A Kingdom Citizen Who Changed the World - Part A

I don't like this. I'm not happy. Surely God wants to make me happy.

Not necessarily. He wants to make you valuable to others and he's more interested in making you valuable to others than making you joyful or comfortable for yourself. God's all about that character building. Today on Connect with Skip Heitiger, Skip begins a message about how God is building your character. But first, here's a resource that'll help you know God's character and his plans for mankind. Does God exist? And if he does, is it possible to know him?

How you answer those questions shapes how you see the world and navigate life. And Skip Heitzig knows how important it is to have an accurate view of God's character. I've noticed that almost every problem that a person has in their life stems from an inadequate view of God. In Skip Heitzig's book, Biography of God, learn to recognize and remove the limits you may have placed on your idea of who God is.

The truth is, I am a fellow traveler on this same road that you are on and we have access to the same information, the same documents, but I hope to offer a fresh perspective on God himself. Biography of God is our way to thank you for supporting Connect with Skip Heitzig as we reach a lost world with the gospel. Request your copy with a gift of $50 or more when you give securely online at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888.

That's connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Now, we're going to turn to Genesis 41 as we join Skip for his teaching today. You guys remember Wizard of Oz? How many of you have never seen The Wizard of Oz? Raise your hand. Really?

Get out. No, I'm just kidding. Just kidding. So The Wizard of Oz, I remember seeing it as a kid. When I saw it as a kid, it was already an old movie.

So that's really old because it was first released in 1939. Now, I remember getting scared. There's creepy monkeys. I always hated those flying monkeys in that, but this movie is well known for Dorothy, played by Judy Garland, singing that famous song we all know about somewhere over the rainbow, way up high. There's a dream she talked about. There's a land that I dreamed of once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. The hero in our story today, by the way, turn to Genesis chapter 41, where we're going to look at the story of Joseph, was a man who got dreams, got dreams, but he also interpreted dreams of others. He was a dreamer of dreams, and his dreams really did come true. So he had a couple of dreams. He told his brothers about them. He had 11 brothers, and he came to his brothers out in the field one day and goes, hey, guys, I had this crazy dream last night.

There were like 12 stacks of wheat, and all your stacks bowed down to my stack. That did not go over well with them. They envied him, hated him, and sought to kill him. But then he had another dream he told them about. You'd think he'd stop with number one, but he said, I had another dream. There were 12 stars, sun and the moon, and the sun and the moon, and 11 stars all bowed down to my star. And then his dad piped up and said, what, you think your mom and I and your brothers are going to bow down to you?

But they did, didn't they? Eventually, because of who he became, that happened. His dreams really did come true. But Joseph's dreams are not the subject of this message. But the dreams of Pharaoh are, and Joseph will interpret those dreams, and that is what will launch him to prominence.

Joseph became a world changer. I know you've heard that term. It is used a lot these days.

I feel it's overly used. We like to say, oh, you're a world changer. She's a world changer. No, Joseph, he was a world changer.

He saved the world from a catastrophe brought on by a famine, thus changing what would happen in the world. And so we want to look at that today. And in this chapter, chapter 41 of Genesis, let me just bring you up to speed.

We're doing a whole series called Kingdom City. And the idea behind it is, how do you bring kingdom values, the values of the kingdom of God, into a secular environment, a secular culture? So we looked at the passage in Matthew 5, where Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world. And the takeaway from that message is, don't isolate from the world. Don't insulate, overly insulate. Don't imitate them.

Don't vegetate. Do nothing but permeate the world and the culture that you and I are in. We did a follow-up message to that in Jeremiah 29, that letter that the prophet wrote to the captives in Babylon, where he said, look, you're going to be here 70 years.

You might as well get a job, have a life, get busy, get busy, pray for the city, get involved in the culture in which you live. But now, we see an example of that in Joseph. Here's a guy who did all of that.

And by doing it, he changed his world. So for today and the next few weeks, we're going to be looking at three people who did that. Daniel is one. Esther is another. And Joseph, the one we look at today, is the other. Three people whose lives made a massive difference in their society. Now, just sort of as an overview as we get into this, all three of those people I just mentioned have similarities.

For example, all three are a rags to riches story. Joseph was a slave who became the viceroy of Egypt. Daniel was a war captive who became the governor of Babylon. Esther is imprisoned in a harem.

She becomes the queen of Persia. All of them have that trajectory. Second, all three were tested. That is, all three of those people had rivals who wanted to kill them. Joseph had his brothers who wanted to kill him.

Daniel had co-workers who wanted him dead. Esther had a guy named Haman who wanted her and every other Jew in the kingdom to die. Furthermore, all three of them got foreign names. Joseph, we know him by, but his Egyptian name is in this chapter Zaphnath-pa-anea. Don't name your child that if you're looking for a Bible name.

Joseph is way better. But he was given that Egyptian name. Daniel, that's his Hebrew name, was given the name Belteshazzar. And so it was with Esther, that is her Persian name, but her original name was Hadassah.

So all three were given foreign names. Finally, all three of them brought spiritual values, kingdom values, into a secular world, making a huge impact. Into a secular world, making a huge impact. That is, they didn't stay cloistered. They didn't just live their faith in private.

They dared to be on display, to be salt and light. So Joseph is first, and he should be. He's probably of all those the most famous. In fact, according to the Bible Society, the story of Joseph ranks number six in the 100 best-known stories in the Bible. We all know the story of Joseph. His brothers hated him. His brothers sold him as a slave into Egypt.

When he was there, he gets working for a guy named Potiphar. His wife comes on to him. She's attracted to him, falsely accuses him. Joseph winds up in prison because of it. And that's where we pick up the story with Joseph in prison. But here's the question to answer as we approach the story. How does someone hated by his brothers, falsely accused, and put in prison become the second most powerful human on earth in the ancient world?

How does that happen? Well, there's five dynamics at play that make this unlikely story a reality. So that Joseph could say, the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. Let me give you the first dynamic, and that is forgetfulness.

Forgetfulness. Now we have chapter 41 in front of us. I hope you turn in your Bible there, because we're going to read several verses. But let me take you back one verse into chapter 40. Look at the last verse, chapter 40, verse 23. It says, Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

This verse is important to realize what Joseph is experiencing. He's been in prison. He has two fellow inmates with him. One is the chief baker of Egypt. The other is the chief butler of Egypt.

Both of them have dreams. Joseph is there to interpret their dreams. And what Joseph said would happen, happened. So the chief baker was hung.

He died. The chief butler was restored back to his original position. And Joseph saw that man as his get-out-of-jail-free card. So you don't have to go back into it, but in this chapter, chapter 40, verse 14, Joseph says to the chief butler, But remember me when it goes well with you. When you get restored, put in a good word about me to the king.

Okay? So that's the last they meet. He gets sprung out of jail. Joseph is still in prison. Remember me.

Put in a good word. So some time passes now. Hours pass. Days pass.

Joseph wakes up every morning, looks at the sundial, and goes, Okay, uh, any time now I'm going to get sprung out of jail. Weeks pass. Months pass.

How much time passes? Look at verse 1 of chapter 41. Then it came to pass at the end of, what does it say? Two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he stood by the river.

Hey, put in a good word, uh, about me to the king. Two years later. Two full years later. Not 22 months. Two full years. Longer.

The man who's been falsely accused is still in prison. Why am I hammering on this? One word to remember here. Timing. It's all about timing. God does not want Joseph just to make an impact. He wants Joseph to make maximum impact so that his life will be the most influential at this moment. And it's all about timing. So two years later, Pharaoh happens to have a dream.

Joseph will be brought in to interpret that dream. Hey, do you ever wonder why your prayers aren't answered? Actually, they're all answered.

Man, I've been praying for this for weeks, months, years. No answer. Do you know that no is an answer? Sometimes God says no. My prayers weren't answered. No is an answer officially, technically. But when you pray and it doesn't happen, it doesn't necessarily mean that God is saying no.

It could just mean God is saying, not yet. Not right now. This isn't the time. The time is coming, but not right now. So maybe this is helpful.

It's helpful to me. When the request isn't right, God says no. God says no. When the timing isn't right, God says slow. When you're not right, God says grow. But when the request is right and the timing is right and you are right, God says go. So Joseph waits for two full years.

Now he's about to launch on the scene. Okay, pause for just a moment. Think in your mind all that you know about Joseph and all the hardships he has undergone, including being human trafficked by his brothers as a slave to Egypt.

All the things that have happened up to this point. But think of it this way. If his brothers didn't hate him, they wouldn't have sold him. If they wouldn't have sold him, he wouldn't have gone to Egypt. If he hadn't have gone to Egypt, he wouldn't have worked for Potiphar. If he wouldn't have worked for Potiphar, Potiphar's wife wouldn't have accused him.

If Potiphar's wife wouldn't have accused him, he wouldn't have gone to jail. If he didn't get thrown in jail, he couldn't interpret the dreams of the chief butler and the baker. If he didn't interpret the dreams of the chief butler and the baker, he couldn't have been and the baker, he couldn't have been taken to Pharaoh to interpret his dreams. If he hadn't interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, he wouldn't have become the second most powerful dude on earth. All of those things had to happen in a timing format to bring this to pass. So with each hardship, with each trial, God is moving Joseph like a pawn on a chessboard to get him into right position for maximum impact.

Maximum impact. And so just remember that, that God is more interested in making you valuable to others than comfortable for yourself. It's not about you. Well, I don't like this, I'm not happy, surely God wants to make me happy.

Not necessarily. He wants to make you valuable to others, and he's more interested in making you valuable to others than making you joyful or comfortable for yourself. God's all about that character building. A.W. Tozer, I'm going to throw this up on the screen, one of our favorite old dead guys.

A.W. Tozer said, it is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply. I'm going to add something to that. It's doubtful whether God can use a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply. If you're going through a trial right now, think of it this way, who knows what God has in store for you two years from today?

I'm in prison. Just wait. Just wait. Timing.

It's all about timing. So it says that Pharaoh had a dream, actually he had two dreams, and behold, he stood by the river in his dream. So this is the long and short of his dream. He sees seven cows come out of the river. They're big, they're healthy, they're fat, they're plump. Seven ugly, gaunt, thin cows come up afterwards and eat the fat cows, but they don't get any fatter themselves.

They're still really ugly and gaunt. That's dream number one. In dream number two, he sees seven heads of plump grain on one stalk, followed by seven grains blighted by the wind, and they're in bad shape. They consume the good ones, and he wakes up, and he's troubled by that dream. So forgetfulness is the first dynamic in play.

Second dynamic going on here, after forgetfulness, failure, failure. Let me take you all the way down to verse 8 of chapter 41. Now it came to pass in the morning that he, or that his spirit, that is Pharaoh, was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.

Everyone on his staff failed at giving him the correct interpretation. Okay, let me explain something. In the ancient world, dreams were very significant. It was believed that gods communicated to leaders through dreams.

Here's the catch. The gods provided the dreams, not the interpretation. That would fall to the skilled men of the court to come up with the interpretation. So I don't know, they had to go through like dream training 101 if you're going to work for Pharaoh. So he expected them to be able to do this. Now notice that the dreams center on two items, cows and grain. This is why he is troubled, because cows and grain are the two greatest commodities of ancient Egypt. If something's going on with them, that could mean the future economy is going down, which is exactly what was going to happen.

According to Kyle and Delish, the Hebrew scholars who wrote great commentaries of the Old Testament, in hieroglyphics, Egyptian hieroglyphics, cows were often the symbol of Isis, the goddess of the earth. So something's up, he knows that, and he's troubled. Nobody in the court can figure this out.

They all fail. These two dreams serve three purposes. Purpose number one, to rattle the king. God wants to rattle the king. God wants to get his attention. How many of you know God has all sorts of creative ways to get people's attention? And if this king doesn't believe in God, the only true and living God during the daytime, God will get them at night when he is vulnerable in his dream state and get through to him.

God has all sorts of ways to get people's attention. So this dream was to do that, to rattle him a bit. Now we're told that everybody dreams every night. You dream about five times every night.

Whether you remember them or not is another issue. But about 90 minutes after you fall asleep, you have dream number one, 90 minutes later you have dream number two, and about 90-minute intervals you dream so that the average person dreams five times a night. The way dreams work, we are told, is the large cells in your brain stem sends stimuli to the cortex of the brain.

Your brain tries to figure out what that is, it comes out in a dream. What I love about that is that God is directing Pharaoh's cortical stimulations from his brain stem. He's in control of all that.

Giving him a dream, rattling him, getting him all worked up so that he needs an interpretation. Now I just want to add a little P.S. to that. What's going on right now in Israel with Gaza is a very unfortunate situation. I have spoken in depth about this on several Wednesday nights, but war is always ugly and unfortunate and sad. But if there is a silver lining in this Gaza-Israeli war, it's the fact that some of the people I have heard of trapped in Gaza are getting Jesus' dreams, that the Lord is appearing to them and revealing himself to them. This is not uncommon in the Muslim world, especially in totalitarian regimes like Iran. I have spoken and read of thousands of people who have had dreams in a place that they can't hear or get to anything or anyone.

And Jesus is appearing to some of these people and revealing himself to them. So he's rattling this king. A second reason for these dreams is to reveal the failure of Pharaoh's religion. You see, these guys, their forte is telling dreams and the meaning.

They couldn't come up with it. So they get an F, to rattle the king, to reveal the failure of Pharaoh's religion and their religion. You know, I've told you this before, but when I was unsaved, I used to dabble in spiritual activities, paranormal activities, spirit writing, astral projection, auto-hypnosis, all those things that every time I did, I felt empowered.

That's why I practiced those things, but I always felt emptier afterwards. And I remember thinking one day, just dawned on me, if there's this much power on the wrong side, how much power is there on the right side? And that got me turned to be open to hear the gospel. So this is happening in Pharaoh's court, rattles the king, reveals the failure of his religion. A third reason for this dream is to ready the Pharaoh for Joseph's entrance. So Joseph is the right man at the right time with the right interpretation, and this becomes the turning point for Joseph's future. That's Skip Hytech with a message from his series, Kingdom City, showing you how God works in and around you to develop your character. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Now here's Skip to share how you can connect you and many others with the truth of God's word with a gift to keep these messages going out around the world through Connect with Skip Hytech. Studying the scripture is absolutely essential if you're going to have a worldview that's biblical and remain strong in your Christian faith.

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