Bunbury
Sun am
22/08/10
“Buying into the vision”
Intro: *** I can still remember when I was just a young boy, maybe a teenager in my early teens, the vision that someone had. Actually it wasn’t his vision, he’d got it from someone in America as far as I know. The man had been to America & while he was there he had seen something unique, a chain of hamburgers restaurants called ‘Burger King’. The idea inflamed his thinking when he considered the notion of bringing the same thing back to Australia he knew it would be an instant success. I was maybe 12 or 14 at the time. I can still remember the first one I ever saw at Innaloo shopping centre. People liked the idea & initially it took off here in Perth, W.A. Here was a revolutionary new idea that people all over Australia would buy into. The rest of course is history as people all over Australia have bought into the vision, not only of Burger King but fast food outlets in general throughout this nation.
But it happened b/c someone bought into the vision of fast food hamburger stores!
But there is something about vision we generally don’t u/s.
That is the reality that for a vision to work / be realised / fulfilled we must first ‘buy into’ it / embrace, take it to ourselves as our own.
God’s got a vision for every one of us in life ...... if people are perishing for lack of vision it’s not b/c God hasn’t given us one but b/c we haven’t embraced it.
Have you got a vision in life yet? B/c if you haven’t you should have one.
I want to minister t/m about ‘Buying into the vision’.
Text: Nehemiah 2:11-18 (NKJV) 11So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode. 13And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. 14Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass. 15So I went up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.
16And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the official, or the others who did the work. 17Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” 18And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work.
# 1. Vision is what is needed to take us from the place of brokenness.
A. Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem & to a people who are in a place of brokenness.
a. He firstly goes out through the ruined walls of Jerusalem surveying the brokenness of the city.
i. Everywhere he looked he saw ruin / defeat / despair / brokenness.
Vs 11-15. 11So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode. 13And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. 14Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass. 15So I went up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.
ii. This was the city where God had promised to put His name / His presence / His blessing / His favour.
iii. But instead of seeing all these things God had promised His people he saw defeat.
iv. What a tragic scene considering how much God wanted to & promised to bless His people.
b. But there’s a close parallel in all this to our lives.
i. To the believer today Jerusalem is much like our own personal lives ....... the place of God’s rich promises.
ii. Our lives are the dwelling place of God .... the place where He promises to deposit His presence.
iii. But when we look at much of the church today ...... when we look at individual lives today what we see much of the time instead of abounding victory is ruin.
iv. Just like the fallen walls of Jerusalem we see in people’s lives brokenness / distress / trouble / fear / heartache & even panic.
v. This should not be the way it is for God’s own people ....... but sometimes it is!
B. When you’ve come to a place of brokenness you’ll need a vision to take you beyond it.
a. Brokenness shouldn’t be the way it is for God’s people but when it is, God’s will is for us to move beyond it.
i. You see there were a group of people living in the ruins of Jerusalem ..... they had made a life there.
ii. It certainly wasn’t God’s ideal for it to be this way for them but it was the way life was & the trouble is that they had gotten used to living like this.
iii. And that’s the way we can be too ..... so used to living a life of brokenness that we just get used to it – it b/co normal for us!!!
iv. It can also be a pict of our church – battered / assaulted / struggling to survive.
v. And if we’re not careful we can settle into a life of brokenness / defeat / ruin far below the will / purposes / plan of God for our lives.
b. The only thing that will move you beyond this place is when you begin to get a vision that things can be different.
i. And if you find y/s at the place of brokenness ...... a vision is the only thing that can rescue you form it.
ii. Jeremiah the prophet was thrown into a pit w/o water & left there to die ....... I know how he feels, I’ve been in that pit!
iii. And if you’re there right now you need to know that the only way out of it is for you to get a vision from God.
iv. Unless you can begin to see that God can bring you beyond your own personal place of brokenness you’ll never recover.
v. But what is a vision from God?
# 2. Vision is when we see what God already sees.
A. Our greatest trouble in life is that we don’t see things they same way that God sees them.
a. This is why we get our/s into so much trouble.
i. This is what brings us to the place of brokenness in the first place.
ii. Think about Adam & Eve .... standing in the midst of paradise w/ unbroken blessing / favour & never ending life.
iii. But they gave it all up when they reached out & took a bite of unknown fruit that would bring about unknown results w/ unknown misery.
iv. Why did they do it? B/c they didn’t see what God could already see!
b. That’s why we sin / make foolish / bad choices in life ..... even as believers b/c we can’t see what God can already see.
i. People would never choose sin, would never give in to temptations, would never embrace the devil’s plans if they could see the heaven that God already sees.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV) 9But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
ii. Christians would never backslide / leave church / begin doing things they know in their heart to be wrong if they could just see things the way that God see them.
iii. God’s people wouldn’t even choose second best if they could see the first best that God already sees for their lives / future.
iv. I believe that one of the great torments of those that miss out on heaven will not just be hell but rather the torment of knowing what they have missed out on!
v. Their cry will be ..... if only I could have seen it b/4 I chose what I did choose!!!
B. Vision is what allows us to see the rebuilt walls of God’s purposes amongst all the rubble of our lives.
*** A number of years ago now someone discovered that cyanide would melt gold & separate it from crushed rock. I believe it is still a very technical process if I understand correctly but the basic principle is that they made the discovery the cyanide melts the gold & causes it to leach out of the crushed rock & be caught at the bottom of layers of sediment. When the process has been completed the valuable gold is separated from the worthless rock.
And that’s what vision does in our hearts too ..... it works to separate the valuable from the worthless.
a. Vision is what separates the gold from the dirt.
i. Vision is what separates the dream from the difficulty.
ii. Vision is what empowers us to see beyond the rubble all the way through to the rebuilt walls & the establishing of a dream.
*** When I was back in the Suva Fiji church recently Tim Motokula (who is now a pastor pioneering a new church in Nakasi, Fiji) called me to a spot in the middle of the Suva church building. He called me over & said Ps Perry stand here. When I stood in the spot he told me to stand he said to me “Do you remember when you & I stood here on this spot the first time you asked me to meet you here in this building?” I had to admit I had a vague memory of the encounter. Tim at the time was a council member in our church & I had asked him to meet me at the building b/c I was planning to lease it & renovate the building.
There was piles of debris everywhere, trash & old ruined building materials. To Tim it looked (as he told me) like a construction nightmare, ready to be condemned. He said “Ps I thought you were mad!”
But the only difference between Tim & me was that my vision for the building helped me to separate the gold from the dirt.
iii. And this is what Nehemiah was able to see as he began looking at all the ruin that surrounded the city of Jerusalem.
iv. As he looked at the heaps of broken stones shattered beams & rubble everywhere what he saw was the rebuilt walls of Jerusalem.
b. God’s purpose in wanting to plant a vision in our hearts is that He wants us to begin to see what He already sees.
i. When you look at trouble / difficulties / challenges / broken down things & begin to get excited you know that God has begun to birth vision in your heart.
ii. And more imptly you know that you are beginning to see things the same way that God sees them.
*** Walt Disney one day took someone to see a piece of land that he had a dream for. The other man confided later that he thought Walt Disney was mad. Everything about it seemed to scream out that the dream was not possible & the land was unsuitable. But today on that same piece of land stands the world famous Disney Land!
Walt’s colleague just couldn’t see what Walt Disney was already envisioning.
iii. That’s our trouble too ..... God has a great vision for our lives / church / city / family & we just need to begin seeing what He is seeing!!!
# 3. Seeing & selling the vision.
A. If you’re going to buy the vision the first thing that has to happen is that you’ve got to see it.
a. People don’t buy something they can’t first see & believe in.
*** When we were involved in the rebuilding of our house in Perth we bought up some building materials. Some of them we didn’t really need but we thought .... you never know! One of the things we bought was a brand new gas oven. It hadn’t even been used & the reality was that we already had another new one. We bought it anyway & eventually decided to sell it. We bought it for $150 & we advertised it at a couple hundred dollars more than we paid knowing it was still way cheaper than a new oven. The guy who bought it was reasonably interested but when he came to our house to look at it after seeing it he was falling over himself to give us the money & seal the deal.
Seeing it is what sold it for him & the same is true when it comes to God’s vision!
i. B/c Nehemiah could already see it he was able to describe his vision to others.
ii. Paul saw the vision that God had for his life & said .......
Acts 26:19 (NKJV) 19 ...... I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
iii. You’ll never be able to rally other men / women to take a hold of the same dream you have unless you can first see it.
iv. Think about it ...... Nehemiah as he rode around over all the piles of rubble / ruin / devastation / broken mess – he saw the possibility of what God could bring together.
b. We need to u/s that Nehemiah wasn’t ignorant of the challenges that he faced.
Vs 17. 17Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire.
i. But real vision is able filter out the possibilities of God from the ruin & rubble of our lives.
ii. You’ve got to learn to extract the gold from the garbage of life!
B. God is able to do great things in our lives when we buy into the vision of what He wants to do.
a. Vision comes alive in our hearts / minds / actions when we buy into it & make it our own.
i. All of a sudden the possibilities spring to life when vision gets a hold of our hearts.
ii. These were people who had lived their entire lives in vulnerability / fear / bondage b/c they had no vision.
iii. But Nehemiah sold them a vision of what God could / wanted to do through their lives.
Vs 17. ...... Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.”
iv. In their thinking what had always been rubble was now b/co walls ..... vision allowed them to begin seeing things the same way God did.
C. The story in our text ends w/ a vision sold!
a. In other words the people that had lived for so long in the ruin & brokenness of Jerusalem bought the vision of Nehemiah.
i. They believed that God could work a miracle out of the brokenness they lived in.
Vs 18. .....Then they set their hands to this good work.
ii. Something had gripped their hearts b/c all they had seen for years in the demolished city of Jerusalem was the rubble.
iii. But now they suddenly a vision was birthed into their hearts ..... they had bought Nehemiah’s vision & what they saw was a ....... ‘good work’.
iv. Vision has the power to carry us on to great dreams / goals / destinies that God has called us to.
