Dream, Serve, Show Mercy

What do you get when you cross an agnostic, dyslexic,and an insomniac? Someone who stays up all night wondering if there really is a dog.

Last Wednesday I spoke on Setting Goals that are Destined to Fail without Divine Intervention. Tonight I want to stay on the subject of Goals and Dreams.

I believe you are here for a reason. We all are in this room because God himself ordained for us to be here. If we believe that God is all powerful, all knowing, and in control of even the hairs on our head then we must believe that He has a purpose for us to be alive right now.

He is moving things around in each of our lives with purpose, with meaning, and without our permission!

Proverbs 19:21 NLT

21 You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.

You decided to make it to church today. You physically showed up here for service, maybe you took a shower, put on clothes, and somehow got to this building. It was a good decision, but I’ve got to tell you, it wouldn’t have happened unless God allowed it to happen. He’s in control and has the final say in each of our lives.

From the beginning of time God had a few thoughts about your life. You weren’t an accident.

You were created by the Hand of an Almighty all knowing God who incidentally loves you deeply. God wanted you here this today or else you wouldn’t be here.

It’s kind of like breathing: we think we are in control of our own breathing…until it stops. See, the brain is controlling your breathing, but God is allowing it to happen.

The point is that God wanted you here right now to hear from Him. Not from Shannon Watterson.

God loves you so much that He wants to speak to you - directly to your heart if you’re willing to listen.

I believe the first thing He wants you to hear is that your should...

Dream Big

God has more for you!

What are your expectations for your own life? Do you have big dreams?

I am convinced that God has big plans for us. That our lives count. That we are not just placed here by accident. You should really understand that you are important. You matter to God!

Last time I showed you a group of people with a dream that didn’t line up with God’s plan. This week I want to share a story of a man who was given a dream directly from God that seemed absolutely impossible.

Genesis 37:5–10 NLT

5 One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. 6 “Listen to this dream,” he said. 7 “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!” 8 His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them. 9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!” 10 This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?”

The first thing that stands out to me is that Joseph didn’t choose his dreams. Isn’t that interesting? I mean would he have chosen a dream that made his brothers angry?

He dreamed basically that he was going to reign over them in some way. At the time he had no idea that he was going to be the most powerful man on earth right behind the Pharaoh.

He had no clue what events lay ahead of him to get to the point where these dreams were fulfilled. The only thing that he knew was that he had these dreams and they upset his brothers.

If I am going to take this story and apply it to our lives today I would say that all of us have been given dreams. That doesn’t mean you actually went to sleep and saw a vision of the future, but I mean that more figuratively. What I mean is that God has placed in each of us desires. Now the desires God has placed in us are desires that line up with the Word of God.

God wants to give us the desires of our heart. There is even a promise in Psalm 37:4 that says if we delight in the Lord He will give us the desires of our hearts.

You have been given dreams or desires. These come from God if they line up with the will of God.

Sometimes, like Joseph, you might not understand what these dreams mean or how they are going to come to pass. You just know they are there.

Sometimes Big Dreams take time come about…while things are falling into place we are called to remain faithful to God.

In the kingdom of God we all have a part to play.

Faithful servants will use what they have been given.

People like to dream about what they would do if given a million dollars?

The real question is “what will you do with what you have?

You may not feel qualified, that’s OK! It’s about being willing to do something!

When Joseph shared his dream with his FAMILY they were super excited for him, gave him hugs and kisses, and lifted him on their shoulders!

NO they didn’t!

The bible says in verse 5 and verse 11 that it made them hate him and envy him!

Listen to me today. You are going to have people, and maybe even people that you love that are going to shoot down your dreams or desires. Even if God has given you those dreams people in their finite wisdom aren’t always going to understand.

They might look at your past and say, you can’t do that, look at your record. They might try to remind you of where you’ve been, or your previous reputation.

I need to be very clear on this point. God doesn’t care about who you were, what you’ve done, or where you’ve been.

He is focused like a laser on who you are NOW in Christ, and if you are willing to as Jesus said it in Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

When you bow your knee in surrender to Christ and believe in Him as a resurrected savior then guess what? You’re a new creation. The old you is gone in the site of God.

And in my book, how God sees a person far more important that how we see a person.

Grab your dream and don’t let go! Don’t let anyone anywhere tell you that God isn’t working in your life. He promised that He is working everything out for those who love Him and are called by His name.

Oh they enemy would love for you to give up. The enemy would love for you to lay down the dreams and desires God has placed in you.

You know why? Because he believes in those dreams about you.

He knows what God can do and trembles in his boots when you walk in a room. The Spirit of the Living God is in you. Get some backbone and stop thinking that you’re a nobody. You are a child of the King. Wake up and smell that dream. It’s closer than you think!

Joseph had no idea how, when, or why. All he knew was that it was his and one day it would come to pass.

That’s how it is with us, at the right season our dreams will come to pass.

The catch with a dream or desire is that you get dream and desire it BEFORE they happen. You might be able to see it with your heart or mind, but there are still things that must be done to walk into that dream.

You want to be a doctor or teach or lawyer? Before you walk in that dream you’ve got a road to walk. It doesn’t always just happen.

Don’t give up because there is a road to walk to get to your dream. My second point is that no matter what our dream are we must be determined to...

Serve God

Even if there are trials

Joseph had trials. If you read on in chapter 37 you’ll see that his brothers hatched a plan to get him out of the picture. They sold him as a slave and told their father he was dead.

In chapter 39 Joseph is found in his masters house and really doing well until the wife of his master accused him of trying to rape her.

He was then sent to prison.

The way most people think, is that “once I overcome the pain I will be faithful”

Once I am past my problems then I will become “fruitful”

This is the kind of “Wheeling and Dealing” people do with God to get out of a jam...

- Oh God, if you will get me out of this legal mess, I will go to church every…

-Oh God, if you will give me a good report on my health problem I will change…

-Oh God, if you will get me out of this debt I will tithe and be more generous

Bad and difficult things happened to Joseph. Things that most of us won’t ever experience. Things so terrible that if it were us we may have given up!

Walking with God doesn’t mean that life won’t have trials.

God’s promises don’t always start with something good, in fact sometimes it starts with something bad.

God had given Joseph a dream that was easy to interpret.

That he would be exalted, that his own family would bow before him.

This was a promise of God. So, in my mind the next part of the story should be that they are bowed down and everything was great, but that’s not what happened.

Once Joseph had the dream his entire life seemed to fall apart. It seemed like God had made a mistake.

Have you ever been at that point in your life? You look up to heaven and asked where are you God? Why am I going through this pain or trial?

I know I have certainly been there. When Kris and I lost our little baby girl it was the worst pain I have ever experienced. It was the lowest blow the enemy could have ever given to us. It hurt more and still hurts more than anything we have ever known. I think about it often and have wondered what God’s plan was in that situation. Yet, one thing I have never done, was doubt God. I can say by the grace of God that I have never turned my back on Him when things were the hardest.

You may be down, but you’re not out. You may have the breath knocked out of you but listen, like Isaiah said

Isaiah 59:19 NKJV

19 So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

The circumstances might tell once story, but if you just hold on to the One who is writing the story then you can make it through the storm.

Think about the nation of Israel how they spent 40 years in the desert. God had just delivered them from Egypt. Their promises were being fulfilled! God was moving on their behalf. They had experienced torment and they were finally being freed. God parted the waters for them and provided for them.

You’d think for sure they were going to the promised land. The land their fathers had dreamed of and yet they found themselves walking around in the desert. Yet, they lacked faith in God’s promise even after seeing the miracles it took for them to be set free and it caused them to wander in the desert for 40 years!!!

Find some truth here today. God is moving on your behalf even when you are facing trials and hardships. You might not get to your dream or have the desire of your heart without going through trials first.

You have to choose that no matter what happens you are going to serve God. Trust in Him. Know that He is in control and at the right time your dreams He placed in you will become a reality.

Do not lack in your faith!

Isn’t it interested that the nation of Israel walked through the desert for 40 year and God provided food daily, they never ran out! And their shoes never wore out. Even though they were in the desert God still provided for them.

Joseph had been sent to the prison. But even in the prison God was with him and was working out everything behind the scenes.

Genesis 39:21–23 NLT

21 But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. 22 Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. 23 The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.

Look at how God was still taking care of Joseph.

You and I are no different! We are in the hand of God. He has placed dreams and desires within you. Even when life throws a curve-ball God can still knock that ball out of the park.

In PRISON, it says that the Lord made him prosper.

Joseph was not an overcomer because he somehow found the strength to “forget the pain of his past” he overcame by being fruitful, productive and prosperous in the land of his affliction and that is when he was able to get past the pain of his past.

I don’t want to go to prison, but I’ll tell you what, I don’t to be without God!

I want to go where He wants me to go! Where God is, is better than anywhere that God isn’t!

I see people that this world would say should be happy because of all their wealth and friends, yet they are miserable because they don’t have God!

Just to be with Jesus and know that He is guiding each step. That is true joy in life. Knowing that my God is walking beside me makes my heart sing, I’ll go where you want me to go!

No matter where this life takes you choose today that you are going to Serve God!

My last point for you is that we must...

Remember Mercy

Joseph had an opportunity to interpret Pharaoh's dream. God had taken him from the lowest position in life with no one to help him to standing in front of the most powerful person in the world. God revealed pharaoh's dream to Joseph and he interpreted it to Pharaoh. Talk about getting on the good side of the right person!

Pharaoh promoted him to the highest rank of anyone besides himself.

Basically, Joseph shot supernaturally from the lowest position in life to the highest position in literally a moment.

God’s will is so much like that for us too. I mean you can be looking at your situation and thinking it couldn’t possibly get any worse and then BAM you realize what God had been doing and setting up. It’s like a curtain being pulled and you can see the big picture.

Yesterday was a special day for my family. My father in law had a dream to start a business. Well, it failed not because of him, but because of some bad business partners. He was losing everything. House, cars, no money. He thought the dream was dying. Well, he happened to call one of his friends one day and it turned out this friend had a little job. My father in law told him he’d love to do the job, but he’d need the money upfront. Well, the friend pulled some strings and got him the money upfront. Doors opened and eventually my father in-laws dream turned into a reality. It all started 20 years ago yesterday with a tiny phone call to a friend.

Sometimes we don’t see God working, but if we are in His will then we can KNOW something is going to break free.

In the story of Joseph there was famine throughout the land and Joseph by the grace of God had stored up grain. His brothers who sold him to slavery and his family were starving and they came to Egypt for food. They had no clue that Joseph was now the man in charge.

I’m not going to read everything that took place, but finally the moment came when Joseph's dream was being fulfilled. His brothers bowed before him.

Genesis 45:1–5 NLT

1 Joseph could stand it no longer. There were many people in the room, and he said to his attendants, “Out, all of you!” So he was alone with his brothers when he told them who he was. 2 Then he broke down and wept. He wept so loudly the Egyptians could hear him, and word of it quickly carried to Pharaoh’s palace. 3 “I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. 4 “Please, come closer,” he said to them. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. 5 But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.

I love the ending to this story. God had given a dream, Joseph walked through hardships, and when God fulfilled the dream it was wrapped in mercy.

You see mercy is where forgiveness is shown when punishment is justified.

Joseph not only forgave his brothers but he understood that it had all been turned around for good.

This is such a powerful lesson when it comes to the dreams that God has placed inside each of us. He doesn’t just give us dreams and desires to benefit only us.

It’s really for the benefit of All His children.

We all deserve punishment. All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. Yet God still loved us and adopted us as His children. Now He give each of us dreams and desires in His kingdom not that we might rise to some level of power but to show His love and mercy to others!

It’s what it’s all about. The kingdom of God is all about Grace and Mercy. In our lives when God grants us our dreams and desires remember that we must show the same love and mercy to those who are in our lives no matter how they might have hurt us or didn’t believe in us.

In that way we can help others find and fulfill their dreams.

Today this message is simple. We should dream big dream - God given Dreams, Serve God through the trials, and Show mercy every opportunity you can.