Whatever you set your mind to, you can do it.
You can change the world.
And so you have this desire to be able to change the world.
If, however, you're a parent of a millennial,
most likely you're a baby boomer or something like that,
your big desire right now is to leave a legacy.
That's all you're thinking about, death.
And what's my mark on the world?
And you're starting to get kind of depressed and everything like about it.
But on the whole, most of us have to come to grips with
that is that our individual actions are a bit like stones
tossed into a very large lake.
The reality is we are remembered by just a few.
And our contribution to humanity is remembered by even less.
Most of us have to face the fact that we will drop the little pebble of our lives
into the turbulent ocean of world events.
And in no time at all, the surface will bear no trace of our passing.
That's kind of depressing, especially if you're a millennial
and you're kind of positive right now.
But it is this sense of purposelessness
that is one of the chief anxieties of life.
What is the purpose of life?
Big, big anxiety.
So if you've just tuned in today,
then you've arrived at Vision Sunday.
And it's the climax of our Vision series.
And this year we've been discovering or rediscovering
or aligning ourselves to God's purpose.
We've called this whole series,
His Purpose, Our Purpose, My Purpose.
In week one, we asked the question,
what's the purpose of life?
And we saw that God created all things
and that He saved us for His glory.
And we used the word magnification to summarize that purpose.
In week two, we narrowed it down.
What's the purpose of the church,
the people that He saved?
And we saw that God has gathered us together
as a new people, a new humanity for His glory.
We do it together.
And we used the word membership to describe that.
Week three, we investigated what is God's purpose for us
as He's gathered people.
And we discovered it was to transform us
into the image of His true Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
because God desires to have children in His own image.
And we used the word maturity to summarize all that.
So God has created us.
He saved us.
He's gathered us.
He's growing us.
And last week, we saw that He's not just growing us,
but He's giving us a job to do.
And that job is to serve Him in the world.
And we used the word ministry to summarize all of that.
Today, we're looking at what is the work
that God has called us to do in His world.
And we're summarizing this with our final M,
and that's mission.
So I'm up to point number one, what is God's mission?
See, one of the ways we discover what is God's mission
is to, that is, what is the work that God's doing in the world,
is to look at the end of history as God describes it.
Well, you know, therefore the goal of all things.
And we can learn our purpose for being
just by looking at what is God's goal in all time and eternity.
And what we discover, it's kind of like a finish line
that we're running towards.
But before we go to the end of all things,
let's go back to the beginning of what God's work is in this world.
This is God's story.
It's His mission, His work in His world.
God's storyline has four main chapters to it.
Creation, new creation,
for redemption and new creation.
So let's look at those four things really quickly.
This is time and eternity, history, everything,
as God sees it.
So creation, Genesis 1,
is the God who stands outside of all that's created.
The God who always existed from everlasting to everlasting,
created all things by speaking them into existence.
You see that in Genesis 1 and 2.
He made the first people, Adam and Eve,
in His image.
All people from Adam and Eve also bear the image of God.
We saw that earlier on in this series.
The great American theologian, Jonathan Edwards,
wrote a booklet, a paper called
A Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World.
That's the shortened version.
He's much longer versions in terms of the titles.
And he says there that the only reason
that God would have created us
was not to get the cosmic love and joy for relationship.
That is, God wasn't hungering for relationship
as some people hunger to be loved by someone
so they go and have a baby.
It's not that kind of an idea.
But the only reason
is to share the cosmic love and joy
that He already had
within Himself in the Trinity,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And so the storyline of the Bible
contains the only storyline in history
where there is a divine creator
who creates everything motivated by love.
God's design is to have children in His own image
sharing in His perfect relationship.
sharing in His perfect love.
So that's creation.
Fall.
There is solidarity in the image of God.
All people bear the image of God,
but there's also solidarity in sin.
Genesis 3, Adam and Eve reject God.
They decide, well, we want to do things our way.
All people have followed suit
since Adam and Eve living life
with no consideration for God.
We assume right from the very beginning
that God hasn't got love as His main motive.
