Time to Dream | How to Survive Until You Thrive: Part 2
Do You Struggle With Your Faith In Difficult Times?
James Greer
Aug 1, 2021 1hr 11m
In difficult times, you may struggle with your faith in understanding God's purpose. But before you can thrive, you often must learn to survive trials and tests so that God can develop you as part of the process before He can promote you. Video recorded at Pineville, Louisiana.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
James Greer: [00:34:52] Amen. Man, I hope you'll be what God calls you to be. Amen? We've been doing a series on how to thrive, but today we're going to do a series on how to survive and to thrive. There's always a process. We're going to be talking about Joseph. Man Joseph went through the process. God was with him when he got put in the pit by his brothers, God was with him when he got put in the prison, and God was with him when he got promoted to the palace. Amen? But there's some things you've got to understand if you want to survive. Most people don't understand the process because they live their life so therefore when God's trying to development them, instead of developing, they live their lives undeveloped. So they end up being unfulfilled. I was talking to the staff this morning. I said, man, I want our church to be developed so bad because God has so much for them. And I said, you know, do you think they really want to grow? Do you really, and they said, yep, I think some of them do and then some people just miss it. I don't want you to miss it. I want you to know nobody can stop you. Nobody can destroy your godly dreams, not even the devil but you. Nobody can.
James Greer: [00:36:11] I don't care what you've gone through. I don't care what's happened to you in the past. Absolutely nothing and nobody can stop a godly dream but you. But it's important that you understand the process, the process of a godly dream. Many times what you and me call disappointment, this is probably the most important thing you’ll learn, what we call disappointments and tests is God developing us. And He's developing us to be used for our God-given purpose and dream. Way too many people are living underdeveloped. You just never develop so you live an unfulfilled life. Don't lose hope. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter how old you are. God can still develop you. If you're living that unfulfilled life, that undeveloped life, it’s simply because you have not allowed God to develop you or you didn't understand the process so you gave up too soon. I believe that so many people don't understand the process of development. And so what they did, they gave up during the process, and you're living what people call unfulfilled. But it's really not unfilled. It's undeveloped. You didn't develop into what God wanted you to and what God has for you, and you often blame other people for it. That's why it's so important you understand the fulfillment of a dream. God gives you a dream. Even at your early ages, you're dreaming. Man, you dream at an early age you can be anything and do everything, and then something happens as you get older. If you're not careful, you start thinking, well, I can't do that. Sometimes you know what the dream is, and sometimes you don't. Adam really didn't know what his dream was. He just knew that he was unfulfilled, and then God fulfilled his dream and brought him Eve. Amen?
James Greer: [00:38:08] I love it. Last Sunday, I told y'all when He brought his naked woman, you know he was happy. Amen? But sometimes you just have an unfulfilled desire to serve God, and you don't even know what it is. And you just walk through the open and closed doors, and then God just brings it about. Mainly, that's what happened in my life. I just knew that God had something for me. I wasn't sure exactly what it was. And then I prayed the Revelation, the 3:8, God opens doors that no man gets shut and He shuts doors that no man can open. Just walking through the doors. Walking through them at home, walking through them in business, walking through them at church. I mean and God just got me to where I'm at. And I'm so thankful for that because I understood that nobody can stop a godly dream but me. How to survive until you thrive. I want you to understand there is a process. If you don't understand the process, disappointments will lead to defeat instead of development. The greater the dream, the greater the process. I was checking this morning. I didn't check before the message. I said, Joseph who was a great dreamer, he started dreaming as a young boy. And I started thinking, well, how old was Joseph when he really started dreaming, when he first got thrown into a pit by his brothers and he had started the development? He was somewhere between 15 and 17. And then he went through this process of development. He had lied about, he got put into prison. And then he finally got promoted to second most powerful of all the land. I said, how old? At 30. I said, ugh. I wanted my process to work a little faster. Amen? That was about 13 years. But in reality, most people don't really mature until they get about 30. But some people mature earlier.
James Greer: [00:40:02] The greater the dream, the greater the development. Okay. How you develop will greatly determine your destiny. How you develop during the process will greatly determine your destiny. I want you to know God has already predetermined a great destiny that's larger than you can imagine. You know, my life verse is Ephesians 3:20. Now unto Him, God, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you think or ask. God can do more than you can even think, more than you can dream, more you can ask according to the power. But you forget it's the power that works in you. You've got the power. Can you say, I got the power? Say, I got the power. It already lives in you when you get saved. Quit walking around living powerless. Amen? Even Jesus said back in John 14:12. He was talking to us. He said, most assuredly I say to you, whoever believes in me, the works that I do, he'll also do. And greater works than these, he will do because I'm going to go to the Father. He said, then He says this. And whatsoever you ask in my name, that will I do that the Father might be glorified. Now listen, I want you to know God has given you godly dreams, and they're within you to do them. But they're to bring glory to God. See, one thing that happens if you're not careful, you get so wrapped up in the world, you get so wrapped up in your job, you get so wrapped up in trying to get ahead, you get so wrapped up in just trying to take care of my family and my job, you forget the purpose of this is to bring honor and glory to God in whatever you do. Amen? He tells us in Ephesians 2:10. He's already got it worked out. He says in the amplified version, let's just read it first. It says, hey, that now for him, his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, the good works which prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Now look at this translation. You ready? It says, for we are God's own handiwork, His workmanship created in Christ Jesus.
James Greer: [00:42:05] We're born anew when you get saved that we may do those good works which God what? Predestined. He planned ahead of time just for you, just for you. You know why? Taking the path which He prepared ahead of time. Why? That you should walk in them. Why? Living the good life which He prearranged and He made ready for you to live. God said, listen, do you understand that I went ahead, already pre-arranged a path for you to walk in? He said, I got a good life. Live the dream. Have you ever said to a person, how you doing? I'm living the dream. That's good. Ask me how am I doing? Steven, say, how you doing? I'm living the dream, brother. How you doing? You better say that sitting next to your wife. But you are living the dream, man. You're living the dream. You got a wonderful wife that you married up. I promise you way up. I think she was blind that day. You got a wonderful child. You just got back from Hawaii. Man, you are living the dream. Amen? You know why? God is good. God's opening the door and God's closing doors for them. Living the dream. Richie, you just got back. You're definitely living the dream. I can't believe Joy married you. Huh? I can't either. They just been on vacation. He’s really living the dream. I'm telling you, we got people that can say, I say, how you doing? They're saying, Richie, how are you doing? Amen. Joy, how you doing? I mean I'm telling you, you could just live the dream. That's what God had for you. He pre-arranged it. But what I'm telling you, you got to develop. Didn't just happen. It just doesn't happen. You got a process.
James Greer: [00:44:00] Hosea 4:6 says this. He says, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. There's marriages, financial situations, your futures are being destroyed for lack of knowledge, lack of God's plan and purpose for your life. It's as you learn to survive during the times you're being processed and developed that you finally get to thrive. Many times, most of the times what we call disappointments or most of the time are tests, times of development. When you go through a test, God's teaching us to trust. A test to trust. A test, trust. Amen? A trust means I run to Jesus, not run from Him. Amen? See, when you don't allow the disappointment to develop you, you end up being undeveloped and disappointed. You live a defeated life instead of developing and God created you and have dominion. Right? You're discouraged. And the devil's having his way. Remember how you develop greatly determines your destiny. God's already predetermined it. We're going to look at Joseph, and we're going to kind of read some verses and paraphrase some. And Joseph definitely had to learn to survive before he could thrive. Joseph sometime, aged between 15 and 17, Andrew, when we're talking. Okay? And just like Joseph had to survive until he thrived, you and me will have to learn to survive if we want to thrive. In Genesis 37:18 and 19, he's talking about, and when they saw him, his brothers. Even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. You think you got a dysfunction family. That's pretty dysfunctional. Amen? Then they said one to another, look, this dreamer is coming.
James Greer: [00:46:00] And Joseph was a dreamer. He dreamed of being a great leader one time. And he told his brothers, he told his brothers, he said, man, I was dreaming. One day, brothers, y'all might bow down to me. Now here he is 17 years old little punk, immature. He said, I want to tell y'all something. Hey, I'm going to be the boss one day. The truth is one day, this young immature person, they would do that. But maybe you shouldn't come out at 17 and start telling your brothers that you're going to be the great one one day and y'all are all going to bow down. And really he's probably saying, y’all want to bow down now, it's okay. When you're immature, you only begin to mature. You ready? When you're under pressure and responsibility and you respond correctly. I don't know of anything else that matures a person. You mature, pressure, responsibility or you become isolated, irritated, imprisoned to yourself and immature because you have the wrong response. You begin to live a defeated, discouraged life. You ready? And you blame other people for your defeat and discourage and undeveloped life. You'll know it because you'll know it and you say, man, what's going on? And automatically, they'll start blaming their mama, their daddy, their boss, their pastor. If you just knew what happened, you'd understand this is why I live what I live. No, no matter what happened into your life, Romans 8:28 said, God could have turned it around for the good of your life and He could have developed you and used it in your life to help other people. That's the real truth. Open your eyes and defeat the devil. Amen? The right response under pressure and responsibility equals maturity. The right response under pressure and responsibility equals the right development. The right development leads to the right promotion. Now, you can grow, baby, if you want to grow.
James Greer: [00:47:58] Now, what happens is most people don't want to hear that. Most people don't want to apply that. Most people say, oh, I went to church today. Well, good. Why don't you try to apply what I'm preaching? Amen? The purpose of a test is to trust God. Let me give you some insights. Okay? I don't think his brothers were too excited about his dream. Do you? Number one, if you have a big dream, be careful who you share it with and when you share it. Very important. The greater the dream, remember the greater the development process was. With Joseph, it looked like it was about 13 years. The longer it takes to develop, the longer you'll have to go through the process. In other words, if you're not developing, you'll have to keep going through the same process. I believe God gives everyone great dreams. Everyone. Many times we don't realize why God's given us these great dreams, but He has. You might not even understand. You might not even be able to write it down. You might not even picture it. But God has put something inside of you that says, man, God wants me to do something greater. God created you that way. You were created in God's image. You have this unbelievable creative ability to dream and to dream big. Time, pressure, responsibility, and the right response squeezes the dream out of you. That's how it comes. It's almost, it comes out. Learn the process. Live the process out. Don't give up. You'll be promoted. Joseph’s process of promotion was pretty rough. At a young age, I think everybody at young age loves, do you know I still love to dream?
James Greer: [00:50:00] I hope you never stop dreaming. I mean I still dream. I dream of growing the church. I dream of still going to play. I mean I just dream. Joseph had a dream. When Joseph had a dream, he told his brothers. They hated him more. That's some family. I got a dream. I want to tell my brothers. They hated me more. So he said to them, please hear my dream. He wanted to share his dream. He said, please hear my dream which I have dreamed. He wanted to share it with them. And there we were, binding sheaves in the field. And behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright. And indeed, your sheaves stood all around. Oh, they bowed down to my sheaf. He gave every one of us a desire to lead and to go. He shared his dream. And he said, listen, man. He shared it, but his brothers were jealous. He had the dream and then came the devastation. Most of the time after a dream comes a development process or you can call it devastation or you can call it disappointment. But this is the part that you have to develop. Genesis 37:18 says this. It says, now when they saw, his brothers saw him, Joseph afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against to kill him. That's brotherly love. You know why they would kill him? First of all, because his dad kept showing favoritism to him too. It made them jealous. Then he started sharing his dream. They said to one another, look, the dreamer's coming. He was known for his dreams. Come therefore, let us now kill him. Let's cast him into a pit. And we shall say some wild beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams now.
