let’s pray…

joseph to his brothers – genesis 50.20 (niv), you intended it to harm me.  but GOD intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done the saving of many lives. 

who would you rather be in this story?  the brothers or joseph?  everyone wants to be joseph but it took him thirty years of faith decisions to get to this point.  GOD intended it for good.  he had GOD’s perspective on his circumstances.                      

that’s a great dream manager, someone who prays for that and looks for that.  you want to take charge of your circumstances?  recognize who’s in charge of your life.  do you want to be the kind of person who can manage things and come in and take control where it’s needed?  then recognize that GOD is the one who’s in control.  that’s how we manage GOD-given dreams.

you may be managing a GOD-given dream right now and i challenge you if you are.  if you’re a parent, you are managing a GOD-given dream.  if you’re married, you’re managing a GOD-given dream.  if you’re in ministry – you’re managing a GOD-given dream. 

let’s pray…

LORD, right now as we pray, would YOU bring to our minds not the dreams that haven’t happened – that’s easy for us to think about – but the ones that either are being fulfilled or have been fulfilled.  bring to our minds not what’s so easy for us to think about – what YOU’ve chosen not to do in our lives.  bring to our minds instead, we pray right now, what YOU are choosing to do.  LORD, help us to see what the next step is.  even if it’s waiting, help us to wait with faith.  with a sense of tenacity that’s GOD-given, that shows the world around us what YOU’re like. 

the truth is a lot of us are waiting on dreams right now.  there are also a lot of people who are managing GOD-given dreams.  LORD, help us not to take those dreams for granted.  many are parents.  it’s so easy, LORD, to take that for granted.  instead of that, would YOU help us to look to YOU?  would YOU make us great by taking YOUr dreams that YOU’ve placed in our lives and glorifying YOU with them.  we admit it, LORD.  we need YOU, we depend on YOU just as joseph did.  we can’t do this on our own.  we’re not in the place of GOD.  and LORD, i pray with all faith and deep belief in the power of GOD to do this. 

i pray, JESUS, for each of us today that when we get to the end of our lives, the end of our dreams, we’ll be able to look back even at the bad that happened and we’ll be able to say with joseph, “they may have intended it for bad but GOD used it for good to accomplish HIS purpose in my life.”  LORD, i pray that this wouldn’t just be a verse in the bible for us that we read.  i pray that this would come true in our lives.  and that moment, whether it’s a year or ten years or seventy years from now, that moment would be a part of the blessing of each one of our lives.  i pray this with faith believing that YOU can do it.  in JESUS’ name.  amen. 

just a thought from the front porch…

it still is GOD’s move…

dream managers pass the dream on.  they pass it on to someone else. 

that’s what genesis 48 and 49 are all about.  in genesis 48 you see the blessing of ephraim and manasseh.  in 49 you see the blessing of the twelve sons of jacob.  have you caught on that the twelve sons of jacob are going to become the twelve tribes of israel?  every time you read about the tribes you’re just reading about a family that started back here. 

but have you ever wondered why there was no tribe by the name of joseph?  joseph got a double blessing.  his two sons would become tribes.  there is a tribe of ephraim and there is a tribe of manasseh.  that’s the reason.  they each get a blessing.  they have the dream passed on.

in genesis 48 as manasseh the oldest and ephraim were blessed they’re sitting in front of jacob to get this blessing that joseph wants them to get.  remember jacob was the younger son.  joseph was a younger son.

genesis 48.12-14 (msgg),  joseph took them from israel’s knees and bowed respectfully, his face to the ground. then joseph took the two boys, ephraim with his right hand setting him to israel’s left, and manasseh with his left hand setting him to israel’s right, and stood them before him. but israel crossed his arms and put his right hand on the head of ephraim who was the younger and his left hand on the head of manasseh, the firstborn.

so ephraim is going to get the greater blessing.  why?  because GOD knew who was to get the greater blessing.  the blessing is GOD’s not jacobs.  so HE moves israel to cross his arms and once again the younger gets the blessing.

if you feel like GOD can’t bless your life because of some circumstance of your birth, some circumstance of your life, the book of genesis says that’s not true. 

just a thought from the front porch…

joseph testing his brothers...

joseph has this test.  genesis 42.25-28 (niv),  joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man’s silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. after this was done for them, they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left. at the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. “my silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “here it is in my sack.” their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “what is this that GOD has done to us?”

that’s guilt twenty years later, unresolved guilt!  if you’re feeling that way every time something goes bad, get HIS forgiveness.  you don’t have to feel that, “GOD’s punishing us or what is this that GOD has done to us?”

so they go back to israel.  they eat the food.  they run out of food and they have to go back to egypt, the second journey.  joseph meets up with them again and gives them some food again.  and benjamin’s there.  genesis 43.15-16 (niv), so the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and benjamin also. they hurried down to egypt and presented themselves to joseph.  when joseph saw benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon.”

so they have this great meal together.  joseph says, “let’s have the youngest served more food than anybody else – five times as much as anyone else’s.  then when they leave, let’s take some silver cup and put it in benjamin’s sack and let’s see what happens.”  they do that and they send them off.  they leave and they find this silver cup in benjamin’s sack.  genesis 44.11-34 (niv), each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.  then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. and the cup was found in benjamin’s sack. at this, they tore their clothes. then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.  

here’s the test: what are they going to do with the youngest?  perfect opportunity to throw him into the pit.  here’s the answer: joseph says, “what is this you have done?  you know that a man like me can find things out by divination.”  “what can we say?”  judah replied.  “how can we prove our innocence?  we are your slaves.”  joseph said, ‘i can’t do that.  only the man who was found to have my cup will become my slave.  the rest of you go back to your father in peace.” 

then listen to what judah says, please, let your servant speak.  don’t be angry, though you’re equal to pharaoh himself.  we’ve told you we have an aged father.  he’s going to die if we don’t bring our youngest back….  your servant, our father said, “you know that my wife bore me two sons.  one of them went away from me

what do you think joseph thought when he heard that?  and i said he’s surely been torn to pieces and i’ve not seen him since.  if you take this one from me too, harm will come to me.  …   so now, if the boy is not with us when i go back to your servant, my father is going to die.  your servant has guaranteed this boy’s safety…  please let your servant remain as my lord’s slave in place of the boy and let the boy return with his brothers.  how can i go back if the boy isn’t with me?’” 

that’s a long story that would make a great hollywood movie.  it’s told very quickly but it’s told for the ending.  judah says, “take me instead!”  years later, JESUS was going to say, “take me instead!” and HE died on the cross for us.  judah said, “i’ll be the slave in his place.”  JESUS released us from slavery.  judah is a forerunner of JESUS.

just a thought from the front porch…

the faith steps for dream to reality…

we do not know how to make the step from dream to reality.  we don’t know what to do when we get right to the edge of our dream.  even if we’ve had the dream for years and years, sometimes, when we get right to that moment when GOD wants to do something, when GOD wants to do the miracle that brings the dream about, often it’s at that very moment that we stumble.  

if you take a close look at joseph's life in genesis 40-41-42, you discover how his faith played a part in his dream becoming a reality.  how do you get dreams to come true?  that’s what we’re asking.  how do dreams come true?  how do dreams happen? 

it’s more than just sitting back and letting GOD’s dreams happen to you. HE’s going to let your faith – HE’s going to demand that your faith – play a part in those dreams happening.  there are some practical faith steps that you and i can see in joseph's life that let us know what to do when we get right to the edge of a dream.  how do you receive a dream? 

first of all.  joseph had wisdom.  he knew the right time to act.  wisdom enabled him to act at the right time.  remember joseph’s in prison and GOD does something. 

genesis 40.1-4 (msg), as time went on, it happened that the cupbearer and the baker of the king of egypt crossed their master, the king of egypt. pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the head cupbearer and the head baker…

these were very high, exalted positions.  it doesn’t sound like much to us but if you had anything to do with food for the pharaoh you were a very trusted person because one of the main ways you could kill a pharaoh in that day was to poison the food.  these were very trusted people.

