Today we look at the fifth purpose, for which God made you. It's the only purpose you can only do on earth. It's there on your outline: You were made for a mission. In John 17, verse 18, Jesus said this, "In the same way that you gave Me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world." Circle the phrase "in the world." Last week we talked about how you need a ministry in the church. You also need a mission in the world.

Today we're going to look at the common mission that we all share together with every believer. In John 20:21, Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." What are we being sent to do? Paul is very specific. He tell us in Acts 20, "the most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work the Lord Jesus gave me to tell people the good news about God's grace."

So write this down, my fifth purpose is to share the Good News. Once I know that God is in control, once I know that God made me to love me, once I know that my life isn't an accident, that life has a purpose, all the things we've been talking about, God expects me to share that with other people. Everything we've been talking about for the last 40 days, God says once you understand it, I want you to pass it on to other people. The bible word for this is "evangelism." One thing Christians and non-Christians have in common is neither of them like that word because it makes you think of guys on TV who say "send me your money." But that's not what evangelism is at all or an evangelist. Evangelism is just the Greek word for "good news." The Bible says that once I know the Good News, that God loves me, has a purpose and plan for my life and all the things we've talked about, God wants me to pass it on, sharing the Good News with others.

Where am I supposed to share it? Well, let's look at the next verse - Acts 1:8. "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When Jesus said this to his followers they were in Jerusalem. So he's saying, first, I want you to start at home, with the people closest to you right there in your own city, your own community. Then he says I want you to go to Judea and Samaria, that's like the county next door and Samaritans happen to be different culturally and different racially. So He said, "I want you to go to people nearby, but they are different from you." Then He says, "I want you to go to the ends of the earth. I want you to go reach everybody else."

Now, first I want you to notice He doesn't say here you will be my defense attorney or my prosecutor. He didn't say you will be my salesman. You don't have to defend God. All God wants you to do is He wants you to be a witness. What is a witness? A witness is somebody who just tells what they have seen. A witness tells what happened to them. God says he just wants us to tell other people what's happened to us, what's happened in our life. And He says he wants us to go all over, the people close to us, the people who are near, but different, and then to everybody else.

Why does He say this? Because we go back to what we said the second week, God is building a family of people who love and trust Him, that are going to spend eternity with Him. That is the whole point of history. And God wants family members from every nation. This is not Mission Impossible. It's mission inevitable. Look at the next verse, "This was God's plan for all of history which He carried out through Christ Jesus, our Lord." Here's the amazing part: God has chosen us to complete the mission. The mission that Jesus Christ started when He came to earth, He says, I want you guys to finish it. God puts the future of the world in our hands.

I heard this story: God is talking with an angel, and God says "My plan is to give the Good News to My children on earth and ask them to share it."
The angel says, "What if they don't? What is plan B?"
And God says, "There is no plan B."

How do you get on God's agenda, letting God use and bless you so that you can complete your mission? You do three things: first, to complete my God-given mission, I must share with those in my world. That's the starting point. Once, when Jesus healed a man he wanted to travel with Jesus. But Jesus said, "No." In Luke 8, He said this, "'Go back home and tell people how much God has done for you.' So that man went all over town telling how much Jesus had done for him." Circle the phrase "go back home." Jesus says the same thing to you. Your mission starts right at home, in your own neighborhood, in your own community, at your place of work. God wants you to go to your friends, your family, your coworkers, your neighbors, anybody who crosses your path. God says "I want you to share the Good News with the people first in your Jerusalem, with the people in your home."

Why don't we do this? One reason is because we believe the myth that people aren't interested in spiritual issues. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every single poll and every single survey says people are more interested in spiritual things now than they were ten years ago. George Gallup, in a survey, discovered that 65 million Americans have no church home, but 34 million of them said they would attend if somebody would just invite them! Another Gallup poll said teens would rather talk about God than sex, drugs or music. Opportunities to share the Good News really are all around you. You just have to be ready for them. Sometimes it takes a little persistence, but opportunities are all around you in your home, in your Jerusalem. God wants to use you. And there are thousands of ways that you can be a witness saying this is what God did for me in my life. There are also meetings you can invite people to attend where they'll hear the good news. Our "Night of Colour" on Friday 5th May is the next one our Church has lined up. Do invite your friends & acquaintances, using the cards on the table.

The essence of what we need to share with people is very simple. The bible calls us to "repentance and faith". Rick Warren puts it like this: There are four basic steps people have to take to move forward into a meaningful relationship with God.
The first is to "believe God made me to love me and live for his purposes."
The second is to "admit I've wrongly lived for myself, and accept God's free forgiveness which was paid for by Jesus."
The third is to "switch to living for God's purposes for my life."
The fourth is to "express my desire for Jesus to be the Lord or leader of my life."

When you first get married, you don't know all that it would take to be a good husband. The more you learn about your wife and about marriage, the better it gets. Living for God's purposes is similar. Saying, " I was wrong to live selfishly, but now I want Jesus to be Lord of my life" and accepting Him is a great way to start; but the more you learn, the better it gets.

Why should we take the time to share the good news of Jesus with someone else? Why does God leave us here on earth? There's only two things you can't do in heaven. One is sin and the other is tell people who don't know it the Good News about God's love. Which of those two reasons do you think you're still alive for? Look at the next verse – 2 Peter 3:9, "God doesn't want anyone to be lost, but He wants all people to change their hearts and lives!" God is not willing that any should perish. And as long as there's one person on earth who doesn't know the Good News, God says we've got to keep reaching out. God cares about your neighbors, your coworkers, everyone, so much that in Jesus God died for them. We have to care because God cares.

If you want God's blessing on your life, you must care about what God cares about most, which is people - your friends and neighbors and coworkers and loved ones and relatives who don't know Jesus. We have the best news in the world. We have to share it. God wants everyone to know Him, but it starts in our own home or workplace, in our own town, in our own community, our Jerusalem.

You were made for a mission, that's the fifth purpose of your life. So, first, I must share with those in my world. But that's not enough. Number two, I must dare to reach beyond my world. Love demands I move beyond my comfort zone to people with a different background, education, language, economics. Our mission has such eternal consequences, that we must be willing to risk anything to get the message out. If you had the cure for aids, wouldn't you be shouting it on the street? It would be criminal to keep it a secret. But we have something even more important than that, the way to eternal life. It has been given to us - somebody cared enough to tell me, I've got to be caring enough to tell others. The Bible says this in I Corinthians 9, "Whatever each person is like, I try to find common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him." Christians are called to build bridges, not walls, to reach out to others. God expects us to make the first move. In fact, over and over again God says it in one word -- "go." You can't spell "God" without "go." You can't spell "Good News" without "go." You can't spell "gospel" without "go." You have to go!

I must dare to reach beyond my world. Look at this next verse, Galatians 6:2, "Stoop down and reach out to those who were oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law." What is Christ's law? Love your neighbor as yourself. He says, "Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed." God says our actions are proved by our love. Look at the next verse, "Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: reach out to the homeless and the loveless in their plight." Jesus always rooted for the underdog that people in that society wanted to ignore, the powerless, the poor, the left behind, the imprisoned, the orphaned, the widowed, the aged, the mentally ill, the social outcasts, sick, the lepers. If Jesus were alive today, He'd be hanging out with people in need; he'd probably be at an aids hospice, caring for those that everybody else wants to kind of turn their back on.

One day we're going to stand before God and He's going to do an audit of our lives, and He's going to judge if we really learned to love or if it was just all talk. The Bible says one day Jesus is going to separate people into two groups: sheep and goats. And He's going to say to one group, Matthew 25. "I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty and you gave Me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited Me into your home. I was naked, and you gave Me clothing. I was sick and you cared for Me. I was in prison and you visited Me." If you go back and read the rest of that story, Matthew 25, people are going to say, "When did we do that for you, Lord?" And He says, "when you have done it to one of the least of my brothers or sisters, you've done it to Me." When you give a cup of cold water to somebody who is thirsty, when you give a shoe box of toys to a child on the other side of the world who has never had anything, Jesus said, "it is just like did you it for me."

We have the opportunity as a Church to reach out to people in need through the work of "L'Echoppe", which is run by the local Eglise Reformee. Here food is given to those in need, and sometimes clothes. Every November we can help in the nationwide collection outside the supermarkets. On the first Sunday of each month we can bring food to our church building, and it will be passed on through "L'Echoppe". There are opportunities for those who are available in the daytime to help with the distribution. Please speak to Alison Coulavin for more information. We are able to help asylum seekers from time to time, as our Church members are brought into contact with them & appeals are made. The Christian group at the university is launching a scheme to help give food to students in need. Other organizations exist in the city & around to help those in need, and I hope we can develop other such projects as we go on.

Christianity is about healing broken, messed up lives. If we're not doing that, are we really Christians? Because that's what it is all about. The whole business of Christianity is healing hurts and helping people. It's love. If you get involved in your mission in the world, it is going to cost you. It will break you out of self-centeredness and comfortable things, and it is going to cost you time and energy and effort and money and maybe even your privacy sometimes; but God has promised eternal rewards.

