Vision Leads to Faith

Let’s open our baubles back to Habakkuk chapter 2 and let’s reread our Scripture for today. Read Habakkuk 2:1-3 So what have we learned thus far, let’s kind of recap. We learned that prayer is not a part of the natural life, but of the spiritual life. Prayer nourishes the life of God in us. So, If we do not pray we starve our Spiritual life. We starve God’s presence in our life.

But when we pray, we nourish the soul and we draw nearer to Him. Last week, we learned that prayer moves us into being at awe and wonder of God. We all wonder over snow cap mountains. We all are at wonder over the sunsets and sunrises. We are at wonder over the big things that we can point to and be like that’s God, God made those things. But what about the little things in life?

Can’t we be at wonder and awe over the little insignificant things? Or things we deemed to be unimportant. We learned that prayer leads us and grows us in his presence, but it also leads us to be people of generosity and gratitude. I just believe with all of my heart, that a life of gratitude and generosity will teach us to love all people no matter who they are and what they are known by.

Remember, Jesus injected light into the samaritans woman life at the well by generously being compassionate with her. And he generously gives us his Holy Spirit in our life because he’s compassionate for us and for that I am grateful. Today, I want us to see how presence, being in prayer, and being at awe of God in all area’s of our life, whether large or small, leads us into the larger picture of his desire for us.

For us individually and for as a local church. prayer leads us into seeing and witnessing God’s vision. God replies to Habakkuk to write the vision down. and he tells Habakkuk that the vision is for a future time. What God is doing is he is building the bridge between the present and the future with Habakkuk. Notice I didn’t say the bridge is built between our past and present, and I didn’t say it’s a bridge between our past and the future.

No, vision takes us where we are and it bridges us too where we need to be. The Bible says in proverbs 29:18 where there is on vision the people persist. Why.. why do people perish if they have no vision. Well, they persist because they have no purpose. People perish because they are stuck in who they were and they have no foresight on who God is calling them to be…

so they become complacent in where they are, facing their past and yearning for what once was. PK Bernard once penned, A man without a vision is a man without a future. A man without a future will always return to his past.” I like to put it this way. Our direction in life will draw us into the direction of what we hope in the most. What do we hope in?

Is our hope in the government? Is our hope in our culture? Or community Is our hope in ourselves? Or our families? No, Our hope must be in the Lord. Paul describes Jesus Christ as “our hope” (1 Timothy 1:1) and calls Jesus “the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). So, Jesus not only came to bring hope. We learn that he becomes our hope and he is our hope. He’s our forward anchor in life.

And because of Jesus being our forward anchor, he gives us assurance for a better future. Jeremiah 29:11 also reminds us of how hope is in our future. He write:, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” So our hope isn’t where we once was, Our hope cant be where we’ve been…NO!

Hope is where were heading. It’s our forward direction. A couple years ago I led our board in a book by Thomas Rainer called, autopsy of a deceased church. 12 ways to keep yours alive. My intention was to teach them that a dying church isn’t always obvious. Thomas Rainer said in his book, that there were even churches that were financially set that still died, they bellied up with cash in their treasury because they lost the vision God has had for them.

He called the process of thier decline, slow erosion. They were eroding so slow they just didn’t realize it until it was too late. And a part of this slow erosion was the reality that they spent more time looking in the past more than the future. As Thomas began his autopsy of these dead churches, in all cases he found that the people in the church lived for long periods of time with the past as the hero.

And each year, they held more tightly and clung to things of the past with desperation and fear. While not realizing the danger and not willing to step out by faith into what the future held. They made the past the hero. They were unwilling to change worship styles, they were unwilling to change the building, and the decorations. Instead of fighting for the gospel.. and instead of fighting for doctrine, most of these church fought over preferential things.

He found that they were fighting for the past. The good old days. The way it used to be. The way we want it today. And he even said, there were those who came to the chruch who pointed it out… peolle who would come and not conform and warn the chruch… but the church didn’t listen.. they were too stuck in thier way. You see this all throughout Scripture. I love the story of Simeon in the Bible.

Every Christmas I read his story because it reminds me of having faith, it reminds me that God is good to come through on his promises and it reminds me that the hope of his first coming is the same hope we have today for his second coming. But I also read it to reminds me to not to be stuck in the past, but look forward to the future. Simeon in Luke’s Gospel was told by God that he would not die until he saw the messiah.

The consolation of Israel. I love that! He will see and experience the comfort of God! Which is Emmanuel…God with us…. Isn’t that the Best comfort of all… what better comfort than knowing God is with you. And we today get to experience this comforter because of His spirit within us. When Jesus was born, hundreds upon thousands of people missed it because they were too busy looking for hope elsewhere, many of them were looking for hope in the past and missed him in that present moment.

But not Simenon and Anna… they were witnesses to God’s glory because they were willing to look forward and be ready. This went on to when Jesus was visited by the men of the Far East. The wisemen were looking forward to Jesus’s coming and they came because they were looking forward to the signs, but even the people living near Jesus, along with King Herod missed it because they were too concerned with their life.

Church, don’t let the past become your hero. We need to let it go. Remember the past, but stop trying to live as if its all God has for us.. he has more for us… but we need to let go of the past so we have the avaible hands and hearts to gather more as well walk into the future. Isn’t that what Paul teaches us in Philippians? Paul teaches us that if were going to run this race of holy significance.

this enteral race God has put us in, we need to lean forward into the future, not lean back into who we were once were. I like to ask myself this question that helps me walk by faith. Does my life today look different than my life 1 year ago. Do I have more faith, trust, hope, love, and obedience in Christ today than yesterday? If so.. rejoice! Be confident that he who began the good work in you, will perfect it into the day of JEsus Christ.

What did Paul say to the Philippians 3:12-14? He said: 2 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. He presses on… that means he moved forward. He took the best that’s offered in Christ and he continues to move forward in a way that’s deliberate.. that giving maximum effort.

Remember, hope is a direction. Faith is a direction. The ultimate reward is to receive eternal life in Gods presence. He says: 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

He said, we press on… did you notice he mentioned it twice? I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I press on toward the goal to win the price which God has caseload me heavenward in Christ. He isn’t slowed down by what’s behind him… I believe he mentions it twice because he knows we have a tendency in our life to want to stay and marvel over the past.

If were going to be the church God wants us to be in 2022, we’ve got to learn to lean forward not backwards. I’ve got a new favorite song. Well, it’s not new. But it’s new to me. And perhaps you’ve heard it. It’s a song sung and made famous by a man name Steve green. It’s kind of my anthem when it comes to the our vision God gave us last year.

living faith preserves hope for future generations. Listen to the lyrics… May the fire of our devotion light their way May the footprints that we leave Lead them to believe And the lives we live inspire them to obey Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful I love that song… I love the fact that were not in the race alone. Did you know that.. stop trying to run this race alone.

The local church is designed to be a safe place for runners to come and train. Because this race that we’re in… I believe that it is a relay race. Unless Christ comes at some point we will eventually pass the baton of faith and hope to the next generation. And here’s the thing… it’s not all about what we give to them as much as its about what we instill within them.

Right?!!! It’s not about how big of a church we hand over, or how much money in the treasury we hand over to the next generation…. I’m talking about handing over earthly possessions and treasures. No! it’s what we have instilled within them. Within their hearts…That’s the important thing to hand over. We hand over a life of faith and hope into the next generation. That’s what preserving the hope means in our vision statement.

We are living by faith now, we are active in our faith now, and by doing so that preserves the hope for the next generation. We don’t just hand over buildings, but we hand over committed hope and faith so that the next generation can see first hand the living faith in our lives which in turns propels them to step out by faith too. That is what makes the difference in their life.

did we leave behind a legacy of faith or unfaithfulness. One leads to life sustaining hope filled trust and the other leads to death. And I’d hate for this generation to be known as the unfaithful generation. I don’t want that. I don’t believe you want to be known as the generation of unfaithfulness. So how can i close this out? Well I want to close out todays sermon with one word…

commitment. Every year roughly around July. I begin seeking God’s direction for the next year. Last year, 2021 was to be a year of faith for us. And it was… by faith we gained a new church vision. By faith we were called to live deep lives trusting in God. Did you step out by faith last year? Praise God! You were a part of your churches direction. For 2022, the Lord laid this word on my heart…

and I want to share it with you OFFICIALLY TODAY… it’s COMMITMENT. NO great work of faith begins without the people of God being committed to the Lord. Faith takes great sacrifice. Hope requires faith And so, Vision takes commitment. Jesus’s greatest test was when he knelt alone in the the garden and he began to say, not your will but mine be done. It was a moment of deep love for the father, but it was also a moment where he would pick the sinful cup of the world and drink of it out of his commitment to the fathers will.

His commitment was to complete obedience. His concern was to do precisely as he was instructed, that the promise of the Lord would be fulfilled. There is two scriptures that the Lord laid heavily on my heart for us this year that go along with our word. "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” - Ps. 37:5 “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

- Prov. 16:3 Commit your way to the Lord.. to commit your way to the Lord is to build your life upon the values of his Kingdom. It is to bring your time, your talents, and your treasures into full alignment with his will and purpose. And heres the thing… it’s really an act of trust. Do we trust him..? DO we trust him enough to lay down our past and to run forward?

What about committing our work to the Lord? Commit is a word that in the Hebrew language means literally “to roll”. The idea is completely giving something over to God while depending on Him. Picture it like this…. You have this large backpack on your back. Burdens perhaps your carrying around… your responsibilities, your works, you’re calling, your circumstance. You are burdened to carry them… to commit means to roll them off your back.

TO roll it off and to dump it. Dump it at the lords feet and then ask him to take charge of it. Asking him to multiply it to bless it, to care for it. When we ”commit” our works to the Lord, we are offering everything we do completely to Him. We are rolling it to him. You’re committing your work, you’re giving him your best. That’s what Jesus has for us in 2022….

We’re not going to recieve God’s left overs. We need to stop trying to bring the past into the present. stop trying to squeeze out yesterdays provision into todays provision… his provision is sufficient for each and every day. Jesus wants us to have his best.. and his best is him. His best is forward where he is, not behind us where we been. Did you know that’s always the chief end to a vision.

The end of vision is God himself, and the only way you can see the vision and know the vision, which is Jesus Christ himself, is if you have a pure heart. Have you ever wondered how does someone receive the vision of God. Well, when our hearts are pure and we are seeking God with integrity. God will reveal to us more of him. let me show you… I read Matthew chapter 5 verse 8 this week.

this verse spoke into my heart when it comes to receiving vision from God. If you want the peace that faith brings, and the salvation that Jesus gives for your past, and the strength he gives for the present and the assurance of the future, which means the hope that he gives for the future, it takes a committed heart to seek his face. It takes commitment to seek his will…

Now, this Jesus on the mount giving the beatitudes and this is his 6th point. Jesus tells those there… and to us today… God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. Matthew 5:8 What we learn is this… Godly vision comes when the persons heart, your heart and my heart, is seeking God in prayer, with a pureness of seeking nearness. That means we seek his presence.

So this is how I interpret what I just said…, God isn’t going to give anyone A PIECE of his vision until we begin to SEEK for the wholeness of his presence. Vision is prayerfully seeking God with a pure heart in all aspects of life to see God. And we walk by faith into what he calls us into. We walk by faith because we have committed our life to Him.

What are you committed to? Who are you committed to? I can answer that.. only you can*