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This is God's words. Luke 24, beginning at verse 36.
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While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and
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said to them, peace be with you.
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They were startled and frightened thinking they saw a ghost.
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He said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your minds?
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Look at my hands and feet. It is I myself.
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Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.
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Then he said this, when he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
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And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement,
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he asked them, do you have anything here to eat?
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They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it in their presence.
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He said to them, this is what I told you while I was still with you.
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Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses,
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the prophets and the Psalms.
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Then he opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures.
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He told them, this is what is written.
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The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
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And repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all
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nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
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You are witnesses of these things. I'm going to send you what my father has
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promised, but stay close in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.
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This is God's words.
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Praise God. This is the last in our series that we have been going through over
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pretty much all of summer and into the early parts of autumn.
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Is the spirit of mission, some selected readings from the gospel of Luke.
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And we've been taking our cue from the mission of Jesus from Luke chapter four.
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He said, the spirit of God is on me.
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He's anointed me to preach good news to the poor. And we've been thinking about
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how that plays out and then our role as his people after that.
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And today is the final talk in this series.
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And what I want to bring before you today as we conclude this whole thing are
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five essentials for a successful mission.
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Five essentials that Jesus gives for a successful mission.
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We say here at Foundation Church Belfast we are a community on mission.
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A group of ordinary people saved by an extraordinary God to be on the mission
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of Jesus. That's who we are.
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That's what he has sent us to be. And so if this works well for us this morning,
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this will become something of a rally cry for us as a church.
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As you hear the very words of Jesus and the actions of the apostles,
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it will become a rally cry for us as we close out this talk.
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Five essentials for the successful mission. I'll give you them off the top.
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Here they are. We need the truth. We need the vision. we need the message,
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we need the call, and we need, fifthly, the power.
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All five are in that text we've just read together. First of all, we need the truth.
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Therefore, we need to be convinced of the truth if we are to have a successful
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mission. That is, we have to be convinced of the reality of the resurrection
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of Jesus if we are to have success in his mission.
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Verse 36 through to 43 is where we get this, and it dominates really the reading that we've just had.
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Jesus wants his disciples to be convinced about the truth of his resurrection.
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If we cannot be convinced about that, says the Apostle Paul,
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then we are to be mostly, we are people who are to be most shamed.
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Let me, before we get into the text, give you the background of what's going on here.
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Jesus has gone to the cross. He's died. He has risen again.
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And some moments later on Resurrection Sunday, the first day of the week,
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he's appeared to a couple of travelers on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a little town outside.
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It's called the Road to Emmaus. They are believers.
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They were hoping that the kingdom of God was coming.
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And Jesus meets them. He discusses his mission with them. He breaks bread with them.
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And then when he breaks bread and blesses it, they suddenly realize who he is.
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He opens their eyes and he vanishes from before their sight.
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And it says, rather than carrying on their journey back to Emmaus,
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they turned straight around and made a beeline for Jerusalem.
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They ran there to get
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to the disciples.
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And that's exactly then when we pick up this story in verse six.
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It says, while they were still talking about this, this is the two from Emmaus,
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sharing this with the apostles, Jesus himself, it says, stood among them and
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said to them, peace be with you.
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And we can see in verse 37, their reaction. It wasn't like, oh,
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good, we were waiting for this.
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Pleased that you could make it, Lord. No. It says they were startled and frightened.
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They were terrified, in other words. They thought they had seen a ghost.
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As you would be if you thought you had seen a ghost, an evil spirit,
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something from the underworld has just appeared in your room.
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You would be absolutely terrified.
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And yet Jesus himself seeks to settle his disciples and he invites them to come
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to him. He says in verse 39, look at my hands, he says, look at my feet. It is I myself.
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Touch me and see, he says. A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.
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He's inviting them to come and be convinced of the truth.
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Use your senses, he says. Look with your eyes. Listen with your ears.
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You recognize my voice, he says. Feel me. Touch the hands, the feet.
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Come and embrace me. Use your senses. I'm.
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I'm Jesus, know me. Verse 40, he continues and it takes the initiative here.
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They are still frozen with fear, but Jesus says, come to me.
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He shows them his hands and his feet. And while they still did not believe because
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of joy and amazement, Jesus says, well, do you have anything here for me to eat?
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And it just so happened that they had a piece of broiled fish.
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It's a strange word, but I looked it up. It means grills.
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They'd had a barbecue of fish and they were either in the process of enjoying a meal or some leftover.
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We don't know. And they gave some to Jesus and it says he ate in their presence.
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He ate with his disciples.
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See, this is an essential truth that takes up the bulk of this section.
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Jesus wants his disciples to be convinced of the truth that he physically was
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raised from the dead, that they can touch him, they can see him,
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they can eat with him, they can embrace him.
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He is a real human being. He has a real human body that was several days earlier, horribly crucified,
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and now is wholly alive and is standing among them, eating and drinking and
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embracing his disciples.
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They had to be convinced of the truth.
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Do you notice as well, it sort of comes out the more we get to grips with what's
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being said here, but this is not a new human being that's sort of got Jesus
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on the inside, like a new human clothing or something.
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This is not a new human being coming along and claiming he is Jesus or where
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he has the spirit of Jesus or anything like that. Jesus says, it is I.
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It is the same person. It is the same body.
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Not a new body. Yes, renewed. Yes, resurrected. Yes, beautifully and wonderfully glorified.
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Never to die again. Praise God. And yet he is the same human being. One and the same.
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How do we know this to be the case? Why is this important?
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Look at what he says. Why are you troubled? He says. Look at my hands and my feet.
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What is he what is he pointing them to,
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he's he's pointing them to the the nail marks and his hands on his feet when
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they crucified him come come and have a look says jesus,
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completely healed we would say but yet there are still the marks that are still
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noticeable that this is the same one that they stuck on the cross,
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not just a real human being in general but a specific human being the one that
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they crucified now risen.
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And we might ask ourselves, if we're familiar with some of these teachings,
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if we are to be raised again, that's what the Bible holds out,
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this is the great promise for all people, to be raised again,
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does that mean that we also will have the scars of our former life?
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If you've had a knee operation, or had your hernia fixed, or some cancer removed,
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Will you still have the reminder of that when you're given a new resurrection body?
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Maybe a trauma. Or maybe some other reminders of life in your fallen world,
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the pain, the suffering.
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Will you still have some reminder of that when you're given a new human body?
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That's a good question because Jesus appeared to
have some reminder.
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Is that the same for us too?
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And I would say no, it is not the same for us too the Bible is clear when it
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comes to the new heaven and the new earth that Jesus is preparing for us,
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he tells us it will be a place where there is no tears and no sorrow no mourning,
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no sadness, no pain he says the old order, that is the old experience that's all gone.
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You see, for us, our scars are a reminder of our pain, whether it's a physical
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scar or mental scars that we carry.
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Even if there has been healing there, to a certain extent, we still have that reminder.
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For us, our scars are a reminder of our sorrows.
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But for Jesus his scars function entirely different because for him they are
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not a reminder of his sorrows they are a sign of his victory,
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they are a reminder that he won that he was dead and is now alive,
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so they're not scars in the traditional sense They are more like medals,
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badges of honour that we gather around one day and we'll celebrate the one who was dead,
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was made alive for us and for our salvation.
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Jesus wants us to know today and to be convinced of the truth,
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the reality of the resurrection.
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And of course we're we're not there we weren't there on that day it would have
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been brilliant wouldn't it to have been a fly on the wall as they say and look
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in and experience what was going on and to see all this taking place but that
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is not the case we're not there,
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and yet as it were when we read these words from scripture we are looking over
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the the shoulders of those who were there We're reading their eyewitness accounts,
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telling us what they actually saw.
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We're listening to their reports and so therefore, through their testimony,
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we ourselves are convinced of the truth that Jesus of Nazareth died and rose.
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We must be convinced of this truth. It is the bedrock of the Christian faith.
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So as you read this, as we consider these words, are you convinced?
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Do you own that for yourself? Is that your truth?
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It's the first essential of a successful mission you've got to be convinced of the truth.
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The second essential for a successful mission is the vision number two the vision
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we have to have clarity of the vision,
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the the big picture that Jesus shows us,
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and we get that in in verses 44 and 45 Jesus wants his disciples not only to
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be convinced of the truth that he is truly raised from the dead,
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but he wants them to see how it all fits together.
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It's important for us to understand that Jesus and who he is and what he did
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didn't just arrive out of the blue, as we say. He didn't just float down the lagoon in a bubble.
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Not just a brand new thing that began the day he rose again.
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Look at verse 44 with me. He said to them, this is what I told you while I with
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you, everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses,
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the prophets, and the Psalms.
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Go to thee, says Jesus, and you will see me.
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You will have the vision. You will have the big picture. You will see that what
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I have done fits with all that.
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We might use the term Old Testament to refer to the Hebrew scriptures.
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And that's sort of what Jesus is getting at here.
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The law of Moses, as he says here, is a way of understanding the Pentateuch,
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which is the first five books of the Bible, traditionally understood to be written
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by Moses himself, the great leader of God's people, out of slavery into the promised land.
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Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
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The first five books. Jesus says, you can go there and you can see me.
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He says, you can go to the prophets and you will see me.
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You can even read the Psalms, the songbook of Israel, and you can hear people
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singing songs that speak of me. Did you know that?
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Jesus wants his people to know that what he is doing is part of God's big picture,
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his story of salvation from the beginning of time.
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And jesus through the scriptures has been predicted he's been foreshadowed we've
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been prepared for him and you might ask yourself well where,
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where is he in the old testament and if it's so obvious then why do the jewish
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people not all believe in jesus.
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No one can put it better, I think, than this famous quote I'm about to read
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--> 00:15:32.867
to you from Tim Keller, who was a harster in New York, Redeemer Presbyterian.
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I tried to put it better and I realized I can't, so I'm just going to read what he wrote instead.
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When you ask the question, where do we see Jesus in the Old Testament? This is his answer.
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He says when he met with the disciples and he said that all of Moses and the
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prophets and the psalms speak of me what did he mean,
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Keller says Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden,
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and whose obedience is imputed to us,
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Jesus is the true and better Abel who though innocently killed has blood that
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cries out not for our condemnation but for our acquittal.
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Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all
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the comfort and familiarity and to go out into the unknown not knowing where
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he went in order to create a new people of God.
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Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not only offered up by his father
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on the cross but was truly sacrificed for us,
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when God said to Abraham now I know you love me because you did not withhold
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your son your only son whom you love from me,
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now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and
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saying now that we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son,
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your only son whom you love from us,
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Jesus is the true and better Jacob, who wrestled and took the blow of justice
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we deserve, so that we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake
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us up and to discipline us.
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Jesus is the true and better Joseph, who, at the right hand of the king,
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forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his power to save them.
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Jesus is the true and better Moses, who stands in the gap between the people
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and the Lord, who meditates the new covenant.
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Jesus is the true and better rock of Moses, who was struck with the rod of God's
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justice and now gives us water in the desert.
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He's the true and better Job, the innocent sufferer who then intercedes for
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and saves his stupid friends.
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Jesus is the true and better David, whose victory becomes the people's victory,
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though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.
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Jesus is the true and better Esther, who didn't just risk leaving an earthly
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palace, but lost the ultimate and heavenly one who didn't just risk his life
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but gave his life to save his people.
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He's a true and better Jonah who was cast out of the storm so we could be brought in.
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Jesus is the real rock of Moses, the real Passover lamb, innocent,
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perfect and helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us.
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He's the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king,
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the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread the bible's
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not really about us it's about him.
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It's essential we see the vision, the big picture. Jesus didn't just appear from nowhere.
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The weight of revelation, the history of God's preparing us, pointing us to him.
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It's important that the earliest believers see this and it's important for us too.
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This is in great contrast to other religions and religious systems.
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Often the leader of a new religion has a private revelation from God or from
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an angel or something like that, which is a complete break with anything that has gone beforehand.
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If you think of Muhammad receiving some private revelation and beginning,
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as it were, the religion of Islam, or Joseph Smith receiving a private revelation
00:19:26.882 --> 00:19:30.936
from an angel and thus beginning the Mormon religion.
00:19:31.906 --> 00:19:35.905
Those two things and many like them came out of the blue with no real precedent.
00:19:37.183 --> 00:19:41.171
But here Jesus is showing that that is not the case with him at all.
00:19:43.789 --> 00:19:47.498
It's important that we have this clarity of vision.
00:19:49.332 --> 00:19:55.834
We have to see the truth that Jesus is part of a plan that began before the beginning of time.
00:19:57.012 --> 00:20:03.045
And goes through all of the prophets and the teachers and the leaders and it
00:20:03.045 --> 00:20:05.447
ends up on the hill of Calvary.
00:20:06.543 --> 00:20:11.386
It's God's plan to save you for himself. You've got to see the bigger picture.
00:20:12.579 --> 00:20:14.605
It's essential for successful mission, the vision.
00:20:17.943 --> 00:20:21.641
The third essential for successful mission is the message.
00:20:22.001 --> 00:20:26.993
We must be confident in the message. What is the message? Well, it is the gospel.
00:20:27.399 --> 00:20:31.954
Where do we see this in these verses? Jesus has opened their minds to
understand
00:20:31.954 --> 00:20:35.600
the scriptures. It says, then he told them, this is what is written.
00:20:36.071 --> 00:20:41.463
Here it is. The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
00:20:41.934 --> 00:20:46.438
and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name.
00:20:47.820 --> 00:20:51.088
This is the gospel, friends, in a nutshell.
