Vision: The Church’s Life
Poverbs 29:18
It started like so many evenings. Mom and Dad at home and
Jimmy playing after dinner. Mom and Dad were absorbed with
jobs and did not notice the time. It was a full moon and some of
the light seeped through the windows. Then Mom glanced at the
clock. "Jimmy, it’s time to go to bed. Go up now and I’ll come and
settle you later." Unlike usual, Jimmy went striaght upstairs to his
room. An hour or so later his mother came up to check if all was
well, and to her astonishment found that her son was staring
quietly out of his window at the moonlit scenery. "What are you
doing, Jimmy?" "I’m looking at the moon, Mommy." "Well, it’s
time to go to bed now." As one reluctant boy settled down, he
said, "Mommy, you know one day I’m going to walk on the
moon." Who could have known that the boy in whom the dream
was planted that night would survive a near fatal motorbike crash
which broke almost every bone in his body, and would bring to
fruition this dream 32 years later when James Irwin stepped on
the moon’s surface, just one of the 12 representatives of the human
race to have done so?
How did he accomplish this? Vision. A clear vision is
what will propel us as people and a church. It gives
purpose, it gives meaning. It points us to the place that
God wants us to be.
When I first came here to be your pastor, if you
remember, I preached vision over and over. What is it?
How do we get it? What do we do with it? Churches
that fail, do so because a lack of vision. Why are we
here?
Vision puts everything in perspective.
It drives us in the good times and sustains us in the bad.
All we have to do is look at Joseph to see what vision
will do for us.
Remember Joseph received a vision..........
He was then sold into slavery, then put into jail for
something he did not do. Did he give up on God or quit
the church because things were not going as he had
planned? No!
He held onto that vision he sought after that vision, and
eventually in God’s time, he was lifted into position for
what God had called him to be.
Vision: the capacity to create a compelling picture of the desired
state of affairs that inspires people to respond; that which is
desirable, which could be, should be; that which is attainable.A
godly vision is right for the times, right for the church, and right
for the people. A godly vision promotes faith rather than fear. A
godly vision motivates people to action. A godly vision requires
risk-taking. A godly vision glorifies God, not people.
One of the things that I have to do is as the pastor is to
make sure that the vision that God has given to this
church is known. Everyone who belongs to this body of
believers should know why we are here. Now I did this
this last in a message and it is listed in the bulletin every
week. (Look around you, we have so many new people
that God told me preach the vision again. It must be
working!)
And I believe we are on the threshold of something so
wonderful and powerful from God. Columbia City is
about to be hit with a dose of Pentecostal power and
everyone will know who and where Victory Christian
Fellowship is.
Our Mission:
1. To Reach Columbia City and the world with the
life changing gospel of Jesus Christ.
Matt. 28:19, Acts 1:8
It is easy to determine when something is aflame. It
ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will
eventually go out. A church without evangelism is a
contradiction in terms, just as a fire that does not burn is
a contradiction.
We are called to reach this world for Jesus. If you have
given your heart to the Lord then his command to you is
to witness. In other words just tell the world who Jesus
is and what he has done for.
Too many Christians think it is the resposibility of the
pastor to reach everyone. The pastor is supposed to
reach the city, the county, the world and when you have
time my whole family too. God gives all of us the ability
and power to witness
Lieghton Ford was speaking at an open-air crusade in Halifax,
Nova Scotia. Billy Graham was to speak the next night and had
arrived a day early. He came incognito and sat on the grass at the
rear of the crowd. Because he was wearing a hat and dark glasses,
no one recognized him.
Directly in front of him sat an elderly gentleman who seemed to
be listening intently to my presentation. When I invited people to
come forward as an open sign of commitment, Billy decided to do
a little personal evangelism. He tapped the man on the shoulder
and asked, "Would you like to accept Christ? I’ll be glad to walk
down with you if you want to." The old man looked him up and
down, thought it over for a moment, and then said, "Naw, I think
I’ll just wait till the big gun comes tomorrow night."
Unfortunately, it underlines how, in the minds of many
people, evangelism is the task of the "Big Guns," not the
"little shots."
As a church we are going to go out on a regular basis
and do what is necessary to reach this community with
the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. To disciple all believers in the truth of the word
and a life of righteousness.
Matt. 28:19- the other part of go is to go and make-
make what- make disciples?
No one makes a cake by opening a box dumping it in a
bowl. You have to take the right ingredients, measure
them out mix them together put them in a pan and then
bake them.
The Lord doesn’t want us to take people and dump
them in a bowl and say, wow look at that Christian.
We have to be willing to be a church that is willing to
take the time to take the right ingredients stir them up
and let God do his work in their heart.
We have to be sold on Sunday school, Wed. night bible
study, the different groups like HonorBound for men,
WM’s for the Ladies, Youth group. It is through these
areas that we begin the process of making disciples.
People who are into the word for themselves and a time
of prayer on a daily basis.
3. To Worship the Lord with all our hearts, soul,
mind and strength
Psalm 92:1-4, 95:1-2, 96:1-3, 98:1-8, 100:1-3
To worship God is to recognize his worth or
worthiness; to look God-ward, and to acknowledge in
all appropriate ways the value of what we see.
We were made to worship God! Our very existence is
so that we can come before him with songs and praise
on our lips.
Want to know why so many people today are miserable
with their lives or commit suicide? They are not doing
what they were designed to do.
One thing that we will do at this church worship God
like he is coming back today..............................
I beleive that this is the one area that God is going to
use in mighty way to reach the lost of this community.
If we could only see what happens in the spiritual when
we begin to worship God, in truth and spirit. Satan
does not want churches to understand and implement
the kind of worship that we have here.
Why?
It releases angels for battle,
It releases God’s anointing for deliverance, healing and
salvation
It produces freedom in God’s people.
And when all of these things start to happen it spells
doom for the kingdom of darkness.
Close:
We need to keep this vision before us as his people and
his church. As long as we do it will give us something
to shoot for. A target if you will to aim our sights.
