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Phillips Brooks wrote, “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks.” Rev. Brooks was a pastor, author, hymn writer who lived from 1835 to 1893. You may not recognize the quote from him, but you will recognize the words of the song he wrote while visiting Israel. Standing on the hillside above the city of Bethlehem, struck by the beauty and stillness of an evening, he penned O Little Town of Bethlehem, sharing the words, “The hopes and fears of all the years / Are met in thee tonight.” Hopes and fears are both types of dreams. We all have them. There are things that we hope will happen, and we have other things that we fear might come true. What we fear can paralyze us in our tracks, while what we hope for can powerfully move us forward.

According to Brooks’ Christmas carol, our hopes and fears were met in Bethlehem on the night that Christ was born. The fear of death was met in Christ with the hope of eternal life through Christ. It is in Christ that we have a renewed sense that we have hope for a future. Our renewed hope in Christ gives us an ability to have a new dream for today.

This fall, as we plan our shared ministry, we stand at the commencement of the next years of what God has been calling Oak Heights Covenant Church to be. The years ahead of us are like the new pages of a book: fresh and unwritten. These opportunities are clean and waiting to see what we will do with them. This is true about the next days, months and years of our personal lives, too. These are new and fresh, clean and ready for you to write your hopes and dreams upon each page.

Thirty-three years ago, a group of people gathered to start Oak Heights Covenant with a dream that they felt God had given them. We know that great testimonies have been told through this church, and history shows that there have been many praying for and supporting our church.


For those in the Water Walking Faith small groups, this is the time to hear Jesus encourage Peter out of the boat. Another author, John Ortberg, makes a powerful statement in his book, If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat: “Is there any challenge in your life right now that is large enough that you have no hope of doing it apart from God’s help? If not, consider the possibility that you are seriously under challenged.”

God desires to fill our hearts with big dreams. Too often we find it easier to dismiss them as impossible before we ever start. Or maybe, we just want to get from start to finish as quickly and easily as possible so we can get to what we think is the “real work” of God’s calling.


However, we need to change that idea. The struggle that is part of realizing a God-sized dream is a significant part of the purpose of a loving God who wants to draw us closer and enlarge the boundaries of his Kingdom. The point is that the struggle is the “real work.” Here are three reasons why I say this.

First, a God-sized dream ensures our spiritual growth. When God calls us to something, it can feel awkward and uncomfortable, like an outfit that is the wrong size. It gaps in strange places and pinches in others. We desire to send it back for a more reasonably sized dream. A dream that doesn’t cause so much discomfort. Tell that to Joseph, Abraham, Ruth, Esther, Daniel and the Apostle Paul!


God hands us an extra-large vision by design. He is not just interested in what we can accomplish for him, but in who we are becoming along the way. As we struggle to grow into what and who God calls us to do and be, we are changed and shaped more into the likeness of Christ.

Second, a God-sized dream forces us to invite others into a bigger story. We must share the dream that God is giving us with others. We must talk about it with each other, share it with the other Christian churches in our community, and tell people in this community what God is calling us to be. This is the way that our story will become their story too. The gap between God’s calling and our ability allows us to include others in a significant way, enabling them and us to experience the power of the body of Christ like never before. God will use this to inspire others as they see what is possible for an ordinary church with a God-sized dream when they put their trust in him.

Lastly, and very important, God-sized dreams give glory to God, not us. God is up to something big when he plants his dreams in our hearts, and it is so much bigger than us. If we were able to achieve our calling in our own strength, we would readily take the glory for ourselves. But when we stand at the base of an impossible mountain, shaking in our boots, knowing full well our legs could never carry us to the summit, we are forced to rely on God and praise him for every step he enables us to take along the way.

In the end, our calling will shine the light on an infinitely powerful God who is enlarging his Kingdom through us day by day. Look at the worship schedule for the month of November. Come and join the discovery of what it will take to have a God-sized dream, again. And always bear in mind, we most fully experience God’s dream when we completely trust him, and when we graciously walk with our brothers and sisters in Christ.


We can’t do it on our own, but we can together through Christ!


Pastor Steve