You
Morning we're in Isaiah chapter number 37
Isaiah chapter 37 the Bible reads
And it came to pass when King has a kaya heard it that he rent his clothes and covered himself in sackcloth and went into
the house of the Lord
And he sent Eliakim who was over the household and Shevna the scribe and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth and Isaiah
The prophet the son of Amos and they said unto him thus saith has a kaya
This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy for the children to come to the birth
And there is not strength to bring forth
It may be that the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rab Shaki
whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath
Heard wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left
So the servants of King has a kaya came to Isaiah and Isaiah said unto them
There shall you say unto your master?
Thus saith the Lord be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me
behold
I will send a blast upon him and he shall hear a rumor and will return to his own land when I call and I
Will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land
So Rab Shaki returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libna for he had heard that he was departed from Lakish
And he heard say concerning Terhacah king of Ethiopia
He has come forth to make war with thee and when he heard he sent messengers to Hezekiah saying
though shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah saying let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee saying
Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria
The old thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done unto all lands by destroying them utterly
And shall thou be delivered have the gods of the nations delivered them
Which my fathers have destroyed as gozan and heron and rezef and the children of eden which were into lassar
Where is the king of Hamath and the king of Arathad and the king of the city of Sifarvayim, Hina, and Ivah?
And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it
And Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord
And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord saying o Lord of hosts God of Israel that dwellest between the cherry bins
Thou art the God even now alone of all the kingdoms of the earth thou hast made heaven and earth
Incline thine ear o Lord and hear open thine eyes o Lord and see and hear all the words of
Sennacherib which hath sent to reproach the living God
Thou a truth Lord
The kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations in their countries and have cast their gods into the fire
But they were no gods with the work of men's hands wood and stone therefore that have they destroyed them
Now therefore o Lord our God save us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know
That thou art the Lord even thou only
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah saying thus saith the Lord God of Israel
Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria
This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him
The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee and lath thee to scorn
The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee
Whom has thou approached and blasphemed and against whom has thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high
Even against the Holy One of Israel
By thy servants has thou approached the Lord and has said
By the multitude of my chariots might come up to the height of the mountains to the sides of Lebanon and I will cut down
The tallest cedars thereof and the choice fir trees thereof now will enter into the height of his border and the forest of his Carmel
I've digged and drunk water and with the sole of my feet
Have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places as thou not heard long ago
How I have done it and of ancient times that I have formed it
Now if I brought it to pass that thou shouldst be to lay waste defenses to cities and to ruin his heaps
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded
They were as the grass of the field and as the green herb as the grass on the housetops and as corn
Blasted before it be grown up
But I know thy abode and I going out and I coming in and I rage against me because I rages is against me and I
Tumult has come up into mine ears
Therefore will I put my hook in thine in thine nose and my bridle in thy lips and I will turn thee back by the way
Which thou camest
This shall be a sign unto thee
You shall eat this year such as growth of itself
In the second year that which springeth of the same and in the third year
So ye and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof
And the remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward
Right of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant and they shall escape out of Mount Zion the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this
therefore
Thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria
He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shields nor cast a bank against it
By the way that he came by the same shall he return and shall not come into this city saith the Lord
Where I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake and for my servant David's sake
And the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians
104 score and 5,000 when they rose early in the morning behold they were all dead corpses
so Sennacherib king of Assyria
Departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh and came to pass as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch as God
That Adramalek and Shearizah his son smote him with the sword and they escaped into the land of Armenia
And these are Hata and his son reigned in his stead
Let's pray dear Lord God. Just thank you for everything you bless us with
I thank you especially for this church and for our pastor just ask that you would be with him now
Please fill me the Holy Spirit and bless the preaching and please continue to bless our church and in Jesus name I pray amen
All
Right, we're in Isaiah 37 this morning and look down at your Bibles of verse 30
Is this this or is this this
All right, I'll use this
This will just be for looks
Isaiah 37 verse 31
It says here in the remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward
And bear fruit upward for out of Jerusalem
Shall go forth a remnant and they shall escape out of the Mount of Zion the zeal of the Lord of hosts
Shall do this and the time of my sermon this morning is overnight success
overnight
Success here in Isaiah 37. This is obviously a prophecy of Judah and the Lord is simply saying that Judah is
He wants Judah to be a nation of substance and in order for that to take place the roots
Need to go deep downward in order for it to bear fruit upward
It needs to go deep downward in order to bear fruit upward and I want to talk about
The fact that there's no such thing as overnight success
Today is our anniversary and we're celebrating seven years of the service unto the Lord and everything that's been accomplished
and you know at the end of the day people can look at a church like this or
Churches like this and the success that they've experienced and think oh that just happened overnight or oh man
That person just got that promotion and became successful overnight or that person became a Christian just overnight a good Christian overnight
but the reality is this is that there's no such thing as
Overnight success things have to take root downward before bears fruit upward
Sometimes it needs to go a little deep into the ground
Deep into the soil do the work behind the scenes before it can actually sprout and bear fruit
Upward it's talk about what's going on in the background
Go with me if you would to to Genesis chapter 49 if you would Genesis chapter 49
the fruit that you see and enjoy is
The product that you see in the unseen work that goes on in the roots
And so sometimes people look at the success of a person the success of a church the success of a Christian and think to
Themselves man. I wish I had that or I wish I could be a part of that
I wish I would have that overnight success, but they only see that was just sprout about they only see that overnight success
So to speak they don't realize all the work that went into it previous to that all the pain
sorrow tribulation
difficulties and
Growth pains that they experienced to make it to that point and you know what our church. Yeah, it's only seven years old
It's seen a lot of success, but you know there's been a lot of pain
Up until that point a lot of tribulation a lot of difficulties a lot of trials
That has led us to this point
You know you think about people looking at a successful marriage for example, and they think wow you know these people got it together
They seem to
Still be in love they seem to have a great marriage man
I wish that we can have just overnight success like that
But you know you don't see all the problems that they had behind closed doors
You don't see all of the arguments or the fights and the times
They've had to ask for forgiveness and the times
They've had to pray through that the times that they had to seek the Lord's face all of the dark times of that marriage
People don't see that they just see the overnight success
People can look at children and say oh, man
I wish my children were as godly as X Y & Z and these people and man they seem to have it so easy
But you know you're only looking at the overnight success
You're not necessarily observing all of the spankings and the instructions
And you know the the training that the parents give in order to produce those children. How about a business?
Right people can look at a business. That's successful. It's making a lot of money
Has a lot of customers and you think to yourself man. It must be nice
You know it must be nice to have this quote unquote overnight success
But people don't realize all the failures that came before making that business successful
They don't see all the nights of just toil and strife and all the prayer and all the work and all the sleepless nights
They came with making that business successful. They just see all the glitz and glamour
Beforehand and they think oh this person is experiencing overnight success no my friend. There's no such thing as overnight success
Hey, how about lifting?
You know sometimes people see someone as strong as me, and I'm just kidding. You know some of these people that can lift
Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds and you know obviously social media does this it doesn't injustice to this
Social media is one of the worst things that can happen to the lifting community because you know you see all these people lifting this
Crazy amount of weight, and you're like man
How can like people just lift 500 pounds like that or 600 pounds like that 700 pounds like that?
But you know no one sees all the training all the programming all the failed prs all the
Dieting all the bulking all the cutting they don't see all that
You know think of successful fighters
You look at a successful fighter, and they won these competitions
And you know got these trophies or medals or you know whatever it is they they they they win in their area
There's fear, but and people say wow you know it must be nice
This guy is just talented this guy is just a natural this guy is just a phenom
But you know you don't see all the hours and hours that these people put in the ring
All the hours hours these people put on the mat all of the dieting and the training and the failures
That they've experienced leading up to that point. There's no overnight success in the Christian life
There's no overnight success anywhere you think of videos on social media
They go viral right like oh, it must be nice to just go viral like that
Yeah, but you don't see all the content that people are putting out constantly that doesn't go viral
You know people spend hours and hours making that one video, and it's just like 20 views
You know and you're like you check it five hours later 21 views. It's just like nothing happens
And all of a sudden boom goes viral you don't see
the work that goes into it in the background years prior to that and
The same thing with the Christian you may you think about your favorite Christian or something you know the one the one Christian
Do you look up to you the one Christian?
Do you strive to be like and you think to yourself man this person is just gifted?
talented or this person just has the discipline or this person is just blessed with that type of mind or
Had had the most conducive environment for spiritual growth
And it's just must be nice to have that overnight success as a Christian
Yeah, but you don't see the decades that came before that a Bible reading
You don't see all the years that came before that of prayer
You don't see the discouragements the failures the difficulties that person experience
you don't see the times where God that person wrestled with God and
Struggled and feared and wanted to quit you just see the overnight success, but let me just remind you this morning
There's no such thing as overnight success
It does not happen
You know and we see the overnight success from the outside
But there's a lot that goes on leading up to that point okay now this morning. I want to use the life of Joseph
To kind of highlight and illustrate this concept of overnight success
You said why is it well his success to the public was essentially overnight and in fact if you go to the end of his
Story where he is promoted to becoming the vice-pharaoh that literally happened like in one day, right?
He comes in he makes the interpretation of the dream and then Pharaoh's like you're promoted. You're like the vice-pharaoh
You're the second most important person in Egypt and by the way, here's here's a wife
You know he gives him a wife. He gives him all types of clothing. He even changes his name a little too far
You know he changes his name. He gives him riches and basically this guy is set for life
And people look people could look at that and be like this guy was in prison
This guy was a nobody and all of a sudden. He's just vice-pharaoh. Yeah, but you didn't see everything that Joseph went through
Leading up to that point all of the sorrow and pain and backstabbing and betrayal
And all of these difficulties that he went through to reach that over night success
Okay, look at Genesis 49 if you would in verse 22
Speaking of Joseph. It says Joseph is a fruitful bow
Even a fruitful bow by a well whose branches run over the wall
The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him
But his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hand were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob
From thence is the shepherd the stone of Israel. It's saying that Joseph is a fruitful bow now. Why is that?
I'll tell you why because for about 13 14 years. He took root downward in
Order for him to bear fruit
Upward the reason he was his branches were able to extend so far
even to the point that he was able to save his family from the famine in
Canaan and save many in Egypt and be used greatly of God is because his roots went downward for
13 to 14 years and that's why he experienced a quote unquote overnight success
So let's start at the beginning of his life go to Genesis 37 if you would Genesis chapter 37
Let's look at Joseph's roots going downward and let's see some of the principles that we can learn from this now
I love the story of Joseph and every time, you know, I'm reading through the Bible once again, and I get to his story
It's very emotional story and you know
He's a young man about 17 years of age who went through a lot and it's a very inspirational
Motivating story with many principles that we can learn particularly in this area of overnight success
Let me start off by saying when it comes to Joseph's roots going downward
Joseph was a dreamer
What the Bible literally says about him right? Look at verse 3 of 37 Genesis 37 now
Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age
And he made him a coat of many colors
And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him
by the way, this is a principle here that when
God favors you and begins to have his hand on you. You're always gonna have haters
Haters are always there to envy you because God's hand is on you. This is something that's consistent throughout the Bible
It goes on to say in verse 5 Joseph
Dreamed a dream and he told it his brethren and they hated him yet the more and he said unto them here
I pray you this dream which I have dream now
This is funny because he's like he knows that they already hate him because he's a dreamer and he's like well
let me go and tell you what the dream is though and
It's obviously a dream that doesn't necessarily favor them per se
It goes on the same verse 7 for behold. We are binding sheaves
we were binding sheaves in the field and lo my sheaf arose and
Also stood upright and behold your sheaves stood around about and made obeisance to my sheaf. That's a pretty cool dream right guys
you guys are gonna bow down to me and
His brethren said to him shall thou indeed reign over us or shall thou indeed have dominion over us and you want the answer is
yeah, and
They hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words and he dreamed yet another dream and told that his brethren
And said behold I have dreamed the dream more and behold the Sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me
And he told it to his father and to his brethren and his father rebuked him and said unto him
What is this dream that thou has dream?
Shall I and thy mother and thy brother indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth and his brethren envied him
But his father observed the saying now obviously what's taking place here is that God has
Supernaturally endowed Joseph with the ability to foresee the future and later on
We will even see that he's able to interpret specific dreams that God has given to others in order to fulfill God's purpose
right, we'll see that in Egypt and
Let me just say this that has nothing to do with the sermon this gift no longer exists today. Okay?
because you know I could preach a sermon like this and talk about being a dreamer and people are like
Oh, see I knew there's some
Veracity to my dream last night. No, I just had a lot of onions on your burger last night
You probably had Taco Bell or you know some gas
gas station food or something like that and
You know that's where you're having these dreams
So let me just say this is that if you have a dream
And you think that it's from God you have to go ahead and prove it against the Bible and if the Bible
you know if it matches up with the Bible that you don't need the dream because it's already in the Bible and
If it doesn't match up with the Bible then forget it because it's not in the Bible
So what I'm saying is go with the Bible and forget your dreams, okay?
I'm talking about these so-called visions that people have and let me just say this most people who claim to have these visions of Jesus
Isn't it always this long-haired?
hippie
Jesus Caucasian blue-eyed
Roman Catholic
Jesus that's right off the bat is just suspect right you know when they have an unbiblical version of Jesus in their dreams obviously
That's not Jesus. Okay, and you know this is actually really big in the Muslim community
Let me just say that and any time you hear about Muslims getting saved
They always talk about that it started with the dream that they saw that Jesus came to them in a dream
You know that's false. It doesn't exist obviously you say well. I you see that. It's in the Bible here
Yeah, it's in the Bible when the Bible wasn't canonized though, but now we have the entire Word of God
Okay now we have all 66 books
We don't need a dream to validate the spiritual things of God
We need to accept the Word of God by faith faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God
Now the way we could apply this in regards to
Joseph having a dream and what that means to us the application
Could be that you know God wants us to aspire for things because the way we would use dreams today
The term is to dream big
Dream that you can do something great for God have a dream of vision for your family
Have a dream and a vision for your marriage
Hey have a dream for your children have a dream for yourself to do something great for God
Hey have a dream for your business
We live in a society that you know rebels in you know rejoicing over the dreams of
Hollywood actors and the accomplishments of people who just don't matter in this world, but how about yourself?
How about dreaming for something dreaming towards something that's actually significant for eternity
You know what you could be in 10 15 years
How God can use you and 10 or 15 years in five years in 20 years the impact that you can make in this world
Can you dream like that?
You know what about the fact that you know God wants us to dream big regarding souls
The
Salvations that we can see and you know what we have far too many Christians today that dream small
You know they think well, that's for others, but not for myself
No, I want to dream big for what how God can use me
I want to dream big for how many souls I can reach for Christ
I want to dream big for how many souls our church can reach for the Lord Jesus Christ
And if you're sitting there thinking well, yeah, but you know we don't really have the resources for that dream big amen
Small dreams move no man's soul
So it's important for us to aspire to do great things for God to not just win people to Christ
But let me say this to also disciple those people baptize those people make them full-fledged soul winners as well
Teach him the ways of the Lord turn them to righteousness
Dream big dream about your marriage. Hey you single guys
Dream about marrying amen. I know you do and
And sometimes we got too many dreams going on and not enough action amen
Hey a dream without a plan is only a wish just remember that
But you know dream about your marriage. You know I remember being a single person and
Dreaming big about my marriage
Just having a dream of what kind of marriage I can have a godly marriage that I can have a Christ
Honoring marriage that I can have that could be successful in my marriage
I can love my wife as Christ loved the church and my wife can reverence and respect me and we can have a
Union that honors and glorifies God in this with crooked and perverse generation
right
You know I remember being a single just dreaming big about my children that did not exist at that time obviously
Just thinking about my sons and my daughters and how I can train them up in the ways of the Lord that they can be
mighty arrows in the mighty hand of God to go further than I've ever gotten
To do great things for God as well. You're like well. That's not possible in this world. Yes, cuz you dream little that's why
But you know what I want to dream big
I want to dream that my daughters can marry godly men that my sons can marry godly
Women and that they can have godly marriages and raise godly families Christ honoring families that will
Remain that way to the second coming of Christ
And do greater things than their father do greater things than those who came before them
I don't know about that. I think we should just kind of expect that they have you know
Just a decent life or something like that. You know if they're in a fundamental Baptist Church like ours
They've been given a great opportunity to him so ever much as given of him shall be much required
I see no issue what with creating an environment conducive to success in the Christian life
So they go further than we go hey man when more souls to Christ go do missions more than us
Hey, do you have a vision for your business?
And obviously we're talking about spiritual things, but hey, you know all things are spiritual because we do it as unto the Lord
Do you have a vision for your business and what you're doing, and you know well?
You know I just have this just little business, and you know I don't really expect it to go very far
Sounds like you got a small dream
Sounds like you're dreaming small
Why not dream for it to be big? Why not dream that God can bless your business the way God bless Joseph?
Hey, I have a dream for souls, and I'm not talking about Martin Luther King. I have a dream and then I
Have it no. I have a dream for souls to be saved, and you know what I'm still young
I think you know I'm gonna be 39 this year
But in my opinion. I still have many more decades to come to get a lot of people saved
And you know what I want to quadruple my efforts by training others on how to get people saved
By creating an environment in our church
That's conducive to training people and soul winners to be fiery preachers of the gospel
So that when I'm long gone the work continues and more people are getting saved well
I just want to make sure I get someone saved this week
You know me too, but I have a big dream, and I want to see more than that
Are you a dreamer I?
Have a dream for our church to grow and it has grown, and I think he could continue to grow
I was actually having a conversation with Pastor Shelley about two weeks ago, and you know we're talking about our churches
And I told Pastor Shelley I said I don't think it's impossible for our church to become to you know run
500 or even a thousand and he said amen I agree with that
I think we can go be big, but you know a lot of people were like not your kind of church
Those hate churches. I don't think they'll ever grow to be I believe they can
He believes we can why not
You know if Christ is the head of this church
He has the power to reach people through people like us if we have the truth we have the gospel
We have the zeal we have the work ethic why not?
You know I want to look back 20 years from now where our church has grown
Organically because of all the babies that are being born all the people that have been reached all the souls that have been saved and say
See this is the dream right here. That's come to fruition
And we need a reset button on the dream and dream bigger I
Think it can happen. I know it can happen
Not with preaching like that. I mean this is how I've been preaching the last seven years
It looks like it's done pretty well
Well, I just I think you're gonna scare people away like that. I'm gonna scare the people who need to be scared
from the truth
But I think we're gonna attract people who want the truth and so
Joseph had a dream and his dream was that God was going to use him in a big way
Obviously the dream wasn't clear to him
But he knew that God was gonna use him in a big way in the life of his family in the life of his father
And you know, that's that's kind of how a dream works right when you aspire to do something big for God
It's not always like clear
You know you have like the the essential components, but in general you just can't really make out
What is the final product of that dream?
understand what I'm saying and
You know
That's that's because it requires faith sometimes and God can't always give you the the entire picture right off the bat
Sometimes you just need to dream and have faith and work in order to make that thing come true
Hey some of you guys who are preparing to be pastors, I hope you're still dreaming
We need more pastors in America
California needs more pastors
America needs more pastors and more churches
So I hope you're not messing around playing video games and I hope you're getting you're taking the things of God serious and you're preparing
To be a pastor, I hope you're still aspiring. I hope you're still dreaming
To become that which God probably intended for you to become
to change lives
Like well, you know not me. Okay, then not you
You know what God nor I is interested in anybody who isn't
Interested in dreaming big for God and believing that God can do something big with their lives
If you don't think that then move aside and let someone else take that job then
But
If that's you be a man who dreams big and still thinks that something big can happen in your life that you can start a
Church one day that you can be preaching the Word of God leading a group of people
Turning people to righteousness honoring glorifying Christ to the second coming
Joseph dreamt big look at verse 19 if you would
Let me say this is that Joseph was a dreamer and because of that he met resistance
Says in verse 19 and they said one to another behold this dreamer cometh
Come now therefore
Let us slay him and cast him into some pit and we will say some evil beast had devoured him
And we shall see what will become of his dreams
These these are great brothers here, huh?
And Reuben heard and he delivered him out of their hands and said let us not kill him
Reuben said unto them shed no blood but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness and lay no hand upon him that
He might rid him out of their hands and deliver him to his father again
It came to pass when Joseph was coming to his brethren that they stripped Joseph out of his coat his coat of many colors
That was on him and they took him and cast him into a pit and the pit was empty and there was no water in
it and they sat down to eat bread and lifted up they lifted up their eyes and looked and behold the company of Ishmaelites came
from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh going to carry it down to Egypt and
Judas said unto his brethren what profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?
Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother and our flesh
and his brethren were
content verse 28
then they're passed by the Midianites merchant men and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph to the
Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver and they brought Joseph into Egypt now
Obviously, this is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who was delivered of his brethren
Who you know, he came into his own his own received them not they delivered him unto the Romans to be crucified
And they essentially sold him right for 30 pieces of silver so to speak and he goes down into the pit
Just like when Jesus was crucified
His soul went into the pit known as hell for three days and three nights and on the third day rose again
So you see that picture there?
But the point that I want you to understand here is the fact that if you have
Aspirations and you dream big for God, you're always gonna be met with resistance
There's always gonna be some there's always gonna be haters out there a lot of haters
Not enough congratulators
Too many haters out there that just don't want to see a man succeed
They don't want to see a man do big things for God and you know what they like to sit on the sidelines
Criticizing you for actually doing something
Why because a legitimate dream will always be met with resistance, you know
I get tired of seeing on social media is people doing big things and then everyone's just in support of it
There's like, oh, everything's right. There's no resistance
There's no resistance whatsoever. You know, I think that a dream is legitimate when you have resistance
You know when I preach a sermon or make a video or do something and there's a lot of people criticizing me. I'm like great
I'm doing something, right?
