Vision Sunday - Encounter Church Adelaide

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast

you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. It feels like

everyone is looking down. And I think there's

three main reasons. The first one is distraction.

We get distracted because it's easier than focusing

in on a life that feels difficult. We want to

get immersed in a device, in a tiny computer

in our pockets that can free us from reality.

We're pretty aware of the effects by this by

now, but we seem to keep doing it anyway. The

second reason is linked to the first reason.

People have their eyes down because of depression.

95 % of teenagers have a smartphone and 45 %

of teenagers report that they use their smartphone

almost constantly, near constant, as in they're

never ever ever off it. Now this is annoying

but it's also concerning Because the data tells

us the more we're on our phones, the more we

buy into distraction, the more likely we are

to be depressed and anxious, have suicidal thoughts.

And the Australian recommendation for a maximum

is two hours per day, and 90 % of Australian

teenagers get past that limit. But here's the

cruel cycle. I see distraction and I see depression,

but then when people want to deal with depression,

where do they go to look for help? Direction.

People are looking for direction. And they're

looking at a place they think they can find answers.

They're looking there because they don't have

a direction. They've been looking down so much.

That there's this generalised exhaustion running

through them. This feeling that I am distracted

and I'm trying to be distracted. I am depressed

and I'm just stuck in my emotions and I am directionless

but I don't know where to go about it. Now, I

get it. I know that feeling. I've walked through

the valley of the shadow of death. I've been

there. But I'm here to tell you that a life of

looking down of distraction, of depression, of

being directionless is not inevitable. And I

don't think anyone's gonna be stunned to hear

this is not God's best wisdom for your life.

This is not God's dream for you. This is not

His plan for you because it's not just that we

look down. It's what's happening to us when we

look down. See, when we look down at our phone

for distraction, we get dragged into this world

of the algorithm. We are being discipled by an

algorithm. We are being discipled by YouTube

and Facebook and Instagram and X and Snapchat

and TikTok and whatever your preference is. They

all compete to take your thinking and shape it

and feed you with social anxiety and political

anxiety because that's what gets you to look

again. And the attention economy feeds the real

economy. The phones just want your money. So

your mind is filled with the world's worst fears.

And then the more fearful we get, the more anxious

we get. And we begin to look down and we look

down in shame and depression. And when we do

that, we trap ourselves in our emotions. Our

strongest emotions. The emotions that feel the

most powerful and controlling. And they are our

strongest emotions. It's just they're not our

truest ones. They are not our... deepest ones,

our strongest, most overwhelming emotions are

not the most accurate about you. But when you

look down to untreated depression and unhealed

shame, you trap yourself in your worst emotions

rather than allowing yourself to be lifted up

into your best ones. And when you look down from

a lack of direction, exhaustion, struggling for

purpose, life becomes a grind. It becomes hard

to find joy. It happens to you rather than being

something you move towards with purpose and ambition.

It just becomes an occurrence. And when we allow

the current of our days to control us, we begin

to become spiritually stagnant. We become stuck

in the flow of someone else's order. Your spirit

becomes deadened by depression and repetition

and nothingness and Netflix. It is AI slop for

the soul. That is a directionless life. The whole

problem with looking down is it means we have

got no vision. That's why we can't look down.

You are stuck staring at what is or what has

happened. And so you can't look ahead to what

could be. Now, the book of Proverbs has a famous

verse about vision. You might've heard it before.

It's gonna be on the screen behind me. Where

there is no vision, the people perish. It's often

used to explain, you know, obviously that vision

is helpful. We need it. And really it's reaffirming

this point that we need something to believe

in, not to look. not just to look towards, but

something to really believe in. But we often

forget that second part of the verse, but he

that keepeth the law, happy is he. I've gone

full King James on you this morning. There is

a principle here. There's a clear vision that

we're given to follow. And the simplest way to

follow that vision is to be obedient to these

laws that we've been given. And it's not that

complicated. For thousands of years, people have

been trying to help us with this. Keeping the

law brings us social peace. It brings a clarity

that is designed to bring us happiness. And in

our teaching text today, in Psalm 121, the writer

talks about what to do in times of spiritual

difficulty. Have a look at this. I lift my eyes

towards the mountains. Now, I have a theory that

everyone's either a mountains person or a beach

person. I'm a mountains person. Anyone else?

