You are invited to seek a clear, biblical vision for your life that goes beyond temporary resolutions like New Year's fitness goals. As you surrender to God's restraint and discipline, consider how you can support the church's specific vision for a new building this year. Let this clarity drive your discipleship and your generosity as you walk out your purpose in Christ.
Thank you so much. And my name is David John Phillips. I have the joy and honor of getting to be the pastor here. There's no place that I'd rather be. There's nothing that I'd rather be doing.
I do say that every week and I do mean it from the depths of my heart. My prayer is that whether this is your first time in church or your first time at this church, or you've been coming for and going to church for 60 years, my prayer is that you encounter the presence and the power of God in a very real way, which leads you into the valley of decision. Because you can't encounter his power in his presence and not be in a place where you have to decide either I'm going all in all the more, I'm moving in deeper levels of surrender, yes, Lord, or I'm saying no, I'm gonna stay the same, which is to choose myself instead of Jesus. Amen? Amen.
So my prayer is that you encounter his love in such a way, you see his goodness in such a way that it leads you into deeper levels of repentance, deeper levels of I'm all in, deeper levels of experiencing a relationship with him day in and day out. And as we sang the first song, if you missed the first song, you missed out. It said, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Preached a message on that 2 weeks ago, where the spirit of the Lord is, where you surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, you experience the freedom of His spirit in any area of your life. Amen?
And I can't help but mention this, have to, on social media and other things, watching over the last couple days. It blessed my heart. I sound like a southern lady. Bless "bless my heart". I grew up in Louisiana.
I mean, you know, bless my heart. Bless your heart. Anyway, it blessed me to see the church in Venezuela praying for *freedom* for years, praying for revival. We're called to make disciples of nations. And how can you disciple a nation if there's a communist, murderous leader that's oppressing the people.
And the church in Venezuela praying for revival, sharing the gospel in the midst of persecution, and God moved in a powerful way. You know, all throughout the Bible, all throughout the Old Testament, God uses nations to judge nations. He uses nations to come in and overturn others, which is a powerful and amazing thing. And to get to be used as a part of that overturning a communist, oppressive, murderous regime as an answer to the prayers of the church in Venezuela, and now there's millions of people throughout the streets rejoicing for freedom. Come on.
Look, this this gospel, people are oh, you're you're getting political on us. No. No. Don't you know that the gospel says we're supposed to disciple nations? So guess what?
It's my prayer that the communist, murderous, Islamic dictator in Iran is overthrown too. And the 1 in North Korea, and the 1 in China. FYI. Why? Because in China, there's persecution of the church.
In North Korea, there's oppression of the there used to be revival in North Korea, and then Satan didn't like it. So my prayer is that all of them are overturned, so that there can be the freedom of the gospel. Amen. Amen. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Where the state is the Lord, there's oppression. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Anyway, happy new year. It's not the message. You just had to go there because it's a current event that's important.
So here's my goal for the message today. Vision. My goal is to help you to understand the need for vision in your life. Then, to give you clear, biblical, overarching vision for your life, and the tools on how to have specific biblical vision in your life. And then I wanna give you the clear overarching vision for this church, and specific vision for the church as well for this year.
You guys good with that? I think we got time for that. We'll see what happens here. But you've probably heard this verse quoted over and over in your life. If you've been around the church for any amount of time, it's Proverbs-29:18.
Where there is no vision, the people perish. You've heard that? Where there's no vision, the people perish. Most people don't quote the rest of the verse, which is kind of important. Where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
We're gonna read multiple different versions here, that's the King James version. ESV says, where there is no vision, people Oh, that's the King James. ESV says, where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint. But blessed is he who keeps the law. The NIV says, where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint.
But blessed is the 1 who heeds wisdom's instruction. The NASB, New American Standard Bible, says, where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is the 1 who keeps the law. Just FYI, all of these are great translations. They're choosing how to translate based on the structure that they're following, all of them mean basically the same thing, but piecing together where there is no vision, the people perish, or the people are unrestrained, or cast off restraint, where there's rebellion, there's dying. And there's going to be rebellion when there's no clear vision or where people lose the vision.
How do we understand this? Like, in this, there's this innate, I don't want to be restrained. I want freedom. Mel Gibson, freedom. But I don't want to perish too.
So how do I understand? There are principles of the kingdom of heaven that govern those of the kingdom of heaven. The Holy Spirit always operates according to the principles of the kingdom of heaven because He is God, and he created these principles and they are good. When non believers operate according to the principles of the kingdom of heaven, they get the blessings of operating according to the wisdom of God. That's why Proverbs works, and even non believers, businessmen and others read the book of Proverbs because there's wisdom there, and there's wisdom in abiding by God's wisdom.
