Episode Transcript
Welcome to the World Changers Church Gold Coast Podcast. Join us as we listen to today's message. Father, we thank you for this Vision Sunday.
We thank you for the message we're about to receive. We thank you for the spirit of excellence and grace and the inspiration of faith in these people. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
And we all say, Amen. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise. Amen.
Oh, you can do better than that. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise. Amen.
Amen. I'll borrow your microphone just in case. Amen.
It's just on mute. All right. They'll help me out if something happens.
So why don't you turn to two or three people? Don't get up and run around. Turn to two or three people and say hello and welcome to church.
Amen. Amen. Man, I'm going to tell you what.
Somebody with some small ears wore this thing last time. Praise the Lord. See, I got some dumbo ears.
We need room. Praise the Lord. It's Vision Sunday.
Amen. It's Vision Sunday. You know, God's been telling me As you look back, you kind of go, look at where you've been.
You look at this and that. You look at the size of the congregation you had and this and that and the third. You know, we are so much stronger now than when we first came to Australia because we've been through the valleys.
We've been through the peaks and the valleys again. This past month, I've received probably five or six phone calls of pastors giving up and giving in, just saying, I can't do it no more. The church has got to be the hardest thing I've ever done. And my response to that has been, well, I got to ask you a question.
Were you doing it in your own strength or were you doing it in the strength of the Lord? Because how many people in here are fixers? We try and fix everything.
We get tired doing it. Now, that's nothing to do with the message. But this year, as we find freedom, we're going to find freedom not to be so anxious, freedom not to be so busy, freedom not to worry about whether they liked it or not.
We're just going to find freedom to know that we're going to rest in the Lord and follow Him in all that we do. We proclaim that right now, Jesus, in everything that we do. Amen. Now, today is not, we're not just gonna talk about vision for our church.
We're talking about purpose. So as you've heard today, you've heard various things about where you can get involved. I don't believe that church is an elective.
I think it's a lifestyle. Church is not something we attend, it's who we are. See, when you make church a building, it's something you come and go from, but when you make it a lifestyle, when you make it something that you are, because you, the body, are the church, it changes the outcome.
It changes our attendance. It changes everything and it changes our strength to where we find joy in coming to church. How many were excited to come to church this morning?
Amen. Thank you for the honest people that didn't raise your hand, hallelujah. I was excited.
So today we're gonna dive into powerful keys of following God's vision for your life. Because something God has specifically designed for you and for us as a community. It's a reminder that God's plan that he's asking us to jump into, trust him, and live it out together.
How many know that vision is actually something we do together? Amen? And yeah, I won't go there. So there's keys to fulfilling vision.
The first key, if you wanna write it down for those that are taking notes, is clarity. The second key is commitment. And the last key is perseverance.
I believe that there is these keys that we can walk out that'll help us fulfill God's vision for our life and in our church, in the body of believers on the Gold Coast. So clarity is the first thing we're gonna talk about. You know, every time I take off these glasses and I'm believing God for my healing, I try and read something and people laugh at me sometimes.
I'll grab my phone and I'm thinking, yeah, I can read that. And I have to go. Clarity is about taking the blur out of your vision and seeing the bigger picture.
To know where you're going, to not just mundanely do. To be able to fulfill a vision, you gotta know where you're going and see where the vision starts, and it starts with clarity. I know who I am.
I know what I'm called to do. I am the righteousness of God. I have the grace of God in every area of my life.
I have faith and strength to achieve all things. I have declarations and confessions. I have authority to overcome this world through the name of Jesus.
I'm not just sitting back and settling in. I am achieving the mission of God, which was placed on my life, which was to go and make disciples of men. Anyway, so vision starts with clarity and understanding what God wants for your life and in our church.
Do you know who you are? Do you know God's purpose? So if we're going to follow God's vision, we first need to know what it looks like.
It's not about having all the answers. It's about knowing. Listen to this. It's not about having all the answers.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I don't know what office I'm supposed to be in. I don't know if this is my church.
I don't know if you're my pastor. It's none of that. Following vision is knowing who you're following, which is first Jesus.
Amen. The moment you start following man, you better make sure that man or woman is following Jesus. Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. Amen.
One thing I know about the vision in this church is it is filled with the vision to follow Christ. But if you don't know where you're going and you don't know who you're following, Proverbs 29 and 18 says this. Do we have the scripture?
When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whosoever obeys the law is joyful. In another version it says, where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that keepeth the law happy is he.
Now what law do we keep under this new covenant? Following Jesus. Surrendering to Jesus, walking in faith, trusting, relying in, knowing that we have received all the promises of heaven into our lives.
Amen. I'm following the law of love because I'm following Jesus. I know that he has fulfilled all things and fulfilled all things in me.
And as I walk in the spirit, I can do all things because he strengthens me. Amen. It's not about my ability.
It's about his ability. It's not about my holiness. It's his holiness that's on me. It's not about my purity. It's about the purity he provides.
It's got nothing to do with my actions. It's got everything to do with my surrender to him. Amen.
It's gotta be clear that we're following Jesus, and vision is vital. Without it, we wonder, we get distracted, and we simply lose our way. Every day presents you the opportunity to have blurred vision, to catch this epidemic called spiritual blindness.
Every day we'll present a problem. And the Bible says in the New Testament that the world is filled with offense. So if anybody tells you, I never get offended, days of sleep, amen.
I never get angry, you a liar, amen. You get angry, you've just matured in the ability to catch it and surrender it to God. your flesh still has an action until the day you take off this incorruptible seed and put on, take off this corruptible seed and put on incorruptible, your flesh wants a donut at midnight when you know you shouldn't have it.
And therefore you gotta take every thought captive. And the way you do that is with clear vision in following Jesus. Because with God's vision, we have purpose, direction, and focus.
Jesus is my glasses for my life. I put on my Jesus lenses and I can see clearly where I'm going. If I am in him and he is in me, I'm looking through him and I, oh my goodness, they mad at me.
Oh my goodness, I gotta pay my bills. Oh my goodness, I need to take my car in. Oh my goodness, Spur just called me.
Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. Oh, he shall supply all my needs according to my riches and glory. He will give me wisdom in all things so I can walk in uprightness.
He will make a way where there is no way. And as long as I keep following him, all those problems I shall overcome because I'm being led by him. That's clarity.
Not faking freely, not just Christianese and bumper stickers, not just titles, not just I feel good, I'm flavored like chicken. I got 52 flavors of favor on my life. No, no, no.
It's a real clarity that God is with you. Because back at 2, 2 through 3 says, when you know, you can write the vision and make it plain on tablets so that he who reads it may run with it. I ask people all the time, what is God's vision for your life?
And they start umming and ah-ing and um-na-na-na-na-na. Well, I'd like to do and I wanna do and I feel like I should do and I've always felt like I'm called to be a pastor. You better pray again.
Oh, my goodness. I've always felt like I wanna just work full and full-time ministry. Oh, that's a surrender and you better weigh the cost. Hallelujah.
But when you can write it down and make it clear, God's vision isn't complicated. People make God's vision so complicated like God is up there needing to take a blue pill and get counsel because he's changing his mind every five minutes. God ain't changed his mind about you.
God ain't changed his mind about what you're going. And when you heard it in confidence and prayer and it lined up in the Word, God still said the same thing yesterday that he's saying today. It's people in you that are changing their mind.
God's vision isn't complicated. It's clear and it's actionable. Habakkuk reminds us to make the vision plain.
That's why when people say, well, what's the vision of your church? Well, to go and make disciples of men. Wherever I go, the Great Commission is my vision.
To find fellow peers to study the Word of God with so that we can be equipped in the Word of God and mature in the Word of God so that we can walk in spiritual maturity and so that we can walk in uprightness before God with smiles on our faces because I'm so sick of Christian bulldogs. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So sick of them.
People coming. I shouldn't shake my chin too much. I shaved my beard and I saw how fat it was.
Praise the Lord. Amen. But here's the thing.
