Week 2

We’ve all heard the phrase DREAM BIG. As a matter of fact, we’ve heard it so much that it can lose it’s meaning.

But if you really think about it, the meaning behind the phrase is still powerful. Why would we dream small dreams when big dreams are so much more fun to think about?

· Why dream about winning region, when you can dream about winning state?

· Why dream about getting a role in the movie, when you can dream about getting the lead?

· Why dream about meeting Lebron, when you can dream about BECOMING the next Lebron?

What is the craziest thing you dreamed about being when you were a kid?

For me, I wanted to be a baseball player. Not just any baseball player that sits on the bench. I wanted to be the next Derek Jeter, or Albert Pujols. I wanted to be up there with some of the best to ever play the game.

It’s easy to dream big as kids, but if you’re anything like me, as you’ve gotten older it’s become more difficult to believe your dreams will actually make a difference in the world. For a long time, I believed that if something didn’t seem achievable, it was safer to just dream about it but never actually try to make it happen. I would fear investing time and resources into something that might eventually fail. And failing never feels good, so the safe route was just to dream small dreams and never take the chance in real life. Our fear of failure is what makes our dreams stay dreams.

Another thing that may hold some of us back is a feeling of insignificance. When we were little, we felt like anything was possible and the whole world was at our fingertips. Now it seems like everyone is just one viral video away from having a millions followers and being famous! How will you ever stand out or compete with that?

Maybe you were told to use your imagination as a kid, but now that you’re in high school, you’re told to be realistic. Be practical. No more drawing pictures of yourself in a spaceship. Now it’s time for you to study for the SAT or ACT. It’s no longer about going to the moon. Now it’s about having the right credentials to get into the right college or pick the job we want after graduation.

Last week we started this series, called Rebellious. You may be wondering why is it called rebellious, you might be thinking that we aren’t supposed to be rebellious. Well, is being rebellious always a bad thing?

Being rebellious means that you don’t always follow the rules.

You maybe thinking right now like, aren’t we supposed to follow rules?

The truth is whether you consider yourself rebellious or not, whether you love rules or hate them, our world has a LOT of them. You know this.

School is full of rules like… • Don’t run in the hallways.

There are probably some rules at your house having to do with • Your curfew • The time you spend on the phone or • Cleaning up after yourself These rules are pretty obvious, but then there are the unspoken, unmentioned, but everybody still-knows-it rules.

The point is our world has a lot of rules and so it makes sense that when we’re in spaces like this, in a church or around church people, we assume that it is just one more place with more rules for us to follow. In fact, maybe you have heard people say that being a Christian is just about following a bunch of rules. If that’s how you’ve thought about it, I totally get that. It’s a really common idea. But just for today, I want you to consider this: What if we’ve gotten it wrong? What if following Jesus is just as much about the rules you break as the rules you follow? What if I told you that being rebellious isn’t always a bad thing? In fact, it can be the very thing that God invites us to do?

We are going to be looking one specific rule that the world tells us.

Rule: the older you are, the less you should dream.

The older you get, the less possibilities are realistic for you. In other words…dream small.

Jesus didn’t always do what people expected of Him. He shook up what was normal in His culture. He questioned rules that hurt people or kept them as outsiders. He turned things upside down by doing what He didn’t have to do, by serving others. What Jesus demonstrated for his followers and for us is that it’s okay to rebel or to push back against ideas that were never from God anyway.

Of course, at the time, many people didn’t understand that. They thought Jesus was trying to create a political rebellion to overthrow the Roman government. Spoiler alert: that wasn’t what happened. But because some believed that was Jesus’ plan, they had him tortured and killed, but that wasn’t the end of His story. Three days later, He rose from the dead! As He reunited with His followers, He gave them instructions on what to do next. It’s what we call the Great Commission. It was recorded by Matthew, who knew Jesus personally and wrote down an account of what happened. Matthew records Jesus saying this…

And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.’ (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)

I bet the disciples were thinking, “Wow. Baptizing ALL nations is a lot.” It would have been a lot less overwhelming if Jesus had said, “Go and tell your friends what I have done. Baptize a few people who are close to you.” But He makes it clear…

· ALL nations.

· The ENTIRE world.

· Teach them ALL.

· Serve them ALL.

Surely the disciples were thinking, “How is that even possible? It’s going to take me days just to walk up the street to the next village!  That’s dreaming a little too big. Can you rethink that, Jesus?”

If Jesus said these words to us, the task could seem so big we might shy away from even trying. But Jesus isn’t done. He keeps going.

Jesus continues beyond the “all nations” part…

“Teaching them to observe everything I've commanded you” (Matthew 28:20 ESV).

Everything. Not some things. And according to Jesus, His greatest commandment was to love God and love others.

The mission was clear: Find everyone. Invite them in. Teach them to love God and love others.

Jesus was inviting His followers to join the revolution that would change the world. It wasn’t political. It was a bigger vision than they had ever dreamed they’d be a part of.

It must have been terrifying.

Think about it. These were normal people from normal families in normal towns. Nobody was extraordinarily powerful or wealthy. And, think about the rule we talked about at the beginning: “The older you get, the less you should dream.” Like so many of us, these disciples may have felt like they should be more mature, more realistic than Jesus was asking them to be. Why would they have ever believed they could do what Jesus was saying?

Well, they had a pretty good reason. He was standing right in front of them. Jesus, who had been dead, wasn’t anymore. Something that was impossible had happened and they saw it. I imagine, suddenly anything seemed possible for them. I don’t’ know how each disciple felt about it, but what I know for sure is this: they did go into the world. They did baptize. They did teach. And because of them? We’re here. We’re reading their words. We’re following because they told His story. Thousands of years later, our lives are being affected by the first people to take up Jesus up on His invitation to go into all the world.

Changing the world seemed impossible.

They did it anyway.

That’s rebellious.

And the same is possible for you. Here’s another way to think about it…

Be rebellious enough to do something you don’t think you can do.

Even if you don’t feel like you have anything significant to offer, stand up to that idea. Challenge that thought.  If you feel like what’s in front of you is all that you’ll ever see, stand up to that idea. Rebel against it. Jesus is calling you to be part of something bigger.

One more thought. If you’ve gone through, or are currently going through, something that makes you think there is no way God could use you, maybe the most rebellious thing for you is to believe that God has something beyond this for you—that this tough thing isn’t the end of your story.  Whether that’s dealing with a sickness, growing up in a home that comes with challenges, or battling loneliness or insecurity, God is not giving up on you and your part in the story. So, don’t you give up on your part either..

We often use our circumstances and struggles as excuses to keep us from becoming what God wants us to become. But just because you can't see it doesn't mean that God doesn't have bigger roles or plans for you. He will absolutely use you uniquely to accomplish his revolution of service and love for others. Think about this… Everyone you look up to was once in a similar position as you are now. In other words, we all start somewhere. Whatever your reality, you can rebel against the idea that you can’t be part of something bigger that God is doing.

I want to challenge you to be rebellious enough to do something that you never thought you could do before, like Jesus challenged the disciples. 

In order to do that, there are three things you can do now...

1. Imagine it. God is always at work in the world and He has invited you to be a part of it by serving others in ways that you may have never considered yet.  The fastest way to prevent that is to be closed off to the possibility of something being greater than what you think it can be. So, open your heart. That’s what the disciples did, and they had no idea the impact it would have.

2. Pray big prayers for somebody else. The operative word here is "big." Maybe you pray for others, but you often pray with skepticism that anything will actually happen. That’s normal. But we have to be willing to pray with a hope that matches God's ability, not our expectations of what is reasonable or normal or expected. Remember, God so often wants to do things bigger than we could dream up or create ourselves. When we match our weak prayer to God's incredible, amazing, outstanding, extraordinary ability, something big can happen. And I am not just talking about someone winning the lottery or getting into their dream school. I am talking about big work on the inside of people as well. Big prayers for God to be seen and experienced in people’s lives.

3. Look for ways to help. Oftentimes God will answer prayers through His people. Look for ways to serve, to take action, to do something for the people around you or around the world.

Here’s another bonus: When our hearts are open, when we pray for others, when we look for ways to help, God will also do something in us. That's just the way that He works.

We see a great example of this with the disciples. Remember Jesus told them…

Go tell the world about me, teach them to follow my commands. And then he ends with I am with you always to the end of the age.

He is encouraging them that even though that seems like a lot he is there with them.

What happened to the disciples after that? Every single one of them went from being "normal people" looking out for themselves to giving their lives for others. They all took a step out of normal and into greatness—not because of their own power or anything they used to elevate themselves, but because they did what Jesus instructed them to do. They served others in a way that was bigger than anything they could have dreamed up themselves. They broke all the rules about who could serve, who could lead and who could make a difference. They were rebellious in the best sense of the word.

Can you imagine what it would look like if every single one of us made the choice every morning to be rebellious? To do something that we don't have to do, and then to take it a step further and do something to serve others that maybe we never thought we could?

Does that seem impossible? That’s okay. In fact, that’s one of the reasons we want you to be in small groups. You see when you talk with others about what God can do, what He has already done, it’s easier to remember that He can do something amazing through you. This week, I hope you dream big in your small group. Imagine ways God might use you and your group to change the world around you, and whatever you do, encourage each other to be rebellious enough to believe that God can use you.