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GO GO GO - The Call to Missions
In Matthew 28:19, Jesus gives every believer a command, not a suggestion, not an option. In this powerful missions message, Pastor Mirek breaks down what it truly means to GO, and why reaching the nations is the number one priority on God's heart and must become ours.
Related Sermons
Small Group Guide
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
"Go, Go, Go: The Call to Missions" — Pastor Mirek Hufton
1. SERMON RECAP
Pastor Mirek Hufton opened with a simple but weighty title, "Go, Go, Go", and built his message around the command of Matthew 28:19 to go and make disciples of all nations. He challenged the group to align their thinking with what God considers his number one priority: bringing those who do not know him into his family. He closed with a stirring illustration about Irene Gleason, an Australian woman who gave up a comfortable beachside life to become a mother to 10,000 orphans in Northern Uganda, asking every listener what they would do with God's call to go.
2. KEY SCRIPTURE
Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."
3. ICE BREAKER
What is the farthest from home you have ever traveled, and what surprised you most about that place?
4. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Point 1 — Go Is a Command (The Priority of God) Pastor Mirek emphasized that in the mind of God, bringing the lost to himself is the singular, overriding priority, and that every believer is called to capture that same mindset. He pointed out that many churches let good things like fellowship events crowd out this chief mission.
What would it look like practically for a local church, and for you personally, to keep soul-winning and missions as the main thing rather than allowing good but lesser activities to quietly take its place?
Point 2 — Go to the Nations Pastor Mirek traced the call to the nations all the way back to Genesis 12, where God told Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. He reminded the group that the blessing God pours into our lives is never meant to stop with us, it is meant to flow outward to people and places we have never been.
Think about the blessings, spiritual, relational, financial, or practical, that God has placed in your life. Where do you sense the greatest resistance when it comes to letting those blessings flow outward toward people far from home, and what do you think is at the root of that resistance?
Point 3 — Go Is Personal Pastor Mirek pressed the group on the tendency to look for someone else, a figurative "Mr. Ye", to fulfill the command, rather than receiving it as a personal charge. He challenged every person in the room to stop pointing at someone else and to hear Jesus pointing directly at them.
When you honestly read the word "go" in Matthew 28:19, what does your first instinct tell you it means for your own life, and how far is that instinct from what Pastor Mirek challenged the group to believe?
5. APPLICATION CHALLENGE
This week, obtain or locate your passport, and if you do not have one, research exactly what it takes to get one. As you do, spend five minutes with a world map, asking God to place a specific nation or people group on your heart. Write down what you notice and bring it back to share with the group next week.
6. PRAYER POINTS
- Pray that each group member would genuinely hear the word "go" as a personal command from Jesus, and that the Holy Spirit would break through any resistance or comfort that holds them back.
- Pray for the missionaries and ministry partners your church currently supports around the world, that they would be sustained, encouraged, and fruitful in places that are difficult and often unsafe.
- Pray that your church would increasingly become a sending station, a community so gripped by God's priority that it raises up and releases people to the nations with boldness and generosity.
7. MEMORY VERSE
Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."
Daily Devotional
The Main Thing on God's Mind
Matthew 28:19 — "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."
When I stood before you on Wednesday, I told you that in the mind of God, there is really only one thing on his agenda: bringing those who don't know him back to him. That's it. Everything else, the programs, the potlucks, the events, they all serve a purpose, but they must never replace the main thing. God made this earth for man, and he made man to know him, love him, and enjoy him forever. He gave us choice, and that choice matters eternally. There are only two families on this earth: those who know God and those who don't. Jesus is the gift for every single human being on this planet. The Muslim, the Hindu, anyone, Jesus is their gift too. And God is asking us, his church, to carry that gift to the people who haven't received it yet.
Lord, forgive me for the times I've let lesser things crowd out your greatest priority. Burn your heart into mine, so that what matters most to you begins to matter most to me. In Jesus' name, amen.
You Were Blessed to Be a Blessing
Genesis 12:2 — "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing."
On Wednesday I reminded you that the mission of God didn't start in the New Testament, it started with Abraham in Genesis 12. God said to Abraham, I am going to bless you, but you are going to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. If you are born again, you are a son or daughter of Abraham by faith, and that same covenant speaks to you. Every good thing in your life, your salvation, your family, your home, your income, your country, these are gifts from God. But God never intended for the blessing to stop with you. He blesses you so you can pour that blessing out on others. The most important blessing you carry is the gospel itself. You cannot just take in. You have to give out, and God expects that giving to reach far beyond your own neighborhood.
Father, thank you for the extraordinary ways you have blessed my life. Help me to see those blessings not as things to hold onto but as resources to give away for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.
Go to the Nations
Mark 16:15 — "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."
On Wednesday I told you that you cannot go to the nations by staying in your hometown. At some point you have to get a passport, get on a plane, and get out of your comfort zone. There are roughly 200 nations on this earth and about 7,100 languages spoken among them. Millions of people have never heard the name of Jesus even once. I told you about William Carey, who refused to quit even when everything around him fell apart, and about the Moravians, that little group of 300 who sent nearly 300 missionaries around the world in 50 years because one word got into their hearts — go. The harvest is enormous. When you show up in another country, you are saying with your very presence, I care, you matter, Jesus sent me. That message alone changes lives. God is calling you to think bigger than your own zip code.
Lord, open my eyes to the nations the way you see them. Stir a hunger in me that goes beyond my comfort and my borders, and show me where you want me to serve. In Jesus' name, amen.
To Whom Much Is Given
Luke 12:48 — "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."
On Wednesday I pointed out something sobering. The United States represents about five percent of the world's population, yet holds more than half of the world's wealth. On top of that, we have had the gospel preached to us more times than we can count. We have churches on every corner, Bibles on every shelf, sermons on every device. God has been extraordinarily generous with us, and that generosity comes with responsibility. Luke 12:48 is not a suggestion, it is a principle that God himself established. If you have been given much, much is expected in return. I think about Irene Gleason, who walked away from sunsets on a beach to pour her remaining years into 10,000 orphans in Northern Uganda. She told me she wished she had started sooner. The question is simply this: what are you doing with what God has placed in your hands?
Father, I don't want to come to the end of my life and realize I held back what you gave me to give away. Stir in me a holy generosity, one that reflects how freely you have given to me. In Jesus' name, amen.
He Is Talking to You
Proverbs 29:18 — "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law."
On Wednesday I said something that I want to leave ringing in your ears going into the weekend. When Jesus said go, he meant you. Not Mr. Ye, not the person next to you, not the missionary on the newsletter — you. Every believer in the eyes of God is a missionary. When you truly lay your life on the altar and say, God, use me for your kingdom, he will begin to stir you in ways you cannot manufacture on your own. Without that personal revelation, without owning this call for yourself, it is easy to drift, to keep the stuff, to watch the sunsets. But when the vision gets into your heart, everything shifts. Purpose comes alive. Joy comes alive. I am living proof of that. God told me to plant a church whose focus is missions and evangelism, and I have never looked back. He has a specific calling for you too. Receive it today.
Lord, I receive the call you have placed on my life. I stop looking for someone else to go in my place. Speak clearly to me, and give me the courage to say yes. In Jesus' name, amen.