The Path to the Dream: Grow Up to Dream Again

Well, good morning, everyone. Beautiful Sabbath. It's always beautiful. No matter what the weather is, but cold, crisp January morning and the sunshine is out, and it's a good day. Good to be with all of you again here. Thank you very much, Carolyn, for that special music. I was listening very carefully to the words to see if that can fit into what I want to talk about today, and it does. You know, coming up with an introduction to a message, a sermon is always a challenge. You want to get something that is catchy, that certainly is appropriate and all. I've been thinking about my topic here for some time, and it wasn't until just a few days ago while I was putting together a kind of a top 20, top 30 song list at a special request by someone, my top 20 or so songs that are my favorite songs that I have. I like to play music in ABC at times to make certain points or for other reasons. I was listening to one song by one of my favorite artists, Don't Fall Away Yet, Mr. Bruce Springsteen, that great American poet.

And I came up with the introduction for my sermon today. From his song, Two Hearts Are Better Than One, a stanza that says, Once I spent my time playing tough guy scenes, but I was living in a world of childish dreams. Someday these childish dreams must end to become a man and grow up to dream again. Two hearts are better than one. You know, as children, we all had dreams.

Think back on your childhood. What were your dreams? I'll tell you mine. I wanted to be a cowboy. How many of you wanted to be a cowboy at one time? Yeah. I wanted to be a NFL quarterback like Johnny Unitas because he was the top guy in my era. That really dates me. But I imagine myself being a quarterback. I had a short stint on one of my grade school teams as a quarterback at one time. I'm a news junkie. I grew up watching the news. Walter Cronkite was, you know, who I watched. And I just thought that was the neatest thing in the world to set and be a newscaster. So I would dress up with a coat and I would go to the little bitty tiny desk that we had in one of the back bedrooms and I'd take clippings out of the newspaper and I would sit there, pretend that I was a newscaster. I did. Guess what? For 20 years, I sat in front of a camera talking about the Bible, the news, prophecy, and things like that. You know, they say that by writing down your dreams, you have a better chance of someday seeing them come true. I have a full file of articles right here that say that very same thing to be true. If you have a dream, you write it down. And by that act of writing it down, the chance of it coming true is increased.

I think it's true. I ask you not to dismiss that and don't scoff. And if you're of a critical frame of mind, don't get too critical yet. We all have childish dreams, like Mr. Springsteen writes about. But we all know that those dreams get smashed. They're taken away as we grow older. As the saying goes, life comes at you fast and reality hits. Several years ago, as an adult and as a minister, I learned that you can dream again and that we should dream again.

A movie was made a few years ago called The Bucket List. I took that title and that idea into this idea of dreams and actually did a Beyond Today program on it. And in the early days of the Ambassador Bible College, I used to give a lecture on this particular topic. I actually can't claim the originality on the idea. I got the idea from one of my elders in my Fort Wayne congregation many years ago, John Robinson. Some of you knew him. John Robinson was an elder and a very dear friend of myself and others. And he gave a sermon about creating a dream list. Actually, I still have his notes from that. He gave them to me. They're yellowed and they're on fax paper. Remember fax paper? He gave the sermon back in 1994 and he actually listed a few dreams from some of the people in the congregation at that time. There was a much younger Scott Moss there at the time. And one of Scott Moss's dreams that he had was to be a rock and roll star singer. Scott still may have that on his dream list. He had others. There was a three, four, five-year-old little boy named Mitch Moss in the congregation at that time. And Mitch Moss had a dream to be an alien on Venus. That was his dream. Okay. My wife actually made the list. She wanted to sail down the Nile or sail up the Nile, probably. She wanted to sail up the Nile.

And there were others that were a part of that. And so I gleefully plagiarized that sermon because John plagiarized or put it together and got the idea from another source since I've read that. And as I said, I talked about it. I made my own dream list. And I used to talk about it with the students to encourage and to inspire them. So why am I talking about it today? Why am I giving this updated 2026 version? Is it because I don't have anything else to speak about? And came up on Friday afternoon and this was the default topic? No. No.

I'm giving it because I think that being able to dream holds a key to some of our problems today in the world. We look around our world and we see people without purpose seeking for meaning.

We see people facing anxiety in all different forms and shapes and seeing the impact that that takes upon their lives. Depression. Suicidal thoughts, unfortunately for some, even suicide. Eating disorders, proliferating. Mental breakdowns.

I'd rather not talk about the world.

I'm talking about the church.

Our fellowship.

