Solomon Woke Up, Realised It Was a Dream, and Sealed It With an Offering

Sermon outline

God still speaks through dreams, so clear the clutter from your mind, test every dream against the word, understand its timing, and when God speaks, write it down and seal it with an offering as Solomon did.

1. God still speaks through dreams

   One God-given idea in your sleep can change your life, and our prosperity, our families' increase and our businesses depend on the dreams and visions God gives. In a dream there is no pride and no preconception; all our defences are down, so God bypasses every fear and doubt and gets to the core of who we are. Even in sleep the Lord opens the ears and seals the instruction.

   Illustration: Moses met God awake and argued with Him out of his own story, an adopted son in Pharaoh's house. In a dream there is no argument.

   “So when God speaks to us, he bypasses all the junk.”

   • Job 33:15-16

2. The difference between a dream and a vision

   A vision comes while a person is awake; a dream comes in sleep, in the deep slumbers. Peter and John were awake for their visions; Pharaoh's cupbearer and baker, and Joseph the husband of Mary, were asleep. God promised to pour out His Spirit so that old men dream dreams and young men see visions.

   • Acts 10:9-16
   • Genesis 40
   • Joel 2:28

3. Solomon sealed the word of the Lord with an offering

   God appeared to Solomon in a dream and told him to ask for anything. Solomon asked for an understanding heart to govern God's people, and God gave him that and the riches and honour he did not ask for. When he woke and realised it was a dream, he went to Jerusalem and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the ark. When God speaks to you, first write it down, then give a seed offering to seal the promise so it cannot be corrupted. If your motives are right you will receive what was promised and much more.

   “Seal the words of the Lord, the promise over your life, with seed.”

   • 1 Kings 3:5-15

4. God instructs and guides in dreams

   God spoke to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Daniel in dreams, giving instruction and insight in their sleep. Daniel wrote his dream down. Joseph received the word about Mary in a dream and, as mad as it sounded, obeyed it; then he was told when, which way and how to flee to Egypt and when to return. God can still guide a struggling business or give an inventor or coder an idea. There is a difference between a good idea, which still needs anointing, and a God idea, which already carries it.

   Illustration: If Joseph had been an emotional man he would have had Mary stoned according to the custom of the day. He went away wondering whether she was crazy, fell asleep, heard from the angel and obeyed, and the result was Jesus Christ.

   “A good idea, we still need to go to the Lord and ask him to anoint that idea. But when it is a God idea, it's already anointed.”

   • Job 33:13-16
   • Daniel 7:1
   • Jeremiah 23:28
   • Matthew 1:20-25
   • Matthew 2:13-15
   • Matthew 2:19-21

5. God gives ability, and He speaks to unbelievers too

   On the day of Pentecost people spoke languages they had never learnt, so God can give ability, talent and know-how you never studied for. Every person on earth is still His creation, and He draws unbelievers to Himself through dreams, leading them to a church and to Jesus.

   Illustration: He reminds the church that God led their pastor and Pastor Zubeda to Jesus.

   “God has a way for drawing people to Him through dreams.”

   • Acts 2:4

6. Do not dismiss a dream: test it

   Not every dream comes from God, but none should be ignored. A dream comes either from the Lord or from what you meditated on that week. Do not wake up and tell everyone; take it to the Lord, ask for the interpretation, and expect Him to confirm it with His word. A dream is either for now or for a future time, or it is a warning, and a warning means the disaster can be prevented. God will never tell you in a dream to leave your wife.

   Illustration: After a dream about a fellow pastor he phoned him and urged him to have himself checked. The pastor felt fine and did not, and months later told him he wished he had listened. He also warns against treating a fleece about what a young lady will wear in a dream as a word from God, and against the man who answered everything with 'God will understand'.

   “God does not give dreams away from his word.”

   • Job 20:8
   • Job 7:14

7. Timing is everything

   Daniel had an anointing to understand visions and dreams, and he also understood that the appointed time was long. Not everyone has that gift, but everyone has the Holy Spirit, so go to the Lord before going to anyone else, and never to soothsayers. If the interpretation does not come at once, it is probably for a future time. You may have a vision of work for God, but if you are not yet serving in the local church, the time is not now: the training is now. A person you dreamt about may not yet be open to hear it.

   Illustration: Their thirteen year old son wants to drive. You can teach him in a field, but knowing how to drive does not mean he can go onto the road.

   “So yes, the timing may not be now, but the training is now.”

   • Daniel 1:17
   • Daniel 5:12
   • Daniel 10:1

8. Can God trust you with the dreams He gives you

   Ask whether your mind is cluttered with the cares of the world and what heaviness you take to bed. What you watch, read and listen to is what you will dream about. Nobody is exempt from the world, but everyone has the same God, the same Bible and the same Holy Spirit, and He is only as involved as you want Him to be. Seek and you will find: till the soil with daily time in the word, sow your time to the Lord and not only your tithe, and change your motives as Solomon did, because when God's will comes first everything else is added.

   Illustration: An advert showed a boy watching a film, then superimposed the film on his forehead as he slept. If a child plays Fortnite all day, that is what he dreams about. A farmer tills the soil, waters it and plants the seed, and it still needs the Spirit to germinate. The word of God is the panel beating that gives us new paint, new seats and a new engine.

   “Our motives need to be changed from a me to a He.”

   • 2 Corinthians 10:5
   • Matthew 7:7
   • Matthew 6:33
   • Psalm 51:11
   • Philippians 4:7

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