David [00:00:01]:
Good morning everyone. So glad you are here with us today. Last Sunday we talked about everything that was restored to us because of the sacrifice of Christ at the cross, his death, burial, and resurrection. So our dominion that God had given to us has been restored to us. We have it all.
David [00:00:41]:
We have it all. As a friend of mine likes to say, nothing missing, nothing broken, nothing lacking. We have it all. Jesus gave it all to us. And so a part of that is, and we’ve talked about this over the last few weeks, but God is a dreamer and he wants to dream through us. The dreams we have, he planted those seeds within us. And so a part of dreaming is imagining. Imagine what is possible.
David [00:01:20]:
And we do that through our thinking. And so imagination is simply a gift God has given us in our thinking, in our mind, where we can see things, hear things, understand things. This is how we create, is we imagine something and we think it through. And if you’re like me, all the puzzle pieces come together and you put the puzzle together and then you go, oh, I see how it works now. And you go and you’re able to do it. And so there are 4 cornerstones of thought that God has given us that support this. And these 4 cornerstones are like the 4 legs of a chair. They support you.
David [00:02:05]:
You don’t think about it. You simply sit down. If there are just 3, you can make it work. You can still sit down with 3 legs and make it work. If there’s only two, that’s a little challenging. The whole balance thing gets in there, and man, if you’re off just a little bit, that chair will slip out from under you. But these four cornerstones of thought fit together in a perfect marriage of thought that actually makes the kingdom transferable to any part of culture. Whatever it may be, whether it may be ministry, arts, entertainment, education, politics, all of it, business.
David [00:02:56]:
These four cornerstones of thought bring the kingdom, God’s kingdom, his ideas, his plans, his wisdom, his understanding and insight into that area of culture. And these 4 cornerstones of thought are simple. You’ve heard them before, I’m sure. Number 1: God is good. God is good. That’s a foundation stone for what we’re building on. God is good. The second cornerstone of thought is nothing is impossible with God.
David [00:03:30]:
Jesus said that. Not all things are possible with man, but nothing is impossible with God. And so we’re going to be looking at that today too. The third cornerstone of thought is this: everything was settled at Calvary. Everything we will ever experience throughout all eternity, the issue was actually settled at the cross where Jesus died. He took it. And the fourth cornerstone of thought is, I am significant. Every person is significant.
David [00:04:13]:
So to believe that every person is significant and not include yourself is actually an injustice to our Father God. This is not a philosophy about how to treat people. It’s about the value of human life, and God sees all of his creation. All human beings as significant. You all have a place, a purpose. God has a plan for you, a position for you, and it’s significant in his kingdom. When we have beliefs, there are always measurable behavioral changes that illustrate what we believe, and that’s one of the things we deal with in discipleship. Is setting our beliefs in the Word of God in a way that our mind is renewed.
David [00:05:06]:
And when our mind is renewed to the things of God, our behavior changes. It’s measurable. You can see it. It’s the same thing in, in developing yourself personally. When you change your mindset and your belief about something, you change in proportion to that. You become better at what you’re doing. You’re able to do and accomplish more because you believe you can do and accomplish more. And so without behavioral changes, a belief isn’t a belief, it’s simply a philosophy.
David [00:05:44]:
See, a belief, when you truly believe something, it becomes a way of life. It’s not just something you acknowledge. Oh yeah, I think that’s true. That’s right. Or that’s good for you, I don’t know that it’s good for me. But a true belief becomes a way of life. And so let’s look at these four cornerstones of thought, and we’re going to start with this one, the foundation: God is good. If God is as good as the Bible says he is, then I owe him a lifestyle of big dreams.
David [00:06:24]:
It’s like inheriting 10,000 acres, and you stand on the border of that inheritance and say, “This is mine. It’s all mine.” But yet, you never go beyond the border. You never explore it. You can boastfully say you own it, But do you know, truly know, what you have? Do you know what the mountain, or the streams, or the lakes, the timber, the fields look like? Do you really own it? Legally, on paper, you may own it, but do you possess it? Have you made it yours? This inheritance you have has to be explored. What we talked about last week was restored dominion. All that Christ brought back for us that Adam and Eve had in the beginning, what God intended for all mankind, it’s all ours. So we need to be exploring that today, walking in it, owning it. You see, faith explores what revelation reveals.
