19, June 2005
Dakota Community Church
Tapping into the Power of a Dream
Introduction:
I am not talking about everybody’s got a dream lotto commercial.
That is about escape not reality.
I’m talking about a vision deep inside that speaks to your very soul.
I’m talking about that thing which you were born to do, that thing that draws on the limits of your talents and abilities.
I’m speaking of that which speaks to your highest ideals and sparks in you a sense of destiny.
My dream has been the fuel that drives my life.
- From Bible College success
- From 7 – 75 kids in 8months.
- Frustrations at Christianview
Who spilled pop on the key board? Who put football shaped dents in the sanctuary walls? How do you know all the characters on the Simpson’s?
Then there are more serious issues like raising my boys in freedom from religious oppression.
Issues like building a Church on relationships not on marketing.
Illustration:
E-mail From former youth group member from 10 yrs ago:
hey man how are you? im not doing too bad. working alot and have a girlfriend. so i guess im doing good now. other than that i havent started a career in music yet. i would love to and i feel its something iv always wanted to do.
You know looking back to when i first started going to Church. You helped me turn around from what i thought would be a long life of depression. You have no idea what impact you had on my life. Not only you but the rest of your family. i miss you guys being around and playing ball hockey. i might give you guys a call some time soon. e-mail whenever you like. I’il be here.
Tell the rest of the family I said hey and god bless.
But hasn’t it taken too long? Why keep going? Why don’t you just quit?
Isaiah 40: 25-31
"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"?
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
1. A dream gives you direction.
It becomes the target! You know what you are aiming for.
No one sets out with the intention of being the guy who labors all week and then blows his pay check in the pub, heads home to a wife he hates and endures the kids complete disrespect.
Joel 2: 28-29
"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
What is the dream that you have received from the Spirit of God in you?
I think some are confused by the commercialized dreams of our society.
Quotes:
“The reason most goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.” – Robert J. McCain
“We choose our life by how we spend our time.” – John Maxwell
"All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to the day to find it was all vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for the many act out their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible..."
T.E. Lawrence
Are you on track to your dream?
2. A dream gives you motivation.
Potential can be a dirty word, a sad thing, “He had such potential.”
Bumper Sticker: who you are is God’s gift to you, who you become is your gift back to Him.
A dream gives you the motivation to mine the depths of your potential.
- My dream motivates me to read.
- My dream motivates me to go to the gym.
Hebrews 4: 12-13
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Quote:
Every morning I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I’m not there, I go to work. - Robert Orben.
- This guys dream is to be rich
- What gets you off to work in the morning?
3. A dream determines your priorities.
Exodus 14: 10-15
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ’Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"
Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.
If you don’t have an agenda for your time some one else will.
4. A dream makes going to work a good thing.
Proverbs 29: 18
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law is happy.
I tried to come up with a more eloquent way of saying that but that’s the best I could do.
Forgans vs. Dakota Community Church
Illustration:
Martin Luther King Dream Speech.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
Awesome dream, but they killed him for it.
If you don’t have a purpose you would die for, then you don’t have a life worth living.
What is your dream?
What is your purpose?
What are you going to do with the gift of life you have been given?
PowerPoint available on request - dcormie@mts.net
