Dream Again Series I What You See Is What You Get I Jentezen Franklin

0:00 Hello, this is Jensen Franklin, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. Our goal is to provide you with biblically-based teachings that will challenge, inspire, and equip you to live for Jesus. If you haven't already, I'd love for you to go ahead and subscribe today to this podcast so you can get the latest updates from us and you don't ever have to miss a new message. Let's go right into the service. Record it at Free Chapel. I believe it's going to bless you today. I want to give you today a blueprint plan that is laid out in the Word of God to finding and obtaining and doing the vision that God has called you to do. I'll begin reading with Habakkuk chapter 2.

0:55 And verse 1. I will stand my watch. I will set myself on the tower. And I will watch to see what he will say to me. And what I will answer when I am corrected. Then the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision. Make it plain on tablets. That he may run who reads it. for the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come. It will not tarry. God's timing will be right. And I'm preaching today on you get what you see. You get what you see.

1:52 Vision in the Bible is mentioned many times. There were open visions. There were closed visions. There were people who were carried in a vision by God to places, even to the third heaven. But the kind of vision that this text is giving us a blueprint for affects all of us. Vision is the ability to see a day you have yet to enter into. Vision is what you focus on.

2:26 He said, I will watch to see what he will say. Not just hear what he will say, but I'm watching, Habakkuk said, to see what God is saying. In other words, if you're going to see what they're saying, it's a picture. It's a mental image. It's that I will wait. I'm waiting on God for his vision for my life. And I'm going to see myself doing what he says I can do. I will wait to see what he will say. Not just hear what he will say. You got to see it. You got to see yourself doing it.

3:11 It's possible to have God say something to you, but you don't see it. You have to see what God says to you. you can read all you want that God wants to bless you, that you're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, that you are forgiven, cleansed, free. But until you see yourself walking in that truth, it doesn't work for you.

3:39 He said, I've got to see what he will say. You've got to get a picture. You've got to see yourself out of addiction. You've got to see yourself out of fear and torment and a defeated life. You've got to see yourself in a happy marriage before you'll ever experience it. You've got to see your family and your children saved by faith in Jesus Christ. And when you begin to see it, you don't let all the distractions around you because your vision is what you focus on. I'm focused on this so all the things pulling at me cannot change the direction that I'm going.

4:26 You get a picture. And the way we see ourselves has a lot to do with where we end up in life. You've got to see what he says about you. I'm not going to be holy when I get to heaven. And he said right here, right now, if my faith is in that blood and in that body of Jesus Christ, I am as holy and righteous and forgiven because it has nothing to do with what I bring to the picture except faith. My faith in Jesus Christ says I am the righteousness of God right now. If I'm the righteousness of God, which the Bible says, I have to see myself like that so I can come boldly before the throne of grace. When you understand that, it can change your life. If you believe in your heart, you're a failure.

5:20 If you believe in your heart, you can't succeed. That everybody else is better than you. If you believe in your heart that you don't deserve what others can obtain through the cross. You've got to be able to see yourself walking in what God says about you. what God has said about you makes what others have to say about you irrelevant. It's not even important what others say. It's irrelevant. It does not matter what others' opinion of you is. You have to get to that place where you say, I see what he is saying. and I will wait for it to happen.

6:14 When we came and pulled up on Brownsbridge Road some many years ago and I was parking the car, me and my wife, Sharice. We didn't know that she was pregnant with Courtney. We didn't know it at that time. And we pulled in and it was my first Sunday at Free Chapel. And I'm telling you the truth.

6:42 It had not happened yet, but I saw that church full of people. I'd had a revival and I had traveled all over and Charisse had gone with me all around the nation. and we'd had some revivals that would just blow up and become big and just pack the buildings out. And one of them, they had to hire a highway patrol officer with his car to direct the traffic. I had never seen that before like that. And I remember when the Lord spoke to me and he said, it will become normal. And this sounds so silly and so insignificant, such an unspiritual thing. But I'm telling you, the Lord spoke to me in my heart. And he said it will become normal to have to direct traffic.

7:41 And you will have police officers with lights on getting the cars in and out. You have to see it. When God said it, I saw it. and only God can do that stuff, but he wants people to mingle what he says with faith and then start running with that vision. He said, I'll move in faith. Once you see what God says, then you step out of that vision and you step right into reality. Reality was not a full parking lot. Reality was not a full building. But I believed it. And I could see it. And I would not let distraction stop what God showed me.

8:35 This will work for you in the vision that God gives you. He said I must see what he will say. So when it begins to happen, you understand that right in the middle of your reality, we walk by faith. It does go on to say in that same chapter, we walk by faith. That's what God's trying to get us to understand. When our faith is high, it's easy to see it. When our faith is high, it's easy to believe it. It's easy to proclaim and sing songs that all things are possible. But it's when you step into the reality of life and you get body slammed, then you've got to keep focused on the vision that God has given you. Wait on it, he said.

9:29 Though it tarries, wait on it. I want you to see what I say about you and about your life and about your family. Your reality is slamming you to the ground. But see what I say. See what I say. Wait on what you see. And there is another instruction. And there are obstacles to that vision, three specifically. He said, first of all, I want you to understand that the vision that God gives you will have the obstacle of present circumstances. Not lining up with what God is telling you to do. And that's why he said in the next part of the verse, write the vision. When you see what I say, I want you to write it down.

10:25 Why? Because I want it logged into your mind what I say over what present circumstances say. I want you to hang on to it. I want you to pull it out of the drawer and look at it again and remind yourself, I told you that that family would be saved. I told you that that business would be blessed. I told you that I would help you. I told you in that service. I said it and you saw it. Write it down. because there will come days where tomorrow you'll have the opportunity to lose what God is saying to you today because you're not seeing it in the present circumstances. Not only is there the challenge of present circumstances, and more people have given up on their vision because of present circumstances than probably anything. They let the present talk them out of it.

11:21 I don't let the, when God tells me something, I don't let the present circumstances talk me out of it. Hallelujah. And that's how you maintain joy. Because you don't live by what you see. You live by what God said. And I just believe that when it's all said and done, God's going to take it a lot like this and a lot like that and a lot like this and all this and all this and all this. And then finally, in his time, and see, he will withhold no good thing from them that walk uprightly. If God's withheld it, it wasn't good or it wasn't time yet. And for me, when I hear him say it, I wait to see what he will say. And when I know that I know that he's told me, my sheep know my voice, he said.

12:09 Then I get it settled. Go on and act crazy. Do whatever you want to do. Let all hell break loose. By present circumstances, don't change the promises of God. And the second thing is not just present circumstances or obstacles to the vision, but present resources.

12:36 I mean, this is a big one. You never have now what you need to get the vision done. because present resources don't match up with where God is taking you. I've never had the money to do what God told me to do. it's provision which means you get vision and then the pro comes the provision But if you're sitting around waiting on the lottery, you're never going to do anything. It's vision that attracts resources. There's a Bible verse, and I tell this to young preachers all the time. I'm telling you, I read a little book one time, and this guy, he said this. He said, deep calls unto deep. That's a Bible verse.

13:29 Deep calls unto deep. In other words, there are some resources, the deep pocket resources, never come to you until you get a big vision. And it's not one you make up, it's one God gives you. But deep only calls the deep. Some people just, they're not even interested in your vision until it's big enough for their world and their finances.

14:01 So dream big. Hallelujah. Because you serve a God who said, I can do exceedingly, abundantly. I'm preaching myself happy this morning. Abundantly above all that you could ask or even imagine. You know, I read some word that we have six million cells in our brain that we never even come in contact with at all times. Six million. six million that we never, and some of you got a lot more than that, but six million that are never used. Think about that. How big does God want us to think? How big does God want us to believe him for? But you got to see what he says and then write it down because there'll come a day where you feel like giving up, pull it out and say, no devil, no devil, my children will be saved.

15:00 I will see the goodness of the Lord. Oh, I will see God bless. I will meet the person I'm supposed to meet. I will see God move. Present resources. You never have the money to do what God tells you to do when he tells you to do it. He always gave me the vision and then the provision. It comes after. It comes after. And then not only is there the present conditions that is an obstacle and the present resources, but all of these things are stuff you have to push through. That's why you keep focus on the vision. You go through tight financial. I could tell you story after story after story about the finances. It's crazy. It's crazy. Why, Lord, are you sure? Are you sure? And just as sure as I stepped out, just doing what God said, dude, there comes a miracle.

15:56 There comes a miracle. And at some point, like Mark said last week, faith is like a muscle. The more you use it, the more you're not afraid to use it. The last one is your present self. You see, you feel, have you ever noticed that when God gives you a vision, you feel like sometimes your biggest obstacle is yourself. The devil hadn't got as much to do with stuff sometimes as your present self. When you see what God says, you will always be somebody better in the vision than you are right now. somebody more gifted in the vision than you are right now. Somebody who's a better person and living better and got better integrity and character and control of your life than you are right now.

16:58 It'll be beyond you. It'll be bigger than you think you're capable of. And so if you're not careful, your present self will talk you out of your future self. When God releases vision to someone. by the time they get to it, they're going to be somebody else. When the vision came to Abram, his name was Abram. God gave him a vision. But by the time that it manifests, God said, now your name is Abraham, father of many.