00:20:51.732 --> 00:20:54.694
Yes, there are different ways that we can explain that. Yes,
00:20:54.694 --> 00:20:58.234
there are a million different insights that we have, different avenues in,
00:20:58.234 --> 00:21:00.463
but this is what it boils down to.
00:21:03.377 --> 00:21:08.353
We see similar preaching through the apostles, similar from the apostle Paul,
00:21:08.858 --> 00:21:10.563
who says basically the same thing.
00:21:10.761 --> 00:21:15.714
The message he says, I'll read it to you, 1 Corinthians 15, just so you know I'm not making this up.
00:21:15.900 --> 00:21:20.674
This is what Paul says is the gospel. I'm passing on that which is of first
00:21:20.674 --> 00:21:24.120
importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
00:21:24.387 --> 00:21:27.777
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,
00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:31.404
and then he appeared to Cephas and the rest of the twelve, and so on.
00:21:31.404 --> 00:21:32.880
It's basically the same thing.
00:21:33.135 --> 00:21:35.097
Paul has confidence in the gospel.
00:21:35.620 --> 00:21:40.577
The apostles had confidence in the gospel. We must have confidence in the gospel message.
00:21:43.596 --> 00:21:47.328
If we are to be fruitful as a community on mission, this is essential.
00:21:49.528 --> 00:21:53.394
We have to know it well enough to be able to tell it. We have to know it well
00:21:53.394 --> 00:21:55.107
enough to be able to live it.
00:22:00.053 --> 00:22:05.353
And it will do the work as we go and communicate that gospel message to other people.
00:22:06.253 --> 00:22:09.358
I think at this point, it's worth acknowledging that if you're brought up in
00:22:09.358 --> 00:22:13.338
a church environment, you've gone to Sunday school as a child and all the rest
00:22:13.338 --> 00:22:18.238
of it, you might be quite familiar with this word gospel and even the things
00:22:18.238 --> 00:22:19.591
I've just listed out there.
00:22:21.135 --> 00:22:26.848
And sometimes that familiarity to us as believers in Jesus can blunt us to the
00:22:26.848 --> 00:22:30.998
implications of this life-changing message to those who have never heard it.
00:22:31.370 --> 00:22:34.758
For you, you might be very familiar with it, but there are a ton of people out
00:22:34.758 --> 00:22:39.346
there right now in your life who have never heard this, for whom it is a life-changing message.
00:22:41.784 --> 00:22:47.148
We must be confident, we must be unashamed that this is the gospel of Jesus.
00:22:48.065 --> 00:22:50.878
We must understand
these terms we've been thinking already about.
00:22:50.878 --> 00:22:55.785
Resurrection in the middle of the gospel is a resurrected savior.
00:22:57.916 --> 00:23:01.718
We have to understand what we mean by repentance, what Jesus means by repentance.
00:23:01.718 --> 00:23:04.690
In verse 47, repentance will be preached.
00:23:04.975 --> 00:23:08.027
Repentance is not just agreement on these things.
00:23:09.019 --> 00:23:14.878
Repentance is the turning away from sin and from sorrow and turning to Jesus.
00:23:14.878 --> 00:23:16.380
That's what repentance means.
00:23:17.831 --> 00:23:23.188
It is a letting go of everything that we cling to for help and for comfort and
00:23:23.188 --> 00:23:26.808
security and all the rest of it and in clinging only to Jesus.
00:23:27.503 --> 00:23:33.064
That is repentance. He alone can save, not the other stuff that we are clinging to.
00:23:35.531 --> 00:23:38.608
We have to understand what repentance is. We have to live what repentance is,
00:23:38.608 --> 00:23:41.591
of course. We have to know what forgiveness is.
00:23:42.903 --> 00:23:46.322
Forgiveness is one of the great riches of the gospel.
00:23:47.060 --> 00:23:53.544
That through Jesus and his death on the cross you can be forgiven of your sins,
00:23:54.281 --> 00:23:59.198
you go from being an enemy of god to being his friend you go from being a stray
00:23:59.337 --> 00:24:04.205
to being a son or a daughter you go from being on the highway to hell,
00:24:06.835 --> 00:24:11.183
to instead receiving life in all of its fullness that is what forgiveness is all about.
00:24:16.529 --> 00:24:23.263
By the way, the gospel should not be and is not boring. It is not samey.
00:24:25.011 --> 00:24:28.488
It's not the usual one-liners that we bring out all the time.
00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:36.192
Yes, there is this sort of nutshell. Christ has died, forgiveness and repentance, resurrection.
00:24:38.792 --> 00:24:43.238
Yes, we have to be ready to explain that in the most simple terms to those who ask us.
