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MAIN MESSAGE:
“HELPING OTHERS” - “REACH OTHERS | TEACH OTHERS”

STORY TIME
I want to tell you a story. A long time ago there was a young boy. He was a peasant in a kingdom ruled by a great king. This peasant boy knew about the king and saw the castle a far way off. He could see that it was a busy and successful place with lots of knights and messengers going out and in from the castle. He was impressed by it and wondered what it would be like to be inside the castle walls. What did they eat? How did they live? What kind of music was playing in the king’s courts?

What this peasant boy did not know is that behind those castle walls, the king was on a daily mission. You see, the king had a son. But his son was taken from him. One night while he was still a baby. And ever since the king has not stopped looking for and waiting on his child. Each morning he wakes up with an expectation that today is the day that his son will return safely. And every night as he closes his eyes he thinks of his son and he hopes that his son will come home.

Back to the peasant boy in the streets of the kingdom outside the castle walls. One day the boy decided that he wanted to get a closer look at this magnificent castle and all the comings and goings of the knights and messengers. So he made his way through the city streets and came closer and closer to the castle gate. He waited for a horse and cart to return through the gate back to the castle and just at the right time he rolled underneath the cart and grabbed hold of the bottom of the cart and just prayed no one would see him. And so he got into the castle. He sneaked past guards and all kinds of people moving hastily about. He had his eye on the horse stables. He wanted to see the majestic pedigree, kingly horses that he has always admired from afar, up close and personal. He eventually made his way into the stables and there he was able to pause and see the pristine, clean, stables and the perfectly groomed pure bread horses. He was in awe.

Meanwhile, the peasant boy’s stepfather had noticed that he was gone and not busy doing the torturous chores he had given him to do. So he started tracking him. And he too was now inside the castle walls close to where the boy was.

You see, part of the reason the boy was curious about the castle, is that he never felt truly at home with his stepdad. He had this strong sense that he belonged somewhere else doing something more significant with his life. He could do all the chores and do them well, but it never seemed to be good enough and the next day he just had to do them all over again. He longed for something he couldn’t explain. But he was drawn to the castle. He didn’t know why exactly but he just had to go.

The boy left the stables and made his way to the castle door of the nearest corridor that lead to the king’s courts. He stealthily snuck past more guards and finally stepped into the corridor. As he started down the corridor, he heard voices in the distance. One voice in particular stood out from the rest. It has authority. It was authoritative, strong and clear yet surprisingly gentle at the same time. But more than that, the voice sounded familiar to the boy… but he didn’t know why. But he was drawn to it… he kept moving down the massive hallway toward to voice.

But then he heard another voice… a stern, angry whisper-shout from behind him… he flung around only to see his stepfather sneak up on him in a silent but quick way… He froze for a second… what should he do? Then things got worse. A guard came around the corner and spotted both of them! “Halt! How goes there?” He commanded.

The boy flung toward the guard. His gaze was now desperately flinging back and forth from his step dad to the guard.

“This worthless peasant of a boy escaped and came here without permission. I’m simply here to take him back to where he belongs.” the stepdad snarled.

The guard looked at the boy’s appearance. Him and his clothes were dirty. He smelled bad and he seemed to be malnourished and tired.

“This true, lad?” The guard asked the boy.
“It’s true, sir.” the boy said defeatedly.

“You worthless little ingrate! Come here right now so that I can take you back to your chores. There is a great punishment waiting for you when we get home.”

Just then the strong gentle voice came into the conversation, “What seems to be the problem here?” asked the king.
The guard brought the king up to speed. The boy stood absolutely mesmerized at the king. That voice… he knows it! He just knows it.

The boy dropped to his knees before the king. Tears welled up in his eyes. The guard stepped in and crossed his spear in front of the boy in an effort to shield the king should the boy try something.
The king put his hand on the guard’s shoulder as if to say, “It’s ok.” The guard looked at the king and immediately stepped aside.
The king knelt down before the boy and said, what is wrong, son?
This question and hearing the word “son” just broke the dam of emotions inside the boy. He started sobbing uncontrollably.
“Ah, pathetic!” snarled the stepdad. “Let’s just get out of here, you absolute waste of space.”

“Quiet.” the king said to the stepdad. Immediately the stepdad stopped and shut up.
The boy was amazed through his tears, and turned to see the stepdad take a step back.
In that moment, as the boy tured his head, the king noticed something on the boy’s neck. A birthmark.
The king asked the boy “may I see you neck?”
“Of course” the boy answered.
The king came even closer and pulled down his collar. Then he gasped loudly. “Could it be!?” he exclaimed.
He took the boy’s face in his hands and looked him deeply in the eyes… “is this… could it be… I have been looking relentlessly all these years. But it must be you. Only you can have this royal birthmark which is unique to my royal bloodline. My son! You are my son! You have been missing but today you have returned!

“I love you, my son!” And he hugged the boy and picked him up and started dancing and rejoicing!

The stepdad said “your majesty, that is my boy… you cannot just take him… he belongs to me”.
“And just how do you know this boy?” the king asked.
The stepdad made up a story, but the king knew he was lying and confronted him, “you stole him from his room didn’t you?”
He hesitated and suddenly looked for a gap to run away, but he was seized and put into custody.
Even as they dragged him off, he shouted lies to the boy, “you don’t belong here! You’re a worthless oxygen thief who is good for nothing but working like a slave”

But as the boy kept looking into the eyes of the king and listening to his voice, the lies of the stepdad were drowned out. The boy put his head on the king’s chest and closed his eyes. He was finally home where he belonged.

Years later, the boy, who was now a prince, had been trained in the ways of his father’s kingdom. One day his father came to him and said, “I rule this land. And as my son, you get to rule with me. There are many people in our kingdom and a great deal of them do not know the way of our kingdom yet. I need you to go with a battalion of knights and messengers and reach out to the villages on this map. Go and spend time with them, teaching them about what I want for them and this kingdom. Help them to see how we do things and how I see them and how they can contribute to the expansion of this kingdom. Because you are my son, I will be with you in spirit, always. Now go!”
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I’m sure by now you are picking up what I’m putting down. But I hope this story helped you to understand your salvation better and also the call on your life.

Our series scripture is once again our main starting point:

Matthew 28:18-20 - 'And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.'

Jesus said:
Go to the nations - REACH OTHERS
Make disciples of them
Baptise them
And TEACH them to do what I’ve commanded you - TEACH OTHERS

Jesus told his disciples to go and make other disciples. He wanted them to multiply what he had put in them, what he had invested in them.
In order to do that they needed to reach others in order to share WHO Jesus was and WHAT He has DONE - this will lead them to repentance and salvation.
Then you baptize them.
Then you TEACH them what Jesus commanded.

You cannot TEACH them if you haven’t first REACHED them. How do you reach them?
Love
Prayer
Relationship
Personal testimony - WHO Jesus is and WHAT he did for you
Solid on your scriptural foundations
Follow through

When you reach out to unbelievers, some of whom will be cultural Christians, you need to know that they are like the boy in our story - they are blinded by the lies of the devil. They were stolen from God in a way by the fall of man. By sin. They know deep down this cannot be all of it, but they keep numbing their spirit with lies and drowning their spirit’s yearning for truth.
Until one day, they meet this annoying and persistent LoveKey Church person who reaches them with love, prayer, and relationship, tells them their personal testimony, knows the word of God, and is relentless (follows through).

Once they have been reached and they make a decision for Jesus, you can encourage them to get baptized. Once they are baptized, you invite them to church if you haven’t already and you make sure they join a connect group and that you and others start to teach them what Jesus commanded.

Let us also look at Paul’s version of the commission to Timothy:

II Timothy 2:1-4 - 'You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. '

Jesus himself reached out to Paul. Paul had an encounter with Jesus and became born-again and started following Christ and His Way - he was a disciple of Jesus. He taught Timothy how to lead and how to teach others. And he instructs Timothy to commit what he had heard from Paul to FAITHFUL men who will be ABLE to TEACH others also!

We see three generations/layers, so to speak, of disciples here. Christianity is the ultimate version of paying it forward. What Jesus did for me on the cross, saving me from eternal death, the wages of sin - others need to be reached so that they can hear it, so they also can be set free. Choose to say, “I will pay this forward.” And paying it forward is actually quite an accurate term, because it will cost you to live flat out for Jesus and lead others to Jesus and disciple them. But that is what we’ve been called to.
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TRIUMPHAL ENTRY / PALM SUNDAY
On the church calendar today is referred to as Palm Sunday. Why? Well, because “leafy tree”-Sunday or “tree branch”-Sunday didn’t sound so good… Just kidding. Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is referred to as a triumphal entry because for a brief moment after what happened with him raising Lazarus from the dead and having a big crowd of people following Him, their was this atmosphere of people knowing that He is indeed the long awaited messiah, the king of the Jews. And therefore he was praised and worshipped as he rode in on a young donkey, once again fulfilling scripture.

There are many things to point out about the 4 different accounts of this event in the gospels. Yes, all four tell this story. Luke’s version is the longest. John’s version the shortest. Mark spends an uncharacteristically long time on this… Matthew says they brought two donkeys and Jesus sat on both of them… The others only speak of a colt. What they all mention is a very great multitude of people - in front of, and following Jesus.

There are many things to point out and focus on. But, today, as we think of Palm Sunday 2022 and as we’re doing a series on “Helping Others” and we’re speaking about “Reach Others | Teach Others”, I’d like to draw our attention to how this whole triumphal entry started. Because I believe we all have an important Christian life lesson to learn from what we read here.

Let us read the accounts and look specifically at how Jesus spoke to them and how they reacted, remembering that Jesus was still on his way to be crucified and the great commission was still coming.

Matthew 21:1-7 - 'Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ” So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. '

Mark 11:1-7 - 'Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.” So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?” And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. '

Luke 19:29-35 - 'And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it? ’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’ ” So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. '

John 12:16-17 - 'His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him. Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. '

Gee, thanks John for breaking the nice pattern that was beginning to emerge…
John does not mention that two disciples went to fetch the donkey. But, he does note something important about the disciples’ understanding at the time of these happenings…

Ok, so I want us to see some important things:

Jesus gave a direct instruction: “Go and fetch a donkey” - it can be seen as an order or commandment, and the Bible refers back to it but saying “as Jesus had commanded them”
He gave detail of a potential problem they could come across - after all, the son of God is without sin and theft is a sin…
They obey. They do not question, they do not refuse, they humbly obey - and it’s a bit a weird instruction, right?
They are questioned just as Jesus foreknew and His answer worked - also, doesn’t make sense (you try and take an animal from someone and when they ask what you’re doing, you say “it is for the Lord” and see how they react)
The earth and all in it belong to God and the people let the disciples do what Jesus commanded them even if it didn’t make sense to the disciples or came at a seeming loss for the owner.
The fruit of their obedience was
Fulfillment of scripture
The start of a joyous celebration of Jesus
The start of the last week of Jesus’ life before his crucifixion. The fullfillment of His life’s mission.
Now think again of John pointing out that they didn’t understand these things when they were happening, but only after his death and resurrection.

Now look at the great commission again:
GO
MAKE DISCIPLES (tell them how I am and what I’ve done)
BAPTISE THEM (new life)
TEACH THEM TO OBSERVE MY COMMANDMENTS (how to live the new life)

The two who were sent to go get the donkey were being trained. Can you be faithful in the smaller task so that I can put you in charge of the bigger task of spreading the gospel? Will you obey me when it doesn’t make sense, is irrational, illogical, can be offensive to some people, will take me out of my comfort zone and I will probably be ridiculed and persecuted for it.

If you can take a donkey and face the potential embarrassment and do what Jesus told you to do in that instance and you see it work, you will probably be willing to become even more undignified for the sake of the cross.

Important to note:
In order to be obedient and reach the unreached, you need to obey the first part - GO. This involves faith-filled, prayer-driven action that actually has some form of movement.
In order to tell them who Jesus is you need to know Him yourself, and to tell what he has done, you need to know what he has done and have your own testimony straight
You need to be keen to and able to baptize people
And you need to know what Jesus commanded in order to teach that to others and keep them accountable in the observance of the commandments.

If we do not do this, we are willfully only seeing it as the great suggestion, and we are not faithful stewards of what Jesus has called us to.

The world is lost and many cultural Christians are lost with them but they don’t know it. Do we care enough to make an effort to reach out?!!

If you are born again, you are dead to yourself and your old sinful nature. So, you cannot really be embarrassed, or uncomfortable, or inconvenienced. I know it feels that way. But that is just your body and soul trying to get out of it. Let the spirit of God lead your spirit to do what you’ve been called to do.


REFLECT & RESPOND - ALTAR CALL
Let us take action today and trust the Holy Spirit to flood all of us with boldness right now
Repent of laziness and bad human excuses for not reaching others and teaching others.
Decide today that this encounter with God will align me with His purposes for kingdom building and I will reign as a people reaching and Jesus teaching believer so that others can do it too!