The Time of the Gentiles

we're going to be in Luke 212 through 38 today 20 through 38 and what I'm going to do is I'm going to read the whole passage for you this morning um so you can kind of get an idea of sort of this massive undertaking we are about to accomplish Lord willing uh in the next like 35 minutes which don't yell at me for going over 35 minutes um which will likely be what happens but let's just see what happens in the next 90 minutes and that way since I'm under it we'll be fine when I read this um you're going to think how in the

world it's all connected but that's the job for us today is to is to connect all of this and so Luke 21 20 through 38 let's read it together but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies then know that its desolation has come near then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains and let those who are inside the city depart and let not those who are out in the country enter it for these are the days of Vengeance to fulfill all that is written alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days for there will

be great distress upon the Earth and wrath against this people they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled and there will be signs and sun and moon and stars and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the Roaring of the Seas and the waves people fainting with fear and with foreoing of what is coming on the world for the powers of the heavens will be shaken and then they will see the son of man coming in a cloud

with power and great Glory now when these things begin to take place straighten up and raise your heads because your Redemption is Drawing Near and he told them a parable look at the Fick tree and all the trees as soon as they come out in leaf you see for yourselves and you know that summer is already near so also Al when you see these things taking place you know that the kingdom of God is near truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all has taken place Heaven and Earth will pass away but my words will not pass away but watch

yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap for it will come upon all who dwell on on the face of the whole Earth but stay awake at all times praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the son of man and every day he was teaching in the temple but at night when he went out and lodged on the mount called oliv it and early in the morning all the people came to him in the

temple to hear him let's pray real quick Lord would you help us see what we need to see to hear what we need to hear and to prepare ourselves for what we need to be prepared for would you draw us closer to you this morning and for nourishment in your word would you strengthen our faith would you lift our heads would you raise our hands and bring us to your feet in worship for it's in your name that we pray amen all right let's just kind of step back for a moment maybe zoom out uh from this passage because it's easy to look at everything

that I just read and feel like that's like four or five sermons um in in kind of one passage that we're looking at we're we're talking about Jerusalem being surrounded by armies we're also talking about Jesus having pity for mothers we're talking about the times of the Gentiles we're talking about the sort of meteorologists interpreting Suns and stars and moons we're talking about the shaking of the heavens uh we're talking about about the Roaring of the Seas there's illustration of fig trees again again we're revisiting the Fig Tree we're talking about the Heaven and the Earth passing away warnings to watch ourselves and to keep

from drunkenness and cares of lives to stay awake are we not allowed to sleep anymore and then lastly Luke just casually ends it by saying in light of all of that Jesus just continues to teach in the temple and everyone wants to come hear what he has to say and so we need need to kind of take a moment step back zoom out and see what is going on in the context of this passage to gain a little bit of understanding of of what we're seeing here as you if you remember over the last few weeks what Jesus has done is he's entered into Jerusalem

and he started to cleanse the temple and as he's preparing the temple for his ultimate sacrifice in that moment he is also explaining to his disciples that what they are observing in this beautiful adorned Temple is that there's going to be a pending judgment coming in the days ahead which isn't necessarily just in the current days that they're in but in the generation that they're in there's going to be a destruction of Jerusalem and the temple so what he is doing in this moment is he is acting as a prophet if you know anything about the scriptures especially about the Old Testament God has designed

three primary roles for Humanity to serve Humanity prophets priests and kings and what Jesus does is he comes as the Son of God and also as the true son of man and he fulfills all three of those roles for us so he's starting off as prophet and what he's doing in this moment is he is prophesying after he dies he's going to enter into the role of priest and that's the role that he is functioning in as we are in the church age he is mediating for us he is acting as priests on our behalf he is the high priest and then when he returns

in his second coming he will come and fulfill the role as king but he does all three roles and here what we see is again he is prophesying he is speaking of events that have not occurred yet but are about to occur and he is warning them judgment is coming judgment is coming and so he wants them to understand this to see this because there's going to be opportunity for them to be saved from the Judgment that is about to happen and so that's what he begins to explain in this text and I'm going to show you kind of walking through it how all of

it is connected in this one Central event and so what he's looking at in Luke 21 just in the first five verses of 20- 24 is specifically the impending judgment that is about to come down on Jerusalem Jerusalem and the Temple now as I mentioned over over the last couple of weeks there really kind of three things that he's prophesying there is the temple that's about to be rendered obsolete because when Jesus dies on the cross no longer do they need the temple for regular um yearly annual sacrifices the Passover is fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus and so that's why when he's on the

cross and when he dies and breathes his last breath the veil in the temple is torn in half giving us access to the holy of holies through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ so that's the first thing that happens in just literally days of Jesus prophesying this the temple will be rendered obsolete but the temple is not destroyed yet it is still constructed it is still built and we know that he mentions there will be a moment where the stones are not left stacked on one another basically saying it will literally crumble it will literally be um broken down and destroyed but that doesn't happen at

the crucifixion of Christ so what is he talking about this is what he is referencing he's reference referencing an event that at the end of their generation which is why he says this generation will not pass away before these things take place he's referencing what will happen in about 40 years after his death and burial and Resurrection in ad70 the Roman armies do surround Jerusalem and they ransack it they take over it they plunder it they they destroy it and Jerusalem is no more and the temple is literally destroyed destroyed and I will talk about that here in just a moment but the disciples ask

a question so when Jesus begins prophesying this they ask two specific questions uh when will this happen and what signs should we look for as kind of a warning that this is happening and so this is the signs that he gives them in 20 through 24 when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies then know that its desolation has come near then let those who are in Judea which is the region around Jerusalem let them flee to the mountains all right so they're not in the city when they start seeing that Jerusalem is being um surrounded just let them go ahead and get to the mountains

so they start heading out to the mountains and let those who are inside the city depart get out and then let those who are not in the city City basically don't come to the city don't enter it for these are the days of Vengeance which I'll get to in a moment to fulfill all that is written alas which is also like a woe so it's a warning woe to the women who are pregnant for those who are nursing infants in those days basically they're going to be vulnerable it's going to be really hard for them to be able to get out and to flee for

there will be great distress upon the Earth and wrath against this people the Jerusalem people the Jews they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled so a couple of points here in reference to that specific passage um because there is a literal event that happens now the question that I had in the fact that Roman armies do come and Surround Jerusalem now they started doing that in ad6 6 according to Josephus who was a first and second century um Jewish and

Roman historian uh he has we have quite a few collections of his original texts um or copies of his original Tex similar to what we have of the Bible as well that are very much he was the eyewitness of this he was born in 37 ad he lived until 100 AD so when Jerusalem is getting surrounded he's experiencing it he's witnessing it and he's recording everything and what's known as the Jewish Wars he says in 866 the Jewish or the Roman armies began besieging the city now what does it mean to besiege the city what that means is they don't just come and Break Down

The Walls that are surrounding Jerusalem and enter into it and start taking the city what they actually do in order to Siege the city is they construct their own wall all the way around the the walls of Jerusalem in order to trap everyone on the inside so that they can't escape and then they have a couple of different military tactics or strategy one is they wait them out so there's no longer any resources that are coming into Jerusalem so people start literally starving and so then they're either going to surrender or just become weak and then the second thing they do is they will then

just enter in and take over and kill everybody or enslave them because again there is no opportunity for people to flee so my question was was how then are they able to depart the city if the Romans have already built an A A Siege around the city known as a Siege wall Jesus warned them to depart but how can they depart if they are literally in bondage in what is spiritually like a domain of Darkness how can they get out well something really interesting happens in 867 cestus Gallas who was the Roman general in charge of the sieging of the city believed for whatever reason

I mean again this is the Roman Empire he believed that they did not have enough resources to keep the siege intact and so what he chose to do was he chose to call this breaking Siege and he allowed for a moment an opening or basically soldiers to move out to a different place and it opened up a door doorway for the Jerusalem the people in Jerusalem held captive to actually get out it literally opened up a way for them to depart and Josephus as well as Yus who was a Roman historian um around the second and third Century they both say the same things there

was only one group of people who left Jerusalem when this opening occurred guess who it was the Christians that was it the ones who who heard Jesus's warning and had eyes to hear or eyes to see and ears to hear who actually received his instruction that when you see Jerusalem begin to be surrounded that is your time to depart and because Jesus is who Jesus is there's going to be a way out there's going to be an opportunity for you to get out and in this moment because I believe God has rigged history and it doesn't mean it doesn't matter if you're a Christian or

a non-Christian he's going to use you to serve his purposes cestus Gallas who was this Roman general all of a sudden for whatever reason I believe we should break Siege because we don't have enough resources you're the Roman Empire you have enough resources but he believed it and and here's the crazy thing was when he broke Siege something happened he was killed he was killed so think about this in perspective of what God has done for us in being surrounded by the domain of Darkness with the impending wrath of God that's going to come on us and judge us for uh for our sin and

rejection of Jesus there is a general that God sins and he breaks the siege of the domain of Darkness around us gets killed on our behalf and allows opportunity for us to have a doorway out even in a gentile a Roman narrative and story God is still allowing us to see the Beauty and the picture of the Gospel message of what Jesus has come to accomplish for us and so in this story what we're actually seeing play out is Jesus is acting as a prophet Jerusalem is acting as the world the Romans are acting as God's judgment Upon Us The Siege surrounding Jerusalem is acting

as the domain of Darkness cestus GIS being killed but providing a way out of the domain of darkness and the impending judgment is acting as in a way sort of a savior for us a typology of it and those who accept the prophetic warning of Jesus those who accept the gospel listen to it respond to it and they flee to Salvation they actually get out through the narrow door the way and then Josephus goes on to record that for those who didn't because the siege eventually came back together and the Romans did enter in they ended up killing near nearly 1 million Jews that were

left in the city and then enslaving a 100,000 of them why because they rejected the warning that Jesus gave them they operated just like their forefathers who would not listen to the prophets but would killed them instead and they were held accountable for it and then in ad70 that destruction Came Upon them it happened everything was destroyed including the temple which is important for us to understand because in this moment when Jesus says the heavens and the Earth will pass away that ex same representation is being seen in Jerusalem representing the earth and the temple representing the heavens where the presence of God is presence

of God is those things were again a foreshadowing just a taste of what eventually is going to happen in the heavens in the earth passing away but then God's word which will not pass pass away will rebuild and reconstruct a new heavens and earth where those who fled the domain of Darkness through the way which is Jesus Christ get to enter into that new Promised Land which is the new heavens and the new Earth and find Salvation for eternity it's just a beautiful thing that we're seeing wrapped up but then Jesus says something interesting at the end of that little passage that I want to

draw our attention into because this is what has implications for us today Jesus says something interesting Jerusalem will be trampled underf foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled that's just an interesting phrase until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled well why is that significant why is it significant for you and me well the question is who are you what are you really you are a gentile you are a gentile every person well let me say this unless you have Jewish blood in you you are a gentile Gentile by definition literally means not Jewish there's no other definition for it

it was how the Jews categorized the Nations everyone else there were Jews and there were Gentiles and so we are representative of the Gentiles and so the Gentile the time of the Gentiles represents as kind of a a catchall phrase for the end of Jewish Rule and blessing because up until this point as you walk through the entire Old Testament God's hand and his Blessing was on the Jewish people they were the ones in which the gospel was to come to first they were the ones who through their lineage and their bloodline and their law that the Fulfillment ment of the gospel and the Fulfillment

of Christ the Messiah would come and so they would have the rightful hand the rightful blessing to have access to it first but Jesus came and he fulfilled everything that all of their laws and all of their Traditions pointed to and yet the majority of them rejected it and so God ended or as Romans 9 through1 will say a partial hardening of he ended their Rule and their blessing and then he entered it into the times of the Gentiles to which now it's not the Jew the Jews who are ruling and reigning the world and what I mean by that is the Jewish people were

literally meant to be a nation that was a model to emulate for all other nations they were meant to be the group of people the city on a hill that all the other nations look to and say that's what it must be like to have God as your God and for you to be uh his people but because they didn't he says okay I'm going to take my rule and my blessing and I'm going to give it to the Nations the Gentiles and I will be their God and they will be my people they will now be the cities on Hills all throughout the world

so that again the kingdom would continue to spread and it wouldn't be just from one Kingdom it would would be for all kingdoms but here's the thing that was God's plan the whole time the whole time and it's mindboggling to me that the the the Jews just chose to never see that they chose to not believe it they chose to not accept it but it's literally what started with their patriarch their patriarch whose name is Abraham look at this in in Genesis 12 1-3 this is where you get the start of this great nation known as the Israelites this is what God says to Abraham

in what he's going to build through Abraham now the Lord said to Abram go from your country and your Kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing again this is going to be a great nation with a great great blessing and everyone else is going to see they're blessed why are they blessed well it's because they serve and follow God and so we want to serve and follow God because we want to be blessed like them

I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse and in you all the families of the Earth shall be blessed it's just crazy that the Jews missed that like they hate the families of the earth they hate Gentiles because they didn't see that God wanted to bless all of them through the nation of Israel which really just simply means that it was going to be through The Offspring of Israel Jesus Christ Not only was Jesus going to bless the Jews but he was going to bless the Gentiles the Apostle Paul also put it this way Romans 11:25 lest you

be wise in your own sight I do not not want you to be unaware of the mystery Brothers but a partial hardening has come upon Israel that's what we're seeing take place in our passage for today the blessing over Israel and the rule of Israel is going to be hardened a partial hardening is taking place has come upon Israel until even as Paul says here the fullness of the Gentiles has come in the fullness of the Gentiles has come in so this is Paul referencing the time of the Gentiles the purpose for the time of the Gentiles is so that the gospel May spread to

all Gentiles and give them the same opportunity that the Jews had either receive Jesus or reject Jesus receive Jesus or reject Jesus that's why again John 3:16 for God so loved the Jews no for God so loved the world that he gave his son that whoever believes in him whoever from any family any tribe any tongue Any Nation whoever believes in him will not perish like they did in Jerusalem but have everlasting life by going through the door which is Jesus Christ in order to get to Salvation And so what's also fascinating is that God used in this shifting of taking the rule and the

blessing from the Jews and granting it to the Gentiles so that his presence begins working out towards them what's beautiful is that he also uses Gentile Ingenuity to spread his glory to spread his gospel and you're like okay what do you mean by that Gentile organization Gentile invention Gentile Innovation actually helped in aiding the spread of the Gospel to the world take the the first century for example the Old Testament which up to this point is what they were all following as God's word to them as God is inspiring the New Testament authors and the disciples to begin recording God's inspired word for this time

of the Gentiles he didn't choose Hebrew to continue writing it in but instead chose Greek which was the common language known throughout the world was was Greek so if he would have said let's just continue with Hebrew because that's what we've always done like have you ever been a part of a church that like has said things like that we do this because this is the way we've always done it then they would have written it in Hebrew because they why would you write it in Greek the scriptures are in Hebrew don't write Greek Greek's the common language but it was a strategy for God

to inspire them to spread the gospel to the Gentiles because what did the Gentiles speak not Hebrew Greek they spoke Greek so even the New Testament is an innovation of the Gentiles and God using it to spread the gospel to the Gentiles another thing that happened as well if you trace what you can Paul's three missionary Journeys which some argue that there's four missionary Journeys but the fourth one was just him going to his death but if you trace his missionary Journeys the way he got to all of the cities in The Villages where he planted churches and spread the gospel to the Gentiles was

by using the Roman roads infrastructure so then it's like well no no no there's a way that the Pharisees always traveled that was conducted by the way God designed for them in the Old Testament to get to places is to avoid the Gentiles to avoid those that we don't want to interact with and mix with and what Paul said was and what Paul was inspired by God to do was use what has been innovated like use the Roman Road system and the structure in order to get the gospel to these cities and so the times of the Gentiles was literally this new way of doing

gospel spreading and gospel preaching and gospel writing that got the blessing of God to the Gentiles and that's what is entering into this time of the Gentiles that we are talking about now what does Jesus say next well before I get to what he says next this is the time in which God is also just like he opened the door in Jerusalem for them to have an opportunity and a way out it's the same time now for us to have a door to have a way to have an opportunity to get out of the domain of Darkness for us this is a great time to

be alive because it is the time of the Gentiles it is the time for us to come to know Christ and it's not just for those in this room it is the time for your neighbors it is the time for your co-workers it is the time for your family members it is the time for whoever you know that does not know Jesus Jesus to have a door out to get to Salvation through Christ because that is where the blessing currently is is with Gentiles now what does Jesus say next there will be signs and sun and moon and stars and on the earth distress of

Nations and perplexity because of the Roaring of the Seas and the waves there will be people fainting with fear and with foreoing of what is coming on the world for the powers of the heavens will be shaken and then they will see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great Glory now when these things begin to take place straighten up and raise your heads because your Redemption is Drawing Near this is now not talking about what's about to happen in Jerusalem this is now talking about what Jerusalem is actually pointing to this is talking about the second coming of Christ when

John the Baptist was first preaching and preparing the way for Jesus to show up on the scene he was basically telling the people I'm explaining to you what to look for because I don't want you to miss Jesus now you still had to have eyes to see and ears to hear because when Jesus showed up on the scene even though John the Baptist had told everybody what to look for there were still a lot of people that missed Jesus and that's what we're continuing to see even in the time of the Gentiles again several months ago we preached and it was a very just sovereignty

of God in Salvation how God Saves people that shows that God has to grant us Faith to be able to believe that that is absolutely a true statement that all of scriptures point to even in the time of the Gentiles right now we preach and proclaim the gospel I have no control over whether or not you actually can understand it and believe it God is doing that work in your mind and in your heart and he's going to continue to do that work even with the Gentiles right now so there's going to be opportunity for Gentiles to receive the Gospel message and for those who

have eyes to see it and ears to hear it they will receive it and that'll be beautiful and we will celebrate that and we will baptize them and we will get them into discipleship and that will be a beautiful thing we're praying to see that but there are still going to be some people that even when we warn them might not know that this is the time of the Gentiles might not be able to see and hear understand that oh yeah I should get out because we're in a domain of Darkness there is an impending judgment that's coming eventually where Christ will come back and

it'll be too late for us to get out because the door has been closed and then his judgment's going to kill us it's going to send us to Hell forever like that's going to happen what Jesus is showing us here is that in the time before his second coming some will realize it some will not but what he's saying here is when you get to that day when it is his second coming you won't miss it nobody will miss it like there will be it will be so obvious because first of all the son of man doesn't just ride around on clouds on a daily

basis that's not how God reveals himself to us when that day happens and we see the son of man riding on a cloud we will know all eyes will be open all ears will be able to hear and unfortunately in that moment when that happens The Siege is closed the door is closed and those who have stood up and were ready and prepared will be joyful and excited to see the son of man returning and for those who rejected all of the warnings it's going to be horrific it's going to be a day of tragedy and that's why he says well again to he uses

the lesson of the Fig Tree as kind of a parable to drive that point home and the fact that it'll be obvious you won't miss it look at the Fig Tree and all the trees as soon as they come out in a leaf you you see for yourselves and you know that summer is already near this is like when for us when spring rolls around and everything starts blooming like we're not like no we still winter no it's obvious that the seasons are changing and that it's now spring entering into summer he says when the son of man comes on that day it will be

that obvious that a season is closing and we're entering into a new age and so then what does Jesus tell us to do in regards to that age that is coming verse 34 watch yourselves watch yourselves like that's examine yourself that's look into your heart look into your mind look into your life look into how you're living look at how you're stewarding your budget look at how you're stewarding and manag in your relationships look at how you're engaging in your church like look at all of these things watch yourselves examine your life lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation what is dissipation dissipation is

a desent into debauchery it's a descent into trusting the world it's a descent into drunkenness or numbing your soul or trying to do things to ignore what's going on around us it's a descent into focusing more on the cares of this life rather than eternity because that day will come upon you suddenly like a trap again we've said this there's no way that we can predict when Jesus is going to return no way for us to predict that when it happens we will know but until it happens we will not know that's what Jesus told us and Jesus never lies it will come like a

trap it'll come elsewhere he says it'll come like a thief in the night for it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth so there will be nobody who will escape the second coming of Christ therefore stay awake at all times now we need to contrast that idea of stay awake at all like watch yourselves stay awake don't be drunk don't be drunk don't fall into the cares of this life don't numb yourself so that you don't see what is going on and what is happening stay awake awake not asleep sober minded not drunk wise not foolish there's a way

in which now we in the life of the times of the Gentiles are also called to live like how the Jews were supposed to live following God and being his people we are now called to that and so we are to be awake and ready Romans 122 puts it this way don't be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God what is good and what is acceptable and what is perfect so in the times of the Gentiles which again the book of Romans was written to

Romans which was written to basically to be spread and and continued um like if you really want to get a Doctrine to an epicenter that is then going to spread out throughout all of the Roman Road structure and like Paul was like take this I mean because if you read through the The Book of Romans it's really like the first systematic theological book that was ever written he wants it to spread and what is Central in it is don't follow the pattern of this world follow the pattern of God don't trust this world trust God don't get drunk like the world does be so over

minded don't be foolish like the world is be wise in understanding what God has provided for you so that as you live life you're able to discern the will of God you're able to know what has God called you to what is he asking of you when you wake up in the morning and you go to your job is your job just a means for you to make money no it's the time of the Gentiles it is a means for the gospel to spread for the glory of God God to cover the Earth like the waters cover the sea habach 2:14 now how does he

finish because we need to start Landing this plane look at verse 36 stay awake at all times praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the son of man again that's praying that you endure that you persevere until that day when we get to stand before Jesus what a day that will be now why will they be ready for Jesus because they have received Jesus's warning they're ready to receive Jesus because they first receive Jesus's warning now what's the real warning the real warning that he has given to all of us that

he gave to the disciples that's going to happen in about 40 years for them the real warning the real spiritual warning for us with the impending second coming coming is Romans 3:23-24 which says all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God there's not one person that got it right in human history except for Jesus he's the only person born of woman that never sinned all have fallen short of the glory of God and are justified by his G by his

grace as a gift through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus why do we need to be justified which is a legal term that means to be pardoned why do we need to be redeemed which is being purchased by Christ because Romans 623 says for the wages of sin is death so if all sinned and fell short of the glory of God well then what is their punishment for falling short of the glory of God God's going to put a Siege wall around the world and then his wrath is going to destroy them the wages of sin is death but for those who heard the

warning and saw that he provided a way out through his son Jesus Christ and received it and accepted that way out that salvation that forgiveness of sins we get to flee the domain of Darkness through the door that is Christ through the veil that is torn into the holy of holies where we get to be with God for eternity that's what really Jesus is preaching and prophesying In This Moment moment to his disciples that the Jews rejected but this is the message that you're going to take to the Gentiles and let's pray that they receive it that they receive it and then it says every

day he was teaching in the temple but but at night when he went out he lodged on the mount called oliv it and early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him all right Church here's where I want to get as practical as possible in reference to the times of the Gentiles I said I would come back to this and close it out with this specific thing here's two things we know for certain from this passage God has opened the door for the Gentiles to be saved and number two they get saved by coming to Jesus to hear

the gospel God has opened a door for every single person person you know to come to know Christ as Savior and Lord he's opened a door for it that's what I shared in the email in the word of the week this week if if you don't read those honestly you're going to miss out because it's one of the strategies that we use for you to catch the vision of our church it's not just like a 10minute devotion in the middle of the week for you to kind of check that off the box and I'm not saying don't do devotions those are absolutely necessary and are

abiding in Christ but it's a strategy that we use to again continue Gathering our church together on a singular mission that Christ has called us to because we are right now in the times of the Gentiles why was it important for all the people to come to Jesus to hear him in the temple because Romans 10:14 tells us this how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him in whom they've never heard and how are they to hear without someone preaching the way people come to Jesus to hear him teach today is through

the preaching of God's word the beauty of where we are in history is that the door for the Gentiles is still open why hasn't the Lord come back already because because the times of the Gentiles is not finished it's not finished that means there are more people to be saved there is more Harvest to come in 2 Peter 3:9 says it this way the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness but he's patient toward you he's patient towards the Gentiles right now of whom are not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance like that's God's heart

the time times of the Gentiles are are now and he is slow in his patience or he's slow in his return because he desires for all to hear the gospel and respond with repentance Matthew 9:35 through 38 puts it this way Jesus went throughout all the cities and Villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every Affliction and when he saw the crowds he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a Shepherd they were lost like he saw the people it'd be like him looking at Indianapolis and he's like man

they are sorry because they are people without a Shepherd they are sheep without a shepherd and so then he said to his disciples the Harvest is plentiful there's lots of lost people that he is going to save but the laborers are few therefore pray earnestly to the lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into his Harvest here's what God is not telling us to do now hear me when I say this he is not saying pray for the Harvest pray for the laborers to be sent out to the Harvest God already God knows everything he knows the past he knows the present he knows

the future he knows who he's going to save he knows who's going to hear the gospel and respond to it by faith and repentance and come to Jesus he knows we don't need to pray for those who are lost we need to pray that we take the gospel to them we need to pray that the laborers stand up and do their job of laboring for the gospel El working for the gospel it was like the the analogy that I used last week about the gumball machine like we come up to a gumball machine it's like man I'd really love to have a gumball right now

Lord would you give me a gumball I just want to taste and like no what Lord's like yeah I I gave you a job I gave you skills I gave you like that provided provision for you like what you need to do is reach into that pocket grab that quarter that I gave you and put it in the gumball machine turn the knob so that you can receive what I've already put there what he has done for us is he has provided for us the quarter which is the gospel and he wants us to sew that seed out into the Harvest and he will bring

the Harvest in but the laborers have to labor we got to get to work we got to get the gospel message out we got to sew the seed because we are in the times of the Gentiles again how will they hear how will they believe how will they call like how will your lost friends and your lost neighbors and your lost co-workers how will they know Jesus if you don't preach it to them if you don't share the gospel with them if you don't invite them let them come and be a crowd in this place and hear the gospel message be preached so that they

can respond by faith again that's why Paul gives instructions to the church in Corinth in first Corinthians 14 he puts it this way if therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and Outsiders or unbelievers enter will they not say you were out of your minds what he's basically saying there is there were some Churches in Corinth who were basically just opening up their door to Believers to be built up with the preaching of tongues which again was a um a gift to the church for the building up of the church for the maturation of discipleship but what Paul is saying is

is don't just speak in tongues which for us is saying don't just focus on deep discipleship if you just focus on deep discipleship guess what you never get new Believers and converts so instead what he says is you should prophesy which is to make known that which can only be known by divine revelation preach the word of God preach the gospel and and it goes on to say I love this it just lays it out for us and an unbeliever or Outsider enters he is convicted by all he is called to account by all the secrets of his hearts are disclosed and so falling on

his face he will worship God and declare that God is really among you go back to thinking about how you got saved like I would dare say that the majority of us got saved in a worship service in a worship Gathering where we heard the gospel being preached and we like he puts into words what you felt you were convicted in your heart the secrets of your heart were disclosed you were convicted and you responded falling on your face in worship of God declaring that God is really among you and so what I mean by that is we're we harp a lot on um personal

evangelism like on toone evangelism like go share with someone why you are saved why you follow Jesus why you believe in Jesus but guess what that's not the only strategy that the disciples used to get people saved and if you actually look in Scripture and I've done some research on it this week some would land it between 90% and higher that the the all of the salvations that you see in scripture 90% or more of them happened in a large crowd with one preacher preaching more than 90% of salvations recorded in scripture happened because people were invited to come here to come hear the gospel

10% or less were the one-on-one disciple now don't hear me say oh well then we don't need to do one-on-one discipleship or one-on-one evangelism I'm just saying the reason why it's so at your Forefront that you know lyia and that you know the Philippian Jailer and that you know the slave girl and that you know the Ethiopian unic and that you know the Apostle Paul and Jesus coming in personally evangelizing him the reason why we can call them by name is because it's less than 10% it's the exception to the rule versus the rule which is come and see come and hear from this man

that I have that has told like the the the woman at the well she goes to the village and she starts just declaring to everybody you got to come hear Jesus so let's find out where's he going next like where's his tour at where's his next stop and that's why large crowds and literally It Ends Here by saying that everyone in Jerusalem was coming to Jesus to hear him how did that happen it happened because everyone went to everyone and told everyone to come and see Jesus like they weren't just sleeping in their house and had a dream and thought I think there's a weird

dude in town that we should go check out people shared the message that they need to come and hear Jesus Jesus scripture assumes non-believers get saved in church worship Services by a show of hands and like truly a show of hands who wants to see that happen Among Us like who would love for our church to get a little messy and have lost people come in our doors and hear a message and be convicted by the word of God being preached and declared and then respond in faith believing Jesus has forgiven them of their sins get baptized enter into discipleship like I I believe anyone

who comes in and get saved we'll enter into discipleship because of our community groups because of our men's and women's Ministries because of what we do on Sunday mornings right now they'll get discipled I don't think that's the problem I think the problem right now now is whether or not we're casting seed whether or not we're throwing it out for people to come and hear what Jesus has to say to them and that's why I want us knowing in the times that we're in the times of the Gentiles I want to invite you to begin making a list of everyone you know who you'd like

