Let’s Roll: Dreamers

Let’s Roll! Dreamers – Sermon Notes Pastor Brad Myers

Ordinary People doing Extraordinary Things April 21, 2024

Thought: God wants your availability way more than your natural ability can take you. That’s the definition of a dreamer and God is looking for them!!

Thought: How great would it be if every night you had a dream of God’s divine plan for your life for the next day? The very road map for your life on planet Earth. Embarking on a life driven by a God dream.

What’s a Dream?

• Dream & Vision cross over.
  • Dream: A series of thoughts, images, or emotions.
• Vision: Supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation.

Dreaming is Biblical: God used dreams to speak to people.

• Dream: 87 times OT; 18 times NT
• Vision: 86 times OT: 17 times NT.

Genesis 15:1 (NLT)

Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”

Abram: Envisions a reward but with no son.

Genesis 15:5 (NLT)

Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!

God asked Abram to dream!!

Genesis 15:6 (NLT)

And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

• Dream process: If only…… I can see it Lord……. I believe it Lord.
  • If you don’t see it, you’re not going to believe it!

God spoke through dreams and visions in the Old Covenant

• Joseph: Genesis 37-50 (dreamed he would rule over his family)
• Jacob – Genesis 46
• Samuel – 1 Samuel 3
• Nathan – 2 Samuel 7
• Ezekiel – Ezekiel 1, 8, 11, 37 and 43
• Daniel – Daniel 7.

God spoke through dreams and visions in the New Covenant

• Peter, James, and John – Matthew 17
• Stephen –Acts 7
• Paul – Acts 9; Galatians 1; 2 Corinthians 12.

Dreams & visions were not unusual or unlikely: Same applies to today.

Quote: All great dreams are born in the theater of your mind. They are your golden ladder by which you can climb into heavenly places. John Hagee

Practical Comparisons: Dreams & Visions

1. Dreams & visions are a form of visual prophecy that God reveals.
2. Dream is usually when you’re asleep; Vision is usually when you’re awake.
3. You were created to be a dreamer!

Thought: Dreaming has an essential role in developing your faith.

• Dreaming and believing are closely connected.
• Dreaming connects your imagination to your faith.

Thought: Before you believe it, you must dream it!

God is a Dreamer!

Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

• Before God created it, he dreamed it.
• He then spoke it into existence.
• It all started in the mind of God!

God placed the gift of dreaming inside all of us!

Genesis 1:26 (NLT)
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.

That’s some imagination.

• God has the ability to dream and create something out of nothing.

Thought: Everything in the universe is something God dreamed up and now that creativity is hardwired into each of us.

Thought: Dreaming (to see it) sets humans apart from the rest of God’s creation.

Thought: Dreaming is always the first step God uses in his process to change your life for the better because He uses the same process. Everything starts as a dream.

Q) What does all of this have to do with your spiritual growth? Everything!

• The Bible is filled with examples of dreamers:

Thought: Dreamers are people with strong faith who can imagine the possibilities of what could happen if they just trusted God a little bit more.

• Great faith inspires great dreams.
• Great dreams require great faith.

Thought: Through faith, dreams become reality. Nothing happens until dreams and faith start working together!

Thought: Dreaming is believing God will deliver before you see it happen.

Embedded in the scripture

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Thought: We give up on our dreams because they take longer than we anticipated, and cost more than we calculated.

Dreams Demand Decisions

• Jesus asked Peter, James, John, and Andrew to dream.

Matthew 4:19 (ESV)
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

• Dream of being a fisherman or dream to be a Fishers of Men.

The Rich Man

Matthew 19:16 (NIV)
¹⁶Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

Matthew 19:21 (NIV)
²¹ Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

• Dream that Treasures in heaven are better than Earthly Possessions

Dreams Demand Denials

Luke 9:23 (NIV)
²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

• Cross misunderstood: People think it’s an unchosen burden which must be borne.
• Cross is not a curse, but a choice: To follow Jesus.
• Jesus asking that we dream about a life with him over self.

Thought: Today’s Christianity is too quick, too casual, too comfortable, and too convenient. For some it’s only a compartment, a slot in Sunday’s schedule.

Dreams Demand Dedication

Luke 9:26 (NIV)
²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

The Dream Killers

Self-Doubt: Believing you’re only ordinary…

• Doubt will leave every dream on the table, with a list of reasons why you’re “not enough.”
• “God picked the wrong person for the job, I must have heard things incorrectly, was it really a dream God placed in my heart or just bad pizza from last night?” 

Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…”

Negativity is a Dream Killer

• When we listen to this malicious chatter, it prevents us from moving forward.
• It takes focus off God and magnifies every weakness we have.
• We can’t pursue our dreams when we’re filled with negative words reminding us “how it can’t be done, why it shouldn’t be done, and 101 reasons why you’re not the person to do it.”
• The negative mindset can take many forms, but they’re all dream killers – cynicism, sarcasm, jealousy, bitterness, and even this one can be controlling – cold silence.

Proverbs 18:21 (NIV) (exact)

The tongue has the power of life and death,…….

• You control what you allow into your thoughts and mind and what you choose to believe.

Fear is a Dream Killer

• Fear of people, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of the unknown –
• You get stuck. You won’t move forward. 

Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

• Believe more in the power of God in you, than the fear that seeks to hold you back.

Delay is a dream killer!

• The biggest lie –  “You don’t have time.”
• Reality: We don’t want to take the time.
• It seems too difficult. It’s going to cost us something. We’re already weary from other life responsibilities, why add to the madness? Days slip by, into months, then into years. Time we can never get back. “It’s too late for us anyway,” we reason in our thoughts that still seek to urge us on. Or maybe, “I’ll get to it when I really have time to focus on it.” Yet that day never comes, because we mistakenly believe we have an endless supply of tomorrows.

Psalm 90:12 (NIV)

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

• We will always make time for what is most important to us.
• Maybe something else will have to go for a season. Maybe we can’t keep doing everything we’ve always done, in order to focus on achieving our dream.

Thought: Everyone will end up somewhere but only some of you will end up there on purpose.

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

• Planned: God’s a dreamer!

Ephesians 3:20 (TLB)

²⁰ Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of.

Let’s be ordinary people who dream of doing extraordinary things!