Sermon Tone Analysis

| *The Power of Vision * |   |   |

|   | Job 42:1-6 |

|   | \\ The Power of Vision \\ Job 42 \\ \\ \\ I have been waiting to share with you the message that God has burned into my heart while I was away with my family on vacation.

I have been sharing this lesson every chance I have been given since I have returned home.

I shared it with our staff on Monday morning, I shared it with the Promise Keepers on Wednesday morning, and I have shared it with many individuals during the past week.

The lesson that God has been teaching me is the power of vision.

I want to clarify something for us as we begin so that I don't confuse you.

Vision is kind of a nebulous term that can mean many different things.

When someone says that they have a vision they can be talking about all kinds of experiences or insights they have experienced.

\\ We experienced the reality of one man's vision while we were in Florida on vacation.

Many years ago Walt Disney took a group of people out to a piece of land in Florida that had no usefulness at all.

The land was marshy and muddy and there wasn't anyone who believed that it could be useful for the city of Orlando until Walt Disney shared his vision of what we know today as Walt Disney World.

Before one shovel of land was ever turned Walt walked through the acreage and described in vivid detail, as if it was already before his eyes, the various structures, themes, rides, and excitement that the park would bring.

\\ As Walt Disney World was under construction, the visionary leader died and therefore missed the grand opening of the greatest theme park in the world.

At the dedication of the park someone said, "Isn't it too bad that Walt Disney didn't live to see this?" Mike Vance, creative director of Disney Studios, replied, "He did see it-that's why it's here."

(Haddon W. Robinson, Hamilton, Massachusetts, Leadership, Spring, 1993, p. 48.) \\ There are those like Walt Disney who have a vision of building a theme park, a business, gaining an education, or winning a gold medal in the Olympics.

I love to hear their stories as they inspire and move us all, but that is not the kind of vision that I want to talk with you about this morning.

\\ There are others who speak of having visions of gaining great wealth, finding a cure for cancer, or discovering the origins of the Universe, but that is not the kind of vision that I want to share with you this morning.

There are still others who have a vision of playing professional sports, taking exotic vacations, being a size 7, or striking it rich, but these are the visions that I want to talk about this morning.

\\ I don't want to mislead you into thinking that the next several minutes is going to be an Anthony Robbins or Oprah Winfrey-type seminar on creating your vision and getting what you want out of life.

There are plenty of folks who can help you with that type of thinking if that is what you are looking for in life.

They can help you plot and plan and pursue starting a new business, making more money, losing weight, etc.

I'm not putting those folks down it is just that as I have gotten older and learned more about the Lord the more I am convinced that what we truly need is a clear vision of another kind.

What people desperately need today is not a vision that centers on themselves and their happiness or alleviating the suffering of humanity, even though that is a wonderful and noble vision to pursue.

What we need more than anything is a vision of God's holiness, majesty, glory, righteousness, power, and grace.

\\ While we were on vacation God struck me with such a clear vision and a deeper understanding of His magnificence and might, His love and mercy, His sovereignty and provision that I can't escape it to this day.

Let me back up and share with you how God began to teach me this lesson.

One night Dan and I were out walking on the beach when I saw a group of ladies huddled together up on the beach.

I went up and asked, "What are you guys doing?"

They showed us a turtle nest where some baby turtles had hatched and about six of them were really struggling.

One of the ladies was licensed to work with the turtles and she began to tell us about them.

The six were really weak and it looked like they weren't going to make it.

The women were holding them in their hands and rubbing them, trying to rejuvenate their little bodies.

While they were busy working I began to quiz them about the turtles.

They said that they were Green turtles and that they were on the endangered species list.

They told me that the mother had laid up to 100 eggs in the nest that she had dug and buried about six weeks ago.

After the mother had laid the eggs she covered them up and walked back to sea never to see the nest again.

I asked if the turtles are born any time or if they are born just at night.

The lady said, "Oh, they are only born at night.

Never born while the sun is up."

I'm not very smart so I asked, "How do they know that it is night?"

She said, "Well, they just know.

Nature has taught them when it is time to be born."

I said, "Oh, I see."

She went on to tell us that when the time is right the little turtle bites his way out of his shell, digs out of the sand, and walks down to the water.

I asked, "How does the turtle know to walk to the water instead of towards the trees behind us?" Once again I heard, "Nature has taught them what to do when they are born."

I asked my sons, "Isn't evolution a wonderful thing?" \\ The very next night our family was walking on the beach when we came upon a man and his three daughters.

It was evident that they were up to something so I asked them what they were doing?

The dad said, "There is a mother turtle up there in the dunes laying her eggs."

He took us up to see her with only the moonlight illuminating her huge shell.

The bugs were so bad that everybody except for me left to find shelter.

I walked up the dune and huddled down behind her so that she couldn't see me.

I watched and swatted bugs as she dug her nest, laid her eggs, and then worked so hard to use her big flippers to cover the nest so that predators wouldn't recognize it.

I finally left as she was busy putting the finishing touches on her nest, but sometime after I left she finished, made her way back to the sea, and swam away never to see her nest again.

\\ Who watched over that nest while mom was away?

Who formed those little turtles in their eggs planted in the earth?

Who protected those helpless eggs from predators for six weeks?

Who gave those little hatchlings the strength to dig their way out of the sand?

Who taught them the difference between night and day before they had ever seen either one?

Who taught them to walk to the sea instead of the trees?

Who provided a group of caring women to come to their aid when they were too weak to crawl?

Oh, my friend, you and I know who taught them.

Annie can answer that question - God did.

If God can provide for a little turtle in every way imaginable then He can certainly provide for you and me.

\\ I think we all know that in our hearts.

I believe that the certainty of God's provision gets clouded when we struggle and strain trying to deal with the problems of life that tug at our hearts and cloud our vision.

We are like Job, the most well known struggler in the world.

Job had everything going for him, but then his life began to come apart at the seams.

He lost his children, his herds, his livelihood, his servants, and he lost his hope.

He couldn't figure out why God would allow such a thing to happen to his life.

He asked, "Why?" Job felt that God had abandoned him.

I want to give you an idea of the emotions that were pummeling Job's mind and body 27 chapters after he had lost it all.

Take a look at Job 29:2-6, \\ 2 "How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, 3 when his lamp shone upon my head and by his light I walked through darkness!

4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house, 5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me, 6 when my path was drenched with cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.

(Job 29:2-6 NIV) \\ Did you hear that?

Did you notice how everything Job talked about was past tense?

"How I long for the months gone by.

When God watched over me.

When God's intimate friendship blessed my house.

When the Almighty was still with me."

Job is speaking of his relationship with God as if it were over and done.

Have you ever found yourself deep in the valley of despair and thinking the same things that were on Job's heart?

Oh, I'm sure there are many of us who are familiar with Job's past tense problem.

\\ In the very next chapter of Job we find Job's struggle continue.

The worst suffering of all has to be those times when we cry out to God and we feel that He has turned a deaf ear to our cry.

Job says, \\ 20 "I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.

21 You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.

22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm.

23 I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.

24 "Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.

25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?

Has not my soul grieved for the poor?

26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.

27 The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.

28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

(Job 30:20-28 NIV) \\ Job is not only feeling abandoned by God, but he cannot figure out why.

He has wept for those in trouble, he has grieved for the poor, he has been a good man, and yet he feels so alone.

Isn't it interesting that when we go through tough times that we begin to look around at others and think to ourselves, "Why is this happening to me?

I pay my taxes, I go to church, I try to treat people with respect, I read my Bible."

What we are saying is this: "I'm a pretty good person so why is God allowing this to happen to me?" My friend we need to take this lesson to heart - God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).