Called To Missions Series

Call to Missions

1Peter 2:4-12

Intro.:

A. One of the things that most people, if not everyone enjoys is Being CALLED:

- Being called something special by someone special.

- Getting a call with goodnews from a friend or family member.

- even in Elementary school getting called when picking sides for a game.

Well God’s Word CALLS us:

- Calls us to know God’s love for us.

- Calls us to be His Child

- Calls us to live up to our Calling as a Child of God.

- Calls us to be a royal Priesthood –a people belonging to God – to influence others for Christ –I.E. We are Called to Missions

B. There are a lot of good things to learn from this passage.

- We learn about Jesus: vs. 4; He is the Living Stone, rejected by men – taught to us in the Scriptures, (vs.5-8);

- We learn about how the Scriptures interrelate; the OT to the NT and how they reveal Jesus to us and God’s plan.

- But the main thing that I want us to learn from this passage is about our CALL to Missions;

What do we learn:

1. All those who have come to Jesus are called together to be a Chosen People, Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation; a people belonging to God.

2. WHAT is the purpose of being called a chosen people, royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God - vs. 9b? To DECLARE God to others.

Missions = seeking to influence others for the Lord.

And our passage here calls everyone who knows Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to be involved in Missions.

- It is for everyone who has come to Jesus.

- And together we are more effective.

C. So the question today as we grasp these truths of our Passage and realize that we truly are Called individually and collectively as His Church to Missions, is How can we be more Effective to live according to our Call of Missions?

Body:

A. We are to Devote ourselves to Jesus as Lord.

- That Devotion takes place in THREE ways:

1. Coming to Jesus, vs. 4 Not just once to receive Him as Savior. Proserchomai = present active verb - means to repeatedly come to Jesus.

I.E. we need to come, and come, and come to Jesus. We need to Seek Him in every aspect of our lives.

2. We need to be Devoted to the Lord by knowing who we are in Christ.

* Vs. 5 – you too, like Christ are Living Stones – You are being Built into a spiritual house

* You are a Chosen People, Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation, a People belonging to God, vs. 9

* Aliens and strangers to the world, vs. 11

3. We need to let the Holy Spirit TRANSFORM our lives,

- Vs. 5b; offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ Penny Crusade could be a Sacrifice, our Tithes, etc. sacrifices we make as God transforms us.

- Vs. 8b, live obediently to God, not disobey like those who have rejected Jesus.

- 9b-10 - live in the light, not the darkness.

- Vs. 11; live differently than those in the world.

If we are going to be effective in our Call of Missions, we need to be Devoted to the Lord:

Come to Him

Know who you are in Christ

Let the HS transform your life.

If we are not Devoted to the Lord, we will not be effective for Missions: both individually as well as collectively!

B. We DECLARE what Jesus has done in our lives to Others, vs. 9-10

Eksangello – to declare/proclaim throughout

Acts 1:8, it is being a Witness

1Peter3:15, it is giving an answer to the hope that we have in Christ.

The primary focus here to what we Declare is our Praises to Jesus for what He has done in our lives; how He has called us out of darkness into his wonderful light; how he has made us His people and how we belong to Him; How He has been merciful to us.

We will talk about this in more depth another time, but for now what has the Lord done for you that you want to Praise Him?

What is the darkness that he brought you out of and what is the Wonderful Light you are in today?

How He has shown Mercy to YOU?

Remember your Circle of Influence from last week:

Friends,

Family

Firm

Fun

Fellowship

Who is God calling you to Declare him to those on your list?

C. We need to Demonstrate our life in Christ through our DEEDS, vs. 11-12

- There is a war within us not to live out our commitment to the Lord.