David Hughes - Day One

So glad you're here today because today we're kicking off our mystery series. It's called Day One. Hey, can you turn me around? I want to see the congregation. That's so much better. As always saying, Day One is all about taking that first step because too many of us spend our lives waiting for the perfect moment instead of simply getting started. Oh, there I am. Very often, fear is what stops us from starting something new. I want to share with you how we can overcome fear and take the first step towards what God is calling us to. I kind of like preaching from an iPad. So we're talking about the importance of starting. During this series, we're going to be looking at a different company every week that had a very small and humble beginning. Ooh, ooh, almost hit the corner that time. As I was saying, these companies started small but eventually turned into something really, really big. But now you figured out this week, we're talking about Apple, one of the biggest companies in the world. Apple was founded by two really smart guys, Tech Genius, Steve Wozniak, and more famously, Steve Jobs, one of the most influential innovators in history. He interested in something we'll be talking about throughout this series. Every big thing starts small. Every company, every invention, every movement begins when someone decides today is day one. We're so glad you're here. Welcome to, hey, who's in charge of my left eye? Could you please fix it? That's better. So welcome to week one of day one, we're so glad you're here.

Well, what is up, church by the Glades Sunday PM, good to see you. Yeah, thank you, our tech team, our video team. Production people, give it up for our singers, what a great job they do, creating interests. I love it. I used to have a preach ain't nobody ever sleeping in church by the Glades, never, never. So if you fall asleep, it's on me, but hopefully you don't. I'm really excited about this whole series of conversations we're about to have. And so this is a mystery series of your guests. We don't tell what it is, we just kind of drop hints. We started this several years ago and people seemed to enjoy the intrigue of it all. So the series is called day one, the big idea is this, if you want to change, if you have something God is late on your heart, a goal, a dream, the temptation is always to start later. You know, right now is a tough time. You need the stars to align, you need more of a support system, you know, one day, one day I'm going to make that change. One day I'm going to start that business. One day I'm going to write that book. One day. Let's change that. Let's go from one day, one day because one day never comes to this being day one. This is the day you change. This is the day the Lord has made. This is your day to make a decision, to make a commitment, to make a move. Someone today needs to choose today to give yourself by faith, the Christ at the end of the service because the Bible says now is the time and day is the day, it is day one to receive Christ. So do that today. We love creativity at church by the glades and so we always use a parable this time of year.

So for four weeks, it's a parable, it's a metaphor and I'm going to use four wildly famous, highly impactful global companies, massive global ban, massive, spit out David, massive global brands that had very humble beginnings, small starts. And all that to illustrate a great truth in the Bible. I love what it says in Zechariah chapter four verse 10, it says, "Do not despise the day of small beginnings." And I've actually circled around to this verse a number of times in recent years, a certain verse in the Bible that just encouraged me and this one does this idea about small beginnings and someone saying okay, well obviously the metaphor is Apple this week and Pastor David, there's nothing small about Apple. I mean, Apple is a giant corporation and you would be correct, it is massive, in fact I asked ironically my iPhone, how big is Apple or how much is the Apple corporation worth? Gosh, it said that Apple is worth $4.5 trillion, not billion or million trillion, you don't know how much a trillion is, a trillion, it's a million millions, I mean, oh my gosh, it is a giant corporation, right now there are 2.5 billion Apple devices actually. the planet has an Apple device right now. They truly are a global brand. They are massive, but it wasn't always that way. They had a very small and humble beginning. So I want to do a couple things. I want to talk about the illustration of business. And by the way, all four weeks, a different global company, a different illustration. But I want to talk about this tech, Sakurai, chapter 4, verse 10. Because again, I cycle around to this in my own life. Pretty often because I'm always trying to start things. And sometimes I feel like I'm over challenged and under resourced. I feel like I'm too small to do this. And so that verse helps me so much. A lot of verses help me a lot. Like I circle around to James, chapter 1. Well, I told you last week, I love Philippians, chapter 4, Romans, chapter 8. I love Joshua, chapter 1, another passage about new beginnings, having courage. But this passage, Sakurai, of 4, 10, I've mentioned this many times you, but I've never actually taught Sakurai, chapter 4. So I want to take the liberty and start by teaching this chapter, at least 10 verses. And Sakurai in your Bible, it's hard to understand. It's in the Old Testament and it's prophetic. It's God giving somebody a view of the future. The future of Israel, the future of the first advent of Christ, his return.

And so I'll help you understand. I'll break you down for you. So you've got to know the two people in the book of Zechariah. One is a guy named Zechariah. Zechariah is a priest. He's a prophet. He's the spokesperson of God. He's a man of great integrity. And the whole Bible is not present. The only part of the scripture they recognize authoritative was the Torah, the first five books. So God had this holy habit. He would speak to men and women, the prophets of the Old Testament. Zechariah is a prophet. And then Zerubbabel, that's a name, Zerubbabel, say it with me. Zerubbabel. One more time. Zerubbabel, hey, if you're pregnant, think about a name for your kid. No, don't go. It's a terrible name. It's a terrible name, but he was a wonderful person. Zerubbabel is the royal governor. He's a man of God. He's a good leader. In fact, this is crazy, though he's not a king. He's a direct descendant of King David. He's fulfillment of prophecy. So Zechariah is a great book. Lots of prophecies about Messiah in there. Some of the best prophecies in all the Bible about the coming of Christ. But I want to do these two characters. And what's taking place in chapter four is the people of God are discouraged. They're hurting. I won't give you the whole geopolitical landscape at the time. But back in this ancient time, Israel and Judah are small. They're small, relatively small nations. They're small people groups that have a lot of influence, don't have a lot of resources. And there's all kinds of big nations, big nations, big empires, global empires. Like of course, you've learned about the Egyptians. They were power for centuries. The Egyptians are replaced by the Assyrians, the Assyrians by the Babylonians. The Babylonians, they invade Israel and they invade Judah and they decimate Judah and they decimate Jerusalem and they take away the Jews to captivity for 70 years in Babylon. And there's no Jewish state for seven decades. But then the Persians, they with me, the Persians replaced them. If I lost you, they replaced the Babylonians. And the Persians are much more enlightened. And they allow the Jews to go back to their homeland. In fact, the Persian king says, "Guess what? Go back and rebuild your nation, rebuild your capital, rebuild Jerusalem." In fact, rebuild the temple of God because the Babylonians destroyed everything. The Babylonians destroyed the capital city, all the major buildings. And they laid to waste the beautiful temple of Solomon that existed for centuries. So the people of God have a big challenge. They have a big dream. The dream is, let's come back and build our nation. Let's rebuild our capital. Let's rebuild God's house. But when they arrive, everything is destroyed.

Ten, seven decades of debris, rubble and ruin, they're under a resource. There's not skilled labor, all kinds of enemies. So they have this big dream, but a plethora of problems. So who is this series for? Well, hopefully it helps everybody. But I wrote this with my dreamers in mind. I know in the room right now, people watch their own lines and people, you have big dreams. I don't mean selfish, small dreams. You have God-sized goals. You have a sanctified ambition, not a selfish ambition. You want to do something that makes a difference. You want to leave a mark and you're just not sure how to start. You got a big dream, but you're like, I don't know how to pull this off. So how do I start or how do I restart? Maybe back when I had a dream. I tried to chase it down. I had a goal and all fell apart. So how do you start? How do you start when your dream is big, but your network and your support system and your resources are small? That's exactly the situation taking place during the time of the prophet Zachariah. So God gives Zachariah a series of visions, visions, messages, and they're all messages of encouragement because the people feel overwhelmed by this situation, how decimated the city is, and how difficult it's going to be to rebuild the temple. Let's read together. Verse one, What do you see? He asked. I answered, I see, a solid gold lampstand with a bowl of oil on top of it. Around the bowl are seven lamps, each having seven sprouts, each with wicks. Okay. What in the world is he describing here? Well, the source of lighting for your home or for a building for the temple was a lamp and a typical lamp would have one wick. It would have one flame, right? This one has seven times seven, that's 49, right? It has 49 lights or 49 wicks. So a beautiful, bright, brilliant lamp. So here is this supernatural lamp probably in the temple in this vision, and this says verse three, it continues, "And I see two olive trees on each side of the bowl." Verse four, "Then I ask the angel, 'What are these, my lord?' What do they mean?"

Verse five, "Don't you know the angel asked nothing worse than an angel with an attitude." "Don't you know the angel's them?" And he replied, verse six, I love verse six, this is so encouraging. So the angel said to me, "This is the word of the Lord for governor Zerubbabel, is not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit." This is your advantage, Christian. So like the angel says, "God gets it. You don't have the resources. You don't have the manpower. You have all these problems. You have all these enemies. You have all these infrastructures. You laugh. And guess what? You have the spirit of God. You see, when your assignment is supernatural, your advantage is supernatural. When the plan is divine, God promises divine empowerment. So we have the spirit of God working on our behalf. You have an edge. You have an edge when it comes to your academics, your professional life, your business, your athletic. You have an edge. Turn to your neighbor and say, "If you are a Christian, you have the advantage. You have the spirit of God. Go ahead. You have the spirit of God. You have the edge. You have an edge." And he continues verse 7, "More encouragement." The vision continues, "Nothing, not even.

A mighty mountain will stand in Zrobooble's way. It will become a level plane before him. When Zrobooble sets the final stone of the temple in place, the people of God will shout, "May God bless it. May God bless it to shouting, "God, this building, this temple is not about our glory. It's about your glory. You bless it. It's not our house. Then verse 8, another vision, then another message came to me from the Lord." Zrobooble, the one who laid the foundation, say it again, "The foundation of this temple, and he will complete it. And then you will know the Lord of Heaven's armies has sent me." Then finally verse 10 on the screen right now, read that little word really loudly, "Do not despise the day of beginnings." So angels just look, right now it's tough. Right now your resources are small. Your labor force is small. You lack experience. Maybe education. But guess what? Let's start anyways. Don't say one day. One day it'll be better. One day. No, not one day. This is day one. So here's your action step. Stop putting off that positive thing in your life. If God has laid a dream or a goal on your heart, stop making excuses. Let's start right now.

This is day one. Because God can encourage so well. Because in this text, God gives him a glimpse of the future. You see, when we set a goal, our goal is about what? A goal is a hope for, a preferred future. I hope this might happen. God knows the future. God knows your future with more accuracy than you know you're right now. And so God looks down through history and says, "Guess what? Zachariah is the robooble. I see the temple." The temple you're starting right now and you're frustrated because all they had done in 15 years was basically just a foundation, a little more right. I know it's been hard and difficult and you're overwhelmed. You don't have much to show up for it, but you hang in there. You keep trusting because someday I see the whole thing. And sure enough, in Jesus' day in the future, the temple would be magnificent. Be one of the most magnificent structures in the ancient world, a marvel of ancient engineering. It would be this beautiful temple. And God says, "I see the big future." So start with your small. So my illustration is Apple. It's Apple, again, massive corporation, $4.5 trillion and that's incredible. How did it start? Three techie friends. Steve Jobs, you might recognize his name, innovator, visionary. Steve Wozniak, tech genius, Ronald Wayne, and they got together in a garage in a home in Northern California owned by Steve Jobs' family and in the garage that is tinkering with electronics.

That's where Apple's computer got started in a garage. That's a small beginning. in fact trying to teach this principle. I started doing some research, I found out not just apple, but many of the great global brands began in garages. Disney began in a garage. Mattel toys began in a garage. Harley, Davis, and motorcycles began in a garage. Amazon began in a garage. Google began in a garage. Facebook in a dorm room. These giant corporations worth billions or trillions of dollars, have these very, very small beginnings. So guess what? You're starting small, going anyways. This is your day one. It's your time to change. Whereas my very bright friend Greg Rochelle says, "Different starts now." Stop putting off the thing that God has laid in your heart. So much for the moment we have left, and I know this passage is somewhat confusing, it's prophetic literature, it's symbolic, it's mysterious, and I read these ten verses. Oh, well, I got one in the world talking about these weird lamps and these olive trees. I'm so confused, strange names. Let me break it down. Take some notes. I find three ideas embedded in this passage that will help you begin to change for the better. First one is this. I wrote down, "Embrace and celebrate your day one, even if it's small." A note in here about their very humble beginnings to this magnificent temple they're going to

build in. It's very humble. It's very small. It's mentioned in verse eight, verse nine. It says, "The word of the Lord came to me, the hands as the Roble have laid the…" So do I have any builders, any GCs, any contractors, any people in the trade? Okay. All right. A few of us in the room. I'm not one. You're one. Okay. Some people who do building for professionally. I don't. I have led churches to build multiple buildings. So as part of what we do is we cast vision, we raise resources and we build buildings like this. And I've done this several times in my career. And the first time I did it, I was in my 20s, right out of grad school. I was a pastor at First Baptist Church at West and I founded that church. We're meeting at a movie theater and in a school, but we got property and we got excited. We raised money to build a building, leave some of the money and we had drawings drawn up and went through the permitting process and we're going to build our first worship center. I cast the, I was so excited. And so I was out of town when the construction team laid the foundation and construction people, the foundation is very important, right? The foundation is critical. The foundation is that steel and that concrete that's going to bear the weight of the superstructure of the building.

So the foundation, I know that's a big deal. So I walked out on the side to see the foundation and I was very disappointed. I was very underwhelmed. Ever built a house, if you go see the foundation, which is critical, and by the way, it's one of the first things you do, right? One of the first real construction things is you build the foundation. You look at it and it just feels small. It's a bit of an optical illusion. Now, when the walls start going up, you see the scope and scale and size or project. Like this, building this 2000 seat room, when I saw the foundation, I'm like, that's it? That's all. Once the walls start going up, you see, oh my gosh, it's going to be impressive. It's going to be a thing, right? In fact, people were driving down at Laney Boulevard, they, they, if I'm on the property stop, but what are you guys building? Is that an arena? Because the walls are going up, but not one time, in the times I built a worship center. Has anybody walked up and said, that, that is one impressive foundation. Not once. Now, because the foundation, a lot of the foundation is subsurface. It's critical. It's steel and it's stone that supports everything else, but you can't see it and it seems small and it's underwhelmed. Not a single person thing. That is the most beautiful foundation of ever. That foundation. Wow. Nobody does that. And if you're like me and your profession is encouraging people to help you build buildings from time to time, you got to cast vision, you got to generate excitement.

So here's what you do, a trade secret, your party. Anytime you're building a building, you can throw out a party and celebrate, you do it. So we have a groundbreaking party, we have a big party. So what you do is you put a tent on the site and have a big worship service with the singers and stuff, the band put, rent chairs and, and get, you get shovels and you spray paint them gold and you have a ground breaking and it's a big celebration, ground breaking. And then in this building, we did this right before we laid the concrete floor here on the lower deck, the senior adult lady who started the church in her home back in the 80s, I asked her for one of her Bibles. And we took her Bible, had all kinds of notes and marks, and we put that Bible right in the ground beneath, beneath your feet, right there, pastor, right here and we covered that up. And so literally this, and we celebrated, everybody come in, the staff and volunteers and we sang and we prayed and we wept and literally built this church on the Word of God. But we party, we party. And then when the building is done right, we have a, have a dedication service and that's a lot of fun. Then we have a grand opening for the community and that's a lot of fun. Because again, there's not much to look at, but you've got to have a foundation to get started. Why all that storytelling? You need to get started something right now, and the first step is going to be laying the foundation. And it won't look very impressive to others. But I want to encourage you, if you have that nerve and that grit to start something new, to lay your foundation, once you lay the foundation, the first time in the new project or new endeavor, that you have a win, I want you to celebrate it. I want you to have a foundation celebration. Let me explain what I mean. Maybe for you, it's something like, you never finish your degree, and that's always kind of bothered you. You're going to start your degree, your college degree, and listen, if you're going to start your degree,

I don't know, maybe you're busy, or maybe you're a parent, or a single parent. If you want to start your degree, I would recommend this. Don't start with organic chemistry or statistics. Pick one course that you will enjoy, right, and start that course. Or maybe for you, it's a, join a life group or financial piece, university. Yeah, well, both of those are great ways to get connected. Financial piece, if you have financial dysfunction or financial stress, that's your roadmap. Or if you have debt, that's a good financial piece. All these things are great. Celebrate Recovery is a great ministry. Have a 12-step program based on Christ. Join a ministry team. These are all great steps. Now, now, here's what I mean by a foundation celebration. Once you do it, the first time you have one of those initial victories, your first little W, celebrate it. Financial piece, okay, they're going to teach you. Maybe have all kinds of debt in your life. Your first win won't be paying off that $100,000 student loan. They'll teach you to find your smallest, your smallest debt that you have. Maybe it's a credit card and you have a $300 balance on it. And when you finally pay off the $300, celebrate. Not by going to capital to grill. You can't afford that. But a picnic at the beach. Just celebrate the win. Celebrate Recovery. The first day you go and it takes all kinds of courage to walk in that door the first time. But they're going to give you a chip. I want you to walk out of that chip and say, "God, thank you. I took my first step. This is my day one." Make that language come and celebrate Recovery. And then I want you to take out your phone. Take a picture of your chip and send that picture to the person in your life who's going to be most excited that you took your sobriety seriously and you stepped into celebrate. I want you to, who's going to celebrate? Find that person who has your back. I'm like, "I did it. I'm there." And then you get another chip on day 30. Take a picture of that one and send that person that loves you but thought you wouldn't make it 30 days. Let them know that you have. I mean, celebrate it. If you join a ministry team, a ministry team, the first time you serve, I want you to take a service selfie. Take a picture of you

on your team. Like, a bunch of people volunteered for the parking team last week. We need people helping us park and we get in the orange shirts and I was in the lobby and I mean post that post that and you say, "I'm serving the church by the glaze. I'm going to use my talent my time to bless other people." Whatever it is, just start exercising and lose weight by yourselves in new clothes, whatever it is to celebrate. If you are that single parent and you take that first class, again, not organic chemistry, if you take that first class, and maybe that parent, you got three kids and two jobs. So it's a thing for you even to do one class. When you finish that class, I don't care if you make a C. You bring the kids around the kitchen table and say, "Look what Mom did. Look what Mom did. Mom finished her first class." And you have a pizza party with your kids. And if you can't afford the pizza party, when you finish your first class, you email the church and I'll buy your pizza. All right? Let's let's celebrate this thing. If you want to be successful, your attitude at the start is critical. And anytime is something new, the start is always awkward. It's intimidating. You're a neophyte. I feel unsure. I'm anxious. Push past that. A good attitude and faith are not the same thing, but they are first cousins. There was a study done recently for introverts. Introverts. Where are my introverts? Introverts? You're like a cheer-er. You're like a cheer-er. You're like a cheer-er. You're introverts. All right. But people a little on the shy side, and here's what they did. This was kind of mean. They had two groups and they're challenging me this to sing publicly, though they were not public singers, karaoke. Like, these people would never touch karaoke. Say, "Two groups are going to do karaoke in front of other people." Right? And so what they did was group one, they said, "Look, we know you're nervous. You're anxious. You're just staying out loud. Just express how you feel. Just say, "I'm nervous." See, out loud, "I'm nervous." Group two, they said, "We know you feel weird because this is new, but isn't this wonderful? You're doing this new thing. This is so exciting. Say out loud. I'm excited." Thank you. That's what they did. So group two said, "I'm excited." Group one said, "I'm nervous." They measured the differences. Not in the quality of singing that subjective, but group two, the "I'm excited" group, was 27% more accurate with the lyrics. They did It better just because they had a better... Celebrate, embrace the fact this is your day one. Your day one, I'm gonna attack and build my foundation. I wrote this down.

