The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: Sent Life

Episode Date: October 23, 2022

The abundant life is the sent life. We are all called to live life on mission, and there are many ways that we can serve on the mission field domestically, internationally and right here in our own city. We invite you to partner with us to take a next step and live a SENT life! Text SENT to 441122 or visit coe22.com/sentlife

Hey church. Well, baby dedication, like Pastor Chris said, is one of my favorite Sundays. And I was looking at all those babies, and they all seem to be about 18 months old. And I'm just wondering what happened about two years ago. Why would all those parents be together so much? Just wait. Wait for it. There you go.

So I want to show you this picture. We have a son that goes to college down south. He goes to Embry Riddell. in Daytona, and so I drive up and down I-95 fairly often, and have you seen this? Now, listen, this is not a sermon about government waste or anything like that, but there's like, there's like a half mile on each side of I-95 down in Palm Coast where there's this rest-stop, and there are over a hundred of those don't park signs. Like, I don't know what's wrong, why you all think you need to stop on the side of the road so much,

But when I drove past it, the thought came to my mind that there's a bunch of people that when they think of Jesus, when they think of the church, when they think of Christianity, when they think of God or the Bible, what they think of is don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. And what's so fascinating is that when Jesus came and Jesus told us why he came, He said this, he said it in John chapter 10, verse 10, I came that. Here's his point. Here's his purpose. I came that you may have life and have it abundantly. Now, absolutely the Bible has times where it says don't do that. But there's times where it says don't. It's not trying to stop us from having life. It's trying to free us up to have life and have it more abundantly. and that Jesus came that we might have life. And so the question that we're asking in this five-week series that's really setting us up for the next two years called the 10-10 life is, are you chasing after the abundant life or are you chasing after the abundance of things

that will never fully and finally satisfy you? Because Jesus said that life is not found in the abundance of possessions. And so last week we kicked off the series, and I hope you'll go back, listen to that sermon. It was an incredible sermon that laid out all that we're going to be doing over the next few years as a church family, and there's an incredible video that's been put together to show all that. I hope you got one of these journals, and if you haven't looked through it yet, the first half of it explains a lot about the 10-10 life. and then the back half is a place for sermon notes

and disciple group questions and all that. We're going to dig in to page 46, around page 46. And then the very back, there's one of these cards, a commitment card. And I hope that you and your family will take this and we'll pray about it, pray together, pray what the shepherd would whisper in your ear and lead you to commit to over the next few years

as we pursue this 10-10 life. But the question that's sort of been rolling around in my brain as we've been thinking about this is when Jesus says, I came that you might have life and have it abundantly, what does that word abundant really mean? Because we could have all sorts of opinions and thoughts and ideas about what it means

or how it's going to play out in our life. But when Jesus said, abundant. What he meant, the word that he used, the word literally means beyond regular or beyond normal. Now, when I think about what is regular and when I think about what is normal in life today, I don't want normal. I don't want regular. I want beyond regular. I want super. I want. I want super normal. I want supernatural life. And when Jesus said, I came that you might have life and have it abundantly, he wasn't even primarily talking about some things that we would get in our life. Because Jesus said, I am the way the truth in the life. I am the resurrection

and the life. And so when we talk about having life, what we're really talking about is Jesus himself. more than anything we could get, we get Jesus. And he is the abundant life, and it is Christ in us that is the hope of glory. And when I was in middle school, high school years, I got a saltwater fish tank. It was super cool. Got it all set up, set it up from scratch,

and got all salt water in it, got the live rock in there, had coral and sea anemones and clownfish. I even had an octopus at one point, little miniature octopus. But when I first set it up, it takes a little bit to kind of cycle through it and get it all going.

And I kind of let the time go and it cycled all through. But then I just noticed like this green funk started growing on everything. And then the live rock wouldn't do it real well and the coral and the nominees weren't really growing.

And so I took the water into the fish store and the aquarium place. They tested it and they're like, everything's fine. I don't, it's great. So they said, go back, check your filter. all that, I went back, I checked the filter, I looked at it, everything was fine, and we kept kind of going back and forth like this, and eventually one of the guys was like, hey, bring

your light bulb for your fish tank in. I'm like, okay, so I bring the light bulb in, it looks like a fluorescent light bulb, and when I brought it in, he took one look at it, and he goes, oh, that's your problem. I'm like, what are you talking about? And he's like, oh, yeah, that's just a white light light bulb. You need a full spectrum light bulb to get everything to grow and everything to thrive in the tank. I'm like, what are you talking about? He's like, yeah, you're, you're just lighting the tank off this one little end of the spectrum. But, you know, in science class, there's Roy G-Biv. So you need like the full spectrum of light. You need from infrared to ultra-light. You need all those things in there to make it grow and make it thrive. When I learned this

John 10-10, I learned I've come that you might have life and have it full. or full life. And when I hear that, what it reminds me of is this full spectrum life. And my concern is that most of us are living just down on one little end of the spectrum. And we think we're living it, but we're missing out on the full spectrum,

the full health, the full thriving of life. Because if abundant or full only means good and up into the right, then you can't have the abundant life if you are sick. You can't have an abundant life if your job doesn't go well. Your bank account doesn't go well. Or what do you do with Jesus when he was betrayed or beaten? Then was he not the abundant life?

Or was he not living the abundant life? But if the abundant life is a full spectrum life that you would live all of life in its fullest, to its fullest. And so what we're going to do today is we're going to look at an end of the spectrum that I don't think really comes to mind when we think abundant life, but it is an end of the spectrum that we need to look at and we need to live into. And usually when I preach, what I like to do is just walk through a passage,

and we're going to do that. We're going to go to Romans chapter 10 so you can find your way there. but what I like is to kind of walk through the passage and then go, and so here's the bottom line and kind of let it unfold, and here's what you do with it. But this morning, what I want to do is tell you right up front, here's the bottom line. And the bottom line is this,

that the abundant life is the sent life. An abundant life is a life that's lived on mission for God. It's a life, as Jesus said, as the Father has sent me, so I send you. and so we're going to look at this whole thing and here's here's the application for the message I want you to text the word sent S-E-N-T to 44-11-22 sent to 4-4-1-1-2-2 now go ahead you can get your phone out go ahead and do that but before you send it we're going to take the next 31 minutes and we're going to look at what it means to be sent before you send that text off So, Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11 is actually Paul answering some questions from something that he says at the very end of Romans chapter 8.

And in Romans chapter 8, he says something stunningly beautiful and incredible. And then he goes on to kind of realize his readers might have some questions or some pushback, and so he begins to answer what he thinks might be some of their questions. So here's what he writes in Romans chapter 8, starting in verse 29, 29 and 30. For those whom he foreknew, he's talking about God. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called.

And those whom he called, he also justified. and those whom he justified, he also glorified. A theologians call this the golden chain of salvation. That God before time knew everything about everything. And in his knowledge of all things, he predestined some to salvation. And in his predestinning, he then called to those people, not that he would just sort of woo or invite,

but they would affectually call. And in that calling, they would then be justified, meaning they would be made right with God. And in being justified, we would be glorified, meaning one day we would get resurrected bodies with the resurrected Jesus. And what is so incredible about this passage is if you look all those things,

foreno, predestined, called, justified, and glorified, they're all in the past tense. which means in God's plan of salvation, it's as good as has already happened. It's a done deal. But then Paul anticipates a bunch of questions, like you're anticipating a bunch of questions. One of them is, well, isn't God unjust in doing that?

And in Romans chapter 9, Paul answers that question. Or who does God think he is to do that? And Paul answers that question. or what, Paul, what about the Jewish people, the people that you had chosen a long time ago? Have you forgotten them? And Paul answers that question. Or does God's word fail somehow? Is it not good?

And he answers that. The question that Paul answers in Romans chapter 10 that I want us to look at is the question I think most of us ask when we come up against God's sovereign saving. And that is, if God is sovereign over, all of salvation, then what's the point? Like, I mean, why pray? Why care? Why do anything? If God's already got it all laid out,

why should I go on a mission trip? Why should we give to missionaries? Why should we send to missionaries? Why should I invite my friend or pray for my nephew? And what Paul is going to tell us is that God is not just sovereign over the ends, he's sovereign over the means to those ends.

and that God is not just sovereignly chosen who will be saved, but he is sovereignly chosen to use us in that saving. That God uses human action to accomplish his divine salvation. It's like this rug. The rug up here is taped down, so I couldn't pull it up for you. But if I pull it up, this side of it looks great and looks beautiful. The backside of it's got a bunch of knots in it. What you see is here.

the backside has got a bunch of how it's all actually knit together. And that's the way Romans chapter 8 and Romans chapter 10 works. What God is doing on the backside is Romans chapter 8. And then the way he's working visibly is Romans chapter 10. And so Paul says this in Romans chapter 10, starting in verse 1. Brothers. So he's speaking to believers here. And so if you're here this morning and you're not a follower of Jesus,

Jesus, this is a great time to be here because we're going to kind of pull back the curtain and you're going to see what makes our heartbeat. So he says, brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them. He's talking about his Jewish brothers and sisters. My heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. Now, in light of God's sovereignty, Paul then just throw up his arms and go, eh, whatever, God's got it, forget it. He actually says, my heart's desire and prayer for them is that they would be saved. That word salvation, it means two things. It means delivered, but in one sense it means we're delivered from something. That we're delivered from the penalty of our sin, the wages of sin is death, that we're

delivered from the power of sin and evil. One day we will be delivered from even the presence of sin and evil. There will be no more tears, no more crying, no more pain. And in the other real sense, we're delivered to something, not really to something, to someone, God himself. And so salvation is this delivery from sin and a delivery to our Savior. And Paul says, his hearts. desire and his prayer is that the people that he loves would know that kind of saving.

The way God sovereignly saves is he begins by breaking our hearts for people that are living and dying apart from Christ. Look, as soon as Paul writes, Romans chapter 8, verse 29 and 30, he didn't get but about a sentence later, and he says this in chapter 9, verse 2 and 3, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers and my kinsmen. Paul says, if there's a way, there's a way that I could trade my salvation for their dying apart from Christ because I have tasted how good.

good and how sweet and how abundant it is. If I could just somehow trade places, I'd be willing to go to hell so that they could be saved. What Paul knows is Jesus already did that, so he didn't have to do it. Jesus, when he was teaching this huge crowd, it was in Matthew chapter 9, he's teaching this giant crowd, and says he looks out over the crowd. In verse 36, it says, when he saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, not judgment, not condemnation. He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He looks out on him, and he sees them living a life apart from him. And he looks at him and he goes, man, this is just like harassed and helpless sheep.

and his heart breaks for people living apart from him. So the question is, what is your heart? What's your heart's desire? Is it for this? Because if I'm honest, most of the time my heart's desire is for a lot of other things, like a flats, bottom boat and things like that. My kids to do well in school,

or my kids to do well in sports or something. I have lots of desires, but does my heart break for people that are dying without knowing Jesus and his salvation? There's almost 8 billion people in the world right now. About 2.3 is what they estimate. 2.3 billion are Christians. Which means somewhere around 5.5, 6 million people in this world are living every day not knowing the abundant life of Jesus.

And they're dying apart from knowing the eternal life with Jesus. What does that do inside your heart? Or did you know just in terms of sheer numbers, not percentage, just sheer numbers, that America is the third largest nation with the third largest population living apart from Christ right now in the world?

Like, what does that do? Do you feel condemnation towards people? Or does your heart break with compassion for people who are far from Christ? Because when our heart breaks like that, that is living the abundant life. Our heart breaking like that is living a scent life because Jesus said, I was sent,

and his heart broke like that. And so when our heart breaks like Jesus' life breaks, we're living a scent and abundant, a full spectrum life. He says, not only is it my heart's desire, but it's my prayer to God for them. The way that God sovereignly saves is that he breaks our hearts, and then he bends our knees in prayer.

That when Jesus, as soon as he gets done, looking at that crowd, and he feels this compassion well up inside of him. This is what he says. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, now what he says next, you'd expect him to say, therefore, go, go help him, go get him, go rescue him, go do, go do.

What he says is, therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest. What do you praying for right now? I mean, what are you praying for right now? What would it look like in the 10-10 life? Last week, we said to take your phone and set a 10-10 at a.m. Or 10-p. Reminder, you know, 10-10?

Mine said at 10 a.m. Because at 10-10 p.m. This boy is out, asleep, gone. So good for you if you can stay up past 10 o'clock. But the other day, I had my alarm set, and we were in a meeting, and all of a sudden my phone goes off, and everybody, like, looks at me with deceit. disgust. They're like, ugh, your phone. Turn your phone off. And I just turned it and went,

it's my 10-10 alarm. Why isn't yours going off right now? Sort of like phone drop, you know, and walk out. But what would it look like for us to pray, really pray? I mean, maybe your heart doesn't break for the nations that are lost. Maybe your heart doesn't break for people that you pass on the street or you walk with or your roommates or your classmates. What would it look like to pray and to say, God, would you break my heart for the people that I love that are apart from you? Or maybe your heart breaks for people that are far. You just don't know anybody that's lost. And what would it look like over the next handful of weeks or over the next couple years of this journey to pray, God, would you put some people in my life that are far from you?

Not to fix them as a project, but to love them and have compassion on them the way you did for me. Or maybe this is the one that gets me. Maybe you have somebody that's close to you, family member or a friend or a classmate or a roommate that's far from Christ. And for a while, you were praying for them a ton. And then for some reason, you used to be. didn't see anything and you just kind of drifted off and stopped praying for him. And what would it look like to start praying? God, God, change my heart towards them and God, save them. Go get them. Love them, draw them, bring them back in, God. Or what would it look like? If you ever been in one of our services, at the end of a sermon, we give an invitation for

whoever wants to surrender their life to Jesus. And I don't know what you do, but every once in a while, like, I'll have my head bowed and then I'll just kind of open one eye just to kind of like, see? You know what I'm saying? Don't act like you don't do that. But what would it look like in that moment over the next few years if the thousands and thousands of us all across the city would at that moment go, God, save them. God save them. Do the thing you do. Holy Spirit, go go, go open their life, breathe new life into them. What would that look like? Because praying like that, praying like that is living the abundant life.

Praying like that is living a scent life. So that's the way Jesus prayed. So Paul then goes on and he's going to tell us why his heart breaks like that and why he prays like that. Verse two, he says, four, I bear them witness. that they have a zeal for God, meaning they've got all this passion and all this energy for God, they've got all this desire built out of it and to do everything just right. They've got this zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Okay, Paul, so what kind of knowledge are you talking about?

For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, meaning they don't really consider God to be as holy as he really is. Sort of brought God down a notch so they can bring themselves up a notch. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, meaning their own righteousness, they do not submit to God's righteousness. What he's saying is they're not saved, even though they're full of zeal for God, they're not saved because they are full of self-righteousness,

not God's righteousness. They tried to build their own case before God instead of saying, Jesus, what you did for me in your life, death, and resurrection, I lean into that, I'm full of that, instead of being full of me. You know that you can be as religiously, lost as you can rebelliously lost, right? I mean, Jesus in Luke chapter 15, he tells, it's really

one story, but it kind of has three parts to it. Part one is lost sheep, lost coin, and then what we call the prodigal son or the lost younger brother. But that third story that he tells, there's not really one lost brother, there's actually two lost brothers in that story. I mean the younger brother is lost in his rebellion. He goes off, does the like what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas kind of thing. Meanwhile, there's the older brother who's back at home, and he's just zealous to do everything for his dad. He's working hard, he's doing it all, he's holding down the fort, making everything run. And then when the dad goes out and grabs the younger brother and brings him home, puts the ring on his finger,

puts his cloak on him, kills the fatten calf, throws a big party for everybody. He goes out and he gets his older son and he goes, come on, come on, your younger brother's home. We threw a party for him. Come on inside and the older brother's like, nope, nope. Because dad, I worked so hard for you all. I did everything.

I obeyed, I was good. And he stays out of you. outside of the party. He never actually goes in and joins in, and he is lost in his religious obedience. So Paul says in verse four, for Christ is the end. That word end, it's the word telos.

It means like completion, and it means goal. So he said, for Christ is the completion of the law of righteousness, to everyone who believes. Meaning everything the law would require absolute perfection before God, Jesus completed every single bit of that. His active righteousness did everything that the father would require in law keeping. And it is the goal of the law.

The law's goal was to show us we couldn't keep the law. and to point us to Jesus who perfectly kept the law. And so what he says is Jesus is the end of all the law keeping because he did it perfectly and he was actually the one it was always talking about. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone. Everyone. He's going to use that word three times

and then he's going to use the word all. And everyone just, it just means, means everyone. It means all, all y'all, all kinds. It's why we say 1122, we are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus. He says, Christ is the end of the law. He is salvation to everyone who believes. Now, when we talk about the word belief, most of the time what we talk about is, oh, I believe that, or I believe about, or I believe in. But this word believe, it actually means to believe on. It's to rest completely and totally on. It's to take your full weight of your body, all of your life, now and forever, and to rest it on Jesus. And those are

different things, right? So our son that's in school down in every middle, he's, trained him to be a pilot, professional pilot. And last summer, he got his private pilots license. And he's 19 years old. And so part of getting your private pilot's license is you have to solo. The remarkable thing is you have to solo after only fly in a plane for about 10 hours. Which is terrifying. He's 19.

So when he goes to solo, we asked him like, hey, you want us to stay home or you want us to go with you when you solo. you know, what do you want to do? He's like, nah, come on. So Kristen and I go to the airport, and we're sitting on these chairs outside, and Gavin goes with his instructor, and they take a couple laps in the plane, and then they pull the plane up right in front of us, and his instructor gets out of the airplane, takes off his headset, walks by, sets his headset down, and just starts to walk away.

And I'm like, whoa, whoa, hey, hey, you want to, like, put those headset back on and talk him through this thing? He's like, no, I forgot my drink in the hangar. I'll be back in a minute. he just walks off and then Gavin reaches over and shuts the door puts the gas down the engine takes motors off and then just taxes around the end of the runway and we're sitting there and there he just goes off by himself and all of his 19 years old and 10 hours of flying experience

I'm like oh god I pray for all the houses like it's a hedge of protection I've never prayed a hedge of protection over anybody That's not faith. Me sitting there watching our son go fly an airplane, that's not faith. You know what's faith? Me getting in the airplane with a 19-year-old with 10 hours of experience and go flying, which I've yet to do at this point. Soon, I'll do it soon.

I'll believe. She says in verse 5, for Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commands shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven that is bring Christ down, meaning do you think you're really good enough to work your way up to heaven

and you can somehow go get Jesus and make him come down and do what you want? Or who will descend into the abyss that is to bring Christ up from the dead? You think you're so powerful You can go down and get Jesus and bring him back up after his death. You can do resurrection stuff. But what does it say?

And that it is scripture. He's actually going to quote Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 14. And he says, what does it, Deuteronomy 3014 say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you, if you, if you, You confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. You will, that's a promise, you will be saved.

That if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, you will be saved. It doesn't say if you clean up your act, God will consider it. you come to church a whole bunch gotta look kindly on it you're like yeah but but what about if you believe and confess

you'll be saved yeah but I mean what about this what about what I did last yeah if you believe and confess you will be saved yeah but you don't know I don't have to know what you did because what it says is if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart then you

will be saved That's the gospel. And that is the radical grace of God. And don't hem it in. Let it run wild. Now here's 10-10, Romans 10-10. For with the heart one believes and is justified, that's made right with God.

