DREAM BIGGER...DON'T LIMIT GOD!
Limit: to restrict, to confine, to keep within a designated area, to fence in, hold back, to bind
Example: Ever seen someone using a kid leash? (the kid has limited freedom…but who’s really in control?)
Limits: spending limit, speed limit, earning limit, noise limit, eating limit, etc…
Our God is Almighty. His power and ability is limitless. There is nothing He cannot do. The degree to which we experience His power and ability depends entirely upon the length of the leash we’ve attached to Him. I’d like to challenge you to take Him off the leash.
We serve a God who is infinite. He is all-powerful…all-knowing…completely capable. He is a God who’s power / ability / and love…knows no limits. YET…even though we know this and often declare it…we tend to limit the power of God.
Psalm 78:41-43 (NIV) - “Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed (limited) the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power…the day He redeemed them from the oppressor, the day He displayed His miraculous signs in Egypt, His wonders in the region of Zoan.”
Isreal was guilty of dimishing their expectations of our unlimited God. They had put God in a box…kept Him on a leash…by failing to remember and rely upon His limitless power and ability.
Sadly…sometimes we do the same…sometimes we limit God.
God wants us to take the limits off and believe Him for the impossible in our lives, in our families, in our workplace, in our church, in our community, and in our nation.
We limit God by our doubt, disobedience, and failure to ask.
(1) Doubt:
Doubt is faith in the negative.
James 1:6-8 (MSG) - “Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who ‘worry their prayers’ are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping your options open.”
Israel was always murmuring…always doubting. Sure…He made a way for us through the Red Sea…but can God give us bread? God gave them bread. “But can God give us water?” They asked and God gave them water from a rock of all places. “But can God give us meat?” He gave them meat…special delivery from the sky. “But can He deliver us from our enemies?”
Over and over again…God provided and deliverd in every area…yet the people spent forty years saying, “Can God…? Can God….?”
Sometimes we pray for healing and in our mind we’re thinking, “Won’t happen for me.”
Sometimes we pray for revival and tell ourselves, “It won’t happen here.”
Sometimes we pray and hope that God will do great things…and yet we’re not really expecting Him to.
We know that God can do the impossible…but we don’t believe it’s probable.
We may not know HOW God will act…but we must not doubt that He will!
Because our God’s power and ability is limitless…we ought to be saying, “GOD CAN! GOD CAN! He has and He will! He is the One who still makes the impossible entirely probable!
(2) Disobedience:
Proverbs 28:9 (MSG) - “God has no use for the prayers of the people who won’t listen to Him.”
John 15:7 (CEV) - “Stay joined to Me and let My teachings become part of you. THEN…you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayers will be answered.”
1 John 3:21,22 - “If our consciences are clear, we can come to the Lord with perfect assurance and trust, and get whatever we ask for because we are obeying Him and doing the things that please Him.”
(3) Failure to Ask:
Paul Harvey used to tell the story about a 3-year old boy who went to the grocery with his mother. Before entering the grocery, she said to this little guy, “You’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies…so don’t even ask!”
She put him up in the cart and he sat in the child’s seat while she wheeled up and down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. He saw the chocolate chip cookies and he stood up in the seat and said, “Mommy, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you not to ask. You’re not getting any at all.” And so, he sat back down.
They continued down the the aisles, but in their search for certain items they ended up back on the cookie aisle. “Mommy, can I PLEASE have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you no! You can’t have any cookies. Now sit down and be quiet.”
Finally, they were approaching the checkout lane. The little boy sensed that this might be his last chance. So, just before they got to the line, he stood up on the seat of the cart and shouted at the top of his lungs, “In the name of Jesus! May I please have some chocolate chip cookies?” And with that everybody in the store let out a good laugh. Some even applauded. And, according to Paul Harvey, due to the generosity of the other shoppers…the little boy and his mother left with 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies.
Moral of the story: It can’t hurt asking!
James 4:2 - “You have not, because you ask not.”
Matthew 7:7,8 - “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Again…God wants us to take the limits off…take the leash off…and believe Him for the impossible in our lives!
We need to dream bigger dreams! (don’t limit what God can do to 5110 Bellview)
Don’t limit what God can to…to only what you’ve already experienced or even heard. God is bigger than that! Dream BIGGER. Expect…MORE. Anticipate…GREATER THINGS!
Ephesians 3:20 - God, “…is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.”
The Living Bible puts it this way, “Now glory be to God, who by His mighty power at work in us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of…infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, and hopes!”
God wants to remind you this morning…there is nothing He cannot do!
God asked Moses a question and it’s a question He is asking of each of us today. “Is there any limit to My power?”
To Jeremiah, He asked, “Is anything too hard for Me?”
The answer to those questions will determine the size of our dreams and the size of our prayers.
So…How Big is your God?
