Dreamers In The Desert

II Chronicles 26:3-5, 9-10

3 Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem His mother’s name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

4And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did.

5 And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God. and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.

9 Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them.

10 Also he built towers in the desert, and digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains. husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry.

It is my purpose to turn this church into a soul-winning machine where someone receives the Holy Ghost in every service and where those who do receive the Holy Ghost are discipled and become productive members of the local church. This is your mission.

Three aspects of soul-winning: Spiritual, Mental, Practical.  I want to show the connection between the way you THINK, the way you ACT , the way you WORSHIP      and how many souls you save.

I hope to inspire and motivate you to make the changes, the sacrifices and establish the disciplines necessary to be more effective in soul winning. You must become a witness to everyone you meet. The people you come in contact with are either a mission or a missionary.

I believe that I am talking to a group of missionaries. God wants you to develop life-style evangelism. This simply means that you live it, eat it, drink it and sleep it to make it work on a consistent basis. In essence, I desire for you to become dreamers in the desert. The desert refers to the world – peoples’ lives destroyed by sin. We are the dreamers. It is our job to build TOWERS in their lives and dig WELLS to transform that desert into fertile, fruitful soil.

A look at King Uzziah — Uzziah was a scientific genius who created many engines and witty inventions. He was a military genius as well as an agricultural genius. His first strategy was to build towers in four different places. A tower represents three things: VISION, PROVISION, PROTECTION.  Vision is the ability to see WHAT CAN BE THRU GOD’S POWER.

From the towers they got a view of the vineyards of Judah. They used the towers to survey the land. They could look back and literally see the vinedressers in the mountains. This gave them their vision for what the desert could be. From the towers they became dreamers in the desert.

Provision is the ability to PROVIDE TOOLS FOR THE WORKERS. The towers were used to oversee the project of irrigating the desert. Uzziah wanted to make sure nothing would overpower his people while they were expanding their pasture. The towers were also used to house supplies and food to strengthen the workers in the work.

Protection is the ability to CREATE PROTECTION FOR THE WORKERS. Unprotected workers cannot keep their focus. The tower housed soldiers to fight on behalf of the workers in case martyrs attacked them. You must learn the strategies of the enemy. Know how he works to defeat the gospel of Jesus Christ from taking hold of someone’s life.

A tower, simply put, is” A TESTIMONY OF WHAT GOD CAN DO.  True ministry builds towers in peoples lives.  Four places to build towers:  (1) THE CORNER GATE – Corners represent BOUNDARIES in our lives; restrictions we place on ourselves, or limits and landmarks we will not move. We live in a world with no boundaries. You can do anything that makes you feel good. If this spirit gets hold of the church you have nothing to convert people to. We must have a DOCTRINE and we must have a STANDARD. We must know who we are and what we have. You have to be DIFFERENT to make a DIFFERENCE.  (2) THE VALLEY GATE — Satan will always attack us when we are at our WEAKEST point. He attacks the weak on the periphery. Unfortunately, we live in a depressed society. People feel hopeless and as a result, look for means to escape their problems by taking drugs and going from one entertainment to another. They are looking for something to drown out the negative voices that speak to them.  (3) THE TURNING OF THE WALL —  Turning points in life can point to CHANGES that must be made. We live in a changing world. We must learn how to manage change without it changing our DOCTRINE.  (4) IN THE DESERT —  This means he knew how to take NEW TERRITORY. Turning the desert into a garden is not easy. Let’s leave this thought for a moment and look at Uzziah’s military strategy: Uzziah did to the Philistines what Reagan did to Quadafy in Libya. He didn’t wait for terrorism to strike at home. He hit the enemy on their own turf and stopped their aggression by drawing first blood. Uzziah hit the Philistines first. He became the AGGRESSOR and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. By doing this he crippled the enemy and strengthened his nation. Therefore, he never repelled an invasion. He stopped the invasion before it ever happened. All the other Kings of Judah waited until they were attacked.

Uzziah’s military strategy also differed from the other kings in that he did not train special forces. Rather, he trained each man to become proficient in four different weapons.  Four Weapons: (1) SLINGSHOT -THE NAME OF JESUS ABOVE EVERY NAME; (2) HABERGEON – BLOOD – PIERCES THE HARDEST HEART; (3) SWORD – WORD – SWORD OF THE SPIRIT; (4) BOW – HOLY GHOST ARROWS CAN DEAFEAT ANY ENEMY.

Four ways to convey those weapons into action: (1) PRAISE -many times we praise without UNDERSTANDING “For God is the King of all the earth; sing ye praises with understanding” (Psalm 47:7).  (2) PRAYER -focused prayer has power to PIERCE THE ENEMY. (3) PREACHING – explaining the word and its purpose brings DELIVERANCE.  (4) PERSONAL TESTIMONY-telling others what God HAS DONE FOR YOU.

If this church chooses to be a soul-winning church, then you must commit yourself to adding every weapon and tool needed to your abilities. There is no snake oil remedy -just hard work.  Wisdom built her house on SEVEN PILLARS. Many different attributes make up a soul-winning, revival church – no one virtue stands alone. A proper mixture must be created by combined elements of scriptural truth.  Though Uzziah was skilled in battle he also had a love for HUSBANDRY. He was so successful that the only way he could feed his cattle was to CULTIVATE THE DESERT and make it grow.  Nothing captures the ministry of church growth greater than this image of Uzziah changing the desert into fertile ground. He loved husbandry so much that he decided to take its beauty to the desert. He possessed both an ATTACK and a MAINTENANCE mentality.

Notice that Uzziah not only had CULTIVATORS in the desert but he also had VINEDRESSERS   in the mountains. Not everybody is skilled at taking rank sinners and turning them into powerful saints. His success was dependent on two things:  HE SOUGHT GOD – We must be able to hear a word from God. HE CONSULTED THE MINISTRY OFA PROPHET – If you can’t submit your action to counselors, most likely you are going in the wrong direction.

Towers can be: Bible studies, Bible clubs, prayer meetings, one-one testimony, door to door, newspaper/radio, surveys, follow-up by saints (not pastor), mission statements.