Becoming a Dreamer
2 Chronicles 23:9-10
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
June 19, 2022
One of the things I appreciate in people is when they talk to you, they tell it the way it is. There’s no beating around the bush, no hemming and hawing. They don’t tell me a story, hoping I’ll get the point. Of course, if it’s bad news, I hope they deliver it with grace. That’s one of the reasons I really like the apostle Paul. He’s real. There’s no beating around the bush. He tells it the way it is. For example --
In Romans 7, Paul explains that he doesn’t always do what he wants to do, but the very things he doesn’t want to do, that’s what he does. Can I get an AMEN from anyone? I think I’ve been there too many times.
In 1 Corinthians 1, he wrote about divisions in the church and was so bold as to say, ‘I’m glad I only baptized a few of you, because I’m really disgusted with the whole lot of you.’
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul wrote about his thorn in the flesh. We really don’t know what it was. He prayed and prayed and prayed to God to take this away from him, but God said, “Nope, sorry, dude!” Paul wrote - - -
9 But God said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I (Paul) will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
That’s so key for us. I don’t think anyone likes to consider themselves weak. We want to be strong, healthy, robust, full of life. I don’t think there are many of us who would say to God in our time of prayer . . . ‘hey Lord, I’ve been thinking about it, I’d like you to make me weak, so I can then give you the glory for making me strong, because my strength only comes through you.’
Any takers? Yet, so many times in life, we read stories about people who were not considered capable or disabled - - - and they shocked the world.
We can think of people like Joni Erickson Tada (who is paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident. She became a great writer and speaker. And is an amazing artist by putting the brush in her mouth.
Esther Vergeer (Became paralyzed at 9. She won 48 Grand slam titles. To end her career, she won 559 of her last 560 matches. She’s been called one of the most dominant player in professional sports.
Nick Vujicic (Evangelist - born w/o arms and legs. He has a great passion for Christ, is married with 4 children. Can type 43 WPM)
Andrea Bocelli (born blind, learned to play piano, flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, guitar, and drums. Also a lawyer and a great singer
Louis Braille (was blinded in a childhood accident at age 5. Became an accomplished cellist and church organist. Invented the Braille system of reading)
We can go on and on and name famous people who did great things despite their disabilities or challenges.
We can also name those people who are around us. We know people in our lives, in our families, friends and acquaintances . . . people who amaze us at what they can do despite their hardships.
This leads me to where we’re at in talking dreaming crazy, God ordained dreams. And taking some God ordained risks. We’ve seen some wild stories. Benaiah killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day. Josheb defeated 800 enemies at one time. Then we read in 2 Chronicles 23 - - -
9 And next to Josheb among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of Dodo, son of Ahohi.
He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew.
10 He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord brought about a great victory that day. - 2 Chronicles 23:9-10
So, there’s a battle going on against the Philistines. During the battle the men of Israel became afraid and began to run. Not Eleazer! He fought against the Philistines and fought so long and hard that his hand was tired and his hand clung to the sword. That means he had gripped the sword for so long and so hard, that he couldn’t even open his hand. I think many of us have done things and it took awhile to recover. This is one of those times.
I really believe we have gifts and abilities that we’re not even aware of. We look at certain aspects of who we are, and we see weaknesses, yet, we can take those weaknesses or disadvantages and turn them into successes that would blow us away. But, they wouldn’t blow God away, because He designed us with those abilities. God would be there cheering us on, saying ‘what took you so long?’
So, what does this have to do with lion hunting and fighting?
You see, when you look at David’s story, you see a simple shepherd boy, while king Saul, was tall, handsome and strong. Saul slept in the palace on silk sheets while David and his soldiers slept in cold caves.
Saul’s army ate well. Their meals were catered, David and his men had to hunt and beg others for their food. They had to work harder, grow stronger, and get smarter to survive.
Here’s a random fact I learned, did you know the brains of wild animals are 15 to 30 percent larger than those of their domesticated counterparts. Why?
Most pet owners don’t make their dogs and cats hunt for food. We give them food. On the other hand a wild animal has to find it’s food. It may have to fight and hunt, which causes it to become stronger and more creative and smarter, simply because it’s harder for them to find food.
David’s mighty men seemed to be at a disadvantage, but that’s how God makes heroes. The perceived disadvantages actually developed skills in David’s mighty men that they didn’t know they had.
For Josheb, the disadvantage was 800-to-1 odds.
For Benaiah, it was a 500-pound lion.
For Eleazar, it was a retreating army.
Sometimes our destiny isn’t revealed on the beautiful calm spring days. Sometimes we learn about our destinies in the storms, on those darker days, when not everything is rosy.
Our destiny may very well lie in our weaknesses. Again, we don’t like to admit them, we don’t like to even deal with them. Yet, if we’re willing, our dreams and hopes and visions can become a reality. But we have to get in the battle.
Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech on April 23, 1910, in Paris. There’s a very famous part of that speech, called, Man in the Arena. He said - - -
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds;
who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
I love that! It’s the reminder that we need to get into the arena. Yes, it may get messy and dirty; and we may come out on the short end, we may not get the victory we hoped for in our lifetime, AND there will be critics, as Roosevelt says, those ‘cold and timid souls who never entered the arena, and never knew victory or defeat.’
Yet, what I read from his comments and what I see in this statement ---- is that we don’t know how what we do today - - - will make a difference in 5 years, 50 years or 500 years.
God has a plan. We must decide what that call is. Will we be like those whom Roosevelt calls “cold and timid” who stand on the sideline and criticize. Because that’s safer. You never have to risk.
Or will we say YES! YES! To who God is calling us to be today and tomorrow. Will we trust that the God who calls us as His children, His sons and daughters, who have a greater purpose than just getting up each day and doing the same old thing . . . do we believe there’s a purpose in our lives?
If YES, then we can’t just sit back and wait. I know, we often can’t see the future as well as we’d like, yet, when God calls, what will we do? It’s that great statement from Jesus in Revelation 3:20 - - -
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on His throne.
Jesus is knocking . . . will we answer the door? And as I’ve been reading, I have to include that next verse because it’s a reminder that when we open the door to Jesus, the One who conquered, we also can become conquerers with Him.
It’s not always easy to move towards that call from God, or what we might call the God sized dream and risks, so I want to give you some suggestions as we end our time together. It can be very scary!
Have you ever done something, done it well, but realized it wasn’t the right thing to be doing? Does that make sense? Stephen Covey wrote, ‘most people are so busy climbing the ladder of success that they fail to realize it’s leaning against the wrong wall. So before you go after your dream, you’d better make sure it’s the right one. You’ve got to define success before you get started.’
It’s all about our faith journey. It’s about believing and trusting in what and who God calls you to be.
The best definition of faith comes from Hebrews 11:1. It tells us - - -
1 Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. - Hebrews 11:1
We all want to see what’s in front of us. We want to know the outcome before we start. Have you ever watched the replay of a sporting event. You already knew the end result, so when your team was down and made this great comeback for the victory, you were never anxious, because you knew the end of the story.
We don’t worry about the death of Jesus because we are certain about the resurrection of Jesus. We know the end of the story. We have confidence that when we die, we are with Jesus, we have eternal life. WHY? Because we know the end of the story.
Faith, we see in this passage happens when we don’t know the end of the story, when we can’t see that desirable outcome. It’s the assurance about those things in life that we can’t see today and may never see, yet we still believe and trust, and hence, obey the call of God.
Have you ever gotten a puzzle and it’s one of those 1000 piece puzzles. The outside shows you the picture. That’s the end result, but once you open the box and dump the pieces on the table, it’s sometimes hard to picture you’re ever going to get there. The pieces are a jumbled mess.
But that picture is what you’re striving to achieve. It’s like that’s the vision, the dream God has planted within you. And you follow the plan to get there.
That’s the “confidence in what we hope for.” When you open the box, those pieces get scattered, and it’s starting that process to put it together.
For most of us, our problem is that we want the cheat codes, we want the puzzle numbered so we can easily put it together, but that would take away from the process of what we’re called to do, because there’s growth in the process. That’s where the world sees Jesus in us.
The puzzle gets put together one piece at a time. It’s the same in life in all we do, as well.
You get into shape one workout at a time.
You get out of debt one payment at a time.
You earn your degree one class at a time.
You lose weight one meal at a time.
You get the job promotion one project at a time.
You get the game ball one practice at a time.
As I was reading, I saw where in 1939, Finland was a huge underdog in what was called The Winter War. The Soviet army invaded Finland. The soviets were far superior in numbers of manpower, tanks and planes. But the Finnish troops held their ground, much like Eleazar held his.
In 1940, Time magazine ran a feature article on the Finns. It said - - -
The Finns have something they call sisu. It is a Finnish term that can be translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity. Sisu is not momentary courage, but the ability to sustain that courage. Sisu is taking action against the odds, displaying courage and resoluteness in the face of adversity.
The New Yorker wrote, “A typical Finn is an obstinate sort of fellow who believes in getting the better of bad fortune by proving that he can stand worse.”
Sisu is the will to fight.
Sisu is unwillingness to give up.
Sisu is fierce resolve.
Sisu is guts and grit. It’s the resolve not to keep going.
I see that in all of David’s mighty warriors. They were not going to give up. They had faith, even when they couldn’t see the outcome. They had the assurance in what they couldn’t see that the God of the heavenly armies would stand with them.
It’s not always about hitting the home run. I really believe it’s getting into the arena and making a difference. In baseball, if you get a hit 30% of the time, just a 30% success rate, you’ll make millions of dollars. If you do it 40% of the time, you’re setting amazing records.
Often times we only see the finished product, but we fail to recognize the sacrifices that were made to achieve it. We don’t see how hard it was or how long it took.
Success is not always glamorous - - - it’s sweaty and takes grit (SISU).
Let me finish with a story that Mark Batterson told about the Civil War.
On July 2, 1863, Joshua Chamberlain and his 300-soldier regiment were all that stood between the Confederates and a certain Union defeat at Gettysburg. At 2:30 p.m., the Confederate Army charged, but Chamberlain and his men held their ground. This was followed by a second, third, fourth, and finally a fifth charge.
In the end, only 80 Union soldiers were left at Little Round Top. Chamberlain had been hit by a bullet that left him wounded, but the 34-year-old school teacher got back up.
He was told no reinforcements were coming and his men were down to one round of ammunition per soldier. The Confederates were preparing for another charge. Chamberlain needed to act decisively.
The rational thing to do at that point, with no ammunition and no reinforcements, would have been to surrender. But Chamberlain wasn’t wired that way. He made a defining decision that turned the tide of the war and many believe saved the Union
Chamberlain gave the command to “Charge!”
Chamberlain’s men fixed bayonets and started running at the Confederate army that outnumbered them. They caught them off guard and had an improbable victory, as 80 Union soldiers captured 4,000 confederates in five minutes.
Historians believe if Chamberlain didn’t charge, the rebels would have gained the high ground. It’s believed the Confederates would have won the Battle of Gettysburg. . . and the consensus is that the Confederates would have won the war.
In later years, Chamberlain said this about that day, “I knew I may die, but I also knew that I would not die with a bullet in my back. I had deep within me the inability to do nothing.”
2000 years ago, Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” In other words, charge! We’re called to play offense with our lives by making the most of the time, talent, and treasure God has given us.
We will not win the war by just sitting still and letting it come to us. We need to
Charge your marriage!
Charge your children!
Charge your dream!
Charge for God!
Quit running away from what you’re afraid of.
Quit sitting back and waiting for something to happen.
You’ve got to run to the 500-pound roar.
You’ve got to raise your spear against 800-to-1 odds.
You’ve got to fight until your hand freezes to the sword.
Have what the Finns had . . . SISU
An attitude that believes for yourself what Paul said in Philippians 4:13 . . .
I can do all things through the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit . . . who all strengthen me.
This series was based on the book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and sermons by Mark Batterson.
