1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:04,000 Our scripture reading today is Genesis chapter 28, verses 10 to 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,840 17. Just to keep in context here, 3 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:11,560 Isaac, Abraham's son Isaac married Rebecca. 4 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,520 Rebecca had their twins, Jacob and Esau. 5 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:21,000 Esau was the older, but God had told Rebecca that Jacob would 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:25,920 rule over Esau and that Esau would serve Jacob in the 7 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:28,840 meantime. Well, since after birth and then 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,759 through their growing up, Jacob became Rebecca's favorite son, 9 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:41,000 Esau became Isaac's favorite son and and Jacob bargained for 10 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:44,720 bought his brother's birthright with a bowl of Stew. 11 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:50,920 And then later, after Isaac had become old and was blind, Jacob 12 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:55,920 and Rebecca deceived Isaac and tricked Isaac into giving Esau 13 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,160 the blessing he had planned to give to Esau. 14 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:02,880 He gave to Jacob instead. So now, having lost his 15 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:07,960 birthright and lost his father's blessing, Esau is understandably 16 00:01:07,960 --> 00:01:12,280 miffed, and he has decided that the best way to handle this 17 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:14,120 situation is to kill his brother. 18 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,160 And then there's only one brother to inherit anything. 19 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,360 And Jacob is fleeing for his life. 20 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,040 He's leaving his family. He's leaving the only home he 21 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:27,120 has ever known, the only region, as far as we know, that he has 22 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,360 ever known, to go to a distant land to find his mother's 23 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:35,680 relatives and hopefully receive help and care from them on his 24 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:38,520 way. He's traveling alone, alone 25 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,400 through the wilderness, and this is dangerous. 26 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:43,120 He's got no one to watch his back. 27 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,440 He's no one to got no one to keep watch while he sleeps. 28 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,960 He's got nothing to sleep on, apparently, except the hard 29 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,040 ground, and nothing for a pillow except a stone. 30 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,480 And when Jacob lies down to sleep, this is what he what 31 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,600 happens. Jacob left Beersheba and set out 32 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:04,480 for Haran. When he reached a certain place, 33 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:07,320 he stopped for the night because the sun had set. 34 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,680 Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay 35 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,920 down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a 36 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:17,920 stairway resting on earth, which is with its top reaching to 37 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:20,160 heaven. And the angels of God were 38 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,640 ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord. 39 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:28,160 And he said, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and 40 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,080 the God of Isaac. I will give you and your 41 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:33,800 descendants the land on which you are lying. 42 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,320 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you 43 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,120 will spread out over the West and to the east, to the north 44 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:44,880 and to the South. All the peoples on earth will be 45 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,120 blessed through you and your offspring. 46 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:52,120 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I 47 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,120 will bring you back to this land. 48 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:57,840 I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised 49 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:00,560 you. When Jacob awoke from his sleep, 50 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,160 he thought, surely the Lord is in this place and I was not 51 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,120 aware of it. He was afraid and said, how 52 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,280 awesome is this place? This is none other than the 53 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:13,680 House of God. This is the gate of heaven. 54 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,680 May the Lord add His blessing to the reading and the hearing of 55 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:22,080 His Word. We are continuing talking about 56 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:26,400 dreams, dreams for a new year. And last week we talked a little 57 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,280 bit about something to dream about, or rather really 58 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,040 something not to dream about. And today we're talking about 59 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:35,000 God-given dreams. Because human dreams are one 60 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,480 thing. Human dreams can be scary. 61 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:40,600 Human being dreams can be fun, exciting. 62 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,320 Human dreams can, can motivate us. 63 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:47,320 Human dreams can, can can, you know, do a lot of different 64 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,000 things for us. But God-given dreams are 65 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,600 something different entirely. Now, they can still have some of 66 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:55,920 those same effects. They can scare us, they can 67 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:57,600 motivate us, these kinds of things. 68 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,120 But God-given dreams are something special. 69 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:06,200 And God-given dreams don't happen very often, at least not 70 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,800 as often as regular old human dreams and human visions can. 71 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:14,120 So we're going to talk about today the power of a God-given 72 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:18,000 dream, and Jacob's God-given dream is the one we're starting 73 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:19,800 with. Jacob again, here he is. 74 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,400 He's out in the wilderness, he's alone, he's running for his 75 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:25,800 life. His mom had told him at some 76 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:29,080 point along the way, hey, I know you're the second born, but God 77 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:32,680 told me you're going to receive all the blessing of the first 78 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:34,280 born. You're going to inherit your 79 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:38,680 father's covenant with God, your father's property, and receive 80 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:42,280 your father's blessing. All this is going to be good, no 81 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:45,680 problems, no worries. And now Jacob's running for his 82 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:49,520 life, fleeing to people that he might never have met before in 83 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:53,400 his life, hoping that they will receive him where his own 84 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:56,600 brother will not. This is Jacob's dream. 85 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:00,080 Jacob's dream. Before we go further, much 86 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,720 further though, beyond just Jacob's dream here, I want to 87 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:08,080 give a disclaimer the, the, this dream that Jacob had and, and 88 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,200 dreams like it that are genuinely God-given dreams. 89 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,240 And I'm, I'm using the word dream a little loosely today. 90 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,560 Jacob literally had a dream he was sleeping and all of this 91 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,960 happened in his sleep. Sometimes we can have dreams as 92 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:25,080 well and God-given dreams that come to us when we're awake, a 93 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:28,360 sense of vision or promise for the future. 94 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,440 And, and so that's how I'm using that term dream today. 95 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:33,800 Don't necessarily have to be asleep for it. 96 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:38,560 You can be awake for too, but if it's a God-given dream, there's 97 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,120 a message in it that we need to pay attention to. 98 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:46,120 The disclaimer is this. God-given dreams are rare. 99 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:50,320 They don't happen every day. They don't happen every night. 100 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:53,640 I've been told us human beings dream every night. 101 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:55,520 I don't. We don't remember them all, but 102 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,360 we almost always have them. God-given dreams are not like 103 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:04,680 that. And there can when preaching 104 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:07,600 about something like this, one of the things that I have 105 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:09,960 noticed and I've heard other people notice and talk about 106 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:14,280 over the years is that that some people that don't get spiritual 107 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:18,760 experiences like a God-given dream or or John Wesley talked 108 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,800 about having his heart strangely warmed by God. 109 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,360 And they think, well, maybe God just doesn't talk to me. 110 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:26,080 Or maybe God doesn't care about me. 111 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:29,040 Or maybe I'm not really a Christian, not really a follower 112 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:33,280 of Jesus, because I don't have experiences like this and that 113 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:36,520 simply isn't true most of the time. 114 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:40,560 This is not how God communicates to people, you know. 115 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:45,240 Most of the time, God, when God communicates, God communicates 116 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:47,880 through much more ordinary means, through the Bible, 117 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,120 through through conversations with other followers of God. 118 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,680 Maybe it's in in a Sunday school or a Bible study or, or 119 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,960 hopefully once in a while in a sermon, you hear some bald 120 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:05,400 headed knucklehead talking about ordinary ways like like an 121 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:10,840 insight or, or or a thought. And sometimes we get really good 122 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:13,200 thoughts in our heads. And sometimes those thoughts are 123 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:15,880 from God. Sometimes we get a sense of 124 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:19,760 shame or conviction that we've done something wrong. 125 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:23,640 And that's God talking to us and saying you blew it. 126 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,240 We got to deal with this now. So. 127 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:30,360 So if you don't have dramatic spiritual experiences, that's 128 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:33,800 OK. That's that's most of us most of 129 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,480 the time don't have that. And and some folks, some very, 130 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:41,400 very faithful followers of God will live their entire lives 131 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:44,360 without having a dramatic spiritual experience like this. 132 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:46,680 And that's all right, That's all right. 133 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,560 There's another disclaimer with God-given dreams, and I'm going 134 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:51,160 to get to this in a little bit later. 135 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:53,720 Well, actually I'm going to save that for later rather than a 136 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:55,280 disclaimer. That's more of a danger. 137 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:58,400 So I'll, I'll leave that there. So, so if you're someone going, 138 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:00,040 man, I never have dreams like this. 139 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,480 I never see visions. I never hear God's voices. 140 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:07,400 God really care about me. Yes, God cares about you. 141 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:12,640 Some spiritual teachers have said, and quite seriously, and, 142 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:16,280 and this was one, I think it was Teresa of Avila who had visions 143 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,680 and who had dreams and said the only reason God gives some 144 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:23,320 people visions and dreams, she was among them is because we're 145 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,880 too weak and too slow for God to communicate with us any other 146 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,560 way. And, and so if you've never had 147 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,640 a vision or a dream, maybe God, that means God knows you don't 148 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,760 need a vision or a dream to follow his lead. 149 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:41,080 So that's the disclaimer. Let's move on with the sermon 150 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,200 power of a God-given dream. I'm going to talk about two 151 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:48,440 significant elements of power in God-given dreams today. 152 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:53,320 The first one is purpose. God-given dreams have the power 153 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:57,160 of giving us purpose. Now as we're talking about God 154 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:01,000 driven dreams and purpose, I'm gonna put the remote down so I 155 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,280 don't keep hitting it. I'm gonna say we're gonna look 156 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:07,480 at another dream for a moment. And that's the dream that that 157 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:10,640 has given us the holiday that we celebrate this weekend. 158 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,880 Doctor Martin Luther King Junior Day is tomorrow. 159 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:19,600 And, and in 1963, he gave a speech before a very large group 160 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:23,480 of people in Washington, DC that has become known as the I Have a 161 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,600 Dream speech. And if you want to talk, if you 162 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:30,720 want to see an example of a dream that has and carries with 163 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,920 it a sense of power and a God-given dream, because we got 164 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:36,440 to remember Martin Luther King was not just doctor Martin 165 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,640 Luther King, He was Reverend Martin Luther King and he was a 166 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:43,600 pastor And, and his work as a pastor took him well beyond 167 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:47,320 church walls and that this is another one of those God-given 168 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,200 dreams and it carries with it a sense of purpose. 169 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:52,880 The speech is too long to read the whole thing, but I don't 170 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:56,440 want to read a a an extensive ended quotation from it. 171 00:09:56,440 --> 00:10:00,560 As we look at purpose here today, I say to you today my 172 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:03,240 friends. So even though we face the 173 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:06,840 difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. 174 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:10,360 It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. 175 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:14,120 I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out 176 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,720 the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be 177 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:20,520 self-evident, that all men are created equal. 178 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:24,040 I have a dream that one day on the Red Hills of Georgia, the 179 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:27,600 sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will 180 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:30,280 be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. 181 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:34,280 I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, even 182 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:37,680 the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat 183 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:41,200 of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be 184 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:44,680 transformed into an Oasis of Freedom and Justice. 185 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,280 I have a dream that my 4 little children will one day live in a 186 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:51,440 nation where they will not be judged by the color of their 187 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:53,880 skin, but by the content of their character. 188 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:57,560 I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day down 189 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:00,880 in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor 190 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,200 having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and 191 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:08,360 nullification, one day right there in Alabama, little black 192 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:11,120 boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little 193 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,440 white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. 194 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,120 I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day 195 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,840 every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountains shall 196 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,360 be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the 197 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:27,400 crooked places will be made straight. 198 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:31,160 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh will see 199 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:33,920 it together. This is our hope. 200 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:36,960 This is the faith that I go back to the South with. 201 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,320 With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of 202 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:43,840 despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able 203 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:47,320 to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a 204 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:49,160 beautiful Symphony of brotherhood. 205 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:53,320 With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray 206 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:57,120 together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand 207 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:01,200 for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. 208 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:05,000 This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to 209 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:08,920 sing with new meaning. My country tis of thee, sweet 210 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:13,760 land of liberty of thee I sing land where my father's died, 211 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:17,400 Land of the pilgrims, pride from every mountainside. 