Media for. New in Washington President Trump generated his own headlines again over the weekend keeping many in the press busy talking about his tweeting habits long time Trump critic Ohio Governor John k. Street telling A.B.C.'s This Week you know what some fortunate people are not all begging the president not to do this and you know he had to stop what it will have to see what happens it's one of the few things that I think of brought Republicans and Democrats together they spend so much time fighting and then they're all aghast you know and so it's just not the way we ought to be Meanwhile speaking at the Celebrate Freedom Rally to water the job f. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts over the weekend the president he's got to fake media is trying to silence us. But we will not let that. The people know the truth. The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House but I'm president and there not. A record number of people have been getting away this Independence Day holiday weekend correspondent Matt small takes a look at the numbers 44200000 Americans have been hitting the road flying away or departing from home by other means to celebrate this July 4th. The weekend a nearly 3 percent increase over last year the AAA says 85 percent of those heading 50 miles or more away are going back or one reason the national average price for a gallon of gasoline is nearly a nickel cheaper than last Independence Day AAA also says lower prices for corals and air fares have been affected been tempting many to get away for the holiday Matt small Washington it's going to be an abbreviated session today on Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average coming in with some ball better after a 63 point gain of Friday and right out futures up by 45 points the market will add to closer should say 1 pm Eastern time this is after I do. 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Nothing grows like weeds Except maybe we eat nothing kills them quite like roundup weed and grass killer from the Home Depot right now the one gallon ready to use size a special buy just in 97 it kills fast at the root you can see results in just 3 hours and they grow like weeds and you can stop them even faster around the weeding grass kill one gallon ready to use now just $97.00 and only at the Home Depot for saving or doing counter life if. Following through on a program sponsored by pathway to make tree a ministry or 1st Baptist Church Dallas today on pathway to victory Dr Robert Jeffress talks about America as a Christian nation we don't restrict people's right to worship however they choose to worship but that doesn't mean we treat all religions equally there is a Christian nation every other religion is named pastor it is an infidelity that is what the United States Supreme Court saying welcome to pathway to victory with author and pastor Dr Robert Jeffers in recent decades the American government has taken drastic measures to ensure the separation of church and state but while many have applauded these efforts today's legislature is actually going against the wishes of our founding fathers today on pathway to victory Dr Jeffress explains why America is and always has been a Christian nation now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's miss each to Jefferson Thanks David and welcome to this special edition. Pathway to victory I'm hoping that the long holiday weekend is allowed you to spend some time with friends and family celebrating God's blessing on our great nation today and again tomorrow we're setting aside some time to look at America's Christian heritage that sets our country apart from any other nation in the world but 1st I need to remind you that we are in the final countdown for our active matching challenge we're calling on every listener to help us meet our goal of $300000.00 by tomorrow night at midnight when you give a generous gift to pathway to victory on or before the deadline every dollar you give will be natural I can't think of a better way to celebrate our Christian freedom than to personally invest in pathway to victory so that we can reach more Americans than ever before with the truth of God's word in our own country and we can reach around the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ and remember between now and tomorrow night at midnight Your contribution will have twice the impact plus when you give today will say thank you by providing the exclusive d.v.d. And audio cd called America is a Christian nation and light of Independence Day we decided to set aside everything to hear this precint ation today and tomorrow the cynical climate of our times has caused the liberal press to deny our Christian heritage but as you'll hear today and tomorrow when you look at the evidence you cannot ignore the fact that America was founded as a Christian nation now remember when you give a generous gift you can receive today's and tomorrow's message America is a Christian nation all you need to do is go to p.t.v. Dot org their special offer is for today and tomorrow only now it's time to get started. With this time sensitive study let's get right to it I titled my message today America is Christian nation. You're probably aware of the countless and increase seen instances in which our government is ceasing to acknowledge any kind of vague knowledge munt of God as Creator God and any acknowledgement of religious expression in the public square these airports range everything from banding that to the saints in the town square to prohibiting the prayer using Jesus' name and high school football games but what all of these experts have in common is they are built upon the principle of the separation of church and state listen long enough to the arguments of the American Civil Liberties Union or other left groups like of the Americans United for the separation of church and state and you will become convinced that the foundational bedrock principle of this nation was that this nation needs to be protected from religion we are told over and over again that our country's founding fathers were secularists vs sprinkled with a few Christians who came to this nation seeking above all other things to build on unscalable wall between the government and Christianity and most importantly they wanted to compartmentalise Christianity to the church and to the home they wanted Christianity to have no influence whatsoever in public policy now ladies and gentlemen that version of American history belongs in the same category as the story of George Washington and the cherry tree it is complete fiction. I realize it is politically incorrect to say this but it is nevertheless true America was not founded as a Muslim. Nation America was not founded as a Hindu nation America was not founded as a nation that is neutral toward Christianity Merica was founded as a Christian nation and to day. To day we're going to discover that truth from history 1st of all let's talk about the Christian foundation of our country pastor are you ignorant of why in the world would you stand up and say this nation was founded as a Christian nation we all know that our founding fathers were secularist and the is not christians Well let's look and see what the record of history says Remember David Barton was here a few months ago when he pointed out that the founding fathers of those who framed our nation's constitution we all know the handful we can call their names who were Deists but the vast majority of those who founded our nation were evangelical Christians and fact 52 out of the 55 signers of the Constitution the framers of the Constitution were evangelical believers these very same man went on to form organizations like the American Bible Society the American Tract Society the Philadelphia Bible Society these men were hardly neutral toward Christianity just listen to some of the requirements that a person had to meet in order to attend the Constitutional Convention for example every state had their own articles of qualifications for what it would take to hold office in that state and what it would take to qualified to go to the Constitutional Convention now here is the constitution of Delaware this is the qualification in order to hold public office from Delaware Article 22 of the constitution of Delaware said every person who shall be chosen a member of either half. Yes or point a date any office or place of trust shall make and subscribe to the following declaration I do protest faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ His holy Son and in the Holy Ghost one God blessed for evermore and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures to the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration now you had to believe that if you were going to be elected to any office in Delaware and by the way that's not peculiar to Delaware many of our state constitutions said the very same thing now folks why this is significant is the very same people who crafted those kind of requirements are the people who attended our Constitutional Convention they were hardly neutral toward Christianity or listened if you will to some of the testimonies of our founding fathers This is George Washington he wrote in his diary let my heart gracious God be so affected with your glory and majesty that I may discharge those waiting duties which Dowd requires to me again I have called on the for pardon and forgiveness of sins for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered on the cross for me now gave us by Son to die for me and has given me a surance of salvation that's our 1st president George Washington or listen to the testimony of the 2nd president of the United States John Adams talking about the founding of our country to remember John Adams was a son or of the Declaration of Independence John Adams wrote the general principles upon which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity I will of that now that I then believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are easy turn all and is a mutable as the existence and attributes of God and that those principles of liberty are as on alterable 'd as human nature. Sure Or consider the words of Patrick Henry a man responsible for the Bill of Rights to our Constitution we know Patrick Henry for his famous speech give me liberty or give me death but here's a quote You don't often hear in the history classroom from backward game theory he said quote being a Christian is a character which I prize far above all this world has or can boast or can sort of the words of the 6 President of the United States John Quincy Adams the son of John Adams and here is a man whose father signed the Declaration of Independence John Quincy Adams said in the chain of Human Events the birthday of the nation is indissoluble you linked with the birthday of the Savior the Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the 1st precepts of Christianity people say well why doesn't the Declaration of Independence talk any more about God or why doesn't the Constitution talk any more about God than it does here is one man who said but Declaration of Independence was founded upon the principles and precepts of Christianity Well Pastor that may be the personal beliefs of those who founded our nation but what about the wall of separation between church and state isn't it true that our nation's forefathers wanted to build this wall that would prohibit Christianity from having any impact on public policy you know I am never cease to be amazed at the ignorance of the American public. Did you know our recent poll demonstrated that 67 percent of Americans believe the phrase separation of church and state is found in the 1st Amendment of the Constitution. That phrase isn't found in the 1st Amendment in the Constitution it's not found anywhere. Where in the Constitution it doesn't appear anywhere well where did that phrase originate Korda come from those of you who are students of American history know the answer to that and the year 8900 Thomas Jefferson was the newly elected president of the United States and a group of back this in Dan Barry Connecticut heard the rumor that Thomas Jefferson was going to establish the Congregational the nomination the state the nomination and you know how that their star if they think anybody's going to be in charge except then they get all upset Ok and so they wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson protesting this rumor that the Congregational Church was going to be the state church and so Thomas Jefferson on January the 1st 18 No 2 wrote this letter to the Baptist and Danbury Connecticut and this is what Jefferson wrote quote I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of dog whole American people which declared that their legislature should quote make no wall respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof thus building a wall of separation between church and state that's where you have the free Thomas Jefferson riding a group of Baptists no 2 things I want you to notice about Jefferson's comment 1st of all he was referring to it not stablish much of a denomination and not a religion as we're going to see I'm going to prove to you in a moment the 1st amendment that prohibits government from establishing a particular religion is dealing with the nomination and not face Jefferson said it that we never spoke context he was saying we're not going to make one denomination the state the nomination but more importantly what I want you to see is Thomas Jefferson use this phrase separation of church and state. To reassure Christians of their freedom for religious expression it was used to reassure Christians that government would do nothing to prohibit their free exercise of religion people have now perverted Thomas Jefferson's words and liberal groups today use those words to restrict Christians from the public expression of their religious beliefs a few years ago I was preaching at our church in what you call falls and I made the comment that in an upcoming election we ought to vote for Christians and stead of infidels and I didn't mention any candidates I didn't mention any political party I simply were saying what John Jay the 1st chief justice of the United States Supreme Court said when he said we ought to prefer Christians as our rulers while no sooner had I preached that sermon than I had a Federal Express letter from Barry Lynn of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State threatening me in our church with the loss of our tax exempt status because I had dare say we ought to vote for Christians instead of infidels and he cited the separation of church and state that's what liberals do today they Oprah Verdes Jefferson's words to restrict religious expression and study of reassuring us of our right to express our religious convictions Thomas Jefferson would roll over in his grave today if he believed that we were perverting his words in such a way how do I know that were considered Thomas Jefferson's own actions you know that exactly one year after he wrote this letter to Danbury Baptists reassuring them there was not going to be a state the nomination one year after that Thomas Jefferson encouraged Congress to pass a treaty with the cast cast you know Indians that would allow tax dollars u.s. Tax dollars to support Christian missionaries to those Kaskaskia Indians and 3 times after that he signed the treaty again and again. Now think about it can you imagine a president today using federal tax dollars to support evangelical missionaries or of Thomas Jefferson were alive today he would be dragged into court he would be sued because of the separation of church and state that he had written about but that's exactly how Thomas Jefferson understood those words they were not to restrict religious expression but to rehear shuras of our right to express our spiritual convictions. Secondly consider how the Court has interpreted this phrase separation of church and state this is so key to understand ladies and gentlemen for the 1st 140 years of our nation's history the judiciary reaffirmed over and over again that this country is a uniquely Christian country for example and 799 the case of Runkle versus wind mill or the Supreme Court of Maryland said in its decision quote by our form of government the Christian religion is the be a stablished religion and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed upon the same equal footing and are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty now that's what the court said we have an established religion and it is the Christian religion now what was wrong with these justices in Maryland where they ignoramuses did they not know about the 1st Amendment of the Constitution remember that 1st amendment had been ratified only a few years before this court case those Jespersen's in Maryland were in a much better position to understand what the framers meant than we were they said the 1st Amendment had to do with the nomination it's the nominations but not with pay they said it is very clear by our form of government we do have an established religion in this country and it is the Christian religion 100 years later the United States Supreme Court affirmed the very. Same principle in the Church of the Holy Trinity vs the United States Supreme Court said quote no purpose of action against religion can be imputed to any legislation state or national because this is a religious people this is a Christian nation when people tell you this is not a Christian nation you just quote the United States Supreme Court the court said we are a Christian nation and to support There are 16 page decision the court quoted from various other court cases one case they quoted from was a case in 811 a New York case and titled The People Vs Ruggles and United States Supreme Court sided the court case which said quote We are a Christian people and the morality of this country is deeply and grafted upon Christianity and not upon the doctrines of worship of those impostor religions now the person who wrote that decision for the New York Supreme Court was a man named James can't he is known as one of the 2 fathers of American jurisprudence and I went back this week to read that whole decision the people versus Ruggles which the United States Supreme Court firm and James Kant identifies in that court case impostor religions and among those religions that he names as an impostor religion he names the religion of Islam and a leaven He said Islam isn't and posture it is a false religion and we are not and Islam a nation we don't give the same credence to other faiths this country is a uniquely Christian nation backs the United States Supreme Court or listen again to the court 844 the case of a doll versus Gerard's executor this is an interesting case it involved a man named Stephen Girard. Who left the city of Philadelphia in his will and money to be used for the establishment of a college but in his will he said I want morality to be taught in this college on establishing but I do not want the Bible to be taught in other words I want morality without the Bible sound familiar to you that's what he said in his well while it went to the United States Supreme Court they unanimously rejected that wasn't what they said quote Christianity is not to be maliciously and openly reviled and blasting began to the annoyance of believers or the injury of the public it is unnecessary for us however to consider the establishment of a school or college for the propagation of Deism or any other form of infidelity such a case is not to be presumed to exist. In a Christian country say the people are saying back then well why wait a minute if we start teaching the Bible as a basis of morality don't we have to teach other religions as well don't you hear that today what if we allow our Christian prayer in school don't we have to allow the Muslims to have their prayer and they Hindus to pray if we read the New Testament don't we have to read from the Koran don't we have to treat all religions equally the Supreme Court said. You don't treat all religions equally we don't restrict people's right to worship however they choose to worship but that doesn't mean we treat all religions equally This is a Christian nation every other religion isn't imposture it isn't infidelity that is what the United States Supreme Court said Now I did a little bit of studying this week about the man who wrote that decision and Gerard's executors vs but all he was a man named Justice Joseph Story of the United States Supreme Court he was appointed to the court by President James Madison James Madison was known as the architect of United States Constitution and James Madison appointed Justice story to the Supreme Court and don't you think the architect of the. Petition would want somebody on the court who understood the Constitution Justice Story understood the constitution he said all other religions are an infidelity by the way did you know justice story was also the founder of Harvard Law School this guy knew what he was talking about and this week I came across the fact that just a story had written an entire commentary on the United States Constitution and I want you to listen to what u.s. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story said about the 1st Amendment quote the real object of the 1st Amendment was not to countenance much less advance. Or Judaism or infidelity by prostrating Christianity but simply to exclude rivalry between Christian denominations. Now that is an amazing thing and it is completely opposite of what you hear today just your story the founder of Harvard Law School appointed by James Madison the architect of the Constitution Fayad every other religion is an impossible religion it's an infidelity the 1st Amendment was never created to create a equal level playing field among our religions simply to exclude rivalry between Christian and denomination it's this nation is a Christian nation. Well we're just getting started in this convincing presentation of evidence that America truly was founded as a Christian nation and I'm urging you to join us again tomorrow for the conclusion of this important message and then earlier you heard me mention that thank goodness matching challenge campaign that concludes tomorrow at midnight I'm asking you to give an extra generous gift today so that people all across America will have access to a pathway to victory we're in a season of explosive expansion and more and more stations are asking us to join their lineup of Bible teaching programs the only thing that is standing in the way is the financial capacity to say yes to these opportunities your generous gift will allow us to step forward with boldness and purchase the air time this it becomes available plus every dollar you give today through tomorrow midnight is automatically doubled through our matching challenge you choose the amount and prints of pathway to victory will match your gift dollar for dollar until we reach the combined total of $600000.00 those new funds will allow us to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word now to say thank you for your gift today will provide a d.v.d. And audio copy of today's message. And its entirety America is a Christian nation this is one of the most important precent patients I've ever delivered on pathway to victory because it exposes the folly of calling America a anything other than a Christian nation this is a message you must share with your family or show it to your home Bible study group be sure to request the d.v.d. And audio cd for my complete message America is a Christian nation when you give a generous gift today to our matching challenge and please do it now because this all for expires tomorrow David thank you Dr Jefferson to request your kind of today's message on both cd and d.v.d. Simply contact pathway to victory with a generous gift again the message is called America is a Christian nation call us toll free 866-999-2965 or simply go online to our website p t v dot org Plus any gifts you give right now will be automatically doubles Thanks to our matching challenge but this opportunity won't last much longer so if you've been meaning to give an extra generous matching gift be sure to do so before Tuesday at midnight call 866-999-2965 or go to p.t.v. Dot org There's still time to send your gift by mail as long as your letter is postmarked by July 4th write to p.o. Box 223609 Dallas Texas 75222 that's p.o. Box 223609 Dallas Texas 75222 I'm David j. Mullings inviting you to meet us back here tomorrow when we conclude our message called America is a Christian nation best Tuesday here on pathway to victory with Dr Robert Jeffress . Is Denver's all new 947 f.m. . The word it's been said that we do only what we ask for and the wisest man on The Salem Media Group. New in Washington President Trump has crowned his weekend tweets with the mock media that shows him pummeling a man in a business suit outside of a wrestling ring the man's face was obscured by the c.n.n. Logo the executive director of the group Reporters Committee for Freedom of the press Bruce Brown says the tweet is quote beneath the office of the presidency the president defended himself over the weekend saying what he called the fake news media is trying to invalidate his presidency and the people who put have me you know office cutters foreign minister carrying a handwritten letter from the country's ruling Amir has arrived in Kuwait a bit of diplomatic crisis engulfing that Asian many of its nearby neighbors are criticizing it for having close ties to terrorist groups and abbreviated session on Wall Street today the day before the 4th of July it will all begin with the Dow opening strong right now futures up 55 points and this is as are a new. Trying to find. Ministries. To days and possibility is tomorrow's miracle so you never let just because you've got a dream is that what's impossible so what. A lot of things that are impossible becomes possible when you do it. Never let an impossible situation intimidate you let it motivate you to pray more to believe more to trust more to experience more to learn more to grow more that's how you grow just because your dream seems quote impossible doesn't mean you shouldn't go after it. And thanks for joining us here on Pastor Rick's daily hope today we continue in our series called God superscription for a Healthy Life Pastor Rick Warren will show you how to improve your health physically spiritually relationally and emotionally play in the 5 needed for a more vibrant life if you want to have what it takes to live out your calling Stay with us for this amazing series but 1st if you are looking for the right combination of daily inspiration and encouragement to finally achieve a healthy lifestyle you belong for you need the. 365 day devotional it's a great way to start your busy day and you can find out all about it by going to Pastor Rick dot com right now while you listen to today's broadcast or you can just text the word daily to 99000 to find out more that's Pastor Rick dot com or just text the word daily to 99000 right now here's Pastor Rick with part one of a message called the awesome power of faith you know for 30 years I've been studying this question what kind of person does God bless what kind of person does God use what kind of qualities do you find in people that he the news Italy blesses because I want to be a person like that I hope you do too. And you know what I've discovered is that God uses all kinds of people backgrounds ages economic status language think everything but there is one common denominator you can find in every single person that God Bless is an unusual way. It doesn't matter who or where they are or where they're from they always have this quality in their life if you find somebody that God is blessing in an unusual way and what is it it is people who are not afraid to trust God completely that is what I call the faith factor God blesses people who are not afraid to trust him completely. And when you do that it produces enormous power in your life enormous power now the Bible tells us there's a direct connection between faith and power but the more faith you put in God and the more you let him steer your life and drive your life the more power and the more blessing you're going to have and that Jesus illustrated this and Matthew 13 it says he had gone to the Nasserist which was his home town it's a Jesus did not do many miracles of power in his hometown because of their lack of faith you notice the connection between faith and power in the bible Abraham is called the father of faith why is he the father of faith because the next verse Abraham's faith did not leave him and he did not doubt God's promise instead would you read this with me his faith filled him with power. Would you like to have more of God's power in your life you see if you don't have God's power in your life you're going to be running on your own energy and that's why you're tired all the time. It's why you're always wiped out why you're always been keyed God never meant for you to go through life just on your own power it's like having a laptop unplug the batteries they've been sleep going to drain you've got this much of a battery and behind you is God Santa no free power plant waiting for you to plug in. Then you can do either you can either run through life on your power which means you're going to be tired. All the time or you can plug into God's power to our enormous amounts of energy that you never thought possible. So today what's the secret to getting more grave I want to hold you grow in faith. The rest of today's message is coming your way in just a few moments but 1st if you'd like to connect with Rick on Facebook Twitter Linked In good a pastor dot com That's Pastor Rick dot com and click on his social media links while you're there be sure to sign up for his free daily hope e-mail devotional and take a look at all the other helpful resources again that's Pastor Rick dot com we're going to look at 4 ways that you grow on faith these are just 4 of maybe hundreds we could spend an entire year. On this subject but here are 4 ways that you can grow in faith so that God's power can be more evident in your life and God's blessing will be more of an in your life what ever you want God to bless you need to trust him for a relationship a job or whatever so let's look at 4 ways number one 1st faith is choosing God's dream for my life faith is choosing and believing God's dream for my life you know it all starts with a dream it all starts with vision and idea what does God want to do in my life Proverbs 2918 Would you read it with me where there is no vision the people perish I tell pastors where there is a church with no vision the people go to another parish. Everybody wants to know where its goal and now the point here is this nothing starts happening in your life until you start dreaming God gave you the ability to dream to create to imagine nothing happens there and dreaming is an act of faith in everything you see on the planet started as a dream started this is an idea started as a concept everything on this campus this building all the other buildings before they became reality they were a dream in somebody's mind one mind somebody else thought this stuff somebody else thought all the buildings up everything you see 1st was an idea at 1st was a dream and so until you get a dream nothing becomes reality now if you don't have a goal in life your goal is just a goal go through life drifting by default and that's why if you haven't heard that 1st message on the power of focus I would encourage you to get that cd and the little 2 over a pencil planner on how to how to focus your life you see there are a lot of things in life you can delegate to other people you can pay somebody else to do and you can get a friend to do it you can ponit off when your kids but there's one thing you cannot delegate and that is trusting God I can. Delegate my faith in God to somebody else I can ask my wife to believe God For me I can ask my husband or my kids or my parents to believe God for me you cannot ask other people to do that you have to decide and you trust God as much as you choose your choice you can trust him a little to trust him a lot it's totally your choice. Now how do you get God's dream for your life well you do 3 things and that's the next 3 verses 1st. Fusions $320.00 God by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of infinitely beyond our highest prayers desires thoughts our hopes God says think of the biggest dream you can think for your life and that's what I can top that I can do something bigger in your life than the biggest thing you could dream of and I want you to circle a phrase on that dare to ask well just circle that here's the 1st characteristic of dreamers that God blesses dreamers dare to ask if you want God's blessing on your life this year you must dare to ask for it you must say God this is my dream and this is I'm daring to ask for it so what do you do what you ask God 1st God What's your dream for my life what do you want me to do and then you ask yourself what have I always dreamed of doing let me ask you that right now what's your dream if I ask you what have you always dreamed of doing and it probably comes to mind go and I am I'm going to ask you why aren't you doing it well I don't have the time and I'm the money don't have the ability don't have the so what you're talking about look at yourself why don't you look to God where do you think that dream came from . God puts desires in our hearts so I've always dreamed that the. Well why don't you go after it and why aren't you asked God. God blesses people who dare to ask God Would you help this dream I've always wanted to you know be a whatever I've always wanted to go to whatever I've always wanted to accomplish what well why don't you ask God for it the Bible says you have not because you asked not here's a question I want you to think you might write this down what would I attempt for God If I knew I couldn't fail. Just ask yourself that well would I attempt if I knew I couldn't fail let that expand your vision it always starts with a dream when you get a dream and you send a goal goals or statements of faith I believe I'm supposed to do this by such and such a day I believe God will empower me and so if you want God's blessing on your life 1st you dare to ask 2nd you believe God's promises and that's the next verse you believe God's promises the Bible says I am the Lord the God of all people of the world that's why we're doing the peace plan is anything too hard for me the answer is obviously no you see nothing is impossible with God. And to days and possibility is tomorrow's possibility it's tomorrow's miracle so you never lead just because you've got a dream say well it's impossible so what. A lot of things that are impossible become possible when you do it. Never let an impossible situation intimidate you let it motivate you to pray more to believe more to trust more to experience more to learn more to grow more that's how you grow just because your dream seems quote impossible doesn't mean you should or shouldn't go after it God is the God of the impossible that's where faith works faith always works in the realm of the impossible odds and Taylor said there are 3 stages to God's will in your life impossible possible and done. A lot of things I've done in my life that were impossible when I started to do it but I trusted God and 1st I believed God and I dared to ask and 2nd I believed his promises we've talked about those over 7000 of them in the Bible you see Satan's favorite words to you and that dream is always dreamed of doing his favorite words are you can't do it. Let me say right now when you get a dream and you hear the words you can't do it those words are from God. That's not from God That's from Satan and he's saying you can't do it because he wants to keep you stuck in mediocrity and as your Pastor I want your life to be an embarrassment to the devil. I want him to look at me and go oh I hate that person. Because they believe in God they dare to ask and they trust God's promises I hate that if you're going to have God's blessing on your life you dare to ask you believe God's promises and the 3rd thing is you dream big that's the next verse. God says asked of me there's that word ask and I will make the nations your inheritance the ends of the earth your possession what this man is asking for the world I mean that's about as big here can get you ask me for the world I'll give you the nations this is by the way is one of the promises that we're holding on to for the peace plan God says ask me and I'll give you the nations you see the size of your god should determine the size of your goal and you haven't really believed God until you've attempted something that can't be done in the power of the flesh or done in your own effort the only way you really please God is when you're living by faith which means you're doing something you can't do on your own power. So that's why I would encourage you get that 1st message in the series and listen to it because it's the steps on how do you set those kind of faith goals but let me just say this when you begin to dream and you say Ok God I'm going to take a step of faith this year I'm going to go after my dream 1st I'm going to pray and say What's your dream for my life then I'm going to think What have I always wanted to do what would I attempt if I knew I couldn't fail and then I'm going to believe God's promises and I'm going to dream big and you go out there and what's going to happen is you're going to go out you're going to start your dream and you're going to fall flat on your face. While because there's 3 parts to a dream this is very important you need. Understand this when God gives you a dream the 1st part he gives you phase one is what that's when you get the idea he gives you an idea of what he wants you to do that's phase one and then you go out you start trying to do it you fall on your face and you think well maybe I just made that up and then you come back and say God did I miss your dream and God says no it's still the dream you just didn't wait for part 2 and Part 2 of the dream is how. How am I going to do it and the way God fulfills the dream in your life will usually be the exact opposite of what you thought. Ok because you don't think like God thinks and so he's going to show you how to fulfill your dream in a way different than you thought you were going to fulfill it and then there comes the 3rd part this is the most important of all and that's when. God shows you what he wants to do in your life then he shows you how and then he shows you when and it always comes in phases and the when is the timing and God's timing is always perfect and a lot of times well have you ever been in a hurry when God wasn't. And you know God you know I want this dream right now and God says well you know that's a good dream but I'll do it in my timing. And it's not like it's not going to happen it's you know there is we know and not yet. You have to learn that as a little kid but we know not yet that God says a lot of times not yet when I tell you it will be right you know Ok and I talk about how we have what we call Polaroid vision you know if you look at poor Lord pictured you hold it up the longer you look at it the clearer it gets when it 1st comes out of camera pretty blurry when I started Saddleback Church 25 years ago I didn't envision all of what was going on here I just knew this is the right thing to do go start the church and you know the longer I look at the picture the clearer it gets and I go oh that's what you had in mind that's cool all I look at that that's cool to do all of this something else coming up it's kind of like reading a scroll you read a little bit you know roll it and read a little. God's not going to show you what he's going to do in your life all at once if he did scare you to death. So what he does these shows you a little bit at a time so the dream is going to come in stages and phases now the question is how big should my dream be you say Ok Rick I'm supposed to dream big I'm supposed to dare to ask myself to believe the promises I supposed to dream big how big should my dream be you ask yourself 2 questions the 1st question is how much time do I have to give to it. If it's a dream you got here on it better not be a very big goal if it's a dream or you say I can give the rest of my life to this you could really dream big. You see we overestimate what we can do in a year and we underestimate what we can do in 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 so you have to look at you see most people set goals too low and try to accomplish them too quickly what you need to do is set a bigger dream for your life and take a longer time to do it. I came here at Saddleback and said God I'll go anywhere in the world and started church if you give me the privilege of spending my entire life in one location. So that's 25 years old I said I'm going to give my entire life to one goal building Saddleback Church so you guys are stuck with me you know sorry I'm going to be around for a long time was God decides otherwise I haven't read the rest of the scroll but my goal is to say God I'll spend my entire life one place where you do a lot when you take 40 or 50 years to do it. You can get a lot done you just take you know inch by inch anythings a cinch like that old cliche how do you know if one bite at a time. So you ask yourself how much time do I have and that determines the size of the dream the other question you ask yourself to decide your dream is one of my real and Shane to do if you've been to class 3 a one you know about shape spiritual gifts heart your abilities your personality your experiences the 5 things that make you you know I know you've heard motivational speakers say you know you could be anything you want in life. That's not true. And you probably read some books that say you can be anything you want in life it's just not true something needs to stand and say hello it's not true you can only be what God shaped you to be if you try to be something that you're not shaped wired gifted to do guess what causes a little thing called stress. Stress is when you try to be something you're not you aren't and that's why so many people I guess 80 percent of people in the world are on the wrong job. They're not being they're not you know how you know when you're shape to do something it's fun you love to do it you get it I can't wait to go do that now if you have that and I can't wait if you don't have that attitude you're likely in the wrong job. Because God wired you when you're doing what you're shake to do you know this feels good this is me and you're not a stress stress comes from trying to be something you're not I mean somebody could tell me Rick you can be whatever you want to be I want to be an opera star. That would not only stress me and stress you. Haven't the listen to it and you create stress for other people around you when you're doing things that you weren't gifted to do so you look at how long you're going to focus on the goal and you look at what you shake to do. I want to challenge you to dream great dreams for God It's your 1st in the walk of faith and it pleases God All right so step one and really giving God's blessing in your life is living by faith and how do you do that 1st I get God's dream for my life the 2nd step is being willing to risk failure. Once I get a dream I got to take some risk to go after it and faith is being willing to risk failure to go after the dream that God has put in your mind and in your heart. You cannot go after a dream without taking some. Kind of risk if there's no risk involved it's not a dream from God because God wants you to live by faith it'll be so big that you can do it on your own. Now the Bible says the next 15 they risk their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ that's why God bless them have you ever had to take any risks for the Lord Jesus Christ if you ever had to take any risk ever responding thing for God. You see behold the turtle he only makes progress when he sticks his neck out. And don't be afraid to go out on a limb because that's where the fruit is and don't be afraid to rock the boat if Jesus is on the boat. You go ahead and take that risk you know I'm God has I'm usually blessed this church in a very unusual way why because this church has a history of taking risks enormous risks we have from day one up to even the last week we do it all the time and God looks down he says there's a group of people who are willing to trust me who are willing to believe me for just a little bit more than other people have chosen to believe of course and that's our choice. Anybody could do it is just here's a group of people said we're going to take another big risk let's go out and buy a $120.00 acres of land oh yeah in Orange County right and all kinds of risks that we've done over the years and God honors that now the reason why we take risks is we're not afraid to fail we've done more things here at this church that didn't work than Oh by far some day I'm going to write a book a 1000 ways to not grow a church. I know I'm all. For truth is we're not that smart we just trial and error we never call it a failure anyway we call it and you're. Listening to Pastor Rick stay leader if you'd like a copy of today's message including portions we didn't have time for or if you'd like to sign up for Rick's. 3 daily hope e-mail devotional just go to Pastor Rick dot com That's Pastor Rick dot com with 2 ours in the middle you'll find this message and others along with more helpful resources do you have trouble losing weight and keeping it off many of us do maybe we eat and eat but never seem to feel truly satisfied well instead of turning to food the next time that empty feeling comes around why not turn to God's word with the Daniel Plan $365.00 day devotional it's packed with encouraging Scripture passages motivational tips and special food for thought along with a loving note from Rick Warren the Daniel Plan $365.00 day devotional book helps strengthen your faith which is essential to your health once you've begun doing the daily devotionals you'll start to see that feeling of truly being full can only come from feasting on the Word of God will send you the Daniel Plan 365 day devotional right away when you support Pastor Rick's daily hope with a financial gift go to Pastor Rick dot com or call 80605004 that's Pastor Rick dot com With 2 hours in the middle or call 80605004 thanks for prayerfully considering making a financial gift to this ministry now here's Pastor Rick with a closing thought my prayers that are studied today is going to give you a deeper understanding of every blessing we have in our life in Christ thanks so much for listening I love to hear from you you can visit our website you can call the Win 800 number and by the way if you want to send a gift to help us expand this ministry I deeply appreciate it thanks so much for your friendship your support me sure to join me next time as we continue to look into God's Word for our daily. 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