Greater Things (Keep Dreaming Despite the Past) pt.2
All Scripture taken from the New Living Translation
We are in part two of our “Greater Things” sermon series…
We started this series looking at how we should dream big and trust God…
There are several reasons based on God’s Word and His character on why we should dream big, don’t hold back, and trust God in the process…
The last part of last week’s message we touched on something that often hinders us from dreaming big and trusting God… And that is our past!
We often let our past define who we are… We allow it to dictate our future…
Today, we’re going to dive a little deeper in this topic and look at why we should keep dreaming despite the past… Never let the past define the future!
Other reasons we don’t dream big and trust God are fear of failure… lack of discipline… Refuse to adjust when needed…
But the past is often our biggest hindrance… Because, often the enemy likes to remind us of our past…
In James 3:2 we are told that: “Indeed, we all make mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.”
Now, putting this verse in context with the rest of the chapter James is talking about how much trouble our tongue, our mouths can cause for us…
But he also says in the verse, “If we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.”
What comes out of our mouths brings both life and death, and if we could control that we would be perfect in every other way… But we can’t and we’re not!
And even before that, he starts out by saying, “We all make mistakes.”
I did a word study on this verse… And you’ll never believe what the actual definition of the word “all” is… ALL. Everything. Everyone. ALL. OF. US.
We all make mistakes!
Ecclesiastes 7:20: “Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.”
Romans 3:23: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
James 3:2: “We all make mistakes…”
I don’t know about you, but this makes me feel better when I mess up… We have Solomon, the wisest man who walked the earth… The Apostle Paul, and James, Jesus’ brother telling us that we all make mistakes and sin…
We all fall short of God’s glorious standard… So what does this mean… It means we aren’t perfect… It means we need Jesus!
Jesus tells us in Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
To seek and save those who are lost means that Jesus came to chase down those who need their relationship with God the Father restored… Jesus came to restore!
Jesus is a God of restoration… And part of this plan is to restore God’s original dream for each of us!
So, how do we get back on track despite the mistakes we’ve made?
The first thing we must do is own it… Own it… Honestly accept the responsibility for the mistakes made… The dumb decisions… The poorly thought-out choices…
Because, if truth be told, we don’t have anybody to blame but ourselves…
Galatians 6:5 tells us that: “For we are each responsible for our own conduct.”
The night Jesus was betrayed He makes a very profound statement to Peter… And He actually refers to Peter as His original name, Simon, which tells me this is a serious matter…
Luke 22:31-32: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to Me again, strengthen your brothers.”
Satan’s goal was to crush the disciples and wreck their faith! That’s his goal for all of Jesus’ followers…Including you and I!
There is a very telling sentence in this passage, “So when you have repented and turned to Me again…”
Jesus knows we’re going to make mistakes… Jesus knows we’re going to fall short…
But the good news is that as long as we stay close to Him… Jesus is there to restore what we’ve messed up… He came to seek and save… Recover and restore!
The night Jesus was betrayed and arrested… Peter followed… Peter kept His distance from Jesus, but kept His eyes on Jesus…
Then he sits by the fire to warm himself in the courtyard of the high priest’s home to see what was taking place with Jesus…
Peter sits in the midst of the enemy’s camp and looks for Jesus… And it is in this moment that he is asked three times throughout the night if he knows Jesus….
Peter is denying he knows Jesus… And the final time in Mark chapter 14 it says he swore and denied Jesus… And finally, he broke down and wept…
We cannot put ourselves in a position where we think we can sit with the enemy, and we’ll be fine, as long as we can see Jesus from a distance!
Peter, as much as he wanted to keep an eye on Jesus, put himself in a bad position
Isn’t’ this what we do… We find ourselves in a bad position, not surrounded by like-minded people,
other believers…
Doing things we ought not be doing, all because we think it’s ok since we have an eye on Jesus…
Here’s the good news… Jesus knows we’re going to mess up… And Jesus knows the enemy wants to sift us like wheat… And Jesus is pleading with the Father on our behalf…
We can never mess up so bad that our future dreams God has for us cease to exist…
Remember what Jesus told Peter… When you have repented and turned to Me again…
The steps to this process are to accept responsibility for our actions, and humbly ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness… What does that look like?
King David really messed up by committing an act of adultery, and then purposely having the lady’s husband killed in battle… And this wasn’t his only big mess up!!
In his grief for what he had done he wrote a prayer of forgiveness known as Psalm 51…
I want to read some section of the Psalm, but the entire psalm is a great prayer for drawing us closer to
God, and restoring the dreams He has for us when we mess up
Psalm 51:1-3, 6, 10:
“1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. 2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. 3 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. 6 But you desire honesty from the womb,[a] teaching me wisdom even there. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.”
