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Passing the Baton - Part 2 (Luke 9:1-11)
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Sunday Message recorded 20 July 2025
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Luke 9:1-11
00:00:06
Speaker
Would you look with me at Luke 9, verses 1-11? You know, the Bible often compares discipleship to running. For example, in 1 Corinthians 9, 24, the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote these words, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run?
00:00:28
Speaker
but only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain it. He says a couple of verses down in verse 26, so I do not run aimlessly.
00:00:43
Speaker
Are you just running aimlessly spiritually, or do you have a goal? do you have a target in mind?
Running the Spiritual Race
00:00:50
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In Galatians, Paul had to confront the some of the believers there in Galatia, and he wrote in Galatians 5-7, were running well Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
00:01:04
Speaker
Sometimes we are in the race. We're doing well. We're growing in Christ. We're running. But then we look to the side. We look to the other side and we get distracted and somebody in our life hinders us from obeying the truth.
00:01:20
Speaker
You know, Hebrews 12 verses 1 and 2 says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run. There it is again. Run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
Passing Faith to Next Generation
00:01:50
Speaker
How are you running with the Lord these days? How are you running? Are you running the race that he has given to you to run? ah know for parents, this is very serious because Psalm 78 verses three and four speaks of generational handoffs.
00:02:06
Speaker
where we pass the baton to those that are coming behind. You could look at it in terms of Sunday school teachers that are passing the baton. Right now we've got several of our children at children's camp, as you heard Josh say earlier. So we're trying to pass the baton to the next generation.
00:02:25
Speaker
Pine Cove summer counselors are here today again with us. And I think they've only got, what, one more, two more, Dexter? ah Two more? two Two more, they'll be with us. So thank you guys so much for doing your part in running that race and passing that baton of faith to others.
00:02:42
Speaker
But right now, i wanted to say to parents, remember Psalm 78 verses three and four says, we will not hide them from our children. but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders that he has done.
00:03:03
Speaker
That's exactly what Aaron and Alyssa Lissler are trying to do with these video updates. They will not hide those wonderful things, those sweet things that God is doing in their midst.
00:03:15
Speaker
And so we need to say, Lord, help us. Help us to do our part also to pass the baton.
Jesus' Ministry and Discipleship
00:03:22
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You know, as we established last week, here in Luke 9, verses 1 through 11, Jesus knew that his ministry on this earth was at the midpoint.
00:03:33
Speaker
He knew he didn't have much time left. Bible scholars estimate maybe 18 more months before the cross. And so just think about what is he doing? He's shifting gears.
00:03:44
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Have you ever shifted the gear from the preparation of disciples to the multiplication of disciples? yeah The disciples were aware that if they were running a relay race, they were beginning to enter into what runners called, relay runners anyway, the exchange zone.
00:04:05
Speaker
There's that certain amount of time you have to pass the baton if it's going to be passed to the runner that's coming behind you. And so we need to say, Lord, help us to do it well.
00:04:17
Speaker
Help us not drop that baton. So I was studying Jesus' training of the 12 in Luke 9, 1 through 11, and I saw six spiritual drills that he was taking them through.
00:04:30
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And we looked at three of those drills last week, and we're going to look at three more this week. But would you stand in honor of God's word? Let me read through this. And I say stand in honor of God's word because this is God's inerrant.
00:04:44
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This is God's incredible word that he has given to us. So let's look at it and see what God would say to us today. It's living and active. It can pierce us.
00:04:55
Speaker
And so we're looking into God's mirror, let's say. That's another metaphor that God has. We're looking into the mirror. And what I want you to look for is, how am I doing in my race?
00:05:06
Speaker
Am I running in my lane? Am I running the race that God's called me to run? Am I passing baton? to someone else that's keying off of me. Let's see what Jesus did with these six drills in Luke 9, verses 1 through 11.
00:05:20
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And he called the 12 together. and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
00:05:34
Speaker
And he said to them, take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money, and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there.
00:05:47
Speaker
And from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.