212 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:21,160 Let freedom ring. And if America is to be a great 213 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:26,080 nation, this must become true. When this happens, we allow 214 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:28,760 freedom to ring. When we let it ring from every 215 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:32,080 village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we 216 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:36,040 will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, 217 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:39,800 black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and 218 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:43,080 Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of 219 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:47,120 the old Negro spiritual. Free at last, free at last. 220 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:51,200 Thank God Almighty, we are free at last. 221 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:55,280 Now, again, that wasn't the whole speech, just a, just a, a 222 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:59,120 portion of it. But you can hear in those words, 223 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:05,040 you can hear in that dream purpose that there's something 224 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,400 more out there. There's a direction we're 225 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:10,240 heading. There's a place where we're 226 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:15,120 going, not inevitably, not simply by the the natural course 227 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:19,720 of history, but on purpose. And again, I believe this is a 228 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:24,240 God-given dream and that God's purpose is for His Kingdom to 229 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:28,680 come, His will to be done, His justice to be done, His peace to 230 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:32,640 be had, and other places. Martin Luther King Junior called 231 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:37,520 described this as God's beloved community where men and women of 232 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:40,560 whatever skin color, of whatever background, of whatever 233 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:45,080 ethnicity, ideology, economic or educational background can treat 234 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:49,000 each other truly as sisters and brothers and live in peace and 235 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,880 harmony and justice and freedom together. 236 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:58,280 And the purpose in that was to work for and move toward and 237 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,640 move into that. This was spoken on on the cusp 238 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:07,120 of the the vote on the the 1963 civil rights legislation. 239 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:12,920 And and that's certainly part of the why that that king gave that 240 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:16,400 speech, hoping to inspire and encourage as many people to 241 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:19,600 support the passage of that legislation as possible, but 242 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:24,600 also to give a sense of why and their broader lives, lives 243 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:28,680 beyond simply political, purely political action. 244 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:32,400 But the why of how they live their lives and the purposes of 245 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:34,760 their lives on a day-to-day basis. 246 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:37,120 And that day-to-day basis is not. 247 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:43,400 The purpose is not to get what I can for me and my own, but to 248 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:50,600 live in solidarity with the people around us, lifting others 249 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,440 up, caring for others, treating all people with compassion, 250 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,440 giving all people the freedom that they need to be the person 251 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,400 that God called them to be, regardless of the color of their 252 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:04,800 skin, regardless of their gender, regardless of their 253 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:09,320 education or their political or geographic situation. 254 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:13,360 This is purpose. Purpose in this dream. 255 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:15,560 There was purpose in Jacob's dream. 256 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,040 Jacob had to have been. We don't, we're not told Jacob's 257 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:21,840 mental state there. I got to think Jacob was at a 258 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:24,560 low point in his life when he had that dream. 259 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:28,080 I was supposed to inherit everything from my father. 260 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:29,800 I was supposed to be the one in charge. 261 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,720 I was supposed to be to have blessing and favor and position 262 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:36,320 and power and status within our family. 263 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:39,360 And now I'm running for my life and I don't even have anyone to 264 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:40,920 watch my back while I'm doing it. 265 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:45,160 I'm all alone in the wilderness, and he lies down, he sleeps and 266 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:50,120 he has this dream. And the dream is about a future 267 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:51,960 again. Not a future that's inevitable 268 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:55,560 by the natural flow of history, but a future that will come on 269 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,880 purpose. And God says, I give you my 270 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:03,560 blessing, I give you my promise. The same promise I gave to your 271 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:06,800 grandfather Abraham, the same promise I gave to your father 272 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,080 Isaac. I give to you one day all of 273 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:13,400 this, this land on which you are lying with, and you're so poor 274 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,960 that you don't have a blanket over you and you've got a rock 275 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:18,600 for a pillow. One day it will all be yours. 276 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:22,160 Everything you can see as far as your eye can see, from the north 277 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:24,640 to the South and the east to the West. 278 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:26,240 One day you don't have a single child. 279 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:30,560 Now your children will number as much as the dust of the ground 280 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:37,640 on the earth, and all the peoples of the world will be 281 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,160 blessed through you. There's purpose in that. 282 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:47,040 He gave Jacob a sense of his place in history, his place in 283 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:49,560 God's story. And God's story was going 284 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:52,920 somewhere, and Jacob had a purpose in that story. 285 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:58,120 He wasn't a, was it non player character NPC. 286 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,640 I'm out of my depth when I'm talking video games. 287 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,160 Am I getting that right NPC? OK, all right. 288 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:06,160 He's not an NPC. He's got purpose. 