Following your focus

Now we'll read together, please, in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 9, Matthew chapter 9, verse 35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease.

Now the names of the twelve apostles are these. The first, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip, and Bartholomew, Thomas, and Matthew the public, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebius, whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him. Then these twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not.

But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons, freely ye have received, freely give.

Now we'll read in Mark's Gospel, please, and we'll read in chapter 3. Verse 13, And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would. And they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth, to preach, and to have power, to heal sicknesses, and to cast out demons.

And Simon he surnamed Peter, and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, and he surnamed them, he said it rhymes with energy or something like that, boy energies, which is the sons of thunder, and Andrew and Philip, and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus and Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him. And they went into a house. And finally in Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 6, Luke chapter 6, verse 12, And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve, whom he also named apostles, Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Salonius, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. And he came down with them, and stood in the plain. If reading lists of names in the Bible is risky when people are hungry, it is a bigger risk when people are full.

But I trust God will keep both speaker and listener awake for the next 20 minutes or so, as we look at this, these passages once again. One of the things that I have always wanted to see, but have never been able to, is a liftoff of a space shuttle. Now space shuttle missions are coming to an end from what I hear, but space shuttle, just to see that liftoff, that send-off on a mission.

To hear the rumble, at least I think there's a rumble, they always talk about it, and to see the smoke and the flame, and to see that, that little plane as it disappears, at least it looks like that, disappears out into space. But you know, I would imagine that mission control is really just as much interested in that, they're interested in that, but they are just as much interested in what comes after that. Not just the finding and the sending off on a mission, but also the following through with a mission, that's really what it's all about.

These men were sent off, and this morning we tried to look at a little bit at the subject of these men who were called apostles, sent ones, and tried to learn a little bit about what is necessary to find your focus, as they did that day, and those circumstances and the conditions they were in, and all the considerations we looked at, and the question we were left with is, what is your mission? What's your focus supposed to be right now? What are you supposed to be working at spiritually? What's God's purpose right now? Now, I want to just assume that you have found that, that right now you are very conscious that God has put into your hand whatever it is. So I would like to speak to you now from this passage, because this passage, these passages give me the keys, not just about finding your focus, but also about following your focus, following your focus. How is it that you, what is necessary and how is it possible to complete a mission that God has put into our hands? Well, first of all, I want you to see, I want you to see here divine providence.

Divine providence is one of the resources. I want to begin with the resources, and the first resource is divine providence. What I mean by that is that there is a sovereign selection taking place here, that God in his omnipotence and his omniscience, that he is able to select, and that should give us great comfort that what is taking place, that it is God who is giving a mission, and it is God who is in control, the divine providence.

You can see that when it comes to the gender of these men. Men, could I ask you, why are the twelve disciples all males? You say, well, females are better at talking. Why would, excuse me, I don't mean that in a negative way.

They're more expressive, shall we say, and they would be maybe good for declaring the gospel. Sisters have unique ability, and many of them can express the gospel, and they can share the gospel, and they can win people. Keep at it, sisters.

We need you. Why twelve men? Men full of energy, men full of determination, and will, and strength, and why you say that sounds like this is going to be a clashing. Why twelve men? The sovereign selection, divine providence.

Twelve men have been selected. You see, God in his plan is, in the New Testament now, is going to lead us where men will have the preeminent, they will have the prominent responsibility. You see, what I learned from that is something very simple, and that is God's missions, focus that God gives us, his will will never take us outside of his word.

You see, his will for them in this mission of reaching out with the gospel and taking the message of the kingdom, his will for that is totally found and kept within his word. His mission will never take me outside of his word. That is absolutely impossible.

The Spirit of God will never direct me to disobey his word. Now that may be where I go, that may be who I try and reach, and that also includes the way I carry out the mission, whatever that may be. Raising children, teaching a Sunday school class, visiting my neighbors, winning people at work, all of the vast possibilities, whatever God has put into your heart and into your hand.

Twelve men, men, because he is going to now operate in this mission as he gives it out, the following of it through will be done according to the Word of God. But not only I want you to see divine providence in the gender, I want you to see divine providence in the number. God did not consult me on this decision because I would operate on a very, perhaps, human level.

I would say, here's a multitude of people, disciples even. Why not pick the multitude? Why, you could just do a little geographic, get a map and you could put two by two, you could put them all over. You could cover a lot more territory with a multitude than you could with twelve.

Divine providence is this. There will be twelve. There were twelve sons of Israel, now there will be twelve disciples.

What I learned from this is quantity is not as important to God as quality. What's the old saying? One believer with God is a majority. You say, well, we're just a small assembly.

We're just one couple. How could we ever encourage God's people if there's 90 in the assembly and they're all downhearted? You say, well, there's just so few of us in Iowa going out with a gospel. What's the point? Oh, how could we carry out the mission? Why, we're the only ones in our whole community that are Christians.

Quantity is not important in divine providence. Numbers do not tell the whole story. Testimony is not evaluated in heaven by the number of people in the assembly.

Quality is what counts. Commitment, character. And what the Lord Jesus was telling these men was, you are going to be a small group, but I will accomplish my purposes, divine providence, twelve, just a small group, to carry out the divine plan.

Never let the number, the smallness of the number, don't let there be an excuse to stay small, but smallness of number is never an excuse for not carrying it out. That's his providence. He has willed it or he has allowed it, he has permitted it, let it be that way.

And that is no limit to God, and he can carry out his plan. And so I learned not only about divine providence and the gender and the number, but the order. Peter is first.

Really, in the different lists of these men, only four of them, their names occur in the same place. It's mix and match, and it seems the Spirit is always moving them around. Now, what I learned from that is very simple, and that is when it comes to divine order, that's divine order, it's divine providence.

And God can bring some to the front and he can move some to the back. He has the mass, if you will, you know, you know, send to the back, send to the front, you follow me there? He has that ability to bring in, he can bring out an Andrew, he can pull him back, a Thomas, he can pull him back. Divine providence will control the order.

And so now what that means is this, along comes Andrew and he hears the order. The twelve disciples will be Peter and Andrew the brother of Peter. If I had been Andrew being the human I am, I think I would have said, Lord, Lord, hold on a minute, do you not remember that he is my brother and I brought him to Christ? You see, that's irrelevant now.

When we understand that when it comes to a mission, that God in his providence, he is the one who has put things where they are. And if he chooses to bring Peter to the front now, when Andrew was at the front before, that's all divine providence. This takes out all competition, at least it should, and all competitiveness in our hearts just to realize divine providence is working, it is operating here, and God in his sovereignty has made the order as it is.

But I want you to see the mixture. Interesting that he picks two sets of brothers. I come from a family with, there's three brothers and I have four sons, so I am conscious a little bit of what it means to be brothers.

At times that means I have a loyalty to my brother, and I should, he's my brother. At times that means, not when our family, never, but that could mean a little bit of, you know what I mean, brothers? When I see this, there is a mixture of personalities. There is a, can you imagine being in a group with a soft-hearted, a soft-hearted Thaddeus and a son of thunder? You say, Lord, please get them all, get them all Peterish.

Oh please, we don't want that. Get them all, no, we won't have any courage. Get them all.

You see now the divine providence. You say, why on the oversight? Why if all the brethren would just be like me, we would have, we would have, and why if all the brethren involved in the gospel work and the assembly, if they could all just think about it the way I think about it, and of all the sisters on that, if they could just... One of the things they're going to have to learn here to follow through on their focus is divine providence. He has put all these people here.

There are no accidents. He has even, and I don't want to take this too far, he has even, he has put a Judas in there. He has allowed a Judas in his grace and mercy.

He allowed that, and he worked out his purpose because of that. You say, well, so-and-so is so hard to get along with, and they're so difficult. Divine providence, to know that my God is in control, in my focus, in his control, in his will, should bring a tremendous comfort.

It's a great resource to know of the resource of divine providence. But I want you to notice quickly the other great resource here, divine provision. He says to them, go heal.

I think I would have said, Lord, how about you go find Luke? He's a doctor. I don't know the difference between cartilage and kidneys. I can't, that's not my business.

I'm no, I'm a fisherman. I'm a tax collector. He says heal, but did you hear what it said? It says heal, but at the same time, he says he gave them power.

In his focus, God will never give you a mission without giving you the ability to complete it. He will never call somebody to do something without them being able to carry it out. If he has called you to be teaching a Sunday school class, he will give you the ability.

There are resources available. That is always the case when it comes to divine commands. When he says that I must love my wife, I am really not given the option of being able to say, well, I can't, Lord.

The ability is there, the capability. When he says to forgive my brother, that's a command. He knows that I can do it, and he will give me what I lack to be able to carry out his will.

And whatever that focus may be, whatever it may be that God has given you, learn the lesson, please, that when God commands, God will supply. Just to know the resource that in him, his word, the Holy Spirit, his people, I will be able to carry out the mission. God will supply when God says.

But I want you to notice the third resource here, and that is, to me it's very precious. He says, I want you now come with me, come be with me. You'll remember that.

And you should be with me, and you will be with me. And then it says, he calls their names, and what does it say in Mark's gospel? It says they were in the house, and then it says in the other gospel, it says he came down in the plain with them. Get that? What is that? How will I be able to ever be able to carry it out? God has put the mission in my heart to reach out into my subdivision.

All these people are so lost, but I feel so, how will I be able to? You'll never go about it alone. Lo, I will be with you always, even unto the end of the age. His presence is with us.

