What is Our Plan and Strategy?
Vision Series: Who Are We and Where Are We Headed? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 12 viewsOur plan for “helping people become more like Jesus” is to prioritize faith, hope, and love; as well as practice spiritual training, support, and service. This is the path of discipleship that has been practiced for 2,000 years. So, when someone commits themselves to partnering with McDermott Road in gospel work, we encourage them to share in these New Testament priorities and practices.
Notes
Transcript
Vision Sermon Series
Vision Sermon Series
What’s better…
1. A church that is all doctrine and no love
2. A church that is all love and no doctrine
I had that question posed to me not long ago and I’ll tell you what I said in a minute.
But it brings up an interesting point
What should a church’s priorities be?
What are we trying to accomplish?
What kind of a church are we trying to be
Last week
We talked about our mission
Helping people become more like Jesus
today I want to talk about HOW we are trying to accomplish that, because…
It’s easy for us to pursue the wrong goals, or the right goals in the wrong way.
It’s easy for us to pursue the wrong goals, or the right goals in the wrong way.
This is true today
This was true in the first century
For instance, the church in Corinth
Like many of us today, they had some misplaced priorities
Priorities of the church in Corinth:
Knowledge
knowledge that “puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1)
wisdom of the Greeks (1 Corinthians 1:22)
TODAY: a lot of churches prioritize information / facts, being able to win a debate
Power
Gifts
Abilities
Signs and wonders
Honor
Status
Glory
Reputation
Because of these misplaced priorities,
there was confusion and conflict
they were becoming more like the world, rather than more like Jesus
Paul’s response…
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Can you see some of their misplaced priorities?
the honor of having (impressive) spiritual gifts
tongues
prophetic powers
understanding
knowledge
impressive feats of heroic sacrifice
What priorities do we have that need to be challenged?
What would Paul say to us.
If I ________________, but have not love, I am nothing!
these spiritual gifts serve a PURPOSE, but they’re not PERMANENT
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The earlier question, a church that is…
…all doctrine and no love?
…all love and no doctrine?
LOVE is a doctrine…it is the chief DOCTRINE.”
These are three permanent Christian priorities
These are what promote transformation
These are what help us become more like Jesus
when your mission is helping people become more like Jesus, these are your priorities
3 Priorities for helping people become more like Jesus:
3 Priorities for helping people become more like Jesus:
Faith - Commitment to King Jesus and trust in the powerful working of the Holy Spirit.
Faith is not about memorizing facts, but about commitment to a King
We do not become more like Jesus through our own efforts
It is only by looking to / trusting in / following Jesus that we experience transformation
Transformation happens through the Spirit, not through raw human effort
Hope - Grief for the pain of our present reality, with joyful expectation for the good God is doing and will do.
We don’t prioritize happiness, we prioritize hope
People have to be allowed to be sad / grieve / lament
Joyful expectation about what God is doing and will do
Love - Cross-shaped devotion to God and others.
Christian love is self-giving / sacrificial
Christian love follows the example of Jesus
Without this nothing else matters
but taught priorities are not enough, we also need lived practices
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
We need teachers
apostles
prophets
evangelists
shepherds
teachers
We also all need to DO THE WORK of MINISTRY
we all build up one another
until we reach maturity
“the stature of the fullness of Christ”
Christ is the standard of maturity
until we as a body live up to the standard Jesus set for us
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
It is speaking the truth
About our faith
About our hope
About our love for God and others
But also working
Building up the body
Helping
Encouraging
it’s talking, but it is also doing - we don’t have to pit them against each other.
3 Practices for helping people become more like Jesus:
3 Practices for helping people become more like Jesus:
Spiritual Training - Hearts and minds are shaped through Christ-centered disciplines.
Ephesians 5:15–20 “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Support - A diverse family becomes more like Jesus by loving and supporting one another through all of life’s changing seasons.
Service - Sharing time, talents, and resources to improve people’s lives, glorifies Christ and helps people grow more like him.
so, to put it all together in one statement…
Our PLAN for helping people become more like Jesus is to PRIORITIZE faith, hope, and love, and to PRACTICE spiritual training, support, and service.
Our PLAN for helping people become more like Jesus is to PRIORITIZE faith, hope, and love, and to PRACTICE spiritual training, support, and service.
That’s it.
That’s everything.
If it’s not that, it’s not our mission.
2026 Theme: Fearless and faith
We want to move forward as a congregation fearlessly and faithfully with this mission
So, are you moving forward in faith?
Are you becoming more like Jesus everyday?
Or are you stuck?
Invite you to consider how these priorities and practices can help you…
become more like Jesus
help one another become more like Jesus
help our community to know Jesus
