Dreams that get your Attention
Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020
Pastor Troy Brewer, OpenDoor Church, Burleson, TX
It’s very embarrassing for a guy like me to get lost. I don’t know why, but I’m always convinced I’ll get to the right place and I tend to get mad at the road if it doesn’t cooperate with me.
If I do get lost, it’s usually because I’m talking on the cell phone. I miss exits and outright drive to wrong cities if I stay on the phone long enough. I’ve been known to hang up, look up and say, “How did I get here?”
The same thing happened to Commander George P. Ryanway. On Nov. 23, 1877, the last of the great naval steam ships, the USS Huron, left port and headed south toward Cuba captained by the best and brightest West Point had to offer.
Because he was acutely aware of his education, Ryanway ignored warning after warning of upcoming storms. He was confident his compass and his knowledge could help him weather any gale or wave.
However, he failed to realize there was a tiny 1-degree error in the ship’s compass. The further it headed south, the closer the USS Huron would edge toward the reefs of the east coast. Within 24 hours, the Huron sank just 200 yards off the coast of Virginia and 98 men lost their lives.
Ryanway’s last recorded words were, “My God, how did we get here?”
Ever look up from your busy life, see the wreck about to happen and ask the same question? I have, many times, and I know you have too.
Ryanway was lost because what he trusted wasn’t true. I was lost because I was distracted. Sometimes, we’re lost in a fog of pain, despair or doubt. Whatever the reason, it’s a very bad thing to be lost.
Father God knew that. That’s why He sent Jesus.
Luke 19:10 – “…for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Job 33:14-28
For God may speak in one way, or in another,
Yet man does not perceive it.
In a dream, in a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falls upon men,
While slumbering on their beds,
Then He opens the ears of men,
And seals their instruction.
17 In order to turn man from his deed,
And conceal pride from man,
He keeps back his soul from the Pit,
And his life from perishing by the sword.
19 “Man is also chastened with pain on his bed,
And with strong pain in many of his bones,
So that his life abhors bread,
And his soul succulent food.
His flesh wastes away from sight,
And his bones stick out which once were not seen.
22 Yes, his soul draws near the Pit,
And his life to the executioners.
“If there is a messenger for him,
A mediator, one among a thousand,
To show man His uprightness,
24 Then He is gracious to him, and says,
‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit;
I have found a ransom’;
25 His flesh shall be young like a child’s,
He shall return to the days of his youth.
He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him,
He shall see His face with joy,
For He restores to man His righteousness.
27 Then he looks at men and says,
‘I have sinned, and perverted what was right,
And it did not profit me.’
He will redeem his soul from going down to the Pit,
And his life shall see the light.
God has made designed things in such a way that if something is being built in your life that is God, its needs to be disturbed. Its the reason you brush your teeth. Plaque can’t build up if it’s disturbed. Its the reason God gave us the majesty of tides on all our oceans. The working of the waves and the refraction from bouncing off of the coasts keep our oceans clean. It’s all a picture of a simple Kingdom principle.
IN ORDER TO KEEP THE ENEMY FROM BUILDING UP IN OUR LIVES, WE MUST OCCASIONALLY – BETTER YET, REGULARLY – BE DISTURBED
Sometimes we are on a powerful trajectory in life that is either way off or just a little off. If we are not disturbed, we will hit the wrong target.
We need to welcome the interruptions that God brings into our lives even if they are sometimes disturbing interruptions.
We need supernatural bells and whistles on our spiritual dash boards.
The joints of his loins were loosened scripture
Daniel 5:6 – Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
You can pray attention getting dreams into people lives.
You can interpret the bad dreams of others with a way of redemption.
SPECIAL DREAMS
What if you prayed a dream for a different time frame?
Ask God to give your kids dreams about the timing of when they get married and pray for the spouse years before you know who their spouse is.
Ask God to speak to go back in time and speak to your grandfathers before they got caught into dark places.
The details of what Joseph, Jesus’ stepfather, dreamt on three different occasions is recorded in the New Testament.
Matthew 1:20-23, This is legit
Matthew 2:13, Flee to Egypt
Matthew 2:13-15 – Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” 14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
A fourth dream, where he is warned not to live in Judea, is also referenced
Matthew 2:19-23 – Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” 21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. 23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
The wise men who came to worship Jesus dreamt of being told not to visit Herod the Great on their way back home (Matthew 2:12)
Matthew 2:12 – Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
And Pilate’s wife had a disturbing dream about her husband’s judgment of Christ (Matthew 27:19).
Matthew 27:19 – While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.”
Acts 2:17 – ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.’
TROYBREWER.COM
TROYBREWER.TV
ANSWERINTERNATIONAL.ORG
PROPHETICNUMBERS.COM