Joshua gave the people a clear-cut challenge to set their priorities. Were they going to serve God or not? They were about to enter the Promised Land where they would be offered many other things to serve. They had better be intentional about deciding to make serving God a priority in their lives.

But what about God's priorities? If we are going to serve God we need to know what his priorities are? What does God think is important for Grace United Methodist to be doing?

In my thinking to answer that question we should look at what God is doing at Grace. There are a few obvious observations about Grace that should set the stage. Grace is a warm friendly place. I have said over and over again that Grace is correctly named because people are gracious here. It is also a place where people and learn and grow and serve as Christians.

But let me add an observation from my perspective as a minister. I have served churches for 12 years now in South Carolina. What I see happening here at Grace is not just exceptional but phenomenal. We average 2 or 3 first time visitors every Sunday. Most churches are doing good to have a first time visitor every 2 or 3 months.

God is sending people to Grace. At least for the past two years we haven't done and neighborhood canvases or other activities to try to bring more people in. We just recently got around to putting up signs on Broad River Rd. And yet people keep coming.

So what is God doing here? God is sending people our way so that they can become a part of this community of Grace. God sends them ere so they can experience the inspired studies of our Sunday School Classes and Bible Studies, so they can experience and participate in the praise led by our wonderful music program, so they can serve God in the many outreach opportunities that are available here, so they can fellowship and learn and grow and know Jesus and make him known to others!

That is God's first priority at Grace. And we need to be ready for those people that God is sending. But we are running out of places to put them. We aren't able to start new Sunday school classes and other programs to encourage and teach them because we don't have the room.

Sure the vision presented this morning includes paying off our present debt so that we can build a new building. But the vision is not about the debt or the new building. The vision is about people who need Jesus. It's about God sending people to us who need to know Jesus and who need to participate in the ministry of making Jesus known to others. That is the Vision God has given us - everything else is a means to that end!

Isaiah 11:1-6

God gave Isaiah a vision. It was a powerful vision. A vision of a future when peace would rule all creation. But it was a gift from God. Isaiah didn't make it up - God gave the vision.

God has a vision for Grace. The real task is to be aware of that vision. And what is God's vision for Grace?

To answer that we should look at what God is doing at Grace. I have served churches for 12 years now in South Carolina. What I see happening here at Grace is not just exceptional, it's phenomenal. We average 2 or 3 first time visitors every Sunday. Most churches are doing good to have a first time visitor every 2 or 3 months.

God is sending people to Grace. At least for the past two years we haven't done any neighborhood canvases or other activities to try to bring more people in. We just recently got around to putting up signs on Broad River Rd. And yet people keep coming.

That's what is God doing here! God is sending people our way so that they can become a part of this community of Grace. God send them so they can experience the inspired studies of our Sunday School Classes and Bible Studies, so they can experience and participate in the praise led by our wonderful music program, so they can serve God in the many outreach opportunities that are available here, so they can fellowship and learn and grow and know Jesus and make him known to others!

That is God's vision for Grace. And we need to be ready for those people. But we are running out of places to put them. We aren't able to start new Sunday school classes and other programs encourage and teach them because we don't have the room.

Sure the vision presented this morning includes paying off our present debt so that we can build a new building. But the vision is not about the debt or the new building. The vision is about people who need Jesus. It's about God sending people to us who need to know Jesus and who need to participate in the ministry of making Jesus known to others. That is the Vision God has given us - everything else is a means to that end!

God Almighty is a God of Vision. Now when I say "vision" I am not necessarily talking about some mystical sight that someone sees. Occasionally a vision from God is like that as the Bible shows us. Paul saw a vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus. John saw a vision of a New Jerusalem coming out of heaven. More often than not a vision is a mental image that expresses the truth of something.

Why a vision? Have you ever heard it said that a picture paints a thousand words. Sometimes the meaning of something is best expressed through an image. Words simply fail to express the idea. I believe God communicated his will to his people through visions. He does this because if he tried to explain it in detail it would boggle our minds. You can so God gives us an image that we can hold onto and comprehend. And this image communicates the essence of what God want us to know about his will for us.

Just consider Ezekiel's vision. God showed Ezekiel a valley of dry bones and said, "Can these bones live?" Ezekiel said, "Lord you know." God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones; to preach at them. Then God proceeded to join the bones together. The God said Ezekiel prophesy to the wind and he did and the wind breathe life into the bodies. Israel was a valley of dry dead bones and God was bringing it back to life! If God had simply said, "I will bring Israel back to life" the message would not have had the same impact. If God had explained in detail how event would unfold, Ezekiel would not have been able to convey the information to the people. So God showed Ezekiel a vision, an image that summed up the redemptive work God was about to do.

That God communicates through visions is unmistakable. All through the Bible God communicated through visions. When God was going to send his son he gave the prophets visions of a suffering servant, a shepherd who would die for the sheep. Peter saw a vision of unclean animals and was ordered to eat them to show that Gentiles who do such could be Christians. Paul saw a vision of a man calling him to Macedonia and he realized he was called to go there to preach the gospel. And in the darkest hour of the church when Christians were killed and imprisoned for their faith God gave a vision. John was given a Revelation of God's coming judgment of the world and the deliverance of God's people when Jesus returns.

And God still communicated through Visions. God gives Christian leaders today glimpses at his plan for the church. The Bible says that where there is no vision the people perish. Wherever you find the church involved in vital life changing ministries there is a vision; a mental image of God at work in that place And where there is no vision there is no direction.

I can see this to be true in the Methodist Church. John Wesley said the world was his Parish and his preachers were intent of spreading Scriptural holiness. He had a vision of preachers and la people going everywhere, even into the fields, to proclaim the Good news. Less than three hundred years after Wesley's heart was strangely warmed at Aldersgate Methodism is one of the largest Protestant movements in the world. Methodist churches are everywhere from Akron to Zaire. In the 19th and early 20th centuries Methodists had a vision of applying Scriptural Holiness to our social structures and making changes that eliminate suffering. The result was abolition of slavery, prohibition of alcohol, child labor laws, workers rights, etc. There also grew up missions for the poor and sick. One offshoot of Methodism the salvation army became synonymous with Christian Charity for the needy. Today we lack vision. And the results is three decades of membership decline. At every level the church is floundering with no direction. There are still Methodist and Methodist congregations spreading Scriptural holiness and changing people's lives, But they are few and far between.

Vision 2000 is an attempt to get the church tuned into this spiritual truth that God communicates through Visions. As the second millennium of the Christian Era comes to a close we begin to realize that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Christianity has been going on for almost 2000 and we are part of that. And by God's will it will continue until Jesus comes again. We are part of something bigger than our plans for the quarter or for the year. We are part of God's plan for all time.

God has a vision for Sharon/Shiloh. God has a plan for us as a church just as God has a plan for each individual. And God is trying to tell us what that plan is. God is trying to communicate that vision to us as a congregation.

The problem is that we are not accustomed to listening to God for such a plan. That is where Vision 2000 comes in. It attempts to help churches see that vision and to then be faithful to it. The Vision 2000 book is a study of God's visions for his people in the Bible and throughout church history. The conference programs associated with Vision 2000 are an attempt to provide information and resources to help churches be faithful to that vision.

God has a plan for us as a congregation. God had a detailed itinerary of things he wants to do through us. The point is to grasp hold of that plan or that vision and show it to others. God is already at work. It is just a matter of jumping on the wagon with him.

That is what Vision 2000 is about. Discovering God's will for our church through prayer, study, thought and discussion. Then stepping out in faith according to God's plan.

What can you do? Pray for our church, that God would reveal his vision to us. Pray that we would be faithful to that vision. Share your dreams and your visions for this church and its ministry.

But most importantly to follow a vision we must have faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. God's promise in Christ is that we will prevail over the powers of this world. Believe that! Even when the task of spreading the Gospel seems too large, trust that God is already at work. When you cannot see the fulfillment of the vision, know that by the will of God it is coming.

Hebrews says that we are surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses. Just read the Bible or the History of the Christian church and over and over again God is faithful to fulfill the vision. Israel was dead, a valley of dried bones, but God brought it back to life. Wesley dreamed of spreading Scriptural Holiness in a world wide parish and now there are churches with Weslean roots all over the world.

In our planning meeting we were dreaming of the possibilities. Someone got bold and said they dreamed of the day that Shiloh would go station. (Why can't Sharon we dream the same?) Now we all know that we would have to triple(double) our membership before that would happen. But why not? It may not be God's will, but if it is God's will that Shiloh(Sharon) be a station church then why not. The only reason why not is that God's people would not believe that it is possible.

Pray for a Vision. Look for a Vision. Expect a Vision. Then sit back and watch the Almighty bring a valley of dry bones to life. Or even triple(double) the size of a small country church.

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Abram, better known to us as Abraham, was a man of vision! He was old when he had his vision. Most of his contemporaries would not have blamed him if he had simply stayed on his porch and watched the world go by. That's what most people do at his stage in life.

But not Abraham. He had other ideas. He had this crazy dream of becoming a father. Never mind that his wife Sari had long ago passed that age of child bearing. Never mind that he was old enough to be a great grandfather. Abram still dreamed of being the Father of a nation. Abraham also dreamed of going to far off land and establishing a new nation. Never mind that he was so old that he might not survive the journey. Never mind that he had no idea where this nation would be located. He still dreamed. Abraham had a vision. He could see his descendants as a great nation serving God in a promised land somewhere just over the horizon.

People must have thought Abraham was crazy. If not crazy at least a foolish old man. Here was a man in the later years of his life setting out to do what very few had ever done in their prime. How can a man and woman in the seventies or eighties begin a family from scratch. How can they, old and barren, establish a great nation. I am sure people laughed at Abraham and Sarah.

