A Kingdom Vision Sermon Week 4 -One Hope for or the City, Nations and Generations

Welcome/Intro

Where I grew up…— Ohio, Not Disney but Kings Island

But you can think of Disney for our purposes.

I remember being put in the car early one morning with my sister and other family and just driving

I was still half asleep and didn’t know where we were going.

after about 30 minutes (which was about half way there) I was told of our destination

And I livened right up! Like I had ingested four cups of coffee (or a venti quad mocha with extra whip)

My whole demeanor had changed

I went from groggy, grumpy and disgruntled

to totally alive, passionate and excited

B/C I knew where we were going. And though I couldn’t physically see it, I could see it in my mind

I knew what was coming

And I was motivated to do anything and everything to get there.

This is having a Kingdom Vision

We are finishing up our four week series we’ve called “A Kingdom Vision”

Seeing as God sees

This Week:

Having a Kingdom Vision means knowing why you are here and who you have been sent to.

My name is Pastor Justin, Teaching Pastor

Welcome from where ever we find you this morning.

Let’s Pray

Pray

guide us

Send me

Series Recap

Week 1: having a kingdom vision starts with seeing the true King

Glory in Righteousness

Awareness of sinfulness

Gory in Grace given in forgiveness

Week 2: Idolatry & the Pandemic

To have a Kingdom Vision is to ask: “given everything going on, what is God up to?”

Revealing and removing idols

Week 3: Racial Justice

Having a Kingdom Vision is to see that any form of racism is antithetical to God and his purposes

Having a Kingdom Vision means we approach Justice as Jesus did

Jesus is the only true source of justice.

This week we return to Isaiah 6:8

Isaiah 6:8 CSB Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

Isaiah has this encounter with God’s Glory

And his response is Worship

A life of Worship is lived out by saying “Here I am. Send me”

This is absolute fealty to the Lord

It is the only proper response to who God is.

Isaiah saw the Lord and it changed him forever

He saw his glory in holiness and experienced his glory in grace.

This is to say to God,

“Whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want, who ever you want, however you want”

This is a picture for you and I

Do you and I say to the Lord, “here I am. Send me?”

Mission and Vision

The question of Vision and Mission is about “Who God has send you to”

It’s about people

People are the ministry, the method, the means and the mission.

Matthew 9:36–38 ESV When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Who was Isaiah Sent to?

Isaiah was sent to his own people

It was where Isaiah already found himself.

His mission was to Preach God’s Words to the people of his time

a particular people in a particular place at a particular time.

So WHO has God sent you to?

Being sent doesn’t necessarily mean being sent to some Unreached PEOPLE GROUP in a distant land.

it might mean that

but it begins, as it did for Isaiah, right where you are.

Examples:

For Parents, your primary mission is your kids

not you only mission, but your primary

For Students, who has God put in your circles, he does nothing by accident, but everything has a purpose

It means your coworkers, neighbors, family members, old school friends.

these are the people that God has sent us to

Each of us has an individual mission field before us.

God doesn’t just send us TO people, he sends people TO us.

Ministry will not be easy

Isaiah’s Ministry was difficult

So was Jesus’

When you are I experience the tranformative power of the Gospel, we too are sent to ‘preach the gospel’ to the people God has sent us to.

But it likely will not be easy either.

We should not be surprised when there is backlash

When there is resistance/ opposition

When there is slander, persecution and maybe for some of us death.

Peter “don’t be surprised when trials come your way”

but rather rejoice

1 Peter 4:12–15 CSB Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you. 13 Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler.

One Hope Church

But as a Church we also have to answer that question:

Who has God sent One Hope Church to?

Here is how we answer that question:

We are

A Church for the City, Nations and Generations.

This is what we are passionate about

It’s why we exist

It’s what we are working towards.

The Vision of One Hope Church is to see the City, Nations and Generations find their hope in Jesus.

Let me break that down into our mission:

A Church

We are a Church

A group of people called together to Worship and Serve Jesus

Our individual missions make up our collective mission.

You have been sent to One Hope Church

I can honestly say, God sent me here 6 years ago, just as an attender.

“For”

We a For something.

We are for the City, Nations and Generations

We are FOR the city, nations and generations in that we welcome people from anywhere in our city, any nation, through all generations into God’s family.

