dreams odcf sunday april 21 2013

7/28/2019 DREAMS ODCF Sunday April 21 2013

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DREAMS


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Then Joseph

had a dream,Genesis 37:5


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Perhaps you are like me and

never fully thought about thesignificance of these five words.

Like me you might have never

considered their impact sincethe event they described on the

future nation of Israel, on Egypt,on all nations since, and on

your very life.


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Consider this, from the moment

Joseph had his first dream adestiny came forth that would

include your salvation. The

power of this single dream toset Gods plan into history is

almost overwhelming toconsider.


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Most of us first heard the story of

Joseph and his dreams in Sunday

School. As I have listened to ourSunday School teachers share

Josephs story I am so grateful that the

children can hear it and learn of Gods

amazing power. And for their age and

intellectual capacity it is wonderfully

shared. So please do not hear me

discrediting Sunday School.


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That being said, it is clear to me if

we continue in a childish

understanding of the stories of the

Bible we learned as children, we

will never fully grasp their truepower and significance.


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In order to understand the

full meaning of these biblicalstories we must stop seeing

them like a childhood fantasy like fairy tales --and see

them the same way we see

other historical events.


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Josephs story happened to a real person. It

happened to a real family. It happened with

a real nation. The events took place inreality. It is only when we see all of the

stories in that light can we begin to relate

them to our real lives. As long as they areonce upon a time stories they may still

teach good things but they will not tell us

that God is real and involved in every

aspect of our lives the good and the bad --

The lovely and the grotesque the

heavenly and hellish.


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When an actual dream is from

God it will always have part ofits purpose to establish our

destiny which becomes the

vision we have for our lives --our dreams of our destiny. In

this way actual dreams andvision dreams meet.


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First let us verify that God

gives us dreams.

The coming of the newage of the Spirit has

birthing dreams as adistinguishing mark.


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"It will come about after this

That I will pour out My Spirit onall mankind; And your sons and

daughters will prophesy, Your

old men will dream dreams,Your young men will see

visions.Joel 2:28


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One of the most wonderful aspects

about what Joel and Peter said

was that it would not be a limited

pouring out of the Holy Spirit as it

was in the Old Testament. It wouldbe on everyone. Everyone would

have the chance to partake of the

Spirit.


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It is true thatnot everyone

would but

everyone could.


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It is my hope that everyone

listening today would openthemselves fully to being

saved, empowered and filledwith the Holy Spirit that today

is available and being poured

out on all humankind.


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So what about our dreams? What

are they meant to do? How are we

to understand them.

The first dream recorded in theBible begins to point out the

purposes of God in the dreams He

gives:


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But God came to Abimelech in

a dream of the night, and saidto him, "Behold, you are a dead

man. . . Genesis 20:3


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Wow! What an introduction to a

talk on dreams!!!!!

One very important purpose

God has for dreams is to warnus.


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In fact it was by dreams that

God protected Jesus as aninfant.

Matthew 1:20 But when he had consideredthis, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared

to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of

David, do not be afraid to take Mary as yourwife; for the Child who has been conceived

in her is of the Holy Spirit.


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Matthew 2:12 And having been warned {by

God} in a dream not to return to Herod, the

magi left for their own country by anotherway.

Matthew 2:13 Now when they had gone,behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to

Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take

the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt,

and remain there until I tell you; for Herod isgoing to search for the Child to destroy

Him."


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Matthew 2:22 But when he heard

that Archelaus was reigning over

Judea in place of his father Herod,

he was afraid to go there. Then

after being warned {by God} in adream, he left for the regions of

Galilee,


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When we have a dream that has a warning

in it we need to seriously pray about how we

should respond to the warning. Somepeople will say that a dream from God will

not make you afraid. But it is clear that

dreams from God have made people afraid.But what have they made people afraid of?

Real circumstances of possible harm. This

is the key point.


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I see a second purpose of God in dreams is

to give us information we could not

otherwise know. Joseph could not haveknown the danger his family was in or what

to do about it unless God had shown him it

through dreams. When we have dreams weshould consider them and see if they are

seeking to tell us something that we need to

know that we could not know naturally.


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A third, wonderful purpose God has

in giving us dreams is

communicating Himself to us. In

this he also communicates His

desire for us to know Him and havea relationship with him and His

larger plan and our destined place

in His plan if we follow it. We seeall of these purposes in Jacobs

dream:


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Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went

toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and

spent the night there, because the sun had set;. . .

