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Weekly Message Discussion Guide Series: Portraits Message: The Mission Drift Date: 1-­‐31-­‐2015 Guest Speaker: Dr. Troy Jones INTRODUCTION What is the church’s greatest challenge today? • The influence of the culture? • The compromise of truth in the pulpit? • The Attack of the Devil on the church? Where these are all true, the greatest challenge to the church is not from outside, but from within; we too, easily drift from our mission – which is people: • We make programs more important than people • We make it about the building more than the body of Christ • We let religion get in the way of what’s most important, people This is not new to 2015 – the early church was tempted to drift off mission as well. We see in Acts 15:1 evidence of this: And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” As we read this scripture we read about two different groups of people in dispute. Here is a little context of the two groups: In Judea – We have the Jewish Christians who belong to the traditional church and came from Jewish religious traditions and culture. In Antioch – We have the gentile Christians who belong to the new church, who did not partake in the Jewish religious traditions and culture. The church is already beginning to put conditions on how the Gentiles are saved, and how they should be received in the church. They are saying; “unless you look like us…” Aren’t you glad God did not put that condition on us before receiving us – we didn’t have to look like anything to enter into His family – it is by grace we are saved (Eph 2:8). Recalibration is required. Recalibration is the antidote to mission drift. We individually must come to the place where we recognize that we have drifted from Jesus and His mission and recalibrate. Foursquare Church Puyallup | www.myfoursquarechurch.com | Page:1 Weekly Message Discussion Guide Series: Portraits Message: The Mission Drift Date: 1-­‐31-­‐2015 Guest Speaker: Dr. Troy Jones Acts 15 continued with quite a debate taking place as the early leaders wrestle down this “mission drift”. Finally Peter brings clarity by identifying the issue in Acts 15:10-­‐11: Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. In other words, Peter is asking; “why are we making these people become religious? Why are you testing God? Why are we making this hard?” We as a church and individually must asked ourselves that very question. Finally James joins in the discussion and recalibrates everyone’s thinking, bringing mission back to the core in Acts 15:19: It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. This is the mission given to the church by Jesus himself in a very uncomplicated manner in Matthew 28:19 when he said: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit… DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What was the most important point of the message that spoke to your heart? Explain. 2. Foursquare Church’s mission is Loving God and Loving People. How does this message help you identify with the mission of the church? 3. Where have you slipped into mission drift and began to view those outside the church similarly as those in Judea may have viewed the “gentiles”? How has this affected your actions or attitudes toward people? APPLICATION If necessary, where do you need to recalibrate, and how will you do this? Foursquare Church Puyallup | www.myfoursquarechurch.com | Page:2