David [00:07:42]:
And as we study the word and truly get into who we are in Christ, it is vital that we use our faith to explore what God has proportioned for us, what he’s made available to us, what he’s given to us. What I owe to him is to illustrate my embracing the lifestyle of settling into and delighting in The goodness of God. The goodness of God is actually to dream in a significant way, to expect great things. Hallelujah! In fact, Jesus told the disciples, greater things than these shall you do because I go to my Father. You’re going to do the works I’ve done. He was telling them this in John chapter 14. You’re going to do the works that I’ve done and even greater things. So dream big.
David [00:08:41]:
Dream big. Jesus came to reveal the Father, and in this relationship with our Heavenly Father, He invites us to stretch the envelope. He invites us to go above and beyond. In Ephesians 3:20, in the Amplified, it says infinitely beyond. Well, infinite is without end. So, go beyond without end? I like to call that beyond beyond. He really dares us. He really does dare us.
David [00:09:21]:
Speaking of Ephesians 3:20, and part of that verse there in the Amplified says that He dares us. When he says in Ephesians 3:20, I’m going to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what you could ask or think. I dare you to try me on this, it says in the Amplified there. I’m going to reach beyond your prayer life. I’m going to reach beyond your imagination. That’s the realm God lives in. He’s inviting us into this journey with him to experience his goodness. Now, we’ve studied over the last few weeks since the beginning of the year what the goodness of God is, and what we found, it is the full expression of who he is, his goodness, his glory.
David [00:10:15]:
God is inviting us to come with him and explore his goodness, his glory, all that he is, all that he’s made. All that he has for us. In John chapters 14, 15, and 16, 4 times he says, ask what you want and it will be done for you. Wow, praise God! He’s not inviting us into a self-centered lifestyle here with that. He’s actually inviting us into this as Brother Bill Johnson says, a scary journey where we actually come into a place where anything we ask is done. And as Brother Jesse Duplantis says, I watch what I say because I get it. Hallelujah! Praise God! Look at the heart of God. Look at his heart.
David [00:11:14]:
He’s looking for co-laborers. He’s looking for his family to come with him and come around him and say, come on, Father God, let’s go, let’s run with this, let’s do this. He’s saying, abide in me, stay connected to my manifest presence, let my words abide in you and keep what I say in the center of your heart, and I will trust you to shape the course of history. He wants to shape the course of history here on the earth through you. Not only around you, but through you. Through your prayer life, through your desires, through your thoughts, through your imagination, your dreams. Because anything you ask of him will be done. God will bring it to pass.
David [00:12:14]:
Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah! We owe God extreme dreams, extreme dreams. Oftentimes we let religious environments that are known for resisting change of any kind kill the capacity within us for dreaming. And then there’s another extreme, is the disappointments that happen in life. Disappointments come. Disappointments come. Jesus said you’re going to have trouble, you’re going to have tribulation here. Said this in the Book of John, in this life.
David [00:13:01]:
But rejoice. Rejoice in that, Lord? Yeah, because I have overcome overcome the world. You are walking in my victory. You are more than an overcomer. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Don’t let other people’s limiting beliefs or the disappointments of life hold you back from where God wants to take you and where he’s inviting you to go with him. You were born to dream, and out of God’s goodness, He placed that within you. Every person on this planet is born to dream. We never reach our full potential apart from our capacity to dream.
David [00:13:52]:
Dreaming is the foundation for maximizing your potential, for becoming more, for becoming all God created you to be. God’s goodness is actually displayed through your ability to dream big. We are the vessel, the channel, through which God pours himself out into the earth and displays his goodness to all mankind. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes. Flow through us, Lord. Flow through us and show your goodness to all mankind.
David [00:14:39]:
In Psalm 67, we see an example of this. Psalm 67, verses 1 and 2 says, God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah. Selah means pause for a minute and think about that. God, be merciful to us, bless us, cause your face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on the earth and your salvation among all nations. The writer here in Psalms is saying, God, display your way, your plan, your purpose your salvation through us to all the nations. Make yourself known, Lord. Hallelujah! Cause your face to shine upon me.
David [00:15:38]:
That phrase is a picture of a father’s approval. A father’s approval. God approves of you. And when we say, God, we’re going with you, we begin to seek him and to follow after him and to dream big and go with him. His face shines upon you. Now that next phrase, that your way may be known on the earth. Think about that, that your way, Lord, may be known on the earth. What’s that mean? That your nature, who you are, would be manifest in the earth because of how you treat me, love me, and work through me.
David [00:16:31]:
Praise God! Your life, because of the goodness of God in you and flowing through you, your life becomes a testimony of God in the earth. Praise God! We all, as children of God, citizens of the kingdom of heaven, we all have this as an obligation. This is not a luxury. This is the essence of who we are. You are a son, or you are a daughter of God, connected to a perfect Father. I don’t know what your father was like. I was blessed. My brothers and I, we had a great father, a great mother.
David [00:17:29]:
But I know there are those who haven’t had that experience. But when you come into relationship with Jesus Christ and our Father God, you have a perfect Father who loves you and looks at you and goes, oh, I got great things for you. As he says in Jeremiah 29, I have dreams and plans for you, a future and hope for you. Now come on, dream, dream, dream big. Display it. Let’s run with this. That next phrase there in Psalm 65— 67— your salvation among all nations. Think about that.
David [00:18:24]:
What would it actually be like to have Salvation impacted the course of history for entire nations because the goodness of God was revealed upon the people of God. Think about that. Praise God, his goodness. God is good. We have a friend who’s a missionary. He does a lot of work over in Africa. And they’re seeing this. Nations are turning to God.
David [00:19:00]:
Nations are turning to God. Praise God. Let me say this: wealth is in the presence of God. The peace of God is in the middle of difficulty. It’s being able to trust when everything is going crazy. Having enough resources, more than enough, to be able to sow into other people’s lives. It’s the gifting, the insights. It’s a spiritual activity of God in and through us.
David [00:19:41]:
It’s like having friends who take a bullet for you. Guys, that’s a wealth that goes way beyond finance, what we call as money. We think of wealth as of having stuff, and stuff is a blessing, but true wealth goes way, way, way beyond that. It’s being blessed to be a blessing, and through the goodness of God, we are blessed to be a blessing. The goodness of the Lord upon a people who have found the capacity to think large, to dream significantly, having the resource of heaven to empower the people around them to succeed, it’s a privilege in life. I have no greater privilege in life. My mission, my passion, my purpose is to see people be all God created them to be. And how excited I get when I see that happening in the people’s lives that God has given me the privilege and honor to pour into and to speak into.
David [00:20:59]:
And to see them begin to launch and do more and to dream big. And see God’s goodness being poured out through them. Wow! Hosea chapter 3 says, in the last days, people will fear God because of his goodness. And that word fear there does not mean to be afraid of him. Oh no, there’s God! It means to reverence him, to honor him, to acknowledge him. And people are going to do this because of his goodness that is displayed. Through the body of Christ, through you. How good? Here’s a great question.
David [00:21:47]:
How good does it have to be? The goodness of your life, what kind of goodness does it have to be to actually bring salvation to the nations? I mean, what kind of goodness does it have to be to actually bring people to drop to their knees and the reverence and the honor, respect of God. A fear of God that doesn’t drive them away, but endears them to him, draws them to him. God desires and invites us to dream big with him and see the nations come to him. Praise God, praise God, praise God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
David [00:22:37]:
Thank you, Lord. Second thing here we want to look at: there’s nothing impossible for God. Luke chapter 1 talks about this. If I truly believe that nothing is impossible, then I owe him a lifestyle of risk. It doesn’t do me any good to sit back and quote the verse, “Nothing is impossible with God.” 95% of the time, he is looking for someone to cooperate with him. The one time out of 20 when he invades on his own, it’s usually in response to intercessory prayer. Somebody’s involved. Inviting him into a situation.
David [00:23:28]:
Can God overstep man’s will and do whatever he wants? Sure, he can. He’s God. However, what God reveals through scripture is he is looking for the participation and the cooperation of an individual. He’s looking for you to step in in some way. And in this area, nothing is impossible for God. It means we actually have to take the risk. As an individual, I have to know that he is the extravagant one. All I have to do is create time for him to do something.
David [00:24:12]:
I can’t create the something, but I can stop and say, we’re going to make time for this now. I shared this a few weeks ago, but our friends Kit and Heather Pritchard— Kit was on social media doing a live concert, and Heather had been talking to people that were joining and watching and listening. And so she would talk to people in between songs, and there was this gentleman who told her that he was in at MD Anderson Hospital there in Houston because his son had cancer and the doctors there were working with them and treating him, and that listening to Kit go live and do this concert just brought peace. His son really enjoyed listening to Kit sing. And so when Heather realized what they were there for, she didn’t even hesitate. She just said, Well, let’s pray for your son right now. And they prayed that God would give the doctors wisdom, but they also prayed that healing would come to him and that he would receive healing. A few weeks later, Kip was doing another live, and there he was again.
David [00:25:33]:
The gentleman had logged in again, was on there, and Heather said, oh, you’re back. Hey, how are you doing? What’s going on? He goes, oh, I got to tell you something. She goes, okay, share with us. And he goes, you prayed that night. And the next day the doctors came in and looked at me and went, we don’t know how to explain this, but there’s no cancer in your son’s body anymore. He’s completely healthy and whole. God healed him. Guys, that’s what I’m talking about here.
