Dear Friends and Colleagues

Greetings in the lovely name of our Lord Jesus!

Since 2014 the M&D committee has been sending out daily devotions for the month of October which has been set aside as Missions Month. These have been written by various ministers and members in the denomination and have been well-received. We also supply a preaching plan with sermon outlines for October which you could use.

The proposed theme fits in with the decade long theme proposed by the Mission and Discipleship Committee to General Assembly i.e.
“Going for Growth: Sowing, Growing, Reaping.”
You can watch a video introduction to “Going for Growth” at https://youtu.be/BBmfx0juOZ8

The Sunday Sermon Series would be as follows:
Sunday 3^rd: The Great Commission: Our great omission.
Sunday 10^th: Sowing: How do we plant good seed and new congregations?
Sunday 17^th: Growing: How do we grow healthy churches and develop disciples?
Sunday 24^th: Reaping: Are we ready when there’s harvest?

The devotions will be posted on the Denomination’s Facebook page…
And we hope that you will help us share these widely.

People can also subscribe to an email mailing list and you can share the following subscribe link with congregation members in order for them to subscribe….

Subscribe link is: https://bit.ly/2K6mvjW (It is case-sensitive)

In these challenging times we pray that these messages will be inspirational and a great blessing to many in the UPCSA. Please help us spread these as widely as possible…

The sermon outlines and the daily readings are below…

Thanks and God bless,
Ruth Armstrong
(Mission and Discipleship Committee)

Sermon Outlines

Sunday 3^th: The Great Commission: Our great omission.

Text: Matthew 28:18-20

The sad truth is that the Great Commission
is often the Great Omission.

Key Points:

• Our authority: The One who Came, Lived, Died and Rose.
  Our message centres on the Incarnation, Death and Resurrection.
  It is not about something (“What?”) but about someOne (“Who?”)
  It is the uniqueness of Jesus (Where He came from, What He achieved, Where He Went)

• Our task: Make Disciples – not converts.
  A Disciple is a follower not in the Facebook sense, but the “Tracker”/”Student” sense

• Where: to all people

• How: Baptism in the name of the Trinity.
  Baptism
  = a symbol of a public stand
  = indicative of the work of God in us
  = a sign of cleansing and renewal and new beginning.

• What happens?
  Teaching (Transformative life change) – people become obedient followers of Christ.

• The Comfort: As we do His work He is with us.

Sunday 10^th: Sowing: How do we plant good seed and new congregations?

Texts: Acts 13: Acts 11:19-26 and 13:1-3 OR Acts 16:6-40

Either

• look at the qualities of a sending church. (Antioch in Acts 11 & 13)
  For example:
  – Crossed boundaries (11:19-20)
  – Believed AND Turned
  – Had a servant leader in Barnabas
  – Exhibited “evidence of the Grace of God”
  – That they faithfully gathered for teaching
  – Gathered for prayer and fasting

• or look at Paul in Acts 16
  For example:
  – Listen to the Spirit
  – Start where there is prayer (the river was where Jews went to pray)
  – Build a base (Lydia)
  – Confront Evil
  – Set an example even in the face of opposition
  – Sing praises
  – Do the right thing

Sunday 17^th: Growing healthy churches and developing disciples.

Text: Acts 2:42-47 OR 1Thes1:2-10

It’s said that the highest church attendance Sunday in the USA was the Sunday
after the Sep 11 attacks in 2000. It’s also said that the lowest attendance Sunday
was the very next one. In other words, people came to church looking for answers
and didn’t find them.

What does a healthy church look like?

• Either look at the Jerusalem church…
  Look at the passage and highlight the following values:

• • Devotion to clear, scriptural, life-changing teaching.

  • Fellowship: Meaningful connection both at church and in homes. The sharing and meeting of needs. The meaningful sharing of communion and community.

  • The importance of Prayer

  • Awe/Reverence: This is the context for the wonders and miraculous signs. Is it possible that many of our churches lack power because we lack awe and reverence for God?
    This is also reflected in their faithfulness in worship and in Praising God. (Context – the Jerusalem church would join with Jews in worship in the temple, and then meet in homes for teaching and fellowship).

  • Living out their example to the community and continuing to preach the gospel message which is why people were still being added.

