Embracing Spiritual Awakening: Dreaming Beyond Limits

Summary

In today's message, we explored the profound concept of spiritual awakening and the transformative power of allowing God to push us beyond our perceived limitations. Our lives are often constrained by the boundaries we set, but when we let God push us, we open ourselves to personal revival, which can lead to a national awakening. This is not just a historical possibility but a present reality that we can embrace. The journey we are embarking on is about seeking God's kingdom to come and His will to be done in our hearts, which is the starting point for any significant change.

We are entering a pivotal six-week period that could define the next decade of our ministry and potentially transform our lives. This journey is not about financial commitments, though it will culminate in one, but about aligning our hearts with God's vision for us. Jesus taught us that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also, emphasizing the deep connection between our spiritual and material lives. The story of my dog Annie illustrates how our hearts guide our actions and investments, often in unexpected ways.

Reflecting on the improbable success of the Apollo 11 mission, we are reminded that aiming for the impossible is not only feasible but necessary, even in uncertain times. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount calls us to pray for God's kingdom to manifest on earth as it is in heaven, challenging us to expect more than just survival. We are encouraged to dream big, to aim for the impossible, and to trust that God can do immeasurably more than we can imagine.

Our spiritual maturity is measured by the size of our dreams. As we grow in faith, our dreams should expand, reflecting the limitless possibilities God has for us. Abraham's story exemplifies this, as he believed in God's promise despite years of waiting. We are called to look up, to dream again, and to invite God's kingdom into every area of our lives. This is the essence of the 10X life God offers us—a life of abundance, peace, hope, and impact.

Key Takeaways:

1. Personal Revival as a Catalyst for National Awakening: True national change begins with individual transformation. When we allow God to push us beyond our comfort zones, we open ourselves to personal revival, which can spark a broader awakening. This is not just a historical possibility but a present reality we can embrace. [31:22]

2. The Connection Between Heart and Treasure: Jesus taught that our hearts and treasures are intrinsically linked. Where we invest our resources reflects where our hearts truly lie. This principle challenges us to examine our priorities and align them with God's kingdom purposes. [41:04]

3. Dreaming the Impossible in Uncertain Times: Just as the Apollo mission succeeded against all odds, we are called to aim for the impossible, even in uncertain times. Jesus' teachings encourage us to pray for God's kingdom to manifest on earth, challenging us to expect more than mere survival. [44:26]

4. The Expanding Universe as a Metaphor for God's Kingdom: The universe's continual expansion mirrors God's desire for His kingdom to grow. We are called to expand our territories, leveraging our unique gifts and God's favor to achieve more than we can imagine. [01:01:36]

5. Faith as the Foundation of Impossible Dreams: Spiritual maturity is marked by the size of our dreams. As we grow in faith, our dreams should expand, reflecting the limitless possibilities God has for us. Abraham's story exemplifies this, as he believed in God's promise despite years of waiting. [56:40]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [31:22] - The 10X Life
- [41:04] - Heart and Treasure
- [44:26] - Dreaming the Impossible
- [45:45] - Sermon on the Mount
- [47:52] - Expecting Heaven on Earth
- [48:45] - The Second Moon Analogy
- [49:36] - Headlines of Our Lives
- [50:29] - Dreaming for Our Children
- [52:21] - God's Impossible Ceiling
- [53:44] - Restarting Dreams
- [54:47] - Faith and Imagination
- [56:40] - Abraham's Promise
- [59:00] - The Vastness of the Universe
- [01:01:36] - Expanding God's Kingdom
- [01:03:09] - Expanding Our Territory
- [01:08:40] - Waiting on God's Promise
- [01:09:31] - Seeking the Impossible
- [01:11:07] - Inviting God's Kingdom In

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:
1. John 10:10 - "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
2. Matthew 6:21 - "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
3. Genesis 15:5-6 - "He took him outside and said, 'Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness."

