GOING PUBLIC WITH OUR VISION
Isaiah 40: 28-31
David Henderson
Over 100 times in scripture, OT and NT combined, God reminds us of the power of vision. I believe Vision is the ability to take a glance into the future to see what God has for us. It is the ability to dream, to hope and to realize as Jeremiah reminds us that “God has a plan to give us a hope and a future.” So our focus this morning is found in the 40th chapter of the book of Isaiah. And as Isaiah begins writing it is as though he is telling us that “if you want to understand what God’s vision is for your life; if you want to understand WHAT God wants you to do, you first need to grasp WHO He is.” Because He is the source of all of our power. Without Him we are nothing. We are powerless.
Now the setting in this chapter is that God people were hurting. To put it bluntly, they were miserable. And what they seemed to need more anything was to be comforted. And here is why. The majority of the Jews lived In Babylon because they were not allowed to come home to Israel. Jerusalem had been destroyed. But God has a message for his people and here it is …..
• Your sad days are gone; your sins have been pardoned. In other words, your past is past; so leave it there. Don’t dwell on it.
• The grass withers and the flowers fade; all that is around you may seem to be falling apart; but get this… The Word of God will stand forever.
• God has no equal. It may seem as though the enemy is destroying you but the enemy cannot stand against God.
Listen as He describes the power of God.
• He measure the earth with his fingers.
• He picks up the mountains and places them on the scales to weigh them.
• He picks up the earth as though it is a grain of sand.
• The forests of Lebanon were massive; yet if you were to burn them all down, they would not be enough of a sacrifice to give God what He deserves.
It is as though Isaiah is telling us this: before you can really grasp/get hold of who God is, you need to first understand His power. He measures the earth with his hand, picks up the mountains and sets them down to weigh them, picks up the earth as though it is a grain of sand. The Psalmist said “when I look at the night sky and I see the work of your fingers —the moon, the sun and the stars you have out into place, I wonder why you even care for us? But then I understand that you put us in authority over all of this!” John gives us a picture in Revelation of Jesus standing among the churches, feet like bronze, voice like the thunder of an ocean, face like the sun. Can you capture the vision of the great God we serve? Because if you can, you can capture the vision of what God wants to do in your life. What He wants to do in your family and what He wants to do in this church. And the power that is available you and to me.
There are two passages of scripture that are especially close to my heart. Luke 2:52 and Isaiah chapter 40. Both are passages that God has used to help me capture vision for my life set goals and cast vision for the church. These are what we call “life verses” for me. You may not have heard that term before so let me define what a life verse is. A “life verse” is a verse from the Bible that speaks to you in special way. It seems as if it was placed in the Bible just for you. Now I hate to burst your bubble but it wasn’t. It was placed there for all of us. But these two passages are really close to my heart. Again, because they give me vision for the future.
27 years ago my family and I were living in Kentucky where I was serving as Associate pastor of a large church in the town of Campbellsville. I had been there for 7 years; we were very happy there; the ministry was doing well and we were content to remain there. A church contacted me one day and invited me to consider becoming pastor of the church. This is something I had always thought I would do one day so I began praying about it and asking God what I should do. We lived out in the country surrounded by crops all around us and I was driving home from the office one day, praying as I was driving and considering whether this was the right time for me to make this transition from being and Associate Pastor to becoming the lead pastor of a church. So I’m praying when suddenly a very large bird swooped down right across my windshield. My first thought was that it was an eagle but it wasn’t; most likely a large hawk but needless to say, it got my complete attention as I heard God say these words to me: “WAIT, “ Pretty simple message but it was clear to me that that time was not God’s time. Now you may ask did God actually speak to you audibly, out loud? I would say, “No, it was much louder than that.” And as He spoke these words came to mind …. “Wait on the Lord, for those who wait on the Lord will soar like eagles.” That experience was absolutely life changing for me. I knew what God was calling me to do; didn’t know when it would be but I knew one thing for sure; it was my job to “just wait.”
Now I am not known for my patience. I prefer to do things right away and I frankly do not like waiting. That’s how I know this message was from the Lord because I would never have decided to “just wait.” So I immediately began to study this word in depth. What does “wait” mean in the original language? Well I found out first of all that “wait” means “wait. ? But I also learned that “wait” in the Hebrew language means to “bind together.” In other words while you are waiting, you are not idle; there is an “action” that you take. Now my NT professor told me that preparing a sermon is like preparing a meal. You don’t need people to watch you cook the meal; you just need to serve it. They don’t need to see the whole process, you just need to feed them the meal. But I want to step away from the advice for a moment so we can really grasp what this word means. The word WAIT, when mentioned in the OT Hebrew or the Greek can either be in the passive tense or the active tense. If it’s passive, it just means wait; just sit still and wait. If it’s in the active sense, it means; don’t just sit there, do something. Expect something to happen while you wait. I hope you can see the difference because this really does matter. The word Isaiah uses here means do something. So be careful when someone asks you how you are going to respond in a certain situation; be careful when you say, “well I’m just waiting on the Lord.” Because frankly that can mean you are being lazy. I really haven’t known God to give me a complete plan all at one time. He gives me thoughts; He gives me vision but He clarifies it and builds on it along the way. In other words I don’t usually get the whole picture at once. God builds on it as I “wait” on Him. Now this binding this word describes is much like taking a few cords and binding them together. They are then stronger than they were alone. So as we wrap ourselves up in Jesus He will show us the plan. Hope that helps.
So what does 2022 hold for us at Eagle’s Landing? What is our vision? What is God’s vision?
First of all we will step up our discipleship.
• We have had 50 individuals go through our MEMBERSHIP 101 Class. And now that you have, I want to encourage you to attend our Maturity 201 Class. When is the best time to sign up? Right now. There are two options for attending. Sunday, January 23 and Monday, January 24. Times are listed. Pick the day that is best for you. Class is about two hours and we meet one time. Details are listed on the card.
• Small groups will begin/resume. There are four at this time that will begin. The details for those groups are listed on a separate card. Check the one you wish to attend. Each group will only have 12 people; then the group is considered to be full, so pick one ASAP. Each groups has a different study. Different leaders as well. Once the group starts they are closed. In that way, we keep everyone on the same page. Here are the options we have available.
2nd. We hope to baptize more people than any previous year. This is called evangelism. It means to tell the Good News. This is right in line with our vision statement we adopted 21 years ago. “Our VISION is to enlarge the size of heaven by taking as many people as possible with us.” “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. NLT says, “Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense! What would it take to baptize more people than ever before?
3rd, I want to challenge us to step up our giving for the Lord’s work at Eagle’s Landing. It takes resources to do ministry. It can be costly. I don’t apologize for asking you to do something God has already commanded us to do. Last year you did very well. We will give a report of your giving next Sunday but I want to tell you today, you did a great job. Thank you. Now is not the time to be slack. There is much God wants to do, still. We are just getting started. We now have a building to pay for. It’s exciting.
Our God is the God of second chances and fresh starts. As we head into 2022, this is not the time to let go of our dreams. Jon Acuff is an author I follow and he has written some simple books to help those who deal with procrastination. He wrote a book titled “START” and one called “FINISH.” Because some of us struggle with both. Getting started and finishing a task. Let me give you some steps to help you get started this year.
Stop making excuses for not starting.
Excuses are barriers. Ever heard any of these?
• “I don’t have what it takes to go after my dream.” Moses said, it, Jeremiah said it, Gideon said it. God sent an angel who said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!” (Judges 6:12 NCV). It’s a good truth to remember the next time you feel overwhelmed.
• “I failed in the past.” We all have. At least once. And we will again. God wants to tell you exactly what he told Isaiah: “Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don’t you see it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19 NCV)
• “There are things I can’t control.” And that’s the truth. So control what you can and leave the rest to God.
• “I don’t know what the future holds.” That’s right and you never will. Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest” (NLT). Those aren’t just words for farmers. They are words for the church as well.
Take stock of what you have.
You have more going for you in pursuing your dreams than you likely realize. Consider how God has blessed you, what your gifts are, what you have learned this past year. And don’t waste those lessons.
Act in faith. Do something.
God isn’t moved by our complaints. He is moved by our faith. You know you’re acting in faith when you’re attempting to do something that can’t be done in your own power.
Refocus your mind.
For a fresh start in fulfilling God’s dream for your ministry, you need to change how you think. Replace any thought that doesn’t agree with the Bible with God’s truth.
Trust that God knows what he is doing.
You often can’t see what God is doing in your life when he’s at work behind the scenes. But, even if you could see God at work, you likely wouldn’t understand everything he’s doing. Just trust him. Psalm 51:10:
“God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life” (The Message). God loves to answer that prayer. He loves new things.
