On this day, won't you say, you look to the Land of God.
When it seems as if sin has and fears as sin,
look to the Land of God.
You've been a strange shadow, hope you're all revealed.
Look to the Land of God.
For he alone is able to save him.
Look to the Land of God.
Are you aware he does a race alone?
Look to the Land of God.
Lift up your cheer and fill your harmful song.
Look to the Land of God.
For he alone is able to save him.
Look to the Land of God.
Fear not with shadows, wander round with hope.
Look to the Land of God.
Enjoy your sorrow, Christ is all in all.
Look to the Land of God.
For he alone is able to save him.
Look to the Land of God.
which is the blessed service of Jesus,
holy and mighty, amen.
Amen, thank you, brother.
Let's turn our handles to song number 162.
Let's start on number 162, To God Be the Glory.
Song number 162.
["To God Be the Glory"]
To God be the glory, great things he hath done,
so lovely the world that he gave us his Son.
Who heal in his life when atone for sin,
and hope in the life in that all may go in?
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the earth hear his voice.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the people rejoice.
Open to the Father through Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory, great things he hath done.
Over earth, with redemption, the virtues of love,
to every believer the promise of God,
the powerless offender who truly believes.
Let hope in from Jesus the pardon we seek.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the earth hear his voice.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the people rejoice.
Open to the Father through Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory, great things he hath done.
Great things he hath taught us, great things he hath done.
And may our rejoicing through Jesus the Son,
wonder higher and greater will be.
Our wonder, our transform when Jesus we seek.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the earth hear his voice.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the people rejoice.
Open to the Father through Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory, great things he hath done.
Amen. At this time, we'll do the announcements.
We'll be following books in Summer of 205.
All right.
If you need a bulletin, go ahead and slip up your hand.
Brother Fabian will bring you one.
As always, we have our service times there.
Every Sunday at 10.30 a.m. again at 5.30 p.m.
Thursdays at 7.
We're going through 2 Kings.
So we'll still be in Chapter 4 this week.
Come on out for that.
We've also got the salvation, some baptisms,
as well as the offering totals and attendance for the month and year.
And then we have the belated happy birthdays and the donuts
for this month in lieu of the anniversary last Sunday.
So we've got some names listed there.
Be sure to wish those people a happy birthday
and as well as a wedding anniversary this month as well.
So congratulations to all of you and happy birthday to all of you.
And if your name is not in here and you would like it to be,
make sure you get me that information.
If something is incorrect, make sure you let me know too
so that I can get that corrected.
And also we have the weekly Bible memory project we're working on,
the books of the Old Testament with their associated chapters.
We're in Part 3 of 7.
So you guys can work on those books there.
And then we'll have a special prize awarded to those who can complete the pop quiz.
So you can still earn, young people, children,
you can still earn the ice cream bar week to week,
but it's still on that Sunday deadline.
So don't recite Part 1 today.
I think you can still cash in on that.
We'll have to do week by week.
And then when this is all wrapped up, we'll do a pop quiz, a test.
At some point you say, when?
Well, that would make it not a pop quiz.
That's the whole nature of the pop quiz.
So you've got to work on retaining it after you've learned this.
So keep up with that.
Even if you're behind already, go ahead and jump back in
because there will be a more special, bigger prize sometime in the distant future.
If you can recall all these books and their chapters,
keep in mind that children under 8 may memorize names of the books only.
And I would encourage the adults to do this,
although you won't be rewarded carnally with an ice cream bar
or some kind of a prize.
You could still benefit from knowing where the books of the Bible are.
On the back, don't forget the baby shower coming up next Saturday
in honor of Commie Ellingson.
That's going to be Saturday, September 17th, 2 to 5 p.m.
If you'd like to help decorate, please speak with Mrs. Gardere about that.
We're going to be getting that set up.
This is for the ladies, of course.
There will be some food and some fellowship.
There's the QR code if you'd like to bring a gift.
There's a gift registry on Amazon.
Also, below that, just a quick note about
Mrs. Grace Cuevas, Adam's mother, who passed away last Monday.
She, of course, has been battling cancer.
Many folks kind of know the situation there.
She had gone home to hospice just a couple weeks prior.
That's where Brother Adam has been for several weeks now out there,
looking after and helping with his mother.
I put it in here not just because it's Brother Adam's mother,
but also because Mrs. Cuevas was a blessing to our church.
Me and my wife were talking, and she was saying,
a year ago, she was here.
She was out soul winning with our church people,
and my wife in particular.
So she's been a blessing.
She would come out for weeks at a time, months at a time, and spend time here.
Last few times I saw her, I was really trying to strong arm her into moving out here.
Not that hard, but she was a blessing to our church while she was here.
I know she was a blessing to those that knew her.
One of the things that was expressed as she was getting ready to pass
is that she wished she had more time not to just enjoy life,
but to actually serve the Lord, to go out and win souls.
That is what she said.
She said, I wish I had more time to go out and preach the gospel.
That's something that should be a lesson to all of us,
that when we get to the end of our lives,
what we're really going to look back on,
what's really going to matter to us is the things that we've done for God,
not the things that we've laid up in store here on earth,
but the things which we've sent forward to heaven,
the treasures we laid up there.
That's what's going to be our primary concern.
Hopefully we can learn from that.
Of course, we'll miss Grace.
It's reassuring to know she's in heaven.
We haven't seen the last of her.
We'll see her in glory.
Do continue to pray for Brother Adam.
I know he's planning on preaching the gospel at her funeral service,
which will be this Thursday, this coming Thursday of this week.
He did ask for prayer.
I talked to him yesterday.
He's doing fine, obviously, all things considered.
But do pray that God gives him boldness to preach the gospel clearly.
It's always difficult with family.
We all know that.
It's always difficult with family.
So just pray that God emboldens him and fills him with the Spirit
and helps him to preach the gospel clearly,
because, again, that's what Miss Grace would have wanted more than anything,
is for people to have gotten saved.
Below that, we're beginning our Sunday morning sermon series this morning.
It's our vision for 2023.
So I'm kind of preaching a preemptive series to another series that I have planned.
But we're just going to talk about where we are as a church,
where we've been, and where we're going.
So we're going to start that this morning.
I'm glad you're here.
