Matthew 9:35-38

Our passage this morning is found in the ninth

chapter of Matthew, beginning at verse 35 to

the end of the chapter. It says, Then Jesus went

about all the cities and villages, teaching in

their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the

kingdom, and healing every sickness and every

disease among the people. But when he saw the

multitudes, he was moved with compassion for

them. Because they were weary and scattered,

like sheep having no shepherd. Then he said to

his disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful,

but the labors are few. Therefore pray the Lord

of the harvest to send out labors into his harvest.

Let's pray. God, would you help us this morning,

Lord, as we bow before you, Lord. Desiring very

intently, Lord, to not only hear from heaven

through your word, but through the eyes of faith

to see Jesus, Lord, as the only hope. Lord, help

us to behold him better and to grow in our assurance

of who he is. And we ask this in his name, the

name of Jesus we pray. Amen. I've heard many

different preachers on different occasions say

that evangelism is simply one beggar telling

another beggar where to find bread. I tried to

find the origin of that quote, and no one really

knows. But one version has it going all the way

back to Martin Luther in the 1500s. So I don't

know where it comes from, and it really doesn't

matter. But it is a good summary of what evangelism

is. Now, when we talk about evangelism, what

do we mean? Well, when you take the word gospel,

and gospel means good news, the Greek word for

gospel is euangelion. Euangelion. And then from

there, it was transliterated, not translated.

They just made it. They just put it in the same

sound. Transliterated into Latin as Evangelium.

From Latin into English as Evangel. Now some

of you grew up and you probably heard like Camp

Evangel and you heard of the Evangel. But that's

an old English word. It's the word Gospel. So

Evangelion, Evangelium, and Evangel, Gospel,

whatever word you want to use. They're all synonyms.

And they all mean good news. Now that is your

grammar lesson, I suppose, for this morning.

But I want us to understand what we're talking

about when we say good news. When we talk about

the gospel, it is specifically the salvation

that God offers sinners in his son, the Lord

Jesus Christ. So the one who goes out sharing

the evangel is the evangelist. And the act of

sharing the evangel is evangelism. And in our

text today, we're going to see God's heartbeat.

We're going to see God's true love, as we just

sang about, for the world. We're going to see

his heartbeat for evangelism. If I were to ask

you this morning, where does evangelism begin?

I think most of us, when we think about it, we

would say evangelism takes place or begins when

one starts to proclaim to others the gospel message.

But today we're going to see that evangelism

begins much, much earlier. Evangelism actually

begins on our knees. As Jesus said, the beginning

of evangelism is prayer. You and I, as the people

of God, we are called to pray. Pray to God the

Father that he would raise up human instruments

to go out and proclaim this life -altering, life

-saving, awesome good news of the Son. to the

nations, to the world. Now we're back, we're

in chapter 9, we're in verse 35. And this text

this morning, it summarizes and it ties together

all the loose ends from chapters 5 all the way

through chapter 9. Now this section of Matthew,

and Matthew is broken up pretty cleanly in different

sections, began back in chapter 4, verse 23.

It'll be on the screen here, or on the wall.

Notice the text here, chapter 4, verse 23. And

Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their

synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom,

and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds

of disease among the people. Now notice our text

this morning. Then Jesus went about all the cities

and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching

the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every

sickness and every disease among the people.

These two verses, which essentially say the same

thing, they kind of form bookends to this section.

Chapter 4. It's getting ready to introduce 5.

Chapter 9 ties it up. So when we look at these

chapters, chapters 5 through 9, there is a great

emphasis given in Matthew's gospel to Jesus'

teaching ministry. I mean, three whole chapters,

5, 6, and 7, but also his acts of healing. Now,

in verse 35 of chapter 9, we're told that the

Lord Jesus went about doing three things specifically.

The very first thing, it says he was teaching

in their synagogues. Well, I wonder, what would

he have been teaching? In the synagogue, which

was a place of local worship outside the temple,

Jesus would have taught from the law, the prophets,

and the writings. Those three designations form

the entire Old Testament. He would have explained

how they spoke about him. Now, I can say that

because we have an example of this in Luke chapter

Luke 4 · chapter mention

4. In Luke chapter 4, we read these words. So

Luke 4 · chapter mention

he, that is Jesus, came to Nazareth. where he

had been brought up, and as his custom was, so

this is what he regularly did, he went into the

synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up

to read. And he was handed the book of the prophet

Isaiah. And when he had been opened the book,

now notice he deliberately, so he gets the scroll,

Isaiah's scroll, he finds the place where he

wants to read from. And this is where he read.

Beginning of verse 18. The spirit of the Lord

is upon me. Because he has anointed me to preach

the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal

the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the

captives, and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to

proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Now

notice what Jesus did. Then he closed the book.

He closes that scroll. He gives it back to the

attendant who had given it to him. And he sat

down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue

were fixed on him. And he began to say, he began

to teach. And he said to them, today this scripture,

Isaiah, what I just read from, is fulfilled in

your hearing. Who Isaiah was speaking of is now

taking place. So Jesus would go into the synagogues.

He would then take Old Testament scriptures,

read them, and explain their fulfillment in him.

But apart from teaching in the synagogues, the

Bible tells us that he also went about preaching.

The gospel of the kingdom. Now the word preaching

here, it's the word keruso, and it literally

is what a king's herald would do. Well, what

would a king's herald do? He would go out before

the king. He was kind of like the mouthpiece

or the spokesperson for the king, and he would

make the decrees of the king known. He would

make a proclamation. Jesus also, he went about

making a proclamation, but what was he proclaiming?

The good news, the gospel. The good news about

the kingdom of God. Now we talked about this

before. The kingdom of God, when you see that,

or the kingdom of heaven as Matthew titles it,

refers to the rule and authority of God. That's

what we're talking about here. Here's the good

news. God's anointed king had arrived. That is

good news. Because with him came God's reign

of salvation and restoration, which was now breaking

into the world through Christ. And since God's

kingdom was here and the king had arrived, the

people were called to repent. Thirdly, he started

to heal every sickness and disease. Now again,

guys, why was he doing this? He was preaching

something extraordinary. He was proclaiming that

the reign of God was breaking into the world.

Now, if I'm telling you, hey, the reign of God

has come upon you, the rule and authority and

reign of God is coming into the world right now,

there better be something to back it up. There

better be some evidence to back up those claims.

Hence, we see the miracles. The Lord Jesus then

went all over Galilee, that's northern Israel,

and what was he doing? Miracle. after miracle.

He was performing many miracles. And what were

they doing? Two things. They, first of all, authenticated

his message and his identity. Secondly, though,

they were signs. The miracles were not haphazards.

They were signs pointing to his mission. They

were showing how the kingdom of God was in breaking

into the world. What do I mean? Jesus had come

to restore all that sin had broken. He had come

to bring The word shalom. Shalom is a Hebrew

word and we know it means peace. If you go to

Israel and they will greet you with shalom. But

it doesn't mean peace like absence of conflict.

The word shalom means wholeness. Everything is

operating as it should operate. Jesus had come

to bring wholeness, shalom, back to the created

order. And his miracles were attesting to that.

For example. Where there was sickness, that came

because of sin, he's bringing healing, the kingdom

of God. Where there was injury, he's bringing

repair, the kingdom of God. Where there is suffering,

brought in by sickness, Jesus is bringing relief,

the kingdom of God. Where there was death, Jesus

is bringing resurrection. You start to see what

he was doing. He is transforming the chaos of

the world. Into the kingdom of God. The first

Adam, through his rebellion and disobedience,

brought sin into the world and with sin came

brokenness. The world no longer operated with

shalom. It was no longer operating as it was

meant to operate. And now the second Adam, the

Lord Jesus Christ through his obedience, he had

come and he's restoring wholeness and order and

shalom to the world. But you see the priorities

here. There's teaching. Teaching the law, teaching

the prophets. There's preaching, proclaiming

the kingdom, and healing. But all of those were

motivated by his mercy. It tells us he had compassion

for the people. Crowds, great crowds were following

Jesus, perhaps only for the miracles. But Jesus

saw them as sheep who were in danger. They were

in danger because they had no shepherd who was

caring for them. That's where we find verse 36.

