Are you ready to jump into God's word together today? All right today, we're going to the book of habakkuk everybody
The book of habakkuk by the way, sometimes it's habakkuk and sometimes it's habakkuk and I say both
And the reason is I was raised like growing up. I always heard everybody say habakkuk
And uh, then I went to seminary and everybody seemed to say habakkuk
So I say both sometimes I say habakkuk and sometimes I say habakkuk and it really just comes down to what emphasis
I want to put on what syllable you understand what I'm saying? And so um, and so
So anyways habakkuk is where we're going to be
And so let me give you just a little background because I think it's so important that how many know it's so important
We read the word of god, but it's so important. We understand the context
Because if I have a text without a context i'll get conned
And there's a lot of scripture grabbing in the church
I've heard a lot of pastors do scripture grabbing where they just grab a verse and they preach it and they um
Re-textualize it, but I really think they mis-contextualize it. And so I think it's just so important. So, um, so
Habakkuk is one of the 12
minor prophets
So, um, if you want to know how your old testament is organized if you can remember 5 12 5 5 12 5 12
5 5 12
Five books of law 12 books of history
Five books of poetry five major prophets 12 minor prophets 5 12 5 5 12
So habakkuk is a minor prophet now what you need to understand about bible history and this will just help you
I'm not going to walk you through all the bible history
But after so there's king the first king over god's people we know is king
Right saul, right and then we know king david and then david's son solomon
After solomon though the kingdom is divided into a northern and a southern kingdom
A you guys and a y'all an unsweet and a sweet tea. You understand what i'm saying?
So as a northern kingdom and southern so the northern kingdom is called israel the southern kingdom is called
juda solomon's son was rioboam he becomes king over juda and then a
Guy named geroboam kind of defects and and leads a rebellion and he takes over israel
Which is the northern kingdom so from that point so you can say roughly a thousand bc
So from about a thousand bc when you move forward through the bible
You'll have a king over the northern kingdom a king over the southern kingdom and there's always a prophet to the northern kingdom and a
Prophet to the southern kingdom so as you're reading chronicles and kings and judges in those books
Sometimes it can get a little bit
Confusing if you don't basically understand that basic formula, okay?
So, um habakkuk is actually a prophet to juda
He prophesies in the late sixth century bc
Probably 604 to 609 is where I I personally think there's some other
Scholars, I'm not a scholar but scholarship usually puts him there our son will say around 6 30
And and it's he didn't date himself and because we don't have an exact
He doesn't name some things that would help us date him, but he gives us enough contextual
Information that we kind of can place in one of those two places. I put him
It's six, you know, oh four to six. Oh nine bc
Or six oh nine to six oh four bc since the timelines moving that way counting down everybody and so um, so what's going on?
well
um
Assyria emerged as a world power and in
In 721 the assyrians overthrow israel and they take over the northern kingdom of israel
And so that was a little over a hundred years ago. Now. Babylon is emerging as a world power
Under king nebuchadnezzar. He's actually king nebuchadnezzar too, but the other king nebuchadnezzar is not in your bible
So king nebuchadnezzar
Um, and so nebuchadnezzar too, uh, he's the one you read about in the book of daniel
so now babalon is emerging as a world power and um,
Is egypt has kind of been driven back assyria is being defeated. Babylon is emerging
And so as that now the northern kingdom is suffering at the hands of the babalones
The world is suffering at the hands of the babalones and habakkuk sees the babalones are going to overthrow juda
Like there's a bad day coming here. We have problems
um, and it actually did happen, uh
Uh when babalon becomes a strong power
Uh israel had had our sorry juda had had a good king joseiah
He became king at eight years old
And he ruled for 30 something years and he leads a revival
And reformation and a return to god's word. He tears down the high places. He they get rid of the cultic cultish practices all those things
Um, and then uh from that there's a couple of kings. They don't stay kings very long
Uh, and then we get to joe joe hoekin and he's a he's a terrible king
In fact, he cuts a deal with babalon to stay in power as a puppet king
But they have to pay all their taxes and stuff to babalon and then he rebels and so in
597 bc is when king nebuchadnezzar comes and uh besieges jerusalem and takes juda
Uh, and then there's a revolt and then uh in 586 he comes and destroys
Uh jerusalem and that's that's when he destroys the temple
Um, so that was the first temple period, right? So habakkuk habakkuk is writing
Uh during this time and he sees what's going on and what's really interesting about him
That's different from really all the other prophets is all the other prophets receive a word from god to deliver to the people
Habakkuk actually takes an inquisition of the people to god
He speaks to god on behalf of people and the ultimate inquisition was god. I can't believe you're gonna let babalon
Take over, you know harm your people and enslave your people and um,
But it was prophesied because the people's rebellion against god that god would use
Essentially assyria than babalon to bring judgment on israel remember this is old covenant not the covenant of grace
So judgment right comes and god says yeah
I'm actually gonna you know, so so the chapter one if you will of habakkuk is this inquisition of god
Chapter two god actually answers
And we're gonna read just a portion from that but in chapter two god answers and then he says i'm actually gonna do that
Uh, because I said I was and but don't think babalon's gonna get away
In other words his question was why are the evil people prospering in god's people suffering now?
Doesn't that sound like a relevant question for today?
Right, and so it's really a cool book if you read god's response, but god says yes
But here's what god says in everything you see i'm actually working my plan when it looks like evil is succeeding and righteousness
Is failing don't worry. I'm still working my plan. And so he says i'm actually working my plan, but he actually gives five
Theologically called they're called the woe statements of babalon in chapter two gives these five it has to do with their economical
because it's shady economical
Um practices and their security
and it has to do with their uh
Pleasure or drunkenness and their idolatry, but he basically says oh i'm gonna take care of babalon
Don't you worry about that?
But i'm working my plan and so just because god it doesn't seem like he's moving in a way that makes sense to us
Come on somebody he's still moving and it will make sense in the end and then chapter three
Habakkuk kind of gives this this poem psalm to the lord
And so we're going to read in chapter two
Uh something that that god says the way he starts
Uh really his answer to habakkuk
Um, and then we're going to kind of contextualize that for our life
So why don't you stand habakkuk chapter two everybody verse two i'm just going to read verse two and verse three
Um, but verse two it says and the lord answered me
Write the vision down now. This is one of the familiar
verses in habakkuk
Uh, there are some others that are very familiar like the just shall live by faith
Paul says it but it actually is a quotation from habakkuk
But habakkuk says uh chapter two verse two and the lord answered me write the vision now make it plain on tablets
So he may run who reads it
For still the vision awaits its appointed time it hastens to the end
It will not lie
If it seems slow
Wait for it. Come on. Here's your word for the day if it seems slow wait for it. Come on
It may not be here yet, but that doesn't mean god's not working
Come on god is the slowest person i've ever met to always be on time, but he's always on time
Are you understand what i'm saying?
um
If it seems slow wait for it. It will surely come it will not delay. Come on
We're in a series that we called unstuck
Today I want to talk uh along these lines see your way
Forward or see your way out. Okay, let's pray together father. Thank you so much for your word
As we open it god, we open our hearts
I believe you have a word for everyone that's here and everyone that's watching online
Lord help us to hear it and receive it
And help us to hide it in our hearts
In jesus name and everybody said amen you can be seen
Amen, you can be seated. Thank you so much for standing to honor the word of god
See your way out see your way out
We haven't I haven't got to go in a couple years but but for several years in a row
The guys in my life group or some of the guys in my life group
Uh would go on a hunt and I remember
One hunt we went on and if you understand about going on hunting you get up before it's
Daylight and you go out and you you know you hide
And you wait on the animals and then you and then you uh, you uh love them and um
And you uh, we'll use the word harvest them and you harvest the animal because the lord gave it to you
and um
And if you're with peta, I I don't care
and um and so
Uh, but I remember coming back in uh to the to the house where we're gonna have breakfast that morning after hunting
I saw this like rent a car in the middle like we're in west texas. It's terrible terrain. You don't drive
Cars certainly you don't really don't even drive trucks out to where we were we were using atvs
And side by sides and um, and this car is just kind of beat up and it's beat to death
And it's just kind of stuck and I said what's the deal? Obviously it didn't belong there
Look, what's the deal like they said well this guy came in last night
To hunt and he took a wrong turn in the entrance and just drove out through the wilderness
Until he finally got stuck and then I guess he got out and walked
um, and and he
What I realized is he got out and walked and left the car there because he was stuck and he couldn't
See his way out
Because a lot of times when we're stuck what we need is we need to be able to see a way out
We need to be able to see a way forward maybe feel like in life between 2020 and this
We've just never seemed to recover and we're still like we talked about last week living a little bit reactive to the world instead
It's almost like we're living in reaction to the world instead of in response to god's calling on our life
And maybe you just still kind of feel a little stuck like i'm just waiting embracing for the next thing
I'm you know, just trying to survive
Well, maybe that's just because you haven't seen your way out
Your way out you haven't seen a better way to go
And so what I want to talk about today is really the power of vision in our lives and how we all
Not only need a vision. That's true, but we can all have a vision
in fact, i'm going to end by giving you some steps to take to really um,
kind of
To really get some clarity and really understand the vision that god has for your life
Um, I think when we're talking about vision, let me just start by saying a few things
I think there's a danger in not living with vision
And and let me try to explain this if I could if you could imagine being blind for a minute
And i'm not saying blind people don't have vision. In fact, one of my favorite quotes from helen keller is
Is this quote where she says?
I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it and then I don't know where it is
But she says essentially
The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision
So so I the only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision
But I want you to imagine if you were blind for a minute
There's when we don't have vision we could liken it to being blind
Because in a way you think about it when you're blind you're more um
You're more open to being injured
Because you just can't see obstacles and you can't see things
And so and so when we don't have like the number one danger of vision is it in it increases the opportunity for injury
And I think this could be true a lot of people you were injured by a bad decision by a bad business decision by a bad life decision
By a bad relationship because you just didn't have clear vision
Right so when I can't see when I don't have vision it increases the opportunity for for injury it also inhibits acceleration
For instance if I said right now everyone just pack up your stuff and exit the room as fast as you can
Then you'd get up and you would take off like this
But if we turned off all the lights and I blindfolded everybody and I said now exit the room as fast as you can
It would be more like
Right are you with me you understand what I'm saying and so when I don't have vision listen it increases injury
But it also inhibits acceleration meaning I really can't reach my potential I don't move as fast through life
Because I'm not sure which way to go and the third danger of vision is that it demands
Or the third danger of not having vision is it demands assistance when I can't see I need a lot more help
I don't know the plan for my life I need somebody to help me I need someone to point me in the right direction
In fact if we're being honest sometimes when we don't have vision not only do we need assistance but it makes us codependent
And it also makes us susceptible to people sometimes who say they have a vision for us
Well that's good because I don't have a vision for me I'll go with your vision for me except for me
I'll go with your vision for me etc and so there's some dangers to not having vision
I think when we're talking about vision you say well what are we talking about well I think there's a principle in vision in that
I really think the first thing God wants to do is to give vision the first thing God does in all of creation is he turns on the light
Essentially he enables sight because sight is possible when there's illumination or there's light
In fact in Genesis 1 God said let there be light and I think the first thing that God does is that God turns on the light
He wants to give vision when you think about the great patriarchs in the Bible or the great people in the Bible you think about
You know Abraham God says God comes to him and God in a way turns on the light by saying Abraham I want you to be a great nation
Moses God is literally just living his life in the wilderness he's a shepherd and God lights a bush on fire
But it doesn't burn but he turns on the light if you will gets Moses attention and says hey
I want you to lead my people out of Egypt and you could walk through God
David is just in a shepherd field minding and taking and tending care of taking care attending sheep
When God calls him out and says I want you to be a king by the way a point here might be made
If you really want vision be faithful because all those men were faithful where they were
Which is why God came to them to give them greater vision than what they had
Are you with me? The point is though you walk all through the Bible and God starts by giving vision
If you think about it the apostle Paul the way he becomes the apostle Paul
Remember as he's on his way to Damascus he's actually persecuting Christians
And God blinds him in order to give him vision
He says no you're going to preach the gospel and he ends up being really the apostle to the Gentiles
Which for most of us that's us and we're so thankful and grateful and so the first thing God does is
He gives vision when we're talking about vision vision is a conceptual view of the future
In other words you could say it's kind of like a picture it's not everything about the picture
Or the future it's not everything about the future and it's not everything that's going to happen
And it's not every step that I'm going to take but it gives me something that's in the future
Just like what we just read in Habakkuk he said write this vision down he said it's for an appointed time
It's not going to delay but it's not yet it's coming but it's not today in other words it's a future that's out
It's a picture that's out in the future and it's something to start giving some context to your life
And meaning to your life and so when we're talking about vision what we're asking God for is we're asking God
Hey give me that picture that I'm working towards that I'm moving towards that I'm you could say living towards
And so when we're talking about vision you need to understand that vision comes from God
Ultimately vision is not determined it's discovered
Now here's what you need to understand about you that may help with the vision conversation
You need to understand that you are here because God had vision
You actually were created from God's vision and for God's vision
Let me explain so what is God's vision well simply put on earth as it is in heaven
So God is the sovereign ruler of the universe but he decides I want to create a physical planet
In other words God is spirit he's incorporeal that's the doctrinal name the incorporeality of God
But because God doesn't have a body he's spirit he's the ruler of the universe but he decides
I want to make a physical planet and I want to rule over it and in order to do that now watch this
So there's my vision I'm going to expand my kingdom and my rule in my reign over a physical planet
So he says let there be light and he creates the heavens and the earth and all these animals and all this
And then day six comes and he says now in order to really reign over earth what I want to do
Is create a family in my likeness and image but they will have physical bodies and to them
I will delegate the authority to rule and reign and expand my kingdom over the earth
So because God wanted to expand his reign and kingdom over the earth it necessitated
Adam and so Adam came from the vision of God but he was created also for the vision of God
And ultimately this is what the Bible talks about you in the same manner because when the Bible talks
We have wonderful scriptures about Jeremiah where God says hey before I formed you I knew you and
Before you were born I appointed you as a prophet to the nations meaning Jeremiah created you from my
Vision for my vision but we all love to claim the promise and we should Jeremiah 29 11 that God has
A plan for us and it's a good plan to give us hope and a future well what are we talking about hope
And a future and a good plan sounds like we're talking about a vision that you too are called
Just like Adam we are all given a commission Adam was given a commission we're given a commission
Go into all the world and preach the gospel and make disciples teaching them to obey everything
That Jesus has commanded that that's our commission well we then were created from the vision of God
For the vision of God in fact Hebrews 2 verse 10 says we are his some versions say craftsmanship
Some versions say masterpiece I kind of like masterpiece because I've looked in the mirror y'all
You understand what I'm saying and when I looked in the mirror it didn't look like a masterpiece
But I'll take God's word over my opinion any day amen God wants to call me a masterpiece I'll say
You're exactly right praise God right and so but this is what Ephesians 2 and it's talking about you
And it's talking about me but it says we are his masterpiece now watch this that he created
But what did he create us for he said for the good works that he created beforehand
So that we should walk in them so this tells me yet again God had good works for you and good
Works for me and so he created me to walk those out so how many understand we've said it before
God doesn't start with a person he starts with a purpose right God starts with a vision and a purpose
And then creates persons and he created you so you were created from the vision of God and you
Were created for the vision of God if you don't get anything just nothing else you get from me today
That's okay but would you write that down so that you go here I want you to go home with God's
Opinion of yourself and not your opinion of yourself and not someone else's opinion of yourself
I want you to have God's opinion of yourself and if nothing else Ephesians 2 verse 10 God thinks
You're awesome you're a masterpiece and God has a purpose and a plan for you okay are you with me
God thinks pretty highly of you I wish you thought as highly of you as God thinks of you amen
And so we we need vision now I can't say that without saying this because this is true too
God has a vision for your life right I hate to tell you this but Satan has a vision for your life
And while God's vision is hope and and God's vision is a future Satan's vision is death and destruction
So you need to understand there are some competing visions in your life and I think really
Significance success meaning whatever you know word you want to assign to it I think is found in
When my vision is God's vision when there is a synergy and a congruency between my vision and
God's vision which also protects me from Satan's vision are you with me and so I want you to
Understand God has a vision for your life let me give you five values of vision you can write these
Down five values of vision number one is vision identifies vision identifies ultimately vision
Starts to help me identify God's purpose for me in other words it helps me to start understanding
Why God created me what I'm working towards if you think about for instance the people in the
Bible that receive vision some of the ones we talked about Abraham was the father of our faith
David if you think about his significance in leading God's people really to you know encounter
And in a relationship with God and expanding God's rule and kingdom you can think about
Moses and the deliverance of God's people but but vision is where we really start to understand
The purpose that God has for us and listen here's this is a life principle but it's also a leadership
Principle you can't measure I'm sorry you can't manage what you can't measure
Right so for me to know if I'm managing my life we would use this word stewarding that's more of the
Church word if I'm stewarding my life correctly I need something to measure it against and and I
Don't listen I don't measure my vision against someone else's nor do I measure my life against
Someone else's Paul even said this comparing each comparing ourselves with each other is not wise
But I need something from the Lord that I'm measuring my life against and that something is vision
That something is vision I remember when I was 19 years old I was in college at the time
At the time I really wanted to do something in the medical field and so those were the classes that I was taking
But that was where God really clarified and gave me the vision for this church where we're at now
Was when I was 19 years old now it was for a time appointed obviously it wasn't for that time
I didn't know when we would get here I didn't know what the buildings would look like I didn't know
Those things but I had the vision for the church but once I had the vision for what we now call pathway
I didn't have that name then once I had that vision it started identifying oh this is the reason I'm
Existing this is this is what I'm living towards this is what I'm living towards this is what I'm
Living towards this is this is something now that's giving me a sense of purpose and understanding
Of why God made me and it gave me a way to measure am I getting closer or farther away
So now I can steward my life better and I can manage my life better because now the vision gives me
A sense of measurement to know am I living on purpose am I living according to the vision am I
Living according to God's plan you know God can give you a vision but if you don't ever move towards
It you'll never reach it are you with me I've met a lot of people that have visions from God and my
Question is but what are you doing because come on Jonah you're on the wrong boat going the wrong way
If you're supposed to be in Nineveh you got to turn around are you with me and so vision identifies
The next thing number two value of vision is it clarifies well what does it clarify well it clarifies
Priorities it can clarify convictions it can clarify values but it also clarifies a directionality
I remember then when when I you know okay well I'm supposed to I'm supposed to be a pastor someday
Well it since I was supposed to be a pastor someday going to medical school didn't necessarily
Seem the right path anymore right nothing wrong I mean if God calls you you should go to medical
School nothing nothing wrong with that at all but I'm saying when all of a sudden you thought you're
Going this way and God's like well I need to adjust this is actually what I want you to aim towards here
Well all of a sudden it changes priorities in other words what's first in my life and what's second in
My life and what's third in my life and all of that is is based on on vision it also changes values
Because at the time I was in a secular college and I was you know a nice person and so I got invited
To places that people who want to end up as pastors probably shouldn't go are you with me
But because I knew I you know was it because I knew well the plan for my life the vision for my life
Is to be a pastor and I knew that then I was like well these values don't work for me I've got to have
These values over here does that make sense and so when I have vision all of a sudden it starts
Clarifying what needs to be first in my life what are the priorities of my life and and what are the
Values I mean I remember I almost had my amp1 textbook memorized I can almost name every part
Of the body because I thought people are going to die if I don't know what that is
Right and all of a sudden I realized with the same veracity that I have been trying to memorize
The amp1 textbook I better get in the bible and I better memorize some scripture it created some
Priority it created some values it created some um some directionality so it clarifies the third
Value of vision is it restricts now this sounds negative but it's really very helpful let me tell
You what I mean by this proverbs 29 18 says where there is no prophetic vision people cast off
Restraint but blessed is he who keeps the law where there is no vision the people one version
Says perish I believe there's been a lot of lives lost I'm not saying they were lost early I'm saying
They never reached their potential because they never found vision they perished without vision
And where there is no vision people perish but this version I like the sv because it says they
Cast off restraint in other words when there's no vision there there's there's nothing telling
Restricting my movements and my behaviors there's nothing there's nothing refining if you will
The direction of my life that we're talking about and so here have you ever you know I don't know we
We all went to school with that one guy that had a new major every semester
Was at college 37 years and still never graduated because every week he had a new dream a new idea
A new vision he was this and then that well that makes more money I'll do that well I don't know
Why I got hard I think I'll try this in other words there's no there's there's no focus
Right we're just all over the place with our lives we're just wandering aimlessly through our life
But when there's when there's vision there's there's focus right when there's vision it
Restricts have you ever have you ever gone on maybe like a if you've seen horses um we were in
New York a couple months ago and you can do a carriage ride around central park but they put
The blinders on the on the horses right and that's so they don't get spooked by something going on
The peripheral and take off the wrong way or so they don't see somebody eating an apple and decide
They want to go eat their apple I don't you know what I'm saying so it restricts their vision so
They can be more intentional with their movements and and really more successful really with their
Movements and this is what vision does it puts some blinders on that brings focus to my life it
Restricts my vision so that I'm always moving with intentionality in the right way listen if you don't
Have vision you don't have focus and if you don't have focus everything's an option and everything
Can be a distraction are you with me so so the third value of vision is it restricts the fourth
Value of vision is it simplifies vision narrows your opportunities and it narrows your options
But that's really good vision makes decisions for you if you I don't know if you're a business owner
Or you're in management especially I know our pastors probably run into this a lot I do you can
Get decision fatigue right because we make thousands of decisions a day and if you run a business
Or if you run a company and you have to make not only your decisions like you had to decide
What shoes you're going to wear but you also have to make decisions for many people in your company or
The managers in your company or maybe all the employees in your company as far as who's going
To do what when where and how or or what you know how you're going to manage you know your your you
Know if you have an inventory I mean there's obviously all these decisions and sometimes you can
Just get decision fatigue where it's like man and literally psychologically this exists where it's
Just I can't make good decisions I can't make any more decisions I'm just tired of making decisions
And by the way if you haven't ever managed a company if you've had kids you've had decision fatigue
Amen are you with me? But the point is this that when I have decision when I have vision
It starts making decisions for me I don't know if you ever thought about this but vision will
Actually make relationship decisions for you come on I am some of us in our lives could have saved
Ourself from some pain if vision would have said no to somebody are you with me right I mean it is
Because you start saying well this is not where I need to go but sometimes this I don't need to be
In a close relationship with this person for single people sometimes if you if you really know
The direction you're supposed to go then all of a sudden this person is not going the same direction
So no we shouldn't be in a relationship with them or we shouldn't date them because we have a vision
How can two walk together if they're not agreed in other words how can you really walk with someone
If you don't share vision with them right that's why it's important especially marriage
Married couples like you should be at the marriage weekend because you leave with a sense of vision
For your relationship so that you can walk together because you're going in the same
Direction are you with me so so vision it simplifies and speaking to the relational
Component it creates unity as well that's just another one but but it simplifies and the fifth
Value of vision is it energizes remember what we said one of the dangers of vision is
That we have to slow down when we can't see but when we can see we can move faster
Well think about Habakkuk because what God says is after you write it down run
Once you have vision you can move faster once you have vision the people around you can move faster
And so he's saying hey vision expedites but why does it expedite because vision I think brings passion
Like when I really have a vision that comes from the Lord I get passionate about that vision
Because it is from the Lord and I get excited about it and I'm energized by it and I can't wait to get
Get moving right like for me all week long just the fact that I was going to get to talk to you about
Vision because this is what I love to do and it's part of my vision so the fact that I got to talk
