Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. If you're
Speaker 1: joining us for the first time or you've been listening
Speaker 1: every day for ten years, we just want to say welcome,
Speaker 1: We love you, and we pray for you every day.
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 world around you. And if you're like me,
Speaker 1: you'd really like to be more bold and have more
Speaker 1: courage to share your faith in Christ. And now here's
Speaker 1: Rick with part one of a message called Daring to Imagine.
Speaker 2: I want us to continue with part four of Daring
Speaker 2: Faith The Key to Miracles.
Speaker 3: One of the.
Speaker 2: Greatest gifts that God has given you is the gift
Speaker 2: of imagination. It is the ability to see things in
Speaker 2: your mind, to think, and to create with mental pictures
Speaker 2: in your mind. God gave you this gift of imagination.
Speaker 2: And the reason you have this gift is because God imagines.
Speaker 2: The Bible tells us that God imagined the entire.
Speaker 3: Universe and it was created.
Speaker 2: He thought it up before it became reality. The Bible
Speaker 2: says God has imagined all of history. He's already seen
Speaker 2: it all happen, even before it's happened, because he thought
Speaker 2: it up. He imagined it in advance. The Bible calls
Speaker 2: that God's fore knowledge. And you are most like your
Speaker 2: creator when you are being creative.
Speaker 3: Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: You are most like your creator God when you are
Speaker 2: being creative. And God gave you the ability to create
Speaker 2: with your imagination. And when you use your imagination for
Speaker 2: good and for God, God smiles. Now everything starts with imagination.
Speaker 2: Nothing becomes reality unless first somebody thinks it up.
Speaker 3: This building did not.
Speaker 2: Become a reality until somebody had to think it up
Speaker 2: in their mind first. Every great business, every great company,
Speaker 2: every piece of art, every musical note, somebody imagined it
Speaker 2: before it became reality. Nothing happens unless somebody imagines it.
Speaker 2: And without imagination, you couldn't even make decisions. You see,
Speaker 2: when you start to make a decision, you imagine what
Speaker 2: would happen if I did this, and what would happen
Speaker 2: if I do that, and then you make the decision.
Speaker 2: Everything that has been created on planet Earth by human
Speaker 2: beings started in the imagination of somebody's mind. And this
Speaker 2: is a gift from God. Now, imagination is a tool,
Speaker 2: and it can be used for good or it can
Speaker 2: be used for bad. And like any other gift of God,
Speaker 2: whether it's fire or water, or sex or anything else,
Speaker 2: anything that God gives us a gift can be misused, abused,
Speaker 2: and perverted. And today many people are misusing their imagination
Speaker 2: for wrong ways to be clever in their evil. And
Speaker 2: so the Bible actually gives us three categories.
Speaker 3: There on your outline.
Speaker 2: There are some things the Bible says we should not imagine.
Speaker 2: And then there are some things that we cannot imagine
Speaker 2: because our brains aren't big enough. And then there are
Speaker 2: some things that we should imagine. Let me just talk
Speaker 2: about these for a second, just to open up the subject.
Speaker 2: There are some things the Bible says that as human
Speaker 2: beings we should not imagine, we should not allow in
Speaker 2: our mind. And the Bible calls these evil imaginations or
Speaker 2: vain imaginations or empty imaginations.
Speaker 3: Worry.
Speaker 2: Worry is a misuse of your imagination because you imagine
Speaker 2: as something in your mind and you start getting fearful about.
Speaker 3: It, and you go over and over and over and
Speaker 3: over and over.
Speaker 2: You're using your imagination every time you worry but you're
Speaker 2: misusing it.
Speaker 3: It is a perversion.
Speaker 2: God didn't give you your imagination to be able to
Speaker 2: picture something and get stressed out about it. Lust is
Speaker 2: a misuse of imagination when you think of a lust in.
Speaker 3: Your mind over and over and over.
Speaker 2: Revenge is a misuse of imagination when you think, oh,
Speaker 2: I know how I'm going to get back of that person.
Speaker 2: You start planning and plotting in your mind, using your imagination,
Speaker 2: how you're going to get back. And they said that
Speaker 2: to you, and I'm going to say this back. That's
Speaker 2: a misuse of your imagination. The Bible tells us that
Speaker 2: the reason God flooded the earth and told Noah to
Speaker 2: build an arc is because it's said, in those days,
Speaker 2: all he could find was quote evil imaginations in people's lives,
Speaker 2: and they had taken a gift of God, and they
Speaker 2: were using their imaginations for violence, using their imaginations for perversion,
Speaker 2: using their imaginations for the occult, for evil, for bad things,
Speaker 2: for dark things. And today many people use their imaginations
Speaker 2: in very very dark ways. You should not fill your
Speaker 2: mind with those things. So there's some things we should
Speaker 2: not imagine. But then the Bible says the second category,
Speaker 2: there's some things that we cannot imagine. The Bible says
Speaker 2: that God is so great, we can't even imagine how
Speaker 2: great he is, how powerful he is. We look at
Speaker 2: the universe and see how great the universe is, and
Speaker 2: the universe just shows a fraction of God's greatness. The
Speaker 2: Creator is certainly bigger than the creation. So we can't
Speaker 2: imagine the universe. We can't even imagine the God who
Speaker 2: created the universe. The Bible says, you cannot imagine.
Speaker 3: Very clearly.
Speaker 2: It says multiple times in the Bible, you can't imagine
Speaker 2: how much God loves you. God loves you so much
Speaker 2: your brain would explode if you understood how much He
Speaker 2: loves you. It is God is love, it's his nature,
Speaker 2: and so you cannot understand that. The Bible says, you
Speaker 2: can't imagine what heaven is.
Speaker 3: Going to be like.
Speaker 2: Now, that's why a lot of people aren't really interested
Speaker 2: in heaven, because it's so foreign to us. We can't
Speaker 2: imagine those dimensions. We're limited to time and space and distance,
Speaker 2: three three dimensions here in our world. But heaven isn't.
Speaker 2: It has many more dimensions than three dimensions to it,
Speaker 2: and so we can't imagine how cool, how great, how wonderful,
Speaker 2: it's going to be like one. John three to two says, yes,
Speaker 2: dear friends, we're already God's children, and we can't even
Speaker 2: imagine what we will be like when Christ returns.
Speaker 3: But we do know this.
Speaker 2: We do know that when he comes, we will be
Speaker 2: like him, for we will see him as he really is.
Speaker 2: And what that verse says is that right now you
Speaker 2: can't see Jesus directly, so you're growing to be more
Speaker 2: like him a little bit at a time. But when
Speaker 2: one day when Christ comes back, he says, when we
Speaker 2: see him perfectly, you're going to become perfectly like him.
Speaker 2: You're going to be transformed in that instant. And the
Speaker 2: Bible says, we can't even imagine what we're going to
Speaker 2: be like when Jesus comes back. It's you are going
Speaker 2: to be so cool, so different, and your body will
Speaker 2: be different. And the Bible says, we can't even imagine that.
Speaker 2: It's hard for us to conceive. But then there are
Speaker 2: some things we should imagine. Philippians four, fix your thoughts.
Speaker 2: That means concentrate, It means focus, it means consider, it
Speaker 2: means meditate, It means imagine. Fix your thoughts on what
Speaker 2: is true and honorable and right. Think about things that
Speaker 2: are pure and lovely and admirable. This is what God
Speaker 2: wants you to be imagining your mind. Lovely scenes, beautiful scenes,
Speaker 2: admirable things, things that are right, things that are good.
Speaker 2: Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Speaker 2: These are the kind of things God wants you to imagine. Now,
Speaker 2: what I want to do this weekend as we do
Speaker 2: this Part four in Daring Faith is I want to
Speaker 2: show you the relationship between your imagination and faith, and
Speaker 2: I want to help you unlock your imagination in a
Speaker 2: way that's never been done before.
Speaker 3: And in order to do that, I'm not going to do.
Speaker 2: A typical message where I take a text and do
Speaker 2: an exposition or an explanation of that text. Instead, I
Speaker 2: want to take texts from all over the Bible, and
Speaker 2: I want to give you a personal testimony of eight
Speaker 2: things that I've learned about imagination and the importance of
Speaker 2: it in your life after walking with God for fifty years.
Speaker 2: All right, get out your pencils and let's look at
Speaker 2: what I've learned about God inspired imagination. This really could
Speaker 2: make a major difference in your life. If you'll let
Speaker 2: God expand the way you think about your family, your career,
Speaker 2: your life, God, and everything else. Number one, the first thing,
Speaker 2: my imagination shapes my life. My imagination shapes my life.
Speaker 2: In other words, the way you think is going to
Speaker 2: affect the way you feel, and the way you feel
Speaker 2: is going to affect the way you act. And if
Speaker 2: you want to change the way you act, you need
Speaker 2: to change the way you think. Proverbs twenty three, verse seven.
Speaker 2: For as a man thinks in his heart, so is
Speaker 2: he is. It is God's way of saying, I want
Speaker 2: you to understand that how I work in your life
Speaker 2: is through your thoughts. As a man thinks in his heart,
Speaker 2: so is he. For instance, the person who says I
Speaker 2: can't do this and the person who says I can't
Speaker 2: do this are both right. They're both right because if
Speaker 2: you think you can't, you can't, and if you think
Speaker 2: you can, you can. The person who says I just
Speaker 2: can't imagine that ever happening to me, well guess what,
Speaker 2: it won't.
Speaker 3: It won't because.
Speaker 2: You're already doing a self fulfilling prophecy.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: The Bible says this in Proverbs four twenty three. Be
Speaker 2: careful how you think your life is shaped by what
Speaker 2: your thoughts circle that your your thoughts now. Because I've
Speaker 2: always been interested in this and the power of imagination,
Speaker 2: particularly as it relates to faith, I've collected quotes of
Speaker 2: famous people over the years about imagination and I thought
Speaker 2: I would just share some of them with you. Here's
Speaker 2: the first one from Albert Einstein. Look up here on
Speaker 2: the screen. Einstein says, imagination is more important than knowledge.
Speaker 3: Logic will get.
Speaker 2: You from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
Speaker 2: There's no limit to your imagination. The true sign of
Speaker 2: intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.
Speaker 3: Albert Einstein. That's interesting, very interesting.
Speaker 2: Okay, here's one George Bernard Shaw, the famous playwright and poet.
Speaker 2: Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire,
Speaker 2: You will what you imagine, and then you create what
Speaker 2: you will. In other words, Michelangelo, when he painted the
Speaker 2: Sistine Chapel those beautiful frescoes, he.
Speaker 3: Had to imagine it all in his mind.
Speaker 2: He had to see it in his mind before he
Speaker 2: could put it on the wall. C. S. Lewis, the
Speaker 2: greatest Christian thinker of the last entry, said imagination is
Speaker 2: the organ of meaning. Napoleon Bonaparte. Imagination rules the world.
Speaker 2: The philosopher Pascal said, imagination decides everything. William Arthur Ward said,
Speaker 2: if you can imagine it, you can achieve it, and
Speaker 2: if you can dream it, you can become it. And
Speaker 2: then that great theologian George Lucas, you can't do it
Speaker 2: unless you imagine it. Imagine him imagining all of the
Speaker 2: Star Wars trilogies. That took a lot of imagination. Okay,
Speaker 2: that's George Lucas, okay. And then here are a couple
Speaker 2: other great leaders. Walt Disney said Disneyland will never be completed.
Speaker 2: It will continue to grow as long as there's imagination
Speaker 2: left in the world. And then this quote, saddleback will
Speaker 2: never stop growing. As long as there's one person who
Speaker 2: has not heard the good news of Jesus, we will
Speaker 2: keep reaching out. That's from the first sermon in nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty Imagination imagination. Now God warned about the power of
Speaker 2: imagination being misused. He tells the people in Babel, where
Speaker 2: they were building this giant Tower of Babel, which was
Speaker 2: going to be basically an idol.
Speaker 3: They were going to build it to reach up to God.
Speaker 2: And here's what God says in Genesis eleven about imagination,
Speaker 2: The Lord said, now that they are one people speaking
Speaker 2: one language, this is only the beginning of what they
Speaker 2: will do. Now, nothing they have imagined they can do
Speaker 2: will be impossible for them. Notice this is God talking.
Speaker 2: God always speaks the truth. He says, because they are
Speaker 2: one people with one language, and they're unified, they've got
Speaker 2: clear communication. He said, nothing they have imagined they can
Speaker 2: do will be impossible for them. Now this is actually
Speaker 2: a warning, but there's also a teaching here. If you
Speaker 2: are a businessman, I want you to listen closely. How
Speaker 2: do you get a group of people to do the impossible?
Speaker 2: How do you make the impossible? Maybe you've got a
Speaker 2: project in your business that you go, man, there's no
Speaker 2: way that's going to happen. How do you get people
Speaker 2: to do the impossible? Well, he says, there are three things.
Speaker 2: You need cooperation, you need communication, and you need imagination.
Speaker 2: He said, you've got to have cooperation. They've got to
Speaker 2: be unified one people. You've got to have clear communication
Speaker 2: they're speaking one language. And you've got to have imagination.
Speaker 2: And if you've got those three, that's how the impossible
Speaker 2: becomes possible. That's a little leadership tip I just thought
Speaker 2: i'd throw in there now. Number two. Second thing I've
Speaker 2: learned about imagination. Imagining is a simp is essential to
Speaker 2: living by faith. Imagination is essential to living by faith.
Speaker 2: In fact, you cannot live by faith without using your imagination,
Speaker 2: because since you can't see God, you've got to use
Speaker 2: imagination to practice your faith. Now, Hebrews Chapter eleven is
Speaker 2: the great chapter of heroes of the faith. In Hebrews eleven,
Speaker 2: we have God's hall of fame, you know as the
Speaker 2: Rocks rock and roll hall of Fame is baseball hall
Speaker 2: of fame. Well, God has a hall of fame, and
Speaker 2: it's called Hebrews chapter eleven. And in the Bible he
Speaker 2: lists all the people who are the real heroes in
Speaker 2: God's book, Abraham, Moses, and Joseph and Gideon and.
Speaker 3: All these people.
Speaker 2: And he starts off Hebrews eleven talking about faith by
Speaker 2: saying this in verse one, defining faith.
Speaker 3: Let's read it aloud together. What is faith?
Speaker 2: It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is.
Speaker 3: Going to happen.
Speaker 2: It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. Now,
Speaker 2: notice two things. Faith is a way of seeing. And
Speaker 2: he says here that God says, whatever you hope for
Speaker 2: when you believe it's going to happen, not that it
Speaker 2: might happen, that's hope. When you believe it will happen,
Speaker 2: that's faith. And he said it's the evidence of things
Speaker 2: we cannot yet see. God gave you two ways of seeing.
Speaker 2: Gave every human being two ways to seeing. First you
Speaker 2: can see through your physical eyes. That's one of seeing.
Speaker 2: And second you can see by the imagination in your mind.
Speaker 2: And you can picture things in your mind, and you can,
Speaker 2: of course you dream them, but you can visualize them,
Speaker 2: and that's another way of seeing. And when you can't
Speaker 2: see something physically, you have to imagine it in your mind. Now,
Speaker 2: it says here that faith is when we hope for
Speaker 2: something and we know it's going to happen. In order
Speaker 2: to hope for something, you have to picture it in
Speaker 2: your mind. Do you remember when you were a kid
Speaker 2: and at Christmas time there are gifts wrapped under the
Speaker 2: Christmas tree, and you started you saw the ones with
Speaker 2: your name on it, and you started imagining what was
Speaker 2: inside that box. And you got excited because you thought
Speaker 2: you knew what was inside that box. Because you were
Speaker 2: picturing it in your mind. You could not see it,
Speaker 2: but you are imagining that gift. You're imagining that toy.
Speaker 2: And this is a tool that God says you have
Speaker 2: to use in walking on with Christ because you can't
Speaker 2: see God. So when you can't see God right now,
Speaker 2: you have to imagine. God has given us tools of imagination. Communion,
Speaker 2: the Lord's Supper, baptism. Both of those symbols engage your imagination.
Speaker 2: They help us visualize. They help us picture the death, burial,
Speaker 2: and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Going under the water coming
Speaker 2: back out is a picture of Jesus dying and being
Speaker 2: buried and rising again. And communion is a picture of
Speaker 2: Jesus giving his body and blood for your salvation. They
Speaker 2: are tools that engage your imagination. Now, when you read
Speaker 2: the rest of Hebrews eleven about all those heroes of faith,
Speaker 2: you realize that every one of them became heroes of
Speaker 2: faith because they used their imagination. For instance, God says
Speaker 2: to Abraham, Abraham, you're ninety years old and you have
Speaker 2: no kids, but I'm going to change your name to Abram,
Speaker 2: from Abram to Abraham, which means father of a great nation.
Speaker 2: Now for about a decade, Abraham still has there's no kids,
Speaker 2: and so he goes to a local restaurant and he said,
Speaker 2: party for two, you know, table for two.
Speaker 3: What's your name, father of a great nation? Oh? Wow,
Speaker 3: that's need. How many kids you got none?