James Greer: [00:52:00] In other words, sometimes when you're dreaming and other people aren't, it irritates them. Have you ever known people they're just so excited about what God's doing? Man, God's saving people, we're getting people baptized, I mean God's growing. I can't believe what He's doing. Sometimes you can irritate other people. They're not dreaming. They're not excited about what God's doing. And you irritate them. His brothers were irritated. They had no dreams. They had no desire. Remember though this, his brothers were going to kill him. They threw him in a pit to be killed. I want you to know this. If you got a godly dream, it doesn't matter what everybody else does. It doesn't matter what they say. They can't win. You're going to win. When you're going through what looks like a devastating, disappointing time, if you're doing it for God, you are going to win no matter what. If God be for you, nobody can be against. You're going to win. Now they didn't just throw him in there. I'm going to paraphrase a lot of this because Genesis 37:23-28 don't have time. They stripped him. They took his clothes. They cast him down the pit. They didn't give him any water. They sat down to eat. They took their little brother, they took his coat, they threw him down in a pit, they didn't give him water. They decided to sit down and have a meal. No problem. Then they lifted their eyes and here comes the Ishmaelites on camels. And one of the brothers, Judah said, listen, brothers, why don't we sell him instead of kill him? We could get some money. And he is our brother. I mean this is real brotherly love. Let's don't kill him. Let's just sell him and we can profit at the same time. And so they had 20 shillings of silver and they took Joseph to Egypt. Now let me tell you something. After you have a great dream, you're going to go through a development process. It could even devastate you. That's the time when devastation comes for have total dependence on God. Total dependence.
James Greer: [00:54:00] Total dependence on God leads to the right development process and to be used by God. But when you don't do that, you live unfilled and undeveloped. Don't allow disappointments to under develop you. Continue to grow. This is the same, y’all aren’t going to like this. Go through this process, God says, you get married and the two become one. Right? Can I give you a free answer? That does not just happen. You don't just get married. Oh, baby, everything's so great. Two, we got one. Uh-uh. You go through tough times, painful times, process time. You have to develop to become one. You had your ways. She had her ways. You want yours. She wants hers. I mean, you know, and then you go through all the process. You develop and then you finally become one. And when you become one, it's one of the greatest things in the world. Amen? But don't think you're not going to have a process. You've just been watching too many TV shows, y'all that are engaged. Just saying. But when it does process out, it is great. 48 years later. Okay? And growing and happy. Amen? You begin the process. You know what though? They sold him into slavery. Okay? Do you know what Genesis 38:2 says? And the Lord was with Joseph. He was with Joseph in the pit. He was with Joseph when he was sold into slavery. When he started serving, you know, so he was successful in everything. Do you know what Joseph was successful in? Everything. Can you imagine as a 17 year old, you've been sold by your brothers into slavery? Now you become working for the Egyptians. And everything you do, you're successful at. He served in the home of the Egyptian master. And guess what? God used him. You can work for an ungodly boss, an ungodly company, and God can still bless you.
James Greer: [00:56:07] So don't say just because my company's ungodly, God cannot use me. That's a lie. He did it with Joseph. He can do it with you. You know what? You know what he said in verse 3 of Genesis 39? After he said He blessed him in everything? Verse 3 said, Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph and giving him success in everything he did. I mean when God's favors on your life, it doesn't matter what you do. You’re going to be successful in anything you do. Your marriage is going to be success. Your job's going to be success. You're going to have development process, but you're going to be successful. Now here he goes. Okay? He was in the pit, and God was with him. Now he's working in the palace, and God is with him. All right? God is with him everywhere he goes. Looks like he's on the right track. Amen? And Potiphar said, man, you got everything in the house. Just don't mess with my wife. Now I don't care who you are. You don't want anybody else messing with your wife. Amen? Now you do know Joseph was handsome? He was a good-looking dude. Now Potiphar's wife, well, I think he must have worked a lot. She wanted Joseph. She said, Joseph, come, let's have a little fling, man. Nobody's going to know. Yeah. I won't tell anybody. You don't tell anybody. I mean, you know, I am his wife. Come in my bedroom. No, I'm not talking about just clean, buddy. I'm talking about me and you. She said, Joseph, let's have sex. Now he'd been promoted doing what was right. I don't know, but I think she was good-looking. I mean he could have anybody he wants. He's rich. He's powerful. He's got this good-looking wife. But he wasn’t taking care of her I guess or maybe he was and you couldn't. I don't know.
James Greer: [00:58:09] But anyway, she wanted Joseph. And Joseph said, I can't do that. Basically he said, your husband has trusted me with everything but you. I'm not going to sin like that. She grabbed him. He ran. Can I tell you sometimes that's all you can do is run? They come after you, guys, run. Women, sometimes, you better run. She lied about him. He got put in jail, y'all. Did y'all know he got put in jail for doing the right thing? Did you know you could do the right thing and still go through disappointments, problems, and heartache? Did you know you could be on the job and you're the one that's doing the right thing and you're the one that gets blamed for the wrong thing? Did you know you can have friends and somebody lie about you and they take their side? Did you know that just because you're doing the right thing does not mean you will not have problems? But it does mean one thing. If you're doing the right thing, they can't win. Did you know that he got thrown in jail? Do you know in Genesis 39:21, do you know what the Lord told Joseph in jail? And the Lord was with Joseph and He showed him mercy and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of prison. Listen, he went from the prison, he was working in the palace, he was successful in everything he did. Now he's in prison. And God said, hey, I want you to know I'm with you. The keeper of the prison, he committed to Joseph’s hands to all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, it was his doing.
James Greer: [00:59:58] In other words, now he's in charge of the prison. He was in charge of the house. Now he's in charge of the prison. Now I don't know. And the keeper of the prison, he did not look into anything that Joseph did. They trusted him so much because the Lord was with him and whatever he did, the Lord made him to prosper. Did you know the Lord can be with you in prison or He can be with you in the palace? Even in your disappointment, Joseph knew that God was with him. You might be here today and you're going through some great disappointment, some devastation, some heartache. I've got news for you. God still loves you, and He's with you. He can still turn around the most disappointing, hardest thing in your life and He can still promote you and use it. See, Joseph knew something that you need to know. You need to know the difference between being disappointed in a person and God. See, Joseph could’ve said, hey, God, I'm out here serving you, I was in the house, I did the right thing, she said I raped her, you know I didn't do it. I'm just blaming God. No, no, he didn't blame God. He blamed the person. He just kept serving God. The Bible says, your face should not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God. When you're disappointed in man, look to the power of God. That's really good, Brother James. Guess what happened? Fifth, he started getting promoted again. King had dreams. Nobody could tell him what they were. And they called Joseph and he could interpret the dream. Because he interpreted the dream finally in Genesis 41, he starts getting promoted again. Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find such a one, a man in whom is spirit of God? He said, the spirit of God is with him. Man, when the spirit of God is with you, man, God was with him in the prison, he was with him in the pit, he's with him in the palace. I mean God's just with you. Amen?
