Today. We are reading Genesis.
Chapter 37 Verses. Five through. 11 And this is a
very. Short portion.
Of the story of. Joseph in Genesis.
Joseph had a dream. And we?
Told it to his. Brothers they hated.
Him all the more. He said to them.
Listen to this dream I had. We were binding.
Sheaves of. Grain out in the field when
suddenly my. Sheaf rose and stood.
Upright while your sheaves. Gathered around.
Mine and bowed down to it. His brothers said.
To him do you? Intend to reign over.
Us. Will you actually rule us?
And they hated. Him all the more.
Because of his dream. And what he had.
Said then he had another. Dream.
And he told it. To his brothers.
Listen, he said. I had another.
Dream and this. Time the sun.
Moon and 11. Stars.
Were. Bowing down to me.
When he told his. Father as well as his brothers,
His father rebuked. Him and said.
What is this dream? You had will.
Your mother. And I and your.
Brothers, actually. Come and bow down.
To the ground before you. His brothers were jealous.
Of him but his. Father kept the matter.
In his mind. May the.
Lord, add his. Blessing to the.
Reading and hearing of. His.
Word we are talking. About dreams today, particularly
what happened happens when dreams.
Hit reality and and these. Two dreams that Joseph had.
We're clearly God-given dreams. And they?
Clearly hit reality really, really fast and when that
happens. Particularly in a system stacked
against you. How do we stay faithful?
How do we stay faithful to the? Call of God to the dreams that
God has given us. Not everyone's a dreamer.
God doesn't. Give dreams visions.
Inspirations to every single. Person.
And and that doesn't make. People that get dreams or
visions or inspirations more valuable or somehow more
important or closer to God and others.
It's just that. God relates to different people
in different ways. But I got.
A hunch we've got some. Dreamers and some.
Visionaries in the room. Here today.
And and even if you know even if.
You're not a dreamer or a visionary.
I suspect someone in your life is.
And so I think. There's something in this
message. For all of us here today.
About when dreams hit reality. It's a, it's a, it's a, you
know. Well, let's talk about Joseph.
And and his dreams and and a little bit of the reality he
hit. This business of.
Dreams hitting reality. It's easy.
When we have these dreams, to kind of think of them as.
Plans. This is where my life is going.
This is the direction my life is heading.
There there are a couple of of rather.
Famous statements about. That there's a a.
General from from kind of the late.
Middle Ages, or actually maybe even as.
As late as the. The. 1800s His name?
I'm going to mispronounce it. Helmuth von Maltkey.
The elder. I cannot remember.
He's either Prussian or Austrian, I don't remember
which, and. Even if you've never heard of
him, you've. Probably heard.
One of the famous quotes from him or.
At least a paraphrase of that quote.
He was a very well respected, very highly respected.
General military leader, particularly when it came to.
Strategic planning as. As a as a military leader.
And one of the things that. He used to say.
Is that no? Plan of.
Operations extends with certainty.
Beyond the first encounter with the enemy's main forces that,
like his name, is a mouthful. And that statement has been.
Shortened and paraphrased to something you might have.
Heard before which? Is no plan survives contact?
With the enemy. Whatever plan you might have,
whatever plan anyone might. Have the first point where we
start to. Execute that plan and meet
resistance. Then the plan.
Changes. It adjusts.
It has to be modified. Mike Tyson, who, in my humble
and very inexpert opinion, is probably the greatest
heavyweight boxer. Maybe the greatest.
Boxer ever to have lived so far. Said it in a little more
colorful way. Back in the early 2000s, when he
was going to fight Lennox Lewis, it was being.
Interviewed. I don't know ESPNH BO1 of those.
Shows was interviewing him. Way back.
Then and they said, hey, you know.
Lennox Lewis says he's got a real plan on how to fight.
You to. Which Mike Tyson replied,
everyone has a plan until they get hit and and that was Mike
Tyson's strategy and it proved to be true.
Lennox Lewis's plan lasted just about up to the time that he got
punched really hard in the face. By Mike Tyson and.
Everyone has a plan till they get hit.
When we get hit. Those plans has to.
Change have to change. Or adjusted in some way.
Shape or form, this was what this was Joseph's reality.
Joseph had. These dreams and and.
Joseph, you know. Again, we don't get a lot of
internal dialogue. We don't get a lot of
personality descriptions for a lot of characters in the Bible,
but there are some clues. Here.
In Genesis chapter 30. Seven about how Joseph received
these. Dreams.
And it was. Probably with a little.
Bit of arrogance we. Know this because of what has
already happened that we didn't read.
Joseph we know is is 1 of 12 brothers.
He's got ten older. Brothers.
And one younger brother, Benjamin.
And and he's so he's one of 12 and he's, he's way.
Down the line of succession to inherit his father's estate and.
Fortune. Birth order was everything.
And he would have to have. Ten older.
Brothers would have to die before he got to.
Be in charge. Of his father's.
Household, but even though he was #11 out of 12, the youngest
of his brothers to be sent out into the fields at all at this
point. He goes out into the fields
where his brothers, who have for.
Years been managing their. Fathers flocks together, he goes
out. He watches them and then he.
Comes back home and tells dad they're not doing a.
Very good job. My brothers are not.
This did not. Create good positive.
Emotions between his brothers. And him.
And then he. Starts having these dreams where
his brothers first. All. 11 of his brothers.
Come. And bow down to him.
And then? Not only his brothers, 11
brothers, but. His mother and father.
Come and. Bow down to him.
Why would you tell that story to your older brothers?
If you didn't want to get a. Little.
Bit of you know. Hey, guys.
You think you've got it over me now, but.
One of these days. You're going to kneel.
Before me and we are told in the.
Holy word of God that his brothers hated.
Him all the more. Because of his.
Dreams and. So with these dreams.
With whatever plans Joseph was. Formulating on the.
Basis of these dreams. They hit a.
Really hard reality and. Joseph.
Got. Hit.
Really hard by his brothers, quite literally they they.
Beat him near to death in response to.
His dreams they threw. Him into an empty.
Cistern and they. Sold him into.
Slavery to a group of people. Passing through the country on
their way to a foreign land. Now that.
Kind of response I. Believe.
Can only appropriately be described in the.
Immortal words of Ron Burgundy. Boy, that escalated quickly.
I mean, that really got out of hand fast.
You jumped up a notch. It did, didn't it?
Yeah. That escalated real quickly.
You tattle on us, you tell us your dreams, we're going to beat
you up, nearly kill you, and then sell you as a.
Slave. And by the way, they took.
Some of his clothing dipped it in.
Sheep's. Blood or goat?
'S blood and told their dad he was.
Eaten by a lion. Bye, bye, Joseph.
I think. Perhaps a?
Bit of an overreaction. To a bratty little brother so.
Anyone here who's? Don't do that to.
Your younger. Siblings, just.
Saying. Just saying, but Joseph's
dreams. Got a?
Really hard dose of. Reality.
There are a couple. Of things I want us to.
Take out of the story the first thing I want us to take out of
this. Which is maybe.
The most obvious thing to take out of the story?
Is be cautious about who you. Share your dreams with right not
everyone. 'S going to get it.
Not everyone's a visionary. Not everyone's a dreamer.
And and. Sometimes when we share our
dreams with people. They take great delight.
In knocking them down. They take great delight.
And saying it'll never happen. You're crazy, you're arrogant,
you're stupid, you're flighty. Just get.
Back to the business at Light, you know.
Don't. Don't dream, don't plan, don't
imagine, Just. Do your job.
And get on with. It do your stuff, be careful
about who. You share your dreams.
With. Elon Musk has.
Experienced this and and. Elon Musk is somewhat there's I
don't know if there's anyone in the world that's more visionary
than Elon Musk is right now. I'm not making any comment one
way or another about whether his dreams and visions are from God.
But he's a visionary. And and.
You probably know. He started.
He helped. Start the company PayPal.
Which is an online. Payment service if you don't
know what that is. I use PayPal a lot.
It's a safe, secure way to make online.
Purchases. My dad uses it.
But he. Thinks he's buying from
scammers, which tells you a little bit about my dad that
he's willing to. And he's like, well.
If it's a scam, PayPal will. Give me my money back and they
do. And he?
Does it a lot. But that's neither here nor
there. I'm sorry.
He bought electric heaters. With the promise in the
advertisement that they would reduce his electric bill to.
Zero. There you go.
But PayPal gave him his money back.
Elon Musk made a. Ton of money.
With PayPal. And some other things.
And he was looking at what to do with his.
Money. And he had.
A vision, and his vision is that the human race.
Must become an interplanetary species in order to survive.
And so he's going to build. A rocket ship company.
And call it SpaceX. And every smart person around
him told him he was an idiot. He.
Was stupid, he was. Throwing his money away.
There is no money to be made. In that.
It's too expensive. God, it's why.
Governments are the only ones that send rockets.
Into. Space.
This is crazy. This is nuts.
This is insane, except. It wasn't.
And now Elon Musk. Is the richest man in the world
on the way to becoming the world's first trillionaire?
And SpaceX launches more. Rockets every.
Year than every other business and government combined.
Extraordinary, but to get. From where he started to that
vision being. Realized and still in process.
We haven't made it to Mars yet. Musk has had to deal.
With a lot of people who said it's impossible, you're stupid,
you. Can't do it.
Be cautious about who. You share you, you know at some.
Point along the way. If it's a crazy.
Outlandish, you know, dream and and I don't.
Mean those words critically. Because they're really.
Good dreams are crazy and outlandish.
Joseph's dreams were crazy and outlandish.
There will be people. That think it's nuts and
impossible. And will never happen.
And we have to. Be prepared for that, but it's
also. Good.
To not just broadcast our dreams.
And and and invite. Constant public critique.
But to go about. The business, the work that God
has given us of pursuing those dreams.
So be cautious. About who you.
Share your dreams with The other thing to remember is this.
Receiving a dream or a vision or a calling or a promise from God
does not make you better than anyone else.
God did not. Give Joseph these dreams as a
sign to Joseph or anyone else. That Joseph was.
Better than his brothers. Better than his parents.
That's not why. We'll talk about the why in a
little bit, but that's not why. Teresa of Avila, who is, who is?
One of the the great Christian spiritual writers.
And thinkers and livers. She she passed away years ago.
But she was one who God gave. Visions and dreams.
And people would come and they would shower her with praise and
admiration and respect and Teresa said.
No, no. And she?
Said it this way, God really only gives.
Visions to people. Whose faith is so?
Weak. They can't hear him in any other
way. Now that I can't verify that's.
True or not but. The humility that she's.
Expressing there is incredibly. Important.
That God. Certainly doesn't give people
visions because they're. Better than other people?
He doesn't give one. Person dreams because they're
better. Than the people he doesn't give
dreams to. The dream was not.
About Joseph, it was sort. Of about Joseph but.
Not really about Joseph. The important.
That Joseph was in it, but he wasn't the main character and
there's a risk. We run when we make ourselves
the main. Character of the visions.
Of the dreams that. God gives us.
When we make ourselves the protagonist, when we make
ourselves the main character, then we tend to put ourselves
up. High and other people.
Become instruments and tools for achieving our.
Visions and our dreams. And that's not a good spot to.
Be in. It's not a Christ like spot.
To be in so receiving dreams and visions.
Callings. They don't make you.
Better than other people? And third thing, a God-given
dream. Is not a promise of an easy Rd.
I've encountered that. In my own life.
I encountered that in others as I've talked to them.
They get a vision they get. A sense of calling from God.
This is the thing to do. This is the direction to go.
This is where I want you. To to, to go.
To be, to do the ministry, the mission, the dream, the vision,
and then and then you get. Hit and then your plans make
contact with the enemy. And things get.
Really hard. A God.
Given dream is not a promise of an easy.
Road Joseph had a very hard Rd. He went from being.
Daddy's favorite? Son to being a.
Slave to a. Traveling caravan of slave.
Traders and then a. Slave to an official.
In Egypt. And then when you think, wow,
you know, it can't get much worse than.
That it can. So he went from being a slave.
To being a prisoner. Because his owner's.
Wife. Accused him of misconduct.
Falsely accused him of. Misconduct and.
Joseph was thrown in jail. And he spent years in jail.
The road. Joseph traveled.
I cannot. Imagine a much.
Harder Rd. Betrayed by your family?
Physically. Beaten by your family?
Decided that rather. Than just killing you.
Which their thought process was first we're going to kill him.
And then they were like, what? Why should we kill him when we
can make money? Off of him.
And so they sold. Him, and now he's a stranger in
a strange. Land and the only.
Person or people in the world that cared about him at all.
Think he's dead anyway so no one's coming to get him and then
you go to jail. Joseph had a hard.
Road, that vision, that promise of God, was not, not.
Not some sort of yellow. Brick Fantasy The road in which?
Everything is is working out OK. It's up.
It's. Down it's back it's.
Forward. How do I go from being a younger
brother with a dream of all of my family bowing?
Down to me. How do I get?
There, from an imprisoned slave, God-given dreams.
Almost a promise of. Challenges ahead.
Rather than an easy Rd. but if if if the.
Purpose of a. Dream is not to.
Give us an easy road and and it was the thing.
I was tempted in when. I was first.
Putting the sermon together. I had a.
Point in here that that saying that the reason God gave.
Joseph this dream was that it gave him.
Encouragement and inspiration through the dark times.
He. Could look at that dream and
hold on to that dream and if he really believed.
It that could. Give him encouragement and
inspiration through the dark times.
The problem is, is that's not what the Bible says.
So I took that. Part out of the.
Sermon like try not to preach things that the Bible doesn't
say. What the Bible says is that
Joseph. Never even thought of that.
Dream for years. There's nothing in the Bible.
That, says Joseph, was. Clinging to that dream.
As a promise from God that. Everything will get better.
As far. As we know, Joseph did not think
of that dream. Again, until his brothers.
Years later were actually. Bowing before him.
So what's the purpose of the? Dream, I think the.
Purpose of the dream. Is this to reveal?
God's sovereign. Power and purpose.
God gave Joseph the. Dream.
So that Joseph would. Know he was.
Not the star. Of his own life.
He was not the. Far from being.
The king of his family. He's not even the king of his
own life. God is the King.
God is in charge. And that everything that
happened to him along. The way was part of God's.
Sovereign power and sovereign. Purpose Joseph had.
A dream. His brothers bowing down to him,
Joseph gets sold into slavery. And Egypt he gets.
Thrown into jail while he's in jail, perhaps?
Because he's in jail. He meets someone.
Else who's in jail? Who gets released?
And becomes and is. Restored to a position of high
authority in the Pharaoh's. Palace and.
Having known that person when the Pharaoh has a dream.
And Joseph's former cellmate knows that Joseph interprets
dream. Pharaoh has a dream that his
wise. Men, his magi cannot.
Interpret and this other servant.
Says to the Pharaoh. Look, I met this guy in jail.
His name? Was Joseph.
He's a. Servant of God, he interprets
dreams, and so Pharaoh calls Joseph out and he tells him the
dream. Joseph says.
Here's. The meaning of your dream.
God has told me. This is the meaning of your
dream. There's.
Going to be 7. Very prosperous years in Egypt
where the harvest will be great. There will be ample.
Food there will be. Bountiful food.
It's going. To be wonderful.
For seven. Years and then after that
there's going to be 7 years of famine.
When nothing's going to grow and so we need to take.
The next seven years. And store up.
Food so that we'll have food to eat.
During the famine and. Pharaoh said.
You are the man. And Pharaoh put Joseph in.
Charge of his whole. Kingdom.
The only one Joseph was answerable to in the entire
Kingdom of Egypt was the king himself, Pharaoh himself, so God
elevated. Joseph to that position.
Well, the Pharaoh. On the.
Surface elevated, Joseph. To that position.
And then when the famine. Hit.
It wasn't just in Egypt. It stretched up into.
Canaan and his family was running out of food.
In fact, they did. Run out of food and Jacob sent
Joseph. 'S brothers all except.
Benjamin down to Egypt. Because he'd heard there was.
Food in Egypt and they get down there and it's been. 20 years
and they don't recognize their brother.
Why would they? They they get down there, they,
they go to the guy in charge. They know he's the second in
command of the whole Kingdom. He's the one that's.
Governing and and and and. And making all the decisions
about food distribution. Is Joseph, but they don't know
it's Joseph. He's got a different name.
Pharaoh gave him a new name. He doesn't.
He looks like an Egyptian, not like a.
Hebrew and he's. Up on the throne, he's got
power, he's got authority. He's all there.
And the brothers come and they ask him for food and every
single. One of them bows down before
him, and. That's when the Bible.
Tells us that Joseph. Remembered his dream.
Of his brothers. Bowing down before him.
And at this point? Joseph has a choice.
Now, well, this point. Yeah, let me do.
This first this. Point Joseph has a.
Choice. On what to do.
One choice is to despise his brothers.
And seek revenge against them because of the.
Great evil they did. To him.
They mocked him. You think?
You're going to rule over us and now?
Joseph can say, hey, I'm Joseph. And look.
I rule over you. And now?
This tables are stacked. The system's stacked in the
other way. I have all the power and you
have. None.
Grovel, you worms that could have been.
His response or yet? Another choice, thankfully.
He chose the other thing. Not immediately.
He tested him first. But he could recognize.
He could seek. Revenge.
Or he could. Recognize and surrender to the
hand and. Purpose of God including.
His brother's role. In God's purpose.
Now we tested him, he wanted to see if they'd.
Grown up in. He'd wanted to see if they were.
Still, the sort of people that would.
Betray a younger brother just to make their own lives a little
bit better. And he tested them.
They passed the test. Not going to get into all the
details. Of that today.
They passed the test. And when he finally.
Revealed himself to his. Brothers, this is what he said.
Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for
selling me here. Because it was to.
Save lives that God sent me. Ahead of you for two years.
Now there has been. Famine in the land and for the
next. Five years.
There will be no. Plowing and reaping, but God
sent me ahead of you. To preserve for you a.
Remnant on Earth and to save your.
Lives by a great. Deliverance, Joseph.
In that moment remembered his dream and he realized and he
knew and he understood that the reason why God had given him
that dream was so that when this moment came, he would know that.
Everything that had. Happened to him was the hand of
God and that he was there not to dominate or punish his brothers.
But to save lives, To save his brothers.
That God had done all of this. Whatever.
His brother's intentions, whatever.
Great in it. Was a great.
Evil, they did. To him.
It was a great evil. That they did to him, but that
was. God's tool.
That God used. To put Joseph in a position.
Where God wanted. Joseph in order.
To save his. Family not punish his family.
That was the choice. And that's the choice.
Joseph made. He chose to accept this truth
that. God's intent trump's our.
Intent and our. Feelings.
God's intent. Trump's all of that.
Years later, so Joseph. Brings his whole family down to
Egypt. For the rest.
Of the famine. So there's going to be.
Famine for five more years. Why not?
You know, go back, get that, you know.
Get the whole family, bring him down.
And the whole family will stay here and you'll have.
Plenty during this famine. And I will provide for you.
I'll make sure that you have enough then years.
Later, Jacob, their father. Dies.
And and and the. Brothers are like Dad.
'S dead. What's Joe going to do now?
We know. Joseph loved his dad.
We know Dad loved. Joseph.
Now Dad's gone. What's little Joey?
Going to do. And they were afraid.
That he had. Just been bidding his time.
But Joseph. Even years later.
Says this to them. You intended to harm.
Me but God. Intended it for good.
To accomplish what is now. Being done the.
Saving of many lives. Because of the evil they did to
Joseph. Joseph was in a position.
For God to. Use him to save many lives.
And not just his family. Many, many, many, many.
Other lives as well. That was God's.
Intent. That was God's purpose, whatever
his brothers. Intended God's intention trumped
they meant evil that. Takes a back seat.
God meant good. That's why I'm here.
That's why I went. Through that difficult Rd.
That's why I suffered. All of those things so that I
could be in a position not to judge, not to condemn, not.
To punish. But to save to save.
That's why God gives dreams. So that when the when the dream
intersects with reality, we can know that it was.
God's doing. Not ours.
That we can give. All the credit for all and all
of the glory, for all of the good to God.
And we can now see all of the. Heartache and all of the
suffering along the way. As part of.
God's direction and God's purpose and God's plan and as
painful. As it was, it brought me to a.
Point where I was in a position. To help save others.
We have a tradition in in the United.
Methodist Church and I I think it's.
One of the most. Beautiful prayers ever written.
Is a prayer that John Wesley wrote, and he encouraged all
Methodists to pray it as part of a new.
Year's service, probably. Prayed it here.
Before it's in the. Hymnal.
It's we. We.
Call it a covenant. Prayer in the Wesleyan
tradition. Because in the Methodist Church,
we like long complicated. Names.
But this is the. Prayer that Wesley taught.
Methodists to pray? And I think it.
Fits so well with Joseph's attitude.
Here, Father in heaven, I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will rank me with whom you will put me to
doing. Put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by you. Or laid aside.
By you let me be exalted. For you or brought low for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty, Let me have all things, let me
have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all
things to your pleasure and your disposal.
And now O. Glorious and blessed God.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am.
Yours. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth.
Let it be ratified. In heaven.
Amen. Amen.
Wesley Teaching. Followers of Jesus today.
To live like Joseph did, then whatever God has planned for me.
Whether it's great prosperity. Or great poverty.
Whether it's, it's, it's. Tremendous work to.
Do or being set aside with nothing to do.
Whether it's, whether it's, it's praise or whether it's
rejection, whether it's good, whether it's.
Painful whether it's bad. Whether it's joyful.
Whatever it is, God. Whatever you want, we're.
Yours. We're yours.
You get all. Of the glory your.
Word and your will and your purposes be done.
I believe This is why God gives us.
Dreams to know that God. Is at the center of the story.
God is the main character and he invites.
Us to trust him. Through all of the.
Darkness. And all of the pain and all of
the struggle all along the way. And to see his.
Purpose for us. Is not to judge, not to condemn,
not to seek. Revenge not to punish.
But to save. In Jesus name.
Amen. Amen.