Ready or Not, Here it Comes!

It takes discernment to discover a vision for the church. Discernment is needed because a vision and strategy must originate with God. Consequently, much prayer and listening to God is needed. Waiting upon the Lord's direction is paramount.

When God is ready to make his vision known, the means by which God makes it known is through a leader. This is seen throughout the Bible. The most notable example would be Nehemiah.

It says in Nehemiah 7:5, "Then God put into my heart." That is how God communicated his vision to Nehemiah. It is also how God communicates his vision to his church. He will put the vision on the heart of the pastor.

As the pastor of First Southern, I am excited to share what God has put on my heart. I am more excited to share the journey of how God put the vision into my heart, and confirmed it along the way over and over.

You don't want to miss this Sunday!

Vision Sunday

On Sunday April 3, I will be sharing a vision for First Southern that God has put on my heart. This vision has been formulating for over a year. As God formulated his vision, he taught me some very important lessons in leading his people.

First, the Lord taught me to investigate before I initiate. Many great plans have failed because of haste. For the first ten months of my ministry at First Southern the Lord led me to prayerfully investigate the situation of First Southern.

Second, the Lord taught me to wait until he puts the vision in my heart. This process of waiting took ten months of soul searching. I wanted to make sure that what was in my heart was from God. When he finally gave me the peace I needed, I shared with the church what God has put into my heart.

On August 22, 2010, I shared with the church that God had not given me peace about relocating to the north campus, and that he wanted us to stay at the main campus. However, that was all that God had put on my heart at the time. I still didn't know what to do next, but God did.

Soon after I shared my heart with the church, I was contacted by an architect who said his firm would do the master planning for our main campus vision for free. This was a blessing because I didn't have a clue what to do next. I also knew that I needed to investigate further before I presented a long-term vision for the church.

After seven months of investigating and planning, I am ready to share the vision that God has for First Southern Baptist Church for generations to come.

Christian Leaders Are The Problem!

This morning, I had the opportunity to use Glen Beck, as an illustration. My focus was not intended to be on Glenn Beck and his false spiritual beliefs. No, my focus was intended for the Christian leaders who have embraced him as a Christian. He's not!

When leaders embrace someone whose beliefs differ from the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, there is a problem. People can be deceived to think that what Glenn espouses as spiritual truth is TRUTH. This concerns me tremendously.

I have been astonished how many Christian leaders have put aside doctrinal purity for the sake of political advancement. The kingdom we serve is not of this world, and the purity of the gospel we preach must be protected. Doctrine does matter. What you believe is important.

My prayer is for God's people to know the basics of Christianity and the uniqueness of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

For God's Sake Be Flexible!

Flexibility! You will need it if you desire following the plans of God for your life. Otherwise you will be frustrated and angry with people and with God. Flexibility does not mean that you don't visualize and plan. No, if you are going to be successful you better know your purpose and mission and how you want to go about fulfilling it, but allow God the opportunity to do things outside of your vision and plans. If it helps, even Jesus had to be flexible with his plans.

Nestled in the gospel of Mark is a wonderful story of Jesus having to be flexible. Jesus had sent out his disciples for ministry, and after they returned, he took them to a secluded place so that they could get some rest (Mark 6:30-32). Jesus knew the frailty and limitations of his disciples, so he planned for a rest. Nevertheless, his plans were short lived because as soon as the crowds got word of their location, they made their way to meet them (Mark 6:33). Even Jesus had to be willing to adjust!

However, what if Jesus was not flexible? Well, he would have missed out, along with his disciples, on a wonderful opportunity to perform and experience a miracle. What followed this disruption of plans was Jesus feeding 5,000 men with five loves of bread and two fish. It was a wonderful miracle, and would have been missed without a willingness to adjust plans and visions.

Plan, strategize, and visualize, but you need to allow God the opportunity to do things that were not planned, otherwise you may miss out on a miracle. Just remember the wisdom of Solomon, "The mind of man plans his ways, but the Lord determines his steps" (Proverbs 16:9).

I Can't Breathe!

Several years ago, the world watched as three gray whales, icebound off Point Barrow, Alaska, fought for survival. They could find a hole in the ice the provided breath temporarily. These gray whales were battered and bloody hanging on for any hope of getting out of the frozen prison. Their only hope would be to transport them five miles past the ice pack to open sea. Rescuers began cutting a string of breathing holes twenty yards apart in the six-inch-thick ice.

For eight days the rescuers coaxed the whales from one hole to another for five miles. Along the way, one of the three vanished and was presumed dead. Nevertheless, with the help of Russian icebreakers, the two surviving whales swam to freedom.

The Christian life must be lived out in a world frozen over with greed, selfishness, and hatred. John's command to Christians is, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the word--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father, but the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:15-17). How do we survive in the frozen sea of evil and worldliness?

We worship! I believe that worship, for the believer, is a string of breathing holes the Lord provides for his people. Battered, bruised, and bloody from a world cold and indifferent towards the things of God, we rise for air in corporate worship. The corporate worship is the place where we can catch our breath and breathe again. It is the place where we can be loved and encouraged until the day the Lord shatters the ice cap of this world forever.

Come catch your breath this Sunday!