Tuesday, 12 August 2014

JOSEPH WEEK 2

QUIZ

First week:
Abraham’s wife was Sarah - their only child was – Isaac. Isaac married Rebekah and had two sons - Essau and Jacob.
God changed Jacob’s name to Israel and he had 4 wives, 12 sons who’s names are the 12 tribes of Israel.
Jacob’s favourite wife was Rachael - to which Joseph born.
Second week:
1.     What were the 3 significant points from the first part of the Joseph story?
a.     Joseph had strong personal convictions
b.     Joseph was a dreamer
c.      He had to stand up to the dream killers

2.     What is another term to describe a personal conviction?
a.     A Core Value or a strongly held belief

3.     What is the Hebrew word for Dream or Revelation or Vision ?
a.     Chazown

4.     Who were the “dream killers” in Joseph’s life?
a.     His brothers / his family

5.     How did last week’s story finish for Joseph?
SLIDE: 31Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”
33He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.
36Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

Genesis 39 Contemporary English Version (CEV)
39 The Ishmaelite’s took Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, the king’s[a] official in charge of the palace guard. 2-3 So Joseph lived in the home of Potiphar, his Egyptian owner.
Soon Potiphar realized that the Lord was helping Joseph to be successful in whatever he did. Potiphar liked Joseph and made him his personal assistant, putting him in charge of his house and all of his property. Because of Joseph, the Lord began to bless Potiphar’s family and fields. 
Clip of Joseph (Start 32:09 sec - End 36:59 sec)
Joseph was well-built and handsome, and Potiphar’s wife soon noticed him. She asked him to make love to her, but he refused and said, “My master isn’t worried about anything in his house, because he has placed me in charge of everything he owns. No one in my master’s house is more important than I am. The only thing he hasn’t given me is you, and that’s because you are his wife. I won’t sin against God by doing such a terrible thing as this.” 10 She kept begging Joseph day after day, but he refused to do what she wanted or even to go near her.
11 One day, Joseph went to Potiphar’s house to do his work, and none of the other servants were there. 12 Potiphar’s wife grabbed hold of his coat and said, “Make love to me!” Joseph ran out of the house, leaving her hanging onto his coat.
13 When this happened, 14 she called in her servants and said, “Look! This Hebrew has come just to make fools of us. He tried to rape me, but I screamed for help. 15 And when he heard me scream, he ran out of the house, leaving his coat with me.”
16 Potiphar’s wife kept Joseph’s coat until her husband came home. 17 Then she said, “That Hebrew slave of yours tried to rape me! 18 But when I screamed for help, he left his coat and ran out of the house.”
19 Potiphar became very angry 20 and threw Joseph in the same prison where the king’s prisoners were kept.
While Joseph was in prison, 21 the Lord helped him and was good to him. He even made the jailer like Joseph so much that 22 he put him in charge of the other prisoners and of everything that was done in the jail. 23 The jailer did not worry about anything, because the Lord was with Joseph and made him successful in all that he did.


Let’s remember who Joseph is at his core. The 3 characteristics we saw last week:
1.     He has strong core values.
2.     He dreams and has a vision or goal for his life.
3.     He has to defend himself against “dream killers”.
We can see where Joseph’s strong personal convictions have got him into big trouble again! He would not and could not go against what he believed to be an acceptable standard for him to behave in.


Just like how he could not be loyal to his naughty brothers so he bought bad reports of them back to his Father… he could not sleep with Potiphar’s wife. His conscience would not allow it.

Not only would his conscious not allow him to do it, but he had a dream and a future serving Potiphar. He honored Potiphar and respected him and the feeling was mutual.
Joseph could envision serving Potiphar for a long, long time. He could see himself in the future still being a good friend and servant to Potiphar and his house.

His strong core values would not let this flirtatious woman to come between him and his vision for his future. He had his eyes set on the prize and unfortunately for that woman, it was not her.
The prize Josephs eyes were on was the success and accomplishment in the future. The prize was the reward of having his master trust and respect him at the end of his life.

Joseph valued being true to himself and others very much – over and above what a moment of pleasure with a woman who threw herself at him would mean.
No wonder she liked him. He sounds gallant and gentlemanly and very attractive with an attitude like that… don’t you think?
The thing is that Joseph could see her for what she really was… a “dream killer”.  He knew that if he succumbed to her demands, it would only be at his own detriment in the long run. His dream would suffer and die if he was to allow her to seduce him.

CHAZOWN    Let us think about this for a moment… Do you want Chazown?

Do you want a God sized Dream – Revelation – Vision for your future?
We want to be a people like Joseph. When we wake up I want us to wake up with Chazown. With purpose, direction and with peace and satisfaction knowing that we am doing what God wants us to do.
We want to discover our Chazown – because it will help us live our lives intentionally. Everyone ends up somewhere and we want to end up somewhere on purpose. What are the things that put a block on discovering your Chazown?
Just like Joseph maybe:
·        You been treated unfairly
·        People you loved turned their back on you
·        You feel like you betray yourself and your own personal convictions
·        You feel like you just get back on your feet when another crisis breaks out against you
·        Or … maybe you a slave to something a bad habit you can’t seem to overcome

Joseph had Chazown but, do we agree that Joseph had really bad odds when it came to succeeding in where he was serving. It seemed like it never worked out for him…

·         I mean because he stuck by his high morals and convictions – he was hated on.
·         Because he had a vision and a goal he was working toward – he was mocked.
·         Because he had a dream - he had to endure even his loved ones trying to foil his success – due to their own feelings of insignificance and insecurity.

It seems that if Joseph didn’t have such high standards or strong allegiance to accomplishing his vision or dream that life may have been a little easier for him.

Or would it?



·         What would have happened if a young Joseph compromised on his convictions?
·         What would have been the long term effect on his life if he had have forced himself to do the things he didn’t believe in or want to do?
·         What would have happened if Joseph taught himself to lie and to be deceitful?
·         What would have happened if Joseph allowed fear to overcome a dream he knew was from God?
·         What would have become of Josephs life if he compromised his morals, allowed fear to dominate his thoughts and became bitter and resentful toward all the people who had wronged him?

I know that things would have turned out very different in his future.

·         He would have slept with that woman.
·         He would not have been able to have the confidence in knowing he was an honest man.
·         He would not have been able to have such a determination to delay gratification and work hard toward a future that he could not even grasp in his hand yet.

This is what it comes down to… and I see it is a significant problem in our society today. Being able to delay gratification and to know how to wait patiently for the thing you most hope for.  

Listen to what Paul say’s when he is encouraging the believers:
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Do you see Paul telling you about your CHAZOWN?
Can you hear him say, “Listen, we haven’t grabbed it in our hand yet, but it’s there to work towards.”? There is a plan and a purpose for you!

Let me show you how to paraphrase it for yourselves so you can apply it to your life:

Listen, ______! You are not there yet, but don’t give up! Jesus Christ grabbed you by the scruff and bought you out of the dark hole you dug yourself in. Because of His love and grace, you have found a reason to live. Don’t dwell on the past mistakes you have made. Forgive yourself and push forward into the awesome future He has planned for you!
Make a promise to yourself _____ that you will put 100% effort in to this life He has given you… work toward the future as if you will win the lotto if you succeed! You have a heavenly calling… much higher that you ever thought possible. Work hard to glorify God, concentrate on what He tells you to do. Be true to Him and obedient to His commands and enjoy your life in Christ.

Just like Joseph, you have an advantage over other people! Let’s read:
We are not of the world 1 Cor 2:12-14

 12What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 

We can understand the Word, we can understand Spiritual things that worldly people cannot. Our software has had an update that only some of humanity has been privy…we are being taught spiritual realities by the Spirit of God. We are privileged!

So now that we have the software update and can grow in understanding the language of God, what do we do with our original language that we learned and understood before we knew God?

The language the world taught us since we were born. The world which teaches us things contrary to God. The world that tempts us and entices us to listen to what it says. Our native tongue.

1 John 3 Contemporary English Version (CEV)
Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are. But since the people of this world did not know who Christ[a] is, they don’t know who we are. (TWO DIFFERENT LANGUAGES) My dear friends, we are already God’s children, though what we will be hasn’t yet been seen. But we do know that when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is. This hope makes us keep ourselves holy, just as Christ[b] is holy.
Can you see another Chazown there… “This hope makes us keep ourselves holy…” That sounds like a plan and a purpose you could latch onto right there!

