What are you expecting from God?
I think most times, before westep out and do anything, we've
got to change our expectation ofwhat's possible.
Do you hear?
Can I say it again?
We have to change ourexpectation of what's possible.
Do you hear.
Can I say it again?
We have to change ourexpectation of what's possible
With God.
All things See.
We just learned that With God,not with me, with me, no, no, no
(27:19):
, with me, it's impossible.
With God, all things arepossible.
So my level of expectation,bruce, remember when we used to
come into church and we used tocome in expecting God to
transform lives.
It wasn't like a I hope heshows up.
We knew he would show up.
So you guys, some of y'all,don't even remember that.
You ain't even been in churchlong enough to know this.
(27:40):
But there was an era and a daywhere we walked into service and
it was like electricity runningthrough your body Because
you're just like.
You don't know what's going tohappen.
I know this.
I don't know how it will takeplace, but God is going to mess
somebody up in this place today.
Used to walk into churchexpecting hey, I am eager for
(28:03):
worship because I'm not going tomiss an opportunity to engage.
And now we begrudgingly get inhere or we come two songs late.
Oh, they're just going to singone of those fast songs I don't
know the words to, as if we'recurating worship for you.
(28:25):
We're curating an atmospherefor him.
Dude, all your kids gotbaptized today.
That's so awesome, by the way,golly, kids got baptized today.
(28:52):
It's so awesome, by the way,golly, I just love it.
I just love it.
Just want to run up there andhug all of them.
I see y'all up there.
So good.
I mean, we can't get tired ofthat stuff.
This is that public declarationof those who have given their
lives to Christ.
Right, william Carey?
This guy coins this phrase andyou have to think about what's
(29:17):
he facing in this hour.
You know, at this hour he'sfacing something that's really
interesting.
It's the Industrial Revolutionis here.
I want you to just think whathe's facing.
Something that's reallyinteresting.
It's the Industrial Revolutionis here.
I want you to just think whathe's facing.
There's this machinery, there'sthis stuff happening.
There's all of this likeprogress that's happening all
around him.
There's this sense of empirethat is taking control over
(29:42):
Great Britain.
What it is is there's thisstrength that's brewing and
growing, and now they'rebranching out.
The business is booming.
It's worldwide.
Now, right, they're shippingstuff all over.
They're exploring and findingnew worlds and new ways to do
business.
All of this is happening andWilliam Carey is finally at a
(30:04):
place where he can use his voice, he realizes nobody from the
church is moving, we're stagnant.
How can we, 1800 years later,after the Great Commission,
after the empowerment, still bein a place where we should be at
(30:28):
the razor's edge, at the tip ofthe spear, to bring impact
through what God's done in ourlife, and nobody's doing
anything?
It's said that he stood up andbegan to make declaration.
He began to put a demand on thechurch to get up and go and
then he started to get rebuked.
Sit down, young man.
(30:50):
It's recorded.
Sit down, young man.
You're an enthusiast, you'rejust getting all worked up.
And this is what they said Ifit's God's will for those people
to be saved, if it's his will,then he'll do it.
(31:12):
Now we look back at that andsay, gosh, what a missed
opportunity.
And yet, and yet, here we areagain, as if we didn't learn, as
(31:32):
if we didn't pay attention.
Can I give you a scripture, lily?
Hebrews 13.
I want you to go to Hebrews 13.
I want you to look at it, readit.
Hebrews 13 is interesting, thechapter 13.
I wasn't even going to go there, I wasn't even going to say it,
(31:53):
but you know, here I am, I'mout here now, so I think it's.
I'll have to look.
I don't have my phone lookingon my Bible on my app real quick
.
Well, this is an inopportunetime for it to update.
(32:14):
I mean, are you serious rightnow, like what are we doing?
You're going to give thanks,bud, thank you.
Are you serious right now, likewhat are we doing?
Thanks, bud, thank you.
Watch it.
Update on this one too.
Then we know it's the prophet.
If it's the Lord's will so beit.
(32:40):
I want to give you this becauseI think it's important.
It's important, I canparaphrase it for you, but I
don't want to give you thisbecause I think it's important.
It's important, I canparaphrase it for you, but I
don't want to All right, youguys got it.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Hebrews 13?
All right.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I got to find it here .
It is Verse 17.
This is interesting.
Obey your spiritual leaders anddo what they say.
Listen to this.
Their work is to watch overyour souls and they are
accountable to God.
Give them reason to do thiswith joy and not with sorrow.
(33:28):
That would certainly not be foryour benefit.
I want to give this to youbecause I want you to read the
whole chapter to you, and thisis important for our young
people because there's this ideain here is that there's a path
that's set from history for usto follow.
It's for every one of us, andthe Bible talks about this.
(33:51):
It's like there's a way to dolife and we're not paying
attention.
When you hear people likeWilliam Carey, who set out a
course to start a missionsmovement, by the way he ends up
in India and he ends up doingamazing work.
By the way he ends up going andjust created the first seminary
there.
He's an incredible lead.
He's thousands of kids that hebrought through the ministry.
(34:13):
He's an incredible sacrifice.
He motivated the Baptists toget out and do something.
He was up against theCalvinists, though that's who
he's up against.
That's his battle.
His battle's against theCalvinist, though that's who
he's up against.
That's his battle, his battle'sagainst the Calvinist right,
because they're just saying, hey, look, if God wants to save him
, he'll save him, that's fine.
And he's saying, no, we have tostir ourselves to the
(34:34):
commission of Christ again, andthis morning I'm encouraging us
to stop and to think.
What is your responsibility tothe harvest?
He has not asked you to prayfor laborers so that you can
look to somebody else.
He's asked you to pray forlaborers so that you can
(35:01):
identify yourself.
He's not asked you to pray forlaborers so you can identify
someone else.
He has identified you.
He's looking for you to pray sothat you can see your potential
.
I was reading about a church theother day that.
Do you guys remember whenchurches used to put like the
flags of the nations?
Do you remember that?
I love that.
(35:22):
My dad was big about that.
He loved the flags of thenations.
It was awesome.
This particular church wouldput the flags up and underneath
it they would put like names ofthe missionaries, so that when
we would pray, we'd pray overthose missionaries.
But then you get to a flag thatdidn't have a missionary and
there was a little mirrorunderneath it.
(35:43):
We're going to do that again.
That didn't have a missionaryand there was a little mirror
underneath it.
Ha ha, ha, ha ha.
Ah, we gotta do that again.
We gotta do that again.
Why, why?
Why?
Because the call is why not you?
The real prayer is are youpraying about how is God gonna
use me?
How is he transforming me?
(36:05):
Am I the one?
That's what essentially.
You get there and you face theheart for a country, but then
you have to face am I the guy togo?
Am I the girl to go?
God, if you're sending me, letme confront me.
This morning, I want you tolook in a mirror with me.
What keeps me from being thewitness that he called me to be?
(36:30):
What is it holding you backfrom sharing the good news with
the people around you?
Can I just take this a stepfurther?
The first commissioning that hegives to the disciples he gives
so that he could teach them howto do the work.
The second time we see itthere's a bridge.
(36:54):
What was a pivot in thescripture, for Matthew was like
to pivot.
I want you to pray.
Pivot, you're the person.
That's it right.
Pivot, you're the guy Acts,does a totally different thing.
There's no longer a pivot.
It's a bridge.
The bridge is the cross.
The cross then brings salvationand through that he then
(37:19):
empowers us, like this rightActs 1, 6 through 8.
So when they had come together,they asked him Lord, will you,
at this time, restore thekingdom to Israel?
Now, stop right here.
Now, this is post-cross right.
We've already done the cross.
They're seeing the Lord.
Is this the time, lord?
(37:41):
Look, peter's already beenforgiven.
He's been restored.
They're focused, he's ascending.
Tell us, lord, is this a timewhere we're going to?
Israel will be great and weoverthrow the rest of the world?
This is just fascinating aboutdisciples to Christ that self
(38:05):
like they just want that so bad,don't they?
They just want that so bad,don't they?
Do we get to be the kings andthe leaders?
Do we get to?
Just we get to go to war?
Is this it?
He says it's not for you toknow the times or seasons that
(38:29):
the father has fixed by his ownauthority.
Some of us have spent too muchtime trying to predict when he's
coming back and less timetelling people about the message
and for the people he'sreturning for, we have more blog
posts, websites, books,ministries, full-on ministries
(38:52):
dedicated to predicting whenhe'll come back While the world
is dying and going to hell.
I don't know about you, but Iread stories of these
revivalists and I just start towake.
I start to wake up again andrealize I'm getting too
(39:13):
comfortable.
I'm getting too comfortable.
I'm getting too comfortable Ifyou are not in this room and you
are not in this church andyou're not seeing the things
that's happening around here andgetting a little uncomfortable.
Can I tell you that's the rightthing to feel right now and
where we're resisting it asthough it's a problem.
I'm trying to tell you.
It's what you should be feelingright now.
(39:34):
You should be feeling a littleuncomfortable.
It's stretching me a little toomuch.
They're asking me to takeanother weekend and do freedom
what they want me to go throughnext steps.
Oh, don't they know how busy Iam being a Christian at work.
No, no, this sense of what'shappening.
(40:04):
Let me tell you why we'refeeling uncomfortable.
I'm going to tell you also why.
You see this giant wave ofchaos, don't you feel it?
It happens in our communities.
You're feeling uncomfortable.
I'm going to tell you also why.
You see this giant wave ofchaos that don't you feel it?
It happens in our communities.
You're seeing it.
But can I tell you, it's sothat we'll pause to learn how to
pray, that we can becomelaborers in the harvest.
That's the tension is for me tobe felt, so that I embrace the
(40:30):
job.
He's calling you to something.
He needs us.
Can I just say this I'm justgoing to go out on a limb and
tell you this because I knowit's true, but we don't want to
hear it.
It's a requirement.
It's a requirement.
I'm going to say it again.
(40:53):
I'm going to say it again.
I'm going to say it softer.
It's a requirement.
I tried, I really tried rightthere.
I really tried to give my best.
It's a requirement.
It's a requirement.
How is the kingdom going toadvance, jenny?
(41:13):
Just because we wanted it to.
Then why are we here?
It is to advance through us andhe's calling us to it and he's
commissioning us, and this iswhat he says.
He looked hey, stop worryingabout when I'm coming.
That is on my timeframe.
(41:36):
Here's what he didn't ask us todo.
I'm empowering you, equippingyou to care about when I come
back.
It's not mentioned.
What I need you to do is towrite more books and predict a
lot of false times so that whenI do it right, it has more power
.
This is nothing.
This is not the goal.
(41:57):
This he says.
But you will receive what?
Power?
Power, power In a world sohungry for power.
We get the invitation for power, but we don't receive it.
You can have supernatural powerand power to do the work Christ
(42:24):
through the cross, and powerthrough the spirit to be what?
But you will receive power whenthe Holy Spirit has come upon
you and you will be my witnessesin Jerusalem and in all Judea
and Samaria and Anybody see agraduation of responsibility had
(42:47):
nothing to do that God wasturning his back on Israel.
For those people that believethat you're crazy, no, he was
not turning his back on Israel.
He was enhancing responsibilityfor the believers.
He was expanding that work,saying no, it's not just them.
(43:07):
Now we're gonna go ahead and goto the world with this thing,
because I died for all of them.
And here's the beauty.
I will empower you to do thework With you.
It's not possible.
With God, all things arepossible.
What is possible is that we cansee massive revival in our
(43:29):
community.
You can see massive revival inour community.
You can see massive revival inyour home.
You can see a completeturnaround in generational curse
on your life just by receivingthe power of God to do what.
I got to stop here and I got tosay it.
I, I gotta say it, I got to sayit, I'm compelled to say it.
(43:52):
Okay, good, you said it.
He did not give you the powerto just manifest with tongues.
It is not just so that we havethis supernatural communication
(44:14):
with him.
What good is it if you don'tuse it anyway?
What good is that if it doesn'tempower you to witness?
What good is that gift?
So you can hide away.
We don't need anyone to know,it's a mystery away.
(44:37):
We don't want anyone to know.
It's a mystery.
Don't tell anybody.
I'm filled with a spirit andmost people are like does that
mean you do the thing?
Do you do that?
And Paul says I do it more thanall of you.
We like Paul, don't we?
Well, we reference all of hiswritings and we think he's
(45:00):
amazing, but he's not here toanswer for that tongues thing.
So we can trust him.
He's dead.
We can trust him, he's dead.
I'm just saying like it's notscary, it's a gift he gives, but
for this purpose.
The infilling of the Spirit onyour life is so that you will be
(45:24):
his witness.
So so here's the challenge forus as a church.
First question who are youGuiding and leading in this
season?
Who are you being a witness to?
And I'm going to help you?
(45:44):
You can't say yourself I am awitness here.
I'm going to take it a stepfurther, although it's true,
through action.
This is not what I mean, but Ineed to say it.
Guess what?
It's not your spouse, I am awitness to them.
Well, hallelujah, that's like a60-year work.
(46:07):
You're on right there.
60 years you've been working onthat.
You'd think you'd made moreprogress at this point.
No, no, no.
Who are you witness to?
I would love to give everyone aget-out-of-jail card.
I would love to give everyone aget out of jail card.
(46:28):
I would love to say, hey,listen, let's just get on board
with what these guys were saying.
Right, if God wants to savethem, he'll save them.
I'm so happy somebody didn'tsay that when they witnessed to
me.
I'm so happy they didn't justbe like well, we'll just see.
(46:51):
If God wants to do with you,man, good luck.
Anybody else?
Thankful that somebody didn'tjust come up short.
So right now I was telling mywife this man, there's so much
talk about this giant harvestthat's coming into the kingdom.
All right, I don't know ifyou've read up on this man.
(47:12):
People are talking about it'slike a billion souls.
I love it.
We just trillion wasn't a good?
Million, no good Billions andbillions, and whatever it is,
I'm good with it.
Here's my question.
It's like will I accept theassignment?
And here's the next piece thatassignment, that assignment
(47:38):
can't be accomplished outside ofthe Spirit, and I just need you
to hear what I'm saying there.
There's no way we will be ableto advance and we will be able
to partner with the Father whenwe choose not to do it with Him.
The doing it with Him, thepartnership.
(48:01):
That's why, like Joe, what youguys are doing is amazing,
because it's good, it's goodfood, it's good atmosphere, good
people.
What's going to make itdifferent is the influence you
have on your employees and thepeople that walk in.
So when they walk in, they'relike wait, hold on.
(48:22):
What is this?
What's this feeling?
Oh man, we're excited to be inhere today, excited to serve you
today.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
Why do?
Speaker 2 (48:29):
you like to serve people.
You know what are we doing.
It's like, oh, this is what wewere made to do.
I wake up every day excitedabout serving you right.
Why?
Because I'm so thankful I wasserved right.
You can live something out.
This is how you're not just aChristian at work, you're not
(48:49):
just hidden at work.
You recognize, listen, you'reat work, you're on the business,
you're on the job.
Yes, you're doing the work, butthere's something more right,
justin?
We've talked about this likethe way hold on.
There's more to this the way Ilive and the way I operate and
what I have the opportunity, andhow many know that you need the
discernment of the Holy Spiritto do that?
(49:11):
How many know you can't just bewilly-nilly, but how many know
the Spirit will guide you tohelp you be the witness?
All right, stand up.
I can tell we need to witnessto your tiredness of being
seated this long.
(49:31):
Are your bellies that aregrumbling and they're hungry?
I hope you can hear me.
This morning there is a harvestand I'm not going to sit here
and pray today for more harvest.
(49:53):
I'm also not going to sit hereand pray, john, for other
laborers to show up here and dothe work.
My prayer today is what is myresponsibility?
And I'm going to full on takehold of that responsibility.
And I'm going to full on takehold of that responsibility.
(50:14):
Platforms that you have they'renot so that we have a better
America.
I don't even know where we gotthat as believers, that that was
like the number one priority.
I know it's not popular, I getit.
And no, I'm not a communist.
(50:34):
Somebody in here is like, hey,he's a commie, I knew it.
No, no, what I'm saying is whenI read the Bible, when I read
the Bible, the Bible he pulls usin salvation, in sonship, in
(50:55):
adoption, pulls me into akingdom narrative.
That's totally different.
It reorients my priorities, myvalue systems, everything that I
do, and then he puts me to work.
He doesn't just bring me in tolead me, he actually empowers me
through the Spirit to partnerwith his work.
(51:19):
And this is the commissioningthat we've been waiting for.
This is the commissioningyou've been praying for, man, I
just wish I could use my gift.
You can Like.
Today, we encourage it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah.
But I was thinking you weregoing to let me do it on the
platform.
It's like yeah, you got one ofthose.
(51:40):
You walk around with it everyday.
You got it every day.
You got it every day.
You got it every day.
Things that you can't neglect,things that you can't neglect
Intimacy with the Father,intimacy in the Spirit.
You can't be His witness if Idon't have the strategy of
(52:02):
heaven for today.
Can I just give you an analogy,real quick.
Deck of cards Alright Trackwith me on this Deck of cards,
cam.
We got a deck of cards.
We dole them out Uno cards,because I was getting some
(52:23):
resistance.
I could feel it in the spirit.
It's like he's a commie and hegambles Like none of that.
Uno cards Same day, like wedeal them up and we play the
(52:43):
game.
But I want you to just noticesomething.
We deal them up and we play thegame, but I want you to just
notice something.
It's that the hand that I getplays different every time.
Same deck, new hand Playsdifferent.
(53:03):
We are constantly lookingaround like we're a bunch of
trading cards.
In here there were people thatcome and people that go, but in
the kingdom of God he isconstantly moving people to and
fro.
He's outfitting parts of thenation.
Reason why you came back fromIceland.
You didn't come back.
You did come back because I'mgreat.
You didn't come back.
(53:24):
You did come back because I'mgreat.
No, we all know you didn't.
You came back becauseassignment.
He repositions you here andthen there's people like I don't
know why they came back.
(53:45):
Let God be God.
He does this really cool thing,kelly.
He'll move you somewhere.
He'll opportunity will come.
But it's because same deck, newhand and what he's trying to do
in our community, in our family, in our churches, where we're
all worried about who's whereand who gets what.
(54:06):
The truth is he's saying it'sthe same deck, it's the same
pack of cards, it's the same.
I'm working with my people andI'll put them here and I'll put
them there and I'll send themacross the world.
And when they get there, you'llbe shocked that you play a
little different in every season.
You're in, yeah, but I was thishere.
(54:28):
But see, I'm in a new hand, ina new way.
He's using me.
You see, this is what it meansto be used in the kingdom of God
.
Or you can distance yourselfand just pick apart the game.
Just pick apart let's.
This can be better, that can bebetter.
Why don't we do this?
(54:49):
We should have been doing that,and yet none of those
complaints involve you doinganything.
This is a fascinating partabout complaining it's never
complaining about ourselves, buton what somebody else didn't do
.
They didn't meet expectation.
They disappointed me at thatchurch.
They didn't let.
(55:09):
That means your heart is set onpleasing men, and God has
commissioned you to please himand to advance the kingdom of
God today, and he wants toempower you to do it because he
loves you.
He loves you, but he loves youtoo much to see you sit on your
hands.
He wants you to be a witness.
(55:31):
You need fresh eyes today.
Some of you need to look in themirror today.
Some of you need to just justput yourself in a place where
you can just look in the mirrorof life.
Who am I?
What am I doing?
What am I doing?
What are you doing with thisthing?
(55:52):
Am I just sitting aroundwaiting for it to happen?
Nobody knows when he's coming,so we need to be at work.
Heavenly Father, we love youtoday.
God, I thank you for yourpeople.
I thank you for God.
What you're saying to us today,god?
(56:14):
We're asking you for a freshempowerment of the spirit today.
Come on church, if that's youtoday, and you say, hey, listen,
pastor Scott, this is right onwith me right now.
I've gotten complacent.
I've just kind of gotten likeI'm just, life is right on with
me right now.
I've gotten complacent.
I've just kind of gotten likeI'm just, life is just happening
around me and I'm just kind ofokay with it.
I'm just building a good lifefor me, man and my kids, and
(56:36):
that's good enough for us.
But you're reminded today thatGod has actually ordained you,
called you, put you on mission.
He wants to empower you to dothe work.
And if you're here today and yousay I'm not in that space but I
want to be, I want you to liftup your hands and I want you to
receive this prayer that I'mpraying over you today.
Yeah, I'm seeing hands all overthe place.
This is good.
Open-handed like that, that'sgreat.
(56:57):
Just open it.
Hey, hey, tap me in.
I'm good, I'm ready.
Tired of sitting on the sideline, tired of making excuses, I
want, in, heavenly Father, wepray for the hands that are
lifted in this room.
Those who are saying again,renew in me a fresh commitment
to follow you, to serve you.
(57:17):
God, we just received the powerof the Holy Spirit in our life
to be your witnesses, god.
We thank you today, god, thatwe have tried to do it in our
own strength and it has come upshort.
God, we thank you today, god,that we have tried to do it in
our own strength and it has comeup short.
But today we're asking for arenewed sense of anointing on
our life to lead, to speak, tobe your witness.
God, we are not ashamed of thegospel of Jesus Christ.
(57:40):
God, it was this message thattransformed us.
It's this message that we'llgive our life away to it.
Like William Carey, god, we'llstand up and declare God, you're
worthy of sacrifice, you'reworthy of getting on a boat and
going across the country, notbecause we're afraid of the
outcomes, not because we'reconcerned, but that we're so
(58:02):
afraid that somebody might notknow the name of Jesus.
God, would you move in ourhearts today a deeper compassion
for the lost?
Forgive us, god, that we putall of our attention on
recognizing what kind ofhardness we have and not
actually committing to be thelaborers ourselves.
(58:23):
God, I thank you for the yearsand the months of understudy.
I thank you for those that havebeen here in this congregation,
have been trained and taught.
But, god, we're asking you fornow that second commissioning.
Fill us with the power of theHoly Spirit, not so that we can
(58:44):
have all of the gifts, but thatyou can be glorified through the
testimony of our life, that wewould witness that.
We would witness that, we wouldwitness that, we would witness
God.
That's our desire.
That we would share the gospel,the good news that breaks off
(59:07):
the chains and the bondage.
God, the sin nature can beovercome by the presence of the
Lord, and we get to carry thatmessage.
God, we thank you today that wedon't carry it alone.
You carry it with us, god,you've empowered us to carry
such powerful message.
God, go with us, anoint usafresh and anew.
(59:28):
God, the way we live, the waywe talk.
We don't want to be people whoare Christian at work.
We want to be people who areChristian on mission.
We want to be on mission.
We're recommitting ourselves tothat today.
Father, we love you, we thankyou for what you're doing in
this community, what you're,what you're doing in this
community, what you're going tobe doing in the communities of
(59:49):
those that will leave this placetoday, god, fresh, equipped,
ready to advance the kingdom.
We take responsibility todayand we just say to you we're not
going to take any.
There are no more days where weexcuse ourselves from the
mission.
We are not going to give anymore excuses about why we don't
(01:00:16):
serve.
We're not going to give anyexcuses why we don't tell people
about the good news.
God, we're asking you toempower us again to be your
witness, to share the gospel.
We love you today.
We thank you for all thesethings and more, in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
Everybody said we hope and pray this message was
encouraging and impactful.
Join us live on our website orFacebook on Sundays at 9 and 11
am.
You can stay connected with uson Facebook and Instagram at the
Rock Family.
Have a Jesus-filled week.
Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week.
For more information about ourchurch, please visit
therockfamilytv Now.
Join us for a message fromPastor Scott Silcox.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
If you don't know the idea of what this is's actually
a series that really she prayedinto this for a very long time,
just believing that this wasthe next step for us in our
church and the topic that wereally needed to get into, and
she did a fantastic job, kind ofsetting the stage with the idea
what is impossible with man iswhat Possible with God.
(00:43):
Right, and then the first placewe see that language of
something being impossible isreally where we have to overcome
our humanity and we literallyhave to lean into a faith for
salvation.
How many know that salvationhas to be believed in?
There's something on the otherside of that.
(01:03):
It's not just a loving Savior,but there's a step that we have
to take into the possibility ofbeing saved.
Right, and that what the Lordsays is impossible for us to do
in our own strength.
He graces us in that moment todo it.
Now, for most of us you shouldknow this is that you didn't
come to salvation because youfound Christ.
(01:24):
Christ found you.
Can I get a good amen?
Yeah, christ found you.
Christ pursued you.
I will take it a step further.
It's the Holy Spirit that drewyou, even into himself.
So this is the beauty of ourGod.
He not only makes provision foryou, he makes hunger in you
(01:49):
through himself.
So you just got to get yourhead wrapped around this.
This is how much he loves us,how much he desires to be with
us, how much he wants to knowyou.
And can I tell you today, ifyou have not met Christ and
you're in this room today, can Itell you don't go another
minute, another second Life hasand will continue.
(02:11):
It's so much better with him.
It's so much better with him.
There's so much joy and there's, yeah, life happens.
But Christ in us gives us thegrace to walk out the things
that come, and I'm just tellingyou, last week was an incredible
foundation for that, like theidea of understanding that
salvation A is valuable,important and is for everybody,
(02:35):
and it's going to require us toovercome our humanity to do it,
and the Lord provides a way.
This week, I want to talk toyou a little bit about the
harvest, the harvest way.
This week, I want to talk to youa little bit about the harvest,
the harvest Now.
Immediately.
When I say the harvest, many ofyou will immediately go to the
scripture of what Do you guyscan recall?
One right.
The harvest is and the laborsare few.
(02:59):
We all know that.
Isn't that amazing how easy wewere able to pick that up in our
little index there.
So everybody knows this,everybody knows the scripture.
But I want to just kind of seta stage for you.
This is Matthew 9.
And if you go back and look atMatthew 9, this is fascinating
to me.
Matthew 9, it starts with anentire like glossary of history
(03:24):
that Christ is having.
He's doing healings, I meanlike massive healings he's
having.
He's neck deep in the demonic.
This is chapter nine.
Just go back and look at itLike it's.
He's doing business with thepeople of Israel.
He's shown up on the scene.
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He's anointed to preach thegood news.
He's anointed to do the workright.
And in chapter nine he startsdoing the work and in fact it's
so overwhelming that there arepeople just dragging the sick to
him Like he's just he's justcamped out.
I'm going'm gonna stay here.
(04:06):
People are just saying like thisguy's doing miraculous stuff
and honestly I'm telling afamily member I'm getting them
here because they need a touchfrom Jesus.
Now I would just stop righthere to say, uh, that the thing
that that hurts my heart mostthan anything is to see, uh, the
of Christ and the church not behungry enough to bring those
(04:27):
that are lost and broken anymore.
And it's oftentimes becausewe're struggling ourselves on
our besetting and our cyclicalsin cycle in our life that we
don't want to bring other peopleinto the middle of that.
Till we get it right, can Itell you that that that'll take
(04:48):
eternity.
Come on, don't look at yourneighbor right now.
Right, come on, help me knowthat that that's going to be a,
that's going to be a minute.
So we can't, we can't just holdon on this message.
But here's, here's a couple offacts here.
Let's read through thisscripture first, and it says
(05:10):
this Matthew 9, verse 35 through38.
We're going to read thesecouple of scriptures and I'll
read them to you, you can followalong with me.
And it says and Jesus wentthroughout all the cities and
villages teaching in theirsynagogues and proclaiming the
gospel of the kingdom andhealing every disease and every
affliction.
And when he saw the crowds, hehad what Compassion for them.
(05:34):
He had compassion for thembecause they were harassed and
helpless, like sheep without ashepherd.
And then he said to hisdisciples here it is, the
harvest is plentiful, but thelaborers are few.
Therefore, pray earnestly tothe Lord of the harvest to send
out laborers into the harvest.
Now, this is like aquintessential.
(05:57):
This is like you learned thisat the earliest age.
Possible, because this is whatwe usually teach when we want
people to get up and dosomething.
Possible, because this is whatwe usually teach when we want
people to get up and dosomething Right.
This is the motivation.
It's like when it's time to doevangelism, micah, this is the
scripture I'm giving you.
When it's time to get out anddo Huntsville Dream Center, this
is it.
Hey, the laborers are few, theharvest is plenty.
(06:19):
Don't sit on your hands, comeon, come on, son, let's do this
Right.
That's typically how we woulduse it, but can I tell you, I
think it's a misuse of theScripture altogether.
I actually don't think it's thebest use of the Scripture, and
I want to just point out acouple of things that I think
are interesting.
And again, today, our whole goalis to identify this idea of
(06:40):
what is my responsibility to theharvest.
Shaquan and Lindsay are heretoday.
Look at this.
Shaky making an appearance onSunday morning.
Thank you for bringing lovely.
That's really all we wanted tosee.
So I'm just saying that is themost beautiful child I've ever
seen.
I love her, sorry, side noteQuestion is Tommy is like what's
(07:08):
my responsibility to theharvest?
What's my responsibility,what's my job to it?
I want to just start by this andrecognize a couple of things
right out of the gate.
How many know that Christ is ina unique posture when he is
concerned about the harvest.
First and foremost, he is undera demand on what he carries.
(07:29):
Just go back and read chapter 9.
There's a demand on what he'scarrying at the moment.
There's deliverance, there'shealing, there's power in him
and there are people that aredrawing on it.
But it says this he finallygets to the points where he has
compassion for them.
I would just say this if anytime we endeavor to step out and
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to be his witnesses and weendeavor to step out and
proclaim the name of Jesus inour communities, if you're doing
it without a heart ofcompassion, it's in the wrong
motive right out of the gate.
If it's in the motive ofsalvation alone, it's even the
wrong motive.
Careful, that's hard, that'shard to hear.
(08:14):
But the truth is, if I'm justgetting out there just to make
converts, I got to get converts,and I'll do whatever it takes
to get converts the truth is, ifyour motive isn't rooted in
compassion in fact, it'scompassion that makes you
passionate about souls and aboutsalvation.
It should be compassion thatcompels us into the highway and
(08:35):
the byway.
It should be compassion, joe,that gets you excited about
doing what you do.
And here's what's sad about theWestern approach.
What we do is we tell ourselvesthat when we're at our
workplace, we're doing God youdo.
And here's what's sad about theWestern approach.
What we do is we tell ourselvesthat when we're at our
workplace, we're doing God'swork.
Because we're Christian atGod's work at this work, because
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I'm Christian at this job, thenI'm really doing the hard work
of going after the harvest.
Folks, this is real.
This is a lie that we'll tellourselves.
We'll just be convinced we'retotally at work with the kingdom
of God.
We're partnered with whatChrist is doing because we're
Christian at work.
(09:18):
What does that mean to you,christian at work?
Most of the time?
Most of the time, it just meansyou quietly have a devotion to
the Lord and you think of me.
Just being in place is metaking ground for the kingdom?
And I have.
I've got terrible news forsomebody in here.
(09:39):
This ain't it.
This is what we tell ourselves,so that we actually don't have
to do the hard work of actuallyspeaking about the gospel.
I don't actually want to haveto say anything because I might
get rejected.
There's a fear of rejection, afear of failure, a fear that I
actually don't know what I'mtalking about and I'll get in a
(10:00):
conversation and they'll findout I'm a fraud, and so what we
do is we sit on our hands andthen we just decide I'll tell
you what we will do.
We will just be devoted, quietChristians at work and claim the
kingdom of God, and then we getin our Christian circles and we
let everybody know we'readvancing the kingdom.
(10:24):
I was persecuted this week atwork and most of you think you
were persecuted because you gotasked to do work.
It's like crazy, like that,like they actually want me to do
something for this money.
If I had known that.
(10:45):
It's just funny the way we are.
Our humanity feels like we, byclaiming Christ, we deserve
something else.
But the truth is is thatthere's got to be a motivation
in us, and this is what'shappening.
Do you know that these threepassages right, these three
(11:10):
verses are actually a pivotpoint in the dialogue of what
Matthew's doing.
Matthew has laid out all thisdemand on Christ, and it was
Christ through compassion.
Isn't it interesting that hesays right here, he says he had
compassion for them.
Why?
Because they were what Harassedand helpless.
Did anyone notice that hedoesn't have compassion on them,
(11:31):
that they're lost?
Doesn't have compassion becausethey're lost.
He has compassion becausethey're harassed.
He has compassion on themsimply because they're helpless.
Why?
Because Jesus is in thephysical form present to deliver
(11:52):
Israel and they can't see him.
Salvation is at hand.
But the thing that frustrateshim is this what makes his heart
break is they don't even knowthat I'm right here and I'm only
one person and I've got to getmore people involved in this
thing.
And this is the cool part,because he pivots and then he
(12:15):
asks the disciples.
This is who he's asking, by theway.
It's the disciples.
He's saying hey guys, I needyou to pray, I need you to pray
for laborers.
Now you just have to imaginePut yourself there for a second,
like one of the disciples.
You're following Christ, you'vebeen chosen, you're an
understudy right, anunder-shepherd right, which is
(12:39):
what I am, what our pastors arewhat we're doing right.
This isn't our church.
This is his church, right?
This isn't what I am, what ourpastors are what we're doing,
right?
This isn't our church.
This is his church.
Right?
This isn't what I want.
This is what he wants.
Right?
We're under shepherds, right?
We're not the shepherd, we'rethe under shepherd.
And so he's got a band ofmisfits that he's traveling
around with and they're sittingon the sidelines seeing the most
(13:02):
miraculous things I'm talkingabout, like people that are lame
, getting up and walking awayand the whole community being
like what is going on?
