On Mission

Intro

Last Week: Teachers and Prophets

People are going to react

Deeper look this week

Not everyone is going to be here/ get along

As Paul and crew go on missions there are some things that we can take away as we also go on mission

You don’t get to do ministry with your friends and other pastors

I grow attached, too open etc

50% of your core team is going to not be with you after 5 years

Hard when people leave, even for good reasons.

Paul and John Mark: We dont know why John mark left

Acts 15:36–41 “36 After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers and sisters in every town where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they’re doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take along John who was called Mark. 38 But Paul insisted that they should not take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus. 40 But Paul chose Silas and departed, after being commended by the brothers and sisters to the grace of the Lord. 41 He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.”

We aren’t told why exactly he left or if Paul was right or if Barnabas is right, but we see this split, and God uses that as they go off and do ministry their seperate ways. The story is happy though because some of Paul’s latter letters let us know this relationship didnt remain frayed, and Mark writes mark and Paul writes a bunch. Even for God honoring, God loving believers, we are going to come to issues that for whatever reason cause us to split.

(isn’t sin or some big theological issue) Bible gives us ways to deal with that as well.

The Gospel has to get shared

This is it, this the core of our mission, and there are lots of ways to do it

Like exercise: heart rate up, or you don’t move then what are you doing.

Paul again starts with the Jews in the synagagoue, because this is where it is easiest for him to get in and start, but also because we are seeing this patter play out of for the Jews and the Gentiles, the Gospel came for the jews first, and then the gentiles.

Paul contextualizes the Gospel to its people (16-25)

Jews get the whole history, they know the scriputre

It is all about God, what God did all the things it worked

Paul Preaches Jesus death and ressurectionm(26-37)

This is what is unique and central to our faith

This is what stays no matter how we contextualize it.

Paul preaches forgiveness of sins and justification

Guilt and shame are lifted through Jesus

swamp condemnation for justification

Justified: Made right

the law lets us know when we are wrong

Christ paid the price for our sins, covered our debt, and instead of being viewed as guilty, we are viewed as innocent. Not like you paid the price and go to jail, that is still on your record, your record is washed, it isnt just you didn’t sin, but you always obeyed

Warning at the end, Paul preaches serious consequence

Mixed Reaction

What do we see when we share the Gospel

Mixed reactions: More people wanted to hear about it

some got jealous

People came to saving faith, and some people continued to reject.

The Goseple moves : when they were done, and people rejected, they moved on ( they stayed long enough, get stuff started, letters to Galatians etc)

Our Response

We are on mission together and even though we are not o a missionary journey the same Paul is, those who were left behind still followed this model, and the model of the early church

Prepare for oppositon

People are going to leave, and I am going to be sad, Gospel is moving in other areas

Can we explain the Gospel? Not even contextualize it, but just share a basic Gospel. We don’t know who God has softened up to hear the Gospel, we should be prepared to share the good news with those around us. Learn about those around us it can help. but the core of the message is the same, Eternal life is found in the death, and ressurection in Jesus, All who believe in him will have eternal life with him, and all who don’t will spend eternity without him.

Some of us may be like the jews here and many other in scripture, maybe we have heard the hospel, or we know the scriptures, or we have been around church a long time, but we have never accepted Jesus as our lord and saviour, never decieded to follow him, never committed our life to him,never really believed what we heard about him. You are still holding on to guilt and shame, and maybe its time for you to take that step. KNow when, maybe not date and time, but I was this old, someone preached, I was reading my bible. Get baptized

1 Corinthians 15:1–11 “1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.”

Habakkuk 1:5 “5 Look at the nations and observe— be utterly astounded! For I am doing something in your days that you will not believe when you hear about it.”