Good morning church! I am excited to see all of you here in the worship center. Turn to 2 Cor 8. 2 Cor. 8. And thanks to those watching online this morning. We are in our 2nd week of mission month and Pastor Paul did a masterful job of leading us in week one, where he talked about the basis for ministry, the foundation of anything we do for God—and that is prayer. And we spent some time in prayer, right here in the worship center—together in small groups of 2 or 3, praying for our mission needs here, near and far. Thanks for stretching yourself in that way.
As I said, we are in week two of focusing on the mission of Jesus in our world. Pastor Paul reminded us that Jesus gave us one mission. Matthew 28:19 says, “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.” That’s it. There is no plan ‘B’. So how do we do that right? I mean life is busy. I don’t want to be pushy in my faith. It should be authentic right? How do we reach our world for Christ? How do we make disciples? It can all seem a little overwhelming. I mean, I’m just a guy who works in an office. I’m just a lady who is retired. I’m just a teenager in high school. I’m not the pastor, for Pete’s sake.
The reality is that all of us are called to make disciples. And if we want to be truly obedient to Jesus, we need to take God’s word seriously. And God’s Word helps us. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” There is no formula. There is no plan B. We start with prayer. God, I don’t know how to do this well. I don’t even know where to begin, but I want to be obedient to you. God’s Word says, Great, you want to be obedient to the mission of God? Begin to pray. Pray.
And last week Pastor Paul told you that the progression to create mission momentum is this: Pray, Invest, Send, and Go. Say that with me: Pray, Invest, Send, and Go. So today, I want to talk about investing in the mission of God. What in the world does that mean, right? You’re like, I’ve got 5 extra bucks this week, and it has subway written all over it. How do I invest in the mission of God? What would that even look like, right?
Pastor Paul gave us a ‘handy dandy mission matrix’ last week that we ought to review. In Acts1, just before Jesus ascended back to the Father, He told his disciples to be his witnesses in Jerusalem (where they were at), Judea (the area around them), Samaria (far away and frankly a difficult place to reach spiritually) and to the ends of the earth. We have taken that and simplified the strategy with the words, Here, Near and Far and the hard places. Last Sunday we prayed through each of those areas together, didn’t we?
So, how do we invest in the mission? Especially if we don’t have much. How do we do what Jesus is asking us to do? Investing is taking something of value that we have, and putting it to work for a potential gain right? Taking something of value and putting it to work for potential gain. How do we invest for the mission of God? What do we invest? Let me suggest a few ways we can do that.
1. Invest time for the mission. When I said that, some of you just went, ugh. Time. I got not time dude!? I’m doing well to get to church on time. How do I invest time for the mission, right? Well, for a lot of people, they’d rather write a check than invest time. Time is one of our most prized commodities, truly. Some of you run from one thing to another. Your lives are filled with time consuming activities.
Some young families fill their schedules so full of their kids’ activities, even God and church are crowded out. And let me put in a warning here. If you allow your schedule to run you, if you allow the world to press you into its mold and every moment is taken up with the trivial, don’t be surprised when your kids don’t have time for God. Where we invest makes a difference.
Invest time for the mission. How do we do that? Here at Lakeport, we believe that God has called us to reach the world for Christ. While the world seems a big task, again, Jesus breaks it down for us in Acts 1, where he tells us to go and reach, Jerusalem (where the disciples were), Judea (the county and area around them), Samaria (far away and frankly a difficult place to minister, and the ends of the earth. So Our “Here, Near, and Far (and hard places to minister) model really works. That’s what we do. So, how should I invest my time for the mission?
Here: Kids ministry, Youth ministry, joining a discipleship group where I am discipled and others are being discipled with me.
Proverbs says as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. There is ALL kinds of ministry to be done here in our church. It needs your time. It needs you. 90% of success, experts say, is just showing up. Invest your time here in the ministry of Jesus. Join a home group. Get in a life group.
Maybe it’s in the worship ministry, or running the tech at the back. Let me just say, our tech and computer folks are unsung heroes. When everything goes right, no one notices. But when one thing is off, they get the stink eye right? But you’re really good at tech and computers, invest your time in the kingdom.
Near: Help one of our mission partners. Youth for Christ is always looking for faithful godly adults to help in the schools. Spero Pregnancy Care center needs volunteers to assist them with clients experiencing an unexpected pregnancy. Blue Water Area Rescue Mission ministers to men and women who find themselves without reliable housing and gives them a bed, a meal and Jesus. Our own Lakeport Food Pantry is a lifeline to many in our community—and it’s right here in the building. Use your time to invest in the kingdom of God. Find a ministry that seems to fit you, and God might call you to, and invest your time.
Or Far: How do I invest my time in the ‘far’. How about you learn about the missionaries we support in each of their fields. In your bulletins today, you have all but one of our missionaries listed. You’ll get to meet our newest missionary in person at the end of the month. But look them up on Facebook. Read their newsletters. Begin to pray more informed for them. Learn their names, invest the time to pray deeply and regularly for the people that are helping us, as a church, reach our far and hard to reach places. So, invest your time. I know that’s a big ask. But God’s word isn’t done with us. Because God asks us to also,
2. Invest energy in action. James 1:23-25 says, “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
Investing time means investing my attention, my focus, my thinking space toward accomplishing the mission Jesus has set for us. What we think about and want to accomplish leads to forming plans and strategies. We have all had passing thoughts that we ought to do something, and we’ve thought and thought, but if we never put some energy into focused action, it amounts to nothing.
Investing our time means putting action to our faith. Energy into our action. I remember when God really got a hold of me in my teenage years. God challenged me to step it up in my faith: at home with my own family, at church as I began to lead my peers and then for the mission. My church was mission focused—just like Lakeport. They were focused on reaching the lost for Christ.
That congregation was in an area where the churches banded together to serve the homeless population of the county. For one week a year, our congregation housed and fed the homeless population. As in, they slept in our church. We provided meals, showers, laundry if they needed it, a clothes closet so they could apply for jobs, counseling and just a safe place for people to land. Even as a teenager, I was allowed to help serve meals and serve these folks who needed some help.
The church I grew up in, just like this one, took mission trips to expose us to God’s Work around the world. The missionaries we prayed for? We went to their fields of service to encourage them and add value to their ministry and assist them. That’s what we do here at Lakeport. We don’t just invest time in prayer. That’s absolutely valuable in the kingdom of God. We put feet to action, and serve.
Our youth pastor took us to a mission in downtown Detroit. Several of us teenagers. We got in the church bus and went to this sketchy neighborhood where there was a mission. This little lady ran the mission that fed people daily and provided spiritual care to those that came. And we made food for those who came to the mission. We went to a chapel service that the missionaries provided for those who came.
And when we came out of the mission that afternoon, someone had stolen the radio out of our bus. Yup. Folks, working in mission, putting action to our faith is not without risk. I would just say, it’s worth it. Invest your time. I know it’s a big ask, but it’s kind of a command of Jesus. Invest your action. Put some effort behind what you say you believe. Lead your family. Lead your kids in the way you’d like to see them lead in the future.
We have two mission opportunities in the FAR area, right now. One in November to the Operation Christmas Child Warehouse in North Carolina, and one in March to Monterrey, Mexico. Put your feet in action. Here, Near and Far, friends.
So God and his word has asked us to invest time for the mission. He’s asked us to invest energy, action, sweat for the mission, and he’s also asked us to put our wallets into the equation too. Paul addressed this very topic with some new believers in 2 Corinthians 8. Let’s read that together. 2 Corinthians 8: 7-15, “But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you]—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, 15 as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”
So, what was going on? What was Paul asking? The believers in Jerusalem were poor and needy. As people came to Christ, many of them were being disowned by their families. As a result, the church suddenly had lots of extra mouths to feed. Paul was challenging the believers in Turkey and Greece to step up and help their brothers and sisters in Christ with a large offering to assist them. He was stressing that Christianity is not a ‘ME’ issue, it’s a ‘WE’ issue.
And Boy, don’t we live in that same kind of society? Everything is about ‘me’. I can choose my own pronouns today, because I feel a certain way. I can change reality based on my feelings, cuz it’s all about me. Paul speaks into that thinking and says, nope. There is a standard of truth in God’s Word. God is truth and all truth is measured against him. We are born-again Christ-followers. We’ve been redeemed and out of that gratitude, we ought to serve Christ with our time, our action, our willingness, and Paul says, we do it with our resources. We do it with our dollars.
Church, it takes financial resources to get the mission done. It just does. We need to pay our missionaries. We get to bless them with extra resources. We heard from our missionaries Ryan and Sarah Schmitz this morning. We send them support for their income and they serve the church in Nicaragua helping develop churches and schools for the mission of Jesus. Lately, they’ve been running across the country getting oxygen tanks filled and delivered to all the church leaders and families suffering with Covid.
But I want to give you a report from them. In the spring, because of your faithful missions and faith promise giving, we were able to bless the Wesleyan Churches of Nicaragua through the Schmitz with an extra $2000. A hurricane had just come through the country, and scores of homes were damaged or fully destroyed. Because of your giving, the Schmitz report that your $2000 rebuilt ten complete homes and helped with minor projects or with materials for 30 other homes.
They also provided first aid kits, cleaning supplies and plastic tarps and nails for 50 additional families. Ryan and Sarah said, these were crazy weeks, but worth it, a big part of it was spending the time with our team of construction workers from San Juan de la Plywood. Some of you have been to San Juan De la Plywood, and now you’re empowering THEM to be on mission because they had the funds to do so.
It’s time we invest church! What would God have you do? Maybe he’s asking you to invest time… in prayer, in getting to know our missionaries, in informed prayer for them and their ministries. What if you emailed them encouragement? What if you learned their birthdays and blessed them in some way. Invest time. Invest action. Here, near and far. Get involved. We are all called to mission. This isn’t an option. This isn’t just for super Christians. Our three circle discipleship is Me, WE and OTHERS. Our relationship with God, our connection to the body here, and serving others outside the walls, right? How are you doing in that ‘OTHERS’ circle? Time, Action, and ultimately, our resources. It takes our resources. Let’s be generous to the kingdom of God.
Are you praying about your faith promise? Are you asking God what he might pass through your hands in the coming year? We’ll be committing these to Him at the end of the month. Be praying and seeking, and asking God—what what? What will you do through me?
Pray with me.
God we ask right now, that you will show us, clearly the next step to take. Maybe its just to invest some time praying for our missionaries overseas. Maybe it’s praying for the missional activities here on our campus, or near in our area. God maybe you intend for us to go on a mission trip in this coming year and see that you are working in lives all over the world. Maybe you plan to pour resources through us to expand the kingdom of God here, near, far and even in the difficult places to reach.
And as I am praying, maybe there is someone here today, who’s thinking, this just sounds like Greek to me. I don’t get this. I’m not sure I even walk with God yet. And if that’s you, I invite you to put your faith and trust in Christ. I invite you to believe that he died just for you, to forgive you of your sins—to make you new.
And if that’s you, in invite you to pray with me right now. And in fact, I am going to ask all of you, even if you’ve said this prayer before, to repeat out loud with me now: Jesus, thank you for dying for me. Thank you for forgiving me. Help me to live for you. Help me to live on mission for you—whatever that means. In Jesus name, I pray, Amen.
Pray. Invest. Send. God. Here, Near and Far! God bless you!
