Dreaming with God | Joey Ehlers

It says the Lord was not able and that a sad thing.

I don't have the money, I'm not smart enough.

You don't know where my family came from.

As I studied the Word, I found out that this was something God

was not able to do. I thought God was able to do

anything. There's some things God cannot

do because we will not partner with Him.

I say it like this. We tie God's hands from what He

really desires to do. When we do not walk in faith, we

don't have time to not dream the dreams that God has put in our

hearts. I'm telling you right now, you

were going to take the land. I don't know what it looks like

for you. I don't know what the giants in

your family look like, but those things have to come down and we

don't have time to play around. I don't want to tie God's hands,

do you? Those excuses have to die, and

the way they come down is by. I'm going to try to not preach

very long tonight, but I do want to talk about dreaming with God.

I preached on this last Sunday and I don't feel like God's

finished with it, but I believe that God has a dream and we all

have dreams and we're born with dreams.

When we grow up, we have different ideas of what life

will be like, but life has a way of giving us.

There's turns and there's obstacles.

There's good days, there's bad days.

And I believe God wants us to have his heart, and I believe

that He wants his dreams to overpower your dreams.

God wants to give us His heart in this hour, and I believe that

a lot of times our dreams are fighting the dreams of God.

The vision that God has for your life is sometimes not the same

vision that you have for your life.

The definition of division is more than one vision.

And God has a vision for Davao. He has a vision for Agdao, He

has a vision for this house, he has a vision for the people of

this city, of this region, of this nation, and he will not

share the vision with anybody except his own.

And when God's God will not let His vision bow down to my vision

or your vision, God wants to use you to get His heart and His

vision established and rooted so deep into the fabric of this

nation so that people begin to hear the cry of His heart

Through your life, I believe the vision of the Lord God wants to

dream with you. God has called you to be

dreamers, and He's called you to dream His dream day and night.

Amen. I want to share a story.

I'm not going to read the whole chapter.

I like to read the whole chapter.

Read a lot of it at our church in Numbers 13.

God had a dream, and God's dream had always been and always has

been to bless the children of God.

He wants you to be blessed beyond measure.

He wants you to be blessed beyond measure.

He wants you to be blessed in your body and your soul and in

your spirit. God said listen to Psalm 23.

I love it. It says that that that these

things follow you everywhere you go.

The blessing of the Lord should follow your life as a believer.

And God has big dreams for your life, but it requires faith for

you to grab a hold of his dream. Numbers chapter 13 talks.

Numbers 13 · chapter mention

It's a story where the children of Israel had come out of a

place of bondage. They've been living in a place

like Wayne had been living in a place of bondage, except their

bondage was because of where they live.

They lived under a government that that was holding them

captive. They were slaves.

And God raised up a pastor or men of God by the name of Moses.

And he began giving Moses his heart.

Moses had a desire to set the people free, but he did it in

his own strength and made a mess of it.

If you've ever tried to clean up your life, I hear people all the

time. Well, hey man, you need to come

to church. They're like I would.

But man, I've got some things I got to clean up first.

If you wait until you clean up your life, why do you even need

God? You cannot clean up your life

without God. And so Moses made a mess because

he, God began to reveal his heart to him, and he tried

getting it done in his own own strength and own flesh.

There's a lot of us in here that there's things that we're going

through and they're generational.

Your mom went through the same thing.

Your dad went through the same thing.

And God is a king of breaking generational curses.

He is the he is, he is the king of causing things that took

place and your mom, and then your dad and then your brother

and sister. He is the king of blessing.

And when God's hand begins to come on you, there's nothing you

can't do. There's no place you can't go.

God will use you. All he needs is your yes.

So Numbers chapter 13 tells a story about how God really

Numbers 13 · chapter mention

desired for them to have better than they had.

God wants you to have even better than you have right now.

Why does he want you to have better?

Not so that you can look better to anyone else.

It's because God needs to get the Kingdom through you.

And if he can get it to you, He needs to be able to get it

through you. And so God wanted to give these

people a land flowing of milk. And what?

Honey, y'all know the story, don't you?

And so God shared his heart with Moses.

And so Moses finally sent out some spies to this land.

And it says in Numbers 13 and verse 17, Moses sent out sent

out them to spy out the land where the land of Canaan.

And he said to them, go, go under the way to the South, and

go to the mountains, and see what the land is like.

Whether the people who dwell in there are strong or weak, few or

many, whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, whether

the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds, whether

the land is rich or poor, or whether the forests are there or

not. Be of good courage, but bring

some of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the season of

the first right grapes. So Moses sends the children of

Israel into this place where God desired.

It was his dream for the children of Israel to come and

inhabit this land. The Bible says that that that

when the children of Israel went there, they spied out the land

for 40 days and they checked it out.

They took a good look. Everybody say take a good look.

See the Bible says taste and see that the Lord is good.

And so they went in and they took a good look.

Then they checked out the land and they found out they came

back and they said they came back and they talked to the

church or the congregation there with Moses.

And they said, well, what did you see?

And they said the, the, the grapes were huge.

The grapes were so big that we had to put them on a pole and

two men had to carry them out in.

Can you imagine eating a grape like that, taking a bite, get

all over your face. The blessing of the Lord was

there and they said, well how was the land?

Was it, was it good? And it was like it was, it was

incredible. The land was flowing with milk

and honey. And so they begin talking about

all the good things. And then they said what was

their strongholds? Was there this and that?

And they said there was giants in the land.

And soon as they said that there was giants in the land, the

people begin to mumble and complain.

The Bible says in verse 27 and they told him the congregation

said we went to the land where you sent us.

It flowed with milk and honey and it's fruit was awesome.

Listen this verse 28. Nevertheless, the people who

dwell in there are strong. Everybody say strongholds.

The cities were fortified and very large.

Moreover, we saw that the descendants of Anak were there.

The Bible says we'll go on down to verse 30.

Then Caleb, they begin to they begin to complain.

In verse 30, Caleb quiet the quieted the people before Moses

and said, let us go up to the to the mountain at once and take

possession, for we are well able to overcome it.

Verse 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, We are

not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger

than we are. And they gave the children of

Israel a bad report, a bad report of the land which they

had spied out, saying that the land through which they had gone

as spies, as in the land that devours its inhabitants.

And all the people who we saw in it were of great stature, there

we saw giants. It was the descendants of Anak.

We were like grasshoppers in our own sight.

And so we, we were in their sight as well.

See, it's interesting that God desired for them to have

something. And his desire for them to be

blessed was more than that, more than they wanted to be blessed.

See, I'm, I, I live in an area in southern Indiana.

It's not known for prosperity. It's known for people that grow

up and they work in a factory. Do you have factories around

here? Blue collar workers?

And a lot of them do what their parents did.

They go get a job, they work, they get married, they have a

family. And God has more for us than

just supporting our families and just going through the motions.

But the Bible says that they were little in their own eyes,

and God wants to do great things in your life and in order for

Him to do that, we need to partner with him.

As this story continues, the children of Israel were not able

to go into the land of promise. It's because the congregation

that sent them heard that there was resistance and they weren't

willing to pay the price. I believe I'm with a group of

people that are hungry for God. I believe that if we were to go

through some things that we went through in the past that we will

respond differently like COVID 2020.

I believe we understand that it's going to take some

resistance. It's going to take God's people

standing in faith in this hour if we're going to see God move

the way that we really desire to see God move.

I believe God wants to move in this nation in a way that you've

never seen before. But it's going to require you

not seeing yourself as your family sees you, but you need to

see yourself the way that God sees you.

The Bible says in chapter 14 that the congregation lifted

their voice and they cried, They wept day and night and all the

children of Israel complained against their pastor Moses.

And so because of their complaining they decided not to

go in to the land where God had called them to go.

One of the saddest stories really in Scripture.

Bible says on down in verse 10, it says the congregation decided

they were going to stone Joshua and Caleb because of their faith

and as soon as they got ready to stone them, the Bible says that

the glory of the Lord appeared in the Tabernacle of meetings

before the children of Israel. God will protect you if you

stand with His word Right after this.

There's one of the saddest scriptures that we see in this

whole story. It's verse 16.

It says the Lord was not able. It had a sad thing.

The Lord was not able to bring his people to the land which he

swore to give them. I believe God wants to move in

our lives, but God cannot and will not overpower your free

will. God is able to do anything in

your life. God is able to move.

He's able to How many in your you need somebody healed in your

in your family? How many are believing God for a

healing in your body? God is able, He just needs your

faith in your cooperation with him.

But the Bible says God was not able to move because the

congregation and the and the and the group would not trust the

Lord and they would not give him their full yes, but it says over

in verse 24 at the end of this story as God is speaking to

Moses, God wanted to wipe the children of Israel off the map.

He said, I got an idea, Moses, this congregation that you've

got, they won't dream with me. And because they won't dream

with me, I want to kill them. Literally.

God wanted to wipe them off the face of the earth.

And so Moses said, God, you can't kill him.

And he said, look, Moses, if we start over, I could give you a

bigger congregation than you ever had before.

How many know that God's serious when he wants to get his dream

across? He's very serious.

And Moses being the great pastor that he was, he cried out and he

said, look, he said spare, spare these people.

Come on, God, don't do it. And God actually listened to

Moses. It's an amazing story how God

listens to his servants. You know God listens to you, but

he also needs you to partner with him.

It's not OK for us to not walk in faith when God has more for

us. God has bigger and better.

He's got things that he wants you to do.

Actually, he needs you to grab a hold of his vision in this hour.

Don't you say, oh, well, I'm a Filipino or, or, or, or I'm from

the Philippines and you don't realize we, you know, our, our,

our incomes not the same as America.

It's really easy to say that when, when it's 65 to one.

God owns the cattle on 1000 hill and he'll sell some for you.

Come on now, God knows how to get things to you.

He knows how to get things through you.

All He needs you is to dream with him.

God needs your yes, in this hour.

God wants to bless you. Because listen, the way that God

moves is through His people. He does nothing on the earth

lest He first reveals it through His prophets.

And I believe that we are called to be a prophetic people in this

hour. And God wants to put get get his

desires and dreams through you. Listen, I'm going to quit in

just a moment. So Moses has this conversation

with God and God decides not to kill him.

And verse 24 he said, OK, verse 20 he says, but my servant

Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has

followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went and

his descendants shall inherit it.

Caleb had a different spirit on the inside of him than the rest

of the congregation. I believe this church has a

different spirit than most churches probably in this city.

I believe you guys would lay down your life for Jesus.

I do. I love it when we worship

because you lift your voice louder than a lot of churches

I've been in. I think you really believe that

when you lift your voice, God can hear you.

I really believe that that that I'm with people tonight that

that when you pray, you believe God hears you.

But I'm telling you tonight, God is saying I'm speaking things to

you that is from from his heart and he needs you to dream with

him tonight, Amen. So the Bible says Caleb was of a

different spirit because Caleb said, if God said we can have

it, then we're going to take it. And if God before us, Amen.

He knew that if God before us, then who could be against this?

Well, this story doesn't stop there.

It's kind of a sad story because the children of Israel end up

dying off. And I read that story.

I remember when I was younger, I was like God, you said that they

could have this land flowing in milk and honey, but they didn't

have it. But then later as I studied the

Word, I found out that this was something God was not able to

do. I thought God was able to do

anything. There's some things God cannot

do because we will not partner with Him.

I say it like this. We tie God's hands from what He

really desires to do when we do not walk in faith.

I don't want to tie God's hands. Do you?

How many in here? You don't want to tie God's

hands, but you want God's hand to work through you.

I believe God wants to heal the sick by your shadow as you're

out just minding your own business, working through from

day-to-day, Amen. How does that happen?

Just walking in obedience, walking in love, just spending

time with God. I believe God's going to do it.

Amen. Well, the Bible says this.

That story wrapped up and the children of Israel ended up

dying off and there starts a new chapter or a new new book in the

Bible called Joshua and Joshua. God speaks to Joshua.

Joshua was like Caleb. He was a man of faith.

He was like the people in this room.

He would, they would dream with God, they would step out on

faith and they would believe God.

So the Bible says in Joshua chapter 14, something happened

Joshua 14 · chapter mention

when Caleb was old. Everybody say old Caleb was 40

years. I think he was 40 years old when

this first happened. I'm sorry.

He was. Yeah.

He's 40 years old when God first give him the vision to go spy

out the land. And he he had faith to go do it,

but the congregation wouldn't back him up.

They told him that they were going to stone him and kill him

like Stephen if he continued talking about taking this land.

But here he is in Joshua chapter 14 at 85 years old, every say 85

Joshua 14 · chapter mention

years old, he's 85 years old. And the Bible says that that

Caleb was talking to Joshua and he said, Joshua, God said that

we can have the land flowing and milk and honey and we still

haven't taken it. And Joshua said that, Caleb, he

said, listen, if God said we could have it and you still got

the fight in you, he's like, then I give you full permission,

I put my blessing on you to go take the land.

And the Bible says that at 85 years old, Caleb went up on that

land and he drove those giants and those devils off the land

and he claimed it for God, for an inheritance for the nations

to come. I believe God is putting a fight

and faith in it in the heart of his people.

And there's been many generations that did not follow

through with what God had called them to do.

Even in this city, they've started the work, but somehow

along the line, they stopped dreaming with God because things

got hard. There was resistance in the

city. There was resistance in

finances. There was resistance from the

religious community. There was resistance from the

government. There was resistance that came

and attack their bodies and their families and they stop

dreaming with God. But I believe God wants to do

something in this hour. I do.

I believe the return of Christ is at hand and we don't have

time to play around. We don't have time to not dream

the dreams that God has put in our hearts.

I'm telling you right now, you were going to take the land.

I don't know what it looks like for you.

I don't know what the giants in your family look like, but those

things have to come down. And the way they come down is by

faith. You renounce everything that has

been rising up. How many times you, you, you get

up and you begin to do something and you're like, I don't have

the money. I'm not smart enough.

You don't know where my family came from.

Those excuses have to die because you have great, you have

Christ on the inside of you. Yes, greater is he that's on the

inside of you. I know we quote the Scripture,

but I'm telling you it's time to live it.

It's time to live it. There's nothing that can hold

you back. God lives on the inside of you.

There is nothing that can hold you back from what God has

called you to step into in this hour.

I'm telling you, God is raising up this city or this this church

to take this city. We was in the Bible College in

the class this morning Soon as I sat down, I'm telling you, I

heard the word of the Lord. Thousands, everybody say

thousands. There's only a few second year

students, but I heard the word of the Lord and I don't say that

just just loosely. I'm minister with the fear of

the Lord and I believe that I'll give an account to the Lord.

But I heard that in my spirit, thousands will be saved because

of this small group. And and listen, there's a whole

lot more. How many students we got in here

and any students in here second year?

Yeah, there's a whole lot more than those second year students

because God's going to use every single one of us, Amen.

I'm telling you, thousands and thousands are going to, are

going to be 1 because of your faith in this hour.

Amen. If you need God to move, I don't

want to, I'm not, I'm not going to pray for everybody in this

room unless you really want it. I, I'm OK with that, but I

believe that God is stirring in people's hearts and I believe

that that some of us in this room, as I was talking about the

dream, dreaming with God and and stepping out in faith, there's

like a fire burning in your stomach right now.

Those are the people I want to pray for because I feel a fire

burning in my stomach. God is going to use you and

nothing is going to hold back what God has called you to do.

Nothing can hold you back. I'm just trying to get this, get

this through your, through your spirit to your spirit tonight.

Nothing can hold you back from what God has called you to do.

Nothing can hold you back from what God has called you to do.

There is nothing that can hold you back from what God has

called you to do. You can do all things because

Christ lives in you.