But if you can make it out for the next couple weeks,
they'll kind of give you an idea of where we're going with the series.
But I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on that.
I will mention one other thing besides the song list for the next week.
There is the bathroom keys.
So over the last two weeks or three weeks,
both of the men's bathroom keys have disappeared.
And the only way that's happened is that somebody went in the bathroom
and left the key there and did not bother to bring it back.
I don't care who it was, but in the meantime,
the men can just use this bathroom in here.
So ladies, I apologize. I've done everything I could.
I attached giant sticks to the keys, bats.
I don't know if I need to next time maybe hook a reel to it with a giant fishing line
so that we can make sure it gets back here.
But I don't want to be a leader who harps about the little things
that come along with the ministry.
Because that's just the nature of things.
People are people. They're going to do things.
They're going to leave things behind.
They're not going to put things back.
I'd rather just beat my head against a wall
than try to say that until I'm blue in the face
because I already know people are just going to do things.
That's human nature. I'm the same way.
You could ask my wife.
There's probably things I do. In fact, I know there are
that she would rather I would quit doing or start doing.
But that's just what I do because that's who I am.
That's the way I've always been.
However, on this one I am, I'll just tell you,
I'm a little upset that I've gone to such efforts
to make sure that we had keys for you guys
and that I made it pretty obvious, besides putting a magnet on it.
I don't know what else I could have done.
Paint it orange.
Because somebody came back and must have realized the key was gone
and rather than getting the second key and going back and getting it,
which was the whole point of the second key to begin with,
not to have two bathrooms, to have a spare to unlock the key
when it gets left behind.
So now that's why we're in the position that we're in.
Now I've got to take time and I've got to call the property manager.
These aren't keys you go get at Ace Hardware.
These are specialty keys.
These are proprietary keys.
This is five years of locksmithing talking right here.
I can look at the keyway and say,
this you aren't going to find at Ace.
Which means the property manager has to go to the locksmith
if they don't have the key.
And then the locksmith has to get it to them,
then they have to get it to me,
and then I have to get it back to you,
although you just had to.
So I'm getting it all off my chest right now
because, again, I don't want to have this tie up my sermon.
But if and when, gentlemen, you find the key back there again,
please bring it back.
Put things back where you found them.
I don't care about hymnals.
I don't care about water bottles being left behind.
I don't care about messes being made.
I'm not going to be one of these guys that beats my head against the wall
trying to get people to change in those areas
because it's never going to happen.
That's mine.
This thing gets under my skin.
I'm just letting you know.
Bring the keys back, please.
If it's the key in the lock box back here,
this is several guys in the church too,
and I know I'm stepping on some toes,
but it's happened several times
where that key has been taken out of the lock box
to open up the door.
Rather than just unlocking the door
and immediately putting it back in the lock box like you should,
it gets put in a pocket and then it ends up across town.
And then somebody, not even myself,
somebody else comes here to use the building,
and they have to get in, but the key's gone
because somebody couldn't just turn around
and put it back where they found it.
So you say, are you upset?
Yes.
I'm upset about this one.
I'm not furious, but I'm driving the point home
and I'm doing it last for hopefully that this will stick.
Put the keys back.
I'm done.
I'm finished.
Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more song
before we go to the preaching.
Alright, song number 205.
It keeps me safe.
Song number 205.
There's within my heart a melody
Jesus, Christmas Eve and more
Here God I am with thee, peace be still
We know what is good and good
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Sing this name I know
Fills my every longing
Keeps me singing as I go
All my life's worth my sin and strife
Is to fill my heart with pain
Jesus, life across the broken street
Serve us from reports again
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Sweetest name I know
Fills my every longing
Keeps me singing as I go
Feasting on the branches of his grace
Resting in the sheltering wind
Always looking on his smiling face
There's just what I shall exceed
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Sing this name I know
Fills my every longing
Keeps me singing as I go
Close sometimes he leaves blue waters green
Tries to fall across the plain
Close sometimes the past seems professing
See his footprints all the way
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Sweetest name I know
Fills my every longing
Keeps me singing as I go
Soon he's coming back to love the me
Far beyond the story style
I shall bring my life to worlds unknown
I shall reign with him on high
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Sweetest name I know
Fills my every longing
Keeps me singing as I go
Amen, at this time we'll pass the offering plate as the plate goes around. Let's turn our Bibles to Hebrews 12.
Hebrews chapter 12, that's Hebrews chapter 12, as always.
We'll read the entire chapter, please follow along silently.
The poem reads to us from Hebrews chapter 12.
The Bible reads, Wherefore, seeing we also, are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
Lest lay aside every weight in the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied in your minds and faint.
Ye have not resisted unto blood striving against sin, and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children.
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.
For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Wherefore, lift up the holy hands which hang down in the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed.
Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord, looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.
Lest there be any fornicator, profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
If ye know that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Fear not come unto the mount that might be touched, that burneth with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more.
For they could not endure that which was commanded, and if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart, and so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.
But ye are come unto Mount Sion, unto the city of the living God, and heavily Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are writ in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirit of just men made perfect,
and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh, for if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, how much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven,
whose voice then shook the earth, but now hath promised, saying, Yet once more shake I, not the earth only, but also heaven.
And this word yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Wherefore be receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
Let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for the Bible, thank you for your spirit. Lord, I pray that you would help me to preach this morning.
Help us, Lord, as a church to embrace a vision for our church, Lord, in the coming years, Lord, so that we can, Lord, serve you acceptably as we ought to.
And, Lord, so that we can go to that great cloud of witnesses, Lord, and rejoice in what we've accomplished here on earth.
We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.
So this morning, as I've mentioned, I'm starting part one of a three-part series about our vision for 2023.
And again, I know it's kind of early in the year for us to start talking about the next year. We still are a few months away.
But, you know, it always kind of, you know, I guess amuses me when people preach the, you know, the New Year's sermon, you know, December 31st or something like that.
You know, I think it's good to prime the pump to start thinking about these things, you know, before January 1st, to start thinking about the next year before it's upon us.
You know, we want to go into that year strong. We want to go into that having a plan. We want to go into that, you know, motivated, knowing what it is that we're going to do.
And so, of course, in order to plan for the future, you have to be able to look into the future and decide and make some decisions about what is it that we're going to do.
And really that's kind of what this series is going to be about. I probably won't get into a lot of the specific details about what I want to do as a church in 2023.
That will come probably right after this series. But I wanted to preach this series more to emphasize the fact that it's important that we have a vision.
That we need to have a vision as a church if we're going to grow, if we're going to succeed, if we're going to not just, you know, fill the place up numerically,
but actually go out and accomplish the mission that Christ has given us to preach the gospel to every creature.
And yes, of course, to bring them in and to baptize them and teach them all things whatsoever he has commanded us.
That is part of that great commission. We will not accomplish that as a church if we do not all have a vision, a sense of where it is that we're going.
So really this series is just about the importance of having that vision to begin with.
I don't want to start a whole series about the specifics of what that vision is and try to lay all that out and take the time to raise the bar around here
and maybe set a bit of a higher standard in some areas if people don't even understand the importance of why we're even preaching that.
Why even have a vision? So that's really what this series is about. It's more of a lead-in to the more specifics that are coming in the coming weeks.
But I think it's important to at least step back in the beginning and ask ourselves, why is it even important to have a vision for 2023?
Why should we have a vision? What is it that makes up a vision?
And of course part of having a vision is considering where we have been.
Where we have been as individuals, as a church. Part of having a vision is looking back and considering where you've come from.
And really that's what I want to do this morning.
Now it says there in Hebrews 12 verse 1, it says,
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
The Bible talks about vision. The Bible uses the analogies of vision. The Bible talks about looking around, walking circumspectly.
Here in Hebrews he's telling us what seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Then he's saying, look, seeing, given the fact, understanding that there's this great cloud of witnesses that surround us,
seeing that, having a vision for that, wherefore let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily doth beset us.
Why are we going to lay aside every weight? Why are we going to lay aside every sin?
Why are we going to set these things aside and run with patience the race that has sat before us?
Because we have seen, because we have a vision, because we understand that there is this great cloud of witnesses.
Paul's talking about people having a vision, of understanding things, of having a clear sight of the true nature and reality that they are involved in.
If you see there again in verse 2 he says, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
He's saying set your sights on something, have a vision, have a goal, and pursue it, go after it.
That's part of what it means to have a vision.
And of course here in Hebrews he's talking about forward momentum.
He's talking about seeing what is lying ahead of us, looking unto Jesus who has gone on before us,
having an idea of looking ahead and being guided by that vision of foresight.
And of course that's very important, but also I think it's important for us to look behind us and to see and consider where we've come from.
Again, I just want to emphasize this morning the importance of having a vision.
Before we lay it all out there, before we say this is what we're going to do, this is how things are going to be done,
these are the standards that we're going to have as a church. Before we express that vision, it's important to understand the need for a vision.
If you would, you don't have to keep anything there in Hebrews, but go over to Proverbs 29.
A very familiar verse, but it's familiar for a reason.
Churches will make plans, they'll start to get a vision, and they'll obviously turn to this verse, Proverbs 29 18.
But there's a reason why. Because this verse tells us the importance of having a vision.
You see, vision helps us avoid destruction.
There's so many analogies we could use. One of the first things they tell you when you start to drive a car is what?
Keep your eyes on the road. Fix your vision. Don't be just driving like this.
Because things happen quickly.
Have a vision for where you're going to avoid destruction, to avoid an accident, to avoid doing something you'd rather not do.
He says here in Proverbs 29 verse 18, where there is no vision, the people perish.
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Without a vision, people will wither up and die. People will suffer loss without vision.
We have to have vision for ourselves as individuals. We should have a vision for our families. We should have a vision for our church.
And the Bible's telling us that without that vision, we will perish.
Without a vision, this church eventually will wither up and die.
Without a vision of going out and enriching people and going after and taking things to the next level and trying to accomplish the work.
Some of us will remain for some time, but if we're not bringing in new blood, if we're not bringing in fresh new faces, it's all a matter of time until we all just pass away.
Without a vision, the people perish. It avoids destruction.
And again, referring back to Hebrews chapter 12, having a vision is going to help us avoid regret.
You know, if we learn to see that great cloud of witnesses, if we learn to look unto Jesus, if we have a vision about our eternity, about where we're going, about the reality that one day we're going to stand and every one of us will get an account to God for the things that we've done in our body.
If we have that vision, it's going to help us avoid regret in the long run.
It's going to help us get to heaven and say, I didn't waste my time just wandering through life, just putting off the things of God.
Just saying, oh, one day maybe I'll serve God. One day I'll get around to serving the Lord the way I ought to. One day I'll get to that.
One day I'll take the time to sit down and think about that. Look, you live your life long enough that way, eventually you're going to get to that great cloud of witnesses.
You're going to make it to that finish line. You're going to finish that course and you're not going to be able to say, like Paul, I've kept the faith.
You're going to say, I blew it. I lost it.
That's the importance of having a vision.
It's going to help you avoid destruction in the here and now. It's going to help you avoid regret later when we get to heaven.
A great example of avoiding regret is, as I've mentioned, having a vision for your children.
Have a vision for what direction, what kind of people you want your children to be. I think that's very important as a parent.
To not just let your children just grow up and be whatever.
If you would, go over to Proverbs chapter 29. Proverbs chapter 29. Well, you're there. Verse 15, just back up.
It says the rod and reproof give wisdom, but what? A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
A child where the parent has no vision, gives no guidance, gives no direction, doesn't instruct, doesn't reprove, doesn't use the rod.
Eventually that child is going to grow up and what? Bring his mother to shame.
What's really lacking here? What leads to this? It's the child being left to himself.
There is no vision. This is the course. This is the direction we're headed as a family. This is what's expected of you.
And that applies obviously to parenting, but also it applies to the church family as well.
A church is a family unit of sorts. We're all brothers and sisters in Christ, are we not?
We consider one another brethren. We're all one in Christ. We are heirs together with Christ. We are a spiritual family.
And by the way, if you got saved, you're stuck with us. That's it. You might as well get used to it.
You can't just switch families. We're heirs together with Christ and so in the same way, we cannot just leave a church to itself.
To just hope that it turns out the way it needs to turn out.
We can't just leave people to themselves and kind of hopefully they just figure out what's expected or figure out what it means to serve Christ or figure out how to grow a church.
We have to, as leaders, put that in front of people and say, here's what's expected, here's what we need to do, here's the game plan, here's how we're going to accomplish it.
So that we as leaders who don't get to heaven and like this mother here, be brought to shame. We want to give that account with joy.
A vision helps us avoid destruction. A vision is going to help us avoid regret.
And go to Nehemiah chapter 2, but not only that, the reason why a vision is so important in your personal life, in your parenting, in your personal goals for yourself as an individual, for a family, for a church.
The reason why it's so important is because you won't see what needs to get done if you don't start looking.
If you don't start having a vision for what needs to be done. Or you're going to be highly ineffective.
I don't want to bring up the key again, but I'm going to. Because this is a great illustration of what me and brother Josh were just talking about before the service.
I remember my first pastor drilled that into me when I worked for him as a roofer. He'd say, hey look, when you get on the job site, walk circumspectly.
Know where everything is. So when I say go get that, or have you seen this, you could say it's by this, it's next to that.
And then he said this, and when you go and get something, notice how you found it. Because that's the way I want to put it back.
He said, man, why did you get so upset? Why were you so mad at the announcements about the key? Because that's what was drilled into me.
Put things back the way you found them. What's he really saying there is have a vision.
Have a vision. See things. Look and notice things. And take note of where you're heading in life.
And take note of what you're doing. Do you have a plan? Do you have goals? What are you trying to achieve?
Walk circumspectly. Have a vision. It's going to help you avoid regret. It's going to help you avoid destruction.
But also it's going to help you to see what needs to be done. To see what needs to be done.
I mean this is Nehemiah here. Nehemiah is going back and setting out to rebuild.
And he says there in verse 11, so I came to Jerusalem. He's back there. He's got his crew ready. He's got the people with him.
He's been given what he needs to go accomplish the work. He's got a crew. The work is there. But what does he do first?
He goes out and he assesses the damage before proceeding. It says in verse 11, so I came to Jerusalem and was there three days.
And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me. Neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem.
Neither was there any beast with me save the beast that I wrote upon.
And I went out by night by the gate of the valley even before the dragon well and to the dung port and viewed the walls of Jerusalem.
He's going to look at the work that needs to be done at night and he's going out and notice this is a vision that he's having for himself.
This is something that he's making personal. This is something that he's saying this is my vision. This is something that I want to accomplish.
This is why he's not telling any man. He had a few men with him.
That's why he's going out at night. He doesn't want everyone to say, oh, me and my eyes are up to something.
He's going out and he's getting this vision. He's looking. He has a vision. What's he doing in that vision?
He's assessing the way things are. He's looking at it for what it is before he goes out to set to do the work.
And this is an important part of having a vision. Not just immediately thinking about everything that we need to do,
everything that needs to be done, but stopping and looking at the way things actually are and how they came to be that way.
He says there that he went out and viewed the walls of Jerusalem in 13 which were broken down and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
Now thankfully we can't relate to that much right now and hopefully never will.
I certainly don't want to give the impression that we're in dire straits as a church and that's why we need a vision like Nehemiah here.
But the principle is this, is that before you begin the work, before you set out to do a great work, you know you have to get a vision.
You have to look at things the way they are. That is part of having a vision.
Not just seeing the way it could be, but seeing it the way it is, for what it actually is.
He says that I went out to the gates of the fountain of the king's pool but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.
Then I went up to the night by the brook and viewed the wall and turned back and entered by the gate of the valley and so returned.
And the rulers knew not whither I went nor what I did, neither had I yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.
We as a people need to understand that having a vision, yes it's something that we're going to share and yes it's something that we're all going to hopefully participate in,
but it has to be personal to you.
You have to decide whether or not you're going to share in the vision that this church has.
You have to decide for yourself whether or not you want to have a vision to get the work done that needs to be done.
And again, it's something we'll go into more in the coming weeks, but this morning I just want to really emphasize the importance of having a vision
and part of having that vision is considering where you have been.
Where have you been? Look back and start to consider where have you been?
And that will help you to understand perhaps where you are.
A lot of times people want to set out to do things, they have goals, they have a real hard time accomplishing them
because it's like they're trying to swim upstream. Of course there's always resistance, but there's things that are holding them back.
There's behaviors, there's thought patterns, there's habits, there's things that they haven't stopped and recognized and said this is what's keeping me from accomplishing this.
They're just trying to get it done but they haven't stepped back and said well what's preventing me from doing it?
Why do I keep trying and failing and trying and failing and every time I fail I feel like I take two steps farther back than where I started.
It's because you haven't taken the time to stop and really look at where you are to begin with.
Then you can start to form a vision. The Bible again I quoted already in Ephesians 5, I'll read to you.
Go to Deuteronomy 1. It says in Ephesians 5, you're going to Deuteronomy 1.
See then that you walk circumspectly, and I know I preached on this recently but I'll bring it up again.
See then that you walk circumspectly looking around, taking note of the way things actually are.
Assessing the situation. Walking circumspectly and what? Not as fools.
It's a foolish thing to just walk through life without any vision.
It's a foolish thing to walk through life and not consider where you have been, where you are, and where you are going.
That's how people end up wasting their lives.
Not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
Look, if you want to redeem the time, Paul's saying here in Ephesians, if you want to redeem the time, if you want to walk wisely and not as a fool,
if you want to get something done and actually redeem the time, the first thing you have to do is learn to what?
Walk circumspectly, looking around. And part of looking around and walking circumspectly would be looking behind you, wouldn't it?
It would be considering where you've been, where you've come from. Consider the past.
You know, when we start to form a vision, when we start to have a vision, one of the first things we ought to do as individuals, as a church, is to consider the past.
And this is something that is often done in Scripture by leaders.
They'll often remind the people that they're leading of where they've come from.
Deuteronomy chapter 1, of course, Deuteronomy, that's pretty much all Moses is doing.
He's rehearsing in the ears of Israel everything they have accomplished, everything that God has commanded them to do,
and then everything that they must do going into the Promised Land.
But he starts there in Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 3.
It says, And it came to pass in the fortieth year and the eleventh month, on the first day of the month,
that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them.
And he begins to rehearse all these things. He said, Moses, we already know that.
Why are you telling us about things that we already did?
Why are you reminding us about things that God has already commanded us?
We've already heard this.
Because that's an important part of having a vision, is considering where you've been.
What has led you to the place where you are at in life right now?
What has gotten you in the position that you're in, whether it's good or bad?
What has left the things undone in your life that need to be done?
What decisions have you made along the way that have brought you to this place?
As I was thinking about this idea of a past and trying to...
And really, I want this to be a sermon that's more, I guess, familial in a way.
I want it to be personal for us as a church.
And as I was thinking about that, I thought about, there's a lot of people,
of course I know everybody in the church and everybody knows me,
but honestly, it's only been a few years, and I know some people know some things about me and my family,
but I don't know that many people in this room know much about me at all.
They've heard me say things over the years, they've heard me say things in conversation and sermons,
they've probably picked up pieces, and I'm not up here to spill my guts
and spend the next hour going over the life of Corbin Russell.
But I think it's important that you know who it is that's leading this,
who your leader is here in this church, who your preacher is.
Who knows some things, and really, as we talked about having a vision concerning the past,
that's something that I've been doing.
My past is something that my wife often will bring up to me, in a good way.
You know, you left the door unlocked last night again.
I was like, sorry. Not that she talks like that.
But sometimes when I, believe it or not, I get done preaching and I say,
well, that was another dud. I know that probably doesn't come as a shock to any of you.
So I get done, I say, well, I flopped again.
That wasn't what I expected. She said, no, it was a good sermon.
And sometimes she'll have to, you know, I'll really start fishing for compliments
and really be trying hard to encourage myself.
And she'll just start to remind me of the way it used to be.
What you would say, well, that doesn't sound very nice,
but actually it's actually very encouraging when you actually stop and think about,
well, you know, it used to take you 10 days to write a 10-minute sermon.
You know, you used to get up there and mess with your keys in your pocket.
So a lot of everybody in the whole place could hear it.
You know, you used to do this and she will start to remind me of the past.
And you know what? That actually encourages me to think about,
well, you know, maybe I'm not where I want to be as a preacher.
Maybe I'm not where I want to be as a leader,
but hopefully I can look back and at least there's some track record of successes along the way.
It's not perfect. Obviously there's been failures.
It's been, you know, two steps forward, one step back in a lot of instances,
but at least there's been some progress.
You know, that's a good point about setting goals and achieving goals.
Sometimes we have these elaborate, we get so detailed,
I don't know, maybe I do this, maybe nobody else does this.
We have these elaborate plans that we make out for things like our Bible reading
or whatever it might be, you know, some memorization schedule
where we say I'm going to do this much every single day
and for this many days and eventually on this date I'll have this accomplished.
And then, you know, we're good at that for a few days
and then something comes up and we only get half or a quarter done of what we need.
And one thing I've had to train out of myself is to be one of these all or nothing people
because when you're an all or nothing person it usually ends up being nothing
because it can never be all.
That's just a fact about when it comes to achieving goals.
Very rarely do we get to do everything that we need to do every single day
to get us, you know, to that deadline.
We try, but what I've learned is, hey, maybe I can't do everything I need to do to get that goal,
maybe I need to do a little bit more.
Can I at least do something so I'm not falling behind?
At least making some progress?
I don't know where I was going with any of that.
It just came out.
But what I was saying was that, you know, often my wife will remind me
of where we've been and I think that's an important thing.
When you're trying to have a vision about the future,
you know, you should think about where you've been
and how this church, you know, this series should be a little bit more personal to us.
And that's something I want to just very briefly kind of let people know who I am, where I've been.
I don't know that everyone in this church knows that.
You know, I got saved, you know, well let me just go back to the very beginning.
It was a cold December night.
My mother wasn't a great deal of pain.
No, I'm just kidding.
But you know, I was born in 1980 in South Dakota, okay.
Long story short, you know, I didn't grow up in a godly home,
didn't grow up in a Christian home.
I'm not besmirching my parents' character or anything like that.
That's just the facts of the matter.
Didn't go to church, wasn't read the Bible, didn't know about the things of God,
was put in the public school system.
You know, eventually my parents got divorced before, you know, sometime in third or fourth grade I think.
Had two sisters growing up. Dad went to Wyoming.
Very rarely got a card every now and then.
Eventually, a few years later, he moves to the tropics.
My mom takes me and my sister, my other older sister had gone to live with him.
My aunt moves us back to Michigan where she's from.
We go and live in my aunt's house for a few months.
Eventually we settle in northern Michigan with my mother and stepfather.
You know, and that's kind of the way life was.
Finished elementary school, junior high, high school.
Eventually ended up living with my dad from 18 to about 20 down in the tropics.
You say, what happened there? Nothing good.
Nothing good.
Then 9-11 happened, you know, and that's the anniversary day.
Today's 9-11.
You know, 9-11, how many years has it been?
21.
So, wow.
That's a good marker for me because that's how I know about how long I've been saved.
Because I got saved shortly after 9-11.
9-11 happened, I said, well I'm not going to live on the rock in the middle of the ocean with a bunch of Muslims.
That was my thinking.
Because that's what was there.
I remember on 9-11 when that happened, going into a convenience store which all Muslim owned,
I mean they're playing Al Jazeera on the TV.
And going in there and it was a very awkward moment with that guy.
The FBI ended up going down there and rounding up a bunch of people.
Whether justly or not, I don't know.
The point is this, is that it freaked me out.
And so I flew back to the states.
You know, long story short, I ended up getting saved, you know, a few months later in a church.
And other years go by, just kind of floundering, not really getting settled.
To where I finally found out, you know, got the King James issue settled.
Found a good, independent, fundamental Baptist church.
Got plugged in about a year later and never looked back.
Was three to thrive, right out of the gate.
Was at all three services, Monday night prayer meeting, anything else that was going on.
Eventually a few years later, heading up the bus ministry there.
Seven years as a bus captain, junior church preacher.
Met my wife in that church, got married in that church.
You know, 11 years ago, approximately 12 years ago, found this guy on the internet called Pastor Anderson.
On a Ron Paul forum, if you know who Ron Paul is.
I remember, you know, I was on the Daily Paul.
Has anyone else heard of the Daily Paul?
Yeah? Okay.
You heard about the Daily Paul.
That's where I found Pastor Anderson, was on the Daily Paul.
I was scrolling through some thread of comments about, there was this, some video, some YouTube video, some guy in a red shirt rolling through some border checkpoint giving the guy a hard time.
Just saying, no, I'd rather be on my way.
You know, this wasn't the one where he got shocked or, you know, violated by the authorities.
This is the one where he was, you know, just had already gone through that.
And, you know, they, in the comments, they say, well, you gotta love Pastor Anderson.
I said, this guy's a pastor.
Let me put that in YouTube and see what comes up.
That was a life changing search, folks.
First sermon that comes up, repent of your sins, heresy exposed.
Which had been an issue in my church, one that I couldn't understand.
Because I knew that salvation was by grace through faith and yet I'm being told you have to repent of your sins.
I had seen families leave the church over this issue and finally I hear a man of God get up and preach it like it is out of the King James Bible with no apology.
You know, taking an opposite position that I haven't heard.
I said, well, he's right.
You know, and shortly thereafter, you know, showing my wife the preaching and she's thinking, who's this nut that he's listening to?
She's got all these things going through her mind.
Oh, I can't believe it. He's getting caught up in some weird thing on the internet.
And then, you know, eventually I end up talking to my pastor about it.
He's trying to talk me off this cliff, apparently. That's how he perceives it.
Then I come home to my wife who's come around on Pastor Anderson.
I'm coming home from work and now she's got sermons on.
She says, I've listened to six sermons today.
You gotta hear this one, you gotta hear this one, you gotta hear this.
And she's just, you know, eating it all up.
Then I'm coming home after this meeting and my pastor said, we're done listening to him.
We're done.
And this is about the time after the tribulation's coming out, right?
I said, but we're gonna watch that movie when it comes out at Christmas.
We're done listening to this Pastor Anderson.
We gotta figure things out on our own. We gotta use some discernment here.
But when that movie comes out, because, you know, whatever else I might have had an issue with or had to figure out on my own,
I knew that it was after the tribulation.
So then we watched that film, you know, and by that time, some other things had gone on in our church that are personal,
that don't need to be expressed, where it was getting to the point where we were gonna move one way or the other.
And we were either gonna end up driving 45 minutes to an hour to another church in Northern Michigan,
where it's just gonna be more of the same,
or we could actually go out to Tempe and join that church.
And that's what we did 12 years ago, packed up everything,
not everything that I owned, left a lot of stuff behind,
everything that I could cram into a Toyota Camry with my wife who was six months pregnant
and my Karen was two or three years old at the time.
And I drove a Toyota Camry like this, all the way, because the shocks were bad.
And when I got here within a few weeks, the braids had come through the wheels.
And praise God, we got here, $2,000 in the bank,
and a one bedroom apartment, and no job waiting for us.
That was it.
Gutsiest move I've ever made, and one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life.
So that's, you know, that's a little bit about me.
And fast forward, here I am, you know, spent several years in that church,
just serving there, just working as a locksmith, and just serving in a local church.
And then 2018, prior to this, of course, FWBC North had started,
which was up on 35th Avenue and Campbell, I believe.
We had started a church plant in North Phoenix in a very small room.
You could have fit the whole church in that front foyer right there, practically.
And it was several guys were preaching there.
Pastor Jonathan Shelley had started there. He was preaching there.
In fact, his old videos from that church, that North, are still up on our YouTube channel.
And it's usually, actually, those are some of the more popular videos to this day.
I must say something about me, I don't know.
I'm not taking them down. If they're getting views, they're staying up.
So anyway, but that had already started, you know, sometime in 2017, I don't know.
And then I remember very clearly in the summer of 2018, I believe it was,
before I had been on staff, before that was even anything that was on the table,
I was thinking I'm going to go pastor in Detroit.
That was where I wanted to go do.
And I said to Brother Chris Segura, who was already on staff,
I said, hey, did you ever think about starting a church in Tucson?
We should start a church plant down there.
And he said, yeah, you should do it.
I said, oh, no, no, no, not me.
You know, and I remember him saying that, I mean, just like that, oh, no, no, just walking away.
Before he could rope me into that.
Eventually, you know, we tried the North location, you try things,
sometimes they'd always work out.
And North, you know, for whatever reason, just never picked up steam, never took off.
And we had, me and the men that were preaching at that time,
we had a meeting on a Wednesday, Brother Fabian, you were there.
When Pastor, he wasn't in the meeting, but he was attending service that night.
When Pastor Anderson called me and these other men into the room,
and said, hey, the North thing just doesn't look like it's going to take off,
it just looks like it's never going to go.
What do you guys think about starting another church plant or just calling it good?
And just not doing anything?
Do you guys have any thoughts?
And I said, Tucson. And he said, that's exactly what I was thinking.
So we let the North church close, we ran out the lease in August,
and right after that meeting, he went out and told Brother Fabian, right,
he said, hey, you're still interested in church in Tucson, right?
And he's like, yes I am. He's like, well, we're starting one next month.
And that was in September of 2018.
And of course, when we first started, do we even have a midweek service during that time?
Those first few months, we just had the Sunday night,
the Sunday morning, Sunday night, and the new nieces were there too.
I know, who was here when that first started, that very first?
Karen, of course you were.
God bless you.
Yeah, several. And I know several families came quickly after that.
But you know, there's still people in this room that were there that very first.
I wasn't there, it was another person, another man was preaching,
who shall not be named.
But they went down there, they started that, you know,
one of them didn't work out, one of them moved away,
and that's fine, it wasn't a bad thing at all,
but had their reasons.
But when we started out, you know, we were just cycling through three guys,
and we were meeting at 2666, was it Stone or first?
It was first. Okay, yeah, first.
That's what I thought, so we were on first.
It was next to Smokey Mo's, wherever it was.
That I remember.
Walking, driving down there that third Sunday,
my first time down there, and smelling that barbecue
coming across the parking lot, I said,
praise God, this is gonna work.
I think we got something here.
Right? So then, I mean, we were preaching,
you guys know, but some of you don't know,
and that's why I'm taking the time,
and I know we just had our anniversary service,
but I didn't get up to preach this then,
so we're both gonna know.
I thought about doing it for this sermon,
about actually bringing the pulpit back
to where it was in that building.
It was literally this close to the wall.
This is how much room I had, folks.
