Pastor Jeff on the Radio

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor Jeff Ministries, the Bible teaching ministry of Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub. On today's program, Pastor Jeff continues his message, "Jesus Wants You," from the series "Mission Critical," and explains why God's holiness required a mediator and how Jesus alone gives you direct access to the throne of grace.

Here you'll find bold biblical teaching designed to help you stand firm in your faith and live on purpose. As we prepare our hearts for Easter, we're focusing on what it means to be made new in Christ and to step boldly into the mission he's given you. To keep growing in that new identity, we invite you to sign up for Pastor Jeff's weekly devotional emails at pastorjeff.com. And now, here's today's message.

Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub: I’m going where God wants me to go. I’m not holding on to my life in such a way because God owes me something. I want to be right on the forefront with wherever God has me in whatever season. Can you say that?

I'm just telling you, that sounded crazy to me as a young believer. You mean I have to pray about where God wants me to live and I have to pray about who God wants me to marry? No, you don’t have to. God wants you to. God wants you to seek Him and say, "Lord, where do you want me to live and how do you want me to steward my resources and who do you want me to hang out with?"

You begin this ongoing relationship with God so that you know that your life is in His hands and He’s using you anyway that He wants you. That’s what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. And oh, by the way, that’s not for the spiritually mature; that’s for everybody that’s in the body of Christ. We just don’t hear that much in America. We think that’s for special people out there. No, God’s looking for everybody. We believe in the priesthood of all believers.

For some of you that are saying, "Well, I’ll get around to it. One day, God’s put it on my heart, I’m going to help the church a little more. One day, I’m going to serve a little more. One day, I’m going to join that small group. One day, I’m going to help out with my gifts." James 4:17 says anyone who knows the good he ought to do and does not do it, sins.

In other words, when God begins to put something on your heart in a way in which He wants you to live, when are you supposed to take action? Today. Right now. Start taking steps in that direction. He says no one after putting his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. God wants you to go full tilt, straight forward, not looking to the side, not looking behind you.

When you begin to walk with the Lord, you will very quickly realize not everybody’s going to walk with you. Not everybody’s going the same speed. Not everybody’s going in the same direction. There’s this temptation to turn back and ask, "Why am I out here all by myself?" Do you remember when God brought judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah? He got Lot and his family to leave and said, "Get out of Sodom and when you get out, keep going and don’t look back." Everybody paid attention except for Lot’s wife. She turned around and became a pillar of salt.

God doesn’t want us looking backward. He wants us continuing to step forward, advancing the kingdom of God. So here’s the thing. Have you counted the cost? Have you stopped making "me first" statements? Have you become urgent about the gospel? God wants you to follow Him completely. One of the reasons we don’t see the results in the West that we’re seeing in other countries in the world is because we have too many complacent, apathetic disciples that think that going all-in with Jesus is for somebody else out there.

I’m here to tell you on the authority of God’s word, He wants all of you and He wants all of you right now. So what’s hindering your all-in with Jesus? That’s what God wants. He wants it now. He wants it January 2nd of 2022. The second thing Jesus wants you to do is pray for more ministry partners.

Notice how the text advances into chapter 10. It says, "Now after this, the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come." Now, presumably these seventy—some of your versions will say seventy-two and we could talk about which one is which; it doesn't matter for our purposes here today—it’s Jesus sending out fully engaged disciples two by two.

It’s always good to go on mission with somebody else. If you’re going to go share the gospel, take somebody else. It’s always good to have somebody praying while you’re sharing or have somebody sharing while you’re praying. It’s great to go out in pairs. Jesus is going to send out these seventy to the cities that He’s about ready to go visit as a precursor for what’s to come.

The church is the precursor for what’s to come. Jesus is sending us out because He’s coming back and He’s coming back soon. He wants the world to be ready for His return. That’s what the Bible teaches. So He sends these disciples out, who certainly are fully engaged disciples. These are people who are all in, who want to do what Jesus wants.

He was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest field." Make note of a couple of things. First of all, this harvest is ginormous. It’s plentiful. Some of us have the false idea because we’ve been lied to by the devil that God only has a certain group of people that He really wants to save. Look at your friends and family members and the people that you know that don’t know Christ. You’ve been praying about them for a long time and they’re not coming to Christ. No, I’m telling you on the authority of God’s word, it’s plentiful.

There are 7.9 billion plus people in the world as of January 2nd of 2022. There’s over 5 million in Colorado. There’s almost 2 million in our city here, most of whom are lost and need Jesus. And here’s what He said: "The harvest is plentiful." You say, "Well, Lord, why don’t we see more people saved?" Because not all of us are living as disciples. It’s hard to go share the gospel when you’re not living the gospel out.

It’s hard to tell people how much you love Jesus when you’re not living a love with Jesus. The harvest is plentiful. It’s huge. God wants to save more people than you could ever ask or imagine. We love that. We like it when we’re in a place where we see people get saved. We love our baptism services where we hear testimonies of everybody that’s come to Christ. That never gets old.

I even like watching old Billy Graham crusades from 50 years ago in the '70s. Everybody’s wearing a big tie and a leisure suit and they’re coming down the aisles. Even though that was 50 years ago, you’re watching the Holy Spirit move on people’s hearts saying, "Jesus Christ is Lord. Come and receive the gift of salvation." You see people streaming forward and you’re moved. But I’m here to tell you, there’s nothing more powerful than when God does it through you.

He wants to do it through you. I don’t want you to get hung up on this. Some of you are seed sowers. You’re going to sow seed, and you may never know the impact you have on the kingdom until you meet Jesus, and that’s great. But when you’re invested in the kingdom doing the work of God, there’s something special because the harvest is plentiful. But the workers are few. There’s not as many people serving.

Sometimes we read this text wrong. We read the text thinking, "Okay, just pray that God sends some more people out there. Just pray that God sends some more people out to that mission field. Pray God sends some people to Africa. Pray God sends some people to Asia. Pray that God sends some people to the Middle East." That’s not the prayer.

In order to pray the prayer, you have to be engaged in ministry. Picture any of your favorite war movies. Whether it’s a World War II movie or a Vietnam movie, when people are calling in for additional troops or an airstrike, they’re calling from the battlefield. They’re calling because they’re in the battle and they need extra help. They’re not calling from home.

You’re not watching a D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy where somebody calls in an airstrike from St. Louis saying, "Hey, my friends are over there. It’s really tough. We need to send some more people. Hope somebody gets raised up." The only way you can ask for more help is when you’re engaged in the battle. If you get engaged in the mission of Jesus by living the gospel and sharing the gospel, you’ll realize how few people are actually doing it.

You’ll realize that this mission is way too big for you to do it alone. You’ll realize the need to call other people up and say, "We need help. Lord, please send more people, because the world’s too big." I was doing some math this week. 7.9 billion people in the world. Imagine if we started joining hands today and we just formed a little chain.

We formed a little chain right here on the stage and we started grabbing hands until we got enough people to go out the door and then up to Colorado Boulevard. Then we started grabbing other people from around the city. We were going to join hands with everybody in the world, all 7.9 billion people just holding hands like this.

It means that we would go up to I-25, take that to Interstate 76 heading up to Fort Morgan and Nebraska. zoom all the way through those cities in Nebraska, all through Iowa, all the way through Illinois just south of Chicago, Indiana. Get over to Cleveland, then head down through Pennsylvania all the way to New York City.

When you got to New York City, then you would have to build a bridge. You’d build a bridge all the way to Portugal. Everybody’s holding hands. That bridge would go all the way to Portugal and then through Spain and Germany and the Czech Republic, through Poland, Belarus, all the way to Moscow.

Imagine that line just holding hands all the way down through Russia, through Mongolia to Beijing, China. Then you’d build a bridge across to Seoul, Korea and Tokyo. And then on your way back as you built a bridge across the Pacific Ocean, we’d let you stop in Hawaii and then come into LA. From LA, we’d go to Las Vegas, back through Utah and then back into Colorado.

If everybody joined hands like that, do you know how many times we would have to circle the world to get everybody? Nearly 300 times. That’s how many people there are in the world. How many of those people are actually saved? We don’t know. Studies would say that 31 percent of the world’s population is Christian. That’s if you include everybody that goes to church once a year, anybody that’s nominal, people that would just say, "I’m a Christian," because they have nothing else to call themselves.

We know that that percentage is much lower than that. But even if you said a third of the planet is Christian—which it’s not—that would still be over 200 times that we would circle the globe with people all holding hands.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor Jeff Ministries and today's message, "Jesus Wants You," from the series "Mission Critical," explaining why God's holiness required a mediator and how Jesus alone gives you direct access to the throne of grace. We'll return to Pastor Jeff shortly.

But first, this month Pastor Jeff wants to help you rediscover what it means to be made new in Christ. Not just forgiven, but transformed and sent on mission. To help you do that, we'd love to send you his booklet, "Made New: Discovering Your New Identity, New Focus, and New Mission." It's our thanks for your gift of support today to help share biblical teaching with more people through programs like this one.

This timely resource shows you how your new life in Christ reshapes your identity, clarifies your focus, and gives you a mission that matters for eternity. Request your copy today when you give at pastorjeff.com. Now for the conclusion of today's message.

Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub: But even if you said a third of the planet is Christian—which it’s not—that would still be over 200 times that we would circle the globe with people all holding hands. You ever go to the pool in the summer and you watch kids hold hands or go cliff jumping and watch people hold hands and then they plunge off together laughing? Imagine 200 plus times around the world people holding hands and they’re plunging into an eternal hell for all eternity.

Never coming back, never being with anybody else, never seeing relatives or loved ones, just experiencing eternal torment. And God tells us as His church, please do something about it. The harvest is plentiful. There’s not enough workers. Ask the Lord of the harvest. What’s that mean? It means pray. Pray for more ministry partners. Pray for more people that are engaged in the action. Why? Because God’s heart is for the nations. Go make disciples of all nations.

Nations are made up of cities. You can’t pray for others to go until you’re willing to go. Where are you called to go? Right in your sphere of influence until God tells you otherwise. Think about our city for a minute. The majority of people, if the world ended today from Denver, Colorado, are going to spend eternity in hell. And whose responsibility is it to tell them? It’s ours.

It’s our mission field. It’s where we are. We should have grace and mercy and love and kindness for those who are lost. But we should also be praying for the world. If you start praying for the world, if you start praying for our city, God will give you a love for people that you never had before. One of the reasons we don’t pray for other countries is we’re scared that God will send us there. I’m dead serious.

How many people here are praying for Pakistan and Iraq and Iran and Yemen? Very few of us, because if we prayed that way, what if God actually raised us up to go? Yemen’s not in my future, we would say. But until you start praying like that, you don’t understand the gospel mission. When I was in seminary, I got a chance to go a lot of different places in the world, to the Middle East and all over Europe.

Every time I would go someplace, I would tell the Lord, "Lord, I’ll go here. I’ll go anywhere. Just take me. I want to be on the front lines for You." And every time I would read my Bible, I was on the mission field. The Lord was calling me back to America said, "No, you’re going to go preach and you’re going to send people around the world." I didn’t want to do that. That’s why I’m in Denver, Colorado. I’m not here just to preach to you so you think I’m part of a good church. I like Brave; it’s kind of comfortable.

I’m here to preach the gospel so that we can reach our city and send more people around the world for the good news of Jesus Christ. That’s why I’m here. It means some of you that are here won’t be here forever. Some of you are going to catch the bug for the gospel and say, "I’ve got to go. I’ve got to reach other people groups. I can’t stay here anymore." And we would say, "Go. Go tell the world."

That’s why for me in my profession, pastors tend to be territorial about their church and their sheep. 7.9 billion people. If everybody that attends Brave Church left Brave Church and went to other churches, do you know how many people are still in Denver that need the hope of Jesus Christ? We’ll never reach them all. Who’s in your sphere of influence? Who are you praying for? Who are you fervently praying about?

Where are you praying that God would send you? Because when your life is no longer your own and you don’t care where you go, God will use you in a mighty way. If you’re doing it the way God wants you to do it, there’ll be great satisfaction and great joy. If you’re supposed to go to Pakistan or Yemen, you’ll be excited when you get there because you’ll know you’re right on mission for the Lord. And if you’re not, don’t go.

Pray for God to use you wherever you’re at. That’s what Jesus wants from you. Jesus wants you all in and He wants you to pray for other people to be all in as well. Thirdly, Jesus wants you to go with great dependence. This is why I’m telling you it's not a prayer for others to go. Notice the first word of verse 3 in your Bible.

After you pray to the Lord of the harvest, who is Jesus, to send out more laborers, then what’s He say? Go. Who, me? Yeah, you. Go. Now listen to this verse: "Behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves." That sounds comforting, doesn't it? Does that sound like a battle cry or a rallying cry for a great team? "Go, I send you out as lambs among wolves." I did a little research this week to find out how many teams are named the Lambs. I think I found one.

You don’t really see cheerleaders like, "Let’s go Lambs." A lamb is totally dependent. A lamb is totally vulnerable. He's sending you out as dependent, vulnerable individuals amongst wolves. Those that are hostile towards everything you do. You ask, "How am I going to get by them?" Because the Lord our God is a good Shepherd.

Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is with us. His rod and His staff bring us comfort. Jesus is the one protecting us. That’s why in Ephesians 6:10 and following, it tells us to put on the full armor of God. Because we’re lambs. We’re not special; we’re special because we’re created in the image of God. We’re special because He saved us. But we have no earthly power to do anything apart from Him.

We’re going dependently upon Him. We’re depending upon Him to do all the work. Did you know sharing the gospel is not a sales pitch? You don’t have to be super educated. You don’t have to know a whole lot. One of the best examples of that is John chapter 9, the blind man that got healed. Here was his testimony: "All I know is this: I was blind and now I see. What else you want to know?" We make this too hard.

God wants us to go with dependence upon Him. We want to depend upon God for our protection. He’ll protect you. Everywhere you go, you’ll be protected. I once heard that the man of God in the will of God is immortal until God says otherwise. You don’t need to fear death or fear disease or fear all these different things that the whole world’s fearing. I’m protected by Almighty God as long as He wants.

