10 Mar Gospel, Power, Mission

Luke 24:44-53

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷ and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

⁵⁰ And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. ⁵¹ While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵² And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³ and were continually in the temple blessing God.

Let me share with you our mission statement. “RSI exists for the glory of God by fulfilling mission of Christ.” This is why RSI exists. And we do that by encouraging every disciple of Christ to make one disciple of Christ per year. “ONE person, ONE disciple, ONE year.” RSI does not exist simply because we need an English Service in an English-speaking country. RSI exists because we have been invited to take part in declaring the glory of God by fulfilling the mission of Christ. How do we fulfil the mission of Christ? I’m glad you asked.

I want to make 9 observations in regard to mission from this passage. So, do the math. I usually have 3 points and it’s a 50 minutes long sermon. Today, I have 9. Let’s go.

9 Observations

The Bible is Christocentric.

Luke 24:44 – ⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Here is what I mean by Christocentric. To understand the Bible clearly, we need to know that all of the story in the Bible revolves around the person of Christ. Sometime we think that only the New Testament tells the story of Christ. But that is not how Jesus interprets the Bible. Jesus says that the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms writes about Jesus. These three categories are not random. The Jewish Scriptures, or what we know as Old Testament, is divided to these three categories. With another word, what Jesus is saying that all of the Old Testament speaks of him. To rightly understand the Old Testament is to know Jesus through the Old Testament, and to know Jesus well you also need to know the Old Testament. This is one of the reason why we do God’s Big Picture series. I want to help you see that the message of the gospel, the message of Jesus, is already echoed everywhere in the Old Testament. We have already seen how the story of Jacob and Joseph points to Jesus. Sally Lloyd Jones, who wrote the best children Bible in my opinion, said it best. She said “Every story whispers his name.” So, here we find that Jesus is making the claim that all of Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, testify of Jesus. The Bible is Christocentric. The Bible from beginning to the end is about a story of God who loves his people and send his son to die for the sins of the people so that the people of God may be reunited with God forever. The story of the Bible is the story of the mission of Christ to save his people.

Why is it important to get this right? Because a lot of times, we treat the Bible like a road map of life. And just to be clear, there is a map at the back of your Bible. Some of you might not know because you never reach the end of your Bible. We see the Bible as a guide for us to be a better person. And you are not wrong. The Bible does teach us about life and how we should live our life as Christians. But the Bible is not primary manual for life but it is so much better. The Bible is a book about Jesus that has the power to transform you to be like Jesus. And this is what we need most in life. What we need most in life is not a manual for life but to know the giver of life and be like him. The Bible has the power to transform you to be like Jesus that enable you to face whatever circumstance you face in life. Here is what the Bible does. As we make much of Jesus through the Bible, we begin to see Jesus more clearly. We begin to see what he sees and love what he loves. And when do that, we are being transformed to be more like Jesus. And the more we are transformed to be like Jesus, the more we desire what Jesus desires. Our thoughts and our desires are shaped by beauty of Jesus. Our priority and the way we see things begin to change. We no longer seek after things that pleases our worldly desire but we begin to see life in the light of what pleases Jesus. And when you read the Bible in a Christocentric way, then you will know that God is the God of mission. And we are invited to play part in his mission to make the world know the beauty and majesty of Christ.

The universality of sin

Luke 24:45 – ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Now, it is not the first time Jesus speaks of his death and resurrection to his disciples. You can read it in the gospels, how Jesus explained to his disciples about his death and resurrection, but the disciples did not get it. Again and again, they keep missing the point. Why? It’s not because they are not smart enough. If intelligence can help you see the beauty of Christ in the Scriptures, the Pharisees would have get it. They spent all of their life studying the Scripture and waiting for their Messiah. But when the Messiah is living and talking in front of them, they do not recognize him. What happen? Because of sin. If I can borrow Paul’s language, Paul says that there is a veil over our hearts that hinder us from seeing the truth about Christ. And in order for us to see the truth of Christ, God need to first remove the veil on our hearts. It does not matter how smart we are, we will never fully understand the message of God’s salvation unless God removes the veil and enable us to understand it. And this veil is the result of sin. Sin has put a veil in our hearts from seeing the beauty of Christ.

Let me put it this way. In order for you to be able to see, two things are necessary. Eye and light. You can have a good sharp eye but if there is no light, you cannot see. Or you can have a bright light for you to see but if you do not have a working eye, you cannot see. Correct? Jesus calls himself the light of the world. But the thing is, it does not matter how bright Jesus shines, if your eye is blind, all you see is darkness. The light is there, but you don’t see it. This is the truth about all humankind. We were born in sin. All of us were blind to the light of Christ. We were born with spiritual blindness. None of us come to see the light on our own. Just like the disciples, they were with Jesus for 3 years and they heard Jesus preached to them again and again but they never understand the cross and the empty tomb, until something happened to them. Suddenly they get it. What happen? Did they suddenly get smarter? Did they receive a new information that they never heard before? No. It is not a new information for them. But this time Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and suddenly something clicks. And how did Jesus do it? By preaching the gospel to them. By showing them how every part of Scripture is about Jesus.

I recently talked to a lady who have been a Christian for more than 15 years. She has heard the message of the gospel being preached again and again. She knew what the gospel is. She can tell me all the facts and truths about the gospel. But somehow, the truth of the gospel did nothing to her. She knew but that’s it. It did not transform her. She was constantly worried about her life and she constantly questioned God’s love for her. And as we converse week after week, it seems like we are not making progress at all. Till one night, it suddenly clicks for her. She knew the gospel but she never really see the beauty of the gospel. And that night for the first time, she sees. She sees the sinfulness of her heart and she sees how Jesus died for her sin. It finally sinks on her. She has no reason to be afraid. The God of heaven and earth loves her enough to die for her sin. She has no reason to doubt God’s love for her. What happen? Does she receive a new information? No. God graciously opened her eyes as she meditate on the gospel. So here we can see the universality of sin that caused spiritual blindness to every human and the necessity of preaching the gospel that enable them to see.

The death and resurrection of Christ is an event

Luke 24:45-46 – ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. This is something that all of us need to be clear about. The death and resurrection of Jesus is an actual event. It is not a myth. Some well-meaning Christians tries to over spiritualise thing and say, “Well, it does not really matter if Jesus was really resurrected or not. I know he is resurrected in my heart.” Well, that’s sweet but that is very wrong. If Jesus is not physically resurrected, then everything we belief about Christianity is based on lies. There is absolutely no reason for us to believe anything the Bible said if Jesus is not physically resurrected from the dead. There are two common myths about Jesus’ resurrection. Today, you cannot argue that Jesus was not an actual historical person. Historians have proved that. He was not a myth. And, it is also extremely hard to disprove the empty tomb. Secular historians have proved the fact about the Jewish man named Jesus and the empty tomb. But the question is, why the tomb is empty. There are many theories but the most popular ones are these two myths. First, Jesus did not die. So yeah, Jesus was tortured, he was lashed with whip, he was beaten, he carried the cross to Golgotha, he was crucified, he was pierced with a spear, and everyone thought he died. Then they moved him into the tomb with guards guarding the tomb. But apparently Jesus was not dead. So two nights after being crucified, Jesus sneaked out of the tomb without the guards realising. Can we use logic for a bit? Anyone ever get whipped really bad in a fight? No guys would raise their hand. It does not matter how strong you are, if you are tortured the way Jesus was, you won’t be able to walk for few months at least. How did Jesus manage to sneak out of the tomb within two days? It’s just ridiculous.

The other myth is also as ridiculous. They said that Jesus’ disciples stole the body at night. Now, let me tell you why it is not possible. Let’s say it’s true that Jesus’ disciples stole his body, it did not explain the transformation that happen to the disciples. When Jesus was arrested, the disciples ran and hid in fear. They were bunch of cowards. But few weeks later, the same disciples showed up and publicly proclaimed the death and resurrection of Jesus at the cost of their own lives. Most, if not all of the disciples died being tortured for the sake of Christ. Now, here is my question. What do you think happen to them? The myth says that these cowards somehow felt very guilty about leaving their master to die and they remembered his teaching about how he would be resurrected on the third day. So to atone for their guilt, they stole Jesus’ body and began to tell people that he was resurrected. And all of them ended up dying miserably for the lie they created. Are you really going to believe that? It makes no sense. Who would die for a lie they created themselves?

If I turned out to be a fraud and I was a terrorist disguised as a pastor, and I hid in your house and the FBI pointed a gun at you to tell them where I am, would you die for me? Raise your hand if you would. None. Wow. Very encouraging. But I made my point. But if the resurrection really happened, then the disciples’ transformation from cowards to martyrs made sense. They saw their master who they abandoned to die on the cross, alive and well. And it changed their lives forever.

There is forgiveness of sin in Jesus’ name

Luke 24:47 – ⁴⁷ and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, there is forgiveness of sin for those who repent of their sins. This is the good news. This is the gospel. All of us were born in sin and we were under the condemnation of sin. We were destined for eternal wrath. But God in his goodness sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ to die the death we should. At the cross, Jesus endured all the punishment of sins that was ours so that those who trust in him will receive life instead of death. At the cross of Jesus Christ, the justice of God is served. Sin is forever punished. But at the cross of Jesus Christ, the love of God is pour out. Because of the death of Jesus, God is no longer angry toward us because of our sin. There is forgiveness from eternal wrath for those who put their faith in Jesus. There is a great exchange: our sins for Christ’s righteousness. This is the meaning of Jesus’s death. And if you have yet to put your faith in Christ, tonight I implore you to do so. But you cannot separate the death and resurrection of Christ. Because if Christ only died for our sins but never resurrected, then we have no certainty that our sins have been forgiven! How do we know that God accepted Christ’s sacrifice for our sins? How do we know that Christ’s mission is accomplished? How do we know that God forgives our sins? Because God resurrected Jesus from the death! You cannot separate the two events. The death of Jesus Christ means nothing without the resurrection of Christ!

Any of you guys ever shop at JB Hi-Fi? If you do, then you’ll realize that at all of their stores, they always have someone at the exit who wants to check your bag and your purchases. Most of the time if you carry a bag, you won’t be able to walk past them until they checked what’s on the inside. Especially if you carry a JB Hi-Fi bag. Sometime it’s annoying. But do you know how you can walk past the security check confidently? You show them the receipt. Just let the receipt out and walk out like a star! How do we know that we have been forgiven of our sins? Because Christ’s resurrection is our receipt! The fact that Jesus was resurrected tells us that mission was accomplished. The debt has been paid in full. That’s why Jesus yells out “It is finished” with his last breath so that today if we trust in Christ, we do not have to worry whether God is angry at us or not. In Christ, there is now therefore no condemnation! You can stand right before God not because you do good but because you believe in the only one who is good. Your rightful standing before God is not found in whether you sing the right song or wear the right dress or drink the right drink. Your rightful standing before God is found in the one who loves you and gave himself for you. If you trust in Jesus, God sees you as perfect and spotless. You stand holy before God not because of your deeds but by grace alone. This is the gospel. So if the enemy tries to stop you and won’t let you pass, all you have to do is show them the receipt that says, “Yosi has been paid in full by Christ’s death and resurrection.”

The gospel is for all nations.

The message of forgiveness of sin is not only for the Jews. It is to be proclaimed to all nations. This is not something new. It is always God’s desire from the beginning for the gospel to spread to all nations. In Genesis 12, God promised Abram that all families of the earth will be blessed through him. Jesus is the fulfilment of that promise. Through Jesus, there is forgiveness of sin available to people from every tribe, nation and tongue. And that is the end of history. Revelation 5 tells us that at the end of history, people from every tribe, nation and tongue will worship Jesus. It’s been written in the stone of eternity. It will not fail. The mission is a guaranteed success. The mission of God is unstoppable. Nothing can stop him. The end of the story has already been written. Jesus is not sitting down in heaven, worrying, thinking how he would accomplish his mission. No. He will accomplish his mission. He has all the power and authority to do it. It is a guaranteed success. All of history is heading this way. It will happen whether you want it or not. And God in his sovereign grace has decided to use the church to accomplish this mission. The gospel will be proclaimed to all nations and God has entrusted the church to do so. Praise God for the cross of Christ and the resurrection of Christ. Praise God for the gospel. But the gospel is meaningless unless someone proclaimed the gospel. God has ordained that in the future, the gospel will be made known all over nations. But there is gap between the resurrection of Christ and that future. And in that gap, God has decided to use the church to make the gospel known.

All of us are called to proclaim the gospel

Luke 24:48 – ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. The responsibility to preach the gospel to all nations lies to every disciple of Christ. Not a single exception. If you call yourself a disciple of Christ, you are a witness of the gospel. Here is something that we must understand. The gospel does not produce spectators; the gospel produces witnesses. Do you know what a witness is? A witness is someone who testified to what they see. You are I are called to testify of the gospel. The disciples in Jesus’ days were a life witness to the death and resurrection of Christ. We do not see the physical resurrection of Christ. But we have seen him comes alive in and through the preaching the gospel. We have experienced how God removed the veil that cover our hearts and we have seen the beauty and the glory of Christ. And this is the goal of every sermon I preached. I do not preach to entertain you for 50 minutes. I preach that you may see the beauty of Christ in and through the gospel and proclaim it wherever you are. Gospel people are missional people.

Now let me share with you my concern. I am concern that most people who come church on Sunday, expect to hear the gospel being preached to them but they are not willing to preach the gospel themselves on Monday to Saturday. And that is not going to work. Praise God for Sunday. The proclamation of the gospel begins in Jerusalem. It begins where we are. But that is not the end. The preaching of the gospel on Sunday is only to catapult you to preach the gospel on Monday to Saturday. If we are not careful, we can create a church culture where it is all about Sunday. So we focus so much on having incredible preacher and incredible praise and worship and bringing people to church on Sunday. We think it’s the job of the pastor to preach the gospel. This is a weak Christian consumer mentality. Do I want to be excellent preacher who preach the gospel every Sunday? Of course! But that’s not the win. The win is for every individual in this church to preach the gospel out there. Jesus’ strategy to preach the gospel to all nations is not to anoint one mega preacher for everyone to listen to. Jesus’ strategy has always been making disciples who makes disciples by preaching the gospel. Jesus’s strategy to proclaim the gospel to all nations is all of us; not just me. And don’t give too much credit to yourself. God does not need you. He can accomplish his mission on his own. He will accomplish it with or without you. But he graciously invites all of us to play, to take part in filling the gap between now and eternal future. The church has no room for spectators. The church is to be filled with witnesses of the gospel.

We have been given the Holy Spirit

Luke 24:49 – ⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” What is this promise and power from on high? This is no other than the Holy Spirit. Throughout the gospel, Jesus promised his disciples that he will send them a helper that will help them to accomplish his mission. In fact, Jesus told his disciples that it is better for them that he leaves. Why? Because when he leave, Jesus will pour out the Holy Spirit on all believers. Now we need to understand something about the Holy Spirit. In here, Jesus describes that one of the result of having the Holy Spirit is that we are clothed with power from on high. But the Holy Spirit is not power. He is a person. Do not make mistake thinking of the Holy Spirit as some force that you can have more or you can have less. Sometime we think of Holy Spirit like a fuel in the car. The car won’t be able to run without a fuel. So you need to fill the car with fuel before you go. And when you run out of fuel, go to petrol station and get more fuel. This is blasphemy. The Holy Spirit is not a fuel; he is a person! He is the third member of Trinity. He is God. He is not less than God the Father or God the Son. He is equal with them. He is as powerful and sovereign as the other members of Trinity. He is God the Spirit. And here is what’s amazing. The disciples were told to wait for the pour out of the Holy Spirit. But we don’t need to. If you believe in Jesus as your saviour and your Lord, then inside of you right now there is a third person of the Trinity. There is an all-powerful God inside of every believers. When Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit, he does not give us something less than God. God gives us God!

