A Call to Minister

All right, that kind of gave you some of the themes that we'll be going over for the next three Sundays, but we're going to start in Philippians chapter one as we study this idea of life on mission, which in reality, according to what we find in the scriptures, is the ultimate walk with Jesus Christ.

So as you're finding your place, if you're able to join us in standing, would you join us in standing as we read from Philippians chapter one.

Philippians chapter one.

We'll be covering various verses throughout Philippians one throughout the next three Sundays.

But today we're going to be focusing on verses 15 through 18.

So let's begin there and then we'll jump back a little bit in the passage.

Philippians chapter one, verse 15.

I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible.

To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.

These preach out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.

The others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment.

But what does it matter?

Only that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed.

And in this, I rejoice.

And then let's look back at verse four in Philippians one, verse four.

Always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

And we pray together.

God, I pray that you would bless the reading of your word and the preaching of your word.

I pray that you would convict us and show us how we can go on mission for you.

It's so easy to wake up knowing that we are your children.

We are signed, sealed and yet to be delivered into your presence.

But while you still have us on this earth, you have a grand mission for us, for our families, for this church.

Pray that you would reveal it to us, God.

We'll give you all the glory in Jesus name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Thank you for standing.

I want to talk to you this morning from Philippians chapter one about a call to minister.

A call to minister.

That is the theme for today.

We're talking about ministry.

When we use this term ministry, what I'm specifically referring to today is preaching and praying.

Preaching and praying.

So the ministry of preaching and the ministry of prayer.

So when we say there is a call on God, from God, on your life to minister, I'm saying that he is calling you to preach the gospel and he is calling you to pray for the lost.

That is how we minister.

That is how we minister.

The ministry that God has given to us all throughout the scriptures.

We learn of this ministry that God has for his people on this earth.

Sometimes it's called the ministry of reconciliation, which means reconciling almighty, wonderful, perfect, all powerful, all knowing, all seeing.

Good God.

To the complete opposite and wicked, fallen, hopeless, dark mankind.

How do we reconcile these two opposites with each other?

Well, that is the ministry that God has given us to do.

So we do it through preaching and through praying.

So we're going to begin with the ministry of preaching, the ministry of preaching.

Let's look back at Philippians 1 and verse 15.

To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others preach out of goodwill.

These preach out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.

This is a great little nugget from the apostle Paul as he's writing this letter to the church in Philippi.

And he says, this is what my life and ministry is all about.

This is my career.

This is what I have endeavored to do.

Paul was walking a completely different road, fighting against Christ, fighting against Christians,

literally commissioned by the government to go around and stamp them out, literally put them to death.

And God arrested him, got his attention, completely made him do a 180 on his life.

And so now he says, this is what my life is now about.

My life is now, I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.

Paul was going to go just as hard, just as fast, just as all in for the gospel as he was when he opposed it.

So he took his ministry seriously.

He said, I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.

So you know what Paul wasn't?

He wasn't distracted.

He was laser focused on the grand and greater purpose for his life.

That's the hard part for you and for me.

It is so easy for us to get distracted.

Did you know that I'm a very good driver?

Why did y'all start laughing?

That hurts a little.

I am an excellent driver.

I'm purposefully not looking at my wife right now.

You know when I'm not a good driver?

When I'm...

Anybody want to guess?

By myself.

That was good.

Somebody said distracted.

Yep.

When I'm distracted, that's when I'm not a good driver.

When I am focused, when I am lasered in...

Man, I'm an excellent driver.

You can give me snow, ice, you know, inclement weather, whatever.

I will be right there, ready to go, no problems.

When I get distracted, I turn into a really bad driver.

Just so you're aware, okay?

If you ever see my little white car on the road and it's doing something it shouldn't be doing,

just know I'm probably distracted in that moment and pray for God to get my attention back on driving.

Working on it, okay?

Working on it.

I'm training, not trying.

Yeah, that was a series, a couple of you.

Never mind.

Thought that might land with some of you, but that's okay.

Listen.

It is so easy to get distracted in this life, okay?

So easy.

Number one, there's this thing called spiritual warfare,

where God knows that the church has been given this mission,

and if you are a part of the church,

then the devil and all of his minions are fighting against the mission of our church.

He's fighting against the mission that God has for you,

and so he's going to do everything he can,

not just to make you lose in your mission.

It's not necessarily you're in a boxing ring and you're going head to toe with the devil.

It's he's trying to distract you from what you're supposed to be doing for God.

The devil can't win against God.

We get that, right?

God is far more powerful.

I mean, we could have asked those kids up here the same question.

They would know the answer to that.

Can the devil win if he fights against God?

No, of course he can't win.

But what he does is he gets us distracted,

those who have already won the victory through Jesus.

That's you and me.

All he has to do is get us to forget that we've won the victory.

It's to get us to focus on all the other things

except what God wants us focused on,

and he is really good at it.

Really, really good at it.

And you know what we're really good at?

Getting distracted.

We're really good at letting him do his job.

So Paul was laser focused.

So he acknowledged that there's some people out there doing ministry

maybe out of impure motives,

maybe not the best way.

He said, yeah, some people are preaching out of bad motives.

But then he goes on to say,

the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition,

not sincerely,

thinking that they will cause me trouble.

See, Paul understood

that not everybody out there who was naming the name of Jesus,

calling themselves a Christian,

and even preaching the gospel

was doing it the right way or for the right reasons.

He understood that.

But ultimately he came to the decision of,

what does it matter?

That's not usually the conclusion that you and I come to.

Usually we get all bent out of shape.

Usually we get real distracted

and real upset

and real pulled off sides,

if you watch football,

because the opponent is doing something we don't like.

Or what's worse,

is somebody calling themselves a Christian

or a pastor or a preacher

is doing something they shouldn't be doing.

And we get so twisted up,

I can't believe they would do that.

That's terrible.

And we spend our time and our energies

fighting back against that

when in reality we should be coming to the same conclusion

that Paul did and say,

what does it matter?

Only that in every way,

from false motives or true motives,

Christ is proclaimed

and in this I rejoice.

Paul was laser focused.

He could not do the job of the Holy Spirit

in everyone else's life,

but he did the job that God called him to do.

And if the church would buy in

to Paul's perspective,

this world would be a far less dark place.

If the church would buy in to the mission

that God has given them

and stay undistracted and focused on that mission,

then all of a sudden light

would be winning more than the dark.

And the very things that twist us up

and get us pulled off sides

would start to lose.

Because God will always win.

But he chooses to use us.

So if God is going to win through us,

then we've got to stay laser focused

on the mission that God gave to us.

So, I want to share this quote with you

from a great preacher, Oswald Smith.

He said,

our work is to preach the gospel

and we must not be sidetracked.

How many times have we gotten sidetracked

in our life from preaching the gospel?

You know who loves that?

The devil.

You know who loves that?

The world, the flesh, the devil,

all the opposition coming up against us.

They love it when we get sidetracked.

So our job is to preach the gospel.

Well, that gets us to the next question.

Who can preach the gospel?

Say, you're up there preaching.

Why are you telling us

that we're supposed to be the ones preaching?

Well, that's the question.

Who can preach the gospel?

Let's go over to 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 18.

2 Corinthians 5 and verse 18.

For sake of time, I'm going to go ahead and read.

Everything is from God

who has reconciled us to himself

through Christ

and has given us the ministry

of reconciliation.

reconciliation.

That is, in Christ, everyone...

I'm sorry.

In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself,

not counting their trespasses against them.

And then, watch this.

He has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

So God has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

He has given us the message of reconciliation.

And then in verse 20, it ties it all together.

Therefore, we, you and I,

written to the church at Corinth,

but all the churches that would follow after,

of which we are one of those, okay?

Verse 20,

we are ambassadors for Christ.

We are ambassadors for Christ.

And then a little bit later,

in verse 20, it says,

we plead on Christ's behalf,

be reconciled to God.

That is the gospel.

That is the message

that we are trying to proclaim.

That's the message we're trying to propagate.

That's the message we're trying to spread everywhere

to anybody who will listen.

Be reconciled to God.

In your sin, you are not reconciled to God.

But that's why Jesus died.

That's why Jesus rose.

And that's the power in the blood of Jesus

that can cleanse all of your sins.

So then we can go to people and say,

be reconciled to God.

He made a way to be forgiven.

He made a way to stand before God and be clean.

That is the gospel.

And that's the message

that we are given to preach.

The only time that we are supposed to preach

is not when standing in a pulpit.

If that was the only time that we were meant to preach,

then God would have never given us the Great Commission.

Matthew 28, Mark 16.

Different places.

Acts chapter 8 and verse 1.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

All except the apostles

were scattered throughout the land

preaching the word.

Did you see that?

Everybody.

With the exception of the apostles.

The ones who you would think,

well, it's their job to do the preaching.

Everybody except them were scattered all throughout the land

in Acts chapter 8,

Acts 8 · chapter mention

preaching the word.

It is your job and it's my job.

It's not my job because I'm a pastor.

It's my job to get up here on Sundays

and edify the flock of God as the shepherd.

But it's all of our jobs to preach the gospel.

All of us.

So if you're not preaching the gospel,

then the mission is not succeeding.

If I'm not preaching the gospel,

I might get up here and preach on Sundays,

but if I'm not out there preaching the gospel,

then the mission is not succeeding with me.

So all of us are given this mission

of preaching the gospel.

Every Christian is a preacher.

Men, women, children,

we're all preachers of the gospel.

So let's dive a little bit deeper into this.

I want to give you a quote from Greg Laurie.

Every Christian is called to preach the gospel.

You and I need to take the commission seriously.

He's talking about the great commission.

Matthew 28.

All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth.

You go, therefore, and teach all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all things

whatsoever I have commanded you.

That is a commission from God

that we are to be taking seriously every day

because every one of us is called to preach the gospel.

So what are the types of preaching?

What are we talking about when you say preach?

Because usually when you say preach,

people think, what I'm doing,

get up here on Sunday in a church

and deliver a sermon, right?

Well, there's other ways to preach, okay?

So number one, sure, Sunday sermon.

Number two, teach a class.

Number three, lead a disciple group.

Those are starting up on September 8th.

What is a D group?

That is a group that meets in a home

or maybe a room in this church

on a day other than Sunday morning,

a time other than Sunday morning,

and they do life together.

They have church and Christian fellowship

and community together.

It's something that you can invite somebody to

if they're not ready

or willing to come to a Sunday service.

Say, you know what?

Come to my house on Tuesday night for a D group.

And we just get around.

We share life together.

We look at what the Bible has to say about something.

We pray together.

And that is sometimes a less intimidating situation.

So that's what we're talking about

when we say lead a D group.

That's a way you can preach the gospel.

And then also you can share your testimony.

How many of you would say,

I testify that God has done a work in my life.

God has made a difference in my life.

Would you slip your hand up right now

in testimony of that?

I dare say there's hardly a hand not raised in this room.

That is your testimony.

It's your God story.

It's your journey that you have had with God,

maybe from the time you were a child,

maybe just recently,

but whatever, it's your story.

It's individual to you.

It's personal to you.

My story is different than yours,

and your story is different than mine.

And both of us need to share our God story

or our testimony with others.

So that's a way that's sometimes less scary

than another way

because anybody can tell something personal

that happened to them.

And maybe the greatest personal thing

that's ever happened to you

is when Jesus saved your soul.

So tell that story.

That's a way you can present the gospel.

That's a way you can preach

is to share your testimony.

There's plenty of other ways to preach the gospel.

Last summer, going into the fall,

we had on Sunday nights,

we had a kind of a seminar sort of thing

that lasted several weeks

where we talked about all different methods

of preaching the gospel to people, okay?

