Vision Message

Vision of House - The Shepherd metaphor became a primary way to look at God in OT - He was caretaker of his people. Doesn’t it seem strange that a shepherd would endanger 99% of his flock for the sake of 1%. Point is the rejoicing and for the sake of 1% not in the neglect of the 99%. No creature strays more easily than sheep. Sheep are careless, inattentive, unmindful, and there incapable of finding there way back to the flock. When it has gone astray it will run in an opposite direction. The lost sheep can never save themselves. or find the shepherd themselves. If the shepherd did not take action, the sheep was doomed. Many rabbis of that time believed that God received the sinner who came to him the right way. But in the parable of the Shepherd and the Sheep, Jesus taught that God actively seeks out the lost. Instead, he searches after them. God finds the sinner more than the sinner does find God. When Jesus finds His people He also carries them. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. He lays it on His shoulders. Only thing you do when God finds you and rescues you is REPENT. KJV

Life Application Bible Commentary, Luke Jesus Tells the Parable of the Lost Sheep / 15:1–7 / 159

15:3–5 So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.” The grumbling Pharisees wanted to demonstrate their disapproval of Jesus’ actions, but Jesus didn’t say a word in his own defense; instead, he chose to speak a parable. The religious leaders were to picture themselves as shepherds (in reality, as leaders of the nation, they should have been serving as shepherds of God’s people).

Each shepherd has one hundred sheep—a typical number for the average flock of sheep. Shepherds counted their sheep every night, for sheep would easily stray away and get lost. When this shepherd counted, he was missing one sheep. Jesus used the shepherd’s concern for each sheep to set up the question: “Which one of you … does not leave … and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?” The answer was obvious to these listeners—any caring shepherd would do so. He would search, find the lost sheep, carry it back to the flock, and rejoice.

It may seem foolish for the shepherd to leave ninety-nine sheep to go search for just one. But the shepherd knew that the ninety-nine were safe, whereas the lost sheep was in danger. (Most likely the other sheep were left in the care of a fellow shepherd in a makeshift wilderness corral or shelter.) Because each sheep was of high value, the shepherd knew that it was important to search diligently for the lost one.

God’s love for each individual is so great that he seeks each one out and rejoices when he or she is “found.” Jesus associated with sinners because he wanted to bring the lost sheep—people considered beyond hope—the good news of God’s kingdom. Just as the shepherd took the initiative to go out and find the sheep, so Jesus actively seeks lost souls

Barton, B. B., Veerman, D., Taylor, L. C., & Osborne, G. R. (1997). Luke (p. 369). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

The “what” of Moses’ encounter with the Angel of the Lord at Mount Horeb refers to the substance of what was conveyed to Moses there. God called Moses to Mount Horeb because he had a mission for Moses and he communicated it to him in no uncertain terms: “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (). It was this calling that would drastically alter the trajectory of Moses’ life.

Vision of God - it is abundantly clear that Moses encountered the living and powerful God who manifested his presence to his servant by means of a burning bush and the angel of the Lord.

The “who” of this life-changing encounter was the Lord Almighty. God intruded into Moses’ life at Mount Horeb. As is always the case with such manifestations of God’s power and presence, there was a distinct purpose behind this miraculous display of his glory. God had a mission and mandate for Moses. This brings us to the “what” of this encounter.

But Moses’ encounter with God was also quite different from our personal experience of encountering God. What Moses experienced at Mount Horeb was a unique, one-time event in redemptive history in which he physically encountered the angel of the Lord: “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up” ().

Who was this angel of the Lord? Who met with Moses that day? Was this encounter similar to that of Zechariah in the New Testament where an angel of the Lord visited Zechariah to declare the forthcoming birth of John the Baptist ()? It is unmistakable from the text that Moses did not meet with an intermediary sent from God that day at Mount Horeb, but rather with God himself. We can tell this because it is God’s voice that speaks to Moses from the burning bush: “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ ” (). In addition to the presence of God’s voice, the text also reveals that this voice clearly identifies who he is:

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The one whose voice cried out from the bush declared himself to be God. Moses did not meet with a mere angel that day, which would have been extraordinary in its own right; instead, Moses experienced something even more extraordinary that day: he experienced a direct personal encounter with the Great I Am. This conclusion finds further support in the fact that Moses is instructed to take off his sandals because he is standing on “holy ground” ().

One might think that Moses’ reaction to such an illustrious calling would be to express gratitude to God or to be puffed up with pride. After all, God was choosing Moses from among all of the Israelites to lead God’s people out of bondage. God was appointing Moses as the supreme commander over the liberation of the Israelites. What a privilege!

The last time Moses had a sense of this calling it had gone straight to his head, and he usurped God’s timetable by killing the Egyptian who was abusing a Hebrew. But Moses was not the same man now. He had his forty years’ experience of humbling in the desert of Midian. His first reaction to God’s awesome calling upon his life was neither gratitude nor pride; rather, it was doubt and humility: “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ ” ().

Moses never spoke more true words than when he stated, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ().

It is often the case that the greatest spiritual strides forward in our lives begin with the question, “Who am I?” The question reflects awareness that without God we can do nothing. This is what Jesus taught when he spoke of the vine and the branches: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (). To say “Who am I?” when called to a challenging task does not reflect cowardice or a lack of faith, but rather reflects the knowledge that in our own strength we will fail. Moses now understood his weaknesses and this displayed that he was ready for his calling.

God did not accuse Moses of lack of faith, but instead encouraged Moses: “And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain’ ” (). Note that God encouraged Moses by conveying two things to him—God’s presence with him and a sign that assured Moses that his mission would be a success. God filled the void of Moses’ self-acknowledged weakness with the fullness of his loving assurance. Moses knew that the Angel of the Lord was with him.

From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses The Mission of Moses

Moses never spoke more true words than when he stated, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Ex. 3:11).

It is often the case that the greatest spiritual strides forward in our lives begin with the question, “Who am I?” The question reflects awareness that without God we can do nothing. This is what Jesus taught when he spoke of the vine and the branches: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). To say “Who am I?” when called to a challenging task does not reflect cowardice or a lack of faith, but rather reflects the knowledge that in our own strength we will fail. Moses now understood his weaknesses and this displayed that he was ready for his calling.

From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses The Mission of Moses

God did not accuse Moses of lack of faith, but instead encouraged Moses: “And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain’ ” (Ex. 3:12). Note that God encouraged Moses by conveying two things to him—God’s presence with him and a sign that assured Moses that his mission would be a success. God filled the void of Moses’ self-acknowledged weakness with the fullness of his loving assurance. Moses knew that the Angel of the Lord was with him.

From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses The Mission of Moses

God’s Word tells us that he will be with us (Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5) and that he has given us signs to assure us of victory (1 Cor. 11:23–25; Col. 2:11–12).

God’s Word tells us that he will be with us (; ) and that he has given us signs to assure us of victory (; ).

From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses The God Who Reveals Himself

Notice how Moses poses the question to God: “Moses said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” Then what shall I tell them?’ ” (Ex. 3:13). Can you hear the anxiety latent in Moses’ question? Can you see how his question reveals a certain level of audacity on Moses’ part? After all, Moses is essentially asking the living and powerful God for his calling card!

Moses’ anxiety and his inquiry are not surprising. In fact, Moses’ actions are entirely understandable and rational, even if they are a bit audacious. The striking part of this encounter is that God actually answers Moses’ question. Once again, God stoops down in amazing humility to further the redemption of his people. In an act of intimacy and amazing self-revelation, God tells Moses his name: “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I AM has sent me to you,” ” (Ex. 3:14).

Now the name that God gave to Moses does speak volumes about who God is, but before we get to the glory of the meaning of his name, it is important to see the glory of the fact that God revealed his name to Moses in the first place. God did not respond to Moses by chastising him for asking such a question. He did not say to Moses, “Who are you to ask me for my name?” Instead, God revealed his name to Moses, and this tells us something about who God is. It tells us that he is the God who reveals himself.

Think about it for a moment. How do you know what God is like? Can you understand who God is from the creation alone? Well, you might be able to understand some of his power and attributes through the creation, as Paul tells us in Romans 1:20, but you could not come to a full understanding of God’s plan of redemption by looking at the stars or the trees. The only way we understand God and the plan of salvation is through God’s self-revelation in his Word.

Notice how Moses poses the question to God: “Moses said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” Then what shall I tell them?’ ” (). Can you hear the anxiety latent in Moses’ question? Can you see how his question reveals a certain level of audacity on Moses’ part? After all, Moses is essentially asking the living and powerful God for his calling card!

Moses’ anxiety and his inquiry are not surprising. In fact, Moses’ actions are entirely understandable and rational, even if they are a bit audacious. The striking part of this encounter is that God actually answers Moses’ question. Once again, God stoops down in amazing humility to further the redemption of his people. In an act of intimacy and amazing self-revelation, God tells Moses his name: “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I AM has sent me to you,” ” ().

Now the name that God gave to Moses does speak volumes about who God is, but before we get to the glory of the meaning of his name, it is important to see the glory of the fact that God revealed his name to Moses in the first place. God did not respond to Moses by chastising him for asking such a question. He did not say to Moses, “Who are you to ask me for my name?” Instead, God revealed his name to Moses, and this tells us something about who God is. It tells us that he is the God who reveals himself.

Think about it for a moment. How do you know what God is like? Can you understand who God is from the creation alone? Well, you might be able to understand some of his power and attributes through the creation, as Paul tells us in , but you could not come to a full understanding of God’s plan of redemption by looking at the stars or the trees. The only way we understand God and the plan of salvation is through God’s self-revelation in his Word. Go is into reveal himself. Our God is the God who reveals himself. We would be in the dark if he didn’t reveal himself.

There is a link between this name (“I am”), which is translated as “the Lord,” “Jehovah,” or “Yahweh,” and the Hebrew verb “to be.” While the meaning of God’s name has broad implications, most scholars agree that one of the things it conveys is the active self-existence and presence of God. He is the God who had no beginning and has no end. He is the God who is self-sufficient and self-determined, owing his existence to no one other than himself. He is the God who is.

Selvaggio, A. T. (2014). From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses. (I. M. Duguid, Ed.) (p. 45). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

But there is more to God’s name than his declaration of “I am who I am” found in . For instance, in the following verse, God expands on his name: “God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.” This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation’ ” (). Whereas the revelation of the name “I am who I am” spoke to the self-existence of God, the additional self-revelation of God’s name in reveals the intimacy and relational aspects of God’s character. He is not only the God who is, he is the God who is with his people.

Selvaggio, A. T. (2014). From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses. (I. M. Duguid, Ed.) (pp. 45–46). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

Remember why Moses asked God for his name; he was concerned about his ability to complete his appointed task and was anxious that the Israelites would not receive him because of his checkered past. When God tells Moses that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he was telling Moses that he would be with Moses as he had been with those who had preceded him. In other words, God was saying to Moses, “I am the God of Moses.”

Through the revelation of his name, God was communicating to Moses that Moses would not be alone in his task. God is the self-existent God who is ever present with his people. He does not forget his people and he will not forsake them. In fact, in , God reveals that he has been carefully watching over his people during their time of bondage: “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.’ ”

By making reference to the patriarchs and by revealing that he has been watching over Israel this entire time, God is telling Moses that he will be with him as he carries out his task as God’s mediator. He was reminding Moses that he is the God who was with Noah during the flood, the God who was with Abraham at Mount Moriah, and the God who was with Joseph during his imprisonment in Egypt. God was assuring and comforting Moses; he was reaffirming what he said to him in : “And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.’ ” God was informing Moses that he would not be alone. As Michael D. Williams notes, contextually within , the name “I am who I am may well be taken as ‘I will be to you as I was to them’ (the fathers of ), or ‘I will be there—with you in Egypt—as I am here.’ ” Moses knew he would not be alone.

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (). Our God is the God who is and the God who is with us.

Vision of Yourself - WHO AM I? He was a Hebrew who grew up in Pharaoh’s house. 3:11,

“Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” It was the desert of Midian that Moses learned about humility. This was a time to get a vision of what God wanted to do in him.

The end result of this type of pride is set forth for us in , which says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” This is exactly what happened to Moses after his prideful actions—he experienced a destructive fall.

The “who” of this life-changing encounter was the Lord Almighty. God intruded into Moses’ life at Mount Horeb. As is always the case with such manifestations of God’s power and presence, there was a distinct purpose behind this miraculous display of his glory. God had a mission and mandate for Moses. This brings us to the “what” of this encounter.

But Moses’ encounter with God was also quite different from our personal experience of encountering God. What Moses experienced at Mount Horeb was a unique, one-time event in redemptive history in which he physically encountered the angel of the Lord: “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up” ().

Who was this angel of the Lord? Who met with Moses that day? Was this encounter similar to that of Zechariah in the New Testament where an angel of the Lord visited Zechariah to declare the forthcoming birth of John the Baptist ()? It is unmistakable from the text that Moses did not meet with an intermediary sent from God that day at Mount Horeb, but rather with God himself. We can tell this because it is God’s voice that speaks to Moses from the burning bush: “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ ” (). In addition to the presence of God’s voice, the text also reveals that this voice clearly identifies who he is:

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The one whose voice cried out from the bush declared himself to be God. Moses did not meet with a mere angel that day, which would have been extraordinary in its own right; instead, Moses experienced something even more extraordinary that day: he experienced a direct personal encounter with the Great I Am. This conclusion finds further support in the fact that Moses is instructed to take off his sandals because he is standing on “holy ground” ().

Selvaggio, A. T. (2014). From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses. (I. M. Duguid, Ed.) (pp. 31–32). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

The end result of this type of pride is set forth for us in , which says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” This is exactly what happened to Moses after his prideful actions—he experienced a destructive fall.

The first destructive consequence of Moses’ prideful actions was that they led him to being discredited among his own people. We can see this reality in the response that he received when he tried to break up an altercation between two Hebrews on the day after he killed the Egyptian. One of the Hebrew men in the fight said to Moses, “ ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid and thought, ‘What I did must have become known’ ” (). Because of his pride, Moses had lost his moral authority as a leader of his own people.

Moses’ pride also made him an enemy of Pharaoh. When Pharaoh learned of Moses’ actions, he became angry and sought to kill Moses (). Moses was discredited among his own people and the Egyptians. He was a man without a people and without a country. He became a fugitive from the law and had only one choice—to run.

By his prideful actions, Moses was implying that he could go it alone. By using his own timetable and methods, Moses was declaring that he did not need God. The result of his prideful attitude and actions was that God let him go it alone for a while. Moses ran off alone to Midian. He ventured onto a great detour that would delay his involvement in the deliverance of God’s people for forty years. But this forty-year detour was not wasted time; rather, it was necessary because Moses was not yet ready for service. He needed more preparation and that’s exactly how God used this detour in Moses’ life.

Selvaggio, A. T. (2014). From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses. (I. M. Duguid, Ed.) (p. 19). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

Moses’ pride led him on a detour to nowhere. He found himself in the desert land of Midian. There he was a foreigner, a failure, and a fugitive. Gone were the pomp, circumstance, and luxuries of Pharaoh’s house. Whereas he had once been a son in Pharaoh’s palace, now he was reduced to being a lowly shepherd in the desert (). Once he had prospects of being the deliverer of the Hebrew people, but now he was a captive himself.

A deliverer in God’s kingdom is required to identify and relate to those he is delivering. Moses began to understand the condition of the Hebrews while in Midian. He was now truly one of them and was prepared to lead and deliver them. Scripture attests to the development of this empathy in Moses in the words that the writer to the Hebrews uses to describe Moses in :

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

Selvaggio, A. T. (2014). From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses. (I. M. Duguid, Ed.) (pp. 20–21). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

Burning Bush: Vision for the House - Vision for Ourselves – Vision for God – – Comeback Church -

Interrelated – Looked at the Vision of House - then Myself & Vision of God result what was lacking in the house was lacking in myself & God. Same thing about your leadership.

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others. Vision is the ability to see potential in what others overlook. Big Faith, Big Mission, Big Leadership, Big God, - Your God is too Small – What does BIG Faith, Mission, Leadership, God look like at City Church? What is God saying to YOU about your Vision of the House you represent? What is God saying to YOU about YOU? What is God saying to You about your vision of God? How Big is your God? How you see God and how you see yourself is how you see the vision of the house.

Vision Message

INVITATION II