When God is the Problem

The other day the Lord led me to reread the notes of a sermon I preached from Ecclesiastes.  After reading, I thought I should share with others.  Maybe it will encourage you as it did me.

When God is the Problem

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

Take your Bibles and turn to the third chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes.  We are in the midst of a sermon series from this great book called “Real life: Understanding the Meaning of Life.”  Even though Solomon wrote this book over three thousand years ago, it is so relevant for today.  

Solomon has spent the first two chapters showing how he searched for meaning and purpose in life apart from God.  He came to this conclusion: All is vanity.  Life without God became a problem for King Solomon.  But Solomon also found out that life with God could be a problem. 

Solomon’s frustration with God may have been the catalysts that led him to seek for satisfaction apart from God.  He found that life without God is much more difficult than life with God.   Life with God can be a struggle at times, and Solomon is honest enough to share his struggles with us in Ecclesiastes.   

 Life with God can be a real struggle, and part of that struggle will happen when God becomes our problem to overcome.  A few weeks ago, a young man came up to me out of the blue and said “Pastor, I am having a real hard time with God’s idea of death.”  This young man was four years old when he asked that question.  He was having a problem with God about death.  Why did God create death?

When does God become a problem?  When we are presented with the fact that a good God allows bad things to happen to people.  To overcome the problem we can say that God is not in control; therefore, he couldn’t stop the bad thing from happening.  Or we say that God didn’t do it, it was the devil.  And it would be so much easier for us to accept the Devil because he is all about evil and bad things.  But, if God is good and in control, then he allowed the devil to do what he did.  So you can see how God can become a problem. 

Solomon tackles this problem we can have with God by teaching what the Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation:  God is sovereign and in control.  

1.     God is sovereign and in control.

Verse one, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:” When Solomon refers to everything, and every matter under heaven is applying the widest possible range to human activities.  If you look at the events that he speaks of in the poem that follows verse one you will see why.    Every human activity has an appointed time.   

Some mistakenly believe that the one who appoints the time for every matter under heaven is man, but that is not the case at all.  It is God who controls time.  It is God who governs time.  I was studying the great philosophers from the sixties and seventies, The Rolling Stones, and they had a great deal to say about time.  In 1972 they sang, “Time is on my Side.”  The song from 1979, “Time Waits for No One”, followed this.  Well, maybe Mick realized that time really isn’t on his side, or in his control.  God is sovereign over time, and it is God who appoints the times for every matter under heaven.  This means that every event or matter under heaven is a part of God’s plan. 

2.     Every event is part of God’s plan.

We see this truth, that every human activity is a part of God’s plan, in the poem that Solomon uses to illustrate verse two, “a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast way stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to live, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”  

In this poem, we have fourteen pairs of opposites, or two sets of seven.  What is used here is a merism, which is a poetic device where extremes are listed to describe, not on the two extremes, but everything in between the two extremes.  You will also find the word “time” used twenty-eight times.  In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Greek word used to translate the Hebrew word is “kairos.”  This really drives home the truth time and all that happens within time are a part of God’s eternal plan.    

Verse two, “A time to be born, and a time to die.” Yes, from the time we are born to the time we die, and everything in between, are all a part of God’s eternal plan.  It is God who appoints when we are born, and it is God who determines when we have our funeral.  The fact that he refers to planting and harvesting shows that even a cornfield is a part of God’s plan.     

The rest of these opposites point out the fact that life is full of events, and we don’t have any control over them.  Sure, the events have human participation, but God is still in control.   

There will be times that someone you know dies unexpectedly, but it is followed by a season of joy and happiness, maybe over a job promotion, or building your dream house.  You are told that you have a disease that could take your life.  You sorrow for a while, and then God heals you and you rejoice. 

I will never forget the day that my first-born was born.  I wept with joy over her birth, and there have been many times of joy during the fourteen years, but there has also been many tears shed.    We don’t have control over tomorrow.  We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but we do know who holds tomorrow, and everything that happens is a part of God plan.    

Of course, that means that even the bad things that happen are a part of God’s eternal plan.  That does not mean that everything that happens pleases God.  Sin does not please God. What it does mean is that God is not perplexed when things happen that don’t please him because he is sovereign and in control.  Every event is a part of his plan.  And yes, this is where we will often have a problem with God.   

Verse nine expresses this problem, “What gain has the work from his toil?”  The answer is clear: all events of life unfold under God’s eternal plan; therefore, all the efforts of man alone cannot change times, or circumstances.  We have no control over events.     

How do we live with God when he is the problem? How do we live with God when his ways do not make sense, and seem to contradict his character? How do we make sense of a sovereign God when the world around is in total chaos? Solomon gives us for truths to stand on. 

3.      Truths to stand on:   

When struggling with God, we must realize that God’s sovereignty means that God makes all things beautiful in his time. 

a.     God makes all things beautiful in his time. 

