WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.400 Good morning, good morning, welcome, welcome to the Bible-Based Spiritual Equipping Series 2 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:18.040 we have been doing on how to hear the voice of God. 3 00:00:18.040 --> 00:00:26.000 What an important subject, what an important thing to think about as we're going through 4 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:35.360 this COVID-19 pandemic, shelter at home, whatever you want to call it, how important 5 00:00:35.360 --> 00:00:43.560 is it that we are able to tap into infinite wisdom, infinite knowledge, that we don't 6 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:51.120 have to be alone, we don't have to figure this out by ourself, that God is always speaking 7 00:00:51.120 --> 00:00:58.680 and we're learning that He speaks in so many different ways and we'll talk about the ways 8 00:00:58.680 --> 00:01:05.880 that we have seen so far and then today we are going to get into how He speaks through 9 00:01:05.880 --> 00:01:06.880 dreams. 10 00:01:06.880 --> 00:01:11.960 But I want to preface this just a little bit, I want to lay a little bit of a foundation 11 00:01:11.960 --> 00:01:17.000 and those of you that are on any meeting, if you can mute yourself, oh you're not seeing 12 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:19.960 the slides, I know what you're trying to say. 13 00:01:19.960 --> 00:01:26.000 Thank you, juggling too many things, appreciate you speaking up, alright, let me share the 14 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:33.120 screen, we've got two things going on at the same time, okay, so now tell me if you are 15 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:35.640 seeing the slides, are we good? 16 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:36.640 No? 17 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:45.080 Okay, perfect, so let me get that back over, thank you guys on Facebook Live, being patient. 18 00:01:45.080 --> 00:01:50.880 So I want to lay a foundation, I'm going to pray and then we're going to dive into 19 00:01:50.880 --> 00:01:58.720 the many purposes of dreams, how God used dreams so many different ways, but I want 20 00:01:58.720 --> 00:02:04.720 to lay this foundation as we're in this season and having to figure out what they're calling 21 00:02:04.720 --> 00:02:12.760 the new normal, right, we're having to figure out what does God have for us, what does He 22 00:02:12.760 --> 00:02:19.040 have in my life, what's the direction, what's He calling me to do, what's the wisdom, how 23 00:02:19.040 --> 00:02:24.600 can I make the most of this time, how can I be of best service, and so I want to kind 24 00:02:24.600 --> 00:02:28.840 of lay the foundation and I'm going to pray and then we're going to dive into talking 25 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:36.000 about dreams and how God uses dreams, but the foundation of this is I'd like to share 26 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:44.160 a couple of verses and the first is Acts 2.17 and it talks about that this is what 27 00:02:44.160 --> 00:02:53.080 I will do, God speaking, in the last days, I will pour out my spirit on everybody and 28 00:02:53.080 --> 00:03:00.160 I will cause your sons and daughters to prophesy and your young men will see visions, your 29 00:03:00.200 --> 00:03:07.200 old men will experience dreams from God. So what we saw is there's no partiality, and 30 00:03:08.440 --> 00:03:15.360 we need to mute on any meeting please, so there's no partiality, He's speaking to young 31 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:22.360 and old and poor and rich and He's speaking in different ways. As the Holy Spirit comes 32 00:03:23.040 --> 00:03:28.120 for some it's going to be prophecy, it's going to be a knowing of things to come, a knowing 33 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:33.040 of the heart of God, for others it's going to be visions, it's going to be a seeing, 34 00:03:33.040 --> 00:03:37.360 seeing what God is doing, for others it's going to be dreams, which we're going to talk 35 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:44.360 about today. And so as we look at these scriptures, I also pulled up Hebrews 13.8 and it says 36 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:53.360 that Jesus is eternally changeless, that He's the same yesterday, He's the same today, He's 37 00:03:53.360 --> 00:04:00.360 the same forever. And I pair that up, that was Hebrews 13.8, I pair it up with Romans 38 00:04:00.920 --> 00:04:07.920 2.11, which says, for God shows no partiality, no arbitrary favoritism, with Him one person 39 00:04:11.200 --> 00:04:17.700 is not more important than the other. This has been so important for me in this subject 40 00:04:18.060 --> 00:04:24.700 of hearing from God, because I have to tell you, I spent most of my life not knowing that 41 00:04:24.700 --> 00:04:31.260 I could hear from God. And it wasn't until I saw people, I met people that did, I met 42 00:04:31.260 --> 00:04:36.740 people that walked in the prophetic, I walked in people that had a healing anointing, and 43 00:04:36.740 --> 00:04:43.260 what happened for me is it stirred up a holy hunger in me. And I remember telling God, 44 00:04:43.260 --> 00:04:50.260 I really desire that. And I reminded God of this. I said, God, you know, you put these 45 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:56.440 promises in the Bible, and you're no respecter of people, and if you do it for him or you 46 00:04:56.440 --> 00:05:00.060 do it for her, I want you to do it for me. And God did. 47 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:07.020 did and and and I would love to bring that encouragement to you that each one 48 00:05:07.020 --> 00:05:11.940 of us has access to God from from the beginning of Genesis to the end of 49 00:05:11.940 --> 00:05:18.700 Revelation and on beyond with the Holy Spirit God has shown that he is always 50 00:05:18.700 --> 00:05:25.140 speaking and that he wants to have an intimate relationship with us and that 51 00:05:25.140 --> 00:05:30.620 he desires to clue you in he doesn't want you going through life blind or 52 00:05:30.620 --> 00:05:36.460 struggling or suffering he wants to speak to you and show you the direction 53 00:05:36.460 --> 00:05:44.420 and and the hope and the possibilities and so I I open this whole thing with 54 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:48.540 with that introduction as we look in the ways God speaks and we look at dreams 55 00:05:48.540 --> 00:05:53.500 don't look at this as an ancient fairy tale don't look at it as a history book 56 00:05:53.500 --> 00:05:59.820 but look at it how can it apply for you and I now more than ever we need people 57 00:05:59.820 --> 00:06:05.340 of wisdom I think of the sons of Issachar in the Bible and what was said 58 00:06:05.340 --> 00:06:10.620 about them is that they understood the the seasons and they knew in that case 59 00:06:10.620 --> 00:06:17.500 it was Israel what Israel should do how important right now is it for us as 60 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:24.900 people of God to understand the seasons and to be a voice of hope to be a voice 61 00:06:24.900 --> 00:06:32.620 of love to be a solution and not the problem to not allow the media to create 62 00:06:32.620 --> 00:06:39.740 fear in us and panic and not allow ourselves to shrink down you know I I 63 00:06:39.740 --> 00:06:44.940 think about the ten that went in as spies to the promised land in the Bible 64 00:06:44.940 --> 00:06:49.540 and it's so interesting how our perspective shapes how all of this 65 00:06:49.540 --> 00:06:57.340 influence you see ten went in and yes there were giants in the land that was 66 00:06:57.340 --> 00:07:03.140 true there are circumstances yes we're facing something that is you know 67 00:07:03.140 --> 00:07:07.180 killing people that it could appear to be very very frightening right and 68 00:07:07.180 --> 00:07:13.260 businesses closing and economics so it's not to be Pollyanna not denying that 69 00:07:13.260 --> 00:07:18.420 there aren't Giants in the land but the interesting thing as the ten spies went 70 00:07:18.420 --> 00:07:25.980 into the land two of them said you know what our God is bigger God promised this 71 00:07:25.980 --> 00:07:32.620 land he's a faithful promise keeping God we will overcome we can overtake this we 72 00:07:32.620 --> 00:07:37.300 can do this that was the voice of two Joshua and Caleb in the Old Testament 73 00:07:37.300 --> 00:07:42.700 the other eight said the giant there's Giants and they devoured the land and 74 00:07:42.700 --> 00:07:48.940 it says something interesting it says they saw themselves as grasshoppers they 75 00:07:48.940 --> 00:07:54.820 saw themselves as small as weak as victim as as powerless and it says and 76 00:07:54.820 --> 00:08:00.740 that's how others saw them and so as I lay the foundation for the study you 77 00:08:00.740 --> 00:08:06.340 know I encourage you how do you view God is he weak is this thing catching him by 78 00:08:06.340 --> 00:08:11.980 surprise is he silent is he just you know so far away he doesn't care leaving 79 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:17.020 us defend for ourselves is he punishing us is he you know how do you view God 80 00:08:17.020 --> 00:08:22.340 and how do you view yourself do you see yourself as a grasshopper do you see 81 00:08:22.340 --> 00:08:26.620 yourself as weak as a victim or do you see yourself as a son and daughter of 82 00:08:26.620 --> 00:08:32.940 the Most High God well able to overtakes the Giants in the land knowing you have 83 00:08:32.940 --> 00:08:38.659 access to all wisdom all resources all knowledge all love all power all 84 00:08:38.659 --> 00:08:44.179 authority we are called the temples of the Holy Spirit we carry the Holy Spirit 85 00:08:44.179 --> 00:08:51.420 we carry God when we walk in a room God walks in a room scripture says the power 86 00:08:51.420 --> 00:08:57.940 of life and death is in our tongue so we carry the power to speak life or to 87 00:08:57.940 --> 00:09:03.420 speak death we have the ability to walk in fear or walk in power faith faith and 88 00:09:03.420 --> 00:09:10.020 fear can't coexist we choose so I'm gonna open with prayer but I just lay 89 00:09:10.020 --> 00:09:15.460 that foundation to consider as we apply these truths this is not something far 90 00:09:15.460 --> 00:09:22.420 away this is not a far away God or a far away truth all right so let's pray 91 00:09:22.420 --> 00:09:28.860 father I just thank you for this time as we as we open your word as we see what 92 00:09:28.860 --> 00:09:33.580 you have done throughout history and how you're the same yesterday today and 93 00:09:33.580 --> 00:09:38.820 forever and how you have always been speaking from the Garden of Eden to now 94 00:09:38.820 --> 00:09:44.300 you've always been speaking and you've told us to eagerly desire spiritual 95 00:09:44.300 --> 00:09:51.020 gifts in first Corinthians 14 especially that we may prophesy you've told us that 96 00:09:51.020 --> 00:09:57.620 love is the foundation and so we come to you asking that you open our spiritual 97 00:09:57.620 --> 00:10:02.020 senses I ask that your 98 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:07.040 peace, guard the heart and mind of everyone that is listening to this. If they're feeling fear or 99 00:10:07.040 --> 00:10:14.480 uncertainty or any sense of chaos, I pray right now, even at this very moment, that they will 100 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:21.360 feel your peace. And Father God, for those who are confused and wondering what to do, I pray you'll 101 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:27.520 speak clearly and that they will have a clear sense of direction that in the midst of the chaos 102 00:10:27.520 --> 00:10:35.360 they can rise, they can serve, they can prosper. History is filled with people who prospered in 103 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:40.400 the middle of chaos. The Bible is filled with people who rose in the middle of chaos. 104 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:47.440 And you're no respecter of people. We're counting on that here now. I ask you speak to every person 105 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:54.320 listening both live and in the recording. I ask Father God, if they need healing in their body, 106 00:10:55.040 --> 00:11:03.520 that you will touch them with healing, Father God. You said that by your stripes we have been healed. 107 00:11:05.280 --> 00:11:10.960 So we thank you for this time. Open our spiritual senses. May the words of my mouth, the meditation 108 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:16.720 of my heart be pleasing in your sight. Let your word go forth and let it produce fruit, Father God. 109 00:11:17.280 --> 00:11:23.520 Let it produce fruit in every life, the fruit of love, the fruit of peace, Father God. The fruit 110 00:11:23.520 --> 00:11:32.160 of making a difference. I ask this all in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well for those of you who are joining, 111 00:11:32.160 --> 00:11:40.640 welcome. So glad you're on this call and so as we look at historically how God has moved in all 112 00:11:40.640 --> 00:11:49.440 people, in all races and how he has longed, not for religion, I so dislike religion and so did Jesus, 113 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:56.640 not for religion but for relationship. To be able to tap into infinite wisdom and infinite 114 00:11:56.640 --> 00:12:02.080 possibility and infinite understanding and to have a sense of direction that we are not 115 00:12:02.640 --> 00:12:10.320 directionless. And so as I open, there's a wonderful verse in 1 Corinthians 14 that says, 116 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:17.680 pursue this love. Everything we do is either fear-based or love-based. 117 00:12:18.880 --> 00:12:25.360 Are we walking in fear? Are we being controlled by fear? You know, fear shuts everything down. 118 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:32.640 It shuts the body down. Our arteries close down. You know, the blood pulls in. Fear constricts 119 00:12:33.520 --> 00:12:43.680 and love expands. And so I love how this opens by saying, pursue love with eagerness. Make it your 120 00:12:43.680 --> 00:12:52.480 goal. And it goes on and it says, yet earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual gifts. You see, 121 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:59.440 there are spiritual gifts and what we're talking about, the ability to know the heart of God, 122 00:12:59.920 --> 00:13:06.080 the ability to see visions, to have dreams, to know the future, to heal, to all these things 123 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:13.360 are spiritual gifts that God has promised. And it says that we're to eagerly desire and cultivate 124 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:21.680 these spiritual gifts. And it says, to be used for the benefit of others, especially it says, 125 00:13:21.680 --> 00:13:26.480 that you may prophesy. So it says, you know, desire all these spiritual gifts but especially 126 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:35.120 desire that you can prophesy. And the meaning of that is to foretell the future, to speak a new 127 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:42.720 message from God to the people. And scripture says that God never does anything without first 128 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:47.920 revealing it to people. And we've been seeing that in the previous weeks. And if you've missed 129 00:13:47.920 --> 00:13:54.000 previous weeks, they're all here on Facebook Live. Go back. But we saw the different ways that God 130 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:01.120 spoke. He speaks in the word. It says that every scripture is written by the Holy Spirit, the breath 131 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:06.400 of God. And we saw that there's the Logos word, the written word, but it didn't just stop there. 132 00:14:06.400 --> 00:14:13.760 There's the Rhema word. The word continues to be spoken to you and I. We saw that he speaks in 133 00:14:13.760 --> 00:14:21.440 creation, that we can see. We saw that in Romans 1 20. You see God's power. You see his divine 134 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:29.600 nature. You see all of these things in creation. And I would say that it's super important 135 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:37.280 right now that we spend time in nature and creation. God has made it such, you know, if we get into the 136 00:14:37.280 --> 00:14:43.920 health and the physiology of it, that the ions will reverse the damage from all the computers 137 00:14:43.920 --> 00:14:51.040 and all the EMFs and they'll quiet and give peace. And so this is a time to dig into the word, 138 00:14:51.040 --> 00:14:58.160 to go into creation. And then we saw how he speaks through visions. There's open visions. 139 00:14:58.160 --> 00:14:59.840 There's dream visions. 140 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:09.680 internal. I've had these experiences and these visions have profoundly shaped my life. I have 141 00:15:09.680 --> 00:15:17.280 seen what the vision from my life, the purpose from my life, I've seen it in visions and so 142 00:15:17.280 --> 00:15:25.200 God continues to use this for us now and he used it in the past. So one of the things we saw with 143 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:32.720 vision is that God uses it to prepare people and to open hearts. So when we saw how he brought two 144 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:40.640 completely unlikely people together, he brought a Roman centurion who it says was a praying man 145 00:15:40.640 --> 00:15:49.040 and a generous man and brought together a Jewish man, Peter, a devout Jew, two people that would 146 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:55.920 never come together, two nations, two cultures that hated each other, despised each other, 147 00:15:56.800 --> 00:16:03.440 who would never have come together had God not prepared the hearts first. He prepared Cornelius 148 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:11.440 heart in a dream and he prepared Peter's heart to call no man unclean, to break down the prejudice 149 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:19.920 of that time and so we saw that the vision God used to prepare people and to open hearts. 150 00:16:20.560 --> 00:16:30.480 We also saw that God used dreams to show the future, to prepare and to provide for us and God 151 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:38.720 still does that. He shows us things in advance to prepare us for what's to come and so we saw that 152 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:46.720 in Genesis in the story of Pharaoh and in the story of Joseph and once again God prepares people 153 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:54.000 and then he prepares events. So amazingly enough he prepared Pharaoh giving him these dreams and 154 00:16:54.000 --> 00:17:00.320 in Pharaoh's case it was a repeated dream. It came a couple times and the dream was one of those 155 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:07.599 dreams that he couldn't shake. He couldn't forget about it right and you can go back and 156 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:13.040 listen to this from last week but he prepared Pharaoh that no one could help him, no one could 157 00:17:13.040 --> 00:17:19.200 answer like what is this dream. His magician, sorceress, the people of Egypt couldn't bring 158 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:26.240 the answer. At the same time he'd spent a lifetime preparing Joseph. Again two very unlikely people 159 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:33.760 to come together and he had given Joseph wisdom and the gift of interpreting dreams and Joseph 160 00:17:33.760 --> 00:17:41.440 had been faithful to use his gifts even when his circumstances were horrible. Joseph was unjustly 161 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:48.480 in prison and still in prison he served the other people, the other prisoners and that would 162 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:54.080 favorably lead to when Pharaoh couldn't find the answer someone who'd been in prison, remember 163 00:17:54.080 --> 00:18:02.240 Joseph, they pulled Joseph out of prison. They bring him there and he's able to answer the needs 164 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:09.280 of Pharaoh and he has a divine strategy. Pay attention to this because I believe in this season 165 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:18.560 God is giving us divine strategies right now for what's happening right now and so God used that 166 00:18:18.560 --> 00:18:24.800 of course we saw last week to promote Joseph to the highest position second in command to the most 167 00:18:24.800 --> 00:18:31.360 powerful nation at the time and gave Joseph the divine strategy. Hey there's going to be seven 168 00:18:31.360 --> 00:18:39.280 years of plenty, store up, then there's going to be seven years of famine. I believe that in this season 169 00:18:39.840 --> 00:18:46.960 we need divine strategies. We need people seeking God, seeking wisdom, that they can have discernment, 170 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:52.560 that they can have wisdom, that they can have understanding. Like I said God keeps putting on 171 00:18:52.560 --> 00:18:58.480 my heart in the Bible the sons of Issachar who were known for understanding the season 172 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:07.280 and not just having the media control or you know fear mongers you know and so what a powerful time 173 00:19:07.280 --> 00:19:16.080 and we saw that God used dreams. So I'm picking up there today that we look at the purpose of dreams, 174 00:19:16.080 --> 00:19:22.880 the many ways that God uses dreams and I've had such profound experiences with dreams. 175 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:30.880 I have had dreams that I think if it was only dreams it would make me convinced that there's 176 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:39.680 something beyond me that there is God working and I've literally had dreams where things manifest. 