Looking Up When Life's Got You Down (Part 12)

Have you ever had a dream to do something great for God. Have you ever had a dream that you could accomplish mighty things for God and then obstacles came your way difficulties has arisen in your life opposition mounted circumstances were just not favorable and then you gave up a dream. I mean if you ever had a vision for God or I should say God's vision for your life and then for a moment or two an hour or two a day or two a month or two a year or two you were on top of the world with that vision you were on top of the world with enthusiasm for wanting to accomplish the vision that God has given you, and then somebody discouraged you somebody told you that it is impossible. Somebody came and poured cold water over the fire of your vision. Well, I wanted to listen carefully today because this message can be used of God to bring you God's vision for your life.

This message can be used of God to wreak hello your passion for Jesus Christ. This message can be used of God to renew your God given dream.

This message can be used of God to encourage you today encourage you to overcome human tendency would encourage you to overcome natural inadequacies. It will encourage you to overcome the surrounding circumstances, I wanted to him the right because I don't want you to misunderstand what I mean by God's dream and God's vision.

I know there are people who can daydream. That's all I'm talking about.

I know there are people who have all kinds of dreams and vision of grander that's not what I'm talking about.

I know there are many people who have a great deal of self ambition's that's not what I'm talking about.

I am talking about a God given dream a God given vision for your life. I am talking about doing something that is impossible without God doing something so great for God that if you tell others there think you're crazy. I am talking about doing something that is impossible to accomplish without God's supernatural hand of intervention in your life is what I'm talking about.

Many years ago I knew of a man who was extremely poor of the time, but he believed with all his heart that God was calling him to make millions of dollars and give it all away and when he died every dollar of the millions of dollars that he made. He gave to the kingdom of God. That's the kind of dream I'm talking about a vision that God has given you no matter what it is because we often think is pretty rough and think is teaching and most times have nothing to do with those two things.

Of course there are those who have no dreams at all. Whether it's for God nor for themselves and of course there are those who are so pessimistic that they never accomplish anything for God. All others I just read the other day, something that says that a pessimist is someone whose daydreams are nightmares and of course there are those whose dreams are wishful thinking like that woman who woke up on the morning of her birthday and she said to her husband. She said I had a dream last night that for my birthday. I have a beautiful pearl necklace for my birthday when you think it means, and her husband said to go to find out tonight and sure enough that night to give her a book entitled interpretation of dreams. There were two middle-aged men were talking to each other, and one said to the other is that the that any of your childhood dreams come true.

He thought for a minute and he said yes. When I was a young boy and my mother used to comb my hair. I just wish I didn't have any. Be careful what you wish for. When the apostle Paul encountered the resurrected Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus in acts chapter 9, the Lord Jesus confronted him as he is not persecuting the church of Jesus Christ, but he was persecuting Christ himself and then he sent to him and said I wanted to get up and I wanted to go to the city of Damascus and there you go to meet a man by the name of Ananias. Meanwhile, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ spoke to Ananias ungodly believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who lived in Damascus and is September said Ananias I want you to go and see Paul Saul of Tarsus was known then and his knees began to knock his heartbeat was racing these alone do you know what you talking about this man is known to imprison Christians.

This man is known to arrest Christians.

This man is no full killing Christians. Lord, you know what you talking about, and here's what the Lord Jesus Christ said to Ananias in acts chapter 9 verse 15, the Lord Jesus said to Ananias, who said go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and listen carefully to this one and two Kings some translations as kings and rulers and to the sons of Israel, and here it is in verse the Lord Jesus Christ spelled out his vision for the apostle Paul and for his life. That was God's vision for the apostle Paul wasn't that he would testify to the name of Jesus before kings and before rulers and before people in power and to the Gentiles under the sons of Israel, listen carefully place what I'm going to tell you before Paul was born, God had a vision for his life before the foundation of the earth and the earth was created, God had a vision for Paul's life. It is true to say that if you are a child of God, not just child of God by creation.

I'm talking about a child of God by rebirth body generation.

If you are born again, if Jesus is the center of the Lord of your life.

Then I want to tell you that God had a vision and has a vision for your life, not just a vision to redeem you not just a vision to save you not just a vision to adopt to not just a vision to choose you on elect to not just a vision to sanctify you vision to use you. If you are running around saying God accuse me I can do anything for God. I am not gifted.

There is nothing that I can accomplish for God. You are making a mockery of God's plan for your life. You are making a mockery of God's election and call upon your life you are making a mockery of God's sovereign plan for your life. You are making a mockery of God's vision for you in God's dream for you and for your life. Listen carefully any halfway decent parent has a vision for his or her child. Listen we work hard. We save hard and we put all of our life savings and good schools and colleges.

Why because we have a vision for our children when they listen to me carefully, then if the best of our vision for our children the best of our vision for our children cannot be compared with God's vision for each one of his children advanced our vision for our children pales in approximation, God's vision for his children. Our vision at best for our children is flawed in comparison to God's vision for each one of his children.

God's vision for Paul spelled out here in acts chapter 9 verse 15 that he would testify before rulers before kings for the name of Jesus and then in acts chapter 26 that vision becomes fulfilled. This vision takes place. But listen to this one you see between acts chapter 9 and acts chapter 26 that has been hired. Hall a lot of difficulties and obstacles and barriers between acts chapter 9 in acts chapter 26, there has been a lot of suffering and pain for the apostle Paul between acts chapter 9 in acts chapter 26, there has been a whole lot of endurance on the part of the apostle Paul in doing so starvation and nuance of stoning endurance of lashing endurance of misunderstandings, endurance of impoverishment endurance of insults and humans of imprisonment and doings of creek and humans of all kinds of hardships and suffering with the dream burning in the vision Moving Forward Because God's Vision, Not Something Paul Concocted Said I like to Do This from the Time of Acts Chapter 9 Paul Had Experience so Much Joy in Seeing People Say so Much Difficulty and Problems As Well. In Acts Chapter 9 Particular Verse 15 God Told Ananias about His Vision for Paul. I Have No Doubt in My Mind That Ananias Told Paul at Some Point in the Next Chapter 26 Paul Gets the Opportunity to Witness to the Name of Jesus before the King of Israel, King Agrippa, Kai Author and Her Book, Lord, I Want to Know You Said the Following.

She Said All the World for the Most Part Lives for Today the Most. The Future Seems Uncertain, so Hopeless That They Have Lost Their Vision and Therefore Live Only for the Immediate Happiness without Vision the People Perish. Then She Goes on to Explain What Happened during the Korean War. She Said That the Majority of All Men Who Were Taken Captive Never Tried to Escape. She Said That Was Unprecedented. Specially If You Compare It to World War II.

They Were Resigned to Prison Because They Saw in the Future. They Have Lost Their Vision. Their Hope Was Gone They Gave in and Where Absorbed by Their Captivity. How Terrible Then K Goes on to Conclude That This Is What Has Happened to so Many Christians.

They Have Lost Sight of the Blessed Hope. They've Lost Sight of the God-Given Vision. I Pray God That Today Would Be a Day for the Renewal of Your God-Given Vision.

I Really Have Very Briefly. Three Things That I Want to Share with You These Are Three Things That Paul Was Able to Overcome Because of His God-Given Vision, Young and Old.

