Good morning, Happy Sabbath, and a very warm welcome to those of you who are joining us this morning here at central church from across the country and around the world. Those of you who are listening this morning on the radio, watching 3 weeks delayed on the various television networks, or joining us live this morning on our website at saccentral.org. We're so glad that you're joining with us. And I know that you're going to enjoy our songs this morning, because they are favorites of many people. So we're gonna start singing those right now.
Pull out your hymnals those of you at home. And those of you here, we're gonna turn to 478, "sweet hour of prayer," 478. This is minty in australia; calvin in england; desiree in scotland; jason in ireland; dorcas in ghana; darwin in the Philippines; doris in honduras; lloyd in south africa; mombosi in zimbabwe; jederick in south africa; gracin in singapore; tuti in Washington; and edward in New York. , All 3 verses. [Music] Aren't you looking forward to that day when, you know, it says, "and shout while passing through the air, 'farewell!'" I mean have you ever thought the last view you're gonna have of the earth when it's all ugly and you know you're on your way to heaven? Oh, that's exciting.
Those of you who have song requests, I encourage you to go to our website at saccentral.org, click on the "contact us" link. And there you will see where you can send in your song requests. And we will sing those for you on an upcoming Sabbath; saccentral.org. Our next song, you'll find on 334, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. This is a request from Trisha from Barbados; Verene from Barbados; Carmeda from Bahamas; Ruby in Canada; Marilyn and Bentanol in the British Virgin Islands; Maple and Amber in Japan; Donna in Jamaica-- and she requested this for her husband, Mark -- Angel in Jamaica; Kenara in Jamaica; Kevin in Jamaica; Elias in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Don in Saint Lucia; Eric in Norway; Ellen in Thailand; Gillian in Trinidad and Tobago; Gabriel in Zambia; Sharon in Washington; Shem in Louisiana; Charlene in Idaho; and Ashley in Nebraska.
So this is a favorite. So you all need to sing really loud this morning for those that requested this song. , All 3 verses. [Music] Father in Heaven, this morning we do give you our hearts. And we ask you to seal them for the courts above.
We want to spend eternity with you in heaven. And we know that that won't happen if we're not ready. And so I pray that every day we will be ready and we will have that assurance that we are ready to meet you in the clouds of glory. We thank you so much for the Sabbath and for bringing us all here this morning. For our extended family who isn't with us, but joins us every week, we thank you for each and every one of them.
And I pray that you'll be with them in a very special way as they worship with us this morning. I pray you'll be with our speaker, that you will give him the words for us this morning. In Jesus' Name, amen. This morning, Pastor Doug unfortunately is sick at home. But he has a last minute man that was very willing, I guess, to fill in for him.
And that is don mackintosh. And he will be bringing us our lesson study this morning. Good morning, everyone. The Bible says, "be instant in season and out of season." And when Pastor Doug called me, I immediately said, "yes." But we're sorry that he's feeling under the weather. How many of you are going to be praying for him? There's a big camp meeting schedule coming up.
I know that probably by the time this airs some of you hopefully have been blessed by him, but know that it's because the people right here have been praying for him, that he can be there and that he can be ministering to you. You know, it's a heavy responsibility our pastor carries. We need to be uplifting him. I didn't realize how big the burden was 'til I came to Amazing Facts. I had my opinions, but then I got the facts.
There's a--carries a heavy load. Let's just join together in an added word of prayer this morning. Father in Heaven, we're thankful that we can come. We're thankful that Your Word is eternal and that Your Word does not change. But we are mortal.
We need to change. We want to be immortal. And we want to be able to rejoice forever. But it won't be the sentiment enough. We need to just fully surrender to you, be your disciples as we're studying today.
Give us not only the desire, but just give us a special strength to respond to your biddings, which are enablings. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Well, before I forget what I'm supposed to say, we're gonna have a free offer today. And it's offer number 771, actually called, "Matthew 10: Jesus and his disciples," that's what it's called, number 771. So we invite you to call in: -866-788-3966, Or 1-866-study-more, study more, if you would like that wonderful resource.
Well, let's just get to the lesson today. I like the title, "God's great missionaries." And our lesson this week kind of--what chapter did it especially focus on? Does anyone remember? Matthew 10. I saw some of you looking at your quarterlies. But the camera was not on you, so next time be prepared. That's right, Matthew 10.