00:06:00
Speaker
And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now Herod the Tetrarch heard about all that was happening and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen.
00:06:28
Speaker
Herod said, hmm, John I beheaded, But who is this about whom i hear such things? And he sought to see him.
00:06:40
Speaker
On their return, the apostles told him all that they had done, and he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. When the crowds learned it,
00:06:51
Speaker
They followed him and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. Let's go to the Father in prayer. Lord, your word is always relevant.
00:07:04
Speaker
There's something we can apply that's in this passage. It may not even be what I'm talking about. Someone may be hearing the voice of your Holy Spirit taking the living Word of God and applying something different to their lives.
00:07:19
Speaker
But all I'm saying is, Lord, we are here in this so-called tent of meeting. We're here to meet with you. And just like Moses, when he would go out into the tent of meeting, it says that you used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.
00:07:36
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Would you speak to us? Lord, we're your people. We want to be considered your friends. We need to hear your voice. So speak today, Lord, for your servants are listening. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:07:49
Speaker
Thank you. may be seated.
Simplicity in Discipleship
00:07:51
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um You know I pray that the Lord would use the message to equip us for reproducible disciple making.
00:08:01
Speaker
Each of us must always be aiming for spiritual multiplication so that it doesn't end with us, so that it keeps going beyond us. Now, last week we read in chapter nine, verses one and two, we saw it again in verse six, how Jesus clarified the priority of the message.
00:08:23
Speaker
If you think about it, where was Jesus standing at that moment? He was standing at that moment when he sends these 12 disciples out on a mission. He was standing in the city of Capernaum, but he was now deploying disciples.
00:08:38
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two-man teams to the other 204 towns and villages so that they could penetrate, so that they could saturate the region of Galilee with a gospel message.
00:08:54
Speaker
You know, the most important component in discipling is to clarify the importance of God's word. And I think to emphasize how essential it is that we live his word, that we share his word. We not hold it in, we share it, we live it, we let people see it in our lives.
00:09:14
Speaker
That's the priority of the message. We saw that last week. We also looked at something else. We heard Jesus insist on simplicity in the methodology.
00:09:25
Speaker
If you make it too hard and you make it too complex, then people are not going to be able to, and the baton won't transfer as easily. So notice in verse 3, It almost sounds to me like the Lord is giving him a no-fly zone.
00:09:40
Speaker
No, no, no, no, no. He keeps saying it five times. There are five no's preceded with this five-word statement, take nothing for your journey.
00:09:53
Speaker
You know, Matthew had been a tax collector. So I wonder if he had connections. I wonder if he was thinking in terms of monetary things and material things. Don't you know that maybe Matthew had already, you know, gathered together like six caravans. And he said, OK, these two, you guys be ready to take these two disciples.
00:10:12
Speaker
You guys follow these two. know they're going to need a lot of food. They're going to need a lot of stuff to go with them in order to pull this off. And then he hears Jesus say, no, no, no, no. no no You know, Paul would later testify to the church in Philippi.
00:10:26
Speaker
In Philippians 4, verses 11 through 13, you should read that passage sometime in how the Lord had taught the apostle Paul, when you're in God's work, you need to learn to say, I don't need a lot.
00:10:40
Speaker
I can be content with a little. I can be content with a lot, but I don't have to have it all for myself. But here's one thing Paul said in that text there, Philippians 4, verses 11 through 13. He said, I've learned whatever situation I'm in to be content.
00:11:00
Speaker
Are you content with where God has you? Are you always looking over the fence? The grass is always greener somewhere else. Or would you say, no, you know what? i believe God's got a purpose in what he wants to do through me right here in this family, right here. in this community, right here in this church.
00:11:20
Speaker
We also saw last week a third drill. Jesus also prepared his disciples in advance for various degrees of receptivity. You know, people are not all the same in how they will receive your witness.
00:11:35
Speaker
Perhaps you've already noticed that in your life. You know, if you're not careful, If you've got a lot of people in your life who have accepted the message, accepted you as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you know what you could become?
00:11:51
Speaker
You could become addicted to acceptance from man. And you could begin to inadvertently, you don't mean to, but you begin to say, you know what? I can compromise here.
00:12:02
Speaker
I can compromise there. If I can just get more people, a bigger crowd, if I can get more people to think that I'm the best, if I can get more likes on my social media page, I will downplay whatever I need to downplay in order that I can just get more and more likes.
00:12:20
Speaker
Wow. Wait a minute. You know, that's not what he's called us to do. Jesus prepared them and look at what he says in verse five. And wherever they do not receive you, someday, somewhere.
00:12:36
Speaker
I guarantee you somebody's going to say, i don't want to hear what you got to say. And you need to know, and I need to know, how do I respond when someone says no?
00:12:47
Speaker
When someone rejects you, perhaps someone's already in your family
Facing Hostility in Discipleship
00:12:50
Speaker
and they're rejecting it. Perhaps someone's at school. You're not looking forward to seeing them again when school starts back. Maybe at at the workplace.
00:13:00
Speaker
But I just want to point out something, that they did go, and you know what they did? They moved with the movers. They said, you know what, I can't change people's attitude, but I am going to multiply my life.
00:13:13
Speaker
I want to show you something I've never noticed before. Would you look with me at Luke 9, verse 1? It's simple, but yet it's profound. How many people did he send out this time? Luke 9 verse 1, he sent out 12.
00:13:30
Speaker
Would you turn one chapter over? Because in chapter 10 verse 1, he's not going to send out 12 on the second mission trip. After this, the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
00:13:50
Speaker
Now you can go back to chapter nine, verses one through 11. But I got to thinking, where did all those guys come from? How come this time, instead of 12, you've got 72? I wonder, I just wonder, did those guys go out there and they multiplied? They shared the gospel. They lived the gospel. The people were convinced and they said, I don't know who this Jesus is, but whoever he is, I'm gonna follow him just like you.
00:14:20
Speaker
And if that's the case, if they won these people, guess what? Each one of those 12 disciples had to have won and discipled disciples. So I ask you, how many people have you led to Christ?
00:14:34
Speaker
How many people are following Christ because of your intentional disciple making, that you are investing in them? i just thought that was an interesting thing. But the thing I wanted to point out is in chapter 10 and verse six, he doesn't say it in chapter nine, but a little bit later today, we're gonna see how Jesus wanted to kind of you know hear their report.
00:14:57
Speaker
He wanted them to reflect and review and maybe reevaluate. And one of the things I wonder if it came up. Some of them said, I got rejected here. And so you know what Jesus says to them in Luke chapter 10 in verse six?
00:15:13
Speaker
I want you to look for a son of peace. On the mission field, we called it a person of peace. I believe right now that Aaron and Alyssa are discovering in Tulaksak some individuals who are people of peace.
00:15:27
Speaker
A person of peace, missiologically, biblically, was someone that says, I'm not gonna reject the gospel. I'm actually interested in the gospel. You may tell me more.
00:15:39
Speaker
I will help you know the people in my circles of influence. And so I wonder if when he sent out the 72, he said, when you go into all these places, want you to look for someone who's welcoming, someone who says, yes, you come.
00:15:55
Speaker
Well, I want to give you three more spiritual drills that'll help you get those that you're working with ready for whatever they may face in their lives. And of course, you know, like I said at the beginning, we certainly would want to include parents in that role.
00:16:11
Speaker
But the fourth spiritual drill is a warning, a warning of possible hostility against the messengers. Can we expect a lost world that's in rebellion against God to give us a high five, pat on the back?
00:16:28
Speaker
Will they always embrace us and embrace the gospel? I think that's unreasonable. I say it's unreasonable because Jesus himself in John 15 verses 18 through 25, he said, I want you to not be surprised if the world hates you.
00:16:45
Speaker
And the reason the world will hate you is because the world hates me. And they will hate you because they hate me. And the reason they hate me is because I expose their sin so that there's no more excuse for what they're doing that is out of my plan for them.
00:17:03
Speaker
That's happening all over the world. Maybe in your life, you're not encountering any hostility, any persecution. But let me share with you something that was put together by Open Doors 2024. In December of 2024, Open Doors Ministry put together what they call their World Watch List.
00:17:26
Speaker
Guess how many Christians worldwide are now facing high levels of persecution. I think they need our prayers. You might be shocked to hear this figure.
00:17:39
Speaker
360 million. 360 million of your brothers, your sisters in Christ are facing high levels of persecution.
00:17:51
Speaker
So don't assume because you're not, no one is. The whole world is such a happy place. It's not that way. As a matter of fact, they also put together the 10 most dangerous places to be a Christian.
00:18:06
Speaker
North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran, and Afghanistan.
00:18:18
Speaker
You know, in Luke 9, verses 7, 8, and 9, it's almost like you would think You would think this is a brief excursion that Luke takes.
00:18:30
Speaker
And so Luke's kind of getting distracted, right? And he's sort of leading off the beaten path of preparing and training and deploying the 12. I don't think so. I think that Jesus most likely warned his men, be careful of Herod Antipas.
00:18:47
Speaker
Be careful because he put to death John the Baptist. Don't think that he won't put you to death. And so this Tetrarch named Herod Antipas, he was the one who executed, who martyred John the Baptist.
00:19:02
Speaker
So when I was reading 7, 8, 9, I thought, is there anything, Lord, you would want me to pass along to the disciples of 2025? Or is it just all narrative?
00:19:14
Speaker
Is there no principles? Is there nothing there that we need to learn? And I felt like that in his still small way, the quiet quiet voice of the Holy Spirit said, these are the four things I want you to give the people of what can happen. Why does hostility take place?
00:19:31
Speaker
So i just want to pass them along to you. Maybe you won't need them. Maybe you will. The first principle is this, hostility is often driven by an oppressive ruler or an oppressive government.
00:19:45
Speaker
I think you see that in verse seven with Herod Antipas. But if you were to go to Herod Agrippa, Herod Agrippa had the apostle James martyred. Sometimes the hostility is driven by one man.
00:19:59
Speaker
The hostility is driven by one government. But secondly, hostility is sometimes based upon confusing speculation. You see, Herod Antipas was being told something that wasn't true.
00:20:14
Speaker
People were saying, you know what? John the Baptist has risen from the dead. Speaking of Jesus, they're saying, that's not Jesus, that's John the Baptist, the guy you beheaded. So just think about Herod Antipas. Man, he's like all ears then. He's like, hey, if that guy's coming after me, I need to know who's coming after me.
00:20:32
Speaker
Others were saying, no, no, it was Elijah, or it's another one of the prophets. Was that true? Is that who Jesus was? That wasn't true. Sometimes a government, an individual, sometimes your grandfather, your brother, your uncle, someone in your life at school, someone at work, they've not heard the truth about Jesus.
00:20:58
Speaker
And that's why they're so against it. They don't know who he really is. They're basing it on something they've heard of who they assume, who they think that he is.
00:21:10
Speaker
I'd say thirdly that hostility is always hostility is always the result of spiritual ignorance. That's the root problem. See, Herod Antipas was asking the right question.
00:21:23
Speaker
Who is this about whom I hear such things? Wow. You know, it's interesting if you were to go down and look at 1 Timothy 1, verses 12 through 16, there was another man who at one time in his life, you know what he was?
00:21:41
Speaker
He was so hostile. He was so mean. He was so ruthless toward the believers. You know who he is? The Apostle Paul. He was saying, whoa, wait a minute. I thought he's one of the good guys. He became a good guy.
00:21:55
Speaker
He became very tender. And you should hear his testimony in 1 Timothy 1, verses 12 through 16, because here's what he said. He said, I acted ignorantly in unbelief.
00:22:10
Speaker
He realized that he had the wrong idea about Jesus. Somebody else might have the wrong idea about Jesus. And so we've got to say, Lord, They just don't know.
00:22:22
Speaker
They're spiritually ignorant. They haven't heard the truth. They can set them free. Hostility, lastly, is usually... it's usually covered up. There's usually some kind of an attempt and it's like a clear, clever disguise that they're trying to cover over. And so what was Herod Antipas' disguise?
00:22:44
Speaker
He said, you know what? I'd like to see him. but If anybody sees Jesus in a community, come tell me. I want to go and see him. Would you go and tell Jesus? I'd like to hear him. I'd like to see him myself.
00:22:57
Speaker
You know,
00:22:59
Speaker
The desire was granted 18 months later. If you are a note taker, then why don't you read sometime Luke 23, verses 6 through 12. This same Herod, Jesus was brought to him during the trial.
00:23:15
Speaker
And you know what he really wanted? He said, I want to see a magic trick. Come on, do something for me. Let me see a miracle. Come And you know what? Jesus just sat there, just looking at him. Can you imagine just staring him right through? It must have put a hole through him as he saw the intense gaze of Jesus.
00:23:33
Speaker
He said Jesus didn't say a word. So you know what? Herod Antipas, who wanted to see Jesus, he just started mocking him. He started saying, let's just beat him up, send him back over to Pilate.
00:23:46
Speaker
So just imagine... It wasn't real. What I'm saying is some people disguise their true intentions. You know, a helpful prayer that I believe would be good, if you're ever in a situation, no matter where you are in your life, and maybe you'd say,
00:24:03
Speaker
I wish I listened to that whole thing about hostility and the way to respond. I want to give you a prayer that's recorded of the Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3. 2 Thessalonians 3 verses 1 to 5. It's on the screen there, but you might want to make a note of it to just look at later. What should you do if someone doesn't like you?
00:24:29
Speaker
If you're being rejected, if someone's got pressure, if someone actually hates you and actually trying to do mean things to you, well, you know what you should pray? Lord, don't let it affect the speed of the word of God.
00:24:43
Speaker
Let the word of God keep going. Lord, just deliver me from the wicked person. Lord, I pray for defense against the work of the devil. Lord, I pray that you would help me personally just stay dedicated to the will of the Lord. And Lord, I pray that you would bring me back constantly.
00:25:02
Speaker
Direct me back constantly. to worship from the heart. I believe that's what we need to do. That's a great prayer. So don't get distracted by persecution, by pressures and so forth.
00:25:13
Speaker
Don't let them become your focus. Well, let's move to a another drill. If you're keeping up with the amount of drills, this is the fifth spiritual drill It almost doesn't sound like something you would practice, but I believe that the Lord Jesus was trying to give them sort of like something he wanted them to do in their lives.
Rest and Reflection in Ministry
00:25:35
Speaker
He planned for inactivity from the movement. When Jesus was there, it's like God was moving in Galilee. Great things were happening. But in Luke 9, 10, our Lord is leading the apostles not to the charge.
00:25:51
Speaker
He's leading them to a retreat. He's leading them to a quiet lake town on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee called Bethsaida.
00:26:02
Speaker
Bethsaida. Bethsaida. And what did they do? I believe that the Lord wanted them to reflect on the mission trip. Think back, guys. What was it that happened? What did you see?
00:26:14
Speaker
So they start reflecting back and then they start reporting and they start telling Jesus, here's what I saw. This was really exciting. This was really challenging. And so maybe they did some reevaluating. Man, if I could do it again, i wouldn't do this you know next time If you were to look at a parallel passage, Mark 6, verses 30 to 32, you would see that he actually brought them to that place, Bethsaida, so that they could rest and have a place of quietness.
00:26:44
Speaker
Do you have a place of quietness? I mean, I know you've got a lot of responsibility. Some of you are high energy people. You've got a lot of jobs, a lot of responsibility. But no matter how busy you are,
00:26:57
Speaker
You need to learn to say, I'm going to start the morning, even if I got to get up 30 minutes early, I'm going start the morning with the Lord because I need that quiet place. I need that time when he can restore my soul, when he can give me energy and direction for my day. There's a ah guy named Jacob Hess who wrote an interesting article. And here's the name of the article. It says it all.
00:27:20
Speaker
Nine times Jesus retreated to be alone with God. Nine times. How many times do you retreat to be alone with the Lord?
00:27:32
Speaker
We need to teach our disciples to guard the quiet time. Now, some of you know that I used to be a missionary to Japan, so we're gonna have to go to language school, I'm sorry. So I wanna show you a couple of Japanese letters up here. They're actually words and they're called kanji.
00:27:49
Speaker
When we were in language school, my wife and I had to learn hiragana, katakana, and kanji. So these are two kanji. So the kanji on the left is isogashi.
00:28:01
Speaker
It means busy. You got, you're so busy these days. That's isogashi. Doesn't it sound like you're busy? But you know what the next one on the right says? It's wasureru. You know, it's like you forget something.
00:28:16
Speaker
You forget. And so the one on the right means to forget, wasureru. And the one on the left is isogashi. That means busy. You might not realize it at first glance, but see what's circled in red?
00:28:32
Speaker
That's also repeated over there in the one to forget. It's on the side, it's on the left side, but look at above. What is that? Because the one for isogashi has the same kanji or radical that's over on the one on the right for forget.
00:28:48
Speaker
So when you're busy and when you're forgetting something, the same two radicals in the Japanese language are included. You know what that one that's above the heart means?
00:29:01
Speaker
It means to disappear. It means to lose. So here's what the Lord is trying to say to me, why I brought this and included it. Because a long time ago when I was in Japan, there was a Japanese Christian who said, you know, sometimes we Japanese can be so busy in the company that we forget what's really important in our heart.
00:29:22
Speaker
If you get so busy that you forget that God is the source of your blessing, God is the source of your joy. He's the source of your peace.
00:29:34
Speaker
You're not gonna be able to survive all this going on because you will lose. you It will disappear. Your heart will disappear. But then you say, well, why would it put it in a different arrangement for forget?
00:29:50
Speaker
in a different arrangement for busy. Here's the reason. A guy explained this to me as well. When it's underneath the word for disappear, it means it's going to disappear because of you.
00:30:04
Speaker
You have gotten yourself so busy by saying yes to so much that that's why you're losing your heart. You yourself have done it. But when it when the radical for kokoro, which is heart, when that is over on the left side, it means it's outside. It's not underneath. It's not under the umbrella of your responsibility. But it's like something happens and suddenly you lose your heart.
00:30:33
Speaker
And I can't help but think about the people in the Texas Hill Country flooding. And now maybe some... Maybe some in their heart, they know God loves them.
00:30:44
Speaker
They know God has a plan, but they just do not understand. They don't understand why they lost a loved one. I can't say that I blame them for struggling with it. It would be beyond my ability to comprehend how tough it would be.
00:30:59
Speaker
But all I know is the warning, the warning of these kanji, because the warning is you'll lose your heart. You'll forget what's in your heart if you allow external circumstances to push you away.
00:31:13
Speaker
Robert Murray McShane was a dynamic dynamic young pastor of St. Peter's Free Church in Dundee, Scotland. He served there six and a half years. He was so anointed by God's spirit. Everybody wanted to invite ah Murray McShane, Robert Murray McShane to be there.
00:31:32
Speaker
So he was speaking all over Scotland, all over England, all over Europe. And what's amazing is he was only 29 years old For example, in February of 1843, just that one month alone, Robert Murray McShane spoke 27 times in 24 different places, and guess how he got there?
00:31:55
Speaker
Remember, we are talking 1843. He went by horseback. But in that particular month, they had had heavy snows across Scotland. So when he was up there in northeastern Scotland, he's traveling by horseback.
00:32:09
Speaker
So guess what happens? He runs his body down. He doesn't take time. He was a man with a close walk with the Lord. He had a deep love for the scriptures. He had a passion for evangelism. But know what he did?
00:32:25
Speaker
He pushed his young body so hard until it snapped and he got typhus. And so on March 25th, one month later, 1843,
00:32:37
Speaker
the The world mourned for the loss of such a rising, dynamic young Christian preacher. But the lady who was taking care of him heard his last words, and she said, here's what he said.
00:32:49
Speaker
God gave me a message to deliver and a horse to ride. Alas, I've killed the horse, and now I cannot deliver the message. You see, we have to learn to respect the ebb time that God gives us and the flow time that God gives us.
00:33:05
Speaker
When God gives you a rest time and an ebb time, start gearing down. Take advantage of it because the flow time will come. God will open those doors and you won't be able to keep up if you have not rested during the ebb time.
00:33:22
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Let me give you one last thing I would say that we should include whenever the Lord is giving us an opportunity to disciple and to mold others, to mentor them.
Adaptability and Interruptions in Ministry
00:33:34
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The sixth one is that Jesus also demonstrated how to maintain flexibility toward the multitude. Flexibility. Remember they were going over to the quiet village, right? Bethsaida.
00:33:48
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It was four miles northeast of Capernaum. It actually meant house of fish. I wonder what they did in that community. I bet they i bet they enjoyed fishing.
00:33:59
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But I bet that the fishing was so disturbed when that big crowd was running along the banks and there's Jesus, there he is. And these those fishermen were probably out there, hey, hey, you're scaring a fish.
00:34:12
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You know, someone actually counted 35 actual times in the gospel of Mark, just Mark's gospel alone, when Jesus was interrupted.
00:34:24
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He was interrupted while he was teaching. I looked these up. He was interrupted while he was praying. He was interrupted while he was healing. He was interrupted while he was traveling. He was even interrupted while he was resting.
00:34:39
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But you know what? I think I'm beginning to learn more. is what one wise pastor said one time. He said, sometimes interruptions are the ministry.
00:34:51
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Interruptions are the ministry.
00:34:54
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C.S. Lewis had an interesting take on interruptions that we face daily in real life. Here's what he said about it. What one calls the interruptions,
00:35:06
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are precisely one's real life. The life God is sending one day by day. What one calls real life, that's a phantom, a phantom of one's own imagination.
00:35:22
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All you gotta do is ask a mom with two, three, four, five children. She'll tell you, oh yeah, I know exactly what you're saying. You know, Jesus reacted to the interruptions in these ways. I put kind of like a few principles there. And I thought, well, I know that we have to balance, you know, our emotional, mental, spiritual rest with legitimate needs and flexibility to human need.
00:35:48
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And so what I noticed was patterns about Jesus. Thinking and back of all four gospels, I thought about these things from this verse. One is he was always open to give them his attention.
00:36:01
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It says he welcomed them. The second thing is he thought, what if there's an opportunity? course, he knew there would be, but he used that opportunity when he was pressed.
00:36:13
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He was there to rest with the disciples, but here comes the multitude. So it says that he spoke to the multitude of the kingdom of God. He said, you know what, I'm gonna use this as a teaching moment for the word.
00:36:26
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But then he also reached out to where their need was for healing. wanna close with a story of John Newton and then I'm finished. But John Newton wrote the song Amazing Grace.
00:36:40
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And I've got a little spin on it that I wanna share with you that I've never thought about before. Do you know that God himself sometimes is the interruption? When I read John Newton's testimony, kind of reviewing it, I thought, there it is.
00:36:56
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See, John Newton was rebellious against God, like maybe someone in this room. Rebellious against God, not interested in the Lord at all. But you know what? The Lord just kept on interrupting.
00:37:06
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The Lord just kept on interrupting. It was a continual interruption because here's some of the things that happened while John Newton, while he was in rebellion.
00:37:18
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One, he was bucked off a horse. He was thrown off a horse by a row of sharp stakes. And he said, I missed those stakes. They could have impaled me through the back.
00:37:31
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He was also, another time he he missed a ship that he intended to board. He was running late when it was time to leave for war. He was going to be on that battleship. You know what tragically he watched?
