God's Mission, My Mission

Introduction to the Quarter:

Quit Talking and Start Doing Something!

When it comes to witnessing, what good are council meetings, studies and many gatherings to talk about witnessing, if we never do any of it?


"This quarter?s Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide is designed to focus attention on getting out there and doing something. We will examine many wonderful Bible stories. We will read about exciting experiences and illustrations. We will learn about available resources to assist us in reaching out to our neighbors (especially to those who have no Christian background). But those will just be ways of illustrating and motivating us. The real focus, the real heart, of each lesson is what will be shared on Thursday each week?a challenge to get out and actually do something."

The first lesson

On Sunday (October 1)
GOD WHO REACHES OUT TO US

What were God's first words after Adam and Eve fell?

WHERE ARE YOU?
Of course God knew exactly where they were, yet instead of simply sending an angel to drive them out of Eden and lock the door to life, God came calling out to them. Though due to their decision to listen to the serpent, death and sin was now unleashed and would reign, yet God came, calling out to them, with a remarkable plan by which He offered them another chance to have life.


Perspective Digest just came out with an article that fits this lesson and brings it to our modern day:

Can we hear God's call?

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? by Gary Swanson.



Yes, as the Sabbath School quarterly notes:
"Throughout history, God continues to ask: "Where are you?" What does this mean for you, and how have you answered Him?

Indeed Jesus says: "I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3:20)

Remember, Jesus does not want you to be lost. He is calling every day, where are you? Let Me into your life in all aspects of your life.
Yes,in the world you will have trouble, but I (Jesus) have overcome the world, and have come to give you peace and everlasting life!

God Desires to be with us!!!

Matt. 1:20-24 "behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
"Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

1 Timothy 3:16 "without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh"

Colosians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

What a tremendous thought! God with us, in human flesh. The One by Whom all things were created, (John 1:3) By whom all things are sustained (Heb. 1:3) Beloved of all heaven, yet he came to this planet be WITH US!

The Word (Jesus) Who was with God, wants to be WITH US, here on this little speck of a world.
He is the eternal One who was pros ton theon with the Father (John 1:1), That's a Greek phrase that means ?with God? or ?toward God.? He was face-to-face with God, sitting with Him on the throne of the universe, yet he became flesh to be face-to-face with us.

Only One who is truly God can reconcile us to God. Yet only One who becomes flesh can substitute for us. Wonder of wonders, One who was face-to-face with God and man, truly God and truly man, has come to save us. Is it any surprise that we are called to tremble with awe ?

What a thought -- God wants to be with us.
And God plans for us to be with Him for eternity --
He has made all the provisions for us to be there.
The final choice is ours.

Example of missions -- Abraham.

Of course we realize the greatest blessing coming through the linage of Abraham, is our Savior, Jesus Christ, Who was in the beginning with God, and was God with God, (John 1:1)yet became flesh, (John 1:14) born of a woman (Gen. 3:15, Gal. 4:4) taking on the seed of Abraham (Galatian 3:16) and He dwelt among us. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons and daughters of God, even to them that believe on his (Jesus Christ our Savior's) name (John 1:12,14)

It is through Christ that "the seed of Abraham" will inherit the land!
The literal offspring inherited a little of the land with lots of strife and conflict, but the full promise is for those in Christ --
"And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3:29)


However the lesson is about missions --
Abraham was also called to be a missionary.

God also loved the Canaanites knowing full well they were filling their cup of iniquity and heading to destruction and was giving them Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to live among them as a witness of the true God, to call them back to a worship of God while their door of mercy was still open.

God loved those Egyptians and sent Abraham to witness to them.
The bible said that Pharaoh treated them well while they were in Egypt and did not take away anything from them when they left. Pharaoh, once he realized he'd been lied to, even rebuked Abraham and Sarah and asked why they didn't uphold truth, and sent them away in disgrace.

Had Abraham been a faithful witness to Pharaoh, instead of lying to protect himself, how would his witness have been different???

In this week's study, we find that Abraham messed up a very important missionary journey! Though God was blessing Abraham, His love wasn't just for Abraham -- sometimes it seems we tend to think that, but Abraham was being blessed in order to bring blessings to the nations.

Sadly Abraham's blunder wasn't just a last minute slip, he had problems that needed fixing as most humans do. Abraham did it more than one occasion, in fact he told his wife to say she was his sister every place they went, and his son Isaac did the same thing. (Gen 20:2, Gen. 20:13, Gen.26:7-10)

It just shows the custom of the day placed a rather low value on women and wives, they could be dispensed of to protect the male. We see it even worse with Lot (Gen. 19:8) It makes one wonder if Abraham (and Isaac) loved his wife why wouldn't he protect her, why would he deliberately expose her to abuse and danger in order to save himself. It could have been any other Egyptian, not just the king who desired to have her? Why would Abraham sacrifice her to possible abuse to avoid any possible harm to himself?

Even the Egyptians realized it was wrong, even if it was a common practice of their time, yet we realize God worked with people, in spite of serious cultural issues?
How does that fit in with our idea of mission and revealing God's character?

