Do you ever dream about the future? In Genesis, Joseph was called a dreamer because God gave him dreams and visions. Do you believe God still does that? Romans says God can do infinitely more than all we can ask or imagine.
I've often wondered to what degree dreaming is an acquired art. When I was younger, I had a burning desire to write; but I'd just sit there for hours with writer's block. I aspired to be a great artist; but I'd sit there, in front of a blank canvas, the paint brush frozen in my hand. I also aspired to be a wood-carver. I bought these sharp knives and blocks of basswood; but I never cut into them. FEAR cripples our dreams and limits our vision.
In College, I aspired to be a great leader. I read this tiny book written about a poor farmer in Central, Illinois who saw all these country churches, without preachers, closing their doors. God put it upon him to start a Bible Institute in a church basement in Lincoln IL, to train preachers. He rallied dozens, then hundreds, then thousands, “The Preachers are Coming!" Nobody can measure the millions of people touched through what became Lincoln Christian University.
If you have ears to hear, and a heart to receive it… your life is a blank page, a blank canvas, an uncarved block of wood. But God wants your life, and use his church, to create ripples that will felt to the edges of the earth. But how many of us fail to lift our hand to the plow because of FEAR?
The most visionary being of all is our Creator God. He spoke our universe into existence and then crowned it, by fashioning man in his image from the dust. God is the Great Potter, and we Mere Clay. But look what that CLAY became when God breathed into man the breath of life? We became living, creative, human beings!
But God didn't stop there. One of the most exciting portraits of the Church is that of a Living Temple, in which God dwells by His Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 2:4-5, “As you come to [Jesus], a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God— you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Think of what a single clay brick becomes when God' breathes life into its nostrils. We become a living human being! But think of what pallets of clay bricks become when God collectively fills his Church with his Holy Spirit. It's hard enough to imagine even for yourself, all that God can do with a single brick. . . now imagine what God might do with His Church! In Ephesians 4 Paul says God wants to fill all the universe through the Church with his presence. Worse than writer's block is leader’s block. We need God to help us dream Kingdom, God-sized dreams!
In Joel 2:28-29, God gave the Prophet Joel a glimpse of coming church age. God says, “. . . I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions. I will even pour out my Spirit on the male and female slaves in those days.” I know exactly what some of you are thinking, “I'm too young to dream Kingdom dreams. I'm just a teenager. I'm a new mother or father. I’m rearing children. I've only got so many years because there is an empty nest.” Others, “I'm too old to dream Kingdom dreams. I'm tired. I'm retired. I've been there and done that. My arthritis, my knees…” Still others, “I'm not a person of social status, or influence, or means. I'm a nobody.”
The Kingdom isn't about what we can or cannot do in our flesh. It's about what God can do even with clay, or even a temple of clay bricks, when he pours out his Spirit, and fills a people with his eternal presence and power. If God can make clay come alive, he can surely make our dead flesh come alive. The Holy Spirit is the Great Excuse Exterminator. Because whatever you say--I'm young, I'm old, I'm male, I'm female, I'm just a slave... God says “not by your power or might but by My Spirit” says the Lord. “I'll pour out my Spirit on all humanity. I'll cause you to dream.”
Joseph was a dreamer. Joel foresaw how God would make dreamers of his Church. Paul realized, “God can do infinitely more than all we ask or imagine.” You know God is Creator (past tense). He is Creator now and always. And he is creating today by his same Spirit, by his same Sword, by the same faith, but now it’s through the Church God is making all things new. Each of us New Creations in Christ Jesus.
I learned a secret early in life. God's Spirit can cure you of writer’s block. In just the past 25 years I've written the equivalent of 150 books—just in sermons. God has enabled me to write millions of words. God's Spirit can cure you of painter's block. Lara and my Mother-In-Law can be my witnesses—one day I just started painting. And one day I just started carving like a madman. I still have those uncarved wooden blocks… but God's enabled me to carve even gigantic trees. This past year I carved an Oak Tree 15 foot tall, and 3-4 feet wide.
People ask, “How did you learn to do that… I could never…” The secret of life not found in what flesh can give birth to… but what God's Spirit can give birth to… Our lives… and this Church… is to be a testimony of what happens when God pours out his Spirit on his Church. People all around us should marvel, “I've never seen clay do that before… I've never seen a Church so inspired of God to do that…”
I long ago reached my human lid as a human, and leader. I reached the limit of my own creative ability to cast vision and dream. But God hasn't reached his.
Lakeside was started by a group of Dreamers. Every dream has to be anchored in reality. For God's Dream to be realized he had to take on flesh-and-blood existence. It has to occupy a certain time, place, and locale in history. Jesus spent most of his life in Nazareth, then Capernaum (by the Lake). And of course he died in Jerusalem. Lakeside was planted on Springfield's “lake-side" to reach our city. 225 Toronto Road is our address, mission headquarters, the field God assigned. This is a place from which our ripples are to emanate, to touch every edge of earth.
There is something inherently unspiritual about bricks and mortar, but no more than there is of dust, clay, or flesh. What makes a thing spiritual comes down to whether we invite God's Spirit to come and indwell us! Whether we invite God's Spirit to cause us to dream! As the Spirit gives growth, the physical must grow to accommodate it.
We began as a church plant in a school, but God gave increase. We built a sanctuary on Rita Road, but God gave increase. At Rita Road we built a whole new wing for families and children but God gave increase. In time, we hit a certain lid, so our leaders dreamed, we left Rita Road, and for a time moved the now demolished Charlie Satler dealership. We worshipped, and I first preached, in a car show room! And then we moved here to Toronto Road. And in the past 25 years we added parking, we built children and family wing, we renovated this sanctuary, updated our junior high and high school spaces, and during Covid we upgraded technology to broadcast online.
Theoretically God doesn't “need” bricks and mortar, nor flesh and blood, nor dust or clay. But show me where God didn't use something physical in which to fulfill his dream. God always gathers his people to a certain address, place, land, tent, tabernacle, temple court, upper room, house, synagogue, public forum (Athens), a marketplace. The place isn't an end in itself—but that doesn't mean it isn't God's instrument, tool, or vehicle. Our Bible is filled with elaborate instructions on how God wanted his people to prepare an Ark (Noah), tabernacle or tent (Moses), a Holy Temple (David). These things required enormous resources, sacrifices, craftmanship. In short, they required enormous faith to complete.
We have a couple of bricks and mortar steps we want to take as a church. We have three buckets for giving. The first and most important bucket is our CORE FUND. We ask everyone to tithe to our CORE FUND. This fund provides for our staff and their families. It pays the light bill. A sizable portion goes to fund missions. Even though the price of everything from groceries, to insurance, to electricity has grown exponentially, our CORE FUND has not. I think of how God prevented the shoes of Israelites from wearing out in the wilderness. He was faithful to provide.
Through the years we have had one other huge bucket we called our VISION FUND. Whenever a bricks and mortar project or emergency pops up, we use our Vision Fund. Our Vision Fund was used to renovate our parking lot after Semi traffic destroyed our asphalt. Ouch! We used our Vision Fund to renovate our children's wing last year. The Vision Fund is used for immediate priorities. This year we want to renovate our Video Projection and install LED technology. The price for this technology has fallen through the floor and we believe this upgrade will give Lakeside an edge in communicating gospel to young and old alike. We want to raise $150,000 for LED upgrades. Please consider gift over and above your tithe.
This past month, we've added a new bucket called our EXPANSION FUND. It is our dream to build a Sanctuary. Through the years some have asked, “Why are we paying so much on this room… why not just rip off the band-aid.” The obvious answer is we will always have IMMEDIATE CORE needs, IMMINENT VISION opportunities (that help us grow), and FUTURE EXPANSION needs (dreams).
James says we cannot boast about tomorrow. What we should say is, “If it’s God's will, we will…” We dream of a church that fulfills God's call to reach all of the lake-side of Springfield, Chatham, Rochester. Easter crowds prove that we have room to grow to a church of 600-700 without any further expansion. We could be at 600 attendance in one week if everyone would show up together on the same Sunday!
But we cannot wait until the 11th hour to begin to prepare for the future. We cannot wait until we hit a growth lid to decide, “oh let’s raise 6 or 8 million dollars to build a sanctuary.” David spent his lifetime making preparations to clear the way for his son Solomon (the next generation) to build. We can say we want to build a sanctuary for the next generation… we can say we want to build debt free… but how can we roll up our sleeves today (at noon) instead of recklessly waiting until the 11th hour.
To build a sanctuary we have to start that trickle of smaller gifts. But it will take those larger inter-generational gifts, like estate gifts. More wealth than at any time in world history, is being passed from one generation to next. This sanctuary is one generation’s legacy left for us. In 2000, 150 people raised millions above and beyond CORE needs to make all this happen! Our legacy is what we will leave for tomorrow. If 150 spirit-filled people raised millions, what might 450, 600, or even 700 people raise? There are individuals (plural) in our church, who alone could make that future happen. But let us all, to the degree God's provided, give!
Right now, in this room, sits the equivalent of an empty page, a blank canvas, an uncarved blank of wood. In this room, sits a number of empty seats. God wants to fill every seat in this room (and our children and youth wing) with a living, breathing human beings.
What is our dream? Every empty seat occupied by a potential person, a potential heart upon whom God's Word can be written? Every empty seat is a blank canvas, a person, awaiting to become yet another Masterpiece by God's touch. Every empty seat an uncarved block, a person, awaiting to be fashioned into the image and likeness of Jesus by God's Spirit. FEAR keeps churches, sanctuaries, and seats empty.
FAITH says… God fill this place with your people. Fill your people (this living temple) with your Spirit. Fill this earth with even more living temples. Fill this earth with your glory. Help us to dream God-sized, Kingdom-sized visions and dreams. Help us to dream out-sized, expansive dreams for what your church can be tomorrow, and for future generations. Expand our faith.
Are you ready for God to move in the Springfield area through Lakeside? Help us dream out-sized, expansive dreams for what your church can be tomorrow and for future generations.