How To Deal Part 3: How To Deal With Broken Dreams Series

How to Deal

Part 3: How to Deal with Broken Dreams

Key Scriptures: Genesis 50:15-21

Icebreaker: We are born dreamers. We all have heroes – people that we look up to and want to be like. As a kid, I especially loved to dream of being a sports hero. Out in our driveway, I’d dream out having 3 seconds to go in the Final Four and I was the starting point guard for the Kentucky Wildcats. And the Wildcats were down by 2 in the national championship game and they inbound the ball to Collins! He fakes left, goes right, and shoots a fade away 3 pointer as the buzzer sounds….NOTHING BUT NET! THE WILDCATS ARE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS AND THEY’RE HOISTING COLLINS UP ON THEIR SHOULDERS!

Intro: Nice, right? Of course, if I happened to miss the game winning shot…the imaginary clock got reset to “3 seconds” and the referees let me have a do-over. That’d be nice in real life, wouldn’t it?

-How many of you have ever dreamed of winning something? Not the lottery, I’m sure. But you know what I’m talking about? We’re all born dreamers. And you know when a person really gets old? When they stop dreaming of what could be. You see, age has nothing to do with years. It doesn’t even have anything to do with wrinkles. Well, maybe a little. But it has more to do with losing the dream. And this morning, I hope this message will be helpful to many of you.

-The first sermon series I preached here at Millville 2 years ago was called, “Dare to Dream.” And with today being my final Sunday here, I want to challenge you one more time to dream big for God. But sometimes it seems like dreams slip through our fingers and we lose sight of them. So today, I want to talk to you from God’s Word about how deal with broken dreams.

-You see, sometimes our dreams take detours. Sometimes we take little side trips in route to our dreams and sometimes we never get back on the main road to a dream. Some detours are from God and some are of our own doing. We’re going to start in Genesis 50, where Joseph had an incredible detour on the road to the dream that God had for him.

-Here’s a great quote:

“Great it is to believe the dream,

As we stand as youth by the starry stream.

But a greater thing is to live life through,

And say at the end, the dream came true.”

-Let’s start by talking about why so few people realize their dreams.

Why So Few People Realize their Dreams

1. Unrealistic expectations.

-Some people never realize their dreams because of unrealistic expectations. And sometimes those expectations come from other people. But more often, the unrealistic expectations come from ourselves. I know people that go through life simply asking too much of themselves.

-You might not realize it, but you are your own worst enemy many times. Some people want to climb so high, do so well, and that put all of that burden on their own backs. And sometimes it’s just too much. You’re only human. You’re not Superman. And God doesn’t ask you to be. He only asks you to be a good manager of what He’s blessed you with.

-So, how can you know if the dream you think God has for you life really is attainable? Well, first of all, it will be affirmed by other people. If your dreams and goals are realistic and right, there will be affirmation from other sources besides your family. One of the ways that God has confirmed in my life that He wants me to be a pastor is that all throughout my life, other people have confirmed that calling. When God calls you to something, whatever it might be, other spiritual people will see that in you.

-A second way to tell if your vision truly is of the Lord is that it will be compatible with your gifts. God’s has given us gifts for one purpose and that is His purpose. Those gifts enhance the design and dream that God has for our life. So if I were to tell you that my goal in life is to be a professional golfer, I probably wouldn’t get any affirmation from you because it would become obvious after a round of golf that that dream isn’t compatible with my gifts. Same goes for you.

2. Uncooperative circumstances. (John 16:33, 2 Cor. 4:8-9)

-Some situations come up in our journey that don’t cooperate with our dream. I really love the quote from Paul Harvey:

“You can tell [when] you’re on the road to success. It’s uphill all the way.”

-How true that is, amen? And on that journey, it’s hard enough to get there is things go well, but a lot of times things don’t go well. In fact, Jesus said in John 16:33: