Sent with Nothing and Everything

Last night at 11 o', clock, I got an email from the official lease committee, the chair of the lease committee that makes me feel important at St. Tim's and it said, I think everything will work out. Let's figure out when we can sign this thing. And so that's a big deal. That's a big deal in the history of our church. And so it looks like there's still lots of steps, but it looks like we'll be able to start meeting in St. Tim's space, have our own dedicated kids space and just have a building space we can use for all sorts of things which we're really excited about. And that will be in the fall sometime. That's as, like, specific as I can give you. That's literally, I just told you everything we know, but exciting. And what an exciting day to get to share some of that as well. So we'll continue to let you know more. There'll probably be opportunities to clean and paint and move. And for sure there's going to be some money we're going to have to raise just to furnish things and create a space. And we're excited to get to do that all together. It's like a family getting to move into a home together. So we're thrilled about that and we will promise we'll let you know when it happens. I have lots of highlights, lots of things I've been encouraged by. As we think about our birthday, Caleb's video is fantastic because that's, for me, a definite highlight. Getting to. I got to have the same view as Caleb sitting in the pool. And it was kind of a very special thing. And special also because I got to hear from people at the school, like, are you the ones who dunked the guy in the pool? And I got to explain baptism with some people because of that, which is really special. So many stories of people serving one another, caring for each other, caring for our community and the people around us. So many stories of small groups and relationships built and people getting to gather around scripture and learn and grow. So many stories of babies being born, lots of them, and our kids just expanding and growing to the point people meet in the, in the entryway. God's just doing a lot of things. Not just, you know, we've grown like we have more people, but just we're seeing growth in our relationships and our relationships with the Lord. And it's been really, really encouraging. So some of those people in the video, I emailed or texted many, many people. And I texted, like, anyone who was even Adjacent Hope Adjacent is what I was calling it. And so some of those were groups of teenagers, which you're like, I haven't seen those. Those are some of our apex kids. So every summer we host for a few weeks, groups that come in from other places and get to just join ministry and do ministry in our city. And they've been very active in, like, praying and texting the last few weeks, especially as, like, our city is in the news. And so they are like, how can we pray? And those are kids who served, like, at Valley View and did service projects there and hung out with kids in the park. And so they even have, like, a heart, even for that school. And so they wanted to send videos like, hey, we want to say happy birthday too. We love Hope. And so there are people who are kind of. It's fun. Adjacent to Hope. A few of those kids actually are talking about coming to school in the cities and, like, we might come to Hope when we come, which is a cool. Just one of those. Another connection with other churches and the greater church. And so lots of great stuff, friends really encouraged, really excited for what God's going to do. And right now, like, in the moment, something that's been encouraging to me and probably some of you, many of you have been a part of this is just seeing the way our church, we say we follow Jesus together to bring great joy to our city. And how do we do that? We do that with gospel in community, on mission. So it's the gospel that brings us, makes us alive, and that is inside this community of people. And it's on mission. It's moving together. And we've seen that mission part and the community part and the gospel part all come alive. And this is just a picture from the other day. This is at Premier Iglesia, where a bunch of you gave money to get some of this food. Some of you brought this food, some of you came and actually helped deliver this food. This day, six different churches, I ended up talking to six different ministry leaders that have all had a connection that we now are connected as we have helped just bring food and care for the community, care for Pastor Rene and his family. This, like, this just. There's a moment where I got to pray with someone, and then somebody prayed for me, and then I got to pack some food and bring it to someone and pray for them. That felt like, this is like six years ago, why we started a church here so that we could bring the gospel and bring good news. And maybe in our words, I've also, in our Deeds to people. So that's been a real joy. This week I met with Tracy, who's a social worker at Highland, which is just over the parking lot from here. And to talk about, hey, we heard you guys want to serve. And so people from your church kids go here and they've been asking to help and serve. And. And so we just know, like, hope's a place that's willing to jump in. And she asked, like, how are you connected here? And I got to say, well, we actually used to meet in the gym right here with the hope that we could do this. So it's just a joy. I'm like a proud papa kind of, but I'm not your dad and so proud brother. It's a joy that we're seeing it kind of play out. And even all that God's done in the six years to build relationship, that we get to be a part of this. So really encouraged by this. And today's passage is awesome for our birthday. It's a wonderful passage in the Book of Mark. We're going through the Book of Mark for a while here, and we are in chapter six. So if you want to open your Bibles or your Bible journals, we probably still have some of those. We have the Book of Mark with some journaling space in them for you, for everyone, for free. If you want to grab them off the communion tables in the hallway. But open your Bible or open your phone. We're going to be in Mark 6, 7. And it's a wonderful passage for today, for our birthday, because it really describes why we're here and why we started our church and why we continue to exist in that. Jesus now is going to actually send out his people with this mission. And it gives us a great picture of what that looks like. And so we're going to look at Mark 6 here in a moment. First, I just want to get us up to speed before we read this passage together. Jesus has done all sorts of things. He's been healing people, he's been calming storms, he's been raising people from the dead. It's incredible. Over and over, showing his authority, not just over people's lives, not just over spiritual things, but also over physical things, over nature, over demons, over death even. It's incredible. He's been going all over the community into communities that Jewish people weren't going into and just going, I'm here for everyone to have new life. He's showing this kingdom. Mark starts with saying, hey, the kingdom of God is here. Let me show you the King and what's going to happen. And we've seen that it's been incredible. And today he is going to do a new thing in that he's going to ask his people to join him in some of that mission. Not just be with him in it, but actually I want you to participate in this. And so that's where we are in Mark 6. And today in Mark 6 it's kind of this chunk. So a couple weeks ago I showed you a gigantic sandwich. A few of you did not like that. I don't often get response from sermons, but I got multiple texts that said I don't like the giant sandwich. It made you uncomfortable. So I heard, I heard, I heard your hearts and I took out the sandwich of all the things. But I wanna share. So the next two weeks are gonna be in these passages, right? There's a lot of verses, it's very small. I promise I'll make em bigger when we're actually studying em. But I want you to see what's happening now. So Jesus done all these things, he now is gonna what they call send the 12. He's gonna send this group of disciples. And then that story gets kind of interrupted or at least like paused. It's the sandwich thing that Mark does by another story that isn't just random. It actually kind of helps illustrate what's going on. And then we get just a few verses where it says then they came back together. They're actually exhausted from their work and they rest. And then we get the story of the feeding of the 5,000. So this week we're gonna just look at this sending, right this. What did he do? Why did he send? What does that look like? Maybe, what does it look like even for us? And then next week we're gonna move into the meat of the sandwich and go. And then he's gonna tell the story about John the Baptist who we've only seen in the book of Mark in the beginning. But John the Baptist, who actually loses his life in this story. There's a feast that happens with King Herod and he actually ends up beheading John the Baptist. And then right after that we hear a story about this other feast. And so next week we're look at these two feasts and these two kingdoms and why they're different. This week we're going to look at just this sending of disciples. But I want you to know this because I think the death of John the Baptist and the feeding of the 5,000 mark is helping us understand what it looks like to be in the kingdom of God, what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus, what it looks like to be the church. And it means there's danger, a lot of danger and suffering. And so just remember that as we talk through this. This is in this same breath, right? He's sharing this all together. Today we're going to look at just the bread of the sandwich, if you will, the sending of the 12. So that's the context. We've heard all these miracles happening, Jesus doing all these things, and now he's going to meet with his disciples. And then next week we'll hear more about John the Baptist and the feeding of the 5,000. So here we are. We made it there. And we have just this passage here from verse 7 to 13. If you'd stand up, I'd love you to stand as I read the Word. We're going to read the Word of God and pray here as we get rolling. We are in Mark 6, verse 7. And he called the 12 and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charges them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and put on, and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you, they will not listen to you when you leave. Shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them. So they went out, proclaimed that people should repent, and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil so who were sick and healed many who were sick and healed them. Lord, thanks for your word. Thanks that you use it to encourage us, to challenge us, to convict us. I pray that your Word, though, would not just be spiritual scriptures, but it would come alive as you promised, that it would change our hearts and our minds, that you'd draw us near to you, that your word today would remind us of how good you are and it would change us. We thank you for it. Thanks that we get together. Thank you for these people, and we love you and we're thankful for you. Amen. All right, thanks, everyone. You can have a seat. So we are. I'm just going to take a little time, walk through this passage in John 6 with us. There's lots of stuff that can happen and even curious things, and so hopefully can answer some of those things of what's going on and maybe even show us a few things that we didn't see. So Jesus now has been doing all these things, and now he calls the 12 these people together to send them out. And so we've heard the story. He sends them out to cast out demons, to heal people, to do this thing, right? To bring for us. We say bring great joy, right? And so I want us to understand why there's a lot of words in here that are really important that Mark would have written that we might not. It might not click with us because we aren't Jewish people in the first century that heard this. And so the first thing right out of the gates is he says he called the 12. He doesn't just say called the disciples or a group of people, but he actually indicates 12, which, as a Jewish person, as a person going, there's this new king and this kingdom that he's like, the kingdom is here and it's starting. And there's this new covenant thing that we're learning about. He says 12. And that word 12 would remind us it's important to those people because there's 12 tribes in Israel. So the beginning of God's people as he gathers them and organizes them. And these are God's people who he's going to use to bless the world. His 12 people. And so it's not just random that there's 12. 12 is this important thing. It's this complete group. And it's like he's reestablishing or restarting or getting this thing going, right? Almost like replanting this tree. He's going, hey, this is a big deal. At this moment, I'm bringing these 12 together, and it actually brings us all the way back. As he gathers people and then sends them out, it reminds us of a pattern I want us to see. This is a pattern you see all over Scripture often actually, if you like, if you read through just the Gospels and you just look for these words like deliver or pull out of or send to, those are all things that indicate a. A core identity of the Jewish people, of God's people. And that's connected to the Exodus story. So it's actually on the Bible Project website. This is where the image is from. They have a little video about this. It's helpful. But it talks about this Exodus way that you see over and over, the people of God are identified by this Exodus story, which is a foundational story for them. And really the pattern we see over and over and over in Scripture, the whole pattern of scripture and over and over in Scripture, it's this pattern of God's people who were Enslaved in Egypt. And then God made a way out. He rescues them. He actually says, hurry up. They have no time. Remember, they have unleavened bread. Cause they don't even have time to let the bread rise. And they get out of town and God protects them in that, right? He leads them in the day and the night. And then they get stuck in this spot where they can't get out. And they're hedged in by Pharaoh's army and mountains and a sea. And you think there's no way out. But God makes a way out for them and they go through the sea and they celebrate. And then for a long time they're actually in wilderness. They decide actually right after that to throw a party and they build a golden calf and they worship things that aren't God. And they're in the wilderness. So then God has to get them through a really hard time. So God pulls them out of their slavery and. And then he pulls. And then he walks them through. He provides for them every day. They remember they have just enough manna for the day, but they have enough. And so he provides for them to through it. And then eventually they reach the promised land. So they're in. So they go out of it, through it, and then they're in the promised land. It's the same picture that we have. Like this is how we describe the Christian life. God rescues us from death, is with us through suffering and really hard things. And then one day we're looking forward to this day when we again, all things are made right. And so this picture here, I think there's. It's not too far to think Mark is sharing this very common identity of the people and saying Jesus here again is establishing his people. But this is like the right. Better. This is it. We're not going to see his pattern over and over again. Because Jesus now is going to rescue people ultimately, cosmically, like in the grandest, greatest way out of slavery, from sin and death. And he's going to walk us through and be present with us through suffering and very hard things in wilderness still providing for us. And he promises us that we will be with him and in the promised land. Whether that's because we pass away here and we experience heaven with him, or that's because he actually will return all that, right? Eventually he'll return and all of us will be into this land of milk and honey, right? A place where the King is good and right. And just. It's really good news. And so just in one verse, in just a part of A verse we hear Jesus say, and then he sends the 12. It's like he's saying, I'm sending my, like, true, real people. This is a big deal. It's like he's starting this story again. And it's kind of the final, ultimate version of this story. Then we hear, not only is he called the 12, but he began to send them out two by two. So another indication, interesting, that Mark says, why doesn't it just say he sends the disciples and gives them authority over unclean spirits? But he says there's 12, which reminds us of this whole group of God's people. And he sends them two by two, which you might remember two by two because you sang songs as a kid about. About like an ark, an archae ark, and animals going two by two. Also, there's places in scripture where we see people two by two, even all the way back to Genesis, right? We see this model of people together in community, on mission, doing these things. This, I think, also might be. It might be Mark saying, hey, look, all the way back. It's like God is doing what he did in Genesis again. Making these two people who came to care for and. And be with God and. And. And take care of the. The earth and be. And worship him together. It's also just an indication, a lot of commentaries said, just an indication of, like, God's value he puts on, that we're not doing this alone, that people who live in a Western culture who might think more individualistic would. Would not understand. Like, the we. We'd miss the point of, like, we're created to do this together. God never create us to be like lone ranger. That person goes and does the thing. But really, we do this together. Even one person said it might not even really mean the number 2 by 2. 2 by 2 just might be a phrase that means, like, in community with other people, it allows them to go do this work with another person, also a person to witness what happens. So when they come back and tell the story, you go, oh, both of them saw it. That reminds us of lots of stories in scripture where two people were sent out together. Even just the support and the help and the courage you need. If you think this could be a scary thing, and you go, oh, Jesus, cool. You could do it, but we can't do it. And he's like, we'll go together, you guys. You'll figure it out together. Sends you with a buddy. I love that. I love that. That's like, in Mark, in scripture. And it's just a part of life. Right. How often to have a buddy on journey is. Is so, so important. And God has built us for that. It's a picture that the gospel isn't just for, like, one person to proclaim to a lot of people, but it's this work where people together move towards other people. It's even, I think, just they got to probably celebrate together. I assume as they go into a town and they see God provide for them and they see people's lives change and they see darkness pushed out and people cheering and people coming, like, essentially being pulled out of death. They got to be able to celebrate with someone. And how great would it be to go home that night and eat your bread and drink your wine and go, how cool is that today and get to remember those things together. It's a really special thing that God didn't just send one or two or say, like, hey, Peter's really good at this, guys. I'm going to send Peter and then you guys can maybe later level up and do it. Oh, there it is. Our weekly. Thanks, Jared. I love it. I love it. Someday that might not happen, friends, and we'll miss it when it doesn't happen next. Jesus says it says he sent them as 12, or he took the 12, sent them in twos, two by two, and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits. This phrase is really important. Authority over unclean spirits, Demons, right? The things not that God. There's already workers out there trying to turn people away from God and towards death. And he says, oh, you're going to go out there and push those things out of these places, out of these dark places. And Hope so many years ago when hope was first planted, Steve, who, you saw his giant face up here a few minutes ago, has always said that we planted Hope to trash the kingdom of darkness. And that's something that drew me to Hope originally. I thought, what a statement, what an opportunity to go, yeah, yeah, we want to see darkness pushed out. It doesn't get to be in our communities. It doesn't get to be in our people's lives. And this is where what Jesus does, he sends them. Not like, you're really good at this. You're going to be really good at this now. But I'm going to send you with my authority. You're going to carry the authority that you just witnessed, raise people from the dead and calm storms. I'm going to take. You're going to take that with you. You're going to take this kingdom of God now with you. And we're going to see that happen. And so what we're seeing here really is a reversal of. Of what we kind of were first introduced to. So if we're introduced to like the story of Genesis in these first few verses, hey, they kind of recognize it kind of triggers, oh, that's like Genesis. That's like the ark. That's like when the Adam and Eve got kicked out because they turned to Satan. Where Satan comes, a demon comes to convince them and it actually gets. Kicks them out of the presence of God. Jesus now says, I'm going to actually flip this now. I'm going to send people in twos like Adam and Eve, and they're going to go into places and they're going to kick Satan out of these places. I have the power to overpower Satan. Right? We already heard about this with the strongman earlier in Mark, where he says, the strong man will be bound. They're going to go into his house and bind him and set the captives free. He's doing it now. He's saying, we're going to march back in and we're going to. We're going to set people free the way that that happened a long time ago with Adam and Eve in the garden. We're going to set people free. We're going to flip the script on this. This is what Jesus does. Two by two. You will be saving and rescuing people in my authority. This is God's great rescue plan. It's beautiful, it's incredible. And we see it actually happen. So at the end of our verse today, they did go out, they did proclaim the people should turn to God and, and they did cast out demons and they did heal people. And so we get to flip the moment in Genesis where Adam and Eve are walking out of the garden of paradise and there's a gate that closes and an angel stands there with swords and says, you can't come in. You've turned from God. You've broken this covenant, this love that we have. You sinned. Jesus says, now we're going to open them back up and we're going to enter into their kingdom and we're going to reclaim it. It's really an incredible moment. He's announcing this mission and he's asking people to be on it with him, which is. I mean, I know people, I know a lot of you guys. It's crazy. He asks us to join him on this and then he gives some details, though. So he doesn't just say he sent them out and they did. He tells us a Little bit of, like, what he wanted them to do when they sent out. I think this is really helpful for me because if I hear just this, I go, that sounds cool. Ah, there's no way I can do this. This sounds scary. And I don't know what I'm doing, and I don't have the skills, and I have not been trained well enough. And I need to watch more orientation videos. Like, give me something here, Jesus. And then he says this, which makes it even harder. He charges them to take nothing on their journey except a staff. No bread, no bag, no money, and to wear sandals. Do not put on two tunics. Two tunics is hard to say. Big a band name. He says, don't bring anything with you. Don't even bring, like, little extra clothes in case you're cold at night. Don't bring, like, money even a little bit. Don't bring any food. He's saying, I want you to go and just bring a staff, which is staff. As we walk through these things, a staff is a, you know, like a pole. And a staff would be an indication of a few things. Probably here he's giving a picture of a shepherd, which we think about Shepherd. Think of, like Psalm 23, as you walk through the valley, right? There's this. The Lord is our shepherd. He's given this, like, staff is also an indication of authority. So he's like, saying, bring a staff. It's like, you're carrying my authority with you, but then do not bring bread. So he's saying, I'll provide bread for you. Don't worry about it. And they say, well, we'll bring, like, a bag for our stuff, maybe to collect money, or as we meet people who care for us, maybe they'll give us things. Don't bring that. What you need to do is like they did in the desert, in the wilderness. Just trust each day. I will provide for you. And don't bring a little