Joseph Waited Twelve Years Between the Dream and the Palace

Sermon outline

There is pain before purpose: like Joseph in the pit, Potiphar's house and the prison, believers must yield to God's refining process instead of fighting it, and be the change the world needs rather than fitting in.

1. Be the change the world needs

   When God comes into your life there are things you can no longer say or do. If the people you want to reach see you just like them, they have no reason to listen. We must not let the world change us; the Holy Spirit and His Word are a transforming power that renews the mind, and a royal priesthood cannot fit in.

   Illustration: She was going to preach in jeans and boots, and the Lord told her it was time to be the change. Like a car fitted with a turbo, when the power of God changes your life, what ordinary people do you do ten times better.

   “We cannot let the world change us. We need to be the change the world needs.”

   • Romans 12:2
   • 1 Peter 2:9
   • 1 Corinthians 2:16
   • Ephesians 6:13

2. Keep your boundaries, and be the parent God called you to be

   The world's standards are not yours, even if people call you old-fashioned. When the world is sick it needs people with the power of God to lay hands on them. Parents and grandparents must say clearly what is and is not acceptable rather than trying to be their children's buddy, and watch the films and games they allow.

   Illustration: Because of her passion for God, both her sons and her grandchildren now serve in two churches, as pastor, music director, singers, drummer and on the livestream.

   “Don't try to be their buddy. The buddy system is for their friends.”

   • Matthew 5:13-14
   • John 12:32

3. There is pain before purpose

   Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but God delivers out of them all. Pain is part of the process of God changing you into who He called you to be; He accepts you where you are but never leaves you there. Not everything that goes wrong means you did something wrong, because God is always in the equation.

   “Pain is part of the process.”

   • Psalm 34:19
   • John 21:17

4. Joseph was schooled for his purpose, and the pit was part of it

   Joseph was loved and schooled by his father while his brothers tended sheep, so young people should see strict parents as shaping them for their future. His brothers had to be against him, because God was sending a man ahead of Israel. If he had not been in that pit when the Ishmaelites passed, he would not have reached Potiphar's house. If you fight the process, you may fight yourself off the course God has for you.

   “Don't avoid the pain or the process. There's purpose.”

   • Genesis 37
   • Psalm 105:17-19
   • Psalm 37:23
   • Mark 4:39

5. Don't disregard the pain: there is a fourth man in the fire

   Joseph had to go to Potiphar's house and no other, because Potiphar had influence with Pharaoh. Even Jesus learned obedience through suffering and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Some of what you lost was never meant for your future, so do not dig up people God has left in your past.

   “Don't try to keep people in your future that God has kept in your past.”

   • Daniel 3:25
   • 1 Timothy 6:12
   • Hebrews 5:8
   • Matthew 4:1

6. A pit stop, not the destination

   Joseph was never called to be a slave, but he yielded and prospered, knowing it was a pit stop. Potiphar's wife was a spoke God allowed in the wheel to turn the cog towards prison, and prison put him in front of Pharaoh's servants. His gift of interpreting dreams took him to Pharaoh's court, so hone your gift. From leaving home to standing before Pharaoh was about twelve to fifteen years; the suddenlies come towards the end of the waiting.

   Illustration: She learned archery on her trip and shoots quite well: if you let the process refine you, you become an arrow God can shoot into someone's heart. The complainers died in the desert and the praisers went forward.

   “Yes, there's a suddenly, but the suddenlies generally come towards the end of your waiting.”

   • Genesis 39
   • Genesis 40-41
   • Proverbs 27:17
   • Acts 16:25-26
   • Matthew 12:34

7. No yielding, no reward

   Know God for yourself, not through your pastor or your parents, so that in your time of pain He is your gain. The world says no pain, no gain; she says no yielding, no reward. She does not understand why Pastor went when he did, but in America she could hold the hands of people going through the same thing, because some of her pit stops had become trophies. Keep sowing money, love, patience and time even in lack, because God is no man's debtor.

   “Some of the pit stops became trophies that I could hand over to somebody else and say, "This is what God did for me."”

   • Joshua 1:9
   • Isaiah 43:2
   • Psalm 37:25
   • Luke 6:38

8. Be the painkiller: watch your words

   If your criticism outweighs your praise of others, stop, whether in marriage or anywhere else. Speak to what is causing you pain and refuse to stay where you are. Lay down the victim mentality, do not live by your emotions or excuse outbursts as "just who I am", and do not lock people in a prison of words; call your children blessed instead of naughty.

   Illustration: Picture an old balance scale: if your praise does not equal your criticism, you have no right to criticise. Her young grandson had an outburst and she told him he does not live by his emotions and must tell his anger to go.

   “If you don't have enough praise for other people, you don't have the right to criticize them.”

   • Romans 4:17
   • Hebrews 11:1
   • Romans 8:11
   • Matthew 12:37

In this message