Number two, I've seen this text. You have to expect push back and problems. Push back and problems. If you wanna read what all the people got faced in this season, read Ezra and Nehemiah written during the same time period, you'll see a plethora of the problematic. You'll see warlords and other nations, negative nations around them trying to attack them and prevent what God was doing. They have internal strife and struggle and politics taking place. Anytime the people of God try anything positive, the devil watches. So you wanna grow? You want a better life for the people you love? You're getting serious. This is gonna be your day one. Do you think the devil's gonna just sit back and watch you walk into the promised land? And day one's exciting. But day one, you have no momentum. So you're kind of fragile and vulnerable. He will come up against you with a problem. His presenting problems, a backhanded compliment. He's afraid, he's nervous. He's worried what you're gonna do. And by the way, my illustration, all these giant global corporations are so successful and they're worth three into dollars

and have this giant market share. They all have their moments. I can think of a single example of a successful corporation sports team career that always just had up and to the right. It may feel like it, but that's not the case. In fact, the timeline of Apple is remarkable. Apple computers started back in 1976 with Steve Jobs, Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in that garage. And they launched at the Apple One computer. The next year, they had infusion of cash and an investor gave them a million dollars, very helpful. 1980, they went public, very successful release. 1984, the Mac, 1985 though, Steve Jobs is fired. Wow, right? Almost named this sermon someone fired. Steve Jobs, because they don't wanna fire a genius, but to their defense, Steve Jobs was brilliant. He was kind of a bully, so they release him. And for about the next 10 years, Apple struggles. They lack leadership. Their products don't hit. They're not making the money they were. They fired the CEO for 10 to 12 years. Apple's not going up. Apple is struggling. And then what happens is, in 1997, Apple buys next computer that brings back Steve Jobs. Jobs becomes a CEO of the company once again. 2001, they released the iPod that changes the way

we listen to music in 2007. The iPhone, clap your hands if you own iPhone. (audience applauding) There you go. 2010, the iPad. I mean, so yeah, overall amazing, but they had those 10, 12 years, but I was thinking, not about Apple, but I was thinking about Steve Jobs. Can you imagine being fired from the company you started in your garage? What would you do? So Steve Jobs was fired from the company he started his garage, right? The heartbreak of that. Now listen, he was rich. Got millions and millions of dollars. He could have thought, you know, I'm gonna play golf and pickleball, I'm fine. He couldn't do it, and he started other businesses, other endeavors. Let me tell you just about one that he started. So when this happened, he reached out to his friend George Lucas, Star Wars, and George needed money 'cause he was going through a divorce. So he offered him 10 million dollars to buy one division of Lucas Films. That division was called the graphics group, about 40 employees,

and they had made a supercomputer that could generate high res 3D animation. It was used for the movies in the Star Wars special effects. So Steve Jobs wasn't a movie maker, he was a computer maker, so he thought, I'm gonna manufacture these super computers and sell them on the marketplace. And they did, these computers were amazing, but the application's very limited. It feels like geophysics and biomedical, and there wasn't a big marketplace, and they were very expensive. So after a couple of years, they only sold 300 computers. Steve Jobs paid 10 million for the company, but now he's losing millions of dollars. So finally, he noticed his team. Yeah, they were techy and scientific, but they were storytellers. On their own, they created two small short films, both won awards. And Steve Jobs, he pivoted. He thought they liked to tell stories. So he empowered them to create a feature film. He partnered up with Disney, he got 27 million from Disney, and in 1995, the company he had renamed Pixar, released Toy Story that Thanksgiving. Toy Story made back the $27 million in the first weekend. Overall, it made over $300 million is complete release.

