Vision Sunday

Introduction:

Good morning family. This morning I would like to share with you what I believe the Lord has in store for us in the next few years, along with, the long term vision of our church. The goal this morning is to cast the vision and clearly lay out what I believe is the culture God is cultivating her at Calvary Harvest.

This is what I believe the Lord has in store for us for the next 10-15 years. I believe that it is God’s desire for us is to have a lasting impact on not only our community but our congregation. It would be so foolhardy to believe that we would be able to accomplish anything apart from God.

What we will discuss this morning is laid before God with open hands, understand that this is God’s church not Thomas’ or anyone else’s.

My prayer is that you will be excited, encouraged, and challenged by what I believe God’s call is for our church.

House Keeping:

Finances:

Calvary Harvest financial position

No Debt

Net Revenue has increased 22.79% in the past year

Assets increased 25.84% in the last year

6% of of our tithes are currently going towards building fund and Missions

Ministry allocation:

Benevolence 8%

Building Fund 14%

Children’s Ministry and the playground fund 8%

Missions 3%

High school and jr. high ministry 3%

General Fund 64%

Needs:

Children’s ministry:

The state of CM when we started to visit.

We offer: Nursery, Preschool, 1st-6th grade.

The state of CM now.

That 1st-6th grade class had more then 20 kids a month ago.

We would like to break up that class to be 1st-3rd and 4th-6th. We need help. Also splitting up the class means we need a 4th classroom. As the plan for the fellowship hall is to use it for overflow, special needs, or a cry-room.

High school and Jr. high ministry:

What used to be the women’s ministry room is now being used by the jr. high and high school kids.

By the grace of God that ministry seems to be growing too. For nearly 2 years we had 3-5 boys. Steven told me that if everyone showed up on the same week, we’d have about 20 students.

This is where our need is. We are in the process of renovating the old youth group classroom.

Steven, Kurt, Jeff, and the high school boys have already started in that renovation. They’ve removed the carpet and washed the walls, along with patching the holes in the drywall.

The cost for the foundation repair for the back youth room will be $5,100.

1,800 removal.

3,300 concrete, steel and labor

After the foundation is corrected, we will need to get carpet and a 2 ton mini split.

Parking lot:

The parking lot was graciously donated to us in 2010.

We want to make sure that we are taking care of the blessing God has given us. So we are planning on sealing the asphalt again this year $7,000.

Gates to prevent donuts in our parking lot.

Continued building repair:

There are a lot of other projects we would like to do to fix up our building.

Bathrooms

Special Need brothers and sisters.

Fellowship Hall

Kurt’s Office

Sound booth/ live stream:

Playground: Jada still raising money for some more renovations.

The importance of Vision:

In the past I had the naive notion that casting vision was a waste of time. And that it seemed to subvert our attention away from God’s desires toward our own desires. After all isn’t it pretty straightforward what God expects from us?

While I’m sure the Apostles and early church leaders didn’t have a vision Sunday I believe that it is important for us today.

Proverbs 29:18 KJV 1900

18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Without a clearly defined vision, as a church we can become susceptible to confusion and chaos. Everyone doing what they want to do rather than what God has called our congregation our local church to accomplish.

We believe that God has a purpose for our church. And with a clear defined vision, we will all know what our church should be, do, and what we should value.

Vision clarifies what we don’t do as much as what we are going to be about. With a clear vision it give us clarity knowing where and what the boundaries are.

We understand that there are limitless good ministry opportunities that you might like to see our church accomplish or to come alongside and partner with.

The truth of the matter is that if we were to try and accomplish every good thing we will inevitably be spread to thin and miss important opportunities that would help us accomplish the mission that God gave us to do as a church.

Family my heart is to be excellent at what the Lord has called us to do as a church.

Lastly, clear vision directs our gaze toward Christ. Without it, we will gravitate towards, “what we have always done.” And that plateauing is dangerous for the body of Christ, and will stop us from being truly effective for the kingdom of God.

My prayer is that each of you know and understand that you have a place here at Calvary Harvest. We are an “ohana” a family. Where no one is left behind or forgotten.

I hope you are excited for what the Lord has in store for us. It is going to be wild. However, know that if God is calling you here to be apart of our church, the members of this body, you will have a role to play.

Comparing visions: refined

Our last vision Sunday was in January of 2021 and a whole lot has changed since then. I want to clarify that the vision that God gave us then has not changed it is simply being refined.

One of the decisions that we had to make early on when I took over the pastorate, was the forgoing of supporting missions foreign and domestic.

Our reasoning was two fold:

Firstly, we needed to focus on our building and renovate it to be what we need it to be. I viewed it as taking care of our Jerusalem. And there is a whole lot more work that needs to be done too.

Secondly, as the senior pastor I needed to come to terms with what God wanted us to come behind and support. The last thing I want to do as the pastor is to lead us into a spiritual daycare mentality. Where we see the need and instead of being involved that we just give money (that that we shouldn’t) thinking that someone else will take care of what God has called us to partake in.

We are now supporting two missionaries that align closely with our calling as a church.

[[Jake and Kalli Holiday Neil and Emily Blackford ]]

Our previous mission also hasn’t changed but is being refined.

Acts 2:42 NKJV

42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

The pillars were: Solid Bible Teaching, The Fellowship, Prayer, and Worship.

My heart regarding teaching is the same:

Acts 20:27 NKJV

27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

My attitude towards our fellowship hasn’t changed either:

A fellowship that is encouraging:

A fellowship that rebukes, confesses, and restores:

A fellowship that is fun:

A fellowship that is away of the Holy Spirit

A fellowship that fosters love:

We won’t alway get these things right all the time but I want you to know that the leadership here is committed to our local church.

When it come to prayer this was one area that we sorely lack in. though we pray at the start of every service and every event we have. We simply do not pray enough as a congregation.

This is why we are changing our midweek service. And this service will be considered our most important. Because not only are we going to sing praises to God as a congregation we are going to be praying together and giving everyone an opportunity to pray.

Structure:

30 mins of worship

30 mins of prayer

30 mins of teaching

We are not going to open up the prayer time for people to share what they might need prayer for but to use this time as a focused time of prayer. I will have 4 or 5 different aspects of that we will focus on and break out into group to prayer for these points, for about five minutes.

Prayer has to be apart of the culture as we move forward. Every great movement of God throughout history has to be saturated with prayer. This is one aspect of Christian discipline we all need to work on together.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV

17 pray without ceasing,

Colossians 4:2 NKJV

2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;

Ephesians 6:18 NKJV

18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

Cultivating the culture

We have already been cultivating a beautiful culture that I know that pleases the Lord. We had a couple here a the last few weeks that stated, this was the kindest and caring community of believers they’ve every had the privilege to visit.

That a testimony of what the Lord has done in your lives. Because if we are honest we didn’t always love people who came through those doors like we should have. Even though we probably will never arrive to where we need to be in this area, God is working in us to step outside of ourselves and love people.

Thank you! Really, I mean it thank you.

The Pillars:

Our Pillars though not drastically different then before. Are intentionally ordered and expounded upon. I believe that as a church we are called to be established in these four pillars: the worship of God, the Word of God, and the work of God.

Established in the Worship of God:

John 4:23 NKJV

23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

We were all created to worship and glorify God. And this is the most important truth that I can convey to you as your pastor. Worship is so much more than singing praise to God, though that is an aspect of worship.

Worship is a lifestyle day in and day out we worship. Because we are created beings. Doubly so, being the image bearers of God All-mighty.

This is why it is mentioned first here. Because if we miss this fundamental step our foundation is going to be all messed up.

Matthew 22:36–38 NKJV

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment.

Established in the Word of God:

1 Thessalonians 2:13 NKJV

13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.

What we have is our hands is in fact the true and living Word of God!

We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, fully inspired, without error, and infallible rule of faith and practice. The Bible is the foundation upon which the church operates and is the basis by which the church is governed.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Family we have to be a community that is not only reading our Bibles but are also submitted to what it says.

John 8:31 NKJV

31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.

John 14:23 NKJV

23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

Psalm 119:105 NKJV

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

We need to grasp this truth that your relationship with the Lord is directly connected to your relationship with the Word of God.

Established in the work of God:

Now the work of God is comprised of two parts: Ministry and the local church.

Established in the Ministry:

This the the ministry that I as one of the pastors of our church i am to be equipping you for the work of the ministry:

Ephesians 4:12 NKJV

12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

1 Peter 4:10 NKJV

10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

The great commission is also our calling too:

Matthew 28:18–20 NKJV

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

We are going to go more in depth in this in a bit. I truly believe that biblical Christianity requires us to evangelize and disciple men and women.

Established in the Local Church:

I mentioned this time and time again that we cannot go through life on our own thinking that we are lone wolves. We need the local church to keep us accountable and to encourage us:

Hebrews 10:25 NKJV

25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

1 Timothy 3:15 NKJV

15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

The Mission:

The mission of our church is to know, grow, and go!

Know: means is that our desire is for us all to know God rightly, to worship Him correctly, and to be submitted to His Word. To worship God together as a family, praising, serving, and giving so that we give glory to our God.

Grow: That we take the necessary steps to continue to grow in what God has for us (and that is to not just be a believer but a disciple of Christ). We truly desire to equip every believe for the spiritual victory and to be able to service others well.

Go: that we accomplish what God is training us to do and that is to be equipped to be used by God to reach out to others with the gospel. As well as, sending out those called to plant churches.

Discipleship:

“How many you have made a comprehensive strategy to make disciples in your churches?”

We now have a game plan…

Luke 11:28 NKJV

28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

John 13:17 NKJV

17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

John 14:15 NKJV

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

There are so many programs, curriculum, classes, and churches that claim they have true biblical discipleship. The problem with nearly all of them is that it isn’t discipleship.

Discipleship cannot be accomplished through an academic pursuit of knowledge alone. You have to want to be a disciple of Christ. Disciple simply means follower, and to be a true follower of Jesus will cost you everything.

Luke 14:33 NKJV

33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Let me ease some concern:

We are not becoming baptist. We are Calvary through and through, but we feel as if we are going back to what really made Calvary Chapel great. and that is through discipleship.

We are not claiming to have the end all of discipleship programs that our is the best. But it has been throughly vetted.

No one is going to be left behind. If you do not want to be discipled we won’t. We don’t want to, nor can we force this on anyone. And if you don’t want to or if you simply are not ready. You are still welcomed here. We will minister to you and pour into you and love on you… because you are apart of our family.

Just know that it is God’s will for you to be discipled and to be a discipler. And it will require your submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

What does does this look like?

We are in the process of creating for our church, both a new believers class that will double as a foundations class. We are calling it, just that, foundations.

We are almost ready with our Cost of Discipleship (CoD) class that we will offer, a half day class for those interested in discipleship. And this class is simple to prepare you for the commitment that Discipleship 1 (D.1) will ask of you.

D.1 will be where we prayerfully connect you to someone who will disciple you. And where you will spend at least a year together going through 18 lessons that we every believer is called to submit too. Also in this process we will be teaching how to evangelize and actually going out and do that.

D.2 is for those who have gone through D1 and are ready to start that next phase of training. This step focuses on the godly character we are to have as matured believers.

Family discipleship is simply this: intentionally living life together and teaching sound doctrine. It is going from a new believer or complacent believer but someone who really wants to change and for them to learn how to truly and rightly serve the Lord.

For some of you I know that already you are on board. Please be patient with us. We only have a few people who are ready to make disciples and trying to get our leadership team up to snuff to be able to help.

Jesus was able to disciple 12 men and it took him 3 years, we are not Jesus the best I can do is at most a couple at a time, if that.

This is a process that we are not willing to cut corners or take the easy way out. We want everyone to be on the same page so that we are working together as a unit moving forward for the glory of God.

[Kurt, Jeff, and Steven]

The proof is in the pudding. We have been testing these things out, seeing if they really do work. Can I ask how many of you have seen a radical change in Kurt?

It is not just Kurt. Jeff, myself, Steven. We’ve changed because we came to the end of ourselves know that we need to live in submission to God.

Onnie: Have you seen a change since your husband started being discipled by Larry?

Leila: Have you seen a change in your husband since we started discipleship?

Again this cannot be a thought of as a class that is going to change you… because knowledge puffs up. It is more simple then that because it is truly submission to God. Though it will be hard, it will be so worth while.

We also are working with an artist for a new logo for our church.

I know that you probably have a ton of questions and probably some well grounded concerns. Please come talk with me, and don’t go complaining to someone else if you disagree.

Everything we plan for is wet cement and can be changed in any way the Lord decides.

Numbers 6:24–26 NKJV

24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’

Next week we start by reading through Ezra!