Of course, God, in Abraham's case intervened. He kept the Egyptians from committing a great sin and restored Abraham's wife back to Him. Yes, God is merciful and patient! And interestingly, every time Abraham came up with a plan that excluded Sarah, God said, no, Sarah, your wife will be the mother of the promised heir. We can learn a lot from that story about our duty as reflectors of God's character in mission work, dealing with culture, and with each other, as well as learning to trust explicitly in God

Lesson three, Thursday
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.?

Powered by the Holy Spirit.

Without the Holy Spirit it is "mission impossible".

But with the Holy Spirit we WILL be Christ's witnesses, both in our present location, and beyond as God leads.

This weeks lesson is mainly about Jonah.
Why is there reluctance and excuses to engage in the mission God calls us?

Jonah did NOT LIKE the Ninevites. And he had plenty of human reasons to not like them.
But God saw things differently, and used a very reluctant and unwilling person to reach out to them.

This story appeared on Facebook and really hits home on how human nature tends to regard people, but God sees things differently. How would we respond?


STORY
This is the most heart touching story that I have read in a long time.
Jim preaches at a church in the slums of New York. He tells the following story:

It was Easter Sunday, and I was so tired at the end of the day that I just went to the edge of the platform, pulled down my tie and sat down and draped my feet over the edge. It was a wonderful service with many people coming forward. The counselors were talking with these people.
As I was sitting there, I looked up the middle aisle, and there in about the third row was a man who looked about fifty, disheveled, filthy. He looked up at me rather sheepishly, as if saying, ?Could I talk to you?? We have homeless people coming in all the time, asking for money or whatever. So, as I sat there, I said to myself, though I am ashamed of it, ?What a way to end a Sunday. I?ve had such a good time, preaching and ministering, and here?s a fellow probably wanting some money for more wine.?
He walked up. When he got within about five feet of me, I smelled a horrible smell like I?d never smelled in my life. It was so awful that when he got close, I would inhale by looking away, and then I?d talk to him, and then look away to inhale, because I couldn?t inhale facing him.
I asked him, ?What?s your name?? ?David.? ?How long have you been on the street?? ?Six years.? ?How old are you?? ?Thirty-two.? He looked fifty?hair matted, front teeth missing, wino, eyes slightly glazed. ?Where did you sleep last night, David?? ?Abandoned truck.?
I keep in my back pocket a money clip that also holds some credit cards. I fumbled to pick one out thinking, I?ll give him some money.
I won?t even get a volunteer. They are all busy talking with others. Usually we don?t give money to people; we take them to get something to eat. I took the money out. David pushed his finger in front of me. He said, ?I don?t want your money. I want this Jesus, the One you were talking about, because I?m not going to make it.
I?m going to die on the street.?
I completely forgot about David, and I started to weep for myself. I was going to give a couple of dollars to someone God had sent to me. See how easy it is? I could make the excuse I was tired. There is no excuse. I was not seeing him the way God sees him. I was not feeling what God feels.
But oh, did that change! David just stood there. He didn?t know what was happening. I pleaded with God, ?God, forgive me! Forgive me! Please forgive me. I am so sorry to represent You this way. I?m so sorry. Here I am with my message and my points, and You send somebody and I am not ready for it. Oh, God!?
Something came over me. Suddenly I started to weep deeper, and David began to weep. He fell against my chest as I was sitting there. He fell against my white shirt and tie, and I put my arms around him, and there we wept on each other. The smell of His person became a beautiful aroma. Here is what I thought the Lord made real to me: If you don?t love this smell, I can?t use you, because this is why I called you where you are. This is what you are about. You are about this smell.
Christ changed David?s life. He started memorizing portions of Scripture that were incredible. We got him a place to live. We hired him in the church to do maintenance, and we got his teeth fixed.
He was a handsome man when he came out of the hospital. They detoxed him in 6 days.
He spent that Thanksgiving at my house. He also spent Christmas at my house. When we were exchanging presents, he pulled out a little thing, and he said, ?This is for you.? It was a little white hanky. It was the only thing he could afford.
A year later, David got up and talked about his conversion to Christ. The minute he took the mic and began to speak, I said, ?The man is a preacher.? This past Easter, we ordained David. He is an associate minister of a church over in New Jersey.
And I was so close to saying, ?Here, take this; I?m a busy preacher.? We can get so full of ourselves.
Lord, thank you for sending others our way. May we never stop seeing them as Your precious children no matter how busy or tired we become. Amen

When hate is allowed to grow and fester it poisons even those who serve God and we see it here with Jonah, and you see the end results in the war in Israel against Gaza.

What a miraculous story of love and the grace of God.

Thanks for sharing it. It brought tears to my eyes.

Christ's method
1. He mingled with people.
2. He desired their good.
3. He sought them out.
4. He manifested an interest in their lives
5. He showed sympathy
6. He ministered to their needs.
7. He won their confidence
8. He invited them to follow Him.