Good to Great in God's Eyes - Dream Great Dreams, Part 2

When's the last time you did some sanctified dreaming?

I don't mean pie in the sky. What's God's dream for your marriage? What's God's dream for your ministry? What's God's dream for you as a single person living where you are today? If you'd like some help in taking those big dreams and getting them down to a bite-sized practical level, then I think today might be a great day for you.

Stay with me. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry featuring the daily Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.

I'm Dave Drouie, and we're in the middle of our popular series, Good to Great in God's Eyes. Now, last time, Chip explained why God puts dreams in our hearts. In this program, he's going to break down how we can get those dreams rolling so they not only bless our lives but those around us too. So if you've got a Bible handy, turn now to Ephesians chapter 3 as Chip begins this message by reminding us of the ways God planted dreams in the hearts of his people in the past and how we can apply that process to our lives today. Well, let's get started.

This isn't a pie in the sky self-help, get everybody fired up, hey, let's dream a great dream. I want to tell you the process that really happens. It starts with Abraham.

You get out of your comfort zone. Then it moves to Joseph. He bursts a dream. And then third, we move on to Moses. He allows us to fail in our attempts to accomplish his dreams in our own power. Moses got a dream from God. He got the right dream, didn't he?

He wanted to deliver his people. But he's 40 years old, and he sees a couple guys fighting. He goes, hey, hey, you know, you are hurting one of these Israelites, so he kills this man. The next day, he goes out and sees two other people fighting.

But this time, instead of a harsh Egyptian hurting a Hebrew, it's two Hebrews. He says, guys, stop, stop. And they turn to him and say, well, who made you ruler or deliverer over us?

What, are you going to kill us like the guy you did yesterday? And he goes, uh-oh, I don't think that little burial in the sand trick is going to work. And he runs for his life. Did he have the wrong dream?

Or did he have the wrong method? See, God will move you out of your comfort zone. He'll begin to plant the dream. And did you notice how, did Joseph understand all the dream?

You know, hey, it's this and this, and it doesn't make any sense. But I'll bet in prison, and I'll bet when he was wrongly accused by Potiphar, I bet those visions and those dreams will come back to him and think, it sure doesn't look like I'm going to have this position if my brothers and sisters are going to bow down to me. But, Lord, I just trust you.

And Moses had the right dream but had the wrong method. And I'm going to encourage you that as God bursts something in your life, you will often go about doing exactly the right thing in exactly the wrong way. And he'll let you fail. He'll let you do it in the energy of your flesh.

It's not like you were trying to do it that way. You know, you're just you and I'm just me, and you're saying, hey, I want to do something good. And you do it, and he will allow you to experience tremendous pain and failure. It's part of the dream becoming a reality. Because you see, God is always more interested in developing the person than he is accomplishing the dream. See, if he does the right thing and the person allows him to do it, the dream will become a reality. But the dream or the success or the accomplishment, if the things don't happen in the person's heart, then God doesn't get the credit. Through David, we learn that he teaches us through adversity to love the dream giver more than the dreams.

And you say, well, Chip, where do you get that? Think about David. He's young. You know, he's made his mark. Goliath is dead.

He's gotten a little notoriety. And Saul has now turned away from the Lord out of his own self-sufficiency and pride. And David is anointed as king. And so we think, the dream is here. You are going to be the king. You've passed these little tests and you would think, good, put the robe on, put the crown on.

God, I'm going to be your man. Is that what happens in David's life? David is anointed as king and he spends about the next 10 to 12 years dodging spears and hiding in caves. And having a group of rabble-rousers that he became his little itinerant army, when he had a bad day, turn on him and try to kill him.

He ended up hiding with the enemy and fainting that he was insane, drooling over his beard. See, there was a season of time anointed as king. There's a dream you're going to lead.

This is my role for your life. And now a season of adversity and pain where I want to wean you from the prestige and the pride and the issues that come with the dream so that you learn always to love the dream giver more than you get intoxicated with the success of the dream. And that's why in Psalm 73, David would write, whom have I in heaven but thee? And besides thee, I desire nothing on earth. My heart and my flesh may fail, but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Did you hear what he's saying? All I really want, you're my portion. You're the strength of my heart. What could I want in heaven except you? What is there on earth? Is it a kingdom? Is it success? Is it fame? Is it money?

