It was a July day in 1401 when The Cathedral at Seville in Southern Spain decided to build a new church. The whole church met in the Court of Elms and according to oral tradition the members decided – “Let us build a church so great that those that come after us may think us mad to have attempted it.” To this day it stands as the 3rd largest church in the world. In the minutes of the meeting the church wanted to be a church “like no other.”
Wow … when I read this last week I was reminded of something that I wrote in 2007 about The Point – this church, this place we are at today … that we would build a church “like no other.”
No great church has ever been built without a great dream.
No great business has ever started without an audacious dream.
No great life was ever built in the absence of a huge dream.
Man, whatever happens – when people look at us – when other churches look at what we attempt to do – let other Christians be inspired by our commitment – and let everyone else think that we are insane … because I am filled with a CRAZY DREAM for an amazing God!
Let’s jump right into our guiding Scripture for today … Genesis 37:1-11 … and we are going to learn a few lessons from two CRAZY DREAMS that Joseph had … here we go … “Joseph, a young man of seventeen” – how old? Seventeen – “was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. 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 a richly ornamented robe for him. 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. 5 Joseph had a” – Joseph had a what? “a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.“ 8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. 9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 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.”
Could you imagine telling your brothers and father that one day you will be their PRESIDENT!!! Most of us would laugh our heads off if our brother/sister told us that.
Not Joseph’s brothers. They decided to sell him as a slave and told their father he was killed by a wild animal.
Imagine this … Joseph has 2 dreams that he would be ruler – and he ends up as a slave. Now he’s in Egypt and is falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife – he now ends up in an Egyptian prison.
Wow. How quickly would we have forgotten about that dream? We would walk away from that dream passing it off as bad food that night.
Then Joseph is given an opportunity to interpret 2 more dreams – from prison – a baker and a butler share their dreams. Joseph explains them. The baker is killed. The butler is freed. The butler promises to remember him … but he forgets Joseph.
Years go by and Joseph is still forgotten.
Pharoah has a dream that no one can figure it. It was then that the butler remembers Joseph. Pharoah calls for Joseph – Joseph explains the dreams to him. Pharoah is so impressed that he makes Joseph ruler of all of Egypt!!!
Joseph experienced 13 years of what might look like a failed dream – but God ultimately made Joseph’s dreams a reality!
13 years! C’mon God!
Have you ever had a dream? A hope? And waited … and waited … and waited.
The problem is we want everything NOW … are you willing to wait? Are you following your dreams for the long-haul or the short-term?
Pursue the God-sized dreams you are called to seize!!
Teaching Series begins Sunday, November 21. Don’t miss it.
The Colonie Location.
