God's Vision For Your Life

and we'll see you in a moment. Good morning again of course we want to welcome those that are joining from one of our campuses and from one of the prisons that we have the joy of bringing celebration to Italy Mozambique. Great to be with you guys Celebration Church can we just say hello to everybody that is watching and joining us online today. Love you guys all very much. And if you're back maybe because you attended Easter and we just had incredible services but I just want to tell you we have an incredible dream team and we just thank God for everyone that makes it possible here at Celebration Church. The big parts are not on this stage the Bible is very clear about that the parts that make the difference are the parts that you don't often see. And I just want to thank God for the dream team that works so hard from every area of our

ministry. But if you're new to Celebration Church I think we're having the largest connection point we've ever had in the history of our church happening today. And I think that's a testimony to the dream team. Yeah we just we want you to know we love you and we've been waiting on you. We've been doing what we've been doing for 25 years because we knew you were coming. Or we knew that you were being born at some point in this life in Jesus name. Father speak to us. We just thank you that God you the God who is assembling the body as you fit as you see. And Lord I just thank you that even today as we come post resurrection. Lord I just thank you that you're not finished. God I thank you that it's just beginning. We give you the glory we give

you the honor and all of God's people said amen and amen. I want to get right into the word if you will follow along with me I'm going to give you probably a little more scripture than normal which means about a million scriptures. As we're coming out of Easter and of course we just saw in the resurrection of Jesus. After his resurrection his appearance to those disciples in Luke chapter 24. Cleo and possibly his wife. Maybe it's Cleo and Leo. But the Bible tells us he appears to them and they couldn't see it until in the breaking of the bread. Their eyes are open. Jesus vanishes. Jesus takes off. He doesn't stand there he doesn't hold their hand he just disappears. And now we have post Easter in a very similar way as we might have last week felt like we saw

God. We have experienced God the power of the cross the power of the resurrection. And then he vanished. Now what do we do. Well we have to understand something about the cross. You have to understand that the cross has number one not just something something for you it's done something to you. We understand that Christ died for our sins which means when the cross and of course what Christ did on that cross for us in his death burial and resurrection what he did for us is this number one he's cleared away all of our sin. How are you thankful that your sin is as far away from you as the east. You know what that means it never meets again. Don't bring it up again. Don't talk about it. Don't live in it. I was with a man as I was speaking in Oklahoma this week

at a men's conference. And as I was meeting him for the first time and and just hearing his story I had never been to Tahlequah Oklahoma. Who has ever been to Tahlequah Oklahoma. One person. But if you're from Oklahoma you've been to Tahlequah. And it wasn't as we were spending time it wasn't within five minutes he began to just pour out his heart of a decision that he made some 15 years ago that he is still living with to this day. And I knew that God had put me in this pathway to tell him it is time for you to know what the cross did to you. You're forgiven. And he could hardly compose himself it was just a God moment and I just want you to know some Christ has cleared away your sin. In other words he doesn't see one speck of dirt in your life. He doesn't see a speck.

When you and I went to the cross the Bible says you died with him. He didn't just die, how many know you died? You understand that? That's what you have experienced. Which means that He doesn't see the flesh. It means He doesn't see you in the flesh, He sees you in the Spirit. And He doesn't just see you, and we'll talk this out, He doesn't just see you as a new creature. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17. He doesn't see you as a new creature. And we often say, I'm a new creature, no, 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Do you see the difference between creature and creation? Creation speaks of a bigger picture. Creation speaks of more than just you as an individual, it's now you are a new world. Your world is new. Which means before Christ, you had a world, you had a purpose that was without Christ. You had maybe a future, and of course as much as you could understand the future, it was according to you and it was according to your will and according to your plans and according to your hard work and according to your determination and according to your motivation. In other words, what you're trying to do for yourself in the old nature. And we know what happens when we try to live for ourselves, it doesn't end very good. But then when Christ comes into your life, yes, He makes you a new person, but it's bigger than that, He brings you into a new future. He rewrites your future. Creation speaks of a whole new order, a whole new world, a whole new destiny. And what maybe you had previous to Christ is far different now than what you're going to have after Christ.

The world that my family had for me is now not the world that Christ has for me. It's a new order. And that's what you and I have to understand about the cross. The cross has come not just to clear away our sin and to remove and to take away that which could not fulfill the new creation or the will of God. But now the cross is also that which we have been united or we are unified in His power. So it's not just now going to the cross, it's now going from the cross. Oh, I'm all about coming to the cross, but Jesus said, let's carry it. Let's go from the cross, not forgetting the cross, but the cross is always about for this reason to flow into His will for our lives, that now it is applied every day. Now it is something that we begin to see manifested. And that's why Paul says, I carry about in my body this cross. In other words, I'm now flowing and I am now going into the world that God has created for me, this vision, this purpose. And really when it comes down to it, I am talking about vision here today. I am talking about purpose today. The man that I will kind of highlight is in these words, of course, Paul, the apostle who had this incredible encounter with this incredible God, the only God, the only true and living God, the only one who's ever come back from the dead. This Paul, the apostle who did what he could to try to exterminate and try to kill and try to wipe out Christianity and to wipe out the church and to wipe out those that remained or those that would confess Christ as Lord and Savior. It was his intention to do whatever he could to destroy it. How many are thankful that God is the God who says, oh, the bigger you think you are, the bigger plan I have for your life. Can I just tell you something about God? The more resistant you become to God, the more he is going to prove to you, you can't overcome his resistance. Somebody said, don't box with God. Your arms are too short.

I think God has this certain way about himself that loves to take the Jacobs, the worst of the worst, and he laughs. He who sits in the heavens laughs. He who sits in the heavens laughs at the man who says, I'm good without God. God. Oh, you might be today, but one day you will need him. One day, it's not if, but when. The God who says to you, I don't want you to try to live it without me, will say, I told you. Paul comes to this encounter, this revelation of Christ, and here's how I want to begin even today in Acts chapter 26 and 19. Paul, in many places, in fact, three primary places in the book of Acts, gives his testimony, his transfiguration, his transformation, and the Bible says, as he's speaking to Agrippa, he says, Oh King, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. I want you to already see what the vision for your life is, or what the purpose of your life is, or what the will of God is for your life. Paul, the apostle, says it is something that you can know to the point that you know if you're obedient or disobedient. It's not something that is just out there in the world. It's not something that is just kind of floating in the proverbial cloud. How many know our lives are in the clouds nowadays? Our photos disappear to the cloud. Our money goes into the cloud. It's not in the cloud. It's not in this kind of realm that could not be understood. Paul says the vision and the vision that God has for every human being who are called according to vision, called according to purpose. Do you understand something about your life? Do you realize that as we celebrate now the resurrection of Christ, that the calling of

God, the intention of God, is according to purpose? It is so real that you will know if you're not in the will of God, that it is so concrete. It is what Paul says, I am not disobedient. I did not want to be disobedient to the heavenly vision. How many want to be obedient to the call of God upon your life? And that is not just obedience of faith. That's not just saying obedience that faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. It is obedient to why Christ is Lord and Savior. He did not just come to flow or to give you forgiveness for his and by his blood. He came to flow out of you because of his blood. It flows into creation. It flows into the world, the future that God has designed for you. This is not one and done. This is not I prayed that prayer. And probably for many people that we see today, many people who have been exposed to any kind of gospel-centered church or any kind of understanding that you have to call upon Jesus to be saved, many people's view of salvation is so limited and so small. Paul says, oh, it's heavenly. Paul said, this is not a small vision. This is a heavenly vision. And when you are what the Bible says, a son and daughter of Christ, by faith, something happened to you. And what happened to you is that God placed within you a bigger vision, bigger vision than you could ever ask or imagine, a bigger vision than you would have ever dreamed of. And yes, it is walked out practically. Yes, it is something that you and I are going to have to day by day, step by step. But the reality is, it is something that you and I will discover in time. As I'm looking at Paul the apostle, and I want to just go a little bit further in his testimony, the Bible says in the book of Acts chapter 22, he's giving this testimony. It happened as I journeyed and I came near Damascus.

At about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me and I fell to the ground. In other words, he's just giving his testimony of how he was saved, of how he saw Christ. And of course, Paul had what arguably is the greatest encounter that any man has ever had with Christ. And we understand why. But at the same time, how many remember the day by faith you saw Christ? I'm not talking about in a physical image, but I am talking about you realized who Jesus And he said, for me, I journeyed and I came near Damascus about noon and suddenly there came a light and it shone around me and I fell to the ground. And I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, I don't think it was Saul, Saul. I think it was Saul, Saul, bonehead. Come on. Now, if I use the word bonehead today, it's because I've been in Oklahoma with boneheads for these last couple of days. Where are my Oklahoma people? I love Oklahoma. Saul, Saul, why? Why me? Why me? Why are you doing this to me? What is it about me? And I said, well, who are you? Who is me? Tell me who you are. Who goeth before me? He says, I'm Jesus. I think that would be the defining mark of Paul's life. He didn't say, I am religion. He did not say, I am Christianity. He says, I'm Jesus.

In fact, he didn't even say, I'm God, though he is God, but what he brought it down to is what you always have to bring it down to. In fact, Jackson said it, it's always about Jesus and it's a person and it is me whom you are persecuting. And those who were with me indeed saw the light. They were afraid, but this is what's going to be a normal pattern in your life. They saw the light, but they didn't hear the same voice. They saw, but they didn't hear it. Faith cometh by hearing, not seeing. This is why Christ disappears. This is why Christ vanishes. This is why when you and I don't see it, we often don't believe it. And you don't connect to God by what you see. You connect to God by what you hear. Oh Israel, hear, hear, oh Israel, the Lord thy God is one God. Whenever Israel went astray, it's because their ear had been turned off. And the Bible says, he heard God's voice speak to him. And the greatest words you could say after seeing Christ is, what do I do? What shall I do? What do you have for me, Lord? Where do I go from here? What's next? You see, you know if you've seen Jesus. You know if you're truly saved. You don't just go nowhere. You go somewhere. In other words, you've been arrested. You have been spiritually arrested. I love watching cop shows. I like watching cop shows because I feel better about myself.

You know what I'm saying? I tell Lori, I'm not as bad as these guys, so be nice to me. But when I watch people who get out of the car and they say to the police officer, do you know who I am? You know I can have you fired. And of course, the angrier and the madder they get and the more resistance they begin to put up, how many know the faster that police officer begins to grab his cuffs. And then they're going, what are you doing to me? And they said, sir, ma'am, we're just trying. And now the next thing you know, they're being taken to the jail and they're kicking in the back seat of the show, Bad Boy, Bad Boy, what you going to do? You're going to hang the cop the whole time for false arrest or for abuse. I'm here to tell you, there is an arresting of God, but it's not abusive. It's just, Lord, where do you want me to go? You take my life. I don't want any more to be in the control of my creation. I want your creation come, your kingdom come, your will be. Who wants? His kingdom to come and his will to be done. You prayed that prayer before every football game if you were a football player. All right, boys, let's just get together. Get on your knees before we walk out to every football game from the day I started playing football. My dad was in NFL football. Everyone, get down on your knees. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, amen. Now, let's go out there and beat the, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep. I never understood this. And I think a lot of Christians are in the same way like a lot of football players and a lot of football coaches. It's no more about his kingdom. It's no more about his world. And then we come back in, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. All of a sudden, we're turning into a seminary here. And I've heard more cussing in a 60-minute football game than I've ever heard in my whole life. The reality is is that we do want his kingdom. We do want his will. And Paul now has this incredible encounter with Christ, this incredible experience with Christ, but it doesn't stay. And it doesn't allow him to stay the same. He begins to say, Lord, what's my future? What do you have for me? And the Lord said to me, arise, go into Damascus, and there I will tell you what to do. For those that are new to our church, the 72 families that are taking Connection Point or the many new members that we have in our church that are coming, can I encourage you? Can I say something to you? You may say, what's next?

And he does what he does to Saul who becomes Paul. Go where I tell you to go. And when you get where I tell you to get, I will give you more information. In other words, you take the next step. You take Connection Point. That's how it works. When Laurie and I 24 years ago came to this city 25 years ago, Plant Celebration Church, we just said, it is Austin. We knew it was Austin, and we got here, that's it. And then we said, what now? Where do I go? What do I do? And we literally had to live, and we tried to do this very day, living by daily words and daily bread. The problem, though, when you own buildings and you begin to seed the growth is that you don't have to have daily bread because you have the buildings. And you know where to go. And what happens to all of our Christianity is we begin to structure God out of the flow of God. He answers our prayers with property. He answers our prayers with buildings. He answers our prayers with people. He answers our prayers. God, establish a habitation in Round Rock, Georgetown, Austin, God, establish a habitation.

And we live every day going, what would you have me to do? Where do we go? And there were days when we did not know how to take care of the bills. There were days we would literally be outside of Children's Hospital with Conner's breathing issues, with RSV, knowing if I walked into that hospital, I couldn't pay the bill. Having to have God come through in that car. Having to have God give Conner his breath back. And there is something obviously wonderful about providing the provision and giving us what we need in our daily needs and our daily provision. But please don't ever allow, when you see God answering your prayers, that it begins to disconnect you from the constant need of his grace. Where do you want me to go, God? And I think Paul never lost this vision. And he goes, go to Damascus, and when you get there, I will give you further information. See, some of us don't know what our vision is because you haven't taken the first step. You won't know what God's got for you next until you do what he's already told you to do. You have to come to the right intersection. You have to get to that place. And as you're obedient, God begins to release more and more information to you.

And as I went, he says, as you go there, I will then tell you the things that, can you see that word there with me? Those things that are appointed for you. I have an appointment. There will be told all things which are appointed for you to do. And since I could not see the glory of that light being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came. in to Damascus. In other words, because of the light, Paul would have the rest of his life much blindness. You know, Paul writes many times about his issue. I believe the thorn in this flesh was his eyesight. Because Paul talks about, you see with what large letters I'm writing to you, in other words, I just don't know other than to just make it big. Paul says, I know that you would have plucked out your eyes at the church of Galatia for my sight. It's amazing how the vision that God had for him blinded him. It's amazing how the very thing, the very life, the very power was so powerful that he had to walk in it and he had no other choice but to be obedient. It blinded him to the world. Do you understand that God wants you to know you don't have a worldly problem,

you have a vision problem. See, when you're taken and captured by Christ, when that vision is as bright as Paul says it is to him, and I believe by faith we can have a bright vision, you don't see the rest of the world in the way that you used to see it. And now it's not by the law. Now it is not by commands. Now it is not because of legalism or rules that you have to and you can't do. It's now. Woe is me if I don't fulfill the call of God upon my life. Paul says, I'm compelled. It's not me. It's not my world, it's God's world. Now you are in the realm of organization. You are now in the realm not of chaos and confusion where everything that is of the world produces chaos and confusion. How many know the peace that comes from above is gentle and peaceable and powerful and orderly? How many know our God is the God of order? And now your world, though you're in a different world, your world of course has its battles and it's got its struggles because of course the powers and principalities and forces. But I hope I'm not bringing you into some depth here today but I'm just trying to tell you, I'm trying to help you understand something. That God has made you for a purpose and a reason.

And Paul says, it is so real to me, I knew if I was obedient or disobedient so I came into Damascus. And so when you would see Paul later on talking to the church in Philippi, he says, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing I do, one thing I do, one thing I do. Notice what Paul's life was, one thing, one thing I do. One thing. Who would like your wife to just give you one thing to do today? Laurie, I just want one thing to do today. Let me preach. And watch the masters. She says, if you preach good enough, I might let you watch the masters. How many know Laurie did not say that in all things that have to do with her? Most of them are lies and exaggerations of the truth. But Paul says, watch, this one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind. And I reach forward to those things at her head. I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God that is found in Christ Jesus. One thing. The one thing, what is the one thing? You could say it's his vision. But as I close, I'm gonna ask the worship team to come. And you might wanna stay for the next service

because I got to about 15% of what I wanted to say to you. Last week, I would have said to you, you can't stay for the next service. But today, you can. The next word, that one thing I do, what does it say? That one thing, on the screen, you'll see it. That one thing. Forgetting. Forgetting. Forgetting. You can't do the next thing unless you have forgotten the past things. And therefore, those things that are behind are not what you're reaching for, nor are you discussing, and nor are you living for. You're living for the forward. You're living for the future. You're living for what God has. for you, and he says, I'm gonna reach, I'm gonna press forward to the things which are ahead. And of course, I wanna give you, in bullet points, really quick, your purpose, God's purpose, and your vision, God's purpose and vision for your life is bigger than just a part of your life. You gotta go all the way. You gotta play the whole game. You just can't play part, you just can't go, I didn't like this play, or the play that you're in right now, or the season that you're in right now, don't let it define the rest of the game.

You gotta play the whole game. Blessed is he who endures to the end. And what you may see today, don't let it define your tomorrow. Keep walking. Number two, God's purpose and vision for your life is bigger, it's greater. And what you gotta know is it develops over time. It grows and expands. And oftentimes, what you thought, and what you determined by your own season, or even by your own will, was what it was, God takes that faithfulness, and then he says, he who's faithful in what is small, God can expand it. And I think, and I'm looking at people in this room, who if I would have said, did you ever dream that your company or your business, or your life would be as influential as it is? And you know God has breathed on it. Number four, God's vision and purpose, or three, for your life is eternal. It's not mystical. It's not in the cloud. It's tangible. And what do you do until then? What do you do when you don't see it? You walk, step by step. And then of course, God's vision and purpose for your life will test you. It tests you, it proves you.

It examines you. Will you respond the way God wants you to respond? Because the vision and the purpose that God has for you, lastly, is not about you. It's about other people. If your relationship to Christ only changes one relationship, oh, thank God he saves us individually. How many are thankful for that? He does. But it's not all that he does. I want my life to be a blessing. God created the world, the very first story of creation in the book of Genesis. Adam, I have blessed you. Now go and bless the world in rivers, four rivers flowing out of the garden. And he says, expand it. Take it to the world. The book of the Bible starts in Genesis in a garden. The last chapter in the book of Revelation ends in a garden. May our lives be a blessing to other people. With every head bowed and every eye closed today. Lord, I don't have the vision, and nor do I have the purpose for each individual here today, but you do. Lord, if I stood on this platform and said, whoever comes to me today, I will write on a piece of paper,

like a fortune cookie paper, their vision and their purpose. Lord, I would have a line all the way down to the interstate. That is not for me. That is for you to give. And it is us to discover. I am not gonna quit. Just because I'm saved. Because I'm saved, I press forward to the high calling of Christ. Who wants to go all the way with God? Not just last week, not just one week, but forever. Maybe you're here today and you say, you know what? I'm not saved. I know I'm not saved. I know I'm not. I know I'm not. How many of you would say, Pastor Joe, would you pray with me? I don't want to doubt. I don't want to wonder. I don't want to live in this, really, this valley. Today, I want to say, Jesus, it's all yours. Forgive me. I realize.

I can do nothing without you, but all things are possible and of course you can't forgive yourself only God can do that Through Christ if you're here today, and you'd like to be included in that prayer Would you just would you just lift up your hand? Can I see how many people here today? Yeah, so many hands I'm just telling this by more hands up here right now than it was last week Can we just say this out loud Lord Jesus forgive me my sin I Trust you as my Savior You were Lord Because of you I can live I can live again forever. I Repent I turn from me To you I want to be born again Not because of religion but because of your spirit I Am born again right now through Christ. My name is in the lands book of life As I have my faith in you And all the gods people say can we just rejoice with the decisions that were made here today? Yeah