Luke 9:1-10 - Pastor David Deutsch

Well, good morning, Soli. We return this morning to the gospel of Luke. So please open your Bibles there to Luke Chapter 9 this morning, and we will be in verses 1 through 10. Luke Chapter 9 and verses 1 through 10. Hear the word of God. Our name is our own name. Luke, chapter 9. And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, 'Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bread, nor bag, nor bread, nor money, and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town, shake the dust off from your feet as a testimony against them. ' And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now Herod, the Tetrarch, heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen.

Herod said, 'John, I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things? ' And he sought to see him. On their return, the Apostles told him all that they had done. That's the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Let's pray. Our God in heaven, we return to the gospel of Luke, which is something that you are returning us to. Therefore, today, I pray that you would give us ears to hear what the spirit is saying to this church on this morning, that you would awaken us out of our slumber, that you would raise us from our laziness, and that you would send us out from this place at the end of the service today, full in every way, full of Christ, full of renewal, full of hope, full of life and on mission, and that you would have us go in a cruciform way, bearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and bearing the promise of all things new. And so I pray today that as you lead us into this, that you would lead us out from this. In Jesus name we pray, and Amen. So we are on the cusp in Luke Chapter 9 of the turning point in the gospel of Luke.

That turning point takes place in verse 51 of Chapter 9. That's when we turn a corner from where we We've been in the Galilean area, and now we're going to turn, and when we get to verse 51, verse 51 says this, When the days drew near for Jesus to go on his Exodus, which is what the Greek word is, he set his face to Jerusalem. So when we get to verse 51, the whole of the story is going to turn, and Jesus is going to set his face like Flint to go to Jerusalem because the time of his Exodus is at hand. But But before that, before Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem, he sets his face toward his disciples. And as he sets his face toward his disciples, he sets his face towards the training of the twelve. Because you see, up to this point, all the preaching, all the healing, all the exorcisms, all of the Kingdom coming, all of that has been done by Jesus and Jesus alone. The twelve have not been involved in it. They have not been on mission. They have not been a part of what Jesus is doing other than bearing witness to what Jesus is doing.

But now things are going to change. Things are going to change now, and Jesus is going to bring them in and begin to train the twelve for the mission that will be before them. Now, when we come to this passage, you should feel echoes from the Book of Acts, because Luke is the author of both. It's actually a part one and a part two. It's like Dune, part one, and then you get part two at the movies. Luke has the same thing. He has the gospel of Luke, then he has the Book of Acts. It's one big book broken with an intermission in the middle so that you can use the restroom and get a soda. That's what's going on here. We are feeling the Book of Acts already here in our passage. But we have to remember that we are pre-Cross here. We are pre-Assension here, pre-resurrection, pre-Assension, pre-Pentecost here. So though you You can feel what's going on. You can feel what's coming. All of those events yet have not yet transpired, which give us the Book of Acts. And so what we have here is the trailer. What we have here is an advance on what's going to happen with the disciples as they move into their post-Pentecost future.

What they get to do now, they will do in full. After Jesus is raised from the dead, ascends and pours out the spirit on the day of Pentecost. This is the beginning, really, of the focused training of the twelve. Jesus is going to temporarily send them out. They are going there and back again. We know what we call the great commission, right? Where Jesus commissions the church. In Matthew 28, we might call this the small commission, the little commission, the baby commission. These are the baby steps of what is to come for the church in the Book of Acts. This is to prepare the disciples and the Apostles for what's coming their way. I like this little slip by Luke. I think it's a little slip on purpose to hint because he already knows what he's going to do with Luke: Acts. He already knows the story. He's a part of the story of the Book of Acts. If you read the Book of Acts, Luke is a part of it. He writes himself into the story. When he's talking about himself and the apostle Paul, he'll say, We and we and 'we' and 'we'.

And so he's writing this looking back. But notice what he slides in in verse 10. He says, On their return, the apostle. Well, they weren't apostles now in Luke. But they were apostles when he wrote, probably much later on, as he's also living the Book of Acts himself. Because we know that Judas was never a formal apostle, and that they don't receive apostelship until they are sent by the Lord Jesus in the empowering of the spirit. Luke slides this in to let us know, feel the Book of Acts here, feel the what's coming here, and he lets us in on the sly. And so what it is? What is this training of the twelve? The first thing I want you to see is that Jesus is clearly in charge here. This is Jesus initiated. The disciples don't wake up one day and say, Hey, we want to get in on this healing. We want to get in on these exorcisms. We want to get in on this preaching. Don't take that mantle to themselves. Rather, Jesus is clearly the one driving this. Look at the language, verse 9, verse 1, And he called. That's Jesus.

He called them together. He gave them power and authority. He sent them, and he said to them. This is all this mission that Jesus is going to send them out on this temporary mission of there and back again is initiated by, led by and authorized by Jesus himself. The disciples are on the receiving end of what Jesus is sending them to. But I also want you to see that this is a matching mission. Jesus not only initiates it, it actually is a match of what he himself has been doing. Up to this point, he's the only one that's been doing this. But now he's going to give them the power power of the future in the present in order to carry out this small mission that will begin their training. And so look at what verses one and two say. This is an exact extension of what Jesus has already been doing, has already been doing. It says, And he called the twelve together and he gave them power. Watch this. Power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal.

Notice Jesus gives them power. The power comes from him. It's not their power. It's not their enablement, it's not their giftedness. If you want to know what's going on in this chair right here before I get up to preach on Sunday morning, it's I'm begging for this. I'm not saying, Lord, magnify the gifts you've already given me. Lord, take the graces I already walked in here with. Take the bantle I roll in here with my title as a pastor. I'm down here in almost a fetal position saying, Please don't send me up there. If you do, make sure that you match it with the power that I don't have in myself in order to do this, you see? Because you can't do this with your own giftedness and your own power. You and I can't do any part of our Christian lives on our own, simply with our gifts and Our graces. We require the enablement of God in order for us to do anything for God at all. And so Jesus is going to send them out on mission, but he's not going to send them out apart from himself, you see. So he gave them power and authority over the demonic world.

I'm giving you power. You're going to be able to do this because it's my power. But I'm also authorizing you to step into the place that the original Adam had, that he fell from, and that I, the last Adam, now have and I'm enacting, and I am putting you in that place. And as the demons have been listening to me and submitting to me, they will listen and they will submit to you also. It's amazing. It's incredible. But not only that, not only the exorcisms, not only the power, but the curing of diseases and the healing. These testified to who they were representing. These were those testifying works that gave veracity to the message that the Apostles or these sent ones would be proclaiming. That when they proclaim the Kingdom of God, guess what happened? The Kingdom of God came on the spot. How? Because people were cured. People were healed. That's what happened. So when we pray, like we've been praying for healings in our church, and God answers our prayers, and so far, he has answered our prayers. So far, Amen? Amen. I mean, he has answered our prayers. For every time we've anointed with oil, the Lord has answered that prayer in our church.

That is the Kingdom of God, come in our midst. And I'll leave our hairs on end. That God's Kingdom is coming when we actually pray. It's actually happening at this little church right here. This is what God is doing. This is what he's authorized with these men to go out and to preach the Kingdom of God, and then to have that Kingdom enacted in the curing of diseases, in the healing of the sick, and the exorcism of the demons, which, by the way, is also symbolic. These are not only things that are true. There's demonic activity and ind dwelling, and there are diseases and there are sicknesses. But these things are also themselves symbolic of the sickness of Israel and of the sickness of the Roman Empire. These things are both true and they speak of a wider an issue that needs to be dealt with for the Kingdom of God to come. And so Jesus himself then is giving to the disciples here a matching mission. You go out and you do what I do because I'm empowering you, I'm authorizing you, and I'm sending you. And when you go, you proclaim the Kingdom of God.

You preach the good news of me, and then you offer testifying gifts to the the truthfulness and the power that this is real and the Kingdom of God is coming on Earth as it is in heaven. I want you guys to notice that the point of attack is where the demons are. The point of attack is where the darkness is. The point of attack is where the problems are. The sin and the disease and the darkness of the demonic can represent the sinfulness and the uncleanness of everything that's going on and everything that needs to be renewed by the power of God. And so they go out with this proclamation Ministry of preaching and this holistic Ministry of healing. But what I want you guys to see, and what's really important for us this morning, is that this is an all-out assault on enemy territory. This is very important for us to get this morning. Jesus does not tell his disciples, Wait for the enemy to come to you. The church in the Bible is never in the defensive position. We are always on offense. We are always moving out. We have this weird... I don't understand this, But when Jesus says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, it's not that the gates of the church will hold against the gates of hell trying to storm it.

That twists the words of Jesus around. It's the gates of hell that are trying to keep the church out, won't be able to keep the church out. Why? Because we're breaking down the gates, you see. We're just rolling in Jesus' tanks, which is the gospel. We're just rolling right over those things, you see. That's what we're involved in here. C. S. Lewis called it the great invasion, that Jesus has launched an invasion of the Earth with his kingdom. We have a tendency to forget that we are always the ones who are to take it to the devil. We are to take it to the world. We are to take it to the darkness. Why? Because we have the light, because we have the word, because we have the spirit, because we are the church, we are the people of God, and We cannot be sitting around bemoaning the fact that things are getting worse. They're getting worse because we're twiddling our thumbs outside the gates. That's why. They're getting worse because we're not being the people that we're supposed to be to be on for the Kingdom of God. We've laid down with a bad eschatology that tells us we're polishing brass on a ship that's going down.

No, we're not. We are a part of the Kingdom of God that is going to advance in history. The commission that we have been given is that we are to disciple the nations because Jesus is the inheritor of the nations. We are and always will be on the offense. Always. We don't wait for the enemy to bring it to us. You see, this was a little commission. We are a part of the great commission. We're post-Pentecost. Okay? So let me say this, and I know Christine Sholey is going to give me an amen, and I know Mr. Springer is going to say it under his breath. I say this with everything in the world, even though there might be a little few disagreements on what this meant and it means in the church. Soli Deo Gloria is a full-on Pentecostal church. There you go. Exactly. We are a church that is embedded in the post-Pentecost foundation that was laid in the Book of Acts and a part of a building that's being built on top of that. That's where we're at in redemptive history. We're in those days. And because we're in those days, we take it to the enemy.

We take it to them. And we take it to them because we have the gospel. We take it to them because we have the good news. We take it to them because we have prayer, you see. We take it to the very points where the darkness is most active. He is not a tame lion, and we cannot be a tame church. We follow a not tame lion, so let's not be a tame church. We are a a sent church, not a sidelined church. We are a commissioned church. In each Lord's day, that's what happens at the end of this service. We are commissioned to go out in the power of God's spirit, uniting us to Jesus Christ, and we are to take that which we alone have, the treasure that we alone have in jars of clay. That will tell you that this is a different warfare. This is a different warfare. Because the treasure that we offer to people is found in a clay jar. It's found in an ordinary pot. It's found in something that easily breaks, you see. Because our service to the world, Our assault on the world is actually under a cross.

It's in a cruciform manner. We go not with the weapons of the world. We go with the weapons of the gospel. We go with the weapons of prayer. We go with the weapons of being willing to pray for people, pray for their salvation, pray for their healing. We go with the proclamation of the gospel. We trust that the gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, and that Jesus is going to get those for whom we are sent to. He is going to get those whom he lays his love upon. And nothing can stop the gospel from getting who Jesus wants to get. Nothing can. There is no one under the sun whose sinfulness is greater than the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to save any and every sinner. There is nothing. And if you believe there is, if you believe there's a sinner that's too great for our savior, you should leave now. But that is not the case, because Jesus is the indestructible one who broke out of death. He walked out on the third day, you And he's the one who's commissioned us with his own very spirit to be his people.

Now, guess what? This means that victory looks different for us. Our victory comes with scars. Our victory comes not with gold medals, because the victory of our savior retained the scars, and the scar, and the scars. And the scar, and the scars. Jesus said this. Look at verse 21 of chapter 9. He strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one. Listen, church, the Son of The Son of Man must suffer many things. The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And he said to all, now watch this, this is our part. This is what it means for us to go. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save his life would lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and my 'The words of him, will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of his holy angels.

You see, this is going to cost us everything to follow him. It's going to cost us everything to be on mission. It's going to cost us losing our very lives so they are saved at the end. And so our visions of glory have to change. Our visions of glory have to be cruciform like this. Our visions of glory are a ragged man hanging on a cross on Good Friday, coming out of the tomb on Resurrection Sunday. If that's not the pattern for us in understanding mission, we will forget and we will run from the mission. We will be like, This is not what I signed up for, but it's actually what we signed up for. That's where the power is. The power is in the weakness because the power of God is demonstrated through weakness. You're going to do most of your battling on your knees. I don't mean that just praying. I mean, sometimes just getting from here to there because that's how the Lord himself does it, and that's how he has promised that he's going to do it. We're going to We're sent, and we're sent to suffer. And alongside this suffering is the way the Kingdom of God comes on Earth as it is in heaven.

And we're going to see this as we look in a moment at the shadow of Herod. But let's look and see something interesting here. If we're going to do the Lord's work, we have to do the Lord's work, the Lord's way. It's a famous sermon by Francis Schafer called The Lord's Work, the Lord's Way. Look at verse three and four. And he said to him, 'Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money, and do not have two tunics. ' 'And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. ' You see, Jesus is sending these twelve out on this mission that's short term, the training mission, and he wants to teach them that they are going to be dependent upon him for everything, and they're going to be dependent upon others as well. They're going to be dependent on the hospitality of others, but they're going to be dependent on the Lord going with them, even though he's staying behind. So they're going to be dependent on the Lord's presence, and dependent on the Lord's power, and dependent on the Lord's provision. He's basically, he's telling them, take nothing.

As you go, You could take one coat, but you're not taking your wallet, you're not taking your cell phone, you're not taking anything with you. You're leaving all of that behind. Take nothing for your journey. No walking staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money. And you can take a coat just in case it gets cold. We're entering into the hospitality theme that we've talked about earlier. You're going to depend on the hospitality of others. He says in verse 4, Whatever house you enter, stay there, and then from there depart. The reason why Jesus said that is because there were traveling teachers who would into a town, and they would go into one house, and then they would find out that the bigger house down the street was open to, and so they would leave that house and go to the bigger house down the street. But then they would find that the bigger house down the street from that one, and they would keep going from house to house to house because they were getting in more and more plush situations. Jesus is saying, Don't do that. When you get into a house, just stay there.

Be content. I want you guys to notice the interesting thing here. He is sending them out on mission at a time in which the persecution is low. The persecution is low, so hospitality can be trusted, and the Lord's provision through the hospitality where they go will be enough because the season is pretty even right now. You don't need to worry about provision. It'll be taken care of. These are times of okayness. But watch what Jesus does in chapter 22. Turn to chapter 22. He actually reverses. He says, Remember when I told you to take nothing? I'm not telling you that now. He actually reverses exactly what he says. So turn to chapter 22. We are, of course, on the cusp of the cross here. Okay. The plot to kill Jesus has already been enacted. It's already been done. Jesus has already instituted the Lord's Supper. He foretells Peter's denial. Then look at what he says. Isn't he glad? This is up for all your parents. You could say, when your children tell you, Yeah, but the last time I asked, you said this. And you say, Well, this time I'm saying this. I've given you a for this.

Because you can say, Well, at one time Jesus said that, and then Jesus took it all back, and he said this. Why? Because the circumstance has changed. Now we're up the ante here. Now we are in days of vengeance. Now we are in days of persecution. We are near the cross now. The whole place is losing its mind around Jesus now. Everybody's gone nuts now. So a certain protection and provision is required in days of vengeance. They're not required when days are fairly even and okay. Look at what Jesus does, verse 35 of chapter 20. He said to them, When I sent you out with no money bag or a knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything? They said nothing. In other words, that provision was enough. Verse 36, he said to them, But now, I'm changing it. But now, let the one who has a money bag take it. Take your wallet this time, and likewise a knapsack, and let the one who has no sword, sell his cloak and buy one. ' Uh-oh, we're arming up. Jason, we're arming up here. All right? And then he says, For I tell you, the description must be fulfilled in me, and he was numbered with the transgressors.

And here we are in Isaiah 53, but I can't go there. 'For what is written about me has its fulfillment. ' And they said, 'Look, Lord, here are two swords. We're double fisting swords, Lord. ' All right? And he says, 'All right, that's enough. ' That's enough. You don't have to overarm. Okay, enough. All right, so don't, don't mistake that it's all about the swords. But you'll notice a change here. There's a change in tactic because there's a change in season. For those Christians who lived over in Europe during the World Wars, the way that they went about things during World War II was different than they went about them before World War II. There's a difference between being underground and not underground. So days of vengeance call for a certain wisdom on mission. Days of evenness call for a certain wisdom on mission. But you'll also notice that this is not simply a mission that yields what the disciples are bringing. Turn back to Luke Chapter 9. And I want to remind you guys of this? Because I think a lot of you, and I'm the same way, and the Psalm 73 is in our Bible for a reason.

It's like, why do all the bad people have all the money and the smiles? And all the righteous people have so little and so much suffering? We ask ourselves that question a lot. I refer you to Dr. Psalm 73 to help you with that, okay? When you're having those times. But here's the thing I think we often forget when we're on mission. The mission always takes. We just have not been instructed well, sadly. Because we think the mission only takes if it's successful according to the way that we define it. But it always takes according to Jesus. Look at what he says. He says, Go there, stay, verse 4, and then depart. But then he says this, Here's the other side of this mission. And whenever they do not receive you, when you leave that town, shake the dust off from your feet as a testimony against them. In other words, the mission is always bringing either blessing or judgment. But God's mission is never neutral. Don't ever think you're like, Man, but I share the gospel with that person, or I was serving over here, I was helping this person over there, I was trying to pray for healing over here.

Never think that it lands neutrally. Sometimes it lands with a blessing, but sometimes it lands with a judgment, you see. Sometimes it lands with a judgment first, and that gives way to blessing later on. But it never lands and does nothing. And so Jesus is telling the disciples, Look, when you leave, if they don't welcome you, you shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them. In other words, judgment instead of blessing, you see. This actually happens, right? This actually happens in the Book of Acts, okay? Luke might have seen this. Acts 13, listen to verses 49 to 52. Says, And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing, and the leading men of the city stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and they drove them out of their district. So So their gospel, the word of the Lord is spreading. It's blessing. We're on mission. There's blessing going on. Then we meet with what? Opposition. The Jews incited the devout women to oppose and to begin to persecute participating in persecuting Paul and Barnabas. And they drove them out of their district.

Here's what Paul and Barnabas did, verse 51. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and they went on down the road to Iconium, and they started preaching again, you see. They left judgment in their wake, and they had left blessing in their wake, but they didn't leave nothing in their wake. And when we are faithful, we don't leave nothing in our wake either. When we are on mission as a church, when we are faithful with the gospel and faithful with our praying and faithful with the opportunities God gives to us as a church to be on mission, it never simply lands. It always lands in blessing, or it always lands in judgment, or it always lands in judgment leading to blessing, you see. So we can be confident that when we're on mission, because of where we're at in the story and because of who we're representing, there is always something taking place. Verse 6, go back to Luke 9. This is a mini success. This little short term mission was a mini success, according to verse 6. And they departed and went through the villages preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

And then verse 10 says, On their return, the apostle told them all they had done. This whole thing is a success. Okay. The gospel was preached. People were saved. Demons were excised. Healings happened. They come back and they're all excited about it. But guess what? While all this is taking place, the eye of Mordor was watching. The eye of Mordor was watching. Because you see, church, this is something you need to be aware of. The Kingdom of God will always perplex, confuse, and begin to scare the political powers that be. Because it's a kingdom like they've never seen before. They can't grab it, they can't contain it, they can't control it, they can't stamp it out. We've been here since Adam, and we're still here. You see, we're the ones not going away. You see? So this catches Herod's ear. Verse 7. Now, Herod the Tetrarch. So this is the son of Herod the Great. Herod the Great was the one who tried to destroy Jesus when he was an infant. Now this is his son, Herod the Tetrarch. And verse 7 says, Herod the Tetrarch heard about all that was happening. You see, when Jesus He sent the disciples out on mission, the mission spread from one man to twelve.

