God’s Mission Is Our Mission

Jim Clements · Tidal Church Moncton · October 12, 2025 · Vital Signs series

Jim Clements traces God's mission from Genesis to Revelation, showing that He has always been calling His people to go and bring others closer to Him. He invites everyone to give Jesus full command of their lives and to go the distance.

More from Jim Clements · The Vital Signs series

Topics: Purpose, Mission & Outreach, Discipleship

Transcript

[0:00] We're starting a new series this morning for the next three weeks called Vital Signs. And we all know what a vital sign is and how you can go, you can test it, you can test your own vital signs. Sometimes when Gisèle and I were first married, I tested her vital sign by coming into the kitchen, where it's not a place that, I have a strong place of ability, let's say. And it was our first Thanksgiving. So every time Thanksgiving comes around, this is what I think of. And she's in there and she's making mashed potatoes and I proceed to tell her how I thought my mom made mashed potatoes and I suggested all kinds of things that go in it and everything. She goes, "Fine, and you stir it." And so I'm stirring it and whipping it and I've got this wooden spoon in it and eventually this wooden spoon just stops.

[0:50] And I picked the pot up with the wooden spoon and I go, "Is this the way it's supposed to be?" We never did get the spoon out of the pot or what was in the pot outta the pot and everything just kinda left and went to the garbage because we didn't know how to clean it out. And then I said, "Well, at least we got the turkey and we've turned the light on. Look in through the window." It's all like glistening and roasted. And we're like, "Oh yeah, like see, I told you, you didn't need to thaw that thing out ahead of time." And she's like, "Well, I don't know about this." And she's like, I can just imagine, like, her blood pressure's just going right. We took that baby out. I said, "Yeah, like just turn it up like another 50 degrees, leave it two more hours and it'll be fine." Thaw out, then cook. It looked good until you cut into it. You don't think a turkey can sit six hours in an oven and still be frozen?

[1:38] I'm telling you, it can. It can. And so, vital signs and early on in our marriage 34 years ago, we're still pushing along and enjoying life as Christ allows us to do that. And so for us, when it comes to vital signs as a church, I think about our mission statement: to go the distance to bring people closer to God. Now that's that. We can say, we can hang that on a wall. We can say it all the time, but really it's a heartbeat of what each of you, how do we measure that? We can't unless we stand and ask each one of you to come. We just are believing that that is a vital sign for you, that you are doing that, that you are going the distance to bring people closer to God. And we think about, well, like, doesn't, like, we need to have a mission statement, like God's got a mission statement.

[2:30] Maybe you think it's just like, God, that's enough, but it's not. Scripture gives us so much more. But so many of us as believers, we've become Christians, we think like God's like a watchmaker and He, like, He makes this watch and He crafts it and has got all the detail and He sets it up and He winds it. So it goes and then He just walks away from it and just lets it run. And that's what we think He is when He is created, the creation that we live in. But God is not a watchmaker God. If you want an example, He's built a ship and this is a warship and He wants to go the distance to bring people back to Him. And He sets the course and charts the course of this ship. He's the captain. So if you claim that He's your Lord and Savior, then you allow Him to guide and direct your life when it comes to fulfilling this mission statement.

[3:27] But a lot of us, including me, when I first gave my life to Christ, they were like, "Oh yeah, I'm a Christian. Yeah, I'm all in." But I quickly realized after a while it was all about me. I was more focused on my job. I was more focused on my car. I was more focused on my comfort. I was more focused on the next thing I was gonna buy. I was more focused on my success in the workplace. I wasn't on mission at all with what God's direction was and I was off of mission. Now think about it. You may be having a great time off mission, but eventually that is gonna leave and be far enough away from God's mission that you're gonna end up in a terrible spot at some point in time.

[4:14] But if you were on mission with God's mission, just think what that looks like together. When you come together and you're moving towards people that don't yet know Him, there is a high success rate when that happens. There's a lot of people who are just, the word that they used in church is lost. And I just wanna tell you, lost people don't know they're lost. Lost people are wandering around in a very familiar circle. It makes them feel comfortable. And they don't know that until they see someone who has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And they go, "What do they got that I don't got? How do I get that? Where do I buy it?

[5:01] And does it come in two days after I order it?" Right? And it causes them to wonder. That's what going the distance is, is stepping into those spaces in your entire life. What we're gonna do this morning in a very quick fashion is, I am going to show you God's mission statement in Scripture. And we're gonna go from Genesis to Revelation, hopefully in the next 10 minutes or so. So buckle up, make sure your tray table is in the upright and locked position. So here we go. When we think about what God's mission is and how God created the universe, we look at the first book, Genesis, the first book of the Bible, and it says, He created the sun, the moon, the stars, the fish, the animal, the birds of the sky.

[5:50] He created everything. Basically, God created everything. And then He said this to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28, God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds of the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." God said, "Fill the earth." He didn't say, "Stay right here, don't go anywhere. I want you to stay where you're comfortable." He said, "Fill the earth." And He told him to go forth, be fruitful and multiply. If you're in this room and you don't know what I mean by fruitful and multiply, you can ask someone next to you or your mom, dad or guardian that brought you into this room.

[6:37] But this is what He tells me, 'cause He wants every human all over earth to be in relationship with Him so He can be in relationship with them and they can be in relationship with each other. But something happens. Adam and Eve get tempted by Satan and they fall and the relationship between them and God becomes fractured and then God has to remove them from the Garden of Eden and out they go and things go from bad to worse 'cause Adam and Eve have two children, Cain and Abel, and Cain kills Abel. And then Cain goes and leads all these cities and these wicked cities that don't follow after what God has planned for them.

[7:28] And so much sin begins to enter the world. And so much badness begins to enter the world and so far away they are from God. Things just get terrible. It's even a point in Scripture where God says He, He regretted creating humanity. It's gotta be pretty bad, right? It's gotta be pretty bad. So the entire population of humanity, God decides we're gonna reset and He brings the flood and He floods the entire earth, except for one family, Noah's family. But then Noah, after it's all over, goes and finds himself in a state of drunkenness and his family shames him, his own family shames him.

[8:16] So it gets worse and worse and worse. And we get in a lower spot and we get up to the Tower of Babel and by the time they get to Genesis 11, the world's in a mess again. Like, sound familiar? Like, it's repeat and repeat all happening, right? This is nothing new and we're in a mess and people are everywhere, but they're not in that loving relationship that God wants or with each other. They're living for themselves, killing each other and the world is a disaster. But God has a plan. Now at this point, the world is just so corrupt and evil. Like, I don't know about you, but like, if God was to say, "Hey Jim, what do you think we should do?" I'd be like, "Build an asteroid and destroy the whole thing.

[9:01] Like, go build something new, just kaboom, and then go again." It's a good thing He didn't ask me. Maybe we think of in our day and age now, well, we'll go to a great leader, we'll go to somebody, maybe someone that's like an international leader in our society, maybe a world leader, maybe the prime minister, maybe who knows who we go to 'cause they've got experience, they'll straighten it all out. Maybe that's what we would think. 'Cause a ruler that would fix, like in that time, be Pharaoh to go and fix all the problems in the world, get it all straight, get it back on the right track. But God's got a plan 'cause He's got a mission for the world. And He does something very unexpected.

[9:46] He calls a man named Abraham, 75 years old. He's been married, his wife can't have children. And He goes, "I'm picking you to accomplish the mission that I want done." And the Lord says to Abraham in Genesis 12, "Go from your country, your people, your father's household to a land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And whoever curses you, I will curse. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you." I want you to notice two things in that Scripture. He says, "Go."

[10:32] He says, "Go," not stay in the spot. Now you remember, we've heard this before. Go, this is the second time. Go where all the people of the earth are. Everyone, just like He had said to Adam and Eve, like the expectation of Adam and Eve. So God does an incredible miracle and He blesses Abram and his wife for the baby and they have their baby. And so then they have their child and their child's name is Isaac. And Isaac has a son whose name is Jacob. And Jacob encounters God in an incredible way. And Jacob gets a new name. God gives him a new name and that new name is Israel.

[11:19] And Israel then has 12 sons that represent the 12 tribes that we now know of the nation of Israel. And then they are promised, given this promised land, and God says to them, "Go to bless the whole world through Israel and by Israel. All nations of the world will be blessed." But guess what happens? Israel disobeys and disobeys and disobeys, and the story of the Old Testament, we look through it and read through it, is one failure after another failure after another failure of not following God's mission. They are no longer blessed. The Bible says this, they are no longer a blessing to the nations, but actually a curse.

[12:06] But there are people in Israel who are considered prophets who could look in and see and know and understand what God's purpose is and who God is. So in Daniel 7 it says this, 'cause Daniel's one of those prophets and he speaks this: "In my vision at night I looked and there, before me, was one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. And His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." Look, all nations, it says, and peoples of every language, people from everywhere across the entire world.

[12:59] The prophet said that one day this would happen, that one day this would come and everybody would be in relationship and love God. Now, if you were me, we've already discovered I like asteroids. And you think about how God, how's God gonna do this? Maybe there's a mighty warrior He's gonna bring. And the mighty warrior will conquer everything that's out there and right the ship back in the right direction. Or maybe it's gonna be an incredible ruler or a king that will be over the whole dominion of everything on earth and right the ship and bring it back. But 2000 years, over 2000 years ago, outside of a city in Bethlehem, the glory of God and the highest was seen.

[13:48] "And this will be your sign: a baby in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes will be the Savior." Not a great warrior, not some supreme emperor, not some king, but a baby. 'Cause you see, that baby grew to become a boy. That boy grew to become a man. That man began to teach and share who God really was and what God was all about and what God wanted for each one of us. He performed nothing. He performed things that no other human could perform. There were miracles that He did. And then He said, "I'm gonna die on a cross for your forgiveness. I'm gonna give My life for your sins."

[14:36] Because the world was so broken, so fallen, and they were so far from God that they needed somebody to create the bridge back to God and His kingdom of what He wanted for His mission. So Jesus died on our cross for our sins. He gave the ultimate sacrifice. But on the third day, He arose again and defeated death. So it would never hold any one of us that proclaimed Him as Lord and Savior. Matthew 28 says, "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

[15:25] And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'" Did you notice, what did it say? It said, "Go, we're everywhere." Not just in our comfort zones, not where we just feel like we've got control of it. The prophet Daniel said that all people of all languages, of all tribes, of everywhere would come into a knowing relationship and love God. God doesn't want a small huddle of people in one section of a city or in one building. God wants everybody to be able to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and to come into a loving relationship with Him. God wants everyone to love Him and for everyone to love each other.

[16:14] That's the mission that He's on. He, since Adam and Eve, when He asked them to do, with Noah, when He asks, with Israel, when He asks, but somehow, some way, we keep finding ourselves in these messes, and our world today is no different from what it is. Then it might look a little different, sound a little different, call it something different, but it's a mess. But here's the good news. Said, I'd take you to Revelation, Revelation 7. It says this, the vision for the end of the world, the end of times, Revelation 7: After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, every tribe, every people, and every language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.

[17:15] And they cried out in a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb." Every nation, every tribe, every people, every language. God's mission is, He's the captain of the ship. You've gotta decide whether you're letting Him be your captain or not, because you may have accepted Him as Lord and Savior, but you're only giving Him this portion here instead of giving Him all this, because He deserves every bit of it. You can't control portions of your life and say you're all in. You're only all in when you're willing to go the distance, whatever that is, to bring people closer to God.

[18:05] That might be in some of the ministries that we do here. That might be overseas. But God's mission is to bring people closer to Himself. Our mission is to go the distance to bring people closer to God. Jesus died on the cross not to be lost, but to be found, so that people could be found the direction that our world is moving today and the relationships, how broken they are. People are struggling to find hope, but in a God that we serve and the kingdom that He wants here on earth as in heaven, hope is rising.

[18:51] And we have to hold on to that from Genesis to Revelation. We've seen Him trying to fulfill His mission through us and we've seen failure after failure. I can't take your vital signs for you when it comes to this. Only you can, only you know when you sit in a room by yourself with God if you're going the distance. As a church, we try to think of ourselves that make sure that we're going the distance, and I'm just gonna put some slides up for you to see, but we have missions partners and we have global mission partners that are in an array of different places and missionaries that we have, and they need support.

[19:44] They need to help make things happen. This is like above and beyond what Pat prayed, like our tithe, like we'll get into that another time. But I'm telling you, like, this is like, I'm gonna go the distance, God, I'm gonna give above so that these people that are doing ministry can do the ministry that You're calling them to. So our church is trying to go the distance. We have global and then we have regional partners that we have that are doing ministry, trying to accomplish ministry in and around even the campus vision that we've talked about when it comes to regional stuff. And then we have local partners, ministries that are happening in and around our region that are serving our region, that we give to, to try and help them to go the distance beyond where we can go the distance by the partnerships that we have.

[20:35] Are we on mission? He's constantly reminding us and trying to tell us to check ourselves, to take our own vital signs to see, are you going the distance to bring people closer to God or are you more focused on yourself? I'm not asking you to sell everything and move to the mission field, though if you wanted to do that, I'd be cool with that and help you figure it out. But that's not what everybody's called to do, and it doesn't have to be anything flashy. There's two people in my life that set that model for me. And as my mom and dad, my mom and dad have been gone for a long time now.