00:37:44
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Just as it was leaving the harbor, it got it got all kind of cannonballs and so forth. And he watched his friends sink to their death just outside of the harbor.
00:37:55
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And his heart broke. Another time he was hunting in Africa and he said, you know, the the clouds covered up the moon and we couldn't see. and we realized none of us know the way back to where the camp is.
00:38:10
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And so he said, we were going to be lost in the African bush But then suddenly he said, it's like the moon appeared. And so they were discovered and found and they they got their way back to the camp.
00:38:23
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Another time, and this was the final time, the final interruption when God was saying, what's it going to take, John? What's it going to take, John? What's it going to take, John? What's it going to take, John? So it's getting intense, right?
00:38:37
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He was sailing. He was the captain of the ship, and it was a terrible storm. And the whole crew that was working on the deck that night, they were all swept away. They lost their lives, but only he was spared.
00:38:49
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And he thought, why me? you know what he did? He surrendered his life. He surrendered his life to Christ, and he became a new man, tender and compassionate, and so forth. You can read about it in that quote.
00:39:04
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But 2 Timothy 2.2 brings it back to me and you.
Call to Action: Passing the Baton
00:39:08
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Because right now, I don't want to talk about Jesus and what he did. I don't want to talk about Paul and what he did.
00:39:15
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I just want to ask you, what are you doing? What am I doing? What are we doing? 2 Timothy 2.2 says, and what you have heard from me, this is Paul talking to his disciple Timothy, and what you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust of faithful men.
00:39:34
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who will be able to teach others also. In terms of disciples, that's four generations, right? Paul, Timothy, faithful men, others also.
00:39:46
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Are you passing the baton? Are others coming to know the Lord? There's a great... message that Dr. Peter Masters, he came up with this message. So I'll just only tell you, you can you can find it on the internet.
00:40:04
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But Dr. Peter Masters, he's the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Church in London, England, where Charles Haddon Spurgeon used to be. But anyway, Dr. Masters wrote this book called Companions of the Apostle Paul, and he wrote it on the Roman 7.
00:40:24
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I've never heard of seven disciples called the Roman seven. Let's go to the next slide if we could. The Roman seven is found in Colossians four, verse seven through 18.
00:40:37
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All of those men that Paul discipled, they were all Romans. How many of you would say, I've got the American seven that I'm investing in, that I want to see the Lord come to know?
00:40:49
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Are you running your race? Are you also passing the baton? Are you training people so you can pass the baton? How are you doing in parenting? Are you just kind of just sort of treadmill things? Or you say, no, we're making progress.
00:41:06
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Why don't we all stand together? I'd like to pray over us. And then you respond the way God tells you, especially if you don't know Christ. This invitation is simple. It's just, would you come to him?
00:41:18
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In this last song, we're going to say, you know, like the deer pants for the water brook. I'm thirsty for something, God, and I don't know what it is. It's him. The Lord made us for himself.
00:41:29
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So why don't you run to him? Let that be where you run first, and then he'll show you where to run next. Let's pray together. Lord, I know that your word is so priceless.
00:41:43
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It's so precious. How it just tells us over and over what we need to do. And one of the things that is so important for today, 2025, is that we would be making disciples.
00:41:56
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We would be sharing the gospel, following up on those that respond. If those people don't respond, then we have to just keep moving with the movers. And then we're going to invest in people and help them to grow in Christ, to become where they can invest in others and they can invest in others and so forth.
00:42:15
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But Lord, but it all begins with that repentance to where we realize, I'm so thirsty. I am so dry on the inside. I don't have Jesus as the living water and I wanna come to him today.
00:42:31
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So Lord, please, would your Holy Spirit draw people to run to Christ, draw them to run to you. And I know that you will show them the the water of life.
00:42:43
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And so bless this time. Lord, help them come in repentance and faith, knowing that Jesus died as our substitute on the cross, was placed in a tomb and three days later, he rose from the dead.
00:42:56
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Well, we have a living Savior who can give us that living water so that we can run the race that we were called to run. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:43:13
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This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.