The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: You Feed Them

Episode Date: January 12, 2020

What has God blessed and put into your hands to be used by you to serve His people?

Amen and amen. A plunger in one hand and a Bible in another. All right? That's what we're going to talk about today a little bit. If you got your Bibles, I hope you do. Romans chapter 10 and Matthew chapter 14 is where we're going to be. If you don't have a Bible, a couple things. You should download the U-Version app on your phone,

and you can have a Bible in your pocket always with all kind of about 200 translations. Or there's a paperback Bible in the seat front in front of you, and that's our gift to you if you don't have your own Bible. Or if your Nana gave you one when you were growing up, looks like Shakespeare wrote it, you know, like this. these before thines except after the thals and you can't understand it. The one in front of you is an ESV and that's our gift. Just take it with you, okay? You're going to need it. We are in week two of this series called Here Am I Send Me. And last week we rolled out the vision of 1122 for 2020. And the vision

is not about the activities that our church will participate in. The vision is that we would get a glimpse of the glory of God. And when we see God for who he is, then it changes everything about us. That's what it's all about. And so last week, we said, said that the reason that we are sent, and again, all of 2020, we're not just focused on increasing our seating capacity, though we are. As you can see, we need more seats. We've added extra services at Bay Meadows, at Fleming, at Mandarin here at San Pablo. We're building a seat for everybody in the city next door. Okay, that'll open later on this year. But we're not just trying to increase our seating capacity, but we are turning up the dial to increase our sending

incapacity. Because if you are saved, then you are sent to the ends of the earth with the gospel. Now, it starts right here wherever you are. Remember in Acts 1-8, we talked about last week, Jesus says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses. In Jerusalem, that means right where you are. Like at work tomorrow, you will be a witness. And Judea, that means like the surrounding area. Like everywhere from St. Augustine to Jessup, okay, everybody in between. We're going to be a witness there. To Samaria, that means that you would cross some border, like you would share the gospel with people that don't look like you, don't vote like you, don't think like you, and to the very ends of the earth. That's what we have

been called to do. That over the next 10 years, we're going to plant 1,000 churches and 100 missionaries, put at least 10 campuses around this area, and I would like for you to go on a short-term mission trip. And last week, we said the number one reason that we are sent is not because God needs us, but because God loves us. And the number of the number of the number of the number of one reason for us to go is for the glory of God. There are 8 billion people on this planet, 17,000 people groups on this planet. And every single one of them ought to be worshipping God because he deserves it and demands it until all 17,000 people groups are worshiping him as we should, then we need to go with the gospel. Now today and our time together, we're going to talk

about another reason to go, and that is the lostness of man. That of those 17,000 people groups, 7,000 people groups on our planet have little to no access to the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's about 2.5 billion people on our planet today. If you were to ask them, what do you know about Jesus? They would say to you, Jesus who? Now, there's a big difference between unsaved and unreached, because every time I talk about this, somebody from our church is like, well, aren't there unreached people?

in Jacksonville. No, they're unsaved people for sure, but everybody in Jacksonville has access to the gospel. They could download the 1122 app. They could go to one of our seven campuses. I guess you could really just attend five. There's a special way you attend two of them. You understand what I'm saying. But I'm talking about people that don't have access to the gospel. And we have been called to take this good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the very ends of the earth. Good news is only good news if it gets there on time. Spurgeon is famous for saying it would have, if Jesus would have died a thousand deaths, it would be useless if you've never heard about it. And every single one of us, if you are a follower of Jesus, we have been called to take this gospel to the very ends of the earth.

Now, anytime I talk about global missions and unreached people groups and taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, somebody always wants to ask this question. Well, pastor, what about the innocent man on the island that's never heard the gospel? Does he go to heaven? What about the innocent man on the island that's never heard the gospel? Does he go to heaven? Let me tell you. The answer is easy.

Yes. The innocent man goes straight to heaven. Here's the problem. He doesn't exist. There is no innocent man. Every single one of us, by nature and nurture, are sinners against God, and every sinner needs a savior. Every single one of us.

So I get what your question is. It's just... doesn't make any sense, because every single one of us, by nature and nurture, have suppressed the truth that God has given to us. You see, what Paul is going to say in Romans chapter 10 is this. He says, brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God, for them, is that they may be saved. The them and they he is talking about is anybody who hasn't trusted Jesus as their Savior. Now, he's going to get to the natural conclusion by the time you get down a few verses. but I can't assume that everybody here was here last two years ago, whenever it was,

when we studied Romans for 34 weeks. Because this conclusion that Paul gets to in Romans chapter 10 that seems pretty narrow is built on nine chapters of gospel foundation. So in Romans chapter 1, Paul lets us know that everyone on the planet, every human being has enough general revelation to be accountable for their rejection of God. that God has given everybody on the planet this idea that there is a creator through his creation and deep in our soul has given every one of us this understanding that we are eternal. There's more to this life than just living and breathing and eating and dying.

And then what every single person has done has suppressed that truth so that there is no one without excuse. Then in Romans chapter 3 he goes on to say, and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And all means all. That every single one of us have missed the mark of the perfection, the holiness, the glory of God. That means the best person you know. Your nana is a sinner. That all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And then by the time he gets to the end of Romans chapter 3, Paul will say, and no one by works of the law can declare himself righteous. but that God has given us an alien righteousness that he sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sin, the payment that satisfies, to live a perfect life in our place and to die a sinner's death in our place. And because of the justice of God,

all sin must be paid for, but because God is full of mercy and full of grace that he made the payment. He is the just and the justifier. Then when you get to Romans chapter 5, Paul will let us know and that it is by faith that we are saved, not works, but by faith. That Greek word there for faith is Pestuo, that when we put our trust in Jesus,

when we believe that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for me, that's what salvation is. Not religious activity, but a relationship with Jesus Christ defines our connection with God. And the motivating factor by God was love, that God demonstrated his love for us and this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for God. us. When Paul gets to Romans chapter 6, he says, now you have a decision to make. For the wages of sin is death. So if you continue to live in our own rejection of God, that leads to an eternal separation from him for eternity. Or we could receive a gift. The gift of God is the eternal life in Christ

Jesus. Then Romans chapter 7, Paul lets us know that the gospel is not just the thing that kind of get you into that relationship with God, but it is the thing that sustains our relationship with him. That the moment that we put our faith in Jesus, then justification happens in a minute, but sanctification is a progressive thing. So every believer needs the gospel over and over and over. Paul will say things like, what a wretched man am I? I don't know what's wrong with me. The things I don't want to do, these things I keep on doing, and the things that I want to do, I can't even pull that off. By the way, show hands 1122. Anybody feel like that in your with the Lord. Like what? Okay, good.

11.22. You're an honest crowd. If you're coming from another church and you feel like you got to fake it, let me just tell you, darling. The fake you's doing just fine, all right? But a real Jesus died on the real cross for the real you. And his conclusion at the end of Romans 7 is this. What a wretched man am I?

Who can save my soul? And his answer is Romans 8, chapter 1. It's Jesus. Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And you move into the greatest chapter in all of the Bible. That there is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Then he gets to 828, very famous verse,

for God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose and we love that verse, but you got to keep going. And he says, here are the things that are at work. He says, for those God forenew, he predestined. Don't let that word scare you.

It just means to predestine. It's just what it means. For those whom he foreknew, he predestined. For those whom he predestined, he called. For those who have forenue. He justified, and those whom he justified, he will also glorify. In other words, when you put your faith in Jesus, when the grace train leaves the station, it takes you all the way to glory.

And if he is for us, then who could be against us? Therefore, now, there is nothing that could separate us from the love of God. Not your future, not your past, not the things in heaven, not the things in hell, not angels, not demons, not your ex, not your job, not your financial situation, not your marital status. Nothing, nothing, nothing could separate us from the love of God in Christ, Jesus. Jesus. Then in Romans chapter 9, Paul talks about the sovereign choice of God in election. And he looks at his kinsmen. He looks at his brothers and sisters who are very religious.

They've just rejected Jesus. And his heart breaks for his brothers and sisters. And he says this. He says, I would make a trade. I would be a curse that they would be saved. Is that how you pray for your one more? I would give up my salvation if they could just see Jesus for who he really is. And then by the time you get to chapter 9, verse 30, Paul says, this is his conclusion. What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it. That is a righteousness that is by faith.

But that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching the law. Let me put this in Jobi talk. you mean to tell me, by the way, this is why I cannot get over to the gospel, you mean to tell me that some good church-going folk that grew up in the Southern Baptist Church, that did sword drills and Awanhas and RAs, and that got merit badges for attending Sunday school all the time, that went to VBS, that sponsored a compassion kid,

they didn't drink, smoke or chew, or go with girls who do. You mean there's some good church, or some good Catholic folk They went to church and they stood and they kneeled and they high-fived and they passed the peace and they did the thing. They did all the things. But they thought religious activity equated to righteousness. You mean those folks didn't get it? And me, a twisted up good for nothing, nobody from Dillon, South Carolina, not even looking for the whole God thing. He just came and got me and rescued me by his gospel.

You mean I'm saved by the grace of God? Who in the world? that you would take my place. This is what Paul is saying. He says, what shall we say then that Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it? That is a righteousness that is by faith, but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching it. The answer, yep, that's exactly what we're saying. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone. The thing that defines your relationship with God is not religious activity. It's your relationship with Jesus Christ, period. That's what he's saying.

is the gospel. Back in the 1900s at Oxford, there were a group of professors and they were teaching a symposium on the universality of all religions. Basically what they were saying is all world

religions are fundamentally the same and superficially different. And they gather together and they begin to write words to describe all religion on a chalkboard at Oxford. They weren't words that we would be comfortable with like prayer and meditation and sacred text and teachers and devotion and morality and serving the poor and kindness. And they write 150 words on this chalkboard in essence to say, see,

it's all basically the same, just some of the superficial details are different. There was a professor walking down the hallway and they reached out to him and said, Jack, come in here. Jack was his nickname. I don't know why they called him Jack. His name was Clive Staples. You may know him as CS. because if your name's Clive Staples, people call you CS. C.S. Lewis, they invite him into the office and say, all right, Jack, look, we believe all religions are fundamentally the same and superficially different. So how does this list of 150 descriptive terms, how is this different than Christianity? And the story goes that he took

the eraser, erased all of these descriptive terms, and wrote one word. He wrote the word, grace. grace. That's how it's fundamentally different. You see, we have been separated from a holy God and every religion says, like the innocent man on the island, every, every religion says we have to work our way back to God. And the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that God sent his son to come on a rescue mission to come and get us, not because we deserve it, but by grace. You may not agree with that. That's okay. You can take whatever you want. You may not agree with that, but that is the message of the gospel. And it is fundamentally different than every other religion and superficially similar. So that being true, okay?

