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One verse tonight, Genesis chapter
number 37 and find verse 19. Trust you'll leave your Bible
open as we may look at some other passages. Pretty much I'm just
going to be giving you the snapshots, thumbnail snapshots of Joseph's
life as we talk about realizing your God-given dream. Look, if
you would, Genesis chapter 37. Find, if you would, verse number
19. And they said one to another. Now that's his eleven brothers.
They despised him, they hated him, and they hated his dreams.
And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. They're talking about a young
man by the name of Joseph. They said one to another, Behold,
this dreamer cometh. Realizing your God-given dream. Now Joseph was a young man with
a dream. But can I tell you tonight, he
didn't just have any dream. He had God's dream. He had a dream
that God had given him for his life. Now, when you read the
verses prior to this, you'll find that God had given him that
dream, the dream of the sheaves, and then the dream of the sun,
moon, and stars. And it pictured his future rulership
as prime minister of Egypt, that his brethren would come and bow
down before him, that he would be over the resources of the
world. And God, at the very outset of his life... Now, listen to
me, young man and young lady, teenager. God had given him direction and
a dream for his life. You know what? When I was 17
years old, God brought me to himself. I was saved by the grace
of God. I have no regrets. I'm thankful
that I came to Christ as young. I was a rebellious young man.
I was a wicked young man. Listen, my family didn't know
it. I was good at hiding it. I played the game. I played the
game. I'd come to church. I'd say the
right things. I could go through the motions. I had my grandma
so fooled that later when I preached my testimony, she said, I don't
believe a word of that. And I said, well, I'm going to
tell you the truth, grandma. I was just as bad as I said I was. And you
know what? I'm glad God brought me to Jesus
Christ. You know, there's probably not a teenager in this room that
was bad as what I was. You know that? And I'm going
to tell you what, God had mercy on me. And God will have mercy on
you tonight, too, if you're not saved. Boy, how important it
is to know Christ's teenager. And you know what? It was at
18 years of age that God gave me my dream for life. I had no
idea it involved Calvary Baptist Church. I didn't know all the
details of it, but I knew in a service one night that there
was a preacher preaching, and he got up and began preaching
on denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Him.
I'd been praying for God's ways, getting ready to graduate high
school, didn't know what it was going to do with my life, I just
know I wanted to do God's will more than anything else. I remember
going forward that night and bowing before the Lord and said,
Lord, I want to take up my cross and follow You, but I can't do
it if You don't tell me what it is. And that night, God impressed
upon my heart that He wanted me to preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ. And you know what? I went home
and I told my granddaddy, and I said, you know, how do you
know if God's calling you to preach? And he said, well, if you can
do anything else, you just go ahead and do it. I thought, what
kind of advice is that? You know? I mean, my goodness!
You know what? A young man comes to me and he
says, I don't know if I'm called to preach. I'll say, if you can
do anything else, go do it. Because you know what? I can't
do anything. This is God's dream for my life. I had absolutely
no idea what it would look like. For some, it's to be a nurse.
For others, it's to be a carpenter. Or whatever it is in life that
God gives you. Don't limit God in giving you
a dream. But I'm going to tell you what.
Don't shut Him out. and not let Him give you a dream.
Because I believe God has a desire and dream for everybody's life,
no matter where we are in our life. It doesn't matter if we're
saved, whether we're 8, 18, 28, 58, or 88. God has a plan and purpose for
our life. He has a God-given desire for
us as long as we're standing upright planet Earth. Amen? That
means we're on this side of heaven. And so, I believe that those
dreams reveal God's special plan for His life, and everybody needs
that. I'm well aware that God doesn't speak to us in dreams
the same way He did in Joseph's day and others in the Old Testament.
But I do believe He puts desires in our hearts to do for Him.
I believe He begins to impress upon us direction for our life. And you know, church, we need
a vision from the Lord. And I look forward to sharing
with you what God's put in my heart. As a matter of fact, I
can't wait to share with you on January 22nd what God has
for our church. It's going to be far different
from anything we've ever done before. And I'm so excited about it because
I believe it's going to change our church. I believe God's going
to do a deep work in our hearts in the coming year. God's already
started it in my heart and our staff's heart, and we've been
praying over this thing and talking about it and discussing it, and
God's just crystallized it in our hearts. I can't wait to give
it to you here in just a couple weeks. You don't want to miss
it. Amen? And you know, the Bible says where there is no vision,
the people perish. And you know, church, if we lose
our vision, if we lose our desires, our dreams for God, listen, then
there's people that'll go without Christ. There'll be missionaries
that'll go unsupported. There'll be bus routes that'll
go undone, and Sunday school classes that are not taught.
And listen, I believe that God gives us a dream. And listen,
my prayer is that you'll catch the dream and the vision that
God's put in my heart, and I'm looking forward to that. You
know, young people, I'll tell you tonight, you need a dream
from God. You say, Preacher, I've got a dream. Let me tell
you something, your imagination is nowhere near what God's is.
The Bible says He can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we
could ask or even think. I couldn't think about the wife
and two children that God gave me that are grown adults now.
I couldn't imagine that. What a dream that was. And to
be happily married these 27 years. I got it right. I got schooled
on the way home from church. And I came down there, and I'm
kidding. but she told me how to remember that and everything. Let me dig in a hole, let's just
move on. So anyway, I didn't imagine what God was going to
give me in a wife. I could imagine that. Most perfect thing in all
the world for me. I couldn't imagine that. But
you know what? I got the person God wanted. Listen, young people,
don't get ahead of God in this matter of courting and getting
ahead of God in who you're going to marry. Let God bring the right
person into your life. You say, well, preacher, I don't
have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. It's okay. That doesn't measure
success in life. That doesn't measure your worth
in life. What measures that is that I have God's person for
my life. And you know what? There's many
people sitting in this room that would tell you what I'm telling
you right now. Don't make the mistake of getting
ahead of God in this matter of who you marry. Let God fill in
those blanks. Just determine that you're going to get God's
desire and God's dream and God's will. Because listen, success.
Listen to me, young people. Success. is finding the will
of God early in life and then living in it for the rest of
your life. Just letting God direct your steps. You say, well, preacher,
I missed it at some point in my life. You know what the good
news is? We have a God of the second and third and fourth and
fifth chance. And you know what? When we mess it all up, God can
make it all right again, can't He? And He can renew those dreams
and those visions. Somebody said this. Humpty Dumpty
had a great fall and all of that, and all the king's horses and
all the king's men couldn't put him back together again. A little
girl listening to that fairy tale said, well, God can put
him back together again. And you know what? God can put
our lives back together again. And He can restore the years
that the locusts have eaten. And I just want to tell you,
God can have something greater for you. You can't even imagine
it. You can't see it all right now. Joseph didn't know all the
details. He didn't know he was going to
be prime minister. He just knew that God had a desire for his
life, and Joseph was a young man that set out to do His will.
Listen, can I tell you, His will is the most perfect thing in
all the world for you. It is tailor-made for you, and
nobody else can fulfill it. And listen, it doesn't matter
where you are in your spiritual life, God has desires for you
and dreams for you. And you know what? I know we
all sit down and talk about New Year's resolutions. I believe
when you wrap your arms around God's dream and God's desires
for your life, it's not a New Year's resolution. It is a spiritual
change and transformation that takes place in our life. It's
something we can wrap our arms around that's different and brings
joy to our lives because we're doing God's will. And you know
what? Every man who's married ought to be praying for God's
will and God's desires for his marriage. Every wife in this
building needs to be praying about God's desires for her as
a wife and as a mother, maybe your grandparents now, and desires
in your heart of how you can impact the lives of your grandchildren
and how God can use you in different ways. And maybe it's your family.
Listen, desires for your family, desires in your church ministry,
in your own individual spiritual life. What do you want from God
in the coming year spiritually that will transform you and make
you different? Listen, God, When you and I get
serious with God, God has something that He wants in our lives. Areas
of ministry, areas of service. Somebody asked Helen Keller if
there was something worse than blindness, and she said yes,
to have sight, but no vision. And listen, I'll tell you tonight,
you need to get a vision and a desire and a dream about what God wants
for your life and how He can use you. And I'll tell you what,
you get serious with God and He'll show you. He's not in heaven
trying to play hide and seek with you. I hear this all the
time, a preacher pray, I'll do the will of God. I understand
what you're praying. But you know what? Let's start doing
what He's told us to do. And then as we get serious with Him
and we surrender and submit, He'll make the way plain and
He'll give it to you. And He'll show you what He wants from your
life. And you know what? The good news is, not only does
God give us the desires, He gives us the ability to do it. Amen?
And be what He wants us to be. Let me tell you, how do you get
it? And I'm going to go real quickly tonight. Number one, I mentioned
this the last week, didn't get any further than that. Don't
demand that I understand everything God does. God doesn't always
work according to our timetables, our plans. Joseph was a 17-year-old
young man when God began to give him these dreams. He had no idea
all he'd go through, all he'd face before God would make those
dreams a reality in his life. I'm sure he wondered how all
of it fit into God's plan for his life, or if his dreams would
ever come true. I mean, as a 17-year-old boy,
his 11 brothers, they come up, or 10 of his brothers come up,
and they hate him, and they see him coming, and they jump on
him, and they beat him up, and they rip that coat of many colors,
and they throw him in a pit. Then they sent him into slavery
in Egypt and he's in Potiphar's house. I mean, hundreds of miles
away from home in a heathen land as a slave boy there in an Egyptian
home. I'm imagining in my mind how
in the world that Joseph is sitting there thinking, God, what in
the world are you doing in my life? And then he goes from Potiphar's
house to the prison house. And it's not his fault. He didn't
do anything. He did right and wound up in
jail. And so he's now in jail, and
God is working all of this out in his life. And you know what?
He couldn't see what God was doing. But you know what, Joseph?
He trusted God through all of it. And you know what? I may
not be able to trace everything that God's doing in my life,
but I tell you what, I can trust His heart for my life. Amen?
That He's too wise to ever make a mistake. He's too loving to
ever be unkind. Hindsight is 20-20. Looking back
on it all, Joseph told his brothers, he said, you meant it for evil,
but God meant it for good. And aren't you glad that God
is at work in our lives, and He knows the way that we take,
and that we can trust Him. And listen, if you say, well
God, I'm going to do Your will, but you show me how it's all
going to work out for Him. God doesn't work that way. No, no. I just
need to submit and say, God, whatever it is, whatever it takes,
that's what I'm willing to do. Hey, when I did that as an 18-year-old
young man, I had no idea that I'd face an incurable disease.
I didn't know that was part of God's plan for my life. I didn't know
that would limit my ministry for a time being. But yet at
the same time, I believe God's enriched my spiritual life and
my family and my marriage and enriched my relationship with
you as a church through all of this. And you know what? You
can't put a price tag on those things. You can't. I've watched
God work. I've already seen the blessings
and the fruit of it. And friend, listen, I told the Lord, I said, Lord,
I don't know everything you're doing, but I said, I'll tell you what,
I know you know what you're doing, so sign me up. That's what I told him.
Number two, don't expect everybody to share your dream. A young
person will tell you something. Not everybody is going to get
on board when you say, God wants me to do this. There's just people,
friends, who are going to make fun of you. Sometimes parents
can discourage you. Why in the world do you want
to give your life to ministry? Why don't you go out there and
be somewhere where you can make a living and do this and do that?
And why in the world would you want to go to some place like
Africa for me, be thousands of miles away? And you know what?
I've said this many times. I would rather one of my children
or both of my children be a thousand, ten thousand miles away from
me in Africa doing God's will than their life being destroyed
by sin out of God's will right here breaking my heart. Now,
I have no idea what God's going to do, and you don't have any
idea what God's going to do in your life and with your children.
But you know what? We need to be willing to give them to God. Amen? And
let Him have control. He was misunderstood by His Father.
His Father said, Joseph, am I and your mother going to bow down
to you and your eleven brothers? His brothers hated Him for it.
They conspired against Him. He was persecuted by Potiphar's
wife, who made advances toward Him of an immoral nature, and
He stood for God during that. And then she had Him... She slandered
him, and she falsely accused him, and he wound up in jail.
And then you know what? He was talked to a butler and
a baker who had dreams, and he interpreted them. And the baker,
he was hanged, as Joseph said he would, and the butler was
restored to his butlership there before Pharaoh. And here's what
he said to the butler. He said, now listen. He said,
when you get before Pharaoh, he said, would you remember me?
Would you remember me? And you know what the Bible says?
Look at it over in chapter 40. Would you turn there? And I want
you to look in chapter 40 verse 23, and I want you to see this. He was forgotten. Can you imagine
that? Here he's in jail, falsely accused. He's in prison. In verse 23,
he's got a chance to get out. And he said, I've been falsely
accused, verse 23, yet did not, look at this, chapter 40, verse
23, yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him.
He forgot him. Can you imagine the hope that
welled up in Joseph's heart and saying, you know what? The butler's
going to talk to Pharaoh. I'm going to get out of here.
And then the days went by, and the months went by, and the years
went by. Hope deferred, the Bible says,
maketh the heart sick. Do you realize tonight that not everybody's
going to share your dream? And there's times that you'll
feel like that you've been forgotten even by God at times. And I'll
tell you something, God knows exactly where you're at. He knows
what you're going through. He knows what His plan is for
your life. He knows where He wants to place you. He knows
what He wants to do. He's in charge. Listen, you say,
preacher, you don't understand. I've been in a tight spot and
I've been praying and praying and praying and nothing's happening,
can I tell you? Hey, listen, you may be forgotten
by people, but you know what the Bible said over and over
and over again? Even though Joseph may not have seen it, he may
not have felt it, he may not have understood it, He may have
lost hope in his heart. The Bible said over and over
again, but the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. And
I'm here to tell you that God hadn't forgotten where you are.
He's hearing those prayers. He's waiting on a time of surrender
and commitment from you to get to the place where He can answer
that prayer in your life. Number three, jot this one down.
Don't fail to be faithful. God doesn't require us to be
successful, but He does require us to be faithful. You know that?
Listen, if we measured preachers by success and numbers and how
many people get saved and all of this, Noah would be a colossal
failure. Preached 120 years, nobody got
saved. His family was already saved.
They already knew the Lord. They had already embraced the
faith of Noah. They went into the ark. Nobody
120 years preaching. Nobody got saved. He'd have been
a failure. Isn't that true? God doesn't
require us to be successful. He requires us to be faithful.
Leave the success to God. Sunday school teacher, I know
there's times, and I can go on and on, bus worker, whatever
it is, children's church, whatever you do, there's times you can
beat your head against the wall and wonder if anybody's listening
to anything. Isn't that true? Sometimes I even feel that way
preaching to adults. Are we accomplishing anything? You know what I'm saying? But the truth of it is, God didn't
tell me to look at the results. God told me just to be faithful.
And I'll tell you something, you're making a difference whether you
ever know it or not. There's an impact being made. You say,
Preacher, how do you know that? Because God made a promise to
every one of us that when this book goes forth, it'll accomplish
that that He sends it out today. Amen. And listen, he was faithful
in service. It didn't matter whether it was
at his father's house that resulted in him being elevated to being
the overseer of his father's flocks and his brethren, which
they hated him for, whether it was Potiphar's house overseeing
his goods. As a matter of fact, the Bible
said that Potiphar had entrusted everything that he had to Joseph,
didn't know anything about his finances and how things were
going. He entrusted every bit of that to his slave Joseph.
The only thing he held back was his wife. Everything else. He
said, you're in charge of all of it, Joseph. I've already found
that when you're in charge, God blesses me. He didn't know all
about God, but I'll tell you what, he was quickly learning,
wasn't he? There's something different about this boy and his God, and
his God was blessing him, and he's blessing me as a result
of it. And you know what? He was faithful there. He could
have just threw his hands up and said, hey, I'm a slave. God,
you put me here. Have a bad attitude about where
he's at, and be miserable all that time, and never realize
his dream. He went down to the prison house. He could have got
bitter on God. He went to Pharaoh's house. Everywhere he was, he
was faithful. Let me just tell you what I wrote
down. Joseph bloomed where he was planted. It didn't matter
where he was at. It didn't matter what he was
doing. It didn't matter where he was placed. He just bloomed
where he was planted. He just said, OK, God, this is
where You've placed me for right now, and so I'm just going to
bloom right here. I'm just going to make a difference for You.
And you know what? I believe that's what God wants
for us to do. Listen, if God can't trust you to do the little
things in life, how can He ever trust you to do the big things
in life? How can He ever? Listen, if God couldn't have
trusted me with 18 people back 26 years ago, then God would
have never allowed me to be able to lead and pastor here at Calvary
Baptist Church tonight. If I'd have been faithful there,
if I'd have said, well, God, if you can't give me no more than
18 people, I'm just going to give this thing up. Or I could
have got a bad attitude when other friends of mine that graduated
college was already pastoring larger churches and larger ministry,
getting greater accolades. And I was up on a hill in a rough
area where drug deals went down while the van... We had to wait
on the drug deal to go down. You're in Bible school to go
to the other side of the neighborhood to pick up kids to bring to our
Bible school. I watched a shootout take place between two drug gangs
through our fellowship hall window. Never bothered us one time. Never.
The police officers would stage in our parking lot to go up and
do and raid drug houses above where our church was. But you
know what? We were a lot in that neighborhood. And over 16 years
of faithful ministry in a hard place where I had men come and
tell me, you can't do anything on this hill. I watched God do
a miracle on that hill. And when I left, there was over
225 people. And the majority of them was
there under the ministry that God gave me. Because you know
what? Even during the hard times of adversity, and I didn't know
what God was doing in my life, I just determined I was going
to be faithful. And God put His hand on it and blessed it. And
friend, if I'd never have done that there, Let me come here.
And listen, I just want to tell you, if you'll do what God tells
you to do, and you'll be faithful in the little, God will expand
that and give you the much. He was faithful in self-control.
In a time of temptation, he refused the advancements of Potiphar's
wife. And daily, daily, she would make immoral advances toward
him. Seventeen-year-old boy. No doubt she was a beautiful
woman. No doubt she was. And I can imagine the battle
that must have raged in his heart and mind. But I want you to look
at something. Look if you would in verse number 9 of chapter
39. Look what it said. Joseph is talking to her. And
notice he said, "...there is none greater in this house than
I, neither hath he Potiphar kept back anything from me but thee,
because thou art his wife." How then can I do this great wickedness
and sin against who, church? You know what? There wasn't anybody
looking. His mom and daddy wasn't there. His brothers weren't there.
The other people that knew the Lord in the household weren't
there. There was nobody. He was hundreds of miles away.
Nobody would know where he was at and what he was doing, but
he realized there was somebody that knew. God knew. And he said,
listen, it's not a matter of Potiphar, and it's not a matter
of you, and it's not a matter of anybody else. He said, it's
a matter of my relationship with the God of heaven. He said he
was faithful in time of temptation. He was faithful in self-control.
Hey, when the advancement came, he said, how then can I do this
great wickedness and sin against God? And verse 12 said, "...he
left his garment in her hand, because she grabbed hold of him
and fled and got him out." And I know you've heard a dozen preachers
say, Joseph lost his coat, but he kept his character. But you
know what? I'm going to say it again. He lost his coat, but
he's kept his character. Because listen, I don't care
how old we are. I don't care where we are in
life. Listen, you won't go very far in life without character.
Do you know the Greek word for character means to cut, to engrave,
to make a furrow? That is something far different
from a pencil mark. You know what? I make a little
pencil mark in my life. You can rub that out. You cut
a line with an engraving tool in wood or metal. You can't just
rub that out. Friend, a true godly character
is something that is impressed. Now listen to me, church, tonight.
It is impressed or cut into the very fabric of our being as Christians. It is what we are for God. Bob Jones Sr. said, character
is what you are in the dark. Somebody said, character is what
you would be willing to do if you knew no one would ever find
out. Young person, let me ask you
a question. If you knew no one would ever find out, what would
you do with your cell phone? What would you look at on it? Your
computer. I ask us adults that tonight.
If we knew, what would we be willing to do if we knew nobody
would ever find out? I just want you to know there's
two people that always know, you and God. Somebody said, when
wealth is lost, nothing is lost. When health is lost, something
is lost. But when character is lost, all is lost. Don't fail
to be faithful. If you want God's dream for your
life, you want His desires, you want Him to work and use you,
then listen, don't fail to be faithful. And this is number
four, I want you to get it. Don't bow to bitterness. If anybody had a right to be
bitter, Joseph did. How many agree with that tonight? I mean, God gave him a great
dream. He's excited about it. His daddy didn't like it. Brothers
hated him. Put him in prison, a pit. Sold him into slavery. He wound
up in prison. I mean, he was forgotten in prison.
I mean, he could have been bitter at his brothers, bitter at his
daddy, bitter at Potiphar's wife, bitter at the butler, bitter
at God. Can I tell you that if Joseph
didn't have a right to be bitter, you don't either? Let me take
that one step further. You think about what they did
to Jesus Christ. Our Lord went about doing good, the Bible says.
And they conspired against Him. They spat on Him. They scourged
Him. They crucified Him. And He had never done anything
wrong. He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do. And bitter will mess up your
spiritual life, your family life, your personal life. Don't bow
to bitterness. Young person, you may be bitter
at your parents right now. Don't bow to bitterness. There
may be adults in this room and you're still bitter at a parent
that maybe they're no longer alive. There's people that could be
bitter at an ex-spouse. There could be people bitter
at other people for simply things that are said or done. I'm just
here to tell you, if Joseph didn't have a right to be bitter, and
Jesus didn't have a right to be bitter, you and I don't have
a right to be bitter tonight. We're sinning against God of
heaven. It'll short-circuit God's dreams in our life, and you'll
never realize everything God wants for your life, for your
family, and for your future. Here's three basic reasons God
will allow difficulties into your life. And once you get it,
jot it down. I'm going to be done here in just a minute. First
of all, God will allow difficulties in our lives in order to break
us. You say, Preacher, what do you mean? You ever went through
the Bible and noticed all the broken things that God has used?
I got a little... You know, I'm a quote fanatic.
And I tweet a lot of those things out from time to time that strike
me. I've got a lot of them in the margins of my Bible. I put
one on a sticky note on my computer. Not a real sticky note like what
Brother Eco uses. It's one of those kinds of computerized
sticky notes. And you type it. OK? It's not those kinds you
know that you write on. But anyway, I have it on my computer.
Here's what it says by A. W. Tozer. For God to use a man
greatly, he must wound him deeply. I put that on my computer three
years ago. I thought I'd been wounded many times, but never
like this. And it could be that there was
areas in my life that God had to break to make me better and
more usable for Him. I don't know. Because I don't
see everything God's doing. There's times that God lets you
go through what you're going through. Listen to me, young
preachers in the room. Listen to me. God at some point
will break. You say, oh, I've already been
broken. I surrender to the will of God. Oh, no, no, no. There will be a life
of brokenness. It's not always this kind of stuff. It's not
always sick. There's times that God brings us to where we only
have Him to lean on. You ever been there? Somebody
said that trials are God's megaphone to get our attention. I don't
believe that every time that God allows a trial in my life
is God breaking me. I told you there's three reasons,
but one of them could be. One of the first things I prayed
when I got sick is, God, is there something in my life that I don't
know about, that I've let go in my life that's wrong and it's
hateful to you? Because God, if I'm not right
with you and that's what's in the way, I want to get it out of
the way right now. That was the first prayer I prayed. God, if
there's some hidden sin in my life that I'm not aware of because
I've let it be there for so long that I've gotten used to it and
comfortable with it, You make it plain. You get my attention.
I'll confess it. I'll deal with it. Psalm 119
verse 67, the psalmist said, Before I was afflicted, I went
astray, but now have I kept thy word. It's amazing when God has
to wound us, how He brings us back, and we're so much more
willing to be obedient to Him. Because many times, some of the
strives and struggles that we have, we bring on ourselves,
don't we? Number two, in order to build us. I've preached on
this many times out of James chapter 1. We just preached on
that a few weeks ago. 1 Peter 5.10, the fiery trial,
which is to try you. The trying of our faith is more
precious than gold. Somebody said trials are God's
divine gymnasium whereby He develops our spiritual muscles. It's through
the trials and difficulties of life that God strengthens and
builds our faith. It's teaching us to depend on Him. I learn
so much more. I don't enjoy the valleys, but
I tell you what, I learn more about God in the valley than
I do on the mountaintop. We go on the mountaintop too much and
too long, we start coasting. Somebody said, if you're coasting,
always know you're going downhill. You're going to get in a valley
at some point. Number three, now this is going to be the hard
one to understand. Not only to break us and to build us, but
sometimes God wounds us and allows difficulties in order to bless
us. I don't understand that. Somebody wrote this down. The
thickest cloud may bring the heaviest shower of blessing. I'll try to put some of these
on my Twitter account where you can get them, or you can call
the office if you want some of these quotes, and the secretaries
will get them to you. Okay? The thickest cloud may
bring the heaviest shower of blessing. Wow. I've said many
times that adversity will either make you better or it will make
you bitter. Joseph allowed his circumstances
to make him better and not bitter. He realized his God's given dream
because he didn't bow to bitterness. Let me give you the last thing
and I'm done. We've said, don't demand to understand
everything God does. Don't expect everyone to share
your dreams. They're not all going to share your dreams. Don't
fail to be faithful. I've had many college students here in
Bible college, it's their parents were against what they were doing.
I can't imagine that. I can't imagine it. Don't fail
to be faithful. Number four, don't bow to bitterness.
Number five, determined to wait upon God. Joseph had to wait. I'll give you this and we'll
be finished tonight. It was 13 long, hard years from the time
Joseph was sold into Egypt until God elevated him to the prime
ministership of Egypt, second in command, the second most powerful
man in the world. He probably thought his dreams
would never come true, but Joseph didn't push the providence of
God. He waited on the Lord. You know, every time I've pushed
the providence of God, I got in trouble. I'll tell you this
little quick story and I'll move us on. We needed another car. Most of our first years of marriage,
we only had one car. And I dropped Lori off to work
back when she worked before she came home with our children.
I dropped her off, and then I would come to college, drive 100 miles
one way to the school. I'd finish up, drive 100 miles
back, and she'd be waiting on me, and I'd pick her up, and
we'd go home, and stuff like that, one car. And we needed
another car, we felt like, and so we really couldn't afford
it, but we're just gonna step out by faith, you know? And we
found, well, I found this little red car. I just couldn't do without,
had to have it. And I began to pray about it, and I knew in
my heart, I knew that I shouldn't have did it, but you ever wanted
something so much anyway, you just do it anyway? And I did
it anyway. I finagled and worked this thing
out to where I got that thing. It wasn't that God wanted me
to have a car, He wanted me to have that car. Tell you what happened. First time,
we drove it off the lot fine. We took it off up to a family
picnic up on the mountain where our family's from. And we was
going to show off this shiny red car. It wasn't new. It had
plenty of miles on it, believe me. And it wasn't new to us. We got it up there. And we were
on the top of Blowing Rock. We're actually on past that in
a place called Oh my, it left me. It was funny when I tell
you the name of it, Meat Camp. How many of you know Meat Camp
is above Boone? I got about four or five people, okay? I was in
Meat Camp. It's a good place to fish, used
to be. We've cleaned out the creeks by now, but it used to
be a pretty good place to fish. But we would, for trout, we would
stop up there, and we was going to go there, and we were leaving,
okay? And I had a mitt borer pulled
off the gravel onto the highway, and the transmission came out
and fell down on the road. It locked up. Is that possible,
Jim? Okay, I thought it was. It was bad. Because I just felt
it, and it stopped. It wasn't going anywhere. And
it was like, told you. You ever had that? And the funny
thing is, or the ironic thing, it's so hard sometimes to learn,
isn't it? To wait on Him. Joseph didn't push providence.
Somebody said there's no panic in heaven, only plans. Young
person, don't listen to me tonight. What God promises in your life,
He'll perform. He's never early. He's never
late. He's always on time. The problem is, I'm in a hurry
and you're in a hurry, and God's not. We don't wait. We want to start out on top.
And I'm here to tell you, you have to crawl before you can
walk. You've got to walk before you can run. Isaiah 40, 31, But
they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They
shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not
be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Vance Havner said,
He who waits on God loses no time. Can I tell you these five
principles that I'm giving you is the Word of God? Not only
can I tell you they're accurate because they're from the Bible.
I'll tell you what, I've lived them. All five. And I'm realizing
his dreams for my life, but you know what? He's got more for
me to dream about. And I'm not going to stop dreaming
until God's ready to take me to heaven. And I pray and I say,
God, help me to dream again. God put burdens on my heart.
I'll turn 50 here in about a month and a half, and you know what?
I'm just getting started. I'm excited about what God has
for our future. I don't know what all's in front of me. You
know what I'm saying? But as long as I'm alive and kicking,
I know God has something for me to do. Amen? God's got something
for you or He wouldn't have left you here. And I want you to reach
out and get a hold of it. And don't miss it. And what God
has for you is just as exciting and precious and real as what
He has for me. God doesn't just have dreams
for preachers. He's got them for everybody. Maybe the reason
you don't have one is you haven't asked Him for it yet, or not
submitted yourself to it, or not embraced it. And the best
time to do that, young man, young lady, adult tonight, is now. Young adult, get God's desire
for your life. Get God's mate. Get God's plan. Get God's future. Let God direct
your steps. Let Him do it. But it doesn't
happen until first of all we submit to Him and begin to apply
the principles that helps us at the end of life to have realized
His dreams for us. Let's stand to our feet.
Realizing Your God-Given Dream part 2
| Sermon ID | 41917219533 |
| Duration | 33:48 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | Genesis 37:1-19 |
| Language | English |
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