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Intro: Happy New Year! This is one my favorite times of every year. I love turning the page on the year that was, and steaming forward for what God has in store in the year ahead. As I have prayed for others in these first few days of the New Year, I have found myself asking God to make this the greatest year of their lives. I actually think that is a great prayer. Why wouldn’t we pray for that? Wouldn’t you want someone praying that for you? I do. I’m not signing up for the “Most Mediocre Year of Life” List , you feel me?But consider this: If I were to pray that this is the greatest year of your life, what would I be praying for? What are the most important ingredients that would make up those prayers? There is actually one ingredient I am asking God to infuse deep into all of our hearts in 2014. What is it? His greatness. I pray we would be captured by a vision of the greatness of God. D. A. Carson agreed with this line of thinking in his excellent book A Call to Spiritual Reformation, when he said: “The one thing we most urgently need is a deeper knowledge of God.”

D. A. Carson A. W. Tozer puts it like this: “What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us. . . . [Now don’t miss this!] This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God.” Think about that. As a church, our vision of God will reveal who we are because it’s our vision of God that drives how we pray, how we serve, how we live, how we love, and how we worship. Trans: Today, I want to set forth a vision for our church in the New Year, but this vision will be no vision at all if it does not begin with a vision of the greatness of God. Over the next four weeks, we are going to camp out on aspects of God’s character as found in the Psalms. God is glorious. God is good. God is gracious, and as Psalm 145 will teach us. . . “God is Great: 2014 Vision Sermon”Psalm 145This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It is the last Psalm of David, and it introduces the songs of praise that conclude the Psalms. I wish we had time to work patiently through it, but my goal is to provide enough of a taste that you will be compelled to further study. I believe you will see the rich and lasting implications it holds for us as individuals and as a church. Here we go.. READThese 21 verses invite us to . . .The Point: Be captured by a vision of the greatness of God and live to show his greatness. Did you see all of the different expressions of worship David employs: “I will extol” (“to tell how great God is”); “I will bless” (“to speak well of his generosity”); “I will praise” (“to glorify God for his magnificent qualities”) Generations should “commend” (“speak highly of God”). David uses every word in his arsenal of praise to address God! Why? Because he was captured by a vision of his greatness. That’s my first encouragement for you this am.Be captured by a vision of the greatness of God. (145:1-3)When we think about the greatness of God, we do not mean God is simply “very good.” The greatness of God refers to his inherent worth and superiority over everything. There is no one or nothing higher or more valuable than God. “There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might.” (Jeremiah 10:6)This is why Jesus taught us to pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Hallowed means: Revered. Set apart as Holy. Esteemed. Valued. Honored. Treasured Supremely.Verse 3 tells us the greatness of God stretches beyond our ability to comprehend. Medimemo for 2014 - “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalm 145:3) Let’s say that together. P. Now like we mean it! There are no depths to his greatness. You can never reach the bottom. And here’s what I love!All of the good and the grace and the love we experience from God only begins to scratch the surface of his infinite greatness. Job 26:14 says, “Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him!” When we encounter God in his greatness and glory, we should be humbled and also inspired to great confidence. There is freedom when we understand the greatness of God. Man. Because God is great, we don’t have to be in control. This is his deal! We can trust him for his provision in our lives and in this church. Do you know the greatness of God? Here’s a great five word prayer for 2014: God, show me your greatness. God, show us your greatness.Live a life of worship by declaring the greatness of God. (145:4-21)When we behold the greatness of God, we will not remain silent (4-7).We see in verses 4-10 that God’s greatness is to be declared (4 & 6), meditated on (5), spoken about (6); poured forth (7) sung aloud (7) and given thanks over (10). We should praise him for the greatness of his character. Look at verses 8-9 again. We should also praise him for the greatness of his works as verses 10-21 unpack for us. Here at Redemption Hill, we have been privileged to watch God do his great work. Highlights from 2013… (Pull out 2013 Vision Sheet… Hold it up with highlights…)Maturity & Ownership: It is awesome to see the Spirit change lives.Growth. God has brought significant and, at times, phenomenal growth in Sunday worship, Community Groups, Serve TeamsLeadership. Continues to be strengthen. More on that in a bit. Ministries. 2013 was another year of strategically adding ministries. We launched our Student Ministry to middle and high school students, as well as our Women’s Ministry. We also initiated our Benevolence and Biblical Counseling ministries.Local Mission. We were blown away by the fruitful engagement in our city through our community service and connecting events. Six times the amount of First Time Guests from our Community Outreach this year than any other year. Global Mission. We are also vey excited about the partnerships we’ve established in Charlestown, Toronto, and India.Transition. God really enabled us to make the transition from Springstep to the Club very well. For all of this, we should give God thanks and praise. And here is the beautiful part, we can anticipate God continuing his great work among us, which means we will have more reasons to give him thanks and praise. So let’s turn our attention to what we want to see God do in 2014. What you have in your hands, more than anything, is a prayer guide and strategic mission plan. These summarize our top priorities and goals for the New Year. Trans: Before we dive in, I want to provide a few preliminary thoughts that should help our thinking about this document. How does the Bible lead us to think about plans and goals? Biblical Perspective on Planning & GoalsGoals and planning are wise. It is good and wise to plan. Look at Moses. Nehemiah. Peter. Paul. They all made plans, dependent on the direction and leadership of God. Not to mention Jesus (“set his face”) & God “before the foundation of the world.”Goals are preferred destinations. Vision tells us where we are going. It’s like a roadmap guiding us on our journey. Wise plans are built in community.Proverbs 15:22 says,“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”We run to the counsel of the Word, seek the guidance of the Spirit through prayer, and work together as a leadership team, elders and staff, when creating our annual vision. Our plans should be full of faith.Daniel Burnham, one of the great architects of the 20th century, said: “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and they themselves will not soon be realized.” A vision that requires little faith is a vision I can do without. Faith says, “God, you can do anything, but we trust you no matter what.” Our plans ultimately belong to God. These plans are not written in stone… They will be developed, adjusted, and tweaked. Though it is possible all of this unfolds according to plan, it probably will not & that’s ok!With everyone of these goals, we say with James 4:15, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Redemption Hill Church 2014 Vision“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalm 145:3)Here’s the good news: We don’t need to add much. We need to keep doing what we do and do it better. That is the foundational principle undergirding our direction for 2014.We need to continue valuing the gospel, community, and mission as the greatest pursuits of our life. As we work through these, I want to challenge you to be asking God how you can step up and commit to owning this mission together. (You’ll see our Commitment Cards)Gospel: Rigorously Live out the Implications of the Gospel. The gospel should flavor, inform, and motivate everything we do as a Christian. Cultivate Greater Dependence on the Spirit through the Rhythms of Word and Prayer.This one guides all others… I really believe if we develop the rhythms of being in the Word, and daily engaging in intentional, kingdom-minded prayer, then the Spirit will fill us and empower us to fulfill what God is setting before us! There is no need to complicate the Christian life. Don’t complicate your new year. Get in the Word. Pray. And, Seek God above everything in 2014! Who’s with me? #2…Provide more Equipping and Training for Growth in Doctrine and Mission.Pic: Marsha got back from GA last night, and she walked into a clean kitchen. . . place was gleam, gleaming… “Baby, you trained me well.” How -- Do I pray? Understand the Bible? Share my faith? Grow in my parenting skills? We all need guidance, tools, resources, training. So, keep your eyes open. Newsletters. Social Media. Post-service breakout meetings, special classes. Not only that. We’re excited to dive deep into the Word on Sundays. Our plan is to have three series in the OT (Psalms; Christ in the Pentateuch [1st 5 BoB]; and Haggai). We will hit the NT book of James this Summer, and scatter four different thematic series