Series: 12 in 2012
Sermon: Missions 12
Christa's video saying thanks to Christian Hills Church
The challenge this month for our spiritual mile markers, show the picture of the boys and the need for a floor. share the need. Give an extra $12 to missions this month to help put a floor in for these boys to sleep on so they do not have to sleep in the mud.
The other challenge is for us to come behind Tom and Faith to help renovate their building for a Seniors Center in Chicago, They are opening a thrift store and a place of ministry to the needy on about 87 and Essex Chicagos on the South side. We need willing voluteers to help clean, paint, use their trade gifts to get his 5,000 building up and functional. we need carpenters, sheet metal workers, furnace ac people, sheetrockers and mudders.
Highlight displays of missionaries in foyer in the hall ways.
How do we be Missions minded?
We intentionally focus on it which we are doing this month, we actively pray for missions each day and week nancy has a missionary prayer meeting evey wed night at 6pm, we look beyond ourselves globally, locally, and cross culturally.
The Mission of reaching the world is within reach according to a lot of leaders of international missions organizations some predict as soon as 2020 but it can only be accomplished by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
Scripture Text:
Acts 1:8 “8But 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.”
Introduction:
You will receive power to be a missionary from the Holy Spirit when he comes on you this is a promise from Scripture!
The Scripture verse above reminds us that the power of the Holy Spirit is given to us to be Jesus witness to a world that has no idea who He is, was or will be. We as believers are called to be His witness to bring the message of hope of the Good News to those who do not know.
I see the empowerment of the Apostles as a result of the Holy Spirit coming on them in Acts, they are no longer cowards afraid of what others may do to them or say to them. They become bold witnesses and have power to do miraculous things
Acts Peter and John
Story of them witnessing for jesus to the religious legalists
Power ministry as part of missions
What I have seen on the mission field, what I have heard from dr. Nichols, costa rica, amazing stories of power on the mission field.
The power of the Holy Spirit works with missions in all these locations:
International
National
Local
Missions quotes:
"I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light" — John Keith Falconer
"God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply" — Hudson Taylor [ video ]
"God isn't looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him" — Hudson Taylor
"The Great Commission1 is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed" — Hudson Taylor
"If I had 1,000 lives, I'd give them all for China" — Hudson Taylor
"God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him." — Hudson Taylor, missionary to China [ video ]
"Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God" — William Carey, who is called the father of modern missions [ more info ]
"To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map." — William Carey, pioneer missionary to India
"Is not the commission of our Lord still binding upon us? Can we not do more than now we are doing?" — William Carey
"The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become." — Henry Martyn, missionary to India and Persia
"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" — Jim Elliot, missionary martyr who lost his life in the late 1950's trying to reach the Auca Indians of Ecuador
"The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity." — Mike Stachura
1. A life filled with the power of the Holy Spirit creates a witness of Jesus.
A. The Holy Spirit
1) Is an entity that has the divine power to transform a person's destiny and daily life.
B. The empowerment dimension of a Christian.
1) It is the ability to do things that are beyond their abilitites or talents.
2) It is the a spiritual authority which drives back the power of darkness.
3) It is the insight to do he right thing at the right time.
4) It is the difference between being bold for the Gospel or being a coward within the Kingdom of Heaven.
a). Share about Peter and John from Acts
b). Acts 4:1 -
C. The concept of having a power within to see spiritual transformation.
1). I cannot change anyone - only the Holy Spirit can do that!
2). The power of transformation only comes from the Holy Spirit, you cannot change anyone, not can you transform yourself, it is a spirit dimension. Where the Spirit of the Lord is their is freedom - freedom can only come from the Holy Spirit!
D. A example of one being empowered to be a witness for Jesus does the following:
1). You must please God not man.
a). Whenever you choose to please people over God you will lose the power of the Holy Spirit.
b). Revelation
c). Romans 8:1-8: to live by the Spirit is pleasing to God, if you choose not to live by the leading of the Holy Spirit you choose not to be a part of God's family.
2). You should want to share the good news of Jesus and flow in the power of the Holy Spirit.
a). Denying the power of the Holy Spirit
*
3). Look at the difference of the disciples with Jesus and after being filled with the Holy Spirit.
4). God sent His Son Jesus and Jesus then sent the Holy Spirit - the Holy Spirit is given for guidance in life, for truth the key is do you access His guidance? Do you tap into His power? Do you listen to His instructions.
a). Share your experience this week of hearing the Holy Spirit's voice!
b). Share about Kathy hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.
c). The difference in allowing the power to impact your life is all about taking the time to listen.
2. A witness for Jesus is one who uses the empowerment from the Holy Spirit.
A. Jerusalem the place you live in needs to experience the power of the Holy Spirit. You could be the instrument God has choosen to facilitate that change and that transformation.
1). The city you live in, the neighborhood you reside in is your city and they need to see this power flowing through your life - it will manifest itself through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, through miracles, through couageous boldness, through spiritual wisdom.
B. Judea your state will be impacted by this power - which flows through the person filled with the Holy Spirit. Which could be you!
1). Share about family impacting their region.
C. Samaria your region - a region of the outcast needs the power of the Holy Spirit and you need to bring it to them.
1). Share the story of impact in other places.
a). The story of open doors in a place where others cannot go!
D. The ends of the earth is the world and they need the power of the Holy Spirit.
1). The Costa Rica trip - impact of this Christian family on the Nation.
2). The empowerment factor impacted people, pastors wives, peoples bodies, spiritual forces, churches, and nations.
3). The people and the impact of missions
a). Missions needs you - they need people empowered with the Holy Spirit.
E. We are empowered with the Holy Spirit for a divine purpose to bring transformation to peoples lives, to our communities here and over there.
3. Creates a person who has been transformed and a person who sees transformation.
A. The difference between change and transformation.
B. Barna thoughts on transformation.
Conclusion:
Erwin McManus reminds us that Christianity is a dangerous faith. Listen to what he says: "How could we ever think the Christian faith would be safe when its central metaphor is an instrument of death? It is not a coincidence that baptism is a water grave depicting death and resurrection"..."It is no less significant that the ongoing ordinance of the Lord's Supper is a reminder of sacrifice. How did we ever develop a safe theology from such a dangerous faith?"(Source: An Unstoppable Force, page 33)
