Gospel IRL - Mission and Outreach

Next week, we will turn our attention to 1 Timothy until Easter. The plan is one chapter each week. So next week make sure you have chapter one read so we can dive in.

The reason is 1 Timothy is incredibly practical and shows us God’s design for the church.

This week however we are continuing to look at the Great Commission and the call of the church. When we talk about the Gospel IRL what we are seeing is that the Gospel and the call of God has real life implications.

The Call

Matthew 28:18–20 CSB

Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus before ascending into heaven tells the Disciples that He has all authority and they are commanded to go make disciples who follow Jesus.

We looked at Evangelism and how we share our faith. We then looked at the other part of that which is discipleship. We are called to be disciples and make disciples.

Last week Pastor Howie showed us from Scripture how part of that process is forgiving. That we are called to forgive.

This week we are going to look at two concepts when it comes to making disciples namely the going and doing.

Mission and Outreach

What I would like us to do is to look at our personal responsibility and then our corporate responsibility. We have an individual role to play and a group role as the body of Christ.

We will look at the ABCs of Mission and Outreach.

A - Advancing the Kingdom

If you have a handout and are going to fill in the blank the first part is Advancing the Kingdom.

Luke 10:2–9 CSB

He told them, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. Now go; I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves. Don’t carry a money-bag, traveling bag, or sandals; don’t greet anyone along the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they offer, for the worker is worthy of his wages. Don’t move from house to house. When you enter any town, and they welcome you, eat the things set before you. Heal the sick who are there, and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near you.’

Our Responsibility in Advancing the Kingdom

Jesus called the disciples and sent them out two by two. They were to go out and heal the sick and preach the kingdom. They are essentially to put their hands to the work.

Jesus starts this by telling them the hard truth, that there are people who are ready to receive the kingdom. People the Holy Spirit has been drawing to the Father.

There are people who are close to the Kingdom of God but they need someone to tell them about it. Someone to invite them in.

Romans 10:14 CSB

How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

A Preacher is a proclaimer 

Our authority is in found in Christ.

If you ever feel unqualified to proclaim the kingdom then all you need to remember is Jesus is your authority. He is your banner. 

2 Peter 1:16 CSB

For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

If Jesus is your Lord and Savior then you have witnessed His majesty. Just say what He said. All of my authority comes from Jesus. I am bold about the things of God because they are His things.  

John the baptist was to prepare the way of the Messiah the word for preacher in Romans is used of Him. You have the authority and the power to proclaim the Gospel because Jesus said all authority in heaven and on earth is His and He said go! 

We need a generation of people who walk in the way of John the Baptist. People who take up the mantle of mission and declare Jesus is Lord. That is what is going to change the world.

Some people might not like that but make sure they reject the message and not the messenger. We don’t need to stand on a corner and tell everyone they are going to hell.

We don’t need to be obnoxious. We need to heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom.

Our job as individual followers of Jesus is to go and say and what He said. We do this with intentionality. We go somewhere with the goal of sharing the Gospel. This is the missional aspect of it all.

Go where people are to look for Gospel conversations.

The Church’s Responsibility in Advancing the Kingdom

For the church we have the same task but often on a larger scale. We have been working on a mission trip to Kenya for a while and it has changed a few times. We had to change it again for a few reasons outside of our control. Now we are going to go in November and we are going as an exploratory group. There are some people there who are doing some great things but before I say yes as a church let’s put our hands to this work I need to feel confident it is an investment we as a church should make.

I do not take the mantle of leadership lightly. So four of us will go in November and if it all squares up then we will host a larger trip for anyone who wants to go.

It is things like the organizations we support. We give time and money to different missionaries internationally and groups here in Amarillo. This takes time and money. So when you give you get to participate in those things as well.

We are also trying to free Julie up to lead people into these things weekly.

A is for Advancing the Kingdom

B is for Being with Others

Outreach is about being with others.

Galatians 6:9–10 CSB

Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

We do good internally. This is a given. We do all sorts of things internally for our people. There is counseling that happens, there is benevolence, there is hospital visitations, there is no shortage of good things that happen internally here at Journey. That is good but the Bible tells us to work for the good of all.

Jesus went out and He healed all sorts of people, He fed thousands, He served all people. The call of outreach is to Be with others in their need.

Our Personal Role In Outreach

As people who follow God we have a job to do.

What we can do is only limited by our imagination and our obedience.

There is no shortage of outreach opportunities. You can serve in a soup kitchen, you can hand out sandwiches to the homeless. You can go to the hospital and pray for people or serve them in some way. There is no shortage to what you can do.

One of the greatest things you can do for personal outreach is be involved in foster care. We have a crisis in our nation of kids in foster care. Kids who need loving homes and role models to help them. Hopefully, ideally, the family gets the help they need and they can get their kids back and walk in the ways of Jesus but regardless you can be there to love kids who need it when they need it. You can be foster parent, you can adopt a foster family and love on them while they love on kids from hard places. It often a thankless costly job but it is not about you or me.

When we think of foster care often we think I could not do that because it would hurt too much when they leave. Yes it should hurt. It should break you to love someone so much and then watch them leave. They need that kind of love.

But there are other things you can do too. I know a couple of people that started making up bags for people who are homeless. It had like a little first aid kit, a toothbrush, a small Bible and a few other things like that in there. Not stuff too big or too fancy so they would not fight over things.

They would collect stuff and then people would keep it in their car, when they encountered a homeless person they would give them the bag.

I want us to be a church that embraces the call of outreach so much.

Outreach is about opening our eyes and being obedient.

The Church’s role in Outreach

As a church we do the same again only on a lager scale.

Kirkland Court is our local outreach where Judi Matthews and the team go into Kirkland Court once a month to serve the residence there. They play games, make meals, and just love on these wonderful people. We fund this as a church.

Heritage Hills Elementary is our local school we love on. We have done Thanksgiving meals. We have helped kids who need school supplies. We are going into the school and finding ways to serve and love on them.

Coming up in April we are going to provide lunch for the teachers while they have an staff training. It is simple but it lets them know we love them and care for them.

But is also things like the Trunk or Treat and an Easter event we are planning. We just have a party and invite all people. It is costly but it is worth it.

B is for Being with Others.

C is for Charting a Course for the Future

A big part of mission and outreach is about thinking where you are going. What is the plan, where are you going where are you headed?

In the Book of Romans Paul is sharing so much but part of that is to let people know he wants to come visit them but he is also planning no going to Spain to share the Gospel.

Romans 15:24 CSB

whenever I travel to Spain. For I hope to see you when I pass through and to be assisted by you for my journey there, once I have first enjoyed your company for a while.

He had a plan, a mission, a purpose. He was thinking about the future.

Personally Charting a Course

If you don’t know where you are going you will not know when you get there.

What is the plan? If you want to be a missionary what is the plan? If you want to go into the prison or jail to share the Gospel what is that plan? If you want to feed the homeless what’s the plan?

An idea without a plan is just talk.

It is like church. The enemy doesn’t care that much if you come to church on Sunday if that’s all you do. You need a plan for action and a plan for the future. 

What do you want to do and how will you accomplish it?

So much of our lives are spent doing. I read a study that said we spend about 47% of our day on autopilot.

when the participants reported their mind wandering, they also reported being significantly less happy in that moment

- Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010

This does not include doom scrolling either. Do you true happiness, fulfillment, and purpose? Then make a plan. Commit to placing the kingdom first. Jesus says,

Matthew 6:33 CSB

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

I cannot tell you the fulfillment that I have found from placing the kingdom first. Everything else has been added. Jesus knows what He is talking about.

When we seek first the kingdom, giving ourselves to Kingdom expansion and Kingdom work we find all we need.

If we know this to be true then we need to make a plan.

You need a plan.

The Church Charting a Course

Bring up Spence and leadership

As the church we have a plan too. We are getting bids for phase 1 and it is probably going to cost about a million dollars. Because construction is expensive now.

We are close but we are about $250k off. Phase 1 will be a new student and Prep wing along with easier access in the building to get back there and new small group and meeting spaces. Why because we want to be a building that serves our people and the community.

I got a quote on a new digital sign and we need money for that. It will help people know we are here and what is going on. The loop is getting so much more traffic.

Here is the deal I have zero hesitation asking people to give because I believe this is what God has called us to do. We have a growing student ministry. We have a growing prep ministry. We have a growing small group ministry.

We also have people who need a space to meet for other things and we want to bless the community. The other day a local non-profit asked if they could use the church for a meeting. We were happy to be able to bless them with space to meet and conduct business.

We are talking about a mothers day our program here at the church. A way to bless our community with much needed day care.

We need money to do these things. We need another $250k to get to our 1 Million and if I am honest I would like another $250k to pay off the mortgage from the last expansion. We have some debt and that means we cannot do some of the things we need to do.

Now if you want to give to Shift you can do that but I would ask that this does not replace your tithe or offering because we need that to do all that we already do. Things like Kirkland, Heritage Hills, missions support, but also staff to run these programs.

It is all going to start with accepting the call of Jesus to participate in mission and outreach.

Matthew 6:33 CSB

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

The first question you need to answer is, are you in Christ?