Dream Builders I, How Dreams Come True

Thanks, Worship Team. I'd like to move right into our message this morning. I encourage you to take your outlines out of your North Way notes. I want to thank all of you who served our kids yesterday. We had hundreds of kids all around the building for their birthday bash celebration, the nastiest event of which was the dunking tub that they had in the gym. They filled it up with some kind of pond water somewhere. It was miserable. And then just systematically persecuted each of the staff members of the church as they threw the ball against them. But it was fun, and the kids had a great time, and I want to thank the many adults who helped the kids to do those kinds of things, which they'll remember for a long time to come. We're talking about dreams, and I want you just to imagine, if you would, imagine a world without dreams, a world without light bulbs, without computers, without pagers and cell phones, which might be a blessing, without books. I mean, these were all things that happened because someone had a dream. Imagine a world, imagine an America where racial reconciliation was falling downhill instead of moving in the right direction because someone had a dream. I don't believe there'd be a United States of America if someone hadn't had a dream. And I don't believe there'd be any really vital church of Jesus if there hadn't been a dream that was sustained. You know, in Acts 2.17, the Bible says that when the Spirit comes, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. In the same verse, the Lord basically says, I'm going to continue speaking to the church through dreams and visions. And I believe today that God is still speaking to the church. He's still helping the church to find its way in the culture in which we find ourselves. He's still revealing His purposes and plans to us. He's still giving us dreams, dreams that He has imparted into our hearts. And I'm beginning today in earnest, in the next five weeks, to share with you about our corporate dream and, listen, your personal dream. That's why I'm wearing this button. That's why I pray you'll find yours. Because we can't give you another one. We only made enough for each person to get one. And wear your button because it says, ask me about my dream. This is not just about North Way's dream. It's about your dream because, you see, I've discovered something. A church dream is like a tide. And as the tide rises in a church, so the dreams of all the people who've docked their boat in this harbor rise as well. I have seen how God has released power and vision and resource into individual dreams. That's why I'm here last week to share with you how His dream to touch an entire commonwealth with a values-driven ministry has come to pass. It was birthed out of a local church. So I want you to know this isn't just about us. It's about you. It's about your dream as well. Now, the great news is this. We've had 20 years of seeing God fulfill dreams. I'm going to talk about a few of those in a moment. But we're not at the end. And I'm so grateful to be standing up here. I could be many pastors at the end of 20 years just looking for a way to get out. And I'm here to say I'm grateful that I'm looking forward and seeing that the dream is still unfolding. And so you can share in the future of God's dreams. And when we say something bold up there like changing lives, making history, some people say, well, I'm making history. Come on. But I wonder. I mean, do you think the biblical characters realized when they were making history? Do you think Noah was getting in the ark with his wife? Just think, honey, someday we're going to be on the walls of little babies and their wallpaper all over America. No. Do you think Daniel, when he was thrown in the lines, he was thinking, someday this is going to make the Bible. That's how good this is. How about Paul? When he was being whipped and stoned and all those different things. Do you think, well, I'm going to be, this is history. No, he just was obeying God and that was making history. I'm here to tell you, I believe in 5, 10, 15, 20 years, you will look back in this season and what has happened as being history making in this region. Now, I'm not saying it's going to be biblical. I'm just saying it's going to be history making. It's going to be leaving a mark and leaving a legacy. And that's why it is so important that we all enter in. If we see the dream and own the dream and act in the dream and believe in the dream together, five years from now, I have a strong sense that we'll be amazed at what God has accomplished through us. And you will be personally blessed as a result. I want to look at the life of Abram. And I've done some teaching over the years on Abram. And it's just a little bit awkward for me to even think of compressing, which is, you know, it could be, I think it's 30 chapters, his name appears in Genesis, into about 15 minutes. But I'm going to highlight a couple of things because if you look at the top of your outline, Abram is called the father of all who believe. He's the father of our faith. Paul refers to him in Romans 4 as saying, look at Abram, he's a model of faith. And if you need your faith to be lifted just a little bit this morning, then I want you to look with me at Abram's life because he's a model of faith. He's the father of faith for those of us who believe. And here's some things I learned about dreaming from Abram. First of all, the dream has to be God-initiated. Write it down. The dream has to be God-initiated. You know, Abram was just kind of minding his own business. He was just a Middle East rancher, just kind of doing his thing and happy and content. And all of a sudden, God messed with him. Have you ever discovered that once you get happy and content, God loves to mess with you? And it isn't always funny or happy. It just can sometimes be very difficult. Look what he says to him. He says, Abram, leave your country, your people, and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I mean, that was radical. If the Lord today or this evening would appear to you in some kind of a way that you could interpret as his direct word and said, hey, time for you to pick up and just move out, leave your household and all your stuff, and all your family might be back here except your immediate family, and just go off. And by the way, I'm not telling you where to go. No trip-tick. Just get in your car. How many of you do it? There was one person in this service. There was none in the other two. So we have one dear saint. I don't think I would be able to do that. I wish I could say, well, I think this is an amazing act of faith. He did it because he knew God was calling him. God gives us these impressions. He gives us these things. And then we just start to obey. Now, loved ones, this dream that I'm sharing with you, the dream of our future, the dream of our future campus, the dream of the ministries we've been describing, is another step in a long process of dreams that the Lord has fulfilled. Remember that it was just 11 months ago, and I've shared this story but I want to repeat it, on May the 6th, the year 2000, that the elders gathered here at the end. We'd been praying on Saturday mornings, and we gathered and met outside. It was so beautiful. I said, let's go out and prayer walk. So we walked around our campus, four little groups, and we all came back under the front portico out there, and we said, well, what did you sense as you were praying for that last 45 minutes to an hour? And all four of the groups said, well, first of all, thank God for such a great location, you know, people moving in, lots of visibility, great things happening. So we praised God for that. And every group said, and by the way, when we walked sort of across the north part of the property, we just sensed that maybe we ought to investigate what's going on up there. And each group said that, just sensed that something's happening up there. So God initiated our investigation, and when we found out that the property was going to be sold in two weeks and broken up into commercial lots and so on, that's what started the process. God was in the beginning of it. And I've learned something about the nudges of God. When you hear God speak, when you hear Him nudge personally, when you hear His voice to you, you have a choice to either respond or resist. It just doesn't happen just because God nudges you. You've got to either move into it or back out of it. And you can stay stagnant like you're riding a stationary bike. If every time God just sort of prompts you, you just say, well, you know, if it's really Him, it'll happen. No, it doesn't just happen. You've got to move into it. I didn't get to share my message last week. That's when Scott said we weren't having a sermon today. I just about fell over. But look what it said. This is my second of my five 20-year life lessons. There's no significant growth without risk. And risk in the Bible is simply another word for faith. You don't grow without taking some risks to faith. Abram went out to a place he didn't know. He was going on a great risk. Joshua was told by God, you have to march the people through the River Jordan. Now, I've been to the River Jordan. It's not a huge river, but it's a big enough river to drown a lot of people. And it was flood season. And the Lord told Joshua to do it. And Joshua said, okay, and started to walk down. And the water was still raging. And it wasn't until he got in the water that it finally stopped. Well, how about in the New Testament when the Lord said to Peter? Actually, Peter saw the Lord walking. The disciples were in the boat rowing across the Sea of Galilee. And it was a tumultuous time. The storms were coming. And he saw Jesus walking on the water. And good old Peter, you know, he wanted to always be sort of like the rugged leader. And he says, Lord, if that's you, bid me come to you. And what did the Lord say? Call a committee meeting. No. What did he say? He said, come. Now, Peter then, remember, he had to respond or resist. And so Peter said, well, Lord, just levitate me over there. He had to climb out of the boat. And it's very clear when he climbed out of the boat, his feet got wet and he started walking on the water. He was risking. Now, the Bible does say the more he looked at the waves and what was going on around him. I love it. I just love this phrase. He began to sink. Try beginning to sink someday. You're either on or you're down. I mean, I could just see him slipping down. What? Because he was getting all disoriented. But the good news was he took a risk. And then the Lord reached out to him and pulled him to safety. And so, you see, it's all part of risk. John Ortberg, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, writes