Sunday, 5/4/2025

YOUR FUTURE AND HOW TO FACE IT IN FAITH NOT FEAR

Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV) For I know the plans I have for you, declares

the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and

a hope.

1 Peter 1:3 (ESV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus

Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born

again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from

the dead,

Ephesians 2:9–10 (NLT)Salvation is not a reward for the good things

we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10  For we are God’s

masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do

the good things he planned for us long ago.

Acts 26:19a (CSB) “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to

the heavenly vision.

You can't fulfill your life vision until first you see it.

Proverbs 29:18a "where there is no vision, the people perish."

An unclear vision leads to uncertainty and indecision.

James 1:8 (KJV) “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

An unclear vision leads to division. 

Proverbs 28:2 (Paraphrase)When the country is in chaos, everybody

has a plan to fix it—But it takes a leader of real understanding to

straighten things out.

When you don't have a clear vision for life there are constant

roadblocks.

Having a vision for your future requires hard work.

Matthew 6:22–23 (ESV) “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your

eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23  but if your eye

is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in

you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Numbers 13:17-20 "Go northward through the Negev into the hill

country and see what that land is like and find out whether the

people living there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of

land do they live in? Is it good or bad? Do the towns have walls? Are

they unprotected?  How's the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there

many trees? Enter the land boldly and bring back samples of the

crops you see."

We can only accomplish the impossible if we first see it in our minds.

Numbers 13:21-23 "They spied out the land all the way from the

wilderness up to Hebron and there they saw, the Ahimanites, and

the Sheshites, and all the Talmites, all the families descended from

Anak."

Numbers 13:25-26 "After seeing the land for 40 days, the men

returned to Moses and Aaron. And the people of Israel waiting at

Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran."

Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, looked at their future with eyes

of faith. But the other 10 of the spies looked at their future with the

eyes of fear. 

Overemphasis on the negative

Numbers 13:27, 28 "We arrived in the land you sent us to see. And it

is indeed a magnificent country. The land flowing with milk and

honey. Here's some of the fruit as proof, but the people living there

are powerful and their cities and towns are fortified and they're very

large. And we also saw the Anakim, the descendants of Anak who

lived in the desert."

Look at what you have left, not what you've lost.

Too much attention is given to what other people are doing.

Underestimation of the abilities that God has given me.

Seeing life with eyes of fear causes you to bury your talents.

Numbers 13:31 "We can't attack those people. They are stronger

than we are."

Fear creates self-fulfilling prophecies. 

Job 3:25 "What I have always feared has happened to me, and what

I have dreaded has now come to be."

"The land we explored devours those living in it."

"We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the

same to them."

One of the problems of a fear-based vision, is you project your fears

on everybody else.

I infect others with my negativity.

Numbers 13:32 "They spread a bad report about the land they

had explored."

I make myself miserable.

Numbers 14:1-2 "Then, all the people began weeping aloud. And

they cried all night, and they grumbled, and they complained in

a great chorus against their leaders. We wish we'd died in Egypt,

or even here in the wilderness."

Sadness increases.

Complaining increases.

Second-guessing your leaders begins. 

You want to go back, backwards.

The antidote: You need to develop a life vision. You need to see with

eyes of faith, not eyes of fear.  

Numbers 13:30 "Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and he

said, we should go at once. We should take possession of the land

right now. We can certainly do this."

One, plus God is a majority. God plus you, if God is for us, who can

be against us?

Hebrews 3:19 "So we see that they were not able to enter the

Promised Land because of their unbelief."

The starting point for getting God's vision for your life, obviously, is

to first put your trust in Jesus Christ, if you haven't done that.

John 3:3 "Unless you we re born again, you cannot see the Kingdom

of God."

John 11:40 "Didn't I tell you that you will see God's glory if you

believe?"