The You You See Is the You You Will Be: The Principle of Vision

Sermon outline

The you you see is the you you will be, so reject every word that devalues you, see yourself as the new creation God made, and keep your imagination on the vision God has for your life.

1. Be careful who prophesies over your life

   Joel says sons and daughters will prophesy and dream dreams, but be careful who prophesies over you and who tells you their dreams: it may be from the Lord, or from too much pizza the night before. Don't let just anyone lay hands on you, and don't drop your guard in business because someone says they are a Christian. He is not against prophecy or the gifts of the Spirit, but he has a more sure word of prophecy.

   Illustration: Many years before the church began, a woman in a church car park told him he would become a pastor. He later discovered she was a fortune teller involved in divination: she was precise, but it was the right words from the wrong spirit.

   “It was the right words from her. Wrong spirit.”

   • Joel 2:28-32
   • 1 Timothy 5:22
   • 2 Peter 1:19

2. Case study: the man of Gadara

   The man possessed by Legion, perhaps about 6,000 demons, lived naked among the tombs, cut off from the community and with no vision. The townspeople, who had broken God's law by keeping swine, cared more about their lost herd than the healed man and asked Jesus to leave. But once he met Jesus he was clothed and in his right mind, and he went home to tell the whole city what God had done: vision came the moment he met Jesus.

   “An encounter with Jesus brings us to our right mind.”

   • Luke 8:26-39
   • Leviticus 11:7
   • Deuteronomy 14:8
   • Isaiah 65:4

3. 1. The you you see is the you you will be

   It is really your brain that sees, and you can form mental pictures of things that don't exist yet; fear and worry are negative meditation that makes you feel things that have not happened. Don't meditate on your present situation, because God knows the end from the beginning and has a better plan. In one moment God changed the Gadarene man, and it takes but a moment for Him to turn your situation, your husband or your children around.

   Illustration: Look at David, Joseph, Samson, Daniel and Abraham: God came through for them again and again. Joseph's prison was part of the journey from the pit to the palace. Retrenchments may come, but your name will not be on that list, and even if it is, God will come through.

   “The you you see is the you you will be.”

   • Philippians 2:5
   • Isaiah 46:10
   • 1 Corinthians 15:52
   • Jeremiah 1:12
   • Proverbs 29:18

4. One miracle can be multiplied

   If you have had one miracle, you can multiply it: if you healed someone, led someone to Christ or came through one interview, you can do it again. Some walk among the flowers but never smell them; enjoy your blessings, taste your victories and count the trophies of grace instead of focusing only on the negatives.

   Illustration: Create a table in your home and place your trophies of grace on it, because your life is a trophy of grace.

   “If you did it once you can do it again.”

5. 2. Five secrets: see, gather, reject

   First, get a clear vision in your mind and spirit of the unique you God created and Christ died to redeem, with unlimited potential and no need to compete. Second, gather all the information you can from the Bible to support that picture, even when family keep reminding you of your past wrongs: what God forgave is in the sea of forgetfulness. Third, reject every thought, counsel or image that diminishes, devalues or demoralises you, like the mean things people say when a relationship ends.

   “Reject every thought, concept, counsel, image, or vision that diminishes and devalues and demoralizes you in any way, shape or form.”

   • Genesis 1:26-27
   • Micah 7:19

6. Five secrets: refocus and meet the new you

   Fourth, refocus and reproject your picture until you forget what the old self was like; you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and only when you love yourself can you love others. Forgive yourself as others have forgiven you, and agree with God when He calls you blessed and a mighty man or woman of valour. Fifth, become acquainted with the transformed new you: the devil's tags have expired, and you can walk with the Lord for years and still walk in condemnation unless you see that the Son has set you free.

   Illustration: Take time to write down what you haven't forgiven yourself for, pray, forgive yourself, then burn or shred the paper as a picture of the old self dead and buried, which is what baptism signifies. He says that revelation began his One New Man series and his first book, One New Man.

   “He's calling you blessed and you calling yourself cursed.”

   • Psalm 139:14
   • Amos 3:3
   • Judges 6:12
   • John 8:36
   • Hebrews 11:6
   • Mark 11:22

7. Beyond humanism to unlimited miracles

   Thousands are merely existing, but God wants you to have the best of life and to affect nations, families and communities: beggars can become business owners and the defeated can gain self-respect. Vision matters for managers and supervisors too: if you have vision and speak it, your team will see it, and if you do it, they will emulate it.

   “If you speak it they will see it. If you do it, they will emulate it.”

   • Mark 9:23

8. 3. Lift your dignity and self-esteem

   Christ in you makes faith possible, and God is at home in you, so it is an end to shame, guilt and feeling inferior. Clothes, shoes and cars are not wrong, but they won't change your thinking; let God change you from the inside so your self-esteem stays high whatever your position. Don't let people tag you, because then they bag you.

   Illustration: If they ask you God's address, give them your name and ID number, because the kingdom of God is headquartered in you. A small business or a subservient job is only a station you are passing; an elephant chained by the leg can't go anywhere.

   “The kingdom of God is actually headquartered in you.”

   • Matthew 1:23

9. Who God says I am, what I have, what I can do

   We are who God says we are: new creatures, delivered from darkness, more than conquerors, heirs of God and blessed with every spiritual blessing, so speak well of yourself when others put you down. We have what God says we have: life, light, liberty, love, joy, pardon, peace, purpose, power and provision. We can do what God says we can do, for we can do all things through Christ.

   “Sometimes you've got to remind yourself who you are.”

   • 2 Corinthians 5:17
   • Colossians 1:13
   • Romans 8:37
   • Romans 8:17
   • Ephesians 1:3
   • 1 John 5:12
   • John 8:12
   • 2 Corinthians 3:17
   • Romans 5:5
   • John 16:22
   • 1 John 1:7
   • Romans 5:1
   • Philippians 1:21
   • Acts 1:8
   • Philippians 4:19
   • Philippians 4:13