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 2 Because the power of the Midianites was so oppressive, the
Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and
strongholds.3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites,
Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded
the country. 4 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. 5 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.6 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment