VISION: INTRODUCTION | SUNDAY 2ND FEBRUARY | PS AARON MORE

you might have heard of the uh new

pastor at a church and he was uh getting

around visiting all of his new

congregants and he turned up to one

house and it was a bit strange cuz a car

was in the driveway and he was sure they

were home but no one was answering the

door and so he knocked on the door

knocked again knocked again no answers

so in a little bit of Pastor humor he

pulled out his business card and wrote

on it Revelation 3:20 and slid it under

Revelation 3:20

the door and so uh the next week after

the service the same business card was

in the offering plate but underneath

Revelation 3:20 the person had written

Revelation 3:20

Genesis 3:10 and uh revelation 3:20 says

Genesis 3:10 Revelation 3:20

behold I stand at the door and knock and

revel uh sorry Genesis 3:10 says I heard

Genesis 3:10

your voice and I hid because I was naked

so

uh so this morning uh that's got nothing

to do with anything we are kicking off

our uh Vision series our uh summer

Vision series and uh going to talk a

little bit about vision but I know over

the next few weeks but I know for some

people it can even be like Why do

churches talk about Vision like isn't

that a corporate thing like it's a

commercialization of church and so

sometimes people will give you feedback

like there's a vision it's called the

word of God and uh churches shouldn't

have vision statements because it's uh

feels a little bit too uh commercial and

aren't we supposed to be family and so

this morning I want to talk about why

vision and uh I'd start by saying this

that it is uh in it is intrinsic to

Being Human to live with a sense of

vision like we actually cannot help but

live out of vision vision is a preferred

picture of the future right now some

people are having a vision of this

sermon being over and them eating the

lunch that they want to have we call

those people males and so right now

they're thinking their vision of the

Preferred Future is a steak sandwich or

a um something else but we cannot help

as humans but live out of vision and

when we look in the Garden of Eden God

originally gave a mandate he said be

fruitful and multiply and then he said

take dominion and so he was actually

inviting Adam and Eve into a picture of

the

future McManus said says this ants

create colonies bees create hives and

humans create Futures it is intrinsic to

Being Human that we actually have vision

and create

Futures you see what the thing is vision

is a powerful tool to form Futures and

the reason why some of us would have a

little bit of um apprehension when it

comes to the idea of a church having

vision is we realize that Vision forms

Futures and so it can either be a

powerful thing that forms a great future

or Vision can also be a thing that forms

a terrible future and so the uniting

thing about the greatest atrocities that

have ever happened in our world and the

greatest uh uh accomplishments and

triumphs is that both of them have

primarily come out of

vision and so vision is a powerful tool

I remember when I was about 19 we were

at a church that was in a very low

socioeconomic area and what we had was

an established church and so it was an

established church of middle class

people who predominantly did not live in

the area of the church and so the church

was now in a low socioeconomic area and

what would happen is we would drive in

we would go to church and then we would

drive back to our middle class area and

as a result this community was really in

Dire Straits but the church didn't have

a whole lot of connection points with

the community and so some of us just

began to wonder what would happen if we

how could we Outreach to this community

what would that look like and so we

decided to start a youth droing center

on a Friday night now none of us had any

experience of running a youth droing

center none of us had any skills to run

a youth droing center and the only skill

that we actually had was that someone

was able to go onto a computer and make

a flyer saying that a youth dropping

Center's starting on a Friday night from

7 till till 9: and so we sent out this

flyer and wondered if anyone would turn

up and the first week there were about

four uh uh young people from the

community turned turned up and we were

amazed cuz all we'd done was dropped a

fly we're like probably no one will be

there and within a few months we were

getting 30 40 50 uh young people from

around the community coming in each time

we'd share the gospel for 5 minutes and

what we called a a God Spot and we would

have leaders cuz we had no idea what we

were doing we'd have someone rosted to

pray the whole time so we'd have

different leaders on during the night

for half hour blocks up in the prayer

room praying because we we actually had

no idea what we were doing we just had a

vision and see vision is a powerful Tool

uh in those days I um as time progressed

I was working at Inland Revenue I

actually got a promotion and was doing

all the training and this Youth Center

began to take off in such a way that I

actually chose to take a demotion so I