to invite to hear from Jesus that's your home work for this week and because tomorrow is Labor day and we are praying for the laborers why not just knock it out on Labor Day like you should labor tomorrow making a list of everyone you know by name so just work concentric circles who lives around me or who's in my family who do I work with who do I see at coffee shops or the gym or the park or whatever like make a list of everyone that you know who does not know Jesus and then what we've already done is we've already designed in order 2500

invite cards we're going to trust God at his word that he is in the time of the Gentiles right now and that means that there's a door open for all of our friends who don't know Jesus to come to know Jesus and we're going to invite them to come and hear the gospel message and so we're going to give you cards and we're going to give you we're going to start out with 10 a month all right because we're we don't want to give you a hundred cards and then you put them somewhere and then you lose them and then you're like I'm sorry can

you order more we're going to give you 10 a month we're going to ask you to invite 10 people each month 10 people each month honestly you could knock that out even with those that are not on your list when you're pumping gas every single week you just be pumping gas and be like there's like two or three people over here pumping gas be like hey I love my church like I'd love to invite you sometime come check it out nine o'clock on Sundays here's the address it's on the card love to see you there all right I'm going to finish pumping my gas now

like that simple you're at the grocery store and you're checking out and they're you know ringing you up at the end like don't do self checkout if there's the one or two people that are actually working for their job like actually go there and then hey as you're wrapping up things hope you have a blessed day like we love our church we' love to invite you um to come check it out sometime here's a card all the information's on it like 10 would be super easy so we're going to start off with that and we want you to invite people look I don't care where

you live I don't care where you live my first Pastor because I'm looking around the room and the majority of y'all don't live inside the loop my first Pastor when I was in high school he had this series because at that time our church was growing and it was I mean there were people driving in from all over Nashville and he said a church alive is worth the drive that was just the name of the series a church alive is worth the drive people don't care what the obstacles are if they're coming to know Jesus and that they found Jesus and that they're growing in

Jesus they don't care about obstacles so don't let where you live be an obstacle for inviting those who are around you don't worry about that and honestly we don't even care if they get saved and like because they came here and they got saved and then they're like but man we really want to plug into a community around us we'll help them find a great church that's like five minutes down the road from them that's fine too I don't care as long as we as the laborers are doing our job and casting the seed because God has told us it's the time of the Gentiles

and there is a harvest that I already have in mind and you are to be sent out into the Harvest all right as we conclude this morning 1 Corinthians 14 again tells us that through the preaching of God's word the people will experience a conviction of heart maybe even coming to know Jesus for the first time Hebrews 4:12 adds for the word of God is living and it's active it's sharper than any two-edged sword it's piercing to the division of soul and of spirit of joints and of marrow and it's Discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart like when we open up the word

of God and we preach it God is doing surgery on your heart and in your mind every single time you may not know it you may not see it you may not feel it but there is conviction that is happening where it's like yeah I should stand up I should watch myself a little bit more I should become aware of how I'm living my life and what I'm doing on a daily basis because that's what the word of God is doing it's not me trying to convince that over you it's just that I'm passionate about this I care about this because I know what it's

done in my life and as God is working this out and as he's piercing and convicting you it calls for us to have a time of response it calls for us to literally like just like when you first heard the gospel for the first time and you responded by faith and you trust him and you get up and you start following Jesus guess what that's what you get to do every single time the word of God is preached am I continuing to get up and stand up and follow Jesus and what he's called of me and right now one of the things that he has

called us to is continuing to follow him in what he has commanded his disciples to do which is go and make more disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you go and be Fishers of Men go and cast the seed invite people to Jesus that's what he's called us to and are we doing it let's go ahe and stand together we're going to do communion a little bit different as we continue to move forward because we want there to be space we want there to be opportunity for our

people to have a moment to have a time where they can reflect and if they're not Believers this is going to be a moment and a time where um in the days to come as non-believers begin coming into this room they have a opportunity to respond by faith and trust Jesus and then be able to partake communion with us and so I'm going to be standing over to the left as they come in and as everyone comes down I'm going to be inviting them over come and let me know I believe Jesus I have I have no idea what I'm talking about but Jesus has

convicted my heart this morning and I want to follow him and I want to trust him and I'm going to say Amen absolutely praise God let's partake of communion together because the Lord's Supper what it symbolizes for us is what Jesus did to open that door to break the siege in the domain of Darkness that he broke his body for the Forgiveness of our sins that he shed his blood to purchase us and redeem us to come to the father once and for all