Daring Faith: Daring To Imagine with Rick Warren

all right get out your pencils and let's look at what I've learned about God inspired imagination this really could make a major difference in your life if you'll let God expand the way you think about your family your career your life God and everything else number one the first thing my imagination shapes my life my imagination shapes my life in other words the way you think is going to affect the way you feel and the way you feel is going to affect the way you act and if you want to change the way you act you need to change the way you think proverbs 23 verse 7 for as a man thinks in his heart so is he it is it is God's Way of saying I want you to understand that how how I work in your life is through your thoughts as a man thinks in his heart so is he for instance the person who says I can't do this and the person who says I can't do this are both right they're both right because if you think you can't you can't and if you think you can you you can the first day says I just can't imagine that ever happening to me well guess what it won't it won't because you're already doing a self-fulfilling prophecy now the Bible says this in proverbs 4:23 be careful how you think your life is shaped by what your thoughts Circle that your your thoughts now because I've always been interested in this and the power of imagination particularly as it relates to faith I've collected quotes of famous people over the years about imagination I thought I would just share some of them with you here's the first one from Albert Einstein look up here on the screen Einstein says imagination is more important than knowledge logic will get you from A to B imagination will take you everywhere there's no limit to your imagination the true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination Albert Einstein that's interesting very interesting okay here's one George Bernard Shaw the famous playwright and poet imagination is the beginning of creation you imagine what you desire you will what you imagine and then you create what you will in other words Michelangelo when he painted the Sistine Chapel those beautiful frescoes he had to imagine it all in his mind he had to see it in his mind before he could put it on on the wall CS Lewis the greatest Christian thinker the last century said imagination is the organ of meaning Napoleon Bonaparte imagination rules the world the philosopher Pascal said imagination decides everything William Arthur Ward said if you can imagine it you can achieve it and if you can dream it you can become it and then that great theologian George Lucas you can't do it unless you imagine it imagine him imagining all of the Star Wars trilogies that took quite a lot of imagination okay that's George Lucas okay and then here are a couple other great leaders Walt Disney said Disneyland will never be completed it will continue to grow as long as there's imagination left in the world and then this quote Saddleback will never stop growing as long as there's one person who's not heard the good news of Jesus we will keep reaching out that's from the first sermon in 1980 imagination imagination now God warned about the power of imagination being misused and he tells the people in in Babel where they were building this giant Tower of Babel which was going to be basically an idol they were going to build it to reach up to God and here's what God says in Genesis 11 about imagination the Lord said now that they are one people speaking one language this is only the beginning of what they will do now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them notice this is God talking God always speaks the truth he says because they're one people with one language and they're unified they've got clear communication he said nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them now this is actually a warning but there's also a teaching here if you were a businessman I want you to listen closely how do you get a group of people to do the impossible how do you make the impossible possible maybe you've got a project in your business that you know man there's no way that's going to happen how do you get people to do the impossible well he says there are three things any cooperation you need communication and he need imagination he said you got to have cooperation they've got to be unified one people you got to have clear communication they're speaking one language and you've got to have imagination and if you've got those three that's how the impossible becomes possible that's a little leadership tip I just thought I'd throw in there now number two second thing I've learned about imagination imagining is the simp is essential to living by faith imagination is essential to living by faith in fact you cannot live by faith without using your imagination because since you can't see God you got to use imagination to practice your faith now Hebrews chapter 11 is the great chapter of heroes of the faith and by the way if you're you've been honored as a hero of faith we do want you to pick up one of these pens on the way going out the hero of faith but in Hebrews 11 we have God's Hall of Fame you know as a rocks Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is Baseball Hall of Fame well God has a Hall of Fame but it's called Hebrews chapter 11 and in the Bible he lists all the people who are the real heroes in God's book Abraham Moses and Joseph and Gideon and all these people and he starts off Hebrews 11 talking about faith by saying this in verse 1 defining faith let's read it aloud together what is faith it is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen it is the evidence of things we cannot yet see now notice the two things faith is a way of seeing and he says here that that God says whatever you hope for when you when you believe it's going to happen not that it might happen that's hope when you believe it will happen that's faith and he said it's the evidence