Vision Sunday- Bullseye
Main Idea : One of the most important commodities we can possess is clarity and vision for our lives. Many of us are aiming at something – but it’s not God’s vision. We are hitting a target, but it’s the wrong target.
To follow God’s vision for our lives, we need to re-organize our lives around four targets:
Give our lives to Jesus.
Be made new by Jesus.
Become like Jesus.
Do what Jesus did.
When we learn to be followers of Jesus in this way, we won’t just go through life and end up somewhere, we’ll end up somewhere on purpose.
Make It Practical
Give my life to Jesus. To truly know God, we must surrender our lives to His will and ways and make Him the Lord of our lives. We need to spend time with Him every day through His Word, worship, and prayer.
Be made new by Jesus. Salvation happens in a moment, but transformation happens over time. We need to deal with our pasts once and for all. To do this, we go to God for forgiveness and to His people for healing. Get in a group with godly friends. Get honest with a few of them about areas you need healing.
Become like Jesus. As disciples of Jesus, we live in His image, grow in the development of the gifts He’s given us, and do what He’s called us to do. We must develop spiritual disciplines like praying, fasting, Bible study, giving, etc. We need to discover spiritual gifts.
Do what Jesus did. Jesus lived His life for others, and as followers of Jesus, we need to do what He did. Followers fish. We can share the Gospel and invite people to church. Followers serve. Our real purpose in life is to make a difference in the lives of others. When we do these things, God’s joy will be in us!
“If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.”
Proverbs 29:18 (MSG)
Talk About It
As a group, discuss how today’s message helped you clarify the difference between any dream or vision, from God’s vision for your life.
Share stories of how God’s visions have come to fruition in your lives and the difference they made in your life and/or the life of others.
Of the four target areas, which area do you need to lean into most at this point of your life?
Is there anything currently in your life that, your life would be better if it weren’t there?
“We’re at our healthiest when we have a dream and vision for our life.”
Prayer: God, thank You for giving us dreams and visions. Help us on our spiritual journey to know You, to be healed, to become like You, and to be mobilized to make a difference. Help us to stay focused on the right target and to end up somewhere on purpose! In Your mighty name we pray! Amen.
Where There is No Vision - (Proverbs 29:18 KJV) Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Vision = Hebrew: khaw-zone, A dream, revelation or vision for life
(Acts 2:17 NIV) “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”
(Proverbs 29:18 MSG) If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.
“Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that really doesn’t matter.” ~D.L. Moody
Everyone ends up somewhere.
Few people end up somewhere on purpose.
The Bullseye
1. Give your life to Jesus. (Mark 8:34-38 NIV) Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Give your life to His will and His ways
Spend time with Him every day.
2. Be made new by Jesus. (1 John 1:9 NIV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
(James 5:16 NIV) Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
Get in a group with godly friends.
Get real with a few of them.
(Proverbs 27:19 GN) A mirror reflects a man’s face but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.
3. Become like Jesus. (Galatians 4:19 NLT) Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.
4. Do what Jesus did. (Matthew 4:18-19 NIV) And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you…”
(Matthew 4:19) “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
Followers fish.
Followers serve.
(John 15:8, 11 NIV) This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples… I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.