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Guest (Male): Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham.

Jack Graham: The story of Joseph is the story of every believer because all of us have amazing potential for an extraordinary life and to discover our God-honoring dreams.

Guest (Male): On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how to make your God-given dreams come true. Now here's Dr. Graham with his message, Discovering Your God Given Dream, Part 2.

Jack Graham: It is a fact every one of us have been created by God and for His pleasure and for His glory. And therefore, God has made us for a mission. He has given a purpose for every life. This is especially true when we come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then He takes responsibility every day, in every way, for our lives.

And our great God, providentially, progressively leads us every step of the way. We're in a series of messages called Destiny. It's the story of Joseph, one of the great stories of the Bible, one of the favorite personalities in all of the scripture. Maybe you know him as Joseph and his technicolor dream coat.

He was given this magnificent mosaic coat that he wore, symbolizing the favor of his father upon his life. And God gave this man, even when he was 17 years of age, just a teenager, God placed some dreams in his heart. And the story of Joseph is the story of every believer because all of us have amazing potential for an extraordinary life and to discover our God-honoring dreams.

The dreams that God gives us, that shape our lives and size our lives. I know this, and here's this sermon in a sentence. I tell preachers, if you can't put your sermon in a sentence, you don't have a sermon yet. But here's the message in a sentence. What your life becomes is built upon the dreams that you dream and the decisions that you make from this day forward.

Take your Bibles and turn with me to Genesis chapter 37. Genesis chapter 37. When I've had the opportunity over the years to ask some successful people, what is the secret of your success? Inevitably, at the outset, they use words like vision and mission and purpose and dreams.

And God has planted the seeds of success in all of us. Joseph is described in the book of Genesis chapter 39, verse 2 as a successful man. Why? Because God gave him success. It was obvious even to pagans that the Lord's hand was upon him, that there was an extraordinary spirit about him.

The dreams that we possess are not mere pipe dreams or daydreams, superficial dreams, but spiritual dreams, supernatural dreams. Not Disney dreams. Cinderella said, "A dream is a wish that your heart makes." Very nice. But that's not a God-given dream. The kind of dream that we discover here in Genesis chapter 37.

We read these passages last time, this is actually part two of this message. "Now Joseph had a dream," verse 5, "and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more." And then again down in verse 9, "Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and he said, 'Behold, I have dreamed another dream.'"

You will recall that these dreams concern Joseph's rise to power and position. That ultimately his own family, his father and his brothers, would bow down to him. Joseph was given a glimpse of his own future. And while he couldn't have understood it at this point, he realized that God was doing something, planting something in his heart that was absolutely life-changing.

Ultimately, it was not about Joseph and his rise to power, it was about God saving a family and God saving a nation. Dreams that honor God aren't about our egos or our own ambitions. Dreams that God give us concern the things that He cares about. And this is the kind of dream that God gave Joseph.

Later his father, when he heard about the dream in verse 10, said, "What is this dream that you have dreamed?" While that question was in the form of a rebuke, it's actually a question that all of us should ask and answer. It's the question that I want to ask you today. What is this dream that you have dreamed?

What is the dream that keeps you awake? What is the dream that drives you forward? What is the dream? And for some who have dreamed, it's time to dream again. At midlife, perhaps you've given up on any possibility or any potential of fulfilling the dreams that you believe have been in your heart a long time.

And maybe you've given up on your dream for your marriage or given up on your dream for your children. Whatever your dream is, you can dream it again. Think about your dream. Is it a dream for a long and healthy life? Or is it a dream for a godly marriage with great children that honor Christ?

Is your dream a dream of a career that glorifies God? Or is your dream a dream of a ministry in which you give back to the work of Christ in His church? Is your dream a ministry of service? Whatever your dream is, you can find and fulfill the purpose for which God has made you.

And again I say, the dreams that you dream and the decisions you make from this day forward will determine your destiny. If you're not dreaming, you're dying. And frankly, some are no longer dreaming. You have lowered your expectations in life. When I first heard Zig Ziglar speak 20 years ago, I remember him telling a couple of stories, one about an insect, the other about an elephant.