289 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:13,079 He's got purpose in this world. And we all need that sense of 290 00:17:13,079 --> 00:17:16,599 why. We need a reason to get up in 291 00:17:16,599 --> 00:17:20,040 the morning. We need a reason to struggle 292 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:21,920 through the struggles that we have. 293 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:28,640 We all need a why. We all need a purpose, and God 294 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:30,720 gave that. He gave that to king and through 295 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,080 king, to an entire movement of people. 296 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,280 He gave that to Jacob. And through Jacob, my goodness, 297 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:38,160 through Jacob. We're sitting here today 298 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:46,280 something like 3000 years later. Purpose. 299 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,960 There's power in a God-given dream and part of that power is 300 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:51,960 purpose. There are also dangers in a 301 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:53,800 God-given dream. I'm getting caught up and I 302 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:56,160 can't forget. We got communion today, so I got 303 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:58,200 to keep moving. There's dangers in a God-given 304 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:00,880 dream, and one of the dangers, particularly on this realm of 305 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:04,920 purpose, one of the real dangers, is as we receive the 306 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:09,320 dream as an assignment, we have to make it happen. 307 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:14,240 We have to. We have to force the world into 308 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:16,360 the vision that we see in the dream. 309 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:22,600 That's what I think Jacob and Rebecca did and one of the 310 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:24,920 reasons why Jacob is now running for his life. 311 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:29,200 God gave a vision to Rebecca, spoke to Rebecca, said hey, the 312 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:31,560 younger is going to rule over the older, the older is going to 313 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:34,080 serve the younger. And Rebecca immediately began 314 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,720 favoring her younger son. And we don't know if she had 315 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,840 anything to do with him, with Jacob ripping his brother off to 316 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,640 get his birthright. But she certainly helped Jacob 317 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:47,680 deceive Isaac and steal Esau's blessing. 318 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:52,760 She took that vision as an assignment. 319 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,080 I if this is going to happen, I have to make it happen. 320 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,840 But God-given dreams are more promised than they are 321 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,320 assignment. They are a statement by God of 322 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,800 this is what I am going to do, this is what I am going to 323 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:11,720 bring. One day, Jacob, your descendants 324 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:13,640 will outnumber the dust on the ground. 325 00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:16,920 I'm going to make that happen. One day, Jacob, all of this 326 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:20,360 land, everything as far as the eye can see, will belong to your 327 00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:22,560 family. I'm going to make that happen. 328 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,080 God is making a promise through his dream. 329 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:29,440 When we turn it into an assignment, we run the risk of 330 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:32,040 doing truly awful things in the name of God. 331 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:37,080 That's that's the times when Christians have taken up arms to 332 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,480 kill the heretics, to bring God's Kingdom on earth by 333 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:42,720 killing the people that believe the wrong things. 334 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,600 That's the time when God's people have taken up arms and 335 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:49,760 committed genocide to free the world of the uncouth savages who 336 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:54,720 don't agree with God's way of doing things, awful things that 337 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,120 churches, awful things that Christians have done. 338 00:19:57,120 --> 00:19:59,800 That's that's what happens when Christians take up arms and they 339 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:03,160 they stone or hangs or burn witches at the stake. 340 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:06,560 Thinking they're doing God's will in this world. 341 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:11,120 We've got to make it happen. We got to clear out the 342 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:12,720 Deadwood. We got to clear out the 343 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,080 heretics. We got to clear out the scum so 344 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,080 that God's Kingdom will come, can come, and God's will will be 345 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,040 done. And all along God is saying, you 346 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:24,160 don't understand. I have promised this. 347 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:28,600 One day Jesus will return. His Kingdom will be established 348 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:31,280 on this earth. My Kingdom will come. 349 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:35,680 My Kingdom will be done and there is a role for you to play, 350 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:37,640 but it's not in making this happen. 351 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:43,480 Even in King's dream. Even in King's dream there is 352 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:47,920 purpose and there is there is a role for every person that was 353 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:52,440 listening to play. But none of them had the power 354 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:56,440 to force the people of this nation into the vision that King 355 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:00,640 cast. The God-given dream that he had 356 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,160 of God's Kingdom coming and God's will be being done. 357 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,520 Where all people are treated as equal and stand before one 358 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:12,040 another as sisters and brothers all on the same side instead of 359 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:14,880 warring and dividing up amongst themselves into factions. 360 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:19,320 That that is a thing God is bringing about God that had 361 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,200 promised that in the Scriptures long before Doctor King 362 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,920 articulated it so beautifully in that speech and so powerfully 363 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:27,760 so. The danger is is we don't take 364 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:29,560 it as an as that. We might take it as an 365 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:33,600 assignment and then use that as a justification for doing awful 366 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:36,880 things in the name of Jesus. How do we avoid that danger? 367 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:39,680 We avoid that danger by remembering the other power of a 368 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,640 God-given dream, and that's the power of hope. 369 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,880 The power of God-given dream is hope in the darkness. 370 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,640 I don't know for sure, but there's a real good chance that 371 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:55,960 Jacob went to sleep with his head on that rock. 372 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:57,840 The one that can't get any worse than this. 373 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,600 I have no hope. But he woke up that morning with 374 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:04,160 hope. He woke up with that morning 375 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:06,560 with hope because he had a dream from God. 376 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:10,320 He had a promise from God, He had a purpose from God, and he 377 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:15,160 had hope that the God who had brought his grandfather through 378 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,840 and the God that had brought his father through would bring him 379 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,760 through as well. He had hope. 380 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:25,400 King had hope that one day that vision that he saw could come 381 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:27,680 true. And his hope was in more than 382 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:30,640 just political might and political power. 383 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:36,600 It was in God. This was God's plan and this was 384 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:38,800 God's purpose. Because if it's not God's plan 385 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:41,520 and it's not God's purpose, then the work we're doing is wasted 386 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:48,040 effort anyway. We have this hope so that we 387 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,360 don't get overwhelmed. Here's another danger of a 388 00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:53,200 God-given dream. God-given dreams are always too 389 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:54,800 big for us to achieve on our own. 390 00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:58,920 And so they can lead to a kind of a paralysis and immobility 391 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,600 when we face a problem that's so big and so daunting and so 392 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:04,600 great, and it's like there's nothing I can do. 393 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:07,000 And so we become immobile and we do nothing. 394 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:09,840 The other side of the danger of a God-given dream. 395 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,400 There's an old story that went like this of a a landowner back 396 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:18,080 in in ancient times. He had a very large piece of 397 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,680 property and he had just acquired new property on the 398 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,720 edge of his current property. The problem was this large piece 399 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:27,040 of new property was completely covered with briars and thorns. 400 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,000 And before it could be used for anything, whether planting or 401 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,480 grazing, all of those thorns had to be cleared out. 402 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:35,680 His son was coming of age. He gave his son the task. 403 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,840 Son, it is your job to clear the briars and thorns from this 404 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:40,720 field. That is my assignment. 405 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:43,520 I give it to you. And the sun went out the first 406 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,880 day full of them, full of vigor, full of energy to please his 407 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:48,280 father. And he got there and he looked 408 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:52,760 out from a hilltop on his father's older land and saw all 409 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:54,840 of the new land covered with all of those briars. 410 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:56,840 And he thought, this is a big project. 411 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:02,000 But he started and he worked all day long in the heat of the sun. 412 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,200 And he worked and he worked and he worked and he worked. 413 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:08,680 And by the time he was done, he'd cleared out the small space 414 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:15,120 about 6 by 6. Tough work, hard work. 415 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:19,480 He went home discouraged. He slept well that night because 416 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:21,280 it was exhausted. But when the next day, when he 417 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,560 got back, then he looked again and he saw how much work it had 418 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,960 taken just to clear out that one small patch the day before. 419 00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:31,720 And he looked out and saw how many acres and acres and acres 420 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:37,800 there was left to clear. And he despaired, and in his 421 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:41,840 despair he could find not find the energy or the ability to do 422 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:44,000 anything. So he laid down that patch of 423 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,720 ground that he had cleared, and he went to sleep, slept through 424 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:50,560 the day, got up, went home, ate dinner. 425 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:52,640 Dad asked, how's it going going Great. 426 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,400 Went to bed that night. Didn't sleep so easy that night. 427 00:24:56,360 --> 00:25:00,360 And that went on for day after day after day until it became 428 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:04,880 week after week after week until it became months. 429 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:10,440 And then the day that he'd been dreading for weeks and months 430 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:14,400 came and his dad said, I want to come out and take a look at your 431 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:18,240 progress, son. So that day, his father walked 432 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:22,240 with him as they went out and as they crested that hill and 433 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:26,200 looked down over that new land, and it was all still covered 434 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,160 with thorns. And then they walked down to 435 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,200 that one patch. And his dad turned to his son 436 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:36,960 and said, what happened? And his son said, it's too much. 437 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,240 I was overwhelmed. I worked hard the first day, but 438 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:44,240 it was too much. And so every day, I have to 439 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:48,240 confess I've just been coming and lying and sleeping on this 440 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:50,320 one patch I cleared on the first day. 441 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:54,520 And the son, the father looked at his son. 442 00:25:54,520 --> 00:26:00,280 He said, son, don't you understand that to clear this 443 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:05,800 whole land, all you had to do was clear enough ground each day 444 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:09,400 to sleep on, and by now you'd be done? 445 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,840 That's the position we find ourselves in. 446 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:22,440 We look out on a Dark World full of violence, full of division, 447 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,480 full of hostility. There seems to be more of all of 448 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,480 that around these days than there did when I was a kid. 449 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,800 Seems like that that that 30 years ago you could at least 450 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,160 have a conversation with people you disagreed with. 451 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:41,680 And now you just don't talk about it. 452 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:46,480 And there's so much wrong and there's so much brokenness and 453 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:50,400 there's so much sin. And we hear again that dream by 454 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:55,080 King, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in 455 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,640 heaven. And we think, can't do it, can't 456 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:05,760 do it, that all we really have to do is clear out enough ground 457 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:09,000 so that at night we can have a good night's sleep. 458 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,520 Just enough, just enough for that. 459 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:19,920 Because God's the one that's going to make the dream come 460 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:23,560 true. Our job is just to do the little 461 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:27,680 things most of the time and occasionally some big things 462 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:32,560 along the way. You see, Jesus is our purpose 463 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,600 and our hope. And Jesus, at the beginning of 464 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:40,320 his ministry, when he's calling his disciples, he he, he cast, 465 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:42,800 he. He shared a dream with one of 466 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:45,560 his disciples. That is, that disciple already 467 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:49,200 knew and it was Jacob's dream. And this is what Jesus said. 468 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:53,000 You think you've seen? He told, he told Nathaniel, hey, 469 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,640 I know who you are. You were sleeping under a fig 470 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,480 tree before you came here. Like, Oh my goodness, he knew 471 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:01,000 where I was under a fig tree. That's amazing. 472 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,400 And Jesus said, you ain't seen nothing yet. 473 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:09,280 You ain't seen nothing. One day, he said, you will see 474 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:13,360 heaven open up and the angels of God ascending and descending on 475 00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:17,000 the Son of Man. That's Jacob's dream, but Jesus 476 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:22,440 tweaks it or clarifies it, because there's not. 477 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:27,800 The latter is now Jesus himself. Jesus is the latter. 478 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,560 Jesus is the gate. Jesus is the very one who 479 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:35,920 bridges heaven and earth. Jesus is the one that will bring 480 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:39,680 the Kingdom of heaven to earth, and Jesus is the one that will 481 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:43,240 on earth establish his Kingdom like it is in heaven. 482 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:49,400 And he gives us work to do in that we're not just spectators. 483 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:53,080 We're don't sit by passively. We remember, though, that Jesus 484 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,120 is our purpose and our hope. It's not our job to make His 485 00:28:56,120 --> 00:29:02,000 Kingdom come, but it is our job to live into His Kingdom, to 486 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,600 have the hope. Because we know that His Kingdom 487 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:07,360 is coming. We are as much as we can. 488 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:09,680 We're going to live into that Kingdom now. 489 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:12,280 We're going to live according to that Kingdom now. 490 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:16,080 We're going to follow Jesus in the way he lived now. 491 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,240 Because even small acts of kindness, small acts of justice 492 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:24,320 and mercy, reveal the truth and goodness of Christ's Kingdom in 493 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:28,880 a broken world. Most of the time we're not doing 494 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:31,880 dramatic stuff. Some of us live a whole life 495 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,200 without ever doing anything really very dramatic. 496 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,920 But it's not the dramatic stuff. Pulling weeds and cutting up 497 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:43,440 thorn bushes is not dramatic. Digging out roots is not 498 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:45,160 dramatic. It's just work. 499 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,720 And we don't have to get it all done all at once. 500 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,840 We just do our pit, our bit, every day. 501 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:56,480 And we trust that one day God will make it all, all of that 502 00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:04,720 dream come true. Our hope is in Jesus that his 503 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:08,280 Kingdom he will make bring his Kingdom and it will come and he, 504 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:10,440 his will will be done. That's our hope. 505 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:16,000 And our purpose is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus to love 506 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:20,440 and serve and care without regard to all of those things 507 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,680 that the world wants to divide us up by, whether it's skin 508 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:28,640 color or gender or age or region or politics or language or 509 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:30,680 whatever. All of those things the world 510 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,800 wants to use to divide us. We say, sisters and brothers, 511 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:39,440 let's do some work together in Jesus name, Amen. 512 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:40,360 Amen.