Prayer + Preparation = Success!
Scriptures Psalm 127: 1-2 and Luke 14: 25-30
So Tomorrow our New Brooklyn Mission Trip starts, right? Wrong!
Tomorrow will be an exciting day when the first of our volunteers actually arrive at the New Brooklyn Reformed Church to join in the renovation of this historic building, but actually there are two previous startup days for this wonderful event.
You know the first date. No, not the actual calendar date,
but the event in
the ministry of Christ is very well known. It is the final
moments of His earthly ministry, as recorded in Matthew's Gospel, when He
tells His first disciples and all who would follow in their footsteps to
take His Gospel's message to the ends of the earth. And friends that is
exactly what we are involved with through this Mission Trip.
I know, unless we have horrible traffic on the Belt Parkway, we won't really think of New Brooklyn Reformed Church as the end of the earth but what our Lord was really saying with these words is this: Take my Gospel message with you, and bring it to all of the places on earth, near and far, where you will have the possibility of sharing the love that is at the heart of My Gospel.
Yes, we are going to New Brooklyn to be involved in some physical renovations, but the truth is that the biggest blessings in this effort will be the spiritual renewal that our physical efforts will bring to the people of the New Brooklyn and Massapequa Reformed Churches. And these blessings will come into our lives because we have prayed and prepared, and now continue this venture in the confidence that God will bless and guide our efforts.
But still there is that other starting date that I mentioned that I would like to reflect upon with you for it reveals not only how this good effort will be successful but also how this effort is an example that relates to all of the positive efforts that are a part of our collective and individual lives.
So without further ado, let me tell you about that important second starting date. I think it was my second week here as your Pastor when there was a gentle knock on my Office Door and in walked one of our Charter Members, who we all know and love, and that is Charlie Coles.
Charlie said
to me,"You know I have spoken with Doug Bove, our Mission 
Commissioner, and
he said it sounds great and I should talk to you about it."
Well, I wondered what this great thing was and so, throwing caution to the wind, I said to Charlie, "What great thing are we talking about?"
Charlie smiled and said, "A Mission Trip to the New Brooklyn Reformed Church."
"A Mission Trip? " I said. "That sounds good but what is it?"
That was the question I asked, and for the next half hour Charlie, with a smile from one ear to the other, went on to describe exactly what he hoped we could do. His enthusiasm and vision were contagious, and by the end of that conversation I knew that I was ready to support this wonderful vision that Charlie and Doug wanted to share with all of us.
Friends, that's exactly where a successful effort begins. For it is a vision and an enthusiastic commitment to bring that vision into a reality that is the key to achieving success.
Think about our recent Graduates Sunday. Our graduates, with the love and support of their family and others, had a vision to achieve the accomplishment of graduation and they were committed — perhaps some days with a little less enthusiasm than other days — to achieve that goal and they did it!
Proverbs
says, "Where there is no vision, the people shall perish" and I believe
that as 
we look at all of the aspects of our lives that we find to be
important to us, we will see that all of these activities are motivated by
the visions we have as God's people to bring his grace into our lives, the
lives of our loved ones and the lives of those, to the ends of the earth,
who are affected by our faithful witness.
Ah, you note correctly, that vision is not enough, there has to be a plan and a flexibility in that plan to accomplish the vision that so excites us.
I remember that morning of Charlie's visit so well. He had gotten my vote. I was almost as excited about this Mission Trip as he and Doug were, but around five minutes after he left with my promise that we would do everything possible to make this happen I started thinking about this Trip and I thought, "What have we gotten ourselves into?"
Now that doesn't sound too good does it? The
Pastor was worrying about this good effort. At first that doesn't sound too
good, but isn't that exactly
what our Lord was talking about when He used
the metaphor of building a Tower to describe how He wanted his disciples to
really prepare themselves if they were going to continue to be part of His
Mission Trip.
It is in that spirit, that for
the last 10 months we have been preparing for our Mission Trip to the New Brooklyn
Reformed Church. We have developed a plan, and it is with 
gratitude to God
for His Spirit's guidance in this effort and to the entire Church Family for
their support of this project that I am here to tell you this morning that
by the end of the week, our phrase will be: MISSION
ACCOMPLISHED.
But wait one moment, we need to remember the other half of the equation that is described in the title of today's sermon. For it is not just preparation that leads to success, it is also prayer. Prayer that is based upon our belief that whatever challenges we face on our Mission Trip or in any other area of our lives, we are confident that our awesome God will give us the strength and the faith to continue our faith journey.
Look at today's weather. It's like a monsoon and do you know what our central project is for next week's Mission Trip. It is to paint the outside of the Church's Parsonage. If the monsoons continue, we are going to have to come up with a Plan B real quick, and we and the New Brooklyn Church family will be quite disappointed.
But we know that this disappointment will not turn to despair for we trust in a God who is bigger than any of life's disappointments. So we have counted the costs. We have developed a plan. We will be flexible in this plan, and we start this Mission and continue our faith journey with the confidence that God will bless and guide us along his paths of righteousness and that yes, through our prayers and preparation, at New Brooklyn and in all of the other areas of our lives God will bless us with His grace and success along the way.
Pastor Stephen Giordano — July 17, 2005
The Massapequa
Reformed Church
302 Ocean Avenue
Massapequa, NY 11758
(516)799-5158 • Fax (516)799-4725
E-mail