Vision 2022 by Kevin Allen January 23, 2022 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN) Kind: sermon Scripture: Daniel 5:12, Daniel 5:14, Daniel 6:3, Daniel 11:32, Daniel 6:10-11, Daniel 6, Daniel 1, Matthew 19:26, Luke 1:37, John 5, Romans 8:37, Zechariah 2:8, Romans 8:16-17, Hebrews 4:16 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--vision-2022 Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ I've been waiting to preach my vision message, in today's, today stay standard with me. Daniel chapter 5, verse number 12, says: "For as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, was found in the same Daniel, whom king named Bel Chazar, now that Daniel be called, he will show the interpretation." Verse 14: "I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, the light of understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee." Chapter six, verse number three: "Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king thought to set him over the whole realm." It was way back in October I'll begin to piece together what I felt like God was laying on my heart for vision for this church, for 2022. And God kept taking me to this word: excellence. And as we met at the beginning of November, as the department heads met up there in Gatlinburg, and we talked about the year, I cast part of this vision to them. But I want to preach to the church today: Rising to Excellence with a Limitless God. Rising to excellence with a limitless God. I'm excited about 2022. I'm sick of talking about everything that's been taken away from us. I'm ready to start talking about things that we have and what God is going to give us. I don't want to be stuck in what's been taken. Instead, I want to turn my eyes onto what's ahead. And great things lie ahead for this church. I'm excited about rising to excellence with a limitless God. "Jesus, we love you, and we thank you for being with us already today. Lord, your words anointed, but anoint us to receive your word today. God, I pray that you would do exploits in this building. Pour out your Spirit in a miraculous way, in the name of Jesus we pray. And amen, amen." You may be seated. I feel it's time for Center Point to rise to excellence. Excellence is a word we use most often in our world, and when we do it, we usually do it in a haphazard way. We, all of us collectively, have a habit of speaking in the dimension of superlatives all the time. And because of this, they have lost some of their meaning and purpose. If you don't believe me, you can simply read the headlines, or go online and look up anything on social media, and you'll see that so many things are spoken of in a superlative way, in our language, in our day. And because of this, words have become meaningless, because it has just become normal, common language. For example, we will read, "Best taco in the world." Is it really the best taco in the world? That's really hard to determine. But yet we partake, and we say to ourselves that this was amazing. How often have we used words like that, and they didn't really live up to our use of the word? So I want to set the order straight from the very beginning of this message. When I talk about being excellent in everything we do, I mean the literal interpretation of the word excellent. That God is calling us, as a church, to rise to excellence in our city, to be set apart and separated from all those around us, because God's desire to do a special work here in this church. But where are we now? I believe in honesty. I believe in transparency. And I think that we all will, will agree to this: that most people live in these realms of life — below average, average, above average, great, maybe best. But excellence is a high bar. Excellence is a high standard. We quote Scriptures like, "I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me," but yet we don't — whoo, we got quiet right off the bat, didn't it? Everybody's nervous. "Where's Pastor going?" Well, leave your toes out there, because I want to step on them. It's going to be okay. We like quoting Scriptures, but we often, we don't like his doing. He's putting in the hard work it takes to make the Scripture true. The word of God will stand by itself, but the promises in the Book, the majority of the time, are if-then promises: that God will keep his end of the bargain if we will live up to our part of the deal. And that's where oftentimes we struggle. We must live a life that is motivated, instructed, and inspired by the word, and not by man. I shouldn't have to come here week in and week out and convince you that living for God is the thing you should do. You should have settled in your mind that I'm going to live for God regardless if he preaches good or not. I'm going to live for God regardless if they sing my favorite song or not. I'm going to live for God if things don't even go my way, because he's a good God, and he's always a good God. He's a faithful God. He's always a faithful God. There's never been a day that he's not been faithful. There's never been a day he's not been good. He is good, and he is faithful. I look forward, and I have great expectations of what God's going to do here in this church in 2022. But you cannot