There is life, the life of God in surrender, in restraint. There's wisdom and proper restraint, but you will not put on restraint without clear vision, and you will not keep on restraint without continuing to give that vision its proper weight, understanding the why for it in your life. As you go through things that will try to distract you or get you to quit before the vision is accomplished without the proper weight, you will be distracted and give in to that temptation. Let me give you an example. New Year's resolutions.
This is the time when people make those weight loss goals. Right? Fitness goals, and all of the gyms are filled with people for about 2 weeks. New year, new me. I'm going lose weight, 10, 20, 50 pounds that I put on in the last 1 to 5 years.
I'm going on a diet, and this time it's going to work. My goal or my vision is to be able to fit in those jeans from college or from high school, get some abs that disappeared some time ago. So, if that vision of yourself is being smaller or stronger or having more energy, if that is important enough to you, if it holds enough weight in your life, then you will put on *restraint* to accomplish the vision. You will hold yourself back from eating those late night snacks. You'll make the time to go to the gym and to lift weights and to do cardio.
You'll take the time to research and actually shift and change your habits. Inevitably, temptation to quit will come. Probably not all at once, but maybe an excuse here with this cookie, with that cake, and you validate in your mind over and over, greater and greater steps in the opposite direction of the vision. Why? Because the overall vision is not as important to you as your desire in that moment.
And if the vision was more clear, the why was more weighty, you would have kept on restraint. But because after a day or after a week, you forgot the vision, the vision lost weight in your mind, you casted off restraint and ended up not accomplishing the original goal. Does that bring clarity to that verse? God has given me, most of you know if you've been coming for the last couple of months, the vision of being a marathon runner. I'm working out that word put in.
I'm not there yet, but I will be. So, I have to put on restraint, set aside comfort, not sleep in on Saturdays, but get up and run those long runs, Set aside hours of time each week to be steadfast and endure through the pain of progress, and trust me, learning to endure, there is pain in progress because you are being stretched and growing. You can't grow without stretching, and you can't grow and stretch without proper restraint of who you used to be for who God's called you to be. Without the restraint of discipline in my life, then I would not accomplish the vision of running a marathon. So where there is clear vision, there will always be restraint and happiness.
Remember the next part of Proverbs-29:18, happy is he who keeps the law. We are created to walk in *surrender* to the *Lordship* of Jesus Christ, His processes and His ways, and where we have clear vision of such, we willingly put on restraint in our lives to accomplish it. And in that restraint, in that surrender, there is both freedom and joy. I ran 15 miles yesterday. 37 miles last week.
Why? Because I have vision. I feel joy in the moment. Sometimes it's hard, but I rejoice in the suffering. *James-1*, knowing that perseverance will produce in me maturity.
*Romans-5*, suffering produces perseverance, which produces proven character, which produces hope that does not disappoint. You don't grow without stretching. You don't stretch without suffering. And if you wimp out in the midst of the suffering, you'll never accomplish the goal, and you'll never experience the happiness of restraint in sitting under the goal or the law that God gave you. Make sense?
You are created to accomplish great things alone and great things together in the body of Christ. And that doesn't come without clear vision and willing surrender, becoming disciplined **disciples** of Christ Jesus. Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint, but happy is the 1 who keeps the law. So Father God, let your vision for our lives be so clear that we willingly surrender to you in every area of our life. And Lord God, let us over let us understand the overarching, overarching principle and vision that you have for our life.
And then clearly hear and be able to clearly understand when you're directing multiple clear visions in the areas of our life. In Jesus name. Everybody said? Amen. Amen.
You realize God has an overarching vision for each 1 of your lives that is the exact same as the person on your right and the person on your left. The overarching vision for your life is no different than the overarching vision that God had for Adam and Eve, that God had for all of the people in the Bible, that God had for all of the disciples, the apostles. You have an overarching vision for His plan for your life, and you're not going to have clear visions of what God wants to do in your family, in your business, in the different areas of your life. You're not going to have super clear visions until you're surrendered to His overarching vision. And all of it plays in in God's grand plan, God's story for your life.
All of history is His story, and your story plays in as a reflection of Christ to the world around, but into His story because He's the center of it. Jesus is the center. Amen? So I want to give you the clear overarching vision for your life. How to have that, how to walk that out, then how to understand the specific visions that He has for each 1 of your life that are different because you'll each play a different part of the body of Christ, and then to understand the overarching vision for this church and the specific visions that God has for this church, specifically for this year.
To show you that I'm not making this up, let's go to Acts-9. There's a verse for that. There's always a verse for that. You've heard of Paul, who wrote a lot of the New Testament. Before he was named Paul, he was Saul, and his personal vision for his life, he was gung ho about it.
He was all in for imprisoning followers of the way of Jesus Christ, killing Christians. Saul was all in. We know that because earlier in Acts, he's standing at the coats of those that are throwing stones. The first martyr, Stephen, says the young man Saul was standing there and improving of what was going on. He caught vision, demonic vision for his life, opposed to the very thing that God wanted him to do.
He didn't know that yet because he hadn't understood how to have clear vision for what God has, and he's running at it hardcore, killing Christians. As a matter of fact, we pick up right there in Acts-9. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, that's the way of Jesus, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied. Side note, Saul wasn't persecuting physical Jesus, he was persecuting the church, Believers, he was persecuting gatherings of believers, and individual believers, and families, and taking them off to prison.
And Jesus said, Saul was persecuting himself. Be careful talking about the church. Yeah. That's right. Because you're talking about Jesus.
Be careful what you say, what you do. Be careful neglecting the church. Jesus says you're neglecting Him. We'll talk about it. I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting, he replied.
Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the sound, but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, and when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.
For 3 days, he was blind, and did not see, eat, or drink anything. In Damascus, there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, Ananias. Yes, Lord, he answered. The Lord told him, go to the house of Judas on straight street, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
How many you guys want to hear God that clearly? Hey, you can. We're going talk about how today. God gave Ananias a specific vision in his life. Not the overarching vision for his life, but a specific vision that impacted somebody else's overarching vision.
God wants to use you in your daily life to know His word, to know His voice, so that your life can impact those around you, and change the trajectory of their life just like Ananias' did Saul's. Lord, Ananias said, I've heard many reports about this man, and all the harm he's done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he's come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name. But the Lord said to Ananias, go. This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles, and their kings, and to the people of Israel.
I will show him how much he must suffer. Everybody say suffer. Suffer. From my name. Putting on restraint is gonna be suffering for your flesh.
Some of you may be called into a place like North Korea, Iran, or Venezuela, or other places. Maybe you'll experience personal physical *persecution* as well. It's worth it. Jesus is worth it. And if he's not worth it to you, then maybe you don't have a clear vision of Jesus yet.
I want such a clear vision of Jesus that I don't love my life unto death anymore. Because those that overcame the enemy, Revelation-12:11, they overcame the enemy by the "blood of the lamb" and by the word of their testimony. Meaning they were unashamed to share their testimony even in the face of persecution. In America, it's just in the face of what he thinks about me. And then it says, they did not love their life unto death.
They did not love their life unto death. It's not my life anymore. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. I gave my life up to Jesus because he's worth it. Then Ananias went to the house and entered it, placing his hands on Saul.
He said, brother Saul. So he called him brother, which meant he was already born again. When was he born again? When he had an encounter with Jesus and he surrendered to him as Lord. And he obeyed.
Right? His how do we know he surrendered to him as Lord? Because Saul got up, went to the place where the Lord told him. So in that encounter with Jesus, he surrendered to him as Lord, was born again, and we know that because he actually did the thing. Ananias called him, brother Saul, Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me to you so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Immediately, something like scales fell off from his eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once, some versions say immediately. Everybody say immediately.
Immediately. He began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. The overarching vision for your life first requires a clear vision of Jesus. Have to, every 1 of you have have had your own vision for your life in some form, shape, or another, and you're going in 1 direction, and you will not fully surrender and shift the direction, the trajectory of your life until you have a clear vision like Saul turned Paul of Jesus. Would it be cool if he physically came like he did there, and there was a light shining?
Yeah, that would be cool. Most people, it doesn't happen that way. But you have to have a clear vision of Jesus, and in that vision of Jesus, like Saul, you will lose your vision for your life, and you will pick up His vision for your life, if He's Lord. Incorporating the things that you like about Him into your life is not Christianity. Surrender to Lordship is.
Coming to church every now and then because it makes you feel good is not Christianity. *Surrendering to the Lordship* of Jesus is. Church is a part of that. You have to have a clear vision of Jesus, and it has to interrupt your direction of life, such that you lose sight of where you are going. Shift, and begin to surrender, and go where Jesus tells you to go.
That is the Christian life. And his overarching vision is the same for every 1 of you. It's the exact same. You know what it is? I bet this church is tired of me quoting this verse.
*Matthew-28:16*. The 11 **disciples** went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. Now, who are these 11 disciples? These are the 11 disciples who Jesus called. Some were fishermen.
He called them. They had an encounter with Jesus, and then their whole trajectory of their life shifted. Without that shift, I don't know if you've had an encounter with Jesus. Does that mean you have to change your job? Not necessarily, but maybe.
There's gonna be an encounter. Someone from fishermen to followers, someone from tax collectors to followers, from Pharisees to followers. It was an encounter and a shift. And these 11 disciples were with Him for about 3 years. They saw Jesus on the cross.
They ran in fear, then they were gathered in a room. The risen Lord appeared before them. They were born again. They had surrendered to His Lordship. He breathed the Holy Spirit into their life.
