Immanuel Sermon Audio
Luke 10:1-24
I like standing at the front because I can hear you guys sing. I don't know if you can hear, but the band sounded pretty good. You guys sounded really good this morning, singing's good to hear the congregation singing. There's an outline in the bulletin. You can take that out. You can find Luke chapter 10 in your Bible, Luke 10. You can take the outline out. I want you to rewind your brain if you can. I know you've slept a few times, but if you go back to Luke chapter 9, we talked in Luke chapter 9 about Jesus sending the 12 out on the very first short-term mission trip. He gave them some specific instructions. He sent them out to preach and to teach and to cast out demons and to heal the sick. So we talked about that a few weeks ago in Luke 9. Now we're in Luke 10, and Jesus is about to send another group out on another short-term mission trip. This time he's not just sending 12, he's sending 72 of his disciples out, and they're going out to do the exact same thing, to teach and to preach and to heal the sick and to cast out demons. The big idea of this passage is very similar to what we talked about a few weeks ago in Luke chapter 9. But here it is. Jesus suspects all of his people to joyfully play a role in the ongoing mission to seek and save the lost. He expects all of his people, anyone who claims the name Christian, to joyfully, that word is important, joyfully play a role in seeking and saving the lost, in this ongoing mission to seek and save the lost. Now when I put that up there as the big idea, I hope that in your brain something triggers and you think, ah, the mission to seek and save the lost. I know where he got that from. That's Luke 19.10, the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. You may read the big idea, and you may compare it to Luke 19.10, and there may be a little bit of confusion. You may say, wait a minute, wait a minute. I thought the whole point of this book is that Jesus was the one who came to seek and save the lost. Now you're talking about there's an ongoing mission to seek and save the lost, and that if I'm going to claim the name of Jesus, somehow I'm a part of that mission. And so maybe in your mind you think, did Jesus do it or do I do it? Did he do what he came to do or does he need our help finishing up? And there's a little verse. We're not going to turn to it. We'll look at it later in Colossians 1, verse 24, where Paul, the frontier missionary whose job it was to go to places where they had never heard about Jesus. They never heard the name of Jesus. Paul went there, told them about Jesus. When they believed in Jesus, he put them into churches. Paul says to the church in Colossae, in my suffering, in Paul's suffering, I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Jesus. My personal suffering fills up what is lacking in the suffering and the affliction of Jesus. And you read that verse in Colossians and you sort of have the same thing in your mind. You think, what are you talking about? What could possibly be lacking in the suffering and the affliction of Jesus? He died on the cross. It was a perfect sacrifice. It was a complete sacrifice. He did what he came to do when he was about to die. He said, it's finished. I did it. What was lacking? It was not lacking power, not lacking ability to save. What it's lacking is application to the lives of those who have never heard. And Paul is saying to the church, in my suffering, in what I'm enduring and what I'm dealing with, I'm bridging the gap between what Jesus did for you and you learning about it, you knowing about it, you hearing this good news. My suffering is bringing those two things together. And that's really what we're talking about this morning. Yes, the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost and he did it. Mission accomplished. He did what he came to do. But our job is to pick up this ongoing mission and to take the good news to people who have never heard it so that the bridge or the gap can be bridged so that we connect people with this truth that Jesus, the Son of Man, came to seek and to save the lost. And the big idea of these verses is very simple. If you're a follower of Jesus, he expects you to joyfully play a role in taking that mission or that message to all people, to all ends of the earth. So look in your Bible, Luke chapter 10, we're going to read verse 1 to 24. The Word of God says this, "After this the Lord appointed 72 others and he sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way, behold, I'm sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals, greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace be to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house where when you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick, in it, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you.' Nevertheless, nevertheless know this that the kingdom of God has come near. I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. Woe to you, Korsen, woe to you, best say to. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And for you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? Shall you be brought, you shall be brought down to Hades, the one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me? The seventy-two returned with joy, saying to the Lord, 'Even the demons are subject to us in your name.' And he said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven; behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.' Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. In that same hour, he, Jesus, rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. And he said, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.' Then turning to the disciples, he said privately, 'Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and they did not hear it.' Let's pray. Father, we're grateful for the gospel of Luke. We believe that it's true. We believe that it has application to our lives today. We ask Father that you would help us to understand the big picture of what Luke is telling us. We ask that you would help us to understand the specifics and the details of what we see in this passage. Father, help us to understand how to embrace our role in joyfully joining in this mission to seek and to save the lost. We ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. There's a lot of different ways to look at this passage, and it is kind of a long passage. But I want you to understand that if you break down all the specifics and you worry about every little detail or argument in these verses, which we could do, you miss sort of the big picture of what Luke is telling us. In these stories, these four separate stories all go together. First, Jesus sends out the 72, then he laments about some of the places that haven't received him or responded to him. Then the 72 come back and they report about their mission trip, how things went and they're excited. And then Jesus celebrates with them about some things that are very different than what they're celebrating about. And so it all sort of hangs together. And we're going to broadly look at it the first half of the verses and then the second half of the verses. We're going to talk about the nature of this mission to seek and save the lost. And then we'll talk about the joy that's involved in the mission of seeking and saving the lost. So, first of all, the nature of the mission. This is verse 1 to 16, and I want you to see five truths about this mission that Jesus is sending his people out on, mission to seek and to save the lost. Five principles that we take from this mission trip and we apply it to our lives, to any trip we take, to every day, ordinary, regular life, as you go in and out of business and you deal with family and you deal with friends and coworkers and people at school, this is the mission and these are five things that you need to understand. Number one is this, be a goer or a supporter. Those are the two options, be a goer or a supporter on the mission. It's interesting that Luke is the only gospel writer who mentions this story, the story of Jesus collecting 72 of his disciples together and sending them out. John doesn't mention it, Mark doesn't mention it, Matthew doesn't mention it. Some of the other gospel writers mentioned the 12 going out on a trip, but only Luke tells us that there was this group of 72 that went out on a mission trip. And that's important because if we didn't have this story from Luke, we may read the other accounts of the 12 going out and we may step back and say, you know what, that looks like something that's for really important people. That looks like something that only apostles are supposed to do. That looks like something that only quote-unquote missionaries, people called to missions, whatever that means. That's something that only they do. The rest of us, we're kind of off the hook on this mission stuff. Luke says, no, no, no, no, no. It's not just the 12 who went out on mission, but it's this broader group of 72 that Jesus sends these people out to preach good news in his name. And it's not just the 72 who went out who were involved. You understand that when the 72 went out, they didn't go to Motel 6. They didn't stop it at the YMCA in Begg to spend the night in the gym. They went to people's homes. Jesus says, town to town, you're going to go. And you need to find people who will open up their home to you. You need to find people who will open up their pantry to you. You need to find people who will open up their wallet to support you and to get you down the road to the next town. Jesus is saying, look, 72 of you are going out, but you're going to have to find a place to stay. You're going to need supporters. And both of you are working together in this mission, the goers and the supporters. If not for the goers, the message stays right where it's at. If not for the supporters, the message stays right where it's at. Jesus says, you're both working together. Some of you are going. Some of you are supporting. So you have just a couple of options as a Christian today. One option is that you could be a goer, meaning you could stop quote unquote "normal life" and go somewhere to tell people about Jesus. That's one option you have. Another option you have is to continue with quote unquote "normal life" and to support those who go, financially. Another option, you have to have both of those. The only other option you have is to ignore the mission. That's it. Either you go or you support or you ignore the mission altogether. Find your role in going or supporting. Number two, understand that there is real danger in the mission. Loop 10-3, I'm sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. You got to at least give Jesus this, he's honest. We saw it last week when people are trying to sign up, I'll be your disciple, I'll follow you wherever you go. I'm in Jesus and Jesus just says, you know what, this is what it's going to cost you. Are you sure you want to follow me because here's something you need to know upfront. He's just honest and he's honest with these guys with the 72 and he's saying, look, fellas, it's dangerous. I remember my mom, I think every time I left the house in middle school or high school, she looked at me and said, it's a dangerous world out there. That's what Jesus is saying, fellas, it's dangerous. I'm not sending you on a cruise. I'm not sending you to the beach. I'm sending you on a mission and it is risky. He's honest upfront about the danger. How many of you saw our missions pastor on the news this week? Did you know he was on the news? Anybody seen? A few of you saw him? He was not the guy that stole the car and drove across Parkway and ended up in Sam's with the guns out. That was not him. But he was on TV and they talked to Chris, our missions pastor, about Kenya because there has been some turmoil in Kenya and so they wanted to talk to Chris about Kenya and really the story behind the story is sort of, it's dangerous over there. Don't you know that, Mr. Chris? Mr. Pastor Chris, Emmanuel Baptist Church, don't you know that it's dangerous? Now, before you get nervous, hit timeout, let's put up a map of Kenya, okay? Now, Robie's kind of over in the middle a little bit and there are some dangerous places around Kenya on the north and over on the east. But the place we go is way, way over on the far west corner right there by Lake Victoria. We go far, far away from some of the dangerous places in Kenya and some of you I know that still makes you nervous. You think, look at it, look how small it is, it's just this little bitty place, you're so close. We'll put the next picture up, okay? That's Kenya on the United States. It's a big place. This would be like somebody in France, if you're too scared to go to Kenya. It would be like somebody in France saying, you know, a couple years ago there was a shooting at a movie theater in Colorado in the United States. They shot people in a movie theater in Colorado. There's no way I'm going to Dallas, Texas. What? Really? People say, well, what about the disease and all that Ebola stuff that thankfully has died down and people aren't so panicky about that? I mean, that's even crazier. That's like somebody from Germany saying, look, I heard they had flu in Miami. There's no way I'm spending the weekend in Seattle. Hands of miles apart. So on the one hand, your pastor is standing here, those of you who have friends going to Kenya or you're going to Kenya, and I'm saying, look, the places we go we feel like and Chris shared this, we feel like our relatively safe places. But let me just be honest, it is dangerous. Of course it's dangerous. You get on an airplane, you fly halfway around the world, you go to a different culture. There are people who don't like Christians there, just like there's people who don't like Christians here. Yes, there's diseases there, just like there's diseases here. It is dangerous. And Jesus is up front with his guys saying, look, there is danger involved in the mission. It's not for the faint of heart. If you're just going to worry about every possible thing that could go wrong, you're not going to go anywhere. So he says, I am sending you out. I'm not keeping you home to protect you, but I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Can we just be honest as we think about danger and say that there's danger in Odessa too? Did you read the paper or watch the news this week? Sam's is a dangerous place in Odessa, Texas. You better be careful when you go into Sam's or the Sam's parking lot. So we can talk about danger in Kenya all we want, but let's just be honest enough to say danger is danger. We live in a fallen world. There's people who hate Christians over there. There's people who hate Christians here. There's crazy people over there. There's crazy people here sickness there sickness here. Jesus is at least honest enough to say up front in the mission. You do need to know that there is real danger. Here's another thing you need to know. Maybe this is more comforting to you is that God will provide. You should believe that God will provide. And Jesus says some specific things to the 72 as they go out, things like don't take this with you and bring this with you and stay here and don't stay here and stay in one spot. Don't hop around looking for the nicest house in town. Somebody brings you in. You just go in. You eat what's in front of you. Some of these things are specific to this trip only because later when Jesus sends them out, he gives them different instructions. So some of these things are specific. But here's some principles that Jesus is giving to these 72 people going out. God's going to take care of you on this trip. It's dangerous. But God's going to provide what you need when you need it. If you need a meal, he's going to provide it. May not be your favorite meal. But that's why Jesus said you eat what's put in front of you. Eat it. God's providing. You need the finances. You need the resources. You feel like God has called you to go out. If he really has, he will provide what you need to go. We believe and we trust that God will provide for us on this mission. Number four, thinking about the nature of this mission. We need to pray for more laborers. And Jesus says this in verse two, chapter 10. Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Pray for more workers. You know when Jesus said this, there was a sense of urgency in his voice. And the urgency if you were here last week is because Luke 951, you remember, says that Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. He's made the decision, I am now going to Jerusalem to die for my people to seek and save the lost. He's on his way. And it's not a direct route, it's sort of a winding route that he takes. But he knows there is no return trip. He didn't book a two-way round trip ticket, it's a one-way trip to Jerusalem. And as he goes through this town, he knows I'm not going to preach in this town anymore. This is going to be the last time I stop in Bethsaida, this is going to be the last time I stop in Coorsen, this is going to be the last time I preach in Capernaum. This is the last opportunity that these people have to hear the gospel from Jesus and from this group of people. And he sends them out and he says, you get it ready, I'm going through all of these villages and you're going to go ahead of me, and it's urgent because we're on the final march to Jerusalem. So that was Jesus' day. What about our day? Is there still urgency? I think the answer is absolutely there's urgency today. Let me show you some numbers just from our sending agency, Southern Baptist Convention, the International Mission Board. We have, as of this last week, 4,777 missionaries on the field, 4,777. They are engaged with, connected with 947 different people groups. People group is a group of folks who speak the same language, share the same culture, and you can send a missionary there and the gospel can spread up to the edges of that culture, too, you need to send another missionary to get the gospel beyond that group of people. So 4,777 missionaries we have sent 947 people groups engaged currently, and look at this next number. There are 3,264 unreached and unengaged people groups in the world. So we are sending missionaries to 947 groups of people who don't know Jesus, but there's over 3,000 groups of people around the world who don't know Jesus, they're not being reached with the gospel, no missionaries there, there's no church there, they don't have a Bible in their own language, they have zero access to hear the good news about Jesus, unless somebody goes, 3,264 unreached and unengaged people groups in the world. Those 3,264 unreached people groups represent billions, with a B, billions of people, zero access to hear about Jesus, and IMB says if we were going to send one missionary, just one, to each of those groups of people, here's the missionaries we would need to reach them if you keep the same ratio of what we have above. Surgeoned, I read some other numbers this week from Wycliffe Bible translators, they don't really send missionaries, like we sometimes think of missionaries, what they send is missionaries who go translate the Bible, and so if you're a Wycliffe missionary, your job is you go to a group of people, you learn their language, more than likely they don't write their language, they don't read and write, they just speak it, and so you learn it, then you write it down in an alphabet, then you teach them to read the alphabet, then you give them a Bible translated into their language so that they can read it for themselves. And along the way, you share verbally with them the gospel, but Wycliffe says we want you to have a written, firm, sure copy of God's Word in your hand. Wycliffe says we need thousands of more translators to go. There are thousands of languages that don't have the Bible in that language. We need more workers, you can get on their website, we need workers. We need people who know Greek and Hebrew, who have studied it, who have learned it, who can go learn another language, write it down, teach it to the people, translate the Bible. The need is urgent. What do you do if the need is urgent? You say, well, maybe we need to tell the seminaries to whip it into gear. Well, it's a problem, say maybe we need to have better promotions, maybe we need more videos from the International Mission Board, or we need David Platt, he's the new president, maybe we need him to do more. And maybe we need to have better conferences where people can go and learn about missions. What does Jesus say to do? Pray. Pray for more labors. Last thing you need to know about the mission is this, we expect different responses. We go into it eyes wide open. We don't expect everyone that we talk to that we share the gospel with to immediately pray a prayer and become the next Paul, the next Billy Graham, but we expect different responses. Look at verse five and six, Jesus talks about people of peace who welcome them and accept their message. Verse 11 and 12, he talks about people who reject the message. Look at verse nine, he says, "You preach the kingdom to those who will listen." Verse 11, if they won't listen, you shake the dust from your feet and you move on because there's somebody else that needs to hear. And in all of what Jesus is saying here, in this first couple of sections in these verses, he's saying, "Spiritual opportunity will result in greater accountability." He pronounces woes on these cities because he has been there and he's been performing miracles and he's been teaching and he says they have not listened, they're going to be held to a higher standard. And he's talking to the 72 going out and he's saying, "Look, don't bang your head against the wall if they're not listening to you. You go and preach and if they listen, you preach and if they don't, you move on and you preach to somebody else, it's urgent. You go to those who haven't heard. You share the truth with them and in all of it, spiritual opportunity results in accountability." Now, here's my fear is I talk about the mission, right? That's a few thoughts, five thoughts about the nature of the mission. My fear is that we talk about missions and everybody sort of goes home with a guilty conscience thinking, "Oh, I don't do enough, oh, I need to do more, oh, does God want me to move to Africa?" We think about this mission as if it's some kind of burden hanging around our neck. Like it's so miserable to do the things that Jesus is asking us to do. And so