SENT WITH AUTHORITY
Chapter One
“He called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” — Matthew 10:1
There are moments in Scripture when a single verse becomes much bigger when we understand what happened immediately before it. Matthew 10:1 is one of those verses.
Jesus calls His twelve disciples to Himself and gives them authority. But before we focus on the authority He gave them, we need to understand what Jesus had been seeing. We need to understand the people He had been watching, the condition they were in, and the compassion that moved Him to act.
Matthew 10 does not begin in isolation. To really understand it, we have to look back at the end of Matthew 9.
Jesus had been going through the towns and villages, teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom, and healing disease and sickness. Everywhere He went, He encountered people. Crowds of them.
And when Jesus looked at those crowds, He saw something others apparently did not.
He saw people who were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
That matters because the way Jesus saw those people determined the way He responded to them.
And I believe the way Jesus saw them should determine the way we see people today.
1. Harassed, Helpless & Hopeless
Matthew tells us:
“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.’”
— Matthew 9:35–38
There is something important I want us to notice in this passage.
Jesus didn’t say that the people were simply weak or that they had somehow become lost all on their own.
He expresses that something had been done to them.
Someone harassed them.
Someone left them helpless.
Jesus sees them as casualties, not failures.
That distinction changes everything.
The word translated harassed carries the idea of being flayed, skinned, or mangled. It can also describe someone who has been criticized very harshly. To flay something literally means to peel away its covering and leave it bare and unprotected.
Criticism can eventually do the same thing to a person.
Words have a way of stripping away confidence. Labels can become identities. Condemnation repeated long enough can convince someone that there is no possibility of becoming anything different from what others have declared them to be.
This was happening to the people Jesus encountered as He traveled from town to town.
They had been verbally beaten down until they were exposed and unprotected. They were worn ragged by what had been said to them and by the labels that had been placed on them.
We see examples of this throughout the Gospels.
In John 7:49, the Pharisees speak about ordinary people with contempt:
“You don’t know the law—there is a curse on you!”
This was directed toward those sometimes described as the “people of the land”—ordinary Jews who did not possess the religious knowledge or ability to keep every requirement in the way the religious leaders expected.
Imagine hearing that message over and over again.
You don't know enough.
You aren't spiritual enough.
There is something wrong with you.
Eventually, people begin believing the labels that have been placed on them.
We see the same mindset reflected in John 9. When the disciples encountered a man who had been blind from birth, they asked Jesus:
“…who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
— John 9:2
Their question revealed an assumption. They believed suffering, illness, poverty, or disability could be directly connected to some personal moral failure.
And the people who were being judged this way had heard these ideas throughout their lives.
Then in Matthew 23:4, Jesus describes the religious leaders as people who:
“tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”
The people were being given burdens without being given help.
Instead of helping people become stronger in their obedience to the Lord, the religious system could leave them convinced that they could never measure up.
That brings us to the words helpless and hopeless.
Together, these words convey the idea of being cast aside.
Shepherds have a phrase for a sheep that becomes stranded on its back and cannot right itself: a cast sheep. Left alone, that sheep is in serious danger.
That is the picture Jesus saw when He looked at these people.
They were cast sheep.
Those who should have helped lead them had instead left them vulnerable. They could not find their way. They could not protect themselves. They were trapped in patterns that seemed impossible to escape.
They had begun believing, This is simply who I am, and there is no changing it.
But Jesus looked at the situation differently.
He did not look at them and see people who deserved to be abandoned.
He saw people who had been left without a shepherd.
And He was about to change that situation.
Matthew tells us that when Jesus saw them, He had compassion on them.
Compassion does more than recognize suffering.
Compassion moves toward it.
Jesus saw the people no one else seemed willing to see. He recognized what had happened to them. He understood the wounds beneath the behavior.
Where others saw failures, Jesus saw casualties.
And that same distinction matters today.
2. Depression, Detachment & Delay
As I studied this passage and thought about it in terms of 2026, I found myself asking a question:
How have people today been harassed and left hopeless and helpless?
Our circumstances look different from the crowds standing before Jesus in Matthew 9, but people are still being worn down.
People are still becoming cast sheep.
One of the places we see it is right in the feed on our phones.
There are people who make very good money keeping us engaged on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and other platforms. The longer we stay online, the more advertisements can be sold. And one of the easiest ways to keep people engaged is to keep them outraged.
So we scroll.
A headline about someone's terrible decision.
A political battle.
A scandal.
A complaint on the neighborhood page.
Taxes.
Construction.
Growth in the community.
Someone else's opinion that we absolutely cannot allow to go unanswered.
In small doses, many of these things might be manageable. The problem is that we rarely consume them in small doses.
We spend hours online.
We respond to comments. We make sure our opinions are known. We wait for the little notification telling us someone has replied.
Then we divide ourselves into tribes.
We make sure “our people” know exactly where we stand on every issue.
And somewhere behind the screen, an algorithm is learning what gets our attention. It recognizes what we click, what we watch, what makes us angry, and what keeps us coming back.
Then it gives us more of it.
The result can become an endless feedback loop in which we are continually consuming the very things that keep us frustrated, angry, anxious, or afraid. The sermon describes this cycle as people being kept engaged by outrage and increasingly separating themselves into online tribes.
Technology itself is not necessarily the enemy. The issue is what happens when we allow technology to replace things it was never designed to replace.
Artificial intelligence has become another tool capable of drawing people further into isolation when it is used improperly. A system can respond conversationally. It can remember information and tailor responses. It can begin to feel personal.
But technology cannot replace the community God designed us to have.
It cannot replace the Church.
It cannot replace mature believers who know us personally.
It cannot replace a pastor, a friend, a spouse, a parent, or someone willing to sit beside us when life is falling apart.
And when people increasingly retreat into digital spaces rather than meaningful relationships, isolation can deepen.
Then financial pressure adds another layer.
The cost of living weighs on families. Housing can feel out of reach. Healthcare expenses and deductibles create enormous pressure. High-interest debt follows people month after month. Childcare expenses can become so great that families find themselves wondering whether working outside the home even makes financial sense.
Then there are spiritual failures.
People watch spiritual leaders make headlines for the wrong reasons, and some become disenchanted with the Church altogether.
So they stop going.
Sometimes they use the failures of people as a reason to conclude that God Himself no longer matters.
Without meaningful spiritual community, life can become an echo chamber filled with everything we already want to hear and very little that challenges us to change.
Conviction disappears.
Accountability disappears.
Community disappears.
And people begin looking for something—anything—that will make them feel better for a moment.
Another relationship.
Another purchase.
Another addiction.
Another hour online.
Another dopamine hit.
But nothing of lasting value is being placed back inside them.
Then the cycle starts again.
Eventually, the results begin appearing everywhere.
Anxiety.
Depression.
Detachment.
People detach from work.
They detach from school.
They detach from church.
They detach from friendships.
And sometimes very few people notice.
Adulthood gets delayed.
Marriage gets delayed.
Children are viewed as an entanglement rather than a blessing.
Burnout can look like laziness when someone is lying in bed at midnight scrolling endlessly because they no longer know how to shut everything off.
We can look at that person and say, “What is wrong with them?”
Jesus teaches us to ask a different question.
What happened to them?
Because the world sees failures.
Jesus sees casualties.
That does not mean choices do not matter. It does not mean sin does not matter. It does not mean responsibility disappears.
It means compassion changes how we approach people.
Jesus never confused compassion with approval. But neither did He allow someone's brokenness to become the final word over their life.
He saw sheep who needed a shepherd.
And then He turned to His disciples.
3. The harvest is plentiful & your name is being called.
This is where Matthew 9 becomes Matthew 10.
Jesus sees the crowds.
He sees the harassment.
He sees the helplessness.
He sees people without a shepherd.
He has compassion on them.
Then He tells His disciples:
“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”
Notice what Jesus does next.
He doesn't merely describe the problem.
He calls people.
Matthew 10:1 tells us:
“He called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.”
The same God who looked upon the crowds with compassion in Matthew 9 is the same God who looks upon people today.
Jesus responded to what He saw by calling His disciples and sending them with His authority.
That raises an important question for us:
What does that mean today?
Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He gave instructions that extend beyond those first twelve disciples.
In Acts 1, Jesus told His followers:
“It is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses.”
That calling begins where we are.
For us, that means Montgomery.
Montgomery County.
Texas.
And ultimately, the ends of the earth.
The mission doesn't begin somewhere else.
It begins here.
It begins with the people God has already placed around us.
The coworker who has slowly withdrawn from everyone.
The teenager who spends hours staring at a screen because online attention has become easier than real relationships.
The parent who is exhausted and convinced they are failing.
The person who stopped attending church because someone claiming to represent God wounded them.
The neighbor whose anger may be covering something much deeper.
The friend whose choices frustrate us because we don't know the pain behind them.
It is easy to stand at a distance and label people.
It is harder to have compassion.
But Jesus calls us to see people the way He sees them.
We are called to give leadership to those who are harassed, helpless, and hopeless.
We are called to give light to the depressed, detached, and delayed.
We are called—with authority—to point people out of cycles that keep them ensnared and help turn their eyes toward Jesus.
That authority does not mean we become someone's savior.
There is only one Savior.
Our authority comes from the One who sends us.
That is why our goal is not to make people dependent upon us. Our responsibility is to point them toward Him.
Psalm 68:5 reminds us that God is:
“A Father to the fatherless…”
Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepherd. His sheep know His voice. They follow Him. And He laid down His life for His sheep.
So when we encounter cast sheep, we know where to point them.
To the Shepherd.
When we encounter the fatherless, we know where to point them.
To the Father.
When we encounter the hopeless, we know where hope is found.
In Jesus.
God has not called His Church merely to identify everything wrong with the world.
He has called us into the harvest.
There are people all around us who have been beaten down by words, wounded by people, overwhelmed by circumstances, isolated by technology, burdened by finances, disappointed by spiritual leaders, or trapped in cycles they cannot seem to escape.
Some have been called failures for so long that they now believe it.
Jesus sees them differently.
He sees the casualty underneath the behavior.
He sees the sheep that has been cast down.
And He has compassion.
Then He turns toward His disciples.
That means He turns toward us.
The harvest is still plentiful.
The workers are still needed.
And your name is being called.
Chapter Two
“He called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” — Matthew 10:1
Last chapter we looked at why we are sent.
Jesus looked at the crowds and saw people who were harassed, helpless, and hopeless. We saw that the same is true in 2026. People are depressed, detached, and delayed.
And we landed here:
The world sees failures, but Jesus sees casualties.
The harvest is plentiful—and your name is being called.
But now I want us to look at how we go.
Jesus didn't call the twelve, give them authority, and then send them out without any instructions. Matthew 10:5–42 is essentially a training manual. Jesus tells them where to go, what to say, how to act when they get there, and even what to do when people say no.
Between 2015 and 2020, a Faith Communities Today study found a seven percent decline in median church attendance across religions in the United States. When they dug deeper, they found that they couldn't simply blame a changing culture. The main issue was with the priorities of the church.
We can't keep saying, “The culture is the problem,” when Jesus has already told us the problem:
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
So I want to give you four things from Matthew 10 that will help you share your faith with the people God has placed in your life.
1. Stay and Listen – Understand Their BACKGROUND
“Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave.”
— Matthew 10:11
Notice what Jesus did not tell the disciples to do.
He didn't tell them to stand on a corner, preach at the crowd, and then move on to the next town. He told them to find someone, go into their home, and stay.
The Kingdom was going to be shared around a table—not from a soapbox.
Remember Matthew 9:36 from last week?
“When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them.”
Jesus saw them before He sent anyone to them.
You can't have compassion for someone you haven't taken the time to see.
Think about who these people were. The “people of the land” had been verbally flayed by the religious leaders.
Criticized.
Labeled.
Cursed.
The last thing a harassed person needs is one more person talking at them.
Anytime you want to have a meaningful conversation with someone, one of the most important things you can do is listen.
We want to know who we're talking to.
What is their family background? Did they grow up in a two-parent home or a divorced family? Was it a loving home—or something else?
Did they grow up with a religious or church background? What denomination? How frequently did they attend? How involved were they? Do they still attend church? If not, why?
Remember what we talked about last week. Many people have walked away because spiritual leaders made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
What does this person believe about God?
Do they believe He is real?
Do they believe He is personal?
Do they believe He is relevant to their daily lives?
And what are they searching for right now?
Maybe they're lonely, frustrated, or emotionally empty. Maybe they're searching for community. This is the detached person we talked about last week—the person very few people notice.
Maybe they're searching for answers to spiritual questions.
What happens when I die?
Am I a bad person?
Why can't I seem to get my life together?
Is there something I'm missing?
Listen carefully for the language of a cast sheep:
“That's just who I am.”
“I'll never change.”
“God doesn't want anything to do with me.”
This first part may not happen during a twenty-minute conversation.
Jesus said, “Stay at their house until you leave.”
That takes time.
You're building a relationship. You're not closing a business deal.
Take your time. Be genuine. Get to know the people God has placed in your life.
And notice where Jesus sent His disciples first:
“Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.”
— Matthew 10:6
Their first assignment was close to home.
Your first assignment probably isn't overseas either.
It may be your neighbor.
Your coworker.
The family sitting beside you at your kid's ball game.
Chances are good that someone has already asked you what you believe. But if they haven't, ask them if it would be okay for you to share what you believe.
Then tell them what God has done.
2. Tell What He’s Done – Speak from PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
“Freely you have received; freely give.” — Matthew 10:8
You can't give away something you've never received.
The disciples weren't sent out to talk about a Jesus they had merely read about. They were sent to share what they had seen, heard, and experienced with Him.
Last week we read John 9:2, where the disciples encountered a man who had been blind from birth and asked:
“Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
That blind man was one of the “people of the land.”
A casualty.
But keep reading.
Jesus heals him, and then the Pharisees drag the man in and begin trying to pick apart his story.
This man didn't have a seminary degree. He couldn't out-argue the Pharisees on the law.
But there was one thing he knew:
“One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
— John 9:25
The man they had labeled as a sinner became the witness.
They could argue about who Jesus was.
They couldn't argue with what Jesus had done for him.
That's the power of your story.
So how do you tell it?
Start with your background.
Give people insight into who you are and why you believe and think the way you do. Make connections between your life and theirs so they feel at ease and recognize that you have things in common.
Then talk about your life before Christ.
What struggles did you have?
Were you lost and searching for answers to spiritual matters?
Were you searching for acceptance through relationships? Addictions? Money? Status?
Were you caught in the cycle we talked about last week—the next dopamine hit, the echo chamber, the doom scroll?
What caused you to seek something else?
Was it rock bottom?
Depression?
Loneliness?
Consequences from poor decisions?
Then explain how you were introduced to Jesus.
Was it through church?
A friend?
A family member?
Did you simply go searching?
Somebody stayed at your house.
Somebody listened to you.
Somebody told you their story.
Then tell them about your life since coming to know Christ.
Tell them about the answers you found to those spiritual questions. Explain how Christ finished the search for acceptance you had been on. Describe the peace you have experienced and the assurance you have in salvation.
Tell them about the encouragement and community you have found among other believers—in your church and in your small group.
And don't worry about saying it perfectly.
Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 10:19–20 that when they were arrested and brought before authorities, they didn't need to worry about what to say because the Spirit of their Father would speak through them.
Most of us will never stand before a governor.
But the principle holds:
You are not doing this alone.
The same Holy Spirit from Acts 1:8 that we read about last week goes with you.
You should be able to complete all of this without ever having to use a single piece of Scripture from the Bible.
Why is that important?
Because based on someone's background, they may or may not even believe the Bible is true. Leading with it may shut the conversation down before it ever gets started.
They can debate the Bible.
They cannot debate your personal experience.
The purpose of sharing our personal experience with Christ is to help someone understand that they, too, can have a personal experience with Christ.
We want them to reach the point where they begin asking us to explain how we came to the decision and experience we did.
And when that happens, we get to introduce the Gospel.
3. Keep the Message Clear – Be SIMPLE with the Gospel
“As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”
— Matthew 10:7
Look at how short the message was that Jesus gave the twelve.
He didn't hand them a forty-page theology textbook.
He gave them one sentence:
The Kingdom has come near.
Jesus is here.
God has come close to you.
For people who had been buried beneath heavy loads by religious leaders, as Matthew 23:4 describes, a simple message was good news.
Jesus also told His disciples to be:
“as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
— Matthew 10:16
Be wise in how you say it and pure in why you say it.
Here is the Gospel, simply.
God is holy.
Perfect.
God created everything, including us. He wanted a personal relationship with us, and He had it.
Then man made a decision that broke that relationship with Him through sin. We were no longer able to be in His presence because a holy God cannot be associated with sin.
But God still desired that relationship with us, so He put His plan into action.
He sent His Son, Jesus, to live on this earth.
Jesus lived a perfect life and was ultimately killed because of it. Religious leaders of the day hung Him on a cross, killed Him, and placed Him in a tomb.
Three days later, Jesus came out of that tomb alive.
He revealed Himself to His followers and hundreds of others before He went to Heaven.
Jesus paid a price that wasn't His to pay so that we wouldn't have to pay it ourselves.
That's the grace we have through Jesus.
And because of that grace, we have the opportunity to receive the gift of spending eternity in relationship with God.
Remember the cast sheep from last week?
It was lying on its back, unable to get up, and without help it would die within hours.
The Gospel is the Good Shepherd reaching down, turning that sheep over, and setting it back on its feet.
The people you talk to don't need to be told they're on their back.
They already know.
They need to know Someone came to lift them up.
No churchy words.
No chapter and verse.
No damnation and judgment.
Just a clear, simple Gospel.
They may respond:
“Well, how do you know that?”
And here is where I introduce them to what the Bible teaches.
John 3:16 says:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Romans 3:23 tells us:
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:23 says:
“for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And Romans 10:9–10 tells us:
“…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes—resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses—resulting in salvation.”
The message doesn't need to be complicated.
Keep it clear.
Keep it simple.
And then open the door.
4. Open the Door – Give an INVITATION
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”
— Matthew 10:32
The disciples didn't just announce the Kingdom.
They invited people into it.
You have been sent with authority.
Matthew 10:1 tells us that.
You don't need anyone's permission to ask the question.
An invitation can be as simple as:
“Is there anything keeping you from wanting that kind of relationship with God?”
Or:
“Would you like to pray with me right now?”
Maybe it's:
“Would you come to church with me Sunday? I'll save you a seat.”
Or:
“We have a small group that meets on ___. I'd love for you to come with me.”
Don't underestimate the small invitations.
Jesus said that even a cup of cold water given in His name will not lose its reward.
A text.
A meal.
A ride to church.
None of it is wasted.
But what happens if they say no?
Jesus prepared His disciples for that, too.
If they weren't welcomed, He told them to shake the dust from their feet and move on.
That doesn't mean you write people off.
It means you are responsible for the invitation, not the outcome.
Keep loving them.
Keep praying for them.
The results belong to God.
Here’s your Invitation…
Acts 8:4 says:
“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”
When persecution broke out in Jerusalem, Acts 8:1 tells us that everyone was scattered except the apostles.
Think about that.
The people who carried the Gospel into Judea and Samaria weren't the professionals.
They were ordinary believers.
People just like you.
Everywhere they landed, they talked about Jesus.
That's the same pattern Jesus gave in Acts 1:8:
Jerusalem.
Judea.
Samaria.
The ends of the earth.
Or for us:
Montgomery.
All of Montgomery County.
Texas.
And the ends of the earth.
So here is my challenge for you this week.
Write your story.
Before Christ, how you met Him, and your life since. Keep it short enough that you could share it over a cup of coffee.
Then write down one name.
One person God has already placed in your life who is harassed, helpless, or hopeless.
Stay and listen.
Take them to lunch.
Have them over.
Ask questions and really hear them.
Pray for an open door.
And when it opens, walk through it.
Freely you have received…now freely give.
Chapter One
“He called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” — Matthew 10:1
There are moments in Scripture when a single verse becomes much bigger when we understand what happened immediately before it. Matthew 10:1 is one of those verses.
Jesus calls His twelve disciples to Himself and gives them authority. But before we focus on the authority He gave them, we need to understand what Jesus had been seeing. We need to understand the people He had been watching, the condition they were in, and the compassion that moved Him to act.
Matthew 10 does not begin in isolation. To really understand it, we have to look back at the end of Matthew 9.
Jesus had been going through the towns and villages, teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom, and healing disease and sickness. Everywhere He went, He encountered people. Crowds of them.
And when Jesus looked at those crowds, He saw something others apparently did not.
He saw people who were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
That matters because the way Jesus saw those people determined the way He responded to them.
And I believe the way Jesus saw them should determine the way we see people today.
1. Harassed, Helpless & Hopeless
Matthew tells us:
“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.’”
— Matthew 9:35–38
There is something important I want us to notice in this passage.
Jesus didn’t say that the people were simply weak or that they had somehow become lost all on their own.
He expresses that something had been done to them.
Someone harassed them.
Someone left them helpless.
Jesus sees them as casualties, not failures.
That distinction changes everything.
The word translated harassed carries the idea of being flayed, skinned, or mangled. It can also describe someone who has been criticized very harshly. To flay something literally means to peel away its covering and leave it bare and unprotected.
Criticism can eventually do the same thing to a person.
Words have a way of stripping away confidence. Labels can become identities. Condemnation repeated long enough can convince someone that there is no possibility of becoming anything different from what others have declared them to be.
This was happening to the people Jesus encountered as He traveled from town to town.
They had been verbally beaten down until they were exposed and unprotected. They were worn ragged by what had been said to them and by the labels that had been placed on them.
We see examples of this throughout the Gospels.
In John 7:49, the Pharisees speak about ordinary people with contempt:
“You don’t know the law—there is a curse on you!”
This was directed toward those sometimes described as the “people of the land”—ordinary Jews who did not possess the religious knowledge or ability to keep every requirement in the way the religious leaders expected.
Imagine hearing that message over and over again.
You don't know enough.
You aren't spiritual enough.
There is something wrong with you.
Eventually, people begin believing the labels that have been placed on them.
We see the same mindset reflected in John 9. When the disciples encountered a man who had been blind from birth, they asked Jesus:
“…who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
— John 9:2
Their question revealed an assumption. They believed suffering, illness, poverty, or disability could be directly connected to some personal moral failure.
And the people who were being judged this way had heard these ideas throughout their lives.
Then in Matthew 23:4, Jesus describes the religious leaders as people who:
“tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”
The people were being given burdens without being given help.
Instead of helping people become stronger in their obedience to the Lord, the religious system could leave them convinced that they could never measure up.
That brings us to the words helpless and hopeless.
Together, these words convey the idea of being cast aside.
Shepherds have a phrase for a sheep that becomes stranded on its back and cannot right itself: a cast sheep. Left alone, that sheep is in serious danger.
That is the picture Jesus saw when He looked at these people.
They were cast sheep.
Those who should have helped lead them had instead left them vulnerable. They could not find their way. They could not protect themselves. They were trapped in patterns that seemed impossible to escape.
They had begun believing, This is simply who I am, and there is no changing it.
But Jesus looked at the situation differently.
He did not look at them and see people who deserved to be abandoned.
He saw people who had been left without a shepherd.
And He was about to change that situation.
Matthew tells us that when Jesus saw them, He had compassion on them.
Compassion does more than recognize suffering.
Compassion moves toward it.
Jesus saw the people no one else seemed willing to see. He recognized what had happened to them. He understood the wounds beneath the behavior.
Where others saw failures, Jesus saw casualties.
And that same distinction matters today.
2. Depression, Detachment & Delay
As I studied this passage and thought about it in terms of 2026, I found myself asking a question:
How have people today been harassed and left hopeless and helpless?
Our circumstances look different from the crowds standing before Jesus in Matthew 9, but people are still being worn down.
People are still becoming cast sheep.
One of the places we see it is right in the feed on our phones.
There are people who make very good money keeping us engaged on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and other platforms. The longer we stay online, the more advertisements can be sold. And one of the easiest ways to keep people engaged is to keep them outraged.
So we scroll.
A headline about someone's terrible decision.
A political battle.
A scandal.
A complaint on the neighborhood page.
Taxes.
Construction.
Growth in the community.
Someone else's opinion that we absolutely cannot allow to go unanswered.
In small doses, many of these things might be manageable. The problem is that we rarely consume them in small doses.
We spend hours online.
We respond to comments. We make sure our opinions are known. We wait for the little notification telling us someone has replied.
Then we divide ourselves into tribes.
We make sure “our people” know exactly where we stand on every issue.
And somewhere behind the screen, an algorithm is learning what gets our attention. It recognizes what we click, what we watch, what makes us angry, and what keeps us coming back.
Then it gives us more of it.
The result can become an endless feedback loop in which we are continually consuming the very things that keep us frustrated, angry, anxious, or afraid. The sermon describes this cycle as people being kept engaged by outrage and increasingly separating themselves into online tribes.
Technology itself is not necessarily the enemy. The issue is what happens when we allow technology to replace things it was never designed to replace.
Artificial intelligence has become another tool capable of drawing people further into isolation when it is used improperly. A system can respond conversationally. It can remember information and tailor responses. It can begin to feel personal.
But technology cannot replace the community God designed us to have.
It cannot replace the Church.
It cannot replace mature believers who know us personally.
It cannot replace a pastor, a friend, a spouse, a parent, or someone willing to sit beside us when life is falling apart.
And when people increasingly retreat into digital spaces rather than meaningful relationships, isolation can deepen.
Then financial pressure adds another layer.
The cost of living weighs on families. Housing can feel out of reach. Healthcare expenses and deductibles create enormous pressure. High-interest debt follows people month after month. Childcare expenses can become so great that families find themselves wondering whether working outside the home even makes financial sense.
Then there are spiritual failures.
People watch spiritual leaders make headlines for the wrong reasons, and some become disenchanted with the Church altogether.
So they stop going.
Sometimes they use the failures of people as a reason to conclude that God Himself no longer matters.
Without meaningful spiritual community, life can become an echo chamber filled with everything we already want to hear and very little that challenges us to change.
Conviction disappears.
Accountability disappears.
Community disappears.
And people begin looking for something—anything—that will make them feel better for a moment.
Another relationship.
Another purchase.
Another addiction.
Another hour online.
Another dopamine hit.
But nothing of lasting value is being placed back inside them.
Then the cycle starts again.
Eventually, the results begin appearing everywhere.
Anxiety.
Depression.
Detachment.
People detach from work.
They detach from school.
They detach from church.
They detach from friendships.
And sometimes very few people notice.
Adulthood gets delayed.
Marriage gets delayed.
Children are viewed as an entanglement rather than a blessing.
Burnout can look like laziness when someone is lying in bed at midnight scrolling endlessly because they no longer know how to shut everything off.
We can look at that person and say, “What is wrong with them?”
Jesus teaches us to ask a different question.
What happened to them?
Because the world sees failures.
Jesus sees casualties.
That does not mean choices do not matter. It does not mean sin does not matter. It does not mean responsibility disappears.
It means compassion changes how we approach people.
Jesus never confused compassion with approval. But neither did He allow someone's brokenness to become the final word over their life.
He saw sheep who needed a shepherd.
And then He turned to His disciples.
3. The harvest is plentiful & your name is being called.
This is where Matthew 9 becomes Matthew 10.
Jesus sees the crowds.
He sees the harassment.
He sees the helplessness.
He sees people without a shepherd.
He has compassion on them.
Then He tells His disciples:
“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”
Notice what Jesus does next.
He doesn't merely describe the problem.
He calls people.
Matthew 10:1 tells us:
“He called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.”
The same God who looked upon the crowds with compassion in Matthew 9 is the same God who looks upon people today.
Jesus responded to what He saw by calling His disciples and sending them with His authority.
That raises an important question for us:
What does that mean today?
Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He gave instructions that extend beyond those first twelve disciples.
In Acts 1, Jesus told His followers:
“It is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses.”
That calling begins where we are.
For us, that means Montgomery.
Montgomery County.
Texas.
And ultimately, the ends of the earth.
The mission doesn't begin somewhere else.
It begins here.
It begins with the people God has already placed around us.
The coworker who has slowly withdrawn from everyone.
The teenager who spends hours staring at a screen because online attention has become easier than real relationships.
The parent who is exhausted and convinced they are failing.
The person who stopped attending church because someone claiming to represent God wounded them.
The neighbor whose anger may be covering something much deeper.
The friend whose choices frustrate us because we don't know the pain behind them.
It is easy to stand at a distance and label people.
It is harder to have compassion.
But Jesus calls us to see people the way He sees them.
We are called to give leadership to those who are harassed, helpless, and hopeless.
We are called to give light to the depressed, detached, and delayed.
We are called—with authority—to point people out of cycles that keep them ensnared and help turn their eyes toward Jesus.
That authority does not mean we become someone's savior.
There is only one Savior.
Our authority comes from the One who sends us.
That is why our goal is not to make people dependent upon us. Our responsibility is to point them toward Him.
Psalm 68:5 reminds us that God is:
“A Father to the fatherless…”
Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepherd. His sheep know His voice. They follow Him. And He laid down His life for His sheep.
So when we encounter cast sheep, we know where to point them.
To the Shepherd.
When we encounter the fatherless, we know where to point them.
To the Father.
When we encounter the hopeless, we know where hope is found.
In Jesus.
God has not called His Church merely to identify everything wrong with the world.
He has called us into the harvest.
There are people all around us who have been beaten down by words, wounded by people, overwhelmed by circumstances, isolated by technology, burdened by finances, disappointed by spiritual leaders, or trapped in cycles they cannot seem to escape.
Some have been called failures for so long that they now believe it.
Jesus sees them differently.
He sees the casualty underneath the behavior.
