(audience applauding) - If you pull out your message notes, now in the first message
in this new series on "Time to Dream and Open
Doors" in our campaign, last week I gave you a dozen reasons why you have to know
God's dream for your life. If you missed that message, you
really need to listen to it. A dozen reasons why you're not
livin', you're just existing, if you don't know God's
dream for your life. But one of the things that I said is that God's dream for
your life is always, always bigger than your
dream for your life. And the Bible says, "God can
do far more than you think, "or ask, or imagine, or even dream of." God's dream for your life is bigger than your dream for your life, that's why you need to discover it, that's why you need to develop it. But I want to pause before
we go into the actual steps of discovering God's dream for your life and talk to you this week
about the biggest barrier that will keep you from God's dream. The number one barrier to your future is your past, it's your past because we
tend to perpetrate the past. Now your past is passed,
it's over, it's done with, but a lot of people still
try to live in the past. You can't live in the past,
it's over, it's done with, but you can live in the present and you can prepare and
dream for the future. So this weekend, I want us
to look at living God's dream despite poor past decisions because I meet people all the time and go, "Well, I think maybe I had my chance "but I've missed God's dream. "I'm now on Plan B, "or C, or D, or E, "and I don't deserve to have God's dream "because I so messed
up so much of my past, "I don't even know if I should dream." Well, you're dead wrong, but
I'm glad you came this weekend because we're gonna look
at how to live God's dream despite past poor decisions. Now the one reason we know
that God's word is God's word, that the Bible's God's word,
is it always tells us truth, even when we don't like to hear it. It tells us the truth. And the first verse there
on your outline, James 3:2, says this, "We all stumble in many ways." Everybody agree with that verse? Yeah, (laughs) we're all in the same boat. Okay, we all, I looked up that word, all, it means all, okay.
(audience laughing) We all stumble, we mess up,
we screw up, we make mistakes, we sin, we have problems,
we hurt other people, we hurt ourselves, we all
stumble in many, many ways. This is one of the most
obvious truths of the universe. I mean, I have never met
anybody in all of my years who's claimed to be perfect,
that they've never stumbled. No, no, we've all messed up in many ways. Just a couple other verses on the screen, Ecclesiastes 7:20, "There's
not a single person "in all the earth who's always good "and never sins." That includes me, it includes you, it includes the Pope,
it includes everybody. There's not a person on earth
who always does what's right, always does what's good and
never does what's wrong. The Bible says it like
this in Romans 3:23, "Yeah, all of us, all of
us," again there's that word, "all of us have sinned. "Everyone falls short of
God's glorious ideal." Now another way to say that
verse is all of us have sinned and all of us fall short of God's original dream for our lives. Okay, we've all fallen short of God's original dream for our lives. Does that mean that that
dream is now on hold? No, it does not, it does not. We all fall short of the glorious ideal. We don't hit perfection, we don't get what God has dreamed for us, but this is why Jesus came to earth. He said this, on the screen, Luke 19:10, "I came," Jesus said, "to save and restore "what was lost." What's lost when we make poor choices? We lose our vision, we lose our dignity, we can lose our identity, we can lose our confidence, we can lose our joy, we can lose our piece of mind, we can lose our plans
and dreams and hopes. A lot of stuff's lost
from our poor decisions, but the whole the reason
Jesus came to earth, he said, "I came to recover "and to restore that which is lost." And part of what Jesus came to restore is God's original dream for you. He hadn't moved on to Plan B in your life, he still has Plan A in your life. He still has his original
dream for why he made you, regardless of what's
happened in your life, what other people have done to you, or what other people
have done against you, or what you have done to yourself, or all the poor decisions that
other people and you made. How do you live God's dream
despite past poor decisions? Well, I want us this
weekend to look at the steps because the Bible gives
us a very clear pathway on how to get back on track, to how to get back to
God's original dream. Even if you haven't
been there for 50 years, how do you get back? It's never too late to get back on track with the original plan
God had for your life. He hasn't shelved it, it's
still in force in your life. So what are the steps to recovering God's original dream for my life, even though I may not have
known about it until now? Well, there are six steps. I want you to write these
down, here's number one. The first step in recovering
God's dream for my life is to honestly accept responsibility for my poor choices. That's where we start. I own up and say, "I honestly
accept responsibility "for all the dumb choices
I've made in life." Nobody was holding the gun to my head, nobody forced you to make
the choices that you made, you chose to make them and
I've chose to make them and the Bible says, "We've
all stumbled in many ways," we've all made poor choices. Now what this means, when I don't accuse others and I don't excuse myself, which is what we typically
do, we accuse and excuse. Since Adam and Eve, God's
people and everybody have this accusing/excusing. We excuse ourselves, "Well, well, well," and we accuse others, we blame others. You've heard me say many times,
you spell blame, be lame. Every time you blame, you are being lame. So don't excuse it, accuse it. Now there are many, many examples
I could give in scripture on why we make poor choices. Let me just give you one, it is the time when Peter
betrayed Jesus Christ the night before he goes to the cross and Jesus even predicted, said, "Peter, you're
gonna deny me three times "before tomorrow morning." And in Peter's night before Jesus goes to the cross betrayal, where he betrays Jesus
three different times, he makes three really poor choices, but he does it for four
very common reasons. So I want you to see these, they're all in Mark 14 if
you want to read about it. Mark 14 is Jesus being betrayed by Peter and there are four common causes. The first cause that causes
us to make poor choices, write this down, is pride, pride, arrogance, ego, egotism. The Bible says that pride causes
us to make dumb decisions. Now we see this is the upper room. Jesus is in the upper room with his closest
disciples, the original 12, they're taking the Lord's supper together. Jesus says at that moment, "One
of you is gonna betray me." One guy pipes up, saying, "No way, Jose, "that isn't gonna happen." Who is it, it's Peter and in Mark 14:29, Peter, in
the upper room, says this, "Everybody else may stumble
in their faith, but I won't!" (audience laughing) He's being set up by the devil right here, big, big target on his back. Nobody else makes this
boast of the 12 guys, but Peter, of all the guys, goes, "Lord, all these losers over
here, they may deny you, "they may back out, they
may wimp out on you, "I know what you're about to go through, "you're gettin' ready to
be arrested and tortured "and go to the cross, but
no way am I gonna back out. "I'd die for you." He's setting himself up with pride. The Bible says, "If any man
thinks he's not gonna fall, "take heed because he probably will." And the people who brag about
their confidence the most are the ones who are
gonna most likely stumble. He says, "Everybody may
stumble but I won't," it's his pride. Proverbs 11:2 on the screen says, "Pride leads to disgrace, "but humility leads to wisdom." Anytime I start thinkin' I'm a hotshot, I'm dead in the water already. Anytime I start thinkin' I'm invincible, "This can't happen to
me," I'm already dead. Given the right situation, you and I are capable of any sin, given the right situation. If you don't believe that,
you're already in trouble because the Bible says
the heart's deceitful. You lie to yourself and I lie to myself more
than we lie to anybody else. Pride causes us to make dumb decisions. Have you ever made a dumb
decision out of pride? Don't give me your illustration, but I know you can think of one, okay? Number two, second cause of
poor decisions in life, fatigue, fatigue. When you get tired, when you get worn out, when your resources are low, when you're stressed to the limit, when you're hangin' on and
you're about to go under, you're at the end of your
rope, when you're fatigued, Vince Lombardi, the great coach, said, "Fatigue makes cowards of
all of us," and it does. When the more fatigued you are, the more fearful you will tend to become and the more controlling
you will tend to be. Now Jesus, before he is arrested, he goes to this place, his
favorite place to pray, it's called the Garden of Gethsemane. And while he's there he
takes the 12 guys with him and then he takes three of
'em, Peter, James and John, goes, "You guys come along with me, "I just need you to be
here with me while I pray. "I don't need you to pray for me, "I just need you to be with me, "administer your presence
while I'm prayin' through "what I'm gonna face tomorrow," being crucified and tortured. So Jesus is there prayin' his heart out and the three guys, Peter,
James and John, all fall asleep. And in Mark 14:37, Jesus wakes them up and goes, "Guys, could you not stay awake
with me for just one hour? "Just one hour, I'm just
askin' ya to stay awake with me "for one hour." What's happened, they're fatigued. When you get fatigued, you're going to make poor
choices in your life. Never make a major decision
when you're tired or depressed. Never make a major decision when you're tired or depressed, okay? Here's a third reason
people make bad decisions, fear of disapproval. When you start worrying about
what other people think, "What will other people think
if I make this decision? "What will other people
think if I stand up for God, "if I represent Christ
at my business site, "at my job site, at my school? "What will other people think?" That's gonna cause you
to make a poor decision, the fear of disapproval. After Jesus is arrested that night, the Bible says this in Mark 14:54 that, "Peter followed Jesus," how, "at a distance." Circle that, "at a distance." He's following Jesus at a distance. Anytime you follow Jesus at a distance, you're gonna make dumb decisions. You gotta get as close to God as you can. You gotta get as close
to Jesus as you can. Peter, who's been right by his side for three and a half years,
now he's scared to death and he's following Jesus, he's just following him from a distance. Are you doin' that? Are you following Jesus from a distance? You go, "Oh, yeah, I'm saved,
I'm in the family of God. "I'm a believer, I'm a Christian," but you're following God at a distance. You're gonna make dumb decisions if you follow at a distance. Why do you follow at a distance? Why was Peter following? 'Cause he's afraid, "If
I get too close to Jesus, "they might crucify me, too. "They might torture me, too,
they might arrest me, too," and he's concerned for his own safety. He's following at a distance 'cause he's worried about
what other people will think. When you worry about
what other people think, you're always gonna make the
wrong decision, all right? Here's a fourth reason
we make poor decisions, short-term pleasure, short-term pleasure. You know, you're gettin'
ready to go to bed at night and you know, really, probably, eating a banana split isn't
the best thing for me, (audience laughing) but it will be so good
while I'm eating it. And so we go for short-term pleasure instead of long-term health and this happens in a
thousand different ways. When people overspend on their credit card and they get deeper and deeper
and deeper into debt, why? They're doing short-term pleasure. "I gotta have it, I gotta have it now "I gotta have it now even
if I can't afford it." They're exchanging short-term
pleasure for long-term pain. Now here's what you need
to understand in life, put up with pain now, you'll
have pleasure later on in life. Enjoy pleasure now, you're
gonna have pain later on in life to pay back for all the
things you paid for. It's one or the other. If you put up with discipline and put up with some inconvenience now and you save your money, you'll have a lot more
pleasure later on in life. But if you spend it all
now, short-term pleasure, then you're gonna have the pain there. You're gonna have it one way or the other, you get to choose. Short-term pleasure. Mark 14:54, it says, "So then
Peter sat down with the guards "and warmed himself at the fire." I imagine they were makin' s'mores. (audience laughing) "Anybody got a hot dog stick? "Well, let's roast some
weenies and have a hot dog "and make some s'mores. "Isn't this fun?" Jesus is being arrested and
tortured and what's he doing? He's sitting with the enemy
around the campfire, why? It's convenient, it's comfortable. Anytime I place comfort before character, I'm gonna make poor decisions. Anytime I put short-term gain over long-term gain, I'm gonna make poor decisions. Now, those are four common
causes, there are a lot more, but we all make poor choices out of pride, out of fatigue, out of fear of disapproval and out of short-term pleasure. Now here's an interesting point, these four things that caused
Peter to make dumb decisions, Jesus wasn't surprised by any of them. In fact, Jesus told Peter in advance, "This is what's gonna happen." Jesus knew that Peter was gonna
betray him before Peter did, 'cause he's God. He even tells him, and he says, "Peter, before the
rooster crows three times "tomorrow mornin', you're
gonna deny me three times." And here's what he says,
look at the next verse, Jesus isn't surprised
by our failures in life. Luke 22:31-32, Jesus said: Simon Peter, Satan has asked to test you, but I have prayed for you. Satan has asked to test you,
but I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail. So when you have repented and recovered, this is after you've denied me, I want you to strengthen
the other disciples. Now this is a very powerful verse that teaches us a lot
about your failures, okay? First, I want you to notice that Jesus knows every
failure in your life before it happens. Okay, he's not gonna be surprised. You're gonna have failures this next year and you're gonna make some
bad decisions in the future. He already knows them. God knows past, present,
future, all at the same time, so it's not like he'll go, "Oh, man, I didn't see that one comin'. "Didn't know you were
gonna make that one." Before you were born, he knew
every dumb decision you'd make and I would make. Jesus knows every failure
before it happens. Then notice next, Jesus prays
for you before it happens. The things that you're gonna
fail at this next week, this next month, this next
year, the next 10 years, Jesus has already prayed for you, that's what he says. He's already prayed for the
dumb mistakes you're gonna make, the bad decisions you're gonna choose. He says, "I know what's gonna happen, "and not only that, I've
already prayed for you. "I've already prayed for you." And then, notice he says, "When you have repented and recovered," he didn't say if, Jesus knows you're gonna recover. Jesus already knows
you're going to recover from the sins and the mistakes and the bad decisions that
you're gonna make in the future. He already knows. He knows what they are, but he also knows, he's prayed for ya, and so he knows you're going to recover. He says, "When you have
recovered and repented," and then he says, "I want you to strengthen
the other disciples." Here's the fourth thing,
Jesus wants you to help others with what you learn from your mistakes. Whoa, now we're gettin' somewhere. We're in this series,
we're gonna take six weeks to talk about God's dream for your life. Part of God's dream for your life is to take the lessons of your mistakes and help somebody else. The same four things he said
to Peter he says to you, "I know every mistake
you're gonna make in life, "I've already prayed for every mistake "you're gonna make in life, "I know you're gonna come back to me "after that mistake in life "and I want you to help other
people when you've come back." That's a comfort, that's good news because it means ultimately,
"I can't destroy my own life "if I've given it to God," because he is gonna work it all out. So the first step in
receiving God's original dream is just to humbly, or honestly, accept responsibility for my poor choices. "Yeah, that was a dumb one
and that was a dumb one "and that was a dumb one and
that was a very hurtful one. "And that was an evil choice that I made "and I made it out of pride
and I made it out of fatigue "and I may have made it out of fear "of what other people think. "I may have made it out of
choosing short-term pleasure "over long-term character." Here's the second step, now
I move to the second step, after I honestly accept responsibility, number two, I humbly ask for
God's mercy and forgiveness. I humbly ask for God's mercy and forgiveness. Now I don't have to
explain this a whole lot 'cause it just means humbly ask. If you don't know what to pray, I would highly recommend you learn and read Psalm 51. Write that down, Psalm 51. Psalm 51 is David's prayer of confession after he'd had a guy murdered