James Greer: [01:01:59] And pharaoh said to Joseph, inasmuch as God, now here's pharaoh, ungodly person, doesn't believe in God, as much as God has shown you all this, there's no one as discerning and wise as you. I mean do you understand he's giving God the credit? He said, Joseph, [inaudible] God, I may not believe in God but I know you're God's the God. Man, isn't it great that you could live a situation even if they don't believe in their God, I mean in God, they believe that your God is the God. You should be over all my house and all my people and you shall rule according to your word. Only in regards to the throne will be greater than you. He said, you the man. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. I wonder how his wife felt now. But anyway. Hey, I'm just telling you, man. When God's got a plan for you, I don't care who it is, nobody can stop it. Amen? I mean Joseph's rocking the house. He's the second most powerful in the land. I can't stop the story without telling something else that happened. We're almost to the end. You remember Joseph's brothers? Y'all remember what they did to him? They were going to kill him. I think they beat him up. I don't know that. I think they beat him up and threw him in the pit. There was a famine in the land. There wasn't any food. And guess where his brothers had to come get some food? They had to come to Egypt. Guess who they were going to have to appear before? Their brother. What goes around comes around. Guess who's in charge? I'd say, come on in, brother. Let's see what it feels like to be in the pit now. No, no. Anyway. They were scared to come and they sent a message to their brother and said, you know, dad told us to beg for forgiveness. And they sent a note and they said we're so sorry. We want to be forgiven.
James Greer: [01:04:01] Do y'all know what Joseph did? Joseph wept and cried. He wept and cried for his brothers. He didn't want to get revenge. He wept and cried. He broke down and cried. His brothers came and they threw themselves at Joseph's feet. Look, we’re you're slaves, they told him. But Joseph said, don't be afraid of me. I am what God wants me to. I'm not going to punish you. Genesis 50:20, everybody needs to understand. It says, you intended for harm. God intended for my good. He brought me to this position just for such a time as this, that I could save many lives. Don't be afraid. I'm going to continue to take care of you and your children from now on. You know why I know the process worked? The people that hurt him the most were the people closest to him. He wept. He cared for them. He forgave him. The process had worked. He had developed. Until you can do that, you haven't developed. You're still in the process. You're still underdeveloped. God has a place for you. First of all, you've got to come to Jesus Christ through faith and trust. You've got to come through Him as your Savior. But you got to. You ready? You got to trust that He's in charge. If you're here today and you've never come to Him as your Savior, you need to do that. Make sure you're going to Heaven. Some of you are going through some things, you need to come to Jesus to trust Him. Don't run from Him but run to Him. Joseph, no matter where he was, he continued to trust Jesus.
James Greer: [01:06:01] Would you trust Him this morning? Would you become totally dependent on Him and let God develop you? Have you actually forgiven anyone and everyone that's ever hurt you? If there's anyone that had a reason not to forgive his brothers, it was Joseph. They stripped him of his coat and threw him into a pit and sold him off to slavery. They really in essence left him to die and get beat. They didn't care what happened to him. Thirteen years later, they were starving and had to have food and had to come before him. He cried that they were coming. And he said, hey, don't be afraid. I'm going to take care of you and I'm going to take care of your family and I'm going to feed them from now on. You don't have to worry about it. Who is it that you haven't forgiven? Today God's telling you, it was a development process, and you need to forgive them. You need to develop. Some of you have gone through some disappointments and you never got over it. And you know what it is right now. I know what mine were. I know what the development process was. I know how bad they hurt. I know when I cried. I know when I couldn't get out of the house. I know that I thought it'd never end. I didn't think I'd make it. God was developing me. I hope and pray I don't have to go through that again. Look back, part it was my fault, part of it was divine. I didn't have anything to do with it. He just said, hey, I got to develop you anyway. When you're going through these devastations, when you're going through these heartaches, when you’re going through these disappointments, you got to just trust me. You got to let me develop you.
James Greer: [01:07:54] Some of you've gone through the disappointments of the heart, but you didn't develop. So you're just undeveloped. You'll know that you're undeveloped because you're unfulfilled. When you're fully developed, you're so fulfilled. It's unbelievable. It almost just overflows. I'm not saying you'll have tough days. I'm talking about a lifestyle of fulfillment. That's what God says. That's what He promises for you. I wish you'd allow Him to bless you wherever you're doing and whatever you're doing. I'm talking about it doesn't matter where you work. God can bless you whatever you're doing and wherever you're at. That's what He was telling Joseph. Joseph, I blessed you in the prison. Whatever you're doing, I blessed you when you were home. I blessed you when you finally got in charge of the palace. God can promote you at the right time. Remember this. When the promotion comes, it came from God, and He's to get the honor and glory. So would you stand and let me pray with you and pray for you? God, you're such an awesome God. You made the process so clear through Joseph's life. I pray today that you made it clear to Journey Church, people here and online, upstairs. God, I want our people developed. I don't want them to leave undeveloped, unfulfilled. For those that may not know you, today's the day that they put their faith in you or today's day they trust you. For those that are hurting, they come. Maybe they let the hurt go. Today’s the day to let it go. Maybe you need to pray for that person that hurt you and then let God develop you. Maybe you've never followed through in public baptism and today's the day you want to do that. You want to just take the next step. Maybe you want to say, hey, this is the church home. I want to make this my family. You know if you're developed or not. Maybe you've had stunted growth. And you might just want to come to the altar and say hey, God, I want to be developed. I want to continue to grow. I want the fullness of Christ in my life. I want to be able to help other people. I want you to use me at whatever and wherever I'm at. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.
