Series Title: Just Salvos Sermon Outlines

Message Title: God’s Mission

Sermon Outline: God’s Mission

Topic: / The whole world mobilising into God’s mission
Main Point: / The Mission is God’s
Intended Response: / For individuals to let go of agendas and strategies and directly connect with the mission of God.
Key Verse: / Luke 10:1-24
Mission Intention / Caring for people, Creating faith pathways, Building healthy communities, Working for justice.

Introduction:

Jesus modelled how to do mission.

We have been called to be like Jesus.

  1. Jesus initiated the mission – Sent

Jesus sent the disciples -mission must be initiated by God.

Jesus sent the disciples in pairs - team ministry is ideal.

Point One:Mission must be initiated by God and it is best that we go in groups to the community.

Response One: Ask God to reveal to us his plan for us just where he has placed us or where he would like to send us.

  1. Jesus directed and prepared the mission

The disciples were completely dependent on God in prayer.

Although the disciples felt vulnerable as they engaged in mission, Jesus prepared people of peace to encourage them.

We are all missionaries and Jesus is our leader.

Point Two: We are all missionaries and Jesus orchestrates and prepares the mission.

Response Two: Put aside any missional strategies from the past and know that all of us are able to connect with the mission of God through prayer and obedience.

  1. Jesus received all the glory from the mission and the disciples were blessed.

When we go in the strength of the Lord, Jesus shows up.

Jesus gets all the glory and the disciples are truly blessed

Point Three: When we engage in mission as Jesus commands, God gets all the glory.

Response Three: Surrender our lives to the mission of God.

Illustrations:
Resources:

Sermon Outline: The Mission of God

Introduction: / Often in The Salvation Army we have been dependent on mission being carried out by “evangelism specialists”, or by a clever program run by people who are appear to be especially gifted to share faith. We have sometimes beentaught that only a select few from every corps aregifted enough to be missionaries. There has been a wide range of evangelism courses, leadership manuals, mission programs and teams, which have been experimented with in the past with some success - a success we should celebrate.Butthe idea that only a select few can do mission is not biblical and is perhaps the reason we don’t experience the same reality or outcomes as the New Testament disciples.
What we learn from the text today is that Jesus sends and appoints 72 unknown, vulnerable, every day and ordinary disciples on a mission. The missional outcome is amazing and Jesus shares the joy with the disciples.
Transition / Jesus shows us that every one of us who is calleda disciple - that is every one of us who is aiming to be like Jesus - can be involved in this exciting mission of salvation. It’s not just for an exclusive or specialised few, it is for every one of us - “the whole world mobilised”. Let’s discover what Jesus had in mind.
Scripture Reading / Luke 10: 1-24
10After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.2He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.3Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.4Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’6If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you.7Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.9Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’10But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say,11‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’12I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
13“Woe to you, Chorazin!Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.14But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.15And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.[b]
16“Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
17The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
18He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.19I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.20However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
21At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
22“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
23Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.24For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
Transition / “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see” – said Jesus. Do you want to be a people like these disciples who were experiencing the wonders of God? Let us dig deeper to see what led to this amazing experience.
1. Mission must be initiated by God and it’s best we go in groups into community. / 10After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.
The Mission of God is not a game, not a specialised program, but a reality that God invites us into;areality he creates.
We read in this text that Jesus appointed seventy two disciples. This implies that these disciples knew Jesus and had made themselves available to Jesus. Surrendered their lives to him for him to bless and use.
But the main point to take from this text is that Jesus was in charge and the disciples trusted him. As followers of Jesus we need to remember that He is our Lord and master and he equips us for the task that he prepares for us.
Testimony: Share a testimony of a person you know who has handed their life over to Jesus and Jesus has used their availability.
As well as Jesus initiating the mission, he also prepares the way for us.
3Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
As we read in verse 3,mission can often be messyand sometimes scary as we are called to love others;others, who are often people we would not choose to love.
It is a lot easier to engage in mission when you have a team of people. A group who can support each other, pray for each other and keep an eye out for each other.
Illustration: Use the analogy of a football field. Everyone has a different role but are working together to support the team.
When we work together in teams we have less chance of loneliness, self-doubt, fear and isolation, which can often lead to mental health problems, burnout, disillusion, and ultimately no mission.
When we travel in teams of two or more we are more likely to achieve the mission, as we are like-minded, supported, encouraged and most importantly, we have someone we can share the journey with. Debrief, discuss the mission, laugh, cry and cheer each other on.
Point 1: / Mission is initiated by God.
Transition / Jesus doesn’t only model to us that it is God who initiates the mission, he also commands us to be led and guided by him.
2. Jesus directed and prepared the mission / Luke 10:2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
The disciples were taught to be completely dependent on God in prayer - to remember that it is God who prompts and equips people for mission.
How often have we been taught that mission is down to us? Whilethere is some truth in that, as we need to be obedient and do what God asks, the reality is that God leads the mission.If God is not leading us there is a risk that we take over the plan and lead it to a place it was never meant to go.
Illustration: For example in recentyears The Salvation Army embraced the idea that if we simply changed how we deliver church servicesmore people would come to our meetings. However, The Salvation Army was born to take the reality of Jesus to the streets, toneighbourhoods, family, friends and enemies, wherever life happens.
When we do what Jesus asks we will see the fruit.
Howevermission implies vulnerability. Jesus tells us not to take any special resources with us but to be completely dependent on Him and the provision he has made for us in the community.
It has been easier for us to sit in our pews than to take the risk of building relationships with people around us.
The good news of this text is Jesus promises that he has prepared people of peace for us to find in our community.
People are being prepared for us to find. As we ask God each day to raise up workers, God is answering our prayers by preparing people for us to find.
Mission has to be relational. We know there is a cost in building relationships and obviously to find people of peacewe also need to be prepared that we might find people of conflict.
Yet Jesus emphasises the wonderful things that can happen when we start building relationships with people of peace.
Building relationships might mean be having coffee, sharing meals, listening to people, using your skills and abilities to connect with those around you. You may have a passion for justice, for animals, for science, for sport. God will use these passions in his mission.We will see the birth of positive, caring, trusting, inspiring and Godly community when we surrender ourselves to him. We are just where he placed us to work with him to raise up workers and build relationships with people of peace -otherwise known as church.
Point 2: / We are all called to be missionaries and Jesus orchestrates and prepares the mission.
Transition / So as we unlearn some of the missional strategies from the past and realise that all of us are to be mobilised into God’s mission we will start to experience a whole new reality, one in which Jesus gets all the glory!
  1. 3. Jesus got all the glory from the mission
/ Jesus got all the glory from the mission.
When the disciples returned from the mission they were full of joy, because they had seen God in action. They had experienced something so unique and exciting that Jesus broke into prayer saying:
“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
22“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
23Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.24For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
I don’t know about you but I want to be like these disciples and live a life where this joyful experience is my everyday reality. Where amazing things happen, which can only be explained by the presence and power of Jesus. This happens when we point people to Jesus.
This way of participating in God’s mission is not only effective but moves people towards life in all its fullness. We become full of joy from seeing the reality of God at work in our lives.
Point 3: / Jesus got all the glory from the mission and the disciples were blessed.
Call to Action / Have we surrendered our lives to Jesus? Are we doing our best to make our own path straight? How’s it working for you? Are we trying to build our own empire or have we been brave enough to surrender to God’s? Are we seeing lives transformed in such a way that people are now experiencing the reality of God? Are you coming away from mission with such an overwhelming joy that you know, like these 72 unknown disciples, that you are blessed?
Today let us come to Jesus and surrender our lives to his will for us. Let us engage in mission by letting God himself use our availability, our ordinary everyday lives to be lights and witnesses to those around us. We must remember that the mission is God’s – we must take time to listen to Jesus, to be led, guided and participate in the mission, which is orchestrated by him. Our role is to stay close to Jesus, listen to Jesus and learn to do what he asks of us.
Closing Prayer / God forgive us when we get in the way of your mission, your will and your purposes. Today we ask that you teach us to listen to you and learn to be obedient to what you command us.We ask you to raise people within our community out of darkness into light. Help us to find the people you are preparing for us to meet and give us the courage to build positive, caring, trusting and God glorifying relationships with them. May we see our Army mobilised to be the representation of Jesus to the hurting world we live in. God bless us and our Army.