You say, I feel so alone, I'm a single mother, I'm trying to raise my children for God. At times everybody goes to their home, and their parents together are raising their children, and I'm playing role of mother and father. You're not alone, sister.

In your focus, in your mission, the Lord's presence will be with you. What a resource to be able to carry out what God has given us, and so we have the resource of his provision, of his providence, and of his presence. Can I ask you, how's your mission going? You come in, Central calls down and says to you, give us a report, update, how's it going? What would you say? I just can't do it, Lord.

I can't. I think I've tried to say that, and I've got as far as CA, and I don't think I can get past that. The resources are beyond us.

We need to tap into them, but I want you to notice the responsibilities as well. The responsibilities to follow your focus. First of the first responsibility is to work with heart, to work with heart.

Let me see if I can pick this up in Luke's Gospel now, if you can follow me. In Luke's Gospel there, there was an unusual statement. It says that the Lord Jesus, before he selected the twelve disciples, he went up into the mountain to pray.

That's not all it says now. It says that he prayed all night, and that's not all it says. It goes on to say, and he was continuing in prayer.

Do you start to get the message now? That this is something that was an ongoing... he is in a... this is not where he went and said a prayer up there in the mountain, and because it didn't register in heaven, he had to keep repeating it. He was not now trying to figure out what was the will of God. He would know that.

He's in all night, continuing in prayer in earnestness. What's happening? Luke gives it, according to Newberry's margin, that he was praying the prayer of God. What does that mean? Does that mean he was praying, he was saying what God was saying about it? Wouldn't that be lovely if we could go into the presence of God and be so in touch with him that we could pray the prayer of God? What's God praying about this? What is God wanting for this? What is God longing to see happen? And you say, well, I'm praying about... I'm praying about the people that are in my classroom with me, the other students.

What's God thinking? What's God saying? What's in his heart? You see, if they were going to follow through on their mission, if they're going to fulfill their focus, what they have got to do is they've got to get a bit of God's heart in their hearts, the Lord's heart inside of them. And so they would work with heart. Why? The Lord all night in prayer.

What's at stake here? What's at stake? What's at stake is the gospel going to all parts of the world. What's at stake is going to be the formation of the first assembly. The formation is going to take place in their lifetime of the church, which is his body.

You see what's all at stake? He picks up all in that. He's all night in prayer, praying the prayer of God. Have you ever thought of what's at stake raising those children? You say, I feel like I'm limping.

I've all got there at 15 now. If I can just hang in there, just get them across the 18-year-old finish line, and then off they go. You missed it.

Do you know what God might do through them? Do you know what assembly might be affected by that son of yours? Do you know what God could do through that fellow employer that God has put in your heart? Those neighbors that seem so ugly towards the gospel right now, and you're trying to reach them. Do you know what, God? You have no idea. You might get into the presence of God.

Oh, that God, maybe the future of that assembly that's so small, is living right next door to you. Maybe down the road. Maybe it's the lady at the store.

What's the burden? You see, he picks up now, and they were to pick up. We are gonna have to work with heart, because this is the heart of God, and we're getting to carry it out. But I want you to see not only work with heart, but I want you to see that they were to work in harmony.

There's very few solo missions. There's very few solo missions in God's work and his activity. You say, well, when it comes to children's work, there's nobody can do it like... I don't want to be humble, but I mean, I don't want to be bragging, but nobody can do it quite like me.

Nobody can do it just like you. That God's mission are to be worked out in harmony. Just take a look at this now.

Matthew presents them in pairs. Peter and Andrew. James and John.

Pairs and... What's the purpose of that? Why do they have to go in pairs? Well, maybe it's in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Every word will be established. They will go out in pairs, and God and his purpose is preserving the honor and the dignity and the veracity of the word that they're going to preach.

Pairs. Anybody who's going to do a mission for God has got to learn to work with others. And I will tell you from firsthand experience, it's really hard working with some people like me.

And maybe just some of us might find it a little difficult working with somebody like the person beside you. I won't get any closer than that. You know what I mean? You see, all of us... But look at this now.

Look at the pairs, but I want you to see the personalities. Just take two, for example. Here is Simon the Zealot.

He had been likely a political activist, as well as a spiritual activist, in favor of keeping the true blue Jewish faith. Not interested in Rome being over the top of them. They're supposed to have their own kingdom.

And against the government, the Roman government. Now the Lord Jesus says, I'll take you, and I'll take Matthew the publican who collects taxes, maybe even taxes, maybe for the temple, but taxes that maybe would end up in Roman hand. He's fighting against the Roman government, and he's collecting money for the Roman government.

The Lord says, work together. Anybody in your assembly that you have to work with, and you feel like... I used the illustration the other week, and they're like cactuses. You know? You get near them, and you start to feel that they haven't even touched you.

