This recording is from Willough Creek Church in Wintersprings, Florida, where Dr. Pete Owlinson is our senior pastor. This sermon is part six in our Purpose Driven Life Series and is called May for a Mission. Now here's Pete with today's message. That is the authorized Charles Wesley version. I want you to know. Oh, I love that. It's good. Thank you guys. He was contemporary to his time. I'll bet you listen to those words a lot more than if we'd sung it the old way. And I like it the old way. And I liked it the new way. And I might almost dance a little bit. Thank you very much. How great that is. Listen, we are on the last week of a 40 days of Purpose. It's gone so fast, but we've been working through the 40 days of Purpose, the five purposes for all of us as God's people living in this world. And I want to say a couple of things by way of introduction is that this may be the last Sunday that we're going to be talking about this in church, but it really isn't. Because these five pillars underlie all of our church. And they have from the beginning worship, learning, fellowship, service, and evangelism. Those things have been important in the life of our church from the very beginning, 18 years ago. And they will continue to be. And I hope that you will keep reading and going back on the purpose-driven life because we're to be purpose-driven people. And so keep studying that stuff and we'll be coming back to all of this time and again. The other thing is that some of you are in 40 day groups and you've been studying this with other people and we want as many of those groups to continue as we can. Now, some of you already know your group is going to continue. It's a new group, you're going to continue or you're an old group and you're going to continue and some of you are in a group and you want to continue but not in that group. That's okay. Call the office of the church and let us know if you're in a group and you want to change groups, that's okay. If you're not in a group but you want to get into a group, we are not intended to do this journey alone. So we want you to be a part of that as we as a church continue to grow and move ahead in the future. Now, next week is our men's retreat and we got about 80 or 90 guys that are going to be gone on Sunday, believe it or not. I'm going to be with them. Steve Brown is preaching here and I hope you will be here and you will bring friends to come and hear Steve Brown. You know, he's my mentor and he's the guy with the voice that sounds like God and he preaches so many places. I can't tell you the number of pastors in the PCA or jealous that he comes here and that when I'm gone he gets to preach and we get to hear him. So if there's going to be room in this place, bring your friends next week. Then the week following, we're going to start a new series called Generation Next in the book of Second Peter. It's the only New Testament book that I've never preached from in this church but it's going to help us follow up really in a cool way what we've been studying here. And I hope that you'll come and be with us in two weeks. Today we get the last of the five purposes of the purpose driven life. And we've been talking about all the first four that we've talked about and I'm going to get you to review them with me in a minute so crank up your minds to remember here. But we've said that these four purposes that we've already looked at are purposes that we're going to do now on earth in practice for what we're going to do in heaven. Because the reality is you guys are going to spend a whole lot more time in heaven than you will hear on earth. And so we're practicing in a sense. And the first purpose for all of our lives we said a few weeks ago was what? Do you remember worship? We said that worship was the first purpose we were created to worship God to give him honor and praise and glory. We're going to do that in heaven and we're practicing here on earth. Now it's not always going to be like this. I mean I think our worship team will be chosen to be the worship team in heaven. I'm convinced of that or one of them. And we're going to do this kind of stuff and yes there will be electric guitars and the new heaven and the newer. There'll be there too. But those of you who just long for the traditional music of the past there'll be that too. The reality is we're going to worship and not with angel wings and harps and stuff like that. But it's going to be big then and it's big now. The second thing we said is if we're going to have fellowship with God in worship we're also going to have fellowship with each other here on earth. So fellowship and fellowship is not just hanging out. Hey how you doing. How about the heat and all that kind of stuff. Shacks playing but not even playing but they're still winning. It's not just chewing the fat. It's really helping each other grow in Christ. There's going to be fellowship here on earth. But there's fellowship there too. And the great thing about fellowship in heaven is you'll be perfect. And I'll be perfect. And to relate to one another will be a whole lot easier than it is now. So we're practicing into the worst possible conditions now because