They've seen Him multiple times since He's resurrected. These 11 **disciples** that He's planning on using to impact the world. When they saw Him, verse 17, they worshiped Him. Glorious. But some doubted.
And Jesus turned to them, read it with me in verse 18. You sorry doubters, I can't believe you're doubting. Get out of my sight. I have to start over with somebody who's not gonna doubt me so much. Is that what it says?
Why do why do we live that way? Feel that way on the inside? What did Jesus actually say? Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. Therefore, and "make disciples" of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely, I'm with you always to the very end of the age. Despite their doubt, Jesus still commissioned them with all *authority* and promised to be with them. And what did he commission them to do? The same overarching principle of your life. Make disciples.
Go multiply in others what I've done in you. Oh, you might be doubting, but I'm still commissioning you with all authority because you're mine. And I'm gonna be with you despite your doubt. Just keep going. Don't stop.
But what do I give out? Well, just do what Saul did. Saul immediately, immediately, encounter with Jesus, commissioned, immediately he goes preaching the gospel. What did he give? What Jesus had commanded him.
What do you give? Out everything that I have commanded you. All you have to have is an encounter with Jesus, a shift of direction. And now, you give out what He's given. And as you give out what He's given, you get more.
But I don't know. How can I make a *disciple* of Jesus? I I don't even know how to be 1 myself. That's it. That's it.
A disciple is a **disciplined follower** of Jesus Christ. You can't make what you're not. You make disciples by becoming better disciplined followers of Jesus Christ yourself. And to the extent that you are, that's what you'll sow. Constantly be sowing.
You'll constantly be growing and becoming a better disciplined follower of Jesus Christ. He's given you the grace for it. He's given you the promise for it. We just got to believe it. So how do you become a disciplined follower of Jesus?
The overarching vision for your life. You encounter him, he shifts the trajectory of your life to now be a *disciple* maker. "Happy is he" who follows the law. You're missing out on some happiness in your life? Maybe it's because you're not following his vision for your life and making disciples.
So become a better disciplined follower of Jesus, and then multiply that. But how do you be a disciplined follower of Jesus Christ? Well, it's very clear. Let's just go back to the first church, Acts-2. What did they do?
Peter, the Holy Spirit's poured out in power. Peter gets up, preaches the gospel, and 3,000 people get saved. They get born again in that moment. We have the first church right there. Bam.
How did they become disciplined followers of Jesus? *Acts-2:42*. They devoted themselves to the **apostles' teaching**. You wanna be a better disciplined follower of Jesus? Devote yourself to the apostles' teaching, to the Word, knowing this thing, and to the preaching of the Word.
Devote yourself. That's what they did. That's what the first church did. They devoted themselves. So for me, I'm, I would say I'm a disciplined follower of Jesus, but man, I need to grow.
I need to become more disciplined, not out of condemnation. His love compels me. I'm compelled by the love of Christ. I know how much He loves me, which compels me to grow more disciplined, which compels me to devote myself all the more to the apostles teaching, to the Word, and to the preaching of the Word, to people that know more than I do, so I can see their faith, and imitate their faith, and grow like they have. How do you become a better disciple maker?
Grow as a disciplined follower of Jesus. How do you become a disciplined follower of Jesus? Do what the early church did. What the early church do? They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.
They ate. They didn't have this. They just ate the Word that was being preached, but praise the Lord, now we have this. So it's this and preaching. Leaning in, taking notes, going back, making sure what I'm saying is from Scripture, making sure and testing it, looking at other believers that are following, and you saw their life, you've seen the fruit of their life.
It's in line with the principles of the kingdom of heaven, imitating their faith. Discipleship. What else did they do? They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to *fellowship*. Everybody say fellowship.
*Fellowship*. To the "breaking of bread", which many scholars would say is communion. Right? The breaking of bread, remembering that what Jesus did 2000 years ago matters for your life today. Because man, don't we forget every day?
Don't we forget that healing, He paid for it? Peace in our mind, He paid for it? Wholeness in our bodies and in the church and our families, He paid for it. Forgiveness, He paid for us to be forgiven and stand confidently before God, we forget. But even if it's not talking about that, like a lot of scholars say, breaking a bread, fellowship and eating meals together, hanging out.
Why? Because if the overarching vision for our life from Jesus, for yours and for mine, is making disciples, And to make disciples, we gotta be a better disciplined disciple ourself. Discipleship happens in the context of relationships. You can't be discipled or disciple outside of fellowship. So check this little crazy verse out.
*Hebrews-13:16*. I don't know if I gave this to you guys back there. Starting verse 15, says, through Jesus, therefore, let us continue to offer to God a "sacrifice of praise". That's I say that all the time. It's worship, it's a sacrifice of praise sometimes to praise Him even when you don't feel like it, because it's not about you.
It's a faith step. Amen? Well, keeps going. Offer the fruit of lips that openly profess His name. Man, as a believer, a disciplined follower of Jesus, I don't want to let fear override my faith or my open profession of His name ever.
And anytime that I do, I wanna repent and have a clear vision of His love for me because there's no fear in love, so maybe I forgot how much He loved me. And I valued their opinion more than I valued his love for me. Openly profess his name. Openly. And then it says, do not forget to do good and to share with others for with such sacrifices God has pleased.
Now that word share with others, just a little scholarly stuff. It's the Greek word koinoniah, which is translated fellowship. I don't know why the translators translated to share with others. Not bad. However, it's talking about fellowship.
And fellowship is a *sacrifice* with which God is pleased. Some of you know this sacrifice more than others because it's more of a sacrifice to fellowship for you because you're an introvert. But it's a sacrifice with which God is pleased, and it's a requirement of being a disciplined disciple of Jesus. You say, I don't like people. Well, guess what?
You've been born again. You're a "new creation" in Christ. Jesus lives in you and He loves people. As you renew your mind to the reality of who He says that you are, you love people too. You just don't know it yet.
And as a disciplined follower of Jesus, even when you don't feel like it, it's time to say, I need to make that sacrifice of fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ consistently. Why? Because discipleship happens in the context of relationship. And a disciplined *disciple* like the early church did is gonna be in consistent fellowship so that we can grow in Christ and live out the overarching vision that Jesus has for each of our lives. Amen?
Amen. Oh, yeah. And this little thing to prayer. Kind of important. A good understanding of your relationship with God is your prayer life.
What is your talking to God and listening to Him look like? That's that's the health of your relationship with Him. That's not I don't wanna condemn you there. I wanna encourage you. And if you don't know how to pray, boil the room on Friday nights, come pray with the church, see how that happens, then imitate their faith when you're alone, when nobody's looking.
You're either a crazy person or you really believe what you say you believe. Amen? What else did the early church do? Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. So there were signs, wonders, and miracles, but there was also honor.
They were filled with awe. They honored people in authority. In America, it's easy to dishonor because this democracy, you know. I want what I want. I want my freedom.
But in the kingdom, it's submissive honoring 1 to another, building up. All the believers were together. Here it is again, fellowship, had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to everyone they had in need. So there was radical generosity.
A disciplined follower of Jesus doesn't just fellowship with 1 another. He doesn't just pray continually. They don't just devote themselves to the apostles teaching and to breaking of bread. They're also "radically generous". Lord God, challenge us, stretch us.
Every day, everybody say every day. Every But Lord, they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Not a bunch of, did you hear what he said and she said? Don't tell them I said this, but That's gossip and division and backbiting.
The Bible actually says in 1 Corinthians-5, to cast the slanderer, the wicked person from among you. Jeez. Biblical church. It said, praising God and enjoying the favor of all people, and the Lord added to their number daily. God's overarching vision for your life is for you to be a *disciple* maker.
And you can't be a disciple maker without being a disciplined disciple yourself. You start with where you are, giving out what you have immediately, but then devote yourself to the apostles teaching, to the word, and to preaching. Devote yourself to the breaking of bread, to fellowship together, to prayer. Devote yourself to learning to be radically generous. Devote yourself.
And as you do, you'll become and grow in your ability to follow the overarching vision of God for your life. And then as you do, 1 step at a time, you begin to hear His voice more clearly. And you begin to have specific visions for your life like Ananias. I want vision for my family. I want to know what my purpose.
Well, you've many purposes God has for you. Your job or jobs that you have in your life, that's just 1 of them. The wife or the husband that you marry, that's 1 of them. Children, how many children you have. Some of them.
The mission trips you go on or don't go on, the places you go, some of them. God gave Ananias a specific vision for this day or week of his life. And that specific vision came out of his following the overarching principle of God for his life. So he heard specifically and obeyed, and him obeying that hearing specifically impacted the overarching vision of Saul's life. God wants to use you to change Saul's around you into Paul's.
He wants to use you to "play a part" in their vision of *Christ* because you're the church. Right? Jesus says that you're his body, So when they see you following him, they're gonna have an impact and encounter with him through you. Pretty cool. Yeah.
Then how do you hear clearly? How do you know what the vision is specifically? We gotta learn to hear the Holy Spirit. It's not as mystical and crazy as some people make it out to be. I'd beware if you're around people and they say, the Lord is saying you do this, and the Lord is saying you do this, and the Lord is saying you do this, and you gotta wear this orange shirt, and you gotta wear this purple shirt, and you gotta do this, and do that, do that.
Be like, woah, bro. I think you're "missing it". I think you're putting too a much emphasis on your own thoughts and not the thoughts of the Holy Spirit. And if they can't hear that and they get offended, now we know that's true. Because offense ain't from the Lord.
