Paul Daugherty - Here's to The Dreamers
Turn to someone next to you say "Here's to the dreamers". Part one of the Joseph series. A dreamer is someone who sees something in their heart and moves towards it to make it a reality. Proverbs 29:18 says without a dream people perish without a vision people cast off restraint. Where there is no revelation People live with no purpose. When there's no dream in your heart, you just settle for anything and everything. It's so important that we get a dream in our hearts for this season. You know, some of us in this room, we say, well, I had a dream and I fulfilled that dream, so I'm good. Or maybe you're in the room and you say, Paul, you know, I had a dream, but I lost it.
And I haven't been able to regain it. And I don't even know if I have time to dream anymore. I don't even know if I have the money to dream. I can't afford to dream. I just gotta settle for what I have that's right in front of me. But I would venture to say, if you were gonna ask God whether or not he has a dream for you right now, I truly believe God has a dream for every single person in this room. And not just a dream that you could fulfill 20 years ago, but a dream for right now. When you look at the current events and you see what's going on in America, and you see all the fear-filled news stories that are happening, whether it's here or in Afghanistan, or in China, or Russia, or whatever's going on, this is a season for dreamers.
This is a season where God wants to dream through young and old, men and women. God wants to deposit prophetic words, dreams that are gonna save nations. Dreams that are gonna help feed people during a famine dreams that are gonna help people counsel and give wisdom to presidents, and leaders, and Pharaohs, and this is an hour for the Joseph's in the church to rise up. And when we first meet Joseph, we're introduced to his family. And one of the things I love about this verse is that we see his family was dysfunctional. How many of you guys have some dysfunctional family members? How many of y'all have them with you right now on the row with you? You're like, yeah, he's sitting next to me.
The thing I love about this though, is that God does not just choose perfect families to work through. That God works through the families that are messed up. I mean, like if you were to study Joseph's family, it is a Jerry Springer episode. It is...they act...there's a lot of crazy, he had three stepmothers, 10 step brothers, one brother, and a step-sister, all living in one house at the same time. His dad was married to three different women all at the same time. We watch as these brothers fight, they argue, they have strife. And one thing we learned from the beginning is that the problems his family is facing trace back generations. When you look at behaviors in a family, you don't just see, well, this is how they are today. They're taking on behaviors that were passed onto them from their fathers, their grandfathers and their great-grandfathers. And it says, "This is the account of Jacob's family line." Now, Joseph in verse two "was a young man, 17 years old. And he was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah and his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report to them".
So right off the bat, we see Joseph is a tattletale, right? Like Joseph is not afraid to tell on his brothers and to go straight to his mom and dad. And he's like, guess what Ruben did? Guess what they did? And so he's already kind of disliked by his brothers. They're like ugh why can't Joseph cover for us? And then it gets worse in verse three. It says, "Now Jacob, who was also named Israel, I'm so glad that God can change your name". God can change your family history. He can change whatever the world named you, God has a better name for you. "Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons".
Now this is kind of rough because Joseph didn't ask for this type of favoritism and his dad kind of made him stand out in a way that made it even worse for his brothers to like him. 'Cause now his brothers had to watch as their father was showing more love and attention and more focus specifically on Joseph. "Because he had been born to his dad in his old age. And so Joseph's dad made him a beautiful robe to wear. And when his brothers saw the robe and saw their father's love and attention for Joseph, they hated him even more. And they could not say a kind word to him". I have a special robe that we found in the closet. You guys want me to put on the robe, come on, let's stir up the jealousy. I can already feel the envy in the room. I'm gonna pop some tags, only got $20 in my pocket. Come on, I'm thrift shopping right here.
But when Joseph put on this robe, his brothers were like, oh my gosh, dad loves him more, like I can't even preach in this. But Joseph wore that robe around and it stirred up the jealousy. It stirred up the envy, it stirred up the hatred. And so his brothers hated him even more. I wonder whose coat is stirring up some jealousy in your life? I wonder whose coat has stirred up a comparison trap in your mind? It's not about the coat. It's about them having something that you want. The coat for some of you could just be someone else's attention. That you wish you had it. You wish you had their love. You wish you had what they gave to someone else you wish you had it. Or someone's car, someone's job, someone's opportunities. I wish I had their spotlight. I wish I had their position. I wish I had their title. I wish I had their coat.
