PASTORS PERSPECTIVE: FOCUSING AND FOLLOWING OUR DREAM:
“The future belongs to those who believe…in their dreams”. Those words were spoken by one of history’s most influential women-Eleanor Roosevelt. She was the longest serving First Lady…serving with her husband nearly 16 years in that leadership role. She advocated for human and women’s rights, held press conferences and penned her own column. Focusing on her dream not only fulfilled her life but also changed history. Of course, all of us remember Martin Luther King, on the eve of his assassination, sharing with the world his “I’ve Got a Dream” speech that changed the world. Dreams make a difference. A BIG difference!
Jonas Salk, had a dream that his calling was to find a cure for polio, at a time when no one knew the cause let alone the cure. But in his dreams Salk knew that many diseases were caused by a virus. His dream led to our entire realm of vaccinations. Bonna’s dad was the beneficiary of Salk’s dream…along with millions of others. He said to his generation “Hope lies in dreams…and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality”. Carl Sandberg said “Nothing happens unless first we dream”. John C. Maxwell, the leading Christian author on leadership, says “Dreams don’t work unless YOU do!” Colin Powell said “A dream doesn’t become a reality through magic, it takes sweat, determination, and hard work”.
David Jeremiah, Don’s Pastor several years ago, reminds us “God has created us to yearn for more-He has created us for eternity. We will never feel satisfied in life because His dream for us stretches into the hereafter. GOD has placed a desire in each heart to dream big. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us His will for us. “For I know the thoughts I think toward you…thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope”. The Bible is filled with dreamers-Abraham dreamt of a Son…God gave him Isaac…and a greater Son…Jesus. Joseph dreamed dreams…and God fulfilled them in saving the nation through him. In today’s message we read of David’s Devoted Dream. One that he dreamed above all else. It was deferred…but not denied completely…and became part of his destiny through his son Solomon.
Langston Hughes, a famous African-American poet and writer knew all about dreams being deferred. He wrote a poem entitled A MONTAGE OF A DREAM DEFERRED. It was a poem of book length. I thought T.S. Eliot wrote long poems. Langston, making reference to the deferred dreams of Black lives seeking to see the American dream become a reality for them were often disappointed because their dreams were often and always deferred. He witnessed that by living in Harlem and seeing it firsthand. He wrote:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up…
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.
Or does it EXPLODE?
We consider David’s greatest dream, and our own today. Dreams that God can make a reality…if we sync our dreams with his will. That makes our Dreams such that can change history forever. Because after all History is His Story. He can make it ours too!
SERMON: THE DREAM THAT MOVED THE HEART OF GOD
II Samuel 7:1-17
I. DAVID’S DEVOTED DREAM
II. DAVID’S DISQUALIFYING DENIAL
III. DAVID’S DETERMINED DESTINY