Common People with an Uncommon Task

0:43 Turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 6, please. Mark, the sixth chapter. In a few moments, we're going to begin in verse 7. But I want to begin by saying that if Jesus would have consulted a public relations expert on how to launch his ministry, it would have looked very different. I'm so glad he did not do that, but public relations experts would have pointed to several mistakes that Jesus made that he, Jesus, had pretty bad marketing when it comes to starting a movement. Let me tell you why. First of all, his target audience. Jesus did not approach influencers to kick off his movement. He didn't go to the upper class, the people that had power, people that had money, to get them behind him first to launch his ministry successfully. Number two, he went to the opposite end of the societal spectrum. He went to the poor, the sick, shepherds, tax collectors, assassins, hold that thought, the low life. Number three, his sales pitch was non-existent. No hype. He never tried to talk people into supporting his messiahship. Quite the opposite. He'd say things like, you know, birds of the air have nests.

2:13 Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Really, you're going to follow me? Just know what you're up against. Or how about this? When he healed people, he would tell people, no, don't tell anybody this just happened. Are you kidding me? They're going to tell everybody what just happened. But it's just a very different approach. Don't tell anyone. Number four, he alienated leadership. Bad enough he didn't pick any Pharisees or scribes or influencers to be in his team, but he would sometimes go out of his way to confront them in public.

2:52 Fifth mistake, he had pretty demanding requirements. You know, if you're going to market a product, you want to make your product convenient, easy. Jesus would say, if you're going to follow me, you have to take up your cross and follow me. And then fifth, and this gets to our study this morning, the group that Jesus chose to be around him, that he selected to represent him, were pretty lacking.

3:25 They lacked education. They lacked formal ministerial training. And they lacked people skills. when the crowd came to listen to him in the Galilee region the disciples' only solution is send him away send him away when parents tried to bring their kids to have Jesus bless them the disciples rebuked the parents or how about this when our Lord was going through a Samaritan village that didn't roll out the red carpet for him a couple of his disciples said let's just nuke them I'll call fire down from heaven and destroy them that's their solution and then if you think about the very first guy who introduced Jesus to the nation what was his name?

4:21 John the Baptist really? you're going to pick that guy? this strangely dressed lunatic who lives out in the desert and eats bugs and when people come to him he yells at them and tells them to repent, and then when they do, he dunks them into a muddy river. Movements do not grow like that. Churches do not grow with leaders like that. And so at this point, we need to remember Isaiah 55, where God said this, My thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord, nor are your ways my ways. As far as the heaven is above the earth, so are my ways above your ways. Most of Jesus' entire ministry centered around simple people, imperfect people, broken people, common people. Later on, we'll read in Mark, and the common people heard him gladly. These disciples were common people who were given an uncommon task. I'm going to take you to our little section of Scripture, a little paragraph, beginning in Mark chapter 6, in verse 7. And he called the twelve to himself and began to send them out two by two and gave them power over unclean spirits and commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff, no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts, but to wear sand And not to put on two tunics.

6:32 than for that city. So they went out and preached the people should repent, and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. Okay, let me just, let me just remind you who these guys are. Remember your high school annual? Do you remember, did you have this in your high school annual? I think at the back of the high school annual, this is in mine. It would have a little section like most athletic, most likely to succeed, best dressed. I was in none of those categories. And if there would have been an annual for Galilee High, these guys would need to be in the section most unlikely to succeed. Let me remind you who they are. First of all, Simon Peter. That's the first guy, Mr. Impulsive. He was the one who said, we are not going to let you go to the cross, Jesus. Not going to happen under our watch. He was the guy who cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was the guy who denied that he even knew Jesus, not once, not twice, but three times. Because that's guy number one.

7:55 Then there's his brother Andrew. Andrew was sort of slow to trust Jesus. When the crowd gathered around him in Galilee, it was Andrew who said, well, here's a kid with a few fish and loaves. But then do you remember what he said after that? But what are they among so many? Like, yeah, no, that's not going to work. Then there's James and John, fishermen called the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus gave them a different nickname, didn't he? What did he call them? Sons of Thunder. And we know why, because they had zeal with no tact. They were the ones that wanted to nuke the Samaritan village. And they're the guys who started the feud between the disciples as to who would be the greatest in the kingdom among the twelve. Then there's Philip. And Philip, I'm going to say, he's sort of slow on the uptake when it comes to spiritual truth. So when that crowd gathered around Christ in Galilee, Jesus asked them sort of a trick question. He said, where will we buy bread to feed these people? And the way he answered the question was pretty amazing. He starts thinking and calculating how much it's going to cost. So he has a calculator for a brain. He's going, okay, 20, 30, 40,000. And so he goes, 200 denarii, which is about 30,000 bucks.

9:31 $30,000 will not feed this crowd. Then there's Bartholomew, also called Nathanael. He was the first one to doubt the Messiah. When Philip came to him and said, we found the guy, the guy that Moses spoke about, that the prophet spoke about, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, Nazareth?

9:53 Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? So first guy to doubt Jesus was him. Then there's the ultimate pessimist among the 12. What's his name? Thomas, the doubter. I call him the apostle from Missouri. Show me. You got to show me before I believe anything. Always had a dark side. He's the Eeyore, the donkey of the 12. And he was the one that doubted the resurrection. He has to stand here, and I've got to put my hand, my finger in his wounds. Then what is to me the most interesting are two guys together on the same team. One is named Matthew. He was a tax collector, a converted IRS agent. And on the same team was a guy named Simon the Zealot. Zealot was a reactionary group in Israel, sworn to assassinate Romans if they could, and turncoats like IRS agents. So now you've got a tax selector and a zealot together. You know it was an interesting conversation piece going on there. So we have common people, very common people with an uncommon task. What I'd like to show you briefly in this little message are five stages, five stages that anyone who does God's work will go through. Five stages to serving God.

11:29 And these were disciples being sent out as apostles. First stage is mission. And their mission is given in verse 7. He called the 12 to himself and began to send them out. The word is apostello, to send out, to become an apostle, to become a representative. Send them out two by two and gave them power over unclean spirits. Okay, stop there. This is the first short-term mission trip for the disciples. Some of you have gone on our short-term mission trips. If you've gone through the school of ministry, you've done a short-term mission. If you've signed up for trips that we've had, like Operation Christmas Child down in Mexico, you've had the thrill of going out and putting your faith to the test in a different environment and watch God come through. So this is their first short-term mission trip. Now up till now, Jesus has done everything, and they've just been with him and watched him do everything. Jesus is the one who did the preaching. Jesus, of course, is the one who did the healing. He's, of course, the one who cast demons out, and they've been watching it all. Now it's different. Now he's sending them out alone without him to be there physically and personally. And let me just remind you of something we already read in Mark. In Mark chapter 3, we read this, he appointed the 12 that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and have the power to heal sickness and cast out demons. Up till now, they've done just the first part. They're with him. Now he's sending them out to do the second part, to preach, to cast out demons and heal people. So all of this is what I'm going to call a preview of coming

13:35 attractions. Soon he's going to send them into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature because he's going to heaven. He'll ascend back to heaven. But before that great commission comes this good commission. It's the first commission. It's a short-term mission trip to go out and put to the test what they have seen and what they have heard. And you'll notice, how did he send them out? Two by two. If you were to look at that in the Greek text, it says duo, duo. Duo, duo. So these are the first dynamic duos of the Bible. Two by two. Why two by two? A couple reasons. When you go out with somebody else, it provides encouragement. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. If one falls down, the other can help up his companion.

14:35 Woe to him who is alone when he falls. He has no one to help him up. So to provide mutual encouragement, first of all. But number two, according to the law of Moses, a testimony was only confirmed by two witnesses. So they would go out according to Deuteronomy 19 and to provide encouragement. So two by two. Before we move on to the next stage, I want you to notice the pattern in verse 7 because I think it's a pattern that we should follow. He called the twelve to himself and, second part, began to send them out two by two. That's the pattern that we should follow. We come to him, we learn from him, grow in him, discover gifts from him, and then at some point we're sent by him.

