Acts: Mission Abandoned

It's so good to have you here with us this morning. If you have

your Bible, it's turned with me to Act chapter thirteen, Acts chapter thirteen,

and we're going to start in thirteen in just a moment, Acts thirteen,

starting verse thirteen in just a moment till My message this morning is mission

abandoned. If you ever abandoned something, you ever gave up on something,

maybe you started out something you thought, you know, this seems like this

is doable, and then you kind of get into it a little bit and

think, yeah, this is I can't do this. This is a little

too much for me. A few years ago, we were on vacation,

this is just after COVID and there we had one of these excursions and we

decided to go and we were with Brandy's parents and the Johnson our friends,

and we're all our families were together and we were going to do something we'd

never done before, zip line. And so we all got together and got

out there and when you came in, you have waivers. We all signed

our waiver forms and then actually signed a way that brought you into another room

and they put these harnesses on you. You never put one of them things

on for that's a trip there itself. You had to have a class just

to figure out how to get that thing on. And so we got harnesses

all on, and we gave us a helmet. We all got a helmets,

and then we're all ready and then they take you up this big stairwell

to the very top of that thing, and that's where the zip line is.

You know, it's funny that all of us, both all of us,

Brandy's mama, dad and our family and the Johnson's, all of us

together, we all signed the waivers, we all got the helmets, we

all got the harness things on. We're all climbed up on the up to

the top of that thing where the zip line was. But then it got

real, you know what I mean. I mean, it's pretty easy to

sign a piece of paper. It's pretty easy to get it's not really easy

to get the harness on, but you know, it's pretty easy to put

the helmet on. But it's a whole other level when you get to the

top of that thing and you said, you're gonna put me on that thing,

right and I'm gonna put that one little cable on, and that one

little cable is going to hold me up, and it's gonna send me all

across and you see all the way over there to the other side is where

there's a thing that's gonna to stop you. And you see a few people

do it, you know, and you're like, I'm not sure. And

I'll be honest with you. We all signed up, we all did it,

but there was some that that abandoned the mission. There's someone who said,

not me, and whatever it may be, they just decided it was

not for them. But I tell you I got I did. I did

do it, and it was a lot of fun. But I tell you

that because there's there's been times for all of us, no matter who you

are today, that we have had an experience like that, whether it was

Zipline or whether it was just you started on a project at home and you

said, you know, you thought, hey, I can do this.

And maybe it was playing as sport as a kid, Yeah, I think

I would like that sport and you get into you know, tryouts, and

you realize that you can't do that. Maybe it was a yard project.

We're gonna we're gonna change a landscape, honey, and then you get into

that and say, you know, that was way too much. I've been

off way more than I could chew. Maybe it was you, ladies making

some your your grandmother or your mom used to make these biscuits or these cakes,

and you thought it looked so easy, and then you decided you do

it for yourself, and you were you could not do it. But you

know, for all of us, there's times where we take on something and

realize we can't do it, and then at times we just abandoned. We

just abandoned the mission. Whereas we come to this passage of scripture, we

see a character in scripture. His name is John Mark, and John Mark

abandons a mission. And this morning that I wanted to walk through of why

John Mark abandoned the mission. And while we abandon the mission, you know,

for John Mark, the mission was sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ,

the mission that God had called them to. And we talk about this a

lot over the last few weeks. Was we're working through the Book of Acts.

Is the mission for the early Church and for every believer was to share

the Gospel with Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth, starting in the

city they lived in and then in the country that it kind of outs to

the skirts of the country, to the ends of the earth. And that

was what Jesus commanded to them to do in Acts one to eight. Right,

you shall be my witnesses. You shall receive power from the Holy Spirit

has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea,

Samaria to the ends of the earth. That was a mission. It's

a mission for every believer of the Early Church, for every church in the

Early Church. Right, it wasn't just for some, it was for all.

And here John Mark, Paul and Barnabas were living on that mission.

Can I tell you today, just as very clearly as I can, if

you're a believer of Jesus Christ here today, do you know God called you

to that mission? You know, if you're a believer, that means Jesus

saved you, and Jesus did not save you just for you to keep it

to yourself. You know, the statistic tells us the majority of people believers

never share the gospel, lived their whole life and never share the gospel one

time. Yet God commanded all of us to share the Gospel with it,

to be witnesses to everywhere we go, even to the ends of the earth.

So you know that day I told you we went on the zip line,

and some got on the mission. Some got on the zip line and

carried through with it, but some never even clipped on. And that's reality

is today. It tells us a majority of believers never even take part in

the mission. They never share, they abandoned, They don't even clip in.

And so why do we at times or guilty all of us at times

for abandoning the mission? Well, I think we'll see some things, some

similarities in Luke. I mean, as Luke writes Acts, and he tells

us about John Mark and why he abandoned the mission, of why we at

times abandoned the mission of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ here and to the

ends of the earth. So let's stand and let's read together Acts, Chapter

thirteen. We're going to start in verse thirteen and hang on just two verses

of today. Okay, y'all are like, maybe we'll get out early and

don't get your heaps up. Acts thirteen Versus thirteen. Now Paul and his

companion set self for pay with us and came to Perga in Pamphomalia, and

John left them and returned to Jerusalem. But when they went on from Perga

and came to Antiochepasidia, and on the Sabbath day they into the synagod and

sat down. Let's pray together, Father, we thank you Lord for this

morning. God. I thank you for those that you've brought here in person.

Lord, those are watching on line, on on TV. Lord,

we all come together, no matter where we are, we come for one

purpose, and that's to hear from you today. Father. And so Lord,

I pray that the words in my mouth and the meditation of my heart

will be pleasing you to Lord today, that Lord, you would fill this

place. And as your Holy Spirit feels me, may it feel every here

today of your word. And Lord, may you move your people today?

May you move me? And Lord, we ask Lord, not by power,

not by might, but by your power, God, and by your

Holy Spirit. You may you move in us today. Lord, we need

you, and Lord, we declare that to you. Now in your name,

we pray, Amen, you may be seated. So we'll see why

did John Mark. As we come to Acts thirteen, it says Paul and

his companion set self will pay for us. And it came to Perga,

pimphernalia and then in verse thirteen, it says, and John left them and

returned to Jerusalem. John abandoned the mission. He from that place on,

John went back to Jerusalem, and he did not continue in the mission of

taking the Gospel to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the

end of the earth. Paul and Barnabas they continued on. John Mark abandoned

the mission. And so I want us to begin walking through why did John

Mark abandon the mission? And why did we at times abandon the mission?

As you come to the passage of Scripture, if you go back from last

week's reading, as we studied last week, if you remember we've been working

through the book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas were sent out from the church

of Antiox, Syria. They were commissioned, and they sent them out.

And the Bible says that John Mark went with them. And as they went

from there, they left from the church at Antioch, and they went to

this island called Cyprus. And we looked at that last week, and if

you go with me to Acts thirteen, verse four, and you could see

this picture that I'm telling you verse four of being sent out by the Holy

Spirit. They went down to Solutia, and from there they're set selled to

Cypress. And when they ride at Salamus, they proclaimed the Word of God

and the syn of goods of Jews, and they had John with to assist

them. So here it is they go. They leave the church that sent

them out as missionaries. They traveled to the port city. From the Port

city they go to Cypress. And then it tells us, as we looked

last week, that John, that Paul and Barnabus with John Mark assisting them,

went through the entire island of Cypress. And then now as we come

to verse thirteen, though they've traveled out through all the islands sharing the gospel

of Jesus Christ. And now they're leaving the island, and they're leaving from

there, and they're going further deep. They're going farther than they've ever gone

with the gospel. They're going to new areas, new regions. And the

Bible says at that point verse thirteen, Now Paul and Barnes set sell from

Paphos, and they came to Perga Pamphernalia, and there John left them.

So why do we why did John abandon the mission? We also you said,

well, pastor how do you know that this was a problem. Well,

turned with me, turned with me to Acts fifteen. We see that

later on in scripture, in a few chapters, there becomes a problem between

Paul and Barnabas, some conflict, if you will, and the conflict comes

at the expense of John Mark. Listen, look what happens John, I

mean Acts fifteen, verse thirty six. Let me just read that with you.

The Bible says. And after some days Paul or Barnabas I mean Paul,

said to Barnabas, let us return and visit the brothers in every city

where we proclaim the word of the Lord, and see how they are now.

Barnabas wanted to take with them. John called Mark, and Paul thought

best not to take him with the one. Listen to this, who was

withdrawn from them at Panphomalia and had not gone with them to the work.

And there rose a sharp disagreement. So they separated from each other. Barnabas

took Mark with him, and they seld disciples, and Paul chose Silas and

departed, having been committed by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

So Scripture tells us that later on Paul and Barnabas and they have their they

complete their first missionary journey. They come back and they're about to go back

and visit all the churches they first visited. Barnabas wants to touch John Mark

with him, and Paul says, no, no, he's not going.

He can't go with us. Why because he abandoned us. He withdrew from

us the first time we went. So it's very clear for Paul, and

we see from Luke's perspective that John Mark abandoned the mission. So why why

did John Mark abandon the mission? Now? I would have to say to

you, we don't know exactly the exact reason why john Mark left, but

we but these reasons from scholarship are legitimate reasons of why he abandoned. Number

one, we abandoned the mission because of difficult paths. We abandoned the mission

because difficult paths. But john Mark, this was difficult. You know.

They went and they left Antexyria and they went into Cypress and they went through

that island that was where john Mark was from. He was from Cyprus.

This was the island that he grew up on. He knew this island,

he knew the cities. He knew many people in there. He probably been

family and friends. As they left the island of his home and left there

and going to other areas. These were areas that John Mark and Barnabas and

Paul had never been to. There were difficult paths. We understand from the

studies that when they left there, from Perga Inland was twelve miles and leaving

from there to the next place they were going to go was one hundred miles

across the mountain range and it stood above thirty six hundred above sea level.

It's going to be difficult. It's not gonna be easy. John Martin knew

the territory of the island, he knew what it's like. But now they

were leaving and it was going to be a whole lot more difficult. It

was gonna be a lot harder where they were going. It's gonna be a

lot. It was gonna be tough. The mission was going to be tough.

It was not only gonna be a tough mission, but secondly it was

going to be a dangerous mission. We know through scholarship that at this route

that they would take, this road that they would take from Perga to Anti

Pasidia was had a reputation of being a hard area, hard path. It

was known at times for there would be rivers and streams, and there's rivers

and streams would be flood and it would be hard to pass. We know

also on this route there were bandits that lived among that that route, and

it was so notorious for people being robbed and broken into and taken from this

route that even the Roman Army had trouble controlling the bandits of this road.

Say for John Mark, you know, he could say, you know what,

God, I know you want me to go on mission. But God,

don't don't make me. Don't make me go to difficult things. Don't

don't let don't make me go out of my way. God, don't ask

me to do things that are hard. Don't ask me to go to hard

places, hard paths that may be dangerous. I'll share the Gospel as long

as this easy, convenient, and not too difficult. For John Mark,

he abandoned the mission because the path was difficult. You know me, I

remember we took a mission trip in twenty fourteen, and it was one of

the first times I led a church mission trip. And it was Sit tanzenty

I'd been there once by myself, and I was leading a church for the

real first time. And we got together a team and we cast out the

vision to our team, and we had a big group came and we had

two other guys that came from another church and they want to join with us

on the mission. So we planned and we did our fundraisers, and we

were doing fundraisers together. We sold donnuts, we sold all kinds of stuff

that raised money for that, and we were getting further. Only everybody was

just individually raising their own support and their money to to go on this mission

trip. And about that time, this was in twenty fourteen, it came

out to Ebola. Ebola, you remember that disease. You remember, well

ebolah was on in Liberia and it was all over the news, right,

how deadly it was and it was so many people dying in Liberia from that.

Well, we were going to Africa, right, Well, just remind

you Africa is a continent, right, not country. All right, Well,

had we had members on our team because we were going to Africa that

were afraid of Ebola. Well, we called our contact in Tanzania and we

says, hey, there's some guys on our team that are really concerned about

the Ebola stuff and is this dangerous? Should we be worried about it?

And he said, he said, kuna matata means no worries. Right,

he says, no worries. He said, habana, Habana means no.

He says, Tanzania from Liberia is five thousand miles. He says, we're

a continent, a country. He says, it's so far away. And

if you do the math from here to California, it's twenty five hundred miles.

So it's twice the distance from North Carolina to California, from Liberia to

Tanzania. But I tell you that, you know what happened. We still

have those two members and there's two ten members back now. They abandoned the

mission. Why because it was too risky, it's too dangerous. They never

took a part of the mission that never joined the mission. They abandoned the

mission. Why because it's a little too difficult, It was too tough.

