VISION Sunday

VISION SUNDAY!

Today I hope to capture your attention and your heart and prayerfully help you see the very things God has placed deep within my heart regarding the work of New Day and also regarding how you and your family can play a major part in advancing Gods kingdom.

I hope to answer a few questions for you today…such as
WHY do I believe God would lead a person to New Day?
What can you expect and prayerfully see happen in your life when you are part of this community?

And to prayerfully help you catch a glimpse of the heartbeat and motivating purpose behind all that we do.

Vision = simply defined as a “picture of the future that will produce passion & commitment in the people who embrace it.”

I already know New Day is not for everyone. There Many good churches around.
But today I feel it important to share WHO we are and why God has placed us in this area.

We are in the people building business. We are here to build God’s people. Not buildings (although we hope to in the future), but we are hyper focused on building YOU and calling you UP into who you are in God’s eyes and to the purpose and ministry He has given you Before you were even born!

As I was preparing this message I was reminded of the man Nehemiah. Nehemiah saw something that shook him to his core. He was moved by something greater than ambition – He was moved by compassion and brokenness. He saw something that was not right. The walls of the city of God were in ruins. The very place that was meant to be a beacon of light in a dark world was no longer shining.

His heart was broken over what He saw. Realizing the negative impact that it would leave the next generation if SOMEONE didn’t do SOMETHING. And it was at that moment that He realized, “God you are calling ME to do something!”

And He responded. He followed what God put in His heart. And 5 years ago, God placed the words New Day in my heart. I saw at that time that New Day would be a place of new beginnings, fresh starts and a place where people would capture their 1st love once again.

I never imagined it would play out the way it has, but I am here to tell you God’s Ways are not our ways and His ways are much much better than our ways.

He gave me a vision, but 1st He had to prepare me to walk it out. Just as He will do with you. He graciously stripped me, molded me and loved me into a place where I was ready to lead His work and shepherd a people according to His purpose and plan; not mine own.

Two key passages stuck out to me at that time.
Is. 43.19 (NKJV) Behold, I will do a NEW THING, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.

Is. 58.10 (NKJV) If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
Is. 58.11 (NKJV) The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Is. 58.12 (NKJV) Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

It was from these verses that God began to show me the reason for why New Day was being established –
• to help Rebuild what has been broken in your life.
• to help Repair what has been damaged in your life.
• to help Restore what has been lost in your life.
• to help Raise up leaders who will lead Gods Work.
• to help Release others to do something great for God’s kingdom.

But How was the question I was asking.

And so I planned and strategized and thought and planned and stressed and prayed and thought and planned. You get the point. Until I realized what New Days main job truly was. And this phrase was birthed…

TO REACH PEOPLE RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE WITH GOD’S LOVE.

That’s it. Simple as that. NO grandiose plan to GROW the church except to REACH YOU RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE WITH HIS LOVE.
No strings attached.
No hoops to jump through.
No system to conform to.

LOVE was the strategy. LOVE was the way that God was going to fulfill the work He gave us to do.

I realize more than ever that we are in the LOVING business and God is in the TRANSFORMATION business. We get to love, He loves to transform.

What a beautiful partnership.
I am not here to transform or fix your life.
New Day is not In existence to transform or fix your life, your marriage, your kids etc…

We are here to showcase GOD’S LOVE which is relentless, endless and pure.

That is when I got the picture of the girl in a fetal position. (explain)

So that become the MISSION of New Day – TO REACH PEOPLE RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE WITH GOD’S LOVE SO THEY CAN BE TRANSFORMED BY HIS POWER AND GRACE.

So we (the initial core group and I) started to model what this looked like. It was new to many of us us and required a new MINDSET and a paradigm shift. And thus this phrase was born –

RELATIONAL BEFORE FUNCTIONAL.

We were not in this to build a ministry that had many programs and church functions. We are here to build God’s people by CALLING them UP and empowering them to do what God has placed in their heart.

REINTRODUCING them TO THE FATHER. And PUTTING DOWN THE MASK so we can BE REAL WITH EACHOTHER.

We are allowing God to show us HOW to LOVE.
How to care for one another.
How to be of one mind and one accord.

