Sent with Purpose

When I was 22 years old, I had just graduated college, and literally within just a couple days, I packed up my college apartment and took this U-Haul trailer, packed the few things that I owned into the back of that U-Haul trailer, attached it to my Blazer, and set out on the open road. I had an idea of where I would stop, but didn't know for sure.

I landed in Colorado Springs. Didn't know a soul, didn't have a job, didn't have a place to live. So I checked into a hotel—one of those places that has the weekly rates—and lived there for a few weeks, found a job eventually, and even found a place to live in a little dumpy apartment. I wound up making it stick. I actually landed there for about 4 and a half years, and over time I began to make friendships. Got married in the midst of that as well, and it was this sort of grand adventure that happened. It was this going, this stepping out, and it really transformed me in many ways.

I had grown up in the South, in a small town in the South in Georgia, and experiencing a different culture—and really, Colorado is a different kind of place, out West is a very different kind of place for those of you that are from out West—it was really interesting. It was interesting even the conversations with other believers that I had, and it really profoundly shaped me.

There's something in life about going that shapes us. It's the stepping out in life, the taking action that can often set the course and the direction of our lives in new ways. Even in that journey itself, it can actually shape us and change us. The risk we take, the moment we step out, we put ourselves out there—we never know the friendship that may come from that, the relationship that it may lead to, the doors that it may open. There's all sorts of ways in life where when we just are willing to put ourselves out there to take that step, something happens, and something about life is very different.

Today we're going to look at a passage—and we're actually going to be looking for the next four weeks—at this understanding of going or being sent. Jesus is now going to send his disciples out, and it is a different part of the journey than they are used to. God has a particular thing that he wants to work in the midst of this because stepping out changes his people. It changes us.

God doesn't have to do it that way if you really think about it. Couldn't Jesus just show up in the skies? Couldn't God every 20 or 30 years just show up and announce his kingdom and make everybody believe? But he doesn't do it that way. Time and time again, he calls ordinary people, you and I, to go and to share his message, to proclaim his kingdom, and to even live it out in the places that we go.

So we're going to be looking today at Matthew 10:1–15. Matthew 10:1–15:

Scripture reading: Matthew 10:1–15

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town."

This is God's word. 

Let's pray.

Lord, there's such conviction in this message, and I probably like the disciples feel the inadequacy and all of the other questions that may arise as we look at a text like this today. But here we are, Lord, making ourselves available to you even now to hear from your word and what you have to say. Just as you said to your disciples, we as your disciples—you have this word for us as well. So, Father, I just pray that our hearts would be willing. I pray even now, Lord, that you would increase and I would decrease, and that your words might glow and shine and call us forth today to do and to be all that you call us to. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

An invitation to participate

So, as we look at this message, Jesus is sending out his disciples. One of the first things that he does is that Jesus calls his disciples to the mission. He invites them to participate in this mission.

As I mentioned a second ago, why invite people? Jesus is doing a fine job at this. If Jesus has all of this power and dominion and authority, and he wants to get his message out and distribute it, can't he do a better marketing campaign than this? Can't he appear in the skies? Can't he manifest himself in some grand way that actually makes all believe, that makes all come to a knowledge of the truth?

But Jesus changes or shifts his ministry at this point in time to something a little bit different. It's not that he's going to stop proclaiming, but he's also going to begin to share and invite people to own and to participate in part of that mission. So, he calls these 12 guys together. In fact, Matthew uses a little bit of a different word here: he calls them apostles. That word from the Greek just means that they're sent—it's people that are sent. Even the Greek word apostello is to send. These 12 men Jesus is going to send out with his message. He's going to invite them to share in the work that he is doing.

If you just think about that for a second, why 12? Why has he called 12 people, 12 messengers? This is ultimately because Matthew, we know, is writing to a mostly Hebrew, Israelite audience. He often is trying to draw forth so much meaning and help us see that so much is fulfilled from the Old Testament scriptures in the life and in the ministry of Jesus. We can see this 12 all the way back to ancient Israel. Jacob, who was later renamed Israel, had 12 sons, and through these 12 sons, the 12 tribes of Israel were birthed. God began his mission and his calling and purpose through those 12 tribes.

In fact, in Exodus, when he leads them out of the bondage of Egypt, that's the thing that he gives them: he calls them a priestly people that will be the people that herald his message and shine his kingdom to the nations around, to call them in all that they lived and did as a nation. Even their carrying out of the laws was different than so many of the social customs of the surrounding nations of the day. They were to be a light that heralded God and his kingdom and to call them to that. There was this missional purpose that these 12 tribes called Israel had.

But we know that Israel failed in that constantly. Time after time, she wandered. She fell into sin. She forgot her way and her mission, so much so that even in Jesus's time, they really are just focused on themselves, and they don't even have the missional purpose in mind. But every now and then, God would come along and remind them of their purpose and their calling as these 12 tribes, and what the mission that God had for his people was.

Even here in calling the 12 disciples, Jesus is showing us that through one man and his 12 followers, he is going to renew and call the lost sheep of the house of Israel to return—to return to the King, to enter into his kingdom, and to become the kind of people that God has called them to be to accomplish his purpose for the nations.

God didn't start over. He didn't forget Israel and his calling and his purpose and his plans for his people. Even here, even though Israel has failed time and time again, even though they've gone their own way, they've done their own thing, and God could just wipe the slate and be like, "I'm done with you. I'll start with somebody else. I'll call the Samaritans first"—he doesn't. No, he goes back to Israel once again to renew and to restore a work that he had begun long ago, hundreds of years before, because he didn't give up on his people, and he didn't give up on his mission and his purpose and his calling that he had for them.

So symbolically right now, these 12 disciples will become the seeds that spread the message of the kingdom throughout the nation of Israel to all of these lost and scattered tribes of Israel. This sort of foreshadowing or these parallels get lost on us sometimes. They're throughout scripture, and partly they're lost because we're not Hebrews, so some of that metaphor or those parallels are lost on us.

But anytime there are parallels to scripture that address our modern times or our modern day, they resonate with us more. They resonate in ways that we begin to understand. If you've ever watched a movie and you've seen parallels to Christ in them, or you've seen parallels to God's grace—I talked a couple weeks ago about Les Misérables, right? In this moment in the story and in the movie, where there's just this incredible act of grace that is extended, stories like that, symbolism, moments like that resonate with us.

To this Jewish audience, especially these 12 guys going out, it's like this renewal that's beginning to happen. One of the best pictures that I actually love of this is in the ministry of Elijah. Elijah ministered in a time of darkness: all the prophets are dead, everybody's worshiping Baal, everybody's gone their own way. There's this showdown, this famous scene where essentially Elijah's going to throw down the gauntlet. He's going to call everybody: either serve Baal and go off, or serve God. Let's see the power of Baal, let's see the power of God.

One of the moments that I love so beautifully is Baal has failed—he does not come, he's not answered the prayers. So Elijah says, "Draw near to me." And he takes 12 stones and rebuilds the altar. Do you see the significance? It's like this metaphor of rebuilding this nation, this calling, this purpose, this identity. It's like he's constructing the altar out of these 12 stones, and he says, "Thus your name shall be called Israel." He was reminding the people of God of their calling and their purpose.

Right here, Matthew, through the ministry of Jesus, is reminding and showing us this parallel. The same is true for us today: God wants to carry forth his mission. He wants to renew it and restore it time and time again through every generation through the church. He calls us. The church doesn't replace it—we're just an extension of what God has done through Israel, because they became that light and it transferred through them to the Gentiles and to the nations as God began to call his people and grow his kingdom.

They were sent particularly to the lost sheep of Israel. We see in Ezekiel 34:11–12 what God had promised. He said:

"For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness."

Israel, because of the failure of the shepherds and because of the failure of their own hearts, constantly went their own way. They wandered. They walked away from God. They walked away from their purpose and their mission and their calling. They lost their sense of identity and who they were as a nation.

Yet God throughout, not just here, promised: I will send my shepherd. I will send my king. I will send my chosen servant, and he will gather the people. It's a reminder for you and I that God doesn't give up, and that God can restore and renew.

I think even in the sending piece, sometimes I know in sending and going out, it feels like, "Man, I don't get it, God. I never seem to be good enough at this or to do this right. I'm not equipped for it." Yet God's reminder is: I will always be raising you back up. I will call my people. He's inviting us to do that same work: to call the lost sheep of Israel, to call the strays that have wandered.

