SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: We're making room for more, church.
SPEAKER_01: How many believe God has more for your life?
SPEAKER_01: Like you kind of believe it, or you really believe it.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you guys kind of believe it?
SPEAKER_01: How many of you guys really believe God has more?
SPEAKER_01: Come on, that's what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_01: We are making room for more and excited about the construction that is going on.
SPEAKER_01: If you could see inside the building next door, it looks like a bomb's gone off.
SPEAKER_01: It is a construction site, and we've got poles being ripped out and elevator shafts being put in and rooms being expanded and hallways being created.
SPEAKER_01: We are making room for more, the next generation to know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so thank you for partnering with us in that endeavor.
SPEAKER_01: Part of making room for more isn't just what we do physically, it's also what we do spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: And we're on the eighth day of 21 days of prayer and fasting.
SPEAKER_01: How's your fast going?
SPEAKER_01: All right, listen.
SPEAKER_01: Where are all the people that have made a decision to fast maybe caffeine and sweets?
SPEAKER_01: Where are you at?
SPEAKER_01: Let me see your hands.
SPEAKER_01: I really need to know who to pray for.
SPEAKER_01: Because when you start fasting those things, it can get on you a little bit and you might lose it on somebody.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to know who really, really needs uh some extra prayer covering.
SPEAKER_01: No, we're we're eight days into 21 days of prayer and fasting, and I hope it's going great.
SPEAKER_01: God's stirring.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to remind you of the resources that we have made available to you.
SPEAKER_01: There's a prayer guide in our four years.
SPEAKER_01: If you haven't picked up one of those, pick up one of those.
SPEAKER_01: It's a great resource for you to guide you through these 21 days.
SPEAKER_01: And if you haven't started yet, that's okay.
SPEAKER_01: It's never too late to start.
SPEAKER_01: Make it a 14-day fast rather than a 21-day fast.
SPEAKER_01: How many guys know it's never too late to start with God?
SPEAKER_01: So join with us.
SPEAKER_01: There's uh resource guides, as I mentioned, there's also, if you haven't signed up to receive our daily devotional emails, we're sending out a daily email alongside these 21 days, and it's from you.
SPEAKER_01: Members of our congregation have written these 21 days uh devotionals, and they're phenomenal.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you guys are getting those and would agree?
SPEAKER_01: They're phenomenal.
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you guys are really sharp.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: Those those emails are great.
SPEAKER_01: And then I want to point your attention to something that uh we didn't mention last week, and I do want to mention today is out to my left, to my right, to your right in the cafe, we have a very, very large God has more 2021, 2021.
SPEAKER_01: I'm five years late.
SPEAKER_01: Um, 2026 dream again banner.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody say dream again.
SPEAKER_01: That's our theme for this year.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a banner out there with markers.
SPEAKER_01: And over these 21 days, as God speaks a dream into your heart or reminds you of a dream that he gave you years ago that you may have forgotten or even laid down, but you believe that he's gonna resurrect it again.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to take one of those markers and write that dream on that banner.
SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna serve as a testimony to our congregation all across 2026.
SPEAKER_01: And as God answers that dream, I want you to go back to that banner and I want you to circle it.
SPEAKER_01: And circling the dream is gonna be an indicator that God has resurrected something that was dead in your life, and so we can all celebrate collectively God's activity in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, before we jump in the word today, I have a dad joke or two.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you guys would like a dad joke this morning?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm our our theme, as I said, is dream again for all of 2026.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the message series that we're kicking off this year with.
SPEAKER_01: And and I thought that with that being the theme, we might do some dreaming dad jokes today.
SPEAKER_01: So, so here's here's the first one.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear about the guy who dreamed he was a muffler?
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear about the guy that dreamed he was a muffler?
SPEAKER_01: You know what happened to him?
SPEAKER_01: He woke up exhausted.
SPEAKER_01: Exhaust, get it?
SPEAKER_01: Exhaust.
SPEAKER_01: Pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be here all day.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_01: Here's number two.
SPEAKER_01: I, this is me, I I keep I keep having the same dream about eating Indian cuisine.
SPEAKER_01: I keep having this same dream.
SPEAKER_01: I spoke at our Indian fellowship last night, and all night long I kept dreaming about eating Indian cuisine.
SPEAKER_01: The problem is it's this recurring dream.
SPEAKER_01: Is that pretty good?
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: Where is it?
SPEAKER_01: It's right, it's good.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be here all day.
SPEAKER_01: Um, my friend, I have a friend, I don't know if any of you guys have this.
SPEAKER_01: I know actually some of you may, that that is a professional sleepwalker.
SPEAKER_01: What's amazing about his life is that he's living the dream.
SPEAKER_01: Are those three pretty good?
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty good, it's pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: Pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: I've got one more.
SPEAKER_01: It's a new year.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the last one.
SPEAKER_01: A guy dreamed.
SPEAKER_01: I got dreamed that he started a bakery, started a bakery in his sleep.
SPEAKER_01: And what was amazing about starting this bakery in his sleep, his ideas, they just kept rising.
SPEAKER_01: This is pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody guys would say that's enough.
SPEAKER_01: Stand with me where you are as we read God's word together today.
SPEAKER_01: Our theme for the year is dream again.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody say dream again.
SPEAKER_01: It's time to dream again.
SPEAKER_01: Our key text for this year, our theme text for this year is Psalms 126.
SPEAKER_01: And it reads this way When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.
SPEAKER_01: We were like those who began to experience the hope of the future.
SPEAKER_01: We were like those who began to imagine the possibilities of what could be.
SPEAKER_01: Again, we were like those who dream again.
SPEAKER_01: Anytime God restores something in us, it always awakens other things in us.
SPEAKER_01: Dreamed again.
SPEAKER_01: Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.
SPEAKER_01: Then it was said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna prophesy over your life this morning that people around you are gonna declare over you this year, look what God has done for them.
SPEAKER_01: Because what God does in us is always bigger than us.
SPEAKER_01: It always serves as a testimony to the faithfulness of our God.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3, the Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4, restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev.
SPEAKER_01: Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody sowed any tears in the house this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody in their past have sown some tears in your life?
SPEAKER_01: I declare in 2026, the tears that you have sown in your past are going to be returned to you in shouts of joy.
SPEAKER_01: Those who go out weeping, carrying seeds to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.
SPEAKER_01: What are sheaves?
SPEAKER_01: Sheaves are the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody sowed any seeds in your past that you have yet to reap the fruit from.
SPEAKER_01: I'll remind you what I mentioned to you last week.
SPEAKER_01: The number 26 in Hebrew is the name Yahweh.
SPEAKER_01: This is the year that Yahweh does what only Yahweh can do.
SPEAKER_01: I declare that over your life.
SPEAKER_01: Church, this is God's word and the title of my message this morning is this.
SPEAKER_01: Delay is not denial.
SPEAKER_01: Delay is not denial, it is development.
SPEAKER_01: Say that after me this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Delay is not denial, it's development.
SPEAKER_01: Turn to your neighbor and say, delay is not denial, it's development.
SPEAKER_01: Turn to the other neighbor and say, delay is not denial, it's development.
SPEAKER_01: Turn around to the person behind you and say, delay is not denial, it's development.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_01: Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path.
SPEAKER_01: Shows us the way to go and how to arrive there safely.
SPEAKER_01: Pray this morning that we wouldn't just be hearers of your word, but that we would be doers of it.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' mighty name.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Caleb.
SPEAKER_01: In Scripture, dreams are more than nighttime visitations.
SPEAKER_01: Dreams, according to Scripture, are vehicles that God uses to give us divine revelation, divine direction to help us to understand the destiny that God has over our lives.
SPEAKER_01: We need to understand that dreams have divine significance.
SPEAKER_01: Dreams aren't just the byproduct of eating pizza late at night or eating something that doesn't set well with you.
SPEAKER_01: From beginning to end, scripture indicates that dreams are an avenue that God uses to help open us up to the possibilities of what can be.
SPEAKER_01: It helps open us up to really what God may want to do in our life and through our life.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the only way he can speak to us is when we're asleep.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody say amen to that.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the only way that he can get a message to us that we get a hold of is to get us to shut up and be quiet.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone know what I'm talking about this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Dreams have divine significance in our life.
SPEAKER_01: They awaken us, they awaken our imagination, our creativity, our vision for what God may have in store for our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And no person in Scripture more exemplifies the power of a dream.
SPEAKER_01: The power of a dream to chart a destiny, to help us understand the journey from the birth to the fulfillment of a dream than the life of Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible gives us 13 chapters on the life of Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: And these 13 chapters from Genesis 37 through Genesis 50.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible helps us to see the impact, the power, the transformational ability of a dream to chart a destiny, to see something from its birth to its fulfillment.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning, I want to walk us through the life of Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Because Joseph's life shows us there are five stages.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody say five stages.
SPEAKER_01: Five stages of a dream.
SPEAKER_01: And every dream walks through these five stages.
SPEAKER_01: And you are going to find yourself in one of these stages today.
SPEAKER_01: You've probably experienced multiple stages, but at a very minimum, every person in here is at one of these stages.
SPEAKER_01: And it will help us to understand where we are, where we're going, and what God wants to do in us and through us in 2026.
SPEAKER_01: So here's stage one.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody say, stage one.
SPEAKER_01: Stage one is the birth of a dream.
SPEAKER_01: The first stage of a dream is its inception.
SPEAKER_01: It's the birth of a dream.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to go to Genesis chapter 37 with me this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis 37 helps us to understand.
SPEAKER_01: It lays out the birth of the dream in Joseph's life.
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to read just the very beginning part of this story.
SPEAKER_01: Now, many of you are probably familiar with the story of Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm going to ask you to do something a little different as we read this story.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to read this with me as if you've never read it before.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to read this story as if you don't know the conclusion of the story.
SPEAKER_01: You don't know how it has unfolded and how it has been fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to read it this morning with me with fresh eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: Like this is just a random story about a 17-year-old kid that is trying to figure out what God's plan for his life is about.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody ever been there before?
SPEAKER_01: Genesis chapter 37, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the account of Jacob's family line.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph, a young man of 17, everybody say 17, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Belilah and the sons of Zilpath, his father's wife, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
SPEAKER_01: Let me translate that for you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: He was a tattletale.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, we had a saying when I was growing up about tattletales.
SPEAKER_01: Snitches get.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying.
SPEAKER_01: Let's say that again for some of you that don't know what that's about.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I I know listen, I've been on both ends of that equation.
SPEAKER_01: Snitches get right.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just a piece of advice for you today.
SPEAKER_01: Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons.
SPEAKER_01: This just keeps getting better.
SPEAKER_01: He's a tattletale, and now the Bible tells us he's daddy's favorite.
SPEAKER_01: And because he had been born to him his own age.
SPEAKER_01: And then it gets even worse.
SPEAKER_01: He made an ornate robe for him, a robe of of many colors.
SPEAKER_01: So this kid is a tattletale.
SPEAKER_01: His dad loves him more than all the others, and it's evident because his dad is doting on him more than his other siblings.
SPEAKER_01: How much do you love Joseph right now?
SPEAKER_01: And 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.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you really resonate with that verse today.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph had a dream, and when he told it, when he told him, we had a dream, and and and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
SPEAKER_01: He said to them, Listen to this dream I had.
SPEAKER_01: And when suddenly my sheav rose up and stood upright, and your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.
SPEAKER_01: So now we've got a tattletale who is loved more than his other siblings.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows it because dad dote to him, and now Joseph has had a dream that his brothers are going to bow down and serve him.
