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?
Last time I checked out in the parking lot, I did not see any Studabakers.
Honor the past, learn from the past but use current methods to reach others for Christ.
A person or church that tries to walk looking backward is bound to fall
II. THE MAINTENCE MODE CHURCH –LOOKING AT
ONLY THE PRESENT:
The care-taking church is always concerned with pressing issues of th present.focus is on immediate issues.
It seems to always be in maintenance mode, just trying to keep it’s head above the water. Decisions in this kind of church are based on immediate assets.
The number one questions is always “do we have the money now to support this”?
Matt 15:32 33 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way." 33 His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"
A care-taking church is realistic and comfortable. As long as the services are good and the needs are reasonably met and the people are reasonably happy then all is reasonably well. The problem is that this is walking by sight and not fait
Jesus wants to feed the crowd that have been following and we don’t see any bread in the wilderness. But that same Jesus that fed the five thousand cares about the souls of Okeechobee.
Theodore Roosevelt said “No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause”.
A pastor thought God gave Him an idea, and he presented it in the monthly Leadership meeting. . After sharing his ideas to the elders the elders voted aganst the pastors proposed ideas 12-1. One elder looked at the pastor and said, “Well pastor, it’s 12 votes to 1. Looks like you’ve been out voted. Looks like time is up for the evening, so will you please close in prayer.”
The pastor, not wanting to give up yet on what he felt God was leading him to do then lead in prayer. As he prayed, he lifted his hands up to heaven and prayed, “Lord - I know my brothers here do not have the same vision you have given me. Please help them to see that this is not MY vision, but your vision!”At that exact moment, a lightning bolt with a loud clap of thunder burst in through the window in the meeting room, striking the table, splitting it in two and knocking all the elders to the floor. As the dust cleared, the pastor looked at the head elder and said - so, what do you think about that?
The one elder, dusting himself off, sighed and said, “Well, I guess that’s 12 votes to 2,
III. THE VISIONARY CHURCH –LOOKS TO THE
FUTURE:
The VISIONARY CHUCH meets the needs of the present and is always looking forward. This church believes that the best is yet to come.
The Visionary Church invest all they have today so that they can be all that God wants them to be tomorrow.
The VISIONARY CHURCH trains men today to be leaders tomorrow.
The VISIONARY CHURCH seeks to be relevant today and works on methods that meet the needs of members in the future
THE VISIONARY CHURCH realizes that if it is not failing at times. then it is failing because it is not trying.. If we want to as a church that moves forward with vision then we must accept the fact that there will be times that we may fail along the way.
Jonas Salk attempted 200 unsuccessful vaccines for polio before he came up with one that worked. Somebody asked him one time, "How did it feel to fail 200 times trying to invent a vaccine for polio?" This was his response: "I never failed 200 times at anything in my life. My family taught me never to use that word. I simply discovered 200 ways how not to make a vaccine for polio."
HOW MUCH VISION DO YOU HAVE FOR THE LORD’S WORK?
A blind man’s world is bounded by the limits of his touch and hearing an ignorant man’s world by the limits of his knowledge; a great man’s world by the limits of his vision.
By faith Noah went and build and ark. Think about this. He invested everything he had in
something that seemed completely impossible.
Can you imagine building an Ark Though he could not see or understand it, he based his life on God’s word and was willing to wait 120 years for the promise to be fulfilled. Noah’s vision was based on what he had been told by God.
By faith Abraham left his home Though he was living in a tent he saw the future city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. He believed God and based his life on that vision.
Jesus was a visionary. He entrusted the salvation of the world to 11 weak and frightened men. Through God’s power and vision they changed the world. Instead of looking at past or trusting in the present they saw God’s future church and boldly went forward to make it happen.
A vision without a task is a dream; a task without a vision is drudgery; a vision and a task is the hope of the world.
1. A VISION INCLUDES A FAITH TO BELIEVE
5th grade S.S. class was asked to go home and count the stars in the sky as part of their next S.S. lesson. They came back with various numbers. Some said 100, some said 1000, some said a million. Finally the teacher asked a little boy who had said nothing, "How many stars did you count?"He replied, "3". The teacher asked how did you only see 3? He said, "I guess we just have a small backyard."
A church without vision has too small a backyard!
2. VISION INCLUDES A COURAGE TO DO
Vision is the Ability to see what others can’t. --Faith to believe what others will not. --Courage to do what others say can’t be done.
Columbus’ dairy at times seems to be very repetitive. Page after page simply says, "This day we sailed o What a great motto for a Christian.
Anybody can start the race, but they don’t give out the awards until you finish.
Becoming discouragement and not following through Gods work is not due absence of things or
lack of money but the absence of vision.”
3. VISION FIGHTS THROUGH THE OBSTICLES OF FEAR AND LACK OF RESOURCES
Paul Harvey tells the story: One summer morning as Ray Blankenship was eating breakfast, he gazed out the window, and saw a small girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Andover, Ohio, home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream, the ditch emptied into the main culvert. Ray dashed out the door and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the foundering child. Then he hurled himself into the deep, churning water. Blankenship surfaced and was able to grab the child’s arm. They tumbled end over end. Within about three feet of the deep culvert, Ray’s free hand felt something--possibly a rock-- protruding from one bank. He clung desperately, but the tremendous force of the water tried to tear him and the child away. "If I can just hang on until help comes," he thought. He did better than that. By the time fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. On April 12, 1989, Ray Blankenship was awarded the Coast Guard’s Silver Lifesaving Medal. The award is fitting, for this selfless person was at even greater risk to himself than most people knew. Ray Blankenship can’t swim.
The courage of vision is to say "Lord if that is you, let me come to you walking on the water."
The courage of vision is to say "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
The courage of vision is to say "If God be for us, who can be against us."
The courage of Vision is to say "The trials of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory of the next life."
The vision To see the unseen you have to:
Ignore what people say
Disregard what the world says
Resist the temptation to be guided by Man’s ability
The word tells us that we walk by faith not by sight.
OUR VISION MUST BE SPIRIT BORN SPIRIT FED
AND SPIRIT LED TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING
