Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Welcome to a brand new series called We Are. I am pumped out of my mind about this series. Over the next four weeks, God is going to ignite us with a vision and passion for who we are and for who He is calling us to be.

The timing for this series is perfect, and God gets the credit. We’ve had this series planned for a while now, but God has placed it at the perfect time. We have had so many new faces at ACC lately. I can’t think of a better time for us to come together and talk about who God has called us to be.

I wrote on my blog this week that we are different from other churches, and that’s a very good thing. Every local church is unique. That doesn’t mean that churches are right or wrong. Just different. And that’s great because it allows the church to reach a wider range of people.

We are reaching people that other churches can’t reach. Other churches are reaching people that we can’t reach. And that’s why the variety in the church is awesome.

We are not a carbon copy of another church. And we never will be. We are becoming who God has called us to be. He has a specific vision for every local church on this planet, including us. And the fun really begins when a church realizes that they don’t have to copy anyone else. Instead, they can prayerfully discover who God has called them to be. It is liberating. It is fun. And it is effective.

That’s one reason why we’re reaching so many people now. Because we’re staying true to who we are. Who we are is not for everybody. Who we are will allow us to reach some people and not others. That’s true of every church that has ever existed. But when every church stays true to who God has called them to be, the world will be reached with the gospel. That is when it will happen.

Over the next four weeks, we’re going to talk about who we are. We’re going to explore who God has called us to be.

This series comes from the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. It is a book with an incredible story. So before we dive headfirst into this series, we need a little background on this book.

The book of Nehemiah tells about what happened to the Israelites after the Babylonian captivity. They were returning to Jerusalem, but the walls of the city had been destroyed when the city was overthrown. In this time period, a city without walls was a sitting duck. If Jerusalem wasn’t fortified with walls, the Israelites were as good as dead. They would easily be attacked and conquered again.

That’s where we meet a man named Nehemiah. And as we’re going to see today, Nehemiah wasn’t content to leave things as they were. God planted an intense vision in him. That vision was a game changer. And God is planting that same kind of game-changing vision in our church.

A vision begins with a burden. That is the way it has always been. That is the way it will always be. Before there is a vision, there is a burden placed on the visionary. That is the way that godly visions always start. They start with a huge burden placed in the heart and mind of the visionary.

That’s how it started with Nehemiah. Here’s how the book of Nehemiah begins. “The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” (Nehemiah 1:1-4, NIV)

Nehemiah heard what was happening in his beloved city. He heard about the plight of his people. And the burden was crushing to him. He wept and mourned. He fasted for days on end.

The burden made him miserable. But a powerful vision is only born out of a heavy burden. That’s how God launches His vision. He chooses a leader and places an unshakable burden on that person. That is how God worked in Old Testament times, and that is how He works in the church today. God chooses a leader and places a burden on that person.

And it’s important to see that the burden is given to a person. Not to a committee. The church has long misunderstood this principle, but it is consistent throughout Scripture. If you read the Bible cover to cover, you will find this principle over and over again. God chooses a person and places a great burden on them. In the church, that person is the Senior Pastor.

God places a burden on him. That burden gives birth to a vision. And that vision is then shared and owned by a group of people. And then the vision is accomplished.

In other words, the vision is not accomplished by one person. Not at all. But it is given to one person. And in the church, that person is the Senior Pastor.

I don’t say that because I’m the person in that position. I’ve had all kinds of different positions in the church. I’ve been in different ministries. In the churches where I wasn’t the Senior Pastor, I still see the same truth. The Senior Pastor is the visionary for the church. He is the one who is burdened. And then God uses that burden to give rise to a vision.

Look at what the Bible says in 1 Timothy 1:3. “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer…” (1 Timothy 1:3, NIV)

These words were written to a young preacher named Timothy. This was the burden that he was given. He was supposed to stay in Ephesus and lead his people. Specifically, he was supposed to deal with the false teachers in his midst. He was surrounded by false teachers, and his assignment was to set these misled older men straight.

That’s a burden. And it’s a burden that was given specifically to him as the Senior Pastor of that church.

It doesn’t mean that the Senior Pastor is a rogue or a lone wolf. It doesn’t mean that he is an all-powerful dictator. Not at all. But it does mean that the burden is laid squarely on his shoulders. It means the vision comes directly from him.

That’s how God has always worked in the church. The person who is in the role of Senior Pastor is given a burden by God. It’s something that I’ve come to learn firsthand.

The burden I have for this church cannot be quantified or calculated. I cannot begin to count the hours of sleep that I’ve lost, the tears that I’ve cried, or the times when the burden caused me to be physically ill. I’m not saying that to make you feel sorry for me. I’m just saying that this is how God has designed things to work in His church. The visionary is the Senior Pastor, and it starts when God places an unshakable burden on him.

I am burdened by the fact that we haven’t yet arrived at where God is calling us to go. The journey continues.

I am burdened by the thousands of lost people that live within a 15 mile radius of our church. As long as there is one lost person that our church can reach, our job is not done.

I am burdened by the fact that our vision is bigger than our budget, and it always will be.

I am burdened because we still have people who don’t understand our vision and we’ve got to communicate even more clearly than we have in the past.

I am burdened because so many churches who have gone through the transitions and changes that we are going through have failed. And my rock-hard determination is that we will succeed. And we are.

These are the things that keep me up at night. And these are the things that have led me to see the vision more clearly now than I ever have before. That’s how it works. Burden gives birth to vision.

That’s how it worked in Nehemiah’s life. Look at what happened in chapter 2. In chapter 1, Nehemiah was given the burden. In chapter 2, he gets the vision.

“In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”

I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

The king said to me, “What is it you want?”

Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.” (Nehemiah 2:1-5, NIV)

God placed a burden on Nehemiah. The walls around Jerusalem were in ruins, and Nehemiah was devastated. He cried and mourned for days. But he didn’t stop there. That burden gave birth to a vision. And the vision was simple: rebuild the walls.

Now that sounds easy to us. But it wasn’t easy at all. It was a vision that was huge, and it scared Nehemiah to death. In fact, he even said, “I was very much afraid.”

Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king. In other words, he was the wine taster. In order to protect the king from an assassination attempt through poisoning, a subordinate would always taste the wine before the king would drink it. If nothing happened to the subordinate, the king knew the wine was safe.

That was Nehemiah’s job. And his vision to rebuild the walls would cause him to have to leave his job, which could easily upset the king. Upsetting the king was not something that you wanted to do. If you made the king angry, he could have you killed on the spot.

That’s the pressure that Nehemiah was under in this moment. But the vision was too intense. In spite if his fear, he pushed forward anyway. He cast his vision to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem.

When God gives a vision, it is a scary thing. Because God’s vision is never the status quo. Never ever. God’s vision always shakes things up. It always upsets people. It always makes us uncomfortable. Always.

The vision that God burdened me with when I came to ACC was that nearly everything had to change for our church to reach the potential that God had planted in us. And so we embarked on a season on transition. And that didn’t make me popular with a lot of people. In fact, I can honestly say that there are some people who absolutely hate me. I know because when I see them in public, they won’t speak to me. They won’t even make eye contact with me. And that is an incredibly hard thing for me to deal with.

But the vision God gave me was intense. God gave Nehemiah an intense vision, and it scared him to death. God gave me an intense vision, and it scared me just as much.

I had so many people tell me not to pursue this vision, I couldn’t begin to count them. I was given so many reasons why the vision couldn’t be accomplished. And there were moments when I was a whisper away from caving in. There were moments when I came within an inch of giving up and walking away. But I didn’t.

And now, more than five years later, look at what is happening. Our church is more vibrant and effective and alive than at any other point in my time here. We are reaching more people than ever before. Marriages and families are healing. Pain and hurt are being confronted with the love of Jesus. Lives and eternities are changing. And it’s all happening because we stayed true to the vision that God gave us.

And that is why we are not backing down. That is why I will keep on casting the vision. That is why we will keep on living out the vision. Because the vision is God-given. And when we follow a God-given vision, we see God-sized results.

Our God-given vision is connecting, growing, and serving. It is the simple, straight-forward, Biblical vision that God has laid on us.

We are here to connect people to Jesus. The Bible says very simply that if we live without Jesus, we are lost. We have no hope. That’s why our primary mission is to reach lost people for Jesus. To connect them to Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

And the next step is to help them enter into a growing relationship with Jesus. We believe that growth happens best in small groups, so we place an inordinate amount of attention on our small group ministry. Small groups are THE catalyst for growth in our church.

And then the third step in our vision is serving, because the Bible clearly says that you can’t claim to love Jesus if you don’t serve Him. Serving is how we achieve the fullest life that God has for us. It sounds backwards, but when you choose to think of others instead of yourself, you find more joy and fulfillment than at any other point in your life.

We are working hard in 2011 to develop a more coordinated and focused effort for this third step in our vision. We want a streamlined, simple way to move our people into areas where they can serve. And it’s going to happen.

And then there’s one more thing you need to know about our vision. There are three steps, but they are three steps that get repeated over and over again. Once someone has moved through all three steps of our vision, God then places a call on them to find someone else who will go through the process. The Bible calls it evangelism.

Our vision truly never ends. It just cycles over and over again. Connecting, growing, serving. Connecting, growing, serving. The more people we reach, the more our vision cycles over and over again.

That is the vision of the Amelia Church of Christ. People have asked, “Is that it? That’s pretty basic. Is that really your entire vision?”

Yep. That’s it. It is purposefully simple. Complicated visions don’t work. Long, detailed mission statements don’t work because no one can even remember them. If you can’t remember your vision, you can never accomplish your vision. Simple visions are the ones that work.

Think about Nehemiah. It’s hard to get a simpler vision than he had. Rebuild the walls. Now, there was a ton of prayer and coordination that made that vision a reality. And the same thing happens in our church. The work is never-ending, but that doesn’t mean that the vision itself has to be complicated. For a vision to be actionable, it has to stay simple.

And we are seeing what happens when we remain committed to a simple, God-given vision. Our church is gaining traction like never before. We have more momentum that we’ve ever had before. And that means that we push even harder. We pray even longer. We dream even bigger. This is not the time to be complacent. This is the time to go for broke. And that’s exactly what we will do.

God has not called us to play it safe. He has called us to adopt this mentality: whatever it takes.

Nehemiah was going to rebuild those walls, whatever it takes. We will live out our vision, whatever it takes. It means we will have to say no to some things. It means that we have to keep things simple. It means that we will have to stop doing some things and start doing other things. Whatever it takes.

We will reach lost people for Jesus, whatever it takes. It means that the changes are not finished. It means that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is sacred except the gospel itself. But we will change anything, give up anything, do anything to reach more people for Jesus. Whatever it takes.

We will support our leaders, whatever it takes. They may make decisions that I don’t personally like, but they are the ones charged to carry out the vision. It means that we will put the good of the church ahead of personal preference. It means that when we see people coming to Christ, it will be worth the price that we have paid. Whatever it takes.

We will be generous to our church and our vision, whatever it takes. Times are tough. Everybody is making sacrifices. The future is uncertain. But we will continue to give generously. Whatever it takes.

We will make sure that our vision is bigger than us. We will keep supporting our missions in India, Italy, and Albania. We won’t back down. We will support them intensely and purposefully. Because it’s not about us. It’s all about people meeting Jesus. And we don’t give a rip about where they live or the color of their skin. We will connect them to Jesus. Whatever it takes.

And not only will we support our missionaries, but we will be missionaries ourselves. This summer, 8 people from our church are heading to one of the poorest areas in Appalachia to build and repair homes for people who literally don’t have any other options. And this is trip is just the beginning, because our vision of serving doesn’t just mean serving within the walls of our church. We will take our God-given vision and we will expand it as far as God’s grace will allow. If you’re part of our church, our vision is that you will go on a mission trip someday. And in the meantime, we’re asking you to support those who are going in a couple of months.

Whatever it takes. Our vision is from God. Our vision glorifies God. And our mission means we put boots on the ground to serve God. Whatever it takes.

We don't have time to mess around. The stakes are too high. This isn't a game. This isn't a country club. This isn't feel-good religion. This is CHURCH! And our mission has life or death consequences. Our mission literally makes an eternal difference.

And that’s why we are so desperate for God’s power and blessing. Go back and look at this one verse from Nehemiah 2. When Nehemiah had his opportunity to share his vision with the king, he said this. “Then I prayed to the God of heaven…” (Nehemiah 2:4b, NIV)

He had been given the vision. But now it was time to the implement the vision. It started with telling the king, which was scary. And it had about 1,000 more scary steps after that. So Nehemiah begged for God’s power and anointing and blessing.

And so do we. We know we can’t do this on our own. Our vision is so much bigger than what you see here right now. If you think our vision stops in this building, you’re wrong. If you think our vision stops with our current attendance, you’re wrong. If you think our vision stops with maintaining the status quo, you’re wrong. If you think our greatest days are behind us, you’re wrong.

We know that the vision God has laid on us will push us to new heights of ministry, that’s why it pushes us to new depths of prayer. And that’s why we’re going to take a few minutes today pray for God’s anointing and power to fall on our church in an even greater way than ever before.

Are you in? Some of you are sitting on the fence. You’ve been coming to ACC for a while, but you’ve never made any kind of commitment to our church. We’re thrilled that you’re here, but we’re not going to let you stay where you are. God hasn’t called you here to take and not give. He has not called you here to sit and not serve.

Some of you need to make a commitment to our church. You need to take that step, make it official with your membership, and get ready to get down to work. Throughout this series, we’re going to call you to make that decision.

Others of you have been at ACC for a long time, but you haven’t gone all in with our vision. You’re still sitting on the sidelines. Maybe you’ve been in a small group. Maybe you’ve even been serving. But you’re not all in, heart and soul.

It’s time. It’s time for you to go all in. Whatever has happened in the past, it’s time for you to go all in now. Maybe your past at ACC hasn’t been perfect. No church is perfect. When imperfect people get together, things happen. But it’s all about putting the past in the past and focusing on our future. And the future of our church is amazing. It’s time for you to make the decision to go all in.

You know why we go all in with the church? Because Jesus went all in for the church. He died for the church. He rose again for the church. And He’s coming back for the church. And when He comes back, He will find our church on offense. He will find us pursuing the intense vision that He has given us. He will find more people to welcome into heaven because of our church.

And that means you. For some of you, you’ve got a much bigger decision than plugging in with a local church because you’ve never plugged in with Jesus. But you know it’s true and you know it’s time. It’s time to go all in with Jesus. It’s time to give Him everything. It’s time to come to the cross and find grace and forgiveness. It’s time to allow His blood to cleanse you and heal you and restore you.

You know it’s true. And you know it’s time.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: church, Nehemiah, vision, We Are