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A Heart for Missions 

June 26, 2024

Hey Clawson Family!


Song:





Scripture:


1 Peter 2:9-12


9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,[a] a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

10 

“Once you had no identity as a people;    now you are God’s people.Once you received no mercy;    now you have received God’s mercy.”[b]

11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.[c]


Devotional:


Some issues in the Bible are not completely clear, but our mission is not one of them. Yesterday, we read the Great Commission. Jesus plainly states in this commissioning speech that even though his authority and continuing presence will ultimately make it happen, we have a significant job to do in making disciples as we go about our daily lives. So, what exactly is a disciple? Back in Jesus’ day, the Jewish people had a master-apprentice type setup where Rabbis would enlist groups of ‘disciples’ who would follow them around, model their life after theirs, and try to put the Rabbis’ teachings into practice in their own lives. 


Your job is to become Jesus’ disciple yourself and make more disciples, seeing them baptized into God’s family and helping them learn to listen to Jesus and live his radically beautiful new way of life. Notice that here, we are not called just to convert people to get them into heaven, recruit people to grow our church, or even help people change our society to be godlier. All these things are great and essential, but the long-term goal is for more people to be saved and follow Jesus by putting his upside-down loving ways into action.


Making and growing disciples is not our only job as God’s people. The Bible also calls us to look after God’s creation, create healthy cultures, defend the poor and oppressed, do great work, serve others, and love our enemies. However, making disciples is perhaps our most important mission, and it will contribute to these other mandates as more people genuinely follow Jesus.


The scope of this mission might sound exciting to you, or maybe it sounds daunting. How on earth can we do something like this? The good news is that Jesus promises to go with ordinary people like us. He has been doing this for two thousand years and has a good track record. The call is to become a disciple of Jesus yourself and bring others with you.


Journal: 


In your journal, write down what a disciple of Jesus looks like. How can we “make disciples”?


Training:


Lord, I am your disciple. I am your apprentice. I will do what you want. Because you want me to make more disciples like me, then I will give it my best shot, even though I don’t always know what I’m doing. Please help me to be an influence for you.


Think about someone you know who you would love to become a disciple of Jesus. Pray for them. What is the next step in helping them become a disciple of Jesus?



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