Here are the notes from the message yesterday at New Life Community Church. This was the first of a two part series entitled 20/20: the Future in Focus. The title is "Getting Clear". If you desire to listen to this message, you may do so by going to our website at www.newlifesite.com. God bless!
20/20: the Future
in Focus, Part 1 Sunday,
November 17, 2013
“Getting Clear”
By this all men will know that you are My
disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35 (NASB)
What has God called us to do?
Love God
Love Each Other
Love the World
What does that look like?
2 And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 3 For still the vision awaits
its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will
not delay. Habakkuk
2:2-3 (ESV)
Four
Points:
1.
Write
it
Sir
Francis Bacon: “Reading maketh a full
man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.”
2.
Make
it plain
CLARITY
3.
Without
the vision, you can’t run
4. Patience
Vision: The
Future I See
The Church We
Are To Be
God has called us to a vision. We are to be a place where the lost are
found. We are to be a place where
seekers can find the fullness of a vital relationship with God – a place where
people find Jesus Christ. We are to be a
church of health, healing, and the advance of Christ’s Kingdom.
I see us as being a strong regional church that
represents Jesus Christ in all His glory and splendor. We are to be a church where the Good News of
Jesus Christ becomes more than just a belief or an idea. It becomes a life-transforming power that
changes thousands of residents throughout Northeast Louisiana.
I dream of a church that is both large and small – an
intimate yet massive church family of individuals who are “doing life
together”; displaying before the world the concrete meaning of the Kingdom of
God. It is small enough to provide the
richest of human relationships in weekly gatherings of corporate worship, Bible
classes, and small groups that all lead to deep bonds of personal friendship
and cooperation. It is large enough to
provide safety and anonymity to seekers who come to investigate the faith. It is large enough to provide a vast array of
ministries done with excellence targeted to meet the important needs of
families, individuals, and society. I
dream of a people numbering in the thousands who walk together in loving God
and serving Him in the world.
We will thrive in an atmosphere of growth fired by a
sense of destiny that propels people into a lifetime of mission. I see a pathway for equipping believers to
handle all of life’s challenges while also developing their unique gifts and
talents in the service of God and others.
I dream of reaching the unreached – of crossing
barriers to touch all cultures, all nations, and all peoples. We are called to send out hundreds of career
missionaries who are trained, nurtured, and supported to fulfill Christ’s call
to make disciples of all nations. We are
to raise up a Missions Training Center that will foster a myriad of missionary
activities through prayer, communication, training, and nurture. I dream of every member of our fellowship
participating in the endeavor to reach the unreached.
I see a large tract of land – perhaps 50-100 acres –
on which a regional church facility can be built. There will be a state-of-the-arts worship
center seating thousands who can experience the depth and power of God-exalting
worship and the life-transforming power of anointed preaching and
teaching.
We will build a magnificent Children’s Ministry
Facility that includes the latest innovations aimed at impacting children with
the Word of God preparing them for a lifetime of following God. Because we minister powerfully and
effectively to kids, entire families will be saved.
We will have a Student Ministry Facility that will
serve as a nerve center for reaching out to youth in the entire Northeast
Louisiana region with vibrant worship, powerful teaching, and radical
discipleship aimed at raising up a new generation of spiritual champions to
serve Christ in the world. Our Student
Ministry will serve as a hotbed igniting intense evangelistic ministry on every
Jr. High and High School campus in our parish and region. This will produce youth who are rock solid in
their faith while at the same time culturally relevant and effective in their
impact.
There will be a battery of classrooms and conference
rooms in which the Bible is taught in its entirety. I dream of a Seminary and Bible College in
which individuals can be trained fully in the depths of biblical and
theological studies in preparation for vocational ministry.
We are called to facilitate a Prayer Center in which
continual powerful concerted prayer takes place.
There will be a Life Skills Center in which the
broken, the discarded, the deprived, and the depraved can come to be tutored
and mentored, helped and even housed as they are taught a new way of living.
I dream of a place where heaven and earth seem to
blend. It is a place where harmonious
relationships both with God and man serve as a pattern for world
transformation. As a result, Ouachita
Parish is a better place to live – because we know God deeply and represent him
powerfully.
Where there is no prophetic vision
the people cast off restraint,
but blessed is he who keeps the law. Proverbs 29:18 (ESV)
So here’s what I see the next year holding for us.
In sharing this, I know that some of you may wonder,
“Is this just about numbers?” Doesn’t
God have to do the work? In response, I
will say to you that it is not simply about numbers, but numbers is the way we
keep up with individual people. Every
person is a number. It is out desire
that the number of people who know Jesus increase in our area. We are not the only ones doing this, but we
are responsible for what we do.
Our top attendance in days gone by has been 216 the
first year we were in this building (2009).
Then in 2010 our top Sunday was 206.
In 2011, 197. In 2012, we had
207. This year, our high attendance has
been 206. It is time for us to move to
higher place. This next year, we aim to
have 300 in a morning worship service.
In order to do that, we must ask that you help make that happen. If this is left to a few of us, it will never
happen. But if we all catch the vision,
it not only will happen, but will be surpassed.
1.
300
IN ATTENDANCE IN 2014
The
Lord
told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory …” Judges
7:7 (NLT)
Our average attendance for this year is 140. Last year it was 132. There is a barrier in the growth of
churches. It is the hardest barrier to
break. It is 200. This next year we will break the 200 barrier.
2.
BREAK
THE 200 BARRIER
3.
SEE
60 FOLLOW THE LORD IN WATER BAPTISM
4.
TAKE
OUR LIFE GROUPS TO 15
5.
MORE
AND MORE PEOPLE COMPLETING THE LIFETRACK
And
now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will
happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy
Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However,
I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and
complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the
gospel of God's grace. Acts 20:22-24 (NIV)
1.
We
must SEE what God SEES.
And now,
compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem,… Acts 20:22a (NIV)
2.
We
must overcome our UNCERTAINTY.
I am going to
Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. Acts 20:22b (NIV)
I only know that
in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.
Acts 20:23 (NIV)
4.
Gain
supernatural CLARITY.
However,
I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and
complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the
gospel of God's grace. Acts 20:24 (NIV)
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb
us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb
us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where
losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You
to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
attributed
- sir francis drake -1577
1.
300
IN ATTENDANCE IN 2014
2.
BREAK
THE 200 BARRIER
3.
SEE
60 FOLLOW THE LORD IN WATER BAPTISM
4.
TAKE
OUR LIFE GROUPS TO 15
5.
MORE
AND MORE PEOPLE COMPLETING THE LIFETRACK
