Embracing God's Dreams: A 40-Day Spiritual Journey
Summary
The "Time to Dream: Trusting God to Open Doors" campaign is an invitation to embark on a transformative journey of spiritual growth and renewal. This 40-day campaign is designed to help us develop new spiritual habits, deepen our relationship with God, and prepare for the future He has planned for us. Over the years, we've learned that growth often happens in spurts, and this concentrated period of focus allows us to make significant strides in our spiritual lives.
The campaign is structured around four primary goals: preparing you for your future, preparing us for our collective future as a church family, helping each of us discover our unique role and contribution, and supporting each other in fulfilling God's plan. By committing to these goals, we align ourselves with God's dreams for our lives, which are always bigger and more fulfilling than our own.
Throughout this campaign, we will utilize multiple learning styles to ensure that everyone can engage with the material in a way that resonates with them. Whether you learn best by listening, reading, discussing, or doing, there will be opportunities for you to grow. We will also emphasize the importance of community, as we grow faster and more effectively when we support each other.
As we journey together, we will focus on developing spiritual habits such as daily quiet time, prayer, and participation in small groups. These habits are essential for sustained growth and will help us to internalize the truths we learn. By the end of this campaign, you will have a clearer vision of God's dream for your life and the courage to walk through the doors He opens for you.
Key Takeaways:
- Growth in Spurts and Seasons: Just as nature grows in spurts, our spiritual growth often happens in concentrated bursts. This campaign is designed to provide a focused period of growth, helping us to develop new spiritual habits that will sustain us in the long term. [02:25]
- The Power of Commitment: Growth requires commitment. Every time we make a commitment, whether big or small, we take a step forward in our spiritual journey. This campaign encourages us to commit our time, talents, and resources to God's purposes, knowing that these commitments will lead to maturity and growth. [05:26]
- Community and Support: We grow best in community. By participating in small groups and supporting each other, we create an environment where spiritual growth can flourish. This campaign emphasizes the importance of doing life together, as we encourage and pray for one another. [06:27]
- God's Dreams vs. Our Dreams: God's dreams for our lives are always bigger and better than our own. By aligning ourselves with His plans, we open ourselves to possibilities beyond our imagination. This campaign invites us to seek God's dreams and trust Him to arrange the circumstances to fulfill them. [32:02]
- The Role of Faith and Courage: Walking through the doors God opens requires faith and courage. While God provides the opportunities, it is up to us to step out in faith and embrace the dreams He has for us. This campaign challenges us to trust God and take bold steps toward the future He has prepared. [34:32]
Youtube Chapters:
[00:00] - Welcome
[00:07] - Introduction to the Campaign
[00:23] - What is a Spiritual Growth Campaign?
[00:58] - The Importance of a 40-Day Focus
[02:25] - Growth in Spurts and Seasons
[03:53] - Developing Spiritual Habits
[05:26] - The Power of Commitment
[06:27] - Community and Support
[07:40] - Multiple Learning Styles
[08:04] - Goals of the Campaign
[09:12] - God's Dream for Your Life
[10:31] - Our Future Together
[11:15] - Discovering Your Unique Role
[12:32] - Supporting Each Other
[14:06] - Tools for the Campaign
[19:09] - Multiple Learning Styles and Reinforcements
[25:01] - The Book "Open Doors"
[27:19] - Three-Year Covenant
[28:50] - What is a Dream?
[30:42] - God's Plans for Your Life
[32:02] - God's Dreams vs. Our Dreams
[34:32] - Faith and Courage
[36:33] - The Capacity to Dream
[38:48] - Without a Dream, I'm Dying
[40:06] - Everything Starts with a Dream
[42:32] - Dreams Show God's Plans
[44:48] - Dreams Define Us
[47:06] - A Dream Keeps Me Growing
[50:32] - The Power of Belief
[53:28] - A Dream Focuses My Energy
[56:00] - A Dream Stretches My Faith
[58:07] - A Dream Keeps Me Going
[59:36] - Inspiring Others
[01:01:10] - Dreams as a Gift of the Holy Spirit
[01:02:57] - Homework for the Week
[01:05:40] - Communion and Covenant
[01:12:29] - Closing Prayer
Study Guide
Bible Study Discussion Guide: Time to Dream: Trusting God to Open Doors
Bible Reading:
1. Ephesians 2:10 - "God made each of us what we are. And he created each of us for a life of good works, which he prepared in advance for us to do." [08:54]
2. Jeremiah 29:11 - "I know the plans I have for your life. They are plans for your good, not plans to harm you. My plans for your life will give you great hope and a wonderful future." [30:42]
3. Revelation 3:8 - "I have set before you an open door that no one can shut." [34:02]
Observation Questions:
1. What are the four primary goals of the "Time to Dream" campaign as outlined in the sermon? [08:04]
2. How does the sermon describe the process of developing new spiritual habits, and why is the 40-day period significant? [02:40]
3. According to the sermon, what role does community play in our spiritual growth? [06:27]
4. What does the sermon say about the relationship between God's dreams for us and our own dreams? [32:02]
Interpretation Questions:
1. How does Ephesians 2:10 relate to the idea of preparing for our future as discussed in the sermon? [08:54]
2. In what ways does Jeremiah 29:11 provide assurance about God's plans for our lives, and how does this relate to the campaign's focus on God's dreams versus our dreams? [30:42]
3. What does Revelation 3:8 suggest about the opportunities God provides, and how does this relate to the need for faith and courage mentioned in the sermon? [34:32]
4. How does the sermon suggest we can align ourselves with God's dreams, and what might be the challenges in doing so? [32:02]
Application Questions:
1. Reflect on a time when you experienced growth in spurts. How can you apply this understanding to your spiritual journey during the campaign? [02:25]
2. What specific commitments can you make during this campaign to align your time, talents, and resources with God's purposes? [05:26]