Chapter 9, Paul deals with God's sovereign choice and election, and then chapter 10, Paul deals with man's responsibility to respond to the gospel. And so with nine chapters of gospel foundation, Paul's conclusion is this, then, brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them. is that they may be saved. He understands the urgency of the gospel, that every sinner needs a Savior, and that there is one name under heaven whereby we must be saved.

And he says, for I bear them witness, that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, for being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Any salvation where righteousness is based on your self,

self, that is by definition, self-righteous. He says, for Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness that's based on the law that the person who does the commandment shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, do not say in your heart, who will ascend to heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say?

The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. And then I know that's very complicated stuff. If you want me to unpack it, go back to the Roman series, and I do. But then verse 9, he says simply this. He's going to take all that complex talk that Paul is really good at, and he's going to sum all of that up into one verse. What does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Simply this. Verse 9, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. What Paul is doing here is he is showing us the difference between. a man-driven religion, which is based on what I do, and a gospel-centered relationship with Jesus that's just trusting in what Christ did for us at the cross. That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, the way we say that around here is this.

I surrender. I surrender. And believe in your heart. The Greek word is Pestuo. I need you to learn that word. Pestuo means to trust, to have faith in. If down here at the soul level, you believe that Christ was resurrected from the grave,

then you're in. That's what it means. The way we'll say it around here all the time is this. If you believe when Jesus died on the cross or if you believe when Jesus says it is finished, that that counted for me, then you surrender your life. You confess, you're my Lord, I'm not the boss of me anymore, and you will be saved. This is what he's saying. You see, the reality is the 8 billion people living on this planet are in one of two postures

in regards to trusting Jesus with their salvation. Either you trust Jesus for your salvation or you trust yourself for your salvation. Those are the only two postures that you can take. It's similar to the chair that you're sitting in right now. You can only have one of two postures in regards to the relationship you have with your chair. Either you trust your chair to hold you up and you transfer the weight of yourself off of your feet onto your chair or you are standing next to your chair and you are still holding yourself up. Now the reality is regardless of how much you know about chairs, listen, since we planted this church in 2012, I have become an expert in chairs.

There are people that love some chairs, and they come here and try to get us to buy their church chairs. I know about polymers and about weight limits, and I know about fabrics and thread counts, and I know that as years go on in America, the chairs have to get wider and wider and wider. I know all of these things about chairs, but I could know all of that knowledge about a chair, but all that matters is, will it hold me up? And have I trusted that chair to hold up the weight of me? And do you know how you know you trust the chair right now? Because you're sitting in the chair.

Even if you can't remember the moment you put your trust or faith in the chair. I don't know if you walked in here and prayed to the chair. Oh, dear chair. The magnificent chair. I trust thee with none. I don't know if you did that, but here's what I do. know, you're sitting in the chair. That means you Pestuo, you trust the chair.

In a similar way, every single person on the planet is either trusting Jesus for their salvation or trusting in themselves for their salvation. And if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and Pestuo, believe, trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved. You see, every sinner needs a Savior and Jesus is the one name under heaven whereby we must be saved. for with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved for the scriptures say everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame for there is no distinction between jew and greek for the same lord is lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him

that in the kingdom of god there is no cultural ethnic religious bias not in god's kingdom for everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved and you say if even me If you are in the every one category and you call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. Now, this is the pushback that folks in our culture have against the claims of Christianity. That Jesus is the only way. I mean, he said it himself. John 146, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me.

And people say to me, well, isn't that narrow? And I go, it's embarrassingly narrow. Well, isn't that a bit exclusive? Yeah, except it's the most inclusively exclusive invitation you will ever hear in your entire life. Because you know what Jesus is saying? Everyone's invited. Yeah, but you don't know about my sin, and I would just say, then you don't know about the grace poured out at the cross. Because everyone, no one can be disqualified from salvation because of anything they have ever done.

Everyone is invited. And everyone gets in the same way. There's no caste system. There's no reincarnation in four lives from now. Maybe you can earn your way up. There's no JV and varsity. That's not how this thing works. That everyone is invited.

That everyone gets in the same way. And that the price has already been paid. If you think your sin is so bad that you would be disqualified from the grace of God, who do you think you are? You think too much of yourself and you don't know about the, exorbit love of Jesus lavish upon you at the cross. All you have to do is receive it. That's a gift. This is what Paul is saying here. And if that is true, listen, if that is true. And listen, if you don't believe it's true, here's what I just want to tell you. You can believe whatever you want to

believe. I can't make you believe anything. But that's just what this teaches. You can only do a few things with it. Liberal or progressive Christianity, which I don't believe there is a such thing as liberal Christianity that just made up their own rules. Okay. Then you just kind of doctor up the stuff you don't like. You treat the Bible like a salad bar, right? Oh, romaine lettuce, little onions, some cheese, some broccoli, all right, some salad dressing. And then the things you don't like, you just leave. You're like pudding. Who eats pudding on a salad? Why would you even put pudding up here? Doesn't make sense to me. That's a dessert. Or you get the little thing with a chewed up eggs, or somebody in the back's like, bop-pom-pom. You can have them chewed up eggs. I don't eat

the second-hand eggs. Okay. So that's what you can do. You can kind of distort it and doctor it up, but then really you are the authority. What you're saying is I'm God and my glory is heavier or weightier than God's glory. Or you can dismiss it or you can surrender to it. That everybody's invited, everybody gets in the same way, and the price has already been paid. And if that is true, and I believe in my whole life as it is, then we have an obligation,

Paul would call it a debt to this world, to take the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to every human being on the planet. And I know, I know, some people will be like, Well, it doesn't seem fair. My friend J.D. Greer says this. I used to think it was unfair for God to condemn those who hadn't heard. Now I see from Romans that that's not true.

What is not fair, however, is that those of us who have heard so much do so little to get the message to those who have heard nothing at all about a God who has done everything. John Piper quoting Charles Spurgeon says this, you're either going, sending, or disobeying. that's it you're either going you're sending or you're disobeying and so if all of this is true that every sinner needs a savior then paul's conclusion is this how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed the answer is they can't and how are they to believe in him of whom they've never heard the answer is they can't and how are they to hear without someone preaching they can't and how are they to preach unless they are sent, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? Therefore, church, you are sent.

Every single one of us, we are sent. And here's what you need to know is that the reason God invites us into his mission, the great commission, is not because he needs us, but because he loves us. But sometimes I wonder, I've prayed, God, why don't you just like, oh, right, Super Bowl, National Championships coming up? want you just take over the commercials halftime and just be like, no, seriously, it's me, okay? Well, why don't you write your name in the stars? And the reality is, if you look through the scriptures, he did miracle after miracle after miracle, and people still don't have faith to believe. Jesus says, they're going to kill me on a cross three days later.

I'm going to be resurrected. Sure enough, it happened that way. He gathers his disciples together after he was dead, then resurrected, then appeared to 500 people for 40 days, and then he ascends to the right hand of God the Father. He floats up into the heavens. And the Bible says some people bow down and worship and others doubted. I don't know, man. I'm not.

It's crazy. I could take you to unreached people groups and places that we are trying to plant churches. And you'll see beautiful mountains and beautiful landscapes and beautiful scenery. And yet the mountains have never told those people what Jesus did for them on the cross. For some reason, that is reserved for the children of God. what a privilege. And if that is true, then why are we not going? Why are we not going?

Now, here's what I know. I know you're skeptical, and I know you're having some private conversations in your head that you would never have with me. And you're thinking, all right, so pastor, if every sinner needs a savior, I believe that. And if I believe that we have the good news gospel cure for this eternal. cancer, and there's 2.5 billion people around the world that have never even heard the name of Jesus. What in the heck am I going to do? I know you're probably thinking, I mean, what am I going to do? I'm just a teacher. I'm just an insurance agent. I'm just a stay-at-home mom. I'm a college kid.

I'm an inmate. What am I going to do to take the gospel to the very ends of the earth? And then I know some of you're saying, and you wouldn't say this to me either, and you're saying, and let's be honest, Pastor, isn't that your job? Like, what are we paying you for? I mean, you seem well equipped, got a bazillion frequent flyer miles. Why don't you just fly around and, you know, put a face mic on and tell everybody, and I will show up once a week and be entertained by you, and then you just leave us alone, we'll leave you alone, we'll keep paying your salary, and we'll call it a deal, right?

The problem with that is the Bible. You see, actually, I'm not in ministry. We've got our language messed up. The moment I went to work for a church, I got out of the ministry, at least according to the Bible. Ephesians 412 says this, that the role of the pastor, the shepherd, my job, that my job is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. You hear that, Catholics? If you're in Christ, you're a saint. You may be hearing this for the very first time.

That according to the Bible, if you know Jesus, if you've trusted Christ as your Savior, that makes you a saint. Not because you act like a one or look like one, because you don't at all. and we're not going to vote on you and we're not making a necklace with your face on it and we're not none of that's it people just made that up but according to the scriptures because of the imputed righteousness of christ that god made him who was without sin to be sin for us that whenever you put your trust in him that he that you would be made his righteousness that means you're a saint so if you grow up Catholic man and you've trusted and you trust Jesus call you're nana on the way home

guess what i learned at church today nana i'm a saint all right so it's saint ted from now on My job is to equip you for the works of the ministry. Look, man, I'm here all the time. All right? And when God gives me opportunities individually, for sure, I do that. But you are way more on the front lines. This thing, the church, the church is like an aircraft carrier. You show up here every week to get fueled up and gunned up,

and then we send you out to the very front lines of the battlefields for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So if you are saved, you're a saint and you are sent. Now, you may be thinking, yeah, but what, how can I do? I can't preach, can't sing, what can I do? Flip over to Matthew chapter 14. We looked at this a few weeks ago when we're talking about compassion. We're going to look at it again.

Because I think what it's happening here is that Jesus is showing us the model by which he would accomplish his will on this. planet. My hope and prayer for you, by the way, but I know it's just another Sunday, my hope and prayer for you is that today you would discover God's will for your life. Now, I've got good news. I already know God's will for your life. And I can tell you, it's the Great Commission. I may not know that the intricacies and the details of your role in the Great Commission, but your God's will for your life. God's will is that no. one would perish and that God would decide and desire to use me and you to accomplish his will that the gospel would go out in your neighborhoods and in your schools and in your dorm rooms

and in Georgia and Florida and Alabama and all around here and to the very ends of the earth and he has called us his people to do that thing and it is my heart's desire for you today that that would become clear. Now the thing is that some of you sit back and you're like, I'm just waiting on God's will, waiting on God's will, as if you're going to have this magical moment where you're eating your Cheerios. You're like, Lord, please show me your will and you read it. And it just says, ooh, I don't understand. The deal is it's just as you move out on mission for God.

And again, the details of it, some of you will be called a carpool and some to the Congo, but all of it is the same purpose that God would be glorified through your life, through the sharing of the gospel. We see it in Matthew chapter 14. Very familiar story. Now when Jesus heard this, what he heard is that John the Baptist had been beheaded. He withdrew from there in a boat

to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the town. So everybody keeps following him around. And he went ashore, and he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, and he healed their sick.

You need to learn this word for compassion in Greek. It's spligitsomide. I want you to know a few Greek. words. Pistuo means to like trust, have faith in. Scipulon, you need to know that one. It's a cuss word. It's bold scubilon. It means it's slang for animal dung. So whatever you say it, all right? Some of you upper crests would be like rubbish. We don't call it rubbish where I'm from, all right? So that's that word. And then this one, splogizumai. It literally means from the bowels, from the guts. that Jesus would see people in need and something that like the guttural level would be stirred up.

Heartbroken is probably a pretty good word for it. And we know in 2. Peter 3.9 and 1 Timothy 2.4 that God's desire, God's compassion for lost people all over the planet is that they would be saved. That he sees people and he is all stirred up. Now, I'm going to be honest. When I hear that, when I read that, there are times where I'm like, Lord, well, there are 2.5 billion people that have never heard the name of Jesus, then why don't you do something about it? But as I keep reading in the scriptures, I think he would reply,

I was going to ask you to the same thing. Especially in today's church, I have equipped the church with more money, with more technology, with more time. What used to take people six weeks to travel to another country is six hours, and you watch two movies on the one. not exactly suffering for the Lord and yet I've given you all of this money and all of this time and all of this resources and you seem to be spending it all on yourself and your own comfort while 2.5 billion people die without Jesus. That's the church. The problem is not God. The problem

is his bride. And so Jesus has great spligits of my on them and he healed their sick. Now when it was evening the disciples came to him and they said this is a desolate place and the day is now over. send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. But Jesus said they need not go away. You give them something to eat. By the way, other than the resurrection, I think this is the only miracle listed in all four gospels. And in John chapter 6, Jesus asked Philip,

how are you going to feed all these people? And the Bible lets us know, he asked this to test them. And Philip looks around, he's like, that's impossible. It would take two-thirds the average annual salary to feed these people. We're going to learn in a little while

that it's 5,000 men, not counting women and children. So if everybody's got a date and a kid, that's like 15,000 people and the disciples look at them and go, this is impossible. Which honestly, when you hear 2.5 billion people on the planet without access to Jesus, you may look at your

situation and look at that and be like, well, this is impossible. but I'm telling you if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. Because what happens next? They said to him, we have only five loaves and two fish. Now what Jesus is about to do is Jesus is saying, listen, I'm no longer to bring down manna from heaven, but I'm going to meet the needs of these people through my followers. It's a total model change.

And they're like, but we don't have enough. All we got is five loaves and two fish. Now, a couple observations. First of all, there's no way that's true. Now, I'm not saying the Bible's untrue. They did say that. But you cannot convince me if there's 15,000 people here. We talked about this a few weeks ago,

that all you could come up with is five biscuits and two little fish. And when you think bread, don't think like French bread like this. It was probably like little biscuits, and it's not like a delicious bass that you can hold by the lip and take pictures of and put on Instagram. It's like a little sardine. You would rub it on a biscuit for like, as a condiment. You mean to tell me there's 15,000 people there,

all them Jewish mamas, and ain't nobody got a little purse bread. You know what purse bread is? I told you this. When I was growing up, my Mert, my grandma, she had bread in her purse always. We'd go out to eat, at the end of the meal, she'd order bread. They'd be like, for dessert, don't worry about it. She'd take the free bread, she'd put it in her purse, called purse bread. And that way, when you travel around, you get a little hungry, Mert, I'm hungry.

