Guest preacher

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors. Select a time to jump to that point in the recording.

0:00Well, it is good to be here. I'm excited to be here. I started praying for this church with Joel four years ago, five years ago now. And so what a blessing to see you guys this morning and this church and the fruit of prayers. So it's good to be here. And just want to piggyback off of that as we get started this morning, think for a minute, what gets you excited or encouraged? For my son, it's SEC football. He's a South Carolina fan. That's where he went to school.

0:39Sorry for him. I'm a Clemson fan. That's why my colors are red, orange, and purple this morning. Is it music? If you go down the road and you watch people, a lot of times you can see people jamming in their car at the stoplight or sing in really loud. But what gets you excited? What helps you? That also can be negatively. What gets you excited negatively? But we won't go down that road this morning. Secondly, and I heard some of it this morning in your announcements and some of how people talked about children this morning and what's going on this week. But what gets you excited about what God's doing or has done in your life? Think about that for a minute. And you obviously we're not going to do a Q&A and you don't have to say it out loud. But what gets you excited about what God's doing or what he's done in your life? And just to give you some examples this week that's been exciting for me to hear about. One is a retired couple that has been supporting a church and a ministry called Music Ministry Kiev in Ukraine. And they're a retired couple and they went. So moved toward the war to go encourage that ministry that's preaching the gospel in Ukraine. That was exciting to me to hear about, that God would empower them to do that. Secondly, just to, as you think about this, one of the things that Joel was talking about, but one of them was the spring Titus. Titus Lopez attends Stony Point Church. He's a first generation 30-year-old who's a manager at a call center. He is fully bilingual, but said, hey, God's called me to ministry. I need to go to ministry.

2:20So how do we get to seminary? How's that work? What's going on? Then there's another one. You get to meet him. Part of what my ministry, the ministry God has called me to has done is you met, and I don't know if the whole family came, but Arnold Lavare preached here two months ago. So that was a whole process of him and his family moving here from Chicago, leaving their family in Chicago, originally from Honduras. And coming here, they are actually your neighbors. They live in the manse at Centralia Presbyterian Church, which has given them the manse for them to live in right now as they continue to work in ministry with the Hispanic ministry. Or maybe it's a third one. I'll do one more. And this was my kids say I'm really bad at dad jokes, but I'm going to tell you this one anyway. What do you get when you get an English pastor, a Puerto Rican musician, a Chilean professional drummer, and five Americans who go to the airport? You get a music ministry conference in Uganda. And that was one of the missions trips from Stony Point Church that I was not part of, but that was my intro. They went and they taught, they worked with the Ugandan church. But that's, I get excited when I start hearing about what God's doing, what, and how he's moving and how he's building his kingdom. And I hope you do too. That is my hope. Because I know there's the temptation in our lives as we hear, what does the news give us? Everything that's wrong in the world, right? Everything that's negative. Or if you're sitting on your phone and you're doing

3:56TikTok or you're doing Instagram or whatever you're using, you can get a lot of bad news coming your way. And it's easy for us to get into the trap of not looking at God's goodness, but looking at the negative of what the world brings us. And so as we think about the passage today and as we think about what's going on this morning, I really want us to dwell on that. Where do we get excited? What is God doing? Because the reality is Christ is on a mission. Christ is on a mission to save his people.

4:26Christ is on a mission to build his kingdom. And that hasn't stopped. That hasn't stopped because of the shootings in our country. That hasn't stopped because of the war in Ukraine. That hasn't stopped because of the challenges you may have in your own life. And we all have them. I'll be the first to confess. That hasn't stopped because of the temptations we face. But God is on, Christ is on a mission to save his people. And that's what we're going to look at this morning. Really three ideas, three things we're going to gain from the passage. One is Christ's missional lifestyle we're going to look at. A second one is Christ's missional motive. And third is Christ's missional opportunity for us this morning. And so I know you've been going through the book of Luke, and I think that'll continue next week. This comes from the book of Matthew, and it is kind of a summary of Jesus's life when he was doing this three years of public ministry. And so if you're with me, do we stand for reading God's word or don't? Okay, no worries. Oh yeah, let's stand for the reading on God's words this morning.

5:30Pastor's privilege, pastor's privilege. All right. And this said, this is from Matthew 9, 35 through 38. You can do it in your bulletin here, or you can turn in your Bible or on your phone. God's word for you and me. It says, and Jesus went through all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. You're going to be seated. Let's pray together. God, we do thank you for your word.