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved

with compassion for them. I love this. They're

weary. They're scattered. They're like sheep

having no shepherd, he said. So these lost sheep

of Israel, they were supposed to have shepherds

who were caring for them. Now, who would have

been the shepherds of Israel at that time? Well,

the religious leaders were supposed to be their

shepherds. The scribes and the Pharisees. But

one of the contrasts that Matthew continually

highlights in his gospel is this stark difference

between Jesus Christ and the religious leaders,

that of the scribes and Pharisees. You're going

to see a stark difference all the time. So the

religious leaders are shown, through Matthew,

to be false shepherds, and Jesus is shown to

be the true good shepherd. Here we find Jesus,

and he's moved. He's moved with compassion for

the people. The Pharisees' friends had contempt

for the people. They saw them and they quote

people of the land is what they would refer to

them. They had contempt for the common people.

The Pharisees were not concerned for anyone who

did not share their same level of religious scruples.

So what the Pharisees would do, instead of moving

toward the people in compassion, they would keep

their distance from the commoners, seeing them

as defiled. They didn't want these defiled people

around them. But then you say, well, what about

the scribes? Scribes and Pharisees were often

at odds. The scribes were no better. The scribes,

when they were like the religious lawyers, they

are the elite. They're the upper crust of society.

They would have been the ruling class, born into

nobility, if you will. But they also had no real

interest in common people whatsoever. And in

fact, these false shepherds, both scribes and

Pharisees, only cared for themselves, for their

position, for their comfort, for their titles.

But that was nothing new. If you go back to the

Old Testament, the whole history of Israel is

replete with examples of self -serving shepherds

who were indifferent to the people they were

called to serve. What we see today in government

is really no different than what's always taken

place. People get in positions of power and prestige,

and instead of serving the people, they serve

themselves. But not Jesus. But that was the false

shepherds here. In fact, we can go back to Ezekiel

Ezekiel 34 · chapter mention

chapter 34, and there we see that God issued

a scathing indictment upon the false shepherds

of Israel. I want to show you something, because

I want to show you how there's an indictment

and there's a promise of Ezekiel 34. And the

word of the Lord came to me, that's Ezekiel,

saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds

of Israel. Should not the shepherds feed the

flocks? Of course they should. You eat the fat.

You clothe yourselves with the wool. You're getting

rich off of them. You slaughter the fatlings,

but you do not feed the flock. The weak, they've

ignored. You've not strengthened. Nor have you

healed those who were sick, nor bound up the

broken, nor brought back what was driven away,

nor have you sought what was lost, but rather

with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So

they were scattered, because there was no shepherd.

And they became food for the beasts of the field

when they were scattered. Ah, my sheep, they

wandered through all the mountains and on every

high hill. Yes, my flock was scattered over the

whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking

or searching for them. Let's skip down to verse

9. Therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the

Lord. Thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against

the shepherds, and I will require my flock at

their hand. God was angry. He was angry because

these people who were supposed to be serving

the people were only serving themselves, only

concerned for their own welfare. They were also

characterized by injustice. They didn't help

the sick. They didn't care for the poor. They

didn't do anything that they're required to do.

What's required in a shepherd? To feed and care

for sheep. Instead, they were taking these sheep

and exploiting them, getting rich off of them,

and profiting for their own gain. And God said

the people of Israel then were hurt. So there

was a desperate need of a good shepherd who would

tend and care for them. Well, if the leaders

were failing to do it, what's going to happen?

This is the good news. Here's the promise. God

said, I will come and personally tend to them.

Now, same chapter. Now let's look at verse 11,

if you will. For thus says the Lord God, I love

this. Indeed, I myself will search for my sheep

and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his

flock on the day he is among the scattered sheep.

So will I seek out my sheep and deliver them

from all the places where they are scattered

on a cloudy and dark day. Go down to verse 14.