And at times, I tell you that because many times we don't share the

gospel. Right, I think of you, how many times they have God

led you and in a church service, God put on your heart to share

the gospel with someone. Maybe it's a neighbor, maybe it's a coworker,

maybe it's a classmate, maybe it's a friend. But you believe that God

saved you and you're worried about someone you love that is headed for eternity in

hell, and God put on your heart that I need to share the gospel

with it. But the reason why you never fulfill that mission, it's because

it's gonna be a difficult conversation. It's gonna be a little uncomfortable. If

I bring it up. I'm not sure how they will respond. And because

of it's a difficult path to share the gospel. It's difficult to share with

that person at the grocery store or at Walmart, or maybe that waitress at

the restaurant. Because it's difficult, I just won't do it, and we

abandon the mission because the path is difficult. Can I tell you if you

join God's mission, and I hope that you do, it's not gonna be

easy. It's gonna be bearing. There's times that's gonna be tough. There's

times where there's gonna be floods of trouble. It's harder you try to live

for God, the more things are gonna come against you. There's gonna be

times where as you try to live on mission for God, there's gonna be

bandits that come to try to rob you of your joy and stop you from

completing the mission. But can I tell you the eternal reward of being on

mission and sharing the Gospel will radically change you and radically change others. Can

I tell you? In twenty fourteen, we had two that abandoned the mission,

but we took I think ten to fifteen and in that week seven days

time, we saw over one hundred people come to another Lord and Savior.

We actually saw a church started in Tanzania. What if we all would abandon

the mission, a church wouldn't have been started in one hundred souls wouldn't have

been saved. Listen, we abandoned the mission because of the difficult past,

but also we abandoned the mission at times because we disapprove of leadership. Disapproval

of leadership. The mission is abandoned because of disapproval of leadership. You know,

in the Church of Antioch exploded and there the gentile Church came about.

And the Bible says that if you remember, if you go back through your

history and our studies are through acts. If you remember when the church center

representation from Jerusalem to any see what was happening, They said, Barnabas,

you remember that when Barnabas got there, he shared the gospel. When more

people came to the church, of church exploded, it got even bigger,

so much so Barnabas decided he needed some help. So he left the church

there and he traveled to where Paul was from Tarsus, right, and he

got Paul right, and he brought Paul back to the Church of Antioch.

And for a whole year, listen, Barnabas and Paul, or Barnabas and

Saul led the church there. You remember, right after that time, about

a year after time, God the Holy Spirit came upon the church and said,

set apart from me too, right for the mission for the work.

And that was who Barnabas and Saul. The Bible says, now as they

went last week, we saw they went to the island and looked back with

me. If you go back to the first I'm looking for it. I'm

sorry verse seven of chapter thirteen. There was a man, they shared the

gospel, and there was a proNT school there surgery is Paul is verse seven,

a man of intellate intelligence who summoned listen, Barnabas and Saul and sought

to hear the word of God. So up to this point, listen,

up to this point and acts. Every time we've seen Barnabas in Saul,

it's always been Barnabas in Saul. Barnabas was the first leader in the Church

of Antioch. He brought Saul along with them, and from then on it

was always Barnabas in Saul. But something happens when in chapter thirteen, verse

thirteen, listen what happens, and now Paul and his companions. You know

something here, It's not Barnabas in Saul any longer. It's Paul and his

companions. From here on out, you actually see every time you see Barnabas

in Saul, you actually see Paul and Barnabas. Paul's names mentioned first,

and someone asked for something from someone, a Roman leader or something from here

on out to ask for Paul first. Many scholarships minority scholars believe that after

the Islish Cyprus, when they met Paul in Surgis, I mean the paulis

the proschool from their own. Paul became the leader of the trip. See

Barnabas was a leader of the church in Antioch. He brought Paul on for

his side, but he was kind of the one that first started it.

When it's transitioned to missions, now it's Paul's missionary journey, not barnabas missionary

journey. By the way, not told you this yet, but John Mark

is Barnabas's cousin. You see the little politic and going on now. Most

believe, or many believe that John Mark may have left and abandoned the mission

because he didn't like that Paul was a leader. Now thought Barnabas should be

the leader. And I, you know, I follow my cousin, and

I'll follow his leader. But I don't know about this new guy who's leading

and why he's now in charge when Barnabas has done all this stuff. And

I tell you, I just don't know if I can go along with what's

going on over there. And so I just think I'll take my cookies and

go back home. And that's what he did. And I tell you that

because listen, so many times we abandoned the mission because the path is difficult.

But sometimes we abandon the mission because we disapprove of the leadership God.

I tell you that I've been in ministry for not very very long time,

but a long enough time to see that I've seen so many people, believers,

church members, christians who abandon the mission of God because they don't like

something. They don't like the leaders, they don't like something that was done.

I've heard of church members who have left churches because it ain't like the

choir leaders leading from the piano. I heard we are just recently that had

someone visit our church and they said, well, it was really good to

come and visit you, but we won't be back because your church is too

friendly. Well, I've never heard that one before. I tell you that.

I mean, I've heard of church members and see church members listen to

me. And I've heard of believers who will be a part of a church,

commit to a church, teach Sunday school, teach growth groups, being

the choir, be a deacon, be whatever, and something happened and it

could be as small or as big as you can imagine, and leave the

church and never darken the church again. Just totally be a part of the

church at all, not part of the mission, not sharing the gospel,

just totally abandoned. Why because they disapproved of something that the pastor did,

or somebody did, or somebody made them up, sat and they abandoned the

mission. Can I tell you listen to me this morning. God's called us

to a mission to reach the world for Jesus Christ. He saves you for

that purpose, and we got to be on guard of allowing mine or disagreement

from allowing us to just to abandon the mission. Can you Can you imagine

standing before the Lord one day, Well, how'd you do on the mission?

Well? That church was just too friendly. Well you know that preacher

said something I didn't really like or I really didn't like their music, so

I didn't go back. Can I tell you we're not always going to agree,

and you're not going to always agree with what I say. You're not

always going to agree with what that church does. You're not going to agree

with everything. Right, some of you like pepsi, I like Coca Cola.

I like pepsi too. Some of you like Mountain Do, I like

sundraw We have differences on and we shouldn't allow small differences of how we do

things here or what someone does here to keep us from completing the mission that

God's called us too. Amen. That's a good hey, we should say

amen here we need to work on I Amen. Amen, thank you.

The third reason that we abandoned the mission is a lost love for the unreach.

John Mark traveled with Paul and Barnabas from the Church of Antioxyria to Cyprus.

Scripture told us that they traveled all through the island that was his people.

Man, this is my hometown, my whole country, my home island.

Sure, I'll go with you home. I'll share with the gospel with

people that I know, my neighbors, my friends, the people I know,

my country. Yeah, I'll share the gospel there. But for John

Mark, he abandoned the mission when you asked him to go outside of that.

Many believed that John Mark abandoned the mission because he didn't have a heart

to reach the Romans. See, Rome was in power. In Rome controlled

the area. And because Rome controlled the area, they oppress the people.

They oppressed the people on Cyprus, they oppressed the people in Israel. They

were authoritarian. They took over and they took control, and everybody had tobaye

by their rules. And some would say that. John Mark says, you

know what, why do we want to reach these people who mistreat us so

bad, Who's taken over our land, taken over our homes, mistreat us,

make us abide by their rules. Why do we want to reach them?

I tell you, I'll reach my family, and I'll reach my neighbors,

and I'll reach my friends, and I'll reach my country. But don't

ask me to reach somebody that I don't agree with. And many times tis

the reason why we abandoned the mission. It's because we've lost a love for

the unreached. Yeah, we want to reach our loved ones, we want

to reach our neighbors, we want to reach our friends. But how about

the person that's different than you, looks different than you, smells different than

you, talks different than lean to you. Oh yeah, preach it.

That's somebody else can do that. Don't ask me to share the gospel with

someone that's this difficult. Heard a story of William Booth. William Booth started

the Salvation Army. If you know that is One day they're walking in London

with his son bramwell Son was about twelve thirteen years old, and his dad

surprised his son one day by taking him to a saloon. Praise was crowded,

and women and men had more of things and crimes all over their body,

scars, different things. The fumes of alcohol were just so strong in

the room. Tobacco was almost the smell of the smoke of the tobacco was

just about took his breath away. William Booth looked at his son Willie,

and he said said to him, says he said to his son, he

said, look around, son, see these people. He says, these

are our people. He says, these are the people that I want you

to live your life for and want you live your life to bring them to

Christ. His son said that he would never forget that moment for the rest

of his life. I ask you today you leave here. Some of you

will go out to eat and go eat with some loved ones and some friends

for a celebrate Mother's Day. Some of you are gonna go out to Walmart

and get your groceries. In the next few days, you're gonna go out

in your community and you're gonna see people look different than you, come from

different walks from you talk differently when you look at them. Next time,

instead of saying oh the lock that got problems. Maybe next time you say,

you know what, those are the people that God's asked me to live

for. God's called me on a mission to reach them for Jesus, And

how am I fulfilling that mission? You ever wondered why there's so many churches

in our world and there's so many churches that are dying and closing. You

know why? This is my perspective, This is just me. You know

why they're dying because they love the people inside the doors, but they've lost

their love for the people outside the doors. Can I tell you today,

Church, I want to love you well, but I want to have a

heart for those outside of the doors of our church. I want to love

them well. You know, the Bible says in Revelation he writes letters to

churches, and Revelation and Revelation to He writes a letter to the Church of

Ephesus, and he scolds them, and he says this in verse four,

I have this against you. You have abandoned the love that you had at

first. Remember therefore what you where you have fallen? Repent and do the

works you did at first. Mean these scholars believe that the love that they've

lost is the love for the love that this church has abandoned was a love

for the lost and the unreached in their community. The mission is abandoned.

Why because the path is tough, path is difficult, it's dangerous, and

it's hard. We abandoned the mission or the missions abandoned because we disapprove of

the leadership, and at times we allow that disapproval to walk away. And

many times we abandoned the mission because we've lost our love for the lost or

the unreached. Heard a story of Elizabeth Elliott. I don't know if you

know who she is. Elizabeth Elliott was a missionary. Her husband, Jim

Elliott, died trying to reach unreached people group called the Aqua Indians in Ecuador.

After her husband was killed by those Indians, she committed her life to

reach them for Jesus. It's incredible story. Have you ever watched the movie

End of the Spear. If not watching, I encourage you to watch it.

It tells you her story and her husband's story. Elizabeth Elliott had a

fable story. It's not true, but it's just a story. But it's

a good story to illustrate. The story is that one day, disciples were

doing some things and that day as they got ready that morning, Jesus told

all the disciples, he said, today I want you to pick up a

stone, and I want you to carry it with you all day. Well,

like typical you know individuals, they all went and I got carried this

thing all day. I'm gonna caried get the smallest thing I got. So

they got the smallest little stone they got, and all day long they carried

it. Come to the end of the day they were getting ready for you

know, just come to the end of the evening's about supper time, and

the disciples came. Jesus said, how about these stones. You've asked us

Cary all day. What do you want us to do with us? And

he says, well, I'm glad you asked tlling them out lay them down.

He says, I'm gonna turn what you carried into two food. Well

they turned the little stones a little piece of bread and that was what they

have for supper. So the next day this we ain't gonna do that again.

When we was hungry all day because we had to carry that, We

just carried a little So the next day they got this big old stones right,

whoa, we were hungry last night. We canna be hungry tonight.

And they carried these big stones and all day long they carried them stones throughout

the day, just burden with them all day long. And at the very

end of the day that came and boy, they were ex sighted. They

were thinking steak and potatoes, wool, sweet roast and sweet tea. We're

gonna eat good tonight, fellas, and said, Jesus, what we want

to do with them stalls today? Jesus? He said, oh, just

take them, lay them over there. We don't need them today. Jesus,

what are you talking about. We don't need them today. Yesterday he

says, He said, yesterday you took them and turn them into bread.

Today you just tell them to put them on the pill. He said,

who are you carrying the stones for? For your sake or for my sake?

I ask you today, missionaries, pastors, elders, deacons, growth

group leaders, teachers, believers today, what are you carrying your stones for?

He said, for you or for Jesus' sake. Paul and Barnabas left

home. For Jesus' sake, they confronted the evil wicked, which doctor for

jesus sake. They traveled the road, the tough road full of bandits and

the barren land and flooded with streams for Jesus's sake. They endured persecution at

the Church of Antioch Psidia for Jesus' sake. They didn't complain about what they're

doing or complained about who was leading. They did it all for Jesus' sake.

Today, will you share the gospel of Jesus Christ, not for your

sake, but for jesus sake? You pray with me every d about every

I close. Lord, I thank you Lord for your word. Today,

I thank you Lord that you've Lord commanded us to live on mission to fulfill

your mission of sharing Jesus with the people all across our world, starting right

here in our homes. And Lord, I pray today we would examine Lord,

how we're doing in your mission, what we've done to fafil your mission,

or whether we've abandoned. Lord, I pray we examine the reason why

we've abandoned today and today there'd be a heart for us to say, Lord,

we want to be on mission, and Lord, we want to do

it for your sake, for your name, for your glory, not for

ours or our benefit, or our glory or our self interest, Lord,

but to be faithful to what you've called us to for you, Lord,

or our pray you lead us in this time of invitation, the Lord,

that this will be a time that we would surrender our hearts and our commitments,

our lives to you. Lord. We thank you, Lord for your

love for us. We thank you Lord. If we're believers here Jesus,

believers in you did it here today, Jesus, what you've done for us,

And Lord, may we live our lives in obedience to you. We

love you. Lead us now, the Lord. We pray you know we

pray him in Jesus pain all to him