Subject: Excuses that are Dream Killers Cont.
by Rick Welborne
Proverbs 13:12 (NLT)
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.
Psalm 105:17-21 (NLT)
17 Then he sent someone to Egypt ahead of them— Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar.
19 Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the LORD tested Joseph’s character.
20 Then Pharaoh sent for him and set him free; the ruler of the nation opened his prison door.
21 Joseph was put in charge of all the king’s household; he became ruler over all the king’s possessions.
17 Then he sent someone to Egypt ahead of them— Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar.
19 Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the LORD tested Joseph’s character.
20 Then Pharaoh sent for him and set him free; the ruler of the nation opened his prison door.
21 Joseph was put in charge of all the king’s household; he became ruler over all the king’s possessions.
--Three weeks ago we discussed our dreams and we talked about these three things:
1. It is not so much about us as it is about “them”.
2. It is about the timing of God.
3. It is about the test.
--Two weeks ago we talked about the excuse of family as a dream killer. We saw how that when we pursue our dreams no matter what family says, it can lead to their salvation.
--Today let’s look at being falsely accused and being forgotten.
--God has given Joseph some pretty incredible dreams, and by all indications, the devil is determined to stop the dreams from coming to pass…nothing is more dangerous to the devil than those who go after their dreams.
--Last week we saw how Satan tried his best to use family to dissuade Joseph from his dreams…His brothers were jealous and hated him…his father was upset and rebuked him.
--There is no evidence that anyone in the family tried to encourage him to go after God and to go after his dreams…not even his father who loved him more than the others.
--When the enemy saw that being rejected by family, being sold into slavery, being carried away brutally didn’t work, he thought he needed to change his strategy.
--Remember this, the devil is always attacking us to distract us. God is allowing things so that He can test our character…doesn’t it make sense that if someone is going to save the world they needed great character.
--Not just anyone can handle that kind of power and authority. It has to be a man who has God’s heart and a compassion for people. God was not testing Joseph so He would fail…same for you and your tests.
--God is blessing Joseph in Potiphar’s house so much that everything he was putting his hands to was prospering and being ran with excellence. Potiphar had no worries with Joseph (the slave) there.
1. The enemy will try false accusations to kill your God given dreams.
Genesis 39:10-18 (NLT)
10 She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible.
11 One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work.
12 She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.
13 When she saw that she was holding his cloak and he had fled,
14 she called out to her servants. Soon all the men came running. “Look!” she said. “My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to make fools of us! He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed.
15 When he heard me scream, he ran outside and got away, but he left his cloak behind with me.”
16 She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home.
17 Then she told him her story. “That Hebrew slave you’ve brought into our house tried to come in and fool around with me,” she said.
18 “But when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his cloak with me!”
10 She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible.
11 One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work.
12 She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.
13 When she saw that she was holding his cloak and he had fled,
14 she called out to her servants. Soon all the men came running. “Look!” she said. “My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to make fools of us! He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed.
15 When he heard me scream, he ran outside and got away, but he left his cloak behind with me.”
16 She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home.
17 Then she told him her story. “That Hebrew slave you’ve brought into our house tried to come in and fool around with me,” she said.
18 “But when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his cloak with me!”
--Potiphar’s wife noticed Joseph was handsome and well built (many of you guys know the curse he had) and she was determined to mess around with him…He was just as determined that was not going to happen.
--Where Joseph could have helped himself a whole lot was to not go in the house where this woman was, especially without someone else being there with them. You have no witnesses…a word to the wise.
--Years ago when I was young and handsome or least I was young, a lady called for an appointment…we said ok. She came and I said we leave our doors open when we counsel…she said, this is private…I said talk low.
--All of my staff had been instructed of the rules…she said I am going to shut the door…I said if you do I will yell and people will come running…she did not believe me and shut the door…I yelled and they ran.
--She said good grief, I will leave the door open and I said the counseling is over. I told her we would set up a lady in the church to meet with her. She helped us to change our counseling policy here.
--I love my wife enough I don’t want that temptation and I don’t want anyone being able to say I did something inappropriate…someone please say Amen!
--Let me stop here and truly commend Joseph because of what he did when Potiphar’s wife attacked him. He ran from her with intentionality.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (NLT)
18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.
19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,
20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.
19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,
20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
--So what do we do when people falsely accuse us of something or what do we do when we have those who so disrupt our lives that we are uprooted from where we were?
--I hear people say that because there were no witnesses, Joseph was in deep trouble. Potiphar’s wife was like Pharaoh’s wife…her words were the law. There was One credible witness though…The Lord Himself!
--Joseph decided to move onto the next adventure with God knowing that this was only a test of his character and about the timing of God. We have to keep reminding ourselves about the “them” we will help.
--So Joseph was thrown into prison. As far as I can remember, I cannot remember any other preacher speculating about this situation of Joseph being thrown in prison. I will.
--If Potiphar really thought this slave, in whom he had placed his total trust in, had truly attempted to rape his wife, wouldn’t he have had him killed.
--Let me ask it this way, if the law permitted a rapist to be put to death and it was in his authority to do so, don’t you think Potiphar would have taken Joseph’s life? Unless he knew who Joseph was and also knew his wife.
--Maybe Potiphar knew his wife did not love him (obviously she was not faithful) and that she had a problem with lust (probably not the first occasion) and therefore he spared Joseph’s life. God may have opened his eyes.
Genesis 39:20-23 (NKJV)
20 Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.
21 But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing.
23 The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.
20 Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.
21 But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing.
23 The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.
--There is never a good excuse to give up on your God given dreams when you are falsely accused…why? Because the Lord is with you and because the final chapter has not been written yet.
2. The enemy will try to make you believe you are forgotten so that you will give up on your dreams.
--How is it even possible to fulfill your God given dreams (and the dreams are about “them”) when they don’t even know you exist…they don’t even know if you are alive.
--Being forgotten, forsaken, abandoned, overlooked, alone are some of the most difficult things we Christians or anyone else can face. One of the reasons suicide rates are so high…drugs…alcohol…other addictions.
--Joseph is abandoned by his brothers…he is away from his family, especially his father who loved him so much. He is in a strange land and all he has left is his God…and some incredible dreams.
--Please don’t misunderstand me, I realize that you don’t have to be in a foreign country away from your family to feel lonely or forgotten…sometimes you can be in the same house with family and feel forsaken.
--I guarantee that if I asked this morning how many of you live day after day in your own house feeling that no one in the house even cares if you are there…there would be many.
--Some believe they would like it if you were not there at all. You must never forget that you still have your God and you still have your God given dreams.
--Joseph, in prison, does a wonderful thing, he interprets the butlers dream and the butler is restored to his place serving the king. Joseph gives him this request:
Genesis 40:13-15 (NIV)
13 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 you used to do when you were his cupbearer.
14 But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.
15 For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon."
13 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 you used to do when you were his cupbearer.
14 But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.
15 For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon."
--A very simple request, feel his pain. Remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. I did nothing wrong…remember me, please! He was not remembered…we must remember:
1. It is not so much about us as it is about “them”.
2. It is about the timing of God.
3. It is about the test.
--This almost seems cruel that Joseph, after all these years, would be forgotten again…let’s look at God’s economy…the “them” were not there yet…it may have been too early (not God’s time).
--Again God was testing his character…two more years. We have too ways of looking at this: How cruel was God to make him wait longer or how great is God to give him such an awesome task…saving the world.
--When we experience these feelings of being alone, being forgotten, being abandoned, being forsaken, being overlooked…what are we to do? We do like Joseph and we have stand-alone faith.
Bill Gothard:
Stand-alone faith can only happen when we realize that we are not alone!
Stand-alone faith may cause you to have the appearance of being a failure!
--Mordecai was headed to the gallows. Daniel was thrown in the lion’s den. The three Hebrews were thrown in the fiery furnace. Joseph was forgotten in prison.
Stand-alone faith survives by standing on the principles of God’s Word and upon godly character!
Stand-alone faith is more fearful of God than the consequences!
Stand-alone faith needs no approval of man (family) but only a mandate from God!
Stand-alone faith is an inward attitude of the heart that manifest itself in words and action!
Stand-alone faith is motivated by a love relationship with Jesus not a response to people’s expectations of us!
--You see this thing of serving God may leave you, at times, in places where it seems you have been forgotten, but in those times make your election and calling sure…what? Make sure Jesus is Savior and Lord!
--Renew your mind with the truths of God’s Word, remind yourself over and over of your God given dreams, and start seeing life and your circumstances from God’s point of view.
--During this time earnestly be obedient to the prompting of Holy Spirit and walking in the Spirit every day.
--This one we may not care too much about…learn to identify with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection and be dogged determined to do what is right, forgotten or not.
--When you feel forgotten, love the Lord to the point where you are more concerned about protecting His reputation rather than pleasing yourself. Potiphar’s wife…How can I sin against God? Listen to Job:
Job 19:14-17 & 25-27 (NLT)
14 My family is gone, and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 My servants and maids consider me a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them.
16 When I call my servant, he doesn’t come; I have to plead with him!
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife. I am rejected by my own family.
25 “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last.
26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!
27 I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!
14 My family is gone, and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 My servants and maids consider me a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them.
16 When I call my servant, he doesn’t come; I have to plead with him!
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife. I am rejected by my own family.
25 “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last.
26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!
27 I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!
--Just like with Joseph, Job had to wait on the timing of God. He was not forgotten…His Redeemer lives!
Job 42:10-12 (NLT)
10 When Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes. In fact, the LORD gave him twice as much as before!
11 Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the LORD had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.
12 So the LORD blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning.
10 When Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes. In fact, the LORD gave him twice as much as before!
11 Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the LORD had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.
12 So the LORD blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning.
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