100% Surrender

What would he say? That would be interesting, wouldn't it? What would he say? I tell you what, if he appeared like he did in the room there we're going to read, I think all of us would have his attention. And so these disciples experience the resurrection body of the Lord Jesus. Later on he tells Thomas, eight days later, reach with your hands and touch me and see if I'm real.

And yes, Thomas finds out that he is. We'll talk about that next time. But I'd like to look here at the words, and this has always been an emphasis in my heart.

You all know that if you've been here for a while. These words that he is going to share, and I don't know, maybe today will just challenge us all. Sometimes I study, meditate, and just say, hey, let's just go for it.

Wouldn't it be fun to just go for it? Let's just go for it. How about if we just go for it? You say, what are we going for? Better tell me what we're going for before we go for it. I think we should just go for it.

And I'll lead us down into that here this morning. I'm going to start and look at John 20. We're going to read these verses again.

Verse 19 on down through verse 23. Maybe put yourself in this room. By the way, this is not the only, the eleven are not the only ones here.

The two on the road to Emmaus have come back to this room where these disciples are. It says in Luke, and there were others, Luke says, in this room. And as these two are telling these eleven, we saw Jesus.

We were walking on the road to Emmaus and He came up beside us and He manifested Himself when we were eating. He showed us His hands and we could see the marks. And as they're speaking, the Bible says, Jesus stands in the middle.

And so you have a group of people, maybe 20, 30 people there in this room. Let's read John 20 verse 19. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst.

And saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.

You know, that was really what testified to them, much like Thomas. Let me see your hands. Let me see your feet.

Let me see your side. Oh, I believe. Verse 21, Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you.

As My Father has sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them. And saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.

Now there's only two times in the Bible that God breathes on someone. Genesis chapter 2 or chapter 1, God breathed on Adam. Adam became a living soul and here Jesus breathes on His disciples.

Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them. And whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. And there's a little bit more that He says in the account in Luke, but let's just examine some of these things here this morning.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we know that You're here. We don't have to ask You to come.

You said that where we are, gathered together two or three, there You are in the midst. And Lord, I know that probably You're not going to manifest Yourself in a physical form for us to see You. But Lord, may we hear Your voice and hear Your words as if You were speaking to us in this glorified body that these disciples hear You speaking.

And may it affect our hearts like it affected them. And Lord, may it change our view of the Christian life. And so bless the message here this morning according to Your will.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the Lord here, He has just, you think about this, He has just come down off the cross.

He has just died for the sins of the entire world. He has been in the grave now for three days. And He rises from the dead.

And He appears on that first day to His disciples. What is He going to say to His disciples after He has risen from the dead? He has given His life for the sins of the world. Now, He is going to ask His disciples, or may I say it this way, command His disciples to give their life to take this message to the world.

And they did. Praise God for that. Here in verse number 21, when Jesus says, My Father has sent Me, even so send I You.

God sent His Son into this world. And now Jesus is going to send His disciples into this world. And it's kind of like this, it's a beautiful picture that the Lord is the One who purchased the field.

He purchased this great, let's say a great field of wheat or a great field of corn. It's called in the Bible the harvest. He is the One who purchased it.

He is the One who paid a great price for it. And now He is going to ask His disciples to go out and bring in the harvest. To go out and bring it in.

And what a tragedy that would be. And can you imagine on His heart? We don't think about it this way, but can you imagine what He went through to purchase the field? And can you imagine this great harvest if it would just all go to waste? And the burden that He has, you remember Him in Matthew 9 saying, as He looked upon the multitudes, He said that to pray for laborers, that there would be laborers for the harvest. That there would be a harvest brought in.

Lift up your eyes, John 4, and look on the fields, for they are white all ready to harvest. So that's one of the responsibilities that the Lord is laying out here. But He starts off here in verse 19 by saying, Peace be unto you.

Now they were fearful because of the Jews and they were hiding out. And so when Jesus appears to them, they're trembling. Not only probably because they thought they saw a spirit, but because they're already in great fear.

And Jesus here calms their fears and encourages them by saying to them, Peace be unto you. But notice in verse 21, Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you. And I have to believe that this second time is a different kind of a peace.

It's that peace that comes by having your sins forgiven. It's that peace that comes knowing that Jesus is now raised from the dead. It's that peace that comes in every Jewish heart when the high priest once a year would go into the temple or the tabernacle with blood to offer it into the Holy of Holies and come out and the people would rejoice that God had received the sacrifice and that He had given them the forgiveness of their sin.

And they could by faith have peace in their heart. Can you imagine the Lord Himself? Remember, Mary touched Me not. I have not yet ascended to My Father.

And that day, sometime in that morning time, Jesus ascended to the Father. He took His own blood, Hebrews says, into the Holy of Holies and put it upon the true mercy seat in Heaven. And now He returns having offered up His own blood and having made restitution for the sins of the world.

It's just too huge to even imagine. But having paid for the sins of the whole world and then coming to humanity and saying, Peace be unto you. God who had animosity toward humanity because of the sin of humanity, that sin has now been atoned for.

And I come to you with a message of peace. As a high priest, I've just been to the presence of God. I've just placed My blood upon the mercy seat.

And now I'm going to appear back to you and say to you, You can have peace with God. The sin of the world is taken care of. And that's a wonderful thing.

Romans 8, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Hold your finger there and let's turn. I'm going to ask you to turn a few times here to Colossians chapter number 1. Colossians chapter number 1, starting in verse number 20.

Talking here about peace. Colossians 1 verse 20 says, And having made peace through the blood of His cross. And that's exactly what Jesus has done.

His own blood that was shed on the cross. That's how God made peace with man. And so after putting His blood on the mercy seat, that blood that was shed on the cross, He comes to humanity and He says, Peace be unto you.

By Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now have you reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Notice that what Jesus did on the cross is how you and I are going to be holy, unblameable, and unreprovable.

It's not because you live a holy, unblameable, and unprovable life that you're going to be presented holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. It's because of the blood of Jesus. If you continue in the faith, and here's the important part, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel.

That's one thing the devil's trying to do. He's trying to take the Gospel from you, the hope of the Gospel, out of your heart. Someday, I trust that all of you, by the grace of God, will stand before God someday and He will look at you and He will say, you're perfectly holy.

I have no blame. I cannot even reprove you for anything. You might look over and say, how did we get to that place? Well, you ought to know ahead of time it's by the blood of Jesus.

That's the only way you can get there. And that comes to you by you expressing in your heart faith in the Gospel. And so we have peace through the blood.

The Old Testament says without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And so Jesus went to the mercy seat and placed His blood. Now, did you remember when Zacharias went into the temple in Luke chapter 1 and the Bible says that people were waiting outside? What were they waiting outside for? For Zacharias to come back out and say God accepted the offering.

But he tarried. People got worried. Where is he? Finally, he came out and said, I saw a vision.

And so this is Jesus coming out of the true temple, coming back and saying, good news, you can have peace with God. But I've made the ultimate sacrifice and my blood has been offered on the altar in heaven. So friends, listen, the blood of Jesus is right now at the mercy seat of God.

And if you want to have peace with God, that's where you're going to get it. Up there. You're going to get it by coming to the Lord and saying, oh God, I'm a sinner and I need peace with You through that which Jesus did for me.

Now I want to keep going on here. After He tells them peace, He gives them a calling. With peace comes a calling.

And He says to these disciples, as My Father has sent Me, even so send I you. You remember a number of weeks ago we had on here Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Father sent Son.

Son sent the Holy Spirit. This connection, well, He's going to talk about this connection here. As My Father has sent Me, even so send I you.

Now, I know a lot of people have a hard time with this and evangelism and reaching out to people is difficult, but I think when God saves a person and we've truly found forgiveness, I think that automatically motivates us to go and tell others. Jesus told the maniac of Gadara, can you imagine being in the tombs and cutting yourselves and being possessed and tormented day and night and then finally the Lord delivering you from that mess? I guess the Lord didn't even have to say to him, go and tell your friends all these great things that the Lord has done for you. He just took off.

He published it everywhere. And you know when things happen to us that are good, some of you ladies know that you take some vitamin or some herb and it heals something and that gives you that motivation to go and tell people, I have this cure. I have this answer for this problem.

And so you become an evangelist. You become a messenger for some sort of herb, some sort of mineral, some sort of vitamin, some doctor that helped you. A number of years ago, I started to get some boils.

Brother Wolf, this is not medical advice or anything, so I started to get some boils in the worst place to have them, on my backside there. I couldn't sit down. And I never had a boil in my life.

I got my first one, this was probably 15 years ago, and it was dreadful. I just had so much pity for Job. I can't imagine all over your body, let alone, I just had one.

And so it got to the place where it was pretty bad and I went through it. And thank God I got through it. But after I got through it, another one came.

I thought, oh, what is going on here? And I started to search things out and try to ask around. And that one left and a week later, another one came. And it was just miserable.

Every time I would get over one, another one would come. And someone would say it's an infection, a staph infection and all this. Finally, it was like the fourth or fifth one.

These are all right in a row. I mean, this is getting to be unbearable. And finally, I went to the doctor.

Dr. Dave up here in Fredericktown, our family doctor, and I asked him, I said, is there anything I can do? I mean, these things are just coming one after another and I don't really like this. And he looked at me and said, nothing I can do. And he lanced that one.

It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced in my life. He didn't give me a novocaine or anything. He just went in there and just, and I just, I mean, I screamed.

So I said, you know, there's nothing I can do about it. He says, I've got people coming in here. I have to lance them all the time.

You mean it. I mean, I'm going to have to put up with this. So I went home and I said, Lord, there has to be an answer to this thing.

There has to be. I don't want to endure this. So the thought came to me fast.

I said, I'll try that. Fast and drink a lot of water. So shortly thereafter, here comes another one.

So I said, okay, system, you're going to shut down. I'm going to drink water. I'm going to eat nothing.

God's truth. That thing started and it reversed. Went to nothing.

I didn't eat, drank water. I said, I'll let my body fight it and we'll just deal with it that way. A month or two later, another one, you know how they little white things, they pop up and it's real sensitive.

Shut down. Fast, drink water. Went away.

Haven't had one since, praise God. I want to write a book. There you go.

You know what? Whenever I'm sitting with someone and they talk about boils, immediately my heart says, I want to talk to you about something, right? I've got an answer for you. Because I've experienced something. And it's only a physical thing.

There's a lot of pain involved. But that experience I had caused me to want to share that experience with others. And I think if you've had an experience with God that you felt the pain of hell and guilt and damnation and God delivered you and gave you peace, there ought to be a desire in that heart to say I need to let people know about this.

Well, as my Father has sent me, even so send I you. So that's what the Lord is speaking here to His disciples. To His disciples, this word as is a simile, I believe, means in the very same way.

In the very same way, my Father has sent me, even so send I you. Now, I just want to say, if Jesus appeared today and He said to us, as my Father has sent me, even so send I you. I wonder how that would impact your life if He was here in person.

It impacted their life. But He's not going to come here in person. As a matter of fact, He sent me to tell you these things.

I'm the messenger. I'm just here telling you what He sent me to tell you. And how do I know He sent me to tell you? Because He sent me to feed the lambs and preach the truth, and that is what the truth says.

Can we agree on that? So, let's just hear what He says. As my Father has sent me, and I'd like to examine this phrase here, even so send I you. I'd like to look at some of the ways that the Father sent the Son, how this all worked out, and how we can also follow this very same pattern.

First of all, I'd like you to imagine the Lord, He was in Heaven. He was with the Father. And one day, something happened, and I can't tell you exactly what date it was or what day it was.

It was in eternity past. In Hebrews 10, I'd like to read this to you. You don't have to turn there.

Hebrews 10 says this, For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

Now listen to this. Then said I, Jesus said, Lo, I come in the value of the book it is written of Me to do Thy will, O God. I come to do Thy will, O God.

In other words, I come to offer up My body. A body was prepared Me. I come to do Thy will.

Do you realize eons in the past that one day God said, Well, maybe it wasn't eons. Thousands of years back in the Old Testament. Jesus is there in heaven with the Father.

And the Father says, These bulls and goats, they're just not going to do it. I need a body, a human body. And Jesus says, I'll come.

That's what He says. He says, I'll come and I'll do Thy will. And so Jesus rises up and says, I'll do it.

And so He is willing first of all here to do the will of God. Jesus is completely surrendered to God's purpose. And so there was a day in heaven when Jesus was willing.

That willingness took Him to a place of death. Even to the place right before death. The Garden of Gethsemane.

He says, Father, not My will, but Thine be done. I am willing to do Your will. Now, this is at the basis of everything that we do as Christians, but you have to come and I have to come to the place in our life where we say, I'm done with my life.

Would you agree with that? Truly I'm done. And I want to do the will of God. I want to do the will of God.

Now, when I thought about that, here's how most of us think about this. I want to challenge you a little bit farther. Most of us think I've come to do Your will, Lord.

There's a couple of things you have in mind. Your will is for me to go to church. I'll come that far.

Your will is for me to love the brotherhood. I'll come that far. Your will is for me to dress a certain way.

I'll come that far. Your will is for me to give offerings. I'll come that far.

However, there comes a place, and everyone has a different place in their life, where it seems like people come to a certain place and there are many things in the Bible that's the will of God that they accept, they embrace it, and that's fine. But when it comes to a certain place, some people it's further down the road, others it's way back here. It's almost like I don't want to go beyond this point.

And this is where many people stagnate in the Christian life. You ever wonder why my growth is just kind of stagnated? There's no more further growth. Oftentimes it's because we've come to the place where we say enough is enough.

I'm doing a lot of what the Lord wants me to do. I see up ahead there's some real challenging things that He's asking me to do, but I'm going to just stay in this location here. I'm going to tell people I'm doing the will of God, and in many ways we are, but it's this part up here that's a little out of my reach.

And I'm just going to kind of lay low. People kind of accept me as I've got a lot of things right, and you know a lot of our arguing and fussing is back and forth back here about I'm doing this right, you're not, blah, blah, blah. And yet out here are areas where it's a little farther than I want to go.

And I'm just going to lay low, and I'm just going to tell you this, when we make that decision and we're not fully abandoned to anything the Lord wants, then we are automatically stopping our growth process. We're automatically putting ourselves in cement shoes where we're not going to go anywhere from this point. So there's no growth.

So I want to encourage you to think a little further past. And this is a scary area I know for many. It's a scary place out here.

We're not comfortable with it. And it's different for some people. But I'd like to encourage you to, when Jesus said, I come to do Thy will, He had the whole thing in mind.

The whole thing. Not just some things that were good, but what He thought were acceptable. So Jesus here did not draw any lines to the Father.

Let me ask you this. Let's just make some application. You can take these back to your midweek services.

Have you drawn lines for the Father? In other words, if Jesus would come to you and say, Sean, I send you. Go. You and your family.

Go. Can you say whatever you want? Or Irvin. You say that's way out here.

As my Father has sent me, Irvin, so send I you and your family. Go. Oh, I've got a business.

I've got all this. These men had the same light passion as we. And so, are we willing to, some people use this illustration, I've used it many times in Revival, to set a blank piece of paper down here and say, Lord, my name's on the top.

It's blank. Whatever you write in there, the will of God for me, I'm willing to deal with it and go. It'd be great if we all did that.

And then set the papers up here and just actually let Him write it down. Here's what I want. So are we really to that place in our life? I know sometimes we like to talk about how we're good back here, and yeah, we do this, we do that, but are we really willing to go the whole way? That's why I said it this morning, just to... whatever you want.

Let the Lord take it. Well, let's look at Isaiah real quick. Go back to Isaiah.

This is a good example of this. Isaiah 6. You've probably seen this passage here. Isaiah 6. Isaiah has a vision.

Isaiah does not draw any lines here and say I'll go so far and then I'll just kind of lay low. A lot of people come up to this point and say this is good for me. I'm just going to get in a nice church and we're just going to fellowship.

We're going to raise the family. We're going to enjoy the grandkids. We're going to die an old age and go to heaven.

And God says, well, there's other things I have for you. Look at Isaiah 6, verse 1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Jump down to verse 5. Then said I, woe is me, when Isaiah saw the Lord.

Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. And Isaiah saw holiness, real holiness. And Isaiah said, woe is me.

Verse 6, Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, thy sins purged, your cleansed for forgiven. Oh, Isaiah was happy because woe is me.

I'm in trouble. What? I'm going to be forgiven? My iniquity is taken away? Hey, that's great news. Next verse, Also, also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Now here's a guy here that really sees it clear.

He says, Then said I, Here am I. Here am I, send me. As my Father has sent me, even so send I you. Now, that doesn't mean that we're all going to be sent all over the world, but some of us may be sent locally.

Some of us may be sent into another state. Some of us may be sent to Haiti. Some of us may be sent to Africa.

Some of us may be sent to Australia. Some of us may be sent, but the important thing is that our heart is willing to say, Here am I. Send me. And it ought to be, for those who have experienced the cleansing of their sins by the blood of Jesus, their cry ought to be, Here am I. Send me.

And so it all starts there. When Jesus came into this world, the first thing that happened was He said to His Father, Hey, I'm going to come and do your will. Whatever that means, here I am.

And He knew what it meant. It's not good for the blood of bulls and goats and calves. You're going to give me a body? That's fine.

I'll come. I'll die. And I'll tell you what, young people, if you come to that place in your life and you say, Lord, honestly, with all your heart, here am I, if it means my death, if it means I never get married, if it means I never have children, if it means I'm a pauper, if it means whatever, here's my blank piece of paper I'm going to do like Jesus and I'm going to come to you and say, Here am I, Lord.

Whatever you want. It's a good place to start right there. Very good place.

That's where Jesus started. The second thing I'd like you to see about this statement, As the Father sent me, even so send I you, is that Jesus was sent into a wicked world. As my Father has sent me into this wicked world, even so send I you into a wicked world.

Now, you've got to remember that Jesus was in heaven. He was in the glory of His Father. It was a beautiful place.

People were worshiping Him. There was no cursing. There was no bitterness.

There was no anger. Nobody was shooting. There was no homosexuality.

There was no pornography. There was no thorns. There was no death.

Can you imagine in an environment like that? And then God saying, Now I want you to get down to that wicked place called earth where they're killing each other, where they're perverted, where they hate each other. They're going to want to kill you. I'm going to send you right down to that place.

It doesn't sound like an exciting thing, but the Lord is willing to go. And we thank God that He was. How many of you thank God that He was willing to say amen to it? Do you realize that there are many people around the world, this gospel must be preached, there are many people around the world who are feeling the very same way.

Is there anyone who is going to die to bring the message of the gospel to me in my corner of the earth? Right? So it's called His humiliation. He came from that place down here. And you just imagine the difference in those two places between heaven and the earth.

Philippians 2 talks about this, a very familiar verse also. Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, way up there, thought it not robbery to be equal to God, but made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Here He was being worshipped in heaven. Now He's cursed. Here He was being in an environment where everything is perfect.

