Cityview Community Church - Sermons
From Safety to Sending (John 20:19-23)
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PODCAST FROM SAFETY TO SENDING April 19, 2026 | Brandon Cooper Brandon Cooper’s sermon on John 20 emphasizes the tension between retreating to safety and embracing risky love in mission. He uses a middle school analogy to illustrate the choice between helping a new student or retreating into a friend group. Cooper highlights Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to the disciples, reassuring them with peace and commissioning them to mission. He explains that believers are already safe in Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill their mission. Cooper encourages the congregation to own their unique missions, whether serving international students, assisted living residents, or gym buddies, emphasizing the importance of proactive, missional living. TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+ The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Good morning church, you can go ahead, grab your Bibles, open up to John chapter 20. John 20, we’ll be starting in verse 19. John 20, verse 19. As you’re turning there, put yourself back in middle school days, or maybe some of you are there. And you have to imagine that there is a new student at school, you know, mid year. So it’s a tough shift, already tough transition for this person to come in to a totally new school, new friend groups, all that kind of stuff. And in addition, you can just tell that there’s something a little different about this student, whatever it might be. So it might be somebody from a different place, they got different culture, they got different, you know, habits, all that kind of stuff. Or maybe it’s somebody with a learning difference, special need of some sort, and you’re there in the lunchroom, and you can tell this is a critical moment in that new student’s journey. You know, they’re off to the side, unengaged, nobody around them, and you’ve got a choice to make. As you’re sitting there watching this new student, you can initiate. You can move towards that student, invite them into your friend group, tell them that you’re there to help. You know they need to find stuff in the school, or you’re happy to walk them around, whatever it may be. Of course, that choice carries some risks with it, risk of rejection. I mean maybe even by the other friend groups or something like that, discomfort certainly be risking. And even just time and energy, you may be going, I’m willing to help. And the person says, Great, I need help. And you’re like, Oh, I didn’t mean it, though. So that’s a problem now. So you can initiate, you can invite and embrace that risk, or you could hold back hope somebody else takes care of the problem. They can they can step out, maybe even just retreat into your friend group and, you know, snicker at the jokes that are being made as well. So you’ve got this pull to safety, and really, if we’re being honest, it’s a selfish safety or the push to a risky love. That’s exactly the tension we experience when it comes to mission as God’s people, because we can step out in faith, but step out of our comfort zone in faith or retreat to safety. We’re being honest. The safety that we retreat to is usually the church community. We can retreat back into our cells because we’re fearful about stepping out, fearful about going out on mission, fearful, by the way, for good reasons. There are all sorts of things that can go wrong when you step out in faith on mission, absolutely so you get that selfish pull to safety, rather than a loving willingness to sacrifice and embrace risk for the sake of others. But here’s the question, What if Jesus could vanquish those fears that keep us, you know, wanting to opt for safety. What if Jesus could vanquish our fears that would change everything? Because then we could be sent out boldly. We could venture boldly for the sake of Christ, His kingdom, His cause, especially if he sends us some help along the way. And so what we’re gonna do this morning is explore the exact moment when Jesus does that for his first followers, when he vanquishes their fears. We’re gonna see how he, even today, meets our needs and empowers us to do what he’s called us to do. So a little bit of context, since we’re picking up in the middle of a story, this is an Easter sermon I get made fun of sometimes by my family, because on Easter, I don’t always preach about Easter, but that’s fine, because every Sunday we preach the resurrection of Jesus. That’s why we’re here on Sunday anyway. But here’s a real resurrection story. So what’s just happened in John 20 Jesus died, he was buried, and then he’s raised to new life by his father and Mary and some of the other women, Mary Magdalene, some of the other women there are there, you know, first break of light on Sunday morning. They’re there at the tomb to anoint his body with spices, what not? Except they find the tomb is empty. They’re a little bit concerned. Mary rushes back. She tells Peter and John, two of Jesus’s disciples, and they’ve got their little race to the tomb. See who gets there. First they go inside. Sure enough, it is empty. He is risen. And then it says in John 20, verse 10, then the disciples went back to where they were staying. So that’s where we’re picking up. Peter and John have just seen the tomb is empty. They’re confused, and they went back to where they were staying. Let’s