When Dreams Die Series

Running after dreams without God is futile. When we achieve our own ambitions apart from God’s dream we come up empty.

▸ Alexander the Great was not satisfied, even when he had subdued the nations of world. He wept because there were no more worlds to conquer; Alexander died at an early age in a state of debauchery, depravity, and wantonness.

▸ Hannibal, who filled three bushels with the gold rings taken from the knights he had slaughtered, committed suicide by swallowing poison. Few noted his death, and he left this world completely unmourned.

▸ Julius Caesar, the ruler of the great Roman empire conquered 800 cities, only to be stabbed in the back and murdered by his best friends at the scene of his greatest triumph.

▸ Napoleon was a feared warrior, who after conquering most of Europe leaving a trail of terror, spent the last years of his life banished from his beloved France.

▸ Adolf Hitler, Germany’s fuhrer who gained control of most of Europe during WW2 and systematically slaughtered over 6 million Jews committed suicide in an underground bunker after he saw the Allies turn the tide of the war and take Berlin.

Today we come to day 15, the beginning of our third week for our 50-day spiritual adventure: “Daring to Dream Again–Overcoming Boundaries That Hold You Back.” How is your adventure going?

Two weeks ago we began our adventure looking at Gideon: “Overcoming a Painful Past.” God calls us [1] to embrace a God-given identity, [2] to live out his new identity, & [3] to acknowledge God’s presence with Him. Likewise God wants heal the pain of our past as we are set free from a false identity and begin to see ourselves from God’s perspective. The Gideon perspective says, “I’m a loser”, “a nobody”, “unworthy”. God sees us differently; He give us a new name and empowers us to live out that identity by His Spirit.

Last week we looked at David; he was able to acknowledge God’s presence because he was on a daily God hunt. David did not let obstacles keep him from seeing how God was working in his life. We to can discover how God is with us each day through [1] an obvious answer to prayer, [2] unexpected evidence of God’s care, [3] an unusual linkage or timing, and [4] help to do God’s work. Let’s take just a moment and hear how some of you discovered God’s presence with you this past week as you went on your daily God hunt.

This morning we are going to look at an unlikely bible character, JUDAS. We don’t often talk about Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus with a kiss; when we do it is often in regard to how we may like Judas betray our Lord by our actions. This morning, however, we are going to look at Judas’ life from a different perspective in order to see “What Happens When Dreams Die.”

Judas is a great Hebrew name. Like the name Jude, Judas is a form of the name Judah and means “Praise”. By his name Judas was a man who would give praise to the Lord. Judas was from Southern Judea, a small town called Kerioth, thus his surname Judas Iscariot “inhabitant of Kerioth.”

Judas was a faithful Jew, but like many living at that time he was dissatisfied with what he saw around him. And who could blame him? The Jewish nation was under the control of the Roman Empire; Rome was cruel to those held under their heavy hand. Because Judas was not satisfied with the Roman occupation, he like many of his fellow Jews longed for the day that the promised Messiah would come to set their nation free.

Judas shows us an important principle about dreaming. Dissatisfaction is a key to being able to dream of something new. Satisfaction–having things good–is often the enemy of spiritual growth. Strange as it may be, the first step to personal revival or revival in the church, the first step toward having a Spirit-inspired imagination and dreaming God’s dream (or dreaming any dream for that matter) is to be dissatisfied with how things are.

ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH HOW THINGS ARE IN YOUR LIFE, OR HAVE YOU BECOME DISSATISFIED WITH THE CONDITION OF HOW YOUR LIFE IS GOING? Don’t be satisfied with the “status quo”. Dream of a better life. Let God give you a Spirit-inspired imagination to see what can be as you move forward with God by your side.

Judas was a dreamer. He was looking forward to the day when Israel would again be free. I believe that’s what drew Judas to Jesus.

Jesus spoke to the people about the kingdom of God. With a nation looking for a deliverer from Rome it would be easy for them to sometimes misunderstand Jesus. Have you ever noticed that sometimes people hear more than what is actually said? Some may have heard or quoted Jesus something like this: