THE VISION IMPERATIVE, #4: “What It Means to Be Blessed by God” | Mac Hammond
Recap
Pastor Mac gave his fourth installment in his vision series, “The Vision Imperative.” The whole objective for this year’s vision series is designed for the purpose of setting our sails for the coming year in order to establish our goals and objectives as a local church for what God’s called us to do. And then, individually, you too must sharpen and clarify God’s vision in your own life and how it will fit into the larger vision of the local church. This is the very thing that will cause your life to “Come Alive!” After all, Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish!”
Dive Deeper
Scriptural reference:
Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
Without a vision, the people perish. The word “perish” is a reference to the downhill slide away from the life and blessing of God toward death and cursing of the enemy. Without a vision, that occurs. This even applies to the believer who loves the Word of God and believes himself to be a man of faith.
All must have a vision.
The Word is what the equipping of God is intended to provide so you can do the will and purpose of God, i.e., His vision for your life.
The clarifying of your vision is what will help give momentum to your life. Habakkuk 2:2 says, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.” If your vision is clear, you will “run that readeth it.” The word “run” implies a clear vision will give you direction and momentum.
Pastor Mac reiterated, “As I’ve said throughout this series, I’m interested in you understanding these principles for the purpose of cultivating vision for your own life, of which the church will be a part.
Your contribution to the church’s vision together within everyone else will move this ministry down the path of God’s high purpose.”
It’s not enough to know you need to move down this path with direction and momentum, you need to know how to do it. To that end, you must know and embrace the truth that you cannot attain a God-given vision in your own human strength and effort. You can’t do it alone.
Philippians 3:14 says, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” If we are going to achieve the high calling of God, it’ll be “in Christ Jesus.” You cannot attain the high calling of God, His vision for your life, without His enablement.
How do we tap into the empowerment of God? If you’re born again, you have access to His ability. That’s what Philippians 4:13 means when it says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
With regard to His empowerment, there are certain areas of our lives that He will not empower unless we’re tapped into what He says we need to do. God does not empower you to do your own agenda. Even if you have a good idea about this or that… He empowers you only when you align your life with His larger purpose, right down to the smallest of details!
The first point of empowerment has to do with whether your life is motivated by the understanding that the love of God has to be the principal way you relate to other people.
You need to understand that empowerment has to do with how you manage aspects of your life. For example, how do you manage your relationships? If it’s not by the love of God, He will not empower you. For Him to empower you, you must get your eyes off “me, myself, and I” and start looking at the bigger picture.
Fact: Inward focus will never be empowered by God. He never empowers selfish motives. He doesn’t empower you to fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Empowerment comes when you put people first. Pastor Mac said, “The most important aspect of God’s purpose in the earth is people.” God wants us to be kind and considerate toward one another. He wants us to be forgiving, carry no resentment and harbor no bitterness. This is the only way He will empower you.
Question: Do you think God will empower you if all you do is promote the poison of unforgiveness or bitterness in your life? No, He will not.
The second point of empowerment is how you manage your life in this temporal, physical world we live in. The world we live in is temporary. The habitation for the real you will be the eternal ages to come, as you are a spirit being.
It’s important to understand that that’s the real you in the spiritual arena. Yet you have to navigate and live in a physical world that often is populated by circumstance contrary to who the real you really is. So how do you manage yourself in a physical world that is subject to the god of this world, who is Satan?
How do you manage yourself as that spiritually alive human being in a physical world that is going to constantly contradict the Word of God. How do you get a handle on who you really are?
As I pointed out last week, it is the tithe that is intended to break the power of the world over your life. That is what the tithe is for and that’s why it’s so hotly contested by the enemy at every turn in the road.
It is a principle of submitting your interest in the material world that is governed by the god of this world, Satan, submitting your interest in that arena to your commitment to God. You cannot serve both God and mammon. Mammon, the god of money, is simply another name for Satan, the god of this world.
Read About It
Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
Hab. 2:2, “And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”
Philippians 3:14, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:13 say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Discussion Questions
What are the things God will empower you to accomplish?
What are the things He will not empower you to do?
The first point of empowerment has to do with whether you are motivated… by what?
What is the second point of empowerment?