Video Illustration: From One Race event at Stone Mountain Georgia
Series: You Asked for It!
Question: Dreams are they from God or Pizza – How do I know?
Scripture: Matthew 7:7-8: 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Introduction to series:
God’s Bible - His spoken Word and written Word to us was given to us to help guide our lives, given to reveal truth and lies, placed in our possession to keep us from being deceived and to answer many of our questions about life and death, blessings and cursing’s and to reveal to us how our story weaves into God’s story if we allow it too.
Sermon: Dreams?
Thesis: The Bible speaks of God using dreams to convey messages, destiny, insight and even revelation to our lives. There are 48 instances and verses which speak about dreams and visions and God’s hand in them and 8 verses which specifically speak of interpretation of dreams. But we must make sure our dreams and or visions are from God and not from pizza or even from the enemy of our soul. So, all dreams, visions need to be compared and in alignment with Scripture’s teachings and truths.
Scriptures:
Genesis:
Abraham received visions and dreams from God that had specific messages.
Genesis 15:1
Joseph received visions and dreams from God about his life and destiny and even interpreted other people’s dreams.
Genesis 40:15-25
Daniel also received dreams and visions and could interpret them too.
Daniel 2:28 – Daniel said, “God is the one who reveals the meanings and the messages of dreams to people not me!”
Daniel 4:20-25
Key verse for today and our era!
Acts 2:17: "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Apostle Paul received dreams and visions from God and so did many others in the NT.
Acts 16:9 “During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
Introduction:
This weekend we were in Atlanta at Stone Mountain Georgia for One Race – the event Christa organized and managed – the event drew 22,000-25,000 people according to the Park district.
This event was a historic fulfillment of the speech that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered at the Lincoln Memorial many years earlier called “I Have A Dream.”
In his speech delivered in 1963 - he stated the following – “…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 today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and 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…"
…And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true…
…Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia…
One Race was a partial fulfillment of the Dream given to Martin Luther King Jr by God of a United Nation and a community of believers that would end racism and covenant against it – The idea – The dream for this event was given to Billy Humphrey by the Lord and it was an amazing event to attend and be a apart of!
Many thought it could never happen – but it did – many tried to stop it - but it happened – Why? The power of dreams from God is in play here! His hand and presence was all over this event at Stone Mountain! Yes, the very same place where the KKK burned their first cross on the Mountain! God showed up and they raised a cross up to Heaven to honor God bring healing to our nation and repent of the sin of racism and dead religion – and in the same act praying God would send revival to this nation again and heal our land.
After the event on Saturday “One Race” the next day on Sunday Night we went to Christa’s Church “New Bridge” to hear what we missed while praying on top of the mountain. We came the hear the story of 2 men – with 2 dreams from God – Will Ford and Matt Lockett. I sat in astonishment of the hand of God on these two men’s lives and how God intertwined them together for such a time as this.
I sat with my mouth dropped at their amazing God story! I bought their book called “The Dream King” and read it this week.
As I read their book this phrase jumped out at me – “God, The Dream King, as Will and Matt refer to Him, places dreams in each of us. The Sovereign Creator weaves His plans and purposes into our DNA while we’re still in the womb. God then goes to work after we’re born, shaping our lives, and leading us toward the fulfillment of His plans for us. At several points along the way, pieces of our destiny will be released through relational connections with others. God-ordained relationships are all about enabling us to fulfill God-given dreams (Page 17, The Dream King).
I was awe struck by the amazing providential work of God in their lives and even in our own nation as God is doing something Providential in America and opening the door for another Great Awakening – I felt the Lord say to me – “You will see and participate in this Great Revival and Awakening.”
But back to Will and Matt’s story – in reading the Acknowledgements here is what people said about their two stories -their two dreams and the convergence of the two them by God.
“They say you can lose yourself in a good story, but it’s even better if you can find yourself in one.” Jim Garlow
“This story shows how each one of us can overcome our personal pain and enter into our God-given destiny.” Harry R. Jackson, Jr.
“The Dream King is a remarkable account of the miraculous intersection of two men’s lives in a storyline spanning centuries, written by none other than God Himself.” Jane Hammon
“The Dream King is a dynamic revelation of the way God weaves our life stories together.” Dennis Lindsay
“God is the author of creation, and He is writing a story that weaves together our very lives” Billy Humphrey
Share the story of Will Ford and Matt Lockett – from their book ‘The Dream King” and from listening to them last Sunday night at “New Bridge.”
Conclusion:
In reading this book and listening to their story I felt the Lord speak to me over and over about dreams – visions and our divine destinies. Yes, God will use a dream or vision to ignite passion and fire in you to make a difference with your life. And yes, God wants to use everyone of you here today to intertwine into another person’s life to change their path of destruction to a path of blessing, To, give them hope and healing. To let them know God is in control and wants to use them as part of His Story.
Quote from The Dream King - “The Word of God should always be the foundation for ministry, not subjective dreams. However, in scripture we see that God strategically used dreams to bring encouragement, warning, and unique insight” (page 83, Ford).
Why? God wants you and I to see that we are no accident – we are not mistakes – we are here at this time to weave our Story into His story and to make a difference – today we are going to go out and help people out in our community – we call this “Labor of Love” this is God’s Project – it was placed in our hearts to do this by God – to bring people hope and healing – to pray for people – to intersect their lives with our lives and weave that into His story. Are you ready to make a difference?
Response?
One last quote from the book, “We have to grapple with the question of what defines us. What is the driving storyline of your life?...The enemy of our souls would have the failures of our past dominate our storylines and choke our individual and collective destinies…So, the question I was faced with is what storyline did I want to be a part of? The blessing or the curse-the healing or the hurt?”
That is my question to you “What story do you want to be a part of? God’s?” Because you get to choose!
