WEBVTT 00:00.031 --> 00:01.613 [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, good morning everyone. 00:02.113 --> 00:03.315 [SPEAKER_00]: Good to see you. 00:04.096 --> 00:05.417 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Discovery. 00:05.477 --> 00:09.442 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome everyone joining us online or on the in the parents room. 00:09.502 --> 00:10.563 [SPEAKER_00]: Great to see you as well. 00:10.964 --> 00:15.048 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be in Romans chapter 15 in just a minute. 00:15.128 --> 00:18.953 [SPEAKER_00]: So heads up, that's where we'll be reading from in just a minute. 00:18.993 --> 00:22.197 [SPEAKER_00]: Romans chapter 15 verse 22. 00:22.257 --> 00:25.661 [SPEAKER_00]: But before we start, I want to see a show of hands. 00:25.701 --> 00:29.565 [SPEAKER_00]: Who are my 00:29.545 --> 00:36.960 [SPEAKER_00]: New restaurants, new countries, new areas, all right, there's a few now, this is going to be a test. 00:37.040 --> 00:40.507 [SPEAKER_00]: Hands up for those of you who are more into safety and security. 00:40.547 --> 00:42.350 [SPEAKER_00]: I just want to go to the places I've been before. 00:42.771 --> 00:45.276 [SPEAKER_00]: It's okay, yeah, no, be bold with it! 00:45.256 --> 00:47.319 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the first step to your recovery. 00:47.640 --> 00:50.985 [SPEAKER_00]: Just really nice tall hand up. 00:51.325 --> 00:52.607 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, very good. 00:53.108 --> 00:53.729 [SPEAKER_00]: That's great. 00:53.809 --> 00:54.730 [SPEAKER_00]: No, it's fair enough. 00:54.791 --> 00:57.034 [SPEAKER_00]: We fall in different camps on that. 00:57.414 --> 00:58.957 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't mind going to new places. 00:59.077 --> 01:00.559 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel a bit torn myself. 01:00.599 --> 01:03.344 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I'm like in trepid and adventure. 01:03.384 --> 01:04.405 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to go somewhere new. 01:04.645 --> 01:06.709 [SPEAKER_00]: And other times, I'm like, just give me my room. 01:06.729 --> 01:08.071 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, just give me my couch. 01:08.451 --> 01:09.753 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I understand it. 01:09.813 --> 01:14.200 [SPEAKER_00]: But back in the day when they were mapping the world, 01:14.737 --> 01:20.142 [SPEAKER_00]: they had a word for what lived outside the borders of what was known. 01:20.883 --> 01:28.370 [SPEAKER_00]: Nowadays, you want to find out what's happening on a particular address in a particular place in, I don't know, Croatia. 01:28.691 --> 01:34.376 [SPEAKER_00]: You can type it into Google and then you can click and you can only see a top view, but you can see the street view. 01:34.416 --> 01:38.941 [SPEAKER_00]: You can see what's going on, the kids are playing on the street, whatever's happening. 01:39.241 --> 01:44.406 [SPEAKER_00]: There is no way, you can see everywhere, this, 01:44.386 --> 01:46.809 [SPEAKER_00]: And so there's nowhere that's outside of our knowledge. 01:47.310 --> 01:56.663 [SPEAKER_00]: But back when they were mapping the world, every little discovery was a new part on the map that they were able to write. 01:57.765 --> 01:58.866 [SPEAKER_00]: But what was beyond that? 02:00.208 --> 02:02.712 [SPEAKER_00]: What's beyond the parts that you've mapped? 02:04.274 --> 02:10.663 [SPEAKER_00]: They would write these words in the unknown places, here be dragon. 02:13.951 --> 02:36.313 [SPEAKER_00]: here be monsters, because outside of what we know is the unknown and human tendency is to think it's most likely going to be bad, and it's most likely going to be scary, it's most likely going to be dangerous, and it's most likely it's going to kill you. 02:36.985 --> 02:46.416 [SPEAKER_00]: And so they would write hereby dragons or hereby monsters to denote that they're the places that we've not been yet. 02:48.519 --> 02:49.620 [SPEAKER_00]: Because we don't know what's there. 02:50.921 --> 02:55.347 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, most places, those explorers went. 02:56.548 --> 02:57.649 [SPEAKER_00]: There wasn't dragons there. 02:59.091 --> 03:00.833 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's that fear. 03:01.285 --> 03:08.014 [SPEAKER_00]: of what lies beyond the borders, that keeps us tethered to our sea. 03:09.937 --> 03:13.782 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's read together from Romans chapter 15. 03:15.825 --> 03:20.071 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the reason why I've been so, I'm sorry, wrong passage. 03:20.932 --> 03:22.694 [SPEAKER_00]: But now there is no more place to me. 03:22.714 --> 03:29.183 [SPEAKER_00]: This is verse 23 to work in these regions since I've been longing for many years to visit you. 03:29.399 --> 03:33.304 [SPEAKER_00]: I plan to do so when I go to Spain. 03:33.324 --> 03:42.435 [SPEAKER_00]: I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there after I've enjoyed your company for a while. 03:43.316 --> 03:46.961 [SPEAKER_00]: Now however, I'm on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord's people there. 03:47.642 --> 03:54.310 [SPEAKER_00]: For Macedonia and Hia are pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord's people in Jerusalem. 03:54.695 --> 04:00.364 [SPEAKER_00]: They were pleased to do it and indeed they owe it to them for the Gentiles of shared in the Jew's spiritual blessings. 04:00.785 --> 04:03.790 [SPEAKER_00]: They owe it to the Jews to share with them in their material blessings. 04:03.830 --> 04:11.964 [SPEAKER_00]: So, after I've completed this task and have made sure that they received this contribution, I'll go to Spain and I'll visit you on the way. 04:11.984 --> 04:19.977 [SPEAKER_00]: I know that when I come to you, I will receive, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ. 04:21.661 --> 04:25.186 [SPEAKER_00]: So this is where we are in Romans 15. 04:25.226 --> 04:30.715 [SPEAKER_00]: He's tracing the edge of an unknown world. 04:32.938 --> 04:39.929 [SPEAKER_00]: From current to Jerusalem for Rome to Spain, he's letting us know his plans and where he's about to go. 04:39.949 --> 04:48.782 [SPEAKER_00]: Now not many of us this morning are standing on the edge of an ocean holding a compass, wondering which way to go next. 04:49.910 --> 04:56.659 [SPEAKER_00]: But some of you are finishing VCE and about to launch out in a whole brand new year next year. 04:57.600 --> 05:02.827 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you are about to start new jobs or move into new divisions. 05:02.847 --> 05:07.093 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you, maybe you're a single mum and you're just wondering how to make it through this next week. 05:08.295 --> 05:16.626 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're a career dad and your career hasn't worked out for you and you're wondering if that dream is ever going to come to pass. 05:17.298 --> 05:27.210 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you may be feel like your best year's of behind you, and to every single one I want to encourage you today, the title this message is to dream again. 05:28.892 --> 05:29.372 [SPEAKER_00]: Dream again. 05:31.435 --> 05:34.678 [SPEAKER_00]: Because exploration isn't just about sailing ships. 05:36.921 --> 05:40.285 [SPEAKER_00]: It's about refusing to believe that your story's finished. 05:42.796 --> 05:48.865 [SPEAKER_00]: It's about daring to trust that God still has territory in your life that his love hasn't reached. 05:51.369 --> 05:53.492 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is where Paul is in Romans 15. 05:53.632 --> 05:55.515 [SPEAKER_00]: He's an old man with a young spirit. 05:57.618 --> 06:01.243 [SPEAKER_00]: He's in Corinth, but he's thinking about Spain. 06:02.624 --> 06:06.731 [SPEAKER_00]: I've mapped it here and now this is gonna hurt you if you have some kind of OCD. 06:07.111 --> 06:08.734 [SPEAKER_00]: Then so I'm just gonna give you a warning. 06:08.794 --> 06:13.562 [SPEAKER_00]: This is just a healing journey today for those parts of us with a better unrestored. 06:13.822 --> 06:14.904 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's have a look at this map. 06:15.945 --> 06:17.788 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul's writing from Corinth. 06:19.311 --> 06:23.097 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, that's close to Greece, okay? 06:24.865 --> 06:27.328 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's dreaming about going to Spain. 06:28.410 --> 06:30.833 [SPEAKER_00]: Spain was the edge of the known world at the time. 06:30.953 --> 06:33.717 [SPEAKER_00]: No one, he didn't know anyone who was there. 06:33.797 --> 06:35.279 [SPEAKER_00]: He was hoping to make it there. 06:35.299 --> 06:38.203 [SPEAKER_00]: But he said, I've got no more room to work in Corinth. 06:38.924 --> 06:40.647 [SPEAKER_00]: Everyone's heard about Jesus here. 06:41.207 --> 06:44.652 [SPEAKER_00]: So I need to go somewhere where they haven't heard about Jesus. 06:45.613 --> 06:52.763 [SPEAKER_00]: But instead of first going west to Spain, I'm going to go east and south down to Jerusalem. 06:53.317 --> 06:54.819 [SPEAKER_00]: I've got to carry an offering. 06:55.399 --> 07:01.327 [SPEAKER_00]: I've got to take a collection that the church is in my area of collected, I've got to take it down to Jerusalem. 07:01.767 --> 07:04.570 [SPEAKER_00]: And after I go to Jerusalem, then I'm going to go to Rome. 07:04.590 --> 07:07.494 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to hang out with my friends in Rome. 07:07.514 --> 07:08.695 [SPEAKER_00]: That's why he's writing to them. 07:09.276 --> 07:11.078 [SPEAKER_00]: He's writing to Rome saying, I'm coming. 07:12.039 --> 07:12.800 [SPEAKER_00]: Put the kettle long. 07:15.023 --> 07:21.771 [SPEAKER_00]: And from Rome, he's then going to Spain, which is where the dragons live. 07:23.945 --> 07:27.131 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is not though just a geographical map. 07:28.453 --> 07:31.278 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the map of mission in our own hearts. 07:32.861 --> 07:33.923 [SPEAKER_00]: Each of us has a current. 07:35.546 --> 07:36.828 [SPEAKER_00]: Each of us has a Jerusalem. 07:38.391 --> 07:39.473 [SPEAKER_00]: Each of us has a Rome. 07:41.476 --> 07:44.181 [SPEAKER_00]: And each of us has a Spain. 07:46.895 --> 07:51.079 [SPEAKER_00]: Because this letter in Paul is part theological masterpiece. 07:51.360 --> 07:52.481 [SPEAKER_00]: It's his magnet cutter. 07:52.501 --> 07:59.748 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the most clear articulation of Paul's theology around the way that the gospel works. 08:01.030 --> 08:03.713 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's also part missionary support letter. 08:04.173 --> 08:07.296 [SPEAKER_00]: He's writing to Rome to tell them, hey, I'm coming to you. 08:07.336 --> 08:10.480 [SPEAKER_00]: And when I get there, I'm going to need some help. 08:10.500 --> 08:13.763 [SPEAKER_00]: I need you to fill my wallet so I can get to Spain. 08:14.232 --> 08:28.093 [SPEAKER_00]: And then partly, it's also a pastoral letter where he's trying to, he's trying to iron out some neagling things that are happening in the life of the church in Rome. 08:32.120 --> 08:39.531 [SPEAKER_00]: But each stop is across road in ministry and we begin in Corry. 08:41.722 --> 08:50.196 [SPEAKER_00]: Currents is a place and now if you've read one Corinthians and two Corinthians Boy, boy, it's enough to make you blush 08:51.695 --> 08:58.381 [SPEAKER_00]: You have a read through one and second-grade things and you think to yourself, oh my gosh, what's happening in the church there? 08:58.821 --> 09:07.369 [SPEAKER_00]: But in current is the place where we meet reality, where there is gifts and there is grit and they're all together. 09:07.729 --> 09:15.716 [SPEAKER_00]: There are spiritual group of people but they're also a very sinful group of people and it's from current that Paul writes one of his best theological works. 09:16.717 --> 09:21.381 [SPEAKER_00]: Right in the middle of all of that grit and grime 09:22.964 --> 09:24.908 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is where we begin, church. 09:26.572 --> 09:33.548 [SPEAKER_00]: Because there's no way you can dream of Spain if you can't first deal with what's happening in currents. 09:33.568 --> 09:34.992 [SPEAKER_00]: We begin in reality. 09:35.633 --> 09:39.943 [SPEAKER_00]: We begin by looking at the mirror and looking what stairs back at us. 09:40.767 --> 09:41.929 [SPEAKER_00]: That's where mission begins. 09:42.009 --> 09:43.290 [SPEAKER_00]: It begins in our own hearts. 09:43.330 --> 09:45.694 [SPEAKER_00]: What Paul said, judgment begins in the house of God. 09:45.714 --> 09:47.236 [SPEAKER_00]: It starts here. 09:47.276 --> 09:56.428 [SPEAKER_00]: Every mission story begins with truth telling, before new ground is taken, old ground must be cleared, and you cannot build dreams on denial. 10:00.013 --> 10:08.665 [SPEAKER_00]: The spirit moves through people who live in reality, grounded, not in wishful thinking, not in religious fantasy, 10:09.387 --> 10:14.212 [SPEAKER_00]: but in step by step, every day, walking. 10:15.333 --> 10:16.794 [SPEAKER_00]: It's where vision meets honesty. 10:17.315 --> 10:25.023 [SPEAKER_00]: Before you can go again or before you can dream again, we have to first address the way things currently are. 10:26.744 --> 10:30.588 [SPEAKER_00]: Confronting failure with grace side by side. 10:31.809 --> 10:34.332 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't reach Spain if you won't be honest in Corinth. 10:35.645 --> 10:37.248 [SPEAKER_00]: And some of us are in current right now. 10:37.268 --> 10:38.570 [SPEAKER_00]: You're tired of this tension. 10:39.511 --> 10:42.316 [SPEAKER_00]: You're tired of will I or won't I? 10:42.877 --> 10:44.139 [SPEAKER_00]: You're done with the mess. 10:44.740 --> 10:49.428 [SPEAKER_00]: You're here in the grit and the grind, but it's here that God begins to start to build something new. 10:49.468 --> 10:54.076 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, Paul didn't go on a retreat in order to get a vision for Spain. 10:54.156 --> 10:57.822 [SPEAKER_00]: He had it right there in the middle of current in the middle of the guts. 11:00.721 --> 11:03.911 [SPEAKER_00]: So before God sends you forward, He calls you to face what's real. 11:03.951 --> 11:05.817 [SPEAKER_00]: What are you running away from right now? 11:05.877 --> 11:10.191 [SPEAKER_00]: That's gonna stop you from seeing that dream come to fruition. 11:12.061 --> 11:20.473 [SPEAKER_00]: So from here, the beautiful thing about Romans and the beautiful thing about Paul's letters is they sit within the history or the narrative of the Book of Acts. 11:21.114 --> 11:28.505 [SPEAKER_00]: So you can place these events inside of what's happening in the story that Luke's telling in the Book of Acts. 11:28.545 --> 11:32.010 [SPEAKER_00]: So this is for those playing at home around Acts 20, 21, 22. 11:33.632 --> 11:40.482 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul's just finished his third missionary journey and now he dreams of going to Spain via Jerusalem. 11:40.512 --> 11:41.093 [SPEAKER_00]: and Rome. 11:42.094 --> 11:46.217 [SPEAKER_00]: So from here, history tells us that indeed Paul did gather the offering. 11:47.399 --> 11:58.970 [SPEAKER_00]: He pulled it together, wrote this letter, and then turned east, and south, not west, and head of Jerusalem, where his obedience would cost him his freedom. 11:59.390 --> 12:09.760 [SPEAKER_00]: If you read about it through the Book of Acts, there is warnings all the way, they're saying, don't go to Jerusalem, don't go, it's not going to be good for you, and 12:11.545 --> 12:16.071 [SPEAKER_00]: and finally Paul makes it, with the offering into Jerusalem. 12:17.874 --> 12:26.586 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, this is a strange one, I'm not really sure where you feel about this, but Jerusalem is the place where Paul goes next. 12:27.607 --> 12:38.582 [SPEAKER_00]: And he takes with him an offering that he's collected from largely poor churches and takes them to the mothership in Jerusalem, the beginning of it all. 12:39.355 --> 12:49.590 [SPEAKER_00]: He collects these offerings, which were largely generously given from Macedonia and Asia, and he collects it all up and takes it to the place where it all began. 12:51.613 --> 12:55.499 [SPEAKER_00]: Jerusalem, both the gospel and now the Gentile churches give back. 12:55.519 --> 13:08.839 [SPEAKER_00]: And guys, this is what gospel maturity looks like, not independence, but independence, because when we unaware we've come from, 13:12.852 --> 13:17.337 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul says, the Gentiles have received a spiritual blessing from Jerusalem. 13:18.479 --> 13:23.705 [SPEAKER_00]: It's where you don't remember the gospel began Jerusalem, Judea, seminary into the ends of the earth. 13:25.988 --> 13:34.118 [SPEAKER_00]: They've received a spiritual blessing, and so they're going to return to Jerusalem a material blessing to say thank you. 13:35.836 --> 13:38.660 [SPEAKER_00]: So Paul carries this offering back to the mother church. 13:38.720 --> 13:41.124 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a sacred gesture of honor. 13:41.244 --> 13:49.115 [SPEAKER_00]: It's hard for us because, again, we're removed by 2,000 years where removed in culture, we're removed in language. 13:49.156 --> 13:51.018 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's hard to see what's going on here. 13:51.219 --> 13:52.901 [SPEAKER_00]: But what's happening here is honor. 13:54.343 --> 13:59.751 [SPEAKER_00]: The Gentile Church is honoring Jerusalem for the way that the gospel came to them originally. 14:00.794 --> 14:02.677 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we show honor to our leaders. 14:03.138 --> 14:05.742 [SPEAKER_00]: We recognize legacy where it exists. 14:05.762 --> 14:08.146 [SPEAKER_00]: We express gratitude for what we've received. 14:08.526 --> 14:19.704 [SPEAKER_00]: How many of you have stories that you could tell of people who've come before you who invested their time, their talents, their energy, their availability into you? 14:19.724 --> 14:28.438 [SPEAKER_00]: You have so many people who've encouraged you in faith who've brought you along, who showed you things and we honor that. 14:29.161 --> 14:36.693 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're too big, or you're too proud to honor it, there's no way you've hit a ceiling in your own walk with God. 14:36.733 --> 14:39.718 [SPEAKER_00]: If you can't honor the legacy that's gone before you. 14:39.738 --> 14:49.313 [SPEAKER_00]: When we honor the roots, God entrusts us with new branches. 14:54.288 --> 14:59.597 [SPEAKER_00]: But we know what happens, Paul gets to Jerusalem, and that journey of honor ends with him in chains. 15:00.980 --> 15:04.305 [SPEAKER_00]: He's arrested for it, for the privilege of honor. 15:06.048 --> 15:08.372 [SPEAKER_00]: He's tied up and he's bound. 15:10.877 --> 15:13.301 [SPEAKER_00]: But honor is the bridge between what was and what will be. 15:13.321 --> 15:19.772 [SPEAKER_00]: And you can't build the future if you despise the foundation. 15:22.722 --> 15:30.758 [SPEAKER_00]: But even in Jerusalem Paul honored Christ, even there, he kept dreaming of Spain. 15:32.881 --> 15:33.862 [SPEAKER_00]: Now what about Rome? 15:34.683 --> 15:35.624 [SPEAKER_00]: What happens next? 15:36.385 --> 15:45.316 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul goes to Jerusalem, still dreaming of Spain, and now he's off to Rome, and what does he say to the Romans why he wants to go there? 15:46.457 --> 15:51.763 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, I long to visit Rome on my way to Spain so that I may be helped on my journey. 15:51.843 --> 15:52.564 [SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that funny? 15:52.945 --> 15:57.270 [SPEAKER_00]: The great apostle Paul needs help. 15:57.290 --> 15:59.192 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not a superhero, is he? 15:59.763 --> 16:03.989 [SPEAKER_00]: is a regular dude with a regular mission and he needs friends. 16:05.451 --> 16:07.434 [SPEAKER_00]: But somehow you think I don't need any help. 16:07.575 --> 16:07.975 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm good. 16:08.015 --> 16:10.238 [SPEAKER_00]: I've got to, I don't need support. 16:10.359 --> 16:12.001 [SPEAKER_00]: I can supply everything that I need. 16:12.322 --> 16:13.623 [SPEAKER_00]: You need help my friends. 16:15.306 --> 16:22.216 [SPEAKER_00]: There are people that God has placed around you in order to help you accomplish the dream that God's put in your heart. 16:22.997 --> 16:25.341 [SPEAKER_00]: And it won't be done in independence. 16:25.481 --> 16:28.285 [SPEAKER_00]: It will be done by relying on one another. 16:29.176 --> 16:32.382 [SPEAKER_00]: Rome is the place of rest and refreshment and re-supply. 16:33.143 --> 16:37.071 [SPEAKER_00]: The community that strengthens the weary for another stretch of obedience. 16:37.752 --> 16:40.236 [SPEAKER_00]: Mission is not a solo act, it's a symphony. 16:40.276 --> 16:43.162 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a picture of partnership. 16:45.085 --> 16:47.189 [SPEAKER_00]: And so every missionary, guys, needs a Rome. 16:49.634 --> 16:51.437 [SPEAKER_00]: Even apostles need refilling. 17:10.756 --> 17:14.222 [SPEAKER_00]: He's beaten, he's tortured, he's imprisoned. 17:14.903 --> 17:29.226 [SPEAKER_00]: And then they send him to Rome, but he sails through Cyprus, they get shipwrecked, he gets bitten by a snake in Malta, half of the ship become believers in Jesus, and then he finally turns up in Rome, but in the back of a patty wagon. 17:32.651 --> 17:36.257 [SPEAKER_00]: Not the way he thought things were going to turn out. 17:40.692 --> 17:46.220 [SPEAKER_00]: And yet, he's still dreamt of Spain. 17:49.524 --> 18:03.123 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, when we face reality, when we show honor where it's due, when we receive support and we're connected we then turn to the dream. 18:05.226 --> 18:08.691 [SPEAKER_00]: Because for Paul, Spain meant the edge of the known world, 18:09.633 --> 18:16.942 [SPEAKER_00]: to place beyond maps, the place beyond comfort, spainment, the horizon, like the edge of our imagination. 18:16.982 --> 18:23.971 [SPEAKER_00]: New lands, new hearts, new possibilities, and don't dreams like that carry risk. 18:23.991 --> 18:26.153 [SPEAKER_00]: What if it doesn't work? 18:26.173 --> 18:27.956 [SPEAKER_00]: What if it doesn't turn out? 18:29.137 --> 18:36.366 [SPEAKER_00]: What if something unexpected happens and the plan doesn't, doesn't eventuate like the way that I thought that it was going to? 18:39.282 --> 18:45.954 [SPEAKER_00]: But they also remind us that the gospel's reach always extends past the singular lifetime. 18:48.979 --> 18:54.589 [SPEAKER_00]: This vision, this drive is uncertain, it's going into uncharted territory, there's no guarantee of success. 18:55.231 --> 19:00.480 [SPEAKER_00]: But yet we hear the spirit say, dream again, go again, go ahead, go ahead. 19:03.565 --> 19:09.413 [SPEAKER_00]: The gospel will always push us toward people with never met and places we've never been. 19:13.098 --> 19:21.209 [SPEAKER_00]: And even if you never make it there, even if the dream out lives you, it's God who'll be the one who sees it through. 19:24.534 --> 19:29.100 [SPEAKER_00]: We keep dreaming, there's something about us, there's something about the church that's always dreaming. 19:30.380 --> 19:31.361 [SPEAKER_00]: about what could be. 19:32.382 --> 19:35.866 [SPEAKER_00]: Because it's the very nature of the creative spirit that's inside of us. 19:36.987 --> 19:43.995 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the very nature of the spirit of God that says like that be light, that turns light, that brings light into dark places. 19:45.356 --> 19:50.882 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the very creative spirit of God that sees dead bones but can see an army in the midst of it. 19:52.544 --> 19:59.712 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the spirit of God that helps us see when we've been surrounded 20:02.864 --> 20:06.689 [SPEAKER_00]: The gospel always pushes toward places we've never been and people who've never met. 20:07.590 --> 20:11.015 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, here's the stretch and here's the rub. 20:12.637 --> 20:19.527 [SPEAKER_00]: We know from the Book of Acts, the Book of Acts ends with Paul imprisoned in Rome. 20:19.547 --> 20:31.723 [SPEAKER_00]: And early church historians will tell us that Paul never made it to Spain, that he died with the dream of Spain still in his heart. 20:33.239 --> 20:36.665 [SPEAKER_00]: Does that mean that his desire to go to Spain was misplaced? 20:37.406 --> 20:38.227 [SPEAKER_00]: Did he hear on? 20:39.970 --> 20:41.232 [SPEAKER_00]: Did he understand wrong? 20:41.432 --> 20:44.217 [SPEAKER_00]: What he was praying and the Lord put Spain on his heart? 20:44.237 --> 20:45.399 [SPEAKER_00]: Did he somehow miss it? 20:48.243 --> 20:54.133 [SPEAKER_00]: Or was it an invitation to start something that others would finish? 20:56.915 --> 21:00.702 [SPEAKER_00]: From current, he looks west and says, there's no more room for me to work here. 21:01.283 --> 21:04.289 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna go to Roman and from there I'm gonna go on to Spain. 21:04.810 --> 21:08.437 [SPEAKER_00]: His dream isn't just so he can sit by the beach in a beautiful food. 21:08.838 --> 21:09.920 [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't exotic. 21:10.040 --> 21:11.824 [SPEAKER_00]: It was evangelistic. 