“DREAMERS”
INTRODUCTION:
If I were to ask you this morning, if you want to live an exciting lifestyle you would say yes. All of you would say “YES!” You know, the kind of lifestyle that we see in the movies, on television, traveling in private jets, jetting all over the world, eating the best foods, wearing the best clothes, hanging with all the most important and beautiful people of the world. Everybody wanting to see what you’re going to do next, have an exciting job. You know; live that life that all of us have “DREAMED” about from time to time. It’s only natural. We all want that kind of lifestyle! We all want life to be exciting!
You might say, “I DREAM of a life like that!” I’d love to be able to jet around the world in a private jet! Again, it’s only natural that we all want something better out of life. We “DREAM” of things like that!
There are TWO kinds of “DREAMERS” in the world! Those who “DREAM” those who “DREAM!” Don’t misunderstand me. There are those who “DREAM” and “ONLY DREAM” they never do anything about their “DREAMS!” Then there are those who “DREAM” and they strive to make them come true and many times they do come true.
Ben Franklin was a “DREAMER!” Jonas Salk was a “DREAMER!” Martin Luther King was a “DREAMER!” Ronald Reagan was a “DREAMER!” The greatest people who ever lived were “DREAMERS!” Even Jesus was a “DREAMER!” He “DREAMED” of a world full of people who “LOVED & SERVED GOD” with all their HEART, SOULS AND BODIES, So much so that He died for that “DREAM!”
Many are called or classified as “DREAMERS” are done so in a detrimental way. It’s not always looked on as a good thing to be called a “DREAMER!” Many people think “DREAMERS” are goofy, crazy, out of touch with reality, don’t have a good grasp on things, they’re made fun of and put down. But these who “DREAMED & DREAMED BIG, THEY DREAMED” something into existence! What others thought was impossible they could see as possible. Our forefathers on this great nation were thought of like that but they “DREAMED” of freedom and fought and died for it till they achieved it!
If you are a “DREAMER” then good for you! But! If you are only a “DREAMER” who does nothing about it then that’s just sad! BUT! If you are a “DREAMER” who “DREAMS” and does something about it then you are among a great elite of “DREAMERS!” It’s the “DREAMERS” who get things done in life!
Most people in life are happy to “JUST GET BY!” They’re happy to live life without all the commitment that “TRUE EXCITING LIVING” is all about! I see the people who excel in life and they are the people who refuse to “JUST GET BY!” They refuse to “JUST DREAM” about how it “COULD BE” and “DREAM” about how it “SHOULD BE!”
THEY REFUSE TO LIVE LIFE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! THEY REFUSE TO “NOT” GIVE IT ALL THEY HAVE TO GIVE! THEY ARE THE “TRUE WORLD SHAKERS!” THIS IS TRUE IN EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE ON THE PLANET AND IN EVERY SOCIETY ON THE PLANET!
You can look at other societies in the world who don’t have it like this country does and see how it works! How “DREAMS & DREAMERS” are squashed, how they are not much better off now than they were 1000 years ago! LIVING LIFE IN THIS FRAME OF MIND SEEMS TO “DESTROY” FORWARD THINKING AND FORWARD MOMENTUM!
They question you have to ask yourself is simple and profound!
“AM I A DREAMER OF JUST A DREAMER?”
Do you “DREAM” and do nothing and wonder why or do you “DREAM” and work towards fulfilling your “DREAM!” You see that is the difference in being a “DREAMER or JUST A DREAMER!” It’s the difference in “WINNING!” If you only “DREAM” and do nothing then your “DREAMS” FRUSTRATE YOU AND DEFEAT YOU IN AND OF YOURSELF! You become, and are happy to “JUST GET BY!” But if you “DREAM” and work towards your “DREAMS” then you are on the “WINNING CUSP” and they “WINNING WAY!”
How do you live a life and not “JUST GET BY?” Good question! It’s relatively easy but at the same time I realize how profoundly difficult it really it, BUT!
IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE!
Romans 12:1 says it all for the “DREAMERS!
“I beseech you therefore bretheren, by the mercies of God, that you present you bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what
is that good and acceptable will of God.”
Paul understood what it was to “DREAM!” He “DREAMED” about those he was writing this book to, the Romans! He knew what it was to “DREAM” to have a better life in Christ Jesus and he “DREAMED” the same thing for the Romans as well. He knew that if “HE” could do it “THEY” could do it.
How do you life a life that’s not “JUST GETTING BY?” You live it right out of this passage I just read you and your “DREAMS” of a better life in God!
How do you “DREAM” is how you “PRESENT!” If you ever listen to someone talk about their “DREAMS” they will either impress you, move and or motivate you or you will walk away thinking, “THAT PERSON IS A NUT!” But how many World Shakers were thought to be “NUTS” until they SHOOK THE WORLD OR AT LEAST THEIR WORLD!
HOW DO YOU PRESENT YOURSELF?
I. DO YOU PRESENT YOURSELF AS A “LIVING SACRIFICE?”
Understand what “LIVING SACRIFICE” means. Generally to “SACRIFICE” something is to lay it on the altar and kill it! But a “LIVING SACRIFICE” is to give up one’s will while still living! It is to literally “DIE TO SELF!”
Your will is where the “GREATEST BATTLE” you will ever face is located! It is the Battle of the Mind! It is where the difference in “DREAMERS” is found! “DREAMERS” who only “DREAM” never fight the Battle of the Mind successfully! They thin and sate that they cannot do what they “DREAM!”
But the “DREAMERS” who “DO” are those who have come to the “BATTLE OF THE MIND” and know that it can be done and should be done! They will not be “DEFEATED DREAMERS” by the mind-set that they cannot win!
You have to remember that part of the passage that says, “BY THE MERCIES OF GOD!” It is the “MERCY” of the Almighty God that “ENABLES” you to do the “IMPOSSIBLE” to “OVERCOME THE MIND & THE ENEMY!”
UNTIL YOU COME TO A PLACE OF “LIVING SACRIFICE” THEN ALL YOU WILL EVER DO AS A CHRISTIAN IS “JUST GET BY!” IF WHAT “YOU WANT” IS MORE IMPORTANT THAT WHAT “GOD WANTS” THEN YOU ARE ONLY JUST A “DREAMER!” YOU ONLY “JUST GET BY!” I’M NOT SAYING YOU’LL NOT GO TO HEAVEN, I’M JUST SAYING YOU’LL ONLY “JUST GET BY!”
I. DO YOU PRESENT YOURSELF AS A “HOLY?”
To be “HOLY” is different than “JUST GETTING BY!” Webster’s Dictionary describes “HOLY” as one who heart if pure and conformed to God!
“HOLINESS” is also about how you “PRESENT” yourself! “HOLINESS” shows in your “PRESENTATION” of “INTEGRITY, CHARACTER, MORAL CHARACTER, GODLINESS, GODLY CHARACTER & THEY WAY YOU LOVE & LIVE & CHRISTLIKENESS!”
If you want more than a “JUST GET BY LIFE!” then you have to know, understand and see yourself as “HOLY!” But know this, it has to be more than just an “ILLUSION” in your mind! You have to really see something that is “REALLY THERE!”
III. DO YOU “PRESENT” YOURSELF AS “ACCEPTABLE?”
How many times did I hear in High School the phrase, “THAT’S NOT ACCEPTABLE!”? Which meant I needed a “DO-OVER” or I was getting a “FAILING GRADE!”
There are things in life, society and in Christian Life that are “JUST NOT ACCEPTABLE!”
Ex: When I worked for a Pastor as Youth Pastor, I didn’t know he had been an English Teacher. (I HATED ENGLISH IN High School and the last thing I ever wanted to do was to work for an English Teacher!) I went to him with an idea that I wanted to do and he told me to go back and think it through and then “PRESENT” it to him on paper.
I went back to my office and a half hour later I “PRESENTED” him with my idea on paper. He brought my paper back to me an hour later with red checks and a GRADE of D+ on it! I was furious!
I went back to his office to confront him about my paper and grade and he sent me back to my office saying that it was not “ACCEPTABLE” and to do it again. I went back to my office and I did it again and this time spent all day working on my “PRESENTATION” and presented it to him the next morning! He accepted it and some months later I took my youth group on a Skiing trip!
I learned a valuable lesson. I could be a “JUST GET BY” Youth Pastor or I could “DREAM!” I learned to “DREAM & DO!”
CONCLUSION:
Where are you? Are you a “JUST GET BY CHRISTIAN?” a “DREAMER” of what "COULD BE" & what you "WISH WAS" was and “DO NOTHING ABOUT IT?” or are you a “DREAMER” who “DREAMS” about “WHAT COULD BE & SHOULD BE” & “DOES SOMETHING ABOUT IT BY THE MERCIES OF GOD WHICH ENABLES YOU TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE?”