6:17Lord, that teaches us and grows us. We thank you for the spirit that convicts us. Lord, we pray that you will teach us this morning. Teach us about Christ and his love for his people. Teach us about Christ's love for us, Lord, and how he calls us to serve with him in his kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen. So just to take a peek at this, we're going to walk through this process. The first idea here and the first point is that Christ's missional lifestyle, and we look at verse 31, sorry, verse 35. It says, Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease.

6:53First one I want you to key on is Jesus went. I love that we're here together this morning. It is wonderful to worship in God with God's family here this morning, but I want to make a key point that Jesus didn't stay just huddled in the synagogues, but Jesus actually went out to the communities. They say the area where he was, the cities and the villages, there's probably three million-ish people in the area of Capernaum where he was out walking around and preaching, and his disciples were with him, and he was going out and teaching and preaching in different areas, but he went out. That gets messy, right? If you go to Walmart, you may not like the people you got in Walmart. If you drive in certain areas, you may not like certain areas of your town. If you are confronted in certain situations, it may make you nervous, but he went out, and he rubbed shoulders with the people. He engaged them. He got to know their names. He got to know what they were like and what their struggles were, what their realities were, and that's a key point for us as believers as we look at this, is Jesus went out, and we too go out, and they're out. I did this on from my own exercise yesterday, is how many people as I'm out and walking around do I come in contact with?

8:04And as I went to, I did go to Walmart, and I went to Aldi, and I went to Costco. It was a busy day right before Father's Day, but I probably crossed paths with easily 100 people with no problem. And so the idea is that we're already going out, but then how do we, we're going to pick this apart a little bit more. How do we use that to see the world by God's kingdom? And so Christ is on a missional lifestyle. He goes out. The second one is he's teaching in the synagogues. He's teaching in areas, and this was a normal practice, that they would go. It's kind of like a guest preacher, show up, preach in the church, guest preacher this morning, and he would go, and he would teach, and he would share the good news. And so what Jesus is doing is he is showing, one, that this is the gospel coming to fruition. Jesus and God is completing his plan. So he's teaching the truth.

8:53He's challenging the Pharisees. He's telling about Christ and who he is. If you know the statements in John, the I am statements, I am the way, the truth, and the life, I am the bread, right? So I am. He's sharing the teaching. It's how he's the fulfillment of the Old Testament, and everybody loved it, right? Jesus got a well high five. Everybody's like, yeah, Jesus is here. No, it was hard. One of the things I take great comfort in is that Jesus encountered conflict. That sounds strange, but he says, when I encounter conflict, I know that I have a Savior who's encountered it too, and he was Christ.

9:29He is Christ, and he overcame it, and therefore, he can do it. So he went, and he preached, and teach. He taught, and he taught in the synagogues, and then we also see him proclaiming the gospel. So he's teaching and proclaiming the gospel, and I'll be really careful with that word as we think about proclaiming the gospel, because gospel can mean just truth, and people in relative societies can say, well, your truth is your truth, and that's not my truth. But what is he saying here?

9:55Here, and this is key. If you'll turn with me real quick, I'm going to flip through a couple passages. If you have a Bible, and if you don't have it, that's okay. I'm going to read them to you. The first is in Psalm 9, 7, and 8. Psalm 7, 9, and 8, because Jesus used the Old Testament a lot of times to preach the gospel. Psalm 7, 9, and 8 says, but the Lord sits in throne forever. He has established his throne for justice. He judges the world with righteousness. He judges the peoples with uprightnessness. And so the Lord, here again, Jesus is preaching this here. The God is coming. God will judge, and you'll find that throughout his parables, and probably you've already heard it, that God's going to separate the sheep and the goats. God's going to come in the future to judge, and I am your way to salvation. Again, another one to look at is Isaiah 52, 7. Isaiah 52, 7 says this, as Jesus was preaching and teaching, how beautiful are the mountains, are the feet of him who brings good news, the gospel, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says, Zion, your God reigns. Jesus is bringing the message of salvation, that he was the way. He is the way.

