IN THE WILDERNESS PT4 | SUNDAY 15TH MARCH | PS AARON MORE

Yes, Lord, we bless your name.

>> Lord, we declare that you would be the

one who would get all the glory.

>> Wow. Would your presence rest over us in

Jesus' mighty name? Amen. Amen. Awesome.

You can grab a seat.

Good morning.

Wow, a couple of people are awake.

That's good.

Is it the uh 11:15 service that respond

and get are the early birds a little bit

quiet this morning? Hey, it is uh

awesome to be opening uh the uh upper

room office area on Tuesday morning. So,

if you are free, you're welcome to come.

Come join us. We're going to uh Pastor

Trevor is going to pray a prayer of uh

dedication to that space and a chance to

see what it looks like. So uh that would

be um amazing if you are free you're

welcome to join us for that. In uh 2017

uh the company Uber uh went through a

major crisis. Uh the thing about Uber uh

as a company was they actually um went

through for the first however many years

like year after year after year they

made uh losses in the hundreds of

millions and then the bu uh billions and

were regularly making billion dollar

losses each year. But it was actually

their strategy because what they were

like is if we can uh lose money for long

enough in terms of uh expanding our

business and just building and just

fueling growth just grow grow grow then

we'll uh get such market share that

we'll have scale and then we will become

profitable. And so that was their

strategy. But in the midst of growing uh

uh uh through fast through these losses,

the problem they had was they also

developed a toxic leadership culture.

And so uh they're losing billions of

dollars. And then it begins to come out

that that that there's bullying, that

there's sexual harassment, that there's

all of these things going on in uh Uber.

And so they decide that they need a new

CEO. Now, you can understand it's

probably not the most appealing job,

right? Uh, hey, do you want to come and

work for this company that's losing

billions of dollars and has a toxic

culture, like not really a great

invitation. And so, uh, the this guy Dra

is the CEO of Expedia. And, uh, Expedia

the year before had made a couple

hundred million dollars in profit and he

was considered a successful CEO. his

friend recommends, hey, uh, to the

recruitment agency, hey, I reckon this

is your next CEO. Get him. And so they

phone him up and they're like, hey, do

you, um, how would you like to come and

interview about, um, the Uber job? And

he says, well, no, you know, I don't

think so. I I'll get back to you. And,

uh, his friend uh, meets with him the

next day. He's actually the CEO of

Spotify. Uh, meets with him and they sit

down and he says, "So, are you going to

go for the Uber job?" And he says, "No,

I don't think so." And he says, "Well,

why not?" And he says, "Because, you

know, I'm happy where I am." And then uh

the the CEO of Spotify looks across to

the CEO of Expedia and stares him in the

eyes and says this statement, "Dra, life

is not about being happy. Life is about

making an impact.

Go where you will make the impact." And

so he uh goes and meets with Uber and

then becomes the CEO and for the next

however many years they lose money and

then in 2023 they have their first

profit and now a hugely successful

company.

But that story resonates something with

me. I love that quote. Life isn't about

being happy. It's about be making an

impact. Because there's something innate

in being human that we were designed and

equipped to make an impact in this

world. So when we hear language about uh

making an impact, it is central to who

we are as human beings. Manor says it

like this, bees create hives, ants

create colonies, and humans create

futures. Like as humanity we are have

this ability to create futures and

actually part of being human is you

can't help but live out of vision like

sometimes you live out of a grand vision

and sometimes the vision is just to get

caffeinated but we always live out of

vision in some way like some way or

another as humans we are constantly

living out of vision out of what is our

preferred picture of the future.

It's part of how we were wired.

Now, if you've been coming to church for

a while, uh during this series, you

might be like, "Hey, I think we might be

in the wrong series. Where is he? Why is

he talking about vision?" Like, we're in

a series on the wilderness, and the

wilderness is generally dry, barren, and

hard. So, uh why has he opened this uh

message talking about vision? Well, I'm

glad you asked

because what happens is to recap where

we are in the wilderness journey. What

happens is Jesus is baptized. He the

spirit descends upon him. The spirit

leads him out into the desert into the

wilderness to fast. He is fasting for 40

days. At the end of 40 days, Satan comes

to tempt him. And the first temptation

is to turn stones into bread. And uh

Jess done an amazing job of sharing on

that last week. And then the second

temptation we find in Luke 4 uh 5 to8.

And it says, "The devil led him to a

high place and showed him in an instant

all the kingdoms of the world." And he

said to them, "I will give you you all

their authority and splendor. It has

been given to me and I can give it to

anyone I want. If you worship me, it

will be yours. Jesus answered, "It is

written, worship the Lord your God and

serve him only." See, it's interesting.

The second temptation,

the devil actually shows Jesus a vision.

First of all, it's a demonic vision of

the uh kingdoms of the world. Um, and uh

I assume he come comes as an angel of

light. So even though it was a demonic

vision, it probably was something that

was appealing like it was the kingdoms

of the world. And then it's not just a

vision that he saw spiritually, but he

was also offering him a vision in our

sense of a preferred picture of the

future. What he was saying was, hey, if

you worship me, this is what you can

have. There is something in your future

that I have for you. You see, vision is

powerful and vision is given by God. But

the devil also knows the power of

vision.

And you see the vision he showed Jesus

was potentially not even wrong because

in Revelation 11:15 we read the seventh

Revelation 11:15

angels angel will sound as trumpets and

there were loud voices in heaven which

said the kingdoms of the world has

become the kingdom of our Lord and the

Messiah and he will reign forever and

ever. So what Satan was tempting Jesus

uh with is was actually the vision that

his inheritance was going to be. Jesus

will inherit the kingdoms of the world.

So it was a proper vision. It was just

out of timing and it wasn't the problem

wasn't just that it was a vision out of

time. It was that it was a vision out of

time that was inviting him into improper

allegiance to get there. When John

Thompson talks about spiritual warfare,

he says this that um it always revolves

around allegiance, truth, and power.

All spiritual warfare is always about

allegiance, truth, and power. And so

here we have this picture of the future

that's being sold to Jesus, but it's

actually uh it's like, hey, you can have

this if you just switch your allegiance.

You can have this if your allegiance

comes to me and you worship me.

Now, can I tell you, it's interesting

when you begin to pastor in a church

because I've discovered that sometimes

one of the highest values in lead in

church life and when they talk about

leadership, man, the number one thing

they say is you are the vision caster.

Like your number one job is to have a

vision. Like and and we use this

scripture uh um from Proverbs, we say

without a vision the people perish.

And the scripture is there and it's true

although it's a little bit out of

context because you'll see it actually

says but he that keepeth the law happy

is he. So it's actually talking about a

prophetic vision that turns us back to

the original blueprint. It's not talking

about the right slogan on church.

And we can ask the question of why we

end up with an unhealthy church culture

if we tell a leader,

your job is to find a vision and people

will perish if you don't get the right

vision.

Like that's a breeding ground for

narcissism right there. Hey, hey, as the

leader, you're the sole carrier of the

vision. You find the vision and everyone

else will execute on it. And if we don't

do it, people will perish.

Can I say God does want us to have

vision? God does want uh this world

impacted for Jesus.

But can I say there is something that

happens where vision as a powerful force

actually gets emphasized in an unhealthy

way. where the idea is to build this

vision, where the focus is on vision,

vision, vision. What's the vision? We

need a better vision. And we need to be

so careful because it's so easy for

vision to trump allegiance.

That the excitement of being part of a

vision becomes uh more important than

the allegiance to Christ. And and and we

see this in in church scandals that are

happening all over the world where

they're like, "Well, yeah, this

happened, but we just realized like uh

if we actually um dealt with it, um it

would cause such damage to the

movement." And you know, what we're

doing is so powerful and so valuable

that we can't actually um let people

know the muck-ups that we had cuz it

will so damage our vision. And our

vision is the most important thing

because we have this movement. And yes,

vision is God-given and vision is a

powerful force. But when the outcome is

prioritized over the process, then we

become people that are an that are

chasing after a vision out of alignment.

And it is so easy that it can happen in

churches, but it can so easily happen

for all of us. You see, I believe we are

supposed to have vision. Man, we should

be running with passion to see the cause

of Christ uh broken out within our city.

But we need to remember Jesus said, "I

am the vine. You are the branches. When

you abide in me, that brings forth for

forth fruit. Without me, you can do

nothing. Every vision must start with

lives surrendered to Jesus. And any time

we leave kingdom or we leave surrender

to Jesus in the name of fulfilling a

vision, then we have left what God has

for us, we are placing vision as an idol

above that which Jesus had. And the

enemy, if he cannot get you to not focus

on your vision, he will get you to

hyperfocus on vision. Where vision now

trumps allegiance where it's like we're

just here to get the vision done. Just

let's go more. Let's do this. Hey, we're

getting a grander vision. And we begin

to sell a grander vision. But the

reality is the grander vision actually

only comes when we submit to Christ.

