LESSON 1: ENLARGING YOUR VISION

ENLARGING YOUR VISION

LESSON 1

BEYOND SUCCESS

Genesis 37

By studying the life of Joseph, we can find some secretes for being successful. Joseph had many good qualities: character, leadership, courage, determination, vision, perseverance, and faith. He trusted in God for everything. He was rejected by his family, but because of his strong faith, he was able to continue being faithful to God.

The world today focuses a lot on success. People around us gauge our lives by how ‘successful’ we are. While there is nothing wrong with success. God wants to take us to a higher level. Beyond man’s view of success, God wants us to spend our lives on earth making a significant impact in the lives of others.

God had a plan for Joseph. God has a plan for you. God has a plan for this Church. I want to challenge you to take your spiritual life to a higher level. God does not want us to be mediocre. I want to challenge you to envision big things for God. I want to challenge you to be a church that makes a huge impact on this city.

In the life of Joseph we can see three principles of how God can take us beyond success, as individuals, and as a church, to be people of significance and influence.

DREAM AHEAD:

When Joseph dreamed, it wasn’t day dreaming. Here was a young man with a great dream. He had a dream of what God could do in his life (Gen. 37).

A dream (or vision) is what God uses to do anything for you. When you don’t dream (vision), you won’t produce or do anything. Dreams and visions are the language that God uses to communicate with us. If we don’t have dreams or visions, He can’t communicate with us. In the Bible, whenever God wanted to do anything for anybody, first He put visions and dreams into their hearts.

What is vision? Vision is the ability to see God’s plan, God’s purpose and God’s provision, despite the circumstances. Before Joseph was sold into slavery, God had already put visions and dreams into his heart. Through those visions and dreams God eventually overruled all the circumstances that had occurred in his life.

Although Joseph was a young man who dreamed of big blessings from God, you must realize that you are never too old to dream big things for God. The book of Joel tells us that even our old men shall dream dreams (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:17).

God is looking for men and women who know who they are, and where they are going. Dreaming seems foolish to some, if it is done without goals. When you establish a goal and begin to dream for that goal, God will bring that dream to past.

God wants to give you a dream. By nature, we tend to limit God. Many people are for what God is doing, but we must be with what God is doing.

THREE NEVERS FOR DREAMERS:

1. Never use your age or your past as an excuse for not dreaming big things for God.

2. Never doubt in the dark what God has promised in the light.

3. Never doubt the power of God to do the impossible.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF:

God has a special calling upon your life. You are special to Him. You are a child of the Most High God. You must understand your own uniqueness in Christ. Joseph realized that he was unique. God called Joseph for a special task. And just as God gave Joseph a coat of many colors, God has placed a coat of royalty upon you. You are special to Him. You must realize just how unique and important you are to God; God loves you (I Peter 2:9). God doesn’t love us because we are valuable; we are valuable because God loves us.

We must believe God if we are going to get what we ask for, what we are dreaming for. And we must speak the believing word. We must never speak in negative terms (I can’t, I don’t have the finances, etc.). If we are depending on God, we are not depending on our own strength or resources. We are depending on God’s resources.

RISE ABOVE:

Right after Joseph dreamed big things for God, he faced major adversity. But his faith kept him strong. The key phrase throughout his story was: “God was with Joseph.”

He could have quit. No one would have blamed him for giving up. But we would have never heard of Joseph if he had quit. He purposed to go beyond success; he purposed to make a significant impact in the world around him. If I were to ask you the question: “When was the time in your life when you grew closer to God?” Probably 90% of you would say that it happened when you were in the middle of a major crisis (James 1:12). We all enjoy success. But it is through pain and struggles that we grow the most. That’s when we can make a significant impact in the lives of others.

Joseph may have lost his coat of many colors, but he never lost his integrity. Joseph may have lost his family, but he never lost his vision. Joseph may have lost years of his life, but he never lost his dream.

God wants to use you greatly for His kingdom. God is not through with you. He has called you to do great things. He wants to enlarge the vision in your heart. He wants you to be a part of something great. Are you willing to step out and ‘go for it?’

In the end, it won’t matter how successful you were in the eyes of man. But it will matter what kind of impact or influence you made in the lives of others for eternity.

FIVE STEPS TO SUCCESS:

1. BE A DREAMER

Ask yourself, “How would I want life if everything worked out right?” Most people either don’t dream at all or don’t dream big enough!

2. BE A LEARNER

Most people fail in life because they reject the advice of others and accept the flattery of fools.

3. BE A BELIEVER IN YOURSELF:

Self confidence is not only healthy, it is also contagious. The first step toward others believing in you is to believe in yourself.

4. BE A PLANNER

The person who knows where he is going and believes he can get there; will find people to help him to achieve his goals.

5. BE A WORKER

Success is hard work; that’s why so few people succeed. Most people would rather sleep than work.

DREAM, LEARN, BELIEVE, PLAN, WORK and God will grant you the desires of your heart. For the only limitations that will ultimately hold you back in life will be those you place on yourself.