The Kingdom of God is Near

me and encouraged me with and certainly the Bible is a powerful tool it has been in my life and I'm just going to share with you tonight let me pray for us as we start. Father we do thank you that you created this world force for us to enjoy and be fulfilled in our relationship with you and you sent your son as an example and also to do the things that we can't do that because of him we can have a better relationship with you the right relationship and a fulfilled life so we thank you for that and we know that you want us to love you with all our heart mind soul and spirit so we're here tonight to further develop that love but you also want us to love the people around us to love them as ourselves we pray Lord tonight that you'd speak to us and show us the things in our life that we need to change things we might need to add or things we might need to not do anymore so we thank you for all that you do for us we thank you for another opportunity to learn more about you Jesus name we pray amen so we're going to be in Luke chapter 10 and this is probably a familiar passage to you you've probably heard about it before but you know of course Jesus came and he was his main message is that the kingdom of God was near and one of the problems that the people had was that he looked just like you and me whatever job or occupation that you have Jesus could have been doing that there you know the Bible says there wasn't anything uncommon about him just a common person it's kind of laughable sometimes you read the Bible stories and people have no idea who he is walk right by him they had to get one of the disciples so they could lead him to Jesus before they crucified him because people just didn't know who he was and so it was pretty common person and so you know God had that reason that he started from beginning was born in a little town and you know some real scholarly people knew different things about him but he was born in a manger and it wasn't even his town and so all the things that our world values Jesus was kind of the opposite of that you know and Doyle says this all the time Jesus didn't really write a book he didn't even have a house he didn't really have a job all those things that the world really puts a lot of emphasis on Jesus wasn't worried about and so that should give us a clue about the things that God feels are important and the things that he wants us to to address but in Luke chapter ten if you remember Jesus ministry starts he gets the group around him his twelve disciples chapter nine he sends out the twelve with kind of the same instruction that he's going to give these seventy and so it says seventy two in chapter ten but you have to believe at the beginning of his ministry there's just not a whole lot of people around him and so these seventy people were just like you and me they were followers of Jesus they probably didn't have a whole lot of training because you just start his ministry and so they were just followers of Jesus but remember he did go out to the Jews first and so he was working with people that knew the Bible and understood the Bible about like you did but one of the things that was a little different Jesus asked his disciples to come along and so if you became serious about learning more about the Bible Jewish traditions all those things then you had a teacher and that's what Jesus was he was a teacher he'd asked these twelve people to come along but clearly there's a lot more that are following him because here in chapter ten he says they appointed seventy two to go out and so we're going to look at this passage then we'll look at a few more because one of the things all I wouldn't say all but a lot of churches are struggling with is reaching people for Christ and so Jesus main purpose when he came was to tell people the kingdom of heaven is near so he gets his twelve disciples he sends them out to tell people the kingdom of heaven is near and now he's getting these seventy two people that are just like you and I there's there's not anything that's special about him it doesn't even say who they are they don't have any special names seventy two people just like you and I and here's what here's what happens in this story and we'll start with verse one and go to verse eighteen it's kind of a long section but we'll get through it and I'm reading from the NIV it says after this the Lord appointed seventy two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go he told them the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few ask the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field go I am sending you out like lambs among wolves do not take a purse or bag or sandals and do not greet anyone on the road when you enter a house first say peace to this house if a man of peace is there your peace will rest on him if not it will return to you stay in that house eating and drinking whatever they give you for the worker deserves his wages do not move around from house to house when you enter a town and are welcomed eat what is set before you heal the sick who are there and tell them the kingdom of God is near but when you enter a town and are not welcomed go into its streets and say even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you yet be sure of this the kingdom of God is near I tell you it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom and then for that town woe to you kerosene woe to you best Sata for if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes but it would be more bearable to you bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you and you Capernaum will you be lifted up to the skies and no you will go down to the depths he who