Please consider using these resources in the following order to get the most out of each study:
- Listen to the sermon
- Read the study guide
- Read the Vision paper
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Redeemer's Vision Campaign: A Season of Covenant Renewal Israel was brought into a covenant relationship with God at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19-20. There they were formed as God’s people and called to live in a particular way in the world. Whenever Israel faced a major new chapter in their journey, they were led through a season of covenant renewal: in Joshua 24, before they entered the promised land, in 1 Samuel 12, before they took a king, and in Nehemiah 8-9, as they returned from the Babylonian exile. These times of covenant renewal always had three parts to them. First, the people returned to Biblical texts in order to remember the things God had called them to do and be. Second, they looked forward to the next chapter, to the new challenges they faced. Third, they rededicated their lives and resources to God for the next stage of the journey. This fall Redeemer will follow the Biblical pattern exactly as we ourselves go through a season of corporate renewal.
1) First, we will re-visit and remember our vision, the reason we are here in New York City. Every week in the sermons we will look at one part of this vision by studying the Biblical texts in which it is rooted. During the week, in over two hundred small groups, we will study the Scripture and the sermon from that week in order to come to a deeper understanding of how to live out the vision. The following statement summarizes what we are called to do in NYC:
To build a great city for all people—-through a gospel movement that brings personal conversion, community formation, social justice and cultural renewal to New York, and through it, to the world.
2) Second, we will look ahead and lay out the concrete strategy for the next stage of our journey. During Sunday information meetings October 2 and 16, and in many other conversations, forums, and publications, we will discuss the strategic actions that will move us forward together toward the realization of our vision. The following statement summarizes the actions and goals of our next phase:
To strengthen Redeemer by developing community centers with worship space
To reach more people by multiplying gospel-centered churches
To build community and serve our neighbors by launching new ministries
3) Third, our season of renewal will culminate, as it does in the Bible, with an opportunity in worship to make a deeper commitment of our time and money to the vision. On November 13 we will invite the congregation to make a three-year financial pledge over and above regular giving to the vision. There will also be opportunities for specific commitments of time, talents, and energies to the work.
Intro to Isaiah: Isaiah has been called "the Fifth Gospel" because of the directness and richness of his teaching about God's saving purposes in the world. The first 39 chapters lays out the holiness and sovereignty of God, the brokenness of creation, and its hopelessness apart from an intervention by God. The middle chapters—40-54—then reveal that God will rescue his creation through sheer grace and through the weakness of a chosen Servant and a renewed people. The final chapters—55-66—then reveal the nature of this new community that will exist between the death of the Servant (chapter 53) and the end of history (chapter 66.) That is where we live—between the first and second comings of Jesus Christ. How are we to live in that period? What are we to aspire to and work for during this time? What can be accomplished? Isaiah's vision is breath-taking, and it has to do with his vision of "a strong city"—the coming yet present city of God.
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