A New Vision | William Carrol

would you fight with me please father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we thank you so so much but we know we are your children and it delights you to take care of us we realize we cannot do anything in ourselves we didn't create ourselves we can't sustain ourselves we asked you to keep us aware of that keep us humble in your sight so that we can look to you for all provision and we can make our requests known to you with Thanksgiving that we can open our hearts to your great generosity knowing that it delights you to help help us and to help us to help others Lord we ask you to speak to us today we need to hear from you every day this day is no different you've been ministering to us throughout this service we ask that you continue to do so we thank you and we bless you in Jesus name Amen amen god bless you brother sister what a pleasure it is to be home to be with you in the house of the Lord I just want to talk to you today on the topic a new vision a new vision and if you don't mind would you turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Mark and we just going to read a couple of verses of Scripture from the eighth chapter the Gospel according to Mark the eighth chapter beginning to read at the 22nd verse I'm gonna be down I think to about the 24th somewhere there abouts says then he came down to Bethsaida and they brought him a blind man and he begged him to touch him so he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town and we didn't spit on his eyes he laid hands on him and asked him do you see anything and he said I see men but they're like trees walking then he put his hand on his eyes again and made him look up and he was restored and saw everyone clearly so what we see happening here is Jesus touching a person once and giving them vision so he goes from no vision to vision and then he touches him again and he gives him a new vision he gives him clarity of vision now obviously year 2020 we have to talk about vision right we we can't let that go by usually not the kind of person that preaches occasional messages but I can't let that go but I just got it great okay so here's the situation as Christians we always want Christ to not only give us a vision that is to say a perspective that reflects God's own heart but we want that vision to be clarified from time to time because we live in a world that has a tendency to dull our vision or Fadel in our perspective we want to be careful to not lose sight of what God has called us to not lose sight of who God has called us to be not a little side of who God is and so on and so forth so we ask God every now and again to strengthen our faith because we walk by faith and not by sight and we ask God to help us to see things for what they really are now for us as Christians we have a very particular gift that is we can actually see the invisible now by definition the invisible can't be seen right but for us because we walk by faith and not by sight we can see things that the natural person simply can't see and that's because God has given us a special vision he's given us a special touch which is allows us to see not just 20/20 when they go beyond that where we can see the invisible now look in the situation with this person that Jesus is healing at first he has no vision whatsoever then he has clouded vision and then he has clear vision he has clarity now when he has clarity my sister my suspicion is the very first thing that he sees is Jesus right now when we think about seeing the invisible the very first thing that I think about is seeing God right because as Christians we can see God now that we see God physically because God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth that means that we see God in a very special way now when you look at the text of Scripture sometimes he talks about certain people seeing God face-to-face and then it defines that it says that Abraham for instance or Moses for instance saw God face-to-face it says the same thing about Jacob would he wrestled with the Lord and he called the name of that place can the el the face of God because they had befriended God they were friends of God it would say Abraham sees God face-to-face talks with him face-to-face the way a man talks with his friend or he said you know sometimes I speak to prophets and visions and in dreams but that's not the case with Moses Moses I speak to face-to-face because there's a friendship going on there and then Jesus says about us about his disciples I'm no longer simply calling you servants now understand I be a servant of God is the highest honor up into that point it is the highest honor if ik there is no higher title Moses was called the servant of the Lord David the servant of the Lord so on and so forth so when vehicle servants of the Lord it's a wonderful thing but he says I'm not simply calling you servants anymore I'm calling you friends so what he's saying is because you know what I'm doing because you understand who I am you understand my ways you're not simply following my orders you're not simply doing what I say you understand why I say it you understand my heart do you understand what motivates me because you have the mind of Christ because you have the indwelling spirit you can actually see God and understand because God is spirit the only way to see God is with the eyes of faith with the eyes of the Spirit I mean when we get to heaven of course we're going to see the manifest second person of the Godhead we're going to see the man Christ Jesus who is fully human fully divine but as far as the eternal Godhead we see the eternal Godhead now the way we will see him then only in those days there'll be no flaws there'll be no errors in our understanding now we still have to grow in our understanding but we still see God because we know how based on the Holy Scriptures and based on the holy spirit and based on the witness of Christ and based on our own teaching one another it's still thing where another to adjust God in a way that pleases God this is why God said you know we just we just heard in the song there's nothing that's gonna be 9 G we denied you but according to the scripture that is the case when we asked in his name when we asked according to his character so for us to see God simply means that we are addressing God as God and it means that we get to see God for who he is in our generation so it's not an abstract picture of God it's a picture of who God is in our generation that's what you'll see in the Bible times in time again when God will reveal himself some time as we sang earlier as Joe of Arafah and Jehovah Nissi and Jehovah Jireh and so on and so forth because it's not he changes but it's manifesting himself in different circumstances and in different communities and in different generations right so we get to see God enthroned in this generation and it's not easy to do because the world would suggest to us that God is no longer in authority but for those of us who are in the body of Christ we can see God even in a world that's telling us that God has passed on we can see the hand of God in a so-called post Christian society brothers and sisters let me remind you there is no such thing as a post Christian society these are the last days there is no post this day this is it this is the final time this is a time of Christ and this time goes on forever it's gonna change don't get me wrong but the kingdom of God has come and the kingdom of God goes on forever there is no post Christian society because there is nothing after Christ and as long as we still see Christ as king and as long as we still see God as seated on the throne as long as we still know that the heavens are his throne and the earth is his footstool as long as we are reminded that God created the earth and that God sustains the earth that everything ultimately will bow down to God every knee will bow every tongue will confess that he sits as king of the flood he sits above the circle of the earth as long as we understand these realities that means that we see God we can see them in our hard times we could submit our good times we can see him when the news is bad and when the news is good we can see him when men and women would try and convince us that he does not exist and we can see him when we are in a setting where men and women are praising him and worshiping him and it doesn't matter where we are you can see God as clearly for instance or Monday as you do on Sunday when you're in a situation where everybody's given glory to God you can see him and when you go to the job where nobody is glory to God you can still see him hallelujah because that's what happens when Jesus touches us and gives us sight but not only that I would suggest to you that when we see the invisible then we can also see into what the Bible sometimes calls the heavenlies the invisible realm give you an idea remember the Bible talks about a certain person who is coming under attack and normy is coming against him and one of the prophets of the Lord and the prophet of the Lord seems pretty strong and pretty secure but he's a little bit afraid and he begins to say how are we gonna fight against this group that's coming against us and the prophet the prophet Elijah basically prays to God and says God opened his eyes that he can see that there are more with us than there are with them hallelujah and all of a sudden his eyes are open and he looks around all the hills and all the mountains and they are covered with angels covered with God's people covered with an army he was able to look into the invisible realm and realize that he does not walk alone that there is power working on his behalf that there is an army marching with him that he is never fighting this battle in his own Strip never fighting this battle for his own purposes there was a much greater cause there is a much greater army there is a much greater victory there's much more at stake every time you and I engage in the daily life that we live we don't realize that we are a part of a great relay a part of a great army a part of a great family a part of a great heritage and everything that we do the name of the Lord is attached to and his backing is with us all the time he moves with us all the time we can begin to realize that we have protection under every circumstance it's a wonderful thing to move from place to place and in your mind's eye you can see the angels of the Lord walking alongside you praise God I don't have much of a choice either my nose is gonna run my mother's gonna be in tally dry cuz I take this uh there's a what he call this allergy relief the dry mind my nose but its indiscriminate it dries everything you don't need so we go so anyways to know especially in a city like New York right to know as you walk down the street that God is with you and that the angels of God are protecting you hallelujah that God is keeping you every single step of the way we can see the invisible and so we don't walk in fear and that's another thing that we have to remind ourselves of when we look into the invisible realm we can uncover the lie of the devil see we don't just see the protection of the angels but we can clearly uncover the deception of the devil we can see exactly where his lies are every time you ask yourself whether or not you're under attack of the enemy sometimes you say is this my flesh right it was just a devil or whatever the case might be here's the best way to figure it out always ask yourself where is the lie so if it's from the enemy it will always be accompanied by a lie right so and the lie is always going to ultimately be about God it's negative it's not gonna be about you ultimately it's gonna be about God ultimately so whenever you asking yourself is this an attack of the enemy first thing you gonna say or if you say to yourself it's an attack of the enemy then you have to ask yourself this question where is the lie what is the lie that the devil is using right and then ask yourself what does he try say to me about God that's not true you see them saying because they have that kind of vision that kind of insight will protect you from almost every kind of attack you see the saying I'll give you an example let's just say you go into a particular struggle let's just say it's it's medical let's say right okay so a medical struggle we don't attribute to the enemy we simply say it's a part of the fall as part of life no biggie but what if there's this lie that accompanies it that says God has forgotten you God can't protect you or God promised you you would never get sick and now you're sick or you must not have enough faith you must not only believe in God the right way God must be mad at you God must be punishing you that's the attack of the devil you see them say the sickness is not the attack of the devil it's the lie that says God is punishing you God is mad at you remember in Deuteronomy it says the people of God are not going to suffer the diseases of the people of the world so if you're suffering disease and you're a person of God you don't have to worry about whether or not God is mad at you the people of the world suffer diseases as a result of wrath in some cases but the people of God will suffer diseases because we are not exempt or immune from the results of the fall we will be ultimately every Christian will be healed right but not on this side of eternity some of us will be miraculously healed on this side of eternity some will be medically healed on this side of eternity pretty much all day every day there's some regeneration going on right so all of us are being healed on some level or another I mean our body's fighting off germs all the time but some healings won't happen until that side of eternity when we're glorified but that's up to God that's up to God's discretion but I'm not going to allow myself to believe a lie from the devil that's telling me I'm suffering the wrath of the curse of God when did around me 28 tells me I don't have to worry about that you see them saying so you have to ask yourself and I have to ask myself all the time if I'm thinking that this is an attack of the enemy my question is always where is the lie find the lie and then find out what is he saying about God that's not true and that is how you overcome the attack of the enemy this is how we see you understand say this is something that God has given us the capacity to know the devices of the enemy to not be ignorant of his devices according to the Holy Scriptures so we look into the heavenlies and we can see the protection of the holy angels we can see that God is looking out for us all the time that is protecting us all the time but protection is not the same as exemption protection is not the same as absolute and total immunity it only means that we can take victory even in times of struggle and ultimately we can win but the main victory we're going to have is we are not going to believe the lies of the devil in the process of our struggle but now I'm going to be overcome by the lie of the enemy as we go through what we have to go through so what if I believe the lie of the enemy as I go through my struggle well the first thing is going to tell me is you can't go to God because God is tidy God is exasperated with you God is sick and tired of you saying I'm sorry I've got a sick and tired of you failing in this and fellow metal adding in your faith and he started hearing so what does that mean that means I got to do it my own strength and there I am trying to get it right so I can prove to God how serious I am see that's a lie that's an attack of the enemy so what you and I do is we allow God to give us a vision into the heavenlies and we say I don't believe that to be true about God it's not I don't believe that to be true about myself the issue is not whether or not I'm a failure the issue is whether or not God loves me the issue is whether or not God accepts me the issue is whether or not God can help me whether or not God can heal me whether or not God can strengthen me whether or not God can empower me whether or not God can grow me whether or not God can glorify his name and me whether or not God can cause Christ to be formed to me whether or not the Holy Spirit indwells me whether or not God's promises are true for me whether or not I'm gonna be with God forever whether or not the scripture is true that says now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy whether or not that's true the question is who is God and what is he like because I want to be able to see God and I want to be able to see into the heavenlies and that comes with a touch from God okay but then I also want to be able to see if I'm gonna see the invisible then I want to be able to see the inner man I want to know who I am I've never once looked into the mirror and said that's me that's a part of me well that's not all that there is to me I don't see myself as a soul who just happens to have a body I see myself as a bipartite human being I'm both physical and spiritual they both are very important what I do what my body obviously means a lot to God it is his temple but that's not all that there is to me there's an invisible part of me and that invisible part of me I want to be able to see as well because pretty much everything that I do with the visible part of me originates in the invisible aspects of who I am so the more I know what I'm like the more I understand why I do what I do right because I found that when God is helping me over an issue he doesn't just come and kind of wave his hand over it and said from now on you're free I'm already free because I'm already a Christian what he wants to do is convince me of that freedom so he's going to say to me why are you still convinced that you're bound let's talk about it it's funny what's in there that's telling you something that's not true now that's different from the lie of the enemy in some cases it's memories it's being conformed to the Past thinking that you are what you were even though you're no longer that and amen and sometimes we don't want to think about that we don't want to see that and what the Holy Spirit does is he allows us to see it but to see it incrementally little by little right not so much that it overwhelms us because the Bible says the heart is wicked above everything right now I know we were born to get in with chains but what the Bible tells us is sometimes we can't even understand our own heart right so God takes us by the hand and he kind of walks us through it that's the hard part that's the hard part that's the one that nobody really wants to talk about right you know because they're like we're spiritual people don't know Christian psychology and so why we need to know what in the world's going on in here I was just gonna keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over again right and God will walk us through it and he'll say listen for some reason you believe that you're free here and you are you know and you believe that you're free here but over here somehow you still believe that you're still that same little kid right the same person has been lied to for the time you with this AIDS and so on and so forth and you still believe that lie and you don't have to believe it anymore right so we need to be able to see ourselves but not in our own strength see if you and I look into a mirror we're gonna see one thing you know we'll see you know some good some bad I will see you so you will get into the eyes of someone who truly truly loves you it's still gonna see a reflection but it's not some cold flat reflection it has no compassion no sympathy little love no patience no kindness when you look into the eyes of God that's why we have to be able to see God when you look into the eyes of God you're gonna see yourself he's gonna see your reflection in his eyes but that's not all you're gonna see you're gonna see his love for you you got to see his mercy towards you you're gonna see his compassion you're going to see his patience he's gonna see his tenderness you're gonna see the fact that he wants to walk with you he's not gonna leave you he's not gonna forsake you he's gonna take you through it so that you walk in victory the victory that's already yours because of what Christ did on Calvary but another thing which would recognize when you look inside you're gonna see something else you're gonna see imperceptible growth you know what I mean I mean we would we're on a planet that's moving really really fast right but the movement is imperceptible growth in the Christian is sometimes imperceptible because we sometimes so concerned with our weaknesses that we don't even recognize our victories we don't recognize our bro and the cool thing about being honest with yourself is you'll just see what you need to grow you see where you are growing you see where you're developing and God is not shy with compliments believe me he's not shy with compliments he will tell you all day every day how much you're growing and how much he loves you I think sometimes brothers and sisters at this sometimes we don't give God the benefit of the doubt sometimes we think he's always mad at us even even those who walk in new covenant and welcome freedom some I think we think if he's not mad at us then he's certainly not enthusiastically happy with us right he's just kind of like you know I'm not mad but yes just carwashes know what I [Laughter] think God is enthusiastically happy with us I mean we're where we are it could be anywhere right now we could be sitting anywhere we could be sitting among and scornful we could be walking among the wicked we could be anywhere right now here we are [Applause] that matters to God it matters to him that we're doing what we can we're trying our best to be what he's making us to be with we do what we can you and I don't know how much we grow you know how it is you you have if you have you know grandchildren children you know sort of you know see him for a little while and when you see him you you lift him up and you embrace him you tell how much they've grown and they look at you with incredulity like I haven't grown I'm the same size that was okay my little daughter how much you grow I can tell this my little daughter she's like sixteen Mary she she's about this tall yeah I keep telling her how much she's grown and she keeps denying it she's something she's sure she won't I mean I don't care how many times I tell her she's grown she's like drops in size you know cuz she wants to be tall she wants to be tall like I agree with her she she does she only told us I you know with the thing is she she won't feel acknowledged how much she's grown and I think that's the thing with us as Christians right God is always trying to tell us how much we've grown and we keep thinking I having grown it's just not true our growth might sometimes be imperceptible but you have to be able to see the invisible you have to be able to see the imperceptible you have to be able to see it because you have to be able to celebrate growth right if you're gonna be honest about where you need to grow then you have to be able to celebrate where you have grown you have to be able to rejoice in God amen remember you know the Bible says the joy of the Lord is just strength you know it's not enough for us you know to mourn over where we won we want to grow we need to rejoice in where we have grown and then finally I want to suggest to you that we want to be able to see the invisible and that we want to be basically the maintain the heritage of this church which is we have always reached out - the people that nobody else notices so the people that nobody else cares about the invisible people the Bible says in Corinthians that God calls those who are not jesus said when you've done these wonderful things to the least person you've done them to me talking about feeding them and clothing them and so on we want to be able to see the invisible the people that society have forgotten the people who have no one around this time of year they really feel it by this time of year it gets really difficult I spent as most of you know years living in the street Christmas it gets really lonely you try to ignore the days but you can but it's that way with a lot of people even if they're not living in the street some of they have families but they still feel like they're all alone to see the invisible very I mean the people sometimes troubling you're suffering right in front of us you know some of whom are contemplating suicide they right you sit right across the table from us sometimes yeah we need God to give us vision to see the invisible they see the thing that they're trying to hide right see the pain that they're trying to make over ask God to give us a vision to see the invisible because this church is known for that well we know for a few things we were known as the people of prayer and so on and so forth we know for people who somehow are able to perceive what most people just overlook if God gives us the vision to see the ones who are trying to hide are the ones who nobody cares about or the ones who in a sense time has forgotten and I think this church will always prosper and I believe that that's always been our heart it's my heart I'm Louis Pasteur hardest heart I know it's pastor Teresa's heart I know it was pastor wilkinson it's heart I know it's Jesus's heart pastor Patrick's heart build sorry I knew it I know it's your heart I knew it and I think if we continue to find the invisible person to see the invisible person to reach out to the invisible person there will always be Tara church will always make a difference in this generation praise God I wanted to pray with you this morning and I say with you I mean Lucy cuz I wouldn't pray for me as well as for you and just ask God to touch our eyes again you have to renew our vision because I know we have vision and I know we see but every now and again we just need a new tattoo fresh touch so that God can be glorified again in the earth let's stand together in the house of the Lord praise God freestyle you might be saying in your heart I really I really want to get a clearer vision of God and I want to be able understand his word in a new way I want to be able to see him in everyday life in a different way I want to be able to see him with my brothers and my sisters in a new way well you may say I just want to be able to see deeper into the heavenlies I want to know that I'm protected that I'm not walking alone and I want to uncover the lies of the enemy so that I'm not being led to and fro by the wind about anyone I just want to know the truth oh you better say I just want to be a bit more honest with myself not just with my struggles but my victories I don't want to be unaware of how I'm developing or you may say I I want to be in a position where I can walk down the streets in New York Oil know my job or at school or even at home and if I could see at an invisible person or that an invisible pain an invisible need you're gonna touch from God a new vision then I'm gonna invite you to come to the front of this auditorium we're gonna pray together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and man you can begin to come we're seeing some songs together and then we'll pray together in Jesus Holy Name God glory to his holy name I just want to before we pray together us he's chatting with the Lord for a moment or two and I just wanna remind you if there's any person here who feels invisible I feel like nobody knows that you're it's your life or you feel like even if they know it doesn't seem like they care feel like you're not making a difference or nobody would miss you if you weren't here I want to remind you that I mentioned before ask yourself where is the lie that's a lie because this somebody who loves you the mythology for first ask yourself where's the lie then ask you so what is that my saying about God you see God loves you for real I'm not saying he's the only one that loves you I'm saying you can be absolutely certain that at least somebody loves you God loves you and if you want proof just look to the cross you're not alone you heard pastor Patrick earlier no way to get involved where is he I can know some people don't leave this place feeling as though you're invisible because you're not and I want to advise every person here shake somebody's hand before you leave somebody that you may be somewhere that you ever met just make sure that nobody walks out of here feeling invisible okay take your time and do that before you walk out the door take somebody's head bless them in the Lord make sure and nobody walks out of this place without feeling like they matter have it sprayed again their father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we do thank you so so much thank you that you have given us a fresh touch a new vision where we know that to be able to see God to be able to see if the heavenly to be able to see ourselves honestly and to be able to see the invisible person is part of the heritage of being a Christian [Music] it's what makes us who we are but we thank you that this church as a local assembly has always had a wonderful vision we thank you pastor Carter and the vision that he casts in this house week after week a vision based on the Holy Scriptures a vision based on the Word of God the power and the presence of God we're asking that each one of us as individuals just recognize the part that we play so that as a body we can continue to make a difference Lord I pray you lay your hand upon each one here and you strengthen each you do something wonderful in each one of us or Jesus causing us to see even more clearly than we've seen up until this point help us to see the invisible well the scripture says that you know of a king immortal eternal invisible the only wise God and how you dwell in a light unapproachable but you have allowed us to gaze into your beauty upon the face of Christ help us oh Jesus by that light and that light to see into the heavenlies to understand that we do not march alone and to help us to uncover every lie of the enemy help us lord by that like to look into our own hearts with objectivity but to recognize that we are loved deeply loved doesn't help us to see those who have become invisible in our generation Oh God well thank you and bless you in Jesus Holy Name we pray amen amen god bless you brothers and sisters love you very very much look forward to seeing you soon Hey

Channel: Times Square Church

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Id: hUP0eEgt7QA

Length: 45min 45sec (2745 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 09 2020