Chapter One

LIFETOUCHING MINISTRIES

"At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:"

The church today is desperately in need of heavenly vision. Vision that comes from the Light of this world who shines brighter than the noonday sun. We may think that we are walking in daylight, but when Jesus opens our eyes to His wonderful presence we are aware of how dull our "light" has been. We may have good goals and plans but they are not heavenly goals and plans. While we may be walking in all the light that we have, there is a light that shineth fairer than the day! How many of us have been walking this pathway of life guided by our own light, when we could have had the illumination of the Spirit of God?

But how does one get this light, this direction, and this Divine guidance in one's life? Verse 14 demonstrates that when we are fallen on our faces to the earth in total submission to His will that His voice will speak to us. And, oh what a voice it is! It is the creative voice of God! The voice that spoke and worlds were created! It is the voice that shook Mount Sinai!

(Hebrews 12:26-29) "Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things, which cannot be shaken, may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire."

It is the voice that will shake the kingdoms of your heart and cause them to fall. Are you ready for the kingdom of "I" to fall and for God's kingdom to become established forever in your life?

The first realization that occurs is the consciousness that your vision, plans, goals, and dreams are out of sync with the purposes of God! You find as Paul found out that day

on the Damascus Road that his agenda was opposed to the agenda of God. What he thought was right and good and proper was to Jesus a personal affront to Himself.

We may find it hard to picture ourselves at this juncture because we are not openly persecuting Christians as Paul was doing. But are we not putting other believers in prison when we influence them with a life that is not God ordered? Are we not blind leaders of the blind? If our eyes are shut to the purposes and plans of God and we go blindly through life following our own designs are we not causing those who look up to us to become enslaved in the same pathway that we are on? That, my friend, causes damage to the body of Christ. You have a responsibility to yourself as well as to others to be healed from your blindness. You must first admit that your selfish aims in life are detrimental to Christ and as such should be discarded. You are offending Christ by your life (good as you may think it is). We need to be like blind Bartimaeus, and cry out

"Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me!"

And when Christ asks you, "What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?",

Answer with Bartimaeus, "Lord, that I may receive my sight." (Mark 10:46-51)

Paul recognized the Lordship of that voice! He cried out, "Who art thou, Lord?" Paul found one who was higher in authority than the ones who had commissioned him to seek out the followers of Christ and have them put in prison. He discovered the Lord! Higher than the High Priest! Holier than the Holy Temple! To Paul, the light that he saw on that road showed how limited his own light had been. In comparison to the light he now saw, he realized how blind he had been. Oh how we need to be made aware of our own blindness! We think we see! But we are ever so blind!

We look around at our successes (if they can indeed be considered such) and we feel smug in our accomplishments. But oh how blind we are!

Revelation 3:17 "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:"

Compared to what you could have done had you had a heavenly vision, your achievements are pitiful. He is coming, dear friend, for a church that is "without spot or wrinkle". Jesus is coming for a church that has been delivered from her blindness. Will you kneel before Him today and lay yourself face down to the earth in humble submission? Will you let Him be your Light and your Salvation? Are you willing to take your will and completely lose it in His? Or will you continue to blindly go your own way (doing good things, no doubt) at the expense of the Heavenly vision?

"If you should see a man shut up in a close room, idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and you wished to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowing out all his lamps; and then throw open the shutters to let in the light of heaven." -- (Samuel Rutherford)

Inside of your heart there are ambitions and dreams of your own choosing. You are blind. Blinded by your selfishness. You wonder why you feel estranged from God. You wonder why you feel you are lacking something in your relationship with God. You have no real vision. You have no true sight. You are blind. We need an on-going vision. In Proverbs 29:18 it says,

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."

The word "perish" according to Strong's Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary means "to loosen". By implication this means that without a vision God's people are let loose and are unrestrained or dwell carelessly. The vision that God gives keeps us restrained it keeps us from living carelessly in our life. It provides boundaries for our lives. It is a sin to live without God-given objectivity. A God-given vision will inspire you and that, in turn, will inspire others. Jesus is coming for a Bride that has a God-given vision.

People fall into sin because they have grown slack from the lack of a new and fresh vision. A new vision keeps us pressing on and into His presence. II Peter 1:12 tells us to be established in "present truth." We need to know what God is saying today, not five or ten years ago.

How long has it been

Since you talked with the Lord,

And told him your life's hidden secrets?

Can you call Him your Friend?

How long has it been

Since you knew that he cared for you?

A new vision will strike new fear into our hearts; and it will cause us to be afraid to sin. It will cause us to realize that we can lose eternal rewards by indiscreet actions. The reason some Christians are up and down and others are ardent pursuers of the Lord is because of their vision. We need fresh promises from God and new revelation of what God wants to do in and through our lives.

But new truth and revelation and vision are only given to the worthy seeker, not to the passive. The kingdom is only given to the "violent" (Matthew 11:12),

(Psalms 43:3). "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles."

We need new light and truth to show us the way to God's highest. We need to die to our self and allow God to open our eyes. Blindness is a blemish that keeps us from coming within the veil. New light is needed for new cleansing!

God wants to restore your vision. In Isaiah chapter 6 it tells how Isaiah had his vision restored. He had a vision in three (3) dimensions.

"Woe is me" (v.5) was a word of confession.

Before this he had a lot of "woes" for everybody else. Now he says "Woe is me!" It's me, it's me, it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer. He is the one who is undone. He is the one with unclean lips. He is the one who companions himself with people who have unclean lips. He recognizes his need for purity of speech and that it is not in him to create the cure! Someone greater than himself must cleanse him. Seeing the Lord had opened his eyes to his own need. God wants to open your eyes. You have compared yourself to others too long. Now it is time to compare yourself to God's standards. How do you measure up? After being weighed in the balance, have you been found lacking? How do you cure your lack of holiness? My friend, you cannot effect the cure. You can talk like you are holy, dress like you are holy, and even teach others what holiness is all about and hatch holy people for God. But the only way for you to be holy is to be made holy by God. Isaiah was a pretty successful prophet at this time. But he needed something more! He needed purity! He was unclean! He was undone!

The 2nd Dimension of his vision was a Word of Cleansing.

The angel took a coal from off the altar and touched his lips.

"For of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45).

Oh the faithfulness of God! He will do what you cannot do! He will cleanse what you cannot cleanse! In James 3:8 it says

"The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison".

But the Holy Ghost can tame the tongue! On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit flew into the Upper Room where the 120 were sitting. He brought the live coal (appearing as tongues of fire) from off the true altar of sacrifice and purified their tongues! He gave them a new tongue! Before your speech can change, before you can be delivered from "unclean lips", you must be filled with the Holy Spirit! He has come to sanctify your spirit and make it Holy. He has come to make you a vessel fit for the Master's use (II Timothy 2:21). We so need to see this vision of our need for a holy heart! Only when we see ourselves as undone will we ever venture to ask for this pure heart. Holy Spirit of God make us holy! Purify our hearts! Cleanse us. Take away our nature to sin! Only then will we be candidates for the mission of God. Only until we are willing to be sanctified vessels will we see God and all his power. Matthew 5:8 says

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God".

The 3rd Dimension was a Word of Commission.

"Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me."

Oh the willingness of a holy heart! A heart that follows hard after God; A heart that now has an upward vision, a vision of holiness. The real reason the church has been so ineffective at plundering the kingdom of Satan is because of a lack of heart purity. We are following our own selfish agendas. But look at this pure heart!

Willing to spend and be spent by God. No attachments to this world that would hold him back. Totally separated unto God. Sold out! No reservations. No last minute details to take care of before he went. Compare others:

(Luke 14:19-20) I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

Before so unworthy, but now so bold! Before so conscious of his own lack, but now full of the sufficiency of God! I can do it! Here I am! Hey God! Look at me! I'm ready!

I cannot send myself. I can only go where you tell me to go. I can only say what you tell me to say.

Look at the boldness of Peter and John after the Holy Ghost purified their tongues.

Acts 4:19-20 "But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."

Oh, precious one, are you ready to die to self and live to God? Are you ready to forsake the approval of men and seek the approval of God? If you are, then you are ready for God to make your heart pure. It is the pure in heart, those that have pure vision, those that are holy vessels that Christ wants as His bride. Oh, will you now make yourself ready? The Marriage of the Lamb is come. It is almost time for our Bridegroom to split the clouds of glory and take us to be with Him. Will you make yourself ready!

Isaiah's commission was to . . .

"Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." (Is. 6:10)

But Paul's assignment was . . .

"To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." (Acts 26:18)

And so we see that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, but the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. What is the vision of God? What is the Mission Statement of the Church of Jesus Christ?

1. To open blind eyes

2. Turn people from darkness to light

3. Turn people from the power of Satan unto God

4. That they might receive the forgiveness of sins

5. That they may receive inheritance among them which are

It is a sad commentary on the Church, the Bride of Christ that we have failed so miserably in this mission. Today, we have spiritually blind people all around us. People who live horrible lives of sin and somehow think that when it is all over, they will be in heaven. Blind to the demands of a Holy God! Our world is held under the sway of the evil one and there are few members of the Church who have the courage to even attempt to plunder Satan's kingdom. Rather than the Church shaping our society, our society is shaping the church. We are more interested in the humanistic doctrines of the world with its self-help and worldly success mentality than we are in the desires of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Forgiveness of sins has been turned to mean overlooking of sins. Pernicious doctrines that speak of imputed righteousness without a change in one's behavior. Instead of a holy people of God, we are sinful and pretend that we are under the cover of the Blood of Christ. The Blood of Christ does not cover. It completely cleanses! There can be no Christian that practices sin. Sin is antithetic to Holiness and the two cannot exist together!

Without a God given vision we are virtually useless to God. But you can have a God given vision and not be obedient to that vision. Not being obedient to a God given vision is just as good as not having a God given vision to begin with. Satan wants you to either #1 give up or #2 compromise. He really doesn't care which you do for both are just as effective to his purposes. Compromise means that you settle for less than you could have had (such as following your own dreams). Giving up means that you simply do not do what you are commissioned to do.

Paul "was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision".

There are many excuses for giving up. Fear of people. Fear of failure. Fear of people comes in many forms. Some men forsake the vision of God because to follow that vision would mean separation from their denomination or would cause the ministry that they worked so hard to produce to suffer loss. This is impurity of heart. This is selfishness. This is unholy and will cause one to lose the eternal reward of being with Christ. Since you prefer your "other loves" then you have no part in Christ. Jesus wants a pure chaste virgin not one who has been sullied by unholy alliances.

Fear of failure is actually lack of confidence in God. You cannot fail doing what you have been directed by God to do. He literally guarantees it! However, if you are following the dictates of your own desires, then you have great cause of concern. Look at

Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

Jesus has all authority (power) in heaven and in earth. He has the authority to send you wherever He desires, have you speak whatever He desires you to speak, and perform whatsoever He desires you to perform in His name. No one has the power to oppose Him! He has commissioned you and you can not fail! Therefore, Go! Fear not!

(Isaiah 41:10) "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness".

Today, allow God to purify your heart and give you His vision. You will be infused with faith! You will be an invincible soldier of the Cross! Alarm clocks will go off in Hell!


	LIFETOUCHING MINISTRIES \| Home TWELVE BLEMISHES OF THE CHURCH \| Chapter One \| Chapter Two \| Chapter Three Chapter One BLINDNESS Acts 26:13-19 "At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:" The church today is desperately in need of heavenly vision. Vision that comes from the Light of this world who shines brighter than the noonday sun. We may think that we are walking in daylight, but when Jesus opens our eyes to His wonderful presence we are aware of how dull our "light" has been. We may have good goals and plans but they are not heavenly goals and plans. While we may be walking in all the light that we have, there is a light that shineth fairer than the day! How many of us have been walking this pathway of life guided by our own light, when we could have had the illumination of the Spirit of God? But how does one get this light, this direction, and this Divine guidance in one's life? Verse 14 demonstrates that when we are fallen on our faces to the earth in total submission to His will that His voice will speak to us. And, oh what a voice it is! It is the creative voice of God! The voice that spoke and worlds were created! It is the voice that shook Mount Sinai! (Hebrews 12:26-29) "Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things, which cannot be shaken, may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire." It is the voice that will shake the kingdoms of your heart and cause them to fall. Are you ready for the kingdom of "I" to fall and for God's kingdom to become established forever in your life? The first realization that occurs is the consciousness that your vision, plans, goals, and dreams are out of sync with the purposes of God! You find as Paul found out that day on the Damascus Road that his agenda was opposed to the agenda of God. What he thought was right and good and proper was to Jesus a personal affront to Himself. We may find it hard to picture ourselves at this juncture because we are not openly persecuting Christians as Paul was doing. But are we not putting other believers in prison when we influence them with a life that is not God ordered? Are we not blind leaders of the blind? If our eyes are shut to the purposes and plans of God and we go blindly through life following our own designs are we not causing those who look up to us to become enslaved in the same pathway that we are on? That, my friend, causes damage to the body of Christ. You have a responsibility to yourself as well as to others to be healed from your blindness. You must first admit that your selfish aims in life are detrimental to Christ and as such should be discarded. You are offending Christ by your life (good as you may think it is). We need to be like blind Bartimaeus, and cry out "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me!" And when Christ asks you, "What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?", Answer with Bartimaeus, "Lord, that I may receive my sight." (Mark 10:46-51) Paul recognized the Lordship of that voice! He cried out, "Who art thou, Lord?" Paul found one who was higher in authority than the ones who had commissioned him to seek out the followers of Christ and have them put in prison. He discovered the Lord! Higher than the High Priest! Holier than the Holy Temple! To Paul, the light that he saw on that road showed how limited his own light had been. In comparison to the light he now saw, he realized how blind he had been. Oh how we need to be made aware of our own blindness! We think we see! But we are ever so blind! We look around at our successes (if they can indeed be considered such) and we feel smug in our accomplishments. But oh how blind we are! Revelation 3:17 "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" Compared to what you could have done had you had a heavenly vision, your achievements are pitiful. He is coming, dear friend, for a church that is "without spot or wrinkle". Jesus is coming for a church that has been delivered from her blindness. Will you kneel before Him today and lay yourself face down to the earth in humble submission? Will you let Him be your Light and your Salvation? Are you willing to take your will and completely lose it in His? Or will you continue to blindly go your own way (doing good things, no doubt) at the expense of the Heavenly vision? "If you should see a man shut up in a close room, idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and you wished to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowing out all his lamps; and then throw open the shutters to let in the light of heaven." -- (Samuel Rutherford) Inside of your heart there are ambitions and dreams of your own choosing. You are blind. Blinded by your selfishness. You wonder why you feel estranged from God. You wonder why you feel you are lacking something in your relationship with God. You have no real vision. You have no true sight. You are blind. We need an on-going vision. In Proverbs 29:18 it says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." The word "perish" according to Strong's Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary means "to loosen". By implication this means that without a vision God's people are let loose and are unrestrained or dwell carelessly. The vision that God gives keeps us restrained it keeps us from living carelessly in our life. It provides boundaries for our lives. It is a sin to live without God-given objectivity. A God-given vision will inspire you and that, in turn, will inspire others. Jesus is coming for a Bride that has a God-given vision. People fall into sin because they have grown slack from the lack of a new and fresh vision. A new vision keeps us pressing on and into His presence. II Peter 1:12 tells us to be established in "present truth." We need to know what God is saying today, not five or ten years ago. How long has it been Since you talked with the Lord, And told him your life's hidden secrets? Can you call Him your Friend? How long has it been Since you knew that he cared for you? A new vision will strike new fear into our hearts; and it will cause us to be afraid to sin. It will cause us to realize that we can lose eternal rewards by indiscreet actions. The reason some Christians are up and down and others are ardent pursuers of the Lord is because of their vision. We need fresh promises from God and new revelation of what God wants to do in and through our lives. But new truth and revelation and vision are only given to the worthy seeker, not to the passive. The kingdom is only given to the "violent" (Matthew 11:12), (Psalms 43:3). "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles." We need new light and truth to show us the way to God's highest. We need to die to our self and allow God to open our eyes. Blindness is a blemish that keeps us from coming within the veil. New light is needed for new cleansing! God wants to restore your vision. In Isaiah chapter 6 it tells how Isaiah had his vision restored. He had a vision in three (3) dimensions. The 1st Dimension "Woe is me" (v.5) was a word of confession. Before this he had a lot of "woes" for everybody else. Now he says "Woe is me!" It's me, it's me, it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer. He is the one who is undone. He is the one with unclean lips. He is the one who companions himself with people who have unclean lips. He recognizes his need for purity of speech and that it is not in him to create the cure! Someone greater than himself must cleanse him. Seeing the Lord had opened his eyes to his own need. God wants to open your eyes. You have compared yourself to others too long. Now it is time to compare yourself to God's standards. How do you measure up? After being weighed in the balance, have you been found lacking? How do you cure your lack of holiness? My friend, you cannot effect the cure. You can talk like you are holy, dress like you are holy, and even teach others what holiness is all about and hatch holy people for God. But the only way for you to be holy is to be made holy by God. Isaiah was a pretty successful prophet at this time. But he needed something more! He needed purity! He was unclean! He was undone! The 2nd Dimension of his vision was a Word of Cleansing. The angel took a coal from off the altar and touched his lips. "For of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45). Oh the faithfulness of God! He will do what you cannot do! He will cleanse what you cannot cleanse! In James 3:8 it says "The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison". But the Holy Ghost can tame the tongue! On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit flew into the Upper Room where the 120 were sitting. He brought the live coal (appearing as tongues of fire) from off the true altar of sacrifice and purified their tongues! He gave them a new tongue! Before your speech can change, before you can be delivered from "unclean lips", you must be filled with the Holy Spirit! He has come to sanctify your spirit and make it Holy. He has come to make you a vessel fit for the Master's use (II Timothy 2:21). We so need to see this vision of our need for a holy heart! Only when we see ourselves as undone will we ever venture to ask for this pure heart. Holy Spirit of God make us holy! Purify our hearts! Cleanse us. Take away our nature to sin! Only then will we be candidates for the mission of God. Only until we are willing to be sanctified vessels will we see God and all his power. Matthew 5:8 says "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God". The 3rd Dimension was a Word of Commission. "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." Oh the willingness of a holy heart! A heart that follows hard after God; A heart that now has an upward vision, a vision of holiness. The real reason the church has been so ineffective at plundering the kingdom of Satan is because of a lack of heart purity. We are following our own selfish agendas. But look at this pure heart! "Here am I". Willing to spend and be spent by God. No attachments to this world that would hold him back. Totally separated unto God. Sold out! No reservations. No last minute details to take care of before he went. Compare others: (Luke 14:19-20) I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. Before so unworthy, but now so bold! Before so conscious of his own lack, but now full of the sufficiency of God! I can do it! Here I am! Hey God! Look at me! I'm ready! "Send me"! I cannot send myself. I can only go where you tell me to go. I can only say what you tell me to say. Look at the boldness of Peter and John after the Holy Ghost purified their tongues. Acts 4:19-20 "But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Oh, precious one, are you ready to die to self and live to God? Are you ready to forsake the approval of men and seek the approval of God? If you are, then you are ready for God to make your heart pure. It is the pure in heart, those that have pure vision, those that are holy vessels that Christ wants as His bride. Oh, will you now make yourself ready? The Marriage of the Lamb is come. It is almost time for our Bridegroom to split the clouds of glory and take us to be with Him. Will you make yourself ready! Isaiah's commission was to . . . "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." (Is. 6:10) But Paul's assignment was . . . "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." (Acts 26:18) And so we see that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, but the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. What is the vision of God? What is the Mission Statement of the Church of Jesus Christ? 1. To open blind eyes 2. Turn people from darkness to light 3. Turn people from the power of Satan unto God 4. That they might receive the forgiveness of sins 5. That they may receive inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith It is a sad commentary on the Church, the Bride of Christ that we have failed so miserably in this mission. Today, we have spiritually blind people all around us. People who live horrible lives of sin and somehow think that when it is all over, they will be in heaven. Blind to the demands of a Holy God! Our world is held under the sway of the evil one and there are few members of the Church who have the courage to even attempt to plunder Satan's kingdom. Rather than the Church shaping our society, our society is shaping the church. We are more interested in the humanistic doctrines of the world with its self-help and worldly success mentality than we are in the desires of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Forgiveness of sins has been turned to mean overlooking of sins. Pernicious doctrines that speak of imputed righteousness without a change in one's behavior. Instead of a holy people of God, we are sinful and pretend that we are under the cover of the Blood of Christ. The Blood of Christ does not cover. It completely cleanses! There can be no Christian that practices sin. Sin is antithetic to Holiness and the two cannot exist together! Without a God given vision we are virtually useless to God. But you can have a God given vision and not be obedient to that vision. Not being obedient to a God given vision is just as good as not having a God given vision to begin with. Satan wants you to either #1 give up or #2 compromise. He really doesn't care which you do for both are just as effective to his purposes. Compromise means that you settle for less than you could have had (such as following your own dreams). Giving up means that you simply do not do what you are commissioned to do. Paul "was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision". There are many excuses for giving up. Fear of people. Fear of failure. Fear of people comes in many forms. Some men forsake the vision of God because to follow that vision would mean separation from their denomination or would cause the ministry that they worked so hard to produce to suffer loss. This is impurity of heart. This is selfishness. This is unholy and will cause one to lose the eternal reward of being with Christ. Since you prefer your "other loves" then you have no part in Christ. Jesus wants a pure chaste virgin not one who has been sullied by unholy alliances. Fear of failure is actually lack of confidence in God. You cannot fail doing what you have been directed by God to do. He literally guarantees it! However, if you are following the dictates of your own desires, then you have great cause of concern. Look at Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Jesus has all authority (power) in heaven and in earth. He has the authority to send you wherever He desires, have you speak whatever He desires you to speak, and perform whatsoever He desires you to perform in His name. No one has the power to oppose Him! He has commissioned you and you can not fail! Therefore, Go! Fear not! (Isaiah 41:10) "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness". Today, allow God to purify your heart and give you His vision. You will be infused with faith! You will be an invincible soldier of the Cross! Alarm clocks will go off in Hell! Go To Chapter Two