This is not asking if you have perfect eyesight. Not many of us do, and those who are blessed with good vision generally will lose the ability to focus over time until we need a little help seeing clearly once again. This is sort of how we become as Christians, spiritually speaking.

We see great in the beginning, when we first find salvation. Everywhere we look we see people who potentially need Christ. Our family, our friends, our co-workers, neighbors, people we love, people we don’t really like, people we pass on the street, people we see each and every day. We want to share with them what we have experienced so they may have the same type of transformation in their lives.

But as times goes by, just like our physical eyesight, our spiritual eyesight may start to fade and we don’t see things the way we once did. We get out of focus and it becomes more of a strain on us to ask someone to go to church. The important part of life that we should be seeing isn’t as clear, and we get distracted by things like jobs, hobbies, and social gatherings. Church just becomes less important and being a soul winner doesn’t even show up on our radar.
Most any time someone mentions soul winning or outreach you get a big response in agreement, but when it comes time to actually “reaching out” the excitement isn’t there. There are so many others things that must be done: yards to mow, houses to clean, sales to shop, trips to make, on and on the list could go. I’ve heard the saying so many times.. “We believe God’s going to bring in new souls”.. and yes, God will .. He will forgive them of their sins and fill them with His Spirit, but there is one part of this process that we are required to fulfill. Look at the parable in Luke , and yes, this is all about outreach..      “So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.  And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”

Before the House ( Church) can be filled, someone must go out there and reach them. Notice the Master wasn’t the one who went into the streets, but it was the servant ( you and I ) that did that part of the job.
So what’s a 20/20 Vision? Look at the example the Apostle Paul gave us in Acts 20:20.
“And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house.”

Paul was out there preaching, witnessing, inviting, teaching publicly and from house to house. He was reaching out for souls. Paul wasn’t sitting inside four walls of a building, praying that people be drawn inside the Temple. Paul could clearly see what soul winning was all about.

We cannot sit back and wait for people to stumble through the church doors. That’s having poor unfocused vision. We need to clearly see what God has called us as servants to do; GO OUT and compel them to come in. Outreach is going to require some Reaching Out.

Part 1 of 4  (remaining videos available at www.youtube.com/user/accjohnsoncity ; or as links at the end of this video)

Check out our youtube channel at www.youtube.com/user/accjohnsoncity for sermon videos and other video projects by our youth group. Video updates will also be available on our website.

John 1:1
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
The Bible is a passageway of knowing how God wants us to live our lives.
Oftentimes people ask “how are we supposed to read the Bible, literally or figuratively?” Well, the answer is both. Jesus provided parables that we may

understand and apply to situations in our own life.

The Bible is the most accurate History book as well as the best “how-to” book out there. Every possible scenario is not in the Bible specifically, but each

situation is covered some how or another. If we need help with a situation and can’t figure out how to relate scripture to ourselves, we are to pray.
Relax, we are not ever expected to know everything. We don’t need to know the keys to life or how to solve the problem of world peace. We are humans,

imperfect since first man, excluding Jesus.

We think we have to know how to do everything right, but truth is, we won’t. Our struggles on earth remain here.
There is greater life in Heaven. We are here, struggling together and having as many good days as possible. We are sharing how joyful life can be, knowing

how Great God is, and that one day we will be living without worry in Heaven.
Don’t fret that you don’t know your purpose or what you are supposed to be doing by now. Realize that our answers come from God. Until we except that, we

can’t do what we want when we want and get Godly results. God may not present himself to us the way we want Him to.

obstinate, upright and sometimes deceitful and desperately wicked. One of the intriguing things that can happen to the heart is that it can be hardened.

The hardening of a heart is really related to faith and unbelief. When one really doesn’t believe something, they will turn against it. It’s hard to turn

against something you believe in. So, where there is faith there is a soft heart, and where there is unbelief there will be a heart as hard as a rock.

Hebrews talks about this very subject. In chapter 4, the words “unbelief” and “hardness of heart” are interchangeable. Speaking of those Hebrews that

didn’t get to enter into the Promised Land, it says, “…and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief.” And, in the next verse,

“…today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”
Hebrews 4:6-7

By not believing in God’s promises, the Hebrews hardened their hearts against Him, and as a result, lost their promise. Hebrews 4:2 states that, “For unto

us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”

Faith has to mixed into everything that we do to keep our hearts soft toward God. If we let unbelief slip in, it is the same thing as adding a little bit of

concrete to a bread recipe– the bread is going to get hard!

It is very easy to let a heart harden. We can rebelliously and knowingly choose to not obey God, showing him that we don’t ultimately believe what He tells

us. This way hardens the heart very quickly. We can also hear God speak to us, and choose to do nothing. Every time this happens, we are choosing the path

of unbelief and letting our heart harden just a little more. Either way, we are making a choice, whether it be active or passive.

Letting our hard hearts soften again can seem difficult. We have to mix faith with humility and take away our pride. We have to choose to have faith in

God’s promises and act on what we know is true. We have to repent, and truly turn away from the unbelief. It takes work!

By choosing faith, we choose to live our lives in such a way that God can reach us, nudge us in a direction and speak to our heart when He needs us to act.

By choosing to live in faith, we are choosing to live a life with a heart for God– a tender heart.

1 John 3:17 “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels [of compassion] from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

Each day when we turn on the news, read the paper or scan the headlines online we often see many stories about people in need. Those who have lost a home,

lost their job, lost a loved one. All around us we see people who are in need. Not just spiritual needs, but physical needs. Almost everywhere we look there

are those that are having hard times. Notice the street corners in our city, more and more there are those asking for help by people passing by. We cannot

always assume that they are just bums, alcoholics, drug addicts, lazy, uneducated and socially inept. But even if they are any or all of these things…SO

WHAT??, THEY ARE STILL PEOPLE. People that, for whatever reason, have found themselves in need; people that due to circumstances need help. People who are

hurt, afraid, alone and struggle through each day just as we do sometimes.

I cannot read 1 John 3:17 and apply “brother” only to someone in the church. God does not operate that way. When Jesus was walking the earth, He walked among

the poor, the sick, the needy, the ones that no one else would have anything to do with. His example to the church was to get down where its dirty and help

bring people out of their circumstance. Who is my brother? Who is my sister? Every human being breathing on this earth is who they are. The church must be

compassionate to our fellow man. The church must use the resources it has to help the ones in need. Yes, we must reach for souls, for those bound by sin,

those hurt by abuse, those sick with disease, those who need salvation, but we must also reach out to those that struggle day to day in ways that we are

blessed.

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with

the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

How can we do this? We can work together to make a difference, we can help someone pay a light bill, cook a family a meal, mow someone’s yard that cannot do

it themselves, and show them the love and compassion that Christ has shown to us. We don’t do this to see what we will get in return, we do this out of the

love of God that is inside us through His Spirit.

We can take these opportunities that we see each and every day and embrace them to help further the work of God. Embrace the chance to help another person;

embrace the opportunity to help make a difference. One definition of embrace is to “include as a part of something broader”. What if by helping someone in

need they found God by your small act of kindness? By embracing the chance to help someone physically, the broader effect could be they came to church with

you, repented of their sins, was baptized and received the Holy Ghost, became great soul winner and brought many to the Lord.

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” 1 Corinthians 13:1

If the Church can embrace that small concept, the Church can impact an entire city.