Heaven

Heaven’s Dream or Hell’s Nightmare?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - A 2-year-old left alone for nearly three weeks while her mother was behind bars survived by eating mustard, ketchup, rice and raw pasta, police said.

The toddler was watching cartoons when found by her father, police said Monday. She was suffering from malnutrition and was being treated at Wolfson Children's Hospital, police said.

Dakeysha Lee, 22, was charged Monday with child abuse because she didn't let anyone know that her daughter was alone in her apartment, police said. She was jailed Sept. 10 on unrelated charges.

Ogden Lee, who is separated from the girl's mother, said he talked to her by telephone at the jail Sunday and she said their daughter was with neighbors.

When he got into the apartment, the youngster had dragged food and toys into her mother's bedroom and was lying in a baby's bathtub. She was covered with dried ketchup, Lee said.

``She grabbed me and wouldn't let go of me,'' Lee said. ``It is really a miracle how good a shape my daughter is in. I don't know how she did it.''

Do you believe that this story fulfills the dream God intended for us in his creation? Really this story is about humanity pursuing its own selfish dream. This woman was jailed for an unrelated charge. I don’t know the entire story, but I have a fanciful imagination as to what probably happened. She decided to go out, I don’t know where, she may have been going to churches services. But she decided to leave her baby alone; the baby was probably asleep when she left. Of course, she probably in tended to be back before the baby woke up. But she was arrested on her way to wherever she was going.

“Naturalism’s” law of self-preservation kicked in. After all, evolution’s law of Naturalism is what our world has embraced. Out of a great desire to conceal what she had done—to preserve her self—she dared not tell anyone that her baby was home alone. Or per chance, her babysitter got tired of waiting on her to come home—so he/she walked out on her.

The world has lost sight of God’s dream. This world is becoming an increasingly dark place to live. We think that it is the enemy without that poses the greatest threat, but it is what lies within our hearts that endangers us most.

The Devil really has a dream—it’s actually a nightmare for us to grab on to, but initially it doesn’t feel like a nightmare. Initially it seems like the dream God intended for us to pursue, but it is a dream that will cause us to be eaten up by our own selfish desires.

Satan’s nightmare is brought about through pursuit of our own selfish agendas. He brings it about when he destroys our commitment to God and one another. Sadly, the kids are usually the ones who suffer the most.

Many don’t believe that God speaks to us through dreams and visions today. Of course, I realize that God’s final word comes to us through his Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1) From Genesis 12 to the last chapter of Revelation God holds out his ultimate dream for each of us. However, the Bible seeks to inspire us through the great visions it gives us of our possibilities in Christ. The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ seeks to give us God’s ultimate dream for our lives to inspire us. It inspired first century Christians to courageously stand for God’s dream through death. It is designed to have the same affect upon your life.

Jesus envisions his faithful followers attending a great marriage supper on that last great day. He envisions a voice from the throne of God crying, “’Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, ‘write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' And he added, ‘These are the true words of God.’” (NIV Revelation 19:5-9).

There is something more profound here than just being invited to the marriage feast. We really will not be there as mere guests of the bride or bridegroom, for we will be Christ bride. "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Saints are the ones robed in wedding garments—that’s us. Those who have made themselves ready for the marriage feast of the Lamb are Christians.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church- 30 for we are members of his body. 31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32 This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. NIV

Satan desires to turn God’s dream for each of us into a nightmare. Many refuse to accept God’s glorious dream as their personal dream. Seemingly, they rather live in the nightmare they have created for themselves. The nightmare is envisioned in the following verses.

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great."

19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. NIV

We can choose to eat or be eaten. One of the greatest horrors in ancient times was for a dead body to be left out in the open where the dogs and vultures could eat it. It was a sign that you had really wasted your life. This was the curse placed upon Jezebel for her wickedness—the dogs would lick her blood up in the street.

I have people walk into my life, yea, into this church building on a regular basis who sit down and tell me how they have blown God’s dream for their lives. Most of them do it with tears running down their cheeks; many have brought me to tears. I try to hide my tears—but sometimes it is so horrible I can’t. I don’t know how many times I have sat there trying to tell them, even plead with them to understand that God is a forgiving God. Many only want cheap advice as how to be forgiven and overcome the consequences of their sin, while continuing to live out the Devil’s nightmare. If only they would embrace God’s dream for their lives.

I always tell them that God’s power can help them overcome and live with the consequences of their actions, but his power only comes to play in their lives when there is sincere repentance—this means a determination to start living out God’s dream for their lives.

I had one person to say in tears, “I know that God brought me to the place I am.” I simply responded, “You are right. You have hit bottom because God wants you to do some serious thinking about what you really need to do with your life. He has broken your heart to get you to awaken you to his dream for your life.”

Refusing to follow God’s dream leaves us broken hearted in the end. God’s law is simple. I grew up on a farm. We did a lot of row crops. It was simple. If you wanted soybeans—you planted soybeans. Don’t expect to plant soybeans and gather corn in the fall.