15:31 All of that to say this. You and I, we are on a mission from God. We have a mission. I'm going to prove that you have a mission from God. Ready? I'm going to prove it to you. Take your hand. Take your hand, put it up to your mouth, and breathe. Did you feel something? Felt air? It means you're alive.

15:56 That's the proof that you're on a mission from God. because if God's will for your life was merely to save you, you wouldn't be here. Every altar call would be followed by a funeral service. Good, you got saved. Take him to heaven, quick.

16:17 But because you still have air in your lungs and are hanging around, you have a purpose. And you and I, we should be discovering what that purpose is, what our mission is. And you never outgrow the need to do what we just read. You never outgrow the need to grow and to go. Those two words, grow and go. Come to him and then be sent by him. And it's important to know what your mission is and what your calling in life is because we live in a world of many distractions. Just drive down the street and look at people looking at their phones while they drive. We live in a world of distractions and with those distractions come many opportunities that are not our priorities. Discover what you're called by God to be on earth for and focus on that as a priority because service that is not focused on priority is doomed to mediocrity.

17:27 You know, in athletics, very few athletes can do many sports well. They usually do one thing well. Usually great football players aren't great golfers. Oh, they play. But very rarely will you find that unicorn athlete who can do many sports very well. Usually they do one thing well, and that's because they concentrate on that. They let nothing distract them from that discipline, and that's why they are winners. So mission, number one, mission. Second stage, provision. If he's sending you on a mission, he's gonna give you what you need to fulfill it. And so he says in verse eight, he commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff, a walking stick, no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts, but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.

18:24 And he also said to them, in whatever place you enter a house, stay there until you depart from that place. So I'll boil it down to say this. Travel light and trust God. Travel light and trust God. Okay, this is a short-term mission. And on this short-term mission, whether it's a few days or a couple weeks, he wants nothing to weigh them down, nothing to distract them. He wants them to be able to move from place to place very quickly. In those days, people didn't go to, like, the Days Inn or the Holiday Inn. In those days, inns were anything but a holiday. They were seedy places. It's a place where crime took place. So usually travelers going across country would stay in private homes. And because of the situation, hospitality was very, very high on what was valuable to people.

19:29 So if you went into a town, you met somebody, they would say to you, do you have a place to stay for the night? You can stay at our house. I mean, it was that simple. So hospitality was common. And what Jesus is telling them on this short-term mission, once you get invited to stay somewhere, you stay there, until you leave town. Now, why would he tell them that? Well, if he's giving them the power to heal people and cast demons out of people, you know that when they get to a town, they're going to get invitations to upgrade their accommodations, right? Somebody's going to say, you can stay at my house. It's a lot better than where you're staying. So Jesus says, that's going to happen. So decline all other offers. And you can understand the temptation. Well, Shlomo's house has got air conditioning, and he has a hot tub out by the donkey stalls. I'm staying there. And the reason Jesus said don't do that is he doesn't want them to be accused of having mixed motives, that they're in it for the accommodations or they're in it for the money. And this did become a problem in the early church. In the early church, there were itinerant evangelists and ministers who would go all over the place and stay in people's homes and mooch off of them, so much so that a book had to be written, a document called the Didache, its instructions on how to spot a false prophet who would come into different homes. In fact, we get a hint of this in 2 Timothy chapter 3 when Paul writes to young Timothy and he speaks about the kind who work their way into people's homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women.

21:16 So they take material advantage of people. Jesus said, you go to town, you get invited in, you stay there until your mission is complete, and then you leave. Okay, this instruction is temporary. He's not saying everybody who serves the Lord has to take a vow of poverty, and you can never travel with a suitcase, and you always only have to have one pair of clothes on. this is for this journey only. Later on, he's going to say, okay, now prepare, provide, and protect yourself. Listen to what he said. This is Luke 22 now. This is the upper room, the Last Supper. Jesus asked his disciples, when I sent you out to preach the good news and you did not have money, a traveler's bag, or an extra pair of sandals.

22:10 Did you need anything? No, they replied. Okay, but now, he says, but now take your money and a traveler's bag and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. So now I'm sending you out all over the world to preach the gospel. Prepare for it, pack your bags and get a concealed carry, by the way, because it's rough out there. So, here's the lesson to take away from this. God will provide everything you need to fulfill His calling on your life.

22:55 God will provide everything you need. Once you discover your calling, while you're here, God will provide everything you need to fulfill His calling on your life. And by the way, the operative word there is need. Need. God promises to provide your needs, not to pander to your greeds. He will provide your needs. So mission, provision. Third stage, proclamation. Okay, now he's honing it down. Your mission is indeed proclamation. You are to verbalize things. to people. And I just want you to notice here in our text in verse 11, whoever will not receive you nor hear you. That implies they're going to be saying things. And then if you look down in verse 12, they went out and preached. They made proclamation. They went out and they preached.

23:58 That's what they're called to do. That is their mission. Their mission is verbal proclamation of the gospel. In Matthew chapter 10, which is the parallel to this, this little story of Jesus sending out these 12 on a short-term mission is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Matthew's account, Jesus said, as you go, preach, saying, here's their message, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Luke chapter 9, he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Now, I don't know about you, but when I read things like this, I wonder, okay, how did they do it exactly? When they first came to that town, how did they approach people to witness to them? Was it one-on-one? Did they go, excuse me, have you heard of the four spiritual laws? Or, you know God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Was it one-on-one?

24:59 because, you know, that's how I used to do it. Not that I use that formula, but I would, when I dated my wife Lenya, we would go up to people on the Huntington Beach Pier and just have conversations with them and share the gospel with them. But I'm guessing the disciples, rather than one-on-one, probably did more like open-air preaching, like they would go to the gate of the city where the people would congregate and they would say what Jesus told them to say. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. They'd make that proclamation. Everybody would, who said that? And they'd look to find out who that is and what's coming next. And so they'd say, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Have you heard of Jesus? I'm sure you've heard of his reputation. And they would explain that he is our Messiah. And they would preach the gospel. So probably open-air preaching. Now, how many of you here remember the series, the TV series, Mission Impossible?

26:01 I'm talking not the movies, the series on television. Okay, all the old people are raising their hands. Because it's an old series. So I remember seeing that every week. And, right? And so it always began the same way. There's this little tape recorder. And the guy plays the tape. and your mission, should you decide to accept it, is such and such. And this tape will self-destruct in, what, 10 seconds? Three seconds? Okay, a few seconds, it's gone. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is at some point to make proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Go into all the world and preach the gospel.

26:54 Okay, there's two parts to that. The first part is proclamation. Second part, authentication. Okay, you're going to preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand, followed by you're going to heal the sick and you're going to cast out demons. Not that you're going to go out today and heal the sick and cast out demons, but here's the principle. There is a combination here of words, that's the preaching, and works. That's the healing and the casting out demons. Words and works. Declaration and deeds. It's preaching and practicing love and compassion. Whenever you combine both of those elements into one, it's very, very powerful. Powerful results. When people can both hear the truth and see the evidence of that truth by your love and compassion, very, very powerful.

27:54 This is why Samaritan's Purse is so effective in what they do as an organization. They do not compromise on sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and doing everything in Jesus' name. But they have the best doctors, nurses, chaplains. They have the best caregivers and volunteers to go out in disaster scenes and help people. They show the love of Jesus Christ. This is Reload Love, our own organization, where they take and help children who've been impacted by terrorism, showing the love of God as well as teaching the love of God. That's what Love Week is all about, when we love our community and do works of service. See, if you just give people words but no works, the message rings hollow. But if you only give good works but you don't give words, you risk sending them to hell.

28:55 Because you've just done a bunch of wonderful love and works but you haven't told them why and how Christ has motivated you and how they can get from earth to heaven. And some people go, well, I'm not into actually talking to people. I don't want to go up to somebody and I don't want to embarrass myself. And I don't want to disturb anyone. Oh, please, disturb them. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, if you saw your neighbor's house on fire, would you stay home because you don't want to disturb them? Their house is on fire. Well, their lives are on fire. So, mission, provision, proclamation. Fourth stage, because of all of these things, the fourth one, opposition. Not everybody's going to like it.

29:48 Verse 11, Whoever will not receive you, nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment. than for that city. You see, Jesus is preparing them. For what? For rejection. He anticipates rejection. They're going to experience some people being receptive, but they're going to experience a lot of people rejecting. They're going to win some. They're going to offend a whole lot of others by what they do. And we should learn to expect that. We're messengers, And messengers should not expect different treatment than our master.

30:42 Jesus said in John 15, A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. Okay, once again, who's doing all the preaching so far up until now? Jesus, doing it all. doing all the healing, doing all the casting out demons. And he's the one everybody's hating on up until now. Now that changes. Now it's your turn, disciples. And you're going to go, just like I was rejected in my own hometown in last week's sermon, you're going to be rejected as well. Okay.

31:26 That never feels good. It never feels good under any circumstance for somebody to reject you or say not nice things to you when you're trying to give them the very best and you have the best intention. But I got to tell you, somehow, somehow, it's very comforting to me to realize that this was all predicted. that this maltreatment, the way people are treating me and rejecting me because I share the gospel, that this is to be expected. It's somehow comforting to me. Let me give you an example. In Acts 4, you don't have to turn there, but in Acts 4, these disciples later on are arrested and threatened by the government in Jerusalem for sharing the truth about Jesus. They're threatened, so they go back home, they go back to their congregation, and they pray.

32:30 And their prayer is very interesting. This is their prayer. Lord, you are God. You made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. And then they said this. Listen to this. They quote Psalm 2. Who by the mouth of your servant David said, Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings have gathered themselves together against the Lord and against his Christ. They're quoting Psalm 2. And then they say, And verily, that's old King James, truly against your son Jesus and against us his representatives they are gathering together in other words we're experiencing everything that was predicted that gave them comfort and courage to be bold because they realized God was preparing me for this so Jesus tells them that's going to happen when that happens he said when you depart from there this is sort of interesting Shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.

33:41 All right. That does not mean get in their face and get hostile and give them a little bit of what they've just given to you. That is not the intention. He is addressing a custom of Jewish people who would leave Jewish lands and go to Gentile lands before leaving the Gentile land and going back into Jewish land, the Jews would shake the last dust particle of heathen dust off of their sandals to disassociate themselves from the uncleanness of those lands and by doing so, warn them of judgment. It's actually an act of mercy. I want to warn you, by your rejection, what is coming.

34:36 Okay? That's the custom. What makes that interesting is that these disciples aren't going to Gentile lands. They're going to Jewish cities. And they're preaching their Messiah, the Jewish Messiah. And he's saying, when you leave that Jewish town, just like Jews do to Gentiles, you do to that city. because they have been given plenty of evidence of who I am and you are warning them of judgment. By the way, that is exactly what Paul and Barnabas did when they went to the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia and they were rejected. It says when they left town, they shook the dust off their feet. It was a visible protest. So mission, provision, proclamation, opposition. Here's the last stage, completion.

35:30 They completed the task, and that's verse 12 and 13. So they went out. So they went out and preached. And notice what they preached, that people should repent. Repent means turn around, change your mind, go a different direction, stop going your way, go God's way. Preach that people should repent. and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. So you have two verses who said they completed their task. They did what Jesus said they would do. They were successful at it. Completion. Just a quick note. In the entire gospel record, there is no record of Jesus anointing the sick with oil when he healed them.

36:25 Never once. He didn't have to. He just said, you're healed. Or he'd touch him, or somebody would touch him, and boom, instantaneous healing. But we read of the disciples, now apostles, anointing with oil many who were sick. What's all that about? Oil was used in the Old Testament, olive oil. It wasn't like special oil that you get on Amazon.com with a certain fragrance that cost you 30 bucks. Just oil. Just olive oil. And it was used in the tabernacle. They poured it on the high priest to say he's holy. He belongs to the Lord. The tabernacle is special. Oil was used medicinally. And it was used for personal grooming. People would rub oil on their face, give it a nice sheen when they go out, which is sort of the fashion. Jesus even mentioned this. He said, when you fast, anoint your head with oil so you don't look like you're fasting.

37:27 Dusty up a little bit so you look good. Using oil in this regard was a point of contact, a point of contact. So it was to symbolize their authority is from God, not from themselves. That's the symbol. you remember James chapter 5 where he says is anyone among you sick let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith will save the sick so anointing with oil in the name of the Lord there's no power in the oil. There's power in the name of the Lord. Oil doesn't heal anybody. God does. So it's that symbol of that. Okay, now the story's done. Almost. At this point, actually, at this point, the story gets interrupted by Mark suddenly pivoting and saying, oh yeah, let me tell you about John the Baptist. And now Herod to cut his head off. Okay, we're going to get to that. So he pivots, talks about that, and then he comes back to this story with one verse, down in verse 30, all the way in verse 30. So you got to look at verse 30. Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. So that completes it. The task is now complete. Let me bring this to a close by saying that is the goal in life, to complete the task that God has given us to complete. Listen, at the end of your life, whenever that is, you want to be able to say that you've done that.

39:28 I've completed the task. You don't want to look back at your life with all these regrets. You'd say, I've completed the task that God has given to me. That's how Jesus put it. He said this toward the end of his life. I have glorified you on earth, Father. I have finished the work you gave me to do. And if you're saying, yeah, but that was Jesus and I'm not Jesus. Okay, well, Paul the apostle then. And Paul the apostle, at the end of his life, said, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.

40:07 So, find out God's call, run your race, and finish well. I just summed up your entire life purpose right there. Find out God's call, run your race, and finish well. find out God's call run your race and finish well I repeat just so you remember I want to help you get there I want to help you do that so I want to close by giving you a few questions to ask yourself to evaluate how you're doing in that and if you're smart you'll write these questions down number one am I going where God has called me simple question Am I going where God has called me? Or you could simply ask the same question by saying, have I discovered my purpose?

41:04 Am I witnessing right where God has placed me, in my neighborhood, in my family, in my work, in my school? Am I where God has called me? Second question, am I depending on His resources or my own? Do I tend to trust money, knowledge, technology, influence, influencers, or God? Am I depending on His resources or my own? Third question. How do I respond when people reject biblical truth? You get that a lot. You might share something about your life and you'll get blowback. How do I respond when people reject biblical truth? Do I shut down? Am I ashamed? Am I angry, argumentative, discouraged? Or do I remain gracious and faithful?

42:03 So am I going where God called me? Am I depending on his resources or my own? How do I respond when people reject biblical truth? Fourth question to ask yourself, is repentance part of the gospel that I preach? is repentance part of the gospel that I preach? Or are you the kind that merely tells people, just believe in Jesus, man. Just believe in Jesus. Well, if you're going to turn to Jesus, it means you have to turn from something. And that's called repentance. You stop a lifestyle and you turn to Him. Is repentance part of the gospel that I preach? And then the fifth and final question.

42:49 You ready? Am I willing to finish the task? Am I willing to finish the task? To fight the good fight, to finish well. I'm at a place in my life, that's really all I want. I want to finish well. So, God uses common people to do an uncommon task. Now, there's a reason God uses common people. First of all, that's all he's got to use. He's just got us. You might think, okay, that's kind of like failure from the get-go, no? It's for a very important reason that God has chosen common people, and here's the real reason. So he gets all the glory. So he gets all the glory. If you only use like uncommon, amazing, off the chart, high IQ, high capacity, so what? When he uses common people, it's like, whoa, right?

43:53 That's 1 Corinthians 1. You see your calling, brother, not many wise, not many noble, not many mighty after the flesh are called or noble. for God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, the weak things of the world to put to shame those things that are mighty. Listen, listen. He continues, so that no flesh will glory in his presence. So he gets the glory. He gets more glory. You see a mighty work done, you go, it's not that guy. It's not that girl. It's God. It's God. It's the Lord. He gets the glory. Father, thank you that you have allowed us in and being part of the team, the common people, even broken people, given an uncommon task of being on a mission from God, having a purpose in this world as your representatives, both in word and in work. knowing that we're going to get opposed but knowing that the task is going to be completed so that we can say I have finished the task you have given me to do.

45:08 we rely now on your spirit to do that in us and through us in Jesus name