Vision Sunday

Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint… Proverbs 29:18 (NIV)  Vision = a mental image of what the future will or could be like …upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. Matthew 16:18 (NLT) He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  Mark 16:15 (NIV) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV) Freedom Church exists… To lead people into a new life of freedom in Jesus Jesus didn't die to give us a new RELIGION to follow, but a new LIFE to experience. The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Luke 4:18-19 (NIV)  And the Lord answered me: "Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. Habakkuk 2:2-3 (ESV) 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)  Message title: "Making Room for Vision" Make Room for GOD. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3 (NIV)  We keep JESUS the main thing.  …When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 (NIV) JESUS is how the relationship with God BEGINS… WE determine how the relationship with God GROWS.   Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Revelation 3:20 (NIV)  Make Room for PEOPLE. (Spending a lot of my time here.) We do life TOGETHER. We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God's Good News but our own lives, too. 1 Thessalonians 2:8 (NLT) Our walk with God is PERSONAL, but it was never meant to be PRIVATE. The people WE need. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17 (NIV) The people who need YOU. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2(NIV) We are spiritually wired to CAST OUR BURDENS and CARRY OTHER's BURDENS.  Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." John 7:37-38 (NIV)  If your life stinks right now, could it be because you have become a stagnant pool of unhelth instead of a flowing river of life? The next generation who need US.  We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. Psalm 78:4 (NLT) We believe in the next generation. The lost people who need JESUS.  On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9:12-13 (NIV) Make Room for THE PART WE PLAY. "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. Luke 10:2 (NLT)  The effectiveness of the Church reaching lost people, is contingent on each person in the Church doing THEIR PART. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work... 1 Corinthians 12:4-27 (NIV) But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  If they were all one part, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, but one body… 1 Corinthians 12:4-27 (NIV) Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:4-27 (NIV) Too many of us are DISTRACTED by our PROBLEMS, because we have not DISCOVERED our PURPOSE. Make Room for WHAT'S NEXT.  We live with URGENCY.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)