We Need the Church to be a Loving Family (Rom. 8.14-16; 12.9-21)

Translation: ^8.14Because as many people as are led by the Spirit of God, these people are sons of God, ¹⁵because you didn’t get the spirit of slavery again resulting in fear; instead, you got the Spirit of Adoption, by Whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶The same Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are God’s children.

^12.9Unhypocritical love: Be hating what’s wicked, clinging to what’s good. ¹⁰With regard to brotherly-love, be deeply loving to one another. With regard to honor/respect, be considering one another more deserving. ¹¹With regard to passion, don’t be lazy. Be on fire in the Spirit. Be slaving for the Lord. ¹²Be rejoicing in hope. Be enduring in suffering. Be dedicated to prayer. ¹³With regard to the needs of the holy people, be sharing. Be pursuing hospitality. ¹⁴Bless the people who are persecuting [you]. Bless and don’t curse. ¹⁵Cebrating with the people who are celebrating; crying with the people who are crying. ¹⁶Be thinking the same thing towards one another; don’t be thinking proud things, rather be accommodating to the lowly people. Don’t become clever to yourselves. ¹⁷Don’t be repaying anyone evil for evil. Be caring about good things before all humans. ¹⁸And if it’s possible for you, be maintaining peace with all human beings. ¹⁹Don’t be avenging yourselves, loved ones, instead, give an opportunity for the anger, because it really is written, “Vengeance is Mine! I will pay [them] back, the Lord says.” ²⁰Instead, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he’s thirsty, give him a drink, because by doing this you will pile up coals of fire on his head!” ²¹Don’t be getting conquered by evil, rather be conquering evil with good.

  

Interpretation

1.      Structure

a.       Rom. 8.14-16

                                                              i.      Who are God’s sons? Those who are driven by the Spirit

1.      Because

a.       He’s not the Spirit of Slavery

b.      He is the Spirit of Adoption that drives us to call God our Daddy

2.      The Same Spirit tells us we are God’s Children

b.      Rom. 12.9-21

                                                              i.      Topic: Unhypocritical Love

                                                            ii.      Bracket A: hate what’s evil, cling to what’s good

1.      General call to love and healthy relationship

2.      Specific call to leave vengeance to God

                                                          iii.      Bracket A’: Don’t get conquered by what’s evil, conquer what’s evil with what’s good

2.      Themes

a.       Love

b.      Good vs. Evil

c.       Justice/Vengeance

d.      One another/intra-church relationships

e.       Humility

f.       Peace

g.      All people

3.      Doctrines

a.       We are a family thicker than blood; All True Christians filled with the Holy Spirit are part of God’s family, which makes them family to one another

b.      Love is a core Christian commitment and virtue, first of all towards God and one another, but also towards outsiders

c.       Revenge belongs to God, not to humans

Applications

1.      Outline

a.       Why do we need the church, because we’re family, the Holy Spirit is drawing us together (Rom. 8.14-16)

                                                              i.      How do I know if I’m part of the Christian family? If you’re filled with the Holy Spirit you are part of the family?

                                                            ii.      How do I know if I’m filled with the Holy Spirit?

1.      Are you driven/lead by the Holy Spirit

2.      Do you feel enslaved to fear, or adopted?

3.      Do you call God your Daddy by the Holy Spirit

4.      Does the Holy Spirit tell you you’re part of the family?

                                                          iii.      The Holy Spirit is the power behind our Christian life, but He is also the confidence we have to know that we are God’s kids, we are a family. It is important to see that calling God our Father and having the Holy Spirit tell us we are God’s children is not just something that happens to you as an individual but to us as a family

                                                          iv.      The Holy Spirit makes us family, the reason we need the church is because Holy Spirit is driving us to be the Church. The Holy Spirit is pushing us to be the family that He has made us! We need the church, because in the deepest parts of who we are, we are part of the church, we are part of the family, we are connected to one another.

b.      Why do we need the church, because we need to love and be loved (Rom. 12.10)

                                                              i.      Because of the Holy Spirit we long to be who we are, and what that means is that we are united in love, we should love each other deeply like family, because we are the most real family we’ve ever had. God is telling us to love each other like family, because as Rom. 8 has made clear, we are family. We need the church to be who we are. Trying to be a Christian without the church is a twisted form of hypocrisy, or even hypocritical love, because we say we love God, but we don’t love our brothers and sisters, or we say that we love them, but never live like we love them, we never show them true love, only surfacy, lite love.

                                                            ii.      This would be like a family that says they love one another, who lives in the same area, who all know each other, who have plenty of time to be together, all saying, “I love my dad, but I don’t want to hang out with Him while all my brothers and sisters are around. And I love my brothers and sisters I just don’t want to have anything to do with them. I don’t want to talk to them, see them, spend time with, share with them, eat with them, worship with them, help them, serve them, or even really feel very loving towards them

1.      We’d be like, man, you’re family has problems, it doesn’t look like you love each other, actually it sounds like you hate each other

c.       What does it look like to be a loving family adopted by God the Father redeemed through Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit? It looks like Rom. 12.9-21

                                                              i.      Lots of love

                                                            ii.      Hating evil, holding on to good; Not giving in to evil, but overpowering evil with good

                                                          iii.      Good healthy, humble, compassionate, loving relationships

                                                          iv.      Not getting revenge, letting God get revenge for you

                                                            v.      More specifically

1.      With regard to honor/respect, be considering one another more deserving.

2.      ¹¹With regard to passion, don’t be lazy.

3.      Be on fire in the Spirit.

4.      Be slaving for the Lord.

5.      ¹²Be rejoicing in hope.

6.      Be enduring in suffering.

7.      Be dedicated to prayer.

8.      ¹³With regard to the needs of the holy people, be sharing.

9.      Be pursuing hospitality.

10.  ¹⁴Bless the people who are persecuting [you]. Bless and don’t curse.

11.  ¹⁵Cebrating with the people who are celebrating;

12.  crying with the people who are crying.

13.  ¹⁶Be thinking the same thing about one another; don’t be thinking proud things, rather be associating with the lowly people. Don’t become clever to yourselves.

14.  ¹⁷Don’t be repaying anyone evil for evil. Be caring about good things before all humans. ¹⁸And if it’s possible for you, be maintaining peace with all human beings.

15.  ¹⁹Don’t be avenging yourselves, loved ones, instead, give an opportunity for the anger, because it really is written, “Vengeance is Mine! I will pay [them] back, the Lord says.” ²⁰Instead, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he’s thirsty, give him a drink, because by doing this you will pile up coals of fire on his head!”

2.      Questions

a.       Are you confident that you are one of God’s children? Why? Do you have the proof Rom. 8.14-16 offers?

b.      Do you feel the Holy Spirit pulling you towards being a part of the church?

c.       How hard is it to let God get revenge for you?

d.      How important do you think it is for us to love each other like family? What about visitors?

e.       Read Rom. 12.9-21. What things are we strong at? Where are we weak? What do you think a random stranger visiting would say?

Illustrations/Explanations

1.      The Holy Spirit is kind of like a Spiritual electromagnet. Before He working in us and on us, we weren’t really drawn to one another, but as soon as He was there, we became magnetically pulled together, towards one another, and kept together by the Holy Spirit 

Pentecost Sunday: Power to Evangelize and Be the Church (Acts 2)

Scripture: Acts 2

Translation: ^2.1And while day of was being fulfilled, all of them were together at the same place. ²And it happened all of a sudden that there was a sound from heaven just like when a violent wind blows. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³And tongues like fire that were being distributed to them were seen. And it sat on each and every one of them. ⁴And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. And they began to be speaking in other languages/tongues according to how the Holy Spirit was giving them to speak out.

⁵Now, there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation, all those under Heaven. ⁶And when this sound happened, the huge number of people came together and was confused, because everyone was hearing them speaking in his own native language. ⁷And they were feeling amazed and were wondering out loud, “Look, absolutely all of these people who are speaking are Galilean, aren’t they?! ⁸And how is each one of us hearing in our own language that we were born in? ⁹Parthans and Medes and Elamites and those who live in Mesopotamia, both Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰both Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Lybia, which is near Cyrene—and all the people in town, Romans, ¹¹both Jews and converts, Cretans and Arabs—we’re hearing them speaking in our languages/tongues the great things of God!” ¹²And all of them were feeling amazed and totally confused, one saying to another, “Why does He want this to be?” ¹³And others who were mocking were saying that they really are totally filled with new wine!”

