Sep 2007
Reluctant to be Sent: The Missionary without the Missionary’s Heart [questions]
23/09/07 22:09 Filed in: Missions
Reluctant to be Sent: The Missionary without the
Missionary’s Heart
23 September 2007
Questions for reflection and discussion.
1. Who have you been sent to? Or, where are you being sent?
2. What makes us reluctant to go?
3. From a corporate perspective…..Where is Hope Church’s Nineveh?
EXTRA CREDIT
4. Have you had a “stinky fish” experience that put you back on track?
23 September 2007
Questions for reflection and discussion.
1. Who have you been sent to? Or, where are you being sent?
2. What makes us reluctant to go?
3. From a corporate perspective…..Where is Hope Church’s Nineveh?
EXTRA CREDIT
4. Have you had a “stinky fish” experience that put you back on track?
Reluctant to be Sent: The Missionary without the Missionary’s Heart
23/09/07 16:36 Filed in: Missions
Reluctant to be Sent: The Missionary without the
Missionary’s Heart
Pastor David Lenz
23 September 2007
Text: Jonah 1:1-3, 3:1 – 4:11
Chapter 1: “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son saying, “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
We are a sent people. The problem is that we don’t enjoy being sent.
We are reluctant because:
We are afraid. We don’t want to look like fanatics. We are not prepared.
We are apathetic and pre-occupied
We don’t love the people to whom we are sent.
Nineveh: A bit of background:
Located in Iraq near modern day Mosul.
Capital of Assyria. In 772BC wiped away the Northern Kingdom of Israel
City of violence, wickedness, and unceasing evil as described in Nahum 3.
Chapter 2 and 3: “But the Lord provided a large fish…..” I called out to the Lord out of my distress”……“ The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh.”
Jonah Goes
Jonah’s msg: “Forty days more and Nineveh will be overturned.” Jonah 3:4
Not the greatest sermon of all time. The prophet’s heart was not in it.
Nineveh repents. God is stirred by their repentance and spares them.
Jonah is not happy.
Chapter 4: “ But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry....” for I knew you were a gracious God and merciful....... Please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah’s Problem
Problem is not that he doesn’t understand God’s mercy.
Problem is that he does understand God’s mercy.
Real problem is that he doesn’t love the Ninevites and wanted them destroyed.
Our Problem
Hard to love lost people because they do lost things.
Ministry to lost people is messy.
Lost people disappoint us, hurt us, and wound us.
Chariots of Fire:
“You can’t get out what God has not put in.” Sam Mussabini
Call to Action :
Ask God to put in what is missing. A love for the people to whom God has sent you.
Where is Nineveh for you?
Summary: God loves Nineveh and God loves Jonah.
Pastor David Lenz
23 September 2007
Text: Jonah 1:1-3, 3:1 – 4:11
Chapter 1: “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son saying, “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
We are a sent people. The problem is that we don’t enjoy being sent.
We are reluctant because:
We are afraid. We don’t want to look like fanatics. We are not prepared.
We are apathetic and pre-occupied
We don’t love the people to whom we are sent.
Nineveh: A bit of background:
Located in Iraq near modern day Mosul.
Capital of Assyria. In 772BC wiped away the Northern Kingdom of Israel
City of violence, wickedness, and unceasing evil as described in Nahum 3.
Chapter 2 and 3: “But the Lord provided a large fish…..” I called out to the Lord out of my distress”……“ The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh.”
Jonah Goes
Jonah’s msg: “Forty days more and Nineveh will be overturned.” Jonah 3:4
Not the greatest sermon of all time. The prophet’s heart was not in it.
Nineveh repents. God is stirred by their repentance and spares them.
Jonah is not happy.
Chapter 4: “ But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry....” for I knew you were a gracious God and merciful....... Please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah’s Problem
Problem is not that he doesn’t understand God’s mercy.
Problem is that he does understand God’s mercy.
Real problem is that he doesn’t love the Ninevites and wanted them destroyed.
Our Problem
Hard to love lost people because they do lost things.
Ministry to lost people is messy.
Lost people disappoint us, hurt us, and wound us.
Chariots of Fire:
“You can’t get out what God has not put in.” Sam Mussabini
Call to Action :
Ask God to put in what is missing. A love for the people to whom God has sent you.
Where is Nineveh for you?
Summary: God loves Nineveh and God loves Jonah.
The God Who Sends [questions]
09/09/07 16:08 Filed in: Missions
The God Who Sends
9 September 2007
Questions for reflection and discussion.
What ministry have you been sent to? Why? Re-trace how you got involved?
To what are you being sent? – now and future
Who has God sent to you and altered your course in life?
EXTRA CREDIT
When have you felt like the lost lady in the adult daycare?
Who rescued you?
9 September 2007
Questions for reflection and discussion.
What ministry have you been sent to? Why? Re-trace how you got involved?
To what are you being sent? – now and future
Who has God sent to you and altered your course in life?
EXTRA CREDIT
When have you felt like the lost lady in the adult daycare?
Who rescued you?
The God Who Sends
09/09/07 16:06 Filed in: Missions
The God Who Sends
Pastor David Lenz
9 September 2007
Text: John 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
SENT: The one word theme of the fall series
What does it mean that we are sent?
What does it mean that we are a missional church?
Where are we being sent?
The God who loves. The God who gives. The God who sends.
The God who loves: God does not give up on us.
Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Genesis 3:9 “Where are you?”
The God who sends:
Moses- to the children of Israel in Egypt
Isaiah and Jeremiah - to the tribe of Judah
Amos – to Israel during their prosperity
Ezekial – the exiles in Babylon
Haggai – to the Jews rebuilding the temple
Jesus – not to condemn the world but to save the world.
Missio Dei: The Mission of God and the Missional Church
“Theologians speak of mission using the Latin phrase missio dei. They refer at times to
the mission of God, or in another sense, the God of mission. You may have heard the saying,
“Mission is not a program of the church.” Rather, mission is fundamental to our identity as the
church. The church does not have a mission per se. Instead, the God of mission, the God Who is
love (1 John 4:16) and Who is on a mission of love, has a/the church with which to accomplish
God’s mission. As Christians, each of us is called to be a missionary in our respective cultural
contexts. In a very real sense, mission is who we are. It is who we were created, designed, and who we are called to be and become more and more…..God is a sending/missionary God.”
Stephen Hayner – Columbia Theological
The stained glass windows
They shut us in
Sanctuary
Retreat and Refuge
But the action is not in here…..it is out there.
The Hope staff takes it to the streets
Story of the missing adult day care student
Great picture of the Missional Church taking it to the streets looking for the lost.
Call to Action : Every one is sent to their sphere of influence.
Pastor David Lenz
9 September 2007
Text: John 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
SENT: The one word theme of the fall series
What does it mean that we are sent?
What does it mean that we are a missional church?
Where are we being sent?
The God who loves. The God who gives. The God who sends.
The God who loves: God does not give up on us.
Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Genesis 3:9 “Where are you?”
The God who sends:
Moses- to the children of Israel in Egypt
Isaiah and Jeremiah - to the tribe of Judah
Amos – to Israel during their prosperity
Ezekial – the exiles in Babylon
Haggai – to the Jews rebuilding the temple
Jesus – not to condemn the world but to save the world.
Missio Dei: The Mission of God and the Missional Church
“Theologians speak of mission using the Latin phrase missio dei. They refer at times to
the mission of God, or in another sense, the God of mission. You may have heard the saying,
“Mission is not a program of the church.” Rather, mission is fundamental to our identity as the
church. The church does not have a mission per se. Instead, the God of mission, the God Who is
love (1 John 4:16) and Who is on a mission of love, has a/the church with which to accomplish
God’s mission. As Christians, each of us is called to be a missionary in our respective cultural
contexts. In a very real sense, mission is who we are. It is who we were created, designed, and who we are called to be and become more and more…..God is a sending/missionary God.”
Stephen Hayner – Columbia Theological
The stained glass windows
They shut us in
Sanctuary
Retreat and Refuge
But the action is not in here…..it is out there.
The Hope staff takes it to the streets
Story of the missing adult day care student
Great picture of the Missional Church taking it to the streets looking for the lost.
Call to Action : Every one is sent to their sphere of influence.