She'd pull some bread out of the thing. Hand it to you. Like, how long has that been in there? Don't worry about it, sugar. And then you'd eat it. It tastes like a mint and a mothball. and big fat yeast roll but you didn't die my daddy worked for Lance snack foods throw the Lance truck around all right he'd have a toast tree cracker in some

pocket somewhere at all times you hungry boom he'd end it we call him the Cracker stacker that's what we call it or he had a can of vana sausages stashed away in the truck in the boat everywhere we went you see all right 1825 you don't understand this but we were growing up our number one fear is that Russia was gonna kill us with a nuclear bomb red dawn was going to happen. And when the nuclear, y'all remember this? When the nuclear Holocaust happened, you head under your desk. I don't know how your desk could protect you from the nuclear Holocaust. But if you had that a can of vienna sausages, you were going to make it.

And my daddy had more vina sausages. I dare you to go buy one today at Publitz. You crack that thing open, there's going to be a little glory right on top. You got to just, okay. So you mean to tell me 15,000 people, ain't nobody got a little lamb jerky or something going on? I don't think so. we find out in John chapter 6 is one little boy one little boy looked down he saw what was in his hands and decided to put it in Jesus' hands one little boy out of 15,000 people this may be why Jesus says things like

unless you change and become like a child you got no part with me because this little boy understood that what he had been given wasn't for him and that God could do more with it in his hands that he could do it in his own hands which leads me to ask the question how many miracles were still hiding out in

purses because people were greedy and they thought that it was theirs. See, everything we have is a bloodbought grace gift from God. You realize that? The car you drive, the house you have, the job you have, the fact that we live in America, we live in the South, glory to God. That is all a bloodbought grace gift from him to us, just not for us. And this little boy understood. And I think Jesus is giving us a picture of how he would work through his church. The question I want you to consider is this, what's in your hand? And how could God use it? And it's not because he needs it. It's because you need it. Spoiler alert, everybody gets some food. There's 12 baskets left over. At the end of the day, whose faith do you think grew the most? I'm sure it was neat to be

sitting back in the 10th row, getting plenty to eat and seeing this miracle. I bet this little boy's faith was rocked for the rest of his life because he knew he had barely enough to sustain his lunch, but when he gave it to Jesus, he was a part of feeding 15,000 people. And I don't know what happened in this little boy's life when he grew up, but at some point, I'm sure he looked at his circumstances and he thought, you think God can come through here? And he went back to that day where he trusted God with his circumstances and he saw him come through. God doesn't need you. He loves you. And he would love you enough to call you into this epic adventure of the great commission for the sake of your own soul.

I'm telling you, the comfortable life of Southeast Americana can be damning to the Christian soul. He wants to save us from that. So Jesus says, here, bring that to me. And he ordered the crowds, sat down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up to heaven and set a blessing. And then he broke the loaves and he gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds. All right. practically speaking, who fed the crowd?

For sure, it was through the power of Jesus. Everything the church does is through the power of Jesus, but it was through the hands of the disciples. I think this is the new model for ministry. That Jesus is the source, no doubt, and his church is the system. You see, they all ate and they were satisfied, and they took up 12 baskets full of broken pieces left over, and those who ate were about 5,000.

men besides the women and children. So here's the point. What is God blessed and put into your hands to be used by you to serve his people? Because you may be convinced right now, but you're still going, but pastor, what can I do? I mean, what can I do? I know you can preach. Look, this was not my idea to begin with either. I'm minding my own business, cutting grass at Camp Pine Hill. Coach Lee made me do this. And then once you start doing it a little bit, I'm telling you, you don't just sit back waiting for this voice. You just get about the mission of God. I was cutting grass at camp when I figured out. I guess I'll do this.

So you get about the mission of God, and then you watch him reveal with clarity what's in your hands. I can tell you, some of you, over the next 10 years, 100 of you, will be like our friends Tyler and Leave who are in East Africa and Uganda, or be like our friends Ben in Dakota, who sold it all.

They just went to Costa Rica last week. Sold it all. God is calling them to go partner with one of our church, our partner churches down there. And for a bunch of you, That's what God will call you to do, at least 100. By the way, I've checked with zero of these people before I go over this. So if I call out your name, I love him.

A friend of my name, Paul, Paul got saved at 1122 just a few years ago. Had a Cush executive job. His wife signs him up to go on a mission trip to Panama. He didn't want to go. But, you know, happy wife, happy life, so he gets on the plane. He gets down there. Paul's Puerto Rican from Queens, New York that moved down to Jacksonville. When they get there, anybody knows Spanish?

Guess what? The Puerto Rican knows Spanish? So now the guy that didn't even want to be there, he begins to translate Bible stories to children down in Panama, comes home, quits that job, goes to work for the Boys and Girls Club. Now he opens Boys and Girls Clubs right here in Jacksonville. We use them as places to host church plants. And he hosted one down in Panama Boys and Girls Club, which is essentially a church. church. It's a gospel-driven boys and girls club. So a bunch of you are just, some of you're going to

leave and go forever, and some of you are going to just transfer your jobs to something else. Tell you about some other friends of mine, Denise and Alex and Greg. Denise went on a mission trip a few years ago because I made her. She worked for me. And the girl before that worked for me was leaving from maternity leave. And so that girl trained Denise. And one of the promises you made Denise is you'll never have to go on a trip. They didn't check that with me. So we're going to be So we're getting ready to go to Jamaica. She's like, there's plenty to do here. I'm like, cool, we'll do that when we get home.

We're going over there. Get on the bus or you're fired. She gets on the bus. We get down to Jamaica. God stirs the thing in her heart. Now she's building children homes for children in Jamaica called Tiny Hope. And for the thing to come full circle, the girl that lied to her and said she'd never have to go on a mission trip is now on a mission trip led by Denise. And they just baptized the first girl's eight-year-old daughter in Jamaica.

Okay? Sometimes you look down in your hands like my friends Blake and Stephanie, and there's the gospel and there's tragedy. And you've got to decide, do I really believe Romans 828 or not that God works in all things for the good of those that love him are called according to his purpose? And they look around and they got a lot of influence in some of the best friends in Jacksonville. And so they start a foundation to resource some overlooked under-resourced people in our community. and other 20 tours like Audrey and Adrian work for them

and are missionaries right under our noses and they partner with Levin Tyler in Uganda so that all of these kids that they're influencing can understand their God-given potential in a world that's overlooking them. So maybe you'll do that. Or another friend in mine named Richard, he looks in his hands and he sees big boss because he is.

He's in charge of this billion-dollar corporation and he's a boss and he gets stuff done. And he loves Jesus. And one day, years ago, he's hearing me talk about being in Brazil and watching children get food out of a dump and he thinks I can do something about this. And now he's got the kind of swagger where he just goes to Brazil and he gets on the national dump board. I don't think that's what it's called, but you know what I mean? And so he builds, his company builds recycling centers next to the dump and just employs all the people that already know how to go through all this stuff and puts them in the clean, air-conditioned environment and gives them a living wage and health care. and I don't think he has any idea that he's a missionary.

So some of you will just leverage the job that God has given you for his glory. My friend Ron, Ron went on a mission trip with me a few years ago to Brazil, and then when he got home, he saw some great need right here in Jacksonville. And so he just adopted a bunch of the stuff that he learned from Compassion International, and he just implemented it right here in Jacksonville. It's called Sponsored by Grace at a bunch of 22ers. I run that thing now. I've got another friend.

she's a stay-at-home mom. Both her kids are in college now, so she's just a stay-at-home wife. I don't know what you call them, all right? Homemaker. And she looks at her hand, you know what she has? She's got the gospel, and she's got time. She's got time. And so she decides to partner with one of our ministries called Hadassah's Hope,

and what they do is they go into the strip clubs around Jacksonville with the gospel and love and invitation and some food. Just to build relationships. Amen. And let me tell you, man, I worked at a church one time that said this ain't for all people. And this ministry that I'm not going to participate on the front lines in, this ministry is taking the gospel into places where your typical missionary doesn't go. It's not just saying you're invited and you're welcome,

but you are wanted in this place. If you're every ready to step away from that life and step into the abundant life that Christ has for you, won't you come and be a part of this movement for all people to discover and deepen everything. relationship with Jesus Christ. I don't know if she sees herself as a missionary because she's my neighbor. She lives on my street. But that's what it means. Got another friend named Josh.

He's a professional athlete, a place for the NFL. And when he looks at his hands, he sees, hey, I got an off season coming up. Don't you wish you had an off season? I don't go, no off season. And his job in the off season is to stay gigantic, just eat and work out and just. look like Shrek. And so he says, what am I going to do the rest of my time? And football ain't going to be forever.

What am I going to do? And so this NFL player is going to join our internship and be involved with our ministry at Baker and at Union. Because there's something about when that gigantor walks in, he's just got a voice with those guys. Last year at the one initiative, 11,795, you look down in your hand and you had a commitment card.

and 11,709 of you said like the boy with the fishes and the loaves, it may not be much, but it's my first and my best. And I believe that God can do more with it in his hand than I can do with it in mine. And you committed. And everything we do, man, everything we do is made possible because of that. I can tell you what a bunch of us can do on February the 7th. We have an opportunity here called Night to Shine. Night to Shine is in partnership with the Tim Tebow Foundation.

and Night to Shine is we put on a prom for teenagers and young adults with special needs to just applaud the image of God in them in a world that often doesn't applaud them. And you can look down on your schedule and if you're open that weekend, you could just simply volunteer to be a light in this world. You see, the reality is, I can't tell you what's in your hands. And now this is usually the part two when I say, listen, man, every single one of you are called into ministry. What are you going to do?

then the enemy begins to whisper his lies, fear, condemnation. Don't you believe those lies? And I'll have people, at every service I have people come up and say, I think I'm disqualified. I mean, if you'd only know the things that I have done, then you wouldn't want me to be a part of the ministry, whether it's here or to the ends of the earth. To which I would just reply to you,

have you seen God's draft board? God drafts like the Jaguars, man. What are we doing? A punter in the third round? Are you serious? We're going to be first in heaven, by God. I'm going to tell you that. Ain't no doubt.

