A Long and Winding Road
Joseph had a dream…And he believed that it was a dream from God.
For the next couple of months we will explore the story of a young man who had the strength, personal integrity and discipline to believe what God believed about him.
And that makes him very different from most people today.
Today few people understand that God believes in them because they have lost faith in themselves.
Larry Carter. President of Great Lakes Christian College and a friend of mine tells the story of his youth:
"I remember when I was a kid, some 40 years ago, playing on a Little League Baseball team. One of the things our coach did was host a picnic for the team at the beginning of the season. After eating hot dogs and burgers he sat us all down for a pep talk. The first thing he did was to ask us a question. He asked, “How many of you have a dream to one day play in the Major Leagues?”
Almost every hand shot up. Every kid with his hand up believed he could do it. You could see it in their eyes. He then told us, “If that is to happen – that dream begins now!”
I was so inspired by that challenge – all of us were – that we practically and played so hard we went undefeated for the next few years. All-Star teams from other leagues would play us and lose!
Some 25 years later I became a Little League coach. I brought all the kids together at the beginning of the season to give them a pep talk. The same talk my coach had given me. So I asked my team the same question, “How many of you have a dream to one day play in the Major Leagues?”
Not one had was raised. Not one kid believes he could do it. You could see it in their eyes. I was speechless – literally. The rest of my talk was meaningless without a dream so I just kind of said, “Really? Nobody? Well, go get your gloves and lets throw some.”
I thought about that day for a long time. What had happened in the 25 years since I was a kid? What had come into their lives to steal their dreams? What had convinced them that they would never be more than what they were?"
Mass marketing hype and a cultural malaise of mediocrity have replaced the powerful, precious, personal dreams of past decades.
Too many people have given up on the dream that God has for them. Not Joseph; in spite of all the burdens and problems he faced in his childhood. His family life was far from “good”! In fact it was what we would call today “Dysfunctional”
His father had children from many wives and even his father’s concubine. One brother committed incest. Two brothers slaughtered the inhabitants of a village for raping their sister.
These are not easy going “country bumpkins”. These are dangerous and ruthless men who are part of a family that could easily have been on the Jerry Springer show.
His father was known as a cheater for most of his life and had been cheated himself on more than one occasion. Is it any wonder that there would be a “bad report” on his sons by Joseph?
Yet, even at the young age of 17 years he stood out from the others, his innocence, integrity, honesty and devotion to his father and family is clearly seen.
Joseph never let go of the dream that God gave him.
Two disciplines that helped Joseph’s Dream come to reality…
First, Joseph was a man of great personal integrity.
(Read vs. 2-4)
17 years old and working the fields as a shepherd with his brothers when he was compelled by circumstances to give a report on how things where going with his brothers. And He did!
It was not a pretty sight! Now, you know that siblings have a way of getting back at each other when they cross one another.
Shannon and Sandi used to poke and prod each other in the back seat of the car on long trips. Each was bent on getting the other into trouble with me.
Occassionally, they would succeed and Dad would slam on the brakes, bring the car to halt and swing up over the back seat to chatise to scared little girls, each trying disappear into the cushions.
After it was over whoever got the bulk of the punishment would make sure it was shared with the other in the future. Somehow, when Dad wasn’t looking it would get passed along!
Joseph was not stupid. He knew that his brothers would not be happy if he gave a bad report to his father.
Yet, he was willing to face the anger and frustration of his brothers and tell his Dad the truth. The older boys were not doing what they were supposed to be doing.
What was the bad report? - I don’t know. Did they go to town on Saturday night and paint it red? Did they get drunk and lose some sheep in the wilderness? Was there a brawl among the brothers when they should have been working? Did they terrorize the neighborhood and burn another village? This was not a nice bunch of kids playing “hide and seek” on the back 40 instead of doing their chores.
What ever it was – Joseph was unwilling to do anything but to be honest with dad. No misleading and deceptive statements, no ½ truths and partial revelations that lead to a false conclusion, or anything like that. Make no mistake – Joseph told the truth.
Despite the consequences. Joseph broke the unwritten law: Thou shalt not be a Rat Fink. Some would say He was really just a tattle tale and a manipulator.
No – 17 yrs old – way beyond those years of youthful pushing and shoving for the front of the line.
If Joseph was merely slick and “Machevellian” the scripture would have told us that – scripture never glosses over the faults of its characters – no matter who they are.
What we see is maturity and strength of integrity to do what is right even when it is unpopular and terribly difficult.
Joseph knew who the sheep belonged to and where his responsibilities were. And it got him in big trouble.
Sometimes doing right is really tough. You still have to do right!
One of the greatest disciplines needed if you want to watch God’s dreams for you become real in your life is the discipline of personal integrity – no matter what the cost.
Steven Covey has said that integrity simply reflects the value we place on ourselves.
Joseph believed that he was valuable to God and himself.
Second, Joseph listened to God – and believed Him (vs. 5-11)
The dreams Joseph had were not easy to share with his brothers and father.
His brothers were angered to the point that they couldn’t even speak to him in a civil way.
I’m sure that what with the fancy robe and the bad report that this would have been enough to make them grit their teeth and set them to seething inside for a long time.
Even his own Father rebuked him for telling them these dreams.
Jacob remembered his own dream and wondered. Years ago, he had laid his head on a stone pillow and dreamed of a Ladder to heaven with angels going up and down and the Lord at the top. He had been strengthened and encouraged by this event.
You would have thought Jacob would have been a little more supportive of Joseph but apparently the years and the unwillingness to create even more problems among his sons caused him to take the path of least resistance and to rebuke Joseph.
So Joseph was alone.
No one believed and encouraged him. In fact, he was ridiculed and mocked for believing the dreams that God gave him.
That would be enough to crush the spirit of most young men right there on the spot.
Most 17 year old men would have blushed cherry red, stammered stumbled into the night with tears of embarrassment and have promised themselves to never bring that up again!
But Joseph believed that God believed in him.
-- David Thomas, Marriage Partnership, Vol. 7, no. 3.
God "dreamed us into existence" and God, in turn, implants dreams within us. To pursue our hopes and dreams requires courage, which is the basic orientation of an act of hope. ... [To] fail to dream a better future is to deny the God of faithful love, to deny ourselves our own birthright.
Listen folks, God is real and He does intervene in the lives of men. He Gives us DREAMS!
Everyone has dreams, visions, hopes, and fantasies about their lives.
As kids we want to be a fireman, a policeman, or a postman. (Some do!)
As adults we have dreams mixed with wishes and regrets.
Some are kinda silly. In a Robin Williams movie did called “Patch Adams” there was an old lady that wanted to swim in a pool filled with noodles. Some weird dream!
Some dreams are very ungodly, secular, and empty. They are often focused on national fame, sexual fulfillment, or personal power.
God has a dream for you which is far different and immensely more satisfying. – no regrets and no emptiness afterwards – just an incredible sense of peace, contentment & joy!
It is God’s dream that you be saved – 1 Tim 2:3-4
God wants you in his home. He hungers for your presence in His life.
Alison is our 1 year old grand child. Last week we had a call from our daughter that she was sick with a 104 degree temp. It was awful. Donna was crying on the phone and my stomach turned into a pile of knots. We love that child and want her to be here with her grandpa and grandma.
God wants you to come home. He has a mansion prepared for you. He has a dream that you will live right next door to his house.
It is God’s dream that you filled with His spirit – Eph 5:17-18 and following
Evidence of a spirit-filled life: if you follow the word of Paul is a life of praise and worship. You are filled with sense of thanksgiving to God in your heart. Sunday morning church is not a burden but pure joy.
More than this – a spirit filled person is subject to the others in their life. That includes their spouses! Husbands love their wives like themselves Wives support their husbands – even when they are wrong!
There is respect for one another and for others. Children obey their parent. Parents do not exasperate or frustrate their kids. Employees work hard for their bosses. Bosses treat their subordinates rightly.
This is the spirit filled life! To think and live like God.
It is God’s dream that you be whatever you want. – 1 John 5:15
Now, His dream is going to be according to His word and if you are spirit filled then you won’t want anything else but what he wants for you.
His word is filled with guidance for daily living– 2 Tim 3:16-17
It teaches, rebukes, corrects and trains you in your day to day activities
His dream will be revealed to you.
God does give dreams and visions
When you pray; coincidences happen!
His dream will be according to your desires
God does not make everyone a missionary. Some are called to serve in quiet and humble ways. Some are called to serve on the front lines where the bullets are flying. Some are called to encourage others. Some extend mercy to the bloody and wounded.
Some people worry that God might call them to something they don’t want to do
If a ministry is not good for you, you can bet you’re not good for it.
- James D. Berkley, Leadership, Vol. 3, no. 3.
What is exciting is that when God is the center of your life you begin to want what he wants. His spirit within you and His word as it dwells in your heart moves you to be the person God has dreamed for you and planned all along!
What an exciting and privileged life we have been called live!
This past month as Donna and I were driving together in Florida I was suddenly overwhelmed by a mixture of sensations. Contentment, peace, joy, well-being all swirling together. Chief among them was the realization that I was a prosperous man. I have all I need – to do all God has called me to do.
Mother Teresa ... and her sisters devote their lives to God’s service and are know throughout the world. When asked about her work, Mother Teresa’s reply is: "I am just a little pencil in God’s hands. ... Doing something beautiful for God.
-Kitty Muggeridge in Gazing on Truth. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 14.
Joseph believed in God’s dream for his life so much that the ridicule of his brothers and rejection of his father made no difference in his determination to follow that dream.
Listen, God has a dream for each of you too.
He knows who we are and what we’re capable of. He’s the only One who does. We need to listen to His voice. Never be satisfied with living to the world’s estimation. It will always sell you short. Listen to the Voice of God.
Ernest Campbell wrote powerfully, “The man to be pitied is the man who believes in everything just a little bit, the miscellaneous man who has never brought the tattered fragments of his life under the command of a single voice, or gathered his abilities around a single passion.”
Let that single voice be the Voice of God! Let that passion be that which found its source in the very heart of God!
Joseph did and his life showed it.
You can do it and your life will show it too!
Dreams are very personal, powerful and precious.
Dreams from God are what real life is made of.