And with the mouth one confesses and is saved. So Romans 10-10 is how you get to John 10-10. believe in your heart confess with your mouth you get abundant life you get jesus for the scripture says now he's going to quote isaiah and the book of psalms everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame there's another promise for there's no distinction between jew and greek for the same lord is lord of all bestowing his riches bestowing his abundance bestowing his abundant bestowing his abundant life on all, all who call on him. For, now he's going to quote Joel,

this is the fifth Old Testament time, for if everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That calling and believing are not two different things. They're not two different coins. They're just two sides of the same coin. Because Jesus said, out of the heart, the mouth speaks,

So what you believe in your heart will come out of your mouth. It's just a natural thing for it to come out. So you believe and you confess that you're saved. And the good news is that God's sovereign plan for all time has always been that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He goes back to the law, Deuteronomy, the Old Testament law. And he goes back to Isaiah, the Old Testament, major prophet. He goes back to Psalms, the worship book of the Old Testament. He goes back to Joel, the minor prophet in the Old Testament. And he goes, look, all of the Old Testament has said the way

God sovereignly saves is that everyone who believes in Jesus calls on him will be saved. And then he says, so how? Verse 14, how then will they call on Him Jesus in whom they've not believed. And how are they to believe in him of whom they've never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless someone is sent? See, if the for-knowing and predestining and calling and justifying and glorifying, if that's the golden chain of God's saving, this is the missional chain of God's saving. That, Saving comes from calling and believing, and that comes from hearing, and that comes from preaching, and that comes from sending.

Hearing is that you literally have to hear some good news about Jesus to believe. And you spiritually have to be able to hear it. Like God's got to go in there and unplug deaf ears. And the way you hear, he says, is that somebody preaches. Like this is preaching, but this word right here, it's like somebody is. is an ambassador of the king, and they show up in a town with news that the king has already won the battle.

Think of Abraham Lincoln, January 1st, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation is signed. He goes, the battle has been fought, it's been won, there's now freedom for all people. And then he looks at General Granger and he says, all right, I need you to go down to Texas and tell them all that they're free. Words gotta go down there.

And it doesn't make it down there until June 19th, 1865. But when he shows up, he shows up as an emissary of the president and the battle's been won. And he goes, listen, the battle's been fought. You're free, you can now live free. They're carrying this good news. And that's what you and I do. Because the battle's been fought, it's been won.

And so maybe that looks like sharing a cup of coffee with somebody. maybe it looks like telling them your story of how God gave you an abundant life. Maybe it looks like sharing an invitation, or straight up sharing the life, death, and resurrection, the gospel with them. Francis of Assisi is attributed with having said, preach the gospel and use words when necessary. First of all, Francis didn't say it.

So there's that. But how do you announce good news without actually ever say, the news. You're like miming it out. I don't know what you're going to do. Eventually you have to speak it out and that's what he says. Hearing comes from preaching and preaching comes from sending. And so let me get real practical for a couple of minutes. How do you get sent? Well you text sent to 44 1122. Sent 44 1122. That's how you start and when you text that it's going to kick off process. And what you're doing, you're not signing on the dotted line. You're just raising your hand and you're saying, I want to know how I can be sent. And maybe it looks like you going on

one of the 20 mission trips next year. We have 450 spots, probably less after the last couple services. But there's spots there and you need to go. We say all the time, Jesus trained his disciples for three years and then kicked them out. If you've been here three years, you need to go You need to go. If you're an 18 to 25 ministry or 18 to 25 year olds, that ministry is not youth group 2.0. Our youth group didn't even need in this.

But 18 to 25, the predominant purpose of 18 to 25 is to raise up a generation and send them out that they would preach the good news that people would hear, believe, and be saved. And so you need to text sent to 44, 11, 22, and say, I'll go on a trip. Like, we have trips that are domestic trips. We have trips that are international trips.

We have trips that are family trips. We have student trips. We have all different kinds of trips. And go ahead, fill up all 450 spots. I lead the team that runs all of that. We'll just reorient everybody's job to make up another 450 and send up a whole bunch more to you. It's fine.

Take them all. Or maybe you're saying, Listen, I've done the mission trip thing. What I hear the voice of the shepherd saying is, you need to lay it all down and go be a long-term missionary. You need to set down your comfort, you need to set down your worldly ambition, and you need to go give two years or more.

