Embracing New Vision
Proverbs 29:18
January 5, 2014
Morning Service
Where there is no vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29:18
* Where there is no vision, there is no life
* Where there is no vision, there is no future
* Where there is no vision, there is no hope
* Where there is no vision, there is no power
Vision clarifies passion
Anyone can be passionate about anything, Are you passionate about things that really matter? When we have a God directed vision, we begin to be passionate about the things that truly matter in life. We start giving up our desires to pursue God’s desires. We start letting go of our agenda and begin pushing God’s agenda. God centered and God directed vision get our passion clarified from things that really are meaningless.
Vision provides perspective
Vision offers productivity
Vision defines purpose
Vision increases possibilities
Key Question: What is your vision for the ministry you participate in for 2014?
Vision for Ministry
1. Disciplined effort
When we have a God given vision, it sets us to pursue that vision with the attitude to accomplish it. The church sometimes gets into coast mode and begins to rely on things already done. When we get into coast thinking, we are robbing ourselves and God. We need to give God our best every single week in everything that we do. We need to stop thinking that things are “good enough” and start taking a serious look at how we can improve. God deserves better than our “good enough” efforts. God is worthy of our very best efforts week in and week out. This thinking should apply to everything that we do because our lives reveal the work of God.
* Are you giving your best in your work life?
* Are you giving your best in your ministry service?
* Are you giving your best in your family life?
There should be a disciplined effort in everything that we do within the church. We need to remember that we are not just serving the church or others within the church, we are serving Jesus. Can we honestly say that we are giving our best all of the time to Jesus?
Sunday School teachers are you prepared and on time for class?
Praise team members are you practicing and ready to give your best when you lead worship?
Board members and officers, are you doing your assigned duties with an attitude that you are serving Jesus with everything that you do?
Members and attendees are you prayed up and ready for service when it arrives?
2. Determined Optimism
If there is any place in the world where the people should be positive, it ought to be the church. Our attitude determines the outcome of our success or failure more than anything else. Why attitude and not faith or something else?
Attitude will shape the way that we look at faith and if we have a negative attitude, we will also have a negative view of faith. There cannot be positive movement in our walk with Christ when we hang on to a negative attitude.
The best example is the nation of Israel refusing to move into the land of Canaan. God promised to be with them but because they viewed the situation in a negative manner, they refused to follow God. The result was forty years of wandering in the wilderness waiting for the negative and faithless generation to die off.
The reality is that if we refuse to see the positive things God is doing and refuse to keep moving forward with God, everything could fall apart around us. We need to keep a determined optimism about the church and our own walk with God.
Be positive about …
Salvations
Sanctifications
Evangelism and outreach
Ministry
3. Directed evangelism
We are seeing lives changed and people either starting a relationship with Christ or renewing their relationship with Christ. Nothing is more important than this but we need to increase our efforts in outreach and evangelism.
* Operation Invite
People visit the church through the invitations of those already attending. We are going to set the bar high this time and go for 5,000 invites between now and Easter. I personally have set a goal for myself of extending no less than 500 personal invites before Easter. The only way that we are ever going to reach people is to make connections.
How do we do this?
1. Provide the needed tools - Cards
2. Provide the needed training
- Three things that you like about the church
- Be prepared when the moments come
3. Provide the needed accountability
* Servant Evangelism Projects
* Feeding the football team
* Brown County Fair – Water giveaway
* Outdoor Movie Nights
* Mt Orab Christmas Parade
Changes in our practices
The message of the gospel never changes but our methods of communication should be continually changing. The way that we connect with people should be continually improving and attempting new things.
* Bible Study Preparation
What is the passage about?
What is something that you noticed for the first time?
What questions do you have?
Was there anything that bothered you?
What did you learn about loving God?
What did you learn about loving others?
Beginning this week we are starting a study of Philippians
January 8 – Philippians 1:1-18
January 15 – Philippians 1:19-30
January 22 – Philippians 2:1-11
January 29 – Philippians 2:12-30
February 5 – Philippians 3:1-16
February 12 – Philippians 3:17-4:9
February 19 – Philippians 4:10-23
Upcoming Community Bible Experience
Lenten focus: February 24 through April 20
- Reading program that runs through the entire New Testament in eight weeks
- Books of the Bible New Testament reads like a book and is structured around literary formats with no verse or chapter references. The goal is to read the scripture as an ongoing story
- Bible includes electronic readings sent to email, MP3 download to listen to the reading in an audio format and
* Follow up
One of our areas of weakness is follow up and follow through. We have people that come to church that we lose contact with on a rapid basis. Our preparation for events is outstanding and we place an incredible amount of work on these things. The problem is that we have a massive focus on drawing people in and very little on following up.
- Connection strategy
- Connection team
- Advanced follow up and connection