To you today I was waiting all week long to get here to have this conversation because I'm like oh
I just got to tell them I just want to help somebody today there's probably one person that needs some
Clarity that needs some vision and God's going to give it to them and he's going to use me to help
Clarify some things and make some points and I was very excited because this is what I do it's my vision
So I'm energized by it like I'm excited to do it right and and and so that's what vision does it
It energizes because think about this um it is true I should say this it is true that
It is possible we all have desires in us that came from us that didn't come from God
Are you with me like like I don't think my desire for junk food really came from the Lord I think that
I don't I don't I don't think it's from him I do think he made the cocoa plant I do think that
I'm not sure you know he made sugar cane so I mean he made the ingredients you understand
Like everything an M&M is made out of came from the Lord and uh and I just want to point that out
Right now um and you know I'm not saying that God you know Janne eats ice cream and um like every
Night she eats ice cream it's it's her thing and and I started eating ice cream and uh then I started
Being larger and it doesn't it doesn't it doesn't affect her in that way I wonder the guys that will
Ice cream uh ultimately the cow eats the grass then the cow magically turns the grass into ice cream
Is somewhat of a miracle so technically ice cream is processed salad and uh and you understand I'm
Saying it's really not about what's right it's about what you can justify in life no it's that's bad
Don't write that down Pastor Marty says no he didn't um it is possible to have desires that are
Not holy and desires that are somewhat selfish because we are you know beings that do exist in
The flesh and we are being sanctified and we are working out our relationship with God
And God is transforming us into the image which has come but there's a process so there's the
Immediate work of salvation and then there's the progressive work of salvation and so I get that
But there are desires here's what I need you to hear there are desires that you have inside you
Right now that aren't from you they are from God they exist on the inside of you when scripture says
When God says you know he will give us the desires of our heart he's not saying if you serve your time
I'll give you what you want you know that's not like God's not making you a prison deal you
Understand like like you know what hey you hey you do really good I'm gonna all help you in the end
No what is he saying he's saying listen as I draw near to God and as I really build my relationship
With God I'm gonna come to realize that the the strongest desires of my heart probably exist
Because of him and they actually accelerate or expand his kingdom he put them on the inside of me
And that's why God says listen hey you you hang out with me you draw near to me right you you put me first
Yeah I'm gonna give you the desires of your heart because I put the desire there
I'm the one that you it didn't come from you it came from me and I didn't give you that desire to frustrate you
I gave you that desire to fulfill you because it came from me and so you need to understand that
That ultimately God gives us these desires and and ultimately they come from him when we talk about
Finding our vision what you and write this down this this will help you because now we're going to turn the corner
Into really finding our vision okay but write this down what I believe for the most part your vision is actually inside of you
How do I know that because where does your vision come from help me out everybody your vision comes from God
And who is inside of you and who made you and who created you and who is recreating you into the image of his own son
God and so I ultimately think so many times we're looking out here and we think well there's a good vision or there's a good vision
Or I saw this on TikTok or my friend did this or I saw this on Instagram and those may be wonderful for whoever they are
But if you want to find vision then you get with God and find out what did God put on the inside of you
Because listen to me listen to me I believe this would be good to write down I believe design reveals destiny
Let me say it another way God has a plan and a purpose we'll call that destiny
Well if God wants you to get there then he designs you to get there if God wants you to do that he designs you to do that
Write this down God never uses what you don't have
God doesn't need what you don't have because so many times we will sit in our pew and say well God I can't do that because
I'm not kind of like Moses I'm not good with words I'm not good with words either I have a terrible vocabulary right
But I can get really excited and make a point I'm not good with words I'm good with arguments
Are you with me like my mama said baby be a preacher or a lawyer it's your only hope
Right but the point is God I believe design reveals destiny and if God designed me in a way
Or if God destined me then God designed me and God gave me what I needed to get there
God never uses what you don't have he never asks for what you don't have and he never calls who you are not
He only calls who you are with what you have with where you have because God actually doesn't need you to do it
He needs you to surrender to it and if you'll surrender to it he'll use you to do it and he'll make up what you don't have
Like just like your your word says like Paul says his strength is made perfect when I can't in my weakness God can't
He needs listen he needs my availability a lot more than he needs my availability
But I think ultimately I think I think your vision is inside of you because God's inside of you
And remember vision listen vision vision comes from God
Let me give you some things to consider when you're when you when you want to consider you might ask these
You can ask yourself these questions you may want to jot them down I'll give you four questions really quickly
Number one what thoughts do I have that will not leave thoughts that will not leave what thoughts do I have that I've never got
They don't leave they don't leave I've had these thoughts for years and years and years
It's the first question here's another question what dreams do I have that that don't die
What are the dreams that I have they just don't die they just keep coming up again coming up again they just don't ever die
What thoughts do I have that won't leave what dreams do I have that won't die what ideas do I have that don't fade
These ideas just don't go away
Right and then what desires do I have that don't diminish?
