Introduction: Andy Stanley, pastor of Northpoint Community Church, Atlanta, Georgia, says, "Everybody ends up somewhere in life. You can end up somewhere on purpose." The way to get to somewhere on purpose is because of a compelling vision that directs everything else in your life. A vision is concept of the way things could be and the way things should be. Those same things are true for our church. For us to end to finish the journey pleasing to God it will be because of a compelling vision!

Today we’re going to talk about the vision of our church for effectively sharing our faith called "Lighting the Journey Together". That’s why today is called "Vision Sunday 2004". "Lighting the Journey Together" defines the way things could be in our church and should be in our church as it relates to our proclaiming Jesus Christ as Savior to the communities of our world. Our purpose today is to help you refocus your attention and the attention of our church on the four goals of "Lighting the Journey Together," celebrate our progress since we began implementing these goals this past August, and to inspire all of us about the urgency of living out the vision in our daily lives. So today we are going to do three things: focus our attention, celebrate our progress and challenge our urgency about sharing our faith.

Over the last three years Peter Jackson has released his epic movie adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. It is estimated that the last installment, "Return of the King," will gross over $1 billion world wide in revenue. One thing that has been true in each of the movies is that there is a brief review cleverly inserted as to how the story and the characters got where they are. In fact it has not been uncommon for people with way too much time on their hands to watch the first two, "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" (which are at least three plus hours each) on VHS or DVD before going to see the third, "Return of the King".

In a similar way, let me remind all of us how we got where we are today. For any vision to have any effectiveness three things have to happen. A vision has to define an existing problem, offer a solution, and give a reason why it has to done now. Beginning in the fall of 2002 the Long Range Planning Committee began developing a direction or vision for our church called "Lighting the Journey Together." "Lighting the Journey Together" began after much prayer and discussion as to what the most urgent area of need was in our church. Through the help of Jimmie Sheffield from the Arkansas Baptist State Convention a process was determined for discovering what our strengths and weaknesses might be. Thirty persons from our church were surveyed using a specialized survey tool and it was determined that our greatest area of need was evangelism that communicated effectively to the needs of people in our church and community. So our problem was that we were failing to reach our potential as a church in seeing persons who were not believers become followers of Christ.

If that was the problem, then what was the solution? Well, with that information in hand focus groups were formed from a very broad diversity of persons in our church. This was done to get an impression from our church family about our need to improve in the area of sharing our faith. After gathering all the information, the Long Range Planning Committee then went to work to establish goals along with specific action steps that would help us improve in the area of sharing our faith.

These goals, we believe, are simple and clear:

Each of these has involved multiple initiatives and plans to implement the goals. However, the theme is very simple. "Lighting the Journey Together" has four components:

• Praying Together
• Sharing Faith
• Reaching Out
• Including Others

Those four parts of our vision are seen in Jesus’ words found in John 8:12, "Jesus said to the people, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.’" These words of Jesus show us that as humans we have a great need that we are not always aware of, but the need is still there. Apart from Jesus Christ we live in spiritual darkness. We cannot see into the future or into the next world. We cannot see God, who He is and what He is like. We cannot see the real meaning, significance, and purpose in life. We cannot grasp perfect knowledge or assurance of eternal life. Therefore, our great need is to connect to "the Light of the world." How will that connection be made for those in the communities of our world who are without Christ? We do it with a vision for prayer, sharing, reaching and including!

We have believed from the beginning that the first thing that we must do is pray. For that reason our first goal has been that we create awareness for prayer focused on evangelism. In John 8:12 Jesus claims about himself: "I am the Light of the world." When you and I turn on a source of light the purpose is to remove darkness. Light then comes to mean what is seen, clear, true or good. Darkness means that which is unseen, unclear, untrue or, in a spiritual sense, evil. When Jesus says that he is the Light of the world he is saying that he is the one source of understanding to the confusion of our life. He would use the phrase, "I AM" over seven times in John’s Gospel, pointing to himself as the one equal to God and having all in himself that God the Father has in himself. He is the one true source of truth, life, meaning, understanding and significance. He would say in John 15:5, "…apart from me you can do nothing."

So how do we as believers and a church connect to the light that is Jesus Christ? We do it most consistently by prayer. Prayer is our connection to the light that is Jesus. In the same way that the sun penetrates the darkness of night resulting in day, so prayer, anytime and anywhere, can penetrate the darkness and confusion of someone’s life. God’s power flows primarily to people who pray and we believe that prayer is the key to unlocking God’s prevailing power through our lives in order for persons to be saved. Let me tell you we have seen some amazing things happen because of the power of God flowing through people who pray!

