Mission Statement

Text: Luke 4.18-21

Icebreaker: Do you know what is a Mission Statement? Do you remember one from any company?

We can understand mission Statement as the expression of a company as the “Why and How and the What” we do.

Every company and charity should have a very simple and catching mission statement. And every subsidiary and franchise should keep the same mission statement.

Follow a few examples of mission statements:

·      Microsoft (at its founding): A computer on every desk and in every home.

·     IKEA: To create a better everyday life for many people.

·     Tesla: To accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy.

·     TED: Spread ideas.

·     Alzheimer’s Association: A world without Alzheimer’s disease.

Sometimes I wonder what would be our mission statement?

Would you risk making one and sharing it with us?  

But remember that if we are God’s people we already have a mission statement, and that mission statement should be the same one that Jesus had.

So let’s see Jesus’ mission statement and how we learn with Him.

1)  We are sent to proclaim the good news to the poor

This is part of Jesus’ Mission Statement – To Announce the good news that Salvation is available to all! And not just to those who are rich, well educated and the looking smart people – but Jesus is Salvation for all people – the poor, the uneducated, the smelly, the refugees, and the homeless.

On this text, the bible does not just mention people that have lack of money, but also people that have a lack of hope and that are poor in the spirit.

If we want to live up to our mission statement we should be sharing the good news with all people, even those who are different and complicated.

Are you doing that?

2)  We are sent to proclaim freedom for the prisoners.

It is for freedom that Jesus has set us free, and free from all kinds of prisons.

What is the prison that you are experiencing today? 

Lack of future, addiction, doubts, questions, relationship, debt or even an emptiness that cannot be explained. We all people that we know may be set free from these prisons, and the key for that is Jesus.

Jesus is the freedom that we should proclaim – That is why proclamation of the gospel is so important, otherwise we are not fulfilling his and our missions statement.

Are you free? Would you like to be?

Do you know anyone that needs freedom in one area or another?

3)  We should recover sight for the blind.

That is an awesome statement. We are the people that should restore the vision for the world.

That speaks about two things: It is talking about the Lord guiding and setting the rules and guidelines to the world, and us and secondly it is talking about miracles and Godly intervention in the lives of people around us.    
I dream of a place where miracles happen. But I dream even more with a place where people can dream once again – and dream with a blessed family, restored finances, a godly life free from sin and guilt.

No one should continue to be empty and without a hope for the future if they are near someone that is living with the right mission statement.

Are you ready for that?

4)  Set the oppressed free.

Twice in Jesus’ mission statement, He talks about setting people free. That is not a mistake, but a way to express different ways of prison and freedom for people.

The first time Jesus talked about freedom from prisons and this time He says freedom from oppression. This is the kind of oppression that many times no one sees, that you don’t share with anyone, but Jesus sees it and wants to set you free.

What is oppressing you today?

5)  We should proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

This is talking about the Jubilee of the Lord. Every 49 year (7 sets of 7 years) God commanded that the Land should go back to the way that was originally parted and in the way that God had distributed.

People that sold their lands would go back home, those who became slaves because of debt would be released and all the land would “RESTART” in the way that God had previously set things down.

Jesus said that His ministry was to proclaim that we can be forgiven and have a RESTART BUTTON in our lives, to live a life in the way that God intended.

Would you like to have a restart button in your life? Would you like others to know that?

Conclusion

Would you like to have a new mission statement?

Would you pray and say that to God? Let’s do it!

22 questions the members of John Wesley’s Holy Club asked themselves

These are 22 questions the members of John Wesley’s Holy Club asked themselves every day in their private devotions over 200 years ago.

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
17. How do I spend my spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?