Amen? So how do you hear specifically the visions in your life day in and day out? How do you grow in the voice of the Lord? Well, let me tell you. When you're born again, you surrender your life to Jesus Christ.
He forgives you of all of your sin. He puts the Holy Spirit inside of you. Born again, born of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is now in *communion* with your spirit. Your spirit, before you're born of the spirit, born again, before you surrender to Jesus as Lord, is dead.
Still very active, but dead. What do I mean? God is life. You're separated from the Holy Spirit, which is life. So dead.
You oh, still active. People still have intuition before they give their life to Jesus. Witches and warlocks and others are in communion with demonic spirits, so still very active. Oh, and that's very real. But dead because it's separated from God who is life.
When God told Adam and Eve, you shall surely die, they were separated from the Spirit of God, and their physical death followed their spiritual death. Follow me? Born of the spirit, born again, the Holy Spirit comes in communion with your spirit. You're a new creation. *2 Peter-1* says, we participate in the nature of the heavenly Father through precious promises.
You've been born, you're no longer a sinner, you're counted and credited, imputed God's righteousness in that moment. You have the nature of your Father in heaven, and you're learning to walk that out day in and day out as you renew your mind to the reality of what God said. You follow me? Now, what does that look like? *Isaiah-11:2*.
In Isaiah-11, it's talking about the Jesus, it's talking about Christ, and it talks about the spirits, the Holy Spirit that's on him. It says, these 7 spirits of God. Don't get weird on me. It's just 1 spirit. It's the Holy Spirit, 7 manifestations of the 1 Holy Spirit.
Okay? It says, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of knowledge, the Spirit of counsel, the Spirit of might, the Spirit of understanding, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord. Now, when you're born again, born of the spirit, you have the spirit inside of you, the Holy Spirit comes into communion with your spirit, all of those things are in you now. And you naturally, you *supernaturally* naturally grow in that as you grow in him. That's why those who don't aspects of the church that don't believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they don't believe in the still small voice of the Lord and hearing him day in and day out, they still grow to look like Jesus.
You know why? Because their nature now has been transformed, born of the Spirit, and they have the Spirit of wisdom, of counsel, of might, of power, of knowledge, and understanding that they're growing in as they mature in the Word and the promises, participating in the nature of their heavenly Father. So even Baptists, come on, it's funny. Methodists, Presbyterians, the lot of that that don't believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or it's weird that you say you heard the Lord, they look like Jesus too. Many of them, if they've really surrendered to the Lord, because as they grow, they're naturally growing in understanding, supernatural understanding by the Holy Spirit that's in them, as our brothers and sisters in Christ.
They're naturally growing in power, the might to be able to accomplish the purposes that God has for them. They're naturally growing in wisdom, naturally growing in an understanding of the peace of God, and make decisions in their life. They'll pray about it and make a decision based on his peace because they're growing and because the spirit of God is on the inside, and they're a son or daughter of the father. Now, we also can hear the voice of God too. The still small voice of the Lord.
He wants to speak to you clearly. How does that happen? Your spirit, your soul, and your body. Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. Everything that the Lord says has to be processed through your mind, will, and emotions.
So when He speaks to you, the Holy Spirit will move and you'll have a desire, you'll have a feeling, or you'll have a thought. And you've got to learn to discern which is which. Who is the when is it the Holy Spirit speaking, and when is it not? Well, me tell you. In Hebrews-4, it says that the sword of the spirit, the word, is a sword that separates between soul and spirit.
Meaning, when I'm born again, there's this mixture of my mind, will, and emotions, and this Holy Spirit's will, mind, will, and emotions. And the more that I know this word, the more it separates out what's me from what's God, and I can discern and submit to the leading of the Father. Does that make sense? You follow me? Okay.
But as I'm growing and maturing, there's a mixture. It's hard to hear. An infant doesn't know the difference. A toddler, a teenager. Guess what?
I've been following Jesus, learning to hear his voice clearly since I was 12 years old. I'm 39, and I still miss it sometimes. So I I don't say, thus saith the Lord over every little thing. Sometimes I do. But man, that's 90% of the time that I don't.
Because there has to be a humility and a willingness to be tested. Without that, it's pride and arrogance. So how do we grow in this? *Hebrews-5:14*. Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Jesus said only good things come from God. So you train yourself to distinguish what's from you and what's from God. Jesus called Peter, Satan. He said, get behind me, Satan. You don't have in mind the things of God, but the things of man.
Peter thought he was saying things of God. A lot of times you have a thought, you have a feeling, you think it's God. Nah, maybe it's not. The Holy Spirit will only speak in line with the principles and nature, the ways of the kingdom of heaven. And the kingdom of heaven has certain ways.
Don't worry, I'm almost done. It's gonna be a quick wrap up. *James-3:13*. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom.