Those close to us and dear to us. I'm not talking about the world. I've been observing a lot of things of late. I've had a number of phone calls. I've talked to a lot of people. I watch my meager little Facebook feed that occasionally pops up people on there that I actually have friends rather than some other stupid stuff that gets clogged in there. And I grieve when people pour themselves out. And so I've come to the belief that a part of a solution—I want to talk about solutions today because we all know the issues—as I prayed about it and thought about it, talked to a number of people about it in this building and other places, I've come to a thought—and not the total solution, but I think a part of it—that I think a creative and imaginative act of thinking big dreams, living a large positive life, can be a part of a healthy mindset for our young people, for our parents, for our adults, for every one of us, regardless of our age. I think it's needed in this present age that is slouching toward something in the unknown, a world full of so many things that we're all grappling with—AI technology, social upheaval, a world-changing order. And I admit to being a news junkie, as I said, and I'm watching it as I watch things. You know, I'm trying to figure it all out myself. It's so fast. Each day it seems like something big happens. It's about to happen. What does it all mean? Where is it going? Wars and a changing world order and all. It's more than we can absorb at times, and it has its impact, and more than we can understand. I think sometimes we just have to do what we can to push it back. And I've come to a conclusion, again, with this, I think, an idea, call it a truth, that we can manage that. Our life today into the future with a large vision, call it a dream, which God has given to us. The dream, the vision of the coming kingdom of God and the knowledge that God does guide world affairs to His purpose. That is always in my mind as I watch things and analyze the world. That's my anchor, and I know that. So I don't worry. I've been in a number of earthquakes, and just two weeks ago we were in Mexico City, and another tremor hit us when we were down there. And I learned years ago not to panic, and I just don't worry about it. I guess I read the Scriptures, earthquakes in different earthquakes in diverse places, and I've been through big ones in California where I grew up in Missouri, was on a fault line. And I don't worry about it. I mean, it's unnerving, and don't get me wrong, but because of just the knowledge of the Bible, God's plan, God's purpose, prophecy, I don't think that it's all going to come tumbling down with one tremor. Now, I guess, you know, take that into a kind of a lesson for other things that go on in life, whether in our personal level for a young person, where some setback happens, something happens that we think we're never going to crawl out of, and it's a life-ending situation, or even in mid-life as an adult, and a big curveball hits us—health, financial problem, etc. There's still reason to move forward, move ahead, because we have the hope, the dream, the vision, the truth of God's coming kingdom, and that God is in control of this world and our lives. You know, our personal dreams that we have, and what we might want to become in life, can be shaped within that larger dream of seeking first the kingdom of God. I think that it is a key to managing the crises of life, the disappointments, the betrayals that often will come, the negativity of life.

You know, no matter what the source is, some of the answers that people have given me as to what's happening with our young people, especially social media, the pressures that are put there. And I get that. Yeah, you know, you see things, you see images, lifestyles, or what's happening with even, you know, those that you know, and it shapes forms and directs our mind, our emotions, and reactions that aren't always positive, putting pressures there. And how we deal with that, whether we're 15 years old, or 50 years old, or 74 years old, is something I think that can be managed as a result of having big dreams in our life that attach to the larger dream that God has for all of us in His coming Kingdom. Mrs. Prater was singing about being kings and priests, and about ruling with God, and God being on His throne. And those words roll off of a song like that. They come out in a sermon. We'll write about it. We'll read about it in the Bible. We are to be kings and priests. That's a big, big dream. Makes my dream of being a cowboy look pretty paltry.

But God says that is our goal, to set with Christ on His throne. You know the promises, eternal life, but specifics that God gives us that, wow, is it true? It is true. But do we believe it? Do we live as if we do believe it? Does it drive, then, the other hopes and dreams and aspirations that we can create and craft in our life in almost like a scripted life?

Yeah, really. That gives us the ability to keep moving forward no matter what happens. You know, a dream list can help a young person begin to take control of their life and chart a positive course into the future, overcoming the awkward setbacks that happen when you're 16, 18, 21. And they are there for so many of our young people. They're there for our middle-aged adults as well.

But it's especially difficult when you're young because of the tremendous pressures, and we all can remember and should remember those pressures when we were young. And I do think they're magnified by technology, social media today, in ways that are far more devastating than, you know, the fact that, you know, that little girl with the cute pigtails in fifth grade, fourth grade, you know, wouldn't set with you at lunch.

That can be devastating for you at that time. But there are bigger things that seem to be impacting our young people today that just block out a future, leaving a sense of hopelessness. But I think a dream list. I think the ability to dream. I think to do, as Mr. Springsteen says, to grow up and to dream again and not let people, adults, life issues squash the ability to live a big life.

I gave a sermon about a year and a half ago, the baccalaureate sermon here, Hope in a Troubled World. But my tagline was that we have to live lives in a big ceiling room, not a narrow, cloistered environment, but with windows, with light coming in, with a big ceiling, where there's possibilities, where there's a future, where there's a hope, where we can dream. So consider this part two of that sermon as an effort to help us all focus in on the reality and to overcome the awkward setbacks of any age and take control of our life.

You know, I think having a list of dreams is the first step in controlling our life, taking control away from social media, taking control away from other friends that might betray, taking control away from maybe parents that disappoint, or other adults who disappoint. And look, it's not always that parents disappoint. When you're 17 or 18, we all probably, you know, had our, you know, druthers or, you know, certain feelings about parents and maybe wishing we had different parents or they disappoint.

Maybe, you know, some of the problems and the faults of those parents come through are seen as we grow older and they impact us. We have to take control and be able to deal with that in order for our life to work at the highest level.

Social media is not real life. But friends do or don't do isn't your life. It's not my life. We have control over our life and we can lose loose the shackles and the self-imposed limits that are there. I want all of us to dream again. I want us all to grow up. Let's look at a famous dream in the Bible. There's one that stands out and I'd like for you to turn over to Genesis chapter 37. It's that big dream, that big dreamer named Joseph who at 17 years old had a dream.

And you all know the dream, but let's look at it and see what it did because I think that what this dream did for Joseph was begin to shape the arc of his life. And let's look at it. It says in verse 2 that Joseph being 17 years old, Genesis 37 verse 2, was feeding the flock with his brothers and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives.

And Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father. Well, he probably shouldn't have gone tattling to his father and whatever was going on out there in the fields in what was not just a mixed family, but as we know, a complicated family, that of Jacob. Complicated even more about what we see in verse 3, Israel loved Joseph more than all of his children. Well, a favoritism, we all know what that does in a family because he was the son of his old age. Okay. That's the reality.

Sets up the story. Also, he made him a tunic of many colors. So favoritism. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. All right. We've got a great family dynamic working here. All right. And then Joseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers. Oh, big mistake. Big, you know, compounding it. They hated him even more. So he said to them, please hear this dream which I've dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.

Boy. That really sets up a good, good, good relations there in the family. And his brothers said to him, shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Then he dreamed still another dream. Verse 9. And he told it to his brothers and he said, look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time the sun, the moon and the 11 stars bowed down to me. So he told it to his father and his brothers and his father rebuked him. Even the dear father who loved him more, he said to him, what is this dream that you've dreamed? So your mother and I, your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you and the brothers envied him. But his father kept the matter in mind, kind of like Mary would later with Jesus as she observed things. And so even though Jacob didn't get it at first and had a caustic comment, he thought about it. Now, Joseph was a teenager when he had this dream. Looking carefully at the account, it doesn't say that God gave him the dream. You know, we all have dreams and sometimes we have vivid dreams that we wonder, what does that really mean? I think from time to time we've all had those. And, you know, when I have, I just, a few times I've kind of written it down in my journal about it and you leave it because, you know, I'm not, you don't get an interpretation or you just, it's so vivid, so dramatic that you actually remember it unlike a lot of other dreams. But this account doesn't say that God gave him the dream. And there's no angelic messenger that appears to interpret it like with Daniel and others. Perhaps it is that he just dreamed it and he told it to his family. Later on, Joseph will say that God interprets dreams. And so, what we conclude about this, I think that regardless of whether it was a dream God put there or just his dream that then God interpreted through his life, I do think that for Joseph it became the overarching story of his life. He never forgot the dream.

And it became that which he could anchor his life into. Now, we all know what happened to Joseph's life. Betrayal. Soon after this, his brothers sold him into Egyptian slavery.

A vast betrayal. He did get into the house of Potiphar in a responsible position, but then he got into trouble there. Mrs. Potiphar cast her eyes upon him. And when he resisted, because he had conviction of God's word, God's law, he was falsely accused. Lied about to others. So he's had betrayal and lying about him, common factors of life that can be a setback to a young person, to a young adult, to a mature adult. And he gets thrown in prison.

And he's in that prison, and after his encounters with the butler and the baker or the pharaoh who were thrown in, the butler, after he interprets their dreams, the butler gets out and forgets about Joseph. So he's forgotten. He's in prison, but then he's forgotten and he's overlooked, perhaps even taken advantage of. You see what can begin to prey upon a mind and sidetracking. But you know the story of Joseph? He didn't let it thwart and overturn all of his life.

Did he fight thoughts of depression, anxiety? I think he probably did. I think he was able to manage that and work through it because of the dream that he had, because of this vision, because of what he had been taught and as he put it all together in his life.

Now, as we move through the story of Joseph, in chapter 41, beginning at verse 46, when he finally comes out after he has to then he's remembered when Pharaoh has a dream, and Joseph comes out and he interprets the dream and Pharaoh sees that it is something that he needs to act on. In Genesis 41, at verse 46, Joseph at age 30 stands before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, went throughout all the land of Egypt. And he's told that he is going to be set over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh gives him his signet ring, in verse 42, off of his hand puts it on Joseph's, closing with fine linen, gold chain around his neck. And he then has this responsibility to prepare for seven years of famine through seven plenteous years. The story goes on. We know when the famine comes, ultimately then his family comes down. And Joseph has this dramatic scene where he reveals himself to his brothers in Genesis 45. At verse 1, Joseph could not restrain himself before all of those who stood by him. And he cried out, make everyone go out from me. And so no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. He wept aloud and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard it. Everyone loves the story of Joseph, and it's why it's perennial. It's told and retold into today's world. It's one of our favorites. I would think for any of us here as we look at it, it is gripping. And every time you read through it, you're drawn into it, even when you know how it's all going to end. But it is so real. There are aspects of it that we can so strongly identify with, because it's a family with problems. And it's this great story of betrayal, of lies. I mean, there's a reason there have been so—the Count of Monte Cristo is written in a big book, and then so many different movies have been made, and new ones still coming out on a story that has the same elements as the Joseph story, of betrayal and revenge. In this case, Joseph doesn't seek revenge. He loves his family, and he tells him in verse 3, I am Joseph. I am Joseph. Does my father still live? They couldn't answer him. They were dismayed at what had happened. And he said, please come near me. And they did. And he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

This is how Joseph worked it through in all those years in prison as a betrayed son, a slave, put into a house, betrayed there, forgotten, lied about. He eventually, at some point, and all of his thinking, he came to realize that God sent me before you to preserve life. Down in verse 7, he said, God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. How did he come to that is the question for us to think about. And in this context of dreams and the dream that he had, I think it just the fact that he never forgot that dream. And he anchored his life in it with his other dreams and thoughts about himself and how he saw himself and how he was going to live. There's a reason that he didn't give in to the temptations of Mrs. Potiphar. When human nature and a normal course of life apart from God and his law would say it's okay to engage in a one-off, he didn't do it because he would not sit against God. Did he have another big purpose in his life? Yes, he did. And it was anchored in the law. Did he take that dream and see that his life had meaning and purpose and he just he had to remain faithful to the teaching that he knew and do what was right, be a faithful steward in the house of Potiphar all the way down, you know, not only to the other servants and to the money of the house but to that most precious part of the house, the relationship between the owner of the master, Potiphar, and his wife that was on the verge of at least drawing him into it to wreck it and he wouldn't do it. Dreams can help us navigate the challenges, the disappointments, the setbacks of life. God has given us a dream. It is the dream of the kingdom of God. We can call it a vision, we can call it a truth, and it's all of that. But it's like a dream that like Joseph's shapes our life. We have given our all to the pursuit of that. We are seeking first the kingdom of God. And that defines, that's defined our life. Just as Joseph's dream kept him anchored through those years of trials and setbacks and what he knew that God had planned for him, enabling him to stay loyal, faithful, to the essence of his dream, to what he knew that it would take. And if the other things were other goals and steps along the way, call it what we might today. But his objective was to live up to that dream.

And he was able to resist every barrier thrown up to keep him from getting to that, that ultimate vision that he had. When God calls us, our journey begins.

In God's dream, we know well from the Bible, perhaps summed up in Hebrews 2 where he says he is going to be bringing many sons to glory. Many sons to glory to sit with Christ on his throne, to reign with Christ, to be co-heirs, and all that the Scriptures tell us about that vision, that dream. God calls us and he puts us in his dream, and he does it through the context of our life and our times because that's all we have to work with. Our life, our families, our parents, our brothers and sisters, our friends, our decisions that we make where we take control of our life and we chart out what we are going to do, what we are going to become, and the type of person that we know we should be based on the Word of God. And we make those decisions and we own them and we live with them and we make them happen with God's help because we're on a path that is sure. And then as that commitment deepens with baptism and the receipt of the divine nature, the Spirit of God, we have that help then to continue to move in that direction. God calls us. Joseph saw his future through the dream that he had in his youth, and it sustained him through all those times. We have our ultimate dream and we have a vision that sustains us through our life that we can see ourselves in in our life and in our times.

But brethren, we also need to fill in the script with other details, other dreams, the events. That's the color. That's the sequencing. That's what we can put in there and imagine that we want to do. Imagine and dream of what we want to become.

And we may see that in other people. We may have a good mentor, a good role model, as Chad was talking about in his sermonette. And we see good qualities in people. I had those in my years, early years in the church of men and women who loved me in the church, my own family as well, but particular individuals that I look back on that I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be that type of person in life and certainly within the church and I knew that it was important. And even wanting to be like them was an early dream that kept me from succumbing to all the temptations that were part of my youth to the degree that it would have derailed my life off into a different track because I wanted to be like this person or that person and I saw their qualities. And that may be you. That makes a difference with someone today where you mentor by your example, by your words of encouragement that can help sustain a person in their life.

This is what God wants. This is what we are to do. So what do we do? Here's the action that I call us all to think about. Create a dream list.

Sit down and create a list that if money was not a problem, time was not a problem, yet all the time in the world, status, there was nothing to hold you back. What do you want to do? What do you want to become?

You're not too young to do that. You're not too old to do that either.

I said I wanted to be a newscaster. Well, I even dressed the part in my fancy in my back bedroom. It happened. It happened. Don't tell me. I believe that I dreamed it.

And the circumstances, along with so many other decisions that I made, took me into a track and the opportunity beyond what I could have charted out completely in my own life. About 20 years ago, on a trip to Jerusalem, our group went up to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, where you see the pictures there, the wall that was not a part of any of the temples, but it was the surrounding parts of the remains of the surrounding wall there on the Temple Mount, dating back to the time of the first century and the time of Solomon. You see Jews praying there. You see Jews praying there. It's a revered site, and you can go up to it. And people have a habit of... They write prayers on a little piece of paper, and they fold it up, and they stick it in the cracks.

And I've heard that on one of the High Holy Days, I've heard it was atonement that's all taken down and burned in a ceremony. And then, of course, people keep putting them in there. Well, I took a piece of paper, and I wrote down two things the last time I was there.

And I put them into the crack of the Western Wall.

One of them has come true, and I'm in the process of working toward the fulfillment of the second one. I think there is something to writing it down.

Today, I have a revised list. I've come back to this, as I've been led to think about this in recent times. And I've begun to put down a list. I'm 74 years old. I'm going into what I like to call, based on one of our recent sessions with our consultant, I'm entering it into preferment, all right, what I prefer to do.

And so I'll come back to this. And I started to put together my revised string list.

Sailing the Nile is now on mine. Still on my wife's as well. And we'll see. I've got a few other places and things to do. But I also want to lead a group on the three journeys of the Apostle Paul out of the Book of Acts and open the Book of Acts and teach people along the stops that you can make along that route to help make it come alive. I want to write a commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes.

I've always wanted to do that. It's one of the most interesting books that I've felt is also one of the most misunderstood books. And other things that I've begun to put on this list. I want a pickup truck too. But I don't want to live in Montana. So, you're not too old. You're not too old. I have a revised list. Make yours. Whatever you can dream.

Time, money, status, not a problem. Put it down. Think about it. Put it down within the context of God's overall dream for us, which is His kingdom. And so much more. Ask God to guide you in that.

You know, when we turn to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 29, Jeremiah, in his prophecies to the captives in Babylon, I think he gives a voice to the truth that God Himself has a dream for each of us.

And I think that what we can dream and put on our list, that is lawful, godly, noble, can cause us to ride upon the high places of the earth, as God says in Isaiah, fits into His overall purpose for us. In Jeremiah 29, beginning at verse 10, it says, For thus says the Lord, after seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you and cause you to return to this place. Verse 11, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

I think that by dreaming, I think that by growing up to dream again, we can fit ourselves into the dreams that God has for us, the hopes that He has for us, the future that He has for us. And as we commit ourselves to that, we begin to live a life in that proverbial large ceiling room. And I think that it can help us. It's not the singular antidote to some of the problems and very real problems that impact us in our church today and among all of us. But I think that it can be a start, along with many other aspects of our relationship with God and one another to dream.

So I encourage all of us to grow up to dream again.