Getting Into God's Mission by Soul Survivor

Give yourself: Put others first and remember the poor Speak up: Shout about the injustice you see around you Get green: Jesus came to save the whole planet, not just us Tell others: Spread some of Jesus’ light and life Live it out: It’s a 24/7 committed lifestyle

www.soulaction.org | info@soulaction.org Soul Action, Unit 2 Paramount Industrial Estate, Sandown Road, Watford, WD24 7XF Soul Action operates under the charitable status of Soul Survivor. The Soul Survivor Charity No. is 1080720

GETTING INTO GOD’S MISSION - 27 DAYS OF BIBLE THOUGHTS TO HELP YOU GET ACTING ON THE IMPOSSIBLE

Soul Action is about living out God’s mission. Following Jesus 24/7, seeing what God is doing in the world and getting involved. Join in the impossible mission and commit to doing the following:

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Join In God’s Mission And Make The Impossible Possible.

Words from Mike Pilavachi…

Mission Impossible? Getting into God’s Mission

I’ve been around the Church for a few years now, and after a while you begin to notice things. One of the things I’ve noticed is that the different parts of the church like to label other parts of the church. Some of us just love to worship. That’s our thing. Then there are those of us who love spreading God’s word and telling others about Jesus. Lastly, there are some of us who are brilliant at talking about - and acting on - injustice. And you know what? All of these things are good and brilliant things and I’m proud to be part of churches that do this stuff. But there is a problem. When we separate God’s mission into different sections like this we’re missing the big picture. The church is called to God’s entire mission. Serving the poor, speaking up against injustice, caring for the environment and telling others about Jesus all belong together as part of a life of worship. We can’t separate these things out from each other… they are part and parcel of following Jesus and being a Christian. We’re desperate to see loads of you make this connection and commit to living lives that glorify God and bring his hope, light and life to our world. That’s what this guide and Soul Action have been created for. To help you follow Jesus and live out all of God’s mission, knowing him intimately and helping others connect with him too. We pray that as you work through this guide over the next few weeks that you’ll be challenged and changed. We hope you grow closer to Jesus and get excited about following him throughout your whole life. Ultimately we pray that you get the whole picture and begin to live out the whole of God’s mission! With love

Mike

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Mission Impossible? Getting Into God’s Mission

Getting God’s Mission… Our God is on a mission and he’s asking us to see what he’s doing and get involved. He asks us to work alongside him to bring his love, light and life to a broken world. He calls us to join him in making the impossible mission possible. He’s asking us to walk with him and do all of the following stuff:

Give Yourself:

Put others first and remember the poor

Speak Up:

Shout about the injustice you see around you

Get Green:

Jesus came to save the whole planet, not just us

Tell Others:

Spread some of Jesus’ light and life

Live It Out:

It’s a 24/7 committed lifestyle It’s not a simple task. The world is pretty dark sometimes, but our loving God is acting and wants to use us to further his mission. And that is what this guide is all about: working through some of the key aspects of God’s mission, so we know him and can follow him better! We’re glad you’re with us and hope you find the next 27 days full of challenging, exciting and life changing times where you meet with God and get inspired to act out his mission!

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Taking you on the mission: Over the next 27 days we’ll take you through a bunch of Bible passages that explore the different aspects of God’s mission. You’ll reflect on the words of ancient prophets, get to grips with some challenging stories and read about the ultimate world changer, Jesus. After an intro day you’ll spend five days on each of the five aspects of God’s mission. You’ll learn more about serving the poor, speaking up against injustice, getting green, telling others and living out a life of love. In each study we suggest a practical action ad give prayer points to help you connect with God and follow Jesus in your everyday life. The hope is that not only would you get God’s mission, but also get involved in what God is doing in his world.

Join in the discussion online: Confused by some of the passages, or struggling to make sense of how to live out God’s mission with your life? Join in the online discussion of each day’s Bible Study at www.soulaction.org!

27 days don’t make five weeks! You can use this guide in several ways. Each session is designed to last for around 15 minutes, though do spend as long as you can praying into the things that come up. If you do one study a day it’ll take 27 days to get through the Bible studies. However, with the exception of the first and last studies, we’ve put the sessions into five themes and given five days on each theme. If you fancy a break on the weekend you could do one theme a week for five weeks. It’s up to you to choose how you go about reading the sessions, but whatever you decide we hope you find them useful! If you have questions, just drop us a line at info@soulaction.org!

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Intro Study Our Mision

Faith in action is the worship God requires

Intro Study: Our Mission:

Dear friends, do you think back as if you had done you’ll get anywhere in this something wonderful? if you learn all the right That’s just great. Demons words but never do anydo that, but what good thing? Does merely talking does it do them? Use your about faith indicate that a heads! Do you suppose for person really has it? For in- a minute that you can cut stance, you come upon an faith and works in two and old friend dressed in rags not end up with a corpse and half-starved and say, on your hands? “Good morning, friend! Be Wasn’t our ancestor clothed in Christ! Be filled Abraham “made right with with the Holy Spirit!” and God by works” when he walk off without providing placed his son Isaac on so much as a coat or a the sacrificial altar? Isn’t cup of soup - where does it obvious that faith and that get you? Isn’t it obviworks are yoked partners, ous that God-talk without that faith expresses itself God-acts is outrageous in works? That the works nonsense? are “works of faith”? The I can already hear one full meaning of “believe” of you agreeing by saying, in the Scripture sentence, “Sounds good. You take “Abraham believed God care of the faith departand was set right with God,” ment, I’ll handle the works includes his action. It’s department.” that mesh of believing and Not so fast. You can no acting that got Abraham more show me your works named “God’s friend.” Is it apart from your faith than not evident that a person I can show you my faith is made right with God not apart from my works. Faith by a barren faith but by and works, works and faith, faith fruitful in works? fit together hand in glove. Do I hear you professing James 2v14-24 to believe in the one and (The Message) only God, but then observe you complacently sitting

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Here’s the huge challenge we face in our attempt to live out God’s mission on earth: ‘does talking about our faith mean we actually have it’? As we can see, James is convinced that it doesn’t. He passionately believes that if we know God, our lives will change and our actions will live out what we’re saying with our mouths. We can’t just say we know that God exists – as he points out even the devil would agree with us on that point – we’ve got to put our faith into action.

We’ve got to understand that our worship of God (that is how we express our love for him) must be with both our words and our actions. Our songs, prayers and words of thanksgiving combine with our lives of loving action to form the worship God longs to see and hear. If we’re to join with God in working out his mission on earth, we must be people who know how to worship in this way. But what does a life of worship actually look like? What does it actually mean to sign up for getting into God’s mission? Over the next five weeks (or however long you choose to take to work through the guide) we’re going to look at some other Bible passages to get a better understanding of what sort of actions God is looking for from his followers, and just why he wants us to show our love for him through what we do. We’re going to be looking at living out God’s mission and by that we mean: giving ourselves to the poor, speaking up against injustice, looking

after the environment, telling people about Jesus and thinking about how we can keep living out these things in our lives. But before we move on, let’s pause to think about James’ other warning in v18. He says don’t let your actions become everything and lose your faith. He’s pretty clear: we mustn’t miss out the works, but equally we mustn’t do the works and forget our faith. Everything we do should be coming out of relationship with God so let’s keep that in mind as we get stuck into living out God’s mission.

Before we go any further spend PRAY : some time simply worshipping God for what he has done in your life. Thank him for how much he loves you and after a while speak to him about your desire to commit to getting involved in his mission. Ask him to prepare you to learn more, see more and act more as you go through the rest of this guide in the coming weeks, and let him know you’re up for living out his mission with your life!

Mission Impossible? Our Mission

PART ONE OF GOD’S MISSION:

Put Others First And Remember The Poor

Week/Theme One Give Yourself

The first part of God’s mission is about us. In fact it’s not just about us, but how we act towards others. Over the next few days we’ll be studying some challenging passages that ask us to adjust our focus. We’re used to being the centre of our own worlds, but when we get involved in God’s mission we hear Jesus say ‘give yourself’. And just as Jesus gave himself for us, we’re to do likewise, finding ways in our everyday lives to give ourselves to others. As we’ll see this includes the 3 billion people who live on less than $2.50 a day and it also includes the people we meet on a daily basis as we live out our lives.

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Mission Impossible? Give Yourself

Week/Theme One: Give Yourself Day One

The Greatest Commandment Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22v34-40

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

When Jesus tells you the two most important things you can ever do, it’s worth paying attention! He says that first and foremost we’re to love God with everything we are. He goes on to say that the next most important thing is similar to the first: loving our neighbour. So showing love to those around us is along the same lines as loving God. The harsh reality is that we have many ‘neighbours’ who are in need of help. They may live down our street and be in need of a friend or they may live on the other side of the world and be in need of ARV treatment for HIV. Poverty comes in many forms and no one is immune. Wherever our neighbours are and whatever they’re struggling with, Jesus makes it clear that we’re to love them. How do we show love? Sometimes it’s about spending time with people who are lonely and sometimes it’s about parting with cash to help those in need. For

some of us it might mean going overseas to help those in the developing world. For others it will mean opening our eyes to the poverty around us and doing what we can to help. Loving our neighbour can mean praying for their salvation, it can mean campaigning for their rights or it can be as simple as making them a cup of tea. It comes in many shapes and sizes but one thing is for sure; God says it’s to be our priority.

Pick one of the above ACTION : actions to complete today to show someone God’s love. Make sure you check out www.soulaction.org/aokday and join the kindness revolution, for plenty of ideas and stories of how to secretly bless others!

Ask God to reveal to you people PRAY : in your life that he wants you to be a neighbour to.

Mission Impossible? Give Yourself

Week/Theme One: Give Yourself Day Two

You’re Wonderfully Made…

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?... For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

This is such an amazing and beautiful Psalm, one that many of us turn to in order to be reminded how much God loves us and how well he knows us. The challenge for us can be to see the faces on TV or in the newspaper of those living in poverty and remember that God also knit them together in their mother’s womb. He knows all of their days, his eyes saw their unformed bodies. He is familiar with all of their ways (v3) and they are his precious children. With huge statistics quoted at us, it’s easy to forget we’re talking about human beings. People with passions, hopes, dreams, feelings, pain and needs. They’re just like us but they were born in a different part of the world so maybe they don’t have access to clean water or have lost their parents to a preventable disease.

In Genesis we’re told that God created us in his image (Chapter 1v26) All of us. That means that every man, woman and child living in poverty bears God’s image. For the time-being at least God has limited himself to working through us, so let’s remember how much he loves each individual and be motivated by that love to do something about the terrible poverty millions face every day.

Check out some of the ACTION : project videos on the Soul Action website to meet some of the people

whose lives are affected by poverty (www. soulaction.org/projects). Pick up a newspaper and search for stories on the developing world, or think about people you know that you might have met that work or live overseas in a poor community.

After doing the above pray for PRAY : the people you have met, read about or know and the situations that they and millions of others around the world face. You may sponsor a child or support other projects too, so bring them to God in your prayers as well!

Psalm 139v1-7, 13-16 Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Mission Impossible? Give Yourself

Week/Theme One: Give Yourself Day Three

Giving To The Needy “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6v1-4

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

When we decide we want to make a real difference in the world and try and do something about poverty we have to be careful of our motives. Jesus is warning us here that we shouldn’t be doing things just so we get seen and get a good reputation for ourselves. God sees the motivation of our hearts – even if those around us can’t. He says that if we’re looking for other people’s approval then that is all we’ll get – other people might think we’re pretty amazing but God won’t. Time and time again Jesus criticises people who are hypocritical – here saying they only give to the needy to get themselves honour, not because they care. Followers of Jesus shouldn’t be like that. We should only care about doing God’s will and be motivated by his love to look after those in need. But do we have to do everyDo something in absolute secrecy in order thing in to please God? What about indisecret – an act of kindness that viduals and charities who shout no one will ever attribute to about their work in order to raise you. Check out www.soulaction. money? The point is not that we org/aokday for some helpful keep everything hidden; the point advice and ideas. is that our motivation is to serve God and bring him glory. In fact in this same sermon Jesus has Say sorry to already told us that we should let God for times our good deeds be seen in order when you may have looked for that people might praise God other people’s approval before (Matthew 5 v16). God’s approval of who you are Let’s listen to this warning: Jeand what you do. Ask God to sus calls us to care about those help you find your identity in in poverty and in need, but he him. warns us to do it out of love for God, not love of other people’s approval.

ACTION:

PRAY:

Mission Impossible? Give Yourself

Week/Theme One: Give Yourself Day Four

Sowing Generously

ness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supRemember this: Whoever sows sparingly plying the needs of God’s will also reap sparingly, and whoever people but is also oversows generously will also reap generously. flowing in many expresEach man should give what he has decid- sions of thanks to God. ed in his heart to give, not reluctantly or Because of the service under compulsion, for God loves a cheer- by which you have proved ful giver. And God is able to make all yourselves, men will praise grace abound to you, so that in all things God for the obedience that at all times, having all that you need, you accompanies your confeswill abound in every good work. As it is sion of the gospel of Christ, written: and for your generosity in sharing with them and “He has scattered abroad his gifts to with everyone else. And in the poor; their prayers for you their his righteousness endures forever.” hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing Now he who supplies seed to the sower grace God has given you. and bread for food will also supply and Thanks be to God for his increase your store of seed and will indescribable gift! enlarge the harvest of your righteous2 Corinthians 9v6-15

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

The world we live in tells us to look out for ourselves, to take care of our own needs before worrying about anyone else’s. God tells us the opposite. God has given us everything we need to be generous and when it comes to talking about the poor and broken we need to be generous with our time, our resources and yes, our money. Feeling a bit skint? Let’s put our wealth into context. If you have a bed to sleep in, a cupboard to store your clothes in, a fridge to put your food in and a roof over your head, you’re richer than 75% of the entire world’s population*. We take secondary education for granted but only 7% of people in the world have access to it. About a billion people live in the unimaginable poverty of slums. The statistics go on and they make us realise that we have more than perhaps we might have realised. Our God is generous; he gave everything for us and he wants us to be generous with others in return. Not because we have to or as part of our religious duties, but because we’ve decided in our hearts that we want to (v7). God loves it when we’re happy to give in order to look after someone else (v7). And his promise is that he will provide for us in return and make us ‘rich in every way’ (v11). So let’s be generous and remember how generous God has been with us; he has given us everything we have (1 Chronicles 29:14).

Go ACTION : through your wardrobe and give away anything you haven’t worn for a year.

Give God PRAY : thanks for all that he has given you and ask him to help you use what you have to further his mission.

*statistic from www.miniature-earth.com

Mission Impossible? Give Yourself

Week/Theme One: Give Yourself Day Five

Proclaim The Year Of God’s Favour!

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendour. Isaiah 61v1-3

These words from Isaiah are the words that Jesus later proclaims in the synagogue (see Luke 4). This is God’s mission and therefore it is our mission – we’re called to ‘preach good news to the poor’. But what is the good news we’re called to preach? God cares about our physical, emotional and spiritual needs and ‘poverty’ can mean a lack in any of these areas so the Bible addresses them all. In the book of Revelation God makes a promise that must sound incredible to those who have known real hunger in this life on earth. He says in heaven:

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.

If you’d felt the pain of loneliness that so many in our society do today, wouldn’t it be amazing to know that that there’s a God who loves you and has Revelation 7 v16 promised never to leave you or abandon you? (Hebrews 13v5). If you were aware of your spiritual poverty and your need for a Saviour, how happy would you be to hear that through Jesus you can now be in relationship with God? This is all great news! Sadly there is physical poverty all around our world but in this passage God offers hope to us in any area where we lack something, whether we will see the fulfilment in this life of the next. So like Jesus we should be ‘preaching the good news to the poor’. This means taking care of physical, spiritual and emotional needs wherever we can, knowing that the ultimate hope we can point people towards is eternity with the God who made them and loves them.

If you’d Re-read the ACTION : like to PRAY : passage from understand more about Isaiah and make that a person-

the poverty a billion people live in, take up the Slum Survivor challenge with your youth group. Go to www.soulaction.org for all the info you’ll need! Start planning ways in which you and your group could raise money to help some fantastic projects that serve poor communities around the world!

al prayer to God. Spend a few moments reflecting on each statement and let God speak through His Word.

Mission Impossible? Give Yourself

Week/Theme Two Speak Up

Sometimes we lose our voices. Not through laryngitis or a sore throat, but sometimes we don’t speak when saying something means we may put ourselves in the line of fire. Think of Peter in the New Testament. He denied knowing Jesus three times. He lost his voice as speaking up would have cost him everything.

PA R

D’

Sh Ab ou In o t Se jus ut e tic Th Ar e e ou Yo nd u Yo u

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

We’ll see over the next few days that God cares deeply about justice. He hates corruption, oppression and situations where people use their power to control others. He hates it when some people have a lot and others have nothing. And he asks us to follow his lead and speak up against injustice. That’s what the next few days are about. Learning to use our voices and speak up, even if in doing so, we put ourselves in the line of fire.

As we get involved in God’s mission Jesus asks us to begin speaking up. He asks us to notice what we’d rather ignore and do something about it.

Mission Impossible? Speak Up

Week/Theme Two: Speak Up Day One

Isaiah 58 (part I) ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD ? “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelterwhen you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

God doesn’t leave us in the dark trying to guess what he wants from us. All throughout the Bible he tells us plainly that we can’t pay lip service to being his followers; we have to really live it out. This passage is part of the prophet Isaiah’s condemnation of the way God’s people are acting. They are complaining that God isn’t listening to them or noticing them (v3). He’s not answering their prayers and they are confused as they think they are fulfilling all their religious requirements. God’s response is that they’re completely missing the point. They are fasting because they want to please God but they are still exploiting their workers (also v3) and arguing with each other. God is looking for more than the outward appearance of people who follow him, ritual

obedience isn’t the point; he wants our hearts to be like his. God’s heart breaks when he sees injustice. The issues he addresses here, written thousands of years ago, are sadly still widespread in our world. There is still injustice, oppression, hunger and homelessness and the kind of fasting (or activity that shows Jesus how much we want to follow him) is to care for these people who are in need.

We pass people every ACTION : day, but who is it in your world that you can stop for? Who is there that you can give time to help and serve?

Thank God that he is merciful PRAY : and even when we mess up he still loves us and is willing to give us a second chance. Ask him to help you get a better understanding of how he wants you to live and act and ask him to show you who it is in your world he wants you to serve.

Isaiah 58v3-12

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Mission Impossible? Speak Up

Week/Theme Two: Speak Up Day Two

Isaiah 58 (part II) Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

God longs to see these things changed – can’t you hear the desperation in his voice in this passage? We read yesterday how he wants the oppressed set free (v6); he’s desperate that the hungry get the food they need; he wants everyone to have a place to sleep each night and clothes to wear (v7). As the verses continue he urges us to give ourselves to help those in need (v10). In short he wants us to see people with his eyes and to love them with his love. And because of the kind of God he is, he makes us a promise in return. He says that if we do these things, we’ll get his attention when we pray (v9), he will guide us and satisfy our needs (v11). That’s how things seem to work with God; instead of worrying about our own needs, he asks us to look out for others and let him take care of us in return.

He also gives us another promise. The Message puts v 12 slightly differently, saying instead that we will be able to ‘make the community livable again’. This is God’s agenda, and one of his priorities for us. We want our communities to be thriving, we want to be a part of repairing lives that have been broken; so let’s do it. Let’s not make the mistake of living out the religious parts of our faith without living out the heart and the love behind them.

For one day (maybe ACTION : even one day a week), don’t watch telly or go online – instead spend the time praying for the world and the issues of injustice God is putting on your heart.

Ask God to help you see PRAY : what he sees when he looks at the world. Let God speak to you about poverty, injustice and oppression and expect him to change you.

Isaiah 58v8-12

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Mission Impossible? Speak Up

Week/Theme Two: Speak Up Day Three

God Hates Our Songs? This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” Amos 5v4, 11-12, 21-24

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

When we’re worshiping at an event like Soul Survivor we often feel God really close. We feel amazingly loved and sure of God’s pleasure and this passage is a real warning to us. Can you imagine us all together in the Big Top, singing our hearts out and then hearing a voice coming down from heaven saying “I hate what you’re doing! Stop your singing now, I’ve had enough!.” This is exactly what God is saying in this passage to the house of Israel. Rather than saying he loves their festivals and offerings, he’s saying he hates them (v21). He can’t stand them. Why? Because they’re empty. The people What aren’t practicing what they’re preaching, they’re not is your backing up their worship in the way they live their favourite clothes brand or lives. God can’t bear it if we sing about surrender, shop? Find out how they giving him everything, longing to live for him and treat their employees and then go away and live life like we’ve never even suppliers with the Tearfund heard of him. This passage is another reminder of the strength ‘Lift the Label’ campaign at www.tearfund.org/liftthelaof God’s passion for justice. He’s saying to his bel and get to meet some people – forget your festivals, they mean nothing of the people behind the unless you live out your relationship with me and products. become people who will stand up against injustice.

ACTION:

Be honest PRAY : before God and say sorry for when your times of worship (like when you sing to God in church) don’t match your life of worship. Ask him to change you to live a life of worship 24/7. Look at the label on what you are wearing. Where was it made? Pray for the person who made it.

Mission Impossible? Speak Up

Week/Theme Two: Speak Up Day Four

The Lord’s Case Against Israel Listen to what the LORD says: “Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel. My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.” With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6 Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

These passages we’ve been reading are forming a bit of a pattern. When God gets angry with his people, it’s often their selfishness that’s at the heart of it. Here God is reminding his people where he’s brought them from: once they were the slaves in Egypt. They were an oppressed people, living under a tyrannical regime, being treated like slaves and given no rights. He set them free and what does he want in return? Burnt offerings? Calves? Their own children? No! He wants them to look out for other people the way he has looked out for them. He wants them to act justly – to treat people as they should treated. He wants them to love mercy, not just to be merciful but to be passionate about mercy. And he wants them to walk humbly before him (v8). God wants the same from us. Through Jesus we have been given freedom; we have been given life. Now we need to extend that to others. We should be doing all that we can to ensure others get treated properly. This is the worship God requires. Yes, he wants the songs of our hearts, the words of our mouths, but he wants us to put that worship into action in the way we treat others.

Memorise Micah 6 v8 and ACTION : some other bits of scripture from this week. God’s word will be really useful to have tucked away in your grey matter to bless and encourage others and yourself.

Be quiet for ten minutes and PRAY : ask God to show you how to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with him throughout the rest of your day.

Mission Impossible? Speak Up

Week/Theme Two: Speak Up Day Five

Shout About It Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31v8-9

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Oppressed people don’t have the opportunity to speak up for themselves, their voice has been taken away by their oppressors. This means their pain and suffering can go on for many years unless someone else is willing to get involved, stand up for them and be their voice. Who are we talking about? Women and children sold into prostitution. Farmers who aren’t given a living wage for their crops. People who work in appalling and dangerous conditions in order to make cheap clothes for us. Christians who are imprisoned for their faith. These situations (and many more like them) are heart-breaking but the amazing thing is that today there are so many ways we can speak up for the voiceless. Through the internet we can access so many brilliant campaigns that call on people in power to change the lives of those who are oppressed. Every time you sign a petition or badger an MP through something like SuperBadger (a Facebook application), you’re using your voice to call out for justice. And there are other ways

you can make your voice heard too, like buying things with the Fairtrade symbol. Every time you buy a Fairtrade bar of chocolate or cotton t-shirt you’re saying that it’s not OK to rip people off but that every person who does a days work deserves a days pay. Seem like small actions? Well the more of us who join in, the more noise we’ll make. We may never see the brothers and sisters who we’re being a voice for but we can be sure that God does. He sees our every action just like he sees every tear cried by those who are downtrodden and oppressed and he says: “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God” Proverbs 14:31.

If you haven’t already then ACTION : join up to a campaigning group like SuperBadger on Facebook or Bebo. Complete at least two of their actions – it will only take you a few minutes but it could make a huge difference to hundreds of lives.

Using SuperBadger or filling PRAY : out a petition for a campaign connects you with some of the most important decision makers in our country. Spend a while praying for our government asking that they would make decisions that benefit the poor, stand up for justice and further God’s mission.

Mission Impossible? Speak Up

Week/Theme Three Get Green

PART THREE OF GOD’S MISSION:

Jesus Came To Save The Whole Planet, Not Just Us More often than not we think of our relationship with Jesus as a personal and individual thing. That is true. God loves us, died for us and knows each of us intimately. However, some of the point of what we’ve been reading already is that a relationship with Jesus means we can’t ignore the people around us. Furthermore, we’re realising that a relationship with Jesus

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

means we can’t ignore the world we live in either and that means our planet, the gift God has given us to look after. Over the next five days we’ll be looking at how in signing up to God’s mission we’re signing up to looking after his creation.

Mission Impossible? Get Green

Week/Theme Three: Get Green Day One

Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the sixth day.

And It Was Good

Genesis 1v26-31

Have you ever been at one of those parties where someone’s parents are away and everyone piles round to their house? Ever been thankful it wasn’t you having to face an angry mum and dad when they came home and found that the home they’d trusted you with had been trashed? How do you think God feels about the state of our planet? Right from the beginning he left us in charge. He gave us a job to do (v28), he gave us responsibility and what have we done? We’ve used it for our own short term needs, not thinking about the consequences for anyone else. At the rate we’re going, future generations won’t be able to enjoy the same things we do today. We’ve all seen the changes in seasons – we moan about the crazy rains in the summer because they spoil our Soul Survivor camping experience but the reality is they are a sign of something much worse than a ruined summer. People around the world are dying because of global warming, caused largely by the lifestyles of us in the West; they’re losing their land, their livelihood and sometimes their lives because of our behaviour. And global warming isn’t the only issue - the damage we’re doing to our environment is wide-spread. As God’s people we have a responsibility to understand the consequences of our actions on the world that God created. We must honour the role that God gave us and take care of this planet until Jesus returns.

Take a ACTION : quick environmental review of yourself

and your family. Think about things you could do to help the environment like cutting down on plastic bags, using energy efficient lightbulbs and walking instead of getting lifts or driving when you can. Log onto www.tearfund.org/carbonfast to help you work out what sort of stuff you can do that will benefit the environment.

Ask God to PRAY : show you why he says the world is ‘good’ and let him reveal to you how precious and important all of his creation (including you) is!

