Your Vision & Purpose

Text: Proverbs 29:18 // Exodus 3

Intro:

So know vision is important. Remember the Frisbee fiasco thing from last week? Well, for sake of old memories, and for the laughs that are sure to follow, I'm going to bring it out again. I need yet again 2 people smart enough to take part in my surprises. So you on that side of the stage and you on the other side of the stage. Throw the Frisbee a couple of times to get used to it. Ok. Now I'm going to give each of you specific instructions. *Person A should throw the Frisbee so Person B can catch it; Person B should avoid catching the Frisbee at all costs.*

That's how vision and purpose work when it comes to the individual. Sometimes, our individual purposes don't line up with those around us, like in the case here, and we get nothing accomplished other than causing, lets call them issues and situations, around us. But when it comes to us a Christ followers, something beautiful happens. Our individual vision and purpose will line up with the community of Christ followers we're in, which in turn will line up with the vision and purpose of the overall Church. So do you remember the Church's vision and eXodus's vision? Check here and here for refreshing.

Remember Proverbs 29:18 tells us that vision is crucial. "If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves." Without vision and purpose in your life, you're going to stumble all over yourself as well as others. So let's go back and look at Moses one more time.

Part I.

I'm sure Moses had everything planned out before he encountered that burning shrub. I'm sure he figured that he could live out the rest of his days as a shepherd, working for his father-in-law Jethro, taking care of wife and son. Kinda like you, like me, like us. He was just living life and wandering through the story. Moses even named his son Gershom, which means Sojourner, saying, "I am a sojourner in a foreign country."

And then God steps onto the stage and the story changes drastically.

Moses is out in the wilderness, watching some sheep, and then God's voice starts booming from a bush that's blazing away and calling his name. During that moment, God chose Moses and laid out His plan for freeing the Israelites from pharaoh. Failure was not an option. It was happening with or without Moses. But God had chosen him as a partner in this mission.

Immediately, the questions and doubts gushed out of his mouth. "A stuttering man like me? You want me to go to pharaoh? How? He'll kill me!"

Note that God didn't respond with a pep talk. He didn't send Moses to the Center for "You Can Do It" Training in an effort to boost his confidence. God didn't waste anytime - not one second - trying to pump Moses up for the task. He doesn't inflate Moses' self-esteem by filling him with a boatload of "Come on Moses, you can do this! I believe in you - you've just got to believe in yourself" encouragement.

Instead, God answers Moses with these life-shifting words: "I will be with you."

Part II.

"I will be with you." See, when God invites you into His Story, assigning us various roles that are seemingly too big for us to carry out, His affirmation is always the same - I will be with you. It's as if He was saying to Moses, "Don't worry about who you are, just focus on the reality that I'm going too. And if I go with you, trust Me, everything's going to work out fine."

Bottom line: God and anybody else is an overwhelmingly powerful team.

When it comes to our individual visions and purposes, it's not really about us at all. God holds center stage while we act as supporting actors. If you take Zazu out of the Lion King movie, the show can still go on. But what happens when Simba doesn't show up for curtain call? The show comes to a grounding halt. God doesn't need us in this story - He wants us in His Story.

And a lot of times, we take that to mean it doesn't even matter if we show up, if we we committ to a ministry, if we dedicate, sacrifice, and do whatever it takes to see the story through to the end. Imagine if Moses had only went halfway in his purpose; imagine if Moses stopped after the 3rd or 4th plague. I'm sure God would have still succeeded in getting the Israelites out but what would've happend to Moses?

You have a vision, a purpose, a calling on your life. God has specifically assigned you a role in this story, a task to perform. For some of you, it's being the link between the Church and your school. For others, you might be the next leader of a nation like Moses with the Israelites. And the cool thing is when God called you to do this, He knew you could do it. God chose Moses to lead the Israelites, not Jethro, not Aaron, not anyone else but Moses. Doesn't that speak volumes for how much faith God had in Moses? Moses wasn't even sure of himself but God redirected his attention to where it needed to be, not on his own lack of experience or qualification or skill but on to God's abundance of these things.

Close:

Some of you know your calling, what your role in this story is supposed to be. Don't let the fact that we're all supporting actors for the Main Actor deter you from throwing everything you have into your purpose, your calling. Don't go halfway and stop. Don't just show up sometimes when you're not tired or have some other excuse. Remember that you're God's partner in this and you're desire to bring glory to Him alone should propel you into diving deep into your individual calling.

Others of you have no clue yet as to what part of the story God has assigned you. Or you may have only the slimmest of ideas. Come find me, or Bro. Robert, or any of the other leaders. That's why we're here - to help you find out why you're here. Like Moses, you might think you have your life planned out and God's simply waiting to drop the bomb on what He wants you to be doing. Somewhere in your soul, I think each of us knows the direction God wants us to be heading. Find one of us leaders so we can help you find where and what you're supposed to be doing on the stage of life.

For all of us, never cease in throwing yourself into God and His Kingdom here on earth. Later in that chapter in Exodus, God tell's Moses what to call Him, His Name. And it was "I AM." I AM the center of everything. I AM running the show. I AM more than enough. I AM.

And this let's us know what we're not. I AM NOT the center of everything. I AM NOT in control. I AM NOT the solution. I AM NOT calling the shots. I AM NOT.

He's I AM and we're i am not. But the great I AM chooses us to be His partners. How cool is that...