Life often seems to be against us. We often wonder how God’s dream for our life becomes a reality. Some of us are probably as terrified about life as that two year old who was left alone for almost three weeks. We are clinging to anything we can find in this world for security. We wonder how God’s dream can become a reality for our personal life.

It is not hard to see God’s ultimate dream for each of us. We see it in Jesus’ Revelation to John—it’s the marriage supper of the Lamb. We have a choice to eat or be eaten. But the dream I want you to grasp for your life is the one God wants you to live out on earth from now till eternity comes. That dream is found within your heart.

First of all, we must realize that God has a dream for every life here this morning. You must realize that God has a dream or calling for your life. You must discover it, then you must pursue it with all your heart. God is calling you to some occupation in life. What is it you like to do? Don’t forget he created you for work, just as he created Adam to till the garden of Eden. It may be digging ditches, or it may be CEO of some corporation. Remember whatever it is you are being called to do, do it as if you were doing it for the glory of the Lord. Then you will discover the joy of work, and the power of God to help you accomplish his calling.

It begins with the way we think about ourselves. Outwardly, we cannot be what we are not on the inside. Remember, if you heart is darkened with the Devil’s scheme there is hope, for Jesus came to give us a new heart. Often our fear of facing ourselves drives us to cover up what is in our hearts. Jesus came to expose the darkness of the human heart, but he exposes it for the purpose of giving us a new heart.

We bought light carpet for our dining room. I really wanted something that didn’t show up dirt. Mary pointed out that we needed to be sure to wipe our feet before we came in the door because the carpet was getting dirty. I told her that was why I wanted to buy darker carpet—so it wouldn’t show up all the dirt. She pinned me to the wall with her answer. She said, “It is still dirty whether it shows up or not.”

We rather hide the dirt than face it. Do you know why some don’t want you to preach about sexuality? They don’t want to face their own sexuality. Do you know why others don’t want you preaching on relationships? The same reason—they don’t want to face their own relationship issues.

We may mask our lives to hide the darkness, but it is still there. It will not go away on its own. We must challenge the darkness within before we can realize God’s dream.

It is easy to wear a mask to deceive ourselves about what is really going on in our hearts. We may wear a mask because we are terrified to take a good look at our selves. But we must violate our comfort zones to take a good look at ourselves. To choose not to look at ourselves will make Satan the master of our lives.

22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. NIV

Do you know why it is so hard to awaken those who are dead in sin—those who are living out Satan’s nightmare? It is hard to awaken them because they are afraid to face those temptations that rob them of God’s dream for their lives. We think they are too powerful to overcome. We are afraid that we can’t quit sinning. We are afraid that we can’t change.

You will never realize God’s dream for your life as long as you are afraid that the Devil’s hold on your life can’t be broken. We focus on the obstacles in our way, we are afraid to look for a way around the obstacles. God promises to make a way of escape, but he never promises to remove the obstacles. The obstacles are not what’s keeping us from God’s dream. It’s your focus.

If you ask someone what is keeping them from pursuing God’s dream for their life, they will enumerate the obstacles. Satan will always place obstacles before us to make God’s dream seem impossible. But it is a veritable farce.

Satan’s perversion of the world is designed to discourage us from leaving our comfort zone---but there is no comfort zone until we rest in God. Satan is powerless to destroy God’s dream for your life. He erects obstacles to make you think he can, but every Bible story is about the powerlessness of Satan—from Genesis to Revelation. He only becomes powerfully destructive in our lives when we follow him.

We must determine to confront the opposition if we desire to follow God’s dream. Often, it is not Satan opposing us directly. Too often, it is friends and family holding us back. They are convinced they know what is best for us, so they discourage us from pursuing our dream. They are convinced it will lead us to disaster. Sometimes it does, but the lessons learned can ultimately help us realize God’s dream.

Focus on God’s power to accomplish his will for your life. The word of the Lord came to Zerubbabel saying, “it is not by might nor by power but by My Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6). He needed to know that his success did not depend upon his personal might, or power, but it depended upon the presence and power of the Spirit of God.

Paul wrote to the Philippians warning them to put no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:2-6). The flesh will only mask the obstacles from sight because the flesh knows the obstacles cannot be overcome through its own power. So instead of facing the obstacles, the flesh seeks to allow them to limit the possibilities in an effort to find a comfort zone. If you feel intimidated—rest assured it is a fleshly response. Our God is able to deliver you.

Whether we eat at the marriage feast or are eaten in the end depends upon our willingness to leave our comfort zone.

3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, [these visions] and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. NIV

We must take God’s vision for our lives to heart—will we eat or be eaten. The choice is yours as we extend the invitation.

[1] This last major point of this sermon relies heavily upon thoughts gleaned from Bruce Wilkinson and David & Heather Kopp, The Dream Giver, Multnomah Publishers, 2003. It is an excellent book.