Amen.
All right, we're there in Luke chapter number nine.
And of course, we are in a series called Journey with Jesus.
And we are making our way, verse by verse, chapter by chapter,
through the gospel of Luke.
And if you are paying attention, you'll
notice that we skipped chapter in Luke chapter eight.
This morning, we went up to verse 40.
But we skipped verses 40 through 56, all right?
We're in chapter nine tonight.
And we're going to come back later
to that passage in Luke chapter eight, verses 40 through 56.
So we're not going to skip it in our study.
But we're going to skip it for now.
We'll come back at another time.
So if you're listening to this on YouTube
or watching it on YouTube or on sermon audio or on our website,
just stand by, all right?
We didn't delete a file or anything.
We're going to come back to Luke chapter eight, verses 40
through 56 at a different time.
Tonight, we're in Luke chapter nine.
And tonight, we're going to see a little bit.
In fact, in chapter nine, chapter nine
is really kind of a transitional chapter
for the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you'll begin to see that as we
begin to work our way through the chapter
over the next several weeks.
But what we see tonight is Jesus beginning
to expand his ministry by involving others
and by training others and sending others out.
And specifically, we see him sending out
the 12 in this passage.
You're there in Luke chapter nine, look at verse one.
The Bible says that he called his 12 disciples together.
Remember, we saw earlier that he had many disciples.
But out of those many disciples, he
had chosen these specific 12.
And he's going to now begin to work specifically
with these 12 in order to get his work done.
And we really see the expansion of the ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We see the discipleship of the ministry of Christ.
And I'd like to just give you three thoughts tonight
as quickly as I can from this passage here, verses one
through 10.
And if you're taking notes, and of course,
I always encourage you to take notes,
maybe you can write these things down.
The first thing we see here is the recruitment
of the apostles.
And we see the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ
is recruiting laborers.
He's looking for workers to help him.
And these, of course, are going to be the men that
are known as the apostles.
If you notice again there in verse one,
then he called his 12 disciples together
and gave them power and authority over all devils
and to cure diseases.
And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God
and to heal the sick.
And skip down just real quickly to verse number 10.
If you'll notice, in verse one, the Bible
says that he called his 12 disciples together.
And then in verse 10, after they come back
from the mission for which he is recruiting them,
the Bible says, and the apostles.
So I want you to notice that these are called apostles.
And of course, these are the 12.
They're 12 disciples.
And there's nothing wrong with calling them 12 disciples.
But they're the 12 apostles.
We'll learn later on in the Gospel of Luke
that there's more than 12 apostles.
But these are the main 12, the one
that are referred to as the 12 chief,
or sometimes just referred to as the 12.
These are the 12 apostles that Jesus
is recruiting for the ministry.
Now, when we study the Bible, we, of course,
the Bible says that we must rightly
divide the word of truth.
So when we study the Bible, we need
to make sure that we understand what we're reading
and what's going on here.
So just as we begin tonight, I want
to make sure you understand that there are some things that
are happening here that apply specifically only
to the apostles.
They're not things that really apply to you and I.
And that's why I want you to notice there that when
we call the 12 disciples in this passage,
at the end of the passage, they're referred to as
the apostles.
And I want you to understand that because there
are some things that apply only to the apostles,
and they're not something that you and I can
claim necessarily ourselves.
There are some things that apply to us,
and we'll look at that, of course.
Let me just highlight for you what
applies only to the apostles so that way you can just
understand what we're studying here,
and also so you're not tricked by those
who are using the word of God to teach false doctrines.
The first thing that we notice here
that applies only to the apostles
is the fact that they were given special powers by the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Special powers that only applied to the apostles.
Look down at verse 1 again, and he called the 12 disciples
together, and he gave them power and authority over all devils
and to cure diseases.
Who did Jesus do this?
He did this to the 12 disciples.
He gave that power and authority to 12 disciples.
In verse 10, we see that it's the apostles.
So today, there are those who will
teach that they have the power to cure diseases.
They have the power to cast out devils.
You've got the Benny Hinns out there
and the charismatic movement that
says that they can do these things.
But I want you to understand that in the Bible,
this authority, this power, was given to the apostles.
He gave them power and authority over all devils
and to cure diseases, verse 2.
And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, notice,
and to heal the sick.
So it is the apostles who were given power and authority
over all devils.
It is the apostles who were given the ability
to cure diseases and to heal the sick.
Now, keep your place there in Luke 9.
That's our text for tonight.
But let's just run a few cross-references real quickly.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, if you would.
You're there in Luke.
You're going to go past John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians,
2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
And let me just prove to you that these special powers
applied only to the apostles.
They applied only to the apostles.
And they applied only for a certain period of time,
1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12.
And I've preached about this at other times
when we've dealt with the apostles, especially
in 1 and 2 Corinthians.
But let's just look at a couple of verses quickly tonight.
1 Corinthians 12, look at verse 12.
The Bible says, truly, this is the apostle Paul speaking.
And notice what he says.
He says, truly, the signs of an apostle
were wrought among you in all patience.
Notice these words, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.
What is that referring to, the signs and the wonders
and mighty deeds?
These are referring to miraculous-type things,
to the fact that the apostle Paul healed people.
He resurrected people from the dead.
He cast out devils.
He did some miraculous things.
And that was a sign.
That was one of the signs of his apostleship,
that he was an apostle, Lord Jesus Christ,
because the apostles had been given the power
to do these things.
The signs and wonders and mighty deeds.
Go to Mark.
Go back to Mark, if you would.
Mark, chapter 16.
If you go backwards, you got 2 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians,
Romans, Acts, John, Luke, Mark.
Mark is right before the book of Luke, Mark, chapter 16.
This is something that oftentimes people
will ask me about, and especially newer Christians.
They might think, what about the signs,
and what about the miracles, and what was this?
What we have in the New Testament
is that certain people were given the power
to be able to perform these miracles.
But this is not something that just every Christian,
every pastor, even today, has the ability to do.
Because this was given to certain Christians
in the New Testament in the first century.
And the Bible tells us that this was done until the time
that the word of God was completed,
until the writing of the word of God was done.
Mark, chapter 16.
Look at verse 20.
The Bible says, and they went forth and preached everywhere.
Notice what the Bible says.
The Lord working with them and confirming the word
with signs following.
Amen.
And of course, earlier in Mark 16,
just a few verses before this, we
see that some of these miracles are being given and detailed
in regards to the power that was given unto them.
So I want you to understand that the Bible tells us
that the Lord was working with them,
and he was allowing them to do these signs,
to cast out devils, to heal people, to do these miracles,
because God was confirming the word with signs following.
And of course, during this time, the canon of the word of God
was not complete.
Of course, the New Testament, the Old Testament was written,
but the New Testament was still being written at this time.
And in some instances, it had not even really
started to be written.
As far as we can understand, the New Testament
was probably done.
The book of Revelation, the last chapter,
was written before 70 AD.
But once the canon of scripture was completed,
once the word of God was done, the signs
ceased and the office of the apostles
ceased, because the apostles were given to us in order
to write the New Testament, to write scripture, of course.
And then they were given signs to confirm the word of God.
So I hope that makes sense, that this is not something.
So by the way, there's no such thing as an apostle today.
The office of an apostle has ceased.
You say, how can you say that?
Well, as you study scripture, and again, I'm
not preaching specifically on this subject.
We've done studies on it in the past.
And in fact, I think we've done it recently.
But as you study scripture, it will become very clear
that the number one characteristic of an apostle
or what made somebody an apostle was
that they were hand-picked, hand-chosen by the Lord Jesus
Christ.
And we know that the apostle Paul
was the last to be chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was definitely the last.
Jesus even made an appearing after his ascension.
He made a special appearing and chose the apostle Paul
to be an apostle.
Paul said that he was the last of the apostles to be chosen.
So today, you've got these charismatics.
And they'll say, I'm bishop this, and I'm apostle that.
They're liars.
They're not apostles.
They don't have any power.
Any power they do have is a devil inside of them,
to go back to our Sunday morning sermon,
is a demon that is helping them perform those miracles, just
like we see in the Bible.
But there is no office of apostleship anymore.
Because to be an apostle had to be chosen by the Lord Jesus
Christ, and Paul was the last one to be chosen.
And then they were given these special powers
to confirm the word, to give credibility
to the word of God.
See, today, as a preacher of the word of God,
I don't have to perform a miracle
or do anything special to confirm the word of God.
The word of God confirms itself.
The word of God gives itself credibility.
I just have to stand up and preach the word of God.
My authority to preach the word of God
is the word of God itself.
But of course, Paul was writing the New Testament.
These men were, like Peter and John,
were writing portions of the New Testament.
So they were given these special powers
by the Lord Jesus Christ.
So I just want you to understand that those special powers were
applied only to the apostles.
There's something else that applied only to the apostles.
Go back to Luke chapter 9, if you would, Luke chapter 9.
Not only at this time did Jesus give them special powers,
to the 12, but he also gave them special provision
and note that special provision was for the apostles only,
and specifically for the 12 only.
Luke chapter 9, look at verse 3.
And he said unto them, take nothing for your journey.
Because Jesus is sending them out.
I'll give you one guess what he's sending them out to do,
to go soul winning.
He's sending them out to preach the gospel.
He's sending out the 12.
He's recruited the 12.
And now he's going to send them out to preach the gospel.
And in that commission, he gives them
special powers that only apply to the apostles,
but he also gives them special provision that
only applies to the apostles.
Notice what he says here in verse 3.
He said unto them, take nothing for your journey.
He said, don't take anything for your journey.
He says, neither staves.
That would be like a staff or a stick, a walking stick
used to support yourself.
He said, nor scrip.
The word scrip is an older word that means
like a small bag or a wallet.
He says, neither bread, neither money,
neither have two coats of peace.
He said, don't take anything with you.
He said, I'm going to provide and give you
what you need for this mission strip.
Don't take anything with you.
Now, you say, well, how do we know that that
doesn't apply to us today?
Well, we know that the powers don't apply for us today,
because Mark tells us that that was for the confirming
of the word of God.
And once the canon scripture was completed,
that was done away with.
What about the provision?
We'll go to Luke chapter 22, because here's
what's interesting about this story
is that this story pretty much happens twice
in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first time, he sends out the 12.
And then later on in his ministry, he does this again.
But the second time, he sends out the 70.
And when he sends out the 70, he kind of changes things up,
because this whole special provision where
don't take your wallet, don't take any money,
don't take your script, don't take your bread,
don't worry about it.
I'm going to take it.
I'm going to have special provision for you.
That was only for the 12.
Notice in Luke 22 and verse 35, here we
have Jesus sending out the 70.
And he said unto them, when I sent you
without purse and script and shoes, lack ye anything?
So he's now asking the question, and he's
referring back to Luke 9.
He says, when I sent you out without a purse,
without script, without your wallet, and shoes,
he said, lack ye anything?
And they said nothing.
But notice in verse 36, he changes it, then said he
unto them, but now he that hath a purse, let him take it.
And likewise, his script.
And he that hath no sword, that would be a weapon, he says,
let him sell his garment and buy one.
So I want you to notice that he told the original 12, hey,
don't take anything.
And you say, what was the purpose of that?
The purpose of that was to show them
that where God guides, he provides.
And God can provide for your needs,
and God can take care of you when you're out there
doing the work of God.
But then he tells the 70, he says, but look,
I can provide, but that doesn't mean
that you ought not be prepared.
So he says, look, that was just a special thing.
I did it for the 12, just to make a point.
He says, but for the rest of you, take your shoes,
take your sword, take your script, take your purse.
So of course, look, we should trust
that God can provide for our needs,
but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't prepare.
So when you go out soul winning, make sure you take your wallet.
Make sure you have identification.
Make sure if you've got a sword, take a sword.
If you've got your concealed sword permit,
make sure you have that with you in your wallet.
And grab a water.
We should prepare for ourselves.
So these were kind of special things
that God did for the apostles, these special powers that
only applied to the apostles and the special provision that
only applied for the apostles.
I just want to be clear about that.
Go back to Luke, chapter number nine,
and let's look at what does apply to us in this story.
And the first thing that applies to us
is the fact that discipleship is really
delegation within ministry.
And the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ
is getting ready to expand right now.
And the way that his ministry expands
is the same way that any ministry expands,
is by involving more people in the work of God.
Look at Luke, chapter nine, and verse one.
Then he called his 12 disciples and gave them
power and authority over the devils and to cure diseases.
Verse two, and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God.
And look, I'm not making this up.
Every time you read the Bible, it
seems like every passage we go to in the Luke,
Jesus is just like, soul winning.
Soul winning.
And he's like, did I mention soul winning?
I'm really into soul winning.
And here we've got, he tells the demon of Gadara,
go home and tell your family what great things I've done.
Then in the next chapter, he has here the 12,
and he's like, hey guys, we're going
to do a soul winning marathon.
He called his 12 disciples together, verse two,
and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God.
Of course, he gave them special powers.
He gave them special provision.
But here's what does apply to us,
and it's how the ministry works.
And it is this, that discipleship is really
delegation into ministry.
And we believe in discipleship, and we
have a discipleship class.
I wrote the lessons for the discipleship class.
We definitely believe in teaching.
But the purpose of teaching is that you might get involved.
The purpose of teaching is for you
to learn what God wants you to do, and then so you will do it.
And I want you to notice how Jesus does this.
Notice first that Jesus demonstrated.
Now, we're there in Luke chapter 9,
but just go back to Luke chapter 8 real quickly.
Because what we're going to see the disciples do
is we're going to see them preach the kingdom of God,
right?
Well, notice in Luke chapter 8 and verse 1, the Bible says,
and it came to pass afterward that he, referring to Jesus,
went throughout every city and village,
preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.
Notice these words, and the 12 were with him.
So first, we see Jesus himself.
What is Jesus doing?
First, Jesus demonstrated.
It came to pass afterward that he, Jesus,
went throughout every city and village,
preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.
Notice, and the 12 were with him.
Jesus is out there going to every city, every village,
preaching and showing the glad tidings.
What's the glad tidings?
The gospel, the good news.
He's preaching, and then the Bible
makes sure to tell us the 12 were with him.
He had 12 silent partners.
That was probably a big group, you know?
Maybe they took turns going up to the door with him.
And of course, he's out there preaching, and he's
doing public preaching services.
He's talking to individuals.
But the 12 were with him.
Notice, the 12 aren't preaching the gospel.
They're just with him.
See, the first step in discipleship is demonstration.
Jesus demonstrated to them what needed to be done.
And look, if you're here tonight, and you say,
you know, I'm here at Verity Baptist Church, I get it.
You guys are really into soul winning.
You know, and look, we are really into soul winning,
but we're really into soul winning
because Jesus really into soul winning.
It's not my fault that like every story, every chapter,
just multiple times, he's like, go preach the gospel,
go preach the gospel, go preach the gospel.
But maybe you're here tonight, and you're like, pastor,
here's the thing, though.
Like, I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to say.
I don't know how to get involved.
Well, here's step one.
You come with us, and we'll just demonstrate.
You don't have to do anything.
You don't have to say anything.
In fact, if you don't know what you're doing, no offense,
we don't want you to say anything.
You know, we want you to be a silent partner.
Key word, silent.
And you know, oftentimes what I found,
and look, you need to start, you make sure you do this.
Whenever you have a new soul winner with you,
obviously, always be nice to them.
But you should take some time to explain, like,
hey, here's how this works.
I'm the speaker, you're silent.
You don't say anything.
Because these silent speakers, they're always like,
oh, I'm not ready to preach the gospel.
But then they want to just pipe in every few minutes,
and they'll give you their thoughts,
or their own restrictions.
Look, it's, are you ready to talk?
No, okay, then be quiet.
And look, and it's okay.
You say, it's okay for me to show up.
You show up, by the way, this is why we run Soul Winning
at Verity Baptist Church the way we do.
It's why we have Soul Winning Captains
that make sure that the silent speakers
get partnered with talkers,
so that you're not just out there not knowing what to do.
We will make sure that you're partnered with somebody
who knows what they're doing, they can talk,
they, you say, what do I have to do?
Just be with them.
The 12 are with him.
Just be there, be a silent partner.
You say, well, what do I do?
Here's what you do.
You fellowship together?
You know, maybe you're in a neighborhood
that's not receptive.
Brother Joel and I were in a neighborhood
that wasn't very receptive yesterday,
so we just spent a lot of time fellowshipping, you know?
And between doors, we're knocking doors,
and people are telling us they're not interested.
You can fellowship together.
But when you do, when somebody does open the door,
and they wanna hear the gospel,
and the partner you're with begins to preach the gospel,
hey, silent partner, that's your time to pay attention,
to watch, to pay attention,
to see how they explain the verses,
see what verses they go to.
Of course, you oughta be silently praying
in your mind, in your head,
for your soul-winning partner that's giving the gospel,
for the person that's hearing the gospel.
But look, step one is demonstrate.
And look, we want to demonstrate for you how to do it.
We want you to come out, and you be a silent partner.
And look, we've always had this philosophy at our church.
We don't push people into doing something
they're not ready to do.
And look, please don't push these silent soul-winners
to do something, especially if they're really new,
to do something they're not ready to do.
First we see that Jesus demonstrated.
But then, so in Luke 8, one,
he went throughout every city and village,
preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God
and the 12 were with him.
But then you get to Luke chapter nine,
and we see the second step of discipleship.
First Jesus demonstrated, then the apostles participated.
Then they got involved.
Luke 9, look at verse one.
Then he called his 12 disciples together
and gave them power and authority over all devils
to cure diseases, and he sent them
to preach the kingdom of God.
First he demonstrated, then they participated.
And this is, look, by the way,
this is how leadership works, just in general.
Leadership is this, you show someone how to do it,
then you help them do it.
But first we have to set the example.
Go to Second Timothy chapter two.
Second Timothy chapter two.
If you find all the T-books, they're all clustered together.
First Second Thessalonians, First Second Timothy, Titus.
Second Timothy chapter two.
While you turn there, let me just read to you
from Judges 7, 17.
In Judges 7, 17, we have the story of Gideon,
and Gideon is getting ready to take his 300 men into battle.
And Gideon says, I love this verse.
When it comes to leadership, I love this verse.
It's a quintessential verse for leadership.
He looks at the men that are following,
and the Bible says in Judges 7, 17,
and he, Gideon, said unto them, his followers,
look on me and do likewise.
And behold, when I come to the outside of the camp,
it shall be that, he says, as I do, so shall ye do.
And that's what we should be doing.
We should be looking at those that are newer Christians,
those that are, we're discipling and helping them grow,
and you say, what should we say?
We should say, look on me and do likewise.
We should first demonstrate, Jesus demonstrated,
then they participated, and by the way,
this is called discipleship, and this is ministry.
You say, what is the goal of Verity Baptist Church?
The goal of Verity Baptist Church is to reach
as many people as possible with the gospel, of course,
get as many people saved, but then we also want to
get as many of those people involved in the work of God.
That begins by first getting them to church,
getting them baptized, getting them to come back
to Wednesday night service, getting them to come back
to Sunday night service.
You say, why do you want them to come back Wednesday night?
Why do you want them to come back Sunday night?
Because at every service, the word of God is being preached,
and every time they're here, there's an opportunity
for the word of God to do a work in their heart
and to help them grow.
You say, well, what happens after they've been coming,
they got baptized, they've been learning?
Then we want them to get involved.
We want them to participate in the soul winning,
and not just the soul winning, in the serving
and get involved in some area of volunteering.
And look, this is what ministry is about.
Second Timothy two, look at verse two.
And the things that thou has heard of me
among many witnesses, the same,
commit thou to faithful men, notice,
who shall be able to teach others also.
That's the goal.
So what's the goal I've already brought to the church?
To raise up faithful men who shall be able
to teach others also.
To raise up faithful men who shall be able
to teach others also in the sense
that we can send them out to start churches, praise God.
We've done a lot of that.
But also just to have faithful men in our own congregation
that are able to teach others also.
I'm thankful that we've got men in this church
that if I'm gone or on a trip or whatever,
they have the ability to stand up
and preach the word of God.
They're faithful men, they know the word of God,
and they can fill the pulpit and preach.
That's what the ministry is about.
So delegation and discipleship go hand in hand.
It's the only way to accomplish more in the ministry.
It's the only way to do more for God,
to get more done for God, to expand the ministry.
You say, what do we need to expand Verity Baptist Church?
We need you.
We need you to get involved in the work of God.
We need you.
And we don't wanna push you or anything.
You just come along, let us demonstrate,
and then you can participate.
So we see the recruitment of the apostles.
I want you to notice, secondly, tonight,
I'm not sure where you're at.
Go to Luke chapter nine.
Not only do we see the recruitment of the apostles,
but we also see the reception of the apostles.
Because remember, Jesus sent them out to,
you guessed it, go soul winning.
And when he sends them out,
he gives them some very specific instructions
in regards to who to focus on and who not to focus on.
Notice there in Luke chapter nine and verse four,
and whatsoever house ye enter into,
there abide, and thence depart.
Now in Matthew, we have the same,
we have a parallel passage where he gives us
a little more details.
Matthew does in the Gospel, go to Matthew if you would.
Matthew chapter 10, you're there in Luke.
Just go back, past Mark, into Matthew.
Matthew chapter 10.
In Luke nine, he says,
whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide.
In Matthew, we have the exact same story of parallel passage
he gives us a little more detail.
And here's what he's teaching.
He's saying, focus on those who are receptive.
Yesterday morning, Brother Luke gave
a soul winning challenge, and he talked about this
in his soul winning challenge.
And I don't know why, he should have known
that I was gonna be preaching this tonight.
No, I'm just kidding.
God must want us to hear this, right?
I'm ripping off Brother Luke.
But in Matthew 10 and verse 11,
notice what the Bible says.
And into whatsoever city,
this is the same parallel passage,
you just get more details in Matthew 10.
Notice what Jesus says to the disciples.
And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter,
inquire who in it is worthy,
and there abide till ye go thence.
And when ye come into an house, salute it,
and if the house be worthy,
of course he's talking about the people in the house,
all right?
Not talking about walking up to a building and saying hi.
And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it,
notice, but if it be not worthy,
let your peace return unto you.
So notice, in Matthew we get the details
that as they were going,
because remember, what are they doing?
They're going out to preach the gospel.
They're going out to preach the good tidings
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Jesus says, when you go out to preach the gospel,
I want you to find the people that are worthy.
I want you to salute people,
kind of scage people,
and find the house that is worthy,
and if it's not worthy, let your peace return to you.