simply be motivated and inspired by me. At some point you have to make your mind up that you're going to live for God no matter what. It's going to take each of you having a dedicated walk with God, and a love for his word. When I read the passage at the beginning of today's message, just a few out of the book of Daniel, Daniel is an amazing example of excellence. The Bible says that there was an excellent spirit that was inside of Daniel. But here's a truth that you and I must acknowledge today: Daniel did all that he did, and he did not have the infilling of the Holy Ghost. So where does that leave you and I today, who have been born again, filled with his Spirit? Because that overcoming power is inside of us. Daniel didn't have it. Yet the word of God said he had an excellent spirit. That means you and I are without excuse, because we have that ability. That same Spirit that got him off the cross, that same Spirit that got him out of the grave, that same Spirit that's going to come back for the church, lives in you and lives in me. Here we are, living in the New Testament church, filled with God's Spirit, guiding us every day. But where are our exploits at? Where are they at, Center Point? Daniel 11:32 says, "Those who do wickedly against the covenant, he shall corrupt with flattery. But those people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits." Where are our great exploits at? What's stopping us from reaching excellence? What's keeping us from attaining this? Are we determined to be, to please God? Are you determined that 2022 is going to be the best year ever in your life? I know you're nervous, because in 2020 we had 20/20 vision, and that rectus. In 2021 we were turning the chapter, we would turn over a new leaf. It didn't go so well. So we're going to tiptoe quietly into 2022. No sir, not me, not today. I'm going to be bold and stand and declare: I don't know what's going to happen, but he's kept me this far. He's brought me this far. I have no reason to doubt I'm going to make it through. I may be limping on the other side, but I'm determined I'm going through. And I wish I had three or four people that would be excited with me. It may be the hardest year I've ever lived, but I'm determining now: it's gonna be excellent. The reason I jumped ahead in Scripture and read to you is because I love the life that Daniel lived, because he lived in perilous times. He wasn't living when it was easy street. I mean, this cat got yanked out of his country against his will. He was bright, he was a, he was, he was ahead of his class. He was, he was, he was caught up in something that had been set in motion outside of his control. He'd been ripped out of his country and placed in Babylon. He had, he had unspeakable things done to him. He was a eunuch. I'm sure he didn't sign up for that one. But yet we don't read that he was downcast. We don't have that he, as my grandfather used to said, was down in the muddy grubs. But we read about him, and he was unwavering in his commitment that God was going to take care of him. He refused to compromise. Even when the king asked him, he had enough faith in his God to say, "I can live the life God wants me to live in a world that has lost its mind." And miraculously God provided an opportunity for him to stay committed. So I'm asking you in 2022, with things spiraling out of control all around us and none of us feeling overly confident about what tomorrow holds: Are you confident in your God? Or is Christianity just a t-shirt you wear? Is it just a bumper sticker on your car? Is it just one of those rubber bracelets on your arm? Or are you sold out: "God, no matter what comes my way, I'm going to be committed to you. I don't like some of the stuff that's going on in the world, but my God hasn't changed. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And the same God that got Daniel out of the lions is still alive and well in 2022, and whatever you're facing, he's big enough to handle it." Oh, Daniel was a man of prayer. Say "prayer." Oh, we got to get back to prayer. Daniel 6 and 10: "Now when Daniel knew" — say, he knew — "that the writing was signed, the ordinance was stated, you can't pray, he went home, and in his upper room, with his window open towards Jerusalem, he didn't cower down in the closet. He didn't change one thing about his routine. The government says you can't pray. All right, where are you going? Home, to pray. Because if there's ever been a time to pray, whew, you better be praying when they say you can't pray. If you ever needed God to show up, you need God to show up, and they say you can't talk to him." But this isn't when Daniel decided he was going to be a prayer warrior. He had made his mind up before he ever left Jerusalem. He made his mind up even when things weren't going the way he wanted him to go. He made his mind up that, regardless, "I'm going to keep talking to God." You know what I like about it is, he went ahead and made his mind up: "I don't have any other option. God is my plan A, and there's no plan B." With his window open towards Jerusalem, he now knows these three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as it was his custom since early days. "Then these men assembled, found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God." I read to you Daniel 6, because Daniel 6 gives you understanding of how Daniel 1 worked. Daniel chapter one, they told him he had to eat from the king's table, in the king's meat. And Daniel said, "No, I can be just a strong. Matter of fact, I'll let you prove me on this." Now, you guys don't like reading Daniel 1, because it's a Daniel's fast, and we do that, which means if it tastes good you got to spit it out, and we get real hungry. But I'm going to tell you, he stayed committed because he had a prayer life. Daniel 6 says, "as was his custom since early days." Prayer still works, ladies and gentlemen. Prayer is still the answer that's going to get us through. I'm glad we have worship service, and we're going to keep having worship service until they tell us we can't. But I'm tell you what: they can't keep us from praying. They may shut us down online one day. That's okay. They can't stop me from praying. Daniel knew the writing was signed. He went into his house, and he prayed anyway. Daniel was a man of prayer. Are you a person of prayer? Yes, yes. I'm asking you. I'm asking you. Put your toes back out there. Get them out from underneath that. But are you, are you a man or woman of prayer? Do you know how to pray? You ain't gonna make it if you don't pray. You ain't gonna make it. I'm not gonna even gonna sugarcoat it here in the first deer vision. I'm gonna cast it out right now. I'm saying, if you ain't praying, you ain't going. "Going where are you?" "To heaven." Yeah. I don't know where else you want to go. Someplace I want to go. You ain't going to make it if you ain't talking to him. It's more than just coming in here and then watching me hoop and hollering and jumping around behind this pulpit. You got to have a walk with God, and you can't walk with him if you ain't talking to him. Daniel was totally dependent on God. He lived in a land of idolatry. We live in a land of idolatry. Anything that comes between you and God is an idol. Anything that comes between you and God is an idol. Prayer, ladies and gentlemen, is a two-way street. You talk, and then you sit and listen. We need to be people of perception, so that we're not deceived. Because there are so many deceiving spirits and many voices in our world today, and there's so much distraction that's out there. We're bombarded with information from every standpoint. This thing right here is killing us. It's killing us. It's, it's — people are becoming enslaved to this. Now, I'm not saying throw your phones away, all right? I'm not. But some of you need to take a real long look at how connected you are to this thing, because it's robbing you, and it's causing you to be unable to hear his voice. I'm here to preach today: you got to be careful. You got to be, you got to be perceptive. You got to test and try the spirits that's there, and what is trying to save you, because they want to deceive you. They want to work on you. They want to work on the lust of the flesh and lust of eyes and the pride of life. They want to get you away, because it's going to make you feel good. But I'm here to preach to you today: this is one of the secrets of experiencing the miraculous in our church, in your everyday life. And this is how we can become excellent, is when we learn to tune into his voice. What have we done to ourselves, has caused our minds to conclude that God's not going to do the miraculous anymore? What have we done? Have miracles ceased? Have they stopped? No, they're here. But are we connected in such a way that we can see them, that we can still operate in what's going on right there? Some have had the miraculous performed, yet vast majority have watched from the sidelines and been skeptical. I'm here to tell you, we serve a limitless God. We serve a God that's bigger than your ability to comprehend what just took place. I'm glad I have a God that doesn't fit inside my mind. He's bigger than what I can think. His, his ways are, are higher than my ways. And I love the fact that I can't keep him inside the box of my mind. But yet some of you are limiting him in that way. But because you can't see how it's going to happen, then it can't happen. I rebuked that in Jesus' name. God's going to do things in our congregation in 2022 that's not going to make any logical sense. But I'm telling you, heaven's gonna usher in to where we are, and it's gonna do exploits. We're gonna do things and see things that have not happened in years. And God's gonna rise us up to be excellent in our city, and people are gonna be drawn here. Why? Because we're going to know how to pray. If you want the miraculous to be a part of your everyday life, you got to pray it down. It's not just going to accidentally fall on you. Matthew 19:26: "But Jesus beheld them and said to them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." It's almost the exact statement that was told to Mary by Gabriel in Luke chapter 1:37: "4 with God nothing shall be impossible." Do you believe that? Do you believe that? Come on, I'm pressing you right now. Do you believe that? Then why are some of you living the shape you're living in? Why are some of you putting up with what you're putting up with? All right, I got to take my coat off. I'm getting hot. My Christmas 10 pounds is killing me, too. I feel like a putting a rubber band on the balloon, these pants. I love you. Nobody texts her right now. I love you. Do you believe all things are possible with God? I said, it's only, you're nodding your head, but I don't think you believe it. If you believe that, there'll be a little different reaction going on this front. Cause here's what I know: there are needs in this house. There are hurts, and there are pains, and there's brokenness, and there's addictions in this room right now, in this room right now. So I'm going to ask you again: Do you believe all things are possible with God? Because he is drawn to faith. And if you believe that, I want you to start exercising. So I'm going to keep preaching. You're not going to bother me. But from this moment forward, I want us to make our mind up that everything is possible with God, and that if you leave here today not being delivered, it's because you determined you wasn't going to be delivered. Because my God is here, and he is ready, and he is able to take care of every problem in this place. We let our logical assumptions trump our theological beliefs, and before we know it, our reality is defined by human assumptions rather than divine revelation. So let me go back to this simple truth: Jesus can make your impossible possible. He is a limitless God, and I want us to grab ahold of that in 2022. I'm tired of us living with the stuff we've been living with. I can't predict the future. I don't know what's going to happen, and I don't care. I'm trusting in my God, and my God's going to see me through. I've determined I'm going to make it. I'm determined. I don't care how much negativity you have in your life, I'm determined to put that stuff out of my life. There's some voices I've refused. I made my mind up, I'm not turning into the new year listening to that mess anymore. I've cut some stuff off. There's news, I just know I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I refuse to listen to that. I decided to tune into this. This thing has stood the test of time. This thing has made it all this way. It stands all by itself. So you know what I choose? I choose to believe this report. I choose to believe that it says that I'm more than a conqueror, then I'm an overcomer. We needed a fresh revelation of the word of God in our life. Not just having a couple of candy stick verses memorized so that you can act like you're a Christian, but that you're living your life by the word of God, that you needed more than you need air and food. I was thinking to myself, you know, there's so many miracles in the Bible, so many things, but this one stood out to me. And we just got back from a conference — who's that? — and this, this particular passage got brought up on at least two occasions there. I felt like God was confirming my word for today. I wonder how many times in the life of that crippled man in John chapter 5, that man at the pool, heard the words, "You're never going to walk again." 38 years. Some of y'all are not even 38 years old. 38 years he dealt with the same infirmity, words that echoed in his mind. Scripture does not reveal how it happened. We're not given insight into whether it was a birth defect or a genetic condition or some type of accident. But the crippled invalid had stood on, has not stood on his feet in over 38 years. That's a long time. It must have seemed a lot longer 2,000 years ago, when the average life expectancy was 28. The ambulance was past his prime. In fact, he was living on borrowed time. I wonder if that's why Jesus singled him out. I wonder what it was that he was drawn to about this man, because that man had been sitting by the pool of Bethesda longer than anyone could remember. But what a way for Jesus to prove his power, because it does not bound by logic or chronological limits. It didn't matter how long. Even if everybody else had given up, including him — oh, I'm speaking to somebody. Some of you been dealing with something for a long, long time. You've determined, for whatever reason, that God doesn't want to or has forgotten. It's never too late when you turn to the one who can turn back time. The invalid was out of referrals. His condition was incurable. His case was unsolvable. But that's our God's specialty. In spite of every diagnosis that ever been given, Jesus simply said, "Rise, take up your bed, and walk." He simply looked at his situation and spoke a word in what seemed like impossible, and it became possible in his life. Center Point, listen to Pastor today. It doesn't matter how bad the diagnosis is, or how long you live with that problem. It's never too late for you to be what you could have been in 2022. You may be stealing dealing with a new reality of our world. I don't know how it's going to play out. But if you're breathing, that means God's not finished yet. If you're breathing, he's not done. Oh, it may be dark, it may be bleak, you may not even understand it all, but if you're still breathing, there's still a chance. Jesus looks at him and simply asks a question. He was the master at asking simple questions. He