A Church With Great Vision

A CHURH WITH GREAT VISION

INTRO:

What is a great church? Some like a big church, some a small church. Some like a country church, some a city church…I’ve been in both. I’m glad we have all types around here and all are welcome!

You might be in a country church if:

The Call to Worship is ,"Y’all come on in!"

The Preacher says, "I’d like to ask Bubba to pray for the

offering" - and five guys stand up.

Opening day of deer hunting season is recognized as an

official church holiday.

A singing group is known as "The O.K. Chorale."

Baptism is referred to as "branding."

There is a special fund-raiser for a new septic tank.

Finding and returning lost sheep is not just a parable.

People wonder when Jesus fed the 5,000 whether the two

fish were bass or catfish.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson were camping one night. In the middle of the night Sherlock Holmes awoke and looked up at the stars. He asked, "Watson, what do you see". Woken from his sleep Watson looked up and said "stars". Yes, but what do these stars tell you. Watson said "Cosmologically they tell me that we are part of a large universe – that we are one of billions and billions of planets. Theologically they tell me that we have a great God who made all of it. Meteorologically they tell me that the sky is clear and we will have good weather tomorrow. Temporally they tell me that it is the middle of the night and we should be sleeping! Sherlock, what do they tell you." "Well," he replied, "they tell me that someone has stolen our tent".

When it comes to the direction of the church is it that you see?

The problem we often face is that we have no clear direction of where we are going. We lack a defined destination. We lack vision.The Bible says, Where there is no vision , the people perish. Proverbs 29:18

If you ever needed a blueprint for a declaration of faith it is Heb 11:7-10 … By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Let me ask you , WHAT IS YOUR VISION? As you think back and look at your own life and the direction of this church what do you see? In terms of vision there are 3 different types of churches :

I . THE REARVIEW MIRROR CHURCH

The undertaking church is always looking backwards. The basic mentality is that people talk about are the “good old days”.

They miss what is happening today because they are always looking back to yesterday. Decisions in this kind of church are based on what that generation grew up with in the past and what they feel comfortable with.

Psalm 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

The children of Israel missed what God was doing. God was doing a new thing but they did not understand it. They saw the captivity as an end and not a beginning. They did not see that through the captivity God was setting the stage for Jesus

Poor eyes limit your sight; poor vision but poor vision limits the Lords work! Helen Keller was asked once “What would be worse than being born blind?” to which she replied “Having sight without a vision.”

The eagle and the vulture fly in our sky. The vulture see is nothing but rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But eagles soar high and see the beauty of the earth. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But eagles live on what is. They seek new life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. What kind of bird are you?

While you can learn from the past, you can’t live there. Too many churches today are spending their time and resources lamenting the past when they should be adapting to the future.

Amazing Grace was a new song at one time. I am sure some back in the day thought, “Why do we have to sing these new contemporary praise songs?