God's Purpose And Destiny For Our Lives

Some people say "I want to go on a foreign mission trip, somewhere 'way out there'". I think that's great. However, if you can't do it at home, what makes you think you can do it out there? I believe there is a stepping place, a beginning place. Start where you are today. If you are faithful where you are today, God will open up opportunities out there.

1 Peter 3:15 says, "Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you". Be ready, at all times. Be ready to give an answer. In other words, every one of us needs to be prepared to share the Good News with somebody.

You say, "Well, I'm scared to death about that. I don't know if I can do that." Well, first of all, do you have a story? If you have a story, you can share your story. Second, you can share the Good News with them. You might say, "I don't know how to do that." Let me make it real easy for you, ok? Buy one of those little New Testaments at the bible book store. Turn to the introduction, where it says, "Can you find hope in today's world? Well, what do you know? God cares for you. The New Testament has a little introduction and it says to turn to Romans 1:16 "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile." Then look at Romans 2:4. (They call this the Roman Road - it's the plan of salvation.)

There is another technique you can use: the bridge illustration. What is the bridge illustration? Draw a simple picture of a bridge separating two sides. Share how God is on one side of that bridge and man is on the other side. Man can not get to God because there's something that separates them, and that thing which separates them happens to be sin. Sin stands between us and God, and the Bible says we've all sinned. Romans 3:23 says, "We have all sinned and come short of the Glory of God." That means man cannot get to God because of sin. But that doesn't stop man because man is always trying to do something to get to God, like become good enough or maybe go to church all the time. Man hopes that maybe he can reach God through philosophy or something like that, or through some religious way. Man is always trying to get to God, but it just doesn't work because every effort of man falls short. If we stayed in that condition, separated from God, we would spend eternity separated from God in a very real, literal hell. But John 3:16 says: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

"Whoever believes"--that word believe is not just know mental facts about God but is committing yourself to those facts. It is saying, "Jesus, come into my life, be the Lord of my life". And you see then, Jesus will be the bridge. He is the only way to the Father. In John 14:5, Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father except through Me". The only way that you can come to God is through Jesus. It is a faith relationship with Jesus. If you have never given your life to Jesus, then please do now.

The point is you need to know how to share the Good News of Jesus.

You're going to need to tell people about the Lord, because God is counting on you to do that. In fact, that is why He's keeping you alive. I mean, for what other reason are you to be here? If you think about it, why are you on this earth? Why didn't God just kill you when you got saved? Why didn't He just say, "Ok, you're saved," and then take you into Heaven? Think about it--why is God leaving you here?

We were created with a mission in mind. God created each of us with a purpose. There are only two things that you can do on earth that you can't do in heaven: sin and evangelize.

First of all, sin! You can't sin in heaven. You can sin here, but you can't sin in heaven. I mean, you can do your best to try to be able to sin in heaven, but you will not be able to sin in heaven. There's another thing that you can do here that you can't do there, and that is evangelize. I mean, everybody in Heaven is going to be saved! Everybody in heaven already has a relationship with Jesus. There will be no one left who hasn't heard and received the Good News. That is why I say that there are two things that you can do here that you can't do there. One is sin and the other is share Jesus and evangelize.

Now, which one of those two things do you think God is keeping you here on earth for? We can figure this one out. God is keeping you here to share the Good News. That is why you're here.

2 Peter 3:9 says this: "God does not want anyone to be lost." He wants all people to change their heart and their lives. You don't have to go to the foreign mission field to start doing what God wants you to do, there are plenty of unsaved people around you in your every day life. Start by sharing the Good News with them.

However, don't limit yourself and your "evangelism" to just your little world. Dare to reach beyond your own world. This is the "Judea and the Samaria" portions of Acts 1:8. We looked at that verse earlier because it contains the Lord's recipe for evangelism. But let's take a quick look at it again: "You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to all the ends of the earth."

We already talked about Jerusalem (the place where we live and work and play). Now we want to take a look at the "Judeas and Samurais" in our life. We must reach beyond our little world. I put that word dare in the previous paragraph, because dare means 'I've got get a little bit out of my comfort zone to do that."

How do I dare to reach beyond my own world? I'm going to be working with people who simply will not like me--people who are little bit different than me. Maybe people of a different culture or a different language, different background or different education, or business. I will encounter somebody who is different than me, somebody who I might not immediately relate to. And what I have to do is I have to build a bridge to them.

1 Corinthians 9:22 says, "Whatever a man 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." Whatever they're like, I'm going to find something in common with them, and I'm going to go to them and build a bridge to them. I'm not going to make them come to me...I am going to build a bridge to them.

To tell you the truth, inviting someone to come to church with you may not be the most effective way to evangelize. That is because you are making them come to you; making them come to church, making them come to our ground. There are some people who will come to church: those who are ready and hungry and just wanting to give their heart to Jesus. But in the world out there, most of them don't even know that they are lost. They are not going to come to church, So we need to find a way to reach them. That way is going to demand that you build a bridge to them. You need to find a common ground, and love them into the kingdom of God. That is what that verse is basically saying there. We need to build a bridge.

How do you do that? Galatians 6:1 gives us some insight into that. It says, "Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law." Did you catch that part? It says to reach down; stoop down and reach out. In other words, I'm going to love them.

James 1:27 says, "...Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world."

Look at Jesus: where did Jesus go? Where did Jesus go minister? He was out there with the hurting, the wounded, the oppressed, the sick, the mentally ill. That is where Jesus went. So if Jesus were here today, where is the first place He's going to come? Is it going to be to church? No! It is to those who are in need.

We have to realize that when we have the Lord, we have something awesome. If you had the cure for cancer or the cure for AIDS, and you kept it to yourself, that would be horrible, wouldn't it? People would say, "How could he do that?" But you've got the cure for hell! They need to know the answer; they need a touch.

Jesus said, in 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 to 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." The disciples said, "I don't remember that! When did we ever see you like this?" And Jesus replied, "When you've done it to the least of these, you've done it to Me." And whenever you minister to somebody outside of yourself, regardless of what that situation is, you've really ministered to the Lord.

Whenever you minister, the Lord sees it and the Lord rewards it. He says in Mark 10:29, "Let Me assure you that no one has ever given up anything for love of Me to tell others the Good News who won't be given back a hundred times over." That is a good investment--a hundred times over!