Does Elijah want to come forward? No pressure. I’m glad Jeremiah didn’t say he’s going, because I’m making him go. I’m thankful that God is alive and working in young hearts.
Actually, can the whole mission team come forward? And can we show the slide of the family that we’re building the house for, the Lopez Hacho family? Let’s put that slide up there.
So right there in the Aggie shirt is Alfonso. And to the left of him is his wife. Actually, I’m not even sure if they’re married partners. Maybe Adriana.
And they have five children pictured here, but maybe from a previous relationship. There are two others. So the names are the parents: Alfonso, Adriana. And then there’s Alejandra, not pictured, age 14; Fabiola, not pictured, age 13; and then Jose is pictured, twelve; Hovanni, eleven; Ahelin, seven; Itzel, five; and then the two-year-old, Adrian.
So if you could pray for the peace of God to rest upon this family even after we leave. So can we have the mission team come forward? And if we could just pray in unison for the team.
Let’s pray for God’s protection, his blessing. Let’s pray for the power and authority of Jesus to fill us. Fill us with the Holy Spirit so we can do everything that God has in store for us.
Okay, let’s pray together. Father, we just lift up this entire team to you, the seven of us, including Oliver, the ten brothers and sisters at Canaan church. We pray that you shield and protect us. We pray that you go before us.
We pray, Lord, that you open up our hearts, that you fill us with your power, your authority, your love, your compassion, your mercy, a heart to serve and not to be served.
We pray, Lord, that you would minister to us as we try to minister before you in surprising ways.
I pray that your peace would rest upon Adriana and Alfonso and the seven children.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father.
We lift up the mission team to you, the six of us, plus Oliver, seven, and ten brothers and sisters at Canaan church, all 17 of us. We pray that you shield and protect us and go before us.
We pray that you anoint us with your power and authority, Lord Jesus. We pray that you fill us, Father, with the Holy Spirit so that we can do everything that you ask us to do.
Father, we ask that you would move in our midst and as we minister before you, that you would minister to us.
Most importantly, that we would come back with many testimonies of what you did in our hearts and amongst us. Thank you, Lord. We pray that you be with us in the drive. Canaan brothers and sisters, as they already started driving, be with all of us for safety. And, Lord, we look forward to returning on Friday. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Okay, thank you. And let’s keep praying throughout this week for this family, for the peace of God to rest upon them.
That’ll be my daily reminder to the team whenever we are building the house and remembering the family that we’re building it for.
Let’s pray for Alfonso, Adriana, and the seven children, for them to meet Jesus so that the peace of God can rest upon them for all eternity.
Okay. Well, last week we focused on the power and authority of Christ that the twelve apostles received. And then later on, 72 others received as well prior to being sent out for missions.
And so I want to ask the mission team, what if we experience incredible salvations of all members of the Lopez Hacho family, and they all started speaking in tongues?
We all started speaking in tongues, and we were set free from all demonic possession, and we were set free of all illnesses. And what if we came back from the mission trip with that kind of a testimony?
Is that the primary thing that Jesus wants us to testify about upon our return, if that were to happen? If not, then what?
What if I told you that I know exactly what we should learn from this trip and come back and testify after this trip? What if I can tell you exactly from the Lord what we should be getting from this trip? And I want to share that with you today.
Luke 10:17.
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:17-20, ESV)
So rather than rejoicing over a possible ministry, missions success, Jesus expects us to rejoice that our names are written in heaven. And this is a point. This point applies to all of us, whether we’re going to missions or whether we’re the ones sending out the mission team.
This point applies to all of us. How much and how regularly are we rejoicing and giving thanks for the greatness of our salvation? It’s a very practical thing. You can gauge how thankful you’ve been, how much you’ve prayed, this very prayer about being thankful for salvation.
It’s in the Bible. And so we know we should think this way. But do we believe it? Do we believe in our heart that from the depths of our being we have this kind of gratitude? That our names are written in heaven?
That’s what I want to talk about today.
If not, what’s wrong? Are we missing something? If we can’t be thankful from the heart for the greatness of our salvation, what do you think we’d be? What do you think is missing if we are not thankful for salvation, for our own salvation, what do you think is missing?
Any thoughts? What could we be missing? Yes, Sophia, yes, we’re definitely missing gratitude. But what. What ingredient is missing? So that gratitude for salvation doesn’t come out as it should anybody?
Well, what if we read the next verses together? And then I will ask Luke 10:21.
21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Luke 10:21-24, ESV)
So what is a missing ingredient? Why a born again believer might not give thanks for the greatness of salvation? What are we missing? What could we be missing?