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Mission Impossible? Get Green

Week/Theme Three: Get Green Day Two

Time To Understand The ‘men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do’ 1 Chronicles 12v32

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

This very brief verse is taken the times we’re living in so that we can be effective from a list of the men who and be a part of the solution. We will arm ourselves were fighting in David’s army with the facts, be equipped with knowledge and be when he had been banished ready with actions to make a difference to the life from King Saul’s presence. of the earth that God has trusted us with. They were the people to help him take his rightful place as King Watch and this brief glimpse at the men the film of Issachar tells us something An Inconvenient Truth or go huge about the kinds of people to YouTube to see ‘When the who are valuable in God’s army Levees Broke’ (documentaries today. about the aftermath of HurWe’re living in a critical time ricanes Katrina and Rita) to for our planet. The consequences understand more about the of our actions are starting to damage that is being done to catch up with us and scientists the earth and what we can do are beginning to discover just about it. quite how much damage has been done to our planet. We Think about can’t keep going as we have any environbeen, we are destroying the mental issues that have been earth’s resources and someone on the news in the past couple is going to have to pay and at of days or weeks and pray for the moment it is the poor who the people involved (both those are feeling the affects of climate affected by the issues and change. In the West we throw those working to change the away so much rubbish that we’re situation). running out of places to put it, animal species are being wiped out and global warming caused Feel like you need more info on God, Chrisby Western lifestyles is resulting tians and the environment? in chaotic weather patterns. There are loads of different opinions out there on We have two choices. We Christianity and the environment, so much so that it can carry on treating the earth’s can totally confuse even the most academic of us. resources regardless of the conIf you want to do a bit more reading why not check sequences or we can be like the out some of the stuff on climate change online at men of Issachar. If we chose the www.tearfund.org and have a read of a book called latter, we will learn to understand ‘Whose Earth?’ by Chris Seaton.

ACTION:

PRAY:

Mission Impossible? Get Green

Week/Theme Three: Get Green Day Three

How Great Thou Art

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat. Psalm 19v1-6

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

The voice of nature has no language barriers. We might try and tell someone that God is real but if they speak a different language to us then we’re going to struggle to make ourselves understood. Creation has no such problems and is an amazing way that God speaks to many people about his character and his greatness. People find themselves awestruck by an exotic animal, moved when they see a beautiful sunset, or terrified of the power behind a huge, raging storm – even if they don’t yet know the one who created these things. The stars in the sky alone are mind-blowing - they are there declaring the glory of God (v1) and yet many of us barely even look up at night to notice them. Even so night after night they speak of our God (v2). One of the things as Christians that we long for is to bring God glory. We want him to get the praise that he’s due, we want people to acknowledge how great and awesome he is and to hear his voice in any way that he speaks. The more we destroy this planet, the more we take away from God’s glory and quiet his voice. The less beauty and majesty there is in the world, the less God’s voice is heard. As God’s people, who love him, we must do all that we can to stop that from happening.

Find out ACTION : about how you can campaign about

environmental issues at www. tearfund.org/youthcampaigns

PRAY:

Thank God that his earth is an amazing sign of who he is and pray through today’s passage, giving God glory for his creation. If you know the old hymn ‘How great thou art’, sing, say, think or hum it throughout the rest of your day!

Mission Impossible? Get Green

Week/Theme Three: Get Green Day Four

Look After The Gift We’ve Been Given Praise the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind. He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works Psalm 104v1-5, 24, 31

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

If you’d made something incredibly precious, would you let your accident prone little brother play with it? Maybe you’d be tempted to lock it away, keep it safe in a glass case or perhaps give it to a museum to look after. God made the most amazing creation and he didn’t give us a day-pass to it, he let us live in it. His precious world, the work of his hands, he gave to us as a gift. Most of us have learned over the years to take care of gifts. After we broke a few when we were little and realised that a damaged present was pretty useless to us, we took responsibility and began to look after the things we were given better. When it comes to thinking about the environment we must grasp what a precious gift we’ve been given. Out of love and reverence for the one who gave it to us, we need to look after it, nurture it and do what we can to repair any damage done. When we see the world we live in as a gift from God we’ll find it much harder to mistreat.

Get to your local park, ACTION: beach, mountain or green area and spend a while chilling out in God’s creation, seeing how intricate, beautiful and amazing even the simplest piece of grass is!

Spend some time thanking God PRAY: for the awesome gift of creation. Think particularly about the elements of it that speak to you about his character, whether you’re someone who loves to be by the sea, go walking in woods or who loves animals.

Mission Impossible? Get Green

Week/Theme Three: Get Green Day Five

Falling Into Trouble “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3v17-19

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

At the beginning of this week we saw that when God created the earth and all the living beings he was pleased with what he’d made and he gave us the earth to look after and to enjoy (Genesis 1). Then Adam and Eve found themselves in a spot of bother, which we now call ‘the fall’ (Genesis 3) and human beings were banished from the Garden of Eden and everything changed. As we have just read, God told them mankind would have to work a lot harder to look after the earth. But that doesn’t mean we give up and stop taking care of it! When we look at the prayer Jesus gave us to prayer in Matthew 6 one particular line stands out in relation to this. We’re told to pray

“your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (v10) We don’t know a lot about what heaven will be like but in Isaiah 65 v17-26 we read about a new heaven and a new earth that restores creation back to how God intended it. Though we’re not there yet, Jesus calls us to work towards it, to pray for things to be here as God would have them in heaven. For us today that means making sure we’re doing everything we can to look after the environment, seeking to restore things that are damaged and to do all that we can to make sure the earth’s resources are preserved for future generations.

What ACTION : could you and your youth group/church do to help the environment? A good place to start is by seeing how green your congregation is – www.ecocongregation.org has some great resources for you to try.

Ask God to PRAY : show and remind you of simple ways that

you can take care of the bit of his creation that you live in and are responsible for (simple things like recycling and saving resources like electricity are a good start). Mission Impossible? Get Green

Week/Theme Four Tell Others

PART FOUR OF GOD’S MISSION:

Spread Some Of Jesus’ Light And Life

It’s clear that we can’t separate following Jesus into different compartments.

God’s mission is about connecting the dots between what we believe and how we live. Often we don’t jump at the idea of sharing our faith in Jesus, but it’s an essential part of God’s mission. We like this quote from Soul Action Director David Westlake. Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

“It is clearly obscene to proclaim eternal riches in Christ to those who are struggling to survive due to hunger and malnutrition. It is equally inadequate to lift people out of poverty now, only for them to experience eternal poverty separated from God.”

If we wake up one day thinking ‘today I’m going to stand up against injustice and next week I’ll show some care for the environment’ then we’ve missed the point. God’s mission is about realising God wants the whole picture and he wants us to connect following him with his whole mission and our whole lives. When it comes to telling others it’s as much about our words as it is our actions and as we get into God’s mission we’ll realise following Jesus isn’t something we can just keep to ourselves. Mission Impossible? Tell Others

Week/Theme Four: Tell Others Day One

The Parable Of The Lost Sheep Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninetynine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15v1-7

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

If Jesus is supposed to be the great shepherd, how come he doesn’t seem to have even the basics down. He’s leaving the sheep that have stayed safe and he’s off looking for the one that’s gone missing. You don’t need to be a mathematician to work out that it’s better to have 99 safe sheep then get one back and potentially lose the rest! Or maybe that’s not what Jesus is trying to get people to see through this story. Perhaps he’s trying to get us to realise that he views each of us as individuals, unique and valuable to him. He’s not sitting in heaven surrounded by charts and graphs monitoring the numbers of people who are following him. He’s looking at individual hearts, individual lives and he’s seeking after any who are lost. The lost ‘one’ is so precious to him and his reaction when he finds it is one of pure joy (v5). He doesn’t go telling it off for running away -he understands it’s just a sheep and doesn’t know any better. And that’s how he is with us.

If we get side-tracked with how many people have become Christians through our activities we’ll miss the point. God cares about people, not numbers and he calls us to do the same. Our motivation to tell people about Jesus has to be love.

Who are the people in your ACTION : life that are currently lost? Write their names down and keep the list in your Bible.

Now you have some names of PRAY : people spend some time praying for them, the situations they face and ask God for opportunities to show them his love.

Further reading: Continue reading Luke Chapter 15 (v11-31) to see how the Father responds to those who have turned away from him.

Mission Impossible? Tell Others

Week/Theme Four: Tell Others Day Two

He Came To Save The World For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3v16-17

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Christians have earned themselves a bit of a bad reputation. People sometimes feel that we, as followers of Jesus, are just waiting to point the finger and condemn them and the things they do. The truth is that Jesus more than anyone would have had the right to smugly point out other people’s sins; after all he was the only person who has ever lived without messing up. But in today’s passage John tells us that the whole point of Jesus coming to earth wasn’t to tell us what we’d got wrong but to demonstrate God’s love. The image we conjure up of God as an angry old man waiting to shout at us about what we’ve done wrong just doesn’t stack up against a God who would give up everything and come and live among us in order to show his love. John is clear – Jesus came to save the world, not condemn it. He’s not interested in who is to blame, he’s interested in being in relationship with each and every one of us. So let’s not point the finger and tell people God doesn’t like it if they do this or that, let’s love people and in doing so demonstrate to them how much God cares about them.

Log on ACTION : to www. soulaction.org to get the latest

AOK mission. AOK means Acts of Kindness and every week we upload a bunch of easy ways we can make people feel loved. Email us and let us know what happened when you did it (infor@soulaction.org)!

Ask God to help PRAY : you see people with his eyes; that you might be quick to love, encourage and befriend but slow to judge.

Mission Impossible? Tell Others

Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin

Week/Theme Four: Tell Others Day Three

The priests and the capThen Peter, filled with the tain of the temple guard Holy Spirit, said to them: and the Sadducees came “Rulers and elders of the up to Peter and John while people! If we are being they were speaking to the called to account today for people. They were greatly an act of kindness shown disturbed because the to a cripple and are asked apostles were teaching the how he was healed, then people and proclaiming in know this, you and all the Jesus the resurrection of people of Israel: It is by the dead. They seized Pethe name of Jesus Christ ter and John, and because of Nazareth, whom you it was evening, they put crucified but whom God them in jail until the next raised from the dead, that day. But many who heard this man stands before the message believed, and you healed...” the number of men grew to about five thousand... Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Acts 4v1-4, 8-10, 18-20

Ever wondered what qualifications you need to preach the gospel? According to this passage Peter and John were both unschooled and ordinary (v13) and they seemed to be doing pretty well at telling people about Jesus! We don’t need to have degrees in theology or be the world’s best preachers to be able to talk about our faith. Plain old, ordinary people like us are the ones that Jesus has chosen to make himself known on this earth. But this passage does give us some clues as to what will help us be effective. Firstly, like Peter, we need to be full of the Holy Spirit (v8) so let’s daily be asking him to fill us. Secondly when Peter explains their reasons for preaching the gospel he simply says ‘we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard’ (v20). They just can’t keep it to themselves! For Peter and the other disciples the previous few years would have been an incredible adventure with Jesus. He had changed their lives and as they’d walked with him and seen him in action, they were just bursting to tell everyone about him.

That’s pretty easy to relate to isn’t it? When we have an amazing encounter, don’t we want the world to know about it? When we start walking closely with Jesus he will change our lives too and we’ll be like Peter, just bursting to tell others about the amazing God we’re in relationship with.

Think about your story ACTION : and your encounter with God and work out how you would explain that to someone who doesn’t yet know him.

Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you PRAY : again to make you a powerful and effective witness and ask God to give you

an opportunity to tell your story to someone this week.

Mission Impossible? Tell Others

Week/Theme Four: Tell Others Day Four

The Believers’ Prayer After further threats they let them go.... On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Acts 4v21, 23-31 Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

The disciples had it pretty tough. We’ve already seen Peter and John sent to jail for what they’re doing and now, having just been released, Peter prays “Consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” He’s not backing down! He’s acknowledging that in their human state they could be tempted to shy away from telling people about Jesus in order to protect themselves, but that’s not what they want. Peter knew they needed boldness and though we’re unlikely to face physical threats or be locked up like they were, we too need boldness to be effective witnesses for Jesus. It can be hard to tell your mates you’re a Christian. There are all sorts of decisions they might not understand, like why you don’t want to get drunk or sleep around. They might find it strange that you want to go to your small group or youth group instead of hanging out with them. We all need boldness to be able to stand up for what we believe in and we should follow Peter’s example in asking God to give it to us when it’s lacking. This passage also touches on something else that’s key in our evangelism: signs and wonders. We’re used to seeing God do amazing things when we pray for each other at events like Soul Survivor but we’re often slow to offer to pray for our nonChristian friends. Peter here asks God to ‘perform miraculous signs and wonders’ (v30) – the disciples were desperate to see God’s work continue even though Jesus had returned to his Father. They knew that if people saw physical and emotional healings that they couldn’t explain away, their eyes could be opened to the power of God.

Next time ACTION : a friend tells you they are ill or in pain, offer to pray for them.

Ask that God PRAY : would give you boldness to pray for your

friends and the people you meet. Also pray that you would persevere when you feel discouraged. Mission Impossible? Tell Others

Week/Theme Four: Tell Others Day Five

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” “Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “ ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother’, and ‘love your neighbour as yourself.’” “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The Rich Young Man

Have you ever thought about the fact that not everyone who encountered Jesus decided to follow him? Some people just walked away, perhaps because like the rich young man in this story, they felt there was too much for them to lose. It’s really disheartening when we tell someone about our faith and they don’t seem interested but for many people, it takes a long time to reach the point where they can decide to follow Jesus. One of the things that really seems to impact Get in people today is seeing that our actions and our contact words really match up. If we tell people Jesus loves with someone who has left them but don’t show them with the way we behave, your church or youth group then they’ll think we’re fake. On the other hand, if and arrange to hang out soon. we demonstrate loads of acts of kindness, but don’t tell them why we’re doing what we’re doing, then Go back to the they’re unlikely to get any closer to Jesus. The two list of names things must go hand in hand. that you wrote in your Bible We mustn’t give up and even if people don’t and pray for opportunities to seem interested in our faith, we should stay in their show and tell them about God’s lives and love them regardless. Ultimately it’s not amazing love! down to us to twist anyone’s arm – we’re not trying to bully people into the Kingdom! Jesus told people like the rich young ruler how it was and then loved them enough to give them their own free- choice. We should do the best we can to tell people about Jesus, pray that they hear the truth in our words and see it in our actions. But ultimately we have to trust them to God and as Jesus reminded us in this passage ‘with God all things are possible’.

ACTION:

PRAY:

Matthew 19v16-26

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Mission Impossible? Tell Others

Week/Theme Five Live It Out

PART FIVE OF GOD’S MISSION:

It’s A 24/7 Committed Lifestyle

But that doesn’t mean he’s looking for perfect recruits. If we waited to be the most perfect Christian before we started to get involved in God’s mission, we’d be waiting forever. Flick through the pages of your Bible and you’ll meet people like Joseph, David, Peter and Paul, all of whom made some massive mistakes and got stuff totally wrong. God doesn’t want us to mess up - and we shouldn’t take it lightly when we do - but he is gracious and urges us to learn, grow and change as we follow him.

The last part of God’s mission is therefore to become disciples and live it all out, developing our relationship with God, remaining obedient and relying on his strength as we go.

One of the things you would have picked up in the guide so far is that getting into God’s mission isn’t a passive thing. God wants us to think and reflect, but he also wants us to live it all out. God is looking for disciples who are committed to walking with him and learning from him. Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Mission Impossible? Live It Out

Week/Theme Five: Live It Out Day One

Walking As Jesus Walked We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2v3-6

Being a Christian is all about being in relationship with God. We can come away from an event like Soul Survivor brimming with stories of how we’ve met with God but the true test of whether we know him is whether we’re trying to follow his ways. Jesus himself said: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14v15) Obedience is really important to God; he’s looking for people who in their hearts are ready to say yes to anything he asks of them. These are the people who will go on great adventures with him and who will see amazing things. If we read bible studies about God’s heart for the poor and broken and do nothing in response, we’re not living as he would want us to live. If we pass by when we see people suffering, we’re not walking like Jesus walked. Jesus cared and he got involved, so we must too. Hopefully these Bible studies have given you loads of ways in which you can continue to walk out your relationship with God, helping you practically unpack some of those things Jesus asks of us.

For some more inspiration, ACTION : look at characters in the Bible who were obedient to God like Noah in the Old Testament (Genesis 6 - 9) and Mary in the New Testament (Luke 1) .

During Jesus’ trial and crucifixPRAY : ion he said to God ‘Not my will, but yours be done’. Pray that you would have the same heart as Jesus and ask God to help you follow him.

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Mission Impossible? Live It Out

Week/Theme Five: Live It Out Day Two

Those That Wait On The Lord Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40v28-31

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Some days we’re full of enthusiasm and energy - longing to get out and change the world for God’s glory. Other days we feel like we’ve lost it. We get tired, we lose hope or get distracted by the fact that things don’t always run smoothly in our families, friendships, with studies and with work. The great news is that we don’t have to do any of this in our own strength! God tells us to lean on him (v29). He makes it plain that none of us can keep going without drawing on his strength - even young people (v30)! He doesn’t want us to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders and knows full well that we all get tired. Here in Isaiah he makes us a fantastic promise he doesn’t say those who hope in him will just about make it through the day - he says we will ‘fly like eagles’ (v30). If we try and do it in our own strength we will just keep drying up but if we look to him, he will sustain us. So let’s keep coming to him, spending time with him, drawing strength from his word and his presence to give us spiritual energy.

When you’re making a ACTION : cuppa, walking somewhere or just going about a mundane task, say

a quick prayer or think through a Bible passage and try to involve God in your daily life.

Spend time thinking about how PRAY : much you rely on your own strength and how much you look to God to sustain you.

Mission Impossible? Live It Out

Week/Theme Five: Live It Out Day Three

Peter Disowns Jesus While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. “You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said. But he denied it. “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway. When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” Again he denied it. After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.” Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept. Mark 14v66-72

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

It’s a fact of life that we will all make mistakes. Every one of us messes up and gets it wrong. The Bible really clearly spells this out in Romans 3v23 which says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Of course this doesn’t mean we don’t try to get it right but we need to know what to do when things go wrong. The easiest option often seems to be to bail out – to either hide from Jesus temporarily or walk away from the whole thing all together. What we need to see through Peter’s story is that Jesus knows we’ll all Talk make mistakes but he wants us to keep going. to God In Matthew 16v18 Jesus calls Peter the rock on about times you have made whom he will build his church. We don’t see a whole mistakes, how it made you lot of evidence of Peter being a rock in the gospels, feel and how you feel he in fact he seems to mess it up more often that he responded. Thank him that he gets it right. So did Jesus get it wrong? Apparently still loves you no matter what not. Jesus knew Peter would deny him (see Mark you’ve done and ask him to 14v27-30) but more importantly he knew who Peter help you keep going whenever could be if he kept going despite his mistakes, and you fall down. of course he was proved right. Jesus isn’t looking for people who are perfect (he Think about knows he won’t find them). Instead he’s looking for people in your people who will give it a shot, get up when they’ve life who may have upset you fallen down and keep going even when the going or let you down. Sometimes it gets tough. He doesn’t get fixated with our miscan be really hard to forgive takes as we sometimes do; he sees what we can so, bring that person and the be and encourages us to move on so that we can situation to God and begin to keep playing our part in seeing his Kingdom come think through how you would to earth. honestly talk to and forgive

ACTION:

PRAY:

them for their mistake(s).

Mission Impossible? Live It Out

Week/Theme Five: Live It Out Day Four

The Vine And The Branches

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful... Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. His is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples... As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” John 15v1-2, 4-9 & v16

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Everyone’s looking for the secret of success. The Bible calls ‘success’, ‘fruitfulness’ and Jesus has just given us the key to it. He tells us what we need to do if we want to do things for God that will have a lasting impact on the world. Pretty good information eh? Jesus says we can’t bear any fruit unless we remain in him. What? No ten point plan to convert the world, eradicate poverty and stamp out injustice? Nope. He says everything has to come out of relationship with him. By ourselves we can do good works, we can serve people and set up all manner of great schemes, but if we want more than that, if we want to bear fruit that will last (v16) then we need to be doing it through our relationship with God. As we’ve been seeing throughout this guide, the key is to hold all parts of God’s mission together as part of our lives of worship to him. He wants us to ‘remain in him’ as we serve, live, love and go about our days, not separating our Christian walk from the rest of our life. This passage also talks about God pruning branches. It’s an image of discipline. The Bible speaks about this a lot (see Hebrews 12v5-11 and Revelation 3v19). This might seem harsh, but pruning isn’t about punishment or God trying to inflict any sort of pain on us. Like a good gardener who wants his vines to produce grapes for many years to come and knows how to get the best out of them, God wants us to be fruitful for him and he knows the ways we need to change in order for that to happen.

You’re ACTION : nearly at the end of this Bible study

series, so sit down for five minutes and make a plan of how you will seek to involve God in your daily life in the next few weeks. Maybe use some other Bible study materials or commit to reading the Gospels.

Think about PRAY : areas of your life where you feel like God is disciplining you or where you feel you’d like to be more fruitful.

Mission Impossible? Live It Out

Week/Theme Five: Live It Out Day Five

A Great Cloud Of Witnesses Now faith is being sure of what we hope Therefore, since we are for and certain of what we do not see... surrounded by such a By faith Noah, when warned about things great cloud of witnesses, not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark let us throw off everything to save his family. By his faith he conthat hinders and the sin demned the world and became heir of that so easily entangles, the righteousness that comes by faith... and let us run with perseBy faith Abraham, even though he was verance the race marked past age - and Sarah herself was barout for us. Let us fix our ren - was enabled to become a father eyes on Jesus, the aubecause he considered him faithful who thor and perfecter of our had made the promise. And so from this faith, who for the joy set one man, and he as good as dead, came before him endured the descendants as numerous as the stars in cross, scorning its shame, the sky and as countless as the sand on and sat down at the right the seashore... And what more shall I say? hand of the throne of God. I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Consider him who endured Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel such opposition from sinful and the prophets, who through faith conmen, so that you will not quered kingdoms, administered justice, grow weary and lose heart. and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury Hebrews 12v1-3 of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.

We’re not the first people to have taken up the challenge to follow God with all our hearts and reach out to those around us with his love. Many have gone before us and this passage gives us some great examples of characters from Biblical times who trusted God, put his commands before their own desires and it tells us they achieved great things. In addition we also have many great stories of men and woman of faith who have changed the world because they put their faith into action. People like William Wilberforce who was the driving force behind the abolishment of slavery;

Martin Luther King who helped end racial segregation in America; and Mother Theresa who served so tirelessly with the poor of Calcutta. We need to hear their stories to be encouraged about just what is possible when even one person gets on God’s agenda and works to set the oppressed free. And of course the person whose story should always give us encouragement is that of Jesus and the writer of Hebrews reminds us to keep looking to him (12v2), to remember what he went through as an example to us and an encouragement to keep going when things are tough.

Watch a film like Amazing ACTION : Grace which is about William Wilberforce’s life or read an inspiring book like Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger which describes her work with drug addicts in Hong Kong.

PRAY:

Both Wilberforce and Jackie Pullinger had a specific vision. Ask God that he would give you a vision for your life that furthers his mission, and pray through practical size steps in beginning to fulfil that call.

Hebrews 11v1, 7, 11-12, 32-34 Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Mission Impossible? Live It Out

The Final Words The Way Of Love

The Way of Love If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. 1 Corinthians 13v1-7

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

As we finish this look at what the Bible has to say about God’s mission (the way we treat the poor and oppressed, how we can tell others about Jesus and how we can look after our environment) it’s important that we end by reminding ourselves what’s at the heart of it all: love. God created us because he loves us and wants to be in relationship with us. Jesus came to earth to demonstrate that love, showing us what love looks like in action. Paul tells the Corinthians in this famous passage that even if they give away everything they’ve got to the poor – they have nothing unless they love. Having seen quite how passionate God is about us looking after the poor, it makes this point even clearer: God is even more passionate about love! Love must be our motivation. Firstly it should be our love for God that drives us to look after those in need, our planet and to tell people just how amazing it is to be in relationship with our Heavenly Father. Secondly we need to make sure that we do all those things motivated by love for those we come into contact with. We’re not patronising people, trying to get ourselves a good name for what we do or looking to up the numbers of Christians for the sake of it. We need to keep asking God to fill our hearts with love so that we don’t find that after all our good works we end up bankrupt as Paul warns. So let’s take these Bible texts to heart, let’s ask God to give us an even deeper love for him and bigger hearts for those around us that we might put our faith into action and live out God’s mission for his glory and honour.

Pass it ACTION : on - get a friend to get involved and sign

up to God’s Mission! Go to www. soulaction.org

Ask that God PRAY : would reveal more and more of his love for

you, your friends and his whole earth and commit to walking with him and living out his mission in your everyday life.

Mission Impossible? Final Words

What To Do Now? Taking It Further

What To Do Now? OK, so you’ve read 27 days worth of Bible Studies and have got your head around God’s mission. But what do you do now? Want more reading materials? We’ve touched on some big, diverse and challenging subjects in this guide and for the most part we’ve only had a small bit of space to grapple with the issues. So, we want to suggest some further reading for those of you who are keen to delve a little deeper (some of the resources cover all aspects of God’s mission, some just cover one area, but all are worthwhile!). ‘Worship Justice Evangelism’ by Mike Pilavachi with Liza Hoeksma ‘Lift the label’ by David Westlake and Esther Stansfield ‘Upwardly mobile’ by David Westlake ‘Outwardly active’ by David Westlake ‘Whose Earth?’ by Chris Seaton Check Tearfund’s online resources on climate change, the Micah Challenge, trade, AIDS & HIV and much more. www.tearfund.org

Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission

Don’t forget www.soulsurvivor. com/uk for links to a monthly magazine that includes fresh and archived articles on getting into God’s mission, and of course there is a wealth of material just for you at www.soulaction.org including free mp3’s and videos covering these issues. Start now… Well, you know the theory. Now it’s time to get practical. We’ve got a bunch of tools to help you live out God’s mission, so check them out and start making the impossible possible!

SERVE OVERSEAS: Transform yourself by serving others in some amazing projects around the world. Teams last from two weeks to several months. www.soulaction.org/go SOUL ACTION STUFF YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR MATES/ IN YOUR CHURCH: SLUM SURVIVOR: Spend a few days the way a billion spend a lifetime, raising money for - and awareness of - projects serving some of the world’s poorest communities.

SOUL ACTION STUFF YOU CAN DO ON YOUR OWN:

www.soulaction.org/slumsurvivor

AOK DAY: A weekly act of kindness to help you serve, bless and spread a bit of happiness amongst the people you meet

THE NOISE: Get together with your church and your mates for a weekend of serving your local community.

www.soulaction.org/aokday

www.soulaction.org/thenoise

SOUL ACTION STUFF YOU CAN DO IN YOUR SCHOOL: SLUM SURVIVOR IN SCHOOLS: A new resource helping you to spend a few lessons the way a billion spend a life time. www.soulaction.org/schools Other ideas We’ve got together with a bunch of other groups and organisations to provide a whole wealth of resources, links and helpful bits and bobs to encourage you to live out God’s mission. We haven’t got space to write all the ideas here, so log on to www. soulaction.org/ideas and follow the links.

Mission Impossible? What To Do Now?