00:24:44.005 --> 00:24:47.611
But also you know with the second essential the vision and the clarity of the
00:24:47.611 --> 00:24:53.861
story we have the whole bible at our disposal when it comes to showing the beauty,
00:24:54.702 --> 00:24:59.881
the riches the resources of the gospel the stories the concepts the songs,
00:25:00.855 --> 00:25:04.673
we can use the bible to explain the gospel in a million ways,
00:25:06.351 --> 00:25:13.764
it is the jewel of infinite value we must be confident that that message saves people.
00:25:15.128 --> 00:25:19.871
The Apostle Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of
00:25:19.871 --> 00:25:23.412
God unto salvation for all who believe.
00:25:24.706 --> 00:25:25.879
Got a hold of this.
00:25:29.339 --> 00:25:33.182
We have this gospel to tell. There must be confidence.
00:25:33.507 --> 00:25:40.071
The truth, the vision, the message, the penultimate essential for a successful
00:25:40.071 --> 00:25:42.835
mission then, Number four is the call.
00:25:43.370 --> 00:25:47.944
The call. This is not the first time we've considered this together in this series.
00:25:48.246 --> 00:25:52.896
We've mentioned this particularly towards the start, Jesus calling his disciples after him.
00:25:53.157 --> 00:25:57.401
The second half of verse 47, we get the call. He says, this gospel message,
00:25:57.401 --> 00:26:00.876
he says, will be preached in his name, that is in Jesus' name,
00:26:01.097 --> 00:26:04.751
to all the nations, he says, beginning in Jerusalem, them.
00:26:04.751 --> 00:26:10.791
Verse 48, you are witnesses of these things, he says to his disciples.
00:26:13.126 --> 00:26:16.789
This is what you are to do with the gospel, says Jesus. You are to proclaim
00:26:16.789 --> 00:26:21.206
it to all people, to all nations. This is your call.
00:26:22.118 --> 00:26:27.058
You are my witnesses. You have seen these things. Now go and tell about it. Off you go.
00:26:29.229 --> 00:26:33.954
You can see why Jesus impressed essential number one, the truth of the resurrection,
00:26:34.140 --> 00:26:38.409
and number two, the vision, and number three, the message, because it was their
00:26:38.409 --> 00:26:42.534
job now to go and bring that message to all nations.
00:26:44.298 --> 00:26:47.776
And it seems to be that at the beginning, anyway, of the early church,
00:26:48.153 --> 00:26:53.509
the first disciples of Jesus thought that, well, maybe it's the Jews of every
00:26:53.509 --> 00:26:54.873
nation that we're to go to.
00:26:56.616 --> 00:27:02.499
We can get that because for the first seven chapters of the book of Acts in
00:27:02.499 --> 00:27:05.559
the New Testament, Luke's second volume, we're reading Luke,
00:27:05.559 --> 00:27:06.899
his second volume is the book of Acts.
00:27:07.236 --> 00:27:11.676
The first seven chapters, they shared the gospel pretty much exclusively with
00:27:12.042 --> 00:27:13.551
fellow Jews. and why not?
00:27:14.579 --> 00:27:20.489
What happened in chapter 8 of Acts was a great persecution that flung the church
00:27:20.489 --> 00:27:22.520
into all areas of the empire.
00:27:23.501 --> 00:27:29.379
Off they went with the good news. It took a further vision and a specific word
00:27:29.379 --> 00:27:33.561
from God to the apostle Peter and the conversion of Cornelius,
00:27:33.904 --> 00:27:37.149
the centurion, before they started to understand.
00:27:37.149 --> 00:27:42.431
When Jesus means all nations, he actually means all nations.
00:27:42.965 --> 00:27:46.518
Go with the good news to all nations, says Jesus.
00:27:46.704 --> 00:27:52.898
Not just to a specific ethnicity, not just to a localized racial group or a limited community.
00:27:53.124 --> 00:27:56.176
Jesus says, no, go to all nations.
00:28:01.058 --> 00:28:05.597
And again, we are not specifically witnesses in the same way that those early
00:28:05.597 --> 00:28:08.997
disciples were witnesses, are we? When
Jesus says in verse 28,
00:28:08.997 --> 00:28:10.509
you are witnesses of these things.
00:28:10.770 --> 00:28:14.555
We are witnesses insofar as we believe the eyewitness accounts.
00:28:16.511 --> 00:28:19.117
We are passing on the message that we have received from them.
00:28:19.117 --> 00:28:22.437
That's why the church in general is called the apostolic church.
00:28:22.437 --> 00:28:24.567
We take the apostolic witness, the
00:28:24.567 --> 00:28:28.654
witness of that first day with those disciples, and we take that with us.
00:28:28.845 --> 00:28:32.746
We take their message with us and we go and we faithfully pass that on.
00:28:34.703 --> 00:28:38.727
How do we know, by the way, this text is for us today? And it wasn't just a
00:28:38.727 --> 00:28:45.636
specific application to the 12 apostles, give or take. How do we know it's for us today?
00:28:46.930 --> 00:28:49.659
Well, you're probably aware of this already. You've got this already.
00:28:49.862 --> 00:28:54.991
It says we are to bring the gospel, the good news of Jesus to all nations.
00:28:56.373 --> 00:29:02.987
Did the apostles achieve this in their lifetime no they did not they had a great
00:29:02.987 --> 00:29:05.591
crack at it they did fantastic,
00:29:07.043 --> 00:29:09.657
but they didn't bring the gospel to all nations do you know how long it took
00:29:09.657 --> 00:29:15.750
before the good news of jesus was heard here on the island of ireland 400 years.
00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:22.267
To come from jerusalem across mainland europe and end up in ireland 400 years
00:29:22.267 --> 00:29:27.702
do you know how long it took for the good news of Jesus to be heard on what we now call America.
00:29:29.386 --> 00:29:33.554
One and a half thousand years before the gospel ended up there. Did you know that?
00:29:37.117 --> 00:29:39.991
Have we made it? Have we done it?
00:29:43.003 --> 00:29:47.369
Do you know Matthew 28, the end of Matthew's gospel, very famous section,
00:29:48.147 --> 00:29:50.100
Jesus says to his disciples and,
00:29:52.100 --> 00:29:57.044
to us through them, he says, go and make disciples of all nations.
00:29:58.287 --> 00:30:04.248
He doesn't say go and make disciples in all nations. in other words what he is saying is
00:30:04.527 --> 00:30:08.810
he wants more than just a few scattered believers here and there in each nation
00:30:08.810 --> 00:30:14.912
and tribe and continent he wants every nation to be made his disciple every kingdom
00:30:15.144 --> 00:30:20.460
every continent to recognize that jesus is the suffering messiah that he rose
00:30:20.460 --> 00:30:24.598
as the victorious king that we must turn and repent and be saved,
00:30:25.132 --> 00:30:27.518
make disciples of all nations,
00:30:28.766 --> 00:30:31.977
are we there yet No, we are not.
00:30:36.882 --> 00:30:40.546
If you're new to us here at Foundation Church and you're maybe just starting
00:30:40.546 --> 00:30:45.976
to look in from the outside, it's helpful for you to
maybe hear of our mission.
00:30:45.976 --> 00:30:50.753
We've got a little mission statement, which has a very familiar sound to it.
00:30:50.950 --> 00:30:55.046
Here is our mission statement. This is what we exist to do at Foundation Church.
00:30:55.046 --> 00:31:02.688
We exist to make disciples of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father.
00:31:04.458 --> 00:31:10.844
It's basically the Great Commission. That's why we exist, because Jesus tells us.
00:31:13.311 --> 00:31:17.647
We don't do any more than this. We don't do any less than this.
00:31:18.849 --> 00:31:22.634
This is our role as a church, to make disciples of Jesus.
00:31:25.664 --> 00:31:28.979
If you're expecting something else, by the way, sorry to disappoint you,
00:31:29.478 --> 00:31:33.222
but we go with what Jesus tells us. Amen? That's where we must go.
00:31:34.696 --> 00:31:39.230
The truth, the vision, the message the call we've heard you're my witnesses, off you go,
00:31:40.443 --> 00:31:43.700
finally, praise God it is not in our strength,
00:31:44.896 --> 00:31:50.846
we must have the power in order to have a successful mission in verse 49 Jesus
00:31:50.846 --> 00:31:55.564
says to his disciples I'm going to send you what my father has promised,
00:31:56.638 --> 00:32:03.076
but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high,
00:32:05.816 --> 00:32:14.726
I'm going to send to you the promise of the Father says Jesus and you will be clothed with power.
00:32:18.263 --> 00:32:23.191
Jesus here is referring to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.
00:32:23.342 --> 00:32:25.322
The words Holy Spirit are not there.
00:32:27.887 --> 00:32:35.654
But throughout the gospel account of Luke, we have been seeing the spirit of mission at work.
00:32:35.863 --> 00:32:42.920
Jesus, first of all, being conceived by the Holy Spirit before he was even born.
