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The Call: Mission Possible We serve because...

Because Christ taught that we should. We have a Mission

Jesus was preparing to leave the earth and go back to His Father when He gave His disciples one last promise. The writer of the book of Acts tells about the last days of Jesus. He doesn’t say much except that He was here for forty days after His death and resurrection and that He gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.

“So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 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."

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

There have been whole books written about what people say just as they pass from this life to the next. Those who are coherent at death often pass on important information that they really want others to know. My grandfather spoke onto this old reel to reel tape in the early sixties and left an incredible message to his children.

Jesus was not dying, He had already done that, but He was going back to the Father and moments before He ascended to heaven He gave them His last words.

The idea of serving is found in this statement by Jesus. We are His witnesses. The idea of serving is far more than just serving in the local church. While supporting your local church ministry is important serving and “witnessing” goes far beyond working in our church.

There are some strange people out there and some weird notions about evangelism. . . watch this video.

We are going to examine for a few moments today these last words of Christ. There are three very profound principles about true Christ following that are included in this one sentence. Look at it again:

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."

1. There is a promise for power.

It is foolish to think that God is calling us to do anything without the aid and anointing of the Holy Spirit.

If you were to compare what happened when the first disciples tried to do ministry on their own in the first four books of the New Testament you would see that they were frustrated and their efforts were futile.

They were weak and powerless. They focused on themselves and were often wallowing in bitterness and self pity.

Acts is a book of power. It is about God’s power changing lives and dramatically making the church effective. Some people have misused the book of Acts to talk only about certain manifestations. Do you know what happened in Acts 2? They burst forth from the upper room with the power of God dwelling in them. They began praising God and glorifying Him. They couldn’t contain themselves. There were people there from many different world areas, (no accident) and they heard the disciples speaking in their native languages. The gift of tongues in Acts 2 was in the ears and not in the tongue. Do you know why this is important?

The power of God has been abused and misused. It has been blamed for many things that I don’t believe God is all that interested in. I don’t really think God is all that interested in our emotions getting a buzz from some religious experience. But I will tell you what God has demonstrated time and time again that He is interest in. He is always interested in activities and demonstrations of power that will bring lost people to Him.

If you follow the disciple’s of Christ in their ministry throughout the book of Acts what a difference you will see.

The disciple Peter who denied that he even knew Jesus prior to His death, burst from the upper room where they were gathered waiting for the Holy Spirit and preached to thousands who were gathered in Jerusalem. What an incredible difference!

Peter and John were walking together in the Temple when they encountered a man who couldn’t walk and Peter spoke to him with these words, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

(Turn to this scripture and read the rest of the passage.)

What power and what witnessing!

The first disciples were imprisoned and God delivered them from jail or turned their jail experiences into times of witnessing. They were threatened and told not to speak about Christ and they responded with boldness and declared that they should obey God rather than men. They were beaten, tortured and even killed for their faith but they were empowered to be what Christ told them they would be. They were witnesses.

We have His promise for power to be about His work.

Use Presidents picture again.

Here is another profound principle from Christ’s words:

2. There are people to pursue.

When Jesus first began His ministry on the earth He began to call a group of men to be His disciples. Some of them were fishermen so He used an analogy or a metaphor to help them understand what He was calling them to do.

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” Matthew 4:18-20

It is very clear that Jesus wanted disciples who would become “fishers of men.” Jesus has always been about people and giving them the life changing message of hope.

I want to challenge you to do something. This afternoon take your Bibles, especially if you have one that has the words of Jesus in red, and just skim through the book of Matthew or John or really any of the first four books of the New Testament and see if you don’t come away believing that Jesus is concerned about pursuing people with the message.

When you get done with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John read some of Paul’s letters to the church and see if you don’t come away with a focus on sharing the faith that you have with others.

These are the last words of Jesus, remember them and embrace them. Do them!

"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."

3. There is a place for proclaiming

John Wesley said, “The world is my parish.” According to the final recorded words of Jesus we have been left with the opportunity take His message to the world. From Paul’s missionary journeys in the New Testament to living today in a global environment we are to proclaim His word wherever we are on any given day.

How does this happen? We must be intentional about it. Just as intentional as we are about work or school or our relationships.

Ten Most Used Excuses for not getting things done:

        1. I forgot.
        2. No one told me to go ahead.
        3. I didn’t think it was that important.
        4. Wait until the boss comes back and ask him.
        5. I didn’t know you were in a hurry for it.
        6. That’s the way we’ve always done it.
        7. That’s not in my department.
        8. How was I to know this was different?
        9. I’m waiting for an O.K.
        10. That’s his job--not mine.

Bits & Pieces, November, 1989, p. 18.

When the great missionary Hudson Taylor was on his way to China he was confronted one day by the ship’s captain. He said, "Taylor, do you think the heathen will be lost if you don’t go to China?" Taylor replied, "I think the heathen are lost, that’s why I am going to China."

At times we probably feel it would be so much easier if we could be like Lucy in the old Peanuts cartoon: Lucy says to Charlie Brown, "I would have made a great evangelist." Charlie Brown answers, "Is that so?" She says, "Yes, I convinced that boy in front of me in school that my religion is better than his religion." Charlie Brown asked, "Well, how did you do that?" And Lucy answers, "I hit him over the head with my lunch box."

In a court room, there’s a judge, a prosecutor, a defense attorney, a defendant, & witnesses. Who gives testimony in the court room? The witnesses do. Do the witnesses prosecute the defendant? Do the witnesses convict the defendant? NO!Witnesses (pause) witness… and they do their best to give honest & true testimony because they realize that the verdict may hinge on how well they witness. But their only job is testifying.CONVICTING PEOPLE of their sins & of the need of righteousness & closeness of judgment is the Spirit’s job – NOT OURS.

That doesn’t mean our testimony isn’t important Romans 10:13-15 “‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”

Notice the implication there. Unless someone preaches (witnesses), people cannot hear the Gospel. If they don’t hear, they can’t believe, if they don’t believe they can’t call and if they don’t call they won’t be saved. The salvation of the people we care about hinges on our faithfulness in witnessing. This is such a valuable service to God that He regards even our feet of those who witness as beautiful.

Four Steps to a Global Focus:

1. Capture God’s Passion

This is the first step and it is the most critical. Before a person gets concerned about reaching others for Christ they must understand how much God cares it.

2. Tap Into God’s Power

3. Commit to God’s Plan

I read one time a story, a legend, about a convocation of angels who had gathered around the Lord Jesus Christ after he had come back from earth. They were asking him questions, and one angel said, "Lord, how are you going to spread the gospel message throughout the world?" Well, the Lord Jesus said, "I have called out some disciples to carry out my great commission. They in turn will go and share this wonderful message with others who will respond, and they in turn will go and share with others who need to be saved."

The angel said, "Are you telling me that you have entrusted the task of getting out the message of eternal life and salvation to those earthlings, counting on them to be witnesses to the gospel message and take the gospel around the world?"

The Lord Jesus said, "That’s absolutely right."

The angel said, "Well Lord, if they don’t do what you command them to do, what is Plan B?" To which the Lord replied, "There is no Plan B."

I want to say to you this morning if you want to know how God intends to reach a lost world for Jesus Christ, go home and look in the mirror. There is no Plan B. If we do not do it in the power of God’s Spirit, it will not be done.

4. Follow God’s Pattern

The Lord has not only told us how to go, He has told us where to go.

A. We are to go to our Community
B. We are to go to our County and Central Ohio area.
C. We are to go to our Nation
D. We are to go global.

Yes, there are many people in America who have heard the gospel more than a lot of people will ever hear the gospel. But that still doesn’t excuse us from the fact that we have over 100 million people in this country who do not know Jesus as Savior and as Lord.

You do realize don’t you that churches in other countries are sending missionaries to the United States. They see the downward moral decay of our nation and want to be used of God to get this nation back to God.

I read a story one time of a military patrol that was operating in enemy territory. They were very tense, probing every tree and shadow looking for the enemy. Suddenly there was a blinding flash and the soldier at the point was mortally wounded.

The bullets began to fly and the Sergeant screamed for his unit to take cover. The one young recruit, crawling on his face, plunged ahead to his dying comrade. He, too, was shot. But in extreme pain and mustering his ebbing strength, he dragged his friend, who had died, back to the unit, and collapsed.

The Sergeant looked at this soldier and said, "You idiot, why did you go and get yourself shot for a man that was dying?" The recruit said, "Because Sir, I had to hear him say, ’I knew you would come.’"

There is a lost world out there that needs us to come even though they don’t even know it. But what matters is when we stand before God, God looks at us with a heartbeat of heaven, and says, "I knew you would go."

John Harper was born into a Christian family May 29, 1872. He became a Christian 13 years later and had already started preaching by age 17. He received training at the Baptist Pioneer Mission in London, and in 1896 he founded a church, now known as Harper Memorial Church, which began with 25 worshipers but had grown to 500 members by the time he left 13 years later.In 1912 Harper, the newly called pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, was traveling on the Titanic with his 6-year-old daughter. After the ship struck an iceberg and began to sink, he got Nana into a lifeboat but apparently made no effort to follow her. Instead, he ran through the ship yelling, "Women, children, and unsaved into the lifeboats!" Survivors report that he then began witnessing to anyone who would listen. He continued preaching even after he had jumped into the water and was clinging to a piece of wreckage (he'd already given his lifejacket to another man).

Harper's final moments were recounted four years later at a meeting in Hamilton, Ontario, by a man who said:I am a survivor of the Titanic. When I was drifting alone on a spar that awful night, the tide brought Mr. Harper of Glasgow, also on a piece of wreck, near me. "Man," he said, "are you saved?" "No," I said, "I am not." He replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."

The waves bore him away, but, strange to say, brought him back a little later, and he said, "Are you saved now?" "No," I said, "I cannot honestly say that I am." He said again, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved," and shortly after he went down; and there, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper's last convert.He was also one of only six people picked out the water by the lifeboats; the other 1,522, including Harper, were left to die. Citation: Elesha Coffman, "Sacrifice at Sea," Christianhistory.net (August 11, 2000), adapted from The Titanic's Last Hero (Moody Press, 1997)

We are called to serve others by sharing the good news.

I am reminded this morning of a couple songs that come to me from my past:

Give the winds a mighty voice-
Jesus Saves! Jesus Saves!
Let the nations now rejoice-
Jesus Saves! Jesus Saves!
Shout salvation full and free,
Highest hills and deepest caves,
This our song of victory-
Jesus Saves! Jesus Saves!
I love to tell the story of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story, because I know ’tis true;
It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.
I love to tell the story; more wonderful it seems
Than all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams.
I love to tell the story, it did so much for me;
And that is just the reason I tell it now to thee.
I love to tell the story; ’tis pleasant to repeat
What seems, each time I tell it, more wonderfully sweet.
I love to tell the story, for some have never heard
The message of salvation from God’s own holy Word.
I love to tell the story, for those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.
And when, in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song,
’Twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.

My good friend Tim Bowers sent me this the other day and I am using it as the benediction today.

May the Lord God relentlessly bother you and challenge you;
May the Lord set an impossible task before you and dare you to meet it;
May the Lord give you strength and courage to do your best;
Then, and only then, may the Lord grant you peace. Amen.

2005/05/15