Do You See What I See?
Numbers 13:25-31; 14:6-8
In our text this morning there are two groups of people.
The first group is the Visionary group.
The second group is the Stationary group.??Let’s define these two words. The word "visionary" means "characterized by vision or foresight".??While the word "stationary" means "not moving or unchanging".??I have heard the word "visionary" defined from a Christian perspective as "he who sees what can be done for God, and has a passion to do it."??Now let me ask you........are you a visionary or are you stationary? Are we looking for ways that we can improve our church? Do we have an eye toward the future looking, searching for ways in which we can further, and better minister for the Lord? Do we have a vision for lost souls in our community, and a passion to reach them?
The Israelites had come from Egypt and they crossed the Red Sea. They witnessed many of the miracles of God as the army of Pharaoh had drowned; the Red Sea has parted; God has fed them manna in the wilderness; God has given them quail to eat; God has provided water in the desert. Now they come to the place where they can crossover into the Canaan land. And so God, through Moses, gives instructions that they are to spy out the land and investigate this land of promise.
So it says in verse 25, "And they returned from spying out the land after forty days. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the Children of Israel and the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him, and said: "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan. Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it. But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we."
Then in chapter 14, verse 6, "But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey."
You know, it is amazing how many things in our daily lives is the result of someone else's vision. The cars we drive, the computers we operate, and the planes we fly are all the result of someone else's vision. Helen Keller, who was blind, said worse than being blind would be to be able to see but, have no vision. Woodrow Wilson said we grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. The poorest man is not he who is without a cent, but he who is without a dream.
"We need to become Men and women of faith that see the invisible, hear the inaudible, believe the incredible, and think the unthinkable".
Hebrews 11:27 27By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
Hebrews 11:27 NIV 7 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
As your pastor, I want to be a leader with a vision. I want to lead people who have a vision. I want to pastor a church that has a vision.
The bible says that in Proverbs 29:13 that without a vision the people perished. Or without a revelation, the people perished.
Pastor Rick White, says, "Vision is the capacity to allow God through His creative powers to create within us dreams and plans for the future that will help others and bring glory to Himself."
Now we look at this story of Israel today, how God had delivered them. How they had seen so many mighty miracles. How they had gone from being slaves to freedom. They had seen the Red Sea parted. They had seen the armies of Pharaoh defeated. They had seen watered provided in the desert. They had seen manna fall from the sky. They had seen bitter water made sweet. All of these miracles are of God. Now they stood on the edge of the Promised Land. They were positioned for victory. They were poised for victory. They were promised victory. All they had to do was have the vision to go in and claim God's best, to claim all that God had promised them. All they had to do was to have vision enough to see a God big enough to provide everything they needed to have the vision.
I want to know today, do we have the vision? Do we have a vision big enough to cross over? I want to tell you that a vision is conceived in revelation. A vision is continued in examination. A vision will always cause aggravation, but a vision will result in transformation, whether it is in your life or the life of the church or the life of a business. This is the power of a vision.
Now I want to talk about the renewing of a vision because sometimes we can lose our vision. We came out of the wilderness. Now we are positioned for victory. We have been promised victory. Now all we have to do is cross over and claim victory. But we have to ask ourselves; do we have the vision to become what God wants us to be?
I. A VISION CONCEIVED IN REVELATION
I want you to see first of all, that if we are to reclaim the vision, we have to have a revelation.
"And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. Numbers 13:1-2
It has been said that vision is foresight with insight based on
hindsight. Vision is seeing the invisible and making it visible. Vision is a God given plan that He desires to become a man made reality. God makes the vision possible; man makes the vision real. With God's power, vision is a dream that can come true, but without God's power, vision is a dream that becomes a nightmare. When God gave to Moses a vision of the Promised Land, it wasn't just the vision of Moses; it was the vision of God. It was the vision that God first revealed to Abraham; when He said leave your home and go out into a country that I will show you; go out to find a land that I will give to you. It was a vision that Abraham passed down to Isaac and Jacob. It was the same vision that they passed down. And while the Israelites were in Egypt, for four hundred years it was the vision that lived in their hearts until God sent them a deliverer named Moses. And Moses had to renew the vision. But until God is involved, a vision is nothing but an empty dream. We have to ask ourselves; is this the vision that god has revealed, is this the vision that god has given? If it is, then we have nothing to fear.
Why did Joshua and Caleb come back and say, if God is with us then we have no problem. If God is with us, then He will give us the land. Why did ten spies come back after they spied out the land and said it's a wonderful land, it's a good land, it is flowing with milk and honey, but we can't take the land. There are giants in the land and we are grasshoppers in their sight and we are grasshoppers in our own sight. What was the difference? The difference was that Joshua and Caleb had a God given vision. They could visualize that they already had victory. They could have a positive spirit and outlook because they already had the title deed in their pocket. They weren't fighting for victory; they were fighting from victory with a promise that had already been given them from God.
Now I want to tell you something ladies and gentlemen, if you doubt that God can do it, if you doubt that God has given us victory through the power of the blood of Jesus in the cross, if you doubt that God has given you victory in the Christian life, if you doubt that this is the victory that overcomes the world, if you doubt that the blood of Jesus has power, you are defeated from the get go. But if you have the vision, then a Christian is always triumphant through Christ.
(The Gospel According To T-Pain “All I Do Is Win”) And even if it looks like I'm I'm losing, I'm still winning because I’m learning. Because you have the promises of God in your pocket and you believe them and you claim them and you stand on them and you practice them in your daily life, then you have a vision conceived in revelation. And that's what makes the vision real. In fact, the word vision means a revelation, a sight to perceive. The idea is that of knowledge and understanding. Vision is not an empty dream. Vision means a revelation. And in scripture in the Old Testament, the word vision is used thirty-one times and it is always used in connection to something that has been revealed by God and through God.
