Vision 13 Part 1 Get a Vision

Habakkuk 2:2-3 “Then the Lord answered me and said: ‘Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.’”

Notice: God is telling Habakkuk that the vision He’s giving him is for a later time.

It will seem to tarry.

Waiting will be involved.

Patience will be required.

So Habakkuk is to “write it down” so that it may be read over and over—in times of discouragement, weariness, and setbacks—so that it may remain fresh on the mind and heart by continual reading.

He is to make it so plain that those who read it may run and tell everyone the understanding of it!

And that’s our vision at TPC.

That every member will be able to run and tell the vision God has given to us.

That every member would understand God’s purpose for their own life so well as to be able to repeat it any time, any place, to anyone.

Give TPC vision:

INREACH—building Christ in every person

OUTREACH—reaching every person with Christ

UPREACH—teaching every person to worship Christ in spirit and truth

So, the first message for the New Year is, Get A Vision!

What is vision?

Put simply, vision is a picture of what God wants to do in the future, and the part you play in it.

Vision is a discovery of God’s plan as it relates to your life.

Vision is an understanding of what God wants to accomplish through you to build His kingdom.

God has always revealed His will and His plans by vision.

God gives us vision to show us our true potential.

Vision allows us to see things, not as they are, but as they will be.

Where does vision come from?

Vision comes from God!

See Simon Peter on the lake.

Jesus says, “Cast your net on the right side.”

He did so and caught a net breaking, boat sinking load of fish!

Jesus turned to Him and said, “From here on out you will catch men.”

At that moment, in a flash of Divine revelation, Simon saw God’s vision for him.

He was called to take the truth and love of Christ to the masses of humanity.

This vision carried him to his last day.

See Jeremiah as a young man.

God came to him and said, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

From that moment on, Jeremiah became a vision-driven man.

His vision carried him to his dying day through hell and high water.

God wants every Christian to likewise be vision-driven.

What does vision do in us?

Vision brings discipline into our life.

Pr.29:18 “Without a vision the people perish (literally, cast off restraint).”

FACT:

If you have no overriding, overarching vision for your life, you are very inclined to cast off restraint.

God’s vision brings discipline into our life in order to reach our goal, to fulfill God’s plan.

Vision brings out the best in people; it takes us to new levels in life, to higher and greater accomplishments.

Without vision, people live aimless, undisciplined lives, hitting and missing their way through life.

They are like bumper cars in a carnival, bumping into various circumstances and hopeful opportunities, only to deflect off until they bump into something else.

Vision brings clears goals into clear focus, a target to shoot for, and a bulls-eye to hit!

Once we see where we are going in God’s plan, we discipline ourselves to get there.

Paul said, “So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.”—1 Cor.9:25-27

Vision decides what drives you.

Vision really comes down to what you live for, what drives you as a person.

FACT:

Every person on earth wakes up driven by something.

The Bible says that the majority of people live carnally-driven lives—they live for the flesh.

Paul writes, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.”—Eph. 2:1-3

That’s the way we were.

But once a person is saved, God wants them to be vision-driven—

When you’re vision-driven, you awake each day to serve God’s purposes—to, as Paul said, “fight the good fight, keep the faith, and finish your course.”

Peter put it this way, “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.”—1 Pet.4:1-2

Now, let me show you the anatomy of a vision from God—what it should look like, what it should be comprised of:

Let’s begin with what every vision needs:

OUR VISION NEEDS TO BE GREAT...

If your vision is possible to you without God, it’s not a vision from God.

God’s vision is always impossible to us, but possible to Him

I want to challenge us in 2013 to attempt something so impossible that if God is not in it; it is doomed to fail.”

It must be Biblical, it must be to God’s glory, and it must be in line with His vision for you.

It must stretch your faith, and require God’s direction and wisdom.

EXAMPLE:

God told Noah to build an ark—a large boat.

The Ark was taller than a 3-story building and had a deck area the size of 36 tennis courts.

It was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and was three stories high reaching up 45 feet.

God also told him to bring a father and mother of every kind of animal that was on the earth into the boat, so they would not drown when the flood came.

Now if that is not a mission impossible to a man but possible with God, I don’t know what is!

NOAH had a GREAT VISION.

The next thing Noah did is what every vision needs:

OUR VISION NEEDS SPECIFIC ACTION-STEPS...

Noah began in steps.

The vision was far too huge to execute in one fell swoop.

His attitude was:

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

It took Noah more than a hundred years to finish the Ark.

In those days people lived longer than they do now.

He gathered his tools, divided the task into bite-size action steps, and began.

If we don’t take daily action steps toward the vision, it will remain only a vision.

And on top of all that, all the while Noah built the boat he also warned the people of a flood that would come and cover the earth because of their sin.

But the people did not believe him; they kept on living in sin and did not repent.

So Noah fulfilled God’s two-part vision for him over the course of one-hundred years: he built the ark and preached to his generation.

Do you not see us here? We are to build his church and preach to our generation before the end comes.

The next thing our vision needs is:

OUR VISION NEEDS BOLDNESS...

Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. A virtue displayed often by the early Christians.”

To be with Jesus equated into boldness! Boldness was the virtue, the defining characteristic of early Christians.

They had it because they prayed for it:

Acts 4:29-30 “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

The last thing our vision needs is very important:

OUR VISION NEEDS PERSISTENCE...

Gal.6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Think a moment about Noah:

How discouraged do you think he must have become over the years when not one person repented over his preaching!

Aside from his own family, Noah had not one convert.

On top of that, the gargantual task of building the Ark must have been daunting.

All the measuring, cutting down trees, sanding, hammering—watching his dream come to pass slower than sap oozing out of a tree.

Yet Noah persisted.

While preparing this message, it occurred to me that there is a graveyard out there that only God sees.

It is the graveyard of unfinished vision.

And on a majority of the tombstones it reads, “Gave up for lack of persistence.”

No wonder the Bible says, “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:”—Heb.10:36

I have a New Year challenge for TPC today, along with all our radio and media friends who tune in:

Get a vision!

Become a vision-driven Christian!

Get a Great Vision.

Develop action steps to accomplish it.

Be bold with it.

And be persistent; though it tarries, wait for it, for it shall surely come, and will not tarry.