Speaker 2: It'd be pretty embarrassing to be named father of a
Speaker 2: great nation and you.
Speaker 3: Don't have any kids.
Speaker 2: But God always calls things that are not as though
Speaker 2: they were. He names it in advance. And then he says,
Speaker 2: I want you to go outside, Abraham, and he said,
Speaker 2: I want you to count the stars at night. And
Speaker 2: he said, that's how many grandchildren and great grandchildren, great
Speaker 2: great grand How many are you going to have in
Speaker 2: your family tree? That's going to be the nation visual
Speaker 2: that's going to be how many Jews there are in
Speaker 2: the world? Count all the stars. What is God doing
Speaker 2: when he tells Abraham to go count the stars? He
Speaker 2: is activating his imagination. He's saying, I want you to
Speaker 2: visualize what I'm going to do in your life. Look
Speaker 2: at the next verse second Corinthians four eighteen. We set
Speaker 2: our eyes not on what we see, but on what
Speaker 2: we cannot see. What we see will last only a
Speaker 2: short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.
Speaker 3: And what does that verse mean.
Speaker 2: It means that the material is temporary and the immaterial
Speaker 2: is eternal. For instance, everybody can see this chair right now.
Speaker 2: It's a wooden chair. It's material, but it's not gonna last.
Speaker 2: It won't last five hundred years. This chair will decay
Speaker 2: and fall apart. It's not gonna last. It's material, and
Speaker 2: anything material isn't gonna last. On the other hand, you
Speaker 2: can't see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 2: but they're gonna last for eternity. You can't see your
Speaker 2: own soul. It's gonna last for eternity. And the Bible
Speaker 2: says you need to focus on the things that are
Speaker 2: gonna last, which you actually can't see with your eyes.
Speaker 2: You have to imagine them.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I am encouraged after
Speaker 1: that message. And let's keep the encouragement going with a
Speaker 1: letter from one of our listeners.
Speaker 3: Here's Rick.
Speaker 2: I started this Daily Hope ministry because I want to
Speaker 2: help you fulfill the great commission and the great commandment
Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ to love God with all your heart,
Speaker 2: love your neighbors, yourself, to make disciples, to teach them
Speaker 2: to grow and to baptize them and bring them into
Speaker 2: the family of God. And all of these things happen
Speaker 2: when you do what God tells you to do. You
Speaker 2: were part of the effort. We are a team here
Speaker 2: at Daily Hope. Let me read your letter from Jeff
Speaker 2: who listens to Daily Hope in Alabama and he's using
Speaker 2: all of the resources that we produced in addition to
Speaker 2: these broadcasts to help disciple other people in the Word.
Speaker 2: He wrote, Dear Pastor Rick, our adult classes at Green
Speaker 2: Valley Baptist Church here in Hoover, Alabama, just finish your
Speaker 2: six week study kit for the series Daring Faith. I
Speaker 2: just wanted to drop you a line tell you how
Speaker 2: much we enjoyed that study.
Speaker 3: And the video.
Speaker 2: Many of our class members have been going through a
Speaker 2: lot of personal ti tragedies, problems, and difficulties lately, and
Speaker 2: your video spoke so strongly to how we need to
Speaker 2: depend on God in our faith to help us get
Speaker 2: through both the good and bad times of life. Well,
Speaker 2: thanks Jeff for writing in first place. Second, I'm so
Speaker 2: excited to hear that you're using these resources in addition
Speaker 2: to the broadcast that we're preparing for groups and individuals
Speaker 2: and even churches and my prayers that was we put
Speaker 2: together these resources like the Daring Faithkit, that they will
Speaker 2: be used by thousands of small groups around the world
Speaker 2: to help people grow in faith and in knowledge.
Speaker 3: Of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: Now, for those of you who are listening today, there
Speaker 2: are a lot of different resources that Daily Hope produces,
Speaker 2: Bible studies, kits, manuals, scripture, memory cards, all kinds of
Speaker 2: things that you need to be aware of. So go
Speaker 2: to my website today pastorick dot com. If you've never
Speaker 2: been there, take a minute and go to pastorick dot
Speaker 2: com and see all of the resources that we've prepared
Speaker 2: to help you grow in your faith and share your
Speaker 2: faith with others.
Speaker 3: We did it for you, God bless you.
Speaker 1: Please join us next time as we look into God's
Speaker 1: Word for our Daily hope. This program is sponsored by
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.