And it was really going through that entire chapter of Matthew 10. It was kind of di-exegeting, pulling it out, exposing it, and looking. It's kind of like a manual. As I reviewed that chapter again today, I said, "man, that should be like our text book for the Amazing Facts center of evangelism." And that could be just a great outline, because it really practically talks about becoming a disciple and then sharing Christ's love as a missionary for him. But we want to break it up into some constituent parts, or some different parts.
And I want to use the letter c. How many of you think from time to time people need a little vitamin c? Even Pastor Doug today could use some vitamin c, amen? But I'm just gonna use the letter c to help us. And we're gonna look at this chapter, dividing up not just as the lesson quarterly has, although we'll touch those points in the quarterly. But I want to divide it up like this. First of all, I'll talk about the crisis, then the call, then the context, then the cost, then the closeness, and then the consummation.
You got it? Of course you don't. We'll go though it again: the crisis, the call, the context, the cost, the closeness, and the consummation. First of all, the crisis. Someone read for me Matthew 4:23. And someone get ready to read for me Matthew 9:35.
Matthew 4:23, right here in the front. "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people." Isn't that an interesting text? So Jesus, it says, went where in this particular text? All about where? Galilee. And what did he do? He went teaching, preaching, and healing, right? So he addressed their needs physically and spiritually. We kind of have an acronym around here called reap: restoration, education, adoration, and proclamation. So when he restored them physically, he then could educate them mentally.
And they would respond in adoration. And then they couldn't help but join him in proclamation. Reap. And now let's look at chapter 9:35, 'cause we're looking at the crisis, 9:35. Who has that? Right back here.
Let's hear then. "And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people." Wait a minute. Isn't that the same verse we just read? What was the difference? Preaching. No, that was not the difference, but good try. What was the difference between those two? Cities and buildings.
All right, good morning, everyone else. So you got that. Yes, one of them said he went all about Galilee. The other one said he went everywhere. So look, here's the point.
You really need to know what you're doing across the street before you go around the world. If you can't go around the--you know, across the street, maybe you shouldn't sign up for, you know, the adventist frontier missions. Now that's going to be born out in the lesson today, by the way, because--well, it just will be. But there was a great crisis that developed. Let's look on--someone read for me Matthew 9:36 through 38.
Well, just 36. "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, 'the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest." So can you see the crisis here? What was the crisis? A crisis was that the people were like sheep without a what? Shepherd. And it says that he was, "moved with compassion.
" Now that Greek word there, it literally means that he emotionally was moved from his stomach up. He just had this gut-wrenching feel. He looked out and he saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd. But that wasn't the only crisis. The second crisis was what? The harvest was plentiful, but the what? The laborers were what? Few.
Now notice. He said something. He talked to his disciples, it said. Now what's a disciple? All right, someone says a follower. That's good.
You know, literally the word, "disciple," means a learner, a pupil. It means, the root word means, "someone who understands." And that means they stand under. So they see what you say and then they do what you say: a disciple. So first of all, they're learners. But he called them some--he said they need to be something else, not just learners, he said, "laborers.
" Now that word for "laborers" right there in the text, that means someone who works. How many of you know people that are better at talking than working? I can tell by the chuckles that you either are nervously applying this to yourself or know others like that. You know, it's real easy to talk, but now in this particular chapter, he's gonna say, "now go do. Don't just talk. Walk.
So a kind of walkie talkie religion, right? Not just talkie, walkie. Okay? There's just a whole idea here, to work, not just talk. Well, let's look then at what happens. That introduces us to chapter 10, chapter 10:1. I'll read it at this point.
"And when he had called his 12 disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease." At this point, they had been watching the master. And they had been seeing what he was doing. And that was a very important thing. But now, they had graduated from the Amazing Facts school of evangelism. And he was sending them out.
Amen? And they were gonna be heading out on the road. Can you see the promises that he gave here? What did he promise them? Power. First of all he called them. It was an explicit call. Is it important to have an explicit call before you go out? How many of you have met someone that had the call to leadership, but nobody follows them? You know what they say; that "he who leads," margaret thatcher said, "and no one follows is merely taking a walk.
" And how many of you think you need to have that sense of call before you go? You better. You know, now, you know, this sense of call is something I think is pretty confusing. I've met people who say, "oh, I have the call." "I have the gift of singing." Problem is, nobody has the gift of listening to their singing. "I have the gift of this." "I have the gift of that." And they feel called. And I say, "well, why are you doing it? I'm called.
It doesn't matter who else thinks anything about it. I'm called." Well, someone must be dialing your number we don't know. I mean, let me say it kindly, but you know, when you have a call to ministry, you're not the only one that needs to have the call. The people you're ministering to need to sense that you have a call. I remember when I was a younger person--still quite young compared to methuselah and others--that I thought I had this call to serve in this particular church.
It's really not that funny, but I went to the pastor and I guess you'd say alerted him to my sense of calling. And he said, "well, what exactly do you think you're called to do? And I said, "I think I'm called to preach." He said, "well, I think that may be right. I'm gonna have you preach in cradle roll." I wasn't expecting this, but I went to cradle roll. And then after that he says, "you're moving on up, buddy. Kindergarten.
" You know, that was the most important thing. He moved me through everything. And then he would rebuke me. One time I was teaching in the juniors and I brought trumpets. And we were going over, "lift up the trumpet.
" And we made such a noise that the adults couldn't hear. And he came down and took our trumpets away. Well, just two points out of that. You know, the call to ministry needs to be tested. And if you just want to do something, just what you want to do and you're not willing to do whatever the master or the master's designated authority in that place says to do.
You're not being called. Amen? Might be called by somebody, but--and I still remember the day he let me come upstairs. It was a long time coming. And so, you know, the sense of call, you had to have your individual sense of call, but then there's that ecclesiastical sense of call where, you know, the church says, "wait a minute. We think you're gonna--you're called to be more than just a member.
You're gonna be a deacon. You're gonna be a deacon. You're gonna be in cradle roll. You know, having said that, that was no defamation to put me in cradle roll. I think the most important division in this church is cradle roll.
And the kippels will think that in a few minutes--i mean few weeks too, right? And those that are ready to have kids. How many of you didn't realize how important cradle roll was until you had that first one? Many times people come back to church right then. And then they're able to be discipled again. All those divisions--i don't know about this church, but some churches you have a hard time getting people that want to teach in those places. Man, I tell you what, there's no place more important than those children's divisions.
And especially the young ones, 'cause these families come back. And those teachers right there right now, they're the evangelists. They're the one's that are most important. We're just kind of support staff here. So if you're out there watching today and someone asks you on nominating committee to do something in the children's, do it! Amen? All right, well, I'm preaching now.
We gotta get back to the lesson. So, the crisis--i might have created a crisis out there. The call. So he called them, first of all, he called them. And then he says, "he gave them," what? Power.
Oh man, aren't you thankful for that? What kind of power did he give them? Explicit there in verse 1 of chapter 10. It was power to do what? "Cast out unclean spirits." And power to what? "To heal." What kind of sickness? "All sickness and disease." Are you thankful to part of the advent church? Are you thankful to have the health message? I'm thankful that this health message is kind of expanding, you know? We used to only talk about cholesterol. Well, maybe we didn't. But I'm talking in western countries, you know? In some countries, cholesterol is not the issue. Food is much more important.
In africa today, the people watching are saying, "where am I gonna get water? Where am I gonna get food?" But here we have diseases of abundance. We talk about cholesterol and different things. But God's gonna have a people that are not backing away from any kind of disease. Amen? Not just heart disease, but mental health and many different kinds of--the Gospel is to create God's spell in a way that can heal us physically. So, notice this change though.
Chapter 10:1 said, "he called them disciples." Now look at verse 2, "now the names of the 12," what's the next word? Apostles. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He called them disciples, but now he calls them what? Apostles. What's wrong? Can't he come up with a word he can stick with? Or is there a reason that he calls them apostles? What's the difference between a disciple and apostle? Okay. I stumped you.
Nebuchadnezzar was stumped one time. There is a difference. A disciple largely is the one that's following. And an apostle is one-- apo means to do what? To send, to separate, to stand alone, to go. So Jesus understood that they had been discipled.
But now they need to be apo'd. Apostled. He needs to separate from them in a sense, physically speaking, and stand alone. Now if I'm Michael Jordan on the basketball court, who is gonna get the pass? I'm gonna get the pass. If I'm wayne gretzky on the hockey rink, what am I gonna get? I'm gonna get the puck.
But if I'm sick, like Pastor Doug is today, who's gonna get the call. Someone else. And so it makes 'em nervous. It stresses them. They gotta go beyond that.
You know what I learned in pastoring, this is a very important point, that if I showed up at a small group at someone's house, it usually blew it. 'Cause it'll go, "look at me." You know? And this is a great thing about small groups. This is a great thing about discipling. It's okay to be with the group. You've heard the saying, "the banana that leaves the bunch gets peeled.
