Missions - The Heartbeat Of God

Today, we are going to take some time to focus on something that I believe is at the very core, or heartbeat of God, and it is Missions.

I will be sharing some scripture throughout this message which will bring out this fact, and also will be encouraging each of us to make it our prayer and intense desire to love what God loves, and hate what He hates.

But today, we are going to talk about what God loves, and without any doubt in my mind, Missions is something God loves, and His stamp of approval is all over it!

I’m not really sure if I’ve ever shared an 8 point message in one day, so today will probably be a first, because I want to take the word MISSIONS and develop it as an acrostic with a point being made about each letter in the word.

And then, at the end of the message all of us who attend this church are going to have an opportunity to share in this great ministry of Missions outreach around the world by sharing Faith Promises for the year 2010.

Well, my plan is to go through these 8 points quickly, but not haphazardly and without concern for the importance of each point – So, don’t get too nervous about the timing of everything today because we want to make sure you have plenty of time at the end to participate in the Faith Promise time.

The songleader asked the congregation to turn to page 654 in their hymnals. “We’ll sing ‘Till the Whole World Knows,’ ” he said. What he didn’t hear was our daughter whispering to her dad, “I think we’re going to be here a long time.”

—Melodie Dean, Plano, Illinois. Christian Reader, “Kids of the Kingdom.”

The first point we are looking at today in our 8 point acrostic for Missions is the letter M which I’m going to share as:

I. THE MANDATE OF MISSIONS

So often, today we hear this word associated with politics as one party seems to win a landslide of votes in an election (not usually when they just squeak by), but it is a clear message, whether it be on a state or local level, or even nationally, but it’s often seen as a mandate or high priority for that party to enact the things they pledged they would do.

The Word MANDATE means:

1. a command or authorization to act in a particular way on a public issue given by the electorate to its representative:

2. a command from a superior court or official to a lower one.

You see, I believe that before we can ever give our prayerful and financial support to something, we must first believe in it’s importance and value, and in the church, we must believe in it’s Biblical importance and value.

If we believe the Word, we believe the Mandate. If we think the commands in the Word are optional, then we will believe our responsibility is optional as well.

Yet, we see the Mandate clearly spelled out by no less than Jesus Christ Himself, just after His Resurrection, and a few days before He ascended back to Heaven in this verse of scripture:

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Jesus made the Mandate clear and without question as He said He had received all authority, and that in turn, His blessing and presence would be with both His disciples there, and now, because the words “to the very end of the age” are used!

If you find yourself complaining about Missions, then be careful, because you are complaining about the very thing God has approved and even commanded!

So, the Mandate of Missions is clear, and now we move on to the letter I, and it is:

II. THE IMMEDIACY OF MISSIONS

We live in a fast paced world, yet at times, we live in a world filled with procrastination and procrastinators. Often the fast pace has to do with the things we receive momentary fulfillment with, and the things of great lasting value often don’t receive the attention they deserve.

I will guarantee that as you are out and about during the Christmas rush, if you stop someone and ask them why they are in such a hurry, the majority of the people, or ALL the people will not answer you “I’ve just got to get to my Financial Planner to get my retirement plans settled”!