LIVING STONES (6) GOD’S GAME PLAN
MARK 2:1-5
We are in week 6 of our
Capital Campaign emphasis “Living Stones”
and we’re getting close to the finish line –
or as Darryl Schmidt likes to call it: The starting line!
Over the past 5 weeks I’ve been trying to
give you some tools to help you make a decision
about the commitment we’ve challenged you to make
on a 3 or 4 year pledge to support
the relocation of our church facilities
to our new property just down the road on Hefner
We’ve talked about what it means to be faithful
Why it’s so important that we realize
That God’s ultimate purpose for our lives
and this church is eternal in nature!
We talked about commitment:
How we make it and what it requires
as well as what it produces
Then, last week we talked about Thanksgiving –
How our appreciation for all of God’s blessings in our life
ought to overflow into our commitment
to further God’s Kingdom
This morning I want to talk about the trap
that would be so easy for us to fall into
over the next few years
Because as I’ve told you before:
The temptation will always be strong
to turn our focus and attention onto ourselves
instead of on those God wants us to passionately pursue
You see, we can build all the buildings
and construct the best facilities in the world,
but if we fail to reach those
who are lost and hurting for Christ,
then we fail as a church
And will have failed to turn our thanksgiving into action
and will have failed to bring glory to His name
Speaking of Thanksgiving . . . Let’s take a little poll
How many of you had
a nice Thanksgiving with your family?
How many of you: Ate turkey? Didn’t eat turkey?
Watched football? Put up Christmas Decorations?
Went shopping?
I don’t know about you,
but one of my favorite times during Thanksgiving
is about an hour after we’ve eaten dinner,
I’m in about my 5th hour of football.
Christine will come in and lay down beside me
on the couch and dose
It’s just one of those moments that I always think of
when I think about Thanksgiving
Now, I guess, this Thanksgiving,
at some point during the game,
I must have dosed off too and started dreaming
And I know I was dreaming
because it was the Super Bowl
and the Dallas Cowboys were in it! (pic)
Well, in this dream, the SB was about to start (pic)
They had sung the National Anthem,
the fighter jets had flown over,
the fireworks had gone off
and the captains of each team
came running out onto the field for the coin toss
The cowboys won and lined up to receive the kick. (pic)
Unfortunately, when the Cowboy’s
kick returner caught the ball,
he was immediately clobbered by the other team! (pic)
All 11 of them at the same time!
The Special Teams coach comes running onto the field
and says to his guys: What just happened out there?
Nobody blocked! Why didn’t you block?
You almost got our guy killed!
Well a 180 lb receiver says: (pic)
Coach, I’m not giving up my body for him!
He’s just a special Teams guy
A 250 lb TE says: I don’t like being on special teams. (pic)
Offense is MY specialty!
One of the reserve running backs says: (pic)
He’s not worth blocking for – He lost 5 yards!
The quarterback interrupts and says: (pic)
Never mind coach – The offense can handle it! –
And onto the field they ran
First offensive play of the game,
the offense goes out to the huddle, (pic)
the Offensive Coordinator signals in a run a play
But 40 seconds later,
they’re all still standing there in the huddle
The referee throws his yellow flag, (pic)
calls a penalty for delay of game
and moves them back 5 yards
The coach is standing on the sidelines like: (pic)
What is going on?
He sends in the next play – same thing happens
Penalty flags and 5 more yards! (pic)
After 3 plays, they’re backed all the way up
against their own goal line
The OC signals for a timeout and runs onto the field(pic)
He calls the offense over and says: (pic)
What’s going on out here?
I sent in a simple run play
And you guys haven’t even snapped the ball yet!
Finally, the lead receiver speaks up:
I’ll tell you what’s wrong:
I don’t want a run play!
I say we pass the ball every time!
A 300 pound tackle interrupts:
I’m tired of blocking - I want to run the ball for once!
The full back says: On my other team
we didn’t do it this way
The Quarterback says: Coach, if you want to run the ball
Why don’t you run it yourself?
Have you seen how hard these guys hit?
Well, the coach finally gets them
to be quiet long enough to listen to him
He says: Fellows, this is the Super Bowl! (pic)
Believe me, If I could run the ball for you I would –
But I can’t! I’m the offensive coach I call plays
You’re the players - You have to make the plays
The QB says: Humph! He’s just lazy!
Think of all the money we pay him
And all he does is stand on the sidelines and call plays!
And he only works half the game!
The DC does the other half!
Seems like we should get a little more
out of a guy we pay so much!
Finally the coach says: I want you to
STOP the arguing, whining, & blaming!
This is the Big game!
Most people NEVER even get the chance
to PLAY in this game, much less WIN it!
Now you guys are going to get your act together,
you’re going to go out there
and you’re going to WIN this Super Bowl!!!
The players kind of mumble to themselves
until one player finally says: But coach,
how are we supposed to play?
We don’t agree on anything!
The coach says: Here’s what you’re going to do:
You’re going to stop arguing about all of this stuff
And you’re going to focus on just three things
Know your MISSION
Know your ROLE
Know your STRATEGY
First of all: Know your MISSION
Offense, your mission is to get this ball into that endzone (pic)
as many times as you possibly can
Don’t worry about our defensive strategy (pic)
Don’t worry about what routine the cheerleaders are doing(pic)
KNOW YOUR MISSION!!!
Get the ball into the end zone! (pic)
Secondly: Know your ROLE
Lineman, you weigh 300 lbs for a reason – (pic)
You’re hard to get around!
Your role is to block!
We don’t need you to run the ball
If we did, we’d make you lose 100lbs and
do wind sprints all day long!
But that’s not your role!
Your role is knock people down and clear a path
It’s different from running the ball,
but it’s just as important!
Running backs? (pic)
You’re some of the fastest players on the field
That’s why we give you the ball
When you get it . . . RUN like your life depended on it!
Finally, he says: You’ve got to. . . Know your STRATEGY
You see, some teams are run and gun –
They put 5 receivers on the field at one time (pic)
and throw the ball every play
Some teams are more ground and pound(pic)
3 yards and a cloud of dust, over and over and over!
But that’s not our strategy - We’re a balanced offense
Sometimes we’re going to run, sometimes we’re going to throw
But we stick to our strategy!
Well, as the game went on, the blockers blocked(pic)
The runners ran, the receivers received
The coaches coached
It wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t pretty
They had some injuries, some penalties (pic)
But when all was said and done, they won the game! (pic)
And they did it because they stayed focused
on those 3 important things:
They knew their mission, role and strategy
Now, I believe that the same can be true for OBC
As we enter the 1st first of these next few years
of preparing to build and move,
we too can be victorious in accomplishing
the vision God has given us as a church
if we are committed to the right game plan!
This morning I want to read you a story
about some other guys who worked together, as a team,
to complete THEIR mission
And we’re going to parallel THEIR gameplan
with OUR gameplan as we prepare
to enter a building program
This is Mark 2:1-5
1A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people head that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:1-5 (NIV)
OK, so there are 3 QUESTIONS TO ASK
In terms of the gameplan we just read
vs the building game plan WE must employ
1st of all, we need to ask . . .
What Is Our MISSION?
What is it ultimately that we are
trying to accomplish as a church?
A football team’s mission
is to get the football into the endzone
The men we just read about?
Their mission was to get their friend to Jesus
And I want you to notice that didn’t let ANY obstacle
stop them from completing their mission
They didn’t feel sorry for themselves and quit when,
at first, things didn’t work out the way they expected it to
They didn’t just drop him off at the curb and say,
“Good luck!” when they realized it wasn’t going to be
as simple as walking through the front door
One way or another,
they were going to get their friend to Jesus!
So what’s our mission? Our ultimate goal? Listen to this:
Our Mission: A great COMMITMENT to the great COMMANDMENT and the great COMMISSION produces a great CHURCH
Now, let’s break this down
What is the Great Commandment?
Do you remember when Jesus was asked about this?
Lord, what’s the greatest of the 10 C’s? And Jesus said:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27 (NIV)
Add to that the Great Commission:
19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
You put them together and what do you get?
A church that is victorious for God’s Kingdom!
Now, how does that impact
the way we give or the way we build?
Well, 1st of all, it keeps us focused on the fact
that what we’re trying to accomplish is eternal in nature
In terms of giving, it motivates us to get started
To take the 1st steps, to give generously,
because, just like the friends of this paralyzed man,
we understand that what we’re trying to accomplish here
is big! It’s important!
