this morning, we're wrapping up a series entitled Dream Big. We pulled that title from a new book released by bob Goff to new york times bestseller and the idea is that we want to help you this year, not just survive but to thrive and to go for it to go after something that God has called you to. So we want to help you know what you want, you know why you want it. And then today we're going to talk about, well, I don't know what to do about it. You know, what is it that God has called you to do? Who has God called you to be And together, who is God calling us this mission Grove Church to be here in 20 21. Well, there's a funny story in the book and we actually have a free copy of this book while supplies last for everybody that's in attendance today. And so you can grab that copy that our gift to you, grab that copy on your way out or if you're watching online, put in the comment section or fill out that digital form, let us know and we'll try to get you a copy while supplies last, but we really want to help you Dream Big. Well in that book, bob Gough actually shares kind of a funny story where a young man approached him and said bob, what's the one thing about relationships? And he kind of chuckled and he said you've never had a girlfriend have you Instead of asking what's the one thing about relationships, it's kind of like what's the one thing to get to the moon? There's a lot of crazy things he said, but if you picture going to the moon for a second, you know, there are a lot of decisions that need to be made and a lot of people involved. But if you were piloting that spaceship and you're trying to get to the moon, the most important thing I can tell you is that always keep the moon in the window. In other words, set sights on your ambition about where you want to go and always keep it in front of you. We got a little picture of the moon here, go ahead and throw it up on the screen. How crazy is it that as people as as humans A little over 50 years ago we looked at the mood and we said we're gonna go there and we did. I love that. How crazy is that? That we were able to build a rocket ship and put a man on the moon. Now, that was definitely not a linear process. There are a lot of things that changed along the way. But we kept the focus and the pilot of the spaceship kept his focus and it kept the moon in the window until we landed. Now, if you always keep the moon in the window when they got there, they wouldn't have gotten home. So once they got there they had to switch and put the Earth in the window and so I want to ask you, as we're talking about dreaming big and we're talking about ambitions, are you keeping your ambition in the window? Are you going after what God has called you to do, and who God has called you to be? And are you placing that in the focal point and moving in that direction. Over the last three weeks, we've encouraged every one of you to write down your ambitions. Just take a few minutes, maybe 30 minutes, and just brainstorm and don't don't filter it out. Just just write down everything that you want to do this year. Now, some desires are bigger than others. So, you know, you've got some some small ambitions, medium ambitions, large ambitions. Or if you love coffee like me, maybe it's it's tall, grande and venti size ambitions. Well, how do you decide what's the venti size ambition? Well, you want to be able to answer three questions. First of all, if you want to be able to answer, is it meaningful? Is it meaningful? 2nd you want to ask, is it lasting? Is my ambition something that will live beyond me? And then third, will it help other people now you might might be pursuing like physical health or spiritual health or relationship or finances, getting out of debt, buying that car, buying the house, whatever that ambition is, write it down, be upfront, be honest, acknowledge what it is that you're putting in the window. But if you want to have a venti sized dream, find one that's going to help others that's going to live beyond you and that's gonna have meaning. So picture that ambition, picture that idea and ask yourself, am I putting it in the window, am I moving in that direction? Now, I understand when we talk about goals, there's three types of people, there's the goal oriented people that when I say we're gonna set and go after goals this year, they get excited and they've already got their list made and they're tuning in there like, yes, see told you, usually people who love goals, have a friend who don't love goals and they kind of hit them in the process, then there's a majority of us who are in the middle of the bell curve who liked the idea of goals, but we've already broken our New Year's resolutions and so we like the idea, but we don't necessarily finish well or apply it and then you have a third group and they really just don't like the idea of goal setting. They don't like anybody telling them what to do, including themselves. I'm not gonna listen to that guy. You know, you can't miss a goal if you don't set one, okay, if you don't know where you want to go or you don't know the exact destination. I want to encourage you to do