More mountains? Beach people, put your hands

up. No, there's more of you. You just feel nervous.

It's gonna be like 40 degrees today. These are

the people that go, oh, it's almost hot today.

I'm like, come on. Meanwhile, it gets to 20.

I'm sweating. In difficult situations, we look

to where we think we are going to get help. I

lift my eyes towards the mountains. The writer

of this psalm said, I'm looking as high as I

can and I'm knowing that my true help comes from

the Lord. the maker of heaven and earth, because

we know that true vision and true support has

to come from somewhere higher. It can't just

come from a place that we're building ourselves.

It's got to come from somewhere greater. I don't

know about you, but I've been in this place before,

like literally climbing mountains to look for

the Lord, to be with Jesus on the mountain, looking

for God's protection. Where does my help come

from? And let me tell you something, as I stood

looking up to the mountains, where my help is

coming from, let me tell you what has happened.

I've got like a really sore neck, like just physio

-central, like I look up and just pain, you know,

you need to really get some deep tissue work

in there, you need a masseuse. The higher I lift

my head, the higher I look for where my help

comes from, I just get a sore neck. I don't really

find it that helpful. So not only do I get a

sore neck, I don't get vision, and then I feel

frustrated and grumpy about it. a growing frustration

with my spiritual life because I'm looking as

high as I can and nothing's happening. Anyone

been there before? It's almost like looking as

high as I can in my strength and my power apparently

is not gonna be sufficient to get to where I

need to go in a supernatural sense. It's almost

like I, Mike, myself do not have in myself the

supernatural power to lift myself out of a supernatural

problem. Which sounds a lot more obvious when

you say it that way. The only way I can get the

vision I need to is to look as far as I can't.

I need something like beyond the Hubble telescope

here guys. Nothing is high enough. How am I supposed

to do that? And there's a story I love in the

book of two kings about a prophet called Elisha.

You might've heard about him. He was so powerful

that through his prophetic insight, he would

know where the enemies of Israel would attack

before they even came up with a plan. So he'd

talk to his king, they'd get the armies prepared.

Then the Arameans, who were the enemies at that

time, they came to fight and they're like, what

is going on? How come we know Israel's army isn't

this big? How come they're always where we wanna

be? Eventually they work it out. Elisha can hear

what is going on in your mind by the power of

God before you even think it. So you're gonna

have to take out Elisha. So the king of Aram

gets all his armies and he comes to take Elisha.

Not a city, not Israel, just one dude. And so

these armies gather around the city and Elisha's

servant gets up one morning and he opens the

curtains and looks out and he goes, oh no. I'm

looking up to the mountains. Let me tell you,

there's not much help. What I am seeing is army

upon army upon army. In fact, he says this, Oh

no, my Lord, what shall we do? Don't be afraid,

the prophet answered. Those who are with us are

more than those who are with them. And you can

imagine the confusion in the servant's voice.

And Elisha prayed, open his eyes, Lord. Open

his eyes so that he may see. Then the Lord, opened

the servant's eyes and he looked and saw the

hills full of horses and chariots of fire around

Elisha. See, when his eyes were opened in the

supernatural, he was able to see something that

he couldn't see in the natural. This is a guy

who has been following Elisha for a long time.

He's seen a lot of good stuff happen. He has

been safe this whole time. And suddenly the pain

has come to him. He's gone, what can we do? Because

ultimately when the pinch came, he realised all

his faith was in natural stuff, in Elisha himself.

And Elisha was the one going, no, no, don't worry

about it. My faith isn't in me. My faith is in

the God of angel armies. My faith is in the one

who surrounds us. Friends, Elisha's servant needed

to be able to look higher than he could possibly

see. He needed to see with the eyes of God, see

with the eyes of faith and the same is true for

you and me. That's what we need in our life.

The only way to look higher than you can possibly

see is with the eyes of faith. Faith like Elisha.

Faith, like the writer of Hebrews who said that

faith was being certain of what we hope for and

sure of what we cannot see. Two sentences that

are just as logical as me saying I need to see

higher than I can. And if you're here and you're

not a Christian, this sounds a bit crazy. I get

it, I really do. The Christians are weird. This

is just you and me here for now for a second.

Christians, right, they operate out of a system

of belief that centres on Jesus as the Saviour

and Jesus as the Son of God. A Jesus who lived

a perfect human life to identify with us, empathise

with us, heal us from sickness and diseases,

perform miracles and transform the world and

restore us. He led a perfect life we were meant

to live and that led him to a cross where he

was murdered by the Roman authorities and the

Jewish priests. That's where the perfect life...

led Him. No moment in human history has looked

down more than Good Friday. But Sunday's coming.

And so the arc of the story hadn't finished.

Jesus rose again right when we are at the bottom

of this story. Jesus rose again. And in that,

He rose again physically, He ate food, He performed

miracles, He appeared to more than 500 disciples.

He blessed them, He commissioned them, He ascended

to sit at the right hand of the Father where

He will judge the living and the dead. He has

gone before us to prepare a way. He has proven

Himself, living the perfect life, dying a death

on our behalf and being resurrected to show us

that what He said is true. So when you look to

Jesus with the eyes of faith, you don't just

look to Him, you look through Him. achieved on

your behalf and where He has called you to go.

Those are the eyes of faith we're called to look

through. So you can look up because you're not

just looking through your eyes or mine, you're

looking through Christ's, amen. That's what we're

doing. You may have had a 2025 that has felt

like Good Friday in Jerusalem, but 2026 is here.

Sunday is coming. Sunday is coming. The next

year is the best year, but it's already here.

So the next year can just be the best year right

now. Encounter Church, I believe that 2026 is

a year of pioneering faith. Pioneering faith

in people. A year to lift up our eyes beyond

what we can see in the natural. A year of great

vision. This is the vision of our church at the

moment. It's a five -year vision we began in

2023. We're halfway through it. Our vision is

that by 2028, Encounter will be a growing family

of Bible -fed, Spirit -led churches, multiplying

resilient disciples of Jesus across Adelaide.

Hopefully, Hopefully this isn't shocking to many

people. This isn't new. We started in 2023. You

know what we did the next year? Planted Encounter

Henley. Pastor Ash, Pastor Tim, Pastor Tex, and

the team went out and are thriving for the gospel

in Henley Beach slash Grange. Today, we announce

Josh is our new church planting resident because

Encounter is a church that plants churches. Amen.

And by the grace of God, we believe that we will

have another church before 2028, or at least

by 2028. We are committed to being not just growing,

but a growing family, a growing family. Today

we've shown our commitment to that by announcing

Tim as our new youth pastor. We are devoted to

the next generations. We're a future focused

church, but we're not just devoted to the next

generations. In semester one, we're a growing

family. We're running Alpha. You got to get your

people who don't yet know Jesus to come in. Alpha

is a big front door for them. In semester two,

we're going to be running the Alpha marriage

course because as of right now, within this church,

couples that were married and come to this church,

we have a 0 % divorce rate. And by the grace

of God, we want to hold that. Come on. We're

Bible -fed, join us reading the New Testament

in a year, it's not too late. Nah, it's not too

late, you're alright. Spirit -led, you just wait

for the power of encounter in July, or better

yet, get a hit today, come on. But our main game

is, and always will be, multiplying resilient

disciples of Jesus. That is what we are called

to do. Followers of Jesus of all generations

who grow, strengthen and multiply. Then going

out to disciple others. That's the multiplication.

Followers of Jesus who make followers of Jesus.

New converts making new converts. That is the

ball game guys. That's at the very heart of it.

It's a vision that relies on God. All good vision

relies on God. Let me just go back to the teaching

text we had before, because if you feel uninspired,

there's a reason. See, if we go back to Psalm

121 and have a bit of historical context, we

learn some things. We learn that actually, I

lift my eyes towards the mountains. When the

writer says this, at the time the Psalms were

written in ancient Israel, when you look towards

the mountains, you were looking towards the false

shrines, the idols where human worship was happening,

the Baal and Ashurahs, the false gods of the

Canaanite region. So the writer looks through

his eyes and says, sarcastically says, really?