On Not Loving the World 1 John 2:15-17
15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Listen to this beautiful song:
“Turn your eye’s upon Jesus”

This scripture points out the things of the world that tempt us to compromise our Godly convictions… the things of this world that throw a wet blanket on our Godly dreams… the things of this world that are the “Holy Spirit” convictions and “Godly Dream” killers.


It is the LUST of the flesh, the LUST of the eyes, the PRIDE of life… that are our soul’s enemy. They are what causes people to compromise on their convictions and rationalize the reason they choose to sin.

These things are the opposite of what God wants for us – in other words they are the world’s demands on us. They appeal to our flesh …and their ultimate goal is to destroy the dream and vison God has for your life.

Do you know what I see at the start of each of these new “episodes” in Joseph’s life?

Take a look right at the start of Chapter 39, when he came into Potiphar’s house:
Soon Potiphar realized that the Lord was helping Joseph to be successful in whatever he did. 
Then at the end of the chapter when the major change happened in Josephs life … going from Potiphar’s house to the prison:
While Joseph was in prison, 21 the Lord helped him and was good to him.

So we could all go, “Ohhhh well that’s the difference between me a Joseph!” The Lord was with Joseph and made everything great!” It was the Lord’s fault that Joseph had it easy… The Lord blessed him and made him succeed.

But take a look at this:
Deuteronomy 31:6English Standard Version (ESV)
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5English Standard Version (ESV)
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

So from those scriptures we can see that God promises to never leave you or turn his back on you. God cannot lie. It just isn’t possible.
Ok so you may say, those promises are only for those who are super holy. Super clean from sin and who maybe work in a church… nope. The promise is for anyone who is a Child of God:

John 1:10-13
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

All it takes to come into inheriting the promises of God is to become His child… and how do we become His son or daughter?

Ephesians 2:8-9Contemporary English Version (CEV)
You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about.

By faith.
It is by faith we have the honour of becoming His children and therefore inheriting the ability to overcome the world – and all of its dream killers. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

·        Because we are His children, we have a Spirit who is greater in us that the spirit that is of or in the world.
·        Because we are his children we are already victorious – because Christ overcome and defeated the hold the devil had over us once and for all on the Cross.

Colossians 2:13-15
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

A stronghold is kind of like a “Conviction” or a “Core Value” that is a lie from the enemy.
Listen be encouraged – just like Joseph - You are His child. Jesus has overcome the power the enemy had over you on the cross.
You do have a God sized plan for your life. You are special and loved unconditionally. God loves you too much to leave you in any kind of darkness. He wants you to be free.

Something I heard recently, God will not answer your prayers to make yourself a better slave. God wants to heal you and bless you so much that will bring you completely out of slavery. 

This is what he did for the Israelites. He delivered them from slavery… then it took 40 years (if not longer) to retrain their brains (and pull down enemy strongholds) to learn that they were now not slaves anymore.


That is where we are all at. Jesus has delivered us out of slavery, it just takes a little more time for this new life to establish itself in the physical.
And it is all dependent on you. It is dependent on how much work you are willing to do on yourself.
·        How much work are you willing to do when it comes to identifying the lies the enemy has slipped into your mind?
·        How much work you are willing to do in tearing down those strongholds?
·        How much work are you going to do to establish your convictions to match up to what the Bible says is good and true?
·        How much work are you willing to do to grow the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life?
This is what gave Joseph the advantage over other slaves… he was not a slave in his mind.     
He knew the TRUTH. He committed himself to God and did his best to show God in his life. He was a good steward of God’s glory.
He was free in his mind to be who God called him to be – in spite of harsh opposition.
This is the kind of attitude we must have when it comes to us developing this life in Christ and becoming more and more.

Is 50:7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

JOSEPH WEEK 1

QUIZ:
1.     Who was Abraham’s wife?                                 Sarah
2.     Who was their only child?                                   Isaac
3.     Who did Isaac marry?                                          Rebekah
4.     What was their 2 sons names?                          Essau and Jacob
5.     What was Jacob’s name changed to?              Israel
6.     How many wives did Jacob have?                    Four
7.     How many son’s did Jacob have?                     Twelve
8.     Who was Jacob’s favourite wife?                      Rachael
9.     To which wife was Joseph born?                       Rachael

     ISRAELS FAMILY…
So Joseph was the favourite son of the favourite wife… this leads on into the sermon.




SLIDE JOSEPH
Joseph came into this world thoroughly loved and wanted. He was the son of his Fathers “favourite” wife - Rachael. He was born when his Dad was very old – and he didn’t think he was going to ever have a child with Rachael.
He was one adored little boy. He was doted on and given that famous extravagant gift – the coat of many colours.
Joseph’s story has been described as being from the “pit to the palace” or as him being the “King of Dreams”.
One thing is for sure… his life story was no fairy tale. It was one of betrayal, violence and abandonment. It was one of hard labor and a long term of imprisonment.
Despite all the negatives we will see his character was one of intense focus on God, resolute determination to stay true to God in spite of harsh and unfair circumstances and lastly one of long-term and deep character building in preparation to fulfill a massive God given destiny.
So let’s get into it!
Let’s read Genesis 37:1-10
1Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2This is the account of Jacob’s family line.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate a robe for him. 4When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7We 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.”
8His 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.
9Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10When 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?” 11His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Significant points
We can pull out some significant points from that scripture.
1.     Joseph was a dibby dobber! Us who know the “old scene” knew there was an untold rule – “you don’t rat your mates out”… I think it is now called “dogging someone out”.
Joseph was unaware of this rule and told his father a bad report about his brothers.
Call him a rat or a dog all you like - It appears as though he didn’t have a lot of loyalty to them.
But you could look at it like this – Joseph had no loyalty to people (brothers or not) doing the wrong thing. At an early age Joseph had his own convictions and he stood by them.
2.     Joseph was a dreamer. He appropriated his faith to believe in something bigger than himself. He had a VISION.
God used dreams to speak His purpose to life in Joseph’s spirit. A VISION or purpose in someone’s life reflects a motivation toward a specific thing. Whatever that person sees in their future is what they will be drawn towards. Joseph had a conviction or a strong belief that this dream really meant something and he was right. He knew that God spoke to him and he was propelled toward that future by declaring that dream out and into the natural.
3.     Because he had a dream his brothers were jealous & his father rebuked him.
His father questions him saying, “What!? Will your mother and I bow down to you too?!” And his brothers were jealous and hated him all the more.


My first question is: Why were they jealous of a “dream”. I mean all it is, is a bunch of pictures in someone’s asleep brain. Why were his brothers threatened and jealous of some movie clip running in his mind while he wasn’t even conscious?
The answer becomes clearer when Jacob ASKS Joseph about him and Rachael bowing down as well. Why would Jacob ASK if this is what Joseph thought was going to happen.
I mean the guy probably just woke up – eating some curds or some biblical type breakfast – and goes… “Far out man, I had a cool dream last night… yeah there were wheat sheaves and…. Yea you guys were there… yum yum **eating breakfast… oh yeah and the moon and the stars bowed down too… mmm weird ay guys.
And he looks up to see his family glaring at him as if he had anointed himself King over the family. He probably realized then that oops… that didn’t come out right!                                                                                                                                       
They all knew Joseph was different. There was just something about him. Jacob asked him if this is what it means and the brothers got jealous because they knew that it meant something significant too.
He had a bright light. His life was illuminating. He mesmerized his parents and there was a God sized plan and purpose for him to achieve.
There was seeds of greatness in Joseph that could not contain because God was growing them in spite of how EVERYBODY felt about it.

So to boil that down to make it simple:
1.     Joseph had strong personal convictions
2.     He had a dream
3.     He had to battle against the dream killers                                                                                                     
We can take these 3 things and apply them to our lives now.

1.     Strong personal convictions: What is a conviction?
It is a strongly held belief. It is something that we also call a “Core Value”.
It is important to know what it is that you value and have personal convictions over because these things are the things that drive your life. This is what Joseph found in his relationship with his brothers… his core values did not match his brothers – this is why he was headed in a different direction to them. His life was being driven by his convictions or core values.
The easiest way to determine what your core values are is to ask yourself what makes you, really really angry or really really happy? Has anyone heard the saying, “If you don’t know what you stand for, you’ll fall for anything.”
For me, one of my strongest personal convictions is the pursuit of truth. I love the truth.           
 Now watch how this conviction plays itself out through the core of who I am:
I find that truth is of utmost importance… it makes me so happy when I live in truth… and it makes me so angry when I am lied to or if am being deceitful myself. As well as I get really frustrated when the truth seems just out of my reach. I like knowing what is real and what is fake.

I think that the truth whether it is good or bad, is much better than a lie any day… I don’t like lies at all… so I will surround myself with people who have similar a personal conviction because I can “trust them” because trust and truth are closely related I find that trust is another strong conviction.

I am loyal to people I can trust so loyalty is another conviction I have. I find loyalty to be a very admirable quality to have myself and to enjoy in others. It makes me feel very happy.

In a nutshell: Truth, Trustworthiness and Loyalty are my core values.
Out of my core values I live my life towards and around. I strive towards the truth all the time – hence I preach the Gospel – the ultimate truth… I have developed integrity and trustworthiness so that my people know I am a safe person to become vulnerable to… and my loyalty lies with the truth so if there ever needs to be humility and repentance I find joy in that.

You see how identifying your core values can give you a very strong sense of personal identity, therefore enabling you to see your strengths therefore enabling you to have a very defined vision for your life? You know where you want to be and where you do not want to be. Vision.
This is what Joseph had. A very strong sense of core values and strength of character & vision.

THE STOREHOUSE CHURCH
VISION: plan, purpose, future.

PLAN "To introduce people to Jesus Christ, PURPOSE to help them grow to be more like him, and FUTURE then to reproduce the process in others."

CORE VALUES:
1.     A church that loves God with heart, mind, soul and strength

2.     A church that reaches out to the community and other local churches to provide support and friendship

3.     A church that welcomes absolutely everyone - NO exceptions

4.     A church that teaches you to KNOW God, GROW in God and GO for God
a.     Introducing people to Christ
b.     Biblical Teaching that causes Spiritual Growth ...then...
c.      A sending out or releasing for ministry - Missions field: local/abroad

5.     A church with a focus on impacting the world we live in - "Missions Focus"

SLIDE DO YOU HAVE A DREAM?
2.     He had a dream
We all know of 2 very powerful stories of a black man rising above the nonsense to steer people toward a better way of living – one was Nelson Mandela and the second is Martin Luther King Jnr.  This picture is of Martin Luther King who, in 1963, delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech when he was addressing the oppression of black people in American society.
They marched through the streets singing – “We will overcome” a song to the Lord – the same God as the one we serve. The speech starts off depicting the suffering and torment they go through as slaves. The way they are degraded and treated like animals separated and scorned in white supremace society. It is quite disturbing the events that happened in those days to black people.
Then the speech turns to this:
Let me read a portion of it…

Having a dream of a better future is something we all need to cling to and for me it starts in our mind.
This particular part of Josephs story, I have a lot of experience with… it’s probably why I love this story so much… because I can identify with him and his dreams and how God speaks in dreams.
He uses symbols that were understandable to him and showed him what was to come with these symbols. Joseph knew the difference between what I call a “Processing Dream” and a “God Dream”.
Our brains are like hard drives on a computer. Each day we are awake, we have (what I call) “natural downloads”. These are the things that happen throughout the day. The different conversations you have and the various activities you engage in. Your hard drive stores all the new information and when you sleep at night it “Processes” that information.
While processing that information into its relevant files and hard drive disk locations, your dream mind filters these things through it. You see things and feel things that have affected you during the day (and weeks sometimes) depending on what your “Processing” settings are in your brain.
Processing dreams are different in colour, length and content. When you have had enough of these and what I call “God Dreams” you can easily tell the difference.
God Dreams are just that. Something that reflects that you have just encountered God. There are specific tell-tale signs and symbols that God uses to leave His beautiful implant on your God Dreams. There are a combination of factors that you can tell if it was a God Dream or not but this sermon is not so much about this subject. Although I must say, this is one of my special gifting areas that He has taught me over my lifetime.


I am leaving out demonic dreams because they are another subject – and have their own specific details. Not to mention that sometimes a God Dream can resemble a demonic dream… I am sure it is a gift to actually be able to tell the difference.
The difference between people who move through life drifting with whatever tide is flowing and the people who can envision something in their future then start to work toward seeing that thing actually happen - is the people who dream – and work toward that dream.
It is those people who end up saying, “Dreams really do come true.”
Some of us hear God in our dreams at night – but this can also mean when we day dream. When we are in our quite time in our mind, where do we go with it? A dream is the start of a vision and the start of a project if you are like me!
A dream is something that is hard to grasp... something that takes faith to see happen. When we hear someone say, I had a dream – we rarely think that we are gonna see that person start playing out that dream or try to make it come to life but it is the ones who dare who win.
It takes a special gift from God to enable us to interpret our dreams because they are kind of like encrypted. From the moment we have a dream, our work starts. We have to start working out what it means. For many people they don’t even start that process. Therefore the vision goes unattended and left to die.

3.     And this is exactly what these brothers wanted – to kill the dream!
People don’t like dreamers. All sorts of character flaws can pop up in you when you’re in the presence of a dreamer. Jealousy – Covetness – Gossiping – Insecurity – Anger.

It is almost an automatic response in some people when they see someone branching out into the faith realm – to bring that person back down to reality.

Something my Dad always said to me as a kid, “Nicole, you have always got your head in the clouds!” and it was true. I did. I loved it out there!

There will always be people who want to kill your dream, even the people who are the ones you thought would be on your side… like Joseph and his brothers.
It is important to
·        Guard your God Dreams
·        Nurture them
·        Sow your time and energy into them
·        Grow your dream in your secret place in your heart …
…and just like Joseph they will inevitably grow so big that everyone will benefit from them.

Let’s keep reading:
SLIDE GEN 37:12-36 Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”
“Very well,” he replied.
14So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”
17“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ”
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20“Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
21When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22“Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
23So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— 24and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelite’s coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
26Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelite’s and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelite’s, who took him to Egypt.


29When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”
31Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”
33He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.
36Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

So we see here that the dream killers succeeded. They plotted and planed and had a vision that they would get rid of Joseph – and they did.

These brothers where so insecure within themselves (except Reuben) that they actually carried out this murderous plot to dispose of their dreamer brother. They were so angry at Joseph’s core values and vision for his own life that they decided to rip it away from him to teach him a lesson.

These brothers then had to live a long, long time with a lie. The lie that a wild animal had ripped him apart. They all had to watch Jacob and Rachael’s heart break. They had to live in a family that was now torn apart by lies and grief and it was their own fault… all because they hated a dreamer.
Who remembers the description of the Midianites or Ishmaelite’s back in the story of Gideon?

SLIDE JUDGES 6
Judges 6  Because the power of the Midianites was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

This is who the brothers just sold Joseph to. I am sure they sure he was as good as dead with the Ishmaelite’s. I am sure they were happy he was gonna suffer much more than what they were capable of doing to their brother with their own hands. Giving someone over to the Ishmaelite’s was a torturous death sentence. Just what they wanted for that dreamer.

There are two ways of looking at this situation. The positive or the negative. This really is the start of the story of Joseph right here. What we have just read is merely the foundation on what the good part of the story is based on.

·        Joseph had strong convictions different to his brothers… was that enough to earn him a death sentence?

·        Joseph may have had outrages dreams that no one could understand and that made everyone a little insecure about… was that enough reason to wipe him out?


·        Joseph’s own brothers hated him… is that a good enough reason to knock him off?

We would not think that now… and I don’t think that Joseph thought that back then. I don’t think that Joseph could come up with a good enough reason that he deserved what his brothers had done.


I don’t think Joseph ever came up with a good enough reason that would explain why his own brothers decided to eject him from the family and sell him to the Ishmaelite’s.

It wasn’t fair. It was wrong. It was a low act to commit. Joseph had every right to feel rejected, unloved and hated.

He could have been forgiven for getting angry at God because it was God who gave him those dreams that made his brothers so mad.

It wasn’t his fault at all and he was now going to suffer. Things really sucked.


As we go on in this story of Joseph, we will see, in spite all of these negative factors the type of man he became.