Angels, no sin coming down to this mess down here where He is hated. Well, it must have been a shock to His system, amen? But you and I have a ministry also. And that is we are sent into a wicked world.

Go into all the world. You know when the Bible says all the world, there's a lot of places in this world that are pretty wicked. Go into all the world.

So as My Father sent Me, and I submitted Myself and said, whatever your will is, and He sent Me down into a dark place, even so send I you. I want you to submit your will to Me, and I'm going to send you into a dark place. Now I know that this is a struggle with many.

Our nature is to close off this wicked world and wall ourselves in, protect ourselves from this wicked world. But as we learned, and if you're there in John, just flip back a few pages to John 17. I'll review it.

John 17, verse 15. Here's the Lord's purpose or will with regards to that wicked world. In John 17, verse 15, He says, I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is truth.

As thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. So here's the plan. Just like I came down into this world, Jesus says, I keep Myself separated from the world because I'm a lover of truth.

In the very same way, I'm going to send you into this wicked world, and I want you to stay holy and separated through the truth. Sanctify them through truth. Not sanctify them by building walls and barricading themselves so that no one can touch them.

No, don't sanctify them that way. Sanctify them by the truth. In other words, we're supposed to be walking in that wicked world and yet be kept from that wicked world by this book right here.

Now, a lot of people say, well, I don't want to go out and deal with that wicked world. It might taint me. Well, that's not a good philosophy.

We're sent into it. And I think a lot of times we stay packed in, we stay close, we build walls because there's a lot of wickedness out there. And I know with our children and our families, those things are a challenge.

But it's not the will of God for us to close ourselves up from this world. Well, something else we can learn from this. He came down to this wicked world and His purpose for coming was redemption.

He came here to redeem humanity. Hebrews 10 says that was why He came. Jesus said, I am come to seek and save that which is lost.

Our purpose here is also a purpose of redemption. As my Father has sent me to redeem the world, to die for their sins, even so I send you to redeem the world. To take the message of redemption to this world.

And so we have this picture of Christ being the purchaser of the field and we are those who harvest it. Something else in this comparison, notice then Jesus was prepared to suffer and die. Now think about this.

He came into this world. He was prepared. I'm prepared.

He knew it ahead of time. I'm going to die. I'm dying for the sins of the world.

And so when you hear these words, are you ready? If any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up a cross and follow me. Okay, I'm coming down here to die. If you're going to follow me, we're coming down, and you're going to go into this world, you're going to die.

You're going to die. You're going to suffer. He was prepared to die.

And here's the essence of this. Christ Jesus suffered and died to redeem us from our sins. We suffer and die in taking the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

You ever thought about that? That's how we suffer and die. If you want to have an exciting Christian life, jump in on this one. Jump in on this one.

Young people, jump in on this one. I'm going to do exactly like Jesus. I'm going to say, Father, I come to do Thy will.

I'm going to be sent into a wicked world. I'm going to be sent down there to redeem it, and I'm going to be willing to suffer and die to get it done. That was a good place for an amen there.

And many missionaries and many people have suffered. And then here's the good news. And this is how we live for the life to come.

Jesus was resurrected. They saw it. Here is this Jesus who they just saw on a cross three days ago.

They just saw Him being buried. And here He is in a glorified body. And He is seated at the right hand of God.

He says He's going back to the Father. He is rewarded. He is glorified.

And He says to them, and this will happen to you also. If you follow My pattern, as My Father has sent Me, even so send I you. And you know what? What's going to happen after your life? You're going to be resurrected and glorified.

And so we'll be rewarded. Now let's keep going here in John. In verse 21 it says, Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you.

As My Father has sent Me, even so send I you. I'm going to tell you a story here. You know sometimes, and I love to see this happening, faith rise up in people.

And people say, you know what? I'm going to launch out in faith. I'm going to just jump in and just give the Lord everything. Just jump in.

It's like that first time. Go swimming. Little Zach over here.

He's down with Emily down in Tennessee. I probably told you this story. Ten foot diving board.

These girls, 20, 25 years old, afraid to jump off. Zach gets up there. He's like three years old, three and a half.

Runs off and jumps in. Gets out. He's having so much fun.

Next time he goes, does a flip into the water. I'm 60 and still haven't done a flip yet. Just abandoning ourselves.

I'd recommend this. I know some of you would like to be challenged with this. Back in 2006, I don't know.

I felt like the Lord was stirring me up. I get stirred up on these things sometimes. He told me, he said, why don't you pull a few families aside who really are willing to sell all and go? And just begin to meet together and pray.

My wife and children and family, there were three or four families that got together. Very serious. Some young people.

Very serious. We began to meet once a week and just cry out to God. God, here we are.

Can you imagine just coming to God and saying, Lord, here we are. We're willing to follow Jesus' example. We're willing to give our life.

We're willing to die. We're willing to go into a wicked world. We're willing to do whatever it takes.

Here we are. Just write it out. What do you want us to do? So we started praying.

And I've told you this story, but six months in, the Lord gave me, I've never had a vision or a dream. He gave me a vision and dream. And He told me, here's where I want you to go.

Are you going to Columbia, South America? And so God opened doors there. And families went. Young people went.

And even to this day, there's, I think, open doors down there in this orphanage that we were a part of there. But I think if we get serious with the Lord and really say, here's my heart, Lord. I'm willing to go.

If it costs me everything, I'm willing to do it. And get together and start speaking. How many of you, if you think of Jesus who said to His disciples, I see the multitudes, and would you pray for laborers? How many of you think that if a group of people honestly got together and said, Lord, I'm in it.

Whatever you want. If they send me to Zimbabwe, I'm gone and I'm fully in. And God got some people together to cry out to Him for direction.

How many of you think He'd answer that prayer? Oh, He would. I mean, He represents Himself as someone who is desirous to reach the world, and here you have a handful of people or families who are saying, we're in. And we're ready.

That probably wouldn't be long before the Lord says, I've got a place for you here and I'll show you where it is. So let's go. Costly.

Well, the Lord can do that and we need to have the heart to be willing to do it. I know some of you young people, you have visions, you have desires, you want this, you want that. You want to have family.

You want to do all these things. Yeah, but have you ever come to the Lord and said enough, I'm just going to give it all to you, whatever you want. It doesn't matter.

Life is short. Eternity is long. Well, let's keep reading here.

I don't want to spend a lot of time on that one. Verse 22, it says when He had said this, what did He say? As My Father has sent Me, even so send I you. When He had said this, in other words, I would have sent you out into this world, but I want you to know you need something.

When He said this, He breathed on them. What a sight that must have been. He breathed on them and said to them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit of God.

I am sending you, but you need something. You need the power of the Spirit of God. Acts 1.8, you shall receive power.

After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto Me at the ends of the earth. So here's a beautiful picture of you need this. You need the Spirit of God.

He breathed on them. Now that Spirit was breathed on them because of what He just said. I'm going to send you into this world to redeem it.

Now this is probably a symbolic event here. Maybe it's just a temporary thing because in 40 days from this day, they're going to be engulfed in this rushing, mighty river that's going to send them into the world. But for the next 40 days, He's going to tell them to tarry in Jerusalem.

That's back in the Luke account. Tarry until you be endued with power. And then verse 23, He says, Whosoever's sins they are remitted unto them and whosoever's sins ye retain, they are retained.

In other words, I'm going to send you out into this world in the power of the Spirit of God, and you're going to have the keys of the Kingdom of God, and you're going to be able to say to this person, you're forgiven, and to this person, your sins are still upon you. You're going to be able to remit them and retain them. You're going to be able to bind and loose.

And you know, in the early church, they did that. And we can do that too. Someone who preached the Gospel, someone says, I believe it.

