On A Mission

Adapted from a Larry Hiles sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/

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Mission!When I say that word, what is the first thought

that comes to mind.

For most of us it is probably the idea of going to some foreign land to preach the Gospel.

Yet there are many different missions that we can be a part of.

I looked up the word mission on the Webster Online dictionary and listen to what the word

mission means according to Webster: 1. The act of the instance of sending. 2. A ministry commissioned by a religious organization to propagate its faith or carry on humanitarian work. 3. A body of persons sent to perform a service or carry on an activity. 4. A specific task with which a person or a group is charged.

We are on a mission.

Just before ascending into heaven Jesus told His disciple’s to go an preach.

That message, and that charge, has been left for us as well.

However, that was not the first time Jesus sent His disciple’s out into the mission field.

We are going to be using the entire chapter of Matthew 10 for our text this morning.

Matthew 10:1 ESV And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal

every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his

brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of

Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 5 These

twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no

town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And

proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. 9 Acquire no gold or silver or

copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for

the laborer deserves his food. 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is

worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it.

13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your

peace return to you. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that

house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the

land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. 16 "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as

serpents and innocent as doves.

17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their

synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to

bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but

the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you

will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 24 "A

disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.

25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,

how much more will they malign those of his household. 26 "So have no fear of them, for

nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell

you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of

them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are

of more value than many sparrows.

32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. 34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I

have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a

daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or

mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 40 "Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent

me.

41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person

because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of

cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."

Jesus sent His disciples out on a mission.

In this passage of Scripture there are some valuable lessons we can learn as we

accomplish the mission Jesus has left for us.

The disciples had to know what it was they were supposed to accomplish.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and

enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7 And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 Heal the sick,

raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give

without pay.

The Mission’s Purpose

They were sent to preach the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Think of what the disciples could have spent their time preaching out against.

The Roman Empire,The Hypocrisy Of The Jewish Leaders, The

Need For Honest Tax Collectors,The list could go on and on.

You know the same is true of us.We are told to preach.

There are so many different things we could preach out against in our world today.

- The Hypocrisy Of Our Political Leaders. - The Evils Of Abortion. - The Wrongs Of Homosexual Marriage. - The Issues Of Poverty.

However, I think we would be best to concentrate on the one message we should

preach. That message is Jesus Christ.

You see, they preached the Kingdom of Heaven was near.

For us, the Kingdom is here and it is our job to preach that fact.

To learn some valuable lessons about this fact, all we have to do is to look at the life of Paul.Whenever Paul got a chance to preach, what

did He preach?Jesus Christ crucified!Jesus Christ Buried!

Jesus Christ Risen From The Dead.That is the Gospel!

Romans 1:16 ESV For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for

salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

I wonder what would happen if God’s people everywhere would take this task seriously.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that there is never a time in which we should not speak

out against a certain issue. However, I do believe that our main message should always

be the gospel message; because in the Gospel Message there is power to save.

The mission to preach belongs to every single one of us.

There is not one person in the room who has given their lives to Jesus Christ that does not

have this responsibility to preach.

Behold, a team went forth to play a game of baseball. Just as the umpire was saying,

“Batter up,” the catcher for the home team arrived and took his place behind the plate.

The center fielder didn’t show up at all but sent his regrets. The third baseman likewise failed to come to the game, having been up late the night before. The shortstop was present, but left his glove at home. Two of the substitute

fielders were away on a weekend trip but said they were there in spirit.

The pitcher went to the mound and looked around for his teammates. But his heart was

heavy, for their positions were empty. The game was announced, the visitors were in the stands, and there was nothing to do but pitch the ball and hope for the best. But in addition

to pitching, he had to cover first and third base, as well as short and center field.

When the absent players heard that their team had lost, they were very upset. They held a meeting and decided to get a new pitcher.

Like a baseball team, the church can’t survive without everyone pulling their weight.

The pitcher—the preacher—is important, but unless everyone else shows up and fields their

position or gets a hit, the game will be lost.

The Bible never makes a distinction between professional ministers (clergy) and “ordinary

Christians” (laity).Instead, everyone is a minister, each having

different gifts and abilities.A baseball team can’t win with players who

don’t play.Nor can a church with ministers who don’t

minister. People expect the preacher to preach, but when we all begin to preach Christ we will indeed change the world for the Gospel

Message.

They were sent to heal. As they went about preaching the Gospel Message they were to

heal those who needed. Now, we must understand something here. These men were empowered by Jesus to heal. The Apostles

and the people on which the Apostles laid their hands on had a power from the Holy Spirit to

do some amazing things. The purpose for them using these powers were to prove that the message they were preaching was true.

Now, there are people who have been given special gifts by God.

There are doctors, nurses and scientists alike who have made it their life long work to heal

people.

They are unable to heal in the same sense the Apostles were able to, but they are gifted by

God none-the-less.

We too are to be a people of healing.

We may not be able to heal in the same sense that the Apostles were, but we can bring

healing to a people that are hurting.

- Hurting From The Effects Of Sin. - Hurting From Loneliness - Hurting From Hopelessness

Everyone the disciples physically healed, eventually died.

However, when we show people that the ultimate source of healing is found in the hope

of eternity, we are doing more than healing them for a while, we are showing them that

Christ can heal them forever.

Our salvation should be enough of a motivation for us to go out and make a difference.

Freely you have received, freely give.

The purpose of the mission was to preach and heal.

The Mission’s Problems.

The disciples were given the mission, but they were told about the problems they were going

to encounter.

People would not listen.

The disciples were told there were going to be people who would not listen to the message

they had to preach.

The same is true for us today.There are people who won’t want to hear what

we have to preach.That doesn’t mean that we are supposed to

give up preaching.All that means is we have to preach

somewhere else. Listen again to what verse 14 says. And if

anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when

you leave that house or town.

I know it can be frustrating to do your best to reach someone for Jesus Christ, and for them

to show no interest.There is something we should all remember

though. If people rejected:

- God in the Old Testament- Jesus in the New Testament- The Apostles who were men full of the

Holy Spirit and power

Then people will reject us.

Not only will there be people who don’t want to listen to our message:

People will be combative.

From our text we see the disciples were in danger because of the message they were

going out to preach.

17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their

synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to

bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but

the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Jesus told them they were going to encounter danger.

He promised them they were going to be helped by the Spirit.

We may not face the same type of persecution the disciples had to face, but we do face

people who are combative to the message of Jesus Christ.

Do you want to know what would happen if all of us in this room took the mission of preaching

Christ seriously?First of all, people would be won to Christ. Secondly, we will encounter opposition.

Why is that?Because Satan knows there is power in the

Gospel message.And when we preach lives are changed.

When lives are changed there should be more people preaching.

Even though we may not face the daily dangers the early Christians faced, the chance

does exist. We never know when someone is going to

place a gun in our face and ask the question that was asked at Columbine High School.

No, we should not fear persecution. Jesus told us what we should fear.

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of

them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are

all numbered.

You see, God will protect us.No, that doesn’t mean He will not let anything

bad happen to us here on earth. What it means is we are protected for eternity

as we trust in Him. We should not fear the persecutor. Persecution may leave its mark on us while we are here on

earth.However, if we fail to accomplish our mission

because we were afraid the consequences will last for eternity.

A few centuries before Christ, Alexander the Great conquered almost all of the known world

with his military strength, cleverness, and diplomacy.

One day Alexander and a small company of soldiers approached a strongly defended,

walled city.Alexander, standing outside the walls, raised

his voice, demanding to see the king.The king, approaching the battlements above the invading army, agreed to hear Alexander’s

demands.

“Surrender to me immediately,” commanded Alexander.

The king laughed. “Why should I surrender to you?” he called down. “We have you far outnumbered. You are no threat to us!”

Alexander was ready to answer the challenge. “Allow me to demonstrate why you should

surrender,” he replied.Alexander ordered his men to line up single file

and start marching.

He marched them straight toward a sheer cliff that dropped hundreds of feet to rocks below.The king and his soldiers watched in shocked disbelief as, one by one, Alexander’s soldiers marched without hesitation right off the cliff to

their deaths. After ten soldiers had died, Alexander ordered the rest of his men to stop

and to return to his side.

The king and his soldiers surrendered on the spot to Alexander the Great.

That is the type of obedience and resolve that we must have.

We will face problems in the mission field. But what is the worst thing that can happen to

us?We can lose this earthly life.

What is the most likely thing that can happen to us?

People may not listen or may try to stop us from preaching.

Preach and, well that leads us to our final point for the morning.

Jesus gave them a mission, told them that they were going to face problems, and then He

went on to give them some promises. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. 34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not

come to bring peace, but a sword.

The Mission’s Promises!

35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36

And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or

mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

If we preach Christ, Christ will acknowledge us before God.

The opposite of that is true.

The Message Will Cause Division.

The Dedication Will Not Go Unrewarded.