Camp Destination: Dreams

Bruce Chant

Godzilla / Camp Destination: Session 4

23/07/2004

DREAMS DETERMINES YOUR DESTINATION

Five (5) things that will stop you attaining your God-given Dreams.

Joel 2:28-29
²⁸ "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.
²⁹ Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

There will be a time, the Bible says, when the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all people. Everyone, everywhere will have access to the Holy Spirit being poured out. That time is now. The dispensation we live in, the season of time, is the time between now and when the Lord Jesus returns. The Holy Spirit is being poured out.

The result of this outpouring of God’s Spirit, Joel says, is clear. That people will dream dreams and see visions.

Dreams result in the impossible becoming possible. Nothing historic, nothing notable, nothing exceptional is accomplished without someone first having a dream.

There is power in being able to dream and project your thoughts into the future and think “what if”. “What if?” is a powerful question to ask. There have been many people in history who have dared to dream and ask the “what if” question – and from there it is the great people who do something about it and act upon their dreams. Particularly when your dreams come from God.

Men like Martin Luther – a hero of the faith. He was a Catholic priest who stood up to the corruption of the Catholic church of that day (middle ages) and led a might revolution – called the reformation – based on a dream that all people would follow the laws of God.

William Wilberforce – another man who’s dream was to abolish slavery. It took him most of his life – but he saw his dream fulfilled.

John 14:12
¹²I 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.

Jesus says we (his church and people) will do greater things than what Jesus did. That is a huge statement. But what it does say is with the Holy Spirit in you and the dreams you can dream today you can do things that were impossible in Jesus day.

For example – we have had over 8000 visitors to our website this year. About 40 people per day from all over the world come and check out what we’re doing. Jesus never did that.

What is the priesthood of believers?

I Peter 2:4 As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-- you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

I Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Revelation 1:6 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

The priesthood of believers is the Scriptural teaching that every Christian is in full-time ministry serving the Lord in all they do. This means that vocations other than paid ministry are still ministry and that God has scattered His people throughout varying times and places so that they could honor Him in all of life. Practically, this means that everyone from a Christian elementary school student to her stay-athome mom and electrician father can be holy servants of God honoring Him in their respective vocations.

What are natural talents / spiritual gifts?

Out of His common grace, God gives talents to all people. Since we are created in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:26-27) all people possess at least one aspect of His abilities in a very limited and incomplete manner. When we become Christians, He gives us a special means of grace called spiritual gifts. While the two differ, they can both be used to reflect His character and extend His kingdom.

Oftentimes, our natural talents and spiritual gifts complement each other to give us unique ministry opportunities.

Where are the spiritual gifts listed in Scripture?

Six separate lists of gifts appear in the New Testament: I Corinthians 12:8-10, I Corinthians 12:28, I Corinthians 12:29-30, Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 4:11, I Peter 4:11.

Be encouraged to Dream in God:

But we know our enemy wants to keep us from this and keep our thoughts small and self centred. That’s why we need to be aware of the devil’s schemes.

Five things that will stop you attaining your God-given Dreams

1. Distractions

Matthew 23:13
¹³"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

The Pharisees were the religious people of the day who opposed the radical ways of Jesus. Their man made laws and rules were more important to them than the truth that Jesus taught. The result was the Pharisees “stopped people entering in”.

What did they stop people entering in to? The kingdom of God, the fullness of relationship with Jesus, the love of God etc.

It is interesting to look at what stopping some entering is: “enter – tainment”.

Distraction, side-tracking, obtuse arguments, ideas, time wasters. It is a very common way the devil will pull you away from your dreams and into sin.

The Pharisees started out with the right intentions – but became cultic leaders.

In todays age we call someone who is popular to the extreme with a group of people to have a “cult” following, they are a cult figure.

If you have a cult obsession with something, someone, whatever then that is idolatry and that is sin. Moreso it will take you from your God given dreams and purpose to exceed the works of Christ.

2. Opposition

Genesis 37:5
⁵ Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.

Sometimes people will oppose your dreams. Eg Hillsong and live worship music.

It takes wisdom to know who to tell it to and when because a lot of people are insecure, negative and small minded. And given a chance they will oppose what God has birthed in your heart.

This is tall-poppy syndrome.

Opposition – even from his own family – did not stop Joseph who knew God was behind it all and went on with God and saw his dream fulfilled.

3. Not Counting the Cost

Luke 14:27-30

²⁷And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
²⁸"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ²⁹For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, ³⁰saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

Dreams require that you count the cost. Following Jesus requires you count the cost.

Firstly it costs you yourself. You trade a self-centred life for a Jesus centred one.

Many people fall away because they are simply lazy, self-centred, and unprepared to grow. It is a favourite tactic of the devil – the “futility of rebellion”.

The devils says you will be happier doing it his way or your way – and so you sin. The devil appeals to your flesh – your emotions – you feel good. So you do it (or don’t do it). The lie is by obeying the devil you go further and further from what will truly satisfy your hungers – GOD himself.

The futility of rebellion is – it is futile rebelling and expecting your life to be better.

4. Lack of Endurance

Endurance athletes are not the sexy Olympians on the cover of calendars. They are the skinny guys – but they are ones I admire.

Marathoners run 42km in a bit over 2 hours. That is from our church

They have endurance.

If you want to see your dreams fulfilled you need to endure.

Eg William Wilberforce. He endured and endured and endured until saw his dream, his God-given vision, complete!

ABC show – weak Americans in Kenya.

Hebrews 6:12
¹²We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

Hebrews 10:35-36
³⁵So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. ³⁶You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

5. The Power at Work within you.

Ephesians 3:20

“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,”

The key to seeing God do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” is the power that is at work within us.

What is the power at work within you?

Is it Jesus or something completely else?

IS it a heart turned towards God, delighting in God, enjoying God? Or is it something else?

Where your heart is at will determine whether you will see exceedingly abundant things happening in your life or not.

God says:

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ^[2] who strengthens me.”

Mark 9:23 “Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."”

John 14:12 “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.”

It is a question of Spirit vs Flesh

Galatians 5:16-25

^“16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
¹⁹The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

The above can be broken into the following categories of sinfulness and idolatry:

Sexual: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery”,
Occultic: “idolatry and witchcraft”,
Relational: “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy”,
Addictive: “drunkenness, orgies, and the like”,

Such issues and problems arise when your heart is not set on God or when you have a dead stone heart.

These are the different things that can be powers at work within us – however, if they are you need to realise you will not see your dreams come true.

But a heart turned towards God will see “exceedingly, abundant things happen – more than you could ask or even imagine.

SUMMARY

Dare to Dream and seek God about those dreams.

The key is to know a God-given dream still requires your obedience to God and desire to follow through on it. Trust God and prove Him to be faithful.

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