You are listening to the sermon podcast from Rocky Creek Church. Find more resources online at Rocky Creek dot church. I'd like you to turn with me to my favorite passages of scripture. We're going to be in Luke chapter 6, looking at verses 12 through 16 today where Jesus actually calls the disciples by name, makes them apostles and then sends them out with a purpose.
And to do so, as I was thinking about just what does it mean to follow Jesus and to follow him through ministry and different things, this week was a great opportunity that I got to cash in a Christmas gift that was given to me. And it was a concert ticket of none other than I'm going to say Christian music royalty, everybody, okay? Now I don't know who you listen to these days, but if they're good, they're on the back of the goat. You know what I'm saying?
If they're not good, they didn't learn from him. I'm talking about the goat of CCM. His name is Stephen Curtis Chapman. Okay, you might know this guy.
He's so good. He's got three names. You know what I'm saying? He's not just good enough.
Stephen Chapman is like Stephen Curtis Chapman. Like back in the day, like that was my guy. You know what I'm saying? Still today, that's my dude.
Like I just love it. So he was a concert in Asheville and I got to see him and it was so wonderful because like I'm sitting there and just honestly thinking about like how this man has really been a key figure in a lot of pivotal moments in my spiritual journey. Like when I first started serving the Lord as a teenager in our church, the path into ministry was none other than the puppet ministry team. How do you know what the puppets okay?
Somebody okay? Let's be grip on that. The first song, this was kind of the test to see if you could hang with the big boys and the big girls. If you could play the great adventure with one hand doing the mouth and the other one doing the guitar, if you could do that for the entire song, you're in.
You know what I'm saying? If not, go back to the gym. You lose her. You can't be the puppet ministry team, right?
It's not going to remember just like this is so long and I love this song but saddle up your horse quickly. I mean it was just a long, long song. That ain't only that. It was the first song I ever sang in church.
You know what I'm saying? That was my jam, man. Like some of you right now, if I started saying saddle up your horses, y'all are literally lose your mind because y'all are like, what are you talking about? You just miss the glory days.
I'm just saying okay. But he was such an important part of my kind of walking everything and I see I got introduced to this song, another song later than when it was actually introduced. But there was a song that he sang called for the sake of the call. I remember that song.
You might get, I will abandon, we will abandon it all for the sake of the call. And when I was called into ministry as a teenager, I remember someone played that thing for me and I was like, that's like what I've been trying to say. Like, he's put words in music to like what I'm trying to say. Like, I will abandon whatever I want for my life and I want to follow Jesus and it was written on the basis of these 12 disciples who said I'll put my plans aside and I'll follow Jesus.
And so I just grew up loving his music. So when I was in college about five or six years ago, I'm not exactly sure what year it was. A few years ago, I was in college. He was coming and playing the speechless tour.
When I was in college, it was in Greenville and so I was dating. So we had tickets for that concert. And a friend of mine who went to college had just gone to the concert the night before, I think it was in Asheville. And because he worked at a Christian radio station, he actually had like VIP, like all access paths.
Like he got to meet Stephen Carter and was like, are you kidding me? And he's like, no, I actually did I say, what was it like, how did you even get in? Or like, well, they gave us a sticker that said, you know, all access paths and you just kind of go to the line and you go back stage and you get to meet them. I was like, can you show me the sticker?
And he showed it to me. There was no date on the sticker. Okay. There wasn't a location.
It just says all access paths. And I had an idea and I'm just going to confess. I totally deceived the people that security and I put that sticker on because it still had some adhesive stuff and I'm sweating the entire way. Like I'm going to be found out.
I'm doing this at a Christian concert. What's wrong with me? You know, I was like, I literally, I got to the line, think at any moment they're going to be like, I just imagine feeling like a rest me. I can never like listen to Christian music ever again.
I didn't know what was going to happen. I'm nervous. And I got through. Like, they're literally like, oh, you passed this.
And I finally get to see him. And I'm like, I don't know what to say. I probably should have thought about this. We've been sweating the line the whole time.
And so I remember like, I first said, Hey, Stephen, and then I felt like that felt too personal, you know? So I was like, Curtis. And I was like, that's like what his mom would say. So I was like, Hello, Stephen Curtis, Chairman.
I am Travis Benjamin Hackney. I don't know what to say. It felt so weird. You know, saying it's like I was, I really appreciated your music.
And I love how it's kind of like, man, you got like a Bible study or a sermon in a song. And I just feel like just musically and lyrically like you just, I just, just thank you for being real. You know, like, just thank you. And then some of your songs have really been instrumented in my walk.
And I just, I want to say thank you. And so that night was awesome. But now just a few years later on Thursday, he started singing for the sake of the call and it just like hit me all over again. And there's all these people in the room that like been like really enjoying itself.
There were some like older men and women that were dancing. I'm like, honey, hold on. You're gonna break something. You know what I'm saying?
Like, maybe, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, right. But there was something about it. Like, just so when he starts saying like, we will abandon it all for the sake of the call. There are these folks in the room that just start like a hands raise up and just like tears coming on their face.
I'm like, I don't know. I'm like, I think that guy's a pastor, you know. I think she's, she's a missionary. I think this person said, yes, God's calling on their life.
And they're just like, this song kind of registered to be like, Lord, I haven't been playing in this, but your plans are far better. And I'm gonna lay aside and do what you call me to do. And it was just this surreal moment for me of just remembering how thankful I am of while sometimes I go kicking and screaming to the assignments that God has given. I've never once regretted saying yes to him.
Never. And today, we're gonna look at a piece of scripture where Jesus calls out 12, just average around the mill yahoos. And he changes the world with them. The very fact that we're talking about their names and what they did shows to the whole point that something happened, not in other qualifications, but Jesus called them and said, I'm gonna call you by name.
I'm gonna send you out the purpose and the world is completely different as a result of it. And my prayer is that today some of us are gonna hear God calling our name and sending us out to whatever that is that he may be calling us. Look at verse 12, see what happens. It says, during those days, he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God.
When daylight came, he summoned his disciples and he chose 12 of them whom he also named, apostles, Simon, whom he also named Peter, an Andrew's brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James, the son of Alpheus, Simon called the zealot, Judas, the son of James, and Judas, the scariest, spoiler alert, who became a traitor. Here's where Jesus calls these 12 disciples. Now, it starts off by saying during those days, if you're with us last week, look at the passage, we notice this, that it's rising conflict among some of the religious leaders in that area. So a lot of people are wanting to hear Jesus because they're loving what he's doing and some are coming to scrutinize what he's doing.
So there's more opposition happening, but growth and pressure is taking place and Jesus knows that the next step is going to require something a little bit different. So as ministry grew and opposition rose, Jesus called his disciples to more. There have been a group of people that have been following him, but at this moment, he knows two things. The ministry demands are growing.
In any type of situation, whether it's a Bible study, a church, a nonprofit, a missions organization, as ministry grows, that's exciting, but it also requires more effort and more people, and there's only so many hours in a day. And so ministry is growing at the same time that opposition is increasing all around him. And so he looks out and he does not retreat from the opposition. He's raising up people that will actually meet it.
The increased demand in ministry, the increased impact of his ministry was always demanding an increased responsibility. So something's pretty awesome that he does. He's going to call out, but do you notice that it says he went up on the mountain to pray for five minutes and then he called his disciples, right? Somebody says, no, doesn't even say he prayed for an hour.
Oh, sweet hour, prayer. Okay. Jesus Christ, Son of God, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the son of the living God who left heaven to come down to earth, spit how long in prayer to God to decide which of his disciples to pull into ministry? How long?
All night. All right, y'all. I'm going to be honest with you. That puts my prayer life to shame, absolute shame, because I'm going, I think that honestly people around me, if I want to be as well as I can spiritually, I need as much sleep as I possibly can get.
Do you know what I'm saying? And Jesus is saying he is going to go away and not have that night of sleep so that he can pray before making a major decision. Jesus devoted himself to prayer, showing how seriously we should seek the Father. Think about it.
A night, a full night in prayer all the way to in daylight came. Verse 15 tells us, because decisions about ministry and major areas in life deserve unhurried discernment. And the son of God is modeling something for us that we all need to learn, dependence on the Father, not independence, only trusting yourself. Now, let me say this isn't a trick question for anybody here today.
But if Jesus Christ is who the scripture say that he is, do you think that before that night in prayer, do you think he knew who the 12 guys were going to be out of the larger group of guys who is going to call to be apostles? Do you think so? I do. I think you know, Simon, Andrew, James and John have known that all my life, I've known that before, I came down to it like I knew Simon at the front, Judas at the end, like I've known that.
It's not going, so if you know what 12 guys are going to call out, because it says there, if you call this, it says there's a group of disciples, we call 12 of them out, right? So it's more than 12. There's a lot of guys there that are disciples. He calls 12 of them out for this.
I think he knew exactly who the 12 were going to be. So I'm going, Jesus, why would you lose a night of sleep to pray and seek the Father if you knew the answer, because he knew that you and I would need that type of dependence in our life. Sometimes we rush into the next decision and we want to throw up a, literally like a javelin prayer and ask God to bless what we want to do and not wait and seek and pursue. This is him showing dependence on the Father, not independence, trusting in himself.
Prayer is not just preparation for ministry, it's part of the ministry and Jesus spends all night in prayer. So, friend, do you have a major decision? You can pray five minutes about it, but you might actually want to pray a little bit more than that. Jesus says major decisions might require a little bit more of focused prayer and that's exactly what he does.
So it says, he spends all night, verse 13, daylight comes, sunrises up and he summoned his disciples and then he chose 12 of them whom he named apostles. Once again, we see this truth. Many followed as disciples, a few were chosen to be sent. The word disciple means student or learner and there were many of those.
When Jesus writes, he ascends to the Father after his resurrection. Some of you know this, there was actually 500 disciples still around. I don't know how many there are in this crown, but there's a bunch of them and on this day, he says Peter, but not this guy. Andrew, but not this guy.
And he goes around and says, all of you are still remaining my disciples, but 12 of you are going to move past the disciples stage. Once again, the word means student or learner and I'm going to call you apostle. That word means sent ones. They're sent out to do something.
So they started, follow this, they started as students, but they graduate to sent ones. They're moving out to do something with what they've learned. Summed, kind of implies he's got a relationship with them, chosen, speaks of a certain type of assignment. He's going to give them.
And the apostles, meaning sent ones, is showing they're not just learners of Jesus, but they will eventually be representatives for him, wherever they go. Now, then he lists in verses 14 through 16, a group of 12 guys, and some of you, if I were to ask you, like, hey, who are the 12 disciples? Some of you all to start with, like John, Paul, George, and Ringo. You know what I'm saying?
Like, it's kind of hard. You may know, you may not. Some of them weren't popular than others. In fact, some of them, if you go to other gospel accounts, like, for example, John, when he speaks of our follow me, he calls them a fan, you know, like, which one is it, right?
Well, some of them were a family name, some of them were a nickname, some of them were their Jewish name, some of them had their names changed, right? Because even if you realize this, like, we know Simon that one day Jesus says, I'm going to call you what? Peter. And last chapter we looked at a tax collector named Levi, but in this passage he calls him what?
Matthew, which means gift from God. There's a good chance he says, hey, former tax collector, you're now a gift to me, and I'll rename you. So these 12 disciples, but there's nothing really about them that would kind of make all of us just stand in all of their credentials. And this is why it's important to know.
The 12 weren't set apart by credentials, but by his calling. What you don't see in this list is anywhere where these guys went to seminary. You don't see any of their abilities. You really don't see a whole lot of impressive things about where they went to school or who they studied under.
And what you do is you read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and the information that you can get, some of them have more material than others, you realize that this group of guys were kind of like us. Somewhat, ill trained, some ill equipped, sometimes making some bumbling mistakes. And every so often just getting something a little bit right, you know? And let's just think about it.
They're not coming from a religious elite. They're ordinary. They're overlooked by all the Pharisees and the religious elite, reminding us of what John 1516, Jesus says, you did not choose me, but I chose you. I wanted you.
I desired you for this. And they're probably going, but I don't deserve to be here. He's like, you're right. That's why I'm choosing you.
I'm not going to call those that are equipped. I'm going to equip those that are called. I'm going to call you in the service and I'm going to get you there along the way. Now, some of you guys, you know, some of these disciples a little bit better than others.
Let me just walk through really quickly. Simon, who's also named Peter, we know him as that passionate disciple, right? He is that guy, the man when he's on, he is on. And most of the hours of the day, he is way off.
It's not okay. I mean, he's passionate, right or wrong. He's in a walk on water and he's going to sink like a stone. He's going to promise Jesus, I'll go to the death for you.
And then a few hours later, a teenage girl says, are you one of Jesus' disciples? And he's cowering in fear. This is the sign of Peter that we know that it's so passionate and sometimes in his passions and emotions, we just don't really see a whole lot of stability, do we? He was the spokesperson.
He was the leader during those days, but also we see during the time of the book of Acts. Now, it is interesting for me to point out Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all lists these same disciples, once against when names are different. But did you know that the list order is always different except for position one, position five, position nine, and position 12? All the other ones are kind of mixed and match.
Position one is always Peter, position five is always Philip, position nine is always James, son of Alpheus. And most people think that was because Jesus probably poured in the three guys and expected them to make sure that the other three guys showed up to work on time, and they were kind of squad leaders, is what it seems like. Position one, five, and nine are always the same, but all the other numbers are completely messed. Jesus is always 12.
Well, because there you go. All right. So anyway, he doesn't say one forever. Okay.
So we see these guys. So we see Simon and Peter's passionate. But then how many of you know that actually Peter was not really the first guy they were some guy who introduced Peter to Jesus. His name was Andrew.
It was his brother Andrew. So Simon, Peter and Andrew are brothers. They're fishermen and they're partners with two other brothers, James and John. Andrew is the guy who runs up to Simon when they says, you've got to come to this Bible study I've been going to.
I think I found a Messiah. Do you know that when there's 5,000 people that are starving? The one guy who has the little boys lunch? Yes, it is.
Andrew. Hey, I got to get you to Jesus. Peter, I got to get you to Jesus. Andrew is this amazing kind of focus attempt on always being accessible and trying to connect people to Jesus.
We get to James and John. They're called the sons of thunder. What does that mean? Ladies, you don't want them touching your China.
You know what I'm saying? That's what that means. They're rough around the edges. In fact, James is really judgmental.
There's certain times where they find out that people are preaching in the name of Jesus and James to go, Jesus, did you not hear? They're not a part of our inner circle. Are you gonna let them do that? James will sometimes say, Hey, wait, those people over in that city, they didn't follow our teaching.
Jesus, would you like me to call down fire and blow them up? Yes, James, please. Please do that for me. I would love that.
Brother John was rough around the edges, but smoothed out along the way. John was always just really, I say like joined at the hip to Jesus. He said that he was the beloved disciple. It appears that John, while Peter was kind of a spokesperson, John was like, Jesus is the best friend.
When Jesus was on the cross and said, I trust one person from my mom, who did you go to? John. John wrote a gospel one day, really creative title. It was called John.
Then he wrote a letter and it was first John. Then he wrote a second letter and it was there you go. Okay, second John and third John. They wrote a fifth book called, go what?
You might know? Revelation. This is James, his brother, is the first apostle who's martyred. John is the last apostle to die.
James is the first one that's actually written about and asked the first one to go. John, though, is put into a vat of burning oil, survives the thing. The people get panicked because they think they're dealing with an angel. And so they literally exile him to an island where prisoners go to die.
And that's where he receives the revelation. We get to that squad number two and we see Philip. Philip, some of you practical people are going to love Philip because Philip's all like, we're going to get all this money to pay for all this food. Well, if you want to see the father, why don't you show us the father?
Jesus, he's very practical. I praise God for people like you. You know what I'm saying? Okay.
Those who want all the answers, Philip's one of those guys. He wants the answers. He wants to kind of lay it out probably wise. One of the leaders of this squad, right?
And then you get to Bartholomew. Who really is just a guy who, Jesus would even say is almost blameless. It says, and John, when he sees him, he goes, there's an Israelite with whom there is no deceit. Like he just was an honest moral dude.
It just seems like he just kind of follows the rules and pre-consistensistens. And that's pretty awesome because Jesus put him in a squad with a guy named Matthew who used to be Levi. He was a pet collector, right? And Matthew was very merciful.
You know why? Because he'd received a whole lot of it. Through his life, he was just pointing other people. Then at the end of that second squad, you get to a guy by the name of Thomas.
You remember, Thomas? Thomas is always known as what? Doubting Thomas, right? He's always, not only after Jesus' resurrection is he testing things about Jesus, but also I'll say this.
Throughout the whole gospel, it just seems like he has all these questions and like, yeah, my house is going to happen. Why are we going to die if we go there? There's always these kind of things that he's testing Jesus about and even everything answered before he can go any further. Then we get to that third squad where James, the son of Alpheus, is there.
And so we're like, what did James and son of Alpheus do? Apparently he was the son of Alpheus. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's what was famous about him.
And apparently, Alpheus must have been somebody like, there's a bunch of James. Obviously, oh, Alpheus is boy. This is the junior. You know what I'm saying?
Like, this is the guy who, something about, now let me ask you a question. Have you ever lived in the shadow of a parent? Good or bad? Alpheus was somebody that was known and James was stepping into that role.
Then we have Simon the Zealot, who is someone who is strategically trying to overthrow the Roman government. And he's put on a larger team with a guy who used to collect taxes for them. Jesus apparently doesn't mind getting people who watch different cable news shows together in the same room. Isn't that awesome?
Pretty crazy. Then he gets to Judas. Unfortunately, named this is why the other guy was supposed to give him another name. And he was the son of James, and we really know nothing about him other than one question he asked in the book of John.
And that's why I just say, just plain ordinary, you know. Just pretty encouraging me because that's what I feel like most days. Nothing really special about me. There's nothing I did.