What is he talking about?
He's talking about the fact that he wants them to focus
on those who are receptive.
Go to Acts chapter 13.
Acts 13, you're there in Luke,
pass John into the book of Acts, Acts 13.
When you get to Acts, do me a favor,
put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there,
because we're going to leave it,
and we're going to come back to it.
Acts chapter 13.
Sometimes people get confused by this word worthy,
because the way that we use the word worthy
in our modern vernacular is when we say
that somebody's worthy, we mean like they deserve it.
Like, oh, this person's worthy of us,
and that's definitely a way that it's used
in the Bible as well.
When someone's worthy, what we often mean by that
is that they deserve something.
So oftentimes when people take these passages
where Jesus says, hey, find people that are worthy,
you know, that's what the Calvinists like to really say,
see, not everybody's worthy of the gospel,
and not everybody deserves it, only certain people,
the people that God really likes.
That's not true, because the word worthy
in our King James Bible and the way it's being used here
is it's defined as suitable,
or having the quality suited to or suited for.
It means appropriate or fitting or becoming.
Now let me just prove that to you.
Acts 13, look at verse 42.
Actually, you know what, let me just say this.
The overwhelming emphasis in the Bible
is to focus on those who are receptive.
Look at Acts 13, verse 42.
And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue,
the Gentiles besought that these words
might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
Now when the congregation was broken up,
many of the Jews and the religious proselytes
followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them,
persuaded them to continue in the grace of God,
and the next Sabbath day, came almost the whole city
together to hear the word of God.
So notice, the emphasis in the Bible
is when you and I go out soul winning,
we should be focused on finding people that are receptive,
finding people that are interested,
finding people where you say,
well, what about when it says worthy?
Okay, keep your finger right there in Acts 13.
Go back to Luke nine, look at verse five.
The teaching of Jesus is to focus on whoever is receptive
and to not worry about those who are not receptive.
Look at Luke chapter nine and verse five.
And whosoever will not receive you.
Remember he said, if they'll receive you,
if the house is worthy, and if the house be worthy,
let your peace go upon it, but if it be not worthy,
let your peace return.
Notice how from Matthew 13, Matthew 10, 13 to Luke nine, five
these words are being used synonymously.
They're worthy is being used synonymously
with whether they will receive you or not.
Luke nine, five, and whosoever will not receive you,
when you go out of that city,
shake off the very dust from your feet
for a testimony against them.
So look, he says, if they don't receive you,
what's your response supposed to be?
If they won't receive you,
is your response supposed to be to get angry,
to get upset, to sit there and yell at them
and tell them that they should be listening?
No, no, he says, look, if they won't receive you,
shake off the very dust from your feet and move on.
He says, don't worry about those who are not receptive.
Go back to Acts 13, let me show it to you.
Remember the word worthy?
Acts 13, look at verse 45.
We read verses 42, 43, 44, look at verse 45.
But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
because remember, Paul and Barnabas are preaching
to people that are receptive.
The Gentiles besought that the words
might be preached to them.
Many of the Jews and the religious proselytes
followed Paul and Barnabas and they were persuaded,
and then the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Notice verse 45.
But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy, notice,
and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul.
Notice these words, contradicting and blaspheming.
The word contradict or contradicting means to deny,
to speak against, to say the opposite.
So Paul is preaching and these Jews,
they're contradicting Paul.
They're saying, no, you're wrong about Jesus.
No, you're wrong about your message.
And they're blaspheming.
They're speaking irreverently and speaking evil
and slanderously about God.
Look at verse 46.
Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said,
it was necessary that the word of God
should first have been spoken to you,
but seeing you put it from you, notice the words,
but seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves,
notice the word, unworthy of everlasting life.
Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
So the word worthy and unworthy being used here
in regards to the gospel.
Who is it that decides who is worthy and unworthy?
Is it some Calvinists who decide,
no, you're worthy, you're unworthy.
God loves you, he doesn't love you.
No, no, the Bible says, Paul said,
hey, you seeing ye put it from you
and ye judge yourselves unworthy.
See, when the Bible says that we should focus
on those that are worthy and focus on those
that are unworthy, what we're supposed to do
is let the people decide,
are they worthy to hear the gospel?
You say, how do you know if they're unworthy?
If they're contradicting, if they're blaspheming,
if they're not receiving, if they don't wanna hear it,
then they're unworthy.
You say, who's worthy of the gospel?
Anyone that'll receive it.
Who's worthy of hearing the gospel?
Anyone who wants to hear it, whosoever will may come.
Jesus said, if I be lifted up from the earth,
I will draw all men unto me.
He says, look, I'll give it to anyone,
anyone who wants it, who's worthy?
Anyone who wants it.
And anyone who doesn't want it, that's their choice.
They judge themselves unworthy.
So notice what the Apostle Paul does.
Notice Acts 18, here in another passage
where people were unreceptive.
Acts 18, look at verse six.
And I want you to notice the words.
And when they oppose themselves,
again, it's not Paul saying, you're not worthy.
He wants to give it to everyone, but they oppose themselves.
Notice, and blasphemed.
Notice what the apostle says, he shook his raiment
and said unto them, your blood be upon your own head.
I am clean from henceforth, I will go into the Gentiles.
This is when the apostle Paul shook his raiment,
that's the same idea as what Jesus told the disciples
when he said, shake off the very dust from your feet
for a testimony against them.
And look, the idea, go to Titus,
if you go to Titus chapter three.
If you kept your place in 2 Timothy,
right after 2 Timothy you have Titus, Titus chapter three.
I often tell people this.
When we're out salt winning, you know, Jesus said,
follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
And obviously when we're out salt winning, we're fishing.
But you know, here's the thing,
obviously we want to catch every fish.
Every fish we can, we want to catch them.
But we're out there and really what we're doing
as we're knocking doors is we're looking
for that right catch.
We're looking for the one that's worthy.
We're out, you know, I teach our salt winners,
I teach all of you to ask the questions.
You know, invite people to church and ask questions.
Do you know if we should do that today
or are you on your way to heaven?
Based on whatever answer they give you, if they say no,
you can say, well, you know, the Bible says
you can be 100% sure.
They say yes, then we follow up with other questions
to see if they're actually saved or not.
But the point is this, we ask the question,
hey, if I can show you how you can know for sure
you're on your way to heaven,
would you be interested in hearing it?
And sometimes people will criticize me and say,
well, if you ask the question, they might say no.
And I say to these people, yeah, that's the point.
I don't want to sit there and waste my time
giving the gospel to somebody for 15 minutes or 20 minutes
who's not interested, who's not worthy,
who has counted themselves unworthy, who doesn't care.
Maybe they're just being polite.
You know, and look, you can tell
when you're giving the gospel to somebody
and they're on their phone.
I mean, look, if I'm giving the gospel to somebody
and I always ask people the question,
hey, are you interested?
Would you like to know?
No.
Hey, have a good day.
When you decide you're interested,
there's a QR code here, scan it with your phone.
It'll show you.
I'm looking for the person that's worthy.
And look, and if I'm giving the gospel to somebody
and they start, you know, they're just like on their phone,
they pull out a newspaper.
I mean, they're just yawning.
I sometimes ask people like, hey,
are you interested in this?
Because look, I'm not some door-to-door salesman.
I don't get a commission by getting a prayer out of you.
I'm already saved.
I'm just looking for somebody who wants to get saved.
So we have to focus on those who are receptive
and don't worry about those who are not receptive.
Now look, obviously we need to work at the gospel.
If we can persuade, sometimes people,
it's not that they're not receptive.
They just have a lot of questions
or they're just concerned or they don't know.
And look, in those instances, we should stick with them
and we should try to answer their questions
and persuade them to enter into the kingdom of God.
But look, don't force yourself
on someone who just doesn't care.
We don't believe in this, you know, type of soul winning
where you just like put your foot in the door
and don't let them close it and just make them.
You know, people think this is good soul winning.
People have literally said to me like,
well, the way I do soul winning,
I'm not gonna know when they open,
I just start preaching the gospel and they gotta stop me.
It's like, you are wasting your time.
That is a waste of time.
It's not, they're not worthy.
They don't care.
Look, that's not how Jesus taught soul winning.
He said, focus on those that are receptive.
If the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it.
But if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
Whosoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city,
shake off the very dust from your feet
for a testimony against them.
They count themselves unworthy.
So we saw number one, the recruitment of the apostles.
We saw number two, the reception.
Oh, I forgot to, I had you go to Titus 3, right?
Look at verse 10.
Titus 3, 10.
A man that is an heretic after the first
and second admonition reject.
So look, if you're preaching the gospel to somebody
and they're a heretic, they believe in some heresy,
and they're trying to like get you,
if they're trying to evangelize you
as much as you're trying to evangelize them,
that's a problem.
And look, somebody like that,
they deny the deity of Christ,
they deny eternal security or whatever.
They believe you gotta repent of your sins.
You know, admonish them one time.
Well, the Bible says something different than that.
Let me show you.
If they continue, admonish them a second time.
And if they continue, you know, it's time to walk away.
A man that is an heretic after the first
and second admonition reject.
Look, some of you soul owners,
you go out there and you spend an hour arguing
with some Mormon or Jehovah's Witness
and you're wasting your time.
There might be somebody next door
who actually wants to hear the gospel.
So look, a man that is an heretic
after the first and second admonition reject.
And look, again, this is why we want you guys to come out
so we can demonstrate and then you can participate.
Just because they're asking questions
doesn't mean that they're a heretic.
You know, maybe they grew up in a false religion
and they've got a lot of questions, that's okay.
So it's not like, well, I'm only gonna answer two questions
then I'm done.
Look, if they're asking questions,
if they're trying to think through stuff,
if they're like, this doesn't make sense to me,
talk to them.
As long as they're receptive, talk to them.
But you can tell the difference between,
I don't really understand that.
I didn't grow up in a church that taught that
and they're asking questions.
There's a difference between that
and then the person who's trying to like
get you, you know, their version of saved.
So a man that is an heretic after the first and second
admonition reject is what the Bible says.
So go back to Luke 9.
Luke 9, we saw the recruitment of the apostles,
we saw the reception of the apostles.
Thirdly tonight, notice the report of the apostles.
Like you notice that they went out.
Luke 9 verse six, and they departed.
So they had their little, they had a soul winning rally,
right, they had their soul winning meeting,
12 of them showed up.
Jesus gave them a soul winning challenge.
He says, go out there, find people that are worthy.
If they're unworthy, don't worry about it.
Then verse six, they departed and went through the towns
preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
And the emphasis that I want to emphasize here
is that they went out.
You say, what is the difference between
a soul winning Christian and a non-soul winning Christian?
Here's the difference.
One goes, the other one doesn't.
That's it.
The most important word that you'll find in the gospels
in regards to soul winning is this simple word, go.
You don't have to turn here, I'll just read,
let me just read some verses for you.
But you'll notice this word is emphasized,
Mark 16, 15, and he said unto them, go.
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature.
That's one of the passages regarding the Great Commission
and what's the key word?
Go.
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature.
Matthew 28, 19, another passage with the Great Commission.
Go.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things,
whatsoever I command of you, and lo, I am with you
all the way, even unto the end of the world, amen.
Here's another one, Matthew 22, nine, go.
Go ye therefore into the highways
and as many as ye shall find, bid them to the marriage.
