MISSIONS
OUTLINES
Selected Scriptures
THE CHALLENGE TO MISSIONS
We must not forget the importance of missions in our
preaching.
The words of Romans 10:13-15 serve as a good
introduction to this
message "How shall they believe in him of whom
they have not heard?". "How shall they hear without a
preacher?" "How shall they
preach except they be sent?"
THE COMMAND TO MISSIONS - Mark
THE CONCERN FOR MISSIONS - Revelation 20:15.
Why should we be concerned about missions? Whoever does not believe in Christ as Savior
will end up the
THE COMMITMENT OF MISSIONS - Romans 121-2, Galatians
6:14
The missionary has a commitment to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the preaching of His cross.
The missionary's main goal is to proclaim Christ.
THE CONTINUATION OF MISSIONS - 2 Timothy 2:2
The missionary is to train those He wins to Christ to
teach others.
Missionaries are to be recruited from those who are
won to Christ.
THE COMMENDATION OF MISSIONS - Daniel 12:3, 1 Thessalonians
2:19-20
************************************************************************************
BEYOND THIS CHURCH
The Sleepy Giant by R.
Darrel Davis (j4y6i4rm@coastalnet.com, davisr@chowan.edu,)
"Once upon a time,
there was a giant who liked to sleep all the time. Mind you, this giant was not
always like that; when he was much younger, he used to go outside all the time
to work in the garden. His father had given him this garden as a gift many
years ago. The giant was very good at gardening; he used to raise some prized
produce there. Now, that he was older, he became lazy and laid
around his house all the time. He neglected the garden that he once loved.
"One day a friend
stopped by his house to see how the giant's garden was doing. When the friend
got there, he discovered that the garden was a total wreck. The soil had not
been tilled in months, the weeds were taking over the whole thing
, there were even ugly black crows pecking at the fruits in the garden.
It was a mess!
"The friend began
to knock on the giant's door to find out just what had happened to his friend. 'Hello! Are you there my friend?,'
cried the man at the door. But the giant kept on sleeping. The man at the door
heard the loud snoring of the giant and tried even harder to wake him. 'Mr.
Giant! are you OK in there, please wake up!' shouted
his friend as he pounded on the door of the house.
"The giant snorted
loudly and was aroused from his slumber. The friend continued, 'Mr. Giant, time
to wake up and tend you fathers garden!' When the giant heard this, he was
wroth. 'How dare this so called friend of mine wake me up while I am sleeping!,' said the giant, 'Go away you pest!!!' But, his friend at
the door was very persistent, 'Time to wake up Mr. Giant, there is much work to
do and very little time before the winter comes!' The giant reached over his
bed, picked up a shoe and threw it at the door with great force. 'I said go
away!!! I don't want to work in that stupid old garden,
besides, I have plenty of produce stored up in my pantry to last me a
lifetime.'
"When he saw that
the friend would not leave, he reached over and turned on his radio. A soft and
soothing lullaby drifted out of the speakers like dandelion seeds in the summer
breeze. His friend continued pounding at the door insistently. The giant
covered his head with a pillow and began to drift off into sleep again. He
thought to himself, 'Maybe my friend is right. Perhaps I should tend father's
garden.' Part of him knew it was the right thing to do, but the urge to sleep
drowned out those thoughts, as the sounds of his friend's voice faded like the
whispers of a dream. His friend went away very sad."
"The winter wind
swept into the village. All the produce in the
garden was lost. The giant slept peacefully."
In this story, I (Jack)
think of the sleeping giant as the local church. The church is a giant because here is found
the secrets of eternal life and Spiritual happiness in Jesus Christ. The garden
I view as the world. The garden needs to be tended by the church so there will
be produce or people saved through witnessing. Most churches are like this
giant. We tend to be asleep while the world is rotting away. Soon wintertime
will come. Jesus will return. Much of the crop will be lost ,
because the church was asleep.
Most Gospel preaching
churches tend to be sleepy. They may support missions and rejoice when people
get saved, but they basically busy themselves with their own programs that have
little outreach.
The church tends to be
sleepy because you and I are sleepy. We busy ourselves with our own affairs,
our work, our families, our homes, our friends, and our pleasures. But we don't look past ourselves to see the
world as it is. We need a "worldview" which goes beyond our local
church and our own families.
Does God have a
worldview? You find the answer to that
question in John 3:16, Mark
We need:
A WORLDVIEW OF SIN -
Romans 3:10-12, 23, Ezekiel 18:4, Revelation 21:27, John 14:6
Give examples of sin
around the world.
A WORLDVIEW OF SALVATION
- Hebrews 9:27-28, Matthew 11:28, John 3:16-18, Revelation 22:17, Romans
10:13-15
A WORLDVIEW OF SUCCESS
God is at work around
the world. Give examples.
A WORLDVIEW OF SUFFERING
- Hebrews 13:3, 2 Timothy 3:12
Again, give examples of suffering saints
you know of.
A WORLDVIEW OF SUPPORT
We support God's
worldview:
When we go. Isaiah 6:8, Matthew 28:19-20
When we pray. Luke 10:2, 1 Timothy 2:1-4,
Ephesians 6:18
When we give. 2 Corinthians 9:6-11
NOTE: In the sermon I
preached with this outline I got my illustrations of worldwide sin and success
from some of the Sermon Seeds recipients in other countries. My thanks to them for their
help.
RETURN TO TOPICAL
SERMONS INDEX