The Mission Ahead

In the coming weeks we are going to be talking about and defining our Values, our Priorities and what makes us Distinct. One of those things is that our first priority here in the Vineyard is worship.

From God’s point of view - It’s the only thing God gets out of this deal - John Wimber

We will spend more time in a couple of weeks talking more in detail about worship, but it is never less than utilising what we have to honour, glorify and exalt the LORD.

Whether that is using our time, our talents, our finances, our voices all of it, whatever we have. We use all of it for Him, so let us now use our voices.

Use Apple Music to Play 2 Worship Songs

Transition to message

Introduction/Heart

Emma spoke so well last week about our journey that has brought her and I to this point.

Tonight I am going to be talking more specifically about what Emma and I believe God is calling us all to in this season.

As always, what we are doing is based in the Word, so I am going to share the Why, before I share the What.

Overview

We will be discussing:

Proverbs 29.18 and breaking it down to what that means

What God has given us as a Directive and how we are acting on that

Breaking down our Mission and Vision for Cairns Vineyard Initiative

1. Proverbs 29.18

Proverbs 29:18 (LEB)

18 When there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint, but as for he who guards instruction, happiness is his.

This is a verse that gets a lot of screen time, I am sure many of you have seen it or heard about it talked about before.

There is a reason for it. It is one of those timeless truths that is wildly applicable in many settings.

As always we know that the Bible was not written in English and is a translation so there is always some work we have to do to draw out the larger scope of meaning, this is true with this.

There are a couple of words I want to take a closer look at.

Some people misquote this verse and say when there is no Vision...

That can be misleading, anyone can come up with a vision and just because you created a vision, does not mean you will be successful, blessed or happy.

Specifically the word translated as prophesy is Hazon

Lexham Theological Wordbook חָזוֹן

(ḥāzôn); Aram. הֱזוּ (hĕzû). n. masc. vision. Divine revelation in the form of a vision or a word from God

This is vital, Who the vision comes from is more important than what the vision says.

How do we know that the vision this verse is talking about is Divine, we get it from the context, the word that is translated instruction is Torah, which is of course Divine.

Now I want to look at the people who cast off restraint.

The way the OT authors wrote is meant to build pictures in our minds, in this case the picture is of a person throwing off yokes and chains.

This is not a positive thing, because the yoke and chains are those of instructions, specifically Godly ones, so when people throw those off…they quite literally go crazy.

The whole book of Judges makes this point, so when we turn to the next book of 1 Samuel and it says

1 Samuel 3:1 LEB

1 Now the boy Samuel was serving Yahweh in the presence of Eli. The word of Yahweh was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

This is a major understatement but it makes sense because we saw in the book of Judges, which chronologically comes before 1 Samuel, it is the wild wild west, people are doing absolutely crazy awful terrible things.

So, that is the picture that the author has in mind when they are writing this in proverbs.

So all that to say, why are we talking about it?

In the Vineyard we partner with the Holy Spirit.

If we believe Holy Spirit is leading it, we partner with it.

If we don’t believe Holy Spirit is leading it, we stay away from it.

If that means waiting, we wait

If that means saying no to what may seem like good opportunities, we say no

If that means taking risks, we take the risks.

Scripture tells us, if we partner with the Holy Spirit, if we closely guard the instructions given, both through Scripture and by Revelation, that blessing will proceed from that.

So, what has God told us?

God’s directive given to us

Emma shared out of Matthew last week and it said:

Matthew 10:7–8 LEB

7 And as you are going, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near!’ 8 Heal those who are sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, expel demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

Jesus also said this out of Matthew

Matthew 28:18–20 LEB

18 And Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age.”

These are well known verses, they are not controversial in most circles, however, if we are being honest, there is opportunity for more demonstration of the Kingdom.

When Jesus says, teach them to observe, He for sure means teach them

to DO what Jesus said to do and,

to DO what Jesus modeled to do.

As Emma, rightly pointed out last week, we believe that the deficiencies are in the training on the one hand and the priority on the other.

If you were to ask many Christians today if they were comfortable and competent to carry out the Great Commission, I would dare say most, would give a shaky yes to a strong yes.

If you followed that up with an invite to cast out some demons, do some healing and asked them to take the lead,

and you were serious

I am certain that for most any confidence they would have had, would evaporate almost immediately.

I know this, because that was me.

Like many others, I thought carrying out the Great Commission was talking to people about Jesus.

Now that was because that is what had been modeled for me in the church I got saved in, I did what I saw.

Clearly, that is not what Scripture says, we have seen clearly that Scripture says and as John Wimber would say.

Do the Stuff

So, we need to be the kind of church, that does the stuff. We do what it says on the label, we take Jesus seriously, if He did it and told us to do it…then we do it.

This I believe was cemented for me one day as I was worshipping and God gave me a Word, one of those Words where it stops you in your tracks.

Mobilise the Church.

This was just before COVID and the LORD has really spent the time to unpack this Word for me and in this season it looks like Planting a Vineyard Church.

The Vineyard is a place where we do the stuff, we value training and sending, demonstrating the Kingdom for people as a means of evangelism and everyday life.

Therefore, that brings us here. Starting a Church

Mission for Cairns

As we have seen, we need Vision, without it, we don’t have a hope.

We have discussed that Scripture has given us a crystal clear expectation of what to do.

I have shared that I didn’t have a great grasp of what that meant, but that God has helped me to understand that it means Mobilising the Church to Action.

That means creating and maintaining a community where the people of that community take Jesus seriously at His Word to do the stuff. We do what He instructed and what He modeled.

That means creating and maintaining a community where the people of that community are bonded together in their deep familial relationships with God and with each other, because there is no chance of success without these.

That means creating and maintaining a community where the people of that community are hungry and ready to bring God’s Kingdom into their present realities. To see it breaking into territory so long held by the enemy. To see people, communities and nations set free and reconciled to God and to all creation.

That is this, that territory for us is Cairns

To condense what I have said before this is our mission statement:

We are Disciples, We are Family, We are Kingdom Bringers

Vision for Cairns

Here is Cairns in a nutshell:

Has an estimated population of 170,000 +

Cairns gets north of 3 million visitors per year. (2 million domestic)

Cairns population is growing quickly with many new homes slated to be built.

46% of people have no stated religion or have actively said they are of no faith.

90% of the police call outs are for Domestic Violence

the other 10% are mental health crisis (these two often overlap)

Youth Crime is on the rise and is mostly due to family eating themselves from the inside, most do not know how to be a family.

New Age Spirituality is on the rise in Cairns.

The best answer to start addressing these is the Kingdom of God.

The best way to spread the Kingdom and to see people come into the Kingdom, is to plant a church.

This is tried, tested and true. The most effective tool for evangelism is church planting.

As we said before, if we want to see the enemies stronghold’s lift from these areas, we need to be people who bring the Kingdom to everywhere God calls us.

Therefore, The Vision at this point is simple. Establish this Initiative into a self sufficient fully formed church.

Here is the Vision:

Matthew 9:35–38 LEB

35 And Jesus was going around all the towns and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness. 36 And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were weary and dejected, like sheep that did not have a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest that he send out workers into his harvest.”

This is the vision, that we would be people who do the stuff for our city of Cairns.

This will take all of us acting on our faiths to see come into reality and we know that it can and will happen!

Conclusion

As I wrap up, we have talked about:

Why a Vision from the LORD is vital and how guarding/keeping that instruction leads to blessing

What has the LORD instructed us both from His Word and Specifically to us here in Cairns

What the Vision is for Cairns

Questions

Related Media

Related Sermons

Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.