Title: The Need For A Vision
Text: Proverbs 29:18
Intro: It is important that each of us have a vision for what God wants us to do. The church should have a corporate vision true, but each of us must see ourselves as individuals with personal visions that come together make up a greater vision.
Churches need to understand that today-------God has a purpose and plan for each Church------and they need to be devoted to accomplishing it.
The average Church today though is like a football game-----you have 22 players in desperate need of rest being watched by 50,000 people in desperate need to exercise.
So what should we do about getting a vision?
I. Seek God For Direction
1. You don’t need to ask God what you need to do as much as how you need To Go about it.
2. Most want to make the idea of a vision a hard thing.
- We want to sweat, toil and agonize over “What does God want me to do?”
- 2 Corinthians 5:11-21
a. 2 Cor. 5:11 – Persuade men
b. 2 Cor. 5:18 – fulfill ministry of reconciliation
c. 2 Cor. 5:20 – Be ambassadors for Him
d. Mathew 28:19 - teach & baptize
e. Mark 16:15 -
f. Luke 14:23 -
g. John 20:21 -
h. Mark 13:10 -
i. Psalms 96:3 -
3. WE HAVE A MISSION
- We cannot afford to lose sight of that mission
ILL. About 350 years ago a shipload of travelers landed on the northeast coast of America. The first year they established a town site. The next year they elected a town government. The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness. In the fourth year the people tried to impeach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles westward into a wilderness. Who needed to go there anyway? Here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an ocean and overcome great obstacles to get there. But in just a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town. They had lost their pioneering vision.
4. We need to seek God for a method
- It is not God’s perfect will:
a. That any should perish
b. That should walk in sickness
c. That any live under a curse
d. Any remain under Satan’s bondage
ILL. Moses God told him to build a temple, but it did not stop with just a vision for a temple God gave him the plans in detail.
Noah, God said it is going to rain, build an ark. Not only did he have a vision but also God gave him direction or a detailed plan as to how it was to be done.
II. Trust God
1. One of the hardest things that God has to deal with from us is our lack of trust in Him.
2. Don’t be afraid to do what he has called you to do.
- If He has called you He will not only empower you but He will go with you.
3. It may seem impossible for you but God say’s, “trust me”
Luke 18:27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Psalms 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
4. We have all of these great promises from God’s Word but yet most live as if they are not true.
- Many Christian live as if this word is not the inerrant word of God.
- “Well, I know that God said that He would give me power, but I don’t want it.”
- “If God really wanted me to tell others about Him He would have made me a missionary”
- “If God wants those people to get saved then He can lead them to a church.”
ILL. Gladys Aylward, missionary to China more than fifty years ago, was forced to flee when the Japanese invaded Yangcheng. But she could not leave her work behind. With only one assistant, she led more than a hundred orphans over the mountains toward Free China. In their book "The Hidden Price of Greatness," Ray Besson and Ranelda Mack Hunsicker tell what happened:
During Gladys’s harrowing journey out of war-torn Yangcheng ... she grappled with despair as never before. After passing a sleepless night, she faced the morning with no hope of reaching safety. A 13-year-old girl in the group reminded her of their much-loved story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. "But I am not Moses," Gladys cried in desperation. "Of course you aren’t," the girl said, "but Jehovah is still God!"
When Gladys and the orphans made it through, they proved once again that no matter how inadequate we feel, God is still God, and we can trust in him.
III. Be Persistent
1. Cannot allow anything to come between us and our vision
2. Satan will try to tell us:
- It is too hard to do.
- It is too big of a challenge.
- There is no way that you can do it.
- No one will come
3. God says go, don’t stop, don’t give up
ILL. A father had just put his young daughter to bed. He had just settled himself in the living room, when she called out from her bed, "Daddy, will you please bring me some MILK?" "No, Sally," said her Dad, "you’ve already HAD your milk!" A few minutes later she called out again: "Daddy, I want some MILK, please!" "No, Sally," said her father, "I’m busy now. Go to sleep and don’t call me again!" Her father thought that that should settle the matter. However, not two minutes later, Sally called AGAIN: "Daddy, PLEASE bring me some MILK!" "Now listen, Sally," said her father, "if you aren’t quiet, I’m going to come and give you a SMACK!" There was a short silence. Then Sally called out: "Daddy, WHEN you come to give me a smack, will you please bring me some MILK?"
4. Persistence leads to Perseverance
ILL. A page from John Wesley’s Diary reads as follows: Sunday morning, May 5, preached in St. Ann’s, was asked not to come back anymore. Sunday p.m., May 5, preached at St. John’s, deacons said, "Get out and stay out." Sunday a.m., May 12, preached at St. Jude’s, can’t go back there either. Sunday p.m., May 12, preached at St. George’s, kicked out again. Sunday a.m., May 19, preached at St. somebody else’s, deacons called special meeting and said I couldn’t return. Sunday p.m., May 19, preached on the street, kicked off the street. Sunday a.m., May 26, preached in meadow, chased out of meadow as a bull was turned loose during the services. Sunday a.m., June 2, preached out at the edge of town, kicked off the highway. Sunday p.m., June 2, afternoon service, preached in a pasture, 10,000 people came to hear me.
5. Cannot allow past failures to keep us from what God has called us to do.
ILL. Former heavyweight boxer James (Quick) Tillis was a cowboy from Oklahoma who fought out of Chicago in the early 1980’s. Years later, he still remembers his first day in the Windy City after his arrival from Tulsa. "I got off the bus with two cardboard suitcases under my arms in downtown Chicago and stopped in front of the Sears Tower. I put my suitcases down and I looked up at the Tower and I said to myself, ’I’m going to conquer Chicago.’" "When I looked down, the suitcases were gone."
IV. Be Passionate for the Vision
1. An anointing
- A program is just a program until God pours His anointing upon it then it becomes a ministry
2. A desire for souls
- Like Paul
Rom 9:3
3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race,
(NIV)
- Like Stephen
Acts 7:56And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Acts 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
Acts 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
Acts 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Acts 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
3. A desire to work
- God does not want you shamed into doing what it is that you have been called to do.
- He expects us to walk with excitement that we are called chosen and set apart for doing His work.
ILL. Of trying to get teenager to take out trash. You gave life to that child, cleaned up after that child when they couldn’t, provide for that child’s every need, how do you feel when they say, “I’ll do it later.”
1 Cor 10:31
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (NIV)
Col 3:17
17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (NIV)
Col 3:23
23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; (KJV)
Eccl 9:10
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might (NIV)
