I am pretty excited about speaking to you this weekend for a couple of reasons. First because Don Pogoda set the bar incredibly high for us last weekend by telling us the story of Jack the Water Rat and his turn around. . . and to be honest I’ve been kinda nervous and giddy all week having to follow a speaker like that. We are truly a blessed church to have someone like Don among us. Secondly I’m excited to speak to you because of the whole idea behind this turnaround series called 180 ° and what today’s message could do in your life . . . . . . I really believe God wants to use this message to transform our thinking and to literally change the trajectory of our lives.
I think it’s that big . . . what were talking about today . . . and I’ve been asking God all week to use these words to awaken the vision that He has placed inside each one of you – that God would repaint that picture of the dream and destiny to which He has called you . . . and I’ve (been praying all week . . . ) been asking Him if He would somehow allow each of you to clearly see (once again) the greatness of what your life was created to be . . . Because the truth is a long time ago – long before you were born – God imprinted your life with a Dream . . . He stamped you with destiny . . . and the reason you are alive and the reason you exist is to fulfill that Dream and that destiny . . . (from God).
The trouble is that often life gets in the way of being fully alive . . . Let me tell you a story . . . way back in 1984 . . . . . . I was 18 years old and it was the fall after grade 12 . . . I was working on the oilrigs in northern Alberta . . . . . . I wanted to make some money and - I wanted to not be at home, and I wanted to experience a little freedom . . . So I called my cousin and he got me a job with his oil drilling company around Edson, Alberta . . . and so I loaded up my truck and headed west . . . and I stepped out, really for the first time to chase life as an adult and to begin to chase my dreams . . . and it really was a pretty good scenario . . . because waiting at the end of the road was a really fat pay check for an 18 year old kid and the promise of as many hours as you wanted to work which made it fatter yet – and there was great food – and as a bonus I got to be with my favorite cousins . . . . I was excited . . . so I put my back into it and my mind . . . . . . but my heart had a hard time following . . . see the trouble was I hated the job – not so much the work part of it – but the monotony of it – same thing ever night pulling pipe or drilling pipe . . . every night and I was on night shift 12 hours a night 14 days in – 3 days out. It was just a grind.
Also . . . I was the youngest on that crew by a lot of years – most of the guys were over 40 – I was 18 . . . and what I started noticing was a little alarming . . . I started becoming aware that during every shift, every night . . . . . a lot of these 40 something guys were pretty unhappy – even though they were making top wages . . . and driving new trucks and at a job they were pretty good at . . . but they didn’t seem happy at all.
They would growl at each other over breakfast and talk about how they wanted . . . . . . out during coffee break, . . . . . and every supper would be filled with stories of when their lives used to be fun and – usually those stories from their 20’s – which had happened 2 decades before, (it was like the last 20 years of their lives hadn’t even happened, for most of them) . . . And I’d think sit there and think . . . . . . but . . . aren’t you having fun now, I mean – aren’t you living out your dream now. Isn’t life as great at 45 as it was at 25? . . . . . . . and deep down inside I knew the answer – I knew that for most of them – it just wasn’t . . . life wasn’t exciting, and life wasn’t challenging and life wasn’t adventuresome . . . and the dream that they had left home to pursue at 18 just hadn’t panned out for most of them . . . . . . and instead it had became a prison . . . (in their minds).
I remember with great clarity the night that all the tension of these thoughts became a little to much for me to just push out of my head again. It was like an alarm went off in my head. Right in the middle of a night shift it happened. Suddenly I just knew that if I didn’t get out of there and out of that job – and on to what I knew God was calling me to . . . . . . In that moment I knew that if I didn’t get out now, . . . that I’d get stuck there for a longtime. And I knew that if I didn’t make a clear choice – my passion and energy and joy would die right along with God’s Dream for my life (it was amazingly clear) . . . right in the middle of that night shift I had this mental picture of me being 45 sitting at a rig supper table telling stories to a bunch of other 45 year olds (and one 18 year old) about how life was really something when I was 18. I could just picture my life fading in front of me and I had to do something. . . So I quit – actually I called my Mom and Dad in the middle of the night and got permission to quit. (I guess I wanted to know that if I quit they wouldn’t think less of me). I got off the phone and I made a choice . . . . . . and I walked off that rig at coffee break.