could go and work one day a week because

the vision of what God was doing was

actually more more significant to me

than the promotion at work you see

vision is a powerful tool Vision forms

Futures and so this morning I want to

look a little bit at the life of Joseph

and how Vision are applied in his life

and then talk about a couple of warnings

and

um hopefully land in a good

place uh you know uh I'm sure some here

will be familiar with the story of

Joseph uh if not from the Bible maybe

from the stage play um but you know

Joseph um we're going to go through his

story and uh there's going to be a bit

of uh scripture there and uh we'll read

a little bit of scripture and we'll also

just uh explain a little bit of what the

story is and in Genesis 37 it says

Joseph had his dream and when he told it

to his brothers they hated him all the

more he said listen to the dream I had

we were binding sheath of grain out of

the field when suddenly my sheath Rose

and stood upright while your sheets

gathered around mine and bowed down to

it that's a good Vision to share with

your brothers right God's given me a

vision you're all going to bow down to

me Joseph was

already his dad's favorite anyone else

grow up in a family where their brother

was dad's favorite I mean I know my Dad

loved us all the same but my brother at

like 15 was six foot tall and you would

think that was the most amazing thing

ever my dad was about 5'8 and everywhere

my dad went oh Jason's 6' tall the other

thing was he got an A+ in school maths

and so he was a math nerd and he was 6

foot tall and so in my dad's eyes my

dad's looking up to him going wow it's a

I have the son and uh I um did not have

neither the physical prowess nor quite

the brains of my brother and so even

though I know he loved us all the same I

knew there was something there was a

glint in My Father's Eyes about uh my

brother being 6 foot tall and so

Joseph's brothers not only saw their

dad's affirmation towards Joseph but

then they actually had him share his

vision that God had given him and then

he had another dream and said listen I

had another dream and this time the Sun

and the Moon and 11 stars were bowing

down to me and so you can imagine his

reps really going up with his brothers

right and so funnily enough they decide

that they're going to deal to him and so

um they take him and they're going to

throw him in a pit and then as a result

they actually sell him into slavery and

so they sell their brother into slavery

they go home uh they tell the the dad

that he is dead and he's sold into

slavery and what happens is he ends up

uh being sold into a house Piper's house

and he is working as a slave and as he's

there as a as a slave uh Piper's wife

begins to have um a little bit of a

thing for Joseph and so she uh

propositions him but because he's an

upright man he actually uh turns her

down and says uh no thank you and at

that moment she accuses him of rape and

so he actually ends up going to prison

you can see his dream of everyone bowing

down TS working out really well about

now as uh he is in prison and uh so he's

in prison and while he's in prison two

of his cellmates have dreams uh you and

they they both have dreams and Joseph

interprets the dreams and he interprets

the dreams and what he says is that the

baker is going to die and that the

butler or the cup Bearer is going to be

restored to uh his position and that's

exactly what happens and so he says to

the cup Bearer hey I've interpreted your

dream you're going to be restored to

your position but when you get there you

need to remember me please remember me

and help get me out of prison well that

happens the guy gets restored but he

forgets about Joseph and so Joseph is

still left in prison well

uh fast forward a little bit and Pharaoh

has a dream and uh no one in the land

can interpret the dream and all of a

sudden the cup Bearer remembers hey

there was this guy in prison who can

interpret dreams and so um they call for

Joseph and in Genesis 41 41 Pharaoh said

to Joseph Pharaoh said to Joseph I had a

dream and no one can interpret it but

I've heard it said that when you hear a

dream you can interpret it I cannot do

it Joseph replied but God will give

Pharaoh the answer he desires and so

then he goes on to share his dream and

what he says is hey I had a dream of

seven fat cows and then a dream of seven

skinny cows and Joseph has the

interpretation that the land is going to

go through seven years of plenty and

then it's going to go through seven

years of famine and so Joseph has the

dream in the interpretation but then he

also has the wisdom

to to tell them that

uh that they need to prepare for in the

seven years of plenty for the seven

years of famine that are coming right so

it's a a 14e span it's like seven years

is going to be famine uh sorry plenty

and then seven years is going to be

famine and so he says hey you need to

prepare for this and Pharaoh says to him

well there's no one like you so he

actually puts him in charge of preparing

for the famine so Joseph becomes second

only to Pharaoh in the land he's got

Authority on everything and his job is

to make sure that they are ready for

when the famine

hits and so uh what happens is uh as a

result um obviously the famine does hit

and uh Egypt has food where everyone

else is is running out because for seven

years they've built store cities and

they've built storage places and the

food is being stored so that when the

famine hits there is food available and

so what happens is Joseph's brothers

come to Egypt to get food and it's a bit

of a drawn out story but after a while

Joseph finally reveals himself to his

brothers and he is like it is because of

uh me that you are

able to have food and he he says to

um he says to his

brothers for two years now there has

been famine in the land and for the next

5 years there will be no plowing or

reaping but God sent me ahead of you uh

for a Remnant on the earth and to save

your lives by a great Deliverance so

then it is not you who sent me here but

God see his brothers thought they had

sold him into slavery but Joseph

actually realized that the point of what

he W went through was that God wanted to

bring a great

deliverance and see sometimes even when

it comes to say church we come in

knowing our Brokenness and what we need

and yes the Lord wants to minister in

our needs but he actually doesn't want

it just to be about us he actually wants

to see a great Deliverance in Tonga

Moana so he actually wants to take you

through a process so that you and I can

be Salt and Light so that you and I can

be his hands and his feet so that we can

be involved in a great Deliverance you

see Joseph started off having a vision

about who he would be and in the end he

went through a process that brought him

to a revelation that was actually the

was never actually about me it was about

God bringing a great

deliverance and we know that God brings

a great Deliverance through what Christ

did on the cross and then in his grace

he chooses to use his people so there

was something that happened for

Joseph as he walked through this process

where all of a sudden the vision

came

about to bring great

Deliverance here's the interesting thing

that happens though that they saved the

seven years it's amazing many years

later what happens at the start of the

book of

Exodus is uh it says in Exodus 6 now

Joseph and all his brothers and all that

generation died but the Israelites were

exceedingly fruitful they multiplied

greatly and increased in number and

became so numerous that the land was

filled with them then a new king to whom

Joseph meant nothing came to power in

Egypt and he said look the Israelites

have become far too numerous for us come

we must deal shely with them or they

will become even more numerous and they

will join out and fight against us and

here's what he says put slave masters

over them oppress them with forced

labors labor and they forced them to

build a python and rameses as store

cities for Pharaoh see here the original

Vision was actually from God see there

was originally a vision from God that

was like Hey to save people from this

famine we need to build store cities

right now hundreds of years later what

happens is the Pharaoh takes that very

system the very Vision that was

originally birthed to to create

Deliverance for people and he takes that

system and he says now people are going

to be enslaved in working to that system

you see God has systems and structures

in place to bring about people's

deliverance and what the enemy tries to

do is corrupt those systems and

structures so that people actually end

up in bondage serving a system rather

than the Deliverance that's and we we we

see it in all kinds of things you know

how many times does the governments all

around the world try and set something

up that is supposed to be a blessing for

people and in the end the structure

actually does more damage than it does

good and all those who don't like

politics said

amen you know how many times do

corporations start off with a great

vision and become toxic over time you

know what about churches what happens

when churches start with great visions

of honoring Jesus and then needed

systems and structures begin but

something begins to happen where now all

of a sudden the purpose of the church

seems to be to sustain the structures

rather than to sustain a move of God and

you know uh over the last couple of

years we have seen so many scandals in

churches where leaders have fallen where

there's been corruption where there's

been all kinds of things happening and

often the fruit of it has actually been

that the church has ended up having uh

systems and structures for people to

serve rather than having systems and

structures that serve the people

churches get

toxic when P when pastors want people to

serve a vision rather than have a vision

that serves the

people churches get toxic when

leadership has a particular desire to be

honored in a way and sees people as the

way to achieve what they want right like

uh you know you don't have to go very

far to have seen that and maybe some of

us have seen that and that's why when we

hear this idea of vision we oh I don't

really like that you know I've been in a

church before where someone from the

front

said you know you're to lay your life

down for the vision of this house and

can I just say I don't think anyone

should ever lay their life down for the

vision of our church but you can lay

your life down for the cause of Christ

that would be something worthy of living

laying your life down

for and so you know we have to be

guarded against the danger of mission

drift and vision drift and that we end

up with uh people serving systems and

structures and leaders demanding

things and that would be a toxic

environment so churches get toxic when

pastors want people to serve a vision

rather than having a vision to serve

people churches get self-absorbed when

people want a church that suits them

rather than a church that challenges

them and we live in a world where it is

constantly reinforced that we have the

ability to choose things exactly how we

like them do you know they say in

Starbucks now with the number of milk

choices they are uh trim almond soy

coconut oat fill and the number of sizes

which I won't pronounce all but Grande

ventti the four different sizes plus the

syrups and there are nine different

syrups hazelnut vanilla just in case you

don't want regular vanilla there's

sugar-free vanilla with four sizes

however many milk Choice it is nine

syrups do you know you can build over

300 billion drinks

different drinks on the Starbucks menu I

mean I don't know what kind of freak

shows combining nine syrups with oat

milk but anyway uh you know or your half

shot or as I call it a cup of Y bother

um you know but

there's and something as simple as

coffee literally you have 300 billion

options when you go to Starbucks of how

you want your coffee and that is how our

our world has sold us with consumerism

that we get to choose now I've already

said I understand the dangers of toxic

leadership When leaders want to demand

things over people but I also know

there's a danger if we bring the

mentality of what suits us to church I

want what suits me you see the thing is

probably most of us have chosen I hope

this church CU you're like wow we we

kind of like it this is actually what

suits me this is good I I enjoy it like

there were plenty of other choices you

could have gone down the road but you

came here this morning uh maybe it's

your first time maybe you're not coming

back I don't know but maybe you loved it

but we've chosen to be

here because it suits

us but what happens when God begins to

challenge us you see vision is designed

that we would look Beyond ourselves and

actually look to what God is wanting to

do through us you see God establishes

systems and

structures because some people just say

well no churches shouldn't need them why

does churches have buildings we don't

need them

well we they need to be servants to

purpose

we never come to serve a building but

the building serves what God is doing

and so systems and structures are needed

because they actually serve what God is

doing but they need to remain in the

place of serving what God is doing

rather than us beginning to serve the

systems and

structures so God has a heart that there

would be systems and

structures that

actually help bring a mighty Deliverance

for Tang Moana he actually wants systems

and structures that serve and help

people being set free the kingdom being

released the gospel being preached it is

on the heart of God you see I shared

about our youth droing center it was

called Ground Zero what happened after

about 2 years was we were getting 150

young people along and uh the only way I

know how to describe them is hood rats

they were hood rats they weren't like um

your Pleasant to be around young people

in fact one night I remember a guy

walked past I was telling the youth

leaders on Friday night this guy walks

past and some of the kids start swearing

at him he was just walking by the street

but as I said it was a rough

neighborhood so I go hey guys be quiet

this guy turns around and I'll give you

the PG version of what he said I'm going

to go home and get a gun and come back

and shoot the lot of

you and I was kind of like how serious

do I need to take that

like I don't know what I found out was

if you phone the police and say hey

someone just said they're going home to

grab a gun and to come back and shoot

the lot of us you get a police car there

and about one minute like this two

police cars pull up I'm like he was just

walking down there they go um grab the

guy and they actually go to his house

they find a couple of unregistered

firearms now I don't know if he was

going to come back and shoot us but they

said uh he'll actually spend a night in

the cells just to uh teach him that uh

we'll be confiscating his weapons and

he'll have some lower charges but he'll

also spend a night in the CES tonight so

that he learns that you cannot go around

telling young people that you're going

to come and shoot the lot of them um it

was provoked by some language from our

young people and so what was happening

with we had 150 of them and uh knives

were being pulled out on a uh on a

Friday night we actually had a one of

our youth leaders um who uh was um

probably my age now but back then I was

like man he was an older guy he was an

older guy in our mix and uh he sort of

oversaw it and uh he was so excited

about go what G was doing had some

friends over from Australia he's like

come let me show you what God's doing

amongst young people they he took them

along and the next morning his friends

said to him we want to take you out they

took him and his wife out they sat them

down they said we're really concerned

you need to stop this like we are

worried that you're going to be killed

like you should not be working with

these young people but the reality is

this as it grew to 150 what happened was

we needed so much work to keep everyone

safe and we spent so much time putting

out fires that we were no longer Mission

focused we still preach the gospel but

man we were just running around putting

out fires every night phoning the police

Banning kids uh taking them away like

just working managing and all of a

sudden it was like manam we're no longer

filling our vision what had happened was

a system and structure of a Friday night

that was designed to reach people was

now actually being a place where they

would come and create trouble and get

further into a hole where they would

come and buy drugs or they would so we

actually had to strip it back and say

this is fine if we want to have an

Empire this is fine if I want to be able

to say wow we have 150 young people

coming to our youth center on a Friday

night like as a young person I really

enjoyed being able to tell people that

like wow we've got 150 young people

coming to our youth center the problem

was we were no longer impacting them we

were now serving a system and a

structure rather than a vision and so we

actually had to say We'll shut it down

for four weeks um just close it off and

those hopefully those who were coming

from further a field would stop coming

and then we could start it back up again

with a smaller core because we realized

we were not interested in building an

empire but we were interested in the

Kingdom of of God being Advanced can I

tell you as a church I'm so grateful for

our facilities I'm so grateful for our

systems and structures but we are never

interested in building an empire we are

interested in the seeing the kingdom

Advance we are not interested in saying

we serve the vision of the house but

we're interested in a vision that serves

both you and others that invites you in

to a place of influence where we

together make a difference in the city

because we believe with all our hearts

that God wants to bring a great

deliverance and that looks like

individuals every life that encounters

and has the blood of Jesus applied to it

experiences a great deliverance and that

is what we're here for we're not here to

serve a pastor's Vision we're not here

to just have our needs net our needs met

but we are here to see God bring a great

deliverance and so why do we

talk

Vision the reason we talk vision is to

orient our church in the direction of

the kingdom of

God you see it's not enough to just say

well yeah the vision is to preach the

gospel it's so what does that look like

for our city what does it look like for

this moment in time what does the

kingdom of God manifest in Tura in

2025 what does that look like and that

is and what does it look like for us

because we realize we will only be one

small part of the picture but what part

is God calling us to play and so we

believe as a church that we are leaning

into these three words prayer presence

and Mission and that you know that's

some of what God is really calling us to

be as a church and that that will be

stretching for us and it will be growing

for us but that as we orientate

ourselves in that direction it is not in

the interest of having a vision for the

sake of a vision but it is to actually

ensure that we are seeing his kingdom

come his will be done here as it is in

heaven and so I'm going to ask the

worship team to come and we're just

going to sing uh a final song in just a

moment and really what I wanted to

finish with even as we're talking about

vision is by us just singing a song that

just orientates our hearts again that

we're actually not building vision for

the sake of vision but actually

everything is about him everything is

about the king Kingdom father thank you

for lord your heart towards

us father thank you that you desire to

bring a great deliverance and Lord we

know that's your work but you ask us to

partner with you and so father I pray

for us as a church Lord I pray that you

would help us Lord to focus on the

kingdom and on what you are doing and

what you want to bring Lord may we never

be people that are just serving a

pastor's Vision or ser serving a system

or serving a structure or serving our

own needs but Lord may we be serving

your kingdom and Lord we pray for our

city Lord we pray for our neighbors we

pray for our workmates we pray for our

families Lord we ask that you would

bring a great deliverance and father you

would help us as a church to be faithful

to the part that we need to play and

bringing that Deliverance in jesus' name

amen amen amen