1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,480 Thank you, Paul. I don't know that I've ever sung the words of hymn 568 before. If you 2 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:13,760 got in too late this morning to sing that hymn, you missed something. Wonderful words 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:18,480 about God being the King of the ages. 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:25,240 We invite you to open your Bible and to turn to Luke chapter 24, as today we think again 5 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:31,560 about the heart-to-heart messages that Jesus was leaving with his disciples as he prepared 6 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:36,760 to go back to heaven. 7 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:45,680 I'm going to begin reading in verse 45. He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 8 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:52,680 and he said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from 9 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:59,520 the dead on the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed 10 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:07,240 in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these 11 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:13,880 things, and behold, I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you, that you are 12 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:19,920 to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And he led them out 13 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:25,760 as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came about that while 14 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:31,200 he was blessing them, he parted from them. 15 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:38,320 The eyes of America and the world have been on Southern California this last week. The 16 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:46,080 devastation due to the loss of life, to property damage, and the disruption of community life 17 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:54,320 has been overwhelming. On Wednesday, the President of the United States visited Southern California. 18 00:01:54,320 --> 00:02:01,280 Why did he go? Well, he may have had a number of reasons in going, but I suspect that one 19 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:08,160 of the reasons at the top of his list would be to assure the victims of the concern of 20 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:14,640 their government and their fellow citizens, and to help them lift their eyes off of the 21 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:24,880 devastation, to focus on the hope for the future. The President came to renew their morale, 22 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:33,920 to instill a sort of vision that the prospect of tomorrow will be better than the hardship 23 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:37,040 of today. 24 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:47,240 Vision is important to individuals, to a community, and I would say as well, to a church. In our 25 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:52,920 text today, the followers of Jesus had been through some kind of an earthquake in their 26 00:02:52,920 --> 00:03:02,120 faith. They had lost their vision when he was crucified and killed. But after his resurrection 27 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:10,680 and during his appearances to them, Jesus went about restoring their faith, their hope, 28 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:19,160 and their sense of purpose. They needed to see tomorrow and to get their eyes off of 29 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:25,560 the day of their shaken faith. 30 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:33,320 Like those disciples, the Church of Jesus Christ today needs a vision and understanding 31 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:42,280 of what it is to do and to be by the plan of the risen Christ. Its people need to see 32 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:51,000 what it means to be a part of the Church and why commitment to the Church is so worth it. 33 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:59,680 We need to understand why we should be willing to suffer, to sacrifice, and to serve Jesus 34 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:06,640 Christ. To see beyond the sacrifice of today into the possibilities of tomorrow is what 35 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:09,200 vision is all about. 36 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:22,360 Now if you were asked, what is the vision of your church, what would you say? Actually, 37 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:30,600 all of us should be able to answer that question. We should all be able to articulate in similar 38 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:40,560 words what the vision of our church is about. Now we might say, well, it's about winning 39 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:52,920 souls. It's about equipping the saints. It's about making disciples of all the nations. 40 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:58,920 And all of those answers are fine. The problem is that we've given an answer that better 41 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:06,560 describes the mission of the Church than the vision. You see, the mission of the Church 42 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:15,920 is a broad concept, like winning people to Christ. It's a general, philosophic kind of 43 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:24,560 statement. We're going to disciple the nations. It's a good place to begin, but that isn't 44 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:33,400 the vision of a church. The vision of a church, or a Christian ministry for that matter, is 45 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:44,560 found in a more specific, narrow description of the niche that that group of Christians 46 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:53,880 plays in the overall mission given to the Church. The vision is specific. It is detailed. 47 00:05:53,880 --> 00:06:03,080 And it's unique to that particular Church's calling. How is it that vision comes about? 48 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:09,440 Well, we see some lessons about vision in our text today. I invite you to notice with 49 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:20,680 me that vision comes from Jesus. Jesus imparts vision to His people, here to His disciples, 50 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:28,440 for the task that He wants us to accomplish together. The vision is the direction that 51 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:36,640 we understand from Him, that we accept from Him, and for which we are willing to commit 52 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:45,160 ourselves completely. A vision involves not mere intellectual understanding. It involves 53 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:55,080 passion of the heart. It involves buying into that particular strategy, that particular 54 00:06:55,080 --> 00:07:06,640 niche that my Church has. It involves ownership. There's great benefit in buying into it. 55 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:11,600 You will notice that after these disciples had been with Jesus, and He parted from them, 56 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:17,560 it says, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising 57 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:24,940 God. What had happened? These men not only understood the mission that they had, they 58 00:07:24,940 --> 00:07:30,960 understood their part in it from what Jesus had shared with them. Because they had a vision 59 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:41,200 of that, their hearts overflowed with joy. There is joy in the journey for the disciple 60 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:48,360 who understands the vision that God wants to place in his heart. 61 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:56,040 For these disciples and for us, there is a context for vision. It is the same. It is 62 00:07:56,040 --> 00:08:02,920 the Word of God. Notice in verse 45, Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 63 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:08,720 They had heard these Scriptures before, but now Jesus gives them greater insight into 64 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:15,440 the writings of the Scriptures. The Word of God must forever be the context of the vision 65 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:24,680 of our lives and of our Church. Vision arises from what God has to say. It provides the 66 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:32,880 context for how we see ourselves, what our values are, and what we believe God wants 67 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:42,520 us to do. We say, isn't that a given? Well, actually, it's not. It's not even a given 68 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:49,960 for churches, let alone individual Christians. For example, there are some churches today 69 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:55,800 that take their cues not from the context of the Bible, but from the context of our 70 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:03,920 culture. The whole vision that they have for their reason for existence is found in those 71 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:13,920 cultural issues that concern them in our day. There is a wide variety of them. For the most 72 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:18,640 part, these are churches that are mainline and which would be accurately described as 73 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:25,920 liberal in their theological perspectives. But we need to understand that they have a 74 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:34,840 vision nonetheless. It's a very driving vision, and they're accomplishing what they want. 75 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:39,960 The problem that they have is that the vision that they've created is not from the Word 76 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:49,520 of God. It's from culture. Sometimes there are those who are studying Scripture who actually 77 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:58,640 find the context for their vision from their leader. There are some churches this way. 78 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:05,240 The whole vision the church has is funneled through the leader. And when the leader goes 79 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:11,780 or dies, the vision of the church evaporates because the context for the vision has not 80 00:10:11,780 --> 00:10:16,880 been a shared understanding of the Word of God, but it's been the preacher, the pastor, 81 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:24,720 the leader. The same can be true of movements. I think the same thing can be said of the 82 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:33,280 cult that a year ago was capturing the attention of the nation down in Texas. They claim to 83 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:37,360 be studying the Word of God, and yet their whole vision was wrapped up not in the Word 84 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:45,480 of God, but in David Koresh, and he led them to disaster. If we're going to have real 85 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:52,560 vision, the kind of vision that God will bless, it must be within the context of our understanding 86 00:10:52,560 --> 00:11:00,920 of the Word of God. Notice that the source of the vision these disciples had, while its 87 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:10,600 context was the Old Testament that Jesus opened to them, the source of it was Jesus himself. 88 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:16,760 He had appeared to them on that first Easter Sunday, and now periodically over 40 days, 89 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:24,000 he abides with them, he teaches them, and out of that communion with the living Christ, 90 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:34,520 they receive this vision for what they're to do. Vision must be built upon relationship 91 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:45,120 in order to capture passion and commitment. One can be committed to a cause and have no 92 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:54,480 passion, but one cannot be committed to a person without there being passion there. 93 00:11:54,480 --> 00:12:01,180 For example, your marriage. Are you and your marriage merely committed to the institution 94 00:12:01,180 --> 00:12:08,480 of marriage? You can be that, and you can go through your anniversaries year after year 95 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:13,120 and just be committed to the institution of marriage. The problem is there's no passion 96 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:21,920 there. But if there's genuine relationship between husband and wife, then there's passion. 97 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:30,160 Beyond the commitment to the institution, there's a passion that arises out of relationship. 98 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:34,920 Suppose you were on a rescue team in Southern California heading into one of those devastated 99 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:40,680 neighborhoods. You would go about that with a great deal of energy, undoubtedly out of 100 00:12:40,680 --> 00:12:47,600 concern for people. But let's suppose for the moment you were going into your neighborhood, 101 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:55,520 to your home, to rescue your family, would there be passion there? Would there be commitment? 102 00:12:55,520 --> 00:13:04,080 Of course, because there's relationship with those people who are trapped in that house. 103 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:10,120 My point this morning is that the source of our vision must be Jesus Christ and our relationship 104 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:19,080 with Him. Our vision must come from Him out of a time spent in prayer with Him, listening 105 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:27,980 to His voice in the context of His Word. When we have communed with the living Christ and 106 00:13:27,980 --> 00:13:36,280 received from Him the vision that He has for us, then we will be passionate about that 107 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:45,320 vision because it comes from Him to whom we are committed. 108 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:53,760 I've already mentioned the distinction between mission and vision. The basis of a vision 109 00:13:53,760 --> 00:14:00,480 has to be the mission. The mission that is given to the church is very clear. Jesus says 110 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:09,280 it is this, that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed. Notice that 111 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:21,440 He ties the mission of the church, this broad philosophical statement, to His own mission. 112 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:29,640 He said that Christ had to suffer and die and be raised from the dead so that repentance 113 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:38,200 could be proclaimed. In John He puts it this way, as the Father has commissioned me, so 114 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:43,080 I commission you. 115 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:50,440 The mission of the church of Jesus Christ is linked together with His mission. I say 116 00:14:50,440 --> 00:15:03,480 this carefully. His mission is not fulfilled until we have done our part. He has completed 117 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:08,920 the work of salvation on the cross of Calvary, but that is the beginning. The rest of the 118 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:14,320 mission is that His body, you and I, take that message now to the whole world. That 119 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:23,240 is our mission. The vision that you and I have for our lives or for our church has to 120 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:30,720 be based upon this mission that Jesus gives. God's great purpose of redemption was accomplished 121 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:37,860 by Jesus, but finally it is to be carried out by the church as it proclaims the message 122 00:15:37,860 --> 00:15:41,760 of repentance for forgiveness of sins. 123 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:50,120 If you are here today without the forgiveness of sins, here we have the basis for your forgiveness. 124 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:55,260 It is that Jesus Christ suffered and died for you at the cross and paid the penalty 125 00:15:55,260 --> 00:16:04,440 there that God might now be merciful and extend to you forgiveness through His Son. By believing 126 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:13,200 in Jesus Christ, you can find forgiveness for whatever you have done in the past. 127 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:20,520 After laying down the mission in general, Jesus gets more specific. Notice the statement 128 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:31,120 of the vision itself that He wants His disciples to grasp. Verse 48, you are witnesses of these 129 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:42,240 things. You see how He narrows it? He says, here is the broad picture. Repentance has 130 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:49,160 to be proclaimed so that people might be saved from their sins. Now He looks at His little 131 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:56,160 band and He says, you are witnesses of these things. The word witness would conjure up 132 00:16:56,160 --> 00:17:02,480 in their minds all kinds of pictures and ideas that were prevalent in that day. 133 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:09,240 But notice the more specifics that Jesus gave to them. First of all, it involved proclaiming 134 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:18,320 a verbal word. It was not enough for His disciples merely to live like good people. They had 135 00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:24,600 to proclaim the message of repentance. They had to speak it. They had to articulate it. 136 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:34,360 They had to tell it. That's more specific. Then He says that they are to begin in Jerusalem. 137 00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:38,840 You see their vision is getting more specific all the time. Jesus says, you begin right 138 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:49,280 here in this city. And then He says, and to the nations of the world. 139 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:53,880 Now Luke captures this just a little differently in his wording when he writes the book of 140 00:17:53,880 --> 00:18:00,640 Acts. He goes back to the same period of time and connects the gospel with the historical 141 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:10,400 book of Acts. On that occasion Jesus says to His disciples, as Luke records it there, 142 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:16,640 you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be my witnesses, 143 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:24,240 both in Jerusalem, again here, in Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the 144 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:33,040 earth. So Jesus laid down the specific vision that He had for this group of people. They 145 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:42,040 were to proclaim with their mouths the message of Christ. They were to begin in Jerusalem 146 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:52,160 and then work their way out to the uttermost parts of the earth. All cultures, all people 147 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:58,680 groups ultimately are to hear the gospel. 148 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:04,920 The Grace Church of Roseville, I think, has a fine mission statement. I think that we 149 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:09,520 ought to always be looking at it to see how we may want to tweak it here and there, but 150 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:15,360 on the back of your bulletin you'll find that mission statement. It's there every Sunday 151 00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:24,800 in that block that concludes our worship folder. It says that we are a community of believers 152 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:33,680 whose purpose is to worship the Lord Jesus Christ and to prepare itself through biblical 153 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:45,080 instruction, service, and fellowship in order to evangelize the world. That's a broad statement. 154 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:50,240 It's hard to argue against that, isn't it? It's hard to disagree with it because it arises 155 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:57,280 right out of the context of scripture, as it should, and it lays out for us the broad 156 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:04,800 mission of what our church is about. But Grace Church of Roseville could benefit from a clearer 157 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:14,000 vision of its ministry, a better understanding of that unique role that God wants us to play 158 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,840 in this broad vision. 159 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:24,040 Now we've taken a stab at it, insufficiently at this point, but a stab at it, when we have 160 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:34,720 described ourselves as a mission center. Jesus said to his disciples, you are witnesses. 161 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:40,640 The picture we use of ourselves has been that we're a mission center. Now there are all 162 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:45,840 kinds of ramifications of that that I don't have time to go into this morning, but the 163 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:54,040 fact is that we can elaborate on that and need to. The vision that we as a church have 164 00:20:54,040 --> 00:21:03,480 must come from God. It will come through our leaders and then be discussed and agreed upon 165 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:10,920 ultimately and owned by everyone in the church. Vision is not arrived at with a democratic 166 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:16,800 process. Fourteen ideas of vision aren't put up and everybody lifts his hand for which 167 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:22,800 one of the fourteen he likes. That's not the way it's done. Vision comes from God through 168 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:33,480 leaders to the rest of us. And then we together hone that. We refine it. We work it through, 169 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:38,560 change it here and there until we believe together as a group, yes, this is what God 170 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:51,600 wants us to be about. Vision is cast by leaders, but it is hammered out by many hands. Right 171 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:58,320 now our leadership at Grace Church is involved in producing a draft of a vision statement 172 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:07,000 for us. This is part of a process we're going through of strategic planning. We begin with 173 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:14,800 the mission. We flow out from there with our objectives, our purposes, our values, and 174 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:22,200 then we arrive at our strategic plan. Out of that comes the vision of what God wants 175 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:31,120 us to be. You say, well why is this so important? Well, it's important as I've tried to say 176 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:39,000 because it develops passion in us. It helps us to understand and to own what the church 177 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:48,200 is all about. There appear to be a variety of visions within our church as to the unique 178 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:56,120 calling that we have, to our role. When there are three or four or ten visions of what our 179 00:22:56,120 --> 00:23:05,920 church ought to be, then it dissipates our energy and it confuses our direction. Over 180 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:12,760 the upcoming months, between now and about April, we're going to engage in a process 181 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:17,200 that's going to be congregation wide in which we're going to talk about the vision that 182 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:24,800 God wants to instill in our hearts for this ministry. Now this is important for a second 183 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:32,840 reason because as we have talked about the development of this site over the last year, 184 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:38,000 and by about a 97% vote confirmed that that's what we ought to do last summer to remain 185 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:45,440 here and develop this site. There are some who have fixated on the proposed building 186 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:51,680 thinking that that is the vision. The thing is that we have to understand that that is 187 00:23:51,680 --> 00:24:00,560 not the vision. That may well be a part of our strategy to accomplish the vision, but 188 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:09,440 the building is not an end in itself. It has to be the means to the end. Now to be very 189 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:15,440 candid with you, I wish that a building weren't necessary. I wish we didn't even have to talk 190 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:22,760 about it because talking about it and going through the process of building and making 191 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:30,240 all of that happen consumes a great deal of energy. But I'm willing to do that, believing 192 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:36,280 that it is part of our means to the end. That if we're going to accomplish the vision that 193 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:42,360 God gives us, most likely we're going to have to build a building here, maybe several phases 194 00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:49,400 of building over the coming years. But having said that, let me reiterate that a building 195 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:59,400 is not the vision. A building is a means to accomplishing the vision. Vision is never 196 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:11,680 brick and mortar. Building is people oriented. Vision is seeing individuals who are without 197 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:19,920 Christ, without hope, without ultimate meaning in life. And it's an understanding of what 198 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:28,160 God wants us to do and to be to reach those people. That's what vision is. Vision is people 199 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:39,200 oriented. Here Jesus says to his disciples, you are witnesses. Begin Jerusalem. Go to 200 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:46,560 all the nations, all the cultures of the world. That is your vision. That could have been 201 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:54,040 overwhelming to them. And as we look at our vision as a church, we may feel at points 202 00:25:54,040 --> 00:26:02,320 overwhelmed. But the fact is that Jesus also gives us the resource for our vision. We see 203 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:15,080 that in the next verse, verse 49. I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you. Jesus 204 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:23,720 tells us in the first place that our resource for the vision is not in ourselves. Whatever 205 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:33,200 it is that God wants us to be and to do, the resources for that do not rest in us. They 206 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:41,680 rest in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit whom he sends to indwell us. The Holy Spirit 207 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:49,880 who is the very life of Christ, the Holy Spirit who is the power of God. These people went 208 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:55,840 back to Jerusalem after Jesus left them and they began to pray. Luke tells us about it 209 00:26:55,840 --> 00:27:03,640 in Acts chapter 1. It says they devoted themselves every day to praying. It is prayer which releases 210 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:10,760 the energy of the Holy Spirit in the church. How is it that we can unlock the resources 211 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:18,240 of God so that we can accomplish the vision that he will lay upon our hearts? It is through 212 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:25,560 prayer. When we as a congregation are so passionate and so committed to Christ, to his kingdom, 213 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:30,520 and to the vision that he gives us as a church that we are willing to sacrifice and to pray, 214 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:42,120 to spend time together to pray, then the vision will be realized. Notice that as Jesus was 215 00:27:42,120 --> 00:27:48,160 blessing them, he lifted up his hands to bless them and as he was doing that, his feet lifted 216 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:54,840 off that mountain and he began to go up. Now I assume he finished what he wanted to say, 217 00:27:54,840 --> 00:28:01,000 but he was lifted up while blessing them and I believe there is significance to that. It 218 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:09,760 is this that throughout this age, that is the disposition of Jesus Christ, blessing his 219 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:19,520 people. He went away to heaven blessing his followers and still today that is his disposition 220 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:27,240 from heaven to pour blessing upon his people. Our resources come from his blessing as well 221 00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:38,080 as from his spirit. How may we know his blessing? How can we be in the position to receive those 222 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:47,600 blessings and to enjoy them by living our lives in faith and obedience? That is how. 223 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:55,280 As we sang not too long ago, I think last Sunday, trust and obey. There is no other 224 00:28:55,280 --> 00:29:02,400 way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. When I am living my life, trusting God, 225 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:08,020 believing him and obeying his word as best I understand it, that I am keeping myself 226 00:29:08,020 --> 00:29:16,240 in that place where I can receive the blessing that he is sending. How sad to rob ourselves 227 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:25,440 of that blessing by living outside of the sphere of faith and obedience. Everything 228 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:34,520 that we need to do what God wants us to do, he will provide if we will trust and obey. 229 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:42,720 We have that assurance. Now it may be that you are saying in your mind, okay I have heard 230 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:51,280 you but I am not still sure what a vision statement sounds like. Let me share with you 231 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:56,320 a sample or two of a vision statement from other local churches in other parts of the 232 00:29:56,320 --> 00:30:05,120 country. What I want you to notice is that they don't refer to the Great Commission. 233 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:10,520 What they say is built on that. That is the mission that all of us have. Here we have 234 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:17,960 a specific vision statement from churches as to how they define who they are and what 235 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:23,960 they are there to be about. I don't know the names of the churches or I would give 236 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:30,480 them to you but listen to the first one. To provide the greater metropolitan area with 237 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:37,640 a church geared to the needs and lifestyles of baby boomers who are nominal Christians 238 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:46,920 offering a ministry that is sensitive in personality and characterized by loving, forgiving, accepting 239 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:55,280 environment. You see there is a church that has captured a vision that is narrowed down 240 00:30:55,280 --> 00:31:02,280 from the general mission exactly who it is after, the kind of values it has, what it 241 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:13,760 is going to do. Here is an organization to equip professionals in New York City to impact 242 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:20,680 their web of relationships focusing on reaching non-Christians through cell groups and marketplace 243 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:30,680 ministries that address urban needs. You see again how they brought the broad mission down 244 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:38,880 to a vision of exactly what their niche is in it all. I hope that you share the excitement 245 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:47,640 of my heart this morning as we think about what that vision ought to be for us as a church. 246 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:56,880 The fact is that we can't do all things and be all things for all people. No church has 247 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:04,920 the resources to be able to do that. Jesus has a specific niche for us as a church and 248 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:13,680 together we want to hammer that out so that we understand exactly who we are, what our 249 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:21,920 values are, and what God wants us to do in light of the great commission. So my request 250 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:28,360 of you this morning is to pray with us. We are early in the process. The elders are just 251 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:35,440 now dealing with this. We'll be coming to the congregation weeks ahead. But would you 252 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:41,840 begin praying now? God, as a church we need to understand more clearly what your vision 253 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:50,640 is. Would you give that to us? Secondly, would you participate in the process when that opportunity 254 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:57,360 comes to you? Will you help us to fashion what that vision ought to be for Grace Church 255 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:06,040 Roosevelt? Third, will you purpose in your heart not only to understand what we ultimately 256 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:15,600 come to, but to own it as a member of this congregation? To feel passionate about that 257 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:26,080 vision? To be willing to commit yourself to it? Vision comes from the risen Lord, Jesus 258 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:34,320 Christ, in the context of what we know from His word, what it teaches. Out of our ongoing 259 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:43,080 communion with Christ as we pray, we as a congregation will hear His voice, clarifying 260 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:50,800 our vision and unifying our hearts under His Lordship. And the result of our going through 261 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:56,240 this process is going to be the same as it was for those disciples. It will result in 262 00:33:56,240 --> 00:34:03,880 unity and joy in the journey. I like the words that Matt sang earlier. There's wonder and 263 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:15,120 wildness to life and freedom for those who obey. As we think about the church's vision, 264 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:22,440 let me just apply this a bit more specifically to you individually. What is your vision for 265 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:32,040 your life? Of course, I'm going to win souls, I'm going to teach my Sunday school class, 266 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:38,440 but how do you fit more specifically? How focused can you be? Now I suppose it's possible 267 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:46,880 to be too narrow, but if we say that our own purpose in life is to win everybody to Jesus, 268 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:58,640 that's too broad. I suppose we need to understand our spiritual giftedness and look at our interests. 269 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:05,720 What do we enjoy doing? We need to look at what God has blessed that we've done in the 270 00:35:05,720 --> 00:35:16,680 past. Put those things together with a lot of prayer, asking God, and you will eventually 271 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:23,720 understand what your vision ought to be. Why you are here. It is not just to be a member 272 00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:31,200 of the church, it is not just to win souls to Jesus, it is to do this thing. And when 273 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:39,240 you understand what that is, it will create a brand new sense of freedom in your life. 274 00:35:39,240 --> 00:35:45,360 There will be joy there. It will liberate you. You will experience new power in serving 275 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:56,000 Christ because you understand what your niche is, where you plug in. As we do that individually 276 00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:02,600 and as we do that together as a congregation, it will transform us. It will transform us 277 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:10,200 because there is power in vision. There is power in vision because it comes from a Lord 278 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:19,140 who has risen from the dead and who is victorious and who chooses to bless our lives for His 279 00:36:19,140 --> 00:36:25,680 purpose in the world. Let's bow together. 280 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:37,880 Here I pray today with all of my heart that you will generate in this church an understanding 281 00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:46,960 and a passion of what your vision for us as a congregation is. I pray that you will bless 282 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:58,680 the process that we are entering into. Help us to keep perspective. May we, by trusting 283 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:05,800 and obeying, be in that place where we can hear your voice and understand what you want 284 00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:13,520 us to be and to do. And Lord, as you do that for us as a congregation, I want to pray that 285 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:20,440 we individually will benefit from this process too. And understand more precisely what that 286 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:29,000 unique place is that you have for each one of us in a part of this greater vision for 287 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:36,120 us as a congregation. We will give praise and thanks to you for how you answered this 288 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:43,700 prayer. And we anticipate with excitement what you're going to do as we give ourselves 289 00:37:43,700 --> 00:38:06,600 a fresh to you. Amen.