People mad all the time because they don't know where they're going. There's no joy in your life because you don't know where you're going. Man, nothing make a mad man more matter.
When his wife saying you should turn left way back there. He said, I know where I'm going. And then she turns out to be right.
And then we get mad because we don't know where we're going. Amen, you should have listened to the Holy Spirit the first time when she said turn, amen. Vision is clear and actionable.
Come back, it reminds of this. God's plan for us is something we can grab a hold of and run with. It's not vague, it's something we can engage with today.
I believe that God's called me in the next 20 years, a fruit tree will grow in my yard and it's gonna speak with a golden monkey and it's gonna have Hebrew on it and I believe that when that sprouts in my yard, I'll know what to do. You better go pray. God's Word speaks clear.
His Spirit speaks clear. And if it needs an interpretation, it's because they're not believers. Non-believers need something to shake their cage. But when God speaks to you as a believer, it is clear and it doesn't need interpretation.
I know some of you are sitting there like, well... If you have a dream, have an interpretation. If you have a vision, have an interpretation.
Don't go around speaking to people about rats and bats and you don't know what God was saying. Amen? They having fun.
So clarity comes when we realize that it's something we can engage with today. Clarity comes from being in relationship with God through prayer. I don't know what God wants me to do.
Well, how often you pray? Well, I try to every day. Clarity comes through relationship with God through worship. Well, how often do you worship?
Oh, I love worship at our church. It's so good, at least every Sunday. Ain't enough.
You need to be worshiping while you're cleaning the dishes, even if there's no music on. Hallelujah. You need to be worshiping when you vacuuming. You need to be worshiping when you're walking. You need to be worshiping in your car. And worship looks like I'm giving thanks to God.
It ain't got to be a pretty song. It can be messy. Worship is something that will bring clarity.
And the last and final thing that will bring clarity through relationship with God is reading his word. If you ain't reading his word, don't talk to me about what's unbiblical, unbiblical. If you're watching YouTube, don't talk to me about what's biblical and unbiblical.
If you've listened to a podcast, don't talk to me. You're just surrounded by opinion. Read the word of God.
See what the word of God says and then talk to me. Let me know that you become a student of the word and then I'll listen to you. You're just confused.
Amen? Somebody give the Lord a hand clap of praise. As we grow closer to him, the path he has for you will become clearer.
We're not waiting on a big revelation. God's vision is unfolding right now in small moments in our daily lives. The second way that we can fulfill God's vision in our life is after we've received clarity, is that we walk in commitment.
I was talking to a pastor the other day that was quitting, and he said, the hardest thing to do is we run a volunteer army. There's no incentive. I can't pay them enough.
Because they tell me God told them that His grace is sufficient. I can't do, I can't, they can quit with free will at any given moment. How in the world am I supposed to run this army?
I said, well, when they commit to vision, when the vision is clear, you'll never have another problem with a volunteer army. When they know where they're going and they know who they are, they'll love the volunteer. They won't just show up because there's a need.
They won't just show up because you're famous and they want to say, I go to World Changers where old Kyle self-preaches. They don't care about none of that. What they care about is I'm here serving God and I'm serving the vision of God and I know where we're heading and I know the outcome.
And we've laid that out to you this morning. Amen. For the next year, you know how you can serve. Everybody's like, oh Lord, we knew it was coming.
But when you have commitment, clarity, when you're following vision, clarity is the first step. And when you have commitment, it's a yes, I'm in. Man, I love when I go to play, I ain't done it recently because I've gotten chubby.
But when I go play pickup basketball, and I'm with all those young fellas, and they're talking about how we gonna win, and I'm like, yeah, we gonna win, we gonna do this, we gonna run full court, and I'm like, let's maybe run half court. And they talking about, they just, the energy of, that they believe that they gonna just stay on the court all day, that they never gonna have to switch out, and they're gonna, they just believe it. There's something about a church that has that same mentality, that yeah, we're gonna be there because God's moving.
Yeah, we're gonna be there because it's part of the vision. Yeah, we're gonna be there because it's gonna grow. Yeah, we're gonna be, there's something about a people that ain't coming in, judging everything that we're doing, criticizing everything that we're doing, and just saying, you know what, it's a part of the vision.
It's going somewhere. It's impacting the Gold Coast. I mean, over 200 people got saved in the last year.
Tell me another church that is doing that. Big churches do that. We're small.
We're itty-bitty. And we're reaching more people. Because God said, I'm raising up a remnant that can sustain the end times.
We're not just going to be a church of feel-good. We're going to be a church of go and grow. Amen?
That's vision. Commitment commits even when it's hard. Now, I have not honored my wife yet because I needed time to heal myself.
But, you know, when her mom was passing and she went over to the U.S., she was still on her computer. She was still on the phone talking to us about the conference because she believed in the vision of the conference. She believed in what she had to do. And she was still on the phone with all of us making sure we were okay. while she was pulling, there's no easy way to say this, while they were pulling her mother off of life support, she was making sure we were good.
That's an issue. That's commitment, that even when it's hard, you show up. Now, if you're starting to feel bad about something that's happened in your life, well, I don't know that I could do that.
I'm not asking you to compare yourself to Pastor Tina. I'm saying that I haven't had a chance to honor her for how committed she is. I'm not shaming you for what you haven't done.
I'm saying that real commitment goes past how it feels. Real commitment shows up when it's hard. And I'm going to tell you, I've showed up when it's just been me and one or two.
I've showed up when we ain't got no money and the baby needs a new pair of shoes. I've showed up when we ain't know how we're going to pay the bills. I've showed up when it looks like we were shutting down.
As long as you keep showing up, it adds fuel to the person next to you. That's what vision will do. And that's what we want to do in the next year.
You know, amen. And, you know, I used to tell people all the time, go to bed on Saturday night so you don't show up sleeping. Amen?
Like, just because we, I know it sounds strange, but I was like, when we come together corporately, get some rest. Amen? Because we, corporately, we feed off of each other.
Amen? And so go to bed, turn Netflix off. It's okay.
That show will still be there the next day. Get some rest because Matthew 16, 24 says, if any one of you would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. I used to have a poor interpretation of this.
I thought it meant I had to sacrifice. I thought it meant I had to be poor. I thought, no, picking up my cross is saying, not my will be done, but thy will be done.
See, Jesus is was the actual cross. That was his ministry. His ministry was fulfilled when he died on the cross and rose again and ascended into heaven.
Your ministry, your cross to bear may be attending church, being on worship team, going out and being an evangelist, not watching Netflix, separating some time to be available to get in the word because you wanna equip yourself in the word of God, amen? Following God's vision isn't always easy, but it's always worth it, amen? I've always been fulfilled following God, amen?
I'd be angry as a hornet and God said, no, you need to calm down and say you're sorry. That's following God. You know, I'm a boisterous person and God says you need to chill.
Lower your voice, lower your tone, change your mannerism. That's a simple way of following God. Your mannerisms and surrendering them to God is following God.
Amen. Your ministry, getting in the word and making sure you understand what you're talking about. is following God.
Amen? Following God's plans means surrendering your own desires of comfort in exchange for bigger, better plans. Man, I'm going to tell you what.
They went on this hike yesterday. I must have looked. I'm going to be honest, Claire.
I looked at Tina two or three times. I said, I got to go. put on some weight.
That's going to be fun. I ain't got nothing but work shoes. It's about 20 pounds of heavy on each foot.
I ain't got no hiking shoes. And she said, no, we need to go. And then something rang in me about vision, about community, community, about connection.
And I said, you know, hiking ain't on my top list of things I want to do, but I enjoyed it. It was strange. It was great. I actually like hiking now.
I even told my wife, let's go every Saturday. Amen. My whole outlook on hiking changed from the way I felt about it before to when I showed up.
Now, midway through hiking, that was different. Oh, Lord, give me strength. Oh, Lord, help me up this hill.
But there was something about accomplishing and finishing and sharing that with people that was amazing and enriching. I was like, man, now I like hiking. I didn't like it before.
Yay. Thank you, Jesus. She said answered prayer.
So sometimes the thing you don't want to do is exactly what you need to do because God is leading you into new mountains of joy. So sometimes just a simple connection with people is something to do. You know, Jesus, he spoke in what it says in Luke 14, 28 through 30.
For which of you desires... For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost? I'm going to tell you something. I was counting the cost. On that hike, I was counting the cost. In ministry, I've counted the cost.
I've sacrificed in the wrong way. I've sacrificed time with family. I've sacrificed time with my wife to do ministry.
That is not the call of God. Balancing your life and being a steward of your time and your finances so that you can effectively share those things is the call of God. Balance your time.
Do that thing called a calendar. Write things down. Don't be a leaf that this gets blown around.
Be a person that is a steward and you will be able to commit and achieve anything. Jesus gave us a heads up that if you're building something that lasts, it takes time, effort, and perseverance. We need to count the cost, plan ahead, and go all in, no half-hearted attempts.
I love when we start planning things at church. Because if I'm gonna give that living sacrifice to something, if I'm gonna give that time, that money, that talent to something, if I'm gonna lay myself down and surrender to a plan, I wanna see that who's leading it has actually put some work in, has actually planned some things. Because offering my body in Romans 12, one and two, it says this.
We have that one? Yeah, it's what Romans 12 is. And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.
Let them be a living and holy sacrifice. Now that word means set apart. Doesn't mean you gotta be like perfect, like some think you should do.
No, it means you got to set apart time to be available to the will of God and acceptable. This is truly a way of worshiping him. If you are time poor, you are a poor time steward.
To fulfill vision, you gotta steward time better. Amen? Man, God, Jeremy, God's been teaching me this for the past week.
I keep going, Lord, Tina, we got people coming to our house, ain't got no time to sit down, ain't got no time to rest, we doing this, we doing that. And in all my complaining, God said, well, you're just a poor steward of time. I said, all right.
Watch this. So I got into a little bit of self-effort and I was gonna get it done. Next thing I know, I was really tired.
Eight o'clock, going to bed, feeling like an old man. Some of you 67-year-olds would run circles around me, I was in so much self-effort. Probably still would anyway.
And there I was, I said, God, I just can't do it. He said, make yourself available, steward your time, and I'll supply the grace. And I said, all right.
The biggest thing you gotta understand, this is not a part-time following Jesus. This is a I'm all in, and God, I need your grace to do it. I'm all in, help me surrender.
I'm all in, Lord, teach me your ways. I'm all in, no matter what, but I still wanna be a husband. I'm all in, no matter what, I still wanna be a friend. I'm all in, no matter what, but I still need my downtime. Does that sound like all in?
You become a steward of time, God will make all those desires available. You will be a good partner. You will be a good friend.
And you will have downtime because you weren't busy, bound under Satan's yoke. You were productive in the spirit of God. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise.
God isn't looking for part-time followers. He's looking for those that are ready to go all in with him. So if you have clarity, if you have commitment, you have perseverance to keep going even when it's tough.
I was struggling one time, Terry, you're still there? Yeah. I was struggling one time, Terry, and I don't know if you've ever heard this.
I think it comes from our generation. I was struggling one time as a pastor, and I'm not gonna tell you who said it, because maybe it was wrong to say, and it is kind of wrong to say, but it's still kind of funny. And I was, oh man, I just, I was complaining to a fellow pastor.
He said, well, tie your bootstraps, princess, because it's only going to get better from here. And I said, what did you just say to me? You just attacked me in all types of ways.
And he said, well, let me explain it differently. Get up, move, stop complaining, let God take control, and it will get better. In that moment, I realized that my complaining was doing nothing.
I realized that my effort was doing nothing, that I needed to make up my mind that I was gonna persevere. And when I was crying in the shower, I'd have to smile in front of the kids. When I was on my way to church yelling, I'd have to get up and preach.
When I was holding on to the pulpit and having to go to the hospital afterwards, I was having to believe God. Perseverance. is knowing that God can and that he will do and complete the work that he started in you.
And no matter what comes your way, God is with you. And if God be for you, who can be against you? Amen.
And if he said he'll supply all his needs according to your riches and glory, then let them be supplied. Amen. It's about trust.
It's about moving in strength when you feel like you got no more strength to give. Hebrews 12, one and two says this. If we commit to the journey, we have clarity to where we're going, we can persevere.
Perseverance is the secret ingredient. Hebrews 12, one and two says this. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith.
Now, I'm gonna pause right there and explain something to you for context. In the chapter before, he was saying, you've seen him in jail, you've seen him in prison, you've seen him die. You've heard the story of Moses, you've heard about Daniel.
And he goes on in chapter 11 to write the book of faith. And what he's saying in this moment, that we are surrounded by stories of faith. People that have overcome because they've said, I have the title deed to what heaven has for me.
I have hope and faith in Christ Jesus. Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. I'm going into a series this coming month on faith through the balance of faith and grace, he initiates and perfects my hope. So when he's given me faith, he's given me a measure of faith, and when I have faith in God and I have faith from God, I can do all things. for him that believes all things that are possible.
I have experienced that God is capable because the joy of awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding the shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside the throne. Life is a race.
Sometimes it feels like a marathon. We're in it for the long haul. I remember, you know, y'all don't know Jamie Brown.
I might bring him over. I think he's visiting, and I might get him to preach when he comes over. And a good friend of mine, and he is a marathon runner.
I was a cross-country runner, and I was younger and thinner and faster. I was like a little cheetah. And, you know, I was pretty confident. So, you know, we were training to run 5K in 17 to 20 minutes.
And so he said, let's go run eight miles. I said, bet. I can do that.
I started off running. He's yelling, hey, man, you better slow down. Hey.
Hey, man. Slow down. Oh, man, I got this.
So I booked those three miles. 17 minutes ahead. He found me 20 minutes later.
You know, then I just gave up and started walking. And then I hear him. I told you to slow down.
I mean, he was running like that too. I mean, I got that Jamie Brown run down. He's like.
I mean, I almost felt like he put, I ain't trying to be vulgar, but I almost felt like he was putting a little extra twist in it just to make me. He ran past me, and I started to run again. I couldn't even keep up with that.
We got to the eighth mile after he turned around and picked me up, and I rode to the eighth mile to see where we were gonna finish. He said, it's not about how fast you run. It's about knowing how to run.
Did you hear that? Perseverance is not about how hard you believe or how hard you pray or how much you say. Perseverance is knowing how to run, knowing the pace of the run, knowing how and what you need to do and having the wisdom to apply to the moment.
And that wisdom, here's the beautiful thing. Watch this. That wisdom comes from the word of God.
You can know how to run it if you listen to the word, get in the word, become a student of the word. But too many of us are looking at the word for end time revelations about what's going on in the world and what we want to say to others. But we need to get in the words so that we know how to persevere in this race.
Because James 12, two and four says, count it all joy. Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
Amen. I remember the first time I was running with Jamie and we were on the 11th mile and I came past him. I'm going slow and I'm still beating you.
because I had developed the muscle and the commitment and the consistency to finish the race strong. And at the end of it, I heard the big footsteps coming, trying to sprint to me. I took off on a light sprint, looked back, started running backwards.
I said, you remember when you made fun of me? Here I am making fun of you. Now I know that's prideful and that's human, but I grew in endurance because I was tested.
and I kept running the race. Your faith is sometimes tested and you think it's from God. Your experience, you know what's being tested?
Your belief and trust and reliance on God. The trial isn't the problem, the trust is. The only time your faith gets hard to achieve and walk in is when you stop trusting that God's gonna do it.
And I remember one of the times in my life when Josiah had lymphoma. I remember being sick and laying in a hospital bed. And you begin to wonder, is God going to do it?
And I developed this faith in this moment. He can. Whether he does or doesn't, he can.
That's what I'm preaching next Sunday. He can. Whether he does or doesn't, he can.
I believe in the goodness of God more than I do the performance of God because he can. I believe in what he's done more than what I want from him. I believe in the goodness of God. I believe in his goodness more than his performance.
Somebody give a hand clap of praise. Oh, I'm out of time. So the bigger picture, you want to change the world?
You want to be... a champion for Jesus, you want to hear good, enter in my good and faithful servant? Well, do this. Lord, I make myself available, not to be a Christianee or a bumper sticker for you, but to teach me your ways so that I have clarity, I can commit, and I can persevere.
Amen. They've been going all morning. Amen.
Lord, bottle that energy up and give it to me. Hallelujah. Amen.
But no, here's the last thing I want to say to you. Really, really, really hear this on Vision Sunday because we got a lot to do this coming year. And if you try and do it in self, you're going to get tired.
You ain't going to be able to run with us if you're doing it in self. We need redeemed effort instead of self-effort this year. Amen.
We need people showing up in faith. And we're not going to ridicule you if you don't show up. And if we ask you or say we missed you, don't feel condemned.
We're just checking in on you, making sure that you're keeping the pace. Amen? If we check on you, we're just making sure you're keeping the pace and not running too hard, okay?
But the one thing I want to say to you is this. The world needs to see a different Christianity. I'm going to say it again.
The world needs to see a different Christianity. No more bulldogs. No more gossipers and back biters and judges up on the hill.
No, no, no, authentic believers. Amen, amen, authentic believers. And people that say they gonna do something, do it.
Not no last minute mind changers. If you want them to believe in the word of God, they gotta first believe in your words. Be a person that says yes and no.
Amen? Be a person that says yes and no. Nope, can't do that.
Yes, I can. And when you say yes, show up and do it. When you say no, if you want to change your mind and show up and do it, we're going to be blessed.
Amen? Be a person of the word. And let's show the world a different Christianity this year.
Let's be world changers. Amen? Give the Lord a hand clap of praise.
Can I ask y'all an honest question before I step down and we go into Fellowship Sunday? Has this felt like a long service to you? No?
Kind of quick? You want to do it again next year? We will.
We're going to have another Vision Sunday. Come back next week. I don't know what we're doing next.
Whoever's coming up next, you come on. I don't think we're going to do communion today, but we are going to do prayer. Come back next Sunday and hear our message on He Can't. But every leader of this house, every volunteer of this house, I want you to stand up right where you are. Alex, you're already standing.
We love you. I want you to stretch your hands towards these people. What does that mean?
It's just a physical representation of focus. It's not magical. It's just a physical representation of focus.
Father, we thank you for these volunteers and leaders May they be anointed and appointed for this season. May they overcome any challenge, any heartache or heartbreak. May their habits, may they be healed from trauma. Father, we thank you for them.
And we ask for their second and third. We ask for people behind them that will let them rest. that they don't be the ones that do it every Sunday.
We're calling in servants to be led by these people right now in Jesus' name. Because the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few. May they be three rows deep behind every person.
May we have four Eli's that plays the guitar as magical as him. May we have four Alex's that does all that he does. Man, I can't even list all that this boy does.
May we have four of you so that you can come and just enjoy service and find rest on Sunday mornings and be served as you have served. That's my vision for this year. Father, we thank you.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. And we all say amen. Last but not least, every head bowed, every eye closed, you guys can be seated.
If you're here and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and you'd like to know him and know that you know him, and receive salvation, can you raise your hand right now? We'd like to know that you want to receive him so that we can pray for you. We will not make a spectacle of you. We will just simply pray for you right now.
Every heart and mind clear. Father, we thank you for this message. We thank you for this day.
May they retain all that they need to retain. May they receive from you and be led by you It's in Jesus' name we pray, and we all say amen. All right, guys, are we doing anything?
We're just gonna pray for food? All right, Father, we bless the food, maybe nourishment to our bodies, as our bodies is nourishment to others, and we give unto you our service, in Jesus' name, amen. Go have a snag, have some time, have fun.
We love you, God bless you. Thank you for tuning in to today's message. To connect or find out more, you can reach us online at worldchangers.life.
Remember to subscribe for more uplifting messages from our pastoral team, and may you continue to walk in faith and transformation until we meet again.
