Fueling Up

SCOTT BRODD: Good morning church. How is everyone? Blessed

to be here today with you guys. First and foremost, there's a

few points of gratitude that I want to make this morning before

you to the Lord. First is we had another serve day yesterday to

get the renovation work another step forward, push the ball down

the field a bit further.

And so I just wanted to thank everybody who showed up

yesterday and served in that way. Bo, thank you for your

leadership in that as well. I also wanted to give a huge shout

out to our student ministry team for, I don't know why they do

it, but they decide that lock-ins are a great thing for

teens, and so to keep them up all night.

So I know Austin and Kat and the whole ministry team, thank you

guys. I know there were several of you who were partnering in

that as well, came and spoke or shared or shared a testimony-led

worship. So I just want to say thank you for ministering to

them in our teens as well. Yeah.

It's a huge blessing. I got to show up a little bit late and

got to do one of my favorite things, which was play Nine

Square. Is that what it's called? Nine Square. Nine in the

high sky square. That's not what it's called. But anyways, and

glow in the dark. It was awesome. But again, thank you

guys.

So if this is your first time here, or if you haven't been

here in a while, we are in a series right now called Search

And Rescue. And it's built out of the simple premise that Jesus

came with a mission. He was sent by the Father to seek and to

save the lost, right? And in cute terms, seek and save sounds

good. Search And Rescue is the reality of it because lostness

is peril.

Lostness is dangerous. It's a futile thing to live far from

the Lord. And so we're on this mission because Jesus has tasked

us with it. And that's how we started this whole series. This

idea that as Jesus said, as the Father has sent me. So I am

sending you. We are entrusted with this mission of Search And

Rescue. We've got the life raft of the gospel.

We toss it out to those who are drowning in their lostness. That

was how we started. And then the next week we talked about

spiritual fitness to be fit and ready for Search And Rescue.

Just as Joseph was saying about like, some of us have a really

tough time learning, like loving lost people because of the

different things that they think or how they feel.

Like, and you've got... So much in you that jams you up from

being free to do that. And so the reality is we need to press

in. We need to grow in our faith if we're going to be available

and even increasingly effective in this mission that we've been

given. And then the third week, last week, we talked about who

it is that we're loving.

Like the lost, like, and it's not offensive to call people

that. That's because who we once were, and it was by God's grace

alone that we've been found. It's not something that we just

self-discovery and got out of it. But it's, it's the lostness

is the condition of every human being apart from Christ.

And it's a, it's a peril. It's connected to danger and, and

futile thinking. And so, so like loving people in this way, it's

important that we know who they are. So ironically enough, in a

way, so far in this series, like if we're to be tasked with

Search And Rescue, we haven't quite left the base yet, have

we?

We haven't gone out searching in our series yet. We're kind of

briefing. We're getting ready to go out and all this, right? And

we're getting there. And I know some of you are kind of antsy.

You're probably actually more worried that when we do start to

talk about the practice of loving lost people, that you

think I'm going to send you with white picket fence signs out to

the street corners.

Or to maybe send you to the local bars on a Friday night,

and when people are coming out, you ask them, Hey, how many

drinks have you had? And if you die tonight, would you go to

heaven or hell? I'm not going to encourage you to do that, by the

way. That kind of evangelism, that's old school, right?

We're going to update our strategy, so if you're worried

about that, don't worry. It's going to look a lot different.

We'll get there. But today is another kind of prepping to go

sort of thing. Getting things ready. So if you haven't yet, I

haven't told you yet actually where to go in this thing, so go

ahead and open to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

2 Corinthians chapter 5. And as you're turning there, I want to

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

set up today kind of with a story. I, for the past few

weeks, so I drive a Ford F-150, which is America's truck. Hands

down, just saying, it's America's truck. But the problem

is, I was having coolant leaks, just like America is, and I was

leaving puddles in place.

Places and so I kind of put something in the system to be

able to detect where the leaks were and I found two leaks

coming from two different hoses and so I decided I was going to

buy the parts and do it myself and I bought a few other

replacement parts as well like the tensioners on the belt,

bought new belt lines, new water pump and all these different

things and Friday, if you don't know, Friday is my day off so my

phone gets turned off basically.

But I, this past Friday, set myself to being like, all right,

I'm going to get this fixed. And so I'm in there and I start to

pull out the air intake housing and all these different parts.

And as I start to pull things out, I see that there's another

leak coming from the radiator. So there was more. So I, at this

point, needed some encouragement.

And I called one of the more encouraging guys that I know,

Dave Simpson. So, and he's very knowledgeable. He's a mechanical

engineer for like hydraulic systems for nuclear plants. So

if he can figure those out, pretty sure he can figure out my

engine. So he came over just like, I didn't even ask, he just

offered. It was such a gift. And he came over and so we're

working on this engine.

We're trying to get down to the root of things. I'm pulling out

different parts and there's this part in there that's called the

air intake throttle body. It's basically your carburetor. It's

where air and the gasoline mix together and that creates your

combustion. So we looked in this, like I've got the intake

off and you've got this throttle body.

It's that little flip thing, right? The little switch, the

valve that opens up. And we pull it off and the whole thing is

just caked. Like there's no silver there. It's just caked

with gunk. And so Dave, when he saw that, he just asked, he's

like, what kind of fuel are you running this thing on? And I

said, well, it's diesel. It's not diesel. I'm just kidding.

My F-150 is not a diesel truck. It's a regular gasoline truck.

So I asked him if that was going to be a problem. I haven't,

again, I have not put diesel in my car just so you, I haven't

done it. But. It was strange to see all the gunk in there when

you're putting the right stuff in. I told him, I'm putting in

the unleaded, the 87. This is like everybody else.

This is what I'm supposed to do. It's still kinked, gunked with

all of this carbon deposit. But you and I both know that

specific engines are made to run off of specific fuels. You don't

put diesel in a regular gas engine. How many of you have

made that mistake before? Good. You don't put gas in a diesel

engine, right?

You also, you don't put, you know how you have those small

engines that are two-stroke engines and you have to mix the

oil and the gas together pre-mixed and then you put them

in the... You don't put that kind of gas in a regular engine,

which I found out the hard way last year with my neighbor's

tiller. I didn't know they kept them separate, so I put the mix

in and thankfully it was a Honda, so it took it like a

champ.

But everyone knows you've got to put the right fuel in the engine

that matches the engine. You can't mix them up. You can't get

them wrong. If you put the wrong fuel in, it'll gum it up, it'll

jam it up, it'll mess things up, it'll break things apart.

Everyone kind of knows this.

Even like if you look at like the Navy operators, Search And

Rescue squad from the National Guard or local National Forest

like Park Service, they know to put the right you fuel in the

engines of their vehicles, whether it's their helicopters,

their airplanes, whether it's their UTVs to trek up the

mountains. Like, they know to put the right fuel in.

Brothers and sisters, I'm telling you this morning this

because in this mission of Search And Rescue, our hearts

are the engine that move us forward in this. And my question

for you this morning, is what kind of fuel is your heart

running on when it comes to Search And Rescue?

What fuel are you running on when it comes to this idea of

evangelism, when it comes to witness, when it comes to

sharing your faith, seeking and saving the lost? Because your

heart's designed to run on specific fuel. And if there's

the wrong fuel in there, your heart's going to get all gunked

up. The throttle body is not going to work great. Fuel

injectors will malfunction.

In other words, what I'm asking you is what are your

motivations? What motivations do we have and what motivations

ought we to have? What fuel should we be putting in our

hearts when it comes to Search And Rescue? Again, this is

another briefing. We're getting ready to head out and do the

practice, but we've got to get things in proper order before we

go.

