I Have A Dream!


Markita is 13 years old and she has a dream.

           Her mother works as a waitress in New York.

                      Her father left them when she was 8.


           Markita shared a dream with her mom.

                      They wanted to take a trip around the world.


           

It was more than just a dream for Markita, it was a burning desire.

Her mother told her that she would work hard to make enough money to send Markita to college. And then one day she would make enough money to take them around the world.

 

Markita was a Girl Scout, and read in a the Girl Scout magazine one day, that the Girl Scout that sold the most cookies that year, would win an all-expense paid trip around the world for two.


           So she decided, right there and then, that she would sell more cookies than anyone in the world.


           

But desire was not enough, she knew she needed a plan.

           Her aunt advised her to always dress the part.

                      Always wear your girl scout uniform and be a professional.

                                 Always smile, and don’t ask people to buy cookies,

                                            ask them to invest in Girl Scouting.

 

Everyday after school, she put on her uniform and went out selling cookies, investing in her dream. “Hi, I have a dream. I’m, earning a trip around the world for me and my mom by merchandising Girl Scout cookies. Would you like to invest in one or two dozen boxes of cookies.”


 

That year, Markita sold 3,526 boxes of cookies and won her trip around the world.

           Since then, she has sold more than 42,000 boxes of cookies,

spoken at sales conventions across the country,

                      starred in a Disney movie about her adventure, and co-authored the best seller

                           “How to Sell More Cookies, Condos, Cadillacs, Computers...And Everything Else.”


           Markita had a dream and one day her dream came true.



What about you, do you have a dream?

           When we are young we dream of the day when we will finally be out of school for good.

                      We dream of the day we will be able to drive.

                      We dream of the person we will marry.

                      We dream of the kind of career we will have.

                      We dream about the kind of family we will have.


           As adults we dream of the day our last child leaves home.

                      We dream of getting the house paid off.

                      We dream of getting a raise at work or a promotion.

                      We dream about taking a long, well deserved vacation.

                      We dream of losing weight.

                      We dream of the day we retire.

                      We dream of moving to Florida!


           

All of us have our dreams.

           But what about our dreams for our spiritual life, for the Kingdom of God?


           When Jesus left this earth and ascended back to heaven, following His resurrection from the dead,

                      He left the disciples with a dream.

 

The dream of taking the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus and His salvation, to all the world.


                      He left them with the dream of reaching out and meeting the needs of people.

 


And as we look through the New Testament we see even more dreams these men had.


           Paul dreamed of one day going to Rome and spreading the message of Christ their (Rom. 1:8ff).

           He dreamed that the divided church of Corinth would be united in Christ (I Cor. 1:10ff).

           In I Corinthians 12 he dreamed that all Christians would discover and use their spiritual gifts.

           In Ephesians 4:3 he talks again about his dream for unity in the Church.

In II Timothy 2:1ff he dreamed that one day young Timothy would become a good soldier for Christ.


           In James 1:2ff, James dreamed that Christians would not only listen to the Word of God,

                      but put the Word into practice in their life.

 

Peter dreamed that the Elders of the church, would become true shepherds of the flock in I Peter 5:1ff.


           In I John 1:5ff, John dream was for all Christians to walk in the light of Christ.


           And in I John 3:11ff, John dreamed that we would love one another.


           

All of these men were dreamers.

           They all had great dreams for the Kingdom of God!


           But what about us today?

                      Do we have great dreams for the Church, for the Kingdom of God?

                                 We should! We must!


 

Ernest Holmes said, “Great things are done by people who think great thoughts and then go out into the world to make their dreams come true.”

 

        What our your dreams, what are your great thoughts about the kingdom of God?



I.       The Lost Won To Christ!


Our greatest dream as a Christian must be the winning of the Lost to Christ!

           It must be putting the Great Commission into action.

 

In Matthew 28:19 Jesus says, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”


 

Our greatest dream must be, that God would use us, each one of us, to help win the lost to Christ.

 

        We must have the dream, that in every worship service of the church,

                      there will be those who make a decision to accept Christ as Lord!


           That during the week, there are people being taught and accepting Christ as Lord.

 

           And that God is using us, all of us, to help make that dream a reality.

                      For we know that this is the will of God!



II.     People Involved In Ministry!


But in order for that dream to become a reality we have to do more than just pray about it.

           We have to become involved in ministry.


           And that should be our second dream.

                      Not only that God would use us in some ministry of the church,

                                 but that others would be involved as well.


 

In the first part of Ephesians 4, Paul talks about the need for all Christians to be involved.

And in verse 16 he sums up his thoughts this way. “For him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”


           Paul knew that in order for the Church to effectively reach the lost for Christ,

                      that every Christian must do his or her part.

 

                      That all of us must be involved in ministry.


           

It is estimated today that in most churches 10% of the people do 90% of the work.

           And then we wonder why churches are not growing.

                      Why churches are failing to reach people for Christ.

 

Our dream for the Church, must be one in which we have at least an 80% involvement of the people in the ministries of the Church.


 

And we must also realize that for that dream to come true, that we, you and I, must get involved!

           We must pray that God will give us the desire to be involved.