That's where my help is gonna come from? No,

of course not. No, my help's gotta come from

above the mountains because my God cannot be

contained by something made by human hands. His

help comes from the all powerful God. And if

we go back to Proverbs 29, where I told you that

for thousands of years, people have been trying

to tell you how to live the law of life. A life

of vision led by the law. I told you the truth.

It's just that those people are called Pharisees.

They are trying to tell you how to live by the

law. They go by different names these days, but

there are always people telling you that you

must live according to these limits and restrictions

that may or may not have been given by God. But

either way, we're taking control of them and

ensuring you live within a limit where your eyes

are stuck down to the ground. But let me give

you the CSB translation, my personal favourite,

and more accurate than the KJV. Without revelation,

people run wild. But one who follows divine instruction

will be happy. Now this takes away a sense of

vision based on law and happiness based on obedience

to law because... If you have ever grown up or

been in an unjust environment, you can't just

believe in the law. Sometimes that is not going

to work out for you. Sometimes you can do the

right things and things will not come about.

No, your vision needs to be higher than that.

It needs to be led by something bigger than that.

So without revelation, that's divine revelation

from the Holy Spirit, not laws handed down once

for people to set boundaries to help understand

righteousness, that is good and right, and we

needed that. But now Jesus has come with a new

covenant to say, I am filling you with the Holy

Spirit. You know what the word is, that's to

tell you what not to do, but use the Spirit to

lead you where to go. You can't live your whole

life telling yourself what not to do. We don't

dream small dreams of this church, am I right

Pastor Dex? And I don't just mean as a whole,

I mean you, individually, you are not called

to dream small. You are called to bigger, you

are called to more. Laws tell you what not to

do, but ultimately, that's about reward and punishment.

You get punished if you're outside the laws,

rewarded if you're in. The gospel says this,

if you believe in the name of Jesus, you're in,

you're rewarded. That's it. Does that mean you

should try and obey the laws? Yeah, absolutely.

That's a good thing. But that's not the beginning

and end of that story. That's not what it means

to be welcomed into the family of God. It's all

about His grace at that point. The guidance and

revelation of the Holy Spirit discovered in faith

tells you what to do. It lifts up your eyes.

It tells you where to go. God will give you wisdom

beyond what you can imagine. Now, if it just

seems like, Mike, you're doing that thing where

you get hyped up and you try and get everyone

excited, granted, granted, and it works on about

5 % of you, which is great. But here's why you

can trust me saying this. It's not about me.

And it's not about this church, this is about

the all -powerful supernatural God of the universe

giving you what you need. He is lifting up your

eyes, the God who proved himself in Jesus. Friends,

there are two main problems with our sense of

vision. The first is that we don't have enough

intention about our vision. We just meander along,

because you all have a vision that you live by.

You have values, you have a culture, you have

ideals, you have behaviors and patterns. It's

just most of us don't set them deliberately.

Most of us don't go, I am going to allow God

consciously to set my life in this pattern. No,

for a lot of us, it just kind of happens. The

second is that we're not looking up. Right, you

can have a low vision or a high vision. You can

look down or you can look up. And when you look

down, you create a framework for your vision.

And the framework is what I said before. It is

a framework of distraction, of depression, and

of being directionless. But when you look up,

you create a different framework for your vision.

This is what you get. Instead of direct, let

me try that again. Instead of distraction, God

gives you purpose. That's why encounter has a

vision. We've got to know how to focus on what

matters. God has a purpose for this world. To

restore, renew and redeem all of creation is

a vision of love worthy of your focused attention.

It's called the kingdom of God. And when you

look up, you let God invite you to play your

part in the vision of the kingdom of God. When

you look down, you get distracted by anything

and everything else. Instead of depression, God

gives you hope. He gives you hope. He gives you

a family. That's why our vision involves family.

You are not alone and you never have been. Some

of you have believed a lie that you have been

walking alone. Either based on how you live or

how your family raised you or because of current

circumstances. This is a lie from the enemy.

You are not alone and never have been. Because

God has promised this in His word, I will never

leave you. I will never forsake you. Never. You

just need to lift up your eyes. God has adopted

you into His family, not because you deserve

it, but because He loves you. And He's done it

so that you can offer that to others as well.