I think it's a great thing in Luke 10 that as Jesus describes this mission, he doesn't just sort of present it as this guilt trip that he's trying to make you feel bad and sign up and do something or give some money or whatever, but he says, "Listen, there is incredible joy in the mission. Joy for those who participate, you and me, the 72, the 12, enjoy in the Godhead, in the Trinity, the Father, Son, and the Spirit." And so let's talk about the joy of the mission. Here's one thing you need to see. The mission puts us in the midst of a spiritual battle that has already been won. That ought to give you joy. You're entering into a fight that has already been determined and settled. The question is not up in the air. The victory has been won. Jesus did come to seek and save the lost. Now we get to enter the battle as the mop up crew, as the cleanup crew, but the battle's already been won. Jesus talks in verse 19 about authority over serpents and scorpions and powers of the enemy. And he says to his friends, "You will not be hurt." Now, I know that I lived in Kentucky for a little while, but when you read about serpents and snakes, I don't want you to get nervous. We're not going to bring them on stage, we're not going to turn scorpions loose in the sanctuary, we're not going to let the nursery play with new classroom pets, scorpions and snakes. Jesus is talking poetically about spiritual forces here. And we know that because right before this, the apostles come back or the 72 come back and they say, "Look, the demons do whatever we tell them. This is the greatest thing ever." Spiritual evil, personal forces are listening to us. This is great. And Jesus starts to talk about serpents and scorpions and the powers of evil. And what he's saying is, "You are entering into a spiritual battle. The victory's been won, and you do have power over them, and God will keep you safe from these forces. Not safe from rattlesnake bites, not safe from scorpion stings, but safe from these powers of evil." I don't know if you think about missions like that. Do you think of it as a spiritual conflict when you go to Kenya, when you share the gospel with the person who sits next to you at school, when you invite someone to church at work who is not a believer, not a follower of Jesus Christ, and you're begging them to come with you? Do you think about the fact that you are in a spiritual conflict because you are? Here's some verses you can jot down and look at later, Acts 26, 18. Paul says that people who believe in Jesus are turning from the power of Satan to God that they might have their sins forgiven. That's a spiritual conflict. The Corinthians 4, 4 says that the eyes of unbelievers have been blinded by the God of this world, Satan, so that they don't see the light of the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ. Paul says we want to bring light into that. It's a spiritual conflict. Jot down Colossians 1, 13. Paul talks about salvation being deliverance from the domain of darkness and being brought into the kingdom of Jesus. It's a spiritual conflict. So when you engage in the mission, whether you go or you support, you're entering into a spiritual conflict. The good news is it's already been won. It's been won by Jesus. Here's a second thing that ought to give you joy. Those who play a role in the mission rejoice that our eternity is secured. Our eternity is secured. It's settled. This is one of the more controversial parts of the passage, so we'll talk about it for a minute. The 72 come back and they look at Jesus and they say, "Hey, best part of the trip. The demons do what we tell them to do. We get to cast out demons." And Jesus looks at him and he says something really strange. He says, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." The demons listen to us and Jesus says, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." There's one group of people who say that Jesus is describing what just happened on the mission trip, that he's saying sort of like you guys were on the mission. I was hanging back here at headquarters and I was sort of watching in my powers everything that was going on and you're casting out demons and he uses this phrase, "Satan fell like lightning from heaven." He's saying, "The spiritual forces, they took a blow. They were defeated. You guys were doing great." Maybe he's patting him on the back a little bit. Way to go, guys. I don't think that's the right view. I think Jesus is warning the 72, right? They come back excited. The demons listen to us and Jesus says, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, fellas." Let me remind you that I saw Satan who was a chief angel fall and why did he fall because of pride? He took pride in who he was and his position and what he thought he could accomplish and he fell and it was tragic. And he's saying to these guys, "You're coming back a little bit too puffed up." And what he comes around and says very clearly is, "Do not rejoice that the demons listen to you." I know that's great. I know you're in the spiritual conflict. I've already won it. All that's exciting. But listen, what you need to rejoice in is that your name is written in heaven, that the Son of Man came to seek you and to save you. Don't take pride in your abilities and what you can do to the demons because if pride is an issue in your life, you can fall just as easily as Satan did. Don't be prideful but rejoice that despite your sin and despite your faults and despite your shortcomings, the Son of Man came to seek you and to save you and your name is written in heaven and you don't have to worry about that. That ought to cause you to rejoice. Here's the third thing, thinking about the joy of the mission and this one will really make your head explode. Father, Son and Spirit delight in believers who participate in the mission. And this is one of the most amazing things you'll read in the Gospels. Look what Luke tells us in Luke 10, 21 and 22. In that same hour, Jesus rejoiced Jesus, the Son, God the Son, rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, and He said, "I thank you, Father, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, God the Father, all having this conversation right in front of the disciples." And here's what He says, "Thank you, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and you've revealed them to little children, such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him." Here's what I'm telling you. When God does a work in somebody's life to reveal the truth to them about who Jesus is, and Jesus says, "No one will know God unless I choose to reveal the truth to them." When God does that, Father, Son, and Spirit work together to bring a sinner out of the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of Jesus. When that happens, God rejoices. That's exciting to God. That's pleasing to God. He gets pumped up about that. Jesus is rejoicing in that. And when He takes those people that He's brought into His kingdom, and He then uses them to go out and continue the mission, He gets excited about that. God is pleased when He does a work in your life to save you and then use you to take the mission somewhere else. Most of us think, "Well, I think God would be pretty happy with me if I could quit cussing and go to church every Sunday and not beat my wife up and don't cheat on my taxes and just be a pretty good neighbor, be a pretty good person." I think that's what makes God happy. Jesus says, "Here's what makes God really happy in your life." That God does a work in you, and He sees you growing spiritually, and then He uses you to take the message to others. That's what pleases the Father. The last idea is this, it's very simple. You proclaim truth about an event that many people long to see. This is where we realize that this story that Luke is telling, and this story that we have entered into is an old story, and it's been going on for a long time. And Jesus looks at His buddies and He says, "The things that you're seeing and what He's talking about is Himself, Me, and the things that you're hearing and what He's talking about is what's coming out of His mouth. What you see and what you hear are things that people have longed to see and longed to hear. For centuries, people have been waiting to experience what you're experiencing now. And Jesus says, "Now it's come and it's standing right in front of you. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost." It's happening, and He is using you to take the good news about Luke 19-10 and to take it to those who have never heard. Some of you are going to do that by going. Some of you are going to do that by supporting those who go. Some of you are going to do it by crossing the street and talking to your neighbor. Some of you are going to do it by crossing the ocean and talking to people in Kenya. But I'm doing the work in your life and I want to use you to do the same thing in the lives of other people. And Jesus says, "Don't miss the significance of this, don't miss the bigness of this." You are now part of the capital T story, capital S story. You're part of the story, you're part of what God has been doing from beginning, from before the beginning of the world, before the foundation of the world. This was His plan. It's come to fulfillment. People have longed to see this, and now you're a part of it. When you look at that last list of four things I gave you, thinking about the joy of the foundation. I hope you don't leave thinking, "Well, sermon was about missions. Got to do more. Got to do more. Got to, got to, got to, got to, got to." It's not "got to." It's "get to." I get to be a part of what God is doing. What He's doing in my life, He can now use me to do in the lives of other people. How people have brought the gospel message to me in some way, shape, or form. Now I get to be a part of taking it to those who have never heard. It's not "got to." It's "get to." Let me pray. Father, we're grateful for Your Word. Father, those of us who love Jesus rejoice today that our names are written in heaven and that because the Son of Man came to seek us and to save us, we have a relationship with You. Father, as individual Christians and as a church family, we are excited that it is Your will and it's Your delight to use us to continue this mission. Father, I pray that we would see it not as a burden, but as a joy and as an honor, as a privilege. And Father, we pray for those who are here with us today who maybe have never accepted the good news about Jesus. They've never embraced the reality that Jesus came to seek them and to save them, that He died their death. He paid the penalty. He paid the price so that they could be set free, so that those who were blind could have sight, so that those who were following the power of Satan could follow Jesus Christ and have their sins forgiven, so that those who were part of the Kingdom of Darkness can be brought into the Kingdom of Your Son, whom You love. Father, as Your people, we want to respond in worship, in thanking You for who You are, in celebrating what You've done on our behalf, and so as we continue in worship together, we ask and pray that You would be honored and that You would receive our worship in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.