Because some a dream that actually threatens Satan's Kingdom will be legitimized by the people who criticize it
You know, they will call you every name under the Sun. They'll call you the devil Beelzebub. It's not gonna happen
Oh a little church like that. Who are you? Oh, you know, how far can you find your church in church history?
Oh, how long have you been around? Oh, what Bible college did you go to?
What kind of education did you get there's always resistance
And you know what if you can't handle the resistance then you're not gonna you can't make the cut
Because everyone gets resistance when they aspire to do something big for God
You're always gonna receive criticisms from your family
You'll receive criticisms from your spouse
You'll receive criticisms from your children. You'll receive criticisms from extended family and friends from people at your job
Cousins aunts and uncles and you know what it can get to the point where it kind of makes you question like oh man
Maybe am I doing the right thing? There's so many people against what I'm doing, but luckily, you know, we have something here
That lets us know that we are doing the right thing
So it doesn't matter how strong the criticisms are of whatever it is that you're dreaming to do
For God, you can always go back to the Word of God and see okay. What I'm doing is right
Have you been met with any resistance whatsoever for the dreams that you have?
Every businessman is met with resistance
Any business that has succeeded in any at any capacity has always been met with competition resistance
difficulties trials why because it makes you and
People sometimes don't realize that the resistance is necessary in order to prepare you for that particular blessing
Joseph met resistance and he met it from his own family
He met it from his own brothers and even to a little a smaller extent from his own father who rebuked him for it
Look at Genesis 39 if you would
Another thing that we see with Joseph
Regarding his roots going downward is that he was not only met with resistance. He was also met with temptation
And let me say this anytime you aspire to do something big for God
Just know this beyond a shadow of a doubt Satan is right around the corner
looking to tempt you in order to derail you in order to get you out of the fight in order to
hinder you in order to stop you from actually succeeding and who how did he do it with Joseph a woman
Genesis 39 verse 5 and it came to pass from that time that he had made him overseer in his house is referring to Potiphar
Never all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that
He had in the house and in the field. So what's going on here? He's sold into Egypt Potiphar purchases him
But God's hand is on Joseph
So what begins to happen he begins to be a blessing to Potiphar
God begins to bless Potiphar's dealings his house because of Joseph and he gets promoted
Like he's no longer necessarily a slave. He's actually like the second in command in the house of Potiphar
So, you know you think in Joseph's mind he's like wow, you know, I've been through so much but you know
Hey things are starting to finally look up
Everything looks good, you know, I knew God would come through
looking for six and he left all that he had in Joseph's hand and
Knew not ought that he had saved the bread which he did eat and Joseph was a goodly person and well favored
And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and she said lie with me
so
Potiphar's wife wants to commit adultery with Joseph
And he's there in the house
He's I'm sure there's instances specifically in this one where he's alone with her
You know and you got to take into account Joseph is away from his family. He's away from mom and dad
He's a young man might be lonely
He's suffering difficulties. He's in a foreign land. This might be a temptation for him majorly
Especially if someone of status is interested in him
It says in verse 8, but he refused and said unto his master's wife behold my master
What if not what is with me in the house? He hath committed all that he had to my hand
Let me just say this wouldn't we be reading a different story if he actually gave in to that temptation?
Story would have been radically different if Joseph failed this particular test
And in fact, he would have marred
To a certain extent the picture of Jesus Christ
How God could he use his story to picture Jesus Christ
But it says that he refused look what it says in verse 9
There's none greater in this house than I neither have he kept back anything from me
But thee because I read his wife
I want you to notice this how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against Potiphar? No, it says sin against God
See Joseph understood at a very young age
That at the end of the day everything is as unto the Lord
Even if you sin
You're doing it as unto the Lord
You know what kept Joseph right with God in a midst of temptation when Satan brought Potiphar's wife
Recognizing that he didn't want to sin against God
You know, I preached this a couple months ago
about your walk with God and you know, sometimes that could be a cliche in churches a
Cliche that people say well, obviously we're supposed to walk with God read our Bibles and pray but you actually don't realize how important that
discipline really is
You don't really realize how important that conviction in your life really is until you actually need it
When you're in a situation like this
When out of conviction
You refuse sin, even though no one would have condemned him for it per se
Probably who knows maybe no one would have found out
But you know what? He knew that God knew
You know why cuz Joseph walked with God
He had that communion with the Lord where he recognized that yeah Potiphar may not know the servants may not know
But you know, how can I do this against God?
If you dream big you will be met with temptation there's gonna be an opportunity for you to sin
There's gonna be an opportunity with Satan comes and tries to hand off a particular sin to you
That's appealing to you
entice you
With something that you're tempted with and you know
You're gonna have to make that decision and I hope to God that you've been walking with him up to that point. I
Pray to God that at this moment
You're walking with God because that temptation will come and you know what don't think you're the exception to the rule
You can be derailed like many others throughout history
Where God could have used them significantly?
God could have blessed them significantly. God could have impacted or use their life to impact the world significantly, but they were derailed
Because of sin why because they were not walking with God
Verse 10 says and it came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day
That he hearkened not in turn to lie by her or to be with and of course
We know the end of the story there that she ends up just grabbing him and he just he just leaves his coat behind
You know, he puts off the old man
Right, he puts off the old man
He takes off those fleshly garments and he takes off running and unfortunately, of course, she lies about him gets him in prison
So think about Joseph at this point. He's like man things are on the up and up, you know, I miss my dad
But hey, you know, I've been promoted and you know, I'm here and got a cool boss
and
Then overnight he's in prison. He woke up one morning in the palace and
Laid his head on a rock in prison
Think about that how fast things can change
Now, let's just be honest. Let's just be honest if you're in that situation. Wouldn't you think that maybe you might be a little bitter?
there might be some temptation to become just a little resentful a
little bitter
Why cuz you're like man, I feel like I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing. I
Love the Lord. I
Never disobeyed my parents
You know, I love God and in fact, I love Potiphar
I've been loyal to him this whole time and this is what I get
for serving the Lord
Lead me to my next point Genesis 39 verse 19 Joseph suffered the death of a vision
He
Said what is the death of a vision there's there comes a point when you're dreaming for something and you're in that
roots going downward stage
that the door seemed to close and
Any person who's done anything significant whether it's you know regarding spiritual matters or
Just in your business marriage child-rearing. Let me say this one day the doors will close and
That is the most painful experience any Christian could ever go through
Because you know it kind of it kind of it kind of reads you of hope
Like man, I really thought this was gonna work out. I really thought God was with me on this
I really thought like I was on the right track
I really thought you know, this was gonna come to pass and all of a sudden just taken away just like that
it's called the death of a vision and
Any man of God any church any person who is seeking to aspire to do something big for God?
They always experience this and this is a dangerous time for that particular person because it can cause them to just quit
And I've known many Christians
Who went through a death of a vision and you know what they did they quit on God they get out of church
They stop reading their Bibles they become bitter towards God bitter towards the church bitter towards the things of God because their circumstances
Are just against them
They've suffered that death of a vision and you know what it's a difficult thing for sure. I've experienced the death of a vision
There's been times where it's just I thought things were on the up-and-up before I became a pastor
Everything is just taken away and
in you have the sense of
You know disillusionment
Discouragement and you almost feel like man
Have I walked with the Lord in vain?
Have I cleansed my hands in vain?
Have I served the Lord in vain? Is this is is this what's gonna happen to me?
And then of course you have the haters still there and they're like
Look at verse 19 it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife what she spake it to him
Saying after this manner did they did thy servant to me that his wrath was kindled
Joseph's master took him and put him in the prison a place where the king's prisoners were bound and he was there in prison
That's sad
But here's a very significant statement right here verse 21, but the Lord was with Joseph
Now what I want to remind you as a church that
Your circumstances don't really determine if the Lord is with you
Just because everything is going bad doesn't mean the Lord is not with you
Hey, just because you're broke
Doesn't mean the Lord is not with you
Just because your health is now obviously there's the element that could potentially be that God is chastising you
Maybe you're not right with God, but if you've searched your heart, you've gotten right with God
You know, there's nothing there and things are still not going right with you. It doesn't mean the Lord's not with you
too many people
Require life to go just perfect be roses and daisies to say all the Lord is with me
I mean, it's easy to say that
When the bills are being paid
Everything's going hunky-dory
Health is good. Everyone's happy with you. Of course. The Lord is with you doesn't take much faith to see that
You know what requires faith is when everything's just going to crap
And you know what for Joseph that's what's happening to him
He's in prison for crying out loud
But the Lord was still with him
And you know what? We need those prison moments in our life
You need those difficult moments in your life
Why because you need your faith to be exercised to teach you that the Lord is still with you
We need those times so we could go to the Bible and say you know what?
Everything is just not going according to plan. Everything is just going really bad in my life. I've been betrayed so much
I've been backstabbed. I lost so much money or my health is just it's just terrible
Everything's going wrong. The plans are just the doors have closed
But I know though that the Lord is with me because circumstances don't necessarily mean that he's not
Says the Lord was with with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the side of the keeper of the prison
And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison and whatsoever
They did there. He was the doer of it. So he's like the head, you know
prisoner I guess
I
Clean your shackles, you know
the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the Lord was with him and
That which he did the Lord made it to prosper
Look at Genesis 40
That's a death of a vision
You never know in my in Joseph's mind he probably thought maybe I can save enough to go back home
Maybe I'll make enough to one day that Potiphar will let me go back home
And all of a sudden the Potiphar becomes his enemy
That's a sad situation
Genesis 40 verse 7 says and he asked Pharaoh's officers
That were with him in the ward of his Lord's house verse 7 saying wherefore look he so sadly today
And I'm not gonna rehash this entire story, but basically he's in the prison or we're not gonna read through
I'm just gonna give you a summary of it and
two prisoners come from Pharaoh's house and
One is a baker one is the cupbearer and both of these guys, you know, they have a dream and
They're really troubled by the dream and and
Joseph basically asks him like what's the problem? He's like we've had these dreams
We don't know what the interpretation of it and he's like I'll interpret it for you
So the cupbearer says this is my dream and Joseph says hey, here's good news for you
This means that you're gonna be reinstated
Back to your former position as being Pharaoh's cupbearer now
Let me just stop there and say that Joseph is just a godly man
Because he's prophesying of that guy's future success, but what about his own
It says a lot of Joseph that he can help others be successful all the while. He's going through a hard time
Let me encourage you that if you're going through a hard time
One of the best things you could do is still be a blessing still be a blessing to others
Help others be successful in spite of the fact that you're hurting
Help others be successful in spite of the fact that you're going through a hard time
I mean, he's like hey, don't worry. You know, you're gonna be this is gonna happen to you and he's like, where's my dream though?
So then the you know, then the Baker comes and he wants the interpretation and Joseph's like oh man
This is uh, it's gonna be kind of awkward. He gives the dream and Joseph says basically, let me just summarize it for you
You're gonna die and these in these three days. You're basically gonna die now
Here's another principle that you can learn as you're making other people successful in helping others
Just realize that your situation is not as bad as others
Right because even though Joseph has a bad he's still alive
No one's gonna take off his head the Baker's toast
pun intended
He's done he's gonna die
So
Yeah, you know we can always have a pity party
Because of the situation that we're in but just realize this there's always a Baker nearby
You always have someone nearby that has it way worse than you
So then, you know, he gives these interpretations and you know, the the the cupbearer gets restored and Joseph says hey don't forget me
I
Remember I told you this don't forget me and the guy's like I won't forget
But he forgets to write it down and he forgets
So now he's like squeezing graves and handed it to Pharaoh and everything's going good and where's Joseph still in prison?
You know, that's called the death of a vision
He just let down again. I
Mean how many how much can a person go through?
It's
A very sad situation. I mean put yourself in his sandals
You know you get
Betrayed by your brothers you get sold into slavery
You're you're probably never gonna see your family ever get your dad ever again your mom ever
he never sees his mom after that because she ends up dying and
You know you have so you he's sold into slavery and then he's lied about
He's thrown into prison while he's in prison. He has an opportunity
To you know be a value to Pharaoh the guy forgets about him and he's still in prison
Why does God allow that
Why let me say this one is because it humbles us
You know what sometimes God can't bless people who are proud not sometimes he can never bless a proud person
and
In order for you to be situated in such a place where you can be blessed to the Lord
He has to humble you because every single person thinks just a tad too highly of themselves sometimes
And sometimes God just has to bring you down a notch and humble you and that situation was humbling
Not only that but it prunes us as well. It causes us to seek the Lord more and get right with God and
Do things that are pleasing but look at go to Deuteronomy chapter 8 holds your place there in Genesis go to Deuteronomy chapter 8
It's the humble us is to prune us. Let me also say this it's to prove us a
Lot of times God allows that death of a vision to kind of say alright, so what are you gonna do now?
Are you still gonna stay in church?
Are you still gonna serve God? Are you gonna still gonna serve the Lord? Are you still gonna win souls to Christ?
What was your original intent?
for serving the Lord
Is it because you wanted a position?
Is it because you wanted it a specific, you know acclamation of the people? What's the original intent?
What if I just took that away from you?
Would you still serve the Lord?
Sometimes it's a matter of just proving you
Look what it says in Deuteronomy 8 verse 1 all the commandments which I command thee this day
Shall you observe to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers
And now shall remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness
To humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart
Whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no, he's like I'm testing you
To see if you continue if you will keep reading the Bible. Did you come to church to get a spouse?
What if you don't get it?
What if it goes south you still gonna go to church?
You still gonna serve God?
Did you come to church for maybe to start a family what if you don't get it though?
You're still gonna serve God
Did you start serving God because you want to just be successful your business what if you never did are
Are you still gonna serve God?
God sometimes allows that death to prove if you're gonna keep his commandments or no
And most of you know the story, but obviously just the recap of the latter end before we started this church
you know we had gone through my family and I had gone through just a lot of
Trials at our previous church and because of a guy in Arizona
I'm just kidding. You know my association with Pastor Anderson. Just kind of got us in a lot of trouble and
You know we ended up getting
thrown out of that church because of that and
it's the church that my wife's father started now he wasn't the pastor at the time because he had fallen sick and
so
Up until that point I had just trained for years to be a pastor
Studied the Bible served. I mean gave of my time resources and energy
Basically my my my 20s was dedicated to just serving the Lord
spent that decade just just serving God and
You know what the intent to become a pastor one day
But then that was just completely taken away
And and you know he said like I'm not sending you out. He I got sent out, but in a different way
You know
And I remember like you know going home with my wife thinking to myself well
I guess that's just I guess I'm just never gonna preach ever again
And I remember thinking in my heart. You know like at the end of the day
I still love the Lord, and I'm still gonna serve God. I may never may never be able to preach God's Word ever again and
Be a pastor start a church and do those things which I've been training for for the last 10 years
But then I thought to myself is it really in vain in the Lord if I did it for Christ
It's not in vain. Maybe I can go somewhere and be a blessing to another pastor
And that's it
You said that it hurt course
of course
Every death of a vision hurts
Hits right here
Did you think to yourself like man there goes that dream?
Maybe I was wrong
Maybe this is this is not God's intent so that night Sunday night. We went home a little teary-eyed. You know I
Just told my wife like we can still serve God though
We'll just go into obscurity somewhere and just serve God somewhere else
And God can still be pleased with us, and I say at least we know that we're right though
And we experience and I and obviously we had been experiencing the death of a vision well before that because this is
This I'm giving you a summary of like what happened within a four months five months
Just death after death after death that was like the last death that was like this situation right here
And of course the very next day
It was just overnight success
Because then that's when pastor Anderson decided to start the church, and he said do you want to head it up?
And I said yeah
He's
Like well get a sermon ready for next Sunday, so Sunday night. I thought to myself. I'm never gonna preach again
Monday morning is just like get us get sermons ready cuz you're gonna be preaching from here on out
It's like that overnight, but see people look at and I literally had people like you guys plan this
You guys plan this you guys were in conspiracy. I'm like the guy came up with the idea like a couple minutes ago
like hours ago
Cuz if you know anything about pastor Anderson. He's very much like on like if he decides to do something at that point
He's just gonna do it
So he's like we're starting the church you guys are meeting on Thursday, and I'm like well
Where's the church gonna be he's like? I don't know. We'll figure it out
But you're preaching though
Alright dang overnight though
But what if let me ask you this though, what if like when that happened on Sunday night I became vindictive
What if I became vindictive whatever what if I just quit on the Lord what if I you know?
I just went the opposite direction. What if I got into sin? What if what if what if I did those things?
What if I just completely disqualified myself from ever pastoring?
That could have happened
This would not have taken place
We require the death of a vision because God wants to know like are you still gonna sir
Are you still gonna read the Bible what if hey some of you guys what have you never become a pastor?
Are you still content with just reading the Bible and being a blessing to others in our church?
Are you still content with serving church members and soul winning and being a blessing are you happy with that?
If you say no, I'm not then you're probably you're definitely not the type that needs to be ordained to be a pastor
Because you got to be happy and whatsoever state you're in content and whatsoever state you're in
Go to Genesis 41
Genesis 41
That's rough Joseph
Makes the interpretation helps people to understand the Word of God helps people become successful helps you will know they're gonna die
And what does he get no
But then we also see lastly that he has an opportunity
Genesis 41 verse 8 says and it came to pass in the morning
that his spear was troubled and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt referring to Pharaoh and all the wise men thereof and
Pharaoh told them his dream
But there was none that can interpret them unto Pharaoh then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh saying I do remember my faults this day
Well, you know what? Oh, man, I forgot
I'm a little mad at that guy, you know
Looking verse 38 and Pharaoh said unto his servants. Can we find such a one as this? Of course Joseph comes
he makes the interpretation and
Thereby saving Egypt and and everyone who comes in close proximity to it because of the famine
Can we such can we find such a one as this is a man whom the Spirit of God is and Pharaoh said unto Joseph for?
As much as God has showed thee all this there is none
So discreet and wisest thou art thou shalt be over my house and according to thy word shall all my people be ruled
Only in the throne will I be greater than thou and Pharaoh sent him to Joseph
see I have set thee over all the land of Egypt and
Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand and a raid him investors a fine linen and put a
Gold chain about his neck and he made him to ride in the second chariot
Which he had and they cried before him bow the knee and he made him ruler over all the land
of Egypt
Let me say this when it comes to Joseph
It's good that he was still dreaming
And it was good that he can still interpret dreams
and
here's the thing is that if
You can go through all that you can go through the depth of a vision
But if you don't seize on the opportunity when it comes you can miss out
You
Can miss out I'm being used greatly of God. Let me ask you this. Are you still a dreamer?
Are you still a dreamer
Joseph are you still a dreamer? Apparently he made that interpretation overnight
He became vice-pharaoh and not for his self glorification
but really for the preservation of those around him including his family and
Obviously he got to get back at his brothers a little bit when they came back, which is a really good part of the story
He got a little petty, but you know, we enjoy a little pettiness here now and then you know
We're just like get up get up don't mess with them. I liked it. I liked it and I don't think God condemned him for it at all
either
But you know, he did seize on the opportunity and you know, it's important that your roots go downward
But you do have to seize on the opportunity when it presents itself
Cuz yeah, those doors may be closed, but you should wait there until they open up again
And you know, it's almost as if you got to ask yourself are you still a dreamer?
You know cuz sometimes people
Doors closed and they're just they become apathetic towards the things of God and no longer committed or devoted as before
they lose vision they lose sight of
You know what? They wanted to become for the Lord and you know what many opportunities come and go and they miss them all
Sad I
Hope you still dream and seize on that opportunity
And the point that I want to make this morning is that
Your background story is actually happening right now
I've got to see a lot of the fruit of my roots going downward and
I'm kind of seeing the fruit right now with my wife my family my children our church
But you know what? You're kind of in that roots downward stage
Some of you have your roots going downward and you're gonna see the fruit of it 17 years from now
Don't fall out of the way
Bear fruit upward I
Hope that you stick it out and
And I'm sorry to say you will have a death of a vision one day and it's gonna be one of the most painful
experiences that you ever go through
And I'm here for you when it happens and so is everyone else
But you know what? I can't make you dream though
You have to do that on your own
And I hope that you understand that right now at this point your your back your background story is being made and
You know what? This this day is what is what you're talking about 20 years from now if you don't fall out of the way
You know, the greatest things about bad memories is here's the best thing about bad memories when you can talk about it 20 years later
With a smile on your face
It's one of the best things I
Have a lot of bad memories
But most of them I talk about well
I'm laughing because then I see like what the Lord what what the intention was of that
difficulty was
People who quit on the Lord can't do that. All they can do is relive bad memories and hurt more and more and more
But
Those who just stick it out. They love the Lord. They don't understand everything they spend time in prison
They get lied about they have all these unfortunate things happen to them and they stick it out
No matter what 20 years from now
They're able to look back and say I know why God did this to save much people alive
You will never see the bigger picture if you quit on God now
This is the background story I'm not trying to be cliche here
But literally your background story is being made right now and I hope that you as Joseph and many others
Are able to just push through it
Keep dreaming
Let your roots go downward so that one day you will bear fruit upward in abundance. Let's pray
Lord thank you so much for your word Lord
And we're thankful for all that you've done in our lives
God I'm thankful for what you've done in my personal life in the life of my family and
The important principles you've taught me along the way
And sometimes one of the greatest qualities that Christians can
acquire is
the virtue of endurance
perseverance
The ability to just not quit when the going gets tough and I pray that you help us as a people Lord
To not quit on you. And maybe we need a sermon like this to help us to realize why are we here in the first place?
Is it for a person? Is it for a pastor? Is it for a member?
Help us realize that we're here because or we should be here because of you and then we stick it out because of you
Regardless if I fail them
Someone fails them their spouse fails them
Their job their boss someone may fail them and they will
that they can always remain in the service of the Lord because Lord you'll never leave us nor forsake us and
That's reason enough to stay in the fight
Help us to get our roots downward deep deep down
So that we can bear fruit upward for the glory of God. We love you. We thank you. We pray these things in Jesus name
Amen