¹⁴Then standing up, Peter with the Eleven raised up his voice and spoke out to them:

“Men, Jews and all those living in Jerusalem, this had better be known to you; and pay attention to my words! ¹⁵ You see, it is not like you think “these people are drunk!” because it’s 9am [lit. the third hour of the day]; ¹⁶instead, this is what was being said through the prophet Joel: ¹⁷‘And it will happen in those days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your younger men will see visions and your older men will dream dreams! ¹⁸And for sure on my male-slaves and on my female-slaves in those days I will pour out My Spirit and they will prophesy. ¹⁹And I will give omens in the sky above and signs on the earth below—blood and fire and a waft of smoke. ²⁰The sun will be changed into darkness and the moon into blood, before the Great and Glorious Day of the Lord comes! ²¹And it will be that everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved!’

²²Men, residents of Jerusalem, listen to these words, Jesus the One from Nazareth, a Man pointed out to you by God with miracles and omens and signs, which God did through Him in the middle of you just as you yourselves know, ²³This Man who was given up according to the arranged plan and predetermination of God, you killed through the hands of lawless people by attaching [Him to a cross]! ²⁴Who God raised thereby destroying the pains of death, because it wasn’t possible that He be held by it. ²⁵You see, David says about Him, ‘I saw ahead of time the Lord in front of me through everything that He was at my right hand, so that I would not be shaken. ²⁶Because of this, my heart celebrated and my tongue rejoiced. And my flesh will still live based on hope, ²⁷because You will not abandon my life to Hades, nor will You give Your Holy One to see corruption! ²⁸You make me know ways of life, You fill me with celebration with Your Presence!’

²⁹Men, brothers, it’s appropriate to speak with boldness to you about our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his grave is with us to this day! ³⁰So, because he really was a prophet and really knew that God promised him with an oath to seat [someone] from the fruit of his loins on his throne, ³¹seeing the future, he spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah that He wasn’t abandoned to Hades and His flesh didn’t see corruption. ³²This Jesus God raised, of Whom we all are witnesses! ³³So, being exalted to the right hand of God, and receiving the promise of the Spirit from the Father, He poured This [Spirit] out, Who you are seeing and hearing! ³⁴You see, David didn’t go up into the Heavens, but he says, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, ³⁵until I put Your enemies as footstool for Your feet!’ ³⁶So, certainly the whole house of Israel had better know that God made Him both Lord and Messiah, i.e. This Jesus, Who you crucified!”

³⁷And after they listened, they were stabbed in the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Why should we do, men, brothers!?” ³⁸And Peter [said] to them, “Repent and get baptized each one of you based on the Name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the give of the Holy Spirit, ³⁹because the promise is for you and your children and all those far away, as many as the Lord our God summons.” ⁴⁰And with many more words he was thoroughly warning and urging them saying [essentially] “Get saved from this crooked generation!” ⁴¹So, after accepting his message, they were baptized and about 3000 lives were added on that day.

⁴²And they were dedicating themselves to the teaching of the Apostles and to sharing, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. ⁴³And fear was coming to every life, and many omens and signs were happening through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all the people who were believing were at the same place and holding absolutely everything as shared. ⁴⁵And they were selling their property and possessions and distributing them to all people as much as anyone might be needing. ⁴⁶And daily dedicating themselves with the same impulse in the Temple, and breaking bread house by house, they were sharing food with heartfelt celebration and humility, ⁴⁷praising God and having favor before all the people. And the Lord was adding the people being saved day-by-day at the same place.

