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Fulfillin g our Mission

Fulfilling our Mission

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Fulfilling our Mission. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 2: Fulfilling our Mission

In Bible days, when someone died, it was the duty of a family member to close the eyes and kiss the cheek of the dead. When Christ died, this became the duty of two men: Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus. They went to Pontius Pilate and begged for the body of Jesus.

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Then they had to take Him down from the cross…which was not an easy chore. First, they had to rig a ladder, and climb up the side of the cross, and then they had to pull His hands off over the nails. There was no way they could get those spikes out of the wood, not from that angle, not with His hands in between the wood and the nail head. Once the hands were loosed, they allowed the body of Jesus to sag into a sheet, and would then remove His feet from the nail in the same manner.

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They took the body of Jesus to a new tomb, that Joseph had prepared for himself. They washed His body, and wrapped it in white linen, folding His arms over His chest. They closed His eyes, kissed His cheek, and placed a napkin over His face.

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They walked away from that tomb, and no doubt they walked in silence…so that all you could hear was the sounds of their sadness, muffled crying, and sniffing. Surely it must have felt like a huge ball of lead in the pit of their stomachs, as they were thinking, “it’s all over, the end of the dream…and it only lasted for three short years.”

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Three days passed like an eternity. Can you imagine? The birds refused to sing, and the sun refused to shine. For three days, all the demons of hell rejoiced, and Satan and the forces of darkness thought they had won a great victory. For three days, the Jewish leaders, as well as the Roman government, congratulated themselves on their brilliant scheme.

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But on the third day, something wonderful and miraculous happened, as God the Father said to an angel in heaven, “Go get him!” And when the angel’s feet hit the ground, the stone rolled away, and up from the grave He arose…He lives!

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Mary came first to the empty tomb. She saw the stone rolled away and it frightened her. And so she ran to get Peter and John, and they ran together to the tomb as fast as they could. John outran Peter, and when he got there, he looked inside, and saw those grave clothes lying there in disarray. Then Peter arrived and went right in. He also saw the linen clothes lying there, but there was something unusual in that scene. Something caught his eye that was very interesting.

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John 20:7 “The cloth that covered His face appeared to have been folded carefully and placed, not with the linen cloths, but to the side.”

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In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, we have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day.  The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. 

When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating. Theservant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

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Now if the master had finished eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up the napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, “I’m done”. But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it aside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, “I’m not finished yet.” The folded napkin meant, “I’m coming back!”

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Jim Morris was a 35-year-old high school chemistry teacher in 1999. As a young man, he was a pitcher in the minors - but his dreams of Major League Baseball were ended by an injury that required major surgery.

Years later, coaching the school team in his hometown of Big Lake, Texas, Morris discovered by a fluke that he could still throw fast balls. So he made a deal with his team: If they made it to the state finals, He would try out for the majors. The squad delivered - and Morris went to the Texas camp of the Tampa Devil Rays’. There, he amazed everyone, even himself, by throwing pitches at 98 mph. In a few months, he was pitching in the big leagues.

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The year was 2003. Nobody thought the San Francisco 49ers had it in them. Nobody imagined their 24-point hole was anything but a grave. The 49ers trailed 38-14 with 4 minutes left in the third quarter, but they scored 25 straight points on two TD passes and a scoring run.

The 49ers' rally was the biggest in NFC playoff history. Only Buffalo's 32-point comeback in a 41-38 victory over Houston in January 1993 was bigger.

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Karoly Takacs of Hungary was one of the world’s greatest pistol shooters and an Olympic favorite in 1938 until his right hand was blown off in a hand-grenade accident as he prepared to fight in World War II. The Olympics were canceled in 1940 and ’44 due to the war, allowing him to learn to shoot left-handed. That’s how he won Olympic gold in 1948.

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All of these stories involve comebacks. Coming back and winning when they weren’t supposed to. Coming back against overwhelming odds to become champions.

That’s what happened on the first Easter morning. Jesus was dead. He’d been crucified, he had died, and he’d been put into a tomb a couple of days before. His family, friends, and disciples were overwhelmed with grief. There was no time left on the clock. They thought the game was over.

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But Christ had risen. He was getting prepared to make his big comeback and lead his team to victory!

After three days, the His disciples saw an empty tomb. Not only did they see an empty tomb, but they saw a folded napkin in that empty tomb! Was God saying, “He’s not finished yet…He’s coming back!”

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In Greenville, SC, the Department of Social Services wrote to a welfare recipient: “Your food stamps will be stopped, effective immediately, because we have received notice that you passed away. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.”

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Only one person ever experienced those “change in circumstances,” and he didn’t live in South Carolina. So we can talk about great sports “comebacks,” but in reality, Jesus is the only true “comeback kid”.

And He is coming again. But while we wait for his return, Jesus left us with a mission.

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John 20:19-2119 That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

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One day God was speaking with one of the angels about humans. He tells the angel about how He gave the humans the Good News to share with each other so that more people would become a part of God’s family. The angel asked God what plan B was if the humans didn’t share the Good News. God’s answer was, there is no plan B.

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Paul writes:

Acts 20:24 What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.

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If God has placed that much trust in us to fulfill His mission, how on earth can we complete it?

We must be a witness to those in our world.

There is a story about a guy who got healed by Jesus and wanted to keep following him around. Jesus’ response is found in

Luke 8:39 “No. Go home. Tell your people this amazing story about how much God has done for you. The man does so. In fact, he tells everyone in the whole city how much Jesus did for him that day on the shore.”

God has also done much for us: wisdom to know what to do about a difficult situation; peace that comes after praying about hard times; joy that comes from knowing that God loves us and is with us every moment of every day. Those are the things we can share with everybody.

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We must be a witness to those in our communities and our country.

Years ago, the great evangelist Billy Sunday was preparing to go into a certain city to do a major crusade. He wrote ahead of time to the mayor of the city, and said, “would you please send me the names of people in your area who need serious spiritual help”. To Sunday’s surprise, the mayor sent him…the telephone book!

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We must be a witness around the world.

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The northern part of Yemen has 8 million people. (That’s twice the population of the entire state of Kentucky.)

Do you know how many believers there are out of those 8 million people? 20 or 30.

Over 2 billion people in the world today are classified as unreached—which means more than “unsaved” but that the gospel is simply not accessible to them.

Over 6,000 people groups with over 2 billion people in them are not yet reached with the gospel.

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Gladys Alyward grew up in London, England, in the early 1900s. She was a parlor maid who dreamt of becoming an actress but instead read an article about China and about the millions of Chinese people who had never heard about Christianity. She knew she must go tell them about God's love. Having felt God’s call to go to China Gladys was rebuffed by her family, friends and church. The missionary society told her that she wasn't smart enough to learn Chinese, and they would not accept her. But Gladys was determined. If the mission board would not send her to China, she would find her own way there.

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Gladys Alyward overcame tremendous obsticles to fulfill her mission, so, what’s stopping us? Why don’t we share the Good News with others? Fear?

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A monastery in Germany trained Christian brothers for various responsibilities within the Roman Catholic church, and one Christian brother in training lived with mortal fear of being called upon to preach the chapel service So, he thought he would cut this off at the pass, and he went to his prior, the chief monk, and he said to him, "Look, I will do any job that you ask me to do. I will go out into the fields, I will fertilize, I will irrigate, I will scrub floors, I will polish silverware, just please do not ask me to preach at the chapel service."

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Well, the prior said to himself, this is exactly what this guy needs to grow. So he decided to say to him right there on the spot, "Tomorrow you are going to preach the chapel service." Well, the guy went back to his cell and he was like, he did not know what to do. He got up the next morning and he looked into the eyes of his peers, he was so apprehensive and his insides were turning. He was so nervous he did not know what to do, and he started his sermon by asking, "Brothers, do you know what I am going to say?" And they all shook their heads in the negative like this. (shakes head no) And he continued, "Well, neither do I, lets stand for the benediction." And they all went out.

