Vision!! Destiny!! Purpose!!

These are words that excite me!! And yet these are words that are often missing from the Christian life. While it's right and proper that we are a people built on a historical event - the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - we also surely cannot forget that we have a destiny that we were saved and brought for. So why do we talk so little about it? Could it be because we are unsure about stepping into the unknown? We are blessed with so much in terms of church history - writings, libraries, books, volumes and events to learn from. But the unknown is simply that ... unknown! Yet God is the God of the future just as much as He is of the past.

So it was with great excitement that I got into one of Rob Rufus's recent sermons; "The Struggle For The Authentic - Part 2". It's amazing - outstanding - and so motivating! It occured to me one amazing way to conquer depression is to look to the future and get your mind of your present difficulties. Here's a few quotes;

"The Bible says that without vision the people throw off restraint. Without a vision people perish. Without a vision people do not position themselves for success - without a vision people position themselves for failure and for survival. But the power of a vision is that it has the power to pull you into the future with the purpose of victory on your mind. It can pull you through distraction - it can pull you through disappointment - it can pull you through opposition because it has the power of greatness in the words".

Many churches have "articles of faith" instead of vision statements. One of my favourite churches in the world - Lansdowne in South London (pastored by my friend Pete Day) - has an amazing vision statement that they worked so carefully on. I was extremely excited to see some recent photos they took on Facebook recently reflect that by having flags of the whole world hung across the auditorium. They are becoming a living expression of a church who's vision is the world! When did vision statements to cover the earth with the glory of the Lord become "articles of faith"? Or should we be having both? A foundation on which to build wonderful skyscraper churches who attract the attention of the nations.

Rob then went on to talk about Gideon and touched on something that I've noticed in my relationship with God. Has anyone else noticed that when times are hard God doesn't seem to say much or explain much. I put it down to some post-legalistic guilt that I should be worshipping God for the pain or something. But Rob presented a different perspective;

What was very confusing to Gideon was that in his distracting circumstances God refused to talk to him ABOUT his circumstances. What was troubling Gideon the most was the thing was the thing God refused to address or talk about. God does not want to talk to us about our distracting circumstances - he wants to talk to us about our destiny and our call to greatness. God is not talking to you about where you are now - God is talking to you about where He's going to take you into greatness.

Because if he talked to you about where you are now and fixed up your little problem then you would stay in the wine-vat satisfied with your personal needs being met. But if you get frustrated enough in your distracting circumstances and frustrated that God won't talk to you about your circumstances then the day will come when He will start talking to you about your destiny and the greatness that He is calling you to.

He's not talking about where you are now - He will talk to you about the greatness He wants to take you towards".

Awesome hey?! Let's start thinking about vision and destiny. Because if we all personally begin gaining a vision for where God wants us to be, then we will start affecting our cell groups, our churches, our towns and on and on. What a reason to get up in the morning - God is waiting for us with passion and fervour to see if we will accept His call to fulfill destiny! Keep your eyes peeled here too - I will get the sermon published as soon as possible.