And that could mean going down to Green Cove and being a part of one of our church plants and serving them for the next two years. Or it could be going over and going to Lebanon and Beirut and serving one of our church plants, or going out to Africa or to England or somewhere around the world and saying, I will be here for two years or more and I'm going to serve and I'm going to preach the good news. Whatever that looks like. You know, over the next two years, we're going to partner in planting over 200 churches. That means at the end of the 10-10 life, we will have

partnered up and planted somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 churches. Maybe what it looks like for you is to go be a part of one of those churches. Maybe you're joining us online. Maybe you send that cent to 441122. It's going to lead you to a page and there's a map and that map will show you where all of our church plant partners are. We have them all over the country and all over the world and that you would get up, get out of your house and go to one of those churches

and be a part of that. Maybe it looks like being in our school of ministry. School of ministry is like the pipeline kind of into full-time ministry. And maybe you're thinking, I don't know, could I? Like maybe me? I don't know. I'm too young. I'm too old. I have the right credentials. I don't know.

Is it the voice of the shepherd? We have a thing called the apprenticeship. And the apprenticeship is a handful of months where we walk alongside of you, and the goal of that is for you to gain clarity about what God is calling you to do, that you would be an apprentice. Or maybe you're like, yeah, I'm in.

I want to do it. I want to go. I want to be full-time in this thing, whatever it is, wherever it is in ministry. I just don't have the skills or the tools or the education to have done it. And we have an internship program. And the internship program is that we would walk

for two years with you. And we would give you classroom training. We'd give you a mentor. we'd give you experience in ministry, and at the end of two years, you would feel equipped to go. Go start a church, go be a part staff of a church,

go be a missionary. What would it look like? What would it look like for you to be sent to put your yes on the table and then let God put you on the map? Here's the way this passage ends in verse 15, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. So if I'm honest, I don't think feet are all that beautiful.

Like maybe your feet are awesome, but you paint them up to make them look good and kind of clean the jam out between your toes and like all that. But at the end of the day, let's be honest. But what makes these feet beautiful is they bring the good news. of Jesus, the gospel. Scripture tells us that when Jesus came to earth, there was nothing in his form that would cause us to look at him. There's nothing physically about him that we would look at and go, that's handsome.

That's awesome. That's beautiful. There's nothing in his form. It was just ordinary, ordinary feet. Dirty, smelly feet. But there's nobody that lived a more beautiful life than Jesus Christ. There's nobody that was more abundant in their beauty. And part of the reason why that is true is because Jesus lived his life as a sent life.

Said, I came to proclaim the good news that you might have life and have to the fullest. And when you and I live out that sending as Jesus would send, we live in abundant life. And God looks and goes, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. So I want you to live the full spectrum life of being sent by God. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your son, Jesus Christ, who is the sent one. Lord, thank you for the promise in Habakkuk that the earth will be filled with the knowledge

of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the seas. So God, we're not working for that promise to be true. We're working from the place that you have bought that promise with your blood and in your resurrection. And Lord, one day, every tribe and tongue and nation will stand around your throne and proclaim, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who is and was and is to come.

And God, we're not working for that to be true. We're working from the fact that you have already bought that with your son's life, death and resurrection. And so we're working from that victory. And so we're just saying, here I am. Send me. Lord, here's our yes. You do what you want with my life. God, you ring it out.

Use it. God, let me just stumble into heaven, exhausted, because I joyfully was wrung out and used by you for the sake of your good news in the gospel. And Lord, it would be our joy to hear you say, well done, good and faithful servant. How beautiful are those feet. And we pray it in your name, Jesus. Amen. Would you stand?

We're going to worship together. maybe one of the ways that you're going to worship is the whole time I was talking you had a lot of yeah buts you had a lot of internal conversations about why this wasn't for you and maybe what you need to do is come down here and you just need to get into a little bit of a wrestling match with God and you and God need to come and talk about this for a few minutes maybe it looks like we're going to sing maybe it'll be that you're going to sing and you're going to pray God, here I am, send me as we sing this song. We bring, we bring our first and our best.

It's a way of living that sent life. But no matter what you do, let's sing, let's pray, let's bring, let's worship God.