8.11.19

Dare to Dream 6

Dare To Dream – 6 “God's Dream”

Read: Deuteronomy 34:1, 4-7

Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land. . . . Then the Lord said to him. “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.” And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.

Mountains in Scripture usually signify a place to get a clearer vision. As the study book tells us, Moses received his first vision, that of the burning bush, at Mount Horeb. His final vision, recounted in today’s Scripture passage, was at Mount Pisgah.

This final video is set at Huffman Prairie Flying Field, where the Wright brothers developed the world’s first practical aircraft in 1905, two years after their successful first mechanical flight.

(Video not available online)

Bible Study and Discussion

Consider the key questions posed near the end of the video:
• Where in your life do you need to go back and try again?
• Have you given everything you can?

Read Deuteronomy 34:1-7. Discuss the following:
• What does the Scripture mean when it says Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone?
• Slaughter tells us that Moses was successful because he still had a sustaining vision. What would you say that vision was?
• Imagine being Moses and looking back on his life, reviewing the obstacles and difficulties he had to overcome. Now imagine looking forward across the land, which the Lord had promised to the people, yet hearing that Moses himself would not enter the land. How would you have responded had you been Moses?
• Slaughter observes that what our lives come down to is one word: legacy. What was Moses’ legacy to his descendants? How did he ensure that the vision would be sustained after he was gone?

Digging Deeper

• “Saints are sinners who kept on going.” —Robert Louis Stephenson
• “It’s not that I’m smart, it’s just that I stay at problems longer.” —Albert Einstein

Note that these quotations express the perseverance of people who had a vision for their lives. Slaughter names others who overcame daunting obstacles to succeed—Beethoven, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, James Earl Jones, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Can you name others you can think of
who have persevered to achieve, either noteworthy or people you have known?

Think about the following:
• Mike Slaughter writes: “Here is my philosophy of life: ready, fire, aim.” He notes that we don’t need to have all the resources at the outset of our mission to accomplish what God is calling us to do; the resources will be given at the appointed time. Is this a foolhardy approach to one’s life mission, or a wise reliance on trusting God to provide?

Building Your Life Mission Statement: Part 6
Write a draft Mission Statement.





Keep on keeping on!

Closing Prayer
God, I am so thankful that you never let us go—in our distractions, in our false priorities, in our failures. Lord, clear our vision and renew our focus. Give us the courage to persevere. Amen.”