Faith That Goes

INTRODUCTION – From Floating, to Following, to Going

We’ve been in this Get Going series for a few weeks now — and it’s been about movement.

Week one, we talked about “Faith that Floats.” We looked at Peter stepping out of the boat — trusting Jesus when the waves were high and the wind was strong. That message reminded us that faith isn’t about staying where it’s safe; it’s about trusting Jesus enough to step out where He’s calling.

Then last week, we talked about “Faith that Follows.” We looked at how following Jesus means more than believing in Him — it means walking behind Him, trusting His lead even when it doesn’t make sense.

And today, we’re taking the next step — from floating to following… to going.

Because faith that floats learns to trust.

Faith that follows learns to obey.

But faith that goes — changes the world.

ILLUSTRATION:

You’ve probably heard the story of the little boy walking along the beach, tossing stranded starfish back into the ocean. A man says, “You can’t save them all — there are miles of beach!” The boy tosses another and says, “Maybe not… but I made a difference for that one.”

That’s what Faith that Goes looks like — not saving everyone, but being faithful to go after those God puts in our path.”

In our passage today, Jesus sends out seventy-two of His followers to carry His message into towns and villages. They weren’t superstars. They weren’t famous preachers or trained evangelists. They were everyday people who had spent time with Jesus — and now, He was sending them to do what He had been doing.

Read Luke 10:1-4

1) Go Forth Together (Luke 10:1–4)

Luke tells us that Jesus “sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places He planned to visit.”

I love that detail — He sent them in pairs.

That means Faith is never meant to me a solo mission

He knew that faith grows stronger in community.

When we look at the early disciples, most of them had spent a season watching Jesus work. They saw Him heal the sick, raise the dead, and calm storms with a word. But now Jesus was saying, “Alright — it’s your turn. You’ve watched long enough. Now go live this out.”

That’s where we are too.

There are seasons where we need to sit, listen, and learn — but those seasons are meant to prepare us for the going.

And Jesus sends them together.

You could almost imagine two of them walking down the dusty road, maybe nervous, maybe excited — but they weren’t alone.

Illustration – The Marketplace Missionaries of Alaska

You know, when Jesus sent out the seventy-two in Luke 10, He sent them in pairs — not as celebrities or experts, but as ordinary people with a mission and a message.

And that same story is unfolding right now across western Alaska.

There’s a ministry called What I Have, part of the Alaska Student Partnership, that’s training and sending out young adults — teachers, nurses, mechanics, and community workers — to go live in the villages. They call them marketplace missionaries.

At their Hub 1 in Bethel, there are thirty-nine missionaries who have said, “I’ll go.” They’ve chosen to step out of comfort and into calling — to use what they already have to make Jesus known where life is rugged and remote.

They go in pairs, just like the seventy-two. They move into the villages, work in the schools, serve families, and quietly become the heartbeat of hope in places many have never heard the name of Jesus spoken with love. (Show video). That video was from last year, Here is a picture of the 39 who have said, ‘I’ll go,’ and how they have started to chisel down the 100 unreached villages in Alaska.”

Right now, Missionary Paul Burkhart — who helped start this movement — is in that new training building in Bethel, pouring into the next group of leaders. During the crisis after the recent typhoon, those same missionaries were crucial in getting emergency help to the villages along the Yukon-Kuskokwim region. When roads and rivers were cut off, they were the ones already there — helping disperse supplies, praying with families, and reminding people that God hadn’t forgotten them.

Some of these missionaries are fresh out of college. They’re not preaching from pulpits; they’re living the message — teaching, mentoring, and sharing meals around kitchen tables.

That’s what Faith That Goes looks like in Alaska today. It’s ordinary believers stepping into extraordinary places, believing that God’s Kingdom belongs not just in church buildings, but in classrooms, homes, and hearts.

That’s how the church is meant to work. We’re better together.

Think about it — God could have chosen to accomplish His mission through angels, through miracles, or through divine signs in the sky. But instead, He chose people. And not just individuals — He chose a community of believers, walking side by side, to carry His hope into a broken world.