Chazown - 1

Well, welcome today to all of our campuses, all of our Network Churches. We are in the middle of a series....wait a minute; we're not in a series, what are we doing? Excuse me, we are doing something...okay, let's try this again. Can you imagine how awkward it would be if you came for the Chazown Experience and I was totally unprepared and didn't know what we were talking about? Because I was just kind of joking around there! If you're taking notes, here's a very common problem. Everyone ends up somewhere, but few people end up somewhere on purpose. Everyone ends up somewhere, they float through life; but very few people end up somewhere at a God-determined destiny. The good news is, this is not going to be you. You're here because you care about your future, you care about glorifying God, and you are going to end up somewhere on purpose. Welcome to session one of the Chazown Experience, where you're going to hear from God. He's going to speak directly to you and the good news is, you're going to glorify Him with the way you live. You are going to end up somewhere on purpose. Think about this: If I ask you, Do you want to be close to God? I'm sure you'd say, Yes, I would. If I ask you, Do you want to have a godly family that leaves a legacy of Christians for generations to come? I'm sure you'd say, Yes, I would. If I ask you, Would you love to be debt-free? No car payments, no house payments, no student loan payments, no credit card payments, you can give freely and generously and never worry about money? I'm sure you would. If I ask you, Would you love to be in great physical shape? I'm sure you'd say, I would. But the reality is, very few people end up there. Why is that? Because there is no vision to end up at a desired destination. Here's our key verse, the Bible says in Proverbs 29:18: Where there is no vision, the people perish. Where there is no vision people just end up somewhere, but not somewhere on purpose. In fact, if you're taking notes, the Hebrew word for vision is the word Chazown, and it literally means; a dream, a revelation or a vision. It's not to be confused with calzones, which is Spanish for underwear, this is the word Chazown, make sure you say it carefully! Where there is no Chazown, where there is no vision for a godly family, half of the marriages end up in divorce. Where there is no vision for a good-physical body, people end up overweight and out of shape. Where there is no vision for a debt-free lifestyle, people can live in the richest country on planet earth and yet, be massively in debt and incredibly dissatisfied. Where there is no vision, the people perish. Let me tell you how the Chazown Experience was born. Years ago, I met with some of the key leaders from our church and I asked them a very simple and yet very challenging question. Here was the question I wanted to know; if money wasn't an object to you, what would you do with the rest of your life? In fact, maybe you can kind of think about that right now, how would you answer that? If money was not an object to you ever again, what would you do with the rest of your life? What I expected to hear, I thought that our church leaders would say; I would volunteer my time at the crisis pregnancy center, or I would mentor intercity teens, or I would go overseas and help start orphanages. But instead of these vision-oriented dreams, what people said was shocking to me. Over and over again, people said things like, If money was no object to me, I would buy a bigger house, or I'd travel, or I'd get the boat that I always dreamed of. Let me ask you a question. Do you really think that Jesus came to earth, lived a complete sinless life, died the most brutal death on the cross, and rose from the dead so that our greatest vision for life could be to buy a new boat? Think about it, that's a self-centered life without a godly Chazown. That's why so many people end up somewhere, but not somewhere on purpose. The good news is, that's not going to be you. You're going to recognize that God created you with a divine Chazown. He put you on earth, He knew you and formed you in your mother's womb. He numbered the days in which you would be alive. He created you in Christ Jesus and prepared good works in advance for you to do. You will end up somewhere on purpose. Think about Jesus, why was He so effective? Well partially, because He was the Son of God; but unquestionably, He knew His divine reason for being on earth. In fact, you could hear His Chazown coming out of His words, His mission. Luke 19:10, He said: The Son of man came to seek and save that which is lost. That's why I'm here, that's my divine purpose, to reach people. He said, John 10:18: No one takes my life from me, I lay it down on my own accord. This command I receive from my Father. My Father alone determines my mission, no one else can talk me out of it. He said in John 10:10: I have come that they may have life and life to the full. Life more abundantly, that's why I'm here. That's my purpose, that's my Chazown, I know why I was created. Jesus understood His Chazown, His reason for existence, and after we prayerfully go through the Chazown Experience, we'll be able to do the same thing. So, let's pause for a moment and ask ourselves, How are we going to end up somewhere on purpose? What we are going to do, is we are going to take a very simple approach in the Chazown Experience, and we are going to look at three big circles in our lives and we are going to see where these circles overlap. And where they overlap, they will help show us God's Chazown, His vision for our existence. The first area we are going to look at is our past experiences. Our past experiences, what we've gone through in life. In fact, the Bible tells us in Romans 8:28: We know that in all things God works together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. In the good things and the bad things. God never wastes an experience, He uses experiences to prepare us for our future. For example, when I think about my experiences, I go back through life, I can remember doing magic shows as a child. I will talk more about that in another session. God was preparing me to be in front of people. I can remember God placed me in positions of leadership; I was the Junior Fire Marshal, I was the captain of a sports team, the president of my fraternity. God was using