This is crazy.
Nobody's doing this stuffEverything you can imagine.
Right?
The Pharisees are close and allthey want to do is make sure
that everyone knows he'soperating from a devil.
(13:23):
He's a devil, he's praying tothe devil, he's using devil
black magic to raise thesepeople up, because when the
church can't control thenarrative, it makes its own
narrative up, when it can'tcontrol the outcomes, because
(13:45):
our systems failed, but thepower of God overrides our
system, and this is.
The Pharisees are confrontedwith this, and so they have to
start some other narrative.
Yeah, to cut this man down.
Got to cut this.
He's getting too much influence, but it's too late because, how
many know, you can't competeagainst the miraculous power of
(14:06):
God.
Look, my family member is lame,is now walking.
Can I tell you, I don't carewhat you say, but that guy is
delivering on his word Right,and yet we lack the confidence
to talk about it.
We're in here clapping it upright now.
(14:27):
Yeah well, we believe in this.
Until you get to lunch todayand somebody takes a half a set
longer to get you your food, andthen the spirit of hangry comes
upon you.
Huh, you start snapping atfamily members, you tear through
(14:51):
the rolls on the table.
Come on, we could shout allabout this, but we're talking
about there's work to be done.
I say there's work to be done.
I say there's work to be done.
Sorry, that's a anyway Forthose that know.
No, brother Barry, he's in here.
(15:18):
Three verses, he pivots.
He tells them I want you topray, pray for laborers, because
the harvest is plenty.
This isn't a harvest problem.
See, we're constantly trying tohelp the Lord with a harvest
problem.
We keep trying to drum up morehunger.
And he said hunger ain't theirproblem.
Who will go is the problem.
(15:42):
So this is the fascinating part.
This is what he does.
Have you guys ever.
Chase knows what I'm talkingabout when I say this, and
basketball players know, butthere's a move in basketball
called the pivot.
It's a pivot.
It's where you're anchored onone side but you're pivoting.
You're able to move, but yourone foot stays steady.
(16:03):
This is Christ pivots righthere.
Matthew, really, in documentingit, is the one who pivots in
writing.
But he's basically sayinghere's a problem, here's a thing
, here's what the need is,here's Christ's compassion for
it.
And then pivot is hey, I wantyou to pray into something.
And then, just a verse later,we get this Chapter 10, verse 1
(16:26):
through 7, but we'll start at 5.
It says these 12 Jesus sent outinstructing them go nowhere
among the Gentiles and enter notown of the Samaritans, but go
rather to the lost sheep of thehouse of Israel and do what
Proclaim as you go, saying thekingdom of heaven is at hand,
heal the sick, raise the dead,cleanse the lepers and cast out
(16:48):
demons.
Now, here's the pivot, did yousee it?
I want you to pray, julie, forlaborers.
And then two, three, fourverses later, boom, prayers are
answered.
Y'all are the ones I'm talkingabout.
(17:09):
You are empowered.
You got to go, do Like.
You know those disciples.
They're kind of like a oh, I'mtrying to be nice.
You know there's people in yourlife that are, that are just
to-do list people.
You can't, they don't, they'renot gonna piece it together
(17:30):
until you lay it out.
Melinda knows what I'm talkingabout.
She gives me lists all the time, like she knows I'm that way
here at work, like I need you todo this, this and this.
If she's waiting for me todream up what that is, I'll do
all the other things, except forthe things that are on the list
.
Right, am I right?
Yes, anybody got somebody intheir family like that that you
(17:51):
know you better give the exacttask to, or it ain't going to
happen.
The disciples are like this.
They're all over the place.
So you know, when Jesus pivotsand he says, hey, this is what I
want you to do, I want you topray.
So you know, when Jesus pivotsand he says, hey, this is what I
want you to do, I want you topray.
You know they're right there.
Yes, lord, shut up.
We need more laborers.
Bring them in from the highwaysand send them in, lord, we need
(18:13):
laborers.
And Jesus is like and stop, letme just put my hands on you.
You were commissioned.
Get out of here and go dosomething with your life.
Can anybody relate?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah.
(18:35):
Sort of like what we do everyweek.
Sort of like what we do.
We come in here praying forother people to come in here
that we won't go get.
Huh, we just, we're so good atit Remember, this church is so
good at this.
(18:55):
We know how to pray, we knowhow to intercede.
We'll come together.
We're praying for the lost, butwe're not going to tell anybody
about the kingdom, like that'sfor them to find out.
See, that's how we'repartnering with the Lord.
See, this is how you justify.
We're partnering with the Lord.
He's doing the work.
We're just here.
We're just here.
We're intercessing, we'reintercessing, we're intercessing
.
We've got holes in our jeans,but we can't just open our mouth
(19:20):
.
I'm talking about when, you know, jesus swooped in and saved
your soul.
I mean, no, it don't take muchfor me to be compassionate.
(19:42):
You know what I'll show you,give you an example.
You know, it don't take muchfor me to be compassionate.
You know what?
I'll give you an example.
When someone messes up theirAchilles, right compassion
Because I ruptured mine and it'slike, as soon as I hear it.
(20:02):
I get sympathy pains, legstarts, throbbing.
I immediately do whatever.
What can I do for you?
How can I serve you?
You don't even know what'scoming to you.
It's going to be terrible.
Come on, I mean, you know likeyou can connect to somebody.
You've gone through similartrauma with right.
There's a compassion there.
Here's what's disturbing Is that?
(20:23):
Why isn't the church moved tocompassion over those that are
broken and lost Because theydon't have what?
What are we missing in therelationship with Christ?
That doesn't compel me to tellothers about his good news.
What is it that's holding meback?
What is the thing?
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And so here's interesting to meis that the disciples are going
to get a couple ofcommissionings.
This is their first one.
Oftentimes, we don't talk aboutthis commissioning, do we?
We usually talk about which one.
Come on, you got this, matthew28.
You're all over it.
Somebody said it.
I don't know where you were at.
There you go, girl.
(21:03):
Let's call my girl Butler grad,matthew 28.
We usually talk about thatcommissioning, but this
commissioning is one that'simportant.
Young people, listen to me,just listen to me for a second.
Rico, right, this is what we'retalking about.
(21:26):
This commissioning is importantbecause he limits their ability
.
You realize at this point, hedid not commission them to
minister to the Gentiles, whichis you and me.
He commissioned them to thework that he was there to do.
Now, I'm just saying this as aside note to the work that he
was there to do.
(21:47):
Now, I'm just saying this as aside note.
Young person, when you're askedto partner in a season, don't
get so easily frustrated anditchy to get out of learning how
to do the ministry at the locallevel.
Don't be duped into believingyou're just waiting for your big
platform.
Your social media is gonna blowup.
You're going to be the next,whatever.
(22:08):
No, no, no, no, no.
What the invitation is is topartner in the direction of
where the leadership is going,because in that place, you're
learning how to then what Becommissioned to the world.
It's a phase, it's a step thatwe want to bypass all the time,
because we're waiting forworldwide success.
(22:31):
This wasn't even about successfor you.
This is about learning how tobe discipled.
It's about learning how tolearn for what Christ is doing
and do the work he's given youto do today.
Stop waiting on your nextopportunity and do the work
today.
Yeah, about three of y'all arelike yeah, that sounds good,
(22:54):
sounds good.
My neighbor loves to hear thatthey need that today.
That's my other favorite partabout being in church.
We always like believe themessage is for the person you're
sitting next to, or someone inthe room like this is perfect
for them.
No, this is for you, girl, likethis is for you.
Lord's trying to get yourattention, trying to shake you
(23:15):
out of your comfort zone, right,trying to get you compassion
about the lost.
Why?
Because the laborers are few.
The harvest isn't the problem.
It's you being mobilized, yeah,but I don't like my few.
The harvest isn't the problem.
It's you being mobilized, yeah,but I don't like my assignment.
My assignment ain't good.
That's why you there it is.
(23:35):
It's why you're there, yeah,but you don't know it's hard.
Yeah, yeah, right, yeah, it'shard.
It's hard, it's meant to behard, it's meant to shape you,
it's meant to form you, right?
We don't want to bypass those,right?
All right, so a couple ofthings that I just want to
mention to you because I thinkthey're interesting.
(23:56):
There's an interesting dynamicthat happens over 1,800 years
and there's a guy that shows upon the scene in England and he
starts, as a young person topreach pretty radical teaching.
Now this is fast forward, bythe way, I'll go back to it at
(24:20):
the end.
But the first commissioning,obviously getting disciples
focused on the job at hand hey,you're released to do the work,
but there's an era that kind ofmirrors this.
That I think is prettyinteresting.
There's a guy by the name ofWilliam Carey.
I don't know if you knowWilliam Carey or not, but he's
the father of modern missions.
He's a young guy.
(24:42):
He doesn't look young here.
Obviously I was like that'ssome guys out here that look
like this guy.
When he was young he wasradical.
William Carey was a radicalpreacher, revivalist.
(25:02):
Something interesting aboutWilliam Carey that I think is to
note is he did not have aneducation, but he studied and
learned and actually becamesuper successful, became a
professor.
He was fluent in German and twoother languages Latin, I think,
(25:25):
is what it was, another onethat he was fluent in.
But the idea is that he wasstudied.
And this is interesting too isthat he was a map maker.
He would create maps, so he wasa reader and so he understood
geography and he would createmaps.
Rick isn't here today, but hewas also a shoemaker.
He made shoes.
(25:46):
That's how he was doing it.
He was young, he was makingshoes.
He's living his life, he'strying to be smart, but he gets
anointed and I use that word,specifically anointed, to
advance the idea of whatmissions is supposed to look
like.
William Carey is known for thisstatement right here In I think
(26:09):
it was 1792, he has a message toa room full of ministers and
this is what it's basically beenboiled down to Expect great
things from God, attempt greatthings for God.
To expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.
It's an incredible phrase andit's important for you to pay
attention to exactly how it'swritten, because oftentimes I've
(26:32):
read this a lot of timesactually, and I've looked over
it, but there's actually orderto it you realize that you
really can't do the attemptgreat things for God first.
This is a fundamental problemin the church today.
We don't mind attempting somethings, but this one up here
(26:53):
expecting it first.
What are you expecting from God?
I think most times, before westep out and do anything, we've
got to change our expectation ofwhat's possible.
Do you hear?
Can I say it again?
We have to change ourexpectation of what's possible.
Do you hear.
Can I say it again?
We have to change ourexpectation of what's possible
With God.
All things See.
We just learned that With God,not with me, with me, no, no, no
(27:19):
, with me, it's impossible.
With God, all things arepossible.
So my level of expectation,bruce, remember when we used to
come into church and we used tocome in expecting God to
transform lives.
It wasn't like a I hope heshows up.
We knew he would show up.
So you guys, some of y'all,don't even remember that.
You ain't even been in churchlong enough to know this.
(27:40):
But there was an era and a daywhere we walked into service and
it was like electricity runningthrough your body Because
you're just like.
You don't know what's going tohappen.
I know this.
I don't know how it will takeplace, but God is going to mess
somebody up in this place today.
Used to walk into churchexpecting hey, I am eager for
(28:03):
worship because I'm not going tomiss an opportunity to engage.
And now we begrudgingly get inhere or we come two songs late.
Oh, they're just going to singone of those fast songs I don't
know the words to, as if we'recurating worship for you.
(28:25):
We're curating an atmospherefor him.
Dude, all your kids gotbaptized today.
That's so awesome, by the way,golly, kids got baptized today.
(28:52):
It's so awesome, by the way,golly, I just love it.
I just love it.
Just want to run up there andhug all of them.
I see y'all up there.
So good.
I mean, we can't get tired ofthat stuff.
This is that public declarationof those who have given their
lives to Christ.
Right, william Carey?
This guy coins this phrase andyou have to think about what's
(29:17):
he facing in this hour.
You know, at this hour he'sfacing something that's really
interesting.
It's the Industrial Revolutionis here.
I want you to just think whathe's facing.
Something that's reallyinteresting.
It's the Industrial Revolutionis here.
I want you to just think whathe's facing.
There's this machinery, there'sthis stuff happening.
There's all of this likeprogress that's happening all
around him.
There's this sense of empirethat is taking control over
(29:42):
Great Britain.
What it is is there's thisstrength that's brewing and
growing, and now they'rebranching out.
The business is booming.
It's worldwide.
Now, right, they're shippingstuff all over.
They're exploring and findingnew worlds and new ways to do
business.
All of this is happening andWilliam Carey is finally at a
(30:04):
place where he can use his voice, he realizes nobody from the
church is moving, we're stagnant.
How can we, 1800 years later,after the Great Commission,
after the empowerment, still bein a place where we should be at
(30:28):
the razor's edge, at the tip ofthe spear, to bring impact
through what God's done in ourlife, and nobody's doing
anything?
It's said that he stood up andbegan to make declaration.
He began to put a demand on thechurch to get up and go and
then he started to get rebuked.
Sit down, young man.
(30:50):
It's recorded.
Sit down, young man.
You're an enthusiast, you'rejust getting all worked up.
And this is what they said Ifit's God's will for those people
to be saved, if it's his will,then he'll do it.
(31:12):
Now we look back at that andsay, gosh, what a missed
opportunity.
And yet, and yet, here we areagain, as if we didn't learn, as
(31:32):
if we didn't pay attention.
Can I give you a scripture, lily?
Hebrews 13.
I want you to go to Hebrews 13.
I want you to look at it, readit.
Hebrews 13 is interesting, thechapter 13.
I wasn't even going to go there, I wasn't even going to say it,
(31:53):
but you know, here I am, I'mout here now, so I think it's.
I'll have to look.
I don't have my phone lookingon my Bible on my app real quick
.
Well, this is an inopportunetime for it to update.
(32:14):
I mean, are you serious rightnow, like what are we doing?
You're going to give thanks,bud, thank you.
Are you serious right now, likewhat are we doing?
Thanks, bud, thank you.
Watch it.
Update on this one too.
Then we know it's the prophet.
If it's the Lord's will so beit.
(32:40):
I want to give you this becauseI think it's important.
It's important, I canparaphrase it for you, but I
don't want to give you thisbecause I think it's important.
It's important, I canparaphrase it for you, but I
don't want to All right, youguys got it.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Hebrews 13?
All right.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I got to find it here .
It is Verse 17.
This is interesting.
Obey your spiritual leaders anddo what they say.
Listen to this.
Their work is to watch overyour souls and they are
accountable to God.
Give them reason to do thiswith joy and not with sorrow.
(33:28):
That would certainly not be foryour benefit.
I want to give this to youbecause I want you to read the
whole chapter to you, and thisis important for our young
people because there's this ideain here is that there's a path
that's set from history for usto follow.
It's for every one of us, andthe Bible talks about this.
(33:51):
It's like there's a way to dolife and we're not paying
attention.
When you hear people likeWilliam Carey, who set out a
course to start a missionsmovement, by the way he ends up
in India and he ends up doingamazing work.
By the way he ends up going andjust created the first seminary
there.
He's an incredible lead.
He's thousands of kids that hebrought through the ministry.
(34:13):
He's an incredible sacrifice.
He motivated the Baptists toget out and do something.
He was up against theCalvinists, though that's who
he's up against.
That's his battle.
His battle's against theCalvinist, though that's who
he's up against.
That's his battle, his battle'sagainst the Calvinist right,
because they're just saying, hey, look, if God wants to save him
, he'll save him, that's fine.
And he's saying, no, we have tostir ourselves to the
(34:34):
commission of Christ again, andthis morning I'm encouraging us
to stop and to think.
What is your responsibility tothe harvest?
He has not asked you to prayfor laborers so that you can
look to somebody else.
He's asked you to pray forlaborers so that you can
(35:01):
identify yourself.
He's not asked you to pray forlaborers so you can identify
someone else.
He has identified you.
He's looking for you to pray sothat you can see your potential
.
I was reading about a church theother day that.
Do you guys remember whenchurches used to put like the
flags of the nations?
Do you remember that?
I love that.
(35:22):
My dad was big about that.
He loved the flags of thenations.
It was awesome.
This particular church wouldput the flags up and underneath
it they would put like names ofthe missionaries, so that when
we would pray, we'd pray overthose missionaries.
But then you get to a flag thatdidn't have a missionary and
there was a little mirrorunderneath it.
(35:43):
We're going to do that again.
That didn't have a missionaryand there was a little mirror
underneath it.
Ha ha, ha, ha ha.
Ah, we gotta do that again.
We gotta do that again.
Why, why?
Why?
Because the call is why not you?
The real prayer is are youpraying about how is God gonna
use me?
How is he transforming me?
(36:05):
Am I the one?
That's what essentially.
You get there and you face theheart for a country, but then
you have to face am I the guy togo?
Am I the girl to go?
God, if you're sending me, letme confront me.
This morning, I want you tolook in a mirror with me.
What keeps me from being thewitness that he called me to be?
(36:30):
What is it holding you backfrom sharing the good news with
the people around you?
Can I just take this a stepfurther?
The first commissioning that hegives to the disciples he gives
so that he could teach them howto do the work.
The second time we see itthere's a bridge.
(36:54):
What was a pivot in thescripture, for Matthew was like
to pivot.
I want you to pray.
Pivot, you're the person.
That's it right.
Pivot, you're the guy Acts,does a totally different thing.
There's no longer a pivot.
It's a bridge.
The bridge is the cross.
The cross then brings salvationand through that he then
(37:19):
empowers us, like this rightActs 1, 6 through 8.
So when they had come together,they asked him Lord, will you,
at this time, restore thekingdom to Israel?
Now, stop right here.
Now, this is post-cross right.
We've already done the cross.
They're seeing the Lord.
Is this the time, lord?
(37:41):
Look, peter's already beenforgiven.
He's been restored.
They're focused, he's ascending.
Tell us, lord, is this a timewhere we're going to?
Israel will be great and weoverthrow the rest of the world?
This is just fascinating aboutdisciples to Christ that self
(38:05):
like they just want that so bad,don't they?
They just want that so bad,don't they?
Do we get to be the kings andthe leaders?
Do we get to?
Just we get to go to war?
Is this it?
He says it's not for you toknow the times or seasons that
(38:29):
the father has fixed by his ownauthority.
Some of us have spent too muchtime trying to predict when he's
coming back and less timetelling people about the message
and for the people he'sreturning for, we have more blog
posts, websites, books,ministries, full-on ministries
(38:52):
dedicated to predicting whenhe'll come back While the world
is dying and going to hell.
I don't know about you, but Iread stories of these
revivalists and I just start towake.
I start to wake up again andrealize I'm getting too
(39:13):
comfortable.
I'm getting too comfortable.
I'm getting too comfortable Ifyou are not in this room and you
are not in this church andyou're not seeing the things
that's happening around here andgetting a little uncomfortable.
Can I tell you that's the rightthing to feel right now and
where we're resisting it asthough it's a problem.
I'm trying to tell you.
It's what you should be feelingright now.
(39:34):
You should be feeling a littleuncomfortable.
It's stretching me a little toomuch.
They're asking me to takeanother weekend and do freedom
what they want me to go throughnext steps.
Oh, don't they know how busy Iam being a Christian at work.
No, no, this sense of what'shappening.
(40:04):
Let me tell you why we'refeeling uncomfortable.
I'm going to tell you also why.
You see this giant wave ofchaos, don't you feel it?
It happens in our communities.
You're feeling uncomfortable.
I'm going to tell you also why.
You see this giant wave ofchaos that don't you feel it?
It happens in our communities.
You're seeing it.
But can I tell you, it's sothat we'll pause to learn how to
pray, that we can becomelaborers in the harvest.
That's the tension is for me tobe felt, so that I embrace the
(40:30):
job.
He's calling you to something.
He needs us.
Can I just say this I'm justgoing to go out on a limb and
tell you this because I knowit's true, but we don't want to
hear it.
It's a requirement.
It's a requirement.
I'm going to say it again.
(40:53):
I'm going to say it again.
I'm going to say it softer.
It's a requirement.
I tried, I really tried rightthere.
I really tried to give my best.
It's a requirement.
It's a requirement.
How is the kingdom going toadvance, jenny?
(41:13):
Just because we wanted it to.
Then why are we here?
It is to advance through us andhe's calling us to it and he's
commissioning us, and this iswhat he says.
He looked hey, stop worryingabout when I'm coming.
That is on my timeframe.
(41:36):
Here's what he didn't ask us todo.
I'm empowering you, equippingyou to care about when I come
back.
It's not mentioned.
What I need you to do is towrite more books and predict a
lot of false times so that whenI do it right, it has more power
.
This is nothing.
This is not the goal.
(41:57):
This he says.
But you will receive what?
Power?
Power, power In a world sohungry for power.
We get the invitation for power, but we don't receive it.
You can have supernatural powerand power to do the work Christ
(42:24):
through the cross, and powerthrough the spirit to be what?
But you will receive power whenthe Holy Spirit has come upon
you and you will be my witnessesin Jerusalem and in all Judea
and Samaria and Anybody see agraduation of responsibility had
(42:47):
nothing to do that God wasturning his back on Israel.
For those people that believethat you're crazy, no, he was
not turning his back on Israel.
He was enhancing responsibilityfor the believers.
He was expanding that work,saying no, it's not just them.
(43:07):
Now we're gonna go ahead and goto the world with this thing,
because I died for all of them.
And here's the beauty.
I will empower you to do thework With you.
It's not possible.
With God, all things arepossible.
What is possible is that we cansee massive revival in our
(43:29):
community.
You can see massive revival inour community.
You can see massive revival inyour home.
You can see a completeturnaround in generational curse
on your life just by receivingthe power of God to do what.
I got to stop here and I got tosay it.
I, I gotta say it, I got to sayit, I'm compelled to say it.
(43:52):
Okay, good, you said it.
He did not give you the powerto just manifest with tongues.
It is not just so that we havethis supernatural communication
(44:14):
with him.
What good is it if you don'tuse it anyway?
What good is that if it doesn'tempower you to witness?
What good is that gift?
So you can hide away.
We don't need anyone to know,it's a mystery away.
(44:37):
We don't want anyone to know.
It's a mystery.
Don't tell anybody.
I'm filled with a spirit andmost people are like does that
mean you do the thing?
Do you do that?
And Paul says I do it more thanall of you.
We like Paul, don't we?
Well, we reference all of hiswritings and we think he's
(45:00):
amazing, but he's not here toanswer for that tongues thing.
So we can trust him.
He's dead.
We can trust him, he's dead.
I'm just saying like it's notscary, it's a gift he gives, but
for this purpose.
The infilling of the Spirit onyour life is so that you will be
(45:24):
his witness.
So so here's the challenge forus as a church.
First question who are youGuiding and leading in this
season?
Who are you being a witness to?
And I'm going to help you?
(45:44):
You can't say yourself I am awitness here.
I'm going to take it a stepfurther, although it's true,
through action.
This is not what I mean, but Ineed to say it.
Guess what?
It's not your spouse, I am awitness to them.
Well, hallelujah, that's like a60-year work.
(46:07):
You're on right there.
60 years you've been working onthat.
You'd think you'd made moreprogress at this point.
No, no, no.
Who are you witness to?
I would love to give everyone aget-out-of-jail card.
I would love to give everyone aget out of jail card.
(46:28):
I would love to say, hey,listen, let's just get on board
with what these guys were saying.
Right, if God wants to savethem, he'll save them.
I'm so happy somebody didn'tsay that when they witnessed to
me.
I'm so happy they didn't justbe like well, we'll just see.
(46:51):
If God wants to do with you,man, good luck.
Anybody else?
Thankful that somebody didn'tjust come up short.
So right now I was telling mywife this man, there's so much
talk about this giant harvestthat's coming into the kingdom.
All right, I don't know ifyou've read up on this man.
(47:12):
People are talking about it'slike a billion souls.
I love it.
We just trillion wasn't a good?
Million, no good Billions andbillions, and whatever it is,
I'm good with it.
Here's my question.
It's like will I accept theassignment?
And here's the next piece thatassignment, that assignment
(47:38):
can't be accomplished outside ofthe Spirit, and I just need you
to hear what I'm saying there.
There's no way we will be ableto advance and we will be able
to partner with the Father whenwe choose not to do it with Him.
The doing it with Him, thepartnership.
(48:01):
That's why, like Joe, what youguys are doing is amazing,
because it's good, it's goodfood, it's good atmosphere, good
people.
What's going to make itdifferent is the influence you
have on your employees and thepeople that walk in.
So when they walk in, they'relike wait, hold on.
(48:22):
What is this?
What's this feeling?
Oh man, we're excited to be inhere today, excited to serve you
today.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
Why do?
Speaker 2 (48:29):
you like to serve people.
You know what are we doing.
It's like, oh, this is what wewere made to do.
I wake up every day excitedabout serving you right.
Why?
Because I'm so thankful I wasserved right.
You can live something out.
This is how you're not just aChristian at work, you're not
(48:49):
just hidden at work.
You recognize, listen, you'reat work, you're on the business,
you're on the job.
Yes, you're doing the work, butthere's something more right,
justin?
We've talked about this likethe way hold on.
There's more to this the way Ilive and the way I operate and
what I have the opportunity, andhow many know that you need the
discernment of the Holy Spiritto do that?
(49:11):
How many know you can't just bewilly-nilly, but how many know
the Spirit will guide you tohelp you be the witness?
All right, stand up.
I can tell we need to witnessto your tiredness of being
seated this long.
(49:31):
Are your bellies that aregrumbling and they're hungry?
I hope you can hear me.
This morning there is a harvestand I'm not going to sit here
and pray today for more harvest.
(49:53):
I'm also not going to sit hereand pray, john, for other
laborers to show up here and dothe work.
My prayer today is what is myresponsibility?
And I'm going to full on takehold of that responsibility.
And I'm going to full on takehold of that responsibility.
(50:14):
Platforms that you have they'renot so that we have a better
America.
I don't even know where we gotthat as believers, that that was
like the number one priority.
I know it's not popular, I getit.
And no, I'm not a communist.
(50:34):
Somebody in here is like, hey,he's a commie, I knew it.
No, no, what I'm saying is whenI read the Bible, when I read
the Bible, the Bible he pulls usin salvation, in sonship, in
(50:55):
adoption, pulls me into akingdom narrative.
That's totally different.
It reorients my priorities, myvalue systems, everything that I
do, and then he puts me to work.
He doesn't just bring me in tolead me, he actually empowers me
through the Spirit to partnerwith his work.
(51:19):
And this is the commissioningthat we've been waiting for.
This is the commissioningyou've been praying for, man, I
just wish I could use my gift.
You can Like.
Today, we encourage it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah.
But I was thinking you weregoing to let me do it on the
platform.
It's like yeah, you got one ofthose.
(51:40):
You walk around with it everyday.
You got it every day.
You got it every day.
You got it every day.
Things that you can't neglect,things that you can't neglect
Intimacy with the Father,intimacy in the Spirit.
You can't be His witness if Idon't have the strategy of
(52:02):
heaven for today.
Can I just give you an analogy,real quick.
Deck of cards Alright Trackwith me on this Deck of cards,
cam.
We got a deck of cards.
We dole them out Uno cards,because I was getting some
(52:23):
resistance.
I could feel it in the spirit.
It's like he's a commie and hegambles Like none of that.
Uno cards Same day, like wedeal them up and we play the
(52:43):
game.
But I want you to just noticesomething.
We deal them up and we play thegame, but I want you to just
notice something.
It's that the hand that I getplays different every time.
Same deck, new hand Playsdifferent.
(53:03):
We are constantly lookingaround like we're a bunch of
trading cards.
In here there were people thatcome and people that go, but in
the kingdom of God he isconstantly moving people to and
fro.
He's outfitting parts of thenation.
Reason why you came back fromIceland.
You didn't come back.
You did come back because I'mgreat.
You didn't come back.
(53:24):
You did come back because I'mgreat.
No, we all know you didn't.
You came back becauseassignment.
He repositions you here andthen there's people like I don't
know why they came back.
(53:45):
Let God be God.
He does this really cool thing,kelly.
He'll move you somewhere.
He'll opportunity will come.
But it's because same deck, newhand and what he's trying to do
in our community, in our family, in our churches, where we're
all worried about who's whereand who gets what.
(54:06):
The truth is he's saying it'sthe same deck, it's the same
pack of cards, it's the same.
I'm working with my people andI'll put them here and I'll put
them there and I'll send themacross the world.
And when they get there, you'llbe shocked that you play a
little different in every season.
You're in, yeah, but I was thishere.
(54:28):
But see, I'm in a new hand, ina new way.
He's using me.
You see, this is what it meansto be used in the kingdom of God
.
Or you can distance yourselfand just pick apart the game.
Just pick apart let's.
This can be better, that can bebetter.
Why don't we do this?
(54:49):
We should have been doing that,and yet none of those
complaints involve you doinganything.
This is a fascinating partabout complaining it's never
complaining about ourselves, buton what somebody else didn't do
.
They didn't meet expectation.
They disappointed me at thatchurch.
They didn't let.
(55:09):
That means your heart is set onpleasing men, and God has
commissioned you to please himand to advance the kingdom of
God today, and he wants toempower you to do it because he
loves you.
He loves you, but he loves youtoo much to see you sit on your
hands.
He wants you to be a witness.
(55:31):
You need fresh eyes today.
Some of you need to look in themirror today.
Some of you need to just justput yourself in a place where
you can just look in the mirrorof life.
Who am I?
What am I doing?
What am I doing?
What are you doing with thisthing?
(55:52):
Am I just sitting aroundwaiting for it to happen?
Nobody knows when he's coming,so we need to be at work.
Heavenly Father, we love youtoday.
God, I thank you for yourpeople.
I thank you for God.
What you're saying to us today,god?
(56:14):
We're asking you for a freshempowerment of the spirit today.
Come on church, if that's youtoday, and you say, hey, listen,
pastor Scott, this is right onwith me right now.
I've gotten complacent.
I've just kind of gotten likeI'm just, life is right on with
me right now.
I've gotten complacent.
I've just kind of gotten likeI'm just, life is just happening
around me and I'm just kind ofokay with it.
I'm just building a good lifefor me, man and my kids, and
(56:36):
that's good enough for us.
But you're reminded today thatGod has actually ordained you,
called you, put you on mission.
He wants to empower you to dothe work.
And if you're here today and yousay I'm not in that space but I
want to be, I want you to liftup your hands and I want you to
receive this prayer that I'mpraying over you today.
Yeah, I'm seeing hands all overthe place.
This is good.
Open-handed like that, that'sgreat.
(56:57):
Just open it.
Hey, hey, tap me in.
I'm good, I'm ready.
Tired of sitting on the sideline, tired of making excuses, I
want, in, heavenly Father, wepray for the hands that are
lifted in this room.
Those who are saying again,renew in me a fresh commitment
to follow you, to serve you.
(57:17):
God, we just received the powerof the Holy Spirit in our life
to be your witnesses, god.
We thank you today, god, thatwe have tried to do it in our
own strength and it has come upshort.
God, we thank you today, god,that we have tried to do it in
our own strength and it has comeup short.
But today we're asking for arenewed sense of anointing on
our life to lead, to speak, tobe your witness.
God, we are not ashamed of thegospel of Jesus Christ.
(57:40):
God, it was this message thattransformed us.
It's this message that we'llgive our life away to it.
Like William Carey, god, we'llstand up and declare God, you're
worthy of sacrifice, you'reworthy of getting on a boat and
going across the country, notbecause we're afraid of the
outcomes, not because we'reconcerned, but that we're so
(58:02):
afraid that somebody might notknow the name of Jesus.
God, would you move in ourhearts today a deeper compassion
for the lost?
Forgive us, god, that we putall of our attention on
recognizing what kind ofhardness we have and not
actually committing to be thelaborers ourselves.
(58:23):
God, I thank you for the yearsand the months of understudy.
I thank you for those that havebeen here in this congregation,
have been trained and taught.
But, god, we're asking you fornow that second commissioning.
Fill us with the power of theHoly Spirit, not so that we can
(58:44):
have all of the gifts, but thatyou can be glorified through the
testimony of our life, that wewould witness that.
We would witness that, we wouldwitness that, we would witness
God.
That's our desire.
That we would share the gospel,the good news that breaks off
(59:07):
the chains and the bondage.
God, the sin nature can beovercome by the presence of the
Lord, and we get to carry thatmessage.
God, we thank you today that wedon't carry it alone.
You carry it with us, god,you've empowered us to carry
such powerful message.
God, go with us, anoint usafresh and anew.
(59:28):
God, the way we live, the waywe talk.
We don't want to be people whoare Christian at work.
We want to be people who areChristian on mission.
We want to be on mission.
We're recommitting ourselves tothat today.
Father, we love you, we thankyou for what you're doing in
this community, what you're,what you're doing in this
community, what you're going tobe doing in the communities of
(59:49):
those that will leave this placetoday, god, fresh, equipped,
ready to advance the kingdom.
We take responsibility todayand we just say to you we're not
going to take any.
There are no more days where weexcuse ourselves from the
mission.
We are not going to give anymore excuses about why we don't
(01:00:16):
serve.
We're not going to give anyexcuses why we don't tell people
about the good news.
God, we're asking you toempower us again to be your
witness, to share the gospel.
We love you today.
We thank you for all thesethings and more, in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
Everybody said we hope and pray this message was
encouraging and impactful.
Join us live on our website orFacebook on Sundays at 9 and 11
am.
You can stay connected with uson Facebook and Instagram at the
Rock Family.
Have a Jesus-filled week.
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