No. And then he would go on to say in verse 28 of Psalm 73, for I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all they works. As for me, the nearness of God is my good.

Is that your testimony? The nearness of God is your good. And so David teaches us that hey, it's falling in love with the dream giver, not just the dream. From Paul, we learn that he clarifies our calling in times of crisis and often uses our worst failures as the platform for his future fulfillment. He clarifies our calling in times of crisis. Paul has this incredible intellect. Paul is on this journey and what happens? He is a murderer. He's zealous. He's just on the wrong team going the wrong direction and bang, he has this crisis. He comes to Christ.

Three days he's agonizing, wondering what's happened. The Lord has spoken to him. He gives him the vision from day one of conversion. Paul, I am going to send you to the Gentiles.

You will be my messenger to the Gentiles. And for three days, no food, no water, Ananias comes, lays hands on him, prays for him. The scales drop. He sees. He does a little bit of preaching and teaching just there. Then he goes in Arabia and gets a little education from the Lord for a good period of time. And God uses our worst failures as the platform for future fulfillment. How much bigger of a failure could you be than murdering the church?

See, some of us think a great dream is impossible because of what's in your past. I mean, could God not have chosen anyone in scripture? I mean, you know, pull this one out. 13 books of the New Testament were written by a what? Murderer turned missionary. Why do you think God chose Paul? I think he chose him for a variety of reasons, but one for us has got to be, if Paul qualifies, so do you.

So do I. There's nothing that is in your past that is not forgivable, that God can't transform and actually use. Often your ministries grow out of your failures as you reach back and help people who are failing and struggling and in pain where you have been. From Jesus, we get the final way that God develops in birth's dreams. The dream will cost us our life and appear to others as the height of folly just before God accomplishes the impossible through us. Now think of that. See, when we get on the front end and I started talking about dream a great dream and your heart start to beat and what could God impossibly do through me and we're all the way over here going yes.

And then as you go from Abraham and to Joseph and to Moses and to David and then to Paul, have you noticed how the price is going up? But the greatest fulfillment of a dream was Jesus and I want you to know on the front end, the dream will cost you your life. The dream will always lead you and lead me to the cross. There is no smooth path.

There is no easy way. There is no lack of suffering agenda. We try all kind of ways to save our life and we end up losing it. Jesus says on the front end, the dream that I will birth in your heart will cost you your life. And just before I fulfill it, it often looks like the height of folly.

Think of what was occurring both in the invisible world and the visible world. Jesus comes and he talks about this dream, if you will, a kingdom that's coming, a God, salvation, freedom, fulfillment, Messiah, a new heaven, a new earth, what he's called here to do and he authenticates it by miracles and raising people from the dead. And you became a follower and you believe him and you want to believe him and there's something about his words and there's something about his look and you believe he's the savior of the world and you want to jump on the dream bandwagon of God visiting the planet. And then it's Friday afternoon and you're looking up at the king and the king has been beaten to a pulp and it says right above where he's hanging, the king of the Jews except you can hardly make out his face because it's been so beaten and there's blood dripping and he's half naked and he's hanging on a cross and let's see, criminal number one, criminal number two, is he just criminal number three?

It looks like the height of folly. I mean everything I've believed in, what happened? I thought he was the one. I thought he was going to bring in the kingdom. I thought we were going to get rid of these Romans. I thought there was going to be salvation. I thought there was going to be deliverance. I believed in him and nothing. And if you're the invisible world, what are the demons doing? Right?

We've won. He's dying. There is no resurrection until there's death. There's no resurrection life until there's death. Death of your dreams and your agenda. Death of your fears and your insecurity. Death of your trying to get significance through what you have, how you look, what you do, what you own, where your houses are, what people think. Death to thinking that what you can accomplish and who you can oppress and I don't say this harshly.

I mean you're human right? Do I have all this? We're on this big boat together.

We all struggle with those things. But there's a process where we surrender and die to and say, okay Lord. And you know what?

One of the early ones is? It is. One of the early ones is, God, this is your money.

It's not my money. God, this is your brain and talent, not mine. God, this is your family.

I would like them all to live like right around the street and right around the corner and you know the grandchildren like 150 yards away but at one mile or two would be okay. And God, I would like no one to ever get sick and everything to be wonderful and every Thanksgiving, you know, we could just sing Kumbaya around the table. But it's not how it works. You gotta die. And you demonstrate that you're dead by saying, Lord, here, risk. Here's my money. Here's my future. Lord, here's my family. Lord, I'm spiritually, I'm naked before you.

I bring nothing to the table. If you will tell me what to do, if you will show me how to do it, if you will direct me, I want you to know that my entire life is like a blank check and I have signed the bottom of the check and I tell you, Almighty God, because of who you are and how great and how powerful and how you've demonstrated your love, I want you to know that you can fill in the top of the check. You can do whatever you want with my business. You can do whatever you want with my geography.

You can do whatever you want with my kids. You can do whatever you want with anything in my life and although I'm fearful, I choose not to be because you will not withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly because you are a good God and you love me and I know that it's safe to do this even though you may take me places that make me much afraid. That's death. And the people God does supernatural, radical, impossible things through are people who die because until you're dead, you can't get resurrected.

And what we know is that those people standing at the foot of the cross would see him later in a resurrected body. Thomas, come here. Go ahead. Put your fingers. Put your fingers right here. Thomas, here.

Put them in my side. I'm real. It's true. And you will experience a resurrection. And I think God really longs to make the stories we talked about of the Dawson Trotman's and Hudson Taylor's and I think he just wants that to be the normal Christian life. But I think as you go through those different people, you could almost say, am I at the David stage or the Paul stage or the Joseph stage? I just don't think God has a lot of people waving their hands saying, Lord, I'd like you to do an impossible thing through an improbable person like me.

There's not a lot of hands in the air. I believe the God of the universe is just looking on this day for people in this room to lift their hand and say, I'd like you to birth that kind of dream in me. I trust you that much. Well, that sounds like a very, very big thing, so let's talk about very specifically how you break that into bite-sized steps to get there. Some of you are way down the road on all of this, but what I found is that gets so gargantuan, and it can feel so overwhelming, and for some of us, so fearful. How do I take little steps toward this dream being birthed? And I'm going to suggest is the way you do it is by bite-sized dreams in specific areas where you come up with some desires.

Remember? What's the promise? Delight yourself in the Lord. He'll give you the desires of your heart. What if you came up with some desires that would begin to allow God to birth some things in your life that would prepare you to really dream a dream that would honor Him? And I put a little list here. I mean, the list could go on, but desires for your life, your marriage, your children, your career, your ministry.

And so what I did, I started this in 1986, and these cards are from 1986. And I began to say, if God will give me the desires of my heart, if I could begin to ask Him and want the things that He desires, He's promised, He'll give them to me. And if I could keep them in front of me and pray about them and pursue them, if then the little desires of my heart became a reality, then maybe over time, God would do in me and through me why He put me on this planet.

So I'll just give you a couple examples, and then you can make up your own. You know, three by five cards will be on sale in the back, I'm teasing. But for me, like for my life, this was a desire. My goal is to walk with God in the integrity of my heart until the day I die.

And on the back of it, I wrote out Psalm 101, and I memorized it. And where he says, I will walk in my house with a blameless life of integrity. I will set before my eyes no vile things. The deeds of faithless men I'll hate.

And he goes on just to say what it looks like. And I just thought, God, you know me, you know how hard it is to tell the truth, how hard it is to not shade things, how hard it is not to just image cast. My prayer, my desire, I want to walk in integrity before you until the day I die. In fact, I've prayed, Lord, if I would do something that would embarrass you or embarrass your work, and if I die of a heart attack, don't take this too literally, but I said, I would be honored for you to take me out before I did that.

If you would see that in some weak moment I was going to do really something dumb, could you just like, boom, take me out? Because I'd much rather lose 10 or 15 years and end up pure before you and not embarrass your church. And so that was a desire for my life. Another desire I had is I just thought, I look at circumstances, I'd like to become habitually thankful as a matter of unconscious response to all life's relationships and circumstances in light of the goodness and the sovereignty of God. I just know that that relationship between filled with the Holy Spirit and gratitude, Lord, my desire is someday, no matter what happens and in what relationship, my first response would be, thank you. I may not like it, but thank you.

Since you are good and since you are sovereign, I choose to thank you. With my wife, I came up with a couple desires that I think my goal is to love Teresa sacrificially and in ways that make sense to her every day. And I've been reading that over for a couple, three times a week for 20 some years. And you know what, when you just read it over, it's a desire. I think that's a desire that God wants for me. I want to love her in a sacrificial way that makes sense to her. Another one I had is my goal is to get away alone with Teresa three times a year. Have I always done that?

No. But that's a desire. I want to make sure that relationship is special and strong and good and so it's a goal and I'm working at it and a lot of years I have. Then I went to my kids and I thought maybe I could burst some little dreams for my kids. So one I wrote down in 86, my goal is to help my children discover their spiritual gifts and the will of God specifically and function in that capacity.

In other words, what does God want them to do? I just read that over and I watched their lives and I prayed and said you know, I think that's a bite sized dream. Another one I had for my kids was I longed to see my kids discover their strengths and talents or interests in their lives and I want to help them develop their full potential. And then I had just a little line where I have each kid's name there in 1986 and what area I thought they needed to develop and that was just on my radar, praying and dreaming.

I pulled this one out this morning because it's such an answer. In 1986 it says my goal, my son Eric is here, my goal is to help Eric overcome his fear of failure. I remember I sent him into the kitchen in 1986 and he was a small boy to make some popcorn and there was a couple things you needed to do and he was so afraid of messing up.

He just kind of started crying, I can't do this, can't pour the oil and I don't know how and he just, as a little boy, he just so was afraid to fail and I remember writing this down and then I wrote some, you know, push with love, encourage and build him, help him see the positive and I just kept spending time trying to push him into new areas and he's just one of the most confident people I've ever met now and I've just seen how God is a quality, godly young man with confidence and how he's blazed a trail. See, I think you dream little dreams. You know, as I've been talking, I think some of you think that, well I don't think I'm going to start a worldwide organization, I don't think God wants everyone to start a worldwide organization. But what's, dream a great dream for your marriage, dream a great dream for your kids, dream a great dream for your career, dream a great dream for the ministry God's entrusted to you.

But start out with little bite-sized dreams. In 86, my goal is to develop as a communicator and develop my gift to its maximum. Ten years later, after I got rebuked by Bill Lawrence, was I like to preach great messages for the glory of God that would be used to transform multitudes of people's lives. I want to learn, I want you to do in me and through me, I want to preach great messages for the glory of God that would transform a multitude of people's lives.

It's audacious but for the right reason, I think God is looking for people. I want to be an awesome mother to the glory of God that would raise kids who would love you. I want to be a CEO that lives out in integrity your principles in this business and funnels millions of dollars to the kingdom of God. I want to be a worker in my company that demonstrates to people all around me what it looks like for Christ to show up in a human body by the way I treat people and manage the people under me. See those are great dreams. Dream a great dream for God. So I have some others for ministry and career and one that I put that I was a little embarrassed by, 1996. I'd like to put some truth and messages in book form in a way that would really serve people in a powerful way. God did that.

Here's all I want you to hear. Unless you think it, desire it, pray it, and then dream it and I believe write it down, you will never unconsciously gravitate toward and allow God to take you through the Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus process of birthing the dream in your life. As we conclude the process I've kind of modeled for you but I put it in written form.

Process is number one, write it down. I gave you a few and please those that are obsessive compulsive you can cheer with me and those that aren't but you see these cards? These are my desire cards over the last 20 years. Just when I sense God wants to birth a dream I just write them down and I don't try and memorize them and I don't try and make them happen.

I just want them to be the beat of my heart. I want to say to God, I think these are the kind of desires that a God like you who loves me would like to see happen and here they are and I just read them over and then I write them down. Second, after reading them over I pray over your dreams. Things we've shared here I would read that and I'd say, Lord, I can't imagine ever writing a book but it's a desire that if you would want and if you don't it's fine and I would pray over each of the desires and each of the dreams and then finally look for God's intervention and you know what? It upset my life. It wasn't fun, it wasn't easy but it got back to what's your purpose, what's your dream, what are you going to do with your life but you have to look for God's intervention.

Dream great dreams. I believe he brought you here to birth or grow or expand what he's been doing in your heart because the scripture says now to him, right, Jesus who is able to do what? Exceedingly, abundantly, beyond what you could ever ask or think, to him be the glory in the church. Chip will be right back with his application for this message, Dream Great Dreams, from his series, Good to Great in God's Eyes. Are you tired of living the status quo Christian life? Are you looking to get a fresh infusion of faith and spiritual passion? Well, join Chip in this 10-part series as he shares 10 specific practices every great Christian has in common and how you can put these attitudes and routines into action. If you're ready for a genuine spiritual breakthrough, then don't miss a single message. For more information about this series or our resources, go to livingontheedge.org, the Chip Ingram app, or call us at 888-333-6003.

Chip's with me in studio now. Chip, many of our listeners have heard you talk before about partnering with Living on the Edge financially, but they're unaware of how their support is actually making a difference. Could you take a minute and share how every gift we receive is having a real impact on real people everywhere?

I'd be glad to, Dave. You know, I get letters, emails, and Facebook messages from people every day who tell me how Living on the Edge has impacted their life. People of all ages from, I mean, every walk of life, many of those letters also share painful events, deep wounds, or hard times that people are wrestling with. Like many of us, they're pressing in, they're seeking God, and I'm deeply moved when they've taken the time to write and say thank you. Thanks for a message they've heard or a resource they've been using or, you know, seeing God work through His Word and they understand Him and the Holy Spirit is beginning to work in their life like never before. They aren't only thanking me or Living on the Edge, they're thanking you. All of you that invest in this ministry and walk alongside us by praying for us daily, giving every month to keep the doors open or giving to our matches once or twice a year to develop new resources and reach more people, these folks, they're thanking you too. And so I just want to pause and thank you for your financial investment in all that we do right here at Living on the Edge. And if you're listening and you've never given or didn't realize that we rely on contributions until just now, would you prayerfully consider giving financially to the ministry that we could keep creating new resources, keep helping people to be the kind of Christians that live like Christians? And let me say just thank you in advance for whatever God leads you to do.

You don't need to do more or less. We're just asking everyone, do your part and we'll see God work. Thanks, Chip. Well, as you prayerfully consider your role with this ministry, I want to remind you that every gift is significant. When you partner with Living on the Edge, you multiply our efforts and resources in ways that only God can do. To send a gift, go to livingontheedge.org or text the word DONATE to 74141. It's that simple. Text DONATE to 74141 or visit livingontheedge.org.

App listeners just tap donate. Chip, as we wrap up today, I wanted to loop back to something you talked about in your message. You shared that it was difficult when God began to fulfill the dream He had put on your heart.

But I'm a little confused. Why was it difficult? I mean, shouldn't that have brought you joy? Well, I think getting the dream might be a joyful occasion, but there's so much that we have to learn before we're ready to fulfill the dream God puts in our heart. And so if people could hear, God puts a dream in your heart, but He has to work in you deeply before He's going to work significantly through you. And in this entire chapter of this book or on this CD or on the DVD, I can tell you, we really walk through the process of how God develops this. Because what you find is that when God's going to do something really exciting and great and amazing, if He did that overnight, you would not have the character or the ability to handle the amazing thing He would do. You would think it would be about you. And so God always has to shape the person and He has to take you deep before your impact goes broad.

Here's what you've got to listen for. Dreams are birthed in private. They come from intimate times with God where you get around your passions and what could be and what ought to be and what bothers you and, oh, God.

And they get birthed in private. They get developed in a small group. You've got to get around a group of people that's safe and say, you know, I'm thinking this crazy thought.

You need to get with a group of people and dream a great dream and watch God do the impossible through you. That's a great reminder, Chip. Well, to help you get into a meaningful community, let me encourage you to check out our small group resources.

They're so easy to use. Chip provides the teaching. Then you'll have time to discuss what you've heard alongside our helpful study guides. So if you're not in a small group yet or you aren't sure what to study next, check out our resources today. And for a limited time, we've discounted all of our small groups tools for you. To learn more, go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. App listeners tap special offers. Well, until next time, for everyone here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.