Vision is absolutely essential. Now that is why when you have a vision, a God given vision, things seem impossible. In fact if your vision does not include something that seems impossible, then it's not a God given vision. If your vision only includes what you can do and what you can accomplish in your flesh, it is not a vision from God at all. You don't even need God. Now a vision calls for revelation. When God reveals to you His vision, there will be giants in the land.
II. A VISION IS CONTINUED THROUGH EXAMINATION
In verses 1 and 2 of Chapter 13, Moses said I want you to spy out the land. Now notice what they would do. They were not to spy out the land to criticize; they were not to spy out the land to give an opinion. They were to spy out the land to find a strategy. They were not to spy out the land to find the will of God. They already knew the will of God. God had told them for two thousand years since Abraham that it was the will of God that they should have that land. What were they to do?
Find the facts. Moses said listen, I want you to go out there, in verse 18, and see what the land is like. Is it smooth or is it mountainous? Is it a good land, is the soil rich or is it poor? In verse 18 he said, see what the people are like. Are they strong or are they weak? Are they few or are they many? He was mapping out a battle plan. What kind of strategy should we have when we go into the land? He said see what the cities are like. Are they fortified, do they have walls around them or are they just open? He said by the way, bring some of the fruit of this land so we can anticipate what kind of blessing this is going to be. They were to find the facts.
They were to fortify their faith. He sent them out in verse 20 and said be of good courage. He knew they were going to find the facts and they were going to find giants. And so He said fortify your faith. Why did God want them to go into the land and spy it out when God knew they would find out that the land was well fortified, that the cities had walls around them, that the very first city had never been taken by any enemy and that Jericho was the strongest city in the world. And that the giants in the land were twice the size of the Israelites. Because He wanted them to see that they had a God sized vision and the only way that they could conquer the land was through the power of all mighty God. Listen they were to fortify their faith.
They were to face the foe. Numbers 14:9, Moses said, "Don't fear the people of this land for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them." So a vision calls for examination. Just know that if you have a God size vision, there will be challenges ahead. We must renew the vision.
III. A VISION WILL CAUSE AGGRAVATION
The ten spies came back and here is what they said, it is a good land, it is a great land, it flows with milk and honey.
Numbers 13:33 "There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
Numbers 14:6-10 6And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: 7And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 8If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. 9Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. 10But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
And that is what it means when it says where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint or the people perish. There are two different opinions. There was aggravation, in fact, when Joshua and Caleb said we are well able to take the land, the bible says the people took up stones to stone them. Now we may praise Joshua and Caleb today, I mean this was their future leader who forty years later will lead them into the Promised Land, and they wanted to kill him. This is Caleb, the man, who will forty years later say; give me this mountain, who will say, forty years later, I am as strong now as I was then. Who at the age of eighty years, will say I am as strong now as I was at the age of forty. They wanted to kill these two men. And if you think the majority is always right, then you haven't read this passage of scripture.
When you have a vision of God, you have aggravation in the congregation. What's the difference in these two opinions? You have two people who say we are able to take the land, why they are bread for us. We can gobble these people up like bread, God will give us the victory, and God has already given us the promise. We are able to do it. And then ten who said we are unable to do it. The difference was vision. The difference in winning and losing is vision. The difference in progress and going backwards is vision.
One group saw opportunity and the other group saw obstacles. One group saw grapes, the other group saw giants. One group saw blessings and other group saw burdens.
A vision causes aggravation. They said there are giants in the land. We can't reach them. What are some of these giants that can kill a vision? I call them dream busters.
Well, doubt is a dream buster. People saying well it can't be done, it won't work, we never did it that way before, they never asked us about that before they did it, we never had that plan, why are they doing that.
Criticism is a dream buster.
Negativism is a dream buster. We don't have the money; we will never get the money to do that. All of these are dream busters.
IV. A VISION WILL CREATE TRANSFORMATION
In Joshua 3:17, forty years later, after that whole group had died in the wilderness, remember the bible says without a vision the people perish, well, they all perished except Joshua and Caleb. They are all dead and all gone. And forty years later, the two who had vision, lead the people who were born after that.
Joshua 3:17 "Then the priest who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan."
Forty years later with a renewal of the vision, the people crossed into the Promised Land because Canaan was not their idea, it was God's idea.
And whether this generation has to completely leave the scene or whether God will do it through another generation, this is a vision of God. It is not a vision of man. And we need a renewal of vision. Barna said in his book on the power of vision and those churches where a sense of God's vision for ministry truly exist the possibility of growth and impact are high. In churches where vision is absent growth is swarted by man's roadblocks. The only enemy of vision is us. Even the devil cannot stop true, unless we allow him to do so.
They had lost their vision. And the most terrible thing for a person, a business or a church is to loose a vision.
Swindoll said vision is essential for survival. It is spawned by faith, it is sustained by hope, it is sparked by imagination, it is strengthened by enthusiasm, it is greater than sight, it is deeper than a dream, and it is broader than an idea. Vision encompasses vast vistas outside the realm of the predictable, the safe, and the expected. No wonder we perish without it. When I think about vision, I think of the eagle, which has eight times as many visual cells per cubic centimeter as a human being. That translates into amazing abilities. Flying at six hundred feet elevation, an eagle can spot an object the size of a dime, moving in six inches of grass. That same creature can see a three-inch fish jumping in a lake five miles away. Eagles can see things that most every other creature can miss and the difference between majority and minority is vision. Jerry Farwell said the difference between mediocrity and greatness in the church is vision.