We are FOR the city, nations, and generations in that we care about and help bring hope and restoration to each of these spheres. We want to positively influence each of these spaces with the hope of Jesus for their good.

It means we ‘seek the welfare of the City’

Serve the City

We want to serve the City with conviction and compassion from the gospel

We want to serve, sacrifice for and share the gospel with them.

make it better

to meet needs

to be a church that was missed if it were gone.

STATS: METRO ORLANDO

51% unchurched

5th fastest dechurching city in America

Dechurched = once went to church, but no longer do.

Most post-christian city in the Southeast

(W/IN 5 MILES OF THIS LOCATION)

240,000 people.

10% never finish high school ~ 15,000 KIDS 1/3 of them never even make it to High School

from the gospel

b/c we have been saved and transformed

not to gain favor, but because we have favor

Reach the nations

We want to reach the nations, people without distinction, with the gospel

that’s all people

This is all ethnicities, races, ages

Without distinction

Nearly 3000 international students at UCF

regardless of race, ethnicity, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identification, political party or anything else.

Becuase Jesus was for all people, for the nations “peoples”

Reach with the tranformative power of the gospel

Lifeway 2012

80% BELIEVE THEY HAVE RESPONSIBILITY

39% ACTUALLY SHARED IN LAST 6 MONTHS

Equip the generations.

We want to equip the generations for a life of ministry in the gospel

This one we feel particularly passionate about.

As we look at where God has placed us

We are right here in the heart of East Orlando.

We can have an impact of the emerging generation of leaders.

College Students (UCF, Valenica, and others)

UCF: As of 2015, now at 68,000

UCF was largest University in US

Cities and Universities are greatest influencers of Culture.

College students who are exploring who they are and what God has called them to.

They are living and breathing in one of the most secular places on earth — The university

What an opportunity to be salt and light.

To have an impact on the next generation of leaders in our culture.

Every impactful movement for Christ has begun by the emerging generation of leaders.

What if through One Hope Church, Jesus can capture the minds and hearts of this generation

What kind of an impact could One Hope have in the coming years.

And this means sending them out.

We want to be a church where you can leave well.

Like Arrows shot into the world

Young Professionals

This also means young professional who have recently graduated and are entering the workforce.

To be able to work with excellence and integrity for the Lord

To gain in influence and to build relationships with coworkers for Kingdom Impact

This takes years.

To grow into places of influence and leadership inside and outside the church

These are the future leaders in corporate America

Families

Finally it means families

We have many young families and we want to grow more.

equipping the next generation means helping to equip parents to equip their kids for lifelong ministry.

We are a relatively young church, and we have an opportunity before us, from the Lord, to make an impact of future generations by what we do here and now.

Holly James — One Hope Kids

come along parents in equipping our kids for a lifetime of ministry

68% people come to faith before the age of 18

Vision

Imagine a church for the City, Nations and Generations full of people of different kinds, seeking the welfare of the city, and equipping leaders for generations to come.

That can change a nation, it can change the world, it has before.

On the early church

They were a handful of people whom the authorities in Jerusalem regarded as ordinary, simple, unlettered, and ignorant men and women...They had nothing to recommend them, no great names, no degrees, no money, no means of communication or of advertising. They had nothing at all—they were nobodies. And yet what we know to be a fact is that this handful of ignorant and unlettered people “turned the world upside down,” Within about two centuries Christianity became the most powerful force in the great Roman Empire. By the beginning of the third century it had become such a powerful force that a Roman emperor named Constantine deemed it a wise move to make the Roman Empire officially Christian.

This is the task before us as One Hope Church

Serve the City w/ conviction and compassion

Reach the nations, all peoples without distinction

Equip the generations for a life of ministry

Get Involved

Get in Community

Begin Serving

inside and outside the church

let us know your passion

Give to God’s mission

Our hope to GATHER AGAIN soon!

Praying for a permanent location.

Become a Partner

Interview Ben & Meli

You guys are kind of the example of what our mission.

Ben and Meli Smith

Ben came in 2011, Meli in 2013

Met in 2013

Married - May 2015

Graduated May 2015 from UCF

Meli went into teaching, Ben into Lockheed

Questions:

What brought you to One Hope Church?

Why did you stay through all these years?

Why step into leadership?

How has faith impacted your work choices?

What would you say to an incoming freshman?

Pray