July 30, 2023

The following transcript has been electronically transcribed. Any errors in spelling, syntax, or grammar should be attributed to the electronic method of transcription and its inherent limitations.

 If the gospel of Mark ended where it ended last week, then we would be left with this impression of the disciples as this bunch of just onlookers this mute, say nothing, stand aside, don't get in my way. Just sit down, watch and learn bunch of folks. Because up until the story that we ended with last week, the disciples, the 12 disciples I'm speaking of, had done nothing except for secure the one little boat just in case Jesus needed the boat to escape for safety reasons back in chapter three.

So other than that, the apostles, the 12 apostles, they've been called by Jesus, set aside by Jesus to be with him in preparation for their work of being the foundation of the church. Yet they've done nothing yet until the story today. All that begins to change today as we take a turn in the story beginning from Mark chapter six verses.

Six down through verse 13, and then picking up with verse 30. Let's read our text first and then we'll walk by this, walk through this verse by verse. So beginning from verse six, and he, Jesus marveled because of their unbelief, and he went about among the villages teaching. And he called the 12 and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, and to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you, they will not. And they will not listen to you when you leave.

Shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them. So they went out and proclaimed that the people should repent and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil, many who were sick and healed them. Now, verse 30. The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and all that they had taught.

So with that being our text this morning, we recognized first of all that as Mark turns to this next story, he's also returning to his favorite literary technique of all, which is this literary technique that I call sandwiching. Now, that's probably not the most flattering type of word to use, but I don't know of a better word to describe how Mark puts together two stories in such a way as he does.

He's done this now the, this is the third time, and he'll do it many more times. He takes two stories, puts them together. He starts one story, interrupts that story with the second story, and then comes back to return to the first story and concluded. And each time he's doing this, he's doing this for a reason.

This is the most obvious time of all that he's done this because as he begins the story of Jesus's sending out, or his first sending out of the 12, he interrupts that story with a story that's plainly taken place. Well before this. In fact, he even says, when we look at this story next week, he even says in the grammar and the words that he uses, that he's telling something that happened previously.

So he takes the story of the execution of John the Baptizer, and purposely holds that story and inserts it right here. And each time Mark has done this technique, it's been for the same reason. And the reason is that the meaning of the two stories helps explain one another. The application, the meaning of each story coincides together with one another.

And so the meaning of each story is found in the meaning of the other. And so as we look at this story, these two stories together this morning, we'll look at the first of these, the, the story of the sending out of the 12. And then next week we'll return to the execution of John the Baptizer. And the, the tying together factor.

The tying together teaching of both of these stories is simply this, the cost of discipleship. Both of the stories are teaching about the cost of discipleship. The apostles will begin to learn the cost of a, of discipleship today. And then John the Baptizer has already learned the cost of discipleship.

He learned it with his head on a platter that we'll look at next week. So we remember the words of Jesus from Luke chapter 14, as he tells that long extended passage there, the two parables that he uses, the parable of the king going out to war, the parable of the man who's going to build a building.

Both of them must count the cost before they begin. And his point is that the cost of following me must be assessed before you commit to follow me. No one who puts their hand to the plow and then looks back is worthy of the kingdom of God. The cost of discipleship is high. It will require from you everything.

And so you need to assess the cost of discipleship prior to committing to following me. And so this is the theme that will follow. So beginning from verse six, and Jesus marveled, we read because of their unbelief. That was back in Nazareth that we looked at last week. Jesus marveled because of the unbelief there in his hometown, and he went about among the villages.

Teaching. So here we see right away Jesus's absolute insurability. And I know that insurability is not a word, at least not until right now, and I just made it a word, but insurability, I don't know how else to put the reality of Jesus's absolute inability to be discouraged from his mission. That word there discourage.

We know what that word's saying to us. Courage meaning a fortitude, a strength to go about something. Discourage meaning the opposite of that, lacking of the courage or the fortitude ability, discourage ability. The ability to be unencouraged or discouraged and Jesus' absolute. In discourage ability, the inability of anything to discourage Jesus from his mission.

We remember back from chapter one, we remember as Jesus met there with great success as he's teaching and healing and the people are flocking about him. And the apostles come to him the next morning and Jesus has gotten up before the sun to find time to pray. And the and the disciples come to him and they say, why are you over here by yourself?

All the crowds there are clamoring for you. You are experiencing this great popularity. And Jesus's answer to that success is, let's be going. I've got a mission to be on. Now here in chapter six, the polar opposite of that happens. This is the most discouraging, potentially discouraging time of Jesus's ministry when his hometown rejects him and rejects him so resolutely.

And yet his answer is the same. Let's be going. We've got a mission to be on. We've got another teaching tour to begin. So Jesus is unable to be discouraged from his mission that he's on and the mission that he's on. The central focus of his mission is the mission of teaching and preaching. So he says, we need to begin this next tour.

I need to be teaching, let Doesn't matter. They've rejected me here. They didn't reject me there. The crowds are over here. It doesn't matter, but let's be going. And now, verse seven. So he called the 12 and began to send them out two by two. So literally he called the 12. And he began to apostate them or apostle them.

He called the apostles and he began to apostle them because that word apostle means to send out. So the apostles are the scent ones, so he calls the scent ones in order to send the scent ones out. So he calls them and began to send them out two by two. Now the way that that reads, I take it to mean that Jesus didn't necessarily send all 12 apostles out simultaneously.

Instead, it seems that he just began a process or began a habit, so to speak, of sending out a steam, a set of apostles from time to time, maybe to the village next to the one that he was here teaching in, or to the village he had just left, or this village over here. And so perhaps he would pick two and he would send these over two over there while he and the rest went over to this other village and he began this habit of sending them out.

Two by two, he sends them, I, I would take it multiple times. Perhaps he's sending two here and then a little bit later he sends two more. Perhaps they're not always this with the same partner. Perhaps they're teamed up with different partners, you have to wonder, you know, did he send the two brothers together, even though there's, there's three sets of brothers.

Did he send Peter and Andrew together? Did he send James and John together or did he mix them up? All those questions are left unanswered, particularly the question of who was it that got teamed up with Judas? Wouldn't you want to know who it was that was teamed up with Judas? But he sends these two out, two by two and verse seven again, he called the 12 and began to send them out two by two.

So he calls the 12. We recognize there that it's exactly 12 that he sends out no more, no less. And so that reminds us, of course, of the reality here, that Jesus is saying to us in the sending out of the 12 and the choosing of the 12 apostles, he's reminding us that he is the new Israel. Our thoughts are taken back, of course, to the 12 leaders of the, or the 12.

Sons of Jacob, who became the 12 leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel. And then of course all that points us to the 12 apostles. And all this is saying to us that Jesus here is claiming for himself the identity of the new Israel. He sends out these 12 apostles. And the, the thing that would strike me as I was reading through this, the thing that would strike me if, if I were Jesus, I think that the first thing that I would say as I approached this text, I, I would just say they're not ready.

Yeah. There is no way that these apostles are ready to be sent-out to do such a mission as this. Wouldn't you think? Wouldn't you say that? Because everything up in the story up until this point has been nothing but just the, the fumbling failures and misunderstandings of the apostles one after the other.

We remember from back in chapter one that they objected to his travel plans. He says, it's time for us to go over here. And, and it's, they, it says, though, they want to stand in his way. No, we've got a really good thing going here at Capernaum Jesus. Or in chapter four, remember how they're angry, or they're upset that he's asleep.

Are you sleeping while we're about to drown here? Jesus, or chapter five, they just seem incredulous that Jesus is so concerned over one person who touched him over and over. They're just displaying this lack of spiritual aptitude. And then of course, we think forward to Chapter eight. Chapter eight, and we're going to, they're going to put on grand display the fact that they don't really get any of this yet, as they say to Jesus, no, Jesus.

We're not going to let that ha, we're not going to let you be handed over to the Gentiles and be arrested and, and put on trial. We're not going to let that happen. Jesus, we've got too good of a thing going here. Now I realize that it was Peter saying those words, but as we get to chapter eight and we look at that passage, we're going to see that Mark presents that passage to us as though Peter is simply the spokesman for all of them.

All 12 of them are on the on board with the same idea. No, Jesus, this is not the direction that we're going. So again and again, we're faced with this reality that the disciples just don't seem ready for such a task as this. And yet nevertheless, they are sent-out, which must be for, at least for Marx readers there in the church in Rome.

It must be a great encouragement to see Jesus entrusting such apostles as these. Who are lacking, so evidently lacking in spiritual aptitude. Nevertheless, they are sent-out and they are equipped for the mission as well as us. I mean, what an encouragement to us to recognize the fact that all of God's sent-out ones are totally unprepared for any of his sending out.

All of God's sending out takes place in the context of those who are ill-equipped for such. Ascend out the equipping that the apostles have for being sent-out. Their training is not finished, their education is not finished. Their understanding is completely lacking, but their qualifications are simply this, that they have been with Jesus and Jesus has chosen them.

Jesus has selected them, and Jesus has now sent them out. That's their equipping. That's their preparation. That's all that they need. It reminds me of the words of Paul in one Corinthians chapter one, when he says to the Corinthians there, consider your calling. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards.

Not many were powerful. Not many of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong God, chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not to bring to nothing. The things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

The equipping of the apostles, the success of their being sent-out has nothing to do with their preparation efforts. It has everything to do with their time of being with Jesus, with their being selected by Jesus, with their relationship to him, with his choosing of them. Think of the apostles of Peter and John in Acts chapter two.

When we read that they recognized that Peter and John were uneducated men, but they saw that they had been with Jesus. The same thing is true for the equipping of all of God's sent-out ones today, which by the way, all of the called ones are also the sent-out ones, so all of the sent-out ones today are prepared in the same way.

Now, this is to say nothing disparaging about human efforts at preparation for taking the sea to the world and scattering the sea to the world. This is to say nothing disparaging about those who might. Being called to a ministry would go and put efforts into a seminary education or a theological education.

This is to say nothing against those who would devote themselves to the study of scripture or to the, those things that people have written to explain scripture, to equip one to explain the principles of scripture. This to say nothing of that. But all of those amount to the same thing, which is to say in Paul's words, the working out of our salvation with fear and trembling, recognizing that it's God who's doing the working in us, that the equipping truly and rightly is given to us through relationship with Christ and through the calling of Christ.

Furthermore, that equipping is done in such a way as to show, as we'll see in the passage today as to show that the power is God and God alone. So he sends them out the these 12 apostles that all of us in the room would've said They are completely not ready for this. Jesus says, They're ready because they know me.

So he sends them out. He began to send them out two by two. So they're not going to a new work. They're not doing a new thing. They're not going to new places. They're not giving new teaching. They are teaching what Jesus has taught them. They're doing the same things Jesus has been doing. They're going to the same places that Jesus has gone.

This is, this is not now the apostles hour. This is not now the time to, to shine the light on the apostles, because the apostles will go out doing the same thing that Jesus has been doing, and he sends them out. We're told two by two. So as he sends them out two by two, mark by the way, is the only one who tells us that they're sent-out two by two.

But as they're sent-out two by two, we can immediately recognize the wisdom in sending them out two by two as we read in Ephesians, I'm sorry, not Ephesians, but Ecclesiastes four we're reminded of the, the. Advantage of two going together, one can support another. When one stumbles, when one grows weak, when one grows tired or discouraged, then there's another there who can be of a support and help.

And so as, as these apostles go to this village over here and they begin talking about Jesus and how they believe him to be Messiah, and they're met with the rejection that they'll be met with and one becomes discouraged and just wants to leave, well then there's the other to come along and, and, and offer encouragement and say, no, Jesus sent us here.

He knows what he's doing. Jesus himself was rejected in his own hometown. So we can be rejected here and we can continue to teach and to preach as he sent us out to do. So one can encourage another. As one gets weaker, one gets tired, but then also we recognize the Jewish. Recognition of the validity of two witnesses.

We, we've seen this throughout our Old Testaments. We see it in the New Testament, how the scriptures will repeatedly tell us that the validity of a testimony is established with two or more witnesses. And so this is also an establishing of the testimony as two go out. It's not one lone person going into a a, the streets or into a village to begin pronouncing the teaching that Jesus has been giving them.

And one person alone to say, I'm here to tell you this, but instead it's validated by another witness. And the hearers would've heard that they've seen that, and they would've recognized that, which also by the way, points us forward to the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus will go up the Mount of Transfiguration and there will be the two witnesses there for him, Moses and Elijah there to validate his testimony.

But they're sent-out two by two. And it's interesting how the New Testament or the new church, new Testament church, the early church picked up on this. Practice as we read through the book of Acts, and we recognize over and over and over that that is the way that the apostles go about the work of the early church.

Throughout the entire book of Acts, we, we find Paul and Silas. Together, we find Peter and John together, we find Peter and we find Peter and John. Together, we find Paul and Barnabas. We find Mark and Barnabas together. In fact, throughout the entire book of the Acts, the only occasion I can think of in which we find one apostle by himself is when Paul is in Athens by himself and he's by himself because he is waiting on Timothy to show up.

And so every other instance that I know of in the Book of Acts, there's always at least two apostles or more going about the work that they're going about. So we send them out two by two and he gave them authority. So the authority we see is given to them by Jesus. It's a delegated authority. It's a, an authority given to them.

They're not going out in their own authority saying, I say to you, thus says the Lord. Or repent. They're going out in the authority that Jesus has given to them, delegated to them their authority is coming from another. And their hearers would've recognized that. They would've recognized the principle that the one sent-out carries the same authority as the one who is doing the sending.

The authority rests with the sender, and when the sender sends them out, he sends them with his own authority. So he gave them the authority, but he gave them the author, the authority we're told over the unclean spirits. So here we see. That the authority of the true, strong man. Is now extended to those that he sends out.

We've seen this repeatedly in Mark's gospel. It's one of his themes is that the strong man, the true, strong man is here and he's here to cast out the false strong man, the lesser strong man, the wrong strong man, the Un-rightful strong man who has taken control in a matter of speaking of the true strong man's kingdom.

Now, the strong man, Jesus has returned and he goes about kicking out the lesser strong man. But what's interesting here is that Jesus gives to his servants the same authority over the lesser strong man that he himself also has because authority is given to them over the unclean spirits, over the demonic.

So as they go about, they are the voice of Jesus, they are the, the authority of Jesus. We remember from, of course, Matthew 28, when Jesus says, all authority has been given unto me. Therefore, You can go and you can make disciples, and you can baptize in my name because all authority is mine and therefore I vest you with the authority that is mine.

So the true, strong man has claimed all authority and he invests his servants with the authority that they are to go out. And they are to cast out these unclean spirits. Now here we must pause for just a moment and just make sure that we don't misunderstand what the passage is implying to us, because as Jesus invest these apostles with the authority over unclean spirits, and they are, they tell Jesus in verse 30 that they cast out many demons.

As we see this, we must not take this to mean that we too are invested with a similar type of authority because nowhere in the New Testament are we told that believers are given authority to cast out any sort of demonic spirit. Here we are reading about an incident in the life of Jesus in the proceedings of Jesus' ministry.

An incident that was a one-time. Type of affair. This is not a, an incident in Jesus's ministry that was repeated. This was a one-time event, and we'll see this in some other ways. For example, Jesus will see in just a moment, sends them out with no bread, no bag, no anything, and then later he's going to send them out again.

But this time they will take supplies with them. So we see here that this is not, this is not a pattern to be repeated. The apostles are vested with the authority over the demonic, but nowhere does that lead us to believe that we too have the same type of authority over the demonic. Our master absolutely does.

Our master has all authority over all demonic powers and all the powers of the heir and the princes of the air. We read that in Ephesians, but we as his servants, we rest in his authority, but we are never sent-out in such a way as this. So he says he gave them authority over the unclean spirits and they're sent-out.

And if we were to just read that little phrase right there, it would seem to us that the focus is placed upon their authority over the demonic. However, the passage also is telling us that the primary focus of Jesus's entire ministry as well as the sending out of the apostles, the primary focus was never the demonic.

It was never healing. It was never cleansing lepers. It was never healing the sick. It was always on preaching and teaching. And we see this in the passage. We see it in verse 11. We, we read in verse 11 that, , they're sent-out and where they are sent-out and they don't listen to your teaching.

He tells them what to do for that. We were mine it again in verse 30 when they come back and they tell all that they had done and taught. So we see that just as Jesus's focus was on the teaching. So also the apostle's focus is rightly on the teaching now, verse eight. And he charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, verse nine.

But to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. So here's the apo. As the apostles are sent-out with this authority over the unclean spirits, we might would expect that Jesus' final instructions for them. This sort of last-minute instructions, we might expect that Jesus' instructions would center around what to do when they encounter the demonic.

They saw what Jesus did in the synagogue back in chapter one, the man with the unclean spirit. They of course, saw what happened as he encountered legion, and so they've witnessed Jesus. Having power over the forces of the demonic, but they have never done anything of that sort of nature themself. And so we might expect that Jesus's instructions might be, you know, when you encounter the demonic, here's what you're to do.

Here's what you're not to do. But Jesus's instructions have nothing to do with that. In fact, instructions take on a threefold sort of directive, Jesus and tells Jesus tells them what to take or, or actually specifically what not to take. He tells them how to act and he tells them how to react. Those are the three facets of his instructions, what to take and what to leave behind, how to act and how to react, or specifically how to react to the rejection that they will receive.

So let's look at these things for just a moment. Let's just begin by what, what they're told to take and what not to take. They're told, told to take nothing except we're told a staff. So as they're told to take this staff. We recognize that a staff in scripture is rich, rich with meaning, isn't it?

We've read about staffs all the way back from Genesis. We've read about the staff of Moses as he holds the staff out over the Red Sea and the sea parts, or as he has holds his staff out over the Nile. The Nile becomes blood and he holds his staff out and the frogs go away. We've read about the staff of Moses.

We've read about the staff of Aaron that butted. We have read about the shepherd's staff that is so prominent, particularly in the Psalms. We've read about the, the rod of correction, the rod of training. We've read about the the rod of iron all the way in the revelation. They're still talking about the rod of iron, which represents the judgment of God.

We've read about the staff that symbolizes the leader of the tribe from one Kings chapter four. We've read about the rulers scepter. Hebrews chapter one. We've read about the staff as a means of, of having something to rest on. Hebrews 11, and we could go on and on because a staff in scripture is rich with meaning and is found all over the place.

So what sort of staff, what's the meaning of the staff that Jesus tells them to take? I, I think that the staff that Jesus is telling them to take is just simply nothing more, nothing less than just a simple walking stick. It's not a, a ruling scepter. It's not a rod of iron. It's just, it's just a walking stick.

And we can, we can picture that sort of a walking stick if you've maybe hiked or walked and you had this long stick and you used it as you were walking along and, and it sort of helps you along. This is the sort of thing they're told to take the staff, but they're told to take no bread and to take no bag.

Now the bag would've been a bag that would hold. Bread for the next day. So if they're taking no bread, then there's also no reason to take a bag. But because they're taking no bag, there's also going to be no way for anyone that they meet who might want to give them bread for the next day or, or the return home.

There'd be nothing for them to carry that in. So in essence, Jesus is denying them not only the taking of sustenance and food, but he's denying them the means of even receiving some food that would be for in advance, receiving some food for that evening or the next day reminds us of. The manna, of course, in which they were told specifically, collect only enough manna for right now, don't collect any and store it up.

So they're to take no bag and they're to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. So the instructions that they're given are, in essence, they are requiring of those who are being sent-out to be sent-out with absolutely no planning and absolutely no provision. And what is the meaning of this? Well, I think that the meaning of this is going to be wrapped up very closely, very intimately with another set of instructions that God gave to his people way back in Exodus.

And when I show you this, you'll, you'll see right away the parallels and you'll see right away how Jesus's instructions here clearly seem to be taken from God's instructions as he instructs the Jewish people on how to observe the Passover. Remember that from ex Exodus chapter 12, Jesus or God is describing the Passover meal, and he says, here's how you're to eat the Passover meal in the manner that you eat the meal.

You're to eat it with your belt fastened and your sandals on your feet. You see the sandals there and your staff in your hand. You see the staff and you shall eat it in haste for it's the Lord's Passover. So the parallels there are hard to miss. So Jesus appears to clearly have in mind God's instructions for the Israelite children in the eating of the Passover as he gives the instructions to those who are being sent-out.

So why does God instruct the Israelite children to observe the Passover in such a way? So remember the Passover, that meal that was the eating of the Passover lamb and the things that went along with it, and it was that special meal that was eaten on the night that the Angel of Death visited Egypt. And took from every household, the firstborn from every house that didn't have the blood on the doorposts.

And after that event happened, that was the final straw. And the next morning, Israel was driven out of the land and in being driven out of the land, the meal and, and the, the manner in which they observed the meal prepared them, in essence, for the driving out the next day. So there's two things that I think are are helpful to see about the preparation of the Passover meal in connection with the preparation or the lack of preparation for the disciples being sent-out.

And one is the urgency of the mission. Is the absolute urgency of there being sent-out, the urgency that revolved around the Passover and getting the blood on the door and eating the meal properly, and eating all the meal with nothing left over because Israel was just about to be sent-out. There was no more planning, no more preparation that could be done.

They were about to go. And so the disciples also are being sent on such an urgent sort of task as this. They are not going out with a message that's a message of, you know, here's a new way of thinking about things. There's this fellow, Jesus, we've been following him. Now you might want to take these things and think about them and we'll, we'll come back in a month or so and check on how.

Now this is a message of life and death. This is a message of eternal life and eternal death. And so the urgency of the task weighs heavy upon these apostles as they're, they are sent-out. But then in addition to that, of course, is the haste that everything takes place. The sending out in such great haste and Israelis, remember they were sent-out into the desert away from civilization.

They were sent-out into a place in which dependency upon God was going to be paramount, that God would literally feed them from manna that came from the sky and water that came from a rock. And so their dependence upon God for their physical sustenance was something that's very visible and very evident right before their eyes.

Those are the two things that have to do with the Passover that I think translate directly over to the sending out of the 12. They're being sent-out with an urgent task, and that urgent task is that they have the message of life that they're taking to a sea of people who are dying. And secondly, they are to take that message out in such a way that demonstrates to all who are watching.

That everything about this mission depends on the providence of God. They take not even any bread or a spare tunic or any bag to even carry some food with them. So God has sent them out and their trust is to be not in their own providence or their own planning or their own provisions or their own resources, but their trust is to be completely and totally in the one who has sent them out.

So in this way, they stand for us as examples of all service that is rendered unto God. All of it is dependent, utterly upon the providing of God for those whom he sends out. Um, our, our life is the, is a life of being sent-out. Our, our life is a life of scattering seed, and our life is metaphorically and, and realistically, just like the apostles demonstrated in such a powerful and clear way that everything about their mission is dependent upon God and God alone.

And we're reminded of how this is how God just, he just wants this, this is the method. This is the means. This is how he wants his people to go about the task of scattering the seed with this purposeful and intentional recognition that all things come from him. That we are dependent upon his hand for everything.

And this is how God has displayed himself from the beginning of the scriptures until now. Just a couple of examples that pop into my head. Think about Gideon and how the whole thing about Gideon's attack there was that these, the 30,000 was just too many. And you have to get it down. You have to get it down.

And we get down to 300 and God says, okay, this is few enough for me. Now let's go on. Or we think about Jesus's words, about the birds of the air or the grass of the field, the flowers of the field. And his point is, your father knows just as he knows what the birds need, just as he knows what the flowers need, he knows what you need and he will provide your every need.

So this inaugural sending out of the apostles is done in such a purposeful and, and dramatic, if you will, dramatic way as to illustrate to us, number one, the urgency of the task. And number two, the fact that the mission is utterly and totally dependent upon the providence of God and those who are sent-out.

We too are utterly dependent upon the providence of God in every way. The barest of essentials are denied. The apostles. Yes. Now again, this story is one we must be careful of because this story's not showing us that, that this is how Christians go about the task of scattering seed. That you don't make any preparations whatsoever.

You don't carry any provisions. That's not what the passage is teaching us because again, Jesus will send them out again later, and as he does it later, he'll send them with provisions. This is an illustration for us, and the illustration is he will deny of them the most embarrassed of planning and provisions to show to them your help comes from the Lord, not from the bread that you take or the bag that you have.

And not only does your help come from the Lord and not from the things that you might take, but your help comes from the Lord in the means of whom He will provide to provide for you on your task of scattering the seed. Look with me at verse 10, and he said to them, whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there.

So what is that all about? What's this command of going to a house and wherever you go, you stay in that house until you leave? Once again, if, if we took this like the first command, when Jesus says, don't take any, any, , bag or bread, and the only thing you're to take is is just your, your staff and sandals.

If we were to take that in a very wooden sort of way, then we would all go around in sandals with walking sticks today, right? So we know that, that Mark is not saying to us that this is exactly how God has prescribed that we are to go about our task of scattering sea. So in the same sort of way, if we were to take this very woodenly and very rigidly, then we would say, well, what Jesus is telling them is that whenever you go to a village, then whatever building you enter, that's the only one you can enter until you're ready to leave the village and you can't leave.

And of course, that's not what Jesus is saying. What Jesus is saying to them in the same way that they are to trust that God will provide the bread that they need to eat in the same way he will provide the people for them that will supply the bread that they are to eat. So he says, whatever house that you enter, stay there until you depart.

From there. He's saying to them, you are to be grateful and contented guests wherever you are to be received. He's saying to them, God will place into their path, those who will bless them with the gift of hospitality, but in receiving that hospitality for from them, they are not to be people who are seeking greater hospitality, shall we say, or better accommodations.

Alright? So in Jesus' world, hospitality. Held a place that it doesn't have. In our world, hospitality was not only commonplace, hospitality was required. And so if you were a traveler of course there's no red roof ends or motel sixes. If you were a traveler, then you stayed in the homes of people, and hospitality was just a way of life in that part of the world.

And so it was expected, it was required. And so you can imagine though, as these disciples, they're coming with this life-giving message, and they're coming to a village, and perhaps the village has some people in the village that are hearing this message and responding positively to it. And as the disciples might come to the village and they begin preaching and they begin teaching, and as they reach this sort of stopping point in the afternoon, late evening, someone comes up to them and says, you know, do you have any place to stay tonight?

Well, no, we don't. Well come and stay with me. Come and stay with me. And so they go and they stay with that person who will perhaps become a brother in Christ to them. And so they come and they stay with that person. But it's a meager sort of place. It's a two-room house and they sleep on the floor. And, well, the food was just the bare minimums, just some old bread and just a little bit of food.

Not much with it. No spices and, and no wine to go with it. Just water. But it was food and it was a place to stay. And then the next day they are out on the streets again and they're teaching and people are gathering around. And as people are gathering around, then the, the evening comes and, and once again, someone comes to them and says, do you have a place to stay tonight?

And they say, well, yes, this brother over here, he put me up in his place. Well, you know what, I know him. Let's make up a name. Abraham. I know Abraham. And Abraham is a, is a great fellow. He's been my neighbor. He's been my friend for years. But you know, Abraham has a two-room house. I have a six-room house.

We've got plenty of room, we've got an extra bed, we've got some good food. In fact, I've got a lamb that I was just about to slaughter. We're going to have lamb tonight, we're going to have a barbecue. I got a pool out back. Why don't you come and stay with us? And so you see the temptation is to say to this one brother, thank you.

But now I'm going to go over here to this other accommodation. And Jesus is restricting them from that. And I think for two obvious reasons. One, how would that make the first person feel? How would that make that person feel? To to, to then I guess come to realize, well, my accommodations aren't quite good enough for this preacher of this message of life, this teacher, the message of life.

And so that would possibly create some. Hard feelings in that way. But I think much more importantly is that would then give the impression to all those who are receiving that message, whether that there's something, there's something about those people who are bringing this message that's also a self-advancing kind of thing, looking out for self.

And that this proclamation of the gospel message, this scattering of seeds, carries with it this aspect of the advancement of self and how can they go about preaching a message of the pearl of great price and how he's worth far more than everything else in their life put together. Or how can they go about preaching a message of seeking first the kingdom of God when they themself are now making a veil of better accommodations and sort of seeing this, this step up, so to speak.

So I think that's Jesus's meaning there, but I think that there are at least two applications that just are. In my opinion, screaming to be made and the first application is one that's quite obvious that all of us who've been around the context of church and churches here in the western culture, the first world culture, all of us are familiar with.

And it's something that I sadly have been familiar with since by the earliest days of my ministry. I've known pastors who think this way and even talk early in my ministry. I remember pastors even talking to me this way, this, this, this idea of you go to this church for a little while and you sort of stay there for a little bit and then well then you move up to a little bit bigger church and then a little bit bigger church and a little bit bigger church and you're sort of making your way up the ladder.

Now some of that can obviously be from the Lord. The Lord can obviously take a servant and prepare him in the context of one body for another body and he can do that and his, that's his prerogative to do that. But some of that is entirely self-advancement. Take it from me. Some of that is entirely self-advancement, and so this passage is just knocking at the door to say that's exactly what Jesus is teaching against the idea of using the gospel message for self-advancement.

Now, the scriptures teach us as the proverb from the Old Testament, tells us that the laborer is, is worthy of his wages. The scriptures teach us that those who minister and labor in the gospel message are it's right for them to earn their living by means of teaching of the Bible and teaching of the scriptures.

So teach the scriptures, teach us that, but there's a difference between earning a living and seeking self-advancement, which is what Jesus is teaching against here. The two-room house was just fine. The two-room house, the Abraham, the owner of the two-room house was led by God. To offer to you his house and offer to you, his table.

Now, in the spirit of godly contentedness, Jesus is saying, stay there until your time is done in that town. So that's the first application. The second application is also, I think, a rather obvious application, but this is an application that's going to step on toes. But unfortunately the toes it's going to step on aren't the toes that are here because this also, in my view, points to another phenomenon and the first world in the Western church, and that's the phenomenon of those who may be part of a church who hear or experience, or they're told of this other church over here that has more things to offer.

And so, although this one church is a gospel believing, Bible teaching biblically led church for the purpose of advancement, then we leave this one in lieu of this other one over here. Now, what I'm not speaking of are those situations in which perhaps there's a church that's not biblically solid, that's not gospel oriented, that's, that does not have a high view of the scriptures.

That is not led in biblical manners. When I'm not speaking about churches that might be problematic. I'm speaking of just a church that is a biblically grounded scripture, believing an errant church that believes the gospel and teaches the scriptures and is led in biblical ways and yet, There are those that might be part of that church that they, well, they see this over here, this other church that offers something more and they sort of go there.

Can you see how that is a valid application of what Jesus is teaching here? In my estimation, there is no biblical reason for any believer who's been led to any church that is a fundamentally solid church. There is no biblically based reason for that believer to leave that church outside of a spiritual failing of the church.

Or God might relocate that person to another area and another church might be more convenient, that they could be more engaged and more plugged in. Or the third reason is that God might call that believer out of that church for the purpose of sending them and preparing them for a ministry of their own.

Those are the three valid reasons that I see for, for a believer to leave a church. If the church becomes un unsolid. Unbiblical, if the church forsakes the gospel, if the church becomes spiritually problematic, if the Believer's life leads them to be relocated to another place, or if the, or if God places a call upon their life for them to be prepared and enter, enter into a ministry of their own.

But yet, we are consumed in a church culture that views the things of God that views the Church of God in a consumeristic manner. And what I mean by that is to view the Church of God from the standpoint of what will this church offer to me? What would this church offer to my kids? What would this church offer to my teenagers?

What would this church offer in terms of. This program or that program or this thing or, or these, these resources over here, what will that church offer me? And it seems to me that though we are separated from Jesus's culture and we don't live in a culture anymore, in which if we go to another town for the purpose of gospel ministry, that we are forced to stay in people's homes.

We, we live in a different type of culture than that today. But nevertheless, the principle applies. The principle in which when God has led us and implanted us into a body that is a solid scripture, believing, gospel, loving, faithful church, then he doesn't take us out of that church and move us somewhere else For other things and other advantages and other resources that might become available to us there, true service to Christ must be characterized.

By a total dependence upon him. And that means a dependence upon his resources and a dependence upon those whom he has raised up to bring those resources to us as well as an utter recognition of the urgency of the task. I think of Philippians, remember the, as we studied through Philippians, and remember how we saw time and again in Philippians, how it was like this tri, you remember the triangle and there was God and there was the Philippians and there was Paul, and how over and over again we saw how God was teaching us that when God wanted to meet the need of Paul, he usually did it through the Philippians.

And when God wanted to meet the me need of the Philippians, he did it through Paul. Remember that? The same sort of thing here, God raised up. For example, our, our theoretical man named Abraham. God raised him up to use his resources to meet the needs of seed-scatterers. And Jesus says to his seed-scatterers, be content with what I have raised up for you.

And so that's the application that I see there whenever you go to a home. Stay there. Now what, what I want to kind of think ahead, just a, just a little bit, think ahead, just a moment as they're sent-out with such a sparsity of resources, take no bread, take no bag. As they're sent-out, I want to just think ahead real quickly as to when this lesson is going to come back home for them.

And I just want to recognize that the, the apostles will ha they, they will be, , told, taught by Jesus, will, in other words, take them by the hand and he'll say to them, do you remember that time when I sent you out with nothing? In fact, he says this in Luke chapter 22, verse 35, when I sent you out with no money bag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?

And they answer nothing. So Jesus recalls that in their mind, he takes them back. He says, remember that time I sent you out? And I was so specific, take nothing with you. Did you lack in anything? Did, were you hungry? Did you have to sleep out under the stars? Were you out in the weather? Did you, did you lack anything?

And they answer, we didn't lack a thing. We didn't lack a single thing. Or think about Mark chapter eight a little bit later, verse 19, when I broke the five lows for the 5,000, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? They said to him, 12 And the seven for the 4,000. How many baskets of full of broken pieces did you take up?

They said to him, seven. And he said to them, do not yet understand, in other words, what Jesus is saying to them. Do you not see? Do you not make the connection that those who give themselves fully and totally to my kingdom are never lacking? You never find yourself after giving yourself fully and totally and trusting completely upon my provision.

You never find yourself at a place where you have to say, you know, God really does didn't come through. He really kind of let me down. I trusted him to provide and it didn't happen, and Jesus is pointing out to them. That will never happen. Look at Matthew chapter six. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys where thieves do not break in and steal. And where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. But seek first. And here it is the kingdom of God and all these things and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

So this initial sending out this, this first inaugural sending out these apostles are like real life examples of the fact that the father knows their every need and the father has long ago planned for the meeting of their every need. And he wants them to go out as evidence of that, as evidence of people who trust in a God who meets their every need and they know that he meets their every need.

Just like the psalmist says. For whom do I look to for, for help? Do I look to the hills? No. The Lord is where I look to for, from the Lord comes my help. Now quickly verse 11, and if any place will not receive you, and they will not listen to you when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.

So here, Jesus now gives them instructions he's given, given them instructions about what not to take, instructions about how to act. And now he gives them instructions about how to react, specifically to react to rejection. So the reason we said last week that Jesus goes to Nazareth is quite possibly so that the apostles and the disciples will see him be rejected to prepare them for the rejection that they will receive.

So this sending out, this initial sending out, we shouldn't understand this as this, this big great grand. Successful tour in which the disciples went out two by two. And just like, , who was the guy St. Patrick who led the snakes out of Ireland and all, they come back to the, to Jesus and his, , apostles there leading this great big gang of people that's now believed upon the teachings that they've now taught.

We shouldn't understand this as this great big huge grand success. Instead, we should understand this as a success in faithfulness. They did what Jesus sent them out to do. They were faithful in doing that, but in their faithfulness, they experienced not a little rejection, but they experienced much rejection.

And Jesus says to them, this is what you're to do when they do not receive you, and when they do not listen to you. And I have to believe that in their mind, when Jesus said that, they're thinking, and probably Peter said this, you know, they're, they're probably thinking kind of like, what just happened to you at Nazareth?

And Jesus probably said exactly just like that when, what happens to you. Just like what you just sa saw happen to me in Nazareth. Here's what you're to do. You are to, and here again, once again, they will not listen to you we're told when they won't listen to you. So again, this repeated theme on hearing the word of God, that's been a theme of Mark from the beginning, the emphasis, the focus upon hearing the word.

So when they will not receive you, and they will not listen to you when you leave. So there, Jesus gave them permission to leave. In other words, Jesus doesn't say to them, stay there. Keep beating the same old dead horse until they do listen to you. That's not what Jesus told them to do. When they don't receive you and when they don't listen to you, Jesus says, first of all, when you leave, meaning you're the, you're the scatter of the seed.

And what does the scatter of the seed do? He scatters the seed. He scatters the seed in faith in anticipation, but then once he scatters the seed, he rests. Because after that point, it's out of his hands. So they are to be seed-scatterers, just like Jesus told in the parable. And after scattering the seed faithfully and diligently, they are then to rest.

And if Jesus, Jesus says, if they reject you, then you leave. You don't stay there. Just brow beating them to a point at which they will eventually say, okay, okay, just to get you to shut up. We'll believe Jesus says when they refuse, then as you leave, here's how you are to leave. You are to leave shaking the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.

So this shaking the dust off their feet as a testimony against them. There's one of the, I think probably the most misunderstood sections of scripture or phrases in scripture that we come across it, it, we find it a number of times. We find it in the Old Testament, Nehemiah, for example, we find it in the New Testament.

We find Paul doing in and doing it in Acts more than once. We find it in the gospels. We find it frequently in the New Testament, this habit or this practice of shaking the dust off of your sandals, or sometimes it's shaking the dust out of your garments, but it's the same principle, the same sort of thing.

And so oftentimes we hear this and we think that what's being done here is this act, so to speak, of acting out one's disgust. And I'm just done. I'm washing the old dirt of this old town off of my feed, and I'm done with you. Because that's sometimes the context that it seems to come to us in, for example, as Paul goes to, um, imposes in Antioch and the Jews there in Antioch are so virulently opposed to him, and they're so aggressively opposed to him that Paul eventually says, I shake the dust to my sandals off at you, and he goes to I Iconium.

And so to us it sounds like Paul is saying, I've just done, I've had it. I've told you. I've taught, I've taught, and I've preached, I've, I've explained and I've explained, and you still won't listen, I'm done. But that is the furthest thing from what this actually is saying to us. This shaking the dust off your sandals.

Because what this is pointing us to is a practice of the Jewish people, a habit of the Jewish people that contained some spiritual meaning for them. What, what the practice was, was this. The Jews from time to time would leave the land of promise, the, the land of Israel to travel to other places, maybe through Samaria or through other places.

They would leave the land of promise and then when they would return back into the land of promise, then of course they're returning back into the land of God. God's land, God's place. Now all of the earth is God's. But there's this special place called Israel, and as they reentered Israel, then there was this thought process that, that they were to keep Israel clean from the defilement of the gentiles, from the defilement of the unclean peoples, and they weren't to bring back into Israel those defiling things from outside of Israel.

And so they would literally do this. They would take their sandals off as they, as they were about to reenter the land and shake off the dust as if to say, this is unclean gentile dust, and I don't want to bring it into our clean Israel dust. It was just a symbolic way of saying, here's what it was saying, this is God's that's not, this is God's special place.

That's not it. It was a way of, of drawing a border, of drawing a demarcation, a line of demarcation to say, this is God's special anointed place and his special anointed people, and that's not, and so the demonstration of shaking off either shaking the dust out of your garments or shaking the dust off your sandals was a demonstration of saying that.

And so what Jesus' instruction to them is, is basically this, when they refuse to listen to you. And they refuse to receive you. You are to engage in this act, this prophetic act that is a visible demonstration, that is saying, this is God's people. This is not God's people. Now, can you imagine the effect of that?

Can you imagine the effect of a Jewish, a pair of Jewish men going to a Jewish village and teaching about a Jewish Messiah, and the people not receiving and not believing that, and then them going about this act as if to say, you are not Jews, you are not Israel. But that's precisely what Jesus is instructing them to do, to shake the dust off their feet.

Meaning when you leave that village, you leave having made it clear what they just refused. You do not leave with any sort of. Muddy waters. You don't leave with any sort of vagueness or any nebulousness about what you have said because what you have said to them is, this is the way of life and if you reject this, then you have chosen the way of death.

Now, the application for this is quite plain and quite clear, is it not? Because God would have us to go about our task of scattering seed in the same way, in the way that says, we too, as God's seed-scatterers are commanded to take the seed to the world in such a way that clearly says to them, we're not offering you.

Just another way of thinking. We're not offering to you another option. We're not suggesting to you that you try this and see how it works for you. This works for us. This whole belief system that we've got, you know, we've got it worked out pretty well, and it really works for us and we find it fulfilling and we find it, , just satisfying.

And why don't you try it? See what you think. Instead, as the scatterers of the seed, we are to scatter the seed in such a way that leaves no doubt, this is the way of life. And to reject this, you are choosing the way of death. This, this is no, take it or leave it. This is, no, this is my opinion. You know, we sort of think this way.

This is how we interpret the Bible. This is how we understand that man gets to God and you know, there may be others. And if something else works for you, you know if, if not, then try this and see what you think. This is not at all how Jesus sends them out. He sends them out under the command to clearly and plainly declare.

He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life, and there is no other way unto the father. This is not anything about what, you just have to figure out your own experience. You have to figure out your own reality. You have to figure out your own truth. Everybody's on their own journey. Here's our journey. Come and join us if you want.

Instead, we are told in the face of all the modern-day political incorrectness that would be thrown into our face, we are told this is how the seed is scattered in such a way that plainly says to the soil, this is the only way and everything else is the way of eternal death. Do you know I'm going to, well, I'm about to say something very politically incorrect.

Do you know that nowhere in all the scriptures are we ever told to respect other people's beliefs? Now that sounds very pro provocative, doesn't it? Find it in the scriptures where the scriptures tell us to respect other people's beliefs. We are to respect people. We are to love people because they're created in the image of God.

We never told to respect false beliefs. In fact, we're told the opposite. Galatians one and verse eight, Paul says, if anybody comes to you preaching another gospel, let them be a cursed. One Corinthians 1622, Paul says, if anyone does not have love in their heart for Jesus Christ, let them be same word, a cursed God never asks his people be respecter of, be a respecter of false beliefs.

He says, be a lover of people. Be a respecter of people. But be one who calls out false beliefs because you love the God of true belief and you love the person who's enslaved in false belief. And so this shaking out of the sandals, this is a dramatic first century way of, of the same command that we have today, which is the command to not present to the world.

There's, there's multiple options of this whole thing. There's multiple ways to think about life after death. And there, you know, there's different ways to think about it. There's different ways to understand the scripture. Instead, we are told that we are to go about the scattering of the seed in such a way that's clear and plain.

Now, that's not the same thing as saying that we as believers are in favor of coerced belief. We're not. We are not in favor of a state or a government or any sort of entity coercing faith or coercing belief that that has been tried many times before. It's still being tried and, and Muslim nations and we as believers are not in favor of that.

We are not in favor of any type of forced or coerced, coerced belief. All true faith must be faith that is given by the believer, not something that the state forces upon you. But at the same time, we also are to be people who are plain and who are clear. There is one way of life. There are not many.

There's not two. There's one, and his name is Jesus Christ. And there's found, there's life found only in the conscious acceptance of his name and faith that is purposely and intentionally placed in his name. And that is the only place that life is found. So here we see once again, any place that will not receive you, they will not listen to you.

When you leave, shake the dust off your feet. Mark's. One of Mark's themes is the theme of enlightened unbelief, meaning those who have heard, those who have had the the way of life explained to them, and yet they refuse to believe it's a theme of Mark that they've heard. They've understood what was said, but yet they refuse to yield.

They refuse to believe it. Now, verse 12. So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. That's the message. That people should repent the word there, metanoia to change. One's mind to change. One attitude, one's attitudes to change, one's desires to change, one's path in life to make a completely different change in life.

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. Verse 13, they cast out many demons and anointed with oil, many who were sick and healed them. Verse 30, skipping down to the other piece of bread on the sandwich. The apostles returned to Jesus and told them all that they had done and all that they had taught.

So just real quickly, just a few words, we could say much more about this, but we have a time deadline upon us because we got the funeral that's following the service. So I just want to say just a few words about the idea of anointing with oil. They anointed with oil, many who were sick and healed them.

So this anointing of oil, you may or may not be surprised to to learn that this is the only place in scripture where anointing with oil is connected directly with the healing of the sick. And you might say, wait a minute, hang on, James, chapter five, and here's where if we had another 20 minutes or 25 minutes.

I, I would love to go through James chapter five. And I think the text shows us plainly that what's in view there is not a physical healing. What's in view is a spiritual healing of those who are in the process, so to speak, or teetering on the brink of falling away into unbelief. That's what James is talking about in James chapter five.

I think that's fairly plain, but even if that's the case, this is the only instance in all the Bible in which there's a clear connection between an anointing with oil and a physical healing that takes place. And so that might surprise people with, because there are many who take a place, a lot of stock and a lot of value in the whole anointing with oil kind of thing.

So it might be a surprise to some to find that this, it's really not very explicitly taught in the scriptures, this connection between anointing with oil and a physical healing. So what does anointing with oil mean? Why is it here? The anointing with oil, first of all, if we think about oil, Kind of like the staff that we talked about earlier.

There's staffs all over the place in scripture. Same thing with oil. There's oil all over the place in scripture. We find in scripture, oil is used for cosmetic purposes. It's eaten with the food it's used to spice the food up to cook food. It's burned for light oil is a symbol of grace in a scripture.

It's also a symbol of consecrating, one for a position or a task or an office. It's connected together with giving of offerings. It's placed on, it's put on those to prepare them for burial. People put it on their bodies after taking a bath. We read that in the scriptures. Also. It's a type of first aid, the Good Samaritan who puts oil on the person that's been all beaten up.

So we find all sorts of uses for oil in the scripture. But what we don't find, I think is a clear and consistent connection between the practice of anointing with oil and something that the New Testament church is to practice today, which is why I don't. Make a practice of anointing with oil. In fact, I never have, and I don't intend to.

So just to say this, you know, as, as I was early in my pastorate, I remember maybe the first year or something as I was a pastor, one of the people that I pastored gave me a little vial of, of anointing oil. And he says here, for when you need to anoint somebody with oil, I've never, never used it. And don't, don't intend to, because I don't think that the scriptures are telling us that that's the normal way of praying over the sick, sick for healing.

So the anointing with oil is something that at best is symbolic. And we see that in the passage that as, even as the disciples anointed with the sick with oil, it's plain in the passage that the oil didn't do the healing. It's plain and clear in the passage that the, that the oil was not the healing agent, it was God who was the healing agent because oil doesn't heal that way.

Yeah, even if oil did bring about healing of wounds or some first aid sort of thing, it didn't do it instantaneously. So clearly in the passage, mark is not saying that the oil itself, when the oil was put on, there was some sort of healing power in that oil. At best. It's a symbolic thing that was understood in that culture as being symbolic of perhaps the Holy Spirit or the power of God or, or a healing desire of God or something of that nature.

So it would be something that I would see best as, as really not something the church is commanded to do. It's not something that would necessarily be sinful, but something that's certainly not, I don't think commanded of the church to do. But back to verse 13, like I said, just a few words about anointing with oil.

We could say much more and they cast out many demons and they anointed with oil, many who were sick and healed them. And the apostles now in verse 30, they returned to Jesus and told them all that they had done and all that they had taught. So the final point for us to see is as they return the whole point of this story, the whole point of Mark sandwiching together, this story with the story of John the Baptizer, is for us to clearly see that the success of their mission was not the success of all these villages believing and now following Jesus.

Because that's the whole point of John the Baptizer. The whole point of the story of John, the Baptizer being put right here is to say, this is what happens. More often than not, this is what happens to the seed-scatterer. All 12 of these apostles. Well take Judas out of the mix. All 11 of the, the remaining apostles, except for John the Apostle will also in their life, their have their life ended in a similar way as John the Baptizer.

And so what we are to see here is their success in being sent-out was simply their faithfulness. Jesus sent them with instructions, don't carry this, don't carry this. Don't, don't go around choosing the best place to stay. Don't try to upgrade your accommodations. Trust in the one who sent you. Teach what I have taught, do what I have done.

I have given you the authority to do what I am doing. You're not to go to new places, you're not to teach new teachings. You are to do what I've shown you to do. And they go about that faithfully. And that was the success that they experienced, not this type of huge revival that now took place in Israel and now all kind of people are believing in Jesus that didn't before.

Instead. Their success was simply their faithfulness and their trust, their going about their task, and the complete trust in the providence of the Lord.