What is your vision?

What do you see for the future of this church?"

                WITHOUT A VISION, WE ARE DESTINED FOR EXTINCTION!!!

Vision involves many things:

FAITH--Vision is "a desire to see possibilities become realities".

Hebrews 11:1 says that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen".

ACTION--"Faith without works is dead"

                                A vision without a task makes a visionary;

                                 a task without a vision is  drudgery;

                                  a vision with a task makes a missionary.

OPTIMISM--A "CAN DO" attitude

DETERMINATION--There are many obstacles which tend to distort our vision.
                                       We must be determined to overcome them.

PATIENCE--Caleb waited 45 years to see his vision become a reality.

RISK--Whenever you have a desire to see possibilities become realities
there will always be some risk involved.

 You run the risk of:

  1. Being criticized--Caleb did.

  2. Failing--I'd rather try to do something and fail than try to   do nothing and succeed.

4 things that point to a dying vision.

A. Fatalism says "that events are fixed in advance for all times in such a manner that human beings are powerless to change them".

B. Fatalism says:

         1. "What's the use? There's nothing we can do to change the way things are".

        2. "This world is destined to become even more wicked and ungodly, so let's hang on to what we have and try
                to survive until Jesus   comes".
                                            A Survivalist Mentality, if you will.

C. Many churches today try and excuse their loss of vision and their fatalistic philosophy by misapplying
2 Timothy 3:1 "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come".

        1. For some reason they think that verse gives them the right to hunker down in some religious fox hole somewhere and
            simply try to survive.

        2. The days Paul lived in weren't the most pleasant. He dealt with:

                a. Homosexuality

               b. Incest

               c. Opposition from the government

               d. Apathetic church members

               e. Carnal church members

               f. The liberals and modernists of his day

                    But not one time do you find him simply trying to hang on 'til Jesus comes.

D. "Well, doesn't the Bible say, 'Occupy till I come'"?

               1. "Occupy" doesn't denote inactivity.

                2. We're to be involved in business exchange with the resources that  God has extended to us.

                3. That phrase "occupy till I come"is found in Luke 19 in the parable of the ten pounds.

               4. The first servant increased his pound to ten pounds.

                    The second servant increased his pound to five pounds.

                    The hired servant simply hung on to what he had. He didn't want to risk loosing it.

               5. I believe this illustrates the difference between a church with a vision and one whose vision has died and now
                    they Adhere to a  Philosophy of Fatalism.

E. Occupying is like being in an airport.  Everyone in an airport is doing something.

                 1. Working

                2. Watching

                3. Sleeping

                 4. But they're all doing something as they wait for their flight to arrive.

F. Churches are the same way.

                 1. Some are working

                 2. Some are watching

                 3. Some are sleeping

                 4. But they're all doing something as they wait for their flight to  arrive.

                 5. "For yet a little while and He that shall come will come and will  not tarry".

G. Granted, there are some things that we cannot change. But Jesus said "...with God all things are possible".

H. Do you think God is dead?

         Do you think God has been rendered ineffective?

                               Then where's your vision?

A. Formalism is "the practice or the doctrine of strict adherence to prescribed or external forms".

         1. "Oh, you mean Catholicism".  Not necessarily.

              We give the Catholics fits for something we're just as guilty of   and that's adhering to formalism and tradition.

B. Formalism says "This is the way it's always been, this is the way we've always done it and this is the way it must be".

         1. Listen, I say OUT with tradition and IN with the Holy Spirit.

         2. The average Baptist church wouldn't know the Holy Spirit if He slapped them.

  Oh we talk about Him, but we limit His participation in our   services because we don't want Him to mess up our program.

                        Well, hang our program.

         3. We don't let the Holy Spirit have anything to do with our services  until the invitation,

         4. We can't choreograph the Holy Spirit's participation in our   services.

                      Either He's allowed to work freely or He's not.

C. I've heard preachers say, "Well, I just can't get my people to come alive. There's just no fire".
                       Fire Begets Fire!!

              There's no fire in the pew, because there's no fire in the pulpit.

D. In our churches today,  pillars have become pillows.

E. If our churches had something vital and victorious to offer instead of cold, dead, formalistic "worship", perhaps those who choose golf clubs by day and night clubs by night would be drawn to our services.

F. Let me encourage you to take a realistic look at a worship service. You may be surprised at how mechanical you can become.

G. I believe that a church with a vision will see the need for change and be willing to make those changes without compromising truth.

A. Our churches need a renewed vision when it comes to evangelism. We need a vision like Isaiah had.

B. Isaiah 6:1-9

        1. v. 5--WOE, a word of confession

             v. 7--LO, a word of cleansing

             v. 9--GO, a word of commission

        2.  Upward vision--he saw the Lord
              Inward vision--he saw himself
              Outward vision--he saw the world

C. We live in the days when the average church knows more about promotion than prayer.

                     They've forgotten consecration by fostering competition.

         1. There's no substitute for preaching the gospel. Paul said it was the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation.

D. The devil doesn't care how much doctrine our people get or how many fundamentals they're taught, just as long as they leave our services without a vision and without compassion.

E. At the very doors of our churches are masses.

             Unwon because they're unreached.    Unreached because they are unloved.

         1. When's the last time you were accused of being the friend of   sinners?

         2. Some preachers today want their churches to be like the operating room at the hospital.

No one enters the operating room without scrubbing    themselves, because they don't want the operating room to become infected with disease.  They don't want anything to ruin their sterile environment.

Some churches expect everyone who comes in to have already   scrubbed themselves spiritually because they don't want to come in contact with any sinful disease.

They don't want anything to ruin their sterile environment.

         3. That church who has that attitude is already sick.
             They've been infected with the disease of the Pharisees.
                "God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are...".

F. A church with a renewed vision when it comes to evangelism may have to risk loving the unlovable.
    They may have to risk infecting their sterile environment by admitting  real, live sinners into their midst.

G. God help us to possess a vision that produces passion that propels us into action.

H. Could a lifeguard sit idle if he heard the drowning cry?
     Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die?
     Could a fireman sit idle, and let men burn and give no hand?
     Can we sit at ease in Zion with the world around us DAMNED?

A. To sum it up, the church in Laodicia was satisfied with the status quo.

         1. They weren't as good perhaps as others, but they were far better  than some.

         2. They weren't growing by leaps and bounds but they weren't dwindling away to nothing either. Basically, they were
            maintaining.

B. We might think this was acceptable to God,  let's not forget v.16 "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither     cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth".

C. A church with a vision doesn't have time to become complacent.
     They don't have time to become self-satisfied or to rest on past accomplishments.

D. A church with a vision is constantly on the move. They're busy reaching out and involving themselves in the work of   the
    ministry.

E. God help our church to be a church with a vision.

         1. Haggai 2:3-7,9

         2. This great out-pouring of God's blessings began with a time of  self- evaluation. Haggai 1:5,7

         3. As they began to consider their ways and see themselves as they really were, they were moved to obedience.
           Haggai 1:12

         4. Once they became obedient to the Lord, He began to stir their spirit, beginning with the leadership. Haggai 1:14a

         5. As a result of this stirring the people began to work. Haggai 1:14b
                                (Notice that there wasn't merely a stirring, but there was a change.)

         6. Because the people began to get excited, they received a renewed vision.

                      A vision of restored power and renewed glory.
 

         7.  Haggai 2:6-7

 In other words, hang on, get ready, because SOMETHING GOOD IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN!!!

               And it can, with a renewed vision.