January 19, 2025

Luke 9:1-17

Living a Sent Life

Sunday Sermons

The Galilean portion of Jesus’ ministry is drawing to a close. The disciples have witnessed miracles of Jesus’ power and authority over demons, disease, nature, and even death itself. Jesus now calls his disciples and sends them out on a mission to do the very things they have witnessed him doing. Join us as we learn how Jesus is preparing the disciples for their mission and how we are being called, equipped, and sent on that same mission to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a hungry world.

Speaker

Matt Pierson

Series

The Gospel According to Luke

Go to Series

Scripture

Luke 9:1-17

Topics
Calling & Vocation

Sermon Notes

Luke 9:1-17

Living a Sent Life

Pastor Matt Pierson

 

The Miracles of Jesus:

  1. Display the power and authority of Jesus
  2. Arouse curiosity about Jesus
  3. Reveal the compassion of Jesus
  4. Affirm the identity of Jesus
  5. Inspire discipleship and worship of Jesus

“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which He looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world.”
St. Teresa of Avila

“A leader with power and no authority rules through fear; a leader with authority and no power is easily ignored.”
Unknown

Living a Sent Life means:

1. Being called by Jesus

“God has not called me to be successful; He has called me to be faithful.”
Mother Teresa

“We are failing miserably in our task if our preaching gives people the impression that the kingdom of God is mainly concerned with promoting a way of life…how Christ can improve your marriage or finances or sex life or parenting. The kingdom…does affect such things. But our preaching fails if it does not bring people to see that the crucial question is who Jesus is and that he is coming in glory to judge the living and the dead.”
R. Kent Hughes, Luke: That You May Know the Truth

2. Being equipped by Jesus

“When God calls us, he empowers us-not just because he is loving and kind and knows we are weak, but because we are the instruments through which he will accomplish his plan that he set in place before the world was created.”
Paul David Tripp, Everyday Gospel

“It is often our (God-given) duty to attempt tasks to which we are conspicuously inadequate, in the confidence that He who gives them has laid them on us to drive us to Himself, and there to find sufficiency. The best preparation of His servants for their work in the world is the discovery that their own stores are small.”
Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of the Holy Scriptures

3. Being sent by Jesus

“Authentic Christianity is not a safe, smug, cozy, selfish, escapist little religion…It is an explosive, centrifugal force, which pulls us out from our narrow self-centeredness and flings us into God’s world to witness and to serve.”
John Stott

“Discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if he were you.”
Dallas Willard

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
John Wesley

Discussion Questions

  • Are we tuning our ears to be attentive to God’s call, or are we surrounded by so much noise that we miss the sound of His still, small voice? How can we cut through the clutter and clamor to listen more attentively? Once we have heard the message, are we boldly setting out on mission? If not, what is hindering us from heeding his call?
  • Are you serving where you have been sent? What does it look like to serve unreservedly right where you are, in even the most ordinary ways and places? Do you continue to serve even when you are weary? Are you resting in God’s sufficiency to equip you with the energy, capacity and power to follow through with what He has called you to?
  • We read about the awesome miracles of Jesus in the gospels, but are we missing the ones happening today? Have we become indifferent to the glory and power displayed in front of our faces? Can you share some examples of miracles you have witnessed in your life and talk about how they point to the power of our living, wonder-working God?

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“All Hail The Power Of Jesus Name“ by Oliver Holden, Edward Perronet and John Rippon
“All My Boast Is in Jesus“ by Bryan Fowler, Matt Papa, Matthew Boswell, Keith Getty
“I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)“ by by Charles Hutchinson Gabriel
“Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me“ by Jonny Robinson, Michael Farren and Rich Thompson
 “Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois

All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #2003690

Call To Worship: Bless the Lord

Leader: Bless the Lord at all times; let His praise continually be in your mouth.
People: My tongue shall tell of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long.

Leader: Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together!
People: We will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders that he has done.

All: You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You, and there is no God besides You!

Confession: Faithful Father

Leader: What do we believe when we say: We believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?
People: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and all that is in them, still upholds and governs them by his eternal counsel and providence. In him we trust so completely as to have no doubt that he will provide us with all things necessary for body and soul, and will also turn to our good whatever adversity he sends us in this life. He is able to do so as almighty God, and willing also as a faithful Father.

Source: Heidelberg Catechism, Question 26

Classic Prayer: Francois Fenelon, 1651-1715

Lord, I do not know what to ask of you; only you know what I need. I simply present myself to you; I open my heart to you. I have no other desire than to accomplish your will. Teach me to pray. Amen.

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