this to pick a direction, pick an idea a concept, maybe you don't know how to get there, but pick a direction where God is calling you and who God is calling you to be, and then take a step in that direction. At least start down that path. You know, if you're gonna go hiking, don't just start walking, pick the trail, you want to actually hike and different people are going to pick different trails, but at least park the car, get out and just start moving just a little bit. If you have your bibles, I want you to open up two Philippians. It's in the new testament, paul is writing to the church at philippi and it's really interesting because paul, his ambition was to become more like christ. Actually, earlier in the letter he says to live is christ. And we're gonna actually go verse by verse through this letter here in two weeks. And so it's gonna be super exciting. It's gonna be a series entitled the adventurous life. And so we're gonna be walking through this. But for today, I just want to focus in on these verses, Philippians. Chapter three, starting in verse 12, paul was planting churches, developing leaders. He was growing in his faith when he gets arrested for preaching the gospel. So his leadership was taken away his churches was taken away his influence according to the world standards was taken away, but he didn't stop pursuing his ambitions. He kept spiritual maturity, he kept spreading the gospel in the window, and he said, okay, I can't do this. But what I can do is write letters and here we are, 2000 years later, a product of those letters and we can read this because paul did not give up when circumstances got difficult plans change. But he kept pursuing his ambition to get the gospel out there. And so he writes this 13 verse 12. Not that I have already obtained this, in other words, not that I have already obtained spiritual perfection and sanctification and and maturity. Not that I've already obtained this or that I am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own. We're gonna see that word again, just underline that word there, press I press on to make it my own because christ jesus has made me his own brothers. I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God. In christ jesus simply put the wordpress means to push. But actually in our english language, we see the wordpress usually in a negative context when they add prefixes to it. So for example, you see the word depression, if someone is feeling depressed, that is that they are feeling pushed down. If someone is depressed, they feel like they're being pushed against. Or if you hear the word compress like compression, it's like something is squeezed from all around. Or maybe you've heard of the word oppression. Like some an outside force or people group is a pressing or pushing against or pushing back against us. Well paul could have been depressed, he's in prison, he lost his resources, he lost his churches, he lost these things, he he was experiencing oppression, persecuted for his faith. The people he was writing to are being persecuted for their faith. He could have felt compression that the pressure from the outside was coming in from all sides being squeezed in. But what did he say? He said, No. one thing I know I'm not perfect, I'm not there. The situation isn't perfect. But what I know is this that I'm going to forget what's behind me and I'm gonna press on for what is ahead. I'm gonna keep jesus in the window, I'm gonna keep jesus and spiritual maturity and sanctification and the gospel in the window and I am going to press through and press on. I think many of us are ready to put 2020 in the behind us, but some of us for different reasons, maybe it's our own choices that we're battling and we need to put behind us. Maybe it's the choices of others that have heard us that we need to put behind us. Maybe we've been placed in a circumstance or situation that we we are feeling depressed or oppressed or compressed wherever you're facing right now, I want to encourage you to press through picture for a moment and I've shared this before with people. But it's a great visual that I reminded myself, is that when you think about riding in a car, what is bigger? The rear view mirror or the windshield? Okay. Maybe not. A lot of you drive? I don't know. Let me ask you again, what is bigger? The rear view mirror or the windshield windshield? Yes. Why? Because it's more important to know where you're going than it is to see where you've been. Yeah, it's it's helpful to know where you've come from. But looking through the windshield of 2021 looking to what God has called you to do and who God has called you to be. I want to challenge you with this. If you want a breakthrough, you need to press through. If you're ready for a breakthrough In 2021, you've got to press through. You have to keep your ambition. You have to keep the gospel. You have to be, you have to keep that identity in the window ahead of you because you're gonna have to make all kinds of changes. Paul was put in prison. His ministry was halted. He was depressed and oppressed and compressed. But he said, nope, I'm forgetting