I've shared before, and I know you guys hear me say it all the time, but in 25 years, 40 million people have left the church. Most of it is just because, the studies show, they've wandered. They've strayed. It's not usually big objections or church scandals or anything like that—they've just kind of deprioritized it in their lives. That's not to be harsh or anything; it just happens. We just go and we tend to wander.

Yet God's purpose for his people is to call those who will hear, and many of those who have wandered away to false thinking and false idols, to other ways of life that are false. He equips and gives the disciples the authority here. He puts his Spirit upon them. They will carry forth and do the ministry and the works that Jesus did. That's pretty remarkable: the healing, the casting out of demons, the opening the eyes of the blind, all of these different things.

It's a reminder: if they felt inadequate, they can be reminded they are not inadequate because God is with them, because his anointing is on them. Even for us, the same is true. God has filled us with his Spirit, and in all the ways where we feel like we don't have the skill to go on the journey or the calling or the places that he sends us, he reminds us time and time again that he is sufficient where we are inadequate, that his gifting and his Spirit lay on us. We have all that we need in God, because the message itself is where the power is.

God's word is life. It's sharper than a two-edged sword. It has life and meaning and purpose in it, and when we have God's word with us, we have all that we need. When we have his Spirit on us and in us, when we have the message and the testimony and the witness of all that we have experienced in our own lives, we have all we need. The disciples have what they need because Jesus has given them and us exactly what we need.

As I thought about this message throughout this week, I looked at a lot of what is happening in this passage. But one of the things that I want to draw out and hope I can bring to the surface as we look at this today is the why. Why does he use people? Why does he share in this message and invite us to participate in it? Why would we see it as a good thing and not a scary thing?

It's because God is doing a saving work. He's doing a restoring work of changing hearts and lives, opening eyes that were blind, opening and changing even our lives. We've experienced this in our lives, and in the same way, he invites us to share that same hope that you have, that same truth, the same life that you felt as you turned to Christ. He invites us to participate in that same work, because when you do it, you become a conduit of God's message and God's Spirit moving through you into the lives of other people.

You will see literally the eyes of people opened—spiritual eyes. You will see their ears and their rejection change as they hear these words. You will see life come into people through them. There's something about that where you feel the presence and the power of God when you share or when you call people to hear this truth. You can feel the presence and the gifting and the power of God.

In those moments when you have these spiritual conversations at times, do you feel the love of God? Do you feel the witness, the joy? You never walk away from a conversation where you got to talk about Jesus and all that he's done in your life and not feel the energy in it. God invites us into that, and there's great joy and privilege and glory in it.

In fact, when Paul is writing to the Thessalonian church in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, he's talking to the Thessalonians about them coming to faith and all that, and he says, "You are my joy and my glory. You are my joy and my glory." Why? Because God let him play a role—through the ministry of Paul, he got to share the gospel with the Thessalonians, and he got to see lives transformed. He felt it was a privilege and an honor, and that "I have this glory because I got to share in this, but it's ultimately God's glory." His eyes are turned, and he glorifies God in that.

Somehow through that, as we become conduits of the message of God, we feel the presence of God and his love. It's joy. It will take our ministry and our relationship with God to a new level when we understand that we are sent and when we are willing to go as God calls us to go.

Jesus sends his followers

The second thing that we see here is that Jesus sends his followers out:

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay."

Jesus first and foremost tells them to go. He invites them to step out, and this is a complete change, because before this, what is Jesus saying to his followers? "Come, follow me," right? And we like that idea. I like that idea. I want to follow Jesus.

So we see this calling on the disciples: they leave things about their life behind and they follow, and they get to see the amazing ministry of all that Jesus is doing in the land of Israel, and they're learning from him. They're hearing his teachings. But then in this moment, Jesus calls them, and then he sends them to go and to do likewise.

There can be all sorts of questions about, "Oh, I don't know if I feel equipped for this or adequate for this. And God, are you sure that we should be going? I kind of like the following part." But there is something about following Jesus where we carry his anointing and his message and we go.

We see sort of this parallel or this tension which is often known in theological circles as the gathered church and the scattered church. There are parts of our lives where we gather week in and week out, and we celebrate the ordinances, we hear from God's word, we encourage one another—the fellowship that's happening in this place. We sing and proclaim God's word and praises to one another—all of these great and wonderful graces that God gives us as the church gathers together as we remind each other of our commitment to Christ to follow Christ.

But then also we see an element of the scattered church, where God sends us out into the world day after day, week after week, into our jobs and the places we play and into our neighborhoods and all these other areas, and he says, "Go with my message and my calling." Yet we don't like—and I know even for my own self—I like comfortable. It was hard enough to follow Jesus, and now he wants me to go and to step out, and I don't feel adequate, and I'm not sure if I am equipped for this journey. Should I go?

One of the best images—and some of you have heard me talk about it—that I really like, is because going changes you. Going shapes you. It moves us to different places as we step out. One of God's reasons why he sends his people is because his work isn't just to reach the people out there; it's to transform and change us. Something changes you when you go. There's something sacrificial and submissive when we are willing to step out, when we're willing to say, "I'm not sure if I have the courage, but I'm going to have the courage and the conviction of God to speak and to proclaim and to do and to live and to be all that he's called me to be in my circles and areas of influence in this world."

One of the stories that you've heard me say before is the story of Bilbo in The Hobbit. I love The Lord of the Rings, I love The Hobbit, I love Tolkien's stories. If you're familiar—some of you are probably familiar, some are not—Bilbo lives in a hillside in his nice little comfortable home, and he likes to smoke his pipe, and he likes to drink his tea, and life is good. One day, Gandalf, who he knows is a wizard, shows up, and he shows up with 12 dwarves and he invites Bilbo on this great adventure.

Well, hobbits don't like to travel. They like to stay home. They like it where it's comfortable; they like it where it's safe. They don't want adventure, and they certainly don't want things that are unknown or scary. They want to have nothing to do with that. Yet, there is something about Bilbo that feels drawn to this journey, but he doesn't really want to go.

As he's deliberating it, there's a scene where he talks in the movie and in the book where he asks Gandalf, the wizard who has invited him on this journey, a question. He says, "If I go, can you guarantee that I will return safely?" And Gandalf says, "No. But if you do come back, you will not be the same."

So it is with us: as we go, as we are obedient, as we put ourselves out there, as we carry the message faithfully to wherever God tells us to, as we open up our hearts and our lives to people, as we go, we are changed. We are shaped for the glory of God because he works in us as much as he wants to work through us. That's why we answer this call.

Jesus tells them to proclaim

Jesus next then also says to proclaim the message of the kingdom. He tells them to go forth and to say that the kingdom of heaven is near. At the time, there were lots of understandings that were shaped by scripture of what the kingdom is. What is the kingdom? What is this kingdom that is being preached and proclaimed? They understood that one day Israel would be gathered back, and that God would gather his people and that he would establish his kingdom, a son of David. There were all sorts of different ways and pictures and glimpses that they had that sort of foreshadowed what was to come, but they didn't know fully what was to come.

One of the ones that I see that I really like, that I think helps to kind of encapsulate what they would have understood in their day, is Daniel. In Daniel 7:13–14, we see there that Daniel is having a vision. This is what Daniel says:

"I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed."

There's lots of passages throughout the Old Testament, but this is one of them that talks about this figure that will come, and he will usher in the reign of God, and this kingdom will not end. This was a promise given to David. This was a promise told through Jeremiah and Isaiah and numbers of different prophets throughout the years, that God would one day arrive.

The disciples, as they go out with this message, are saying that time is at hand. It's here. If the kingdom is near, it also means that a king is near, that a king is coming. The people would probably know, as apostles and disciples of Jesus, that there's a hint that maybe Jesus is that king. So they proclaim the message that the one that they have been longing for for hundreds of years as a people has come to gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the scattered tribes—these people who now are leaderless, divided, living in a dark time and under the oppression of Rome. The king has come.

Now, they thought it meant freedom from Rome. They had a very nationalistic understanding of what was coming compared to what Jesus was going to bring. But nevertheless, there was this moment where they began to receive and understand with great excitement that God was finally looking down on his people and fulfilling the time that he had promised from ages past.

The next thing that Jesus says is to do, to manifest. He tells them to go and not just bring a message, but what does he say in Matthew chapter 10? He tells them to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to cleanse lepers, to cast out demons. Ultimately, what they are doing is they're not just coming with word, but with power. They are manifesting what God's kingdom really is. It's not freedom and liberation from Rome. It's not political power. It's the presence of God's kingdom, his reign, his rule, his authority, his king over the land.

What does it look like? Well, Jesus has been telling us what it looks like. He went through the whole Sermon on the Mount, reminding us of what it means to really fulfill the law, what it really means to live under the authority and the reign of God from the heart. And he began to show us the power through his ministry.

In fact, throughout chapters 8 and 9, there are these parallels of three that show the kingdom's authority through the King, through Jesus. We see these three healings that take place. We see the power of the King manifest in its ability to transform people's lives. Before that, as we looked at the prior passages, we saw Jesus casting out demons, right? We saw him forgiving sins. We saw his power over the wind and the rains and the storms, and over nature and creation.

So we're seeing God's reign and power manifested in these groupings of three that Matthew is pairing together as he's trying to announce to the readers, to the audience of this message, that Jesus is that king and he is bringing that kingdom. His followers, his disciples, begin to manifest that. They begin to show the power and the presence of the kingdom: to heal, to restore, to give life.

I mean, that's the kingdom, right? It's the same today. Sure, there's physical healing. Sure, there's physical opening of the eyes of the blind. God can still move today—we should believe in that. But even more so, there's this spiritual parallel to open the eyes, to change the heart, to restore what is broken, what is lost, to renew. Just like these messengers and these disciples, so we are called to manifest the kingdom in all sorts of different ways.

We go out with a message that changes hearts and lives and minds. It changed us; it changes the world over and over again. There's power in the gospel. There's power in the message. It's what every human heart needs. We all want a king, we all want a kingdom, but like scattered sheep, we often will go to the hills and to the other gods and look to other things in life to be our king, to fulfill these deep longings within our heart. But the only true thing that does not fail—as our idols that we look to fail us or enslave us, as we've talked about in the past—we see that the gospel frees us, it heals us, it restores us, because that's what a true king and kingdom do: they bring life and liberation.

That is what we see taking place, and in our own ways, in our own lives, in our own circles, we are called to do the same: to go into all the different walks of life. We go into schools, we can go into senior homes, we can go into pickleball courts. Lucas told me about three boys that walked up to him at Carowinds yesterday and said, "Do you know the gospel?" I mean, amazing—roller coaster rides! Hey, it's a good place to share the gospel as well.

It's just amazing places where we're called to go. As we go, we proclaim and we manifest God's love and his power, his authority wherever we go.

Learn to rely on God

Jesus also instructs them in reliance. He tells them:

"Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food."

Ultimately, they can't travel around like the traveling teachers of their day who would profit from their ministry. Even sometimes in ancient Israel, the prophets would sort of profit at times from their ministry. In fact, Amos is sent back—they say, "Go back to the land of Judah. What are you doing here?" They want to send him on his way because they think this is like his career. And he's like, "No, I was a shepherd. I wasn't called to this. I'm not trying to make this a career of mine; I'm just being obedient to what God said for me."

So it is here that there's a calling for us and for the disciples not to try to profit or make this some sort of career, because what it does is it gives authenticity to the message. They don't need the people to listen so that they can survive, because who's going to give them what they need? Who's going to open the doors for hospitality? Who's going to give them the provision that they seek? Who will give them the food that they need? God. God will.

So they can come freely. Just as they have received freely, they can give freely. They don't need to prepare or have the money or look for people to give to them because they're bringing some sort of message. Their eyes can be on God to provide for their needs. Now with great authenticity, with nothing to lose, they can just come and say, "Here's the message. We don't need anything from you. I come to give. We come here to give."

It changes the whole way that they can come and see that they have to rely not on other people, not to look to them and hope that they'll listen or try to plead with them, but just to come freely to offer this message. There's such authenticity that the people will look and see: they have nothing to gain. These people are sacrificing their time and their lives to come when there's no profit in it.

Yet they're told also to find one who is worthy. Sometimes in missionary circles, they'll talk about finding the "person of peace"—kind of the doorway into a community, that first sort of person that will introduce you to the community or the people around. But you've got to look, and part of going is just looking and trying to find. We don't know—we cast seeds, we talk, we have these spiritual conversations, and we just see where it lands. We see where God opens up the doors and the hearts of the people. We don't have to pry it open; God does it.

So we can come with this full reliance that God provides the means for our journey, but he will also provide the open doors and the opportunities to speak. Paul prayed that a door of utterance would be open to him, and we see that Paul had a lot of doors of utterance open to him throughout the New Testament church. So we are called to pray the same, and then to also go.

Ultimately, we do this—just as we talked about why we're sent and why we go—why do we look to God for his provision? Why does Jesus not let us profit from this? Why does he tell us to keep our eyes and trust him? It's because it ultimately teaches us to trust.

So much of life is about learning to trust God. So much of life is learning not to fear humans, but to fear God. Even here, when we go and rely on God, and we rely on his message that he's given, we rely on the power that he's put in us, we see in these moments that it changes us—that we look not to other people in fear of them, but we look and fear God. We know that he will open the doors, and it gives us a boldness and a dependency that shifts so that God is big and humans are small in comparison to his power and his authority.

There's also a little bit of a solidarity with Jesus here. We become like Jesus in going. He invites us to follow in his footsteps, but then he turns to us and says, "Keep going." He takes the training wheels off the bike, and he tells us to keep pedaling. We're not alone, we're not without—the Spirit of God is with us when we go. He is so with us. Sometimes it's even more tangible in the actual going that he calls.

The disciples are going to experience the provision and the power of God that they will see in this as they obey. Many years ago—I'm just going to illustrate this one way—I was in a church, this was a long time ago, and I just felt like the couple in front of me—and I don't do this all the time—I was visiting this church, and I just felt like God wanted me to put my hands on them and pray for them right in the middle of the service. I felt like I was going to disobey if I didn't. I just remember—this was a very momentous moment for me—I just reached out my hands, put them on them, and I just started to pray.

I remember in that moment, it was very startling, because I felt just this sort of love of God for these people. I could feel it almost like it was transferring through me as I prayed for them. It was like I was this conduit in this moment. Had a great conversation with them afterwards; they really actually needed that moment. It was a providential moment. But just in that moment, it reminded me that so often when we go, so often when we step out, we experience the power and the presence of God in incredible ways. It teaches us more and more to rely not on our own strength, but on him as we look to him for these things.

So ultimately, what we see is an incredibly daunting task if we're all honest, because our eyes often look on the world and the people, and like Bilbo, we just want to be in our safe space. I understand that; we all feel that. Yet with great conviction, Jesus calls us—not to burden us, not to guilt us, but so that we may experience joy in greater fullness, the shaping of God in new ways, and the reliance on his power and his presence in all of these things. Let's pray.

Lord, we are desperate for your mercy and for your grace. I was thinking about during our confession time this morning, Lord, how often we don't go well even when we go. Sometimes we fail to truly love those around us, as that confession talked about. And yet we know that your grace is sufficient for our weakness, for our failure. Even after hundreds of years, God, you did not give up on your people. You planned to start your mission anew through the people that you always wanted to do it through.

Lord, sometimes it feels like for us that we can forget the mission, and yet once again, here you are poking, prodding, and inviting us, Lord. Lord, we pray that you would increase our faith. We pray, Lord, that you would fill us with greater love and a greater reminder of this gospel good news, so that it would enlighten our own hearts that we might remember the joy of our first love and the beauty of this message, and how life-giving and life-transforming it was, and how healing it was, and how some of us in the darkness of our own bondage needed this so desperately and it changed everything.

There is a world full of people that so need this message. God, we've talked about it, we've seen it in the studies. We live in an age of anxiety and depression and loneliness that are at epidemic levels, so many sociologists and psychologists tell us. We live in an age where we are seeking so many false gods, turning to so many things that even secular people recognize what's going on. There is a world that so needs this message, and it is so good and so many are hungry for it—they even kind of know it.

So you've called us with this great joy and great privilege, Lord. I just pray even this week that you might give us doors of utterance, open opportunities, and the courage—the courage to do like Bilbo, who when he stepped out, he saw amazing things; just like the disciples who stepped out and saw amazing things, not just in those days, but in the weeks and the months and the years even after Christ left, that they saw the transformation of the whole region, and even to the ends of the earth, the gospel was going out in all of its power.

So God, let us step into this wonderful invitation. Let us be reminded with great conviction that even as a church that is planted here, that you want us here to be light in a community that needs more churches to call people to the kingdom and to the King, for the glory of your name. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.