Retreat Night 2
Notes
Transcript
Dream Again
Dream Again
INTRO:
INTRO:
Has anyone ever had a nickname you wish never happened? Like if you had a time machine you would go back and change it.
I am one of these people. Look I have had a lot of nicknames in the past. A LOT. To name a few, Joelybean, Joelsteen, Joeliosis, the list goes on and on. I am still accepting submissions for the best one.
But by FAR THE WORST ONE EVER. Was when I was about 11 years old, I got a brand new pair of glasses and I was hyped. Now no it wasn’t a nickname like four eyes or something like that. But it was worse.
Boy with the crooked glasses story. (Put on crooked glasses.)
Being called boy with the crooked glasses is pretty bad, and I wish it never happened. But don’t pity me because at 15 I GOT CONTACTS. LET’S GOOOOOO!
But actually what was worse than that was the physical implications of it. I am not kidding when I say it was awful. I walked into things, they would fall off my face, they got super annoying to readjust.
Look I don’t suggest anyone does this.
TENSION:
TENSION:
The reality is, crooked, broken glasses, made it really hard to move because it impacted my vision. I wasn’t able to see what was in front of me so I stumbled and fumbled around.
Sometimes we can be like this in our faith. We can lose our sense of purpose, we can have our vision blurred, something happens and it shakes us and all of a sudden here we are wondering what to do next. We lose sight of what God is doing and what He has yet to do.
The Bible actually talks about this.
If people can’t see what God is doing ,they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed. Proverbs 29:18 MSG
No matter who you are in this room, when you lose sight of, or you have never seen what God can do and what He wants to do through you and for you, you stumble, you fall, you get stuck. It gets extremely hard to do exactly the one thing we want you to do at this retreat which is MOVE.
Today I want to kind of tag off that message by talking-to you guys about another HUGE KEY to moving. That key comes with literally one word. I believe if you truly listen to this and you will really apply this one word to your life. It will change everything for you.
This one word is a simple word. It is...
Dream.
A dream can be a big broad concept to understand because their are a lot of different ways it is used. But tonight I want to talk to you about a dream that can only be explained by a calling and purpose for your life that is far above what you can imagine or even ask for. Something that is available for every single person in this room. If you will decide to dream. I am not talking about your dream to be a billionaire, a football star, a dancer. I am talking about a dream that only one person can give.
A dream and a vision that without it you will only find dissatisfaction and stagnancy.
The Bible says.
Where there is no vision, the people perish… Proverbs 29:18 KJV
Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint… Proverbs 29:18 NIV
There are many of us in this room who walked in tonight with no vision, no feeling of purpose, there are also those of us who have just lost sight. Something happened and it broke our glasses, hurt our sight, and now we are stuck living in patterns of depression, and hurt. Just stuck.
Nowadays especially, I see many people walking around just with their heads down depressed, like “whats the point?” I think Covid caused a lot of trauma on people that has really made it sometimes feel like, “wow what am I going to do?” “I thought everything was going to work out, but here we are.”
I get that. I have felt that. But listen it’s time to move.
You were created for significance, not just for survival.
I truly believe if you will dream you will move. So I want to talk about 5 people in this room tonight and if it is you I want you to really think about how you can move tonight when it comes to dreaming in your life.
TRUTH:
TRUTH:
FOUR TYPES OF PEOPLE:
FOUR TYPES OF PEOPLE:
1. No Dream
1. No Dream
There are people in this room who have no dream. Absolutely nothing. You came in here down and wondering what’s the point at all.
Or maybe you even came in here thinking nothing good can ever happen for you. You have had a string of bad things happen and now you think it would be foolish to dream.
God wants to speak to yo tonight. He wants to give you a dream tonight, but you have to do something.
Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’” Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV
Call to God and listen. Don’t just throw all your problems on him, but really listen. He wants to use you, he wants to change you, he wants to give you something. SOMETHING GREAT AND MIGHTY. You can do something great and mighty in your life for the kingdom of God.
Thats a beautiful thing, the world tells you you have to be most talented, most attractive, most smart to be anything, but God says you can know great and mighty things just for calling on Him.
The Lord is your strength. He will give you a dream that can come to pass in your life if you will truly call on Him.
2. A wrong dream
2. A wrong dream
“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me ...” Acts 20:24 NIV
Personal story - You’ll never be as good of a singer as your brothers. YIKES.
This statement honestly caused a lot of pain in me, and it caused me to go down a route like I had to prove myself, and I often got so frustrated because I didn’t know how to.
Never allow what someone else thinks, says, or does to you to rob you of a life in Gods purpose for you.
Don’t develop a wrong dream because you’re focused on the wrong person.
I allowed myself to be so focused on what was said that I started having a wrong dream that God didn’t lay out for me. When in reality I was focused on the wrong person. I was focused on a statement instead of a dream giving God.
3. A stale dream
3. A stale dream
Stale Chip - Something that is not being used for too long become stale.
There are those of us who have a stale dream. We feel like God said he would do something, but it just hasn’t happened yet and we are just kinda like. Welp okay I guess I am back to doing this whole on my own thing again.
We lose hope, and lose attention so quick. Maybe for this person God is waiting on you to move again, To show passion again, to be a good steward of the dream he has given you and move towards it. We can’t just sit here and expect it to happen without moving.
remind you to fan into flame the gift of God … 2 Timothy 1:6 NIV
Fan into flame what God has given you. Don’t let anything put it out. Give it fire again. Start fighting again, start hoping again.
Personal story of God coming through.
God came through and He always will. If God gives you something to do or tell you something He will hold up,. He always has. It may not be in our timing, but it will happen. So get back into it. DO NOT LOSE HOPE. Have faith.
The Bible says that faith is the substance of things HOPED for. You hope and your faith is what gives it substance.
It took a lot of faith to believe that even in the midst of what had happened God still gave me a dream.
IMAGINE:
IMAGINE:
4. A God dream
4. A God dream
These dreams take faith.
A God dream often times seems impossible.
Ex. You cant do it without God.
Do not try to take the God out of God Dream.
These don’t always mean you have to go into ministry. God wants to give you a dream that is specific to you.
You might be called to be a football player or a famous person, or a business owner. That might be what God has for you. But if you take the God out of it, it will never have the impact you could if you would focus on Him first.
Grandpa story
Closing illustration - ONCEMORE
They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
Once more…
Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. ... and he saw everything clearly. Mark 8:22-25 NIV
Once more! Jesus gives us a once more moment in our life. Maybe you used to have a dream a vision, you had an experience with God and he spoke, but since then you continuously have been through things and you have forgotten. But tonight ONCE MORE Jesus once to help you see clearly.
It doesn’t matter what you have done, who you are, God wants to give you a dream and a vision that is better than anything we can ever imagine. Tonight is the night for you to experience that AGAIN or for the FIRST TIME.
Address both people who could be given a God dream tonight and people who maybe had one and need it restored.
Response time. Prayer for God to give every student a dream again. During groups Write down the God given dream.