Download Join In God`s Mission And Make The Impossible Possible.

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
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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
01
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
02
03
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
[email protected]!
Mission Impossible? 27 days on getting God’s mission
05
Intro Study
Our Mision
Faith in action is the worship God requires
Intro Study:
Our Mission:
04
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:
06
Put Others
First And
Remember
The Poor
07
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
08
09
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
10
11
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
12
13
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
14
15
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
17
Week/Theme One: Give Yourself
Day Five
Proclaim The Year
Of God’s Favour!
16
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
18
19
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
T
TW
O
O
F
GO
D’
S
M
IS
SI
O
N
:
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
20
21
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
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23
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
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25
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
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27
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
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29
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
30
Week/Theme Three
Get Green
31
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
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33
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
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35
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
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37
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
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39
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
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41
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
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43
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
44
45
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
46
47
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
([email protected])!
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
48
49
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
50
51
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
52
53
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
54
55
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
56
57
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
58
59
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
60
61
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
63
Week/Theme Five: Live It Out
Day Four
The Vine
And The Branches
62
“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
64
65
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
66
67
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
68
69
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?