…and put them in custody under the captain of the guard; it was the same jail where joseph was held. the captain of the guard assigned joseph to see to their needs.

what joseph does in relationship to them is very important.  verses 4-7.  after they had been in custody for a while, the king’s cupbearer and baker, while being held in the jail, both had a dream on the same night, each dream having its own meaning. when joseph arrived in the morning, he noticed that they were feeling low. so he asked them, the two officials of pharaoh who had been thrown into jail with him, “what’s wrong? why the long faces?”

doesn’t that amaze you?  if i were joseph and i saw somebody else unhappy, with all i’d been through, i’d think, “great!  somebody else can be miserable with me!”  but here’s somebody who recognizes somebody else’s need and continues to care for people in prison.  he continues to serve people in prison. 

i think he may have had some wisdom here.  he knew who these people were.  it may be more than just his niceness.  he knew that GOD may be able to use his relationship with them in some way and GOD is going to do that. 

just a thought from the front porch…

live the dream…

joseph in genesis in the old testament moved from israel on a quick journey with some slave traders down to egypt where he’s sold into slavery to a man named potiphar.  joseph is on an elevator.  but the elevator only has one button and it says “down”.  and every time he pushes the button he goes down.  he meets his bothers and he’s thrown down into a pit.  his brothers sell him down into slavery.  every move in his life is a downward move. 

he’s got to be thinking, “GOD, don’t you have any other buttons?  i’d like one more button to push!”  it’s down, down, down.  he’s waiting for the dream and as he’s doing so he’s feeling like his life is on the way down.

what do you do during those times of life?  you feel GOD’s given a dream in my life as a parent, GOD’s given a dream in my life for marriage, GOD’s given a dream in my life for a ministry to make a difference in this world but every time i push the button it seems like i’m moving the wrong way.  how do you handle those times of life?  joseph shows us.  GOD’s put HIS story into HIS word so you and i can face those times of life that all of us have to face.  what do i do? 

for one you live the dream.  even on the way down, even when it doesn’t seem like it’s real, you live the dream even though you don’t see the dream. 

oftentimes what we do is we give up, we feel like it’s going the wrong direction, it’s destroyed and the dream starts to fade.  joseph didn’t do that.  GOD had given into his life a dream to be a leader.  he’s sold into slavery and he’s in the household of a man named potiphar and before long what does he become in that household?  he becomes the leader of all the slaves in that household. 

that’s not GOD’s eventual dream for his life but even there as a slave he was living the dream.  even though he didn’t see the dream. joseph shows us how to live the dream even when we don’t see it. 

just a thought from the front porch…

a dream to motivate our life…

we have been looking for awhile here on the front porch at a man named Jacob from the old testament but we are now going to look at one of his son’s whose name was joseph.

if you start to read in genesis 37 about joseph's life you’ll find out that he’s a very different man than his father jacob.  jacob was a schemer.  joseph was a dreamer.  that’s the difference.  they’re very different people.  

now we look at jacob and think, “that’s me.  those are the things i face in my life.  that’s the struggles i’ve been through.” but you’re not going to feel quite the same way about joseph.  we all relate to jacob but we can all be inspired by joseph. jacob is a person we look at and say, “that’s where i am.”  joseph is a person we look at and say, “that’s where i’d like to be.”

we all need a dream to motivate our life.  have you ever felt, “i know what’s right to do.  i know what i should be doing.  but i just don’t feel like doing it today.”?

some of you need to hear GOD speaking a dream into your heart beyond your present expectation of what HE can do in your life.  you need HIM to just explode the idea of what HE could do in your life.  others of you need to recognize the dream that’s right around you.  some of you parents, your GOD-given dream, believe it or not, is your kids.  what you do in their lives and what you give into their lives, GOD’s going to change the world through them.  you need to recognize the GOD given dream that’s right there.

joseph.  genesis 37.5-8 (msg), joseph had a dream. when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. he said, “listen to this dream i had. we were all out in the field gathering bundles of wheat. all of a sudden my bundle stood straight up and your bundles circled around it and bowed down to mine.”  his brothers said, “so! you’re going to rule us? you’re going to boss us around?” and they hated him more than ever because of his dreams and the way he talked.

there are some immediate reactions to the dream.  he has the dream and the first thing he does is shared the dream.  that’s a reaction.  that’s what many of us want to do.  as soon as we get a GOD given dream we want to share it with anyone and everyone, especially with somebody who was in the dream like joseph’s brothers. 

not a good idea!  but we often make this mistake.  we share the dream with the wrong people at the wrong time.  even when it’s a GOD-given dream. 

we’re so excited about it and we just want somebody to know.  we share the dream with the wrong people at the wrong time and all of a sudden they immediately start to try to quench the dream in our lives.  if it’s a GOD given dream, it’s going to last.  have you ever had that experience of somebody trying to quench your dream? 

just a thought from the front porch…