Today we’re continuing the sermon series "Dreaming Big for God." God wants us to be encouraged about dreaming big for Him and that’s what this series is about. One of the most rewarding things you can do with your life is envision the big dreams God has for you!
Two weeks ago we began with the topic of fulfilling our God-given dream as seen in the attitudes of Abraham. Last week we considered finding our God-given dream by revisiting Jacob’s wrestling match with God.
Today’s topic is Fighting for Your God-given Dream. It’s one thing to find your God-given dream, it’s another to try and fulfill it – but it is sure that it won’t be fulfilled without a fight.
Dreamers always encounter some sort of opposition to their dreams. But’s that okay. That’s part of the process. It makes us sharpen the image of our dreams all the more, and our struggles make us hungrier to realize our God-given dreams.
No one’s life story illustrates these things more than the life of Joseph, the dreamer we’re going to analyze today. But before we get to the story of Joseph, here’s a story from American history.
Bishop Milton Wright handled his western jurisdiction of the United Brethren Church with the skill he’d learned over a half a century of churchmanship. His area was the sprawling, growing western region of the United States just as the 19th Century gave way to the 20th. Of the many pronouncements he was called on to make, one was a judgment on several popular writings of the day suggesting that man might design and construct a machine that would make him airborne. A statement by Bishop Wright was obviously needed.
"Only angels are meant to fly, and not a man!", he sternly wrote.
Those words were considered final to many in that day. But it was near this same time that two young men, two brothers in their thirties, labored on a primitive machine at the sandy beach of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. These brothers had a great faith to add to the very doubtful project. You see, they dreamed that it could be done in spite of the pronouncements to the contrary.
Man, as well as angels, not only could fly, they should fly.
Their first attempts were abortive. They didn’t even get off the ground. But they kept fighting for their dream until finally, on a lonely beach, the brothers proved Bishop Milton Wright wrong when their flying machine became airborne for a total of 128 feet.
And what were their names?
Orville and Wilbur Wright, of course, the famous sons of Bishop Milton Wright, who once said it couldn’t be done.
Having your dreams brought into question is a common denominator for all dreamers.
Joseph started dreaming as a young man and never lost sight of his dream in spite of seemingly overwhelming odds. That’s why we’re looking at his life. If Joseph could hang on to his dream with what he went through – then any of us can!
We’re going to determine today, from Joseph’s life…
THE FIVE CRISIS POINTS OF FIGHTING FOR YOUR GOD-GIVEN DREAM AND GOD’S CRISIS PLANS TO OVERCOME THEM.
1. Crisis Point #1: Treachery
The primary antagonists in Joseph’s life were his own brothers who hated him so much they sold him as a slave. Actually, they wanted to kill him, but they compromised their plan and only made it look like he died.
There were two reasons they hated Joseph so fervently. First of all, Joseph was his daddy’s favorite so his brothers envied him. Jacob inherited the mistake of showing favoritism from his parents. He even gave Joseph the special multi-colored robe as a token of his special affection.
The second reason Joseph’s brothers hated him was because of his dreams.
Genesis 37:5-11 (NLT) One night Joseph had a dream and promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more. 6 "Listen to this dream," he announced. 7 "We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. My bundle stood up, and then your bundles all gathered around and bowed before it!"
8 "So you are going to be our king, are you?" his brothers taunted. And they hated him all the more for his dream and what he had said.
9 Then Joseph had another dream and told his brothers about it. "Listen to this dream," he said. "The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!" 10 This time he told his father as well as his brothers, and his father rebuked him. "What do you mean?" his father asked. "Will your mother, your brothers, and I actually come and bow before you?" 11 But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father gave it some thought and wondered what it all meant.
There has been some speculation that Joseph was bragging about his dreams. Some say, if he had kept his big mouth shut he might not have gotten into so much trouble.
But, I have an important question for you. Would the dreams, when fulfilled, have brought nearly as much glory to God had no one but Joseph known about them?
It takes great courage and faith to pronounce your dreams with non-dreamers around. I think Joseph was a courageous young man. Dreamers seldom keep their dreams to themselves. Their dreams are just too exciting to keep quiet about!
So what’s God’s plan for the crisis of treachery?
Crisis Plan #1: Verbalize your dream so that you and others will have a reference point when the dream is fulfilled. That’s what Joseph was doing. His dreams were so exciting he dare not keep them to himself – even at the risk of sounding like he was bragging.
We need to speak about our dreams! We need to talk openly about what God has shown us He going to do in our lives. Will there be some people who think we are bragging? Sure. But let it be known we are bragging on God!
Will there be some in opposition to our dream? Of course. Especially since it is a dream that God has given us. But opposition can’t stop the dreams that God gives you! Only your own attitude can keep the dream from coming true. Joseph did not receive a good hearing to his first dream but he didn’t stop sharing his dreams. He shared his second dream also. Don’t ever stop sharing the big dreams God has given you for your life.
This story illustrates quite vividly the two choices of life: either be a dreamer and fight for your God-given dreams, or be someone who envies dreamers and live a nightmarish life!
You may want to give up your dreams because you have to fight for them but what are you gaining? A visionless life is an empty life! Just ask Joseph’s brothers. For years they sulked and battled with their own consciences about selling their brother into slavery and deceiving their father into believing Joseph was dead. Can’t you just imagine the nightmares these men had when they could have been living the dream! They envied Joseph for his dreams and never stopped to realize that God has big dreams for every one of us!
If you decide to take the high road in life and be a dreamer, don’t be ashamed or afraid to speak the dream that God has given you!
Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed boldly, "I have a dream." He dreamed of racial equality in America. Was he vilified for it? Sure. Was it worth fighting for? Is the dignity and equality of any human being worth fighting for? Of course it is.
Will we be misunderstood when we verbalize our dream? Without question there will be others who think we are rabble-rousers, troublemakers or just plain crazy. The sanity of dreamers has often been held in question. But when our dreams come to pass everyone can look back and say, "Wow, it happened just like they said God told them it would happen." And then God is glorified by the outcome.
Now let’s consider the second crisis point for fighting for your God-given dream.
2. Crisis Point #2: Time.
Slavery and servitude took big chunks of time out of Joseph’s life – totaling over 20 years! It was bad enough that his own brothers sold him into slavery, but after becoming a slave Joseph seemed to have so many ups and downs that you would have thought his earlier dreams were just a mirage. Years passed and Joseph’s dreams seemed to fade into thin air.
But what we need to see is how God’s hand was in the details of Joseph’s life!
Gen. 39:1 (NLT) Now when Joseph arrived in Egypt with the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, a member of the personal staff of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Potiphar was the captain of the palace guard. 2 The LORD was with Joseph and blessed him greatly as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. 3 Potiphar noticed this and realized the LORD was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did. 4 So Joseph naturally became quite a favorite with him. Potiphar soon put Joseph in charge of his entire household and entrusted him with all his business dealings.
God’s Word tells us that it was more than just a stroke of luck for Joseph to gain this connection to the king of Egypt. It was Divine providence.
His experiences as a household servant to Potiphar, a member of the personal staff of Pharaoh, would serve him well in the future. It was essential that he become acclimated to the inner workings of Egyptian economics and government.
Was this wasted time? No – because God was training him even then to be a prince in Egypt. God was blessing him even as he waited for his dream to come true.
Waiting on your God-given dream to materialize is often the most difficult test of your faith, but it is also often the most important. The devil tells you that God has forgotten you; that you were a fool to believe in God’s dreams for your life in the first place; that you were even more of a fool to tell others about your dreams! You told others, "this is what God’s going to do in my life!", and just look at you now! But God is molding you as you wait. He is disciplining you so that you will be able to handle His dream when it materializes.
Here’s the principle for managing the crisis of time. Here’s what to do while you’re waiting for your big dream to come true. Here’s what to do when it looks dark, when it seems an impossibility that your dream will ever materialize.
Crisis Plan#2: Celebrate the smaller blessings God is giving you on the way to the fulfillment of the big dream. These are signs that God is at work in your life!
We read in verse two that, "The LORD was with Joseph and blessed him greatly."
Joseph’s dream of his father and brothers bowing down to him wasn’t fulfilled yet – but he was on his way! The little things that God was doing were establishing Joseph’s reputation and giving him the experience he needed to handle the dream once it was fulfilled.
We all have to fight the battle of time in order to see our dreams fulfilled. Dreams seldom materialize overnight.
In his book, "God is Never Late; He’s Seldom Early; He’s Always Right on Time", Stan Toler tells about the time James Garfield – later a president of the United States – was principal of Hiram College in Ohio. A father once asked him if a particular course of study could be simplified so that his son could go through by a shorter route.
"Certainly," replied Garfield. "But it all depends upon what you want to make of your boy. When God wants to make an oak tree, he takes a hundred years. When he wants to make a squash, he only requires two summers."
If you want to realize your dream, don’t rush God. Be thankful for the way He is preparing you now for the time in the future when your dream will come to pass.
And there’s a third crisis point you’ll have to fight in order to realize God’s big dream.
3. Crisis Point #3: Temptation.
Gen. 39:6b-10 (NLT) Now Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man. 7 And about this time, Potiphar’s wife began to desire him and invited him to sleep with her. 8 But Joseph refused. "Look," he told her, "my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. 9 No one here has more authority than I do! He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I ever do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God."
After Joseph’s initial refusal Potiphar’s wife continued to pressure him to sleep with her and Joseph continued to decline her advances, until one day she takes hold of his shirt, tears it off of him, and Joseph flees the house. She starts screaming and sobbing, accusing Joseph of attempted rape. Potiphar is livid and has Joseph thrown in prison.
And yet the scriptures tells us…
Gen. 39:21 (NLT) But the LORD was with Joseph there, too, and he granted Joseph favor with the chief jailer. 22 Before long, the jailer put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison.
What’s God’s plan for overcoming temptation?
Crisis Plan #3: Just say "no".
But don’t wait to say "no" in the moment you’re tempted. Learn to say "no" in your heart ahead of time.
James 1:14 (TEV) But we are tempted when we are when we are drawn away and trapped by our own evil desires.
Joseph kept his desires in check, so he was able to say "no" when temptation knocked at his heart’s door.
On this past week’s episode of Survivor Palau they held their first "individual" immunity challenge. All the "survivors" had to do was see who could stand on a perch for the longest time and the winner could not be voted off of the show in that episode in the attempt to win a million dollars.
Just when you thought it would be a challenge of physical stamina, host Jeff Probst comes out with a tray of doughnuts. The first guy to jump off his perch for doughnuts, Coby, was the guy voted out that night at tribal council! He traded a chance at a million dollars for two doughnuts!
What a dumb decision! But whenever any of us yields to the present satisfaction that temptation offers us instead of delaying our gratification until the right time we’re also making a dumb decision. And we’ve all made plenty of them in our life. We’ve got to learn that if we’re going to realize our God-given dreams that we must fight against making the dumb decisions that temptation offers us.
By the way, on that same Survivor episode, you could tell the winner of the challenge had made up his mind ahead of time that he wasn’t going to give up his chance at a million bucks, whether they brought out the doughnuts, the chocolate chip cookies, or even the pizza. Tom Westman won immunity that night for the same reason Joseph said "no" to the advances of Potiphar’s wife - he looked ahead to the long range benefits.
The 4th crisis point we have to fight to realize our dreams?
4. Crisis Point #4: Tribulation
One of the things you admire about Joseph is that every time he was knocked down he got back up with the Lord’s help. Knocked down by his brothers, yet he lands on his feet as the head of Potiphar’s household. Framed and imprisoned, yet he becomes the senior assistant to the warden. But Joseph is about to get knocked down again. True dreamers have to win several battles before they win the war.
Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and chief baker both wind up in prison with Joseph and here’s what happened.
Gen. 40:5-8 (NLT) One night the cup-bearer and the baker each had a dream, and each dream had its own meaning. 6 The next morning Joseph noticed the dejected look on their faces. 7 "Why do you look so worried today?" he asked.
8 And they replied, "We both had dreams last night, but there is no one here to tell us what they mean."
"Interpreting dreams is God’s business," Joseph replied. "Tell me what you saw."
With God’s help Joseph interpreted both of their dreams. In three days, the baker was to be executed and the cupbearer was to be reinstated. The only thing Joseph asked the cupbearer in return for interpreting his dream was for him to mention him to Pharaoh so he would let him out of the prison.
Gen. 40:23 (NLT) Pharaoh’s cupbearer, however, promptly forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.
Joseph’s patience, endurance and faith were surely being tested now. He begins to see what he thinks is light at the end of a long, dark tunnel, but it is only a fading flicker.
How do you fight this type of crisis in your quest for the dream God has given you? How do you fight tribulation?
Joseph would be in prison another two years before another opportunity arose for his release. I look at these two years as perhaps the most difficult challenge of all. He had enjoyed at least some freedom as chief steward over Potiphar’s house, yet that ended unfairly because of a false accusation. He has a chance to have Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer to put a good word in for him – but he’s forgotten again.
It’s tough to maintain hope when you think you’ve been forgotten. How do you hang on?
Some people don’t hang on. They give up. Remember Christ’s parable of the four types of soils, also known as The Parable of the Sower?
Mat. 13:20-21 (NLT) The rocky soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy. 21 But like young plants in such soil, their roots don’t go very deep. At first they get along fine, but they wilt as soon as they have problems or are persecuted because they believe the word.
Here Christ plainly gives us His plan for handling tribulation:
Crisis Plan #4: We must get our spiritual roots down deep.
If I don’t have my roots down deep I will wilt under the scorching sun of tribulation. That’s one of the reasons I need the spiritual disciplines of things like prayer and personal Bible reading, meditation, periodic fasting, and consistent worship, both personally and corporately. They help me get my roots down deep for those inevitable times of tribulation. I’m going to have tribulation if I live for Christ in this world.
Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33 NKJV)
Jesus overcame and we can overcome with Him by getting our roots down deep.
There’s one more round in the fight for your dreams.
5. Crisis Point #5: Triumph.
Fast forward to the end of the story. Joseph is not only released from prison, but he also winds up second in command over all of Egypt! How did it happen?
Pharaoh had a pair of dreams neither he nor his courtiers could interpret. The chief cupbearer finally speaks up and tells Pharaoh about a man in prison who effectively interpreted his dream two years earlier. Being called upon, Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dreams about seven prosperous years followed by seven years of famine. And for suggesting a solution for the coming dilemma Joseph is promoted to vice president of Egypt!
The seven years of prosperity come and go. Joseph is married and starts a family. Then famine hits not only Egypt but also the surrounding regions. Joseph’s brothers are forced to enter Egypt because of the food that has been stored up there in preparation for the lean time. True to his dreams at age 17, Joseph’s brothers and father bow down to him! It’s taken over 20 long hard years but God’s big dream for his life came true!
Wielding almost unlimited power Joseph could have taken the lives of his brothers in revenge for the misery they had caused him and no one would have challenged his actions. But Joseph did not let success or power go to his head. He used his years of experience in slavery and servitude to make him better instead of making him bitter. He was not lifted up with pride but remained humble and tenderhearted as God’s servant.
Pride has killed just as many dreams as any other crisis. When we experience success we have the human tendency to let it "go to our head."
How do we overcome the crisis of triumph?
The key is in how Joseph named his two sons.
Gen. 41:51-52 (LB) Joseph named his oldest son Manasseh (meaning, "Made to Forget" – what he meant was that God had made up to him for all the anguish of his youth, and for the loss of his father’s home. 52 The second boy was named Ephraim (meaning "Fruitful" – "For God has made me fruitful in this land of my slavery," he said).
When you triumph, when you finally start realizing your God-given dream, here’s...
Crisis Plan #5: Remember to praise God for what He has done! Praise and worship are the keys to overcoming the crisis associated with triumph.
As we close the service today we need to make a commitment:
"Today, with God’s help, I will commit myself to following God’s plans to fight for His big dream for my life."