this. He says, most people I know love to hear stories and images about the powerful God we serve. Don't you? I love to hear those stories. But here's the problem. That information alone is not sufficient to create courageous human beings. I can receive much information. I can hear lots of stories to assure me that God's power is sufficient. But the information alone does not transform the human heart and character. In order for such a transformation to take place, certain actions and experiences are required. Dear ones, you will not grow until you take some action, until you experience some things. We can stand up here. Pastor David, you're up here. Keith Craft, you're up here. You're going to hear people all along encouraging you. But it won't make any difference until you take some steps of action. So that's the first point. God initiates, and then you have to respond. Number two, the dream will always seem to be, if it's from God, bigger than you or impossible. It's truly a God dream. You can't figure it out on your own, or God wouldn't need to be involved. I mean, if it's just something you can do. Abram, at this point, you see, he had been childless, and the Lord kept reminding him, I'm going to bring this great nation through you. I'm going to create all these descendants through you. And Abram looked at himself. At this point, he's nearing 100 years old. And the Bible says in Romans 4, he says, He looked at his body, which was as good as dead. Then he looked at Sarah, his wife. He said, oh boy, are we in trouble. Because she was 90. How are these two old people going to have a baby, and then a long line of descendants? I mean, stuff was really getting complicated. I mean, and Abram, he's... I love this, he says, Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I have remained childless? And the Lord just reassures him, I'm going to take care of it. I know it seems impossible. I'm going to do it. God's dreams, humanly speaking, seem impossible. I can take you back, just a quick chronology. Just before North Way launched, remember last week, Jay McCain came up and played This Is The Day? Well, Jay and I drove up and down Route 19 for six weeks, looking for a room for our church to meet. We could not find a room. I mean, no place was available to us. And we stopped down at the Bradley House, which is, we're going to put up the picture of the building, in case you've never been there, somebody who's never seen that building. And I stopped in there the day that George Bradley took over the building as a landlord, and said, would you like to host a church here? He said, what? I said, well, we want to start a church, and we need a room to meet. And he said, I don't think so. I said, well, what do we have to do to convince you? He said, well, all right. He said, I'll do it if, at the end of your service, you have all your people buy coffee and donuts. What? Yep, that's the deal. I want all your people to actually, it was Danish. It was Danish and coffee. So that's how the whole tradition started. We started 20 years ago. That's what we had to do to have a service, have Danish and coffee. And so 20 years later, we've cut back on the Danish because they're expensive. So now you get a cookie, and sometimes a donut if you're fast. That's how it started. And then we grew in that building for the next four years, and we actually grew faster than the restaurant, and we wanted to buy the building. And someone, the person who owned the building lived out in Nevada. He was an investment, real estate guy. He just had his investment, and he was very hard to deal with. And we negotiated over the phone. He wouldn't even come meet with us. And we finally gave him an offer. I remember the offer. It was $1.2 million for the building. And I said, what a great offer. He said, no, I'm not interested, and said no. And we had to move out. And now we had 500 or 600 people plus our kids. Where are you going to take that many people? There's not churches waiting for you. And I'll tell you, folks, this was a scary moment in my life. Like Abram, we just kind of got up and had to go somewhere. So we ended up at this little tiny Catholic church you're going to see called St. Teresa's down in Westview. It's about eight or nine miles down Route 19, and it's not on the way to anything really. People from Cranberry, I mean, they had it called Triple A. And I went through, and listen now, there was like three or four months where we just didn't know. I really did think the dream was going to come to an end because this building just didn't work. I mean, it was cold. It was little. It was formal, all this stuff. And I'll never forget, on Easter Sunday of 1985, I came home. My mom came over for Easter dinner, and Dad pulled out the paper and said, hey, look. Flash the other picture back, please. Here is the picture that was in the paper, and it said underneath it, For Sale by Auction. Here, in the four months that we prayed, from when we moved out, the investment banker guy had all these things go south, and he also had a personal divorce, and he had to liquidate his assets. And so the building we couldn't buy for $1.2 million, we purchased for $600,000. Thank you very much. And he threw in all this stuff, all the chairs and the tables and stuff we're still using today. It was a God thing. I know it was a God thing. And then we kept growing here, and the Lord was blessing and sending His people. And from 1988 to 1991, we looked all around this piece of property, trying to find land to expand on. And we couldn't find anything. It was so frustrating. I mean, we tried all different kinds of ways to prepare for the future, and it just wasn't working. And I remember being really frustrated. And we were driving down Route 19 one day. This was early 1992, three years into this process, and we stopped in that little shed that used to be out there until a few months ago. And a man was working on cars. It was a body shop kind of thing. And he wiped his greasy hands on a rag. And we said, Are you ever going to sell this piece? It was a drive-in theater thing here. And he said, Well, I'll tell you. He said, There's been this big development company that's had an option and held this thing up for a couple of years now. I won't tell you the name of the development company, but they do own an athletic club nearby. They owned this land. But the guy said they'd let their option expire. And he said, If you have the amount of money I need, I'll sell it to you today because I own the property outright. I have the deed. Well, he didn't think we had the money. We didn't have all the money, but we had enough of the money to make the deal. Thirty days later, we closed the deal on this piece of ground. And then I'll tell you what. When we closed the deal on this piece of ground, you should have heard the people say, Boy, is that out there in the sticks? That's never going to go. Remember, there was a barrier going across the road. Remember that? What a dumb move. I get all this encouraging mail and stuff. They'll never build anything out there. Hello, have you looked out here lately? Well, that was just 1992. Now, I say all that to tell you, I certainly don't know what I'm doing when it comes to this, but God sure does. He knows what He's doing. And we just follow Him. And I'm telling you, friends, as sure as I know how God has led us to this piece of property, I know it's more than we think we need. And we're working on that. If you come to one of these meetings, we'll share with you how we're going to divest this to make it work for us and be a good investment. And you'll be amazed at what the net bottom line is going to be in terms of cost. It's going to be way less than you could have possibly imagined because God's already orchestrating things for us to acquire this and make it work. I know He's in it. It seemed impossible, but I know He's in it. And we need to just trust Him in those times when we can't see the way. Number three, the dream is born as we honor God. I want to make an important point here. I wish I could take the whole message on this. I can't. I just want to make an important point. Abram had been walking along. He'd been doing what God had been telling him to do. You read about it in Genesis 13 and 14. He was sent out and he was defeating other opponents and so on. And if you have your Bible, in fact, turn to Genesis 14. If you don't, I've referenced a couple of scriptures, but I want you to mark this and go back. I talked to Bruce Bain today, who has a PhD in theology, and he confided in me that he had never really seen it quite this way before either, so I felt better. I thought maybe I was just a pastor who didn't know his Bible, but I want you to see this. Abram came back from one of his journeys where he'd just been in combat, and he came back, and look at verse 18 of Genesis 14. It says, Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, Blessed be Abram by God Most High, creator of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand. And then Abram gave him a tithe. Some Bibles say a tithe of everything. And what I want you to see is this. Up until this point, Abram was doing what he was supposed to do, but he wasn't seeing the breakthrough. He wasn't seeing his dream fulfilled. And I had a fascinating point of revelation in this, in my own understanding. And I know there's a lot of divergent opinions about what I'm going to share, but I want to just challenge you about where you get your opinion. Because this says something to me about the whole practice of honoring, listen, honoring God with your tithe. And in fact, here's what I want to say. Melchizedek just mysteriously appears here. His name is not referenced anywhere before, and only one other time afterwards in Psalm 110 and in Hebrews, actually pointing back to this Scripture. There's no genealogy. So he doesn't have any ancestry or any progeny. We don't know anything about him. But look at three things, and I put them down in your eye. Number one, Melchizedek is king of Salem. What is Salem? Jerusalem. That's right. Most of you who have the Bibles that you can get a seminary education out of, right down there in the notes it says Salem stands for Jerusalem. Who is king of Jerusalem? Who is king of Jerusalem? Jesus Christ. Next week we're going to have Palm Sunday, and we're going to talk about Jesus entering in to take his kingship. Then it says he presented him with bread and wine. What is that a picture of so clearly? Communion, right. Which Christ said in Matthew, This is my body broken for you. This is my blood shed for you. And then he said, Priest of God most high. Who's the priest of God most high? Well, in the book of Hebrews, clearly it's referencing back to Jesus. And here's what I want to say. Some scholars would even submit to you that Melchizedek is a theophany, a pre-incarnate revelation of Jesus. He appeared before he really was incarnated several thousand years later. But at the very least, he is prefiguring Jesus. At the very least, he is a model of who Jesus is. And I had never seen this before, but Abram presented Jesus with his tithe. And I want to say to you, when we come to present our tithes to the Lord, we're not tithing to the church, we're not tithing to a ministry, we're not tithing to a mission. We are presenting our tithe, our 10% to Jesus. And every argument I've ever heard against tithing is an argument from silence. I want to say, if you're not tithing, maybe you're not experiencing breakthrough, maybe your dreams aren't coming to pass because you haven't honored God. This predates Moses and the Old Covenant. This establishes something that God receives as honoring very early in redemptive history. And I want to encourage you, go home and think about that. Lord, have I been withholding from you what is due to you as recognizing your dominion in all of the details of my life? And once Abram did that, his blessing began to unfold, and that's when the dream came to pass. Number four, the dream is often delayed. I could go all through Genesis 15 through 21 and show you all the ways that Abram messed up. How many of you ever thought God told you something, thought you were on the right track and it just didn't happen? If you haven't put your hand up, you're not being honest, or you're just not paying attention, because every one of us had felt there was time and it didn't happen. Delay is part of it. Difficulty is part of it. It's just part of the landscape. Abram waited 25 years. I mean, at that point, I'm sure he just about figured it couldn't happen. But Romans says, no, he kept believing God. I want you to hear a testimony this morning of a person who's been very steadfast. And for 50 years, she'd been ministering in different places and carrying the gospel. And for the last more than 15 years, has been here at North Way, sent out from North Way, established ministry around the world and encouraging people to follow Christ and grow and understand the Spirit. But she received a communication from the Lord that frankly seemed, well, like it wasn't going to happen. It looked like it was on permanent delay. And I want you to hear her story. Give a warm North Way welcome to our dear friend, Jean Yannikos, as she comes to share. Hi, Jean. Thank you for staying. You see, it's three services. Yeah, it's a marathon, isn't it? It is. But you know what? You get to hear the message and it finally sinks down in. Oh, so you're recommending everyone comes three times in a row? Three times, I'm telling you. It'll stick in. How many of you are willing to do that? The one thing that I wanted to share in starting this is Jay is sharing the life of Abraham. But when God began to deal with Abraham, he started out on a journey. But seven times God spoke to Abraham. And each time He spoke to him, He enlarged the vision. And so in 1986, God gave me a vision. And I don't know whether I'm a young man or an old man. See, young men shall dream dreams and old men shall see visions. So I don't know where I am in that. But anyhow, in 1986, I had a vision. And in this vision, the church, our body, was marching up Route 19. And as we were marching up, we were about to enter into a new church. And we were so happy. And it was a very joyous time. And as we came to the building, we had to go up a pair of steps. And we were going into the building because it sat on a hill. And when I looked as I was going up, I looked down the hill and right over the embankment was another church. A big church. And in my mind, I said, Jay must be crazy. Why would we build a church right next to another church? You know, nobody in their right mind because, you know, the churches are all in competition. You don't do that. And so then I kept mulling it in my mind. And then as we were going up and into the building, I heard a voice speak to my heart and say, leave them alone. They know what they're doing. So I had to set that on the back burner. But I have learned that when I receive anything that I think is from God, I share it with at least two or three people so that when it comes to pass, that I have verified with someone that this truly was from God. And I remember sharing it with Sharon Beck. And when I reiterated the vision again, she said, I remember that. And so in 1992, I had another... This was a dream. And in this dream, the Lord spoke to me and He said, I want you to go to Pastor Jay and I want you to tell him that he's got to build a church for 5,000 people with 40 acres of ground. At that time, we had 600 people in the church. And I'm going to go to Jay and tell Jay that he's going to build a church for 5,000 people. And I tell you, my knees were knocking and the Lord wouldn't let it go. And I said, okay, my part is to receive from you, Lord, and to believe it, and then I have to give it away. I do not have to make it come to pass. You've got to do that. And so He assured me that none of my words that I gave that were from Him would fall to the ground. And so I gave it to Jay and Jay kind of, you know, didn't want to say, I think you're off the wall because he really does love me and he really does trust