Imagine what it would be like if our entire church family were actively connecting ordinary
people within our community to an extraordinary life in Christ. Imagine if we had a personal and family goal to spiritually:
• Ignite those who have become content with themselves & God
• Impact those who are on an oblivious spiritual journey
• Influence those who are searching for something more
LIFEvision is the next strategic step toward fulfilling the vision of ministry expansion and spiritual growth for First Baptist Stephenville. LIFEvision is a thirty-six month vision driven stewardship campaign to provide funding for the construction of The Point Family Life Center. It is an opportunity to join God as He continues to direct our fellowship in its expansion of our ministries by connecting ordinary people to an
extraordinary life in Christ.
One of the greatest characteristics of spiritual maturity is to look beyond our own self interests and focus our attention on others. The LIFEvision campaign will challenge us to do this as we take a deeper look at our Life on mission, our opportunity to Invest in the future, taking a Faithful leap, and finally to Exalt Christ!
Join us as we embrace the LIFEvision of extraordinary life.
Why Commit to LIFEvision?
Luke 5:1-11 is one of clearest reasons why we should commit to LIFEvision. In fact, it’s one of the clearest pictures of what we should be doing as believers as well as the church. This passage talks about fishing. Jesus finds a few men on the Sea of Galilee who had been fishing all night but had caught nothing. He instructs them to throw their nets in deeper water. Simon (Peter) says, “but at Your word, I’ll let down the nets.” When they did this, they caught so many fish their nets began to tear. They called their partners over to help them pull the nets in the boat. There were so many fish that both boats began to sink. Simon realized he was in the presence of God Almighty and was amazed at what happened. Jesus told them, “from now on you will be catching people!” The Bible concludes the story in verse 11. “Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed Him.”
Why commit to LIFEvision?
- We are going to throw our nets. In other words, we are going to connect ordinary people to an extraordinary life in Christ. We are going to keep the main thing the main thing.
- We are going to work hard. We live in a culture where we want instant success. God simply wants us to be faithful in His work. We may not see the results of our labor immediately, but God will be faithful to produce a harvest.
- We are going to work together. “They signaled to their partners.” When we commit to LIFEvision, we are partnering in the Lord’s work. We can do more together than we can individually.
- We are going to glorify God. The significance of Simon’s statement was not that he was a bad person. He simply revealed the difference between natural power and supernatural power and glorified God as a result. LIFEvision is about God not us.
- We are going to catch people. The text does not say “fishing” but “catching.” We must always focus on the promise that as we faithfully serve the Lord and cast the net, God will bring others into His Kingdom.
- We are going to follow Christ. We are not going to follow our will. We are not going to follow what others are doing. That would be disastrous! We are going to follow Christ as we commit to LIFEvision.
- These are simple but significant reasons why we should commit to LIFEvision. Once God reveals what you should do, drop everything and follow Him!
|
