Keith Battle - Dream Killers

If you have a Bible, turn to Genesis chapter 11; that’s where we’ll start the message today. Genesis chapter 11. Since Genesis isn’t too hard of a book to find, I’m going to pray while you’re looking.

Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for bringing us all together in church today. Some people went through a whole lot to get here—tension, frustration. Somebody argued; somebody held back from an argument and just stayed quiet in the car. Kids are fussing; somebody peed on themselves, spills in the car— all kinds of stuff. Somebody’s tugging again; all kinds of stuff, but we’re here. And since we’re here, please speak to us, Lord. We ask for your Word to speak to us in personal ways. Empower me now; I pray that I may have your life-giving power. These won’t just be words, but this will be life-giving. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Genesis 11. I know what it’s like to come to church like that—in a minivan with kids fighting, somebody crying. Don’t get me started on the children’s church sign-in; the line is long. We aren’t going to get a seat in the main sanctuary because of you. We’re in overflow! Yeah, people give real funny looks—real funny! Amen. Amen. Genesis 11:31, New International Version: It says, «Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, who is the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram; and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived two hundred and five years, and he died in Haran.»

Chapter 12, verse 1: «The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’» So Abram left as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

I want you to repeat after me: «And they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.» Go back to Genesis 11, verse 31, and it says, «Terah took his son Abram”—this is Abraham’s father—“his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram; and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.» So repeat this after me: «They set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.»

Chapter 12, verse 5: Repeat this after me: «And they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.» I want to talk this morning from the subject «Dream Killers.» For those of you who don’t know, I am an incurable dreamer. For as far back as I can remember, I’ve always dreamed. I’ve always dreamed of a world outside of the world in which I lived. I was punished a lot as a kid; I was «bad.» I was doing time in my room, but I was never just in my room—my mind always took me other places. I’ve always thought outside of the circumference of the limitations of my reality. I’ve always dreamed, and 50 years later, I’m still dreaming.

I remember as a child hearing a song—the first time I heard this song, it had the same effect on me even now. The Disney song «When You Wish Upon a Star.» Whenever I hear that song, it almost feels like irreverence as I hear one dreamer singing to another: «When you wish upon a star, it does not matter who you are; anything your heart desires will come to you. When your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme when you wish upon a star, as dreamers do.»