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Missions: A Night To Remember 2025
The Macedonian call isn't ancient history, it's happening right now, and God is looking for someone to answer it. In this message, Pastor Mirek takes us into Acts 16:6-11 and shows us why missions isn't optional for the church, it's the heartbeat of everything we do and everything we're called to be.
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Small Group Guide
Small Group Discussion Guide
"Missions: A Night To Remember 2025"
Based on the Teaching of Pastor Mirek Hufton
1. SERMON RECAP
Pastor Mirek Hufton drew the congregation into the heart of God for the nations by examining the Macedonian call in Acts 16:6-11, where a man pleaded with Paul to "come over and help us." He challenged the church to recognize that this same cry is still echoing from nations around the world today, and that turning a deaf ear to it is a sin of omission just as serious as any sin of commission. He reminded the congregation that one person willing to answer the call can shake an entire nation, pointing to great missionaries throughout history who changed the course of entire people groups through simple obedience.
2. KEY SCRIPTURE
Isaiah 6:8
"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.'"
3. ICE BREAKER
What is the farthest from home you have ever traveled, and what surprised you most about that place or the people you met there?
4. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Recognizing the Cry Pastor Mirek described the Macedonian call as a desperate plea — not just a polite invitation — using the word "pleaded" to describe the urgency of the man's cry to Paul. Where in your own life, whether locally or globally, have you sensed a genuine cry for help that you may have been slow to respond to? What held you back?
2. Sins of Omission Pastor Mirek made a distinction between sins of commission, doing what we should not do, and sins of omission, failing to do what we should. He argued that turning a deaf ear to the cries of the world is a serious sin of omission. How does this reframe the way your group thinks about the Christian life? Is it uncomfortable to consider inaction as sin, and why?
3. The Holy Spirit's Guidance In Acts 16, the Holy Spirit actively redirected Paul away from Asia and toward Macedonia. Pastor Mirek pointed out that God is still using that same guiding voice today to direct believers toward specific people, places, and needs. Has your group, or anyone in it, ever experienced a clear sense of being redirected by God toward something unexpected? What did that look and feel like?
4. One Person, One Nation Pastor Mirek referenced Hudson Taylor, John Paton, John Hunt, and James Fraser as examples of individuals whose obedience to a single call eventually transformed entire nations and people groups. What does it do to your sense of personal responsibility when you consider that one willing person can have that kind of impact? Does it feel inspiring, overwhelming, or both?
5. The Paradox of Giving Your Life Away Pastor Mirek observed that the more you give your life away in service to others, the more life comes back to you. He contrasted a life poured into missions with a life spent on entertainment and comfort, suggesting the latter actually drains a person rather than filling them. How has your group seen this principle play out, either in your own experience or in the lives of people you know?
6. Isaiah's Response When God asked "Whom shall I send?" in Isaiah 6:8, Isaiah did not wait for more details, a clearer plan, or a guarantee of safety. He simply said, "Here am I. Send me." Pastor Mirek held this up as the model response to the Macedonian call. What makes that kind of immediate, unconditional response so difficult in today's culture, and what would need to change in a person's heart to make it more natural?
5. APPLICATION CHALLENGE
This week, each group member is asked to do one specific thing: research one country where the church has an active or recent mission partnership, spend fifteen minutes reading about the spiritual and practical needs of that nation, and then write down one concrete way they could personally contribute — whether through prayer, financial giving, a skill they possess, or making an inquiry about joining a future trip. Group members are encouraged to bring what they discovered back to share at the next meeting.
6. PRAYER POINTS
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Pray that God would open the ears of every group member to hear the specific Macedonian call He has placed on their life, and give them the courage to say, "Here am I, send me," without waiting for perfect conditions.
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Pray for the ongoing mission partnerships of the church around the world — for the pastors, local leaders, and communities being served — that the work already underway would continue to grow and that laborers would be added to the harvest.
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Pray against the sin of omission in the life of the local church, asking God to produce genuine, Spirit-led urgency rather than comfortable indifference toward the cries of nations still waiting for help.
7. MEMORY VERSE
Isaiah 6:8
"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.'"
Daily Devotional
Hearing the Cry
Acts 16:9 — "A vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.'"
On Wednesday I shared with you that this cry — come over and help us — is not just ancient history. It is still being sounded across the earth right now. People in Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea, Cherokee Nation, the Dominican Republic, and dozens of other places are standing and pleading for someone to come. God gave Paul a vision so specific it changed the entire direction of his journey, and it changed the direction of Europe. I want you to understand that God still gives visions like that today. He will touch your heart with a nation, a people, a face you cannot shake. The question is whether you are quiet enough to hear it. The Macedonian call is not complicated. It is simply, will you come and help us? Let that question settle into you today.
Lord, open my ears to hear the cries coming from the nations. Give me a vision I cannot ignore and the courage to say yes to it. In Jesus' name, amen.
The Sin of Doing Nothing
James 4:17 — "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."
I said it plainly on Wednesday and I will say it again here — there are sins of commission and there are sins of omission, and they are equally serious before God. We talk a great deal about what we should not do, but the Bible is just as clear about what we must do. When we sit comfortably inside our four walls and turn a deaf ear to the cries coming from around the world, that silence is not neutral. It is a choice, and God holds us accountable for it. The help that nations need is Jesus, and we carry Him. We have been entrusted with the answer to the world's greatest need. To know that and do nothing with it is a grave thing. I am not trying to bring condemnation. I am trying to stir your conscience into action, because you were made for more than comfort.
Father, forgive me for the times I have known what to do and chosen ease instead. Stir something in me that will not let me stay still. In Jesus' name, amen.
One Person Can Shake a Nation
Isaiah 6:8 — "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.'"
I love this verse because Isaiah did not wait for someone else to volunteer. He heard the call and he answered it immediately — here I am, send me. I told you on Wednesday about Hudson Taylor, John Payton, James Fraser, John Hunt. These were ordinary people who simply answered an extraordinary call. By the time Hudson Taylor died, there were 1,300 Western missionaries across China. It started with one man who said yes. You are that kind of person. You are a nation shaker. I believe that with everything in me. You do not have to be famous, educated, or experienced. You just have to hear the voice of the Lord asking who will go, and have the chutzpah to raise your hand and say here I am. One small flame keeps lighting other flames until something glorious begins to burn.
Lord, here I am. I do not have everything figured out, but I am available to You. Use me however You see fit. In Jesus' name, amen.
The More You Go, the More You Grow
Luke 6:38 — "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom."
I said something on Wednesday that I want to sit with today — the more you go, the more you grow. The more you go, the more you change. The more you give your life away, the more it comes back to you. This is not a motivational slogan. It is a spiritual principle woven through the entire Bible and confirmed by every missionary story I have ever read or lived. When you pour yourself out for other people, God pours back into you in ways that no vacation, no career success, and no amount of comfort ever could. I have watched people leave for a mission trip uncertain and exhausted, and come back with a fire in their eyes and a freshness in their spirit that nothing else could have produced. That enlarging of your heart, that fresh anointing, that new vision — it is available to you. But you have to go.
Jesus, I want the kind of growth that only comes from giving myself away. Lead me out of comfort and into the places where You are moving. In Your name, amen.
Your Job Is Not the End
Matthew 28:19 — "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
I want to close this week with something I said on Wednesday that I need you to carry into the weekend. Your job is not the end. Your career is not the end. Your 401k is not the end. Those things are means — tools God has given you to fund and fuel something far greater. The end is this: what can I do to impact the dear people scattered all over this earth who are still crying out, come over and help us? Jesus gave us the Great Commission and it was not a suggestion. It was a sending. You have been sent. Right now, today, at whatever stage of life you are in, you are commissioned. I want you to go into this weekend asking God not what you can get out of life, but what you can give into it. That is where the real joy lives.
Father, reorder my priorities around Your commission. Let everything I have and everything I am be given to what matters most. In Jesus' name, amen.