Vision

Living With Vision

Matt 21

Vision.... This morning I want to lay out the vision for the Church. I shared a lot of this Wednesday night with our group. By the way if you have not been coming on Wednesday night, you really ought to come. For the next few weeks we are to be looking at this idea of vision. And what I want to help you do is to formulate a personal vision for your life because without vision you will simply be stumbling through the darkness. we are going to be developing life goals, that involve Kingdom work, strategic steps in order to accomplish those goals.

I wanted to take this time and share with you what I shared Wednesday night. To help you see why Relevant Church exists and what will seperate us from a lot of other churches.

Vision- A mental picture of what could be, fueled by a passion that it should be

MY JOURNEY

Matthew 21:28–32 ESV

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

Matt

My experience with church was very limited before the age of 20. I went to a sweet little baptist church in Colfax for a short stent right before my mom died. And didn’t go to another until I was a young man.

-Community service

· Started serving with the Homeless ministry

· Wept the first time I came back

· The lord started a love in my heart for people in broken situations

· Then I went back to my church in Dallas and it was dull and boring to me.

· And I started looking around and one thing that I found is that people weren’t experiencing the same things that I was.

· They were quick to argue the finer points of theology. But the experiences that I was having with the Lord amongst the Homeless wasn’t happening at my church.

· Then I realized something, they weren’t experiencing it because they were placing themselves in a position of desperation. I just wanted to please the Lord. And I would bring homeless people back home with me. I would let them shower at my house.

· I am not tooting my own horn, I am just sharing with you so you can gain perspective

Vision always is born out of burden

THE VISION FOR RELEVANT CHURCH

alpha male could all fellowship and love one another….

alpha male could all fellowship and love one another….

Here is our vision We help hurting people, find healing and wholeness….

Now that is it.. We are here to help hurting people find Healing and Wholeness

1. The reason this church is always kind of finagled is my fault… Because when you are new you are hungry and vulnerable…

2. Had someone tht helped us start, leave and go to their old church is because they couldn’t identify with me. And the fact that we are always concentrating on hurts. And we were, we hadn’t figured out the healing process yet.

3. Then we started getting some young 20 somethings

Then we started getting a bunch of young families with young children…

The wonderful thing about our mission it is actually more Biblical than chhurches that turn their children into idols.

What do you think will have the greater impact…

1. Focus on Kids

A church that has all of its main focus and energies on kids, making it crazy fun for them and teaching them the Word of God… which by the way, we will do… but again not our focus...

And those kids have some great times in church, but that is only 2 hours out of the 168 hours of every week. By which kids at the school get 40 hours of that weekly time.... You know we are goping to love on kids, but we are not going to make kids our everything. You know what, you shouldn’t either. I know parents that spoiled their kids to death, always gave them what they wanted, tried to always be their best friend, and when they grew up they ended up breaking their parents heart. As much as I love my son, He is not my full focus, Jesus is my full focus. But the great thing, is the more I love Jesus the better Father I become. Can I tell you that if it wasn’t for jesus my son wouldn’t have had a father. I was on a one way track to hell, and jesus derailed me, and gave me a new heart and a new mind

2. Focus on hurting people.

Or we focus on the hurting to help them find healing and wholeness....

So what does that look like?..... Let me give you a scenario

Well we take the parents who are causing the khaos and we help the parents find healing, who in return go home and create a loving, nurturing and stable atmosphere for those children and then they do what the Bible says to do, and that is take those children and teach them the word of God. Dads do you know that you will have greater influence in your childs life than I ever will. The only way I have greater influence is if you damage your child's heart and they encounter me or those in the childrens ministry. Do you know what you will not find in the Bible? Church teach other peoples kids to love and obey God. Look its not in there… do you know what is in there?

Ephesians 6:4 ESV

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:

Who is a this charge too? Its to the Parents, more specifically to the dad.... Why? Because He is the head of His home.... Gentlemen, do you know who your wife’s and children’s favorite pastor should be? It should be you. You are pastor of your home, I am pastor of this church, but I promise you I am the pastor of my home. You know mys son and wife have seen me mess up, they have seen my held by sin, they have seen me when I am at my worst, but you know what my son and my wife love me and they respect me. My son is one of the greatest young men I have ever met. the boy is more disciplined and responsible than I could have ever been at that age. But do you know why? Because I am the loving shepherd f my home. The Lord is not looking for perfect, he is looking for willing, a willing heart that is ready to acknowledge his faults and protect over his home.

Parents are to teach their households-

Genesis 18:19 ESV

19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

Deuteronomy 4:9 ESV

9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children—

Deuteronomy 6:4–7 ESV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Deut

We can try to

So Relevant church has two sectors that are under construction this coming up year.

Sector One:

it is a hospital for the wounded,

but it is also a military base for the Christian soldier. And once we get you from the ER to the ICU, to recovery, when you are cleared to leave, you will be enrolled into the army. You will be held to a higher standard. You will be given a battle plan .

Now I have answered the Who, Who are we… We are a church that help hurting people find healing and wholeness. We want you to be mentally whole, spiritually whole, physically whole, and financially whole

We want to create a church that the unsaved, the un-churched, and those who have been wounded in church can love and enjoy. We want to take people from the highways and the byways. We want the humble business man and the single mom. We want the addicted and the non addicted.

Now I have answered the Who?

Let me answer the How? How are we going to help people find wholeness in Christ?

We cvall this the 4 Living Rivers

Th first

Living Stream of Discipleship

This is really an umbrella for all the rivers… because you will find discipleship is all of it.

1, I wnat to teach people about their identity in Christ. That when you give your life to the Lord and you become born again… all things become knew for you. You are no longer that mad and manipulasting woman, you are no longer that bitter drunk who has given up on life and he is drowning his problems away. You are made New in Jesus

2 Corinthians 5:17–18 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

You are Redeemed

In this passage its speaks about in Christ he has redeemed and rescued sinful humanity and reconciled us back to our heavenly Dad. And the grace of God not only cancels the penalty of sin, it also gives you the riches of Christ. Yes you may have been the biggest Jerk ut when you said yes to Christ, you said yes to a whole new identity. A whole new way of seeing life. No longer do you have to see life from the perspective of an orphan, but you can see life through the eyes as a very important child in the greatest family on earth… the family of God.

Illustration:

You know when you come from a poor family like I did, you have an impoverished mindset, that goes way past just being frugal. I mean I am buying the most basic things, listen we are using the equate brand of Pert plus. Yeah you saved fifty cents but your hair is get frail and stringy. We can have that empoverished mindset as a Christian. We don’t think we are worthy to ask for great things

2 Cor 5:24

You are Worthy

When you understand your identity you will come to understand how God sees you. Not as this lustful sinful, controlling, always manipulating wretch. Or as that woman that killed her unborn child. Or as that junky who used to put that needle in his arm. Or as that prideful person that used to put unattainable expectations But as a son of the most High. And listen when you understand that, that because of Christ you have become a royal blue-blood.

This will heal you of shying away from a certain class of people. This will help you identify the lies of the devil when he tries to make you inferiror.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

You are Equipped

If you are chosen by God, it really doesn’t matter what man can say. Better to be loved by God and hated by man than to be loved by man and hated by God. You have a new Identity.

This new identity comes with a new heart...

It comes with a new pair of eyes… the eyes of faith. All of a sudden you can see things past the natural and look beyond into the supernatural, And places where mere man is limited that just where you are starting. Because God still works Miracles

It is going to change the way you pray....

Matthew 21:21–22 ESV

21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

matthew 21

Living Stream of Healing

Ezekiel 36:26–27 ESV

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Ezekiel 36:26-27

Discipleship

Some people go through their entire life never being healed. They live with the echoing voice of an abusive father. They are haunted by an unfaithful decision, a moment of weakness or a lifetime of regrets.

We are going to be setting up different events throughout the year that are based around this principle of healing. We will have Freedom Weekends. And when I invite you, you need to come. So many people foolishly choice lesser things than time with God.

Another huge ministry that we have access to is fellowship of the Sword events

This is the One that we need to really excel at

THE HOW