what makes a great dreamer...

here in genesis 39 there are two key truths that show us how joseph was able to survive the setback.

1.   again and again we see that the LORD was with joseph and

2.   joseph was with the LORD.  joseph continued to trust in GOD, to say no to temptation because the eyes of GOD were upon him.  he tried to be faithful to GOD even in difficult situations. 

two things you and i need to remember.  some of you the reason you came to the front porch today was to hear these two things.  that’s why GOD brought you here. 

remember you will never find a place as a believer in CHRIST, where the LORD will not be with you.  never.  this isn’t just in the old testament.  you can pick up a new testament and turn it to romans 8, the last couple of verses where paul says, i’m convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of GOD which is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD.

nothing can separate us from HIS love.  you can never find a place where GOD won’t be with you. 

two, you and i as believers, we’ll never discover a place where faithfulness is impossible.  never. 

that’s the real truth of joseph's life.  he was faithful in his father’s house.  he was faithful in potiphar’s house.  he was faithful as a son.  he was faithful as a slave and then as a prisoner.  he had learned the secret of being faithful to his commitments no matter what.  that’s what makes a great dreamer.  that’s what makes a great GOD-given dream. 

just a thought from the front porch…

new levels of your potential…

when GOD called me to plant a church in las vegas, HE gave me a clear vision of the style it was to be.  over the 15 years i was there, i had many, many critical comments saying we should do different things.  people out of liturgical churches say, “why don't we say the LORD’s prayer and take communion every week?” people out of charismatic churches say, “why don't we speak in tongues and have healing lines and raise our hands?”  and people from fundamentalist churches say, “why don't we have a come-to‑the-front altar call and use hymnbooks?”  if i’d listened to every advice, we would have been a mess.  we would have been a hodgepodge of everything.  you can’t please everybody.  so you just have to say, “what does GOD want us to do?”

it says in romans 8.31 (niv), if GOD is for us, who can be against us?  the lie is that i’ve got to be approved by other people in order to feel good about myself.  that's not true.  the truth is i don’t need the approval of others to be happy.  if you can grasp that truth – if GOD be for us, who can be against us – it doesn't matter, you will be released to new levels of developing your potential.  put GOD in first place; put people in their place. 

i like the prayer from lloyd ogleby:  “secure in GOD’s love, i will not surrender my self-worth to the opinions and judgments of others.  when i’m rejected, i will not retaliate.  when i’m hurt i will allow GOD to heal me.  and knowing the pain of rejection, i will seek to love those who suffer from its anguish.” 

i like the first part –  “secure in GOD’s love, i will not surrender my self-worth to the opinions and judgments of others.”  if GOD be for us, who can be against us.

just a thought from the front porch…

the problem of envy is at a deeper level...

the bottom line on envy is this. when you’re envious, you’re in a battle with GOD. your problem really isn’t with the person you envy. your problem at a deeper level is with GOD. you resent GOD’s decision to bless somebody else. you accuse HIM of being unfair. when you are envious, your problem really is with GOD. you think GOD loves somebody else more than HE loves you, that GOD is playing favorites. you accuse him of that. you start building an entire case against GOD.

listen, GOD loves you as much as HE loves anybody else. HE doesn’t love anybody else more than HE loves you because HE loves us all unconditionally. it’s not like, “I can love them, but not love you.” no. HE does. and the bottom line is you need to learn to trust HIM.

GOD has a good reason why i don’t have what i want. do you think GOD is duty-bound to give you everything you want? HE’s not a slot machine. HE’s not a vending machine – you put in a little prayer and you get whatever you want.

you serve GOD; HE doesn’t serve you. GOD has a good reason why i don’t have the things in my life that i think i ought to have. because HE knows me better than i even know myself. i need to relax. i need to trust GOD. and i need to say, “GOD, YOU have a unique plan for my life, and i’m just going to trust YOU in this.”

you’ve forgotten how much HE loves you, how much HE has a plan that is just perfect for you and how life isn’t about things anyway. it’s not about material possessions. there’s a lot more important.

envy is the fever. doubting GOD is the infection. and any time you start envying, it’s because you’re doubting GOD. you need to fall in love with JESUS CHRIST again.

