The Danger Of A Dream

0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:04.640 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdeik. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:07.120 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.480 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.520 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:17.440 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.840 This is a scripture in Genesis chapter thirty seven, verse 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:25.959 five that has in it so much so many of 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:30.000 you who know the story of the biblical character Joseph 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:32.920 will be tempted to fast forward again to the end 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:35.400 of the story, and I will challenge you not to, 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.240 because this is where the sermon starts today in Genesis 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.400 thirty seven, verse five. For a few weeks out of 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.479 every year, I plan my teaching to be independent of 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.200 a series. A lot of times I teach around one theme, 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:49.919 but then I clear parts of the calendar intentionally. I've 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:53.080 learned to do this now in thirteen years of pastoring, 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:55.800 that you just need to leave a little room for 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.320 some things that have been in your heart. This particular message. 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:01.680 I was able to share some of the content with 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:03.680 our staff last year and really been waiting for an 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:05.920 opportunity to share it with you, and so I'm very 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:08.880 excited about it today. But just one verse to get 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:12.480 us started. In Genesis, chapter thirty seven, verse five, the 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:16.160 Bible says Joseph had a dream and when he told 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:21.040 it to his brothers, they hated him all the more 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:25.200 so for everybody who's thinking that when you get a 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:27.319 good idea, everybody's going to go fund you, they're not, 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:31.200 and that everybody's going to support you. And understand you 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.039 don't expect that because this message. I want to speak 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:35.800 to you about your dreams today, the dreams God has 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:37.680 put in your heart, but I want to talk about 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:41.600 it from an unusual subject heading called the danger of 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.319 a dream. And this message comes with a warning label. 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.720 If you like your nice, little comfortable version of the 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.520 way life is supposed to be, slip out now click off, 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.640 now watch a ted talk. But this message is for 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.960 somebody who has a God given dream or you're starting 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:02.440 sense it, and I just pray. In fact, let's pray 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.480 right now. Lord, open our hearts to receive what you 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:08.680 say and then give us the courage to obey it. 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:13.240 That's our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen, you may be seated. 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:24.760 I wonder a lot of the time what my kids 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.600 will remember about their childhood, and I'm scared they'll remember 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.480 all the scenes I want them to delete. It seems 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:32.440 like they remember the times I got mad more than 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:35.880 the times I bought them stuff, and I don't like it. 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.440 But I would say that some of the things that 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:43.360 stand out to me about my childhood, particularly my teenage years, 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.600 are some of the more random incidents. One thing that 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.920 I remember from my childhood, and my mom remembers it 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:52.880 a little differently than I do, but she's out of 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:54.360 town today, so I can tell the story the way 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:58.680 I want to tell it is when I was auditioning 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:01.400 for this band. I't bore you with the long story, 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:05.000 but my dream from age seventeen on was to be 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.920 a pastor. But before that, I wanted to be a 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:11.920 punk rocker, and I almost had the chance because I 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.240 was at the North Charleston Coliseum. Have I told you 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:18.160 the story? Robert best story ever? Green Day was playing 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:22.120 at the North Charleston Coliseum and Billy Joe Armstrong called 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:26.000 me up on stage and gave me his guitar to 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:29.760 play a guitar solo. And it was something he had 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.400 been doing every night on tour. He was looking for 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.640 the most talented kid in the room, which that night 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.960 was me, or just whatever kid looked the most excited, 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.440 or whatever the case was, and he put his finder 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:47.000 stratocaster around my neck. True story. I'm fifteen years old 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:53.360 and I played the guitar solo for a three chord 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:58.840 song called Knowledge by the band Operation Ivy. I still 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:00.840 remember how the song went, but I'm not going to 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:02.200 sing it for you right now because of a waste 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.080 of time. We need to get back to Genesis thirty seven. 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:06.840 But what that set off was kind of like a 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.680 chain of events where I became a lot more popular 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:13.680 in school, and I was so excited. The next morning, 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:15.960 I woke up and I was listening to the radio 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.520 and the DJ his name was the Critic, was talking 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.559 about the Green Day Show. And I was getting ready 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:27.039 for school listening to the radio, still excited. Only slept 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:29.960 about an hour, excited to get to school, excited to 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:31.440 be like how you like me now to all the 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.600 girls who didn't pay me attention the day before. And 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:39.320 he goes, oh, he said the Green Day Show last night. 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:41.880 He said it wasn't a very great show, but there 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:44.760 was one part. He said, there was a kid who 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:50.120 got up on stage and ripped on guitar. He was 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:54.400 the highlight of the show. He stole the show. His words, 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.160 not mine. I'm very humble. I would not say it 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.120 that way, but that's the way he said it. That's 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:03.000 the way the critics said it. And so I called in. 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:05.120 I called the radio station. I was like, you got 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.120 to put me through. That's me, he's talking about. I'm 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:08.400 about to go to school right now. I got to 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:10.160 leave in like five minutes. My mom's waiting for me. 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.000 But that was me he was talking about on stage 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:13.960 that played guitar. Put me through to the critic, and 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:15.520 they put me through to the critic and I said, Hey, 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:17.279 that was me you're talking about. He said, well, hey, kid, 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:19.320 bring your demo tape by because I told my how 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:20.920 a band, and he was like, bring your demo tape 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:22.400 by and we'll play it on the air. We didn't 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:24.160 have a demo tape, but that's all right because we 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:27.080 eventually saved three hundred dollars made a demo tape. I 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:28.560 took it to the critic. He played it on the air, 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:30.440 and when I was leaving, this is several months later, 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:34.520 he said, by the way, I am putting together a band. 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:36.200 It'd be kind of cool to have a fifteen year 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:37.720 old kid in the band. So if you want to 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.160 audition for it, you learn these songs and you can 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.560 audition from my band. Well, I thought that'd be amazing 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:44.719 because we'd be playing at the Music Farm and we'd 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.280 be playing all around truston South Carolina, and that'd be 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:49.200 pretty cool gig for a fifteen year old. So I 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.320 locked myself in the room. I start learning all the 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:58.800 songs on the tape. A tape A tape is and 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:00.240 my mom walks in one night. This this is all 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:01.720 I'm gonna say about this, because I promise, I know 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:03.359 you didn't come to hear me talk about my nostalgic 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:06.320 fifteen year old memories, but come out of dream. My 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.840 mom walks in, picks up the tape, and all of 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:11.560 the songs on the tape had cusswords in the title. 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.320 And then even the name of the band had a 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.279 cussword in the name of the band. And Buck's laughing 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:18.560 because the name of the band is so inappropriate. I 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:20.840 can't say it in church, I can't even allude to 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:22.800 it in church. But that was the band I was 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.280 auditioning for and my mom, who was a Methodist minister's daughter, 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:28.800 had old fashioned monkst corner values, and she's like, what 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.000 is this. I'm like, this is a band I'm auditioning before. 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:33.000 And she said, if you think I'm going to let 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:36.200 you go audition for this band, you've lost your mind. 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:38.120 If you think I'm gonna let you audition for a 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.919 band called the Beads, then you've lost your mind, to 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:48.360 which I said, then I'll run away from home. You 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.760 will not stand in the way of my dream, right 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:58.600 because a dream will make you bold. And we never 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.240 got to find out whether or not I would have 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.880 had the courage to pack it all up and head 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:07.400 out on the mean streets a monk's corner on my 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.440 own to chase my dream, because I auditioned for the 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.280 band and I didn't make it. But the point of 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:14.880 the story that I'm trying to tell you is this 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:20.080 that a lot of times the dream we start out with, 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:24.840 the dream that we think we see in one stage 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.880 of our life, will show up later in our life 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:33.440 in a different dimension, and it will be such a 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:37.040 different dimension that we will not even recognize the dream 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:42.200 as the original dream. The Bible says that when Joseph 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:46.840 was seventeen years old, he had a dream and his 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:52.080 brothers hated him all the more for it. That phrase 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:56.400 all the more lets me know that Joseph's brothers already 0:07:56.600 --> 0:08:00.640 didn't like him, And we can argue if we if 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.480 we want to, about whether Joseph was wise to share 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:07.440 with his brothers the content of his dream. There is 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.679 such a thing as talking too much, posting too much. 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.480 There is such a thing as sharing too much. There 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.320 is such a thing as thinking that everybody else wants 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:19.400 to hear what God has put on your heart. But 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:21.760 one thing that we can conclude from the text, even 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:27.680 from a biological perspective, is that Joseph was different. And 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.520 one thing I've noticed about having a dream is that 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:36.319 a dream makes you different. Joseph was different from his brothers, 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.800 not only in his aspirations, but he was from a 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:44.160 different mother. They shared the same father, Jacob, and if 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.040 I listed their names, you might recognize a few of them. 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:50.680 They were the patriarchs of the tribes of Israel. But 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.520 Joseph didn't come through the same mom that his brothers 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.240 came through. He was the son of Rachel, the pretty 0:08:57.240 --> 0:09:02.080 one that his dad really liked and when Joseph saw 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:05.960 that Rachel his favorite wife, Holley, you're my favorite wife, 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.400 by the way, I want to put that in this message, 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:11.360 had given him a son. He liked him, he liked 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:15.719 him extra special, and he treated him special, and he 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:19.920 felt differently about Joseph than the other boys. To the 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:21.800 point I don't know if you've if you've read the 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.520 story lately, but you remember he bought him a Gucci 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:29.920 coat and and Joseph's always wearing it around all the time. 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:31.840 He's like, you like my coat, And his brothers are like, 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:35.160 we hate your coat. You like you like my coat? 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.160 You like my coat? You know, They're like, we we 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:42.480 hate we we hate you. We we hate you because 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:48.000 you're different. Okay, Now, I have a teenage son right now, 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.880 and one of the things that I'm trying to work 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:56.240 out with him in real time is that people accept 0:09:56.440 --> 0:10:02.240 what is the same, but they respect what is different. 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:13.000 People eventually come around and respect what stands out. But 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.680 what happens to most of us is that the moment 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.920 we start to realize the differences between us and other people, 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:26.800 we downplay our distinctives in order to fit in and 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:31.720 conform with culture. One thing I'm proud about when I 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.240 read about Joseph. And I know it's weird to say 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:37.360 that I'm proud of Joseph like he cares, but I'm 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:41.600 proud that he had the courage to wear his coat anyway, 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.640 you know what I mean. It may have been unwise, 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.920 but I'm proud of him that he was not afraid 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.240 to show up in the room looking different because he 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:54.120 was clothed with the fabric of the favor of his father. 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:58.560 And I wonder, are you courageous enough to wear your coat, 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:01.640 because a lot of times, what I've found is that 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.000 God will begin to show you things about yourself, about 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:09.000 your life, about your calling, about your direction, about what 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:12.120 He's put inside of you, about the gifts He's given you. 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:16.680 But someone will, someone will actually beat the distinctive out 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.680 of you if you don't know clearly enough that I 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.920 have a calling from God, who is greater than people, 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.439 and if he is for me, who can be a 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.240 gifst me? Touch somebody next to you and say I'm 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:32.760 gonna wear my coat even if people criticize me for it. 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:35.200 I'm not ashamed to walk in the love and the 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:39.080 favor of God. Oh we need some Christians who don't 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:41.880 check their coat at the door of culture, who are 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.440 unashamed to be optimistic about the future because you know 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.280 God is already there, if He is the author and 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:54.480 the finisher of your faith. You see what I'm saying. 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:58.559 A dream will make you different, and it takes courage 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:03.800 to be different. It takes courage to speak different. If 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:05.920 you get a hold of a dream, or better said, 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:08.560 if a dream gets hold of you from the throne 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:13.000 of God, it'll make you walk different, talk different, think different, 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:17.800 eat different, drink different, party different, text different. It'll make 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:26.680 you different. Dream will make you different. And I'm glad 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:31.800 that Joseph had the courage to be different, and I 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:40.280 wonder do we have the courage to be different. The 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:44.480 weird thing about our church is that a lot of 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:48.040 times people will be attracted to our church because it's different, 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:52.800 and then when they get to the church, they start 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:55.440 trying to tell us how we need to make it 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:57.240 like the church that they left to come to the 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:01.160 church that was different. I don't want to say amen 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:06.640 to the preacher today. It's the truest thing, Like you're 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:11.559 attracted to something because it's different, and they even say 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:13.760 it's a marriage that before marriage, opposites attracted and then 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.960 opposites attacked. Because you're attracted to what's different, you're drawn 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.679 to what's different, not at first, at first you fear it. 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.440 That's why they had to take the Old Town Road 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.960 off of the Billboard charts on country music because it 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:31.439 was too different. They couldn't they couldn't find a category 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.000 for it, and they said, it's not country enough, but 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:36.679 it's not rap enough, and we don't know what it is. 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:42.120 It's different. That's why they crucify Jesus. You know, you 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:44.200 don't have many preachers. They can put a little Nasacs 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:49.160 and Jesus in the same paragraph. But he was so different, 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:51.640 we don't know what to do with him. He's grace 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:57.200 and truth. He's different. Somebody shot him different. And I 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:59.920 don't mean different in style. I mean different in substance. 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:03.680 I don't mean different just for the sake of difference, 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:07.680 because that's frankly kind of annoying. And there's always a temptation, 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.200 you know, I've noticed that some people just want to 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.520 be different, just to be different. But there's nothing different 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:15.920 about being different. To be different, there's something about being 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:20.120 different because you have a different set of values and 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:25.200 a different dream. See, I don't just dream of making 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:27.920 it through the day. I don't just dream of surviving 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.200 my life. I don't just dream. When you get a dream, 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:34.200 it'll make you different. You'll start sacrificing, and people will 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.320 think you're crazy because of what you sacrifice. Even if 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:39.280 you go on a diet because you have a dream 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.640 to lose twenty pounds, the first thing that everybody around 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:43.600 you is going to say is you're not fine anymore. 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:46.360 You used to meet someone's fine. You used to just 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:48.800 eat all the time in where you ain't change where 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:51.240 are you now. Don't let the fact that they don't 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:54.440 have the discipline to eat something different cause you to 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:56.360 give up on the goal that you set. That's real 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.280 for your life. And if it's true with the diet, 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.360 it's much more true with destiny. I wonder have you 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:07.200 been dumbing down yourself because to be different is too painful, 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.720 And if you're not careful, you will be conformed to 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.240 the patterns of this world, rather than being transformed by 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:18.320 the renewing of your mind. Christians are supposed to see different, 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:24.160 think different, understand different. It's a different perspective. I always 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:28.920 thought that Joseph's life was a story about perseverance. You know, 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:31.840 Joseph had a dream when he was young, and then 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:33.400 he had to go through a lot of things, but 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.520 you know, don't give up because eventually you will achieve 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:40.360 your dream. Yet, that is a cultural understanding of dreams, 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.080 not a Christian understanding of dreams, not a scriptural understanding 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.960 of dreams. And we have a really bad habit of 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:51.080 taking a concept like a dream and then overlaying our 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:56.280 own preferences and our own prejudices on that concept, and 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:58.960 so we make it what it's not, and we miss 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:04.200 what it is because it's really common for people to say, 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:11.239 follow your dreams. Yet, if you study the life of Joseph, 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.640 and I mean really read every single word, jot and tittle, 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.800 every single invention, every single period in common, like I 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:21.640 did preparing to preach this, you will see a phrase 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.520 iterated over and over again, no matter what he went through, 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:28.160 that says, the Lord was with Joseph. That's a statement 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:32.280 about God's presence. You will see that wherever he was, 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:36.880 God promoted him, and that's a statement about purpose. But 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:40.400 the story of Joseph is not about getting a dream 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:43.640 and holding on tight to the dream and persevering, because 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:45.640 I used to think this was the story of Joseph, Like, 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:49.040 don't let anybody talk you out of your dream. If 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.360 your mom told you that you're going to be the 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:54.560 next you know, the next whatever. Just hold on to 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:56.920 your dream. And then anybody who doesn't agree with your 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:03.560 dreams a hater. Maybe not, maybe your mom just loved 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:05.239 you too much to hear the bad notes you were 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.480 hitting and you're not supposed to be a professional singer. 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:14.520 Does the thought No, I'm sick of it. I'm really 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.320 sick of it because we take Joseph. It's not fair 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:20.280 to Joseph. Joseph went through this whole life. He was 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:22.760 called and chosen, and there was all kinds of conflict 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.080 that came along. And we're like, Joseph had a dream. 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:27.200 Do you have a dream? Would you like to open 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:29.960 your own company? Be like Joseph, have a dream, and 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:32.560 then you can make it from the pit to the palace. 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:35.679 Hold on in the pit, because there's a palace on 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.280 the other side. Let me go into it for a moment. 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.840 That is not the story of Joseph's life. The story 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:46.520 of Joseph's life has nothing to do with if you 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.000 have a dream that you can think of that's big enough, 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:53.359 God is obligated to bless it. Watch this. Joseph didn't 0:17:53.359 --> 0:18:01.959 ask God for a dream. Wow, Joseph did not make 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:05.720 a vision board. That doesn't mean you can't make one. 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.200 I've made a few myself. Let's just be clear that 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:11.520 we mean the same thing when we say a dream, 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.439 and then and then it becomes very devastating. Watch this, 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:23.480 because your dream can become a distraction. Joseph's dream was 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:28.320 very specific and epic, and it had broad implications, you know. 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:31.000 And he tells his brothers his dreams. He comes out 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:32.600 in his coat one day and they're like, oh God, 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.000 this guy. And so he comes over and they're like, 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:36.440 you talk to him this time. I'm sick of talking 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.320 to him. He's like, hey, guys, guess what I had 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:43.520 a dream. You want to hear my dream. They're like, no, 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.240 we hate your dream, we hate your coat, we hate 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:49.760 your voice, we hate you you're different. But he didn't really, 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:51.240 he didn't really care if they wanted to hear it. 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:54.720 He was going to tell him anyway. Joseph needed a journal, 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:56.080 by the way, so he could write some of this 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:58.520 down and not tell other people he needed somewhere he 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:00.760 could just process his dreams where he let other people 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:05.640 get involved too soon. Nevertheless, even Joseph's inability to discern 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:07.480 the nature of the dream and who was capable of 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:09.240 handing it, played a part in leading him to the 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.120 place where he could do the dream that God put 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:15.439 in his heart. Did you feel God on that what 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:20.040 I just said? Because God's dream for my life will 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:24.440 involve my decisions, even if my decisions are immature. God 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.000 will use some of the desires in your heart that 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:30.960 aren't good desires at first. But Psalm thirty four thirty 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.240 seven four says, if you delight yourself in the Lord, 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:35.800 he will give you the desires of your heart. And 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:39.040 he will take the desires that you had and purify them, 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.800 and he will rinse them, and he will separate the 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:44.440 wheat from the chaft to bring you to an ultimate place, 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.520 a purpose. But when Joseph started sharing his dream with 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.800 his brothers, it was all about him. Hey, he had 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:54.239 a dream and it was awesome. We were binding our 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:57.680 sheaves of grain, and we were and let your sheaves 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:01.879 started bowing down to my sheaves. And in that awesome 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:03.840 they're like no it's not awesome. We hate your dream, 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:05.800 we hate your coke, we hate your And He's like, 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:08.840 but then I had another dream. And in this dream 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:11.240 there were eleven stars. I don't know why Joseph sounds 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:15.400 like Keanu reeves. There were eleven stars and a sun 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:17.679 and the moon, and they were all bowing down to 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:20.159 me in my dream awesome. And they're like, no, we 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:23.119 don't like your dream. In fact, we hate your dream 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:25.639 so much that we are about to push you in 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:28.040 a pit and leave you for dead. And if it 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:30.439 hadn't have been for Reuben, who decided we should at 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:32.640 least get twenty shekels of silver out of this boy, 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:34.480 there's no need to kill him when we can profit 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:36.520 off of him, they wouldn't have sold him to the 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:39.359 Ishmaelik Caravan. They would have left him for dead. But 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:44.320 understand that even Joseph's decision to speak about his dream 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:48.439 prematurely was part of what God used to motivate his 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:51.200 brothers to push him in the pit. At the same 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:54.680 time they did that, and Ishmaeli Caravan was setting out 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.720 to bring whoever they would pick up along the way 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:01.480 back to the place of now, it was a place 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:04.120 of slavery at that point, but it would ultimately become 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.439 a place of deliverance. I'm gonna teach the Bible today 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:09.880 because when Joseph was picked up and put in Potterphar's house, 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:13.960 he served so well in Potterphar's house that everything Potiphar 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:17.080 put under him prosper. And so when Potiphar saw how 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:20.000 Joseph served, he promoted him to a position of influence. 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:22.480 But he wouldn't have been in Potiphar's house to begin 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:24.720 with if he hadn't been pushed in a pit, and 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:26.199 he wouldn't have been pushed in a pit if he 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.239 didn't wear a coat. And so when you leave your 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:30.880 coat in the closet and downplay your dream to fit 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:33.359 in with people who don't like you because you're different, 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:35.600 you can't end up in the position you need to 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:39.399 be in. I'm preaching to somebody who's different. The more 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:42.919 like Christ you become, the more different from culture you 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:45.959 will be. And it's all right to be weird, and 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:48.600 it's all right to have hope, and it's all right 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:51.240 to have vision, and it's all right to know who 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:59.400 you are. And all of this happened because Joseph had 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:07.800 a dream, And yet Joseph's dream looked nothing when it 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:12.000 finally happened, like it looked in the distance when he 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:18.960 first saw it. Can you relate to this how sometimes 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:24.640 marriage looks different in the distance than it does after 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:26.879 twenty years. I need all my people who've been married 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:30.800 over twenty years to just wave at me real quick 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:36.560 and let me know that it's so much different, so 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:44.160 much different, so much better, so much harder, so much different. 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:49.600 Not like the movies that I saw, not like the 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:55.400 songs that I heard. Different, It's just different. Because when 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:59.880 Joseph is young, he sees shiny stars, but sometimes when 0:22:59.880 --> 0:23:05.000 it comes up closer, it's not so shiny anymore. Having 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:07.639 kids is different. And this is where me and Holly 0:23:07.640 --> 0:23:12.879 are different. She always dreamed of being a parent. I 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:14.520 didn't dream of being a parent. I dreamed of being 0:23:14.520 --> 0:23:21.119 a punk rocker and then a preacher. But one of 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:23.000 our staff members was having a baby the other day 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:25.520 and he was telling me how happy he was, and 0:23:25.560 --> 0:23:27.600 he was like, o ahlways dreamed of being a dad, 0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:29.320 And that made me feel sorry for my kids, because 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:35.359 I'm like, I didn't even like kick in as a 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:39.280 dad until they were five, you know, that's so worthless. 0:23:41.240 --> 0:23:43.960 In fact, if we can really be honest and not 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:48.480 put this one online, I dreaded being a dad because 0:23:48.520 --> 0:23:50.520 all I ever saw kids do was make people have 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:58.879 to leave restaurants before they finish their meal. So you know, 0:23:58.960 --> 0:24:03.960 like now, there is no greater delight in my life 0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:10.600 than my kids thirty percent at the time, There's no 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:14.879 greater investment. There's nothing I'm more passionate about. There's nothing 0:24:14.880 --> 0:24:17.159 that can just wake me up more and make me 0:24:17.200 --> 0:24:20.240 realize what matters more. But it wasn't the thing I 0:24:20.320 --> 0:24:25.280 dreamed about. It was the thing that I did, and 0:24:25.320 --> 0:24:28.480 when I did it, God gave me the desire for it. 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:32.880 But it didn't start as a dream. It started as 0:24:32.880 --> 0:24:37.920 a duty. This is so critical for a world and 0:24:38.000 --> 0:24:41.119 a time where all we're ever told is follow your dreams. 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:44.280 There is no record in Genesis thirty seven, thirty eight, 0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:47.880 thirty nine, forty forty one, two forty three, forty four, 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:51.160 forty five where the Bible says and Joseph remembered his 0:24:51.280 --> 0:24:54.800 dream and pushed on through because when life gets hard, 0:24:54.840 --> 0:24:57.880 you got to have a dream, and sometimes life will 0:24:57.880 --> 0:25:00.840 give you hurdles. But you know, this is really awkward 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:03.760 this little motif I've gotten myself into right here, this 0:25:03.800 --> 0:25:07.760 little this, this pastic motivational speaker thing that I've set 0:25:07.840 --> 0:25:10.520 up here. But just follow your dreams. You know what 0:25:10.840 --> 0:25:14.560 I can't find in Genesis where Joseph followed his dream. 0:25:14.920 --> 0:25:19.399 What I saw in Genesis was Joseph's dream followed him. 0:25:19.800 --> 0:25:24.639 So watch this. I don't follow dreams. I follow Jesus, 0:25:25.000 --> 0:25:36.199 and when I do, dreams follow me. Joseph's dream followed Joseph. 0:25:36.240 --> 0:25:39.719 It followed him to Potterphar's house, it followed him to prison, 0:25:40.119 --> 0:25:43.879 it followed him into Pharaoh's court. Because dreams follow me 0:25:44.000 --> 0:25:47.320 when I follow Jesus. If you look behind your life, 0:25:47.320 --> 0:25:50.359 you will see very clearly that some of the things 0:25:50.359 --> 0:25:52.719 that God did for you, and some of the doors 0:25:52.760 --> 0:25:54.919 he opened for you, and some of the ways he 0:25:55.000 --> 0:25:57.480 made for you, and some of the opportunities that he 0:25:57.560 --> 0:26:01.720 granted for you were accidental from your perspective. But I've 0:26:01.760 --> 0:26:05.040 got good news for you. God's dream for you is 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:08.240 bigger than your dream for you. Just because it doesn't 0:26:08.240 --> 0:26:11.440 look shiny when you see it doesn't mean it isn't real. 0:26:11.840 --> 0:26:16.760 God said, you've got the right dream. You just need 0:26:16.800 --> 0:26:24.280 to see it. Differently. The fact of the matter is 0:26:24.320 --> 0:26:27.399 that some of us are standing in the middle of 0:26:27.400 --> 0:26:31.960 our dream, but we can't see it because it feels 0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:34.560 different than we thought it would when we first saw it. 0:26:37.800 --> 0:26:42.040 And I believe in dreams. I had a dream about you. 0:26:43.800 --> 0:26:46.480 I dreamed that you would be here in this church, 0:26:47.400 --> 0:26:52.560 and God did that. But it's a lot different than 0:26:52.600 --> 0:26:56.679 I thought it would be because y'all are different, and 0:26:56.720 --> 0:27:00.680 it's different. Y'all are different different. And then the person 0:27:00.720 --> 0:27:02.879 three seats down for you, and you grew up in 0:27:02.960 --> 0:27:06.080 vacation Bible school, and they're thinking, like Joseph is when 0:27:06.200 --> 0:27:09.320 that Jesus's dad, And they're like this, I don't and 0:27:09.359 --> 0:27:11.359 I'm trying to ap preach to all these different people. 0:27:12.800 --> 0:27:18.359 It's just different. It's different because you picture like Joseph 0:27:18.440 --> 0:27:21.560 had a dream. Have you got a dream? Everybody had 0:27:21.560 --> 0:27:24.680 a dream. You had a dream, Doctor King had a dream. 0:27:24.800 --> 0:27:27.439 You have a dream. It's not the same kind of dream. 0:27:27.560 --> 0:27:31.240 You know, this was a This was a dream that 0:27:31.400 --> 0:27:37.879 Joseph didn't decide for himself. Don't follow your dreams, because 0:27:37.880 --> 0:27:44.360 what if your dream was just the first draft? Are 0:27:44.400 --> 0:27:50.560 you open to a revision? I wanted to I wanted 0:27:50.560 --> 0:27:53.320 to be a punk rocker. I wanted to sing songs, 0:27:54.280 --> 0:27:56.639 but I didn't know God was gonna let me write 0:27:56.680 --> 0:28:01.000 songs and pastor a church that church around the world 0:28:01.280 --> 0:28:05.240 would sing as an expression or as an anthem of faith. 0:28:05.520 --> 0:28:09.359 It wasn't my dream, but God took that desire and 0:28:09.400 --> 0:28:10.760 he gave me the dream. And I don't have to 0:28:10.760 --> 0:28:13.439 be the one singing the song. I just want to 0:28:13.440 --> 0:28:17.000 be a part of it. It's the value of a 0:28:17.040 --> 0:28:20.080 bigger picture. But your dream can be a distraction because 0:28:21.400 --> 0:28:24.000 now you're not following Jesus. You're following your dream. And 0:28:24.000 --> 0:28:26.560 when your dream takes you down an unexpected path, you 0:28:26.640 --> 0:28:29.640 start to complain and freak out and get frustrated, and 0:28:29.680 --> 0:28:32.680 you are missing the dream because you will not wake 0:28:32.760 --> 0:28:35.520 up to the reality. Sometimes we don't know the difference 0:28:35.560 --> 0:28:43.320 between a dream and a fantasy. I told our staff recently, 0:28:43.400 --> 0:28:49.280 this is the dream when you're frustrated in ministry. Remember 0:28:49.320 --> 0:28:53.400 that some of you were watching Elevation Church online before 0:28:53.440 --> 0:28:54.920 you came to work here, and you thought, oh, if 0:28:54.920 --> 0:28:57.880 I could ever get there one day. But you didn't 0:28:57.920 --> 0:29:01.400 know that the baptism tank was gonna be half full 0:29:01.400 --> 0:29:02.840 when you got here, and you'd have to fill it 0:29:02.920 --> 0:29:05.040 up right before and next time you next time you 0:29:05.040 --> 0:29:07.040 have to get here and the volunteers don't show up, 0:29:07.040 --> 0:29:09.080 and next time you have to just just say to yourself, 0:29:09.120 --> 0:29:16.280 this is the dream. Huh. Waking up in the middle 0:29:16.280 --> 0:29:18.200 of the night as a new mom, this is the dream. 0:29:18.480 --> 0:29:20.000 Even if you have to fake a smile, the devil 0:29:20.000 --> 0:29:22.080 won't know the difference. All this see is that you're smiling. 0:29:22.120 --> 0:29:25.880 This is the dream. And yet it won't feel like 0:29:25.920 --> 0:29:29.959 American idol. And yet it won't feel like an Olympic 0:29:30.000 --> 0:29:34.480 gold medal ceremony because it's not that kind of dream. 0:29:35.280 --> 0:29:38.360 By the time Joseph's dream finally came true, because dreams 0:29:38.360 --> 0:29:43.760 do come true, it was two decades later. Not only 0:29:43.920 --> 0:29:47.520 been falsely in prison, not only had he been forgotten about, 0:29:48.480 --> 0:29:52.000 not only had he been misunderstood, not only was he 0:29:52.480 --> 0:29:55.440 incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit, but in the 0:29:55.440 --> 0:29:57.520 process of it, he was unappreciated for his part in 0:29:57.560 --> 0:30:01.680 someone else's freedom. Yet, when he finally got to his dream, 0:30:02.840 --> 0:30:05.240 he realized something that is very hard for us to 0:30:05.280 --> 0:30:11.360 comprehend in an Instagram world. That God develops dreams in 0:30:11.400 --> 0:30:17.280 the dark room, and the issue is that we have 0:30:17.360 --> 0:30:23.600 an Instagram expectation, but we serve a darkroom God. For 0:30:23.720 --> 0:30:27.640 the four of y'all who are claping, I'm gonna keep preaching. 0:30:28.840 --> 0:30:32.640 When you get your picture really developed by a professional, 0:30:34.400 --> 0:30:36.960 they don't post it ten seconds after they took it 0:30:37.320 --> 0:30:41.880 with a prefabricated filter by Instagram incorporator. They take it 0:30:41.920 --> 0:30:46.560 into a special room, and they do special things in 0:30:46.640 --> 0:30:49.040 a special room. If any of y'all ever had to 0:30:49.120 --> 0:30:52.640 drop some film off at CVS, if any of you 0:30:52.680 --> 0:30:54.560 ever had to go through a season of your life 0:30:54.600 --> 0:30:58.400 where you had to trust a professional, where you had 0:30:58.400 --> 0:31:01.480 to put something in the hands of God, where you 0:31:01.640 --> 0:31:06.960 had to hand him the negatives, and trust him to 0:31:07.040 --> 0:31:11.840 take the negatives and take them into the secret place 0:31:11.880 --> 0:31:15.000 of the Most High, and take them into the place 0:31:15.040 --> 0:31:18.080 of his purpose, and take them into the place of 0:31:18.160 --> 0:31:21.440 his wisdom, and take them into the mystery. And trust 0:31:21.480 --> 0:31:23.880 him that if I put it in his hands, and 0:31:23.920 --> 0:31:26.920 if I have the patience to let it develop, if 0:31:26.960 --> 0:31:29.880 I have the patience to know that every scene of 0:31:29.920 --> 0:31:33.000 my life is playing a part in the bigger picture. 0:31:33.440 --> 0:31:35.520 Not of the dream that I had, but of the 0:31:35.600 --> 0:31:38.760 desire that was in God's heart. And I might be 0:31:38.960 --> 0:31:41.080 standing in the middle of a dream that I don't 0:31:41.080 --> 0:31:44.480 have the clarity to see right now because the picture 0:31:44.520 --> 0:31:48.200 does not match for my preference. But watch this, I'm 0:31:48.560 --> 0:31:52.760 willing and ready and able to trust God even in 0:31:52.800 --> 0:31:57.400 the dark places of my disappointment, because I understand that 0:31:57.560 --> 0:32:01.280 some of God's greatest work happens in the dark where 0:32:01.280 --> 0:32:04.440 I don't understand. And I'm feeling around, and I thought 0:32:04.480 --> 0:32:06.360 I was going to be done with this by now, 0:32:06.520 --> 0:32:08.800 and I thought I'd be different by now. And this 0:32:08.840 --> 0:32:10.840 is not how they put it on the box, and 0:32:10.920 --> 0:32:13.400 this is not how the Hamburger looked on the commercial. 0:32:13.720 --> 0:32:16.360 But here I am God, and I trust you, not 0:32:16.480 --> 0:32:19.840 my dream. I trust you not my idea. I will 0:32:19.840 --> 0:32:23.920 not make my ideas my idol. I'm worshiping you, I'm 0:32:24.000 --> 0:32:39.280 serving you. It's not about position, it's about purpose. So 0:32:39.400 --> 0:32:43.040 when he finally had his dream come true, it was 0:32:43.080 --> 0:32:46.520 not in the form of shiny stars. It was in 0:32:46.560 --> 0:32:51.320 the form of his eleven brothers who betrayed him, coming 0:32:51.360 --> 0:32:55.640 to him and asking for food. And Joseph is in 0:32:55.760 --> 0:32:59.720 Pharaoh's court distributing the grain for not only that nation, 0:33:00.080 --> 0:33:02.680 but for all the surrounding nations, and he looks up 0:33:02.680 --> 0:33:04.920 at his brothers who hurt him, who are standing with 0:33:05.000 --> 0:33:11.520 their hands out, and realizes, this is the dream. I'm 0:33:11.520 --> 0:33:17.440 at the center. But it's not for status, it's for service. 0:33:28.600 --> 0:33:30.560 Has God been trying to get you to see that 0:33:31.000 --> 0:33:37.680 in your own life? Lately? We attach ourselves to a 0:33:37.760 --> 0:33:40.960 version of a dream that may not have even come 0:33:41.000 --> 0:33:46.480 from God to begin with. And what if the greatest 0:33:46.480 --> 0:33:50.080 thing God is going to do through your life is 0:33:50.120 --> 0:33:52.239 what He is going to allow you to contribute to 0:33:52.280 --> 0:34:01.400 somebody else's Are you open to that dream? When the 0:34:01.440 --> 0:34:05.200 angel came to marry, he said, you're gonna have a baby. 0:34:06.160 --> 0:34:09.520 When the Angel came to Joseph in a dream, he said, 0:34:09.560 --> 0:34:13.160 you're gonna help her. What if the dream God has 0:34:13.200 --> 0:34:18.920 for me isn't even about me. It's the danger of 0:34:18.960 --> 0:34:22.520 a dream to start thinking like this is what my 0:34:22.600 --> 0:34:25.440 kids are going to grow up and do, Okay, Like 0:34:26.280 --> 0:34:29.880 get your Harvard mug out of your coffee mug cabinet. 0:34:30.560 --> 0:34:33.040 And what if your kid doesn't turn out to do 0:34:33.120 --> 0:34:35.200 what you wanted him to do. What if God has 0:34:35.239 --> 0:34:40.719 a different dream for them? What if it's better, What 0:34:40.760 --> 0:34:45.120 if it's deeper? What if the reason God lets your 0:34:45.200 --> 0:34:53.360 dream die is because it wasn't big enough. When we 0:34:53.480 --> 0:34:57.360 put too much pressure on a dream to come true, 0:34:58.320 --> 0:35:02.200 we allow our dream to become a distraction from the 0:35:02.239 --> 0:35:05.880 season that we're in. And I preached this way because 0:35:05.880 --> 0:35:09.600 if Joseph had gone around looking for stars for his dream, 0:35:09.680 --> 0:35:12.520 you know, reach for the stars. But it wasn't in 0:35:12.560 --> 0:35:14.400 the form of a star that the dream came. It 0:35:14.480 --> 0:35:16.840 was in the form of his brothers. It was in 0:35:16.880 --> 0:35:19.720 the form of his responsibility. It was in the form 0:35:19.760 --> 0:35:23.840 of a duty. You don't have to have some grand, 0:35:24.040 --> 0:35:28.040 dynamic dream to serve God. Stop feeling guilty because you 0:35:28.080 --> 0:35:32.960 don't have some huge dream to end cancer, or to 0:35:33.640 --> 0:35:36.520 or to start a new to start a new ministry, 0:35:36.640 --> 0:35:39.920 or to maybe like be the next Bill Gates or 0:35:39.960 --> 0:35:43.120 Elon Musk or go to space. Maybe you don't have 0:35:43.200 --> 0:35:45.640 the talent for that. You don't have to have a 0:35:45.719 --> 0:35:48.560 huge dream, but you do need to serve a purpose 0:35:49.120 --> 0:35:52.920 in this season. And I wonder, is there's somebody here 0:35:54.480 --> 0:35:59.279 watching online who was standing right in the middle of 0:35:59.320 --> 0:36:02.120 the dream, but it looks different than it did in 0:36:02.160 --> 0:36:09.319 the distance. This is the dream to know him, to 0:36:09.400 --> 0:36:15.400 serve him, to love him. And there's two types of 0:36:15.400 --> 0:36:20.160 people in the room. Some of you were discouraged because 0:36:20.200 --> 0:36:22.800 you had a dream and it didn't happen. It hasn't 0:36:22.800 --> 0:36:26.879 happened yet, don't know if it will. And others are 0:36:26.880 --> 0:36:31.120 disillusioned because you're in your dream, but it's different than 0:36:31.160 --> 0:36:34.440 you thought it was going to be. You're standing in 0:36:34.520 --> 0:36:40.840 the middle, but it's your brother's around. God said that 0:36:40.880 --> 0:36:45.000 today was going to be a day for you, for 0:36:45.080 --> 0:36:48.719 you to see the dream for what it really is 0:36:50.120 --> 0:36:52.879 and let go of the illusion of what you thought 0:36:52.880 --> 0:36:57.160 it would be. If you stand right now, I'll pray 0:36:57.239 --> 0:37:06.400 for you. You could put your notebook down. I'm done teaching. 0:37:10.239 --> 0:37:11.960 It's one of those things that we all have to 0:37:13.239 --> 0:37:17.280 deal with at different points in our life to realize 0:37:17.280 --> 0:37:20.400 that this is what I saw, but it just doesn't 0:37:20.400 --> 0:37:25.520 feel the same. Are you open to a different dream. 0:37:25.719 --> 0:37:29.160 Maybe it's not even a different dream, maybe it's just 0:37:29.160 --> 0:37:35.160 a more mature version of it. The disciples had a 0:37:35.239 --> 0:37:38.759 dream for Jesus. You know, he's going to restore the 0:37:38.880 --> 0:37:41.920 Kingdom of Israel. When they saw him hanging on the cross, 0:37:41.920 --> 0:37:44.439 they didn't know what to do with that. That wasn't 0:37:44.480 --> 0:37:46.640 the way they saw liberation, but that's the way he 0:37:46.680 --> 0:37:50.480 did it, and it is in the process of doing it, 0:37:50.920 --> 0:37:53.520 and it is in the process of accepting it that 0:37:53.640 --> 0:37:57.400 greater faith is born. Father, Today I thank you for 0:37:58.960 --> 0:38:02.160 the illumination that you've given us through your word and 0:38:02.200 --> 0:38:06.360 by your spirit. I felt like you were using me 0:38:06.400 --> 0:38:08.520 while I was preaching to speak to somebody on a 0:38:08.560 --> 0:38:11.120 personal level, and I want to thank you for that 0:38:11.719 --> 0:38:14.359 because I want to be used by you. But now God, 0:38:14.360 --> 0:38:16.680 I want to step out of the way and I 0:38:16.680 --> 0:38:18.399 want them to hear what they need to hear from 0:38:18.440 --> 0:38:21.720 you because it didn't turn out the way they dreamed. 0:38:23.480 --> 0:38:29.760 It's different. It doesn't look so shiny anymore, it doesn't 0:38:29.800 --> 0:38:34.279 look so sexy anymore. Now it's time for them to 0:38:34.400 --> 0:38:37.399 embrace the purpose for the season that you've placed them 0:38:37.440 --> 0:38:41.040 in and let go of the one that may never come, 0:38:41.120 --> 0:38:43.680 or let go of the one that was. This is 0:38:43.719 --> 0:38:49.160 the dream. Somebody make that confession. This is the dream. 0:38:49.239 --> 0:38:51.560 And so God give them the perspective to go back 0:38:51.560 --> 0:38:54.680 into their lives, go back into their homes, go back 0:38:54.719 --> 0:38:57.600 into their jobs, and see it how you see it 0:38:58.680 --> 0:39:02.839 in a world that's obsessed with status and position, Make 0:39:02.960 --> 0:39:07.120 us servants of purpose. To serve your purpose in every 0:39:07.160 --> 0:39:09.880 season that we're in and to find our satisfaction in that. 0:39:11.520 --> 0:39:14.080 Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of 0:39:14.120 --> 0:39:17.120 you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of 0:39:17.160 --> 0:39:20.080 you that this ministry is possible. You can click the 0:39:20.080 --> 0:39:23.840 link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch 0:39:24.000 --> 0:39:27.239 dot org slash podcast for more information and if you 0:39:27.360 --> 0:39:30.560 enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it 0:39:30.600 --> 0:39:32.920 with your friends. You can click the share button, take 0:39:32.920 --> 0:39:35.279 a screenshot and share it on your social stories and 0:39:35.320 --> 0:39:38.200 tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God 0:39:38.200 --> 0:39:43.600 bless you