This is why Jesus said that it is better for us if he went away. While Jesus was on the earth, he was in some way limited. Jesus was not Omni-present. But when Jesus leave the earth, he gives us the ever-presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit. There is an Omni-potent God working in and through every believers. Can you imagine living everyday knowing that God is in you? And this is what happens in the book of Acts. In Acts 2, as soon as the disciples filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter preached his very first gospel message and 3000 people believed in Christ. In Acts 3, Peter saw a man lame from birth begging for money at the gate of the temple, and he said “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And the man immediately leaped up and began to walk. This is the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us as we preached the gospel. When you are preaching the gospel, you do not preach the gospel based on your own power but on the power of Christ. Only God can removes the veil in people’s heart but he does it through you and me preaching the gospel. Sometime we make the mistake thinking that people’s salvation is dependent on how well we preach the gospel. That is non-sense. Holy Spirit is not limited by our feeble attempt to share the gospel.

In my recent trip to Korea, I went with my friend and his wife’s family, and her dad is not a believer. Her dad is a, I don’t know how to describe him actually. He is little bit of everything. He believes this bit about Buddhism, this bit about Muslim, this bit about Kong hu cu. He believes whatever suits him. Like he believes few things about Muslim but he also loves pork, so he does not want to be a Muslim. But one thing for sure, he is against Christianity. Two things that really turn him off about Christianity are Jesus’ declaration that he is God and the Trinity. He said he believes that God is one, Allah, and there is no other. So I explained to him about his misunderstanding on the trinity and that Jesus is in fact, God. I tried to explain the death and resurrection of Christ to him. And the funny thing was, whenever we had discussion and debate, it’s not just me and him. He wanted everyone in the family to listen to our discussions. He wanted his christian daughters to listen to how ridiculous the claim of Christianity was. So, my mind and attention was directed to the father. I prayed to God that he would remove the veil from his heart. I was with them for almost two weeks and nothing happened. Her dad still refused to accept Christian’s faith. And I thought that was it. I did not succeed in sharing the gospel with him. But little did I know that the Holy Spirit had another agenda. In and through our discussion, there was another pair of ears that listened to everything I said. He listened to the gospel being proclaimed. He is the youngest son in the family, who was a self-proclaimed atheist. While he studied in the US, he came to conclusion that there is no god. But in those 2 weeks, without I realize it, God was removing the veil from his heart. And by the end of the trip, he said that he want to know Christ better. Now, do you see what happen? The Holy Spirit was not limited by my feeble attempt to preach the gospel. I wasn’t even speaking to him and yet his veil was removed. This is the power of God working in us. And I don’t have more of the Holy Spirit than you do. We all have the same powerful God living and working in us. Do you want to see the power of God working in and through your life? Go and preach the gospel.

The blessings of Christ are given for the mission of Christ

Luke 24:50-51 – ⁵⁰ And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. ⁵¹ While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. I love the image that Luke is giving us here. So the image is that Jesus was in the middle of blessing his people, and he was carried up into heaven as he continues to bless his disciples. The theological term for this is ascension of Christ. So right now, Jesus is up in the heaven and he continues to bless us. How? Three things really quick. First, the ascension of Christ means that right now Jesus is at the right hand of God. That means that right now, Jesus is reigning supreme over all his enemies. He has the power and authority above all things. Second, the ascension of Christ means that right now Jesus is interceding for us. He is praying and pleading for us in the presence of God. And Paul says that if Jesus is the one who intercedes for us, who can condemn us? No one. Third, the ascension of Christ means that right now Jesus is sitting down on his throne. It means that the job is finished. Jesus completed his works perfectly and nothing can be added to his work. It is done. These are the blessings we received with the ascension of Christ.

But listen. All of these great blessings of Christ are given to us for the mission of Christ. It is not only given for our sake but for the sake of proclaiming the gospel to all nations. The purpose of the Holy Spirit and the blessings of ascension are to empower us to take part in the mission of Christ. We have been given the resources of heaven to preach the gospel to all nations. Listen to what Jesus says. John 14:12-13 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these he will do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Whatever we ask in his name! Do not misinterpret this verse to means that God will give you whatever you want. This verse does not mean, “What do you want in life? Lamborghini? Ask in Jesus’ name. If you see one on the street, lay hand on it and say, “in Jesus’ name, this Lamborghini is mine.” Amen.” Go ahead and try it. Let me know when you are in jail. I’ll visit you. I tried it on Song Hye Kyo before. I lay hand on her picture and prayed, “In Jesus’ name, I want a girlfriend like Song Hye Kyo.” I don’t know. Maybe it was because of I did not have enough faith. I had 3 korean girlfriends but none of them look like Song Hye Kyo. Because this is not what Jesus is saying. It is clear that the purpose of this blessing is to do the works of Christ and it is given when Jesus has left to be with the Father. He is talking about the Holy Spirit and the blessing of ascension. Whatever it is that you need to do the works of Christ, ask him and you will have all of heaven’s resources backing you up!

Great joy in Christ fuels the mission of Christ

Luke 24:52-53 – ⁵² And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³ and were continually in the temple blessing God. The disciples are filled with great joy. Why? Luke does not tell us exactly why they were filled with joy in the gospel. But if you do not know, Luke was a best-selling author of not only one book but two. He not only writes the gospel of Luke but he is also the one who writes the book of Acts. And the book of Acts is a continuation on the story of the mission of Christ after Jesus ascended into heaven. In Acts 1, Luke gives us greater details of what happen at the ascension. Acts 1:6-11 – ⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ⁹ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, ¹¹ and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

The reason the disciples were filled with great joy is because they know that Jesus will return again. Jesus will return again without fail and when he return, he will make everything so much better. There will be no more sins, no more tears, no more pains. There will be eternal bliss of joy. We will reign with him forever and ever. That is our guaranteed future. But before Jesus return again, the mission of Christ must be fulfilled first. The end of the mission has been written. It is a guaranteed success. But until that time come, we are called to take part in the mission of God. We are called to proclaim the gospel to all nations. The end will come when the gospel is proclaimed to the end of the earth. And this will be accomplished through us. Through you. Through me.

Let me close it this way. For most of us, we know that we are called to play part in the mission of Christ. You see it written in every page of the Bible as you study the Bible. But you still haven’t play your part. You are still sitting on the sidelines and being spectators. You like to study the Bible and talk about what you learned with your Christians friends. And that’s good. But how much more Bible study do you need until you decided to play the game? Bible study is great but that’s not the end goal. The blessings of Christ and the Holy Spirit are given to us for the mission of Christ. But how will the power of the Holy Spirit transform us in our walk with Christ if we ignore the purpose of Christ in us? It’s like reading books on cooking and recipe but you never actually try to cook. What good is it? The reason many of you are not growing as a Christian is not because you do not have enough Bible study but because you are not playing the game. God does not call you to be spectators but he called you to be witnesses of the gospel. Go and proclaimed the gospel to all nations and see how God filled your life with great joy that you won’t know otherwise.

Discussions:

1. What does it mean for the Bible to be Christo-centric and how does that change the way we read and understand the Bible?
2. What caused the disciples to not understand the cross and empty tomb while Jesus was still alive? What does it tell us about human’s natural condition and how does it relate to mission?
3. Explain why the death and resurrection of Christ is an inseparable event for Christian faith. How does the death and resurrection of Christ gives confidence to your personal relationship with God?
4. The gospel does not produce spectators; the gospel produces witnesses. How can we be witnesses of the gospel? Give daily examples.
5. Explain why having the Holy Spirit inside of us is so much better than having physical human Jesus with us. How does this truth gives us confidence to preach the gospel?
6. “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do.” Explain what Jesus meant. Try to think of a possible daily life scenarios where this verse is applicable.
7. Personal reflection – What can you do to play part in God’s mission to proclaim the gospel? Be specific and reasonable (List out things that you can actually do and not things that you wish you can do).