It says in Matthew 8, 18, "Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment
to depart unto the other side."
He's basically forsaking the multitude here.
He's leaving the multitude.
He saw all these multitudes around him.
He said, "You know, I'm just going to go to the other side, I'm actually getting away
from these people."
And it says in verse 19, "A certain scribe came and said to him, 'Master, I will follow
thee, whithersoever thou goest.'
And Jesus saith unto him, 'The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests,
but the son of man have not where to lay his head.'"
Now, I don't see Jesus begging this guy to follow him.
He's not begging, he basically tells him, "Hey, I'm going to follow you everywhere."
He said, "Well, let me tell you, it's not going to be maybe a walk in the park because
I don't even know where I'm going to sleep tonight."
He said, "The fox have holes, the birds of the air have nests, the son of man has not
where to lay his head, I don't even know where I'm sleeping tonight."
And that guy basically didn't come with him.
And then he goes on in verse number 21, it says, "And other of his disciples said unto
him, 'Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.'
But Jesus said unto him, 'Follow me and let the dead bury their dead.'"
And when he was entered into his ship, his disciples followed him.
You get the context.
It's talking about the twelve disciples.
That's who followed him.
You know, other people, there were some other people that were kind of a, you know, a poser
or a faker, you know, they kind of wanted to be in that crowd, but they couldn't take
the heat.
They wanted to do the work.
And God is showing us here, it's not that he was just trying to get a bunch of multitudes
around him.
He's trying to get people around him to really love God.
That's good.
Come on.
They really wanted to serve God.
Amen.
They really wanted to do something for God.
It says in verse 9, or I'm sorry, chapter 9, Matthew 9, it says in verse 8, this is
just after Jesus had healed a man.
It says in verse 8, when the multitude saw it, so they saw this miracle that Jesus did,
when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power
unto man.
Look at verse 9, and as Jesus passed forth from this, he saw what?
A man.
He saw a man.
You know, it's not like multitudes, but he's focused on a man, and it says he saw a man
named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom, and he saith unto him, follow me, and he arose
and followed him.
One man.
Twelve men.
Look if you would at Luke.
Go to Luke chapter 10.
Luke chapter 10, let me just say this, Luke chapter 9 is basically a parallel of Matthew
10.
You know what that means?
A parallel.
Basically the story of Jesus Christ is told four different times.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
It's the same story told from four different angles.
And so Luke 9 is basically parallel with Matthew 10 where he sends out the 12.
He basically says, you know, that the harvest is plentiful, the labor is few, he sends out
his 12 disciples to go out and preach the gospel.
Well Luke 10 is actually after that, okay?
And it says in verse 1, "After these things, the Lord appointed other 70."
So now the numbers go from 12 to 70.
He said, "The Lord appointed other 70 also, and sent them two and two before his face
into every city and place whither he himself would come.
Therefore said he unto him."
The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.
He's saying the same thing again to the 70.
"Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his
harvest."
He sent out 12.
He sent out 70.
You know, 70 is not really a huge number.
12 is not really a huge number.
70 people is not a multitude.
God doesn't need a multitude.
He needs 12 laborers.
He needs 70 laborers.
That's who he used.
That's who he did his work.
Ezekiel 22, you don't have to try that.
It says, "And I sought for a man."
God said, "I'm looking for a man.
I sought for a man."
And of course, he's also looking for ladies.
And the Bible is very clear about that.
I love what Paul said.
A lot of people think, "Well, that's just for the man."
You know.
But, you know, I love what Paul said when he said, "I beseech you, Odeus, and beseech
Senteke that they be at the same mind in those days."
And I love what Paul said when he said, "I beseech you, Odeus, and beseech Senteke that
they be at the same mind in the Lord."
And I treat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the Gospel,
with Clement also and with other of my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.
I love what it says in Acts chapter 2 when, of course, God's power was so evident at the
day of Pentecost, and Peter stood up and said, "This is that which was prophesied by the
prophet Joel when he said, 'It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that
I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.'"
He said, "Your young man shall prophesy, your old man shall dream."
He said, "Upon the servants and upon the handmaidens will I pour out of my spirit in those days,
and they shall prophesy, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved."
I don't believe in women preaching behind the pulpit.
I believe in women keeping silence in the church over what the Bible says over and over.
But you know what?
Ladies can be used of God to preach the Word, to preach to God, to get people saved.
Not in the church, not behind the pulpit, not if you're doing what I'm doing, but you
know, going out and winning souls to Christ, going out and one-on-one preaching the Gospel.
And you know what?
That's a lot greater than what I'm doing up here right now anyway.
No, not every man in this room is going to get by on the pulpit and preach in their lifetime.
Not every lady in this room, hopefully, will ever, you know, be pulpit-preach.
You know what?
Let me tell you something.
Every man in this room, any man in this room, any lady in this room can win someone to Christ.
Can open their Bible.
You say, "I'm not a public speaker."
I'm not asking you to be a public speaker.
I'm asking you to be a private speaker.
I'm asking you to open your Bible to one person and show that person the glorious Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know what?
You say, "Well, I don't know how."
If you're saved, you know how to get saved.
And you know what?
The only verse you need to be able to find is John 3.16.
And I use a lot more verses than that out so many.
But you know what?
If you know John 3.16, then use John 3.16 and John 3.18 and John 3.36.
Show somebody how to be saved and learn more and do better.
But do something.
Be a laborer.
You know, I think of the word laborer.
You don't think of somebody sitting in a cubicle.
You know, if I say, "Well, I'm a laborer," do you picture me in a cubicle?
You know, and I'm not against being in a cubicle, but that's not called labor.
You know, that's a different -- if I said, "I'm a laborer," you'd probably picture somebody
out digging a ditch somewhere or somebody, you know, somebody out doing back-breaking
manual work.
The other thing that comes to mind when we hear the word labor is a woman in labor.
That's pain.
That's hard work.
That's toil.
This isn't a light-duty job today.
It's hard work.
And he said we need laborers.
But they're few.
But that's okay.
I'll give them power and they'll fill Jerusalem with my doctrine.
That's okay.
They'll be filled with the Spirit of God and they'll preach the gospel to every creature.