what is behind and I am pressing toward who God has called me to be and what God has called me to do. And because he made that move because he pressed through, we have these letters and we have the new testament as we know it. And our lives have changed because of it. If you want to break through, you've got to press through. So if you think about that ambition or that idea that dream, that little, that little whisper that nudge in your, in your ear or in your heart, that idea that when you hear it, your heart skips a beat a little bit, whatever that is. I want to help you right now and I want to give you just some practical tips to dreaming. Big In other words, we want to help you activate your ambitions here in 2021 and some practical ways to apply and to go after it because I don't want to be a church that just drifts drifting can be fun, but it's it's not very motivating. Like I learned when I moved here to Arizona that a fun activity people do is that they float down the Salt river and apparently drink a lot of beverages along the way. But that's another story. But but a lot of people go and that's kind of fun to get in a tube and you sit down and you're hanging with your buddies and you just float down the river. But while that's great for a leisure activity, that's not a great way to pursue life because have you noticed you never drift to healthy habits? You never just wake up one day be like, man, I was exhausted, I was overwhelmed. And so I binged Rosetta stone last night and now I know spanish, right? You never like, man, the world is crazy right now. And so I just had this craving and so I built an addition onto my house. I don't know where that came from. No. What happens is that when, when you drift, when you put it in neutral, we always go to personal, we always go to indulgence. We always go to laziness or something like man, I have so much to do and then an hour of social media scrolling later, we're like, wait, what, what was I supposed to do? It's almost like when you go to the store and you've got to get one item and you walk through the whole store and you leave and as you're pulling out of the parking lot, you forget the one item that you want to go before. Has anyone done that? I haven't, never, I've never done that as a husband and my wife's been disappointed in me. But um, you know, we do this right because you always drift to something unhealthy. That means that you have to press through or choose to grow. Change is mandatory, but growth is optional. And so let me share a couple of practical tips to help you grow this year, Number one, if you want to dream big this year, don't lip sync. Someone else's goals. Don't lip sync. Someone else's goals. In the late 80s, there was this band Milli Vanilli. So Milli Vanilli had their hit break onto the scene, you know what it was? Remember girl, you know, it's true, Okay, so they go and they break onto the scene, okay, I'll stop girl, you know? Okay, alright, so they break onto the scene, it's one of the biggest smash hits across the world. And so we have these guys here, we have fab Morvan and rob pilatus who are standing on a stage in front of 80,000 people and they're doing their sweet dance moves and they're like, girl, you know it girl, you know, it's a girl, you know, it's girls and they're like, look at each other and it plays almost 15 times. There was a problem. They couldn't get to the word true why? Because they weren't actually singing. Those two guys were not the ones who recorded the song. And so they actually, the producer hired two guys to models and dancers to come on and lip sync and pretend to be this band. And the track started skipping and so they realized that they weren't actually singing and so out of embarrassment, they ran off the stage, Here's my fear is that I believe there are people that are lip sinking somebody else's goals. Someone else told you that you're supposed to do this, you need to do this. And so we're up there girl, you know, it's like, like, and we're pursuing something that's not us and the whole time we're feeling stressed out because we don't want to be found out that we're not actually singing. And so what I want to encourage you to do instead of lip sinking somebody else's goals. Instead find your voice, find the song that God has called you to sing, how has God wired you with your gifting and your passion and your personality and go that, how can you contribute to your community to your workplace? God has given you a unique voice that has value. And if you go after it in that way, you're gonna see God change things. Number one don't lip sync, someone else's goals. Number two, don't sleepwalk your schedule, don't sleepwalk your schedule. When I was a kid, my parents told me a story that one night I was in bed, they were in the living room and I just walked out kind of zombie. Like if you've ever seen someone sleepwalk and they're like, john and I was like, I gotta go and I actually went outside, We were in florida. I went outside to our carport, which I've never had seen another state have carports. I feel like florida that's, I don't know if we just don't like garage doors or what? So I went to the carport and I got on my bike and I tried to ride away while I was sleeping And so thankfully my bike was locked. And so they pulled me off the bike and pulled me inside, turns out I actually had to use the bathroom. That's what I was saying, I have to go. Um, but you know, and so I go in and so if anyone ever slept, walked growing up or recently or have a loved one, you're looking at that person right now in the room. Okay, comment below if you've ever had a sleepwalking story, uh, fast forward. When I was older, I didn't sleepwalk as much, but I have slept talk before. Well, I get really tired and I was having a dream apparently where I was fighting a bad guy. And so I just started yelling, I was like, and my wife Samantha said something goes, john are you okay? And I go and I swing because I'm fighting. And thankfully I did not connect otherwise. I might not be standing on the stage today. Um, but I did not. And so if you have a loved one, you're probably whispering right now. Maybe a story where you experienced somebody sleepwalking or sleep talking. Here's the thing. When you sleepwalk, you're you're moving, but you're not actually going anywhere. And if you sleep talk, your you're speaking, but are you really saying anything? And my fear is that some people sleepwalk their schedule. In other words, they're moving throughout their day. They're drifting throughout their day, but there's no intentionality or purpose behind it. So how can you prioritize and, and start making a difference and just just, just be awake. It's amazing what you can accomplish throughout your day. If you go in and enter on purpose and you walk into the room awake, it's my prayer that as a church, we can walk into the room awake, let me just share with you a personal example, one of my ambitions this year as you get more practical and the spiritual development of my kids. And so what I did was that I, I bought my oldest son a new bible and we decided we're gonna read through the new testament. We're starting in the gospel of john and we're, and we're going through this, but I'm not the best morning person. And so I don't know how parents with young kids feel, but sometimes at home in the morning just trying to get out the door as the wind, right? Like if we get in the car and you're wearing shoes awesome and they're the same shoes they match even better. And so sometimes, you know, like, and my head was like, I'm gonna get up at four in the morning and we're gonna pray and for three hours and then we're gonna go for a holy walk together as our kids and I'm like, that's, that's just not happening in our household, okay. But what I did though was I realized that on the way to school when we're in the car line, we have about 2030 minutes where we're in the same spot every day and they're in that car and so now in that car and I also know we have a routine where we tuck them in every night And so whether it's in the car in the morning, in that 20 minute 30 minute window or when we took them in at night, we take the Bible, we have the passage and I read it through and I have them read it out loud and now I'm pursuing my ambition of developing and disciple in my kids. But it didn't happen until I bought the bible set the time chose the passage and started moving in that direction. That makes sense. Don't lip sync. Someone else's goals. Don't sleepwalk your schedule. But number three identify limiting and launching beliefs, identify limiting and launching beliefs limiting beliefs are those put on you by someone else or maybe something that you've said years ago that still box you in. If you picture a baby elephant, that when they're born, if they're trying to keep a baby elephant contained, they can take a small rope and put it around its ankle. Now as the elephant grows older and much bigger, it becomes much stronger than the rope. But because they always knew that that rope would hold them in. It becomes a limiting belief. And even though they're way stronger than what holds them in, they stay put. Has someone said to you something as a child or a circumstance or situation that you faced that still impacts how you make decisions today, bob Gough said that when he was a kid, he was in a classroom one time and somebody called him stupid And for the next 40 years, every time he entered the room, his goal was to not feel stupid. Do you have a circumstance or situation, maybe you've been hurt in a relationship in your past and now when you're president, you think, well I've been hurt before, I'm not gonna let that happen again. And so now if one person betrayed me, therefore everyone could betray me and so I'm not gonna open myself up to trust again because I've been hurt once you're not gonna get me and now you live a closed off life and you're much stronger than the rope that's around your ankle, but you're afraid to move well if that's you, I want to encourage you with this, flip the script, flip the script. Do you know you tell the story of you to yourself every day. Does anyone else have a voice in their head or maybe speak it out loud? They have conversations