It's important for us to do this self-examination work. To see

what's in the tank and to know what kind of fuel we need to be

able to run efficiently on this mission that we've been given.

So ironically enough, like scripture points to, I'll start

with like three fuel types, three kinds of fuels that you

can put in your heart that will get things going, that'll get

you moving, start you up and work you out in Search And

Rescue. So you Let's just tackle at least three right now. The

first fuel type that I think scripture points to is this one.

It's called sobering urgency. Can you say sobering urgency?

This fuel type kind of revolves around the nature of lostness,

the peril that is in present lostness, and the future

judgment that's coming. When you stay lost. The reality of future

judgment, like as you and I ponder, as we consider the

condition of the human soul that's lost to God, like how

devastating, how dangerous it is, that should move us to a

sense of sobriety and urgency.

There's no way we can stay complacent in that and unmoved.

We get this, you can kind of see it already in 2 Corinthians 5.

I've got a few other passages, but look at 2 Corinthians 5.

Let's start at verse 10. Take a look there. Verse 10. For we all

must appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

Ponder that.

We all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that

each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether

good or evil. Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we

try to persuade people. Can you hear that? We have this...

Sobering fear of a holy God that one day we will stand before and

give an account.

And so that should spur us on. Look, it says he connects that

reality. Therefore, since we have this fear of the Lord, we

try to persuade people. We persuade them towards Christ. In

other words, this passage in... Jude's letter, you can see it in

verse 23 and 24. This is the way he describes it. He's saying

that to the church, have mercy on those who waver and save

others by snatching them from the fire.

Guys, this is, if we believe in a literal hell, that sobers us

up. It gives us an urgency. We're pulling people from the

fire in this mission. So, like, I hope last week persuaded you

enough that people who are lost aren't just mildly

inconvenienced without Christ. Like, they're in real danger.

And the reality, that reality should wake us up. It should

start the engine.

That kind of fuel, that'll get us moving. It'll get us going at

least. We must be sober and we must be urgent in this. Think

about the parables that we talked about last week in Luke

Luke 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15. The parable of the lost sheep. The parable of the

lost coin. You have these owners, the shepherd and the

owner of the coin. What do they do? They don't just like ah, I

lost it, it's alright.

They diligently, they urgently kind of put everything else

aside and they go after the thing that's been lost. The

woman, she sweeps the house, she turns on the lamps and she

starts to urgently look for this thing that was lost, which is

why there's such a celebration when it's found. There's this

urgency that we have.

So if we put this kind of fuel in our tanks, in our hearts, if

it's there, you won't ever find yourself being casual on this

mission, as if it's meaningless or not important. It's of most

importance. So we need to, I think it's biblical for us to

have a sense of sobering urgency within us when it comes to this

mission. Of Search And Rescue. So fill up on that. Fuel

yourself on that. But not just that. There's more.

There's another kind of fuel that scripture talks about.

Sacred duty. Can you say sacred duty? This is the fuel that

comes from an understanding that you and I have been tasked with

this mission. We've been entrusted with this. Jesus said,

as the Father sends me, so I am sending you. The impartation of

the mission. Soldiers have an understanding that they've been

given a duty, an obligation.

And they fulfill the mission, the task of it. Because it's

their responsibility. They understand this. We can see this

in chapter 5. Look down at verse 18. Jump down to there. This is

Paul saying, Everything is from God who has reconciled us to

himself through Christ. And has given us what? The ministry of

reconciliation. The service of reconciliation. Reconciling

people back to God who were once in distance to Him.

Once in broken relationship with Him. He's given us the ministry

of reconciliation. Verse 19, that is in Christ God was

reconciling the world to Himself. Not counting their

trespasses against them. And He has committed, entrusted. The

message of reconciliation to us. We don't just have this ministry

or this service. We've got the life raft.

We've been given the means by which people are saved.

Therefore, verse 20, we are ambassadors for Christ. We're

appointed to that mission. Since God is making his appeal to the

world through us. So we plead. On Christ's behalf, be

reconciled to God. And this is the most gospelicious verse

you'll find. He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for

us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Amen? It's this sacred responsibility, this duty that

we've been given, this calling that we have on our lives.

Search And Rescue. You can see this understanding in Paul's

first letter in chapter... 9 to the Corinthians, he says this,

For if we preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast because

I am compelled to preach. He says, And woe to me if I do not

preach the gospel.

Because if I do this willingly, I have a reward. But if I do it

unwillingly, still, I am entrusted with a commission.

I've got the mission. It's mine to do. And what then is my

reward? To preach the gospel and offer it free of charge and not

make full use of my rights in the gospel. Guys, we've got this

sense that we've been entrusted with this. Whether we do it

willingly or unwillingly, we're entrusted with this commission.

We've got this holy obligation, this sacred duty. So fuel up on

that. Get that in your hearts. The sense of, man, I am the

king's. He can dispatch me how he pleases. In my apprenticeship

to Jesus, we're commissioned to serve on the same mission he

came for. It's part of our sacred duty. So get that in your

hearts. Your engine will run on that well.

We've got this third fuel type that I want to tell you about

that I've also seen in the scriptures. Missional ambition.

Can you say missional ambition? This kind of fuel type has to do

with setting Search And Rescue as your goal, as your life aim,

as what you're aspiring to. So you set the mission of Jesus as

something you want to see accomplished, to see fulfilled.

So you put in the work. You allow your life to be caught up

in it. It's something that drives you, that moves you. I

see this when Paul talks in Romans 15. It's actually a verse

that defined a lot of my life when I was looking to go into

missional work in unreached people groups.

He says this, My aim, my goal, my motivation, my ambition is to

preach the gospel where Christ has not been named so that I

would not be a sinner. Build on someone else's foundation. Some

of your translations, again, like I said, your translations

might say, my ambition, my aim, my aspiration.

It's this holy drive, something that you love to see, that the

gospel would go further, that you're not content with just

maintaining what is current. You want to see it press on further

to reach new people until Christ is known everywhere. We can see

this.

You don't have to turn there, but we're in 2 Corinthians 10

now. Check this out. This is what Paul says. He says, we are

not boasting beyond measure about other people's labors. On

the contrary, we have the hope, or the word there is

expectation.

We are planning that as your faith increases, our area of

ministry will be greatly enlarged so that we may preach

the gospel to the regions beyond you without boasting about what

has already been done in someone else's area of ministry.

As this is a God-given ambition to push the mission further, to

push that ball down the field even further, to take new

territory, not just to maintain what's current and existing, but

to look to see the kingdom of God advancing beyond the current

horizon. So we've got like three quick fuel types to put in our

hearts that start our engine up and get us moving. Sobering

urgency, the sacred duty and a missional ambition.

But before we go any further, I think it's really important that

we need to pause here and I need to point something out to each

of you.

Because for those of you who maintain your own yards, like

your own property, and you have maybe some small tools like a

chainsaw or a weed whacker and they run on fuel, you know that

after a while, if you keep fuel in a tank somewhere and it goes

unused, what happens to the fuel? It, I'll say it sours or

kind of degrades, like it doesn't, it loses its potency.

It doesn't actually get the engine going anymore.

If these fuels, which are right, true, good, and biblical, if

they start to, they start to sour, it'll jam up your engine.

It'll jam up your hearts. If they turn bad, There's a way for

these fuels, if they're misunderstood and misapplied,

they can gum up everything in your heart.

And when they do, they cause you in the mission of Search And

Rescue to act what I'll say is unnaturally or strangely. So for

example, if we took a look at this, sobering urgency, if it

degrades, It can turn into fearful panic.