throughout the year covering global missions, evangelism, relationships & sex, and money, concluding with a Christmas series in the Gospel of Matthew.Grow our Worship Gatherings through Intentional Invitation (240 by April; 300 by December).I know these numbers sound crazy to many, if not most of you. Here’s the deal. #1) This is in God’s hands. “If the Lord wills, we will do this or that.” #2) The numbers we shared last year also sounded pretty crazy to most everyone (175 by April; 225 by December). Well, we had 170 on Easter and all of our Tufts students went to see a friend get baptized at another church. In the Fall, we peaked at 206. Now, why is this not crazy? #3) It’s a little crazy, but it’s not REALLY crazy because this is the natural outworking of a missional church. Now, instead of having 120 people praying, INTENTIONALLY INVITING, and sharing; we have 170 people praying, INTENTIONALLY INVITING, and sharing. What will growth mean? We will need to continue to find ways to expand and improve our Transformation Station ministry, and First Impressions, and also our music and media team. It probably also means our preaching needs to drastically improve as well! Like I said, we may not meet all our goals. Now, let me reason with you. Some of you love growth and expansion. It makes others a bit nervous. Be honest. It’s ok. Believe it or not. I can find myself in both camps depending on the day or hour. Why? Because I’m like you. I want to connect with everybody, BUT Larry Osborne is right. We are like Legos. We only have so many connectors before our relational space gets maxed out. That’s ok. That’s why we have CGs, but more on that in a few minutes. But think about this: Growth will help us reach the city and the world. The more people we have coming, the greater the resources, people and otherwise, to plant more churches, send more missionaries, bless our city, and give ourselves away. That gets me excited! So if we are a growing church, that means we need to continue…Foster a Culture of Service and Leadership Development in Every Phase of Ministry.This is a great example of doing what we do and doing it better. If you served on a Serve Team or one of our ministry efforts in 2013, would you raise your hand. Look around. Awesome! Have you hopped on a serve team yet? Have you gotten involved in our community events? There’s always room to serve. When people ask me how RHC has gotten off to such a great start, I often tell people: “God has sent us servants and leaders.” One of the greatest reasons for my personal optimism for 2014 and beyond is our leadership team. Jon Chasteen. John Reddy (elder candidate). Abbey Cook. Micah & Carrie. Joel & Jen Smith. Jonathan Mitchell. Scott Griffin, and that doesn’t include many of you who sacrifice hundreds of hours throughout the year to serve God through our church. A mark of a great church is the multiplication of not just disciples but leaders. What is one specific commitment you will make to own this GOSPEL vision in 2014?Will you make a commitment to read your Bible daily and develop your prayer life? We will help you! Will you take advantage of training and equipping opportunities? Will you commit to reaching out and regularly inviting your friends.”Maybe some of you are saying: “I’ll jump on a Sunday serve team, and when I’m not scheduled, I’ll get here early enough to greet visitors.” The gospel compels us to go deeper in living out the implications of the gospel. Trans: We also want to excel in the area of Community in 2014Community: Live as Gospel Family. See our family relationships deepened through authentic Community See our Membership Grow in Owning the Mission and in Number (110 by December).Why is this a major goal? Because our members are the backbone of our church. They keep us going. Our members are primarily the ones who are leading, serving, and owning the mission. Are you a member? If not, bring it. If so, are you an exemplary member? Let’s make a great effort to live out our church covenant and exemplify Christ to one another. We also want to…Effectively Assimilate People into Community Groups (14 CGs by December). If Members are the backbone of RHC, Community Groups are our lifeblood. Our CGs provide the primary place where deep relationships form, mutual care is shared, and people grow in what it means to be a vibrant, missional Christian. If you are not yet in a CG, please check one out! We want to see 14 CGs by the year’s end. Strive to Reflect Medford and Greater Boston’s Rich Diversity. Don’t you love the diversity in our church? Let’s strive for more! Remember our study through Luke. Where is the outcast? Where is the poor widow? Where is Zaccheus? God loves the poor and the rich. Strengthen Affinity Based Ministries for Fellowship & Connecting Pathways.2013 was awesome. We launched our student ministry. Our women’s ministry took off. Children and