Elevate - The Story Pt 4 - Joseph

This is a sermon about the power of God's dreams and how they can be bigger than ourselves. The story of Joseph is used as an example of someone who had a dream of rulership, even though he was just a lowly sheep farmer. Joseph's brothers didn't believe in his dream and sold him as a slave, but Joseph continued to trust in God. He ended up in Potiphar's house and became a leader there, showing that God's dreams can come true. The sermon encourages listeners to pay attention to the longings in their hearts and to trust in God's help to fulfill their dreams. It also emphasizes that opposition and challenges are to be expected when pursuing God's dreams. This is a tough world. It is wracked with the curse of sin. The enemy of your soul means to do evil and bring evil against you. He is opposing you at all times. But if you have God's dream, and if you stay focused on Him, then you can be assured that He will accomplish through you what He set out to do with you. Welcome to Elevate, from Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama, with Pastor John DiQuatro. We hope it builds your faith and helps you to live a life for God that you've always wanted to live. We hope it inspires you to be a fully devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the message, and welcome to Elevate. Let's read in Genesis 37, and beginning in verse 2, it says this, This is the account of Jacob's family line. Joseph, a young man of 17, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. Of course, the little brother telling on his older brothers. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age, and he made an ornate robe for him. So if you've ever heard of the coat of many colors, right? Or if you saw that play, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, that's all about this. It's the ornate robe that Jacob made for Joseph. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. And he said to them, Listen to this dream that I had. We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it. His brothers said to him, Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us? And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. Well, then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. Listen, he said, I had another dream, and this time the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me. And when he told his father, as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, What is this dream you have? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you? His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Now, here's the thing about the kinds of dreams that God gives you. They don't make sense in the natural. Here we have a family of sheep farmers. That's it. They were successful at it. They were good sheep farmers, but that's all that they were. There was no nobility in their line. They weren't even part of a country, right? Their father, their grandfather, Abraham, had wandered into the land of Canaan, but they were not citizens of this country. They were an entity of their own, right? They had no authority, structure, or part of a kingdom. They were just a nomad family, living in Hebron, farming sheep. Yet, somehow, God gives Joseph this dream that he is going to be a ruler, and that among his subjects will be his family, his eleven brothers, and his mom and dad. And this is just how God seems to operate sometimes. He doesn't typically call us to do things, or call us to things that we feel equipped or capable to do. God puts things in us that unless He intervenes, that they would be impossible. And we know in this story, right? Joseph is just a young boy, 17 years old. He's a lowly sheep farmer, yet God gives him this dream of rulership. And it's not to say for every one of us that God's going to call us to something enormous by the world's standards. We're not all going to be rulers. We're not all necessarily going to even be leaders. But I want to say this. Pay attention to the longings that are in your heart. As you follow Christ, as you allow yourself to be transformed by the presence of Jesus in your life, pay attention to that tug on your heart strings towards something for which you feel ill-equipped. Maybe it's to be a witness on the streets. Maybe it's to go build churches in Africa. Maybe it's to pursue a course of study that is going to give you a set of skills that are necessary for what God has called you to do. Maybe it's to start a ministry feeding the homeless or doing something else. Whatever it is, whatever God is leading you towards and it's starting to cause you to want to pound the table, pay attention to that. And whatever it is, if it's God's dream, then you won't be able to do it without His help. That's how you know it's from the Lord. Because He receives the glory for everything. Can I tell you that? He receives the glory for... He's not going to call you to something that's just easy. I mean, He may ask you to do some easy things, but the dream that He gives you is one that is bigger than yourself. And that's the kind of dream that God gave to Joseph. And Joseph was obviously very, very pleased by this. And so, so much so that he thought it was wise to tell his brothers, who already hated him, and to tell his parents. And he created a bit of animosity there. But that's a whole other lesson to talk about how Joseph handled his dream. But I'm going to give you a little spoiler alert, OK? I'm not going to leave you in suspense about what happens to Joseph. Joseph does become a ruler. And his brothers and his parents are among his subjects. And they do bow before him. And knowing that, knowing the end of the story, helps us to see through a different lens as we look at the events of Joseph's life. So Joseph, in sharing his dream, both dreams, which were the same message, but they were two different dreams, it kicks off a series of events in his life. His deciding to open his mouth in that moment is going to kick off a series of events in his life. Things that would make you think that maybe he got it wrong. Things that make you think that maybe he was just a spoiled, snot-nosed little brat. And that there was no way that he was ever going to rule over his family. Yet somehow, somehow the dream is that Joseph is going to rule. And so the first event happens here when he's still 17 years old. His brothers are fed up with him. Right? He's already got favor. His dad made him a special coat. He obviously loves him more than the rest of his brothers. And so they already are fed up with him. And after he shares these dreams and they're just tired of him, and they decide the best thing to do would be to kill him. And then they think better of it. And so they decide just to sell him as a slave. They actually sold their brother into slavery. And I want you to see what they were saying as they were carrying out this crazy little harebrained scheme of theirs. Genesis 37 verses 19 and 20. He says, Here comes that dreamer, they said to each other. Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams. Here's the thought, right? Here's the thought, right? Big shot, huh? We'll see. You know, I can imagine that this is the type of conversation that the enemy has about you. That when God gives you a dream, God gives you something that He wants you to accomplish on this earth for His glory, something that's bigger than you, something that's going to require faith to walk in, that the enemy is like, Oh, she thinks God's called her to something, huh? I'll show her. We'll see what comes of her dreams. Oh, he thinks that he's going to be something special. He thinks he's actually going to do something to further the kingdom of God. We'll see. Let me throw all this stuff at him and see what comes of his dreams. Let me tell you something. Your dream, the one that God's given you, your calling in your life, is dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. It is dangerous to the enemy. And if you are not being opposed, as you walk in obedience to Christ, and you follow the dream that He has given you, if you are not being opposed in any way, you may not be in God's will. Because the enemy wants to fight against you and tear at you to get you to not do anything worth anything for God's glory. He wants to derail you before you even get started, just like he tried to do with Joseph. Now, we know that Joseph wins in the end. But first, he gets sold. And he ends up as a house slave for a guy in Egypt whose name is Potiphar. So we turn to Genesis 39. We pick up Joseph's story here. He's been sold to the Midianites. The Midianites, in turn, sell him to this Egyptian ruler named Potiphar. And it says, Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, brought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered. And he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care with Joseph in charge. He did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now I want you to see a few things here that I think are very clear that this experience in Joseph's life shows us. Number one, Joseph is a leader. He was called and given a dream that he would be a ruler, he would be a leader. This is what Joseph is. His father saw him as just a kid, maybe the favorite. His brothers saw him as just the little brother. He got under their skin, he annoyed them unmercifully, was brushed off by them as just a little punk. But when he gets to Potiphar's house, his leadership starts sticking out. This calling that God has placed in his life starts coming out, even though he's been sold into slavery. He's not there in his own volition. He's not going, oh, I'm going to do great things for God right now. He is a slave in Potiphar's home, but yet his leadership starts showing. This is who Joseph is. This is who God made him to be. That's why God gave him that promise. That's why God gave him that dream. Because this is who Joseph is. Regardless of his big mouth as a kid, or how his brothers felt about him, he was a leader. He was made of good stuff. But we also see that there's this intangible thing called the favor of God that's in his life. Because Joseph was in that house, the scripture says that Potiphar's house was blessed by the Lord. The favor of God in Joseph's life was not dependent on his circumstances. As a house servant, God's favor still shined through in Joseph's life. But I want you to realize something about how Joseph conducted himself when he found himself enslaved in the household of this Egyptian. He didn't allow his circumstances to get him down. You know, he could have thrown a tantrum because of how unfair all of this was. I mean, just imagine. You're the favorite son. You've got the cool threads, right? Your dad loves you the best. And all of a sudden you found yourself enslaved at the hand of your brothers. I mean, I would imagine this would cause some anger to rise up in most people. This would cause such a sense of injustice to rise up in somebody that says, this is not fair. I do not deserve this. I did nothing to deserve what's happening to me right now. And so Joseph could have just been like, fine, I'm not going to do anything worth doing here. He could have done the bare minimum. He could have been angry. He could have walked the life of a victim, which he was. He was a victim. But he didn't live as a victim. He didn't live his life victimized. Instead, he worked hard. And he was faithful. And as he did that, his destiny began emerging through his slavery. It began to show forth. Even though he was in this terrible situation, his destiny started shining through. The favor of God was on him. His character and how hard he worked and his focus in doing the right thing. God used it to bless him. And let me just tell you that the fulfillment of the dreams that God gives you, they are not linear. We would love that when God calls us to something and He puts something in our heart, that it's just slow, steady rise until we get exactly to where God has called us to be and everything just falls right into place. But it never seems to work that way. It's just twisting and turning and ups and downs. And it seems like that we have more setbacks than we have progress. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? I mean, at least it feels that way. But here's the truth. Whatever God has placed in you, it's still there when everything comes crashing down around you. I don't know who I'm talking to this morning, but I believe that there's some dreams in this place today. Some dreams that have been derailed by the circumstances of life. But I want to tell you that the dream that God placed in your heart is still valid. Just because things don't look like it's a setup for you to go where God's called you to go, your dream is still valid. Even when you've been knocked to the ground and it doesn't look like anything is possible in your life, don't stop trusting in God to fulfill what He's promised that He would do through you and in you. But I'll tell you this. Our attitude and our actions very much determine how we're going to step through those low points that we face. Because we're all going to hit them. We're all going to hit those low points. That's how you know you're on a good track. That's how you know you're following the will of God. The enemy's mad at you. So our attitude and our actions very much determine how we walk through these circumstances in our life because we're often not conditioned here in the culture that we're in that's influencing us. We're not conditioned to power through adversity. So when things don't look right, the order of the day is to feel victimized and to feel sorry for yourself and just to give up. But you have to know what God placed in your hearts and not doubt it for one second because your circumstances do not determine God's purpose for your life. Somebody hear that today. Your circumstances do not determine God's purpose for you. They're simply a testing period, a training ground, a proving ground for the purpose that God has called you to. Let's move on. Let's continue in Joseph. In verse 6, he says, Now Joseph... Now he's in Potiphar's house. He's doing really well. Joseph was well built and handsome. And after a while, his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, come to bed with me. But he refused. With me in charge, he told her, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house. Everything he owns, he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. And how then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, come to bed with me. But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. Look, she said to them, this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came in here to sleep with me. But I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house. She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story, that Hebrew slave he brought has come to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house. When his master heard the story, his wife told him, saying, this is how your slave treated me. He burned with anger. Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. See, now it's just going from bad to worse for Joseph. But once again, Joseph's character wins out and he does the right thing. He had an opportunity here. Joseph had an opportunity here. One that, I hate to say, many people would probably take advantage of. And a person of less character than Joseph may have thought. You know what? I am in forced labor, sold into slavery. I have done nothing wrong. You know what? I deserve this. That'll stick at the Potiphar. I'll sleep with his wife. I've earned this. You know, we find ourselves in tough circumstances from time to time. And we're frustrated. And oftentimes we're depressed and confused by our circumstances. And so we look for things that will make us feel better. Things that we feel entitled to. Right or wrong, we've been mistreated, so now we're going to get ours. Listen, godly character is of utmost importance in your life. Walking with integrity before the Lord and walking with exemplary character is of utmost importance in your life. You may be struggling to make ends meet. Your boss might be a jerk. But being unethical at work, stealing from the company, or pushing somebody else down in order to try to get ahead, it's not the way to go. When you take things into your own hand and begin to try to take what you think is yours with that entitlement mentality, you begin to short-circuit the miracle that God wants to do in your life. But here, with all of his character, with all of his doing the right thing, Joseph is now even in worse shape. He's done nothing wrong. He gets sold into slavery. Then he gets falsely accused by his master's wife and gets thrown into prison. Most people would give up at this point. But not Joseph. Look what it says in verse 20. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him. He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. Sound familiar? Potiphar's house. Prison. But look how he conducts himself. Here we are again. Joseph is kicked down, but his leadership rises to the surface. The favor of God remains with him. And rather than Joseph sinking into an obliterating depression, he works hard. He shows his value. He trusts God. He acts faithfully, and he gets promoted to second in command in the prison. Now remember, Joseph has been given a dream that he's going to be a ruler. And that his own family is going to be among his subjects. He's been sold into slavery. He's been presumed dead by his father. He's been falsely accused by his boss's wife. And now he sits in a prison. But we know that that's not the end for Joseph. And so I'm going to paraphrase the rest of the story for you. I hope that I'm speaking to somebody today. I hope that you're hearing the message through the message today. Because there's dreams that God has given us. There's things that God has promised us. There's trajectories that God has called us to. And ministry that God has placed in our heart to do. There's great big things that God has put in our hearts to do. And oftentimes we just get completely annihilated by our circumstances. This is the rest of the story with Joseph. While he's in prison, he interprets a couple of dreams for two other prisoners that are with him. And the interpretation of those dreams turned out to be 100% correct. Remember, the favor of God is on him. Now he's got this prophetic gifting. So one of the guys that he interprets the dream for gets out of prison. And that guy gets restored to a position that he had with the king. And so when the king has a dream of his own and is confused and frustrated because he can't figure out what this dream means, that guy remembers, ah, Joseph can interpret dreams. And so the king sends for Joseph. And Joseph interprets his dream. The interpretation of the dream is this. He foretold seven years of prosperity in Egypt. But then seven years of famine would follow. And he tells him that it would be wise to place someone in a position that can oversee the years of prosperity and the years of famine. And of course, the king is like, well, how about you, Joseph? Why don't you be put in that place? And so the king now puts Joseph as second in command of all of Egypt. You see, he was second in command in Potiphar's house. His leadership kept rising to the surface, second in command in the prison. His leadership keeps rising to the surface because he's staying faithful. He's keeping his character in check, keeping integrity pure, right? And God's blessing him, God's blessing him. And now his next step is out of the prison into the second in command of all of Egypt. So the famine that he foretold strikes. He spent seven years hoarding grain. And then the famine strikes. And when the famine strikes, people from all over are coming to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, including his father and his brothers. They discover that Joseph now is in charge of Egypt. I think they were a little surprised. They left him in a cistern. They sold him. So they have this big family reunion. And Joseph moves his family into a region of Egypt where they can flourish. That's how the Israelites came to Egypt. If you ever wondered how they ended up in Egypt, this is how. There's a big famine. They come to buy grain. They find out that their brother is the one in charge of all of Egypt. He restores relationship. He brings them to Egypt and says, come and settle in this area that's flourishing and is there. They came as a small family, but while they were there, they grew to millions. And eventually they got so big that they were enslaved, which sets up Moses in the Exodus next week. Little foreshadowing. We'll get to that next week. If you ever wondered how they got there, this is it. That's why Joseph is such an important story. I want to turn you to some of the final words that are recorded of Joseph's in the Bible. Because after all of this went down and his relationship with his family was finally restored, his brothers come to him and they're groveling a little bit because they were afraid that Joseph would try to get revenge on them because they sold him into slavery all those years ago. But this is how Joseph responds in Genesis chapter 50, verse 18. Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face and they say, behold, we are your servants. Joseph said to them, do not be afraid for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. Now, therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. I love this. You meant to harm me. You meant evil against me. But God had a different plan. While you were kicking me down and selling me into slavery, while my boss was falsely accusing me and kicking me into a prison pit, while I was there, God still had a plan for my life. And it wasn't going to stop me. God meant all of this to bring me to this place in Egypt. Now listen, this is a tough world. It is wracked with the curse of sin. And people all around you are going to mean things to harm you for evil against you. The enemy of your soul means to do evil and bring evil against you. He's opposing you at all times. But if you have God's dream, and if you stay focused on Him, then you can be assured that He will accomplish through you what He set out to do with you. That to me is the greatest thing. Listen, I'm 47 years old. I've got a lot of regret that I look back on. I've got a lot of mistakes that I look back on. I've spent the first half of my life running and chasing my own things. God got a hold of me, but I've made mistakes. And I've done stupid things. But I know that everything that I've gone through, God used it as a setup to get me where I am now. And I'm still making mistakes. And I'm still getting messed up from time to time. And I know that as I face difficult circumstances, and sometimes it's hard to see what the next step is, and is God ever going to do it in my life? I'm telling you right now, I'm going to stay focused. I'm going to stay faithful, because I know that He is faithful. And if it's His dream, He'll make sure that it comes to pass. Thank you for listening to Elevate. We hope this message encouraged, inspired, and challenged you. Authentic Life Church is located at 3750 Michael Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. Visit our website, AuthenticLife.tv, for more information about Authentic Life Church, to find out what we have going on, or to make a donation. You can also find us on Facebook. We'd love for you to join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. for our weekend service. We have excellent children's, nursery, and youth programs, so bring the family. For Pastor John DeQuatro, I'm Scott Chestnut. Thanks again for listening, and God bless you.