Proverbs 29:18 "Where there is no vision, the people perish." The NIV translates it different but equally as powerful. "Where there is no revelation, the people cast of restraint."
"Where there is no vision the people wander aimlessly."
"Where there is no vision the people fall apart; they lose all consciousness."
"Where there is no vision they go to pieces spiritually and morally."
Going into 2001 I See…..
Our nation is drowning in moral decay. Babies are being murdered in the most sacred part of a woman’s body. Crime is at an all time high. Drugs and violence, alcohol, divorce is racking our nation. Rising problems with our youth culture. Satan is after our young people. Add to that the terrible race tensions that are literally felt around the world.
America and even the church has lost its respect for God. We have lost our fear for God. There was a time that we feared the Lord, but we’re taught now just to love Him, but not to fear and revere God.
Sin and sin’s lifestyle are being flaunted today. There is no shame in sin anymore. Sin is gladly exposed to the world. The problem of homosexuality is government is trying to make it a lifestyle instead of a sin. Persecution is truly on it’s way. The antichrist crowd has become so bold that I believe the church will be persecuted unless the trend is reversed in this country.
The church has become very soft on sin. Preachers are not mentioning sin anymore and the church had literally become full of sinners who have feel comfortable in the church. Yes, they should feel comfortable. This is the place to come for healing, but preachers are not calling sin, sin anymore. We were afraid lest we offend the affluent ones.
We have preachers trying to preach great sermons instead of messages from God and being the mouthpiece of God. Religious activity has replaced prayer, and the moral fiber of our ministers in many cases has followed along the decline of society.
Sunday night attendance has gone down. We have become obsessed with being served instead of serving others. And without a sovereign move of God, many churches in our denomination will not no longer be, but they will not be what God intended them to be.
As I share my heart with you I realized that God’s people have not reached their potential. We have not met the promise that was given in the word of God for Jesus said that, "The works that I do shall you do also." Then He went on to say that, "Greater works you will do because I go to the Father".
Do you think that God gave that to us to frustrate us? God never gave a promise that He was not willing to fulfill and if we meet the conditions that they were met.
I believe what we are seeing today in the world and in the church is testimony to what Paul said when he proclaimed the "The whole earth is full of the glory of God, but it’s veiled to some they can’t see. And the result is not only are people perishing and walking aimlessly as spoken by Hosea, but Paul said that because of their lack of vision they became futile in their speculation and their foolish heart was darkened.
In other words, it is not that the whole earth has ceased to be filled with the glory of God, the problem is really the veil that lies over our hearts, and because that veil is over our hearts man sees
Pauls says in 1 Cor 13 “Man sees through a glass darkly.”
I can’t explain it but it’s like when it’s rainy. Everything that you see is distorted, it’s eerie and spooky. Then the daylight comes and the rain ends, and the sun comes out, and what was once was distorted is now in proper perspective. Paul says that when we return to God, the veil will be removed and we will see things from God’s perspective.
Our text this morning says. "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains."
I feel like there are people here this morning that feel what John was feeling on the Isle of Patmos. You remember John was in prison and tradition says that they sought to kill him, but they failed. So they sought to put him in a vat of oil and boil him to death, but he wouldn’t cook. Finally they decided if they couldn’t kill him they would banish him to the Isle of Patmos.
What does he do? He gets a vision and they call him John the revelator. He receives his revelation because he was overwhelmed with the sheer magnitude of the suffering of the believers. As a matter of fact he was about where some of you are right now. There was pain, suffering, and problems. They were in a bad way. Here is what happened to John. He didn’t run from his difficulties. He didn’t run from his circumstance. But he went up a little higher.
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw 7 golden lampstands. And in the midst of the 7 lampstands was one like the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace and His voice as a sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw him, I fell at His fee as dead. But He laid his hand on me and said Don’t be afraid; I am the first and the last. I am He who lives and was once dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys to Death and Hell.”
There’s a perspective that is called God’s perspective where you see things clearly.
There’s a perspective called God’s perspective where you see every soul in the kingdom of God.
There is a perspective called God’s perspective you don’t see limitation. Where you don’t even need to know the end, you don’t even need to know tomorrow, you just need to know the One that knows and holds tomorrow and who holds tomorrow in his hand.
I believe that is why Caleb said "Give me the mountain.” He said I’m old and I can fight as good as any of those whipper snappers. I can work as hard as any of them "Give me this mountain". Many preach that he went on the mountain because it was rugged. I believe he wanted the mountain because you see things different, you get a different perspective.
Friends it’s time to go too higher ground. It’s time to get above the circumstances. It’s time to go above the situation. The psalmist said I’m going to lift up my eyes. I’m going to go up to the mountain top."
Then he asks the question. "From whence comes my help". Then he get’s his perspective right. My help doesn’t come from the dumb mountain. My help comes from the Lord. My help comes from the one who made the heavens and the earth. My help comes from the Lord.
Daniel Prayed for 21 days. Daniel 10:21 ‘Then said he (the angel) Fear not Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, but the Prince of Persia withstood me.”
It was Paul who reminded us in the book of Ephesians that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, against the powers of this dark world against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. He’s the prince of the power of the air.
I believe with all of my heart that there are demonic spirits assigned to every city, every church. I believe that Satan the God of this world the prince of the power of the air. He has legions of demonic spirits keeping revival back, keeping the blessings back, keeping the power of God back. That’s the realm that people live in. Only going as high as what is around them. That’s where the devil is. I don’t want to live there. I want to be where God is. And friends, he’s higher.
Let’s read on. “He will not allow your foot to slip". He who keeps you will not slumber. Psalms 123 says "To thee I lift my eyes, O Thou who art enthroned in the heavens."
