Catching the Vision for Your Life and Your Church. PART 2

A VISION OF HOPE AND EXPECTATION FOR GREATER THINGS,

Catching the Vision for Your Life and Your Church

I am so glad to no longer be in an environment where completing certain goals by some random dates on a calendar is a hard driving pressure. There is little worse than time pressure to get me gets me stressed out. I understand why companies establish monthly, quarterly and annual sales or shipment goals, why projects have deadlines; you will never hit a target if you don’t have one. A wise manager once told me, when I was a young engineer, that whenever you’re asked how long it’ll take you to complete a project double it. My point is that the only time constraint in catching God’s vision for you is His timing and how open your spiritual ears are. Don’t be in a hurry and take to heart every lesson to be learned while you wait.

American Indians market interesting craft items called Dream Catchers, not bad but pretty useless for ascertaining the next steps God has for you take. We must never be driven by the random waves of men’s whims, demonic influence or people with ungodly agendas. Sometimes our own “good ideas” are just that, not the voice of the Spirit of God. Jesus is our Lord; therefore we must always be led by the Spirit of God. When we are, we will accomplish great things that are motivated by HIS love. He must the time keeper and painter of the vision.

Let’s see what we can glean from some scriptures concerning vision. Remember that the type of vision I am talking about is multifaceted in application. Allow the Lord to speak to you concerning your future, your career and the future of the ministries of His church. His plan and purpose for your life doesn’t end at our retirement, it unfolds as long as that heart beats in your body. We need only be seekers and obedient when He answers prayer. Here are some pointers about that search.

Psalm 77:11   I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.

Psalm 143:5   I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands.

Isaiah 46:9   Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,

I was a history major in college and see clearly that when people do things without historical perspective they repeat the mistakes from the past, they re-invent the wheels that were made in the past, and often not as well as the old ones. A principle I learned about research is to find whatever has already been said about whatever you’re researching before starting to write that paper, thinking you know it all. Remember the Biblical principle of meditation, to role something around in your mind, to look at it from every angle in order to get complete understanding. I had a colleague who had a sign in his office that said, “Seek first to understand.” What happened in the past will give us some insight into the future.

Last week I asked Kathie, a woman in my church that was there since the 1980's or before, a couple of questions about the history of Glad Tidings Tabernacle. We talked a bit about what was happening back then. What she said was so encouraging to me. What she said confirmed to me that many of in my church have experienced what God did back then. That provides some insight into the Pasture “B” I spoke of last week.

My wife and I experienced similar moves of God in our small country church in McGraw, NY (near Cortland which is the geographic center of NY state) through the 1970’s and 80s, again a large church on Long Island from 1986-88, then again at Christian Life Center in Charlotte in the late 1990's. There were spectacular events in peoples’ lives, salvation, healing deliverance, manifestations of the Spirit, exuberant and powerful times of Praise and Worship. We didn’t need to go to a gym; worship was a great physical workout as we danced before the Lord for long periods of time. The history of Christian Assembly Upstate in Greenville SC is similar and now it’s pretty common to experience wonderfully anointed worship, powerful times at the altar, miracles of healing and prophetic words happen there sometimes. We are blessed to be a part of that church as I pastor at Glad Tidings. I am extremely thankful we also experience this at Glad Tidings, but my heart cries out for the much more we experienced in times past. Not that I am nostalgic but because of the changes in so many peoples' lives. There was a common term used among Pentecostal and Charismatic people, “When you’ve been born in the fire you can’t stand just smoke.” There is another wave coming, maybe different than ones from the past but as long as God moves in peoples’ lives we’ll know we are on the right track.

I read this next verse during morning quiet time recently and it got the wheels in my head turning. I sparked the need to learn a bit more of the history of the church so as to get a glimpse of the Pasture B.

Psalm 87:5   And of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her;

And the Most High Himself shall establish her.”

6   The Lord will record, When He registers the peoples:

“This one was born there.” Selah  (NKJV)

Selah means to stop and think about it, meditate about what was just written. To do that I looked at several translations and the way it is paraphrased in the MSG Bible turned a light on:

Psalm 87:5   The word’s getting out on [or about] Zion:

“Men and women, right and left, get born again in her!”

6   God registers their names in his book: “This one, this one, and this one—born again, right here.”

I hope that all you have been in Zion, in the manifest presence of God, that you’ve seen what the Lord does in the lives of people in times like these were, and that you are not content with less.

Let me put it another way. I grew up on the western tip of the Coney Island beach in Brooklyn, NY. When the water was rough we would wade out about waste deep and look out to sea, looking for the biggest waves coming. When it got to us we would jump, lay stretched out, hold our breath and let the wave carry us to shore. Then we would wade out again and watch for the next one to catch. Revival comes in waves and we need to be praying, watching and preparing for the next wave. The classic book about the Azusa St. revival is called, “Another Wave Rolls In”

 

Habakkuk 2:3   For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

The book of Hebrews refers back to this verse,

Heb. 10:36   For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:

37   For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.

God is never in a hurry but He’s always right on time.

Right now I find myself standing waist deep in the ocean. The little waves just keep rolling past me and I look hopefully for that big wave to catch. It’s a bit frustrating, I know it’s out there but I just can’t see it yet. The temptation was always to take the smaller wave, only to be disappointed because riding that one I missed the big one just behind it.

The pressures of life get big, adverse circumstances try to cause us to make a major decision without hearing from the Lord. We panic and take action, often doing something dumb. That is a tactic of the enemy to try to counter the will of God in our lives. Wait just a little longer. Remember what Saul did concerning offering the sacrifice at Gilgal (1 Sam 13). He panicked, jumped the gun and disobeyed a specific instruction. Saul lost the kingdom, not just for himself, but for his lineage. Samuel got there, just a little later than Saul expected, a little latter than the circumstances seemed to dictate.

The parable of the 10 Virgins is another example (Matt. 25). The Bridegroom came, just a little later than expected. The wise were ready and the foolish were not. We get ready by spending time with the Lord, allowing Him to fill us with His Spirit. Oil is often a type of the Spirit and we need to be full. Just about any decision I’ve made in life that was made quickly, under pressure, without getting all the facts and not hearing from the Lord was not the best decision. So often we need to take a Selah time rather than just start doing something because it’s better than nothing. It may only take a minute, or it may take longer but waiting on the Lord is the best thing.

The monthly Evangelistic healing & deliverance meetings we’ve started are a step toward Pasture “B” but the vision of that field is only a glimpse. I know the Lord will build on what He created in our lives, our experiences, and our history of life with Him. This much the Scripture and the heart beat of God is emphatic about, the Great Commission must be a part of any church vision. Many of us have experienced times of great outpourings of the Spirit and we know there will be another wave. We already are walking in the paths of righteousness, led of the Spirit, doing some good things. Notice the path is not straight, remember we learn a lot and grow by taking all the twists and turns God puts along the way.

Success in whatever direction the Lord leads you, leads the church, your business, etc., requires a saturation of prayer. Be faithful.

James 5:16   Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Let me conclude with this statement of great hope future of the church:

Isaiah 60:1   Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

2   For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

3   And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

4   Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.