David [00:26:08]:
Heather took an opportunity just to do what God had said. Jesus said, I give you all authority. Pray for the sick and they’ll be healed. So she just prayed. All she did her part and knew God would do his part. She didn’t have to make it happen. She just prayed, and that young man received his healing and believed. She made time for God to step into that situation.
David [00:26:43]:
We’re not performers, but we do move redemptively toward broken circumstances in life. We look for broken people, broken situations, challenging opportunities, and believe God for the impossible. That’s what we do. We believe God for the impossible. We do that because while all things are not possible with us, nothing’s impossible with God. Nothing is impossible with God. He delights in everything. He makes standing full in its responsibility and position.
David [00:27:33]:
Wow! Promotion in the kingdom is increased responsibility. That’s the nature of the kingdom. Greater responsibility, greater authority, greater impact. It’s not about having the beach house in Hawaii where you sit till you die. That’s not it. Thankfully, he throws in a week in Hawaii occasionally, But that’s not what it’s all about. Luke 1:37 says, for with God nothing will be impossible. Nothing.
David [00:28:13]:
That word nothing there means no rhema will be impossible. No spoken word of God will be impossible. If God speaks it, it is. No freshly spoken word of God will ever come to you that does not carry contain its own ability to perform itself. The promise is in— the power is in the promise. That’s what I’m trying to say there. The disciples said, how do we feed them? And Jesus answered, you feed them. He prayed blessing over the fish and the loaves and broke it up and gave it to them.
David [00:28:59]:
And then as they broke it and gave it, it multiplied. It just kept— they would break off some, give it to somebody, look, they had still had plenty in their hand. In the command is the capacity to come forth and be, to manifest. Quick obedience releases the greatest amount of power. So obedience after extended analyzation can drain you of the power of God to work. You’re thinking too much about it. That’s why Jesus said, heal the sick. He didn’t say pray for the sick, because then the command is the capacity, the ability to fulfill itself.
David [00:29:51]:
Mark 9, a man comes to Jesus and says, if you’re able, Think about that. To ask God if he is able is not great faith. Jesus responded to him and said, “If you’re able to believe, all things are possible for those who believe.” And so nothing is impossible for God, and all things are possible for those who believe. All of creation exists in this finite, limited realm that we live in, except for God. So God invites us to join with him in his realm, knowing nothing is impossible. Wow! He talks about that in Mark 9:23. Man, talk about co-laboring. Co-laboring.
David [00:30:53]:
Wow. Every issue was settled at the cross. That’s number 3, the third leg here. Every issue was settled at the cross. God is good. Nothing is impossible with God, and every issue was settled at the cross. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, every issue is settled for all eternity. Ephesians 1:3 tells us that Jesus, what he suffered on the cross, put into your account everything you would ever need for all eternity.
David [00:31:33]:
He restored it all. We talked about that last week. Ephesians 1:7, grace in its nature is the empowering presence of God To enable us to become, God’s given us his grace. Sorry, Toby, I know we’re going to have to edit this. Thought I was going to sneeze. All right, here we go. Ephesians 1:7 talks about grace and its nature is the empowering presence of God to enable us to become, not just perform. It actually changes who we are and what we are.
David [00:32:25]:
It empowers us to be more, to be capable of doing what God has for us. Grace is like the hands of a potter shaping clay. Our skill set, our ability to represent him well, is according to the shaping that takes place in our experience with grace. Ephesians 2:4-7 talks about this. 2,000 years ago, Jesus hung on a cross and was crucified on our behalf. Not opening up one of the many ways to God, but opening up the only way to God. God would not require something so brutal of his Son if it were not the only possible solution. He had to sacrifice himself on the cross.
David [00:33:26]:
That opened up the way. Jesus died a brutal death, and at the end, He declared, “It is finished.” In that moment, His job was literally completed, literally finished. What He did in that moment was to purchase for us everything that we would ever need, not only in this life, but also in the life to come. So the phrase in Ephesians 2 where it says, in the ages to come he will show us the surpassing riches and greatness of his grace— let me share something with you. I heard a couple people say this, Brother Bill Johnson, Pastor Keith Moore. 100 billion years from now you will just be starting to discover the richness of his grace. You will just be beginning to step into the empowering presence of God that enables you to be all that he has designed you to be. To experience his fullness would never be fully accomplished in this life.
David [00:34:46]:
It must be done through eternity, throughout eternity. What was paid for was paid for on the cross. It was all paid for then and there on the cross. It was settled. Knowing all of this to be true is completely unreasonable for us not to trust him when we’re facing a difficulty. We owe Him absolute trust. It’s vital. It’s vital for us to say this out loud every day: Lord, I trust You.
David [00:35:31]:
Jesus, I trust You. Father God, I trust You. Holy Spirit, I trust You. I trust Your Word. If Jesus actually thought of everything, and all of eternity is already set up for us to draw from what he purchased for us in that one violent and powerful act, then there’s not anything that I could face that would disturb or upset his capacity to rule and bring solutions for what he’s already paid for. He has already thought through the entire thing. There will never be a moment in all of history when he looks at a challenge and says, man, I wish I’d have thought of that when I was going to die on the cross. No, he took care of it all, which brings us to the 4th foundation of thought here: I am significant.
David [00:36:47]:
Say that to yourself right now. I am significant. John 13:3 is a place a chapter that describes what Jesus is thinking. And as you read through John 13, there you see it. He has a grasp on this. Everything is his— the galaxies, the universes, the principalities, the powers. They’re all his. The past, the present, the future, it’s all his.
David [00:37:39]:
All power, all authority, all influence, all his. Everything in existence is his. As the Son of God, It was already His, but He laid it all down to become a man. Now, He’s re-inherited everything as the Son of Man. Not only is He the Son of God, but He’s the Son of Man. And he has re-inherited everything that is his. In John chapter 16, it says, everything the Father has is mine, and everything that is mine is now yours, and the Holy Spirit shall declare it to you, show it to you, give you insight and understanding in it. Wow.
David [00:38:46]:
Wow! It’s all done! We have it all! Everything in existence is mine, Jesus said, the seen and the unseen. And it is soon time for me to return to the Father, this time glorified in a different way. As the firstborn of the dead, where death finally dies, it’s defeated. Now seated at the right hand of the Father. In this passage, we see there was never a moment when a man had a greater awareness of his significance than in this moment. Then in John 13:4, what does he do? From this place of significance and understanding, he bows to service. Most of us think significance is a title or power or money or being elevated to a more powerful position. And yet, the one who illustrated what real and true significance looked like, the very first thing he did after all that was in his mind was to get a basin of water and wash the disciples’ feet.
David [00:40:23]:
So what’s the point? The point is true significance in Christ cannot be tarnished through servanthood. It’s actually revealed through servanthood. Real significance is never tarnished through going low. In that designed-to-serve place, there is such glory and such a presence of God. There are some parts of God’s presence, some parts of his nature, some parts of our experience in God that that can only be discovered in those moments of just going low. You can’t tarnish the highly exalted title that God would give any of us through going low in servanthood. It’s just tarnishable by listening to the enemy and turning it into self-promotion and self-exaltation by insisting on “we be the one.” Look at me. See what I did here? The way we demonstrate our awareness of personal significance is through serving well.
David [00:41:49]:
Those who can’t serve well haven’t learned how. Significant they are. I know I’m significant. My Father God says I’m significant, and he crowned me with his significance and given me power and authority, influence and favor. And because of that, I can serve well. He’s empowered me. That’s not me. Once you see it, all you want to do is whatever he asks you to do, whatever he’s called you to, whatever your purpose is.
David [00:42:35]:
These are 4 areas, or these 4 areas that we’ve talked about are definitive a life’s values, what we value in life. Let me say this, you may have heard this before, but history is not winding down to a horrible conclusion. It’s winding up to a glorious invasion, the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. That’s what God has for us. I want to pray over us right now. And my prayer is this, is that God would crack open the capacity within each of us for dreaming beyond anything that we can imagine. I pray as well that our capacity for taking risk with our Father God would increase, those steps of faith.
David [00:43:46]:
God, we ask you to display who you are in your heart, make it real in us, give us insight and understanding. That’s our passion, Lord. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us, all that you bought for us, Jesus, all that you sacrificed for us. You didn’t skip or miss anything. For all through eternity, for the rest of eternity, all of our life, you settled it. The score has been settled. We don’t owe anything except to love you and to serve with you. So we say, Lord, to you, I trust you.
David [00:44:34]:
I trust you with all my life. I trust you, Father God. And I ask you to help us, Lord, as supernatural servants of God. Take us to a whole nother level so that we may affect the course of history. For our city, for our nation, for the kingdom of God. May it come here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. God bless you.
David [00:45:17]:
God has blessed you. Pastor Connie is coming now with a closing thought and prayer.
