Desert, Group, Project | Preparing For What's Next - Part 4 | Senior Pastor Keith Stewart

PREPARING FOR WHAT’S NEXT
Desert, Community, Project | Part 4
Senior Pastor Keith Stewart
June 21, 2026

Have you ever had a dream that seemed to slip through your fingers?
 
Maybe it was a calling, a relationship, a ministry, a career, or simply the life you thought you would have by now. What do you do when the dream is delayed? When the road is filled with detours, disappointments, opposition, and unanswered questions?
 
This Sunday, we'll look at the life of Joseph and discover how God prepares us for what comes next. What if the setbacks you're experiencing aren't obstacles to God's plan—but part of God's preparation for it?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 

1.  Pastor Keith said, "The greatest reward for our service is not what I get from it but what I become by it." What do you think he means by that? Have you ever experienced service changing you as much as it helped someone else?
 
2.  The dream of Springcreek Church began when Pastor Keith realized his Venezuelan friends felt more welcomed by him than by the church he attended. Have you ever had an experience that changed the way you saw people, church, or ministry?
 
3.  Joseph received a dream from God when he was young, but he was not yet ready for it. Why do you think God often gives us a vision of the future before He fully prepares us for it?
 
4.  Which of the six "enemies that stalk our dreams" resonated most with you?
• Our own immaturity or lack of wisdom
• Opposition from others
• Unexpected detours
• Attractive counterfeits
• Entanglement with other people's dreams
• Getting ahead of God
Why did that particular enemy stand out to you?
 
5.  The message emphasized that "God doesn't remove the dream; He refines the dreamer." Looking back over your life, can you identify ways God used delays, disappointments, or setbacks to shape your character?
 
6.  Have you ever experienced what seemed like a detour in life that later turned out to be part of God's preparation? Share your story.
 
7.  Joseph's life reminds us that God is often doing something in us before He does something through us. How does that challenge the way we usually think about success and achievement?
 
8.  Pastor Keith said, "A large church can be built around charisma. A successful church can be built around strategy. But a transformational church has to be built around formation." What do you think distinguishes a transformational church from a merely successful church?
 
9.  Joseph eventually realized that his dream was never really about him—it was about "the saving of many lives." How can we tell when our dreams have become more about ourselves than about God's purposes?
 
10.  The message ended by highlighting ways God has used Springcreek to impact people locally and globally. What examples have you personally seen of God working through this church to transform lives?
 
11.  As we prepare for next week's message, what do you believe God may want to do in and through Springcreek in the years ahead? What role might God be calling you to play in that future?
 
12.  Joseph never let go of God, even when he didn't understand what God was doing. Is there an area of your life right now where you need to trust God's process rather than demand immediate answers? How can the group pray for you?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Amen. Have a seat. Well, I know it's not every Sunday you come to church and see two ambulances right at the front door. Uh but we did have a couple of our folks had medical emergencies this morning and they were right one after the other, so we called the ambulances. Both of them are being taken to the hospital, so just pray. I I'm I'm not at liberty, nor should I tell everybody about what was going on in their life. But anyway, pray for it's a man and a male and a female. Let's pray for both of them that uh they get the kind of care that they need. And before we go any farther, is everybody feeling okay right now? Okay, I just want to make sure you're well provided for. Happy Father's Day. I mean, I'm so I'm happy to be a dad, and I'm so happy for all the dads in the room. Yeah. You know, one of the things the Bible says in terms of requirements for a pastor is that they they have to be one that shepherds their own family well. Because shepherding a church is like shepherding a family. And so you have to have good parenting skills in order to be a leader of any sort, because parenting skills are what it takes to lead people. I mean, you have to know uh to approach people not with judgment, but with kindness and to love people well where they are with what they're exactly needing, just like we do with our own children. Well, today we're in the fourth message of the series, Desert Community Project. I'm calling this message preparing for what's next. One other thing I'll just mention real quickly, I'm so grateful for all of you who are digging deep and are giving uh to the need for our roof and the HBAC units that need to be repaired. Uh, there's been a lot of money come in so far. We're not quite there yet. So if you've been thinking about, you know, making a gift or thinking about even just getting on a consistent basis of giving regularly to Spring Creek Church, I just am so appreciative of any and all the efforts you make in that area because this is an ongoing need, and we're gonna have to address it as soon as we can. So today, as we get into God's word, let's pray together. Father, I just want to first begin by praying for uh this man and woman who had to be taken to the hospital this morning. Uh, I know, God, you know what they need, and I'm glad they were surrounded by people the moment these incidents occurred so that we could get them the care that they're needing. We're asked, God, that you, as the great physician, would be the unseen presence in every room that uh they're being tended to. That, God, you would guide the doctors and nurses with exceptional skill and care so that they can provide properly diagnose and provide the kind of care that both of our people need. I also pray today for all the dads in this place and for all those who are grieving the loss of a father, and all those who long to be fathers, but up to this point in their life, they haven't been able to be. I pray that today would be a special day that we'd be reminded more than anything that we are loved by a father in heaven who has everything we need and is there to guide us like a good dad. And I pray, God, that we can relish that truth today. Now, as we get into your word, I pray that you're gonna give us your guidance and encourage us and challenge us with this message about Joseph and what it means to be given a dream by you. In Jesus' name, amen. So these last two messages in this series are gonna be somewhat different from the messages that came before. In the first three messages, I really wanted to lay a foundation for what we're calling the sacred rhythm of Christ. Because this is the approach we take, not just to service, but to really all of life. We seek God first. He is always our first and ultimate priority. Then we gather in community because we know that no one is going to flourish on their own. And then finally, our project is the thing that God calls us to and is based on who we are and what God wants done in the world. Desert, community, project, that's the sacred rhythm, that's always the order. It's how Jesus lived his life, it's what we're called on as disciples to pattern our life after. So in the spiritual life, we never begin with what we want to do. The spiritual life never begins with doing, the spiritual life begins with being. In other words, before I can ever do something for God, I need to be someone with God. Everything with God is about soul formation. Service, if it's done right, if it's done according to Christ's sacred rhythm, will change you and I as much as it changes the people we mean to serve. Which means the greatest reward for our service is not what I get for it, but what I become by it. That's foundational teaching. That's spirituality 101. If you haven't adopted the sacred rhythm in your life, the sacred rhythm of Christ, then you've already limited what God can do in you and what God can do through you. This rhythm doesn't change simply because we get more mature in the spiritual life. You and I still have to return over and over to God to get what we need to be able to give to others. Just like in the feeding the 5,000, we learned we're not the source. Jesus is the source. If I keep returning to Him, I'll have what I need for life and for ministry. So in these last two messages, I want to talk to you about the dream I had for this church and then what comes next for us. But I want you to keep in mind the vision that God gave to me did not originate in my heart, it originated in God's heart. To do that, I want to take you back 36 years ago. So 36 years ago, before I started Spring Creek Church, I went to Southern California in Orange County, and I heard a guy named Rick Warren preach. It was at a church growth conference. And while he was there, he asked a question. A question that kind of stopped me in my tracks. And the question was simply this: what would you attempt for God if you knew you couldn't fail? The moment he said that, I knew instantly the answer to that question. I would start a church from scratch that would be different from anything I'd ever been a part of. You see, up to that point in my life, I'd only been a part of churches that had been started by others many years prior. So the personality of those churches reflected every pastor who had been there prior to my attending. So they had their all long-established traditions, they did things a certain way, but I wanted to be a part of something new, something fresh. Now you need to understand something. I grew up in a tradition where holiness was often emphasized far more than grace. We knew what we were against better than we knew what we were for. They were often harsh with outsiders that would endlessly rail against the evils of society while congratulating themselves for being the righteous remnant. But their righteousness was only this deep. It was superficial because inside they were full of pride and divisiveness and arrogance and intolerance and hate. So in college, I started an international student ministry. If you don't know, Nashville, Tennessee, where I went to school, is called the Athens of the South. Not just because they have a replica of the Parthenon in downtown Centennial Park, but because there are more colleges and universities in Nashville and the surrounding area than practically any other city in the nation. So all these international students who would come flooding in to take courses at Vanderbilt and Belmont and all the schools, Fisk and all the schools that were in the Nashville area, they often went through the Belmont English Institute first, where they would learn conversational English, learn how to do well in their studies. So I went there and I began to make friends and connect with people. And early on, Brenda and I became friends with a Venezuelan couple. His name was Gerardo, and her name was Mariella. Gerardo and Mariela Montero. We hung out together. They taught us how to make Venezuelan food, which was really good. In fact, without telling us, they drove all the way from Nashville to Ipsilanding, Michigan, where Brenda and I were married, just to surprise us and show up for our wedding and be there as witnesses. So I can still remember the first time I took my Venezuelan friends to church with me. I had an experience I'd never had before. For the first time in my life, I saw my church through visitors' eyes. Now, some of you have had this experience, maybe even here at Spring Creek. You brought friends for the very first time. So you're noticing things you never saw before. And you're thinking, how's my friend taking this? How are they relating to this, right? You're just seeing a lot of stuff that you're not necessarily sensitized at the other time. So early on in the service, my church asked everyone who was a visitor to stand up. And I just look over my friends casually, like, hey, go ahead and stand up. And they looked at me with terror in their eyes because they're being asked to stand up in a congregation full of people. They're being singled out in the crowd, which is most people, it's their worst fear, right? So they have to stand up. And so they do it, but they do it reluctantly. They're standing there. And while they're standing there, the church sings a welcome song to them. And they're expected to stand for this entire song. And I'm listening to it and I'm realizing how cringe it was. I mean, it was really, it was a stupid, silly song, and I'm thinking, why do we make visitors endure this? But I'd never seen that before. I sung that song a hundred times to other visitors, but when my friends were there, I'm noticing stuff I hadn't noticed before. Now my friends were also not quite fluent in English yet. So they weren't quite noticing, you know, like when the preacher got up to preach, everything that he was saying. But I began to notice other things about my preacher that I'd never noticed before, like how red in the face he got when he was preaching, and how angry he looked, and how condemning he sounded. And my friends, they may not have picked up on every word, but his tone was unmistakable. So the next week I invited Gerardo and Mariela back to church with us. And Gerardo looked at me and said, Keith, we like you and Brenda a lot. We don't like your church. You're nothing like your church. And sadly, I understood what they were saying. But I'd only seen it for myself the week prior when they attended with me. So I was at this conference in Southern California 36 years ago. Rick Warren asked the question: what would you attempt for God if you knew you couldn't fail? And then he went on to explain. If what God has laid on your heart is something that God truly wants done, if he's willing that into the world, then there's no way it can fail. God had been brewing a dream in my heart ever since that day I sat in church with Gerardo and Mariella. I wanted to build a church. I wanted a grace-filled church, a church where hurting people could find healing, where addicts could find freedom, where broken marriages could be restored, where people could fall in love with Jesus and want other people to help find his love too. I mean, I wanted that more than anything. I wanted to be a part of a church like that. So God has continued to refine that dream in me for the past 36 years, but the core remains the same. Earlier this week, I posted on Facebook that come December, I will mark my 50th anniversary since I started preaching the gospel. So I've been a preacher for 50 years now. And one of our long-term attenders or members is Terry Banner. And she posted this on my as a reply to my post. And she said, in 2007, I walked into Spring Creek Church for the first time, a new believer fresh out of prison. I sat in the first row and you started a series on addiction. That sermon was for me. I've been listening to you ever since. Thank you for so many years, and I'm looking forward to so many more. So her story has been repeated in countless others who found hope in this place, healing, a new sense of direction, all because God planted a dream in my heart years ago. Now I sincerely believe that nothing changes without a dream. God plants dreams in all of our hearts, not just mine, but in yours too. There's a task you were created to do, a mission you were intended to complete, a purpose you were uniquely designed to fulfill, a race your legs were born to run, a song your lungs were made to sing. In the Bible, Joseph was a man with a dream. In fact, his brothers nicknamed him the dreamer. You and I can learn a lot from Joseph because he was a lot like us. It's exciting when you discover a dream, but this message is to remind you that even when you have a dream, the likelihood is you're gonna face detours and delays and maybe even a dead end or two. That goes up exponentially higher than the dream that based on the dream God gives you. So God is gonna use those things to mature you and prepare you for that dream to take root and to grow. Dreams can't grow. In fact, they won't grow unless you have to navigate through some difficult times at first. Because, like I said, with God, everything is about soul formation. As you're having your dreams, God is making you into the sort of person who can handle the dream that He gives you. So that's where I'd like to begin is with a simple question Have you ever had a dream? Now it's interesting if you open the Bible, the very first book of the Bible, it's Genesis, the first two chapters of that Bible are about the creation event. But then if you go to the end of the book of Genesis, so the momentous creation event is covered in two chapters. The story at the end of the book of Genesis is Joseph. That story takes up an impressive 13 chapters. So the telling of Joseph's story takes up six times as much space as the creation event. Since Joseph's story is pretty much 25% of the book of Genesis, that tells you his story is very important. It's very important. It's given a lot of space. And his story begins with a simple phrase: one night Joseph had a dream. So Joseph was about 17 years old when God first gave him a dream, which is a good reminder. Dreams don't come through consensus. You don't take a poll, you don't cast a ballot, you don't send it to committee to discover God's dream. Your mom and dad can't give you a dream. Your parents, they're not going to be able to do that. Neither can your teachers or your preacher. God is a giver of dreams. Just as we learned in this series, everything begins with God. So dreams play a major role in Joseph's life. In fact, if you read his story over those chapters at the end of the book of Genesis, you'll discover there are three pairs of dreams in Joseph's story. First, there's Joseph's own dreams. About midway through his story, you have a pair of dreams from Pharaoh's servants. Then in the end, you have Pharaoh's dreams, and there's two of them. So each of those dream sequences marks a different turning point in the story of Joseph. The first principle I want to teach you is simply this: our dreams are ahead of us. Basically, what Joseph had was a dream that indicated one day he would rise to prominence. Authority, power would be his, a position higher than anyone in his own family. But the future reality was not Joseph's present reality. And Joseph began to kind of flaunt these dreams before his family, and they really resented him for it. Listen to this. This is in Genesis 37:5. Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. But you need to know it wasn't just his brothers that reacted negatively to Joseph's dreams, even his parents, they're unimpressed. What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you? So many of us, when we're first given dreams by God, we're not ready for them. We're entirely too immature, we're too self-centered. Selfish dreaming comes from small hearts. This is why the dream to have a new Lexus or a luxury yacht or to be rich and famous, those aren't God-given dreams. God's dreams are not about you, they're about his purpose and his will for your life. What you gotta remember about dreams is this God always wants to do something bigger than just you. When God wants to do something through you, he must first do a work in you. And this is why this series is so important. I've been teaching you about Christ's sacred rhythm, that that's the key to being used by God in powerful ways. Because a person who achieves a dream is someone who first and foremost is anchored in God and invested in community. The order is always desert community project. And by the way, just as a side note, there are many people who question that we talk about Joseph's coat of many colors. In fact, Andrew Lloyd Weber has a uh a musical about Joseph's life called Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. And so sometimes when you hear commentators talk about this, they they make Joseph's brothers really petty. Like they they really thought this jacket was fabulous and they envied it because it was so colorful. Well, that's not what the term coat of many colors means. Let me show you. The term translated coat of many colors is more literally translated long tunic that reaches to the ankles and wrist. Now, what what's being described here is not a coat that's all colorful, but a coat that indicates royalty and privilege. That this is what a dignitary would wear. So, Dad, in giving his youngest son Joseph this coat, he's already promoting his son above his brothers. He's already showing preferential treatment. So the moment that Joseph shares his dream that one day he's going to be more powerful and influential than them, well, that just makes him resent him all the more because dad is already playing favorites with Joseph. But here, hear what I'm about to say. Even though Joseph handled his dreams poorly, God didn't take them away. And that's because of the second principle. God doesn't remove the dream, he refines the dreamer. Now, the New Testament reminds us of this truth. It says, For God's gift and his call are irrevocable. You know when God gives you a gift, when God gives you a dream, he doesn't take it away simply because you mismanage it? We should be grateful for that. Because I think everybody in this room at some point mismanage your gifting, mismanage the dream that God put in your heart. The dreams, they're in good shape. We aren't. We're just not ready for the dreams when God gives them to us. So if God gives you a dream, there's certain things you're going to be able to count on because the fact is, number one, God's not going to take it away from you, but you can also count on opposition, some detours, some setbacks along the way. And this may be the most valuable lesson we learned from Joseph. If God gives you a dream, you're going to have some enemies that stalk your dreams. These enemies are unchanged in 3,000 years. So it's good to learn from Joseph because the things he faced are the things you're likely going to face too. So let's talk about the enemies that stalk your dreams. Number one, first enemy, our own immaturity or lack of wisdom. In the immortal words of Pogo, we have met the enemy and it is us. That's the truth. The greatest enemy you have is the face you shave in the mirror, or the face you put your makeup on, depending on gender, right? Okay. And maybe even some shaved regardless of gender. I don't know. But anyway, I shouldn't have gone there. When God, when you are given a dream, the first thing you have to face is your own lack of wisdom, presumption, wounds, character flaws. They're all going to get in the way of that dream. Now it's true, young Joseph didn't make up his dreams. These weren't something that originated in his own head to fit a massive and gigantic and immature ego. These were the dreams that God gave to him to reveal Joseph his purpose in advance. But you see, there seems to be a part of Joseph that believed that somehow his dreams were deserved, that he'd earned these things, that maybe he was just born better than his brothers. In other words, the dream went to his head. When God blesses you ahead of others, you still need to consider others better than yourself, which is why this next principle is so true. Leaders will always be tested in two areas: competence and character. Competence is the ability to get the right job done in the right way. Character is about who you are when no one's looking. Competence and character are two things that God is trying to perfect in all of us. He's trying to develop these things. You see, Joseph had all the makings of a great leader. He had what he needed in terms of raw material. He just wasn't ready yet to assume that role. His competence needs to be refined. As a young shepherd, we read about Joseph getting lost and wandering around in the field. That's not good for shepherds because those sheep are depending on you and your skill to navigate the terrain to get them to where they need to be. So Joseph's brothers didn't respect him because he didn't have the core competencies just to be a shepherd. Joseph's character is questionable too. Now there's no indicate there's no indication that Joseph was a bad guy, but there's definite signs of immaturity all over his life story. Like as a young man, he brings a bad report to his father about his brothers, purposefully tarnishing their reputations. It's like a coworker who watches over you to make a mistake, and then they go report it immediately to the boss because they either want your job or they want to leap over you and be promoted. Joseph was fairly oblivious to his brothers' feelings. A person so unaware of how other people feel does not yet have the character to lead. Therefore, Joseph's dream was delayed. But the enemies go beyond just ourselves, the things that we carry in us. Enemy number two, opposition from others. You see, a little while later, Joseph's dad sent Joseph out to find his brothers in the field to see what they were doing out there. When the brothers saw Joseph approaching, they saw an opportunity to put this little dreamer in his place. Here's how the Bible describes it. Here comes that dreamer, they said to each other, 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. Now you know things have gotten way out of hand. When your siblings, the first thing they think when they see you is, let's kill him. I mean, that's that's that's bad. This goes beyond sibling rivalry here. This is this outburst then is followed by this. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the richly Ornamented robe he was wearing, and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now notice the very first thing they did, they strip off that robe. Why? Because that's a symbol of preference. That's a symbol, he's royalty. Well, you just watch this. We can take that away like this. Now it's interesting that they have a brother, and his name is Judah. And Judah, his head's cooler than the other brothers, and he says, hey, let's not kill him, let's just sell him. So as a result, the brothers sold Joseph into slavery to a passing band of nomadic people. This is a brazen attempt to keep Joseph's dreams from ever coming true. You see, in their minds, to send Joseph into the lowest class possible, into slavery, was a guarantee they would never have to subject themselves to their brother. Because if anybody's going to be doing some bowing from now on, it's going to be Joseph. If anyone is going to never rule, it's Joseph, because now he's going to be a slave. And all this reminds me of something Robert Schuler said years ago. If you have a dream, you have everything, including an awful lot of problems. So never be shocked by opposition to your dreams. It happens to the best of us. If you're not experiencing opposition, you may be following the path of least resistance, and you've already given up on your dreams. But there's still other enemies besides ourselves and other people. Enemy number three is an unexpected detour. So one day Joseph is dreaming of becoming a ruler and taking care of the family business, profiting from all those privileges like an heir would do. One day he's the favored son, next day he's a slave. This is definitely an unexpected detour. Now listen, detours are distractions from the original route we plan to take. Now, when we get into our cars, we typically have a plan, an idea of how I'm going to get from point A to point B. Or I may put it in Google Maps because it's going to show me the clearest, easiest way. It wasn't long ago I was asked to come and speak at a church conference, a Thrive Conference in California. And I flew into Sacramento, never been there, never been to this church. And Google Maps told me it was 30 minutes to the church from the airport. So I put it in, I'm in a rental car, I'm going, and I kid you not, I take a left turn exactly where the maps tell me to turn, and this is what I see. The road is covered like a river, and there's a sign that's been up there for quite some time, subject to flooding, road close. And it's like, that's my way. And so I had to go old school. I had to scroll back and say, okay, now how do I? Because Google Maps was not giving me a way around this. And so I had to figure out how to get there. Well, when I did that, you know what ends up happening, of course? Detours are unexpected. They're inconvenient. They add time, they add traffic, they add a great deal of frustration to your trip. Detours in God's plans give us the same emotions. As I mentioned earlier, God has a plan. He has a purpose for your life. But God rarely takes us to that plan apart from a few detours. We think we're going from A to B. And God says, no, we got to go to Q, P, and R before we even get there. There's going to be a circuitous route to get to God's plan. So the irony is this: in life's detours, they're often around construction sites, right? Well, in God's plan, you are the construction site. God is using the detour to build us for our destination. Tony Evans said it like this: detours are the unpredictable path to your destination. So simply put, God's construction work in us is intended to make us into the sort of people he can trust with the destiny he's envisioned for us. This soul work has to happen in our life first to make us into the people he longs for us to be. Again, this is why we need our desert, our community, our project. That's the way God prepares our souls for the dreams he's given to us. So think about this in Scripture. Moses, he's on a detour of 40 years in the desert before he leads God's people to the promised land. The Apostle Paul spends three years in the Arabian desert before the ministry even begins. Abraham is on a 25-year detour while he waits on God to give him an heir. Joseph spends 13 years in prison enduring slavery before he enters into Potiphar's service. So detours are an important part of soul making. And as we move toward the future that God has planned for us, you better expect them. Expect detours. Many of life's setbacks are only God's way of preparing us for what comes next. The fourth enemy, an attractive counterfeit. Now you need to know things turned out rather well for Joseph, even in slavery. He ends up being sold to a powerful, high-ranking military official in Egypt. Potiphar can immediately sense that Joseph is a cut above the rest, and he gives him all these responsibilities to head his household. Joseph seems to have finally made it. In spite of all of his earlier setbacks, it might even be tempted to think that this is the realization of his dream. After all, he's ruling, he's got stewardship responsibilities that make him large and in charge, and he's running an entire household for an important military official. So what is Potiphar's house? Potiphar's house represents false finish lines, substitutes for the real thing, false arrivals. And we all have them. Opportunities to settle, to think that we're already where God wants us to be. The wealth of Potiphar's house, the privileges Joseph had in that house, starting at the bottom, arriving at the tight, Joseph could have easily thought, this is it. Everything I've been waiting for, exactly what the dream foretold. C.S. Lewis warned us about this. I love this quote, always have. It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. We're half-hearted creatures. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum, but he cannot, because he cannot imagine what's being meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased. This is one of the greatest enemies you and I are going to face. Settling for what is instead of what was promised. You have to reject the trappings of Potiphar's house in order to move forward and fulfill God's dream for your life. Here's another enemy we're almost certain to encounter: entanglement with other people's dream. Potiphar's wife admired young, handsome Joseph. Her dream was to have a man like him. But Joseph refused to become entangled with her dream. Like Joseph, somewhere along the line, people you're going to encounter, they're going to look at you and try to draw you into their dream. They see you as the key to making their dreams come true. They're going to entice you with a lot of flattery and convincing words. I can't tell you the number of times over the years I've had business people come to me and say, Pastor Keith, I could really use you in my business. And you could do this on the side and make a lot of extra money. And you know what I've told all of them? If God wants to bring me money, he'll do it by doing the things he's called me to do. But I'm not going to be sidelined into that business over there, put my attention over there when God's called me to do this right here. You see, with Joseph, to make a long story short, Potiphar's wife wanted to have an affair with Joseph. Joseph refuses that. She makes repeated attempts until the Bible says this. She came and grabbed him by the sleeve, demanding, sleep with me. He tore himself away. She began screaming. She was crying hysterically. He tried to rape me. So Mrs. Potiphar feels spurned by Joseph's fidelity to his god, and so she falsely accuses him of rape. This sent Joseph immediately to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. I mean, he's landed in prison over this thing. And some of you in this room, you're going to face something similar. You're going to be perfectly in the right, and you'll be accused of being totally in the wrong. It's not fair. It's not right. Doesn't even have a toehold in reality. You may even suffer because of it. Joseph did. And as best we can tell, he went to prison for at least two years, and maybe as long as eight years for a crime he didn't commit. Imagine that. Spending years in a foreign prison, no trial, no appeal, just wrongfully accused and convicted. Listen to Dr. Evans. The most critical test you'll ever face is the test for suffering when you didn't do anything wrong. When you did exactly what you're told to do. Now you're paying the price. Which reminds me of this: God is not the author of everything, but he's the master of everything. So think about Joseph's story. God didn't tell Joseph's brother to treat him so poorly or so cruelly any more than he told Potiphar's wife to try to seduce Joseph. God is not the author of everything. Bad things happen because we live in a sinful world with sinful, broken people who make sinful choices, and God is not the cause of that. But he is the master of everything, which means God can take even the worst things that happen to you and work them out to your good and your growth. Why? Because that is God's nature. God's nature is to redeem, to take what is and make it better, to turn scars into stars. But there's one more enemy I need to mention, and that is getting ahead of God. So even though Joseph is in prison, once again he rises to the top even in a desperate situation. This time he becomes head trustee in the prison. He's given responsibility to help run the entire prison. That's when two new characters are introduced to Joseph's story: a cupbearer and a baker. Both of them were servants of Pharaoh. They both had had disturbing dreams. But of course, we know Joseph is an expert in dreams, and he's able to help them understand what they meant. The cupbearer is greatly relieved to hear Joseph's interpretation. But he introduces Joseph to the last enemy of our dreams. I want you to hear it explained in this verse. When all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness. Joseph is saying this to the cupbearer. Mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph. He forgot him. So Joseph helps the guy out, gives him a clear interpretation of his dream, which is really positive, comes true exactly the way Joseph said it would. But after things play out well for the man, he totally forgets about Joseph and lets him brought in prison. So think about this. The first dream deflator that happened in Joseph's life is the people he loved let him down. The second big dream deflator happens when it seems like God has let him down. This final dream deflator is about what happens when the people you invest in, the very ones you pour your life into, let you down. Let me tell you something, friends. In life, you're going to invest a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into the people who surround you. And do not be naive about this. Sometimes you'll be repaid with a knife to the back. Sometimes people will lie and say hateful things about you because they can't face their own demons. I wish I could tell you that would never happen, especially in church, but it does. It's happened to me, and I know it's happened to most of my colleagues. But at issue is what you and I will do when we give and give and give, and yet we're devalued, forgotten, or mistreated. Will you let betrayal sour your spirit? What happens when the people you've lifted up tear you down? Do you get on Facebook and hit them with a lot of passive aggressive posts? You know, where you don't really name their name, but you say, some people are like this, and you they know who they are, right? Or, you know, do you do you plot revenge? Do you allow it to spoil your spirit? Does it make you want to give up and say, what's the use? What I'm telling you is any one of these things can be lethal to a dream. And I imagine here there's a number of you who had dreams, maybe when you were really young and you started pursuing them, only to have a dream buster come along and derail you. Here's the rule of thumb you have to keep in mind. If God began something in you, if he put a dream in your heart and mind, he will finish it in his time and in his way. So in our brief time remaining, let's talk about restoring the dream. One thing that's said about Joseph's life again and again is one little phrase the Lord was with Joseph. Even when it seemed like God was a million miles away, God's silence was never indicative of his involvement in Joseph's life. God was working, he was orchestrating a plan and weaving together all the pain and all the questions and all the past and all the detours into the fulfillment of a dream given to a young boy. Joseph never let go of his dreams because he never let go of God. And maybe more importantly, because God never let go of Joseph. Nothing takes a toll on the human spirit more than losing a dream. Now, I don't have the time really in a single message to give you all the twists and turns of the final chapter of Joseph's life, so let me summarize. His dream interpretation skills got him in good with the Pharaoh. Because once Pharaoh could see Joseph's competency and character, remember, those were the things that were lacking when he was a kid. Now he has both and truly strong in both areas. He's ready for responsibility. Joseph is promoted to second in command to Pharaoh himself. He has become the prime minister of Egypt. This was not a dream about a boy ruling over his family. This was a man who was destined to rule over a nation. What that means is the detours were not wasted. That's not wasted time. You may think you're wasting your time when you're going through a detour, when things aren't making sense, when it seems like more and more frustration, just mountain, mountain, mount. That's not wasted time. Listen to this. Joseph was given a new Egyptian name, Zaphanah Paniah. Zaphana Paniah has been translated as the one who deciphers which is hidden, and even some translate it as savior of the world. Now, few stories in the Bible are as moving or dramatic as the reuniting of Joseph with his family. When Joseph's brothers come to Egypt, it's because a famine has hit home and they go there in search of food. They have no idea that their brother is still alive, let alone ruling in Egypt. So they come and they bow before their brother, just like the dreams had told him when he was 17 years old. But you see, here's the thing. Joseph could have used his newfound power and position to punish his brothers, but he doesn't do that. That's not the way the story plays out. Joseph the brother won out over Joseph the judge. Which brings me to this. Learning to love has always been the major portion of God's preparation for us. The hardest lesson you'll ever learn in life is learning how to love. And the kind of love I'm talking about doesn't come naturally. So I'm not talking about the love you have for your kids. I'm not talking about the love you have for your soulmate or sexual love or even love for nature. I'm talking about love for the unlovable. I'm talking about enemy love. Love that seeks the highest and best good of others, regardless of how they've treated me. Not I'm going to do what to you what you've done to me, but I'm going to do for you what I wish you were capable of doing for me. That kind of love. So here's Joseph's message to his family. 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's been a famine in the land, and for the next five years, there will not be 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. You intended to harm me. God intended it for good. To accomplish what is being done, the saving of many lives. Man, that's just beautiful, isn't it? What you meant to harm me, what you meant to hurt me, what you meant to stop my dreams, God meant all of that for good. God was going to take those awful, sinful choices you made and redeem them and work them out for my good and my growth. Now, I don't know about you, but have you ever stopped to examine the parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of Jesus Christ? They're really remarkable. Think about it. Both had a special birth. Both were loved more by their father than their brothers. Both became good shepherds. Both were despised and rejected by their own, and they both brought God's blessing to the Gentiles. They were both stripped of their robes, both put in a grave intended for their burial. Both graves were found to be empty. Both had been sold at the instigation of the twelve. Judas is the one who betrayed Christ. You know, Judas is just the Greek name for Judah. Judah is the one who convinced the brothers to sell their brother into slavery. The price they paid for the brothers was paid in silver. It was the price of a slave. Both were taken into Egypt, both ministered to those in prison, both were exalted to the king's right hand, both were given the title, the Savior of the World, and no one could be saved without bowing the knee to them. Here's the best part of all. When God gets through with us, we look a lot more like Jesus. That's the point. What was true of Joseph is also true of you. Everything God is doing in your life right now is intended to make you more like his son. So for 30 years, Joseph's life went downhill. During that entire time, God never explained to Joseph what was going on. Do you realize that? I mean, you and I know, as readers, we know that God was with Joseph. He tells us that, but as best we can tell in Scripture, he never tells Joseph that. He never assures you, Joseph, I'm with you. He never says, you know, uh, no matter what happens here, believe me, I'm working your life, I'm redeeming all this, I'm gonna turn it out for your good and growth. He doesn't do any of that. So for 30 years, nothing in Joseph's life goes right. Half a lifetime he spends before his dreams come true. But he didn't waste that time either. He did the best he could in every situation. He found that God was faithful through it all because in every high and low moment it made him into the incredible leader he became. In the end, all we see in Joseph is Jesus. No matter what your dream, no matter how many detours you have to make at achieving that dream, know this. God is always committed to you, to your good and your growth, and committed to making you more like his son. So the dream that God planted in my heart years ago was not primarily to build a big church or even a successful church. It was to build a different kind of church. And that's because of this reason. A large church can be built around charisma. We see that all over the Metroplex. Very charismatic leaders at the head of the of many very large, successful churches. A successful church can be built around strategy, but a transformational church has to be built around formation. Joseph's dream wasn't ultimately about Joseph any more than my dream was ultimately about me. My dream is for all the people who've yet to walk through the doors of this place. It's for all the people out there who need us to come and get them. We've seen God faithfully work over the years. His addicts have found their sobriety. Former felons have found a new beginning. Over many years, many marriages have been restored. The disabled are welcome and celebrated. The elderly and assisted care facilities know that they're wanted. Our city knows we're here to serve. World Vision has found in us a heart to care for orphans and a voice to be raised for advocacy for the world's poor. So God uses an average-sized church in Garland, Texas, filled with working-class people, brimming with diversity, and hearts full of love to transform the world around us because we know it's not about us. It's all about Him. And we'll know it's working when we can look in the mirror and we can see Jesus. Let's pray. Father, I just want to thank you for this time we've had together to look at the life of Joseph. You plant a dream in so many of our hearts, and it's so easy because the dreambusters come. They will certainly come to us all. Many of us will face every single one of those dreambusters. But God, in that process, it's who we're becoming that matters more. We are the construction site. We're not the detour. We are the construction site. We're the thing that God is working on to make us more like your son. So I pray, God, that we would understand, no matter what we undertake as a church, no matter how we serve our community, no matter how we serve those people outside our church, no matter how we do any of those things, that first and foremost, it involves being anchored in you, being grounded in community, and then we're sent out to serve and transform the world because we ourselves have been transformed by you. Thank you, God, for this time. Thank you for this place. Thank you for where you're taking us. And God, may we go with you every step of the way. I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you all.