1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,840 We are talking today about dreams again and I think Martin 2 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:07,880 Luther King Junior weekend is a good time to talk about dreams 3 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:11,680 and we will be talking about that specific dream in a few 4 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:14,960 minutes as well. But the topic today is the power 5 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:18,240 of a God-given dream. Not all dreams come from God. 6 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,240 Sometimes we, you know, our, our dreams are our own. 7 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:26,280 And, and by dreams, I mean both kinds. 8 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:29,280 I mean those, those things that happen to us when we're 9 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:31,760 sleeping. And it's like, you know, 10 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:33,680 watching a free movie while you sleep. 11 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:36,720 And sometimes it's a horror movie and sometimes it's a 12 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:41,520 comedy, but it's at least free. And those other kinds of dreams, 13 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:47,760 the dreams that we have as visions of a preferred future of 14 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,040 something that we would like to see happen for ourselves, for 15 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,000 those we love, for the world that's around us, both kinds of 16 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,920 dreams. There's there's an important 17 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,160 difference, a meaningful difference between dreams that 18 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,920 are God-given and dreams that are aren't, that aren't. 19 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:06,800 And we're going to talk today about the God-given kind of 20 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,440 dreams, starting with Jacob's God-given dream. 21 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:12,880 Jacob had that dream. John already read that this 22 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,160 morning. There he was in the wilderness, 23 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:19,000 lying on the ground, head on a stone, had this dream, a 24 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,200 stairway to heaven. I, it didn't occur to me until 25 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:23,880 much too late. We could have had someone 26 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:27,760 singing that today, but it's a really long song anyway, so we 27 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:29,080 wouldn't have, wouldn't have had time. 28 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:33,840 But there was, there was that dream and, and this dream. 29 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:38,880 We're not told what Jacob's state of mind was, but I think I 30 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:42,920 think we can make a reasonable interpretation recognizing that 31 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:47,560 we don't know for sure, but but I think it's reasonable to say 32 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,280 that there's a good chance Jacob was at a low point. 33 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,760 May be the low point in his life so far. 34 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:58,160 He was the second of two twins. The elder was Esau. 35 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,560 He was the younger. Culture, tradition, and local 36 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:05,280 law dictated that the elder inherit everything and then 37 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,039 provide space for the younger in his household. 38 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:14,160 But God had told Rebecca even before Jacob and Esau were born 39 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:17,840 that the older would serve the younger, that that God's 40 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:22,120 covenant will be passed on to the younger, not to the older. 41 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:25,360 And that was Jacob. Jacob quickly became Rebeccas 42 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,720 favorite child, whether for that reason or other reasons. 43 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,880 Maybe they just understood each other better. 44 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:36,240 But at a young age, at a fairly young age, Jacob swindled his 45 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:37,920 older brother out of his birthright. 46 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:41,760 And then years after that, when their father was old and blind, 47 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:46,960 Rebecca helped Jacob lie to their to Isaac, his father, and 48 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:51,800 steal Jacob's that the blessing that Isaac had intended for 49 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,560 Esau. Esau was miffed at this, 50 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,920 understandably so. He was very angry. 51 00:02:58,920 --> 00:03:02,000 He decided that the best course of action was to kill his 52 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:03,720 brother. And then there's no one to 53 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,160 divide anything with. He gets it all. 54 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,680 Jacob flees for his life. He's fleeing his home. 55 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:15,720 He's fleeing, as far as we know, the only region he had ever 56 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,320 known to go to a foreign country, a foreign land to meet 57 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,120 people again. As far as we know, he had never 58 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:24,560 met. They were relatives of his 59 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,440 mother, and he apparently had to leave so quickly. 60 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:32,360 He didn't couldn't take much with him because here he is in 61 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:36,320 the wilderness alone, which is dangerous all by itself. 62 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,280 No one to watch his back, no one to keep watch at night while he 63 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,200 sleeps or to share a watch with, and not even a pillow to put his 64 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:47,760 head on, Lying on the ground with his head on a rock. 65 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:53,960 And God gives him this dream and it's amazing dream, a ladder 66 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:58,160 connecting earth and heaven, angels going up and down on the 67 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:00,000 ladder, a connection between heaven and earth. 