Four Things a Church Needs

Fulfilling God’s Vision – Four Things a Church Needs
By Pastor Michael J. Burns Pastor

Mike is the founding pastor of Christian Joy Fellowship in Bellmore, Long Island, New York. He founded the church in July 1984 after graduating from Rhema Bible Training Center in 1981. He and His lovely wife Cynthia, also a 1981 graduate from Rhema, have been married for 21 years and are the proud parents of their Son, Christopher. For further information please visit their website at www.cjoy.org.

Vision is the fuel that keeps God’s people working together to accomplish Kingdom purposes!

Isaiah 65:8
Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. (KJV)

NOTE: There are several examples here…

1) New Wine – This is a type of God’s Holy Spirit, His Presence and His Anointing!
2) The Cluster – Specifically this is speaking about the effect of the whole being greater than the individual or what is known as Synergy.

The history of Synergy goes back to the invention of the Jet engine. Actually the technology existed long before they were able to make use of its explosive power. The problem was that they couldn’t find a single metal strong enough to endure the intense heat produced by the Jet engine without breaking down and melting. Until one day someone suggested combining different metals together to see if they would have a greater ability to withstand the intensity of the heat. Low and behold it worked! That is where alloy metals were developed and synergy was revealed. Synergy simply says, “The effect of the whole is greater than the effect of the individual parts!”

A Cluster is NOT food to Eat, but Wine to Drink!!!

3) A Blessing – One grape doesn’t give you enough juice to bless anyone but you. There is a measure of blessing in one grape, but the real blessing is in the whole cluster! [The Pastor is one Grape – I am NOT a cluster by myself – You are NOT a cluster by yourself – We are a cluster as we stand together!]

There Are 4 Things a Church Needs to Successfully Fulfill God’s Vision:

#1 – A Spirit of Excellence – PROCLAIMS THE VISION!

Daniel 6:3
Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. (KJV)

NOTE: That Daniel was PREFERRED Above all others! WHY? “Because an ‘Excellent Spirit’ was in him”.

Excellent = Pre-eminent, Surpassing, Extreme, Extraordinary!

As a result of Daniel’s Excellent, extraordinarily extreme spirit, the King thought to set him over the whole realm!!! THAT’S PROMOTION and a POSITION OF INFLUENCE!

Here’s the Bible Description of Daniel’s Excellent Spirit…

Daniel 6:4
Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. (KJV)

Edwin Bliss once said, “The pursuit of Excellence is gratifying and healthy. The pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic and a terrible waste of time.”

Brian Harbour picks up on this theme in Rising Above the Crowd: “Success means being THE best. Excellence means being YOUR best. Success, to many, means being better than everyone else. Excellence means being better tomorrow than you were yesterday. Success means exceeding the achievements of other people. EXCELLENCE MEANS MATCHING YOUR PRACTICE WITH YOUR POTENTIAL!”

Booker T. Washington once said, “Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.”

#2 – A Spirit of Servitude – PROMOTES THE VISION!

Matthew 20:25-28
25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.
27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (KJV)

ILLUSTRATION – (D. L. Moody Story of the Northfield Pastor’s Conference where he had a large group of European Pastors who came and between meetings as they went to their rooms to rest, took their shoes off and after European custom, left them in the hall for the hall servants to shine them. This was America and Moody who saw this and understanding their custom decided to serve them when no one else would and he shined all of these pastors shoes. It provoked others to follow his example of servanthood! Only an unexpected friend who showed up and saw Moody doing this was able to tell the story because Moody never did!)

ILLUSTRATION – Mother Theresa was cleaning out the wounds of a leper one day when a News photographer, who was doing a photo story on her ministry in India among the lepers, was watching in disgust through the lens and said, “I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars!” To which Mother Theresa replied, “Neither would I!”

#3 – A Spirit of Commitment – PRACTICES THE VISION!

Philippians 3:12-14
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (KJV)

There are 3 Areas of Commitment We Need;

A) A Heart Commitment. Not a Divided Heart!

Hosea 10:
2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images. (KJV)

This is the root of division – ‘di’ meaning 2 and we know what vision means, so division literally means 2 visions. When marriages fail or business partners split or church members leave a church it is usually a result of each having a different vision for that marriage, business or church.

Amos 3:3 says, ‘Can two walk together except they be agreed?’

Dr. Edwin Louis Cole said, “Agreement is the place of power and all disagreement leads to powerlessness!”

B) A Mind Commitment. – I like to say that the mind is the arena within which many a believer has lost the battle over their commitments.

Hebrews 12:3 states, “For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”

ILLUSTRATIONS – Perhaps you remember the story in the former Soviet Union of the underground church members who were meeting secretly when one day, during a secret worship service, the door was kicked in and the KGB showed up with AK-47’s in hand. They threatened everyone at the meeting to deny their faith in Christ or to face immediate imprisonment and possible execution. Several fled the meeting place. Again, the threats were repeated and more left. Finally, when the remaining committed believer’s were left the KGB officials took off their coats and said, “Okay, now that the phonies are gone, let’s have church!”

Nehemiah 4:6
So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work. (KJV)

1 Chronicles 28:9
And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. (KJV)

Psalm 110:3
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. (KJV)

C) A Financial Commitment.

Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (KJV)

Weymouth’s Translation – V. 21 – “For Where your wealth is, there also will your heart be.”

Another way to say it is, ‘For where your treasure is NOT, there will your heart NOT be also’. There are 2 books that reveal much about people and their priorities, their Date book and their Check book! These 2 books reveal how people spend their Time and Money. If they are investing their time and money in the church then that would be an indication that their heart is in God’s house. Wherever you spend your time and money is where your heart is at!

Malachi 3:8-10
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (KJV)

#4 A Spirit of Prayer – PRAYS THE VISION!

In 1 Corinthians 1:10, Paul exhorts the church in this… “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (KJV)

James 5:16b
The earnest (heart-felt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available – dynamic in its working. (AMP)

Praying in line with the vision God has deposited in the heart of the leader cannot be overemphasized. In Verse 17 Elijah prayed for the rain to fall again! We should pray for the rain of God’s presence to fill us, our church and our land!

A Prayer for the Future

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.

Sir Frances Drake Quoted in OC Missionary Prayer Letter of Jeanie Curryer, September, 1997

Closing Thought – While there are numerous things I could have focused on these 4 areas are vitally important to the fulfillment of the vision God has given us as a church or to me as a Senior Leader. May we all strive to develop our ministries and churches in the Spirit of Excellence which Proclaims the Vision, the Spirit of Servitude that Promotes the Vision, the Spirit of Commitment that Practices the Vision and the Spirit of Prayer that Prays the Vision.