Pastor Luke: 00:04

Heavenly father, we are thankful for your invitation for us to join you in loving and serving this community. Lord, you've invited us to be a part of your mission and your work. You've called us to be your hands and your feet. Lord, this morning, as we're gathered here, I pray that you would open our ears, open our hearts and our minds to receive the word from your spirit. That as pastor Cameron opens your word, that your spirit would be speaking through him in your words to us, that you would be his divine editor this morning.

Pastor Luke: 00:44

And, lord, that this might all be for your glory. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Cameron: 00:51

Amen. Good morning, Connew. How are you? Good. It's good to see you all this morning.

Cameron: 00:57

We're, starting just a brief little I'd say a brief little series. A little series. New series after, moving into fall. And it's not really fall anymore, is it? Things that fall in.

Cameron: 01:15

Moving into winter. I know that it is, when pastor Luke said it this morning, we don't we do not always, like, thinking about it. But, like, November is next week. Right? Is it November next week?

Cameron: 01:25

Next time we see each other, wanna be November? That's just not even okay. Not okay. But it's good to see you here, and I'm eager for what the Lord has for us in this next season. So we as pastor Luke was talking this morning and as he was praying this morning, this happened in first service, and then he prayed in the same way in the second service here.

Cameron: 01:54

And I'm grateful for that because it confirms it confirms for me that, there the spirit speaks the same thing, across across the board and across the staff. So preparing to preach this week, thinking about how, how God would have us approach this conversation, we're gonna talk about mission, and we're gonna talk about evangelism. Two words that, get talked about or at least be be have have become and are a part of, Christian vocabulary is part of biblical vocabulary. So it's good for us to have an understanding of what the Bible says when it when it, talks about those types of things, but also how, they then become applied to our lives of following Jesus. And what it means what it means to say that we are, are seeking to be a missional church, a missional people, because sometimes words can get a little confusing in their definitions.

Cameron: 03:06

When you hear the word mission, or when you hear the word missional, sometimes we think about, what the most the most basic understanding or example is, missions trip. Right? Everyone's heard about you all know about missions trips. Right? We we know about missions trips.

Cameron: 03:26

You go somewhere. We awake this morning? Yes. Good. With me?

Cameron: 03:31

Alright. We all know about Mission's Trips, right? Yeah. Okay. Great.

Cameron: 03:36

Right? You you, we have a group of people, right? They have a common goal. They go someplace. They serve, in the name of Jesus, heart of Jesus, for the glory of Jesus.

Cameron: 03:50

Right? And then they come, and so they're out on their mission strip. And then they come back, and then they're no longer on a missions trip. Right? So we go someplace to do missions, and then we come back and we're like, wow.

Cameron: 04:14

I'm glad missions is over. And we all understand maybe what's being said there, and we understand this sentiment. Right? But there also is some deconstruction of that idea that needs to happen in order for us to more fully step into the identity that God has called us to assume as not people who go on mission strips and then come back and are no longer on mission strips, but as a people who are on mission for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Eric: 05:03

Okay?

Cameron: 05:05

And this starts with a wider view. So if you can imagine, like a series overview, like a sermon series overview the next 3 weeks, we're gonna start it's gonna be like a funnel. We're gonna start really wide here the next today. And then we're gonna progressively come down into a a more narrow funnel where we begin to we we begin to draw on the story of God's work in our lives, which God is redeeming us to himself through

Eric: 05:42

Jesus, setting us free, and moving us

Cameron: 05:42

out into mission by understanding our own story so that we can so that we can utilize the story of God's redemption in our lives to be a blessing and a witness and a testimony to others. Okay? So today is the wide view. Right? And we're gonna start to come down through.

Cameron: 06:12

All all understanding that each step of that, right, has its beginning and end in Jesus. All mission, all evangelism has its both beginning and end, has as its goal, has as its prize, the person of Jesus. You know, evangelism actually is not and mission is not about us, nor is it about the church, nor is it about even the person that we're going to evangelize or going out on mission to. Both mission and evangelism has always and forever the goal of the glory of Jesus for the sake of the world. And so, I want to be clear about that right from the get go.

Cameron: 07:12

Mission is rooted in who god is. All throughout the course of history, all throughout the biblical witness, all throughout the biblical timeline, we see not a people going to seek god on their own accord, But we see all throughout the biblical witness, God going to seek people on his accord. Right? It is God that makes the move. It is God that makes the takes the step.

Cameron: 07:48

It is God that moves towards people for the glory of his son and the redemption of his creation. And it is people who either respond or don't respond to that. Mission is not about us going to people. It's about god coming to us and about our understanding of the ways in which we participate in God's mission to redeem the world through his son. So when we talk about, like, words and definitions and stuff like that, you you hear the word mission maybe a lot.

Cameron: 08:28

You hear it in in phrases like missions trips or mission statement. And sometimes that can get confusing and confusing because we don't always do a great job at being clear about the the maybe maybe nuances isn't the right word, but the distinguishing the the distinguishable differences. Because the re like, here here is a here's a reality we need to, like, we need to bring our minds back into, and we need to align our hearts with the reality. Is that when you talk about, like, a mission state here's what happens. Church, well informed.

Cameron: 09:08

Our church has been there before. I've been there in my own heart before. We create a mission statement. Like, how would how would we format this? How would we say it?

Cameron: 09:18

What would be the language around it? Like, what is our mission statement? I get it. It's important. I think I think those things are important.

Cameron: 09:26

We create a mission statement. So what we're gonna do, so we're gonna be about, so the direction that we're gonna be moving. This is the heartbeat of god for us. Right? This is the DNA of this place or that church or whatever.

Cameron: 09:39

And so we create a mission statement, and then we say, okay, lord. God, we've got a mission statement here at Conduit. We've got a mission here

Eric: 09:47

at

Cameron: 09:47

Conduit. God, would you come and partner with

Eric: 09:53

us

Cameron: 09:53

in what we want to do in this community and in this city and in this region and in this world? Right? We we we have language of, like, we got this really important thing that we wanna do, Lord. We're wondering if you'll come and join us in it. Starts with us.

Cameron: 10:13

Right? We got an idea. And it might be biblically informed, and the spirit and the heart of it might be might be exactly what we want it to be. But even in the language and our understanding, it actually it ends up doing something to us in, like, the actual execution of mission when we think it's our idea rather than God's idea. Because listen, the church does not have a mission that it asks God to participate in and bless.

Cameron: 10:46

God has a mission and has forever had a mission to redeem the world to himself through his son, Jesus. And he invites us who have been redeemed and transformed by Jesus to join him in his mission to redeem the world. God is already moving in the direction of mission. God is a missional God. God got God, at the very core of who he is, he moves towards people, not away from people.

Cameron: 11:22

And when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, are redeemed by his grace, transformed by his love, set free by the power of his spirit, we become enlisted into the mission to sit into the mission of God to do it in and for others as well. Alright? So hope that we can, see this in scripture from the beginning to the end. I believe that we can. Okay.

Cameron: 11:57

All the way back to the very beginning where god called a people to himself and said, hey. Listen. I'm on mission to redeem the world through my son, Jesus. He didn't say it like that at the beginning. Right?

Cameron: 12:19

This is Cameron's words. Right? I'm on mission to redeem the world to myself. God's chosen instrument to redeem the world, shockingly, I don't know if he's ever met a human being, right, is us. God's instrument, God's God's plan, God's conduit, right, is to use you and I to be a conduit of his spirit through faith in Jesus to redeem the world to him.

Cameron: 12:55

And he has given us of himself so that we have the resources, both physical resources, and the transformational power of our witness as a resource to be a blessing to others. We're gonna go all the way back into the into Genesis to see the first time that god called the people to himself for the blessing and benefit of others. Genesis chapter 12, God God came to a person called Abram. Abram was the is the father of the Israelite nation, time that we have an example of God speaking to Abraham or Abraham is here in Genesis chapter 12. And he says this in Genesis chapter 12 verse 1.

Cameron: 14:04

The Lord had said to Abraham, leave your country, your people, and your father's household, and go to the land that I will show you. I'm gonna stop us here for just a second. Alright? Because there is some something really clear or I maybe I should say really unclear about the way that the lord often speaks to us. If you notice here, god is giving Abraham a directive.

Cameron: 14:43

Right? Go to the place go to the place that I will show you. Now I am a man of lesser faith than Abram. Tell you that. Because when a lot of times when God is speaking to me or what I want in my relationship with the Lord, be like, okay, Lord.

Cameron: 15:04

You got a plan. Right? I see that you're asking me to leave my country, leave my possessions, leave my father's household, which is another fancy word to say, leave my generational wealth, everything that was due to me to my father. Right? Leave everything that is for me and go to the land that I will show you.

Cameron: 15:25

Well, Lord, that's not exactly very clear to me. Where is the land that I will show you? Where is the place that you're actually wanting me to go? See, we want God to give us a bullet pointed plan of what comes next. Right?

Cameron: 15:49

Every single we want every single step. We want every single relationship outlined. We wanna know the timeline of when it's gonna happen. We wanna know how it's going to happen. We wanna know what's gonna be required of us.

Cameron: 16:05

We wanna know what the fruit of those steps are. We want the detailed plan. Right? We want the detailed plan. Now could god have given Abraham the detailed plan?

Cameron: 16:22

God possesses the ability to be specific. Does he not? Right? But what seems clear to me here is that the point of calling Abraham away from everything that was comfortable and secure for him. The point was not that Abraham would know the detailed plan and execute it in perfection.

Cameron: 16:46

The point, it seemed seems at least to me, between God and Abram was God essentially saying, Abram, do you trust me? Do you trust the God who calls you rather than your ability to know exactly the plan that is before you? Are you willing to lay down everything that keeps you in the place of comfort and step out to the place of the unknown, where it will require you to operate outside of your intellectual knowledge and planning and step into a season of extraordinary faith in the seemingly unknown because you see me there and trust me. It was not a place that god was calling Abraham. It was to himself.

Cameron: 17:56

God was not calling Abram to step outside of all of his comfort and resources and go to that place over there. You'll he's like, leave behind it all and just come with me. Right? And what then happened? Right?

Cameron: 18:20

So Abraham did it. Right? He he did it. And God says this to him. Go to the land that I will show you.

Cameron: 18:28

And he says he he then gives them a that's the commission. Right? Go. And then there are some qualifications to what is going to happen as Abram steps in faith steps in faith steps in faith to a god, to to, the to god. He says, leave your country, your people, your father's household.

Cameron: 18:51

Go to the land that I will show you. Alright? Verse 2. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

Cameron: 19:06

I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse. And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. God really clearly tells Abraham what his plan is. Listen. I'm not telling you where you're going, but I wanna tell you what I'm gonna do.

Cameron: 19:36

Right? You're gonna lay down the pursuit of everything that is about you, and you're gonna pick up the pursuit of everything that is about me. If you notice the way that God addresses Abram, it's not like a, hey, Abram. Here's what I need you to do, and here's how you're gonna get this resource, And here's what you're gonna do next. It's a very God's words to Abraham are very centered on himself.

Cameron: 20:12

He wants Abraham to realize, to recognize, to understand that all of the things that God is all of the things that are going to be built into Abram come from God and not from Abram's own hands. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. I will bless those who bless you.

Cameron: 20:42

I will curse those who curse you. I will do this for you, Abraham. I will do this. I will do this. I will do this.

Cameron: 20:51

I will provide. I will provide. I will provide.

Eric: 20:59

If we

Cameron: 20:59

are obedient to God, what ends up happening is he actively works to rewrite our identity. You'll see later in the in the, in Genesis. We're not going to get there this morning. But you see later in Genesis that, God changed Abram's whole name. Is Abram early?

Cameron: 21:18

He becomes Abraham later on. It was like the step of faith that Abram, expressed, created a rewriting of his very identity before God and before the people. He re he realigns resources when we step out in faith where we follow God into the proverbial unknown. He realigns our resources. He leaves behind everything that was his so that he can pick up everything that is God's.

Cameron: 21:48

He had to lay down everything that was his. He had to lay down everything produced by his own hands. He had to lay down everything that was significant for him from the place that he came so that he would be able to hold everything that God produced to give to him. God real rewrote his identity. He realigned his resource so that he could use Abram as a funnel and a conduit to bless the world.

Cameron: 22:23

We become a blessing because we receive from God the things that God has. I will give you this. I will make you this. I will bless you. We become a blessing because we receive from God the things that he has given to us and then employ them to bless others.

Cameron: 22:45

The whole part of Genesis chapter 12, the beginning of it is to get to this end, this little end sentence at the end of chapter at the end of verse 3. I will give you this. I will make your name great. I will bless you. I will protect you.

Cameron: 23:01

Why? Not even for their own benefit and good, although it certainly was, ended up being a benefit and a good for them. But god's like, I'm gonna do this through you, this to you, this for you, this for you, this for you. So that so that you may be a blessing and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Here is a here's a reality that I've experienced in my life.

Cameron: 23:42

I'm I think this is a is a human experience. God often gives us things. And I'm not just talking about I'm not just talking about, like, actual resource. Like, he provides resources for our daily living, our daily bread. He does that.

Cameron: 24:00

Absolutely. Right? He gives us things, and we if we don't have a perspective on the things that God gives to us as being not just for our benefit, but also for the benefit and blessing of others, then what we do is when we receive something, and this is we might receive the resources from God. We might receive transformation from the Lord. He might set us free from something.