They released more and more movies. Pixar becomes this huge thing. They're actually kicking Disney's tail at the box office, and Disney finally makes a play in 2006. They offered to buy Pixar from Steve Jobs, and they pay him. Again, his initial investment was $10 million. They paid him $7.4 billion for Pixar. Sometimes that setback is your setup for something amazing, especially if you're a God-following person, not by my power, but by my spirit. In fact, Steve Jobs, he's not a Christian, not a pastor, but smart guy, very quotable. He says something I thought was so good. He said getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced with the lightness of being a beginner again. That is so good, that is so good. I wish we had more time. I'm going to hear a look at the clock because this passage is great. I know it's confusing, it's prophetic, it's symbolic, it's kind of mysterious, but some of the things I don't have time to explain, like I like the fact in verse four, the prophet says, "What does this mean?" Hey, ask good questions. Good leaders, good team members, ask clarifying questions. Help me understand.

What are you trying to do? How can I help? Ask good questions. But the whole thing in the first couple of verses about the vision of the lampstand with the, see, seven times seven, the 49 different lights and then the two trees. What is that all about? Actually, I'll break it down quickly. Anybody like a deep dive? Anybody like a biblical deep dive? All right, really quickly. Just give me two minutes on this. It's prophetic, so there's some degree of speculation here, but I think what the Bible is saying is this lamp that would illuminate the temple is symbolic. It's not real, but the 49 wicks would make it burn very bright. Beautiful, right? But you couldn't make a lamp like that 'cause it would too quickly burn up the fuel in the reserve. But there are two olive trees on either side. Hey, Bible scholars, what were olives used for in the ancient world? They were used for food. They were used in cooking. They were used in medicine. And they were the fuel for the lamps. Well, God is same because you're following not your dream, but God's dream.

You're gonna burn bright, but not burn out. (congregation applauding) Think about, again, illustration from the corporate world, how many companies, major companies, had that moment, had that season, maybe a couple of decades, and they're just everywhere. And then all of a sudden, like this, boom, they're going, how many companies had that bright season, but no longer is he? When's the last time you went to Blockbuster, right? Flu Spirit Air, too soon, too soon. I mean, they have a moment, they're big, and then boom, they're going, social media trends, social media trends. What's the last time you checked out your MySpace? Vine was a blast. Victoria was great of Vine, right? Vine, but who does Vine? They burn, but then they burn out. God wants you to be built to last. God wants your success to endure. God wants your impact to be eternal. And that leads to my final idea. So three ideas today. Number one, embrace your day one. Number two, expect pushback. And number three, number three, be empowered by a vision. Be empowered by a vision. When I say three, shout the word vision.

One, two, three. Man, the smart people are taking out their iPhones and taking a picture of that idea. Be empowered by a vision. I love the language. Back to verse seven, verse nine, different translation this time. It says to encourage governors of the Robobell, 'cause he's overwhelmed. If God's on your side, if you have God's Spirit, what are you, Almighty Mountain? Before as the Robobell, you'll become level ground. He will bring out the capstone to shouts of God. Bless it, God blessed. Then the word of the Lord came to me. The hands of the Robobell have laid the foundation of the temple. His hands will also complete it. What does that mean? 'Cause God lives outside of time and space. And he can see your future. All they see is rubble and debris and brokenness and everything they lack is also small. But God sees that temple coming together. He says to Robobell, you laid the foundation, but I can see in a few years, you're gonna lay the capstone. The capstone is the final brick. I see you build the foundation, but someday, you're gonna be the same hands.

You've finished the temple. I can see your end. I can see your victory. I can see the big W. So don't be discouraged that right now, your beginning seems small. See, vision. Do you have a vision for your life? I do. In fact, I have a vision for our church. I think the reason maybe God's blessed our church so much over the years is we have wrapped everything tightly around a vision. What is our vision? Well, the king created our vision. It's the last two verses of Matthew's gospel. When Jesus said, go and make disciples of all nations, baptized in them and they were the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And then teach them to obey everything I've told you. And lo, I'll be with you always. We wrap everything. We know our why at church by the glaze. Our why is the great commission. We are commissioning something so big and so great. When you get a sense of God's personal and customized vision for your life, it is catalytic. It changes everything. It brings unity to your team and your family and your friends. America is going to put a man on the moon.

Trouble is we have the mathematics, technology, the science, but NASA is created a couple of years later. He's touring a NASA facility. He's the president's talking with the generals and the big wigs and the chief engineers, but he had great people skills and walking in a hallway. President Kennedy saw a custodian, a janitor. He walked up to that man and engaged him and said, "Sir, tell me, what do you do here at NASA?" That means that Mr. President at NASA, I put men on the moon. He didn't say I cleaned toilets, he did, didn't say I'm off the floors, he did. He understood the vision. I helped put men on the moon. A vision changes your life, it galvanizes your team. A vision from God will power you through the problematic because I'm telling you, anytime you chase down something big, there's always pushback and the temptation to trade in your dream for a short term gratification, to take a shortcut, just to cash out. Example, Apple computers, I mentioned the founders, the three founders of Apple, you of course recognized the name Steve Jobs, visionary innovator, I mentioned Steve Wozniak, who knows the name Steve Wozniak before this talk, okay, a few people, he's the tech guy. He's brave of computers, a genius right, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak. Then I mentioned Ronald Wayne. My guess is almost nobody in the room knew there was a third founder of Apple, Ronald Wayne. What did he do? Several things. One was he drew up the logo, the Apple that came from him, a couple things, and he owned 10% of Apple, 10% which he sold in the first year for $800. It's a corporation worth $4.5 trillion and he sold 10% for $800. Not having a vision will cost you. You will sacrifice your future for something short term right now and God is a vision for

your life. Yeah, he has a vision for the church, he has a vision for you. Is it your success? I hope so. Is it your wealth building? I hope so. Is it growing your platform, your influence, those things are all good but God is something bigger than that. That's all you have. You need a bigger vision for your life. Steve, God has a God-sized vision for your life. And a great commission applies to all of us, not just pastors and church leaders, we're all commissioned by God to be ambassadors and you thought you were a corporate attorney or a CPA or auto tech, now that's your day job. Your main job is to bring people into relationship with the king. We have a job to do. Then president of Apple computers, Steve's job said his hope in life was to put a little dean on the universe, shucks, my's bigger than that, I want to change the whole flipping world. I want the whole world to hear the name of Jesus. I want to be my king famous, I'm not here building my reputation or my name, I'm here building his house and I hope you will join me. I want to give the totality of my talent, provide my passion, surrender my sweat, give God the glory of my grind because I'm on a mission for a king. He's commissioned me to change the world and guess what? This is not a spiritual prep ride. This is real. When we do this together, we are called to take this message to the nations, that's what we do. That will give you a reason and a bet on Monday.

To read your Bible, spend time in prayer, it'll be challenged, maybe victorious because someday God's going to make it happen. God use us. Father God, we thank you. You brought us into your kingdom. You brought us into your divine purpose. You have a vision of every man, woman, boy and girl in the room and step one is to make certain and sure they know Jesus as personal Lord and Savior. If you don't know that, find a prayer partner as soon as I say amen and I'll see you next week. Different garage story, every week, different garage story, every week, got a good one next week. In Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen.