Wake up O Sleeper!

Big Idea:

We need to dream to spiritually mature.

Intro:

On March 30 1980, a 25-year-old pastor gave the first sermon to a new church of 60 people in Southern California. In the sermon, he read a dream that God had given him about their future. He began...

It is the dream of the place where the hurting, the hopeless, the discouraged, the frustrated, and the confused will find love, acceptance, help, forgiveness, guidance, encouragement, and support.

It is a dream of sharing the life changing good news of Jesus Christ with hundreds of thousands of residents in south Orange County California. It is the dream of welcoming 20,000 members into the fellowship of our church family... loving, learning, laughing, and living in harmony together - modeling God’s love to the world.

It is the dream of growing people to SPIRITUAL MATURITY and their full potential thru the discipleship of bible studies, small groups, retreats, seminars, and tools to help them grow in Christlikeness and fulfill the purpose of their lives. It is the dream of equipping every member for their own ministries through our church by helping them discover the gifts and talents that God gave them.

It is the dream of sending out our members by the thousands on mission to every continent and empowering every member for their personal life mission in the world. It is the dream of training church leaders and missionaries all around the world. It is the dream of starting at least one new daughter church every year.

It is the dream of at least 50 acres of land on which we will build a large regional church campus with beautiful, yet efficient facilities including a worship center seating thousands, a ministry center that provides space for counseling and prayer. Classrooms for bible studies and training; Outdoor recreationaries... and all of these facilities will be designed to minister to the total person: spiritually, emotionally, physically, and socially; and, they will be set in a natural park environment with inspiring garden landscape that refresh the soul, including beautiful flowers, green lawns, and trees picnic areas, sparkling fountains, and pools for baptizing. We want people to feel relaxed when they arrive.

So now, today, I stand before you and state with confident assurance that ALL THESE DREAMS WILL BE REALIZED. Why? Why? Because they are inspired by God. And they’re for His glory.

After sharing that dream, the pastor went home terrified. What had he done? Why didn’t he just keep that dream a secret!

I don’t know about your, but I would’ve felt the same way. I feel like I have much smaller dreams that I’m too chicken to share!

Well, if you didn’t guess, that church was Saddleback Church in Orange County, California. And that pastor was Rick Warren, author of the Purpose Driven Life. And more recently, of the book “Created to Dream,” which I will get back to in just a moment.

But today, 43 years later, all the details of that dream has come to pass. Every single word… AND MORE.

I personally believe Rick Warren is a super-gifted guy who could accomplish a lot on his own… but ONLY God could accomplish that dream! Only God could’ve given such an audacious dream.

When I recently listened to the audiobook of “Created to Dream,” I thought, “This is a timely message for me and our church!”

In 2023, our church’s vision (what we’re focusing on) is to spiritually mature - to grow up into everything that God has created us to be. Growing spiritually is challenging. We’ve spent the last few months talking about this. And one thing Pastor Rick shares is how dreams impact our spiritual maturity. More than that, how (sadly) many of us have forgotten how to dream.

And so today, I’d like to reintroduce the practice of biblical dreaming - based on the content of “Created to dream” - to our church. And I think today is going to be fun!

My hope is we leave today with at least the feeling, “God is not done with my life yet! He has more for me! More than I can imagine!”

And who knows… depending on how today goes, maybe we’ll do an entire series on “dreaming.” You guys let me know after service!

As always, let’s start by building our dreams upon God’s word, because the Bible tells us...

Proverbs 16:9 ESV

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

One way to apply this verse is to say, “We all have dreams… but not all dreams are from God.” And to help us discern between the two:

Let’s first define what we mean by dream.

Then, we can discuss how to discover that dream.

Body:

So, what is a dream? Well, there are 3 types of dreams...

The first kind happens when we sleep. Sometimes we dream about normal things. Sometimes they are nightmares. Sometimes they are random. Sometimes our dreams be wild’n out! However, SOMETIMES... God speaks while we sleep! He did this in the Bible, like with Joseph and Daniel. So, we need to remain open to the possibility of God speaking to us in this way.

The second kind of dream is synonomous with our passions and aspirations. Dreams can be accomplishment goals. God can use these too.