of things we cannot yet see God gave you two ways of seeing gave every human being to his things first you can see through your physical eyes that's one way of seeing and second you can see by the imagination in your mind and you can picture things in your mind and you can you of course you dream them but you can visualize them and that's another way of seeing and when you can't see something physically you have to imagine it in your mind now it says here that faith is when we hope for something and we know it's going to happen in order to hope for something you have to picture it in your mind do you remember when you were a kid and at Christmas time there are gifts wrapped under the Christmas tree and you started you saw the ones with your name on it and you started imagining what was inside that box and you got excited because you thought you knew what was inside that box because you were picturing it in your mind you could not see it but you are imagining that gift you're imagining that toy and this is a tool that God says you have to use in walking on with Christ because you can't see God so when you can't see God right now you have to imagine God has given us tools of imagination communion the Lord's Supper baptism those both of those symbols engage your imagination they help us visualize they help us picture the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ going onto the water coming back out is a picture of Jesus dying and being buried and rising again and communion is a picture of Jesus giving his body and blood for your salvation they are tools that engage your imagination now when you read the rest of Hebrews 11 about all those heroes of faith you realize that every one of them became heroes of faith because they used their imagination for instance God says to Abraham Abraham you're 90 years old and you have no kids but I'm going to change your name to to Abram from Abram to Abraham which means father of a great nation now for about a decade Abraham still has no kids and so he goes to a local restaurant he said party for to you no table for two but what's your name father of a great nation oh wow let's see how many kids you got none it'd be pretty embarrassing to be named father of a great nation and you don't have any kids but God always calls things that are not as though they were he names it in advance and then he says I want you to go outside Abraham and he said I want you to count the stars at night and he said that's how many grandchildren and great-grandchildren great-great-grandchildren in the world count all the stars what is God doing when he tells Abraham to go count stars he is activating his imagination he's saying I want you to visualize what I'm going to do in your life look at the next verse 2nd Corinthians 4:18 we set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see what we see will last only a short time but what we cannot see will last forever what is that verse mean it means that the material is temporary and the immaterial is eternal for instance everybody could see this chair right now it's a wooden chair it's material but it's not going to last it won't last 500 years this chair will decay and fall apart it's not going to last it's material and anything material isn't going to last on the other hand you can't see the Father the Son and Holy Spirit but taking the last for eternity you can't see your own soul it's going to last for eternity and the Bible says you need to focus on the things that are last which you actually can't see with your eyes you have to imagine them only by imagination so my imagination shapes my life and imagination is essential to living by faith number three third thing I've learned great lives are built on great dreams great lives are built around great dreams in my lifetime I've had the opportunity to a lot of very great people some of them are famous some of them are not famous because Fame and greatness have nothing to do with each other you can be famous and not be great and you can be great and not be famous but in great lives they're built around great dreams what I've discovered is that nobody is naturally a great person you don't just you know pop out of your mommy being a great person no you become great by attaching your life to a great cause a great purpose or great dream you need something bigger than yourself to draw you out of yourself to make you grow better than yourself and that's what makes you a great person until you have a great dream you will never be a great woman until you have a great dream for your life you will never be a great man if you don't have a great vision if you don't have a great dream it is impossible for you to be great greatness comes from what you attach yourself to you need something bigger than yourself that pulls you out of your self-centeredness that makes you great now during daring faith I want to help you unlock your imagination and I want to help you become a more great person and I want you to dream and to visualize them to think about how God wants to use your career how God wants to use your future your finances your family you're giving your ministry your career and my prayer for you is actually this next verse on your outline Fijians chapter 1 as your pastor I'm praying this may God enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see the hope that his calling holds for you and notice this may God enlighten the eyes of your mind what's he talking about there the eyes of your mind I'm talking about your physical eyes he's talking about your imagination he's saying I pray that your imagination will come alive and in faith you will be able to see God's dream for your life God's vision for your life God's purpose and plan for your life God's calling on your life God has a calling for you most people miss their calling in life why because they're following their dream instead of God's dream I'm not interested in you following your dream I'm interested in you and following God's dream I could make up a dream for my life I could say you know I dream of being a rock star and it would be a waste of my life because God didn't wire me to be a rock star you could say I dream of being that other than a ton the last week I asked you that in the questions it was pretty funny some of the things that came in God said I want you to give you I want to give you my dream for your life and that's your calling and he says when you understand what I've made you for what I what I built you for what what I have a vision for your life then you're gonna have hope you will know the hope that is calling holds for you if you want significance in your life if you want satisfaction in your life if you want fulfillment in your life here's what you got to do you got to stop following your dream for your life and you got to start following God's dream for your life because God's dream when you fulfill it you go this is it this is what I was made to be it fits I know my niche I know why I'm alive now if you can't imagine your calling if you can't dream God's dream you're not really living you're just existing and you're just going through life and without a dream you're dying the Bible says in proverbs 28 18 where there is no vision what does it say the people Perry Circle that the people perish I tell pastors when a church has no dream where there's no vision in the church the people go to another parish now as I said I want you to discover God dream and one of the things that I told you that during daring faith I'm going to push you I'm going to stretch you I'm going to challenge you to discover God's dream for your life and that leads me to number four the fourth thing I've learned and it's this God's dream for my life is bigger than my dream God's dream for my life is bigger than my dream it's exponentially bigger it's far larger it's eternally significant you know there are a lot of dreams you could have big dreams and they wouldn't be significant you could dream of being a millionaire by a certain age or being a billionaire for what purpose just do you think God puts you on this planet to live for yourself of course not of course not God's dream is for your life is bigger than your dream let me show you what the Bible says Ephesians 3 God can do anything you know far more than you can ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dream notice far more than you could ever imagine God can do that in your life or guess or request in your wildest dream now let me stop there I don't know about you but I'm a pretty big dreamer I've never been accused of small dreaming I've never been accused of being a tiny thinker I have big visions in life and yet God says Rick think of the greatest thing I could do in your life think of the greatest way I could bless your life dream the biggest dream the greatest vision and I can top that you have no idea what God wants to do in your life you are living such a small fraction of what you're capable of you were doing with your life such a small portion of what God wants to do in your life God's dream for your life is enormous it's big he says I can do more than you and imagine or guess or requests in your wildest dream the Bible says he does it not by pushing us around but by working within us his spirit deeply and gently within us and by the way the next verse after that says so glory to God in the church glory to God in Jesus glory to God in all generations and glory to God forever and ever we just sang that that's this verse we just sang this glory to God forever now I want you to write this down in your outline God wants me to dream big write that down God wants me to dream big he wants me to use the imagination that he gave me because dreaming big honors God it shows faith it shows trust now you should base your dream not on what you think you could but you should base your dream on what you think God could do I remember many years ago when we bought the Lake Forest property and the word got out in Orange County that a church was going to go by a hundred and twenty acres let's put this in perspective that's bigger than Disneyland this property is bigger than Disneyland and people said what kind of church is this gonna go by a hundred and twenty acres of Orange County property who do those people think they are and when I heard that I said that's the wrong question the question is not who do we think we are it's who do we think God is that's the real issue now write this down let the size of my god determine the size of my goal I must let the size of my God not the size of my guest but the size of my God determined the size of my goal God's dream for my life is bigger than my dream number five the fifth thing I've learned about dreaming and vision and imagination is this doubt is the enemy of imagination doubt is the enemy of imagination now doubt and fear neutralize what God wants to do in your life you see it takes courage to imagine why you know why most people don't imagine because they're afraid of failure when you were a kid you had a great imagination children have a massive amount of imagination but the older you get the more your imagination grows rusty and you stop imagining what things could be and you just start living the way they are and you get stuck in the status quo which is Latin for the mess we're in and you don't imagine what they could be you just imagine you just think about what it is and you stop using that imagination muscle in your life doubt is the enemy of imagination and that's why it takes courage oh by the way what is courage courage is doing the thing you for the most if you're not afraid you don't need courage you don't need courage courage only happens when you're scared to death courage is when you're scared to death P say I'm going to do it anyway in the history of Saddleback Church every great thing that we did I was scared to death to do scared to death dude I just said we're gonna do it anyway why cuz I'm not gonna bout to