Giving Birth to Vision – #2 Possibility
Week #2 Outline: Possibility
Pro 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
• No = nothing or not exist
• Vision = to gaze at, to mentally perceive, contemplate with pleasure a dream or revelation
• Perish = avoid, go back, uncover
When God given dreams are non existent in your life, you avoid going forward, and instead go back! And, happiness is found when you live God’s way!
God wants you to DREAM!
– He wants you to see His vision for your life
– He wants you to go forward & accomplish His plans for you
– He wants you to have pleasure in thinking & dreaming about His plans for your life
* This is VERY different, and not to be confused with, the “New Age” theology…
Everything stems from your own thinking; if you can dream it you can have it, the power for change comes from within, you have the power to heal yourself, blah, blah, blah!
Without remaining in Jesus, we are powerless!
Jesus said… in John 15:5
Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
Through Christ we can do all things, because He strengthens us! – Philippians 4:13
Not new age living, but living as we are instructed in – Philippians 4:8
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing – Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. NLT
We are to gaze with pleasure on the REAL fact that God has plans & a purpose for your life – still in front of you – something still left for you to accomplish!
Possibility…
Imagine what possibilities lay before us – with God in control of our lives!
The Number Game
** On your handout, I would like for you to write down a number – any number.
Now show this number to the person sitting beside you. What numbers did you write?
Most of the time, people will write a number under 20, because that’s an easy, manageable number. Something that they are used to – something they’ve accomplished before!
I’d like to give you a little story about a little company that I do some work for, you might have heard of them?
In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin incorporated Google while still graduate students at Stanford University. The last I knew, internet users perform over 150 million searches a day on the Google Search Engine, and it accesses over two billion pages in 74 different languages. One study showed that Google users used the search engine 13 million hours in one month – which I’m sure has already increased significantly! Compare that with Yahoo that came in second with 5.4 million hours.
Google is dominant.
How did they get so big? I don’t have the expertise to answer that question, but I can tell you that it began with their initial vision.
** The word Google comes from a mathematical term that is the number 1 followed by 100 zeroes.
While most people are likely to pick a number like 14 or 98, Brin & Page decided to pick a googol—1 with 100 zeroes – before the first search was even made!
Striking the arrows half heartedly – 2Kings 13:14-19
King Jehoash was given the opportunity to totally destroy his enemy, but was halfhearted, and left so much possibility on the table!
Parable of the talents – Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus said this was an illustration of the Kingdom of heaven!
• The money belonged to the Master
• He gave them each an amount that He knew they could handle
• The money was to invest for Him, to bring Him a return
• The first 2 servants “went to work immediately” & DOUBLED their Master’s investment
• The last servant dug a hole & buried the money – for safekeeping. Was it wrong for him to want to keep the money safe? YES!
• The Master came home after a long time – so they had time to work
• The 3rd servant was only thinking of himself – not bringing increase to his Master!
• He was called wicked – lazy – useless
Jesus said, in verse 29, …those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken.
* The money didn’t belong to the servants in the first place, but was a tool given to them to use on the Master’s behalf!
Think about the possibilities that God has set before us in our lives!
You might be saying… I’m ok where I am – it’s good enough for me & my family!
But… is that good enough for God?
Are you even willing to do more, go farther, reach more goals, win more souls?
As an example – people say things like…
I want to earn as much money as possible – the problem is…
– they were not specific in how much they actually wanted
– The amount they thought possible was to small
Christians often say…
We want to reach as many people for Christ as we can – often, the problem is…
– they don’t actually have a goal in mind
– the amount of people that is possible for them is often to small – or they go on past experience – which could be 0
We need to enlarge our vision – enlarge the possibility of what God has for us!