I'm thinking of Carol Davis right now.

She jumped onto one of them

that my mom actually came up with

called The Heart.

And you get a piece of paper

and you draw a heart.

And I've shared that

with some of the children in the room

over the last several months.

But, you know, you go through,

these are all the bad things I've done.

You put a little X.

These are all the good things you've done.

Put a little check mark.

You say, what does your heart look like?

Well, it's full of bad things

and it's full of good things.

Well, does that let you get into heaven

if your life looks like that?

No, it doesn't.

So what do you need?

Well, you need Jesus' blood.

So Jesus' blood comes in

and you just, with the pen,

just mark all that out

and fill in that heart

with Jesus' blood.

And then you say,

now you are qualified to go to heaven.

So you have to ask Jesus

to wash you clean with his blood.

And that's just a very simple gospel message

that even a child can understand.

So there's all different ways

of presenting the gospel to someone,

sharing the good news

that we are sinners,

God loves us anyway,

and through Jesus' death and resurrection,

he made a way for us to be forgiven,

become the children of God,

and go to heaven forever someday.

That's the awesome truth

that we call the gospel.

There's all different ways to present it.

So that's a way that you and I

can preach and should preach.

If we're not doing that,

then the mission is failing.

Say, well, I'd be willing to do it.

I just don't have anybody to do it with.

You know the interesting thing about that?

Take that problem, that conundrum,

that situation that you can't figure out

a solution to, take it to God.

Because I bet you he'll send somebody

that you can share the gospel with.

You know why I know that?

Because he wants those people to be saved.

And he uses you and me to do it.

So if you have nobody

to share the gospel with,

ask God for somebody.

And he'll reveal someone to you

that you can share the gospel with.

And then start a gospel conversation.

That's the last one here.

What do we mean by that?

Start sowing the seeds

for a future gospel conversation.

Start the process.

Normally, when you sit down with someone

and you take an hour

and you present the entire gospel to them

and you lead them

from no knowledge of God

all the way to being ready

to fall on their knees

and cry out to God for forgiveness.

Those situations are very few

and far between.

Okay?

Number one, having that much time

to sit down with somebody,

that's hard to find, right?

Usually, what actually does it

is when you're checking out

at Spring Market

or Target

or United

or wherever

and you just tell someone,

you know what?

Have a great day.

God bless you.

Or ask them,

do you go to church

around here anywhere?

You don't?

Would you come be my visitor this Sunday?

Would you come be my guest this Sunday?

I'll save a seat for you.

And are they going to come?

I don't know.

Maybe, maybe not.

But you sowed a seed of,

I am a Christian,

I love Jesus,

and I care about you.

And that's starting

a gospel conversation

that then maybe,

you know what?

I'm so glad you invited me.

I'm glad you said that

because I've been going through

a really hard time right now.

Let me tell you about it.

Then all of a sudden,

a door opens up

for a real gospel conversation

and that person has a need

that you can then

point them to Jesus.

So,

these are the types of preaching

that we can do.

That's active,

all right?

Active preaching.

That's engaged.

That's intentional.

That's going out,

I'm going to

sow the seeds

of the gospel today

and then see

if God brings any fruit.

Mark 16, 15,

go into all the world

and proclaim the gospel

to the whole creation.

We are commanded

to do this type

of active preaching

of the gospel.

Luke 14, 23,

go out into the highways

and the country roads

and urge people

to come in

so that my house

will be filled.

That doesn't sound,

you know,

not wanting to be confrontational,

right?

Urging people?

Does that sound confrontational?

It does.

It sounds strong.

It sounds aggressive.

But that's what

we're commanded to do.

That doesn't mean

you have to be mean about it.

That doesn't mean

you have to be hateful.

That doesn't mean

you have to walk up

to somebody and say,

you're going to hell.

You better turn or burn.

But it's urging them.

It's in the love of God

saying, look,

people know they're bad, okay?

Nine times out of ten

when I talk to somebody

about the gospel,

they know they've done wrong.

Every once in a while

you'll find some arrogant,

you know,

whatever,

who's like,

I've never done anything wrong.

Sure you haven't.

Ask your wife.

I don't know why

I'm on that today.

I apologize.

But it's urging people.

They know they have needs.

They know they have struggles.

They know they have problems.

They know they're guilty.

It's then giving them hope,

pointing them to the one

who cares enough,

loved them enough,

is willing enough

to die for their sins.

So it's urging people

to come in

to the family of God

so his house can be filled.

That's active, okay?

But then there's another type

of preaching.

Passive.

Maybe you've heard the quote,

I really hope you haven't,

but if you have,

let me mess with it

for a second here.

Maybe you've heard the quote

that says,

preach the gospel,

use words if necessary.

Anybody?

Anybody ever heard that?

That went around for a while.

Thankfully,

it's died out

for the most part.

That's absolutely not true.

We are commanded

time and time and time

and time again

in the scriptures

to preach the gospel

using words, okay?

Intentionally,

actively,

go out and preach the gospel.

But I will also say

that if you're preaching

the gospel with your mouth

and your life

doesn't back it up,

that's not going to be

effective either.

So there is a passive

preaching of the gospel

that needs to happen

at the same time.

There's different ways

of passively preaching

the gospel.

That could be

somebody maybe has a question

and brings it to you.

Maybe you're on a phone call

with a family member

or maybe,

heaven forbid,

a family member passes away

and then people

from out of town come in

and you get to see people

that you haven't in a while

and you sit down

and have, you know,

more serious conversations

about life and death

and then questions come up

that you actually have

the answers to

because you have Jesus

and you have the Holy Spirit

in your heart

and he's giving you

scriptures that you've read.

That's why it's so important

to read the Bible, isn't it?

We internalize the Bible

in our heart,

memorize it,

commit it to memory,

hide it in our heart

so in those moments

that we need God's word

to come alive

and help somebody,

meet somebody's need

in those moments,

they're in there.

So maybe you can answer questions

or maybe you can display

the fruit of the Spirit

in your life.

That's a novel idea, isn't it?

Something we all struggle with.

We're actually showing

the fruit of the Spirit

in our life.

Love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness,

self-control.

When we display

the fruit of the Spirit

in our life

in ways that go against

our flesh and our nature,

then oftentimes

that'll draw people's attention.

Wow, that's not how I thought

that guy would respond.

Wow, I thought she would get

really worked up about that

and she just kind of let it go.

That's interesting.

And maybe God will give you

an opportunity then to say,

you know what?

I wanted to get worked up about it,

but God's been working on me

and he's been teaching me

self-control.

He's been teaching me patience

and love

and reminding me

of how much he's forgiven in me

so I can forgive in others.

And then you give God the glory

and maybe God will give you

an opportunity then

to actively share the gospel

with somebody.

But that's something

we have to do.

Finally, give God the glory

in good times and bad.

That's one of the best ways

to passively share

what God is doing

in your life.

Passively preach

is when you are rock solid

in the middle of a storm.

What are you talking about?

Being rock solid

in the middle of a storm?

God can do that.

That doesn't mean you don't grieve.

That doesn't mean you don't cry.

That doesn't mean you don't hurt.

But you have peace

that can't be shaken.

You have hope

that doesn't go away.

In the middle of missing that person,

in the middle of heartbreak,

in the middle of hurt,

you have peace.

You have a rock

that you're standing on

so you don't crumble.

You fall on Jesus.

And we give God the glory.

Just like Job said,

we talked about it last week,

whether God gives

or God takes away,

blessed be the name of the Lord.

That's a way

we can passively preach.

So we need to actively

preach the gospel

and passively preach the gospel.

Not one or the other,

but both.

1 Peter 3.15

talks about passive preaching.

Be ready at any time

to give a defense

to anyone who asks you

for a reason

for the hope

that is in you.

Sometimes you'll

intentionally go out

and start a conversation.

Sometimes God will bring

somebody to you

and we need to be ready

for those moments.

And then in Matthew 5.16,

let your light shine

before others

so that they may see

your good works

and give glory

to your Father

in heaven.

Even by our lives,

by our good works,

we can glorify God

and point people

to Him.

So is it better

to be active

or passive?

The answer is

yes.

Both.

Both.

Not one or the other.

Both.

Active in our evangelism,

active in our sharing

of the gospel,

and passive

in our evangelism

and sharing

of the gospel,

we do both.

So,

that concludes

ministry of preaching

and then we get

to ministry of prayer.

Ministry of prayer.

prayer.

When we're talking

about praying,

let's look back

at Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

I'm sorry,

verse 1 and,

let me start that over.

Philippians chapter 1

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

and verse 4.

There we go.

Philippians chapter 1

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

and verse 4.

Always praying

with joy

for all of you

in my every prayer.

Why?

Why was He praying

for them?

Because of their

partnership

in the gospel

from the first day

until now.

You see,

this church

had bought in

to the mission.

This church

was on mission

for Jesus.

And their prayer

reflected it.

So,

Paul was praying

for them

always with joy

in his heart

because

of how mission

focused

they were.

So,

we're going to talk

for just a moment

before we leave

about prayer

on mission.

What does it look like

to have prayer

on mission?

I'm not going to have you

raise your hands

right now.

But if I did

and say,

how many of you

prayed this morning?

There'd probably be

a lot of hands raised.

Maybe not every hand.

How many of you

prayed last week?

And then if we took

a poll,

what was the subject

of our prayers?

Oftentimes,

we might find

ourselves praying

for the sick,

the hurting,

the physically

broken

more than

anything else.

It's not unusual.

We are commanded

to do that,

to take our request

to God.

The prayer of faith

can heal the sick.

Read this in the Bible.

But I want to share

this quote from you.

I heard it from

Paul Washer,

but I'm pretty sure

he got it from

Leonard Ravenhill

if Wade Pierce is right.

And I think he probably is.

But it's an outstanding quote

and there's been

a few variations of it.

We spend more time

praying to keep

saints out of heaven

than we ever spend

praying to get

sinners into heaven

or to keep

sinners out of hell.

Should we pray

for our aunt

when she has cancer?

Of course.

Should we pray

for our son

or daughter

when they get hurt?

Of course.

We should pray

that God,

if it is according

to his will,

would heal them,

extend their life

so they can bring

more glory to him

and he can get glory

from the healing.

But usually,

in churches

like ours

across this country,

we find ourselves

in the situation

of this is 90%

what we pray for.

and we almost

never find

ourselves praying

for the lost

without God

dying and going

to hell

every day

in our neighborhood,

in our town,

in our county,

surrounding counties,

the Texoma area.

how many thousands

of people

are dying

without Christ

every year

in our home.

That's not even

talking about

the rest of Texas

and Oklahoma

and across this country

and around the world.

We know there are

literally millions

dying without Christ

every day

in their sins.

but we don't often

find ourselves

praying

for them

to be saved.

What does the Bible

have to say about it?

Romans 10, 1.

Paul shared

his heart on it.

He said,

my heart's desire

and prayer

to God

for them,

for his country

people,

his nation,

the Israelites,

for them

is that they

would be

what?

What's that word?

Saved.

Saved.

That's what God

wants.

He wants

his people

to be saved.

He wants

the Jews

to be saved.

He wants

the Gentiles

to be saved.

He wants you

and me

to be saved.

He wants your

family

to be saved.

He wants your

neighbors

to be saved.

He wants the

people that work

at your school

to be saved.

He wants the

people at your

job site

to be saved.

He wants your

friend group

to be saved.

He wants the

people down

at the Senior

Center to be

saved.

He wants the

people in

Wichita Falls to be saved. He wants all the people everywhere to be saved. That's his heart's desire

and that became Paul's heart's desire. Is that our heart's desire? And if so, it should reflect

in our prayer life. Matthew 9, 37, the harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Talking about

the harvest being all the people who are out there without God, ready to be told about God,

but the workers to go out and share the gospel, those are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the

harvest to send out workers into his harvest. God, send out workers into your harvest. So number one,

our heart's desire and prayer to God is that they would be saved. God, save the lost. Secondly,

God, send workers out to the lost. And then thirdly, in Colossians 4, 3, Paul said, pray for us,

that God would open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. So we pray

for those who are proclaiming the mystery of Christ. Say, God, open a door for them. Open a door for the

message that can save this lost and dying world. Open a door for the preachers, for the missionaries,

for the pastors, for the teachers, for the evangelists, for those who are going out and preaching the gospel

actively and passively. Open a door for them and their message. And then finally, in Isaiah 6, 8,

this is the prayer. This is the prayer that's got to hit home with you this morning. Are you ready?

Then I hear, then I heard the voice of the Lord asking, who will I send? Who will go for us? And I

said, Isaiah said, here I am. Send me. That's the final prayer. That closes the circle.

God save the lost. God send workers out to the lost. God open the door for those who are sharing

the gospel. And then finally, God send me. And if you pray that, God will send you.

But he will go before you. And he'll prepare the way. And he will walk with you. And he'll help you

in those scary moments. And he'll come after you after your mouth is closed. And he will work on the

heart that received that message. God will be in it all. But God will use our prayers. God will

answer our prayers. So our takeaway for this morning, am I willing to go on mission for God by preaching

the gospel and praying for the lost around me? Am I willing to go on mission for God by preaching the

gospel and praying for the lost around me? Would you bow your head with me? God, I pray that our church

would be a church would be a church on mission. Our church is not exempt from the mission that you

have given to all Christians, all churches, for all of history. You've done so many incredible

things through churches. God, let this be one. Work through our people, our women, our men,

our youth, our children. Work through them. Let the school system be different because of the gospel

that is preached. Let our neighborhoods be transformed because of the gospel that is preached.

Let broken relationships be healed through the power of the gospel that is preached.

Do a work in our hearts, God. Let us preach the gospel every morning to ourselves when we wake up.

You are a child of God. You are bought and paid for by the precious blood of Christ.

God loves you and he's got a wonderful mission for you today. Let us preach that gospel message to

ourselves and let that get us back on mission every day. God will give you all the glory for it.

God will give you all the glory for it. We will give you all the glory for it.

We will say, look what God did. We want to see your blessings. We want to see your power. We want to see your fruit.

We will give you all the glory. Church, with our heads bowed,

in this moment of prayer, quietness before we dismiss,

how many of you would say, I need Jesus in my life right now. I need to give my life to Jesus.

I need to turn from my sin and turn to Jesus. I need God to save me. Is there anybody in here

that's under conviction of the Holy Spirit to say, I need God to save me? Would you slip your hand up right now?

Thank you.

I'm going to assume I'm talking to mostly Christians in this room.

So how many of you would testify that God's working in my heart right now

about preaching the gospel to somebody?

Maybe there's a specific name and face in your mind.

Say, God, give me an opportunity and give me the power. Give me the words to say.

Give me the confidence in you to share the gospel with them.

Would you slip your hand up right now and I'll pray for you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Put your hands down. God, empower your people, God.

You love that person more than they ever could.

You love our family members, our friends, more than we ever could.

And you crave to forgive them. You crave to save them.

And we are the instruments that you've chosen to use.

So give us your power. Go before us. Prepare the way.

And let our prayer call down power from heaven to save the lost around us.

Let this be a church on mission, fully engaged in the ministry of preaching and prayer.

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Jared's going to lead us in a song.

If you're able to, would you join us in standing?

If you'd like to come down front and meet with me down here,

I'll be down here ready to pray with you or talk with you about whatever's on your heart.

If you need to give your life to Jesus, you need to pray with God about something,

if you'd like to join as a member of this church,

meet me down front. I'd be happy to talk with you.

Amen.

Amen.