Video
The Journey of Jesus, Part 2 – Mike Underhill
Sermon Preached on April 13, 2014
Notes & Scriptures
Daniel 9:18-19
– We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy!
– God listens and forgives!
– He does not bless us because we are awesome, but because he loves us
(1) Highway to Heaven Traveled by Few
Luke 10:1-24
– Jesus preaches a very powerful lesson, very instructive
– He says, pray for the workers because the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few
– God will provide workers for the harvest if we pray and do not give up
– This does not mean that some disciples are hard workers and some disciples are not
– This means that the disciples must be hard workers, and every disciple works hard for others (bringing them to God)
– Fishermen did not go and fish because they just loved to fish
– It was something they did because their life depended on it
– So what does this mean? The disciples are few
– A disciple is a rare thing
– Workers are not people that you find
– What do you do?
– You MAKE disciples!
– We don’t just find workers; we make workers!
– Jesus says, “Go and make disciples”
– What are you going to take with you?
– Jesus says, Nothing!
– This was purposeful training, the men (the disciples) needed to understand that it was about the work they were given
– The disciples understood, only God would provide for them as they engaged in the mission of God
– Therefore, the disciples (the workers) didn’t need anything to bring with them
– When you’re on campus and you’re sharing your faith, you realize that you are the only one doing anything TRULY important on that campus
Luke 22:35
– Jesus asked, “When I sent you out did you lack anything?”
– The disciples said NO: they didn’t lack anything (Wow!)
– But, now Jesus is telling them to grab the things that will be useful and resourceful for the mission
– So, what was Jesus doing before?
– He was training the disciples and stretching their faith!
– Once their faith was there, they were ready to have the resources that would aid in the mission of God
– Ignore all of the distractions and go after God’s mission for you!
– NOTE: Cyndee is not sad and miserable right now because she did all of her follow up calls
– Cyndee is fired up because she took the time away from other work to do her follow up calls!
– When you do your duty as a disciple and a worker, you will lack nothing
– God will take care of you!
– Here, it is a stretch of faith?
– Oh, yes!
– But, God is training you!
– (I need to go out and raise money for missions)
– There are always more people to share with
– Even when people say NO, you don’t have to worry (there’s so many more towns, etc. to find open people)!
– NOTE: Don’t rejoice that we are doing the work and having results!
– Be fired up that our names are written in the book of life!
– It makes the joy so light!
– And, it ADDS to the joy when you see those souls brought into the Kingdom!
– Joy is not success in ministry
– There will be scorpions to trample
– But, Jesus taught the disciples gratitude
– Many prophets and kings longed to see what we see, and didn’t see it; longed to hear what we hear, and didn’t hear it
– We got to see a small group of people be hit hard by Satan, and still have a great victory!
– Jesus is calling us to have perspective about how special it is to be a part of this group of sold-out disciples!
– Don’t be more concerned with collecting numbers (studies, baptisms) over making true workers (disciples)
– We can’t just think “Oh, it’s so great to have another person at church”
– It’s SO important to make TRUE worshippers (disciples!)
– Delaney sold her iPad for special missions!
– We must call people to obedience of the scriptures so that they will be true disciples
– People do not fall away outside of the church, they fall away inside of the church
– We must dig deep in our discipling times to protect the hearts of the men and women in the church
– Our discipling times protect people from drifting away from the standard
– The church is not about those who attend, but about those who work
– Jesus trained the 120 to be so effective, that he just went up into heaven and those men and women evangelized the world
Luke 10:25-37
– I am being tested by God
– The man walks to Jesus and thinks, “I am going to test Jesus.”
– Truly, he was the one being tested
– The Pharisee wanted to over-define what something truly was so that he didn’t have to obey
– The Pharisees wanted to overcomplicate it so they could justify themselves!
– The Priest and the Levite did not commit and sins of commission on their walk down the road
– What was wrong? Sin of omission
– It was the Samaritan that did everything that he could for the man
– So, what do you see?
– The religious guy did not want to do the maximum for Jesus
– What is a disciple?
– Who obeys the greatest commandment?
– The man who does the maximum for God
– The major sin of the former fellowship was failing to do the good we ought to do
– They gave up on doing the maximum for God
– What happened? The sins of omission crept into the church
– People are wondering: what’s the minimum I can do?
– Do we have the heart of doing the maximum, or looking for a way to do the minimum?
– We need to call one another to give all of our heart to being a disciple
– You must think through: Is the brother’s household doing all it can?
– Is it giving everything it has to being disciples?
– Are we too concerned with the “how” and not the “what”?
– WHAT are we getting done?
– WHAT are we doing?
– Does it matter more to us the “how”?
– The highway to heaven goes through Jerusalem
– What does Jerusalem symbolize: surrendering everything
– I must be totally surrendered
– “I want my church to be committed”
– This is the battle we will fight the rest of our lives
– We will never get past fighting for God’s church to be radical
– Some people have given up on that fight, but we’re not going to give up on that fight
– We’re going to escalate things until people repent
– In different and loving ways we will escalate
– But, we’re won’t back down
– We go after people, not because we’re angry, but because we love them and want them to get to heaven
“If you’re not walking, you better start while I’m talking”!
