Fulfilling God's Mission For Your Life

-Fulfilling God’s Mission for Your Life-

Acts 1:8 “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The story is told about God in heaven and an angel comes up and God says: “My plan is to give the Good News to My children on earth and ask them to share it.” And the angel says, “What if they don’t? What is plan B?” And God says,, “There is no plan B.”

God the Father sent His Son, Jesus on a mission to our world. Jesus called 12 men to follow Him. For three plus years Jesus poured his life into his disciples and then he was arrested, crucified, rose again and then ascended into heaven. Prior to his ascension into heaven he gave his followers a promise and a command.

Luke 24:46-49 “He told hem, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Jesus said he would send the promise of the Father, but they were to wait in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power.

Acts 1:4-5, 8 “On one occasion, while he (Jesus) was

eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not

leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit….But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus gave the disciples their life purpose. He gave them their mission. They were to carry on the work Jesus started. Jesus started with 12 disciple leaders. The 12 plus their families and other believers met in Jerusalem in the upper room. A small congregation of 120 believers. That small congregation was made up of men and women, young people. They waited in Jerusalem for the promise Jesus had given. “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…”

Jesus said wait. They waited for ten days from the ascension to the celebration of the Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22) called Pentecost by the Jews became it came on the fifth day from the feast of First Fruits (Lev. 23:16).

Jesus said wait until you are clothed or filled with the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

It means to be willed with the person and character of Jesus.

It means being delivered from fear – both the fear of living and the fear of dying safe in the arms of Jesus.

It means being emptied of self and cleansed of self seeking ambitions and felled with Godly goals and ambitions.

It means having sense of mission to carry on the work

started by Jesus with the assurance Jesus gave, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

Jesus said “Wait.” One thing we detest is waiting. Whether its waiting at the doctor’s office, waiting in line shopping, or waiting at a stop light. Waiting seems a waste of time. But it is often through waiting that we get our priorities straight. It is through waiting that we hear the voice of God.

# A story is about a young boy who was hired to do odd jobs and help with the cleanup around an ice-packing plant. As they were working one day, the plant foreman lost his watch in the piles of sawdust in which they packed the dry ice. He had his entire crew stop their work to help him find his watch. The watch was valuable and it also had sentimental attachments for the foreman. He desperately wanted to find it. Eventually the men gave up looking and went to lunch.

When the crew and their foreman returned from lunch, they encountered the boy standing in front of the plant. He had been waiting for them to return and he was holding the foreman’s watch.

"How did you find my watch?" the foreman asked excitedly. "We had a whole crew looking for it for several hours. We couldn’t find it anywhere. How could you, one young boy, possibly have found it?"

The boy simply said, "I just lay down real quietly in the sawdust and I listened for the sound of the watch ticking."

In this age, we are not very good at doing that, are we? How often do we lie still and quiet and listen for the sound of God’s voice? How consistently do we pause amidst our busyness and seek God’s message?