21:11.884 --> 21:16.172 [SPEAKER_00]: His mission was to take the gospel to places that had never been before. 21:17.435 --> 21:29.549 [SPEAKER_00]: Because mercy here takes a strange turn because he reaches Roman chains and his re-supply point becomes his resting place and the road to Spain ends with a Roman sword. 21:31.991 --> 21:35.475 [SPEAKER_00]: The dreamer dies, but the dreamer lives on. 21:36.917 --> 21:44.185 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he knew that it doesn't actually matter who extends the kingdom just as long as it gets extended. 21:45.785 --> 21:56.738 [SPEAKER_00]: When we take ourselves out of the center of our own dream, and we put God there, that dream becomes a seed for the next generation to water and to grow. 21:59.101 --> 22:04.627 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the quiet miracle of the kingdom, guys, every surrendered dream becomes seed. 22:06.529 --> 22:13.918 [SPEAKER_00]: God's mission is never buried with his servants. 22:16.868 --> 22:18.270 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is what we do, don't we? 22:18.590 --> 22:26.982 [SPEAKER_00]: Today, we bring our collective spines, and we lay them open, and we offer them to God. 22:28.564 --> 22:34.412 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want to encourage you today wherever you find yourself dream again. 22:36.575 --> 22:37.135 [SPEAKER_00]: Dream again. 22:37.175 --> 22:46.588 [SPEAKER_00]: Allow the spirit of God to speak to you, to cause you to wanna get up and to move. 22:47.615 --> 22:52.041 [SPEAKER_00]: into new places, and new spaces, to new people. 22:53.723 --> 22:59.230 [SPEAKER_00]: We bring our spines, the plans that are unfulfilled, the prayers that are unanswered, and we lay them down. 22:59.270 --> 23:08.641 [SPEAKER_00]: We're reminded when we look at the cross, that the dream give it himself was broken and poured out, and that his mission would never die. 23:08.701 --> 23:13.167 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul never made it to Spain, but the gospel did. 23:14.243 --> 23:22.536 [SPEAKER_00]: Early church historians will tell us that in the next 100 years churches began to pop up in Spain. 23:23.898 --> 23:36.758 [SPEAKER_00]: And they don't exactly know by who, but they're guessing that it was probably the Christians in Rome. 23:40.282 --> 23:42.064 [SPEAKER_00]: The mission was never his to finish. 23:42.404 --> 23:44.205 [SPEAKER_00]: It was actually Christ's to fulfill. 23:46.588 --> 23:52.353 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I want to encourage us to dream again, come on up to you. 23:52.373 --> 24:09.748 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, when Beethoven, the famous composer, when he died, they went into his study and they found all of these manuscripts, all of these unfinished symphonies, unfinished symphonies 24:12.327 --> 24:13.769 [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought, what are we going to do with these? 24:14.009 --> 24:14.770 [SPEAKER_00]: Is that working still? 24:15.691 --> 24:18.634 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at that. 24:18.654 --> 24:18.714 [SPEAKER_00]: No? 24:18.734 --> 24:19.074 [SPEAKER_00]: I guess not. 24:21.477 --> 24:21.717 [SPEAKER_00]: I guess not. 24:21.737 --> 24:23.839 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 24:23.859 --> 24:26.842 [SPEAKER_00]: They found all these unfinished symphonies on his desk. 24:28.644 --> 24:32.148 [SPEAKER_00]: And they pulled them all together, and they thought, what are we going to do with these? 24:32.228 --> 24:36.833 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the community that knew him got together and they filled in the blanks. 24:38.753 --> 24:43.078 [SPEAKER_00]: and they made finished symphonies out of what were just sketches. 24:44.600 --> 24:48.565 [SPEAKER_00]: They completed the task that he began. 24:48.585 --> 25:00.139 [SPEAKER_00]: They picked up the fragments and carried them forward and so the melody of Beethoven actually survived the maker. 25:02.481 --> 25:04.003 [SPEAKER_00]: And Paul's life ended like that. 25:05.165 --> 25:07.107 [SPEAKER_00]: His Spain remained unwritten. 25:07.677 --> 25:12.584 [SPEAKER_00]: but the spirit kept composing through others and through us. 25:14.607 --> 25:16.670 [SPEAKER_00]: And wasn't it Jesus who walked this road first? 25:18.673 --> 25:27.285 [SPEAKER_00]: It guessed so many when he said, Lord, not my will, this is not me, this is you. 25:28.748 --> 25:29.869 [SPEAKER_00]: This dream is yours. 25:31.131 --> 25:35.237 [SPEAKER_00]: I give it over, and it was through that surrender, 25:37.377 --> 25:41.702 [SPEAKER_00]: that actually won daughters and sons to the kingdom. 25:44.306 --> 25:51.434 [SPEAKER_00]: The gospel still moves on the shoulders of surrendered seats carried by the spirit who never stops sending. 25:51.514 --> 26:05.832 [SPEAKER_00]: So I want to encourage you guys to dream again, but I want you to lay that dream down at the feet of Jesus and offer it to him and allow him to take it and use it and multiply it. 26:06.200 --> 26:06.621 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 26:07.282 --> 26:12.729 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's stand together. 26:13.330 --> 26:13.670 [SPEAKER_00]: Come on. 26:19.399 --> 26:20.360 [SPEAKER_00]: It's time to dream again. 26:20.380 --> 26:26.549 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, let's close our eyes. 26:26.829 --> 26:27.750 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's bow our heads. 26:27.951 --> 26:32.537 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's ask the Holy Spirit to do a work in our hearts right now in this space. 26:32.657 --> 26:33.979 [SPEAKER_00]: He's speaking to us. 26:37.385 --> 26:41.250 [SPEAKER_00]: And for some, this is a simple exercise of just saying, Lord, I'm open. 26:43.533 --> 26:43.934 [SPEAKER_00]: Use me. 26:45.376 --> 26:52.325 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you who thought, oh, this is, you know, I've got no, you put the cue in the rack, and you've got, it's, it's over. 26:52.366 --> 26:53.327 [SPEAKER_00]: I've hung up the boots. 26:54.508 --> 26:58.955 [SPEAKER_00]: And God's now encouraging you to dream again for the next generation. 27:01.278 --> 27:04.422 [SPEAKER_00]: And to invest and sow your prayers, 27:05.785 --> 27:08.689 [SPEAKER_00]: You're in tension now that you're in encouragement to the next gen. 27:10.953 --> 27:15.479 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you have got a dream, but I'll be honest with you, it's yours and it's not God's. 27:16.721 --> 27:25.534 [SPEAKER_00]: And for whatever reason you've got a dream to do this or that, and that's too small, and it's not surrendered. 27:30.281 --> 27:34.527 [SPEAKER_00]: And it'll only remain yours, unless you give it over to the Lord. 27:36.869 --> 27:39.992 [SPEAKER_00]: and I want this place to smell like surrender today. 27:41.173 --> 27:51.302 [SPEAKER_00]: We want this place to feel like dreams that have been handed over and said, God, I give it to you, I put it into the ground and whatever you resurrect, I'll go with that. 27:52.564 --> 27:54.866 [SPEAKER_00]: Because it's never been about the dream or the dreamer. 27:54.906 --> 27:57.708 [SPEAKER_00]: It's been about the one who gives it in the first place. 28:01.572 --> 28:05.796 [SPEAKER_00]: And so Lord, we offer our hearts to you a fresh, we come in humility. 28:09.050 --> 28:11.033 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, the pride of self-sufficiency. 28:14.777 --> 28:17.621 [SPEAKER_00]: The pride of I've got this altogether and I don't need help. 28:23.028 --> 28:28.976 [SPEAKER_00]: The pride of I can't say sorry or I can't, but I can't come back and we've had in hand. 28:33.302 --> 28:34.964 [SPEAKER_00]: The pride of a closed fist. 28:36.686 --> 28:38.128 [SPEAKER_00]: We lay it down, though. 28:42.682 --> 28:50.762 [SPEAKER_00]: may we come surrender to you, the humility this morning knowing that you will breathe life on something new in Jesus name. 28:50.782 --> 28:53.248 [SPEAKER_00]: Church, we're going to sing this song all the earth. 28:53.887 --> 28:58.736 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to see that the breath in our lungs comes from him. 28:59.658 --> 29:02.584 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this morning guys, let this be a song of surrender. 29:03.125 --> 29:04.768 [SPEAKER_00]: Let it be a song of praise. 29:05.189 --> 29:12.242 [SPEAKER_00]: Let it be a song of offerings to him to the one who can turn those things and he can take dead things and bring them to life. 29:12.262 --> 29:13.144 [SPEAKER_00]: Come on, let's see.