Transcript for Captioned 7-26-2009 Sermon, Zion Ev. Lutheran, Torrance, CA

TEXT TAKEN FROM THE HOLY BIBLE NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION

used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Let us rise for the reading of this morning's

sermon text recorded for us in Mark's Gospel

where we read from Chapter 6,

beginning with verse 7

Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and

gave them authority over evil spirits. These were his

instructions: "TAKE NOTHING FOR THE JOURNEY

EXCEPT A STAFF -- NO BREAD,

NO BAG, NO MONEY IN YOUR BELTS.

WEAR SANDALS BUT NOT AN EXTRA TUNIC.

WHENEVER YOU ENTER A HOUSE, STAY THERE UNTIL YOU LEAVE

THAT TOWN. AND IF ANY PLACE WILL NOT

WELCOME YOU OR LISTEN TO YOU, SHAKE THE DUST

OFF YOUR FEET WHEN YOU LEAVE,

AS A TESTIMONY AGAINST THEM." They went out and preached

that people should repent. They drove out many

demons and anointed many sick people with oil and

healed them. (NIV) This is the Word of our Lord.

Let us pray:

This is the day that the Lord has made

let us rejoice and be glad in it. Amen.

Pastor Dave

motions for the

congregation to

be seated. Dear followers

of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

It must have been an exciting day

for the disciples when Jesus called them

to Himself and said, 'I have

something for you to do.

I have work that I want you to do.

I'm going to take the twelve of you and

divide it up into six teams

and you are going to go out

with My power and with My authority,

and you are going to preach

the Kingdom of God and preach repentance.

How exciting it must have been

for those disciples ...

to know that the Lord had entrusted to them

His strength and His power,

the ability to use that power of God

to drive out demons,

to heal the sick.

That the disciples who had witnessed their own Friend

and Teacher, their Lord and Savior

doing that amazing powerful

almighty work of God ... that they themselves

were going to go out and do the same thing.

That God had bestowed on them

that power. That right and

that privilege as His disciples

to be the ones who would carry

His message to the world.

That ... same ... call has

come to us as the children of God.

And it comes to us also to go and preach

the message that has been given to us

to take the blessings of our faith

those blessings of our faith that we need

a reminder of them, all we have to look at is

what Paul told the church in Ephesus.

How God has lavished on us

His blessings. That we have

every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm.

Not one is missing. That God,

even before creation, knew us

knew our name,

declared us to be holy and to be His own.

The amazing and astounding love of God.

That He came

into our lives ...

and brought us to faith.

Faith in the work of Jesus Christ,

His One and Only Son,

who died on the cross of Calvary ...

for our sins. Who rose so that we would see

eternal life; that we would believe

that we would have the seal of

our faith the Holy Spirit's given to us

that works in us, and that works through us

as we go out and proclaim that message

of Jesus Christ to the world.

What blessings are ours to share with the world ...

to show them the wonders of God's love. To be

as lavish with them as

God has been with us.

But our sinful nature wants us

to be stingy.

Our sinful nature wants us to be selfish.

We're much more comfortable holding onto those blessings

and not wanting to give them to anyone else.

They make all kinds of excuses

why those other people out there, won't want them.

Or won't want to hear them.

Or don't want to see the need.

How ridiculous is that thought!

Because if we treasure those things so much,

if we are happy that our sins are forgiven,

if we are confident in our eternal security in

Christ Jesus ... why NOT

SHARE THAT with others ...

with people who do not have it?

There's people who also need it and want it

and are looking for something so desperately in their lives.

The disciples went out

with the power of God.

And they didn't go ... well, I don't think I could heal that

person 'cause I don't like the way they look.

I don't think that person really deserves

to have this because they're not gonna treat it well.

But maybe I'll heal them and will never see 'em again.

It's not what the disciples did.

They went out and proclaimed ...

Christ. And they used

God's power to come into people's lives and

to affect change. That same change

that has taken us from the enemies of God to being

the children of God!

The children of God who have been entrusted

with that message.

It is MY responsibility and

YOUR responsibility, as the children of God,

to continue to proclaim that message.

To go and preach ...

to preach it to your wives, to teach it to your children,

to tell it to your grandchildren. To proclaim it

to your neighborhood, and in your work places and in

everything you do so that when people look at you they say

there IS a Christian! There IS a

child of God.

And they're gonna ask you why you're different.

They're gonna ask you

about what you do.

They're gonna ask you about how you changed and THERE is a

wonderful open door for you to step in

and say, by the power and the love of God,

I have been saved.

Because they will want to know

what makes you special

and what makes us special IS

the love of God.

His forgiveness in our lives.

And it's not always easy work.

It might be terrifying work.

I'm sure the disciples were excited to go out

and proclaim ... that THEY had SEEN the

Messiah! But do you remember what Jesus

said they could take with them?

He said to take a staff ...

... a staff ...

help them walk ...

maybe defend them against some animals,

or some people who didn't want their best interests at heart.

So they wore sandals,

but not an extra shirt,

no money ...

no food ...

... and they went.

....... Those

disciples ..... went!

And they relied on the kindness

of strangers to open

their homes to them.

To live with them, to work with them,

To continue to share God's Word

with them. ....

What are the things that stand in the way

of our going?

And far too often you think, well, I can't do that.

I could never knock on someone's door.

I could never call someone up out of the blue.

I could never hand out flyers.

I could never talk about what Jesus has done for me.

That's just not my thing. I do other things.

Jesus said, "GO"!

You have a staff ... and some sandals.

And the people are going to support you!

The people of God

are going to help you. And maybe there's another

reminder for us as God's children

to pull together to do the work.

To live together and

work together to support

the spread of the Gospel that we do here at Zion.

To support the spread of the Gospel

that we do as a synod.

Whether it be in home missions or world missions and

we all know how desperately we are in need of

supporting that work.

(Pause) -----

We don't send people out anymore with a staff

and a pair of sandals.

But we send them out prepared to

proclaim the Gospel.

Prepared to preach with the tools

that they need to do that work.

How important it is for us to realize

that we have all of those resources at our

fingertips to tell someone else

about Christ.

Because the Word of God has come to us.

The Word of God has come to us and we know its truth,

we proclaim its truth, we live that truth

because it IS what makes us

the children of God.

And we just need to get over the fears that we have.

Find the things that we CAN do that we're good at.

We can all pray.

First of all, if all of us with earnestness prayed

that God would allow the Gospel to continue to be

proclaimed from His children - THINK OF THAT

POWER!

That God would be active in all of our lives

so that we could all show our faith. That

we would pray for our teachers and our schools

that they would continue to proclaim

Christ's love to the children that are brought here.

And that we can bring more children ...

That we can bring children to VBS.

It requires very little on our part.

The word "GO"

We could GO and preach

what God has done.

And we all want to do that.

That is our joy. Sometimes we just have to have

the Holy Spirit be the motivator in our lives and

stop pushing all of our own stop buttons.

Because

we're the ones keeping us from doing that.

We, as individuals, are the ones

who are stopping ourselves from going.

And God forgives us for that.

We take that to Him and we leave that there and

we get up with the assurance

that our sins are forgiven.

That God STILL loves us.

And God still calls us.

God still says to us: "GO".

May each of us hear that call

and answer: "Yes,

I will go."

Amen.

Let us rise.

Now may the peace of God which goes beyond

all of our understanding keep your hearts and your minds and

especially your lives in the one true faith unto life

everlasting. Amen.