Lord, Make Me An Answer!

LORD MAKE ME AN ANSWER

Gen. 41:9-14

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: TUNNEL VISION

1. How many basketball fans do we have here this morning? Do any of you know who was the best free throw shooter in the world in 1994? Did he play for the NBA? NO!

2. According to Sports Illustrated, the guy’s name is Tom Amberry and he set the record back in 1993. Tom was a foot doctor.

3. In 1993 this foot doctor set the world record by making 2,750 free throws in a row over 12 hours. Can you imagine that 2,750 free throws in a row. Guess how old he was? 71!

4. He was in a gym in California with all kinds of things going on around him. A volleyball team running around the gym while he was doing this.

5. Sports Illustrated asks, “How did Tom Amberry set the world free throw record? Focus, Focus, Focus!” Tom says that I just stay in my routine of three bounces and focus.

6. Tom didn’t miss number 2751 by the way; they turned out the lights and closed the gym on him. Tom had tunnel vision, singular focus. [Horace Wimpey. Verified Googled “most consecutive free throw shots”]

7. He’s the foot doctor I’d want operating on me! [Ted St Martin surpassed him in 1996. But Amberry was hired by the Chicago Bulls to train their shooters!]

B. SIX KEY POINTS ABOUT VISION

1. Vision of God will always bring about divine transformation. Isaiah was transformed by his vision of God! Isa. 6:1. So was Saul of Tarsus!

2. Correct Vision of God will give you a correct picture of yourself. When the white-hot light of God shines in your soul, you’ll know the truth about yourself!

3. A vision will make you know where to stand and what to stand for. The sons of Issachar “knew the times and what Israel ought to do” and they promoted David for king. 1Chron. 12:32.

4. Vision is the major difference between Success and Mediocrity. Without a vision, we’ll either do nothing spiritually, or the world will pull us into its vortex. We must have a vision!

5. To every God-given Vision there is a divine provision. Abram, Joseph, Moses, David, etc.

6. Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is Nightmare. You need to run with your vision. Habakkuk 2:2-3

C. THESIS

1. God doesn’t just have a vision for some of us, but a vision for ALL of us! You say, “So what vision does God have for me personally?”

2. I’m glad that you asked! The answer is, the Lord wants you to begin seeing yourself and your life differently, as He sees you!

3. The title of this message is “Lord, Make Me An Answer.”

I. PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF THIS IDEA

A. IN A MARRIAGE

1. Some of you may have a marriage that is strained. Marriages often require God’s insight to be successful.

2. Now, when you get married, you marry someone with baggage. In every marriage you have to deal with the other person’s baggage; you only get to choose what kind of baggage you’re going to have to deal with.

3. Some ladies are married to a man with a strong relationship with his mother. For him, his mother was an answer. He’s worried about caring for his mother.

4. If you (his wife) get opposed to his mother, he’ll see you as a problem. It will drive you two apart.

5. But if you start helping care for his mother, your husband will see you as the answer to his problem and it will bring the two of you closer together.

B. PERCEPTION OF YOUR DIFERENCES

1. Everyone is weird. What I like, others don’t like. You are designed by God to be very different than everyone else. Why?

2. Here’s what a KEY looks like before it’s prepared and this is what it looks like afterward.

3. Notice that it’s all scratched and notched. It gets banged and bent and sometimes looks broken, but it’s broken in all the right places!

4. You never know how good or valuable a key is until you find the door it will open!

5. When you find just the right job, you’ll hear a “click.”

“ “ “ “ “ “ person, “ “ “ “ .

“ “ “ “ “ place to fit, there’ll be a “click.”

6. Then you’ll discover why you’re so weird – because you were designed to be someone’s answer! 2017 will be your year to find out why you’re weird!

II. JOSEPH: A PROBLEM & AN ANSWER

A. TEXT: Genesis 41:9-14; “9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. 10 Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. 11 Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. 12 Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. 13 And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.” 14 So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.”