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Observation Questions:

1. What does John 10:10 suggest about the kind of life Jesus offers compared to what the thief offers? How does this relate to the concept of a "10X life"? [31:22]

2. In Matthew 6:21, Jesus speaks about the connection between our heart and our treasure. How was this illustrated in the pastor's story about his dog, Annie? [41:04]

3. Reflecting on Genesis 15:5-6, what was the significance of God asking Abraham to look at the stars? How does this relate to dreaming big and having faith in God's promises? [56:40]

4. How does the sermon describe the relationship between personal revival and national awakening? What role does individual transformation play in this process? [31:22]

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Interpretation Questions:

1. How might John 10:10 challenge a believer's understanding of what it means to live an abundant life? In what ways does this differ from societal definitions of success? [31:22]

2. Considering Matthew 6:21, how can the connection between heart and treasure influence a person's spiritual journey? What might this reveal about their priorities and values? [41:04]

3. In the context of Genesis 15:5-6, what does it mean for a believer to have faith in God's promises despite apparent delays or obstacles? How can this story encourage someone facing a long period of waiting? [56:40]

4. The sermon mentions the Apollo 11 mission as an example of achieving the impossible. How does this analogy help illustrate the sermon's message about aiming for the impossible in our spiritual lives? [44:26]

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Application Questions:

1. Reflect on your current dreams and aspirations. Are they aligned with the abundant life Jesus offers in John 10:10? What steps can you take to align your dreams with God's vision for your life? [31:22]

2. Examine your financial and time investments. What do they reveal about where your heart truly lies, as described in Matthew 6:21? How can you realign these investments to reflect God's kingdom purposes? [41:04]

3. Think about a time when you felt God was calling you to something bigger, like Abraham in Genesis 15:5-6. How did you respond, and what can you learn from that experience to apply to your current situation? [56:40]

4. The sermon encourages dreaming the impossible even in uncertain times. What is one "impossible" dream you have for your life or community, and how can you begin to pursue it with faith? [44:26]

5. Consider the areas of your life where you feel limited or constrained. How can you invite God to push you beyond these perceived limitations to experience personal revival? [31:22]

6. Reflect on the concept of expanding your territory as mentioned in the sermon. What specific area of your life do you feel God is calling you to expand, and what practical steps can you take to do so? [01:03:09]

7. Identify a specific area in your life where you need to invite God's kingdom to come, as described in the Lord's Prayer. What changes can you make this week to allow God's will to be done in that area? [01:13:10]

Devotional

Day 1: Personal Revival Sparks Broader Awakening
When individuals allow God to push them beyond their comfort zones, they open themselves to personal revival, which can lead to a national awakening. This transformation is not just a historical possibility but a present reality that can be embraced today. By seeking God's kingdom and His will in our hearts, we lay the foundation for significant change. This journey is about aligning our lives with God's vision, which can redefine our personal and collective futures. As we embark on this path, we are reminded that true national change begins with individual transformation. [31:22]

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you feel God is calling you to step out of your comfort zone? How can you begin to take that step today?

Day 2: Heart and Treasure Connection
Jesus taught that our hearts and treasures are intrinsically linked, emphasizing that where we invest our resources reflects where our hearts truly lie. This principle challenges us to examine our priorities and align them with God's kingdom purposes. By understanding this connection, we can better align our material and spiritual lives, ensuring that our investments reflect our true values and commitments. This alignment is crucial for living a life that honors God and fulfills His purposes for us. [41:04]

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21, ESV)

Reflection: Consider your current financial and time investments. Do they reflect your commitment to God's kingdom? What changes can you make to better align them with your spiritual priorities?

Day 3: Dreaming the Impossible
In uncertain times, we are called to aim for the impossible, just as the Apollo mission succeeded against all odds. Jesus' teachings encourage us to pray for God's kingdom to manifest on earth, challenging us to expect more than mere survival. By dreaming big and trusting in God's power, we can achieve more than we ever imagined. This mindset requires faith and courage, as we step out in trust, believing that God can do immeasurably more than we can ask or think. [44:26]

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us." (Ephesians 3:20, ESV)

Reflection: What is one "impossible" dream you have for your life or community? How can you begin to pray and take steps toward that dream today?

Day 4: Expanding God's Kingdom
The universe's continual expansion mirrors God's desire for His kingdom to grow. We are called to expand our territories, leveraging our unique gifts and God's favor to achieve more than we can imagine. This expansion is not just about personal growth but about inviting God's kingdom into every area of our lives. By doing so, we can experience the abundance, peace, hope, and impact that God offers us. [01:01:36]

"Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes." (Isaiah 54:2, ESV)

Reflection: In what area of your life do you feel God is calling you to "expand your tent"? What practical steps can you take to begin this expansion?

Day 5: Faith as the Foundation of Impossible Dreams
Spiritual maturity is marked by the size of our dreams. As we grow in faith, our dreams should expand, reflecting the limitless possibilities God has for us. Abraham's story exemplifies this, as he believed in God's promise despite years of waiting. We are called to look up, to dream again, and to invite God's kingdom into every area of our lives. This is the essence of the 10X life God offers us—a life of abundance, peace, hope, and impact. [56:40]

"He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb." (Romans 4:19, ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on a promise from God that you have been waiting for. How can you strengthen your faith and continue to trust in His timing and provision?

Quotes

Your life is and always will be limited in the places you refuse to be pushed. You know, every once in a while, the people of God, they remember this about God, and they let God push them. And what happens is an awakening, breaks out across the nation. And I'll just say our nation needs an awakening. We don't need political reform, we need spiritual reform. And the only thing that can do that is a revival, an awakening of God's people. See, every, every, every national awakening begins with personal revival. Too many of us believe that can't happen. Too many of us think, I can't, America's too far gone. Most Christians that I hear, that's how we talk about our country. But the problem is that's not the story of the Bible or the history says, is this happened before? Why can't it happen again? Why not us? And why not now? That's what we're saying. What would happen in your life if you let God push you? That's the 10X push. That's the revival. [00:01:41] (63 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

If you want to know what the next six weeks is about, you just heard it. It's one prayer. Father, may your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, where? Right here in my heart. See, for God's kingdom to advance, for us to see anything approaching an awakening across our nation, you and I have to get awakened. And for that to happen, God has to have all of our hearts. That's where we're going. That's what we're doing today. If you're not already standing, I'd invite you to stand up and sing this with us. Let's go. [00:16:00] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

And we're supposed to believe that in 1969, somehow we sent a message. A man to the moon caught him up and was like, yeah, we can hear you just fine. There's no problem. It's wildly, ridiculously improbable. And yet, no matter what this conspiracy theorists say, it actually did happen. The impossible happened. Not by chance. It was actually planned. Eight years before they landed on the moon, May 25th, 1961, President Kennedy addresses the United States Congress with what he called an urgent national needs message. And he said this. I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind or more important for the long -range exploration of space. And none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar spacecraft. [00:41:05] (62 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

We propose to develop alternative liquid and solid fuel boosters. Much larger than any now being developed until certain which is superior. We propose additional funds for other engine development and for unmanned explorations. Explorations which are particularly important for one purpose which this nation will never overlook. The survival of the man who first makes this daring flight. But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon. If we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there. It's a President Kennedy's speech, May 25th, 1961. [00:42:06] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Now it's easy 50 whatever years later to lose perspective on exactly the environment that this was taking place in. Most of us weren't alive in the 1960s. Our senior pastor, Brian Tome, was. That's why he's the senior pastor. He's super old and I'm a little younger, you know, likes to make fun of my height. I just want to point out he's very old, very, very old. 1960s. What was going on in 1960s? [00:42:44] (27 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

If you were to put a label over it, you'd probably call it uncertain times. In fact, just 18 months after giving that speech to Congress about starting this mission, the Cuban missile crisis happened. Still to this day, the closest we've ever come to nuclear war. The Civil Rights Movement was roaring, facing enormous, enormous opposition, enormous violent opposition. There were riots on college campus. The Vietnam War. war was raging ripping apart and causing divisions inside of individual families across our nation the rise of drugs was taking place morality was changing with the hippie generation and boundaries on sex and morality all that in fact during the eight years of work on this mission there were four major assassinations jfk malcolm x mlk jr and rfk all happened in these eight years not not the time you would pick to dream impossible dreams not the time you would pick to go after something like a 10x vision [00:43:54] (61 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

which, by the way, the rocket scientist in charge of this project said it would literally take a 10x increase in rocket power in order to achieve this. It's not the time. It was uncertain times. [00:44:25] (11 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

And maybe, just maybe, you hear that, and you go, that kind of sounds like now. [00:44:26] (6 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

That was then, and yet in the middle of those times, America looked up to the heavens and decided we're going to aim for the impossible. And it happened. [00:44:45] (10 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

See, I think the first push that the church needs is for more of us to look up to the heavens like God has said to and to dream of the impossible. [00:44:56] (13 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Jesus, he had a group who kind of felt the way that we might today. They did back in the 60s. They were living in uncertain times. When he was around. [00:45:07] (10 seconds) ( | | )

Hot, ready to boil over, is the way you could think about it. [00:45:47] (3 seconds) ( | | )

And to these people, Jesus gathers them together on a hillside. And he tells them to aim for the impossible. [00:45:48] (8 seconds) ( | | )

It's a sermon you might have heard of called the Sermon on the Mount. And it starts this way. [00:45:55] (6 seconds) ( | | )

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain. And when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. See, this entire sermon. Which would go on to become the most famous sermon in the history of the world. This sermon is based on this crazy concept called the kingdom of heaven. [00:46:02] (21 seconds) ( | | )

People hadn't heard of this before. Kingdom of what? And Jesus is telling them about the kingdom of heaven that's radically different than the societies that they're used to. Radically different than their culture. And in the middle of this sermon, he teaches them how to pray. And he says this, Matthew 6, verse 9. This then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. [00:46:23] (31 seconds) ( | | )

Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we've also forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. See, Jesus says, right in the middle of the Lord's Prayer, he says, Ask God for his kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. What does that mean? Well, in heaven, God's will is perfect and complete. Everything. Everything that he wants to be happening is happening there perfectly. There's no pain. There's no problem. There's joy. There's hope overflowing. It's crazy. And Jesus says, ask him to have it happen right here. And I think if Jesus were to walk in to this church right now, in the middle of the times that feel uncertain to us right now, in the middle of lives that feel unstable, in the middle of lives that feel like we're just worrying about how do we put food on the table? How do we keep the kids out of trouble? How do we? In the middle of those times, he would walk. He would walk in and he would say, I have a solution to your problems. It's to ask me to bring heaven on earth. [00:46:53] (59 seconds) ( | | )

That's the solution that he gives. I think too many of us, we expect earth on earth and heaven maybe someday. That's the life that we live. Man, I'm just trying to get by. You know, I'm just another day, another dollar, just in that grind, man, just trying to just trying to make it happen. Right. That's, that's our day. If we can get to the end of it, not completely exhausted, that's a win. [00:47:52] (22 seconds) ( | | )

See, I think rather than dream of heaven on earth. We just aim for way less. [00:48:45] (4 seconds) ( | | )

God has a real vision for us. He has a real vision for us. He has a real, enormous, impossibly huge vision. And yet so many of us go, you know what? I'm going to take the small one. [00:49:36] (10 seconds) ( | | )

I don't want the big moon. I don't want the big moon shot. I'll just have the teeny one. The itty bitty little dinky one. [49:37] ( | | )

If there were headlines about our life and what we were aiming for, I think they would sound something like this. [00:49:38] (7 seconds) ( | | )

A college student aspires to dusty cubicle hoping to be a cog in the wheel. Man retires to beach. Slowly turns into raisin. Says, I want to die with a tan. This one. Woman intends to share the gospel without words. No one hears anything. [00:49:39] (19 seconds) ( | | )

Husband and wife report marriage is fine. Secret, spending as little time as possible together. Or this one. [00:49:41] (7 seconds) ( | | )

Parents, Jim's kids only kind of hate him. He's totally not satisfied. This is not Sigma, says son. [00:49:42] (7 seconds) ( | | )

This is all just some ridiculous magic that Cygnus and I got ourselves into. And there's something about those, right? That's a little bit humorous and also a little bit sharp. [00:49:43] (5 seconds) ( | | )

Because some of us, that's what we're doing. We're aiming for something very, very small. And I'll just admit that I'm included in that. [00:49:44] (8 seconds) ( | | )

I've stopped in several places in my life dreaming the big dreams that God has for me. I've been convicted about that. [00:49:45] ( |

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Transcript

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