college ministry continue to go well. I believe our men’s ministry even got together once! Haha… We want to continue to see these ministries provide opportunities for people to connect outside of Sundays and Community Groups, and also provide a place where some of our nonbelieving friends can more naturally connect outside of “church” contexts. Establish our Deacon Ministry to Serve the Growing Needs within RHC.As mentioned, this was a 2013 goal that got pushed to this year. Deacons are a vital part of every healthy church. They serve and meet a variety of practical needs in the congregation. What is one specific commitment you will make to own this vision for COMMUNITY in 2014?I am going to attend the next Connections Class in February.How about visiting a CG at least three times, and if you find it spiritually profitable (and you will!), you will commit to being a part.Who will invite a co-worker who that doesn’t look like, talk like or act like me, to help us become a more diverse church. “I’ll volunteer some time to assist with one of our affinity ministries.” Here’s a great one: I am going to spend more time with my church family by sharing meals together. Anybody down for that? Spirit speak to us. Trans: Finally… Mission: Join God in the greatest mission in the world. Here’s the logic: If God has a mission, that’s the one to jump on board with! Simple as that. The supremely great God has called us to be a part of his great, global mission! How will we get about this? Increase our Frequency of Sharing the Gospel of Jesus through Evangelistic Networking. Let me ask you: How often are you talking about Jesus? How often are you sharing the gospel? I changed the goal this year… Rather than saying we want to see a certain number of people come to faith in Christ, (which I still pray it’s a number in 2014 that blows us away), I thought it would be wiser to focus on the means rather than the ends of the means. Turn to Romans 10:9-13. We have to share! Plus one convos…There is so much joy that awaits us. Don’t be moved by guilt. Be moved by joy!Mobilize more People to Make Disciples through our Discipleship Strategy.This has been one of the greatest strengths of our church thus far, and yet, at this point, we are too dependent on our staff in carrying this out. This is the mandate Christ gave us. Many of us need to be investing. More of us need to be receiving. Implement our “Serve Medford” Strategy throughout 2014.Everything we do… Serve Medford… Easter Egg Hunts. Parks Cleanup. Soccer Nights. Serve Medford week. Volunteering at the Club. Thanksgiving Meal Giveaway. It’s all Serve Medford. We want Medford to understand the love of God by the way we display and declare Christ in all things. Steward our resources generously and meet our 2014 Giving Goal of $250,000. This is going to take continued generosity and additional sacrifice. This is how it works in almost every church: Some give above and beyond. Some barely give anything at all. Don’t be in the latter camp. Be in the former. Let’s be strategic, living on a budget, asking God to free us up to go above and beyond so that we can joyfully participate in his kingdom mission from here to the ends of the earth. That’s what our budget is about. This is critical as we move toward self-sustainability. $250,000 is the goal. Let’s hit 272! Finally…Invest strategically in our mission partnerships in Charlestown, Toronto, India, and beyond.Plans. . . Todd is gathering a core group… Some of you need to pray about joining him for a season or for good. 1st Toronto Trip!1st Trip to India!What is one specific commitment you will make to own this MISSIONAL vision in 2014?I am going to depend on the Spirit and not allow a month to go by without telling someone about Christ. I want to be mentored by someone more mature than me in the faith and I will also invest in someone newer to Christianity. I am going to volunteer to help lead one of our serve efforts to the city.I am going live on a budget and be more systematic and sacrificial in my financial giving. I will pray about joining the team planting in CharlestownI will commit to taking a week’s vacation so I can go to Toronto or India to serve the nations with the gospel! Let’s go! Now, I’m smart enough to know that is a lot to accomplish in the next 12 months, but our God is a great God. His resources for his church are inexhaustible. … Commitment Cards - Commitment Sunday (Pastors, CGs, Friends). We are doing this thing TOGETHER! How will we OWN THE MISSION? Be captured by a vision of the greatness of God. Then . . . Come, Die, and Give yourself away. Conclusion:In light of the greatness of God, how could you have a small vision for your life or this church? It is our privilege to live to show the greatness of God in Medford and to the ends of the earth.Prayer… ................
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