Bruce Goulart: [01:10:23] On behalf of Pastor James, I just want to say thank you for joining our online experience today. Man, what an amazing service we had with Time to Dream. And I'm super excited about this series and to continue it next week. But if you need someone to pray with you right now, we have people on standby that are willing to pray with you. So there's a link in the description that if you click on and fill out, someone will get with you right away. Man, thank y’all again for being here with us and I love y'all and see y'all next week.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
James Greer: [00:36:11] I don't care what you've gone through. I don't care what's happened to you in the past. Absolutely nothing and nobody can stop a godly dream but you. But it's important that you understand the process, the process of a godly dream. Many times what you and me call disappointment, this is probably the most important thing you’ll learn, what we call disappointments and tests is God developing us. And He's developing us to be used for our God-given purpose and dream. Way too many people are living underdeveloped. You just never develop so you live an unfulfilled life. Don't lose hope. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter how old you are. God can still develop you. If you're living that unfulfilled life, that undeveloped life, it’s simply because you have not allowed God to develop you or you didn't understand the process so you gave up too soon. I believe that so many people don't understand the process of development. And so what they did, they gave up during the process, and you're living what people call unfulfilled. But it's really not unfilled. It's undeveloped. You didn't develop into what God wanted you to and what God has for you, and you often blame other people for it. That's why it's so important you understand the fulfillment of a dream. God gives you a dream. Even at your early ages, you're dreaming. Man, you dream at an early age you can be anything and do everything, and then something happens as you get older. If you're not careful, you start thinking, well, I can't do that. Sometimes you know what the dream is, and sometimes you don't. Adam really didn't know what his dream was. He just knew that he was unfulfilled, and then God fulfilled his dream and brought him Eve. Amen?
James Greer: [00:38:08] I love it. Last Sunday, I told y'all when He brought his naked woman, you know he was happy. Amen? But sometimes you just have an unfulfilled desire to serve God, and you don't even know what it is. And you just walk through the open and closed doors, and then God just brings it about. Mainly, that's what happened in my life. I just knew that God had something for me. I wasn't sure exactly what it was. And then I prayed the Revelation, the 3:8, God opens doors that no man gets shut and He shuts doors that no man can open. Just walking through the doors. Walking through them at home, walking through them in business, walking through them at church. I mean and God just got me to where I'm at. And I'm so thankful for that because I understood that nobody can stop a godly dream but me. How to survive until you thrive. I want you to understand there is a process. If you don't understand the process, disappointments will lead to defeat instead of development. The greater the dream, the greater the process. I was checking this morning. I didn't check before the message. I said, Joseph who was a great dreamer, he started dreaming as a young boy. And I started thinking, well, how old was Joseph when he really started dreaming, when he first got thrown into a pit by his brothers and he had started the development? He was somewhere between 15 and 17. And then he went through this process of development. He had lied about, he got put into prison. And then he finally got promoted to second most powerful of all the land. I said, how old? At 30. I said, ugh. I wanted my process to work a little faster. Amen? That was about 13 years. But in reality, most people don't really mature until they get about 30. But some people mature earlier.
James Greer: [00:40:02] The greater the dream, the greater the development. Okay. How you develop will greatly determine your destiny. How you develop during the process will greatly determine your destiny. I want you to know God has already predetermined a great destiny that's larger than you can imagine. You know, my life verse is Ephesians 3:20. Now unto Him, God, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you think or ask. God can do more than you can even think, more than you can dream, more you can ask according to the power. But you forget it's the power that works in you. You've got the power. Can you say, I got the power? Say, I got the power. It already lives in you when you get saved. Quit walking around living powerless. Amen? Even Jesus said back in John 14:12. He was talking to us. He said, most assuredly I say to you, whoever believes in me, the works that I do, he'll also do. And greater works than these, he will do because I'm going to go to the Father. He said, then He says this. And whatsoever you ask in my name, that will I do that the Father might be glorified. Now listen, I want you to know God has given you godly dreams, and they're within you to do them. But they're to bring glory to God. See, one thing that happens if you're not careful, you get so wrapped up in the world, you get so wrapped up in your job, you get so wrapped up in trying to get ahead, you get so wrapped up in just trying to take care of my family and my job, you forget the purpose of this is to bring honor and glory to God in whatever you do. Amen? He tells us in Ephesians 2:10. He's already got it worked out. He says in the amplified version, let's just read it first. It says, hey, that now for him, his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, the good works which prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Now look at this translation. You ready? It says, for we are God's own handiwork, His workmanship created in Christ Jesus.
James Greer: [00:42:05] We're born anew when you get saved that we may do those good works which God what? Predestined. He planned ahead of time just for you, just for you. You know why? Taking the path which He prepared ahead of time. Why? That you should walk in them. Why? Living the good life which He prearranged and He made ready for you to live. God said, listen, do you understand that I went ahead, already pre-arranged a path for you to walk in? He said, I got a good life. Live the dream. Have you ever said to a person, how you doing? I'm living the dream. That's good. Ask me how am I doing? Steven, say, how you doing? I'm living the dream, brother. How you doing? You better say that sitting next to your wife. But you are living the dream, man. You're living the dream. You got a wonderful wife that you married up. I promise you way up. I think she was blind that day. You got a wonderful child. You just got back from Hawaii. Man, you are living the dream. Amen? You know why? God is good. God's opening the door and God's closing doors for them. Living the dream. Richie, you just got back. You're definitely living the dream. I can't believe Joy married you. Huh? I can't either. They just been on vacation. He’s really living the dream. I'm telling you, we got people that can say, I say, how you doing? They're saying, Richie, how are you doing? Amen. Joy, how you doing? I mean I'm telling you, you could just live the dream. That's what God had for you. He pre-arranged it. But what I'm telling you, you got to develop. Didn't just happen. It just doesn't happen. You got a process.
James Greer: [00:44:00] Hosea 4:6 says this. He says, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. There's marriages, financial situations, your futures are being destroyed for lack of knowledge, lack of God's plan and purpose for your life. It's as you learn to survive during the times you're being processed and developed that you finally get to thrive. Many times, most of the times what we call disappointments or most of the time are tests, times of development. When you go through a test, God's teaching us to trust. A test to trust. A test, trust. Amen? A trust means I run to Jesus, not run from Him. Amen? See, when you don't allow the disappointment to develop you, you end up being undeveloped and disappointed. You live a defeated life instead of developing and God created you and have dominion. Right? You're discouraged. And the devil's having his way. Remember how you develop greatly determines your destiny. God's already predetermined it. We're going to look at Joseph, and we're going to kind of read some verses and paraphrase some. And Joseph definitely had to learn to survive before he could thrive. Joseph sometime, aged between 15 and 17, Andrew, when we're talking. Okay? And just like Joseph had to survive until he thrived, you and me will have to learn to survive if we want to thrive. In Genesis 37:18 and 19, he's talking about, and when they saw him, his brothers. Even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. You think you got a dysfunction family. That's pretty dysfunctional. Amen? Then they said one to another, look, this dreamer is coming.
James Greer: [00:46:00] And Joseph was a dreamer. He dreamed of being a great leader one time. And he told his brothers, he told his brothers, he said, man, I was dreaming. One day, brothers, y'all might bow down to me. Now here he is 17 years old little punk, immature. He said, I want to tell y'all something. Hey, I'm going to be the boss one day. The truth is one day, this young immature person, they would do that. But maybe you shouldn't come out at 17 and start telling your brothers that you're going to be the great one one day and y'all are all going to bow down. And really he's probably saying, y’all want to bow down now, it's okay. When you're immature, you only begin to mature. You ready? When you're under pressure and responsibility and you respond correctly. I don't know of anything else that matures a person. You mature, pressure, responsibility or you become isolated, irritated, imprisoned to yourself and immature because you have the wrong response. You begin to live a defeated, discouraged life. You ready? And you blame other people for your defeat and discourage and undeveloped life. You'll know it because you'll know it and you say, man, what's going on? And automatically, they'll start blaming their mama, their daddy, their boss, their pastor. If you just knew what happened, you'd understand this is why I live what I live. No, no matter what happened into your life, Romans 8:28 said, God could have turned it around for the good of your life and He could have developed you and used it in your life to help other people. That's the real truth. Open your eyes and defeat the devil. Amen? The right response under pressure and responsibility equals maturity. The right response under pressure and responsibility equals the right development. The right development leads to the right promotion. Now, you can grow, baby, if you want to grow.
James Greer: [00:47:58] Now, what happens is most people don't want to hear that. Most people don't want to apply that. Most people say, oh, I went to church today. Well, good. Why don't you try to apply what I'm preaching? Amen? The purpose of a test is to trust God. Let me give you some insights. Okay? I don't think his brothers were too excited about his dream. Do you? Number one, if you have a big dream, be careful who you share it with and when you share it. Very important. The greater the dream, remember the greater the development process was. With Joseph, it looked like it was about 13 years. The longer it takes to develop, the longer you'll have to go through the process. In other words, if you're not developing, you'll have to keep going through the same process. I believe God gives everyone great dreams. Everyone. Many times we don't realize why God's given us these great dreams, but He has. You might not even understand. You might not even be able to write it down. You might not even picture it. But God has put something inside of you that says, man, God wants me to do something greater. God created you that way. You were created in God's image. You have this unbelievable creative ability to dream and to dream big. Time, pressure, responsibility, and the right response squeezes the dream out of you. That's how it comes. It's almost, it comes out. Learn the process. Live the process out. Don't give up. You'll be promoted. Joseph’s process of promotion was pretty rough. At a young age, I think everybody at young age loves, do you know I still love to dream?
James Greer: [00:50:00] I hope you never stop dreaming. I mean I still dream. I dream of growing the church. I dream of still going to play. I mean I just dream. Joseph had a dream. When Joseph had a dream, he told his brothers. They hated him more. That's some family. I got a dream. I want to tell my brothers. They hated me more. So he said to them, please hear my dream. He wanted to share his dream. He said, please hear my dream which I have dreamed. He wanted to share it with them. And there we were, binding sheaves in the field. And behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright. And indeed, your sheaves stood all around. Oh, they bowed down to my sheaf. He gave every one of us a desire to lead and to go. He shared his dream. And he said, listen, man. He shared it, but his brothers were jealous. He had the dream and then came the devastation. Most of the time after a dream comes a development process or you can call it devastation or you can call it disappointment. But this is the part that you have to develop. Genesis 37:18 says this. It says, now when they saw, his brothers saw him, Joseph afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against to kill him. That's brotherly love. You know why they would kill him? First of all, because his dad kept showing favoritism to him too. It made them jealous. Then he started sharing his dream. They said to one another, look, the dreamer's coming. He was known for his dreams. Come therefore, let us now kill him. Let's cast him into a pit. And we shall say some wild beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams now.
James Greer: [00:52:00] In other words, sometimes when you're dreaming and other people aren't, it irritates them. Have you ever known people they're just so excited about what God's doing? Man, God's saving people, we're getting people baptized, I mean God's growing. I can't believe what He's doing. Sometimes you can irritate other people. They're not dreaming. They're not excited about what God's doing. And you irritate them. His brothers were irritated. They had no dreams. They had no desire. Remember though this, his brothers were going to kill him. They threw him in a pit to be killed. I want you to know this. If you got a godly dream, it doesn't matter what everybody else does. It doesn't matter what they say. They can't win. You're going to win. When you're going through what looks like a devastating, disappointing time, if you're doing it for God, you are going to win no matter what. If God be for you, nobody can be against. You're going to win. Now they didn't just throw him in there. I'm going to paraphrase a lot of this because Genesis 37:23-28 don't have time. They stripped him. They took his clothes. They cast him down the pit. They didn't give him any water. They sat down to eat. They took their little brother, they took his coat, they threw him down in a pit, they didn't give him water. They decided to sit down and have a meal. No problem. Then they lifted their eyes and here comes the Ishmaelites on camels. And one of the brothers, Judah said, listen, brothers, why don't we sell him instead of kill him? We could get some money. And he is our brother. I mean this is real brotherly love. Let's don't kill him. Let's just sell him and we can profit at the same time. And so they had 20 shillings of silver and they took Joseph to Egypt. Now let me tell you something. After you have a great dream, you're going to go through a development process. It could even devastate you. That's the time when devastation comes for have total dependence on God. Total dependence.
James Greer: [00:54:00] Total dependence on God leads to the right development process and to be used by God. But when you don't do that, you live unfilled and undeveloped. Don't allow disappointments to under develop you. Continue to grow. This is the same, y’all aren’t going to like this. Go through this process, God says, you get married and the two become one. Right? Can I give you a free answer? That does not just happen. You don't just get married. Oh, baby, everything's so great. Two, we got one. Uh-uh. You go through tough times, painful times, process time. You have to develop to become one. You had your ways. She had her ways. You want yours. She wants hers. I mean, you know, and then you go through all the process. You develop and then you finally become one. And when you become one, it's one of the greatest things in the world. Amen? But don't think you're not going to have a process. You've just been watching too many TV shows, y'all that are engaged. Just saying. But when it does process out, it is great. 48 years later. Okay? And growing and happy. Amen? You begin the process. You know what though? They sold him into slavery. Okay? Do you know what Genesis 38:2 says? And the Lord was with Joseph. He was with Joseph in the pit. He was with Joseph when he was sold into slavery. When he started serving, you know, so he was successful in everything. Do you know what Joseph was successful in? Everything. Can you imagine as a 17 year old, you've been sold by your brothers into slavery? Now you become working for the Egyptians. And everything you do, you're successful at. He served in the home of the Egyptian master. And guess what? God used him. You can work for an ungodly boss, an ungodly company, and God can still bless you.
James Greer: [00:56:07] So don't say just because my company's ungodly, God cannot use me. That's a lie. He did it with Joseph. He can do it with you. You know what? You know what he said in verse 3 of Genesis 39? After he said He blessed him in everything? Verse 3 said, Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph and giving him success in everything he did. I mean when God's favors on your life, it doesn't matter what you do. You’re going to be successful in anything you do. Your marriage is going to be success. Your job's going to be success. You're going to have development process, but you're going to be successful. Now here he goes. Okay? He was in the pit, and God was with him. Now he's working in the palace, and God is with him. All right? God is with him everywhere he goes. Looks like he's on the right track. Amen? And Potiphar said, man, you got everything in the house. Just don't mess with my wife. Now I don't care who you are. You don't want anybody else messing with your wife. Amen? Now you do know Joseph was handsome? He was a good-looking dude. Now Potiphar's wife, well, I think he must have worked a lot. She wanted Joseph. She said, Joseph, come, let's have a little fling, man. Nobody's going to know. Yeah. I won't tell anybody. You don't tell anybody. I mean, you know, I am his wife. Come in my bedroom. No, I'm not talking about just clean, buddy. I'm talking about me and you. She said, Joseph, let's have sex. Now he'd been promoted doing what was right. I don't know, but I think she was good-looking. I mean he could have anybody he wants. He's rich. He's powerful. He's got this good-looking wife. But he wasn’t taking care of her I guess or maybe he was and you couldn't. I don't know.
James Greer: [00:58:09] But anyway, she wanted Joseph. And Joseph said, I can't do that. Basically he said, your husband has trusted me with everything but you. I'm not going to sin like that. She grabbed him. He ran. Can I tell you sometimes that's all you can do is run? They come after you, guys, run. Women, sometimes, you better run. She lied about him. He got put in jail, y'all. Did y'all know he got put in jail for doing the right thing? Did you know you could do the right thing and still go through disappointments, problems, and heartache? Did you know you could be on the job and you're the one that's doing the right thing and you're the one that gets blamed for the wrong thing? Did you know you can have friends and somebody lie about you and they take their side? Did you know that just because you're doing the right thing does not mean you will not have problems? But it does mean one thing. If you're doing the right thing, they can't win. Did you know that he got thrown in jail? Do you know in Genesis 39:21, do you know what the Lord told Joseph in jail? And the Lord was with Joseph and He showed him mercy and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of prison. Listen, he went from the prison, he was working in the palace, he was successful in everything he did. Now he's in prison. And God said, hey, I want you to know I'm with you. The keeper of the prison, he committed to Joseph’s hands to all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, it was his doing.
James Greer: [00:59:58] In other words, now he's in charge of the prison. He was in charge of the house. Now he's in charge of the prison. Now I don't know. And the keeper of the prison, he did not look into anything that Joseph did. They trusted him so much because the Lord was with him and whatever he did, the Lord made him to prosper. Did you know the Lord can be with you in prison or He can be with you in the palace? Even in your disappointment, Joseph knew that God was with him. You might be here today and you're going through some great disappointment, some devastation, some heartache. I've got news for you. God still loves you, and He's with you. He can still turn around the most disappointing, hardest thing in your life and He can still promote you and use it. See, Joseph knew something that you need to know. You need to know the difference between being disappointed in a person and God. See, Joseph could’ve said, hey, God, I'm out here serving you, I was in the house, I did the right thing, she said I raped her, you know I didn't do it. I'm just blaming God. No, no, he didn't blame God. He blamed the person. He just kept serving God. The Bible says, your face should not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God. When you're disappointed in man, look to the power of God. That's really good, Brother James. Guess what happened? Fifth, he started getting promoted again. King had dreams. Nobody could tell him what they were. And they called Joseph and he could interpret the dream. Because he interpreted the dream finally in Genesis 41, he starts getting promoted again. Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find such a one, a man in whom is spirit of God? He said, the spirit of God is with him. Man, when the spirit of God is with you, man, God was with him in the prison, he was with him in the pit, he's with him in the palace. I mean God's just with you. Amen?
James Greer: [01:01:59] And pharaoh said to Joseph, inasmuch as God, now here's pharaoh, ungodly person, doesn't believe in God, as much as God has shown you all this, there's no one as discerning and wise as you. I mean do you understand he's giving God the credit? He said, Joseph, [inaudible] God, I may not believe in God but I know you're God's the God. Man, isn't it great that you could live a situation even if they don't believe in their God, I mean in God, they believe that your God is the God. You should be over all my house and all my people and you shall rule according to your word. Only in regards to the throne will be greater than you. He said, you the man. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. I wonder how his wife felt now. But anyway. Hey, I'm just telling you, man. When God's got a plan for you, I don't care who it is, nobody can stop it. Amen? I mean Joseph's rocking the house. He's the second most powerful in the land. I can't stop the story without telling something else that happened. We're almost to the end. You remember Joseph's brothers? Y'all remember what they did to him? They were going to kill him. I think they beat him up. I don't know that. I think they beat him up and threw him in the pit. There was a famine in the land. There wasn't any food. And guess where his brothers had to come get some food? They had to come to Egypt. Guess who they were going to have to appear before? Their brother. What goes around comes around. Guess who's in charge? I'd say, come on in, brother. Let's see what it feels like to be in the pit now. No, no. Anyway. They were scared to come and they sent a message to their brother and said, you know, dad told us to beg for forgiveness. And they sent a note and they said we're so sorry. We want to be forgiven.
James Greer: [01:04:01] Do y'all know what Joseph did? Joseph wept and cried. He wept and cried for his brothers. He didn't want to get revenge. He wept and cried. He broke down and cried. His brothers came and they threw themselves at Joseph's feet. Look, we’re you're slaves, they told him. But Joseph said, don't be afraid of me. I am what God wants me to. I'm not going to punish you. Genesis 50:20, everybody needs to understand. It says, you intended for harm. God intended for my good. He brought me to this position just for such a time as this, that I could save many lives. Don't be afraid. I'm going to continue to take care of you and your children from now on. You know why I know the process worked? The people that hurt him the most were the people closest to him. He wept. He cared for them. He forgave him. The process had worked. He had developed. Until you can do that, you haven't developed. You're still in the process. You're still underdeveloped. God has a place for you. First of all, you've got to come to Jesus Christ through faith and trust. You've got to come through Him as your Savior. But you got to. You ready? You got to trust that He's in charge. If you're here today and you've never come to Him as your Savior, you need to do that. Make sure you're going to Heaven. Some of you are going through some things, you need to come to Jesus to trust Him. Don't run from Him but run to Him. Joseph, no matter where he was, he continued to trust Jesus.
James Greer: [01:06:01] Would you trust Him this morning? Would you become totally dependent on Him and let God develop you? Have you actually forgiven anyone and everyone that's ever hurt you? If there's anyone that had a reason not to forgive his brothers, it was Joseph. They stripped him of his coat and threw him into a pit and sold him off to slavery. They really in essence left him to die and get beat. They didn't care what happened to him. Thirteen years later, they were starving and had to have food and had to come before him. He cried that they were coming. And he said, hey, don't be afraid. I'm going to take care of you and I'm going to take care of your family and I'm going to feed them from now on. You don't have to worry about it. Who is it that you haven't forgiven? Today God's telling you, it was a development process, and you need to forgive them. You need to develop. Some of you have gone through some disappointments and you never got over it. And you know what it is right now. I know what mine were. I know what the development process was. I know how bad they hurt. I know when I cried. I know when I couldn't get out of the house. I know that I thought it'd never end. I didn't think I'd make it. God was developing me. I hope and pray I don't have to go through that again. Look back, part it was my fault, part of it was divine. I didn't have anything to do with it. He just said, hey, I got to develop you anyway. When you're going through these devastations, when you're going through these heartaches, when you’re going through these disappointments, you got to just trust me. You got to let me develop you.
James Greer: [01:07:54] Some of you've gone through the disappointments of the heart, but you didn't develop. So you're just undeveloped. You'll know that you're undeveloped because you're unfulfilled. When you're fully developed, you're so fulfilled. It's unbelievable. It almost just overflows. I'm not saying you'll have tough days. I'm talking about a lifestyle of fulfillment. That's what God says. That's what He promises for you. I wish you'd allow Him to bless you wherever you're doing and whatever you're doing. I'm talking about it doesn't matter where you work. God can bless you whatever you're doing and wherever you're at. That's what He was telling Joseph. Joseph, I blessed you in the prison. Whatever you're doing, I blessed you when you were home. I blessed you when you finally got in charge of the palace. God can promote you at the right time. Remember this. When the promotion comes, it came from God, and He's to get the honor and glory. So would you stand and let me pray with you and pray for you? God, you're such an awesome God. You made the process so clear through Joseph's life. I pray today that you made it clear to Journey Church, people here and online, upstairs. God, I want our people developed. I don't want them to leave undeveloped, unfulfilled. For those that may not know you, today's the day that they put their faith in you or today's day they trust you. For those that are hurting, they come. Maybe they let the hurt go. Today’s the day to let it go. Maybe you need to pray for that person that hurt you and then let God develop you. Maybe you've never followed through in public baptism and today's the day you want to do that. You want to just take the next step. Maybe you want to say, hey, this is the church home. I want to make this my family. You know if you're developed or not. Maybe you've had stunted growth. And you might just want to come to the altar and say hey, God, I want to be developed. I want to continue to grow. I want the fullness of Christ in my life. I want to be able to help other people. I want you to use me at whatever and wherever I'm at. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.
Bruce Goulart: [01:10:23] On behalf of Pastor James, I just want to say thank you for joining our online experience today. Man, what an amazing service we had with Time to Dream. And I'm super excited about this series and to continue it next week. But if you need someone to pray with you right now, we have people on standby that are willing to pray with you. So there's a link in the description that if you click on and fill out, someone will get with you right away. Man, thank y’all again for being here with us and I love y'all and see y'all next week.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
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