listened he who listens to you listens to me he who rejects you rejects me but he who rejects me rejects him I'm having a hard time here but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me the 72 returned with joy and said Lord even the demons submit to us in your name he replied I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven and have I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy nothing will harm you however do not rejoice that the spirit submits to you but rejoice that your names are written in heaven and so just like this story talks about the people go out these 72 go out and they do all these miraculous things and when I first studied this I thought it was kind of ironic you know we're getting ready to have the Super Bowl in a couple weeks and they all celebrate and it irritates me that the players go out there and when they do something they celebrate well they're on a team but they're just out there and it's all about them and so Jesus was cautioning these 72 that went out to be careful read here at the end in verse 21 he says at this time Jesus full of joy through the Holy Spirit said I praise you father Lord of heaven and earth because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and reveal them to little children yes father for this is your good pleasure so Jesus was characterizing these people like young children they were new followers because Jesus had just started this program that God had put him on and he said I saw Satan falling like a little like lightning from heaven I have given you authority to trample on snakes scorpions and overcome all power of the enemy enemy nothing will harm you so they had great power and authority and ability to do things but here's what he said to concentrate on he says however do not rejoice that the spirit submit to you but rejoice that your names are written in heaven and so at first when I first read that I thought well that that seemed kind of odd to me because I would have been excited about having done all those things look at me look what I've done but if you if you remember back when Jesus was always talking to people what was the number one commandment what was the number one thing he was always trying to stress with people to love God with all your heart mind soul and strength so if you think about what was going on here and why they were doing that if you don't get the first thing right if you don't have your priorities right if you don't have God in the right place in your life you're not going to be able to see these things and so he was reiterating don't get all caught up in the hype and the circumstances and all these things that you have done because without your relationship with God none of this would have been possible and so if we don't get our lives in the right place to love God with all our heart mind soul and strength all the other things that God wants to do for us we're just going to continue to struggle and there's times in my life that I've struggled I don't know if any of you have done that I get my priorities wrong I think there's things that God want me to do and I start off bent to do what I think God wants me to do and then it suddenly goes wrong or something happens and I think that's just a normal part of life and through the Bible that happens to his disciples and different things but God uses those things but one of the hardest things for people to do is in this circumstance their purpose was they love God with all their heart mind and strength they were following Jesus he sent them out to help other people and so both of those cases we have to take the focus off ourselves it's not about me it's about God and that's what they did they said wherever you send us we'll go and I found it kind of interesting what are the things that most people worry about I know I worry about this Jesus says do not take a purse or bag or sandals and do not greet anyone on the road so he basically sent them out to do something they really didn't know what they were doing he didn't send them out with any money clothes they didn't even know where they were going what do you tell them when you get to it yeah when you get to a town look for somebody a man of peace and you got to remember the Bible when they're talking about peace they're talking about a completeness Shalom is the Old Testament word for that when you find somebody in the town that's a complete person and you'll know that because God will lead you to them they didn't even know where they were going to stay and he said when you find that person just stay with them eat what they feed you he said if you don't find anybody if there's nobody in that town that'll accept you don't worry about it just move on to the next town and so all those things that I find myself worrying about and it seems it's common to other people Jesus is trying to help these followers figure out what's the most important thing well the number one thing is to love God with all your heart mind soul and strength and be ready to help those other people and the number one thing is to tell them that the kingdom of God is near and so that's really intimidating and churches and people and all of us struggle with that but there's a few things that you got to remember that Jesus was sending them out they were really untrained probably unskilled they didn't have you know all those things but God used them to do some powerful things and so there's there's three things that I wanted to talk about tonight to help you God is going to put you in this situation we're all on the same boat this prayer that pushed more workers into the harvest that's us that's all the faithful followers of Jesus and God has appointed us all to do that but it gets kind of intimidating when you think what am I supposed to do where am I supposed to go how am I supposed to do it Jesus tells them not to worry about that to just have faith but if you look back at Genesis 127 here's a couple principles that have helped me and God had created this world for one purpose and that's to know him and love him and that main purpose for us is the same for all the other people in the world read what Genesis 127 it says so God created man in his own image and in the image of God he created him male and female he created so every person on this world is creating God's image which makes it when people are looking for something if they don't have that relationship with God right they're probably never going to figure it out you know who some of the most miserable people are I always think of Elvis Presley and people like that have everything what would you buy what would you get if you had all the money in the world and still not be happy still not be fulfilled so when you're going out there God's going to bring people into your life and he just wants you to let them know that the kingdom of God is near and usually the way that happens with me is something happened and I you know I can share with them how that happened to me or you know this is how God helps me or they can just be around you and they can say you know there's something different about you and that's God showing through you to them because they're creating God's image to just like we are and then look over in Ecclesiastes 311 so we're everybody's creating God's image and so that causes us all to long for something that we without God in the right place in our life some people call it that hole that only God can fill without that right relationship with him people are always going to be searching and even when you have a relationship with God if you don't have it the way it should be then that that emptiness fills up there so God has created everybody in his image and so if you don't understand that then there's a longing there's a yearning inside of you and that's kind of what Ecclesiastes 311 talks about it says he has made everything beautiful in his time he has set eternity in the hearts of men so not only are we creating God's image he said eternity in our lives and that's why people always strive for things and as a teacher coach athlete whatever there were things that I strove for and God puts that in each and every one of us to strive for something because he has created us so that we we naturally strive for things and we should be striving for God because we're creating his image and he put something inside of us that causes us to constantly look and if people don't have their life figured out what do they do they're searching for something and that search will continue for everybody until they realize that they are creating God's image God is part of them and they're part of God and he put something inside of us that will never never be fulfilled without him and here it's talking about eternity that's that you know we're always talking like in two areas there's the physical side and there's a spiritual side and if you don't know understand the spiritual side you're going to forever be longing and people are always looking I was listening to a podcast and it talked about a guy who said yeah we need to just take all the religions and we all need to talk together because if you go to any country in the world you're going to go there and there's going to be people that worship things worship of God you can go to the farthest reaches of the world and there's something inside those people that causes them to want to worship something bigger than they are that's because God created us in his image and he puts eternity in our hearts and if we don't get that straight in our lives it's really hard to help other people the good news is when you run into somebody and they're searching and you have your relationship with God right guess what you've got it right you just have to say hey you want God to help you with this just like they went to these towns and they tried to find somebody if they were open to God's help God is open to help people that's what grace is about and so sometimes it's easy to get intimidated because we think well like these people they just sent them out with not much and all of us can look at what we have and there's always people in the world that are greater than we are but remember when God sent Jesus where he sent him to he sent him to a place like Gray Bend Kansas it's not the center of the economic world there's not you know all the things here he just wants people that are obedient that'll just do what he tells them and it's on faith do you think it would be tough these 72 people that have been following Jesus for a while and he says well just go out and tell him the kingdom of God is near that'd be a pretty good big challenge I think and their time was different than ours I mean it's nothing for us to go to Kansas City into Hutchison and cruise down to Oklahoma City they were homebodies and your family was the center of what you did it's it's not like we are now they were pretty much just localized folks and to tell them just go to these cities was a big challenge for him so God's gonna challenge you in that same way if you've got your relationship with him and we talk about the the vertical relationship between you and God and then we have the horizontal relationship between us and the people around us God's gonna put people in your life and sometimes they may be the people that drive you the most crazy you know the people that need the most help are usually open to God the people that have everything