March is vision month here at Grace Church and over the course of the 5 Sundays of the month we are going to be sharing the 5-year vision plan of our church. What will Grace Church look like in the year 2013? It has been exciting for Pastor Tim and I to have already had the opportunity to discuss this vision plan with our staff and our elders and to see how enthusiastically they have embraced it. It is our prayer that our church family will also jump on board with great commitment and energy as together we see God do amazing things through Grace Church over the next 5 years.
So let’s start with the most fundamental question of all, “What is vision?” In Habakkuk 2:1-2, God told the prophet Habakkuk to “record the vision and inscribe it on tablets so that the one who reads it may run.” That sure makes vision sound like something extremely significant, doesn’t it? Vision is obviously important. But what exactly is it?
The best definition I have ever heard for vision comes from Bill Hybels, Pastor of the Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, Illinois. Hybels says that “vision is a picture of the future that produces a passion.” What a great definition of such a vital word. I hope that is what happens to all of us here at Grace this month. I trust that we will develop a greater passion than ever before for what God can and will do in and through us as individuals, as families and as a local body of believers.
Helen Keller, who lived her whole life without eyesight, had something incredible to say about the concept of vision. She was once asked the question, “What would be worse than being born blind?” I love her answer. It is astounding. She replied, “To have sight with no vision.” That is an amazing statement, isn’t it? Unfortunately, that describes a lot of Christians and a lot of churches in our country today. They have sight…they know the truth of God’s Word. They preach it week in and week out. However, though they have sight…though they have truth…they seemingly have no vision.
How much vision should we have as a church? Well, that depends. Maybe we should find the answer to a different question first. That question is, “How big is our God?” Once we nail down how big our God is, we can more accurately answer the question of how much vision we should have as Christ followers. According to Ephesians 3:20, God is so big that He is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. That is pretty big, isn’t it? After all, He is omnipotent. There is nothing too powerful for our God, amen?
Now based on that fact about God, let’s re-ask the question. How much vision do you think we should have? Is it possible to really have too much vision? I don’t think so. Neither did the late great evangelist, D.L. Moody, who once said, “If God be your partner, make your plans large!” The problem today is not that churches have too much vision. That’s not the problem. The problem is that most Christians and most churches don’t have enough vision. After all, Jesus said that with God, all things are possible.
So let’s start with the most fundamental question of all, “What is vision?” In Habakkuk 2:1-2, God told the prophet Habakkuk to “record the vision and inscribe it on tablets so that the one who reads it may run.” That sure makes vision sound like something extremely significant, doesn’t it? Vision is obviously important. But what exactly is it?
The best definition I have ever heard for vision comes from Bill Hybels, Pastor of the Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, Illinois. Hybels says that “vision is a picture of the future that produces a passion.” What a great definition of such a vital word. I hope that is what happens to all of us here at Grace this month. I trust that we will develop a greater passion than ever before for what God can and will do in and through us as individuals, as families and as a local body of believers.
Helen Keller, who lived her whole life without eyesight, had something incredible to say about the concept of vision. She was once asked the question, “What would be worse than being born blind?” I love her answer. It is astounding. She replied, “To have sight with no vision.” That is an amazing statement, isn’t it? Unfortunately, that describes a lot of Christians and a lot of churches in our country today. They have sight…they know the truth of God’s Word. They preach it week in and week out. However, though they have sight…though they have truth…they seemingly have no vision.
How much vision should we have as a church? Well, that depends. Maybe we should find the answer to a different question first. That question is, “How big is our God?” Once we nail down how big our God is, we can more accurately answer the question of how much vision we should have as Christ followers. According to Ephesians 3:20, God is so big that He is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. That is pretty big, isn’t it? After all, He is omnipotent. There is nothing too powerful for our God, amen?
Now based on that fact about God, let’s re-ask the question. How much vision do you think we should have? Is it possible to really have too much vision? I don’t think so. Neither did the late great evangelist, D.L. Moody, who once said, “If God be your partner, make your plans large!” The problem today is not that churches have too much vision. That’s not the problem. The problem is that most Christians and most churches don’t have enough vision. After all, Jesus said that with God, all things are possible.
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