me. But at that time, you know, 600 people and I said, well, Jay, take it for what it's worth and put it on the back burner. Then about two months ago, and you see how God has just been enlarging the vision. About two months ago, I was waiting on God. While I was waiting on God, I heard the Lord ask me a question. Now, I'm always afraid when God asks me a question because I know He already knows the answer. And it's a trick question because He's trying to trap you. And so He said to me, why did Noah build the ark? And I knew my first answer was going to be wrong, so I kind of kept quiet. You know, when the Scripture says, be still and know that I am God, that's exactly what He means. Shut up. Let Him talk. And so then I kind of waited and I gave one answer and that was wrong. I didn't get any answer back from Him. I gave another one and nothing happened there. And then I finally said, Lord, could you help me out a little bit? Because, you know, I don't know where we're going with this. And so these were the words that God gave to me. I asked Noah to build the ark because it was for the purpose of housing the presence of God. And then I began to ask other questions. Well, why, you know? And he said, because I'm going to take Noah to a place. I took Noah to a place that he had never been before. He was going on a journey that he had never been before. And here comes Noah then. Noah gets... And I was so happy to share this with Jay because God gave... And I knew that that would impress Jay. See? And anyhow, but first, before I get into the three Ps, God had to so speak to Noah that Noah heard God's voice and believed it. And so that's the first thing that we've got to do is to start to hear the word of the Lord and believe it. Now then, what God did, God took Noah aside and he gave him the plan. Now, when you read the plan in the sixth chapter of Genesis, now, Noah didn't have a PhD in yacht building and he didn't have a master's degree in how to build boats. So God had to give him the wisdom, had to give him the gifts, had to give him the people to help build this boat. And so then, God said, I gave him the plan. And he went ahead and started to do that. Then God said, I gave him the provisions, everything that he needed to build the boat. I gave him everything that he needed. And then the third thing was, I gave him the purpose of why the boat was to be built. Now, what Noah did after all the animals came and everything happened, then God shut him in with him. And you see, that's my desire, is to be shut in with God. I love when I get in those quiet places where I'm shut in with God. But you know what, there comes a time in your life, Noah was on the boat for five months rocking and rolling and going through all the upheaval that there was. And that's what this church is going to go through. Jay is going to go through a lot of that. And then sometime he's going to say, is this really God? And you know, the rain's falling and it's dark and the boat is going up and down. But there came a point in time when it was time for that test to be over. Reality now came in and the boat landed on a mountain or on a hill. Last night I shared that what North Way was to do was to build an ark for God. And Jay said, be sure you tell him we're not building an ark. So we're not building an ark. We're building a church that houses the presence of God. That's the important part. Now when Noah then finally landed on the mountain, he opened the door and everything that he needed was in that ark to reveal to a new generation, a new land, the reality and the presence of God like they had never known before. That's what this is all about is to open our doors and our very first campaign that we ever had was opening our doors. And so this is what this is all about is opening our doors to let the presence of God be revealed in this part of the world that we will begin to win souls and bring those that need to come in to the ark for safety, for their salvation. And I tell you, it's one of the greatest things and what God revealed to me just last night that there were many people that helped Noah build the ark but they never entered in because of unbelief. And you see, you've got a responsibility today. You either receive the vision, you receive the dream, or you're not going to be a part of the blessing that God wants to give you and wants to give this church. And so my admonition to you is wait on the Lord. He'll speak to you. He'll quicken your heart and you'll know that it's from God. God bless you. So 15 years of delayed dreams. And it appears the Lord might be bringing it to pass. Let me just end with this. The dream will always require sacrifice. Number five, the dream will always require sacrifice. I wish I could take time to develop the story of how Abraham was required to take the child of his covenant promise, the child he had waited for all those years, and take him to God. And the Lord said, Now I want you to sacrifice your only son. And against all reason it seemed God was taking away the very thing that was the fulfillment of his promise. You can read all through it. And Genesis 22 is a wonderful story to read. I wrote down six phases of going through that final consummation of the fulfillment of the dream. Faith that endures will include testing. Genesis 22 says that. The Lord will test our faith. Is it real or not? And then it requires sa