The Vision
From the beginning “THE LIGHT” has been about a radical
vision that God placed in my heart—a vision that was
about bringing honor and glory to His name by being
totally committed to His “Master Plan”. God’s vision
for our Church is something that we take very seriously,
since we are convinced that He is calling us to
something much more than “church as usual”. Moreover,
this also explains our purposeful and systematic
approach to everything we do.
“Where there is no vision the people perish”. –Proverbs
29:18
There are many particulars relating to the vision that
are beyond the scope of this document. However, I would
like to briefly share with you what God has put into my
heart, and what His plan is for accomplishing it.
Nehemiah’s Vision
If you’ve ever read the book of Nehemiah then you
probably have a good understanding of the power and
process of fulfilled vision. God gave Nehemiah a vision
for restoring Jerusalem, since the city was almost
completely destroyed. At first Nehemiah was broken over
the devastation and ruin of Jerusalem and the disgrace
of the people (the “condition”). However, as God
began to strengthen the vision within him he became
determined to accomplish what God had put into his
heart, which was to rebuild the city—and he did (the “plan”).
Our Vision
Similar to Nehemiah’s vision the Holy Spirit has
impressed on my heart a vision that involves a
“condition” and a “plan”. In my spirit I
also see disgrace, trouble and ruin. I see a culture,
church and secular, that is in desperate need of repair
or Salvation. I also see in my spirit a clear pattern
found in the scriptures of LIFE and BLESSING when people
cling to God’s ways and purposes, and RUIN when a people
(any people) drifts away from His Master Plan.
A Church in Crisis
This is the message that Jesus Christ was communicating
to the Churches in the book of Revelation:
“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your
first love. Remember the height from which you have
fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If
you do not repent, I will come and remove your lampstand
from its place.” –Revelation 2:4-5
“Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die,
for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of
my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and
heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I
will come like a thief, and you will not know at what
time I will come to you.” –Revelation 3:2-3
The Spirit of Christ is saying this same thing to the
churches in our culture—“Wake up! Get back to the
fundamentals of what it means to be the church! Do what
the churches did in the beginning, before it is too
late!” I strongly believe in my spirit that we are not
going to pass a “better” culture (church or secular) on
to our children and grandchildren.
I truly believe there
is a MAJOR problem that lies squarely at the feet of the
church. It is the role of the church to be the LIGHT and
SALT of the WORLD! When the churches fail to function
as they were designed to function we fail to have a
positive influence on the world. This nation, and the
“western culture” in general, has benefited tremendously
from the impact of real, vibrant, scriptural based
Christianity. However, that is beginning to change.
The Winds of Change
Winds of change are definitely beginning to blow in our
culture—forgive me; they are almost at gale force and
not for the better. Our legal system, political system
and other secular institutions are becoming not just
spiritually neutral (and that is bad enough), but very
antagonistic towards anything branded “Christian”. In
the name of “tolerance” America is slowly, but surely,
loosing its “foundations”. Furthermore, Christianity is
being branded as “intolerant”. Tolerance is becoming
our banner—our battle cry—our standard—our “god”.
Folks, there was a time in our legal system that we
would see frequent reference to the Creator or His
Scriptures. Today, that never happens!! In almost 15
years of practicing law fulltime, I never (that I can
recall) saw a positive reference to God or the Bible. I
did, however, see and read many antagonistic references
to the things of God.
I strongly believe that we have a crises situation on
our hands—we are loosing our culture. I am afraid that
we are not leaving the world better than we found it.
Christianity is about “transformation”—change for the
good! We are God’s army, and our mission is to “go and
make disciples” throughout the whole world. It is time
for us to become “lovers of truth”—“worshipers”—“people
of purpose”—“people of vision”!
Conclusion
God has given us everything we need to accomplish His
vision. However, we must be willing to trust in Him and
His Word—never compromising the Truth. As Christians
our primary focus needs to be on fulfilling our Lord and
Savior’s “Great Commission”, or the making of
disciples. Disciples are the “godly offspring” that God
is looking for today – people who follow after Him
wholeheartedly, and are committed to shining His light
of love and truth into a dark and dying world. |
