Sermon Central
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Dream On!
Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Jun 12, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: Are dreams more than just wishful thinking? Can God use our dreams? Here’s some dreamers we should ask!
Dream On!
20 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.
(NIV)
What good are dreams? The very animated philosopher, Cinderella, of Walt Disney fame, claims that “a dream is a wish your heart makes!” I believe the dreams God has for us are far more potent than just what we wish for. God-sized dreams have eternity written on them. God-sized dreams will grow you on the inside so you can do what God is calling you to do.
We are looking today at five people to whom God gave a dream, a dream bigger than they were, a dream which was absolutely beyond anything they could imagine. Beyond themselves! Beyond anything they knew or could do! And they dared to pursue that dream!
And, by the way, all these dreamers are named “Joe”!
1) WHAT TO YOU DO WHEN GOD REVEALS HIS PLAN TO YOU? DREAM ON!
1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.
4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, …
(NIV)
Joseph shared his dreams. When God reveals His plan for you, you need to share it. When Joseph shared his dream with his brothers and his parents, it was like handing your baby over to barbarians! They did not see it the same way Joseph did. In fact, they wanted to get rid of him!
It is always so when you share what God has revealed to you about His plan for you. But do not lose heart or become disenchanted just because others do not “buy-in” to your dream. Vision is seeing what has not yet been seen.
2) WHAT DO YOU TO DO WHEN GOD TELLS YOU TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE? DREAM ON!
Joseph, husband of Mary, followed his dreams.
18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"-- which means, "God with us."
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
(NIV)
According to singer and actor Will Smith, everything his father did, he did for a reason. Smith recalls: "Once Dad wanted my brother Harry and me to repair a sixteen-by-fourteen-foot wall in front of his business. We had to dig a six-foot-long trench and rebuild the structure. It took six months. Years later Dad explained why he’d given us that task. ’When a kid’s growing up,’ he said, ’he needs to see something that looks impossible to do, and then go out and do it. There are always going to be walls in life.’ My father helped us get over one wall, so we would never be scared to take the first step and try to do the impossible."
Vision is often misunderstood. It is not predicting the future, because no one can do that. Instead vision is seeing the timely opportunity God gives you in the current moment and acting in faith and obedience before it passes. You don’t criticize a wave; you just ride it as best you can. Don’t put a question mark where God puts a period.