When we mess up, own it, and ask for God’s mercy to be upon you… Ask God to blot out the stain of wrongdoing… Wash away the guilt and cleanse me from the mistake I’ve made, the sin I’ve committed…
For I recognize my rebellion… And You dear God desire honesty…
This is called “owning it,” and allowing the conviction of God’s Holy Spirit to bring to light that we messed up…
Talk to God about it and get the record set straight with Him… All He wants is us to be honest with Him…
When we do this, He will see us through every moment of our lives!
Often, we may need to talk to someone else as well, and they’ll help with getting us back on track…
When we don’t deal with a mess up in this way, we’ll never experience the freedom of God’s forgiveness… Instead, we’ll carry the mess up with us…
We’ll carry the sin, and it will find a way to haunt us as we go through life…
And this is another factor that hinders the dreams God has for us.
Verse 10… Create in me a clean heart… This is the start over… The re-do process… The grace and mercy of God’s character that will pour over us!
James tells us in James 5:16 to – Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed…
There is healing in confession!!
When we experience God’s forgiveness… And God’s restoration… We experience…
Romans 8:1: “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
No condemnation… Only freedom… Grace and mercy… Constant renewal and restoration when we mess up… Because we all make mistakes!
Here’s what gives me the proof to confidently proclaim this…
1 John 2:1-2:
“My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”
Jesus paid for every wrongdoing we’ve done and have yet to do!!
This is part of the Good News that brings great joy to all people!
The last thing I want us to get is this… Nothing we can do takes away the dreams and plans God has for us… Nothing!
Romans 11:29: “For God’s gifts and His call can never be withdrawn.”
Remember, we all make mistakes, and we have an enemy that wants to sift us like wheat, blow us off course, heap guilt and condemnation on us when we mess up…
Anything he can do to keep us from fulfilling God’s dreams, God’s calls, and God’s giftings on our life he will do to keep us from fulfilling those dreams and plans!
It’s all up to us… How are we going to respond, act and react to the events that take place…
As we bring this message to a close…
Let’s all plan to keep dreaming and trusting God despite our past…
Because we all make mistakes… It’s gonna happen!
And when, not if, but when we make mistakes, when we mess up, be sure to ask for God’s forgiveness…
Also, be sure to forgive those who have hurt and offended us…
We have Psalm 51 as a prayer model for asking God to refresh us, to cleanse us, and to create within us a clean heart… To help us start over again!
This is a prayer of forgiveness to get us to a place where we can experience the freedom of God’s grace and mercy…
God doesn’t want us walking around discouraged and beaten up by life…
He wants us to keep dreaming big and trusting Him…
I want to end with a passage from Isaiah to motivate us in this subject…
Isaiah 43:18-19: “18 But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. 19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”
Ephesians 6:13-18
Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
DREAMS FROM GOD
“In a dream, a vision of the night, When sound sleep falls on men, While they slumber in their beds, Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction (Job 33:14-18).
Jonathan: United States
My best greetings to the reader, To the point I’ve been giving the gift of dreams, prophesy and intuition of the spirit. With that said, I have been getting these dreams for years without finding a place where they can be interpreted properly.
I have many amazing dreams, but let me start with the most recent.
It began in a dark void, and I found myself swimming in shallow waters enough that if I stood at 5’7, the water would be at my hips. In this clear, beautiful water, I was looking for a specific stone, like a flat river smooth stone with scriptures written on it, and I was with another person telling him that I’m looking for a stone with a scripture from Psalm, but not sure which verse but will know when I see it,
As I duck my head underwater to find this stone, I find one with a scripture on it. I was reading it but knew it wasn’t the one I was looking for. I remember saying to myself how amazing that the salt water didn’t destroy the writing on it and how it was preserved, and when I couldn’t find it, I wanted to ask Jesus, who was sitting on my left above the water.
He was busy looking at what appeared to be light coming from His left eye as if He was watching a movie like a projector film would look. Still, only His left eye and I saw images flickering at the end of the light, and He was really focused, so I didn’t want to bother Him.
On His left was a child sitting next to Him, watching what He was doing and what I was doing.
But I didn’t pay much attention to the child, just acknowledged his presence.
Then I woke up. I was at peace in my dream, and Joy was with me. I searched for that psalm verse I was looking for and tried using keywords related to the dream to see if anything would come up, and nothing.
I did pray about it, and this is what The Lord chose to reveal to me:
The stone represents Truth; The ocean represents the vast unknowns. Because I was searching for a specific stone means I’m searching for specific Truth either about myself or The Lord.
Being I’m swimming in shallow waters, which means safety and ease in the unknown, swimming in salt water means that the Truth is in stone, my answers, My spirit and heart are preserved in Truth, which represents Jesus.
Jesus watching a film is Him preparing to Judge the world, and me being next to Him means I won’t be judged because I am in Christ, and Christ is in me.
That’s what I think it means.
Solomon Asks for Wisdom
3 Solomon loved the Lord and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship. 4 The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings. 5 That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”
6 Solomon replied, “You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.
7 “Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. 8 And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! 9 Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. 11 So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies— 12 I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! 13 And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! 14 And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”
15 Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, where he sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he invited all his officials to a great banquet.
