Transcription
I'm very excited to kick off a brand new series this week called Four Crucial Questions for Your Life. And, uh, what we're going to do is we're going to look at the life of Joseph in scripture. Just the life of a man who lived so well. And we're going to ask ourselves the question over these coming days, uh, what can we learn from Joseph's life about how we ought to live?
And so, you probably know, but Joseph's story primarily, uh, is found in the Old Testament, the book of Genesis, specifically Genesis 37 through 50. And so today, I get the privilege of sharing just one part of his story with you. And then over the next several weeks, we'll talk about his entire life. And so I would encourage you, if maybe it's been a while since you looked at the life of Joseph, or maybe you've never read these scriptures before, over these coming days, Genesis 37-50. I think God has a lot to show us here.
When we first meet Joseph in Genesis 37, he's only 17 years old. The Bible records that detail for us. And so we meet a, a young man with a very big family. He's got 11 brothers. Raise your hand in church today if you've got siblings, brothers or sisters. Raise your hand. Okay. Um, raise your hand if you feel like your parents ever loved your siblings just a little bit more than they loved you. Okay. Uh, we probably all had that experience. Uh, most of the time, not true. Uh, I think. But in Joseph's case, it, it actually was true. Uh, Joseph was his dad, Jacob's, his his favored son. And so, he, he loved Joseph very much. And so he would, he would show that affection to him just by extra, maybe time or, uh, attention, showered him with like elaborate gifts. And so that left the rest of his brothers kind of feeling like Joseph was the favorite, and, and they didn't like it, right?
So, um, actually, the Bible tells us that because of this, uh, Joseph's brothers had jealousy and hatred in their hearts. And actually, the scriptures say that they couldn't even say a kind word to him. Like, that's how deep these relational tensions ran in their family. Like, you thought you didn't get along with your siblings. Um, but we're about to read a story that's going to tell, make you feel better about your family in Jesus' name. All right.
And, and so what's interesting is that when we meet Joseph at just 17 years old, we, one of the first things that we learn about him is that he has this sensitivity to the Lord where he hears God speak to him through his dreams. Um, we actually know over the course of Joseph's life, he's kind of labeled a dreamer. He has dreams. He has the gift of interpreting dreams. And so at only 17 years old, the Lord is speaking to him pretty powerfully in his dreams. And so he has two dreams that are recorded in Genesis 37 that kind of set the stage for what we're going to talk about today.
The first time he has a dream in which he and his brothers, they're out in the field and they're, um, binding up grain. They're making bales of hay, if you will. And so in his dream, uh, the, the grain that his brothers have been binding up, their bales of hay, all come over to Joseph and they bow down to him. And so Joseph wakes up and he decides that he's going to go share this dream with his brothers. And so he goes to his brothers and he tells them, "Hey, I just had a dream in which the Lord showed me that one day you're all going to bow down to me." How would you feel if your little brother or sister came and, and told you that? Right? Uh, it, it doesn't go well for Joseph. In fact, the scriptures say that his, his brothers, because of this dream, they, they kind of hate him even more. Um, and that's not yet the end of the story. It actually gets worse.
Joseph has a second dream. And that second dream is very similar to the first dream. Okay? Same, same principle. Imagery is a little different. And so, he sees 11 stars that represent all of his brothers. And those stars bow down to him. And then he sees the sun and the moon also bow down to him. And so Joseph, um, wakes up and he goes immediately to his brothers and he's like, "Hey, I had another dream. Y'all are going to bow down to me one day." You know, which again, obviously they don't like. More hatred in their hearts. And, and Joseph actually tells his, his dad about this dream. Uh, the sun and the moon representing his parents. And his dad doesn't love the idea of bowing down to his son, but he does take his son seriously. And the Bible says that he, he holds this dream in his heart. And so all of this kind of sets the stage for, for some of what we're about to read today. It's kind of the first part of the life of, of Joseph.
And so here's where the story gets interesting. One day, Jacob sends Joseph out into the field to check on his brothers and to make sure everyone's okay. And when they see Joseph coming from a long way off, they, they actually, all these brothers, they make a plan to kill Joseph. And, uh, here's what it says in Genesis 37. This is their statement. They say, "Here comes that dreamer." Um, they're pretty frustrated, right? Uh, they, they call him a dreamer as if it's a bad thing. It's actually not, but they definitely don't like his dream, right? "Here comes that dreamer," they said to each other. "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him, and then we'll see what comes of his dreams." Like, you can hear the tone, like, "Then we'll see what comes of his dreams." You know, you can hear how frustrated they are.
