DARE TO DREAM Hold On To Your Dream GEN 37:3-24 JOSEPH1 Thursday, May 09, 1996 INTRODUCTION: One of the

greatest needs and challenges confronting us in the church today is vision. We must have a vision. A guiding dream that marks and shapes every decision we make. We need vision for ourselves. For our families. And we especially need it for the church. Without vision: 1. We are doomed to repeat mediocrity. To circle the same tired mountain. Navigate by the rear view mirror. What we do today is simply what we did last time. NO! That mediocrity leads to drudgery. . . 2. We are doomed to a life of drudgery. You cannot maintain the will without the why. George Deakin said it like this, A vision without a task makes a visionary; a task without a vision is dredgery; a vision with a task makes a missionary. The drudgery leads to unecessary conflict. . 3. We are doomed to unecessary conflict. When sheep stop dreaming they always go to fighting. Proverbs. Without vision the people are unrestrained. Unecessary conflict leads to missing Gods will. . . 4. We are doomed to miss Gods will. Everyone does what is right in their own eyes. Blown and tossed by every fad and whim. And missing Gods will leads to mediocrity. . . God has a plan for your life. He has a plan for your family. He has a plan for this church. Do you know what that plan is? If not, then lets learn to dream. Lets learn to be people who listen and hear and believe. The Bible promised that God would fill His church with people of vision. In the last days . . . FOR THE NEXT FEW SUNDAY EVENINGS I WANT US TO EXPLORE WHAT IT MEANS TO DREAM. HOW TO BE PEOPLE OF VISION. OUR MODEL WILL BE JOSEPH. THE DREAMER. What you can expect if you dare to dream. I want to begin with encouragement. Hold on to your dream. One mark, Joseph never stopped believing.

I. GOD STILL GIVES DREAMS. DONT BE DEAF. verses 1-4.

Verses 3-5 Joseph had a dream. KJV. Joseph dreamed a dream. You might be tempted to limit God to one device. Dream of night time sleep. Often used in Old Testament. But not so much today. Some think the time for dreams has stopped. NO. God still gives dreams. Sometimes through dreams. More often through other meants. Gods way of communicating the dream has changed. Remember in Josephs time there was no continual communication. God was outside and invisible. Unaproachable. ill. . .Tabernacle. Holy of Holies. Huge veil seperated the chambers. Only once a year aon Yom Kippur. And then only the high priest. Never ever forget God is outside beyond man. So when God wanted to speak to men he did so externally. Outside in.

ill. . .Best analogy is a log ride. in the log but the flume dictates direction by exerting force on the outside of the log. It is jarring. Often get good momentum then BANG! Turn!. That is how the communication was in the Old Testament. God directed his people the way a flume directs a log. External force. God gave them the law, but that only showed them how off course they were. Before long BANG He sends a prophet or a dream to correct their course. Then they coast until they drift into a wall BANG JAR TURN. Some cataclysmic event like the death of a king. Or defeat in battle. Then Jesus came. John 1:14. Suddenly our eyes were opened. We could see God. Not just experience His jarring jolts. We could begin to understand Him, his heart. . .His soul. God became visible. Then He left. Except this time the Father sent the Spirit. To INDWELL every Beliver. And that changed everything. No longer does the Father direct from the OUTSIDE. NOW OUR COMMUNICATION COMES INTERNALLY. THROUGH A STILL SMALL VOICE. AND IN ADDITION WE HAVE THE BIBLE. No more jolting log rides. And God doesnt have to depend on Dreams. He can birth dreams through the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Our ability to dream has NOT been diminished. It has been greatly enhanced! God will deliver His dream for your life in a fresh new way. BUT! You must be receptive. God will speak in a variety of ways to change the course of your life. Might be through the counsel of a friend. Through a sermon. Through circumstances. Through the church.

II. THE DREAM IS OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD. DONT BE DENIED. Verses 5-24.

Verse 5, And they hated him even more. Explain the coat etc. . . Not all that wise to share this dream. But hes not thinking about what they might think. The impact it had on them. Naive. Dreamers are often misunderstood. Verses 6-8. I want to say, Cmon Joe! Get some sense about you boy! As this story unfolds we will see that the dream of Joseph was a wonderful blessing to both his family and himself. But they couldnt see that now. They misunderstood. Very typical. Most people live with a negative bias. Much easier to criticize a plan than it is to pursue one. Inherently easier to say why something wont work than it is to believe it will. And yet every positive step ever made, inside the church ore out came over the bodies of those who were saying it cant or shouldnt be done. Expect to be misunderstood. ill. . .President Jacksons letter from Van Buren about the threat of railroads. ill. .. .In 1825 a new evangelist named Charles Finney had a dream of reaching people for Christ. To carry out this dream he implemented some exciting new technizues. New Measures, they called them. Listen to the response and criticism, (See Card).

SOMETIMES THE MISUNDERSTANDING TURNS TO OPEN RESISTANCE. Verses 12-24. Wow! If you want to be visionary expect that. Dont get mad. Just be aware. Most people cannot deal with dreams.

III. GOD IS DOING MORE THAN YOU CAN SEE. DONT BE DISCOURAGED. Verse 24.
Fulfilling the dream is not the main thing. Learning to trust God and relate to Him is. And so he will use that opposition to vision to shape and carve you into something special. At the same time, God has a bigger plan that goes beyond your concerns and issues. A larger playing board upon which you are but one piece. You cannot see. Your perspective is limited. So when things happen beyond your control you have to trust. Josephs brothers treated him terribly. But as we will see later, God used it to accomplish His specific plans. 1. The plan to put Joseph in Egypt where he could care for his family. 2. The plan to put Joseph over Egypt so he could care for the nation. 3. The plan to put Josephs people into Egypt so God could create a new nation. At the time he couldnt see any of that. One day he would. In the meantime he had to trust. CONCLUSION: What is your dream? What has God laid on your heart? Have criticism or doubts gradually stripped you of it? What is your dream for this church? Do you really believe God can do something wonderful here? Hold on to your dream.