People of Grit: Week 3

I want to ask you, what would you do if

you knew that you could not fail? What would you

do if you knew that you could not fail?

And I'll tell you a story.

More than twelve years ago, I went on my first

date with Lauren, my wife, and it was a great day.

We were looking forward to this date. It happened to

be on a Sunday. So the first thing we did

was we went to church together. So single guys, if

you want to impress the lady, take her to church.

Show her that faith is important to you. After church,

we had a marathon of an afternoon. We went to lunch,

We went to the zoo, we went to coffee, We

went to Dave and Busters and played games and I

won her the stuffed animal, just like in a movie.

It was so romantic.

We had dessert and then we ended the day on

Mount Washington. We lived in Pittsburgh and this park looks

out over the city watching the sunset over the city

on Mount Washington. Now, I have two good friends, James

and Tim, and before this date, they were giving me

some advice about my first date with Lauren. And before

the date, Tim and James asked me, Andrew, are you

going to kiss Lauren on your first date. I thought

about it, and then I said, no risk, no reward.

And so there we.

Were on Mount Washington, Laura and I watching the sun set,

and I took a risk. I made a bold move,

and I kissed her on our first date. About a

year and a half later, Lauren and I were on

another date at Mount Washington looking out over the city,

and this time I took another risk, and I made

a bold move, and I got down on one knee

with a ring in my hand and asked her to

marry me. Now, I was optimistic that she would say yes,

but it still felt risky. I still felt nervous asking

that question. No risk, no reward. Well, I found out

that Lauren remembers our proposal story a little bit differently

than me.

I found out about this later.

So I'm the type of person that I can't hide

my emotions very well.

I wear my emotions on my sleeve.

You can look at me and get an idea of

what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling. And so even

though Lauren had no idea that I was going to

propose that evening earlier in the day, during the afternoon,

she picked up some nervous energy around me.

She noticed that I was acting a little bit nervous,

a little bit strange. In fact, she called her mom

on the.

Phone that afternoon and she said, Andrew's acting a little

bit strange.

I'm afraid he's going to break up with me.

I didn't realize what was really at risk that day

when I proposed, but thankfully it all worked out, no risk,

no reward. What would you do if you knew that

you could not fail? What would you risk if you

knew that you could not fail? Would you buy the house?

Would you apply for that job? Would you leave one

job to go back to school? Would you start the business?

Would you make that investment? Like?

What would you do if you knew that you could

not fail?

Let me ask that question a little bit differently, What

would you do for God if you knew that you

could not fail? What bold step would you take for God?

What bold thing would you do for God? If you knew,

when we're certain, you could not fail? Would you write

that check? Would you sign up for that serving or

that ministry role? Would you start that program? Would you

launch that Bible study? Or maybe somebody listening it would

be starting that church, or traveling to another country to

serve God.

Or would you be.

So bold to share the gospel with your friend or

with your neighbor, or with that coworker? Like, what would

you do for God? What risk would you take? What

bold step would you take for God? If you knew

that you would not be embarrassed, that you would not fail,

that you would not be disappointed. What would you do

if you had one hundred percent guarantee. Well, we're being honest.

We know that we don't have one hundred percent guarantee

every time. That's why it's a step of faith. That's

why we call it faith. We read in Hebrews chapter eleven,

now faith is confidence in what we hope for and

assurance about what we do not see. And in Second

Corinthians five it says we live by faith, not by sight.

Living by faith is risky. Living by faith has some risk.

We risk looking foolish, we risk being embarrassed, we risk

being judged or criticized. There's some risk living by faith.

Like I said earlier, no risk, no reward.

Faith takes boldness. So let me share the big idea

of this message.

There's one thing that I want to encourage you to

remember one thing to keep in your mind and your

heart when you leave here today, one big idea. People

of grit have a bold vision. People of grit have

a bold vision. Here at Church of the Crossing, we

have a bold vision. We've been saying recently that we

want to become a better church, not just a bigger church.

We want to become a better church, not just a

bigger church. And what that means is we want to

be who God has called us to be. We want

to be more like Jesus today than we were yesterday.

We want to love one another more today than we

did yesterday. We have a vision of being a better

church in our community. We believe that God has put

us here on Haverstick Road in Indianapolis to make a

difference for His kingdom in our community. We want to

serve our neighbors. We want to bring the Gospel into

our community.

You know. That's why we're doing ministries.

That help solve food in security in this community. That's

why we're helping with a free legal aid for people

who need help with legal services.

That's why we have multiple languages in our church.

That's why we're doing these things because we want to

be the hands and feet of Jesus in our community.

We have a bold vision.

We want to be a church that when parents with

young children come to our church, that from birth to

graduating high school, they learn who Jesus is. They learn

how to follow Jesus, how to love Jesus, how to

obey Jesus. We want to be a church that helps

single parents, that serves children in foster care, helps children

who need adopted. We have these visions that we want

to be the presence of Jesus in our community. Did

you know that there are some in our community that

do not have access to sustainable, affordable laundry care. Something

as simple or as basic as laundry is a big

hurdle for some. Can we not solve that problem in

the name of Jesus.

What if our church had a reputation in our city

as a.

Place where someone could go to find hope and healing

and freedom. What if we launch this Celebrate Recovery ministry

that's a twelve step program for people fighting addiction, and

people were set free from their addictions and their habits

and their hurts and their life. What if people met

somebody in their life or had a relative, a family

member that was struggling with addiction, and they said, go

to church.

Or the cross and they can help you find freedom.

What if some in our community said, oh, if you

have a life threatening illness, go to church or the crossing.

Those people pray for miracles. What if our church was known.

In our community as a place you need a job,

your marriage needs healing, go to church at the crossing.

You just moved to the United States, go to church

at the crossing. They're going to look out for you.

These are bold ideas, big vision, bold dreams, and it

takes people of grit to fulfill a bold vision. People

of grit have a bold vision. Daniel was a person

of grit. He was bold, and in Daniel Chapter two

we see.

A picture of Daniel's boldness.

Look at Daniel chapter two with me starting in verse one.

In the second year of his reign, Nebekinezer had dreams.

His mind was troubled and he could not sleep. So

the king.

Summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to tell him

what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood

before the king, he said to them, I have had

a dream that troubles me, and I want to know

what it means. Then the astrologers answered the king, may

the King live forever, tell your servants the dream and

we will interpret it. My son, Shepherd is about seven

months old, and we are still trying to teach Shepherd

how to sleep like a normal human being, and he's

made some progress, but he still has difficult nights. He'll

startle often in the night, and often he'll cry and

scream and Lauren has to console him. We think that

he might be starting some teething and that that's causing

discomfort while he sleeps Now, I don't think King Nebu Canezer.

Was teething, but he was obviously troubled.

He had this reoccurring dream that was keeping him awake,

that was troubling him at night, so he asked his

counselors for advice.

Let's keep reading.

In verse five, the king replied to the astrologers, this

is what I have firmly decided. If you do not

tell me what my dream was, and in turn, I

will have you cut into pieces and your house turned

into piles of rubble. But if you tell me the

dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts

and rewards and great honors.

So tell me the dream and interpret it for me.

So nebu Canezer wants not only the interpretation of the dream,

but he wants them to tell him what the dream

was that he saw in his sleep. Have you ever

had an overbearing boss, an over demanding boss, just it

doesn't matter what you do, you just can't make them happy.

You put in the hours, you do the extra work,

you just can't meet their expectations. That's King Nebucinezer, he's overbearing.

Look at verse ten. The astrologers answered the king, there

is no one on earth who can do what the

king asks. Anybody ever want to say that to an employer.

There's no one on earth that can do what you're asking.

No king, however, great and mighty, has ever asked such

a thing of any magician, or enchanter or astrologer.

Now, remember Daniel was one of the king's counselors. Look

of verse thirteen.

So the decree was issued to put the wise men

to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel

and his friends to put them to death. When Arioch,

the commander of the king's guard, had gone out to

put to death the wise men of Babylon. Daniel spoke

to him with wisdom and tact. He asked the king's officer,

why did the king issue such a harsh decree. Arioch

then explained the matter to Daniel. At this Daniel went

into the king and asked for time so that he

might interpret the dream for him. Have you ever heard

the expression under promise and over deliver. It's the idea

that you set expectations low so that when you exceed them,

people are impressed and pleased. Well, I think Daniel must

have over promised to get the king to back off.

I mean, it's not explicitly in the text, but I

believe that Daniel must have promised something big to get

the king, who is angry upset had issued this decree

to back off and give him time. He over promised

something to buy more time. It makes me think of

a time when I was a youth and I had

this desire as a youth pastor. I wanted to work

in partnership with the school in my local community, wanted

to serve the school, wanted to build connections with the

school and administrators. And every door that I tried was closed.

Every connection I tried to make didn't get a response

until I started to develop a friendship with the superintendent

of the school district, and God gave me favor in

this friendship, and at one point in one of our conversations,

the superintendent asked me a bold question.

The superintendent asked if.

Our church would be willing to start and run an

after school leadership program for middle school students.

What do you think?

I said when the superintendent asked me that bold question, Well,

I did.

Not say let me think about it. I did not

say I'll get back to you. I have to admit.

I also did not say let me pray about it.

I said, yes, yes, we will do that. Absolutely, sign

me up. Ye, we will do that. Yes.

And then I thought, have I over promised something that

I can't deliver?

What are all the unknowns?

Will my senior pastor give permission for this? Will we

have the resources? Where do we find the funding? What

about volunteers and leaders? What if it doesn't work? Have

I over promised something? But thankfully that was not the case,

because God had a vision, God had a strategy, God

had a plan. God provided the resources, God provided the opportunities,

God provided the leaders and the people to make it happen.

It was God's vision, and thankfully, more than eight years later,

that program is still doing work in that community today.

So Daniel made a bold move when he asked the

King for more time. But Daniel has to deliver on

his promise. Let's keep reading in verse seventeen. Then Daniel

returned to his house and explained the matter to his

friends Hannah and i A, Michelle, and Azariah. He urged

them to plead for mercy from the God of Heaven

concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might

not be executed with the rest of the wise men

of Babylon. During the night, the mystery was revealed to

Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of Heaven.

If you're reading.

Along in your Bible, I want to ask you to

circle this word vision, or if you're in your Bible,

app highlighted or make a note on your phone this

word vision.

And here's what I'm gonna say.

There is a difference between a dream and a vision.

See the King in this story, he had a dream

and he didn't understand it.

He had a dream and it confused him.

He had a dream and it troubled him, but God

gave Daniel a vision.

This is true for us.

Human dreams without the power of God do not accomplish anything.

Without the power of God, a human dream is just

pie in the sky. Without the power of God, a

human dream is just wishful thinking and fantasy. But with

the power of God comes vision. With the spirit of

God comes bold godly vision. With the spirit of God,

there is vision for what God wants to do in

your life and in your ministry. There's a difference between

a dream and a vision. Bold people people of grit

have a bold vision. Now. I wonder if Daniel's friends

thought that he was in over his head. Often when

you're following God, when you're obeying God, you feel like

you're in over your head sometime.

But God honored Daniel and God gave him a vision.

People of Grit have a bold vision.

Our church is full of people of grit, and God

has a vision for your life. God has a vision

for your ministry. I was speaking recently with someone from

our church who owns their own business, and they told

me they have a God sized vision. They have a

vision that their company, their business will invest and buy

homes or remodel homes, to create sustainable, affordable housing for

single moms who need a safe, secure place to raise

their kids. That's a God's size vision. Let me ask you,

do you have a God's size vision? Do you have

a God sized vision for your marriage, a God sized

vision for your family?

For your career? Do you have a God size vision?

You see?

God's vision for you is more than just go to college,

get a bunch of debt, get a mortgage, and then

say for retirement.

God has a God size eternal vision for you that

makes an eternal impact in this world. Do you have

a God sized vision to serve God in some way?

To start a ministry, to start a program, to launch

a church, to travel to another country.

Has God given you a God's sized vision?

Do you have a vision to bring the Gospel to

your workplace or to your classroom? Do you have a

God sized vision? We want to be a better church,

not just a bigger church. We have a vision that

we want to be known as the people that serve Jesus.

That at church or the Crossing you can find hope,

healing and freedom. That at church or the Crossing people's

lives are changed. That marriages are healed here. I have

a vision that what if college students moving to Indianapolis

to go to places like Butler University know that church

or the Crossing is a place that believes in them

and can support them and can show them how to

follow Jesus, do you have a God size vision for

your life? A God sized vision takes bold faith.

And so where do we start? What where did Daniel start?

Look at verse eighteen.

He urged them to plead for mercy from the God

of Heaven concerning this mystery.

A bold vision starts with bold prayer. A bold vision begins.

With a bold prayer. I heard a story about a.

Farming community in Mississippi.

This whole community depended on agriculture fur their economy, and

during this one season, the community.

Was suffering a terrible drought. There was no rain.

There was no water, and what that means is no rain,

no crops, no crops, no income, no income, no survival,

and so desperately, the pastor of a church in that

community called for a prayer meeting to pray for rain,

and many farmers from the community came to that prayer

meeting to pray for rain. But one of the Farmers

showed up at the prayer meeting dressed a little bit uniquely.

He came wearing his fishing waiters with the big rubber

boots and the overalls. And when he was asked why

did he wear fishing waiters to a prayer meeting, he

simply said, I don't want to go home wet today.

And he didn't, but.

Everybody else did because God sent rain. Mark Batterson writes

bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. A

bold vision begins with bold prayer. Have you prayed about

God's vision for your life? Have you prayed about God's vision?

Have you prayed for God asking for open doors? Have

you asked for opportunities? Have you prayed for resources? Have

you prayed to God asking him to bring confirmation that

this is his vision for you?

Bold vision begins with bold prayer.

Church of the Crossing is the people who are bold

and have bold faith. That's why in a few weeks

we're gonna take a step to pray boldly. Many of

in our church are struggling with cancer. Many of us

have family members who are fighting cancer, and so in

a few weeks we're gonna host a night of prayer

for those fighting cancer because we believe in a powerful God.

As the people of God, we have access to his

supernatural power, healing and love. When someone hears the word cancer,

it can feel defeating, It can feel like the end

of the world.

And for many it's a long journey.

It's a tough, long, exhausting fight. And so we're gonna

stand with those. And so if you're fighting cancer, if

you're a survivor, if you have a loved one, come

and we're gonna pray boldly for God's strength and God's

power and God's healing. A bold vision begins with bold prayer.

God gave Daniel a vision, so let's keep reading what happens.

In verse twenty three, Daniel says, I think and praise you,

God of my ancestors. You have given me wisdom and power.

You have made known to me what we asked of you.

You have made known to us the dream of the King.

When you pray boldly asking God for his vision, asking

God for his direction, he will make it known. He

will give you wisdom, He will give you power. God

will show you his vision when you pray boldly. In

the verse twenty four, then Daniel went to Arioch, whom

the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon,

and Daniel said to him, do not execute the wise

men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I

will interpret his dream for him. Don't you just love

Daniel's confidence? He says, take me to the king, let's go.

I'm ready. Daniel took a.

Bold step because he had bold faith. Daniel took a

bold step because he had God size vision. A bold

vision requires a bold step of faith.

A bold vision requires a old step of faith.

Do you know the expression Houston, we have a problem

that was made famous from Apollo thirteen mission, when NASA

sent three astronauts into space to land on the Moon

in nineteen seventy and in their course of traveling from

Earth to the Moon, there was an electrical malfunction and

an explosion inside the spacecraft, and that's when the astronauts said.

Radioed back, Houston, we have a problem.

Now, the mission to the Moon was scrapped and the

new mission became getting these astronauts home safely. Now, the

obvious solution was to turn the spacecraft around and go

back to Earth, but because of the damage and the explosion,

the astronauts were afraid that if they turned on their

fuel and their engines to make that turn back to Earth,

it would explode and do more damage and possibly end

their lives.

So they did something bold.

They took a risk, and they made a bold step,

and they decided to keep going to the Moon. This

was risky because it would take longer, it would use

up precious breathable oxygen, and they weren't certain if they

could make it back, but their goal was to go

to the Moon, use the gravitational pull of the Moon

to circle around the Moon, and slingshot back to the Earth.

It was also risky.

Because they didn't have their computers to do their navigation calculation,

so they had to do their calculations manually. And I

don't understand all of the physics, but they calculated that

they needed to burn fuel exactly thirty four point twenty

three seconds to reset their flight path to the Moon,

and then after looping around the Moon, they would burn

fuel for four minutes and twenty three seconds to set

a new trajectory toward Earth. It was a bold move

and it worked, and all three of them landed back

on Earth safely and alive. Sometimes the god sized vision

feels like you're shooting for the moon.

Sometimes the god's sized vision feels like it takes longer

than you want it to. Sometimes the god's size feels

like pressure, like you don't have room to breathe.

And you have all these questions and doubts, like I

wasn't prepared for this, I'm not trained for this.

What about the money, what about the resources? What if

we fail?

What will people think? What will my parents think? We

have all of these questions and thoughts and doubts coming

at us. But here's what I want to say. Don't

worry about the next ten steps.

Just take the first step. Just take the first step.

What is your first step?

Sign up for that class, fill out the application, make

the deposit, raise your hand, send that email.

What's your next step?

Take the first step, and then take the next step,

and then take the next step. Daniel took the first

step when he asked the king for more time. He

took the next step when he prayed, and they took

the next step to go and speak to the king again.

Look at what we read in verse twenty six. The

king asked Daniel, also called Beltachezar, are you able to

tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it.

Daniel replied, No, No wise man and chance, or magician

or diviner can explain to the King the mystery he

has asked about.

But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.

Let me tell you.

God's vision begins where man's vision ends.

Daniel's absolutely right.

There is no human power that can fulfill a god's

size vision. There is no human power that can fulfill

a bold vision. Human power on its own is nothing,

and it can accomplish very little in this world.

Human power is.

Nothing compared to the power of God. But when there's

a god sized vision, there's always a butt. But there

is a God in heaven. There's a God in heaven

who is more powerful than the powers of this world.

There's a God in heaven who sent his son Jesus

to earth, to die and rise from the dead to

save us from our sins. There is a God in

heaven who has healed addiction, who has.

Brought prodigals home.

There's a God in heaven who heals the sick, raises

the dead, casts out demons. There's a God in heaven

who rolled away the stone in front of Jesus's tomb,

so that we have a god sized vision. There's a

God in heaven that can fulfill a god's sized vision.

In your life. That's who we trust in.

People of Grid have a bold vision. Daniel boldly trusted

in God. And you can keep reading in chapter two

about the dream and Daniel's interpretation, but let me just

summarize what Daniel said. In the dream, the king saw

a large statue with a head of gold and a

chest of silver, and a belly of bronze and legs

of iron. In the statue's feet were made of iron

and clay. And then in the dream there was a

large stone that smashed this statue, and that stone became

a mountain filling the whole earth. And then Daniel explains

the interpretation that the statue represents kingdoms of the earth,

the Babylonian Kingdom, the Meato Persian Kingdom, the Greek Empire

with Alexander the Great, and the Roman Empire, and the

stone is the Kingdom of God.

Which is greater than all of those empires.

You see this dream forecast to the coming of Jesus,

because Jesus is called the living Stone, He's the living

stone He's greater than any earthly kingdom.

He's greater than any earthly king. His kingdom has no end.

It is eternal. And Jesus is a man of vision.

When Jesus came to earth, he had a vision.

His mission was to die on the cross for our forgiveness,

rise from the dead for our eternal life. Jesus did

not waver from that vision. Jesus did not give up

on that vision. Jesus endured the cross for the vision.

For you and me.

People of grit have a bold vision.

But I want to give you a warning today. There's

a warning about bold vision. If you do something bold.

For God, you will always face criticism.

You will be criticized for taking a bold step of faith.

Criticism always follows the people of God when they're obeying God.

And so if you don't want criticism, it's really easy.

Never do anything bold for God.

That's why I want to say, a bold vision invites

counsel and rejects criticism. A bold vision knows the difference

between counsel and criticism. There's a difference, and criticism usually

is when somebody is envious of you. They might be

jealous of you, they might be fearful. They don't understand

your faith.

That's criticism. I want to tell you about my Grandma Miller.

She just passed away last week on my dad's side,

and we had her funeral yesterday. My Grandma Miller was

a person of vision. She was a person of grit.

For more than thirty years, she worked as a public

school teacher here in Indianapolis, mostly with sixth grade students.

She put herself through night school to get her teaching degree,

and she had a vision to love her students even

beyond the classroom. Many of her students didn't come to

school because they didn't have clean clothes to come, they

didn't have the resources at home. Some of them didn't

turn in permission forms because their parents cannot read or write.

But my grandmother had a vision to love them beyond

the classroom. She told me a story once in the sixties,

there was one school year where the teacher union was

on strike and many of the teachers did not go

into school to teach, but they stood outside of the

school building protesting in the picket line.

But my grandmother decided.

That her vision was to her students, and she did

not protest. She did not strike and she kept going

to teach every day, and when she across that picket line,

she'd be shouted at, they would hit her car, they

would shout names at her.

And it was so risky that eventually she and a

few other.

Teachers decided to meet early in the morning a few

blocks away and pile into one car so they could

drive into school together.

And that went on for a few weeks until that

dispute was settled. She was a person of grit.

She loved her students beyond the classroom. Many of her

students went on to college. She attended their weddings, she

went to their baby showers, and she brought many of

her students to.

Church with her.

Because she had this vision to love her students even

when it wasn't popular, even when she was in the minority,

even when she was being criticized. Criticism always follows bold vision.

You will be criticized for taking bold steps of faith.

Ignore the critics. But you do need counsel, You need wisdom.

Even Daniel had three friends that gave him advice. We

read in verse seventeen. Daniel returned to his house and

explained the matter to his friends, Hanna and I A

Michel and Azariah. See, there's a difference between having a

pie and the sky dream and a godly vision and

good godly counselors help you distinguish the difference between a

fantasy and a big, bold, God size vision. So what

do you look for in godly counselors?

Let me tell you.

Godly counselors will believe in the God size vision. They

believe in the mission. They believe in.

God as much as you do. Godly counselors will pray

with you.

These are people of prayer who hear from God and

know God's voice. Godly counselors will ask good questions. Now,

they might be tough questions, they might be hard questions,

questions you may not have the answers to, but they're

trying to help you think about the whole thing. Godly

counselors will point out blind spots and weaknesses, things that

maybe you hadn't been aware of.

That can help you.

And Godly counselors will offer helpful solutions. They give guidance,

they give advice. They want to help. So who are

your godly counselors? Who do you trust?

Who are those.

Christians in your life that can give you godly advice,

because you don't need just a bunch of yes people

are going to tell you what you want to hear.

You are honest truth from godly people.

People of grit have a bold vision. And I want

to close today by telling you about a person of

grit from history.

Susan B.

Anthony was a person of grit with a big, bold vision.

Susan B.

Anthony was a committed Christian and she advocated and fought

for equality and rights.

Her work helped end slavery in the.

United States and also secure the right to vote for

women in this country.

Susan B.

Anthony followed the voice of the Lord and obey Jesus.

And everything that she did and everywhere she went, she

preached and she spoke out against injustice and against slavery.

She endured violence, she endured poverty and discrimination. Even one

time when she was speaking there was a mob that

burned her in effigy. But she didn't give up, she

didn't quit. She was a person of grit. Her work

was instrumental in bringing about the Thirteenth Amendment in eighteen

sixty five, which abolished slavery in the United States. But

Susan b Anthony wasn't finished. She continued her work, continued

to follow the vision that she had.

In eighteen seventy two, Susan B.

Anthony and eleven other women illegally registered to vote in

the presidential election that year and they cast their votes.

And shortly after that, Susan was arrested and fined. But

she did not give up. She had a vision and

she continued to advocate for that vision. Her work continued

until she passed away in nineteen oh six. Fourteen years later,

after her death, the US Congress passed the nineteenth Amendment

protecting women's voting rights in this country. That amendment was

passed on August eighteenth, nineteen twenty, exactly one hundred and

four years ago from today. As we speak, her vision

outlasted her lifetime.

Vision.

The vision that God has for you may not be

accomplished in one generation. The Gods size vision that He's

put in your heart may take a lifetime to fulfill.

What would you do if you knew that you could

not fail? What would you do for God? If you

knew that you could not fail? Has God put something

on your heart? Has God put something on your mind?

I want to invite all of us to respond to

what we've heard today, If you would bow your head

with me, and first, would you open your heart in

your mind to ask the Lord if he wants to

show you a vision, or plant a seed or put

an idea in your heart. Would you just be open

to receive from him and trust that he'll speak to you.

It's not lost on me that in a group this

size there may be someone listening and you do not

have a personal relationship with Jesus. Perhaps, as we've talked

about vision, you've been pursuing a human vision, a man

made vision, and it's left you wanting, it's left you disappointed,

it's left something lacking in your life. And today I

want to tell you that God has a vision for you,

and that vision is eternal life with Him in heaven,

that there is life beyond this earth. And I want

to extend an invitation that if you're hearing this and

you want a relationship with God, if you want to

be right with God today, then in your heart, would

you just repeat this prayer to God, say, Dear God, God,

I admit that I'm a sinner.

And I believe that Jesus died on the cross for

me and rose from the dead to save me. And

today I confess.

Jesus's Lord of my life, forgive all of my sin

and show me your vision. God. Thank you for each

person here today. God, I pray that you would reveal

to them your desire for them, your heart for them,

your dreams for them. And most of all, God, would

you give each one of us the courage to obey you,

to follow you, to trust you God.

As we walk out of here, God, may our faith increase.

And we pray all of this in the powerful name

of Jesus. Amen.