Bringing in the Kingdom- Luke 10:1-20- OMF Orientation, Taiwan

Intro:
I believe the Kingdom of God is coming to Taiwan. It has already come and reached many people, mostly in the middle and upper classes. But I believe that even among the working class, which is virtually unreached… I believe the Kingdom of God is near.
The Harvest is SO plentiful, and the workers are few, but growing. Some of the workers have been here for decades, and with short-term teams like us, I believe that God will send more and more workers out into His field, and I believe the Kingdom of God is very near to Taiwan.
This is only my third year here, but already I’ve seen how plentiful the harvest is.
Our first year, our team came and taught English, but we really grew close to three girls who were our helpers for the English camp. Charlene, Mona, and Alice.
Picture: Charlene, Mona, and Alice.
While on this trip, we prayed that we would be a light to them and that God would save them.
Mona had a quite dramatic event in her life that brought her to the JOME Camp. Before, her mom had committed suicide, and she was in the house when it happened.
When we went home to LA, we brought them back with us. Not in person, but in prayer. We shared about the three with our church, and throughout the year we continued to pray for Mona, Charlene, and Alice. We also kept in touch with them.
You can imagine the deep sense of pain and depression that one would go through when such a close loved one passes, especially in the way that Mona’s mom chose to leave.
Last year we came back, and got to see the three of them again. In fact, we got to hang out with them quite a bit.
But we also met other people. Here is a picture of Foster.
Picture: Foster
Foster came into the church for the first time while we were here in Taiwan the last Sunday before we left. Here we’re talking for the first time, and he’s sharing with me about how he wants to move in a couple weeks to Australia.
Australia?! That’s a big move, especially for a Taiwanese guy who knows very little English.
But he told me, in his words, it’s because he wants to get away from his environment. He said “I want to change my personality.
I asked “what do you mean?” He said, “I’m a bad person, I don’t like who I’ve become.”
I was shocked! And I looked at him and said, “Foster, you’re right. You are a bad person.”
And I was able to show him in the word that he indeed is bad, as our whole team is bad, but we have a God who is very good.
The Harvest here in Taiwan is plentiful! There are people who are ready for the Kingdom, and I believe God is bringing us to them.
Who will go and bring them into the Kingdom?

Look at Luke 10:1-3.
V. 1 “Jesus sent people out two by two, to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, ‘The Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the Harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”
Many times I hear that Jesus sent out 72 people out in order to spread the work. Since Jesus was just one person, this was his strategy to spread the work efficiently.
But look again in v. 1. It says he sent them to where he himself was about to go.
Jesus plans to go to these places to bring the kingdom, yet he sends the disciples there to go ahead of him before he does.
Jesus is going to be the one who actually brings The Kingdom of God to them. It sounds as if Jesus is to be the one who will close the deal.
But wait, aren’t the disciples the workers who are supposed to go into the Harvest and reap the harvest? The harvest is plentiful right?
But Jesus never said the reap the harvest, he just said it’s plentiful, and that he’s sending them where the harvest is plentiful.
And it seems to me that Jesus sends the disciples to go and prepare the people for their encounter with Jesus. For Christ’s coming to them.
How are the disciples supposed to prepare the people? By telling them about the Kingdom of God.
V. 8-9, Jesus instructs them to go into the town, and if they are welcomed, they are to proclaim that “The kingdom of God is near you.”
But then in v. 10-11, if they enter the town and are not welcomed, what are they supposed to proclaim? “The kingdom of God is near you.”
That is their task! They are to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is very near. It is not far at all!
Christians, I hope we understand that the kingdom Jesus preached was not a just a physical place, somewhere out there that believers will go to someday.
Is Heaven the Kingdom of God?
It sure is!
But the Kingdom is much nearer than a future place. A kingdom is anywhere that a King reigns.
In Jesus’ preaching, it is the reign of a King, the rule of a Lord, in people’s lives. It is where God assumes the throne and is in the highest place.
According to Jesus, the Kingdom of God will come when Christ the King comes.
When they see Christ, and believe upon him as Lord of their lives, then the kingdom of God has come to them.

Jesus’ command to the disciples at this time wasn’t necessarily to go into the harvest field and reap the harvest; the command was go in the harvest field and prepare them for the kingdom.
The kingdom of God was near to them, for Jesus was about to go to them.

Just as the disciples were sent in pairs ahead of Him, so are we to go out as a team to places where Christ will go.
Our task is to prepare people for the Kingdom, for the reign of Christ in their lives.
Whether it’s kids at an English camp, or youth at a internet café, or prostitutes in a park, or orphans in an orphanage, or workers in their shops, it should be the conscious task at hand:
Prepare them for the Kingdom of God. Specifically, Prepare them for an encounter with the King.
But aren’t we supposed to go and give them the Gospel so that they’d be saved? Aren’t we here to save people?
Sorry to break the news to you guys, but you can’t save people. You will not save people.
Jesus can. And Jesus will.
And I know that sounds so cheesy. And of course we know WE can’t save people.
No, but really, Jesus saves people, and Jesus brings people into his Kingdom.
And I think if we let this understanding that we have in our intellect, that Jesus is the one who actually saves, that Jesus closes the deal, and we let it trickle down into our hearts, then I think we will find great joy in being part of this mission.
So much pressure and such great expectations that we may have will be relieved, when we realize that it’s not really up to us, nor is it in our control, nor is it in our ability, nor is it in our sufficiency to save.
It is in the power of Christ to encounter a person and work in his heart to accept the Lordship of Christ.
Sharing the gospel doesn’t save people. Teaching the Bible doesn’t. Sharing our testimonies don’t. Hold English camps won’t cut it either.
Jesus saves people. Christ the King brings them into the Kingdom. The Lord of the Harvest reaps those who are ripe among his harvest.
All the things that we are going to do on this trip are only means to prepare them for an encounter with the King.

1 Cor 3:6-7, Paul also draws a picture of a harvest field. He tells the Corinthians, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow.
We can sow seeds, we can water the plants, but we ourselves cannot save people.
Our message and ministry these next few weeks should be a faithful commitment to help prepare people to experience the love and person of Jesus Christ.

V. 2 is a sober reminder who’s harvest this really belongs to.
He says “Ask the LORD of the harvest, therefore, to send workers into the harvest field.”
Next line, “Go, I’m sending you.”
It’s like he’s telling them, “You’re gonna realize that man, there are so many people who need to be saved and who need to come into the kingdom, you’re gonna be so overwhelmed that you’re gonna be like, “We need more people! We need more workers!”
And Jesus says, “Go ahead, ask the Lord of the Harvest, the one who’s in control of it all, to send people.”
“Oh, that’s me, Go ahead, go. I’m sending you.”
By implication, he says “I AM the Lord of the Harvest! It belongs to me!”

Will we let the Lord be the LORD of His Harvest? Will we trust that he will reap in his time and that he’ll bring the Kingdom of God in his time?
Will we faithfully go out into this field and be faithful to proclaim the Kingdom of God.
And then trust that we are only the workers, whether we are planting seeds, or water seeds that have already been planted?
And then ultimately leave it into the hands of the Lord of the Harvest to reap in his due time, when he chooses to encounter them and bring His Kingship into peoples lives when they are ready?

Closing
That day when Foster walked into the church, was our last Sunday in Taiwan. We were supposed to go down to the south tip of Taiwan to relax a couple days before leaving.
However, by God’s sovereignty, a typhoon came, and we were advised not to go out.
But Praise the Lord, because that meant Foster could come over to our apartment and we could share more with him.
In fact, Mona came too, along with some of the others we had built relationships with along the way.
When we got back to our apt., no joke, listen to this: Foster kept insisting that we share with him “Stories” of how God works in our lives.
And thanks to our wonderful training from OMF, we were ready with our stories!
He kept insisting on needing evidence of how God is real and how he actually cares for us and loves us.
And one by one in a little circle, we shared our “stories”, and we related it with the Gospel.
We prayed, and Foster began to cry.
And Foster kept saying to us “I’m so happy. This is so wonderful.”
He said that this was a “wonderful day”. He kept saying in Chinese that he was so touched.

Soon after, another conversation started in the hallway of our apartment.
Throughout our trip, many of our team members talked and prayed with Mona about her pain.
That night, the youngest member on our team was talking with Mona about the difficulty she was experiencing in her life.
After a long conversation, and much prayer, Mona finally gave her life to Christ as her personal Lord and Savior!
Foster was so touched to see the joy in that apartment over one soul saved!
VIDEO: Foster.
Foster stayed the night with us. And the next morning, there was a powerful typhoon, but something even more powerful than that was going on.
VIDEO: Foster
The Harvest is plentiful in Taiwan, and the workers are few.
The LORD of the Harvest is saying to us, “Go, I’m sending you out as workers into my field.”
Let us be faithful to proclaim the Kingdom of God, and let Christ be the one to bring his Kingship in his Sovereign timing.