SPEAKER_01: How much do you love Joseph right now?
SPEAKER_01: Let me ask this better question.
SPEAKER_01: How much would you love Joseph if he was your brother?
SPEAKER_01: His brothers said to him, Do you intend to reign over us?
SPEAKER_01: Will you actually rule us?
SPEAKER_01: And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
SPEAKER_01: Then he had another dream.
SPEAKER_01: One's not enough.
SPEAKER_01: And he told it to his brothers, Listen, I had another dream.
SPEAKER_01: And this time the sun and the moon and the eleven stars, by the way, he had 11 brothers.
SPEAKER_01: Eleven stars were bowing down to me.
SPEAKER_01: And then he didn't just tell his brothers about his dream.
SPEAKER_01: He goes and tells his parents, his father, as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, What is this dream you have had?
SPEAKER_01: Will your mother and I and your brothers actually came and bowed down to you?
SPEAKER_01: Will we actually serve you?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept this matter to himself.
SPEAKER_01: If you read this story without understanding the full ramifications of it and the fulfillment of it, Joseph, listen, I'm gonna be honest with you.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be around Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want anything to do with Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone with me this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Let's just be real today.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph is not somebody that I want to hang.
SPEAKER_01: He's arrogant, he's spoiled, he's conceited, he's got this air of superiority about him, and yet in that context, God gives him not one, but two dreams about his destiny.
SPEAKER_01: Why would God do that?
SPEAKER_01: He's trying to show us how dreams work in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the key that we have to understand during the birth of a dream.
SPEAKER_01: God often gives the dream early so it can shape who we're becoming.
SPEAKER_01: Just because you have received a dream doesn't mean you're ready for the dream.
SPEAKER_01: The dream is pure revelation about what God wants to do in your life and through your life.
SPEAKER_01: It isn't readiness.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, the dream always comes before you're ready for the dream.
SPEAKER_01: Why would God do that?
SPEAKER_01: It's God's way of prophesying us into the future that He has for us.
SPEAKER_01: It's His way of calling us forward, beckoning us towards the destiny that He has for our lives.
SPEAKER_01: It's God's way of giving us a picture that we can begin to paint our life toward.
SPEAKER_01: I am so thankful that God doesn't wait till we get there to give a vision for there.
SPEAKER_01: No, instead, in the midst of all of our issues, in the midst of all of our failures, our mistakes, and our shortcomings, God gives us a dream about our future that is far beyond where we are as a way of calling us to it.
SPEAKER_01: Let's remind ourselves a little bit about the nature of our God.
SPEAKER_01: What does the Bible say about God?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says he's the God who calls the things that are not as though they are, and then they become that.
SPEAKER_01: God said, Let there be light and light became, right?
SPEAKER_01: Let there be an earth and earth became.
SPEAKER_01: God sees people as they can be and calls them forward to that.
SPEAKER_01: We see them as they are, not as they can be, and we tend to scoff at the dream.
SPEAKER_01: We disguise it as realism.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've had it happen in your life, maybe you've done it, maybe you've had it done to you, but somebody shares a dream that they have for their life.
SPEAKER_01: And you look that person up and down and say, Really?
SPEAKER_01: I don't see how that can be based on what I see today.
SPEAKER_01: See, we operate from the physical.
SPEAKER_01: Moves us.
SPEAKER_01: Can I just tell you, stop being Debbie Downer on people's dreams?
SPEAKER_01: Stop pouring water on the fire that God has deposited in somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Stop, stop, stop putting out what God has ignited.
SPEAKER_01: Stop being someone who looks at somebody as they are and says, Yeah, that will never happen.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how you're going to do that.
SPEAKER_01: You've got all these issues, you've got all these shortcomings, you've got to do X, Y, and Z.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to do all of this.
SPEAKER_01: The point of the dream isn't about where they are, it's about where they're going, and it's giving them a vision for the future.
SPEAKER_01: If there's a people on the planet that should be the wind in people's sails, it should be the people of God.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know the fundamental purpose of the gift of prophecy is to encourage, it is to strengthen, and it is to comfort.
SPEAKER_01: It isn't to tell the future.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's to have the ability to say whatever God is stirring in your life, He is able to bring it to fulfillment through your life if you'll faithfully follow Him.
SPEAKER_01: We should be the most encouraging place.
SPEAKER_01: We should be the place where dreams of impossibility become possible.
SPEAKER_01: We should be a place that we believe beyond what we think or ask or imagine because that's who our God is, church.
SPEAKER_01: You need to understand it's not about your readiness that has caused God to give you the dream, it's your destiny.
SPEAKER_01: And the way God moves you towards your destiny is by giving you a dream beyond where you are.
SPEAKER_01: And then all of a sudden, I've got something to begin to move towards.
SPEAKER_01: I've got something that is now charting the course of my life.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever discount the magnitude of what God wants to do in your life.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, I would say this.
SPEAKER_01: If your dreams aren't bigger than you, they're too small for God.
SPEAKER_01: If it's not bigger than you, why do you need God's help?
SPEAKER_01: If it's not beyond your ability, if not beyond your connections, it's not beyond your intellect, it's not beyond your education.
SPEAKER_01: If it's not beyond you, why would God want to get involved?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, church, we're dreaming too small.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe the reason you're not seeing God's activity at the level you want in your life is because you're living according to your life rather than his life.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe God's waiting on a people that will dream an impossible dream without divine intervention.
SPEAKER_01: Hear me, church.
SPEAKER_01: Just because you've received it doesn't mean you're ready.
SPEAKER_01: Of course you're not ready, but now you have a reason to live.
SPEAKER_01: This is the birth of a dream.
SPEAKER_01: And the number one test you're gonna face in the birth of a dream is opposition to that dream.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna face opposition to that dream, that people are gonna look at you and they're gonna measure you up and say, there's no way.
SPEAKER_01: That's the point.
SPEAKER_01: That's the reason that God has given it.
SPEAKER_01: So, so get ready.
SPEAKER_01: Opposition is not everybody is gonna be an encouragement to your dream.
SPEAKER_01: Not everybody is gonna say, you can do it, but the people of God should do that.
SPEAKER_01: That's how we should operate.
SPEAKER_01: But not everybody is gonna operate that way.
SPEAKER_01: You're they're gonna look at you and say, uh, there's there's no way you're just not enough.
SPEAKER_01: That's the point.
SPEAKER_01: I need God's help.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have opposition because when you begin to dream, God-sized dreams, you know what it does in other people's life?
SPEAKER_01: It it causes them to become unsettled.
SPEAKER_01: It unsettles them because many times it reminds them of dreams that they've let go years ago.
SPEAKER_01: Dreams that God may have deposited, given, invested, and they didn't have the courage, the faith, the family, the support to be able to pursue it.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let man's opinion of what you can do limit God's activity in your life.
SPEAKER_01: This is the birth of a dream.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph receives these dreams.
SPEAKER_01: He's obviously not ready.
SPEAKER_01: I showed it to you.
SPEAKER_01: He's arrogant, he's conceited, he's spoiled, he's superior.
SPEAKER_01: But God gives him a dream anyway, beyond where he is.
SPEAKER_01: And that and that dream begins to propel him towards his destiny, but it doesn't propel him in a way that he is prepared for or a way that he could imagine.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible tells us that his brothers are so infuriated by his dream that they concoct a scheme to sell him in slavery to Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: Their opposition to him, their hatred, their jealousy of him is so strong that it cannot be contained.
SPEAKER_01: They grab him, they throw him in a pit, there's a caravan passing, and they sell him into slavery in Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: And to Egypt he goes.
SPEAKER_01: And this begins stage two of his dream.
SPEAKER_01: And stage two of the dream is the development of the dreamer.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody say the development of the dreamer.
SPEAKER_01: This is the long middle portion of the dream.
SPEAKER_01: This is the portion, if you're not really, really careful, the development of the dreamer, that God wants to develop some things in you, that He wants to, He wants to transform you from the inside out in preparation for the dream.
SPEAKER_01: And it can take a while.
SPEAKER_01: And if we're not careful, in this developmental phase, the dream can die.
SPEAKER_01: We can get tired and we can get weary, and we can wonder if God has forgotten us.
SPEAKER_01: Wonder if God has forgotten what he said to us for 13 years, from 17 to 30, Joseph lived in the developmental phase of the dream.
SPEAKER_01: And there were two places that helped to develop him in the dream.
SPEAKER_01: One was in Potiphar's house, the other was in prison.
SPEAKER_01: In Potiphar's house, Joseph served faithfully.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says that everything that he touched prospered.
SPEAKER_01: And God was with him, and Potiphar put everything over his control.
SPEAKER_01: And Potiphar's wife took a liking to Joseph and he resisted and she lied about him.
SPEAKER_01: And when she lied about him, he was sent to prison.
SPEAKER_01: I did a little research this week trying to figure out what these seasons look like for Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: And most theologians believe that he served in Potiphar's house for about four to five years of that 13-year period of time.
SPEAKER_01: He was probably in prison for six years.
SPEAKER_01: It was here that God began to develop his character.
SPEAKER_01: You need to know something.
SPEAKER_01: Before God ever promotes you publicly, he first develops you privately.
SPEAKER_01: There's first some things on the inside of you that God wants to develop.
SPEAKER_01: There's some character traits.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_01: If we're not careful, while we're in the developmental phase, we can think that God's out to destroy us.
SPEAKER_01: He's not out to destroy us, he's out to destroy some things in us.
SPEAKER_01: There was some pride, there was some arrogance, there were some things in Joseph that needed to be destroyed in order for him to walk in his full purpose.
SPEAKER_01: And the developmental stage was to serve that purpose.
SPEAKER_01: Another way of thinking about it is this way: God takes us through the developmental phase to free us from the very things that can hold us back.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph needed to be freed from pride.
SPEAKER_01: He needed to be freed from his superiority complex.
SPEAKER_01: He needed to be freed from his arrogance and his conceitedness.
SPEAKER_01: He needed to be freed from being spoiled.
SPEAKER_01: He needed to be freed from being the favorite.
SPEAKER_01: There were some things in him that had to get out of him if he was going to walk in the full purpose that God has for his life.
SPEAKER_01: You need to hear me this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Don't grow weary in the developmental phase.
SPEAKER_01: God is developing you on the inside so that when he puts you in a place of prominence, you can stand and survive.
SPEAKER_01: Can I tell you the real thing you wrestle with in stage two of the dream?
SPEAKER_01: You really wrestle with having to be faithful when you think God's not being faithful.
SPEAKER_01: This is not what I had planned for my life.
SPEAKER_01: This is not how I thought it was going to unfold.
SPEAKER_01: This is not what I signed up for.
SPEAKER_01: And it's year after year of sowing, it's year after year of serving, it's year after year of working.
SPEAKER_01: And you're wondering all the while, God, where are you?
SPEAKER_01: Where are what you promised?
SPEAKER_01: I thought you said there would be something more than this in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody ever been in a wondering phase in your journey?
SPEAKER_01: Wondering, God, where what am I doing?
SPEAKER_01: And where are you?
SPEAKER_01: And this is the developmental phase where God is testing your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: Will you be faithful even when it looks like he's not?
SPEAKER_01: I think there's times and seasons that we walk through where God almost pulls back a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: It's not that he's not protecting us, it's not that he's not engaged, it's not that he's not aware of what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: He's really testing our heart and he's testing this.
SPEAKER_01: Do you love me or do you love my things?
SPEAKER_01: Are you in love with my heart?
SPEAKER_01: Are you in love with what my hands provide?
SPEAKER_01: And it's there in that season of development that the things that that may have been in our hands before begin to fall to the side, and we've got nothing but a heart that says, God, though you slay me, I'm still gonna serve you.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where Joseph is in the second stage of the dream.
SPEAKER_01: He's having to be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says that he was faithful.
SPEAKER_01: He kept serving, he served Potiphar, and everything in Potter's house prospered.
SPEAKER_01: Then he goes to prison for a crime that he did not commit.
SPEAKER_01: And and he's there no time, and all of a sudden, the warden of the prison puts him over.
SPEAKER_01: For the whole prison.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think we would approve of that today.
SPEAKER_01: The prisoners are running the place.
SPEAKER_01: That's not really what we want.
SPEAKER_01: And yet the warden entrusts Joseph to the prison.
SPEAKER_01: And two things happened in this developmental phrase phase for Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is developed in his heart, and faithfulness is developed in his hands.
SPEAKER_01: And when humility is developed in his heart, and he's proved faithful with what God has given him in an instant.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says in a day, he is promoted from the prison to the palace.
SPEAKER_01: Can I tell you, I don't care what the situation may look like in your life, God can shift everything in a day.
SPEAKER_01: When we have passed the developmental phase, then we move into the positioning of the dreamer.
SPEAKER_01: This is stage three, and this is where Joseph is promoted to second in command of all of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: He is a ring is put on his finger.
SPEAKER_01: He's second in command to Pharaoh and Pharaoh alone.
SPEAKER_01: A robe is put upon his back.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, I love the detail the scripture gives of this, that in a day Joseph is shaven, he's got new clothes, he's got new haircut, everything, he's got new jewelry.
SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, he is positioned to fulfill the purpose that God has for his life.
SPEAKER_01: But I gotta caution you.
SPEAKER_01: So here at this promotion, this isn't fulfillment, it's a test of how well you steward success.
SPEAKER_01: God promotes Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: He's now in second command.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible tells us for nine years, through the seven years of blessing and into two years of famine, Joseph stewards success humbly and faithfully.
SPEAKER_01: And as he does that, he begins to see the fulfillment of the dream in stage four.
SPEAKER_01: His brothers come down from Canaan because they are out of food.
SPEAKER_01: They're at the brink of starvation.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that they know and have known all the things that they have are gone.
SPEAKER_01: And so they go down to Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: And they stand before Joseph, not knowing it's Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: And they bow down, asking for food and grain so that they may live.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph eventually reveals himself to them.
SPEAKER_01: They weep together because it's been twenty two years since their betrayal.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph is now 39 years of age.
SPEAKER_01: He was 17 when he had received the dream, and his brothers betrayed him.
SPEAKER_01: And the amazing thing is, in this moment with his brothers, he doesn't seek revenge.
SPEAKER_01: He seeks reconciliation.
SPEAKER_01: See, the key truth in stage four of the dream is fulfillment.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_01: This is so, so the fulfillment, the fulfillment of the dream includes reconciliation, not revenge.
SPEAKER_01: See, see, when you've been through the developmental phase and you've passed the heart test and you've passed the hand test, and God's freed you from what previously held you, those who betrayed you, you now forgive.
SPEAKER_01: It's the true test of your development.
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph forgives them, welcomes them in to this place, and the dream all of a sudden is fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: But here's stage five, and I'm gonna wrap this up this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Stage five is the revelation of the purpose of the dream.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph's family moves to Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: His father dies, and his brothers come to him out of fear for their life.
SPEAKER_01: They they felt like that as long as their dad was alive, Joseph wouldn't seek revenge.
SPEAKER_01: But when his dad died, they they got fearful and and they concocted another scheme to convince him not to seek revenge on what they did to him.
SPEAKER_01: And in Genesis chapter 50, verses 18 through 21, we have not just the fulfillment of the dream, but the revelation of the purpose of this dream.
SPEAKER_01: His brothers came and threw themselves down before him.
SPEAKER_01: We are your slaves, they said.
SPEAKER_01: But Joseph said to them, Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: Am I in the place of God?
SPEAKER_01: You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.
SPEAKER_01: See, see, when God does something remarkable in your life, even what you people intended to harm you with, God can turn it around.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph has this unbelievable revelation.
SPEAKER_01: It goes on to say, you intended to harm me.
SPEAKER_01: God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done.
SPEAKER_01: The saving, the saving, everybody say saving of many lives.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, say that again.
SPEAKER_01: Saving of many lives.
SPEAKER_01: See, this was the purpose of the dream from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: See, Joseph thought at 17 the purpose of the dream was for other people to serve him.
SPEAKER_01: Other people are going to bow down to me.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: The purpose of the dream wasn't for other people to serve him, but for him to serve other people.
SPEAKER_01: This was the revelation that Joe Joseph had at the end of his life that shows the transformation, the stages that he has walked through.
SPEAKER_01: The humility that has been developed, the faithfulness that he has stewarded well.
SPEAKER_01: And when he had the opportunity to seek revenge, he forgave.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because he understood the purpose of the dream.
SPEAKER_01: He's elevated me to this position.
SPEAKER_01: Not so that I could be saved, but so that I could be a conduit of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to his disciples on the night that he was betrayed.
SPEAKER_01: The Son of Man has not come to be served, but to serve.
SPEAKER_01: See, this is the revelation of the dream.
SPEAKER_01: The dream isn't about you, it's about what God wants to do in you so he can do something through you for the people around you.
SPEAKER_01: That was the purpose.
SPEAKER_01: That was the revelation.
SPEAKER_01: And that was the culmination of Joseph's life.
SPEAKER_01: He started with a dream all about himself.
SPEAKER_01: He ended with a destiny that was devoted to others.
unknown: Wow.
SPEAKER_01: In some shape, form, or fashion, that is always the story of the people of God.
SPEAKER_01: God gives us a dream, and if we're not real careful, we'll make it all about ourselves when in reality it's about what God wants to do in us so He can do something through us for the people around us.
SPEAKER_01: Saving of many lives.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody good with that?
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't, I was just kind of not really asking, but I was telling.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe today you're at the birth of a dream and you're wrestling with the courage to pursue it.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to declare over you this morning that if God has given you something that is bigger than you, He will be faithful to bring it to completion if you'll just follow.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you would say with me this morning, Pastor, there's something new stirring in my heart?
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, just raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: I want to pray for you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Something new stirring in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: In just a moment, I'm gonna ask you to come and pray with one of our prayer team members, and we're gonna pray a prayer of courage over your life today.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you here are say, Pastor, I'm in the developmental phase and I'm wrestling?
SPEAKER_01: I'm wrestling with my faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: I've I feel like God's forgotten me.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to be faithful, but I'm wavering today.
SPEAKER_01: And I need an impartation of faith in my life.
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, raise your hand right where you stand.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone, yeah, I see that hand.
SPEAKER_01: I see that hand.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I see that hand.
SPEAKER_01: Just a minute.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna ask you to come and pray with one of our prayer team members.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe today you are in the place where you're living in the dream, that God has promoted you, He's put you in a position where you're living in the dream, and you want to be a good steward of what God has imparted into your hands.
SPEAKER_01: That today you might say, God, give me the wisdom to steward what you have entrusted into my hands.
SPEAKER_01: Today, if that's you and you say, Yeah, I need wisdom to steward what God has trusted into my hands.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I see that hand.
SPEAKER_01: I see those hands.
SPEAKER_01: Worship team's gonna lead us in a song.
SPEAKER_01: And I believe that the Holy Spirit wants to meet you right where you are in the stage of the dream that you're in and impart exactly what you need to remain faithful and to keep moving towards the destiny of God for your life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: The worship team's gonna sing, and I'm gonna ask you to.