Then, once you’ve begun to give generously,
having a great commitment to the great commandment
and great commission ensures that
we will finish the job we started!
You know, if you were to misplace (pic)
a piece of costume jewelry, no big deal
We can get another one
But if it were a diamond wedding ring? (pic)
That would get us moving in the right direction
And then, because of the investment of time and money,
we’d be motivated to keep looking until we found it
When we give, we must give with
the right mission on our heart and mind.
When we build, we should BUILD
with the right mission on our hearts and minds because a
Our Mission: A great COMMITMENT to the great COMMANDMENT and the great COMMISSION produces a great CHURCH
Here’s Question # 2:
What Is Our ROLE?
Remember I said that in football,
different players have different roles?
OL’s are built and trained for blocking(pic)
Running backs are fast and elusive(pic)
They all have the SAME mission:
Get this ball into the endzone (pic)
but they have different roles to play
In Mark 2, you can count on it,
these men had 1 goal in mind,
but it required them to take on different roles
in order to accomplish that common goal:
Carrying, climbing, pulling, holding,
balancing, tearing, digging, lowering
We don’t know how many men
were a part of this team, the Bible doesn’t say
But you can take it to the bank:
In this group of men, there were leaders
and there were followers
And on this day, the leaders led and the followers followed
Know how I know? Because they were effective!
Do you know what direction a raft floats (pic)
if 5 people are rowing in 5 directions? NO direction!
OR . . . it just goes whichever way the water takes them
DESPITE what their goal may be
THESE men had faith in their team
Imagine if they had all stood there in front of that house,
arguing about how to get their friend inside
Let’s bust through the wall!
No, let’s pull the walls down!
No, let’s set it on fire! That’ll get them moving!
Is that what they did? No!
They let leaders lead, followers follow,
and each person accepted and embraced the role
that made their team most effective
How about you?
What’s your role going to be in this fundraising effort?
What’s going to be your role in a building program?
You know, when we were dividing up responsibilities
in the planning stages of the fundraising campaign,
we had several different roles that needed to be filled
We needed some people to: Design brochures,
meet with families, be prayer warriors,
etch crosses in stones, create PP slides,
do administrative tasks, put together a video.
The list goes on and on
And as we went from person to person, asking for help,
different people would say: You know,
I’m not really comfortable talking to people.
I have no idea how to design a brochure,
but I know exactly where to find
a couple hundred stones and how to etch them!
Somebody else would say: You know,
I couldn’t put together a PP presentation
if my life depended on it and you do NOT want me
in charge of keeping admin stuff organized!
But . . . I LOVE talking to people and sharing my heart
about things I’m passionate about!
And I’m telling you, one by one, each of those roles got filled
by people who knew and understood
and accepted their role in the campaign
Do you know what YOUR role is?
Right now it’s to pray about it and make a decision
about your family’s pledge
Then, it will be your role to be faithful to that commitment
over the next few years, all the while,
encouraging others to keep their commitment as well
When people join, it will be finding ways to
communicate the vision to them that God has given us
Over the next few years,
there will be many roles to play for all of us.
Many will be different, but they will ALL be important!
Our roles: Will be DIFFERENT but they’ll all be IMPORTANT!
We must know our MISSION.
We must know our ROLE
Here’s the 3rd question:
What Is Our STRATEGY?
Now, a strategy is just a specific way
of approaching how to accomplish your mission
And while your mission is set in stone,
your strategies are very flexible
In football, some teams throw the ball on every play
Some run on almost every play
Same MISSION, different STRATEGIES
The men who brought their friend to Jesus?
Climb up on the roof, tear a hole in it,
lower their friend down into the house
Is that the ONLY way to get him in the house? NO!
There were dozens of strategies that might have worked
This is just the one they settled on
All it really took was a reasonable plan
and everybody’s agreement to follow it
You know the same is true in church?
The Bible says that the church has 5 PURPOSES
it must accomplish: Worship, Fellowship,
Discipleship, Ministry, Eveangelism
That’s our goal: To accomplish those purposes
And they’re pretty set in stone
We don’t go changing them every other month
But now, the strategies we use to accomplish them?
They’re a lot more flexible
Our strategies change
They HAVE to change
You can’t do it the same way over and over
and always expect it to keep working
You NEVER adjust your mission or your purpose
but sometimes you HAVE to change your strategies
to meet the changing needs in a changing culture
For example: We used to have an organ on the stage(pic)
How many remember that?
Now the organ used to be a very popular instrument in churches
But we don’t have an organ anymore. Why?
Because we hate organs? No.
I bet we have some people here who like organ music
You won’t believe this, but I’ve been in some of the
most beautiful cathedrals in the US (pic)
and one of my favorite things is to hear the incredible pipe organs
So why don’t we have an organ?
Well, it’s because our culture has changed
Organ music no longer holds the same place in our culture
And who knows, maybe one day it will come back
But for now, our strategy is to use
more contemporary instruments in worship
Now, the purpose doesn’t change:
To worship God. To praise God
But our strategies for how to do that sometimes change
Another thing about strategy is that they can be
different from what other people do
In some churches, 1 of the 5 purposes trumps all the others
Maybe it’s worship and all of their time and energy
and resources goes into the worship service
And they’ll have great participation and passion for worship
but there really isn’t any ministry or fellowship to speak of
Another church might focus on evangelism
to the exclusion of the other purposes:
So reaching out to unchurched and lost people will be a big priority
but there’s really no discipleship going on
At OBC, our over all (Our) Strategy is to
Be as BALANCED as we can in all of the 5 purposes of the church with an emphasis on FELLOWSHIP/REALTIONSHIPS
And then, as you drill down into the different individual purposes,
we have different strategies for each of them
We approach discipleship one way on Sunday mornings
and then we approach it a little differently on Wed nights
We deal with the difficulties of healthy
Fellowship/Relationships in a growing church
by constantly dividing up into smaller groups
Now, will we always pursue these purposes in the same way?
NO! Sometimes the community around a church changes
so the strategies have to change
You’ll almost always get different strategies
when you change Pastors or staff
Our mission stays the same but our strategies change
Now, how does that apply to building a new facility?
Well, it means that any new facilities we build
need to be purposeful, and flexible
That means we need facilities
that allow us to accomplish the 5 purposes
but they also must be flexible enough to change occasionally
Our new facilities also need to be practical
We want to accomplish ministry in these buildings,
not monuments to ourselves
We need spaces where we can have things like
Mother’s Day Out or weekday pre-school
Before and after school programs
Neighborhood association meetings
and a community storm shelter
Weddings and funerals
Finally, we need to make sure new facilities reflect our priorities,
so we need space to accomplish each of the 5 purposes
with some added emphasis on relationships
My favorite part of our conceptual drawings
is the fellowship/foyer area that serves
as a hub for each separate building
Whereas now we barely have room
to move around one another in the foyer,
in the new facility, there’ll be thousands of SF
for couches and chairs
and spaces for small groups to meet if they want
All connected to a commercial kitchen
so that whether it’s a WED night meal
or an event like our Community Thanksgiving Dinner,
there’ll be room for everyone!
When the day comes, we will build facilities
that are practical, flexible, and purposeful
so that we can accomplish the mission
God has given us as a church to reach lost and hurting people
You see, every room that’s constructed,
every chair that’s purchased, every wall that’s painted
has the potential to impact eternity as we,
just like those guys from Mark 2,
bring our friends and family and neighbors into God’s presence,
not because He lives in a building,
but Because He lives in US!
What is our MISSION?
A great COMMITMENT to the great COMMANDMENT and the great COMMISSION produces a great CHURCH
What is our ROLE?
Our roles will be DIFFERENT but they all be IMPORTANT
There’ll be hundreds of them.
Some of them similar, others completely different
but all incredibly important
Finally,
What’s our STRATEGY?
Be as BALANCED as we can
in all of the 5 purposes of the church
with an emphasis on FELLOWSHIP/RELATIONSHIPS
Fulfill the 5 purposes of the church in ways that are
Biblical, relevant, authentic and heartfelt
And if we can do these things,
think of all the people that can be
healed spiritually, relationally, and physically,
forgiven of sin and saved for eternity
THAT is God’s gameplan for OBC!