Cameron: 24:31

He might redeem our lives and our relationships. He might he might set us free from addiction or anxiety or depression or fear. He may bring us into a new season by by through through the through the blood of his son in our lives. And and if we hold, if we hold on to that and white knuckle those things as being before us and only for us, then the things of that that God designed to be also a blessing to others actually become a curse of our own greed. God gives so that we may be a blessing.

Cameron: 25:17

God has written freedom into your story, redemption into your story, salvation into your story, forgiveness into your story. God is bringing God is bringing healing to your relationships. God is sending you free from bondage to things, not just for your own benefit, but so that you may take the blessings that he has given to you, and you may utilize them as a conduit to bless others by by becoming a witness of the transforming power of god, by saying, I once was blind everyone, but guess what? Now, I see.

Eric: 25:58

Amen?

Cameron: 26:01

So we often think of, like, the things that god gives us, like, we're just conduits. We're pastors. It's absolutely correct, but we think very narrowly. We think it might like, okay. Well, god has provided me for this job.

Cameron: 26:14

And has given me a paycheck. So I'm going to take a portion of that, and I'm going to I'm going to offer it as a sacrifice back to him so that others may be blessed by the resources aligned with god's church. Absolutely. 100%. But but it's also a very narrow view of understanding what God is doing in us and what does God is doing what what God wants to do through us.

Cameron: 26:41

The most significant stories that we have of god's blessing on our lives are the stories where he has transformed us, where he has redeemed us, where he has renewed us, where he has set us free. And it is those stories as well, those spiritual blessings from the lord that we need to steward for a world that desperately needs to know that god wants to redeem them through his son. Now I wanna be also really clear about something because a a a lot of times, we, human beings, we love to run-in extremes. Right? We're not very good centrists.

Cameron: 27:25

We we we we we play in the extremes. Right? And it does us harm a lot of time. But what this is not saying, what I'm not saying, what the bible doesn't teach Right? What was not true for Abraham or the Israelite nation, it was listen.

Cameron: 27:43

God's promises, I will bless you. I will make your name great so that you can go and be a be a blessing, is not the same thing as saying, you must live you must live in poverty so that others may be blessed. But then everything that God gives to you and entrusts to you is also not at all for your own provision. This isn't what happens with Abraham or Israel or the people of God. That's not that's not the point that I'm making.

Cameron: 28:13

I don't want you to hear me saying that. No. Certainly. Certainly. There are times where God and and seasons and people and families and places where, yes, god may actually call you to, for instance, maybe reduce a standard of living so that you can be generous on this occasion and generous on that occasion.

Cameron: 28:35

There are times of people and seasons where God calls people literally to lay down possession, lay down wealth, lay down this, lay down that so that so that those things can be utilized in the blessing of other people. Absolutely. But those are those are times of individual calling and conviction, not necessarily indicated in the scripture as a universal standard of expectation for the people of god. The point is that God wants to ensure the understanding of his people that the trajectory of their lives in him is not simply inward to all the things that God has done in us and for us specifically. God has provided for me me me.

Cameron: 29:26

God has set me free. God has set God has transformed me. God has redeemed me. God has god has broken the chains of bondage on me. God has provided for me.

Cameron: 29:35

It's that he also wants us to understand, like, there's a purpose for that. There's a reason for that. And the reason is not always just about me. The reason is about the mission that I have to redeem the whole world. Will you participate in it?

Cameron: 29:56

God says. Will you will you join me in what I'm doing? Do you recognize that the things that I have given to you are most are are most successfully used and leveraged for the mission, my whole mission in the world, my whole mission in creation. Even the psalmist, Psalm 67 verse 1, through 2, he he they they they used this they they they used this psalm in particular in worship to help remind the people of the traject of this trajectory, not simply inward to what God is going to do for me personally in my little old life, but what God is going to do through me via the things he has done in me. Psalm 6712 says, may God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us.

Cameron: 30:54

That's great. May God be gracious to us. May God bless us and make his face shine upon us that your ways, oh Lord, may be known on earth and your salvation known among all nations. Let your face make your face shine upon us, lord. Be gracious, lord, and bless us that your name may be known among all nations.

Cameron: 31:20

That your salvation may be known among all nations. There is an understanding, right, that the blessing of God, the presence of God, the shining of God's face upon God's people is for a greater blessing in all of creation than just my singular experience with

Eric: 31:43

it. Now I

Cameron: 31:43

don't know if you're like me at all, but when I first, like, encountering ideas like this and I'm trying to read them and kinda hold the jeez. Like, this would be real like this story of Abram would be really, exhortative and instructive for me and all my resources in life if I was a jew. But since I'm not Jewish and I'm a Christian who lives outside the Jewish nation, and then why why is it why why should I care what god told Abraham and all of his descendants, the Israelite nation? Why should I care as a person who follows Jesus? I'm not a Jew by birth.

Cameron: 32:32

Listen. If we learn anything through the sermon series and study of Romans, if you learn anything in the sermon series and study on Ephesians, if you've read 2 thirds of the new testament at all, read any of the apostle Paul's letters to any of the churches, we should be coming to somewhat of an understanding that listen. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have been adopted and engrafted into the same family and people of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. That we we are not separate from the promises of God or the commission of God simply because we are not, we are not ethnic Jewish people or in the line and descendants of Abram. In his letter to, in his letter to the Galatians, Paul says this in 3, chapter 3 verse 14.

Cameron: 33:25

It says, he redeemed us, talking to Gentiles, you and I, who have been redeemed through Jesus Christ, you and I. Right? He has redeemed us in order that in order that the blessing given to Abraham we know about that blessing. We just read it. Genesis 12.

Cameron: 33:44

That the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus. So if the blessing comes, guess what else comes with it? The commission to use it in the same way. So if the blessing comes to us by faith, in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the same promises of the spirit. Now this is not the only place, neither is it the most significant.

Cameron: 34:11

In Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11 and 12 or 11 through 22, Paul Paul make sure to make this point abundantly clear that the seeming dividing wall of hostility between those who were the family of God, the descendants of Abraham, the Jews, and those who were just coming to faith in the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, were not 2 separate parties. But that now in and through Jesus Christ, he was making them 1. He says this in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11 through 22. Therefore, remember that formally, you who were you who are Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision. It's a weird way to refer to people, but, anyway, I digress.

Cameron: 35:32

The Lord stopped me from saying something else there right now. Remember, verse 12. Here we go. K. Remember that at that time, you were separate from Christ.

Cameron: 35:44

You were excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise without hope and without God in the world. So Paul is saying, hey, look, Gentiles. There was a time where you were excluded from a foreigner or 2, a stranger to the promise and the covenant given to the Israelite people. It wasn't yours. You could not participate in it.

Cameron: 36:14

You could not have it. It wasn't for you. Verse 13. But now but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Jesus Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the 2, 1.

Cameron: 36:42

Made the 2, Gentiles, Jews. Made the 2, 1. And has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the 2, thus making peace. And in this one body, to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which he put to death their hostility.

Cameron: 37:12

He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him, we both have access to the father by one spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens. This is Paul writing to you. In regard to the promises given to Abraham and the responsibilities due those who possess it.

Cameron: 37:36

I have blessed you. I will make your name great. I will curse those that curse you. I will bless those who bless you, and all people on earth will be blessed through you. He said it to Abraham.

Cameron: 37:46

He said it to the Israelite nation. And now through faith in Jesus Christ, he says it to us. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens. You are now fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. And in him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

Cameron: 38:11

And in him, you 2 are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. You're part of it now, Paul says. By faith in Jesus Christ through the blood of Jesus Christ, what once separated you from the promises, blessings, and commissions of God that is now destroyed. You are one family redeemed by his blood through the cross. And so we can't stand in a place of being like, well, I know what God has given to the Israelite people and their responsibility to use it to bless the whole world.

Cameron: 38:43

We stand in the same place by faith in Jesus Christ, recognizing what God has given to us, what God has done in us, and now we stand holding and saying, what shall we do, lord? What shall we do with it? How shall we use what you have given to us? And so and this is this is clear in the ministry of Jesus as well, very clear in the ministry of Jesus. The ministry and teaching of Jesus, what he moves his disciples towards even before they are even ready is to move out in mission.

Cameron: 39:19

The same mission that he was on, the same ministry that he did. He, like, he kicked the disciple. He kicked the birds out of the nest way before they had their feathers. This was a this was a practice of Jesus. He's he would send them out.

Cameron: 39:40

Go cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead. What what I have done in you, go do it for others. And what did the disciples do? What what did what was common to see in the gospels of the disciples? How they're what happened after that?

Cameron: 39:58

And they came back to Jesus, and they were like, ah. Like, we're trying our best out there, but it's hard. The demons don't listen to us. Let's clear. Like, look at look at Luke chapter 9.

Cameron: 40:24

If we look at Luke chapter 9 as an example. K? If you look at the intersection between Luke chapter 9 and Luke chapter 10, it almost feels it's very similar to the pattern of Genesis chapter 12 where god called Abram. Because at the end of Luke chapter 9, god was like or Jesus was interacting with people who said, Jesus, we wanna come follow you. And Jesus, in a manner of speaking, was like, alright.

Cameron: 41:00

You could follow me. You need to know my destination is death. My destination is the cross. Because often, we have this perception of what it means to follow Jesus. And we even talk about it, like, it is life and peace and joy and abundance, and those things are absolutely true.

Cameron: 41:26

I can testify to it. I guess, part of my story and part of my witness, but we also must also hold in the same hand the understanding that when g that when we follow Jesus, Jesus made a beeline for the cross of his ministry. The place of death, the place of sacrifice, the place the place, the place where he laid down everything that was of himself so that he could pick up everything that was to be his through God the father. A place of humility. This was the path of Jesus, and he he regularly tried to remind people of that when they came to him with mixed expectations of what it meant or what it would mean to follow him.

Cameron: 42:11

The end of Luke chapter 9 is the perfect example. Right before he sends out the 72 in the beginning of Luke chapter 10, people come to him like, hey. We wanna follow you, Jesus. We wanna follow you. As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go.

Cameron: 42:26

Jesus. And Jesus replied, foxes have holes and the birds of air have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head. Like, Jesus, why are you talking in riddles there? That's a weird little poem to say something. It wasn't a it wasn't a riddle or a poem.

Cameron: 42:44

It's not some sort of spiritual axiom. Jesus was being super, super clear about what it meant to follow him. He was like, bro, I'm homeless. I mean, just be clear. I don't have any place to live.

Cameron: 43:06

Even a fox has a hole. The birds of the air have a nest. Following me is not the shiny spiritual thing that you might think it is. It is life and life in abundance, but don't get it twisted. Following me take sacrifice, You will be humbled, and you will find your greatest joy and purpose.

Cameron: 43:42

But then he sends them out. Right? After this, the Lord appointed 72 this is for, chapter 10 verse 1. After this, the Lord appointed 72 others, sent them 2 by 2 ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Cameron: 44:03

Is that a this is a passage we're gonna study later in the series. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Just just no one even cares about the Lord anymore. This is not what Jesus had to say. No one wants to come to church.

Cameron: 44:27

Maybe not. Maybe not. Maybe that has more to do about us than it has to do about Jesus though. Okay? Because every time that Jesus talks about the ripeness of the harvest for salvation, he was like, listen.

Cameron: 44:47

We don't have a problem of people not wanting to seek the Lord. That's not what's going on in culture. We have a problem with people who can who can incarnate and articulate the transform transformational power of faith in Jesus Christ and and and leverage the spirit within them to proclaim in truth and in power what God has done, what God will do. It's not the harvest that we need more of. It's the workers we need more of.

Cameron: 45:24

It's about understanding. Right? This is the whole point. It's about understanding that following Jesus is also a trajectory of coming outside of ourselves and saying, I am a worker in the harvest of the Lord. The harvest is plentiful.

Cameron: 45:49

It is the workers that are few. But we we get so self centered and inward focused on what God needs to do for me and what God needs to do in me and what God needs to provide for me that we forget that part of being redeemed by the Lord is stepping into our identity as a worker in his redemption of the world, in his blessing to the world. And we must do both. Of course, all of these examples end up being summarized in kind of the two main statements that Jesus makes at the end of his time here on earth in this round. Both in Matthew chapter 28 verses 16 through 20, Acts chapter 1 verse 6 through 8.

Cameron: 46:40

Kinda they kind of, they they're kind of these same accounts. Right? A little bit different language, but you might know them as, like, the great commission. Matthew chapter 28, the words of Jesus right here. He had been crucified, been resurrected, then was appearing to his followers and disciples.

Cameron: 47:00

And then the last words that he said to them before he ascended back into heaven, so you'd be seated at the right hand of god the father where he sits now in this very moment until he comes back again. He says this, all authority well, let's read it 16:2. The 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Cameron: 47:36

That's a phrase that you should not gloss over or read quickly. Because not only is it a, like, commission or a qualifying statement, it is also meant to be, like

Eric: 47:54

let's put

Cameron: 47:54

it this way. If I tell you to go do something, it only kinda holds so much weight. Right? I might not have earned the right to speak into your life like that. I might not have the relational equity or the spiritual equity to say, hey, I need you to go do this or go do that because my authority is limited.

Cameron: 48:22

It's fallible. Jesus starts out his commission to his followers by saying, I want to remind you of something. All authority on heaven in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All authority. Meaning, like, the one person.

Cameron: 48:52

The one person who could call you to unilateral obedience without any question whether or not he has the right to or he's built the equity in your life or you trust him enough. Right? Jesus is like, let me remind you just this one last time. In case it wasn't clear in me coming back from the dead. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Cameron: 49:28

Therefore, or in response to the authority that I have, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always to the very end of the age. It's interesting that Jesus said this in an environment where the disciples were hiding for in fear. They were hiding, afraid of what might happen to him, of what might not oh, of what might be next. And Jesus was like, no.

Cameron: 50:07

We we are not a people who shrink back in fear. We do not hold a spirit of timidity. In the axe account, in Acts chapter 1 verses 6 through 8, he says something just a bit differently, but it even indicates even even more the the, like the abandonment of fear and inward self preservation and the realignment of a vision that pushes you pushes us out of our spiritual nest and into a commission in the mission of God to redeem the world. Says this, Acts chapter 1. So, verse 6.

Cameron: 50:55

So when are so when they met together, they asked him, Lord Jesus had already, resurrected. Lord, are you gonna, at this time, restore the kingdom to Israel? You're finally gonna crush the Romans, Lord, and establish your kingdom here? He's like, listen. It's not for you to know the times, the dates the father has set by his own authority.

Cameron: 51:14

Super important here. But you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. The sending of the holy spirit, the infilling and indwelling of the holy spirit is is critically and and inexorably linked to the power to go out and witness to what God has done in Christ Jesus. Right?

Cameron: 51:58

The giving of the Holy Spirit is the is the fuel and power to the testimony of Jesus Christ to the nations. The reception of the Holy Spirit is the gift that God gives us to step out of and away from a fear that keeps us hiding and into the power of the mission of God. So over the next few weeks, we're gonna talk I wanted to we we we needed to make a a kind of a like I said, a the wide part of the funnel to understand that God is a God who is out on mission to redeem the world. And that he has called us, exhorted us, admonished us by his spirit, empowered us to join him in the mission of that redemption. What we often call that as it funnels down to our kind of personal lives is evangelism.

Cameron: 53:20

Right? It's kind of it's a word we use, and we use it because the bible uses it. And it's a good word, and it means great things, which we will talk about. Right? But what we're what we're what we're gonna what we're gonna seek to do is not to elevate methodology of evangelism above a core of evangelism, which is that god God wants to utilize, right, the truth of his redeeming power in your life to tell a story, to to be a witness of, and tell the testimony of how he has changed and redeemed you.

Cameron: 54:04

Has God set you free? Let's tell that story. Has God given you purpose? Let's tell that story. Has God restored your relationships?

Cameron: 54:13

We're gonna tell that story. Has God replaced your anxiety with peace, your depression with joy? Let's learn to tell that story. We have a story to tell because we have a we have a god who is on mission in us to redeem and transform. And we have a god that is on mission through us to be a blessing to all people.

Cameron: 54:44

That's what we're trying to do. That's true. We're try this is that's who we're trying to be. Right? Trying to be a blessing to all people in as many ways with as many resources as as we have possible, understanding that what have god has given to us and entrusted to us is not just ours.

Cameron: 55:03

It is also for our good. It is also our daily bread, but our mind shifts from being like, wait a second. All of creation is not just about me. That is a right? Like, this is this is not wait a second.

Cameron: 55:23

God is not just my god? He's not my personal individual little buddy Jesus. No. God has a mission to redeem all of creation. He's calling all who express faith in Jesus by to to join him in that mission.

Cameron: 55:43

That's what we're gonna talk about the next few weeks, this week, and the next few weeks. Let's let's pray together as we prepare our hearts to enter back into worship. Lord, we thank you, father, that you have thank you, father, for moving towards us in mission. Lord, you were not content to sit far off, to sit far back, and wait for us to come and find you. Oh, jeez.

Cameron: 56:29

Lord, forgive us as your body for the times in which we have had that art attitude with people coming to church. Well, let us let us, of course, take and live into your example that you did not you did not just sit back and wait for us to come to you, lord, that you came to us in Jesus Christ, that that your that your grace came to us. Lord, it help us to be a people who take on the same mission, Lord, enlisted into the same mission to go and be a blessing to others. Lord, I pray I pray right I pray, lord, that even right now, you would you would give us a vision of a person, the person, that you are desiring to bless this week through our presence in their lives. Whether it be the sharing of our story, the witness to our testimony, the sharing of our resources.

Cameron: 57:56

Lord, show us who you are on mission to this week in our lives, and give us a vision to see how we can join you in what you're currently doing in their life through their circumstances right now. Help us, Lord, also to see very clearly the things that you have given to us that would bless them. Whether it be a part of our story, whether it would be, hey. We have a you have given us some margin in our calendar this week, Lord, and it enables us to be present with them in a season of loneliness or discouragement or pain. Or whether, Lord, you have give us given us an abundance of resources, money, and we can see someone who is in need, father.

Cameron: 59:02

Would help us to align our resources with their needs, so that we might be a blessing and bring glory to you. Lord, and then help us as a body. Not as just 200 individuals, Lord, but as one body. Meeting with different people, going in different directions throughout the week, but maintaining a unity of the spirit of God. That we might as a, communal one body, have a vision for how you would have us join you in your mission to redeem the world through your son, Jesus.

Cameron: 59:49

Give us vision for those things, Lord, so that we do not run a ground on our own preferences, opinions, or good ideas, but that we might follow you in what you're already doing. In Jesus' name, amen. Lord, for the wonderful, merciful majesty of your love, we fall down down in worship, Lord, for you are worthy. You are worthy, Lord, of our praise. Be enthroned, Lord, on our praise.

Cameron: 01:00:37

In Jesus' name, amen. Conduit, you are loved. Thanks for coming. We'll see you next time.

Ellen: 01:00:46

Actually, actually hang on one second. Hold up. Hold up one second. Okay. Just real quick before we let you guys leave.

Ellen: 01:00:57

I know we're going off script. Cameron's looking at me like, what's going on? It's pastor appreciation month, and, this is the last chance you'll ever have to thank our pastors for all the work that they do. Now come on. We just wanted to pray over you so we could thank you for all the things that you do.

Ellen: 01:01:12

They don't only work on Sundays, believe it or not. Come on up. We want Pastor Luke too. We just wanna, love and honor you and appreciate you and pray for you. Everybody, just thank them for all that they do for us.

Eric: 01:01:37

These guys have a super serious position. They take it super seriously. I would love if if you guys have kids that you have to go get, that's great. Go get them. If you know especially if, like, you know that you're the teachers in there are going crazy.

Eric: 01:01:56

Go get your kids if you need to. Otherwise, let's appreciate these guys and give them 5 minutes of our time. Ellen, could could you stay on those keys and just play something real quick? Here's what so Ellen asked me before the service if I would pray for these guys for pastor appreciation. We can lay hands on them and pray for them real quick and let them know that we appreciate them and that's appropriate and good.

Eric: 01:02:25

Here's what I would love to do though for anyone that's willing. I know there's gonna be at least a couple of you that are willing. Could we, instead of saying you guys do a great job at your position and take it seriously and we love and appreciate that about you. Let's do this. Let's come down and I'm gonna invite Cameron and Luke, and we have these kneelers down here.

Eric: 01:02:46

And instead of just saying, we appreciate you, let's see if we could do this. Let's see if we can join them on our knees and ask if the Holy Spirit would be happy to to breathe a life into them instead of us just up here clapping our hands for them. So if anyone would like to join, not me, but let's join in them in the mission that that pastor Cameron was just talking about, where the mission is going to be, we're moving somewhere, and we're asking the holy spirit to come with us. And we're saying, holy spirit, wherever you're going, that's where we wanna be going. So if you would like to join them, that's gonna be my prayer.

Eric: 01:03:40

I'm actually going to grab a Bible real quick. This is my prayer, for them. At least I wanna pray this over those 2. Psalms 1:1 through 3. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the way of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or take or takes company with mockers, but whose delight is in

Cameron: 01:04:26

the law of the Lord,

Eric: 01:04:28

and who meditates on his law day and night. God I I ask that Your law, that Your presence, that Your faithfulness would be enough for pastor Luke and for pastor Cameron. I believe that the harvest is ready. I believe that they are faithful laborers in your fields. But God, I pray that they would seek after nothing, but your glory, and that that would be enough to sustain them.

Eric: 01:05:14

If they don't see harvest, this side of eternity, then nothing but your presence would be enough. I believe that they will see from harvest. I believe that they will see fruit. Verse 3. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in that season, whose leaf does not wither, and whatever they do prospers.

Eric: 01:05:50

God, I thank you for the 2 leaders that you've put in position here. I thank you for this church. I thank you for this body. I thank you for your spirit. I thank you for your faithfulness.

Eric: 01:06:13

I do ask that you would bless those 2, protect their families, protect their hearts, protect their minds, whatever whatever the enemy tries to bring against them, against this church, against their families, pray Psalms 2, that God in heaven laughs. I thank you that all authority on heaven and earth has been given to you. You are not intimidated by flaming arrows that come against us. I ask that your presence would be real to them throughout this next year, and that they would be faithful lights for your glory. Amen.