And I was even bigger then than I am now.
And the piano was right there.
I mean, we started out, it was small,
there was a wall in the way,
we had a 32-inch monitor,
so people that were literally less than 20 feet away
could see me because of this big obtrusive wall.
It was crammed.
White plastic chairs that squeaked
every time anybody moved at all.
But that's how we started.
And we started that in the summer,
or the spring, rather, of 2018,
and right after that, basically,
I got hired as deacon in December of 2018.
I got hired on staff,
and then I think January 1st was literally
my first day as deacon there in 2018,
or 2019 then, I think it would have been.
It's all getting blurry.
And then we were there in that building
for only a few months,
I think five, six months,
until we moved right across over here, right?
Suite 160.
And everyone, I think, here knows about that suite.
And that's kind of brought us up to present day.
See, that's a little bit about me,
that's how far we've come as a church so far.
You know, and people might look at that
and say, well, big deal.
You know, I'm driving up this morning,
and there's a church here,
and there's a church that's getting ready.
You know, Zion City, another ecumen,
just what the city needs.
Another purple light church
with a bunch of people to go out
and air out their armpits in front of God
for 20 minutes,
while the preacher gets up with no tie
and a blazer and a pair of jeans
to share with everyone.
That's just what our church,
but you know, they're starting one
right down here again,
right next to that other heretical church
that's very popular.
You know, an abandoned supermarket
to start your church? No.
Oh, you started in a little
800 square foot office place.
Oh, you moved into a little, you know,
1,200 feet maybe in that other suite.
Oh, you moved into a warehouse.
Big deal.
But look folks, it is a big deal.
It is a big deal to start a church
where you're preaching from a King James Bible
where the main attraction is this,
is me getting up
and chanting and raving and preaching
the whole counsel of the word of God.
It is a big deal
when a church like that makes it
through those first few years
and survives and doesn't fall apart
and people don't just show up and say,
I don't want to hear that.
Where are the purple lights?
Where's the smoke?
Why you got a tie on?
Why you got to preach about that?
Can't you loosen up a little bit?
Why you got to have these standards?
You know, it is a big deal
to start talking to our pastors at church
and say, well, we haven't done much.
Yes, we have. Yes, we have.
We've survived and we've thrived.
This church has grown.
Has it grown by leaps and bounds?
No, but you know what?
I'm not interested in growing by leaps and bounds.
I'm not against it.
You know, typically when churches take off
and they're just immediately running
and just bursting at the seams,
it's usually because the guy in the pulpit
is just scratching a bunch of backs.
He's just tickling a bunch of ears.
You know, good people have come
and they've left good people.
I get that. That's the nature of the ministry.
But there's also been people that have come,
visitors that have come, people that have come
a few times and try it out and say,
that's not for me.
You know, and that's probably, honestly,
the vast majority of people would come
to a church just like this and say,
that's not for me.
And that's what, you know,
that's part of the vision that we have to have
is looking back and understanding how far we've come
and that really, you know,
and to look back and say,
this is who has made it through.
These are the people that have stayed faithful.
You in this room are the people
that are gonna get the work done here in Tucson.
Us, together.
It's not gonna be,
we're not gonna have a bunch of people come
and just do the work for us.
We have to do it.
You know, that's the past,
a little bit about mine, you know,
and not that that's the most important thing,
but you know, considering our church's past,
you know, we're talking about the church you're a part of.
Maybe you know a little bit more
about the person that's leading it.
In closing, you know,
when we're talking about having a vision
and we're talking this morning about
considering where you've come from
as a person, as an individual, as a church,
you know, all I would encourage you to do
is consider your past.
When you start to think about the church
and where your part in it,
consider where you've come from.
And I just wanna ask these questions
and make a few statements here.
Considering your past, ask yourself,
what church, if any, were you a part of before this one?
You know, that's something I have to remind myself
about some of the members in this church,
and I'm not saying this in a bad way.
I really don't mean it to knock people,
but the fact is is that some people
before they came to this church
were never part of a church
or were very loosely affiliated,
if at all, with the church.
And I know that's not everybody,
but I have to remind myself that as a leader
there's much that people have to learn
about what it means to be a part of a church.
And it tells me that I have to be patient
with people understanding that this is new to them.
Because sometimes I get, I'll be perfectly honest,
sometimes I see or I hear
or things take place and I'm just thinking,
what were they thinking?
Why aren't they doing this?
Why aren't they doing that?
And it's like, well, they haven't been in church 20 years, Corbin.
They didn't have, you know,
you've been under the preaching word of God.
You've been under the instructors
who've laid all these things out.
And now I have to remind myself,
well, that's you now.
Now you're that guy that has to do that for them.
But again, when we're talking about having a vision,
I would ask you, what church, if any, were you part of?
And if the answer is done, then just understand
because, you know, going into this series
over the next several months,
I don't want people to take it personally
and I don't want people to get their feelings hurt.
If it happens, it happens.
I don't want to hurt feelings.
But just understand this, if the answer is none,
then you have much to learn.
And I have much to teach.
And that's just the way it is.
If you say, well, I've been part of a church,
then great, great, amen.
Then you know what, there's probably a lot,
you could probably help with some of that teaching
and instruction that needs to take place for others.
What changes, I would ask this,
considering your past, have you made sense coming here?
Well, we're considering our vision as a church
and we're making it a little bit more personal.
Consider your past, ask yourself,
what changes have you made
since being a part of this church?
And if the answer is none,
then you have some thinking to do.
You say, I've been part of this church,
you know, I haven't really made any changes.
I doubt that anybody in this room can say that.
I'm sure everybody in the room
who has started coming to church
and hearing the preaching word of God
have made some steps in the right direction
in the direction that they ought to go.
Or they've started going soul winning,
they've started coming out to church more often,
maybe they've instituted some standards in their life,
maybe they've gotten some things out,
maybe they've gotten some other things in,
I'm sure that's the case.
But you know, that list needs to get longer and longer
as the years go by.
You know, when we roll around next year,
that list of the changes that you've made,
you write that at the top,
changes I've made since I started coming to FWBC Tucson,
that list needs to get longer and longer over the years.
What have you accomplished for Christ?
Since, you know, in your past,
what have you accomplished for the Lord in your past?
Not just since this church,
I'm just saying in general.