Look at the next verse. Jesus replied, "Let me assure you that no one has ever given up anything for love of Me and to tell others the Good News" -- that's the mission – "who won't be given back a hundred times over." God does not lie. Do you know what a hundred times over is? That's 10,000% interest on your investment. You're not going to get those rates anywhere in the world! God says, "Whatever you do for me is not in vain." It is not enough to just share with those in my world; it is not even enough to reach beyond my world, to dare to reach beyond it. If I am going to be like Jesus Christ, I must care about the whole world. We have to care because God cares about the whole world. This is going to take you to a new level of spiritual maturity. Mark 16, verse 15, "Jesus said to His followers, 'Go everywhere in the world and tell the Good News to everyone.'" Look at the verse. Was Jesus talking to pastors or missionaries there? No. He's talking to just normal followers. If you're a Christian, Jesus said, "follow Me, and I'll make you a fisher of men." If you're not fishing, you're not following. He says to His followers, go everywhere - because everybody deserves to hear the Good News.

When Jesus said that to His disciples, it was really difficult to travel. Today we have access to the whole world in a way no previous generation did. Many of you travel with work or for pleasure. You can take the good news of Jesus with you. Why not pack some Christian literature to give to people where you visit. English is the most widely spoken language on the planet, so we have the means to communicate. There are also plenty of Christian organizations which are working to help the needy around the world, and to share the Christian message of good news with them. Our Church regularly supports Tearfund, the Christian Relief & Development agency, and one of our members, Tilly Leuring, is currently heading up their work in the D. R. Congo, a place of great need. That means we have a personal link, through which we can channel clothes for orphan children, and other practical gifts. We seek as a Church to support the work of ACAT (Action by Christians Against Torture), particularly by prayer and the writing of letters - Alison would be delighted to enroll you in this or to tell you more. Our Church gives regularly to Compassion International, the American based child sponsorship program, to support its administration, and we encourage families & individuals to sponsor a child abroad. We give to and work in partnership with the Intercontinental Church Society, which is a agency planting and supporting Churches amongst English speakers, particularly in Europe, like our own Church. We also support the Barnabas Fund, which helps Christians in countries where they are persecuted. There are lots of other agencies too, like Every Home for Christ, which I'd be pleased to recommend to you, if God lays a particular need on your heart. Let's also underline that our own Mark & Carine Lewis have applied to go to Burkina Faso as missionaries with Serving In Mission. Their candidature will be before the SIM board on 22nd April, so let's pray for that. If they are accepted, we must do everything we can to give them support in prayer, concern & finances, so they can set off in summer 2007. An exciting prospect, which will open opportunities for members to visit them and contribute to their work practically perhaps.

If you really want to start living, look at this next verse. "If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw their lives away for My sake and the sake of the Good News" -- that's your mission – "will ever know what it means to really live." Fulfilling your mission is the secret of a fulfilled life.

Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you? When you get to heaven, is anybody going to say thank you, thank you for telling me the Good News? You knew it and you didn't keep it a secret. You passed it on. Look at the next verse, Acts 13:36. "David served God's purposes in his own time." That's my prayer for you. As we come to the close of 40 days, this next week, my prayer is that you will serve God's purpose in your generation, in your time. I can't think of a better thing to have on your tombstone, "she served God's purpose in her time," "He served God's purpose in his generation." What is more important than that -- doing what God put you on earth to do? And that's my prayer for you and it is my prayer for me; that people will be able to say it about me, that I served God's purpose in my generation. And I want them to say it about you. Here's the test to know if you have completed your mission or not… are you still alive? If you're still alive, your mission is not completed. So as we close, you've got four possible responses. You can say like Moses, "who me?" Or you can say like Jonah, "not me." Or you can say it like Habakkuk, "why me?" Or you can say like Isaiah, "send me." The most dangerous prayer you can pray is "God use me." I dare you to say it. Do you have enough courage to say, "God use my life?" Watch what happens! Little becomes much when you put it in the Master's hand.

Let's pray. Father, as I looked out on these faces in this service, I know you're calling all of us to accept our mission from you, and I pray you'll give us the courage to do the right thing and not walk away in disobedience. Thank you for the privilege of being invited to be a part of the greatest cause, the building of your family and to be a history maker.

Now, you pray. Say, "Father, more than anything else, I want to fulfill the purposes you made me for. So today, I accept this fifth purpose, my mission to tell others. I want you to use me any time, any way, any place. I want to bring others to you. I want to serve your purpose in my generation. And I want to be a part of what you're doing in the world. From this day forward, I want to build my life around Your eternal purposes, and I want to help our church do the same. Help me to reach one more for Jesus. In your name I pray. Amen."

To receive prayer material & information on Tearfund, please speak to Alan Golton or visit the Tearfund web site www.tearfund.org

Alison Coulavin can tell you all about how to help Tilly Leuring in D R Congo.

To find out more about the Barnabas fund, please speak to Alan Golton or visit their web site www.barnabasfund.org

Talk to Mark & Carine Lewisabout their planned work with SIM - web site www.sim.org

Alison Coulavin is our contact person for ACAT. They have a French web site www.acat.asso.fr and an English site www.fiacat.org

The Compassion International web site is www.compassion.com

Every Home for Christ works to take the gospel message to every home in the world. Its web site is www.ehc.org