I believe the Gospel. I want to be baptized. You can say to them, your sins are remitted.

Someone else rejects the Gospel and says, I want to go my own way. You can say to them, your sins are retained upon you. And it's all depending on your response to the Gospel.

By the way, that Gospel is a key open to the Kingdom. How you respond to the Gospel. One verse I'd like you to look at and then we'll close here in Acts 2. In verse 36, it doesn't take long for this word remittance or remission to appear.

And this is Peter's sermon after he is filled with that Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, verse 36, at the end of his sermon, he says this, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? This is what we like to hear.

Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Peter says, I can tell you this, your sins are going to be remitted. Whosoever sins you remit, they're remitted.

Whosoever sins you retain, they're retained. And they went forth from that point and they preached and people's sins were removed or in some cases, Paul would say, your sins be appointed. They're retained.

And he left them. But they rejected the message of the Gospel. And so if we could just imagine here this morning in closing, as we're sitting here, all of a sudden behind me an image appears.

And all of you, your mouths are gaping wide open. And I wonder what you're looking at. And I look behind me and lo and behold, there is the Lord in His glorified body.

Children, what would you do? And He walks out here just like He did with those disciples and He says, peace be unto you. And then He says this, as My Father has sent Me, even so send I you. What are you going to do with that? What are you going to do with that? And then He breathes on us.

And He says, receive the Holy Spirit. Whoever sins you retain, they're retained. Whoever sins you remit, they're remitted.

I think it would change our life, change our perspective of what we're here for. We would leave here and we'd say, boy, we have a different mission. Family, individuals.

But I'm going to say this and maybe we can talk about it in our small groups and maybe we can say in a small group, hey, let's be the small group. Let's be the group that says, here we are. We're done with life.

We're going to die. We're going to just deny ourselves, take up a cross. Lord, send.

If you send me to my neighbor, that's fine. If you send me to Africa, that's fine. Just, you send me.

Whatever you want me to do. And I believe we're all sent. Not everybody is sent across the ocean.

At least we're sent into our communities. Would you agree with that? Our brothers here were sent down to many people in Houston. But just to be sent.

But with that in mind, I think there's a lot of needs. Maybe I should ask Brother Clay, do you think there's any needs around the world, Brother Clay, for families to go? There's definitely needs. And I think the thing that keeps us from going is we haven't really come to the Lord and said, Lord, it's over.

Can you do that? Lord, my life is a closed book. I'm done. Me, done.

I would open myself up and ask you to do whatever you want. Send me anywhere. As you sent Jesus into the world, even so, send me.

And some people wonder, where is the power of the Holy Spirit? Where are the gifts of the Spirit? I think they're waiting for those who are willing to have a heart that says, I'm wide open. Whatever you want. And the church becomes an exciting place.

Life becomes exciting when our hearts are there. And I would encourage you to make those decisions. Maybe if there's a few here that I want a bigger vision for us as a church.

I want a bigger vision. Maybe not everybody's going to get in that vision, but pull one or two or three aside and say let's get together and pray. And let's seek God and let's present ourselves and say, Lord, here we are.

Just like Jesus said, He presented Himself. I come to do Thy will. We're going to say that to you.

And see what God does. There's a lot of needs all over the world. So let's take these words and let God minister to each of our hearts.

Let's not come here and say I'm comfortable. I've got this routine in Christian life. It's comfortable.

You're going to find it's going to be dry. It's not right. Something's not right here.

And I want to go farther. You know when you get to be 60, 61, some of you are getting older. Your life is getting shorter and shorter and shorter.

It's like if there's ever a time to just say, have it, Lord. It's as you get older. Some of you are younger.

You've got a whole life ahead of you. It's a little more challenging to say, Lord, it's all yours. But I would encourage whatever age you are, come to that place.

Even if you're 10 years old, a good place to start. All right, let's close. We'll continue on next.