If He can provide a coin from a fish’s mouth,
feed a multitude with a kids happy meal,
cause the sun to stand still and another time…make it go in reverse,
make an axe-head float,
turn water into wine, send fire from heaven,
walk on water,
bring 3 Hebrew men out of a firey furnace…not even smelling like smoke,
shut the mouths of lions,
set peter free from jail…escorted by an angel,
knock the walls of a city down using nothing more than the shouts of His people,
make a donkey speak,
supernaturally supply a widows grain and oil…leaving her with more than enough,
use ravens to deliver food to Elijah,
teletransport Philip,
cause two of every animal to show up on Noah’s doorstep,
use three stones & a shepherd boy to defeat the mightiest of giants,
take Joseph from a pit…through prison…and put him in the palace,
smite an entire enemy army with blindness,
use a prophets bones to raise the dead,
calm a raging storm,
fill the nets of unsuccessful fishermen,
dry up the bleeding of a desperate woman,
cause a crippled man to dance,
take Saul and make him Paul,
cause Cornelius and Peter to be miles apart to have visions in which they see each other being introduced to each other before they’re introduced.
take a rag-tag group of scared, mostly poor, timid, and discouraged people…baptise them with the Holy Spirit and use them to turn the world upside down.
IF He can do all of that and more…then there is nothing HE can’t do here!
He can open up the sea…stop any river…stop the sun in it’s tracks…and raise the dead!
He can heal any sickness, make the crippled person walk, the blind sea, the deaf hear, and make the mute speak.
There’s no power on earth…no demon in hell…that can keep Him from doing what He wants to do.
There’s no person so deep in a pit of sin…that God can’t lift them out.
When He shows up…something great always happens.
He leaves His mark at every turn. He’s bigger than any problem…bigger than any sickness…bigger than any fear…bigger than any heartache…bigger than any challenge you face.
He’s bigger than any prayer you could ever put on any prayer list!
There is nothing God can’t do. He has done great things…but He wants you to know…HE’S STILL DOING THEM!
The call from heaven to our lives today is, “I am the Lord…I change not!” (Malachi 3:6)
Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever! (Hebrews 13:8)
He is the same..all-powerful…limitless God…who delights in blessing His people!
[ I would suggest using some personal examples of how you have seen God bless your own life or using a story about someone in the church, someone you know, or perhaps a story from the mission field. As an example, we had a great financial need in an urban church setting in the Los Angeles area. God provided $10,000 through the unexpected generosity of a pitcher for the Anaheim Angels baseball team. Only God could do that! He delights in blessing His people! ]
There is nothing too much or too big to ask…fore there is NOTHING God cannot do! He has always done and is still doing the unexpected!
It takes faith to Dream Bigger.
It takes faith to believe God is good and that He is going to do the miraculous.
It takes faith to believe that God will send revival.
It takes faith to believe that your friend or family member will be saved.
It takes faith to believe that God will fulfill His promises to us as a church.
It takes faith to believe that God will heal.
Have FAITH. Dream BIGGER. Don’t limit God!
Don’t limit the extent to which He can help you! His ability to meet your need is without limitation!
Don’t underestimate His ability and willingness to provide for you. His resources are unlimited!
Don’t underestimate His limitless ability to protect you and your family.
Don’t put boundaries on God and what He can do in your life!
According to your FAITH…these things and more will be done to you!
Expect Him to surprise you…to do the unthinkable…to pull off the unexpected! GOD CAN DO IT!
CLOSING
How Big is Your God? How Big are your dreams? How grand are your expectations? Why dream small when we serve a God for whom nothing is impossible?
Are your dreams possible to fulfill without God’s help? If you can do it on your own…you’re not dreaming big enough!
Is your dream impossible enough? When’s the last time someone laughed at the size of your dream? Does the size of your dream ever offended some folks? If not…why not? Your dream should be so big that it takes your breath away…makes you weak in the knees, and makes you cry out to God for help and guidance!
Are you willing to allow God to overwhelmingly surprise you by doing something immeasurably more than you could ever ask or imagine in your life?
Henry Blackaby - “I have found that God always has far more to give me that I can even ask or think…If God wants to give you more than you are asking, would you rather have what you are asking…or what God wants to give?”
Hudson Taylor said there are three stages of God’s will in your life: impossible, possible, and done.
Allow God to stretch your faith and increase your expectations! And then…expect God to go immeasurably above and beyond that! Don’t limit God. Don’t settle for less! Be bold! Pray Big…Expect Big!
It’s time to Dream Bigger!
It’s time to take the limits off!
It’s time to believe God for the impossible!
What do you need God to do in your life?
If you could ask God to do anything…knowing for certain that He’d do it…what would you ask Him for?
What is it that you’re currently believing for?
Is it the salvation of a loved one?
Is it for healing?
Is it for deliverance from addictions, a way of thinking, an immoral lifestyle?
Is it for the restoration of a relationship?
Is it for peace of mind…freedom from worry…freedom from fear?
Is it for provision?
GOD CAN!
