READING: Luke Ch 10 v 1-11 and 16 – 20

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’

“Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

SERMON

A preacher in Canada decided to skip services one Sunday and headed to the hills to do some bear hunting.

As he rounded the corner on a perilous turn in the trail, he collided with a bear, sending him and his rifle tumbling down the mountainside.

Before he knew it, his rifle went one way and he went the other. He landed on a rock and broke both legs. And that was the good news.

The bad news was the ferocious bear charging at him and he couldn’t move or reach his rifle. So he did what we’d all do in such a situation!! He prayed.

“Oh, Lord,” the preacher prayed, “I’m so sorry for skipping services today to come out here and hunt. Please forgive me and grant me just one wish . . . please make a Christian out of this bear that’s coming at me. Please, Lord!”

That very instant, the bear skidded to a halt. He fell on his knees, clasped his paws together and began to pray out loud at the preacher’s feet.

“For what I am about to receive, may the good Lord make me truly thankful. AMEN!”

And if we are truthful, that’s how we feel if we think about sharing our faith isn’t it?

If we want to be successful in God’s service we need to wipe the DUST off our feet and move forward and act like we are told in v 10 – 11 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’

Let us hold onto the words dust because I would like to offer the thought that DUST is a pneumonic for …

D- Disobedience U- Unbelief S- Someone else’s problem T- Timidity

For if we really want to be servants of God for after all that’s why are we here at church today, then we have to wipe the DUST off our feet

1. The D of Dust stands for DISOBEDIENCE

Jesus gave the Church only one Commission and that was to make disciples.

He didn’t just give the command to the priest the readers and the Churchwardens. He gave it to all of us.

In Matthew 28:16-20, just before his ascension into heaven, we read this:

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Please note we are not in it alone. Jesus said: I am with you always. So we can wipe the D of disobedience from our feet and replace it with the D of Disciplemaking.

2. The U of Dust stands for UNBELIEF

Do we really believe in the power of the Gospel to be effective outside Church on Sunday? Unbelief is a sin, because we doubt the promises of God.

When Jesus gave his disciples the Great Commission, he added this important effect: I am with you till the end of the age.

We are NOT in it alone

Charles Spurgeon the famous Baptist preacher of the 19th Century once described unbelief as “a doubt of the divine veracity or a mistrust of God’s power.”

Sometimes we see unbelief masquerading as humility – put a bit like this: “I would not be so presumptuous to assume that God has spoken to “little me”.”

At other times we see unbelief in the shape of a doubt of God’s unchanging nature:

“The Lord has loved me. He helped me yesterday but will he really stick by me tomorrow?

If we really want to serve God we need to leave the DUST of Unbelief – in whatever guise it comes – behind.

Let us replace it with the URGE to share our faith instead.

3. The S of DUST that you need to leave behind is saying it is “SOMEONE ELSE’S” problem.

We are brought up in England with the idea that there are two things you don’t talk about RELIGION and POLITICS.

So don’t! Talk about your relationship with Jesus instead because that’s not RELIGION – that’s true CHRISTIANITY.

Let us replace SOMEONE else’s problem with the SURETY of our Calling to be disciplemakers.

4. The T of DUST is TIMIDITY.

If you are anything like me, you will be scared to share your faith for one of two reasons.

You might be afraid that you will be thought a religious nut by your family and friends.

But that happened to Jesus also for his family and friends thought he had lost it.

We can read in Mark 3: 20-22

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

Arthur Blessitt, a famous American Evangelist who carried a Cross around the world in the 1980s was once called a “religious nut” – to which he replied: “But at least I am attached to the right bolt.”

So you see the other reason is that you don’t want to be seen as a fool by family and friends if you can’t answer every question they put to you.

But here is some good news for you, unless God has called you to be a defender for him in other words an apologist, don’t worry. You are called to be a witness.

That is you share what you DO know, NOT what you DON’T know!!

It is perfectly OK to say, you don’t know, but you will find out the answer!

Let us leave behind the Timidity that makes us fearful to share our faith and replace it with a firm TRUST in our God and his power.

So in conclusion, Our Church will only grow when we take seriously the divine command to “Go and make disciples”.

You can’t just leave it to Ann, Chris and me when we lead you in worship for the command is given not just to the church worship leaders but to the rest of the congregation too. Amen

PRAYERS

Let us pray thanking God for those things that the Spirit lifts up as we pray and listening for God to speak to us about who we are and those things we need to be about….

Loving God, your thoughts are greater than our thoughts, your ways, greater than ours. Yet you love us and call us to the fullness of your peace. You bring the Kingdom close to us and call us to enter it. You provide solutions to our problems and ask us to receive those solutions – and to trust in you and do what you ask us to do. Indeed, you lead us by your word to new life – asking only that we follow and so thereby enter that life.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer

We praise and thank you Lord we praise you for being so mindful of us and we thank you for coming unto us. Help us to recognise you and your word always and to apply it to our lives by our thoughts and our actions.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.

We pray to you Lord for your church and its mission – the mission you have entrusted to us. Help us to be bold for you in the face of evil and injustice – knowing that you will keep us safe – and to show forth your healing power in those places which are willing to receive your peace. Indeed, bless us that we may indeed be a blessing and bring praise and honour to your name.

Lord I your mercy hear our prayer.

We pray to you Lord for our country. Make our nation one known throughout the world as an example of tolerance and of love, of sharing and of peace, of justice and of compassion not only towards its citizens but to every other nation upon the face of the earth.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.

We pray to you Lord for the people and situations that you have placed upon our hearts this day. Intervene, O Lord, and bring new hope, new joy, new life where it is needed. Lord hear the prayers we lift before you.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

God of glory and love, peace comes from you alone. Send us as peacemakers and witnesses to your kingdom, and fill our hearts with joy in your promise to us of salvation through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

And so we bind our prayers together in the words that Jesus taught his disciples…
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen

Revd Kevin.
Associate Priest at St.Wilfrid and St.Thomas