68 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:03,280 And in that dream, God speaks to him and renews the covenant, 69 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,760 makes the same covenant with him that he made with his 70 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,080 grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac before him. 71 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,400 Descendants as numerous as grains of dust on the ground. 72 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,720 Own all the land in every direction as far as your eye can 73 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:23,680 see, and your descendants will be a blessing to all peoples of 74 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,200 the earth. It's a tremendous covenant, a 75 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:30,560 tremendous promise, a God-given dream. 76 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:35,400 I want to give a quick disclaimer before we go further 77 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:37,760 and talk about the power of a God-given dream. 78 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,880 God communicates like this infrequently. 79 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,680 This is not a normal thing for God. 80 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,080 We see it repeatedly in the Bible. 81 00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:51,520 And so sometimes we see things repeatedly in the Bible, 82 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,560 miracles being done, God communicating with dreams and 83 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,680 visions, these kinds of things. And, and, and tend to think that 84 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:01,120 that was the norm at least back then, if not now, but it wasn't 85 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,680 even the norm back then. What are the things we have to 86 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:07,560 realize is the events of the Bible took place over the span 87 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,520 of hundreds, even thousands of years, depending on how you mark 88 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:17,960 the date of things in the Bible. And and dreams then, as dreams 89 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,040 are now, are not God's standard way of communicating. 90 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:25,680 So if you've never had a God-given dream, whether the 91 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,640 kind when you're asleep or the kind when you're awake, that 92 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:30,040 doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. 93 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:32,240 It doesn't mean something wrong with your faith, doesn't mean 94 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:34,880 there's something wrong with your faith in God or your 95 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,760 relationship with God. It's just not the way God 96 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:41,040 normally communicates. God more likely communicates 97 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,000 through the words of scripture, through Bible study, through 98 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:47,600 hopefully occasionally from a sermon, from a bald headed guy 99 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:51,320 standing up in front of you. God communicates through people 100 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:54,720 around us. God communicates through 101 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:59,240 thoughts that pop into our heads and they're sometimes from God, 102 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:03,080 feelings in our heart that are sometimes from God. 103 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:07,480 But but this, this, these big dramatic things, this is not the 104 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:09,480 norm. And and I like to say that 105 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:11,760 because I've encountered some folks over the years that feel 106 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:14,320 like I never get anything special like that or they're 107 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,720 looking for it or longing for it and it's they come or they don't 108 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:19,920 come. But it's not a mark of being 109 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:21,880 closer to God or further from God. 110 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,680 It's just whether God chooses to communicate that way or not. 111 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:30,040 One, one of the writers, I think it was Saint Teresa of Avila. 112 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:34,160 I think it was her that I read this, that, that God and she had 113 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:37,480 these kinds of dreams and had these kinds of visions and, and 114 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:39,720 lots of people go, I wish I could have that too. 115 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,240 And she, one of the things she said was is God doesn't 116 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:43,880 communicate with most people this way. 117 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,240 And usually when he does, it's because it's a remedial thing, 118 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,080 because the person he's communicating with isn't capable 119 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:55,320 of understanding any other way. And and so so just want to put 120 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:58,200 that out there as we go along and move on to talk about the 121 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,280 power of a God-given dream. We're going to talk about two 122 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:03,320 aspects of the power of a God-given dream. 123 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,760 The 1st is that a God-given dream brings purpose with it. 124 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:13,040 It gives a sense of purpose. It it helps us answer the 125 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:19,520 question why, Why our life is what it is, or the OR or why 126 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:24,360 our, our, our, the why of our very existence, the purpose, our 127 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:29,800 reason for being here. And to to look at that point 128 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:34,360 more clearly, I do want to read a portion of, of Reverend Martin 129 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:38,720 Luther King Junior's I Have a Dream Speech and not the whole 130 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:40,160 thing. It's too long to read the whole 131 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,080 thing here during the sermon, but I want to read, and it's an 132 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:49,320 extended quotation, Doctor King delivering this speech in 133 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:55,760 Washington, DC publicly to a huge gathering of people on the 134 00:07:55,760 --> 00:08:00,440 cusp of voting on the 1963 Civil Rights Act. 135 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:08,200 And and so he's a, he's addressing real people at a real 136 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:13,240 significant moment in history. And again, starting toward the 137 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:16,800 end of the speech here, I say to you today, my friends. 