God-Sized Vision
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Introduction
Introduction
Passage: Genesis 37:1-11
Main Idea: God-sized visions may seem crazy, but they’re never impossible.
Message Goal: Share with the saints the vision God has given me for a primitive church model for modern times. Help hearers dream big and beyond their own capabilities and through the power of God.
The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott “If You Have a Dream You Can Make It Happen”
In February 2001, Ellen MacArthur completed her circumnavigation of the world in the Bay of Biscay. An ecstatic crowd of more than 200,000 people welcomed her with fireworks, floodlights, and flares, as she was the youngest (24) and smallest (157 cm) competitor and completed the race in 94 days, 4 hours, 25 minutes, and 40 seconds—12 days faster than the previous record. There had been some days out there, she confessed, when she feared for her life, “but the most important message,” she continued, “is that if you have a dream you can make it happen.” Her 18.3-meter yacht was called “Kingfisher.” (She came second in the race, one day behind the winner.)
In an interview she talked about how the toil of having to do everything on the ship. Yet, through mental and physical fatigue, she was still able to say, the lowest lows brought the highest highs. Dreaming is important for any task we may embark.
In a conversation with the pastor [Pastor Dale Bronner] of one of the largest churches in Atlanta, GA, I asked the pastor, “If you could share with a young pastor the key to the success you have experienced leading a congregation, what would it be?” He responded, “I would tell him the key is exposure. If you can expose yourself to new things, you can develop a dream! Once you have a dream you now have discovered something to work towards.”
Today, we have read a passage about a dreamer. This dream exposed him to a reality that others could not see. There is an art to dreaming. Dreams are an experience of unreal events that occur in the mind of a person during sleep. In ancient times dreams were often associated with messages from deities.
Your dream is a message from God! The difference between a dream and a fantasy is the deliverer of the message. The dream is God’s delivering of a message to us, but a fantasy is our own delivery of a message to ourselves. And the unique thing is whoever delivers the message bears the responsibility of turning those unreal events into real events of manifestation.
You will know the difference between a dream and a fantasy when you are able to realize who—whether you or God—made it happen.
If Joseph was here, he would tell us he had a dream. He experienced obstacles that would not allow for a fantasy.
In Genesis 37:12-36, he was sold by his brothers into slavery.
In Genesis 39, he is accused of sexually assaulting the wife of an officer of Pharaoh.
In Genesis 40, he serves but is forgotten.
Yet, everywhere he goes, the text reads God was with Joseph.
The dream gives you favor with God.
The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.
The vision is for those whom God wills for you to help.
After Joseph buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, “If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him.”
So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before he died your father gave a command: ‘Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin—the suffering they caused you.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when their message came to him. His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people. Therefore don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Joshua and Caleb vs. Everyone Else: Numbers 13-14
The Vision
The Vision
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1 After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and he sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go.
2 He told them, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.
3 Now go; I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves.
4 Don’t carry a money-bag, traveling bag, or sandals; don’t greet anyone along the road.
5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’
6 If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.
7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they offer, for the worker is worthy of his wages. Don’t move from house to house.
8 When you enter any town, and they welcome you, eat the things set before you.
9 Heal the sick who are there, and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near you.’
10 When you enter any town, and they don’t welcome you, go out into its streets and say,
11 ‘We are wiping off even the dust of your town that clings to our feet as a witness against you. Know this for certain: The kingdom of God has come near.’
12 I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.
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18 A ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.
20 You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.”
21 “I have kept all these from my youth,” he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich.
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13 When Jesus heard about it, he withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns.
14 When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick.
15 When evening came, the disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
16 “They don’t need to go away,” Jesus told them. “You give them something to eat.”
17 “But we only have five loaves and two fish here,” they said to him.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said.
19 Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
20 Everyone ate and was satisfied. They picked up twelve baskets full of leftover pieces.
21 Now those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
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13 When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.
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31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left.
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 “ ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in;
36 I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’
40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!
42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink;
43 I was a stranger and you didn’t take me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of me.’
44 “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help you?’
45 “Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
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11 Afterward he was on his way to a town called Nain. His disciples and a large crowd were traveling with him.
12 Just as he neared the gate of the town, a dead man was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the town was also with her.
13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said, “Don’t weep.”
14 Then he came up and touched the open coffin, and the pallbearers stopped. And he said, “Young man, I tell you, get up!”
15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
16 Then fear came over everyone, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.”
17 This report about him went throughout Judea and all the vicinity.
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14 When he saw them, he told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And while they were going, they were cleansed.
15 But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God.
16 He fell facedown at his feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan.
17 Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
18 Didn’t any return to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
19 And he told him, “Get up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.”
20 When he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable;
21 no one will say, ‘See here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
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2 At dawn he went to the temple again, and all the people were coming to him. He sat down and began to teach them.
3 Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, making her stand in the center.
4 “Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery.
5 In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”
6 They asked this to trap him, in order that they might have evidence to accuse him. Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger.
7 When they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said to them, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 Then he stooped down again and continued writing on the ground.
9 When they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men. Only he was left, with the woman in the center.
10 When Jesus stood up, he said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, Lord,” she answered. “Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”]
12 Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
I have a God-sized vision of a church that would be to the world today what Jesus was to the world back then. In every way, I see the body of Christ being the salt and light of the world while using those who will dare to dream a God-sized vision.