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Listen to: \”Face Reality\” by Pastor Phil Olsen

Steve Moore wrote in his book The Dream Cycle, “More than one dream has been aborted after a good plan was in place because no one had the commitment or confidence to follow through on it.”  When we see reality, it takes the wind out of our sails.  Back in the safety of the harbor, people speak of great conquests, but get out in the open seas and that big talk starts feeling awful foolish.  In order to live the dream 2 things have to happen: First you have to allow God to move you from living in a mental state of survival (reacting to life as it comes and just getting by) to a state of impact and then you must face reality.

What do you do when your faith hits reality? Faith requires action. Until Abraham had tied his son Isaac to the altar and was about to plunge the knife into him God didn’t move. Until you write the tithe check God may not move to provide, until you invite your neighbor to church God may not move in their heart.  These actions are done in the face of reality.  In Matthew 14 we see Peter’s faith waiver in the sight of the waves.  The same faith that Jesus used to walk on water is available to us, it was available to Peter and it carried him only so far until fear of reality overtook His faith, despite the fact he had seen many miracles and was in the midst of one at the time!  How many times does that happen to us?  How many times are you going to let the fear of reality overtake your faith?

God is not looking for idiots!  He’s looking for people who believe in Him.  Those are the ones who live the dream.  If you’re waiting around for God to move, you’ll be waiting the rest of your life, because God is always moving. Peter never really walked on water until he got out of the boat.  We always want to practice in the boat - see if Jesus will splash a little water in so we can try standing on it.  Thats not an option.  It requires a full commitment, there can be no plan B or your will fail.  Just like in the sport of wakeboarding. 

As soon as you take  that step, reality is gonna hit…fear will take hold.  The option is, are you gonna let fear overtake your faith, or is your faith going to stand in the face of reality and overtake fear.

DOWNLOAD: Capability vs. Capacity - Hunter Wright, worship leader

We are created on purpose with significance and for significance. We are designed for His purposes alone. Living for our own purpose will leave us empty and unsatisfied. We were meant to attach our lives to something bigger than ourselves. To give ourselves fully to the greatest cause: the Kingdom of God. That’s what “Living the Dream” is all about - living God’s will for our lives and God’s will for the church.

2 Kings 4:1-6 shows us that God working in our lives has nothing to do with our capability, but everything to do with our capacity. The key to increasing our capacity is obedience. This is because obedience is the key to spiritual growth. Pastor Hugh Eichelburger says “To grow spiritually is to pay attention to where God is at work in your life, and respond to the nudges of that presence faithfully.” Spiritual growth is not about an education, its about a relationship. We are always either increasing our capacity and therefore our experience of God, or decreasing based on our obedience or disobedience. Because of her obedience the woman in 2 Kings increased her capacity and saw pour out His blessing in her life.

Adversity also increases capacity if we are obedient to seek Him in the midst of it. Many people think they have too many problems for God to use them. The truth of God is the more problems you have the more potential you have for Him to work in your life! Just like when you break a bone and it heals back stronger, God uses our circumstances to break us and make us stronger, thus increasing our capacity to experience Him working in our life.

Priority increases capacity as well. Just like packing a car, if your don’t prioritize properly there might not be room to fit the most important things in…like passengers. How are your prioritizing your time, your relationships or your finances? Is there any room for God to work in them? Many people “follow their heart” and it leads to self deception, which then leads to self destruction. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 2 separate times, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end leads to death.” We need be obedient to God in our priorities as well, trusting in Him to lead us.

There is no shortage of God’s capability, don’t let your capacity limit what He wants to do in and through your life.

DOWNLOAD: Believe Again - Pastor Phil Olsen

Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Are you willing to believe? Will you risk belief. No matter what great things God has done in the past, or what you have gone through in the past, when He takes you to a new step you have to believe all over again.

Do you believe that God can give you the awareness and the guts to have your faith and abilities flow hand-in-hand both in the church and in the world? Do you believe God can work in you where it’s as natural to invite someone to join you to worship as it is to join you to eat because you are so convinced that the truth you know and have they desperately need and that it connects with their life?

We need eyes of faith in order to see the future God wants for us. We have this misconception that if you could just experience some big miracle that would forever solve your faith issue. If you think that’s what faith is founded on then you have bought into a lie.

You’re waiting on God to move in order to believe and He’s waiting on you to believe in order to move.

If you don’t believe that God’s word then you won’t believe a miracle…that what Jesus said. Look at the life of Peter. Peter denied Jesus 3 times (as Jesus told him he would!) and went back to fishing, after walking on water and seeing thousands of other miracles performed in front of Him. He had seen the impossible happen in front of him and had been given authority over demons, yet He still struggled with His faith. Because faith is not built on what you’ve seen, it’s built on what you believe.

Every time God calls you to something new, you have to believe all over again. And if you believe Him, it’s gonna result in some kind of action on your part. Faith is action. Faith is not just a belief in your head. It always requires action and it is built on action. Read James 2:18-23.

What do you do with your faith? Are you in a habit of belief or disbelief? What do your actions say? What do your responses say? Quit playing on the sidelines. Start inviting people, start serving here. Make your faith real - put it into action!

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Pastor began by talking about skyscrapers. Skyscrapers are not built on a whim or inhabited by any fly-by-night company. It takes deep passion and a high level of sacrifice to achieve that level of success. Many of them sacrificed families and their morals along the way. All of this done in the name of money.

We dream of a church, of a people, with that kind of passion, that kind of commitment. The few impacting the many…and the many impacting a culture.

We dream of a church that is in the world but not of the world. A church that does not let the call to be different or set apart take them out of the world, but rather causes them to penetrate deep into the culture as a transforming catalyst.

We dream of a church where the best, the freest, the most accessible place to use your gifts to the extreme is found first in the church and not just in the world or on the job.

We dream of a church whose “secular work” and “sacred duty” becomes one seamless unit - where the way we use our gifts within the body builds their understanding of how to live out their life in the work place, and how they live their life out in the work place helps them better understand how to use their gifts in the church.

God has ordained, chosen, to place each of us on earth on purpose. He has chosen to give us a design, an inherent worth. But then He has called / challenged us to fulfill it, to do something with it - and not just anything… but His thing… His design… His purpose. Some of us may not know our gift, or understand our role. What can you offer? What can we a small group of people do? God responds with this question:

“What do you have in your hand?”

This is the same question God asked Moses. Moses wasn’t called to be a shepherd. He was called to be a nation changer. He was called to be a revolutionary leader. But God started with a stick…with what He had in His hand. If it wasn’t for that stick, Moses wouldn’t have seen the power of God move. The very first miracle God performed was with the staff, and many miracles were performed through the staff during the rest of Moses’ days.

Considering that there is no greater loss than missing out on the calling (the purpose) that God created you for, THIS is the challenge God gives.

“Fan into flame…” In other words, quit whining, get off your butt and do something that doesn’t just benefit you, and do it with tenacity. Discover what God has put in your hand, and dream again.

The time has come for you to stop just living your life and do something. Fan into flame the dream/gift God has given you.