11:10He is the promised one that God is sending, the salvation of God to preach the gospel, that we have a sin problem, that we sin and we're separated from God. We need forgiveness, and that's only found through him. And so on that point, just for a second here, and I'm going to challenge you, church, a little bit, because I've found this throughout a lot of our churches, not just one. If somebody asked you today to present the good news, to proclaim the good news to them, could you do it? And this is, I've taught two classes on this, and I grew up in the church, and I was not well trained on this, and I'm still learning, even as a pastor. What's, here, we'll answer this together. What's one plus one?

11:50Okay, did you have to think about it? No. Why? Because it's easy, you just know it, right? What if we knew the gospel that well? What if we knew the message of the gospel that well? Whether you take Romans 6, 23, which is a great one, it's easy for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. That's the gospel, right? Or if you turn to Ephesians 2, 1 through 10, you can just read through it. But what I want to challenge you with, and challenge me with, is as easy as you said one plus one is two, that you could tell somebody the gospel of Jesus Christ that well, and so could your kids. Either, I don't, you could also use the color bracelet if you want to, the beads if you remember those, or a necklace. But can you personally, and I'll challenge you to proclaim the gospel? If you go out and you say to someone today, hey, yeah, I'm a Christian, they go, oh, really, what's that? Could you share? The second one I'll challenge you with, again, with one plus one is two, and the reason I'm challenging you is because I've found in our churches that we aren't equipped sometimes. Can you either present it that way, through scripture, or can you share your testimony in two minutes? That'll be your homework today. Could you go home and write down how Jesus saved you in two minutes? So if somebody said to you, what's your God story? You know, this is how God saved me. I'm a pastor's kid. I was raised in the church.

13:12Didn't really like the church. Didn't really like Jesus. This is true, by the way. God used the gospel. The reason that this is, this was the gospel for me. For 12 years, I sat in the church, and I could not take that. And every time I asked my dad, who is a pastor? Pastor's kid. Don't judge me. Why can't I take that? Why can't I take that? And he goes, well, do you know Jesus? And I go, no, what does that mean? And it's through those conversations. I understood that I was a sinner. I had a Savior who loved me, and I needed to accept him. And at 12, that's where I came to faith, as a covenant child, accepting it as my own. Two minutes, that's my testimony. Can you do that? Can you either explain the gospel one way or the other, or both? So here's Jesus. He's teaching. He's proclaiming the gospel. And then he's healing the sick and the diseased. And so he has a holistic ministry of how he's going out, and he cares for the people. And that can be done in a variety of ways. How do you care for people in this community?

14:18What are the needs of this community? What are the emotional needs? What are the practical needs? I know you'll have a huge food bank down the road here. My son served there for volunteer hours. But what are the needs, and how does this church present the gospel to them, just as Jesus? And so what Jesus is doing, Christ is a missional lifestyle. He's living it out wherever he goes. And I know we get caught up in our lives, but he's making it clear that he's going to present God's plan, and he is the plan. In our lives, remember who we are, 1 Peter. We are ambassadors to this world to reflect that. We're going to go into that a little bit more later. But that's it. It's a missional lifestyle. One of the things I love to do as a pastor is, and we can't do it this morning again, but it's one of the privileges I have is to hear your stories. As you come to Joel, Joel's going to be teaching a membership slash church information class soon. And if you decide to join after that, you will meet with some of the elders, and you'll tell your story. How did you come to faith in Christ? That's so fun to hear. I've heard stories of a guy in California who was sitting in a hot tub with a couple of his friends, and his friends were believers, and through conversations, that's how he came to faith. I've heard stories of people, and if you don't know the Gideons, it's a great ministry. They put Bibles in hotels, and people who are on their last leg, and that Bible was sitting in this. It's always in the drawer right beside the bed. If you don't know where it is,

15:46check it out. Hopefully, they put one in the hotel you're in. But they pulled out, and it's there, and that's what pointed them to Christ. I've heard stories, and there's no less from this, of covenant children who've come to Christ by being in the church all their life, and knowing except him, and that's just as powerful as any of the other ones I've just said. That's an awesome thing, and that's what's Christ's missional lifestyle. So as we think about this Christ's missional lifestyle, I want you to think two ways. One is inward. How has Christ's missional lifestyle affected you? Where have you heard his teachings? Where has the gospel been proclaimed proclaimed to you? How has it changed your life? Where do you need to learn more of his teachings?

16:29How have you seen the church and Christ reaching your sickness and your disease? Where has he met you in those situations? And so as we think about that church, that's part of what we look at. Christ's missional lifestyle does affect us. That was 2,000 years ago he lived, and here we are in 2023. And if I went around the room, it's impacted us. And the same way, there's a great illustration, which way do we face church? You can make circles inward, and we just face each other, right?

16:58And so we are definitely called to encourage each other, but I can't do this with my hands. If you make circles outwards, we're called to share that with other people. And where would we take, I know it's a bad circle, but where would we take this idea, this missional lifestyle that God's given it, and share it with others? Where do you have opportunities to teach? YMCA? Possibly a Bible study in your house? Or it may be as you walk along, and my wife loves to go walking, but she has conversations about Jesus all the time when she walks with people. Where do the opportunities that you have to live, like Christ says, a Christian missional lifestyle? And with whom? And can you proclaim the good news that God has proclaimed to us? And so that's one idea here, one point.

17:45Is Christ, as we think about God's mission, as we get excited, as we think about it, is Christ lived a missional lifestyle? The second is, what was his motive? What was he driving at? And if you look at verse 36, we'll go back to that and read it again. It says, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And I just want to look at the verb again. First, he went, right? Second one is, he saw them. I'm really good.

18:15At not seeing people. If I'm going to a store and I, I'm, I'm a man shopper. I'm hunting for whatever item I'm on, right? I can bypass all of y'all because I'm just weaving in and out to get to the chip pile or whatever it is. But, but the idea is he sees them. He sees the people. He's going out into the crowds. Remember all these different cities, all these different towns, and he's to recognize them, and he's seeing them, and he's seeing them for who they are. And what is his reaction?

18:47Compassion. Wow, that's powerful, especially in our world today, right? Compassion and empathy for them. I don't completely agree with the statement over there about compassion is tolerance, are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. Because I think we have to stand up for Christ, so it's not all just accepting everything. But compassion is something where we have a deep feeling and understanding. You probably never read that over there, Dalai Lama. But compassion is important. He doesn't react, and this is why it's important, because what is our tendency to do? I see, when I see people, the first thing I can see and attempt to see is see negative.

19:26The second thing I can see tempted wise is to judge. You know, I don't know if you've heard the illustration the teacher writes, 10 problems on the board and she misses one, or he misses one, doesn't matter which gender it is. What does the class see first? The mistake. And so what Jesus sees here is he goes out into the areas and he's preaching the gospel, these people are not saved, is he sees them as compassion and says, how in the world would they know me? Ephesians 1 through 3 says that their followers, we're followed. They, we, followers of the world, followers of Satan, followers of our own desires. And then goes on to the great big but in Ephesians 4, that God, rich in his mercy, saves us. But Jesus gives them compassion. He enters in with them. He gets to know their situations. He preaches the good news to them, even when he's going to get rejected.

20:18And it's not a new idea. I don't know what I just dropped, but that's okay. If you remember, there's a reason we tie in our verses. Exodus that we just read on page 4. Lord, Lord, God, a merciful God who's gracious and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, faithful and keeping steadfast love for the thousands. A God who's compassionate and has mercy. And so Jesus goes out to the crowds and preaches and teaches and heals. He didn't say to the ones who were sick, oh, do you believe first? No, he heals them. He goes out and touches the untouchable. And then he goes on. So this idea, he sees them and he has compassion. The motive, the Christian missional, Christ missional motive is that he has compassion on them. They have it. He sees that they have a need, a need for a savior, a shepherd. Because here again, it says, when he saw the crowds, he has compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Another part of the Bible that I believe in but don't like. Do you ever like being referred to as sheep? I don't know if we have any sheep farmers in here. But sheep are not real smart animals. Go watch a YouTube video if you want.

21:36They wander. So here you have a group of people that doesn't have a shepherd. The sheep need somebody to guide them. They need someone to lead them to food. They need somebody to lead them to water. They need somebody to protect them from dangerous animals to come and get them. A shepherd. And these people don't have it. And so they're wandering aimlessly. They're helpless. They're harassed. They're getting beat up. But when we think of our world, those who don't know Christ don't have a shepherd. And so Jesus in his compassion sees them and sees their need, their true need, that they need a shepherd. They're wandering around. They're following the things that are incorrect, but they don't know. And be careful not to judge. Because it made, you know, the whole, the hymn Amazing Grace that only separated, was written as of, as the hymnist writes, that he saw someone in the ditch who was drunkard and, and, and helpless and didn't know Christ. He says, the only thing that separated me from that person is Christ. So before we go out and say, as we look at people and we see that they're a sheep without a shepherd, how do we have compassion for them versus judging them? How do we say that used to be me, but Christ has rescued me. And now for I have a shepherd. He leads me. And so we reflect this idea of missional motive that Christ has. Um, this week I went to see my parents and I don't tell stories about my kids very often, uh, but this is a good one and she's not here, so it's okay. Um, but my parents are 85 and 82 now.

23:09Um, and there we've moved them into, uh, assisted living home. Uh, they're not real, it's a great place, but they're not real happy. They haven't liked the transition. Um, but we went, me, she and I went to, to visit them. And one of the things I saw in her, even with, you answer the same question five times in 10 minutes. Um, everything that takes should, you know, for us to get, to walk from one side to the other, takes two minutes, takes them 15. Um, it's, it's a whole different thing.

23:41But one of the things I saw in my daughter that was beautiful and really encouraged me, um, was her compassion towards them. To answer the questions over and over and over again. To hold their hands when they need somebody to steady them as they walked. So my daughter, who's 13, who easily lives in the digital age of the moment, had to slow everything down. And the temptation is to get the frustration with my parents and to judge them. But she had compassion. And so Jesus's missional motive, which is compassion, reflects into us too. How does Jesus's compassion impact you? How has it?

24:29Where do you have the same sins? Where do we have the same sins that we keep repeating? And Jesus in his grace and mercy and love forgives us. Where does he say, you need to grow in this area and you're lazy and you don't do it. And yet he says, I've chosen you. You're mine. You're my son and I am faithful to you. Jesus's compassion impacts us. And that is our fuel, our gasoline to how we are to live out the gospel. Jesus is patient with us. Many of us have heard the passage, especially in weddings, love is patient, love is kind. That's a picture of Jesus's love for us. We always say it to each other, knowing that the husband and wife can't keep the promises. We hope to, but we try, you know, can't. But that's how Jesus treats us. Love is patient with us. Love is kind with us.

25:27He grows us. He knows we're going to repeat our sins. And yet he says, I still want you to come and serve and to worship me. And I have a place in heaven for you. And so as we think of this idea, I want to flip it around. That's how Jesus's compassion hits us. At the same time, how do we reflect it to others? Who are the people that God has intentionally put in your life? Five, 10 names. You can think of them on your own. Maybe it's 15 or 20. How do you show them compassion? Coworkers who are annoying. Friends or neighbors who don't do things like you would like.

26:11Parents and children who cause annoyance in each other. It goes both ways, by the way. What's our choice? How do we show, how do we reflect the compassion? Because that's the motive. And Jesus sees the people. He has compassion upon them. He reaches out and he touches them. They're helpless. They need a shepherd. And he shows that compassion to us and will continue to do that and calls us to show that compassion to others. And the third point I want to look at. So you have Christ as a missional lifestyle. You have Christ as a missional motive and compassion. And then you have Christ's missional opportunity.

26:52And this is verses 37 and 38. Then he said to the disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. So the first idea is the harvest is plentiful. Well, where's the harvest? We can say we send missionaries all over the world. That's the harvest. But yet we've prayed this morning very intentionally and very rightly. Chester needs a harvest, right? There's people right around us.

27:27There's right here. Schools are a great place to look for harvest. Connecting with all kinds of families. The YMCA just down the road went by there this morning. Nobody was playing soccer. But anyway, that was there. Where's the harvest in Chester? How many apartment buildings and townhouses are being built in this neighborhood, in this city? All over the place. John Tyler just down the road. 8,000 kids, I think. Something like that. The harvest is plentiful. People are everywhere.

27:58You don't have to go far. They're all around us. And so then you go to the question, Jesus went and seed. Do we go to the harvest and do we see the harvest? Because it's easy just to tie ourselves up into our own worlds. And then he says something else, and we've done it twice or three times this morning. Sorry, I don't want to skip something. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. It was exciting for me to hear the testimony as we prayed for the family that's leaving, just how much that they've done. And we didn't go into all the details, but they've been a key part of this family. And so the laborers, and we prayed and we thank God for those who were replacing them.

28:37But the laborers are few. One of the things I struggle with in my own ministry, you have Saul Arnold. That's the first ordained Hispanic pastor that we have in our presbytery. I have four more in the pipeline, but there aren't a lot. I have more opportunities than I have people. My oldest two kids got invitations from two different camps, one a young life camp and another Christian camp in North Carolina, to come and work because there were not enough kids who are old enough to go and be camp counselors this summer. We need more laborers, and those are official ones, but we need more laborers. We need more purpose. We need more people to come and to serve and to be witnesses and to do the easier things and the harder things in both, and because they all have value in God's kingdom. The people who set up all the stuff this morning are as important as the instrument, the people who play the music this morning, the people who set up the chairs or everybody, the cake may get another hire. No, I'm just kidding.

29:38But we need more laborers, and so what does Jesus say? He says, therefore, pray, and I would make that a key point to this church. How are we praying for the Lord, for usually to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest, and so this is our missional opportunity, our missional reality is are we praying for those workers, and don't think it's just for the young people. There's no age limit on serving Jesus, young and old, little kids during COVID. We had making them have making cards and sending them to the nursing homes. I know people who are in career, second career ministries where they'll have some kind of skill, whatever, and they'll go and they'll serve on the mission field, and then there's all kinds of work for you to do here, right where you are, in your neighborhoods, in your jobs, and to serve, and so the harvest is there, and so do pray. Pray for workers to be sent out, and pray for yourself. How will God use me? How will God use me today? What are the opportunities that I can go towards and see? Because I'll naturally put myself above those, and I'll have my agenda versus God's agenda. How do I keep my heart towards what God wants me to do? Pray and rejoice as he sends them out. Support those people who are part of it, and so this is what it is. It's an exciting time, and the cool thing is, anybody who says the Christian life is boring, I have an argument with.

31:08Okay, Ephesians 2.10 says, you want to read it with me? Turn over here. Ephesians 2.10. This is a fun one to look at, but I want you to understand, because the Christian life has purpose. The Christian life has value. The Christian life has things to do that, again, are, if you want to say dangerous at times, they'll challenge us a lot. Ephesians 2.10 says, for we are his workmanship. We are God created for, in God's image, a masterpiece by him. He knows every detail of our bodies, every detail of our personalities, every detail of the sin nature that's hidden to us. We're created in his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for what? For good works. Have you ever had fun blessing someone? Have you ever had fun praying for someone? Bless somebody today. It's a lot of fun. It's incredible. Good works that you can do, prepared by God ahead of time, that you can be a blessing as we pray for workers to go out and pray for the work to be done and pray for God to use us to be workers. It says that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, for which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Went, see, compassion, and we should walk with them, walk in them. You have purpose. You have value. God has things for you to do. If you don't know what to do, ask Joel.

32:36But here's the, I mean, it's exciting. God has purpose for you and I to do. Pray for him to show you what those would be. How might you show compassion to someone today? How might you see someone who needs compassion today and pray for them? It's an exciting time. And the Lord of the harvest will send us out. So Jesus, who is the missional God, who's come to, to draw his people in, says the harvest is plentiful. The labors are few. Pray that the God of the harvest would send out labors to the harvest. And we're not going to go on from here, but you know what the next passage talks about is the disciples who Jesus are with Jesus all during this time are then going out on their own. And so the Jesus, the missional Jesus who has saved you or is working in your heart, the missional Jesus who has had compassion in you and still shows you compassion, the missional Jesus is giving us opportunities and says, pray. Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest that he may send out laborers. But understand that probably means you too. Actually, it really means you too. And it's a privilege and it's an honor and it's really exciting and encouraging because Jesus is with you and has a purpose for you and for me. Let's pray. Father, it's good to think about and to dwell on your word. It's good to be challenged. It's easy for me, I confess, to fall into the sins of the United States and in other parts of the world that I value comfort over opportunity, your opportunity.

34:12I value my security over things that might make me uncomfortable to serve you. Lord, I pray that you would teach us as we confess, Lord, that you would teach us to have compassion towards others. I pray that as Jesus, Jesus is missional, that he went out, that you would help us go out, to make time in our busy schedules, to go out, to see people. I pray that you would challenge us to know the gospel well enough to where we could say one plus one is two and share the love of Jesus. The most important news that we have, the most important message that's here, that's wonderful, that's life-changing, that's powerful. Father, guide us. Lord, you are good.

34:54You who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it in Christ Jesus, and we praise you that we are secure in the love of Christ and his work and what is done on the cross. In Jesus' name, amen.