WEBVTT 00:00:04.830 --> 00:00:06.953 Welcome to the Lone Star Church podcast. 00:00:06.953 --> 00:00:15.050 Pastors CF and Nicole Rady are here to share the Word of God with you each week, helping you grasp the fullness of God's plan for your life. 00:00:15.050 --> 00:00:17.908 We hope you'll be blessed by this week's message. 00:00:17.908 --> 00:00:24.010 If you live in Northwest Missouri or Southern Iowa, we invite you to join us in person on a Sunday morning. 00:00:24.010 --> 00:00:31.329 For more information about us, visit our website at lonestarchurchorg or find us on Facebook, instagram or YouTube. 00:00:36.100 --> 00:00:40.031 And so we're going to talk about vision and the importance of vision. 00:00:40.031 --> 00:00:46.307 We gave you little notebooks and pens and if you didn't get one, we'll make sure to get you one after service. 00:00:46.307 --> 00:00:52.313 But I want to give you a definition of vision that I heard years ago by a gentleman. 00:00:52.313 --> 00:01:03.375 His name is Joel Sims, pastor Joel Sims, he is honestly someone I would say one of the great experts on church growth that Nicole and I know, and does a great job. 00:01:03.375 --> 00:01:04.483 So he talked about vision. 00:01:04.525 --> 00:01:09.971 I wrote this down years ago and so you may want to write it down, and I'll say it a couple of times in case you do. 00:01:09.971 --> 00:01:16.242 I've been teaching a class recently and I tell the kids to take notes and they say how do we know what's important? 00:01:16.242 --> 00:01:19.412 I say, if I say it's important, I'd probably write it down. 00:01:19.412 --> 00:01:21.882 So if I say something's important, you may want to write it down. 00:01:21.882 --> 00:01:23.243 If I repeat something, you may want to write it down. 00:01:23.243 --> 00:01:25.527 If I repeat something, you may want to write it down. 00:01:25.527 --> 00:01:27.689 But let me give you this quote about vision. 00:01:27.689 --> 00:01:31.094 It says vision sees what could be. 00:01:31.094 --> 00:01:40.289 Vision sees what could be and it's fueled by the conviction that it must be. 00:01:40.289 --> 00:01:49.265 I'll say that again Vision sees what could be and then it is fueled by the conviction that it must be. 00:01:49.265 --> 00:01:51.332 I'll say that again Vision sees what could be and then it is fueled by the conviction that it must be. 00:01:51.332 --> 00:01:52.277 I know it's not just a vision of what could be. 00:01:52.277 --> 00:01:55.564 There's something on the inside that says that must be what I see. 00:01:55.564 --> 00:01:58.090 I've got to see that come to pass. 00:01:58.090 --> 00:02:12.132 How many of you know you can have dreams and say, oh, it's just a dream, but real, godly vision is of what could be, and then there's a fuel behind it, a conviction that it must be, something that's going to drive you towards that. 00:02:12.132 --> 00:02:15.907 How many know there are people in life that have just been driven? 00:02:17.188 --> 00:02:23.528 If you've ever seen the movie the Founder, so it is about Ray Kroc, mcdonald's. 00:02:23.528 --> 00:02:31.772 Okay, I know his name was not McDonald, his name was Ray Kroc, but he was a salesman and he was fueled by success. 00:02:31.772 --> 00:02:35.616 And if you watch the movie it shows you he starts off and he's selling all this stuff. 00:02:35.616 --> 00:02:39.045 He's selling shake machines and fryers and all this stuff. 00:02:39.045 --> 00:02:51.633 And he ends up in California at a little drive up restaurant, drive-in restaurant, and he walks up and he orders a cheeseburger and a drink and fries and before he can turn around to put his money on the counter. 00:02:51.633 --> 00:02:54.385 They have his food, he goes. 00:02:54.385 --> 00:02:55.388 Well, how did that happen? 00:02:55.388 --> 00:02:57.072 He goes no, this is my. 00:02:57.072 --> 00:02:57.881 They go, no, this is yours. 00:02:57.881 --> 00:03:00.764 And so he's like, can I come in and look at this? 00:03:00.764 --> 00:03:09.683 And he sees how they were making all this stuff and how they were turning cheeseburgers and drinks and fries around and boom ketchup, boom mustard, boom fries, boom all this stuff. 00:03:09.683 --> 00:03:14.804 And so he talks and he gets to the point where he can franchise and start selling this. 00:03:14.804 --> 00:03:18.151 Well, if you watch this, he was driven right. 00:03:18.151 --> 00:03:22.768 He saw a vision of what could be right, not just one McDonald's, right. 00:03:22.768 --> 00:03:24.292 The brothers like, ah, we tried, it didn't work. 00:03:24.292 --> 00:03:25.242 Right, not just one mcdonald's right. 00:03:25.242 --> 00:03:26.126 The brothers like, I, we tried, it didn't work. 00:03:26.126 --> 00:03:26.606 They saw just what was. 00:03:26.627 --> 00:03:31.161 Ray crock saw a vision of what could be, and can I tell you something about what could be? 00:03:31.161 --> 00:03:32.383 Guess what? 00:03:32.383 --> 00:03:34.167 It went from california across the country. 00:03:34.167 --> 00:03:36.973 I was in egypt and ate it. 00:03:36.973 --> 00:03:42.588 Ate a quarter pounder with cheese in cairo, egypt, right, nicole's parents were in. 00:03:42.588 --> 00:03:45.353 Well, it was actually Pizza Hut. 00:03:45.372 --> 00:03:46.675 Kfc was by the pyramids. 00:03:46.675 --> 00:03:50.115 You walk out of the pier, you walk out of the pyramids. 00:03:50.115 --> 00:03:57.478 The sphinx, like this, is beautiful, and the guy's like you want to go Pizza Hut, I'm hungry, but right, there's. 00:03:57.478 --> 00:04:00.264 There's golden arches everywhere, everywhere. 00:04:00.264 --> 00:04:00.705 Why? 00:04:00.705 --> 00:04:02.067 Because someone had a vision. 00:04:02.067 --> 00:04:03.750 Not Not just okay, this is it. 00:04:03.750 --> 00:04:08.605 No, there's a vision for what could be and a conviction that it must be. 00:04:08.605 --> 00:04:15.788 And so we're going to talk about vision today, because vision believes that there is more ahead than behind. 00:04:15.788 --> 00:04:20.305 There's more ahead of you than behind, and it doesn't matter how old you are in this place. 00:04:20.305 --> 00:04:22.951 There's more ahead of you than behind you. 00:04:22.951 --> 00:04:23.480 Amen. 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:24.408 There's greater ahead of you than what's Amen. 00:04:24.408 --> 00:04:26.023 There's greater ahead of you than what's behind you. 00:04:26.023 --> 00:04:29.922 And so we're going to talk about vision and what we need to do with the vision we receive. 00:04:30.161 --> 00:04:30.584 Praise the Lord. 00:04:30.584 --> 00:04:33.540 If you have your Bibles, I encourage you to open them up this morning. 00:04:33.540 --> 00:04:37.928 If you got your notebook, I encourage you to write these things down. 00:04:37.928 --> 00:04:41.762 I can't remember who CF said it was. 00:04:41.762 --> 00:04:53.653 Some author said that there's a connection between your heart and your hand when you write things down, meaning it sticks better in your life when you write things down. 00:04:53.653 --> 00:04:57.951 And we're going to look at that and prove it to be true through his word, through other studies. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:05.526 But if you'll want to, if you turn to Habakkuk 2.2, this is kind of our theme scripture for every year, for Vision Sunday. 00:05:05.526 --> 00:05:11.951 But here's the thing the Word of God is alive, it's never old, it never rusts out, it's always true. 00:05:11.951 --> 00:05:21.625 So in Habakkuk 2.2 it says and the Lord answered me and said write the vision, make it plain upon the tables that he may run who reads it. 00:05:21.625 --> 00:05:27.593 So he told him write the vision down, make it plain. 00:05:27.593 --> 00:05:29.540 It doesn't have to be, it's not hard. 00:05:29.540 --> 00:05:38.499 The vision doesn't have to be hard to understand and it says that he who reads it, whoever reads it, can run with it. 00:05:38.499 --> 00:05:40.425 So first of all you have to have a vision. 00:05:43.576 --> 00:05:43.697 Amen. 00:05:43.697 --> 00:05:46.882 So, first of all, you have to have a vision. 00:05:46.882 --> 00:05:48.663 And number two, you have to write it down. 00:05:48.663 --> 00:05:50.365 And number two, you have to run with it. 00:05:50.365 --> 00:05:56.673 And we're going to get into the specifics of how do I get a vision and what does that look like for my own life. 00:05:56.673 --> 00:06:00.336 So, like today, we're going to talk about your own personal vision for your own life. 00:06:05.420 --> 00:06:08.232 Next Sunday, we'll talk about the vision for the church and how important that is to be hooked and connected to that. 00:06:08.232 --> 00:06:18.892 But today we just wanted to focus on you and about how to get a vision, not just for you personally, but for your family and for your own life, and the first way you do that is you get it, you write it down and then you run with it. 00:06:18.892 --> 00:06:26.598 We're going to read a couple studies here that actually, another pastor found a couple of these. 00:06:26.598 --> 00:06:47.154 I found some of them myself, but April 15, 2018, Forbes did a study and it says people who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:47.901 Amen. 00:06:47.901 --> 00:06:56.069 And so you just see, right, as you look at these studies, you see what successful people do, and I think it's important. 00:06:56.069 --> 00:07:02.291 As we're going to look at this, you can say, oh, this is what you do to become successful and that's part of it. 00:07:02.291 --> 00:07:06.786 But the way you figure that out is what do successful people do? 00:07:06.786 --> 00:07:11.764 I know, if you want to learn from someone, I don't want to learn from someone that's on the same level as me or below me. 00:07:11.764 --> 00:07:23.192 I need to learn from someone that's on another level than me, and so that's why, nicole and I, it's always been good when we've had the opportunity to hear Pastor Joel Sims right, because I'm like I look at what he's doing in his church. 00:07:23.192 --> 00:07:30.108 And so they added on to their church a few years ago because they were having four services a Sunday, because they did not have space. 00:07:31.781 --> 00:07:40.410 All the volunteers were like whew Jesus, so here's what's amazing, Four services, so they almost doubled their capacity for church. 00:07:40.410 --> 00:07:50.475 They added on, built all this new, beautiful, beautiful stuff and within a few months they're already back to having multiple services a Sunday because they had outgrown that. 00:07:50.475 --> 00:07:54.577 And so you look at people like that and I'm like boy, that's right, I want to learn from that guy. 00:07:54.577 --> 00:07:58.649 Not the guy whose church is, oh, we had 100, now we have three right? 00:07:58.649 --> 00:08:02.846 No, I want the guy that, hey, he's doing things that you can learn from. 00:08:02.846 --> 00:08:06.312 And so you look at what successful people do, right? 00:08:06.312 --> 00:08:14.810 That Forbes article says people who vividly describe or picture goals about one and a half times more likely to accomplish those goals. 00:08:14.810 --> 00:08:21.288 Michigan State University did a I don't need a name, they don't care about her name. 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:23.362 Michigan State. 00:08:23.764 --> 00:08:24.526 University. 00:08:24.526 --> 00:08:27.072 I don't even know who she is. 00:08:29.161 --> 00:08:29.242 Gail. 00:08:29.242 --> 00:08:30.305 Oh Gail, it's all right. 00:08:30.305 --> 00:08:31.208 Gail Matthews is her name. 00:08:31.247 --> 00:08:47.413 Michigan State University did a study and the results showed that 76% of participants who wrote down their goals, actions and provided weekly progress to a friend successfully achieved their goals. 00:08:47.413 --> 00:08:52.836 So 76% of people who said this is my goal, right, I'm going to write it down. 00:08:52.836 --> 00:09:00.283 I'm going to write down what I'm doing to get there and then I'm going to have someone who's going to hold me accountable to that. 00:09:00.283 --> 00:09:13.048 76% of those people did what they said they would do right, and the result is 33% higher than people who had unwritten goals with a success rate. 00:09:13.048 --> 00:09:15.634 Those people only had a 43% success rate. 00:09:15.634 --> 00:09:19.589 They were like I'm just going to do it, so there's something about writing down. 00:09:19.589 --> 00:09:21.780 So, virginia Tech, listen to this. 00:09:21.780 --> 00:09:28.961 People who regularly write their goals earn nine times more money than people who don't. 00:09:29.743 --> 00:09:31.807 Say that again, and it was by David Cole. 00:09:31.807 --> 00:09:35.421 I just feel like we need to give them credit. 00:09:35.421 --> 00:09:36.845 They did a lot of research. 00:09:37.346 --> 00:09:45.932 No one knows him Right, and so people who regularly write their goals down earn nine times more money than people who don't. 00:09:45.932 --> 00:09:47.524 So all of a sudden, I know what you're thinking. 00:09:47.524 --> 00:09:52.229 I'm going to go home, I'm going to start looking at my paycheck and that's great. 00:09:52.229 --> 00:09:58.312 But what happens is they found people who were successful and they said how did you get successful? 00:09:58.312 --> 00:09:58.913 There's this guy. 00:09:58.913 --> 00:10:05.143 He's on Twitter, on TikTok, on all that stuff right, and what he does. 00:10:05.143 --> 00:10:05.725 He's a young guy. 00:10:05.725 --> 00:10:06.461 He's like in his 20s. 00:10:06.461 --> 00:10:09.471 He goes up to people getting out of $500,000 cars. 00:10:09.471 --> 00:10:12.100 He says can I ask you something about your business? 00:10:12.100 --> 00:10:13.043 What do you do for a living? 00:10:13.043 --> 00:10:16.023 And most of them are like I'm an entrepreneur, how did you earn this money? 00:10:16.023 --> 00:10:17.467 And he asked them questions. 00:10:17.467 --> 00:10:22.863 What you see is there are a lot of similarities among people who are successful. 00:10:23.224 --> 00:10:23.903 And most of them have goals. 00:10:23.903 --> 00:10:25.667 Similarities among people who are successful and most of them have goals. 00:10:25.687 --> 00:10:30.513 Now, granted this right, success isn't measured only in dollar signs. 00:10:30.513 --> 00:10:32.034 Okay, just so we know that. 00:10:32.034 --> 00:10:40.626 Right, there's success in other ways, and so people who write their goals down earn nine times more money than people who don't. 00:10:40.626 --> 00:10:41.549 They also found listen to this. 00:10:41.549 --> 00:10:42.392 This is crazy. 00:10:42.392 --> 00:10:45.188 80% of Americans don't have goals. 00:10:45.188 --> 00:10:46.835 80% of Americans don't have goals. 