those experiences to prepare me. I also think about growing up when I went to church, I was a church goer, but not a believer in Christ. God used those experiences to prepare me for His divine Chazown. We are going to go through in detail, and help you examine your experiences and see how they point toward your Chazown as well. The second area we are going to look at is our core values. Our core values. What are the things that you stand for above all else? In fact, Scripture says this; the Bible tells us in second Corinthians 13:8: Our responsibility is never to appose the truth, but to stand for truth at all times. There are certain parts of truth that it just seems like you stand for above all else. Think about this, what is it that makes you really angry? What is it that makes you really excited? You may look at your life and say, You know, I really care about the unborn. I really care about feeding the hungry. I really care about worship. I really care about discipleship. Why doesn't anybody else care about these things? When you look at your core values; those things that you value apparently more than others, it will help point you to God's divine Chazown. I value integrity, I value stewardship, I value excellence. When you look at the things that I value, you can see how they impact my leadership of Life Church because where your experience is and where your core values overlap, it helps to reveal God's Chazown. The third area that we are going to look at is your spiritual gifts. What are the things that you do exceptionally well? They just seem to come naturally to you, you just can do them very easily. Other people say, You make me sick, this comes so easily to you! Romans 12:6 says that we all have different gifts according to the grace given to us. We all have different gifts. What are yours? We can look in the Bible and we can see Nehemiah, he had the gift of administration. He was a visionary with a gift of administration and God used that so he could rebuild the walls in record times. Moses had the gift of leadership. We see Abraham had the gift of faith. Barnabas, in the New Testament, he had the gift of encouragement. Matthew had the gift of hospitality. Dorcas was a lady, she had the gift of serving. In fact, when she died, God raised her from the dead. Evidently her gift was so important he raised her from the dead. He also probably felt sorry that she was called Dorcas her whole life! But that's just between you and me! What we're going to do is we are going to take a spiritual gift assessment and we are going to help you find what your spiritual gifts are. Where your experience is, where your values, and where your gifts overlap, it helps to reveal your Chazown. I have the gift of administration, I can organize our church. I have the gift of evangelism, I can lead people to Christ. And you can see where my experiences, where my values, where my gifts explode out my divine Chazown. Unquestionably, God created me to lead people to become fully-devoted followers of Christ. That's why I'm here. These three circles point toward my divine mission everyday, that's why I wake up with passion because I'm not going to end up somewhere, I'm going to end up somewhere on purpose. I know the reason I was created and you will too, as you prayerfully seek God through the Chazown experience. So, once we establish that, we are going to then look at five different spokes. Think of this, I rode bikes for awhile until I vomited because I wasn't very good at it. On a bike tire, there will be different spokes. One tire. For our purposes, we are going to look at five different spokes. When all of the spokes are in place, the wheel will function properly. If one spoke is broken, all of a sudden the wheel is compromised. We are going to look at five different spokes: We are going to look at our relationship with God, we are going to look at our relationship with people, we are going to look at our financial life, we are going to look at our physical life, and we are going to look at our work life. Think of these spokes as being the necessary ingredients to help your life roll toward your Chazown. If we keep these spokes tight, then our lives will function. But if any one is not in place; our relationship with God, our relationship with people, our financial life, our physical life, our work life. If any one of these five very important spokes is not in place, our life can easily start to crumble and we can fade away from God's divine Chazown. So, here's what we are going to do. In our final session, I'll show you how to take the next steps to keep your spokes in place so you will be rolling toward your divine Chazown. It will be a very practical teaching and one that will help propel you forward. At various points in your Chazown Experience, you are going to be directed to write down thoughts in your Chazown Workbook. Use it to record whatever God shows you and whatever you're thinking through and praying through, as God unfolds the divine plot for your story. Here's my promise: If you go through this Chazown Experience honestly, humbly, and prayerfully; I promise you your life will change for the better. I promise you that you will hear from God, that His Spirit will direct you, that you will be empowered to do life on purpose. That you won't just wander around wondering, hoping for an accidentally better life; but instead, you will end up somewhere on purpose. His vision, it is unquestionably bigger and more important than you could ever imagine. To God be all the glory for what He is going to do, as He does exceedingly and abundantly, measurably more in you and through you than you could ever ask, think or imagine. But please hear me, I'm not promising that this is going to be a very easy journey, it will not be. The road may not always be smooth, but I promise, if you start today, if you open up your heart and if you seek God, you will hear from Him. He will motivate you, He will show you next steps, He will empower and equip you to end up somewhere on purpose. Where there is no vision the people perish. That will not be you. You will have a divine vision, a Chazown. When everyone else ends up somewhere, that will not be you. You will end up somewhere on purpose all for the glory of the one who created you. Welcome today to the Chazown Experience. Your life will never be the same.