Dreaming A God Sized Dream Series

In the movie, Chicken Run, dozens of chickens are held captive in the prisoner-of-war-like camp at Tweedy Farms. Ginger is the chicken mastermind who keeps devising new plans to help her fellow chickens escape. Ginger knows that when a chicken’s egg production is down they will face the chopping block. Ginger dreams of a place where the grass is green and the chickens can be free.

In a chicken coop organizational meeting Ginger shares her new escape plan with the chickens. They have tried going under the fence, now they will find a way to fly over the fence. Ginger encourages the chickens to imagine a place on the other side of the fence where the grass is green, a place where there is no farmer, no egg counts, and no chopping block.

Some of the chickens have a hard time seeing the place Ginger imagines. One chicken says, “Perhaps we should just try not escaping.”

Ginger responds “What kind of life do we have just laying eggs until we get wacked and stuffed. . . Don’t you see, the fences aren’t just in the yard; they’re in your mind.”

The chicken gruffly answers back, “The chances of us getting out of here are a million to one.”

“There’s still a chance then,” Ginger replies.

Today we begin week number 5 of our 50-day spiritual adventure, “Daring to Dream Again: Overcoming Boundaries That Hold You Back.” This morning I want us to be set free to dream a dream that is bigger than we are; let’s be set free from the fences in our mind to have a Spirit-inspired imagination greater than Ginger’s dream for the chickens to fly to freedom. I want us to “Dream a God-Sized Dream.” With a Holy Spirit-inspired imagination we can dream a dream bigger than we are.

If we are going to dream a God-sized dream, then we need to allow God to do some things within our lives. It is impossible to dream a divine daring dream unless God has transformed the dreamer within your heart. In order to learn what we need to let God do in us, we are going to look at the life of Peter. Through Peter’s life we can discover how God can take our ordinary dreams and “super-size” them–to make our dreams God-sized dreams.

A. Peter was a dreamer.

✎ How do we know that Peter was a dreamer? Peter was a fisherman. Each day he would rise before the sun to go out on the Sea of Galilee to fish. After the sale of his daily catch, Peter would work through the late afternoon into evening to mend his nets and prepare his boat for the next days work. Peter worked hard to provide for his wife and family, but deep within his heart I believe Peter longed for more. That’s when Jesus gave Peter an invitation, “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).

Peter was ready; this was the dream he had within his heart to be more than just a fisherman. Peter left his nets and followed Jesus. Thus, Peter began to pursue a God-given and a God-sized dream.

Nearly three years later Jesus wanted to know if those he had chosen to follow Him understood the dream He had called them to participate in. Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They responded saying, “Some say John the Baptist, or that you are Elijah; others say you are a prophet.” Then Jesus asked them, “What about you? Whom do you say I am?” Peter spoke up and said, “You are the Christ; God’s Son!”

Peter had discovered a Holy Spirit inspired reality; He understood that Jesus was the Messiah–the One who would deliver and save His people. Jesus affirmed Peter’s statement, “This wasn’t made known to you with human reasoning; my Father in heaven has revealed this to you” (see Matthew 16:17).

As Peter had followed Jesus, he began to see that his dream to be more than just a fisherman was God’s dream too, and he began to recognize that his dream was dependant upon Jesus. Apart from Jesus, Peter’s dreams wouldn’t amount to anything, but with Jesus, Peter began to dream a God-sized dream.

When Peter confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus gave Peter a new identity; “You’re no longer Simon, one who hears; you are Peter, a rock.” That brings us back to an important truth about dreaming a God-given dream, one which we have heard repeated again and again over the last several weeks. The first step to a God-sized dream is to embrace your God-given identity. In order to pursue a Holy Spirit-inspired dream, if you are going to be set free to dream again, then you must first see yourself through God’s perspective.