I think these are four great questions to ask
On this on this path if you will to finding God's vision for your life if I have thoughts that won't leave dreams
That won't die ideas that don't fade desires that don't diminish
This really is helping I think me to understand what God has locked up on the inside of me another way to say it is
What desire do I have that would change something in the world?
What desire do I have that change something another another thing to say is if it if it's a problem that bothers you
Maybe you're called to do something about it
I mean sometimes finding God's vision for our life is that happy medium between what ticks us off and what makes us tick
Right like like for me like what makes me tick is
This like today makes me tick because I feel like here are people I see you leaning in you're writing things down
You're like, okay. We're with you preacher like we want to live the life
God called us to we want to live on purpose that fires me up what what ticks me off when I see people wasting their lives
Right and choosing to do that. No, I don't get mad at them. It just you know, it ticks me off
I'm like stupid devil. You know what I'm saying? Like, um, like I want to go get them
It's like God has a plan for your life. You know what I'm saying, but that's weird to do in Walmart. And so um
You know and and then what really you know, one of the things like I love another thing I get I realize
This really this last year. I'm so protective of of the big C church
So not just I'm obviously protective protective pathway, but the big C church because I see so many enemies of the church today
In fact, I think the thing that's threatening the church more than anything else
There are a few huge threats that I see one is today pastors care more about being famous than making disciples
And so so because of that they don't preach the truth. They preach for clicks
And this is this is horrendous and it is it's heretical in a lot of ways what they're teaching
But they won't actually talk about the right things the right way and we're leaving good sound theological doctrine behind because
All we're really interested in is being more famous
And so we're using the pulpit and all the church's resources to build our kingdom of fame
So we can write a book or whatever and leave the church and go do a podcast or whatever
And so to me that's something that's really bothering me
And then another thing is just the the doctrine of demons it happens
You know there was the liberal theology that came out in the early 1900s today
We have the progressive christian christian theology which undermines the deity of christ and the inerrancy of scripture
And that's by the way
That's what you need to do in order to have a fake gospel is you have to remove the deity the specialness
That is jesus the holiness that is jesus you undermine the
Essentially the authority of god's word and you undermine the the what made jesus jesus the fact that he was god incarnate
And so so to me these are these are things but I realized this last week
I was listening to a clip on instagram and I just got mad
I got mad I was like
Like I was about to go prophetically
Psycho billy ninja if I could have got a hold of somebody in that moment right like
Woof anyways, and I thought what is this? I thought man. I don't like it because it's false doctrine
It's bad teaching and it's motivated by selfish ambition
And it is actually in my opinion taking advantage of the church and I don't like that
And so to me, you know this it's between what ticks you off and what makes you tick everybody. Are you with me?
Let me give you three i'm going to call them three steps
They're very simple if you want to find god's vision for your life
Let me give you these three the the first one is this capture it
Capture it and what I mean by that remember what god told habakkuk right? He said write it down
Write it down guys. I don't have time to go through all the science of this. There's power in writing things down
If it wouldn't have been then god wouldn't have told habakkuk to write it down
Even david makes this comment. He said
These things I didn't understand until I wrote them down
King david said that and so by the way, that's you can't search it exactly like that because that's a paraphrase version
I think the actual quote would be he made known to me these things in writing
But he's by my own hand. I think that's going to be closer if you want to google that verse anyways, but the point is
There's power in writing it down. So capture it and you say well pastor. I don't know what to write down
Here's where I think people get blocked
You sit down and try to write a vision statement, but what you need to do is try to unpack vision
So when I say capture it you could say brainstorm it
In other words, i'm going to sit down now. You're going to sit down with god. Come on. Good vision is not dreamed up
It's prayed down. Come on somebody. Are you with me?
So you're going to sit down with god and you're going to try to unpack how god has designed you what the vision is
What makes you tick what ticks you off maybe look at some of these questions like what are the thoughts that don't leave the dreams that don't die
The thoughts that never go away
What are those things and you're not trying to get a sentence you're trying to fill a page or two
With things that are in your heart their desires of your heart. You're going to get them out on paper
You're going to capture them on paper, right?
And so you're going to write that down just you know, whatever like god. I'm really passionate about this
I really love this this kind of thing
I'm really passionate about this. I really love this this kind of annoys me like here's a dream i've always had here's a thought that won't go away
Here's a desire that just never seems to fade away, right?
And we're just putting this on paper with the lord processing with god in our quiet time
If it takes a month fine
It's we're not putting a time stamp. It's not like a drive-through thing
I know we live in the drive-through world
But sometimes vision is not necessarily something you just drive through and get on a sunday. Come on somebody
All right, you just can't order a number three at you know, chick-fil-a and walk away with vision
All right, and so I mean you can get away with chicken but not vision and so
And so capture it the next step is is consolidate
Consolidated and here's where i'm really weighing this out
And so I take all these different fragments and ideas and statements or whatever
And I try to put them in categories if I can and name the categories
Uh, I try to see what's alike about them or how they fit together
So i'm trying to consolidate trying to distill maybe that's a good word to distill this down
And ultimately I want to take all of that and and I want to get it to
maybe four
Sentences at most somewhere between two and four sentences one and one is great
But somewhere between two and four sentences five if you just have to but you consolidate it down
Um
And and and then once it's consolidated then here's the third one you contemplate
This is where we go back to the lord again
Really go back to the lord and say hey, i've kind of got a paragraph here. I've got four sentences three sentences something like that
But lord, I want to sit with you
And I want us to go over this because remember good vision is not dreamed up. It's prayed down
Are you with me?
And so god, you know, let's let's work on it and refine it, right?
Um, and then this is where you come on. This is a revision. Come on somebody division again, right revision
And that's where you just keep working it down and hopefully you leave here now with a sentence
It could be a complex sentence if you want
But it's a sentence and it's one that you feel like okay god and I have met right? I have captured it
I have you know, I have distilled this down. I've consolidated it
I've contemplated it with the lord and by the way contemplating may take a few weeks
I'm not saying this something that just happens on a monday morning
It could be that clear but it's okay to take some time with this because remember we're trying to get a a life vision a vision
For our lives if if we don't have one or even if we have one we're trying to make it as clear
Come on. That's what habakkuk said make it plain. God said to habakkuk make it plain
Right. I don't know about you. I need things plain. I'm pretty simple, right?
I need things plain and so when you get there then you can always come back and reevaluate it as you're walking through life
Because it is true at different seasons
God may nuance that vision a different way for a different people group or for a different company or for a different idea
Whatever the case may be god can I mean he can make in course corrections
So we this is something we walk out with him. It's not something that we walk out by ourselves
Are you are you with me?
Here's what I want you to understand is god if nothing else
God has this incredible vision for creation
And out of that vision you were created and I was created
And and we were created for god's vision
So god has a vision for you and god has a plan for you and god has a purpose for you and I think
Not just about getting unstuck as we're talking about
I think just life in general having success or fulfillment for life to be meaningful for us to sleep well at night
I think is about living god's plan and walking out god's purpose and we don't do that without god's vision
So I want you to understand god just doesn't call pastors
Right god calls everybody
You roman's eight says you are called according to the purpose of god
Well, if god calls you you had a vision because god starts with vision. He turns on the light first
And so church, I want us all especially this last week of the fast. Let's lean in to a god
born vision for our lives and really try to understand the plans like we read in jeremiah 29 that god has for us
For a hope and a future and that way if you feel stuck you can see your way out
If you're a little confused and wandering around you can see your way forward
But I want everyone to have god's vision for their life
Especially if you feel your way stuck today if you feel stuck today, you can see your way
out amen come on give jesus praise today
Hey pastor marty here from pathway church, and I just want to say thank you
For joining us and I want to encourage you to get connected and stay connected and there's several ways you can do that
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Is that you walk in the purpose for which god made and created and redeemed you for
We love to connect people to purpose
We thank you for giving us this opportunity and if you're ever at long view or you are in long view
I'd love to invite you to join us in person each weekend listen
I pray god's best for your life. I believe if you follow jesus
Your best is ahead