Marty Sloan – Living the Dream

Living Like a Giant – A Faith Building Series – Part 2 Joseph – Dreams

4 18 10 HT PM

Hebrews 12:1-3 MSG

Hebrews 12:1 MSG

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.

Hebrews 12:2

Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.

Hebrews 12:3

When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Tonight we enter the stadium of faith – if you will look around you in the supernatural you will see various faces and names of old whose faith proved to be exemplarily and whose life reached the extraordinary! Last week we looked up and saw Noah – tonight, as we take a look around a man steps out of the crowd.  As you look close you see the look of one whose life experienced a variety of emotions.  He was a favorite son, he was sold as a slave, he was falsely accused, he was used by God, he was a dreamer ….. his name Joseph.

The life of Joseph–

Genesis 37:2

This is the history of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.

Genesis 37:3

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors.

Genesis 37:4

But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

Genesis 37:5

Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more.

Genesis 37:6

So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed:

Genesis 37:7

There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

Genesis 37:8

And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

Genesis 37:9

Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

Genesis 37:10

So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?”

Genesis 37:11

And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Genesis 37:12

Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.

Genesis 37:13

And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”

So he said to him, “Here I am.”

Genesis 37:14

Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

Genesis 37:15

Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

Genesis 37:16

So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”

Genesis 37:17

And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

Genesis 37:18

Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him.

Genesis 37:19

Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming!

Genesis 37:20

Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

Genesis 37:21

But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.”

Genesis 37:22

And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.

Genesis 37:23

So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him.

Genesis 37:24

Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. NKJV

What about Dreams

1. Dreams are conceived long before they are achieved

2. Conception and completion is a journey/ process

3. The conception phase must be tempered with wisdom – avoid “making it” happen

4. Wisdom is a gift to those who ask for it

Wisdom for dreams

1. Slow starts are not necessarily a dream stopper!

(Pit to Palace)

Philippians 3:13

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

Philippians 3:14

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. NKJV

2. Strengthen the dream internally NOT externally – Gen 37:10 – Joseph shared his dream externally.. mistake ??

Ephesians 6:10

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. NKJV

3. Surprises are not if but when

Exodus 14:10

And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.

Exodus 14:11

Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?

Exodus 14:12

Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

Exodus 14:13

And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.

Exodus 14:14

The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” NKJV

4. Separate chronos and kairos

Galatians 6:9

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. NKJV

Season here is kairos -

• Chronos is chronological order

• Kairos is Divine order

Season is translated kairos – translated as “the right time”

Jospeh was over 20 years reaching his dream!

Walking toward dreams

• Remember God is with you

• Resource yourself during the down times ( Paul writing of scripture)  (Contrast the children of Israel)

• Realize that self –promotion is secondary to Divine promotion

• Respect the dream once it is obtained.

Genesis 50:18

Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”

Genesis 50:19

Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?

Genesis 50:20

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Genesis 50:21

Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. NKJV