The Church

A Life-Changing Force
The Church

I. Introduction

A. “One of our great allies in this is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her—spread out throughout all time and space—and rooted in eternity. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately, it is quite invisible to these human beings. When your patient goes to his pew and looks around him, he sees just that selection of his neighbors that he has avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbors. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like ‘the body of Christ’ and the actual faces in the next pew. It matters very little what kind of people that pew really contains. You know one of them to be a great warrior on the Enemy’s side. No matter! Your patient, thanks to Our Father Below, is a fool. Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have shoes that squeak, or double-chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous.” (The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis)

B. Luke 9:1-2 (NLT) ¹One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out demons and to heal all diseases. ²Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

1. “This is a ‘come and watch Me’ movement! This is actually a ‘go and ’ movement!”

C. Luke 9:10a (NLT) When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done.

1. Luke wants us to know that it doesn’t take people to do this!

2. Jesus said, “I’m looking for followers of Mine who will go and what I did.”

D. Luke 10:1-4 (NLT) ¹The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. ²These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. ³Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. ⁴Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.”

E. Matthew 9:36 (NAS) Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

F. Matthew 9:37-38 (NAS) ³⁷Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

1. The mission of the Church is to go into the world with compassion—and do everything you can to be a to the world! To help the world. To point the world to Jesus!

2. You have to learn to a real person!

G. Luke 10:4c (NLT) “And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.”

H. Luke 10:8-12 (NLT) ⁸“If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you. ⁹Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’  ¹⁰But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹‘We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this—the Kingdom of God is near!’ ¹²I assure you, even wicked Sodom will be better off than such a town on judgment day.”

1. We have a mission from to bring Jesus into a broken world—where the sheep don’t have a shepherd!

I. Luke 10:3 (NLT) “Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.”

J. Luke 9:7-9 (NLT) ⁷When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about everything Jesus was doing, he was puzzled. Some were saying that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead. ⁸Others thought Jesus was Elijah or one of the other prophets risen from the dead. ⁹“I beheaded John,” Herod said, “so who is this man about whom I hear such stories?” And he kept trying to see him.

K. Luke 10:17 (NLT) When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”

L. Luke 10:18 (NLT) “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!”

1. Because the Church is on mission— is trembling!

M. Luke 10:21 (NLT) “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.”

1. “And sheep will find a Shepherd—and darkness will get rolled back. And is now coming down here!”

N. Luke 10:23 (NLT) Then when they were alone, he turned to the disciples and said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen.”

1. History tells us that virtually all of the apostles were because of their faith.

2. Because their lives were caught up in something so much than themselves!

3. In the early centuries of the Church—if you followed Jesus—you had to pay a price!

4. This is our day—and the Lord of the harvest is looking for .

O. The Church is not something you mostly go . The Church is something you go !

II. Conclusion