1.26.2025 Pastor Stephanie

12 Stones - Vision!

“Recover Restore Repair Revive”

We all have a Next Step!

***What is going to be yours?

◦ There are stones that we build with and there are stones to throw.

✓ Our vision and the 12 stones are meant to guide us as we take the next step in our journey

◦ Take that step. Your growth will be stunted if you don’t move. You will continue to fall on your own. You need to eventually stand, move, walk and then run!

◦ Take that first BIG step! So what could that step be?

◦ Maybe that step is you learn to serve and how to serve using your calling- Go to our Impact Next Steps class. Step into your calling. Your gifts were not given to you to hold on to and hide but to share…so what is your calling?

◦ Romans 8:28-30 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

◦ Maybe your next step is to actually step away from people and habits. You can’t sit /stay there anymore in that place that is destroying you!

◦ Maybe it’s a step of worship…learning how to worship! The world has taken away our worship at secular concerts. Why do we refrain from worshipping in church and lifting our hands in church but will do it at concerts?

◦ Everyday we need to be taking a step!

◦ Philippians 3:12: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

◦ When we don’t take a step we become comfortable and lazy. Christ has called us to take a step and to keep taking steps towards Him.

✓ Let’s think about the “Woman with an issue of blood!” You see her fight for surrender. Her thoughts are that she was going to get to Jesus no matter what.

✓ Mark 5:25-34: “And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”

✓ Matthew 9:18-22: 18 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.”19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

◦ She was a “nameless” woman. Very rare in the Bible is it that we don’t have a name of a prominent figure but instead she is known for her illness.

✓ When she tried to fix it she suffered a great deal and made it worse. We have a tendency to make things worse trying to deal with things on our own!

◦ It is finished by Christs work on the cross. Every person called by Christ to do His work in the Bible had a “disqualifying factory”…but nothing can stop God from using you.

◦ What is holding YOU back?

◦ Know that here is a provide, a purpose, and a prosperity at the hem of His garment!

✓ He has come to give you life abundantly. Take a step towards freedom and life.

◦ She grabbed a hold of the “Tzitzit”. What’s a Tzitzit?

◦ Tzitzit: These are the fringes or tassels worn on the corners of a Jewish garment, as commanded in the Torah (Numbers 15:38-40). The tzitzit serve as a reminder of God’s commandments and the covenant between God and the people of Israel.

◦ John 1:1 (NIV):“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

◦ Deuteronomy 32:47: “They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

✓ When you grab a hold of His garment you will be restored and repaired!

◦ “Recover Restore Repair Revive”.

◦ Don’t Do Life Alone! Take that step towards a connect group.

◦ Maybe if you’re only feeling the peace of God in church you need to ask who in my life is keeping me from the presence of God? You should be able to feel His presence more than one day per week. Take inventory in your life. You may need to sever relationships and habits.

✓ But just maybe your Next Step is that “First One”…asking Christ into your heart. Connect with someone for prayer today!

✓ We all have a Next Step! What is going to be yours?