together and have everything they think they want are they easy to help they that and God's not worried about that so we oftentimes we worried about people accepting us and worried about that and here's what Jesus told him in verse 16 he said he who listens to you listens to me he who rejects you rejects me but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me he told him don't feel any pressure if they don't care for you don't like you just go to the different town and so don't get too worried about if you meet somebody and they're resistant to you it's nothing personal and I and I work as an assistant principal at a middle school and that's one of the things you have to learn when people get upset and things are important to them sometimes they don't want to listen sometimes they get angry sometimes they get upset but you can't take it personal because my number one goal there is to help them with their problem same with you here is to just introduce them to God and say hey God wants to help you do you have to have all the answers do you think they had many answers they hadn't been following Jesus very long Jesus just told him hey tell him the kingdom of heaven is near the rest is God's he's gonna bring people into your life some of them are gonna say yes some are gonna say no he's not worried about that he's just worried about the people that say yes then you can help them look over in Ephesians 2 chapter 2 verse 10 this really takes the pressure off of us if you can get if you can grasp this understanding here Ephesians 2 verse 10 we'll start in actually 8 and 9 I don't have time to go in all this I'd be in over my head if I tried to but this is a famous passage but what takes the pressure off for you and me is that we're saved by grace it says for it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves it is a gift of God not by work so that no one can boast for we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us so grace is the amazing thing that God uses you know what allowed these people to go out these 72 God's grace they didn't have any special tools they didn't have any special equipping but they had God's power authority because Jesus told him to go do this and he gave him the grace you know one of the main things that holds me back from doing what God wants me to is I feel bad about all the stupid stuff I've done in my life how I fail do dumb things make poor choices Satan brings those up all the time and says you can't do this well in a sense he's right but if it's something God wants me to do and I'm obedient to God just like these 72 that's the way this whole gospel message started to go throughout that whole area and before long the whole Roman everything that the Romans control became a Christian influenced area that's what God wants but it wasn't based on an Ephesians it says we're not saved by works hmm 2 8 9 and 10 so grace is one of those things that you have to understand it's not about you and me it's about God it's about Jesus Christ who came and lived and died so that we could have the relationship with God so that we can be right this way so that when we are around other people he can work through our lives even though we're imperfect because we're in an imperfect world filled with imperfect people just like you and me and so one of Satan's tools if you flip back to where we are in Luke chapter 10 notice Jesus said I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven Satan is the one that's telling us you can't do this you're not gonna be able to help those people look at all the sins in your life and the problems in your life that's Satan talking I'm not saved on the basis of what I do and what I don't do I'm saved because Jesus Christ loved me and died on the cross for my sins he wants me to do better don't get that wrong he wants us all to do better but if we have our relationship with God and we love him and we want to love the people around us that's what grace is about it's not going to matter that you just failed because God doesn't fail in Jesus Christ when he rose him from the grave he said all this old stuff the sin these laws all this stuff it doesn't really matter anymore because Jesus Christ made it possible that grace that God gives all of us that's what it's about it but aside exciting things do happen to you I'll just share one quick story God had laid on my heart when I was I just had been coaching at great Ben I hadn't been there very long and I had gone to FCA when I was in high school and I thought we ought to have an SCA group and the people had got discouraged and people had stopped coming and so I said you know we really have an FCA group you know what do we need to do I never I'd been an FCA group when I was a kid I never run an FCA group and so I felt something God and so I talked to Doyle Doyle talked to me I said well we need some Bibles we don't we go we meet we don't have any Bibles a guy walked up to me in one day out of nowhere and said here's $100 for Bibles like wow so I told the church about it we raised money for Bibles I don't know if they still use it over there but I have big crate about 50 Bibles that I bought here at church I used to haul that around to me with all the meetings and we didn't start with very many and the numbers went up and down but there was one year that they were having a Bible study you know it's bad mister good about studying the Bible have training about studying the Bible there was about ten kids I couldn't go because it was during school so I had to work but they all decided to any opportunity miss school is a good opportunity in it so there's about nine or ten of them that went to this Bible study training and guess what