" You know, you want to stay with the group most of the time. But by the same token, you want to do what? Spread out, right? Daniel and his three friends were together in chapter 1. But then Daniel was alone in chapter 6. It was kicking it up a notch, right? So don't miss that point. Disciple to what? Apostle.
Apostle, an ambassador. And they were from all different walks of life, fishermen and tax collectors and those that were loud. And those that were doubting and retiring. And, you know, Acts of the Apostles calls the disciples independent atoms. [Laughs] and then Jesus became the one who could unlock the power of the atom and cause a supernatural nuclear reaction that went all the way around the world.
Some of you are atoms that need to be trapped so the power is released. That's our specialty at the Amazing Facts center of evangelism. We split the atoms by God's grace. And then powerful things happen. You know, people come and they're like really timid.
[Mumbles] and then they leave powerful! And it's amazing what God can do. You might think, "oh, I'm not called to be a disciple. Oh, I'm gonna be a disciple. I'll follow around. I'm not an apostle though.
" Well, God might just send you. And I like what's happening with the "share him" campaigns. People going around the world. And I heard this young man talking the other day. He says, "I went and I was preaching the Gospel overseas.
And then I realized for the first time what I'd been taught in school. And then I finally believed it. Don't you like that? So, you know, if you send someone overseas for mission and they get converted, how many of think that's pretty successful? It's really not, maybe sometimes, for the people you're reaching, but you yourself might get reached, if you listen to yourself talk. I know you're praying for me now about that whole thing. So, harness and release the fire.
So, the crisis, what was the crisis? The crisis was they were like sheep without a--? And the harvest was plentiful, but the laborers were? Few. What was the call? To go be disciples, but not just disciples, to be apostles. Next, the context, the context. Someone read for me Matthew 10:5-6. "These 12 Jesus sent out with the following instructions: 'go nowhere among the gentiles, and enter no town of the samaritans.
'" And verse 6? "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Okay, so here is this, this is the context. He said--the crisis, the call, now he says there's a certain context you should work in. Where does he say to go? Lost sheep. Where does he say not to go? Gentiles, samaritans. Yeah, don't go to the gentiles and samaritans, but go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Now why do you suppose he gave this counsel? Someone look up for me Mark 1:45. Why was it that he gave this counsel? "However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to him from every direction." Okay, so here's this man. He told him. He said, "don't say anything. Go show yourselves to the priest.
" But instead of doing that, it says in the King James, he went out and began to publish it much and blaze it abroad." Now here in California, we have all kinds of blazes going on. Is that helping us? No. I was up at the camp, the weimar campus, the other day getting ready for the upcoming academy and college and all those different things. And I drove up there, and it says it's a smoke-free environment. There was smoke all over the place.
And I got a new appreciation for the sign. I said, "oh, I guess that means that the smoke is a 100% free. You can take as much as you want." But this whole idea of blazing abroad, you know. Blazes. Now how many of you have ever met somebody that you just kind of cringe when they're witnessing, 'cause you're going, "uh-oh.
It is burned. A third-degree burn to my family." Now don't get me wrong. We need to be bold, but we don't need to be blazing. Amen? And so Jesus understood something. What did he understand? That if they said certain things among the-- jews.
Jews. What would happen? There'd be problems with them. But in this particular case, you know, don't go to the gentiles and the samaritans, because the jews--there'd be a reaction. As a matter of fact, how many of you read, "the Spirit of prophecy" notes that went along with today's lesson? Okay, then you will be very interested in this. It will be new information to you.
"Spirit of prophecy," quotes was, "wait for the Holy Spirit." The first reason they weren't supposed to go, according to the "spirit of prophecy" and the Bible was because the Spirit had to be poured out where? In Jerusalem. If you go without the Spirit, it's gonna be damaging to you and everybody else. Two: they needed to go where Christ had already made friends. Have you ever been somewhere where--you know, just the other day, I was up in colfax, you know, a guy from Amazing Facts at colfax, wanting to get the facts. And I was in this particular place.
I was looking at the history. I wanted to look at the history of weimar, 'cause I'm gonna be working up there now, right? And so I'm in this museum. And there's this man who's there. And I say to him, I say to him, "I want to know about weimar. And I want to know about what-- about that place.