                      That He will give us opportunities to be involved.

                                 That we will grasp the opportunities when they come.


                      And that we will encourage others to get involved as well.



III.   Children Excited About & Learning About Jesus!


There is another area where we must have great dreams for the Church, we must have great dreams about our children!

 

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

 

And in Matthew 19:14 we hear Jesus say to his disciples, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”


           A big part of our dream for the Church, must be that God will use us, all of us,

                      to help our children, the children of this community, this area,

                                 become excited about Jesus and excited about learning about Jesus!



I don't know about you, but my dream is that one day that our Sunday School is bursting at the seams with children learning about Jesus.

           That we have a youth choir with 50 to a 100 young people singing about their love for Jesus.

That our youth are taking mission trips, putting into practice what they are learning about Jesus and how to live for Him.


           That we have young people, each and every year, going off to Bible College,

                      giving their lives in full time service to Jesus Christ!

 


IV.    Senior Citizens!


But are dreams must not end there.

In Psalm 71:9 we read, “Do not cast me away when I am old, do not forsake me when my strength is gone.”


           We must dream of the day when we will have a thriving Seniors ministry

                      that will be able to meet the needs of those who are growing older.


           

I dream of a Seniors Ministry that will provide special seminars to help them to deal with life after retirement.

           A ministry that will encourage them in their faith and will help them to discover

                      new and exciting ways that they can minister as a part of the body of Christ.



V.     Family Ministry!


What are your dreams for the young families in this church and in our community?

           My dream is that we will be able to help them,

                      as they try to raise their children in a world that is tearing families apart.


           That we would be able to help them strengthen their marriages.


           That we would be able to help them to live within their financial means.


           Help them to deal with rebellious teens.


           Help them to deal with mom and dad working outside the home.


           

There are tremendous pressures on the family today, and our dream must be of a church that is effectively helping the family to deal with that pressure.


           A Church that is doing all that it can to help the family to grow together in Christ!



VI.    People Excited About People!


Our dream, must be that we have a church filled with people, people that are excited about Jesus!


           People that are excited about serving Jesus.


           People that are reaching out to others in the name of Jesus.


           People that are meeting the needs of people.


           People that are helping others to grow in Christ.


           People that are excited about the great commission,

                      about winning the lost to Christ,

                                 who are willing and ready to share Jesus with someone else.


 

And these dreams and more will come true.

           If each one of us will only make these dreams a part of our prayers.

 

And just as importantly, if we will begin to do what we can, right now, to begin to make these dreams come true.

 


Conclusion:


Paul was a man who dreamed.

           He dreamed of taking the Gospel of Christ to the world, a dream that God had given to him.

                      And Paul believed that dream and he worked to make that dream a reality.


           And you know what, He did take the Gospel of Christ to a large part of the world.



How was he able to do that?

Well the answer is found in Philippians 4:13 where he says, “ I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”


           Paul knew that he served a God that gives us dreams.

                      And a God that gives us the power to make them come true.


           

In the movie, Chicken Run, dozens of chickens are held captive in the prisoner-of-war-like camp at Tweedy Farms.

Ginger is the chicken mastermind, who keeps devising new plans to help her fellow chickens escape.


           Ginger knows that when a chicken’s egg production is down they will face the chopping block.


 

Ginger dreams of a place where the grass is green and the chickens can be free.
In a chicken coop organizational meeting Ginger shares her new escape plan with the chickens.


           They have tried going under the fence, now they will find a way to fly over the fence.


           Ginger encourages the chickens to imagine a place on the other side of the fence

                      where the grass is green, a place where there is no farmer,

                                 no egg counts, and no chopping block.

           Some of the chickens have a hard time seeing the place Ginger imagines.

                      One chicken says, “Perhaps we should just try not escaping.”

Ginger responds “What kind of life do we have just laying eggs until we get wacked and stuffed. . . Don’t you see, the fences aren’t just in the yard; they’re in your mind.”

The chicken gruffly answers back, “The chances of us getting out of here are a million to one.”

                      “There’s still a chance then,” Ginger replies.
           


This evening I want us to be set free, to dream a dream that is bigger than we are.

           Let’s be set free from the fences in our mind,

                      to have a Spirit-inspired imagination

                                 greater than Ginger’s dream for the chickens to fly to freedom.


           I want us to “Dream a God-Sized Dream.”

                      With a Holy Spirit-inspired imagination we can dream a dream bigger than we are.


Southeast Christian church in Louisville was a church of 150 about 40 years ago.

           The church wanted to be a church that was known for dreaming God’s dream.

 

           They developed a motto for the next 40 years.

                      “Our dreams need to be so big that they will fail UNLESS God is behind them.”


           With that motto, and a real desire to stay true to God’s will,

                      they moved forward in faith and they grew, and they grew, and they grew.


           Today they average over 20,000 in 3 services and continue to grow.


 

What are your dreams for the Kingdom of God,

           for the Church,

                      for this Congregation,

                                 for your life as a servant of Jesus Christ?


           

You see if we have a dream, God can make that dream come true.

           Lets ask Jesus to give us a dream and then to help us to make that dream come true!