He said that you can take a jar, a small container, take the lid off of it, put fleas in there, and those fleas will jump out of the jar. They'll jump, jump, jump right out of the jar. But then you take a lid and put that lid over the container, and those fleas will jump, jump, jump, keep trying to jump.

But once they realize in their little flea brains that there's a lid on, they settle in on the bottom of the glass or the container. And even when you take the lid off, according to Mr. Ziglar, those fleas will just sit there, lay there until they die because now they have been programmed that a lid is on their lives and all they can do is sit there and die. Well, you say, "Well, that's a stupid flea."

But what about an elephant? Zig tells of circus elephants. You know how they're trained. You've seen these massive elephants with a chain around their neck or a rope, and they're attached to a pole in the middle of the arena. And these elephants just walk around that pole just like this all day long.

They just take a little tap, they're walking around all day long just like that. Well, how do you ever get an elephant to do that? You start when they're little. You get a little baby elephant, you put a baby elephant, put a chain around his neck and train him to walk around that pole with that chain.

And even though he gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and so massive that it's obvious he could pull that pole right out of the ground and the chain with it, he doesn't do it. Why? Because he is programmed now to just walk around a circus rink. He was made for the wild, but he's now programmed.

And I think a lot of people start out with dreams in their lives. Maybe as children you have some dreams about your future. I think God puts dreams in our lives very early in our experience in life.

Guest (Male): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, Discovering Your God-Given Dream, Part 2. Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion? It's a study of God's word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life.

To sign up, text DEVO, D-E-V-O, to 59789 and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVO, D-E-V-O, to 59789. Every day, people around the world are hearing the truth of Jesus Christ through PowerPoint's broadcast, podcast, television ministry, and digital outreach, often during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.

And friends like you help make that ministry possible. That's why this month we want to say thank you for your gift of $10 or more by sending you Dr. Jack Graham's book, Destiny. In this encouraging resource, Dr. Graham walks through the life of Joseph to show how God is always working, even through painful and confusing circumstances, to accomplish His greater purpose.

To give your gift and request your copy, text OCT, O-C-T, to 59789. That's OCT, O-C-T, as in October to 59789. Now let's get back to today's message, Discovering Your God-Given Dream, Part 2.

Jack Graham: This is a three-point message. I talked the last time about the uniqueness of you. If you want to discover your God-given dream, then first understand your uniqueness, the uniqueness of you. Just as Joseph was favored by his father and given this coat of many colors, we have been favored by our Father.

And we therefore stand in the righteousness of Christ, the cloak of righteousness. And we have been called and created for this purpose that I've been talking about. And the spirit of God lives in us. And you are a gifted child. The spirit of God has gifted you with spiritual abilities in order to do things for His glory.

And you have this amazing uniqueness. And we talked about a healthy self-image. And a healthy self-image is seeing yourself as God sees you. Not as you see yourself, not even as the world sees you, but as God sees you. That's the uniqueness of you. Understand your uniqueness.

But the second thing is, we said, discover your God-given dream. Joe was called a dreamer. And that's because he had these dreams that were inexplicable and unexplainable. Psalm 34:7 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

And if you seek God and ask Him, He will give you a dream, again, for your life, for your family, for your career, for your ministry, for your wellbeing. What is your dream? We're not talking here about schemes. A lot of people have schemes rather than dreams. Have you noticed that?

For example, Jacob was a schemer. Jacob was Joseph's father. He wasn't a dreamer, he was a schemer. In fact, his very name, Jacob, means the cheat or the conniver. I thought that was pretty cool. I figured out that Jack's name was a derivative of Jacob and I didn't think it was so great.

But it was Jacob who was the conniver and he was constantly trying to manipulate the will of God for his life. Running from his family, running for his life, even running from God. And every time he tried to run from God, God chased him down. Have you experienced that?

You're trying to live your life in your own way, even running from God, but God chases you down. And He chased Jacob down ultimately and broke him, spiritually as well as physically. And ultimately Jacob, it is said, worshipped God, leaning on his staff. He learned how to lean on God.

But Jacob spent most of his life, like a lot of people do, with what's the latest get-rich-quick scheme? What's the latest easy way to success? And how can my life be comfortable? Or running from God and God's purpose for your life. That's scheming your way through life.

But Joseph was a dreamer. There was a different spirit in him. This is why he became a successful man. Your dreams see the invisible and attempt the impossible. I like what Leroy Eims, a wonderful Christian leader, said about this. He said, "A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others do." Good quote.

When I was a young man, I wrote in my Bible these words: "You never test the resources of God until you attempt the impossible." F.B. Meyer. And what I wrote in my Bible so long ago is now written in my heart. To test God and trust God with the dreams that He places in our hearts, the desires in our hearts.

And we're told if we do delight ourselves in God and trust in God, then He will give us, implant in us, the ideas, the dreams. Remember, a dream is the mental picture, God's picture of your life. Ultimately, it is to be like Christ, to be formed into the image of Christ.

But along the way, God gives us this dream. Now it's important to have goals, it's important to have strategies, but before any of this can be fulfilled, you must have a dream. And dream a big dream because you have a great God who can do more than you can possibly imagine in your life.

God's dream is bigger and better than your own dreams. And remember this, God's dreams are the things that God cares about. If God's going to put a dream in your heart, mine, as a believer, it's going to be a dream concerning something He really cares about.

Not about my ego or my ambition or my achievement, but about advancing the work of God on Earth. That's why I say we are created for Him and by Him, made with a mission. So when you look around and wonder what is my dream, a dream can be healing a hurt.

A dream can be lifting a life. A dream would be about answering a question or solving some problem. A dream is about helping others achieve their dreams. We're here today because some people dreamed a great dream regarding this church. And we're sharing in the dreams of others who dreamed dreams that were given by God.

Ultimately, it's because Jesus had a desire to build our church and His church on Earth, and we get to be a part of that dream. There is a part we play, you know, in dreaming these great dreams. And in Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, we're told, "For by grace are you saved through faith." All right, listen up, gospel message coming.

For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. Salvation is not me doing my best, it's God doing His best, what He did for us at the cross. He died, He rose again, and then He by grace, His favor, offers us salvation and we respond by faith.

But verse 10 then tells us our part. Verse 10 says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Jesus Christ unto good works." God is shaping us, God is sizing us, God is molding and making our dreams, our lives. And we are a part of it because we are created unto good works.

So when God gives you a dream, it's not a matter of just sitting around and waiting for something to happen. No, it is investing your life and letting God fill you and use you. Never stop dreaming. Paul didn't. The greatest Christian who ever lived in my view, the apostle Paul, said in Philippians 3:14, "I press on towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ."

I know I haven't arrived. I know I'm not there yet. That is why I press on. Press on in your spiritual walk, in your families, in your careers, in your relationships, in your ministry. Don't be satisfied by being satisfied. Don't be satisfied with an average Christian life.

Don't be satisfied with an average marriage. Don't be satisfied with an average parenting experience. Don't be satisfied with mediocrity in any area of your life. You are unique before God, called and favored by the Father, and God gives you a dream as surely as He gives Joseph a dream.

There's one final thing. Anticipate adversity. Now we're going to talk a lot about this in coming weeks in Joseph's experience because he was on a collision course with destiny. And he faced extreme emergencies of faith along the way. It's truly a remarkable story.

But God, God gave him these dreams, and these dreams gave him a lot of headaches. Because God was shaping him and shaping his dreams. If you read the story here in the 37th chapter, Joseph is obvious he's young, he's immature. He's walking around in his brand-new jacket. He's sort of in the face of his brothers.

There's a lot of arrogance here that God had to deal with in his life and brought him to humility and brought him to a place where he could really use him. You can't even begin to live the...