In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of having a vision in life. He quotes the Bible, stating that without a vision, people perish. A vision gives purpose and encourages the pursuit of desires and longings in the heart, even in difficult circumstances. The speaker suggests having both short-term and long-term visions to fulfill God's purposes. He also shares a testimony of a young man who struggled to understand God's purpose for his life but found inspiration from another young man with a clear vision. The sermon concludes with the idea that sometimes a vision needs to die or be released to God.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Dearly beloved, may the Lord Jesus Christ give grace to each one of your hearts today, fill you with His love, joy and blessing. I was very blessed to be here, hear from some of our missionaries, people who have laid their lives on the line, forsaken the pursuit of wealth and U.S. dreams and taking some time to serve the Lord that way. Thank you, Ernie and Anna, for your sacrifices. God bless you. I was also encouraged with the children's lesson. Yes, that was a parable children's lesson. I don't know if we heard it or not as adults. I don't know if the children heard it or not, but I'm preaching basically along the same line. The thought that was given there, the question was asked to these children, you know, what they're looking forward to. And they all agreed they're looking forward to something, but they didn't really know what. I wonder how many fathers and mothers are here like that. What are you looking forward to? Or aren't you looking forward to anything? Do you have a vision? Do you have a goal? Do you have a purpose? Do you have a dream? Also, I like the scripture on the board. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It's a picture of someone who has a goal, who has a purpose, who has a vision. He sees the mark way out there and he's pressing toward that mark. And there's a purpose there. When he reaches the mark, there's going to be something there for him. There's a prize there that's waiting for him. Coming out of the two weeks plus tent meetings, meetings there we have, the community tent meetings, and all the stirrings of our hearts and all the blessings that we received and the vision and some of the practical things that were laid out before us. I've just been pondering them a lot and I hope you have too. So, I'd like to share a little message, a meditation on, I'm not sure what to call it, maybe pressing toward the mark or something like that or just simply visions and dreams. Looking at some scripture and the purpose is, my goal is to just kind of lay some groundwork here, some foundation, some things for you to think about and ponder and that I would very much like to open it up and to hear from you. What is your vision? Do you have a vision? And so forth. So, I'd like to lay some groundwork for that and as I do that, I want you to be thinking about it and maybe you can find grace to share what God is laying on your heart. I believe that every one of us needs a vision. Every one of us needs a vision. Turn to Joel chapter 2 for a few verses. Joel chapter 2, if you're looking for the book of Joel, it's after Daniel, Jose, Joel, Amos, Obadiah. It's in the Old Testament. I hope everybody knows that. Joel chapter 2 verse 28. This is the prophet writing in the time of difficulty. He says, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Are you with me? I hear some are still paging. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. When I think of old men dreaming dreams, I think of old men sitting, maybe on a bench, you know, under a tree somewhere, or on their chair on their front porch, and life has basically passed by. The best of their days have gone by. They're sitting there. They're old men. They're dreaming dreams. What do you think they're dreaming of? What do old men dream of? Old men, many times I believe they are dreaming, but they sit there kind of dreaming and thinking about the good old days. They're dreaming of how things were back there. Maybe they're dreaming of how life was back there. They're remembering all those kind of things. They're looking back. That's what I see here, that the old men, they sit there, maybe they're looking back, and maybe it means much more than that also, and I think old men should also dream dreams of what God can yet do for them, but specifically I'm thinking here that old men generally look back, and it says, young men shall see visions, and the young men, they are looking forward. They're looking up ahead. Life has not yet passed by. They're still in the prime of their life, whether it be in their physical strength of their twenties or their spiritual strength of their fifties and sixties or even to the day of their death. Young men shall see visions. Young men, what's your vision? What's your vision? What is a vision? I want to look a little bit at what visions are and so forth and go through a few things, but I am looking forward to hearing from you today. What is your vision? In order for you to get up and tell us what your vision is, you're going to have to have one. I think sometimes we have deep desires in our hearts or longings that are there. We may not yet have realized them into an actual vision for our life, but I do believe that we should have deep longings and burdens in our heart as youth, as fathers, as mothers, as elders. What is a vision? A few things I have here, a few thoughts, and I'm very open to someone further expressing it later on. A vision is an inner desire or longing formed into a picture in the mind. A vision may be an inner longing or desire of the heart formed into a picture of the mind which is then set out in front as a goal or a purpose to go after. I think one very good example we have here is Brother Denny's vision of a godly home. Sometime years ago, I believe that down deep in his heart there was a longing and a desire for a godly family. And that should be deep in the heart of every one of us as fathers. And as we meditate on those longings, those deep desires of the heart, and we pray about those things, we spend time in prayer, that longing and that desire in the heart should begin to become realized as something that I should press forward to, something I should go after with all I have. That's what I think of a vision. It may also be something that comes more as a revelation. Maybe you're in prayer some day and God just gives you a revelation of something, a vision, something you can carry in your heart. The Apostle Paul, when he met the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, there's no doubt in my mind, he had a vision. He saw something. He may have seen it with the physical eyes, he may have seen it with the eye of his mind, or the eye of his spirit. I don't know all about that, but he had a vision. And that vision pressed him and carried him the rest of the days of his life. He never laid it down. It may have taken some time for that vision to be fulfilled, but it was nevertheless always there in front of him. I press toward the mark of the prize, he said, of the high calling in Christ Jesus. It may be a vision from the Word of God. Maybe when you're reading God's Word, when you're praying through God's Word, and something just kind of comes up to you, and God inspires your heart, and your heart just rises up, and there's a window that God opens up a window to a certain area or something ahead of you, and you have a vision. Not necessarily a vision like Paul had, but there's something birthed within you that begins to form itself, and it begins to become the goal of life. That may be also. It may come from the Word of the Lord. I do know that when God speaks a word into my heart, I can rest assured it shall come to pass. That's the Word of faith which we believe. Amen? Who should have visions? I believe that every one of us should have goals, dreams, purposes, visions. And maybe this word vision is not the right word, but I want you to get the message as we go through this. Young men, especially, elders should have visions, visions, goals, dreams, purposes for their congregations. Fathers should have a very clear vision and a very clear purpose and a goal of working out. Mothers should have visions for their daughters, fathers for their