It's called salvation. And finally, instead of

being directionless, God gives you vision. He

gives you vision. He gives you something to see.

This is why we are focused on multiplying resilient

disciples, because that's our way of expressing

the great. commission that Jesus gave to all

believers. Our way of saying go out into all

the world making disciples of all nations. God

has created you to be a part of living out his

vision and so when you look up you can look up

and go wow some of these people are living good

lives some of them less good lives some of them

I kind of want to steal some of those ideas some

of them I don't but none of them have a vision

worthy of me following. I need to look higher

Jesus help me to see the vision of the kingdom

of God. Help me to lift up my eyes so that when

I need help I'm not looking to the mountains.

I'm not looking to the people I'm not looking

to my screen. I'm looking to God Who despite

my circumstance will reach me See Jesus also

told his followers to look up his disciples were

looking down This is early on you got to give

him a bit of a break and they're encouraging

him to eat lunch because they can't think of

anything bigger and again I can relate But this

is what Jesus said to them in response my food

said Jesus is to do the will of him who sent

me and to finish his work don't you have a saying

it's still four months until harvest I tell you

open your eyes and look at the fields they're

ripe for harvest Even now the one who reaps draws

a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life.

So that the sower and the reaper may be glad

together. The sower and the reaper, that's the

father in you church. Glad together for the harvest

going because of your good work church. Open

your eyes. You can look down and believe you

live in a time of historic chaos. Or you can

look up and recognise you live in a time of historic

opportunity. You have a choice. You can live

with your eyes down. transfixed and trapped by

your environment. Or you can look up. Or you

can look up. And so much of that is a choice.

God has placed you here on this earth, in this

city, in this church, right now. What are you

gonna do about it? What are you gonna do about

it? Right now, our world is desperate for Christians

to pour themselves out with godly ambition. Godly

ambition, that means we don't lack ambition,

we don't lack purpose. But it's divine ambition,

handed to us, driven by God Himself, not just

so that we can get ours to get a nicer car, a

nicer home, upgrade everything in our lives.

Man, that is shallow. But God has something bigger.

If we lift up our lives, you cannot afford to

live half -hearted lives. Right now, I just want

to take a moment, if you are here and you are

the sort of person, you serve on team every week,

you are always faithfully attending, but you

disengage in this part, this is your clarion

call. This is for the people who have been around

three, four, five, six years. You cannot afford

to live your life on autopilot. Serving at church

is helpful, but is not the fullness of advancing

the kingdom of God. You need to let your Sundays

invade your Mondays, which I swear I heard someone

say once. You need to let that happen. You need

to let what happens in this place. First forth,

because otherwise it's just for you to get fat

Christian on a Sunday instead of being living

on mission and helping others lift their eyes

up on our doorstep here at Enfield. We have people

who are homeless, who are needy, who constantly

need people to lift up their eyes. Every Tuesday

we have people coming in who need to be fed,

who need to be supported, who need to lift up

their eyes. No matter where you go, in your family,

in your friend group, to the shops. to your work,

to your study, anywhere you go, you have people

looking down because no one has shown them there's

something to look up for. We cannot afford people

who call themselves, sold out Christians to live

half -hearted lives. Church, this is a year of

godly ambition. Band, you guys can come back

up. This is for the young and for the old. For

the established and the new, a world that looks

down is desperate for Christians to pour themselves

out with godly ambition. And let me promise you

something, if you pour yourself out for the right

cause, it will not feel like burnout. It will

not feel like, I'm just serving, I'm just doing

my thing. No, no, why? Why are you serving? Was

it in your heart that made you want to do that

in the first place? What was the love for others

in and out of the church that made you want to

do that? And that's good, but what about out

there? What's going on in your family? Who's

the plus one God has called you to reach? Who

is going to serve the world by serving the Lord?

Because I can promise you, this is a time for

big dreams. This is a time for big vision. Every

time the world gets chaotic, we have two options.

One is to hold on for dear life. Jesus told a

story about that. It's called the parable of

the talents. And that guy is the guy who buried

one talent in the ground and gave it back afterwards

and said, I win. And listen, you should just

read that for yourself, but he didn't win. Or

we lift up our eyes. And with godly ambition,

we achieve great things for the kingdom of God.

I had the immense and surprising privilege yesterday

of suddenly being called to an old lady's bedside

to read her final prayers with her. This was

somebody who no longer really had the capacity

for speech. She was lying there and I walked

into the room. I haven't done this before, right?

I got a call at like 11 o 'clock saying, what

about in two hours? And I'm, yes, absolutely.

This is the thing we do as ministers. So I guess

I'll just get ready. And so I got there. expecting

to sit with this old lady and just quietly pray

with her. And seven of her family members are

there, one of whom is filming the whole thing,

start to finish. I don't really know why. None

of them are Christians. None of them know what

to do. They've asked me in because they know

that she was a believer and she had this beautiful

old lady who was just wheeled into my service

once a month, into the Uniting Church service

at the nursing home, Clayton Church Homes. And

she was brought in. And in all of this, these

seven confused people of multiple generations,

old and young, they said, do you want us to leave?

No, no, no, no, no, you can stay. This is like

your mum, your grandmother. Stay, stay, stay.

They didn't know what to do. And then I pray,

I read scripture and there's this reverence happening

in the room. It's like for the first time in

their lives, someone has taught them how to look

up. And then I tell them, oh, I'm just gonna

pray the Lord's Prayer. You don't have to pray

with me if you don't want to, but it's going

to be there if you do. And one by one they just

start almost like somewhere deep in the recesses

of their mind. Our Father in heaven, holy be

your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done

on earth as in heaven. It goes on, they get allowed

to give us this day, our daily bread. They're

participating more and more. Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us. And by

the time I get to the end and I say, amen, and

I anoint her head with oil and bless her, seven

people are there going, yeah, okay, we needed

that. Seven people who don't follow Jesus. Do

you know who planted that seed? Not me. The unconscious

older lady in the bed whose faith was a living

testimony. to the point that while she was unconscious,

she was able to gather her family around and

get them to call me to come and pray. That means

that if you're not dead, God's not done. No matter

your age, no matter the life you've been living,

no matter the battles you've been through, God

is here today, Church. to tell you to lift up

your eyes. Lift up your eyes. Would you just

stand with me? At some point this year, at some

point this year, you are going to need help.

And instinctively, most of us are gonna look

to the heels. What do I mean by that? I mean,

we're gonna look to our phones. If we're lucky,

we might ask another human being for advice.

But we need to look up. we need to look up to

the Lord and so I think I really want to speak

to three kinds of people this morning and the

first of you are people and I just want to invite

you into a posture of prayer I just want to invite

you to close your eyes maybe stretch out your

hands in front of you this is just symbolic action

we do to hear from God it's just your way of

saying God I'm here I want to hear I want to

hear the first group of people I want to speak

to are people that as I've been speaking, you

know God has put a vision on your life and you

know you've been running from it. You know you've

been either hiding it, holding it at arm's length,

going maybe next year, maybe next year, maybe

next year. For you tonight, this morning rather,

as we enter this time of worship, I want to invite

you to come down the front and confess that before

God. Not confess the sin of hiding it. No, no,

that's looking down stuff. I'm talking about

lifting up your eyes and confessing the call

that you have been given, the vision you have

been given, because we just can't afford to not

have your vision. The world can't afford to not

have what you've been called to do. This might

be as small as connecting with a neighbour. It

could be as big as becoming an overseas missionary.

You alone know the call. That's the first one.

But the second group of people, while all eyes

are shut, And while we're in prayer is this,

people who you feel visionless. You feel visionless.

What you need in this moment is to pour yourself

out before the good Lord and to say, God, speak

to me. I'm here, I'm listening. For you, you

can come down the front if you want, but I actually

think your moment might be in your seat just

to go, God, right now I set apart this time for

you. You are what I need. You are what I need.

Thanks so much for tuning into this week's message.

If you felt challenged or need prayer, we'd love

to hear from you on Instagram at EncounterHenry.

Or if you're interested in how you can support

this ministry, please go to our website encounteradelaide

.com .au. Thanks again for listening. God bless

you.