OASIS church of Arlington

Connoisseurs of classic Saturday Night Live episodes will well remember “The Blues Brothers” sketches by Dan Akroyd & John Belushi.  A real band grew out of the performances & eventually began to do live concerts, opening for acts such as Steve Martin & the Grateful Dead.  Their first album “A Briefcase full of Blues” reached # 1 on the Billboard 200, went double platinum, & included hits like “Soul Man” (who doesn’t love that?).  With that kind of success behind them, the next logical step was (of course) a movie.  “The Blues Brothers” movie was released in 1980.  Now I’m not advocating it for good or for bad, because it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it.  What I do want to stress is its basic premise- Jake Blues and his brother Elwood decide to take on a “mission from God” and re-form their blues band in order to raise funds to save the Catholic orphanage where they grew up.  The point I’m making is this: blues brother or not, EVERY believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has a mission from God.  We do not each have different, individualistic missions, but we are all called to participate in the Lord’s one mission.

So in honor of World Missions Day this Sunday, we will be talking about Missio Dei- a Latin term for the Mission of God.  The text we will be looking at is a fascinating one, Acts 16:6-10.

6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

So be sure to join us this Sunday for World Missions Day, & be sure to bring your World Missions Day offering.  Please pray for the sermon as we consider that God has a mission, & out of His mission comes the leadership of the Spirit for our lives, & through His leading we know the Lord’s will for us & participate in God’s Mission.

And to help you prepare for Sunday, here is the playlist for Sunday’s service to help you as you contemplate the mission of God in your life.

Mighty to Save     (4591782) 

We’ve a Story to Tell     (29420)

I’ll Go Where you Want me to Go     (47282)    

Your Great Name     (5393329)

Where He Leads Me     (36767)

I hope you have a good rest of the week & I look forward to worshiping with you this Sunday.  For those of you helped with food to minister to the Bob VanVorst Family, I thank you.  Please continue to pray for the family, especially Ms. Doris.

God Bless,

Pastor Jeremy

The song numbers correspond to Song Select by Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI).