Sermons on Practical Living
“In this passage, Paul shares that he has been praying for the believers in Ephesus. So what is it that Paul has been praying? He prayed that they would be 1) strengthened in the inner man, 2) comprehend the measure of God’s love, 3) know God, not just know about Him, and 4)to dream big dreams for God. These are essential steps for becoming one of Christ’s disciples.”
In this message, we are looking at the mystery of the gospel and how that it is God’s will for us to reveal this mystery to others through what we call evangelism. We’ve been asking you for the past couple of years, “Who do you know that needs to know Jesus?” We’ve encouraged you to write their name down and hang it on our prayer tree in the foyer. We thank God for those whose sin has been paid in full, but now I ask you… WHO’S YOUR ONE? Who is that one person that you will commit to pray for the next 30 days to be miraculously saved by Jesus Christ our Lord?
As we reflect on our church mission statement, we see that the last portion of this statement says that we are to “Equip People to Be On Mission.” But what does it mean to be “On Mission”? What will that look like in my personal life? We want to think about what it means to Live On Mission right here, right now, right where you live. My goals for you are to 1) help you overcome any anxiety/fear that you might have about being on mission for God, 2) equip you to serve God according to your giftedness, and 3) enable you to take ownership of your daily—even hourly—walk with Christ, because being On Mission for God requires more than one hour per week!
When we speak of the mission of Christ, our minds most often turn to the end of the Gospel of Matthew or the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles—“The Great Commission.” All four of the gospel accounts provide passages that clearly teach the mission of Christ. Dr. Luke also makes this mission crystal clear in Acts 1:8. In a nutshell, Christ’s mission was to seek and save the lost. But Christ’s mission is not found only in these books—His mission is found throughout Scripture. Our focus for this sermon series will be Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. Today, we will take a moment to explore Paul’s understanding of the mission of Christ and how that His mission should also be our mission!