it's going to be a whole lot better than. The third thing we said that in the pur... And that's why we've been emphasizing small groups because you can't fellowship in isolation. You got to be with other people. The third thing we said was what. Do you remember? Discipleship. Good. You know one small voice over here. Discipleship. We've become like Christ now. In this world we've been saved not just to sit and soak and consume but to become like Christ. To get the image that was fallen by Adam and Eve that was destroyed by them. To get that image to be restored and to grow like Christ. First John says, when we see him, we will be like him. For we will see him as he is. When we die and go see Christ or when he comes the second time and we see him, there will be a radical transformation that takes place. I love you guys and you... A lot of you exhibit a great deal of spiritual maturity but you're going to be better once you see Jesus. So the discipleship process is for now but the transformation process to be like Christ will be continued in heaven. And then the fourth pillar was the fourth purpose was ministry. We're all ministers. We're all servants in the body of Christ and again we've not been called just to sit and soak and have a good time but to contribute. And that's why we have the ministry fair going on out there this week so you can mill around the tables and look and see, where could I be plugged in? We need all of you to be plugged in. Well today, today we're going to talk about the only thing that you and I aren't going to be able to do in heaven. And that is evangelism. The only thing we can't do in heaven that won't take place in heaven that isn't going to be a purpose for the future that we're just practicing now. The only thing that we can do now that will have eternal results is evangelism, evangelism. John 17 verse 18, Jesus said, and let's read it aloud together. In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I gave them a mission in the world. And so right down on your outlines you were made for a mission and we were, we have this mission only in this world. You got a ministry in the body, but you and I have a mission in the world. And it is part of God's divine plan that real purpose for our lives, that we be a part of this mission. By the way, there's such a thing as a custom mission and a common mission. A custom mission is this, there is a place for you, a ministry for you that is unique to you because of your shape. How God wired you. And we're going to talk about that after we finish 2 Peter, we're going to spend some time talking about our custom mission. How God has uniquely wired each one of us in different ways to have a ministry that is deeply fulfilling. But today we're going to talk about the custom or the common mission that all of us have. You may say I'm not a Billy Graham, I don't do evangelism, I don't want to do evangelism. Well we're going to talk about that because it is something that all of us are called to do. And in John 20, 21, Jesus said, as the father has sent me, so I have sent you. Jesus says this to his disciples, he sends it to you, he says it to me. Paul said in Acts 20, the most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work the Lord Jesus Christ gave me to do. What is that mission? Here it is. To tell people the good news about the gospel of grace. So here it is, write it down. My fifth purpose is to share the good news. To share the good news. And evangelism is the word we give for sharing the good news. Evangelism is the one word that both pagans and Christians hate. I mean Christians and pagans hate that word evangelism because when we think about evangelism, as Christians we think about that word it conjures up the picture of the guy on TV with the big hair. Who was saying, send me your money. Every time we flip those channels, we look at all that, oh man, that's not me. And I hope other people don't think that I want to do it that way because that's not me. Evangelism comes from the Greek word. And the reason we talk about Greek is because the New Testament was written in Greek originally and the Old Testament was written in Hebrew originally. Sometimes we talk about a particular word because it has fine nuances that don't come across in English. Well, the word evangelism simply means to tell the good news. That's all it means. In Greek, that's how it's translated in English. Evangelism sounds so technical, simply means telling the good news. Being a witness, a witness is simply someone who tells what went on in their lives. You're telling the good news about what Christ has done for you. And the gospel, the good news is that, well here's the really bad news. You're worse off than you thought before you came to faith in Christ. And the good news, cheer up, Jesus was good for you on the cross and paid for your sin on the cross and mine too. So the really good news is that in Christ, we're forgiven, we've become daughters and sons of his. He's got a purpose and a plan for our life and that though this world isn't all that good, heaven is wonderful and it's coming. So we got a lot of good news to talk about and to witness about what God has done in