Not The Equipped But The Called Series

B. The Relevance of the Text.

How many of you here this morning feel that you are inadequate to serve Christ? Do you feel that you are nothing and that Jesus could never use you? A lot of people feel that way I am sure. I feel that way. In fact we should all feel that we are inadequate to serve Christ. As far as our own abilities go we are inadequate to serve the Lord. That is not an excuse not to serve Him though. He makes us adequate to serve Him. There is a saying that is overused but makes perfect sense. God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the Called. In other words in our selves we would never be qualified to serve Christ, but when He calls us then He gives us what we need to serve Him.

Paul in His letter to the Corinthians asked them to consider all of the people among their congregation. And His point was that none of them were in of themselves worthy of the Gospel and that was the point that God wants to make. No one is worthy of the Gospel just like no one is worthy to serve God. He has to make us worthy before we are qualified to go for Him.

We as Christians as we saw last week are called to spread the Gospel. And in spreading the gospel we are to follow Christ’s example. Well how are we ever going to be effective in spreading the Gospel? It is simple We MUST TRUST CHRIST! IF we are ever to be successful for Christ We must trust Christ to Do the Work. So how are we going to trust Christ to do the Work? Well there are three parts to trusting Christ to do the work and we are going to look at all three of them in this verse this morning.

C. The Review of the Text.

Last week we talked about how we should be spreading the Gospel and how we should be praying to God to send out more to spread the Gospel. I wonder how many of you took Christ’s Command Seriously and how many went away did not share. The Passage we looked at last week was the beginning of what I see as Instructions on Evangelism for the Disciples. Now this week we are going to see that Christ is going to send out Laborers into the Harvest and they are going to be twelve from among His Disciples. Now there are going to be some different aspects of this call that do not apply to us today, but on the other hand we can get some valuable principals from this passage. Look with me now at Matthew Chapter 10 verses 1 thru 15

D. The Reading of the Text

Matthew 10:1-15 (KJV)

1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, 10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. 11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. 12 And when ye come into a house, salute it. 13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.

T.S. In order to be effective For Christ We Must Trust Christ To Do the WORK and if we are going to trust Christ to do the Work then We are going to have to learn some principals from this Passage Beginning with Realizing that we are Common