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Why is EBC passionate about missions?
The Reasons
- Growing in a passionate relationship with God builds a fire for the desires of God’s heart. I can’t love God without being passionate about what he is passionate about.
Exodus 20:3: “Do not worship any other gods besides me.”
- God has a heart for the world. His heart is that you be a world Christian.
Rom. 9:17: For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you, and so that my fame might spread throughout the earth.”
Rom. 1:5: Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.
Isaiah 66:19: I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations.
Isaiah 12:4: In that wonderful day you will sing: “Thank the LORD! Praise his name! Tell the world what he has done. Oh, how mighty he is!
Matt. 28:18: Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
- It’s not okay that there are people who do not worship because they do not know.
Psalm 86:9: All the nations—and you made each one— will come and bow before you, Lord; they will praise your great and holy name.
Psalm 22:27: The whole earth will acknowledge the LORD and return to him. People from every nation will bow down before him.
Psalm 67: May God be merciful and bless us. May his face shine with favor upon us. 2May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere. 3May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you. 4How glad the nations will be, singing for joy, because you govern them with justice and direct the actions of the whole world. 5May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you. 6Then the earth will yield its harvests, and God, our God, will richly bless us. 7Yes, God will bless us, and people all over the world will fear him
- The only option you have for eternal joy, pleasure and impact is to join God in his Kingdom work.
Matt. 16:18: Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.
Matt. 24:14: And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then, finally, the end will come.
- Your joy, passion and pleasure in God’s embrace is more complete when you participate in expanding that embrace to others.
Mark 8:34-35: Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. “If any of you wants to be my follower,” he told them, “you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life.
2 Cor. 4:16-17: That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever!
Rom. 8:18: Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.
So what do we do?
- The appropriate Christ following response is to enjoy the joy, freedom and significance of a wartime lifestyle.
Luke 14:33: So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me.
Mark 10:28 – 30: Then Peter began to mention all that he and the other disciples had left behind. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said. 29And Jesus replied, “I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30will receive now in return, a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—with persecutions. And in the world to come they will have eternal life. 31But many who seem to be important now will be the least important then, and those who are considered least here will be the greatest then.”
How do we live a wartime lifestyle?
- Luke 19:11-27: The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away. 12He said, “A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. 13Before he left, he called together ten servants and gave them ten pounds of silver to invest for him while he was gone. 14But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say they did not want him to be their king.
15“When he returned, the king called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what they had done with the money and what their profits were. 16The first servant reported a tremendous gain—ten times as much as the original amount! 17‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a trustworthy servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’
18“The next servant also reported a good gain—five times the original amount. 19‘Well done!’ the king said. ‘You can be governor over five cities.’
20“But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, ‘I hid it and kept it safe. 21I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and harvesting crops you didn’t plant.’
22“‘You wicked servant!’ the king roared. ‘Hard, am I? If you knew so much about me and how tough I am, 23why didn’t you deposit the money in the bank so I could at least get some interest on it?’ 24Then turning to the others standing nearby, the king ordered, ‘take the money from this servant, and give it to the one who earned the most.’
25“‘But, master,’ they said, ‘that servant has enough already!’ 26“‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘but to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away.
- 1. Biblically; ownership is a myth.
Rev. 4:11: “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.”
Psalm 50:9-12: 9But I want no more bulls from your barns; I want no more goats from your pens.10For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. 11Every bird of the mountains and all the animals of the field belong to me. 12If I were hungry, I would not mention it to you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.
Hagai 2:6-8: . 6“For this is what the LORD Almighty says: In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth. I will shake the oceans and the dry land, too. 7I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the LORD Almighty. 8The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD Almighty
- 2. Your resources belong to someone else who wants them invested for His purposes.
- 3. There is an audit coming. The audit question; What have you done to expand my Kingdom?
1 Cor. 10-15: 10Because of God’s special favor to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. 11For no one can lay any other foundation than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. 12Now anyone who builds on that foundation may use gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgment day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone’s work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value. 14If the work survives the fire, that builder will receive a reward. 15But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builders themselves will be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flames.
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