Verse ten; “I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.  He has made all things beautiful in its time.” The phrase “Children of man” reminds us that we live in a fallen world, but that is not the way the Lord made it.  When he made the universe God said “it was good.”  And when he created man he said it was very good.  God’s creation is good.  The fallen nature of his creation is the result of man’s disobedience.  However, even though man brought the curse upon this world, God has made all things beautiful in its time.  That means that God can take something meant for evil and use it for good.   Paul spoke about this in Romans 8:28 when he said, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.”  We may not understand God’s ways, or his works, but we can understand that he is a wise God, and he makes all things beautiful in its time.    To stand on this first truth we must trust the wisdom of God. 

ü  Trust in the wisdom of God

Next truth is found in the last part of verse eleven.  God has made us for another world.

b.     God has made us for another world.

“Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”  God has made us to live forever.  Because he has put eternity into the children of man, we long for and look for a never-ending life.  So we seek out to know things of the future.  We want to know the meaning of life and of the world.  We want to understand the universe.  This passion to ask why and to search for answers about meaning and purpose is the result of God putting eternity into our hearts.  Unfortunately, God does not allow us to know everything.  God is mysterious because God is infinite.  He is mysterious because he is eternal. 

God knows all of history at the very moment, but we only know what he has revealed.  We want to know what God knows, we want to know all that makes God so mysterious, but God will not allow the creature to become equal with the creator.  This leaves man frustrated. 

Many will seek for answers to meaning and purpose but will leave God out.  This is not how God designed us.  He put eternity into our hearts so that we would find our way to God.  God went as far as sending his Son to provide a way for us to not only find our way to God, but to become a part of God’s family.  God put eternity into our hearts so that we would realize that we were made for another world, not this fallen world. 

C.S. Lewis put it this way: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another word.” He was right.  And this other world that we were made for is found only in Christ.    To stand on this truth, we must accept the fact that God is mysterious, and we will not always understand him in this world, and maybe not even in eternity.    The third truth is God has a plan for every individual.  

ü  Accept that God is mysterious.

c.      God has a plan for every individual. 

Verse twelve, “I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in his toil—this is God’s gift to man.”  Everything is a part of God’s plan, and God has provided a way for us to participate in his plan.  How do we do it? We enjoy life by doing God’s business.  

The plan that God has for every person is to glorify him.  Unfortunately, the fall of man has caused us all to fall short of the glory of God.  Since the fall the children of man have failed to image forth the character and glory of God because of sin.  Therefore, God sent his son to pay the price for our sins so that we could once again do what God has planned for us before the foundation of the earth, and that is to glorify him in everything we do.  

When we come to Christ we become new creations in Christ created to do good works for the Lord.  These good works don’t get us to heaven, but reveal that we are going to heaven because we have experienced the grace of God in Christ Jesus through faith. 

It is God’s plan that we trust his Son Jesus for salvation so that we can image forth his character and glory in our homes and families, in our work, in everything that we do.  We truly enjoy life when we spend our life doing God’s business.   We stand on this truth by enjoying life by doing God’s business.  The fourth truth we stand on is the most important.  In fact, the first three will only be experienced when this truth is acted upon.  God wants us to worship and submit to him. 

ü  Enjoy life by doing God’s business

d.     God wants us to worship and submit to him.  

Verse fourteen, “I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.”  God is in control and every event is a part of his plan.  What God wants from us is to worship him and submit to him.  He wants us to have no other gods before him.   God’s sovereignty should not cause us trouble.  Instead it should bring us great comfort to know that whatever happens is under God’s control. 

When we fear God it will lead us to see out meaning in life only in God.  If we fear God we will believe in God, and that every one of our actions are accountable to God, and that God is the author of all things.    When we fear God we trust that God is in control even though we don’t see him.  There have been many times I have not seen the pilot of a plane that I flew on, but I know he was there because I heard his voice an I watched the plane take off and land.   Fearing God means we trust God even though we may not understand his ways.    To fear God means that we submit to and trust in God’s sovereign rule.  

ü  Submit to God’s sovereign rule.

God is sovereign and he is good.  These two things seem to be in conflict when we look at the brokenness of this world.  God is sovereign, which means that e is in control of everything that happens to you and others.  This is heard to deal with when you see things like we saw in Boston, or Connecticut, or Aurora.  We see at that happens under God’s control and we think that he’s not good. He’s cruel. 

This is where faith comes in.  When God is our problem, we must trust that God is wise, accept that he is mysterious, live out the plan he has for our life by doing God’s business, and submit to his sovereign rule.    

I have had problems with God on several occasions.  I must confess that every time I see young parents bury their infant child or child I have problems with God.  Every time a young person dies to early I have problems with God.  When I pray for something I know is the will of God and he makes we wait, I have problems with God.  Just this past week I told God that if my daughter asked me as many times I have asked you, I would have given it to her.  Do you want to know what God did? Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  You want to know what I did? I submitted to God’s sovereign rule trusting that God is wise and will make all things beautiful in his time, accepted the fact that I will not always understand God’s ways, and I went about doing what God has called me to do, serve him.       

Is your life in chaos? Are you bothered about all the turmoil in our nation, or in your life? God is in control and wants you to believe in him.  He wants you to give your life to his son, Jesus Christ.    

When God is the Problem

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

1.     God is sovereign and in control.

2.     Every event is a part of God’s plan.

3.     Stand on these truths:

1)   God makes all things beautiful.  

