05. a Vision That Motivates — Denny Kenaston

A Vision That Motivates Action

Praise God for what He's showing us, for what He's showing me in my heart. I'm not sure if I can say what I see in my heart. I'm not sure. May God help me to say what I see in my heart. This next message, we're going to call it, a vision that motivates.

A vision that motivates. That word motivate means move to action. A vision that moves us to action. Proverbs 29, 18, up here on the board. Where there is no vision, the people perish. But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Samuel's Day and the Loss of Open Vision

A biblical example of this portion of scripture comes out of the days when Samuel the prophet was alive. The Bible says that in Samuel's day, Israel was in a sad state of affairs. The ministers had lost out with God.

The ministers had compromised the word of God. And compromise was creeping in in every direction. And according to God's word, God reveals the whole sad situation in these clear words, but short words.

There was no open vision in those days. These words say it all. Even though there are chapters of sad commentary describing the situation there in Samuel's day, this little statement gives the whole thing in a nutshell.

There was no open vision and the people were perishing. What is a vision? I think it's important for me to give a bit of a definition to that as we move into this portion, this whole section on vision.

Because I will refer to that word many times. A vision, the word vision is a powerful little word. And it is the hope and the future of your family this morning. If you have no vision, your family will perish.

Promise! A vision is a mental image imprinted upon the heart by the Spirit of God. It is that which we see with the eyes of our heart. Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians 3. He used the words written with the Spirit of the living God on the fleshly tables of the heart.

Oh, I love that verse. Oh, that God would write by the Spirit of the living God upon the fleshly tables of our hearts. A vision is a spiritual revelation of the mind and will of God. It usually comes by Scripture.

As we read in the Spirit, note that, as we read the word of God in the Spirit, dreams and visions flame up within us. Amen? That's where vision comes from. You know, I looked up the word dream. Oh, it's some time back.

Looked up the word dream in the Hebrew. Very interesting definition. I was shocked the first time I looked at it. I thought, no, surely that can't be right. But then when I thought a little bit more, I thought, yes, that is right.

The Hebrew word dream means to make healthy and to be strengthened. You know, I pondered that a bit, and I thought, yes, that is exactly what a dream or a vision does. It makes me healthy. It makes me strong.

It motivates me. I mean, a man with a vision, you'd be surprised what a man will do when he gets a vision. He's got energy that he didn't know he had. And that's just on the human level. A vision is an ideal or an aspiration that makes us healthy and strong.

And that's how dreams work in humans. When a man has a vision, he comes alive. He is filled with energy. His whole being is consumed with what he sees and wants. Amen? That's the way it is with a vision.

Proverbs 29:18 and Spiritual Degeneration

This verse that we read in Proverbs is probably the most famous verse in the Bible on the subject of vision. It reveals the present day problems in America to a T. We are in a state where there is no open vision.

God's people do not see as God sees, and we are perishing. And by the way, that word does not mean go to hell. Let me paraphrase Proverbs 29, 18 for you as I studied it out word for word. Here's my paraphrase of it.

Where there is not a spiritual seeing of God's will in the heart, the people will cast off restraint, go naked, and live like savages. Where there is not a spiritual seeing of God's will in the heart, the people will cast off restraints, go naked, and live like savages.

What a commentary of this land where we live. Degenerated America. Can it be? Can it be that there were revivals in this land where thousands and hundreds of thousands got converted? But yea, the people go naked and live like savages in America.

We must get captivated with a view of God's will and hold the eyes of our heart upon it until it motivates and activates us to keep God's law again. We must. Notice the steps downward in this whole matter of degeneration of a society.

First of all, the heart cools. Watch it, brothers and sisters. Then we stop walking close to God. From there our spiritual sight dims. Soon it is gone. Then we begin to cast off restraints. And I'm telling you, I've been a pastor for 25 years.

I have watched that happen. I've been shocked at what I have seen people do. The restraints they have cast off. But it all goes way back to when the heart began to cool. The steps upward work the same way.

Man, if you want to get a vision, you must get right with God. Number one. Then, as the heart gets right with God, it begins to sigh and cry to God. To open my eyes, Lord. The spirit reveals. Then comes motivation.

We obey. And happiness and order is the blessing of our lives. That's how it works. Going the other way. Let's consider a little of the inner dynamics of a God-breathed vision. God moves his people through vision.

When God wants to do something, he always begins with a vision. Whether it's something in your life or whether it's something in a church's life. He begins with a vision. So, in a sense, what you see today is where you will be in five years.

Because God moves his people through vision. That's how God works. That's the inner dynamics of this whole thing. With Abraham, God gave him a promise. That promise had a vision in it. Abraham began to see God's will.

God began to call the things that be not as though they were. And Abraham believed God and had an exciting adventure because of it. That's the way God works. He calls the things that be not as though they already are.

And maybe you're sitting here this morning and you say, Oh my, things are not too good a shape in my house. Hey, that's okay. We serve a God who calls the things that be not as though they already are.

By faith. By faith, brothers and sisters. By faith. That's how God works. In Deuteronomy chapter 28, we see that God gave his people a corporate vision. Promises bursting with a vision. And those who obeyed, and many did, they found it just as God said it would be.

A vision to the people of God. If you obey me and hear my voice, I will bless everything you do, God said. What a beautiful vision. To motivate somebody to action. This inner dynamic applies to our homes also.

Rēma, Pentecost, and the Spirit's Empowering Vision

The Bible is pregnant with verses about the home. God wants to breathe rimas into our hearts, that we may know what his will is for our families. God wants to do that. The New Testament word for vision is rima, the Greek word.

That word rima simply means this. God takes his written word by his spirit and speaks it to my heart. There's something very powerful about God taking his written word and by his spirit speaking it to my heart.

When God does that, you know it by the way. You know it when God does that. It does things to you. It makes you go places where you wouldn't go. It'll make you do things you never dreamed you'd ever do.

Because God's word has his grace and power in it. Oh God, give us a rima for our children, for our families this week. Joel prophesied of the days when the spirit of God would be poured out upon God's people.

The results, a people filled with dreams and visions. This happened on the day of Pentecost. The anointing and the visions that came from that anointing caused those people to fill Jerusalem with the doctrine of Christ.

They couldn't help themselves. I mean, the authorities threatened them and they said, What can we do? We've got to obey God, not man. We cannot but speak the things we've seen and heard. We can't help ourselves.

Why? We saw something and it has motivated us. That's what I'm talking about. God needs to do that in our hearts concerning our families. We still live in the age of this outpouring of God's spirit and God wants to fill our hearts with dreams and visions for our homes.

He is waiting to give us more than we would even ask or think, I guarantee it. More than we would ask or think. God has an inheritance for us. He has an inheritance for us. And it's a beautiful spiritual inheritance that He has already given to us.

Yea, there's much more to come. But we are not living in the good of what He has already given to us. But that inheritance, God wants us to realize it in our lives and pass it on in living reality to the next generation.

Praise God. That's what God wants to do. I think we've lost the meaning of inheritance here in America. Now when we hear the word inheritance, we think lands, money, you know, and the old grandfather clock that great-great-grandfather had and passed down to everybody else.

We think of that when we think of an inheritance. When you look into the word of God, you'll find out that word inheritance meant a whole lot more than a piece of dirt, bless God, or some piece of money.

It meant so much more than that. When God speaks about inheritance, He's talking about passing down the heritage of a godly relationship with a living God from generation to generation. That's what God has as an inheritance.

He wants to give it to us. He wants to impart it to us in living reality that we may pass it down to the next generation. They may take it and pass it to the next generation. It's God's will for every one of us that He do that.

God says far more about spiritual inheritance in His word than He does about the physical. When we look at the illustration of the land of Canaan, think about the land of Canaan. Yes, Canaan was a real place.

It was a physical place. Yes, God gave them physical pieces of land and houses and all those things. But there's more. There's more insight into the land of Canaan than just that dirt over there in the land of Israel, I'm telling you.

The land of Canaan was a type and shadow of a New Testament, abundant, overflowing, spirit-filled life. That's what the land of Canaan is, my brothers and sisters. And God wants us by grace through faith to go into the land and possess it so that our children can have it after us.

My dear brothers and sisters, do we have any idea what God wants to do with our children if we would simply wake up and get right with God ourselves and begin to live in the reality of this beautiful, overflowing, abundant life which is the land of Canaan?

God wants to pass it on to our children. Oh, but we must have it in our own lives first. I like this verse in Numbers chapter 14 and verse 24. It's talking about Caleb. He's my hero. I like Caleb. Listen to what God says about Caleb in light of what I just said.

God says, But my servant Caleb, my servant Caleb, amen, he had another spirit with him and hath followed me fully. This is what he says about him. Him will I bring into the land whereunto he went, and his seed shall possess it.

Oh, I love that verse. I love that. May God make us like Caleb. God was speaking prophetically there. They weren't in the land of Canaan yet. This is the book of Numbers, amen. God was speaking prophetically of Caleb because God knew what was in Caleb.

Caleb was a man who wholly followed the Lord his God. There was another spirit in Caleb than those other spies that went into the land and came back with all those doubts and fears and all that unbelief and all that complaining and grumbling.

There was another spirit in Caleb. It was the spirit of the living God, the same spirit that energizes every one of our hearts and lives even today. God says, I want you to have the heart like Caleb has, and I will bring you into the land, and your seed shall possess it.

Amen. Oh, what a beautiful promise. That thing speaks life to my heart when I read it, and his seed shall possess it. Let's go for it, brothers, sisters. There are two ways. As I see in the Bible, there are two ways that God builds the church, and I believe them both.

Raising Families and Winning the Lost

We must follow both paths, or we will never come to the fullness of the stature of Christ that Paul mentions in Ephesians chapter 4. We must follow both of these ways. These ways are this. Number one, we must raise our families for God.

Number two, we must win a lost and a dying world. If we will follow those two paths, God will build a church. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. If we will follow those two paths, God will build a church, a beautiful church.

These two are intricately tied together, and we will see this more as we go through the week. God will show us more clearly what it means. Proverbs 11 30 expresses both of these ways so clearly. Consider these words.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. That's both ways, both ways. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. That's a godly generation coming up out of them, and he that winneth souls is wise.

That's reaching the lost world around us. So beautiful. We know that generations of trees come from one tree. Amen? Generations of trees come from one tree. In fact, generation of trees come from one seed.

Selah. Stop and think about that. This is an awesome reality when applied to our families, to the kingdom of God. A righteous tree will produce seed that will grow into righteous trees, and on and on it goes, and thus the church is built this way.

This is part of the plan of God. The church has missed it. They've missed it, and the children are going into the world in mass. That's one way that God builds the church. The other part of the verse, he that winneth souls is wise, and there's a whole sermon in this, and you know how I feel about that.

But a consecrated church will go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We must do both of these. We will get lopsided if we choose one or the other. There are churches who went whole hog after evangelism, and they lost their children to the world in the midst of it, and there are other churches who huddled around their children, their precious little children, and protected them in such a way that they just turned into a dead religion.

We don't want that either. We want both, and we will see as we go. They are very intricately tied together, and in reality you can't have one if you don't have the other. God has us in a corner. Let us win our children to a wholehearted love for Christ and go with them and win the world.

Amen? Let us win our children to a wholehearted love for Christ and go with them to win the world. This is God's plan. Turn with me to Psalm 78. Psalm 78, we see in the Old Testament God's plan for the children.

Psalm 78 and the Generational Transmission of Faith

God's plan for the children, Psalm 78, reading from verse 1. Give ear, O my people, give ear to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us.

We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God and keep his commandments.

There we see God's plan for the children so beautifully laid out in these verses. God commands the fathers. Sorry fathers, but that's what the Bible says. God commands the fathers to enter in to this beautiful propagation of the faith down to the next generations.

We are responsible. Our task is to pass the faith onto our children. Not a religion, but a living, breathing, vibrant Christian faith to the next generation. Then they will rise up and do the same and on and on it goes.

This is God's plan. Let's look at the four generations here in these verses. First of all, he commanded our fathers. That's one generation. That they should make them known to their children. That's the second generation.

That the generation to come might know them, even the children that should be born. That's the third generation. Who should arise and declare them to their children. That's the fourth generation. Do you get it?

I mean, look, if we follow this, it never ends. It never ends. Think about it. Grasp it. If we follow this, it never ends because it just keeps on going and going and one generation gets the next and the next and the next.

There's only one thing that will stop that chain and we all know what it is. See how godly fathers in Israel looked at their responsibility. They received the reward of many godly generations. When they followed this pattern, they received the rewards.

Seven Generations from Nahshon to Solomon

Let's look at seven godly generations here this morning and as we look at them, it's very easy to see why David was a man after god's own heart. In Matthew chapter 1. You can turn there if you'd like.

It's the genealogies, Matthew 1, verse 4 through 6. I'll turn there too. Matthew chapter 1, 4 through 6. Here are these words. Now let's look at these seven generations of men that we just listed here.

Nason. Nason was a prince in Israel. The Bible says he was renowned in the congregation. He was the head of Judah. All the tents of Judah were placed around Nason's tent. He was the leader of 74 ,000 fighting men and he raised a son according to Psalm chapter 78 whose name was Salmon.

Salmon married Rahab the harlot whose faith was so beautiful that God recorded it in the Bible. The testimony of Salmon's son Boaz speaks volumes about the kind of home that Salmon had. He raised his son Boaz according to Psalm 78.

Boaz. There's more about Boaz than we can take in these few minutes that we have. Boaz was famous in Israel. He was known as a mighty man. He was a man of much character. He married virtuous Ruth. Many prophetic words surrounded the marriage and the birth of a child that came from Boaz and Ruth.

Obed was born to them. Obed grew up in a godly home. One of the ones like Psalm 78 describes. He had a holy grandmother named Naomi and his father was Boaz. Obed married and had a son. His name was Jesse.

Jesse had eight sons and two daughters. He was a devout man. His testimony of his godly home is seen throughout the scriptures. Samuel was impressed with all eight of his sons. Don't forget that. Jesse was a mighty man according to Psalm 112 and his sons were mighty in the land.

He had a son named David and David made Jesse even more famous in Israel. David was the shepherd boy, the giant killer. He was a mighty man. He was the king. He was a prophet. He was the psalmist. He was the anointed of God.

His name is mentioned 1 ,000 times in the word of God. David's name. David had a son named Solomon. He was king over Israel. He was the builder of the temple. He was the leader over Israel during the most dynamic part of the history of Israel.

He was the wisest man in all the earth. He wrote the book of Proverbs and others, books that are in the Bible. These are seven generations to back up Psalm 78, verse 1 through 7. Seven godly generations.

Only the Spirit of God can help us to grasp the depths of the meaning of what I just read. Only the Spirit of God can help us to see the power of that. You're here today. Where will your generations be in seven generations?

Abraham's Five Generations of Faith

Good question. Let's look at five generations. Abraham was the friend of God. He was the father of all who lived by faith. He walked with God and he was perfect. And he had a son, a miracle son named Isaac.

Isaac was the son of promise. He yielded his life up to God and to his father and allowed his father to put him on the altar for sacrifice. Isaac trusted God and believed his promises and spoke prophetic blessings over his son Jacob and they all came to pass.

Jacob, the supplanter, wrestled with God all night and was called Israel, the prince who had power with God and power with man. He was the patriarch of Israel. His godliness impressed Pharaoh in his old age.

This man was a mighty man. He had a son named Joseph. Joseph was the dreamer of dreams, dreams that came true. Joseph was the preserver of life for all of Israel. He was a godly servant who became a king.

He was a man of character and he was a type of Christ in the Bible. Joseph had a son named Ephraim. Ephraim walked in the prophetic blessings of his grandfather. He was famous in Israel and prospered in the ways of God.

That's five generations. God said to Abraham, walk before me and be thou perfect and I will bless you and I will bless your seed after you and your seed shall inherit this land and I will bless all the nations of the world through you.

God said that to Abraham. Let's look at four generations and then we'll move on here. Amram, he was one of the sons of Levi. He was father of Moses, Aaron and Miriam. He must have done much right in order to have those three, Aaron, Moses and Miriam.

Amram, Aaron, Eliezer, and Phinehas

By faith he and his wife saw God's call upon Moses and trusted God, casting their son away only to receive him back again. Amram had a son named Aaron. Aaron was the spokesman for Moses. He was the first high priest.

He trusted God to lead Israel in the tabernacle worship. He had two godly sons, Eliezer and Ithamar. Eliezer was the son who followed his father as the high priest. His life was more clear even than his father Aaron's life and he had a son named Phinehas.

Phinehas was a man of God. He put away evil, immorality in Israel. He received a blessing from God for that on every generation of his descendants. Think about it. He followed his father Eliezer as the high priest and he was a faithful man all his days.

Seven generations, five generations, four generations. How many more examples do we need to see that what God says works? And if God did it for them, God can do it for me. Amen? Bless God I don't have to be a hippie anymore.

I changed the direction and the heritage of my family. Hallelujah. Look at these beautiful lists. We need to take fast hold upon these biblical examples for our own families. Let the word preached be mixed with faith and bring forth profit to our households.

It is possible for even you to sow labor so as to see many generations of godly children rise up and serve the living God. It's possible for you. Hallelujah. Some of us, good. Some of us have eye disease.

The Laodicean Eye Disease and the Need for Spiritual Sight

How's your vision this morning? What do you see? This is where it all begins, brothers and sisters. This is where it begins. And listen to me. It is not enough for you to sit here today and say, ooh, amen, Brother Denny.

Wow, good. Wow, that's good stuff. Amen. I see it. I agree. It's not enough for you to do that. That thing must be burning in your heart when you leave this place. It's got to be burning in your heart two weeks from now.

It has to be burning in your heart on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. It's got to be there. It's not enough for you to be thrilled with what you've just heard. It must be in your heart in order for it to be in your children and your children's children.

So again, we must sigh and cry to God that God would give us a vision that we would see what he wants to do with our children. But some of us have eye disease. How are your eyes? The Apostle John addressed this subject with the church at Laodicea.

Remember them? They were the lukewarm church. They thought they had everything together. They thought they were rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing. And God said, you're poor and naked and blind.

He said, you have an eye disease. You can't see. Maybe we have an eye disease. The Laodicean church had been hot and full of reality at one time, but they lost their vision. Slowly, their love cooled.

Slowly, the heart began to get clouded over. Slowly, they lost their vision. And guess what? The church at Laodicea was slowly casting off restraints. Just casting them off. So much so that God had to come in and say, you're poor and naked and wretched and blind.

You don't see anymore. They lost their vision. He even told them they were naked, amen? He even told them they were naked. Just like it says, and the people shall go naked and live like the heathen. What did God say through John to the church at Laodicea?

He said, anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. You have an eye disease, O Laodicean church. Go get some holy heavenly eye salve and anoint your eyes so that you can see. If you could see, you wouldn't be living the way you're living.

If you could see, you wouldn't do what you've been doing. If you could see, you wouldn't be neglecting your children. If you could see, go to God and get some heavenly eye ointment and anoint your eyes with that ointment so that you may be able to see, God says.

Then he ends with pleading words with the church of Laodicea. Words, pleading words for true reality. He says to them, oh, I must read them. I think I can quote them, but I think I'm just going to go there and read it.

Pleading words for reality. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Surely you'd think they'd be able to hear him. I stand at the door and knock, says God. If any man hear my voice, is there anything more precious than that, brothers and sisters?

If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and I will sup with him and him with me. That's it. See, that's what God is saying. That's what he was saying to the Laodiceans. That's what he's saying to us.

Entering the Land of Spiritual Reality

I want you to enter into the land, the land of reality, the land of blessing, the land that's flowing with milk and honey, the land of Canaan, the land of reality, the land of a life in Christ, in God.

Enter into the land. And God says, Oh, you'll hear my voice. I will sup with you and you will sup with me. Like John said, truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Amen?

Oh, my dear brothers and sisters, somehow God has to help us and take us beyond. You know, we see this thing way too much with the nuts and the bolts of it. I'm telling you, we do. We see it way too much that way.

This whole thing of raising a family is an utter spiritual thing. And so many of God's people are trying to make the whole thing happen without it. And guess who gets the brunt of it? Too strong? Too strong?

Well, what kind of friend would it be who would stir you with words of what a vision can do but wouldn't tell you how to get a vision? This is how you get a vision. You sit here today and you say, I have no vision.

I have no vision. Where does this guy see all this stuff? I don't have any vision. It's time to repent. It's time to break your heart before God. It's time to go get some eye salve and put it on your eyes and stay there and wait before God until the eye disease begins to heal and you begin to see.

Oh, it's beautiful up here, brothers and sisters. It's beautiful. You know, in Beulah land, blue skies, lovely clouds. Oh, it's beautiful up here. Get some of that eye salve and put it on your eyes till you can see.

A Vision That Sustains Faithful Action

Visions come from God. He is the author of every one of them. If you have no reality, you will find it very hard to hold on to all the things that I'm going to tell you this week. You will find it very hard.

You'll get stirred up a little bit and go home with a new resolve and lose it in two or three weeks. But if you have a vision, you don't even need to listen to me the rest of the week. All the how-tos of instruction will not reach if there is no vision to sustain you after you go home.

Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 20 gives us these words. These are some of the most encouraging words in the Bible. Hear them. God is able. That word means full of power. God is full of power, able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us.

Wow. Look at that. Let us get ourselves in the place where this power that worketh in us is working in us personally and then the sky is the limit, brothers and sisters. Let us get ourselves in the place so that this power that worketh in us is working in us personally.

Like Paul said, according to the spirit that worketh in me mightily. Beautiful words. Mightily. God wants to do that for you. God doesn't just do that for Apostle Paul. He does it for every single child of God.

Don't you think he would do it for you for the sake of your children that he might raise up a godly seed who would be prophets and Nazarites all across the land and world? Surely God would do that for you.

Only believe. Only believe. All things are possible. Only believe. Only believe. Only believe. All things are possible. Only believe. Where are you at? Where are you at with the Lord? Strong word. Yes, strong word.

But where are you at with the Lord? Remember, we came. We came to do business with God. We came saying, God, change my life forever while I'm here. Do you have eye disease? I just make this plea with you.

You have some time today to do something with that eye disease. And if I were you, I would do something with that eye disease today because there's a lot more coming. I'd hate to sit through it all and look at it all like this.

I'd hate to do that. 14 meetings, 28 sessions, looking at it all with eyes like this, glimpsing through the crack of your eye while the pus is holding most of it closed. You know, I see a little bit of what he's saying.

I see it. Yeah, I can see what he's saying here. I see it a little bit. Oh, God needs to open our eyes, brothers and sisters. Do you have eye disease? You need to get right with God, my brother, my sister.

There are people here who would be glad to counsel with you this week. You make your need known. Brother Emmanuel, Brother Aaron, you make your need known. God wants to meet your need so that you can see.

Closing Prayer for Clearer Spiritual Vision

Let's stand for prayer. O God, our Father, we stand in awe at what we have heard. I have heard thy voice, O Lord, and I was afraid. The prophet said, I have heard thy voice and I tremble, Lord. We acknowledge your voice this morning, Lord.

We plead for a clearer sound. We just commit each one of these families to you. Work our work in every one of our hearts, God. In Jesus Christ's name, amen.