Joseph - Follow The Dream

“Follow The Dream”

Message To Young People

From

Bruce Morrison, pastor

God gives us dreams

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. Acts 2: 17-18

There was a time in history when humankind did not have the Bible as we do today. Ancient followers of God did not have churches and ministers that preached from and taught the Holy Scriptures. We might expect that during those periods God would communicate to people through means such as visions and dreams. We might not think that such methods are needed today especially since we have God’s Word, the Bible, in print. However, as we can see from the scripture quoted above, in the last days, God will increase His use of dreams and visions, especially to youth. This does not mean the Bible has less significance or that in any way dreams replace the authority of the Word of God or the role it has in the life of a Christian.

Far from replacing the Bible, the purpose of God given dreams, (not all dreams come from God) is that we might envision living our lives according to the elements of the Kingdom of God so frequently described in the Bible. The Bible teaches that we can live our lives in a way that pleases God and the Holy Spirit purposes to implant that kind of dream in the heart of every person. It is my purpose that young people who listen to me preach this sermon or read it, will determine to find God’s will for their lives and never give up following the dream God gives.

A Special Son

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. Genesis 37: 3

Anyone who has attended Sunday School as a child remembers the story of Joseph’s coat of many colours. Maybe, when you were real young, your teacher gave you paper and crayons and

you coloured a picture of Joseph and his coat. As we shall see, Joseph was a dreamer and as a result of his dreams, he faced a lot of very difficult trials and temptations, and the story of how he overcame these is very remarkable.

Without doubt that which influenced Joseph throughout his life, and gave him strength in every trial, was the profound sense that his father loved him. The influence of a father on a son or daughter for either good or evil, cannot be overestimated. To be fatherless is to suffer a great loss and yet this is the fate of many. Sometimes fathers are physically present but emotionally absent and the children never receive the benefits of the father’s blessing. Profound deficits are left in the lives of people who have never had the benefit of a good father.

God, our Heavenly Father, offers to each of us the kind of love that Joseph’s father gave him. Just as Joseph was covered by the many coloured robe his father gave him, our Heavenly Father covers us with a robe of righteousness made possible through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. If God the Father did not love us with the same love he has for his son, Jesus Christ, he would never have let Jesus die for us. This will always be the wonder of the gospel! God does love us with the love he has for his son Jesus, and God will do anything to ensure your success and mine.

If you have sinned and feel disqualified from even asking God to give you a dream, then you need to be assured that God loves you and he will forgive you. This makes you just as qualified to follow the dream God gives you as his Son Jesus was when he lived on this earth and followed the dream God gave him. How can this be? It is possible because of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross for us all.

Let God the Father adorn you with the many coloured robe of His grace – this he wants to do!

Then, start to dream the dreams that God has for your life

Joseph’s first dream

Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: Genesis 37: 6-7

Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." Genesis 37:9