Doing the Will of God
July - August 2022
The World Outreach International Director Update is updated every six weeks.
Dear Friend of World Outreach
Almost every Sunday I am ministering in a different church somewhere in Australia or the world. One of the most common questions I am asked is: “How do I know I am doing the will of God?”
There are many possible answers to this very valid question, but one of the principal answers is that, if we are actively aligned with, and engaged in, God’s mission, we are more than likely to be doing God’s will.
What is God's Mission?
Mission is the loving work of God to bring humankind to himself.
God has always been and is a missional God. The culmination and personification of God as missional is the incarnation and the cross, where God sent his one and only Son (John 3:16) to be the message (John 1:14) and to provide eternal salvation. Jesus stated that he had come ‘to seek and save the lost’ (Luke 19:10).
All through Jesus’ ministry, the theme of God’s heart for the lost to return was expounded, illustrated and applied. Located in Luke 15 is a cluster of three parables, namely the lost sheep (vs. 3-7), the lost coin (vs. 8-10) and the lost son (vs. 11-32), that all vividly describe God’s loving, longing and intense search for lost humanity. Adding to his mission of preaching about rescue, restoration and reconciliation was Jesus’ clear call for a decisive choice, ‘Repent for the kingdom of God is near’ (Matthew 4:17). His entire ministry was a demonstration and authentication of his good news, as he ‘…went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil’ (Acts 10:38; cf. Luke 5:24,25).
With the future in focus, during three and a half years of Jesus’ public ministry, he trained an unlikely group of chosen men how to continue his ministry after his suffering, death and resurrection. Through his work on the cross, Jesus paid the once-for-all sacrifice for sin, thus providing eternal salvation for all who would put their faith and trust in him. Prior to his ascension, Jesus commanded his believers to boldly take this message of good news beyond their locality, culture, region and nation.
God's Mission Has A Church!
Then, on the Day of Pentecost, God the Father and his ascended Son sent the Holy Spirit to empower the newly born-again apostles and subsequent generations of believers with power to spread the gospel. The church was born!
J. Andrew Kirk insightfully wrote that ‘…it is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world, but that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission – God’s mission.’ Put succinctly, it’s not that the church has a mission, but that God’s mission has a church. As Dr Alan Hirsch wrote, ‘The church is the result of God’s mission in the world.’
Reaching lost people with the Gospel is God’s will. The more we are actively engaged with God’s mission, the more we are aligned with God’s will. Therefore, I urge you today to pray for God’s mission, give to mission, be involved in mission locally and globally, immerse yourself in mission and be missional in all you are, do and say. This is the will of God.
Through the work of World Outreach, you have a unique opportunity to do so.
- Discover how you can give
- Discover how you can pray
- Discover how you can go
God bless,
Bruce Hills
World Outreach International Director
World Outreach International Director
Bruce has served as International Director of World Outreach since January 2017. He joined the World Outreach team in July 2010 as Leadership Development Director, a role he served in up to his appointment as International Director.