bit of money. I know you want to bring, like, a couple, just in case you got the emergency 20 in your wallet. Just in case. Nope. And then you can wear sandals, but don't bring the extra tunic. I want you to just be like how you are, right? Just leave with no provision. Because then I get to be your provision. You see, I want. I want it to be so obvious that this is my work and that you just get to carry me to these people to see rescue. It's this beautiful thing that even they go, well, because this is how I would work. I'd go, okay, but what do we Need. I'd pair up with my guy, probably Peter. And I would go, because Peter's cool. And I'd say, hey, Peter, what do we need? And he'd go, okay, we gotta get this much food. We'll get some rations, we'll get some of those cool army meals. Cause we can do those anywhere. I'll bring my big backpacking backpack because we can fit a lot of stuff in there. We. We'll bring a tent in case no one has a place for us. And then I'll bring like, some books we can read that'll give us techniques on how to do evangelism. Right. I would say there's gotta be a way I can make a plan and figure this out. I gotta like, gear up and get the right technique. And Jesus is like, the way this is gonna happen. The kingdom of God's gonna enter in and push darkness out and it's gonna trash. The kingdom of darkness is not because you geared up right. It's because I am with you. This week I actually read an article about planners. I don't know if any of you. New Year is when I get a little excited about a new planner. Anyone else a planner fan? There's gotta be a few. My wife was in here, she'd say, amen. I read this article. Someone actually was talking about this phenomenon. How excited how the world of planners is like a billion dollar industry, that there's new ones that come out with new things. And there's this whole world that I got introduced to this week of videos about what kind of planner and how to organize your planner and what way to hold your planner. And there's a website called Planner World which brings people together for this apparently as well. And someone wrote about this. I think it's just really helpful. This is how I feel about generally about how life works. And I'd say it helps us indicate why Jesus saying don't bring anything would be so, so hard. Well, in Planner World, this article that's on this website, but they say this Planner World comprises everything having to do with planners on every form of social media. Plan with me. Videos on YouTube let you watch POV videos on how to set up your weekly planner. Different ways, different techniques, different orientations, a meticulous process that involves blocking out parts of your day with washi tape, filling out weekly habit trackers, writing remembers of people, reminders of people to call, and all those types of things. If you spend a little time in Planner World, you'll know your A5s and your B6s. Does anyone know what that is? You'll develop strong opinions on paper weight, vertical or horizon alignment. And if your week should start on Monday or Sunday. How dare you start on Monday. That seems insane. You must be convinced there is a planner that can change your life, that would make everything perfect. But if you just had. It all will work out. Come on. I have for sure been in this headspace. If I had the right planner, the right list, I still have to do it. I don't. I literally have an emp. I have a blank planner right now in my house that started on January 1st. That is full of nothing right now. This is the part I want you to hear, though. A friend of mine remembers a specific moment. This is a guy who's interviewing people who love planners. I was agonizing over trying to identify the perfect planner, and the person I was with said, maybe the perfect can be found in the consistency of always using the same one. Sounds like a nice friend, a logical friend. Never waste the time to see if there's a better one out there. She was right. I just started buying two and returning one. I know it's not about the planner. And yet there will always be that mirage, the planner that shimmers in the horizon, always out of reach, the fun. It's such like a. It's such like a funny way to describe idolatry. Like there's always a thing. And I think in Mark, Jesus is telling these disciples, hey, leave your planner. I got you. This is. This is actually really a big part of this. The reason life is going to change for these people you encounter is not because you brought the right stuff. And it's. And actually, I want you to be so dependent on me that I don't even want you to bring food. I want you to be dependent on this. In fact, I don't even want that. But he said to them, whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. I want you just to walk into communities and someone will be. I'll provide you with a person and a place to stay. You'll meet someone and they'll say, hey, you need a place? Yeah. You go, that's crazy. You want a meal? Yeah. You need somewhere warm. We'll build a fire and we'll give you a blanket. Oh, okay. I don't need. You need some money for some. Okay. Like, I'm going to provide that. Even in the process of you helping people be rescued, turning to God, being made alive, I'm even going to, in that, teach you how important it is to. For me to provide all things. It's really beautiful. He says, and if there's any place that will not receive you or listen to you when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against you. So you're also going to encounter. He shares, people who don't want to listen to you, don't want to talk to you. It's not like every person you meet is going to go like, hey, do you know who Jesus is? And you go, yeah, I do. And he actually gives them permission. He says, hey, I have a very specific mission for you. We need to go rescue some people. We need them turning to God and finding life in God and being healed. If they're not willing to listen, they don't want to welcome you in, then just go. There's plenty more. Your mission doesn't depend on every person hearing you, listening to you. In fact, he even shares this, interestingly, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them. This is. Some people call this Gentile dirt is what it was called. I'll use the quotes. It's an interesting term. A tradition was in the Jewish community that if you had left the Jewish land and went to like a non Jewish land, a gentile land, and you came back in, they encourage you to shake the dust off of your stuff so that you didn't like bring in unclean dirt from those places. It's a way of, like, symbolically or maybe people felt like literally saying, I don't want those people's dirt in our. And so it's like a reminder of this. He's saying, if they don't want to hear and listen to this good news, then just shake off the dust and move on. I'm really encouraged by this. It's kind of the wash our hands of this. Because I often feel like I don't know what to do with this opposition. I don't know what to do if someone doesn't want to listen to this. And I think there's an element of that in discerning that you can. Jesus is saying, there's plenty of other people who want to hear, who are just waiting to hear. This reminds me of a wonderful story in church history. And in February, I love to highlight some of our great black brothers and sisters in the church. And these two guys are a pretty cool history from late 1700s, early 1800s. This is Absalom Jones and Richard Allen. And they very much embraced this passage. In fact, this passage is the one that they would preach in reference in Their history of their churches. These are two church leaders in Philadelphia who were part of a church, and they actually were praying in church. The story goes, they were praying one week with some other black brothers and sisters before a service started. And people asked them to get up and move because that was, like, the white section, I think it was. Even the. They had, like, a different time for their service. And so because the service were segregated, they were praying in the church. And people said, hey, you can't be here. And they said, we decided to get up, shake the dust off our feet, and we would start a church where people. Anybody could come worship. And so they're actually the two people who started two of the largest denominations of black churches in the country. And so they both. They were friends, but they both started two different ones, kind of two different traditions in the Episcopal and the African Methodist Episcopal, the AME Church, which have those all over the place here. And they started those churches, and it came out of them going, we've tried. And I think these people don't want to listen, and they don't want us to worship here, and so we're going to find somewhere else. And they led many, many people to faith. And they actually became known their churches. In Philadelphia, there was a yellow fever outbreak, and a lot of people left the city. And those churches were some that said, we have to stay because God has called us to love our neighbors. And so they became known and actually grew a lot when they became known as these people who would still stay during the yellow fever outbreak. It's a really incredible story and a story where they would explain to people, there are plenty of other people that need to know Jesus, that need to be healed and rescued, and we don't need to spend any more of our time here fighting with these friends. We'll move on. It's a great picture of that in. And a lot of people know Jesus because of the work these two men did and all their churches did, because they're willing to do that thing that Jesus just encouraged his people to do. All right? And now we get to the end, which we already seen the end. He calls them, he sends them out. He says, don't bring anything with you. You're gonna have to trust. And then we assume that's what happened. We don't really get any details of these. I mean, these would be cool stories to hear, right? We don't really get the stories of these. We know they come back and get to share those stories and are exhausted. I assume that's because they've been doing all this work. But they did go out. They did proclaim that people should repent or turn to God. And they did cast out demons and anoint them with oil. Many who were sick were healed. It's the same picture we see our founding of our church here in Heights. One of our favorite verses is Acts 8. 8. And that's from this story, a very short story like this of Philip going into towns proclaiming the good news, casting out demons, people being healed. And it says, there's great joy in the city because this happened. And we saw this over and over. Here you see this throughout the book of Acts is this story over and over of people going in the authority of Jesus to cast these people out. This is a beautiful picture, right? We have to set aside ourselves and understand that Jesus can do this, that we get to be under his authority, take his staff up and we get to walk into places of darkness and, and help push out darkness and bring light. We get to help heal people. But again, in his name. I think the part here that gets mixed up for me is I don't know if I can do this or I think I could get really good at doing this. And so first, the one way I lean is that it can be all about me being awesome. Okay, I can figure this out. I kind of start ignoring some of the leave behind things and let me do it from Jesus. And I just go, hey, Jesus. I couldn't think. I figured out some good techniques. I read a new book, I watched some good videos. I think I can at times, I would say maybe fuzzy, the line of manipulation. I can figure out a technique to make these people turn to you. I can't actually cast out demons. I can't actually heal people. You can, but I think if I'm not careful, this can lean into that, right? And then I actually get discouraged because I try and I think I can do it. And then I go like, oh, I can't do it. They didn't want to listen to me. They're still turning to darkness. They're still not healed. And then I get upset because I kept putting a lot of the weight on me. I kept putting a lot of the effort. And I actually kind of left Jesus staff at home. And I was like, I think I got this. And then it doesn't work. And I go, why doesn't this work? It's so frustrating. It's like when I was a kid and I would try hard things that I knew I couldn't do and I'd tell My dad. No, I got it. No, I got it. And then I'd break stuff, and then he'd come in and I like, oh, I have to realize I need him to do these things that happens to me. I also then just get to where I go, like, this sounds so difficult, Jesus. Just do this, then on your own, you don't need me. I start believing I can see this happen without me taking action. There's this cool partnership in this, right? We see Jesus go, I'm the one who's gonna do it, but you also are the one who's gonna do it. It's this cool partnership we see in Scripture of like, I'm doing this, but I also am doing it through you. There's action for you to take. And I'm doing it all the same thing. And so I can be someone who goes, I don't think I can do it, Jesus. Just go do it or find someone else to do it. I don't take the action. I don't actually go and join Jesus in this great work. And then I also get frustrated. I don't see stuff going on. I actually feel myself not living on purpose or. Or with a purpose. I felt this a lot recently. Like this last week, even as I'm talking to friends and I'm having days where I'm like, I just watched a bunch of videos that make me very sad about what's happening in my community that makes me really confused and upset and angry. And I'm, like, getting more angry. And I'm just texting friends and go, like, I feel really angry. And they're like, you should go do something. And I'm like, no, I think I'll just sit and be angry. And then I go, and I'm getting to carry food to someone, or I'm getting to pray with someone. And I go, oh, my goodness, I feel so much better. There's. It's built into us. He doesn't just want us to sit. He wants us to turn to him and then get to join him in this mission. This is a really fun story. You guys probably know this. This went viral a few years ago. You guys know this beautiful Jesus painting? I think this helps remind me why we can do this. I generally, though, just go, I'm going to go. I'm going to try to encourage people with who Jesus is, and I'm going to not do a great job. And they're going to get some weird picture who Jesus is, and I'm going to mess it all up. That's at least how I feel sometimes. And I hear this story of this wonderful woman who's just this sweet lady in this sweet church who walks by this old painting that's probably 100 years old in her church and it's fallen apart. It's a painting of Jesus on a pillar. It's just a random spot in this little church on this pillar. And she's upset that the Jesus face is kind of fading, right? She wants people to see Jesus. So she decides over a bunch of days to slowly start painting it and restoring it. We'll use quotes on restoring it. And she starts to restore this painting. In the sanctuary of Mercy Church, she restores this painting called Behold the Man. This old painting, well, we know maybe you've seen this. We know what happens as she continues to restore. Doesn't look like Jesus. In fact, people start calling, like the monkey Jesus because it looks like a monkey's face more than Jesus, obviously, right? The one on the right is what she actually did finished, right? And at first, people take pictures of it. It goes online, it goes viral. She gets like threats from people. She gets people very upset with her initially, is very upset with her. And people say, you've ruined Jesus. People are now, like, going to stop coming to church because of this might be a little exaggeration, but this is where I would feel. I go, man, I can maybe get that close to you experiencing Jesus. If it's just me, I could kind of give you a picture of who he is, but I'm for sure gonna miss some stuff. I'm gonna emphasize something that may be too much depending on the day and what I just ate and how tired I am. I might not really show you a lot of how Jesus is. It's cool about this story, though. This went viral. And then all of a sudden people started like, just loving this woman. And they're like, well, at least she was trying to paint it. At least she has this love for Jesus, and at least she's trying to help her church. And then they said the town, who normally has about 5,000 visitors per year, bumped to about 40,000 visitors so that they could go into this church and see this painting. Now, I don't know if they didn't necessarily go to like worship Jesus, they went to see the messed up painting. But they said all of a sudden all of this notoriety came and all these people came and they actually started donating and they raised £50,000 to, to use to help restore the church and help people in the community. And it went from people Saying, hey, we're sorry she messed up to people celebrating her when she actually died. They said there was hundreds of people who posted like sweet messages about how much they love this woman and how much she helped them start coming to church again. Is that wild from her picture? It's a picture for us friends. It's not that Jesus goes, I need you to figure it out and have it together. I'm going to send you with nothing and you're going to give them a kind of broken, messy picture of me. But if you come with me, I can actually still do the work. I can still rescue people. I'm still the king. It reminds me I can go and give people the best I can of this picture, but reminds me that I'm actually not the one who's changing everyone. I actually don't have the power to push out darkness, but Jesus does. And if. If I turn to him and he changes me and dwells in me and I can bring him to people, I can. We can see that around us. And this, that's what we're seeing right now, right? I'm seeing many of you. I've seen this last few weeks. We've got to serve together and get food together, and we're middle of the day at a school gathering stuff and people are scared and fearful, but together we're getting to do this and we're going to see God's light push darkness out of people's lives. In all of this, the thing we can never forget is that Jesus mission he gave to us is his mission as well. We see this written in Philippians, and our relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being very nature, God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. This is talking just about how we relate to each other. But listen to how they explain what the gospel is. This good news is of who Jesus is. Rather, he made himself nothing, he's everything. He creates all things. And he makes himself someone with no bread, no bag, no money, no extra tunic. He comes, becomes human, becomes nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeliness, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that in that name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, on earth and under earth, and every tongue should knowledge that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2 is reminding us that Jesus himself becomes nothing, walks into town and brings life because he himself can, comes in broken, is rejected by family. We see earlier in Mark 6, he's rejected by religious leaders. Throughout the book, he's rejected and comes to rescue us. And how does he do that? He becomes nothing, becomes death on a cross, is buried in a tomb, and then raises from the dead, rescuing all from death. And that's the news we get to bring at this point. They didn't even get to in Mark. They didn't even get to know that cool part. But now we get to bring this news that not only has a king come who can be kind and helpful and share truth with you, but a king who's come has actually defeated death and sin. And now we can come with his authority and share that great, great news and bring good news to our neighbors. I'm going to invite our worship team up so we can sing and celebrate that good news. I just want to encourage you guys. This is a. We say this all the time, right? Following Jesus together for great joy in our city. And this passage is one that shows that picture. This is all we're trying to do. We're trying to go, let me get out of the way and let me introduce you to someone who can change your life. We've seen that over and over here and we cannot wait to see that more and more in the months and years to come as we gather for just fun community events, as we just learn to be together and enjoy time together, as we're on missions together in El Salvador, as we're serving together, as we're praying for people, as we're preaching the gospel to each other, as we're joining small groups and studying together, as we're sacrificing money and time and our hearts so that others can know Jesus. We're going to see this over and over as we join them in the same calling as we see here. A couple of things I want to encourage you with as we end here, as we move now into year six seven of our church, we're excited. What is it that you're. What do we need? Here's a few things I've just been thinking. What do we need from our people, from our church? First, we need to continue to follow Jesus together. I know that's obvious, right? But like, together. So continue to build relationships, continue to say, I know I'm busy, I know I've got this going on. It's worth, though, getting together with other people if that's decorating cookies. It's worth it to connect, have fun, get to know one another. The amount of amazing ministry that has come out of just getting to know someone and getting to care for them or together, get to go do something, encourage you to keep doing that. It's hard. There's lots of things going on. Encourage you to do that, encourage you to continue serving these opportunities we have, like St. Tim's in serving the opportunities we've had with the schools and the community. Many of you serve. In lots of ways, it's worth it. It's really worth it. And it's an opportunity for us to bring this good news and push out some darkness. Encourage you also then secondly, just to give, be willing to give your time, be willing to give your heart to one another. And as we move now forward and hopefully being in a new space, in a new building, we encourage even just to think financially. Those things cost money. And so to be able to give things like us buying food and continuing to help stock the food pantry with Pastor Rene, his church, those things are amazing ways we can use our funds here that we've all given to help there. So encourage you to continue giving. If you don't give, consider giving to join our mission in that or maybe even up your giving. But that's something that continues to. It does fuel lots of cool ministry that's going on. And then I really, really ask you to keep praying. Like, we cannot stop. That prayer is like a perfect picture of what we just saw in Mark, is like, I got nothing. I need you to do something, Lord. It's a moment we get to, like, act out this. I got no bread, I got no money, I got no bag. We need you and see God move. And so encourage you to continue praying. Do not stop that. As we just continue to get to trash the kingdom of darkness together. A few questions as we reflect. We're going to move to a time now to respond. Reflect. Will you turn to Jesus and be healed? If you haven't, great day, too. What keeps you from joining his mission? What are you feeling? What are you hesitant about? What gets in the way? Who joins you on this mission? Who are those people and who could you bring some joy to? This week? We respond also with communion. We love to do that because it's something Jesus commanded us to do. He said, when you get together, have this meal, break bread, drink some wine, it's going to remind you that my body was broken, that I became nothing on a cross. My blood was shed, I became nothing. I died, I was crucified I died, not just death, but on a cross, humiliated, put in the ground. But I rose from the dead. And so we take communion to be reminded of that really good news. We do that on the hallways, both sides. We have juice and crackers. And we encourage you to do that if you're a believer, as an opportunity just to remember that really good news and be encouraged by that good news. We love to sing. Our team's gonna lead us in some great songs today. People love to pray for you. While people in the back of the room, please take them up on the prayer. Not only do we need to pray, we need to be prayed for. So be encouraged by someone and always you can give to just join our mission here. Let me pray for us. Lord, thank you for your kindness, your goodness. Thank you that you've moved towards us. Thank you that you became nothing and you've rescued us, you've healed us, you've cast unclean spirits from us. Or that you've reversed the curse so that we could be with you. I pray you'd encourage us in how we can join you in that. And we could get the joy of seeing other people find that, too. We love you, Lord. You're really good to us. Amen.

Mark 6:7