1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,160 Hello and welcome to Trinity Sermons. 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:12,080 We are Trinity Church Streetsville and each week we bring you a message, a message rooted 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:17,760 in biblical truth and a message intended for you to take with you into your life. 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:23,200 We at Trinity are a church located in Mississauga, Ontario and in our own time we are learning 5 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:28,120 to love Jesus, live like Jesus and lead others to Jesus. 6 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:34,000 Today we are starting episode 1 of a new sermon series, a series all about the Bible's most 7 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,720 famous dreamer, Joseph from the Old Testament. 8 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:42,720 We are calling this series, Live in the Dream and you won't want to miss any of these sermons 9 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,640 as we journey through the life of Joseph. 10 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,540 And before we begin, we'd like to invite you to follow our podcast, check us out on 11 00:00:49,540 --> 00:00:54,920 social media and please visit our website at trinitiestreetsville.org. 12 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,280 Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy. 13 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:58,280 God bless. 14 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:07,720 A reading from Genesis chapter 37 verses 2 to 11. 15 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:10,520 This is the account of Jacob's family line. 16 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:16,760 Joseph, a young man of 17, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilha 17 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:19,080 and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. 18 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,480 And he brought their father a bad report about them. 19 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:28,080 Now, Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he had been born to 20 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:33,420 him in his old age and he made an ornate robe for him. 21 00:01:33,420 --> 00:01:38,560 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him 22 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:42,520 and could not speak a kind word to him. 23 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:48,620 Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 24 00:01:48,620 --> 00:01:53,280 He said to them, listen to this dream I had. 25 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:59,400 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood 26 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:05,960 upright while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to him. 27 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:10,600 His brothers said to him, do you intend to reign over us? 28 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,100 Will you actually rule us? 29 00:02:14,100 --> 00:02:18,840 And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. 30 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:24,520 Then he had another dream and he told it to his brothers. 31 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:31,440 Listen he said, I had another dream and this time the sun and moon and 11 stars were bowing 32 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:33,820 down to me. 33 00:02:33,820 --> 00:02:39,680 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, what is this 34 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:41,520 dream you had? 35 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:47,440 Will your mother and I and all your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before 36 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:49,600 you? 37 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:54,080 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. 38 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:55,600 The word of the Lord. 39 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,480 Well, good morning everyone. 40 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:05,920 I don't know if you have ever had one of those weird, weird dreams that you can't quite figure 41 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:07,960 out what the dream means. 42 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:09,980 And maybe you even had this dream more than once. 43 00:03:09,980 --> 00:03:11,120 Maybe it's a recurring dream. 44 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:16,040 I have had, there's one dream particularly in my life that I have had on a number of 45 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,880 occasions and I want to share it with you now. 46 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:22,820 And I want to tell you though, it's a little spooky. 47 00:03:22,820 --> 00:03:27,280 It's a little creepy, but you know, I think it'd be okay. 48 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,640 But the dream always starts the same way. 49 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:38,160 I'm sitting down in the front seat of a roller coaster and the arm things come down and go 50 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,320 and they lock into place, which is fine. 51 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:44,440 But you know, it can also be kind of, you can feel weird when you can't move. 52 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:50,520 And then in the dream, the roller coaster starts to go up the first main hill. 53 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:53,920 And you know that sound that roller coasters make when they're like going up the hill? 54 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,320 They're like, chickadee, chickadee, chickadee, chickadee, chickadee, chickadee. 55 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:57,440 So I hear that noise. 56 00:03:57,440 --> 00:03:58,780 They're going up, up, up. 57 00:03:58,780 --> 00:04:03,400 And as we're getting higher, I'm feeling like a little more nervous, a little more scared. 58 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:08,480 And I can see the precipice of the hill coming up and because I'm in the front, when we 59 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:13,520 get to the top, just when I'm starting to get that feeling like I'm falling and getting 60 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:17,640 that feeling like I'm kind of really, really nervous, that's when I just take the moment 61 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:23,480 and I turn around to look and see who are the other people in the roller coaster who 62 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:25,900 is sitting behind me. 63 00:04:25,900 --> 00:04:30,040 And when I turn around, that's when I, that's the moment when I see them. 64 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:31,040 I see them. 65 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:32,320 I'm looking and there they are. 66 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,960 Sorry, I got to turn my clicker on here. 67 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:39,840 You know, just prepare yourself for when you see who is sitting behind me in my dream. 68 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:49,360 Yes, it is none other than Ronald McDonald, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Bertie, Mayor McCheese. 69 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:53,260 They're all there, all the characters from McDonald's sitting behind me in the roller 70 00:04:53,260 --> 00:04:55,480 coaster and they're staring right at me. 71 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:56,520 I might make this up. 72 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:00,360 This has happened like a number of times and it is terrifying. 73 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,240 I don't know why they're looking at me. 74 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:10,800 And then I wake up and I don't know what the dream means, but I mean, it can't be good. 75 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:19,520 I wonder, and I just thought I'd ask, has anyone else had a dream like this? 76 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:24,200 I was really hoping I wasn't the only one. 77 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:29,740 But anyways, you know, there actually are some dreams that everybody has had from time 78 00:05:29,740 --> 00:05:35,920 to time and actually we did a poll online this week on our YouTube channel and we asked 79 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,040 people, hey, which of these dreams have you dreamt the most? 80 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,360 I want to do the same poll right here and see what you think. 81 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:43,040 There's some common dreams. 82 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:46,000 Many people dream about flying and they dream about falling. 83 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:47,400 They dream about losing teeth. 84 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:52,240 They dream about being back in school or they dream about moving in slow motion. 85 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,680 I want to know, could you just take a few moments, turn to the person beside you and 86 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:59,960 tell them which of these dreams you have dreamt the most? 87 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:02,920 Okay, let's do a little vote here. 88 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:04,880 Let's just tell me if you've had this dream. 89 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:05,880 Just tell me if you've had this dream. 90 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:09,560 How many of you have had the dream of flying? 91 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:11,720 Falling. 92 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:12,720 Losing teeth. 93 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:13,720 It happens. 94 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:14,720 Yeah. 95 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:20,280 Being back in school or moving in slow motion or just being stuck. 96 00:06:20,280 --> 00:06:21,280 Yeah. 97 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:25,140 So it looks like the most popular one here is the one of falling. 98 00:06:25,140 --> 00:06:26,140 That feeling of falling. 99 00:06:26,140 --> 00:06:27,140 I think I know what you mean. 100 00:06:27,140 --> 00:06:31,360 You slip almost and you feel like you're going to fall off your bed or something like that. 101 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:36,060 Now listen, while most dreams like this are dreams that we remember and many of us remember 102 00:06:36,060 --> 00:06:41,340 the same dreams, you probably know this, that most of our dreams we don't remember at all. 103 00:06:41,340 --> 00:06:44,440 You've had that experience of waking up in the middle of the night and you've just had 104 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,520 this amazing, vivid, exciting, exciting dream. 105 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:53,560 But then actually when you get to breakfast in the morning, you can't remember any of 106 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:54,560 it. 107 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:56,760 So the question is, why does that happen? 108 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:57,760 Why do we forget our dreams? 109 00:06:57,760 --> 00:06:59,860 There are a few different theories. 110 00:06:59,860 --> 00:07:04,240 One theory, you might call this the scientific theory, is that there's a neurochemical process 111 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:09,960 that happens in your brain where intentionally your brain snips off those dreams because 112 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:14,280 your brain perceives it as entirely useless information and so might as well just get 113 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,280 rid of it and not bother trying to remember it. 114 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:19,240 That's one scientific explanation. 115 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:21,760 There's also a psychological explanation. 116 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:26,160 Sigmund Freud believed that one of the reasons we don't remember our dreams is that our dreams 117 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:31,760 represent repressed thoughts and secret feelings that we have that we don't actually want to 118 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:32,960 remember subconsciously. 119 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:34,320 We don't want to remember. 120 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:39,120 So we intentionally or unintentionally forget them to protect ourselves. 121 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,680 And then there's a third theory and that's kind of more of a practical theory that says 122 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:47,240 the reason we forget our dreams is actually just because we wake up all of a sudden. 123 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:53,880 Our alarms go off and interrupts the dreaming process and that makes the retention of the 124 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,200 dream much harder to do later on. 125 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:01,340 So there's a lot of reasons why we might forget our dreams, but all the experts would agree 126 00:08:01,340 --> 00:08:07,080 that one of the best ways to remember your dreams is to write it down as soon as you 127 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:13,920 can to have a pen or paper by your bedside and write down what your dream was about. 128 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:16,880 And actually for that reason, we want to give each and every one of you today, we have a 129 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:17,880 small gift. 130 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:21,080 You'll get this on your way out the door at the end of the service, but it's a live in 131 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:22,840 the dream notepad. 132 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:27,720 And we want you to use this notepad and maybe start writing down some of the dreams that 133 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:33,440 you are having in your life because, and here's where we're going today, your dreams are actually 134 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:35,640 quite important. 135 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:41,060 And our dreams are things that we don't want to be forgetting. 136 00:08:41,060 --> 00:08:45,620 Now when I say that, I'm not talking about the types of dreams like, you know, roller 137 00:08:45,620 --> 00:08:47,320 coasters and Ronald McDonald. 138 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:49,200 Those dreams, yes, we want to get rid of those dreams. 139 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,640 If I could get rid of those dreams, I would, I would try to forget them. 140 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:54,080 But there are other dreams. 141 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,320 There are other dreams. 142 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:03,800 The big dreams, the big visions, the big dreams that God gives you. 143 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:07,160 We don't want to forget those dreams, right? 144 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:08,560 And I'm talking about dreams. 145 00:09:08,560 --> 00:09:11,740 These aren't even dreams that you dream when you're asleep necessarily. 146 00:09:11,740 --> 00:09:16,000 These are the dreams you carry with you each and every day. 147 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,880 Dreams about the way you want to live your life. 148 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:20,900 Dreams about where you think your life is going. 149 00:09:20,900 --> 00:09:24,040 Dreams about where you think God is calling you to go. 150 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,280 Dreams about how to make the world a better place. 151 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:28,780 You've got to dream about an idea. 152 00:09:28,780 --> 00:09:30,600 You've got to dream about an opportunity. 153 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:32,760 You've got a vision for the future. 154 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,640 Those are really, really important dreams. 155 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:37,540 How do we make the world a better place? 156 00:09:37,540 --> 00:09:39,920 That's a dream we have to remember. 157 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:43,600 How do we become the kind of people that God wants us to be? 158 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:47,060 Those are God-given, God-sized dreams. 159 00:09:47,060 --> 00:09:48,860 Those are not silly dreams. 160 00:09:48,860 --> 00:09:50,140 Those are serious dreams. 161 00:09:50,140 --> 00:09:52,200 Those are not dreams you should forget. 162 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:54,720 Those are dreams you need to remember. 163 00:09:54,720 --> 00:10:03,420 And the reason God would give you that dream is because he wants you to live that dream. 164 00:10:03,420 --> 00:10:09,740 Dreaming is essential to figuring out who God wants us to be. 165 00:10:09,740 --> 00:10:14,240 You might say that without a dream in your life, you're always going to feel a little 166 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:15,240 bit stuck. 167 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:20,820 You know, even the Bible says that without vision, the people perish. 168 00:10:20,820 --> 00:10:23,880 Without a dream, we perish. 169 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:29,160 But when we have a dream, when we have a vision of the future, when we have an idea of, oh, 170 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:32,400 this would be exciting, then all of a sudden we're not stuck in our lives. 171 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:33,440 We're not perishing. 172 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:38,220 We're moving forward into something exciting and new, right? 173 00:10:38,220 --> 00:10:43,120 I would even go so far to say that if you maybe don't have some kind of dream for your 174 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:48,120 life, then are you really living your life? 175 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:51,880 Dreaming is something that's so essential to being a human being. 176 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:54,600 I would, I don't think animals dream this way. 177 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:59,000 I mean, we've all seen our dogs lying on the floor having a dream, but I don't think our 178 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:03,840 dogs are dreaming about space travel, or I don't think that fish are dreaming about flying, 179 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,340 or cats are dreaming about finding a cure for cancer, right? 180 00:11:07,340 --> 00:11:13,120 But humans, humans have dreamed all of these things and so much more. 181 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:17,800 Napoleon said that those with imagination will rule the world. 182 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:23,320 Put another way, those who dream can change the world. 183 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:26,560 Now the Bible has a lot to say about dreams. 184 00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:31,160 In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. 185 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:34,360 Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. 186 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:36,920 Your young men will see visions. 187 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:39,800 Your old men will dream dreams. 188 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:45,920 In those days, I will pour out my spirit even on my servants, men and women alike. 189 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:50,920 If you're here today and you're young or if you're old, God has a dream for your life. 190 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:55,720 If you're eight or if you're 98, God has a dream for your life. 191 00:11:55,720 --> 00:12:02,060 If you're a man or a woman, if you are a son or a daughter, when the Holy Spirit comes 192 00:12:02,060 --> 00:12:11,040 into your life, that spirit will stir up dreams and visions and ideas for the future, right? 193 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:12,880 It could be a dream for your life. 194 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,440 It could be a dream for this world. 195 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:18,340 And so I'm just going to ask you the question. 196 00:12:18,340 --> 00:12:21,320 Do you have a dream? 197 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:26,640 Do you have some sense of a vision for the future, a passion? 198 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:30,280 What is God calling you to do? 199 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:33,760 Who is God calling you to be? 200 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,160 Where is God calling you to go? 201 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:38,920 What are your dreams? 202 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:40,960 Now you might say, Rob, you know what? 203 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:42,720 I've never even thought of it that way before. 204 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:43,720 And that's fine. 205 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:44,720 That's totally fine. 206 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,800 It could be that others of you say, you know, Rob, I think there actually was a time in 207 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:51,040 my life when I had some dreams and real visions and plans for the future. 208 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:52,220 But I don't know. 209 00:12:52,220 --> 00:12:55,640 Time went by and I just kind of forgot them and left them behind. 210 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,760 And that's okay, too. 211 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,760 Maybe some of you would say, you know, Rob, I actually am living a dream. 212 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:04,400 I'm pursuing a dream right now. 213 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:07,460 But if I'm honest with you, Rob, it's not like a God given dream. 214 00:13:07,460 --> 00:13:10,240 It's a very self serving, very human dream. 215 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:14,520 The things I'm pursuing, I don't even sure that God wants me to be focused on. 216 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:17,240 And, you know, thanks for sharing that. 217 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:25,160 But the point of this teaching series is to help us to remember how to dream again, because 218 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:30,560 God gives us dreams for a reason, the world needs dreamers. 219 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:34,680 And I'll even tell you, this church needs dreamers, too. 220 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:39,280 So if we're going to talk about God given dreams and big dreams and important dreams, 221 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:45,960 then we have got to talk about Joseph, because Joseph was the biggest dreamer of us all. 222 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:50,440 You know, if you read the very beginning of Joseph's stories, when Joseph's brothers see 223 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:55,600 him coming, they say, look, here comes that dreamer. 224 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:56,760 Joseph was a dreamer. 225 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:58,880 I don't know if you guys have read the whole story of Joseph. 226 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:00,280 I really encourage you to do so. 227 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:02,600 It's found in the book of Genesis. 228 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:07,360 Genesis gives an incredible amount of space and time to the story of Joseph from Genesis 229 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:09,280 37 to 50. 230 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:11,400 It's like its own little novel. 231 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:13,600 It's a beautiful work of storytelling. 232 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:14,760 You really need to read it. 233 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:19,480 Go home and read it before we meet again next week. 234 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:24,680 And today we're only going to be able to just kind of crack in to the very beginning of 235 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:27,320 that story, the story of Joseph. 236 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:32,080 And right away, though, I think something emerges from his story that applies to all 237 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:33,080 of our story. 238 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:34,080 And that is this. 239 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:39,460 When God gives us a dream for our life, that dream always comes with two pieces. 240 00:14:39,460 --> 00:14:43,840 It comes with disruption and it requires decision. 241 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:49,460 So when God gave Joseph a dream, it caused a disruption and forced a decision. 242 00:14:49,460 --> 00:14:53,560 And when God gives you a dream, a vision, a sense of where you're going in your life, 243 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:58,400 it's going to be a disruption, but it's also going to force you to make a decision. 244 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:02,760 So let's just look at those two things and let's start first of all with this idea of 245 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:04,320 a disruption. 246 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:07,140 Dreams always cause disruption. 247 00:15:07,140 --> 00:15:12,320 If your dream is not disruptive, it doesn't, you know, shake you up somehow. 248 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,380 Chances are it's probably not a very good dream. 249 00:15:15,380 --> 00:15:19,520 Now we modern people, we like to minimize disruption, right? 250 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:23,420 We want to manage our lives and micromanage our lives and make sure we have everything 251 00:15:23,420 --> 00:15:27,800 under control and we'd like to predict the future and forecast where things are going 252 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:29,520 and control the world. 253 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:31,160 We don't want surprises. 254 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:32,840 We don't want surprises or changes. 255 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,820 We don't want to be in control 24 seven. 256 00:15:35,820 --> 00:15:41,560 But then dreams come in and they make their sneak attack on our mind and our heart and 257 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:46,240 we slow down and we start to listen and we realize that the spirit is actually moving 258 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,100 in us and giving us a new vision. 259 00:15:48,100 --> 00:15:49,800 We don't ask for these dreams to come. 260 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:54,360 Well, we don't necessarily want them, but we can't keep them out of our of our little 261 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:55,360 picture here. 262 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:58,800 This controlled space, they come in and they disrupt. 263 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,120 They they disrupt our equilibrium. 264 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:02,160 They disrupt our thinking. 265 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:04,880 They totally rock the boat. 266 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:08,240 Dreams always cause disruptions. 267 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:11,920 If you read the Bible and look at some of the times when God sent dreams into people's 268 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:13,800 life, it's always leading to disruption. 269 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:15,840 It's always interrupting their world. 270 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,640 God gives Abraham a vision that says Abraham go to a brand new land. 271 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:21,680 Boom, complete disruption. 272 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:23,960 He has to leave everything behind. 273 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:28,200 In this story, we're going to hear God gives Pharaoh a dream about a famine coming and 274 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:30,240 Pharaoh can't do anything about it. 275 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:31,920 Boom, huge disruption. 276 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:35,240 Pharaoh has to change his thinking and his plans for the future. 277 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,440 But Knesser ends up having a dream, a crazy dream. 278 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:39,800 Boom, it scares him. 279 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:41,400 His life is coming to an end. 280 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:44,040 A great big disruption. 281 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:48,400 Jesus actually goes around and starts telling people about God's great big dream for the 282 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,280 world and boom, it's a huge disruption. 283 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:53,800 People start leaving everything to follow him. 284 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,120 Other people want to kill him for what he is saying. 285 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:03,040 Even when Jesus is on trial and Pontius Pilate is, you know, standing there at the court, 286 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:07,720 God's wife sneaks in in the middle of the trial and says, don't have anything to do 287 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:13,760 with this guy, Jesus, because I just had a dream about him and I'm totally disturbed 288 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:16,000 and I'm totally disrupted by it. 289 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:20,200 The Bible is full of dreams and every dream seems to lead to one disruption to another 290 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:21,200 disruption. 291 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:23,360 So let's take a look at Joseph's dream. 292 00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:27,000 What were Joseph's dreams and how did it disrupt things? 293 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:32,340 Well, actually, Joseph had not one but two dreams in our reading today, both of which 294 00:17:32,340 --> 00:17:34,340 meant the same thing. 295 00:17:34,340 --> 00:17:36,600 And this is what Joseph's dreams meant. 296 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:43,160 Joseph, one of the youngest kids in his family, was going to become the head of the family. 297 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,160 And he was even going to become king of the family. 298 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:51,200 Now you can see how that might be just a little bit disruptive, right? 299 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,080 He tells his brothers, listen, listen to this dream I had. 300 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:58,920 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood 301 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:03,640 upright and your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it. 302 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,800 And Joseph, he's just, he can't leave it at that. 303 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:10,240 He's pushing and he says, oh, and listen, I had another dream. 304 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:11,320 I had another dream. 305 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:17,360 And this time the sun and the moon and 11 stars were bowing down to me. 306 00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:21,800 The 11 stars stand for the 11 brothers and this time the sun and the moon stand for Joseph's 307 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:25,560 own father and mother, all bowing down to him. 308 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:28,840 There's actually no complicated interpretation that gets offered here. 309 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:32,120 But he hears his dream seems to understand what he's talking about. 310 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:33,520 They know what he means. 311 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:38,840 His brothers are like, so what you intend to rule and reign over us? 312 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:40,840 Are you actually going to rule us? 313 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:45,980 His parents then say, well, your mother and I and your brothers, are we all going to come 314 00:18:45,980 --> 00:18:50,040 and bow down to the ground before you, Joseph? 315 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:56,160 Man, this is not the dream of some goofy spoiled kid. 316 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,000 This is not a Ronald McDonald on the roller coaster dream. 317 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:01,360 This isn't weird and meaningless. 318 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:05,680 No, this is a disruptive God dream, right? 319 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:07,240 He is dreaming a very big dream. 320 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:12,400 He is dreaming of being in charge of being the ruler of being king. 321 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:16,600 And he's disrupting everything because of it, because of course, in those days, families 322 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:18,000 had their hierarchy. 323 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,180 Some do today, but there was a, there was a hierarchy. 324 00:19:21,180 --> 00:19:22,760 There was an order, a birth order. 325 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:27,680 And that birth order told you who was in charge and who was going to be in charge in the end. 326 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:32,440 And Joseph being second to the youngest was definitely not the one who was going to be 327 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:33,440 in charge. 328 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:38,680 But he has the dream and he tells them the dream and it of course disrupts everything 329 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:40,680 and nobody can brush it off. 330 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:41,680 Nobody can forget it. 331 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:43,800 They hate him all the more. 332 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:50,200 The family is boom blowing up because of this dream, because his brothers were jealous of 333 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:51,200 him. 334 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:52,200 We read. 335 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,360 And it's been told also that his father kept the matter in mind. 336 00:19:55,360 --> 00:20:02,080 And that's interesting, but it also makes sense because Joseph's family of all families 337 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:09,640 should know that God sometimes uses dreams to speak to people in times of big change. 338 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,960 Jacob himself, Joseph's father, right? 339 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:18,800 He wants had a dream, a huge dream that he was lying down and there was a stairway, a 340 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:22,600 ladder going up into heaven and angels were going up and down on that ladder. 341 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:27,360 And God had given Jacob that dream to remind him, Jacob, I am always with you. 342 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:29,240 My presence will always be with you. 343 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:33,200 You could read about that dream in Genesis 28. 344 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:37,260 But he, Joseph's father had been given this dream. 345 00:20:37,260 --> 00:20:39,120 The family knew the power of dreams. 346 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:43,040 And yet when Joseph shares his dream with the family, no, they'll have none of it, none 347 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:44,380 of it. 348 00:20:44,380 --> 00:20:50,520 And so Joseph's dream appears that it's destined to die. 349 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:59,200 I wonder, have you ever had a dream and it just died on you? 350 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,680 I think there's one or two ways that our dreams can die. 351 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:05,280 I want to share them with you now. 352 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:09,840 The first is that other people kill it. 353 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:15,320 Maybe you once had a dream or an idea or a passion and you were so, so excited about it, 354 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:17,200 but oh man, other people just couldn't tolerate it. 355 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:18,400 They couldn't have that. 356 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:19,400 And so they killed it. 357 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:20,400 They were suspicious. 358 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:21,440 They were jealous. 359 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,420 They were jaded at what you thought was a dream. 360 00:21:24,420 --> 00:21:27,320 They thought was an incredible disruption. 361 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:29,440 And this is how it was with Joseph's brothers. 362 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:33,060 They couldn't let that dream live. 363 00:21:33,060 --> 00:21:38,120 And you'll see next week that they could barely let Joseph himself live in the end. 364 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:40,560 It was so disruptive, they wanted to kill it. 365 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:43,480 Now let's just pause for a moment and be honest. 366 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:48,480 Has there ever been a time when you have played the part of Joseph's brothers and you have 367 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,080 killed somebody else's dream? 368 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,120 When you heard someone else, maybe it was your husband, maybe it was your wife, maybe 369 00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:59,320 it was your kids, maybe it was a family member or a coworker or someone, they shared a dream, 370 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:04,200 an idea, an opportunity, and that dream threatened you and that dream threatened to disrupt your 371 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:05,200 world. 372 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:09,640 So we laughed at their dreams and we rejected their dreams and we made sure their dream 373 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:10,640 died. 374 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:11,640 Why? 375 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:13,020 Why do we do that? 376 00:22:13,020 --> 00:22:19,080 We do that because what's a dream for them is a disruption for us and we can't let them 377 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,000 succeed. 378 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,920 So that's one of the reasons that our dreams die, right? 379 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:26,360 Someone couldn't believe it. 380 00:22:26,360 --> 00:22:27,800 Someone couldn't handle it. 381 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:30,720 And so someone had to kill it. 382 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:36,680 There's another reason why our dreams die and that's because we let it die. 383 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:37,840 We let the dream die. 384 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:43,160 When that dream seems too disruptive even for us, right, then we'll just let it die. 385 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:48,880 Sometimes God calls us to do things that are really, really hard and scary and we have 386 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:53,440 this vision, an amazing vision of the life before us, but that would mean blowing up 387 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:55,720 my whole life as it exists right now. 388 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,800 It would mean breaking away from my past. 389 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:01,200 I'd have to leave the past behind. 390 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:02,320 I'd have to go do this new. 391 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:03,840 No, no, that is way too scary. 392 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:04,840 I cannot do that. 393 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:06,600 And so we just play it safe, right? 394 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:07,920 We just say, I'll forget about it. 395 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:09,080 I'll just carry on. 396 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:13,280 And we let that dream die. 397 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:19,720 I mentioned the past because one of the things that I think causes us to let our own dreams 398 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:23,760 die is the pull of the past in our lives. 399 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:29,560 The past can pull so hard on us and prevent us from moving forward with our dreams. 400 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:35,320 You know, in Joseph's story, it was actually the past that kind of screwed everything up. 401 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:44,000 You see, in the past, Joseph's grandfather, Isaac, he picked Jacob, Joseph's father, as 402 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,000 his favorite. 403 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:51,040 And if you read that story, it screwed everything up. 404 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:52,480 That's what happened then. 405 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,960 And now the past is kind of repeating itself. 406 00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:02,120 Jacob now picks Joseph as his favorite son, and that screws everything up in the present, 407 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:03,120 right? 408 00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:06,440 He gives Joseph this ornate coat, probably a very expensive coat. 409 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,240 It's really a royal coat, right? 410 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:14,320 And so in front of his brothers, there's this kid running around the family farm dressed 411 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:17,480 like a king. 412 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,720 And it's Jacob's way of saying, oh, he's the one. 413 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:21,960 He's the future. 414 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,000 He's my guy. 415 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:28,600 Just like my father chose me and made me his favorite, I'm choosing him and making him 416 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:29,600 my favorite. 417 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:31,880 The history is repeating itself. 418 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,240 And there are the other brothers, and they're watching it all. 419 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:35,940 And they're saying, it's just happening over again. 420 00:24:35,940 --> 00:24:37,100 It's happening over again. 421 00:24:37,100 --> 00:24:39,260 The past is always there reminding them. 422 00:24:39,260 --> 00:24:43,280 The past is always there haunting them, and it's driving them crazy. 423 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:48,740 The past will always get in the way of your future. 424 00:24:48,740 --> 00:24:55,320 Is there something about your past that is holding you back from your future? 425 00:24:55,320 --> 00:25:00,560 You know, maybe you got married and you said, oh, I'm going to do things so differently 426 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,760 in my marriage now than my parents did in theirs. 427 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:07,160 And maybe it started that way, but pretty soon the past catches up and you're doing 428 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,520 the exact same thing. 429 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:12,920 Or you had kids and you say, oh, I'm going to raise my kids differently. 430 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:15,520 I'm going to be a different parent than my parents were to me. 431 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:16,680 And maybe it starts that way. 432 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,360 And then eventually you find yourself doing the exact same thing. 433 00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:24,120 The pull of the past, it keeps pulling you back, right? 434 00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:26,360 You have a dream about a future. 435 00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:31,240 Maybe there's a job that's coming down, an opportunity, and all these things that could 436 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:32,380 be in the future. 