LRPC Group 1: LaVelle Dryer, Sue Kochel, Greg Denton and Retha Kinsel

We believe that the next way we connect others to the Light that is Jesus Christ is by sharing faith. That’s why our second goal is enabling members to effectively share their faith. Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world, if you follow me…" We believe that in order for persons ever to come to follow Jesus Christ personally they must be shown and told where the Light is to be found. In other words they can’t follow the Light unless someone introduces them to Jesus Christ. Showing someone where the Light is ultimately involves sharing verbally how a person can follow Jesus as his or her Savior. Sharing our faith effectively is the method God has chosen so people will be able to follow. Paul said, "Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help. But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them?" (Rom. 10:13-14 Msg)

We know that it is extremely challenging for most Christians to share their faith verbally. It is normal that in a church, regardless of its size, that approximately 10% are persons whom God has given a special ability to share their story of faith and how someone else can follow Christ themselves. That does not mean that the other 90% are "off the hook." Jesus said also that we "are the light of the world" so your story of how you came to trust Christ for yourself is meant to be shared. Unless we tell the story of how people can follow Jesus personally they will not know how on their own. That’s why we are continuing to enable you, equip you, help you to discover how God has gifted you personally to effectively share your faith.

LRPC Goal 2 Group: Rhonda Harrington, Sandra Taylor, Gil Fowler and Sara VanScoy

How do we connect others to the Light that is Jesus Christ? Another way is by reaching out to those in darkness wherever that darkness may be found. Our third goal is: reach congregation and community through existing ministries and evangelistic events. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness…" Not only do we share with others how they can connect to the source of Light but also we seek to intentionally reach out to people who are in the darkness. Reaching out to others without Christ penetrates the darkness of their lives. Darkness is the word used in Scripture to describe both the condition and the efforts of persons without Christ. A person without the light of Jesus Christ lives in spiritual ignorance, ignorance of Jesus Christ, ignorance of God as revealed by Jesus Christ and ignorance of the real purpose and destiny of life as shown by Jesus Christ.

Yet what value is there in knowing others need to be connected to the light if you don’t find ways to remove the darkness? For the darkness to be removed it means that we don’t act independently but dependently as a team. The goal is to remove the darkness. There is only one Light but there can be many ways to remove the darkness. That’s why we want all the ministries of our church to be a hand reaching into the darkness of people to know the light of Jesus Christ and also to provide opportunities uniquely designed to remove that darkness.

LRPC Goal 3 Group: Marlin Gennings, Tom Stafford, Jeremy Blaylock and Joe Haynie

How do we connect others to the Light of Jesus Christ? Praying together, sharing faith, and reaching out but, finally, including others. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." When he says "light that leads to life" he is letting us know that there is a dimension of life, of existence, that is beyond our physical experience. His life is a new kind of life, a new quality of life, a new expression of life. It is a life that he desperately wants everyone to experience. He said, "My purpose is to give life in all its fullness." (John 10:10)

Persons who have followed the light out of darkness are to be included in a community of light and life. The meaning, purpose, and significance of life cannot be seen and known apart from following Christ. It is Christ who throws light upon life, revealing what life really is. That’s why our last goal is stated very simply: "Effectively assimilate members." You see it is one thing for us to pray, share and reach out but if a person who is prayed for, shared with and experiences someone reaching out to them doesn’t feel included, then they won’t last long. Haven’t you ever seen people literally warm up to each other socially when they gather around a fire? Have you ever known someone who wants to go out and build a bonfire just for themselves? When people are lost in the woods do they build a fire only to keep warm? They do it for someone else to find them. Light attracts other people. People that become believers as well as persons already believers and members of our church must be included in the life or the light will go out in that home and heart! The light and the life are never the problem! It is making certain that persons are effectively included in the light and the life!

Conclusion: I told you that three things to an effective vision is that it defines a problem, offers a solution and presents a reason why it must be done now. Our problem is that we are not sharing our faith effectively. The solution is our fulfilling the vision of "Lighting the Journey Together". The question is though, "Why must we do this and why must we do it now?"

We must do this now because change comes so slowly, life erodes our focus and vision, we live in an uncertain future and God has not given us any other choice. Jesus said in John 9:4-5 (NIV), "As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." The reason we must do this now is that now is all we have! The "now" we have will not last forever. There is coming a time when there will only be forever. If we don’t do the work of connecting people to the light now then I say to you we will look back on this moment with regret and wonder what might have been!

Every church ends up somewhere. We can end up somewhere on purpose. Getting there depends on our vision. Our vision is seeing the way things should be and could be. "Lighting the Journey Together" is the way things should be and could be. "Jesus said to the people, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.’" Let’s reach out to those in darkness so that together we may follow the Light!

Sunday, January 4, 2004

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org