Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome to Daily Hope with Pastor Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: So we're continuing with this series called Daring Faith the
Speaker 1: Key to Miracles. And in this series you're learning how
Speaker 1: to have a bold, unshakable faith that gives you courage
Speaker 1: to impact the.
Speaker 2: World around you.
Speaker 1: And now here's Rick with the final part of a
Speaker 1: message called daring to Imagine.
Speaker 3: How do you refuel God's dream for your life? Number six,
Speaker 3: God's Spirit and God's Word fuel my imagination. God's Spirit
Speaker 3: and God's Word fuel my imagination. These are the two
Speaker 3: sources that God provides to energize your dream so you
Speaker 3: don't run out of gas. First, he gives you his
Speaker 3: own spirit, the Holy Spirit, and second he gives you
Speaker 3: his word and the promises of the Bible. Let me
Speaker 3: show you a couple verses John chapter fourteen. Jesus says,
Speaker 3: I will ask the Father, and he will give you
Speaker 3: another helper who will be with you forever. And that
Speaker 3: helper is the Spirit of Truth. That's God's Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3: And you'll know him because he lives with you and
Speaker 3: he will be in you.
Speaker 2: And that's where the power comes from.
Speaker 3: It's not self help psychology, it's not build yourself up
Speaker 3: with positive and latitude. This is the Holy Spirit working
Speaker 3: in you. Gives you power you don't have. And the
Speaker 3: other source for a refueling is God's word. Someone nineteen says, this,
Speaker 3: open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your law.
Speaker 3: Help me to understand the meaning of your commandments. And
Speaker 3: I will meditate. That's imagine, think about consider. I will
Speaker 3: meditate on your wonderful miracles.
Speaker 2: Now, how do you do this?
Speaker 3: You need to do it on a daily basis, where
Speaker 3: you listen to God as you read his word, and
Speaker 3: you talk to God in prayer. And this is the
Speaker 3: key to maintaining a vision and dream for your entire life.
Speaker 3: Write this down. The key to stronger, healthier imagination is
Speaker 3: a daily quiet time. A daily quiet time when the
Speaker 3: Holy Spirit and you and the Bible get alone and
Speaker 3: you listen to God and you talk to God and
Speaker 3: you pray and you think and you consider, and that
Speaker 3: energizes your vision. If you're not having a daily quiet time,
Speaker 3: it's no wonder your dream leaks. You got to be
Speaker 3: in the Word and you've got to be in the spirit.
Speaker 3: And when you do that, you get alone with God.
Speaker 3: That will energize you. You need to develop that habit
Speaker 3: to maintain.
Speaker 2: Your dream for life every day.
Speaker 3: By the way, let me give you a couple tips
Speaker 3: on getting God's dream while we're talking about this. One
Speaker 3: of them is, it's actually easier to hear from God
Speaker 3: when you're relaxed than when you're stressed out.
Speaker 2: When I'm stressed out and.
Speaker 3: My mind is going with all these fears and worries
Speaker 3: and stress and it's buzzing, I can't hear God because
Speaker 3: my mind is talking too loud to me. I've got
Speaker 3: to get relax That's why we call it a quiet time.
Speaker 3: You get quiet, you get calm. You can't hear God
Speaker 3: with the radio on. You can't hear God when you're
Speaker 3: talking to yourself with all your worries. You get quiet,
Speaker 3: you get relaxed. And, by the way, one of the
Speaker 3: things you can do. I do this all the time.
Speaker 3: I don't do it every night, but almost every night.
Speaker 3: As I'm going to sleep, the last thing I do
Speaker 3: and I put my head down is I ask God
Speaker 3: a question, and I ask him for guidance, and I say, Lord,
Speaker 3: I'm going to be relaxed, and you'll be able to
Speaker 3: talk to me a whole lot better than any other way.
Speaker 3: So sometimes I say what's next?
Speaker 2: What do you want me to do next? And I
Speaker 2: put my head down on the pillow.
Speaker 3: Or I'll give him a problem, say what do you
Speaker 3: want me to say to these people? And I'll put
Speaker 3: my head down and go to sleep. I'll ask God
Speaker 3: a question while I'm sleeping. The Holy Spirit has an
Speaker 3: opportunity to influence my subconscious and many times, not every time,
Speaker 3: but many times I'll wake up with the solution to
Speaker 3: a problem I've been working on for weeks and consciously
Speaker 3: couldn't figure it out. But when I ask God to
Speaker 3: illuminate my imagination while I'm sleeping, then I'm more relaxed
Speaker 3: than are receptive. The Bible talks about this. Look at
Speaker 3: this verse on the screen Job thirty three.
Speaker 2: God speaks.
Speaker 3: God speaks again and again, though people often don't recognize it.
Speaker 3: He speaks in dreams, and he speaks in visions of
Speaker 3: the night when deep sleep falls upon people as they
Speaker 3: lie in bed, Because then you don't have all your
Speaker 3: pretensions up, you don't have all your guard up. When
Speaker 3: you're relaxed, God can communicate to you a whole lot better,
Speaker 3: and you wake up in the morning and you got
Speaker 3: the answer. Let me show you another verse. The Bible
Speaker 3: says this Isaiah fifty. The Sovereign Lord has given me
Speaker 3: his words of wisdom, so I know what to say
Speaker 3: to all these weary ones. God has given me this
Speaker 3: verse many times. Morning by morning he wakens me and
Speaker 3: opens my understanding to his will. Because I've started the evening,
Speaker 3: I want to sleep talking to the Lord. And the
Speaker 3: first thing I do when I wake up o the
Speaker 3: morning is I talk to the Lord again. And then
Speaker 3: I have a quiet time, and he wakens me and
Speaker 3: opens me to understanding his will. That's how he refuels
Speaker 3: your imagination.
Speaker 2: Number seven.
Speaker 3: Seventh thing I've learned is that growing my character will
Speaker 3: clarify my vision. Growing my character will clarify clarify my vision.
Speaker 3: What I mean by that is, if you're having a
Speaker 3: hard time getting God's dream for your life, you just
Speaker 3: can't see it. I don't get it. I don't get
Speaker 3: the vision. I don't get the dream. I just don't see.
Speaker 3: It's pretty muddy, it's it's pretty unclear. Then what you
Speaker 3: need to do is you need to focus on growing
Speaker 3: up spiritually, because the more mature you become, the clearer
Speaker 3: the vision will be and as you add character qualities
Speaker 3: in your life, you're going to be able to see
Speaker 3: things more and more clearly.
Speaker 2: That's what the Bible talks about. In second Peter Chuck.
Speaker 3: One verses five to nine, it says this to your faith,
Speaker 3: add goodness. Now we're in this series on daring faith,
Speaker 3: and the foundation of your life is faith, and it's
Speaker 3: impossible to please God without faith.
Speaker 2: But he says, in addition to your faith, I want
Speaker 2: you to add.
Speaker 3: Some other virtues. I want you to add some other
Speaker 3: character qualities. In addition to your faith, he said, add goodness,
Speaker 3: and you know doing good things. And to your goodness,
Speaker 3: I want you to add knowledge. I want you to learn.
Speaker 3: And to your knowledge, I want you to add self control.
Speaker 3: And to your self control, add patience. He's talking about
Speaker 3: virtues or character qualities.
Speaker 2: He said.
Speaker 3: If you'll build these things into your life, you're going
Speaker 3: to grow up spiritually. If you add knowledge and patience
Speaker 3: and self control and goodness in your life, these are
Speaker 3: fruit and the spirit. He said, you're going to become
Speaker 3: more mature. And he said, and add to your patience,
Speaker 3: add service to God. Get involved in service. Figure out
Speaker 3: a place to God by serving others get involved in
Speaker 3: the ministry. So he says, add service for God. And
Speaker 3: that's you can't grow without doing that. And he said,
Speaker 3: and to your service for God, add kindness to your
Speaker 3: brothers and sisters in Christ. He said, practice loving other
Speaker 3: people in the church and the family. Show kindness to
Speaker 3: other Christians. And he said, and to this kindness add
Speaker 3: love for everyone. Now all these qualities, he says, if
Speaker 3: all these things are in you and are growing, they
Speaker 3: will help you to be useful and productive. Circle the
Speaker 3: phrase useful and productive. That is my goal for you,
Speaker 3: as your pastor, as somebody who's responsible for your spiritual growth.
Speaker 3: My goal for you is that you will be more
Speaker 3: productive and you will be more useful in life this
Speaker 3: next year and for the rest of your life. That's
Speaker 3: why we're doing this series. I want you to be
Speaker 3: more productive, and I want you to be more useful
Speaker 3: in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he says,
Speaker 3: anyone who does not have these qualities, these things, these characteristics,
Speaker 3: cannot see clearly. The reason you can't see God's vision
Speaker 3: is you just need to grow up. Finally, Number eight,
Speaker 3: the eight thing I've learned about vision and dreams and imagination.
Speaker 3: If a dream is from God, if a dream is
Speaker 3: truly from God, it will be connected somehow to his
Speaker 3: church and his plan for the world. If a dream
Speaker 3: is truly from God, it will somehow be connected to
Speaker 3: his church and his plan for the world. Why would
Speaker 3: God give you a self centered dream unconnected to what
Speaker 3: he wants to do in the world. He wants to
Speaker 3: use you for his dream. He wants to use you
Speaker 3: for his plan. And what is God's big overallch plan.
Speaker 3: God is building a family, and He's collecting family members
Speaker 3: from all every nation, every tribe, every language, every people group.
Speaker 3: And when everybody's in the family that he knows is
Speaker 3: going to be in the family, boom, it's over. We're
Speaker 3: going into phase two, which is eternity. That's God's big plan.
Speaker 3: God did not create you to live on earth and
Speaker 3: to live a self centered life where you get up,
Speaker 3: go to work, come home and watch TV and go
Speaker 3: to bed, make a little money, retire and die. Really
Speaker 3: you think that's all God puts you here for. No,
Speaker 3: He puts you here to be a part of his plan.
Speaker 3: And if he gives you a dream, you get a
Speaker 3: dream from God, it's going to somehow impact his church
Speaker 3: and his plan for the whole world, because that's what
Speaker 3: he's doing right before.
Speaker 2: Jesus went back to heaven.
Speaker 3: After he rose again, he stayed around Jerusalem for another
Speaker 3: forty days, walking around talking to people, having dinner with people,
Speaker 3: meeting with people. One time he spoke to five hundred
Speaker 3: people at one.
Speaker 2: Time, and so he was there for forty days.
Speaker 3: And then after forty days, he takes the well and
Speaker 3: he says, I told you that I was going to
Speaker 3: come back to life. And he said, I'm telling you this.
Speaker 3: If I came back to life, I'm going to come
Speaker 3: back again. And before he leaves, which is called the Ascension,
Speaker 3: he gives his great dream. He gives them a great vision,
Speaker 3: a great dream. It's called the Great Commission, and it
Speaker 3: goes like this, go ye, therefore, and make disciples in
Speaker 3: every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father
Speaker 3: and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them
Speaker 3: to do everything I've commanded you, and lo, I will
Speaker 3: be with you always, even to the end of the age.
Speaker 3: That's called the Great Commission. It's the last words of
Speaker 3: Jesus before he goes.
Speaker 2: Back to heaven.
Speaker 3: Saddleback Church was started because of the Great Commission because
Speaker 3: there are people who did not know Jesus Christ. So
Speaker 3: we keep starting churches. The whole reason this church started,
Speaker 3: Every church started because of the Great Commission. And the
Speaker 3: Great Commission is your commission.
Speaker 2: And we've had two.
Speaker 3: Thousand years of God building his family so that now
Speaker 3: there are two point three billion people in it.
Speaker 2: It was not soon over.
Speaker 3: It is the largest thing on the planet. The Church
Speaker 3: is bigger than anything else on this planet. Let's put
Speaker 3: this in perspective. There are two point three billion Christians.
Speaker 3: That means the church is bigger than China. The church
Speaker 3: is bigger than India. The Church is bigger than China
Speaker 3: and India together. It is the biggest thing on the planet.
Speaker 3: Why it's because God created it. And it's the whole
Speaker 3: purpose of history. And if God is going to have
Speaker 3: a dream for your life, a specific dream, it is
Speaker 3: somehow going to play a role and be connected to
Speaker 3: his overarching plan, the growth of his Church, the growth
Speaker 3: of his kingdom, the building of his family, until one
Speaker 3: day it's completed and we're all going to heaven. Because
Speaker 3: that's what it's all about. History is His story. You
Speaker 3: weren't put here on the earth to live for yourself.
Speaker 3: Look at this last verse. Jesus says this. If you try,
Speaker 3: this is Jesus talking. If you try to keep your
Speaker 3: life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you
Speaker 3: give up your life for my sake and for the
Speaker 3: sake of the good News, that's the great commission.
Speaker 2: You will find true life. You know.
Speaker 3: This is what God wants to do in your life.
Speaker 3: Let me give you some questions to get started. I
Speaker 3: want you to write these down. I want to start
Speaker 3: you on a journey of finding God's dream for your life.
Speaker 3: You may have missed it for years and years and years.
Speaker 3: Don't worry about that. God's not in a hurry. He's
Speaker 3: got you exactly where he wants you to be. He
Speaker 3: brought you here today. You're listening this message right now
Speaker 3: because God wanted you at.
Speaker 2: This point to hear this.
Speaker 3: Here are three questions you can ask yourself to begin
Speaker 3: what is God's dream for my life? The three questions
Speaker 3: are what if, why not?
Speaker 2: And why not me? What if? Why not? And why
Speaker 2: not me?
Speaker 3: First, you ask the question what if, and you be
Speaker 3: open to new possibilities.
Speaker 2: What if I did this? What if I did that?
Speaker 3: Open the new possibilities and then why not why What
Speaker 3: do you see in the world that needs to be done?
Speaker 3: Why is this not being done or not being done
Speaker 3: well or not being done enough? Of you see a
Speaker 3: problem in the world that maybe you could make a
Speaker 3: difference with?
Speaker 2: Why not? Why not? Why isn't this being done? And
Speaker 2: then the third question, why not me? Why not? Now?
Speaker 2: I use these three questions to create the Peace Plan.
Speaker 2: What if? Why not? And why not me? You see
Speaker 2: the reason? You know, people say, why do we.
Speaker 3: Have all these problems in the world, like poverty, disease, illiteracy,
Speaker 3: you know, corruption, things like that in the world, these
Speaker 3: big problems. I'll tell you why is because God is
Speaker 3: waiting for his children at you and me, to imagine
Speaker 3: the solutions. God is waiting for his children to imagine
Speaker 3: the solutions to the problems in the world. And maybe
Speaker 3: God wants to use you in a way you've never
Speaker 3: ever even thought, to use you to make a significant
Speaker 3: difference in the world in some part of the world.
Speaker 3: And the most important thing to remember is this Jesus said,
Speaker 3: with men, this is impossible, but with God all things
Speaker 3: are possible. So you pray and you ask God for direction.
Speaker 3: Say God, I'm not doing this on my ability. I'm
Speaker 3: doing it on your ability. I'm not looking at what
Speaker 3: I can do, I'm looking at what you can do.
Speaker 3: I'm letting the size of my God determine the size
Speaker 3: of my goal.
Speaker 2: And I'm going to go for it. And I'm going
Speaker 2: to move against my fears, and I'm going to move against.
Speaker 3: My doubt, and I'm going to go ahead because all
Speaker 3: things are possible with God. God is looking for people
Speaker 3: who are tired of small thinking, petty living, weak willed goals,
Speaker 3: self centered.
Speaker 2: Dreams.
Speaker 3: I told you I was going to push you during
Speaker 3: this daring faith series because you were made for far
Speaker 3: more than just a suburban life. You were made for
Speaker 3: more than just to be a soccer mom or a
Speaker 3: soccer dad.
Speaker 2: You were made for far more than that.
Speaker 3: God's dream, God's vision, God's goal for your life is.
Speaker 2: So big you cannot even imagine it.
Speaker 3: God is looking for people who will step up, move out,
Speaker 3: and go Okay.
Speaker 2: I'm all in.
Speaker 3: I don't even know what that means. It scares me spitless,
Speaker 3: but I'm all in and I'm going to be a
Speaker 3: part of God's plan and God's goal for my life.
Speaker 2: You can be better. You were made for more than
Speaker 2: you're living right now.
Speaker 3: I know you were made for more than you're living
Speaker 3: right now, and I'm not going to let you just
Speaker 3: do that because I love you too much to not
Speaker 3: challenge you and tell you that God's dream for your
Speaker 3: life is so massive. I am exhibit a of this.
Speaker 3: I grew up in a town of less than five
Speaker 3: hundred people. I would have never told you that I
Speaker 3: would pastor church one hundred times bigger than the town
Speaker 3: I grew up in. But God will use you if
Speaker 3: you will just say yes, and He'll use that imagination.
Speaker 3: And great lives are built on great dreams. That's bower Heads.
Speaker 3: I'm going to pray a prayer that could change your life.
Speaker 3: You can pray this in your mind, in your heart
Speaker 3: to say, Dear God, I haven't been using my imagination correctly.
Speaker 3: I've imagined things that I shouldn't have, worry and fear,
Speaker 3: and some ugly things that just aren't good. But I
Speaker 3: want to use my imagination to dream the dream that
Speaker 3: you put in my heart. I want my life to
Speaker 3: be shaped by you, not by other people, not by
Speaker 3: what my parents told me, not by what society has
Speaker 3: told me. I want my life to be shaped by
Speaker 3: your dream. I want to live by faith. I want
Speaker 3: a great life built on a great dream. And I
Speaker 3: thank you Lord that your dream for my life is bigger.
Speaker 2: Than my dream.
Speaker 3: And like that man who came to you with the
Speaker 3: six Son, I'm saying to you today, God, I believe
Speaker 3: help me with my doubts. I believe help me with
Speaker 3: my doubts. I want to begin a daily time with
Speaker 3: you of reading some of the Bible and praying, talking,
Speaker 3: a quiet time where your spirit and your word refuel.
Speaker 2: My imagine nation.
Speaker 3: I want to grow my character. I want to add
Speaker 3: to my faith so the vision gets clearer and clearer
Speaker 3: and clearer. And I want to be a part of
Speaker 3: what you're doing in the world. I want to attach
Speaker 3: my life to the greatest cause, the great commission, your
Speaker 3: goal of gathering a family.
Speaker 2: That will be with you for eternity.
Speaker 3: And I want what I do in some way to
Speaker 3: play a role in building your family, your church, your kingdom,
Speaker 3: and your plan for the world. So as much as
Speaker 3: I know how, I'm saying yes to you today. If
Speaker 3: you've never invited Jesus Christ in your life, to say,
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ, come into my life, make yourself real, to me.
Speaker 2: I want to learn to trust you and love you. Father.
Speaker 2: I pray that you will raise up a generation of
Speaker 2: people who.
Speaker 3: Dream great dreams. You said in your word that in
Speaker 3: the last days, old men will dream dreams and young
Speaker 3: men will have visions. That God, you will use people
Speaker 3: of every age, at every stage, and every race and
Speaker 3: every language. Forgive us for petty thinking, self centered, living
Speaker 3: small goals. Help us to trust you, Help us to
Speaker 3: remember that when we call on Jesus, nothing is impossible.
Speaker 3: And I pray you would start a movement in our
Speaker 3: church that all the forces of Hell couldn't stop. And
Speaker 3: I pray it in Jesus' name, And everybody said amen.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you've just prayed along with Rick to accept
Speaker 1: Jesus in your life, Rick would love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: Just email Rick at Pastorick dot com. We'll send you
Speaker 1: free tools to help start your relationship with Jesus. And now,
Speaker 1: this really is one of my favorite parts of the broadcast.
Speaker 1: Letters from our listeners.
Speaker 2: Here's Rick.
Speaker 3: So many of you support Daily Hope through your prayers
Speaker 3: and through your financial support, and I want to bless
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Speaker 3: what your prayers and your gifts are doing. Rose wrote,
Speaker 3: Daily Hope has been a tremendous blessing to me. I've
Speaker 3: been a Christian for ten years, but I didn't feel
Speaker 3: like I was growing spiritually. Reading the Bible was difficult
Speaker 3: and I didn't get what I was reading. But through
Speaker 3: your Daily Hope messages and the devotionals, I've experienced.
Speaker 2: The Word like never before.
Speaker 3: This year, I'm joining a small group for the first time,
Speaker 3: and every time I listen to Daily Hope, I feel
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Speaker 3: Your messages are relevant and funny and engaging, and I'm
Speaker 3: now reading purpose driven life and I pray for God
Speaker 3: to reveal his purpose from me. Signed Rose Rose, thank
Speaker 3: you so much for writing. I love getting letters and
Speaker 3: you've encouraged me. You know, I started Daily Hope telp
Speaker 3: people just like you help you grow closer to God.
Speaker 3: So I'm praying for you, and I'm going to ask
Speaker 3: you to pray for me and continue support this ministry.
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