Our Core Values & Beliefs: Equipping, Sending, Supporting Luke 24:46-48 Pastor Daniel Reese

Well, good morning.

If you have your Bibles, we'll be in Luke 24 here in just a minute.

I encourage you to pull that up in your Bible.

If you don't have a Bible with you or don't have a phone with you,

then there should be one pretty close by.

Once again, I don't know the page number,

but I'll give you a few minutes to find that.

When I was a kid, I remember, when I was growing up,

I remember watching the news.

Not that I really cared about it, but it was always on somehow in my house.

I remember watching the news during Operation Desert Storm.

It seemed like one day we were invading Iraq.

Now, this is my, I don't know how old I was,

but it seemed like one day we were invading Iraq,

and the next day it was over.

In reality, the ground war only lasted 100 hours.

When George Bush, President George Bush, and his military advisors

determined to engage Saddam Hussein and his military forces,

they first poured all the military might of the United States into the Saudi Arabian Peninsula.

The coalition forces numbered over 500,000 men

with the most technologically advanced equipment available, right?

The best missiles, the best planes, the best tanks, the best weapons.

They held nothing back because they understood their purpose,

and their purpose was to win a war.

Vietnam was a different story.

The strategy, if you can even call it a strategy, was limited warfare.

Now, the problem with limited warfare is that your opponent is probably engaged in all-out war.

They're not going for limited warfare.

So you're already at a disadvantage if your mindset going is limited warfare.

Because the U.S. lost sight of the purpose of the military,

which is to fight and win wars,

we suffered an overwhelming and embarrassing defeat in Vietnam.

Even when our soldiers returned, they weren't welcome back home.

It's important to keep that purpose in mind.

The purpose of any organization should be its guiding principle

and should influence everything that it does.

If certain activities do not reinforce its purpose, then they should be abandoned.

Limited warfare is not in accord with the purpose of the military

and should be forever abandoned.

If other activities contribute to the fulfillment of purpose,

they should be undertaken. They should be invested in.

But every activity should be measured against its purpose.

The purpose of the military is not to fight wars when they come up.

The purpose of the military is to win wars when they come up.

So what is the purpose of the church?

What is the purpose of us?

Why was it established?

What is the purpose against which we should measure everything that we do?

And if things are detracting from that purpose, what do we need to abandon?

And the things that are enhancing that purpose, what should we invest in?

So this morning we're going to look at Luke 24 and hopefully find that answer.

I'm going to invite Kate up here this morning.

Kate Randall is going to come read our text this morning.

I invite you to stand as we honor the Lord's word together.

She's going to read verses 45 through 48.

Come on up here, Kate.

Luke 24, 48 through 48.

Randall opens their minds to understand the scriptures and check to them.

Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day wise on the dead.

And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things.

Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your word.

Thank You for the purpose that You've given us.

Thank You for Kate and her willingness to read Your word.

I pray God that that seeps deep into her heart as she grows.

We're so grateful for You. It's Your name. You pray. Amen.

Thanks, Kate.

Now if you take this passage that Kate just read, it seems clear from this passage that the mission that Jesus left with His disciples,

the purpose in which Jesus left with His disciples was to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in the name of Jesus.

The purpose God assigned His disciples and ultimately the church, ultimately you and I,

was to tell the world that there was a better way than what the world has to offer.

And that way was and continues to be the way of Jesus Christ.

So in the first century, during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, in the great awakenings in the 18th century,

the church was vibrant. The church was alive. It had a purpose.

The church was directed. The church was focused and great growth.

It happened and hundreds of thousands of people came to understand the message and the message that the church had to share.

But we're not seeing that kind of growth today.

Across the world, we're not seeing that kind of growth today.

And many people have begun to question the relevancy of the church.

They think it has little purpose in society today.

The church is quaint. The church is a good place for a wedding or a funeral with all the traditions associated with marriage and with earthly departure.

But why in the world would anyone want to attend on a regular basis?

Many people believe that the church, by way of its teachings, serves to impose a narrow-minded intolerance upon people.

We are known these days for more for what we are against.

We're against homosexuality, against abortion, we're against Disney, right?

That's what we're known for as opposed to what we should be known for.

When the world asks a question about the church, what's the point?

Many don't find a good answer.

That's why it's imperative that we ask the same question of the church.

What's the point? What's the purpose? What is our focus on?

And we must have a clear answer that will make a difference in the world in which we live in.

That answer is to share a message that Jesus Christ lived, that he died, so that mankind might know God and be assured of eternity.

We have a purpose to share the message of Christ, but before the message can be shared, the message must be understood.

It has to be understood.

In verse 44, Jesus tells his 11 disciples that everything that had been written about him in the law and the prophets had to be fulfilled.

The scriptures were clear about what was supposed to happen to Jesus.

For generations, it had been talking about the Messiah.

The scriptures were clear that he would suffer, that he would die, that he would rise from the dead, and then right in the midst of their suffering,

the resurrected Jesus shows up on the scene with his disciples.

He startles his disciples. He scares them, and he says, see, I'm alive.

Now you understand why I had to suffer, because the disciples, they knew the scriptures.

They'd grown up in church. They'd grown up going to temple. They could have had Isaiah 53 memorized.

And know that in verse 10, it says, it was the Lord's will to crush him.

They could have known verse 11 where it says, after the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life.

They could have read all the Old Testament passages that spoke about the Messiah and still not have associated the fulfillment of these prophecies with Jesus.

But knowing how Jesus was brutalized, watching how he suffered, how he was crucified,

and now looking at his resurrected body with the nail holes still visible, with his scars visible,

looking at the physical fulfillment of the prophecies, everything became so plain.

Everything began to be understood. The flood of understanding that they had in that moment must have been overwhelming to them.

They saw the fulfillment. Sometimes I wonder how many people truly understand that message and the implications it has for them.

Jesus showed the disciples that they didn't have to be rich to enjoy life.

He showed them you didn't have to be part of the cultural elite in order to make a difference.

He showed them how to live a life that was full and meaningful.

And as the resurrected Jesus stood before them, startled them, and showed them that death and hell could be defeated, Jesus brought a message of life.

The messages understood as God opens the mind.

As the disciples looked at a risen Lord who had gained victory over death, as he opened their minds, they understood the message.

They understood the application that it had for them.

But once the messages understood, people must proclaim it.

You have to understand it, and then you have to proclaim it.

Jesus says in verse 47, that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name.

That word preached is a word that would also have referred to a town crier.

Think of Paul Revere. The British are coming. You know that story, right?

This is what it means to preach, to proclaim, to be a town crier.

There's a famous quote by St. Francis of Assisi that people will use at times.

And I think they use it at times in a way to not feel like they are supposed to proclaim it.

The quote is, preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.

Now, there's some truth to that.

We should live a life that reflects the gospel.

But the truth is we have to preach it.

We have to proclaim it.

Paul says, how will they know if no one tells them?

How will people understand that they are sinners and need of a savior if nobody's going to tell them?

God's strategy for sharing the message that Jesus Christ has suffered and died in the place of sinful man

so that man can have a relationship with God.

God's strategy in sharing the message was for people to proclaim it.

Not sit on it, not keep silent about it, but to proclaim it.

In order for the message to be shared, people must understand the message and the strategy for sharing it.

And then, with clear purpose in mind, they must proclaim that message.

That's our purpose as a church, to proclaim the message.

Think about Mormons.

Think about Jehovah's Witnesses.

They go out daily or weekly, door to door to share the message.

They understand their purpose clearly.

I'm going to take two years of my life and I'm going to go door to door and share the message.

As they act on their purpose, they condemn those who follow them to hell, right?

Their message isn't correct.

Others that they don't reach are condemned to hell already.

The church has only one message that can change the outcome.

The only message that can make a difference in people's lives.

And our purpose is to share the message of God's love in order to make a difference.

Now, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, other cults like that, they're wrong in their message,

but they're right in their purpose.

People should be running from us and shutting the garage door because we have a story to tell.

The difference between our message and theirs is ours is a message of hope.

Ours is a message of truth.

But we are doing a poor job of sharing the message.

If I were to ask you how many of you, within the last year, shared with someone

how they could have a relationship with God in eternal life,

I'd be willing to bet that not everybody would raise their hand that says,

I've done that, I've shared the gospel with somebody.

In fact, I'm not going to have us do it because I think it'd be convicting for all of us.

In the last year, how many times have you shared the gospel message?

If I were to extend that to the last five years,

now maybe five or six more hands might go up.

I might get even better results if I were to ask how many of you have shared with someone

a personal testimony about how you came to have a relationship with God

since you've had the relationship with God?

More hands would probably go up.

But for the great majority of those who call themselves Christians,

they have never shared that fact with anyone else.

Those around them don't even know they have faith.

The people they work with don't even know that you go to church,

don't even know that you worship Jesus.

When I was a kid growing up, my dad would take me to air shows at Fort Bliss in El Paso.

Some of you all have been there. I loved it.

It was one of my favorite times.

I would run around and look at the planes,

and I would take pictures of the planes.

Remember those disposable cameras that you'd have to wind up?

And you take the picture and then hopefully they came out?

Like it was a risk you always had to take?

It's not like nowadays where you can just take it,

oh, I don't like that one and put a filter on it.

But I would go click all these pictures.

My favorite plane was the B-2 bomber.

I think about that plane often nowadays when I see the Cybertruck.

But the B-2 bomber has a low profile, has a narrow silhouette.

It's made of materials that radar cannot detect.

Even the engines are muffled and they're so much quieter than a regular jet engine.

It's designed to fly undetected and is often referred to as the stealth bomber.

That's an apt description, in my opinion, of many people's faith.

Many people have stealth faith.

Radar can't even pick it up.

And no one around them even knows that they are Christians.

So here's how we contrast that here at the church.

One of our core values at Cornerstone is equipping,

and sending, and supporting.

We want to equip each and every one of you.

We want to equip each and every one of you to have purpose and meaning

in proclaiming the gospel.

It doesn't matter if you're shy, it doesn't matter if you're reserved,

it doesn't matter if you don't know enough.

Our goal is to equip each and every one of you.

We want to send as many of you out as we can into the mission field

to proclaim the gospel to every nation.

And then we want to support you, both financially and prayerfully,

as those of us stay behind.

So let's break down on how I want us to do that as a church.

The first step is that our leadership equips.

Our leadership equips. Paul writes in Ephesians 4 verse 11,

Ephesians 4:11

and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists,

the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry,

for the building up of the body of Christ.

That means that my responsibility as a shepherd, as a teacher,

is to equip you for the work of ministry.

It's not the responsibility of solely on church leadership

to share the gospel for you,

but to equip you and to challenge you

to do that in your own spheres of influence.

When we say that it is the leadership that equips,

what that means is that we want to supply you

with the necessary items for a particular purpose.

I want to help you see.

I want to help you understand the importance of your testimony.

No one can take that away from you.

So many times I hear, well, I don't know enough information.

I don't have enough Bible knowledge.

What if they ask me a question?

I don't know the answer to share your testimony.

No one can take that away from you.

No one can argue that you don't know what you're talking about.

When you share your God story with someone,

you are telling them what you have experienced God do in your life.

Nobody can take that from you.

You can talk about how God has brought you peace.

You can talk about how God has fixed your marriage.

You can talk about how God has given you wisdom

on raising your children.

You can talk about how God led you to make certain decisions.

Your testimony is powerful.

My job is to equip you and challenge you to own it.

Now, we can work with how to do it.

We can help you write it out.

We can help you form it, but I can't write your testimony for you.

I can't write your God story for you.

But I am going to challenge you to share it and use it

because testimonies are powerful.

We want to equip you to take trips around the world

to use your knowledge in practical ways.

We want you to get you out of your comfort zone

so that your reliance is on God and not on what you can accomplish.

You get yourself out of a comfort zone.

There are some things you can't control.

Our team got back last night.

Last night from ministering for a week in Panama.

Now, it was very clear with our team before we went

that I would not be doing the work.

I was going to be in a supportive role

and I would be challenging them to step up,

to share the gospel, to share their testimony.

Now, I was ready and I was willing to step in if needed.

I was there to offer encouragement.

I was there to offer advice,

but the work of our mission's team was not done by me,

but by the 22 others that went with us.

It was my joy.

It was my joy to see them step out of their comfort zone

and do things they might never have done.

My favorite was when we were driving

to get on a boat to go to an indigenous people group.

As we were driving, I told my son who was sitting shotgun with me,

I said, okay, when we get there and you're doing this little activity,

you are going to share the gospel.

You are going to share the gospel with these kids.

And those of us in the car, that were with us in the car,

were working together to help him form his message,

to make it relatable to something that they can understand and grasp.

And I got to watch him.

I got to watch my boy tell kids that without Jesus,

nothing else matters in this world.

We got to equip him together.

That our goal as humans,

our goal as human beings should be to call upon the name of the Lord

so that we get to spend eternity with him and not be separated from him.

It was one of my greatest joys to see him do that.

It is also my joy to see you step out of your comfort zone

and boldly proclaim the name of Jesus.

Because the reality is there are so many of our neighbors

and friends and coworkers that do not have that hope.

They don't have it.

There are over 400,000 people in the Quad Cities.

It is estimated that less than a quarter of that population

attends church regularly.

Nor Scott is estimated to be around 8,000 people

with a population that regularly attends church at just over 1,000 people a week.

We have work to do in this area

because there's people around us that don't have the hope of the Gospel.

They look good.

They have nice families.

They have nice homes.

They have a good income.

They look like everything is put together.

But there are so many people in our spheres of influence

that have no hope in the Gospel because nobody has proclaimed it to them.

Jesus says in Acts 1-8 that we are to be his witnesses in Jerusalem

and Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

We do a great job as a church

of sending people to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.

But we cannot neglect our Jerusalem while we do that.

There are too many people that we do life with

that are going to spend eternity separated from him

if we do not begin to be bold in our messaging.

I'm going to do everything I can to equip you

to have a kingdom influence in your life.

So we equip.

Next, we send the call.

We send the call.

The goal of equipping is to raise up new missionaries and send them out.

We want to send people out to have Gospel conversations.

We want to send people out who are going to love people where they are.

We want to send people out who are willing to lose themselves for the cause of Christ.

That's why we send out short-term mission trips.

My prayer for every time we send out a short-term mission team

is that the Lord will call someone from that group

to devote their lives to serving him around the world.

And being called means a lot of times you are going to have to take a risk

because it is going to cost you something.

Jesus tells us that we need to count the cost.

This is not an emotional decision, but one where we sit down

and we consider, what is this going to cost me?

How is this going to change my life?

Sometimes that means financial implications.

Sometimes it means we move away from the familiar.

Sometimes it means we go out on our own and we leave everything else behind us.

Jesus tells us in Luke 14 that there is a cost to discipleship.

There is a cost for being his disciples.

He is pretty bold in verse 33 of that chapter that if anyone is not willing to renounce all that he has,

he can't be my disciple.

If you are not willing to give everything over to him,

if you are going to hold tightly to the things that you have,

if you are unwilling to renounce those things,

you can't be his disciple.

It is a pretty bold statement.

If God has called you to ministry or to missions in any way,

know that he will provide everything that you need.

I have heard so many times, I am sure some of you have said it to me,

but I have heard so many times that I can't do that because I don't have a seminary degree.

I can't do that because I don't have enough Bible knowledge.

There is an old quote that I often use that says,

he doesn't call the qualified.

He qualifies the call.

Meaning not one disciple of his, not one disciple of Jesus, believe it or not,

I don't know if you know this, had a Bible degree.

Nobody went to seminary.

Most of them weren't even smart enough to do anything else but catch fish for a living.

And in reality, if you think about the story of Jesus,

who did Jesus struggle with the most?

The religious leaders who are usually the smartest in the room

when it comes to understanding the Scriptures.

Instead he called people like Peter who flunked out of school

and used him to spread the Gospel all over the world.

Why wouldn't he use you?

Why wouldn't he use you if he's called you to serve him?

Don't put limitations on the call that he has for you.

If that's you, if that's you and you feel like God is calling you

into some form of ministry,

or maybe you answered that call a long time ago,

but life happened and you've been distracted,

you lost steam, you know that God called you

but you haven't done anything with it,

I would love nothing more than to talk with you this morning

and see how we can best support you.

How can we get you back on track?

Will you decide in your heart right now, if you have been called,

will you decide in your heart right now

that you will take that small step this morning

of talking about your calling with someone?

Do not leave this building if you've been called.

Finally, if we raise up those who are called,

then the church must support that.

If we're going to equip them and the Lord's going to call them,

then the church must support that.

Not everyone is called to live overseas.

Not everyone is called into full-time ministry,

but we are all called to support the work of the ministry.

Many times throughout his letters,

Paul thanks the church for sending help to him,

for supplying his needs.

He thanks them for the gifts that were sent.

He thanks them for the prayers.

He thanks them for laboring with him

and sharing the gospel message.

Paul was more effective for Jesus

because he had the churches around him

that were supporting his ministry

so that he could focus on the work that he was called to.

Paul was effective because he was able to keep focus

on the purpose in which Jesus called him to.

But we have to remember,

we have to remember that not everyone was called to live the life

that Jesus called Paul to.

Not everyone here is going to be called to go into ministry

because God has called you into something else.

He made some of you engineers,

teachers,

homemakers,

businessmen and women

so that you could support the work of ministry.

And he gave you the giftings that you have

so that your income would not terminate on you

but so that you could support his work in your community

and support his work around the world.

The world doesn't need you to have a bigger house.

It needs the gospel to be spread to everyone, everywhere

so that the end will come.

Don't ever underestimate your value

and your ability to write a check.

God has you where you are in the job you have for a purpose.

And the amount doesn't matter.

The amount doesn't matter.

What matters is where is your heart when it comes to these things.

We were told a story while we were in Panama this last week

about a lady named Hasita.

She's the poorest of the poor.

But she is a woman who loves the Lord.

Our missionary friend Graham had mentioned to his church

that there was a need in the community,

in their church community,

and this family couldn't support some medical expenses

that were going to be coming up.

So Graham asked for an offering.

This little humble church of the poorest of the poor,

Graham asked for an offering.

Now keep in mind, this is a poor people group.

If you make $20 a day, you're doing pretty good for yourself.

So he wasn't expecting a large amount of money to be collected.

He wanted to have them check their hearts.

Hasita was the only one who came forward.

And all she could offer was a dollar.

All she could offer was $1.

He told us he immediately thought of the story of the widows

and he thought of the story of the widows' might.

Had two nickels to rub together.

But her heart was in the right place so she gave it.

The amount wasn't significant.

The amount wasn't significant.

But the gesture was convicting to him.

It was convicting to me when I heard it.

Maybe all you can give is a dollar.

Maybe you can give $10,000.

The purpose is not the amount.

The purpose is the heart behind it.

Support doesn't just come in the form of financial resources.

We need to consistently be praying for the work of the gospel around the world.

We need to be praying that men and women who are filled with the Holy Spirit

get in front of government leaders and share the gospel with them.

We need to pray that men and women who are filled with the gospel

get in front of our school leaders.

We need to pray that people will go out and preach the gospel to unreached people groups.

We need people that are filled with his spirit to go into your workplaces and neighborhoods.

We need to be praying for the harvest.

We need to support that.

This is why we regularly bring in our missionaries

so that you can hear about the work that they are doing.

It's why we send out short-term mission teams

so that we can help get the work accomplished.

Supporting the work of the kingdom in our neighborhood comes in many forms.

But we must remain faithful in our support.

We must love people well.

So here's how I want to end this morning.

I want you to ask yourself some questions.

I'll give you some time between each question to really think about it

and ask the Lord to speak to you on this.

But I need you to ask yourself these questions, the first one being,

am I willing to be equipped for the work of the ministry?

Meaning, are you teachable?

Are you moldable for God to do a work in you

that will get you out of your comfort zone?

Are you willing to be equipped for the work of the ministry?

Maybe just as you sit there, you close your eyes

and you free yourself from distraction.

And you just ask the Lord to speak to you.

God, is there anything in me that's keeping me from being teachable?

Am I moldable?

Am I willing to be equipped?

The second question we need to ask ourselves

is the Lord calling me to count the cost

and surrender to Him in a way that will drastically change my life.

Is the Lord calling me to count the cost

and surrender to Him in a way that will drastically change my life?

Finally, we need to ask ourselves,

am I willing to give of my resources and time

to support the work of the Gospel around the world?

Am I willing to give of my resources and time

to support the work of the Gospel around the world?

We need to sacrifice.

So as we close this morning,

I want you to know that this church is not going to shy away from equipping

and sending and supporting.

And I want you to know that my goal is to send as many of you as we can

out into the world.

But you have to be obedient to the calling that God has given you.

And I also just want to remind you, some of us aren't called to go across the world.

Some of you are called to support.

And sometimes that means I only have a dollar.

But I promise you this, the Lord can do more with your dollar than you ever could.

He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

He multiplied bread and fish and fed thousands.

He can do a lot more with your dollar than you can.

So if you have a dollar, give it.

See what he can do.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 24,

that the end will come and I'm ready for the end to come.

I'm ready to be in his presence.

I'm ready for him to make all things new.

I'm ready for there to be no more tears and pain and sorrow and depression and anxiety and anger.

And I'm ready for all of that to be over.

I'm ready for the end to come.

But the end is not going to come until all men hear.

That's our purpose.

So I don't know how the Lord's calling you.

I don't know how he's calling you to surrender to him.

But as we sing one more song together and as I pray over us,

will you be obedient to following the calling that he has on your life

so that we will be a church that is strong in equipping and sending and supporting.

Let's pray.

Father God, I pray right now that as we worship,

that your Holy Spirit will fill this room, will fill our lives,

that your spirit will be an overflow of everything that we say, everything that we do.

God, I pray that you will call and separate those that are supposed to do the work of the ministry.

God, as they sit in their seats right now, help them count the cost.

Pray that you remove any barriers to that calling.

God, help us be moldable and teachable to be equipped.

Give us a humility that comes from you so that you can use us.

Father, I pray that you will always give us a generous spirit

when it comes to supporting the work of ministry in Eldridge and around the world.

So God, speak please to our hearts so that we know.

So God, as we worship, this time is yours.

Amen.