let fear dominate my life so I do it moving ahead trembling moving ahead in fear and I just do it anyway and God shows up and God should and God will show up in your life courage is when you do the thing while you're afraid you do the right thing he said well should I wait til all the fear is gone it's never gonna go away you just do it while you're afraid and then it goes away doubt is the enemy of imagination you have to move against your fears and sometimes you have to ignore all the insecurities you're feeling you say I'm gonna do it I'm just gonna go for it I'm gonna do it even though I'm scared to death and I'm insecure and I might fail bla bla bla bla bla James chapter one if you need wisdom you want to know God's dream vision for your life if you need wisdom just ask God for it because he's generous and he enjoys giving it to everyone but when you ask you must believe and not doubt for a doubtful - as unsettled as a wave of the sea that's driven back and forth and tossed about by the wind such doubters cannot decide anything that they do so they should not imagine there's that word they should not imagine receiving anything from the Lord you got to believe and you got to banish doubt you know what you need to do you need to doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs the problem we have today is we do the exact opposite we believe our doubts and we doubt our beliefs no doubts are meant to be doubted beliefs are meant to be believed so you believe your beliefs and you doubt your doubts your imagination in your life is these are going to be governed by fear or it's going to be governed by faith and that's your choice now if you let your imagination be governed by fear you're going to go around freaked out stressed out worried all the time and you're going to worry about what other people and you're going to worry about are you going to have enough and you're going to worry about this and this and that and and when you allow fear to control your imagination you live a miserable life and instead if you say I'm not going to allow fear to dominate me I'm going to allow faith to dominate me and I'm going to trust in God all things are possible with God then your imagination talks about what could happen the good things that might happen and your imagination moves you ahead doubt will destroy you now there's a great story in the Bible about a man who had had a son who was sick and he came to comes to Jesus and we pick up the story in mark chapter 9 and the man says to Jesus please heal my son if you can and jesus replied what do you mean if I can anything is possible if a person believes the father replied I do believe but help me not to doubt I love this passage because I love the authenticity I love the honesty of this guy he goes I believe I just got some doubts one of the passages in translations he says Lord I do believe help me with my unbelief and you know what Jesus's response was to this guy when he said what do you mean if all things are possible if you believe and and the guy says well I do believe help me with my doubts you know what jesus said he does good enough and he heals the guy right there on the spot on the spot you know I wish I had learned a long time ago always somebody told me that I don't have to have all my doubts resolved and all my questions answered in order to follow Jesus Christ and enjoy all the benefits of it I've been walking with Jesus Christ now for almost well over 50 years I still have questions I got a list of them I still have doubts when I get to have it I'm gonna be in you can get in line behind me I've got all my little questions to ask Jesus Jesus why did you do this why did you do that I doubted this I doubted this I didn't think this was a good thing you did here and on and on and I'm just going to go through my laundry list of questions and doubts why because I believe I just have some doubts now if I had thought that I had to answer all my doubts on all my questions I still wouldn't even be a Christian what I learned listen very closely is I don't have to understand something for me to benefit from it I don't have to have it all figured out for me to benefit from it for instance I don't understand how internal combustion works it doesn't stopped me from driving a car I don't understand the chemistry of digestion it doesn't stop me from eating steak I don't understand how there are literally colored pictures flying through the air right now and going through my body and yours but it doesn't stop me from turning on a TV and watching them how the world does that happen I don't know how can I pick out my phone and talk to somebody in the other side of the world I don't I don't know all of I can't explain that to you but I don't have to explain it to enjoy it does that make sense and I don't have to have all my doubts answered all my questions resolved in order to live by faith lord I believe help me with my doubts God says that's good enough and so doubt will destroy you if you let it keep you from imagining and being all that God wants you to be so this guy comes to Jesus he says Lord I want to believe help me with my doubts have you ever cried out to God that way have you ever cried out to God said Lord I want to believe help me with my doubts you need to do that this morning if you have it now one of the things that happens because of doubt because of fear and because of worry is vision begins to dissipate in your life you get a dream but you leak and your dream dissipates you a lot of people start off in light with a great dream a great goal a great vision a great objective a great cause and a purpose to live their life for but over time that begins to dissipate and drain out and leak out of their life just much like you buy a a balloon with helium in it you put it up in your house and three days later nobody's actually poked it it didn't all leak out at once it just started to leak out a little bit at a time and pretty soon it's droopy and some of you have a flat tire emotionally and you got a flat tire mentally because you don't you're not dreaming anymore you're not believing anymore and so what you have to do is you have to re-energize the dream periodically you have to refuel the dream are you run out of gas how do you refuel God's dream for your life number six God's Spirit and God's Word fuel my imagination God's Spirit and God's Word fuel my imagination these are the two sources that God provides to energize your dream so you don't run out of gas first he gives you his own spirit the Holy Spirit and second he gives you his word and the promises of the Bible let me show you a couple verses John chapter 14 Jesus says I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper who will be with you forever and that helper is the Spirit of Truth that's God's Holy Spirit and you'll know him because he lives with you and he will be in you and that's where the power comes from it's not self-help psychology it's not build yourself up a positive mental attitude this is the Holy Spirit working in you gives you power you don't have and the other source for refueling is God's Word psalm 119 says this open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your law help me to understand the meaning of your Commandments and I will meditate that's imagine think about consider I will meditate on your wonderful miracles now how do you do this you need to do it on a daily basis where you listen to God as you read his word and you talk to God in prayer and this is the key to maintaining a vision and dream for your entire life write this down the key to stronger health your imagination is a day quiet time a daily quiet time when the Holy Spirit and you and the Bible get alone and you listen to God and you talk to God and you pray and you think and you consider and that energizes your vision if you're not having a daily quiet time it's no wonder your dream leaks you've got to be in the word and you've got to be in the spirit and when you do that you get along with God that will energize you you need to develop that habit to maintain your dream for life every day by the way let me give you a couple tips on getting God's dream while we're talking about this one of them is it's actually easier to hear from God when you're relaxed then when you're stressed out when I'm stressed out and my mind is going with all these fears and worries and stress and it's buzzing I can't hear God because my mind is talking too loud to me I've got to get relaxed that's why we call it a quiet time you get quiet you get calm you can't hear God with the radio on you can't hear God when you're talking to yourself with all your worries you get quiet you get relaxed and by the way one of the things you can do I do this all the time I don't do it every night but almost every night as I'm going to sleep the last thing I do when I put my head down as I ask God a question and I ask him for guidance and I say Lord I'm going to be relaxed and you'll be able to talk to me a whole lot better than any other way so sometimes I'll say what's next what do you want me to do next and I put my head down on the pillow or I'll give him a problem said what do you want me to say to these people and I'll put my head down on them and go to sleep I'll ask God a question while I'm sleeping the Holy Spirit has an opportunity to influence my subconscious and many times not every time but many times I'll wake up with the solution to a problem I've been working on for weeks and consciously couldn't figure it out but when I asked God to illuminate my imagination while I'm sleeping then I'm more relaxed I'm a receptive this the Bible talks about this look at this verse on the screen job 33 God speaks God speaks again and again though people often don't recognize nice it he speaks in dreams and he speaks in visions of the night when deep sleep falls upon people as they lie in bed because then you don't have all your pretensions up you don't have all your guard up when you're relaxed God can communicate to you a whole lot better and you wake up in the morning and you got the answer let me show you another verse the Bible says this Isaiah 50 the sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom so I know what to say to all these weary ones God has given me this verse many times morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will because I've started the evening going to sleep talking to the Lord and I the first thing I do when I wake up the mornings I talk to the Lord again and then I have a quiet time and he wakens me and opens me to understanding his will that's how he refuels your imagination number seven seven thing I've learned is that growing my character will clarify my vision growing my character will clarify clarify my vision what I mean by that is if you're having a hard time getting God's dream for your life you just can't see it I don't get it I I don't I don't I don't get the vision I don't get the dream I just don't see it's pretty muddy it's pretty unclear then what you need to do is you need to focus on growing up spiritually because the more mature you become the clearer the vision will be and as you add character qualities in your life you're going to be able to see things more and more clearly that's what the Bible talks about in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 5 to 9 it says this to your to your faith add goodness now we're in this series on daring faith and the foundation of your life is faith it's impossible to please God without faith but he says in addition to your faith I want you to add some other virtues I want you to add some other character qualities in addition to your faith he said add goodness and you know doing good things and to your goodness I want you to add knowledge and to your knowledge I want you to add self-control and to your self-control add patience he's talking about virtues or character qualities he said if you'll build these things into your life you're going to grow up spiritually if you add knowledge and patience and self-control and and and goodness in your life these are fruit of spirit he said you're going to become more mature and he said and add to your patience add service to God get involved in a service figure out a place to serve God by serving others get involved in a ministry so he says add service for God and that's you can't grow without doing that and he said enter your service for God add kindness to your brothers and sisters in Christ he said practice loving other people in the church and the family show kindness to other Christians and he said and to this kindness add love for everyone now all his qualities he says if all these things are in you and are growing they will help you to be useful and productive circle the phrase useful and productive that is my goal for you as your pastor and somebody who is responsible for your spiritual growth my goal for you is that you will be more productive and you will be more useful in life this next year and for the rest of your life that's why we're doing this series I want you to be more productive and I want you to be more useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ but he says anyone who does not have these qualities these things these characteristics cannot see clearly the reason you can't see God's vision is you just need to grow up you need to get in a Bible study and by the way the stuff that I'm teaching you because I can't finish it all I put some of it in this week's small group material this week study session the session this week is called stretching my imagination and so you're going to be studying additional material on this in your small group that's why you must be in a small group you're going to miss the second half of the message it's called stretching my imagination if you're not in a small group it's not to late to go out say I'd like one of these one of these the DVD and the study guide get a couple friends and start a small grouping and go through this material it's not too late finally number eight the eight thing I've learned about vision and dreams and imagination if a dream is from God if a dream is truly from God it will be connected somehow to his church and his plan for the world if a dream is truly from God it will somehow be connected to his church and his plan for the world why would God give you a self-centered dream unconnected to what he wants to do in the world he wants to use you for his dream he wants to use you for his plan and what is God's big overarching plan God is building a family and he's collecting family members from all every nation every tribe every language every people group and when everybody's in the family that he knows is going to be in the family boom it's over we're going into phase 2 which is eternity that's God's big plan God did not create you to live on earth and deliver a self-centered life where you get up go to work come home watch TV and go to bed make a little money retire and die really you think that's all God puts you here for it no he put you here to be a part of his plan and if he gives you a dream you get a dream from God it's gonna somehow impact his church and his plan for the whole world because that's what he's doing right before Jesus went back to heaven you know after the resurrection we celebrated that last last week at Easter after he rose again he stayed around Jerusalem for another 40 days walking around talking with people having dinner with people meeting with people one time he spoke to 500 people at one time and and so he was there for 40 days and then after 40 days he takes the twelve and he says I told you that I was going to come back to life and he said I'm telling you this if I came back to life I'm gonna come back again and before he leaves which is called the Ascension he gives his great dream he gives them a great vision a great dream it's called the Great Commission and it goes like this go ye therefore and make disciples in every nation baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teach them to do everything I've commanded you and lo I will be with you always even to the end of the age that's called the Great Commission it's the last words of Jesus before he goes back to heaven Saddleback Church was started because of the Great Commission because there are people who did not know Jesus Christ so we keep starting churches the whole reason this church started every Church started because of the Great Commission and the Great Commission is your Commission Jesus said this to his disciples watch this on the screen from the ad series it's gonna be playing tonight it was prophesized that I would suffer and rise from the dead after three days believe Peter and the power of the Holy Spirit will come to you we go back to Jerusalem and wait only then will you be ready to spread the word do this for me PETA and one day you will die for me are you ready to do that yeah you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth go into the world and preach the gospel to all creation you this will soon be over I love this line of pilot where he think this will all soon be over nobody could have been more wrong than pilot it wasn't soon over it was just getting started and we've had 2,000 years of God building his family so that now there are 2.3 billion people in it it was not soon over it is the largest thing on the planet the church is bigger than anything else on this planet let's put this in perspective there are 2.3 billion Christians that means the church is bigger than China the church is bigger than India the church is bigger than China and India together it is the biggest thing on the planet why it's because God created it and it's the whole purpose of history and if God is going to have a dream for your life a specific dream it is somehow going to play a role and be connected to his overarching plan the growth of his church the growth of his kingdom the building of his family until one day it's completed and we're all going to heaven because that's what it's all about history is his story you weren't put here on the earth to live for yourself look at this last verse Jesus says this if you try this is Jesus talking if you try to keep your life for yourself you will lose it but if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the good news that's the Great Commission you will find true life you know this is what God wants to do in your life let me give you some questions to get started I want you to write these down I want to start you on a journey of finding God's dream for your life you may have missed it for years and years and years don't worry about that God's not in a hurry he's got you exactly where he wants you to be he brought you here today you're listening this message right now because God wanted you at this point did he this here are three questions you can ask yourself to begin considering what is God's dream for my life the three questions are what if why not and why not me what if why not and why not me first you ask the question what if and you be open to new possibilities what if I did this what if I did that open the new possibilities and then why not why what do you see in the world that needs to be done why is this not being done or not being done well are not being done enough up you see a problem in the world that maybe you could make a difference with why not why not why isn't this being done and then the third question why not me why not now I use these three questions to create the peace plan what if why not and why not me you see the reason you know people say why do we have all these problems in the world like poverty disease illiteracy you know corruption things like that in the world these big problem I'll tell you why is because God is waiting for his children that's you and me to imagine the solutions God is waiting for his children to imagine the solutions to the problems in the world and maybe God wants to use you in a way you've never ever even thought to use you to make a significant difference in the world in some part of the world and the most important thing to remember is this jesus said with men this is impossible but with God all things are possible God is looking for people who are tired a small thinking petty living weak-willed goals self-centered dreams I told you I was going to push you during this daring faith series because you were made for far more than just a suburban life you were made for more than just to be a soccer mom or a soccer dad you were made for far more than that God's dream God's vision God goal for your life is so big you cannot even imagine it God is looking for people who will step up move out and go okay I'm all-in I don't even know what that means it scares me spitless but I'm all-in and I'm gonna be a part of God's plan and God's goal for my life you can be better you were made for more than you're living right now I know you were made for more than you're living right now and I'm not gonna let you just do that because I love you too much to not challenge you tell you that God's dream for your life is so massive I am exhibit a of this I grew up in a town of less than 500 people I would have never told you that I would pastor Church a hundred times bigger than the town I grew up in but God will use you if you will just say yes and he'll use that imagination and great lives are built on great dreams let's bow our heads I'm gonna pray a prayer that could change your life you can pray this in your mind in your heart to say dear God I haven't been using my imagination correctly I've imagined things that I shouldn't have worried and fear and some ugly things that just aren't good but I want to use my imagination to dream the dream that you put in my heart I want my life to be shaped by you not by other people not by what my parents told me remember what society has told me I want my life to be shaped by your dream I want to live by faith I want a great life built on a great dream and I thank you Lord that your dream for my life is bigger than my dream and like that man who came to you with the six son I'm saying to you today God I believe help me with my doubts I believe help me with my doubts I want to begin a daily time with you of reading some of the Bible and praying talking a quiet time where your spirit and your word refuel my imagination I want to grow my character I want to add to my faith so the vision gets clearer and clearer and clearer and I want to be a part of what you're doing in the world I want to attach my life to the greatest cause the Great Commission your goal of gathering a family that will be with you for eternity and I want what I do in some way to play a role in building your family your church your kingdom and your plan for the world so as much as I know how I'm saying yes to you today if you've never invited Jesus Christ in your life just say Jesus Christ come into my life make yourself real to me I want to learn to trust you and love you father I pray that you will raise up a generation of people who dream great dreams you said in your word that that in the last days old men will dream dreams and young men will will have visions and that God you will use people of every age at every stage in every race and every language forgive us for petty thinking self-centered living small goals help us to trust you help us to remember that when we call on Jesus nothing is impossible and I pray you would start a movement in our church that all the forces of hell couldn't stop in this daring faith campaign and I pray it in Jesus name and everybody said amen

Channel: Saddleback Church

Views: 81,061

Rating: 4.7849054 out of 5

Keywords: Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, Daring Faith, Faith, Dreams, Big Dream, God, Goals, Life Goals, Pursuing Dreams

Id: aBBDBRIwm-4

Length: 49min 15sec (2955 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 14 2015