(2:30 am) . . . . . . and I gathered my stuff, hopped in my truck and literally 10 minutes later – I was gone - - - because it wasn’t to late to chase the Dream God had for me. And you know what? – everyone of us, has turning points that come in our lives – where decisions are placed in front of us that seem crystal clear . . . but they still require great courage to make . . . and I want you to know that it’s never to late to follow the Dream and Destiny God has for you.
Catch this at these crossroads and turning points I believe strongly that it’s not just some happier or more enjoyable life we’re wanting – I think it’s our very humanity that is at stake (let me explain) . . . I think it’s our passion to be alive inside that is up for grabs at those turning points. Deep down (as human beings) we know we can’t live passionless lives . . . . . . or at least in those moments, we know we don’t want to . . . . . . And you know what else I think? I think God is at everyone of those crossroads (at everyone of those turning points) . . . in fact I think it is only God who calls us to those places . . . and presents us with those moments of clarity and gives us those choices . . . to respond to His call in our lives . . . and you might ask Why does He do it?
Because He created us with a passion to be alive . . . not just live . . . “Deeper than our instinct to live is our longing to be (fully and passionately) alive . . . “ E. R. McManus
(Give credit to Bruce Wilkinson – The Dream Giver) – Awesome book. (This message was his idea first)
SET APART
(Big breath – open your mind – catch the words). Way back in the Old Testament of the Bible – there is a book about a prophet named Jeremiah who was a spokesman for God . . . and in Jeremiah 1:5 God is speaking to Him and He’s trying to get Jeremiah to rise up and take action and fulfill the Dream that He’s called him to . . . And this is what God says . . . . . . Jeremiah,
“Before I formed you in the womb – I knew you . . . and before you were born I set you apart.” Jeremiah 1:5
These folks are amazing words . . . what is God saying? He’s saying – I knew you before you were (not before you were born – before you were . . . I knew you . . . .) . . . and that knowledge determined what and who you would become . . . . . . God said. . . . . . I thought about what kind of person I needed next and then I created you in my mind (first) . . . see (God said) . . . I always think before I do . . . and I liked what I thought . . . so I made you to be that thought – I made what I knew and I always know best.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I set you apart” And so the question becomes, God . . . what were you thinking about when you knew me before you made me?
Did you catch that? It’s an important question – God . . . what were you thinking about when you knew me before you made me?
See folks, I believe the answer to that question is the meaning of life . . . . . and then God goes on to say . . . . . . when I formed you . . . I gave you strengths and weaknesses . . . He said, . . . I don’t want these things to be strengths . . . – they’re weaknesses . . . and I don’t want you to be well-rounded – a little bit of this and a little bit of that – God says no . . . you will have some weaknesses and that’s ok.
And You now what – our society is so backwards . . . our society says – lets focus on our weaknesses . . . Let’s try to make our weaknesses our strengths . . . It says don’t focus on your strengths you’re already good at those . . . . . .Instead focus on getting your weaknesses stronger . . . and God says – that’s crazy – they’re weaknesses!! (and they always will be).
Education is notorious for this . . . just check out your kid’s next report cards and see if it isn’t true . . . . . .Education wants kids to be well rounded . . . but God says something else . . . He says if I had wanted you to be well rounded . . . If I wanted you to be naturally good at this (whatever this is ) I would have made you good at it . . . . . . No – I want you to be good at this . . . (whatever this is), and that is where your Dream is located (in your areas of strength) . . . . You aren’t supposed to be well-rounded and kinda maybe good at everything – you are supposed to be lopsided . . . not well rounded.
In fact – isn’t it true, that it is the men and women who change the world, . . . . . . that say – “scrap the weaknesses” – “God – I’m going all out with how you made me. I love to do these things, and I am good at these things, and they come naturally for me” . . . . . . and guess what? . . . That’s right where your Dream lies in your areas of strength . . . . . . So let me ask you.
Could it be that God knew your strengths and designed a dream to go with those strengths – could it be that He thought about your Dream and His wish for you, (and your life) . . . and that He made you fit precisely with that dream?
Before I formed you, God says – I knew you . . . and before you were born I set you apart. Just you – apart from everybody else . . . and I appointed you to do something and . . . that is why I knew you – and set you apart . . . . . . because I wanted you to do something.
Folks, God wants something done through you . . . . through your life . . . He wants that thing achieved that He placed in you before you were born . . . . . . and I believe – if you listen close enough . . . there is something inside of you that is crying out to be finished (and it’s called a Dream).
But here’s the sad part – for most people, what God wants finished in their lives, never gets started. It is never started . . . and I really believe this next line – If you and I don’t make a clear choice to aggressively pursue the Dream and purpose God has for our lives . . . We will never find the fulfillment we’re looking for and there will always be a destiny void in our souls . . . (Still with me – big breath).
NOT SMALL
Now, work with me on this next part – Ready ? I believe God also has a Dream and his Dream is big . . . really big . . . . so big in fact that is stretches all the way from eternity past . . . all the way to eternity future. The bible calls it His eternal plan.
Now, what if this is how it works . . . What if from this point in His plan. Point A – He thinks to Himself – I need somebody to do this work for me until point B . . . (A & B on flip charts) and this work requires a person like this (stand someone up) . . . and God says it has to be in this time period . . . (so they have to be born at this specific time in all of history) and it is going to take this many years to accomplish . . . So I’m going to give them this many years . . . and what if God thinks . . . . . . in order to get this done, I need these specific strengths (what is a strength?) and I don’t need these things – so I will give them these weaknesses (what’s a weakness?). And I want this specific personality and I need them to love these things (like peanut butter?) and not like those things at all . . . I mean what if we have no control over any of those things . . . let me say that differently, . . .(you can sit down!) people . . . you and I have no control over whether we like peanut butter. . . and we have no control over whether we’re broccoli fans or not . . . or whether were good with numbers or not . . . Folks, trust me on this one . . . You and I really have nothing to do with it and if we think it happens by accident or if we think we’re here to invent our own purpose and Dream . . . and that it’s our responsibility to create that purpose – we’ve got it completely backwards.
Catch this . . . Your purpose preceded you . . . it was in His heart and you were on His mind before you were born . . . And that work He wants done from Point A to Point B is the essence of the Dream that He has formed you to achieve . . . and here’s the good news – you were created exactly right to achieve it . . . (right strengths, right weaknesses). And this is the best part . . . when you are pursuing that Dream – it will be like you were just made to do it – because you were.
Here’s what I have seen . . . . . . When people talk about the Dream God has placed in their hearts . . . it’s never small . . . In fact it’s more like this . . . The Dream is so big, that you are to nervous to tell anyone else because they’ll think you’re crazy . . . and, . . . because dreams are in the future and haven’t happened yet – we don’t always have an exact plan o how to reach that Dream . . . . . . which is why we don’t want to tell anybody about our dreams . . . Because, if I tell you about my big Dream you’re gonna say – “How are you gonna do that?” And no one wants to say – “I have no idea!!” And so we wait, and we just sit around . . . and we hope that maybe someday we’ll figure it out, . . . and when we figure it out – we’ll tell you how to do it.
So I’m preparing for this message when I get a call from my buddy Glen in Phoenix – and he’s telling me he’s feeling a little restless in the church he’s in . . . He runs an incredible ministry called Celebrate Recovery, (It’s a biblically based ministry for people who want help out of their addictions and it’s based within a church community – awesome). (Lives changed etc.) So Glen is saying – I think there’s something more God wants to do with this thing in my life . . . and in the church . . . and then he stopped and he said a great line – I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t crazy . . . so I called you . . . (like I know where the crazy line is . . .) Anyway – he hesitated and then said, “I think God wants me to take this ministry idea national – to allow every church community everywhere the chance to become a place that welcomes people with addictions and where those folks can find healing . . . and then he said – I think because of my background – (N.A.) I can speak and I can develop programs and systems and because God gave me the gift of leadership and vision . . . maybe I’m supposed to do this – what do you think Dean – is that crazy?
Well – I hesitated a moment – then I told him he’d be crazy not to chase it – and that God was in it – and that it’s a Dream that sounded more like God – than like Glen . . . and I told him I would do whatever it took to help him . . . and that I was proud of him . . . – “chase it,” I said. Do you know how rare it is for someone to see the Dream and then have the guts to chase it.
So, let me ask you – (are you chasing your dream?) And why is it that you don’t do your dream? 2 words – I can’t . . . I can’t . . . I don’t have the money. I don’t have the time – I’ve got kids now – I’m to old – I’m nearly retired – I can’t – 2 of the most brutal words in the English language . . . Remember the verses I read about Jeremiah . . . God said , “Before I formed you in the womb – I knew you . . . and before you were born I set you apart . . . . to be a prophet . . . ” (a spokesman for God) God just lays it out for him . . . . Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)
Now listen to what Jeremiah said in response to the Dream God had for him . . . "O LORD, " I can't speak for you! I'm too young!"
Jeremiah 1:6 (NLT)
I CAN’T . . . . . .
Amazing isn’t’ it? And God was talking right to him and he still said – I can’t. . . So let me ask you . . . What is your, I can’t, that holds you back from the dream God has for you? I’m to young – I’m too old – I’m not stable enough financially – I’m not confident enough – I’ve got this terrible background – I’m not physically strong. . . . I can’t . . . . . . . .Jeremiah’s I can’t was because he was to young.
What is your – “I can’t do the Dream”, excuse? I bet its in your mind right now. . . .
You know – (Dreams are very unique in that they require you to embrace them before you know how to get them) . . . Folks . . . if you wait at the starting point of the dream and try to figure it all out . . . you’ll never do the Dream.
That’s not how it works – you’ve gotta commit to do it – you gotta commit yourself to the Dream, before you can defend the idea – before you know how to do it– before you have the money . . . that’s just how it works. God’s dreams have faith attached to them.
Folks, if we’re honest, the reason we can’t – is only that we won’t . . . You and I have gotta commit to do it and then take a step, because that’s what God expects us to do. To step out in faith . . . Our dreams require trusting somebody bigger than ourselves . . .
I bet there are 100’s of you here this weekend who know the dream God has given you . . . You can name it –
- to help educate inner city kids
- to provide care and companionship for seniors
- to help blind people remodel their houses so they can get around easier
- to provide employment for families
- to make Saskatoon a safe community and the greatest place to live in Canada
- to provide safety for abused children
- to provide health education for teenage moms
- to give money to great causes
- to work with Jr. high students who will someday lead this nation . . .
God has a dream for every one of us and some of you can name it . . . and if you can name it – Why aren’t you doing it?
Here maybe the answer . . . Why is it that God puts a dream in everybody’s heart that is so large? Why doesn’t he give us a more realistic dream? ” Why does God always give us a dream that kinda frightens us? I heard a story this week of a very successful business leadership guy – runs a multi-national corporation with 1000’s of employees. He was asked this question. Of all the things that you have learned in training leaders – what is the one most significant way to do it?
He said . . . there is one that stands out . . . you simply take this blossoming leader out of what he/she knows best . . . – and place them in an area they don’t know because – going from what you know – to that which you don’t know – will make you a great leader. Your gotta get out of your comfort zone to see the future clearly . . . And folks, that is exactly what God does . . .
In fact I can tell you this with great certainty – your Dream will never lie inside the comfort zone of your life . . . it just won’t . . . Dreams move us away from comfort and from normal . . . because Dreams have destiny attached to them and destiny is never comfortable.
Folks, the Dream for my life has never been inside my comfort zone – in fact it always pulls me away from comfort and right over to the edge . . . – where I’m a little bit scared . . and I gotta confess often because I feel afraid – I will run away . . .
And it happens the same for everyone, we misinterpret what takes place. God brings you right to the edge of your comfort zone and says – that’s where the future is . . . that’s where more of the dream is . . . it’s just beyond your comfort zone. (But we think . . . if God was in this I wouldn’t be afraid) . . . Well folks hear this news . . . whenever God tells someone to do their Dream . . . that person is always afraid, . . . fear is human and it is not sin, it is a normal response. And actually it is not fear (for most of us) it’s just being timid – and God doesn’t want you to stay timid, he wants you to move forward, but he will not take away the fear.
This issue of having a Dream and your 1 st reaction to it, is raw terror and you will try to rationalize yourself out of it. What did Jeremiah say when he heard the Dream. “Lord, I can’t . . . I can’t speak because I am to young.”
Folks you dream is the only work God hasn’t given to anyone else – it was designed only for you . . . and to get it done is gonna take huge courage – and taking courage will mean, “I’m scared to death but I will do it anyway.” The fear will not go away . . . People . . . we have to stop being afraid of being afraid . . .We have to want the dream more than we are afraid of our fears . . . That is what stops ¾ of all the people that want to do their dream, - they’re afraid of leaving comfort zones and they’re frozen in that fear.
BORDERLAND
One more thought – around the edge of our comfort zone – that we need to break out of . . .is an area called borderland. And borderland is a very scary place . . . When you go in that direction, your comfort zone kinda shakes, as you get to the edge of it – its less stable out there (kinda foggy) . . . and the crazy part of borderland and comfort zone is that your emotions want to take over, when you’re there. But the biggest challenge with borderland – are the people closest to you . . . . . . as be begin to come to the edge of your comfort zone – often their comfort zones overlap yours . . . and so as you shake up your comfort zone and head towards borderland – where the Dream lies . . . it messes with other people’s comfort zones and really – who likes to have their comfort messed with – nobody.
Wilkinson in his book . . . has a great line he says, . . . “around the borderland - people begin to smell a deserter . . . . and they think . . . Somebody’s gonna break out of their comfort zone . . . and it’s like they gather right at the spot where you’re gonna breakout and they say. What? Stop! That’s crazy? That will never work – what on earth are you talking about? How in the world do you think you’re gonna do that? Where are you gonna get the money? And we say well – I’m not sure . . . “ Not sure?. . . . . . You’ve tried that before and you failed – remember? And we say you are probably right . . . . – Wilkinson calls those guys border bullies and they immediately become the next reason you don’t do your Dream . . . Because somehow we get it in our heads that if we really embrace the Dream God wants us to do . . . . . . and if we follow the Dream, . . . and break out of comfort zone and into borderland . . . We think . . . all our friends and family are automatically gonna say – yes – what a great idea – and we fully believe in you – go for it . . . and you know what? They won’t . . . most times.
They’ll come up to you and say – What is going on in you head? – are you crazy? – and they’ll say – step back from borderland.
Ever felt that? Folks – until we want God’s Dream more than our fear – we will never break out of our comfort zones . . . The fear of God must become greater than our fear of man . . . and here’s a very telling statement . . . . (Until more of us who say we are Christ followers value the Dream that God has for us – enough to commit to it and act on it – we will never change the world. We won’t.)
And if there is something that I know God wants us to do it’s to change the world . . . It’s to bring His light to the world so His light can transform it . . . I know He wants us to do that . . . but in order for that to get done we must pursue with all diligence the Dream He has placed inside of each one of us – with all diligence.
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