Vision: See It /Achieve It [Paperback] Bishop Timothy R. Carter You can buy this book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Vision-Achieve-Timothy-R-Carter/dp/1937152022/ref=sr_1_2?

i e=UTF8&qid=1318377112&sr=8-2 This Bible study takes you on a journey to discover the vision that God has for your life. With this training tool, you will discover that vision as you work th rough passages touching every book of the Bible. You will face questions that wi ll help you dig deeper into what God has planned for you. As we walk through 1 K ings 6, you will realize that God offers a vision of His power and sovereignty t hat you can have by faith. Stand beside Elisha as, against all odds, he overcome s the Syrian army, simply by trusting in the protection of the Almighty God. Impo ssible is not in Gods vocabulary, and it shouldnt be in yours. Become a Visionary o ne who sees what God means to do live out a God-glorifying, victorious life! Thi s study uses a teaching device most other authors avoid errors and inconsistenci es. God uses broken vessels to do His work. To help illustrate that Gods power can work through you despite your imperfections, we have included a number of intent ional imperfections in this book (driving our editors mad). As you study, look pas t the errors you find and try to dig out the message. For fun, however, we have included spots in the notes where you can document the errors you find. And reme mber if you can learn a powerful lesson from this book, despite the errors, imagin e what God could do with you! As We Get Started This book presents you with an in extensive study on vision. I will not be addre ssing the types of vision that include mystical spiritual dreams. I will be, rather, encouraging yo u to find an eternal perspective for your life. I want you to look past the natural circumstances and to truly see the plan that God has for your life; and through each circumstance, to see what God is do ing in you. Deliberate Inconsistencies As you work through this book, you will find that I have added some rrors, deliberate miss-spellings, and deliberate inconsistencies. I have done this to ooking past your current perspective seeing beyond the problems and challenges to find the learned. While these deliberate errors apply to the illustrations, I encourage you ely handle the Word of God with care as you study. deliberate e illustrate l lessons to be to deliberat

You may find it engaging to record a running tab of the errors in the margins. I n some cases, I will point them out; in others, I will let the discovery be your Easter egg hunt. Have fun learning to see past the errors and inconsistencies as you dig into the truth of the message and the ultimate lessons of this study. I offer my apologies to those who will be irritated by these errors, but as thes e errors are part of the lesson, I hope you will choose to see the benefits of the lesson rather than the difficulties within the lesson. Gaining this skill will be invaluable in aiding your vision development.

Lesson 1: Can You See What I See? Topic: Vision Defined 2 Kings 6:8-23 Remember to have fun learning to see past the deliberate errors and deliberate i nconsistencies. Note about this chapter: You will notice that this chapter is about twice as lon g as each of the other seven chapters in this Bible study. This chapter is longer because I must lay a strong foundation before teaching you about the power of vision. You will notice that this chapter utiliz es every book of the Bible. My desire is for you to see that what I see. I see the Word of God teachi ng me to develop and maintain a God vision from beginning to end. Can you see what I see? Our Motto: If You Can See It, You Can Achieve It! Let us remember this motto through our study; we will be referring back to it of ten. Before you start your lesson do two things: First, pray for God to open your eyes, mind and heart to look for a vision for y ou to follow. Secondly: Take a good look at yourself in a mirror; what, who, do you see? What did you see when you looked at yourself? 1. A loving husband, father, grandparent, Christian, son, pastor 2. A person just filling in space or time with whatever hes doing 3. A person getting old and tired of doing the same old thing and nothing happen ing Who did you see? 1. A devoted child of God 2. An O.K. Christian that just goes through the motion of serving God 3. A person that goes to church or pastors a church because his parents or grand parents did, and it is expected of you to follow their footsteps 4. A good person or a solid Christian If God met this person whom would He see? Explain. _____________________________ _________ ________________________________________________________________________________ __ ________________________________________________________________________________ __ ________________________________________________________________________________ __ If You Can See It, You Can Achieve It! Who God may differ dramatically from the person we saw. God has a different pers pective than we do, because He looks at us from a different angle. We tend to take people at fac e value while God gets underneath our skin! In fact, God sees you differently than you see yourself. 4 2011. Solution Ministries with Monumental Publishing. All Rights Reserved. We often view ourselves through the lenses of those around us. God is not lookin g at your age, or the color of your skin, or the background and ancestry of your life God is looking a t your heart! He sees the things no one else can see and His deepest desire is to provide you wit h a glimpse of His vision of your life. My personal goal through this course is to help you see yourself as God sees you

, and to develop a forever perspective on your life. In a sense, I want to give you a set of lenses t hat will help you focus on whats important and will allow you to clearly see the spirit realm. I am asking God to change you thoroughly so that you see yourself and everyone around you in a new and exciting way. Read 2 Kings 6:8-23 As you read, write some things that stand out to you. __________________________ ____________ ________________________________________________________________________________ _ ________________________________________________________________________________ _ ________________________________________________________________________________ _ Wow, what a story! The movie makers could have a field day with this one! Imagine their version: Elisha makes the big bucks as the lead role and Gehazi gi ves a strong performance as the supporting actor. You have all kinds of drama; there is myste ry, suspense, spies, espionage, a nervous king and a murderous plot and at the center of it all is an incredible lesson about the power of vision. Imagine with me: Gehazi steps out onto the front porch to sip from a cup of capp uccino before he proceeds to wash the mule, to his utter shock he looks up to see the Syrian army surrounding his home. 2 Kings 6:15, 16 (NRSV) 15 When an attendant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, a n army with horses and chariots was all around the city. His servant said, Alas, master! _______ ___ ____ _______ _______ ? It is clear to see, understanding is key (Vision Enlightens Others). Vision is similar to the banks of a river that give direction to the fl ow of water. Vision produces vigor and motivation. Vision unleashes creativity. Vision is my faith grasping my future and bringing it to the present. Vision enables us to soar above the mundane, mediocre and the maintenance mentality keeping us from the rut of the same old, same old. Vision (Hebrews: Chazon cha-zohn) -- A prophetic vision, dream, oracle, revelation; especially the kind of revelation that comes through sight. .. Many visions are never realized because people give up too soon. When you are tempted to throw in the towel because of the presence of problems, ask the Lord to help you see the bigger picture. God can see what no one else can see. The Bible says, Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. God is fully aware of your situation. That which is dark and hidden to me is light and revelation to Him. God sees the opposition we face, regardless of where it comes. Gehazi got lost in his own view, but God wanted him to see the reality of His spiritual power.

. We need to know how to prevent deception. If taken to an extreme, this willingne ss to believe could make us gullible, easy targets for Satan. Jesus told us, You must be wise as serp ents, but harmless as doves. We are not to be drawn awayenticed awayfrom what is true. Also, we have t o be always on guard and we must be willing to believe God. Matthew 24:24-25 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and sha ll shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very ele ct. Behold, I have told you before. These deceptive pressures are going to increase as the end-time comes . We especially need to understand how we can prevent deception because we have been promisedassu redso many times in the Scripture. Satan has the ability to do certain things that seem miraculous. His lying wonder s will seem to give credence to the teachings of those trying to lead us astray. If we are not caref ul, even the electif possiblecould be deceived(Matthew 24:24). Increasing deception will mark the end ti me, and at a certain point, these deceptions will even be augmented by signs and wonders. Read Acts 5:1-9. What would have been your comments (excuses) if asked the same question Peter asked Ananias and Sapphira, his wife? ______________________ ____________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ___________________________ Elisha had revealed to the servant the powerful forces of God that protected them. Now, he would face off against the Syrian army. As he steps from his home, the commanders of this army all think Elisha plans to surrender. I can imagine these warriors expressions. They are excited, Look at the man of God! If he was a visionary as he claims; he would have known we were coming. He would have escaped. Yet the Syrian king sent the whole army for just two men who look too weak to fi ght. As Elisha and Gehazi get closer, the captain thinks, I will be getting a promotion for this one, they will be so easy to capture. .. We need spiritual discernment in order to please God. Things of the Spirit are s piritually discerned judging between good and evil, right and wrong. We need judgment/perception to a pprove right things. Discernment is an intensive investigation which closely examines the evid ence and then distinguishes between right and wrong. Discernment has two parts: examination and judgment. To be faithful to God we must use spiritual discernment. Discernment is necessary to examine and judge the evidence laid before us so tha t we can live by faith and be saved. Examination is needed for Christian life. When we examine ou r lives with discernment, we will discover the Lords way, and are filled with the fruit of rig

hteousness. We need to be warned against believing everything we are taught about morality, good works, church, worship, and the plan of salvation by those who profess to teach the gospel. .. Adoration: We should not charge immediately into prayer with our requests. Our p rayers should follow the biblical pattern exemplified by ancient prayer warriors. We should st art our prayers with praises and adoration, acknowledging who God is. We must show proper honor and r espect to God. Confession: When we pray, we are agreeing with God concerning His statements abo ut our actions. We are remembering who we are and how weak we are. We should acknowledge, first and foremost, our specific failures to live a life worthy of His calling. Thanksgiving: Our prayers should consist of thanksgiving to God. We should thank Him for our friends, families, material possessions, our blessings and most of all our salva tion. We should also thank Him for the troubles and trails we face. Anyone can be thankful when thing s are going well. When we have troubles and trails and we are thankful, we stand out from the worl d around us! We are letting our light shine! Supplication (petition): When our prayers consist of supplication, Gods answer wi ll always be yes if they are based on His promises. Praying Scripture is so effective. From Scr ipture, we can pray that God will use our suffering to make us complete, to perfect us and make us more like Him. When the answer to our prayer is no, however, it is the best answer to our supplic ation. We thank God, believing He is working all things together for our good. Finally, in our p rayer we should ask that God would be recognized as holy and just and the world would acknowledge Hi m. .. About the Author Bishop Carter is the fifth generation of holiness preachers. He answered the cal l to ministry at a young age and has been preaching in the pulpit now for more t han seventeen years. He has served in ministry in various positions ranging from volunteer church custodian, to Mentor, to Senior Pastor and now, together with his wife, he serves as a Ministry Consultant. They live in Norfolk, Nebraska whe re he serves as Senior Pastor at New Life Church of God. He has been called on t o provide consultation for various ministries: counseling, seminars, womens retre ats, evangelizing, pastoring, fundraising, non-church ministries, conference spe aker, ministry training and more. He also served as a Teachers Assistant to a Pro fessor at Lee University for five years. He is an Ordained Bishop with the Churc h of God, Licensed Level 4 Church Consultant and a Certified Community Service C haplain. He has been recognized by the Consulting Department of the Internationa l Evangelism and Home Missions of the Church of God as a Ministry Expert. Bishop C

arter holds a Master of Divinity with a Counseling Concentration from the Church of God Theological Seminary and a Bachelor of Science in Pastoral Ministry from Lee University. They provide specialized training for churches and their variou s ministries, and offer innovative programs that span the field of church health , leadership training and resources. They deal with such critical issues as past oral counseling, church consulting, staff assessments, ministry planning, philos ophy planning, organizational structuring, demographic analysis, and a rededicat ion to the spiritual disciplines. He is a leadership trainer and church health e xpert; he can help propel you to the top! You will be inspired and motivated by his ministry knowledge and commitment to the Great Commission. He is a conferenc e speaker and church trainer. In addition, he has done extensive research and tr aining in the areas of discipleship, church growth, and ministry development. He is the author of several books. These are available for purchase at many locati ons. See Solution Ministries web site: www.SolutionMinistries.org.