Got Vision?
Acts 26:12-16
This morning I would like to speak a message that I believe the Lord has placed upon my heart.
The message is entitled "Got Vision?"
Acts 26:12
On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
Acts 26:13
About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions.
Acts 26:14
e all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
Acts 26:15
“Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.
Acts 26:16
‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.
Acts 26:19
“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.
See Paul was on his way to do what he normally did. He was on his way to go persecute some Christians and try to get them to blaspheme God, when all of a sudden he had an encounter with the Lord Jesus.
As he was riding along the road, on his horse, Jesus appeared knocked him off his horse and asked why do you persecute me?
Paul asked who are who and the voice responded with I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. I have appeared to you for a specific reason and as we read in verse 16 the purpose was to appoint him as a servant and witness.
The thing that I like about Paul is that as soon as he had that encounter with Jesus and found out God's purpose for his life, he pursued that purpose with all his heart.
What was that purpose? That purpose was to be both a servant and a witness.
A servant to the body of Christ and a witness to a hurting and dying people.
Paul was given a ministry and a mission.
His ministry was what he did in the body of Christ and his mission was to impact a hurting people.
Now let's bring it to you and I. Just like Paul had an encounter with God I believe most of us if not all of us here have had an encounter with God.
We were living our life and going about our own business when all of a sudden someone witnessed to us, someone gave us a flyer, or God called us and we surrendered our lives to God.
Just like God appeared to Paul for a specific purpose and gave him a vision and a mission - God has appeared to you and I for a specific purpose and has a vision and mission for our lives.
The challenge for you and I is to find out what that purpose is.
Tell your neighbor you have a purpose.
The good thing about purpose is that is produces passion.
When you and I lack purpose it is very hard to have a passion, but when you and I have a purpose it gives us passion and that passion is what drives you and I to do what we do for God.
The word drive means to guide, to control, or to direct.
If it be a nail, a car, or a golf ball - if you are driving it - then you are guiding, controlling, or directing it at that moment.
You and I should be a people that are driven by the purpose and the plan that God has for our lives.
That vision that drives our lives, should be the purpose and plan that God has for our lives.
Ask your neighbor "Got Vision?"
What does vision do for our lives?
1) Having a vision gives meaning to our lives.
See when you and I have a goal and a vision for our lives, it gives our lives meaning. We know that we are not just here by accident or just here by mistake, but we know that God has a specific plan and a purpose for our lives.
We were placed here for a reason and our goal is to see that vision and mission come to pass.
Vision gives our lives meaning because it gives you and I something to shoot for. It gives us a goal for our life.
Living our life without a vision is like playing basketball with no hoop, you have nothing to shoot for.
Right now we are in the NBA playoffs and everyone is excited about seeing who is going to win.
Now imagine if they played the game with no hoop, it wouldn't be too exciting and we wouldn't want to watch the game.
Well when you and I live our life with no vision it is like playing basketball with no hoop, we have nothing to shoot for. It has no excitement and no meaning.
Having a vision for our life is very important, it gives you and I something to shoot for and it makes our life and walk with God exciting.
How many know living for God is exciting?
Vision gives us meaning because it gives us something to accomplish.
Just like Jesus had the mission to seek and to save that which was lost while He was here in the body on earth, so you and I are now His body and we still have that same mission to seek and to save that which is lost.
What is your part in the body?
Song Lyrics by Casting Crown - If we are the Body.
A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances tells him that his chances
Are better out on the road
CHORUS
But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the Body of Christ
Do you feel your life needs meaning today, then I encourage you to get a vision for your life and it will bring both excitement and meaning.
Once you and I give our lives over to God's purpose and plan then we will know just like Paul, that we have been given both a ministry and a mission.
Our ministry is what we do in the body of Christ and our mission is to impact the world.
You and I have a responsibility that is both shared and unique.
It is shared because as a Christian each and everyone of us have a part to do in the body of Christ.
It is unique because there is something specific that God has called you and I to do as an individual.
You and I have a mission to accomplish for God and that gives our live meaning.
2) Having a vision gives you and I direction.
Have you ever met someone doing all kinds of work, but not ever getting anything done.
All kinds of movement, but no progress.
It is probably because they have no vision or directions in their life. They just do whatever comes up and whatever can occupy their time.
I like to look at it like this.
If we live our lives without vision, it is like living our lives on a treadmill.
There is all kind of action, but no progress. All kinds of movement, but seeing the same thing.
See having a vision and a goal for our lives gives you and I direction, it sets boundaries of what you should and shouldn't do to get where we want to go.
Those boundaries help you and I to stay in line toward our vision.
It restrains us.
That is why most sports have boundaries or out of bounds lines.
Football has it, baseball has it, soccer has it, volleyball has it, and basketball has it.
They have boundaries that keep you and I going in the direction of our goal.
And if we get outside of those boundaries the referee will blow the whistle.
That's how our life should be. It should have boundaries that keep us the direction of our goal and when we get off track -
Vision will blow the whistle and say your are getting off track.
How many know if I have no goals or vision I will do whatever I want?
I will do whatever comes up.
You can also look at it like this. Say I have a vision or goal to get in shape.
Right away that gives me direction and puts boundaries on my life.
Can't eat late at night, stop eating certain foods, start exercising, and start eating right.
So if I want to reach my vision I need to stay within those boundaries.
Well so it is in the things of God, when you and I are pursuing the vision and purpose that God has for our lives, it gives us direction and helps us to stay within certain boundaries in order to see that vision come to pass.
You may have a vision to serve God with all your heart - it will tell you stay away from this and stay away from that. Stay away from him or stay away from her.
You may have a vision to do great things for God - Vision will tell you don't do this or don't do that or you need to do this or you need to do that.
You and I may have a vision to be used of God and that vision will guide you and I in the direction we need to go to see that vision come to pass.
When everyone else is doing whatever and living outside of the lines, vision tells you and I do this or do that if you want to reach the goal you have set before you.
The bible says in Proverbs 29:18 where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint.
In other words they have no boundaries or directions for their life.
It is important for you and I to have vision because it give us directions.
Vision acts like a spiritual navigation system. It tells you and I the steps we need to take in order to get where you and I want to go.
How many know in order to get those directions from the navigation system you need to type in a destination of where you want to go?
Somebody say Vision.
3) The last and final thing is that Vision gives you and I passion.
Paul was a man who had passion. Once he found out God's purpose and plan for his life, he pursued it with a passion.
You know the thing I like about Paul, is the same passion and energy he put into the things he did before he served God, is the same passion and energy he put into the things of God.
He didn't use all his energy for worldly things and then get saved and kick back. No he said king Agrippa I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven and that is why I am standing before you today.
First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem, all Judea, and to the gentiles I preached.
Paul had a passion for the things of God, because he had a vision.
I believe when you and I have a vision for our lives it gives us passion.
Now I am not talking about wish, but I am talking about a vision.
See it is easy to make a wish, but a vision takes action.
A vision drives you and gives you a passion to put in work for the things of God.
See it is not so much being overworked that steals our energy or takes our joy, but it is meaningless work. Doing things that we have no reason why we are doing.
You find someone that has a passion about what they are doing, it always seems they have a little more energy and drive, than someone who is working and not knowing why they are doing it.
Let me ask you do you have that passion for the purpose that God has for your life?
All it takes is to get a vision from God - find out his purpose and plan that He has for your life and begin to pursue that purpose with a passion.
Someone who has passion keeps on pressing even in the midst of opposition because it burns on the inside of them.
The vision they have gives them energy to keep pressing toward their goal and pursue it with a passion even in the midst of setback and opposition, because it is a passion.
Quote form Bill Hybels, Who You Are When No One's Looking,
It started like so many evenings. Mom and Dad at home and Jimmy playing after dinner. Mom and Dad were absorbed with jobs and did not notice the time. It was a full moon and some of the light seeped through the windows. Then Mom glanced at the clock. "Jimmy, it's time to go to bed. Go up now and I'll come and settle you later." Unlike usual, Jimmy went straight upstairs to his room. An hour or so later his mother came up to check if all was well, and to her astonishment found that her son was staring quietly out of his window at the moonlit scenery. "What are you doing, Jimmy?" "I'm looking at the moon, Mommy." "Well, it's time to go to bed now." As one reluctant boy settled down, he said, "Mommy, you know one day I'm going to walk on the moon." Who could have known that the boy in whom the dream was planted that night would survive a near fatal motorbike crash which broke almost every bone in his body, and would bring to fruition this dream 32 years later when James Irwin stepped on the moon's surface, just one of the 12 representatives of the human race to have done so?
Acts 20:24
But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus-the work of telling others the Good News about God's wonderful kindness and love.
Let me ask you this morning "Got Vision"
1 Vision will give us meaning -
2 - Vision will give us direction -
3 - Vision gives us passion
