God is > Your Dreams

WELCOME

Pastor Chris Paavola:

This is the third year now that we’ve done a greater than series through the summer. This is like season three episode one. Okay? Because what we’ve been doing during this greater than series, it all started with this idea of let’s follow the life of Abraham. He’s the father of faith. Summer lends itself to big sagas and stories and all that kind of stuff. So we said, let’s just follow him along the life of Abraham and discover with him a life greater than the one we know with a God who’s greater than we know. And we got done with that and we were like, man, the story keeps going though. And so the next year we followed along the life of Isaac Abraham’s son, and then Abraham’s grandson Jacob, who would later go on to be named Israel. And along the way, it was the same thing, a life greater than we know with the God who’s greater than we know.

FAMILY TREE

And it’s this promise, this covenant that God made with humanity through Abraham and his line to redeem the world. And it’s this beautiful story and it brings us all the way then to Abraham’s great grandson today with the life of this guy named Joseph, who is one of 12 children that Jacob had. And Joseph man, this is a remarkable life. It is going to take us from the farms and the fields of a desert community in Israel all the way to the pyramids of Egypt and being the second most powerful man on the planet. Just an insane, incredible, remarkable story. They don’t really make movies or musicals about Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, but they do make musicals about Joseph’s life because it’s that remarkable. I promise today though, no show tunes, okay? You will not hear any Andrew Lloyd Weber today. I hate to break it to you, but yeah, Joseph’s life is amazing.

And as it starts out, it kind of begins with this idea of this calling that God has given to Joseph.

CALLING

This is a calling I have on your life. And as we look at Joseph’s calling inexorably, we start thinking about our own calling.

Like what has God promised me? What are God’s plans for me and my life? And we start thinking about our own calling. And actually that’s something that’s really appropriate for this time of year Graduates, they get their name called. And whether you’re graduating college or high school or middle school on Thursday, I went to my daughter’s clap out. That’s this thing they do now where they clap out fourth graders out of elementary school. And when I graduated fourth grade, I rode the bus home and mom said, did you do your chores yet? That was how much they celebrated me finishing fourth grade.

It was just right. And now there was somebody there with a bouquet of flowers and of money that they handed to their fourth grader. And I’m like, if everything’s a mile marker, everything’s a milestone. Nothing is. I digress. So anyway, so that was this week, but all these graduates, when they hear their name called, and then they get this diploma and then they hope that there’s another calling from the university saying, Hey, you have been accepted. And then they hope after they graduate college that there’s another calling saying, you have this job at this place of employment and we would love for you to come work with us. But that’s not a question of calling is not a question limited to just graduates, is it? I mean, over and over I hear from people of just struggling with, am I doing what I’m supposed to be doing with my life?

Is this what God wants for me? Am I where I’m supposed to be? Is this what God’s plan is for me? And that happens at every season in retirements. You enter into a new season, and I was talking to Pastor Jack this week as he retired last week, and he enters into this new chapter and he’s wrestling with this question of what is now my calling? And that question changes as you enter into different seasons. Some of you have parents who now need you or you have kids who need you in a different way or coworkers or a spouse who needs you in a different way. And at every season of our life, we should stop and test the wind. Am I living God’s calling for my life? And that’s kind of an exciting question, but it can also be a terrifying question, and it kind of baked into this, by the way, is this idea that you are not a mistake.

You are not an accident floating through the ether and the galaxies trying to figure out purpose and meaning. We believe there’s a God who loves you, God who cares about you and has a plan for your life. And he’s calling you into that. And we’re going to be talking about that today.

JOSEPH’S BACKSTORY

So, as we look at the life of Joseph, we’re going to pull out just a few observations that allow us to ask a question of calling so you can know today, whatever season you’re in, what it is that God has called you to. Now, a little bit of backstory before we get into the life of Joseph here, he lives in this region called the Valley of Hebron. That’s actually where it is in Israel today. And as you can see, it’s like a very semi arid kind of rocky region, and it’s largely an agrarian part of the world.

And if you go a little bit further east, it gets really dry really fast, actually. It’s right next to the Dead Sea. So that’s right, kind of the proximity of what we’re talking about. And that’s where all of this really takes place. And Jacob, Joseph’s father, Jacob is a really wealthy man and he’s got herds and herds and flocks and flocks of sheep and all this kind of stuff. But if you look at that picture, you can kind of figure out that sheep would lay waste to that hillside pretty quickly. If you had a few hundred sheep, it would be picked clean pretty fast. And so they have to go a little bit further north to a more kind of a grassy region called Shechem. And so Jacob purchases this land up in Shechem. We have a map here to show you where it is.

It’s a little bit further north, kind of a prairie where the, it’s called the shuffle is actually the region, kind of the geographic term, but it’s this region where his flocks are. And all of Jacob’s sons are tasked with overseeing these flocks and these herds up in she them.

JOSEPH’S ROBE

And then he is got this young son named Joseph. And Joseph is a brilliant, brilliant man. He is wildly gifted with the ability to manage and to see have this business acumen. He can look at things and see what is the inventory and where are the margins that we can squeeze profit out of this and then to plan for the future. And he makes a plan for the future that determines what they’re going to do today. And he’s just this naturally gifted manager. He’s brilliant. Jacob sends Joseph to go check on the flocks and herds up and check them.

And Joseph gets there and he’s like, are you kidding me right now? These guys are terrible. This is a two bit operation. My brothers couldn’t manage their way out of a paper bag, let alone my father’s herds.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. Genesis 37

And so. we find out right away in Genesis 37, this gift to Joseph returns from his trip to Shechem back to Hebron to report to his father. And it says in verse two of Genesis 37, Joseph brought their father a bad report about them, the flocks and the brothers, that’s the them. “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he had been born to him in his old age and he made an ornate robe for him.” And it’s a strange word. We don’t really know how to translate it. It does not translate as technicolor color. It is not a coat that you put on and it gives you the ability to dream dreams.

So it does not look like Donny. And it does not actually, I don’t think that’s Donny Osmond’s, but it’s like a imitation. Donny Osmond. But is that Donny Osmond? That’s not him, right? No, that’s not him. You guys are like, geez, no, if you’ve never seen, by the way, if you’ve never seen Joseph an amazing technicolor dream coat, it is like a fever dream. It is strange. It’s a disco with biblical figures. It’s wild stuff. Anyway. Anyway, so it doesn’t look like that. The only other time this word ornate robe is used is another time to describe a princess of a king in the Bible anyway.

JOSEPH’S BROTHERS

And so, it’s this word that means something of royalty and it’s an ornate robe is a good translation, but it’s this robe that designates someone for a special status, a special assignment. So you can understand when the brothers see this robe, they’re like, who does this guy think he is’?

4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Genesis 37

Dyes are very expensive. They’re all wearing brown and gray stuff. And then he’s got this technicolor coat on. And so the brothers get really upset as we see in the next verse. Then “when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word about him.” So that’s like we begin to see this crack in the foundation of the family. Joseph is hated by his brothers. And I’m going to say it here, it’s going to be repeated every week in this series because it’s spectacular. But every beat of Joseph’s life foreshadows the life of Jesus. It’s kind of like this whisper, this scent of the life of Jesus, and it just makes me kind of marvel at God’s plan. And just like you look at this and it’s like, ugh, he’s giving us a picture of who his son will be, and it becomes more and more obvious and more and more evident in weeks to come.

But Joseph is a type of Jesus. And here we see it, these 12 sons that are descendant of Jacob who has been renamed Israel. These 12 sons will go on to have 12 tribes, and they’re the 12 tribes of Israel and the nation of Israel. All of them are descendants of these 12 brothers. And it’s just like Joseph was hated by his 12 brothers or 11 brothers. Jesus will be hated by the 12 tribes of Israel and the leaders of those tribes. Joseph was hated because he spoke the truth. Jesus will be hated because he speaks the truth. Joseph has this robe stripped off of him as we’ll see, but he’s replaced with new robes of glory. Jesus will be stripped of his robes by the leaders of Israel, and it will be replaced with a robe of glory from his father. And so just brace yourself every week.

You’ll get a deeper understanding of Jesus through the lens of Joseph, and it just makes you go, wow, it’ll make you marvel at God’s wisdom and planning in all of this, because just like Joseph saves the people of Israel, Jesus will save us.

JOSEPH’S DREAMS

So, there’s this crack in this foundation and what Joseph makes up for in his business acumen and his brilliance, he lacks in his tact. He has the discretion of a sledgehammer. He just says what’s true even if it costs him. And so he tells his brothers that, he tells his father, my brothers don’t know how to manage a herd, but then God gives him these dreams and he gives him these dreams. And Joseph decides it’s a good idea to tell his brothers and his fathers what this dream is. And so, he tells them about this dream where there’s bundles or sheaves of wheat, and they, there’s 11 of them and they’re all bowing down to the one sheath of wheat.

And then he has another dream where the sun and the moon and 11 stars all bowed down to him and he tells, he decides, Hey, I should tell my family this.

10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Genesis 37

So, we read in Genesis 37, verse 10, when he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, what is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come down and bow down to the ground before you and his brothers were jealous of him? So God gives him this dream and then life starts to take this dramatic term. And as I was getting ready for this message and writing my sermon and just studying the text and taking it all in, I kind of just had the general like, huh, why would God give Joseph these dreams? And you can just shout out an answer.

I legitimately want to hear from you guys. Why do you think God gave Joseph these dreams? Just give me some answers what you think. Say it loud, say it proud.

Response: Muffled Response

Pastor Chris Paavola: Say what?

Response: To prepare him.

Pastor Chris Paavola: Okay, so to prepare him, I like that a lot. Think about this. He’s brilliant. Beyond his current status, he can do so much more than farm a piece of dirt and manage a few sheep. He has a capacity for so much more. And some of you have been in situations where you’re like, I’m qualified beyond this job. How can I be content in the circumstance? And the dream is given to prepare him. Be faithful with little and you will be faithful with much promotion will follow. I know you’re a recent college grad and you spent four years and hundreds of thousand dollars on your diploma, but don’t be afraid of taking an entry level job.

You’ll earn a promotion. Just kick butt and take names at that job right now. So to prepare him for this, what else? What are some other reasons why God would give this dream, these dreams to Joseph at this point? To what? To lead him. Okay. Yeah. So that’s kind of what I was thinking too, is there’s this leading, he’s leading him somewhere and he wants him to know that he has a plan in his life. A hundred percent. Any other thoughts? Yeah, John, to test him. That’s good. So you could compromise your values, you could take things into your own hands, but I’ve got a plan. Yeah. The word that I landed on, I think maybe some of you are thinking of this, is there’s hope here. I mean, it is full of hope and like, wow, I get what position? What’s my status?

And it’s this picture that’s bigger than where he is. And there’s hope in that, especially if you fast forward and you flip ahead to what starts to happen to him, his life gets really, really cruddy. Some bad things start happening. And you know what? I think Joseph held onto in the midst of his darkest times, the dream, the dream that God had given him of I’ve got something in mind for you. And actually if you think about it, the dream is a promise. And my friends, some of you are here today and this is all you need to hear. You are going through a really dark time right now, a really hard time. You are in one of those seasons that is just difficult and trying, but God has spoken promises to you before you entered those trying times when you were baptized, he called you his child. He has promises that I love you, promises that I have a plan for your life. Promises that you have a hope and a future promises that he wants to use you for something greater. And so no matter how dark things are right now, don’t forget the promise. Don’t forget the dream that he has given you.

So Joseph gets these dreams. It eventually reminds him of his calling. And when we read that, we go, well, Joseph had a calling, what about mine? If you sit with this story long enough, you will eventually begin to ask questions about your own calling. What has God called me to? And just by observing the life of Joseph, actually, there’s three questions we can pull out of this story to help you in whatever season you’re in, find your calling for right now and live it with gusto and reckless abandon.

3 QUESTIONS TO FIND YOUR CALLING?

And the first one is kind of an assumption, a presumption that’s baked into it into all these questions. So we need to articulate it. I don’t think it should go without saying.

1. WHAT DOES GOD SAY ABOUT IT?

The first question to finding your calling is what does God say about it?

If you open the Bible, it might not say you should be an engineer. It might not say you should be a teacher. It might not say you should marry that person, and that’s fine. But there are things that God has explicitly said, and when God explicitly says to do something or explicitly says not to do something, we should listen. It’s hard to live out his calling and be rebellious. I’ll just say that. But also God says you have a calling and maybe you’re thinking, I don’t know. He is pretty clear that you do like the apostle Peter and one Peter chapter two. He says, you are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood wearing ornate robes. You are a holy nation. You are God’s special possession that you may declare the praises of him who say it, say it like you mean it. He’s called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light.

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Ephesians 4:1

You’ve been called by God. And this is a thought the apostle Paul picks up on in Ephesians chapter four. He says, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received from God. So what does God say about it? You are called by him for something special and you have to recognize that my friends, you are different. You are not an accident. You are not floating through space, bouncing around and like Forrest Gump stumbling into success. God has a purpose and a plan for your life, a calling. You’re not normal. You should be different. People should look at you and say, what? Something about them is different. Yeah, I’ve got a calling. I’ve got an assignment from God. You should have a generosity that makes people gasp. You should have forgiveness and just a disposition towards people that makes people do a double take. You should have an outlook on life that is full of hope. You’re not normal, you’re different. You have a calling. Don’t be ashamed of the robe that God has given you. You’re different. You have a calling from God, so don’t live like you don’t.

Okay? So that’s the first thing. What does God say about it? God says very specifically, do this, don’t do this. And he’s got a calling on your life and you just need to remember that. Okay? So we get into the second question.

2. WHAT ARE MY PASSIONS AND GIFTS?

I think this one’s really practical, but what are your gifts and abilities? What are your passions? What is your networks? What is your capacity? What do you do, Joseph? We can look at this story just these 10 verses in Genesis 37, and we can see he is gifted by God. He is a managerial spirit and we’re about to see God use it in incredible ways.

And so do you have gifts and abilities? If I’m the designer of the world, if I’m the intelligent designer behind everything and I’m designing the world and I’ve got World War II and the stock market and the internet, and I’m designing all of these things, and then I decide this is when I’m going to craft you and I make you, and I’ve got a special assignment for you, a summons from the king for you, I’m going to sprinkle you with passions and abilities that I need you to have based on where I’ve placed you in life. And I am going to season you with all of that because we need you and your passions, your abilities, your networks, your relationships, your resources, they’re like little breadcrumbs. God has given you to take hold of your calling.

And so if I need you to be a mechanic, I’m going to make you really good with cars and I’m going to make you love cars. If I need you to be a teacher, I’m going to make you love kids and also really smart. And also somehow be able to simplify the complicated so that young people can understand it. I’m going to give you that ability. I’m going to make you really good at pickleball so you can have a relationship with the other people in the pickleball court or something, right? You’re not an accident. Every part of you is intentional.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

And Peter also says this, you are wildly gifted. And he says, each of you should use whatever gift you have received, not might receive, but have received. “You should use whatever gift you have to serve others as faithful managers, faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” And if you notice that you are gifted to be a gift, you are blessed to be a blessing right there. Which brings us to our third question.

3. WHO DEPENDS ON ME?

Who depends on you? Who needs you? That’s the other part of discovering your calling. Who needs you? Do your parents need you at this season of life? Do your kids need you in a distinct way? Does your spouse need you in a distinct way? Your coworkers need you in a distinct way. Who depends on your church needs you, your city needs you, your family needs you. And so take hold of that.

And that’s a moving target. By the way. At different seasons, different people need. You live in one neighborhood. Those people need you in a different way than when you were living in another neighborhood or whatever it might be. But there are people in your life who need you. You are in their life for a reason. As we look at the life of Joseph, he very quickly figures out, think about the dreams. There’s something bigger, especially in the dream of the stars and the moon. He’s a part of a bigger picture.

GOD’S PLANS FOR JOSEPH ARE GREATER THAN JOSEPH

And Joseph very quickly will learn that God’s plans for Joseph are greater than Joseph and my friends. What’s true for Joseph, it’s true for you.

God’s plans for you are greater than you author Rick Warren and his bestselling book, I think it’s a bestselling book because of how it starts out and the purpose-driven life. Many of you maybe have read it the first line right out of the gate, he says, it’s not about you. And oh, the heartache we experience, the longer we take to realize that, and oh, the exhilarating joy when we figure that out, that it’s not about us.

GOD’S PLANS FOR YOU ARE GREATER THAN YOU

God’s plans for Joseph are greater than Joseph, and God’s plans for you are greater than you. You’re a part of something bigger in the words of Jesus, he said, whoever finds their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life, for my sake, will find it.

It’s not about you. You’ve been gifted by God to serve others as a faithful steward of God’s grace in its various forms. So there you go. Those are three questions you can use to find your calling. What does God say about it? What are my gifts and abilities, my passions, and who needs me? Who depends on me? You answer those questions and you’ll be able to be like Joseph at the end of the story. So as spoiler alert, he ends up saving a bunch of people because of his managerial skills, and he’s promoted to second in command in all of Egypt, and he’s the second most powerful person on the planet in it.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. Genesis 50

And as he saves his brothers and he saves the nation of Egypt and all the surrounding nations from a severe famine, he says these words, God “brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” God brought me to this position so I could, he was able to answer those questions. What does God say about it? What are my gifts and abilities and who needs me? And because he was able to answer those questions, he was able to fill in that blank so I could save the lives of many people. But what about you?

How would you fill in that blank for right now? God brought me to this position right now. Your current season in life where you are, God brought me to this position so I could what? No one else, the 8 billion people on this planet. No one else can answer it for you. And oh, the tragedy, when we just stumble through life neglecting that question, never filling in that blank. Give me a church of a hundred people who can answer that definitively. We will change the city. We’ll change the world because we’re living out our calling. So honestly, look at it.

He brought me to this position so I could: Genesis 50

How would you fill in that blank specifically you in a way that’s so distinct? No one else would answer it in that way. God brought me to this position so I could, my prayer is that you’ll be able to answer it definitively. In fact, we should pray about it. Will you pray with me?

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, I pray for any person in this room who is just wrestling with that question of calling of purpose, what it is you’ve called them to do. And so I pray that you would reassure each and every person in this room, each and every person watching online or listening, that you have a calling for their life. You have called them out of darkness and into your marvelous light to declare your praises.

And so God, give them a sense of clarity of what is their calling, that they may embrace it and live it out to the fullest so that they can know the joy, the incomparable joy of living out their calling. And we pray now, the prayer your Son taught us to pray together, saying, our Father, who arts in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.