"The difference between excellence and mediocrity is vision...period end of story.  If you want to be mediocre then don't have a vision." Dr. Jerry Falwell

"Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others." Jonathan Swift

Is there anything more disheartening than aimlessly living life, no purpose, no goals.  I am personally learning the importance of finding, having, owning, and living out God's vision for my own life.  As we search the Bible we find great men and women of God who found God's vision for their life, and it was ALWAYS out of reach of human abilities.  At some point the strength, resources, or personal abilities fell short and the person had to depend on God to fill in the void where they were deficient.  It is in this "place" where God works and where I want to live.

Why is important to find God's vision for your life?  Because God's vision for you is what He has created us for, and because it always takes faith to carry this vision out.  May every believer seek out, find, and live out God's vision for their life.  We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our desire to find His vision for us.

We are people that believe that telling a lie is wrong.  We want others to tell us the truth and we get really upset when they don't.  We are all about the truth and then there are times when we flat out lie.  All of a sudden lies are justified and the truth just doesn't seem to be so important.  It is in those moments that we truly determine whether the truth is really important.  The same is true about living by faith.

Living by faith requires one to find God's vision for their life.  Most of the time the vision will be something that we will have no idea how to obtain, but that is exactly what God wants us to realize.  We can't do it without Him.  It is great to read stories about other great men and women who have realized God's vision for their life, but it is time that we realize God's vision for us, and without faith it is impossible.  Let's stop living off the great stories of the past, and create new stories and see what God will do through us!

I just got back from Dr. Falwell's funeral and have had some time to reflect on his life, traits that defined his life that absolutely amaze me.

Dr. Falwell believed that there was nothing that he couldn't accomplish as long as God was in it.  Even his life verse Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this very thing that he that began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus."  Every time I saw him on TV either CNN, FOX, etc. I always wanted to laugh when I would see New York, Washington DC, and then there was LYNCHBURG, VA.  "Can any good thing come out of Lynchburg?  Yet I believe that even the place is a testament of God at work.

Dr. Falwell believed in confronting the culture with the truth, the gospel of Jesus.  I liked the comment that Franklin Graham made at his funeral (paraphrase) He believed that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and an Almighty God. That’s controversial. He believed in the inerrancy of scripture. That’s controversial. He believed in the sanctity of life. That’s controversial. He believed in the establishment of the family, and who would have ever thought that would be controversial? He believed marriage should be between a man and a woman. That’s controversial.

Dr. Falwell was an inspiration to all who knew him.  I realize he was is one of those figures who you either loved or hated.  But to me he is one who stood for God's Word and for that I loved him.  He will be missed greatly.

When our faith in God meets His faithfulness not even the sky is the limit.  When we trust God with all of our "things" then he can turn them into resources that God build His Kingdom, but it all starts with "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is heaven."

 

As we look through the Bible and read about the lives of those who served God in a mighty way we see that they all had one attitude in common, they all realized that they were just managers of what God had given them.  Are you doing everything for the Kingdom of God based on what He has given to you?

The book of Acts is more than just a history of how the church began, but gives important insights in to how churches today can use the same principles to win our world to Christ.  Listen to find out more...

Is what the church believes important?  Is what you believe important?  The answer is absolutely, positively, YES.  In a world that claims that truth is relative and you can believe what you want, Jesus comes out and says, "I am the way, truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father, but by me."  Is truth important now?  Listen to hear more.

What does a Christian really look like?  Does he always wear a suit and tie and memorize a 100 verses a year, or is there something different.  See how Jesus defined what a good Christian is like in this week's message.

Are you trading eternity for a moment in time?  In the 3rd temptation Satan wanted Jesus to trade just a moment in time for the whole world, what would you do?  More important then just reaching His goal was to have an unbroken relationship with God.  In the end He got both; his relationship with God and the world.

 

Listen as we take a look at the 2nd Temptation that Satan tried to use to knock Jesus off course.  Does this happen to you?  In this episode we also look and see how the principles that Jesus used and how we can practically use them in our life to keep us from sin and to bring us closer to God.

So who is fulfilling your dreams and desires, you or God.  Something I've learned is that not only does God give us dreams and "hungers", but he wants to fulfill those things in us.  See how Jesus dealt with this issue from Matthew chapter 4.

Do you realize that you are in a spiritual battle?  Whether you like it or not, you are.  Ephesians 6 says that there is a battle that is fought purely upon decisions that we make, and that these decisions really do have consequence.  Listen to hear more about what God's Word says about this invisible spiritual war that is happening all around us.

Listen here for two principles that could literally change the way that you deal with temptation.  When the fog of temptation comes, PAUSE, and allow God to work in you to get through the temptation.  Your future depends on it.

We know the song that say for the Lord he WANTED to see, but what if there is another reason why Zacheus was in that tree?  And what if that reason could help you and I in our witness to reaching others as well?  Listen here to hear my explanation.

In my life I have figured out something, that it is much easier to be thankful for the things that God has given me, than to be thankful for the things that he has not given me.  Realizing that everything that I have, I have because He has given me, and everything that I don't have is because God has decided that I don't need it.  That is hard for me to swallow.  Some of the greatest temptations in my life is when I try to overstep my boundaries and go for things that God doesn't want me to have.  It is a lot like the story we find in Genesis where  Eve wanted something that God didn't want her to have, and she overstepped her boundaries.  God didn't want her to have it because of His love for her and didn't want her to be enslaved by sin.  This may be hard to believe but God knows what is best for us, even more so than you and I.  Trust Him, he promises that He will never fail you.

Running and winning the race of life is all about one thing, how close do you get in your relationship with Jesus.  We may allow weights and sins to get in our way, but ultimate fulfillment in this life, and the next, is about your relationship to Him.  So, how are you running these days?

We cheer and encourage our favorite teams to win because we like to be identified with a winner.  According to Hebrews 12:1, there is a "crowd" of witnesses that cheer us on here on earth.  The great saints of the past and present, their lives a testimony of what can happen when God truly is Lord ones life.  Learn to listen to the victories and even the mistakes of those who have gone before so that we may have the ultimate prize, Jesus.

 

It is that time of the year where we make our New Year's Resolution.  The big ones are always lose weight, get a better job, even spend more time at home with the family and these are all good resolutions.  Let me tell you my personal goal for this year, to lead more people to Jesus.  I have just finished a book called "Breakout Churches" by Thom Rainer, and I have absolutely been convicted, inspired, and found new committment to reaching the lost for Jesus Christ through His Church.  Rainer started out the book by saying "It is a sin to be good when God has called us to be great...It isn't called the Good Commission, but the Great Commission."  This year I challenge all of you to share your faith more bodly and with God's power.  Make 2007 a Great year by truly making a difference in someone's life by sharing the greatest gift ever, knowing Jesus as their personal Savior.

The birth of Jesus wasn't just something that was "cooked" up at the last minute.  His birth was just the completion of over 4,000 years of planning.  Prophets from more than 1,000 years before his birth foretold who, how, where and even when He would be born. 

What does that mean for you?  That God makes good on His promises.  And just like there were promises that pointed toward His first coming, there are 3 times as many prophecies that point to His Second Coming.  Are you ready?

Phil's top 5 miracles that Jesus performed, and what was really the point of them.  John 20:30 summarizes that they were performed that we would believe that Jesus is the Christ and so that we would have life in His name.

The natural attempt when it comes to our relationship with God is to think that you need to do good things to earn his favor, and that really couldn't be further from the truth.  The truth is that we really can't DO anything to earn his favor.  The only thing we can really do is to BELIEVE what he has already done for us.  God seeks to have a relationship with us.  The sermon today is about ways that we try to be polite to God when he is seeking so much more from us.  He wants to have a friendship with us.