Wake Up! To Follow The Dream That Your Father Has Placed In You. Series

This is the last of the four part series on Dreams with my Father. In the last three, we talked about How to reach the dreams that God has placed in your heart and make them a reality. Today the title of my text is

WAKE UP! To follow the Dream that your Father has placed in you.

MAIN TEXT Romans 13:11-14

11Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;

the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness , not in quarreling and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of sinful nature. 14Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

( Explanation of story leading up to this chapter .. In CHAPTERS 12-15: )

Earlier, Paul admonished, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God –– what is good and acceptable and perfect" (12:1-2). He then went on to explain in detail what that means (chapters 12-15). Now Paul says that faith must give rise to appropriate conduct. Christians must "lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light" (13:12).

In order to WAKE UP! To follow the dream God has placed in you, we first need to …….

I. Listen to the alarm clock

Romanos 13: 11

11Besides this, you know what time (Greek: kairon –– from kairos) it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;

Story – On of my least favorite things to do is to hear my alarm clock start buzzing. I do not like waking up. But I need the alarm clock in order to get out from my beauty sleep!.

It is so hard to get motivated sometimes. But we need to wake up and get going. Motivation is difficult

STORY – Of man falling into the grave after the other man. Heard a voice out of the dark corner – You cant get out of here . BUT HE DID!

"Besides this" –– or "And do this." Do what? Love one another (vv. 8-10).

"you know what kairos it is." There are two Greek words for time –– chronos and kairos. Chronos has to do with chronological time –– clock time –– the time by which we keep daily appointments. Kairos has to do with special time –– special moments in time –– the forks in the road that make all the difference –– moments with the potential to determine destinies. Paul uses kairos here, signaling that he is speaking of a significant moment in time.

The time I spend with my children is KAIROS time. The Kodak moments. We need to wake up to appreciate these moments.

"it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep." Night is the time for sleep, but "the night is far gone" (v. 12) and "the day is near" (v. 12). Paul wants believers to be awake and alert to greet the coming of the dawn.

"For salvation is nearer now than when we became believers." It seems clear that Paul is referring to the Second Coming and that he believes it to be imminent. Paul, however, never claimed that Jesus would appear in his lifetime, but said instead that Jesus would "come like a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:2).

I believe that we are living in the end of times.

Church are we ready for when Christ comes? If Christ were to come right now in this service in Iglesia Central would you be ready?

Wake up!!!

After we wake up and listen, we then need to do the completely unexpected. We need to LET GO of this world

II. Let Go of this world

Romans 13:12

VERSE 12:

12the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside (Greek: apothometha –– put off) the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;

Let us lay aside the works of Darkness

THE FIRST THING THAT WE SHOULD DO AFTER WE HIT THE ALARM CLOCK AND WAKE UP IS