07/03/16 Dream On!
Great
Christians Series – Ephesians 3:20-21
Intro: Have you ever heard someone say; When
I get out of school I am going to get a job with a 6 figure income, I am going
to marry the pretties woman, have one boy and one girl and live in the Suburbs
with the perfect two story wood frame dwelling, fenced in yard a pool and a
sports car that anyone envy’s, and people will hear of my story from reading
the Forbes magazine. Maybe you haven’t heard anyone say that, but there have
been many who had big dreams when they were young. The world’s view says “Dream
On!” But God’s view says I can use the ordinary people to do extraordinary
things. Great Christians believe this! Great Christians Dream Great Dreams.
We
celebrate a birthday on the 4th of July. This is a birthday that a country has.
This is a birthday that was conceived through Great Christians who had a dream.
A dream that would take these Great Christians to a point of no return and a
God that allows us to be one Nation.
“God delights to do the impossible thing
through improbable people to extend exceeding grace to underserving
recipients.” Chip Ingram
Text: Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)
“Now to him who is able
to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that
is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Application: Every dream
that God births goes through the cross!
The base of sanctified dreaming is:
1. GOD
IS ABLE:
“You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by
Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.” Jeremiah 32:17 (NASB)
Think of the most difficult situation in your life, a problem that seems
unmovable. It isn’t too difficult for God. It isn’t even mildly difficult. Or
think of the most outrageous dream you can imagine. It is not too hard for God,
not even close. God is able to resolve anything at any time.
2. GOD IS DESIROUS:
“But
just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT
HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED
FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NASB)
God is able to do great things through those who love Him. It
is God’s desire to do great things through Great Christians. We can’t come up
with a dream too big for God, and He has given us every reason to believe He
wants us to raise our level of expectation. We often try to lower our
expectations and quiet our dreams because we feel that they are too unrealistic
or that God wouldn’t do something huge through insignificant people like us. We
have a Bible full of examples of ordinary people God used to do great things.
Remember the conversation Mary had with Gabriel? And Gabriel answers with: “For
nothing is impossible with God."
3. GOD HAS PROMISED:
Not only is God able,
and not only does He want to, He also promised. “Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 (NIV)
Our biggest
problem isn’t that our dreams are too big; it’s that they’re too small.
4. GOD INVITES
US:
Our God is able, and it is His desire that we would dream, He promises
this, as a matter of fact He invites us. One of the greatest examples of this
is in the Upper Room Discourse: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in
me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these,
because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my
name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for
anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14:12-14 (NIV)
Can you imagine the
disciple’s amazement when Jesus told them they would most assuredly be able to
do the works that He done? All the miracles of healing, deliverance, and
raising the dead, all the works of compassion and mercy, all the wisdom and
teaching that He did would now be carried out by ordinary men. Not only that,
Jesus tells them that they would do even greater works than His, this invitation
only asks that you abide: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you
abide in Me.” Great Christians are encouraged to dream great dreams! God
through His son Jesus invites us to dream. God gave us a Bible full of stories
of people with God-sized dreams who depended on His power and promises to
fulfill them. How does God produce the dreams in everyday people? There are
several good examples which really leave us without excuses:
Abraham – had to
learn, the first step was involved with getting out of a comfort zone. The
principle we can learn from Abraham is that God often does not birth dreams in
us until we’ve demonstrated that we’ll step out of our comfort zone.
Joseph – God
puts His dream in your heart. Joseph had a dream that he literally wasn’t
looking for. God implants a dream.
Moses – you have the right dream, but you
try to accomplish it in your own energy. Moses failure only served to prepare
him. God allows us to fail in our attempts to accomplish His dream in our own
power.
David – Through all the adversity, David learned that his life was not
about fulfilling a dream or even about success for God. It’s about loving the
dream-giver more than the dream. He set his heart on the relationship first and
the benefits second. God teaches us through adversity to love the dream-giver
more than the dream. “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I
desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of
my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:25-26 (NIV)
Paul – God often gives
or clarifies a calling during a moment of crisis. God can take our worst
failures and use it as a platform for future ministry.
Conclusion: If you don’t
have a dream, ask for one. It isn’t complicated, and He delights in the
request. Aren’t we glad our forefathers had one? What are you willing to pay
for the dream, what will it cost you? The dream will cost your life: “I tell
you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it
remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.’ John 12:24
(NIV)
There are many in this country that took this both physically and
spiritually. Many died so we could have freedom. This is one reason that most
of us don’t want God’s dream. The dream will cost us our life and appear to
others as ludicrous just before God accomplishes the impossible through us. We
spend much of our time and energy trying to avoid that place. We want just
enough of Jesus to make us happy, just enough to give us peace, and just enough
to make things go our way to fulfill our dreams and our agenda. Meanwhile, He
wants to take us to the cross, where our own selfish dreams, egos, and plans
for great accomplishments have to die. The cross brings you to a place of total
and absolute surrender of all you have and all you are. You submit everything
in obedience to the vision or dream God has given you for your life.
We are
encouraged to finish well, that should be a dream for you. We are encouraged to
worship, have you prayed the dream that God can really reveal Himself to you
through worship. Put all your cards on the table and make those dreams a
reality. It could be your marriage, the raising of a family a successful career
not a job a career. So DREAM ON!
In : Sermon
Tags: "great christians series" "book of ephesians"
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