Sent but Secure: The Harvest is Ready... Are We?

Thank you, Phil. I have no Gen Z

slapping vocabulary to give you this

morning, but uh hopefully scripture is

enough. We're going to be in Luke

10. And I I have

a a real a real burden. Sometimes

burdens can be just heavy and then

sometimes burdens can be like the best

thing ever. Meaning like you know what

you're

carrying. burden is is gone from just

this negative thing like how dare we

have something that we know that we're

carrying with purpose. Burdens aren't

all bad. It's the burdens that you're

not supposed to be carrying that are

bad. If you don't have something that

you're carrying, you you you've got no

responsibility and no purpose in your

step. So, I I have a I feel like I

hopefully have a burden this morning of

a word that was stirring at the men's

retreat and uh is it's ultimately what's

holding us back of being sent ones that

are stepping into our sententness. The

message today is scent but secure. The

harvest is ready. Are

we? Last week or two weeks ago, my mom

was here last week. Did you enjoy her? I

hope you did. Thank you. wonderful

woman. She did a good job with her

life. Uh we we've we were talking about

the quiet time two weeks ago. How many

of you had a like a renewed sense of

leaning into redefining quiet time, the

most evangelical morning phrase in the

history of Christian mornings? And and

in that, the hope is is that uh we

talked about a means to be formed by the

spirit to develop a quiet time that's

more than just a task, but truly a

rhythm of intimacy. We we ask you to

explore prayer, scripture, and the use

of your spiritual gifts. And then step

into the pathways of

presence. Couple things I want to remind

you. I think I have a slide for this.

Here's here's what I want to continue to

ask you to do in your time with God. Be

still. Eric, it's such a great word for

us. If you True rest can be found in a

couple days, not because no one actually

rested at the men's retreat. You

understood that, right? No rest

happened. The bunk beds make sure that

you don't do that. The middle-aged man

with with a breathing disorder as he

sleeps also make sure that you don't do

that. Whoever that might

be,

Phil

Chan, I snort, too, but only when I'm

sick. It's coming though someday. We

encourage you regardless of what rest.

If you are searching a physical

rest, good luck, there's ways to do

that. Follow the people on Instagram

that'll show you how. If you want the

deeper rest that should affect the

priorities and boundaries you put on

things, but here's what we go after.

Stillness before God. We are not still

before God. We don't slow down enough to

actually be present with him regularly

every now and then. But it shouldn't

take us a trip to the mountains, should

it? Rootedness in scripture. Do you

actually let God's word shape you, shift

you? Do you sit with it? Do you process

it, think through it, live with it? Or

do you just kind of take catchphrases or

wait for someone to say something like,

"That's good. I'll quote that."

Yeah. What about you wrestling with it,

sitting with it? That's what forms an

authentic prayer life. Starting with

scripture, moving into the awareness

that you're gifted, asking God how he

may want to work through you today, and

then make this a consistent rhythm of

your life, not perfection, daily

formation. That's what we're doing in

the quiet time. So, uh, here in Luke 10

today, Jesus is going to send out not as

12, he's done that already, the 72. The

72 represent you and I. It represents

more than just the the highqualified

special little inner inner circle. It

means that Jesus is saying this is for

everybody. No more excuses. Every one of

my disciples is sent. And I'm going to

show you how. Not from a place of hype.

This is this is how disciplehip is

continuing to disrupt our assumptions.

Our series, if you're joining new,

disruptive disciplehip in a secular age.

Disciplehip is following Jesus. What

does this look like to mature into being

one that knows him, follows him, lives

his life for him? That's what a disciple

is. Ultimately, the secular age is

secularism defining purpose without God.

Meaning and purpose without God. That

lie. Secularism is failing. And it's

why it's why we've seen 30 million

people in our country come to Jesus in

the last four years. Researched by Bara.

30 million. That's three

Swedans to I don't know if you guys know

how many people that is. It's a lot. Our

Swedish friends in the front.

Yeah. So, um I I want to start I I have

one one of my more fun um projects as a

as a preacher in Los Angeles. Um you

guys, if you're from anyone from

LA, yeah, 12 of you, good job.

there. You have a horrific sports

culture in your town. You do. And no one

cares about sports. Like as soon as half

of you have just I said the word, you're

you're tuning out. Yeah. Shut your

mouth. So some of you know my

preferences. That's not one of

them. I have a passion though to to make

to make all of you that could care less

about sports at least be obsessed with

sports documentaries.

I feel that a sports documentary is the

most pure powerful form of of history

that teaches you. Here's the thing. Most

of history is too heavy for me. I've had

a a long day. I don't need like real

history to hit me. I need the stories of

sports history to like get me emotional,

hyped up, speak to the human condition,

and then I'm really looking at it going

like, well, none of this even matters

because it's just sports, right? So

there's kind of like light h it's almost

comedy no matter how serious it is. No

matter who's crying, no matter who's in

pain. So all that to say though, uh my

most significant moment of my own sports

history in my entire life happened in

eighth grade. Now I did play through

high school. I was I was incredibly

average. And then I did play I did play

a year in uh the the minor leagues of

the Scandinavian basketball uh world.

And um very proud of that. And and but

in that my high my highlight my my high

watermark was 8th grade Wesley and

Christian Academy uh and with my coach

Danny Murphy. Not Eddie Murphy, Danny

Murphy. Uh, I had my mom write the

checks for my Nikes to Eddie Murphy and

he just looked at me and he said, "Are

you serious? Do I?"

No. He c he cashed the check anyway.

Anyway, so we we had eighth grade

championship game and we are playing the

other team in our conference that blew

us out by 30 some points. They're all

older than you know you get in middle

school. My son's in middle school teams

right now and it's like he's like about

47 pounds and he's playing kids that are

bigger than me. I don't know what

happens. Some of some people in society

are able to like hit puberty at 11. Not

my

family. We hit it we hit it right around

like get a car then maybe you got a

chance to hit puberty. So um my kids are

screwed. I was screwed. And in eighth

grade we're playing a bunch of

pubertyridden kids against like we had

like one or two puberty kids like on our

kid on our team. So, in that though,

coach Danny

Murphy comes comes in and let's be

honest, we've been blown out 30 points.

We got to the championship game. We're

all kind of happy that we just made it,

but we're all kind of coming like,

"Today's going to suck. It was such a

good weekend. We did so well, but now we

got to play this team and we're

obviously going to lose." Um, and and he

comes in with a fire.

He comes in and he is screaming. Not

like angry screaming, like getting in

every single one of their faces. And my

my name in in school was Marty for

Martinson. And he took Marty, you're

going to this is who you are. He goes

around the room. He's just going nuts.

He's hitting lockers. He's I don't even

think he's wearing clothes at this

point. And all of us all of a sudden are

shocked. And he starts looking at us

going like, "Are you going to live your

life?" thinking you're going to lose

before you

lose. Are you gonna go down swinging?

And he starts literally just imparting

faith to this meaningless eighth grade

basketball

game. Utterly meaningless. There's going

to be our parents and a few grandparents

because it's a championship game in

those stands. That's it. Not even the

cute girls are there. It's not even a

home game.

I don't even think our cheerleading

squad was there. It's like doesn't

matter. But in your world in eighth

grade, this is the biggest moment of

your life. And I learned an incredibly

important lesson.

Faith takes you further than your

abilities. But here's the thing what he

told us. you know, in eighth grade, you

still try to be somewhat equal to all

the different players in giftedness,

right? Give everybody a chance. And he

goes, "We're going to win

today. Some of you are going to have to

know your

part. But I need every single one of you

to know your part. I need every single

one of you, some of you, is it okay if

you don't play? If you want to win

today, is it okay if you don't play?"

They're like, "Yeah, I want to win.

There were some kids like the pre pre-

puberty kids. They're like, "Yeah, don't

even I don't even need to. I have my I

have my warm-ups on. There's not even a

jersey under here, coach. Don't even put

me

in." He's like, "I need the energy on

this bench. I need you picking everybody

up. I need you yelling at bad calls.

Every single one of you has a point to

play part

to I'm there right now. Feel

it. Don't worry. I was still a

starter. I only hit one shot the whole

game. It was like my worst performance

of the season, but I was playing like a

rabid

wolf. We were so like we lost our minds.

We lost reality for a moment. We had

someone else's faith imparted to us and

we had a communal experience where

everyone knew their part and we won that

game. We won that game. Thank you. You

never knew how much you could care about

an eighth grade basketball game from

1990 whatever it

was. I honestly don't remember. But here

here's here's where here's what I want

you to know. There is faithb buildinging

momentum that you can learn from a

stupid meaningless eighth grade

basketball game. That's one of the first

times I learned about

faith. I had a coach who was also a

believer. He he connected this

spiritually, too. It was amazing

actually. It was like the best sermon I

ever heard.

But here's here's the thing. What's

going on right now? We're in a cultural

moment where I feel like we are being

challenged where there is momentum

happening across the globe and and we

can either choose to stay on the

sidelines or we can ride the faith and

momentum of what's happening in the

earth. I I want to read you a couple

things that are happening. Um some of

you I also just want to be sensitive

when you look at the church and you look

at a move of God. There are still Have

you heard of the term like

exeangelicals? There's evangelicals,

there's exangelicals, and then there's

like everybody else that comes to church

now, which we don't know what to call

you. That's okay. You don't need to do

name calling. An exeangelical is a a

growing movement of people that have

left the evangelical church and walking

away from communities that wounded them

or offered a shallow politicized version

of Christianity. That's the general

understanding of it. Many still seek

Jesus. Doesn't mean they've left the

faith completely, but not the structures

that misrepresented him. Meanwhile,

there are these, if we're going to call

a name of everybody else, post secular

seekers. So lame. Uh, but not you. The

the the the name the name is that are

that are walking into church not because

it's cool, but because

secularism, purpose and meaning without

God, didn't

deliver. They're saying, "My truth

didn't hold. Identity feels fragile, and

I want something solid."

And in the middle are the the faithful

but the weary and those evangelicals in

need of some rest and

hope and some faith and and something

imparted some momentum wondering how to

live a scent life in a skeptical

spiritually fatigued world. And this is

what I want us to kind of bring to the

table when we look at Luke 10. And this

is this is this is Jesus not just giving

us a strategy. It's giving us an entire

perspective on our entire lives. He's

sending them with power. He's grounding

them in this concept of grace and he's

filling them with

joy. But before we look at this, what I

what I want you to note is that the

previous passage in Luke 9, if you're

going to just understand the context

that we get to in Luke 10 is the cost of

disciplehip, the cost of following him.

He uses words like deny yourself. Say no

to yourself. Yourself doesn't know what

it wants. It wants all kinds of things

that are going to screw you. And then he

says, "Take up your cross. Don't look

back." A sobering call to full

surrender. The cost. He goes, "You

cannot you cannot be sent if you don't

understand the cost." Jesus never played

around with the cost. He was never like,

"Let me convince you that it's not so

bad." He's he's not sitting there trying

to like, you know, squeeze your budget

out to see if you can afford it. He's

he's sitting there going like, "You

can't afford it.

He's trying to talk you out of it before

he talks you into

it. I I actually think we're going to

start seeing some of that. I I still

remember I I was on a summer missions

project when I was 19 and this uh this

uh I'll just say it. He was a redneck

from Alabama. I love the guy Walt Walt.

He was just a ginger-haired football

playing Alabama redneck that loved

Jesus. I think he's a dentist now. And

um Walt would just go around. we were in

Santa Cruz. Like he did not fit in in

Santa

Cruz. And he kept getting in these

conversations and he kept going like,

you know, Jesus is probably just not for

you,

man. Because he didn't he was rattled

off because because he's this, he's

this, he's this, he's changed my life,

but he's probably not for you. If you're

ready,

though. And the anointing worked. But

there were no false converts with

Walt. People were people knew this was a

high he was not lower in the bar for

Jesus. I'll never forget it. It was

amazing. But as we look at this passage,

uh we're going to

see these 72 people beyond the 12

disciples. They're they're going to be

sent into a world that's that's hungry,

hostile, and the question is what makes

us ready? What is this faithb

buildinging momentum? And we're in a

moment right now. There's a surge of

personal commitment to Jesus. In the

2025 report by Bara, which is like the

ultimate church and you know, spiritual

reh research institute, 66% now of US

adults say that they've made a personal

commitment to Jesus. 66% that's 12%

higher than 2021. That's that's the 30

million. Millennials are leading the

return to church. That's probably the

bulk of what we have in here.

39% of millennials now attend church

weekly, up from 21 18% increase in

2019. The increase is largely driven by

non-white millennials. Come

on. I I don't know who cheers for that.

Like, is that awkward for white people?

Awkward. Non-whites awkward. I just made

it awkward for everybody. Let's all be

awkward together. Non-white millennials,

come on.

led by a very white millennial.

Okay, thank God you're not all white.

That's that's all I can say. I've been

praying for you that we wouldn't look

like me too much. But enough what God

wants before we get in trouble. Moving

on to the next

stat. Gen Z.

Come on.

The the thing is is that this this move

of God that's happening is being birthed

with with this

generation. But the other generations

are playing the pivotal part if this is

going to take

effect. The research indicates that US

teens are highly intrigued by Jesus. 77%

motivated to learn more about him. 77%.

That's insane. What happened to all the

stats about everyone's

leaving? This is like in literally five

years, all the trends have not just

stopped. They've gone the opposite

direction. Do you understand what's

happening? This curiosity is not limited

to committed Christian teens. Even among

non-Christians or those unfamiliar with

Jesus, over half express a desire to

learn more. And then we talked about

this a couple years ago. There was this

uh quiet revival that happened at

Asbury, which is a a university in

Kentucky, drew between 50 to 70,000

visitors over a couple weeks. The event

characterized by continuous worship and

prayer where they refused access to any

bigname worship

leaders was largely fueled by Gen Z and

spreading rapidly through social media,

through platforms like Tik Tok, it says.

So, what are we supposed to do with

this? God is stirring

something across our nation. There's a

renewed interest of faith. Younger

generations are are not lost but are

actively seeking spiritual truth.

Something is ripe and ready for

disciplehip. And that means that the

church plays a pivotal role not just in

welcoming but nurturing this renewed

interest. And so here's here's what I

want to encourage us to do. What are we

doing in this moment? We are building

for a quiet

revival. I want Frontier to be on the

front lines. That's it's actually been

dubbed the quiet revival. This is a

spiritual awakening that

many it may not look loud like things of

the past and what we've thought of the

past. It may not look like just an

emotional outpouring or a mass movement,

but it's real. It's deep and it's

growing. And it's marked by these

several things. Personal renewal through

the spiritual practices like prayer,

scripture reading, and solitude. This is

what it looks like for us to host the

quiet revival. Small but multiplying

disciplehip communities rather than big

stadium

events. A movement among a young younger

generations returning to faith with a

hunger for depth, authenticity, and

sacred rhythms. And the rise of ordinary

people rediscovering God outside of

traditional

platforms. So this is a revival that's

moving below the surface. It's quiet,

but it's no less powerful. Look at the

numbers

already. Think of this as like a

grassroots thing that's deeper before

the visible f fruits birth force using

that sewing the seed analogy. There are

some things that are going to burst

forth if we will continue to sew the

seeds in good

soil. So finally, that was my intro.

Here's the passage. We're going to move

fast. Luke 10. After this, the Lord

appointed 72 others and sent them on

ahead two by two into every town and

place where he himself was about to go.

And this is what Jesus says to them. If

we don't hear anything else from the

scripture this morning, I want you to

hear this. Jesus says to them as he

sends the others out, as he sends you

and I out, this is the only thing he

wants them to hear. The harvest is

plentiful. The laborers are few. Now,

those of you that have been in church

since you were five, stop thinking you

have any idea what this means.

He says, "Therefore, pray earnestly to

the Lord of the harvest to send out

laborers into the

harvest. Uh I I've had the privilege of

teaching some biblical interpretation

classes I mentioned from time to time.

If you've if some of you in the room

have been in one of them, but um I go to

this passage almost every time I teach

that course because I I want to teach

you on one anchor. I don't consider

myself an expert in prayer. I do

consider myself passionate about this

aspect of

prayer. Picture for a moment, if this is

a foreign concept to you, that's fine.

But I I picture this this person um that

goes off to a ministry school in some

foreign land and gets touched by God and

miracles are happening everywhere. They

have all these experiences. their

journal is just packed full of

revelation in a good way. But

also they find themselves like on their

face and after a while the common prayer

I hear like pleading God for revival.

God bring revival. I want revival and

even like authentic

tears. And I would just humbly

submit that that

well-intentioned, cried over, pure

prayer for revival is not a biblical

prayer. It's not a Christ-c centered

prayer. You did not learn that prayer

from Jesus. Jesus never taught us to

pray for

revival. He never taught us to pray for

the

harvest. He never taught

us to pray for souls.

He taught us to pray for

ourselves to bring the harvest

in. The prayer is for you. The prayer is

for me. If your heart is for revival and

it is a pure

prayer, may I humbly submit that you

shift your prayer

life away from trying to beg God for

something he's already given and take

responsibility to open yourself to

surrendering to be his scent

one. Now that is easier said than done.

And I say that with a holy reverence

that once you are even willing to pray

that prayer, then everything inside of

you will be confronted beyond belief.

You will be tested in every way

imaginable when you pray this prayer.

You will not believe that you're

qualified. You will feel like a

hypocrite. You will feel like you every

little tiny issue issue with your life

is going to disqualify you. You're going

to bring to mind all the reasons why it

won't work and someone else is better

suited. And it is going to put you in a

spiral, a spiral of disqualification

that's going to keep

you from the answer to the prayer that

Jesus gives

us for the harvest.

There is nothing more significant in all

the mission of Jesus than the

harvest than the fruit of people

encountering

him and people knowing him. Lives

transformed and beautiful in a world of

chaos and brokenness. The harvest is

everything. And the prayer is for you

and it's for

me. Stop praying for revival.

I prayed it myself endless

times and I've realized it either is

filled with pride like I've got better

desires than God or it's filled with an

absolute fear that I don't have anything

to bring this

harvest. It's only two options.

pride or fear and I can go back and

forth to either one multiple times a

day. So would you join me in letting

Jesus completely

reorient our prayer life and our scent

life? He says, "Go your way. Behold, I'm

sending you out lamb in the midst of

wolves." He's basically saying, "Here's

another reason not to go. It's gonna

suck. It's gonna be make very

vulnerable. Wolves are after you and

you're a little bitty sheep." Next,

don't even take anything. No money, no

resources, knapsack sandals, greet no

one on the road. He's don't reach out to

your loved ones for help. Just go.

You're going to have to trust me. If

you're going to survive the wolves,

they're not going to help you anyway.

You're just going to have to go and

you're going to have to trust me. Utter

surrender. And then he says, if a son of

peace is there, whatever house you

enter, first say, "Peace be to this

house. And if a son of peace is there,

your peace will rest upon him. That's

the word for shalom. I'll get into that

in a few minutes. Everything in the word

shalom, that's the everything word in

all of scripture. Shalom is probably the

everything word. It's peace, but it's

also salvation and much

more. If a son of peace is there, your

peace will rest upon him. If not, let it

return to you. Remain in the house

eating and drinking what they provide.

For the laborer deserves his wages. So

he's he gets into hospitality. Do not go

from house to house. Whenever you enter

a town and they receive you, eat what is

set before you. Then he goes, "You have

the same power as I

do. Not because you have anything

special. Heal the

sick." Say to them when you

do, the kingdom of God has come near to

you. Meaning what you've when someone

gets healed, you explain to them that

what is happening is that the kingdom,

my rule and reign, heaven on earth, not

going to heaven. The realm that he's

talking about is they are tasting the

the healing power of God invading earth

with his goodness. And you get to give

them a taste of it. When they taste it

through

healing, tell them what's happening. The

kingdom of God has come near to you.

And then whatever town that doesn't

receive you, go into its streets and

say, "Even the dust of your town that

cleans our feet, we wipe off against

you. Nevertheless, know this that the

kingdom of God has come near." I tell

you, it will be more bearable on that

day for Sodom than that town. And then

he gets into some real intense words.

Woe to you. Woe to you. He talks about

these towns and he's basically saying,

not going to go good, guys. For if the

mighty works done in this town had been

done and tired and siden, they would

have repented long ago. and and he says

it can be more bearable in the judgment

of these towns than for you. Uh and so

essentially he goes the verse 16 the one

who hears hears this hears me and the

one who rejects you rejects me and the

one who rejects me rejects him who sent

me. He's essentially saying I am so I am

so deeply sending you on my behalf that

if you are rejected they are rejecting

me. Do you think they were any more

mature than you and I? Do you understand

so far what Jesus has done in his

disciplehip program for these 72

people? We've learned from the

12. They've gone around with Jesus for a

little bit of time. Someone rejects

them. They want to call down fire from

heaven. Their maturity levels in

process. Now he's taking the people that

have had no

training. Basically just the people that

haven't been offended at the cost and

are still there. He sends them

out and he goes, "If you they're going

to be all full of junk. They're going to

be

obnoxious. They're going to have issues

of pride. They're going to have lust

issues. They're going to have marriage

issues. They're going to have business

issues." And he's going, "When they

reject you, they reject me." That's

mind-blowing. How does his grace cover

all of my junk as I go as his

representative? I don't know if you're

like me. My biggest insecurity is how

can I possibly represent Jesus? Well,

I'm paranoid to put a Jesus bumper

sticker on my car because I don't even

think I my driving is a good

representation for him. I'm like, why

would I want people to see Jesus after I

cut them off? I don't I don't understand

those of you that put all these nice

Jesus things on your car. It's a I mean,

it's Anyway, the point is is that there

are multiple layers multiple layers that

this confronts in my own soul. Do I feel

qualified? You're not

qualified. If we could just all just

receive the the blessing of a lack of

qualifications. The gospel is so

good that the only thing that qualifies

you is you stop trying to be qualified

and

surrender to his goodness, to his grace,

to his power, to his faith. not yours.

Thank you, God, that this isn't up to

me. There is a choice. He's already

chosen you. How will you respond to the

invitation? And so, he sends out the 72.

They come back with joy saying, "Demons

even respond to us, Jesus." They didn't

expect that. They were like, "The

healing great, but the demons, let's

talk about some demons. I don't have

time, but I would love to. But the point

is is that all the scary stuff, all the

safe stuff, it was all stirred up when

they got sent out. All of it. Huge

messes they go out to, huge maturity

issues that go out before them. They're

representing Jesus, and they get to do

the Jesus stuff. And Jesus's response is

twofold. He throws a party. The language

here is so strong. He is leaping and

dancing for joy in response to the

testimony of what they went out to

do.

And he cuts them to the heart and says

after his little party, in the midst of

his party, he goes, "But don't rejoice

in that that the demons bow to you, but

that your names are written in the book

of life." meaning like he's able to

honor the fact that they are his scent

ones imperfectly representing him and

doing the works of the kingdom. But he

goes, "Don't you dare take pride in

that. Your heart, I can see it as you're

coming back with some progress. Your

heart is tempted to think that this is

because of you. And I'm telling you that

is not what you find your joy in. Your

joy is in the fact that you are mine.

that your identity, the book of life is

that my entire identity is that I'm a

son or daughter of

God, that Jesus is king, that he's Lord,

that he's he's saved and he is my Lord.

And he goes, that is what you find your

purpose in. Not that these things

happen, but does he downplay it and act

like it doesn't happen or tell them

don't do this stuff?

That's where the church gets in trouble

because we get nervous at over

manipulating broken people going out in

Jesus's

name and there's a place for it. Where

are the boundary lines? I have no

clue. I know where my current levels are

and and we'll we share them with you

often. If you are so kind to let us uh

uh bring you into our prayer team, you

are given some boundaries, right?

Don't you dare pray dates over people,

mates over people, or babies over

people. Why? Not because God can't talk

about those things. In fact, who doesn't

want someone to tell them the date that

they're supposed to, you know, get

married or have a baby or whatever else.

I want to hear that. I just don't want

as a pastor to clean up the mess when

you give that word and you're wrong.

So, we put some boundaries in place

because while we love

you, I don't have as much faith in you

as Jesus

might. Jesus didn't send them to his

church that he's pastoring. He sent them

out everywhere else. So, our rule is go

out and give the dates mates babies at

Stater

Bros and then come back here and shut

your mouth about those things. In in all

honesty, it's we're trying to figure out

how to do this well. How do we set a

safe environment where where people

immature and improcess are able to take

risk appropriately and grow and mature

in their faith? And and how do we set

boundaries where people can know that

like, oh man, like I am safe to receive

ministry here. I'm safe to kind of come

under the covering of this body of

people. So, we're we're impro and Jesus

does certain elements and we we we

gather all the rules and things that we

put in place from scripture. But the

point is this.

This is dangerously awe inspiring and

makes me nervous in all the right ways

because it pokes holes in all of our

systems. It pokes holes in all the ways

we try to manipulate things. How we try

to like justify and say we have power

but basically we just kind of minimize

this and that. This was wild and this

was the way of

Jesus. But the main ingredient is to

pray for laborers, not for revival.

Well, now I got to land and I'm on point

one. So, it's going to be a onepoint

sermon

today. Uh, team, come up to help me.

Please come up to help me at at least at

least keys come up to help me at least

first. So, here's here's where I want us

to start to to land our hearts. I I

mentioned the the

72. It's so significant because what

Jesus is saying from the gospel story to

us today is that you are the scent one.

You're the qualified one. You are the

minister. Not me. Not pope. Whatever the

new pope is, he is he is just as much of

a scent one as I am as you

are. We're going to be vulnerable. We're

going to be lambs among wolves. We're

going to travel light. No distractions.

We're going to offer

peace. This this concept of shalom,

wholeness, salvation, healing,

restoration, relationship with God. It's

when you walk into a place with the

message of Jesus. You're offering more

than religion. You're offering more than

a self-help. You're offering the peace

that only God can give in the depths of

a soul. It's the gospel itself. It's the

presence of God. It's not a

presentation. It's not memorizing a good

little slogan. It's presence. You carry

it by you being with someone and your

life that's been touched not perfectly.

They don't need to see the perfection.

They just need to see a life that's been

touched and process and is pointing them

in the right direction. If you're

willing to do that, you're a scent

one. And then it says, "Receive the

hospitality with gratitude. Eat what is

set before you. Disciples don't chase

platforms. They build relationships.

Heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom."

That's power, proclamation, and

presence. So pray for the

laborers. Live light and bold. Carry

peace, not pressure. Bring healing and

hope. I love that Jesus sends them out,

returns with joy, and then he gives this

sobering element of judgment. There's

just such a seriousness in Jesus's

response to

them. It's real. The judgment is real.

He's he's essentially telling them that

there's just because they're they're

proximate close to truth, that doesn't

equal faith all the time. That means all

what he's saying is all these Jewish

towns that they think the elites are

coming from, the spiritual elites, he's

basically saying they're going to be

worse off than these non-Jewish towns.

He's the gospel. He sings for everyone.

He's sending them out. And then he's

specifically saying those places, those

people that you think are extra

qualified though, that have the extra

special sauce, that have the extra

special education, that have got the

experiences, that have had the

impartation by the special anointed

prophet, it doesn't matter. Some of them

are going to have a higher

responsibility to answer to because

they've done jack all with what they've

been

given. And some of you that haven't been

given much of anything but a but a seed,

he's like, "The fruit is going to be

unbelievable if you will just surrender.

If you will just follow

me, you're qualified and you're sent not

because of what you've done, but because

of what you've said yes

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to. You're going to be rejected if you

say

yes. You're going to have a greater

responsibility than you could possibly

carry on your own behalf if you say

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yes. And he goes after their apathy.

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The judgment doesn't come from hostility

in this passage. It comes from

indifference. Are we going to be a

church that's indifferent to what's

happening across our nation, in our

city, in our neighborhoods, and in our

homes? Or are we going to sever

apathy? Are we going to take massive

risks of the little steps each day that

position us as ones that are

sent? I think he's got a word for our

modern church.

It's not just for these ancient towns.

It's for the

comfortable familiarity. Knowing a lot

about Jesus and memorizing some Bible

verses or just listening to a thousand

podcasts is not

surrender. Hearing the gospel again and

again and again without responding is

incredibly dangerous according to the

words of Jesus.

[Music]

I want some of you that are that are

just spiritually curious and are coming

here just just trying to understand

things. This is not a heavy rebuke of

you. It's welcome. Come to the table.

And it's also an invitation saying

you're an equal playing ground. We're

not better than you if we've been with

him and doing church for 20 or 30 or 40

years. Your surrender is as valid as

ours. Your surrender today or last week

is as valid as ours was 20 or 30 or 40

years ago. In fact, Jesus says some of

you who said yes many decades ago and

have all the right phariseaical actions

to prove it, you are going to answer a

deeper, more sobering judge because you

did nothing with what was given to you.

Some of us need to hear that. Those of

you that are fresh and new, that's not a

free word. It's those of you that have

been sitting in the chairs in the pews

of church for your entire life and

you're in the same space. You're in the

same maturity level and and some of you

are dealing with guilt and shame. And

I'm not here to guilt and shame you. I'm

here to say that the invitation is still

just as good. And maybe the prayer the

prayer needs to change. The direction of

your prayer needs to change from asking

something of him and just stepping

forward and receiving from what he's

already answered.

[Music]

respond to the gospel. It's good news

with eternal

weight. It's not good news without

responsibility. It's not good news

without

judgment. The mission is urgent. The

stakes are eternal. And the message is

not casual. It's life or death. It's

mercy or judgment.

So, here's what I want us to do. Jesus

doesn't live leave them in that place of

judgment. He releases joy and victory.

He says, "I saw Satan fall like

lightning when you went out and did this

and heard the testimonies." He's

basically saying from from eternity past

when when the son of darkness, that

enemy, the devil,

fell. I see you. Those of you going out

as my representatives, he's talking to

the 72, but he's talking to you and I.

when you go out in his name, you have

had a part in making the enemy fall like

lightning. And he's giving us credit for

something that happened across time

past. And he's saying into now and into

eternity, you get to take part in this

story that's so much bigger than

yourself. And you get credit despite all

your mistakes, despite all your junk,

despite all your failure, despite all

your

shame, every surrendered yes takes part

in the most

purposeful

story that could ever be written and

told. So here's what I want us to

do. If you if you just want to lean in

Aresh, if you have struggled with

feeling like you're qualified to be

sent, I just want I need to stand to

this. And I'm not looking for a pity

stand. It doesn't have to be everyone,

but if you need to make a stand,

especially those that just feel like I

don't even have any faith for this, but

I want this. If you want to be a sent

one and you just don't feel qualified in

some way, shape or form, I just want to

invite you to

stand with me and I want to pray with

you. If you need to stand as a scent one

that has no faith or has lost faith or

you've got shaken faith in your

scentness, I want us to step into this

as a community.

[Music]

30 million people in 5 years who will

disciple them, who will make space for

them in their

homes, who will take responsibility for

them. I challenged the men over the

weekend. Some of you have responsibility

up to here in the workplace, but your

spiritual responsibility is down here.

What would it look like for your

spiritual responsibility and your

professional responsibility to look eye

to eye? I don't have the answer to that.

I'm not condemning you. I'm just asking

you. Is the cry of your

heart for you to carry something, impart

something, and disciple something that

you don't feel qualified for? And I feel

that it's the same with men as it is

with with ladies. Much of the issue with

the church is that the scent ones don't

feel like they've got anything to offer.

We're rattled. We're

weary. Will we say yes to the call and

to the

[Music]

mission? As you stand, I want you to

look at the last couple things I have on

the

screen. The first is that the harvest is

ready. God doesn't need the most gifted.

He needs the most surrendered.

He sends ordinary people. Don't wait to

feel

powerful. He's already given you

authority. Carry peace. Offer healing.

And walk

humbly. And know that there's joy on the

other side of being known by him. And

finally, your identity is not in your

output. It's in the unshakable truth of

where your name is written.

Every single one of us, I want us to

step into some of these practices.

There's five things that I want us to

practice to put into our lives in

response to this gospel message. The

first is

this. Shift your

prayers. Shift your prayer for revival

to the prayer for praying for laborers.

Meaning, send me God. Whatever you have

to do in me, shift it in me. be real

that God, I don't even believe you can

use me. I've tried. It didn't work. I

suck at this. Send somebody else. I

don't even want it, but I I

just Whatever your prayer is, pray what

you've got. Pray earnestly, but stop

praying for him to say yes to something

he's already said yes to. We're not

going to pray for a harvest. We're going

to pray for ourselves. We're going to

pray for those to work the

harvest, believing that every single one

of us has something to give. Secondly,

identify your place, your field, your

space. That's the question of where have

you already been placed to carry shalom,

to carry peace, to carry presence, to

carry truth. Where are those places

specifically? Envision them now in your

mind and say, I have not fully believed

this word over my life. I am going to

look tomorrow with fresh eyes at how I

am sent to live in my place of work, to

live in my place of belonging, to live

in my place of friendship, to live in my

place of of of family. Whatever the

places are that you live, that is where

you're called. But how have you missed

the

opportunities? Say yes to being sent.

starting a conversation, leading a

group, showing up for someone. We don't

need a stage. We need surrendered

hearts. Anchor your

joy. Anchor your joy in something that

this life can't take from

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you. We want

happiness, but we need

joy. And we'll never get joy seeking the

ways of the world. We will only step

into joy when we've surrendered the joy

of this

world. And we refuse to let our lives be

set on something that this life can take

from us. Step into a quiet revival.

Number

five, what is the place that God's

presence can take you into ordinary

spaces? This is our prayer this morning.

Holy Spirit, come. Come in

power. Come in peace. come in

joy. Those of us that are convicted this

morning, those of us that are standing

this morning, thank you that faith,

belief, momentum is something that can

be imparted in a moment. It can be

imparted from a coach. How much more

from the spirit of Jesus? Holy Spirit,

we just ask for a faithbuing momentum

shift to be imparted in our hearts that

we would believe your gospel aresh. that

we have something to share and something

to say. And many of many of you are

wondering, I don't even know what that

looks like. And that's okay. Are you

willing? Are you ready? Are you ready to

let your norms be

disrupted so that you can take

part in this move of God that is

happening with or without you? I want to

be part of it.

Make this church, Father, a

space where the curious, the skeptical,

the broken, the

wounded, the lost, and the

hungry can find you through broken

people. Testifying to your goodness in

good seasons and in bad.