You're not that close, and you still... And you're supposed to work in tandem with them. God made some of us pretty spiny, you know? I'm not trying to justify our spininess, but you understand that sometimes it's hard, but he gets the light out of harmony. Working in harmony together to carry out the plan, the fellowship of one another.

But I want you to see not only do we work in harmony, we're also to work with humility. This is one of the things that I have enjoyed about this passage. Let me see if I can try and bring this together for you now.

Mark's gospel would perhaps give us the potential. The potential of what God could do in... You say, well, the potential is that the mission will be accomplished. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You're missing the point. What could God do through somebody who is following their focus? In Mark's gospel, they're all presented as individuals. Peter, Andrew, James, John.

Individuals. The emphasis to me there seems to be almost an emphasis upon personal potential. What I mean by that is as they work out their mission and they follow their focus, God is going to work in them.

He's going to change them. Just look at the development. If you wouldn't, I found it interesting.

You come to Matthew's gospel, and it says that Peter, Simon, which is called, which was spoken to be... Very distant now. Spoken, the word was spoken that he would be Peter the Rock. Come to Mark's gospel.

When you come to Mark's gospel there, it's... Well, there it's the idea of his... It was laid upon him. Now it's coming closer now. It's a surname.

It's laid upon him. When you come over to Luke's gospel, Simon, which is named. Now it's his name.

He goes by it. When you come to the last list in Acts, there he is. It's just Simon Peter.

Get how it works together now? All of this is the development of his character. God had said, John chapter 1, the Lord Jesus had said that this man, he is going to become rock. He will become a piece of a boulder.

You say, how could a man who's so unstable, so impetuous ever be like that? How will God transform his character from A to Z? He will bring it about, because he's going to be following his focus. In the measure that we follow the focus, we complete the mission. God will work, not only to reach other people and to help other people, he will work on us.

That's the exciting part about this. And so we should work with humility that I need to be changed and that through my mission that God will change me. You can see that as well when it comes to the sons of thunder.

You see those two brothers, the sons of thunder. Mr. Strong uses the word, he says the sons of commotion. Imagine that, having two sons.

You say, I think I got their twin brothers a few generations later. Sons of commotion. Just a lot of busyness and a lot of, but no real product out of it all.

One day, the son of thunder lifts up his pen. With calmness and clarity, he writes more than any other about the love of God. You say, how did a commotion ever turn out to be so calm? He followed his focus to the very end.

Anybody here feel like they're a project? That you're being worked on by God? How could you be what you want to be? You say, I wish God would make me so that I could be really spiritual and then I would be able to complete my mission. No. Through the following of your focus, God will change you.

You can see it as well when it comes to Simon the Canaanite. Now, Canaanite wasn't, does not mean that he was from Canaan. It was part of a group.

There was a group that was that, political group, and he was known as one of these political party members, perhaps Simon the Canaanite. Now, when you come to another gospel, what does it say? Simon was called. Now, now it's a little more distant.

He's getting away from it all, and now you come to the third gospel, it's changed. It's the word zealot. Simon the zealot, because this was the zealous for political, Simon the zealot.

Simon called zealot. Come to the very last list, Simon the zealot. There's no politics in it now.

He's not interested in keeping Jewish tradition and Jewish law. This is a man who has been transformed, and that zealousness has now been channeled into God's will. Could I ask you as I close? Are you happy with who you are? I don't mean do you look in the mirror and say, I wish I was younger, and I wish I was better looking, and I was wish it wish I was more muscular, and I wish it was taller, and I wish I was thinner.

I don't mean that. I mean with your character. Are you happy with the way you are? I'm not.

How will God change us? Sitting there waiting for the big thunderbolt of lightning to turn me into something? The Lord Jesus said, don't wait. He said, you work with haste. He said, you find out what your mission is, and then you follow it through, because the Lord Jesus says, Mark's gospel.

I'm sorry, Matthew's gospel. Three times over, we get the word. Go.

He doesn't say, here's the mission. Now wait, wait, just hold on, hold on, you're not there yet. Go.

And in going, you will get what you need, and you will become who I want you to be, following your focus, carrying out your mission. The potential of what God could do and what he could make us makes me want to leave this platform and get going. Follow.

Complete. Fulfill. You know, when it comes to this, I come to this conclusion.

It is a great thing, it is a comforting thing when you sense that God has put something in your hand. It's the closest thing maybe to a rocket blast off. God has given me a Sunday school class.

God has given us children. God has put me in a neighborhood. I'm not a hermit.

Here I am. I have a job. The hard part, the hard part, is carrying it out.

The resources are there, brother. Sister, there is nothing you lack to be able to carry it out. To follow your focus, don't miss, don't miss what God can do.

Work with heart, work in harmony, work with haste, and work with humility, because you may be a different person through God working in you.