Action: Trust in the wisdom of God.

2)   God has made us for another world.

Action: Accept that God is mysterious.

3)   God has a plan for every individual.

Action: Enjoy life by serving God’s kingdom. 

4)   God wants us to worship and submit to him. 

Action: Submit to God’s sovereign rule.

God through the Looking Glass

If you look up the term "Looking Glass," you will find this as one of its meanings: "being or involving the opposite of what is normal or expected."  This is a fitting definition to the experience I had at the movies the other night.

My family and I were able to go and see "Alice Through The Looking Glass"the other night.  It was a great movie, one that I will surely watch again.  But what has captivated me about the movie is not the movie itself, but the fact that the Lord used a statement in the movie to speak to me.   That's right, the Lord used a statement in the movie to get my attention to what he is doing in my life.   

I am at a place in my journey of faith where I am realizing that God actively speaking to us all the time, if we will just learn to listen.   I feel like the young prophet Samuel, who is just know recognizing God's voice beyond what we have in his Word, the voice of His Spirit whispering to my spirit.  

The statement that the Holy Spirit used to captivated was this: "Everything will become clear in the fullness of time."  It initially captivated me because it sounds like a Biblical statement.  For example, the apostle Paul said this about the coming of Christ, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son..." (Galatians 4:4).  Also, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known" (1 Cor. 13:12).  But God used the statement to give me what many call a "Now" word.  

The Holy Spirit kept impressing upon me, as I watched the movie, "everything will be clear in the fullness of time."  It wasn't until today that I realized the Lord is once again bringing purpose and destiny to the season of life that I am in at this time.  I have done exactly what God has told me to do, and I am exactly where God wants me to be at this season in my life.  This is why I struggle with God concerning what he is doing in my life.  But God is up to something, and that something will become clear "in the fullness of time."  

Yes, the Holy Spirit whispered to my spirit in the movies the other night.  As a result, I am confident that my momentary season of suffering will not compare to the glorious future that is ahead.  There will come a moment in my life where I will fully realize this statement: "Everything will become clear in the fullness of time."  

And with that, I say, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening."  

The Struggle of Faith

I'm not going to lie.  I find great comfort in the fact that godly men, like King David, struggled with his faith.  For example, this morning I started my daily reading in the Psalms and I find this, "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?" (Ps. 13:1).  Ironically, I have spent the last year crying out those very same words.  So, I am comforted knowing that my struggle of faith is characteristic of the life of faith.  But why?

Why does God allow us to struggle with our faith? Well, I think he does simply because he is our sovereign Father, and knows that our struggle can and will lead us to a stronger and greater faith.  If we don't have questions, complaints, doubts, or disappointments in our faith journey, can we truly say that our faith is growing stronger? I doubt it.

It has been my experience that my struggle has always led me to a greater understanding of who God is, and greater trust in his character.  Let me explain.  I wept many times this year in despair, questioning God and his great love for me.  At times, I have felt that he has abandoned me, or at least was out to get me.  As I processed these feelings and struggles with what God has revealed of himself in the good news of the gospel, I have always come to this conclusion: "But I have trusted in your steadfast love, my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me." (Ps. 13:5-6).  Yes, in Christ, I can declare: "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"  I can trust in God's goodness and faithfulness, knowing that all I will ever need I have in Jesus.

So, struggle on! Be transparent before God! He's big enough to handle your struggles. And as you struggle on, cling to his unchanging goodness found in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Why yes, I did pray for that Lord....

You ever have one of those moments with the Lord where he gives you clarity? This morning was one of those moments for me.

It's not unusual for me to spend Sunday mornings asking God, "Why?" I spent 17 years of my adult life waking up almost every Sunday morning at 3:00 am, spending time with the Lord, preparing to lead his people in worship and word.  For 17 years I spent 20 or more hours each week preparing messages from God to share with God's people.  Sundays were my favorite days of the week because I was able to do what I'm called and passionate to do, preach and lead God's people in worship.  So, you can maybe understand my Sunday struggle of questioning God's plan.  

Interestingly, this morning, before I started to spend time with the Lord in his word, I prayed this prayer, "Lord, open my eyes to your reality, not mine."   And he did.

He first reminded me that what I am going through is an answer to a prayer that I have prayed most of my Christian life.  It is the dangerous prayer: "Lord, break me."  Yep, I prayed it often, and still do, just not as much in the last year.  Instead, I pray something like this, "Lord, when are you going to stop breaking me?"  In reality, one must be broken to experience more of God.  I want more of God's anointing, and with that anointing comes brokenness and suffering.  Therefore, I will never stop asking God to break me because I want more of him.

Second, he revealed that the season I am in is a season of "Forgetfulness."  Not that I am going to forget things, but that I am going to feel forgotten and abandoned.  Forgotten and abandoned by God's people, but mostly, God himself.  This season of" Forgetfulness" serves a tremendous purpose in the process of sanctification and becoming more like Jesus.  If you remember, Jesus had this season just before he went to the cross.

