Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
In his book Who You Are When No One Is Looking, Bill Hybels recounts the familiar story of two prisoners who shared the same small jail cell, a cell with no light except that which came in through a tiny window three feet above eye level. And, with little else to do, both prisoners spent a great deal of time looking at that tiny window. As one man looked, he saw only the bars; those obvious, ugly, metallic reminders of the reality of his imprisonment, and with this grim perspective, from day to day he grew increasingly discouraged, bitter, angry, and hopeless. By contrast, the other prisoner looked through the window and focused on the stars beyond. As he gazed at those sparkling points of light, hope welled up in his heart. He began to think of the possibility of leaving the darkness of his cell and starting a new life in freedom some day.
Now understand, these two prisoners were looking at the same window, but one saw bars while the other saw stars. And this difference in their vision made a huge difference in their lives!
Well, the fact is vision always makes a difference. Vision holds incredible power and all we have to do to see proof of this principle is to look in our history books. For example a look back shows us that in 1774 a man named John Adams boldly declared his vision of a new nation, a union of 13 states independent from the parliament and the King of England. The people of America caught that vision and worked to bring it to fruition and because they did, against great odds, his words became true. Within two years of his prophetic proclamation, the United States of America was born.
History also records the fact that in 1789 a man named William Wilberforce stood before the British Parliament and eloquently cried out for the day when men, women and children would no longer be bought and sold like farm animals. Each year for the next 18 years his bill was defeated, but he continued his tireless campaign against slavery. And finally in 1833, just four days before his death. Parliament passed a bill completely abolishing slavery in the British Empire.
If we were to look back in history to the 1940’s we’d see a young evangelist named Billy Graham who had a radical dream. He and a few college buddies envisioned packed stadiums where people far from God could hear the gospel proclaimed. Well, as of this year hundreds of millions of people have heard Billy Graham preach live, while well over one billion have heard him present the gospel via television and radio.
Moving forward in time, who can forget 1963 when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial just few miles south of here and shared his vision of a world without prejudice, hatred, or racism. Do you remember his famous words? “I have a dream (a vision) that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Although Dr. King was cruelly assassinated, his dream still lives on, his vision still guides our nation as we work to keep breaking down racial barriers.
So history shows the obvious fact is that vision can make all the difference. It is indeed an incredibly powerful motivational force. Hybels writes,
“Vision is the fuel that leaders run on. It’s the energy that creates action. It’s the fire that ignites the passion of people. It’s the clear call that sustains focused effort year after year, decade after decade, as people offer consistent and sacrificial service to God.”
If you’re visiting or are new to our church family, I would tell you that here at Redland we embrace this principle. We believe in the power of vision here. We don’t just play at church. We want to know what it is that God has called us to do so we can do our part in furthering His eternal Kingdom. So once a year about this time, after a great deal of prayer, I share my vision for the coming months and that’s what I’m here to do this morning.
But before I do that, I want to back up a bit and remind you exactly what vision is, because to fully benefit from vision, to grasp its importance, we need to understand it. And I think one way to understand it better is to review three things that Hybels says about vision in his book.
(1) First, he points out that vision is the God-given ability to see possible solutions to the everyday problems of life.
And he is right. Visionary people are solution oriented, not problem oriented.
This reminds me of a visionary man in Florida that I read about a few years back. This guy got the necessary business loans and licenses and started his own port-a-john business. And at first things went very well. Money started to roll in as people all over the state began to rent his port-a-johns for company picnics or family reunions or church anniversaries like we enjoyed last year! But very soon this visionary businessman was confronted with a problem, namely what was he to do with all the “deposits” people were making in his product? How was he to dispose of all that septic system waste? He couldn’t just dump it in a river somewhere. But as his problem literally began to pile up, he sought and found a solution. He got with some scientist friends and came up with a way to convert the waste into powerful fertilizer–stuff he then packaged and sold to farmers and greenhouses at a very hefty profit. Soon he was almost literally “filthy, stinking, rich” because he was solution oriented, not problem oriented. He didn’t let his problem defeat him.
Now you may think, “Well, Mark, what is so mind-boggling about that? Doesn’t everybody become solution oriented when faced with a pressing problem?” Well, if you asked me that I would say, “No.” When faced with the difficulties of life, the prevailing tendency in most people is not to try to solve problems but to get stuck on them, like a phonograph needle on a scratched record. A person is going along happily when suddenly he is hit with a difficult issue. It could be work-related or something in his marriage or family or friendships. The problem could be spiritual or physical or relational or whatever. But usually his first reaction is to wonder, “Why me? Of all the billions of people on this planet, why did this problem hit me?” He begins to moan and groan about the fact that he now has a perplexing problem. Hybels writes,
“He turns his problem over and over in his mind like a piece of meat on a rotisserie, eventually sending out formal invitations to a ‘blacktie pity party.’ Before he knows it, his whole life is revolving around his problem. Paralysis sets in. He has chosen to let his problem define him and he can no longer either solve it or attend to business in other areas of his life. He is his problem. Amazingly he has done everything he can about his problem except the one thing he should do–devote himself doggedly and determinedly to finding a solution.”
Well visionaries aren’t like that. When hit with the inevitable difficulties of life, their response is to look beyond “the bars,” beyond the problem, in an effort to see a solution. And this is important because problems are part of life, even church life. So to be a visionary person or congregation, we have to be able to see solutions amidst the problems. We have to cling to the promise in 2nd Corinthians 4:89 where it tells us that because we have access to Jesus’ resurrection power, when the problems of life come “We may be hard pressed on every side, but we’re not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” As visionary Christians, we have to believe, really believe, that God can “…work in all things for our good.” (Romans 8:28) We must embrace the conviction that with God, all things are possible; that our Heavenly Father is bigger than our problems, that He can and will make a way when there seems to be no way out of a difficulty
What about you? In your life you see bars or stars? Do you look at problems or do you look to God for solutions? I mean, how visionary are you in this sense of the term?
(2) Second, vision is the ability to see beneath the surface of people’s lives.
Now, most of us are amazingly gifted when it comes to seeing the obvious in one another. We think, “He’s arrogant. What a ‘stuckup!'” or “She’s such a complainer, always criticizing.” Or “He’s so selfish! I can’t stand being around him!” In fact we make comments like this to our friends about other people and they say, “I’ve noticed that too!” And then we smile agreeably and remark about our marvelous mutual insight. But that’s not really insight. No, that’s what I would call “outsight.” It’s seeing the outside of a person, the obvious, while at the same time ignoring the inside of an individual.
Visionary people don’t settle for outsight. They look beneath the surface to try to understand what makes people tick. They look at the heart! They focus on the hopes and fears that so often prompt a person’s poor behavior.
A perfect Biblical example of this kind of visionary insight is the way Jesus looked at Simon. All everyone else ever saw when they looked at this big fisherman was his impulsiveness, his aggressiveness, and his faintheartedness. But Jesus looked beneath his outer layer and saw a potential that everyone else missed. He saw that Simon had backbone, a strength even Simon himself didn’t know he possessed. Because of this insight Jesus renamed him, “Peter” which in Greek means, “rock” or “pillar,” something strong enough to be the foundation of a tall building. And Peter did indeed become a rock, didn’t he!? Simon became a pillar of the early church. But I doubt He ever would have if it were not for Jesus’ vision of his potential. This principle of visionary people is what Proverbs 20:5 is referring to when it says, “The purpose in a man’s mind is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.”
Friends, there is indeed a greatness in the hearts of all people, because all people are created in God’s image, but so often it takes someone with vision to see this greatness and draw it out. Well, God wants us to be visionaries in this sense. He wants us to encourage people to reach the potential He has put in us all. For example, as Hybels puts it, in this world,
“We need visionary parents, mothers and fathers who will study their children diligently, pray intensely, and converse with them perceptively in order to identify and draw out each child’s uniqueness. We need visionary spouses, husbands and wives who will look beyond the obvious and probe around until they find the jewels hidden deep in their mate’s soul. We need visionary witnesses, who can look at unbelievers who say they have no time for Jesus and think, ‘I wonder what Christ’s transforming power could do in that person’s life?’ We need visionary disciplers, mature Christians who can look past the stumblings and bumblings of baby believers and say, ‘I see potential there and I’m going to draw it out.'”
(3) And then one last thing Hybels says is that vision is the ability to catch a glimpse of what God wants to do through your life if you dedicate yourself to Him.
Do you remember when God first came to Moses and said, “I am sending you to bring My people out of Egypt.” Moses cowered and said, “Here am I Lord, send my brother. After all, he’s the gifted one. He’s impressive. He can speak in public.” At this point in his life, Moses had absolutely no vision of how God could use his life.
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever thought, “I’m just not useable. I’m ordinary. God can’t use me in an important way.” I know I have, and one thing I’ve learned and have to keep relearning almost every day is that God can use even me whenever I make my life truly available to Him. Hybels writes,
“If you feel ‘unuseable’ then I encourage you to let God take your blinders off because He delights in using foolish people to confound wise people. He loves to use weak people to amaze strong people. And He’d love to use you if you would just believe that with His power, all things are possible.”
This morning as I list the things I believe God is calling us to do here at Redland, I invite you, I urge you, to listen for His still small voice. As you are sitting there in that comfortable chair, He may tell you, “Stop looking at the bars in your life. Get out of your ‘cell’ and let Me use you in this church’s ministry.” I hope you’ll reply, “God, here I am. Use me. Lead me. If you have something for me to do to help fulfill this vision for my church, count me in. I’ll follow You the best I know how, .trembling, but trusting. I want to look at stars, not bars. I want to grow in vision.”
Vision for Redland for 2007
And that brings us to this morning’s emphasis–what does God want to do through our lives this coming year?
Now, before I share our specific plans I want to borrow a recent quote from our president and say that, “the state of our church is good” because it is. Redland is alive and strong and effective. I could give an entire sermon on this subject but let me just cite a few reasons that I say this.
- First, we continue to enjoy a healthy fellowship as was evidenced in our 40th anniversary celebration last year. People still find friends who stick closer than a brother in this congregation.
- We have throngs of people who continue to join God in His work by ministering to the unique needs of this community, this “Montgomery County mission field” of ours.
For example, we still function very effectively as a “way-station church,” serving the transient people of our county where Uncle Sam moves them in and out and in and out and in and out. By my estimate, in 2006 we said goodbye to about 60 people who moved away, but our office staff tells me that this year we welcomed 104 new members. Perhaps we should install revolving doors!
Another ministry that is effective in our unique, ethnically diverse county is ESL English as a Second Language. Thanks to the labors of Jim Burke and his volunteer teaching staff every week we are using these classes to share the love of God with approximately 50 adults from literally all over the world.
Here’s a few other indicators of our health and strength as a church:
- You still eagerly minister to our community’s physical needs through the Manna Food Bank ministry that Brian Lagas leads and Habitat for Humanity that CC Day leads
- And by providing hundreds of Christmas gifts for foster children in Baltimore.
- And you continue to trust God to provide for your needs by giving sacrificially. This year we not only met our budget, we oversubscribed it by nearly $20,000! In fact, Hugh tells me that 2006 was the highest giving year in the history of this church family. Way to go!!!
By the way, I want you to note that the total giving for this past year is more than next year’s entire budget, which means we may have not budgeted high enough for 2007! And, thanks to your sacrificial, faithful giving we also have a “budget surplus” of $183,000 to deal with. We’ll begin to look for a “solution” to that “problem” at our business meeting February 21. The astounding thing about all this is the fact that you have given this sacrificially to the budget while also giving sacrificially to our capital campaign: The Crossing. Several veterans of campaigns like this tell me this is the way it always is. People give to building programs, and in doing so they learn they can indeed trust God to meet their needs, so they give of their tithes and offerings as well. I’m beginning to think we should always have a capital campaign going on around here!
So the state of our church is indeed strong! God is so good to us!
What is He calling this church to do in 2007? There is a calendar in your bulletin that lists everything, but I want to highlight three emphases you’ll see over the next 12 months.
(1) First I believe our Heavenly Father wants us to emphasize personal evangelism.
I say this because for the past few years we have been in a slump when it came to public professions of faith. Here are some stats to show you what I mean. In 2001 we had 39 public professions of faith. But then in 2002 only 16; 2003 only 17; 2004 only 13; 2005 only 18; 2006 only 15. Now we are still far above the national average, because tragically most Southern Baptist Churches didn’t baptize anyone last year. But we are not most SBC churches. They are not the standard we shoot for. Our standard is the commission given by our Lord and Savior, and Jesus has charged each of us with sharing His love with all people.
So let me ask you, have you taken advantage of every God-given opportunity to share the hope that is in you? Do you know anyone who doesn’t know Jesus? Do you look for openings to talk about your faith? Are you intentional in doing your part to fulfill the charge Jesus has given us?
We’re going to do several things this year to encourage you to be more intentional when it comes to relational evangelism, so that we see this baptistery being used more.
A. First, this Easter I’m going to do a sermon series on each of our stained-glass windows as a way of reminding you of the basic tenets of the Gospel that we are called to share. We’ll even set up the chairs differently, so we can look at the window we are studying each week.
B. We are also sending out multiple adult Mission Trips this year, not only to share the gospel in these regions, but because a byproduct of going on those trips is the fact that it makes us more motivated to share our faith here.
We’re sending a team back to the gulf March 31April 4 to help Katrina Victims. Bob Michael is leading that team and they have an info lunch today after the 11AM service.
We’re also hoping to send a team to Guinea in April to work with our furlough house regulars, Greg & Amy Freese who serve the Susu people. We’ll be watching the political situation there closely and may have to postpone this trip. And then we’re trying to put together a team to go back to Nairobi in August to work with Cathie Burke, by teaching the women how to use Puppets in evangelism.
Now, I already have people who have expressed interest in each of these overseas trips, but I need leaders. So if you’re interested write it on your card!
C. And then this spring we will be offering a Wednesday night study of Bill Hybels’ new book on evangelism, Just Walk Across the Room.
In this book Hybels writes,
You know, I don’t get much contact with lost people because my fulltime job is to serve this congregation. God has called me to equip you for the work of ministry. But I believe God gives all of us, even pastors, opportunities to be involved in relational evangelism and sometimes all that takes is our willingness to “walk across a room.” And whenever God does give me a chance to share my faith, it is an incredibly fulfilling thing. I feel more “alive” in those moments than at any other time in my life. My prayer is that more of you will be receptive to those kinds of evangelistic opportunities and will be willing to walk across the room, or the driveway, or the grocery store aisle. This year commit to look at the people God puts in your sphere of influence; your barber, your neighbor, your friend at school, whoever, and ask yourself, “Do they know my Jesus?” Then ask God to give you opportunities to nudge them toward faith in Him.
E. One thing that I believe will give us all more evangelistic opportunities like this in the coming year is the construction on our gymnasium.
I want to call on the cochairman of our building committee,to give us an update.
(Building Committee Chairman Shares)
I want us all to be patient in this building process. I can almost guarantee weather delays and permit problems, but I believe God can use even that frustrating part of the building process to help us fulfill the Great Commission. In fact, He already is! Last month at Danielle and Duncan’s wedding reception, Connie’s boss and my former doctor, came to me and said how much he loved the service. Then he said, “By the way Mark, I’m told that some churches actually put their steeples on top of their buildings.” We both laughed, but his words told me that the residents of this county are watching us already. And as the gym itself starts going up in a few months they will watch even more and come inside and check us out! By the way, I am thrilled to tell you that Mike Bliss has agreed to head up our Upwards Basketball program, and he’ll be using this year to get us ready for our first season once the gym is completed. If you’d like to help with upwards, check that box on your form.
(2) A second thing we will continue to stress this year is spiritual growth.
We’re doing this, because the best evangelists, the most effective soul winners, are mature disciples. Think of it, the closer we get to Jesus, the more we become like Him, the more our hearts will break for the lost and the better equipped we will be when it comes to answering a seeker’s questions such that we lead them to faith in our Lord. The better we each know Jesus the better we will be at introducing someone else to Him.
A. One way we will stress spiritual growth is by striving to involve more people in Sunday school.
Now, like most churches, we have a large contingent of people who come to worship but not Sunday school. Anywhere from 75 to 100 people come to worship but not Sunday school. And this summer as we attended Sunday school week at Glorieta, one thing I became convicted of is to do all I can to try and encourage these people to experience the blessing of weekly Bible Study. If you’re one of these people, please understand I’m not trying to make you feel guilty or to manipulate you. It’s just that if you only come to worship you’re missing so much. You’re missing the quality of discipleship and fellowship and spiritual nourishment that can only come in a small group setting like a Sunday School class. So I’m going to teach a class once a year for 8 weeks and invite these people who aren’t in any other class. We’re doing an overview of the gospel of John and we’ll be meeting in the chapel. My class will start March 4th and I’m looking for a Redland couple or individual to teach this class with me, such that I can pass the class on to them when we finish John. If you’re interested, note it on your card, or just show up on the 4th.
B. Chairman of our Christian Ed Committee has another idea to help encourage us to grow spiritually.
(Chairman of Christian Education Shares)
In the office we are already “participating” I this Read ’em and Reap program. Sheila, Angela, Carrie, Jennifer, Hugh, Aaron, and myself each work out regularly. Well, the person who puts in the most minutes when it comes to walking or jogging each month wins one of these top 50 books. So we’re “reaping” both physical and spiritual benefits!
C. As I told you last week another way we’re going to emphasize spiritual growth is through a focused study on prayer.
Beginning next Sunday I’ll be doing a sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer. And if you’ll read your Sower this week, you’ll see that God must be in this because unbeknownst to me Aaron had planned to lead the choir to do a musical on prayer, Sandy Forrer had decided to lead her Tuesday night ladies’ to study Cynthia Heald’s book Becoming A Woman of Prayer.
And then, beginning this Wednesday, we’ll be discussing Philip Yancey’s newest book: Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference? Several different Redlanders will be facilitating our study and books are on sale at our welcome desk after this morning’s service.
(3) One final emphasis you’ll note is that this year we are going to strive to strengthen marriages and families.
As your pastor, I’ve been grieved by the fact that over the past year several in our membership have endured marital problems and family troubles In a church family, when one of us has a burden, we all have a burden so here’s a few things we will be doing to try and help.
A. May 4 – 6 Sue and I will lead another basic marriage enrichment retreat in Gettysburg. The cost is low and we have room for ten couples.
It’s a great way to both enjoy time with your spouse and learn skills to strengthen and enrich your marriage. If you doubt that, talk to someone who’s been.
B. We’re going offer Wednesday night studies on marriage and will also pull off some of the classic studies Dobson has given us on parenting and family.
C. And this fall I’m doing a sermon series on the family. One preaching idea magazine I subscribe to suggested a series like this could be called, “Desperate Households.”
D. November 9 – 11 our men are going away for a weekend retreat, and I want our focus to be on how to be the husbands and fathers God calls us to be.
E. And finally I want us to shore up youth ministry this year. Carrie Lagas, our brand new interim youth director, has called for a parent’s meeting on Sunday, February 11 at 4:30PM.
She’ll preview RYM events and also ask parents how we can come alongside and help them parent in this often difficult stage of life. I’m also going to make youth ministry my “mission trip” this year by going along as a counselor to World Changers with our Senior High in July.
As we come to our time of invitation, if you have your 2006 ministry form completed, come and lay it here on the altar. You may want to pray about it a week and turn it in next Sunday. That’s fine, but decide soon how you will be involved in the tasks God has called us to. Do this because another trait of successful churches is a high level of involvement by its members. The more each of us use our spiritual gifts for the common good of this church, the more we will be able to do for God here at Redland.
One more thing, as you think about this form, I would remind you that we were designed to work with God, so nothing else really fulfills us in life. One thing Solomon told us in Ecclesiastes is that he had tried living for the things of this world, but it left him feeling empty. Remember? He said that living for the things of this world was like chasing wind. Well the reason he was so unsatisfied is that we were designed for much more than “chasing wind.” We were designed to join God in mission and ministry. That’s what fulfills us! So join up this year! Roll up your sleeves and get involved!
If you are our guest and you are looking for a church home, then you came on the right Sunday because you have heard exactly what God is calling us to do. And, if after hearing all this, you feel God leading you to join us, then we invite you to walk forward during our closing hymn and move your membership here.
Others of you attending this morning may not be Christians and you are seeking purpose and meaning in life. That is only found in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We invite you to make that decision this morning and to share it with us. Won’t you come as we sing?
Let’s all respond right now as God leads.