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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Made for a Mission
In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. John 17:18 (Msg)
The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me.
Acts 20:24 (NCV)
You were made for a mission.
God is at work in the world, and he wants you to join him. This assignment is called your mission. God wants you to have both a ministry1 in the Body of Christ and a mission in the world. Your ministry is your service to believers,' and your mission is your service to unbelievers. Fulfilling your mission in the world is God's fifth purpose for your life.
Your life mission is both shared and specific. One part of it is a responsibility you share with every other Christian3, and the other part is an assignment that is unique to you. We will look at both parts in the chapters ahead.
Our English word mission comes from the Latin word for "sending." Being a Christian includes being sent into the world as a representative of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Jesus clearly understood his life mission on earth. At age twelve he said, "I must be about my Father's business," and twenty-one years later, dying on the cross, he said, "It is finished." Like bookends, these two statements frame a well-lived, purpose driven life. Jesus completed the mission the Father gave him.
The mission Jesus had while on earth is now our mission because we are the Body of Christ. What he did in his physical body we are to continue as his spiritual body, the church. What is that
mission? Introducing people to God! The Bible says, "Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also."
God wants to redeem4 human beings from Satan and reconcile them to himself so we can fulfill2 the five purposes he created us for: to love him, to be a part of his family, to become like him, to serve him, and to tell others about him. Once we are his, God uses us to reach others. He saves us and then sends us out. The Bible says, 'We have been sent to speak for Christ." We are the messengers of God's love and purposes to the world.
THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR MISSION
Fulfilling your life mission on earth is an essential part of living for God's glory. The Bible gives several reasons why your mission is so important.
Your mission is a continuation of Jesus' mission on earth.
As his followers6, we are to continue what Jesus started. Jesus calls us not only to come to him, but to go for him. Your mission is so significant that Jesus repeated it five times, in five different ways, in five different books of the Bible. It is as if he was saying, "I really want you to get this!" Study these five commissions of Jesus and you will learn the details of your mission on earth-the when, where, why, and how.
In the Great Commission Jesus said, "Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples7. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you." This commission was given to every follower5 of Jesus, not to pastors8 and missionaries9 alone. This is your commission from Jesus, and it is not optional. These words of Jesus are not the Great Suggestion. If you are a part of God's family, your mission is mandatory10. To ignore it would be disobedience.
You may have been unaware11 that God holds you responsible for the unbelievers who live around you. The Bible says, "You must warn them so they may live. If you don't speak out to warn the wicked to stop their evil ways, they will die in their sin. But I will hold you responsible for their death." You are the only Christian some people will ever know, and your mission is to share Jesus with them.
Your mission is a wonderful privilege. Although it is a big responsibility, it is also an incredible honor to be used by God. Paul said, "God has given us the privilege of urging everyone to come into his favor and be reconciled to him." Your mission involves two great privileges: working with God and representing him. We get to partner with God in the building of his kingdom. Paul calls us "co-laborers" and says, "We are workers together with God."
Jesus has secured our salvation12, put us in his family, given us his Spirit, and then made us his agents in the world. What a privilege! The Bible says, "We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God."
Telling others how they can have eternal life is the greatest thing you can do for them. If your neighbor had cancer or AIDS and you knew the cure, it would be criminal to withhold13 that lifesaving information. Even worse is to keep secret the way to forgiveness, purpose, peace, and eternal life. We have the greatest news in the world, and sharing it is the greatest kindness you can show to anyone.
Jesus calls us not only to come to him, but to go for him.
One problem long-term Christians14 have is that they forget how hopeless it felt to be without Christ. We must remember that no matter how contented15 or successful people appear to be, without Christ they are hopelessly lost and headed for eternal separation from God. The Bible says, `Jesus is the only One who can save people." Everybody needs Jesus.
Your mission has eternal significance. It will impact the eternal destiny of other people, so it's more important than any job, achievement, or goal you will reach during your life on earth.
The consequences of your mission will last forever; the consequences of your job will not. Nothing else you do will ever matter as much as helping16 people establish an eternal relationship with God.
This is why we must be urgent about our mission. Jesus said, "All of us must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent me, because there is little time left before the night falls and all work comes to an end. "14 The clock is ticking down on your life mission, so don't delay another day. Get started on your mission of reaching out to others now! We will have all of eternity17 to celebrate with those we have brought to Jesus, but we only have our lifetime in which to reach them.
This does not mean you should quit your job to become a fulltime evangelist. God wants you to share the Good News where you are. As a student, mother, preschool teacher, salesman, or manager or whatever you do, you should continually look for people God places in your path with whom you can share the gospel.
Your mission gives your life meaning. William James said, "The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts18 it." The truth is, only the kingdom of God is going to last. Everything else will eventually vanish. That is why we must live purpose driven lives-lives committed to worship, fellowship, spiritual growth, ministry, and fulfilling our mission on earth. The results of these activities will last-forever!
If you fail to fulfill your God-given mission on earth, you will have wasted the life God gave you. Paul said, "My life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus-the work of telling others the Good News about God's wonderful kindness and love.” There are people on this planet whom only you will be able to reach, because of where you live and what God has made you to be. If just one person will be in heaven because of you, your life will have made a difference for eternity. Start looking around at your personal mission field and pray, "God, who have you put in my life for me to tell about Jesus?"
The Great Commission was given to every follower of Jesus.
God's timetable for history's conclusion is connected to the completion of our commission. Today there's a growing interest in the second coming of Christ and the end of the world. When will it happen? Just before Jesus ascended19 to heaven the disciples asked him this
same question, and his response was quite revealing. He said, "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
When the disciples wanted to talk about prophecy, Jesus quickly switched the conversation to evangelism. He wanted them to concentrate on their mission in the world. He said in essence, "The details of my return are none of your business. What is your business is the mission I've given you. Focus on that!"
Speculating on the exact timing20 of Christ's return is futile21, because Jesus said, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." Since Jesus said he didn't know the day or hour, why should you try to figure it out? What we do know for sure is this: Jesus will not return until everyone God wants to hear the Good News has heard it. Jesus said, "The Good News about God's kingdom will be preached in all the world, to every nation. Then the end will come." If you want Jesus to come back sooner, focus on fulfilling your mission, not figuring out prophecy.
It is easy to get distracted, because Satan would rather have you do anything besides sharing your faith.
It is easy to get distracted and sidetracked from your mission because Satan would rather have you do anything besides sharing your faith. He will let you do all kinds of good things as long as you don't take anyone to heaven with you. But the moment you become serious about your mission, expect the Devil to throw all kinds of diversions at you. When that happens, remember the words of Jesus: "Anyone who lets himself be distracted from the work I plan for him is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
WHAT IT COSTS TO FULFILL YOUR MISSION
To fulfill your mission will require that you abandon your agenda and accept God's agenda for your life. You can't just "tack22 it on" to all the other things you'd like to do with your life. You must say, like Jesus, "Father, ... I want your will, not mine." You yield your rights, expectations, dreams, plans, and ambitions to him. You stop praying selfish prayers like "God bless what I want to do." Instead you pray, "God help me to do what you're blessing23!" You hand God a blank sheet with your name signed at the bottom and tell him to fill in the details. The Bible says, "Give yourselves completely to God-every part of you ... to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes."
If you will commit to fulfilling your mission in life no matter what it costs, you will experience the blessing of God in ways that few people ever experience. There is almost nothing God won't do for the man or woman who is committed to serving the kingdom of God. Jesus has promised,
"[God] will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern."
ONE MORE FOR JESUS
My father was a minister for over fifty years, serving mostly in small, rural churches. He was a simple preacher, but he was a man with a mission. His favorite activity was taking teams of volunteers overseas to build church buildings for small congregations. In his lifetime, Dad built over 150 churches around the world.
In 1999, my father died of cancer. In the final week of his life the disease kept him awake in a semi-conscious state nearly twenty-four hours a day. As he dreamed, he'd talk out loud about what he was dreaming. Sitting by his bedside, I learned a lot about my dad by just listening to his dreams. He relived one church building project after another.
One night near the end, while my wife, my niece, and I were by his side, Dad suddenly became very active and tried to get out of bed. Of course, he was too weak, and my wife insisted he lay back down. But he persisted in trying to get out of bed, so my wife finally asked, "Jimmy, what are you trying to do?" He replied, "Got to save one more for Jesus! Got to save one more for Jesus! Got to save one more for Jesus!" He began to repeat that phrase over and over.
During the next hour, he said the phrase probably a hundred times. "Got to save one more for Jesus!" As I sat by his bed with tears flowing down my cheeks, I bowed my head to thank God for my dad's faith. At that moment Dad reached out and placed his frail24 hand on my head and said, as if commissioning me, "Save one more for Jesus! Save one more for Jesus!"
I intend for that to be the theme of the rest of my life. I invite you to consider it as a focus for your life, too, because nothing will make a greater difference for eternity. If you want to be used by God, you must care about what God cares about; what he cares about most is the redemption of the people he made. He wants his lost children found! Nothing matters more to God; the Cross proves that. I pray that you will always be on the lookout25 to reach "one more for Jesus" so that when you stand before God one day, you can say, "Mission accomplished26!"
DAY THIRTY-SIX THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE
Point to Ponder: I was made for a mission.
Verse to Remember: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
Question to Consider: What fears have kept me from fulfilling the mission God made me to accomplish? What keeps me from telling others the Good News?
收听单词发音 |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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follower
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| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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pastors
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| n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 ) | |
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missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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mandatory
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| adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者 | |
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unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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outlasts
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| v.比…长久，比…活得长( outlast的第三人称单数 ) | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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timing
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| n.时间安排，时间选择 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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tack
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| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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