And if the answer is nothing,
then we have some work to do.
And you say, why are you bringing all this up?
Because this is part of having a vision.
This is part of having a vision.
You know, if we're gonna have a vision
about what we're gonna do
and how we're gonna accomplish it,
maybe we should start by looking
and asking ourselves, what have we done so far?
And not just as a church,
but as an individual,
what have you accomplished for Christ?
Before we start asking what I will accomplish,
we should ask that.
I'll just, if you would,
go to Habakkuk chapter two,
Habakkuk chapter number two.
And I'll just read to you from Deuteronomy chapter 32.
It says there, remember the days of old.
Consider the years of many generations
and I wanna close with this thought.
When we start to have an idea
about having a vision is that
we have to remember that
our personal past at this point,
if you're in this room,
if you're a part of this church,
this church is now a part of your personal history.
If you leave and never come back,
it'll never change the fact that you were here
and that you at some point
were a part of this church.
And this church, you're linked to this church
and this church is linked to a faith
that has been lived and practiced
through generations.
That's kinda what Moses was telling him
saying remember the days of old,
consider the years of many generations.
You know, the only reason why
this church is here
is because there's a church in Tempe.
The only reason there's a church in Tempe
is because there's a church out in California
and you know, I don't know much more
and I'm not turning one of these Baptist brideers
that says there has to be this unbroken lineage
of whatever, okay.
That's a whole other thing.
But the fact is, it's true though
to some degree that you know,
this faith that we have
has been passed down from generation to generation,
you are now part of that
just by being in this church.
It's linked to a faith
that has been passed down
for thousands and thousands of years.
And you say well what's, you know,
what's the vision?
You know, we're talking about
the great grander vision.
We're looking back on the past
and not just ourselves personally.
We're looking back on the past
not of just this church.
We're looking not back on the past
of the churches that have led up to this church
but we're actually looking back
in an overarching macro broad view
of the vision that God has
of God's will,
of what he desires,
what his vision is.
You know, we look back
and we see that,
we see this unbroken chain
of the faith that has been
come passed down, right.
That's the looking back
if we're looking from God's perspective,
we're looking back.
But what is God's,
what is God's vision looking forward?
Well, if you look there
in Habakkuk chapter 2,
it says in verse 14, it says,
for the earth shall be,
meaning it isn't,
but it shall be
filled with the knowledge
of the glory of the Lord.
The earth shall be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.
That's God's vision for earth,
for humanity.
That's God's vision looking forward.
That's his broad overarching vision.
You know, we just make up
those little details along the way.
We fill the earth
with the knowledge of his glory.
And all I'm trying to make
is the point is this,
is that we're part of that vision.
Obviously we are,
as individuals in our church,
are not going to fill the entire earth
with the knowledge of God,
of the glory of God.
But we can fill our corner.
We can fill in our time,
our generation for us time.
We can work towards that goal.
We can share in God's vision.
But looking back,
we're seeing where we've come from.
In the broader scope of things,
I know I'm kind of rambling
here at the end.
But I'm trying to get people
to see the bigger picture here
and understand what God wants.
Because again, we're talking
about having a vision,
what we're going to accomplish.
Why are we even doing it?
Why even take the time
to think about goals
and planning things for a church?
Why even take the time to do that?
It'd be easier just to get up
and just, you know,
I'm not much of a series guy.
I've tried preaching series in the past
and they usually, for me,
it gets difficult.
It'd be a lot easier for me
to just preach from week to week,
just whatever I feel like preaching.
But the fact is,
is that we need to have a goal
to accomplish God's vision.
And we're not going to accomplish
what we need to fulfill.
That's not going to happen
until Christ comes.
But you know, that doesn't mean
we shouldn't try.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't
at least try to play our part
while we're here.
Why do it?
Because it's part of God's vision.
Why have a vision for a church?
Because God has a vision
for the earth.
God has a vision for humanity.
For all men, especially those that believe.
There's one meteor between
man and God, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself a ransom for all.
You know, God wants the gospel
preached to every creature.
We are part of that vision.
That's what this church is here for.
That's our mission. That's our goal.
And if you're here,
you're part of it.
That is part of your past,
whether you stick around or not.
I can't change that.
So I'm just hoping, you know,
that you'll share in the vision
that, you know, maybe
what we need to do to start with
is just look in the past.
Ask yourself some of these questions.
You know, and what are you
going to accomplish?
How are you going to accomplish it?
But the important thing to remember
is that we need to have a vision as a church.
We need to accomplish the work
that Christ has given us.
But emphasis on we.
We.
Not me.
We are part, but we are going to do this as a body.
Let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for
the church, Lord.
Thank you for this church.
Thank you for the blood of Christ
that has made us a family in you.
Thank you for the promise that
we are heirs of salvation.
Thank you for the promise that
the earth shall be filled with
the knowledge of your glory.
And Lord, I pray you'd help us
to begin working on that mission
immediately, that we wouldn't just
accomplish all the work for us,
but Lord, that we would do that
which he cannot do in his absence,
that he will not do,
that he has left us to do,
to go out and to preach the gospel
and to spread the knowledge,
the glory of God where we are
while we're here.
I pray you'd help us to share
in this vision, Lord.
Give us a vision as individuals.
Give us a vision as a church
knowing where we are,
and Lord, most of all,
where we've been.
We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen.
All right, we'll go ahead and sing
one more song before we go.
Let's go ahead.
external handles
song of 397.
Song of 397,
a little as much when God is in it.
Song of 397.
In the heart
we still not rightly live
There's a word
for all to give
Hark the voice
of God is calling
to the heart
is calling in
The little is much
when God is in it
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
If you love
in Jesus' name
Does the place
you want to live in?
The earth seems so small
and little low
It is rain
if God is in it
And the love
from heaven is gone
The little is much
when God is in it
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
If you love
in Jesus' name
Are you made
aside from service
Body, heart,
and soul are there
You can still
be in the battle
In the sacred
place of prayer
The little is much
when God is in it
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
If you love
in Jesus' name
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
If you love
in Jesus' name
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
If you love
in Jesus' name
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
If you love
in Jesus' name
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
If you love
in Jesus' name
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
If you love
in Jesus' name
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win
Live around
the world for free
There's a crowd
that you can win