Embracing Dreams: A Journey of Faith and Hope

Devotional

Day 1: True Transformation Through Hope and Faith

True transformation is not about succumbing to the pressure of resolutions but about embracing a deeper change rooted in hope and faith. As a new year begins, many feel the urge to set resolutions and make significant life changes. However, this pressure can often lead to feelings of overwhelm and inadequacy. Instead of focusing on external changes, consider the internal transformation that comes from a foundation of hope and faith. This kind of transformation is sustainable and life-giving, as it aligns with the deeper purposes God has for us. By shifting our focus from resolutions to the transformation God offers, we can experience a more profound and lasting change. [23:35]

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11, ESV)

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you feel pressured to change? How can you invite God into this area to experience true transformation through hope and faith?

Day 2: Dreaming with Curiosity and Community

Silicon Valley's unique blend of curiosity, opportunity, community, and possibility serves as a metaphor for dreaming in our spiritual journey. Just as this region has fueled technological innovation, these elements can inspire us to dream again in our faith. Curiosity drives us to explore new possibilities, while community provides the support and encouragement needed to pursue these dreams. By embracing these elements, we can reignite our spiritual journey and dream of what God can do in and through us. This metaphor encourages us to see our faith as a dynamic and evolving journey, full of potential and opportunity. [28:14]

"Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV)

Reflection: How can you cultivate curiosity in your spiritual life this week? Who in your community can you reach out to for support and encouragement in your faith journey?

Day 3: Carrying Forward the Early Church's Dream

The early church was driven by hope and the power of the Holy Spirit, enabling them to dream and act in ways that changed the world. This dream was not about establishing an earthly kingdom but about revealing God's kingdom through their lives. Today, we are called to carry that same dream forward, to be ambassadors of hope and transformation in our world. By embracing the dream of God's kingdom, we can live lives that reflect His love and grace, impacting those around us in meaningful ways. This calling invites us to participate in God's ongoing work of redemption and transformation in the world. [32:08]

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8, ESV)

Reflection: What is one way you can be an ambassador of hope and transformation in your community this week? How can you rely on the Holy Spirit to guide and empower you in this endeavor?

Day 4: Creating Margin for Dreams

To dream effectively, we need margin in our lives—space to think, pray, and imagine. This might mean creating time for personal passions or setting ambitious goals that push us beyond our comfort zones. By moving from survival mode to a place where we can truly thrive, we open ourselves up to the dreams God has for us. Creating margin allows us to hear God's voice more clearly and align our lives with His purposes. It is an intentional practice that requires us to prioritize our spiritual well-being and make space for God's transformative work in our lives. [40:14]

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28-29, ESV)

Reflection: What is one practical step you can take this week to create more margin in your life for dreaming and spiritual growth? How can you prioritize rest and reflection in your daily routine?

Day 5: Embracing God's Vision for Our Lives

Our capacity to dream is rooted in our identity as image-bearers of the Creator. Let's embrace the opportunity to dream big, seek God's vision for our lives, and be part of a community that supports and encourages one another. By aligning our dreams with God's vision, we can experience a deeper sense of purpose and fulfillment. This involves seeking God's guidance and being open to His leading, trusting that He has a unique and meaningful plan for each of us. As we pursue these dreams, we can find joy and satisfaction in knowing that we are living in alignment with God's purposes. [46:08]

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10, ESV)

Reflection: What is one dream or vision you believe God has placed on your heart? How can you take a step towards pursuing this dream with faith and confidence in God's plan for your life?

Sermon Summary

As we step into a new year, it's a time of reflection and anticipation. Many of us feel the pressure to make resolutions and transform our lives, but often this pressure can be overwhelming and unproductive. Instead, let's focus on a deeper transformation that comes from a foundation of hope and faith. This year, we're starting a new series called "Startup Faith," which invites us to explore what it means to dream again, both individually and as a community.

Silicon Valley, with its unique blend of curiosity, opportunity, community, and possibility, serves as a powerful metaphor for dreaming. These elements have fueled innovation and progress, and they can also inspire our spiritual journey. Just as Silicon Valley has been a hub for technological advancement, the early church was a hub for spiritual transformation. The early followers of Jesus were driven by a deep sense of hope and the power of the Holy Spirit, which enabled them to dream and act in ways that changed the world.

In the book of Acts, we see how the early church embraced the dream of God's kingdom, empowered by the Holy Spirit. This dream wasn't about establishing an earthly kingdom but about revealing God's kingdom through their lives. Today, we are called to carry that same dream forward, to be ambassadors of hope and transformation in our world.

To dream effectively, we need margin in our lives—space to think, pray, and imagine. This might mean creating time for personal passions or setting ambitious goals that push us beyond our comfort zones. It's about moving from survival mode to a place where we can truly thrive. As we pursue these dreams, we must rely on God, recognizing that our capacity to dream is rooted in our identity as image-bearers of the Creator.

This year, let's embrace the opportunity to dream big, to seek God's vision for our lives, and to be part of a community that supports and encourages one another. Whether you're starting your faith journey or reigniting it, let's believe that God can do something amazing as we seek Him together.

Key Takeaways

1. bearers of the Creator. Let's embrace the opportunity to dream big, seek God's vision for our lives, and be part of a community that supports and encourages one another. [46:08]
** [46:08]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[02:00] - New Year Reflections
[05:00] - Introduction to Startup Faith
[08:00] - The Pressure of Resolutions
[12:00] - Silicon Valley as a Metaphor
[16:00] - The Early Church's Dream
[20:00] - Creating Margin for Dreams
[24:00] - Embracing God's Vision
[28:00] - The Power of the Holy Spirit
[32:00] - Dreaming Beyond Survival
[36:00] - Practical Steps for Dreaming
[40:00] - Community and Support
[44:00] - Invitation to Discover Menlo
[48:00] - Communion and Closing Prayer

Bible Study Guide

Observation Questions

What are the four elements that the sermon identifies as key to Silicon Valley's success, and how do they relate to dreaming? [23:35]
How did the early church's understanding of the Holy Spirit differ from previous Jewish beliefs, according to the sermon? [35:28]
What does the sermon suggest is necessary for creating margin in our lives to dream effectively? [40:14]
How does the sermon describe the role of the Holy Spirit in empowering the early church to dream and act? [32:08]

Interpretation Questions

How does the sermon connect the concept of dreaming with the early church's mission as described in Acts 1:4-8? [32:08]
In what ways does the sermon suggest that modern believers can emulate the early church's approach to dreaming and transformation? [38:22]
How does the sermon interpret the metaphor of Silicon Valley in relation to spiritual dreaming and innovation? [28:14]
What does the sermon imply about the relationship between personal identity as image-bearers of God and the capacity to dream? [46:08]

Application Questions

Reflect on the pressure of New Year's resolutions. How can you shift your focus from external pressures to a deeper transformation rooted in hope and faith? [23:35]
Consider the metaphor of Silicon Valley. How can you cultivate curiosity, opportunity, community, and possibility in your spiritual journey this year? [28:14]
The sermon emphasizes creating margin for dreams. What specific steps can you take to create more space in your life for dreaming and spiritual growth? [40:14]
How can you actively seek God's vision for your life and become an ambassador of hope and transformation in your community? [46:08]
The sermon mentions the concept of 20% time for personal passions. What is one passion or goal you can dedicate time to this year, and how will you make it a priority? [42:25]
Reflect on the idea of 10x goals. What is one goal you have that you can expand significantly, and how will this challenge your reliance on God? [43:55]
How can you engage with your community to support and encourage one another in dreaming and pursuing God's vision together? [49:33]

Sermon Clips

"Thanks for the flexibility last week as we gave all of our volunteer teams and staff teams a chance to rest and recover from some truly amazing and full Christmas Eve services across all of our campuses at the end of a very full month, at the end of a pretty full year. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Speaking of which, welcome to our campuses in San Mateo, Mountain View, Saratoga, Menlo Park, and those of you joining us online, we're so glad that you're here. And for those of you online, we brought all of our kind of voices to the online chat last week. Sorry, it got kind of noisy. Thanks for bearing with us. I've heard it said that Christmas is like a mirror that shows the things that we like or don't like about our lives. And I would say that if Christmas is a mirror, then I think New Year's Eve is a mirror. And New Year's is a magnifying glass. Whether imperfections or areas that we want to improve in our lives, we instantly get products marketed to us or white -knuckled attention to fix whatever it is in the new year. And the kind of pressure that I think we feel around this time of the year can be exhausting." [00:20:15] (66 seconds)

"And I actually don't think it's particularly helpful, nor do I think it really results in significant transformation. And so with that in mind, this week, we are beginning... We are beginning a new series called Startup Faith. And I think for some of you, that's the place you find yourself today. For whatever reason, you came back after Christmas Eve, and I'm so glad that you did, even if you're not normally a church person. And now you're wondering what to do about that prayer you prayed a couple weeks ago or about the step that you've taken to kind of reintroduce or introduce for the first time to your regular rhythms coming to church on a weekend. For others of you, this represents a return. A return to something that you thought you had grown out of. Maybe you grew up in church, or you attended when you were younger, and it just stopped ringing true to you. Or maybe something happened, and you felt like, I needed to walk away. And along the way, somewhere, you just found that you were looking for hope, and coming back felt like the most natural place to find it. I'm so glad that you did. But before we jump in, before we get started, I'm going to pray for us. And if you've never been here... Or never heard me speak, before I speak, I pray kneeling. And part of the reason that I do that on a day like today, at this time of the year, is because I know the pressure and the weight that we are all carrying as we step into a new year like this. And I'm praying that God would alleviate some of that weight for you, whether you call yourself a person of faith or not. So would you pray with me as we begin?" [00:21:20] (94 seconds)

"God, thank you so much. Thank you for a new year with the same God. The same hope, the same peace, the same love, the same comfort, I pray that you would take some of those things off of our shoulders, the weight we were never designed to carry on our own anyway. Give us a fresh perspective, God. Help us to find the freedom to dream today in the hope that we have, or could have, in you. It's in Jesus' name." [00:22:54] (26 seconds)

"Curiosity has been overcome by assumptions, opportunity reduced to obligation, community fractured into isolation, and possibility constrained by practicality. And here's the thing. The church in America has often followed the same path away from dreaming into complacency, too." [00:29:21] (20 seconds)

"Last month, we studied the birth of Jesus, and January can always feel like a pretty big pendulum swing because we go from the cradle to the cross of Jesus to him wearing a crown in heaven in just a few days. But when Jesus ascended to heaven after coming back from the dead, people dreamed. And there's a reason for that. When we have a foundation of hope, we have the freedom to dream." [00:29:42] (26 seconds)

"Now, throughout the book of Acts, this pattern that we see over and over again is that someone, who chose to become a follower of Jesus, they had repentance or a complete life change, a pivot in their life from their ways to Jesus' ways, water baptism, an act of remembering what Jesus has done on their behalf, and then receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. This idea that they became empowered by God the Holy Spirit to live the transformation that God designed for them. They didn't always follow a specific timeframe in that. They didn't even always follow that order. But God wasn't just making a promise to them about the presence of God's Spirit inside of them. It was a promise for all of us. It was a promise for Christians forever, even you." [00:35:30] (46 seconds)

"Now, the core of our ability to dream, if you're a follower of Jesus, I think it actually comes from the deepest part of who we are as image bearers of the Creator of the universe. And I'd say this, even if you aren't a Christian, you're not a person of faith at all, you are created in the image of God with infinite dignity, value, and worth. And no matter what you've done or what's been done to you, nothing can change that." [00:36:16] (25 seconds)

"See, these ingredients, they provided the seedbed for dreaming in the early church. It allowed them to think differently than the world around them. It allowed them to imagine a world that was better and different than their own. But that's hard to do when you're living from scarcity. It's hard to do when you're living scared." [00:40:00] (21 seconds)

"Some of you, you start every new year with a resolution that focuses on one habit that you either want to start or you want to stop. But if we're honest, really, this is what a new year's resolution is. This is what it really is. We're asking this question. How can I accomplish this very different thing in my life while changing the least about my life in the long term and doing the most in the short term? That's what we think. And the answer is not much. Because it's our direction, not our desire, that determines our destination. Wanting it is... not enough." [00:40:49] (34 seconds)

"Wanting something is good, but it's just a first step. You have to take real steps after that. And often the capacity to dream only comes when we are willing to create enough margin to do the dreaming. Maybe that's financial margin, time margin, relational margin. I think one of our biggest things right now is attention margin." [00:41:23] (22 seconds)

"So what would it look like for you to create margin in your life this year? For you to intentionally say, I'm not going to get to all of the things that I maybe necessarily need to do. What's the difference between my life and my limit? And if the difference is nothing, if you're regularly living right here, or you're living above your limit in these areas, I'm telling you, it will be very difficult to dream because the drudgery of just surviving will take all of your energy." [00:43:27] (28 seconds)

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