Vision 2005
Preached on January 30th, 2005 at 11:00AM by Pastor Brian Greene - 00:47:55
Listen to the sermon: Vision 2005
by Pastor Brian C. Greene
Proverbs 29:18 states “Where no vision is the people perish…” (KJV)
What is a vision?
“Vision is a clear and precise picture of a preferable future imparted by God to His servants, based on an accurate understanding of God, self, and circumstances,” from Turning Vision into Action by George Barna.
“Vision is born in the soul (mind, emotion, & will) of a man or woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what could be derived from an inability to accept things the way they are,” from Visioneering by Andy Stanley.
“Vision is a clear and challenging picture of the future of a ministry as its leadership believes its future can be and must be,” from Developing a Vision for Ministry in the 21st Century by Aubrey Malphurs
Vision is also defined as a picture, mental image, concept, or revelation of the future.
Therefore, where no picture, mental image, concept, revelation of the future exists, people perish. The word PERISH means die, expire, whither away, decay, or CEASE TO EXIST.
Now that’s bad news! However, the good news is that where a vision exists, then THE OPPOSITE of “perish” occurs and comes into play.
That means where there is a vision the people:
- LIVE instead of die.
- LAST instead of expire.
- THRIVE AND FLOURISH instead of whither away.
- GROW AND INCREASE instead of decay.
- COME INTO BEING (who they were created to be) instead of ceasing to exist.
And this is why I’m giving you Pentecostal Tabernacle’s Vision for 2005. It is through our God-given vision for 2005 that we will live, last, thrive & flourish, grow & increase, as well as come into being the church (ministry) God created us to become instead of merely existing as a church building.
The 4 M’s
Our 2005 Vision can be summed up as THE 4 M’s:
MORNING PRAYER (Psalms 5:3; Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 62:6, 7, 10, & 11). It is imperative that we remain faithful to maintaining our daily 6:00 - 7:00 AM Morning Prayer time at the Church. Because of our website we are not only receiving prayer requests (knee-mail) from around the world, but we are also receiving testimonies of answers to our prayer on behalf of those people as well. In other words, we are not simply praying for the needs of people who attend our church. Our entire church will be on a consecration of prayer & FASTING during the Lent Season (February 9th through March 27th). A consecration tip sheet will be posted next week.
MINISTRY GROUPS Acts 2:42-47: “They were like family (familiar) with each other. They also broke bread and prayed together.” (CEV) Pentecostal Tabernacle will be going to a new model of ministry growth called “Ministry Groups”. Most churches call this model “Small Groups” in that these groups will have 8 to 12 people each. These are not small “Bible Classes”. The purpose of these groups is to provide people with opportunities to grow together in their relationships with God and each other. This change in ministry will begin the week of February 27th.
MANAGING RESOURCES through Management Systems. Luke 16:1-12; Luke 19:13-26 (These Scriptures speak of the wise stewardship of resources.). With the growth of our ministry, we need to recognize that God is entrusting us with a greater amount of both financial and human resources. We will continue to improve our ability to manage both. Thus God will entrust us with more resources so that we’re able to do more ministry.
MISSIONS Matthew 28:18-20 (The word “TEACH”-train-is used twice); Matthew 25:31-40. We are going to aggressively pursue more opportunities for short-term mission trips for members of our congregation. We will partner with ministries with whom we’ve had long relationships. During the month of March, Elder Ken and I will be going to South Africa to investigate a property of 327 acres we were invited to partner in developing. However, we do not have to wait until then to begin our missions’ effort. Today and next Sunday everyone can participate in our TSUNAMI RELIEF donations which will go to World Relief and International Justice Mission.