That God is not actually ultimately loving.
That He's actually holding back on us in some way.
He's not giving us everything that we should have.
He's put constraints around us
and we don't like constraints.
And because of our special dignity
as people made in the image of God,
image bearers,
God holds us especially accountable
in a way that He doesn't hold
the rest of the universe accountable.
And we see Him handing His people over for judgment.
Judgment in Genesis 3,
sorry, Genesis 11,
as it is in Genesis 4,
is He scatters people from His presence.
Right throughout the Bible,
God's judgment is to scatter them
away from relationship with Him.
So in Genesis 11,
He scatters people across the earth.
He confuses all of their language
so they would not work together
and certainly not work together
in order to depose God.
So relationship with God
and relationship with each other
and in fact the created order
is deeply fractured
because of the fall.
Then we've got redemption.
Chapter number 3.
But God doesn't just act in judgment.
He also has the plan to reverse everything.
In Genesis chapter 12,
to understand your Bible,
you've got 11 chapters
and then you've got Genesis chapter 12.
And Genesis chapter 12
is where the hinge of the Bible,
it's where everything hinges here.
This is the beginning
of the chapter of redemption.
This is the turning point of the Bible.
It's the beginning of God's plan of redemption
that began with a promise to Abraham
that all peoples on earth
would be blessed through Abraham.
God's intention is to reverse judgment.
It's a plan that's worked out through history,
finds its culmination
in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
And this is how Galatians 3 puts it
in the New Testament.
You are all sons of God
through faith in Christ Jesus.
There is neither Jew nor Greek,
slave nor free,
male nor female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
If you belong to Christ,
then you are Abraham's seed.
You're someone who's inherited his promise
and heirs according to the promise.
So Jesus takes the judgment of God
for our sin upon himself.
He dies the death that we should have died,
but he rises victorious over sin
so that everyone who puts their trust in Jesus
is now gathered back into relationship with God
and to each other.
Jesus forms a new community,
a new humanity,
a new people for God,
new sons and daughters
made in the image of God,
not just in a physical sense
or relational sense,
but in a deeply connected sense,
doing what our Father wants us to do.
He calls it the church.
So all the former divining walls of hostility
between God have been broken down
as they have also with God.
And as a result of Jesus' work of reconciliation,
calling people back to each other
and back to God,
Jesus calls his church
to take this good news of reconciliation
through the Lord Jesus
to the ends of the earth,
making disciples of every nation,
people and language.
That is how we take part in God's work,
his story,
his mission in the world.
And if you're sitting here right now,
you are currently in chapter three.
We're all in chapter three.
But there's a chapter four.
And chapter four of God's story
is not the end of it.
It's actually the beginning of a new story.
As C.S. Lewis wrote,
and I'm going off the top of my head here,
C.S. Lewis wrote in his booklet,
The Last Battle Cry,
he said the final chapter is in fact
the actual story.
It's like everything to open
the final chapter of the book,
your whole lives have been waiting
for the final chapter to open,
and it is a chapter that never closes.
Everything is preparation for chapter four.
It's a chapter where God reigns forever.
There's no more evil.
There's no more sin, carnage.
There's no more death.
There's no more mourning.
There's no more tears.
In Revelation five,
we get a glimpse of how
Jesus brings history to its final goal.
In verse nine,
John tells us why Jesus is worthy to open,
the book of the end of history,
so that things unfold according to the plan of God.
It says,
Jesus is worthy because of how his death
relates to all peoples of earth.
You are worthy to take the scroll,
to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language
and people and nation.
You have made them to be
a kingdom of priests
to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.
You see,
the reason Jesus has the right
to open the book of history
is that by his death,
he has ransomed people for God,
for the glory of God
and the worship of God
from every tribe and language
and people and nation.
It was God's design
in the death of Jesus
to ransom some
from every kind of race
and language
and make them into
one people,
a new kingdom,
his much-loved children.
And his much-loved children
will have one king over them,
that is,
they would live with Jesus
as their supreme treasure
and Lord.
Jesus is the one
who unites them.
Jesus is the one
to whom they live for.
And they will all be priests.
They will be full-time,
this is what we saw last week,
they'll be full-time worshippers
and servants of Jesus.
Jesus died to ransom
subjects for the king
and worshippers for the king
from every people group
in history.
All the scattered ones,
all the ones once separated
from God
and from each other
are now brought together
under the reign of Jesus
in finding God's blessing
as promised to Abraham.
And so God's big story,
his mission,
his work in the world
through all time and space
is for people to come
under the authority of Jesus
to turn to him
in repentance and faith
and receive forgiveness of sins
and eternal life
and live for the honour
of Jesus forever.
That's God's big plan.
God's purpose for all things,
as revealed in the biblical storyline,
is the reason why
this church has a purpose statement
that says
we exist to,
we're treasuring Jesus
for God's glory
and the joy of all peoples.
And this vision series
over these five weeks
is an attempt
to get greater clarity
and alignment
between,
alignment behind
God's vision
in the world
as it's worked out
in this church.
How we do it.
Okay.
That's point one.
That's God's mission.
That's how he's designed
time and eternity.
That's his purposes.
Point two
is
what does it look like
to be captured
by God's work
in the world?
So if you've got
someone beside you
who's going to sleep
right now,
give them a
loving,
gentle,
but firm
elbow
in the ribs.
If you're distracted
by Facebook
or by something else,
have your moment,
turn it off
and listen to this.
This is so,
so important
that you get this.
What does it look like
to live
with God's mission
as the driving
force
of your life?
When his first
disciples,
Jesus walks along,
says,
hey you,
come follow me.
And he calls
his first disciples
and they drop
their nets on the beach
and they left
their taxation tables.
to follow Jesus.
He wasn't asking
them to come
with him
on a gap year
of travel
around the Holy Land.
It wasn't a
three year sabbatical.
It wasn't a gap year
before you head off
to university
in Jerusalem
and study
a master's
in shepherding
or whatever it is
they did back
in those days.
They signed
up for Jesus
to reign over
the course
of their lives.
And we see
that
clearly
with the disciples
and we see it
with the Apostle Paul
who I want to
take to now.
So Acts 20
which was just
read out to us
it's in your service
sheet in front of you.
In Acts 20
the Apostle Paul
gathers the Ephesian
elders,
the elders from the
church at Ephesus
together,
have a chat with them.
So these verses
are first and foremost
primarily directed
to the leaders
of the church
but on the whole
they're applicable
to every disciple.
And we see the
importance of this
chat when you look
at verse 25
where it says
now I know
that none of you
among whom I have
gone about preaching
the kingdom
will ever see me
again.
So this is Paul's
if you like
final
final chat.
This is the end
of his missionary
journeys in fact.
And as with any
final farewells
it is the perfect
opportunity to talk
about what matters
actually matter most.
In 2010
a dear friend of mine
and Natalie's
was near death.
I went to visit her
in hospital
for the last time.
I knew it was going
to be the last time
I knew she had
literally hours
if you know
maybe days to live.
when I went
and visited her
she was slipping
in and out
of consciousness
and I had
10 to 15 minutes
you know
with her.
We didn't talk
about the weather.
We didn't talk
about house prices.
We didn't talk
what was on the
front page
of the City Morning
Herald.
We didn't talk
trivia at all.
It was straight
down to business.
I read the Bible
to her.
That was the most
important thing
or walked
straight in
said Yvonne
love you
let me open
the Bible
and read
before you
lose consciousness.
Read the Bible
with her.
We talked
about hope
in Christ.
We talked
about the
resurrection
of the body
and when
the opportunity
came I talked
about what
she meant
to me
and what
she meant
to my family
and vice versa.
We then
very quickly
planned her
funeral
and her
instructions
to me
were very
very clear.
Put Christ
on display.
don't you
dare tell
people
that I
was a
good
person.
I said
no fear
of that.
She left
me with
some parting
advice.
We cried
and kissed
her,
walked away
never to
see her
again
in this
life.
So
this is
this moment
for Paul.
What
matters
most to
him
is key.
Now
there is
so much
more that
could be
gleaned
from this
passage than
what I'm
going to
look at
tonight
but I
want to
focus on
something
important.
What
Paul wants
for these
Ephesian
elders
is for
them
to
emulate
his
life.
That's
what he
says.
I want
you
to
emulate
my
God's
mission
shaped
life.
God's
storyline
shaped
life.
God's
work in
the
world
shaped
life.
I
want
you
to
emulate
that.
And
it's
not
unusual
because
he
said
it
before
1
Corinthians
11
1
he
says
follow
me
as
I
follow
Christ.
You
want
to
know
what
it
looks
like
to
have
your
life
captured
by
God's
mission
in
the
world
then
you
look
at
me
and
you
watch
my
life.
In
verse
24
we
see
his
vision
for
his
life.
This
is
what's
happened
to him
ever
since
he
met
Jesus.
I
consider
my
life
worth
nothing
to
me
if
only
I
may
finish
the
race
and
complete
the
task
the
Lord
Jesus
has
given
me.
And
what's
the
task?
I
might
do
the
ministry
that
God
has
given
me.
What's
this
ministry?
The
task
of
testifying
to
the
gospel
of
God's
grace.
That's
the
mission.
My
mission
in
life
is
to
do
God's
mission
in
life.
The
gospel
of
God's
grace
is
what
turned
Paul's
life
upside
down
and
inside
out.
This
is
the
guy
who
once
described
himself
as
the
chief
of
sinners,
a
blasphemer,
a
persecutor
of the
Lord
Jesus
and
his
church.
He
consented
to
the
murder
and
the
beatings
and
the
false
imprisonments.
Jesus
rescued
him
from
all of
that
miraculously,
from all
the guilt
and the
condemnation
that went
with that
life of
wickedness.
He was
forgiven.
His debt
was wiped
clean.
He was set
free.
He's made
right with
God.
He's been
gathered back
into relationship
with God.
He's been
given eternal
life all
by grace.
God's
favor rested
on him.
God's
sin.
How's
that
possible?
Verse 28,
the
church
of God
which he
bought
with the
blood
of his
own.
The
Lord
Jesus
shed
his
blood
for the
sins
of the
world.
And
it is
the
act
that
changes
the
course
of
history
and
that
changed
the
course
of
Paul's
life.
Paul
was
included
in
God's
mission
of
redemption.
And
being
captured
by
God's
mission
he
was
able
to
say
I
consider
my
life
worth
nothing
to
me.
If
only
I
may
finish
the
race
and
complete
the
task
the
Lord
has
given
me.
You
see
the
pattern
of
Paul's
life
ever
since
becoming
a
Christian
was
commitment
to
Christ
that
superseded
self
interest.
He
had a
job
to
do.
He's
preoccupied
with
something
better
than life
itself
in the
Lord
Jesus.
He's
not
being
reckless.
He's
not
being
irresponsible.
He's
not
being
suicidal
when
he
says
that
he
considers
his
life
worth
nothing.
He
is
simply
saying
that
Jesus
is
greater
than
my
career,
than
my
ministry,
than
my
success,
than
my
money,
my
possessions,
my
holidays,
my
children,
my
body,
my
significance,
my
fulfillment,
my
preservation,
my
life.
The
same
commitment
was
beautifully
evident
in the
life of
one
Iranian
pastor
who
was
imprisoned
on
charges
of
apostasy
in
1984.
He
was
on
death
row
for
nine
years
before
he
finally
got
his
day
in
court.
On
the
3rd
December
1993
he
wrote
a
defense
to
the
Sari
Court
of
Justice
and
this
is
part
of
what
he
wrote.
He
summarized
his
life
with
these
words.
I'm
a
Christian.
As
a
sinner
I
believe
Jesus
has
died
for
my
sins
on
the
cross
and
by
his
resurrection
and
victory
over
death
has
made
me
righteous
in
the
presence
of
the
holy
God.
In
response
to
this
kindness
he
has
asked
me
to
deny
myself
and
be
his
fully
surrendered
follower
and
not
to
fear
people
even
if
they
should
kill
my
body.
Life
for
me
is
an
opportunity
to
serve
him
and
death
is
a
better
opportunity
to
be
with
Christ
therefore
I'm
not
only
satisfied
to be
in
prison
for
the
honor
of
his
holy
name
but
I'm
ready
to
give
my
life
for
the
sake
of
Jesus
my
Lord
and
enter
his
kingdom
sooner
the
place
where
the
elect
of
God
enter
everlasting
life.
Finally
the
charges
of
apostasy
were
removed
he
was
released
from
prison
in
1994
but
what
was
not
removed
was
the
death
sentence.
Three
days
after being
released
from
prison
he
was
abducted
murdered
and
his
body
was
thrown
in
a
park.
See
Paul's
vision
shaped
life
is
on
full
display
he's
saying
by
my
life
I'm
showing
you
that
my
life
is
caught
up
in
God's
story
the
story
of
my
life
is
caught
up
in
God's
story
of
the
world
he
says
in
verse
18
you
know
how
I
lived
the
whole
time
I
was
with
you
I
served
the
Lord
with
great
humility
and
with
tears
although
I
was
severely
tested
by
the
plots
of
the
Jews
and
then
down
in
verse
things
humility
honesty
industry
hard
work
meeting
needs
generosity
characterized
his
life
and
verse
20
is
the
work
that
he
especially
labored
hard
in
again
you
know
again
guys
look
at
me
you
know
that
I
have
not
hesitated
to
preach
anything
that
would
be
helpful
to
you
but
have
taught
you
publicly
and from house to house, I have declared to both Jews and Greeks,
in other words, everyone, that they must turn to God in repentance
and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
And so Paul's mission-shaped life
meant he discharged his duty to make the good news of God's grace
in Jesus Christ be known to all.
In fact, so thoroughly was his discharging of this duty
that he says in verse 26,
In other words, I have not failed to discharge that duty.
See, in the gospel of the Lord Jesus, Paul discovered a greater treasure than himself.
And it resulted in a gospel-shaped life,
both in its authenticity and in its attention to focus
on proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ
from a heart of love and acts of service.
And so, having said that, the apostle Paul left the Ephesian elders.
He sailed off to keep giving his life to God's mission.
He was arrested in Jerusalem, as he knew he would be.
And by the providence of God, he ended up being transferred to Rome under God.
He's like, he's gone to head office now.
And the final two verses of the Acts of the Apostles says this.
You know, like, now that he's arrested, has he lost his focus?
Here's the final two verses.
For two whole years, Paul stayed there in his own rented house
and welcomed all who came to see him.
Boldly and without hindrance,
he preached the kingdom of God
and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Right to the very end.
Although he's bound by house arrest,
what this is saying here is that the word of God wasn't.
This servant of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
will soon lose his life,
but the gospel will keep on advancing to the ends of the earth.
Paul will be dead,
but Jesus is still alive.
And when we commit ourselves to the Lord Jesus and his gospel,
we are committing to God's unstoppable, eternal purposes.
The ripple effects of God's mission
will only grow in magnitude for all of eternity.
Who would have thought that 2,000 years later,
we would be talking about the apostle Paul
in a country that he never knew existed.
You want impact for your life?
There's impact.
You want to leave a legacy?
There's a legacy.
In the past couple of weeks,
you've potentially seen in the media
about a young American missionary,
26 years of age,
went to North Centauri Islands
in the Indian Ocean
and was killed.
Just nod your head if you've seen that.
I have seen secular media just cane this guy.
What an idiot throwing his life away like that.
I've seen Christians saying exactly the same thing.
What a waste of life.
Is it?
We Christians have got a tendency to say the same thing
as the world.
And we don't learn from history.
In the 1800s,
two men went to a place called New Hebrides,
which is now called Vanuatu.
John Williams and James Harris.
First two missionaries
out of the London Missionary Society
got on a boat,
went to the New Hebrides,
walked on a beach,
and within 10 minutes of walking on the beach,
both of them were clubbed to death.
They were cooked and eaten
before the ship had pulled anchor and left.
You go back to the church in Scotland
where they came from
and they said,
what a wasted life.
Two young men,
lives are gone.
What a wasted life.
Within 15 years,
a man named John Patton said,
I'll be the next.
John Patton goes down there
and the church in Scotland said,
don't do it,
they'll eat you.
Patton walked onto the beach
and after 30 odd years of ministry,
the whole island of Inewa
was converted.
And today,
60% of Vanuatu
declares itself to be Christian.
And John Patton says,
the way was opened by God
through the blood of two men.
And I've just mentioned
John Williams
and James Harris
who are still known in the history books,
who still leave a lasting legacy
even though their lives were cut short.
Who knows what God is going to do
in the North Sentinelese Islands
as he by his Holy Spirit
could convict people
for the atrocity they've committed
against another human being.
We don't know.
And the only reason you would say
that life's a wasted life
is because you've been captured
by a different story.
See, God's story,
his mission in the world
is what I've just said.
But there's another story
that's arisen
in the last couple of hundred years
and it's taken up residence
in the soul of the Western world.
And it's becoming
more and more dominant
and it's very dominant now.
It's become the purpose of life
for much of the Western world
and the technical term for it
is philosophical naturalism.
That's a fancy name
for materialism.
And it's worth comparing
the story of philosophical naturalism
which is in our lifeblood
in this society
to God's story.
This is a three-chapter story.
Philosophical naturalism,
materialism is a three-chapter story.
It goes like this.
Big bang, evolution, nothing.
In the big bang,
there's no supernatural
or spiritual power.
There's no creator.
There's nothing that rules
the physical universe.
Everything that can be seen
and measured
is a,
which is the only thing that exists,
only things that can be seen
and measured
is a result of an explosion
that appeared out of nothing
billions of years ago.
That's chapter one.
Random.
Boom.
Chapter two.
Is that this earth,
which is a result of that boom,
is in exactly the right place,
revolving around the sun
at exactly the right speed
in order for life to evolve.
Against all the odds,
humanity has evolved
from prehistoric soup
to be the dominant species
on the earth
for the time being.
And despite what people might think,
despite what they might feel,
there is no such thing
as absolute right or wrong.
If you happen to feel
that there is an absolute right or wrong,
it's because there's a chemical reaction
in your brain
as a result of evolution.
But you've just got to ignore that
because it's just not true.
Because everything is an accident
and it's random,
then there is no absolute purpose in life.
You can create purpose for life.
You can create your own purpose
if you want to,
but that's something
that you have created
as a finite being.
And that's what you'd need
in order to exist in life,
then that's fine,
but it's not real.
And so,
that means that this life
is all you have,
make the most of it,
and the goal of this life
is for you to be as happy
as you possibly can be.
And to be as happy
as you possibly can be,
you must consume experiences
and accumulate things.
And the reason you must do that
is because chapter three is there.
And it could happen at any time.
The sun is just going to burn up.
We're going to slip our axis
and spin off into the Netherlands.
Humanity will become extinct.
There's no form of afterlife.
There's no survival of the conscience.
The story of materialism
is that this life is it.
Which is why when a 26-year-old
throws his life away,
we go,
what an idiot.
We call that a wasted life.
Where materialism says
everything is random,
there's no good or evil,
there's nothing to hope for,
the biblical storyline
is that we have a loving creator
who has triumphed over evil
at great cost to himself
to love you dearly.
And we look forward to a day
when everything that's wrong
is going to be made right.
And we will live with him
in blissful joy
for all of eternity.
I've got to tell you,
the biblical storyline
just seems so much more compelling.
And it's not just compelling.
If you're not convinced by it,
it is true
and I can show you how it's true.
I can tell you
that it is more reasonable
than every other
of the grand narratives
that are out there.
And if you're not a Christian,
I'd invite you to jump on board
with this
and start investigating
the claims of Jesus
and his worldview today.
But here's the thing.
Philosophical naturalism
or God's biblical storyline,
whichever one you choose,
it will require
demand of you,
your time,
your talents,
and your treasures.
Whichever one you serve,
you're serving it.
And that's why I'm calling you today
to serve the biblical.
Don't keep a foot
in both worlds.
I'm calling you
to jump on board
with God's storyline.
One of the things
we're doing practically tonight
is pledging.
We do this every year.
One of the things
that I do
is I declare
what Natalie and I
and the kids
are giving
to this mission
in this church.
And staff
and parish council
follow me.
I get this from
1 Chronicles 29.
I've written about this
a number of times.
Staff and parish council
follow me
and then I invite
the rest of you
to follow.
For next year,
Natalie and I
are giving
$350 a week
to God's mission
in St. Paul's.
Our giving to poor
and mission
is on top of that.
Staff and parish council
have in this week
followed suit
and they have pledged
$3,823 per week
between them.
That's 40%,
almost 40%
of our target
that we're hoping
to reach
just from staff
and parish council.
They've also contributed
$16,170
to our 50,000
project
for our local
mission project
for our next gen ministries.
That's 30%
that's been raised
from parish council
and staff
and they have
contributed
$2,450
towards the
Ropes Crossing
Global Mission Project.
Staff and parish council
have put 50%
towards that one
already.
What I'm calling you
to do
is to play your part
in God's mission
and to do it
on purpose here.
God's mission
is to overthrow
Satan
gathering people
to himself
through the Lord Jesus
so that they
might live forever
in his presence
as his much-loved
children.
God's plan
is to gather
children to himself
to be in the likeness
of his true son
the Lord Jesus
remember he tribe,
language, nation
and people.
How do you purposely
play your part
in God's mission
in this world?
Very simply
by surrendering
your time,
your talents
and your treasures
to the cause of Christ
in such a way
that it makes
Jesus look magnificent.
It makes your life
look like
it is out of step
with philosophical
naturalism.
We don't live for that.
We live for this.
And it means
things like
as we pull in
the whole series
together,
we grow up in the
character of the Lord
Jesus so that
our motive to see
God glorified
is love
and our actions
are service of others.
We pray that God
will open the eyes
and transform hearts
that people might see
the beauty
and the glory
and the worth
of Christ.
We proclaim
the good news
that Jesus died
for sins.
He's risen triumphant
over all evil
and reign supreme
as Lord of all.
And we do it together
as his people.
We do it by supporting
what God has been doing
and is doing
at the moment
around the world.
We do it
wherever God
has placed us
as his ambassadors
in societies.
We heard from
Coe earlier
about being at school.
I want to ask you
as we come
to the end
of this series,
how have you been
going with your
My Purpose
Health Checkup?
What is the next step?
Don't just sit here
and absorb
but don't do anything.
What is the next step
you need to take?
I plead with you
not just sit
comfortable.
Is it a crawl?
Is it a walk?
Is it a run?
Do you need to take
the first step
in fact
and start following
Jesus tonight?
Do you need to
increase the regularity
that you have at church?
Do you need to prepare
your heart
for corporate worship
so that you don't
just turn up
when the music starts
but you're actually
ready to engage
to sing,
to pray,
to listen to God,
to engage with others?
Do you need to
join a community group?
Do it.
Sign up at the table
tonight.
Do you need to
start serving
and join a ministry team?
Sign up at the table
tonight.
Do you need to
take further steps
towards radical
generosity with your
resources?
Do that tonight.
Do you need to
start praying for
someone to know
the truth and for
opportunities for you
to speak the truth?
Do you need,
first of all,
just to learn what
the truth is and
how to speak it well?
What is the next
step?
That your life
might be on
purpose,
aligned
to God's
purpose,
to God's
story?
What do you
need to do
to take the
next step
to jump into
God's storyline
and find
real impact,
real legacy?