Robert Ballard was a man with a quest. He wanted to find the Titanic. On September 1, 1985, he discovered the sunken ship in the North Atlantic, more than 350 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. His description of the first time he sent down that bright probe light and saw that sight more than two miles below the surface of those cold waters:

"My first direct view of Titanic lasted less than two minutes, but the stark sight of her immense black hull towering above the ocean floor will remain forever ingrained in my memory. My lifelong dream was to find this great ship and during the past 13 years the quest for her has dominated my life."

A Dream Come True!

All of us have dreams...

	Buying a new home
	Having children\grandchildren
	That special car
	The career we've been looking forward too
	The ideal vacation
	Serving the Lord in a ministry

I'd like to see our congregation grow and break the 200 mark

I'd like to see my children grow and marry in the Lord

I'd like to get just one itsy, bitsy, tiny, hole in one in my golf game.

Long before Jesus made his journey to earth, there was a dream in Babylon. It may have been more like a nightmare because this dream didn't make sense to the dreamer.

The dreamer was a King named Nebuchadnezzar. The man of God was Daniel. The dream was about the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ!

You see, the Church is a Dream Come True! And I believe the Church today can become for you "A Dream Come True," if we allow it to... if we are willing to commit our lives to the Church...

I. An Ancient Dream With A Present Reality.

An intense dream - Daniel 2:1

The king wanted answers - 2:2-5

Enter Daniel - 2:26- 28

The explanation:

A great statue - large and awesome! -31-35

Head of Gold - Babylon Empire - 2:37

Breast & arms of silver - Medes/Persian empire - 2:39

Belly & Thigh of Bronze - Grecian Empire - Alexander 2:39

Legs of iron - Feet of clay - Roman empire - 2:40

Another empire - 2:34

Identified in 2:44

What was Daniel seeing in His dream? The beginning of a dream. That dream is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

"In the Days of those Kings "- The Church began during the reign of Rome

"The God of Heaven will set up a Kingdom..." Not Nebuchadnezzar, not Xerxes, not Philip of Macedon, or Alexander the Great, but His kingdom.

"Which will never be destroyed..."

	Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 B.C.
	Alexander began his invasion of Persia in 334, crushed it in 331
	Ultimately Rome conquered the remaining remnants of the Grecian empire, namely the Ptolemies and Selucids
	Rome, the greatest and most secure nation fell and no longer exists!
	The Kingdom of God, unlike any prior to it, will never be conquered!

"It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms..." No earthly kingdom will stand against God's Kingdom. Those who have tried have perished.

"It will endure forever..." Long after the last Caesar. Long after the Czars, the Kings, the Emir's, and whatever form or Government we may one day see in the world, the Kingdom of God will be here. Forever.

Daniel's comments in 34 & 45 are his way of saying this Kingdom was...

	Not the plan of man
	Not the dream of man
	Not of human origin.

The Kingdom of God is of divine origin!

The fulfillment of this dream?

There are those in the Christian world who are anticipating a coming Kingdom. However, I believe this is based upon a misunderstanding of Daniel. Whatever the Kingdom is, it came during the Roman Empire.

Consider...

John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness cried out..."Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand..." - Matthew 3:3.

"Not long afterwards he began a tour of the cities and villages of Galilee to announce the coming of the Kingdom of God, and took his twelve disciples with him." (TLB)

"Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." - Jn 18:36

"Jesus went on to say to his disciples, "Some of you who are standing here right now will live to see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!" (TLB) - Mark 9:1

What is this Kingdom?

This kingdom that began in the mind of God long before it was a dream to be understood by Nebuchadnezzar is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It began on the Jewish Day of Pentecost , 30 A.D. It's beginning is described in Acts chapters one and two. It's early apostolic history is outlined in the next 26 chapters of Acts.

You are a part of it, if you've given your heart to Jesus. It's here, it's today, it's powerful, and it's going to be here until Jesus comes to take us home...It's God's Dream Come True!

II. A Dream That Will Last and Last.

Everything is fleeting...

I had coffee with a preacher years ago who shared all the dreams he had hoped to accomplish in the ministry were already fulfilled. Immediately, I was happy for him, until I noticed he was sad. His next comment was, "What do I do now?"

President Clinton has begun his campaign for re-election. He has said this will be his last election. If he wins and serves a second 4 year term, he will still only be in his mid to late 50's. Whether he is or is not re-elected, he will have served as the President of the greatest Country in the world. But what next? What do you do when you've been the President of the United States. Sort of overqualified you for your next job...

On the other hand, there are those who have striven for their dream with all that was within them and were unable to accomplish it. Then there are those who change their dreams so often, they haven't reached much of anything.

The Church is a dream formed in the mind of God, seen through the eyes of Daniel, and established by the blood of Jesus Christ.. If you are a part of it, you are a part of something that has been here long before you came on the scene, and it will be here long after you are gone. It's something we can invest our lives in, knowing there is no risk.

There's no risk because...

God is the Designer

Don't you love the new designs and the improved quality of everything from appliances to automobiles? They are designed to last at least until the day after the warranty expires. How many times has that happened to you?

The Church is the product of the Divine Designer. He has designed it to last eternally.

It is incapable of destruction

Look at the forces that have been pitted against the Church. The Church is still here. It has weathered everything this world and Satan could possibly dream up to throw against it and it's still standing.

Remember, John Cameron Swazy? The Timex man. He would put the Timex watches through all kinds of extreme tests and smiling into the camera says, "It takes a licking, but keeps on ticking!"

That's the history of the Church. It has taken quite a few lickings, but it just keeps on ticking, and ticking, and ticking.

One of the more remarkable Timex commercials came during the time when commercials were recorded live. Swazy actually lost the watch on live T.V., and said something to the effect, "Wherever it is, I'm sure it still keeps on ticking..."

Historically, when we cannot find the Church, when it was in hiding during the darkest of the dark ages, when it wasn't as visible as it is today, we can say because of Daniel's comments, "Wherever it was, it kept on ticking!"

It will outlast all other kingdoms...

Hitler's third Reich was to last 1000 years. It came spinning apart in a decade.

The Soviet Union, the government for all people and equality, didn't make it a full Century.

America, a country founded on Christian principles 219 years ago, is jeopardizing it's future by seeking to part company with God as quickly as possible.

The Church, i.e., the Kingdom of God, has seen them come and go. It was here yesterday, it will be here tomorrow.

We haven't seen anything yet... the day can't be that far off when Jesus Christ returns to take the Church, into heaven. What a great day that will be!

We will forever be with the Lord. We will be with all the saints of God who have lived. We will experience the ultimate benefit of being a part of God's Kingdom, the Church.

What will we do in heaven? I really can't say. Whatever it is, it will be one moment of glory followed by another. About the time we begin to think it can't get any better than this, it will.

III. A Dream Come True In So Many Lives.

God's dream, seen through the eyes of Daniel has touched so many people.

For every orphan who finds a home in a Christian orphanage, a dream has come true.

For every child spared the process of abortion through a home for unwed mothers, that child will live to dream.

For every chemically dependent addict, who discovers the Church, and through the power of Christ and the help of the members puts their life back on track, a dream has come true.

For every child who comes to Sunday School without his parents, perhaps from a dysfunctional home, and finds here stability, something solid, some people who care and even love them, a dream has come true.

For every Senior who has invested his or her life in the world seeking to find happiness, who turns to Christ later in life, and finally discovers the answers, another dream has come true.

Several years ago, a young man come to America to learn the Plywood industry to go back to his native Country & share this industry. While he was here, he met Christians who invited him to Church. After returning to India, John was immersed into Christ. He came to BBC for awhile, and returned. Today, because of a dream come true, John Gabriel is leading a work for Christ in India that has had an incredible impact upon that nation. There will be a large number of people in heaven because of a dream come true.

A boxer, a bootlegger, a sailor, a dance hall owner and operator who came to Eugene in the '20's to study music became a Christian. Forsaking his sinful ways, he gave his heart to the Lord and preached the gospel all over Oregon, and finally all over the United States. He helped found one bible college, and taught until his death in another. Some felt his tactics were harsh, too tough, and not very loving. Mr. Word was a tough man. At times, I'm sure he could be harsh. His ministry, has touched many lives, and there will be a large number of folks in heaven because of this old drunken sailor, and bootlegger, giving his life to Jesus Christ. A dream come true.

A young boy in a large family in the inner city of Los Angeles, growing up without direction, without a lot of hope. A preacher moved in the neighborhood and invited him to Sunday School and Church. This young boy's life was forever changed. Today, now in his fifties he is preaching in one of our larger churches in America. A dream come true.

Your story is probably as remarkable. When you think about where you were when Jesus touched your life. What you might have become without Christ, and what you have become through Christ. Folks, you are living in Christ a dream come true, because the Church, the dream of God, is a dream come true.

There are so many who need to have a dream...

This dream come true, the Church, has endured all Satan could throw against it in the last two thousand years, is in decline.

All of Christianity in America, across denominational lines is in decline. The Churches, including ours are not growing fast enough to stay even. The Churches that are growing rapidly, are growing not through the process of conversion, but through "swelling". We call it transfer of membership, i.e., when people move to a new area and talk with the preacher or elders about becoming a member of the Church. While this is fine, this is not real Church growth, although it can and often does lead to Church growth.

Why is the Church is decline?

Have we forgotten the dream of God to win the world?

	Have we made Christianity and the Church a part of our life rather than our life?
	Have we somehow confused the mission of the Church and our responsibility to share this mission of the Church?
	Have we in our busyness neglected to be sure others know about the Kingdom of God, and that there really is a heaven and a hell?
	Share the dream! Share the dream of God! The best way to share the dream, is for each of us to live the dream.
	We must come to the place where we allow the dream of God, to come true in our own lives.
	To no longer make time for the Church, but to be the Church
	To not allow ourselves to come to Church on Sunday, but be a part of the Church every day of our lives
	To not allow ourselves to give an hour a week or two or three, or four, but to give every hour of every week to the King of Kings.
	To see this congregation not as a place where your friends gather, but as an institution that can and has and will change lives, helping them to conform to the image of God.

Oh, the Church, the Church! It is the dream of God, seen through the eyes of Daniel. Begun on Pentecost. Been here 2000 years. Has changed thousands and thousands of lives.

I hope this dream of God includes you!

I hope your dreams are for the Church of the Lord Jesus!

I hope you're involved!