Our VISION (I LOVE MY CHURCH Series)

Sunday - Noon Worship Service
theCrossroads UPC, 5-2-21
A.J. Dummitt

What do you see? (not in the natural, but in the supernatural today..) When the Hand of the Lord comes upon us…we can see things that we have not seen before!

1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He had me pass among them all around, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and behold, they were very dry. 3 Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “Lord God, You Yourself know.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘You dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ 5 This is what the Lord God says to these bones: ‘Behold, I am going to make breath enter you so that you may come to life. 6 And I will attach tendons to you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you so that you may come to life; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a loud noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, tendons were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘The Lord God says this: “Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, so that they come to life.”’” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

The Vision Explained

11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the entire house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am going to open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 And I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.’” —Ezekiel 37:1-14 (NASB)

The hand of the Lord is upon us church…
God is moving in our LifeGroups, our prayer meetings, youth and main services..
He is opening up our spiritual eyes to see things…

OUR VISION
(LOVE IS THE ANSWER)
Reach our World with the Answer…and plant other churches that will do the same!

Lively Stones
Healthy Nursery
King’s Kids
Generation Now Youth
Dream Team
Purpose Institute
Online/Livestream Experience

Our Physical “VISION” GOALS to help us REACH our World.

Construct a Family Life Center for our youth and children with a fellowship hall that will accommodate social gatherings. Or Relocate to another property where we can have everything exactly the way we need it to be for families that are searching for God! 
Renovate the house we own into a CoffeeShop with a drive-through that will give us more meeting space and hopefully become a second revenue stream for the church..to help us…
Pay our mortgage off or at least WAY down so that we can pay more full time ministries and help more missionaries. This will help us to be in a better position to start funding more church plants.
Fix and completely Recover our Parking Lot for guests and members to be able to park their vehicles while they are here.

Our Spiritual “VISION” GOALS to stay true to our CAUSE.

Make True Disciples that follow and obey Jesus willingly.  
Pray and Reach for the Salvation of Souls - true cultural impact in our community…be the “go-to” church for people.  
Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Healing - Seeing people healed regularly through our church body, and seeing spiritual prodigals come home.  
Reconciled Relationships - with God, in our marriages, and parent/children relationships. Our worship will be strengthened when we are made WHOLE!

What do you see? It is amazing what we can see if we will go beyond ourselves and be led by the Spirit of the Lord. What seems impossible in our eyes is made possible by the mighty power of God!

(Take a moment to note some of the things God is speaking into your spirit right now.)

KEY POINT of this MESSAGE:
What God is GOING to DO - depends on our FAITH and OBEDIENCE to His vision for us…and it starts with our commitment right now!

LAW OF THE HARVEST - ILLUSTRATION

The following is based on a sermon by missionary Del Tarr who served fourteen years in West Africa with a popular mission agency. His story points out the price some people pay to sow the seed of the gospel in hard soil.

HE SAYS…
I was always perplexed by Psalm 126 until I went to the Sahel, that vast stretch of savanna more than four thousand miles wide just under the Sahara Desert. In the Sahel, all the moisture comes in a four month period: May, June, July, and August. After that, not a drop of rain falls for eight months. The ground cracks from dryness, and so do your hands and feet. The winds of the Sahara pick up the dust and throw it thousands of feet into the air. It then comes slowly drifting across West Africa as a fine grit. It gets inside your mouth. It gets inside your watch and stops it. The year’s food, of course, must all be grown in those four months. People grow sorghum or milo in small fields.

October and November…these are beautiful months. The granaries are full – the harvest has come. People sing and dance. They eat two meals a day. The sorghum is ground between two stones to make flour and then a mush with the consistency of yesterday’s Cream of Wheat. The sticky mush is eaten hot; they roll it into little balls between their fingers, drop it into a bit of sauce and then pop it into their mouths. The meal lies heavy on their stomachs so they can sleep.

December comes, and the granaries start to recede. Many families omit the morning meal.
Certainly by January not one family in fifty is still eating two meals a day.
By February, the evening meal diminishes.
The meal shrinks even more during March and children succumb to sickness. You don’t stay well on half a meal a day.

April is the month that haunts my memory. In it you hear the babies crying in the twilight. Most of the days are passed with only an evening cup of gruel.

Then, inevitably, it happens. A six-or seven-year-old boy comes running to his father one day with sudden excitement. “Daddy! Daddy! We’ve got grain!” he shouts. “Son, you know we haven’t had grain for weeks.” “Yes, we have!” the boy insists. “Out in the hut where we keep the goats – there’s a leather sack hanging up on the wall – I reached up and put my hand down in there – Daddy, there’s grain in there! Give it to Mommy so she can make flour, and tonight our tummies can sleep!”

The father stands motionless. “Son, we can’t do that,” he softly explains. “That’s next year’s seed grain. It’s the only thing between us and starvation. We’re waiting for the rains, and then we must use it.” The rains finally arrive in May, and when they do the young boy watches as his father takes the sack from the wall and does the most unreasonable thing imaginable. Instead of feeding his desperately weakened family, he goes to the field and with tears streaming down his face, he takes the precious seed and throws it away. He scatters it in the dirt!
Why? Because he believes in the harvest!
The seed is his; he owns it. He can do anything with it he wants. The act of sowing it hurts so much that he cries.

But as the African pastors say when they preach on Psalm 126, “Brother and sisters, this is God’s law of the harvest. Don’t expect to rejoice later on unless you have been willing to sow in tears.” And I want to ask you: How much would it cost you to sow in tears? I don’t mean just giving God something from your abundance, but finding a way to say, “I believe in the harvest, and therefore I will give what makes no sense. The world would call me unreasonable to do this – but I must sow regardless, in order that I may someday celebrate with songs of joy.” —Leadership, 1983.

PRAY and ask God to open your Spiritual Eyes today and give you FAITH to believe!

RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL

REPENT, and BE BAPTIZED and let God fill you with the Gift of the Holy Spirit!

Repent: confess sin, express sorrow, surrender all to God, ask for His forgiveness.
Believe: trust God, open your heart.
Repentance and faith are the only two requirements for receiving the Holy Ghost.
Once you have fully repented, praise God with your mouth and with joy and expectancy.
As the Spirit begins to move on your tongue, yield and let the new language come out.
If you have not yet been baptized by full immersion in water in the name of Jesus Christ, please contact us and we will make arrangements for you to be baptized here, or wherever you live.

CHURCH MEMBERS ONLY
(We do not expect any of our guests to feel financially obligated)

I Love My Church Stewardship Campaign Commitment Form Online

Link: https://crossroadsupc.churchcenter.com/people/forms/231927

Please consult with God and your family, and only commit what you feel like you will be able to keep with God’s help over the next 12 months (May 2021 to June 2022).
If you are filling out as a couple or family, please put both or all first names in the first name box - This will clarify things for the office.