Here's another one, Matthew 10, seven,
and as ye go, as ye go, preach saying
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Luke 9, 60, Jesus said unto him,
let the dead bury their dead,
but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
Luke 10, three, go your way.
Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
You know what Jesus keeps saying over and over
to these people, that he wants them to go soul-willing?
You know what he says?
He says, go.
Go.
You say, what do I gotta do?
I wanna be a soul-winner.
Just go.
Go.
I don't know what to do.
Let us demonstrate, you be our silent partner.
When you're ready, you can participate,
but you gotta go.
You gotta get involved.
They just went.
They departed and went through the towns
preaching the gospel.
I don't know about you, I just love,
as a pastor, I just love reading that verse.
Jesus calls 12, sends them out,
and they departed and went through the towns
preaching the gospel.
I love it.
I love that on Saturday mornings,
we gather a group of soul-winners,
and they depart and go through this town
preaching the gospel.
They went out.
But I want you to notice they also came back, of course.
Look at verse seven.
Now, verses seven, eight, and nine
are kind of interesting verses.
It seems like they're just kind of thrown in there.
We're gonna deal with those here at the end.
But look at verses seven, eight, and nine.
Now Herod, the tetrarch, heard of all that was done by him.
And he was perplexed because that it was said of them
that John was risen from the dead,
and of some that Elias had appeared,
and of others that one of the old prophets was risen again.
And Herod said, John, have I beheaded,
but who is this of whom I hear such things?
And he desired to see him.
Luke nine and verse 10, and the apostles,
when they were returned, told him, told Jesus,
all that they had done.
And he took them and went aside privately
into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.
Now we're gonna deal with the last part of verse 10
in our next sermon in Luke.
But I want you to notice they went, in verse six,
they departed and went through the towns
preaching the gospel, and in verse 10, the Bible says,
and the apostles, when they were returned,
told them all that they had done.
And look, here's the truth.
When you go, you will return rejoicing.
Psalm 126, you don't have to turn there,
I'll just read this for you.
Verse five, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing the sheaves with him.
I'm here to tell you something.
Oftentimes, we don't wanna go, I understand that.
There's lots of times I don't wanna go.
And you've heard that, many preachers say that,
many of you understand that.
But you know it's true, you don't wanna go Saturday morning,
you're tired, you're this, you're that,
you don't wanna go, but if you just make yourself go,
you'll be glad you did.
You'll be glad you went,
especially when you get somebody saved,
you'll be happy you went.
I mean, think about that.
You chose to go, and as a result,
somebody's eternal destiny was changed.
He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him.
So we saw the recruitment of the apostles
and the reception of the apostles,
we saw the report of the apostles.
And I'd like to just, as we conclude tonight,
just deal with these random verses, seven, eight, and nine.
Because this passage, Luke 9, verses one through 10,
it's a passage of Scripture that all goes together.
We've walked through it tonight.
You have Jesus recruiting the 12,
gives them a soul-winning challenge about reception,
and then he sends them out,
they come back with their report.
But in the mix of these verses,
you've got verses seven, eight, and nine,
which just kinda seem like they're kinda random,
they're just thrown in there,
it's about Herod,
and it just kinda, when I was studying the sermon out,
when I was writing the outline for the sermon,
I was studying this passage,
I'm going through this,
I'm looking at verse one, and verse two, and verse three,
and verse four, and verse five, and verse six,
and I'm outlining it, I'm writing some thoughts,
and I'm putting it into an outline,
I'm like, yeah, this all makes sense.
You get to verse 10, it all flows together.
But then you get verses seven, eight, and nine,
I'm just kinda like, what in the world is this?
It's just kinda thrown in there randomly about Herod.
But if you think about it,
you realize that there's a reason.
Look, everything in the Bible's in there for a reason.
And you realize that there's a reason
why it's just kinda randomly thrown into this passage
about Jesus is having a soul-winning rally
with his 12 soul winners,
but there's a reason why Luke throws this in there.
Let's look at it, Luke nine, verse seven.
Now Herod the patriarch heard of all that was done by him,
and he was perplexed.
The word perplexed means confused.
Because that it was said of some,
he hears about Jesus, he hears about this guy
who's performing miracles, casting out devils,
preaching to crowds, training apostles,
they're now going out preaching to crowds,
they're now casting out devils, they're now healing people,
and Herod hears about this,
and he was perplexed, here's why.
Because that it was said of some
that John was risen from the dead,
and of some that Elias had appeared,
and of others that one of the old prophets was risen again.
So a lot of rumors are going around about who Jesus is.
And one of the rumors is, because John is dead,
that John the Baptist is risen from the dead.
Now why would this perplex Herod?
It perplexed Herod because of the fact
that Herod killed John the Baptist.
Look at verse nine, and Herod said,
remember, why is he perplexed?
He said, John, have I beheaded.
But who is this of whom I hear such things?
And he desired to hear him.
Now just real quickly, go back to Luke chapter three.
Luke chapter three.
And look at verse 19.
You say, why is it that Herod beheaded John?
I think it's funny because people often criticize
preachers like me, or my friends,
the new IFB, whatever you want to call it.
And they'll say, why do you guys have to preach
all these controversial things?
Why do you have to preach against the politicians,
and preach against sin, and preach against adultery,
and preach against the LGB?
Why can't you guys just preach the gospel?
You know, why can't you just be like Jesus
and the New Testament?
Well look, John was in the New Testament.
He literally started the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he got killed.
Now John was getting people saved.
John was baptizing.
But you know what he was also doing?
He was also preaching just the righteousnesses of God.
And he was calling out Herod for being a wicked man,
and it got him killed.
Luke three, look at verse 19.
But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by John,
for Herodias' brothers, Philip's wife,
and for all the evils which Herod had done,
added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.
So Herod was reproved by John.
Herod throws John into prison,
and then eventually kills him,
and has him beheaded as a result.
So look, if you're like, well you guys
get too much persecution, you know,
you got too many people against you.
We're just New Testament Christianity.
They didn't like John either.
They didn't like the hard preaching of John either.
And as a result of this,
Jesus obviously does not like Herod.
Go to Luke chapter 13.
Luke chapter 13, look at verse 31.
You know, Herod kills John the Baptist.
But then John, then Jesus comes on the scene,
and now Herod is like interested.
And who is this?
He says, but who is this of whom I hear such things?
And the Bible says, and he desired to see him.
Herod wanted to see Jesus.
He wanted to know what was going on with Jesus.
In Luke 13 and verse 31, the Bible says,
the same day there came a certain of the Pharisees
saying unto him, so here we have a Pharisee
coming to Jesus and saying unto him,
get thee out and depart hence.
So this is a little time after, obviously,
Luke 13 is a little past Luke nine.
Here we have a Pharisee telling Jesus,
you need to get out and depart hence
for Herod will kill thee.
So now Herod wants to kill Jesus.
Notice Jesus' response to this threat from Herod.
Verse 32, and he said unto them,
go ye and tell that fox.
Now I don't know what that means,
but it's not a compliment.
You know, he's like, I mean this is,
because Herod sends a message to Jesus,
get out of town or I'm gonna kill you.
And Jesus said, here's my response,
go ye and tell that fox, behold, I cast out devils,
I do curses today and tomorrow,
and the third day I shall be perfected.
So it's pretty obvious that Jesus does not like Herod.
And the reason that Jesus doesn't like Herod,
go to Luke 23, Luke 23, is of course the fact
that Herod killed John the Baptist,
but it's more than that, it's the fact
that Herod is a reprobate.
You say, how do you know that Herod is a reprobate?
Luke 23, look at verse eight.
Remember when Jesus was standing before Pilate,
and Pilate found out that he was from Galilee,
Pilate sends Jesus to Herod to stand before Herod
because he was of the district of Herod.
Luke 23 and verse eight, we have the Lord Jesus Christ
who's about to be crucified,
standing before Herod, Luke 23, verse eight,
and when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding God,
for he was desirous to see him of a long season.
And we read that in Luke nine, he wanted to see him.
In Luke 13, he's threatening to kill Jesus
because he wants to see Jesus and Jesus won't come to him.
So then he gets mad, he says, well, he's gonna kill you.
And Jesus says, go tell that fox.
And again, I don't know what that means,
but you know, if I ever call you a fox,
it's not a good thing, all right?
And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad,
and he was desirous to see him of a long season
because he had heard many things of him noticed,
and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.
Herod is treating Jesus like he's some sort of a circus act.
Like, oh, can you do a miracle?
I wanna see you perform a miracle.
Look at verse nine.
Then he, Herod, questions with him Jesus in many words.
So Jesus comes to Herod, not because he wants to,
because Herod's been wanting Jesus to come for a long time,
and Jesus won't come.
But now he's under arrest, they bring him to Herod,
Herod is happy, he's hoping he's gonna see a miracle.
He questioned with him in many words.
So he has a lot of questions for Jesus,
he's trying to talk to Jesus.
Notice the last part of verse nine,
but he, Jesus, answered him nothing.
I mean, think about that.
Here you have a man who's happy to see Jesus,
and he's asking a bunch of questions,
and Jesus says nothing to him.
You say, why would Jesus say nothing to him?
Because he's a reprobate.
You say, why is this thrown into the mix,
this thing about Herod into the mix
in this soul-winning challenge of Luke nine through 10?
Here's why.
Because as a soul-winning church,
our job is to go out and to preach the gospel
to people that are worthy and want to hear it
and are receptive, but don't lose fact,
don't lose the fact and the idea
that there are some people
who we don't wanna preach the gospel to.
Herod is thrown in the mix because we're reminded
that one of the things that Herod goes on in history for
is that Jesus is brought to him,
and Jesus answered him nothing.
Jesus did not preach the gospel to him.
Jesus preached the gospel to Nicodemus.
Jesus preached the gospel to the woman at the well.
Jesus preached the gospel to lots of people,
but when he's brought before Herod,
Herod wants, he's forced to be there,
Herod's asking him questions,
Herod's really interesting,
and Jesus says nothing to him.
Why?
Because there are some people
that have crossed a line with God,
and it's too late, and we shouldn't even try
to get them saved.
We shouldn't even preach the gospel to them.
Now, obviously, if you're not sure
if someone's a reprobate, whatever,
I mean, obviously, we should try to give the gospel to people
but when you know someone's a reprobate,
you say, what would you do?
I would answer them nothing.
So I believe that that's the reason that this is thrown,
it's kind of randomly thrown into this passage
because it's like, hey, remember the fact,
wanna preach the gospel to many people who are worthy,
but also don't forget the fact that there are some people
who Jesus didn't wanna give the gospel to
but crossed a line with God, they were reprobates,
and even when brought before Herod,
he answered him nothing.
That's why I heard the Navajo word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord,
for this passage of scripture, these 10 verses,
that we can learn a lot of soul-winning principles from,
learn principles about making sure
that we're preaching the gospel to people
who are worthy and receptive,
and of course, the value of going and coming back
with a good testimony, but also the lesson from Herod
that there's some people who we don't need
to preach the gospel to, they're done.
They could've been saved, but they rejected God,
and God rejected them, and once God's done with them,
there's nothing that we can do for them,
and we see that in the relationship
that Jesus had with Herod, where he just chose not
to even say anything to him because there was no point,
and Lord, I pray that you would help us
to just understand these things, learn these things.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.