God’s Mission & Vision for the WVCC
2008
Numbers 13
There are many indicators that this will be a year of growth and outreach for the Willow Vale Community Church. Many of you are involved in prayer triplets that will meet ten times between December 16th to March 23; a hundred days of prayer emphasis.
In God’s Word we have the promise, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
As I was praying and planning the message I believed God wanted me to preach for this second Sunday of the New Year the passage in Number 13 came to mind. God’s mission for the Children of Israel was to take a bold venture and conquer their homeland of Canaan. Their millison is similar to the mission God has for us as a church.
God’s mission for us is to take a bold venture and reach out in love to our community and city. We are to take over more and more of Satan’s territory in San Jose, CA.
Turn to Numbers 13 beginning with the first verse.
“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Send men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to Israel.” Twelve men, leaders from each tribe of Israel were sent.
Moses told the twelve spies “to go spy out the land, are the people there strong or weak, few or many, what kind of land do they live in is it good or bad. Do their towns have walls or are they unprotected? How is the soil? Fertile or poor? Are then many trees? Enter the land boldly, and bring back samples of the crops you see.”
So they spied out the land they found grapes so large and heavy two men had to carry one cluster. They spent 40 days spying out the land and brought back their report.
The ten spies reported: “The land flows with milk and honey. But the people living there are powerful, and their cities are fortified and very large. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. We felt like grasshoppers next to them, and that’s what we looked like to them! We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” (Summary of Numbers 13:18-33)
Caleb and Joshua gave their report: “Let’s go at once to take the land, we can certainly conquer it!” (Numbers 13:30)
From this passage I want to mention three things that will help us carry out God’s mission for and vision for the Willow Vale Church.
Our primary mission is to carry on the work started by Jesus: “To seek and to save the lost and make disciples of all people and language groups.”
To carry out God’s mission during this coming year we need:
I. Vision to See as God Sees
The ten spies looked at the people of Canaan from a human viewpoint. No way could they defeat giants. Even though they had 600,000 fighting men relying on human effort and wisdom they could not defeat the gaints in Canaan.
They quickly forgot their history of how God had delivered them out of bondage in Egypt where they had been slaves for 430 years. They were asked to take a bold venture by taking God at His Word. The vision of God’s miracle working power had faded from their lives.
“Where there is no vision people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18) When God is left out of our planning the future does look bleak.
• We don’t have enough money!
• We are too small!
• A recession is just on the horizon!
• We have too few workers!
Caleb and Joshua trusted God. They declared that God was with them. “We can certainly do it.”
Vision is seeing what is possible if God blesses.
Jesus gives us His vision and mission to continue the work he started while on earth: “to seek and to save the lost and make disciples of all language groups.”
With adequate vision we are never satisfied to just play church. We are not willing to year after year embrace SOS, Some O Same O. With vision we are willing to do whatever it takes to carry forth the mission of Jesus.
A study of the history of the people of God in the Old and New Testaments reveals an interesting fact: the well-being of the believing community was directly proportional to the obedience to God’s mission for them. When the people of God have a sense of mission things go well and the church is strong and healthy. When the church becomes introverted and loses its desire to minister in Christ’s name to those who are in need, problems set in.
When the church expends itself for the sake of others, it becomes healthy and grows. When the people of a church catch the vision of being of the answer to the hurts and needs of the world around them, they gain incentive for participating in a training program designed to equip them for this purpose. Jesus said: “…whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” When we lose ourselves in something far bigger than ourselves, name Christ’s work, we find ourselves.
When we have God’s vision we will be faithful in continuing the work Jesus started. Jesus stated his purpose in coming in (Luke 4:18)
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed
Me to preach Good News to the poor,
He sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
That the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be
Freed from their oppressors.
To carry out God’s mission this coming year we need Vision to see as God sees.
Second we need:
II. Faith to Act
Without vision the ten spies did not have faith to act. They saw themselves as puny grasshoppers. Because of their lack of obedience they spent 40 years of wondering in the desert. All families of the ten spies missed going into the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb and their families had the privilege of entering the land of Canaan.
As a local church we step forward with Joshua and Caleb and say, “We can do it.” By the grace of God we can carry out His mission.
With faith we focus upon the possibilities and not the problems. With faith we put feet to vision and trust God to give the increase.
As we move forward fortified by faith we will see God work miracles of transformation in the life of many people.
A Christian policeman in Korea noticed a young boy sleeping on the street. He had pity on the boy and told him about a mission where they had a bed he could sleep on. The policeman told the boy to go to the door and say: “John 3:16.” The young boy found the mission and knocked on the door and said, “John 3:16.” He was invited right in and given some warm food. After eating the delicious food he was taken to a room where he had a warm shower. Then he was given a soft bed to sleep on for the night. As the boy settled down for the night he thought:
“What is John 3:16? I don’t know, but I do know:
John 3:16 makes cold boy warm,
John 3:16 makes hungry boy full,
John 3:16 makes dirty boy clean,
John 3:16 Makes tired boy rest.
The next morning the boy awoke to the smell of breakfast. After breakfast the mission director said they would have devotions. He read John 3:16, “For God so loved the world he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” The Gospel message was explained to the boy and the young boy gave his heart to Jesus who loved him and died for him.
After forty years of wandering Joshua did have faith to act and He took God at His Word and by faith conquered the city of Jericho.
God is calling the Willow Vale Church to take a bold venture this year by having Vision to see as God sees and by having faith to act. Faith is taking God at His Word and acting accordingly.
A third way we carry out God’s mission in the New Year is to:
III. Make the Commitment to Sacrifice
A bold venture demands we trust God and give sacrifically of our Time, Our Talents, and our Treasure.
Our motive to give of our time, our talents, and our tithe is not one of duty, but one of love. We count it a privilege to invite people to come to church and share in God’s love and we count it a privilege to invest in advancing God’s Kingdom through the ministries of the local church.
We give out tithe and offering out of the motive of love and not out of fear or guilt.
The story is told of one church that was in sad shape. The paint was peeling off the outside of the church, the church lawn was overgrown with weeds, and the entire church campus was rundown. They didn’t have enough money to fix the lawn or buy new hymnbooks to replace the tattered and torn books. The plaster was breaking loose from the ceiling; in fact some had already fallen off.
The minister of the church held a meeting to challenge the members to raise some money so the church might have a more worthy witness in the community. A special meeting was called to raise funds. The minister invited one of the wealthy members, hoping he would be persuaded to help the church.
When all arrived at the meeting the minister was eloquent as he presented the needs. Others shared of their financial struggles and many bills overdue. Many responded with pledges, but the man of wealth said nothing. Finally the minister said, “Let us pray.” “Let each person look into his own heart and ask God for guidance.” Silently they prayed – after a few moments of prayer an enormous piece of plaster fell from the ceiling and hit the wealthy man directly on the head. He leaped to his feet and shouted, “I’ll $10,000.00. Silently the minister kept praying, “Hit him again, Lord hit him again.”
Our giving should be out of love and delight to invest in the Kingdom of God and not out of duty and guilt.
Some people will do the most outrageous thing to get extra cash. Years ago a Chicago radio station, WKOX, offered $10,000 to the individual who could devise the most outlandish way to get the money. More than 6,000 people responded to the challenge proposing what they would do for the $10,000. The eventual winner was Jay Gwaltney of Zionsville, Indiana, who consumed an 11 - foot birch sapling – leaves, roots, bark and all.
For the event he wore a tuxedo and dined at a table eloquently set with fine china, sterling silverware, candles and a rose vase. Armed with pruning sheers, the Indiana State University sophomore began chomping from the top of the tree and worked his way, branch by branch, to the roots. His only condiment: French dressing for the massive birch-leaf salad. Consuming the sapling took 18 hours over a period of three days. When it was all over, Gwaltney complained of an upset stomach.
Jesus said in Luke 12:15, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
We demonstrate our vision and faith by our commitment to give sacrificially of our time, our talents and our treasure.
The biblical plan to advance God’s Kingdom is giving a tithe of our income to God’s work. The Bible says, “The tithe is the Lords.” We give ten percent of our income to underwrite the ministries of the church and out offerings for world missions and other worthy ministries.
The Psalmist sang out in Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” God owns all and we are His Stewards and Managers of what God has provided.
You may earn large sums of money while on earth, but you will not take it with you. God is the owner. You are His Steward or Manager. Everything God gives you is given as a trust. The more God gives you the more responsibility He expects you to have.
As you enter this New Year listen to the promise of Luke 6:38, “If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving – large or small – it will be used to measure what is given back to you.”
In Galatians 6:7-9, we find this challenge: “Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it. You will reap what you sow! Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life form the Spirit. So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.”
This coming year let’s give generously of our time, our talents, and our treasure to the work of the Lord.
Today we enjoy these facilities at the corner of Curtner Ave and Meridian Ave because church members back in 1964-65 gave sacrificially.
Our 3.2 acres were purchased for $40,000. When this property was purchased it was a cherry orchard. This sanctuary and two Christian education wings were built for $150,000.00 in 1964-65.
In 1964 the average house cost $16,500. Stamps were 4 cents, regular gas was .31 cents, a gallon of milk was .49 cents, and a dozen of eggs were .57 cents. The average salary in 1964 was $4,500.00. In 2006 the average salary was $38,651.
God’s mission for the Willow Vale Church this coming year is to continue the work He started to seek and to save the lost and make disciples of all people groups.
Let’s be faithful in carrying out God’s mission this coming year by –
Having Vision to See As God Sees – “With God All Things Are Possible”
Faith to Act and take God at His Word – Let’s join the Joshua and Caleb team and become part of God’s bold venture in the New Year
Let’s make the sacrificial commitment to give of our time, our talents and treasure by inviting new people to discover God’s love in the fellowship of the Willow Vale Church and giving to support the various ministries of the Church.
