Title: Vision and Passion /Acts 16:6-10
Last week, President Kim Dae-jung and Chairman Kim Jong-il met and had a summit meeting, which made headlines around the world. Over the past week, I have heard many stories and seen many touching scenes, but the one I heard the most was the expression “historical”. Something big happened that will go down in history. That was when the waters of unification began to open.
Watching these news, I realized that there is something important in our lives. Don't think too narrowly. Shouldn't we at least think about the future of the nation and do something that can contribute something historically? I have been thinking a lot.
In a way, we don't know how we live day by day like a squirrel spinning wheel because it is urgent and difficult to eat and live. If we have something to eat today, have fun today, and have been recognized by people today, we may be living a life that is satisfied with it. However, we want to open our eyes to see the future.
We all want to live a successful life. Can we say that we have lived a successful life by eating abundantly and enjoying each day? no. At least, a successful life is something that is evaluated after years have passed. The evaluation comes after the person leaves the place.
Dear saint! We want our lives to be people who regret that we lived a successful life even after we passed away.
Then, how can our life be a successful life, a life that is recognized as a good person after many years? To start with the answer, let's become a person with a vision and passion. Vision and passion are gifts from the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you give me vision, and when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you give me passion.
After Paul met Jesus, he lived a life filled with the Holy Spirit. He decided to dedicate himself to the Lord. According to the words of the text, Paul has difficulties in going to Asia and trying to preach the gospel. I am not sure what the difficulty is, but the road does not open even if I try to go to Asia. Trous and Paul have a vision at night. A Macedonian stands and sees a vision, "Come over and help us." Macedonia is the destination for Europe. Paul goes to Macedonia to preach the gospel passionately. Paul was a murderer of those who believed in Jesus. But Paul became a passionate evangelist with a clear vision to go to Macedonia and preach the gospel. It was the Holy Spirit who gave Paul the vision, and it was the Holy Spirit who gave the passion.
I have ambition and I have a vision. Ambition and vision may seem similar, but they are completely different things. Ambition is the fulfillment of one's dream away from God. The prodigal son asks his father to give him his share. I am thinking of leaving my father and making my dreams come true. The idea of leaving Heavenly Father and growing yourself is an ambition. Even Paul was an ambitious man before he met Jesus. The idea of catching at least one more believer in Jesus and then succeeding after being recognized by many people is an ambition. However, the ambition that departs from God cannot ultimately lead to success in life.
But the vision is to return to God and make dreams come true in the Lord. If your ambitions are for your own glory, your vision is to fulfill your dreams for the glory of God. Look at Moses. Moses followed God's command and led the Israelites out of Egypt to the land of Canaan. To make dreams come true for the glory of God, this is the vision. Paul changed from a man of ambition to a man of vision. Returning to the arms of the Lord, I had a clear vision to preach the gospel to people in Macedonia and other Europe.
Dear saint! Let's not be ambitious. Be a person of vision. Ambition is like a man who builds the Tower of Babel in order to increase himself from God. A person of vision is like a faithful steward who accomplishes God's will.
The word vision comes from the Latin word visio. The verb vizio comes from the word video, i.e. I see. Vision literally means to see something. Vision is not to see what is in front of your eyes, but to see what is not before your eyes, what has not yet been realized.
Moses saw the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey. The reality is that they are living as slaves in Egypt, but in the future, the Israelites have already seen that they will settle in the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey and live happily ever after. Although there are no people who believe in Jesus in Europe now, Paul had already seen with his own eyes that when he went to Macedonia and preached the gospel, more and more people would believe in Jesus. Although we are living in a divided country now, we have already seen with our own eyes that in the future we will be reunified through the gospel and shouts of praise will resound in Kaesong, Pyongyang and Sinuiju. I heard the situation on the radio when President Kim Dae-jung arrived. The people who came out of the welcome shouted, “Amen, Amen” in my ears. I later found out that the sound was a hurray, a hurray sound. I believe that the day will come when the flames of revival will burn again in the northern part of the country, and the cry of Amen Amen will resound. Vision is to see the invisible, to hear the cries of the future.
So this vision is a gift from the Holy Spirit. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” You can't see it now, but faith makes you see the future.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of vision. In 1963, he exclaimed, "I have a dream." At that time, black people had to ride in the back even if they got on the bus, they couldn't go into restaurants, and there were churches that black people couldn't enter. In these circumstances, Martin Luther King Jr. saw the invisible. I saw a day when black people were treated the same. I saw black children holding hands as brothers and sisters with white children. I had a clear vision that such a day would come. Martin Luther King Jr. "I have a dream." “I have a vision,” he exclaimed.
The Holy Spirit gives vision to people's hearts. Through the process of realizing that vision, God is still working. Ezekiel had a vision. I saw a hopeless vision of dry bones scattered throughout the garden. But it does not end there, and the dry bones begin to gather. Tendons formed, fleshed and covered with leather. brought to life formed a large army. The situation of Israel at that time was a situation of despair in which the country had been taken away. However, the vision Ezekiel saw was a vision. The dry bones were connected and transformed into a living creature. The people of Israel died like dry bones, but I had a vision that God would raise them up again.
I have a vision. I have a dream. "If you live with the life of Jesus, this world will change into a more pleasant world." I am convinced that God has given me a vision. If I come alive through the Spirit of Jesus, my family will also be saved. Save your neighbors save this society When this happens, God has given us a clear vision that the world we live in will become a world of good taste. So, our church will work harder to become a "life-saving church". We want our church to become a church known for saving lives. Dear saint! Together with the scarce species, "Let's save lives." Let's become saints who realize this vision together.
How many ambitious people are there in the world? Some people believe in Jesus as a tool to fulfill their ambitions. Ambition that leaves God's bosom will eventually lead to death. leads to ruin However, when I keep my faith and achieve the "vision to save lives", I have the conviction that my dreams are true.
“Even if the world changes, I will keep my faith. As I live my life, death is like a dream, but my dreams will come true.
There are also fertilized and unfertilized eggs. Fertilized eggs are eggs laid by a hen by mating with a rooster, while unfertilized eggs are eggs laid without mating. Outwardly, they look similar. However, the results after incubation for 21 days of mother chickens are completely different. Fertilized eggs come out as chicks, and unfertilized eggs come out rotten. A person with a dream has hope and life for that future. But those who do not have dreams look the same now, but they rot over time and come out. We must be people with a vision.
Let's all become people of vision. It is a misconception that vision is only for young people. A vision doesn't just mean what you want to be in the future. Let's become saints with the "vision of making even one person come to life and transforming the world into a more livable world because of me."
However, not all problems can be solved by just having a vision. You must have the passion to achieve your vision. The Holy Spirit gives us vision, but the Holy Spirit also gives us passion. The Holy Spirit comes down like fire and gives you a burning passion. Paul was a man of vision and a man of passion. Paul confessed, "Not that I say I have already accomplished it or that I have finished it, but I run to grab hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brethren, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it; I run toward the goal to catch things, for the reward of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." In these words, Paul is a man with a vision. Paul realizes that he has a passion for realizing that vision.
Paul had a passion for making his vision come true. No matter how hungry I was, that hunger could not extinguish the fire of passion. Despite the pain of being beaten, the hawk could not extinguish the fire of passion. met a storm But the storm did not extinguish the fire of passion. At the risk of death, Paul preaches the gospel. The fear of death could not quench the fire of passion that was burning in Paul.
Jeremiah was also a man of passion. The preaching of the word became a source of great reproach and insult to Jeremiah. Jeremiah's heart is on fire when he says that I will never proclaim the name of the LORD again, nor will I speak his name again. God gave Jeremiah a burning passion in his heart to preach the word.
You cannot achieve anything without a vision. You can't end it with a successful life. You must have the passion to achieve your vision. But this passion does not come from my heart, it is a gift from the Holy Spirit. We must ask the Holy Spirit. “God, give me a clear vision and a lasting passion.”
Wesley's evangelism meetings and sermons were so popular that large crowds gathered. It was because he was so full of zeal and enthusiasm that he joked about going to Wesley's meetings as "going to the fire."
Dear saint! I hope you have a vision to live for the Lord. Let's live with a clear vision to save even one person because of me. And I hope you have the passion to be loyal to death. What the Lord wants the most is to save people. The members of our church hope to become a church that fulfills God's will with the vision and passion to save lives.