Greater Vision

Good afternoon. This is this is a pre-recorded lesson tonight for because CAC is having our business meeting tonight. I I am staying on topic with what we've been on all month. I want you to know that I prayed over this. I've I've studied over this and I want I believe that this lesson is for you watching tonight. I believe that God has a purpose for us here at CAC is a vision for us. Uh that's that's been our whole that's been our whole topic the whole month uh is greater vision. This year is the year of greater. It's hard to get better if you can't see it. Some of it is there's a lot of different ways to look at vision. A lot of different topics to cover with that. But it's really it's it's it starts at the very beginning. If if you do not know where you're going, you will never get there. You'll not know when to stop. My grandfather, he likes to say he's retired. He's like, you know, the thing with doing nothing, you just don't know when you're done. Uh, and it's it's the truth. Sometimes you just do not know. So, what we find is we have to pray, we have to seek, we have to develop, we have to be intentional and purposeful with vision. And I at CAC, we we've got a this is, if I may, it's more than a just a a catchy word. is more than just a topic for a month. There's a strategic purpose for how this year is shaped out. Uh a church a church cannot afford an off year. A church cannot afford an offer. A church cannot afford no lives are at stake. Uh souls are at stake. And so everything we do must be intentional. It must be on purpose. It has to be in the will in accordance with God. And we must act with the ferveny that God would have us act in. Lives are on the line. A greater a greater vision. That's January. A greater vision. A greater vision for CAC. A greater vision for Chattanooga. A greater vision for you and for me. Uh this is not it's not the vision is not throwing away the past. Uh it's building a path to a better might I say greater future. It's it is we've all experienced a great excitement of a vacation especially as a kid. We've all experienced what you know that our parents saying all right we're going to go to Dollywood or we're going to go to Disney World or we're going to go to Six Flags. Um or the weatherman's promise of a snow day that may or may not come. But it's the thought that we can't go to sleep at night because we envision all the things that tomorrow will hold because the excitement around not being in school, of getting to play in the snow, of getting to ride the Superman at Six Flags or or the Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood. It's it's all the things. It's it's not just a flash in a pan idea, if I may, a vision. It's a strategic direction. And I believe this year we're on a strategic direction for where and what God would have us do for in our lives in CAC and in Chattanooga. This year we build a firm foundation in the word. We will that that will sustain us um for the plans that God has for the future. One thing I know if we are not founded in the word, we won't make it. We we we'll be like a a flash in a pan, but I believe that we are we are founded in the word. Then then God will honor that we will be established in his name. If you have your journals with you, I I I've borrowed a journal for this lesson. In the journal at the at the first of the month, there's there's a section here uh that says personal goal, financial goal, spiritual goal, other and action steps. These these are not just goals. These are then action steps to put into action. I I'm the guiltiest of all of us. I am sure that I have a big idea. I'm I'm I'm going to do this. I'm going to knock this out and I don't write it down. I don't I I do not have something to hold me accountable to it. I'll forget it. I'll find every excuse to not do it. So, I ask you, look at this. If you wrote down some some goals at the beginning of January, you may have you may have accomplished those. Cross those off. Get the satisfaction of that just that line through it, that tick mark beside of it. Or if you didn't, look at why. Consider ask yourself, all right, I'm I'm going into February. How how am I going to make sure these are good goals? These are financial, personal, spiritual, and other goals. These are these are not just haphazard. How how can I accomplish these to better my life? That's that's the start of a greater vision because the reality is you have identified somewhere in your life that you would like to improve somewhere in your life that you would say, you know, this could be better. It's not that it's bad, but it could be better. And how am I going to make it better? I'm I'm I'm going to put some actionable steps to this. Um, I believe that God honors that almost every time and probably every time uh that I know of that I have made a plan. I have started out on this plan of I've started out on this journey and when I accomplished it, my sights were set right here and God's sights were right here. Now, he honored my faith because I stepped out and said, "I can try this. I can do this. But once I realized the fullness of whatever that goal was, it was so much more than just what I had simply made it out to be. It was this much more to what God had made it out to be. And I believe that that God does that when we make plans, when we make uh goals in our lives, when we have a vision to better ourselves and others and those around us, that God honors that and he gives us an opportunity to not just fulfill what we can see, but what he can see. And I believe that's that's the whole concept to a greater vision. It's understanding that where we are now is not where we need to be tomorrow. A greater vision says where I am now, my kids don't need to be there. My grandkids don't need to struggle with the same things. They don't need to. A greater vision says I'm going to overcome this obstacle so they can overcome greater obstacles. A greater vision says I will sacrifice now so that tomorrow things are better. Uh I there