In other words, when you're in Search And Rescue and you're

looking to see people come to faith in Christ, instead of

being motivated out of a sobering urgency, you're

motivated by a fearful panic and an anxiety. When people are

panicked, do they act natural? Do you act natural when you're

panicked? No.

You actually act very strangely. Very different. There's a way

for us to be running on fear and misplaced fear and panic when it

comes to Search And Rescue, and it makes us gunked up.

So I can tell you this, that from a pastor's perspective,

people who tend to be more panicked in Search And Rescue

are parents of lost loved ones, of children who don't know

Christ. And there's a way that that fearful panic can start to

cause you to try to embrace strategies for sharing the

gospel that sound more like manipulation and control.

You start trying to get control over things that only God has

control over, and instead of speaking with grace, you react

out of fear. This sort of degradation to sobering urgency

and to fearful panic, like... Causes us to be emotionally

dysregulated when we're talking to people about Jesus.

Sometimes to evangelize, we're yelling at them rather than

speaking with them in love. Sometimes this panic, this sense

of fearful panic is so me-oriented that when I'm

questioned or when somebody challenges my viewpoint with

something that seems to be more true to them than it does to us,

we start maybe to react in anger. This panic can lead to

that.

When they criticize you, when they mock you for your faith,

you can find yourself there. Or perhaps your sobering urgency

has turned to fearful panic about where the world is going

and where our nation is going. And so what you're trying to do

now is you're in fearful panic, engaging in the culture wars of

the day, in the political polarization of the day.

And you think that that's where evangelism happens. Christ did

not call us to be promoting Trump before Christ in this

mission. To defend Trump is not part of this. Or to defend the

Republican Party, that's not part of the Search And Rescue

mission. To defend the Democratic Party is not part of

the Search And Rescue mission. The kingdom of God is above all

and over all.

But we, in fearful panic, can find ourselves trying to quick

post something that's engaging with the political problems of

the day and calling out people and name-calling other people,

thinking that this is the way it's supposed to be done, when

in all it does is mar your witness.

So I need to ask you this morning, instead of sobering

urgency, are you more motivated in the Search And Rescue mission

by fearful panic? Are you anxious? Too worried, over

worried, that fuel has soured. So it's time to drain that tank

and refuel on what would be biblical, sobering urgency.

There's also this reality of our sacred duty, this sense of holy

obligation that we've been given. That can sour as well

into something I'll call guilty obligation. In order to feel

like a good Christian, you have to tell other people about

Jesus.

You don't have to raise your hand, but how many of you feel

like that's exactly where you're at? The reason why I have to do

Search And Rescue is because, geez, I have to be a good

Christian. If I've got to be a good Christian, I've got to tell

people about Jesus. And man, I don't want to do that.

It's like where you're witnessing about Christ is more

from a debt payment back to Him than it is a joy. It's like

you're on a guilt trip.

So when you bear witness about Jesus, what happens is there's

no natural joy in you, which joy is natural to the Christian now,

or at least it ought to be. But when you have this sense that

your holy obligation before God on this Search And Rescue has

become more of a guilty obligation. Your evangelism,

your Search And Rescue task turns into a Saturday chore.

Something you just got to get done. Brothers and sisters,

things won't ever transform in your life if you keep running on

a guilt trip pursuit of sanctification, of trying to

serve on the Search And Rescue mission with guilty obligation

in your tank. I'm telling you, this is the morning. Drain that

fuel.

Because it won't sustain you. It will ruin your heart if you keep

it in there too long. It's time to empty that out. Fill up again

with what is this holy calling. This sacred duty that we've been

given. That's good. Then we have this missional ambition. When

that degrades, you know what it turns into? It turns into

prideful selfishness.

It turns into prideful selfishness. This is where the

ambition for the mission turns into you boasting about the

things that you've accomplished, about all the people that you

shared with. It's when seeing people saved is more for your

own ego and bragging rights than it is for the glory of God and

their good.

Sorry if the toes just got stepped on. This is where

evangelism can be more like sales quotas with a bonus. This

is where you testifying about Jesus is so that you can have

more spiritual trophies on your trophy wall of people who came

to faith in Christ that every now and then you can take down

and show people what you've done.

It all feeds the ego. It becomes about your story, about your

results, about your success, rather than for God's glory and

their rescue. Brothers and sisters, Search And Rescue is

never me-centric. It's always him and the lost. They're at the

end of the equation.

We are a part of it at the beginning, but they're who it

all equals for. Do you know what the National Guard's motto is?

Let me ask this. Do you know what the Marines' motto is?

Semper Fi. The National Guard's motto? That others may live.

There's no me in that picture. It's not from my ego. I'm not at

the end of the equation. So if you find in yourself, when you

think about Search And Rescue, that your kingdom gets a little

bit more glory when you do that, you need to drain that fuel this

morning.

Empty your heart of that and refuel with the purity of what

is a missional ambition to see the kingdom of Christ advance

for his glory, for their good, at my expense. We need to get

back to the purity of this, the purity of sobering urgency, of

sacred duty, and of missional ambition. All of these can move

you. All of these in their purity can fill up your tank and

get your engine going.

So put them in there. But there's one more fuel. And you

know how out of the gas pump you have the three different

options? You have 87, 88, and 89 octane? How many of you fill up

on 89 because you really want to go fast on the highway? Nobody?

Yeah, it's too expensive.

But what that is, it's richer and it can sustain your engine

and create a bigger combustion and more powerful engine and

more horsepower and more torque out of it. It can get your motor

moving even more. Well, there's one more fuel type in the

scripture that I would say is the highest octane for your

heart. Can you guess what it is?

It's Christ's love. It's his love. That's going to be found

right in the middle of the passage we were just in in 2

Corinthians 5. We'll start back at verse 11. Remember, we all

are going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to

persuade people. What we are is plain to God.

I hope it is also plain to your consciousness. We are not

commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an

opportunity to be proud of us. You may have a reply for those

who take pride in outward appearance rather than in the

heart. For if we are in our mind, it is for God. If we are

out of our right mind, it is for you. Sorry, I read that wrong.

If we are in our right mind, it is for you. Verse 14. For the

love of Christ. Compels us. Since we have reached this

conclusion, if one died for all, then all died. And he died for

all so that those who live should no longer live for

themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

This is the word of the Lord.

It's the love of Christ that compels us, that moves us. You

know, the literal translation of that word, it seizes us. It

consumes us. Brothers and sisters, witnessing or Search

And Rescue work in the kingdom of God is primarily and

ultimately an act of love. Seeing that Jesus died for all

so that they don't have to live for themselves anymore, but they

can live for him now, right?

So why we're saying that this whole series is learning to love

the lost like Jesus. It's Christ's love that's going to be

the best fuel for our hearts. That moves us in this mission.

Guys, I'm telling you this morning, the simple point is

this. The driving fuel for Search And Rescue is Christ's

love.

Did you notice how he doesn't put a direction on that love? In

the text, he says, for the love of Christ compels us. But what

direction of that love? Is it our love for him? Is it his love

for us? Is it his love for them? Yes, all the above. It's our

love for Jesus that moves us. Thanks. His love for us that

moves us. It's His love for them that moves us.

And just so we're all on the same page, because there's so

many things in this world that are called love, I just want to

make sure we're defining love rightly. Love is to will the

good of another ahead of your own, no matter the cost. To will

the good of another ahead of your own good, no matter the

cost. It's an act of sacrificial love to another for their good

at your expense.

And this is according to Jesus. You remember John 3, 16? What is

it that God is moved by such that he sent his one and only

son? God so loved the world. God is moved by love in Search And

Rescue. That's what's in his heart. And by the way, I want to

make sure we understand this as well, that this kind of love,

this understanding of love, it's not a force or a concept

external to God, right?

It's not a force that obligates him to act in love. Love is in

the heart of God. As Scripture tells us, 1 John, that God is

love. In other words, if we're going to get a definition and

understanding of what love really is, we have to look at

what God does and therefore we get our definition of it. Amen?

So instead of saying God is compelled by love, I heard it

once said that God is impelled by love. It's not an external

force. It's something within him. And it moves him to send

his only son to seek and to save the lost. You see, he's not

compelled by panic. He's not compelled by obligation. Oh man,

I got to go find them. Jeez, they're lost.

He's not compelled by selfishness. He didn't need us.

He's sufficient in himself. It's love. And so he moves. Brothers

and sisters, the driving fuel for Search And Rescue that you

need in your heart above all is Christ's love. It's his love.

And so we're just going to do... A quick exercise this morning

right now to wrap up our time. If you would just close your

eyes.

If you just take a few deep breaths. Breathe in through your

nose, out through your mouth.

Focus your thoughts.

Focus your thoughts on this Search And Rescue mission that

Jesus has given you.

And as you're there, what do you find in the tank of your heart

when you hear about your call to Search And Rescue, to your call

to love the lost?

What's in the tank?

What fuel are you trying to run on? Is it panic?

Is it anxiety?

An all-consuming fear?

Or maybe it's a sense of guilt?

Or pressure coming from an obligation.

Or maybe it's selfishness. Maybe it's pride. Maybe it's so that

you can boast.

Brothers and sisters, I want you right now in this very moment,

if any of those are true, Would you just invite the Holy Spirit

right now to drain that tank?

And ask him to fill you up with everything that is good, right,

true, and beautiful.

Fill up the tank of your heart with a sobering urgency, with a

sense of sacred duty, with a desire for missional ambition.

Most of all, would you ask him to fill up your heart with his

love?

Today's the day that he wants to do a transformative work in your

heart.

And as long as you want to hold on to your fuel types that

aren't getting you going anywhere on Search And Rescue

mission, you'll be sidelined. That engine won't run.

Would you let the Holy Spirit Of God in this moment right now

grow His love in you?

Urgency, duty, and ambition, those three remain, but the

greatest of these all, it's Christ's love.

So just ask right now that the love of Christ would be what

moves you in this. Confess.

Confess before the throne what you've been moved by that isn't

moving you.

I'm not asking you to try harder, to be better at this

mission. God is asking you this morning to just get the right

fuel in the tank. To let him fill you up, to let the love of

Christ fill your heart so that then you can go and love the

lost like Jesus.

Lord Jesus, this morning we do confess that there's There's

been a lot of ways in which we've tried to move out on

Search And Rescue, to serve as witnesses of the kingdom, to

seek after those who are far from you, and in that,

experiencing the lostness and the peril of it.

God, I confess that even in my own heart, just after hearing

your word this morning, After hearing this, that there's so

many ways in which I am serving in this Search And Rescue

mission as an anxious soul trying to build my own ego.

Lord God, I confess that this morning, and I pray that my

brothers and sisters would confess as well, ways in which

the fuel in their hearts have soured.

God, I pray that you would hear our cries, that you would empty

us so that we can be refueled with everything that we need for

this mission as you've tasked us with.

God, would you help us to see again and again the sobering

urgency to be filled up with that, to be filled up with this

sacred duty that we've been responsible for, we've been

tasked with, to be filled up with an ambition that cannot be

quenched for the mission, but most of all, Most of all, God,

would you fill us up on your love for us, on your love for

them, for those who are far from you.

Because, Jesus, we want to be effective and efficient in this.

We want to be able to bless those who curse us. We want to

be able to persuade those who mock us. We want to be able to

love those who hate us.

So would you refuel us this morning, clear the gunk that

jams us up as we present ourselves to you because we want

to serve you in this mission. I pray all this in Jesus' name.

Amen.