" And he looks at me and he goes, "well, why do you want to know about that?" I said, "because I do." So he began to tell me the different things. And then I said to him, I said, "what do you think of the people that are up there, you know, at weimar? You know? What do you think of 'em?" He goes, "oh, you mean the Seventh-day Adventists?" And I said, "yeah." You know, trying to be stealthy. And he looks right at me, he goes, "are you a Seventh-day Adventist?" I said, "that doesn't matter. What do you think?" And he says, "you know what? I really like those people." I said, "well, why do you like 'em?" He says, "the students would come down. They painted my sister's house.
They went through all the city. They did this, and they did that." Pretty soon I said, "yes, I'm with them. Yep, I'm right up there with those people." But do you see what had happened there? There was this sense of goodwill that was already there. Is it easier to work where there's already goodwill? Is it easier to have confidence just built in? There's no substitute for what you need to learn. But "spirit of prophecy" says, "where Christ had already made friends.
" Another one from "the Spirit of prophecy," "the time had not yet come to go to the gentiles and samaritans." When I talked to Pastor Doug this morning with his very deep voice because he had a cold, he said, "that really they weren't supposed to go because it wasn't time yet," because of what? The 490 years was not complete. And to fulfill Bible prophecy, they had to be at the right place, at the right time, saying the right thing. I want to be in a church that knows what time it is. Amen? I don't want to just know who Jesus is, although that's important, I want to know where he is, what he's doing, and what I'm supposed to do. And that's really the message of the advent movement, knowing who he is, what he's doing, and what we're supposed to be doing.
By the way, he's cleaning things upstairs right? And he wants to clean up the people downstairs. Amen? Someone sent me a book last week, said I should look more closely at the emergent church? How many of you have ever heard of the emergent church? I read about it. It seemed more like the submergent church to me. I said, "I'm not interested in the emergent church. I want to be a part of the detergent church.
" Amen? Clean some things up. So I don't know if that means anything to y'all, but to me it just makes me feel clean saying it. So, wait for the Spirit. Where Christ had made friends, the time had not yet come. And then notice this one.
If they had first preached the Gospel to these, they would have lost their influence among the jews. You know, sometimes you can lose your influence by who you're hanging with. Right? And so just with wisdom, just with real wisdom--you know, that's one of the things I appreciate about Pastor Doug. He's got real wisdom in witnessing. You know, I'll say to him, "I'm thinking of doing this.
" And he goes, "well--" he says like this withering comment. Reminds me of a conference president that I worked with for many years, jim hoehn from Kansas, Nebraska. He was also very wise. And one day I told him what I had planned to do in this little church I was working in. I said, "I'm gonna clean up the books.
I'm gonna move out the dead weight. I'm gonna move in fresh blood." Sounded really good, you know? And he just listened. I said, "are you still there?" [Laughs] and he goes, "yeah." And I go, "well, why are you so quiet?" He goes, "because I was waiting for you to ask me a question." That was kind of hurtful right there, but true. And then he goes to me, he says, "you know, it's a lot easier to--" oh, this is what he said. He said, "it doesn't do much good to kick a dead horse.
" Ooh. You might be still thinking about that, but that really worked on me. So, "wait for the Spirit. Go where Christ had made friends. The time was not yet right.
Don't prejudice people." Next one. "Should the disciples make a specialty of laboring for the samaritans and gentiles, they would prejudice the pharisees against them. And their way would be hedged up at the very commencement. They would be involved in controversy and would become discouraged." Jesus doesn't want you to become discouraged in witnessing. You know, one of the things I've learned at the Amazing Facts center of evangelism is how to discourage people from ever wanting to witness.
And I don't want to be teaching that in any way. That's why we send them out two-by-two, like Jesus said. That's why we--you know, so many people--look, if you've been discouraged in witnessing, don't give up. Go back at it. And Jesus doesn't want you to be discouraged, right? Next one.
How many of you like these comments from "the Spirit of prophecy?" How many of you are gonna read it next time, just be all ready, just like I was? Good, all right. Well, I'm not saying I'm all ready, but I was-- have a couple here. "E," now this one was--i just-- this shocked me, all right? "Signs of the time," July 18, 1900: "they weren't supposed to go there," listen to this, "until they had a clear perception of God's plan. They were not to labor, for the gentiles or for the samaritans." Did you catch that? They weren't supposed to go, 'cause they just didn't get it yet. Do you get the point? And Jesus knew it.
He said, "you just don't quite get it. So don't go out there. Don't go there yet." Wow. So the context of mission. First of all, we saw the crisis.
