Power Of The Pivot | Week 2 | Pastor Mike Stephens

This message comes from Generation Church FL and Pastor Mike Stephens. It is a practical, heartfelt look at what it means to stay planted in God’s Word while pivoting around the opponents who try to stop God’s dream in your life. If you want encouragement to dream again, clarity on how God equips you, and a gentle but urgent call to surrender so your God-sized dream can begin, read on. The video of the message is also available for viewing below.

Introduction: You’re Not Too Small to Dream Big

Started this week’s message by asking a simple question: When was your last dream? Not a wish-list for a new car or another holiday, but a God-sized dream that sits heavy in your chest and won’t let you sleep because it’s bigger than you. Kids dream like that all the time. They’re fearless and uninhibited. But life’s rivals appear somewhere along the road, and our dream either shrinks or disappears.

That’s what this sermon is about: learning how to pivot. Do not quit the mission or abandon the journey, but reposition so you can keep moving toward God’s goal. In basketball, a pivot keeps one foot planted while you move the other to get around the defender. Spiritually, a pivot stays planted in Scripture and God’s mission while maneuvering around the fear, comparison, and failure that try to block us.

The Pivot: What It Is and Why It Matters

Pivoting is not indecision, abandoning the call, or strategic movement. The aim is not to find a new dream but to keep the original mission intact while finding new ways to fulfil it. Pivoting brings fresh vision, creates new opportunities, shifts momentum, stretches faith, and can change circumstances if we do it with God’s help.

You can take on seasons and situations when you pivot well, not run from them. You stay anchored to truth while being flexible in application. That balance, planted and mobile, enables faith to grow into something visible.

Why the Pivot Metaphor Works

Basketball is an excellent shorthand for life: one foot planted, and the other foot free to move. If the defender (life’s rival) comes in too hard, you don’t quit, you pivot. Don’t let fear, shame, or comparison freeze you in your comfort zone. You move. You reposition. You continue toward the basket, the mission God has entrusted to you.

Identify the Rivals: Name Them, Then Dismantle Them

One of the most practical parts of the message was naming the three rivals that attack the dream: fear, comparison, and failure. Name them. Call them out. When you can identify the opponent, you can plan to pivot around them.

1. Fear: The Dream Killer

Fear is a master at convincing you to retreat to your comfort zone. “You don’t know enough.” “You can’t afford it.” “What if you fail?” Those phrases are the defenders that try to pin you into inactivity. The reality is that growth happens outside the comfort zone. You won’t see God move if your strategy is to play small so no one notices.

“Fear tries to push you towards your comfort zone, but God wants your faith to push you toward your growth zone.”

When fear shows up, pivot. Keep one foot planted in God’s Word and the mission, but move the other foot and act with faith in small, faithful steps. The pivot might look like taking a class, signing up to lead a small group, or saying yes to one thing God places in front of you. The enemy wants paralysis; God wants obedience.

2. Comparison: The Dream Distorter

Comparison takes the dream God put in your heart and contorts it into something that’s not yours. You ask, “Why doesn’t my story look like theirs?” Social media makes comparisons worse. We scroll curated highlight reels and measure our backstory against someone else’s edited version of life.

When you begin to copy another person’s dream, you lose sight of your own calling. The dream in your heart was designed for your gift, history, and unique place in God’s plan. Comparing your dream to someone else’s will only rob you of contentment and derail your destiny.

3. Failure: The Dream Accuser

Past failures can get loud. “Remember when you fell flat?” Past mistakes can be used as evidence against the future God has promised. But the Bible presses back against that strategy. Isaiah says God is doing a new thing. He redeems, restores, and repurposes our past for His planned future.

Failure has a voice, but God’s invitation is louder. He calls us to pivot to learn from the past, not live in it. The pivot around failure is forgiveness, repentance if necessary, and a renewed step forward in faith.

Scripture Example: God Equips Dreamers (Exodus 31)

We looked at Exodus 31 to illustrate how God gives dreams and equips people to fulfil them. Israel is in the wilderness. God instructs Moses not just to build a tent of meetings but also to appoint gifted men, Bezaleel and Aholiab, to lead the construction of the tabernacle. He fills them with skill, wisdom, and understanding.

“They didn’t build it so they could be noticed. They built it so God would be known.”

Key takeaways from that passage:

• God-sized dreams come with abilities. God equips the dreamer for the dream. Bezaleel wasn’t only told to build; he was filled with the Spirit and given the craftsmanship to do so.
• God-sized dreams require collaboration. Bezaleel didn’t work alone. God appointed Aholiab and sent skilled workers. Teams, not solitary superheroes, realise big dreams.
• God-sized dreams serve a greater purpose. The tabernacle was for God to dwell among His people, not to elevate the builders’ status. Big faith produces a bigger impact and requires trust in God, not self-promotion.

This story is not just history; it’s a pattern. God chooses, equips, and gathers people to accomplish His purposes. Your skillset, the things you are good at, and your gifts will often align with the dream God has placed in you. When that happens, it’s usually not for personal fame but a kingdom’s purpose.

Four Practical Principles for God-Sized Dreams

From the sermon and Scripture, four practical principles emerged. These are not abstract; they’re actionable and meant to move you from dreaming to doing.

1. God-Sized Dreams Come With Abilities

God gives the dream and equips the dreamer. If the dream is from God, He will supply the wisdom, creativity, and resources to accomplish it. That doesn’t mean you won’t work hard; it does mean you won’t work alone.

Not every dream you have is from God. Some are cultural, some are self-generated. Isaiah 55 reminds us that God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours. If your dream requires abilities you don’t possess or are wildly out of character for who God made you to be, prayerfully, take a moment to examine whether it’s yours or your culture’s.

2. God-Sized Dreams Require Collaboration

Bezalel didn’t do it solo. He had a team. God builds through community. One brick alone doesn’t make a palace; it takes many hands. At Generation Church, ministry movements like the food distribution started as a God dream, were assigned to people with passion and gifting, and then were supported by scores of volunteers. The result: thousands of pounds of food given to families in need.

If you’re holding a dream, ask: who do I need on my team? Who shares my vision? Who will hold me accountable and pray for me? You’ll be limited if you try to build your dream in isolation. Bring people alongside you.

3. God-Sized Dreams Serve a Greater Purpose

When the smoke cleared and the worship settled, the tabernacle wasn’t about Bezaleel’s name but God’s presence among His people. The bigger the dream, the more likely it serves a higher purpose beyond your life. That’s part of why it requires more faith: God calls us to do things that only faith can push us through.

“If your dream does not require faith, it probably did not come from God.”

Hebrews 11 describes men and women who obeyed God in ways that made no natural sense. Noah built an ark before there was a drop of rain, Abraham moved without knowing the full destination, and Sarah believed she could have a child past menopause. Faith is the currency of God-sized dreams.

4. God-Sized Dreams Require a Heart Surrendered

We often say, “God will give the desires of your heart. ” But desire alignment only happens when our hearts are surrendered to Him. Surrender is not a one-time posture; it’s daily. The sermon included Pastor Mike’s testimony: a teenager running from God who, because of faithful parents and a patient kids pastor, eventually said yes and surrendered his life. That “yes” changed everything.

Surrender means you quit holding the steering wheel with white-knuckled control while expecting God to steer. It means you place your dream, time, and agenda into His hands. Surrender unlocks God’s provision and pulls down the wall that keeps your dreams small.

Real Life Examples: From Lego to Lifegroups

Humour was used to land profound truth: Pastor Mike’s Lego story (the set had “ages 18+” on the box) illustrated how daunting big projects can feel. But the Lego moment also showed the power of calling a friend when you get stuck. Similarly, God equips, and community helps assemble the pieces.

At Generation Church, small groups and the Next Steps process model what it looks like to take small, faithful steps. Next Steps was revamped into a two-week process: step one covers church mission and vision, and step two focuses on personal purpose and gifts. These structures help people identify how God has wired them and find places to contribute.

Another practical example is the food distribution ministry. It began as a God-placed idea to feed the community. Leaders stepped into the dream, volunteers showed up, and the ministry distributes thousands of pounds of food monthly to needy families. The result: lives impacted, the community served, and God honored.

The Confrontation: Are You Withholding?

One hard but loving point in the sermon was this: often we ask God, “Why aren’t you using me?” and the truth is, “Because you haven’t fully given yourself away.” We might say we belong to Christ with our mouths, but our lives still operate on half-measures:

• “I’ll give 10%.” (Even that’s sometimes presented as a negotiation rather than worship.)
• “I’ll serve when it’s convenient.”
• “I’ll join a life group when the schedule clears up.”
• “I value church… but summer’s busy.”

We can’t hold control in one arm and expect God to have the other arm full of dreams. Your arms are not large enough. The key to the pivot is surrender: give it all to God, your time, your gifts, your preferences, and trust that He will take it from there. The sermon’s line was simple and piercing: God-sized dreams begin when you surrender.

Invitation: A Call to Surrender and Prayer

The message closed with worship and a tangible call to action. Pastor Mike asked the congregation to stand, come forward if they wanted prayer, and to be honest before God. The prayer team remained afterward to pray for those feeling fear, comparison, or the weight of past failures. The theme was clear: seek God, surrender, and step out.

There was also an altar call for anyone who had never fully surrendered their life to Christ. Christianity isn’t merely a set of beliefs; it’s a living relationship with Jesus. Saying “Yes” changes everything. The pivot begins the journey from self-led living to God-led living.

Practical Steps You Can Take Today

If you left the message stirred but uncertain what to do next, here are practical steps based on the sermon that you can start today to pivot toward the dream God has placed inside you:

1. Identify the rival: Which of the three fears, comparison or failure, dominates you? Name it, write a journal about it, and pray about it.
2. Surrender something tangible: Start small: give your time to a team for one month, join a life group, or surrender a financial habit. Surrender is a muscle; use it.
3. Find your team: Who are two or three people who will join you, encourage you, and hold you accountable? Join or start a Next Steps cohort.
4. Take one faith step: Faith without action is not faith. Pick one thing you’ve been afraid to do and do it: lead a kids’ table, sign up to serve, or start a conversation about your calling with a mentor.
5. Pray and ask for help: Bring your dream to prayer. Invite a prayer partner to pray with you regularly. Let others pray for you when you’re stuck.

Resources & Next Steps

If you’re part of Generation Church or looking to plug in, the sermon pointed to specific pathways:

• Next Steps: This two-week experience will help you understand the church vision and discover how God wired you. Week one focuses on our church’s mission and values, and week two focuses on personal purpose and gifting.
• Small Groups: Community is essential. Find a small group to belong to, where dreams get lived out practically.
• Volunteer Teams: There are many ways to serve (kids ministry, food distribution, worship, hospitality). Serving helps align your gifts with God’s larger purposes.
• Baptism & Public Declarations: Baptism was highlighted as a decisive step, a public pivot into a new identity in Christ. (The church also held baptisms at the beach, which is a beautiful way of celebrating a new life.).

Final Word: Keep a “Yes” in Your Pocket

One of the most memorable phrases from the message was: Keep a ‘yes’ in your pocket. Say yes to God’s small asks so He can lead you to bigger ones. Pastor Mike’s story of repeated “yeses” from a kids volunteer to a life transformed into pastoral ministry shows a faith trajectory. The path wasn’t neat, and he still didn’t have all the answers at every turn, but the posture of yes unlocked doors and moved the dream forward.

“If you say yes, God will do all the rest.”

Yes, you will stumble. Yes, you will have seasons of doubt. Yes, past failure still whispers. But pivoting, staying planted in God while moving around the rivals, is the way forward. Dream again. Dream God-sized. And start with a surrendered heart.

Closing Prayer & Invitation

The sermon concluded with a prayer inviting people to submit their dreams to God, to step into worship with the team, and to accept Christ where needed. If you have never fully surrendered to Jesus, remember: He knows you deeply, loves you completely, and has a purpose for you that is worth saying yes to.

May you be encouraged to identify your rivals, pivot with faith, collaborate with the community, and surrender wholeheartedly so God can use the dream He placed inside you for His glory.