“Having a Vision (part 1)” By Parrish Lee May 27th,
2012 Proverbs
29:18
Where there is no vision, the people
perish… (That’s
what the dictionary says.) Vision: [H2377] a sight
(mentally), that is, a dream.
Now, to get a little background, if
we were to look at the book of Judges up until now, we would see
Israel, over
several generations, spent time serving God for a while, then they
would leave
Him and serve other gods, back and forth, back and forth. In this instance, Israel
had been serving
Baalim (Judges 3:7), but now they were trying to get back.
Gideon saw all of this bad stuff
going on, and he found it hard to believe that God wanted to use him. You ever find yourself
fighting something and
God pricks your heart and say he wants to use you, and you’re just not
feeling
it? That’s what
Gideon was facing,
saints. Sometimes
God is bringing us
through something and if we look at what we’re going through, we would
get
discouraged, but God is going to bring the victory anyway. On top of that, his family
was poor, and he
was the poorest of them. He
couldn’t see
how it could happen because he didn’t have any of the resources. How many people God must
have looked over who
had plenty, but just couldn’t be used.
So, the first two things Gideon
mentioned were things that he saw with his eyes. Judges
6:33
…all the Midianites and Amalekites and the
children of the east…
So there are three different
enemies. The
Midianites were nomadic;
they travelled a lot and they were bandits.
The Amalekites were people of the hills; also they
were descendants of
Esau. I don’t want
to get into too much
right now, because I’m under a time limitation, but the descendants of
Esau
really had it in for Israel.
So Gideon sent messengers out, and
these people were mostly his cousins, and said that he needed help. Judges
7:2-3 …The
people that are with thee are too many
for me to give the Midianites into… God
said you have too many. Saints,
imagine that you’re about to go into
battle, and two thirds of who you were counting on just disappears on
you. Anybody ever
tell you that they’re going to
help out with something and then put out on you?
Don’t you just hate that?
Obviously, these people didn’t have the same
vision that Gideon had. Judges
7:4-6 …The
people are yet too many…I will try them
for thee… And
why water, anyway? Why
not something else? But,
when God brings a deliverance, who are
we to question God? So,
at the water
test, God said whoever laps like a dog, him you will take. We have a water test in the
Bible, too. I want
to bring out the point that there were
three different visions going on here:
One vision was those who were afraid; they did not
have the same vision
as Gideon. Another
was for those that
did not have the same strength of Gideon’s vision.
And, lastly, those who could have the same
heart as Gideon. Hebrews
12:1-2
…Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher
of our faith But
the first part of that verse is all
about what we look at: “Looking
unto
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…” When
I was in driving school my
instructor kept telling to look at where I wanted to go not at where I
was or at
what was around me. In
class I was fine,
but on the road things were a little different.
There was this big truck turning in front of me and
I was looking at it,
and it kept getting closer and closer until the instructor pulled the
emergency
brake. “Didn’t I
tell you to look at
where you wanted to go?” “Well,
yeah,
but didn’t you see that big truck? It kept getting closer and closer to
us.” “No, you kept
getting closer and closer to
it, because you were looking at it, instead of looking at where you
were trying
to go.” Have
you ever heard of “lazy eye?” It’s
actually called amblyopia. It’s
where the muscles of one eye are weak so
they put a patch on the dominant eye, to try to force the person to
exercise
the muscles in the weak eye. Many
Christians are like that, only in both eyes.
They are not able to see the tremendous things that
God has for those
that trust Him; not being able to taste His gory and His love. But there’s a remedy for
that. 2
Kings 6:15-17
…LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes,
that he may see… The
remedy is prayer. Now,
we’ve heard people say, “I wish I had
more faith,” when the truth is, they don’t use the faith they have. Some people might be
saying, “God, if you don’t
move, well, that’s okay,” when what they should be saying is “God, if
you don’t
move, I want to know why. If
I’ve got
sin in my life, if I don’t come to You holy enough, if I’ve taken you
too
lightly, God, whatever the reason, let me know, and I will be accepting
and
change, if that’s what I need to do, or move something out of the way,
it’s
done. Whatever the
reason, Lord, show
me.” The Bible says
that without faith
it is impossible to please Him, for he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek
Him (Hebrews 11:6). Some
people haven’t
used their faith—why would God give us more if we haven’t used what he
gave us
in the first place? Faith
to be able to
bless a brother or a sister, faith to be able to stand in a situation
and know
that God is going to be lifted up.
If I’m
the only that lifts Him up, He will be lifted up.
We’re talking about faith that in your family
when one or the other might be down to say, “Lord, I need your
intervention to
help and to heal, and I will stand and stay at your altar until you
bless.” Psalms 121:1-8 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help… Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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