We are the Church - Week 3

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Romans 10:14–15 CEB

So how can they call on someone they don’t have faith in? And how can they have faith in someone they haven’t heard of? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the good news.

Text: Topic: Mission, Evangelism, God’s Kingdom, Selfishness Big Idea of the Message: Every believer has been given a mission by God to advance his kingdom and get back his lost children. Application Point: We will share the good news with others when we have a missional mindset, not a selfish one.

Sermon Ideas and Talking Points:

“Goonamissiontrip.Walknextdoor”(CanonJ.John,apopularevangelistin Great Britain, Twitter post, November 2016). Every Christian can be and should be a missionary, regardless of our vocation or our location; everyone everywhere needs to hear the gospel.

Godpaidtheultimateexpense—thelifeofhisonlySon—inordertorestorethe lost to himself. This news story tells of a woman who would stop at nothing to get her missing dog back: http://www.news- herald.com/article/HR/20130604/NEWS/306049961. If a woman would go to such lengths to get her dog back, how much more can you imagine a loving Father doing whatever is necessary to save his lost children? God went “all out” to redeem us and bring us back into right relationship (), and we should be willing to go “all out” to be a part of it.

OurpurposeistoshareJesuswiththeworldsoothersmayknowhim,too.Inthis

movie clip from Forrest Gump, Forrest and his platoon are under severe attack in a heavy combat zone. He risks his own safety over and over again to save the lives of his friends: http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/forrest-gump/i-gotta- find-bubba. God has a purpose for keeping us on earth and not taking us immediately to be with him in heaven once we become his: to share Jesus with others so they may be rescued from sin and to relationship with God, too. Every believer has been given a mission by God to advance his kingdom and get back his lost children. We may never become a world-renowned evangelist or pastor. But we are all called, nonetheless, to share whatever it is we do have: be a witness, to testify of our own experience with the living God, to proclaim what we know is true in order to rescue a dying world.

4. Haveyourchurchleadershipcomeforwardattheendofyourserviceto commission your congregation to “go out” as missionaries into their neighborhoods, their community, and the world.