This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you back to day two of our look together through Mark chapter
6 in Daily Drive Time Devotions. We're going to be looking at verses 7 to 13
today and then also down at verse 30. And as we do this, I want to read these
verses for you first and listen for the principles in our lives of sharing our
faith with other people that you and I can learn from how Jesus challenged his
first disciples to share their faith with other people.

Beginning in verse 7 and then reading through verse 13, "Calling the twelve to
him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.
These were his instructions. Take nothing for the journey except a staff, no
bread, no bag, no money in your belts.

Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there
until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to
you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave as a testimony against them.

They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons
and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. " And then down in verse
30, "The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had
done and taught.

" Now tomorrow we're going to talk about what's between verses 13 and 30, but
today I want to focus together on what happened when these disciples first went
out and the principles you and I can learn about sharing our faith, ministering
to other people in Jesus' name. There are six specific principles in what Jesus
specifically asked them to do. Let's just walk through them.

Principle number one, Jesus said, "I want you to go out two by two. " The first
principle is this, you share your faith in relationship with other believers.
Sharing your faith, ministering to others in Jesus' name is not a solo pursuit,
it's not some lone ranger thing where you go out all by yourself and it's just
me and Jesus.

He told them to go out two by two. And that's good for accountability, it's good
for strength and support, but it's also good for relationship and it's also
great for ministry. God means for us to minister together because there are
gifts that I have that you don't have and gifts that you have that I don't have.

And the mix of our gifts together is what shows the strength and the power of
the body of Christ. That is why when someone is brought to faith in Christ, it
is almost always out of a relationship with many believers in Christ. It's not
one person leading another person to Christ, it's a whole group of people
because they're able to see in all those different people how Jesus Christ is
working.

So you share your faith in relationship with others. If you're trying to do it
on your own, if you're not in relationship with other believers as you serve
Jesus Christ, you're going to wear out and you're not going to do the job as
effectively because he's made us to work together in the body of Christ. Go out
two by two.

Principle number two is found in Jesus' words, "Take nothing but what you need
for the journey. " And then he said, "Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. "
What's the principle there?

You share your faith depending on God. He sent these first disciples out in a
way that they'd have to depend on God to meet their needs. They didn't take
everything they could take with them.

They didn't worry about, "I have to have this, I have to have that. " But
instead Jesus said, "I want you to depend on God in this circumstance. He's
going to meet your need.

" You see, I share my faith in relationship with others, but that's not all
there is. There's also this dependence on God, that God's going to work as I
share my faith and do things I could never do. God's going to work as I minister
in Jesus' name and do things that I could never do.

The most wearying life is a life of trying to minister in Jesus' name on your
own effort and power and resources. First of all, it wears you out because
you're not asking for his strength and relationship with him. And secondly, it
wears you out because you're not seeing any results.

The power of God isn't at work. You share your faith depending on God. In doing
that, sometimes you and I have to do exactly what these first disciples did.

You have to reduce your resources. Instead of having so many things in your bag,
so many methods and abilities and resources, you just reduce your resources to
your dependence on God and watch what he can do. He's going to challenge that in
our lives at times.

Principle one, you share your faith in relationship with others. Principle two
is you share your faith depending on God. Principle three is you share your
faith without mixed motives.

Here's what happened in the words of Jesus. He said to them, "Stay at the same
house until you leave that town. " Why did he say that?

In the Eastern culture, hospitality was expected. If you as a stranger walked
into a town, somebody was expected in that town to invite you into their home
for water and food and a place to sleep. It was not you who was expected to go
and find a place.

They were expected to help you. So the disciples walked into a town, somebody
was expected to help them, and Jesus said, "Now, stay in that house. " Why did
he say that?

Because if they had moved from house to house to house, they could have used the
opportunity to advance their opportunity. They could have used the fact that
they were in this town to find a little bit better house. Oh, there's a little
bit better house.

Oh, maybe she could cook a little bit better meal and move up, and in so doing,
create a lot of mixed motives. First in their own hearts, why do you want to go
to that house? But also in the hearts of the people that they were sharing with.

Why did you move from house to house? Why do you like her house or his house
better than mine? How does this fit into our lives?

Well, let's say you happen to share Christ, you're an Amway salesman, and you
happen to share Christ with someone who got involved in your network, and they
come to know Christ. And then you decide, "Oh, that's going to be what I do.
Everybody that I invite to Amway, I'm going to now share Christ with them, and
that's going to be my sole way of witnessing.

" All of a sudden, the motives are mixed. Are you sharing Christ with them, or
are you trying to get them involved in a business network? Now, I understand the
thing of motives can be very, very confusing.

I don't even understand my own motives a lot of times. But whenever you see the
opportunity for people to misunderstand your motives, Jesus is saying here,
"It's up to you and I, as believers in Jesus Christ, to take that opportunity to
misunderstand the motives. Take it away.

Stay in the same house until you leave that town, or don't mix business and
sharing your faith in a way that makes people confused. Make sure you share your
faith without mixed motives. " As a fourth principle in these verses, Jesus
says, "If you're not welcome in a town, shake the dust off of your feet.

" Now, for the disciples, here was the principle. Share your faith where you are
wanted. Don't share your faith with people who don't want to hear.

Share your faith with people who do want to hear. Now, that may sound like a
very simple lesson, but I've got to tell you, in my own life in ministry, some
of my most difficult days and lessons in ministry have come over this principle.
I see someone who I know would make a great disciple of Jesus Christ, a great
follower of Jesus Christ, and I pour my life into trying to get them to follow,
and they just keep saying no, no, no, obviously no.

But I keep trying and I keep trying. I don't want to give up. And in trying with
this person who's saying no, I'm ignoring all these other people who are saying
yes.

Jesus says, "Go with the people that say yes. " When you leave the town, forget
the fact that they rejected. Shake the dust off your feet and go to the next
place.

Don't live to cause people who are rejecting the message to push them to accept
it. Instead, live to invite people who are accepting the message and to help
them to live it. That's what Jesus Christ calls us to do.

Now, there's also another principle in these verses. The principle is not only
for the disciples in this case, but when he says, "Shake the dust off your
feet," it's a very strong sign of the fact that they've rejected the message.
And this is a principle of responsibility.

When I get light from God, I get responsibility because of that. And when people
heard the message of Jesus and rejected it, Jesus says, "Now they have
responsibility for it. It is not my responsibility to get people who reject to
accept.

" That's God's responsibility. It's my responsibility to help people to hear the
message and to help people who have accepted that message to begin to live it
out in their lives. There's a fifth principle in these verses.

They went, they went out, and they preached, and they drove out, and they
anointed. The principle is simply this. When you minister in Jesus' name, do
what Jesus would do.

They just went out and did the same things that Jesus was doing in that day. You
say, "Well, does that mean I'm supposed to drive out demons and anoint sick
people ? " And that's what Jesus was doing in that day.

So he gave them the same power to do the exact same things that he was doing.
The question is, what does Jesus need to be doing in our day, in our
neighborhoods? What does Jesus need to do in our community?

Do what Jesus would do. There's hungry people. You know Jesus would feed hungry
people?

Feed hungry people. There's people that are anxious and worried. You know that
Jesus would comfort people that were anxious and worried?

Comfort people that are anxious and worried. Do what Jesus would do. That's one
of the strongest principles for ministry, for sharing your faith in Jesus
Christ.

And then there's the sixth principle. Down in verse 30, they gathered around
Jesus and they reported all that they'd done and taught. The sixth principle is
rejoice, and specifically rejoice with Jesus in what he has done.

Part of sharing your faith is taking joy in what God does when you tell the good
news. Taking joy in what God does when other people's lives begin to grow. Not
for your own sake, your own pride, but for his sake, seeing what he's done.

So here's the six principles. You share your faith in relationship with others.
You share your faith depending on God.

You share your faith without mixed motives. You share your faith where you are
wanted. You do what Jesus would do, and then you share your faith rejoicing with
Jesus in what he has done.

Let's pray together. Jesus, thank you. Thank you that you've given us a faith to
share.

When you see us, most of us, we have a hard time sharing our faith. Help us to
see places where we can do what you would do. And out of that, I pray, we pray
together that you would bring about conversations where people can see who you
really are.

Use us, we pray, in some small way to bring your light to people that need to
see. We ask it, Jesus, give us strength to do this. We ask it in your name.

Amen. Well join us tomorrow. We're going to be looking together at an incredible
story about the dangers of guilt.