BECOMING A PERSON OF VISION! INVESTING IN PEOPLE!
SEEING BEYOND THE TROUBLES OF TODAY! By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
I recommend this as a two or three part lesson!
I owe Karen p. for asking me to write this lesson for her, I might not have written it had she not pressed!
I would like to study PEOPLE POTENTIAL!
What might we be? What is possible if you just set your mind to it?
What could you grow and develop to be? What could you help others to grow and be?
Is it possible that you could be wrong or make a mistake?
Is it possible that someone you should love has made a mistake and are wrong?
The person that needs your love the most, probably deserves it the least!
There could be someone so disappointed and discouraged that you could reach today, and help them by lifting their hands which hang down.
Have you ever heard of throwing out the baby with the dirty bath water?
GOD GROW A HEART IN YOUR PEOPLE TO TRY HARDER AND TRY AGAIN...on hurting people...
Text:
Luke 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
6: He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard;
and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
7: Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come
seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
8: And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about
it, and dung it.
9: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
IS IT NATURE TO NURTURE? ARE YOU NURTURING YOUR RELATIONSHIPS? Many issues of anger are no
more than control spirits? What is the quickest path to God? To people? Who invested in you?
I love these Bible verses. I love the man that stands in the gap for those which others have
given up and shake their heads. We don’t know the outcome? Some may grow fruit?
Some may have to be cut down?
But the real lesson is in a Christian worker that will invest more effort because they love people!
There are no sadder words of pen or tongue, than the words what might have been.
Abraham Lincoln once said, You cannot climb a ladder by knocking down the person on the ladder higher
than you. Push them up a run, and you will go up a run!
Where there is no vision the people perish...
Proverbs 29:18
One can never know blessedness without a vision of God. People are how we do God’s work.
Real people with real problems need someone to help them.
Romans 12:8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity;
he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.
How sad when man takes the limits of his field of vision for the limits of God.
We need RE-VISION --- THE ACT OF LOOKING BACK WITH FRESH EYES, taking an old text with a new
purpose and zeal.
To err is human, to forgive is Divine. Hope must spring forth in the human mind.
WE NEED TO HAVE A DIFFERENT VIEW OF PEOPLE, PEOPLE ARE NOT GARBAGE!
That boy is some Mother’s son! The daughter may have given birth to many tears, but change is possible.
They told Jesus, if you knew what kind of woman that was, you wouldn’t have anything to do with her.
Jesus saw beyond what Mary was, He knew what she could be.
You can do something bad, and not be bad, if you are willing to change.
We need leadership to see beyond today. We must see beyond peoples faults and failures.
God saw David not as just an adulterer, but as a man after God’s own heart.
Someone had to see RAHAB beyond the harlot.
Someone had to see Peter beyond the big mouth jumping in anger.
Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen them afar
off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth.
WE NEED MENTORS, MODELS, COACHES TO DEVELOP OTHERS.
Would you trust God enough to invest love, time, talent, energy, and great effort to grow and develop
some raw recruit? Would you tutor, coach, counsel, and advise?
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. WE MUST HELP OTHERS BE WHAT THEY CAN BE!
#1. A PERSON OF VISION GIVES AND REALIZES SELF SACRIFICE IS AN ETERNAL INVESTMENT!
WE ARE GROWING A SPIRIT OF PROFIT AND PROSPERITY WITHIN THE CHURCH.
We see people today looking at the church as a sales and profit opportunity. We see profit in
the flesh and spiritual profit in the human domain, instead of the Word.
We have PYRAMID SCHEMES TO MAKE MONEY AND PROFITS OFF OTHERS.
We are so greedy that we don’t want to do anything, we will just use our friends and take their profit.
We are selling Amway, Vitamins, Waterslides, Cookware, Encyclopedias, and we take prosperity as a goal.
The Bible warns us of this:
1 Timothy 6:5 --- supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
#2. WHEN MAKING A PROFIT IS NOT PROFITABLE! ALL IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER?
God never made Ananias to be a forced giver. While this man made a profit, he lost everything.
Acts 5:1-4 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.
2: And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain
part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
3: But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and
to keep back part of the price of the land?
4: Whiles it remained was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own
power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men,
but unto God.
#3. BARNABAS WAS A NEAT MAN OF VISION, HE SAW BEYOND MONETARY PROFIT!
BARNABAS HAD THE SAME KIND OF EYES THAT ANANIAS HAD, JUST BARNABAS SAW SPIRITUAL PROFIT AS A GREATER GAIN THAN MONEY IN THE POCKET. GOD RAISE UP BARNABAS’S AMONG US!
NOTE THAT BARNABAS WAS A CONSOLATION! He was a man that comforted, he helped alleviate grief. He knew how to give and cheer up others.
Acts 4:34-37 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors
of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold.
35: And laid them down at the apostles’ feet and distribution was made unto every man
according as he had need.
36: And Joses who by the apostles was surnamed BARNABAS, (which is, being interpreted,
The son of consolation) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus.
37: Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
He that keeps has less, and he that gives has more? Does this make sense?
BARNABAS was a giver, not a taker.
BARNABAS was a man of vision, he realized his gift and his giving was AS UNTO THE LORD.
BARNABAS measured success in ministry to people that were lacking.
BARNABAS learned MISSION GIVING IS ETERNAL GIVING:
Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
The average church member spends more on cable or satellite TV systems than they give to missions!
The average American spends more on dog/cat food and care than they give to missions!
WHO REALLY PROFITED ANANIAS OR BARNABAS?
#4. I SEE A BAD SINNER VS I SEE A FUTURE SAINT! WHAT IS VALUE?
What is a person’s value? What is the cost of a person’s well being?
VALUE IS THE LIFE GIVING POWER OF ANYTHING!
Cost is the quantity of labor it takes to produce the product.
Price is the quantity of labor which a possessor will take in exchange for the product.
I was sitting in the home of a widow woman. I never knew her husband, but he had been a
Preacher/Pastor many years.
This pastor had a terrible moral failure that cost him dearly. He lost his ministry for many years.
He had died before I knew his wife. I always felt great sorrow for her. I was visiting her in her
home.
She received a long distance phone call and was talking to family. So, I picked up his Bible.
His Bible was worn from use. He was not very educated and I saw nothing written in his Bible.
As I was flipping through looking at several worn places, I saw written in the shaky hand
writing of an old man, these words: BURY THE PAST, OR THE PAST WILL BURY YOU!
I will never forget the testimony of these six words spoken to me from his grave.
#5 MANY PEOPLE SAW WHAT SAUL USED TO BE! FEAR LOOMS IN THE HALLS OF THE PAST!
Acts 9:26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples:
but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.
People are not like barns, houses, and material possessions. Has life got so cheap today?
What is the true value of a mentor? Of a teacher? Of a Preacher?
We must learn to forgive and forget? What is the cost of throwing up the past?
Luke 14:28 Which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first to count the cost,
whether he had sufficient to finish it.
While we ponder what something cost, we must also consider what if I do not ... ?
The cost of a quart of oil is around $2.00, but the cost of not pouring oil in an engine when it is
in need of oil could cost several thousand dollars.
#6 BARNABAS THOUGHT SAUL/LATER CALLED PAUL WAS WORTH A CHANCE.
WITHOUT A CHANCE THERE CAN NEVER BE A CHANGE!
Acts 9:27 But BARNABAS took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
Give your ears to hear what others are saying!
Give your heart to have understanding for others.
There is great profit for putting people in your heart!
Moses made a great investment when he stepped before Pharaoh and declared a great
statementof FAITH: LET MY PEOPLE GO!
Acts 11:21-26 And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.
22: Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem; and they sent forth BARNABAS, that he should go as far as Antioch.
23: Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.
24: For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.
25: Then departed BARNABAS to Tarsus, for to seek Saul:
26: And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much
people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
#7 Opposites attract, but after time and familiarity, OPPOSITES ATTACK! HOW SOON PAUL FORGETS SAUL, AND THE TROUBLE HE HAD WITH HIS PAST! AND HOW BARNABAS GOT UNDER HIS WINGS AND LIFTED HIS MINISTRY!
JOHN MARK HAD GONE ON A MISSIONARY JOURNEY, AND IN THE HEAT OF THE BATTLE, JOHN MARK QUIT!
There is no excuse, just this young, weak, growing John Mark had let the other Preachers down
and he quit! Q-U-I-T!
Paul remembered John Mark’s quitting!
#8. JUST BECAUSE YOU QUIT ONCE, DOESN’T MEAN YOU WILL QUIT AGAIN. WE NEVER READ OF JOHN MARK EVER FAILING AGAIN! GOD HONORED BARNABAS FOR WORKING WITH A SECOND RATE WORKER, UNTIL HE BECOMES A STRONG LEADER!
Acts 15:35 Paul also and BARNABAS continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching
the word of the Lord, with many others also.
36: And some days after Paul said unto BARNABAS, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how
they do.
37: And BARNABAS determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.
38: But Paul thought not good to take them with them, who departed from them from Pamphyia, and went not with them to the work.
#9. AGAIN THE NATURE OF INVESTING EXPRESSES ITSELF IN BARNABAS BECAUSE BARNABAS CAN SEE THE POTENTIAL OF GOOD, PAUL CAN ONLY SEE THE PAST FAILURE!
We must have someone come forward and help others grow!
THE UNFAITHFUL CAN GROW AND BECOME FAITHFUL, TEACH THEM!
Acts 15:39 And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed
asunder one from the other; and so BARNABAS took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus.
God broke up Paul and Barnabas comfortable nest, because two teams can cover twice the distance
of one! --- 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048, 4096, ---
#10. SAUL BECAME PAUL, THE GREAT NEW TESTAMENT WRITER, BUT PAUL LEARNED ONE CAN
NEVER BE A SUCCESS WITHOUT A SUCCESSOR!
There was a green young man in the New Testament Church, he had a good mother and grandmother, but there seemed to be something missing in the green young man. A Father figure, a mentor, a male teacher ...
Paul sees Timothy’s potential and Paul takes Timothy under his arm, just as BARNABAS had taken him under his arm.
BARNABAS’ gift kept giving in Paul. Paul’s gift gave to Timothy. Timothy gave and mentored.
Timothy was not a perfect young man, but Paul saw the potential and Paul invested LOVE, talent, time, and
energy to grow this young man.
You can’t wait to pour yourself into a perfect person, you must sow the seed and trust the Lord of the Harvest!
#11. RUTH INVESTED IN AN OLD WOMAN? DON’T JUST INVEST IN YOUNG PEOPLE, INVEST IN ALL PEOPLE.
Why invest in old people? for God’s sake!
ORPAH AND RUTH WERE SISTER IN LAWS, they were married to brothers.
NAOMI GAVE THEM THEIR FREEDOM AND RELEASED THEM FROM THEIR OBLIGATION.
NAOMI SAID GO AHEAD AND RETURN TO MOAB, NAOMI KISSED BOTH OF THEM.
This kiss represented blessings. (Ruth 1:8)
Orpah kissed her Mother-in law again, Ruth clave to Naomi. (Ruth1:14)
Ruth had a steadfast mind, she was going to invest all in her Mother-in-law.
Ruth must have really loved Naomi’s son!
Ruth made a great investment in her MOTHER-IN-LAW:
Ruth 1: 16 Whither thou goest I will go; and wherethou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people,
and THY GOD SHALL BE MY GOD.
Wow, what a statement of FAITH in her mother-in-law. RUTH DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS AHEAD?
Ruth didn’t know, but God was going to bless her very greatly because God saw Ruth’s investment of all
her time, talent and energy in her Mother-in-law. Ruth invested in people!
God honored Ruth with Boaz her KINSMAN REDEEMER. They had a son named Obed. Obed had Jessie.
Jessie had David. Ruth was the great grandmother of David. Ruth is listed in the ancestry of Jesus.
Why Ruth? Why little nobody Ruth? Because she invested in Naomi, God honored her!
#12. RAHAB INVESED IN PROTECTING GOD’S MEN!
RAHAB? What is RAHAB’S middle name? THE! Her last name is Harlot.
RAHAB the harlot had a sad twisted past. This all changed because one day she hid God’s warriors
and used a SCARLET CORD TO RELEASE THEM INTO SAFETY.
Little did RAHAB the harlot know because she invested in strangers that her and her household
would be spared.
#13. THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN INVESTED IN A BUDDING MINISTRY!
2 Kings 4 has a history of a lady that invested in a minister and a ministry in a special way.
There was this new intenerate preacher that was struggling to be used by God to reach people.
This little lady, we do not know her name, we call her the SHUNAMMITE woman listened to the message
and knew this young preacher was of God.
Later the SHUNAMMITE woman hears that the Preacher and his servant are sleeping on the ground. This broke her
heart. She had a bed, she had a house, and the man of God had the stars?
The SHUNAMMITE woman told her husband, and they invited the Preacher and his student to stay with them.
The house must have been small and the visits were cramped.
One day the SHUNAMMITE woman suggested to her husband, we have a little extra money, let’s remodel
our house, and make a guest room for the Preacher, so he can come when ever he needs a place to rest.
The room was simple, the furnishings were very simple, but this great effort was more than just for the
Preacher, it was to help God’s man and thus help God’s message go forward.
Many a night the tired Preacher and his little student would slip into their sleeping quarters,
all because one woman cared! One woman persuaded her husband to care.
The quietness and loneliness of the home warmed when the Preacher man was there.
One day Elisha was resting on the little bed that had become his second home.
It might have been raining, and Elisha got to thinking of the SHUNAMMITE woman’s investment in his
ministry. Elisha asked Gehazi, Wonder what this little family needs?
After Gehazi checked around, he noticed that this little family didn’t have any children.
Gehazi suggested to Elisha lets pray for them a SON!
9 months later, the Preacher was laying in his little private quarters and they heard the cry of a baby.
Why SHUNAMMITE woman? Because she helped and invested the little man of God.
Years later, the little boy is a teenager working in the field and the young man has a headache.
They bring him home, as the father finishes his work in the field.
The father comes home, and the precious son God gave them for honoring the Preacher was cold,
dead cold. Now what do you do?
2 Kings 4:23 Makes a declaration of FAITH growing out of years of giving --- IT SHALL BE WELL.
Mom, how do you know IT SHALL BE WELL?
Because the SHUNAMMITE woman’s history of giving and investing built her son, and it built her faith.
Her faith has heard the spoken Word of the man of God, and Elisha comes, and her son is raised from
the dead.
WHY? Because her faith had grown through giving and investing in a poor Preacher!
Will you invest in this Preacher today? Do you realize by forgiving me and praying for me,
and helping me grow, there will BE A PAYDAY AT THE END OF THE ROAD...
Preacher’s aren’t perfect! They make mistakes! They have human emotions that go up and down.
Build a room of encouragement for the Pastor. Encourage him when his arms are down.
Take him out to eat! Call him when nothing is wrong and take him into the room you have
deliberately built to encourage him.
If you invest in this room, you will build a better man of God.
Be sensitive beyond your visual field.
The negative that the man of God hears, the criticism, and some criticism is just and fair; some is not,
but there must be someone to COME ALONG SIDE and LIFT THE HANDS, and see the man of God,
not the human, but the God potential.
Sometimes the Preacher is drowning, the weight is crushing, the negative is overwhelming, the self-doubt
is smothering AND YOU COULD HAVE A ROOM OF ENCOURAGEMENT WHERE HE CAN RISE ABOVE
THE WHISPERS INTO THE REALM OF GOD POSSIBILITIES.
The Preacher does not need any more HEAD SHRINKERS, Help him! Help him! Invest in him!
By building good men of God with encouraging rooms your investment WILL COME HOME!
O, GOD! O, TEARS! Does anyone hear? If you hear, you will build for God an encouragement room for the men,
women, boys, and girls of God! That squirmy child might be a pastor someday?
#14. THE LOWEST FLOATING BALL THERMOMETER?
I have over my desk a huge Galileo Thermometer! The Galileo thermometer is 17 inches tall.
Galileo discovered that the density of fluid is linked to temperature.
There are seven floating balls with a temperature number hanging from the bottom.
The lowest floating ball tells what the temperature is.
WELL, I MUST TELL YOU THE LOWEST FLOATING BALL IS NOT ALWAYS CORRECT!
We can become quoters of great negative facts and find fault and tell everyone what is wrong.
We have people that don’t remember their failures, yet they tell other people you can’t play in my game
because you don’t rate on my success sheet. We find trophies go to winners?
Super egos are not always God! Sometimes we have to invest in a quitter?
Personalities come into play? Expectations come into play?
But you can find a heart in many losers, and help them grow!
GOD IS LOOKING FOR THERMOSTATS!
Why look who is the lowest floating ball and gravitate toward them?
Why not build a room of encouragement?
We can control the temperature in the room! We don’t have to see the negative and put others down.
You control the moods! You cannot react to bad, but ACT by FAITH and be like BARNABAS,
BRING OUT THE BEST IN OTHER PEOPLE.
Try again, love again, forgive again, and build a man or woman of God.
#15 WILL YOU VOLUNTEER TO DIG AGAIN? ARE YOU WILLING TO WORK IN THE SMELLY DUNG FOR MORE FRUIT?
Please, look beyond the rotten, have hope! Is your spouse lacking? Help them grow into what God has planned!
Is you Preacher a long-winded dumbbell? Pray for him, encourage him, help him grow!
I refuse to be part of the criticism crowds’ death gargle.
We can, and we can help others be what God wants them to be.
Invest in potential, for great is the yield of a fertile field.
IS GRACE FOR EVERYBODY?
Profit is empty without God. Profit is maximized when we help us and then others rewrite our history.
Will you enlist not in tree cutters, but fruit growing?
Don’t kill those going out the back door, they may return!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
If I ever needed your help, I need you today to teach this lesson and to pass this lesson to other Christian workers.
