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Sermon notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org
CCLI #117088
All right, let's pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have sent your beloved son,
Jesus Christ, to bleed for us on that cross, that his feet were pierced through with a nail, and that by those wounds, we are healed.
We thank you for the beautiful feet of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Thank you,
God, for this incredible love that you have shown us. Thank you for saving us, and I pray,
Lord, that anyone here this morning or listening that has not yet believed in Jesus would do so through the hearing of the word today, that they would call upon Jesus for salvation.
And Father, I pray for us who do believe and have believed that you would move our feet this morning, move our hearts, and send us out,
Lord, that we would go forth with this gospel with all boldness and clarity as we should bring it.
In Jesus' name, amen. Many of you have heard the story of Louis Zamperini, and if you have already heard it,
I'm sure you'd be glad to hear it again because the story is just so amazing. He was an Olympian.
In 1936, he ran the fastest lap of all time in a certain race there in Berlin.
He finished eighth, but representing the American seat, he did a great job. But after the
Olympics, he was called into World War II, and fighting the Japanese, his plane failed and crashed into the ocean, and he was adrift in the ocean for 47 days.
Imagine the suffering that he endured, waiting to be rescued, but he unfortunately was picked up by a
Japanese ship instead of an American ship, and so he was brought back to a prison camp. So Zamperini was in a prison camp in Japan for many years.
During that time, because he was an Olympian, they targeted him trying to break his will.
This tough American would be a test case for the Japanese because they believed in their imperialist superiority over all the other nations, and surely
Zamperini would break. And so Watanabe, the prison guard, famous for breaking soldiers, took special pleasure in tormenting
Zamperini, forcing him to do all kinds of difficult things. He was known as the bird.
The bird would stand on his perch and look for any troublemakers, and he would give special attention to Zamperini and try to break his will.
I want you to imagine what that would have been like to have been in a prison camp, and then what it would have looked like when the
American planes landed near the prison camp and they came bearing good news.
How beautiful would the feat have been of those soldiers entering the camp to set them free.
How Zamperini delighted to be released from his captivity and to go back to America.
But back in America, he was still in prison. This time, the prison was post -traumatic stress disorder.
His PTSD was so severe that sometimes he would wake up in the night strangling his wife because in a dream he was strangling the bird.
He almost killed his wife accidentally. Suffering from these nightmares. And then he began to turn to alcohol to put it out of his mind.
But alcohol took hold of him and he became a severe alcoholic.
He was in prison even while at home. But there in California came some beautiful feat.
The feat of Billy Graham. And he did not come on his own. The churches together sent
Billy Graham and rented a stadium and called on all the people to come and hear the good news.
On one night, the wife, who had almost been strangled to death, was considering divorce because of his alcoholism.
And that night, she heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. She surrendered to Jesus. She called on him for salvation.
And she was gloriously saved. Not only so, she committed to not divorce him, however bad he was as a husband.
She stayed with him. And before the crusade was over, she convinced him to go. And there, seated in the back, he heard the gospel.
He almost left. But something drew him. He was called and he heard the message of Jesus Christ.
Before long, Zamperini walked to the front. He knelt and he called on Jesus Christ.
Have mercy on me, the sinner. And in that moment, he was gloriously saved.
He was completely delivered of alcoholism. He never had another nightmare again.
Completely set free of his PTSD, the power of the gospel. And he himself became a gospel preacher.
He reached out to troubled teens living in California. And he even flew back to Japan and brought the gospel to the very guards who beat him when he was a young soldier.
Some of them got saved. The bird refused to see him. He remained stubborn and opposed to Zamperini.
Zamperini's feet were beautiful. Let's read in the scripture about what makes a man's feet beautiful.
Romans chapter 10, verses 14 to 21. Church, we need to adorn the gospel with our lives.
When our neighbors run across us, we can't be the guy yelling, get off my lawn.
We can't be the angry neighbor that's always got a chip on our shoulders. We've gotta be hardworking and we've gotta keep our yards as clean as we can and represent well.
That's adorning our lives. But if we never go to our neighbor and tell them the gospel of Jesus Christ, how can we say that our feet are beautiful to them?
Because they've never heard the gospel. Beautiful feet are those that obediently go and tell the lost about Jesus.
As we enter into verses 14 to 21, we have been learning much about the call of God.
Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined, he also called, he also justified, he also glorified.
This call is God's call to the sinner. It is in the form of an outward call of the gospel, but also the work of God in the heart.
And it is a work of God because as surely as he calls, he also justifies.
He's the one who does this. In chapter nine, verse 11, turning back a page, referring to the twins in the womb who were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad.
But in 9 -11, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls.
This is the work of God to call a person to himself.
And in verse 24, we are talked about as us whom he has called.
You see what's happening here. This is the call of God. But as we come to verse 13 of the 10th chapter, we're told that everyone who calls on the name of the
Lord will be saved. This is a different call. The first call was the call of God unto salvation.
It's the work of God in the heart. This call is when the sinner like Zamparini beats his chest and says,
God have mercy on me, the sinner. It's calling on the name of Jesus Christ to be saved.
One call is the work of God. The other comes from within the man. He is calling.
He is the one who calls on the name of the Lord. And that's where we left off last week.
These two calls are not competitive with one another. Both are true. God calls us to salvation and we must responsibly call upon God.
Those who refuse to call upon his name will go to a Christless eternity. They will have to face judgment without the
Lord, without an intercessor. They never called. They remained disobedient to God.
They're responsible for that. So we have these twin parallel truths.
God's call, which is true, and our calling on God for salvation, which is also true.
These two things are not opposed to one another according to the scripture. So if the only ones who will be saved are those who call upon the name of the
Lord for salvation, it becomes incredibly important that we preach the gospel to them.
Because how can they call unless they've heard the gospel? Unless they know who to call upon.
They might think you could call the name Buddha and Buddha would save them or some other salvation in some other name.
But there is only one name given under heaven by which men can be saved. And that is the name of Jesus.
And so what makes feet beautiful, first of all, is that the feet take the believer to an unbeliever to tell them the good news about Jesus.
Beautiful feet are those that go to the lost to preach about Jesus.
Let's read it. Romans 10, 14 and 15. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
Pause there, that string of questions is meant to get us thinking.
These are rhetorical questions. The answer in each case is that they can't. You can't call on someone that you don't believe in.
We had learned last week that with the mouth, we confess what's in the heart.
But if there's no belief, there's no faith in the heart, you can't call on Jesus to save you because you don't believe in him.
But you can't even believe in him unless you've heard of him. And you can't have heard unless somebody's preached to you and told you.
And nobody's gonna preach to you unless they're sent to preach. And so now this problem of needing to hear and to believe and call is answered in a beautiful sentence.
The second half of verse 15. All of these problems are solved with beautiful feet.
As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.
Well, I have good news for you, church. There is a God in heaven. He sent his son,
Jesus Christ, into the world to die for sinners like us. And I am the chief of sinners. By faith in his name, all of your sin is forgiven.
You are justified through his resurrection from the dead. Believing in his name, calling on his name for salvation, you will be saved according to chapter 10, verse 13.
That's good news. This verse, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, must not refer to the physical appearance of feet.
I just told you the good news, and I can assure you that my physical feet are not beautiful.
I think I've inherited my dad's feet. We used to make fun of his feet. We would call them ball and chain toes.
His little ball toes looks like a chain coming up. He would laugh hysterically.
But the older I get, the more my toes look like his. Except mine are hairy, too.
They're even worse. Feet can be disgusting. Why would feet be described as beautiful?
If someone came with good news, you might describe their eyes as beautiful, right? Or their hair as beautiful.
But why the feet? Well, this refers back to Isaiah 52, verse seven.
We can look at it. Isaiah 52, verse seven. Here, the problem was
Israel being overrun by enemies, taken into exile. And what
Israel is hoping for is deliverance. And so this verse actually says how beautiful upon the mountains.
That phrase is not quoted in Romans 10, but it's inferred, shorthand.
What's happening in Isaiah 52, seven is that Israel will be taken into exile and their hope is for deliverance.
That there would be a victory, that they would be set free. And how would the people in Jerusalem know?
Well, a messenger would come. Just like coming back from a battle. When Israel wins a battle, the messenger, the herald comes running and you can see his little feet on the mountains.
You can see by the way he runs that he's leaping and his arms are thrust upward.
You can tell from his figure already, he's bringing good news. Israel won the battle.
Or in this case, Israel's coming home. Cyrus has set the Israelites free. Good news.
And so the feet on the mountains is a picture of this joyous messenger, a herald of good news who comes to declare, we win.
Good news. Israel is set free. Go back to Romans chapter 10. Our feet are beautiful when we go as messengers, as sent with good news to deliver.
It doesn't say our mouths are beautiful, it says our feet. Because church, this is very important.
The hardest step of obedience into the work of evangelism is out your own first, your front door.
The hardest step of obedience is to get your feet moving. Trust me, when you go out with the gospel and you begin to share, as soon as you get in a conversation, it will flow.
The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say. God will help you in that moment. But the hardest thing to do is to obediently go.
You need beautiful feet, which means obedient feet. You are sent.
The Lord has commissioned you to go and make disciples of all nations. But the hardest thing to do is to get out of our comfort zone, to break out of the inertia of our daily routines and to actually go out and do something, to bring the gospel.
So beautiful feet refers not to the appearance of feet, but to their action.
The image is the herald leaping and running on a distant hill. And that is how we look to bring men out of captivity.
Romans 10, verse 15. Now, notice that there's a progression.
And the beautiful feet is what sets in motion the chain of events that results in somebody calling on the
Lord. Unless we are sent with the gospel, we don't go.
But if sent, we go, we preach, they hear, they believe, they call.
It is a progression. It all begins with sending. Very often we think of Christianity as being a body of people with a few superstars.
The superstars are the missionaries. They go to Papua New Guinea and they run away from cannibals and they clear an airstrip and they come with the gospel.
And true, there's a sense in which they're heroes. But for every superstar missionary going into harm's way with the gospel, there is a church that stands behind him or her.
The sender is the culmination of this line of questioning. Look at verse 15.
How are they to preach unless they are sent? Missionary senders are just as important as missionaries.
There's no way they could get to the ends of the earth without a church behind them, funding them, praying for them, encouraging them, raising them up and teaching them how to preach the gospel.
Church, every one of you is a part of that. This year we have been so blessed in our giving that we decided to give extra to missionary works in Malawi and to the handicapped.
And this year we actually gave away 25 % of all the money that came in to missions, 25 % of what we spent.
That's an incredible thing for a church to be able to do. But I have a question for you. If every
Christian, genuine believer, truly brought the full tithe each week, how much would we be able to do as ascending church?
Do you guys believe in tithing? Tithing, the first 10 % of what
God gives that you give back to God, the first part. Did you know that tithing actually comes before the law?
Some people say, well, tithing is just part of the law of Moses and therefore we ought not or need not tithe in the new covenant.
But did you know that Isaac in Genesis 28, 22 pledged to bring the full tithe?
The last book of the New Testament, Malachi chapter three says, test me in this, bring the full tithe into the storehouse and see if I don't pour out blessing on your head.
Now that is old covenant and refers to Israel being blessed by obedience, Deuteronomy 28 and cursed by disobedience, but there is a general equity to what the
Old Testament says to the new covenant believer. What did Jesus say about tithing?
Only one thing, in Matthew 23, verse 23, he says, you tithe the mint, dill and cumin, but you've forgotten the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy.
He says, you should have done the first without neglecting the second. So does
Jesus abrogate and deny the tithe or does he affirm it? You should have done the first without neglecting the second.
He subordinates it in importance, but he does not undercut the tithe.
All that to say, tithing is not part of the new covenant way of salvation. It's only by faith in his name, but an obedient Christian should look at the general equity of the
Old Testament and say, if a Jewish person who didn't even have the understanding of the cross was willing to give 10 % of their income, the first part, how much more as a born -again, spirit -filled,
Bible -having Christian ought we give the first 10 % of what God gives to us?
That's how we should think. It's a principle that guides us. It's not a law, we're not under the law of Moses, but it is a guiding principle.
I would say that as senders, if you commit to give the first 10 % of your income, if all of us do that through 2025,
Malachi 3, see what God does in your life and see what this church is able to do.
As we're building, we won't have to do those fundraising campaigns, begging people to give over and above.
Why? Because God's plan was for the provision of this mission as senders.
How are they to hear without someone preaching? How are they to preach unless they are sent?
The senders are those who give financially, give prayer, encouragement. On January 5th, we have another missionary couple here, the
Degenas. Did you guys see on the news that Notre Dame has been rebuilt and rededicated?
And I'm glad to see it's a Christian church. But France now has been overrun by an invasion of Muslims.
One third of the nation now is Muslim. And of those who claim
Christianity, they don't believe the Bible. The Degenas are in Lyon, France. They're preaching the gospel, planning churches, and they'll be here with us.
We are the financial engine behind that, but how much more could we do?
Not financially, but in terms of support as a sender.
On January 5th, hang around after the service to give encouragement to that missionary family.
Pray for them. Try to get their prayer letter so that you can get updates. And the same is true for the
Hobsons in the Philippines and the work of Hamilton in Malawi. We ought to be engaged as senders.
It's all connected as one body bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth.
I'll give you a couple examples from here, more close to home. Recently, Eric Meyer received a call from God to begin going to prisons with the gospel, to play softball.
Kerry, working for Saints Prison Ministry, obeying that call, being sent to the prisoners has resulted in many prisoners calling upon the name of the
Lord. It's that obedience of stepping out, of going, that gives beauty to our feet.
Remember Ben Honeyford, when he was here, he had a burning desire to be a lead pastor and to plan a church.
And so this church financially supported him, sent him, prayed for him, and now as we're meeting here over in Rancocos Woods, another church is meeting, and the light of the gospel is going there.
Sending for the sake of the gospel. I got an email a couple of days ago that fits so perfectly with last week's challenge.
We're talking about evangelism recently, and I've encouraged each of you to get some
Bibles, Gospels of John, we have some in the back, and give them to your neighbors.
But this email was about somebody who's been doing that. It's Nakesha. She said, in October, my girls came up with a plan with an amazing idea to start a book club.
They handmade flyers with the help of some neighborhood friends and went door to door, passing them out to each of our neighbors.
We held the book club meeting every Wednesday from October through mid -November at 4 p .m.
in our front yard. Incidentally, I think God gave us incredible weather in October and November, partly so that you could have your book club out on the front lawn.
It was our hopes by sitting in the front yard, neighbors would see us and come over to join us, and they most certainly did.
My oldest decided that she wanted to open each club meeting with a story from the Bible.
At the very first meeting, she shared the story of Noah's Ark. As each meeting continued, more neighborhood kids joined, and even some parents.
My daughters would continue to open up with a scripture reading from the Holy Bible and share the word of God. We noticed that our meetings consisted of more
Bible readings each time, followed by a discussion amongst the children. Oh, what a joy this was to witness and be a part of.
It's safe to say our book club had officially become a Bible study. Praise God.
A family from our church brought a box of Bibles filled with brand new, beautiful kids'
Bibles. To say we were delighted is an understatement, Pastor Jeff. My girls couldn't wait to distribute them to the neighbors.
We thought the book club turned Bible study would be the perfect time to do so. We addressed the
Bibles to the children and their families with a note that read, keep God's word close to your heart.
And with so much excitement, my girls gave those Bibles to the children in our neighborhood. Could you write that in a
Bible and give it to someone in your neighborhood? It doesn't end there, Pastor Jeff. About a week or so after distributing the
Bibles, one of our neighbors, a seven -year -old little girl, was walking home from the bus stop, proceeded to walk up my driveway and give me a hug.
While hugging me, she said, my mommy says thank you for the Bible. We read it together every night.
As you can imagine, the tears filled my eyes. I began to praise God while hugging this little girl so much tighter.
Even now as I write this, the tears fill my eyes. God knew exactly what he was doing when he placed that book club idea in my children's heart and minds.
He knew the neighbors would gather. He knew the reading of his word would take place. He knew that couple would visit our home and as a result, a family draws closer to our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to God. Amen.
That is an example of Romans 10, 14 to 15. It doesn't happen unless these little girls make that effort.
It was all the work of God, all the glory to God, but those kids would not be having the word of God unless they were sent.
Verses 16 and 17. Now this will be freeing to many of you because I think many of you don't really evangelize because you haven't seen it be effective.
Most people just stiff arm you when you bring them the message of the gospel, so you kind of back off and you kind of think, well,
I'm not an evangelist. Sound familiar? Anybody here feel like that? Leave it to Philip the evangelist.
Verses 16 and 17. But they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says,
Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
From verse 16, understand that most people will reject you when you bring the gospel to them.
But from verse 17, understand that God will give faith through the preaching of his word to whom he will.
Your feet are beautiful and accomplish God's will when you obey, not when you quote unquote succeed.
Beautiful feet accomplish God's will. In 2 Corinthians chapter two, we're told we are the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing.
To one, we are the aroma of death to death. To the other, the aroma of life to life.
Who is sufficient for these things? What Paul is saying is that your job is to preach the gospel.
And when you do, those whom are perishing will consider it a foul odor.
It will stink. When you approach them, they will think that you're the problem.
They will think you're obnoxious. Who do you think you are to tell me how I should relate to the invisible
God? Another arrogant Christian trying to push his religion on me.
You will smell like death to them. Expect it. But where God is working in a heart, faith will rise through the hearing of the word.
The aroma of life to life. Some, and it's a small minority, as implied by Isaiah's quote from verse 16.
When it says, Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?
It's a lament, and the implied answer is that almost nobody's gonna believe it.
It's gonna feel like, where are the converts? In Isaiah's day, he preached the word of the
Lord and was summarily rejected and finally sawn in two. When John Hus, the
Bohemian, began to cry out against the sacrilege of the Roman Catholic Church and the so -called purgatory, they took him and they mocked him and they beat him and they put a dunce cap on his head and they painted devils on the dunce cap.
But John Hus said, my Lord wore a crown of thorns for me.
I will wear this for him. And he surrendered his life. Time and again,
Christians have been rejected for preaching the gospel. And Isaiah's expectation is, this is the way it will be.
Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? Where does that occur in Isaiah's writing?
Isaiah 53, one. The very passage, Isaiah 53, that tells about the suffering servant who, like a sheep, is led to the slaughter and does not open his mouth, who is wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
And by his stripes, we are healed. That very passage foretold that most people will not believe.
He offers his cheeks to them and they pull out his beard. He's spit upon.
In the same way that Jesus is rejected, you, the messenger, will be rejected. Par for the course, to be expected.
It's not the success of people coming to faith that makes your feet beautiful.
What is it? It's the accomplishing of God's will, whether in being an aroma of death to death or life to life.
You faithfully preach the gospel and he will call to himself whom he will.
So finally, beautiful feet take no glory. We'll see in verses 18 to 21 that these results, even the entire national rejection of Israel was prophesied by God.
And the Gentile inclusion, which would make Israel jealous, was also prophesied.
So who's in control here? It's God. And who gets the glory when people come to faith?
God. And who's responsible for hardness of heart? The sinner, the disobedient and contrary people.
So let's read. Romans 10, 18 to 21, and we'll finish. But I ask, have they not heard?
Indeed they have, for their voice has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.
But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation.
With a foolish nation, I will make you angry. Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,
I have been found by those who did not seek me. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.
But of Israel, he says, all day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.
To follow what Paul is saying, we have to go all the way back to the beginning of Romans chapter nine.
Paul explains why Israel is a chosen people and adopted, they have the covenant and the patriarchs and from Israel comes the
Christ. But the problem in chapter nine, verse six, is that it looks like the word of God has failed because most of the nation is not believing.
Now listen, when Christ was crucified, he rose from the dead. After 40 days, he ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of God.
What did the apostles do? On Pentecost, they preached the gospel.
3 ,000 people believed. And then shortly thereafter, 5 ,000.
And then day by day, the Lord was adding to their number. So did Israel accept their own
Messiah? No. They may have had tens of thousands of believers in Jerusalem, but in all of Israel, there were more than a million people.
And most of the nation rejected their own Messiah. It looked like the word had failed.
So where did it break down? Where's the breakdown? Did the apostles fall asleep after Pentecost?
Were the believers lazy? No, the exact opposite. They went to every single house in every single village telling anybody and everybody that Jesus is the
Messiah. Look at verse 18. Have they not heard? Referring to the
Israelites, that's the context. Indeed they have, for their voice has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.
There's your answer. But the answer actually introduces another problem. Because Paul is quoting from Psalm 19.
And Psalm 19 is referring not to the voice of evangelists, telling about Jesus, it's talking about the voice of nature, proclaiming the glory of the
Lord, like the sun and the moon and the stars. And everybody is accountable to God and has no excuse because they have the light of nature.
In Romans 1, 18 to 21, that's what shows people have no excuse, general revelation.
So how can Paul quote this to prove the point that Israel heard? Remember, his idea here is you have to hear.
Unless somebody's sending, then there's nobody going, preaching, hearing, believing, calling.
They need to hear about Jesus. So why is he quoting general revelation? The answer is that he's using it as a comparison.
Just like everybody here is accountable to know that there is a God, because you see the sunrise, you see nature, the presence of a creation means there's gotta be a creator.
Just like a painting means that there's gotta be a painter, a building means there's gotta be a building, nature proves there's a
God. In the same way, everybody in Israel has heard this message.
That's the idea. Just like general revelation is preaching to everybody, that's how much the
Christians were preaching for three decades, from when
Christ was crucified and rose and ascended until the writing of the book of Romans.
30 years, Israel has heard thoroughly. That's not the problem.
But I ask, verse 19, did Israel not understand? Were they innocently unable to make heads or tails of what they were hearing?
No, that's not the problem either. Because even when the nation was first formed,
Moses foretold that it would be this way. Remember the problem that Paul is addressing.
Has the word of God failed? Romans 9, 6. Israel's not believing, they're the chosen people, yet they don't accept their own
Messiah. Did the word of God fail? Quite the opposite. He says,
I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation with a foolish nation,
I will make you angry. The you here is Israel. From the very beginning,
Deuteronomy 32, God had said that Israel would be a stubborn, rejecting people.
And his plan was to bring the gospel to a nation who's not a nation.
Who's that? The Gentiles. Without God, without hope in the world, worshiping idols and not seeking
God in any way, shape, or form. God would bring the gospel to them, and lo and behold, they would believe.
In order to make Israel jealous, and at the end of time,
Israel would see the blessing of God on the Christian nations, and be jealous of that, and turn and believe.
I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation. Church, that's you. You're living in a land that has believed, many people believing in the
Messiah, Jesus. And one day, Israel will become jealous of what
God is doing amongst all of the nations as the gospel goes to the ends of the earth.
Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me.
So who found who? It's not like Israel was seeking, and it's not like the
Gentiles were seeking. When it says, I have been found, the next sentence explains, it's not that they sought and found him, but he made himself found to a people that weren't looking.
This is amazing. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. And therefore
I say, all glory in salvation belongs to God.
If you happen to come in here today and heard about Jesus Christ, it's because God brought you here.
If your heart has opened like a flower to believe in Jesus, it's because God worked in your heart.
God sent you the message, and he showed himself to you. You found him, quote unquote, but this glory goes to God.
I like how Nikesha signed off that story that she told in that email to me.
All glory be to God. And all responsibility for rejection goes to where?
To man. Unbelief is a form of sin. And God's sovereign election and his grace, mercying whom he chooses, is not opposed to the stubborn, obstinate responsibility of people.
Verse 21, but of Israel he says, all day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.
So in application, three things to remember about your own feet.
You didn't think you'd be thinking about your feet this morning, did you? What would make your feet beautiful to God?
Number one, that you go as sent. You were commissioned to bring the gospel.
Did you know that? In the back, we have gospels of John. Everybody try to take at least one.
And this week, give it to somebody. The Holy Spirit will prompt you who you're supposed to give it to.
It could be somebody pumping gas, or it could be a neighbor walking a dog, could be at the grocery store.
But if you have that in your pocket and you're ready, the Lord will lead you.
Go as sent. Number two, accomplish God's will. That could be in rejection or in acceptance, but your part is to faithfully proclaim the word.
And then finally, when people get saved over time, return all glory to God.
So make your feet beautiful by bringing the gospel to people that God put in your range.
God sovereignly chose where you live. Who does he have posted in your neighborhood that the people of your neighborhood would hear about Jesus Christ?
Did you ever consider that you are there for them? If you don't go, who will?
How will they hear unless someone preaches? This is the idea. God has sovereignly placed you where you are within range of those who need to hear.
I still encourage you to buy a box of Bibles. Maybe Gospel of John, Bibles in Bulk, is one of the websites you can go to.
Get a box of Bibles and put them on the doors of your neighborhood, the people that live near you.
Go out and represent him well and present the good news as being truly good.
Closed with Daniel chapter 12, verse three. Beautiful feet. Another image here is the shining of stars.
Daniel chapter 12, verse three. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above.
It's a picture of beauty. What God cares about, what God desires for your life.
Guys, somebody here probably feels stuck. Like your prayer life is grinding to a halt.
Reading the Bible is a chore rather than a delight. And the problem in many cases is that you're not going as sent.
You're grinding to a halt because you're stuck. You're not going. If you'll take that step of obedience and go out to evangelize, you'll begin to shine.
Your heart will come alive. Your spirit will revive. It says those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
Beautiful like a star. Beautiful feet. Zamperini had beautiful feet when he brought the gospel to Japan and to the troubled teens in California.
The Keisha and the girls, Eric and Carrie, those who buy Bibles and give them, our missionaries at the ends of the earth, and equally, all of us who send them, who support missions, who give faithfully the tithe as God has given to you.
When we put our heart and make our priorities those that God has given us, everything begins to fall in place.
Test him in that. Test him. See what happens when you go.
As many times as we've gone out, we've never ceased to be amazed that God does something that blows our minds.
Test him in it. Go out and share the gospel with someone and just see what happens.
You will be amazed by the power that goes with you. He does it again and again.
Let's pray for that. Father God, we ask that you would make us like the stars that shine in the firmament.
Lord, make us those that lead many to righteousness. We pray that you would take away the fear in our hearts, the fear of being rejected, the fear of looking foolish, the embarrassment of showing up on somebody's doorstep to give them something.
God, I pray that you would help us to think less of ourselves, to be less concerned with our own reputation.
I pray, Lord, that we would be willing to be considered the scum of the earth, to be mocked and rejected, that we would be like Christ who is treated that way.
Father, we pray that you would take away the fear of man. There is a fear of man gripping many
Christian hearts. And we pray that you would utterly break that apart right now in Jesus' name.
Take away the fear of man. Give us boldness with the gospel.
Father, we pray that you would make our feet beautiful, that you would send us out, and that we would go obediently.