00:32:44.201 --> 00:32:50.371
Jesus teaching you evil fathers he says you know how to give good gifts to your
00:32:50.371 --> 00:32:56.965
children how much more will your heavenly father give the holy spirit to those who ask him,
00:32:58.903 --> 00:33:03.811
they said of jesus he will come one day and baptize in the holy spirit and with
00:33:03.811 --> 00:33:10.101
fire this is the power that he refers to in verse 49 this is the spirit of mission
00:33:10.121 --> 00:33:13.022
Do you remember the spirit of the Lord is on me, says Jesus.
00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:18.791
He's anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the
00:33:18.791 --> 00:33:23.099
blind, freedom for the captives and the favor of the Lord.
00:33:24.104 --> 00:33:27.134
And here in verse 49, Jesus is saying to his disciples,
00:33:29.229 --> 00:33:34.286
wait, soon it shall arise. Soon the spirit shall come.
00:33:34.436 --> 00:33:38.053
Soon I shall pour him out from on high. He shall come to you.
00:33:41.673 --> 00:33:42.329
That's the power.
00:33:44.964 --> 00:33:50.246
What are we to do then today as we read this? How are we to respond to these
00:33:50.246 --> 00:33:53.062
verses? Are we to wait like they are?
00:33:53.962 --> 00:33:58.171
Are we to go to Jerusalem like they did? Go and get the blessing?
00:33:59.187 --> 00:34:04.176
Are we to huddle together in prayer before God comes and gives us a deluge of
00:34:04.176 --> 00:34:09.270
his Holy Spirit before we go out on mission for him? Is this what we are to do?
00:34:11.249 --> 00:34:14.849
These verses and those at the beginning of luke sorry at the beginning of acts
00:34:15.069 --> 00:34:20.323
have led some traditions to emphasize the old,
00:34:21.101 --> 00:34:28.786
king james version word tarry wait wait on the laws don't do a thing wait on
00:34:28.786 --> 00:34:32.420
the lord until you receive the blessing and then when you have it go,
00:34:33.709 --> 00:34:38.056
you see this particularly emphasized in some of the old older traditional pentecostal
00:34:38.056 --> 00:34:44.250
denominations tarry wait expect a mighty outpouring first and then you are equipped for mission,
00:34:46.919 --> 00:34:54.027
And we can celebrate and applaud their hunger for the Holy Spirit to bless them as believers in Jesus.
00:34:54.979 --> 00:34:59.263
But I would suggest that that is not the right understanding of these verses.
00:35:02.264 --> 00:35:08.807
Remember that the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
00:35:11.065 --> 00:35:14.948
Is a moment in salvation history.
00:35:15.105 --> 00:35:20.109
Jesus has died, he rose, he ascended, he poured out his Holy Spirit.
00:35:22.002 --> 00:35:28.984
And we as believers in Jesus stand this side of Pentecost. We stand on the other
00:35:28.984 --> 00:35:31.597
side. This moment has already happened.
00:35:31.818 --> 00:35:35.875
This was a one-off event that we see in Acts chapter 2.
00:35:36.137 --> 00:35:41.124
Therefore, we are not to wait on the Holy Spirit to fall on us just as it did
00:35:41.124 --> 00:35:43.653
in the days of the apostles.
00:35:45.470 --> 00:35:50.520
What we see here in these verses is a unique and unrepeatable event,
00:35:50.694 --> 00:35:54.816
just like the cross of Christ, just like the resurrection of Christ,
00:35:55.042 --> 00:35:58.223
so too the Pentecost of the Holy Spirit.
00:35:59.326 --> 00:36:06.838
We're not to wait and tarry until the Holy Spirit comes. The Holy Spirit has already come.
00:36:06.989 --> 00:36:10.675
But what can we do? How can we apply these scriptures?
00:36:12.573 --> 00:36:17.392
What we can do and the bible is very clear on this is that we can ask for more,
00:36:18.338 --> 00:36:23.614
we can ask for more as jesus says in luke 11 your heavenly father will give
00:36:23.614 --> 00:36:28.064
you the holy spirit to those who ask him when you are a believer in jesus you
00:36:28.064 --> 00:36:32.752
are a believer because you have his holy spirit he enables you to believe,
00:36:34.058 --> 00:36:39.635
but the bible is clear you can ask for more
you can hunger for more from gods.
00:36:44.634 --> 00:36:48.192
The old Pentecostal traditions are right on this level.
00:36:48.413 --> 00:36:52.248
Ask and you shall receive, says Jesus. Seek and you will find.
00:36:52.248 --> 00:36:55.348
Knock and the door will be opened to you. One of the apostles says,
00:36:55.348 --> 00:36:58.711
eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit and so forth.
00:36:58.903 --> 00:37:02.304
Be filled with the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 5.
00:37:04.981 --> 00:37:10.848
Taken together then, we can understand this as a call to take active interest,
00:37:10.848 --> 00:37:13.518
to seek the fullness of the Spirit.
00:37:14.645 --> 00:37:20.602
That the father wishes to bring to us and we know from personal experience and from scripture,
00:37:21.275 --> 00:37:26.040
how often the father responds to the prayers of his people when we come hungry,
00:37:26.516 --> 00:37:31.016
father fill us father renew us father empower us again the mission.
00:37:34.073 --> 00:37:39.118
Do you notice here the context for this power coming is to preach Christ.
00:37:39.118 --> 00:37:43.568
It is to go on his mission, is to take the message to all nations.
00:37:43.568 --> 00:37:48.422
That's why we need this power. We cannot do it on our own and through our own cleverness.
00:37:50.715 --> 00:37:55.022
Yes, we'll be blessed in the process, but it's all about making much of Jesus.
00:37:57.234 --> 00:38:04.113
So there are the five essentials that we see in scripture for successful mission,
00:38:06.493 --> 00:38:13.998
and i wonder if any of those five are particularly hitting home to you as we go through them perhaps,
00:38:14.978 --> 00:38:20.888
you're noticing a lack or a need or a deficit or even a hunger for these things
00:38:20.888 --> 00:38:24.682
that you may not have in the fullness that you think you should,
00:38:26.627 --> 00:38:31.304
perhaps you lack this sort of conviction of the truth.
00:38:34.148 --> 00:38:39.838
So perhaps this morning god through his holy spirit wants to bring you to a
00:38:39.838 --> 00:38:46.496
deeper knowledge of the truth he wants to blast out of your heart the skepticism that is there,
00:38:47.070 --> 00:38:49.154
and convince you in the inner person,
00:38:49.799 --> 00:38:52.388
of the truth of these eyewitness accounts perhaps that's you,
00:38:54.321 --> 00:38:58.098
perhaps for the first time you're starting to realize that jesus hasn't just
00:38:58.098 --> 00:39:04.207
come out of thin air he has been part of this beautiful and complex story of
00:39:04.508 --> 00:39:07.022
redemption from the beginning of time until now,
00:39:08.398 --> 00:39:14.378
and as you start to see that and start to see jesus on every page perhaps again
00:39:14.378 --> 00:39:20.868
you're hungering for the holy spirit your heart may swell with love and amazement
00:39:20.868 --> 00:39:22.411
and awe at what he's done to him.
00:39:24.565 --> 00:39:28.632
Maybe it's the message, maybe you lack confidence. You know the gospel,
00:39:28.632 --> 00:39:30.962
you've been taught it, you can write it out, you can say it,
00:39:30.962 --> 00:39:36.127
but you lack the confidence that it is the power of God. That message is the power of God.
00:39:37.009 --> 00:39:42.472
So maybe today you're coming, praying for the Holy Spirit to give you boldness.
00:39:42.472 --> 00:39:47.116
I'm not ashamed of the gospel, the power of God. Is that your testimony?
00:39:49.229 --> 00:39:52.968
Perhaps today it's the call that's really hitting home.
00:39:54.372 --> 00:39:58.642
A call to be active in sharing the gospel. It's not because you don't know it.
00:39:58.642 --> 00:40:00.369
It's not even because you lack confidence.
00:40:01.072 --> 00:40:02.612
It's maybe because of the distractions
00:40:02.612 --> 00:40:06.232
of this world, the comforts of this world, perhaps even laziness.
00:40:06.888 --> 00:40:12.850
Again, maybe right now you need to seek the Holy Spirit to activate you afresh for his mission.
00:40:14.818 --> 00:40:19.206
Finally, perhaps it's that power. You lack that fire.
00:40:20.605 --> 00:40:24.722
You've been holding back. and today is the day that the Holy Spirit wishes to
00:40:24.722 --> 00:40:27.971
meet with you and empower you and clothe you,
00:40:28.847 --> 00:40:33.692
with that powerful monologue he desires to do all these wonderful things so
00:40:33.692 --> 00:40:37.978
that Christ will get the glory and his gospel will advance, his kingdom will,
00:40:39.250 --> 00:40:42.756
so as we come in now to a time of reflection and response,
00:40:44.212 --> 00:40:48.675
let's just quietly reflect on some of those things particularly those five essentials,
00:40:49.524 --> 00:40:53.092
of successful mission And if there's something the Lord is bringing to your
00:40:53.092 --> 00:40:54.533
attention, working in you,
00:40:55.294 --> 00:40:59.537
just listen to his voice and open your heart to his spirits.
00:40:59.943 --> 00:41:05.982
And he is pleased to show his love to you. So let's have a few moments of reflection.
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I'll pray and then hand back to Esther.