I'm telling you, listen, man, if you were valedictorian and all-American and top of your class and the best of the best and student body president and prom king and queen, if that's you, I got good news. He can use you too. You just ain't his first pick. He likes to use the nobodies and nothings. from nowhere to do exceedingly more than anyone could hope or imagine. I mean, look who he picks in the Bible. Noah was a drunk, Jacob was a thief and a liar,

Joseph was a convict, Moses was a murderer, Samson was a bully, Gideon was a coward, David was an adulterer, Solomon was a womanizer, Elijah was fearful, Jonah was a racist, Jeremiah was depressed, Mary was a pregnant teenager, Peter was a hypocrite, James and John were power hungry, Matthew was bad with money, Thomas was a doubter, Paul was a terrorist, Tebow was a gator. He can use anybody. So what about you? The question I asked earlier is this. What's in your hand? What's in your hand? Look, I'm not the most charismatic person on the planet,

but I do know this. The preacher here at 1122 is the Holy Spirit of God, not me. I may be able to entertain you and stir you up for a minute, but only the Spirit of God can speak to your soul. I cannot speak to your soul. That's the way we're going to close. I want you to put away your notes in Bible. I want you to open your hands like this. Everybody, men too, okay? I want you to bow your heads and open your eyes, and I want you to look in your hands.

And you may see dirt and filth, but if you're in Christ, they have been washed clean by the blood of our Savior. And I just want you to ask the Spirit of God, what have you blessed and put in my hands that I need to leverage for you? It may be a job, maybe a talent,

maybe a relationship, maybe an opportunity, maybe your finances. For some of you, you have been so blessed that you have the kind of job that gives you like three or four weeks of vacation. And maybe this year you would decide, instead of taking one of those weeks to go to another place that you'll probably forget in the next few years, that this would be the year that for one week you would go on a short-term mission experience. For some of you, as you look at your hands, you see that God has given you the kind of job that could be leveraged for the glory of his name. And while there will be great trials and great complications there,

you were saying, God, I know you did not give me this for me. Or maybe you look down and you see that you have a flexible schedule. You've got time in your week. And maybe what God is calling you to do is that you could volunteer in a local ministry, like Hadassah's Hope or sponsored by grace or maybe you could volunteer here at your church. For some of you, if you look at this and you know that God, is calling you to sell it all, to pack it all up and go to the mission field full time, maybe to partner with one of our church plants in Costa Rica or Brazil, East Africa, the Middle East,

that you were one of those hundred. For some of you, you look in your hand and all you have is a big chunk of the American dream and you realize that the merry-go round of normality just isn't as fulfilling as you thought it would be. And he is calling you to do some radical things with this. stuffed, it's taking up so much of your time and to live a life of generosity to help send people to the ends of the earth. Maybe you look at your hands, Baker and Union, and you say, I don't get to go. I need you to look at it different, fellas, that you have been placed in a place where we can't get to, that you could take the gospel to places that we can't take it to right now.

And I pray that you would look at those opportunities in your hand to share the gospel on the other side of the yard to go to that fellow that everybody else has given up on him and you know that God hasn't because he didn't give up on you. Maybe you're a college student and you look at your hand and you're like one semester away from graduation and you see, you know what, I think I could take this degree and this skill and I could move overseas somewhere strategic for the Lord for the next few years. Or maybe you look in your hands and you're on the verge of retirement and you know there's no retirement in the scriptures. You don't retire from the Great Commission.

You just get a new assignment. And maybe what you see in your hand is there's something different for the next three or five years that you're going to do with that extra time. Would you just pray and ask the Spirit of God to tell you what have you put in my hands for the sake of your glory? Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray that you would cause us to change and become like that little boy that realize

that those fishes and loaves weren't all about him. And then when we take the things that you have given us and we put them in your hands, God, you bless them, you give them back to us. And then you call us to feed your sheep. You call us to feed your people. You call us to take the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the very ends of the earth. God, I hope and I pray that you, by the power of the spirit, would help us hear. When we hear 2.5 billion people, we would not think a statistic. We would think a mom and a dad.

Just like us, the same wants and needs and desires that we have. And that we can answer like Isaiah when we see your glory. God, here we are. Send us. And Lord, it feels like such a little bit because we know that it is. But I thank you that when we put our trust in you, our faith in you, then you can use nobodies like us to turn the world upside down. So God, I pray against the spirit of fear because you didn't give that to us.

But you gave us a spirit of power and of love. of sound mind. And I pray against the lies of condemnation because that does not come from you because therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And God, I pray as 1122 is sent. Right here in these neighborhoods and to the very ends of the earth, it would be all about your glory. And God, we praise you that you would love us enough to invite us into your story. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, would you please stand? We respond to the gospel three ways. All the time. We do this all the time. For a bunch of bunches and bunches of us as Americans.

He has given us so much and we bring back to him our tithes and our offerings, our first and our best. And it fuels and funds all the things that we do. And we are happy to do that. And we are invited to pray. There's a bunch of us that need to pray about a bunch,

about selling it all and going or going on mission to your job, your cubicle tomorrow. And you know what else we're supposed to do with empty hands? We're supposed to lift them to him. So let us respond by praying, by singing, and bringing. Let's respond.