Sunday Message - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (February 11, 2018) | Life Bible Church

going to turn to Habakkuk chapter 2. Habakkuk

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 we're going to pick up in our reach

series but we're talking on vision. We're talking

actually as we've talked about reach, readiness,

expectation, attitude. Before we get to the C

and the H. C and H. Before we get to the C and

H we are going to, we've talked a little bit

about vision. And I think it's important because

here in the next few weeks, we're going to have

some meeting time, special time of the presbytery.

And I talked a little bit about that last weekend.

What is the presbytery? The presbytery is a group

of seasoned prophetic men or women that come

and release the word of the Lord over people

that are operating in. places of ministry to

the body of Christ and then give them an opportunity

as the Lord speaks to congregationally. But it

is a time of laying hands. It's a time of impartation.

It's a time of confirmation of grace, gifts.

But it's also a releasing of a vision of God

for people's lives. And it's important. And so

we're here in that moment where we're talking

about reach. We're talking about being ready.

to do what God wants us to do. We're not thinking

about getting ready. We're already ready. We

have an expectation that's inside of us. There's

a godly desire to run the race of what he's told

us to do. And then our attitude. Our attitude

is so important that goes with our expectation

and our readiness. Your attitude can wipe out

your readiness and your expectation. And you

miss your... time to do the door of opportunity

that God opens for you. And so we've been talking,

our key text is obviously out of Philippians

chapter three. We've been... kind of a springboard

where the Lord is taking us in various places,

especially Philippians 3, 12 through 14. He says,

one thing I do, and then he says one thing, and

then he mentions two things. He says, I forget

the past, and I reach forward. Everybody say

reach. See, part of vision is reaching. In fact,

this famous passage in Habakkuk 2, if we could

put that up there, Habakkuk 1 through 3, whatever

we have there. There we go. I will stand on my

watch post. I will remain stationed on the city

wall. I will keep watching so I can see what

God says to me and how I know I should answer

when he counters my argument. Last week I left

you, and just a quick reminder, then we're going

to move into some new things, and I have to do

something this morning, what the Lord showed

me for this service. But I left you with the

part of saying, the word, write the vision, verse

2, if you could put that up, verse 2. Then the

Lord told me, write my answer. Everybody say,

it's God's answer. Together, here we go. It's

God's answer. Write my answer plainly on tablets

so that the runner can carry the correct message

to others. That's the New Living Translation.

The new King Jimmy says this. Write the vision

and make it plain on tablets that he may run

who reads it. It's a little bit different. Obviously,

there's people that need to read it, but who's

the first partaker of the reading? The runner.

So this morning, if you're here, Italo, I believe

this is for you. If you're here this morning,

are you in this room? Yes. Would you just come

and sit in this, real quickly, in this chair

right here, right next to my wife, quickly. And

I'm going to give you the word of the Lord real

quick. I, there you go, thank you, buddy. I was,

this morning, the Lord woke me up and gave me

a vision of a African -American man with his

head in his hands. And I heard the Lord say,

you have said to yourself, God, have I missed

you? Have I missed the word that you've spoken

to me? Have I missed the direction of where you're

leading? The spirit of the Lord would tell you

this morning, no, says the Lord, you have not

missed, misheard or missed my leading. You have

not taken a wrong course. I have spoken to you,

oh man, and I have brought you to the place and

to the land where I have directed you. You shall

not be overrun. Or defeated in your stand. For

I am with you says the Lord. To cause you to

inherit your place in the land. Many are the

struggles of the righteous. And many are the

beasts of a field of new territory. But I shall

not allow them to overtake you. Stand in your

faith. Stand in your promise. Stand. And having

done all that you know to do, I say stand to

you, my son. And you shall see me do, and you

shall watch me fight and stand with you, says

the Lord of hosts. Amen. You receive that? Bless

you. Isn't God good? Thank you. You know, the

Bible says that we can preach the word of the

Lord and signs and wonders will follow. And it

isn't any strange thing to me that when God is

trying to impart something, that he will always

do something that's a marvel and a wonder to

demonstrate what he's trying to get across to

a group of people. both individually and corporately.

Last week we left you off with a vision from

God is to be lived out until it's finished. This

vision that comes from God for our lives, it

must come to a ready heart, removing all the

arguments and all the cannots from your soul.

That you and I as runners and couriers with a

message for the future. Yet it is a message that

lives inside of us. Even though it is a expounding

living message that encompasses our tomorrow

and our tomorrows. Then Habakkuk says write the

vision. Make it plain on tablets that he may

run who reads it. And that word write is the

word kathab. It means to engrave. It means to

describe. It means to prescribe. And this is

the last review and then we'll move forward.

That word prescribe means what? Written authority

with power for relief. Prescription gives aid.

Prescription gives help. Prescription gives and...

provides resource. Prescription gives hope and

comfort for identified issues in time, in people,

in problems. Notice, the vision has to be recorded,

but it is also words prescribed, pledged, promised,

and contributed. It's God's vision that needs

to be seen. It's God's vision that needs to be

imparted and then carried. Notice the writing

is more than to keep a record of something. The

writing implies that it must be living and remembered

in a living sense. There's nothing worse than

a dead document. That's why the scriptures are

so important. They are the living words of Jesus.

And when Jesus speaks to your heart of his vision

over your life, even though it's not scripture

for all, it is a living word for you to allow

you to walk and move within the boundaries of

his scripture for your life. That's what the

prophetic is. That's the testimony of Jesus.

It's his testimony in your life. It's not just

what he has done. It's what he's doing and what

he will do. That's what makes him. That's why

the, oh, hallelujah. That's what makes the Sadducees

such a sad group of people. Because they did

not believe in a resurrected Jesus who lived

and spoke in the now. They relegated God speaking

at one time, at one place, sealed it up and that

was it. And do you recognize that there is a

Sadducee spirit all through the body of Christ?

Because they want only to listen to that. Which

was they tried to remove anything that God would

try to do in the midst of his now. And how did

Jesus respond to it? He said, you are mistaking.

He said, you know nothing about this. Oh, I love

it when Jesus just gets right in the grill of

a bad mindset. You know what he said? He said,

that's why he says, I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob. I'm the God of the living and the

dead. Meaning that he is the Lord of your life

while you live. He's unfolding revelation and

insight and understanding while you're going.

Yes, he puts the banks of the standard of his

whole word that he wants us to embrace from Genesis

to Revelation. But he didn't just remove the

pen now off the page and set it down. He then

begins to take the pen as he's given you the

graphe or the logos. He now begins to put the

rhema of the pen on the tablets of your heart

and your mind. What Kenny quoted in Ezekiel 36.

I'll now take that pen from the tablets of the

emboutments from Genesis to Revelation. And I'll

begin to write my vision on the center of who

you are. That as you run, you continue to read

it. Praise God, we got six people that are excited

about that. Praise the Lord. Implies the message

is permanent, but in the permanence, it is living.

It's God giving an unchangeable, unalterable,

unfolding message. Now think about that. Those

words almost seem to be contradictory. It's unalterable,

it's unchangeable, but it's unfolding. Meaning

that when God has a perspective over your life,

this is the beauty of it. When God releases a

vision over your life, it means that he's giving

you his very best perspective of your life. It's

not like you just get a, you know, pick another

prophecy. You know, God has a wheelhouse of vision.

Well, if you didn't like that one, let's go with

the red hues instead of the yellow. No. When

he speaks over your life, he's actually giving

you the best, the perfect will of the Father.

Are you there? When he speaks his, listen, when

he calls you to salvation, when he brings you

into the kingdom of God and he begins to pour

his word in you, it is not something that is

stagnant. It is something that is unalterable

and unchangeable about your role and your placement

in the kingdom of God, about why he chose you,

why he sent repentance and grace and faith to

your heart. And then in the midst of that, he

unfolds it. He's the, the Holy Spirit is the

narrator giving you glimpses along the way of

chapters and themes and then filling the book

of your life with his goodness. That's why the

writing on the tablets has to be clear so that

what? He who runs, everyone's a runner. That's

why I so like that little banner. They're called

life tracks. Why? Everybody's a runner out of

this reach series that you would reach forward

to the heavenly prize of the high calling of

Jesus Christ. It's all of us in the race and

all of us unfolding. God's message then is to

be ingested. It's to be remembered. It's to be

dwelt on. It's to be rehearsed. It's to be prophesied.

It's to be declared. It's to be collaborated

with. With God's vision, and this is the word

the Lord spoke to me this morning for this house.

With God's vision, there is power of confirmant.

I feel like Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. The word

for the day, children, is confirmant. Confirmant

is what? It's a legal definition. Confirmant.

means conveyance, deputation, assignment, and

legacy. It's the power to activate and to accomplish.

It's the release of a commissioning that moves

on a person. There comes a change that takes

place and a shift with the impartation. You see

this all through the Bible. You see it all on

Christians. When they get God's vision in their

heart, receive. salvation and their understanding

that God loves them. They stop wrestling with

the rejection thing. They put aside the foolishness

that God doesn't love them. And somehow God,

some person in heaven picking a daisy. I love

them. I love them not. They sinned. I don't love

them. They repented. I love them so much. No,

that's not what he does. Once they get rid of

all of that junk that pulls at their mind and

they catch the vision of running for him, that

their life, God is reaching into them and they

can reach toward him. Here's what happens. The

word has conveyance power. It changes how you

actually live your life. You watch it every time.

I mean, I'm just going to give you a few. How

about Moses? The minute he ran into the burning

bush and the Lord spoke to him, it changed the

complete direction of his thinking. And God kept

speaking until that thinking was changed. Moses

was content to live on the backside of the mountain

shepherding sheep with his father -in -law Jethro

and his wife and his sons until the vision that

God put over his life in God's total plan. Moses

had no idea that 470 years prior to a man named

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob said, you'll go into

bondage and there will be persecutions. And this

will happen until the fullness of time that he

was a important player in that little part of

God's plan of unfolding. God had already been

doing things all around Moses. Moses didn't have

a clue. Turn to somebody and neither do you.

Hallelujah. He didn't have a clue what God was

doing around. And that's us, folks. We don't

have any idea of the ways that God... God is

working right now in and around us, setting the

stage for moments that we are going to step into

if we'll get with what he's saying, that we can

be part of his master plan. He's already, he's

so more marvelous than we give him credit for.

He is already working on your tomorrows, setting

up people, situations, places of what he's got

for you. This is why I never get very far in

our messages. Hallelujah. Think of David. He's

out. He is a little Ferdinand the bull out on

the side playing with the sheep, playing his

song, right? Until one day, he had no idea. Samuel

comes to his dad. I'm looking for a... The Lord

says he's looking for a man after his own heart.

And all of the boys stand. And every one of them,

good looking, anointed. No. Shoot. No. Shoot.

No. I'm getting this. Is there any other sons

that you have? He's a musician. Can you go back?

Just, Samuel, go back over the sixth. No, no.

The Lord says he's not here. We're going to wait

until he shows up. At that moment, the word of

the Lord came and changed David's life. Now,

it didn't change him in his heart for God. Didn't

change him in his desire to minister to God.

Didn't change his love for God. All of those

things he was operating in. What it changed is

the path and the direction that God saw his life,

that God wanted to take him versus where David

thought he was going. David began to run with

a vision. And even when he strayed, I mean, if

you just look at it through his life, I mean,

even the 10 years of putting up with the sufferings

and being chased by Saul, when he finally got

to the end of himself. And I've just got to say

this because I feel. pushed by the Holy Spirit

to say this. He actually lowered himself to say,

you know, Saul is eventually going to get me.

I have just got to give this up. He set the vision

of the Lord aside. And the Bible says he joined

himself to the Philistines, the arch enemy of

David and of God. And he pretended to be a madman.

He pretended to be. Can I prophesy to you this

morning? I feel this so strong. There are some

people in the body of Christ that are becoming

madmen because they've set the vision of God

aside. They're miserable to be around. Their

wife is upset. Their children are a mess. I'm

telling you why. Because they did not contend

in the full assurance. They believed the lie

and they let go of what God said. And what they're

doing is they're scratching on a gate and drooling

in their beard. That's a good word, preacher.

Didn't know you were going there. I mean, just

think of it. The man who God anointed, called

out of obscurity, sitting on the side of a mountain,

tending sheep, playing kumbaya. out to Jesus,

gets anointed by the oil of God, changes his

trajectory, but in the midst of his suffering

that he thought was too long, he finally said

to himself, I can't stand under the weight of

this vision. I've got to hang it up. I'll go

join with the enemy for a time. And God says,

I'm going to make you even more miserable. You

don't trust them. You trust me. You see, That

was pretty anemic. Come on, give the Lord a clap.

I can trust Jesus. You see that power of conferment.

Can you say that with me? Conferment. A power

activated to accomplish. A change that causes

a shift. It can come in the form, are you ready?

It can come in the form of two things, a resetting

or a realigning. Two things. God's vision comes,

when it comes, and you get it, it comes in two

forms. It'll either reset or it'll realign. How

many have ever had a bad alignment on the front

end of your car? Jenny, I'm not gonna tell who

ran into the curb, but anyways. It was actually

me. I just thought I'd bring her in. We're one.

Hallelujah. You hit the curb hard enough, it

knocks the car out of what? Alignment. And then

what happens? You try to go in a straight line

and it's constantly pulling to a side. It will

cross traffic to bring you into accidents if

you take your hand off the wheel for a bit. Do

you understand what I'm saying here? Did you

hear prophetically what the Lord is saying? It's

the minute you let go of what is written on the

tablets of your heart that Jesus put there. If

that's out of alignment, you will drift whether

you realize it or not. If you're not conscious

to what's happening, it will move you into accidental

situations that are not good for your spiritual

life, your family, your health, your marriage,

your ministry. It'll cause you to be out of alignment,

out of alignment with God. Fact is, what is the

thing that God is so clear on in 1 Corinthians?

I'm just kind of preaching prophetically for

the rest of my time. I just sense it. What is

the thing that God was clear on? He said in 1

Corinthians 11, he said the head of Jesus is

the father. He said the head of man is the son.

And then the... He's talking about alignment.

Once you move out of alignment and begin to put

yourself above the will of Jesus or the will

of the Father and use your soul, you are headed

for an accident. Whether you get a head -on collision

or not is not the point. You will constantly

fight in your life against having what is meant

to be straight and true and have a grace and

a favor on it. The next word is reset. I'm speaking

not to the older generation. I'm speaking to

the generation that had Atari and Next. I got

to tell this on my dad because he's not here,

hallelujah. I don't know what, I think, I wish,

anyways. We had the original Atari. Fact is,

I remember Mark Smucker playing over, playing

Atari over at your guys' house, the original

game. We used to go over there and play Space

Invaders. And I remember, you know, that old

do, do, do, do, do, do, do. And I remember playing

that game and dad goes, we ain't buying one of

those. Oh! And I remember that Atari game. Now

I wish I had it because of all the games, how

expensive they are. But then they just got better

and better and better and all these wonderful

games. And anyways, I'm not a gamer, but back

in my teenage years, I did play Space Invaders

and Pitfall. I mean, those are my two games.

Anyways, there was a button on that Atari game

called the reset. I needed that button a lot.

Because I was invariably getting killed at level

one. Reset. Reset. Reset. And what did the reset

do? The reset just started things over with a

fresh slate, didn't it? Folks, that's what confirmant...

It either aligns that which you're already walking

in or when it comes, it resets your life completely,

wiping out that which was of yesterday's mistakes

and failures and giving you a brand new course

in which to walk with God. That's why it's so

important we get the vision of the Lord. Come

on, give the Lord a hand clap this morning. The

power of that confirmant is the power of deputation,

which is a nice word for delegation, commission,

being an emissary, a representative, an appointee,

and connected to an envoy. That's what happens

when you get a vision from the Lord. written

in your heart. You now become his representative.

Why do you think the apostle Paul was able to

say in Corinthians, we are ambassadors with the

message of reconciliation? Where do you think

he got that? He got it from God's vision and

the deputation of confirmant that came on the

word of his life. Folks, he was a murderer. He

was a blasphemer. I mean, just read his litany

of what he said in 1 Timothy. I was a former

blasphemer. I consented to the deaths of good

men and women and killed them, being totally

deceived, thinking I was running for God. When

God showed up with vision, guess what happened?

Reset. Reset and alignment at the same time.

And it carried the power of confirmant to do

what? To now he had the boldness to say, even

though I may be least of the apostles, I have

been given the administrative and back. of being

a reconciler for Christ. He knew what his commission

was. Remember, he said it over and over. You

know why? You just think about it. What God said

in the book of Acts early on in Paul's life,

he would say all the way through in every encounter

after multiple missionary journeys, he gets to

Jerusalem, he gets to King Agrippa, he gets to

Festus. On his way to see Caesar, what does he

do? He reminds us. of the testimony of the vision

that was written in his heart from that first

day when he got reset, realigned, and it caught.

He said, the Lord spoke to me. He said he was

delivering me out of the kingdom of darkness

and into the kingdom of his light, and I am there

to preach the gospel that others would be transferred

from the darkness to his glorious riches in Christ.

That vision never changed. And it unfolded all

the way through his life to the end. So you think

it's important? I do. I'm just giving you a few.

When the vision, God's vision, the prophetic

moment that we get it is heard and seen, it changes

you. It makes you part. A representative. I mean,

think about it. We see it every day in our government.

We vote for a representative. There's a special

envoy. You're part of that. You're a representative

of the kingdom of heaven and of the Lord your

God personally. Moses was changed. Joshua was

changed. David was changed. The voice and the

vision of the Lord is what changes our course.

It changes our thinking. And it causes us to

be different. Whosoever. Hallelujah. It causes

us to be different. Now we know in scripture,

God has made you a peculiar people. Some of you

take that literally, hallelujah. But difference

comes. You know what the difference is? The difference

is when you embrace God's vision for your life,

you look, walk, talk. and see things differently

than you did before? You do. How many have ever

had that moment where God, now I'm talking, it

can be salvation moment or it can be another

moment where God met you and gave you something

in addition. That all of a sudden, what you were

in, what you were doing, how you were pursuing

something changed and it either realigned or

reset your life. Anybody? Come on. Come on, that's

why it's so important that you get God's vision

in your heart. Folks, the impartation of vision

is a moment of inscribing on you. You know, I'll

finish with this and if you want to play something,

that'd be great. There's a little story. Valley

River Mall, and you guys know it. I don't know

if it's still called that, but I think it is.

I know I don't look at the name of the store

anymore. If I go in, there's called Things Remembered.

And it's a place where you can get things for

weddings. You can get gifts for groomsmen or

bridesmaids and babies and confirmations. It's

things where they're meant to be gifts to be

given for special moments. But if you notice,

all of those gifts, for the most part, blank

places in which there needs to be a special engraving

you see every one of us God gives all of us have

a gift from the Lord but he's waiting for us

to actually get the engraved part the gift is

special you know the Different anniversaries.

People have given me things. I've given things.

What makes the gift special is the engraving

of the words that were said on that gift. It

could be an anniversary gift. It could be a birthday

gift. It could be a newborn. It could be a confirmation.

It could be bride and groom. I mean, it would

be okay just to get a, you know, gift without

anything there. And you just kind of go, huh.

Well, it was nice, but it was kind of impersonal.

Right? But there's something when somebody said

to my wonderful husband, I love you with all

of my heart. Love, Jennifer. Now, at that point,

I realized she's not talking to anybody else

but me. And the gift and the inscription on the

plate or on the label, that it brought honor,

it brought specificity, it brings the moment

of encounter that every time I look at that,

I cannot think of that love being generic. I

think of it as deep, I think of it as strong,

and I am reminded that my loyalties and my affections

are for her. Now, what do you think happens when

God does that with the engraving? Why do you

think it's so important? that Ezekiel 36 said.

I'm going to take the engraving that used to

be on stone and I'm going to cause the stylus

of my finger that can write on the hardest surface.

I'm now going to bring it into the heart of man

and woman. And I'm going to begin now to put

a personal message on the vision that I've connected

them to myself. And I'm going to take my finger

and I'm going to write. the vision of my heart

for David on his heart that he, when he reads

it, may run well. That's what God wants to do

for every person. Wants to do it for every person.

That's why not only is the Bible so important,

but that's why the Holy Spirit is so important

because he's the diamond tip on the finger of

God. He's the one that writes the letter of the

Lord on your life so that you may know your place

in the whole vision of God. Would you stand with

me this morning? David, are you closing the service?

Come on up. How many would say, Lord, I want

you to write your unfolding vision on my life?

How many in here this morning? Come on, let's

just pray that. Today's been a wonderful day

in God, and I believe. The word of the Lord that

we are receiving right now is imparting now courage

and strength and life for us to live for him.

Father, in Jesus' name, Lord, take your finger

and write now. Write on the tablets of our heart.

Write on the tablets of our mind. Write, Lord,

your words. Words that... into your story of

what you're doing not only throughout man's history

but in the course of our lifetime write your

words as it will unfold through the course of

our life that we would run a straight line run

a true line run a line that's worth living with

a message that's worth giving in Jesus name Lord

I bless your people this morning and I ask now

for the grace of God to come for you as you've

reached for us in Jesus name. Amen. If you are

interested in hearing other podcasts or contacting

Life Bible Church, go to www .lifebiblechurch

.org or call us at 541 -995 -8282.