He sees the sheep that has been cast down.
And He has compassion.
Then He turns toward His disciples.
That means He turns toward us.
The harvest is still plentiful.
The workers are still needed.
And your name is being called.
Chapter Two
“He called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” — Matthew 10:1
Last chapter we looked at why we are sent.
Jesus looked at the crowds and saw people who were harassed, helpless, and hopeless. We saw that the same is true in 2026. People are depressed, detached, and delayed.
And we landed here:
The world sees failures, but Jesus sees casualties.
The harvest is plentiful—and your name is being called.
But now I want us to look at how we go.
Jesus didn't call the twelve, give them authority, and then send them out without any instructions. Matthew 10:5–42 is essentially a training manual. Jesus tells them where to go, what to say, how to act when they get there, and even what to do when people say no.
Between 2015 and 2020, a Faith Communities Today study found a seven percent decline in median church attendance across religions in the United States. When they dug deeper, they found that they couldn't simply blame a changing culture. The main issue was with the priorities of the church.
We can't keep saying, “The culture is the problem,” when Jesus has already told us the problem:
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
So I want to give you four things from Matthew 10 that will help you share your faith with the people God has placed in your life.
1. Stay and Listen – Understand Their BACKGROUND
“Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave.”
— Matthew 10:11
Notice what Jesus did not tell the disciples to do.
He didn't tell them to stand on a corner, preach at the crowd, and then move on to the next town. He told them to find someone, go into their home, and stay.
The Kingdom was going to be shared around a table—not from a soapbox.
Remember Matthew 9:36 from last week?
“When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them.”
Jesus saw them before He sent anyone to them.
You can't have compassion for someone you haven't taken the time to see.
Think about who these people were. The “people of the land” had been verbally flayed by the religious leaders.
Criticized.
Labeled.
Cursed.
The last thing a harassed person needs is one more person talking at them.
Anytime you want to have a meaningful conversation with someone, one of the most important things you can do is listen.
We want to know who we're talking to.
What is their family background? Did they grow up in a two-parent home or a divorced family? Was it a loving home—or something else?
Did they grow up with a religious or church background? What denomination? How frequently did they attend? How involved were they? Do they still attend church? If not, why?
Remember what we talked about last week. Many people have walked away because spiritual leaders made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
What does this person believe about God?
Do they believe He is real?
Do they believe He is personal?
Do they believe He is relevant to their daily lives?
And what are they searching for right now?
Maybe they're lonely, frustrated, or emotionally empty. Maybe they're searching for community. This is the detached person we talked about last week—the person very few people notice.
Maybe they're searching for answers to spiritual questions.
What happens when I die?
Am I a bad person?
Why can't I seem to get my life together?
Is there something I'm missing?
Listen carefully for the language of a cast sheep:
“That's just who I am.”
“I'll never change.”
“God doesn't want anything to do with me.”
This first part may not happen during a twenty-minute conversation.
Jesus said, “Stay at their house until you leave.”
That takes time.
You're building a relationship. You're not closing a business deal.
Take your time. Be genuine. Get to know the people God has placed in your life.
And notice where Jesus sent His disciples first:
“Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.”
— Matthew 10:6
Their first assignment was close to home.
Your first assignment probably isn't overseas either.
It may be your neighbor.
Your coworker.
The family sitting beside you at your kid's ball game.
Chances are good that someone has already asked you what you believe. But if they haven't, ask them if it would be okay for you to share what you believe.
Then tell them what God has done.
2. Tell What He’s Done – Speak from PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
“Freely you have received; freely give.” — Matthew 10:8
You can't give away something you've never received.
The disciples weren't sent out to talk about a Jesus they had merely read about. They were sent to share what they had seen, heard, and experienced with Him.
Last week we read John 9:2, where the disciples encountered a man who had been blind from birth and asked:
“Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
That blind man was one of the “people of the land.”
A casualty.
But keep reading.
Jesus heals him, and then the Pharisees drag the man in and begin trying to pick apart his story.
This man didn't have a seminary degree. He couldn't out-argue the Pharisees on the law.
But there was one thing he knew:
“One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
— John 9:25
The man they had labeled as a sinner became the witness.
They could argue about who Jesus was.
They couldn't argue with what Jesus had done for him.
That's the power of your story.
So how do you tell it?
Start with your background.
Give people insight into who you are and why you believe and think the way you do. Make connections between your life and theirs so they feel at ease and recognize that you have things in common.
Then talk about your life before Christ.
What struggles did you have?
Were you lost and searching for answers to spiritual matters?
Were you searching for acceptance through relationships? Addictions? Money? Status?
Were you caught in the cycle we talked about last week—the next dopamine hit, the echo chamber, the doom scroll?
What caused you to seek something else?
Was it rock bottom?
Depression?
Loneliness?
Consequences from poor decisions?
Then explain how you were introduced to Jesus.
Was it through church?
A friend?
A family member?
Did you simply go searching?
Somebody stayed at your house.
Somebody listened to you.
Somebody told you their story.
Then tell them about your life since coming to know Christ.
