sustain_dream

We find out after becoming a Christ follower, that life didn't necessarily stop being hard. We didn't read the fine red print; God didn't promise "life to the easy" rather "life to the fullest." He didn't say life would always become easier; Instead, He gave us the availability of the constant power of the Holy Spirit, and the promise that someday life will become eternally easier.

But today, maybe life is hard, or becoming hardER! We learned in the Prayer of Jabez series that if we didn't already have enough going on, we need to "Increase our territory"! We need to pray that God stretches us beyond what we can handle! (As Shaggy would say, "Zoinks!") And now too, we're saying we all need to dream about new things to add to our life. Sometimes, life and pursuing a God-approved dream is hard.

"There once was a baker who lived in a small and remote village where no one had ever seen a real cake before. He wanted to bake the most beautiful cake imaginable so that everyone in the village could enjoy it. He had an idea in his mind of just how the cake would look and taste when it was done, and just what ingredients he would need.

But the baker kept going and frosted the cake with thick chocolate frosting. When the cake was done, the baker served up a big slice to all the villagers and they smiled and said, 'Ooooooooh, so this is cake!'"

So in the early stages of your God-ordained dream, like Mark said in the 1st week of this series, be selective about who you share it with. Because too much rejection too early doesn't exactly fertilize our dream as much as it puts a fowl odor in the air, if you know what I mean.

And I think there's a lesson in the parable of the baker for the rest of usthe dream observers, if you will. In this story, all of us at some point will play the part of the grocer, farmer, constable, neighbor and seamstress. We will all be dream observers.

Kudos are compliments and encouragement; kudos fuel others on. Kudzu are complaints and criticisms that spread like, well, "Kudzu"! Kudzu is a vine that has reddish-purple flowers. And kudzu eventually covers everything in its path and chokes the life out of whatever it touches. The tallest tree can be felled by kudzu.

Jim & Linda are buried under a pile of debt because of a series of poor decisions early in their marriage. As a result of some teaching on the subject, they get a dream of debt-free living. Then they make the mistake of sharing their vision with Linda's parents. And Linda's parents say,

Linda's parents saw a half-baked cake. They were being "seagull observers." Do you know what seagull observers are? Seagull observers fly in, squawk about, poop all over your plans and then fly out. Kudzo is a dream-killer.

When it comes to dreams we all know people like Walt Disney, Bill Gates & Thomas Edison. And we have a picture of them as these iron-willed, driven, never-take-no-for-an-answer guys; we see them as the Energizer bunny types; no matter what happened, regardless of the countless setbacks in pursuit of their dreams, they alone just kept going and going and going and going.

I want to remind us that that is NOT normal. People like you and I need affirmation. You and I need kudos to keep going. You and I need encouragement as we pursue God's will for us. We need a steady diet of encouragement.

A dream, in our context, is something we need God to help us with. It's something not easily accomplished; if it were, we'd call it a "task"; something we merely check off of a list.

Naturally, and if we're honest, anything we need God's help to accomplish is going to scare us to some degree. To entertain a dream is to realize the possibility of failure. Failure hurts. No one likes it. And the possibility of failure brings with it, fear.

Welcome to another addition of "Guess who." Anyone know who this is? This is Eddie Rickenbacker. He set the world speed record at Daytona in 1914. He was a WW I flying Ace recording the most victories in aerial combat against Germany and received the Medal of Honor & 8 Distinguished Service Crosses.

Later in 1927, he raised $700,000 in one month in order to buy the Indianapolis Speedway . He was the secretary of war's special advisor & survived a plane crash spending 22 days on a raft in the South Pacific in WW II. He ended his career as the CEO of Eastern Airlines. He was without a doubt, a man who demonstrated courage through his entire life, from the open cockpit to the boardroom.

Stay with me here! The Mezuzah is an ancient Jewish ritual still observed today by practicing Jews; and our small group. A Mezuzah is a wood, metal or stone case which has a parchment inside on which is written:

This Mezuzah is located on the door post next to a Jew's home. This serves as a ritual for the Jews to touch this Mezuzah every time they enter to remind them of what it says inside, to remind them of God's plan. They touch it; and they are reminded.

Our group has taken the idea of the Mezuzah and with author Leonard Sweet's suggestion, we now "mezuzah" someone in the church during the 2 weeks between every small group meeting. That is, each person in our group sends a card, a letter or a gift to remind this person that their life and what they do with it matters to us and matters to God.

We touch them or mezuzah them with notes; with our heartfelt appreciation for their spirit, for who they are in Christ. So like the mezuzah that the Jew touches to remind himself of Whom he will serve, we touch people here with little notes and they are reminded and encouraged.

And when we honestly encourage someone; when we let loose the praise of who someone is to us; when we honestly appreciate someone, we can't help but let loose a little bit of the best part that God has put in us; when we mezuzah someone, we let the Holy Spirit that resides in us, out to mix with our friends; God uses "Mezuzah moments" to encourage His people.

Please don't let this point slip by you today! Our spirituality is not near as much about how well we know Scripture, or how much theology we know. Our spirituality is much more about who we are in Christ and what you and I do in the ordinary mundane events of everyday life.

I will admit that I have lost sight of that truth from time to time, but God made our small group acutely aware of the importance of our Mezuzah-ing; God reminded us of how important our simple acts are in the mundane events of everyday life, when we received this letter from someone we Mezuzah'd:

"I wanted to take a minute and thank you for blessing me this past week with your kind words and actions. It is such a wonderful ministry and it's incredible that you do this for people who serve around here. It also couldn't have come at a better time for me.

You see, just a couple weeks ago I began to feel very overwhelmed by what I do and how much I give at times. In this state of exhaustion, I began to doubt myself and my abilities. I also began to question if what I did was really worth it and if it even made a difference. It wasn't that I was looking for approval but I felt like all of the effort and sacrifice was completely un-noticed.

It all culminated on Super Bowl Sunday. After the long day of doing 3 services and some other conversations; I just hit the wall. Over the next couple of days I began to talk about this with my spouse and we both just prayed that God would send encouragement and strength for me to do what I do.

Well, the following week was when someone from your group dropped off a gift with a card. I had no idea this was why they were here so it totally caught me off guard when I found it.

After I read the card I just broke down and cried; it was answered prayer. I immediately called my spouse at work and shared what had just happened and again began to cry as I read the words of encouragement. Then, as people from your group began to contact me I realized what was going on and was completely overwhelmed by the goodness of God and his impeccable timing.

So, once again I thank you and hope that this story helps encourage each of you as you continue to minister to people in this way. We thank God for all of you and how you brought God's love into our lives in this way."

Did you catch what happened at the end of the letter? That person Mezuzah'd us back with encouragement. After I emotionally read that letter at our small group meeting, do you think that anything could keep us from continuing our Mezuzah habit? Noooooo waaaaay.

Friends, as the church, we MUST Mezuzah one another! We must Mezuzah each other's dreams; that's one of the great powers of the church. That's why the church is God's plan for Christ followers, because He will use our simple acts of encouragement to spur us on when life and our God-ordained dream is hard.

And when we're moved by something someone does around here, or we feel a little nudge to tell so-n-so their important to us; these are our Mezuzah opportunities. These are the moments God uses to cheer on His people.

Friends, this a great little teaching story I've shared. But the greatness of Mezuah-ing one another only happens if all of us look and listen for opportunities to mezuzah those around us.

Here's my plea: All of us must begin to Mezuzah, to encourage those in our lives to keep on keepin' on; to begin and then stick to God's dream; and to keep the faith. Who needs your Mezuzah today? Make a note & do it.

Has anybody noticed I've been using the words "God-honoring" and "God-ordained" with the word "dream" today? That goes back to the 1st week of this series as Mark defined a dream as "God's preferred future for your life." Well, before we get the cart too far in front of the horse, how do we find God's preferred future for us?

For some, we can look to our past and perhaps see the dysfunction in our family; and perhaps we aren't aware of it until we start to see it cycle around to our children. Maybe we observed certain behaviors in a parent and vowed we would never do that. But, now as if out of nowhere, perhaps we are doing it in our family. And when we see it or feel it in us, we then have a strong sense that this behavior or dynamic is not right.

This strong sense that what we're doing or allowing is wrong, comes from God and we call it "conviction." Conviction is that little voice or cringing feeling that something is wrong. Conviction is a powerful tool that God uses to remind us of His preferred future for our lives. Out of conviction, God can give us a dream of a healthy God-honoring family. But conviction can arise in all areas of our life:

In our jobs, with our spouse, kids, parents, hobbies; our emotions, our self-esteem, our spirituality, our relationships, our physical health,; God can use the tool of conviction in any of these areas to wake us up to His preferred future; His dream for our life.

Or sometimes we're not "sick and tired" but we're restless or unhappy. I've seen the restlessness in me grow from subtlety to a blatant awareness in this past year. Let me read you an excerpt from my journal from last summer:

"I just read through the "My Storys" of people that are going to be baptized in two weeks. When I read them, on one level I was perhaps jealous. They are so new and excited. Things seem most naturally energized in the beginning. It's almost like the early days of dating; excited just with the thought of being together. The early days after becoming one of His, are like picking low-hanging fruit; It's right there. Easily attained.

Sometimes now, I feel like gaining ground in my Walk entails getting past the low-hanging fruit. In other words, I feel like the low-hanging fruit in my life has been the easy adjustments: Scheduling my daytimer around Him and making the character changes that aren't deeply embedded in my past. To me, the fruit that's higher up has to do with the parts of me that I see more than anyone else. They are the cause-and-affect relationships from childhood that are now ingrained traits that I find unattractive and stubborn. They are the things that God seems to be pressing me on. They are the things I am most reluctant to fully engage in for fear of failure. They are the things, when voiced (if at all), that make me most vulnerable. They are the fruit that hang much higher in the tree, and I don't like heights. To grab the fruit will put me at higher risk. I fear whether I will come back with it.

As I write all this, it seems that once again my perspective is skewed. Once again there is too much of me in these word pictures. I seem to have an inaccurate understanding of self-discipline. Yes, there is a level of ownership that I must do, that requires my pro-activity; but as soon as it's all about me, then it's all fouled up; as soon as it's all about me there's no room for God.

Instead of the prefix "self" perhaps I should use "shared." What word could I put "self" in front of that I couldn't do with my Father who wants me to do all of my life with Him? It could be "shared-discipline," not self-discipline. "Shared-awareness" not self-awareness. "Shared-management," not self- management.

I stood up for Him in a message about doing "All things through Christ who gives us strength." Maybe I wrestled too much with the mechanics of the talk and not enough with what He has for me in that verse. He seems to be poking His gentle finger into my chest and saying, "You can go after the high-hanging fruit in your life, through Me who will give you strength."

He is the God of the high hanging fruit every bit as much as the low-hanging fruit. Right now, I feel as if I know that; like I know there's weightlessness in space---I know it by intellect, but not so much by experience. Perhaps He's calling me to a God-led moonwalk to go after the high-hanging fruit in my life."

To be honest, when I wrote that I knew exactly what the high-hanging fruit in my life was, but decided instead to hide behind the metaphor. The high-hanging fruit I referred to, was my weight. I could feel the power of God's conviction about my size poking me in the chest

I had just completed a message called "We Can Do All Things." And a little steady voice was asking me if I really truly believed that "God can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" or did I not?

The long story short version is that during the Jabez series as everyone else was praying to increase their territory, I was praying that God would physically reduce my territory J

Friends, my dream right now is to become a healthy-sized individual and live the rest of my life that way. After years of subconsciously dreaming about it, in the last 2 months, I have believed it will happen. I have dared to take action, finally. And have actually been doing it.

Without going into too much detail, the program I'm doing is a Bible-based weightloss program; and one thing I do is listen to audio tapes that are a combination of encouragement and God's word. I become encouraged to be obedient to God in this area of my life. Because as John the Baptist said, "I must decrease."

Before I go off on a positive rant about this program, let's get the point of the last few minutes: By asking myself what I was sick and tired of, God led me to dream about living a healthier lifestyle. What might God be nudging you about today?

God can simply give you a picture of something you really desire that has nothing to do with an unhealthy area of your life. A dream to start a business, or to marry a person who's a Christ follower, or to start a sports camp doesn't have to have anything to do with a negative in our lives. Quite often, God simply puts passions in our hearts.

One of the great ironies of maintaining a dream, and keeping it moving steadily forward is that one of the most powerful dream-encouragers is to look backwards; to look back to the way things used to be.

Some of the sweetest gifts I've been given are the gifts of looking at my own past from my current perspective. When we were in school, at some point or another, we took a United States History class.

We started at the beginning, saw the sufferings and deaths of pilgrims; saw a revolutionary war fought by brave men and women to win our independence. Later we saw a bloody civil war fought by our distant relatives to ensure freedom of all races. We saw people oppressed and people freed through hardships. We saw two world wars, a depression, Presidents and significant figures assassinated and everything in between.

Just a few weeks ago I was going through some old journals of mine. And I was amazed. It chronicled an ugly divorce (by the way, "ugly divorce" is from the dept. of redundancy dept.). Later it got syrupy sweet when I met Sandra. Then a little way down the road I was nearly shocked to read of how tough our marriage was for a little stretch; I honestly don't remember feeling the feelings I was writing about then. But, as I read, it got better, and then much better.

It occurred to me that a journal to us reads just like a history book---But it's not U.S. History. It's "Us" history. And as I read about our marital struggles I was encouraged by the state of our union today. By being able to pour over how I felt on a specific time and a specific day going back over ten years, I was able to see how far I'd come; able to see how far our marriage had come.

Looking back encouraged me more about our marriage today. I thought, "If this is where we are now, which is pretty good, what's God going to do with us in the next few years?" And the difference in where we were and where we are now is through the goodness of God in our lives. Our "us" history took a deciding slow steady turn for the better at the point we really began including God in our lives.

And to me that is so powerful and it is so clear; because I know it's not some sappy Christian-ese generalization of my life. I know it because I've got a chronicle of emotions and accounts in my "us" history books. History doesn't lie; and to me the look back is the strongest case for Christ I know.

And this, we all have in common. We cannot tell each other what tomorrow will hold. But there are things we are sure of. We all know where we used to be. We all know about the sorted roads we've gone down. We know all about the sorted roads we may have gone down if it weren't for what God has done in our lives.

Many of us can simply look around right now & see where we're sitting on Sunday morning and laugh. Because we know where we've been. And the fact that we are willing to get up and look forward to coming here is evidence of how far we've come. It's evidence that God is working in our lives.

As the music team shares this song, I'll ask you to listen to it with prayerful and thankful ears. It's a song that anyone who's been changed in any way from Christ's influence in their life can resonate with. I'll ask you to hold tightly to the thoughts this song stirs in your mind.

When I first heard that song I was just the guy playing the drums for an OakBrook outreach concert--- I didn't even attend here yet. I was a guy who'd gone to church a handful of times in his entire life. And today, once again I'm smacked in the face with how far God has taken me and how good God has been in all parts of my life.

I use the encouragement of looking back, all of the time. Before I start every message, I think, "How in the world am I going to fill 10-12 pages?" Then I stop, look back and see how faithful God has been every time I've stepped up to speak on His behalfand then I'm encouragedthen I believe He will guide me yet again.

Already in this journey I'm on with Him to lose weight. I've reflected on my journals before I started and since I started, and there's a marked difference. God is not just changing me physically.

He's changing me heart in ways I didn't expect. And too, as I reflect on the 25 pounds that I no longer haveI'm encouraged to believe in Him for the next 25; and so on until I reach His preferred future for my life.

Friends be thankful for where God has taken you. And look back with regularity to see his faithfulness in your life; we can't look at what we know God has done without being inspired and encouraged; Encouraged to go after His preferred future for our lives.