Intro: What is the one thing missing in most churches today? Is it lively soul moving worship music? Is it powerful spirit filled and led preaching? Is it wise council and wonderful leadership? Is it conferences and confession?
Can I make a suggestion to you today? It is the Missionary heart of God that is missing. It is the wild abandonment to the kingdom rule of Christ that is missing. The first sermon I ever preached in this building was hearing the heartbeat of God.
A wise missionary once said, your ability to hear the missionary call of God depends on what your listening for.
Have you ever heard it? It resounds with power and authority and shakes your to your core but at the same time it reverberates with comfort and grace and causes you to want to hear more. It is the voice of God. Man lost, unregenerate man not only cannot hear the missionary call of God but will not. The most important thing we are missing in churches all across America and all across the globe is people willing to listen to the strong, soft, sweet voice of God.
The success of a church is not measured by its seating capacity but instead by its sending capacity!!
(Mike Stachura)
Jerry Rankin and Eric Bridges wrote Lives given not taken in the 21st Century
Karen Watson was a missionary to Iraq and was killed by unknown assailants march 15, 2004.
Dear Pastor Phil and Pastor Roger,
You should only be opening this in the event of death.
When God calls there are no regrets. I tried to share my heart with you as much as possible, my heart for the nations. I wasn't called to a place; I was called to Him. To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory my reward, His glory my reward . . .
The missionary heart:
• Cares more than some think is wise
• Risks more that some think is safe
• Dreams more than some think is practical
• Expects more than some think is possible.
I was called not to comfort or to success but to obedience. . . .
There is no Joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving Him. I love you two and my church family.
In His care,
Salaam, Karen
I. God’s initiative in mission activity
God the living God of creation has always been the one to take the initiative. In the garden Adam and Eve hid from God as he walked in the Garden. He took the initiative to call out to them. Yahweh said, “Where are you.” Satan’s plan was to destroy God’s image in us at the fall. However Satan’s ignorance played into God’s initiative. What Satan meant to show God as jealous, angry, and vengeful did just the opposite.
It served to reveal His saving nature and compassionate grace to all who would respond to His call. It also served to reveal His all consuming wrath against sin. This should dispel any notion you have that you work to God. There is nothing you can do that to make you righteous or acceptable to God. God takes the initiative to call and draw you to the place of recognition of your need of salvation.
If you study through the Bible you find that this initiative is two-fold. First there is mission. This is God’s ongoing activity to call people back into relationship with Him. It is not something that was dreamed up by modern man. The passion for missions is rooted in God’s very character.
Genesis 12.1-3 reveals this character of God. (Read Genesis 12) All peoples will be blessed through you. What God has done is made a promise. Why is this important? If he commanded us then it will be based on our obedience. He promised Abraham so it is based on God’s character of faithfulness. Mission happens because it is part of God’s character to seek and save that which was lost.
Second there is ministry. Ministry which can be translated service is for the body of Christ. 11 He also gave apostles, prophets, missionaries, as well as pastors and teachers as gifts [to his church]. 12Their purpose is to prepare God's people to serve and to build up the body of Christ.
Ministry or service of the leaders of the church is to prepare you for a missionary lifestyle. Why because someone thought it would be cool to go to Uruguay, Surianme, Africa, etc.. No because if we are a Holy Spirit filled, led, and empowered church the character of God will come out in His body the Church.
James S Stewart, “The concern for world evangelization is not something tacked on to a man's personal Christianity, which he may take or leave as he chooses. It is rooted in the character of the God who has come to us in Christ Jesus. Thus, it can never be the province of a few enthusiasts, a sideline or a specialty of those who happen to have a bent that way. It is the distinctive mark of being a Christian.”
II. God’s invitation in mission activity
Our relationship with God is far different. We cannot approach Him on a simple "live-and-let-live" basis like we can with human friends. Rather, we must be so absorbed with Him that we say with Paul, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). Thus, if God is the missionary God that the Bible reveals, then no one should claim a close relationship with Him if he or she is not also intensely missionary. Missions is not simply one of God's many concerns. It is His main concern.
God’s mission is inviting people from every “tribe, tongue and nation to repentance based on the finished work of Jesus Christ.”
At the creation of man there was an invitation to walk with God. If you read the first chapters of Genesis you find that it was mans design and God’s desire for Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply worshippers to glorify Him. John Piper said in Let the Nations be Glad “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't . . . Missions begins and ends in worship.”
Micah 6.8 “He has told you men what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you:
Only to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Here again you can see the idea of walking with God. Paul calls us several times in His letters to walk worthy of our calling.
Ephesians 4.1 "Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called."
Philippians 1.27 “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ”
Colossians 1.10 “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God”
1 Thessalonians 2.12 “Walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory”
3 John 1.6 “You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God”
What is the calling? It is an invitation to walk or live in God’s presence. It is an invitation to trust in the person and promises of God.
Who is God inviting into this relationship?
In the old Testament primary word for nation is the Hebrew word mishpachah which means family, group tribe or clan. The new testament uses the word ethnos indicating a race, people, or ethnic group. As you read your Bible don’t confuse a nation state like Ethiopia with the nearly 100 people groups found in the nations state. Missouri Hillbillies, Arkansas rednecks, Hicks, yankess, etc all peoples are invited to walk with God.
According to Acts 17.26-27 God made all the nations. It began at the tower of Bagel when the languages were confused new cultures and nations formed. It is because of Adam and Eve’s direct rebellion of God that people groups have conflict, brokenness and sorrow.
However in this brokenness and sorrow and conflict God invites all to redemption. Colossians 1.19-20 tells us that it is God’s plan to invite all nations, all people groups or cultures to redemption. Through Christ’s payment on the cross our freedom is purchased. As you read the History or His story found in the Bible you will find that God works through individuals. This means that each of us have extreme eternal significance. Each person can respond to God’s call to walk with Him. Each person can impact their culture with the message of God.
Praise God that he loves us and wants all ethne’s, all groups of people to be blessed by His presence and healed by His power.
How can I know if I have accepted God’s invitation?
There are two possibilities 1) acceptance, 2) rejection
1) Acceptance
Isaiah 6.6 Brokenness for the sin of himself and His people group
Burden for His people group
Blessing of power from Holy Spirit
2) Rejection
No brokenness over sin
No burden for a people group
No blessing of the Holy Spirit
Conclusion: In you bulletin is a piece of paper. Write on it three defining characteristics that describe who you are. Either decide yourself or have someone who is truthful with you choose the one that most clearly defines who you are. This month offer it to Christ in surrender as your gift to Him and he will begin to shape a missionary heart in you.
Here is the prayer I am asking God to lay on each of our hearts to end this year in the power of the Spirit and propel into next year in service to the living God.
Father,
Give me a missionary heart. A boldness to proclaim the truth of who you are, a compassion to take it where people are, a faith to see beyond impossibility and your Spirit to make ministry beyond the ordinary so that the people I encounter will know that you are real.
