======================================================================== GO PREACH THE GOSPEL by Anton Bosch ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon from Luke chapter 9 focuses on Jesus sending out his twelve disciples with power and authority to preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick. It emphasizes the importance of trusting God for provision, being content with what He provides, and understanding that not everyone will receive the gospel message. The sermon also highlights the question 'Who is Jesus?' and the significance of recognizing Jesus as the Son of God, crucified, risen, and coming again. Topics: "Empowerment for Ministry", "Recognizing Jesus' Authority" Scripture References: Luke 9:1, Luke 9:3, Luke 9:5, Luke 9:23, Matthew 16:15, John 3:16, Acts 4:12, Philippians 2:9, 1 Corinthians 1:18, Romans 10:9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon from Luke chapter 9 focuses on Jesus sending out his twelve disciples with power and authority to preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick. It emphasizes the importance of trusting God for provision, being content with what He provides, and understanding that not everyone will receive the gospel message. The sermon also highlights the question 'Who is Jesus?' and the significance of recognizing Jesus as the Son of God, crucified, risen, and coming again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Luke chapter 9 and we'll read verses 1 through 9. Luke chapter 9 verses 1 through 9. Then he called the twelve his twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick and he said to them take nothing for the journey neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money and do not have two tunics of each or a piece. Whatever house you enter stay there and from there depart and whoever will not receive you when you go out of that city shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them. And so they departed and went through the towns preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now when Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was done by him and he was he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead and by some that Elijah had appeared and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again. Herod said John I have beheaded but who is this of whom I hear such things and so he sought to see him. And so this is the the end of Jesus's Galilean ministry. He is concluding his ministry in Galilee. This is about 18 months into his ministry so exactly halfway in his three years just over three year ministry and so he is concluding the ministry in Galilee by sending out his twelve disciples or the twelve apostles. Then he's going to move to Judea around the Jerusalem area and he would be there for most of the rest of his time. And so he then calls the twelve together and he gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases and sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And so the time he had now spent 18 months training the twelve and it was now time for them to put into practice what they had learned at the feet of Jesus. Jesus all along is is preparing them for the day that he would no longer be here and remember not really pointing to his death but pointing to his ascension. And so his plan all along was that these twelve would become the twelve apostles. He already named them apostles. They don't really become apostles until this point. An apostle remember is one who is sent out. This is the first time they are sent out. So technically they are now changing from being disciples followers to those who are sent out to apostles. And but obviously this is a this is a interim period. This is a short-term mission. They would come back and they would serve with him again and then we'll see in chapter 10 that he sends out 70 on another mission. So he is now beginning to to give them the practical to give them the practical phase in their in their training. In certain countries in England and in South Africa they have technical colleges. Well I guess here too if you do a apprenticeship you have a school block and you have a practical block. A period that you study the books and then you have a period in which you go and put into practice what you have learned. And this is exactly what Jesus is doing. And in fact he does the same with us. The problem is that sometimes we are we haven't we haven't we haven't studied the the theory. We haven't learned the book. And so when he sends us out we're not ready. And when he sends us sometimes we're unwilling to go. But this is a this is part of their preparation. This is the first time he sends them out. He gives them power and authority over demons and to cure diseases. What is not clear what seems to be true is that they have this power just for this particular mission. When they finish the mission and we don't know how long it is maybe a week or two I don't know. They come back and it's possible the scripture doesn't tell us that the power ceases. And then you remember that right at the end when he commissions them in Matthew chapter 28 and in Mark chapter 16 he says to them now you have power again and he and he sends them out. So one of the important things in this verse is to understand that first of all that when he sends us he sends us with the equipment to do the work. With the wherewithal that we need to do what he has called us to do. In this case it is power over demons and to cure diseases. He does not give everyone that kind of power. Only some it seems are given that kind of power. But at the same time it's important to understand that this has not ceased. There are those who say that this was just true for the for the the Gospels, for Jesus' period of ministry, and then for the first half of the book of the Acts and then at the latter part of the book of Acts they stop performing miracles and miracles then stop until the end time. That is simply not true. There is no scripture that says that miracles will cease. There is no scripture that says that healing will cease. Clearly we believe that healings continue, that the church still has authority over demons. The problem is that is that we don't see these things in operation. And the reason is not because God has withdrawn the gifts, particularly the miracle gifts, the gifts of healing in this case, and the gifts to deal with demons. The reason the church is powerless is because the church is not in a right place in their relationship with God. It's not because God has stopped giving the gift. God wants to use us. He wants to use the church. But when the church is in a compromised position, then the church has no power. So it is it is something which is self-limiting. And unfortunately there is another extreme. So there are these two extremes. There are always these extremes. On the one extreme there are those who say, well the gifts have ceased, we don't no longer have healing, we no longer have those things. Then on the other extreme are those who are seeking the gifts. And they desperately, they praying, and they seeking God, and they fasting, and doing all sorts of things to get power from God. But you cannot get power from God without getting Him. They want the gifts and not the giver. We must get our relationship with Him right. Then the gifts flow from there. You can't look for the gifts. You need to look for a right relationship with Him. When our relationship with Him is right, when we are walking in holiness, when we are walking in obedience, then He is able to equip us, and He is able to empower us to use us. Unfortunately too many people want to be used by God without wanting a righteous walk with Him, without walking in holiness, without being obedient, without being separate from the world, and from the things of the flesh. And so that's the reason why I believe the church today is powerless. The church is powerless today because we are not living holy lives, we are not living lives of obedience, and we are preaching the wrong message. I'm going to come back to that in a moment. So He sends them to preach the kingdom, and to heal the sick. To preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. Remember that the kingdom of God, and I don't want to spend too much time on this, but that the kingdom of God has two aspects, two phases if you will. There is the spiritual dimension, and there is the physical or political dimension. Right now the kingdom is spiritual. Remember that when Pilate says to him, are you a king? He says, yes I am a king, but my kingdom is not of this world, else my servants would fight. So Jesus' kingdom is within us. It is a spiritual kingdom. Everyone who is born again is part of the kingdom of God. But that kingdom will become a literal kingdom during the millennium, during the thousand years of peace, when He will rule and reign from Jerusalem, and He will set up His kingdom, and David will be on the throne, and of course He will be the king, and David would be under Him, and we will be under David, and under Israel, and we will rule the world with Him. Then the kingdom will become literal, will become a political kingdom. So the message that they have to preach is the same message as we preach. How do you get into the kingdom? You don't get into the kingdom by joining Israel, as some actually teach. You don't get into the kingdom by joining the church. You become part of the kingdom when you are born again into the kingdom of God. The only way you can become a citizen of the kingdom of heaven is by the new birth. You can't buy citizenship. There are countries in the world where you, where you, if you have a couple of million dollars, you can buy citizenship. Malta, I think, is one of those. And so rich people who want to get out of third world countries buy citizenship in those countries, and then they can travel, and they can move to other countries. You can't buy citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. You can't even, you can't even become one by naturalization, just by being there for a period of time, like we can in America and in other countries. No, you have to be born into the kingdom of heaven, into the kingdom of God. Same thing. And so the message is still the same, that Jesus is the King, that we need to accept Him not just as our Savior, but as our Lord, as our King, and that we need to be born again in order to be part of the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. And obviously the miracles were particularly important then, and I am not contradicting what I said earlier. Miracles are still for today, but the miracles are particularly in evidence where the gospel is being preached for the first time, in the jungles of the Amazon, in darker parts of Africa, and other parts of the world, where the gospel has never been preached before, and where you're confronting witchcraft and witch doctors, the miracles and the healings accompany the preaching of the gospel, especially there. Does not mean that they don't operate, or that we shouldn't look for them in in the Western world as well. So He said to them, now take nothing for the journey, neither staffs, nor a stick, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money, and do not have two tunics. In other words, go with your shirt on your back, nothing more. Now if you compare this with the passage in Matthew, in Matthew, he says don't take a second stick. So it's possible that they were allowed one stick, because they used the stick, obviously, to walk with. That doesn't really matter, doesn't change the principle here. The principle is, well there are two principles here. The first principle is that He sends them out, and He says, you need to trust the Father for your provision. Don't take your provisions with you, thinking that you're going to carry your own food along with you, you're going to have your second set of clothing, the other stuff that you're going to need. No, the Father will provide for you. And so that's the first principle. As we obey God, whether He is sending us out to go and preach, or whether He's sending us out to do something else, or calling us to do something, He will, the first thing He will do, is He will equip us. He will give us the gifts that we need to do the job. The second thing He will do, is He will provide what we, for our needs, as we obey Him. Obviously, there are many that have turned this into a money-making thing. This is not what He is talking about, but the laborer is worthy of his hire. And so those who are preaching about the gospel are entitled to live by the gospel, not get rich by the gospel, but to live by the gospel. And so He is saying, trust Me, I'm going to send you, and I will make provision for you. And then the second thing that He is saying to them, is that those who receive the ministry are responsible to provide for their preaching. Because how is He going to provide for them? Well, we know He can send a crow, like He did for the prophet, to bring food every day, but that is not the normal way He provides. The normal way He provides is through the church, or through the believers, or through those who hear and receive the gospel. And you remember, we saw in the previous chapter that there were these women who were following Jesus, and they were providing for Him out of their substance. They were supplying His financial needs. And so, trust God, as far as the preacher is concerned, or the messenger is concerned, or the one who is sent is concerned. But then those who receive the ministry have a responsibility to care for those who minister to them. Those are the two principles, I believe, that He is highlighting in this particular passage. And so, then He says, whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. Stay there, and from there depart. In other words, when you go into a town, and you're invited to stay in a house, don't house-hop. Don't say, well, I don't like it here. There's another rich guy down the road who's got a bigger house, and a more comfortable bed. I'm going to go and stay over there. And so, He is saying then, don't look after your own selfish interests, but trust God to provide for you, and as you trust Him, accept what He provides. Contentment. Contentment. And Paul says, I've learned to abound. There are times when I had, when people provided a lot, and I had more than enough, and there were times when I didn't have enough. There were times when I was literally starving, and yet there were other times. But he says, in all of those things, I've learned to be content, because God is providing for me. And so, what he is speaking here is about contentment. Don't be discontent. And we can apply this to ourselves, even though we may not be those who are sent out, and those who are out there preaching. But whatever God provides for you, be content. Now, remember, Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. He says, well, if you're a slave, be satisfied to be a slave. But if the opportunity comes to become free, well, then accept that opportunity. So, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to improve if there's an opportunity, without straining the gospel, without sacrificing our calling, to move up into maybe a slightly more comfortable environment. But that shouldn't be what these guys should be chasing after. What Jesus is saying is, just be content with what is provided for you. And so, whatever house you enter, stay there. And then from there, depart. Now, at this time, there were other preachers. They were not preachers of the gospel. They were not disciples of Jesus. But they were Jewish teachers, and they would be going around. And there have always been. There were, even before Jesus came, there were those who did this. And after, in fact, in the beginning of the second century, one of the church fathers writes a letter, and he creates all sorts of rules about itinerant preachers. And I don't remember exactly, but I think that the itinerant preacher could stay in a town for two days, and then he had to move. He couldn't make a nuisance of himself. He couldn't camp in someone's house for six months. If he was a truly itinerant, traveling preacher, then he needed to stay on the road, and he needed to move on. So this is always a problem. And as people entered into people's houses, those people would provide for them. And sometimes they would not just provide food for them, but other gifts. And so some preachers would literally go from house to house. They would stay in one house for a day or two, and they would take whatever they got from that house, and then they would move on to the next house. Jesus is saying, no, you go into whatever house you find, you stay there until you leave. And then you leave, and you go to the next house. Now the next section is difficult, because he says, whoever will not receive you, that's quite a shock. The chances that someone may not receive you. And yet that is what happened to Jesus. And Jesus says, if that was the way it was for me, that's the way it's going to be for you. Not everybody is going to receive the message. Not everybody is going to be happy with the truth. And every week I get a certain number of people who are grateful for the message. And speaking about the