But the type of dreams I’m talking about today are God-dreams!

Again, these may come to us when we sleep. They may involve our passions. But, these dreams discover what God has created us for! They are connected to our God-given purpose.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The word “workmanship” is a great word. Think of a lump of clay. No shape. No beauty. Only potential. A potential that the the Potter sees. In His mind, he sees a dream of what could be! So he begins working it into what He planned. And soon, it is a work of art.

I was talking about this word with my friend Walter and I loved his insight. He said the spanish word used to translate “workmanship” communicates God tenderly shaping us into something permanently beautiful. I love that.

It matches the translated Greek word “poiema,” which is where we get our English word “poem.” We are God’s “poem,” an creative masterpiece designed for a special purpose.

We may start as nothing special, but God sees the potential and has a plan - a dream for us. Something beautiful that will bring Him glory.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Although there are biblical complexities to properly applying this verse to our modern lives, the language is helpful nonetheless. God has a plan/dream for our lives - a good one - and He wants us to discover and live in it!

But here’s where things can get messy...

Back in Ephesians 2:10, it says, “that we SHOULD walk in them.” The sense is… God has a beautiful plan for our lives, one He is fully able to accomplish, but He’s also given us a choice to walk in it. In other words, we can choose (by our God-given free will) not to live in God’s purposes.

And many things can keep us from pursuing God’s will (His dream) for our lives, but here’s two big ones:

Sin

Being scared.

By our free will, we can choose to follow our own desires instead of God’s dream. Desires built directly upon rebellion (active sin), or desires that are a result of distraction (passive sin). Believe me, Satan (who does not want us pursuing God’s dream) is a master at using both to destroy us.

Additionally, by our free will, we can choose to abandon God’s dream because we’re scared. We think God’s dream is impossible. But isn’t that how God does things?

Ephesians 3:20 NLT

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

I love what my friend Jason Hodges says, “If we can accomplish our dreams in our own strength, then we’re not dreaming big enough.” That’s not just a motivational TED talk statement… it’s biblical. Consider...

John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

In other words, following Jesus requires you to be COMPLETELY DEPENDENT on Him. God designed us to live this way. Therefore, it is biblical for God’s dream so impossible that it can’t happen without Him! So, don’t let “impossible” keep you from dreaming.

Additionally, sometimes we’re scared because this broken world has beat us down. Ever notice how kids naturally dream big? They have huge imaginations. What happens to that?

What happens is the world beats it down. We’re told, “That’ll never happen. Be realistic. Be logical. Get your head out of the clouds.” Don’t get me wrong… God’s given us a mind that He intends for us to use… but godly reason... doesn’t cancel God dreams... requiring great faith!

In fact, that how “faith” works. Faith believes God’s promises, even if them seem impossible! In the Kingdom of God, faith and dreaming are siblings.

Additionally… Hebrews 11:6 says, “without faith it is impossible to please God.” The inverse say, “We please God by faith.” Therefore, it is only when we live by faith that we are most like Jesus, who always pleased the Father. When we don’t dream, we miss opportunities to live like Jesus!

To connect this to our 2023 Vision… spiritually mature people are dreamers! They live like Jesus and have great faith! And that’s why I believe our church family needs to dream again!

So, while I can’t fit all of Rick Warren’s book into one sermon, I can focus on one important question he brings up in his book:

How do we discover God’s dream for us?

Pastor Rick answers this with a simple acronym: D.R.E.A.M. And the first letter stands for...

D - Dedicating your life to God.

Here’s an important truth: If your life does not belong to God, you can never pursue His dream for your life.

That’s because sin separates you from God.

And you need God’s help to accomplish His dream.

So, let’s acknowledge the potential elephant in the room… some of us need to right with Jesus today!

We need to stop messing around.

We need to turn from the sin.

And we need to put our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

If you need to do that, take a moment right now to call out to him. God promises...

Jeremiah 29:12–13 NLT

In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

Discovering your God dreams requires first surrendering to Jesus. But it doesn’t stop there. The apostle Paul reminds us that surrender is a continual process...