Jealousy is less about the person that you're jealous of, jealousy is more about you. All of us have been in the place of Joseph and in the place of the brothers. You may not realize it, but there's people who want something that you have. At some point in your life, someone has wanted something that you have. You may not believe it, but it's true. All of us have been in this place. And what we see right off the bat is that jealousy stirs in the hearts of the brothers. I'm gonna take this off, this is super hot. This is way too hot to wear. It was cool for a second, but I'm gonna leave it right there. The coat represents something that the brothers wished they had. They wanted something that their father was giving to their brother.
And we start to see the initial signs of that murderous spirit, that hatred spirit. I wanna just show you real quickly, a few signs, when you know you're drifting towards hatred, by the way, Jesus said, love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. And your neighbor also includes your brother. Your neighbor includes your sister. Your neighbor includes the person whose life just seems to be so perfect on Instagram. And you're, kind of envious, you're a little jealous. So initial signs of hatred. When you begin to resent someone, resentment is an initial sign of hatred. When you just start to kinda feel this feeling in your heart, like, Ugh. And secondly, when you refuse to say a kind word about someone.
This is the first sign of hatred. When the brothers couldn't even say a kind word, when people are talking about this person and you're in the room and you're listening, as they say, man, did you hear so-and-so she got pregnant again And you go, hmm, good for her. Good for her. When you hear about your friends, that they just got back from an amazing vacation and you haven't had one in a long time, you're like good for them. Good for them. Keep scrolling on Instagram, go back ugh good for them. When I can't say a kind word about someone, because I'm resentful of what they get to have, what they get to do. And I've been there before. I have been in this place where someone's life just looked so much better than mine and I was miserable and they were taking up space. They were living rent-free in my brain. They were not paying the bills. And they had so much space in here. And finally, I was like, God, this is wrong like this jealousy, this envy, this comparison trap that I have in my head, this is robbing me of the joy and the peace of what you have given me. A jealous person is a deeply discontent person.
Thirdly, when you're frustrated with someone else's favor. The brothers, they were frustrated, they couldn't stand his favor. And it gets worse watch this in verse five. It says, "Joseph had a dream". I love that line right there. Joseph had a dream. Billy Joe Daugherty had a dream. Oral Roberts had a dream. Billy Graham had a dream. Martin Luther king Jr. had a dream. Paul had a dream. Daniel had a dream. John had a dream. It's a time for you to dream. But Joseph's dream stirred up jealousy even more 'cause his dream was about his brothers bowing down to him. "And he says, hey brothers, listen to this dream. I was out in the fields and we were all binding sheaves of grain. And my sheave rose to the top while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it".
How do you like that brothers? You know, and they're like, we hate you even more. One thing we learned about Joseph is he's not perfect, right? Like, Joseph is pretty immature, he's, sharing his dreams at 17 through an interpretation that kind of makes it all about him. And dreams need to go through some time and some tests so that you realize, is this a dream that's supposed to be about me? Or is this a dream that's supposed to be about God. When it's a God dream, when it's a God dream, it's less about your glory and it's more about his glory. It's less about people bowing down to you, and it's more about you serving the nations and helping feed the hungry. Joseph would go through seasons of test.
And I truly believe that it was for his good, it was helping reshape the interpretation of the dream. The last sign of hatred is the jealousy of confidence. When someone carries a confidence and has a spotlight, and that jealousy starts to stir in your heart, it leads to hatred. The brothers of Joseph had already killed him in their minds before they would try to kill them with their hands. Because hatred starts here, hatred starts here. Before we move on from this, I just wanna pause for a second and just remind you, if someone has a coat that you wish you had, or has some shoes that you wish you had, or has a car you wish you had, or a life you wish you had. Let me remind you that the life God has given you is all that you need to succeed and do something great and feel happy and truly enjoy this life.
As Joseph shared his dream with his brothers, he had another dream. And the next dream stirred up even more jealousy. And it got me thinking, we need to talk about dreams for a second. We need to figure out what dreams are from God and what dreams are from us. So I wanna give you real quickly, six questions to ask yourself when you're looking for God's dream for your life.
Number one, am I seeking God? How do I know if it's a dream from God? Well, number one, you'll know if it's a dream from God, if you've been seeking God. You can't say you have a dream from God, if you haven't even taken time to seek God. So am I spending time in his presence? Am I digging into his word?
Number two, have I asked God for his dream for my life? Have you asked God for his dream for your life? Or are your just concerned about your own dream, right? Are you just concerned about what you're excited about? What you get, you know what your flesh craves? What you wanna do, have you asked God?
Number three, what are you gifted to do? By the way, every single one of us in this room have gifts, and they're all different gifts. Some of you in the room are gifted to coach football. Some of you are gifted to teach in a school. Some of you are gifted to help raise kids in the home. Some of you're gifted to mentor young boys and girls. Some of you are gifted to preach. Some of you are gifted to sing. Some of you are gifted to run a company, to manage people. And God's gonna use your gifts in connection with the dream he gives you. And he has a dream for you. And if someone was to ask you today, what is the dream in your heart, would you have an answer?
Number four, what makes your heart sing? What are you passionate about? What stirs you? What gets you out of bed? What gets you excited? What makes you wanna sing?
Number five, what makes you cry? What makes you cry? What do you see in the world that breaks your heart? Last year, I was marching with a group of people. We were in downtown Tulsa and as we were marching, this lady comes up to me and she says, pastor, you don't know me, and I don't go to your church. I go to a church here in North Tulsa and she said, I'm a great-granddaughter of one of the business owners from Black Wall Street that was burned down and destroyed in 1921. And she said, I've grown up in North Tulsa and I've seen so much hurt and so much pain. But I just wanna say Victory has done such an incredible job, making a great impact in north Tulsa through the Tulsa Dream Center. She said your church has done more for North Tulsa than any other church in this current time in history.
And she said, I don't know if you've been watching the news, but we've had some kids that have drowned. And as she starts talking, she starts crying, she says, I know these families I'm close to them. And she said, Paul, this happens every year. Every year, kids are drowning in North Tulsa. And she said, I've been praying about it, and I was hoping that someday, I was gonna meet you 'cause I watch you on TV. And she said, even though I don't go to your church, I watch your sermons. And she said, I told the Lord, if I get a chance to talk to him, I'm gonna tell him a dream in my heart. And I could already feel it as she was starting to say it I start crying. I already knew where she was going with this. She said, what if the Tulsa Dreams Center built a swimming pool?
And what if the Tulsa Dream... she said, there's hardly any pools in North Tulsa. There's no like good neighborhood pools here. And she says, the ones that are here, there's no swim teachers. There's no lifeguard. She said, oftentimes the kids are left by themselves. She said, what if the Dream Center had a lifeguard and had swim teachers? And what if we could teach this generation? She said, I never knew how to swim. She said, I'm in my 60s, I still don't know how to swim, but what if we could change a generation? And what if we could give them the gospel and a swimming pool? And what if we could meet that practical need as she's sharing I go, we're gonna do it.
I start texting my friends and start talking to the church and y'all raised the money and we are breaking ground right now. We have a swimming pool, that's being built in North Tulsa because a Joseph started dreaming. A Joseph started dreaming. You don't have to have money to dream. You don't have to be a wealthy person to dream. You don't have to have all the time in the world to dream. You just gotta have something you're passionate about. So when you watch the news, what does your heart break for? What injustice, seeing a foster care child go through the foster care system and no family ever takes him in. No family ever takes her in. So she ages out of the foster care system. Next thing you know, she's in a brothel, she's being trafficked here in Oklahoma. And we're watching these things and who in the room is crying? Who in the room, their heart is breaking?
And when your heart breaks, that's a clue, that's a hint, God saying, this is a dream Joseph, this is a dream Joseph. And it's not about you. It's about other people. How do I know if it's a dream from God? And the last question is this, how can I use my gifts, my resources, and my passion to meet the need that is breaking my heart? Those are six questions to ask yourself and finding God's dream. Now, the next question I wanna answer is who do you tell? And how do you handle the dreams that God gives you? One thing we learned right off the bat is you gotta be careful who you talk to. Like Joseph shared his dream with everybody, but not everybody is a fan of your dream. Not everybody is excited about what you're excited about.
Don't cast your pearls before swine. Be careful who you tell, because not everybody is going to cheer you on. People will be threatened. People will take your dream. People will pretend to be your friend. God will use the haters in your life to give you thick skin. He'll make you like a rhino hide but give you a heart of a dove. He'll help you to hold onto your dream no matter what people say, but your dreams must be tested. And this is where we see Joseph's story, really start to take off. Is that his dream gets tested. Your dream must be tested by the word of God. Your dream must be tested by prayer. Your dream must be tested by wise counsel. Your dream must be tested by time. Your dream must be tested by disappointment and setbacks.
You might say, Paul, why do I have to go through disappointment? I don't know if you're like me, but I like A, and I like Z. I'm not a huge fan of L M N O P. I don't like being stuck in the middle. I don't like taking a step forward and then feeling like I got to take three steps back. I just wanna keep moving forward. But life happens right? And for Joseph, he's not the one that put himself back. It was his brothers, his family. We see that Joseph, he goes to serve his brothers one day, this is Genesis 37. As he was walking out to the field to go and help them, his dad had sent Joseph to go and serve his brothers. When they saw Joseph in verse 23, it says they stripped him of his coat.
This is what the haters will do. They will strip you of the thing that gave you confidence. They'll try to strip your identity, try to strip your confidence, try to pull apart your sense of boldness your courage. They threw him into a pit and they said, let's kill this dreamer. Here comes the dreamer, they said. His own brothers didn't wanna see him succeed. But then one of the brothers said, what will we gain, if we kill our brother? Why don't we sell him for 20 shekels to the Ishmaelites as they're traveling through our country, there was a group, a caravan of people that were traveling through Canaan. And so his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and they sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites. And Joseph was taken to Egypt.
Here he is, he's being set back. Dreams must be tested through disappointments and setbacks. Dreams must be tested through adversity. Big destinies require big character and character comes from enduring adversity. You don't grow character when you're on the mountaintop, you grow character when you're in the pit. You grow character when you're going through the process of delays, and pressure, and disappointment and rejection. There's a reason you're in this season. There's a reason you're going through this pain. It's because God is preparing your character for the palace. He's reshaping your interpretation of the dream. You interpreted the dream as if your brothers are all here to bow before you, but Joseph, the real interpretation is you are going to serve your brothers in a famine.
And because you're 17, you don't see it yet, but one day we're gonna watch Joseph through this series, that a dream that came at 17 would not come to pass for 15 plus years. For 15 years, he's holding onto a dream and God begins to reshape it, reform it, help him to re interpret it. As we look back on Joseph's life. I wanna go back to the final part of this story as we end today. It says that the brothers made up a story after they sold him as a slave to Egypt. They killed a goat and they took the blood of the goat and they rubbed it on the coat and they gave it to their father, Jacob. And they said, your son, Joseph is dead. He's been attacked by wild animals. Jacob tore his own robe and wept. And he said, I will mourn until I die.
Jacob had accepted the death of his son. The death of a dream. Jacob had accepted a spirit of defeat, a spirit of depression. And his father was weeping. But I love the last verse of chapter 37, verse 36 it says, "Meanwhile," I almost titled this message meanwhile. Meanwhile, because when you're having your pity party, God always has a meanwhile, God always has something else happening on the other side of your pain. You might have just gone through a breakup, but God has someone else. You might've just had a door that was slammed in your face. But God says, meanwhile, little, did she know. Little did he know. Little did Jacob know that the son he was mourning for was still alive.
The father is mourning, but meanwhile, the Midianites had sold Joseph in Egypt In Joseph's mind he had just taken 10 steps, backwards, maybe 100 steps backwards, but sometimes you have to die in order to live. Sometimes your dream has to die, in order for you to find the God dream that's supposed to come alive in your heart. Sometimes you have to go through the pit of adversity. Blessed are those who are persecuted. Blessed are those who go through troubles of many kinds for these troubles, they're forming your character, and your character gives you hope, and your hope produces perseverance. And you're getting a steadfast spirit and you're getting a stamina that only comes when you learn how to run with the vision.
Here's what I love in Habakkuk two. And I'm almost done, but I need some help. Henshaw will you come up here real quick and Henshaw and I, we were both in the Race For Victory, this last weekend. Habakkuk says, when you read the vision, run with it, I want you to run, but don't run forward. Just run in place, all right? But the next verse says and wait for it. And while you wait for it, don't lose hope because while you're waiting, the vision will come to pass. So run and wait. That's just, it doesn't make sense, run and wait. But we have a lot of people who are waiting, but they're not running. They're waiting in a spirit of laziness. They're waiting with a sense of defeat and discouragement. But what God wants you to do is run while you wait, what God was going to teach Joseph is even though your dream hasn't come to pass.
I want you to learn how to be a leader in Potiphar's house. I want you to learn how to run while you're waiting for a dream to come to pass. Even though you may not be pastoring a church, you could pastor a small group. Even though you may not be the missionary overseas, you could be a missionary in North Tulsa, in South Tulsa, in West Tulsa, in East Tulsa. Even though you may not be married yet, you could start running right now in the single season and preparing as a wife, as a husband. Even though you may not have kids yet, you can start running and serve in the single parent ministry as a mentor for someone else's kid. Even though you may not be in the vision yet run while you wait God was teaching Joseph how to run while he was waiting for a vision to come to pass. Thank you, Daniel.