Repentance Of Small Dreams.
Mark 11:22-24TPT
One of the first books written on aviation was, L.’ Empire de L’ Air, written by a French farmer, poet and student of flight. Louis Pierre Mouillard, considered the father of aviation, he spoke like a prophet crying in the wilderness, Exhorting the world to repent of its unbelief in the possibility of human flight.
I like that sentence a lot—repent of your unbelief.
Wilbur Wright read this book and it changed his thinking. The Wright brothers had no education, no crowd funding, and no friends in high places. All they had was a dream, but that's all it takes, if it's coupled with tenacious stick-to-it-ness.
Over and over again, the Wright brothers failed to fly, but they refused to give up. They learned from each and every failure until they defied gravity for 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, of the week December 17, 1903.
Again, it's not just our sins that we need to repent about—it’s our small dreams.
As a Senior Pastor of over 30 years, I believe this statement—The size of your dream may be the most accurate measure of the size of your God.
Jesus spoke some vital words in, Mark 11:22-24TPT Jesus replied, “Let the faith of God be in you! 23 Listen to the truth I speak to you: Whoever says to this mountain with great faith and does not doubt, ‘Mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the midst of the sea,’ and believes that what he says will happen, it will be done. 24 This is the reason I urge you to boldly believe for whatever you ask for in prayer—be convinced that you have received it and it will be yours.
Verse 22, Jesus states, “Let the faith of God be in you.”
The same faith that framed the world.
The same faith that saves the soul—Believing faith.
The same faith that cast out devils, while producing gifts and fruit for others as needed.
Colossians 1:27TPT Living within you is the Christ who floods you with the expectation of glory! This mystery of Christ, embedded within us, becomes a heavenly treasure chest of hope filled with the riches of glory for his people, and God wants everyone to know it!
Again, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
If you’re born again, don’t tell me you don’t know about these riches. You possess the Savior of the World within you. P.H
Verse 23 of Mark 11, Jesus states, Whoever says to this mountain…What do you speak over your difficulties? Who addresses the mountain? Anger, frustration or faith? How about your emotions, does it depend whether you’re up or down? Do you address mountains?
Remember this, Complications are often a by-product of blessing.
Speak directly over what you need the mountain to do. Do you need it to be gone, or maybe, to multiply. Maybe you need to speak newness in. Fresh growth. Old out, freshness in!
Begin to believe that the impossible is only temporary.
Mark 11:22NIV “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.
God is calling us to repentance, repent of your small dreams and your small God.
It's also a dare, dare to go after a dream that is bigger than you are.
In the last 15 years here at CECC, we have been dreaming. We got more dreaming to do!
You see, we tend to think in terms of addition and subtraction, but God majors in multiplication. Remember the feeding of the five thousand? In that case, 5 plus 2 didn’t equal 7. In God’s kingdom, 5 plus 2 equals 5,000. Somehow there's more left over than when you started!
Here’s a powerful truth—When Jesus walked out of the tomb on the third day, the word impossible was deleted from our dictionary.
Let me set, Mark 9:23 up properly: Mark 9:17-18TPT A man spoke up out of the crowd. “Teacher,” he said, “I have a son possessed by a demon that makes him mute. I brought him here to you, Jesus. 18 Whenever the demon takes control of him, it knocks him down, and he foams at the mouth and gnashes his teeth, and his body becomes stiff as a board. I brought him to your disciples, hoping they could deliver him, but they were not able to do it.”
Jesus asks the boys father how long has his boy been doing this? The father spoke up, since he was a young child.
Then the father states in, Mark 9:22TPT “It tries over and over to kill him by throwing him into fire or into the water. But please, if you’re able to do something, anything—have compassion on us and help us!”
Backup and listen to Mark 9:19TPT Jesus said to the crowd, “Why are you such a faithless people? How much longer must I remain with you and put up with your unbelief? Now, bring the boy to me.”
Here’s another key verse—Mark 9:23TPT Jesus said to him, “What do you mean ‘if’? If you are able to believe, all things are possible to the believer.
Clear results, Mark 9:24-27TPT When he heard this, the boy’s father cried out with tears, saying, “I do believe, Lord; help my little faith!”
25 Now when Jesus saw that the crowd was quickly growing larger, he commanded the demon, saying, “Deaf and mute spirit, I command you to come out of him and never enter him again!”
26 The demon shrieked and threw the boy into terrible seizures and finally came out of him! As the boy lay there, looking like a corpse, everyone thought he was dead. 27 But Jesus stooped down, gently took his hand, and raised him up to his feet, and he stood there completely set free!
A connection with Jesus becomes lethal to any demon spirit—Completely set free!
Remember this, To an infinite God, all finites are equal. There is no big or small, easy or difficult, possible or impossible.
Romans 8:31TPT So, what does all this mean? If God has determined to stand with us, tell me, who then could ever stand against us?
Think about this fact, When Jesus walked out of the tomb on the third day, the word impossible was deleted from our dictionary.
As you walk with Jesus, remember, the impossible is an allusion.
Christopher Nolan's film popularized the phrase a dream within a dream. But the roots of this popular film can be traced back to the great poet—Edgar Allan Poe and it was titled: A Dream Within A Dream. The last stanza poses a question, is all that we see our seem but a dream within a dream?
The answer I believe is a resounding yes!
In the beginning God had a dream called creation. On the sixth day God created dreamers.
Every great man and woman of God throughout the Bible had a dream that was larger than they were. So what did they do? They believed and they dreamed, they spoke to the non-existent, and believed God for the results both physically and spiritually.
Here’s a word spoken to me—
“Your imagination is Gods gift to you; But your dream is a gift back to God.”
Hear this scripture reference on dreaming— Acts 2:16-17KJV But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Notice, “dream, dreams.”
That's the natural, super natural byproduct of being filled with Gods Spirit.
In 1963 Israeli astrologist excavated Herod the great fortress at Masada. As they carefully remove layers of history, they found the usual suspects—human remains and ancient artifacts. But the most curious find may have been a clay jar with seeds preserved inside it.
Researchers at the University of Zürich, using radiocarbon dating, place them between 155 BC and A.D. 64, so approximately 2000 years old.
Those seeds were stored at Bar-llan University in Israel for 40 years.
Then in 2005 three seeds were planted in the Arabia desert. Eight weeks later one of the seeds sprouted. It's the oldest known seed to be successfully germinated, so they named it- the Methuselah tree, after the oldest man in the Bible.
By 2008 that one seed has grown into a 5 foot palm tree with a dozen leaves. And by 2015 it was a fully grown, pollen-producing palm tree.
In the field of botany, there are two categories of seeds—orthodox and or an unorthodox. An unorthodox seed can't survive below 10°C, but orthodox seeds can survive droughts, glaciers, and centuries, even 20 centuries, like Methuselah.
God-ordained dreams are orthodox seeds. You might think I’m overstating seeds, but maybe you are underestimating the God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine!
This I know—The Holy Spirit knows how to extract dreams that have been dead and buried for decades, bring them back to life. And he can do it in 1000 different ways.
David was tending sheep just as he’d done the day before, and the day before, the day before.
When the prophet Samuel told David's father that one of his sons would become king, David's father, Jesse didn't even bother to go and call David. Why? Because his earthly father didn't see David's potential. He didn’t see that orthodox seed that could withstand anything.
The prophet Samuel saw something else, something more.
David was a giant killer, a songwriter, and the king of Israel. But before he was any of those things—David was a dreamer. Samuel did more than anoint David’s head; he implanted a dream within David's heart. Like any God size dream, it will take time, and it would take a team.
Second Samuel 23, is more than a laundry list of 37 names. It's a who's who list.
These were David's best friends—his closest confidants. Not only was there courage unmatched, but their loyalty to David was undivided.
I challenge you this week to read Second Samuel chapter 23, and give it your undivided attention, these were David's mighty men they were dreamers, they believed in their kings dream. Moreover, they would do anything to fulfill his dream.
Benediction.