Romans 12:1 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Every day we need to say, “God, my life belongs to You. I offer it to You. I will follow You anywhere!” Once that’s our heart posture… verse 2 continues...

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

It’s only when our lives belong to God that He begins to reveal His will - His dream!

And don’t miss how important this step of dedication is. We live in a world that tempts us with a thousand false dreams. Some strategically from the devil. Surrender and dedication leads to wisdom and discernment.

And this is important because God gives you the free will to choose your dreams.

You CAN CHOOSE to surrender to sin, be conformed to the world, and live distracted...

Or, you can SURRENDER to Jesus, be transformed, and follow God’s dream.

R - Reserve time alone with God.

Our modern world has a million distractions. Distractions very attractive to our selfish and sinful desires. And they effectively drown out the still small voice of God’s Spirit. Therefore, in order for us to discover His dreams, we must intentionally make space for His voice.

In the book of Hosea, God tells the prophet to marry an unfaithful woman. Her marital unfaithfulness represented Israel’s unfaithfulness to God - who is like a loving husband. Unfortunately, the church ain’t much different than Israel. We too are unfaithful, chasing after every temporary pleasure.

But God still loves us. Did you hear that? God still loves us...

…in the same way Hosea was to love his unfaithful wife. And in chapter 3, Hosea says to his wife, “From now on you’re living with me… no more sleeping around. You’re living with me and I’m living with you.”

The sense is, “Come away with me on another honeymoon. Let’s fall in love all over again. Allow Me space to whisper the dreams I have for us.”

We’ve chased a thousand false and unfaithful dreams. But God still loves us. And He hasn’t given up on us or His dream. And He wants us to simply make space for Him to gently whisper His dreams to our heart again!

Next month, I’m going on Sabbatical. Pastor Jon’s dad is going to speak about that in a couple of weeks, so I won’t explain too much now. But I will say this: One purpose of my upcoming Sabbatical is to rest and fall more in love with Jesus. To make space so I can be refreshed, hear His voice, and dream again!

Is your life so noisy that you struggle to hear God’s voice. Maybe it’s time to get rid of some distractions and spend time with God so you can dream again!

E - Evaluate your abilities.

Your life is not random. In fact...

Acts 17:26–27 NLT

From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.

God wastes nothing. Everything has purpose: Where we live, when we live, our gifts and personality, the training, skills, and experience we have… they are appointed for His purposes.

Part of discovering your dream includes understanding how God created you. Like I said earlier, many of your passions are placed in your heart by God and align with His dream for your life. So, ask yourself...

Why has God made me this way?

How has He gifted me?

How is this connected to God’s dream for my life?

Btw - taking a spiritual gifts test can be a helpful tool for answering these questions. If you’ve never taken one before, scan the following QR code (which will also be on rotation after service).

A - Associate with godly dreamers.

Sometimes, our ability to dream is crushed by other people. Paul told the Corinthians...

1 Corinthians 15:33 NLT

Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.”

Who you hang out with impacts your dreams. And if you want to discover God’s dream for your life, you need to hangout with godly dreamers!

[Facing the Giants clip] In the movie “Facing the Giants,” one of the star players has a bad attitude. And his character corrupts the dreams of the team. But then the coach challenges him to do something impossible.

There’s a drill that requires him to carry his teammate on just his arms. It’s called the “death crawl.” And the star thinks the best he can do is carrying the other player 30 yards. The coach thinks he can do 50 yards. But here’s the twist… in order to get his best, the coach blindfolds the player so his sight doesn’t impact his effort.

When the drill begins, the coach passionately encourages, challenges, and speaks life into the blindfolded star-player. And the player struggles. By the end, he’s exhausted. But he not only gets to the 50, he goes the entire 100 yards of the football field. He accomplished more than he ever dreamed!

To discover and follow God’s dream, we need people like the coach. We need godly, faith-filled people who can passionately encourage us to, “Dream bigger… don’t quit… keep going… give your very best!” Or, wisely say, “That’s the wrong dream.”

And at The River Church, a great place to find godly dreamers are in Life Groups or Men’s and Women’s Breakfasts. Join one! Finally...

M - Make your dream public.

This is where the rubber meets the road. To see the dream, we must take a public step.

Under Moses, the Israelites were unwilling to enter God’s dream - they didn’t believe God would give them the Promised Land. As a result, they choose to wander and die in the wilderness.

When it was Joshua’s turn, they got the opportunity to enter the same dream. But they needed to take a step of faith towards the Promised land. And the boundary line to this dream was the Jordan River. God told them...

Joshua 3:8 NLT

Give this command to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: ‘When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop there.’ ”

God wanted them to experience miraculously crossing the Jordan River on dry land, similar to the Red Sea experience. It would symbolize God was with them to fulfill His dream (His purposes) for their lives. But they had to step into the water first, before they saw the dream. Only after “the priests, who were carrying the Ark of the LORD, feet touched the water, would the flow of water be cut off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.” (Josh 3:13)

We too need to take a public step of faith by telling people about our dream. And, as Rick Warren shared, that’s scary! “What will people think if the dream fails?” That’s a valid concern! But here’s a better question, “Why is it important to take this public step of faith?” It’s important because...

It’s only after we take a public step that we begin to walk in that dream. Otherwise, fear keeps the dream silently frozen!

Additionally, our public faith attracts more dreamers. Our bold faith helps others live by faith - helps others dream. And God may use our public declaration to call people to participate in our dream. Our dream maybe connected to their dream!

Finally, God is glorified. When the impossible dream actually happens, people who heard your share it publicly beforehand can testify to God’s power. They can say, “I remember when it seemed like there was no way! But God made a way!”

Response:

On the same day Rick Warren gave his dream sermon, a 7 lbs boy was born to a teenage girl who herself was raised by an illiterate single young mother. This new mom had already dropped out of high school. And the best thing going for her was her job at Taco Bell. Based on her current life experience, you can imagine that the ceiling for her dreams (and her newborn son) were very low.

But God had other plans/dreams. And one day her son surrendered to Jesus and started pursuing God’s dream for his life. And today I stand before you, experiencing and living out a dream that at one time seemed impossible. But that’s how God does it, right?

He’s able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or think. I’m learning that as I continue to take steps of faith… as I allow God to keep me dreaming. Again, this was a timely message. When I heard Pastor Rick publicly share his story - and that it happened on my literal birthday - I believe it sparked new faith in my heart at just the right time. Like God was telling me...

Time to keep dreaming!

I’m not done yet...

And remember, I can do MORE than you can ask or think!

I need to hear that because, naturally, I’m a small dreamer. That being said, planting a Bible-teaching, gospel preaching church in Glastonbury seems pretty impossible. So that alone felt like a big dream. And a couple years ago, when we had 50 people, I thought, “You know, if we ever get to 75 people, that’d be a miracle!” That was the ceiling of my dream.

But last year, another godly dreamer came alongside me and said, “Stop putting limits where God hasn’t put them.” In other words, “Dream bigger.” And so, by faith, I hesitantly removed my limits. And God started doing more impossible things. And it’s challenging me to keep dreaming! Asking, “What else does God want to do?”

Lately, my crazy friend Walter keeps saying, “We’re going to need room for 4,000 people at church.” Are you crazy? 400 would be a huge dream! But something in me (I don’t know… a still small voice?) thinks, “What if God wants to do 4000?” That’s definitely more than I can imagine...

But I want to publicly declare... I’m willing to dream that big! Not for my glory, but for God’s! To see as many people as possible surrender to Jesus and live out the dreams He created them for!

…and I also want to ask, “Will you dream with me?” I believe there are people in our church who God has called to preach, write songs and books, reach the nations with the gospel, and a million other dreams. God wants to do the impossible in and thru us… if we will only dream again. Because we are created to dream...

As we close, ask yourself...

What is God’s dream for my life?

And, what do I need to do to discover that dream?

One thing is for sure, in order to both discover and live in God’s dream, we need God’s Spirit to help us. So, let’s pray for that together...

Holy Spirit, come and have Your way in us. We invite You to change us and help us to live in the ways You created us to live. Help us to dream again… to walk in the purposes You created us for. Forgive us for our sins. Change us in Jesus name, amen.

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