Greg Ford - Lemonade Worth Waiting For
Welcome to the Power of One. I wanna share a message with you today from a character in the Old Testament by the name of Joseph. Joseph’s an interesting guy because we have a lot of writing about his family. We know a lot about his grandfather and his father and what we do know about their family is that there was a lot of dysfunction. In fact, you’ll see that there were certain things that his dad did to his brothers that his grandfather did to him. And it was things you’d think you wouldn’t want to repeat but they did. And so, here’s Joseph taking all of these broken pieces and all of this confusion and tryna get himself clear, so he can live the best life he can. Does that sound familiar? That’s how I feel. I’m tryna take all take all of the things that I’ve been through and walked through and learn from them. Give them to the Lord, learn from his word, so that I can make the most of my life. So, let’s get into God’s word, let’s learn from God through Joseph right now, check it out.
Last week, we started talking about the downline that came before Joseph, his grandfather, or his great-grandfather, his grandfather, and his father, and we saw there was some behaviors that sorta cascaded down and now, they made their way to Joseph and Joseph comes to a place where he goes, «Look, I can’t control what my great-grand parents, and my grandparents, and my parents did, but now it’s my time and I’ve got to do with my life, you know, what I believes the right thing to do and some things need to stop with me». And we see actually Joseph’s father, Jacob, went through a painful experience where his father preferred his brother over him, which you would think would have such an effect.
You go, «I’ll never do that to my kids». You’d almost think you’d make a point to do it. But to say, «I won’t do that». But Jacob ended up sorta complicating his life. He had four wives, 12 sons and he selects his son Joseph to be his favorite, he gives them these special gifts. He makes it very clear and plain that Joseph’s is his favorite. And so now, his 11 sons feel jealous and alienated and it creates dysfunction. So, he does the exact same thing that was done to him and yet we see Joseph. What’s he gonna do with his life?
Here we go, Genesis 37, we’re gonna start with verse 5, says, «One night, Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever». «Hey, listen to this dream,» he said, «We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain and suddenly, my bundle stood up and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine'». How many of you know, that’s really gonna help the jealousy and the family dysfunction, you know. «Crazy dream I had, I don’t know what it means».
Verse 8, «Brothers responded, 'Oh, so you think you’ll be our king, do you'? 'Do you actually think you’ll reign over us'? And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way that he talked about them». I want you to catch that, we’re gonna come back to that in a moment. Not just his dreams, but it said the way he talked about them. Joseph had a little swagger too, not just the way he heard the story, but the way he told the story. And it rubbed them the wrong way. Verse 9, «Soon Joseph had another dream,» and again, and he told his brothers about it, «'listen, I’ve had another dream, ' he said, 'the sun, moon and 11 stars bowed low before me'». Let’s pray:
Lord, I pray in Jesus' name, you would give me the ability to speak your word, give me an ability beyond my own, Lord, I’m not able to change anybody but you are, with you all things are possible so, God I pray that you would cause your word to come alive, that through the power of your Holy Spirit, you would bring customized application to each opened heart. And Lord, we will be careful to be not just hearers of your word but doers of your word, in Jesus' name, and all God’s people said, «Amen».
Hey, let’s go back to Joseph, you know, he’s 17 years old and he’s got this dream, this impression in his mind and it’s like, symbolic. There’s bundles of grain bowing down and his is standing up and like, what does that mean? And clearly, it’s something having to do with some kind of empowerment and some kind of leadership, but it’s like bundles of grain bowing down. It’s like have you ever had a weird dream and you trying to tell somebody about it and you feel weird, you’re like, «I don’t know, man, I was running through a field with no shoes and then I was falling down a waterfall and then I woke up in Vegas». You know, you’d be like, «Sound like an acid trip». You’re like, «I know, man, it was a… I don’t know, man, it’s a… I don’t know what it means». He’s like, «Yeah there’s these bundles of grain».
Okay, then he’s like, «Yeah, and then the sun, moon, and stars bowed down». And yet, he senses deeply, believes deeply that this is a message from God, it’s sort of a symbolic message. And especially in the Old Testament, God will often use dreams, and yet you’re going, «I’m on a mission to follow God’s purpose and it has something to do with bundles of grain and sun, moon, and stars bowing down. I don’t know, man, what does that, like, am I supposed to be farmer, am I supposed to be a supposed to be a science teacher, astronomer? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do».
And so, the fear of not getting it right is there. And then you have Joseph, right? Who has this dream, he starts telling people about it, and even his own dad sorta scolds him, he’s like, «Dude, that’s kinda grandiose, okay? Sun, moon, and stars bowing down? Calm down». And it upset his brothers, and his brothers sell him into bondage. So immediately after he articulates his dream, his life goes sideways. If you’ve ever had… When I say, «Dream,» I don’t just mean what happens in the rem cycle, I’m talking about a vision in your mind’s eye of your life and where you’re sense God taking you. And then, it goes from that, to like everything goes wrong. He goes into 14 years of hell. He’s sold into slavery and yet he does the… We’re gonna talk about this in a couple weeks, like the process of development that God brought him through. But Joseph, my goodness, keeps landing on his feet. This dude, you can’t keep him down. Whatever they do with him, he bounces back, okay?
So, he goes into slavery and he’s sold into the home of Potiphar, who’s wealthy and had a bunch of businesses and a big estate, and Joseph comes in with the right attitude and he’s like, «Man, this is great, you know, I could have been sold to anybody but what an opportunity». And so, Potiphar promotes him to the top of his business, he’s essentially the vice president of his business. And so, he’s running the show, and he’s doing the systems and processes and he’s got the infrastructure and he’s building this thing out, and while it happens, he catches the eyes of Potiphar’s wife, is eyeballing him and she throws herself at him and Joseph’s is like, «No, no, no, no». He’s like, «I’m not going to do that to Potiphar, I’m not going to do that to God, that’s not where I wanna go». And so he rejects her and as she’s spurned, she decide to lie, said, «He tried to rape me».
So Potiphar became angry and so now, Joseph, who has turned his lemons into lemonade once, gets thrown in prison. So now he’s in prison falsely accused. He actually not only did he not did the wrong thing, he did the right thing and got thrown into prison for doing the right thing. So here he is in prison, and in prison instead of taking six months of self-loathing and going, «God, how could you»? «You see what I’ve been doing, what happened to my dreams»? He goes in and he starts being productive in prison to the point that he curries favor with the warden. They put him in charge of the other inmates. So, here you have an inmate running the other inmates. Truly, the inmate’s running the prison.
And so, while he’s there, then most peculiar thing happens when you think about it in context. These two people come to Joseph, and they’ve been having weird dreams, and they’re like, «I don’t know what these dreams mean». These two people, they both reported directly to Pharaoh, Pharaoh got angry with them, them in prison, one of them was a cup bearer, the other was a baker. They come to Joseph, they’re like, «Yo, we have these dreams, we don’t know what they mean». Joseph said, «You know, I’m just a dude but if you tell me your dream, I’ll pray and if God gives me anything, I’ll give it to you».
And so, the cup bearer’s like, «Yeah, I’ve been having this dream,» tells him. And Joseph said, «God gave me the translation of your dream,» he said, «Basically, you’re gonna get out in three days, you’re gonna be restored to your position, things are about to go really great for you». And he’s like, «Really»? He’s like, «Yeah, man». And then the baker he’s like, «Well, that’s cool man, what about mine»? And he tells him his and Joseph goes, «You wanna know»? He’s goes like, «Yeah, man, of course, I wanna know, man, give me the news». He goes, «In three days, you’re gonna get out and they’re gonna kill you». Like, «What»? «Yeah, they’re gonna impale you, man, you’re gonna be impaled in three days». Like, «Get ready». He’s like, «Are you sure that you got that one right»? «I’m positive dude, so, God bless you, man».
And then he goes, he’s like, «You know, I don’t need anything from you, I don’t need anything from you». And then he goes over to the cup bearer and he said, «Look, when you get out of here, don’t forget I helped you,» he’s like, «I’m in here, I was falsely accused, I didn’t do anything, so if you get out, if any way you can help me out, please do». And it says, watch this, in Genesis 40, in verse 22, it says, «Everything happened as he predicted». Verse 23, it says, «Pharaoh’s cup bearer, chief cup bearer however, forgot,» he forgot, «All about Joseph, never giving him another thought».
It sounds kinda sinister, but I don’t think it was, I honestly think he was so excited about getting out, he forgets about Joseph. And for two years he forgets about him until Pharaoh starts having crazy dreams and he goes, «Oh»! He goes, «Oh, I messed up, I forgot. There’s a Hebrew slave in prison that God tells dreams to». And it’s that that brings the connection. Now, pause on that for a quick second, I want you to think about this. I want you to think about Joseph’s position. He’s had a dream, some kind of symbolism, some kind of direction, sun moon and stars and bundles of grain that has not come to fruition. In fact, not only has it not come to fruition, everything in his life is going in the opposite direction. If the sun, moon and stars bowing down is empowerment, and that’s over here, he’s going over here a hundred miles an hour in slavery, in bondage, imprisoned. And yet he has this dream and yet God is using him in prison to help other people with their dreams.
If you’re Joseph, you gotta be thinking, «Is anybody else see anything wrong with this picture»? Okay? «I had a dream at 17 of empowerment, I had a dream at 17 I was going to be a leader, I had a dream God was gonna do something other worldly with my life and yet here I am». And somebody comes to you like, «Hey, I have a dream too. To even have the presence of mind and the resilience to go, tell it to me, let me help you with it». 'Cause, you gotta think, you’d be tempted a little bit to go, «Pft, get your dream out of my face, you wanna talk about dreams? Let me tell you about mine».
And the fact that he has unfulfilled dreams and yet God is using him in a season where he is limited, and confined, and in bondage, to actually help other people with their dreams, while his dreams remain unfulfilled. I just wanna go there for a minute, I wanna sit there for a minute, I want you to think about that. I want you to think about the fact that God might be using you to help somebody else in an area where you have a desire, where you have some hopes, and yet, you find yourself going, «At what point, Lord, is it about me? At what point am I gonna get mine? When’s the door gonna to open for me»? And yet, you have Joseph, who somehow finds it within himself to not focus on himself, but to help someone else with a dream, when dream is kind of a sore subject. How do you get there?
You know, I think, what it really, honestly gets down to is deep in you heart of hearts believing in the purpose God has for your life and the dreams that he’s given you, the visions that he’s given you are not yours. It’s dream ownership, who owns it? So, if it’s my dream, if it’s just, «Greg is a young man». Thought what will really cool to do and I put the bullseye on the target and me and my life coach schemed it out and strategized it and these is the alignments that I need, this the connections I need, and this is the coaching I need, and this is how I’m gonna get there. Which is all good, that’s a part of the development we’re gonna talk in a couple weeks. But, if it’s only that and it’s all my idea and it’s about my glorification and it’s about bowing down to me, and the fact that I would be empowered, and I would be elevated. If it’s that and it came from, «I dream this dream. It’s my dream».
Then, when it’s going as sideways as it went for Joseph, you would be terrified and I would say demoralized, depressed, and ready to cut bait because you’re going, «This isn’t gonna happen. I’m not able to get myself out of this». But when you believe that the things that God is leading you to are connected to his purpose, and it was his idea to begin with. What if it doesn’t work out? It wasn’t your dream anyway. It’s his dream the whole time. This is what God has put in me. So, let’s just think about this for a second.
Okay, we’re in Genesis 40, the story of Joseph goes another ten chapters, so we go all the way to chapter 50 but let’s pretend that it didn’t. Let’s just pretend for fun today that the story stops at chapter 40 of Genesis and then the whole thing ends with, «The cup bearer gets out, his dream is fulfilled and Joseph spend the rest of his life in prison, never becomes prime minister, never gets elevated, he spends the rest of his life in prison interpreting dreams for other inmates and helping them get out».
I encourage you today to fall out of love with whatever specifics you have attached to the sun, moon, and stars, and bundles of grain. 'Cause often, we have an impression from God, to go in a direction and we think it means x, and we think it mean y and we think it means that we’re gonna end up in this place, with these people, doing this work and it will feel this way. Yeah, Joseph never saw himself in Egypt, he never saw himself in bondage, he never saw himself in slavery, he never saw himself in prison, and he never saw himself in the Egyptian government. So, when you get too attached to specifics, is where I start hearing people going, «I just don’t know what’s up with God, 'cause I had a dream about these bundles of grain, which means that I’m gonna work here, and do this, and do that».
And you have no idea, what you have to do is go, «This is God’s thing». And so, what this means in terms of where I end up geographically or what my net worth is, or where I’m working or how this even ends. I’m going to just trust that it’s his dream, his purpose, and I’m gonna follow. «Any are the plans of a man’s heart». Don’t fall in love with your plan, fall in love with his purpose and that way you start seeing prison cells as opened doors. Yeah, it slammed behind you on the way out but it opened first, it was an opened door, you walked through an opened door.
Paul gets to this place, when he writes to the Philippians, feel the tone of this, he’s writing to people in Philippi, who many of whom he met in a Philippian prison and he’s writing it years later, Philippians 1:12–14, he said, «I want you to know, dear brother», by the way, he’s writing it back in prison, most likely a Roman prison. He’s writing to the people of Philippi and he’s like, «Listen, yeah I’m in prison,» he says, «I want you to know, brothers and sisters, everything that’s happened to me here, okay, all this prisoner stuff has helped to spread the good news». «I’ve never been more effective than I am right now, it’s crazy. I tell, yeah, they locked me up but it’s backfiring on 'em, man, 'cause the good news is spreading».
Verse 13, «For everyone here including the palace guard, knows that I am here in chains because of Christ». «Okay, alright? So, I’m encouraging the inmates, but I’ll tell you what, man, I’ve got the guards there right there, man, they were right there, I’m doing some of the most effective work». Look at this, verse 14, «Because of my imprisonment,» not, in spite of my imprisonment, but because of my imprisonment. «Most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear». «God’s using me to encourage because of my imprisonment, the people who would have been feeble, who would have been weak, who would have been, 'I’m just gonna do my time.' are now bold because, oh, he says, 'because of my imprison, God sent me here, they thought they were locking me up, but they actually opened a door.'» «This is where God has sent me to be».
Listen, you gotta fall out of love with the specifics of your plan, fall in love with the purpose that God has on your life 'cause if that’s the case, you can do it anywhere. Paul does it anywhere, this is, again he’s writing to the Philippians, it’s kinda where he learned this, they put him in the inner dungeon in Philippi and this when Paul and Silas starts singing hymns, at midnight, in the inner dungeon, in shackles, everything falls off, door flings open and they don’t leave. They stay put, why? «This place ain’t so bad, we having church in here, there’s an energy in here, there’s a freedom in here, there’s a peace in here, the shackles never held me down anyway. Those doors that close behind, God opens and closes doors. I’m walking in his purpose wherever I’m at».
What if Joseph’s story stops in chapter 40? And instead of becoming the prime minister, he spends the rest of his life interpreting dreams and getting people out, determining and speaking dreams, interpreting dreams and getting people free. Interpreting dreams and getting people free. What if that was his life? Would it be less significant? Because he never got to the point of prime minister? I don’t think so. So look what happens next, Pharaoh comes and Pharaoh is, you know, having these recurring dreams and he tells his cup bearer, «Man, I can’t stop dreaming this thing, I don’t even know what it means». And the cupper is like, «Oh, I failed». He’s like, «There’s this guy».
And so, he goes and gets him and Joseph stands before Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s like, «Can you interpret my dream»? He’s like, «I don’t know, man, maybe». He’s like, «It’s a God thing, so tell me and I’ll pray and we’ll see what’s up». And so he does and he goes, «God gave it to me». «What is it»? He goes, «God’s telling you about your next 14 years, and the 14 years of this nation». And he’s like, «What»? And he goes, «Well, the first seven, there’s gonna be unbelievable abundance and prosperity in the land. There’s gonna be more food than you need, way more, don’t eat it all. Do not eat all the food because after the seven years of prosperity, there’s gonna be seven years of famine where the land won’t produce food, and if you eat it all up the first seven years, everyone’s gonna starve and die the next seven».
So he said, «Man, you need systems, processes, you need organization, you need to mobilize, you need infrastructure, you need storage barns. You need more barns and storage than you’ve ever had. And so, you’ve got to put this together, it’s a 14 years plan». And Pharaoh said, «You’re hired. I want you to run it. I want you to run it». Now look at this, look what happens next. Okay, while he’s standing here in his inmate clothing, with the numbers across his chest, Pharaoh said to Joseph, «I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt». Look at this, «Then Pharaoh removed the signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph’s finger».
And look, «He dresses him in fine linen clothing, and he hung a gold chain around his neck, and then he had Joseph ride on a chariot reserved for the second-in-command and wherever Joseph went, the command,» look at this, «Wherever he went the command was shouted, 'kneel down'! So Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of all Egypt and Pharaoh said to him, 'I’m Pharaoh, but no one will lift a hand or foot in the entire land of Egypt without your approval'».
Boy, that’s a fun story. And you’ve got to wonder, you got to wonder what 17 year old Joseph would have thought if he knew that that’s what the dream was about. Remember what it said in the beginning? It wasn’t just when he told the dream, it was how he told the dream. «Yeah, someday everybody is gonna bow down to me. Someday I’m gonna have linen clothes and chariots, I’m gonna have gold chains, when I go, people are gonna kneel down 'cause the big dog is in town». It was how he said, he wasn’t ready, 'cause at 17, he thought the sun, moon, and starts and the bundles were about him, that the bowing down, so, he needed 14 years of crushing, 14 years of things happening against his will, 14 years of development, we’re gonna talk about in a couple weeks. Development.
I kinda wanna preach it now, but I’ve only got 2 minutes and 22 seconds. And he had to go through a process so that when people bow down, he didn’t go, he went, «That’s who I’m called to serve». God prepared him for 14 years for this next 14 years. 14 years in prison, 14 years in bondage, 14 years to save a nation. And it wasn’t about the linen clothes. At 17 it would have been about the linen clothes, it would have been about the chariots, it would have been about, but look, here’s what it was about, verse 47, «As predicted, for seven years, the land produced bumper crops». And during those seven years, look at all the work he did. «He gathered all the crops grown in Egypt and he stored the grain from surrounding fields in the city and he piled up huge amounts of grain like sand of the seashore. Finally, he stops keeping records because they was too much to measure».
You know what that is? That’s a lot of really hard, dirty work for seven years. It’s not about the linen garments, it’s not about the chariots, it’s not about the gold, it’s not about the kneeling, it’s about understanding, I’ve prepared you to do important work. Important work. I’ve prepared you, I’ve taken you through some things, but I’ve got to take you through some things so that you know when you see people kneeling, you don’t think that you’re empowered over them, I’ve you empowered to serve them. This isn’t about them bowing down so you can glorify yourself, until you go through that process to understand, this is not about you having power and glory, this is about you being empowered to serve and glorify God. You’ve got to get that, and when you understand that, the miracle and the power of this text is not in, «Help somebody with their dream and you’ll be prime minister».
The power of this, is that you come to a place of such lock step with the purposes of God and glorifying God, that you can be just as happy in prison helping somebody else with their dream as you are riding in the chariot. That’s the message. If you only preach one part of it, you only get half the message. Yes, God, sometimes, will test you, are you willing to serve another person’s dream when yours are unfulfilled? Sometimes there is a testing of your heart, the contents of your heart. Are you owning it? Is it still your thing? Is it still your idea? Is it about your respect, your position? Your place? Is it about you or have you given… Is it God’s thing? «Lord, I wanna live your purpose».
Sometimes God will test you with that person in front of you who has an unfulfilled dream, while you got all kinds of unfulfilled dreams. And yet, you help them with theirs and sometimes that leads to a promotion of prime minister. But the power is that even if it doesn’t, I’m not any happier in the chariot than I was in the prison cell. And so, we have Joseph who gets a promotion, we have Paul who gets decapitated in prison, both who lived significant lives, successful lives, powerful lives, purpose-filled lives. Today, by the power of God, may you be stripped of the fear that just by following God and serving his purpose, maybe somehow, «I’ll still not get there. Am I doing enough»? Are you doing what God gave you to do? Are you walking through the doors God’s given you? Are you serving people? Are you loving God and serving people? Loving God, loving people, serving God, serving people. Are you doing what God…
Joseph’s didn’t all of a sudden become more talented when he got promoted. He was that dude in prison, he was already that dude, he’d become that dude. «What if I’m that dude and I never get out»? That’s not your call. Your call is to walk through the doors God’s given you to love God and love people, serve God and serve people, walk in purpose. Today, I pray you will be stripped of the fear that, «I didn’t do enough, I didn’t get to where I wanted to be».
Look, if God’s got you in Egypt, he’s got you in a prison, he’s got you in this place bloom where you’re planted. Be fruitful where God’s put you. Be on purpose. I’m living in purpose. Whether you locked the door behind me, or whether you’re driving a chariot in front of me. Whether you’re kneeling down before me, or whether you’re sharing your dreams with me, it doesn’t matter, I’m gonna walk in the purpose God has for my life. Be free today. Be free today of the fear that your metrics won’t add up. Be free today from the bondage of feeling that my fulfillment lies in how fulfilled I feel. You may have no feelings of fulfillment and yet, you stand back and go, «Am I walking in obedience»? «Am I trusting God»? Am I making the most of the opportunity that God’s given me?