The voice of the Lord will never trump the wisdom of God, and it will never not be humble. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. Which means you can be deceived, think you're hearing from God, but it's really really bitter envy, selfish ambition, and is demonic. Where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder in every evil practice.
Gossip, slander, all kinds of crazy stuff. But the wisdom that comes from heaven, here it is, is first of all pure, then peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, good fruit, impartial and sincere *peacemakers* who sow in peace and reap harvest. As you're learning to hear the voice of God, you will be a peacemaker. That doesn't mean you always try to keep the peace. Sometimes you say truth in a way that cuts, but you're a peacemaker.
You will always honor. You will always be honoring, not dishonoring. It will always be submissive. It will always be with the heart of Jesus who did not count equality with God something to be grasped even though he was of the same nature, Philippians-2, but instead made himself in the form of a servant. It will never be self promoting.
It will always be unifying of the body, although sometimes pruning, depending on the influence you have that God's given you. So that being said, when the Holy Spirit speaks specific visions in your life, how do you know whether it was God or not? By constant use, by putting it into practice, being humble enough to realize when you missed it, repent, get back up and keep going. Having other believers in your life that you can take things to, leaders in your life that you honor and say, man, I I think I heard God say this. And they say, no, you missed it, bro.
And you don't get offended. But guess what? That still small voice is never gonna go go against the wisdom, the power, the might, the understanding, the knowledge, the fear of the Lord. It's never gonna go against his kingdom. So learn and grow.
I wanna teach you to hear the voice of God. I want you to hear hear the Holy Spirit like Ananias did. Learning to hear the voice of the Lord and the Holy Spirit, you have to devote yourself to the overarching plan of God to make disciples in your daily life. You have to devote yourself to the apostles teaching, growing as a disciplined believer, but devote yourself to fellowship, devote yourself to communion, and fellowship with 1 another, radical generosity, living an obedient, disciplined disciple life. And in doing that, you'll hear him more and more clearly.
And as you do, fall forward, learn and grow and consider the faith of your leaders, imitate their faith. God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And God will speak clearly in your life on, yeah, peace of letting the peace of God rule your heart. Yeah, marry that person. No, don't marry that 1.
0, that's fear. That's sin. Let's walk in faith in this area. Oh, that's the right job. Let's do that.
Oh, that's the right church. Let's go there. I've called I know you don't like that church, but I've called you there. Why don't you stay there? Oh, I I know you don't like this area, but let's pick up and move because I'm calling you to be a missionary in this place.
Learning the specific visions as you devote yourself to the overarching vision of God for your life. And guess what? All of it's gonna require restraint. When you have the clear vision, you submit to it and surrender. Put on restraint and experience the joy of finishing well.
When you lose the vision, you cast off restraint, you lose happiness too. Because happy is the 1 who keeps the law. Capiche? Alright. Give me 3 more minutes.
I told you I'd give you the vision for the church. The overarching vision for the church is no different than the overarching vision of God for your life. We just say in a sentence, whatever it takes for you to know the love of Jesus and live your God given purpose. Basically, it's make disciples. This is a disciple making church.
How do we do that? By engaging the culture with the love of Jesus. Then establishing the believer in the body of Christ. Why? Because we're supposed to devote ourselves to fellowship and to the apostles teaching.
If you're a go to church when you feel like it once or twice a month type of person, you're probably not a disciplined follower of Jesus who's making disciples. Maybe you need to reorient your life in 2026 and become a disciplined follower of Jesus who's making disciplined followers of Jesus because that's Jesus' overarching plan for your life so you can experience the happiness of what it looks like to really follow follow him. Establish the believer in the body of Christ. You wanna be established here? Go to our website, click establish, follow the directions.
Put on the restraint. Number 3, equip the believer to engage the culture with the love of Jesus. Why do we do that as a church? Because you're not gonna be growing in Christ until you're making disciples. So we're equipping you to go make disciples.
You're probably not gonna be equipped to go make disciples if you're not establishing the body and devoting yourself to the apostles teaching the fellowship. Make sense? It's all in line. What after that? Equip the believer.
As you do that, guess what happens? You grow in maturity. You grow in understanding the principles and the process of the kingdom and hearing his voice. And at some point, it'll be time for you to live out a few of the purposes he created you for. We don't empower the insecure.
We don't empower the self promoting. We empower the ready. And the ready have been faithful, available, and teachable. Empower the ready to live out their God given purpose. I mean, we have influence in that area of your life, some of the purposes God's called you to do, we can't empower you.
You know, we're not your boss. We can't hire you at your job. You know? But man, we're gonna lay our life down as a church to help you to do that. That's the overarching vision of the church.
The specific vision that God's given for 2026. I mean, we got many ways that we do what we we just said. De Asia, Pastor De Asia talked about the men's ministry, women's ministry, young adult ministry, boiler room on Friday nights, but we got prophetic training, we got evangelism training, we got Tuesday night thing, the Tuesday night Belong ministry, we got small group. I mean, we've got all kinds of stuff. We got real university, we've got spiritual leadership training.
You'll be as connected and as equipped as you wanna be at Real Church, As much restraint as you're willing to put on and stay there. Specific vision that God's given us for 2026, here's how it happened. Boiler Room, 2 Friday nights ago, standing in a circle, praying right here before it starts, I get a call from Gabe Mullins, who's a prophet in the house. Step out. Hey, Gabe.
What's up, man? He said, dude, I've been praying and I think we're supposed to be really intentional about going for a building this year. I mean, I've wanted a building since before we started 8 years ago. Know? God's done some pretty cool things, but not specifically a building for the church.
And so I've just kind of given it to him, know? Praise the Lord. Sounds good to me. Let me pray about it. Hang the phone up, about 10 minutes later, 1 of our elders, Dixie Stamper, married to Bart Stamper, comes over and says, hey, as I was driving back to Tampa, I think she went to Pensacola to visit family, was I praying, I just really felt like we need to be really intentional in going for a building this year.
Amen. Bless you, Jesus. For me, it's confirmation enough. Believers in the body of Christ within 10 minutes of 1 another, confirming their leaders in the church. I'm like, for me, I'm like, yes.
Amen. Praise the Lord. That's enough. I'm going to take that as a specific vision, word from the Lord. We're going to be intentional about going for a building this year.
But then I hear Chuck Grossman, 1 of the deacons in the church, same thing. Pastor David said that, but he had already Chuck had already had conversations about this exact same thing. So, had leaders in the church that are confirming the same thing. Me, praise the Lord, submit 1 to another. We're going intentionally for a building this year.
I'm excited about that. Last year, we started a building fund. The church had a little bit of overage overflow margin, we call it, so the elders took 50,000 of it and put it in the building fund. Then you guys individually designated, whether it's through checks or online, designated to the building fund, a 103,000 on top of that. So we got a 153,900 something dollars in the building fund, which is great.
Good start. I believe God's gonna supernaturally multiply it. When and how? I don't know. Probably through you guys and me.
But we're gonna intentionally pray, and I'm gonna invite you to intentionally pray because a building is never my idol. **Discipleship is**. I wanna follow the overarching plan of God for his church and his discipleship. And my prayer has been whenever the next best step of making disciples is a building, that'll happen. And apparently, that's the next best step.
So whether or not we get a building in 2026, I don't know. But we're gonna be *obedient* and faithful to the word. Happy is he who keeps the law and his law is word. I mean, word is law to me. And I don't know if that comes in the next 5 months or 5 years, but we're gonna be intentional until it happens.
Praise the Lord. And if God moves in your heart to give to that, awesome. You can write a check, just make sure you put building fund. If not, we'll use it to run the church. Or online, make sure you put it on building fund.
Tithes help us keep the church running the way it is. Offerings over and above help with what God's doing. Amen? Amen. So that's a specific vision.
That's what God's doing. Hopefully, have clear vision, overarching vision for your life. Vision of Jesus, vision for your life, make disciples, specific visions as you learn to hear his voice. But not being so prideful that you can't be tested knowing that we hear in part. Amen?
Amen. God is good. I wanna invite the altar team to come up. I'm gonna close. If you have never been born again, you need to "give your life" to Jesus.
When I close, come up to the altar team. They're gonna lead you to *Christ* so you can "shift your life". If you want specific prayer, they'll give you a prophetic word. God will speak to them. It's biblical.
Just read your Bible. If you wanna ministry, if you need ministry, if there's tough stuff happening in your life, you just need prayer. The body of Christ, praying for the body of Christ is a big deal. And it's humility to step forward saying you need that. Amen?
So I love that. Thank you for giving me the extra time on vision Sunday. Appreciate that, and Lord bless these people. Lord, I pray that those that need to be established in the body of Christ, go to realchurch.us and just put on the the restraint of going through established. Lord God, I pray for that as we all clarify and walk under the under arching, I mean overarching vision that you have for our lives of making disciples, becoming a better disciplined disciple of Christ.
And Lord, pray for specific vision for their lives, the things that they've been praying for. Make it clear to them that they wouldn't trust in their ability to hear you as much as they trust in your ability to speak to them clearly. And they wait and trust and learn and grow. Or that they would reflect and walk out "every single purpose" that you have for them. Every single 1.
Everyone, everybody under the sound of my voice, whether it's online later or now, whatever it takes to develop develop the character necessary and the faith necessary to walk out every single good purpose you've created them for. In Jesus' name, pray. Happy New Year, guys. God bless, and you're dismissed.