there are tons of examples of this. 1st Samuel chapter 14 verse 6. Uh it it t it goes into one in particular. Uh this this is this is Saul and Jonathan. Uh Saul was king at the time and Jonathan was was the prince uh one of them and they were they were fighting against the Philistines. Uh 1st Samuel 14:6 Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few. He Jonathan was stepping out in faith. He did not know that God would would make a way. He didn't know that God wouldn't. He said he it may be that the Lord would work for us. But he had no idea the outcome of his plans. He was he was doing his best to channel the heartbeat of God because he knew if I he knew that these were not people of the covenant. He said, "The uncircumcised, these are not people that are in covenant with God. These are not people that are blessed by God. Let me just step out and see if God will back me up." What an amazing amazing moment that Jonathan had. He was Jonathan was tired of the status quo. He was tired of the things as they were because the very the very chapter before this in chapter 13, the children of Israel had conquered the land, but they did not have It it said there were no smiths, so they had no swords. They were not prepared to keep the land. They had no vision for the future. God had given them the land, but they had not prepared themselves in order to keep the land and to conquer more. They said they they they were fine learning how to farm and do what they thought was had to be done, but they were not fine at saying, you know what, let's keep conquering. They said, "Oh, we've traveled around long enough. We've done all we want to do. Let's just settle down and and and have our 40 acres and live to ourselves." But that was not what God had asked of them. It was not that was not even in remotely in the plans and the will of God. They lost a vision for the future. And so Jonathan is here in the middle of all of that. Instead of getting frustrated with him, he just says, "I'm just going to step out in faith." He had one of the two swords in Israel at the time. That was it. Because there was no vision. There was no purpose. But that did not stop him. He said, "I am going to step out." He asked He asked his armor bear, his poor little armor bear. He had no idea. He was just there. He didn't even have armor to bear if they only had one sword. He said, "I am going to step out." Well, you know, we find as we read that that they came and they killed about 20 of them. And then there was in verse 15 of of chapter 14, 1st Samuel 14 and 15. Catch me with that. And there was a panic in the camp in the field among all the people. The garrison even the raiders trembled. The earth quaked and it became a very great panic. God sent a panic among them because two men stepped out really on the faith of one and the trust of another.

I want to I want to look at that. The faith of one and the trust of another. You see a vision. God doesn't always give he doesn't give all of us a vision all the time or we'd all be running around in circles in different directions. That's just that's just the truth of it. If you're married, you know, some things inspire you, some things inspire your wife. Sometimes she has a vision for a house. Sometimes you have a vision for a boat or a motorcycle. Sometimes you have to work those visions together. uh sometimes. But what we do know is we can't all have the same vision or different visions at the same time. We God can direct us, but he gave Jonathan the vision and Jonathan used his faith to say, "You know what? I'm just going to step out." And he gave the armor bearer trust. If if Jonathan can see this, if he has enough faith, then I'm going with him. So many times we we get caught up in God showing something to someone to a leader in our life. And well leader, I just don't see it. I just don't understand. I just don't see it. But where's our trust? Here's here's something. Here's something. I'll I'll I'll put it to you this way. If a leader in my life has ever presented a vision to me, I may not see it. I I'm I'm not the visionary at that moment. That's not my role. But what my role is to trust. And I don't just trust them. I trust that God has my back. I trust that God is honoring that. And I I have never been let down. God has always looked out. Whether the vision was good, bad, or ugly, I don't know. But what I do know, God has kept me in the trust. I can't I I I I have visions for things. I see things, but I'll just tell you from a standpoint of of where I am at in life, I've I've exercised trust more than I have vision. I think I think that in a greater vision that sometimes God calls on us to not just see it, but to trust him. Not just not just we we all we're not all Noah hearing from the Lord to build a boat. Some of us are Noah's sons, trusting that Noah heard from the Lord because we're out here building a huge boat looking a little goofy because it's never rained. But guess what? We just trust. We trust that that if Noah heard from God, we're trusting that. If Noah didn't hear from God, we're trusting that God's going to back up whatever Noah said. That's uh to me that is a part of greater vision. It's it's tied in with greater trust. It's greater trust that God knows what he's doing and God's got the back of who he's given the vision to.

There's there is another contrast here in the story. We go on down in in first kings and we get to first kings 14 and 24 and we see that the men of Israel had pressed hard that day. So Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, "Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening, and I am avenged of my of my enemies." So none of the people had tasted food. Now when all the people came to the forest, behold, there was honey on the ground. And when the people entered the forest, behold, the honey was dropping. But no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard his father's charge, the people with the oath. So he put the tip of his staff in in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his mouth put his hand to his mouth and his eyes became bright. His eyes became bright. Saul's rash vow almost had his son killed because he said, "I'm going to put him to death." And the people actually had to withstand Saul. But the reality is Saul as a leader, he couldn't see past himself. He couldn't see past what he could do. So, he said, "Oh, no. We're just staying f we're just going to do it. We we're we're just we're just gonna here. Stick with me, guys." And and and that's great and that's good. But greater vision says, "All right, I'm trusting you and we're going and you're trusting me and we're going. If you need to stop and eat, you stop and eat because I believe you're going to get back up and keep going after me." Saul was not prepared for Jonathan to be able to carry his own vision. I believe that was a that was a travesty because it was Saul's rash foul. If and and and Jonathan said later, if if if the people had been able to eat, they would have had the strength to keep going and keep fighting. And so there was something something sad about Saul's or the lack of Saul's vision. But Jonathan's vision was greater. Jonathan had a greater vision. He said, "I believe we are focused. I believe we have an opportunity. I believe that God is with us.

Here's something that I want to put to you. CAC is stepping into a new year of greater. That's it. We're we're we're into this is this is a greater vision. We're looking to do greater things. Here's the thing. 2025 was a great year for us. God blessed us. We've grown. We have expanded. We have grown in depth and in knowledge. We've grown in numbers. We've grown in maturity. We've grown. We've got a wonderful, beautiful building. I'm sitting right now in an awesome pod podcast studio recording this. I I am. But but here's the thing. 2025 was great, but 2026 is going to be greater because it's the foundation. It's the foundational year for what God will bless us with. I believe if we'll get this year right, God will change the very fabric of our lives, of our church, of our city. You see, we've envisioned for Chattanooga with CAC's all over it. You see, this is a huge city, guys. It's a huge city. It doesn't It doesn't need just one Jesus name church. It doesn't need just three Jesus name church. It needs 10. There's enough there. There's 180,000 people in Hamilton County at least. There's 500,000 within a very short driving distance of Chattanooga. We need a CAC Redbank. We need a CAC Hixon. We need a CAC Signal. We need a CAC Lookout. We need a CAC Central. We need a CAC UDA wall. We need a CAC Saudi Daisy. Can you do you know that that as the body is growing larger and it's going more places, we're going to see those things in the name of Jesus. I believe that God has given us that vision. But

this is the year of consecration. our Sunday school classes. I want to encourage you if you haven't if you haven't been coming to Sunday school, go to Sunday school. If you've been, go more, study harder because our Sunday school classes, they're taking a huge deep dive into the epistles. We're using a Bible school curriculum and teaching from it intently, going deeper and wider in understanding of the word of God so that we are better prepared and better founded on the things of God. When God challenges us and when challenges come our way and he allows us to be challenged. We'll be up to the challenge. CSC's taking steps to to open a parents day out program. This is just one step. One step in utilizing the wonderful facility that God's blessed us with. I mean, one step. I I don't know what it will lead to, but it's one step of faith. It's one it's one effort, one step of faith that I believe will change the culture and the fabric of us. It will it we are in the early planning stages of different types of school and classes to have at the church during the week during the day. I I have no idea what will come of it and I've even told them I you know we may fail, we may succeed. I do not know but God has not given us this building. He has not given us this this space to waste. is not giving us this opportunity to just let go. No, this this the the gospel has to be propagated day in and day out 24/7. We have the opportunity to do it and we are working to modernize this place. We are working to modernize the building to be an event center. There's there's space here to have that can be open to rentals. It can be open to the public. There's space here that just small practical steps this year that I believe will be the foundation to see Chattanooga being an apostolic doctrine hub. I believe this will be the bastion of apostolic doctrine in the years to come. I believe that missionaries and businesses and businessmen and evangelists and prophets and entrepreneurs and teachers and preachers and leaders and politicians and god orained elders will come out of this area. Not because of we're we're anything special, but because we get a hold of the vision, the greater vision that God has to do. You see the the vision for God that the vision that God has for his church is greater than a geographic region. It's greater than an ethnic people. It's greater than a an area. It's greater than an idea. It is the idea of ideas. And I believe if we can just if we can just do our part that God will ma will make it greater and bigger and a awesomer. It will make it more amazing than our minds can imagine. I know that God has given us what we need to accomplish. The vision, a greater vision in Chattanooga, larger than one church, longer than one generation, greater than we can even imagine. Can we even see? I believe that God is anointing us. He is purposing us for greater things to come.

Would you pray with me? Jesus, we love you. God, we thank you, Lord. You've been so good to us. You've been so kind to us. You've blessed us more than we even know. We You've been so good to us, Lord. God, I pray Lord that as we are studying your word this year, as we are digging into your word, learning your nature, doing our best to understand what you would have us to know, God, I pray, Lord, that you would reveal greater to us, you would you would become greater in our lives, God, as we take steps to to follow your vision and trust to understand your vision for for Chattanooga and what our parts are in it. God, I pray Lord that you would you would help our personal lives, God. Let our let our let our persons grow. Let our minds expand. Let our our capacities expand. Let our finances be blessed, God. Let our time be blessed. Let our talents be blessed, God. Let us God, to see the direct correlation between giving ourselves to the things of God and the blessings that you provide. But God, more than that, God, if there's never a single blessing given, God, I pray, Lord, that in Chattanooga, you would allow your vision to become our vision. God, you would allow your will to become our will. God, you would help us to walk after you for whatever you have purposed. We'll be careful to give you all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor. And the church said, "Amen." Go and be blessed today. Thank you so much for joining joining with us tonight. I pray that that God blesses your home, but I pray that God blesses you with a greater vision for your home. Be blessed in the name of the Lord.