I never walked on water. I'm just there. But I probably imagine that number 11, who really is not known for anything, probably saw some most miraculous things that got to some most incredible ministry stuff ever. And you just kind of lost in the crowd.
And then you get to Judas, who becomes a traitor. But over time gets jaded because Jesus Christ is not being the Messiah. He expected and decides to walk away from him. Now, give you a quick rundown of those disciples to show you something.
Would any of you be excited if we took any of those resumes as a potential pastor here at the church? These guys, they don't have it together. And Jesus said, they don't have it together yet. Let me walk with them for three years.
And let's see if we can change the world. So he calls them out by name. But then he's going to send them out with purpose. Look what happens in verse 17.
Something very critical is said here. It says, right, after coming down with who? Them. Who's coming?
The apostles. Group of disciples. But now there's 12 there walking with them. It's not just Jesus going down the mountain by himself to do ministry.
Now there's 13 of them. After coming down with them, he stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples and a great number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. They came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those tormented by unclean spirits were made well.
The whole crowd was trying to touch him because power was coming out from him and healing them all. Okay. This is pretty awesome because if you look at verse 17, I want you to know something. There are three groups of people that Luke identifies here.
First, it says, after coming down with them, talking about the apostles, he stands on a level place with a large group of his, what? Disciples. We got apostles and we got disciples. And then there's another group says, and a great number of what?
People. They're not labeled as apostles. They're not labeled as disciples. They're just kind of in the crowd, right?
And if you think about it, I think this is pretty awesome because I'm really just praying through and studying this this week. There are always three kinds of people around Jesus. The sint, the students, and the spectators. The sint, the students, and the spectators.
He walks down the mountain with a sint. They are the apostles. The 12, these called out to be sint ones. After a time with him, he's going to launch them out into ministry.
There's another group of the students. They are the disciples. They are the ones that continue to learn from him. And then there's this larger crowd.
That's why I like to call spectators. The crowd includes apostles, the disciples, and curious onlookers. Some are committed. Some are in the process of learning.
Some are just watching from afar. And if I'm honest with you, the same layers still exist wherever Jesus is preached. I wish all of us had name badges on today and it would help me out. No, I didn't rat.
You know? Something else I'll say, I'm just a spectator. I'm just wanting to learn a little bit. I'm not wanting to get too involved.
So we are like, no, I'm a student. I want to learn more. And some of you are like, put me in coach. I'm ready to go.
I want to do something, right? There's all different ways. So this is way for me that has helped me kind of think for this week. Sorry about that.
You want to make fun of me? Okay. Anyway, this is what I think of the spectators. This is the people with binoculars, okay?
The people with binoculars, they are watching from a distance. They are observing what Jesus is doing without actually stepping in, right? They are watching from afar. They're close enough to see, but they're not close enough to follow.
There are a lot of people in churches all across America, all around the world today that have a set of binoculars. I want to see Jesus from afar, but I want to get involved yet. And let me tell you, if that's where you are, if you've got binoculars today, I'm glad that you're here. It's awesome.
That's a whole lot better than having binoculars up. I am excited that you're there. I am going to tell you, you're going to get tired of binoculars one day and you're like, is this it? No, it's not.
There's more. So some of you might have binoculars today to be okay. What about this? The second group might have binders, right?
Okay. These are the people that are the students. You are really good at taking notes, gathering information. You are learning, but maybe not living it yet.
You're growing in knowledge, but maybe not moving to mission. These are the people who have so many sermon notes. They go through so many Bible studies, you have a book shelf in your entire house and you look at all these courses that I've been through. Wow.
Look at those binders. Hey, good. If you've got binoculars, it's better. If you got the binders, like I'm not, wait, I got it.
Like you're learning. That's awesome. Let me tell you what I'm wanting you to get to. It's the boots.
Okay. It's where it moves from watching from afar to learning about it to strapping these boys on and getting in it. You know what I'm saying? Like that's what I'm wanting.
The sense starts stepping into action. They're living out what they've learned. They've watched it. They studied it.
And now they're saying, let me go. Like, I'm ready to do something. And so right now, there'd be a pretty good way to do is like, where would you see yourself most likely right now? Would you find yourself instead of binoculars, like watching from afar, would you find yourself binder up, just learning or somebody like, no, I got the boots on.
I'm like, I'm ready to go. I'm ready to do what God's calling me to see at this and these three groups of people, we noticed something. First 18, it says, they came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases and those tormented by unclean spirits were made well. What you don't notice yet, but we will later.
It seems like Jesus is still doing all the work, right? But what does he have? 12 guys were right there on his hip going, how did you do that again? You know, what did you do?
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, can you work that one more time? Okay, make that guy blind one more time. Okay, show me how you did that. Okay.