Some get disappointed, they come for a pastor to counsel them. I can save you some time cause when you come to me for counseling this is what I’m going to say. I’m going to tell you to get your bible and read it every day and pray and come to church every time the door is open and tell someone about Jesus.
But people don’t want to hear that. "That preacher didn’t help me any. You know what you want. You want somebody to tell you what God said. Your as backslidden as the children of Israel. They didn’t want to meet God themselves. They wanted someone to tell them what God said.
When are you going to learn that you have access to the top. Go to the mountain yourself. Get in tune with God yourself. 90 % of our problems are nothing but distraction.
You’ve heard the old fable of the serpent and the bird in the tree. The serpent was charming the bird, and the bird was mesmerized by the movement of that serpent that was moving in soon to strike. Suddenly there was a movement to the side that distracted him from the serpent for minute, and the bird, who could have flown away all the time, suddenly was distracted and flew away.
Some of you have been distracted by Satan. The serpent has mesmerized you, and fear has caused you to be paralyzed.
I remember Elisha who followed Elijah. He was not to be distracted from taking care of Elijah. He said I will not leave you. I will not let you go. I’m sticking with you. Then Elijah said If you see me when I’m taken from you then you then you will receive a double portion of my spirit to follow upon you that you have been requesting all along. Here’s the problem. There came a chariot from heaven, a chariot of fire. There was fiery horseman, and fiery horses, and Elijah wasn’t taken up in the chariot, he was taken up in a whirlwind.
If we were there we would be looking at the chariot. Look at those fiery horseman. Wow? Where’s Elijah? While we were distracted we missed it.
HUMOR: Aggie who went on a long trip by bus across America. Bought one of those tickets, you can travel anywhere you want for a certain period of time on the bus. He’s in Seattle and he decided that he would weigh on the scaled before he got on the bus. He got on the scale and a voice said:
"You are from Texas, your an Aggie, you weigh 175 pounds, your going home in 2 days.
That’s amazing. Behind him was an Eskimo. He put his money in, the voice said. "You’re an Eskimo. You’re from Alaska. You weigh 279 pounds. (Fat Eskimo)
The Aggie said that’s amazing. Let’s try to fool this machine. Let me take your Parka and put on your seal skin pants and your slippers. So he put it on and stepped on the scale. The Voice said:
"Your still an Aggie. You still weigh 175 pounds and while you were fooling around with this Eskimo, you missed your bus.
How many have discovered that while you were messing around with some other attraction you missed your bus?
We get so distracted.
Let me tell you if your one of God’s people and all you are following is a sign or a prophecy, your missing the bus. If I never see another sign or wonder or hear another prophecy it won’t phase me a bit because I don’t have to prove that God is on the throne. He’s not in a feeling or a sign, he’s in your heart. There is nothing so frivolous, nothing so shallow as to see people running all over the country after signs and wonders and miracles. When we’re called to serve the Master.
Give the Lord your attention.
Jesus said: "If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you want".
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness all these things shall be added unto you".
"If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways”
And if the church will get into the realm of his kingdom which is attention, and give your full attention to the things of God, to the point that you’re focused and refuse to be distracted, God will give you that double portion of His Spirit and Power and Glory.
Solomon said "Give attention to my words, let them not depart from your sight. Pay attention.
We are having trouble with kids leaving school. It’s not because they are not learning because of a lack of intelligence. They’re paying attention to other things like rock, and sex, and drugs, and MTV.
John said "All things come into being by him and apart from Him nothing came into being.
So where should our attention be? On God!
While denominations are mourning the fact that revival is gone and they are losing. I believe we must seek a different perspective:
Yes we have problems, and sin, and darkness.
"But where sin does abound the grace of God does much more abound."
"When the enemy comes in like a flood the spirit of God will raise up a standard against it".
Our perspective is on a revival that will bring people back to the foot of the old rugged cross where there they can find peace for their troubled souls.
Yes are young people have gone astray. But I have a different perspective! I see young people refusing to bow down to compromise, and revival hitting our schools.
Yes we have divorced homes. But were seeing a revival of marriages coming back together.
Yes homosexuality is in abundance. But we have a different perspective. How do we treat them. We love them, because Jesus does, and there is no sin too great for God to deliver.
Yes we see churches dying, but while churches are dying we are seeing ministers who are hungry to bring more than a couple poems and a prayer. More than a spiritual reading, or commentary from the newspaper. Their hungry to bring a word from God and win souls for Jesus Christ.
Victory Assembly it’s time to go to higher ground. It’s time to give God our full attention. Don’t be distracted. Don’t be swayed. Don’t be moved. Yield yourself totally to God and see what God can do. If you want to see the glory of God then we are going to have to move up a little bit higher through what is there before you and see the 3rd dimension.
ILLUST: Holograms. Pictures that have hidden objects inside them. I can never see what everyone else is seeing. They say to see the 3rd dimension you start by holding the picture at a distance too close to focus on it initially. In other words you would put it right up next to your nose so that what you’re seeing is blurred. The natural tendency is to then seek an infinity for a lost horizon that might be there.
Let me give you a definition of infinity. It’s the distant setting of a camera lens beyond which everything else is in focus.
Yes things are bad in this world. Could we go a little further and say that things are difficult in other areas of your life. Is it possible though that when you lift your eyes to the infinite one that everything else comes in focus. It’s possible that when you lift your eyes from the static everything comes into place and focus. Until we lift our eyes to that place of infinity, until we have learned to be still and know I am, the awesome God. we will never come into focus.
Lift your eyes to higher ground in 2001.