00:10:46.835 --> 00:10:49.082 80% of Americans don't have goals. 00:10:49.082 --> 00:10:55.541 That's crazy that 80% of people are just like, yeah, whatever, right, they just get up. 00:10:55.541 --> 00:10:56.543 What are you going to do today? 00:10:56.543 --> 00:10:57.905 How about this week? 00:10:57.905 --> 00:10:58.969 How about this year? 00:10:58.969 --> 00:11:00.611 Right, it's just. 00:11:00.611 --> 00:11:01.701 They're just. 00:11:01.701 --> 00:11:04.985 I mean, if you don't have goals, all you're doing is existing. 00:11:04.985 --> 00:11:16.187 We said a couple weeks ago right, if you don't have goals, if you don't have vision, you're not going to have a new year, you're just going to have another year. 00:11:16.187 --> 00:11:17.491 2025 will just be another year. 00:11:17.491 --> 00:11:18.053 It won't be a new year. 00:11:18.053 --> 00:11:19.138 So 80% of Americans don't have goals. 00:11:19.138 --> 00:11:20.701 Now, listen, it continues here. 00:11:21.923 --> 00:11:30.360 Old Dave Cole from Virginia Tech said 16% of Americans had goals but didn't write them. 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:46.595 So, out of the 20% that do have goals, I don't know, if you just put yourself in the 20%, you're doing something, but then, out of that 20%, only 16% of those people took the time to not only have a goal but to write them down. 00:11:46.595 --> 00:11:49.225 We go back to the word right, write down the vision. 00:11:49.225 --> 00:12:06.206 Then, out of that small percentage, right, 3% said had goals written down and then 1% had goals, wrote them down and revisited them repeatedly over the year. 00:12:06.206 --> 00:12:20.168 So 1% of people in all of America had goals, wrote them down and then revisited those goals, went back right, because it's not just oh, I'll wait till December 31st next year and see how I did. 00:12:20.629 --> 00:12:23.648 No, you've got to have metrics. 00:12:23.648 --> 00:12:25.432 There has to be things you can measure. 00:12:25.432 --> 00:12:27.638 Right, your goals should be measurable. 00:12:27.638 --> 00:12:34.169 It's interesting because sometimes these are things how many of you know, these are things that aren't often talked about in church. 00:12:34.169 --> 00:12:36.875 Right, you've got to have goals. 00:12:36.875 --> 00:12:38.219 Did Jesus have goals? 00:12:38.219 --> 00:12:40.472 Yes, jesus had goals right. 00:12:40.472 --> 00:12:41.275 Did Peter have goals? 00:12:41.275 --> 00:12:42.942 Yes, paul had goals. 00:12:42.942 --> 00:12:47.320 Abraham had goals, moses had goals, joshua, caleb they had goals right. 00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:48.966 But there's got to be some measure to that goal. 00:12:48.966 --> 00:12:54.446 So these people said I've got it, I've got a vision, I have goals, I'm going to write them down. 00:12:54.446 --> 00:12:55.988 This is what I'd like to accomplish. 00:12:55.988 --> 00:12:58.971 Then I'm going to go revisit those throughout the year. 00:12:58.971 --> 00:13:00.735 Am I getting there? 00:13:00.735 --> 00:13:11.106 It turned pastoring around for me a few years ago when I met someone, pastor Caleb Moran, who helped me say see, if there are metrics, there are things you can look at. 00:13:11.609 --> 00:13:14.797 And church isn't just about numbers, but numbers are part of it. 00:13:14.797 --> 00:13:17.412 How many know numbers are part of Christianity? 00:13:17.412 --> 00:13:26.301 The Bible says right that many will go through the gate that leads to destruction, but few will go through the gate that leads to destruction but few will enter through the gate that leads to heaven, to righteousness. 00:13:26.301 --> 00:13:31.359 So numbers if God didn't like numbers, he wouldn't have a book called Numbers. 00:13:31.359 --> 00:13:36.100 There's a book in the Bible called Numbers, so you've got to be able to measure what you're doing. 00:13:36.100 --> 00:13:40.974 Anyone in here that's a business owner realize you've got to have measurements to that success. 00:13:40.974 --> 00:13:43.948 And so these studies all prove that. 00:13:44.269 --> 00:13:55.076 There's a book that I've recently bought myself that I've yet to start reading that's one of my goals called Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. 00:13:55.076 --> 00:13:56.278 By who? 00:13:56.278 --> 00:13:57.626 Stephen Covey? 00:13:57.626 --> 00:13:59.052 I'll tell you that because you can buy the book. 00:13:59.052 --> 00:14:02.485 I don't care about those professors, all right, they're just a bunch of eggheads anyway. 00:14:02.485 --> 00:14:04.109 But, stephen Covey, I'll tell you that because you can buy the book. 00:14:04.109 --> 00:14:05.456 I don't care about those professors, all right, they're just a bunch of eggheads anyway. 00:14:05.456 --> 00:14:07.575 But Stephen Covey wrote the book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. 00:14:07.575 --> 00:14:16.292 They're not watching, and so in that book it says begin with the end in mind. 00:14:16.292 --> 00:14:27.557 Begin with the end in mind, and then, if you want to talk about this, Nicole, about the creation part, A quote that he put in there says everything in life has two creations. 00:14:28.125 --> 00:14:30.433 First, let me get my glasses, excuse me. 00:14:30.433 --> 00:14:34.532 First there is an inward creation, then there is an external creation. 00:14:34.532 --> 00:14:44.366 Until you have an inward creation, you'll never have the external creation, and so that's the thing that we're going to look at, abram, here in a minute. 00:14:44.366 --> 00:14:50.278 Before you can write down a vision, you first must get the vision right. 00:14:50.278 --> 00:14:52.729 So where do we get the vision from? 00:14:52.729 --> 00:14:54.011 From God. 00:14:54.011 --> 00:14:56.577 The vision for our lives come from God. 00:14:56.577 --> 00:15:02.278 Here's the thing Every single one of us was born with the call of God, with purpose on our life. 00:15:03.666 --> 00:15:08.735 There is not one person created in this earth or in this room that was a dud. 00:15:08.735 --> 00:15:11.427 There are no accidents in this room. 00:15:11.427 --> 00:15:20.244 I don't care how you got here, I don't care about your family, I don't care about your family history, I don't care what your life looked like up until this moment. 00:15:20.244 --> 00:15:22.352 There is not one dud sitting in this family. 00:15:22.352 --> 00:15:24.370 Amen, amen. 00:15:24.370 --> 00:15:27.642 So every person in this room is called to be successful. 00:15:27.642 --> 00:15:29.947 There's a scripture in 1 John 1.3. 00:15:29.947 --> 00:15:32.052 It says Beloved I wish above all things. 00:15:32.052 --> 00:15:35.304 So here's the thing that God 3 John right, oh, excuse me. 00:15:35.365 --> 00:15:36.245 3 John 1.3. 00:15:36.245 --> 00:15:45.273 So here's the thing that God wishes for you that you be successful, that you would prosper and that your health would be good. 00:15:45.273 --> 00:15:48.615 God wants your health to be well and he wants your soul prospering. 00:15:48.615 --> 00:15:56.461 One of the things that God did for us is he didn't give us a spirit of fear, but he gave us power, love and what Sound mind. 00:15:56.461 --> 00:15:57.120 Good job. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:15:59.383 He gave us power, love and a sound mind. 00:15:59.383 --> 00:16:02.028 You're not called to be crazy. 00:16:02.028 --> 00:16:03.653 God didn't make you crazy. 00:16:03.653 --> 00:16:10.778 He didn't make you with foggy minds and weird thinking, and he called you to have a sound mind. 00:16:10.778 --> 00:16:13.692 Yes, married people, your spouse is not crazy. 00:16:13.692 --> 00:16:14.354 I just wanted to. 00:16:14.354 --> 00:16:17.929 I want to make that clear, maybe to this side of the room, oh, back there too. 00:16:17.929 --> 00:16:32.634 He called you to have a sound mind and then he says here I wish above all things this is God talking to you specifically that I wish above all things that you would prosper in life. 00:16:33.826 --> 00:16:34.825 Think about prosperity. 00:16:34.825 --> 00:16:37.833 Does it include monetary stuff? 00:16:37.833 --> 00:16:38.816 Yes, it does. 00:16:38.816 --> 00:16:40.071 It does include that. 00:16:40.071 --> 00:16:42.230 It's not the only thing. 00:16:42.230 --> 00:16:44.011 Money is the small part of it. 00:16:44.011 --> 00:16:45.929 How many of you want your children blessed? 00:16:45.929 --> 00:16:49.952 Come on, that's part of a redemptive work. 00:16:49.952 --> 00:16:53.475 We don't want to look at our children and think well, barely getting by. 00:16:53.475 --> 00:17:02.038 See, I've mentioned in first service we had a young couple with a baby, haley and Griffin, and you know they didn't look at her and think well, what a dud. 00:17:03.024 --> 00:17:04.451 Well, and I think that's it. 00:17:04.826 --> 00:17:07.413 I mean, that's not the way that God looks at His kids. 00:17:07.413 --> 00:17:12.214 He wishes, above all, that they would prosper and be in health, even as their soul prospers. 00:17:12.214 --> 00:17:18.214 So he wants you to be blessed. 00:17:18.214 --> 00:17:24.868 The thing is, is you've got to go to Him and find out where that begins and where that ends for you. 00:17:25.490 --> 00:17:26.594 Yeah, I think it's interesting. 00:17:26.594 --> 00:17:30.631 No, right, the same way you would look at your children and want them to have success. 00:17:30.631 --> 00:17:32.154 That's how God looks at us, right? 00:17:32.154 --> 00:17:37.211 No one looks at their child and says I hope they grow up to do nothing. 00:17:37.211 --> 00:17:39.934 I hope they grow up to live off the government. 00:17:39.934 --> 00:17:43.685 I hope they grow up to be a nobody, to be a loser. 00:17:43.685 --> 00:17:48.335 No, you look at this man in the day. 00:17:49.277 --> 00:17:53.111 Right, everyone remembers the day and if you're too young you can watch movies about it. 00:17:53.111 --> 00:17:56.569 Right, the babies would be born and they're all in the nursery. 00:17:56.569 --> 00:18:01.814 And here's everyone, right, family, everyone looking through the glass tapping oh, that's ours, oh, which one's. 00:18:01.814 --> 00:18:02.477 Oh, that one's yours, right. 00:18:02.477 --> 00:18:04.385 Family, everyone looking through the glass tapping oh, that's ours, oh, which one's yours? 00:18:04.385 --> 00:18:06.451 Oh, that one's yours, right, and that was it. 00:18:06.451 --> 00:18:09.066 It was like the zoo, but it was babies. 00:18:09.066 --> 00:18:12.714 But now they're in the room all the time and stuff. 00:18:12.714 --> 00:18:14.765 Back in the day the nurses took care of them all the time. 00:18:14.765 --> 00:18:15.586 That was good old days. 00:18:15.586 --> 00:18:19.788 And so you just look and you look at those babies. 00:18:19.788 --> 00:18:20.750 I remember all three. 00:18:20.750 --> 00:18:23.872 I was in the room for all three of my children being born. 00:18:23.872 --> 00:18:28.115 My dad was in a waiting room with a cigar waiting to hand those out. 00:18:28.115 --> 00:18:28.855 I was in the room. 00:18:29.435 --> 00:18:34.440 And when they're born you look at them and you think, oh, what could be? 00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:36.060 What is in? 00:18:36.060 --> 00:18:40.192 And Nicole was so good with our children, she started with Bo. 00:18:40.192 --> 00:18:44.729 We never told our children you can be whatever you want to be. 00:18:44.729 --> 00:18:46.471 We would tell them you can be whoever God wants you to be. 00:18:46.471 --> 00:18:48.916 Why? 00:18:48.916 --> 00:18:50.219 Because God has a plan. 00:18:51.325 --> 00:18:56.998 Pastor Joel Sims said the only way to see progress in your life is to see the destination. 00:18:56.998 --> 00:19:00.432 The only way to see progress in your life is to see the destination. 00:19:00.432 --> 00:19:01.836 You have to have a dream. 00:19:01.836 --> 00:19:03.247 There's got to be a goal. 00:19:03.247 --> 00:19:07.226 You can leave church leave church today and you can get in your car and you can just drive. 00:19:07.226 --> 00:19:13.199 But there's got to be a destination right, otherwise you're just driving. 00:19:14.566 --> 00:19:16.170 I remember when I was in high school. 00:19:16.170 --> 00:19:19.037 This shows you how boring things used to be back in the 80s. 00:19:19.037 --> 00:19:35.365 When I was in high school, me and Eric Richardson and Terry Hopkins decided I wonder how many times right, because in Albany you cruised around the Haloff, which was right big A, and then you'd go up the strip and then you'd cruise around the square. 00:19:35.365 --> 00:19:41.317 In summer you'd add the pool to it, but every other time, square Haloff, square Haloff, just make. 00:19:41.317 --> 00:19:46.808 And one time, one night, we're like I wonder how many times we just drive around the square. 00:19:46.808 --> 00:19:47.851 We're like I don't know, like 100? 00:19:47.851 --> 00:19:49.933 You think we drive around 100 times before we got bored? 00:19:49.933 --> 00:20:02.041 Let's just say we drive around 100 times, we drove around the square 100 times, and then it's like I wonder if I could drive and not move the wheel. 00:20:02.041 --> 00:20:02.605 Right, you, just stupid stuff. 00:20:02.605 --> 00:20:07.314 But it was right, there was no destination, we were just circling. 00:20:07.314 --> 00:20:09.338 No, you go somewhere. 00:20:09.338 --> 00:20:14.336 You put a destination in your phone, in the map, right, and then you have checkmark. 00:20:14.336 --> 00:20:15.727 Okay, where are we going? 00:20:15.727 --> 00:20:16.769 How far away are we? 00:20:16.769 --> 00:20:17.791 Are we getting there? 00:20:17.791 --> 00:20:22.192 The only way to see progress is you have to have a destination, you have to have a dream. 00:20:22.734 --> 00:20:24.540 Amen, there's got to be goals in your life. 00:20:24.540 --> 00:20:30.094 And so when you look at that, the Bible says right, god wrote to Jeremiah. 00:20:30.094 --> 00:20:35.346 He says for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord Right, jeremiah 29, 11. 00:20:35.346 --> 00:20:35.708 I know. 00:20:35.708 --> 00:20:37.788 So guess what God has a plan for your life. 00:20:37.788 --> 00:20:40.872 And we say that all the time Guess what God has a plan for your life. 00:20:40.872 --> 00:20:42.613 He doesn't want to keep it secret. 00:20:42.613 --> 00:20:49.739 Could you imagine doing that to someone, be like, yeah, there's a plan for this, will you tell me? 00:20:49.739 --> 00:20:53.981 No, you're just going to have to figure out. 00:20:53.981 --> 00:21:09.945 No, god wants to share that plan with you, amen. 00:21:09.945 --> 00:21:10.685 That's why we've got to seek Him. 00:21:10.705 --> 00:21:13.729 And so you go to Abraham and we're going to look at a couple places in Genesis about Abraham. 00:21:13.729 --> 00:21:15.549 And so I want to go first to Genesis 13 and start up in verse 1. 00:21:15.549 --> 00:21:17.051 And so this is before Abraham had made a covenant with God. 00:21:17.051 --> 00:21:17.932 So his name is still Abram. 00:21:17.932 --> 00:21:25.558 And it says then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had and Lot with him, to the south. 00:21:26.138 --> 00:21:28.221 Look at what it says about Abram here in verse 2. 00:21:28.221 --> 00:21:30.321 So this is before he had covenant with God. 00:21:30.321 --> 00:21:33.188 It says he was very rich. 00:21:33.188 --> 00:21:35.332 Well, you know, I know, he was very rich spiritually. 00:21:35.332 --> 00:21:38.458 No, he wasn't just rich spiritually, right, he was rich in what? 00:21:38.458 --> 00:21:41.205 Livestock? 00:21:41.205 --> 00:21:41.826 In silver and in gold. 00:21:41.826 --> 00:21:44.335 So Abram had some money, amen. 00:21:44.335 --> 00:21:55.928 And it says he went on his journey from the south as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there at first, and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. 00:21:55.928 --> 00:21:58.633 So we see, god had given him success. 00:21:58.633 --> 00:22:00.415 He'd already been a worshiper of God. 00:22:00.415 --> 00:22:02.380 He was a man who sought after God. 00:22:02.380 --> 00:22:07.615 And now, right, he's continuing to seek after God. 00:22:07.615 --> 00:22:11.270 Right, he's going back to where he'd heard from God. 00:22:11.270 --> 00:22:12.575 Lot was with him. 00:22:12.945 --> 00:22:16.554 And what they find out is the land couldn't hold. 00:22:16.554 --> 00:22:18.137 How blessed they were. 00:22:18.137 --> 00:22:27.769 They had too many cows and goats and sheep and camels and donkeys and lot, right, they're like it can't hold us. 00:22:27.769 --> 00:22:29.653 I know that is blessed. 00:22:29.653 --> 00:22:33.686 Can you imagine being a rancher and you're like man? 00:22:33.686 --> 00:22:37.676 I got to get more land because all my cows, they have twins every time. 00:22:37.676 --> 00:22:40.327 Every cow has twins, every goat has twins, every sheep has twins. 00:22:40.327 --> 00:22:42.971 I'm just blessed, right. 00:22:42.971 --> 00:22:45.355 So they're like we've got to do something here. 00:22:45.355 --> 00:22:57.626 And so, right, abram, if you look through, he says, hey, lot, let's go ahead and separate so that we can make sure that we're not overtaxing everything. 00:22:57.646 --> 00:23:00.388 But then look down in verse 14, here in Genesis 13. 00:23:00.388 --> 00:23:05.613 So we're going to look at this, then we're going to go to Genesis 15, and then talk about it for a moment. 00:23:05.613 --> 00:23:25.529 So here in Genesis 13, 14, it says the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are northward, southward, eastward and westward, for all the land which you see, I give to you and your descendants forever. 00:23:25.529 --> 00:23:31.790 So God says I need you to look up and see something, and whatever you see, that's what I'm going to give you. 00:23:31.790 --> 00:23:33.596 Now let's go over to Genesis 15. 00:23:33.596 --> 00:23:35.827 Start there in verse 1. 00:23:35.827 --> 00:23:40.417 Again, god getting ready now to make covenant with Abram. 00:23:40.417 --> 00:23:42.671 And it says Genesis 15, 1,. 00:23:42.765 --> 00:23:49.873 After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying Do not be afraid, abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. 00:23:49.873 --> 00:23:52.512 I know God is our shield, he's our reward. 00:23:52.512 --> 00:23:57.215 But Abram said Lord God, what will you give me seeing I go childless? 00:23:57.215 --> 00:23:58.892 So what was Abraham seeing inside? 00:23:58.892 --> 00:24:04.096 He was only seeing what was there in the natural. 00:24:04.096 --> 00:24:05.105 He was seeing the same thing in Genesis 13. 00:24:05.105 --> 00:24:06.451 He was seeing what they had. 00:24:07.164 --> 00:24:09.272 God wants him to look up and see something different. 00:24:09.272 --> 00:24:15.813 Then, right, abram said Lord God, what will you give me seeing I go childless? 00:24:15.813 --> 00:24:17.913 The heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus. 00:24:17.913 --> 00:24:21.174 Then Abram said look, you have given me no offspring. 00:24:21.174 --> 00:24:23.808 Indeed, one born in my house is my heir. 00:24:23.808 --> 00:24:26.231 And behold, then Abram said Then he brought him outside. 00:24:32.625 --> 00:24:36.193 So God takes him outside and look what he says the second time. 00:24:36.193 --> 00:24:44.872 He says Now, here he has him, look where he has him, look up towards the heaven, count the stars right. 00:24:44.872 --> 00:24:46.635 And he says so shall your descendants be. 00:24:46.635 --> 00:24:50.544 And so God has to get you to see something. 00:24:50.544 --> 00:24:57.501 Amen, god told him right, you've got to see it so I can give it to you. 00:24:57.501 --> 00:25:03.530 So the first thing you have to do, if there's something out there, first thing you have to do is you've got to see it, see it where. 00:25:03.530 --> 00:25:04.932 You've got to see it in the Spirit. 00:25:04.932 --> 00:25:06.275 You've got to see it in your mind. 00:25:06.275 --> 00:25:08.278 You've got to see it in your dreams, in your goals. 00:25:08.278 --> 00:25:09.519 You've got to see it. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.544 But he had him look up and I think it's important. 00:25:12.544 --> 00:25:14.173 He wanted to get his eyes upward. 00:25:14.173 --> 00:25:18.644 Well, you'd mentioned about eyes down. 00:25:19.366 --> 00:25:21.611 Yeah, oh, okay, sorry, I didn't know that you wanted me to say that. 00:25:21.611 --> 00:25:33.201 So a pastor, I heard a pastor say one time that her visiting or not visiting communist countries, but people who had been there before. 00:25:33.201 --> 00:25:38.487 When they built buildings they didn't build them tall enough because they didn't want people to look up. 00:25:38.487 --> 00:25:48.619 But you had mentioned something in first service about the American dream and when people came over here you know like you go to places like New York City and how tall buildings are. 00:25:49.803 --> 00:25:57.618 Amen, because the enemy wants you looking down Right, but there are numerous scriptures in the Bible that lift up your eyes. 00:25:57.618 --> 00:26:00.540 Lift up your eyes, lift up your vision. 00:26:00.540 --> 00:26:08.977 Amen, because your natural sight only sees what is, but vision sees what could be Right. 00:26:08.977 --> 00:26:12.443 And there are things that God needs you to see. 00:26:18.131 --> 00:26:23.029 He needs you to see things in your heart so that he can get you to where you need to be next. 00:26:23.029 --> 00:26:30.671 Praise the Lord. 00:26:30.671 --> 00:26:32.556 So God told Abram to look to look where to look, where God told him to look. 00:26:32.556 --> 00:26:40.079 The thing that's very interesting about Genesis chapter 13, genesis chapter 15, that I think CF kind of highlighted a little bit was that he told him to look at natural things and he told him to look at spiritual things. 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:44.681 He said look at the ground, look at the earth, look in this direction, look in that direction. 00:26:44.681 --> 00:26:47.722 That will be your seed, that will be your inheritance. 00:26:47.722 --> 00:26:51.596 But then he also said, just like what he mentioned was the stars. 00:26:51.596 --> 00:26:55.556 So there are spiritual things you're going to look at that you're to accomplish in the spirit. 00:26:55.556 --> 00:27:05.272 Both of those things, no matter what they are, no matter what God has you to look at, whether it's natural, whether it's spiritual will take faith to accomplish Amen. 00:27:05.272 --> 00:27:09.852 So you're going to have to have faith to accomplish the things that God has called you to do. 00:27:09.852 --> 00:27:13.184 So the first step is to hear from God. 00:27:13.184 --> 00:27:15.512 How many of you know you're supposed to hear from God? 00:27:15.512 --> 00:27:20.750 It's a redemptive work for God to live on the inside of you and for him to talk to you. 00:27:20.750 --> 00:27:25.580 The Bible said that in the gospels that the Holy Ghost would come. 00:27:25.580 --> 00:27:30.221 Jesus talked about that the Holy Ghost would come and that he would show you things to come. 00:27:30.221 --> 00:27:35.861 So what are the things that the Holy Spirit wants to show you to come to in your life? 00:27:35.861 --> 00:27:37.182 The plan of God. 00:27:37.182 --> 00:27:53.970 Without knowing Jesus, without knowing that you can hear from him, your future could be a mystery, right? 00:27:53.970 --> 00:27:58.621 How many of you have ever looked at your future and thought it's a little bit of a mystery, right? 00:27:58.621 --> 00:28:06.637 Well, the Bible talks about how he wants to speak, what those mysteries are to us and make them clear in Corinthians. 00:28:06.637 --> 00:28:17.000 And so that your future doesn't have to be a mystery, how many of you gives you hope when you have a plan? 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:22.355 It gives you a purpose when you have a plan. 00:28:22.355 --> 00:28:29.671 If you just look at your life and you're like there's no purpose for my life, there's no hope for your life and God doesn't want you to live hopeless. 00:28:29.671 --> 00:28:35.472 He wants you to have hope, and knowing the plan gives you a hope and it gives you a goal to reach Amen. 00:28:35.875 --> 00:28:37.278 So Abraham looked. 00:28:37.278 --> 00:28:39.065 He was obedient to look. 00:28:39.065 --> 00:28:40.789 He was obedient to look in the directions. 00:28:40.789 --> 00:28:41.893