This season is characterized by, not only feeling forgotten by God and his people, but also, at times, feeling like all hope has perished.  In this season, we have a choice.  We can turn to God and seek him with all our heart as our safe place and stronghold in a time of trouble, or we can turn to idols and find our needs met in them.  What it comes down to is trust.

There is a time and a season for everything, and that includes a season of feeling forgotten and abandoned.  When you are in that season, cling to God for he is a stronghold for the forgotten and abandoned.  

What I have found is that God has infused in my family's life some great people in this season to help us get through.  Just a reminder that he will never leave us or abandoned us.

We Believe...

Overflow Church recognizes that it cannot, and does not desire to, bind the conscience of individuals in areas where Scripture is silent. Rather, each believer is to be lead in those areas by God, to whom he or she alone is ultimately responsible. We believe the Statement of Beliefs to be an accurate summary of what Scripture teaches.

We believe…

• The Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

• That there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• In the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

• That for the salvation of lost and sinful man, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential, resulting in faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ.

• In the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

• In the baptism of the Holy Spirit and in the exercise of spiritual gifts.

• In the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

• In the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Coming Out and Crossing Over

I have been hiding something for about 10 years. Not only hiding it, but trying to suppress it. It's time to come clean. It's time to come "out of the closet." This is part 1 of my coming out story.

Ten years ago, while serving as the pastor of First Baptist Church in Purcell, Oklahoma, I became hungry. Hungry for more of God's presence and power in my life.

This led me to do a 21 day fast seeking God's presence. About midway through the fast, early one Sunday morning, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of God's Spirit upon me. My Charismatic friends call it the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Yes, this Baptist preacher encountered the Holy Spirit in a very tangible way. It felt so good I thought I was going to die. I had to ask the Lord to stop.

This experience made me more hungry. I read ever book I could about the Holy Spirit, some I read in one day. The great R T Kendall helped me tremendously with my journey.

I wanted all that God had for me so I asked the Lord to give the gift of praying in tongues. He didn't answer my prayer immediately. In fact, I thought he would not give me the gift. Until one morning, while having my prayer time, the Holy Spirit came upon me and I started praying in tongues. It scared me and I quenched the Spirit.

The Baptist in me struggled with what God was doing. I surely didn't want to tell my fellow Baptist preachers I prayed in tongues.

"Coming Out and Crossing Over" Part 2

Back in 2008 the Lord blessed me with the gift of praying in tongues.  I had prayed on several occasions for this gift, but no answer.   It was in late August, or early September of that year that the Lord started speaking to me about doing a new thing in my life.  Honestly, I thought it had to do with ministry direction.

Each day during my quiet time with the Lord he would speak to me about this “new thing” he was going to do in my life.  Then it happened.  It happened just the way I wanted it to happen.  It was a passive experience for me at first.  The Holy Spirit came upon me and I started praying in tongues.

Had I not quenched the Spirit that day I could have very easily prayed in tongues all day, or at least I wanted it to last all day.  But fear came over me.  Fear because I was not in control, and that my wife would hear me and think I’m crazy.  That fear stopped the flow of God’s Spirit.

It took me several days before I actually told my wife what happened.  I was unsure of what happened. Not that I didn’t know, but how do I move forward with this new gift.

After quenching the Spirit I struggled with my gift of praying in tongues.  I didn’t have many Spirit-filled, tongue-speaking people in my life to help me, so my gift struggled for several years.

I still hungered for more of God’s presence in my life, and on occasions his glory would permeate my life, and the worship services I participated in.  On several occasions, while pastoring Fairview Baptist in Sherman, Texas, God’s presence in worship was very tangible.  I credit this to a great worship leader, Steve Weeks, who understood and hungered for the presence of God in corporate worship.  I will never forget one Sunday God’s presence being so tangible that people were at the altar before I ever started preaching.  I even wondered if I even needed to preach.  I really believe I should have allowed the Spirit to move that morning, and not preach, but I didn’t.

In late 2013 and early 2014, I started asking the Lord to bring Spirit-filled people in my life to help me with the things of the Spirit.  God started to answer this prayer through a sermon series I preached through the book of Joshua.

It was this time last year that I was preaching through the book of Joshua.  My fourth sermon from the series was from Joshua chapter 3.  This is where Joshua and the Israelites cross over the Jordan into the Promise Land.  The sermon title was “Crossing Over.”

During the first service at our church, the traditional service, I was speaking about Go doing unusual things, you know, like crossing the Jordan river at flood stage, on dry ground.  As soon as I said that God does unusual things a lady in the back of the worship center starts yelling.

Not going to lie, this lady scared most of the people in that service.  Glad no one had a heart attack.  My first thought was an “angry” church member, gut I soon realized it was not a church member.  My first response to the lady was a simple “Excuse me?”  She the shouted 2 more times, “Abounding in his presence! Abounding in his presence!” Then she left the building.

My response to her before she left was “We receive that word.” I then continued to preach.  Many people thought I planned the lady, but I didn’t.  A few, like me, thought the lady was from the Lord.  Most, however, didn’t want that to happen again, and so we tightened up security.

Looking back, that lady brought a prophetic word, to whoever would receive it.  I did.  What was interesting is that the lady left me a bag with some cake in it.  When I opened the bag I found a role of paper towels and some dump cake stored in an old plastic container that once contained “Spring Mix” lettuce that you buy at the grocery store.  I didn’t dare eat it.  It wasn’t meant to be eaten, but interpreted.

It symbolized what God was doing in my life.  He was going to give me more of his presence, but not expect it to come nicely packaged in a familiar way, or manner.

When is shared it with the second service God started answering my prayer for Spirit-filled people to come into my life.

"Coming out and Crossing over" part 3

As I was preaching about God doing unusual things, God did something unusual. An unknown lady starts to yell from the back of the worship center, "Abounding in his presence." My response was simple, "we receive that word," and I continued to preach.

I then shared the experience in the second service, about God doing unusual things, and the prophetic word given in the first service.  The prophetic word would soon come true.

A gentlemen named Robert Whetstone came up after the second service and introduced himself and said that he had experienced unusual things from God. This peaked my interest so I asked if we could meet the following week.

Now, several months earlier I started praying for the Lord to put Charismatic Christians in my life to help me with my Holy Spirit encounter. It became apparent during my first meeting with Robert that God was beginning to answer my prayer. After our first meeting, I started meeting weekly with Robert for prayer.

Each week we met God showed up in tangible ways. Robert laid hands on me and I experienced a great fullness of God's presence in my life. Soon, I started experiencing greater peace and power in my life and ministry.

After a few months, Renee Whetstone started praying with us. It was then that I began to experience the prophetic. Within a matter of 3 months I experienced total deliverance from depression.

One day, the Lord spoke to me and said I was no longer depressed and to stop taking anti-depressants. I have experienced some hard times since I have been delivered, but never once felt I needed drugs to help my mood. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

On Mission with Jesus: Luke 9:1-6

On Mission with Jesus
Luke 9:1-6

I have a confession to make. When my daughters get older and they are on their own, I don't want them to go to church. I know. You're shocked. "How can the preacher say he doesn't want his girls to go to church?" I really want more than that for them. I don't want them to just go to church. In fact, I never pray, "Lord, I pray when they get older that they go to church." I have never, ever prayed that for my daughters.

Here's what I have prayed: "Lord, I pray that they love you and love the gospel more than their own lives." That's more than just going to church. I don't want them to go to church. I want them to desire to reach the world for Christ. I want them to be willing to give their lives, to go to the ends of the earth with the good news of Jesus Christ. Some parents are afraid their kids will go on the mission field. I'm afraid they won't. I'm afraid they'll just go to church.

So here's what I pray. I say, "Lord, I want them to love you more than life, and I want them to be on mission for you." Christy and I don't teach them to just go to church. That's important, obviously, but it's not. Not in the way we understand it. I want them to see every aspect of their lives as a mission field. I want them to see every relationship they have, now and for this side of heaven, as an opportunity to reach someone with the gospel.

Therefore, I want my kids to build relationships with people who are not following Jesus Christ. Yes, I do. Now I don't want them to be influenced. I'm just like any other parent. But I do want them to have such a heart for lost people that they will build relationships with them. So what's important now is that the parents are on mission with Jesus. It's important that we build relationships with people who don't know Jesus so we can reach them with the gospel.

Let me tell you, it's really easy to do that when you have kids, because they get involved with soccer. They get involved with band. They get involved with a lot of things. All of those are opportunities to build relationships with people who do not know Christ Jesus. I'm thankful to God that God has used my wife's bus driving to build relationships.

We had a birthday party for Caroline in June, and it blessed my heart to see all of the people who were there. Except for one or two, they were there because they built a relationship with Caroline on the bus, and none of them go to church. That's what I want my kids to be. I want them to be on mission for Jesus. I don't want them to just go to church. I want them to be the church.

We're starting a new series called Sent. This whole idea of being on mission with Jesus, just so you know, wasn't something the Southern Baptist Convention just developed. It's really the biblical requirement of those who follow Jesus. Whether you know it or not… You may not be one who follows the statistics like I do. I do. I like to know what the church is doing today.

Let me tell you, there are churches that are dying. I would say "closing the door," but that would imply the building is the church. It's not the church. The people are the church. They're dying at a rapid pace. On the other side of that, there are churches being planted right now, and there are multisite campuses that are increasing and multiplying at a rapid pace. Believe it or not, I can count probably at least six church plants in the Bryant and Benton area that are happening right now.

Now the temptation… I know. We're human. "Oh my gosh, they're getting on our turf." Do you know what I've found out? That's a good thing. If we're not going to be the church, God is going to raise up people to be the church. That's why these churches are dying, because they're not being the church; they're going to church, and as you go to church, God is going to lift up laborers who may not be you. He can work around us.

God is not really concerned about our preferences. He's really not concerned whether we sing off the wall or from a hymnal. He's not as concerned about contemporary music or hymns as you are. In fact, I've never seen him weep over a church service, but I've seen him weep over people who were going to hell. He's weeping today, and he's raising up people who will not just go to church.

There are churches that are going to church and they're dying left and right, but guess what? God is lifting up people who want to be missional, who want to impact our culture and reach the lost community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what this is all about. This is what Community Groups are all about. It's really being on mission with Jesus. We often say as Baptists, "We are people of the Book." Well, if we're people of the Book, let's live by it. Let's actually do what the Bible tells us to do. Let's actually do what Jesus has laid out for us.

So we're starting this series. It's called Sent, and it's called Sent for a reason. If you were to ask me to define what it means to be on mission with Jesus in one word, I would use that word. Sent. Here's why: it all begins with Jesus. Jesus said in Luke, chapter 4, verse 43, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose."

Jesus was sent to proclaim the kingdom of God, and now he sends out his people. He sends out the church. He says, "I send you out." Of course, Jesus became the good news of the kingdom of God, but now he says, "You're my disciples, and now I'm calling you. I am sending you out to proclaim the good news of the kingdom."

So as we begin in chapter 9… Chapter 9 gives us timeless principles. They are meant to be applied to the church throughout the ages. Though the times have changed, the principles do not change. What chapter 9 teaches us is if you follow Jesus, you will be on mission with Jesus. Look at the very first part of verse 1. This is Jesus. It says he called the Twelve together.

Obviously, if you know your Scriptures, the Twelve he's talking about are the twelve apostles. He is calling them not to follow him. This has already taken place. The call to take up their cross, the call to follow him and leave everything, has already happened. This is a call to mission. It's a call to action. It's a call to become fully functioning followers of Jesus Christ. But what precedes that is the call to follow.

Go back to chapter 5. We see Jesus calling some of his first disciples. It says in the first 11 verses of chapter 5 that Jesus is teaching the multitudes, and he asks Peter to get in his boat. They set out a bit from the shore, and Jesus continues to teach. Then Jesus looks to Peter and says, "I want you to go out into the deep waters, and I want you to throw your nets over." That's when Peter said, "Well, Rabbi, we've been fishing all night, but at your word I will do what you say."

We can't see it there, but here's what Peter is thinking: "Lord, you don't know what you're doing. You're not a fisherman. But I believe you. I'm going to trust you." They go out, and he throws his net over, and there's a miracle. That's when Peter realizes Jesus is more than a rabbi; he is Lord. Then Jesus says to him, "'Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.' And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him."

They started following Jesus, and then in chapter 6, Jesus actually appoints twelve of them to be apostles. It says in verse 12 of chapter 6, "In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve…" Which means there were more than just twelve there, but he chose twelve specific men to be his apostles.

Their names were (verse 14): "Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor." Jesus is calling these twelve together, and now he's going to send them out on mission.

Now there's an interesting truth here that when it comes to being on mission with Jesus… By the way, Jesus says, "If you're following me, I will make you…" What? That's why the first point. If you're following Jesus, you'll be on mission with Jesus. You see, you can't follow Jesus and not be on mission with Jesus. You can go to church and not be on mission with Jesus, but you can't be the church and not be on mission with Jesus. Do y'all understand that?

You can't follow Jesus and not be on mission with Jesus. But I want you to see here, as soon as he called them, notice he didn't immediately say, "Okay, go. You're on mission." There was this process of spiritual growth. They have now witnessed the power of Jesus. They have seen his miracles, and now Jesus is saying, "It's your turn."

There is a point in our spiritual lives where we begin to multiply ourselves. We actually become parents, and we actually begin to see people come to Christ. Then we actually mentor them in Christ, and then we send them out to multiply. This is what's happening. This is where many churches are dying, because most Christians are stuck in this area called a child, and they're not reproducing themselves. They're going to church, but they're not being the church.

He calls them, and he's going to send them out on mission. Now here's the truth. We want to think, "Well, that's the apostles. Of course. They're supposed to be on mission." But every Christian is called to be on mission with Jesus. You know that, right? If you don't, today you do. Every Christian, everyone who says, "I am going to follow Jesus…" If you are following Jesus, you will be on mission with Jesus.

That's what we see here. It says he called the Twelve together. Notice he didn't say, "I want you to hang out with me." No. "I'm calling you together because I'm eventually going to send you out. I want you to go out into the world, and I want you to go and tell people about the kingdom of God." Every Christian is called to be on mission with Jesus.

People who want to be the church will be on mission with Jesus. People who go to church… Well, it's very possible to go to church and not be on mission with Jesus. That's why I tell you I don't want my kids just to go to church. As a pastor, I know that's most of the problem with the church today. We have too many people going to church and not enough people being the church.

Now here's some good news. You think, "Well, I can't do that." Yes, you can, because Jesus equips every believer for the mission. Do you know that? He does it for the apostles. It says in verse 1, after he called them together he gave them power. He equipped them. He gave them everything they needed to do the ministry God had called them to. It says he gave them power and authority.

The Greek word dunamis where we get our word dynamite is the same word Luke uses in Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, when Jesus said, "But you will receive power from the Holy Spirit." It's not your power. It's not your ability. It's not your adequacy. It has nothing to do with you except your faith and obedience. It's all about the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.

"You will receive power. He will come upon you in a mighty and powerful way, and you will be my witnesses. In Jerusalem and in all of Judea, in all of Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, you will be my witnesses. I've given you everything you need. Not only that; I give you authority, which means you have the right to do it." Jesus says, "I've equipped you. I've given you power." He has given us all power.

That's why we have to also get past this mindset that it's the preacher's call to do all that. The staff is called to do all that. No, it's not. We are the body of Christ. Guess what? Every member is called to be on mission with Jesus, and Jesus equips every member of the body of Christ to do the work of the ministry. Can I get an amen? Yeah, it's the body of Christ. He equips us. He gives us the power we need.

I was talking with a church member last week. He's going to be teaching one of our Community Groups. When he was asked, he said, "I don't know if I'm adequate enough." Then he realized he doesn't have to be adequate. In fact, that's where God wants him, because it's not about him; it's about God giving him the power to work through him. See, the mission with Jesus is all about Jesus working through you.

So Jesus calls every Christian to be on mission with him. We're all called to be on mission with him. He equips every one of us, and when he equips us, he then sends us out. Jesus will never, ever send you to do something without giving you the ability to do it. Then he sends us out to proclaim the gospel. Verse 2. Here's their commission. He says, "I'm calling you. I'm equipping you, and now I am sending you out."

It says, "…and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal." It's interesting. Here he sends out 12, and then in chapter 10 he sends out 72, and then in Acts, chapter 2, you see them empowered and they go forth. Before, I believe God gave them power and authority for this specific mission and again for the one in chapter 10, but when the day of Pentecost came, they had that power at their disposal. All they had to do was surrender and trust and allow the Spirit of God to empower them. The same is true today. God sends us out with his power.

What I find here is a very interesting principle that we need to really grasp if we're going to understand what it means to be on mission with Jesus as a church. The Greek word sugkaleo is translated called together. Sun meaning together; kaleo, called. Here's what we learn from this, that he calls his disciples together. What we know about them, obviously, is in the Scriptures, but I believe they had opportunities to go home. I believe they had opportunities to get away from the Twelve for a while.

He calls them together. "I want y'all to gather around me." He doesn't say, "Good. This is the goal of life. I just want you to worship me." No. "I am calling you together. I'm calling you from all walks of life to gather together, and when you gather together in my name, then I send you forth into the world, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ."

Oftentimes we feel like this is the end goal. "Let's get people to go to church." No. Let's get the church to be sent out into the world to tell people about Jesus. He says he calls us together, and that's what he does here on Sunday mornings. Most of us think this is it, that what we do here is it. No, it's not. This is just where Jesus puts us all together and says, "Okay, here's the plan. Go. I'm sending you out. I'm sending you to your neighbors. I'm sending you to the people you work with. I'm sending you anywhere you occupy to be on mission with me."

He gives us a message, and the message is, "The kingdom of God is at hand." We've lost that in the church. We've lost this idea that when we leave here, every one of us who knows Jesus, who follows Jesus, in essence is taking the kingdom of God to a people who aren't in the kingdom of God, who need to know there's only one kingdom that lasts, and that is the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

When you're not on mission with Jesus, when you just go to church, you're expecting them to come here. There was a day in our culture when that worked, but times are changing. Those who aren't going to be on mission with Jesus are going to die, but those who catch the vision of the kingdom of God, who believe we have a responsibility, that we are sent out from this place to build relationships with people who need Jesus, are the ones who are going to make a difference.

If you follow Jesus, you'll be on mission with Jesus. Jesus gives a strategy for the mission. Listen to what he says in verse 3: "And he said to them, 'Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.'" There are three things Jesus gives as a strategy.

First of all, seek his kingdom first, not your comfort. Did you hear what he told them not to take? "Don't take anything for your journey, no staff or bag or bread or money, and do not have two tunics." By that, Jesus is saying, "I want you to go and proclaim the kingdom of God, and I want you to totally depend upon me. I don't want you to be so bogged down by your creaturely comforts that you allow that desire to be comfortable in your life to become first in your life and you fail to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ."

There's an element to being on mission with Jesus. It's called dying to self. Most of us, if we're honest, allow the creaturely comforts of living to get in our way with being on mission with Jesus. We don't allow ourselves to die to those comforts. Instead, those comforts become preeminent, and we put off being on mission with Jesus. What Jesus teaches us here is you seek first the kingdom. You make priority being on mission with Jesus. You seek the kingdom first, and all of these things will be added unto you.

The second thing he tells us to do is build relationships with people who do not know Christ. You take nothing for your journey, you trust him, you seek him, and then you go house to house, which means you have to build relationships with people who do not know Jesus, people who offend you. I know there are a lot out there, but we have to be willing to build those relationships with people who don't know Jesus, to take the kingdom of God to them.

Here's the third strategy. This is the good news. Leave the results up to God. You can't save anybody. All you can do is plant. All you can do is water. It's God who brings the harvest. That's what he's saying. Verse 5: "And wherever they do not receive you…" They're going to reject you. Christianity is not a popular message. They're going to reject you, but don't worry about that. They're rejecting Jesus.

"And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them." In other words, let God handle them. Leave the results in his hands, because you can't save anybody. There's nothing you can do to convince somebody to follow Jesus. It takes a work of the Spirit of God. Period. The Spirit of God working in their life, the Spirit of God working through your life. It's really not about you; it's about Jesus working through you.

Let me show you verse 6. It's personal, it's practical, and it's powerful. Look at verse 6: "And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere." First of all, it was personal. They had to decide, "Are we going to go out? Are we going to go and proclaim the good news? Are we going to be on mission with Jesus?"

Being on mission with Jesus is personal, because each one of us has a responsibility before Jesus. If we follow Jesus, we're to be on mission with Jesus, and it is a personal choice we have to make. That means we don't seek our own comfort; we seek his comfort first. It means we try to build relationships with people who do not know Jesus, and we leave the results up to God. It's personal. We have to decide, "Am I going to be used by God?"

It's practical, because he says, "I want you to go," and it says they departed and went through the villages, which means wherever they were going, they allowed that to become a mission field to work and to proclaim the kingdom of God. You don't have to go overseas to be on mission. You're on mission right now.

You're on mission when you leave this place today. You're on mission when you go to work tomorrow. You're on mission when you're eating at Cracker Barrel. You're on mission in your family. You're on mission at sports activities, sports games. You are on mission with Jesus. They were going and proclaiming as they went through all the villages.

It's personal (they had to decide), it's practical (it's just as you live your life), and it's powerful. Notice what happened. When they went out, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, it says people were healed. Lives were changed, and the change came because they were willing to leave Jesus and go out and be on mission with Jesus.

I'm here to tell you our community can change when we catch the vision of being on mission with Jesus. That's why we're doing Community Groups, because our groups need to be multiplied. If your life group hasn't multiplied in years, I'm sorry; something is wrong. We need to go out into the community and give people an opportunity to come to a place, and that becomes our front door to the church because we built the relationship and we can share Jesus with them.

I'm going to be leading a Community Group in an apartment complex. Let me tell you, there is a mission field. Ask any police officer in Bryant. They'll tell you most of their calls go to apartment complexes. I know Coach Marvel playing golf has seen a couple of domestic disputes in the apartments just playing golf. That's where they need Jesus. They're not coming here. That's why we have to go beyond going to church. That's why we have to be the church.

That's why we do what we're doing, because I believe that's what Jesus would do. I really do. I believe he would be hanging out in apartment complexes. I believe he would be hanging out at Starbucks. "Well, you know they don't like people who hold up traditional marriage." Well, all the more reason we need Jesus at Starbucks. If we're boycotting them that's probably a good sign we need to be building relationships with them.

I think he would be at Chick-fil-A. I think he would be in the community trying to tell people about the kingdom of God. That's why I don't want my girls just to go to church. I don't want the generation that comes behind me to get a false impression about what it means to be on mission with Jesus. I want them to understand that Jesus calls us together on Sunday mornings to send us out.

See, our goal isn't Sunday morning. Our goal is what we do in between Sundays. When we make that our goal, these gatherings we do on Sunday will grow. It's just natural. When you reach people where they are, then you bring them. That's the culture we live in. That's what it means to be on mission with Jesus.

We want to define that a little bit more over the next several weeks. What does it mean to be in community? What does it mean when Jesus says, "The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few"? What does it mean to us? This is one of the challenges I'm praying for. "Lord, make us a church that wants to be the church." It's a challenge. Of course, it all begins… If you're going to be the church, you have to be a part of the church.

I find it very interesting that Judas went on mission with Jesus. You can be a lost person and tell people about Jesus. I think it's important that we understand that to be the church, for me to be on mission with Jesus, I have to be a follower of Jesus. I have to give my life to Jesus. That means I understand I'm a sinner and I can't save myself, that Jesus died for my sins, and I turn to him and place my faith in his saving work and commit my life to him and follow him.

For some of you, being on mission with Jesus begins right there, giving your life to him and following him. For others of you, it begins right here. We have to get over that mentality of going to church. We have to allow God to make us people who are the church, who want to be on mission with Jesus. Let's bow our heads and our hearts before God.

In a moment we're going to sing a song of invitation. It's an invitation for you who do not know Christ to say, "I need Jesus. I want Jesus. I want to follow Jesus. I need to be saved from my sins." If that's you today, we're going to stand, and I'm going to invite you to walk forward and just grab me by the hand and say, "Pastor, I need Jesus."

But the invitation is to us as a church to really allow the Spirit of God and the teachings of Jesus to formulate our hearts and formulate our thinking and to help us, as a church, understand what it means to follow Christ. It means we're on mission with him. It means we make his kingdom priority, not our comfort. It means we build relationships with people who need to know Jesus Christ, and we leave the results up to God.

We plant and water but allow him to bring about the harvest. He is the Lord of the harvest, but what he needs are laborers. What he needs are people who claim to follow him to be on mission with him. He's inviting us, church. He's inviting you. He's inviting me to be the church. How will you respond this morning in your heart? How will you respond when you leave here this morning? Will you heed the voice of Jesus and go forth proclaiming the good news? How will you respond? Take some time to make that commitment to Lord Jesus right now.

Father, these decisions are being made by all of us, and I just pray that they glorify you. I pray that your Spirit moves in a mighty and powerful way. In Jesus' name, amen.