so he could steal his wife. Pretty significant sin, adultery and murder in the same thing. And in Psalm 51, if you
don't know what to pray when you need to confess to God somethin' you've really blown up,
here's what to pray. Psalm 51:1-3, 6, 10, David said: Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love. In your great compassion, please wipe out the stain
of all my wrongdoing. Wash away all my guilt, cleanse me from my sins. For I am haunted by my failures and I can't forget the
evil things I've done. I can't forget it, I'm haunted by it. "I know," he says, "I know you love complete
honesty from my heart, "so help me see what's deep inside me," what made me do this, what caused me to make this dumb decision. "Help me to see what's deep inside me." "Then, "God, "create a new pure heart in me "and renew my spirit "with the right desires," I wanna do the right thing,
I wanna do what's right, "and restore the joy "of your salvation." Then he says, "I'll help bring others "back to you, too." Now, I want you to notice
that in this thing, in this just small passage,
the whole chapter's terrific, he mentions eight things
he asks God to do, I want you to circle them all. First he says, "Have mercy,"
circle that, "have mercy." And then he says, "wipe
out," circle, "wipe out, "wipe out the stain of all my wrongdoing." Then he says, not only, "have
mercy," and, "wipe out," he says, "wash away. "wash away," circle that, "all my guilt. "And cleanse me," circle that,
"cleanse me from my sins." And then he says, down
a little bit further, he says, "Help me see,"
circle that, "help me see." These are things you could ask
God whenever you've blown it. "Help me see what's deep inside of me." Then he says, "Create a new
pure heart in me," circle that, "create a new pure heart in me." And then he says, "And renew my spirit
with the right desires, "renew my spirit," circle that. "And restore the joy," circle that. These are eight things you can
ask God to do in your prayer when you have committed any
kind of mistake, or sin, or evil, or whatever, you can
say these eight things to God. And then notice, circle, what
David promises to do back. He says, "Then I'll help bring
others back to you, too." Isn't this interesting that David promises to
do to God the very thing that Jesus told Peter to
do when he was restored. He said, "Peter, I know
you're gonna blow it, "but when you come back, I
want you to help other people "with what you've learned
from your mistakes. "I want you to help other people "with what you've learned from your sins. "I wanna bring good out of bad. "I want you to help other people," and this is exactly what
David promises to do here. He goes, "God, I have totally blown it "and I don't deserve any of this, "but I'm asking you to
do this, this and this "because you're a good and loving God." And he said, "You know if you do that," then he says, "I'm gonna
do," what Jesus later told Peter to do. And that is, he says, "I'm
gonna help other people "with the pain I've been through." Who could better help somebody through the pain of a broken relationship than somebody who went through the pain of a broken relationship? Who can better help somebody
struggling with an addiction than somebody who went
through an addiction? Who could better help somebody who went through a fiasco of a marriage then somebody who went through
a fiasco of a marriage? And on and on. I'm telling you that God says
your past is part of the plan, that I want to even use the bad
parts in your life for good. You're gonna go through pain
in life, don't waste it. This is the difference between
believers and non-believers. Everybody in the world
has the same kinda pain, the difference is believers
use it to help others. We use it for good. We redeem it and God says,
"That's what I want to do." Now I want you to write, I didn't leave ya much
room on this outline, but I want ya to write down
three important statements. If you only get this, you
got the message, okay? Write these three things down. Number one, there is no Plan B for my life. Write that down. There is no Plan B for my life. You're still on Plan A,
"But, but, but, what about?" You're still on Plan A. "But, but, but, what about?" You're still on Plan A. God has not revoked his
original dream for your life. There's no Plan B, you're
like, "But what about?" Doesn't matter what
other people did to you, what've you've done to others, what mistakes, what poor
decisions, you're still on Plan A. Number two, write this down, my mistakes are part of God's plan. My mistakes are a part of God's plan. Now this will set you
free if you'll learn it because it'll set you free
to dream and stop thinking, "Well I'm not worthy to dream "and I don't deserve to have a big dream. "I messed up so much," no, no, no, no, no. There is no Plan B for my life, my mistakes are part of God's plan. Look up here on the screen. One of the most famous verses
in the Bible, Romans 8:28, "We know," we don't guess, "we know that God causes everything "to work together for the
good of those who love God "and are called according to his purpose," or his dream, "for them." We know that God causes everything. What's in everything, the good, the bad, the evil,
the poor decisions, the sins. Yeah, that sins are
included in everything. God causes everything to
work together for the good. It doesn't say it's all good, it's not. There's a lot of bad in the world. There's a lot of sin in the world. There's a lot of evil in the world. It's not all good, but God causes it all to
work together for good. For everybody, no, not for everybody. Everything is not working
for good for everybody, but only for those who love God and are called according to his
purpose, his dream for them. When you say, "God, I'm giving
you all the pieces of life," he puts them back
together in the right way. People say, "Well you
can't unscramble an egg." God can.
