Vision Night: Time To Move Into Your Inheritance

Passages
Joshua 5: 1-15
Joshua 6:1-5

Napoleon once pointed to a map of China and said: ‘There lies a sleeping giant. If it ever wakes up it will be unstoppable.’

The same quote can be applied to the church of Christ. It has awesome potential when it becomes spiritually awake to its purpose and power.

2006 is a year when we are called to accelerate a move forward on all fronts. It is time to see transformation and breakthrough personally, as families and as a church community.

Key Text
'At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again." So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.'
Joshua 5:2-3

1. We Must Be A Church Of Covenant

Circumcision is a sign of covenant - that the people had been marked out for God. He promised to be faithful to them and they promised to be faithful to Him.

Just as rings are symbols of the covenant of marriage so circumcision was a sign that people were committed exclusively to God.

Circumcision involved:

A cutting away of flesh
When God made his original covenant with Abraham he required that each male be circumcised as a sign of cutting off the old life and beginning a new life with God.
Genesis 17:13
Galatians 5: 16-24

A change in family life
Joshua 5:6-7

The new consecration began in families. The fathers had been part of a cynical, critical and unbelieving generation aimlessly wandering in the desert. But from within those same families God raised up children who would turn their backs on disobedience and cynicism. They took the place of their fathers. The sons were circumcised and God raised up a new generation who would model something different in their families.

Believe for breakthrough in your family. Pray for your family. Be an example to your family.

A coming together in unity and faithfulness
The whole nation had been circumcised - they were united as a covenant community.

God is for unity. Satan is for division. We must learn to place a high value on unity and continually to stand faithfully together with a common heart, spirit and vision.

Covenant faithfulness is a bedrock value of the church. This is what church is about.

2. We Must Be A Church Of Healing

God planned to do great things through His people. They would engage in great battles and see great victories. But first they were a people who had to be healed up. At this point in time they were in too much pain to go anywhere or do anything!

Many Christians are hurting. There are too many sensitivities and insecurities. Therefore don’t panic if you are not yet ready to move into your inheritance! Don’t quit if you are not yet ready for the battlefield.

Recognise that:

You need to take time to be healed

You can only walk and fight once you have been healed
Have no doubt God wants to take away the hurt, shame, guilt and reproach and turn you from a captive into a conqueror!

This is what church is about!

3. We Must Be A Church That Knows God’s Provision

Joshua 5:10-12

For 40 years God had miraculously and faithfully supplied food for the Israelites (see Exodus 16:14-31).

Once they had come into the Promised land they no longer needed this special supply because they now had it within their grasp to plant and harvest all they needed.
You can move from getting by day by day

Have a faith goal that you won’t just get by in your finances. Believe to have more than enough.

You can come to a new place of prosperity
God will bring you into situations where by your investment (sowing and reaping) you can have a financial harvest. Be open to God giving you ideas for business. Look for Him to direct you into situations when you can flourish.

You must keep God first, not your finances
God would bless them but He didn’t want them coveting the stuff of the land. Similarly we are to make a priority of building God’s house, not our own. Remember Matthew 6.33.

4. We Must Be A Church That Encounters God

Joshua 5:13 -15

We need to come to a new place of humility before God

We need to experience the holiness of God and value the presence of the Holy Spirit
We cannot just turn on the anointing. God comes to us when we bow before Him and obey Him. We must hunger and thirst for His presence-valuing this above all else.

Therefore we need to develop:

• Prayer - individually, as families, as cells, as a church
• Praise and worship: it’s for the Lord not us.

5. We Must Be A Church Of Faith

Joshua 6:1-5

The Israelites had a goal to take the land they were promised and they did so town by town and city by city.

They committed to doing this BEFORE they saw the walls fall. Faith goals are key to seeing growth and breakthrough.

Dr David Yonggi Cho said: “Your church will not grow if you have no clear vision from God.”

Cesar Castellanos wrote: “Vision is the determining factor in success.”

Over the Christmas holidays I read Bill Hybels book 'Courageous Leadership.' He is pastor of Willow Creek, America’s second largest church but confessed that for the first 20 years of the church’s history they never had any specific goals.

‘How would we know if we were moving towards the vision of an Acts 2 church if we didn’t put markers along the way?’

That’s when, he said, the church discovered the value of BHAG’s!! - Big Hairy Audacious Goals!
‘We decided we wanted our goals to be big enough to require the supernatural activity of God. We wanted to set goals that would keep us on our knees.’

There is much to do but also much to be achieved. As we commit to see developments in covenant, in healing, finances, in experiencing God and in living by faith, this year will be a year of great breakthrough and great blessing!

New Year Message (Part 2): Light Up The World By Doing Good, 15th January

'You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.'
Matthew 5: 14-16

We need to open our lives to the light of God by :
• By living clean, upright and holy lives
• By having an encounter with a Holy God
• By being illuminated by the Word of God
• By living under the direction of the Holy Spirit?

1. Good Deeds Are Central To Christianity

‘Let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers.’ Galatians 6:10

Good deeds don’t make you a Christian. But once you are a Christian you must do a lot of good and therefore spread a lot of light.

‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
Luke 4:18

We should:
• Feed the hungry – ‘Make Poverty History’
• Give the thirsty a drink - Burkina Faso
• Look after the homeless - King’s House
• Give people clothes
• Care for the sick
• Visit the prisoner - Charles Colson’s Prison Fellowship

2. Good Deeds Need To Be Seen

A follower of Christ is not to do good deeds just to impress men and women but nonetheless they must be seen by men and women.

We need to be seen to be doing the job by doing it

We must not just talk the love of God. We must show the love of God by getting stuck in.

We need to be seen by making things visible

‘Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.’
Matthew 5: 15

18th Century Revival
J Wesley Beady in Before and After Wesley said:

‘The evangelical revival did more to transfigure the moral character of the general populace than any other movement British history can record. Wesley was both a preacher of the gospel and a prophet of social righteousness. Wesley was the man who restored to the nation its soul.’

As a result of the eighteenth century revival, mission activity was launched throughout the world and social justice was given a huge boost. Prison reform, educational and medical advance, increased help for the underprivileged and most notably, the abolition of slavery can all be directly traced back to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

19th Century
Charles Finney has always maintained that ‘You cannot be on the wrong side of slavery and on the right side of Christianity.’

John Wesley wrote these words to William Wilberforce, an MP who had committed his very life’s work to the abolition of slavery:

Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils, but if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Be not weary in well doing, go in the name of God and in the power of his might, until even American slavery, the vilest that ever saw the sun, shall vanish before it.

Sir Roy Strong in The Story of Britain said that, ‘Wilberforce had become a legend, the nation’s conscience.’ He added:

'The causes he espoused read like a role call for the values of a new age. Parliamentary reform, support for Elizabeth Fry in her prison reformation, the humanisation of the criminal code, the establishment of Trustees Savings Banks, the creation of a national gallery, involvement in the British and foreign Bible Society, speaking in favour of Catholic emancipation and against the evils of transportation and taking part in founding what was to become the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.'

William Booth
General William Booth and his pioneering Salvation Army this world was a battleground and people were to be saved, body, soul and spirit. For that to happen evil had to be confronted and captives set free.

William Booth and the Salvation Army Pioneers campaigned with all their might against the scandal of child prostitution. Eventually, Parliament acted with the Criminal Amendment Act of 1885 that raised the age of consent to sixteen years old and gave authority to the agencies of reform.

In the opening pages of Darkest England there was a two page vivid graphic of Salvationists saving the lost from all manner of evils.

His campaign included: employment schemes, help for the homeless, shelters, cheap food depots, homes for drunkards and rescue for the prostitutes, enquiry agencies for missing people, refuges for street urchins, industrial schools, legal assistance for the poor, a poor man’s bank, plans for new farms, plans for a farm colony, villages and even a matrimonial bureaux.

William Booth stated his vision clearly in his last speech in front of 7,000 Salvationists at the London Royal Albert Hall on May 9th 1912:

'While women weep as they do now, I’ll fight; while little children go hungry as they do now, I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, I’ll fight; while there yet remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight - I’ll fight to the very end!' The General Next to God by Richard Collier.

This is the kind of Christianity that has shaped our country and which is going hand in hand with the growth of the Holy Spirit movement around the world today.

No-other section of the worldwide church has achieved such impact and transformation amongst the masses as the Pentecostals. Why? They meet people at their point of need.

3. Good Deeds Bring Glory To God

‘That they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.’
Matthew 5: 16

When people see love when and where they did not expect it sometimes to people who did not deserve it, they will ask why.

In the Acts the disciples cared practically for one another and others, meeting together and making sure no-one was in need.

Peterson puts it like this in The Message version of Acts 2:47.

'People….liked what they saw. Every day their numbers grew as God added to those who were saved.’

New Year Message: It’s Lights On In The Church Or Lights Out For The World, 8th January

‘You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.’
Matthew 5: 14-16

Happy New Year to you all! May it be a year of unprecedented fruitfulness for you and of increasing discovery of the fullness and faithfulness of God.

While away in South Africa I have marvelled at God’s faithfulness. Morning by morning as I have looked up at Cape Town’s Table Mountain and the majestic mountains of the Western Cape, I have repeated once more the words of Psalm 121 which became a daily comfort during the sad days of my wife's terminal illness.

‘I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth….’

My daughter and I remembered those words early on the morning of her wedding before she married in the sunshine at the foot of Table mountain…at The Twelve Apostles Hotel.

I was a proud and happy Dad to get to walk my daughter down the aisle twice once at the church for the service and once for the vows by the sea.

In the weeks that have passed since, I perceive that an era of God’s faithfulness during transition is over and a new era of God’s faithfulness and fruitfulness has now begun.

You and I have the call of God on our lives. You and your family are called to make a difference. The church that we are part of has a great destiny to bring hope and healing to many people and many nations.

This year will, I believe, prove to be a year of fulfilled potential, new blessings, new ministries, new breakthroughs and new growth.

I not only believe that this will happen but I believe that this must happen. Our world and our country is an increasingly dark place, morally and spiritually.

We are living in a culture where morality and family life has broken down all around, where a multitude of faiths, notably Islam, are promoted and where Christianity is marginalised and where senior Christian leaders often give out muddled and mediocre messages.

Marriage is undermined with the legalising of new civil partnerships, pornography is on an epic scale, hard drugs are freely available, all hour all age drinking is destroying civil order, crime is rampant, cynicism and disrespect for any kind of authority is common place, and the people of this land for all their freedoms to do whatever they want are not happy.

I saw a headline from a British newspaper in South Africa, referring to the gas explosion in December which said in bold headlines ‘Toxic Cloud all over England.’

That struck me as a very prophetic headline. There is a toxic darkness all over this nation and we are called to bring the light. If we don’t shine our lights, then it’s lights out for our nation.

There is one phrase that has been in my mind for a couple of weeks now - Matthew 5:14: YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

I want to simply break this verse down with three questions:

1. Who Is The You?

You means You!
We live in an increasingly globalised, de-personalised world but one person can make a difference.

One person can change the mood of a nation from defeat to victory like Churchill.
One person can make a difference like an old prisoner called Nelson Mandela who refused to be bullied by his white oppressors and who refused to let his ANC colleagues give way to bitterness and revenge.
One person can make a difference in a home, a school, a group.
When one person speaks up others sit up and stand up.
When one person goes down others do too.

You need to make a difference this year by letting the love and life of God shine through you to your friends and enemies.

You Means Your Family
There must be light in the home. No hidden things between husband and wife. No dark clouds of mistrust and misbehaviour between parents and children.

The light of God must come to you home. Every family should have a weekly cell.

You Means Your Church

Church is so often despised, but Christ loves the church and gave Himself for the Church. The church universal is worked out in the local church where there is real community, accountability and authority.

The church is not a free for all, it is a covenantal group where all can be free as they place their lives under God’s rule.

The power of a local church to bring change is awesome.

2. How Much Light Do You Have?

Darkness has to go from our lives. Hidden sins, private lifestyles all have to be brought out into the light.

We need to open our lives to the light of God this year. How?

By Living Holy Lives
Consider the words of Jesus in Matt. 6 22-23. Your whole body can be full of darkness because of love of….money. Materialism, wealth can bring you into darkness so that you can’t see clearly.
By Having An Encounter With A Holy God
See Isaiah 6.

By Being Illuminated By The Word Of God
‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.’
Psalm 119:105

We must daily read and meditate on God’s word to see where we are going. We must be a people of the Word.

By Living Under The Direction Of The Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. We must have the insights and direction of the Holy Spirit.

3. Will You Shine Your Light In The World?

Your daily world: the world of school, business, medicine, arts, media, politics.

Your geographical world: your estate, your town, your city, your nations, the nations.

We must take the light of God everywhere, but as they say at Lakewood Church in Houston, ‘The light that shines the furthest shines the brightest at home.’

This New Year if the people walking in darkness are to see a great light, then great lights first has to come in us.

Let us this day ask for God’s light to flood us and determine that we can indeed obey our Lord when he said: You are the light of the world.