It's like my friend who was a business

owner and he was looking for expansion

in his business and he went to the bank

and he needed a loan and he was like hey

they looked through his finances and

they saw money in a particular account

and they said um oh that's great um like

you've got that money there everything's

looking really good this all lines up uh

you can have the loan and as he went to

say or thank you very much he realized

ized that some of the money they were

looking at was actually a client's money

that was being used for a project and uh

the bank was thinking it was his money

and was approving him the loan based on

this finance. And so uh he hadn't lied.

They just said we see that money in your

account and he'd said yes. And so he's

uh in a split moment got a decision to

make. You see he's got a vision about

his company about where he wants his

company to be that this loan's going to

fuel growth. It's going to make things

happen. Wow. How good will it be when

this loan comes through and my company

can grow? And in that moment, there's

this challenge of allegiance. Like, are

you more committed to your vision than

you are to your allegiance to Christ?

Are you more committed to that outcome

of the business growing than you are in

your worship? What are you going to do

in this moment? Are you going to be

honest and declare the truth or are you

just going to allow your allegiance just

to turn a degree in the name of

accomplishing what is a good vision?

And I'm so proud of my friend because in

that moment he said um actually no

that's uh I just need to let you know

something. You're assessing my situation

but you're including that money and that

money is actually not mine. Um would you

not include that? And uh and so they

said, "Oh, okay." And uh amazingly for

him, they went away and uh looked into

it and said, "Actually, they still

approved the loan." But that wasn't a

guarantee. Like we love the story that

they still approved the loan, but there

are times when our allegiance causes the

vision to go slower than we would like.

We're sometimes doing it the way that

God wants means we slow down because he

is actually forming us in the midst of

it. And he wants to form people, not

just get stuff done.

And I believe he does desperately want

to impact the world, but he wants it to

be from a place of people who are

abiding in him. So the impact is fruit

that will last.

Andy Crouch has this interesting analogy

that he uses. He says, you know, today

to play music usually means pressing

play on a device. Historically, it meant

picking up instruments and learning the

craft, which is a long and difficult

process. See, what he say what he says

is this. He says, "If you ever wanted to

be around music 300 years ago, you

needed to find people who had committed

their life to learning instruments or

you needed to have learned an instrument

yourself and committed your life to

learning that thing so you could produce

music." Now, through technology, what

happens is any of us can in an instant

produce music in a room with it not

requiring anything of us. Now that is

not wrong but it's an analogy of of the

way the enemy tries to use vision where

hey get the outcome without becoming the

person that's required to have that

outcome just take a shortcut don't worry

about worshiping God just do it this way

and get the outcome and you know he said

more music is now being played than ever

before but actually on a per capita

basis less music is being played paid

than ever before. There are less

musicians in the world, but there's more

music because all of us can push play on

a device. But when we're talking about

the process of Jesus, he isn't

interested in us pushing play on a

device. He's interested in crafting us

into musicians that we would carry

something unique that our sound would go

out on the earth. That it wouldn't be

mass- prodduced, massmanufactured, but

it would be the Savior's work in your

life. It would be his work in my life.

That would take time, but it would

produce a sound that was authentic. It

would produce a sound that would be

released in a city. It would produce a

sound that wasn't just about income, but

was a sorry, outcome, but was a sound of

the the name of Jesus and the life

transformation of a journey with him

that would produce fruit and it would be

fruit that would last.

Paul in Philippians 3:8 said says this,

Philippians 3:8

"What is more, I consider everything a

loss because of the surpassing worth of

knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For whose

uh sake I have lost all things, I

consider them garbage."

I do believe that we are to be people of

vision. I do believe we are to step into

the preferred picture of the future that

God has for us. But I do think there is

nothing there is no better vision that

we can ever have than the vision of the

son of God. There is no better vision

you will ever have in your life than the

time you see the risen Christ and his

work in your life. There is no grander

vision. Yes, we do need other visions,

but they are all subvisions to the

vision of Christ and Christ crucified.

So important that we align ourselves to

that vision.

Pete Greg had someone walk into 247

and um it's a prayer movement with

prayer rooms all over the world. This

guy walks in and says to him, "What's

the vision around here?"

And uh

he answers prophetically and the opening

line of his vision is this. He says the

vision is Jesus

obsessively,

dangerously,

undeniably

Jesus. The vision is Jesus. Can I tell

you as a church, we're going to have

subvisions of reaching our city. We're

going to have subvisions of seeing

people saved. We're going to have

visions of our kids ministry growing.