  • (It’s important to note that the Jerusalem church was the only one that lived “Kibbutz style” selling possessions and moving into community. This was probably because so many of the first converts were visitors in Jerusalem for the Passover and didn’t actually live in Jerusalem. Non of the other NT churches function with the “Selling of possessions and goods and having everything in common.”)

• Or look qualities of the church at church in Thessalonica
  For example:
  – Faith, Hope and Love leading to Work, Labour and Endurance
  – Gospel working with power in their lives
  – The Holy Spirit brings deep conviction
  – They were imitators of Paul’s servant-hearted example
  – In spite of suffering they had great joy
  – They became a model and the message rang out from them
  – The change was genuine – they turned to God from dead idols

Sunday 24^th: Reaping: Are we ready when there’s harvest?

Texts: Acts 26:1-31 and 1Pet3:15

Story of Paul defending himself before King Agrippa and giving his testimony.

Some key points:

– Paul’s polite respectfulness

– The power of your personal story

– The interspersing of provocative questions

– Showing how he himself had been critical

– Then about how he encountered Jesus

– Being persuasive and truthful about it

– Prayerful for those we reach out to.

3.The Daily Readings

Each weekly theme will culminate in the Sunday Sermon that pulls it together.

Fri 1 Oct – Sun 3^rd: The Great Commission: Our great omission.

• Fri 01 Gen12:1-3 Abraham – blessed to be a blessing

• Sat 02 Isa42:5-7 Israel is the Servant of the Lord.

• Sun 03 Mat28:18-20 The Great Commission

Mon 4^th – Sun 10^th : Sowing: Planting good seed and new congregations.

• Mon 04 Mat13:1-9 Understand the process – sowing seeds.

• Tue 05 Mar4:26-29 The power of the (gospel) seed – It grows “all by itself”.

• Wed 06 Mar4:30-32 The mustard seed – big results from small beginnings.

• Thu 07 1Co3:6–15 Sower, Waterer and Reaper – the roles we might play…

• Fri 08 Act16:6-10 The Spirit’s guidance leads to planting new churches.

• Sat 09 Act16:13-15 Start with prayerful seekers

• Sun 10 Act 16:25-29 Setting a good and joyful example in tough times makes an impression

Mon 11^th – Sun 17^th: Growing healthy churches and developing disciples.

(All of this week’s passages look at congregations and their strengths and weaknesses)

• Mon 11 Phil1:3-11 The good qualities and what Paul prayed for the church in Philippi

• Tue 12 Col 1:3-12 The good qualities and what Paul prayed for the church in Colosse

• Wed 13 Rev 2:1-7 A church with good doctrine and deeds, but with “heart trouble”

• Thu 14 Rev 2:12-17 A brave but compromised church

• Fri 15 Rev 3:1-6 A church that is fading because their repentance is half-hearted

• Sat 16 Rev 3:14-22 A lukewarm church

• Sun 17 1Th 1:2-10 The strengths of the Thessalonian church

Mon 18^th – Sun 24^th: Reaping: Are we ready when there’s harvest?

(This week’s passages look at gospel encounters – Looking at Evangelistic approaches)

• Mon 18 Joh3:1-16 How does Jesus approach Nicodemus?

• Tue 19 Joh4:Sel How does Jesus approach the Samaritan woman?

• Wed 20 Joh1:46-51 How does Jesus approach Nathanael?

• Thu 21 Mar10:17-22 How does Jesus deal with the rich young ruler?

• Fri 22 Act8:26-39 How does Philip work with the Eunuch?

• Sat 23 Act16:25-34 How does Paul reach the Jailer?

• Sun 24 Act26:1-31 How does Paul approach King Agrippa?

Mon 25^th – Sun 31^st : Some concluding Thoughts…

• Mon 25 1Pet3:15 Our approach to Personal Evangelism

• Tue 26 Act 1:6-8 What do we need before we can become witnesses?

• Wed 27 Mat5:1-11 The Gospel is for the underdogs
  (this is the opposite of prosperity teaching)

• Thu 28 Mat5:13-16 Salt and Light

• Fri 29 Jam2:14-17 More than words

• Sat 30 Isa2:2-5 Israel was meant to be a light to the nations.

• Sun 31 Luk14:17-21 His Mission – our Mission

Soli Deo Gloria