138 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,000 So even though we face the difficulties of today and 139 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,480 tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in 140 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,880 the American Dream. I have a dream that one day this 141 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:32,320 nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. 142 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:36,280 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 143 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:39,039 created equal. I have a dream that one day, on 144 00:08:39,039 --> 00:08:42,480 the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the 145 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,880 sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at 146 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,480 the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even 147 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:53,000 the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering in the heat of 148 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,600 injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be 149 00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:00,000 transformed into an Oasis of Freedom and Justice. 150 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,680 I have a dream that my 4 little children will one day live in a 151 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:06,600 nation where they will not be judged by the color of their 152 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:08,960 skin, but by the content of their character. 153 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:13,200 I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day down 154 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:17,000 in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor 155 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,080 having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and 156 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:24,000 nullification, one day, right there in Alabama, little black 157 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,000 boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little 158 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,600 white boys and white girls and as sisters and brothers. 159 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,280 I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day 160 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,920 every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be 161 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:41,520 made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked 162 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:45,120 places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall 163 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:47,600 be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. 164 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,440 This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back 165 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:55,000 to the South with. With this faith, we will be able 166 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,680 to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. 167 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:02,280 With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling cords 168 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,560 of our nation into a beautiful Symphony of brotherhood. 169 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,960 With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray 170 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:12,800 together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand 171 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:17,240 up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. 172 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,920 This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to 173 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:25,320 sing a new with a new meaning. My country tis of thee, sweet 174 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,720 land of liberty of thee. I sing land where my father's 175 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:34,400 died, land of the pilgrims, pride from every mountainside. 176 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:38,120 Let freedom ring. And if America is to be a great 177 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,720 nation, this must become true. And when this happens, we allow 178 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:45,440 freedom to ring. We let it ring from every 179 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:48,560 village and every hamlet, from every state and every city. 180 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,040 We will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, 181 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:55,840 black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and 182 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:59,560 Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of 183 00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:03,560 the old Negro spiritual. Free at last, free at last. 184 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:07,760 Thank God Almighty, we are free at last. 185 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:14,680 A powerful dream and a big part of the power of that dream was 186 00:11:14,680 --> 00:11:18,600 this power of purpose. There's a reason why those folks 187 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:21,920 were gathered. There was a reason why they 188 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:24,480 were, they were there in Washington, DC. 189 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,680 There was a reason why they've been sitting down on buses and, 190 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:31,520 and, and, and reason why they've been going into whites only 191 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:33,560 spaces. There've been reason why people 192 00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:36,000 were beaten, why people were attacked, why people were 193 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:38,720 willing to do the things that they knew would lead them to be 194 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,200 beaten intact. They had a purpose in mind and 195 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:47,920 that purpose was this dream that king articulated, this dream of, 196 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:50,640 of what in other places he called the beloved community, a 197 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:54,760 dream that's really, that's really a vision of God's Kingdom 198 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,440 come and God's will being done here on earth as it is in 199 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:03,480 heaven, where discord and divisions and strife are set 200 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:06,600 aside and people are able to come together as sisters and 201 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:10,320 brothers, regardless of race, regardless of creed, regardless 202 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:13,360 of ethnicity, regardless of all of the other things that we're 203 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:19,320 separating. This was that dream and, and it 204 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:22,560 helped. It helped those folks gathered 205 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:26,360 there and everyone who has heard it since and really listened to 206 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:34,120 it to, to see a part of their purpose in this world that we 207 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:36,480 exist, that we're here not by accident. 208 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:40,120 We're not here to just take care of ourselves and our own and 209 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:43,400 those we love. We are here to provide and 210 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:47,920 secure Freedom and Justice and hope and peace and life and the 211 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:54,640 blessings of life to all folks regardless, regardless purpose. 212 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:58,840 In that Jacob's dream, the dream that God gave Jacob there in the 213 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:02,080 middle of the wilderness when he had his head on, that stone also 214 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,320 carried with it purpose. Jacob's purpose was not to be a 215 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:08,320 a liar, not to be a thief, not to be a cheat. 216 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:11,600 His purpose wasn't just to survive his brother Esau's 217 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,040 wrath. His purpose wasn't even just to 218 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:17,720 get his brother's birthright and his blessing and his 219 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:20,920 inheritance. His purpose was to be part of 220 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:24,760 God's story for the whole world, for the whole world. 221 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:30,480 It was a covenant, a covenant that God had made with his 222 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:33,880 grandfather Abraham, with his father Jacob, and now I'm sorry, 223 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:36,480 with his father Isaac, and now with Jacob himself. 224 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,480 Look around Jacob, you got nothing with, you didn't even 225 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:42,920 have time to bring a pillow. You got nothing. 226 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:47,200 But every, all the land you can see in any direction as far as 227 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,280 your eye can see, will one day belong to your descendants. 228 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:54,520 You've got no children, you've got no wife, you've got no 229 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:56,560 prospects. You're on the run for your life. 230 00:13:56,560 --> 00:14:00,280 But one day your descendants will outnumber the grains of 231 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:06,520 dust on the ground. One day all nations of the world 232 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:12,160 will be blessed through you. Jacob had a purpose in life. 233 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:17,280 He had a place in God's story and what God was doing and God's 234 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:23,640 purpose then with Jacob, with us, was to bless all people of 235 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:26,920 all nations on the earth. And that's that's another 236 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:31,720 variation. King's Speech was another 237 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:37,720 variation, a harmony on the the the the same refrain of justice 238 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:41,120 and peace and blessing for all the peoples of the earth. 239 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:47,080 And that that's the purpose in these God-given dreams to give 240 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:50,360 us a sense of place. That's the power to give us a 241 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:54,560 sense of place and a purpose in this world that we're not random 242 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:56,600 accidents. We're not we're not here due to 243 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,200 the random assembling of atoms and molecules and whatever and 244 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,280 all happened by chance and it's all going to go away in the end. 245 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:05,640 So nothing matters. So eat, drink and be merry for 246 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:08,320 tomorrow we die. We have a purpose, we have a 247 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,920 why, we have a reason. And that's part of the power of 248 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,520 a God-given dream. Now, there's also danger in 249 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:17,920 God-given dreams. And one of the big dangers in a 250 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:25,720 God-given dream is that we can receive it as an assignment. 251 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:31,680 And when we receive God-given dreams as an assignment, we can 252 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:36,680 quickly become overwhelmed with one of two things, overactivity. 253 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:40,320 I've got to make this happen. I've got to make this happen. 254 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:43,520 I've got to get it done. If God gave me the dream, he was 255 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:48,560 must make me want, must want me to make the dream come true. 256 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:51,040 But that's not why God gives dreams. 257 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:57,560 Not to make us make it come true, but to know that God will 258 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:01,960 one day make it come true. To give us purpose. 259 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,520 We're part of this story, but not to give us the assignment of 260 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:10,000 fulfilling the dream itself. If it's a dream that we can 261 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,480 fulfill, it's probably not a God-given dream. 262 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:17,720 God's dreams, God-given dreams are much bigger and and human 263 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:20,520 beings can rarely if ever fulfill them on our own. 264 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:23,960 But the church has made the, I think this is what frankly, I 265 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,720 think this is what led to Jacob's problems, present 266 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:28,240 problems that he was experiencing. 267 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,200 Anyway. His mother had received a word 268 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:34,200 from God when she was pregnant and the babies were fighting 269 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:36,200 within her. And God says, you know, the 270 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:42,520 older will serve the younger. And it seems like that Rebecca 271 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:47,360 and Jacob had spent Jacob's life so far trying to make that 272 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:50,280 vision, make that dream come true. 273 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:53,480 And they were manipulating people. 274 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:55,320 They were manipulating circumstances. 275 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:59,240 They were grasping, they were grabbing and now Jacob's running 276 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:03,040 for his life and the church has done this over and over again. 277 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:07,359 If, if, if maybe the the broadest expression of this 278 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:11,800 dream, this God-given dream that we have is, is thy Kingdom come, 279 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:14,079 Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 280 00:17:14,839 --> 00:17:18,000 And the church throughout the ages has made the horrific 281 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,880 decision of it's our job to make that happen. 282 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:26,040 And doggone it, if, if we can't get these heretics to, to repent 283 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,080 on their own, then if we want God's Kingdom to come and God's 284 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:30,640 will to be done, we're going to have to get him out. 285 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:35,080 We might even have to kill him and, and, and if we can't get 286 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:39,040 these, these savages to repent and do our things our way, we're 287 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:40,720 going to have to get them out or we're going to have to kill 288 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:42,480 them. And, and we're going to go into 289 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:44,160 that town. We're going to conquer this land 290 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,880 because, because we're doing things God's way and we want 291 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,840 God's Kingdom to become and they're not doing it God's way. 292 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,040 So we need to go over there and make sure that God's Kingdom 293 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,160 comes over there too. It's the whole earth. 294 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,880 And if we have to kill a few people or a lot of people, then 295 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:58,840 we'll do it. And the church has done this 296 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:06,400 over and over again throughout the ages of of using the excuse 297 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:12,200 of we have to make God's dream a reality in order to do awful 298 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:16,760 things in God's name. That's one of the dangers of a 299 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:20,200 God-given dream when we take it as an assignment and decide we 300 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:23,360 have to make it happen. The other danger when we take it 301 00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:25,840 as an assignment and that we have to make it happen is that 302 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,680 we get immobilized by the size of the project. 303 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:32,040 It's too big. How can we do it? 304 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,120 We can't do it. And so we do nothing. 305 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,720 There's an old story, I think it comes from the early monastic 306 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:41,360 tradition, but I can't remember for sure. 307 00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:45,320 But it's a story about a, a, a father who owned a lot of land, 308 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,480 wealthy man who owned a lot of land and, and he purchased new 309 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:50,080 land on the edge of his current land. 310 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:54,560 But the new land was covered thick with with briars and thorn 311 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,600 bushes, and his son was coming to his age. 312 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:00,720 He gave his son the assignment. Son, it's your job to clear the 313 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:02,520 land. I want you to clear that land so 314 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:04,960 we can use it. Whether we're going to graze on 315 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:07,000 it, whether we're going to plant crops on it, it needs to be 316 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,080 clear to the brier's son says I can do it. 317 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,120 And he goes out to do it. And the first day he gets there, 318 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:13,960 he walks through his father's current land. 319 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:16,560 He gets to the edge. It's looking down from a hill on 320 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:18,920 his father's land, on the new land of the purchase, sees this 321 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:24,120 vast stretch covered with thorns and briars and brambles, acres 322 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:26,040 and acres and acres and acres and acres. 323 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:27,920 It's all right. It's a big job. 324 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:29,920 I better get started. He rolls up his sleeves and he 325 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,240 spends the whole day working, and he's digging and he's 326 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:33,680 cutting out roots with a hatchet. 327 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:35,560 He's digging and he's cutting and he's digging. 328 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:36,920 He's cutting. He's carrying the roots away. 329 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,800 He's getting his hands cut, he's getting scratched, he's getting 330 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:41,560 scraped, he's getting tired, he's getting sweaty. 331 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:45,520 He works all day and we gets done and he looks around and 332 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,120 he's cleared a patch about 6 feet by 6 feet. 333 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:51,480 You're like, that was a lot of work. 334 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:55,720 He goes home, sleeps very well that night, comes back the next 335 00:19:55,720 --> 00:20:00,240 day and he sees again just how much work he has to do and just 336 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,840 how little he accomplished in an entire day's work. 337 00:20:03,120 --> 00:20:06,720 And he's completely overwhelmed by the size of the project. 338 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,040 It's too much, he says. It's too much. 339 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:15,440 And he's immobilized and he lies down and it is despair. 340 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:19,000 He just goes to sleep. He sleeps all day and he goes 341 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:20,520 home and he doesn't sleep as well that night. 342 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:25,480 Because he didn't do his work when he goes back the next day 343 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,840 and he does the same thing, and he sleeps. 344 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:31,280 And that goes on day after day after day until the days become 345 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:34,480 week after week after week until it becomes months. 346 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,440 And then the day that he'd been dreading for so long came, and 347 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,960 his father said to him, hey, I want to go check out the new 348 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:44,800 land, see your progress, see how things are going. 349 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:48,800 His son walks with him out there, and he's afraid the whole 350 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:50,120 way. And he's sweating, and he won't 351 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:52,000 make conversation. He won't look at his dad. 352 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:55,320 And they get up on that hill that he first looked over the 353 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:59,040 land that first morning, and all of that land still covered with 354 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:02,480 briars and thorn bushes. And they walked down to that 355 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:07,680 spot that he cleared. His father says, well, what 356 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,320 happened? Son tells his dad it was too 357 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:13,520 much. It was too much. 358 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,000 I worked really hard that first day and this is all I got 359 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:18,920 cleared. And I realized it's just too 360 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:20,720 much. And I just couldn't do anything 361 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:23,520 after that. And I came out and I'd sleep and 362 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:28,440 I'm sorry. And his father said, Son, don't 363 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:35,320 you understand that if you had just cleared enough every day to 364 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:39,240 sleep on, you would be finished by now? 365 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,800 And that's how these God-given dreams work. 366 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:50,520 If we see it as an assignment to get it all done ourselves, it 367 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:54,760 it, it's overwhelming and it will immobilize us and paralyze 368 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,960 us and we will end up being passive or we will end up being 369 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,360 frantically and abusively trying to make it happen. 370 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:06,960 And neither of those is right. All we really need to do is the 371 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:13,160 work that's in front of us today just enough so that we can lie 372 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:15,360 down at night and have a good night's sleep. 373 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:24,080 You see in all of this to remember that to avoid the 374 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:30,720 power, second power of a God-given dream is hope. 375 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,320 Part of the power of a God-given dream is purpose. 376 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,560 Another part of that power is hope and to avoid those dangers, 377 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,960 this is what we need to remember, that the dreams God 378 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:45,720 gives us are not assignments, they're promises. 379 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,960 This is what I am going to do through you. 380 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,240 God says to Jacob, this is what I'm going to do. 381 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,560 This is what I'm going to do in this world. 382 00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,600 My Kingdom will come. My will will be done. 383 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:05,400 One day Jesus will return. He will establish his Kingdom on 384 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:07,720 earth. The Kingdom of heaven will come 385 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:11,800 to earth, and earth will become like the Kingdom of heaven. 386 00:23:13,360 --> 00:23:17,280 One day that will happen. That's the hope that we have 387 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,320 that God will bring this about. And our role is not to make it 388 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:23,160 happen. And our role is not to stand by 389 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,120 and be passive. Our role, our purpose, our 390 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:29,400 assignment is just to do the little things on a day-to-day 391 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:31,760 basis. And those occasional big things 392 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:37,280 that come up and need to be done, we do those day in and day 393 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:43,040 out, doing that work of loving our neighbor as we love 394 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,760 ourselves, of loving God with all that we have. 395 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:47,720 The work of serving, the work of caring. 396 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,040 That's the daily take up your cross and follow me kind of 397 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:55,000 stuff, which is what Jesus taught us to do. 398 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,760 Because Jesus is our purpose and our hope. 399 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,880 He's our purpose to serve him, to follow him. 400 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,840 He's our hope because he's the one that's going to make all of 401 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:12,280 this happen one day anyway. And if we do the things he told 402 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:16,600 us to do, Love people, embrace them, care about them, welcome 403 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:19,840 them, receive them, regardless of the colour of their skin or 404 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:22,480 their gender or their background or their nationality or their 405 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:25,760 ethnicity or the language they speak or the politics they have 406 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:27,400 or the religion that they practice. 407 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:29,920 Welcome them, love them, receive them. 408 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:34,040 Be to them like I was to the people of this world when I was 409 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:40,360 here. Do that day in and day out and 410 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:45,440 one day I'll come and and I will make it all into what I promised 411 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,800 it would be. That's our part. 412 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:52,120 Because here Jesus said to this when he was first calling his 413 00:24:52,120 --> 00:24:55,280 disciples and one of them he called, you know, Nathaniel was 414 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,680 brought by, by I can't think it was Peter. 415 00:24:57,680 --> 00:24:59,080 I can't. I don't remember. 416 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:00,440 No, no. Which one was it? 417 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,200 I can't remember. My brain went blank. 418 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:08,200 Brought, brought Nathaniel and Nathaniel said, I was saying it 419 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,800 was being introduced to Jesus and Jesus like I saw you, you 420 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:12,360 were sitting under a fig tree earlier. 421 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:14,040 Jesus hadn't seen him with his eyes. 422 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:16,520 There was no one around and Nathaniel saw this is a miracle. 423 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:18,800 You knew who I was. You knew where I was, where I 424 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,480 was before I came here. You must be the Messiah, you 425 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,400 must be the Son of God. And Jesus said, look buddy, you 426 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:28,640 ain't seen nothing yet. One day you'll see heaven open 427 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,760 up and the angels of God ascending and descending on the 428 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:34,440 Son of man. And there's that same dream. 429 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,320 That's Jacob's dream. But now instead of the ladder 430 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:41,800 connecting heaven and earth, Jesus is connecting heaven and 431 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,360 earth. Jesus is the ladder, Jesus is 432 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:47,880 the bridge, Jesus is the gate between those two realms. 433 00:25:48,120 --> 00:25:51,320 Jesus is the one that will bring the Kingdom of heaven to come on 434 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,320 the earth and the one that will bring the earth into the Kingdom 435 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:58,360 of heaven. And one day we'll get to see 436 00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:01,400 that we're part of that same purpose. 437 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:06,280 We have that same hope, and our task along the way is just to do 438 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,440 those little things because even small acts of justice, mercy, 439 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:14,720 and love reveal the truth and goodness of Christ's Kingdom in 440 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:18,400 a broken world. And yes, there will be times 441 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:22,840 where big dramatic steps are necessary and happen like that 442 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,600 gathering in DC when Doctor King delivered that speech. 443 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:32,000 But most of the time and most of our lives are spent doing those 444 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,720 little things, those small things on a day-to-day basis 445 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:41,080 where we reach out and we embrace and we love and we care 446 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:44,560 and we receive just like Jesus did when he was here. 447 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,640 And that's the power of a God-given dream. 448 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:55,680 That's that's the power to live our lives daily with hope and 449 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,240 with purpose. Not because we had a big 450 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:03,080 dramatic vision of our own, not because we had a big exciting 451 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,400 dream of our own, not because we're going to make the dream 452 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,880 come true on our own, but because God has made us a 453 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:15,360 promise and he invites us to live like we really believe that 454 00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:19,200 promise is going to come true in Jesus name, Amen. 455 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:20,080 Amen.