What was the crisis? You already know. Sheep without a shepherd and needing laborers. What was the call? To be disciples, but not just disciples, apostles. What was the context? Just go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel first, not to the jews, not to the gentiles, and the samaritans yet. And we gave all the reasons.
Does it matter? Should we listen to what Jesus says? Should we know where we're supposed to go and when we're supposed to do it? Should we listen to people that are maybe put in that position to help us? Remember the time that there was the battle of ancient Israel. And God said, "don't go up against this mountain." And so they did anyway. How many remember that story? And it was a bunch of people killed. And also, you know, sometimes you can just say too much. I have a personal knowledge of this.
So, you might join me. Listen to this. I like this little poem I found. "Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. Release me from the craving to straighten out everybody's affairs.
Make me thoughtful, but not moody, helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all. But thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end of life's journey." How many of you like that? So zip the lip sometimes is a good practice. In soul-winning, you know, the less you talk in a Bible study the more people talk about themselves. And they like to talk about themselves.
And at the end of the day, they go, "man, I really like that guy, 'cause they really were listening to themselves." Having said that, you know, you want to focus on the word, right? Bringing them along. That's the next point. 'Cause look at what it says there next. It tells them exactly what to do. Did you see it there? Verse 9.
We saw that they were to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And then what were they supposed to do? Verse 7 rather, Matthew 10:7. "And as you go, preach, saying, 'the Kingdom of God is at hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." So in other words, he's saying this is the way to reach what group? There were two groups, gentiles and the samaritans. And there was the what? Jews.
And he's saying specifically this is how to reach the what? Jews. "Preach the Kingdom of heaven." Why would he say that to a jew? 'Cause that's what they all talk about. They were talking about the Kingdom, the Kingdom, the Kingdom, the Kingdom. So Jesus, throughout the book of manuel--Matthew, he's always talking about this. When he prays, he says, "thy will be done.
Thy kingdom come." When he tells the parables, he says, "the Kingdom of heaven is like unto," Matthew 13. Every single parable goes through that. the Kingdom, the Kingdom, the Kingdom. John was preaching, "the Kingdom's about to come." Jesus says, "the Kingdom--" well, actually Luke said, that Jesus said, "the Kingdom of God is within you." So there's the Kingdom of heaven. And there is the not yet, there is the is and there is the is to come concerning the Kingdom.
Right? There was a kingdom. It kind of fell. God was starting a new kingdom. Was he a king? Was Jesus a king? Was he king of Kings? Do they know it yet? He was helping them learn that, right? And you remember in John 1 when nathaniel saw him and said, "you are the King of Israel." Remember that? And he said, he didn't dismiss that. So they came to know that he was the King.
But he's the King, he needs some doms. Kingdom. What's a dom? A domain. the King always has a what? Domain. And what's the domain-- how could you know? I guess there's the question.
How can you know that the Kingdom of God is within you? 'Cause it says in Luke 17:21 in our lesson, it says, "the Kingdom of God is within you." How could you know if the Kingdom of God is within you? Huh? By experience. Okay, by experiencing what? That's a big word today: experience. What does that mean? How can you know the Kingdom of God is within you? Anyone else? You feel it. You feel it. Well, it might be true, but is that enough? Have people had like feelings that are the wrong kind of feelings? Have they had experiences that are wrong kind of experiences? How can you know? I want to show you this because I think it's so important.
Just remember that prayer, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in?" Heaven. Whoa. That's how you know the Kingdom is within you. When you are doing the will of The Father from the heart. Then you know.
Because if you just go by experience, or a feeling, that's not connected to the reality, what's the problem? You know? Are you with me? How many of you are with me on this? That's right. You have got to have that. "Many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ." And cast out demons and this and that. "Depart from me you workers of inequity." You didn't do the will of The Father. Today we live in a culture, yes or no, where everything is focused on in terms of experience and feeling.
You go to church, some churches, they put the lights down low, because they want you to feel a certain way. And then the lights come up. Ohhh! And then the music comes on. Ohhh! Ohhh! It's all feeling. But I got a feeling it's not quite right.
In fact, I know it's not. How can you see--if you are having the Kingdom of God in your heart, when you desire to do God's will from the heart. He plants it there and you don't resist it. I like how Ellen white puts it, "the impulse to help and bless others springs constantly from within." I was reading a book by--about marriage that someone gave me. I don't know exactly why they gave it to me, but they gave me this book.
So I was reading the book. It wasn't my wife, by the way. Praise the Lord, so he gave me this book about marriage. And I was reading this man's account. And he started the book by saying, "I wanted to show my wife that I loved her so I wrote down everything that they told me she would like and I put it on my steering wheel.
Every Tuesday I would go get flowers. Every Wednesday I'd do this. Every fourth Sunday we'd go out to eat." Or whatever it was. And he made this list and he put it on his steering wheel. And he says, "man, it turned my marriage around, initially.
Then one day my wife's car broke down. She had to take my car. She got in. And she looked at my steering wheel. And it all fell apart.
" Why did it fall apart? Is it that hard to remember to get me flowers, honey? Did you have to remind yourself by--you see what I mean? How many--see that's why the Bible says, "every good gift comes from The Father of God above," right? Love is of God. So love comes down from above. "If you love me, keep my commandments." The will of God then comes from him within and the Kingdom of heaven is right here. I like how "Christ's object lessons" ends. You know how it ends? I know it ends because my grandfather doddering 90-- years old, reading the last time through "Christ's object lessons," takes his palsied hands and he underlines the little sentence that says, "heaven will not be new to them, because they already have heaven in their hearts.
" Whoa. How many of you want to have heaven in your heart? And then the Kingdom of God is here and now. Do you see that? But then there's the Kingdom that was, there's the Kingdom that is, and there's the Kingdom yet to come. Well, I've got to show you that even though that's not in my notes. Matthew 25, look at it.
Matthew 25:31, "when The Son of man comes with his glory, and the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory." How many of you think that sounds like a king? Matthew 25:32, "and all the nations will be gathered before him, he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats." You see. He went to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He knows how to separate. "And he will set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on the left. And the King will say to those on his right hand, 'come, you blessed of my father, inherit the," what? "Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
" So look, who's he gonna give that kingdom to? He's gonna give that kingdom to those who have the Kingdom already in their? Hearts. Whoa! Don't you like that? All right, we got about minutes left here. And you know, in 9 minutes I'm not gonna be able to go through my 16 additional pages of notes. But let me just make two points, all right? The two main points in the last few minutes. We looked at the crisis.
We looked at the call. We looked at the context. And there these guidelines. Oh, I gotta cover this before I get to this last part. He sends 'em out and he says, you know, "cleanse the lepers and raise the dead.
Cast out devils." By the way, health ministry will open up many doors. You know, something like the "new start program," something like "reversing diabetes" up there at weimar. I'm learning about those programs and looking at the amazing statistics of people who's lives are turned around. And you know, wherever I go in the world, I hear about that program, the "new start" program. I was sitting next to a guy on the plane.
And I said, "so where are you headed?" He said, "I'm going to the 'new start' program." I said, "what?" And you know, it just opens doors. "Heal the sick. And do it in my name," he said. "Don't go tell 'em I'm a king. Just heal them and say, 'oh yeah, this is in Jesus' Name.
'" And then the word got around. Word got around. Now, I gotta bring out this one point. Look at verse 9--8, it says, "cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons, freely you have received, freely give. Provide neither," money, "gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker," same word that we use for laborer, in other words a disciple, "is worthy," of his hire, "or of his food," it says literally there.
Notice this. What's the lesson here? Don't be driven in your ministry by money. Don't say, "I have to have everything in order before I go," 'cause you'll never go. Is that a message we need to hear today? "Provide neither gold nor silver." So he's training his disciples. He says, "go out with no money.
" If someone was gonna marry your daughter and said that, you know, "I just believe she's the one and I have no money," would you accept this? You might say, "I don't think so." Humanly speaking, this seems like a what? A very poor idea. But if that same person came to you says, "I am going." You'd see he's winning souls. There are people coming in. And you don't know where the monies come from, but it just seems to always get there. And you see that the Kingdom of God is within that young man's heart.
And then he asks for your daughter's hand in marriage, what are you gonna say? It's gonna be a photo finish every time. "I'm gonna have a heart attack, but yes you can marry her." Amen? But notice that. He says, "go with nothing, but then I'll give you food." Amen? Now he doesn't say, "I'm gonna give you a maserati." He doesn't say, "I'm gonna give you a hummer." Although, you will be humming. "You'll have joy in your heart. You'll have pep in your step, but you won't have money in your wallet, because you'll always know it was me that was providing it for you.
" Wow. How many of you are just not there? I'm not gonna open my eyes. You're just not there yet, but how many of you would like to be there? So much. How many can see how rich this chapter is? I just have a temptation to go like a machine, kind of go through the rest of my points. I'm not gonna do it though, pick a couple.
Because what you see now is the cost. The crisis was articulated. Sheep without a shepherd. Harvest is plentiful. The call was enunciated.
The context of mission was extrapolated. The cost. Then he talks about the cost. He says, "first of all, one cost is you're gonna feel like you don't know where the next dime is coming from. How many of you say, "I just couldn't live like that.
" You'll never be a disciple if you say that, that kind of a disciple, right? The cost. I read one man's summary of the different costs in this particular chapter. Write these down, because you can look 'em up later, 'cause I don't have time to go through 'em all. The cost of being arrested by the authorities, verse 16-18, the cost of being arrested by the authorities. How many of you want to have that--you would be willing to pay that cost for witnessing for the master.
The cost of being arrested. Now Paul was always in jail, you know. It's like he just, "well, just sign me up for the orange jumpsuit right now." Go ahead and fit me up. I'm gonna be put in jail. Now, notice it says, "being arrested by the authorities.
In verse 16-18, when you look at it later today, you're gonna find something. Well, let's look at it. I'll show it to you, 16-18. Notice this. "I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues." What kind of authorities are those? No, no, no. Someone said civil. "Synagogues and councils." What is that? That's religious authorities. Will people that truly witness be sometimes even brought before in their own church? That happened to Ellen white.
She and her family got kicked out long ago. Right? So the persecution can come from what? The authorities in the church. But notice. "And you will be brought before governors and Kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and the gentiles." So then you'll go before what? The civil authorities. So the cost, counting the cost of being arrested and put before the authorities.
The cost, verse 21, of family betrayal, "father will deliver up his brother to death, and a father his child; and the children will rise up against the parents." How many of you have ever had that sense of family betrayal? The cost of being hated by all, verse 22, "and you will be hated by all." That little word, "all," all. You know, Paul, he said one time, "everyone in asia hates me." We have a president right now that a lot of people don't like. How many of you have noticed this? I mean he seems to be popular. He goes to a continent; they're all waving flags. I often wonder how does a guy just want you to get off the plane, you know? You got the red carpet, "oh!" Well, whether you think he's right or wrong, he just seems unflappable.
That's what we have to be like as disciples for Christ, not motivated by all, but by the one who's given all. Let me go through these quickly, 'cause we only have 2 minutes. The cost of being arrested by the authorities, the cost of family betrayal, the cost of being hated by all, the cost of being persecuted and driven out of town, verse 23, the cost of being maligned and called beelzebub, verse 25, the cost of being killed, verse 28. "Some day they'll put you to death," Luke 21:16 says. But in light of the cost, there's also the consummation.
There's the blessing. Notice what it says. The blessing of being sent by Christ, of knowing you're sent by Christ, verse 16. The blessing of being given words by the Spirit of God, verse 19 and 20. Isn't it wonderful to know he gave you the words? The blessing of experience in God's fatherly care, verse 20.
The blessing of salvation at the end of if it all. Amen? The blessing of knowing that God will come and come in time. He says, "you go from this city to the next city, the next city, but you'll not run out of cities before I come. You can always escape. I'll come before you come to the end of your rope.
" Amen? The blessing of being part of Christ's household. He says, "your part of my household." The blessing of knowing that truth will triumph, verse 26. The blessing of immortality at the end. Don't worry about them who can hurt the body, but the one that can take the soul. Don't worry about it, 'cause you're gonna have life immortal.
The blessing of the God of sparrows, he says at the end. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. Did you know that the cost is outweighed by the love of God in this chapter? There are things that are terrible to look at, but there are things that are triumphant that he ends with. And "his eye is on the sparrow.
And he watches you and me." You know where he got that idea? In the old testament sanctuary, they take a sparrow. And they'd flick the head off the one sparrow. They'd take the blood from that sparrow, Leviticus 14. They'd squeeze it into a bowl. They'd take the other sparrow and let it go.
The sparrow was emancipated by the blood of that other sparrow, representing the blood of Jesus. And when he said, "you are more value than the sparrows. And I know where the sparrows are." You know what he was reminding them of? Every single sparrow that fell pointed toward the Christ who would come and take away that sin that that sparrow represented. "His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me.
" Praise God. Praise God. I think it's time for our offering. But one last thing. A free offer, if you missed it before, number 771, "teaching the disciples.
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