Seeing the vision of God
Acts 2:17 "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. (NIV)
The young men will SEE visions. We are young till we are 80 years old.
We all have a capacity to dream. You say “Not everyone is creative.", "I disagree."
Not everyone is, artistic, but everyone is created by a creative God, and creativity is placed in each one of us.
In fact, the church started with young visionaries and old dreamers, shaping history by the power of Jesus Christ.
A person will shrivel if he or she believes there's nothing else to discover, nothing else to become.
As long as you wake up in the morning and go, "God, I know you have more to do with me, more to bring out, more to develop," you can face that day with anticipation and vitality.
The main problem that we have is we don’t dream the dream, we don’t see it! WHY?
Let’s look at the word and see what it says about seeing and who can see.
1. John 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." (NIV)
John 16:16 "In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me." 17 Some of his disciples said to one another, "What does he mean by saying, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,' and 'Because I am going to the Father'?" 18 They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We don't understand what he is saying." (NIV)
- I thought that we were being saved so that we could be Holy? No if you think the greatest goal of holiness is to remove SIN. Death alone would do that. But his goal (Jn10:10) was that you have life and life abundantly. True Holiness is not only returning you to a state of sinlessness, but to the state of Purpose and usefulness.
- Holiness is getting back to what God intended when he created us in his image and going on the journey with him from that point forward.
Isa 42:5-7
5 This is what God the LORD says-- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:
6 "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. (NIV)
2. Matt 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (NIV)
· If you are doing what God wants you to do, you won’t do what he doesn’t want you to.
o Demonstrate two activities…
What did God intend that he wants to get back to?
I Jn 2:11,15-17 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him….
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (NIV)
- Love not the world, but love one another!
- What? You mean that was why he created man, was to love each other? YES! God is love. He created man to love him and love one another.
- We have learned to love ourselves instead of God and to love the world instead of each other. We are blind to God and blind to each other.