our life. And you're the only expert on your life, by the way. I'm not the expert on your life. No priest or pastor is the expert on your life. You're the only one. And only you can tell the good news of what God has done in your life. What are Christians? We are, we're a body, we're a people. And I've said this a million times, we because of Christ get to be a part of the family business. Now the question is, what's the family business? What business are we in? And everybody's scared to death. I feel like calling on somebody today just because I feel pretty mean and nasty. I won't do it. What's our business? We're a communication family. We're communicators. That's our business. That's a family business. And the father said, you may not think you're a great communicator but I've called you to be a part of communicating the gospel of grace to other people. We're in this and some of you are saying, really, I thought of angelism was something that Baptist talked about and not Presbyterians. Aren't you a Presbyterian? Yes I am. And we have a few Presbyterians in this place. And some of you who know what Presbyterian theology says are sitting there and you're saying, well, wait a minute. I thought God's sovereign. And if God is sovereign and he changes people's hearts, I mean we believe in grace but we also believe in divine election and divine predestination. You believe that, don't you? Yeah, absolutely. He said, oh, good, good. I do too. And that's kind of what I liked about this church is because God's in charge of somebody's going to come to faith and Christ, they're going to do it. And I don't have to be a part of it. Isn't that cool? If you believe that, that's heresy. It's from the pit of hell. Don't say that out loud. Our elders here, you say that. They'll take you back and put you on a stake and burn you. That's heresy. Oh, you see, we believe the Bible teaches that all are lost and need Christ. We also believe that God elects and predestines before the foundation of the world. He did all that. But God not only has four ordained who will come to Christ, but how they will come to Christ. He has four ordained, the specific person, but also the method. And the method is this. How will they hear without a preacher? For those of you who are a little bit more philosophically oriented, God uses to bring people to faith and Christ, he uses second causes. He's the first cause. You would hire the second cause. He uses us, weak, fearful, broken people who he has transformed. You think about it. There's somebody in your past who God uses. At least one, probably a whole lot more than you know that he used to bring you to faith and Christ. Let me give you two heresy's or two caricatures, one of the Baptists and one of the Presbyterians. The caricature of the Baptists is that all Baptists believe that if anybody comes to faith in Christ, it's because they made it happen. I don't know a Baptist who is Bible believer who really actually believes that because that's not a defensible position. The caricature or the false picture of the Presbyterian is if somebody comes to faith in Christ, it's because God did it. Hallelujah. I wouldn't involved. You want to know who was the contemporary of John Wesley, who easily brought tens of thousands of people to faith in Christ, just like John Wesley did. His name was George Whitfield. These two guys were the big canons in the second grade awakening in America and Europe. Methodism got started on, but George Whitfield brought tens of thousands of people to faith in Christ and he was a Calvinist. We believed everything we believed and some of you think Charles Spurgeon was the greatest preacher of all time. He was one of the greatest evangelists. He was a Presbyterian in his theology in this area. So guys, the reality is if anybody comes to faith in Christ, it's because we told them and because God was working. I don't care what your background. I have a friend who moved from this church and didn't get permission, but he moved. He's a traveling salesman who was here for many months. Bill used to go to China a lot. Before, after his last visit, he gave me that you can't see what this is. You can come up afterwards and take a look at it. It's a glass ball, a very heavy glass ball that was, I don't know how they made it, somehow it was blown glass, but it's very, very heavy. And there is a very delicate picture, a painting of trees and rivers and mountains, bonsai. It's not Japanese and Chinese. It's incredibly beautiful, a rendering of the Great Wall of China, part of it. And I said, Bill, how did all of that get in there? He said, they painted it. I said, so they painted it on the outside of a ball and superimposed it and then bloated it. No, no, no, no. They blow these things and then they hollow them out and then they paint it from the outside. They go inside and they paint this thing. I said, oh, you got to understand I flunked eighth grade art, literally. This would be absolutely impossible to me to do. And I can't believe anybody else did it. He said, no, I stood there, I watched them do some of these things. It's amazing. They have these little brushes that are kind of at vent angles and they put them up there. This is impossible for me, just like it is absolutely impossible for me or for you to change the inside of anybody's heart. Because in this, there is at least an opening. But in a person's human heart, there's no opening. The Bible says they're dead and they're trespasses instead. They're dead. There's no way to get into a human heart. Not by be raiding them or manipulating them. The only way is it God breaks through. And the only way God breaks through is when he takes by his spirit the word that you and I give them and zings it into their heart in a way that you and I can absolutely not penetrate. You can call to be a part of this mysterious God ordained part of the family business of being a communicator. It doesn't depend on you being an excellent communicator. It just depends on you being a willing communicator. We're called to minister. Acts chapter one says this, 1-8, Jesus says, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in a Judea, and the uttermost parts of the world. He says, once we're called to faith in Christ, we are witnesses. We simply are testifiers of what God has done in our life. And he says that we're to do that in three major areas. In Jerusalem, Judea, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world. Most of the disciples were Jewish converts to Christ and they were centered in Jerusalem. And then Judea and Judea is in Jerusalem, is sort of the lower district of Israel, the southern district. Jerusalem is in Judea. But Samaria was the next major, the central part of the state of Israel back then. And they were half breeds. The Samaritans were half Jews and half pagans. And to be half Jewish is to be all pagan in the Jewish mind. So good Jews didn't have anything to do with the Samaritans. And then the uttermost parts of the world. And God says that since He loved the whole world, our ministry must be to our Jerusalem's. Our Samaria is. And then the uttermost parts of the world. Let's talk about it in that way as we take a look at this whole idea of being His witnesses. And by the way, God didn't ask you to be His defense attorney. He didn't ask you to be His manipulator or His salesman. He just said be a witness. You aren't going to change hearts by yourself. I'm going to use you. You don't have to make it happen on your own. And he from the beginning of the world is making a family of people. You want to understand human history? You want to understand Revelation? Genesis to Revelation? A whole book? God's building a family. That's history. And it's a multi-ethnic, multi-racial thing. It's way bigger than we could ever imagine. We get to be a part of it. So let's talk about, first of all, our God-given mission in our Jerusalem's. I love the story of it. And it's completely apocryphal. Don't go out of here saying it's a true story because it couldn't be. I don't know. But it couldn't be. We would never know. But it's about Jesus after the resurrection going to heaven. And Michael, the archangel, sees him. Says, Lord, I can't imagine what you did down there. That you died for their sins, that you rose again showing that their sins were paid for, that you fulfilled the law perfectly for them. You did all that for them. But not everybody knows. How's there big enough? And Jesus says to Michael, he says, well, I've got 12 disciples down there. You know, Judas hung himself, but they replaced him with Matthias. He said, I got 12 disciples down there. And they're going to tell everybody, those guys, those guys, that's your plan? I can imagine Michael at this point saying, whoa, you are so short-sighted, but how can you say that to the eternal Son of God? And he says, that's my plan. I don't have any other plan. But to work through my disciples, first of all, as they reach their own Jerusalem's. And that means your network, your family, those closest to you, I can't reach them. You can reach your network, your family, your extended family. But those who are the closest to you, those are the ones that you can reach. I love it. You remember the time when Jesus cast a demon out of the guy who was absolutely uncontrollable. He was so, and if you've ever seen the movie, the exorcist, and I'm not asking you to go see it, I'm not telling you to go, I'm not advocating that, get that clear. I don't want any emails on this one. I'm just telling you that in the movie and the exorcist where you see the incredible strength of a little girl possessed by a demon, that's biblical. Here was a man filled with incredible strength, so that he literally broke chains. He ran around naked and he ran around Israel, wreaking havoc because of his incredible strength. Jesus met him, cast demons out. And it says in the text that after Jesus met him, the guy was clothed and in his right mind. He says, I want to follow you and Jesus is now. You go back to your village. You show them the transformation. You show them what great things God did for you. It's such an illustration for me and there's so many opportunities for us to do that. To tell, just simply witness what God, you don't have to convince them, just tell them what God's done for you. How he's helped you to overcome the abuse of your past. Help you deal with the physical problems that you've been experiencing. To deal with the shame and the guilt. Maybe you were raised in the church, but you still have all kinds of issues. You go and tell them what Jesus has done for you. Be ready, Peter says, at all times to give an answer to anyone who asks you to explain the hope that is alive in you. And if you will get creative on this, you will find a way. God will give you a way. I heard a story of a manicurist who had him captive. I don't know what ladies put their hands in. Not many of us guys do that. I'm not a Metro kind of guy. I don't do that. But she had him as a captive right there. And when their hands were soaking or she was cutting on their cuticles or whatever they do, she was telling them about Jesus. I love that. I heard about an optometrist who put up on the wall instead of the alphabet. He put up the four spiritual laws. Now, was that gutsy? Yeah, would you read line three? God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. I mean, I love that. I mean, there are some people that can get away with that kind of a thing. You got to ask him. You got to ask him. One of my friends told me the story of this businessman in New York. He knows who's Jewish. Who he spends time with talking. Talking to this man about Christ and how in the last visit he was talking again about him about Christ. He's very, really touched the heart of this Jewish man, this Jewish businessman. You got to just be willing to talk, not to convince, but to share to be involved. There are thousands of practical ways to do this. I'm convinced that one of the most important things we can do is small groups and hear me on this for our small group ministries. I'm convinced that one of the most important things we can do is not just to meet together a brown Christian thanks. But when our small groups get together, and if you're not the small group leader, badger your small group leader on this point, tell them you've got authority for me. I really believe that when we take prayer requests, we ought to be talking about the pagans in our network, people who don't know Christ. The people who you're praying for, we ought to be praying for at least somebody, one that doesn't know Jesus. And I think in our small groups, we ought to be praying for those things. Week after week after we end, when somebody comes up with a need and they will, then we as a small group say, how can we meet that need? How can we visit them in the hospital? How can we bring food to them? How can we get out of our own little bubble here and do that? If all of our small groups were doing that, we could make a dip. For all party every six weeks, you ought to study the Bible every six weeks, every week. For all party and invite your pagan friends, let them know you're not two headed monsters. Just love them. And eat together. Build a bridge in your Jerusalem. Look at next for a second Peter 3.9. God doesn't want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives. It is God's desire. We're going to look at this when we study second Peter. It says, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now how election and God's desire for everybody to come to faith in Christ works out. I want you to know some of the greatest theological minds in the world wrestle with that one. But it's Scripture. It's all true. And the reason you're not off this earth in heaven after you came to Christian, because this is not an easy world. The reason you're still here, it's primarily to be a part of fulfilling an outreach to your Jerusalem. Secondly, then, we fulfill this call to reach out beyond our world. And if you're here as a skeptic to Christianity, we're glad you're here. We love to have non-Christians come here and check us out. Kind of look over the fence. What do those guys really like? We're glad you're here. If you think that all of us are controlling freaks, that want everybody just to believe what we believe, you're wrong. Only some of us are controlling freaks that want to control everything. You know, it's interesting when some people come to faith in Christ, they become obnoxious. They become obnoxious and they become controlling. And they're always trying to tell people what to do. We're not trying to tell you what to do. It's just that here's the deal. We have found something that is so powerful that it is criminal to keep it to ourselves. We have found why we're on this planet. We have found how to get through the trials of just being married, raising kids, dealing with financial problems. We know this is not all there is, and we've found the way to deal with shame and guilt. That's Jesus. And it would be criminal for us not to pass it on. Listen. If I had the antidote to AIDS and I didn't pass it on and tell anybody, I'd be a criminal. So we're not trying to be obnoxious. We just got something that we just have to share. First Corinthians 9 says this, whatever each person is like, I try to find a common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him. So in our samarias, beyond our own little network, we are trying to find common ground. Now, some of you are saying Pete, you've talked about a building project for a long, long time and we haven't heard anything and you're right. And we're soon going to talk about it because finally we have our permits. They're going to widen that road out there. And we finally have some permits to use our own property. And by the way, isn't that going to be fun when they start widening this road on Sunday morning? Oh, it's going to be great. God is good. But we finally got the permits and all that to use to build this. We're going to be talking a lot more about that. We'll have more meetings and explain that to you. But some of you have already said to me, why are we building a gym? Why in the world? Here's why. Can you say I don't have any kids? I'm not athletic. Why do I? Why should I want to put money to a gym? Here's why. Because we need to reach our samaria out there, our network. And our network is incredibly committed to sports. I'm so glad we're offering you something to contribute to that you may not have anything to do with personally in terms of using it. You may not use the gym, but you can come. But guys, we got to find common ground. That's what this is all about. We want to train coaches in basketball so that some of you, some of you young dads and moms can coach. So you can coach some of the winter springs basketball leagues. We want to invite them into our facility and say, practice here. Play here. And we want you to coach these teams. Why so you can share the four spiritual laws with them? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe just being a good, solid coach to enter into the lives of these people. Common ground, who are raising these kids and couldn't care less about going to church, couldn't care less about Jesus, but care everything about their kids. We want to make common ground with people who are thinking intellectually about the faith, bring them to our bookstore that we're going to have in this thing. Get them a good spiritual hot cup of coffee. I'm so glad. Finally, we'll have quality coffee on site. God is good. Bring them here. Sit in the bookstore. Bring them to the Boy Scout True. Why common ground? Bring them to our preschool. Why common ground? We got to build a bridge to the people in our network. And you have to share the gospel with them every time. But expose them to God's people. That's what we get to be a part of. And then we also need to not only bring them here, but also to stoop down. Galatians 2, stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens and so complete the Christ's law. And James says, real religion reaches out to the down and out and to the poor. See, in our facility, we're going to reach out primarily to the up and outers. But there are down and outers around us, too. People who simply can't come here, or they're physically unable. One of the greatest ministries of our church, I'm just going to tell one of them, is the ministry of our assisted living facility, where some of our guys go and they teach the Bible and some of their wives play instruments and their kids play instruments. And they leave worship services. I'd love to see more of you go over there and just talk. One retired guy and one of the ALFs over here is almost blind. And he was a CEO of a major corporation here in the United States. This guy was a big time business guy. And he said he was talking to one of our people. I said, I just don't have anybody to talk to. I don't have anybody to listen to me. What a great thing that we can do to reach out to some of those people. And anybody can do that. All of us can practically serve Jesus. Well, look at the next verse that we have down there. Jesus replied, let me assure you that no one has ever given up anything for love of me and to tell others the good news. That's the mission. Who won't be given back. He'll reward you and he'll find a way to do that. The last way then that we flush out this great commission, this mission is by reaching beyond to the uttermost parts of the earth. And some of you are saying there is no way I'm not going. I'm not going to become a missionary. I'm not going to sell all this and give up my pool and I'm not going to do it. And you know what, I have never been one of those who has called you to do that. Jesus said in the great commission, go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I command. And I have never been, maybe once or twice, in 18 years, to my shame, I haven't said, okay, you know what, I'm a missionary here, but maybe you're supposed to be a missionary overseas. It's possible that the wits are sitting up here. They went and they've come back and they're going to go again and they're always going. You know what, it may be that God has been saying to you, you know, I'm supposed to be a foreign missionary. I really am. I've been called to that and I have said, no, we had a visiting pastor a few years ago, a few weeks ago, who was an assemblies of God pastor here and I was talking to him after the service. He said how he liked Presbyterian worship, how upbeat and all that. And he's assemblies of God. And so I said, will you do your pastor here? He was, yeah, but I'm going to the mission field. 20 years ago, God told me to go, now I'm just finally going. Good for you. Some of you ought to go and go to the lost because God's put it on your heart. That's where he's going to fulfill your greatest blessing. If not, you could be radical in other ways. You could be a radical sender. In other words, you may not go yourself, but you might be helping to send other people. You might be a radical goer and go overseas, but you might be a radical sender. And you say, I know here it is the money. Yeah, I know they're going to put the bite on me for money. No, we're not handing out any envelopes. But many of you, when you see somebody that wants to go on a short term mission trip, and you could go to to Armenia, you need to check that missions table out because one of the most powerful things could be to go on a short term missions trip. You could change your life. And our missions committee are heart and soul committed to reaching people in that in that other area. Well, they want to reach people here too, but they're the ones that are keeping before us this need to go. Go on a short term mission trip. You could change your life. Be a radical goer. Be a radical sender. Beverly Bordoulos reminded me that there's a third. Be a radical prayer. I've been growing up in a baptist church. They used to talk about the prayer warriors. I used to think I'm sitting around these people sitting around Tom Tom's with hatchets. What does a prayer warrior do? A prayer warrior is somebody who prays like crazy, who storms the gates of hell that you and I would be effective in bringing the gospel to other people. We all can, if he can use a donkey, he can, and in the story of Baelin, he can use you and he can use me. Several years ago, somebody was talking to me several years ago and they said, Pete, is anybody going to be in heaven because of you? I was raised in guilt and I thought, oh man, as I talked with them more, they said, I'm not trying to guilt you, but it's just a question that stands. Is anybody else going to be in heaven because of you? I thought about that for a moment. I said, I don't know. And it profoundly impacted my life because what makes me tick at my very core is I want to be a part of something bigger than me that outlasts me. I want to be a part of something, ever since I came to Christ, something that has eternal dimensions, something that will last. I want to pour my life into something that will last forever. And that's why I'm a pastor, not because I'm a good pastor, I'm a particularly good in any way. The reality, I want to be part of something that was bigger than me. So when they said that, is anybody going to be in heaven because of you, I thought, you know, I don't know, but that's what I want. And I would want that for you, because that's the biggest grace that God could give you, not guilt, the grace, what an incredible thing it is when somebody comes to faith in Christ and you were part of it. I want you to experience that. I want all of us to be a part of that, because that's what's going to transform our world. And it's going to fulfill us at the deepest level. And so in all of this, last of the 40 days of purpose, God says, go and fulfill a mission. Be a part of this thing. And I dare you, I dare you to say, God use me. And some of you have just enough of an authority problem like I have to say, I'm going to get involved in sharing the gospel just to show you elements and that God can use me to say, Lord use me to bring somebody else to faith in Christ. See what he does. See what he does. Don't miss the grace. You take it to heart. Father, you are so good to us. And now today, we come to you and pray that you take away the fear and the authority problems that we have and help us to see how you have wired us to be a part of your communication business. Thank you that it's more about you than it is about us and that you love to use people just like us. And so we ask you that you will use us to build a bridge to somebody that doesn't know Christ. Now on the outside chance that you're here today and you have never embraced Christ as Savior and Lord, I want to invite you into the family because it really might be that you have been checking us out just long enough to see if we're fakes. And we've probably given you some ammunition. We're not perfect, but we do feel like we've met the God of the universe and have something that we can't keep to ourselves. So we don't invite you into a perfect family but we invite you into the family that will last for eternity. And we invite you to come to the Father and in your own heart and mind right now say something like this, Lord, I'm ready. I'm ready to stop playing a game like I know how life works because I don't. I'm ready for a Savior to deal with my sin because I can't. I'm ready to have a Father because I'm Fatherless. But today I accept Jesus as my Savior and Lord because I need a Savior. Come into my life and do that work that only you can do touch me deeply. Forgive me and remake my life. Father, thank you that you do the most important thing in our life and that is bring us to you. Today we pray that as your church we be your church and just tell them because we do pray in the strong name of our Savior Jesus.