they did they started having their own little small groups in our FCA and our FCA group grew to about 60 or more I couldn't teach 60 people I didn't know any way to do that but God wanted that to happen and I think some of those guys are now youth ministry and different things it wasn't anything I did I mean I just go do whatever I normally do but God wanted always wants more people to learn about it so I told these nine or ten I told all of them but there's about nine or ten of them that said hey we'd like to go to that Bible study I'm like well ask your parents and here's the information to go that's all I did I didn't and then when we started meeting said hey well you guys went to this training why don't you guys have small groups so they would meet on like if our meetings I don't know when they were Mondays or Tuesdays they'd meet on like Friday morning I said hey you want to come meet with us on Friday and I'm like I got to work I gotta go to school and so they did all that God helped him I just provided the opportunity so when God puts people in your life he sends us all out to do the same thing to help the people around you it says love your neighbor as yourself and neighbor just means those that are near to you and it kind of starts your family and then the people around you or whoever and Jesus gave the story that it's really anybody that need that has a need you know the Good Samaritan story so God's gonna bring people into your life that have needs that nobody can fill but him because they're creating God's image they are have eternity placed inside him like God there's gonna be a yearning inside him that something's wrong what do I do and they'll try to fill it with all kinds of stuff but it's not gonna work without God because we're creating says his image and until somebody until you get that right the rest of it is just stuff that you do to try to fill that hole but the pressure is on God in Ephesians 2 10 here's what he says for we are God's workmanship creating Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do and sometimes people get you know all freaked out about well God's got this big plan in advance for me to do I got to know exactly what to do you know what the plan is is for all of us to learn to love God with all our heart mind soul and strength and to love our neighbors as herself that's the plan it's not complicated and just like he sent those people out they weren't very well prepared all they had was the love of God in their heart and Jesus gave them a mission and so God put you on the same mission but look it's God's workmanship you know what if you go do it you don't do it right God's gonna help you if you don't give up because you know what Satan's gonna say Satan's number one tool is to isolate us to make us feel like a failure and God said that'll never happen to you if you're in Christ there's not anything you can do to make me love you more and if you're in Christ there's not anything you can do to make make me love you less so the difference is is grace and faith and how you respond to what God asked you to do now workmanship is one of those things to do good works you're gonna meet people that aren't open to that is that on you no you're just doing what God told you you're just you're just the one that God's working on but if you're not doing what God wants you to that's when I get in problems because it does take some time and effort to get your life right with God and one of my challenges this year is to spend more time reading my Bible and reading about God and serving him as much as I can because you know what happens when good things come into your life it says creating God to do good works you have a lot of choices and the more successful God makes you in life you have a lot more choices you know those 72 that he sent out I don't know what choices they had but my guess is they were just common people and if he sends them out to another city they had to leave their job and their families but they were willing to do that and oftentimes he may ask us stuff that is a sacrifice to us so Doyle talks about this all the time it Jesus says if you want to be my disciples you have to deny yourself take up your cross and follow me because just like what happened to Jesus he says if these people reject you and in the Beatitudes he said that's actually a blessing to you because they did the same thing to me so you're gonna have people that mistreat you gonna have people that do bad things to you and believe it or not you don't even have to be a believer for that to happen because there's people out there that are so mixed up and so hurting looking for some reason to blame somebody else for what's happened in their life they're gonna blame God they're gonna blame you but you're not accountable to them you're accountable God just like they are and all you can do is pray for them try to help them if that doesn't work God will bring plenty of people into your life if you're willing to help people there's always somebody out there that needs help and so my challenge you this year is be one of those 72 because in Matthew 28 it says wherever you go make disciples so whatever you're doing that's wherever you go and to make a disciple you have to they first have to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and all you have to do just like these people just say hey God's available and he'll help you if you're willing to let him help you and he'll take over the rest if there's something else you're gonna you need to do he'll train you for that that's what it says right here we're created in God we are with his workmanship so you may have to develop some more skills you know when I first started coming to this church I couldn't stand up here and do this and talk about what the Bible says but after 20 years of sitting with Doyle and listening on Sunday morning Sunday night and Wednesdays and then getting interested in reading during the day and reading books about it and all those things it all starts to fit together and some of you may not be like that that's okay some of your more doers but God will that's his way of doing it you are his workmanship so don't think it's all on you or it's all on me or it's all on Doyle you know what changed this world Martin Luther on a Halloween night before Halloween he put these things up there that said this big church the Universal Church is doing a lot of things wrong he said there's people out there if you'll read the Bible the Bible will tell you what to do and God is a living and active God and you know what there were different languages in Germany there were different cults in Germany or different groups of people he unified the whole nation of Germany with the Bible they had one language and it was the language of that Bible and so it's just amazing what God can do with people like you and me God wants to unify people but it's through his it's through his word and that's just being obedient to him and so God has these things planned in advance and it sounds complicated it sounds specific God you are his workmanship God will tell you what to do and he'll help you do it you know sometimes even when you don't do it very well that's where grace comes in you might even say the wrong things Doyle says people walk up to him all the time and say you remember when you said this and I don't even remember any of that's God talking to each and every one of us because that's why God created the world for us to live in relationship with him we're creating his image so there's no reason we shouldn't have a relationship with him and he puts in eternity inside of us people will struggle till the day they die about purpose in their life and they may run across to you one of these days and you'll be able to say hey God's willing and able to help you if you'll let him but it's frustrating when people know that and they don't respond we take that personally and you have to be careful about that it's not you and God there's not anything they can do to make God love him more God sent Jesus Christ his own son to die on the cross he's proven he loves him they just have to respond to it and that's all about grace and faith why some people do and some people don't God gives them that choice and he gives us choices every day so my challenge to you is be one of those 72 let God work in your life so that your relationship with him gets better and you get that right you can't do the other things until you get that right and so that's why we pray for each other that's why when things aren't going right it's good to have a family and I appreciate being here with you all and all my close friends that when our kids were growing up and we were doing all these things and we continue to have struggles it's good to have people that come and pray together that show that they care for you and I know if I really needed any help I know there's a lot of people in this church that would help me and if you get in that situation the church will help you all they can but God puts us in situations where only he can help us so he learns if we can depend on him and it might be he might put you in a place thrust the workers into the harvest you might get thrown into something that you're not quite ready for and if you're depending on your own strength and power and authority you're liable to struggle but if you know God put you there for a reason and you serve his purpose just like he said they came back it'll it'll make wonders in your life and just that experience I shared about our FCA group let me know that God can use people that aren't perfect because I'm a long way from perfect and he can do change a lot of people's lives all I did was say okay Lord what do we need to do next well we need some Bibles we got some Bibles we need to meet we need more people to help and God sent all those things and it starts with the first thing having your relationship right with God he's going to put people into your life it's going to be your family it's the people you work with people you're around but they're not all gonna they're not all gonna be open to that and that's a big challenge we just have to be like God God's faithfulness to me is just amazing but he loves you and he loves them and if it's based on love that's the most powerful thing in the world and God's changed this whole world with the Sun and it's made a big difference in my life and you're here because it's made a big difference in your life so I appreciate our time here tonight let me close in prayer father it's hard to understand sometimes this great world you created and how it's in the situation that it is but we know you be in the Creator you have this grand plan and it's summed up in your son Jesus Christ and it boils down to whether we love him and you more than we love the world and if we do love you more than the world are we willing to sacrifice things to reach out to people around us to help them know your love so I pray Lord as you challenge us every day to keep our relationship with you right make it number one that when we do that we'll be able to reach out to the people around us our family friends co-workers to share that you are willing and able to help them so we pray Lord that you'll strengthen us in your faith and our faith in you and help us to have a good understanding of your grace that we'll be able to help the people around us in Jesus name I pray amen