didn't come at him with a question that he couldn't answer. It was always something simple that got straight to the point. Of course, he had the ability to read minds, with his great advantage. But does anyone besides me think that it was a bit curious that Jesus asked the crippled man if he wanted to be made whole? Why would he ask that question? Michael, Wesley makes no sense. Ron, if you hadn't walked in 38 years, would I have to ask you, "Do you want to walk again?" You think that would be an understood. But in the Bible nothing is accidentally placed there. There's a reason why the question was recorded. There's a reason why you and I have the ability to read that in the holy word today, because it's letting us know something. Jesus was not assuming. Because you cannot help someone who doesn't want help, no matter how badly they need it. So much more than just identifying that you're broken, Jesus asked the question: Do you want to be fixed? Because some people have lived with a problem long enough that it's become what they are identified by. Ah, the thief on the cross, the one who spoke all the insults, is a perfect example. He was six feet from salvation, but he cursed the only one that could have helped him out. It is easy to become accustomed to the crutches. In the case of our man, he was adjusted to a two-foot by four-foot mat. His world consisted of eight square feet, for 38 years, on a mat. 38 years. It was what he was identified by. It was the label that had been placed on him. And at some point he had simply embraced the label. Um, the Holy Ghost is moving right now. No longer was he gone by his name. He was simply the lame man. Now we know how these goals. I'm, I'm a southern boy, raised in middle Tennessee, specifically Wilson County for part of my life, Rutherford County for the rest. I speak good southern. You get me around some backwoods folk, my southern really come out. I can draw my words. We have our own dialect. When we were in high school, it was easy, because people, all of a sudden, nobody used anybody's name. Everybody was just nicknamed. You know what I'm talking about? There's still people today, they're 60 years old and they go by Bubba, because they've been Bubba their whole life. Now, if there's a Bubba in the room, there's nothing wrong with Bubba. Most Bubbas are pretty big, and so we're cool. I don't need to meet you in the parking lot. But we embrace those labels that get put on us. And when I'm thinking about this, he asked the question, "Wilt thou be made whole?" The question gets to some deep-seated issues for the crippled man. Getting well meant he would have to get a job. Getting well meant he would actually have to use his healed legs. It meant he would have a new level of responsibility in his life. Instead of setting by letting others take care of him, he would have to stand on his own. And like every blessing from God, it comes with the burden of responsibility. to steward it. "Will thou be made—" If you do, then you will need to hear what you don't want to hear and what you don't want to do. Because you cannot expect God to do the supernatural if you're not willing to do the natural. For some of you, you've been praying for God to take care of something in your life that you're doing to yourself. You're asking God to help you, and God's saying, "Well, why don't you just stop?" You can't expect to do the supernatural, God do the supernatural, if you're not willing to do the natural. You got to do your part so he can do his part. Like the crippled man, you have to be willing to carry your weight. He told him, "Rise, take up your bed." There was action that had to be taken on his part in order for the miracle to take place. He could have sat there and said, "I don't want to get up. Just heal me. I've grown real accustomed to the map that I'm in." See, here's the thing that blows my mind about this whole story. Can I just be transparent, real with y'all? If this story was written about me, it'd be a little different. Because I'm going to tell you right now, I just showed up every day in my swim trunks. I wouldn't have been just on the mat over there. I'm gonna tell you, I'd have been saying, "Hey, get me close enough I can have my hand in the water." He had excuses: "I don't have a man when the water is troubled." He had enough hope to go to the pool, but didn't have enough faith to put his foot in the water. I'm sorry, no. Every day is long, until I got my healing, I said, "Roll me in there, all the way over there, until my toes are in that water. So when the angel comes, I'm not competing against anybody." But somewhere along the lines he would grow comfortable with the infirmity. I'm speaking — I know I'm stopping right now, but I'm speaking to somebody. Brother More, somebody in this place has grown comfortable with the problem that you want God to take care of. Labels, labels, labels. We get these labels on us. Labels, that's how it's — I'm identified by. That's who I am. That's, I'm caught up in that. Some, some of you need to get to the, to the point in your life where you're willing to get rid of that. You're gonna have to operate. Naaman went in like — Naaman, captain the guards, but he wasn't known, his name in the cap of the guards. He, he was known as a leper. And he was told, "You got to go dip seven times in the Jordan River." He had to do something. The woman of the issue of blood had to push through the crowd to get close enough to touch Jesus. Something was operated on her part. And the disciples had to haul their nets and cast them on the other side. Some miracles take tough love. Some miracles take time. Some miracles take extra effort. Some miracles take blood, sweat, and tears. But he still operates in the miraculous. When Jesus told Devlin to get up and walk, he was asking him to do something he hadn't done in 38 years. And that's what it's going to take for some of you to experience the miracle. You can't do what you've always done, expected there to be a different outcome. That's the definition of insanity. But some of you, coming to church, and you, you raise your hands and you go through the same motions every time, expecting God to do something. Why don't you step outside your comfort zone? Maybe God's asking, "Why don't you do something you've never done before, and see if I'm not drawn to that faith?" Some of you used to dance in the Spirit. Some of you used to sing like nobody else was around. Somebody used to worship like it was your last day on this earth. What's stopping you now? What's stopping you? I'm gonna tell you right now, if I had something I need to deliver — and somebody — you couldn't prevent me from worshiping. Jesus, oh Jesus, I need you. Why would you be timid? I guess it's just not bad enough for you. I guess you haven't got desperate enough. You've become comfortable with what has crippled you. No sir. No sir, not me. Not me. Uh-uh. I'll be like that one with the issue blood. You can't stop me. If I gotta get to him for me to be better, you're not going to stand in my way. I'll push my way through this crowd. You can step on me. I'll push over. I'll get through. I'll crawl. I'll do whatever I can, because I got to touch the Master. Oh, if somebody would grab a hold of that same attitude today and say, "You're not going to stop me, because I got to get to the Master." The fact that the invalid is called is no insignificant detail. It'd be like someone coming up and saying, "Hello, my name is Depression." He was identified by the very thing that was holding him back. And I realized that it, that this message is used throughout Scriptures, through nameless people. There was, there was a prostitute with the alabaster jar, the man who was blind, the woman called the act of adultery. Name a few. They are synonymous with their sin and with their sickness. But there's a lesson to be learned: Don't let what's wrong with you define you. Don't let what's wrong with you — I refuse. Oh, I got my faults, and I've got my failures. But I'm not going to let those labels stick on me. Throw them at me if you want, but I choose to refer back to what he says I am. See, the enemy, he wants to put a label on you. He wants to label your faults and your failures and your sickness. But that's not who you are. Well, my kids do something wrong, they come in and tell me a lie. I don't say, "You're a liar," and call them a liar from that day forward. I'll call out the wrong, but they have a name. They have a name. They have a name that belongs to them. You have a name. Your name is not your problem. Your name is not your disease. Your name is not your sin. Our culture tends to reduce people to labels. It's unhealthy, and it's unholy, and it's dehumanizing. Don't let anyone label you besides the one who made you. See, that's why I don't call my children by their sin. I call them by their name, because I'm their father. I gave them that name. Who was — somebody would buy in. He doesn't call you by your sin. He calls you by your name. So I'm going to end the message like this. Musicians are going to come, because God seeks to do something miraculous. Romans 8:37 says, "We are more than conquerors." That means not only am I conqueror, I'm more than that. Somebody grab a hold, that one, that one's yours today. Zechariah 2:8 says, "I'm the apple of his—" Romans 8:16: "We are the children of God." 17: "Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." And because we are his children, we are instructed to boldly enter the throne room, according to Hebrews chapter 4, verse number 16, says: "Let us therefore come boldly, boldly, into the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." You know why? Because you're his kid. There's no multi-generations with God. There's just one: a blood-bought child of the King. Oh, I wish I had a few bloodball children in this place, who are determined to let the label fall off of you right now. You're not depressed. You're not anxious. You're not lustful. You're not an alcoholic. You're not a drug addict. You are a blood bought child of the King. And we're going to rise to excellence with a limitless God. You're not a sinner. You're not an adulterer. You're not a fornicator. You are a blood bald child of the kingdom. Oh, I wouldn't stay in my seat. I wouldn't stay in my seat. The water has been troubled. Come on, church. Come on. Come on, worship right now. Pray right now. Your deliverer is in this house.