Interpretation

1.      Structure

a.       The Spirit Arrives like a Wind in Tongues of  Fire

b.      The Non-Christians from all over the world React to the Spirit

                                                              i.      General Reaction: All the people from all over are surprised and confused, and wonder what’s going on

                                                            ii.      Alternative Reaction: The Christians are drunk stupid

c.       Peter Responds to the Questions of the Non-Christians

                                                              i.      We're not drunk, we’re filled with the Holy Spirit like Joel predicted

                                                            ii.      You killed Jesus, God’s clear Messiah, but God raised Him from the dead, just like He promised David

                                                          iii.      And what’s happening is that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, so you better know by know that Jesus is the Messiah

d.      The Non-Christians respond: What should we do

e.       Apostolic Answer: repent and believe and get baptized.

f.       Resolution:

                                                              i.      Apostle keep preaching: Get saved

                                                            ii.      3000 people get saved

                                                          iii.      Nature of the Newly Formed Church

1.      It focused on

a.       Listening to the apostles’ teaching together

b.      Sharing their stuff together

c.       Eating together

d.      Praying together

2.      God was saving people every day into it

2.      Themes

a.       Tongues/languages/dialects

                                                              i.      The interesting thing is that sometimes it refers to actual tongue shaped things, while other times it means what the tongue produces (language). The Holy Spirit shows His Presence by manifesting tongues of fire, but causes them to use their tongues in new ways

b.      Salvation

c.       Messiah

d.      Resurrection

e.       Spirit/Wind

                                                              i.      The word for Spirit also means wind, so the arrival of the Holy Spirit sounding like a rush of wind in a storm makes thematic sense

f.       Crucifixion/burial/death

g.      God’s Sovereignty

h.      Human responsibility

i.        Boldness

j.        Prophecy

k.      Sharing

3.      Doctrines

a.       Christians have the Holy Spirit

b.      The Holy Spirit is our source of boldness, unity/community, and Christian lifestyle

c.       Christians preach the message of Jesus’ resurrection, and call people to respond

4.      Notes

a.       Breaking bread does not mean communion/Lord’s supper; it means they ate together and enjoyed each other’s company

Applications

1.      Outline

a.       How do we tell people the Good News boldly? The Holy Spirit

                                                              i.      How are we going to be bold enough to tell the Good News to people who we know don’t believe? We have to rely on the Holy Spirit’s Presence and Power in us. We are not going to be able to just force ourselves to do it, at least not very easily, and we won’t be very good at it either. No, sharing the Good News with people is not a human activity it is something that absolutely requires the Holy Spirit. We will never have true power to do it all on our own. Guilt, Shame, Duty, as helpful as they are in getting us to do something, is not where our power to tell people comes from, it comes from the Holy Spirit! Remember, our faith is actually based on faith, we NEED God to work in us and through us, so we have to rely on the Spirit to empower and promote our effort, not try to merely force ourselves to do it by our own might and strength and sense of responsibility or even love! WE don’t need human power, we need Spirit-given power!

1.      As an aside, I want you to see that there are basically no limits on the extent that some unbelievers will go to hang on to their unbelief and sense-self-deification. They will make up the most ridiculous answers to what is so obviously the work of God. Never underestimate how blind a person will make himself to reject Jesus. These people are so clearly not drunk it is ridiculous, but some people are making that argument; don’t think some miracle will be the magic answer to overcome someone’s doubts. People are good at coming up with alternative explanations, and so is Satan.

2.      The Good News calls out sin and declares the Nature of God and Jesus and Holy Spirit, with special focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus

a.       The Good News is not that God did us a favor that we really didn’t need Him to do, but was nice for Him to do for us anyways. The Good News is that God did what we needed Him to do, but couldn’t force Him to do and couldn’t ask Him to do, and couldn’t do for ourselves. The Good News requires acknowledging weakness, sin, shame, and death.

                                                            ii.      How are we going to know how to connect the Bible with what is going on in the present world or in some person’s life? The Holy Spirit! He will guide us, He gives us the answers, He makes us say what we need to. In a way, we are all prophets because of the Holy Spirit living in us; through the Spirit we can connect the message of God to world around us in creative and meaningful and powerful ways

                                                          iii.      How are we going to boldly call out sin and know what is the right sin to call out? The Holy Spirit!

                                                          iv.      How are we going to cross cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic boundaries to tell people the Good News? The Holy Spirit!

