Full Send
2020 Vision • Sermon • Submitted
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Send: We are going in faith, on mission, for one.
Opening Illustration: Carrying Something Heavy - A Burden
What is a burden I’ve had?
Senior Year Spring Break
A burden here isn’t something that holds us back. It’s not something that we carry that we feel guilt about. God has freed us from those types of burdens through Jesus.
This type of burden is a stirring of your heart toward a Gospel need. We do something about these burdens out of a deep desire to serve the Lord.
Why does this matter? Because SEND is the final component of our VISION for a reason. All the parts of the vision play a role here.
As followers of Jesus,
we have been brought together in this community.
Our hearts have been stirred for the things that stir God’s heart.
We are being equipped to grow as followers of Jesus.
And we will be sent out in faith, on mission, for one.
The burden you feel might be the catalyst for your sending.
With the time we have together tonight, lets look at a couple different examples in the Bible of burdens that people had, and what they chose to do with them.
Moses
Moses
Years later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his people. Looking all around and seeing no one, he struck the Egyptian dead and hid him in the sand.
Burden: Moses saw his people in chains, they were slaves. He felt burdened for them! He had to do something!
Response: He took a brick, and killed the Egyptian guard who was beating his people and he hid the body in the sand.
Outcome: He had to run away into exile for 40 years. When God came to him and told him to go back and free his people God’s way, his initial response was NO! He came up with all kinds of excuses - what if this?, and what if that?. He says “please send somebody else!” But that was a perfect time fro God to use him.
Nehemiah
Nehemiah
The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah:
During the month of Chislev in the twentieth year, when I was in the fortress city of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah, and I questioned them about Jerusalem and the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile. They said to me, “The remnant in the province, who survived the exile, are in great trouble and disgrace. Jerusalem’s wall has been broken down, and its gates have been burned.”
When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.
Burden: The jewish people are scattered all over the world and they have no home to return to. Jerusalem is broken down. Nehemiah felt burdened by the trials and hardships of all of his people without a home.
Response:
I said,
Lord, the God of the heavens, the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands, let your eyes be open and your ears be attentive to hear your servant’s prayer that I now pray to you day and night for your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins we have committed against you. Both I and my father’s family have sinned. We have acted corruptly toward you and have not kept the commands, statutes, and ordinances you gave your servant Moses. Please remember what you commanded your servant Moses: “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. But if you return to me and carefully observe my commands, even though your exiles were banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I chose to have my name dwell.” They are your servants and your people. You redeemed them by your great power and strong hand. Please, Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to that of your servants who delight to revere your name. Give your servant success today, and grant him compassion in the presence of this man.
At the time, I was the king’s cupbearer.
He fasted and prayed to God. He asked God to show up, he asked God for direction. He certainly must have felt the same anger and heartbreak that Moses felt, but instead of acting on his impulse, he asked God for what to do.
Outcome: He got an audience with the king. The king not only let him go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, but the king said he would pay for it. God honored Nehemiah’s reliance on him.
Jesus
Jesus
When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.
Burden: For all the people who are lost, helpless, hopeless, broken, hurting, confused. They are like sheep that don’t have a shepherd.
Response: He asks us to pray for them and to go.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
How Do We Go?
In Faith
In Faith
this isn’t about you being a spiritual rockstar. Jesus isn’t looking for the best and the brightest. Jesus is looking for the obedient. He’s looking for the ones that will step out in faith.
Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
On Mission
On Mission
this is a lifestyle. Not a one time deal. I’m not asking you to have one conversation with your fiend, I’m calling you to live a lifestyle where you love your friend. You model what the life of an imperfect, but growing follower of Jesus looks like. And you continue to bring up the impact of the Gospel.
For One
For One
I’m not asking you to go change the whole world. I’m calling you to trust the power of the Holy Spirit working in you. I’m calling you to be faithful and obedient. I’m calling you to share with one person who desperately needs what you have in Jesus.
What Does This Mean For You?
First, I think we need to learn from the responses of Moses and Nehemiah.
1. We can’t be people that pick up a brick and start beating down the latest social justice movement, or cause, or passion. We can’t make a rash and hasty response to every emotion that we feel!
I’ve heard it said this way: Your emotions are real, but they’re not always reliable. If your response to your burden is to grab a brick, take a pause and assess the reliability of that emotional response.
2. We need to be like Nehemiah. We take what God is stirring up inside of us and we bring it back before the Lord and ask him for guidance and direction and strength and wisdom. Let him set the course of you response.
Remember that in order for your heart to be stirred it must be broken.
3. We need to be ready for God to use us even when we’re not ready to be used by Him. It might be times when your not ready that God wants to use you. Because that’s when you have to rely 100% on God and not on your own talents or abilities. So if you don’t feel ready…you might be in the exact right spot.