Each one of us has some big dream for our lives – woven into our DNA by God.  But most people realise that to live out that dream they're going to have to leave their comfort zone.  And that … that's scary. We all have a dream, something that we really want to do. It's not only something we're good at, it's not only something that really excites us. Sometimes we had the dream a long time ago and through the pressures of life we've forgotten them. But God weaves those dreams, His purposes, into our DNA. The things we're really good at, that we really enjoy doing. We all have the dreams, but there's something that stops us sometimes from living them. And that something is fear. Our big dream in life is scary because it's about leaving the familiar. It's about leaving our comfort zone. Leaving your comfort zone can be really scary. If you know someone who's living out their dream, you know, someone in whom God has planted something and they're out there living it and loving it, and you go and ask them and you say, "What were the early days like? What was it like at the beginning?" You're likely to get an answer something like this: "Before I stepped out into my dream every time I thought about the dream it made me whistle. Every time I thought about the dream it made me soar like an eagle. But when I took my first step, all I felt was fear. And then I took a few extra steps and it didn't feel like a dream any more and I started to focus on the things that really scared me." But if we could go to the end of our life, a life lived with a dream in our hearts that we never pursued, how would we feel? How would we feel if we looked back on that life and said, "Man, I know God planted that dream in my life. Why didn't I ever chase it? Why did I waste my life?" The words I am about to read you were written by an elderly woman looking back on her life and she says this: "If I had my life to live over I'd dare to make more mistakes next time. I'd relax, I'd limber up, I'd be sillier than I've been this trip, I'd take fewer things seriously, I'd take more chances, I'd climb more mountains and swim more rivers, I'd eat more ice cream and less beans. I'd perhaps have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. "You see I'm one of those people who lived sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. I've had my moments and if I had it to do all over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to do nothing else. Just moments one after the other instead of living so many years ahead of time. "I've been one of those people who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, hot water bottle, raincoat and parachute. If I had it to do again, I'd travel lighter next time. "I'd start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the autumn. I'd go to more dinners, I'd ride more merry-go-rounds, I'd pick more daisies." Isn't it interesting how someone can look back on their life and say, "I let the fear of chasing my dreams override that dream. And so I lived a very measured life, a very ordered life, but I have a sense that I didn't live the life that God wanted me to live. What about you? Let me ask you really plainly and directly, but in love. Has God put a dream in your heart? Is there something eating away at you that you've always been too scared to try? Maybe it's a career thing. Maybe it's a vocation thing. I don't know. Maybe it's a ministry thing. But there's a dream there that you've always wanted to find. But you've just been too scared to go. If you looked at the Lord straight in the eye and said, "Lord, what's the dream that you have for my life? What would that be? What would that look like? Maybe your dream is to become a nurse. Maybe your dream is to travel overseas and minister to the poor. Maybe that dream is to be a tennis player. There are so many dreams and not all of them look spiritual. Not all of them look conventional. Joshua had a dream. After Moses died, his dream was to take God's people into the Promised Land. Listen to what God said about him and listen especially to what God said about fear. This comes from the first chapter of Joshua's dream. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' assistant saying, "My servant, Moses, is now dead. Now proceed across the Jordan, you and all the people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. Every place the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you as I promised to Moses from the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you but be strong and courageous. For you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with the law that my servants commanded you. Don't turn from right or to the left so that you may be successful wherever you go. I hereby command you, be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened or dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." How many times does God say to Joshua, "Be strong and courageous? Be strong and very courageous? Only I say again to you, be strong and courageous and do not fear?" Why do you think God had to tell him that? My hunch is Josh was afraid - because Joshua had to go and take this people across the Jordan, into the Promised Land and fight a whole bunch of other peoples to bring them into possession of the thing that God had promised them. But God said to Joshua, "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have already given to you." Do you notice the tense? When you go, if this dream is God's dream, it is already done for us. And when we walk out there sometimes, it looks really scary. Last year we bought a cat. This beautiful, little kitten, her name is "Dog". Now you might say that's a silly name for a cat. But that's the name the cat had, so we call her "Dog". And as she's grown up (she's almost a year old now) she plays in the house and she plays in our back yard. We live in a terrace house, that's a very small block and a very small back yard and we leave the front door open all the time. But do you think that cat will go out that front door? Absolutely no way, because her territory in her mind, stops at the door. There is an invisible wall of fear between her and the front yard. She cannot bear to even go near that front door. It's funny, isn't it? She has this view in her head, in her little head, of what her territory is and she ain't going beyond that view. How often are we like that with our comfort zones? How often are we afraid to step through that invisible wall of fear? In following the dream that God's put on my heart, I've had to step through that invisible wall. What I discovered when I took that one step is I was still alive on the other side. If it's God's dream "No weapon formed against us will prosper or stand" and we know it's God's dream. As we dream dreams in our hearts, it burns so strongly. It might be hard to leave our comfort zones, but you know something? I think it's harder to forsake our dreams. Sometimes we just don't feel worthy but God says, "Take courage, take courage because I have gone before you. Take courage because it's my dream too. Take courage because no one will be able to stand against you for all your life. "When you experience setbacks, when you're afraid, when you're alone, take courage, because I am with you in that dream." My big dream was on the other side of that invisible wall of fear. So is your big dream. What's holding you back from living God's big dream-filled life? Is it fear? Are you like our kitten, afraid to step through the front door? We don't have to be afraid. How many times does God say in the Bible, "Fear not?" How many times did God say to Joshua, "Don't be afraid. My dream. I am with you. No one, no one will be able to stand against you."

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