The Jesus Mission

Slogans:

So easy a _________ could do it. (Geico)

Just do it. (Nike)

The quicker picker-upper (Bounty)

“Melt’s in your mouth, not in your hand” (M & Ms)

We have a slogan around here…

To know and love Jesus and help others do the same.

To know Jesus

To love Jesus

Help others know Jesus

Help others love Jesus.

Knowing the mission is one thing…living it out is another.

It is one thing to know it and another thing to do it.

Most of us really do hope that the people we love—out friends, family, and coworkers—I want everyone in WACO to find their way to God. Yet how do we go beyond merely “hoping” people find their way to God to actually “helping” people to God. You ask someone who knows more than you to evaluate you.

You keep a tally of how many times you have invited someone to church? How many people sitting around the worship service are there because you invited them or pursued them. There are people around this room right now because God used me regularly being a friend, steady, and inviting them to take a step toward God. There are many more people in this room because God used you regularly being a friend, steady, and inviting them to take a step toward God.

The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being. (Socrates)

How do you know if you are living it out. YOU MEASURE IT!

Proverbs 27:23–27 ESV

23 Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds,

1 Peter 5:2–3 ESV

2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

How do we know if Sandersville First Church of the Nazarene is accomplishing its purpose. We measure it! We ask questions about the fruit! We take account. We steward the things God has given us! We open our eyes and we evaluate the fruit.

The data says the population of WACO is 20,000 people.

There are 100 churches + in WACO. IF we were reaching all of WACO then every church would have 200+ each week. The average church attendance in GA is 50. So if 100 churches were reaching 50 people. Then we would be reaching 5000 people. But my personal knowledge of our county tells me that the average church size is way lower than 50 people. But lets stick with the 5000 mark. That means there are 150000 people who are not attending church, taking steps in their faith.

That means there are 15000 people we are called to help them know and love God.

In all the measurements of our church, we are knowing and loving Jesus and helping others do the same. By a ministry plan that begins from the birth to the grave. We provide care, education, discipleship, and opportunities for people to take next steps for all ages. Like tonight…Prayer service at 6pm. A prayer service led by the Holy Spirit, where you will hear from the likes of Jay Taylor, Thomas Denton, Pastor Jessica Ford, Jay English, and more. A prayer service may seem like a burden, but a prayer service with your church family is one of the best places to be and the time will not be a wasted because we are communicating TOGETHER with the CREATOR OF ALL! AND we are focusing our prayer on the the people involved in education in our community.

The Blessing

You and I have been given everything we need to carry out God’s mission: Everything we need to BE THE BLESSING!

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Some people think that God’s mission started, when Jesus came. But he had a mission for his people way back in the very beginning.

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

There is one word that is repeated five times in these verses. The word is bless. God says to Abraham,

I will bless you.

You will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you…

and all people will be blessed through you!

In both of these passages God says GO.

God is constantly on the move and he wants his people to been on the move as well. We are to be on the go and on mission and we are given everything we need to accomplish it. To be a blessing. And we have been given tools to measure whether we are accomplishing the mission.

The church of the nazarene has called on all of our churches to spend sometime focusing on being a BLESSING on their community. While I think we do an incredible job, I think there is always room for improvement. Excellence isn’t perfection. “Excellence is the endless pursuit of better.”

So let’s look at some examples of what it means to be a blessing.

Jesus is a blessing.

His entire life was going and blessing every person and every place he ever encountered.

His sermon on the mount began with what is known as the beatitudes and gives nine ways you can live a “blessed” life. (list on screen) People came from all other to be blessed by Jesus.

Luke 19:1–4 ESV

1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

Luke 19:5–10 ESV

5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

He doesn’t give blessing tomorrow. He gave blessing TODAY.

It wasn’t when you get your life together, salvation will come.

Or you will receive salvation after you have made restitution.

Jesus was a blessing immediately. He was even called by Jesus a son of Abraham. He are the descendents of Abraham. He is a blessing. He is blessed. Every day Jesus changes lives by blessing them and then calls them to be a blessing.

Blessed to be a blessing.

Abraham was blessed to be a blessing.

Jesus was blessed to be a blessing.

Zacchaeus was blessed to be a blessing.

And now, in Jesus, we are blessed to be a blessing.

Do you want an encouter with Jesus?

Do you bless others?

Galatians 3:7–9 ESV

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The promise given to Abraham is a promise to us if we choose to follow Jesus! We are blessed. But we cannot forget the outcome of that blessing. We are to be a blessing. Jesus said that streams of living water will flow from within us.

There is a difference between knowing it and actually doing it.

There is a difference between knowing the mission and living the mission.

Begin with Prayer

(Graphic) The “B” is for Begin with Prayer. We believe that prayer is both how you discover your mission as well as how you go about it. If you’re not sure who God is calling you to bless or where God is calling you to go to be a blessing, you can begin with prayer. And if you know the people or the place you want to bless, begin praying for those people and those places.

Listen

(Graphic) The “L” in BLESS is for Listen. Sadly, most Christians are known for talking more than listening. If we truly hope to bless people around us, we must first get to know them. Any relationship starts with listening. We need to hear about their hopes, their dreams, and their challenges. Truly listening may be the kindest and most loving gift you can give someone. The “L” is for Listen.

Eat

This third practice is our personal favorite, and it’s something in which many of us are experts—eating! There is something about sharing a meal together that moves any relationship past acquaintance toward friendship—faster than just about anything else we can do. And there are few ways we can better bless the people around us than by sharing a meal together. The “E” in BLESS is “Eat.”

Serve

(Graphic) And then we are convinced that if you will begin with prayer, listen, and eat, there is a good chance that by then you will have discovered how you can best serve the person or place to which God has called you. As a matter of fact, they’ll likely tell you how you can best serve them. The first “S” in BLESS is for “Serve.”

Story

(Graphic) And finally, our experience is that if you– Begin with Prayer, Listen, Eat, and Serve, then there is a good chance you will have the opportunity to share your story. Someone may ask you to explain what makes you different. It is then that you can tell them your story of how Jesus changed your life. The second “S” in BLESS is “Story.”

STORY: (Put up BLESS SLIDE)

Kids arguing about whether or not we call the Bible story Jonah and the Whale or Jonah and the Big Fish. My kids were arguing about facts. Remember, there is a difference between facts and wisdom. They needed to get beyond what the literal word was in the original language and what the wisdom was behind. The BIG FISH or the WHALE or whatever you want to call it was an agent to get Jonah to do God’s will. So the wisdom behind the FISH is that God sometimes uses nature to get our attention. Thank God for the times when he has stopped me from walking away from him. What you call it ain’t that important in the BIG PICTURE scheme of things.

Over the next few weeks we are going to be preaching and teaching about what it means to be a BLESSING.

Mark 8:22–26 ESV

And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Begged Jesus to touch the blind man.

Grabbed him by the hand and out of the village.

Spit on his eyes. (Way more involved)

“I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” (He had seen before)

Then he laid his hands on his eyes again…and sight was restored.

——-

There are a few things we could focus on in this scene. But I want to focus on the what makes people who see, not see. The Pharisees just a few verses before this were doing what Pharisees do. They are short sighted, selfish, blind to their own arrogance and broken hard hearts. A few verses before the disciples were arguing about what they were going to eat and how they were going to provide bread. Neither group were seeing what God was really about.

I think sometimes we are like that…we are had sight…on fire…passionate…and we see people as souls who God loves and God wants each of them to take steps toward Him. Like a groom waiting for his bride.

Yet somehow life, patterns, busy calendars, apathy, gets in the way of us seeing. We are blind to the people. Before we can even talk about how to BLESS the 15000 or so people who may not know the Lord in our county and beyond, we have to have EYES that see them.

Do you? Here is how you find out? When you were at Walmart, did you walk through the aisles in a hurry and looking at your watch without a thought at all to the people around you? Did you focus on the speed at which the cashier was working instead of the condition of their soul? When you are at the restaurant and they forget to bring you the beverage you asked for AGAIN…do you think about yourself or do you see them as a person. I was talking to my Waffle House waiters this morning. Every Sunday morning I go in about 6:30. Work out final details, devotions, and more. The 2-3 people on staff come up to me and say what’s the message today Joe. And I tell them the abbreviated version. And then say, you know I would love for you to come and get connected with our local church to take more steps toward God. But there was a time, where all I saw was a waiter/waitress. Now I see, people. God restored my sight.

How is your sight? We cannot bless the people around us if we don’t even see them in front of us.