Well, the answer the Lord has given to me. Okay, Sophia. Yes. Okay. Okay, okay.
You’re definitely on the right track about humility of a child. That is something missing. Innocence of a child. Yeah, innocence of a child. But what is he contrasting the child versus who? Who is the contrast here?
And there’s two key words that are opposites in this section. Pardon me? Why isn’t understanding? Yeah, so that’s the comparison. So the little child and the verse is a wise and understanding. And then there’s a pair of opposites that are mentioned in these verses. Can anyone identify them?
Hidden and revealed. Hidden and revealed. Yes.
So what could we be missing? We’re missing revelation. We’re missing revelation.
So receiving the power and authority over all demons and to cure disease is a gift of grace. It’s not something we can manufacture. We just have to receive it and then live out of it. It is a gift of grace.
And this gift of power and authority of Jesus is available to all believers in God’s universal church. You can read Mark 16:15 to read about the fact that all believers have access to the power and authority of Christ, the gift of grace.
But there’s a greater gift of grace, and it’s the gift of revelation. What revelation? Revelation regarding the greatness of our salvation, as well as the privilege that we have as believers to call God our Father.
This is a revelation that needs to come. In a sense, we are more, far more blessed than anybody that we read about in the Old TestAment.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, King David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Deborah—you can just go down the line. Any significant person in the Old TestAment, according to Jesus, because of what we have seen and heard, because of what has been revealed to us in Christ, the fullness in Christ, we are far more blessed because of this revelation.
Because we have seen something and heard something about our savior, and he saved us. And we have this privilege in Christ now to call God our father. And who doesn’t receive this gift of grace known as revelation?
It is the wise and understanding, and I think a better translation for this is skilled, well educated. That is, the wise and understanding is IQ and intelligence. And these are not bad things. It’s not bad to be skilled in a trade, to be a programmer, to be a physicist.
It is a great thing to have skills because you can use them for your vocation. It is a blessing to be gifted with intelligence. You had nothing to do with it just by the sheer fact that you’re born to intelligent parents.
Therefore, now you are an intelligent child. You had nothing to do with it. And these are, in some sense, neutral.
But if the skills that you’ve gained in life through education, through the effort to acquire this cultivated version of yourself, if that is a source of pride, if that’s something, now you start depending on yourself because of these skills that you’ve gained through education. Now that’s a problem because you won’t think you need revelation because you think, well, I have it.
And on top of it, if you are, if you have understanding, if you have an IQ, you really probably will rarely go to God and ask for revelation.
You know, you can preach for 50 years just based on your skill and just based on your critical ability to study commentaries. And just through your IQ, you can craft a sermon and you can be totally devoid of the Holy Spirit.
There are many preachers like that.
They don’t know God, but they’re skilled, they’re well-educated, and they’re smart. You hear them, and you’re impressed because you’re seeing their skill in action. you’re seeing their education coming out through all their parsing of the Greek and the Hebrew and quoting of Jonathan Edwards and Calvin and these theologians.
You can be a non-Christian and preach through skill and through intelligence.
And if you depend on these things, would God reveal himself to you, especially the greatness of your salvation? Or according to God’s words, if you depend on your skills, your education, your intelligence, your ability to discern right from wrong, your assessment of the situation, your own wisdom, and you rarely go to God, then what I see from scripture here is this gift of grace called revelation.
It will be withheld, and instead it’s going to remain hidden.
Even as a believer, if we start depending on our skills and our intelligence and John Piper and our commentaries, if we start depending on these things, then God says, okay, you can use those. But if you depend, the truly valuable things in spiritual life are going to be hidden from your eyes.
Conversely, who receives this gift of revelation? It’s a little child. The better translation, it’s an infant. The most unskilled person in the room is the six-month-old. The one-year-old. They can’t even talk. They just. They’re just laying in a stroller.
They don’t have anything to contribute to the conversation. That’s the picture. Totally unskilled, uneducated, maybe intelligent, but we don’t see it. They’re too young. It’s not going to come out. And that’s the picture.
If you are like that infant, unskilled, unintelligent, or unknown, unknown IQ number, that person who is humble like a child will receive this gift of grace called revelation. And that’s another way to put little child.
It’s James 4:6. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
6But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6, ESV)
This gift of grace called revelation is reserved for the humble.
So for not giving Thanksgiving for the greatness of salvation, could it be that things are hidden from us? And why are they hidden? It’s because we are trusting in our skills, education, or our intelligence. And we don’t think we need God’s assistance through revelation.
Like all of human knowledge, if you think about it, it’s so limited. You just take one little slice, like the human body and health and medicine. It’s like divided into hemispheres. You got the western medicine that has its strategies. You have the eastern medicine, and this is totally separate.
But in the Olympics, it’s like I remember Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time. And then he comes on to compete for the Olympics, and what’s on his body all over? Do you guys remember? Anybody? Pardon me? These little suction marks. Do you remember? Yeah, yeah. The suction marks, which is an eastern cupping method of acupuncture. You think, well, he is the most decorated western US swimmer, and he’s not going to use the western technology.
And sure enough, if you read his bio, it’s like before every competition, he is using cupping because his muscles are sore. And it’s like, this is weird. This is like a convergence of East and West.
And like, if I have a broken bone, I have no problem going to the doctor and getting that broken bone in a cast. But if I have a sore muscle, if I have indigestion, maybe I’ll trust the Eastern, maybe I’ll trust the herbs. Maybe I’ll do a little acupuncture, some cupping.
We can take some cues from the greatest Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, who, as a Westerner, chose Eastern medicine for his recovery.
Just to say, we have a small little slice of understanding. As a Westerner, as an Asian, we have a small little slice based on your degree. Even if it’s a PhD, it’s a small little slice. But just because we’re skilled in one small area, suddenly we think we’re an expert at life.
Haven’t you met people like that?
They have a degree, some kind of a PhD, and suddenly they think they’re smarter than everybody. It doesn’t matter what the topic is. They said, I’ve studied it, I’ve learned it, I know everything. I can talk about whatever topic, because I am smarter than you. And you should listen to me.
There’s so many people like that, and they’re trusting in their skill, their education, their intelligence. No wonder when you look at them, spiritual things are hidden from their eyes. Instead, we should say, okay, skills are good, education is good.
Being having a high IQ, these are great blessings that can be used in a proper way. But it should never be a source of pride. It should never be something we depend on. Instead, we should. These are nothing. These are nothing.
When it comes to revelation, it doesn’t help me even one inch, 1 oz, one iota. It doesn’t help at all. Instead, if I depend on these, these are hindrances. I need to put them down, put them aside. It’s no accident that four out of twelve apostles were fishermen.
Two sets of brothers, Andrew and Peter, James and John. And among the three, all fishermen, all blue-collar workers. You don’t need a college degree to fish. Is it by accident that Jesus chose his primary leaders from the blue-collar crowd? I think it’s by design. It’s because he is telling the world, look at what I can do with little children. Look at what I can do with people who are unskilled, uneducated. Look at what I can do with people who don’t have the highest IQ in the room.
Look at what they are going to be. My greatest leaders, and I will use them to turn the Roman Empire for Christ.
I think our tendency, especially those who tend to have skills and a higher IQ than most, is to rely upon ourselves quite a bit. Because we rely upon ourselves, either we trust ourselves instinctively or we really trust others with skills and education. We’re really thankful for these people even more than God.
Like the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 men, 10,000, 15,000 people in the crowd, we’re not sure how many, but it’s an odd thing.
Jesus says, you give them something to eat. And Jesus, wasn’t he the one who taught, wasn’t he the one who gave this strategy? Divide up the crowd into groups of 50. Isn’t he the one who miraculously performed the miracle of multiplication, five loaves and two fish to feed tens of thousands of people?
Jesus did everything from beginning to end, and yet he still wants to invite us into that event.
And if the disciples are not careful, they could think, wow, look at me. Jesus used me for that kind of miracle. They could brag about this incredible thing that they were a part of and they could say, you know, you know, that was my food, that was my fish, that was my bread.
Did you know I found it? Did you know that I was the one who handed those loaves and fish to Jesus? It was, it was touching my hands and then I gave it to Jesus. Then the miracle happened.
And look how great I am. It’s so easy to cross over to pride. It is so easy, especially if you’re part of a miracle like this.
And we see traces of pride throughout the surrounding verses. Like in Luke 9:46-48, they’re arguing amongst themselves who is the greatest. That’s pretty proud. And then in verses 49-50, the disciples, the apostles, they saw somebody else casting out demons in Jesus’ name and they tried to stop him because they’re not one of us. He’s not one of us. We’re the elite.
Only we get to do the five loaves and the two fish. Only we have power and authority. And Jesus says, what are you saying?
A third example of pride is when they went to the village of the Samaritans, and the people there did not receive him. And the sons of Zebedee said, James and John, do you want us to just call it on fire? Should we just burn them to a crisp? Like they don’t know who they mess with. They should not diss us like this.
These are all little anecdotes of showing what’s in their heart, this pride. And I wonder, aren’t we like this? Don’t we put ourselves on a pedestal saying, I’m the greatest, I know more than you, I’m better than you, you should listen to me. I have more revelation than you. Or with a similar heart, we put some human leader on a pedestal and we thank them more than we thank God.
In fact, in Luke 9:37-43, there’s an account of the father with a demonized boy, and he comes to Jesus to ask for healing and deliverance.
And earlier in the chapter, if you recall, didn’t they receive power and authority? And weren’t they able to cast out demons? So what gives here? Why couldn’t they do it here? It doesn’t quite make sense.
And the more that I read it, I think it’s a different situation than missions.
Like when they were sent out to these villages, the people there did not know the name of Jesus. And so they are going as representatives of the king, and they are the hands and feet of Jesus. And Jesus is saying, whatever you do, it is as if I am doing it. If they reject you, they’re rejecting me.
So that’s a different situation than this father. This father has enough faith to go to the disciples, the apostles, even when Jesus is in the vicinity.
It’s like we have enough faith to come to church and to be thankful for one another. But do we really have faith to go all the way?
The father should have gone directly to Jesus. If Jesus is in the neighboring city and you know about him, are you going to settle for the disciples when you know the real deal is right next door?
He’s saying Jesus says about this father, it’s a faithless generation. To have faith, to come to church, to be thankful for people, but not to have faith to go all the way to give thanksgiving to God and to go to Jesus for healing and deliverance. I think that’s the point that Jesus is making here.
How about us? We have faith to be here. We have faith to go on missions. We have faith to bring our prayer requests to God, and we can be very thankful for each other.
But do we go all the way and say, Jesus, you’re the only one who can help me? I will bring the prayer request to God’s people. But in the end, you’re the only one. And if something happens, you get all the glory. You get all the glory.
It’s like we participate in experiencing answers to prayer, but it’s like we gave five loaves and two fish. It’s nothing. It’s really nothing. Actually, Jesus did it all. Jesus did it all from beginning to end.
It’s actually a very important thing because, in a consumeristic culture, church can easily become an end unto itself. You know, churches exist because they provide what the people need.
People are looking for community. People are looking for friendship. If you’re single, you want to go to a church with other singles because you have an agenda. You got to get married. If you’re a young family with young kids, you want programs for your kids. If you’re older, in your fifties, you want to hang out with people the same age.
And so everybody has their need, and the church can be this self-fulfilling thing and an end unto itself. And we may say, well, we’re very thankful for this, but does it go all the way?
This is a verse I read last week, and I just want to touch upon it again. 1 Corinthians 3:6.
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:6-7, ESV)
Who are you most thankful for? Is it for the person who planted the seed in your life, the church members and leaders who came alongside you and watered the seed for many years? Or is your main gratitude God, who gave the growth, who saved you?
Paul is very clear. He’s nothing. He did nothing. He must have been planted. He watered, he planted churches. But he’s saying, I actually did nothing. I’m a nobody. Don’t give me thanksgiving. Don’t look to me. I’m not your savior.
So what? We. We give thanks? Yes, like kids, you give thanksgiving to your parents.
But in the end, if the kids are saved, is it because of the parents? No. A lot of times it’s in spite of the parents.
When we got saved at a church, do we get saved because the church was so great? No. In spite of the church, we got saved. That’s how great God is. It’s so amazing that people get saved in the worst churches, and God does it to prove a point. I don’t need you. I really don’t need you.
All the people who plant and water, in terms of how we view ourselves, we’re nothing. We’re nothing. That’s the proper leader. Anybody who is worth his salt knows God gets all the glory. I did nothing. Don’t even thank me. That’s not where you want to focus. That’s the proper leader.
A leader that says you should thank me. Why didn’t you thank me? They get angry at you. The fact that you don’t thank me, it’s because they want to be your savior. They want to get the glory. They want to get the credit.
It’s exactly opposite of what I read in scripture. The true leader says, I’ve done nothing. Actually nothing. God gets all the glory. Because when you’re saved, it’s in spite of all the sinners around you, your sinful parents, your sinful pastor, your sinful leaders in the church. In spite of all of that, you still got saved. Look how great I am. I think that’s the point.
It’s fine to be thankful for people that God uses to help us spiritually. But be very careful. Don’t stop there. Be very careful. Don’t stop there.
Our thanksgiving should go to the proper person, the person who saved us, the person who gave the growth, who actually brought that seed to come out of the soil into a budding plant and eventually a tree.
God is the one who saves us, loves us, and sent his son to die for us. And so our thanksgiving to people should be so small compared to the surpassing thanksgiving to God who did all the heavy lifting.
If you think about the Lopez Hacho family and if we focus on ourselves and our five loaves and two fish, our efforts, what we are doing, what we will be doing, what we are sacrificing—a week of our time in the hot sun, spending tens of thousands of dollars because we have to. You know, Canaan church put up close to 7000 for building materials. So total with all the missionaries, tens of thousands of dollars to build one home in hopes that one family will be saved.
And we might think we have Christ’s power, we have his anointing. We’re so great. We’re so sacrificial. If the focus is on us, it’s so ugly. So ugly.
But if our focus is on God, what did it take to save a sinner like me? How many years? How many people did God send into my life? How many people did God compel to love me and pray for me? I can’t believe I’m saved.
That’s what we should focus on as we try to labor for another person’s salvation.
Doing a small part, a little bit of sowing, a little bit of watering. God does. He gives the growth.
Do you see how different it is to thank God first and foremost instead of people? You might think it’s the same thing. Like me being thankful for people equals me being thankful for God. It’s not true. It’s a deception.
We need to really minimize our thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for people and really elevate and amplify our gratitude for God. He did it all. He did it all.
How can we learn to rejoice and give thanks for the greatness of salvation? There’s an example at the end of Luke 10. Martha and Mary. And churches are filled with Marthas.
Like, when you look at me, am I Martha or am I Mary? You guys can be honest. What am I? What am I, Mary? Okay, anybody else? Anyone think Martha? Not many.
I think it’s right that most of you would conclude, on the outside, I am like Mary. On the inside, I’m like Martha. Very much like Martha. Real spinning, kind of annoyed.
Like a little bothered. Like what’s. Like frustrated. Like, what’s wrong with Mary? Judgmental. Like, there’s a lot of Martha in me. On the surface. You see Mary. I’m waiting for the Lord. I’m sitting at his feet. But internally, there’s a lot of Martha.
And I think the churches are filled with Martha. The best of us, we want to serve. We want to see God move. We want people to be saved. We want baptism services. We want church growth. Not for the sake of numbers, but we just want to see people coming into the kingdom.
But have we lost gratitude and awe over our own salvation? And we mask it with a lot of service, or at least a desire to serve.
I think what Jesus is telling Martha is you gotta be more like Mary. Like Mary has chosen the good portion. Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet. She must be growing in revelation. She must be growing in gratitude. She just wants to be near Jesus. She understands something that 99% of us in the church don’t have or don’t see. She has a revelation.
And my encouragement to the missionaries and also those of us who are just staying back. Let’s spend this week as best we can, like Mary, asking for revelation. Repenting that we’re like Martha, sitting at Jesus’ feet, trying to ask the Lord to grow our gratitude for us to see the greatness of our salvation and the fact that we have a privilege to call God our Father.
Eyes have to open, ears have to open, hearts have to get softened. It’s a revelation. It’s a gift of grace.
Let’s humble ourselves, putting down our pride, whatever we depend on: our skill, our education, our IQ, our ministry experience, whatever it is that we depend on, and say, I know because of these things.
Let’s throw them all away. They’re hindrances to gain more revelation. Because if we remain prideful, we rely upon ourselves or other flawed humans. Spiritual truth will remain hidden.
But if, like Mary, we humble ourselves, we put down our pride, and we ask God alone for this gift of grace called revelation.
May we meet back next Sunday with a lot of testimonies. Even if nothing tremendous happened in our lives or on the mission trip, we can all testify: it is an amazing thing that I’m saved. It’s an amazing thing that a sinner like me could be saved.
What a privilege I have. I have a Father in heaven. It is such a treasured title. We call no man on earth father with a title except biological father, of course, but we don’t call anybody father. It is such a privileged title.
And we have a Father in heaven because of what Jesus did.
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, forgive us for our pride, for our over-reliance on our skills and education and intelligence. You warn us that if we remain like this and depend on these things, spiritual truth will be hidden from us.
But if we’re like a little child, an infant, unskilled, unintelligent, humble, there’s a chance that we will have this revelation. We can rejoice and give thanks for the greatness of your salvation, the fact that we’re saved and we have a privilege to call you father.
We pray that this would happen for all the missionaries. We pray that it would happen for the Lopez Hacho family. We pray that it would happen for all of those who are sending us off here. We pray that you minister to us as we partake in the Lord’s Supper.
Thank you for your Body that was broken for us and your Blood that was shed. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