sons, children. Okay, boys, how many are looking forward to driving a car, right? Visions of driving a car. Someday, you know, someday I want to drive a car. Yep. Every time we sit in the car, I'm watching Dad. I see how he does it. I watch how he drives. Whether he drives carefully or recklessly, fast or slow. Watching. Watching. We, I believe we need to have a vision. The Bible says without a vision the people perish. I believe we need a vision. What is the purpose? It's to build purpose in life. It's to give us something to go for. It's to encourage the pursuit of the desire and longing deep in the heart. And it's to bring hope when it actually looks impossible. When everything is dark and everything seems it's going to fail. When there's a vision deep in the heart that vision helps you to continue on in the midst of many difficult circumstances and situations. Visions, callings of God and so forth. I believe we should have short term visions. And I believe we should have long term visions. I believe we should. Satan, he's out to steal. He's out to kill. He's a thief. And if he could steal that vision that purpose of life out of your heart, he would do it. If he can cloud up. If he can cause it to go away. He knows that without a vision the people perish. So one thing he's trying to do is to steal a vision out of our hearts. To scrag us from going on and so forth. I'm not talking about fantasizing this morning. What's the difference between having a vision or fantasizing? Because if I have a vision, do I not see with the eye of my mind or the eye of my heart? Do I not see something that's out ahead that I'm pressing forward to? Is fantasizing not basically the same thing? What's the difference? I have a few things written down here. I'd be glad for more help on this one. But fantasizing is when you create a false image or a false realm or a false world that you yourself live in in the middle of it. Fantasizing is simply daydreaming where you're just dreaming of your self in your own little world. Fantasizing makes a person passive. It destroys the morals. It creates a false image of self and it's an escape from reality. It's very different than dreams and visions from the Lord or purpose for life. Fantasizing, it destroys your purpose. It takes away from your direction of life. It puts you into a false reality and it is wickedness. We are to take captive every thought. We're to bring every thought into captivity. It says in 2 Corinthians. I should read that. 2 Corinthians. Casting down imaginations and every highest thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Fantasizing exalts itself against the knowledge of God. There are evil imaginations but we are to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. And sometimes we may have a little difficulty discerning whether they're just fantasies about myself or whether they're actual visions and dreams or longings in the heart. I think of when I first became a Christian. I was born again in the midst of a hot revival meeting with an evangelist who was a powerful speaker and, you know, I looked up to him and I honored that man. He was a blessing in my life and I wanted to be like him and I had a vision of someday I'd be a preacher, you know, and I'd be an evangelist and for days and for weeks and for months and a long time afterward I would imagine I had these imaginations and these visions and maybe it was some out of a pure desire to serve God but there was still self sitting there on the throne and imagining myself to be the one up front there and, you know, being able to preach the gospel and see all the people respond to all of it. That was a pretty carnal vision, wasn't it? Anyone else like that? Hmm? Anyone know what I'm talking about? Well, I believe that the wicked people have visions. The wicked people have visions in their hearts and lives, do they not? How do you think anyone could plan for years to fly 747s in the twin towers? Hmm? The wicked have visions, don't they? They have visions of destruction, visions of killing and so forth. The wicked, they do that thing. Suicide bombers, they have visions and they carry them out. They have a passion, they have a desire and it's the wickedness of their hearts, it's destruction. I believe the unconverted have visions. Unconverted people, people who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal friend and Savior, they may have visions of running a big business or going after their pleasures or seeing themselves as a great baseball star or someone that people look up to. People have visions like that and it drives them. It's that which presses them into it and they determine to go for it. Why? Because they have a deep longing and desire in their heart, even if it's impure. The carnal Christian has visions. He may want to see himself lifted up. Yeah, he's a Christian now and so now his dreams and his visions, they're still centered on self just like I was sharing, but now it's for Christ. I used to justify my visions and justify my dreams because it's for God, it's for good. But I was in the center all the time. And then I believe that spiritual men of God and women of God also need to have visions. What are these visions that we need to have? What are some visions that we should have? Anybody? What are some desires that you have? Anyone have visions here? What are they? Let me hear them. Visions of seeing God exalted. Very good. Others? Revival. Very good. Becoming like Him. Becoming like Him. Wow. That's good. Anyone else? For Jesus. Being bold for Jesus. Okay. Let's all feel their hands. Standing behind my husband to fill his vision. Standing behind my husband to fulfill his vision. Glory to God. Yes, the spiritual man has visions and dreams too. Let's add a hand up here. Visions of the souls of men. Go ahead. To have children equipped to impact their generation for Christ by walking with God, able to take the gospel to unreached people groups. Amen. Visions of the kingdom. And visions of serving. Visions for widespread revival in the Old Order Amish and Horse and Buggy Mennonite churches throughout all of them. Lancaster County. And Center County. Chester County. Everywhere. Visions of revival. Okay, and so I might ask myself the question, do I have a vision for that? Or is it just my own longing and desire? Well, I believe that those longings and desires can be prayed, can begin to grow as we begin to yield ourselves to God and we begin to hold those things up in prayer. As we begin to hold those visions and desires up in prayer that we have, that God will be able to bring it up to a fuller revelation of what He would have for us. And as that thing begins to expand God begins to open doors for us to actually walk it out. That's what I believe needs to happen. And I believe that we all have some of that responsibility. And maybe you're thinking, well, I don't have a vision because I've never had a revelation like the Apostle Paul did. I've never had that kind of revelation either, or like the Prophet Isaiah or Ezekiel or Daniel. But God does give us desires and burdens and longings in our heart. And if we follow after that which we know is right, God can begin to expand that thing into an actual life vision and purpose and goal that will benefit the Kingdom of God. The passive man has no vision. He's only trying to get through today. He's just trying to keep his head above water. And the passive man usually ends up at that place. He's not able to see beyond today. He does not look to the next week with a vision. He does not visualize himself and where he wants to be in a year from now. He cannot see that far down the road. But we should be able to we should take time to to visualize or at least dream of what where I will be in a year from now or in 5 years or in 10 years. How many of you fathers can see your 15 year old son in 5 years? Hmm? How many of you have never taken time to think about it? We're just kind of passive. We don't have an actual goal. We're just trying to keep up with what's happening today. We're just trying to keep him under my control for today. One day at a time. Just somehow trying to get through this day. Keeping him in my control. Why? Because he's trying his best to escape. And the father has no vision of what the son is going to be in 5 years. He's passive. The mother. The elder. He can't visualize his son or daughter in 10 years. What about our grandchildren? This is where I I've just I have yet never been able to visualize my grandchildren. Much less great-grandchildren. Have you taken time, brother or sister, father or mother to look that far down the road? We should, shouldn't we? We really should. Girls, young ladies, they have visions of a wedding, a home. Boys, visions of farms or a house or a business. Small children, they have visions to be like dad or to be like mom. And we heard this morning, maybe, you know, their next birthday. That's about as far as they can see. How far can a 2-year-old see? A 2-year-old can probably see to her next birthday, right? A 5-year-old looks forward to the time when he can go to school and begin to read. And, you know, a 10-year-old wants to be a teenager and a teenager wants to be 21, you know, and so forth. And they're looking ahead. They're looking forward to those things. We need to have those things clear in our mind, I believe. I'd like to look a little bit at the birth of a vision and then a little bit on how to walk it out. As I was meditating on this message or on this theme that I felt like the Lord gave me and I had a difficult time putting it together, you know, sometimes we ministers, we are just full and running over with the inspiration that God gave us and other times we have just simply have a theme that God puts in front of us and we may have to wrestle for a while to even put things into words. But while I was meditating and trying to find my way through here, you know, I had my tablet laying in front of me, had like one note written down there and was trying to figure out, Lord, what do you really want me to say? I had a call from a brother in Manitoba and he just, he almost never calls me. But he called me and we began to talk some and he was asking about our ministry meeting this past week and we were discussing some things and he has a heart for missions and he has a heart for reaching out. And he began to tell me about what they're doing there in their congregation. He said, we have such a burden to reach out and his own children are going into the city and they're doing a ministry to the strangers in the city and they're meeting lots of foreigners there and they're bringing them out and they're ministering to them and now they have a vision. They just continue to go there and now they have a vision of starting a school in the city for foreigners' children. And they are into it. I think they have like 15 school children signed up. What happens is the foreigners come over, the government brings them over and puts them in debt, kind of, and then the father and mother have to go to school, have to go to work and the children are left to fend for themselves and they go off to school and everything is strange and really they fall through the cracks in major ways. Many of those foreigners are losing their children just to the whole drift of the whole world and these young people have a burden and a vision that somehow we can help those children. They've got a deep longing and desire in their heart to help somebody and now they have a vision of somehow to help these children and this thing begins to expand and they're setting up a school and they're ready to start. Getting others in the congregation involved. They have a vision. He also told me how that they sent out two couples and I think he said six or so singles. Twelve. You know what I'm talking about. Two teams. A young couple with six of them and another young couple with six of them. To do what? To go from town to town to town passing out tracts, passing out gospel tapes and CDs and they go from colony to colony to colony and they visit up to 50 colonies and they put, they sent these people out. Why? Because they have a vision. They have lots of young people who are willing to do something and the young people are sitting there basically wondering what shall we do? And we have those conditions among ourselves, do we not? And our elders need to have a vision to somehow get the young people involved. Get them to go out and he said he's going to go out in a last 10 days with them out there, this elder is, to go spend the last 10 days while they're out there and just find out how things are going and come back. Boy, I'd like to be there when they come back, you know what? I'd like to hear what they have to say. Some places they get driven out and other places they come running after he said. But they're out there. Why are they out there? Somebody has a vision. Somebody had a deep longing in his heart and when we have that kind of a longing in our heart, we take it to God in prayer and God begins to raise it up and begins to bring it to a fullness into where it becomes an actual direction for life. That's what I'm talking about. The birth of a vision. When we, you know, if you're going to envision having nice corn and beans and so forth in your garden, if you're going to eat of that fruit, you know, when you go to buy those seeds at the grocery store or at the seed store, you buy this packet of seeds and a nice, what they have most times on that seed packet they have a beautiful, tasty looking picture of the corn of the ear or the fruit of that seed. Why do they have that picture there? It's to put a vision into your heart that you could actually have bring that thing to fruit. That's why it's there. And we look at that packet and we say, that looks really good. I think I'll take it. What is a vision? Is a vision when I see something with these eyes? I believe it's more when I see something with the eye of faith or the eyes of my heart or the eyes of my mind. And I also thought of this. I wonder what did Noah see when God spoke to him and told him to build the ark? When God speaks to you, what do you see with the eye of faith? When God speaks to you, do you only hear words? Does God only speak to you in words? Or does God speak to you in, may I say, pictures? Huh? Think about it. Often God speaks to us in our mind. He uses pictures to give us a vision. I would say that most likely when God spoke to Noah about building the ark, He spoke to him with pictures in his mind. Could you imagine Noah going to build the ark without any picture in his mind of the ark? I don't see how he could do that. But I believe that when God speaks, He often speaks to us in pictures in our mind. You see something in the eye of your mind and you say, Oh, yes. And as you hold that up and maybe this may go for years that you hold this picture up in prayer and eventually God may bring it to pass. I'm just throwing some things out for you. I'm going to listen to what you have to say later on. The birth of a vision. Maybe it's in prayer. I believe that many times God wants to speak to us many times we don't take time to hear. But when we are in tune with God, when we're connected with the vine, then God has the freedom to give us a vision or some direction for our life. Many times this comes in prayer. When you're praying. When I'm praying. I know that I had some visions in prayer just several weeks ago. During the tent meetings. In prayer. In communion with God. The Lord gave me several visions. What do they mean by that? It's just like He just put something a little picture in front of me and I'm like, Yes, Lord. I believe that. No, I didn't see some bright light or anything like that. No, it's in my heart. God was speaking in my heart. And I said, Yes, Lord. I want that. And when God brings that birth, births that vision into our heart. The next step is walking it out. Okay, so here I have a God has birthed something in my heart. Now what am I going to do with it? Am I going to sit back and say, God gave it to me. It'll come to pass. No, there's a very real place where I begin to walk it out. Walk out the vision includes actively pursuing it. It includes guarding against evil influences or wrong influences with this vision in my heart. And of course, it must be born with prayer continually. It may also include sharing with others. But we must walk it out. I think of I think of a father and a mother who have visions of a godly family. They must be actively pursuing that vision. They can't just sit back and put their feet up and say, God gave me this vision of a godly home and it will come to pass. No, you must actively pursue what God is laying before you. And you must be on guard against all the wiles of the devil. Especially in this area, I think of our young sisters and of our young men, the purity of our young men. If I am actively pursuing a godly vision for my family, I am going to do many, many things on purpose to protect them, to keep them from falling into sin, to try to protect them from the evil one. Why? Because I have a vision of purity and holiness out there. But while we pursue this, and as my children are growing, I am going to be pursuing that thing and I am going to be very jealous lest the devil come along and steal and cause destruction in my family or cause something to happen that devastates the family. I am going to be actively pursuing that vision that God has laid on my heart. Amen? I have a purpose. I have a goal. I have something that spurs me on. I have something that presses me on like pulses. I press toward the mark. We all as fathers need to be doing that. Sometimes God allows the death of a vision. I think of visions of ministry. Many times as we, maybe God has given you a vision of some ministry or some great thing He is calling you to do. Maybe God is calling you to do life. An example there would be like Moses was called to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and he was ready to make it happen. You know, he began to kill the Egyptians one at a time and the next day he fled for his life. It wasn't the right timing and he ends up out in the mountains for 40 years. And the vision of leading the children of Israel out of Egypt which was a great noble vision and actually a calling of God on his life that thing had to die. Because Moses was still in the flesh. He was still on his own strength. Same way with the picture of Joseph. And I was meditating on that. He is out there in the wheat field. They are cutting the wheat and binding up the wheat in bundles and Joseph has a dream and he dreams that he saw his brothers or he saw the ten sheaves bowing down to him and then he saw the sun and the stars bowing to him and he had a vision of those things. Well, do you think he came to the point in his life where he laid down that vision? You know, he was taken from his home. He had a vision of these things and it was given by God and the day came when he is laying in prison for year after year after year after year. You know, maybe that vision that he had caused enmity and jealousy among his brothers and it did and maybe he was even proud about it but the time came when that vision that he held deep, close to his heart he let it die. It would have died. It actually died to the point where he has no more strength to even hold on to it. That's why it's called the death of the vision. Sometimes it needs to die. Sometimes we just need to release it to God and when we as parents and every one of us as fathers and mothers we need to have a very clear vision for our sons and daughters but sometimes God brings us to a point where we have to say God, I'm finished. I'm done. It looks hopeless and but don't forget that that's a very crucial time because there's a principle in the Bible that's very clear. It's the principle of death and then resurrection. And Joseph, at the point that he left his vision to die, I believe there it was raised up through total unheard circumstances. He gets out of prison and he's set on the throne right next to the king, number two in the kingdom. Jesus Christ, he also had to die. He had a vision but he had to die and let it die and then God raised it up and when God raises that vision up brother and sister, there's life and there's new power and there's new life in it and it will come to pass. Lord willing. And then there's realizing the vision whether it's in part or in whole, by faith but this is continued by prayer. There's resurrection, there's new life, there's new power and there's great fruitfulness, great blessing and the ultimate end is glory to God. That has to be our ultimate vision and dream is to bring glory and honor to God. If it's not that it probably will just end up in self and just my own thing but our ultimate vision is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, God he takes, you know this is such a lovely book, the word of God. The last book is Revelations. God wants us to have a vision of heaven. Okay? We can read about it in Revelations. I can read the book of Revelations and there are wonderful things there that I don't even understand. There's wonderful pictures there that I don't understand and I don't really see very well but the more time that I will take on meditating upon the book of Revelations the more time that I will give to thinking about that and meditating on that and allowing that vision of heaven to just kind of broaden out and expand, the more real it will become in my life. Amen? And especially, you know, it's there and we know it's there but sometimes it gets a little dim, doesn't it? We get so caught up with what's happening today that we lose sight of that book of Revelations of the end time of the day when Jesus Christ will split the clouds, come riding down on that white horse. We lose sight of that because we get caught up in too much of the everyday thing but we need to keep that in front of us. What if Revelations wouldn't be there? What if it wouldn't be there? God wants us to hold that Revelation in our heart. God wants us to see with the eye of faith yes, it is going to come to pass. You know, He also wants us to hold with the eye of faith hell. That's another vision. It's another revelation of eternal damnation and hellfire and pain and suffering and torment. We'll meditate on that a while. Allow that vision to just kind of broaden in your mind's eye and begin to become a reality which consumes you day and night, lest some soul might fall into it for the glory of God. I'd like to look a little bit more at Joel here and I want to open it up. The book of Joel is basically the story of Israel. My Bible says around 800 B.C. before Christ. Not even sure who was king at that time. Chapter one, I think, is a picture of destruction and so forth. I'd like to read chapter two all the way through. The picture that I see is God's judgment upon Israel specifically, if I may say, it's a plague of locusts. A lot of us have probably read about locusts in times past. We read in the Bible about locusts in Egypt. Was it locusts in Egypt? No, that was flies. Was locusts one of the plagues in Egypt? I'm not sure. It was. Okay. Yes, it was. Locusts came in. Locusts, they come and they strip every green thing out there. They actually eat the bark of the trees and so forth. We want to go through this chapter. I want you to see the picture of locusts here in chapter two. I do believe it actually was locusts from what I understand. And then in the midst of all of that destruction, the word of the Lord comes to Joel. And that brings a vision out of his heart. And even though there's destruction all around, he sees a vision of better times. So let's read chapter two of Joel. Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains. A great people and a strong. There hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after, even to the years of many generations. When the locusts fly through the air, the sun and moon is darkened, it's so dark and cloudy, it actually gets dark and so forth. A great people and strong it says. A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burneth. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap. They're making lots of noise, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble. As a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be in much pain. All faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men. They shall climb the wall like men of war. They shall march in one of his ways. They shall not break their ranks. Neither shall one thrust another. They shall walk everyone in his path. When they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city. They shall run upon the wall. Climb up the houses, shall enter into the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them. The heavens shall tremble. The sun and the moon shall be dark. The stars withdraw their shining. The Lord shall utter his voice before his army, for his camp is very great, for he is strong, that executeth his word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible. Who could abide it? Maybe even a picture of end-time days. Therefore now, also now saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, with weeping, with mourning. Rend your heart, not your garments. And turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, leave a blessing behind him, even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God? And the picture there is that in the time of calamity, in the time of utter difficulty, in the time when God is sending judgment upon the people, he's saying turn, repent, because God is merciful. And God may yet turn around and bless. Fifteen, blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, those that suck the breast. Let the bridegroom go forth to his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. It is simply saying, stop everything and gather together for fasting and prayer. When there's this type of calamity, let the priest, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar. Let them say, spare thy people, O Lord, give not thine heritage to reproach. That the heathen should rule over them, wherefore should they say among the people, where is their God? And then we go into verse 18. In the midst of such barrenness, destruction, the destruction of the locusts is incredible. Verse 18, then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people. Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn and wine and oil. Ye shall be satisfied therewith, and I will no more make your approach among the heathen. But I will remove far off from you the northern army, will drive him into a land barren and desolate with his face toward the east sea and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his ill saver should come up, because he hath done great things. Fear not, O land. These are comforting words in the midst of destruction. Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness do spring. For the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he hath given you the former rain moderately and will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, the fats shall overfly with wine and oil, and I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten, the cankerworm, the caterpillar, the pummelworm, my great army which I have sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God that hath dealt wondrously with you, and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else, and my people shall never be ashamed. In the midst of that kind of destruction, the Lord graciously gives a word, and the word simply is, and it brings, it gives a vision to the prophet, and he shares that with the people, and the Lord gives the word in the midst of that, and he says, the day will come when the vines will again bear fruit, your wine, your wine fats will be running over, and your olive berries will bear, and so forth, and there's going to be plenty and abundance in the land again. That brings hope in a hopeless situation, and that is able to carry the people through. Imagine the discouragement when everything you have is eaten up, all your crops and everything is absolutely destroyed, and there's no insurance to fall back on, you know. But then the word of the Lord comes and says, brings a vision, and you hear the word of the Lord, and hope again begins to rise in your heart of what God is able to do. Verse 28 again, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit, and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, the moon to blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. What a blessed promise in the midst of difficulty. For in Mount Zion and Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in Remnant where the Lord shall, whom the Lord shall call. I would like to open it up and allow you to share your heart. And maybe this can be an inspiration for you as a father or as a mother, that you do need to have a vision. And if you don't have a vision, something's wrong. And so I would like to open up here and get the mics and just allow you as fathers and allow you as mothers to share your heart and say, I need some help with a vision, I need a vision. Or maybe you have a clear vision, you can encourage others with that inspiration of what you have. Is there anyone? A couple hands. OK. Dan. Yeah, I was blessed with a few thoughts that you shared here. I could definitely identify with some of them. I have some thoughts that I'd like to share. I think Satan robs visions. I think he's in that profession he does not like when people dream dreams and have visions. But how does he do that? And how, what discourages vision? And I have a few thoughts on that. I think we are fearful of the pain of unfulfillment. And that's why we're afraid of dreaming dreams and having visions. Many of us are afraid to let God build visions and dreams in our hearts because we despise the pain of death of the vision. We are hurt when the visions that God gives us don't come to pass. Joseph, Jacob, Abraham and many others face that same situation. Let's be encouraged. If the vision's of God, He'll bring it to pass. The conclusion is let God give visions. Don't despise the pain of unfulfilled dreams, but let God work through it. He uses them to purify our hearts and believe God to bring it to pass. Continue to have your faces turn up to Him. He'll bring it to pass as we walk in His Spirit. He'll help us to walk those visions out. I was blessed with the thought of fantasizing compared to envisioning. I think those two are opposite. Fantasizing causes us to imagine that we have arrived and obtained our dreams, visions even our desires and lusts. That's what fantasizing does. Imagining that we have already arrived at what we actually think we want. Envisioning on the contrary admits that we can never attain the vision in our own strength, of our own selves and continually gazes at the power of God with the hopes that God will fulfill the vision He has given us in His time. God bless you for the message. Thank you Dan. How did you happen to have that in your Bible? Very good. I like that contrast between fantasy and vision also. One thing that vision will do is move a person to action. When we have a vision, we will do something, even if it's just crying out to God. I have a vision of being debt free on this earth. It moves me to live in a certain way and to do things to work towards that end. There are other deeper visions that are interrelated. During the tent meetings I heard a lot of the missionary evangelistic thrust of some of the messages and that tied right back into I need to be faithful and get out of debt so that when the Lord calls me somewhere, I can go. I have a vision of getting out of debt. Another thing that ties in with that is that a lot of my creditors are old order people. And God's word clearly says, pay not thou owest. I want to be a witness to them. I want to be faithful. I want to do that. In doing that, if I'm faithful in working towards that vision, I don't have to be condemned that I couldn't go to Ghana like Brother Ernie did, and I really appreciated his message this morning. Another thing that just ties together is to be diligent. We think of Joseph in the prison. He had to lay down his vision that he had as a son. But I can't imagine him being slothful, being sloppy. I can't imagine him being in the prison still remembering Jehovah, still being diligent, being principled, and God could rekindle that vision and reawaken it and bring it to pass. And that just spoke to me today. I want to be principled and disciplined in my life so that I can move towards my vision of becoming debt-free and then being available to God for whatever He has for me. I praise God for this teaching. This is good. Amen. And once you have reached that mark of debt-free, then you're going to dream some more dreams and have more visions. And by that time, you will have established a principle in your life of faithfulness. Praise God. Yes, I appreciated the thoughts too. I'm a visionary type of person and I have a lot of visions but I'm also lazy. And many times I don't want to go through the pain and the hard work that it takes to bring a vision to fulfillment. And I so appreciated the children's lesson this morning. Sometimes I wonder if I really believe that. I think I'm also a cautious type of a person and sometimes I think I know it in my mind that God's will in my life is so much better than anything that the world can offer. But I'm not sure if it has truly and fully reached my heart. I think many times I approach it a little bit like the way we used to test ice when we wanted to skate to see if it was thick enough. You'd step out a few feet and you stomp around and you tap it a few places, maybe chop some holes and see if it's going to hold. And then you step out a few more feet and you're not fully sure that this is actually going to hold. And I just have a desire to just like Peter, just jump in with both feet and trust that it is true and right and have no questions about it. And I think as we see that, as we see that vision and as we believe, I think it would move us to action as well. I really believe that once that truly reaches my heart, it would also take care of the laziness. That if you really see that vision and it really becomes real, then it's going to move you to action. And so that's kind of by way of confession, prayer requests and everything else together I guess this morning. God bless you. Thank you, Steve. Thank you. Others, any sisters here want to share? We'll just give you that opportunity. Thank you, Brother Emanuel. I cannot, I can't really express excuse me, I can't really express my heart this morning adequately for the message. I came here this morning and all the way over here from my house to here, it's about 25-30 minutes and I was just going over the vision that God's been placing in my heart over the past couple of years. And I've seen that vision dim. I've seen it being very powerful, very prominent in my life. And this morning again was just such an incredible confirmation that I'm going in the right direction. The words that you shared, the different aspects of the vision, how the vision keeps growing, just really made it very clear in my heart. And I really want to thank you. Thank you for being faithful in speaking God's Word to us. I wanted to shed just briefly a little bit of light on also in my own experience the difference between fantasizing and having visions. I've seen in fantasizing self is always the most prominent position. It's got the most paramount position. It all itself is so there. It's almost the king of the mountain type of game. Where you're always on top and you push others down. And I think in my own heart I can differentiate between the two. Well, this is really a vision or no, that's not right. And in my own heart I guess my own vision would be and this still needs to be fulfilled in a big way and God still needs to keep giving me those visions, but through the years something that has motivated my every actions, has motivated my lifestyle here in the U.S., has motivated what I do with my money, has really helped me make the decision in even who I married. It's helped me in almost every aspect of life and in many ways I wish that it would have done even more so, but the vision of seeing God being exalted among those that have never heard. time and time again it drives me to my knees. I think Lord, we hear the gospel so many times on average. Across the board they say the Americans by the time an American gets born until the time that he dies you know, some hear it a hundred times, the gospel some hear it a thousand times, but on the average every single person hears the gospel 24 times in his life. The full untainted gospel of Christ and you know this vision that God has put on my heart has driven me to prayer, has driven me to giving and it's just to see God to see Him exalted to see Him lifted up among the heathen. I was in Niger just a little while ago about six months ago and we went from village to village to village we drove hundreds hundreds of miles over a thousand miles almost 2,000 miles is what we traveled from one end of the country to the other and I don't think we ever saw a sign for a church except in the major cities and they say they're very scarce even there. You go off the main road even five miles and they don't, nothing, almost no Christian witness has ever been there and you know there are 40 people groups and all of them, according to the Joshua Project, are considered unreached it's just really burdened my heart and I keep thinking Lord, what can I do? Lord, I'm not prepared enough Lord, there's so many more things that I could be doing, so many more prayers that I could be praying because the vision just keeps inspiring me and pushing me and I praise God for that vision and I pray that it will continue to be strong and I will continue to feed it. The more we pray and the more we seek and the more we keep giving towards that vision, I've seen it grow and expand in my own heart and brother Ernie, thank you for being honest thank you for being honest, it really helped me yes, I want to be one of those tools that God can reach in I'm there, I'm there I'm there every time. God bless you brother. Thank you brother yes I also know what it is to fantasize and I know that fantasizing can get us in trouble, it can get us into a bind and that's what fanatizing has done in my life I also know what it is to have a vision I guess through the years of sin in my life and fanatizing and seeing where I'm at and then listening to brother Denny and his vision for the church and for missionaries for how that can keep the church and the next generations and so on and it just didn't look possible to me so I thought, well while we're here, that may not be possible for us but we can still have a vision here, locally and my wife and I's vision for is local here, however something happened over the tent meetings that I just wanted to share with you one day at work, this was just going around and around and around in my mind I knew we no longer have the fence to hold our children in what I mean is by the word no and for some reason that was a false comfort that we leaned on and I was thinking about this and I was thinking, well we don't have the fence to hold our children in if they don't accept the Lord Jesus Christ we're in trouble and I thought, well if it would only be the fence holding them in it would be also so all of a sudden while working there I was struggling through this it was just like a flash for me I saw all that we had gone through, from where we had come from and all of a sudden I saw what Denny was trying to say if our children don't have a vision for the lost there's probably not a whole lot to hold us the next generations and then the next thing that happened is it came, what about you and all of a sudden right there at work I was at a crossroad I had to make up my mind I realized that the Lord helped us so far and we were so busy in our change, all of a sudden I realized, what about you Wilmer, what about you and Barbara so I didn't know what it meant but I just went like this Lord, where do we go from here that evening in the tent Raymond Burkholder talked about empowering the power to witness and in his message he came right to that, he said and where do we go from here something changed in my heart that night I knew it looks impossible it looks impossible for us to go into missions but that night I said Lord whatever you want if you make it possible we want to be wherever you are wherever you want us to be I came home and I knew something had changed I knew there was a change and one of the testimonies there in the tent, they spoke about this set by Dean Hostetter for some reason I knew I had to get a hold of this set and very urgently within me I knew I had to listen to this set as the days went on this vision just it just seemed like I was overpowered with so many other things in our life it didn't look possible it just seemed like this vision or this this that I had experienced there was not possible and as I listened to Dean Hostetter's message and how he spoke how we in Jesus Christ can sit in heavenly places and that these things come far below us and then scriptures started coming to me where he tells us that we'll be able to shortly crush Satan under our heel and that these things are far below us and that we get to sit in heavenly places I don't know what the Lord has for our family but I know and it's deep in my heart I know that we sit at a crossroads and we have to make up our mind and we want to follow where the Lord leads us what that all means at this time I do not have the answers but we have a vision one of the visions that we have for a while already that we could help people that think that they're there but have no idea what I guess they don't see we've came from a place where we've seen ourselves as sinners yes we'd agreed to that very quickly but we were actually blind to our sinful nature so that's one of the goals one of the visions that we have what this all brings along with what experienced over the tent meetings I'm not exactly sure but we're open to where the Lord wants to take us encouragement for you there is don't let the vision die or carry it in prayer if you're not sure what it all is just lift it up in prayer over time and what was shared earlier about faithfulness just being faithful in that which God does lay out for us now the fulfillment of that of the calling or vision of our life may be ahead many years at times I think most of us would say that it is that way but in the midst of that when there's a clear vision that's what carries you and you walk that out it's very important I had a hand up front to you ok yes yes yes I can relate very well to what brother Wilmer was speaking about here he spoke a lot of the words that I had on my mind to speak about you know where we came from and especially on fantasizing I can relate to that very well just coming through from I guess I would call it a lot of carnal visions such as having my own business and owning personal possessions and so forth having carnal visions I would say fantasizing visions and I can relate to that very well and how evil that is and how Satan puts those thoughts into your minds and how he plays with your minds it's just incredible we've had some experiences in our life here in the past year that we would almost say that we were forced to give up some of those things and here just during the tent meetings and even since we had some things happen that that I have to say what we've heard many times is this Christian life we need to give up everything that was very became very real to us this week again and I this morning sitting here listening to this message about visions I have to admit that my vision is to have a vision although we've had some visions coming from there at the tent meetings one is that we would be witnesses or at least have like our family devotions and be witnesses in the four corners of our own home and my vision would be that that would overflow eventually and then it would reach out so we do ask for your prayers and ask for your prayers that we would have a vision thank you and part of my burden in this message this morning is that we as elders could you know be here to encourage you fathers to press on with your young people and press on with your families and to maybe even take our youth out there or encourage people to get involved I believe that we need to be offensive we need to be on the offense and a clear vision helps us to remain on the offensive if we don't have a vision we'll basically end up just trying to keep the enemy at bay and that's not a good position to be but rather stay a step ahead. Back here, yes yes yes the bible says that God made known his ways to Moses and his acts to the children of Israel and I want to know God's ways like Moses did and not just see his acts and one of his ways is what Emmanuel was preaching about I believe like Moses you know he was on the back side of the desert for a while he had the death of a vision and I believe that's the way God often works with us you know one of my visions is that for years I had a heart to help the down and outers like homeless people, people that are really poor and in need you know and just help them spiritually emotionally and physically too and also maybe be a street preacher but I believe that God has me in the death of a vision right now preparation time so God's going to have to do it so praise the lord and when he does hallelujah let's just give the sisters an opportunity to share raise your hand I have one over here ok do you have a mic? here's a mic up here yes I have a couple different visions that God has been laying on my heart one of them is to see the church locally and throughout Christianity here in America return to what I would call the true effects of biblical regeneration to living out real Christianity the Christianity that they lived out in the book of Acts the Christianity that brother Denny was speaking about living in the reality of that kind of Christianity I have a desire to see that amongst people and to see them actually walking in that kind of Christianity because I believe that if people were to walk in that kind of reality a lot of shall I say smaller problems seem to take care of themselves we look for missionaries to send to the field I think when people are truly meeting with God in reality there's going to be no question who's called to the mission field they'll be going and another vision that God has really been laying on my heart the past couple years is basically to become a prophet to my own to my own generation to be sharing with God these things and to be living in that kind of reality that I'm speaking about in my own life to be that young man and not for my own benefit don't get me wrong there not for my benefit but for the glory of God, God will be glorified and that a true standard of Christianity will be lifted up among the nations and among the local fellowships unless we get a wrong idea what the word missions mean, missions is anything local as well as foreign, it's not just foreign we're looking at a mission is a you know a going forth wherever it may be I'm going to get one of the sisters, you okay Jackie? As I listen to the interchange here it's very exciting I think maybe a vision on my heart would be to encourage people's visions and maybe that's because through the years you know no one can sympathize with a woman who has had a miscarriage like another woman who's had a miscarriage no one can sympathize with a widow like a widow and I think through the years with Denny's boldness in his visions in many different directions we have taken a lot of hits, a lot of criticism and maybe two little boys one of them being our son would be doing the same mischief but others would dismiss it as being a seven year old boy for the other boy but for our boy it would be I can't imagine that your boy would ever well that's not fair so as I listen to Jeremy or the debt free whatever these visions are Jeremy's vision is many years down the road now and there's been a lot of purifying already but what about when he was 16 and I think we're terribly good at being firefighters and throwing water on each other's vision and I don't want to be that I want to encourage these visions whether it be my sons or my husband the elders, each other when a girl says I want to do this in the city or whatever oh that this would be a safe place to say we all know the moat beam, we know we're not perfect but let's add fuel to the fire instead of pour water on it. Thank you very much. Yeah just a couple thoughts here I thought as I was listening to the message this morning I wonder do we realize that this is how we're wired and that's kind of a modern term but you know in a more sanctified explanation God made us in his own image and we are made this way to see, to look ahead you know it is how God gets everything done that he gets done is he puts these visions in our hearts and I think it's important for us to realize we're wired that way and that works on the positive and the negative side if we have no spiritual visions we will have carnal visions we're just made that way and that's a tremendous challenge to us ministers to encourage you know our people toward the spiritual visions because as Jeremy so beautifully described we can see what that vision did to that boy and saved him a lot of wasted time and I'm sure he would say he wasted some time but it saved him a lot of wasted time the other thought that I had was this I don't know if you can notice it but most of the hands are up on this side of the room that's also of God God makes men visionaries but that I don't know who the sister was who raised her hand and gave that little sharing there of what her heart was but that's the way God planned it you know we men we can't do these I mean God puts all these things in our hearts you know that we want to do and fulfill but we can't do them so many times unless the other side of the room is there supporting our vision and all of that is God designed so may God help us on this side of the room to chart the course and on this side of the room to get underneath that man and encourage him because he will go further than you ever dreamed he would by your encouragement and your admiration back here to sister's side I'm not exactly sure how to say what's on my heart but I guess the biggest vision in front of my eyes right now is that God is extremely merciful and gracious we've just these past six weeks have been extremely intense for us with Adam working long hours and the tent meetings and everything and we often feel so inadequate but the verse this morning in Joel about the locusts God restoring the years that the locusts have eaten has been precious to us already and it seems like we actually are starting to realize that in our lives sin has destroyed so much and it almost seems impossible to ever attain what God would have wanted for us but through our children he's restoring those years our children are turning to God and they have a heart and a hunger to follow him and they can do what we in our negligence or not knowing or whatever do not have the possibility to do so I just praise God for his mercy and his kindness and leading us on from here Amen we rejoice with you and your family God is good before I formed you in the womb I knew you before you were born I sanctified you and set you apart and ordained you a prophet to the nations God's words to Jeremiah I wonder if God wouldn't have similar words to every one of us today I'd like to quickly outline my life as maybe encouragement to some people think about the people in the Bible the contrast for example Moses and Daniel their lives were very different but they each fulfilled a call on their spiritual giants and God works very differently in each of our lives I got going for the Lord about the age of 16 with lots of advantages at 18 I was asked to teach school another teacher at a Christian school an hour away had health problems the next 13 years I was in the school room those were wonderful years I didn't have a vision for that but they were wonderful years fulfilling years, a lot of lasting fruit it was something I totally gave myself to my mom who said, Dwight, you're married to that school and then the Lord lifted the cloud and the next years were years I didn't have a vision I might go back just a little bit in those years, 16 to 18 I didn't have a vision either as I just said, I didn't have enough vision to buy a car, I didn't buy a car until I was 22 and I could if I paid $800 for my first car but dad had a car, I worked for him in the summer, I drove his car, I drove it retired in 1950 on a Chevy pickup, my uncle retired and then the years after teaching school I didn't have a vision I was spiritually active but I was also spiritually stagnating and then I got married moved to a church that was on the edge forming and that was part of a vision because God had in earlier years given me a vision for a church and during that time he started forming things in my heart that I knew that my life was being prepared for these things in the last years God's brought a lot more definition and understanding in my heart I'd say in the last maybe especially 10 years the gifts he's given me burdens and concerns stirrings and now I'm at a place that I face practical practical challenges to carry out what God has put in my heart last month I felt the Lord urging me to take off a Thursday and a Friday so I could fast for Thursday, Friday and Saturday and there's always a thing of weighing less hours and paying the bills and the Lord spoke to me in the tent meetings to venture in faith again we venture in faith we have to remind it again and again those things and that was so positive so needed in my life I said I want to do that every month this month after all the activity the tent meetings and many other things I just felt urged that I should have some special days with my wife we haven't done that for a long time we talk a lot regularly but there's levels that you never get to unless you take extended time and that was so wonderful we just got started but one of the things that was on my heart was to share with her what God is putting on my heart and so I list I didn't have it ahead of time but I started listing things there's probably about 6 or 7 very specific things that I see as my gift that I see as God's putting a burden on my heart and now I'm at a place for the most part I don't see how God's going to do these things and so I've been saying yes, I'm at a place that I have a vision of a vision, the specifics but these things are very specific one of the more recent ones is to help men find out who they are in God's purposes why they're here and to help release them and establish them and into the fulfillment of God's purposes I just give that as an example of a specific thing and so I don't quite know how to end this, maybe I'll end it this way for the encouragement of young people I once heard a testimony of a young man about 22 years old he gave this testimony with tears in his eyes he said I was really struggling understanding God's purpose for my life then he heard the testimony of another young man who was struggling with the same thing and he said I think sometimes a 16 year old knows where he's going in God's calling in his life no time a 16 year old may not or an 18 year old and so the young man that told this told the testimony of another young man so I'm passing it on said this young man told him he said I was really struggling knowing God's purpose for my life and finally God said you know, it's so wonderful I can't show it to you now and he quoted the verse eye is not seen, ear is not heard it has entered the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them to love him so God said your purpose now is to love me with all of your heart you give me your whole heart and I'll unfold that purpose Amen Amen And the encouragement I see coming out here is that I believe it would be very good for husbands and wives to share their visions together you know, sometimes they're lying down there, we don't even we don't know how to express them but if we take the time to open our heart to our wives or our husbands you know, then that then it becomes more of a something you can see a little better and it would encourage us as fathers and mothers our sixteen year old might not have that much of a vision but then again he might and I think it's good for us as parents to help them to realize some of those things talk about it you know, what's on your heart and so forth just some thoughts there I sense the Lord moving here Alright, I think my time is up here. Is there anyone else who has a mic? No? Okay, I'll turn it back to Mel and maybe he wants to direct the message You know, one thought that will stick with me is that thought of the vision is what presses us toward the mark of that high calling You know, Paul at the end of his days, he had a vision he pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling and this was his testimony at the end of his days For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me unto me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love is appearing Paul said I have fought a good fight You know, there is that element like we heard this morning of there is sometimes a fight to a you know, fighting a good warfare warring a good warfare against the powers of darkness that are arrayed to bring down that vision You know, that's we see it in Paul's ministry and we see it in in many ministries that how Satan attacks and tries to bring down the purpose and the fulfillment of that vision But Paul said I have fought a good fight So let's be good warriors in those visions that God has laid out before us and press on for that mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and the testimony of Paul at the end of our days I have fought a good fight I have finished the course that God laid out before me I have fulfilled the vision Thank you brother Emmanuel, thank you for all you who shared This is a rich morning of just sharing together as a family as a little congregation here of brothers and sisters in Christ Ok, brother Tim I think I'll let you have a song and then we'll have the announcements