From Dream to Destiny

Over 30 years ago as a young pastor, I received two powerful visions from the Lord. The first was the promise of my call to Southern California being followed by a great harvest of souls, and the second was establishing an apostolic base from which we would reach all the nations. I had many ideas about how and when these two visions would happen, but weeks turned into months and months turned into years and still my visions remained unfulfilled.

After several decades of patient obedience through times of blessing and times of discouragement, I have come to understand more fully that our visions are really bits and snatches of God's dream for us. His dream is so wonderful and vast that we are told, “No one’s eye has ever seen, no one's ear has ever heard, and no one's heart has ever imagined all the things that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

God does not deliberately hide His plans from us, but He can only reveal bits at a time because our minds and our hearts cannot contain the totality of His dream. We must progressively mature into a more complete and fuller understanding, so He reveals step-by-step how we are to proceed as He takes us from dream to destiny.

I've learned that reconciliation is at the heart of God’s dream. Through His mercy and loving kindness in Christ, He calls His human family back into a restored relationship with Himself, reversing the curse our sin brought upon us. In that reconciliation, He restores to us the blessing of our original dominion and prosperity. He also reconciles us to one another restoring family and community relationships. Finally, He reconciles us to ourselves, giving us His peace and making us whole physically and emotionally.

If we are obedient to follow His leading, He plots our course and fixes the path of our life so that we enter into the destiny He calls us to. Our destiny in the body of Christ is to co-labor with Him in His great dream. He gives to us the incredible privilege of representing Him to the rest of the world in His ministry of reconciliation.

“All things are from Father God, who through Christ has reconciled us to Himself, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. In Christ, God is reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us this message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5:18–20a)

At HRock Church an important next step in our destiny as co-laborers with God in His ministry of reconciliation is to become an apostolic reformation center. We are to train, equip and support an apostolic network that will reach the nations with the transforming power of God's call to reconciliation.

This Sunday, HRock Church will celebrate its 20th anniversary. We will have only two services, a morning service from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM and an afternoon service from 1 PM to 3 PM. We invite all of you to join us for a celebration reception from 11:30 AM to 1 PM. Some special guests will also join us, including His Honor, Bill Bogaard, Mayor of Pasadena. I will be speaking on our destiny as an apostolic reformation center. My sermon is “From Dream to Destiny.”

Pastor Che