[21:21] They passed a long time ago. And as I was reflecting and thinking about, did they go the distance, were they on mission for what God wanted? When I look back at their lives and I reflect on that and, you know, my mom and dad, they weren't flashy people, they weren't preachers, they weren't missionaries. They had regular jobs like everybody else. They loved each other like God expected, from the, for them to love each other. They had three of us boys to try and wrangle and get through the house and out to everything. They did all that. They loved their grandkids for the short time that they could have that experience with them. They volunteered at youth every week to build into the youth ministry, going on trips with them, taking, exposing them, going the distance further.

[22:08] And then all of a sudden my dad said he wanted to go on a missions trip. And as I reflected on this point in time in his life, he went on a missions trip to Mexico, never been on a missions trip in his entire life, gave his life to Christ in this church. And he goes to Mexico, knowing that my grandmother is very ill with cancer. And while he's in Mexico, she passes. And the people that were with him said, "We can arrange to get you back." And he goes, "Why would I go back? She knows the Lord, I know where she's gone."

[22:53] He said, "I'm here reaching people that don't know the Lord." He's on mission and knew that. Probably wouldn't have defined it that way at the time. They weren't worried about themselves. They weren't worried about what success looked like. You probably wouldn't notice them when they came through unless you were friends with them. But man, they were on mission for going the distance to reach people, and they left a remarkable example for me. So for me, I would ask you, check your vital signs. Are you on mission? Are you willing to go the distance to bring anyone who doesn't know God closer to Him?

[23:41] My hope today was to have a gentleman by the name of Raymond who we partner with at Eight Mile Rock. And we send teams there, and there was a team just there not too long ago. And we're gonna send another team in the spring, and if you want to go the distance like that, outside of Moncton, outside of Southeastern New Brunswick, outside of Atlantic Canada, and God's saying that to you, Then just chat with us and we'll make that happen when springtime comes and tell you how that happens. But we couldn't get Raymond here, but nobody can tell Raymond's story like Raymond can. And so I'm gonna let him share his story and you can hear how he's going the distance to bring people closer to God. Hurricane Matthew, we just finished rebuilding our house in the June of that year and after finishing the home all over, rebuilding the house all over in June, in September 1st, which really had few months in the house and then came Hurricane Dorian and Dorian destroyed this entire, and you drive through here, you see this whole entire community has been destroyed.

[24:58] This is where I used to live. Water came from both sides. You see, they have water, the side and water the side. So the house was engulfed with water. And the water went above the roof. Everybody that helps home here, we are still paying the bank up the Friday. I just paid the mark. So we are still paying our mortgage and everything here and government is not really helping out with the situation. And you come back here. So most people have left their homes and a lot of people not only have left their, have left the island because what Hurricane Dorian did to the island on September 1st, and my son Ramon, he's spent his whole entire life here.

[25:50] There was, or this, Ramon knew no other place from his little child. We were, we're living here. Welcome to my home. This here we started our ministry where we did a lot and the amount of kids that used to be here was amazing. God has touched a lot of lives where we shared the gospel with a lot of people. And today we see a lot of them, how God has transformed their lives. So this where used to be Lighthouse started in this, room right here when I walked, there was one picture that was here and the picture was from my wife and I.

[26:38] And God revealed in my heart if the storm could have taken all the homes in this, community, I could save a little picture for you and God preserved a picture with my wife and I and I have that picture today. So God, doesn't matter what we go through, He is still the Almighty God. And I see God's greatness and I say to people today, look how you guys are here. My story is for His glory. And it was right on the canal. You can see the ocean water back there. So we have built this home five times, five times over, we have rebuilt this home.

[27:26] And the first hurricane that destroyed this home was Hurricane Frances. And after Hurricane Frances was Hurricane Jeanne and hurricane afterwards. So we destroyed, rebuilt, restored Sean and all of those guys came from Oil House, from America and Canada. We did not have the resources, we couldn't even come close. And the water and the food that came in was our amazing Samaritan's Purse was one of the first places in the land and the help that came here, I mean, there's no word to express our gratitude and what Samaritan's Purse did.

[28:12] They built up a hospital in a couple days. Only God could do that. And the help that came from around the world because we didn't have anything. So what you see here today, we must give thanks for all Americans and all Canadians all over the world. What happened here and the help that we got, it was so amazing to this day. I thank God because we, when the water subsided, all we, so this plane troubles came and most our lot people is saved to be because we do not know helicopters and no plane.

[28:58] And planes and helicopters was going into the community and saving people and bringing them to the high ground. And we were seeing it happen every day. But to this day, we will never know how many lives was lost. But if you guys didn't come, you wouldn't have been here today because there wouldn't have been no island to come to. And we were saved and our people was fed and homes were and help him to this island. I will never forget that to this day. And I give God thanks and that's how I was able to meet, name John. John was the first person I met.

[29:47] John told me, Raymond, I promise you, I'm coming back. He said, Raymond, I am coming back. And John came back. And when you go to Edmar Rock, most of the houses, that's where we rebuilt and Edmar Rock, the same John you see there, that same John and where he brought the people from Idaho. And he came up with our ministry named Pacific Hope and they came together. And the only reason John left, and I told John, I never met his wife, and I said, John, I wish you could just tell your wife. I say, thank you. John only left the island because of COVID-19.

[30:35] And he cried. He said, Raymond, I'm sorry, I got to go. And he stayed there till the last hour, till the last hour. He said, Raymond, I'm sorry that I gotta say goodbye. And then he said, Raymond, everything I leave behind, give it to people, share with the people, help people. I same John you'll see there today. I love that guy a lot. And he's still keeping his promise to this day, but I told him a couple years ago, promise fulfilled. And he has fulfilled that promise over and over and down.

[31:26] If you look at the shingles on the roof here, you'll see they still look brand new. The house is not feasible to live in anymore. The bank still hasn't accepted that document from the engineers. So we still have to meet the commitment of this house. And we have been out here ever since the storm. And many families, most of families have not returned back to this community. The hurricane was so strong. You see the tree that is through this house. If you notice in this area, there's no pine. That's a pine tree, obviously these pine trees from Abaco. That's how fierce because when the hurricane came off, they came off Abaco and all these trees and animals and all those things came from a different island and on this island, it was so strong.

[32:23] They found people even in Nassau and even in the US, that's how powerful the storm was. In 2019, Hurricane Dorian, this what happened. But although this is sad and all that has happened because, you know, my wife can't handle. And I know, if you obviously, that Ramon hasn't walked inside here because Ramon's still dealing, but it, this to me, without this hurricane, you guys will not be standing here today. So my thing is God has a purpose and a plan of everything. And if God had to take everything I own to declare His kingdom like how He did with Job for His glory, devastated be glorified.

[33:10] And when I came here, I saw everything was devastated. Not only that, all our, we lost our home in the front. It used to be our store for our business. All the equipments was destroyed, the house was destroyed. And even the church when we started out, the church was destroyed too. So not, we didn't lose only our home, we lost our business and the church. But when I came here and I saw what had happened, and I said to God, God take, God give it and God take it away. And I say, God, blessed be Your name. And my wife and I knelt and water and all that, and we worship and we glorify God. I say, God, I worship You and I glorify You.

[33:58] I worship You when we got this whole, and I'm worshiping You with that same heart and that same mind and telling You thank You. And I say, blessed be the name of the Lord. And I say, God, I will not hold this against You, but I will worship You and glorify You and thank You for everything. If I have to lose everything for Your name and for Your glory, then I submit to You, and my wife and I worship God. And we went to church and we worship God there too. And we give Him thanks and we continue to worship Him and glorify Him because He's the Almighty God. He's our Savior and our God.

[34:44] And our thing is to have that intimate and that personal relationship with God. And that's my story for His glory. Raymond still hasn't been able to rebuild his house. As you heard, engineers have condemned it. And through the repairs and the initial purchase of his home, he still has to pay two mortgages. The church that he had that got destroyed, he's in a rented church and they can't fit any more people in it. It's so full. And God just continues to bless him.

[35:32] He's got good vital signs. He just said, everything is God's for Your glory. My question to you today is, can you give everything to be your story for His glory? Let's stand as we pray. Father, we thank You for Raymond. Father, we thank You that You have provided for him in the midst of tragedy, like in chaos and messiness. And he just honors You with his life. Father, I'd ask that You just would show favor to him, that You would continue to bless the church that he leads.

[36:24] Father, may lives, as he said, continue to be transformed. Father, we pray for a building that's their own, that they don't have to lease and they can put more people and more people. And so Father, show us how we can be part of that by going the distance with Raymond. And so Father, for each one of us as we think about today, may You talk to us. It's one-on-one. It's each of us with You. Just say, check my heart. How am I doing with going the distance to bring people closer to God? So Father, we surrender all this that You've even blessed us with as a church. This is all for Your glory.

[37:11] May our stories bring You glory and may people make life transforming decisions that continue to impact the world in a good way so that people know hope is rising and it's in the mighty name and only name above all names. That is Jesus. That we pray and ask this. And everybody said, amen. Let's continue to worship.