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[0:00] Music Talking about vision, people like to talk about vision, especially for our church.

[0:17] ! It's 17 years since we started.! It's a good time to mark the past and the future. And where are we going? And vision is something we like to talk about.

[0:31] Have you ever had a problem with your vision? Yes. I have. Sometimes I wear glasses. What do you do when you've got problems with your vision? You go and see an eye doctor, don't you? Spectators.

[0:42] And you get your eyes checked out. And when things are out of focus, it's frustrating, isn't it? When it gets blurry, you can't see the way ahead, your eyes are failing you.

[0:55] And you need to get your eyes looked at, your vision. And the Bible talks about vision. In Proverbs 29 verse 18, it says, Without a vision, the people perish.

[1:13] Without vision, people perish. With vision, we can flourish. We can flourish. And so, vision is about seeing the future, seeing the way ahead. Seeing the way ahead.

[1:24] Seeing the future. It's not where we are now. It's our destination. Where we're meant to go. And we need vision. We need to check our eyesight and get it sorted. Vision helps us to see.

[1:36] Helps us to know where we're going and what we need to be. Where we need to go. And it seems like some churches have a vision problem. I like to kind of picture what some churches have got a bit of a vision problem, if you like.

[1:51] And I'll illustrate that shortly. In Revelation, verse chapter 3, we see the church called the church at Laodicea.

[2:05] We know that the church at Laodicea was the church that was going the wrong way. And the Lord Jesus says to this church, He says, Because thou sayest I am rich, and increase the goods, and of need of nothing, And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

[2:21] I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich. Notice it says the word blind. Some churches are like this church of Laodicea.

[2:34] The Laodicean church. Blind. You don't know. You're wretched. You're poor. You're blind. You're miserable. Naked. He says, I counsel you to buy gold tried in the fire, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, And that the shade of thy nakedness do not appear.

[2:53] And anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. So you're saying, put some eye treatment into your eyes. Notice it says there, God says to them, you are blind.

[3:04] To this church, it speaks of the Laodicean church, which we know speaks to us of the church that is going the wrong way. When you've got a problem with your vision, your eyes can't see, you've got to do something about it.

[3:17] And I put it to you that sometimes, in some circles, we see that the vision, in some churches, it's all about this. Numbers. There's nothing wrong with numbers.

[3:29] It's in the Bible. The book of numbers. But it's not about numbers. Numbers shouldn't be our vision. And sometimes it's all about man, at the centre. Or the flesh.

[3:41] It's got a fleshly kind of vision. It's all about satisfying the flesh. So that they'll get numbers. And you end up being worldly.

[3:59] And at the basis of it all, there's a big problem there. It's unbiblical. The Bible's not there.

[4:10] And God says to Laodicean, get your eyes checked. There's a problem with your vision. You're blind. You need some eye treatment.

[4:21] So that's what I want to talk about today. And someone has said about vision, that a leader without vision is like an octopus on roller skates, going everywhere and nowhere.

[4:34] We need vision. We need to know where we're getting. Where are we going? And as we look back on 17 years as a church, we look back and we see God's blessings and favour, his help.

[4:45] And we look forward now in faith, at the future, with vision. We look forward and consider our vision as a church, our focus. After one year, after year one, I said this in a sermon on vision.

[5:00] What is our focus? Have we got it right? Are we willing to make some changes to correct the focus? I believe the focus must be souls.

[5:11] Reaching souls. Teaching souls. We need to keep this focus ever before us. That's what I said on year one, when I talked about the vision of our church.

[5:22] What is our focus? For that matters, isn't it? It was our focus and it still is. What is our focus? It's not numbers. It's souls. That's what we're here for.

[5:33] And as a church, we've done all kinds of things to reach souls. Some of us would think back to some of our early years, we did a lot to reach particularly young children.

[5:47] And that was our focus at that time, to reach souls. But our vision is still the same. Souls is our vision. One word, souls. It is still the same.

[5:58] And it's as clear as ever. It hasn't changed. What is this church here for? It's here for souls. One word, souls. In simple terms, souls.

[6:11] Reaching and teaching souls. And we want to sharpen our focus and reach our community for our Lord. We want to reach as many people with the Gospel as we can.

[6:24] And this vision is the same vision. And it should be that we refresh this vision today. Get a new revelation of our Lord and of His call of a fresh passion for the old Gospel.

[6:36] And for this vision, the vision for souls. The Lord told Habakkuk about vision. Habakkuk 2 verse 2. And the Lord answered me and said, God says, Make the vision plain.

[6:59] One word, souls. Make it clear. Make it simple. So everyone can see it. Write down that word. Get that word, souls. God told Habakkuk, Write the message down.

[7:11] And in Habakkuk's time, Write it down on stone tablets and placed it in the market square. So everyone could see what was written. Whether it was the King's announcements or some dictate.

[7:23] They would write it down and display it. And we shouldn't lose that focus as our brother was sharing. His vision, his focus is souls. Wherever he goes. And that should be the same for us.

[7:34] Let's make it clear. Make it plain. We're here for souls. Make it known. So that everyone knows that is our purpose. That's why we have this fellowship. That is why we are here. That is why we are here in Elizabeth.

[7:46] That is why we are here in Adelaide. Write the vision and make it plain. What is this church all about? It's about souls. That's our vision. And we want to make that plain today.

[7:57] One thing's for sure. You know, I'll put it tongue in cheek. We definitely don't want to be an independent Baptist church. We are not independent. We are God dependent.

[8:09] We are actually God dependent. We depend upon him. A God dependent church. That's what we want to be. A God dependent church. And God empowered church. And that is our vision.

[8:20] The vision that we need. Our vision must come from God. And a vision from God is in accord with his words. So we are going to look at this concept of vision in four domains.

[8:31] Four domains of vision. And the vision that we must have. Firstly, not an unbiblical vision, but a biblical vision.

[8:42] A Bible vision. We want to have a vision that matches up with what this book says. What this word says. What God's word says to us. And we see that we should have a biblical vision.

[8:55] In other words, we're committed to function biblically. God helping us as prayerfully and as honestly as we can. That we'll have a biblical church.

[9:08] That our foundation will be strong and sure. The Bible. The very word of God. That we have in the English language. The Bible that we love. The Bible. And that is the foundation that underpins whatever we do.

[9:22] We honour the word of God. And it starts, this biblical vision starts with this. It starts with open eyes. The psalmist said, Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

[9:37] That's biblical vision. A Bible vision. The Bible is our foundation stone. That's what we base everything on. So may this be our prayer. There was a learned Chinese man who was employed by some missionaries to translate the New Testament into Chinese.

[9:56] And at the first, the translation work had no apparent effect on him. He wasn't a Christian. He was just a translator. But after a time, he became quite agitated and he said this.

[10:10] What a wonderful book this is. And the missionary said to him, Why? Why? Why do you think so? Because, said the Chinese man, it tells me so exactly about myself.

[10:25] It knows all that is in me. The one who made this book must be the one who made me. Amen. Amen. The one who made this book must be the one who made me.

[10:39] And so he truly saw the light. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. He truly saw the light. That's biblical vision.

[10:50] That's where it starts. And as we find our vision starts, as we look into the Word of God. And so it is here by this book that we make this dramatic, wonderful, personal discovery.

[11:04] Wondrous things are to be uncovered and discovered in this book. And this book changes us. God's Word is truly wonderful and life-changing and it's reliable from cover to cover.

[11:19] It is by the Word that we test things. We should, shouldn't we? Amen. It's by this book that we should say, is it biblical or is it not biblical? So when we see in some quarters people falling over the floor and virtually frothing at the mouth, it's not biblical.

[11:34] Well, it is biblical if it's demonic. But we know it's not Bible if it's people calling that the work of God. Amen. And so we should be biblical in what we do, what we practice, in what we believe.

[11:46] And so God's Word is truly wonderful and reliable and it is by this Word that we are going to test everything we see, everything that we do, whether it is true, whether it is of God or not.

[11:59] So it is by this Word, by this book that we kept safe. You know, the Bible speaks about the deceiver who's sneaky like a wolf. He dresses very religiously sometimes, the devil.

[12:11] He's a doctor of theology probably, a doctor of divinity, you can imagine. DD the devil, a dastardly devil. He's got a DD. He is a deceiver and a liar and a wolf in sheep's clothing.

[12:26] So we need to ensure what we do as a church is biblical. We need biblical vision which brings discernment and keeps us from getting caught up in what is error or false teaching.

[12:38] So biblical vision means having our eyes wide open. Open down my eyes and I will behold wondrous things. Wondrous things. Biblical vision is having your eyes wide open.

[12:55] Biblical vision is having your eyes wide open. And even the Word uses marketing slogans. Like, built up to a standard, not down to a price. Now that's what's happening in churches, isn't it?

[13:08] Not built up to a standard, but they're marked down to a price. Selling out to the lowest bidder. We're built up to a standard, not down to a price.

[13:21] A godly standard. A standard. A bible standard. And we stand firm on that standard, God's truth. So we must have a biblical vision, a biblical standard. Some do whatever it takes to draw a crown.

[13:33] The bible dictates what we do and don't do. The bible tells us what we believe in. What we're to fight for.

[13:44] We're not here to contend for a crowd. We're here to contend for the faith. The faith once delivered and earnestly so. And so it is here in this true word. You might ask, what is God's will?

[13:55] The bible is God's will. The bible is God's will. I've got a word from the Lord for you. Yeah, it's right here in your hands. Here it is. If you want a word from the Lord this morning. Here it is.

[14:06] The bible is God's will. And our vision must spring from his word. So our vision firstly must be a biblical vision. A biblical vision. Secondly, secondly we need a spiritual vision.

[14:21] A spiritual vision. What we want to do and be as a church must be a spiritual vision. Not man made nor fleshly but spiritual, holy spirit led.

[14:35] We want to have God's focus, God's heart. And vision is enduring faith in the unseen master. We can see better spiritually as we pray. We want to get spiritual, don't we?

[14:47] I know there's people praying in this church. People praying. Spiritual. Spiritual people. And so David was such a one.

[14:58] David was prayerfully, spiritually seeing as he prayed. As he was looking upwards he prayed, In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up.

[15:12] David had that kind of vision, a spiritual vision. He prayed and he looked up as he prayed. He looked to God. And when we have a spiritual vision, it helps us see the God dimension to life, doesn't it?

[15:26] God's point of view. By prayer we can sharpen our focus. And so when we pray we can ask things like, Lord, is what I'm about to do going to please you or not?

[15:40] Vision is seeing him, who is invisible. It's having our eyes open to the spiritual dimension. Someone said, only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible.

[15:52] When you hear of people crossing the continents coming here. When you see people going to other places and cultures and countries and leaving all their loved ones and their comforts. We see their vision is trusting him, who is invisible.

[16:07] We can't see him, but we trust him. And faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It goes beyond what we can see with our eyes. That's spiritual vision.

[16:18] Abraham had spiritual vision. He was moved by faith. Abraham, we see that he saw what was unseen. Abraham, here he was, 80 years old. It seemed like he was unable to have even one child by his wife Sarah.

[16:33] And God told him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or as the dust of the earth. Abraham had remarkable vision.

[16:45] And Abraham had the vision to see the invisible and to step out into the unknown. We read of him in Hebrews 11 verse 8. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should, after receive for an inheritance, obeyed.

[17:01] And he went out, not knowing where he went. Abraham, he didn't know where he was going. I'm a bit like that when I get in the car sometimes, aren't I? Julie's my navigator. I usually get lost without Julie.

[17:14] But, you know, sometimes we step into the car, as it were, by faith, not knowing where God's going to take us, where we're going to end up. But Abraham, by faith, he went. By faith, he went.

[17:25] He didn't know where he was going, but he knew who he was going with. And the amazing thing is that Abraham believed God. He believed the Lord and he counted it for him, for righteousness.

[17:37] Abraham believed God and God counted it righteousness. He looked with the eye of faith when he saw his situation and he trusted God's promise. It's like someone has said, two men out through the same bars, they look out through the same bars.

[17:52] One sees the mud and one sees the stars. Someone is in a prison cell, they can look down and see their predicament, how difficult it is, or they can look up through those bars and they can see the stars and know that whatever the case, God is with me.

[18:06] And when we have spiritual vision, we can see beyond our present difficulties to the one who controls our future, the one who is in control. When we've got spiritual vision, we will act in faith, not in the flesh.

[18:21] There's a story told about during the terrible days of the Blitz in London. There was a father holding his small son in his arms. And they ran from this building that just got blown up.

[18:34] And in the front yard was this shell hole, this big hole in the ground. And running for shelter as quickly as he could, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms to his son above to follow him.

[18:50] But terrified, the young son could hear his father's voice but he couldn't see him. And the boy replied, I can't see you. But the father looking up as the burning buildings were in the background, he could see the silhouette of his son against those burning buildings.

[19:08] And he called out to his son, he said, but I can see you. Jump. Jump. The boy jumped because he trusted in his father.

[19:19] And that's for us too. Sometimes we don't know what's going on, but we can trust our father, can't we? We can trust our heavenly father today.

[19:30] As Abraham did, he acted in faith. What about you and me? By faith we can face whatever life throws at us. By faith we can face even death.

[19:41] Because we know who knows us. And we are known by him. And we trust him, our heavenly father. In uncertain times, whatever faces you, you can have that spiritual vision.

[19:52] And trust your heavenly father. Faith gives us this vision. And vision is faith at work. Faith and vision.

[20:04] They're hand in hand really, aren't they? Faith and vision. Faith and vision. Faith and vision. And let's be willing like Abraham was to take a step of faith.

[20:17] A bold risk-taking step of faith. Abraham. Moses. He had spiritual vision too. Moses says, by faith he forsook Egypt.

[20:28] Not fearing the wrath of the king, but for he endured seeing him who is invisible. Moses saw him who is invisible. And by faith we can see spiritually what is invisible.

[20:41] People will mock and scorn and laugh. But we know him by faith. We know him. We hold him. And he holds us. And we feel the fear sometimes, but we do it anyway.

[20:53] As that young boy jumped in towards his father's voice. He knew that his father would catch him. And by faith we can trust God. So we see our vision should be biblical.

[21:06] Bible based. We should have a spiritual vision. A spiritual vision. And thirdly we should have a heavenly vision. A vision that's heavenly.

[21:19] Now we can get so caught up in the earthly, can't we? The worldly. Or will it be the heavenly dimension? Paul speaks of a heavenly vision. Paul speaks of a heavenly vision as he encountered the risen Christ on the Damascus road.

[21:33] And he said of this heavenly vision he could not be disobedient to it. His world was rocked. His life was changed by this heavenly vision. In Acts 26 verse 19.

[21:45] This heavenly vision it shocks us. It shakes us. It turns us around. And it brings an eternal dimension into view. Paul got a heavenly vision that day on the Damascus road.

[21:59] It shook him. It shocked him. It turned him around. And it turned his world around. And sometimes a heavenly vision is a disturbing vision. Well it's very cosy and comfortable sometimes here in this planet, isn't it?

[22:12] In this earthly life, this worldly life, all the comforts of Australia. And sometimes a heavenly vision unsettles us. It disturbs us. When we get a heavenly vision we realise beyond our own human limitations.

[22:27] And we can go beyond what we know now. It's a whole new way of looking at things. You know, back in the year 1870, the Methodists gathered in Indiana.

[22:38] The Methodists had this conference, their annual conference in Indiana. And at one point the president of the college stood up and he said, I think we live in a very exciting age.

[22:52] And the presiding bishop said to this college president, what do you see? And the college president said this, I believe we are coming into a time of great inventions.

[23:04] I believe, for example, that men will fly through the air like birds. The bishop said, this is heresy.

[23:15] The Bible says that flight is reserved for the angels. We'll have no such talk here. And after the conference, the bishop, whose name was Wright, went home to his two small sons, Wilbur and Orville.

[23:32] And you know what they did to their father's vision. Wilbur and Orville flew one of the very first powered planes. Only a few feet, but they flew.

[23:44] And so the point is, there's nothing wrong with progress and doing things a bit different. This message is the same, but the method may change. It's like, as we look back as our journey as a church, we look back and saw in the early days we had a lot of focus on reaching children.

[24:02] Now we see we're reaching people from many countries, many families from many countries, from many nations, from many places. And so it's a different focus, but it's still the same.

[24:17] The same, isn't it? It's still the same as it ever was. So we see vision, a heavenly vision is what we need.

[24:28] You know, someone has said, people who think that nothing can be done usually end up doing nothing. Do we focus on the problems or on the possibilities of our Lord and God by faith?

[24:46] Do we catch a glimpse of heaven? Will it be a heavenly vision that changes us? Isaiah beheld a stunning heavenly vision in Isaiah 6. He said in the year that the king Isaiah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

[25:05] He was Isaiah, he had a heavenly vision. He saw the Lord high lifted up, sitting on a throne in all the majesty and power and glory.

[25:17] And friends, as we turn our eyes heavenward, we see the one who holds the future, the one who holds our hand, and we want to honour him. And we want to cry out as those did in Isaiah 6, Holy, Holy, Holy.

[25:32] The more we see our Lord, the more we see our need of him. And our great lack, yet praise God, our lack should not stop us.

[25:44] In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul says, We know that we are not sufficient of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. It's God who makes us able. It's God who makes us able.

[25:56] And Isaiah was set ablaze by this heavenly vision, as he saw what it meant. He was set ablaze as he saw the Lord high and lifted up.

[26:09] And the angel came and brought the fire to his lips. And he was set on fire. Will we be responsive to the heavenly vision?

[26:21] Isaiah was. Isaiah 6 verse 8, it says, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send?

[26:32] And who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I Lord. Here am I Lord. Send me. Send me. Send me.

[26:43] Send me. The Lord didn't say it was going to be easy. He told him the opposite. They are not going to listen to you, Isaiah. What a challenge that was.

[26:59] Go to this congregation and no one is going to listen to you. I never feel like that here. Isaiah said, He was told, You are not going to be listened to. But he said, Yes Lord, here I am.

[27:12] Send me. What about us? Are we going to hear and see the heavenly vision? Like Isaiah. Like Paul. He cried out. What do you want me to do Lord?

[27:24] Is what he said. He said, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. What will we do with the heavenly vision? We heard about putting the word into action earlier. Do we sit back in disobedience?

[27:35] Or will we obey the heavenly vision? The heavenly vision. And when we see the heavenly vision, as it were. When we see the Lord high and lifted up. His train filling the temple. When we see the heavenly vision, as it were on the Damascus road. It gets us into gear. It brings an eternal perspective into view. Doesn't it? This heavenly vision.

[27:46] It motivates us to be serving. Used of God in whatever capacity we can. And when we see the heavenly vision, as it were. When we see the Lord high and lifted up. His train filling the temple. When we see the heavenly vision, as it were on the Damascus road.

[27:58] It stops us in our tracks. It gets us into gear. It brings an eternal perspective into view. And it moves our earthly feet into motion. Doesn't it? This heavenly vision.

[28:09] It motivates us to be serving. Used of God in whatever capacity we can. That our little patch of earth won't constrain us because we've got a heavenly vision.

[28:22] And so, let's check our eyesight out, as it were, today. Check our vision out. And expand our horizons to the heavenly vision. Joseph got the heavenly vision.

[28:34] He was called a dreamer. How is our vision as a church? What are we dreaming of? A vision from God can be disturbing.

[28:45] It's easy just to go into the status quo, isn't it? And just sit back on the glory train. Eternity is approaching. Eternity is approaching. That should challenge us.

[28:58] John caught sight of heavenly visions. He saw fearsome creatures. He saw judgements. He saw heaven, hell. A heavenly vision.

[29:09] Disturbed John. A heavenly vision speaks of eternal things. Do we stop and think of eternal things? And see things from God's perspective.

[29:21] Paul says, set your affection on things above. Not on things on the earth. We get all caught up with getting, doing, without thinking of heaven.

[29:34] Of why we really hear the whole point of it all. It's like Julie and I at one time on holidays we went up in a chairlift. And I was amazed that Julie by faith stepped into this chairlift.

[29:47] Because she saw where it was going to go. And it was pretty scary. But when we got into that chairlift, it was a different perspective. What about heaven's perspective?

[29:59] Do we stop and think, get into the chairlift today, as it were. And get up there into the heavenly dimension, as it were. Don't let the fear stop you.

[30:12] But rise up. And the higher we go, the further we see. The closer we get to our Lord, the more He reveals to us and shows us.

[30:23] So may our vision be biblical, Bible based. May it be spiritual, led by the Spirit. May it be heavenly. That new dimension, that dimension of heaven, not this world.

[30:37] And lastly, let it be a Christ-like vision. Not man-centred, but Christ-centred. A Christ-like vision. We must be like our Saviour.

[30:56] We're called to see through His eyes, as we travel this world below. Let's have our eyes peeled, and as it were, put on the Jesus glasses, if you like.

[31:08] What do they call them, the Google glasses now? We want the Jesus glasses, don't we? We want to put Jesus glasses on. See things through His lens. Yes. Like our Saviour would see things.

[31:19] In Luke 19, 41, it says, When Jesus came near the city of Jerusalem, when He beheld the city, He wept over it.

[31:30] He wept over it. It's been said, we'll see better when our eyes are filled with tears. We will see better when our eyes are filled with tears.

[31:44] And when Jesus saw the city, His heart was moved with compassion, and His eyes were filled with tears. And it's when we wept for the lost, when we realised the lost, our lost, and the hell bound.

[31:56] And we'll realise the Christ-like vision, the master plan, is the master's plan. What it always has been, go ye. Christ-like vision, Christ-centred, God glorifying, the great designer of the universe has called us, and given us this plan, this commission, this blueprint in our hands.

[32:17] God says, go ye. Vision sees the need, and it creates a burden. God's heartbeat. Souls, souls, souls.

[32:28] As we see through Christ's eyes, we have beheld the city, and He was moved and wept over it. Vision sees the need, and it creates a burden in us.

[32:40] So that we can't keep quiet. And we want others to see Jesus. There's people crying out, Sir, we would see Jesus, and Greeks came to Philip.

[32:53] That's what they wanted. That's what people, deep down, truly need, is to see Him. To see Jesus. And our vision must be of Christ, glorifying Him, magnifying Him, communicating Him.

[33:08] It's been said that the church is always one generation from extinction. We want to reach the next generation, don't we? We must. May our hearts be ready, our feet, our lips, to present Christ.

[33:22] To take this message, this Christ-like vision, it's souls. The Lord looked down and He said, Lift up your eyes, and see the fields, for they are white already unto harvest.

[33:33] Lift up your eyes, and see the fields, for they are white already unto harvest. Amen. He's talking about a harvest field of souls.

[33:45] And He says, Open your eyes. Open your eyes, people. We want to be Christ-like in our vision. Christ-centred. And see the world through His eyes.

[33:57] So as we go about on the train, or on the bus, or down the workplace, or the home place, or the school place, we see people, our ever-living souls, that need this message.

[34:11] Amen. And we want to reach our city. We want to reach souls. And step out, even into uncharted waters. And embark on this great voyage, to do the will of God.

[34:24] Friends, souls is what we're here for. Amen. And at the heart, at the base, it's not what is unbiblical.

[34:37] We want to scrutinize what we do, and get rid of what is unbiblical, don't we? And be biblical, a biblical people. We want to put aside that which is fleshly. We're not here to, I'm not here to please you, or scratch where you is.

[34:52] I'm here to give you what's spiritual truth. Amen. And we're not here to make you worldly, but God helping, we'll all be made more heavenly.

[35:03] Won't we? Amen. I don't want you to come to this church and be made more worldly. You know, I think of my children, went to a Christian youth meeting, and they learned all about headbanging.

[35:18] We never taught them that. The church taught them how to go headbanging. God help them. God help them. God help them. We don't want to make you more worldly in this church. We want to see you become more heavenly.

[35:29] More heavenly, more like Christ. And so, it won't be a man-centered church, where it's all about pleasing men rather offend you than displease God, but about pleasing Him, our Saviour, our Lord, a Christ-like vision.

[35:49] That's what we need. So, vision is what we're talking about. Now, we could leave this place and think, oh, we've had a nice little pep talk from the preacher this morning. A nice little pep talk.

[36:00] I'm going to file that away in my notebook and think about it. Probably never again. Vision. Vision. The vision that I'm talking about should drive us to action.

[36:14] It should drive us to action. Let's do something about this message this morning. Can we? God helping us. This vision should drive us to action.

[36:26] You know, sometimes we can go talk, talk, talk, and a lot of planning and theory and concept and theology and never put it into practice, into action.

[36:37] We miss that. We can miss that. And we don't want to make that mistake. There's a story told about a man during the American Civil War, General Stonewall Jackson.

[36:48] And there was one time where Stonewall Jackson had to get his troops across a certain river one night. And so he gave some orders. Look, we've got to get everybody over that side.

[37:01] And he went to the engineers and he said, engineers, I want you to make a way for the artillery and the wagons and the men to cross over. Told the engineers.

[37:13] Then he called the wagon master, who was a blacksmith, to the headquarters. And he gave him the same instructions. We want to get the wagon train across that river as fast as we can.

[37:24] And the engineers got together and they gathered in their tents. And they went about their work. They got their various equipment out, their pens and pencils and whatever engineers do, trigonometry or whatever it be.

[37:37] And they drew up some beautiful plans for a bridge. And the blacksmith, knowing also that something had to be done, and quickly so, something practical had to be done, he gathered the men together with logs and rocks and fence rails.

[37:56] And they built a crossing over that river. And just before dawn, the blacksmith awakened the general to inform him that the wagons, artillery and the men were across the river. And in astonishment, the general asked, where are the engineers?

[38:11] The blacksmith replied, they're over in their tent, still drawing pictures and planning a bridge. We can make that mistake. We can talk about vision and say, yeah, we're going to do this, do this, we'll get around to it one day.

[38:25] Or will we be like the blacksmith who says, no, I'm going to actually make it happen. God helping me, I'm going to make it happen. What we need is a few good men and women who'll get with the vision and make the vision a reality.

[38:39] A vision must be combined with venture. Vision must translate into action. Into action. And so, pray. How can I be a part of this vision?

[38:51] How can I reach souls in this community? How can I have this vision, this vital vision? Will it be a biblical vision, founded on the Bible? Will it be a spiritual vision by faith?

[39:04] Will it be a heavenly vision causing us to be stirred? Will it be a Christ-like vision causing us to see and to reach souls like Jesus?

[39:16] So, I urge you this morning, just to close, will we be a people of vision? A people of faith. Will we be part of the action and seize the opportunities God has given to us and step out in faith to be activated?

[39:32] Vision should drive us to take that step of faith. You might say, preacher, I don't know what God wants me to do. You might say, I'm scared.

[39:45] It's scary. It might cost me something. It might cost me some time. It might cost me some discouragement when I might get hurt.

[39:59] Yeah, it probably will. It probably will cost you. It probably will hurt you. But it shouldn't stop you. Don't be stopped.

[40:10] Don't be stopped. Step out in faith. I urge you today, you know, we look back 17 years, hitherto, before this point, and now God has helped us. And He will help us still, as we go forward in faith.

[40:24] And let this be our vision, that everything should drive us to this. I know some have been stirred up to actually want to get involved in the English language teaching program.

[40:35] Because there's many people we can bless and love as we teach them English as a second language. Some people want to get involved with the children's work, with the youth group.

[40:47] There's people there last night. There's people here reaching the Congolese youth. God's using you for His glory. Find what God wants you to do and do it. To reach souls.

[40:58] To reach souls. Whatever you do. There's many opportunities and we can all play a part. And it means like Isaiah to say, Yes Lord. Here I am.

[41:09]  Here am I. Send me. Send me. Send me. Let that be your prayer this morning by faith. Let us pray.