(audience laughing) The God who create the
universe can do anything. God can do anything, you think you're God? He'll make it all fit together and work it together for good. That means I can relax and know, "Okay, even my mistakes
are part of the plan." And here's the third thing
I want ya to write down. God expects me to use them to help others. I'm talkin' about my mistakes. I'm talkin' about my sins. I'm talking about my embarrassments. I'm talking about my failures. God expects me to use them, the troubles and the trials that come into my life, whether somebody else
brought them into my life or whether I brought them on myself. God doesn't really care about
the source of your problems, he just says, "I will use them all." I don't care if you caused
the problem yourself from your dumb decision. Or I don't care if the problem's caused by somebody else's dumb decision, I don't really care about the source. God says, "I'll still use
it for good in your life "and I expect you to
use it to help others." On the screen, 2 Corinthians 1:6, "If we have troubles,"
and of course we do, "it is for your benefit and salvation!" When you have troubles for
somebody else's benefit, that is called redemptive suffering. If we have troubles, it's for
your benefit and salvation. You're helping somebody
else with your pain. "For when God helps us recover, "then we can encourage you "so you can patiently endure
the same things we did." This, by the way, is the 12th step in 12 Step Celebrate Recovery, is you're not recovered 'til
you're helping somebody else. You are not recovered from your pain until you're helpin'
somebody else with it. Are you helping anybody with the pain you've gone
through in your life? Let me ask you a couple problems. Can you put that verse back
up there for just a minute? "If we have troubles,
it's for your benefit." And then he says, "Then
God helps us recover "so you can patiently endure
the same things that we did." All right, two questions. I want you to think, what are the biggest troubles
you've had in your life? You're not gonna think
of 'em all right now, but I would encourage you to
go home and think through. Rick said, think through, "What are the biggest troubles in my life "that I've had?" Starting from a little child, what have been the biggest
troubles in my life? The second question I want
to ask you is, to consider, maybe make a list of what have
you had to patiently endure. What have you had to patiently endure? A physical handicap, a mental handicap, a relationship that's broken. What have you had to physically
or emotionally endure, patiently endure? The answer to those two
questions are a vital part of your life ministry and your life dream. God doesn't want you to waste your hurt. I've told you this so many times, we always help people more
through our weaknesses than through our strengths. You have some great strengths, you also have some massive weaknesses. We're all a bundle of both. I've got some really great
strengths in my life. I got some really great
weaknesses in my life. We're all bundle of both. And if I got up here
and I tried to tell ya all the great things that I'm good at, that wouldn't help you at all,
it wouldn't help you at all. But if I get up here and I share with ya how I went through this problem and I went through that problem and how I recovered
from that stupid mistake and how I made progress even in my weakness in
that particular area, then you go, "Oh, well then
maybe God could use me?" That's the point, God wants to use you. Not when you're perfect,
God wants to use you now. And God wants you to use you even in areas that you have been embarrassed about. This is the power of the gospel. This is the power of the gospel that they're a part of your
vital dream that we help people, not simply through the gifts
and the strengths that we have, but we help people through the problems and the pain we have. One of the biggest pains in my life was the death of my youngest
son who took his life after struggling with
mental illness for 27 years. I can't think of anything
more painful for a dad and I didn't ask for that ministry, but almost not a day goes
by that somebody calls me, often very well-known, often
famous, from around the world, asking for help on either
mental illness or suicide. I didn't ask for that ministry, I didn't think that would
be a part of my dream, but I'm not gonna waste my pain so I'm gonna help other people. And if I gave you a list of
the people who have called me, you'd be shocked. You'd know many of their
names, but they figured out, "That guy must be safe
because he went through it "and he talks about it." What are you not talking
about in your life? Number three, I gratefully accept God's grace and forgive myself, big ending. I gratefully, number three, accept God's grace, God's amazing grace. Okay, and, notice, write this
down, and forgive myself. Put that on there, and forgive myself, 'cause a lot of people
don't do that last part. Ephesians 1:7 says this, on the screen, "Christ sacrificed his
life's blood," on the cross, "to set us free, "which means "that all our sins," look at the all, "all our
sins are now forgiven!" And when were they forgiven? When he died on the cross,
that's 2,000 years ago. When were your sins
forgiven, 2,000 years ago. "Christ sacrificed his
life's blood," on the cross, "to set us free, "which means that all of
our sins are now forgiven! "God did this because of
his generous grace to us." All right, on the cross Jesus Christ died for every sin you'll ever commit, even the ones you haven't committed yet. So what's the daily implication of that? Romans 8:1, we're gonna
memorize this verse. Up here on the screen, "So
now there is no condemnation "for those who belong to Christ Jesus!" Huh? Wait, shouldn't I feel guilty? No.
(audience laughing) What does that say? "No condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus." Now let me pause here. The reason I decided to do this message is I talked to a number of
different people this week who are struggling with
their past keeping them from dreaming in the future. And one guy told me a while
back, a couple days ago, said, "You know I know
that God has forgiven me, "I just can't forgive myself." A lot of people feel that way. "I know that I'm forgiven, "I know Jesus Christ paid
for all my sins on the cross, "I just can't forgive myself." Now let me say this to you, when you say that, "I
can't forgive myself," you're saying that you doubt the power of the cross. You're saying, "I don't
really believe God forgave me "because if I really believed it, "if God forgives me, who
am I to argue with God?" When you are doubting God's forgiveness, then you hold onto not forgiving yourself because you say, "I still
have to pay for it." No, you don't. Actually, not forgiving yourself is a sin because you're saying, "I don't believe that
the cross paid it all. "I don't believe that
Jesus covered all my sin. "I don't believe that I'm totally free, "I still gotta pay for it,"
and that in itself is a sin. So forgive yourself and stop sinning. Did that make sense?
(audience laughing) Okay, that when you refuse to
forgive what God has forgiven, you're really doubting
the power of the cross. You're doubting that
Jesus' blood was enough. You're doubting that salvation
was not fully paid for and so you have to pay for it yourself. You can stop nailing yourself to the cross because Jesus already was, he was hung up for your hang ups. So you gotta forgive yourself. Now, why does my sin, no matter what I've done, not invalidate, why does my sin not
invalidate God's dream for me? Three reasons, I want
you to write these down. Three reason, there is
no sin you could commit that invalidates God's
dream for your life. Number one, because Jesus
already paid for all my sins, because Jesus already
paid for all my sins. They were paid for before you even knew God
had a dream for your life. 1 John 2:2 says this, "When Jesus served as a
sacrifice for our sins, "he solved the sin problem for God, "not only our sin, but
the whole world's sin." All right, so remember when
Jesus died on the cross, he paid for the sins that
you haven't even done yet. So he's already paid for all your sins. There's no way you need to pay for them, that's called double jeopardy, it's saying that that wasn't enough. Do you understand why we take communion to remember the cross? That in the cross, everything I've ever
done wrong was wiped out. All those words that
David said, wiped out, forgiven, cleansed, purified,
eliminated, forgotten. Number two, second reason
my sin doesn't invalidate God's dream for my life is because God's goodness
isn't based on my performance. God's goodness to you is based on the fact that God is a good God. It's not based on the
fact that you deserve it. It's just because God is a good God, so God is good to you and it
isn't based on my performance. Titus 3:5, "He," Jesus, "saved us, "not because of the good things we did, "but because of his mercy." So everything that God
does good in my life, it's not 'cause I deserve it, it's 'cause he's a merciful God. Has nothing to do with
me either earning it, or deserving it, or working for it, it just doesn't work that way. It's called grace, it's called mercy. And the third reason why
my sin does not invalidate God's dream for me. C, number three, God's calling and gifts
are given unconditionally. God's calling, and God has
a call on everybody's life. God has called you to a certain dream. God has called you to a certain purpose. God has called you to a certain calling and he has given you gifts to
fulfill that calling in life and they are given unconditionally. You don't work for them, if you had to work for 'em
they wouldn't be called gifts. If you have to work for
something it's not a gift, that's a wage. If you came and worked for me for a year and then I paid you money,
I said, "Here's my gift." You say, "Buddy, that's
not a gift, I earned that." A gift means you didn't earn
it, you didn't work for it. God's calling and gifts
are given unconditionally and you can't earn 'em. Romans 11:29, "For God's gifts and his
call are irrevocable. "They cannot be withdrawn." Everybody, I want you to just look up here and I want to say this to you. God's dream, original dream for your life, is still in full force. You're not on Plan B, no matter
how many times you blew it. And what I want to do
in the next six weeks is help you live that rest
of your life with that dream. Doesn't matter how late in life you're getting started on it. It's never too late to get
into God's dream for your life. It's never too late unless
you just said, "I'm in," and you die.
(audience laughing) Then it would be too late. Just a little humor
there, a wee bit of humor. All right, I know I'm driving this home, but you honestly accept responsibility. "God I'm not blaming anybody
else for all my dumb decisions, "for the evil things that I've done, "for the mean things I've done, "for the hateful things I've done, "for the hurtful things I've done. "God, I've not been a good person. "Many times in my life I've
been selfish to the core." That's called sin, okay? I don't accuse others and
I don't excuse myself. Then I humbly ask forgiveness. And like David, "Lord,
I need your cleansing, "I need your purifying,
I need your forgiveness, "I need your grace." And then I gratefully accept God's grace and I forgive myself. Extremely important, because
if you don't forgive yourself, you haven't really accepted
God's forgiveness, all right? Now here, number four, two more things to get you started for where we're gonna
go in the weeks ahead. Number four, next, I generously forgive those who've hurt me. Uh-oh,
(audience laughing) "I don't really like this part. "I like being forgiven, "but I don't want to
forgive anybody else." Well, this is part of the plan. Generously forgive those who've hurt me. Not only do you need
to let your own sin go, you need to let everybody
else's sin go, too, against you. Now follow me on this, there are three things that
will keep you stuck in the past that will keep you from living
God's dream for your life, grief, loss is in the past, guilt, sin in the past, grudges, hurts from the past. Grief, guilt and grudges will
keep you stuck in the past. And if you let grief or guilt
or grudges, or all three, come into your heart, you will continue to miss
God's dream for your life. That's why I had to do
this message on the past. You gotta let go of your
guilt, that's confession. You gotta let go of your grudges, that means forgive other people, (audience exclaiming) you gotta forgive other people. You gotta let them off the hook just like God lets you off the hook. Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus says this, "If you forgive those who sin against you, "your heavenly father will forgive you. "But if you refuse to forgive others, "your father will not forgive your sins." What's he saying here? He's saying we can't expect to receive what we're unwilling to give. We cannot expect to receive
what we're unwilling to give. You have to let the people
who hurt you off the hook, not because they deserve it, they don't. They don't deserve it anymore than God lettin' you off the hook. You don't deserve that,
I don't deserve that. You gotta let people off the hook so you can get on with your future. As long as you hold onto a grudge, as long as you hold onto resentment, as long as you hold onto a hurt, thinking you're hurting
them by your bitterness, you're being stuck in the past. Your past is passed. Those people can't hurt you anymore unless you choose to let
them from your memory and that's dumb. You don't forgive them 'cause
they deserve it, they' don't, forgiveness is never deserved. You forgive them because you go, "I'm not gonna be stuck in the past. "I'm gonna get on with
my life in the future "and whatever days left, "I'm gonna make this the
best days of my life. "I'm goin' after God's dream "and I'm gonna walk
through those open doors." But you can't walk
through those open doors until you let go of that bitterness, until you let go of that
hurt, you let go of that pain, you let go of that resentment. You gotta let people off the hook, not for their sake but for your sake so you can get on with the future. Finally, the fifth step, the fifth thing I do, I accept responsibility, I
humbly ask for forgiveness, gratefully accept God's
grace, forgive myself, generously forgive those
around me who've hurt me, number five, courageously
face the future with faith. Now that's what this "Time to Dream and Open
Doors" campaign is all about, courageously facing the future with faith. And I wanna close with
just a couple verses, but they're very important verses. Courageously face the future with faith. In Job 11, Job gets some of the best advice for recovering a dream, for recovering what has
been lost in your life, for recovering God's
original plan for you. Job 11:13-18, here's what he says, "Devote your whole heart to
God," okay, got that, check. "Reach out to him in
prayer for help," check. "If you get rid of the sins
in your heart and your home," you got any sins in your home, like some magazines
that shouldn't be there? "Get rid of the sins in
your heart and your home, "you will face the world
again without shame," circle that, without shame, "and you'll be strong "and free of fear! "Then you'll forget "your past troubles," hallelujah, "you'll forget your past troubles," and mistakes and sins and
faux pas and all of that, "you'll forget your past troubles, "like water under a bridge. "Your life will be brighter than noonday, "and even in darkness, you're
gonna shine like the morning. "And now "you'll have courage "because you will have hope!" I could spend 20 minutes
unpackin' that verse. I want ya to just go home
and read it and reread it and reread it and reread it because all those things
to do, if you do that then you're courageously gonna
face the future with faith. The point I'm making is this, the Bible is full of people
who got a second chance. God is the God of second chances and 100th chances. Abraham, called the Father of
Faith, traded away his wife. That wasn't much faith in terms of Sarah, 'cause he thought, "Well they'll kill me, "so tell them you're my sister." "Thanks, honey."
(audience laughing) Really confident in God right there. Abraham trades away his wife. Moses murders a guy. Jonah runs from his assignment, "And the word of the Lord came
unto Jonah a second time." Noah gets drunk and embarrasses himself after he does the
biggest event of his day. Rahab's a prostitute. David commits adultery and has his lover's husband put to death. Every one of those people I just mentioned are in God's hall of fame in Hebrews 11. God loves to give second chances. If you had to be perfect, none
of us stand a chance of that. But we need to courageously
face the future with faith, realizing that God just
loves to give us chance after chance after chance. Do you know that in America
there are 70 million Americans with a prison record? 70 million Americans have a prison record. Every one of them deserves a second chance because God is the God of second chance. I'll never forget, I've
told you this story before, one time I was preaching in a
prison in Northern California and there's several thousand
prisoners out on the yard and they gave me a live microphone, but nobody was asked to pay attention, so there's guys over
here playing basketball and there's different gangs sorted out over this huge, football
stadium-sized field. And I just needed to get their attention so I pulled out, out of
my wallet, a $50 bill. (audience laughing) And I held it up, I said,
"Anybody'd like this $50 bill?" 4,000 hands went up.
(audience laughing) I crumpled it all up. "Anybody still want it?" 4,000 hands go up. I took it and I tore little tears in it, I put it on the ground, I stamped it into the
ground into the dirt. I picked it up, I spit on it. "Anybody still want it?" 4,000 hands went up. And I said, "Many of you, "this is what your daddy did to you, "or society did to you. "And you've been spit on
and you've been put down "and maybe you've even
been the victim of racism "and you've done stupid things yourself, "that's why you're here "and you've made some bad choices, too. "And you've gotten beaten
and you've gotten torn "and you've gotten dirty, "but you have not lost one
cent of your value to God." (audience exclaiming) Now I've got everybody's attention. I don't know what you've
done stupid in your life, but you have not lost one
cent of your value to God. When Christ died on the cross,
(audience applauding) when he died on the cross, he was saying, "This is
how much I care about you. "this is how much I love you, "this is how much we're still on track." The dream is not invalidated by your sin. "I still have Plan A for
your life because I say "all things work together
for the good of God, "even the good of those who love God "called according to his purpose. "Not everything's good,
but even your dumb sins, "I'll weave 'em into the plan. "And the dark threads
and the light threads, "we'll make a beautiful
tapestry out of it all." But if we're gonna go
where I want to take you as a church family in the next weeks, we're gonna have to shut
the door on the past, today. You're gonna have to give up your grief and give up your guilt
and give up your grudges so we can move forward together. This is what Jesus wants us to do. One other verse, Isaiah 43:18-19, "Forget the former things "and do not dwell on the past. "See, I'm doing a new thing! "Now it is springing up,
do you not perceive it? "I'll make a pathway
through the wilderness "and I'll create streams where
there's been a wasteland!" Your past is passed. Now it's interesting, the Bible says that we're
to learn from the past, we're to celebrate the
victories of the past, we're to learn the lessons of the past. We spend an entire month talking about the past of Saddleback
Church and what God has done and celebrating that, but
we can't live in the past. He said, "You gotta let that go." "All the past is prologue." We're movin' into the
future, it's time to dream and I'm opening doors that no man can shut and all your future, all
your life is in the future. You know it's interesting, I started with Peter and his
big three failure in life, his big three, you know, betrayals. After Peter's big failure, Jesus went out of his way to affirm him. In fact, on Easter morning, the first people who learned that Jesus Christ had risen
from the dead were the women who had gone there to prepare the body. Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome, the others, and the Bible says this, that
the angel said to the women, "Jesus is alive! "He's risen from death! "Now go tell the disciples,
and especially Peter." (audience laughing) Why did God make sure that
Peter was mentioned by name? 'Cause he was the one
carrying the most guilt from two nights before. "Go tell my disciples "and tell Peter, 'cause I love that guy. "Yeah, he blew it. "He blew it, he really blew
it, but I love that guy. "Go tell my disciples and tell Peter." He knows your name. He said, "It's okay, Peter,
all is forgiven, come on home." He singles out Peter, the one
who was the biggest failure. And not 50 days later, that's the guy God chooses to
preach on the day of Pentecost on the first day of the Church
and 3,000 people are saved. He chose the biggest failure
for the greatest message. About a week later,
after the resurrection, Peter and his friends had
gone back fishing again on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus comes walkin' by and says, "Come on in, bring the fish in, "we'll cook you some breakfast." And he sits there and they
eat breakfast together, which by the way, ghosts don't eat, (audience laughing)
so he wasn't a ghost, he wasn't an apparition,
he wasn't a vision, it's Jesus in the flesh. They're eatin', they're
havin' fish and chips. (audience laughing)
Okay? And Jesus says this: After eating breakfast, John 21, After eating breakfast with
them, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, do you love me more than these?" the rest of the disciples. "Yes, Lord," Peter replied,
"you know I love you." Jesus said, "Then feed my lambs." Then Jesus repeated the question, "Simon, "do you love me?" "Yes, Lord," Peter said, "you know, you know I love you!" "Then take care of my sheep," Jesus said. Then a third time Jesus asked Peter, "Simon, "son of John, "do you truly love me?" Now Peter's hurt that Jesus
asked the question a third time. And he said, "Lord, Lord,
you know everything! "You know that I love you!" Jesus said, "Then feed my sheep." Now what's going on here that Jesus asked this
question three times? He's giving the one who
denied him three times the opportunity to affirm him three times. Peter, who had denied Jesus three times, now Jesus three times asks him and he lets him say it
and say it and say it. He was reaffirming the affirmation to
overcome the three denials. But he was also doing something else, he wanted to reinforce what he had said before it even happened. He said, "When you recover,
you're to use your pain, "you're to use your sin,
you're to use your mistakes "to help other people. "That's part of my dream for your life." And he wants to reinforce, "Use your mistakes and
pain to help others." Now here's your homework for this week, week of "Time to Dream." One, I want you sign and
place the covenant prayer tent where you can see it. In your program there is a
card that looks like this. Everybody pull this out. Everybody pull this out and it folds, you can fold the bottom
parts like this, the bottoms, and you pull it and
then you put it together and it makes a little tent. I want you to put this where
you will see it every day for the next 40 days. All right, pull it out, I
want you to put it together and on one side are five goals, D-O-O-R-S, and on the other side is the
"Time to Dream" covenant, all right? It says, "God can do far
more than you imagine, "or request, or dream. "My covenant, 42 days, "from February 23rd to April 5th, 2020. "Because I want to know
God's dream for my life, "because I want to grow
stronger spiritually, "because I want to
support my church family "and be supported by them, "I commit to the five
"Time to Dream" habits "for the next 42 days." I'm not asking you to do
this the rest of your life, I'm asking you to do it for 42 days. Number one, "I will listen to all the "Time
to Dream" weekend messages, "either live or online." If you missed last week,
you need to go listen to it. Number two, "I'll read the
daily 'Open Doors' devotional." This is the new book and
you'll read the weekly, this week you're gonna
read February 23 to 29. "I will participate "in the "Time to Dream"
small group study." And this week you're gonna
look at the second open door, which is the "Door to
Authentic Relationships." "I will ask what part my part should be "in our 2020 vision offering," which we're gonna do Easter week. And number five, "I will pray for everyone
else participating "in our church family, knowing
that they're praying for me." I've already signed mine, right there. I want you to sign it
and I want you to put it where you'll see it everyday. And you can pray for others knowing that everybody else in our
family is praying for you. Let's bow our heads. You are a good and gracious God. Your plans never change. Our sins cannot change your
plans and dreams for our lives. Thank you. May we take these steps this week. If you've never opened
your life to Jesus Christ, say, "Jesus Christ, come
into my life right now. "I want to follow you,
I want to trust you. "I want to know your dream for my life. "I acknowledge, I admit
that I made a lot of sins "and mistakes in my life
and I need your forgiveness. "And I thank you for your
grace and your mercy. "Help me to forgive the
people who've hurt me "and help me to step out in faith "in the next 42 days. "I pray it in your name, "Amen." Bless you.
(audience applauding)