Internet, people who write and comment, and they're grateful for the message, and they're an encouragement. But every week there is a certain number who have a mouthful of complaints, and wanting to correct my doctrine, and wanting to do this, and say that, and say the other thing. Not everybody is going to receive you. And that's exactly the same tonight. As the message goes out on the Internet, again there will be those who will receive the Word, and there's going to be those who will reject the Word. And we can't please everyone. So what do we do when someone does not receive us? Now this applies to each one of us, even if we may not be sent out as preachers. Remember that we're all sent with a commission to go and preach the gospel. So this is not a ministry just for some. All of us must be witnessing. All of us must be spreading the good news. The first thing we need to understand is that, don't think it's strange. Remember Peter? Don't think it's strange when you fall into all sorts of difficulties. Don't think it's strange when people reject your message, when they reject the gospel, because they rejected Jesus. So that's going to happen. When that happens, he says, this is what you do. Whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city. So he's not talking about individuals here, but he's talking about a city. But I believe we can apply this to individuals also. Whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them. Now we don't have this in our culture. So what is Jesus speaking about? Well, when a Jew traveled into a Gentile country, and remember Israel is a very small country. It's only about 25 or 30 miles across. And so, and even in Jesus's ministry, he often crossed over into Gentile territory. And when a Jew came out of Gentile territory, and he crossed the border, wherever that would have been, and obviously they didn't have border posts and immigration offices and that kind of thing. But you knew where the river or whatever it was that demarcated the edge of the land. So when you came in, what you would do, is you would dust yourself off. Make sure that there was nothing of the Gentile influence that was contaminating you. You would dust your clothes, you would dust your feet off. This was symbolic to say that we don't want to carry the stuff of the Gentiles into Israel. Their customs, their gods, their ways of doing things. And I think that that's true of the church. We should really, when we become, not when we come onto the property, but when we become born again, we really need to dust ourselves off. And we need to say, I'm done with the world. And of course baptism is a symbol of that. And so when someone dusted their feet off or their clothes off, what they were saying is, this is a Gentile place, and I'm leaving this Gentile place, and I'm going into Israel. So when they did this, because notice what he says, he says that you shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them. So you're making a statement, he says, against them. What is the statement? Well remember they, he doesn't send them to Gentile countries, cities. They're preaching in in Galilee. They're preaching in Israel at the moment. So what are they saying when they leave the city and they dust their feet off? They're saying you're a bunch of Gentiles. You're not people of God. You're not sons of Abraham. And this is a testimony against you. Now if we go to chapter 10, which we'll get to in a couple of weeks, when he sends the 70, he gives them something very similar. And then he says, but I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. Now we know what happened to Sodom. Sodom was destroyed because of its sodomy, because of its homosexuality. Why will it be more tolerable for Sodom in that day? That day meaning the judgment, the day of the Lord. So why will it be more tolerable for Sodom in the judgment than for these cities in Israel that rejected the gospel? Because Sodom never rejected the gospel. They never had the gospel preached to them. While Lot was there and he was a righteous man, they didn't have the gospel. Remember the gospel only comes much later on. And so Sodom, while it was wicked, and its wickedness is not excused. Sodom was judged then and those who lived in Sodom will be judged again at the great white throne judgment. But those who heard the gospel, who saw the miracles, will be judged with an even severer judgment. And we can apply that to everyone who has passed through these doors. We can apply that to everyone who lives in a country like America, where the gospel is preached on every street corner, on every television, on every radio. You cannot tune to your radio and not come across a gospel station somewhere. You cannot flip the channels on your television, whether you have a satellite or cable or over the air, and not come across the gospel. Whether the gospel is always preached correctly, that's another story. But the gospel is there. The Bibles are there. The Word of God is there. There is no one who has an excuse. So it does not excuse, remember, and we don't want to get into this in more detail, but it does not excuse those who have never heard the gospel. They are still judged. Paul deals with this in the first few chapters of Romans. But those who have heard the gospel and rejected it are under a severe judgment, and it seems will have a greater punishment, because he says it will be more tolerable for them than for those who have rejected the gospel. In Matthew chapter 7, we have the same passage, but Matthew's version of it. Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them under the feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. So you don't take holy things, the bread of communion, let's say, and we're not saying that that is the body of Christ, literally, but you don't take the Bible. That's maybe a safer example. You don't take the Bible and give it to a dog. What's the dog gonna do with it? He's gonna just tear it apart. He's gonna sleep on it. I don't know what he'll do with it, but he's not gonna treat it with the respect and with appreciation, because he doesn't understand. And of course you don't take your pearls, those precious things that women wear around their neck, and throw it to the pigs. Pigs don't know what to do with it. They will just mess it all up. And not only will they trample them under their feet, but they will turn against you. Now this is not true of dogs and pigs. So clearly what Jesus is doing here is that he is using an analogy, a picture, but from there he's taking another step. And he is saying, because the principle, it's wrong in principle to give holy things to dogs. It's wrong in principle to give valuable things to pigs. And now he says, and obviously this doesn't apply to the pigs, but the people that he is speaking about, is that they can turn and tear you in pieces. So those who do not receive the gospel can often turn around and turn on you. And of course that comes as a shock when that happens the first time. In fact it never becomes comfortable when someone that you've ministered to becomes your enemy. Remember that happened to Jesus. He had preached for three and a half years. He had healed the sick. He had performed the miracles. And yet they said crucify him. And they nailed him to the cross, turned against him, and tore him to pieces. The same thing happens to Paul. Remember Paul writes to the Galatians, and he says, when I first came, he says, you received me as an angel. You thought that I was, in fact he says, you thought I was even Christ. That was the esteem they had for him. But he says, now that I've spoken the truth to you, have I become your enemy? So the very people who were ready to say Paul is maybe even the Lord, certainly he's an angel. Those same people turned against him, and they became his enemy, simply because he spoke the truth. And so that is just a reality that we need to accept when we share the gospel. And if we are faithful in sharing the gospel, that will happen. And when that happens, we first of all must not be surprised. And secondly, what he is saying is, walk away. Don't keep hammering, flogging a dead horse. I don't know if you know that. Don't continue flogging a dead horse. If a horse is dead, you can beat it as much as you like. It's not going to walk. It's not going to run. It's dead. And don't keep flogging a dead horse, in the someone who does not want the gospel, turn away from them. There are other people who need and will receive the gospel. And so we need to allow God to lead us. It's of course a difficult thing. This is not easy. At what stage do we walk away? And I don't have, there's no formula. And I don't always have the answers. Sometimes I persist with people that I should not have persisted with. And sometimes I think maybe I gave up too early. So we need God to help us, to to know when to persist, when to keep preaching the gospel to someone, and when to turn away, shake the dust off our feet, and move on to the next place. Alright, now the next passage is connected to this, and I'm going to, I didn't, it seems to be an intrusion a little bit in what we've been saying up to now, but it's part of the text, so we need to deal with it. So Herod the Tetrarch. This is not Herod the Great. This is Herod the Great's son. He is called the Tetrarch, meaning that he is ruling a force of Herod the Great's domain. So when Herod the Tetrarch, and in fact Herod the Tetrarch is the one who ruled in all the ministry of the Lord Jesus, and at the end of the day was the one who handed him over to Pilate to be crucified. So when Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was being done by him, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead. So he hears the miracles, he hears about the healings, he hears about the preaching, and there are obviously similarities between what Jesus is doing and John is doing, or did. John the Baptist did. The problem was that he had killed John the Baptist, and then there were other people, and we're going to come back to this next week, because the there's, or the week after, because Jesus asked Peter, who do people say I am? And Peter gives him the same answers. And so by some that Elijah had appeared, and others that one of the old prophets had risen again. So what people recognized was that Jesus was empowered from on high, that Jesus was gifted by the Father, that he was anointed, that he was indeed a prophet, but what very few understood at this point was that in fact he was the Christ. And that's the essence of Jesus's question to Peter a little later in the same chapter. And so Herod then said, John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things? Can you see what's going on in Herod's head? He's thinking, I chopped his head off. Well I mean he didn't do it himself, he had his soldiers do it, they brought the head on a plate. He says, I killed him, but maybe he's ghost, maybe he's actually risen. So Herod is afraid of Jesus. He wants to see him, so he sought to see him. He doesn't want to see him so that he can listen to the message, but he wants to see him so that he can do something to him, and that he can establish whether in fact this is John, or whether this is in And remember that later on he would see Jesus, and he would hand him over to be crucified. So not everybody who is interested in the gospel is interested in the gospel for the good, for the right reason. Not everybody who reads the Bible reads it for the right reason. Not everybody who comes to church comes to church for the right reason. People have all sorts of other motives that are not necessarily correct. And I want you to notice that Jesus is not flattered by Herod's desire to see him. I think that the vast majority of preachers today would say, well the governor, he wants to see me. I better go buy a new suit, get a haircut, and go and see him, because this is a great honor. Jesus just ignores him. Jesus has nothing to say to him, because his kingdom is not of this world. And so there's the end of the passage. No, it's not. There's another verse, I'm sure. Sorry, I missed out the middle part of verse 9. Herod said, John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things? Who is this? That is the question that people must answer today. Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? Is he a teacher who taught some nice things? Was he just a prophet who was martyred? Or is he the Son of God? That is the question we must ask. Herod is asking the right question, but I don't believe for the right reasons. Who is this? Who is Jesus? I think that the question we must ask ourselves is, who is Jesus to us? Is he just a fire escape from hell? Is he just someone who makes us comfortable when we're uncomfortable? Gives us peace when we don't have peace? Or is he, in fact, our everything? You see, because that's who he is. He is everything. He is Lord of all, or he is not Lord at all. And if he's not everything to us, then he is nothing to us. We cannot take him just as someone who performs miracles, and does wonderful healings, and preaches wonderful sermons. He must be our Savior, but he must also be our Lord, our Master, the King of our lives, the boss of me. Who is Jesus? I think that that is the question that needs to be asked of people in the world today, because everybody knows about Jesus. I don't know that there can be anyone in America who doesn't know about Jesus. At least they know his name, because they use his name as a swear word. But who is he? Who is he? To the Mormons, he was a prophet. To the Muslims, he was a prophet. To the Mormons, he was the Son of God begotten through a relationship with... I can't remember who anymore. To Jehovah's Witness, he's just another prophet, or an archangel. But he is the Son of God. He is the second person of the Trinity. He is the one who died for our sins upon the cross of Calvary, was buried, rose again on the third day. Anything else is not who Jesus is. And at that time, many people had opinions about Jesus. And we'll see that in chapter 10. Today, many people have opinions about Jesus. But there's only one opinion that matters. There's only one understanding, one view of who Jesus is that matters. And that is, is he, in fact, the Son of God, crucified, risen, and coming again? That's the only right answer. He is God, come in the flesh, glorified. He is very God, of very God. He is of the same essence of the Father. There is no difference between him and the Father and the Spirit. They are one, and they are divine. If Jesus is anything less than divine, he is not the Christ, the Jesus Christ of the Bible. Many Christians today, in certain traditions, believe that Jesus was brought about. He was created. He was brought into being by the Father in eternity past. That is not this Jesus. Because this Jesus is without beginning and without end. He is eternal. He has no beginning. There was no point at which he came into existence, came into being. He always was, and he always will be. Anything less than that, it's the wrong Jesus. And remember, Paul warns, and he says that there are, there's another gospel, and there's another Jesus. But there's only one Jesus who can save. There's only one Jesus who can keep. And there's only one Jesus that will see us into heaven on that day, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for the Lord Jesus, who, in fact, is not just another prophet, is not just another great man who lived, a holy man, but Lord, that he is God, come in the flesh, died for us, buried, rose again, coming again, seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and ever making intercession for us. Lord, I pray that each of those who hear the message tonight would ask this question, who is Jesus? And would search their own hearts as to whether they have the right answers concerning who Jesus is. Lord, we pray that as you have commissioned each one of us, because you've called all that are born again to go into all the world and preach the gospel, Lord, that we would be obedient to your call, that we'd be obedient to your commission, and Lord, that we would preach the gospel to everyone that we come across. Lord, some of us do it in a formal way, and others do it in an informal way, but Lord, each one of us is responsible to spread the news that Jesus saves. Help us, Lord, to be faithful as we go. Help us to trust you. Lord, help us to understand when we need to shake the dust off our feet and turn away from someone, and begin to work in maybe a different vineyard, and in another field. Help us to understand these things, we pray in Jesus' name. We thank you, Lord, for your presence and for your word this evening. We pray that you would go with us as we part. Keep us and protect us, Lord, and we pray again that you would help that the the virus numbers comes down, Lord, that we may be able to return to the inside of the building. And so, Lord, we commit these things to you. Those who are not here, Lord, those who are not well, we pray that you would minister to them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/xG9gVxTXulU.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/anton-bosch/go-preach-the-gospel/ ========================================================================