September 9, 2012 Page 1 of 5 The Power of Dreams: The Verge of Adventure Biblical Text: Acts 2:14-21 Dr. Michael F. Gardner, Senior Pastor Old Mission United Methodist Church, Fairway, KS. So, what did you expect when you entered the Sanctuary today? You may be thinking, I tell you what. I didn t expect my preacher to be suffering under the delusion that he was Indiana Jones, and wear some silly hat. Well, not to worry. I haven t off the deep end, yet! However, it is worth considering that our expectation of what is normal, the same old, same old, is the opposite of what will lead us forward. Marshall Goldsmith puts it this way: What got you here won t get you there. 1 And Proverbs 29:18 says it this way, Where there is no vision, the people perish. 2 I believe one of the most powerful messages the Bible has for us is that at the crossroads of our lives, if we are willing, God can help us dream new dreams, and develop a new sense of vision for our life. In this series of messages I want us to look at the earliest days of the early Church, in the Book of Acts, to find some clues about how we might move forward as Christians and as a Church. I ll also share what I have been hearing in a dozen or so Gather and Greet events where Ann and I have been listening to you. At those events, I have been asking three questions: What do you love about Old Mission Church? What are your dreams for Old Mission Church? What will it take to move us forward? I must have been asked a dozen or more times, since I first met with our personnel committee about becoming your new Senior Pastor, this question, What is your vision for Old Mission Church? In differing ways, I have answered that question this way. I don t have a 1 Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter, What Got You Here Won t Get You There, Copyright 1997, Hyperion Press. 2 Proverbs 29:18. King James Version. The KJV is in the Public Domain in the United
September 9, 2012 Page 2 of 5 clue. Inspiring, huh? It s not because I have no ideas, or leadings from God. I do. But if there is a vision for our future, and I believe there is one, if it is only my vision, it just won t get us very far down the road. It won t be near big or bold enough. A true vision for our future will need to be God s vision, and it will need to be our vision together. I will have much to share in the Sundays to come about what I have been hearing, but let me share three things this morning. 1. People love it that at Old Mission, they and their children are not just a face in the crowd. People matter. 2. People are yearning for more of us to be engaged in ministry and mapping out a pathway to our future. 3. People seem to know that in order to grow forward, we are going to need to go deeper in our spiritual commitment. That s a great start. I believe all those things are key ingredients to the DNA of Old Mission and the seeds of what will lead us forward. So what s next? About fifteen years ago, Bishop Fritz Mutti asked me a question that cut through all my ideas about how to do Church, the plans, programs, and things that had worked in Churches that I served through the years. Here s what he asked: Mike, what is your dream for the next chapter for your ministry? He didn t ask, What kind of Church do you want to serve? He didn t ask, Where do you see your career going? He asked, What is your dream? And that s ultimately a much better question. As powerful as that question is for individuals, it is even more critical for organizations, whether we are talking about a family, a company, a nation, or the Church. Without vision, we perish. It has always been so. It is not accidental that every new adventure in the history of Christianity has been driven forward by a rediscovery of the story of the birth of the early Church. First, a little background. If you read the Gospels, Jesus had been all about preparing his disciples for His departure and their ministry.
September 9, 2012 Page 3 of 5 He had gone over and over His teachings. His commandment to love God and love people. But up until the Book of Acts, not to put to fine a point on it somebody wasn't paying attention. The disciples were waiting for what Jesus promised in Acts 1:8, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And most of us are still waiting too. Dr. Tom Long shared a Children s message on the birth of the early Church. He told the children, When the Church was born, the Holy Spirit came to the disciples, and they went from A to B. The day before they were scared, and then they were not. One day, they didn t know what to do, then they were ready to change the world. One of the older children raised her hand and said, Gosh, Reverend Long, I think I must have missed Church that Sunday. I think a lot of us missed that Sunday. If you look at the first chapter of Acts, before our text from the second chapter, it reads like the history of too many Churches! The world was waiting, hungry for creative power, hungry for the good news of the love of God, and the disciples were in an Upper room, behind a closed door. Afraid. Defeated. Stuck. The most creative thing they could think of was to figure out who ought to be in charge. They had nothing going for them. I mean not one thing. No sanctuary, no pulpit, no preacher, no choir, no worship band. No plan, no mission, no new ideas - no nothing. But Dr. Long was right with the children. Something happened that moved them from A to B. From stuck to unstuck. From fear to faith. God s Holy Spirit, His presence, slipped through their closed doors, their closed minds, and pushed them over the edge into the adventure for which He called them. Our text picks up up the story there. (That s a cue to open your Bibles!) In Acts 2:14 and following, Peter, the great leader of the early Church, tried to explain what happened, but all he could do was to assure them they were not intoxicated, and reach for the ancient words from the prophet
September 9, 2012 Page 4 of 5 Joel, And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all people; and your sons and your daughters shall speak my Word. Your old ones shall dream new dreams, and your young one shall see with vision. And on the servants of the Lord, both men and women, in those days, I will pour out my Spirit. And all who call on the Lord will be saved!" 3 God gave them a dream bigger than he could explain, bigger than they were! That s how dreams are. It really isn t a dream at all if it is something we can do on our own without the power of God. My own dreams have changed through the years. When I was in my teens I wanted to be a rock star! When I was in my twenties I wanted to become a great preacher! In my thirties I wanted to earn a doctorate! In my forties, I wanted to build buildings to the glory of God! In my fifties, I wanted to serve large Churches. I have done many of those things. Ok, I didn t become a rock star, but I haven t given up all hope. So what do I want to do now? What is my dream for the next decades of my ministry? Well here it is! I want to introduce people to the power of knowing Christ in their everyday living. I want to teach others that effective life requires being in connection to a power not of our making! Most of all, I want to help others discover the capacity to dream! Futurist Joel Barker says that dreams can be powerful and catalytic. When we act on them he says we enter what he calls the verge where things previously unrelated come together and give birth to innovation, where something gives birth to something more. He gives some recent examples. In the mid-nineties, Toyota saw the possibility of an intersection between battery powered motors and gasoline powered engines that industry experts said would never work. That moment of insight gave birth to an ugly little hybrid car called the Prius which changed automotive history, 3 Acts 2:17-18 and Acts 2:21, paraphrased by the author.
September 9, 2012 Page 5 of 5 selling nearly three million worldwide. Apple saw the possibility of bringing together cellular phone data capabilities, a touch responsive glass screen, and the functions of a laptop computer - and the iphone and ipad, ipod touch have changed the computer and cell phone industries forever. Most of us can t see ourselves as Apple or Toyota. The good news is we don t have to. Each of us can find our own journey to the verge, that place where we move from normal to a new normal. Bruce Barton was right when he wrote, All splendid things happen because there are those who dare to believe that something inside of them was bigger than the circumstances outside. If you are a Christian, you have something inside of you that is bigger than the circumstances you face! That s true for your life, for your family, for our nation and for the Church. And as you look around you today, what do you see? You just might see people like you who are seeking, sometimes in joy and sometimes in fear and trembling, to be the Church of Jesus Christ. And all that is true. But I want to tell you see more than that. I see amazing possibilities! I see people at the verge. I see people who are capable of incredible things, declaring the mighty works of God. I see people with the courage to let go and let God be in control of who we are and what we do. That s what I see! And if you will allow me, I want to pray for us together. Holy Spirit, come! Lead us over the edge of adventure! Take us from fear to faith! Inspire us. Help us dream. Take us from A to B, from where we are to where you want us to be. Amen.