Listen Carefully, Because I Submit to You This Day That When You Know and Obey God's Vision for Your Life You Will Be over, like Paul, I Am Absolutely Convinced That the Most of the Problem Will Defeat the Christian Life Comes from Either Not Knowing or Not the Way of Forgetting God's Vision for Your Life. I'm Convinced of That. I Am Absolutely Convinced That Most of the Inability of Christians to Be over Comers Results from Not Knowing or Not Obeying All Forgetting That God Has a Vision for Every One of You Regardless of Your Age, Regardless of Who You Are Seeing Is a Problem Know That Ananias Told Paul but You Know How Many Years Not Just between the Time of Acts Chapter 9 to Acts 26 but Even the Time When Paul Knew That God Has Given That Vision to the Time He Began to Preach Well over Seven Years. Some People Actually Think It's 10 Year Can You Imagine That Length of Time and the Endurance That He Was Able to Do in June or Simply Because He Knew That This Was God's Vision for Him and God Never Lies. If You Do Not Know God's Vision for Your Life. I Submit to You That You Have. Start Today Asking God What Is Your Vision for My Life to Show It to You. I Remember from the Time I Knew What God's Vision for My Life Lost to the Time When I Began to Even Experience the Very Beginning of It. 11 Years 11 Years.

Nobody Can Blame You for Not Knowing Our New but God and the Sovereign Plan with the Weight That Long Wanted to Look with Me at Those Three Obstacles.

Those Three Things That God's Vision in Paul's Life Has Empowered Him to Overcome and They Will Empower You to Overcome.

Also, Number One.

He Overcame Human Tendencies.

Secondly, He Overcame Natural Inadequacies.

Thirdly, He Overcame Surrounding Obstacles. Let's Look at the First One Because of God's Vision for Paul's Life.

He Was Able to Overcome Human Tendencies. One of These Human Tendencies.

Well I Can Tell You in Paul's Case on the Two Years and That Stinking Cesarean Prison Is a Natural Temptation for Him to Wonder about All of God's Vision Is What's This All about. It Would've Been Easy for Paul the Question, Even God's Vision.

It Would've Been Easy for Paul to Say, I Might As Well Cooperate with the Authorities.

I Can Get Out Of Here and Go over and Get Some Decent Retirement. It Would've Been Easy for Paul to Say I Have Done My Part. I Have Preach the Gospel around the World. I Have Had Three Grueling Missionary Journeys. I Paid My Dues. I Have Been Faithful so Far I Have Served My Time Lately Given an Opportunity for Somebody Else, Get Out Of Here. These Are All Human Tendencies That All Human Tendencies Are Human Tendencies Often Say Somebody Else Will Do It. All Human Tendencies. Often Says Somebody Else Will Be More Effective.

Somebody Else Is Better off Somebody Else Has the Right Qualifications Somebody Else I'm Tired of Standing out and Standing and Being Counted but Had Paul Given up at This Point He Would've Lost out on the Fulfillment of God's Vision for His Life That Was There before the Foundation of the Earth Vision to Testify to Kings and Rulers.

Heraclius Listen Carefully to I'm Going to Tell You Every One of Us Know What These Human Tendencies Are. I Don't Have To Explain Them to You. I Don't Have To Remind You of Them Being Reminded of the Enough. The Problem Is Most of Us Allow These Human Tendencies to Keep Us from Fulfilling God's Vision in Our Lives. There Were 12 Men They Went. Despite the Promise Land.

They Come Back Then a Little Sad That's Impossible That Giants in the Land. We Can Know What Was God's Vision God's Vision Says Off-Line the Deeds over of Atlanta. You Is Mine and I'm Giving It to That Was God's Vision When They Came Back They Did Not Only Miss out on God's Vision for Vail but They Caused the Whole Nation to Wonder around in the Desert for 40 Years, Because They Refused to Believe and Obey God's Vision for Them. Be Careful, Be Careful of Allowing Your Human Tendency to Deter You from Fulfilling God's Vision in Your Life. You Know What Yours Are. Let Me Assure You I Know What's Mine up. Not Only That God's Vision Will Empower You to Overcome Human Tendencies, but Also Secondly Going to Help You Overcome Natural Inadequacies. Paul Tells Us That He Had an Eye Problem That Affected His Site Couldn't See Very Well. He Probably Was Squinting When He Was Talking to Agrippa. Paul Tells Us That He Was Not a Very Impressive Man That He Does Not Really Command Attention When He Walks into a Room. Paul Said of Himself That He Was Not Very Eloquent He Can Speak All That Well. One Just One of These Inadequacies Would Have Been Enough to Discourage Him. One of These Inadequacies Have Been Enough to Get Him One of These Inadequacies Would Have Been Enough to Get Him to Call Acquaintance.

What Are Your Inadequacies. I Sure Know Mine and Had I Allowed My Inadequacies to Get in the Way Most Likely Wouldn't Standing before You Today Because Mine Is a Long List. We All Have Inadequacies. So Stop Saying Mine a Bigger Than Somebody Else's. We All Have Them out Inadequacies Are Always There for Us. They Cannot Escape Our Attention.

They Cannot Escape Our Presence. They Are Forever. There, but That's Not the Issue. The Issue Is Real Life. You Will like Cripple You Well They Render You Ineffective for God.

Paul Was Able to Overcome His Natural Inadequacies Because He Knew That He Was Serving a Powerful God the Promise Not Because You Have Some Inadequacies. The Problem Is Who Are You Serving You That His Natural Inadequacies. Plus God's Adequacy on a Mighty Force. Paul Knew That It Is Not by Power nor by My but by My Spirit, Says the Lord. Paul Knew That His Natural Inadequacies Are Only God's Opportunities.

Paul Knew That His Natural Inadequacies Are Merely God's Instruments to Manifest His Glory so He Would Not Allow His Inadequacies to Put a Stop to Hold God's Vision in His Life.

What Are Your Inadequacies. He Overcame His Human Tendencies. He Overcame His Natural Inadequacies. Thirdly, God's Vision for Paul Empowered Him to Overcome the Surrounding Obstacles I Had to Think Again and Again of This Whole Situation. Paul in the Court of the King. Just Think about It Would've Been Very Easy for Him to Be so Will with Incredible Pomp and Circumstance That Was There. It Would've Been Very Easy for Him to Be over Are Awestruck by the Shore of Pump and Power That Surrounded the Circumstances, It Would've Been Easy for Paul to Be Terminated by the Governor, Festus and King Agrippa and by the Generals and by the Queen and by All the Legality of That Surrounded Him in the Palace Been Easy for Paul to Be Tempted to Engross Create Himself with the Authorities to Build a Law Easy for Him, but He Didn't and I Thank God He Did Because He Gave Me a New Role Model. The Reason He Did Not Get Overwhelmed Going over All Comes from Right in Here Confident of God's Vision and Therefore He Was Not Going to Get Overwhelmed with the Surrounding Obstacles. Why Because He Wanted the King's Salvation, Not Victory in His Favor Because Paul Wanted to Glorify Jesus and Not Himself Because Paul Wanted to See and Save the Lost, Not to Save His Skin, or Even His Reputation Because Paul Wanted Not Only to Tell the Story of His Own Conversion but He Wanted the Convergence of Everyone Was Listening to Festus like Call Him Mad at Agrippa's Cough at His Attempt, but It Was Jesus That Paul Wanted to Please Not As I Come to a Close, I Want to Make You a Deal. Obviously I Love You Enough to Want to See God's Vision Fulfilled in Each One of You Make Your Deal Every Time and at Any Moment You Get Defeated Every Time and Every Moment You Get Overwhelmed with Human Tendencies Every Time and Any Moment You Get Overwhelmed with Natural Inadequacies Every Time and Every Moment You Get Overwhelmed with the Surrounding Obstacles You Gonna Find That It Is Because You Have Lost Sight of God's Vision for Your Life a Policy That a Promise You I'm Not Preaching at You I'm Telling about My Experience You Going to Find That You Have Lost Sight of What God's Call on Your Life Is All about and at These Times What You Need to Do Is Get up, Pull Yourself Together and Remind Yourself That God Has a Vision for Your Life That God Has a Dream for You That God Will Empower You to Fulfill His Vision and to Realize His Dream. Thanks for Listening to This Message from Dr. Michael USF Recently Featured on Leading the Way. If You'd like to Know More about Us, Please Visit LTW.org.LTW.Borg