12 He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set

on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and

behold, the angels of God were ascending and

descending on it. 13 And behold, the LORD stood

above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of your

father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on

which you lie, I will give it to you and to your

descendants. shall all the families of the earth beblessed. 15 "Behold, I am with you and will keep you

wherever you go, and will bring you back to this

land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I

have promised you. Genesis 28:10


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God is speaking in this exact same

way all over the earth today.

People who know nothing of Jesus

are finding him through dreams. I

believe this is a direct answer toour missional prayers over these

last many years.


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God gives dreams to demonstrate

his knowledge and to build

relationships with others. Daniels

experience with Nebuchadnezzar's

dreams did both.


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You can read the whole story

in Daniel 2. After Danielcorrectly gave both the

dream and the interpretationof the dream the king had he

was given great authority and

honor by the king.


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Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face

and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders

to present to him an offering and fragrantincense. 47 The king answered Daniel and

said, Surely your God is a God of gods and

a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries,since you have been able to reveal this

mystery. 48 Then the king promoted Daniel

and gave him many great gifts, and he

made him ruler over the whole province ofBabylon and chief prefect over all the wise

men of BabylonDaniel 2:46-48

(NASB)


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Another extremely important

purpose God has in dreams is to

prophetically speak to us of the

future. We see this in Pharoahs

dreams which our dream herointerpreted.


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Now Joseph said to Pharaoh,

"Pharaoh's dreams are one {and the

same;} God has told to Pharaoh whatHe is about to do.

Genesis 41:25


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So how did Joseph come to

be able to give theinterpretation of dreams so

accurately? I believe the

scripture tells us.


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1. Joseph believed

dreams were significant.

This is crucial. Materialism will tell you

dreams are nothing more than thephantasms of our brains being reset or

working out problems in our sleep.

Though that can be the casesometimes, we know from the Bible

that is not always so.


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2. Joseph knew God

spoke through dreams.

When we believe God will speak to us

through dreams we will be attentive to

take them seriously and most

importantly ask Him what they mean.We will not go to the latest book on

how to interpret them.


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3. Joseph knew God

alone had theinterpretation of dreams.

When we believe God has

spoken in a dream we will notgo to the latest book on how to

interpret them.


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Genesis 40:7 He asked Pharaoh's

officials who were with him in

confinement in his master's house,"Why are your faces so sad today? 8

Then they said to him, "We have had a

dream and there is no one to interpret

it." Then Joseph said to them, "Do

not interpretations belongto God? Tell {it} to me, please."


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The only one who could

interpret Pharaoh's dreamwas Joseph and that was

because Joseph knew only

God could interpret them and

he had been listening all his

life to Gods voice.


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Do you see why it is so

important to be listeningevery day to hear God

speak. First through the

Bible, through creation,

thorough ours and others

circumstances (history) and

by His Holy Spirit.


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Of first importance in hearing

anything from God is ourwillingness to hear the voice of

God in the Bible and to follow

Him through it. This is certainlytrue of dreams actual and

visionary.


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I was once dating a girl who became quite

upset with me and God because she saw

that God spoke to me by His Spirit indreams and visions. She asked me many

times Why does God speak to you this way

and not to me?What I am going to tell you

in the next minute needs to be understood

not as a communication of pride on my part.

What God said to me when I prayed for her

about this deeply convicted me as to why Idid not have more of His Spirits power in

my life even as it answered her question.


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The Lord said to me, If

someone will not listento my written Word why

would I speak to them

outside of that Word.


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And to confirm what He said He gave

me this scripture:

Luke 16:27 "And he said, 'Then I beg you, father,

that you send him to my father's house -- 28 for I

have five brothers--in order that he may warn

them, so that they will not also come to this place

of torment. 29 "But Abraham said, 'They have

Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. 30

"But he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someonegoes to them from the dead, they will repent! 31

"But he said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses

and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even

if someone rises from the dead.'"


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And here is what in my mind it the most

critical aspect of why Joseph was so

accurate in interpreting dreams..

Joseph was

humble.


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Gen 41:15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I

have had a dream, but no one can

interpret it; and I have heard it saidabout you, that when you hear a dream

you can interpret it. 16 Joseph then

answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is notin me; God will give Pharaoh a

favorable answer."


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To receive the gifts of God requires

deep humility. Humility results in

thankfulness and complete opennessto following God in whatever He has for

us no matter what. Humility is essential

for us to fully receive the empowermentfrom on high He gives by the Holy

Spirit.


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We must see in the life of Joseph

the work that God was doing from

the moment of conception to the

day he met Pharaoh was to make

him able to handle the power hewould have when his dreams came

true. That is what God is doing in

our lives too. The only way we canhandle great power is great

humility.


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The prophetic dream given to Pharaoh

was also where dreams met destiny.

Many years before, while still a youthJoseph dreamed two actual dreams

that would mark his destiny forever. He

dreamed he would one day see hisfamily bow to him. And that is exactly

what happened. But before it

happened Joseph had to learn humility.That is always a deeply painful

process.


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I believe everyone in this place today

will totally understand what I am about

to say.

We all have dreams. I mean we all

have deeply held desires for what wewant to happen in our and others lives.

Our dreams are one of the mostvulnerable parts of us. They come out

of the deepest places in our being.


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When those dreams are realized they are

one of the most wonderful things that could

ever happen to us.

When they do not come to pass we can feel

life is almost not worth living.

Fulfilled dreams can give us some of our

greatest joys

Unfulfilled dreams can bring us some of our

deepest sorrows.


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Dreams are one of the most powerful

molders of our lives. We will do almost

anything to achieve our dreams until we feelthey are dashed. If they are ruined, in the

deep pain of disappointment and

disillusionment, we may never again allow

ourselves to hope for a better destiny again.

Perhaps the best expression I have ever

heard of this absolute despair in the lose of

our dreams is Fantines song in Les Mis


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I dreamed a dream in time gone byWhen hope was high And life worth living

I dreamed that love would never die I dreamed that God would be forgiving

Then I was young and unafraid

And dreams were made and used and wasted

There was no ransom to be paid No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night With their voices soft as thunder

As they tear your hope apart As they turn your dream to shame

He spent a summer by my side He filled my days with endless wonder

He took my childhood in his stride But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me That we will live the years together

But there are dreams that cannot be And there are storms we cannotweather

I had a dream my life would be So different from this hell I'm living

So different now from what it seemed Now life has killed the dream I

dreamed.


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I believe and my experience with every

human I have made meaningful contact with

has verified every person has dreams fortheir lives that were given by God.

These dreams are sometimes attended with

natural giftings to see them happen but

some times not.

These dreams are one of the mostsignificant aspects of who we will become

what our destiny will ultimately be.


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I believe the life of Joseph more

than any other life in scripture

besides Jesus demonstrates

this truth.

And he shows us how to bring

our dreams to reality.


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Remember I said earlier I want us to

understand Josephs life as being a

real one. Just like ours. I want us toimagine Joseph being right here with

us right now. I believe he can give us

great wisdom which is compassionateas well. If any one on earth saw the

destruction of his dream other than

Jesus it was Joseph. He can help usas we look around at the dreams we all

once had that lie in ashes around us.


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The first thing I believe he would tell us is to

believe in the God who gives us dreams. We

might say to him. easy for you to say, yourdreams came true in one of the most

amazing ways the world has ever known. But

remember we know the story from the first to

the end. While Joseph was going through thecircumstances of his life he had no more

evidence that his dreams would come to pass

than we do. I am pretty sure his dreamsfaded into an ancient memory. But the God

who gave him his dreams did not.

If J h lif i th li


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If we see Josephs life in the same way we live we

can understand that had he given into bitterness

at any point his dreams would have been seen as

the illusions of a child. He most likely would

mockingly said, I once had dreams of a wonderful

life but look at me now. I dreamed that my family

would respect me. Now I am in prison for life. Ithought my life would be purposeful but it has

been one continual mess. Stolen by my own

brothers from the bliss of my fathers home. Sold

into slavery. Falsely accused of immorality andthrown into prison. Forgotten by everyone. What

are my dreams but a bitter reminder of everything

I am not.

H ld d t d if f lt th t


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He would understand if we felt that same way

now. He would have such a compassion on those

of us who have had great dreams only to see

them dashed into pieces. But he would say to us,

even in the midst of the destruction I went

through of everything that even slightly looked like

it could bring forth my dreams I knew that the Godwho gave me dreams was still trustworthy. I chose

to trust Him in the darkest moments of my life. It is

true my dreams did not seem like they would ever

come to pass. But I knew God was with me and Ichose to stay with Him even if my dreams never

happened. I loved and believed in God more than

my dreams.

H d I k h ld t ll thi ?


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How do I know he would tell us this?

Because after all he had suffered he stilltold the two men with him in jail that God

was with him.

When he stood before Pharoah he told him

that God would tell him the meaning of his

dreams.

So today let Joseph encourage you. If you

will trust the God of your dreams He will

bring them to pass.

I l b li h ld t ll th t th t ibl


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I also believe he would tell us that the terrible

things that happened to him had to happen to

bring his dreams to fulfillment. We often see Gods

work in our lives to bring forth our destinies as

only those things that are positive. Joseph could

hardly have known what it would take in his life to

bring forth the fulfillment of the dreams he hadwhen he was a young boy. But having the

perspective of history we know that every step of

the way the Joseph was forced to go was an

absolutely essential step to the fulfillment of hisdestiny in God.

H d hi b th ld hi i t l h


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Had his brothers never sold him into slavery he

would not have been in Egypt. Had his masters wife

not falsely accused him he would have never been

in the jail to interpret the dreams of the butler whowould remember Joseph years later when Pharoah

had his dreams. Had there never been a time of

abundance and famine he would have never had

the food to feed his family when they were starving.Joseph came to understand Gods sovereignty in a

way few have ever understood it. We see this in his

statement to his brothers after his fathers death.

They were afraid he would take vengeance on them

after his fathers death. Remember this is a true

story. Joseph was immensely hurt by his brothers.

"A f t il i t


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"As for you, you meant evil against me,

{but} God meant it for good in order to

bring about this present result, topreserve many people alive.

He is saying to all of us, No matterwhat you have, are presently or will go

through, if you will continue to believe

in Him, God is going to bring good outof it. No matter what.

H ld t ll th t d t


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He would tell us that we need to

remember in our moments of

temptation that He must remain thefocus of our devotion. Listen to

what he said to Potiphors wife:

It b t ft th t th t hi


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It came about after these events that his

masters wife looked with desire at Joseph,

and she said, Lie with me.8

But he refusedand said to his masters wife, Behold, with

me here, my master does not concern

himself with anything in the house, and he

has put all that he owns in my charge.9 There is no one greater in this house than

I, and he has withheld nothing from me

except you, because you are his wife. Howthen could I do this great evil and sin

against God?

Genesis 39:7-9 (NASB)


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How then could I

do this great evil

and sin againstGod?

I it h i t


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In spite having every reason to

have become a broken hearted,

cynical, God hater in spite of

seeing the dreams he had for

his life reduced to a pile ofashes he still loves God and

wants to follow Him. That iswhat kept Joseph to one day

see his dreams fulfilled.

H d J h b d i


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Had Joseph succumbed in a

moment of self pity to his

masters wifes temptations you

would have never known his

name. In fact you would havenever been saved. You might

likely have never even beenborn.

If J h h d t b th t


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If Joseph had not been there to

interpret Pharoahs dreams his

whole family would have died,

and with them the line to bring

forth Jesus would haveperished.

If J h h d t b th t


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If Joseph had not been there to

interpret Pharoahs dreams most, if

not all, of Egypt would have died ofhunger. The nations that came to

Egypt to stay alive would have alsoperished. The fate of the world

hung in the balance because of

one mans purpose to stay true toGod.

It i th f t d O l


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It is the same for us today. Only a

few weeks ago as I was discussing

one of Howards sermons with himI had the thought that each

moment we live not fully givingourselves to God is an eternal loss.

That moment can not be

reclaimed. It is gone forever. Allthat God wanted to grow out of that

moment will never happen.

S Oh ll I d


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Some say, Oh well, I am saved so

it does not matter what I do. I am

still going to heaven. I am so gladthat Joseph understood that it did

matter what he did. I am so gladthat he loved God so much that in

spite of his terrible circumstances

he purposed to remain true. Andthat is how he came to see his

dreams come true.

That is how we also will come to


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That is how we also will come to

see our dreams come true.

Michaels Dream

Prayer Points:


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Prayer Points:

Perhaps you are here and have never

met the God who inspired and broughtto fulfillment the dreams of those in the

Bible and those who have believed in

Him since. This would be a good day tocome to know Him.

Prayer Points:


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Prayer Points:

Perhaps you have had a dream for

your life and it has turned to ashes.You feel hopeless and even afraid to

let it even begin to be rekindled in your

heart. Come and give that dream toGod. If it is from Him he will bring it to

pass as you trust in Him. If it is not

from Him he will comfort you and giveyou a new dream.

Prayer Points:


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Prayer Points:

Perhaps you are in the midst ofbringing forth your dream but have

grown unfocused or weary in the

journey. Come today to find an oasis ofGods refreshing by the Holy Spirit.

Prayer Points:


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Prayer Points:

Perhaps you have seen the fulfilmentof many of your dreams but want to

find the next dream God has for you.

Come and ask Him to give you newvision.

dreams odcf sunday april 21 2013

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