Tell them about the answers you found to those spiritual questions. Explain how Christ finished the search for acceptance you had been on. Describe the peace you have experienced and the assurance you have in salvation.
Tell them about the encouragement and community you have found among other believers—in your church and in your small group.
And don't worry about saying it perfectly.
Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 10:19–20 that when they were arrested and brought before authorities, they didn't need to worry about what to say because the Spirit of their Father would speak through them.
Most of us will never stand before a governor.
But the principle holds:
You are not doing this alone.
The same Holy Spirit from Acts 1:8 that we read about last week goes with you.
You should be able to complete all of this without ever having to use a single piece of Scripture from the Bible.
Why is that important?
Because based on someone's background, they may or may not even believe the Bible is true. Leading with it may shut the conversation down before it ever gets started.
They can debate the Bible.
They cannot debate your personal experience.
The purpose of sharing our personal experience with Christ is to help someone understand that they, too, can have a personal experience with Christ.
We want them to reach the point where they begin asking us to explain how we came to the decision and experience we did.
And when that happens, we get to introduce the Gospel.
3. Keep the Message Clear – Be SIMPLE with the Gospel
“As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”
— Matthew 10:7
Look at how short the message was that Jesus gave the twelve.
He didn't hand them a forty-page theology textbook.
He gave them one sentence:
The Kingdom has come near.
Jesus is here.
God has come close to you.
For people who had been buried beneath heavy loads by religious leaders, as Matthew 23:4 describes, a simple message was good news.
Jesus also told His disciples to be:
“as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
— Matthew 10:16
Be wise in how you say it and pure in why you say it.
Here is the Gospel, simply.
God is holy.
Perfect.
God created everything, including us. He wanted a personal relationship with us, and He had it.
Then man made a decision that broke that relationship with Him through sin. We were no longer able to be in His presence because a holy God cannot be associated with sin.
But God still desired that relationship with us, so He put His plan into action.
He sent His Son, Jesus, to live on this earth.
Jesus lived a perfect life and was ultimately killed because of it. Religious leaders of the day hung Him on a cross, killed Him, and placed Him in a tomb.
Three days later, Jesus came out of that tomb alive.
He revealed Himself to His followers and hundreds of others before He went to Heaven.
Jesus paid a price that wasn't His to pay so that we wouldn't have to pay it ourselves.
That's the grace we have through Jesus.
And because of that grace, we have the opportunity to receive the gift of spending eternity in relationship with God.
Remember the cast sheep from last week?
It was lying on its back, unable to get up, and without help it would die within hours.
The Gospel is the Good Shepherd reaching down, turning that sheep over, and setting it back on its feet.
The people you talk to don't need to be told they're on their back.
They already know.
They need to know Someone came to lift them up.
No churchy words.
No chapter and verse.
No damnation and judgment.
Just a clear, simple Gospel.
They may respond:
“Well, how do you know that?”
And here is where I introduce them to what the Bible teaches.
John 3:16 says:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Romans 3:23 tells us:
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:23 says:
“for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And Romans 10:9–10 tells us:
“…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes—resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses—resulting in salvation.”
The message doesn't need to be complicated.
Keep it clear.
Keep it simple.
And then open the door.
4. Open the Door – Give an INVITATION
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”
— Matthew 10:32
The disciples didn't just announce the Kingdom.
They invited people into it.
You have been sent with authority.
Matthew 10:1 tells us that.
You don't need anyone's permission to ask the question.
An invitation can be as simple as:
“Is there anything keeping you from wanting that kind of relationship with God?”
Or:
“Would you like to pray with me right now?”
Maybe it's:
“Would you come to church with me Sunday? I'll save you a seat.”
Or:
“We have a small group that meets on ___. I'd love for you to come with me.”
Don't underestimate the small invitations.
Jesus said that even a cup of cold water given in His name will not lose its reward.
A text.
A meal.
A ride to church.
None of it is wasted.
But what happens if they say no?
Jesus prepared His disciples for that, too.
If they weren't welcomed, He told them to shake the dust from their feet and move on.
That doesn't mean you write people off.
It means you are responsible for the invitation, not the outcome.
Keep loving them.
Keep praying for them.
The results belong to God.
Here’s your Invitation…
Acts 8:4 says:
“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”
When persecution broke out in Jerusalem, Acts 8:1 tells us that everyone was scattered except the apostles.
Think about that.
The people who carried the Gospel into Judea and Samaria weren't the professionals.
They were ordinary believers.
People just like you.
Everywhere they landed, they talked about Jesus.
That's the same pattern Jesus gave in Acts 1:8:
Jerusalem.
Judea.
Samaria.
The ends of the earth.
Or for us:
Montgomery.
All of Montgomery County.
Texas.
And the ends of the earth.
So here is my challenge for you this week.
Write your story.
Before Christ, how you met Him, and your life since. Keep it short enough that you could share it over a cup of coffee.
Then write down one name.
One person God has already placed in your life who is harassed, helpless, or hopeless.
Stay and listen.
Take them to lunch.
Have them over.
Ask questions and really hear them.
Pray for an open door.
And when it opens, walk through it.
Freely you have received…now freely give.