Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes. In every person, there is a desire for personal success and prosperity, but also in every person is a spiritual desire to know and pursue God. God promised to put a dream and vision in you, but he also promised to put a spiritual desire in you. It is when both of these are correctly pursued we live the abundant life Jesus came to give us. However, both must be maintained.
DREAM
By Pastor Delbert Young
Success and Maintaining the Dream
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Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
Scriptures: Acts 2:17-18, John 10:10, Luke 12:20, Luke 12:21, 1 Samuel 9:2, 1 Samuel 14:47, 1 Samuel 10:10, 1 Samuel 15:19, 1 Samuel 16:14, Deuteronomy 8:18, Genesis 28:12, Genesis 28:13, 3 John 1:2, 2 Samuel 6:14-15, 2 Samuel 7:1, Habakkuk 2:2, Genesis 31:10, Genesis 31:11, Genesis 31:12, Matthew 12:37, Mark 11:23, 1 Samuel 17:45, 1 Samuel 17:46
Acts 2:17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Acts 2:18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
God has promised to put a dream and a vision into every heart. Notice if you will, the spiritual aspects of that verse. There is a spiritual connection between God and ALL PEOPLE. Associated with the dream and vision is a spiritual stirring that will take place in every man, woman, boy, and girl.
I want to talk to you today about Maintain the Dream. In every person, there is a desire of personal success and prosperity, but also in every person is a spiritual desire. Every person has a built-in desire to know and pursue God. You are sitting here listening to me today mostly because of the spiritual desire that God put inside of you. God promised to put a dream and vision in you, but he also promised to put a spiritual desire in you. It is when both of these are correctly pursued that we live the abundant life that Jesus came to give us.
(Amplified) John 10:10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have {and} enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
The only thing that can stop life from being full, till it overflows is when we are not properly pursuing the dream God has given us.
A person can be at the top of their field in success externally, but be miserable and unsuccessful internally. The story of Marilyn Monroe is too far in the past for some of us, but my generation will remember her. She was born out of wedlock. No one knows who her father was. She was raised in foster homes and orphanages, yet she became one of the largest Hollywood actresses ever. Seemingly success abounded, but internally she was poor and empty. She had man after man trying to fill her void. She searched and searched for internal fulfillment, but found it not. At age 36 she committed suicide. Another example would be Elvis Presley.
Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
Interestingly, both Marilyn and Elvis were at one time very close to the Lord. I wanted to show something that our young men and women could relate to as well. I was fascinated when I did a web search on Rock star suicides and came up with a statistic that showed the average life span of a Rock star was 36.9 years (http://www.av1611.org/rockdead.html). A few names were: Nick Acland, age 30; Kurt Coban, age 27; Matthew Fletcher, age 26, etc. People get so close to their dream, but cannot maintain it.
Jesus told a parable about a man like this in Luke 12. The man was so externally successful that he had to build bigger barns to hold all his riches and success. The sad part was that he was poor toward God.
Luke 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
Luke 12:21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
The problem wasn’t that the man laid up treasures. The problem was the man did not maintain the spiritual desire.
The Bible tells us about King Saul. Saul came from a wealthy successful family. Saul was an impressive man, very tall and obviously imposing and dignified.
1 Samuel 9:2 . . . Saul, an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites – a head taller than any of the others.
Certainly, Saul had gone to the best schools and dreamed of a successful life. One day he was selected as king of God’s people. Saul was living a dream. God had taken him from a man who, though pretty, could not find his father’s donkeys, to the palace and gave him great external success.
Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
1 Samuel 14:47 After Saul had assumed rule over Israel, he fought against their enemies on every side: Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment on them.
Saul became prosperous. In those days of Saul’s life, he maintained his spiritual life. He would get around the prophetic and it would flame and fuel his dream.
1 Samuel 10:10 When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying.
Saul would get around spiritual people and maintain his spiritual connection with the Lord. However, Saul, as have so many became out of balance. He began desiring the external success of the dream and abandoned his internal relationship.
1 Samuel 15:19 Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?”
Saul began pursuing only personal success. By so doing, he became inwardly miserable and depressed.
1 Samuel 16:14 But the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and instead, the Lord had sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear.
Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
Depression is to the soul as pain is to the body. It says you need attention here. God loves us so much that he will allow us to become miserable and depressed in an attempt to bring us back into balance. If a person is depressed then it’s a sign that the person is out of balance in their relationship with God.
Saul’s story ended with sadness. Though he had built bigger barns, inwardly his soul was miserable and suffered horrible depression and anger. He turned to divination and witches. Finally, he committed suicide and ended up with nothing. The saddest part was that his son Jonathan, a good man, also died because of Saul’s being out of balance.
I am sure you know people like this. They outwardly appear successful, but because they have not balanced the outward pursuit of the dream with the inward pursuit of God, they are miserable depressed people.
THE OPPOSITE IS ALSO TRUE
A person can be spiritually and inwardly successful, yet feel unsuccessful and unfulfilled externally. Don’t miss what I am trying to say. Of course, your soul is the more important of the two, but God wants you to experience great success in both areas. When we do, it confirms his covenant.
Deuteronomy 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, and so confirms his covenant
We must balance the wealth with remember the Lord. Remember Jacob? Jacob always wanted to be personally successful externally, but could never seem to make it. He had a fabulous spiritual life that included dreams and visions, seeing angels, and seeing and hearing the Lord speak to him.
Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
Genesis 28:12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
Genesis 28:13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said
Though spiritual, he never acquired the personal success his heart desired. For fourteen years he worked for his uncle Laban fulfilling Laban’s dream. Finally, he allowed his internal spiritual success to show him how to raise into balance his external success. It was then that he lived his dream. I will talk a little more about that in a few minutes.
The dream that God gives us will lead us to prosper equally both internally in our souls and externally in personal success.
3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
Pursuing the God-given dream will bring equal prosperity to the natural and to the soul.
King David was a poor shepherd boy, but already had a heart for God writing prophetic songs and singing to the Lord as he kept his few sheep. As long as David maintained balance, he experienced success.
2 Samuel 6:14-15 And David danced before the LORD with all his might . . . So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.
2 Samuel 7:1 After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him
When David began focusing on the external, his dream suffered – Bathsheba, Absalom, etc. He would become depressed, but always ministered to his soul. As David advanced spiritually, he also advanced naturally. He experienced the abundant life that God desires all his children to experience.
Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
PEOPLE FIND THEMSELVES
in one area or the other. They are spiritually rich but do not feel successful in life externally. Or, they are well off as far as external success goes, but not rich in God. They are miserable, depressed, and void inside. God wants us to be balanced and full to overflowing in both.
I want to spend the rest of our time together today talking about how we can ensure and maintain both. I want to talk about three things that will ensure balance in the dream.
WRITE THE DREAM AND VISION.
Habakkuk 2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
(TLB) And the Lord said to me, “Write my answer on a billboard, large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance
(Message) And then GOD answered: “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run.
Something supernatural happens when we take the time and put forth the effort to write the dream. Jesus wrote his dream. It’s called the New Covenant. Paul wrote his dream in his epistles. Father God wrote his dream. It’s called the Bible.
Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
Judy and I had a dream in 1983 to be debt-free. We were heavily in debt and soon to have a child going to college for which there was no money. However, we were spiritually rich, but externally we were not so well off. So, we wrote the dream and vision in a prayer book. Also, we inserted scriptures from God’s word into what we wrote. Then, we both prayed over it and anointed it. One year later we were debt-free and living in a new home that was also paid for. Something supernatural happens when you write the vision and balance it with the scriptures.
I now rewrite the vision for Life Gate every year and every year we accomplish nearly all of what I write.
FOR WHAT ARE YOU DREAMING?
Write it down and make it plain (clear) – be specific and add scriptures. As you write the dream, you will see your dependency upon God to fulfill it. Put it in big letters like a billboard at a place you pass often. Don’t be ashamed of it. Put it in a place that even when life is running, you will see the dream and your dependence on God to fulfill it. It’s supernatural what happens.
SEE THE DREAM
Think about this.
Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he . . .
Think thoughts (see thoughts) that make you see yourself living the dream. A car salesman knows that if he can get you to drive that automobile, the chances of your purchasing it goes up tremendously. You’ve got to get inside your dream. Drive your dream.
There is a wonderful story about Jacob in Genesis chapters 30-31. As we have said, Jacob had spiritual success but never experienced personal exterior success. One day he found a key and it happened.
Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
Jacob had worked for Laban for fourteen years and was ready to move on, but Laban wanted Jacob to stay. They made a deal. Jacob would continue keeping Laban’s flock, and Jacob would get the speckled and spotted and ringstraked livestock that were born as his wages. The Bible says that Jacob placed peeled branches in the watering troughs and amazingly, all the livestock began to produce speckled, spotted, or ringstraked offspring. Soon, Jacob’s dream of personal success became a reality. Jacob explained how his dream became a reality to Leah and Rachel.
Genesis 31:10-12
10 “In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted.
11 The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’
12 And he said, Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted
Why was it necessary for Jacob to look up and see this before it became reality? Why couldn’t God just do it for Jacob? It’s supernatural. Jacob needed to see it if it were to happen. Jacob needed to drive his dream. You need to begin seeing it happen.
Seeing it began painting the picture and as Jacob thought it in his heart, he became.
See your dream. Lift up now your eyes and see it happening. We limit our lives by what we see in our hearts, or we expand our lives by what we see in our hearts because as we think of ourselves in our hearts so are we. See yourself as successful and driving your dream.
Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
SPEAK TO DREAMS AND TO OBSTACLES
Words are unbelievably powerful. Your words justify your dream or condemn your dream.
Matthew 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Speak the word of God to your dream. Tell it, “Whatever I do will prosper” (Psa 1:3). Say, “God desires above all things that I prosper even as my soul prospers” (3Jn 1:2). Say, “God has given me the power to make wealth” (Deu 8;18). We justify the dream by speaking to it faith-filled words.
Mark 11:23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
Jesus spoke to things. He spoke to the wind. Also, He spoke to waves. Furthermore, He spoke to trees, and He told us to speak to obstacles that blocked our dreams.
I love what David said to Goliath. David had a dream to be king, but there was a mountain of a man named Goliath standing in his way. David spoke faith-filled words to that obstacle.
1 Samuel 17:45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
1 Samuel 17:46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
David didn’t think those words. He said those words in a determined confident way. We know what happened. David took out Goliath exactly as he said. David went on to experience his dream.
God has put a desire to succeed into every heart. God has also put into every heart a desire to know him. When those two desires properly come together and balance, the dream is experienced. When both are correctly connected and pursued, you will experience ultimate success and abundance. You will experience ultimate joy and happiness. Write the dream. Put it in a prominent place so that even on the run, it will stay before you. See the dream. Lift up your eyes and drive your dream. As you think in your heart, you will be.
Speak to the dream and speak to the obstacles of the dream. Make certain that you remain balanced. If you do, you will experience extreme happiness in personal success and extreme happiness in your soul. You will experience the abundant life that God wants you to have. How many dreamers do we have here today? Give the Lord a shout and hand clap.
Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
Success and Maintaining the Dream sermon video audio notes
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