There was little boy on the corner with his flop-eared pup. A sign saying, “Dog For Sale.” A salesman passed the corner each day, and after a week he began to pity the boy. The salesman knew the boy didn't See It Big. He stopped and said, "Son, do you really want to sell this dog?" The boy replied, "I certainly do." … "Well you're never going to sell him until you learn to See It Big. What I mean is, take this dog home, clean him up, put a bow on him, raise your price, make people think they're getting something big, and you'll sell him." That noon the salesman came by and there was the boy with a puppy that was groomed, perfumed, and beribboned alongside a big sign: TREEMENNDOUS Puppy For Sale--$5,000. The salesman gulped and realized he had forgotten to tell the boy about Keeping It Simple. That evening he stopped by to tell the boy the other half of the formula, only to discover that the boy was gone, the puppy was gone and the sign lay there with "SOLD" written across it in big letters. The salesman couldn't believe it. This kid couldn't have sold the dog for $5,000. His curiosity got the best of him and he rang the boy's doorbell. The boy came to the door and the salesman blurted, "Son you didn't really sell that dog for $5,000 now, did you?" The boy replied, "Yes, sir, I did and I want to thank you for all your help." The salesman said, "How in the world did you do it?" The boy replied, "Oh, it was easy. I just took two $2,500 cats in exchange!"
A blind man's world is bounded by the limits of his touch; an ignorant man's world by the limits of his knowledge; a great man's world by the limits of his vision.
Gen 15:1-6
Prov 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish … (KJV)
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision : "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." 2 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." 4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars — if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Where there is no vision the people will perish.
Without a vision we are like a rock that has been skipped on the top of some lake somewhere and we and we have no way of guiding ourselves. We are at the lake’s mercy as to where we end up, as to how far we go, as to when we turn or stop. We have no control over our own lives.
Helen Keller was asked once “What would be worse than being born blind?” to which she replied “Having sight without a vision.” What a profound statement by a girl who was born into this world Deaf, Dumb and blind. Could not help how she came into this world but she sure could help how she left this world.
Let me tell you today we can’t help how we came into this world but WE CAN HELP HOW WE LEAVE IT.
Without a vision the people perish.
Vision means – sight, dream, revelation or enlightenment.
The question we must answer today is do we as a church have a vision and if so what is that vision?
(Cast a vision of a light in the distance… we move towards the light… as we get closer we see a building with people gathered around it. We see people entering in … We see hope … we see changed lives we see Joy!)
Let me share with you this morning - what a vision is.
I. FIRST OF ALL … VISION IS THE
ABILITY TO SEE!
a. How is your vision?
b. The sight I am talking about is beyond the natural.
Heb 11:24-27 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
c. What we are talking about here is that Moses had a spiritual vision.
d. He had never brought anyone else out of captivity.
e. He had no clue what course was laid before him.
f. He just knew that God was showing him a vision of something that was to come to pass in the future.
g. As he stared into the burning bush he was revealed the future and the past.
h.Helen Keller was asked once “What would be worse than being born blind?” to which she replied “Having sight without a vision.”
i. Humanly speaking, Moses blew it when he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. But Moses’ vision enabled him to see into another world.
j. Mark 5:36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.
k.What was Jesus saying? He was saying don’t look with the physical but look with the spiritual.
l. To see the unseen you have to:
a. Ignore what people say
b. Disregard what the world says (disregard = turn a blind eye to)
c. DO Not only try listen just for the audible God speaks many ways
d. Don’t be controlled by the logical, believe there is more to life than meets the eye.
e. We are guilty of limiting God.
m. How we limit God?
a. Well we have to save this money in case someone dies.
b. We need to watch what we do here just in case we need it later.
c. It is absolutely frivolous to save today for tomorrow. Why? …. We don’t have a promise of tomorrow.
d. The word tells us that we walk by faith not by sight. OUR VISION MUST BE SPIRIT BORN SPIRIT FED AND SPIRIT LED TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING.
n.How does someone get a vision?
a. Take a good look at God!
I saw a sign one day …It said a good eye is one that looks to God.
I saw a sign one day …It said a good eye is one that looks to God.
b. Once we understand how awesome God is, we will not hesitate to believe God for great things.
Bruce Lee had a fighting style unlike any other because he developed it himself. The main part of his fighting style was to aim 6 inches beyond his target. WHAT A CONCEPT FOR CHRISITANS. Are we aiming at our target? No most of the time we have to aim just about 6 inches this side of our target. What if we could adopt this concept of aiming beyond? What could we accomplish?
A VISION IS FIRST OF ALL THE ABILITY TO SEE!
Are you seeing clearly? Do you look at the circumstance and not beyond?
II. A VISION INCLUDES A FAITH TO
BELIEVE
Rom 4:18-25 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead — since he was about a hundred years old — and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." 23 The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
a. God help us to have enough faith in God to believe.
Mark 9:17-27 A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not." 19 "O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." 20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21 Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?" "From childhood," he answered. 22 "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." 23 "'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." 24 Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" 25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." 26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead." 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
b. We forget that God will and does help us do everything and that includes helps our faith become stronger, how? Through His word.
Phil 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
c. There are a lot of factors that influence our service for God which we have no control over -- your background, your age, your giftedness, but there is one important factor that we do have control over. How much we choose to believe God.
A 5th grade S.S. class was asked to go home and count the stars in the sky as part of their next S.S. lesson. They came back with various numbers. Some said 100, some said 1000, some said a million. Finally the teacher asked a little boy who had said nothing, "How many stars did you count?" He replied, "3". The teacher asked how did you only see 3? He said, "I guess we just have a small backyard."
d. That’s our problem when it comes to believing -- we have a small backyard.
e. Our faith needs to be strengthened and that is through His word
f. You don’t need much faith. Faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.
g. A VISION INCLUDES A FAITH TO BELIEVE
III. A VISION INCLUDES A COURAGE TO DO
a. In other words faith includes action.
b. Courage is going forward in spite of fear.
c. Was David afraid? Yes, but there was a cause.
d. Our problem is that too often we want to live in our comfort zone.
e. Look at what God asks most of our Bible Heroes to do.
f. He took it out of mans hands
Mat 18:19 (KJV) Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
g. We so often want to keep a hold onto the things we can physically change or alter.
h.We want to never reach beyond that limit of our own scope.
i. We have got to reach out and let God have his beautiful handy work involved or we will fail every time.
j. Look at what God asks most of our Bible Heroes to do.
k.God ask them to attempt the impossible.
l. What if these Biblical heroes did not want to move beyond their comfort zones?
i. Noah would have said - Sorry God I don’t do boats
ii. Moses he would have said - I don’t like people
iii. David – I don’t do giants or kingdoms God I am just a lowly shepherd
iv. Mary – I don’t do babies, the son of God?
m. The biggest Goliath in most of our lives is our self.
n.We wake up and look in the mirror everyday and see the same person we saw yesterday.
o. We don’t look beyond the reflection and see God’s handy work.
p.Why don’t we have more faith, courage, vision?
q. God help us to be courageous in the task before us.
r. A VISION INCLUDES A COURAGE TO DO
Vision is the Ability to see what others can’t. –
Faith to believe what others will not. –
Courage to do what others say can’t be done.
Columbus’ dairy at times seems to be very repetitive. Page after page simply says, "This day we sailed on!" …What a great motto for a Christian.
· Do you have a vision for your life?
· Do you have a vision for your life?
· For your children?
· For your church?
· For the lost?
That light on the hill we talked about can be your Church…
That light on the hill we talked about can be your Church…