Many people believe it's truly foolish to follow your dreams. People dream up all kinds of things. Some would tell you that you have the power inside yourself to do what ever you can dream. "If you can visualize it you can make it happen" those people say. I don't believe that.

I know that I am incapable of anything profound! I know that human beings cannot make things happen just because they want them bad enough. That is silliness. But that is what so many people are saying today. They say "You have the power within you to make your dreams come true."

If that's the message you want to hear then go somewhere else. I am too honest to try to sell you that kind of silliness. "If you can see it you can make it happen" - "You have the power to make your dreams come true." That is the stuff of fairy tales not of truth.

But you might say, "Hold on preacher. I have read the book of Genesis and Abraham's dreams did come true. He became the father of a great nation that possessed a promised land! But did Abraham's dreams come true or did God's dreams for Abraham come true. There's a big difference.

I would submit that Abraham's dreams did not come true, it was God's dreams for Abraham that came to pass. God dreamed of making a nation where there was none. So God took an elderly couple and by a miracle gave them a child and from that child God brought forth a nation. And God took a wandering family and made them wander for a hundred years, then sent them into slavery to make a mighty nation of them. Sure Abraham dreamed of having descendants and land but not God's way. Abraham wanted his descendants right away so that he could see his children and grandchildren and maybe even great grandchildren. In fact Abraham and Sarah were impatient and tried to help God's plan along instead of waiting for God. You know that story: Abraham and Sarah wanted children so Sarah gave Abraham her handmaiden Hagar as a wife and he had a child by her. But that was not God's plan. God wanted Sarah to be the mother of his nation. For a young woman and an old man to have a child while improbably had been done before. But to bring forth offspring from an old barren couple that was a miracle of life that only God could perform.

You see if Abraham had had his way the dream would have come true tomorrow. But God willed that it would take hundreds of years. Abraham did not live to see his vision come to pass. When he died he had only one descendant by Sarah. Hebrews says that he died never having received the promise. And Abraham did not have it in him to make it come to pass. But the Bible says that Abraham's faith was counted unto him as righteousness and I believe that he knows that these visions of God came to pass.

As people of faith we have a lot to learn from Abraham and Sarah. First thing to learn is not to confuse our dreams with God's dreams for us. We all have dreams, and God has dreams for all of us. Sometimes our dreams correspond to God's dreams. But we must be sure that we are seeking to do God's will not our own. To follow after dreams that we conjure up from within ourselves is foolishness, but to follow after dreams God has given us is faith.

The second thing we need to learn is that we don't have it within ourselves to make these dreams come true, so we must put out faith in God. Abraham and Sarah are a perfect example of this. They did not have it in them to bring forth a nation. They were childless and barren. Even modern fertility experts would find them an impossible challenge. But God can do all things. They put their trust in God and God made His dreams for them come true. In the same way we have to realize that we helpless and that we must put our faith in God because through God all things are possible.

The third thing we learn is that God has his own time table. Abraham and Sarah got impatient with God and they suffered because of that. We have to realize that sometimes we cannot see God's will being fulfilled but it will be. It took hundreds of years for God to make Abraham's descendants a great nation and to lead them to the promised land. In the same way it may take long after we are gone for God to finish what he starts with us today. But God knows the best time.

It's no mistake that Abraham is used as the logo for the Vision 2000 movement in the United Methodist Church. He is an example of faith looking to the future. He was a man who had seen a vision of God's plan for him and his family. And Abraham put his faith in God to fulfill that vision. He believed in God to do the impossible and God did it! And that is what the Vision 2000 movement is all about. It is about congregation seeking a vision of God's will and making long term plans to be faithful to that will.

Today we will be presenting the results of the Vision 2000 process begun almost two years ago in this congregation. Back in February of 1994 some of you attended the Vision 2000 Launch Event at the Carolina Coliseum with almost 9,000 other United Methodists. Later that Spring a the church had a meeting a drafted a Mission Statement. In the fall of that year we had a planning meeting and set some goals including the adopting of a missionary. In the spring of 1995 many of you attended district Vision 2000 workshops to help equip you for your area of ministry. And finally in the fall of last year we embarked on a study designed to help us see and express God's vision for this church. A lot of thought and prayer have gone into this report. We sought a vision of what God was calling us as a church to be doing and accomplishing in the future. The result is a list of goals that are meant to describe the direction that God is calling us. Like Abraham who traveled in stages toward the vision of becoming a great nation, these goals are but a stage that we believe points in the direction of God's will.

Later in the service we will be asking you to give us some feedback. We want you to tell us if you believe these goals are a fair representation of God's will for us. And if you will put your faith in God and work with us toward these goals. The Bible tells us that faith is the assurance of thing hoped for the conviction of things not seen. God is calling us forward, let us like Abraham lean into the future putting our faith in God!