We want to depend on Him for our provision. Notice what He says. He says, "Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes, greet no one on the way. Whatever house you enter, first say peace be to this house." They were going on a quick mission, so He’s telling them not to bring a whole lot with them. But He was saying, "Hey, if you can trust Me with your life, you can also trust Me with your provision. I’ll provide for you. I’ll take care of you."

One of the biggest challenges to me in graduating from college and working very hard to get a career that paid well is when I went into ministry, my biggest fear was: will I ever have enough money? Will I ever be able to survive? I looked at ministers and thought they were all poor. How am I going to ever survive? How can I take care of even myself? How can I take care of my family?

Can I just tell you this? God’s always provided for every single one of my needs and then some. Because when you’re doing what God wants, He’ll always provide you with everything you need. The lie of the enemy is like, "If you do that for the Lord, you’re going to lose out on that." He’s always telling you what He’s going to take away from you. That’s what the enemy always does.

If you give more time, resources, or energy, God’s going to take it away from you. Our God is a good God. Our God is a generous God. Our God is a favoring God. God will meet all of your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. He always does. Trust Him for your provision.

Trust Him for peace on the mission. He says whenever you enter the house, first say peace be to this house. If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him, but if not, it will return to you. It means when you’re going out on mission for Christ, no matter where you go in the world, there will always be a person of peace there.

There will always be somebody who will be favorable to you where God is calling you to go. When we moved out to Denver, Colorado, I knew one family that was our family of peace. They invited us in their house, let us stay there, and fed us meals. Eventually my wife realized we had to get an apartment. But they let us stay and start meeting people in the city so that we could do the mission that God had called us to do.

In your workplace, family, and neighborhood, there’s always somebody that will be open to who you are in Christ. There’s always a person of peace somewhere. Do you know who that person of peace is in your sphere of influence? As you think about praying for your block and your neighborhood, who’s the person of peace? They may or may not even be a Christian. But who’s that person that you can begin to talk to and build a relationship with?

God will always bring a person of peace. In your office place, even if your entire office is hostile to Jesus, pray about the person of peace. God will bring somebody who will stand alongside with you as you begin to hunker down, and that becomes the beachhead for everywhere you go. God has not left Himself without a witness. There’s always somebody somewhere that God is willing to use that God is going to bring into your life.

He says if you go somewhere and say peace be with you and there’s no peace, you have no mission there. You can’t share the gospel there. Your peace will return to you. He’s going to take you somewhere else. Notice what He says: "Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give to you, for the laborer is worthy of his wage. Do not keep moving from house to house." It means this: bloom where you’re planted.

You say, "Well, where am I supposed to share the gospel?" If you live here, here’s your answer: here. We’re always looking for this great thing. I’ll talk to some young people and they’ll say, "God’s called me to work with Hollywood movie stars, and I’m just kind of praying about that. Maybe 20 years from now He’ll take me to Hollywood and I’m just going to lead them all to Christ." Great, maybe you are.

But while you’re waiting for the A-list red carpet time, why not share the gospel with everybody currently in your sphere of influence? Bloom where you’re planted now. If the people that you’re around now don’t want to hear the gospel, that’s why you need to share it with them. Because we’re talking about eternity. We’re talking about heaven and hell. We’re talking about the most important thing in the world.

The worst thing in the world is not that somebody dies. The worst thing in the world is that somebody dies apart from Christ. I went back and did a funeral in my hometown for my high school football coach’s wife this past Tuesday. I’m sharing the gospel and I’m looking out and I’m seeing people that have known me for 30 years, 40 years, people that have been teachers and coaches of mine.

I’m sharing with each of them, "I’m only here for one reason: to tell you that my coach’s wife is in heaven not because she’s a saint like you think she is; she’s a saint because she turned from her sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and trusted Him. And if she were here, here’s what she’d want you to know: that the only way to be with God is to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. That heaven and hell are real and that the only people in heaven are people who’ve trusted Jesus Christ completely for the forgiveness of their sins."

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening today. That was Pastor Jeff with his message, "Jesus Wants You," from the series "Mission Critical," explaining why God's holiness required a mediator and how Jesus alone gives you direct access to the throne of grace.

Before you head out, just a quick reminder. When you give today to help more people hear bold biblical teaching, we'll send you "Made New: Discovering Your New Identity, New Focus, and New Mission" as our thanks. It's a timely resource designed to help prepare your heart for Easter by reminding you that new life in Christ brings a new identity, a new focus, and a new purpose.

Your support helps others discover that same transformation. Request your copy today at pastorjeff.com. And be sure to join us next time for more teaching from Pastor Jeff.