When Haters Come

2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. 4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. 5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.

I want to continue our series on “THE CALL” this week

With a message entitled

When Haters Come

And trust me, they will come.

If you are called of Got

People will come out of the woodwork to try to prevent you from advancing in your own dreams

If you are called, you need to be aware that haters will come.

Doubters will show up

Gossipers will talk

Detractors will try to snuff out your dream

But not to worry, God has a plan.

The Dreamer

Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob was a dreamer, and an interpreter of dreams.

Some have suggested that it may have been better for Joseph to keep his dreams to himself.

I can stand here as a witness and testify that if God gives you a dream, it will come out one way or another.

If you don’t talk about it, God will get it out of you somehow.

So, I don’t think it would have helped much for Joseph to keep quiet about his dreams.

It wouldn’t have stopped what God had planned for his life.

You see, the story of Joseph reveals to us the providential nature of God.

Providence means:

The protective care of God and timely preparation for future eventualities.

This attribute of God is revealed all throughout Scripture,

and since He is the same Yesterday, Today &..

We know that he is still an on time God even today.

This is not to be confused with predestination.

Providence is God taking care of you when you are on the right path

And Predestination is God defining your destination despite the path you take.

We do not teach the doctrine of predestination, and neither does the Bible.

But, God knew where Joseph was going, and the dream was something he could hold onto when he found himself in a pit.

The problem is, as people, we can’t see the palace for the sake of the pit.

We look around us at times, and all we see is a pit of despair, and God is saying, hold on, trust me, I’ll get you out of this soon.

Then we go from the pit, to slavery, to Potiphar’s house, to prison, before we finally get to the Palace working directly for Pharaoh.

God knew about all those pit stops on the way to the palace

before he gave Joseph his dream, but even further out than that,

God knew what Joseph’s position would do for His people later on,

And further out than that, God knew what this story would do for us today.

That is the providence of God in action.

The Dysfunction of Jacob’s Family

Joseph found himself in a family that had some issues.

How many of us could talk about some issues our family has? No need to raise your hand.

Especially the members of my family that are here tonight.

All families have issues, because all families are made up of people.

Joseph’s was no different.

Genesis 37:3 KJV 1900

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

His grandfather Isaac showed favoritism to his uncle Esau.

His father Jacob then showed favoritism to the first born son of Rachael.

Never mind the six sons that Leah gave him,

now that Joseph is here, I can finally be a loving father.

Favoritism often leads to jealousy,

And in this case, Joseph’s brothers grew very jealous of him.

In fact, our text tells us that they started to hate Joseph.

Genesis 37:4 KJV 1900

4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

They hated him because favoritism leads to Jealousy,

and Jealousy leads to hatred if we are not careful.

To make matters worse then Jacob made Joseph a coat of many colors

which according to their culture, was the garment of a nobleman,

not a shepherd boy.

This clearly made his brother’s more jealous.

Genesis 37:5 KJV 1900

5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.

In the middle of that turmoil, our text says that God gave Joseph a dream.

A dream that was definitely not going to help his current issues with his brothers.

Genesis 37:6–8 KJV 1900

6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

They already hated him, but now God has given Joseph a dream, and the dream was about his brothers bowing down to him one day.

And the Bible says in verse 8 that they hated him even more.

God didn’t stop there, he gave him a second dream that meant the exact same thing as the first dream.

Genesis 37:9 KJV 1900

9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

We find out much later in this story that two dreams with the same interpretation confirms that God is going to do it, and that God is going to do it soon.

When Joseph interpreted the two dreams for Pharaoh, he said…

Genesis 41:32 KJV 1900

32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

So if the first dream that Joseph had didn’t set his brothers off,

surely this second one would do the trick.

God knew all along what those dreams would do.

He knew it would drive his brothers to jealousy.

He knew it would lead Joseph to the bottom of a pit.

But he also knew where he would go after the pit.

This is why we must always trust God,

even when we don’t understand.

His ways are above our ways.

Who can understand the mind of God.

Proverbs 3:5 KJV 1900

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding.

Your own understand would lead you to believe that God has abandoned you in the pit,

But just like Jesus didn’t leave the disciples in the middle of their storm at sea,

God didn’t leave Joseph alone in that pit forever.

He used the storm to demonstrate his power over the elements of this world that He created

Something that would be instrumental in saving the pagan minds of the Greeks later on

And He used the pit to get Joseph to the Palace

Something that would be instrumental in saving the children of Isreal in the coming famine.

Those dreams may have led him to a pit in the short term, but they were still dreams from God.

And in the long term they came to pass in God’s timing through the providence of God.

Later in this story we find the dream come to pass when all of his brothers, came and bowed down to him when he was set over all of the food distribution in Egypt.

Genesis 50:18–20 KJV 1900

18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. 19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

If God wanted to make His creation look perfect, he could have easily summed up the life of Joseph by only stating in His word that Joseph was given a dream, and the dream came to pass,

However, God doesn’t gloss over the details for a reason.

There are 13 chapters from the pit to the palace.

When God inspired Moses to write this story, he didn’t ask him to leave our the jealousy, the hatred, the favoritism, the pit, or the prison.

The Book of Genesis can tell it to us plainly and not gloss over the human failure

Because our pits in life will highlight the providence of God when we have finished our course.

Just keep running with patience like Paul said.

You will understand in the end.

The God-given dreams that you have are a crucial part of God’s gracious action in your life.

The dreams are certain because they are from God.

And the Bible says that God is not a man that he can lie.

If God said it, it will happen.

Sometimes, the only thing I have to hold onto is the dream God gave me.

In the midnight hour, you grab those dreams, those words, those prophesies, those promises from God, and you just have to hold on.

God will accomplish all He said He would accomplish in His own time and in His own way.

You just hold on.

We also learn from Joseph that dysfunction in my family, and the issues of my past are nothing to be ashamed of.

I know all of it happened for a reason.

I’m just going to keep following my dream and watch God bring my future to pass.

The haters will come, but I’m just going to keep following the dream.

Don’t stop to fight the haters.

That’s only going to delay you from the palace longer.

The Dreams brought the trouble

I want to point out again, that the dreams did not make Joseph’s life perfect.

It was actually the dreams that helped tip the needle of his brother’s hatred.

You could almost conclude that it was the dreams that put him in the pit.

The Bible said that when he dreamed the dream, the brothers hated him yet the more.

Just because you have a dream from God, doesn’t mean you will be free from heartache and trouble.

There’s a pit and a prison between you and the palace.

And haters, detractors, and doubters will show up,

but you’ve got to hold onto your promises when you are in the pit.

The dreams didn’t make him exempt from trouble,

The dreams were designed to give him hope to endure the trouble.

A Picture of the Prize

It is my personal opinion that this why Paul was taken up to the 3rd Heaven and shown things that he was not allowed to talk about.

God knew that Paul would go through so much more than most of His followers, so He gave him a little picture of the prize.

Sometimes, a picture of the prize is all you need to keep on going.

Paul was shipwrecked, beaten, left for dead twice, thrown in prison, falsely accused, and stood on trial multiple times for his faith, but He just held onto that picture of the prize and knew that any pit I face today is nothing compared to the palace I’m going to live in later.

2 Timothy 4:7–8 KJV 1900

7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Paul already saw that crown,

That’s how he could talk about it

That’s how he could keep fighting

and He said, that crown wasn’t just on my head

I saw it on other’s too

People that didn’t quit when haters came

People that didn’t give up with doubters showed up

People that didn’t stop running just because they tripped a little

A TRIP UP doesn’t need to be a GIVE UP!

Just keep on going!

This race is not over until you have no breath in your body

and you might be in a pit today,

but your palace is coming!

Joseph’s Troubles

Let’s look at some of the trouble Joseph had to endure.

They Called him a Dreamer

Imagine how high on the mountain you would be when God gives you a dream and tells you that people are going to bow down to you.

You must be on top of the world at that moment.

What a promise

What a dream

Then...

His brothers started mocking him for it.

They called him “The Dreamer”

Genesis 37:19 KJV 1900

19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.

You can easily here the sarcasm in English, but in Hebrew it was even more so. The word “Dreamer” there literally means.

Master of Dreams.

Their sarcasm implied that Joseph’s dreams were only his imagination.

He was a master or creator his own dreams.

When other people doubt your dream, you just hold on.

You know that you didn’t make those dreams up

They came from God

No one else has to know, but you know where they came from.

You don’t need to prove it to them

Just keep running the race.

He was hated by his brothers

They already hated him, but when God gave him a dream, our text says they hated him even more.

The Bible says quite a bit about hating your brother.

1 John 4:20 KJV 1900

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

Leviticus 19:17 KJV 1900

17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.

1 John 3:15 KJV 1900

15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

It seems strange to equate hatred of a brother to murder until you look at examples of brothers hating each other in scripture.

Take cain and able

Esau and Jacob

And even here, Joseph’s brothers sought to kill him out of their hatred.

That was their first idea when they saw him coming.

Genesis 37:20 KJV 1900

20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

You can use this information to find some comfort when the haters show up after you get your promise from God,

But you can also use it to remember not to hate each other when God starts blessing your brothers and sisters.

Let’s encourage each other, not step over the top of each other.

This isn’t a race for 1st place,

Life is a race of endurance.

We are all going to get the same prize in the end even if your brother gets a nice colorful coat before you here on Earth.

He was thrown into a pit

The trouble didn’t stop with hatred, next Joe was thrown into a pit.

He went from a promise to a pit.

man. How did I get here.

Just last Sunday God spoke a word to me, but this week I’m in a pit.

When you are in a pit, you feel trapped.

You know that God has called you.

You know that God is going to do something, someday,

but right now, I can’t see anything in this dark pit.

Right now, I can’t even move because the walls are coming in on me.

This is the part where we wait.

Trust me, waiting is the hardest part,

but waiting is always part of the promise.

It wouldn’t be a promise if He gave it to you when he said it.

Promises take time.

Don’t get frustrated in the waiting.

Isaiah 40:31 KJV 1900

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings as eagles; They shall run, and not be weary; And they shall walk, and not faint.

Psalm 37:9 KJV 1900

9 For evildoers shall be cut off: But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

They sold him as a slave

The bottom of the pit wasn’t even warm yet, and Joseph found himself in more trouble.

His brother’s decided to sell him as a slave.

Genesis 37:26–27 KJV 1900

26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.

Notice that Judah said, let not OUR hand be upon him.

They threw him in a pit, and were about to sell him as a slave, but they didn’t have THEIR hand it in.

No, it wasn’t us, it was the Ishmeelites that made him a slave.

This reminds me of gossip and slander.

Some people won’t confront you theirselves, but they will instead talk about you behind your back in hopes that someone else will come after you.

But hear me, That doesn’t free you from the guilt.

You have just a much part in the sin with your gossip and slander.

As the person that uses your gossip to harm your brother or sister.

Proverbs 10:18 KJV 1900

18 He that hideth hatred with lying lips, And he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.

Thankfully, Joseph had a promise.

Proverbs 11:9 KJV 1900

9 An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: But through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

In the end, the just will be delivered.

Hold onto the knowledge that God has a promise for you.

Even when everyone else rejects the dream, or you.

Lied about and put in Prison

Next Joseph was finally making some traction in Potiphar’s house, when his wife lied about him.

This got Joseph thrown into prison.

When people lie about you, how will you respond?

The lie about Joseph was enough to put him in prison.

Prison is similar to the pit.

It is a place that restricts your movement.

You feel stuck.

You feel like you are not getting closer to your Promise.

Again, hold on.

Wait upon the Lord.

For me, just when I felt like God was using me, I got frustrated waiting for my dream to come to pass.

In those moments, it is easy to start trying to make things happen.

When Abraham did this, an Ishmael was born.

His dependents troubled Israel forever.

It was in fact the Ismaelites that took Joseph into slavery in this story.

and they are still plaguing the Jews to this very day.

There are lasting consequences to trying to rush the promises of God.

Abraham walked for 25 years before he had Isaac

David waited about 15 years between his anointing to his crown, and even longer before he was the king over all of Isreal.

Waiting is part of it.

God gave me a dream 24 years ago that has still not completely come to pass

And God gave Jurlean Johnson a dream around the same year about a church being built on the corner of 5th street and 14th ave

And she never saw a foundation laid

But was know that dream is going to come to pass real soon

But waiting is part of the promise.

He was forgotten

What else happened to Joseph?

Well While he was in prison, he interpreted some dreams for the King’s employees.

He asked them to remember him, but they did not.

So Joseph had to sit in a prison cell, lonely and forgotten.

Sometimes we will deal with being forgotten on our road to our promise.

People that are cheering loudly for you today, may not even think about you tomorrow.

It amazes me how quickly the crowd went from crying Hosanna, to crying crucify him.

Be ready to be forgotten, and stay faithful to God and his promises for you.

When they finally remembered Joseph, the King put him in the Palace.

It was a long road, but God knew every step of it.

And God gave him the dream early on to get him through it all.

Romans 8:28 KJV 1900

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Closing

You should be defined by God’s word about you,

Not by the words of the haters and doubters around you,

and not by the hurt and the troubles that you go through.

Peter reminded the scattered and persecuted church during his day of this when he said:

1 Peter 2:9 KJV 1900

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

In closing, I want to mention that I find it interesting that of all the characters mention in the patriarchal history from Gen 12-50, not one of them was perfect except Joseph. I mean, they all made mistakes, had shortcomings, and so on. Even Abraham had his flaws, just like we all do, but Joseph seemed to always do what was right even when no one was watching. Joseph was a man of integrity. He was as perfect as you could be, and yet his life was not perfect at all. He went through some things. I think those two things are interconnected. Being perfect, and going through some things. Perhaps the things you are going through, is God’s way of making you perfect.

James 1:2–4 KJV 1900

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Let’s all stand

It is the essence of divine grace that God uses the trauma and the trials of our past to bring about unexpected and seemingly impossible good in our futures - a good that we often will never recognize until the very end when the final pieces fall into place.

Genesis 50:20 KJV 1900

20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Joseph you may have gone through a pit, being Potifer’s slave, and Pharoh’s Prison to get here,

But get ready, your Position in the Palace is coming.

You ARE called

You HAVE a Promise

and God WILL keep His promises…

You may have had doubters, detractors, and haters try to bring you down along the path,

but the prophet said in…

Micah 7:8 KJV 1900

8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: When I fall, I shall arise; When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

There’s people in this room, and watching online, that need to hear this.

You are still called of God

God still wants you

God still loves you

God knows your past

God knows about the pits you’ve been through

And He knows your future too

Let’s pray

Altars are Open

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