No, this is what's happening. The apostles had a front row seat, not for admiring generation, but for imitation. It's not just, I want you to get a front row seat so you're in all of what I can do. Boys, take some notes because you're about to do it.
I want you to do what I've been doing. They had watched Jesus teach, soon they were going to teach. They were watching Jesus heal pretty soon. They were going to be the ones in the front line.
They had seen Jesus cast out demons, a few chapters. They're going to try and fail and Jesus is going to get my chance to do it again. It's word and works together. Their exposure to Jesus was actually preparing them for future ministry, not just being inspired by it, taking a group photo of like, when this also we were here, Jesus is like, guess what?
I'm not going to be soon and you'll be doing it. See, what they witnessed here, they would soon be later to send out to actually reproduce chapter nine versus one through two. Jesus sends them out to do what he's doing in verse 18. Your turn now, go for it.
You've watched me long enough. Now, verse 19 is important because it says something very key to why Jesus was doing this. The whole crowd was trying to what touch him because power was coming out from him and healing them all. All right.
I don't think that Jesus has limits, okay? But was there a physical limitation of how many people could be in the circle around him touching him at one time? Yes or no? Yeah, there's literally only so many people who could be there and you're like, I can't touch him.
I'm in the second row. I'm in the third row. Like I can't get to him. So what was Jesus doing here?
He was realizing the need was so great that if it focused on his physical limitations of him being in one place at one time and only so many people that could be around him and only so many places that he could teach, so many places that he could heal that Jesus didn't meet the need by doing more but by developing others. This is the path of discipleship. This is the path of the Great Commission. Not you do more.
You develop others to do what you've been doing. At the end of your life, it'd be cool to say look at all the cool stuff I did for Jesus. It'd be even better to say, look at all the people that I developed for King Jesus and look what they did. Look where they went.
Look what I got to be a small part of. See, the crowd was overwhelming and everybody trying to reach Jesus at once and there is an impossibility when ministry in Jesus' day or any church or nonprofit when it's focused on one person, it is limited and it cannot move forward. So here's the power flowing from him. But his plan was not personal limitation.
It was actually multiplication through these guys. The ministry expands not by Jesus adding effort but by sending equipped people. Do you know that Ephesians 4 verse 12 rebukes my go-getter personality sometimes where I have to say, look at all that I've done. Ephesians 4 verse 12 says pastors are called to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.
You're like, do we have saints in this church? Yeah, anybody who's trusted in the gospel, you are no longer stereotypically. You're not a sinner. You are a saint.
Which means this, my job, my ultimate ministry is to equip you to get involved in the Great Commission. For you to take personal responsibility for kingdom activity, not just going, look at our pastors go, man. Look at these ministries go. I'm like going, no, look at you go.
Like that's the best thing that I can do is equip you for the work of the ministry. The Apostle Paul said it to his son in the faith in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 2 this way. What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trust a faithful others who guess what? We'll be able to teach others.
Also Paul says, Paul, I'm teaching you Timothy. You teach some guys that will teach some other guys and it's going to continue to go down the line and make it's way all the way to Greenville South Carolina one day. Please don't let them drop the baton amidst that. Keep going.
This is where Hart is for us to develop others. So my simple question is this. So where are you in this crowd? There's a crowd around Jesus.
Because if he has called you by name, he has sent you for a purpose. Did you know that some of you are really excited right now? Hey, we've got a good evangelism campaign called Project Theo and our church is getting after sharing Christ with other people. I'm glad we have a campaign.
Do you have a name yet? Who are you investing in? That's the goal. As I say, our church is doing this.
Are you doing this? Who is the person that God has put in your sphere of influence? He has not placed in mind that you're praying for, that you're sharing your testimony with, that you're bold enough to share the gospel with, that you can invite the church. It's crazy.
How many times I meet people in Greenville County who say, yeah, I've got a church but I never had anybody invite me. You know that in two weeks from now on Easter, there are some people who will go to church on Easter who will not go any other time. You know what's just easy? Would you like go to church with me on Easter?
Absolutely. I've got nothing else going on. I'm saying like, sure. I'll do this.
Like, you could just be intentional just to share Christ with somebody. There's other opportunities for us, man. I'm so thankful for the way that so many of our gospel groups and individuals and ministries that are partnering with ministry partners here in Greenville County. On Saturday, April 25th, we're going to have a Go Greenville Saturday.
I'm praying that every gospel group will say, all right, we've got a long list of assignments that are actually on our church's website right now. And your gospel group or your family or as an individual say, I'll go help people out in the center for that Saturday. I'll go help Miracle Hill. I'll go to Unity Park.
I'll do these kinds of different things. There's a lot of opportunities for a lot of different skill sets for you just to get on the boots and get in the game, you know? That's what I'm wanting for you. Do you know that we have some mission trips planned for 2026?
And you're like, I don't know if they let me go on a mission trip. They let me go. You know what I'm saying? They even sometimes let me lead one.
It's crazy. Okay. And I bring most of the people back with me. It's been awesome.
Okay. This summer, we're taking people to New York, which I don't know if you realize this or not needs a lot of gospel proclamation. It needs a lot. And we're going to go on the streets and we're going to share the gospel with people.
And we need people of all ages who say I'm willing to do that. We need people to get on a plane and fly a few hours over to the country of Panama. There are a lot of people who've grown up in religion, but do not have a relationship with Jesus. And it's a wonderful opportunity for some of you who never even try to international missions where you don't have to change currency.
You don't have to change any type of voltage. You can just get in there. We got translators and you start sharing the gospel in a foreign field. And not only can you make an impact, it will change your life.
We got people that are going to go into Angola in a few months after that and other opportunities that are all on our website. And you may be saying, I just don't know. So this is what's happened. A lot of times we'll kind of use spiritual language so that everybody will back off.
Like, I don't want to share the gospel with somebody. I don't want to do a green ball. I don't want to go on a mission trip. And I'll say, why?
I go, I just don't feel called. Explain that to me. What do you mean when you say you don't feel called? Well, that's just not my ministry.
Cool. Which one is yours? Just tell me where it is and I'll stop annoying you telling you about opportunities, right? Okay.
Tell me what your ministry is. Tell me what your call to and back off. You're like, I don't have one yet. Cool.
Why don't I just try this one then until we figure it out, you know? You know, there was a guy by name of William Booth who started the Salvation Army. You and I think the Salvation Army is one thing. Back in Booth days, it was something completely different.
This man was a warrior for Christ. I mean, just hitting the streets, just making difference everywhere that he went. He grew up up at a time where he was calling the church to step into the needs of humanity in their cities, in the country, around the world. And he continually hear people saying, I'm just not called to that.
I don't feel God's calling on my life to help out in that. And this is a quote that ministered to me years ago that I had to come down to. This is what he said, not called, did you say? Not heard the call, I think you should say.
Put your ear down to the Bible and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burden, agonize heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful, well, for help. Go stand by the gates of hell and hear the accursed and treat you to go to their Father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look, Christ, in the face, who's mercy you have professed to obey and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world.
Are you called? You're called to something. I know this is not some of the sidelines or other people do it. You may not be called to vocational ministry.
You may not be called to sell your house and move on the other side of the world. You might be. But every single person who says, I have been saved from my sin, you have also been saved to something else, to get involved in his work around this world. Now, this is how I would see it.
Okay? I've been binoculars, binders, boots. Let's think about this way. Good, better, best.
Does that make sense? If you're at the binocular stage, I'm glad that you're here. Okay? I really am.
It's a good thing that you were trying to catch a glimpse of what Jesus is doing, what church is like. I am thankful. You are in that category of what we call a spectator's, but this is why won't you see spectators watch what Jesus will do. Maybe this is your place in the crowd today.
You're watching what Jesus will do. You got the binoculars up. You're interested, right? I kind of want to see it.
Kind of interested. Love to hear the stories. I'm interested, but I'm not yet invested. Spectators are those that are drawn by curiosity.
Sometimes they show up with need. Maybe they come when they're in a crisis, but they remain uncommitted. They want benefits from Jesus without ever having to surrender to him. That's what binoculars can be.
They stay in the crowd, but they never step into calling. And you know what's different about our time of history that's different than any other place. You might have the binoculars up and you go out to church so often, but man, I go to YouTube all the time and you're all kinds of preachers. Cool.
There's some good ones on there. And there's a lot of wolves out there too. And some of you are watching sermons like you watch Netflix. And I'm so thankful, especially for the ones that are good, but I also want to remind you something.
If all you're doing is watching sermons, you're still on the couch. You're watching from afar. Typically people binoculars say, I want to go to a church where they feed me. Can I have to be honest with you for a second?
Some of y'all are so well fed. It's time for you to start feeding somebody else. You've been watching from afar. It's time for you to get involved.
You love hearing the stories of life change as long as somebody else is doing the gravity work of helping that person out. But knockellers are good. Let me tell you what's better. It's the binder.
It's the disciples. It's the students. It's the learners and students here what Jesus will say. If spectators watch what Jesus will do, students here what Jesus will say.
The binders remind us that you might be learning and you may be living it out, but you might not be living it out just yet. We're moving closer in this stage where we are listening, learning and growing. We're gathering truth. We're not yet taking ownership of the mission being formed, not being sent.
Maybe if you're in the binder stage, your Bible is marked up by the way. It's about 83 pounds. You know what I'm saying? It's big ones.
Okay. You got notes stacked in there. You got content. You got notes that are solid.
Your Bible's marked out. But your obedience is just kind of pending. It's just not holding pattern. And you might have more content saved than you've actually applied.
More verses memorized than actually obeyed. You're one more class away from just doing something great. You know what I'm saying? And you just keep adding binders to the list.
And at some point you're going to think, is this all there is in Christianity? I'm going to tell you, no, there's more. You move from binoculars to what you see to the binder of what you know to the boots of what you do and where you'll go. See if the spectators watch what Jesus will do, students here what Jesus will say, the sent do what Jesus did.
This is the movement that takes place that could be a game changer for you. The boots are those that are witnessing and they're working. They come from learning to living, reproducing what they received all along the way. They carry Jesus' message and ministry and mission to others.
The authority and effectiveness of what they do is not based on their own ability, but on their proximity to Jesus at every time. They don't wait until they feel ready to have a conversation. They just go ahead and have a conversation. You know?
They don't look for like, maybe just a couple more courses and I'll be ready for the trip. They just go on the trip and they trust the Lord can do it. They get to a certain place where they invite people, they pray with people. Sometimes it feels awkward, but all the time it's really genuine.
It's, you don't just believe the mission. You start building your life around it. And this is what I've learned. At least my way of thinking.
You know what the best type of learning experience is for me? I can learn something watching it. And I get about this much, you know? If I start taking notes, I get a little bit more, but you put my hands on something and make me do it.
That's when I actually start learning how to do it, right? I can not tell you how many times that I have watched somebody fix something in my house and then I try to do it myself. And guess what? I'll break it more, you know?
And then I read the book and that does help. I'm a little bit better educated, but sometimes you just have to keep doing the same thing over and over with the failures and successes. And then after a while you go, hey, I actually can do this. I didn't think I could, but I've actually started and some of us are waiting for some kind of imaginary line of when you're going to feel ready.
You won't feel ready. You just got to go. You just got to obey. I was 14 years old.
I was a student camp and I can't explain what I was like, but I was reading my Bible and I just felt like the Spirit was saying, I'm asking you to put your plans to the side. Will you follow me? I'm like, where are we going to go? I'm not showing you the whole path right now.
I'm asking you right now. Will you say, yes, what I'm calling you to? I'll look back later and go on. This is the moment that yes, I'll abandon it all for the sake of the call.
That was my moment where things changed for me, but I didn't know everything at the time. I knew that I wanted to do something for Jesus. So you know, I did an 8-14, the first time I ever led worship in our church, you couldn't have a guitar on Sunday mornings, but you could Sunday nights. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but apparently if the guitar came out on Sunday morning, everybody broke up to a plague.
I'm not exactly sure, but I think that's what happened. So Sunday night, they let me lead one song. 14 years old, first time probably in a Koo's guitar, ever came into our church, and I let a worship song. And later I found out that the staff got together and someone said, don't ever let Travis touch a guitar or a microphone.
Another day it is like, that was awful. And you know what? They were right. It was bad.
It was really bad. And you know what, like when you do it just a couple of times and you're not really comfortable in front of people, it probably is bad, but you know what? You keep working on it day after day and get opportunity, week after week and start doing something for years, you kind of start getting your legs underneath. It's crazy, right?
You just keep doing something and you actually start going, I can actually do it. Now, it's funny. It's not like you're so proficient. You never have issues.
I can remember going on with you. One time I was leaving worship, I've been worshiped for years, and I remember I broke a stream, which happens a lot. I'm kind of an intense person. It's a broke a stream again.
And so the stream will rattle unless you get out of the way. I remember I just ripped the stream out. And as I do it, I hit the microphone stand and the microphone starts doing this. So he's spinning around and I'm like, I'm a professional everybody.
Okay, just remind. But you do this. I wasn't ready the first time, but it was after a while. You know what?
Somebody let me preach a sermon when I was a teenager. And back in the day, we didn't live stream those things. We had these things called cassettes. You know what I'm saying?
And I praise God that nobody has a copy of that thing. Because even if I had it, I wouldn't let you listen to it because you would probably fire me today. And you're like, not only was that bad, that was pretty hair, hair, hair, but we don't say like it was bad. You know what?
You do it year after year and you get better. So you're like, we're still waiting. I know me too. Okay, right?