And, and so in that moment, the, the only one who kind of objects to this plan is Joseph's oldest brother, Reuben. Reuben is starting to feel bad about the way they have treated Joseph. Have you ever felt just a little bit guilty about the way you treated your siblings? Just a little bit? I'm hoping my kids are watching right now. Okay. It's okay to feel bad for the way that you've treated your brother or your sister. But he starts to feel a little bit bad. And, uh, basically he says, like, "Well, let's not just outright kill him. Let's just leave him for dead." That, that there's a difference somehow. And, but he does plan to, like, hopefully come back and, and rescue Joseph. And so he's starting to feel some, some guilt over this.
So after this conversation, here's what happens. Instead of killing him outright, they do decide just to leave Joseph in an empty cistern. And, and so they take their brother and they throw him into a deep, dark pit. Uh, and then they have lunch. Literally, they like throw him into the pit. And then the Bible records that they sit down and they're talking and they're having lunch. And as they're having lunch, there's a caravan that comes by and it's on its way to Egypt. And so they make the decision, okay, we're not just going to, we're not going to kill our brother. We're not just going to leave him for dead. But actually, they pull him out of the pit and they sell him into slavery for 20 pieces of silver. And then they got to tell their dad what happened. So they take his coat, which represents kind of the favor of his father. Uh, they, they rub blood on it and then they, they bring it home and they tell Joseph's dad that his favored son is, is, is dead. And Jacob, his father, is obviously and understandably very heartbroken over the loss of his favored son.
Now, if you've read this story before, this is crazy, y'all. Like, this is, this is a crazy setup to a story. If you've never read this story before, it might seem even crazier. Okay, so this is, this is how we are introduced to the life of Joseph. His, his brothers hate him so much that they plot to murder him and instead they decide to be nice, so they sell him into slavery. Okay, that's, that's the setup. Um, which seems crazy. And then, you know, if you have little brothers or sisters, at, at some point, we've probably all thought about getting rid of them. Like, uh, this is a true story. My wife, when she was little, um, took her newborn baby sister and tried to sell her at a garage sale. Like she was like, "This ain't working out." Uh, she made a sign, hung it on a tree, put a price tag on her, and rolled the stroller out by, like, the old coats, tried to get rid of her. And so at some point, maybe we've all, all thought about something like that. But, but in this story, his brothers, like, they, they actually follow through with these very evil and hate-filled plans to, to hurt their, their brother. And so they actually go through with it, which to me, especially as you read the rest of Joseph's life, it actually speaks to what I would ultimately say is the theme of Joseph's life. Like, if you had to sum up his story in a single verse, it would be this. Genesis 50:20. Here's the statement Joseph makes about his life: "Others meant to harm me, but God intended it all for good and for the benefit of many people."
This is actually a really powerful statement because we're going to talk about what Joseph went through in the first part, but as you'll see, there's, there's a whole lot of ups and downs in Joseph's life. And it's powerful to me that at the end of his life, what, what he steps back and he says is that despite all that I may have had to endure, God is good and he used it for my good. And my prayer today is that as we talk about this first part of Joseph's story, that that you too might be able to make a similar statement about some of the ups and downs in your life.
Because here's the question I want to ask today. Our crucial question for today is this: What will you do with the dream that God has given you? As, as we're introduced to this young man, Joseph, we see very early on, he, he's a dreamer and he has received these visions, these dreams from, from the Lord. And so I, I start to wonder, like, what, what will we do with the dream that God has has given us? I think it's a powerful question that we all need to answer.
But before we answer that question, we have to establish a few foundational truths. And, and here's the first one I, I want to tell you very clearly today. In fact, if you remember nothing else that I say today, I hope that you'll remember this. I want to tell you, God has a dream for your life. God has a dream for your life. Each and every one of us, God has a dream for our lives. He has a vision for our lives. God has a desire for your life. He's got something that he wants to bring about in your life. It's not just true about Joseph. It's true about each and every one of us. God has a, a dream for your life, a purpose for your life. And the truth is this: When you start to realize that truth, game changer. When you start to understand like, God has a purpose for me, God's put that inside me. He's got a dream for me, a vision for me. When you start to walk in that plan and purpose for your life, it changes everything.
If you understand that God has a dream for you, that he has a purpose, he put it in you, you were made on purpose and for a purpose. And if you understand that, it changes every single day. Like, every morning when you wake up, every conversation you have, every relationship, every business meeting, it all looks different when you go, "You know what? God actually has a purpose for my life." It, it, it begins to change the way that we, we live.
But, but perhaps even better than the reality that God has a dream for your life, I want to also tell you today, not only does he have a dream for your life, God actually wants to show you his dream for your life. Like, he wants you to know what that dream is. He's got plans and he's got a purpose for you, but, but he's not like hiding it. He's not trying to hold it back from you. Some, some of us walk through life as if God's will for our lives and God's purpose on our lives is somehow a, a mystery. Actually, we know God longs to show you his purpose for your life. He, he wants to give you a glimpse of what that is.
There, there's so many people who, who will often ask themselves a version of, of this question: "Why am I here?" Like, at, at some point, we've all begun to wonder, like, man, there, there's got to be more than this. Why am I here? Like, why on earth am I on this earth? Like, what are we all have questions about, like, what is our purpose? What's the, what's the reason? And I want to tell you this morning, God has a dream for your life and he wants to reveal it to you. Again, you were made on purpose for a purpose. Right? So, so please just understand today, like God has you here for a reason. You're not here by accident or coincidence or circumstance or chance. No, you're, you're here because the creator of the universe imagined you. Imagined, like, before you were a, you know, just a twinkle in your mother's eye, right? Like, he, he imagined you. He created you. He formed you. He fashioned you. And he puts his breath in you. And all of that is an indication that he's got a, a plan and a purpose for you.
As I was preparing for th this week, I felt like I was just supposed to read Psalm 139. And Psalm 139, David writes this, this beautiful exposition of understanding that he, he was handcrafted by the God of the universe. And, and here's what he writes. He says, "God, you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame, it wasn't hidden from you. When I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes, they saw my unformed body. And all my days were ordained for me. They were written in your book before even one of them came to be." God imagined your life. He has a plan and a purpose for your life and, and he created you to that end, on purpose and, and for a purpose. And, and to me, this psalm just speaks to the beauty and the intentionality with which God made you. It, it, it reminds us that we are handcrafted by the creator of the universe, and he wants to reveal our purpose to us, right? He's not trying to hide it.
God, God shows up to Joseph in a dream twice that we know about. But, but we know from the rest of his life that he had many dreams in which the Lord spoke to him. And, and so maybe you've had the experience where, like, God woke you up in the middle of the night and you knew there was something you were supposed to do. May, maybe you actually had a vision in a dream. I, I believe God still does that. But, but the truth is, like, if you're a person who's discovered your purpose, like, you know, like sometimes it comes in, in a dream, sometimes it just comes through a conversation with a friend or a pastor. Some, sometime, like, if, like, maybe God has given you, like, an idea for a business or a vision for a ministry, or he's given you a heart for a particular group of people. He, he's leading you to your purpose. You're supposed to do something with that dream. And, and often we discover our purpose, we just kind of stumble upon it. Like, sometimes purpose finds you when you least expect it. And, and sometimes it's, it's your purpose is somehow in the very thing that you told God you'd never do. I feel like I have conversations every Wednesday and every Sunday with people who, like, who are like this, 'cause they're like, "Man, I told the Lord I'd never serve in student ministry. I told the Lord I'd never serve in kids ministry." Guess where they are? Every Sunday in the nursery, right? You want. So, there's something about, like, man, when you just start to serve others, when you just step out, when you just make your life outward focused, like God begins to give you a dream for your life and reveal his purpose to you.
And so, if that's you, because I feel like there's probably two people in the room, when, when you talk about purpose, the two groups of people that are probably listening are like, there's some people who are like, "Yes and amen. God has a plan and a purpose for my life and, and I'm walking in it and I know it and I've got that sense of confidence." And then I got to imagine there's some people who are like, "I don't know about all that." And so I actually want to challenge you just to, just to pray a simple prayer based on the reality that God has a dream for your life and he wants to show it to you. Here's the prayer that I would encourage you to pray today, but, but maybe every day. Just pray this: "God, show me my purpose." Sh, show, show me my purpose. Because he wants to reveal it to you. Like, there are, there are prayers that God longs to answer, and I personally think this is one of them. He, he wants to show you why you're here. And once you kind of get that dream for your life, then man, you just start to walk in it day by day, just a little bit more, discovering who you are. I, I, it took, it took 30 or 40 years for Joseph's dream to be realized. It's a long time. But that doesn't mean that he wasn't walking in purpose, in his purpose, every day of his life. God wants to lead you, guide you, show you, give you a glimpse of what he wants you to be a part of.
And so, here are just a few lessons that we learn from this stage of Joseph's story, right? What do we do with the dream that God has given to us? The, the first thing that Joseph learned the hard way, and I would encourage you to think about, is this: Um, be careful who you share your dreams with. Just be careful who you share your dreams with, right? Because Joseph pretty prematurely and, and perhaps immaturely shared his, his dream, right? Uh, and he shared it with people arguably he should have been able to trust, but, but he couldn't. And, and so he, he learned the hard way that there are some people that you, you shouldn't share your dream with. And here's what I mean. I, I actually believe that this stage of Joseph's life probably would have unfolded differently if he had exercised just a little bit more wisdom and a little bit more discernment in who he shared his dream with. It actually was his dream that created even more hate in the hearts of his brothers. And so he shares this dream with the, the wrong people.
And Joseph, to me, is one of the most, uh, incredible lives in scripture. There's only a few people in scripture that you can look at their lives and you're like, man, it's, it's pretty hard to find any fault in their lives. And Joseph is on that short list of people's, like, he kind of got it all right a lot of the time. But, but in this moment, we see, like, maybe just a little bit of immaturity because when he gets this dream from God, he kind of does what most 17-year-olds would probably do, like runs to his brothers and kind of rubs it in their face. He's like, "One day you're going to bow down to me. How do you like that?" You know? And, and I'm obviously, like, I don't know if that's what was in Joseph's heart, but, but here's what we do know. At the very least, he, he had some immaturity and, and a little bit of lack of wisdom in who he entrusted his dream to. How do we know that? Well, even though the first dream caused his brothers to hate him even more, he still went back a second time, right? So, so maybe he wasn't rubbing it in their faces, but at the very least, he, he could have displayed more wisdom and more maturity in who he entrusted his dream to.
And the reality is, like, when you start to walk in God's purpose for your life, when you know that God's got a vision for your life, a dream for your life, and you walk in the confidence of that, like, you're going to experience some opposition. Not, not everybody likes that. Like, when you have that level of confidence and you know what God is doing in your life and what he's called you to do, like, you're going to meet some opposition, right? I mean, Joseph certainly did. He experienced hatred and jealousy as he began to walk in his purpose. And, and you might experience that, too. Like, the more you walk in your purpose and God's dream for your life, your destiny, you might experience a little bit of jealousy. You, you might experience a little bit of hatred. As one of the most prolific poets of our time once wrote, "Haters gonna hate, hate, hate," right? Like, you just, you, you're going to experience some, some opposition as you walk in your God-given destiny. Not everybody's going to love it. But man, when God's got a dream for your life and you know it, man, we, we entrust that to people who, who are going to guide us and correct us and pray for us and care for us, right? We got to be careful about who we entrust that thing to.
It's almost like when you first become a parent and you have this, like, tiny little infant thing and you sort of feel like it might break at any second, you know? It's like, uh, ju, it's not like, I'm not saying only parents should ever hold their kids, but you're a little bit like, "Ah, are you good? Like, hold their head." That person could have had, like, 11 brothers, you know, or, or 12 kids, and you're like, "I don't know if you're going to be able to handle this one," you know? It, it's, man, like, care for the dream God has given you like that. Ju, just be careful who you entrust it to because not everybody, not everybody's going to be ready to hear what God is telling you. And Joseph, he, he didn't know what his dreams meant. And so he, he really shared it before he even understood it, which generally should be avoided, avoided.
But the other thing that I noticed as I was studying for this message is there's something different too about his brothers. I noticed that his brothers are actually really insecure in their relationship with their father. Like, their hatred and jealousy of Joseph, it's not actually about Joseph. It's that they're really insecure about their own relationship with their father. And I just thought, like, I don't know who this is for, but I, I just thought that's actually a pretty good indicator. Don't entrust your dreams to people who are insecure in their relationship with their father, their heavenly father. If anything, entrust your dreams to people who, like, have a better relationship with their heavenly father than you do, right? Those are the people who can be trusted to guide you, correct you, pray for you, to, to help you on this path that God has purposed for you, right? So, so one lesson is: be careful who you share your dreams with.
Here, here's another one. Your God-given dream, it won't be about you. This is significant. Your God-given dream, it, it won't be about you. Because when God gives you a purpose for your life, when God gives you vision, when you start to understand why you were made and what you're called to do, man, that, that vision that God gives you, it's not going to be about you. It's going to be about other people. Like, it's always going to be others-focused. And what's interesting to me is that when God first gives Joseph, like, a glimpse of his future, he thinks that his dream is about everyone bowing down to him. But if you know this story, and, and you will in the coming weeks, that's actually not what this dream is really about. It wasn't just about his brothers bowing down to him. That's not the purpose at all. His, his God-given dream, it, it wasn't about his, his people bowing down to him, although that happens. It wasn't about ruling over his family, although that happens, too. His God-given dream was actually about Joseph becoming the kind of leader who could extend mercy in all circumstances. He, his God-given dream was actually about becoming the type of person who could choose forgiveness over bitterness and frustration. He, his God-given dream was actually, don't miss this, about being able to serve people who could offer him nothing in return. That, that's what his dream was ultimately about.
And, and the same is true for us. Like, man, e, even if God gives you, like, a roadmap to build a great business, listen to me, it ain't about you. Even if God gives you, like, a heart to start a ministry or plant a church, it's not about you. Whatever the plan or purpose that God begins to lay in your heart, it's always going to be focused on others. I, I go back to that Genesis 50:20. It's like, "All that I have been through was for my good and for the benefit of others." Your dream, if it's from God, will be for the benefit of many people. Same is true for, for our lives as it was for Joseph. Our, our purpose, God's dream for our lives. It's going to be about not, not what we do, but who we become. Really, that's what Joseph's dream is about. Not something he would do, but the type of man he would become. And so, the quickest way to discern if you've really discovered God's purpose for your life is to make sure that that vision is focused on other people.
Here, here's the last lesson from the life of Joseph that we're going to talk about today. I'd love for you to write it down. It's this. Um, and my prayer before I say this is this. My prayer is that the next couple of moments of this message would be just a true source of encouragement for, for any of you today who might find yourself in a place in life you just, you never thought you would end up. Like, maybe today you're walking into church and you're dealing with something you didn't see it coming. You, you have, you haven't even begun to glimpse the light on the other side of the tunnel. Like, you just, you never thought you'd be where you are. This lesson from the life of Ju, Joseph, I pray would give you hope today.
Here, here it is. There's always a pit stop on the way to the palace. Or, or another way to say it: there's always a pit stop on the way to your purpose. Just because God gave Joseph a dream didn't mean, like, everything was going to be easy for the rest of his life. No. Actually, it was probably the dream that sustained him in some of the most difficult moments of his life. And so, what does that teach us? Well, it teaches us that there's always a pit stop on the way to the palace. And here's what I mean. We, you and I, when, when we think about Joseph being thrown into a deep, dark pit by his brothers. Like, we have an advantage because we know the end of the story. He, he doesn't die there. But I can't imagine that Joseph didn't think that that pit, that moment, was the end. Like, like, as his brothers surrounded him and as they ripped off his coat and as he saw, like, the rage and the vengeance in their eyes, as they picked him up and marched him over and tossed him down, that I got to imagine he thought it was the end. He, he thought he was going to die. But what's interesting is that God still had more in his story.
Now, now we can read this story and kind of gloss over the details. So, let's just take a moment and make sure we understand how desperate his situation really was. The Bible tells us that the cistern that he was thrown into had no water in it. Okay, what does that mean? It means there was nothing to break his fall. And these could be up to 100 feet deep. So when his brothers toss him into this deep, dark pit, that's a serious freefall, like, life-ending type of freefall. So at the very least, he had broken bones and a bloody nose. Like, he w, he was in a bad way. And that's before they like toss him down a rope and he's got to wrap it around himself and they pull him back up and they sell him into slavery. Insult to injury. Like, like literally, he, he is in the deepest, darkest hole that he has ever been. This is the most painful moment of his entire life.
Now, many of us have never experienced anything like that before physically, but many of us know what it feels like to be in a deep, dark pit, emotionally, spiritually, relationally. Many of us know what it feels like to, to, to look up at one of the darkest moments in your entire life and feel like there's no way out of this. And, and I think one of the most beautiful lessons that we learn from this stage of Joseph's life is that there's always a pit stop on the way to the palace. We know that Joseph is likely very seriously injured from this fall. But also when they sell him into slavery, they sell him for 20 pieces of silver, which is the price that was normally paid for an an injured or a handicapped slave. So the Bible actually tells us, like, he's not doing well, but God was with him. Don't miss it. Even in the midst of the deepest, darkest, most painful moment of his life, what, what he discovered at the bottom of that well was the presence of God, the, the favor of God, that God was with him even there.
And so, I want to encourage you, like, many of you might be walking through something that feels a little bit like that. It's hard. It's dark. It's difficult. And I just want to remind you today, like, the, the presence of a pit does not mean the absence of your God. The, the presence of, like, there's always going to be a ditch on the way to your destiny. There's always going to be a pit stop on the way to your palace. And, and, and being in that pit, right in the middle of it, the presence of a pit doesn't mean the absence of your God, right? There's always a pit stop. It's actually just kind of part of the way it works. Uh, any, anybody here today a NASCAR fan? Raise your hand. NASCAR fan. Okay. I am told, which I can't believe, but I am told that this is the largest fan base in the United States of America, that NAS, CAR is like the most popular sport. I've never experienced that, but, but anyway, maybe you're into it, maybe you're not. One thing that fascinates me about these races is that every driver in the race has to take a what? A pit stop, right? It's just part of the race. Multiples, really, but it's just part of it. And, and what do they do? Right in the middle of the race, they pull over. They sit, like, like anything about a race would tell you, like, that's a bad idea, right? You just get to the finish line. But what do they do? They pull over. They make a pit stop. And in that pit stop, the goal is that they would be able to make the adjustments, the alterations, the, you know, to get everything working as it should. Why? So that it can sustain the pressure of the rest of, of the race. What's fascinating to me is that pit stops are normally preventative. You, you don't pull into a pit stop just because something has gone wrong. Actually, you pull into a pit stop to prevent something from, from going wrong. And so they, they pull over in order to give themselves and their team time to recalibrate so that they can run the race that is set out before them.
I, I actually think life is pretty similar. Sometimes we experience these se, these things that, that don't make any sense. Almost seems like you're derailed, like you, you got to sit over here, take a break, something bad. But in reality, sometimes God will use the pit stop to make sure that everything is calibrated enough for the pressure that you have to sustain in, in order to run the race that he's marked out for you. This is actually a, a, a good thing because sometimes we have these moments in life, and let's just label maybe what a couple of them are. You, you might feel like you're in a pit right now. Like, maybe you walk into church today and you're, you're going through something that you never saw coming. And it might be a, a divorce that's happening and you didn't see it coming. It might be some other kind of relational strain in your life. Maybe it's a financial crisis. You, you lost a job. There, there are any number of things that we could list today, and, and there, none of those things are good. But, but the beauty of the story of Joseph is this, that, that even when it doesn't look good or feel good, God can still use it for your good. Right?
I, I think about the, the verse in the New Testament, Romans 8:28. It says this: "God works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose." That the point of this verse is not that everything in your life will be good. Not what it says. Actually, what it says is that God takes all the things that do, don't make sense. God takes every detail of your life. He takes every, every pit stop you've had to endure, and he weaves it all together for our good. And Joseph's story is proof of that because only God could take something a, as, as horrible as human trafficking. Let's call it what it is. They sold a child into slavery. Only God could take something as horrible as human trafficking and use that very person to save a nation. Only God could take something that atrocious and make it into something good. Joseph's life is the ultimate example of when it doesn't look good, it doesn't feel good, God can still work it all together for your good. And so, no matter what you're walking through today, when you trust God with your present reality and your future dreams, he can work it for your good. And it'll be in ways that you could never even imagine.
Let me pray for you today. God, thank you for the life of this incredible man in scripture, for what we learn from the life of Joseph. And God, I do thank you that you have a dream for every person watching this message right now. You have a dream, a plan, a purpose, a vision for our lives. So God, show it. Show it to us. And when you do, God, when we begin to walk in that purpose, help us to know who to entrust that dream with. People who love us, guide us, care for us, pray for us, help us. But God, help us to understand those dreams. They're not going to be about us. It's always about others. What you want to do through us. I, I pray, Lord, that it would be for the benefit of many, many people. And God, I pray today that for those of us who are in one of those moments where it feels like we are in a deep, dark pit, may we be reminded there is nowhere, Lord, where we can escape your presence. May we be met with the presence of the God of God there. And would you help us, Lord Jesus, to know that even if it doesn't look good, even if it doesn't feel good, God, you are working all things together for our good. And Jesus, I pray that we would entrust you with that today. It's in Jesus name that we pray. And everybody said, "Amen."