437 00:25:32,380 --> 00:25:38,000 But the past pulls you back and the dream dies. 438 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,200 Pete Scazzero says this. 439 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:46,480 He says, Jesus may be in your heart, but grandpa is in your bones. 440 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:49,320 The past lives in each of our lives. 441 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:55,160 One of the Bible's biggest lessons it teaches over and over again is that unless you deal 442 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:59,920 with your past, your past will deal with you. 443 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:08,640 Unless you deal with what is behind you, you will never embrace what is in front of you. 444 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:10,700 And that is where the next thing comes in. 445 00:26:10,700 --> 00:26:13,960 And that is time to make a decision. 446 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:14,960 Right? 447 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:15,960 Dreams are all about disruptions. 448 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:20,160 Yes, but we still have a decision to make. 449 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:25,360 Others may see your dream and try to kill it, but it's still your decision. 450 00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:30,520 The past may hurt your dream and try to hold you back, but you still have a decision. 451 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:31,520 Right? 452 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:36,480 You may be afraid of your dream and you might try to forget it, but you still have a say 453 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:37,480 in the matter. 454 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:38,560 You still have a decision. 455 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:40,260 Your dream may disrupt others. 456 00:26:40,260 --> 00:26:41,600 It may disrupt your life. 457 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:48,200 It may disrupt everything, but it's still a decision that you can make. 458 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:52,200 When you say, yes, I see all these distractions and yes, I see all these disruptions and I 459 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:57,840 see the past and I see my fears and I see all of that, but God, I, God, I am going to 460 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,160 trust you anyway. 461 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:05,320 It's at that moment you really started living the dream. 462 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:10,080 Jesus once said that everyone who leaves, everyone who's given up houses or brothers 463 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:16,080 or sisters or father or mother or children or property for my sake will receive a hundred 464 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:20,440 times as much and inherit eternal life. 465 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:24,440 Deciding, deciding to live the dream God has given you. 466 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:28,000 Yes, it may disrupt everything, but it is worth everything. 467 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:33,880 Jesus says it may mess with your life, but actually this is how you finally start to 468 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,520 live your life. 469 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:41,760 As we read on, we're going to see, yeah, Joseph, it cost him just about everything. 470 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:43,920 His dream, because of his dream, he lost his family. 471 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:44,920 He lost his freedom. 472 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,120 He even lost that cool coat that he had. 473 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:51,640 And before the story's over, he is going to be sold into slavery. 474 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:56,440 He's going to be carted off to Egypt and he's going to be imprisoned in a dungeon. 475 00:27:56,440 --> 00:28:06,760 But one thing he did have and one thing nobody could take from him was the love of his heavenly 476 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:07,760 father. 477 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:09,440 That's the thing. 478 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:13,840 We may forget our dreams, but God never forgets us. 479 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:18,140 We may feel disrupted, but God is never detached. 480 00:28:18,140 --> 00:28:23,840 We may cling to the past, but God always holds the future open to us. 481 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:32,400 We may never have a multicolored coat, but we are still daughters and sons of a king. 482 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:42,440 So I want to encourage you, whatever the dream is that God has given you, get on that roller 483 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:44,920 coaster. 484 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,960 Get into the front seat. 485 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:48,960 Will there be bumps? 486 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:50,040 Yes, there'll be bumps. 487 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:51,040 Will it be scary? 488 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:53,400 Yes, there'll be scary moments. 489 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,960 Don't be afraid and don't keep looking behind you. 490 00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:57,960 Trust me on that one. 491 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,520 Don't look behind you. 492 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:07,400 Just strap yourself in and head up that hill and see where it takes you. 493 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:14,560 Start living that dream because God is there sitting right beside you and he always will 494 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:15,560 be. 495 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:17,760 So thanks be to God. 496 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:18,760 Amen. 497 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:23,760 Thank you so much for joining us today and we hope you come back again next week for 498 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:28,840 the next part of Joseph's story as we continue the series, Live in the Dream. 499 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:34,160 Today's sermon was taken from the October 29th, 2023 service at Trinity Church, Streetsville 500 00:29:34,160 --> 00:30:03,800 in Mississauga, Ontario.