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This is chapter 39, and Penix,
fellas, I tell you a great song tonight. I appreciate that. It's
a blessing to our heart. And I want you to know, Brother Penix
is a true missionary to Alaska. That means that he doesn't work
on the road system. They're way off the highway system.
And there's a difference between the guys that go off the road
system and the guys who are on that. They're the city folks
in Alaska. Now, we couldn't handle that, okay? But when you get
off the road system and you go where they go, you're the real
missionary pioneer missionaries out there. They're going places
that is unbelievable. They'll go on a snow machine,
what, a couple of days just to witness to people that otherwise
would never hear the gospel. Brother Penix was a navigator
in the Air Force, isn't that right? So he got this idea. He
flies over the remote areas of Alaska, pinpoints places where
people are living, and then finds a way to get there. through this
boat on the river system. He's in villages that don't even
have any kind of law enforcement. The very fact that they, listen,
taking the gospel to places, he's an itinerant preacher, so
to speak. I like the old circuit riding preachers except he uses
snow machines and boats, or a boat and snow machine. I appreciate
the work that they do, the commitment that they have, and I'm glad
to be a part of his ministry. I want you to know that. And
it sure is an encouragement to us. And there's still pioneer
work to be done in missions. There is. And listen, you say,
I want to do something that nobody else is doing. There's some work
out there, I promise you. And you listen to the Lord. He'll
call you and put you where He wants you to be. He'll prepare
you for it. That's a little bit what we're going to be talking
about tonight. Turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 37, and I'm
going to read probably a little bit a little more than what's
going to be on the screen necessarily tonight even if they have a scripture
up there. I want us to begin reading in verse number 1 of
Genesis chapter 37. I'm going to do everything I
can to get the message in tonight in a timely manner. Genesis chapter
37 verse number 2 if we could. These are the generations of
Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with
his brethren, and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, with
the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought unto
his father their evil report. Now Israel loved Joseph more
than all of his children because he was the son of his old age,
and he made him a coat of many colors. Now there's more to that
coat than just the fact that it was variegated and colorful
and all of that. It was a picture that he was
in charge. He was the steward, so to speak,
of the flocks, and he was the one that Jacob could trust to
oversee the family's business, its holdings, so to speak, and
that he would check on the brethren and come back and share with
Jacob, his father, what was going on. And you're going to find
that there was already some division in the family as a result of
that. And then this coat that Jacob gave to his son Joseph,
that just exasperated things. And it got even more divisive. But then you come to verse number
4. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more
than all his brethren, they hated him. They hated him and could
not speak peaceably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and
he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more.
And he said unto them, Here I pray you, this dream which I have
dreamed. For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field,
and lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright. And behold, your
sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf."
Verse 8. And his brethren said to him,
Shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have
dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more
for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream,
and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed
a dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven
stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father
and to his brethren, and his father rebuked him, and said
to him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and
thy mother and thy brethren indeed come down to bow down ourselves
to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him,
but his father observed the saying. And his brethren went to feed
their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph,
Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, and I
will send thee unto them. And he said unto them, Here am
I. And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, and see whether it be well
with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me word
again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came
to Shechem. And a certain man found him.
And, behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked
him, saying, What seekest thou? And he said, I seek my brethren.
Tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. And the man
said, They are departed hence. For I heard them say, Let us
go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren
and found them in Dothan. And when they saw him afar off,
even before he came near unto them, they conspired against
him to slay him. Look at verse 19. And they said
one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Behold, this
dreamer cometh. I want to talk to you tonight
just a little bit on realizing your God-given dream. Let's pray and ask God to help
us tonight. Father, I pray as we look at
the life of Joseph, some snapshots, in His life that we would learn
tonight some key truths, some key principles that I believe,
Lord, are essential to experiencing and knowing and, Lord, realizing
the desires that You put in our hearts for You. Lord, I pray
that tonight that there would be someone here, maybe more that,
Lord, maybe they don't have a dream, they don't have a desire, but
God, you're going to put something in their heart, or tonight they
begin desiring that. Others, Lord, maybe they've given
up on a dream or a desire, and Lord, that you would refresh
that and renew that and refuel their heart tonight. God is a
church. Lord, that you would set before
us, and God, remind us of the dreams and the desires that you
put in our heart, and God, those things you have for us, and Lord,
the desire to see them realized, as you have so many times led
this church, Lord, to do things that, from a human standpoint,
is impossible. But God, you've allowed it to
take place, and you've worked mightily, and you've never failed
this ministry. You've been forever faithful.
Lord, there's no way that many years ago when this church was
there in an old truck stop building out on Highway 52, they could
ever realize, although they desired for you to do something great,
Lord, there's no way they could encapsulize and realize everything
you had in store. God, I don't believe you're finished.
I believe you have great things for us to accomplish even now.
And Father, I pray that we might be sensitive to you, obedient
to you, faithful to you, that we might realize that that you
have for us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Joseph was a young man with a
dream. Actually, Joseph didn't just have one dream, he had two
dreams. Now those two dreams all dovetail together into one
desire, one thing that God had showed him that was going to
be a reality in his life. There was, first of all, in verses
5 through 8, for sake of time, we're not going to read all of
it again, there was the dream of the sheaves. a dream relating to the harvest,
and it had to do with the resources and the riches of this world.
And the harvest field would be symbolic of the world's resources,
and Jacob's sons were seen reaping the riches of the world. But
Joseph would outdo them all, and in some form, some fashion,
they would bow down before him, and they would recognize God's
plan and desires for Joseph. in a real and tangible way. This dream ultimately was fulfilled
when Joseph was given charge of the granaries of Egypt and
he controlled the world's resources that day. And in the end, his
brothers would be forced to acknowledge God's plan and God's purposes
and God's desires in Joseph's life. But then, normally in that
dream, there was the dream of the stars, a dream relating to
Joseph's future rule over the world, and the sun, the moon,
the eleven stars. We know that Jacob helps us to
understand exactly what he was talking about because he comes
to him and he says, listen, should I and thy mother and thy brethren
bow down? So, the son would refer to Jacob.
The moon would be to Leah because Rachel, by this time, has already
died and she's went to heaven, who had been Joseph's biological
mother. She's already died and passed.
She died giving birth to the twelfth son, Benjamin. So it
would refer to Leah. The eleven stars would be the
eleven brothers of Joseph that would one day bow before him
and hear this dream foretold, God's plan of Joseph's future
position as prime minister. of Egypt and his father and mother
and eleven brothers falling down before him and doing obeisance
and reverence to him because of those dreams and those desires
and plans that God had for him. Now, can I tell you, those dreams
reveal God's plan for his life. Can I say something before us
tonight? Everyone needs to have a dream, a desire for their life. I need one. You need one. Everybody
needs a God. given dream or desire. Now, I'm
well aware that God doesn't speak to us in dreams the same way
He did unto Joseph and others in the Old Testament. However,
I do believe that God puts dreams and desires in our heart to do
things for Him. Let me tell you what Philippians
says. Philippians 2, 13, For it is God which worketh in you.
both to will, that's the desire, and to do of His good pleasure. Can I tell you, God is at work
in the hearts and the lives of His people to give them desires
to do something for Him, things that are tangible, things that
are real, things that God wants to use you to accomplish for
Him. But not only does God give you the desire, thank God, He
gives us the ability to do it. Amen? And God wants us to have
a dream. Listen, I believe those dreams
and desires involve His will for our lives. Can I tell you
tonight, a church needs a dream. It needs a vision. It needs a
desire for God. Proverbs 29, 18, where there
is no vision, the Bible says the people perish. Church is
not going to accomplish much for God without a vision and
a desire and a dream to do what God wants to do through that
church. And you know, it's been my desire as a pastor. I know
that for Dr. Baker, in the 32 years he was
here as pastor, he had desires and dreams, and God allowed those
to become a reality. In our founding, God put in the
heart of a group of people right here in King over 46 years ago
to have a local church in this town, an independent Baptist
church. Like they were driving to Winston, down in Winston-Salem,
the old urban street Baptist church, Dr. Billy Martin, a pastor.
Dr. Martin had a desire. He had a
burden in his heart to plant a church. There's a group of
people in his church that had a desire to plant one, and God
brought them together. And hence, Calvary Baptist Church
was formed and came into existence. And listen, little did anybody
know what God would do. But it started with a dream.
And it started with a desire. And it started with a vision
of what God can do. And can I tell you now, 46 years
later, we don't need to lose this idea of having a dream and
a desire and a vision for God to do something great through
our church. We don't need to lose that. Hey, there is a generation.
I thought about that as Jennifer and John were singing. And I
thought about how here was another generation serving God right
here in this church. And can I tell you folks, there's
a generation on our heels. And just as we've been handed
something, we need to be ready to hand something to the next
generation and on and on and on until Jesus comes. Amen? Hey,
I hear this all the time. That at some point, that a church
will go off into liberalism or neo-orthodoxy or go off into
some kind of left field and cease to be what it ought to be. Hey,
heaven forbid that happen right here. Hey, I believe there's
a group of people that can stay strong, stay true to the Word
of God. Hey, they can hold up the old blood-stained banner
that Jesus saves and be faithful until Jesus comes. Amen? Hey,
that ought to be our desire tonight, if nothing else, to end something
in the next generation. I'm going to wear myself out
in the introduction. I'm already tired. God, I wish I had all
my energy. You all might not be able to
stand it. It might be good that I'm just sort of spitting and huffing
and puffing, alright? I'm going to tell you something. Hey, I
may not have all my energy, but I haven't lost my dream and my
desire. I can tell you that. God can give a pastor a dream and
a desire for a church, but I tell you, it will never be fulfilled
unless the people catch that vision. Lest they embrace it.
Lest they come together. And I want to thank you for these
years that I've been able to follow a great pastor. For you
to be able to stand with me and continue to move forward. To
see God do things in this place. And you know what? I just don't
believe God's finished. Amen? Young people, you ought
to have a dream tonight. You ought to have a desire. You
say, Preacher, I've got a dream. I know what I'm going to do with
my life. Let me ask you this. What about God's dream for your life? What about
God's desires for your life? Hey, you say, Preacher, I know
God saved me. If God saved you, He's got a
purpose for you. And I'm going to tell you, doing
anything other than the will of God is to be a failure. Hey,
let's determine to start out of the gate with your life to
say, God, it's not what I want, but what you want. Not my dream,
but your dream. Not my desires, but your desires. Hey, God has
something for you. Hey, He's got a plan for you.
The Bible calls it the good and acceptable and perfect will of
God. You know what, dear friend? Hey,
listen, God's will is profitable, it's pleasing, it's perfect,
there's nothing better than God's will for your life. If I had
a thousand lives, I'd give every one of them to Jesus Christ.
I have absolutely no regret other than my failure in my own personal
life of not being everything all the time that ought to be
for God. Hey, I failed Him, but He's never failed me. Young person,
I'm going to tell you something. God's got a bigger imagination
than you do. You know, the Bible says that he can do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we can ask or think. And you can
dream up some big dreams for yourself, but it will pale in
comparison to what God has for your life. And you know what?
I promise you this. When you sell out to God, you'll
love what God has for you to be. But you know what? Not just the church needs a dream.
Not just young people need a dream, but can I tell you, dear children
of God, tonight, I don't care where you are in your life, you
need a dream and a desire for what God can do. You say, Preacher,
you don't understand. I'm now in my 60s or my 70s or
my 80s. You know what? God's left you
here for a purpose. He's got a plan for your life. It doesn't
matter where you are in your stage of life, we ought to have
something, some desire in our heart to do something for Him.
I'm reminded of Lee Robertson. Lee Robertson was in his nineties.
