throughout the history of humanity. But God has preserved these stories for unique reasons that you and I might grasp and understand. We think in terms of faith, when we come to the New Testament, sometimes our faith is a little bit vague, it's a little bit uncertain, it's a little bit unclear to us, as to what this faith might look like. It's in the Old Testament that we gather stories that the beginning or the foundations of faith begin to be framed and shaped before us.
So when we see the examples of individuals who trusted God in spite of their circumstances, that too is the kind of faith that you and I ought to hold to, we ought to cherish and realize that this is the beginnings of putting our faith and trust in God, particularly when we don't always see the end results, we don't always understand what God is doing, the things that are taught here, fit together with the things that are taught over here. And then as we look throughout scriptures, we realize our faith becomes what is called defined. It has clarity, it has direction, it has some things to build our lives upon. Genesis chapter 39 will begin with verse 20 and read through 23.
Now, Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him, he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
Let's pray. Father, we pause before you because it appears to be a contradiction when the circumstances of our life do not seem to give us such quick freedom. And yet by faith we understand that as Joseph's confidence and trust in you increased in spite of his circumstances, you blessed him in the place that would seem to be a curse. That you've not only brought him through these experiences, but you fulfilled the dreams and purpose and plan for his life that you had from the very beginning.
We trust the Lord that as we keep growing, we keep learning, we keep experiencing life, as life comes our way, might we know with full assurance that you're a God who's in control. And you're not only a God that's in control, but you are the cause of bringing about a transformation that seemingly only can take place in the midst of challenging circumstances. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen. It's one thing to be held a prisoner behind bars.
It is another thing to be a prisoner held by our fears, and anxieties about the unknown, whether that has to do with our past, whether it has to do with our present, has to do with our future. That feeling of hopelessness and helplessness over the future or over the circumstances we go through is something the Bible continually communicates that the solution is, is our faith, our present faith in what God is attempting to do even today. Last week we considered that our integrity really matters, especially when we're going through tough times. Sometimes it seems when the trials and the hardships of life come that the answer is to run, the answer might be to walk away from our faith.
The answer might appear to be, I don't really need God unless God begins to do things the way I can see his hand at work. God is always working in our life, whether it feels good or uncomfortable. God is always at work in our life, whether it seems to be a pleasant valley or it seems to be a mountaintop experience. God is always at work in our lives when we have entered into a relationship with him.
God's able to strengthen us. He's able to provide a way of escape, and that's what we're longing to see, particularly what we're longing to see is how can God take us in the midst of where we're at and shape us into a kind of person that has a godly character, it has stability, it has an inner strength, even though circumstances might seem to go contrary to that. I know it's much more popular, it's much more appealing to promise you that there's a path to success, there's a path to victory that can bypass the hard difficult times in life. And yet when we follow the pattern of Jesus and we follow the patterns in which he established and talked, we're not gonna be exempt.
It's hard, it almost seems almost a letdown or discouragement, but when we look at the life of Joseph, his life begins with, he has a dream. And now we're going through the challenges that he had gone through and the experiences he went through, and he's still holding on to the God who has given it a dream, but ultimately the dream in fact is fulfilled, and God is able to accomplish his great purpose in his life. It's just this season right now that Joseph is going through, the season that maybe you and I are going through, and we wonder where is the God who gives these dreams? Where is this relationship that becomes rich and satisfying?
Lord, we like to believe that somehow, as soon as you get me through it, we can get back to living God's dream. There's a new phrase that goes around, I know Don likes to use it all the time. What is it? I'm living the dream.
I like to believe that living the dream is more than being on top of the world all the time. It's living the dream is exactly what you and I are living. It just may not look like it's in color. It might look more black and white than it might look a little discouraging, it might seem a little depressing, but the fact is, Don's right, you're living God's dream.
Now some of us might say I'd really like to trade this one in. And one of the greatest challenges in trusting God during the more difficult times in our lives is to hold on to a sense and purpose that God has a unique calling upon our lives that He is a purpose for us. And to allow our faith to rise above what seems to be the contradiction of what we might believe God's dream or purpose may be. We all have heard in Romans chapter eight, verse 28, that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God and those who are called according to His purpose.
Joseph's life is one of the clearest examples in scripture of how not only can God illustrate the sacred truth in the life of someone, but also He was the sum of the most powerful secrets on how you and I persevere in faith. We press on in a world of trust. We continue to move forward in spite of the fact that things seem to be holding us back. How do you move through those discouraging seasons?
How do you move through those times of disappointment? And how do we continue to walk faithfully when the tests of life might come away? Let's look at Genesis chapter 40 and pick up at verses one through eight. Genesis chapter 40 verses one through eight.
Now sometime later, the cup bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, they offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cup bearer and the chief baker and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph and he attended them after they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men, the king to fail on his own. God still gives dreams and He still believes that the dreams God gives you are not a waste of time.
Now some of us might write a way say, well, I've had dreams and they've never amounted to anything or I've heard other people have dreams. The focus is not how to crack the cold of dreams. The focus on the scripture is God is a dream giver and God has revealed to us His purpose and plan, His will, His ways to us in scripture. You and I need to humbly distinguish between the idea of a great dream and the reality of purpose and plan for your life.
We all know it would be much better to get something in full color. We all somehow have this fleshly side that says, that would be so cool. It would be somewhat similar to the fact when someone says, I really love to hear from God and we humbly say, buddy, wrote a book. And yet somehow there's this desire, I wanna hear something audibly, I want to hear something bigger, I want to hear something more flashy rather than learning to trust what God reveals to us.
That's His dream, it's His purpose for our lives. So we all come realizing God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose. That purpose is yours and its mind. It's the gift to all of those who are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God has a purpose, He's got a plan, He's got a dream, He's got a ministry for every single one of us. And we come and bring ourselves to this place. That the challenge though is the day of the dream, quite often is not the delivery of the good side of the dream. The journey that you and I take through is that God must change our lives and bring us to a place of usefulness and humbleness before He moves us into a place of effectiveness and being in front of people.
Quite often the journey that God takes when we take in terms of so many Bible characters, Moses wasted 40 years in the wilderness. Why didn't God speed up the process and say, Moses, we need to move you on, get you back to Egypt to set my people free. Why does David waste all these years being chased down by King Saul before he ultimately became the king? He was anointed to be.
Why is it that Joseph has to spend 13 years waiting around? Why is it that Abraham has to wait 25 years for a son in order for the promise to begin? We could go on and on and on and ask ourselves if anybody had to wait and it ought to be a big question mark is Jesus. 30 years old before his first miracle.
Why does he have to wait? Why should you and I have to wait? Once again, our desire is not getting the right answer. Our purpose is to get our hearts in the right place, to come before God and to allow the situations and circumstances of life to not cause us to look and consider that the dream has been shattered, but rather that our faith might be increased to keep looking to God rather than the dream itself.
Each and every one of us have been given a dream from God, even if we are unaware of that dream. And the unique purpose of God involves his plans for us, not simply 13 years or not simply 25 years or not down the road, but his purpose and plan for us starts today. And that's where our faith begins to find meaning and significance is that here is Joseph living out his dream, but he's still locked up. But the dream does not become ineffective.
He is ministering the whole time he's in prison and there is one of the keys that we ultimately want to look at. Just a few observations about that is it's, it's not for us to keep poking at God trying to figure out the dream. It's not for us to try to say, I've got to know what this dream means. We find that Joseph is willing to involve himself in praying to God on behalf of the cup bear and the baker is beginning to pray on behalf of even Pharaoh's dream, but we have no record of Joseph trying to say, Lord, but I want to know what my dream means.
Joseph has never introduced as one chasing his own dream, but rather he is trusting in the God who gives dreams. And it's important that you and I, when we look at our lives and we try to evaluate our direction and where God is leading us, is that we understand how to learn to be faithful as these Bible characters were faithful. And so we learn the experiences by following in their footsteps, we hold on to their kind of faith, their quality of faith, their perseverance of faith as we recognize these patterns. The second thing that Joseph not only trusted in God who not only gave him a dream, but he also trusted in God on behalf of the dreams of others.
We see that as the cup bear and the baker reveal their dreams, explain them, he says, by God is the originator of the dream. And God is the one who will interpret the dream. You can imagine he's in essence lost his dream. He's living his life, he was sold as a slave and he was taken into a home and mistreated, taken advantage of, falsely accused and he's still believing God is dream.
It would be easy attempting to say, you know what? I know you got a dream, but you better get over it because my dream has gone down the tubes. Like the God who promised these things, you can't trust. We find them, therefore, that as we consider the beauty of God's direction, his dream, his purpose, and plan for your life is that even though it may seem like we're taking a wrong turn on a dip in life, we must humbly recognize that our fates should encourage us to believe what God has revealed to us, he will fulfill.
He may not explain the details of what we're going through. He may not give us clear understanding about why we're going through the tough times, but one thing is sure, God's purpose and plan for your life and mine isn't going to change because of the circumstances that you and I go through. Notice in Genesis chapter 40 and verse eight. The cup bear and the baker, they say, we both had dreams, they answered, but there's a continue to stand out all through his life is his first number one priority and focus is, God hasn't changed.
God reveals, God interprets, God explains, God is going to see me through. And so you see this underlying confidence that even though someone else gets a dream, he says, God is the key. What you and I recognize about what carries us through some of the most discouraging, disappointing periods of life is that you and I choose to humbly believe and trust God regardless of what goes around us. That's not always easy.
It seems like our faith is greatly warmed when the temperature gets warm. And our confidence in God goes well when the things of life go well. And somehow we must recognize the beauty of individuals that have been developed in depth and quality and integrity is they humbly learn the secrets of believing against the odds. My challenge to each of us is to begin to make inventory relies and ask about where does our faith rely?
Does it rely on God because God has been good or does our faith rely on God because God is God? And we see that, to a prime example in Job's life, that he was committed to trusting believing and worshiping God, regardless of the circumstances, that sounds absolutely awful. But it's something that every one of us that's gonna be a chapter of our lives, or our faith is going to come to a place where it's either in God or it's in his handout. It's either in God as he who he is as a person or it's what he might give or we believe he's promised to give.
The beginning of a life of pursuing purpose and faithfulness to God cannot be dependent on the weather that's constantly changing. It cannot be based upon the circumstances of our life and we see that clearly in the life of Joseph. Another lesson that we must learn about trust in God is that he gives us all a dream. It might be easy to believe that, well, some people get these dreams, some people understand purpose and plans for their lives, some people seemingly are given insight in the direction of our lives, but then we wonder can we put faith and trust in him?
Look at Genesis chapter 40, verses 12 through 15. This is what it means, Joseph said to him, the three branches are three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position. And you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand, just as he used to do.
He's may not always go as well as we thought the dream kind of pointed towards, but it's very difficult when somebody takes advantage of you or does not bail you out when God is supposed to be blessing your life. As we think in many times of a relationship with God, we might be tempted to think that God has forgotten us. We go to the seasons that are dry, we go to the seasons that don't make sense, we go through these valleys of despair and we wonder, does God remember us? What gets complicated is when other people also forget about us.
They let us down. Part of the trying times in our lives, part of the testings of life is that it might be easy to blame. If that's the way Christians treat me, I'm out of here. We've all heard the arguments.
If that's the way God's people act and I don't wanna follow God, Joseph clearly illustrates. He reminds us he demonstrates. Just because people forget us doesn't mean God does. Just because people let us down doesn't give us an opportunity to say forget you God, that would be absolutely foolish.
When we continue to keep before ourselves, the purpose that God has for our lives and we continue to be faithful, we understand that this is part of the challenges we all go through. We go through common times and seasons in which the dream is over here and the life that God might be taking us through for the season is pointing in that direction. Can we trust God in that season of transformation? In the times when people let us down, we learn quite confidently that God will never leave us or forsake us.
But it doesn't always look like God and family, friends, supporters are always on the same team. We may wonder where is this earthly support? Where is this encouragement that people ought to be offering? We could spend time looking in the scriptures and constantly realize God doesn't forget us.
He always remembers us. It's just as valleys we go through. We may wonder sometimes where is the goodness and the favor of God. We're gonna jump ahead as we think in terms.
I just realize that as we know these things, the more that you and I contemplate the faithfulness of God, the more that you and I take inventory of our lives and realize the goodness and blessing that God has provided for us yesterday, we'll be assurance that God will continue to meet our needs tomorrow. Another thought we need to see that allows us to grow now, this is what we're really looking at, is how can you benefit by being stuck in a land or area that is less than God's purpose and plan for your life? What can we learn through the times of trying, the challenges of life, what is it that Joseph's life can demonstrate to us and teach us? Genesis chapter 40, we'll look at verses four through seven once again, Genesis chapter 40 verses four through seven.
Now the captain in the guard is signed to them, Joseph. And he attended them after they had been in custody for some time, each of these two men, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison, had a dream, the same night and each dream had a meaning of its own. When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh's officials who were in custody with him in his master's house, why are your faces so sad today?
Many times that when we go through these seasons of discouragement, these times of testing, these trials, our faith sometimes gets a real shake down. We may not be overly confident in what God is currently doing. We may question about the goodness, the favor of God, but what's important that Joseph teaches us is even though his dreams were not seemingly being fulfilled, he still put faith that God is working in their lives. Not only did he trust that God is still in control, he took an opportunity to minister in the midst of his pain.
That's probably one of the hardest lessons to learn when you and I are going through our down seasons of life, when you and I may be feeling overwhelmed or discouraged, is ministry gets set aside so that we can feel sorry for ourselves. Or we can spend a lot of time praying that God would remove the obstacles and we get focused on getting to the other side. One of the most powerful lessons that we can learn as our lives are being shaped and transformed by God is even in the midst of prison, he's got a prison ministry. Even in the midst of his pain, he understands what it's like to get a dream and not see it fulfilled by tomorrow.
He understands that his faith is so much more than believing in the existence of God. He believes that God will reward those who diligently seek him. He continues to press on. One of the hard things when we talk about dreams, when we talk about purpose and calling, as many people get in their mind, oh it's this ministry down in the road.
Joseph teaches us the ministry is already today. If we're here today and we've been following God and we've been attempting to serve him and trust him, the question becomes is what ministries are we involved in today? What ministry are we allowing ourselves to be available at this moment? How are we making ourselves or availing ourselves to be used to God in the midst of the hardships, the trials of tragedies?
We could pray, God just give me through this and then I'll begin. The scriptures seem to clearly indicate that the ministry of Joseph was one in which he's going to serve somebody else's dream while he himself has to wait. It's a tough lesson, but it's precious. It's precious because it touches upon integrity.
It touches upon the deep character in which God wants to shape in our lives, as being faithful in the midst of circumstances that we might even wonder about the faithfulness of God. This is the depth that comes out to the man of Joseph. He is being faithful. He's ministry and he's availing himself in spite of what might be going around in terms.
Turn with me to Colossians chapter four and verse five. It's just one of these principles that is built upon that overflows into the New Testament. Colossians chapter four and verse five. Be wise in the way that you act toward outsiders.
Make the most of every opportunity. Some of us might be dreaming about tomorrow someday. You might dream about, yes, I get through this portion of life then maybe I can get back and start thinking more about how I can get connected to God and be used to God and be available to God. The purpose is that integrity is what is shaped when the seasons are not as sweet and we discover that God can use us right where we're at.
And that's something we continually learn and we grow and we develop. Once again, when we go back to Genesis chapter 39. We've seen the life of Joseph, an individual who has quite a quality of depth to his life. He has been shaped, he's been honed, he's been polished by the difficulties of life but he continually not just holds on to the idea that I have a dream, he holds on to the truth, that there is a dream-giver who is directing my life.
There is one who has called each and every one of us and he is leading us and moving us throughout life in the direction he wants us to go. And so it's important to recognize that in the midst of the difficult times is where our faith is intended to probably flourish at its deeper levels, as a kind of faith that rises above when the sun is shining and there's a kind of faith that really gets rooted and deep in the dry seasons of life. And that's what the Psalmist talks about, about meditating upon God's words. It's the root system that goes deep that we realize can develop through the more challenging difficult times of life.
Another thing that we need to recognize is that it's close to the last point we looked at is that the place that you and I are most likely at today is probably the place we ought to be today. We have a tendency to always look tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow things are gonna open up, things are gonna happen. Look at Genesis chapter 39, verses 20-23, some of the verses we started with. Genesis 39, 20-23.
Now, granted we all would like to see better days, we always like to see things work out nicer, things fit together, things are giving us a place where we can get out of this prison and get on with life. Notice here in verses 20-23 of Genesis chapter 39. Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, but while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him. He showed him kindness, granted, and favor in the eyes of the prison, warden so that the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison.
And he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. He not only had a prison ministry, God was put upon his life a unique favor. He had blessed Joseph in so many ways that in spite of his condition and circumstances, he still experiencing the blessing and favor of God.
Ultimately, the dream givers in 10 is to allow you and I to clearly understand that favor is the dream. The blessing of God is the dream. And to live in a way and a relationship with God is to live the dream. It's to know that God is with me, that God is leading me, that God is directing me, in spite of the circumstances, the danger in dreaming about someday, about when we get out of prison, and when we can thrive, and when we can excel, is often many of the opportunities that God has presented to us are missed right here.
Wherever you work at right now, wherever you live at right now, wherever your situations are right now, we might be dreaming about the day when all this is passed, and we lose sight of the dream that right now, the favor of God in your life is for the people right all around us. Joseph understood that the way integrity is deep and the way characters shaped, the way that you and I ultimately become useful to the cause of God is to live today. The dream has already begun. His purpose of plan for your life is already in place, that where we are at is where we ought to be, to be faithful where we're at, to be useful to that ministry is right here where we're at.
Let's turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 14. John, chapter 14. Again, we think in terms of dreams, we talk about God's will and plan for our life, there's something that sort of teases us with the idea that, boy, I wish I could know what it is, I wish I could get there someday. I wish I could get to this place where, yeah, I'd be right where God wants me to be.
And yet it seems like in the Joseph's story, you already there, okay, we need to understand that. Now, God, it's not to say that Joseph was going to stay in prison the rest of his life, we learned from the story that the greater fulfillment of the dream is down the road. But he's already got, you know, realized the dream was about his brother's bowin' down to him, but he's got the whole prison system bowing down to him. He's already a ruler, he's already being used of God, he's already being a minister to other people.
And that's the beauty of, in the fulfillment of the growing years of our dream, is God already is blessing us by putting his favor upon us today. In John chapter 14, we look at verses five and six. Now, the background to this is Jesus has just indicated to his disciples, I mean, these disciples trust Jesus with everything. And he begins the chapter by saying, I'm leavin', I'm skippin' town, but I'm gonna give you the keys to the key.
You can imagine, they have completely trusted and relied not only on the person of Christ, but they trust and relied on the unique presence of Christ in their life. Jesus says, I'm about to leave, but you'll be okay. Notice in verses five and six, Thomas says to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going. So how can we know the way?
Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. Dreams, you and I, we got dreams if you're with us, everything's gonna work, we got dreams that when you put your hand to blessing upon us and you're right there with us, everything is gonna be great and we strive, we work hard, we want Jesus right there. He begins to communicate the life of faith that he's called us to, he's a lot more like Joseph than it is for those three years that he was there. The assurance is he's not leaving them, he's going to be with them and this is how he communicates it further in verse 15.
If you love me, you will obey what I command and I will ask the Father, he'll give you another counselor to be with you forever. The spirit of truth, the world cannot accept him because it neither sees him, notice it or knows him, but you know him for he lives with you and he will be in you. It's important to understand that the dream giver, as much as it seems like trying times where the dream is less than he seemingly promised or intended, his presence is still with us by means of his Holy Spirit. And the direction of life, the fulfillment of the dream is to trust in the person of Jesus.
He's the way, he's the truth, he's the life. And so we experience his indwelling life within us, the dream is now in you. The calling upon your life is in you. The direction of your life is in you.
And to live as if you are walking and living and dwelling right there in the dream, the big key is are we being faithful right here? Are we being faithful right now? Are we reaching out and ministry opportunities in this time and in this place? We can keep anticipating one day this dream is going to come to me.
And I'll finally get to the place where God might use me. Learning to be faithful today is a secret to being assured that if God's dream looks a little bigger or greater or different tomorrow, he will take us from here to there. But today is a time of learning, a time of growing, a time where integrity is shaped and our character is formed and is a time of faithfulness right now. One more thought we want to turn to before we close here for chaining to these seasons of growth is going back to Genesis chapter 41.
Genesis chapter 41. And I want to look at verses 15 and 16. Pharaoh said to Joseph, "'I had a dream no one can interpret it, "'but I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, "'you can interpret it. "'I cannot do it,' Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "'but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.
"'Sometimes trials can beat us down. "'Sometimes disappointments can do the best to us. "'Sometimes when people forget us, "'they forget to tell someone else to set us free "'and we're stuck in prison. "'Sometimes the challenges and the testings of life, "'the trials do such a number to our faith "'that we might find ourselves very tempted to walk out "'and say forget it to God.
"'But there's also opportunities for your faith "'to be restored, there's opportunities "'for your faith to rise once again. "'One thing Joseph teaches us is when he hears "'the dream of someone else. "'He is both humble and yet bold. "'He is both keenly aware that it's not him, "'but God is able.
"'The hardest thing in life is to maintain "'the beauty of a balanced heart that walks in humility "'before God and yet confidence in God's leading. "'So often we can find example upon example "'throughout scripture and in life, "'where some have such a boldness in one area, "'that it's an arrogance and others. "'Their faith drops from humbleness into low self-esteem. "'Our faith begins to deplete.
"'We need the beauty of the decision today, "'and I trust that each and every one of us "'might assuredly come to a place and say, "'God, not only just help me to remember the dream "'and purpose for my life, or at least the direction "'it's going of following Christ, "'but give me the courage to treat the sacred extremes "'in one hand. "'Can we humble ourselves and know that God has a dream "'for lives, but can we be bold and speak it "'so that somebody else gets blessed? "'Can we humbly come to a place where we know "'that God is completely in control, "'that he knows and cares and loves and is going to nurture us, "'but can we also pray with confidence "'that God's hand will be upon someone else? "'We get caught quite often being consumed "'with how God's going to take care of us.
"'Joseph clearly teaches us by giving away the promises, "'the blessings, the assurance of what God can do "'for someone else will carry us through "'in the needs we have for ourselves. "'Father, we are humbled by the consistent reality of truth "'found all through your word. "'We know that you're more than able, Lord, "'it's just that we wonder sometimes "'whether you would give us the desires of our heart. "'But we pray, O God, that is your desire is to bless us.
"'Teach us how to be faithful until the sun shines once again. "'Teach us how to be confident and assured "'that you will see through the purpose and plan for our lives, "'teaches most importantly that we're wherever we're at. "'When you dwell within us, we can minister "'to other people in their needs. "'Teach us, Lord, as we follow the life of Joseph, "'that the quality of life, the depth of life, "'the richness of life, quite often is found in places "'that we would not choose for ourselves.
"'But teach us, Lord, how to lift ourselves "'in face to you in Jesus name, Amen.'" God bless you, have a great day, and we look forward to seeing you again.