                                                            v.      How are we going to save people? Ah, trick question, we’re not! The Holy Spirit will change hearts, minds, and lives! He will save!

b.      How do we live out the Good News as a Community boldly? The Holy Spirit

                                                              i.      How can we become a community that is radically representative of the vision God has for the church, to have people from all different cultures and languages and ethnicities and social statuses together united and worshipping? The Holy Spirit!

                                                            ii.      How can you get the most out of reading the Bible and listening to sermons, how can you even find yourself filled with a longing for the Bible and sermons? The Holy Spirit!

                                                          iii.      How can we become willing to give up what we have for the good of our brothers and sisters, how can we become a community that shares our stuff in a culture saturated by materialism and selfishness? The Holy Spirit!

                                                          iv.      How can we eat together and enjoy each other’s company with lots of happiness and humility? The Holy Spirit!

                                                            v.      How can we become a community that prays like crazy and sees God answer those prayer? The Holy Spirit!

                                                          vi.      How can we become a church that is healthy, alive, and growing—a church that God brings people to through us personally and our community, through our telling people about Jesus and living lives that draw people to Jesus? The HOLY SPIRIT!

2.      Questions

a.       When you have tried to share the good news in the past, have you tried to do it all on your own, or did you rely on the Holy Spirit?

b.      How big a role does the Holy Spirit play in your daily Spiritual life? How? Why?

c.       How big a role does the Holy Spirit play in our church every week? What makes you say that?

d.      How good are we at being witnesses to Jesus? To being the Church as it is described here?

e.       Why are we not seeing God add people to our church all the time?

Call to Evangelize (Matt. 28.16-20; Acts 1.8)

Scripture: Matthew 28.16-20; Acts 1.8

Translation: ^{Matt. 28.16}Then the Eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain, about which Jesus gave them orders. ¹⁷And when they saw Him, they worshipped, but they doubted. ¹⁸And as He approached, Jesus spoke to them by saying, “All authority in Heaven and on Earth was given to Me. ¹⁹So, go, make all the ethnicities disciples, by baptizing them into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰by teaching them to obey all the things that I commanded you! And look, I am with you all the days until the end of the age.”

^{Acts 1.8}Instead, you will get power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and all the way to the last part of the earth

Intro:

1.      Do you ever wonder why you’re still stuck here on earth and not with Jesus? Sometimes we feel like life is so hard and so painful, it’s hard for us to understand why Jesus would leave us here and would want us to stay here in the midst of the pain and suffering and loss and confusion and evil?

2.      On top of that all of us have wondered in the past or are still wondering now about what our life purpose, our life calling is. we wonder what does God want us to do with our lives. What is the mission that He has given us to accomplish here on earth?

3.      And sometimes when we think about the Good News, we wonder what gives us the right to tell people what their lives are supposed to be about? And let’s face it, sometimes they throw that in our faces when we do tell them about Jesus.

4.      And then other times we wonder how we will ever be able to get through this life in general, and get through sharing the Good News with other people

5.      For the past weeks we have been looking at different reasons and ways to share the Good News with others, and today we will continue to think about that as we answer those questions

Interpretation

1.      Structure

a.       Matt. 28.16-20

                                                              i.      Intro: the Eleven Disciples went to the mountain in Galilee and met Jesus, worshipping and yet still doubting

                                                            ii.      Jesus speaks:

1.      Basis for our mission: Jesus’ authority

2.      Mission: make disciples

3.      Encouragement: Jesus will always be with us

b.      Acts 1.8

                                                              i.      Intro: Acts 1.1-7: Stay and get the Holy Spirit, and the disciples ask what happens now

                                                            ii.      1.8

1.      You will get power when the Holy Spirit comes on you

2.      You will be My Witnesses everywhere

2.      Themes

a.       Power/authority

b.      Jesus is leaving

c.       Mission/final instructions

d.      All ethnicities/all places/outward focused

e.       Jesus will be with us/the Spirit will be with us

f.       Make disciples

3.      Doctrines

a.       Jesus raised from the dead

b.      Jesus is Lord and God over all

c.       Jesus has commissioned all Christians to make disciples of all people in all places

d.      Jesus is always with believers through the Person of God the Holy Spirit

Applications

1.      Outline

a.       Matt. 28.16-20

                                                              i.      What gives us the right to fulfill our mission? Jesus’ authority, we are commissioned by Jesus, in a way it is really Jesus Who is sharing the Gospel when we share it

