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Guest (Male): Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. Joseph was not at the mercy of fate or circumstances, the fortuitous conjunction of circumstances. No, he was in the loving, providential hands of God. On today’s PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about recovering from difficult circumstances. Now here is Dr. Graham with his message, When Dreams Turn to Nightmares.

Jack Graham: Joseph was a guy who had great dreams. I love the story of Joseph. And Joseph was having a great day. In fact, he was having a lot of great days. The only problem is he talked about what a great day he was having and what wonderful dreams he was enjoying, those dreams about how God was going to raise him up and his brothers and his family would bow down to him.

And so because his brothers resented his dreams and because Joseph really couldn’t keep his mouth shut, right or wrong, he told his brothers the whole story. They despised him. And while he was the object of his father’s love, favored by the father and dignified with this beautiful multi-colored coat, he had a beautiful coat that was the symbol of the affection and the love and the devotion and the dignity of his father.

But as a result of his father’s favoritism, he became the object of his brothers’ hatred. But he was always, always the object of his heavenly Father’s providential care. And what we see in this magnificent story of Joseph is that God providentially rules in the lives of his own. And when and where God doesn’t rule, he overrules.

Joseph was not at the mercy of fate or circumstances, the fortuitous conjunction of circumstances. No, he was in the loving, providential hands of God. God was directing and leading him every step of the way, and we’re going to see him take some incredible steps, sometimes forward, sometimes backward, but always, always God was taking care of him.

And lest you have forgotten, child of God, he’s always taking care of you. You don’t have to pick up the phone and dial 1-900 to get your horoscope and your future. You don’t have to wait on some kind of a mystical circumstance or read crystals in order to discover God’s providence in your life or your fate or your future.

We are not left to blind chance. We are not led by some impersonal force. We are not guided by the stars. We are the object of God’s persevering, preserving grace in our lives. Every step of the way, all of our days and all of our decisions, all of our hopes and all of our hurts, all of our heartaches and all of our Hallelujahs, and all of our fears and all of our failures are being worked out together according to God’s perfect plan for our lives.

And what we see in the life of Joseph is a beautiful illustration of Romans 8:28, "For we know, we know that all things work together for the good—" don’t stop there "—for the good to them who love God and are called according to his purpose." Now if you’re not a believer, I would say to you that everything in your life is working together for bad. I mean everything that you’re doing, both good, bad, and indifferent, is ultimately working together for your bad.

But if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is wise, God is holy, God is powerful. He cares, he loves you, and he is leading you throughout all the days of your life. And so we see that in the life of Joseph. I’m calling this message When Your Dreams Turn to Nightmares.

Have your dreams ever turned to nightmares? Your hopes were dashed? Something you prayed for desperately, wanted, dreamed about went away or was taken away? Could be a relationship, a marriage, a great dream regarding your future, and it was taken away, and your dreams became disasters. Does that ever happen to you? If you’re living, most likely it has happened to you.

And so we need to understand what to do when it happens. Note here how Joseph was first directed. He was directed in verse 14 of chapter 37. Then he said to him, "Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks and bring back word to me." So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron and he went to Shechem.

Joseph was directed by his father Jacob to do something very simple. Joseph was 17 years of age and his father loved him like no other child. But he wants to build the boy up and to strengthen the boy and to give him responsibility. And while his brothers, these older brothers, are away, he gives him some simple directives. He said, "I want you to go check on your brothers. Just go over there to Shechem, see how they’re doing, and come right back."

And little did that father know and little did Joseph know when they parted that day that they wouldn’t see each other for 20 years. Amazing, isn’t it? And you know, I think that’s a lesson for us to learn tonight and to remember tonight, to always hold each other close as long as we’re near to one another, to always say goodbye and I love you and never take for granted those precious times and those precious moments that we have together as parents and children, as brothers and sisters, as husbands and wives.

We ought to be so conscientious and so faithful to remember to pray for one another and to love one another and to say, "Honey, I’m thinking about you today," because frankly, you never know when it might be the last time that you say goodbye. You never know when it might be the last opportunity to express your love.

And so he’s directed by his father, and he goes 50 miles from Hebron to Shechem and then he travels approximately another 15 miles to the hilly terrain of Dothan. And in verse 15 it says, "Now a certain man found him and there he was wandering in the field and the man asked him saying, 'What are you seeking?' So he said, 'I’m seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they’re feeding their flocks.' And the man said, 'They have departed from here, for I’ve heard them say, "Let us go to Dothan."' So Joseph went after his brothers and he found them in Dothan."

Now just imagine Joseph now, 17 years of age. He’s wondering what he’s going to find when he meets his brothers. He already knows that the conspiracy and the attitude towards him was deepening, that attitude of bitterness and hatred. And so he’s wandering and he’s wondering as he makes his way, but he is directed by the Father.

And let me remind you tonight that we are also directed by the Father, by the heavenly Father. And sometimes God may send us into the storm or into a crisis. This was all under the providential care of God. God knew exactly what he was doing. And so working through his earthly father Jacob, this boy was sent. And he could never have imagined the trip that he was about to take, just a few miles over to Shechem and then to Dothan. But it was a few miles that lasted a lifetime.

For not only do we see Joseph directed, but we see Joseph despised. Look at verse 18. It says, "Now when they saw him afar off, even when he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him." I wonder how they recognized him. How do you think they recognized him? They saw him afar off, these brothers. Could it have been the way that he carried his head or the way that he walked, his gait? How could they have recognized him? I heard it over here, someone said it: his coat.

Here he came strutting his stuff through the fields of Dothan in this beautiful coat. And the brothers said, "There he comes." And they began to conspire against him. And ultimately, according to verse 23, "It came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, that is they ripped his cloak off of him, that tunic of many colors that was on him." And then they took him and cast him into a pit and the pit was empty and there was no water in it. In other words, they conspired to kill their own brother.

They despised him. Over time they had allowed the seeds of hatred and anger and jealousy and selfishness to become fruitful in their lives.

Guest (Female): You’re listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, When Dreams Turn to Nightmares. We are excited to share that we have a new way to connect with us. It’s our texting service designed to keep you connected with everything happening here at PowerPoint. You’ll be the first to know about upcoming events, special announcements, and truly enriching content.

To join, start a new text conversation by texting the word CONNECT to 59789. Again, text CONNECT to 59789. Every gift given to PowerPoint Ministries before June 30th will be doubled through a $200,000 matching grant. This is a crucial moment as we close out the financial year, because your support helps ensure that the truth of Jesus continues reaching people who are searching for something real they can trust.

And as our thanks for your gift, we’ll send you The Jesus Discoveries by Dr. Jeremiah Johnston, a resource designed to strengthen your confidence in the truth of the Gospel. To give your gift and request your copy, text JUNE to 59789. That’s JUNE to 59789. And thank you for helping share the truth of Jesus with a searching world. Now let’s get back to today’s message, When Dreams Turn to Nightmares.

Jack Graham: Now of course their hatred was totally, totally disproportionate to any offense that Joseph might have laid on them. I mean what could this young lad of 17 years of age have done to have offended these fellows so much? Why did they hate him? Why did they despise him? Here was a young man whose lifestyle contradicted the evil lifestyle of his brothers.

And you know, there are times when you live for Jesus Christ that people will despise you for it. James tells us that in James 1:20. And so they had a plan that they hatched to kill him, to throw him in a pit which was literally an old well or an old cistern. And they threw him in there. Now please feel what Joseph is going through now. Just turn the video of your mind on.

Because here he is stripped of his clothing, stripped of his cloak, stripped of his dignity. And they take him bare-backed and throw him down into this well and his back lands upon the hard stones that are laying in the bottom of this cistern and there they leave him to die without water.

They left him for dead. But then Reuben, one of the brothers, intervenes and he calls for a change. And perhaps his plan was to create a situation that would make it possible for him to rescue Joseph and return him to his father. Look in verses 21 and 22. But Reuben heard it and he delivered him out of their hands and said, "Let’s don’t kill him." And Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood, but cast him into the pit which is in the wilderness and do not lay a hand on him," that he might deliver him out of their hands and bring him back to his father.

Now some have questioned the motivation of Reuben. Because after all, it was Reuben who according to the scripture committed incest with his father’s concubine. Reuben was not really all that good a guy. But in spite of the fact that Reuben was a nasty fellow as it were, I think we have to give him credit that there was compassion in his heart for his little brother.

And just because he had something going on in his life in one area of his life, that doesn’t mean that he was totally and completely a rogue. So Reuben calls for the change, and watch how the events unfold. If I could just give them to you, here is a tragic picture of envy having its course run in a person’s life. They throw him in and they leave him there.

And by time, by the time Reuben comes in verse 29 to the pit, Joseph was not there because some traders had come along, some Ishmaelites, and they sold Joseph into slavery. And they take that coat of many colors and they dip it in blood to add to their lie, to add to their deceit, and to take that coat back to the father and say a wild animal pounced upon little Joseph and he’s dead.

He was despised. Now I want you to notice from this that it’s virtually impossible to commit just one sin. Somehow we get the idea that we can hide sin in our life or plant the seeds of sin in our character, and that a little sin here and a little sin there and a sin over here in this dark corner of our lives doesn’t really matter. The Bible begs to differ.

Because it is virtually impossible to commit just one sin. Because as you observe the life of the sin, another sin must be added to protect the other sin, and then lies must be added lest the sin be detected, and a veritable web of intrigue is woven in a person’s life when they try to hide their sin and cover their sin.

Don’t think that you can sin against God and cover that sin indefinitely because the scripture says ultimately what is done in secret will be shouted on the housetops. And these brothers perpetuated one lie after another and it just kept going and ultimately their whole life became fake, a phony, a facade.

It happens to people today who have so learned to lie about their lifestyle and cover the way they’re really living that one lie leads to another and another and another and another until ultimately that person’s entire life is a lie. We see it all the time, don’t we?

And that’s what happened in the case of these brothers. They hated their brother. There was anger, there was animosity, the sin was there. And the sin of jealousy and envy turned to the sin of anger, and the sin of anger ultimately to the sin of taking their brother and selling him and nearly killing him.

Remember, if you sow a thought, you will reap a deed. And you sow a deed and you will reap a character, and you sow a character and you will reap a lifestyle, and you sow a lifestyle and you will reap a destiny. So Joseph was directed and Joseph was despised. And then we see that Joseph was distressed.

Now don’t miss the pathos and don’t miss the passion that’s in this story. Here he is 17 years of age, just a young man with his whole future, his whole life in front of him. And now he’s thrown into a pit, deceived by his own brothers. And then of all things, they pull him out of the pit and put him on the back of some camel with a bunch of smelly Ishmaelites and they haul him off to God only knows where.

And he’s crying out, "God, what happened to my dreams? God, Father, where are you?" You say, "Jack, was it really that bad? Was he really that distressed?" Well, it doesn’t say it here, but in chapter 42 and verse 21, it says it very clearly. Then they said to one another, the brothers, "We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us and we would not hear, therefore this distress has come upon us."

He is distressed and his dreams are nightmares. And yet as he was carried across the borders into Egypt—hear this, dear people—as he was carried off into the distant and to the unknown, crying in distress, broken and bleeding, leaving his earthly father behind, his heavenly Father went with him. Isn't that good?

He did not go alone on the back of that camel into Egypt. Even in the exercise of his brothers’ hatred, God was working, God was superintending. And though their acts were evil, they were unwittingly following the purpose and the plan of God for Joseph’s life. Later, Joseph himself would see it. He could never have understood it on the back of that camel or in the bottom of the pit.

But later, having risen through the ranks in Egypt to the very pinnacle of success and his brothers bowing before him with the dreams fulfilled that God gave him as a youth, he would be able to say, "You meant these things for evil, but God meant them for good."

Two things when your dreams are dashed and turn to nightmares. Number one: don’t demand to understand. We can’t always understand. And just because it doesn’t make sense now doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense. God has a plan. God is weaving. And it’s like someone weaving a beautiful tapestry. And on the outside you can see the beautiful parts and the colors and the whole. But on the backside, sometimes you see the strings dangling.

Have you ever seen one of those things where the yarn and the string is just dangling on the bottom side of that tapestry? Well, life on this side is often like the bottom side of that tapestry and there are all these strings and all of these colors that don’t make sense. But you get above and you get on the other side and you see the beautiful tapestry that’s woven by the Master’s hands.

And in life, we must not demand to understand. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t seek to understand, but don’t demand to understand because certainly there are times when we just have to say, "God, this is yours. And I’m trusting you."

Don’t demand to understand and don’t bow to bitterness. Some people when their dreams are dashed and they’re thrown away and their life seemingly are gone, it breaks them. And the bitterness sets in and the resentment sets in and they spend the rest of their days in the sorrow of a long-distant past. Don’t bow to bitterness, but trust God in the midst of what he is doing in your life.

Just think about it. God was providing for his servant in the intervention of Reuben to prevent his death and to secure him in the cistern. Rather than just killing him, God put it in Reuben’s heart to put him in the cistern. It was of God that Reuben’s brothers complied with the proposal rather than just killing him right there with a club. It was of God that a caravan of Ishmaelite merchants came along in view of the brothers right before Joseph perished in the pit.

You think that was an accident? You think it was just by chance that those Ishmaelites came along? No, they were directed sovereignly by God. It was divine providence that inspired Judah with the thought of selling Joseph and protecting Joseph in all of these circumstances. Joseph somehow hung on to his faith. And so he learned, and we need to learn, that we may be in the center of the storm, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of the will of God.

And no matter how much trouble and turmoil or what kind of pit you may be living in right now, God is for you. And he’s working constructively, creatively in your life to bring about his purpose and the divine destiny of your life.

Guest (Female): You’re listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, When Dreams Turn to Nightmares. When you support PowerPoint Ministries, you help share God’s word with people around the world through programs just like this one.

And as a thank you for your gift this month, we’ll send you The Jesus Discoveries by Dr. Jeremiah Johnston as our thanks. This powerful resource walks through real historical evidence that points directly to Jesus, helping strengthen your faith and giving you confidence in the truth of God’s word.

And right now, every gift given before June 30th will be doubled through a $200,000 matching grant. This is a crucial moment as we close out the financial year because your support helps ensure that PowerPoint Ministries continues reaching people with the Gospel in the months ahead.

To give your gift and request your copy, text JUNE to 59789. That’s JUNE to 59789. We are excited to share that we have a new way to connect with us. It’s our texting service designed to keep you connected with everything happening here at PowerPoint.

You’ll be the first to know about upcoming events, special announcements, and truly enriching content. To join, start a new text conversation by texting the word CONNECT to 59789. Again, text CONNECT to 59789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?

Jack Graham: In the face of adversity, when his hopes for the future had turned into a nightmare, Joseph chose to keep his attitude of faith strong in God and to follow his will without reservation. A couple of things to remember when your dreams turn to nightmares. Let me leave you with a message of hope.

Remember, just because you’re at the center of the storm, just because your hopes and dreams are temporarily on hold, don’t assume that God has left you. And if things aren’t going well, it doesn’t mean you’re out of the will of God. You may be, as Joseph was, in the center of the will of God.

And then don’t demand to understand. We can’t always understand what God is doing in our lives at that particular time. But God has a plan. He’s weaving a tapestry in our lives, but there are times when we can’t see the beauty of his masterpiece. Sometimes you feel like all you can see of the tapestry is the back side.

And third, don’t bow to bitterness. Don’t allow yourself to slip into sorrow. There’s nothing the enemy would like to do any more than to get you discouraged, defeated, and despondent. Scripture says if God be for us, who can be against us? And no matter what you’re going through in your life, and no matter how much trouble or turmoil or what kind of pit you may be living in right now, God is for you and he’s working constructively, creatively in your life to bring about his divine destiny in you.

And that is today’s PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift to PowerPoint, we’ll send you Dr. Jeremiah Johnston’s book, The Jesus Discoveries. Just text JUNE to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about the answer to one of life’s biggest questions and how it gives you hope. That’s next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham.