SERIES OVERVIEW
This is a ten-part series – based on John Maxwell’s Best Selling Book “Put Your Dream To The Test: Ten Questions To Help You See It and Seize It!” This week, Pastor G talks about “The Fulfillment Question: Does working toward my God-given Dream Make Me Feel Fulfilled?”
MESSAGE NOTES
Question Nine: The Fulfillment Question: Does working toward my dream make me feel fulfilled?
God is not working toward a particular finish— His purpose is THE PROCESS ITSELF.
IT IS THE PROCESS, NOT THE OUTCOME, THAT IS GLORIFYING TO GOD!
SIX THINGS FULFILLED PEOPLE DO OR REALIZE THAT LEADS THEM TO FULFILLMENT.
1) Fulfilled people understand the difference between the dream itself and the realization of the dream.
I have learned to be fulfilled whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being fulfilled in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength. ~ Philippians 4:11b-13
Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. ~ Psalm 37:4
2) Fulfilled people understand that the size of the dream determines the size of the time gap between its birth and its realization.
The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him, so it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us— and it is best to learn this patience in our youth. ~ Lamentations 3:25-27
3) Fulfilled people keep tweaking their dream while making the journey.
Fulfilling dreams are always fluid dreams.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. ~ Isaiah 55:8-11
4) Fulfilled people appreciate each step forward in the journey.
And He said, “How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.” ~ Mark 4:30-32
5) Fulfilled people celebrate new discoveries while living in the gap.
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. ~ Isaiah 43:19
6) Fulfilled people understand life is full of balancing experiences, both negative and positive at first, but ultimately leading us to the positive place God intends.
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven— A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time to search and a time to give up as lost; a time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; a time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-8