                                                            ii.      What is our life-mission? To make disciples of all nations/all ethnic groups

1.      This means going

a.       Where? Wherever God calls/leads and wherever we have opportunity

b.      When? Now, everyday

2.      This means baptizing

a.       In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, means that the Trinity is the bedrock of our faith, no one can become a Christian without agreeing with and trusting in the truth that there is One God Who lives forever as Three co-eternal, co-holy, co-omnipotent Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

b.      This also means that people have to truly change teams, they have to become a Christian, to have a conversion, and to have some kind of initiation ritual that publically identifies them with the believing community

3.      This means teaching

a.       What Jesus commanded us

                                                                                                                                      i.      Of course this means we have to know what He commanded us, which means praying and reading the Bible and coming to church

b.      To do what Jesus commanded us

                                                                                                                                      i.      Of course this means that also have to know how to do and have a track record of doing it.

                                                          iii.      What is our encouragement on our mission

1.      Jesus is always with us, even to the very end of time

a.       This means that we are never alone, never, which means that even when feel alone, we are not completely alone, and it is easy to feel alone, especially when you go to a place or start a new chapter in your life

b.      Acts 1.8

                                                              i.      What gives us power to share the Good News? The Holy Spirit

                                                            ii.      What is our missional-identity as Spirit-filled Christians: We are witnesses to the whole world

c.       Synthesis

                                                              i.      All of us want to know what our purpose is in life, we want to know why we are still here, why didn’t Jesus just take us to be with Him as soon as we knew Him for real. The answer is that Jesus left us here to accomplish This Mission of Telling All People From All Places about the Good News and of bringing them in the Christian community

                                                            ii.      Look, a lot of you guys are in high school and in college, and you are wondering what you are supposed to do with your life. What is your ultimate life goals and purposes, what is your calling from God? The answer, although not complete, is that a major part of your life purpose, your calling, your mission in this world is to complete the mission Jesus gave us of making disciples. You wonder who you are, what you are supposed to be when you grow up, but I can tell you want you are supposed to be right now and for the rest of your lives if you know and trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior: you are His witnesses, His living legal testimony in this world

                                                          iii.      What gives us the right to tell people stuff they may not want to hear? Jesus. Jesus is the King of the Whole Universe, He is the Ultimate Authority, whatever He says, we do, and can do

                                                          iv.      What gives us the encouragement and the power to not just get through life when it’s hard, but to reach people with the Gospel: Jesus is with us and His Holy Spirit lives in us to encourage us and empower us to complete our mission and live for Him

                                                            v.      Who are we supposed to reach? Everyone from everywhere, is this the universal church mission, yes, but is it the local church mission yes, is it the personal mission of every Christian yes! Our mission is really to make the universal church as multi-cultural and multiethnic as possible, and while that will mean some churches that reach mainly particular ethnic groups, we as ministry of people from the same generation, a generation that embraces people from all places and backgrounds, we should not confine ourselves to reaching people who are just like us, in fact the Gospel is more about us reaching people different than us, in addition to reaching the people like us

2.      Questions

a.       How does knowing what part of your ultimate life mission is help you figure out other parts of your life mission?

b.      Since all believers are called to tell people about Jesus and help them grow as part of the Christian family, what are you doing to make that happen in your life right now?

c.       When you feel alone and powerless, do you think trusting that Jesus really is there and relying on the Holy Spirit for power will help you? do you think it would help, but don’t know how to do that? If so, what could you do? If you do know how, what do you do?

d.      What do you think our group could look like if we really started to live out our mission from Jesus?

e.       We live in a very multiethnic, multicultural society, and as Christians our mission is to reach people from all peoples and places, so why do you think our group lacks the diversity around us/the diversity of people we are called to reach?