pick up the story there. But in verse 19, on the. Evening of that first day of the week when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. And again Jesus said, Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that, he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. Okay, so what are we gonna see in this short passage here three ways that Jesus helps overcome that pull to selfishness in us, that selfish safety three ways that Jesus vanquishes our fears and instead provides us with peace and power and purpose for his mission. So first way, first part of the sermon here, is safety, right? So we are safe, and this is how Jesus helps us overcome our anxiety. It’s there in verses 19 and 20. Of course, they’re fearful, but it says Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace, be with you. And then he shows them his hands and side. The point here is that we are already safe. We are already safe in Christ. So we don’t need to retreat to safety. We’re already safe in him. So let’s take a look at this. Fear is driving the disciples, as I mentioned, they’ve got the doors locked in the room where they’re hiding out because they’re afraid of the Jewish authorities, afraid again for good reasons like this makes sense that they’re fearful of the Jewish authorities. They just killed Jesus. They want to see this movement stamped out. So yeah, they’ll probably go after the other ring leaders as well in this moment. So they’re fearful for good reason. Now you are wondering, like, didn’t Peter and John share anything about the empty tomb with the other disciples? Like, did that reality change anything for them? It doesn’t seem to have they’re confused, not confident. They’re reeling, unsure, unwilling to risk and again, who can blame them. I mean, to go out and boldly proclaim the Christ that they just killed would seem a little foolish. I mean fear, if you think about it, fear is a certain type of fear, at least, is a God given response to keep us from doing stupid things like fear is a good thing in so many cases. You picture a young child, you know, walking into a an unfamiliar, crowded area that’s just bustling with, you know, grown ups running back and forth we’re at, like Union Station or something like that, child would be right to shrink back. I’m not going to run into this, right? There’s, there’s something in here, going, I don’t think I should be here. I’m not sure I’m safe. What that child needs in that moment is mom or dad to take her hand. I’d say, It’s okay, sweetie, like we’re going, we’re going together here to provide that comfort and confidence. And that’s exactly what Jesus does for the disciples here. So he shows up in their midst. Remember, the doors are locked. No big deal for resurrected Jesus. So that would be a little bit, you know, extra reason for confidence, for trust in Him. He is still physical. He’s going to eat some fish. He’s got, you know, shows them his hands inside and stuff. But he’s also beyond the physical. So he just walks through locked doors. No big deal. So here he is, though he shows up, and when he shows up, what does he say to his disciples? Peace. Peace. The Hebrew word is shalom. It’s richer than our English word peace, because it’s not just the absence of conflict that he’s describing, because actually, there is still conflict, if you think about it, it’s not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God in the midst of that conflict. It’s the knowledge that, because of what Jesus has just done for them, the disciples are reconciled to God, loved by Him, cared for by him. It is the peace that comes with a psalm 23 sort of faith. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths. For his name’s sake, even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. That’s the peace that Jesus is giving to them in this moment. And then, as if to put a punctuation mark on it, he shows them his hands, nail pierced hands, and then his spear pierced side. Did interesting. He doesn’t show his feet. He’s like, Yes, it’s me. I was crucified, but it was me in particular, because I’m the only one where they they stabbed the spear in as well. So they know it really is Jesus. He He’s proving to them he really rose from the dead. He is alive again, which means he has defeated our enemies sin in particular, and then the judgment that we deserve as a result of our sin, the death that we will have to face. So he’s proving that he’s really risen. We can trust him. We can trust him as a result, it’s almost like he’s saying you guys have good reasons to fear, but you have far better reasons to trust. That’s the peace that he gives. That’s the key. Peace comes with a right knowledge, a right understanding of our safety, and step out in faith, because we know he’s got us that changes everything. When you know for sure you’re safe, ask my kids what I’m most scared of they will tell you without hesitation, it’s not heights. It’s my kids on heights. That one terrifies me. They were nodding their heads over there. This is very true. So of course, I took them zip lining in Costa Rica at one point when my parents took it to Costa Rica, and so they were the whole time, because they’re mean. They get that from their mother, okay, not from mean. So they’re teasing me and like, Hey, Dad, you’re freaking out right now, aren’t you, dad, right? You’re freaking out right now because we’re, you know, 100 feet up, or whatever, something like that. The truth was, I wasn’t freaking out because everywhere we went on the zip line, we had, like, double safety precautions in we were hooked in twice. There’s no even if one of them failed, the other one was going to catch us. And so I could say, No, I’m good, I’m good now. Like, that’s the same idea. Jesus has us, we’re good now we’re hooked in to him. Our greatest fear, which is death, is already overcome. Like, I know I’m safe because Jesus conquered the grave, which means I know that I will rise to forever, life in him after my death. That’s what Jesus is saying. So what if the Jewish authorities kill you? What’s the worst that can happen? You got to be with Jesus in glory forever. Like now you know what comes next. This is important, because we all make risk reward calculations all day, every day, just constantly making risk reward calculations. Can I make this light that’s not gonna be worth it? Not gonna be worth the accident, not gonna be worth the ticket, if there’s a cop there or something like that. Do I really want to spend 80 bucks a month on life insurance? That’s not worth it. I don’t want to leave my family in the lurch if something happens to me. Jesus doesn’t eliminate those calculations. That’s just prudence. Anyway. I was just reading the book of Proverbs there, going, Yeah, it’s probably good to think about these kinds of things. So he doesn’t eliminate those calculations, but he reframes them ultimately. Ultimately we risk nothing when we step out in faith for God’s kingdom, because what matters most is eternally secure. Jesus has secured it for us. He guarantees it. It’s the passage that Hannah read for us earlier in first Peter one, in his great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus, Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven. For you, our inheritance is secure. What we have in Christ is secure. That changes our calculations. It’s like, putting your money in a bank where you’re going, is it going to be there? Well, yeah, it’s backed by the FDIC. Or you’re starting a business when you got venture capitalists that are funding where you’re like, Okay, I’m not risking my dime here. I’m going to be okay if the business fails. Or rock climbing when you’re on belay where you’re like, Okay, again, we’re hooked in by fall off, somebody still got me. That’s the peace that we need, the knowledge of eternal security and true safety, or else we’ll end up in holy huddles like the disciples here, which Christians do like there’s a reason why we got that phrase holy huddle. It’s articulating something we’ve seen many times before, that retreat to safety, how unwilling Christians can be, maybe, how unwilling we even are here in this room to say, invite new people into our community group. Well, that’s gonna mess with the dynamic, though. You know what? I’m not sure I’m gonna be able to be as open like it’s the same middle school clicks that we started with in the sermon. We retreat to safety, and especially when we consider that there is risk. Still, of course, like go back to rock climbing. It’s great to know. Know that your envelope, somebody is there at the bottom. They got you hooked into the rope and everything like that. If you slip, you can still smack against it, though it hurts, you can get bruised. That’s mission right there. You can get bruised in mission, absolutely, conversation might go badly, but he’s got us. We risk nothing, not ultimately, that is why we need more than just knowledge of our ultimate safety. Important though, that is we need help too, and that’s our second point. It’s a second way that Jesus overcomes this pull to selfish safety. Is he makes us strong. This overcomes our inadequacy. It’s there in verse 22 quite short, with that he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit like, let’s keep going with our rock climbing analogy for a moment here, having somebody holding that rope at the bottom, it keeps you safe. It doesn’t make you better at rock climbing. You could just stand there all day long going, I don’t I don’t have the upper body strength to lift myself up, and so you’re going to need training, or you need to work out. Or, if you’re one of those little kids we climb, you know, rock climbing wall, where we go up family camp in Lake Geneva. And sometimes you can see the counselors at the bottom with the like the five year old or whatever, and they just start going like this, yay. You reach the top. You know, really good. Okay, that’s us with the spirit right there. By the way, that’s exactly what this looks like. But think how that sense of our inadequacy, our inability to do this, holds us back on mission. Like, I think this is our biggest issue on mission. A lot of us would say that first point, I’m with you, Brandon, I’m with you like, I know God’s got this. I’m just not sure I’ve got this. Yes, absolutely, right. There’s this overwhelming sense of inadequacy, incompetence, even, like, they’re going to ask me questions I know I can’t answer if I start sharing my faith, I’ve got no idea how to steer a conversation organically to the gospel or to explain the good news in a way that makes sense and meets people where they are, kind of scratches where they itch. And here’s why I love the Bible, among many reasons that I love the Bible. The Bible doesn’t pretend otherwise. The Bible is not going to lie to you about you the way our culture often does. You’ve got this You go, girl, the Bible says, No, you’re right. You are totally inadequate to do what God’s asked you to do. You have nothing in yourself to get you there, especially with the two main things, God calls us to pursue holiness and mission. How are you doing? Getting yourself holy on your own? Not so good. Same with mission. And Jesus said this himself. John 15, five apart from me. You can do nothing. It’s right when he says that he’s the true vine, we’re just branches meant to be hooked into him. You snip that branch off. You go. I got this. I can do this on my own. What kind of fruit are you going to produce? Nothing. You’re going wither and die. We have to be in him in order to do this. So the good news is, we can, we can be connected to the vine. We have that power available to us. It’s like Jesus is saying, we’re going rock climbing, all right, and I got you, I’m at the bottom, I got you on the rope, kind of thing, so you’re safe. But then Jesus, this doesn’t work in our analogy, but he’s God. He can do what he wants. Okay? He’s like, also, while I’ve got you at the bottom, I’m gonna put you on my back and actually climb you up to the top at the same time, so you’re safe and able strong in him. That’s the only way we’re gonna get there. Paul, the greatest evangelist in the history of the world, said this about himself, like if you’re feeling inadequate, just know you’re in good company. Here he is in second Corinthians, three, verse five, he says, not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. Just think how freeing that is. You don’t have to pretend to be enough. He makes you competent in himself in every area. This isn’t just mission, by the way. Like, how freeing is that? As a parent, you’re going, I’m messing this up. Yeah, yeah, you are. But the Spirit’s going to make you competent to go on or discipleship. You’re trying to help somebody grow in the faith you’re going I’m sure I’m growing in my faith, teaching whatever it might be, God empowers us to do what he’s asked us to do. We are not alone. He does not leave us to ourselves. It’s like when you’re learning to drive how glad. Are you that the instructors in the car next to you, especially if they got that car with the extra brake in it and stuff, and you know, they can just grab the wheel, because that’s how we feel again, most of the time. As Christian, Jesus take the wheel. God sends His Holy Spirit. Jesus breathed on them. He said, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you’re in Christ, you have received the Spirit of God to dwell within you. I mean, that’s even better than just having the instructor there in the car next to you. He’s inside you. Your hands are on the wheel. His hands are on the wheel. That’s what that means. He’s also the engine. So you got everything going for you here, but that’s freeing again. So if you were here with us the last couple months, you know, we’ve been in Exodus for a long time. Do you remember Moses when they were on the cusp of the Promised Land, and God was like, I’m not going, I’m gonna send my angel. And Moses said, If you don’t go, I’m not going, if you don’t go, I’m not going, I’m not going, unless you’re coming to and here, in this moment after Pentecost, we don’t ever have to ask that question again. God always goes with us, because he’s within us. We know that he’s always with us. This is John’s version of the Great Commission where Jesus gives His disciples their task, gives us our task for the remainder of history. The most famous one is Matthew’s version, go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to baptize in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you. But then Matthew, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus wraps it up by saying, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age, which is a strange thing for him to say, as he ascends into heaven, I’m gonna be with you always. Take care now. But we know, if you put it, you know, put John’s alongside Matthew, you get the whole story here. He’s saying, right, I’m physically leaving, but I’m sending my Spirit to be with you always. That’s why we can make disciples of all nations. That’s why we can go on mission. But it produces this prayerful dependence and joyful humility in us to know it’s not up to us. We can’t even do it, but he’s got us. It’s a little bit. We’ve got a small basketball hoop in our backyard, and every now and every now and again, you’ve all experienced this. You have small kids in a basketball hoop. They want to dunk, and so you, you know kind of thing that’s us, that’s us on mission, all right, but there is that. There’s joy, like, Look, I just dunked, but there’s also humility. I know I’m not doing this unless dad picks me up. It’s his strength, it’s his glory. So I know if I want to do this, I gotta say, Hey Dad, can you help me out here? But we can do it again. We can. We can dunk in Christ, not me, but you know, other people can dunk. That’s why we can leave that holy huddle, venture into the world, start conversations, asking good questions, way Jesus did, proclaiming His gospel boldly, because we know the spirit within us, strengthening us, going ahead of us, preparing hearts in the Spirit. We are safe. We are strong. That overcomes a lot of obstacles to missional living, except for the worst one, which is our selfishness. And so that’s that last section. Then we are safe, we are strong. We are also sent, and that should overcome our apathy. So Jesus said again, verse 21 Peace be with you, as the Father sent me. I’m sending you. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. So in verse 21 Jesus reiterates peace again. That’s the safety and the strength he’s going you have what you need. There’s your your peace. But then he commissions his disciples. He’s made us safe and he’s made us strong, because we’re going to be sent, this is what we need to go out. And so we should probably go out. It’d be like your, you know, parents buying sunscreen, getting you all sprayed up and everything. You got your your life jacket, it’s all buckled and stuff, brand new swimsuit. You had swim lessons all spring to stay in your basement playing video games all summer like no, we did all that so that you would, you know, swim outside. Jesus finished his work. Says that in John 19 verse 30, he’s on the cross, and He says, It is finished. He died for our sins. He rose again in victory over sin and death. He finished his work. So now our work begins. It is a related work he died to. Procure forgiveness. We go to proclaim forgiveness. He died so that we could be forgiven. We go so that others can be forgiven. That’s verse 23 that’s the connection there. This is what happens through the preaching of the gospel. We offer forgiveness to those who are listening, some will respond in repentance and faith. Others will not. But the point is, the good news is so good, we can’t help but share it. We’re evangelists by nature. As humans, you know this, you can pay attention to yourself and the people around you. How many times people tell you, like, Oh, you got to watch this show. That’s evangelicalism. There’s something good, and I want you to experience it also. You got it. You want tacos? You got to go to this restaurant. Trust me, it’s the same way with us, but it’s so much more glorious. Paul says in Second Corinthians five that the love of Christ compels us. We’re so overwhelmed by the goodness of his love, we can’t help but share it. It propels us outward. Some have said that the gospel ministry is really just a group of beggars telling other beggars where to find bread, and that’s the truth of it. But the point is, you’re going, there’s infinite bread, like I got good news for you come and have why would you not tell them that it’s a beggar saying I was dead in my transgressions and sin, I was without hope and without God in this world under judgment, just condemnation for my sins, a hurtling toward destruction, but God, because of His great love for us, God, being rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved. If that’s my story and your story, we can’t keep that to ourselves. Like news that good begs to be shared if we’re not sharing it, you would almost think we hadn’t believed it if we would keep it to ourselves. And yet, that’s the fleshly tendency, even with the disciples. Well, you see this in the book of Acts. So acts opens. It’s like another version of the Great Commission. Jesus, just before he ascends into heaven, says, look, you’ll receive power from on high. There’s the spirit. You got your safety, got your strength going for you. Okay? And then you’re gonna be my witnesses, and we sent then my witnesses in Jerusalem, where you are, and then Judea, and then Samaria, and then ultimately to the ends of the earth. That’s acts one, verse eight. Now flip the numbers, Acts 81 this is months later. We read this on that day, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. And if you’re reading carefully, you’re going, why were you still in Jerusalem? Like it took this to get you to Judea and Samaria, never mind the ends of the earth. Like, what was going on, guys? I mean, this persecution. It’s like God, like the mom that goes downstairs in the summertime and says, Get out of the basement shoe. Go outside and play like God is shooing his people here. You don’t get to stay in Jerusalem anymore. Judea Samaria, when we talked about this, ends of the earth, let’s go. I’m not saying you better get moving, or God’s going to bring persecution. Maybe it happens. I’m just saying, Look how easy it is to retreat to safety, to the comfortable, to the familiar. I understand what the early church is doing. I can read myself into that passage, no problem. Why wouldn’t you just sit with the apostles, listen to them teach. I’m just growing in knowledge and understanding. I’m getting fat in Christ. Just gonna keep studying scripture. We got these deep, small groups, beautiful. We all know each other. We can be vulnerable. We can share with each other. We’re doing life together like every day, not like the American church. No, we’re doing life together. You read Acts 242, to 47 you see that picture in the early church, and go, Yeah, I’d want to stay there too. Plus, they don’t want to leave Jerusalem. They love the food there. They know where to find everything in their neighborhood grocery store. That’s really tough when you move and it’s not there where it’s supposed to be. It’s wrong aisle. People act the way I expect them to act. That’s the retreat to selfish, safety, comfortable confines. It’s absolutely antithetical to the work of Jesus. Christ, though. I mean, look at Jesus. What did he do? He left home, which was more comfortable than your home, that’s for sure. I mean, he left glory. He left his throne. Took on flesh and embraced discomfort, would be understatement safe to say, for our sakes, when we catch the magnitude of that love we’re willing to leave also not about my wants, not about my desires, those are already met in Christ, Jesus at the deepest level. So I can go there’s a big idea. We’ll just pull the three pieces together. The big idea for today, we’re safe in Christ and strong in the spirit, so we can be sent out without fear and hesitation. We are safe in Christ, strong in the spirit, so we can be sent out without fear or hesitation. Now, an analogy may be helpful here, as we move toward application, as we move toward the here and now. Of it all, this is an unoriginal analogy. I think it might come from JD Greer, so I’ll give him props. But honestly, I’ve heard it so many times in so many different places across decades. At this point, I don’t know where it comes from. Most of us want our local church to be a cruise ship. A cruise ship. A cruise ship is about me and my pleasure. That’s why you go on a cruise. It’s also why you stay on the cruise. You want to leave the cruise. I pay good money for this. I would like to stay right here. I am here to be served, which, again, is not exactly Jesus’s way. Jesus somewhat famously said in Mark 1045, Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom. For many. Most of us want a church to be a cruise ship, and most churches are happy to lean into that wish. So look at cruise ships. You’ve seen pictures of cruise ships before. I’ve never been on a cruise. My wife doesn’t want to go on a cruise. We’re not going on a cruise. Okay? You see pictures of cruise ships. They’re enormous. They’re just like floating cities. You’ve seen pictures of cruise ship with the Titanic next to it. The Titanic is the kids play area on one of the decks on a cruise ship. Like, they’re crazy. Why did they get so big? Because people kept saying, you know, what we could do? You know, it’d be fun to do on a cruise. Like, here’s, I’m going on a cruise. I’m gonna be out in the ocean, in this beautiful area. You know what would be helpful there a comedy club? This does not make sense to me. And again, some of you are like, No, we go on cruises. This is great. You do want to come because I don’t get it. Okay? We need something for the little kids to do so that the parents can have their date night and all that kind of stuff. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger. We could do water slides, we could do we and it just gets bigger and bigger. They keep adding stuff that’s church, that’s ministries at a church. You’ve been to churches like this. They got water slides in some of these churches, because people just keep going. You know what we need here? We need a singles ministry. We’ll attract some more people. We have a singles ministry at the church. Certainly got to have a Men’s Ministry and a women’s ministry? Absolutely, we got to have an after school program for the kids. Maybe we could do like an open gym as well, even missionally, right? We’re thinking outside, and still it’s this sense of so we got to add more to our local church. What if we had a coffee shop in our lobby that was open all week long? We could do game night. We could have mops so we can get the young moms together and build them up. And so the whole approach to church ministry then becomes people going to the staff of the church. There’s the people who work on the cruise ship and saying, You know what would be awesome. I’ve got this idea. Make it happen, Captain pastor, whatever your name is, and again, most are happy to oblige. But scripturally speaking, the local church is not called to be a cruise ship. It is more like an aircraft carrier. The church gathering. What we’re doing here is where you come together to refuel, get some repairs done, maybe get some training. It is an imperfect analogy. I will grant that it is true. We are we got a wartime mentality as a church, but we’re running rescue missions, not bombing anybody. So we want to be clear about that with the aircraft carrier. But more importantly, the part where the analogy really breaks down is we’re not giving you your mission either like Kyle and I, Jake and Reeve, we’re just the guys holding the fuel pump, but I got really good news for you. We already talked about this one. You know, who does give you your mission? The Spirit, and He flies with you, so you’re fine. You’re in really good hands there. He’s the captain. So we can go back to the fifth. In the blank that we talked about last week, right? I’m being made to magnify. I’m being built up in Christ so that I can be sent out and we begin to say, Okay, I am sent to serve you fill in the blank. I am sent to serve like you come here for fuel so you can go out and do that ministry. Now we are always going to reach our oikos. Jake prayed about our oikos already. If you haven’t heard that term before, it’s the Greek word meaning household or really the idea is sphere of influence. It’s not the nuclear family. It’s bigger than that. So these are the people that are in your life. You’re gonna rub shoulders with all the time anyway, and you just think, we’re always gonna reach them. You’re always gonna be trying to reach your neighbors. If you got family that aren’t in Christ, you’re gonna be trying to reach them, friends, whatever. But could God be giving you a specific mission beyond that, like you’re in a clear little runway where you can land over and over and over again to bring supplies, to bring the hope of the gospel? I just want to give you some examples to get you thinking so that you can own you can own your mission. And we got people who are doing this here already. So some of these examples that I’m going to give you’re going to go, but I know that one, yes, exactly. Okay, you’re going to recognize some people here. So you may be saying, Look, I am sent to serve international students. That’s my group, that’s my people, that’s the ones God has laid on my heart. They’ve got very specific needs. If you ever lived cross culturally, you know what that is like? They also have very specific openness to conversations about the gospel, and probably takes a specific approach as well. And so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m sent to serve international students, or maybe you’re saying I’m sent to serve moms with littles in the house, like exactly what mops tries to do, but mops does it in the church, so the church has to run it. No, just do it. You can do it. You don’t need us for this. You say, I’m going to bring them in. I’m going to offer them help when it comes to parenting. A little farther down the road, I got a little more understanding, or whatever, just experience. So you come in, we’re going to give you some help with parenting. We’ll give you spiritual nourishment as well, and we’re going to look at Jesus has to say about this. You may say, I’m sent to serve those in the assisted living facility near my house, to a tremendous opportunity, by the way, because of how neglected that population is, tremendous opportunity. Also keep in mind it looks different like that is not a cruise ship mentality, because they’re not coming here, a lot of them. So we gotta go there. If we’re gonna reach them, you go, I’m gonna go, I’m gonna do a Bible study, or whatever it looks like in that place. I’m sent to serve the guys in my gym. We have conversations about physical health, and then from there, I’m gonna say, you know, you’re not just a body, you’re a spirit also. We’re gonna have conversations about spiritual health as well. I’m hoping to lead a Bible study with him. I’m sent to serve the ladies in my neighborhood by investing in their lives, investing in a relationship, and then hopefully inviting them into a discovery Bible study, or Christianity explored at class. You can even look at some of our partner ministries that are doing this, where you’re like, I’m sent to serve those who are saddled with debt. That’s why we won Christian kids, poverty debt center here, where I’m sent to serve those who find themselves in a crisis pregnancy situation, like what caring network does. That’s what this looks like to have that aircraft carrier mentality. I mentioned it last week. I’ll say it again. We are developing training starting this fall to help you develop and then deploy on mission between now and then you like take the summer to be praying and asking yourself questions like these, what are the unique needs, where God has placed you? Where do your passions and the world’s brokenness intersect? What special opportunities exist? Where you are like, just as an example, the nations are right here, seven of the toughest groups to reach, toughest countries to enter, have significant populations in the Chicagoland area like that would be one where you’re going, Okay, we’re in Chicago, so we’ve got that opportunity where we are, or what am I already doing, just without a missional intention? How many of you are sitting there going, I don’t have time for this. I would challenge you. I think you’re already spending about six hours on mission every week. You just didn’t realize you’re supposed to be on mission during that time. So what are those moments where you’re like, I’m already here, I’m already in the gym. Why don’t I make this missional? I’ll be watching the World Cup this summer. That’s just that’s on my schedule. Okay? I take days off work. Why would you come to work when the World Cup’s on? But Nick and I are already in conversation to go, okay, you know who else watches the World Cup? Everyone else in the world, except Americans. So we’re gonna hang out with them. We’re gonna host watch parties. We’re gonna provide food. Okay? So I can be on mission when. Doing what I was going to be doing anyway. For me, I write, and so every day I leave the office, four or five days a week I leave the office, I go to the same place at the same time to build relationships the staff and patrons in the place where I write. I’m already there. Let’s just make it missional. That’s the idea. As you answer those questions, pray for direction and resist the temptation to retreat to selfish safety. God saved you, called you, filled you with His Spirit. You have everything you need. You are safe and strong and sent. We are trusting the spirit to stir these passions in you, and as he calls you, we will, this is our promise, right? We will coach and commission you with joy. You’re safe in Christ, strong in the spirit, so you can be sent out without fear or hesitation. Own the mission. Can I just say to I am so glad that after I pray and we sing a song, the next thing we’re going to do is see a baptism. Because if you didn’t need a nudge in this direction, that should be your nudge. This is why we do what we’re doing, so that we can see people brought from death to life in Christ, just picture the people in your life that God has laid on your heart sharing their testimony in that baptismal see. If that doesn’t overcome your apathy, let’s pray.
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