As we walk through the trials and challenges of these days and as the summer is upon us, I want to encourage you to keep this vision in front of us.
SPRINGS OF GRACE VISION MESSAGE for 2010
1) Diligently promote among Springs of Grace an awareness of the need in our city and world. (Luke 10 “Parable of Good Samaritan”; Luke 14)
Hopelessness, poverty, human trafficking, sexual perversion; generational patterns of violence, drugs, family disintegration; educational crisis, racial prejudice and discrimination; absence of biblical gospel, lack of biblical knowledge.
THERE IS A NEED BIGGER THAN WE CAN IMAGINE AND A MISSION GREATER THAN WE CAN ACCOMPLISH.
2) Call the people of Springs of Grace (our faith family) to pray – to really pray – to join in what God is doing throughout this city and throughout the world through prayer. (John 15:7, 16)
Use Operation World book as a tool to pray for the entire world over the coming year. Develop a prayer page online that is updated at least weekly, if not more often, about the ministries of Springs and the prayer needs of the world – (This is something that we still need someone to take the oversight for)
Ask each other: “WHAT ARE YOU PRAYING FOR?” and “WHAT CAN I PRAY WITH YOU ABOUT?”
KEEP DOING THIS!
3) Encourage one another at Springs of Grace to read the Word of God (John 15:3-7).
We will provide a “Read the Bible in a Year” handout; as well as a handout for reading through the New Testament in a year and reading through the key passages of the Bible in a year.
Ask each other – “WHAT ARE YOU READING THIS WEEK?” or “HOW HAS GOD USED THE SCRIPTURE WE READ THIS WEEK IN YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF THOSE GOD HAS GIVEN YOU TO LOVE?”
KEEP DOING THIS!
4) Press hard to equip and develop more of the saints at Springs of Grace for ministry (Ephesians 4-12-16).
a) Pray for laborers – “Jesus said, ‘ The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech (PRAY) the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Luke 10:2
b) Intern program – pray and recruit and support more interns for this summer – we have 27 coming! THANK YOU JESUS.
c) Preacher school – seek to develop the preacher school by offering another step beyond the bible study that will more diligently develop preachers. Ask God to use the intern program as one of the main feeders into the preacher school.
d) Offer more classes for the church body. We hope to offer a hermeneutics class (How to study the Bible) and a general overview of the Bible class this next year.
5) Count our lives as nothing (Acts 20:24) in order to be about a mission (John 20:21) we can’t accomplish on our own.
a) Cultivate a love relationship with Jesus as the fountain source for all we do so that we stay as far away from moralism and legalism as possible but give ourselves away as the overflow of the rich love we have for Jesus.
b) Encourage our brothers and sisters in the body to use their gifts alongside us so that we collectively demonstrate the perfections of Christ to our city. Not everyone has the same role but all are a necessary part of the body (1 Corinthians 12).
c) Encourage one another to be bound by the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s will because faithfulness to His mission is better than life.
d) Encourage one another to be faithful even though we don’t know what tomorrow holds because faithfulness to His mission is better than life.
e) Encourage one another to not quit when it gets tough because faithfulness to His mission is better than life.
f) Encourage one another to reject the American Dream (trust yourself) and embrace the gospel dream (deny yourself) because faithfulness to His mission is better than life.
COUNTING NONE OF THESE THINGS AS GAINING MERIT BEFORE GOD OR AS A STANDARD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS TO MEASURE OURSELVES OR OTHERS BY – but seeing faithfulness to His mission as better than life BECAUSE it is the way to finish the mission and it is the path to joy forever.
6) Preach, Live, Glory in and Believe a God who is greater than we can imagine – One who is able to do the impossible (Luke 1:37; Matthew 19:26)
a) Dependent upon His Spirit and not ourselves
b) Praying for a great God to do great things
c) Looking at the things God has blessed among us and considering how we might be more involved in what He loves
d) Thinking and dreaming and praying together as to how we might love like He loves and speak like He speaks in this city at this time
e) HOPING for God to change us and our city to be like Him as He stirs His people to pray and as His Spirit empowers His Word to accomplish His work