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Month: July 2007
It takes a full season for a farmer to prepare field for sowing.
It takes a full season for the seed to grow and bear fruit.
It takes a full season for fruit to mature and ripen.
Although God could instantly transform us,
He prefers to work in incremental steps in on our lives
You are now familiar with our vision. We have shared with you where we are heading, what we are dreaming and what we are trusting God for in the days to come. Today and for the next few months, we will continue to share about this journey.
I firmly believe in the vision that God has set before us. Why? Because that vision results in people coming to know the Lord. People who have no hope…finding hope in the cross.
Remember this: Churches and ministries that are not evangelistic, will eventually cease to be evangelical! Put another way: Churches that are not intentional about winning people to Jesus, will intentionally send people to hell!
For the past few months, I have shared some of the vision for our ministry in the next five to ten years. This vision isn’t something that I jotted down in a few minutes. This vision is something that my wife and I have talked with God about for quite some time.
The goals that we have shared are the same goals that have been prayed about and prayed over. They’ve been dreamed about. They’ve been lifted up to God over the past seven years of full-time ministry in the United States of America.
Let me briefly share that vision with you again.
(1) We have a dream of seeing 3 times 300 souls won to Jesus as a result of this ministry!
(2) We have a dream of seeing three churches with 300 hudred members each planted in the next 10 years!
(3) We have a dream of adding 300 additional people in our Discipleship Ministry!
(4) We have a dream of baptizing 30 each year from now on!
(5) We have a dream, in partnership with The Southern Methodist Church of planting 30 churches (an average of three per year) in the next ten years!
(6) We have a dream of sending 30 missionaries in the next ten years!
(7) We have a dream of sending 30 of our church members on various short term missions trips!
(8) We have a dream of having 300 of our members, involved as lay ministers. Meeting the needs of our members, meeting the needs of our community, feeding the hungry, providing shelter to the homeless, helping the less fortunate, and letting the world see Christ within us!
This is the vision and it is a God-sized vision, God-sized dreams. GOD SIZED DREAMS ALWAYS TAKES GOD SIZED FAITH WHICH ALWAYS PRODUCES GOD SIZED MIRACLES!
This dream is bigger than our ability. This dream cannot be handled with flesh. These goals are SO LARGE that it will take a people committed, and a God that promises to provide!
And so, we have our vision, we know we need to be passionate about it. We know we must pray over it. We know we must commit to it. But the question is…HOW DO WE DO IT? How do we take our passion, take our vision, and make it a reality? How do we put feet to our dreams?
We’ve talked about the vision that God’s given us. We’ve talked about what we want to see accomplished. We’ve talked about the people we want to reach, the impact we want to make, the church we want to build in Mesquite.
But in order for that vision to come true, we must do something in order for it to become all that it CAN become.
In 2Chr. 14:7 we read, “Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the LORD our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.
In Isaiah 65:21 we read, They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
In Isaiah 66:1 we read, Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?
Where is the house you will build Me? This is the starting point for where we are heading as a church. Where is the House? And how will you build it?
In 1Cor. 15:58, Apostle Paul writes, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
This verse in 1 Cor. 15:58 teaches us that we need to (1) Stay in the Will of God, (2) Labor to the point of exhaustion and (3) Look to the future approval and blessing of our Lord!
We all know that when building a house, there is a great deal of thought, planning, dreaming and consideration that must take place. It doesn’t just happen. In fact, there are many steps that must be taken in order to get from this pile of dirt to the house that we dream about.
This year we begin that same journey as a ministry and we have asked ourselves, how do we make our dreams come true? How do we see the vision that God has given to us come to fruition? The answer is…WE MUST PLAN!
You might ask how? The answer is;
1. Prepare your mind for Action!
I Peter 1:13 says, Prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Why do we need to prepare our minds? So that when times get tough, we are mentally tough, so we can keep going. So we can keep moving towards the goal.
2. Read the Vision and Pursue it with Passion!
Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
3. Plan to “Go the distance!”
Hebrews 12:2 refers to Christ as the example we should look to as someone who went the distance!
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus remained “steadfast” and “immovable” – not allowing anything to deter him from his mission! Jesus illustrated this commitment when he noticed that Peter was trying to keep Jesus from going to the cross by fighting the roman guards who had come to take Jesus away. Jesus reminded Peter that He must fulfill His mission:
Matt 26:53-54 Don’t you know that I could call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
Jesus was resolutely committed to His mission. We, too, must be committed to the mission. Trusting that God will honor our commitment.
Phil. 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; We must trust Him to finish it in us!
4. Realize the power of God brought you this far!
Ephesians 3:20-21 calls on all believers to never forget the immeasurable power that God provides for all believers:
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
5. Always remember the Faithful Ones who laid the Foundation!
Hebrews 12:1 reminds us to never forget the line of succession that brought us here to this point:
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses who have borne testimony to the Truth, let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance and that sin which so readily entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us.
IT IS OUR TURN TO BUILD!
We must be passionate about the vision! We must be passionate about Christ! We must be passionate in our relationship with Him! We must be passionate about souls!
We must be passionate about reaching out to those who are hurting, who have no hope! We must be passionate about building His church! We must be passionate about building His house!
Today, we continue the vision of the next ten years of building God’s church. Habakkuk 2:2: says, then the LORD answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.
We have the vision, that has been written, made plain, and now, it’s OUR TURN TO RUN WITH IT!
Romans 5:1-5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope. And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
PRAISE GOD FOR: Hope we have through Jesus Christ; Trials in your life God is using to refine your character; Specific ways God has protected, guided, and directed you; Specific ways God has provided and ways He is refining us.
PRAY FOR: Those around the world experiencing persecution and hardship; Those in our midst that do not know Christ; Those in our midst experiencing physical or financial struggles
Every church that has been planted is a testimony of people who saw a need for a church, prayed about it, committed to do something, and partnered with others to build it.
Our Christian faith is a partnership with God. We can do nothing without Him and there are many things He does only when He has our cooperation.
Partnering involves planning together, combining skills, building a team, combining finances, and committing to see success.
What would be on your list of the top ten obstacles to the expansion of the Kingdom of God? The New Age Movement? Post-Modernism? The breakdown of the moral fiber? Is anything really capable of thwarting Kingdom growth? Can a resistant world stop? Can resistant people stop?
Certainly all of these are issues we must address with wisdom if we are to impact America for Christ – but are any of these capable of bringing the move of God to a halt? Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not be able to stand against it.”
Jesus told us to “go and preach the Gospel”, not wait for people to come and hear it in our church buildings.
“It is altogether a mischievous thing that we should confine our preaching within walls. Our Lord, it is true, preached in the synagogues, but he often spake on the mountain side, or from a boat, or in the court of a house, or in the public thoroughfares. To him, an audience was the only necessity. He was a Fisher of souls of the true sort, and not like those who sit still in their houses, and expect the fish to come to them to be caught.” Charles Spurgeon.
Erick Chepkwony, TH.D 