Vision

Vision is a funny thing. Some people have it; some people don’t have it; and some people just think they have it. And those who think they have it always seem to try and run the show for everyone else.

I am reminded of a story I heard about an elders meeting at the church one evening. There were three elders sitting around the table with the pastor. The pastor had received a vision from God and was explaining it to the elders, saying they should initiate that vision into the church.

When they took a vote, the tally was three elders against and one pastor for. The lead elder spoke up and said, “Well, the vote is 3-1. You are outvoted, Pastor, and it is late, so let’s close in prayer.”

The pastor, not wanting to give up that easily, prayed that the Lord would somehow show the elders that it was not his vision he fought for, but the Lord’s vision he fought for. At that moment, a lightning bolt came through the window, splitting the table in half and throwing all the elders to the floor.

After they all got up, the lead elder said, “Well, Pastor, the vote is now 3-2. You still lose.’

Why is it that we have no Godly vision? Could it be that we are not really focused on God? Helen Keller once said, "The only thing worse than being born blind is to be born with sight but with no vision.”

I think the vast majority of our society has no vision for their lives, their families, or their church. I also believe that when people make that choice to fully give themselves to Jesus Christ, they receive a Godly vision of great proportions.

So when people come to me and say they have no vision, my question is how much of themselves have they fully and faithfully committed to Jesus Christ?

Someone once described their Godly vision this way:

It is like the soft notes in a song. It is seeing the world through God’s eyes, and seeing the delight He takes in having us as children.

Anyone can see the physical, but it takes something special to see the spiritual: It takes God’s vision, given to us through our acceptance of His Son. And it is that vision that creates the only true joy we, as humans, shall ever know.

Today, I want to talk about vision; specifically –

· what it means to have a vision

· what it takes to get that vision, and finally,

· what do we do after we have that vision.

PROVERBS 29:18a (King James Version)

‘Where there is no vision, the people perish …’

I want to quickly give you an overview of my vision for CrossRoads Church. God has revealed to me that CrossRoads Church is to be a church that reaches people for Jesus Christ. Pure and simple, isn’t it – or is it?

There are many kinds of churches in this community, and each church has the ability to reach certain people who live in this community. We are all called to do the same thing, but some of us are called to do it in a different way.

Very early on, God laid it upon my heart to make this church His church. Here are a few things God gave me a vision for:

· Man shall not rule this church, for man focuses on self and will eventually try and own the church.

· Tradition will not steer this church, for tradition is what keeps people from focusing on Jesus as Lord.

· And we will do things differently than some might be used to. We are called to sing unto the Lord a new song, not a rehash of an old song.

Why would we have a vision to do these things? To answer that, look at our community. We have many kinds of churches, yet most of our community stays away from them. By being a little different in ‘how’ we might do things, we can reach a part of those people who might not be reached otherwise. Now let me ask you a question: Do you think that is a worthy vision?

The Hebrew translation for “vision” means, “divine communication.” When we talk about Godly vision, we are talking about something that would be impossible for us to come up with on our own. Let me give you an example.

Esther is one of the most prominent women in the entire Bible. God used her to save His people from the evil plans of Haman. Haman, and you remember, was a powerful man in Babylon and he wanted to kill every Jew in Babylon.

Many people recognize the name of Esther, but few recognize the name of Mordecai. Mordecai was the older cousin of Esther, but he had actually raised her because she was an orphan. These were hard times for the Jews. They were not in their homeland; they were captives of the Babylonians under King Xerxes.