We're going to have visions of your

neighbors being impacted. We're going to

have all kinds of visions. But all of

those come under a vision that is higher

priority that the vision is Jesus. The

vision is undeniably Jesus. When you see

the son of God in all his glory, every

other vision must be a subvision. Every

other vision must bow to that name

Jesus.

But the thing is it never occurs to us

in the way that we actually get shown

the choice like hey do you want a godly

vision or do you want to follow Jesus or

do you want to do something wrong you

know it was actually the right vision

that Satan sold to Jesus wasn't the

wrong vision it was actually what his

inheritance was going to be see many

times when we fail in this isn't because

we go off and do a demonic IC vision.

It's because we begin to slowly

prioritize vision. Gently over a period

of time in our lives, vision begins to

get elevated. And slowly we begin to

have that perceived picture of the

future. And it is not wrong. Don't hear

what I'm not saying. It's not wrong to

have a vision. But slowly the emphasis

on that vision becomes greater and

greater. and the vision of who I'm

becoming in Christ becomes less it's

becomes more what do I need to do to get

this vision who do I need to become the

quickest way that I can get this vision

sorted be that a vision for any type of

thing

any type of endeavor that we go to

whether that's in our workplace whether

that's economically whether it's in our

family all kinds of visions that we can

have for our lives and slowly what can

happen is there becomes this emphasis

on vision that begins to get unhealthy

and then we begin to cut corners and

then our allegiance begins to get

tested. And when Jesus allegiance was

tested, his allegiance was to his father

greater than it was to the outcome of

that vision.

And my prayer is that through the grace

of God, we would be a vision-driven

church. But man, our allegiance would

always be first and foremost to Christ.

I remember in Alexandra we were doing

our new building and we'd had a mockup

sketch and uh our building in Alexander

was actually an old warehouse like this

one was but it was unusual because it

had a steeple kind of looked almost like

a church like uh kind of had these

windows that went up and it was the only

two-story building in around so you

could really see it prominent on this

industrial street and I remember we um

we got uh I got the artist to mock up

across the the the top of this window.

Jesus saves as uh was going to be in

huge letters. So when you came down the

street, all you could see was Jesus

saves. And I remember we were looking

over these plans and we had some pastors

come through and they were like, "Oh,

love the building. Love this." And uh

one one pastor said to me, "Oh, I

noticed you've got Jesus saves there."

And I said, "Yeah." He said, "Oh, you

know, you do do just have to balance

being relevant to people uh with your

overtness."

And um I remember being a little bit

shocked. I was like, "No, if our vision

is to reach people, it will always come

sub to the vision of Jesus. It will

always come under the reality that as we

so beautifully sung this morning, there

is no other name than the name Jesus.

Can I tell you there is the temptation

sometimes you can grow faster, bigger,

and better by taking shortcuts, but it's

not where we want to be because we want

to grow longer and deeper with Jesus and

then believe that we will have impact

and it will be fruit that will last.

And so I wonder for you

and for me, what areas of our life has

maybe vision

taken an unhealthy place? Maybe it's not

the wrong vision, it's just whether we

have the proper alignment in our vision.

Is there places where maybe there's been

an allegiance to vision higher than an

allegiance to Christ? And is there an

opportunity this morning as we consider

Jesus in the wilderness

to realign our hearts and say, "Lord,

would you give me a vision of you?

Lord, would my heart be aligned to you?"

And I'm going to ask the worship team to

uh come back up now. And uh what we're

going to do is um

we're going to first of all listen to a

song. They're going to sing, "Turn your

eyes upon Jesus." And they're going to

sing that over us a few times. And uh

and then um after a few times of that,

they're going to invite us to join them

in singing. And you know, the words of

this song say, "Let the things of earth

that the things of earth may grow

strangely dim in the light of your glory

and grace." Can I tell you, no matter

how grand any vision is, may it grow

strangely dim in the light of the glory

of the grace of the son of God. May

every vision, yes, it's still there, but

may it grow dim because of the glory of

the son of God. Lord, even as we ponder

to consider the

vision in our life and the potential of

idols in our life, vision becoming an

idol.

Lord, we submit that to you.

And Lord, thank you that it's not about

us trying harder. Lord, it's not about

us trying to work hard on our

priorities, but it's about us

surrendering.

And so in this moment, Lord, we don't

have our dependence on our ability to

change, Lord, but our dependence on your

ability to captivate us aresh with a

vision of who you are. So Lord this

morning we open our hearts and Lord we

ask that you would captivate us aresh

with a vision of who you are in Jesus

mighty name. Amen.