40 Days 6 – Made For A Mission – Evangelism Series

Based on WELCOME TO THE PLANET: WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE FOR?

Part 6: You Were Made for God’s Mission - Evangelism

By Doug Fields

Gladstone Baptist Church 21/5/04

Arrive on Stage taking off Mission Impossible’s Ethan Hunt – this is the voice over of the recorded message - Good morning Mr Elvery. Sorry to have barged in on your vacation, but there are more pressing needs to address than mere relaxation. - Your mission if you choose to accept it ... is to send a message to the world. It is imperative that this take place as soon as physically possible. To fail would mean the eternal loss of millions of people’s souls, The mission will be difficult, dangerous and daunting, but it is achievable. You have at your disposal all you need to accomplish it. Oh — you may need some help — so recruit your people quickly and inspire them to work towards this most noble cause. The contents of your message is to be found under a speaker in the Gladstone Baptist Church- Good hick Mr Elvery and God Speed. This message will self destruct in 5 seconds.

Hmm - This is not going to be an easy mission. It is going to be tough. I’m certainly not going to be able to accomplish it on my own. I’m going to need help. Good help. Reliable help. And Lots of it. Who am I going to recruit? It’s tough, isn’t it … It says here that I need to look for people who are dedicated, people who are inspired and People who are motivated. Where am I going to find those kind of people? I know - That mob over at the Church of Christ should be able to help me out. Only kidding – I think we’ve got the pick of the bunch sitting right here.

You know when ever anyone in this world says mission, they generally think of Spies. James Bond or the Sydney Bristow from Alias or Jack Bauer from 24 or the like. Their missions are always full of mystery, excitement and intrigue. But around Christian circles, it’s different - the concept of “Mission” strikes fear and dread into people’s hearts. People immediately break eye contact with you and begin to examine their shoe laces or find some food dripped on their stomach that needs cleaning off. But why is it so? A Missionary is just someone who has a mission. And a person who has a mission, is simply a person who has been set a task to do. You are all missionaries already, because you have been set a task. So get over the term “Missionary”.

Our mission is to tell people that God wants to have a RELATIONSHIP with them. That was the first purpose we learnt about. God planned us for his Pleasure. He created us to have a relationship with us. He loves us and wants us to be his friends. The Response to God’s love is what we call Worship.

Having a relationship with God is the single most important thing in our lives. The fact that we can have a relationship is great news. The bible often calls it Good News and Jesus commands us to tell everyone this good news. Mark 16:15-16 - “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. What is the good news? – it is that God wants a relationship with us and has enabled us to achieve that through what His Son Jesus has done for us. Everyone on earth deserves to hear this message. Everyone needs to hear this message. Our mission - if you choose to accept it ... is to send this message of hope to the world. It is imperative that this take place as soon as physically possible. To fail would mean the eternal loss of millions of people’s souls.

We can accomplish this mission by simply sharing our testimony (how Jesus has made a difference in your life); sharing the lessons we’ve learnt in life (our experiences); our Godly passions (why we want to live for God) and the good news (that Jesus died and rose again). It sounds easy doesn’t it, but have you stopped to think of how incredibly immense the task really is. Think about these stats …

- There are 6.25 Billion people in this world.

- Half the world has yet to hear the good news.

- And at current growth rates it will double in less than 50 years.

- Half of these people are under the age of 15 years. – We’d better learn how to relate to youth!

- There are more than 16 000 distinct ethnic groups in the world with their own culture and language.