you need to trust GOD and trust in HIS love when life seems unfair.

just a thought from the front porch…

love is a commitment...

the bible says that love is a commitment. 1 john 4.16 says (cev), GOD is love. if we keep on loving others, we will stay one in our hearts with GOD and HE will stay one with us.

our relationship with GOD is largely affected by our relationship with other people. if we stay in love, then we will keep in one with our hearts with GOD, and HE’ll stay in one with us. because GOD is love.

notice the phrase, keep on loving. love keeps on. love is durable. love keeps on giving whether you like it or not. love keeps on keeping on. kind of like the energizer bunny. it keeps on giving, it keeps on loving, it keeps on going.

GOD is the only one who can give you a love that will last a lifetime. all other human love fails. it’s not strong enough. GOD’s love in your heart can help you through the inevitable test of your love.

my suspicion is that all of us need a lot of work in this area. i don’t know anybody who’s got this one down pat. we all have a lot of growing to do in mature love.

so how do you do it? how do you build a life of real deep love? how to get stated. there are some things that you can do this week that will help you get on the road to becoming a truly great lover, a truly great person of love. because this is what matters most in life.

one is learn how mature love acts and responds. personal change always begins with a change in perspective. it involves getting GOD’s perspective on what love is really like. because, as i said, the world knows nothing about real, deep love. get GOD’s perspective on what love is all about because GOD is love.

another is start your day with a daily reminder to love. the first 10 minutes of your day sets your entire mood for the rest of the day. if you’ll get up in the morning and say, “GOD, i just want to remind myself that the most important thing is love. loving you and loving other people.” if you’ll do that at the start of the day before you get busy, you pause and say, “help me to remember this because it’s so easy to forget. that if i don’t get anything else done today, if i just love YOU a little bit more, and i love the people that YOU put around me just a little bit more, this day has gone ok regardless of what else happens. whether i get anything else done in life or not, if i love YOU and i love other people today, this is not a wasted day.”

if you don’t do that, you’ll get halfway into your day and then comes the conflict or the crisis or the confrontation and all of these things, and you’re tempted to be unloving because you didn’t start the day with that in mind.

just a thought from the front porch…

where is GOD when you hit bottom?

ephesians 3.17-18 (niv), i pray that you will grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of CHRIST.

GOD's love is wide enough to include everybody…GOD's love is long enough to last forever…GOD's love is high enough to be everywhere.

and GOD's love is deep enough to meet my needs

psalm 40.11 (lb), my only hope is YOUR love for my problems are too big for me to solve and are piled higher than my head.

do you feel, i'm going under for the last time? i'm about to sink! the fact is GOD's love is not shallow. it's profound. no matter what problem you have, HIS love is deeper than that problem.

some of you are in deep despair, deep trouble, under deep stress, you've got deep problems, emotional problems, physical problems, financial problems. GOD's love is deeper still.

corrie ten boom and betsy ten boom were CHRISTians who lived in the netherlands. during the war they hid jews in their home to protect them from the nazis. and when they were discovered, not only were the jews taken to the concentration camp but corrie and betsy were taken to the concentration camp too and they spent their lives there during the war. corrie came out alive. but her sister was killed.

at one point in the movie where they had seen one atrocity after another, corrie says to betsy, “this place is the pit of hell!” betsy says, “there is no pit so deep that GOD's love is not deeper.”

some of you in the last few weeks and the last few months have possibly hit bottom. maybe financially and you think, “i am going broke!" or you've hit bottom emotionally or your marriage has hit bottom or you're having health problems and your health has hit bottom and you're frustrated and you think, “i am going under.” where is GOD when you hit bottom?

deuteronomy 33.27 (niv), the eternal GOD is your refuge and underneath you are HIS everlasting arms. notice it says, underneath you.

when you hit bottom guess who's underneath the bottom? GOD is. drop into HIS arms of love. let HIM catch you and support you when you have nowhere else to go.

just a thought from the front porch…

an attitdote for loneliness…

ephesians 3.17-18 (niv), i pray that you will grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of CHRIST.

GOD's love is wide enough to include everybody…GOD's love is long enough to last forever.

GOD's love is high enough to be everywhere

romans 8:39 (niv), neither height not depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of GOD that is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD.

there is no place that you can go where GOD's love isn't. you'll never be separated from GOD's love. nothing, no circumstance, no situation can separate you because GOD's love is everywhere.

if you want an antidote for loneliness, that's it. you will never be separated from GOD's love. the fact is we do lose loved ones. if you're married, one of you is going to die first. and you will grieve over that. but if you're a CHRISTian, you'll never be lonely, because you can tune into GOD's love. i'm not talking about religion, i'm talking about a relationship to JESUS CHRIST. HIS love lasts forever and HIS love is everywhere.

just a thought from the front porch…

HE still loves you...

we have been looking here on the front porch at what is GOD like, the attributes of GOD.

malachi 3.6 (niv) says, i the LORD do not change! HE is always the same. HE always has been; HE always will be. now that fact is what theologians call GOD's immutability which simply means GOD never changes.

because HE is perfect, HE can't get better and HE can't get worse therefore, HE'll never change. because we're imperfect we do change. everything else in creation changes except GOD. GOD never changes

that means that GOD's love for me never changes. and i need to remind myself of that. jeremiah 31.3 (niv), GOD says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. you were created to be loved by GOD. you are an object of GOD's love. GOD's love is consistent and it is continual.

one of the reasons we get frustrated with relationships is because people change. they're fickle. they change from one day to the next. “you're not the man i married!” or “my sweet child has become this rebellious teenager. i don't even recognize him any more.” unpredictable, inconsistent. that causes stress in our lives.

the bible says GOD always acts like himself. HE never changes. HE never acts out of character. psalm 119.159 (tev), YOUr love never changes, so save me!

nobody ever says, "what's got into GOD today?" GOD never changes. GOD is always himself.

so the point is i never need to doubt GOD's love. no matter what happens, no matter what i do, no matter what i feel, GOD's love for me never changes. romans 8.38 (niv), nothing will be able to separate us from the love of GOD.

you can go to bed tonight, get up tomorrow morning and GOD has not changed HIS mind about you while you were sleeping.

some days, i don't think i love anybody – my wife, my kids, my self. i'm grumpy, cranky, frustrated about things that haven't gone as planned. i just don't love anybody. but GOD never has bad days. HE's never moody, capricious or fickle. HE is always constant.

we always get into trouble when we doubt GOD's love. so when tragedy strikes or when we pray and don't get an immediate answer or when things don't go your way, just remember GOD's love for you hasn't changed one bit. that is a stabilizer in life.

just a thought from the front porch…

the only way to let go of the pain...

so who do you need to reconnect with? maybe you need to reach out. and you need to stop the pain.

why should i forgive them when they’ve hurt me so much? because GOD forgave you and because it’s the only way you’re going to get on with your life. it’s the only way you’re going to let go of the pain. for your own sake, forgive.

so what’s holding you back from doing that? what’s holding you back from reconnecting to that parent, that child, that brother, that sister, that ex, that husband or wife that you’re estranged with or separated from. you’re living in the same house but two different lives. what’s holding you back? fear? pride? resentment?

don’t you think you’ve carried the pain long enough? hasn’t it been enough time? all those things just prolong the pain. why don’t you take the initiative? why don’t you make the first step in honesty and in humility and in forgiveness?

you say, “i know this is the right thing to do but i don’t have the strength in me to do that.” that’s why you need JESUS CHRIST. you’re right, you don't. it takes GOD’s love in you to love the unlovely and to forgive those who’ve offended you. it takes GOD’s love in you to be humble and honest when you’re scared to death to deal with the issue and face it head on. you need JESUS CHRIST in your life.

if you’ve never invited CHRIST into your life why don’t you pray this prayer. just say it in your mind, “JESUS CHRIST, i need you to replace the pain in my heart with your love. replace the hurt with your healing. as much as i know how, JESUS CHRIST, i want you to be at the center of my life and give me the strength to do the right thing. i want to follow you from this day forward. help me to understand it more. thank you for forgiving me. now help me to have the power to forgive others who’ve hurt me. in your name, i pray. amen.”

just a thought from the front porch…