3. How can you actively participate in your small group to foster community and support others in their spiritual growth? [06:27]
4. Identify one area of your life where you need to trust God to open doors. What steps can you take to walk through those doors with faith and courage? [34:32]
5. Consider the dreams you have for your life. How do they compare to what you believe might be God's dreams for you? What changes might you need to make to align more closely with His plans? [32:02]
6. What spiritual habits do you want to develop or strengthen during this campaign, and how will you ensure consistency in these practices? [03:53]
7. How can you use the learning styles mentioned in the sermon to enhance your engagement with the campaign material? [19:25]
Devotional
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Quotes
We naturally grow in spurts. If you look at anything in nature, they don't grow continuously, they grow spurts. They grow in seasons, things grow fast in the spring, slower in the summer, they stop in the in the fall and they're shut down in the winter. Nothing grows at a constant rate all the time by nature. Naturally, we grow in spurts. And so we do this we have a concentrated spurt every year in our church, where we focus on our personal spiritual development. [00:02:25]
We grow by making commitments. Every time you make any kind of commitment, your character grows. I've talked about any kind of commitment. If you commit to buy a car, over a period of months, if you commit to buy a house, over a period of years, if you commit to a job, if you commit to marriage, every time you avoid a commitment, you don't grow. You don't grow in character, you don't grow in maturity, but every time you do make any kind of commitment, even if it's just a little one that is a spiritual step in your growth you're actually going to be more mature every time you make a commitment. [00:05:26]
You grow much, much faster if you have other people supporting you, in your spiritual growth. You develop a habit much faster if you have other people supporting you and that habit. If you decide to go on a diet by yourself or you decide to go on a diet with three or four friends, which one are you more likely to be consistent at? [00:06:27]
God has already prepared his dream for your life. He's not thinking of that now. Before you were born, God thought up his dream for your life. It's more important for you to get God's dream for your life than for your own dream for your life. All right, we'll come back to that too. But it we're gonna prepare you for your future so you don't waste it. [00:09:12]
God's dream for your life is far bigger than your dream. God's dream for your life will always be bigger, always be bigger than your dream. How do I know that? Because God promises it. In fact, here's what he says in Ephesians. God, Ephesians 3:20, "God can do anything far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request or dream in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around, but by working gently within us." [00:32:02]
He arranges the circumstances to make it happen. He doesn't do that on just any old dream. But when you line up with God's dream for your life, that's what we're gonna look at now for the next six weeks. He arranges all of the circumstances so it happens, stuff that you couldn't possibly arrange. I could give you hundreds of examples from my life on this, we just go wow, how did that happen? Oh, God did it. [00:34:32]
Without a dream, I'm dying. Proverbs 29:18, one of the most famous verses in the Bible says this, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Without a vision where there's no vision the people perish. I tell pastors Where there is no vision in a church the people go to another parish. People hang around here 'cause we've always got a bigger dream. We're always saying, God, what do you want us to do next? Without a dream, I'm dying. You're either dreaming or you're dying. [00:38:48]
Everything starts with a dream. You look at anything that has been created. Somebody dreamed it up first, either God or a human being. God dreamed up every tree every mountain. God dreamed up this planet. God dreamed up the universe. It all started as a dream. And then He created you and He gave you the ability to be a dreamer. He is the dream giver. God is the dream giver. They all come from God. [00:40:06]
A dream keeps me growing. This is one of the reasons I wanna teach this to you is because it is in having a dream, you keep growing a dream forces you to develop skills that you don't have. I have had to be on a learning curve my entire life. When God called me and gave me the dream at 25 to start Saddleback, I had none of the skills zero zip that I was gonna need to lead a churches big, none of those skills, not one of them. [00:47:06]
A dream focuses my energy. By now you've learned that you can't do everything. Everybody agree with that you can't do everything. But you hopefully you've also learned, not everything's worth doing. God doesn't expect you to do everything. I don't expect you to do everything you shouldn't expect yourself to do everything. God doesn't obviously expect you to do everything. So, what really is the key to life is selections, the name of the game prioritization, to know what matters know what doesn't, to know what counts and know what doesn't count. [00:53:28]
A dream stretches my faith. The Bible says "According to your faith be done unto you." You get to decide what God does in your life. A dream stretches my faith it forces me to trust God. [00:56:00]
God given dreams are a gift of the Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit gives us the ability to dream. Another one of the theme verses for this next campaign of A Time To Dream is Acts 2:17 and 18, which Peter preached on the first day of the first church in Jerusalem. And here's what he said, he was predicting the future he was prophesying. Acts 2:17, 18. God says, this is from the book of Joel. "In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will proclaim my message. Your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams, yes on all my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will proclaim my message." [01:01:10]
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