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Well, the prior was so angry he came to him right away and he said, "Look I am going to give you another chance tomorrow and you better do it right. You are going to preach the message. This is what you need." So the next day came. The scene was the same. The young man began as he had the day before. "Brothers, do you know what I am going to say?" And they all nodded, (shakes head yes) they knew he wasn't going to say anything. And he goes, "Well, since you already know, there is no point in my saying it, let's stand for the benediction." And they all went out.

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Well, now the prior was livid with anger and once again he says, "I am tired of your shenanigans. I want you to preach this service or you will go to solitary and just have bread and water. That's it." The third day the scene was the same. Brother had begun the way he had the two previous days. He said, "Brothers, do you know what I am going to say?" Well now they are really confused and some were going like this (shaking heads yes) and some were going like this (shaking heads no) and he said, "Well, let those who know tell those who don't, let's stand for the benediction.” And out they went.

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We don’t know what to say?

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If you were a witness of an accident, the police would want you to tell them what it was you saw. They don’t want you trying to convict the person you thought was at fault or defend the person you thought was innocent. They don’t want you to try and convince them that what you are saying is absolute truth. They just want to know what you saw and experienced. That is all God wants us to do when we witness about Him. Just tell people about the wonderful way God has made a difference in our lives.

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Luis Palau, in his sermon, "Go to the Ends of the Earth" said, “My family and team have gone to over sixty countries declaring the glory of God. When I first went to the Muslim-, Hindu-, and Buddhist-majority nations, I trembled to do the right thing for the glory of God. I talked to a Hindu guru years ago, who said, ‘Luis, don't ever use the Western style of arguing, trying to show your religion is better than my religion or your Savior is superior. Just simply tell us who Jesus is. Tell of his character. Tell uswhat he's like. Let people do the comparing for themselves.’”

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God doesn’t need us defending Him. Nor does God want us to be a prosecutor going around judging people and their actions. He is better equipped to do that than we are. Nor is God looking for a salesperson. He doesn’t want us to try and sell Him to anybody. Being a witness means telling people what you have seen and experienced.

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Here is the test to know whether or not you have completed your mission. Check your pulse. Is your heart beating? If the answer is yes, then your mission is not complete. There is still something more for you to do.

 

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Imagine that you were a part of a wilderness camping group. A storm comes and for some reason everyone scatters for safety and gets lost. Rescue teams are dispatched to find the lost. And once an individual is found, the team turns its attention away from the one who is found to the ones who are still lost. You and I were those who got lost. God sent out his rescue team of parents, friends, Sunday school teachers and youth workers to find us. Once we were found, however, they didn’t keep focusing on us. They kept on looking for all the others who were lost. Why don’t we join the rescue team?

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As Christians, we are all called to share the gospel. Whether or not we think we have the gift of evangelism or the gift of discipleship. We are all called to share our faith because we have been given a gift that we need to share with people in our families, our workplaces, and around our world.

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A dad took his son and three of his best friends to an amusement park. The dad would walk with the kids and when they came to a ride, he would hand out a ticket to his son and three friends. Another ride and another four tickets. When they got to a ride after lunch, however, there was a fifth hand reaching up for a ticket. It was a little boy who was kind of dirty and messy. The dad looked at the little boy and asked, “Why do you think you get a ticket?” The little boy replied, “Your son told me that you were giving free tickets to all of his best friends. I’m his newest best friend.”

Our heavenly Father is the dad. We’re just his children who areinviting people to become our new best friends and receive the gift our Father has for them.

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The Napkin is Still Folded – Jerry ShirleyThe Comeback Kid--John BeehlerMade for a Mission--Johann NeethlingDivine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions--David Platt,