God used him in a powerful way. I remember the testimony of the
people that were with him when the doctors told him that he
was not going to make it. He wasn't going to survive in
his nineties. Of this particular situation that has happened,
Dr. Kim Dukes said, Dr. Robertson, I hate to tell you
this, but you're not going to make it. And he said, oh, already?
He said, in his 90s, he said, I had so much I wanted to do
for God. Can I tell you, listen, we don't
need to look for the retirement on God. We need to look where
we can re-sign up to be everything God wants us to be in our day
for Him. There's just no place to stop or quit. Amen? Let's
stay faithful and keep going for Him. You know, God has a
plan for you, and I believe you can impact the world for Him.
And, you know, pastors and missionaries, we're not the only people that
have a ministry. No, you have a ministry for God. Hey, you
have a place. You have a purpose. And listen,
I challenge you now, on this first Sunday night of 2 September
2017, if you don't have a dream, ask God to put something in your
heart for your life, for your marriage, for your family, for
this church. Hey, we need a dream from God. Amen? And realize it from Him.
Someone asked Helen Keller if there was something worse than
blind, and she said yes. She said having sight, but no
vision. Having sight, but no vision.
Let me ask you a question. What kind of vision do you have
for your children tonight? What kind of vision do you have for
your family, for your marriage, for your personal life, your
spiritual life? What is it that God has for you? Listen, you
can't realize a dream if you don't have a dream. So what you
need to do first of all is have a dream and a desire from God.
Amen? Number one, let me give you some things tonight. And
I'm going to go until I get tired, and then when I get over, Kimo,
we'll finish. How does that sound? Alright? You say, Preacher, it's
not going to take you long. It looks like you're about ready
to give out now. You're about right. Alright? Number one. Don't demand. If
you're going to realize your God-given dream, don't demand
to understand everything God does. Don't demand to understand
everything God does. You know, the dream is there,
but how you get there may be different than what you plan
on. Listen, Paul wanted to go to
Rome. He had a desire to go to Rome. You know what he thought
he was going to do? He thought he would take a ship to Rome and get off on the other
side and meet with the brethren and have an itinerant ministry
and some preaching and evangelism. He had a desire to go, had a
plan to go. God had other plans. He sent him as a prisoner. Sure
did. But you know what? It had far-reaching
effects. If it went Paul's way, he probably would have preached
to some folks, seen some folks, but he had never stood before Caesar.
He had never stood before the most powerful man alive on that
day, excuse me, in that day, and proclaimed the gospel of
Jesus Christ to that man. Hey, listen, he had a dream,
but God had a different way of getting there than what maybe
he thought it would be. You know what? When you have a dream, God has His
own way of getting us there. God doesn't always work according
to our plans on our timetable. As a 17-year-old boy, Joseph
had no idea all that he was going to face, all that he would have
to go through before his dreams would be realized and fulfilled.
I believe during that time, those 13 years, between the dream and
the fulfillment of that dream, I believe he wondered how all
of it fit into God's plan for his life, or how it would really
even come true or even be realized. Listen, he teaches us, don't
demand to understand everything God does. Hey, you know what?
God realized in his dream it started out in a pit. His father
sends him to check on his brothers, and he's wearing the coat, and
his brothers hate him. And as he makes his way toward
them, they begin to conspire how they're going to kill him.
And one of them said, Hey, wait a minute. He's our brother. Let's not kill
him. Let's just throw him in this pit. And so they don't know
what he's going to do with him. So they got a hold of him. They
ripped that coat off of him. They beat him up, threw him in
the pit. And you know what? Those guys were so callous and
hard-hearted. While he was down in that pit
suffering, they sat down and had lunch. They had lunch. And not only was he in a pit,
but then here comes a company of Ishmaelites, and they sell
him into slavery. And then to cover up their act,
they take his coat, and they kill a goat, and they put some
blood on it, take it to his daddy, and say, hey, is this your son's
coat? Boy, a lion must have got him. It broke Jacob's heart.
But here he is in a pit, and now he's sold into slavery, and
he winds up in Potiphar's house. He's there in Potiphar's house
as a steward or as a slave. He winds up there, and everything's
going good for him. I mean, God's blessing, doing
good things. There's a problem, and it's called Potiphar's wife.
Potiphar's wife set her sights on Joseph, began to tempt him,
to commit immorality with her, and it became a daily thing.
I mean, it vexed that young man. Seventeen years old, here's the
master of the house, and no doubt, Potiphar's wife was a very beautiful
woman. And she began to vex Joseph and
tempt him to commit immorality day after day after day. And
you know what? Finally, when he gets to the
point that he says, no, Torah is enough times, and I'm not
going to go through all of it right here, he winds up from a pit
in a Potiphar's house into prison. He's in prison for doing right,
by the way. He didn't do wrong, he did right. And he's in prison.
You know what? He's getting further and further
and further away from the dream that God had put in his heart.
I mean, listen, I'm going to be a ruler and I'm in prison. was working in a way that Joseph
could not understand. He could not see. It didn't make
any sense to him. It wasn't working out according
to plan. But you know what? You're going to find in one night,
when the Pharaoh has a dream, he's going to go from the prison
house to the palace. And you know what, friend? That
wasn't the route probably Joseph would have picked. If God laid
out a couple of paths to him and said, hey, which one do you
want? I guarantee you, he wasn't going to choose the pit and Potiphar's
house and prison. But that was God's plan because
God was at work and knew how to get Joseph where he needed
Joseph to be and prepare him for God's dream and God's desires
to become a reality in his life. You know what? There's times
that you and I go through difficult times. But hindsight is 20-20. Looking back on it all, Joseph
clearly, could see God's purposes in his life. Look with me if
you could, chapter 45 and verse number 7. Chapter 45 and verse
number 7. Here he's talking to his brothers
on the other side of all of it. And he's looking back on all
that God's done. He's now Prime Minister of Egypt. Married children, realized God's
dream in his life, and look what he says, verse 7. And God sent
me before you to preserve your posterity in the earth and to
save your lives by a great love." He said, I just want you to know,
hey, I don't understand it, you don't understand it, whatever
took place and all the things that, whether it was the pit,
whether it was the Potiphar's house, whether it was the prison,
he said, I just want you to know, God sent me ahead to preserve
you and protect you and to make things, hey, it wasn't just for
me, I want you to know God was working in my heart and in my
life for you as well. Look with me, if you would, chapter
50 and verse 20. But as for you, here's the brethren,
they're afraid because Jacob's died that somehow or another
Joseph is the prime minister of Egypt. He's going to exact
revenge. He's going to get his pound of flesh. By the way, you
know how we are sometimes? You just wait, I'll get you.
I'll make you hurt like you made me hurt. That wasn't Joseph's
heart at all, but the brethren, his brothers thought that's how
it was going to be. Jacob wasn't there to protect him any longer.
He's now gone. So they go to him and they say, listen, our
father said that while he was alive that, listen, we're sorry,
we ask you to forgive us for what we've done to you and all
of that. And notice what Joseph says to
verse 20. But as for you, you thought evil
against me, but God meant it unto good. You know, that's the
Romans 8, 28 of the Old Testament. He said, you thought evil against
me, but God made it under good to bring to pass, to realize
the dreams, as it is this day, to save much people alive. You know what he didn't do? He
didn't get up and boast and say, hey, I just want you to know that whatever God
showed me, he brought it to pass, and I'm prime minister, and you
just go ahead and bow down to me one more time. Let's go ahead
and watch this take place one more time. I just want to show
you that, hey, what God promised me way back there, 17-year-old
boy, and how you treated me, and how you did me, and all of
that, I just want to show you that it's a reality, and look
at me, I'm the Prime Minister, and look at you. He didn't do
that. No, he said, I just want you to know God meant it. You
might have meant evil. You didn't understand everything
He was doing, but I want you to know God turned it into good
to save us alive this day. You know, maybe that's where
you are tonight. Maybe you're in a position or in a place and
God's doing things in your life and you don't even understand
it. It's beyond your comprehension. You wouldn't understand it if
He told us. Can I tell you that's where I'm
at? That's where I'm at tonight, personally. Exactly where I'm
at. There's nothing that I love more
than traveling to the mission field and preaching, other than
preaching right here at Calvary Baptist Church. Those are the
two greatest loves that I have as a preacher. There's nothing
like it in all the world. You get to preach here, and then
you go and preach to people all around the world. There's nothing
like it. Matter of fact, Brother Penix has been trying to lure
me to Alaska for several years, and I just had never been able
to put it into my schedule. And now I look at where I am,
and I say to the Lord, I say, Lord, you know, I'll probably
never go to the mission field again in my life. I don't understand. God, the last time you let me
go to the mission field, you let me preach a tent meeting
in a place that nothing like this had ever happened in this
country. And Lord, we were getting ready to meet, and the next time
we went and had the next tent meeting, we were going to have
the president of this country there. Lord, you were putting
us in contact with people in high-ranking places. We saw 150-some
people come to Christ. God, you've opened this country
up. The only English-speaking country in South America. You've
opened it up that we can impact it for you. We put 150,000 gospel... John Romans, I don't know how
many whole Bibles, I don't know how many of these. And listen,
Brother Ron and them had been laying the groundwork for 13
years or better down in Guyana, and then God had opened the door
for us as a church. And listen, God opening things on a scale
that was baffling to me. And next thing I know, I'm fighting
for my life. The next thing I know, I've got an incurable disease.
Oh, I'm thankful because if it had hit me when I was in Guyana,
they'd have been bringing me back in a body bag. I'd have never survived.
I'm thankful God let me survive. I'm thankful that God allowed
me to be where I'm at tonight. I'm thankful. I prayed to the
Lord. I said, Lord, I want to live, number one. And number
two, what I want to be able to do is pastor my church and love
and take care and be with my family. Those are the things
I prayed for. Well, He's given those in a measure. Oh, but every time
I see a video like that, every time I think about the harvest
fields of the world, And just so you can understand this, do
you understand that the number of pastors that go to the mission
field and preach is a minute number? It's not like pastors
all over America are doing it. They'll take a revival mission
to 50 or the lower 48, excuse me. Some might even venture to
Alaska if you'll take them fishing on the boat. Am I right? See, I've never asked you about
what kind of fish we'd catch. I just want to know what villages we'd
go to. I wasn't there sightseeing and fishing and hunting. I was
there to win souls. I'd even bought a little piece that I
could carry up there with me to help keep the grizzly bears off of me,
because I knew I was going to go at some point. I know there's
a dream in there somewhere. I'm not sure how we're going
to make that all work, but anyway. But I don't know why I'm on the
sideline. I have no idea. I couldn't imagine the dream. And I'm saying, God, I don't
understand. Or it didn't make any sense to me. But I can tell
you this, God's got a plan. And I'm excited for it. And if
God never allows me to go to the mission field again, I know
what He's going to let me do. He's going to train men and ladies who are
going to go to the mission field. He's going to let me invest my
life in men that's going to take the gospel places that probably
I'll never get to go, and places I'll never get to see, and impact
the world through our association with Help Ministries in the future,
impacting the world. And if I never leave the shores
of America again, you know what? God will let me fulfill those
dreams and visions through other people. Hey, He may let me go
back. I don't know. I'm not sure. But
that's a long time down the road. But I'm going to say, you see,
you may be somewhere tonight thinking, I don't understand
what God's doing in my life, preacher. And you know what? The truth
is, we wouldn't understand if He told us. But I know this. I know that God doesn't cause
all things, but He sure does use them all, doesn't He? And
for as the heavens, Isaiah 55, 9, are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways. He says in Romans 11, 33,
his ways are past finding out. William Cowper caught it in a
poem. He said God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform.
He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable minds of never-failing skill, He treasures
up His bright designs and works His sovereign will. You fearful
saints, fresh courage take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His
grace. Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. His
purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have
a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief
is sure to err, and skin his work in vain. God is His own
interpreter, and in time He'll make it right. plain. And I don't
understand everything God's doing in my life. I don't understand
everything God does in your life. But you know what? There's going
to come a time, just like He did for Joseph, that He'll make
it plain. Hey, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
Don't always have to understand what God's doing in your life.
Hey, keep the dream. Keep the desire. Keep the vision
in front of you. And keep going forward for the
Lord. Job said, He knoweth the way that I take. When you can't
trace His hand in your life, you can trust the heart of God
for your life. I promise you that. Life, someone
said, must be lived forwards. You have to keep going forward.
Hey, there's another year, and as much as maybe we want to hold
back, you can't hold it back. You're going to keep going. It
has to be lived forwards. But it's understood backwards.
Isn't that true? Looking back on it. And you know
what? I don't know what God has for me. I don't know what God
has for you. Hey, it might be one of these guys right here that God fulfills
the desires and dreams that He put in my heart through one of
these guys right here. Or through several of them. Sitting on this
front row. Hey, getting a vision for what
God has for your life, fellas. Boy, surrendering now and grasping
hold of that and never looking back. I tell you what, you'll
be glad that you did. You'll be glad you did. Some
young ladies getting a vision for what God can do in your life
and not turn it back. Church, keeping this place on
fire for God, keeping it in the love of God, the will of God,
the Word of God, staying true to God so that we can raise up
a generation to impact our world for God after we're in heaven.
Amen? That's what we want to do if
Jesus doesn't come first. But if we lose the desire, and we
lose the dreams, and we have to understand everything God's
doing, and we quit, give up, and quit, you know what? We'll
never realize everything God has for us. Never will. So tonight, because I'm out of
gas, I'm out of fuel, can I encourage us to get a dream? God's given
us a mission to honor Him, build lives, and reach others. Where
are you in that process? Are you honoring God with your
life, your marriage, your family, your finances, your personal
life, your spiritual life, your recreational life? Are you honoring
God with your life? You know, that's what we seek
to do as a church, is to honor Him as a church in all that we
do. To honor Him as a lady, to honor Him as a man, a young adult.
Wherever you are in your stage of life, just say, you know what?
Come what may, I'm going to honor God with my life, no matter what
that looks like. and then to build lives, to build
your own life first. Have you got a reading plan for
the coming year in your Bible? You say, well, I don't know that
I'm going to read it all the way through. I don't think that's
the point. I think it's reading it every day is the point. It's
not just going through your Bible. It's letting the Bible get in
you. Now, if you read it through, praise God, I think that's a
great achievement. And you ought to read the Bible through as
many times as you can. But it's not just the process
of reading it through. It's letting it get in me. Have
you got a plan for your spiritual life for the coming year? What
about your prayer life? Have you got a vision for your
prayer life? Do you know that we've had some prayer warriors
go to heaven and we have some more that in time, in time, they're
going to be with the Lord? I hope it's a long time off,
but nobody knows that. Who's going to fill the ranks
and be the next people that's going to pray God's blessings
upon this church? Who's going to teach the Sunday
school classes? Who's going to work the children's churches?
Who's going to fill the choirs? Who's going to run the buses? See, God wants to use you to
do those things. God is looking for a generation
right now to say, hey, I'll fill the ranks. God, count me in. I know what it's going to look
like. I know how it's all going to flesh out. I don't know where
you're going to place me, God, but I'm just going to put myself
at your disposable. At your disposable. At your disposal. I think Brother Pinnock's got
it right tonight when he said this. Being blessable. We need to quit praying, God,
bless me. And start praying, God, help me to be blessable.
Help me be somebody you can bless. Help me be somebody you can use.
Help me be somebody that you can trust me with a dream for
you. And that dream may be a Sunday
school class. It may be a nursery. Thank God for nursery workers. Hallelujah. Listen, even during
the week in preschool time, I have right behind me some two-year-olds.
Sometimes, Brother Vernal will tell you, they sound like they're
coming through the wall, and I know they're not. They sound
that way. Sounds like a whole herd of elephants and buffalo
and everything else are coming through that wall. I got some
music I cut on and turn up that I can keep myself going, you
know, mentally while I'm trying to study or read or whatever,
you know. But you know what I think about? How that there's somebody
impacting their little lives for Jesus Christ. I think about
how those children go home and sing to parents who don't even
go to church, who have no thought of God. Jesus loves me, this
I know. And quote John 3, 16. And thank
God for people that can work at a preschool and survive it.
Hallelujah. Or a Christian school. or homeschool,
or wherever it is that God has placed you. Work at a bus route. On your job, how you can impact
the people where you work for Him. God didn't put you where
you are just to draw a paycheck. If that's what you think, you
missed it. He's put you there as His servant
to reach those people around you for Him and let you draw
a paycheck on top of it. But you're there as His servant,
His missionary. It's your field of service. Have
you got a dream, a desire? Do you want one? And say, God,
use me. God, renew it. God, refire something
in my soul to be used for you. I tell you what, you make yourself
available, God will use you. He will. He's looking for willing
vessels to fill and use for His glory right here at Calvary Baptist
Church. And you know what? You think
that you have to be a pastor or missionary to do something
great for God, and you don't. It was a Sunday school teacher that
led D.L. Moody to Jesus Christ. If it hadn't been a Sunday school
teacher, when a shoe salesman, in his Sunday school to Christ,
two continents may not have been reached, which set the stage
for America to be what it is today. And it started with a
Sunday school teacher that got a burden. So you don't have to
be behind a pulpit. In Moses' life, it was a mama
that had her boy for no more than three years and began to
impress something in his life. And instead of being the prince
of Egypt, he became the deliverer of his people. See, I'm just
trying to tell you You don't have to be great. You don't have
to be in marquee lights. You don't have to have your name
in the bulletin. You don't have to be called out from the pulpit
or get some type of a recognition plaque to be great for God. All you have to do is be a person
that says, God, I want a dream and a desire from you wherever
you are in your life, wherever you are in your stage of life.
I just want that from you, God. And then you bring it to pass.
And then don't demand to understand everything God's going to do.
Because it may not work like you plan it. But I promise you
this, God puts something in your heart, He's going to bring it
to pass. He's going to bring it to pass. And God will use
you in a way that's beyond anything you can imagine in your own life.
But the question is, are we willing to step out and say, God, give
me a dream. And then, God, work your plan
in my life according to your will and not mine. I'm just your
servant. That's what God's looking for
individuals. He's looking for couples. He's looking for families.
And He's looking for a church tonight to do that in our day. In our day. We're living in the
best day we can live in to impact our world for Jesus Christ. You
say, Preacher, you've lost your mind. I mean, people's trying
to tear down Christianity in our day. Wow, that God would
trust us was His truth to stand up for Him in our day. What a
privilege. What a privilege in the closing
hour of this age that God has chosen you and allowed this church
to be risen up for such a time as this to make a difference.
But we've got to grasp it. We've got to get hold of it.
We've got to desire it. And we've got to submit ourselves
to it. Are you willing to be that, as the song was tonight,
that one? That one? Don't matter what anybody
else is going to do. What are you going to do? See,
Peter put it this way. And I know I'm keeping going.
I'm going to stop and give an invitation. But Peter put it
this way. He said, And Lord, what shall this man do? And the
Lord said, Peter, what's that to you? You follow me. You can't
wait on somebody else. What are you going to do? Jesus said, you follow me. Are you willing to follow tonight?
Let's bow our heads.
Realizing Your God-Given Dream part 1
| Sermon ID | 11171740284 |
| Duration | 38:32 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Genesis 37:1-19 |
| Language | English |
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