Notice the I wills again. I will feed them in

good pasture, and their fold shall be on the

high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie

down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture

on the mountains of Israel. I'm going to take

care of them, God says. Verse 15. I will feed

my flock, and I will make them lie down, says

the Lord God. Fast verse. I will seek. What was

lost? Are you starting to make connections here?

Jesus said, I have come to seek and to seek and...

I have come to seek and to what? Thank you. That's

not a hard verse, by the way, but I just drew

a blank. I have come to seek and to save that

which was lost. I will seek what was lost. I

was just testing you all. That's all I was doing.

Verse 16. I will seek what was lost and bring

back what was driven away, bind up the broken,

strengthen what was sick, but I will destroy

the fat and the strong and feed them in judgment.

Okay. That's Ezekiel. God said something here.

Here's the promise. I'm going to personally come

and I'm going to search and seek for my lost

sheep. I will deliver them. I will feed them.

I will protect them. I will save them. I will

come and bind up their wounds and I will strengthen

the sick. Great promises. What do you see Jesus

doing in Matthew 9? Then Jesus went about all

the cities and villages. He's teaching, he's

preaching and healing every sickness and every

disease. He's doing exactly what Ezekiel said.

God said, I will do it. Jesus is doing it. Make

the connection in your mind here, friends. God

said, I myself will come and do this. Jesus is

doing it. What's the connection? Jesus is God.

Jesus was showing compassion to the people. He's

healing the sick. He's binding up the broken.

And in fact, we read in John chapter 10, verse

John 10:11

11, Jesus says two times. He says, I am the good

shepherd. In Ezekiel 34, God's a good shepherd.

Jesus said, I'm the good shepherd. And the good

shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Verse

14, I'm the good shepherd. And I know my sheep

and I'm known by my own. Jesus would not be another

false shepherd who would take advantage of the

sheep for his gain. Rather, he's the true good

shepherd who would even lay down his life for

them. The word Jesus, friends, was passionate,

consumed with fulfilling his father's plan, which

was what? To rescue the lost sheep, all the lost

sheep that the father had given to him. John

John 6:39

6, verse 39. Jesus said of himself, this is the

will of the father who sent me. Here it is. That

of all he has given me, I should lose nothing,

but I should raise it up at the last day. Jesus

said, I had come to seek and to save that which

was lost. He said, I have come to bring into

one fold all of the lost sheep that my father

had given to me. Jesus will see to it that the

mission of world evangelism is accomplished.

In John, back in Matthew 9, verse 37, he said

Matthew 9:37

to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but

the labors are few. Therefore, you pray that

the Lord of the harvest, that he would send out

labors into his fields, into his harvest. So

the harvest is plentiful. What harvest is he

referring to? He's speaking of the multitudes

that he just looked on with compassion who were

scattered, having no shepherd. The harvest is

all those whom he will gather into God's kingdom.

There are lost sheep that he had come to save,

he said. There were many lost sheep who needed

to hear. And he said there are so few workers

right now to get this done. Now was Jesus only

referring to the lost sheep of Israel? No. How

do I know that? If I go back to John 10 where

he said he's the good shepherd, look at verse

16. He says, speaking to his disciples, and other

sheep I have which are not of this fold, them

also I must bring, and they will hear my voice,

and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

The other sheep who are not of that fold are

they who are outside of Israel. He's referring

to the Gentiles. There are some Gentiles, he

says, I must, notice the language of compulsion,

I must bring them into the kingdom. Why? Now

this is not me. Look at the text. Why must I

bring them to the kingdom? He says, because they

belong to me. Other sheep I have. Not other sheep

I may have or potentially have. Other sheep belong

to me. But they're outside of Israel. And he

says, they're already mine. And I'm going to

bring them in. So there's going to be one fold.

One people of God. Not two. There was a multitude

of Gentiles who belonged to Christ. And he says,

I'm going to ensure that all these lost sheep

are going to come to me and I'm going to save

them and I'm going to bring them into one fold

because this is my father's will. He is referring

to a particular group of sheep who belong to

him. The father gave them to him. And he says,

I've got to bring them in because he's doing

his father's will. Now, let me just ask this.

Why do I say that the father gave them to him?

Because the scripture says it. John 6, 37, it's

not my words, it's his. All that the Father gives

me is going to come to me. And the one who comes

to me, I will receive. I will in no means cast

out. Those whom the Father gave to Christ will

come to Christ. And those who come to Christ

will be received by Christ. And they will be

kept by Christ. Because two verses later, he

says, I don't lose any of them. Verse 39, John

6. He's not speaking abstractly. He's not speaking

hypothetically. He is speaking particularly.

A group of people will come. He doesn't say might

come or hope to come. They will come. They will

hear my voice and they will be brought into the

fold of God. The harvest is the world. The gospel

is for the nations. God has people in every ethnic

group, every ethnos. is the Greek word, in every

ethnic group, every tribal group, every language

group, in every corner of the world who need

to hear the good news of Christ and his kingdom.

Well, how will they be reached? Well, if they're

going to believe, they have to hear the gospel.

The evangel must be proclaimed in the nations.

So what do we do? We have a great responsibility.

You're like, we've got to go. Yeah, but he didn't

say that. He did later, Matthew 28. But he said,

right now you've got to pray. Look at it. It

begins in prayer. Therefore, pray. The Lord Jesus

had been preaching and teaching going all throughout

Galilee, but now he's looking and says he told

his disciples. He said, will you pray that God

will call others into this mission and join me?

Now, friends, this is a great thing, and I hope

you see it. There is a partial answer to this.

In chapter 10. Remember, the original manuscript

has no verse divisions, no chapter divisions.

Those came centuries later. So he's praying,

the last verse, that the Lord of the harvest,

and you go to chapter 10, verse 1, he calls to

12. The prayer was answered. So there's a partial

answer, and I'll get to that a little bit later,

well, pretty soon. Now he says pray. If you're

looking at the King James or the New King James,

which I'm preaching from, it says pray. If you

have another version, it says pray earnestly.

Pray earnestly. This isn't casual. The idea is

to be in earnest, asking, seeking, begging. What?

That God would raise up workers who would go

out and preach Christ to the people. Once again,

you see divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

They're always together. Divine sovereignty because

who does the harvest belong to? God. He's the

Lord of the harvest. He's the one, by the way,

he's the only one who sends out workers. He didn't

say go out and recruit people. He says pray that

my father's going to raise them up. He sends

them out. But there's also human responsibility.

How's that? You and I are to be praying and somehow

God works with our prayers. If prayer didn't

matter, why would Jesus tell them to pray? If

God was going to do it even if people didn't

pray, why would Jesus tell them to pray? You

and I are to pray that God will send out workers

into his harvest. We pray because sinners need

to hear, they need to believe, and they need

to call on Christ. Paul said that in Romans 10.

He says, for whoever will call on the name of

the Lord will be saved. Amen. We all love that

verse. But go on. He's using a point here. How

then shall they call in him in whom they have

not believed? And how should they believe in

him of whom they have not heard? And how are

they ever going to hear without a preacher? And

how shall they preach unless they're sent? Who's

sending? God. Now the church will also send.

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet

of those who preach the gospel peace, who bring

glad tidings of good things. That's Isaiah there.

Notice Paul's logic. In order to call on Christ,

you have to hear about Christ. How did you call

on Christ? You had to hear about him. But if

you're going to hear about Christ, Someone had

to come and preach about Christ or tell you about

Christ. Christ had to be proclaimed or you couldn't

have heard. And Paul says, well, how are they

going to hear without a preacher? He's answering

himself. They don't. They won't. Someone must

go and tell them of Christ and his saving work

or they don't hear. This is why missions is an

integral part of the church. The church commissions

people. to go to lands, foreign lands, some local,

some foreign, some regional, preaching the gospel

that it is God who ultimately calls and sends

them. It must be. God is always the ultimate

and decisive factor, but that does not lessen

nor does it mitigate human participation and

responsibility. The mission belongs to God. And

Jesus said, I'm not going to fail in it. I must

do it. It does not blow dust. It is his harvest.

It is not ours. But, he says, all of God's children

should be praying, and I want to slip in something

here, giving toward that end, toward the message

of Christ. Because you don't get to China with

your prayers. You pray and you give. The church

advances, though, God's mission on our knees.

So what's the foundation of missions? According

to Jesus, it's prayer. All of us should be praying

that God's going to raise up more preachers,

more missionaries who are going to go forth preaching

the good news of our Savior. But it can't be

stressed enough. I want you to notice something

and don't overlook it. Jesus' desire for missions

was motivated by his compassion. His heart bled

for the people. It went out to the people. He

was not like the Pharisees who were repulsed

by the people. He said Jesus looks on them. He

sees need. He sees suffering. He sees brokenness.

And it moved him. It says it moved him with compassion

and he was going to do something about it. As

disciples of Christ, as those who are followers

of this risen Lord, may the Lord produce in us

this very same attitude. We've got to look through

the eyes of the Lord. There's a song that says,

Lord, break our heart for what breaks yours.

It's a good line. Lord, break our heart for what

breaks yours. In verse 37, He commands his disciples

to pray. He says, hey, you need more workers

to go out into this harvest. Now, presumably,

they did pray. And we see God answer their prayer

because he called some of them to go. So notice

this next text, and we're ending it here. The

very last verse of chapter 9, the very last verse,

therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send

out laborers into his harvest. No chapters, no

verse divisions, right? So don't get the 9 and

10 all mixed up. We go to chapter 10. And when

he had called his 12 disciples to him, now notice

what he gives them authority over unclean spirits

to cast them out. That's what Jesus has been

doing to heal all kinds of sickness. That's what

Jesus has been doing and all kinds of disease.

That's what Jesus has been doing. There's starting

to be an answer to this prayer. God is raising

up workers. Who are these workers? And we'll

look at this more next week because this is an

interesting list. In the names of the apostles,

you have Simon, who's Peter, Andrew, his brother,

James and John, sons of Zebedee, Philip and Bartholomew,

Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector, the one

who wrote the gospel, James, the son of Alphaeus

and Lebaeus, whose surname was Thaddeus, and

Simon, the Canaanite, and by the way, Judas Iscariot,

who also betrayed him. We'll look at that next

week. Lord willing. But up to this point, our

Lord has been doing all this ministry. By himself.

But all that's about to change right now. The

disciples would become the very workers they

were praying for. And I find that's what happens

a lot of times. Sometimes you get burdened. You're

like, and you start praying. You're praying for

missions and then God burdens you. Hey, you go.

The Lord is now going to involve more disciples

in this mission to reach more sheep. How is it

possible? Well, the Lord had prepared the sheep

through his teaching and preaching ministry.

Now it's time to go and reap this harvest of

souls. But it's not going to be physical healing

only, but spiritual. Because what people most

need is the forgiveness of sins and to be reconciled

with God. And that is precisely what the good

shepherd did and only he could do. See, the good

news of the kingdom, folks, is not simply that

the king arrived. That's good news. But that

the king laid down his life for his sheep. The

gospel, the euangelion, the evangel, is our king

came and he died in our place and he was buried

and he rose again the third day and he offers

salvation and eternal life to all who would ever

call upon him. Israel's shepherds, they failed

miserably. God's true shepherd prevailed. ultimately.

He never exploited the sheep. Instead, he was

impoverished so that the sheep might be enriched.

False shepherds enriched themselves and impoverished

the sheep. Jesus impoverished himself and enriched

the sheep. 2 Corinthians 8, 9. For you know the

grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he

was rich, and that's an understatement, yet for

your sakes, for our sakes, He became poor. That

you, through his poverty, might become rich.

Amen. That is grace. You know the grace of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know it? That's what

Paul said it is. So what do we do? Obviously

we pray. But first though, can I suggest something?

We need to see the world as our Lord saw it.

Friends, I want to... I want us to think about

this for a moment. Jesus did not see people as

a problem. He saw the broken world, but he saw

it through the eyes of compassion. He saw broken

people who need his grace, and that's what the

church is. We need to be operating in grace right

now, extending salvation. Don't look down our

noses. Let's not see people as a problem. Oh,

they can be problematic, but so can I, so can

you. But let's look at it through the eyes of

grace. We need to see them through God's eyes.

These lost sheep, they are hopeless souls. Who

desperately need Christ. Next, we pray. We pray.

We pray for God to raise up workers. Make God

raise up pastors and missionary servants who

will go out and proclaim King Jesus among the

nations. Proclaim King Jesus at Rock Hill and

Simms Alley and Holger and Ironton and Chesapeake

and Fairland and any other school I'm missing.

Home school and Sugar Creek and everywhere. We

need that. But friends, this is the thing we

have to understand. We need to pray that God's

going to raise them up. And I pray that God would

raise up some from this congregation. September,

as Pastor Kyle mentions, our missions emphasis

month. It's when we're going to renew faith promise

commitments. And this is by design. This is not

to take a break for September. It's not at all.

It's designed so that the missions is going to

be kept in front of us. My prayer for this church

is 100 % participation. If you have never been

involved in our faith promise giving, You've

never committed to it. I'm not asking you. I

will never know what you give. It could be $5

a month, $10 a month, $20 a month. Whatever it

was, God's going to use that. But if you have

skin in the game, you are invested at that point.

You're more interested. The other thing I would

encourage you to do, get to know our missionaries.

Take the list that Teresa is going to have printed.

And if nothing else, maybe take one missionary.

Your family said, you know what? I'm not going

to pray through all 40 because I know I'm not

going to do it. Take one family and pray for

them throughout the year. If not, take one family

and rotate it every month. But pray for them.

Be open, though, to God's call upon your own

life, that God would raise up people from this

flock. And lastly, I want to remember always

grace. The work belongs to God. Friends, all

your work, all your efforts, they're never in

vain, but only He can bring in the harvest. You

don't have to seal the deal. Your responsibility

is not to bring people into the kingdom. It's

not. You can't do it. Only God through his spirit

does that. Your responsibility is to proclaim

the gospel of the kingdom, trusting that the

spirit of God will work in the lives of those

he's prepared. 1 Corinthians 3, 6, and 7. Paul

says, I planted. Did you get that last slide?

Oh, I didn't put it up there. I'm sorry. Let

me just read this. Paul says this. I planted.

Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So

then neither he who plants is anything nor he

who waters, but God who gives the increase. Friends,

listen. We sow, we plant, we water, but only

God can make the plant grow. Same thing in the

kingdom. We have a responsibility. Let's preach

Christ. And preaching doesn't mean what I'm doing.

It's just proclaiming him, telling others about

him. But realize you can't do it. Only God can

do it. But we are a responsibility to tell, to

pray. Let's do what the Lord has asked us to

do. Now, listen, the greatest thing about Sunday

morning ever is that when the church is gathered,

God has given this special meal where he says,

listen, you come and commune with Jesus. We need

to commune with him. And we get to do that at

the table of the Lord, where once again, by faith,

Lord, we commune with the risen Lord in the way

that he has prescribed. Let's go to the Lord

in prayer. Father, thank you for, Lord, this

time today. Lord, I pray that it has been helpful.

Lord, I pray that, Lord, you would continue to

instruct us and enlarge our understanding. so

that our affections will be touched, Lord, so

that we'll grow in love for you, Lord. Lord,

may we love you more, Lord, truly, Lord. God,

see people not as problems to overcome or avoid,

but as people who need Jesus just like we do.

Lord, help us, Lord, in the dirtiness of life

and the brokenness, Lord, and it is sordid at

times. But God, let us offer them this balm,

this medicine for their soul, the grace of God

that's given to sinners in Christ. And it's in

his blessed name we pray, Father. Amen. All right,

deacons, I'm going to ask you to come and prepare

the table, please.