We are all LEARNING.
We are all GROWING.
And we all PLAY A PART.

1Corinthians 12:11-12, 14-20 (TPT)
11 Remember, it is the same Holy Spirit who distributes, activates, and operates these different gifts as he chooses for each believer.[s] 12 Just as the human body is one, though it has many parts that together form one body, so too is Christ.[t]
14 In fact, the human body is not one single part but rather many parts mingled into one. 15 So if the foot were to say, “Since I’m not a hand, I’m not a part of the body,” it’s forgetting that it is still a vital part of the body. 16 And if the ear were to say, “Since I’m not an eye, I’m not really a part of the body,” it’s forgetting that it is still an important part of the body. 17 Think of it this way. If the whole body were just an eyeball, how could it hear sounds? And if the whole body were just an ear, how could it smell different fragrances? 18 But God has carefully designed each member and placed it in the body to function as he desires.[w] 19 A diversity is required, for if the body consisted of one single part, there wouldn’t be a body at all! 20 So now we see that there are many differing parts and functions, but one body.

I want to make this clear, this is not Justin’s church. Just like it was not Nehemiah’s walls. This is God’s work. I simply get to pastor the flock and facilitate the work.

No one here is to declare their loyalty to me. You are first and foremost loyal to God and what He has placed on your heart and the assignment he has given to you.

The second month into this church plant I saw a clear picture in my mind. Ome that changed how I saw you and how I saw my role as a shepherd. One picture was a garage. The other was a PIT STOP.

It was in this moment that the WAY I pastor changed and the way I saw my role in your life changed.

God was asking me – What’s the difference between a garage and a pit stop?

Ephesians 4:11-13 (TPT)
11 And he has appointed some with grace to be apostles, and some with grace to be prophets, and some with grace to be evangelists,[a] and some with grace to be pastors,[b] and some with grace to be teachers.[c] 12 And their calling is to nurture and prepare all the holy believers to do their own works of ministry, and as they do this they will enlarge and build up the body of Christ. 13 These grace ministries will function until we all attain oneness in the faith, until we all experience the fullness of what it means to know the Son of God,[d] and finally we become one perfect man[e] with the full dimensions of spiritual maturity and fully developed in the abundance of Christ.

You are not here to help me build New Day. Unless you feel called to do so. I am here, and the crew (volunteers) Is here to help you step into all that God has for you. The purposes, the assignments and the plans He has.

I am fully aware that before me sits individuals who come here from many different walks in life. With many different stories. Many different pasts. Some of you are filled to the brim with pain and struggle and disappointment. Others maybe filled with happiness and joy. That’s why the bible says “mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice”
Some of you are distant from God and others maybe are in heavy pursuit of who He is.

BUT,
I want to reassure that regardless of your past God welcomes you as you are! He doesn’t leave you that way, but He allows us to approach Him in pain, brokenness and hurt.

And I am not here to change you. I am not here to fix you. I am not here to conform you.

I am are here to welcome you and to love right where and share with you the messages/sermons that I have received from the Father.
It is by His words that you are TRANSFORMED.
It is by His words that you are truly set FREE!
It is by His words that you achieve VICTORY in your life.

And for many of us in this room we have a hard time receiving from God. Because our YESTERDAY speaks so loudly…

The Voice of Yesterday says,
-You are disqualified.
-You are destined to fail.
-You will never make it.
-You are a disappointment.
-You will always be bound to this addiction.
-You are not wanted.
-You have no reason to live.

But God is offering to each of us today a NEW DAY!!!

A fresh Start.

So let me close by reinforcing who we are at New Day… We are…

A church that BELIEVES a Radical Gospel of God’s grace and POWER.
A church that is learning how to love each other without hoops or strings.
A church that is known for what we stand for, NOT what we stand against.
We are a church that will CALL YOU up rather than calling you out.
A church that will PREPARE you for God’s call on your life.
A church that will SEND YOU OUT to do what it is you are called to do.
A church that will attempt to always STEER YOU INTO THE LOVING ARMS OF YOUR FATHER.
A church that wholeheartedly believes in building A PEOPLE (HIS people) more than building a ministry.

That’s who we are and that’s what we will strive to do.

So…

Who’s ready for a New Day?