So it's gaining traction, and people are talking about it. He heard all that was happening, and he was perplexed. You see, this is where Herod starts. The state starts perplexed. What's going on here? Because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, and he knew that couldn't happen because he had killed John. So we know where he stands, right? He's hearing about something, and we already know where he stands because he's a murderer of John already. Or some that Elijah had appeared or one of the prophets of old. Herod said, John, I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things? ' And he sought to see him. Well, the last time John went and saw Herod, he didn't come back. Okay, so we know what Herod's capable of. Now he's curious about this particular situation, but that's all it is. It's a curiosity. Mordor is curious about what's happening in Middle-earth. He's curious about what's going on down there. But things can change from curious, and they do. Look forward with me to chapter 13, and I know I got to bring this to... Oh, my goodness.

Lord have mercy. I'm going to get railed in an elder meeting five years from now. I'm not going to the next five years. But I got to do this. I don't really care at this point in time. I'm already in knee deep. Knee deep in the water somewhere, so I'm going to go on. Here we go. Chapter 13, I want you to notice something. Between chapter 9 and chapter 13, something has significantly changed from Curious. Look at verse 31 of chapter 13. Now, at that very hour, some pharisees came and said to Jesus, 'Get away from here for Herod wants to kill you. ' That's a little bit of a change. From to kill is a little bit of a change. Now, you got to give Jesus some cred because he pops back. I don't know if we're allowed to do this or not. He's the King of the Kings and Lord of Lords, so he can do whatever he wants to do, but he calls him out. Look at what Jesus says. And he said to him, Go tell that fox. You go tell that guy that wants to kill me. Now watch this, church.

Jesus is basically saying, Look, I run the show. You have no shot at me until I give myself up to you. ' Look at what he says. Go tell that fox. Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, on the third day, I finish my course. ' In other words, I'm not subjected to your time frame. You're subjected to my time frame. That's what's happening with the sermon today. You're subjected to my time frame. Verse 33, Nevertheless, I must go on my own. Can you... This is just a poke in the bear. Jesus is poking the bear. He says, Nevertheless, I must go my way today and tomorrow and the day following. I'm just going to roll on. It doesn't matter what you're trying to do, Herod, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. And then he cries over Jerusalem. Jesus's response is like, You want some? All right, fox. Guess what? You can't get me. You can't get to me. Until the time has come, you can't to get to me. But notice the shift. The shift from curious to he wants to kill you. Because the stakes go higher for those in power when the Kingdom of God begins to threaten them.

But the Kingdom of God begins to threaten them, listen, not by directly threatening them, but simply by being the people of God. Who preach, pray, pray for healing, evangelize, raise our children in the nurture and at the mission of Lord, worship only Jesus. As we are a people on mission, That mission eventually becomes an irritant to the powers that be, and then it becomes a threat to the powers that be. Listen, church, we're in between that moment right now in our country. And the question is this, are we willing, with our children, are we willing to lose our lives so that they might be found in Jesus with this thing. You see, one of the reasons that we have the table every week is because we can't be on mission apart from being fed. Our children, as we're raising them, cannot be prepared for this unless they're being fed. So every week, the Lord feeds us, and then he sends us, and we are a part of what's happening here. And I pray that we will remain faithful in the days that are upon us for the honor and glory of the name of Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Our God in heaven, take your word and seal it unto us this day. Enliven us, awakeen us, strengthen us, and send us out on mission to be your people. In Jesus name we pray. Amen..