17:42 He started out his present self, but God said, I'm going to make you into the man that can handle everything that I want to do in your life. when the word and the vision comes to Jacob and he sees God's blessing on his life, his name is Jacob, which means liar and swindler and cheat. And it literally means worm if you look it up. But that was his present self, his future self. By the time he's standing in the vision, his name is Israel, which means a prince with God who has power with God and favor with men. He went from a worm to a prince through the process. The vision that God gives you, when I first started with the vision, I was not capable.

18:37 I didn't have the sermons. I didn't have the Bible knowledge. I didn't know the things. I didn't know, understand buildings. I didn't understand nothing. I had nothing. How in the world do I have books? How in the world do I have a study Bible? How in the world? How? It was all weight. That was my present self. And there was the future self.

19:04 And don't let the present self kill the future self. If you're in a drug rehab, that's your present self. But you've got a future self. And your future self is going to get it together by the blood and the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Tell somebody you've got a future self. I didn't say future self. I said you've got a future self.

19:34 Hallelujah. And don't let your present self, your present circumstances, and your present resources stop you from pursuing the vision that is bigger than your resources bigger than your circumstances and bigger than who you are right now. He said, I'll make you a disciple. I'll take you through valleys and you'll pick up a stick and it'll part the Red Sea. I'll take you through fiery furnaces and you'll find out you don't have to fear nothing when the fourth man is with you. I'll take you through the lion's den and you'll watch the lion breathe his breath on you but not touch you. And then you come out into your future self. That's why you can't give up if you're a weak Christian. You can't give up if you're a struggling Christian.

20:28 I'm telling you, our future self is coming. Praise God. The trumpet's going to sound. And we're going to get a new body. And we're going to get a new beginning in heaven. And we won't fight this stuff anymore. But until then, keep on walking in the direction. of the vision that God gives. By the time the vision comes true, you're going to be somebody else. I have a future self.

21:02 Now, this is amazing. Watch this. In Genesis 13 and verse 14, God says to Abraham, He says, and the Lord God said unto Abraham, throw it up. Thank you. I've separated Lot from you. And he says, listen to these words, Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are. You got to see what I say. Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are. Some of you have settled where you are. You've lost vision. You're not dreaming of anything. You're not seeing anything. You're just existing. And the Lord said to him, lift up your eyes now and look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward, westward, for all the land which you see. I will, this is why I support Israel, I will give to you and your descendants forever.

22:07 Don't get so focused on your circumstances, your resources, and your present self that you lose focus. Lift up your eyes and all that you can see. If you can see it, I can give it to you. Now look at verse 17. It's unbelievable. He says, Arise, walk through the land, its length and width, for I will give it to you. Notice that all the land had been given to Abraham. It's like God said in any and every direction that you can walk and you can see it.

23:04 I will give it to you. But the day you stop walking and the day you stop seeing it is the day that you just built the boundaries on what I'll do. because if it's all yours, it doesn't really matter which direction you start.

23:29 How many of you would like to be in a place with God where there is no wrong move to make? standing in a spot that anything I do is going to be right. Did he not say, I'll bless the work of your hands. And when you put me first and you seek me and you follow my spirit and you hear my word and you study my word and you listen and tune in to my voice and you do what I tell you and you don't waver and you keep standing strong and you start walking by faith in the direction that I've told you to do. And there's no bad move you can make that I can't, if the devil's done anything to you, I can make it work out for you. I just need you to keep looking and see it and walk and claim it and keep dreaming. I love to preach like this.

24:30 I want to scream it at the young people. The only regrets I've got in life is I didn't dream bigger. I just believe anything that I could believe God for, he can do it. If it's about souls, if it's about helping people. See, please understand this. God gave Joseph a dream. This is the most important thing to understand. And we only hear about one dream. But God gave Joseph a dream. And when he gave him the dream, the first part of the dream, the first dream, he gave him two dreams. The first dream was an earthly dream. And he saw a field that in the field, the harvest was bending over and bowing to him. That's an earthly dream. And God can give you authority and dominion in the earth. But that's not the total dream.

25:26 Then the next part of the Bible said that he saw a second dream. And he saw, watch this, a heavenly dream. The sun, the moon, and the stars bowing down. See, God, when he gives a dream to somebody, it has effects on earth. It will bless you. It will bless your children. It will bless your children's children. But if all you do is get the car and get the house and get the stuff and get the career and get the country club or whatever it is that you want and you get that stuff, all you have is a half a dream. It's not until that dream is attached to the heavenly dream. Do you understand that? See, God will bless you if you seek him first. What is amazing that we get so wrong that people work so hard to get the dream, the dream house, the dream this. I found that if I seek first the kingdom of God, all of these things will be added unto me.

26:30 Your heavenly father knows what you have need on. Praise God. Now watch what God says. He says, walk the land. Now that's the slow part. This is where most people quit. It didn't happen quick enough. I tried it, nothing happened. Well, how much land can you walk in a day? He said, as long as you see it, as long as you go in every direction you want to go and walk, and this is the drawn out part. He didn't say ride a Arabian stallion until he's foaming at his mouth and nostrils breathing. No, you're going to walk this thing out. A vision will have to be walked out. It's going to require just walking it, just walking it out, just walking it out.

27:22 No big deal, no big quick damn this, that, or no big just walking, walking, walking, walking. But I love what he said. He said, that's the slow part. That's the tarrying. Though the vision tarry, wait for it. But keep walking. Keep moving in the direction. Keep getting your house in order. You know, if you're dreaming about meeting the right person, be building yourself up. You know, be a whole person. A half person attracts a half person. A whole person attracts a whole person. You just let Jesus be 100% of what you're about. And watch what he can do. He's got a matchmaking service like you can't believe. whatever land you see that will i give you and then he tells him to walk the land and make sure listen to this he said i'm going to give you everything you can see and make sure that you're always seeing more.

28:37 Because if you're not seeing more, you've just hit the limit of what you put me in your box. That's why vision is important at all ages. I don't care how old you are. Get out of that house some. Plan a trip. Get a vision. Go somewhere. Because really all you're doing is waiting to die if you don't have any vision. I mean, all of life is not about burdens and trials. It's got to be more than tribulations and trouble and sicknesses and aches and pains and troubles and trials. I want to live. I came to give you life and give it to you more abundantly.

29:32 And somebody's always going to be crazy in your family. And something's always going to feel weird in your body. And something's always going to be going on all the time. At what point are you going to say, this is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. not when everything's beautiful because I'm moving in the right direction and I've still got a vision hallelujah I said hallelujah turn to somebody and say what you see is what you get what are you seeing? you see anything out there? you see? you see anything? that's why I won't go pick me a plot I'm not going to do that until I'm dead Somebody else has got to do that. Why would I go pick my own plot?

30:26 Nothing wrong with that. Funeral home people don't appreciate that. But I'm just joking. But really, I'm not for me. Because I don't want to know where I'm going to. I don't care about that. That's my present self. My future self is going to look bad. Hallelujah. No wrinkles version. Hallelujah. Glorified body. And then the last part, I want to close it. The last part, he said, and once you see what he says, run with the vision.

31:05 Run with the vision. I thought they were fixing to run. Run. We don't need no more runners. Run with the vision. Do you hear me? Everybody say, run with the vision. That's burning on the inside. Run with it.

31:27 Let me give you one last biblical example. 1 Kings 18. Hand of the Lord came upon Elijah. But before the hand of the Lord came on him, you know what he did? He got down and he prayed and he said, Lord, I need a word from you. I need a word from you. I need a word from you. And he sent the servant. And the servant went on a cliff. And he said, you're praying for rain, but I don't see no rain. this bright sunshine. He comes back. He says, do you see anything? No. He says, go again. He goes again. He comes back. See, this is the tearing part. Did you see anything? I don't see nothing, sir. Nothing. Go again. He goes again, six times. Comes back, six handfuls of nothing. You see anything? Not a thing. See, he's tearing. Though it tarries, wait for it. It will surely come to past. He knew he was seeing what he heard. See, have you ever had a dream, like a natural dream? And let's say a bear was chasing you or a murderer or Jason with the hockey mask is after you.

32:26 And he's got a, have you ever, you're the only one that sees the dream. So people around you don't understand you, especially like my wife. When I have something that I dream, I get crazy. I'll fight in the bed, whatever. And she'll just sometimes just kick me and say, what is wrong with you? But she's not seeing what I'm seeing. So don't expect me to act like you're acting over there, sleeping while I'm seeing something you're not. I mean, this thing is real to me. I mean, it feels real when it's your dream. Come on. so I don't have to I don't care what my mama and them not not my mama but I don't you know what I'm saying I don't care what anything I can't go left or right or east or south without messing up but that's not what I'm talking about she's always been for my dreams but but what I'm saying is you're kin folks sometimes You just have to be like old Jed and get away from there.

33:31 You don't know what I'm talking about. The old people, clap for that. Thank you very much. Just don't be listening to those old Ken folk telling you you don't have oil. Amen. The Clampets, Beverly Hillbillies. All right, here's the deal. This is what got me about the story.

33:57 So the seventh time the guy comes back and he says, I saw a cloud the size of a man's hand. That's not much. But when you get, when you see what he says, that's when you run. And the Bible said, go back to that verse, 1 Kings 18, the hand of the Lord then came upon, this is the context of this verse, then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. The literal, if you read it, it says he outran the horses and the chariot of Ahab. He outran a horse. He had a vision and he said, and all he had was a hand, a cloud the size of a hand. And he said, I'm going to beat him to the city because I have heard from God and I'm running with the vision.

34:55 God wants us to take him at his word. Praise God. Will you take him at his word? You say, well, I don't feel like God's got a vision. No, the problem is you've not sought him for the vision. He has a vision for every one of you. And it's earthly and it's heavenly. And that's why a church like this is so important. And so when I saw one police officer at a revival directing traffic, I never dreamed that when we do this Easter play, last time we did it, we had over 27,000 people come to the multiple showings. And hundreds and thousands of people born again. Come on, somebody.

35:50 See the vision is God's vision, not your vision. But He needs you to keep seeing more than where you are in your present state of pain and discouragement. Stand to your feet, please. All of you who would say, I wanted to do this, I want to do it. But can I pray for your dreams and your visions?

36:22 How many of you have a vision and a dream for your life? And it's okay. How many of you are still searching for that? I love what Mark said. He said that the dream that will bring the most joy to your life is the one that you are afraid to say and announce. But I want every one of you that raised your hand that, I don't know, I just feel faith today. I feel supernatural faith for dreams and visions. and if you want God maybe you've been sitting there and you hadn't been seeing anything and you want God to say what you can see again in the vision it's time to dream again I'm telling you the timing is here it's time to dream again pastor I want that direction in my life.

37:25 I'm not doing just a salvation kind of thing. This is for dreamers and people who know God has given you a vision. Come stand down here as quick as you can get down here. We're not going to be long. I'm not going to prolong this service. I feel like we ought to bless the people today. despise not the day of small beginnings.

37:52 Despise not the day of small starts. That's a Bible verse in Zechariah chapter four. Despise not the day of small beginnings. Too many people quit because no big things are happening. Just walk it out. Walk the land. North, south, east, west. Walk it. And some of you right now, you just have an earthly vision, but I challenge you to connect the earthly vision to the spiritual vision and say, God, if you bless me in this, I promise you, I'll honor you in the service this morning in the nine o'clock. And I'm not telling this. It's just it's in a magazine. So it's the rabbits out of the hat. But there was a man in the first service and his name is Zach McElroy. and Zach owns Zaxby's Chicken.

38:46 He's been coming to the church for almost 30 years. When he started that, it was just a few stores that he started. And his parents were coming before he came. They told me this week that they had been coming for over 30 years. And then they said, we started at the old church and then we came here. And then they brought their son, Zach. And Zach had a big dream and all the family got involved. And this past Thursday, Forbes magazine put him on the Forbes list and did a big article about him. And you know what that means if you're on the Forbes list. I'm not preaching about money. I'm preaching about somebody with a dream. And here's the crazy thing about Zach. He's a tither. And every time Zach shows up and he's busy and he has a, he told me one time he has to fly around and open a new store about every seven days.

39:44 about every seven days. So he's here, and when he's not here, he brings his tithe in envelopes. He's old school. He said, I don't want, I don't want, and he kind of got upset during the pandemic because he couldn't get it to, because he said, I like, the Lord told me when I started the business to always honor him, and he brings those checks. Sometimes if he's been gone for two or three weeks, he'll bring three envelopes, four envelopes, and it's insane. Thank you. What's wrong with that? He's blessed, but more importantly, everything we've been able to do, God has used people just like him. And it doesn't matter the amount. It's the widow's mite that makes the difference. God says, everything you dream, tie it to the heavenly dream of souls. And here's a guy, you'd never know it.

40:41 You'd never know it, sits in here all the time. And that's why I tell you, if this church ever splits, I'm going with the nine o'clock, because he comes to the nine o'clock. But it's amazing. It's amazing that that's one story. You heard another story, and another, and another. I could point out all of people who had nothing but a dream when they started coming here. And he's ready to do it again. Dream again. Dream again. The Lord said, tell the people, dream again. Dream again. Dream again. If you can see it, if you can see what I'm saying, I will do it. Dream, dream, dream and walk it out. And then when you get it, run with it.

41:29 Panning almost. Hallelujah.

42:01 dot org. I want to thank all of you who give generously to help us produce weekly content like this to reach the world with the message of Jesus. God bless you and we'll see you next time.