and they think out loud I do. So I do so in the car all the time and that's why I'm actually grateful that cell phones now connect the car. So before I used to drive and used to talk to myself out loud and I talk with my hands and so someone will be driving alongside of me? I'm like like this go around now, they just assume I'm on the phone, so but I talk out loud, I talk to myself, I have these conversations, so the question is, what story do you tell yourself because you can take the same circumstances and change the story. For example, maybe you felt overwhelmed in 2020, you felt overwhelmed with everything that was coming at you instead why don't you flip the script this year? And instead of overwhelming tell the story of overcoming maybe you walk through a situation and the story you've been telling yourself for years is a story of pain. But what if starting today, instead of the story of pain, you tell yourself the story of perseverance, there's not a story of loss and suffering, it's a story of sanctification and salvation and said not today, satan, maybe you have an addiction or you've messed up day after day after day. But what if you flip the script and say not today, today, I stand today, I start today, I pray today, I reach out today, I forgive today, I am no longer a victim to my circumstances, I am victorious in the name of jesus Amen. So when you change the limiting beliefs and then lean into what are called launching beliefs, look into your past, into your story. Are there people are their phrases, are there examples of where someone spoke positivity into your life? Is there a recurring theme of gifting man? You're really good at that man? That's awesome. You should pursue this, lean into those thoughts picture if you will like a series of potted plants in front of me, Okay, and in one pot you have the seed of worry and one pot you have a seed of doubt in one pot you see I have the seed of Brokenness and then in the other you have victory and dreaming big and your ambitions. Now you only have one jar of water. What plant is going to grow? The one You Water? So by controlling the story you tell, choose instead. I'm no longer going to water the seed of worry in my life. I'm no longer going to feed and water the seed of anxiety and depression and addiction in my life. Instead I am gonna water purpose, I am gonna water joy and love. I'm gonna water my soul with who God created me to be and who God has called me to be and I'm gonna live out of that identity. And so today I stand free, today I stand victorious and today I live my life on purpose and you flip that script, that's how you activate it forth in order to dream big, you need to find your flock. You need to find your flock paul? When he's writing that message, He's writing to a group of people, other believers. He's encouraging them to take that next step to press through. When I think back to the movie a couple of decades ago, Academy Award winner for Best Picture, classic film, Disney's Mighty Ducks. Okay, so it didn't win Best Picture that year, but it should have the great redemptive story of Gordon Bombay leading this ragtag group of hockey players to victory right in there play. They they come together and they have the flying V. Ducks fly together, go ahead crack. And if you haven't seen the movie you're like this guy's a quack quack quack. But that's your homework. If you haven't seen it, go, go do it. Your life will be changed. Okay, so we're there. Well they fly together right? Birds of a feather flock together like that. Flying V Did you know that there's actually scientific proof that when birds fly together, it actually eases the load win from their wings pushes down. So the bird on the left and the right then receives a small updraft of replacement of air so that it actually makes it easier to fly and they fly together. They go farther. Isn't that true for us to, if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together, surround yourself with people that want to pursue that ambition or maybe a little bit ahead of you. That mentor that coach, someone who's gonna speak, launching belief statements into your life and not limit you. That's why crossfit is such a big movement because it's not just the workout, it's the community that comes with it. And so when you surround yourself with the team, surround yourself with the, with the flock, that's why it's important for us to gather. That's why even if you're watching online, my prayer for you is that you have a community to connect to because we go farther faster together, You gotta find your flock and then lastly, if you want to dream big this year, you gotta gotta land the plane and by that, I mean take action today. I don't love flying. I mean I'm okay with it, I'm not afraid, but I'm a little uneasy feeling in my stomach when we fly and uh you know what, I actually don't love, it's kind of a weird spot, but I don't love when we get ready to land because you know what happens when you get ready to land, you go down like this and you go down and then you go back up, I'm like, whoa, what's going on? You know what I'm talking about? Like you don't just come down, it's like down, up, down, up, down, up Well, it's actually a phenomenon known as ground effect. So the air being pushed down from the plane or passing under the plane goes immediately downward, but you're close enough to the ground that it hits the ground and then pushes back up on the plane and so that's why planes when they land, it's kind of fairly smooth, but it's like this, this this is until you land it. My worry is how many people are 10 ft, 20 ft 30 ft above their ambitions. And they never actually land the plane. It's been said there's two types of people in the world, those who do and those who might take action today, don't don't allow ground effect to push back your ambitions instead. Take an action toward your ambition. Keep it in the window to go ahead and land the plane. Rory Vaden says it this way, he says, procrastination and indulgence are nothing more than creditors who charge interest, don't don't procrastinate on your ambition today. It's not going to be perfect. They're not going to get to the moon tomorrow. But you can do something today. You're not going to get out of debt tomorrow, but you can save today. You're not going to be completely mature tomorrow. But you can read today, you can pray today, you can commit your life to jesus today. You can you might not heal that relationship, but you can choose to forgive, you might not have overcome that addiction, but you can choose to stand. And so whenever you find yourself in a difficult circumstance, like paul found himself choose to press through. Change the story. You tell yourself flip that script and say no satan. Not today. Yes, I've battled cancer. Yes, I lost my job. Yes, we're in a pandemic. Yes. Our churches meeting in a comedy club and somewhere in in summer online. Do you think this was in our plan? No, but what I do know is that God has called us to reach the valley. God has called us to launch a movement known as Mission Grove Church. And I don't want to limp through 2021. I don't want to drift through and just see what this world has. I don't want my mindset to be determined by my social media feed. I want the God who created me on purpose and for purpose to set my identity so that I can live from that identity and go after this year to go after my ambitions to become the man that God has called me to be, to raise kids and to love my spouse the way that God has loved me, to go after it, to see the kingdom be taken for God's glory, that we can see people saved lives transformed. And it starts here. It starts now accepting the spirit into your life and going for it. I don't want to just live a life of mediocrity, drifting from one circumstance to the next. I don't think you do either. And so if you want to dream big, keep your ambition in the window. Don't let sink somebody else's goals. Don't sleepwalk your schedule. Don't allow a limiting belief to lock you in when you're much stronger than you think you are Flip The script, tell a different story, surround yourself with people to pursue it with you, to hold each other up and then go ahead and land the plane and get after it and start today. And let's see what God can do in 2021. Will you pray with me? Dear God. Mhm. I want us to dream big this year. I want us to have spirit filled and spirit led lives want to risk it all. I want to take the moon, I want to go after it. God, I want to launch into this year to take ground for your kingdom. God, my prayer is not that earth goes to heaven, but God, our prayer as a church is that your kingdom come. I don't know what tomorrow brings, but I know today I can choose you. Mhm. Today I choose the ambitions that you've called me to to be the man that you have called me to be. And God, I might have messed up in the past, but I'm forgetting what is behind and I am pressing through to what is ahead and God, I want to break through and because of that, I'm gonna press through in your name, jesus. I pray for people that are in this room right now are watching online that they can press through and break through into their circumstances into their relationships and that they can choose today to dream big to choose today to land the plane to go after it. Let us not drift and base our lives and our emotions and our attitudes on what the world has to give. But instead you as the author of life who have defeated death, who has given us your spirit into us. Maybe walk in that spirit when we walk by faith, not by sight. When we walk in your power God and experience the joy and the purpose and the love and the peace that comes from knowing you. There is nothing in this world that we have to hold on to. And because of that God sing to you. We cling to you. We stand with open hands and open hearts God and we pour out our lives to you God. And we want to go after it. Let us be a church that lives by faith. Let us be a church that is bold. Let us be a church that looks to serve and to help others that is unified around your method. God help us the dream building 2020. We love you got it and your son's name. We pray amen. Will you stand and will you sing with us right now? Mm hmm.