Sermon Tone Analysis

Hebrews 11:22

Imagine trying to cross the road without sight.

Vision is important.

Not being able to see hinders someone tremendously.

What about your spiritual life?

Can you see clearly into your future?

What do you see as the future of our country?

Your family?

Your life?

Looking fifty years down the road, what will be the results of your current choices?

In Hebrews 11 we are told that through faith, Joseph was able to look into the future and see Israel’s departure from the land of Egypt.

Even in Joseph’s Day, some 430 years before their exodus, Joseph realized the need for his people to leave Egypt.

That is an amazing vision!

In the Bible, Egypt is a type of the world.

Except for a few exceptions, anytime someone went down into Egypt they did so at a sacrifice to obedience to God and His watch care on their lives.

In this case there was a need, and God was using Egypt to protect Jacob and his family, but Joseph’s vision was that they would not stay there.

My friends, we need to understand that America, our families, and our churches need to regain their vision to depart from Egypt.

How does our country regain its once proud spiritual splendor?

What is the vision that God desires for us to have concerning our nation?

A nation’s only hope is to come back to the Lord!

Christians must choose to serve the Lord with their lives.

God has given us the instructions for adjusting focus in our lives back to Him as we seek to instill a godly vision for our lives.

Build a Vision of Faith for

I.

Your Personal Future

Nothing will happen nationally in America until God’s people determine to personally submit to the Lord.

How do I develop a solid vision of faith for my personal future?

We need to learn to...

A. Love God Supremely

There is nothing wrong with loving things other than God in your life.

We are to love our wives

We are to love our children

We are to love our neighbors

The problem is not that we love other things, it is that we love them more than the Lord.

From my best estimation, ten times at least a variation of that verse Jesus quoted appears in the Old Testament.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.”

When something is important, we repeat it.

So does God.

Four more times this same command is repeated in the New Testament.

Fourteen times God’s Word says, “Love the Lord your God....”

That is the first and great commandment.c

We need to learn to Love God Supremely, and we need to learn to...

B. Grow in Christ Steadily

We live in a world that is ravaged by sin, and the ravages of sin affect all things.

Everything by nature tends toward decay.

Science has discovered the laws of thermodynamics, and in a few words, the second law of thermodynamics states, That things tend toward decay, or disorder.

Since the natural process of life tends toward decay, if something is going to grow, it is going to take effort.

We are commanded to grow in grace and in knowledge of Jesus Christ!

Growth requires two ingredients, and both of them are necessary!

Time

Nourishment

We must take time to feed ourselves spiritually so that we may grow up in Christ.

The Word of God is the healthy choice for the growing believer today.

We must lay aside the “junk food” and digest God’s Holy Word in order to grow.

Growth requires vision, and vision requires growth!

What are some indicators that you are growing spiritually?

We are growing spiritually when:

We are increasingly aware of our sins and weaknesses.

Our response to sin is quick and followed by genuine repentance.

Our spiritual battles are growing fiercer and yet we still rejoice.

We see trials and temptations as opportunities for growth.

We view service for God as a high honor to which we are faithful.

We view everything that comes our way as being filtered by God.

We sense that our faith is growing stronger.

We are longsuffering and gentle, not angry and harsh.

We are grateful and communicate thankfulness.

Our desire to obey Him is becoming more intense and sin is less attractive.

We seek to win souls to Christ.

We are eager to share with others what Christ is doing in our lives.

We are experiencing an increasing awareness of His presence.

We jealously guard our private time of prayer and Bible reading.

We prefer to spend more time with Him above all others.

Are you learning to love God Supremely?

Are you Learning to Grow in Christ Steadily?

Thirdly, Learn to...

C. Serve the Lord Solely

The devil never stops trying to get you to serve him, but a believer with a personal vision of faith has decided to serve Jesus, and Him alone!

Choose to serve God faithfully!

On Queen Elizabeth’s birthday some years back, she conferred honors on a number of her subjects.

One was a 60-year-old postman in northern Wales, a fellow with the unroyal name of Jones.

Because Jones, who came from a family delivering Welsh mail for 150 years, had “not missed a day’s service in 43 years and got the mail through despite snow, storms and floods,” the Queen bestowed the British Empire Medal upon him, expressing the gratitude of the nation.

If an earthly sovereign would bestow such a superb honor on a man for faithfulness in so simple a task as delivering the mail,

don’t you think the Majesty of Heaven will be even more diligent to make certain each of His children receive a proper and gracious award for faithful service?

Of course He will!

This reward will be according to quality, not necessarily quantity; it will not be how much, but what kind.

The key to building your personal life’s vision of faith is to love, grow, and serve.

We need to build a vision of faith in our Personal Future, secondly we need to build a vision of faith for ...

II.

Your Family’s Future

Homes are the basis of our nation.

Therefore if our nation is to be godly, our homes must be godly.

Let me give you two key steps to building a vision of future for your family.

A. Develop a Spiritual Environment

It is clear that the Lord desires for our homes to be a spiritual environment filled with His Word and glistening with godliness.

It is the mother’s responsibility:

But it is also the father’s responsibility:

What is the environment of your home?

What is the culture?

What is its content?

Please understand, the environment in which you raise your children is not conditional on your country, city, neighborhood, or era of living.