177 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:50.000 I had a dream that in a very shortened form I had a dream of a woman Rhonda Calhoun she has a 178 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:55.760 amazing ministry for sex traffic girls in Missouri and God connected us just 179 00:19:55.760 --> 00:19:59.840 powerfully spiritually and one night I had a dream and I had a 180 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:05.480 Dream I was in her bathroom and I was like kneeling down and she was anointing 181 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:09.480 me with essential oils. She had these little bottles of essential oils in her 182 00:20:09.480 --> 00:20:15.360 bathroom and she was anointing me with these oils and do you know she has a 183 00:20:15.360 --> 00:20:20.120 homeless ministry and so she's got food and she serves the homeless food. Do you 184 00:20:20.120 --> 00:20:23.720 know in all the years of getting delivery trucks for homeless that she 185 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:29.280 stored there, this had never happened. Do you know the next day she got a 186 00:20:29.280 --> 00:20:38.400 delivery and do you know it had the six little vials of essential oils. I've had 187 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:43.860 so many supernatural experiences that it's probably one of the reasons I'm so 188 00:20:43.860 --> 00:20:48.480 passionate to teach this because I know that I'm no different. God's no respecter 189 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:52.800 of people. I know what he's done for me. All the things he's shown, all the divine 190 00:20:52.800 --> 00:20:57.420 appointments, all the divine connections like we saw last time that one of the 191 00:20:57.420 --> 00:21:02.900 gifts is divine appointments. I know that's for you too. It's not just for me. 192 00:21:02.900 --> 00:21:07.260 So today let's look at the purpose of dreams in the Bible, the different 193 00:21:07.260 --> 00:21:13.540 purposes. So one of the purposes of dreams in the Bible is warning or to 194 00:21:13.540 --> 00:21:20.740 reveal truth. God will give you a dream to say hey you're heading down a path be 195 00:21:20.740 --> 00:21:27.460 careful. Hey you're connecting with a person be careful. Hey you're doing 196 00:21:27.460 --> 00:21:31.580 something that may not be in your best interest and you'll get a dream to 197 00:21:31.580 --> 00:21:35.780 reveal that. And let's look at an example of that. If you're following in the Bible 198 00:21:35.780 --> 00:21:45.420 you can turn to Genesis 20 and verse 5. Genesis 20 verse 5. It says that, well 199 00:21:45.460 --> 00:21:53.500 let's see, we'll start in verse 3. It says, God came to Abimelech, I'll try to 200 00:21:53.500 --> 00:22:00.300 pronounce that, Abimelech in a dream. So here we see God's coming to a human in a 201 00:22:00.300 --> 00:22:08.620 dream. So God came to Abimelech in a dream during the night and he said behold 202 00:22:08.620 --> 00:22:15.580 you are a dead man. Like you're busted, you're dead. Because the woman you've 203 00:22:15.580 --> 00:22:23.260 taken as your wife, she's another person's wife. Now you see the story what 204 00:22:23.260 --> 00:22:29.940 happened. Abraham had Sarah with him and she was very beautiful woman and when 205 00:22:29.940 --> 00:22:36.740 they crossed this part he was afraid and he said pretend to be my sister and she 206 00:22:36.740 --> 00:22:42.500 honored him and so Abimelech took Sarah to be his wife thinking that it's his, 207 00:22:42.500 --> 00:22:48.140 that it was Abraham's sister. So he wasn't out of integrity. He thought this 208 00:22:48.140 --> 00:22:53.060 was an available woman but look how God saves him. As you go further in the 209 00:22:53.060 --> 00:22:59.500 verses it says, he says, Abimelech says God in the integrity of my heart and 210 00:22:59.500 --> 00:23:04.020 innocence of my hand I've done this. In other words I didn't know and he goes 211 00:23:04.020 --> 00:23:09.460 on to tell the story. He said that it was a sister. Verse 6, then God said to 212 00:23:09.460 --> 00:23:16.300 him in the dream, yes I know you did this in the integrity of your heart. I'm gonna 213 00:23:16.300 --> 00:23:21.180 pause there for a second because in other verses the Bible says the 214 00:23:21.180 --> 00:23:27.940 integrity of the righteous protects us and this is the case we saw in Abimelech. 215 00:23:27.940 --> 00:23:32.900 He was making a mistake. He didn't know but he was about to stumble into 216 00:23:33.020 --> 00:23:39.260 something and his integrity protected him and God spoke to him in a dream and 217 00:23:39.260 --> 00:23:45.740 so verse 6 God answers and said yes I know I know you did this in the 218 00:23:45.740 --> 00:23:53.340 integrity of your heart and it was I who kept you back and spared you from 219 00:23:53.340 --> 00:23:59.420 sinning against me. Therefore I didn't give you the opportunity to touch her so 220 00:23:59.420 --> 00:24:08.740 now return the man's wife. Wow, wow how powerful is this section that a God 221 00:24:08.740 --> 00:24:15.020 spoke to him in a dream that God saw his integrity and God kept him from going 222 00:24:15.020 --> 00:24:20.460 down a path by revealing him into the dream. Hey she's not a sister she's a 223 00:24:20.460 --> 00:24:24.420 wife give her back to her husband. I'm gonna spare you and you can keep your 224 00:24:24.420 --> 00:24:30.420 integrity. So one of the ways that God uses dreams and I believe even more so 225 00:24:30.420 --> 00:24:35.820 now a lot of times things are going to be confusing. Who can you trust? You know 226 00:24:35.820 --> 00:24:38.980 are you supposed to be with this person? Are you supposed to go down this path? 227 00:24:38.980 --> 00:24:42.940 Are you supposed to take this business deal? Are you supposed to? These are 228 00:24:42.940 --> 00:24:47.020 things that God wants us to pray about and it's things he wants to reveal 229 00:24:47.020 --> 00:24:51.460 whether it's in the Word of God that suddenly a verse pops up or whether in 230 00:24:51.460 --> 00:24:56.540 the still small voice of your heart he speaks or whether through other people 231 00:24:56.540 --> 00:25:01.460 he speaks to you whether it's through prophecy or 232 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:03.760 In this case, through a dream, okay? 233 00:25:03.760 --> 00:25:06.380 So one of the things, the purposes of the dreams 234 00:25:06.380 --> 00:25:10.120 is to reveal truth, to protect us. 235 00:25:11.520 --> 00:25:15.120 We see another case of this in the New Testament 236 00:25:15.120 --> 00:25:18.480 where there's a warning, there's a protection 237 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:21.120 in Matthew 27, 19. 238 00:25:21.120 --> 00:25:23.620 Now we have a choice whether we listen or not. 239 00:25:23.620 --> 00:25:26.800 In this particular case, he didn't listen 240 00:25:26.800 --> 00:25:29.160 and he suffered for that. 241 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:33.720 But we see in Matthew 27, 19 talking about Pilate. 242 00:25:33.720 --> 00:25:38.720 So if you remember, Pilate had Jesus there in custody 243 00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:45.680 and he was going to release Jesus. 244 00:25:46.540 --> 00:25:47.380 He could not. 245 00:25:47.380 --> 00:25:50.840 He said, I can't find anything wrong with this man 246 00:25:50.840 --> 00:25:54.080 and every year I give back one prisoner 247 00:25:54.080 --> 00:25:55.940 during these holidays. 248 00:25:55.980 --> 00:25:59.460 How about if I give you Jesus and we just call it a day? 249 00:25:59.460 --> 00:26:02.580 He was saying, I wash my hands of the blood. 250 00:26:02.580 --> 00:26:04.300 But of course the people were screaming, 251 00:26:04.300 --> 00:26:06.060 crucify him, crucify him. 252 00:26:06.060 --> 00:26:11.060 So it says in Matthew 27, 19 that as Pilate 253 00:26:11.360 --> 00:26:14.900 was presiding over the tribunal, 254 00:26:14.900 --> 00:26:19.580 his wife sent him an urgent message. 255 00:26:19.580 --> 00:26:21.500 The power of a praying wife maybe. 256 00:26:21.500 --> 00:26:24.340 His wife sent him an urgent message and said, 257 00:26:24.340 --> 00:26:27.580 do not harm that holy man 258 00:26:27.580 --> 00:26:32.580 for I suffered a horrible nightmare last night about him. 259 00:26:32.800 --> 00:26:37.800 So again, God was speaking to people to perhaps avoid, 260 00:26:38.460 --> 00:26:40.580 to perhaps could have protected Pilate. 261 00:26:40.580 --> 00:26:43.540 He started by standing up to the people and saying, 262 00:26:43.540 --> 00:26:45.660 I don't find anything wrong with this man 263 00:26:45.660 --> 00:26:47.980 and I wash my hands of his blood. 264 00:26:47.980 --> 00:26:50.100 But he didn't have enough courage. 265 00:26:50.100 --> 00:26:52.620 The people when they spoke, crucify him, crucify him. 266 00:26:52.620 --> 00:26:54.540 They didn't have enough courage to stick with it. 267 00:26:54.540 --> 00:26:58.400 But we do see that God was speaking, speaking to his wife 268 00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:02.180 and he could have avoided that. 269 00:27:02.180 --> 00:27:05.180 The second thing that we see in dreams 270 00:27:05.180 --> 00:27:10.180 is that God uses dreams to reveal what will happen 271 00:27:10.220 --> 00:27:13.100 in the near or the distant future. 272 00:27:13.100 --> 00:27:17.040 So God reveals what will happen to us. 273 00:27:17.040 --> 00:27:21.160 And so in Genesis 37, five, 274 00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:26.160 we see that Joseph had a dream and Joseph had a dream 275 00:27:27.520 --> 00:27:32.520 and he saw like the grains of wheat bowing down around him. 276 00:27:33.840 --> 00:27:37.160 And he knew God revealed in the dream 277 00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:39.840 that he was going to be elevated 278 00:27:39.840 --> 00:27:43.360 and that his brothers were gonna bow down. 279 00:27:43.360 --> 00:27:46.760 And so he had this dream. 280 00:27:46.840 --> 00:27:48.720 He made the mistake, I think, 281 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:51.720 of whether he had pride or not, 282 00:27:51.720 --> 00:27:55.760 he made the mistake of telling his brothers this dream 283 00:27:55.760 --> 00:27:57.440 and the brothers got very jealous. 284 00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:59.920 So this is also wisdom. 285 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:02.680 When you have a dream, who you share it with, 286 00:28:02.680 --> 00:28:06.940 what you do with it, do you trust it? 287 00:28:06.940 --> 00:28:10.440 Do you pray into the dreams that you have? 288 00:28:10.440 --> 00:28:13.040 Do you ask God to show you more? 289 00:28:13.040 --> 00:28:14.760 In the last couple months, 290 00:28:14.760 --> 00:28:17.840 God has told me specifically first thing in the morning 291 00:28:17.840 --> 00:28:20.840 to write down my dreams. 292 00:28:20.840 --> 00:28:24.120 And right when you first like are waking up, 293 00:28:24.120 --> 00:28:27.160 you know, as you barely are coming out of the dream state, 294 00:28:27.160 --> 00:28:30.320 just focus for a second on what you dreamed 295 00:28:30.320 --> 00:28:33.840 and make some notes about the dreams 296 00:28:33.840 --> 00:28:35.760 and you can pray into it. 297 00:28:35.760 --> 00:28:38.240 There's principles for interpreting dreams, 298 00:28:39.140 --> 00:28:43.840 but ask God to reveal what was in that dream. 299 00:28:43.840 --> 00:28:45.280 What was it for? 300 00:28:45.280 --> 00:28:47.440 And so Joseph didn't do that. 301 00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:49.280 It says, Joseph dreamt a dream 302 00:28:49.280 --> 00:28:52.920 and he told it to his brothers and they hated him for it. 303 00:28:52.920 --> 00:28:55.640 When you go a little further in verse nine, 304 00:28:55.640 --> 00:28:58.780 it says that he dreamt still another dream, 305 00:28:58.780 --> 00:29:00.400 told it to his brothers as well. 306 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:04.400 And he said, see here, I have again dreamt a dream. 307 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:06.840 And this time I saw 11 stars 308 00:29:06.840 --> 00:29:11.240 and the sun and the moon bowed down in respect to me. 309 00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:15.600 Now, just out of the blue with your brothers and sisters, 310 00:29:15.600 --> 00:29:18.620 that could appear very arrogant and could cause jealousy. 311 00:29:18.620 --> 00:29:20.620 But the fact of the matter is the truth is 312 00:29:20.620 --> 00:29:22.400 as we fast forward, 313 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:25.680 we have the privilege looking back on history. 314 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:28.960 We have the privilege of knowing that God did that 315 00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:30.680 because we saw that last week, 316 00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:35.600 how God raised Joseph from prison 317 00:29:35.600 --> 00:29:38.520 to be second in command 318 00:29:38.520 --> 00:29:40.500 to the highest governor in the land, 319 00:29:40.700 --> 00:29:42.740 the Pharaoh of Egypt. 320 00:29:42.740 --> 00:29:46.660 And that yes, all nations, all people came to him. 321 00:29:46.660 --> 00:29:49.820 He wore the ring, he wore the robe, he had the power, 322 00:29:49.820 --> 00:29:52.560 all came and bowed before him. 323 00:29:52.560 --> 00:29:57.560 So God was beginning to reveal to him his future. 324 00:29:57.900 --> 00:29:59.820 And I imagine that that, 325 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:05.560 sanctified imagination, that gave him hope. During the many years that he was 326 00:30:05.560 --> 00:30:09.480 persecuted, when his brothers threw him in a hole, they sold him 327 00:30:09.480 --> 00:30:16.040 as a slave, when he was misjudged, when Potiphar's wife went after him and he 328 00:30:16.040 --> 00:30:19.920 was accused of trying to rape her, when he got thrown in prison, you know 329 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:26.840 sometimes when between the seeing of the dream and it actually 330 00:30:26.840 --> 00:30:33.240 happening, I like to call it between the planting of the seed and the gestation 331 00:30:33.240 --> 00:30:39.320 period. Everything has a gestation period, right? Plants have it, babies have it, 332 00:30:39.320 --> 00:30:45.600 there's a gestation period. So for Joseph, between the gestation period of him 333 00:30:45.600 --> 00:30:50.040 having these dreams, that he has this huge future, that God was going to 334 00:30:50.040 --> 00:30:55.920 elevate him, that he was going to rise in power, and the time that it actually 335 00:30:55.920 --> 00:31:03.000 happened for him was many, many years. How do you keep your hope when God gives 336 00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:06.760 you a vision, when he gives you a dream, when you have a purpose in your heart? 337 00:31:06.760 --> 00:31:13.960 How do you keep your hope during all of that? And I think one of the ways is 338 00:31:13.960 --> 00:31:19.520 writing down your dreams and remembering them, writing down the prophetic words 339 00:31:19.520 --> 00:31:23.960 you got, writing down the visions you got, writing down the miracles, the 340 00:31:23.960 --> 00:31:32.000 experiences, and it's those things that keep us going when times are hard. It's 341 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:37.160 remembering, you know, God has worked in the past, God has spoken to me in the 342 00:31:37.160 --> 00:31:43.480 past, God has provided for me in the past, God has healed me in the past, God has 343 00:31:43.480 --> 00:31:49.360 given me dreams, God has given me miracles. When you can remember how God 344 00:31:49.400 --> 00:31:57.040 has worked in the past, it gives you hope for right now. And so I think that as God 345 00:31:57.040 --> 00:32:01.240 revealed what would happen to Joseph, that perhaps it was such a profound 346 00:32:01.240 --> 00:32:07.000 experience, it carried him through the hard times. And that leads us to see 347 00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:15.360 dreams can confirm a promise. So if God has promised you something and you 348 00:32:15.360 --> 00:32:21.880 know it, you know God has promised something. I don't know if I've shared 349 00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:29.240 with you, but I had in 2004, I had a literal vision and I had like, I pulled 350 00:32:29.240 --> 00:32:35.480 into my driveway after working out and I saw like a screen and I saw hospitals 351 00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:40.360 and universities and retreat centers and I heard an audible voice, we're gonna 352 00:32:40.360 --> 00:32:47.080 talk about that in the coming weeks, I heard an audible voice and that said I 353 00:32:47.080 --> 00:32:50.440 would be one of the largest philanthropists in the world. That was 354 00:32:50.440 --> 00:32:56.880 such an impactful experience for me. As I always think about the vision that God 355 00:32:56.880 --> 00:33:01.120 has for me and where I'm going, I remember that day that he gave me that 356 00:33:01.120 --> 00:33:08.160 literal vision. And so God has a way through dreams of confirming promises 357 00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:15.600 and so we see that here in Genesis 28 verses 13 and 14, we see that God used a 358 00:33:15.600 --> 00:33:25.080 dream to confirm a promise. And of course this is about Jacob and so Jacob, if you 359 00:33:25.080 --> 00:33:28.440 remember the promises that had been going ever since the grandfather 360 00:33:28.440 --> 00:33:35.200 Abraham, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. There's been this promise of a promised land and 361 00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:40.440 so this promise is having to carry through three generations. This promise 362 00:33:40.440 --> 00:33:47.320 has taken some time to happen, right? And so it says here about Jacob that he 363 00:33:47.320 --> 00:33:52.960 dreamt, so here we see again a dream happening, he dreamt that there was a 364 00:33:52.960 --> 00:34:00.240 ladder or some translations say a stairway placed on earth and the top of 365 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:07.760 it reached way out of sight toward heaven. And in this dream he saw the 366 00:34:07.760 --> 00:34:15.679 angels of God ascending and descending, going to and fro heaven. So in this dream 367 00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:20.320 you start to just see, huh, there's something more than just earth, what we 368 00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:27.080 see with our eyes. And this happens for for so many of us. Let me take a drink 369 00:34:27.080 --> 00:34:37.920 here. That dreams, visions, miracles, healing, prophetic words open us to 370 00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:43.080 realize that there's more than just here and now. Open us to realize that God is 371 00:34:43.080 --> 00:34:49.400 involved in our life, that he is speaking, that he is still here. And so for Jacob 372 00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:53.719 that would be an amazing reminder to actually see angels going up and down 373 00:34:53.719 --> 00:35:01.760 this staircase. Verse 13, now we hear a voice as well, it says, and behold 374 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:07.880 He's still dreaming. The Lord stood above him and said. So now we're seeing kind of 375 00:35:07.880 --> 00:35:14.040 a combination. We're seeing that he's having a dream and he's hearing. And so 376 00:35:14.040 --> 00:35:21.640 the Lord said to him, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father's father, and 377 00:35:21.640 --> 00:35:30.880 the God of Isaac. And I will give you and to your descendants the land of 378 00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:42.560 promise on which you are lying. So here we see it. That God is using the dream 379 00:35:42.560 --> 00:35:49.120 to confirm what had been promised. And so this will happen for you too. A lot of 380 00:35:49.120 --> 00:35:55.440 times I've had confirming dreams. I remember in 2012, I had 12 dreams 381 00:35:55.440 --> 00:35:59.360 confirming something God was showing me. And so a lot of times he'll use that. 382 00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:05.080 He'll use that to confirm. Okay, another purpose of a dream. Okay, another purpose 383 00:36:05.080 --> 00:36:11.560 of a dream is encouragement. Just to encourage you. Maybe, you know, 384 00:36:11.560 --> 00:36:17.680 encouragement, right? N means on the inside, courage. Maybe your courage on the 385 00:36:17.680 --> 00:36:23.480 inside is lacking. Maybe you're getting tired as we're facing this pandemic, or 386 00:36:23.480 --> 00:36:29.000 you're facing financial trials, or you're facing sickness, or you're facing fear, or 387 00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:34.040 you know, so many things that people are facing right now. We need encouragement. 388 00:36:34.040 --> 00:36:39.880 We need to be encouragement to each other. But I believe God is no respecter 389 00:36:39.880 --> 00:36:45.200 of persons. He's still causing dreams and he's still offering encouragement. So in 390 00:36:45.200 --> 00:36:49.520 Genesis 28 15, we see this, 391 00:37:07.520 --> 00:37:11.840 This is a continuation of the dream that he was having, where he saw the 392 00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:17.000 angels going up and down, and the Lord reminded him of the promise, and then the 393 00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:21.760 Lord encouraged him by saying, don't worry, you're never alone. I'm never going 394 00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:29.600 to leave you. I will fulfill the promises. And again, please remember that God is no 395 00:37:29.600 --> 00:37:34.160 respecter of persons. What he did for Isaac, or Abraham, or Jacob, or Moses, or 396 00:37:34.160 --> 00:37:41.680 anybody else in Scripture, he will do for you. God is the same yesterday, today, and 397 00:37:41.680 --> 00:37:47.520 forever. So when you see these things, be encouraged of knowing that God is there 398 00:37:47.520 --> 00:37:54.760 for you as well. And I recently spoke to someone that is in a very, very hard 399 00:37:54.760 --> 00:38:01.360 place. I can't reveal, but very hard place. And it was so crushing and so 400 00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:08.400 discouraging that he actually asked God. He said, God, I can't take this. Please 401 00:38:08.400 --> 00:38:17.680 give me a dream. Please, I need hope. Give me a dream. And God was so gracious to 402 00:38:17.680 --> 00:38:23.440 give him a dream and reveal what was to come. And so we see this still happening 403 00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:28.440 today, that one of the ways God speaks is through our dreams. And so he can remind 404 00:38:28.440 --> 00:38:34.000 us of promises. He can prevent us from sinning. He can offer encouragement. He 405 00:38:34.040 --> 00:38:39.480 can show us things to come so we can have provision. Look at this one. Here's 406 00:38:39.480 --> 00:38:46.480 another one, another purpose of a dream. It can give a person direction. We see 407 00:38:46.480 --> 00:38:51.120 that God used dreams all through the Old Testament, all through the New Testament 408 00:38:51.120 --> 00:38:58.840 to guide and direct people. And so how important that maybe we be praying, God, I 409 00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:05.800 need direction as we go through these hard times. Give me direction. How can I 410 00:39:05.800 --> 00:39:09.520 pivot my business? You know, as a coach, I'm in the middle of helping lots of 411 00:39:09.520 --> 00:39:15.960 businesses rise up. So now more than ever, we need direction. Maybe you're wondering 412 00:39:15.960 --> 00:39:21.080 for your career. Maybe your whole business has changed. Your whole finances 413 00:39:21.080 --> 00:39:25.600 have changed. You know, whatever it is, you know, now more than ever, we need 414 00:39:25.640 --> 00:39:34.160 direction. And dreams are one of the ways that God gives us direction. And so look 415 00:39:34.160 --> 00:39:42.000 at an example in Genesis 31, verses 11 through 13. It says, And the angel of God 416 00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:51.320 said to me in the dream, Jacob. And I said, Here I am. And he said, Look up and 417 00:39:51.320 --> 00:39:56.640 see all the rams which are mating with the flock are streaked, speckled and 418 00:39:56.640 --> 00:40:00.040 spotted. For I've seen all that Laban has been doing. 419 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:06.720 you and I am the God of Bethel where you anointed the pillar and where you made 420 00:40:06.720 --> 00:40:13.600 a vow to me now stand up and leave this land and return to the land of your 421 00:40:13.600 --> 00:40:20.040 birth." Now if you know the background of this story Jacob was in love with 422 00:40:20.040 --> 00:40:27.000 Rachel and he agreed to work for the father Laban in order to win her you 423 00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:35.360 know buy her whatever and um and Laban paid a dirty trick on him and gave him 424 00:40:35.360 --> 00:40:41.720 the sister Leah right and so now he's still so in love with Rachel and so he 425 00:40:41.720 --> 00:40:46.280 agrees to work another seven years and so we see that he does that so if you go 426 00:40:46.280 --> 00:40:52.080 in and you see the story um but now you see he's been serving faithfully he's 427 00:40:52.080 --> 00:40:57.240 been doing what he's supposed to do and God reveals to him in a dream hey look 428 00:40:57.240 --> 00:41:02.600 I'm working on your behalf I've seen I've seen your hard work I've seen you 429 00:41:02.600 --> 00:41:07.560 walk in integrity like we saw in the previous verses you know the integrity 430 00:41:07.560 --> 00:41:13.000 of the righteous protects you I've seen that you have been mistreated I've seen 431 00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:20.240 that you've been abused you know I've seen and he says now's the time and so 432 00:41:20.240 --> 00:41:26.480 he says now's the time take the ones that are speckled go go back to the land 433 00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:32.360 of your birth and so sometimes what we need is to know divine timing when God 434 00:41:32.360 --> 00:41:36.560 is this the time to start a business is this the time to close my business is 435 00:41:36.560 --> 00:41:41.800 this the time to travel is this the time to get married is this so often we need 436 00:41:41.800 --> 00:41:47.040 this kind of personal and God we see in all these examples in a dream God is a 437 00:41:47.160 --> 00:41:52.560 personal God interested in our personal affairs and willing to speak to us and 438 00:41:52.560 --> 00:41:58.240 willing to give us direction and so here you see that one of the purposes of 439 00:41:58.240 --> 00:42:04.560 dreams is to give us direction so sometimes it shows us things to come so 440 00:42:04.560 --> 00:42:09.160 we can prepare sometimes gives us encouragement sometimes protects us from 441 00:42:09.160 --> 00:42:14.720 making a wrong move sometimes gives us direction let me give you another 442 00:42:14.720 --> 00:42:20.640 example in the New Testament of direction in Matthew chapter 1 verses 443 00:42:20.640 --> 00:42:27.960 20 through 23 Matthew 1 verses 20 through 23 look at this this is talking 444 00:42:27.960 --> 00:42:31.680 about a different Joseph so don't confuse these in the Bible we're in the 445 00:42:31.680 --> 00:42:39.360 New Testament and this is Joseph and Mary Jesus's parents right and so he has 446 00:42:39.360 --> 00:42:46.560 a dream because he finds out Mary's pregnant and he's not the daddy and the 447 00:42:46.560 --> 00:42:50.760 story of the Holy Spirit making her pregnant is a little fishy for him and 448 00:42:50.760 --> 00:42:55.640 he's about to quietly divorce her he's about to quietly break off the 449 00:42:55.640 --> 00:43:02.800 engagement in the marriage and and just end it all and again God intervenes in 450 00:43:02.800 --> 00:43:09.600 dreams and it says in verse 20 that as he considered this dream or what he was 451 00:43:09.600 --> 00:43:15.880 going to do an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream so we do see 452 00:43:15.880 --> 00:43:21.640 throughout scripture we see angels visiting people and very often it's in 453 00:43:21.640 --> 00:43:27.120 the form of a dream and so we see this with Joseph it says that as he 454 00:43:27.120 --> 00:43:31.880 considered this an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said 455 00:43:31.880 --> 00:43:40.160 Joseph son of David the angel said do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife 456 00:43:40.160 --> 00:43:48.720 for the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit verse 21 and she will 457 00:43:48.720 --> 00:43:54.600 have a son and you are to name him Jesus for he will save his people from their 458 00:43:54.600 --> 00:44:00.600 sins and verse 22 all this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through his 459 00:44:00.600 --> 00:44:04.640 prophet so we've seen this has already been spoken throughout history through 460 00:44:04.640 --> 00:44:09.640 the prophets now it's being confirmed in a dream to Joseph so he would know what 461 00:44:09.640 --> 00:44:15.280 to do and he quotes the prophecy that the Virgin will conceive a child and 462 00:44:15.280 --> 00:44:23.000 they will call him Emmanuel which means God with us so this is a situation where 463 00:44:23.080 --> 00:44:29.840 Joseph was going down one path because what his eyes saw was my wife has slept 464 00:44:29.840 --> 00:44:35.400 with somebody else and I'm about to be humiliated my life is about to be 465 00:44:35.400 --> 00:44:42.240 ruined I love her I don't want to see her stoned and she will be I'm gonna 466 00:44:42.240 --> 00:44:48.400 quietly put her away and divorce her quietly and so Joseph had these 467 00:44:48.400 --> 00:44:52.960 assumptions like we can have he could be going down one path like we can be going 468 00:44:52.960 --> 00:45:02.040 down the path and the dream completely changed the path the dream said to 469 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.000 Joseph, look, you're not seeing things all the way. 470 00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:06.820 You're not understanding that this is me, God, working. 471 00:45:06.820 --> 00:45:11.300 In this circumstance that feels at this moment like the worst thing that could ever happen 472 00:45:11.300 --> 00:45:17.000 to you, like the one you love was unfaithful, what feels like your world is turning upside 473 00:45:17.000 --> 00:45:23.980 down and you think God has left you and you don't know how he's going to move. 474 00:45:23.980 --> 00:45:29.660 It's in that time that the dream came and said, listen, this is me. 475 00:45:29.660 --> 00:45:30.900 I'm working here. 476 00:45:30.900 --> 00:45:31.980 Don't change. 477 00:45:31.980 --> 00:45:38.780 Take her as your wife and you are actually part of fulfilling prophecy. 478 00:45:38.780 --> 00:45:42.780 You are going to see Emmanuel, God with us. 479 00:45:42.780 --> 00:45:46.900 The Messiah that you've been waiting for is in the belly of that woman. 480 00:45:46.900 --> 00:45:48.680 Stay with her. 481 00:45:48.680 --> 00:45:55.120 So how amazing that dreams, as we've studied these, can give people directions, give nations 482 00:45:55.120 --> 00:45:58.800 directions and can totally change the course of history. 483 00:45:58.800 --> 00:46:00.160 What an amazing thing. 484 00:46:00.160 --> 00:46:04.480 I mean, are you starting to have an appreciation of how powerful dreams are? 485 00:46:04.480 --> 00:46:12.520 I mean, if God did dreams like this so many in the past, how much more do we need it now? 486 00:46:12.520 --> 00:46:14.200 Let me give you one more example. 487 00:46:14.200 --> 00:46:22.400 Still Joseph, still Mary, go Matthew chapter 2, 12 and 13 and also verse 19. 488 00:46:22.400 --> 00:46:28.440 Now they have to leave and she's had the baby. 489 00:46:28.440 --> 00:46:35.040 We're fast forwarding and it says, when it was time to leave, they returned to their 490 00:46:35.040 --> 00:46:36.040 own country. 491 00:46:36.040 --> 00:46:40.480 Remember, God gave them a dream and they left and went to Egypt to protect Jesus from being 492 00:46:40.480 --> 00:46:42.880 killed by Herod. 493 00:46:42.880 --> 00:46:44.400 And now they're there. 494 00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:51.120 It says, when it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route. 495 00:46:51.120 --> 00:47:00.360 Look at this, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. 496 00:47:00.360 --> 00:47:09.800 And so again, we see God intervening in, in history and nations and often stopping us 497 00:47:09.800 --> 00:47:12.640 from doing what would be the normal thing to do. 498 00:47:12.640 --> 00:47:16.040 It would be normal to go back a certain route to their land. 499 00:47:16.040 --> 00:47:19.760 And God is saying, no, don't do what appears normal. 500 00:47:19.760 --> 00:47:22.800 I need you to do this. 501 00:47:22.800 --> 00:47:26.000 I need you to do this. 502 00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:33.480 Verse 13, it says, after the wise men were gone, so remember Jesus was born in the manger, 503 00:47:33.480 --> 00:47:35.040 the wise men came. 504 00:47:35.040 --> 00:47:43.040 It says after the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. 505 00:47:43.040 --> 00:47:51.400 So here we see God working in dreams again and says, get up, exclamation point, flee 506 00:47:51.400 --> 00:47:57.080 to Egypt with the child and his mother. 507 00:47:57.080 --> 00:48:00.320 So again, a warning, run for your life. 508 00:48:00.840 --> 00:48:05.760 We see that he wouldn't have known you have a brand new baby. 509 00:48:05.760 --> 00:48:09.360 You're not thinking about traveling to Egypt. 510 00:48:09.360 --> 00:48:14.760 God had the protection, in this case, yes, it's of Jesus, but we see this through all 511 00:48:14.760 --> 00:48:22.080 people in all time, how in dreams, God protected his people saying, you're going this way, 512 00:48:22.080 --> 00:48:28.680 but I'm telling you, no, go this way and averting a disaster or a death or a crisis. 513 00:48:28.680 --> 00:48:30.160 And you know, he had a choice. 514 00:48:30.160 --> 00:48:31.720 We all have choice. 515 00:48:31.720 --> 00:48:35.840 He could have said, oh man, I had a weird dream, but no, that doesn't make sense. 516 00:48:35.840 --> 00:48:37.600 I'm not going to Egypt right now. 517 00:48:37.600 --> 00:48:38.600 We have a choice. 518 00:48:38.600 --> 00:48:44.200 We have the freedom of choice to choose to ignore the dream and find out later, wow, 519 00:48:44.200 --> 00:48:48.360 I should have listened, or it might even be to intuition. 520 00:48:48.360 --> 00:48:53.440 But if we obey, you wonder how much can be saved. 521 00:48:53.440 --> 00:48:57.560 And so he says, get up, flee to Egypt with the child and his mother. 522 00:48:57.560 --> 00:49:06.840 And the angel said, again, a dream, an angel speaking, stay there in Egypt until I tell 523 00:49:06.840 --> 00:49:13.820 you to return because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. 524 00:49:13.820 --> 00:49:18.640 And so they had to stay in a foreign country based on a dream, an angel speaking to them 525 00:49:18.640 --> 00:49:19.960 in a dream. 526 00:49:19.960 --> 00:49:27.080 They packed up and moved to a foreign land and stayed there until God revealed that it 527 00:49:27.080 --> 00:49:28.400 was time to go back. 528 00:49:28.400 --> 00:49:36.520 In verse 19, after Herod died, then look at this, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream 529 00:49:36.520 --> 00:49:38.640 to Joseph in Egypt. 530 00:49:38.640 --> 00:49:43.120 So then after tells him to go back. 531 00:49:43.120 --> 00:49:48.120 So see how one of the reasons for dreams is direction. 532 00:49:48.120 --> 00:49:49.680 Okay. 533 00:49:49.680 --> 00:49:53.680 They can also, dreams can also offer a person a gift. 534 00:49:53.680 --> 00:49:56.800 It can be a personal interaction. 535 00:49:56.800 --> 00:50:00.000 God can interact with us in our dreams. 536 00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:08.920 with this one and that is in 1st Kings 3 5 and it is the story of Solomon who we 537 00:50:08.920 --> 00:50:14.600 know as the wisest man in the Bible perhaps in history and we saw with 538 00:50:14.600 --> 00:50:20.840 Solomon God appeared to him in a dream it says that night the Lord appeared to 539 00:50:20.840 --> 00:50:30.200 Solomon in a dream and God said what do you want ask and I will give it to you 540 00:50:30.200 --> 00:50:36.960 and if you follow the story Solomon didn't ask for money didn't ask for 541 00:50:36.960 --> 00:50:44.080 things he asked God for wisdom and God said because you have asked for wisdom 542 00:50:44.080 --> 00:50:48.680 I'm not only gonna give you wisdom I'm gonna give you the desires of your heart 543 00:50:48.680 --> 00:50:57.840 but I'm also going to give you I'm also going to give you the the wealth and the 544 00:50:57.840 --> 00:51:02.080 things so I'm just playing with my computer here if I look distracted here 545 00:51:02.080 --> 00:51:12.920 okay so we see that God is is moving in in all of these ways we see that the 546 00:51:12.920 --> 00:51:24.400 purpose of dreams is to direct us to protect us so I I pray that this study 547 00:51:24.400 --> 00:51:31.400 has has touched you I pray that it's created a holy hunger in you that you'll 548 00:51:31.400 --> 00:51:36.760 hunger and thirst to have more of God like we read in 1st Corinthians 14 that 549 00:51:37.360 --> 00:51:45.360 you'll eagerly desire the gifts especially that you'll prophesy that you 550 00:51:45.360 --> 00:51:51.280 will that you'll know the divine counsel of God for this season and that you can 551 00:51:51.280 --> 00:51:56.920 be a light and so I'm gonna close with prayer I want to thank you so much for 552 00:51:56.920 --> 00:52:01.480 being part of this we're here every Tuesday morning you can watch live or if 553 00:52:01.480 --> 00:52:05.120 you want to be on the mailing list you can watch on any meeting calm I've been 554 00:52:05.120 --> 00:52:11.840 posting that if you want to see the slides or you want to do both I am super 555 00:52:11.840 --> 00:52:16.920 excited about this season I understand the darkness and the sinister side of 556 00:52:16.920 --> 00:52:23.600 things and the suffering but I also believe that God like Joseph said what 557 00:52:23.600 --> 00:52:28.680 the enemy means for harm God is using for good and I believe that this is a 558 00:52:28.680 --> 00:52:34.200 season if you're in business I'm helping businesses left and right to pivot to 559 00:52:34.200 --> 00:52:39.920 launch grow change start their businesses to be of service in this time 560 00:52:39.920 --> 00:52:45.880 if it has to do with your health or your peace or your sense of direction please 561 00:52:45.880 --> 00:52:51.880 schedule a free call with me you can go to prosper in all things calm and you 562 00:52:51.880 --> 00:52:57.000 can schedule a free call with me you can also receive the free newsletter I send 563 00:52:57.000 --> 00:53:02.560 out every Sunday afternoon around noon it is a bridge of scripture and science 564 00:53:02.560 --> 00:53:08.280 to just be a voice a voice of hope a voice of direction that's my prayer to 565 00:53:08.280 --> 00:53:13.520 God that I will be the voice of encouragement I feel that the call on my 566 00:53:13.520 --> 00:53:19.200 life the the teaching and prophetic anointing on my life is to equip and 567 00:53:19.200 --> 00:53:26.400 empower especially women to to prosper in every area of their life to step into 568 00:53:26.400 --> 00:53:32.120 their kingdom assignment I have a coach certification program and this is a way 569 00:53:32.120 --> 00:53:36.600 that I can raise up coaches so that you can be in business for yourself during 570 00:53:36.600 --> 00:53:42.320 the season and I believe never has there been such a need for coaches because 571 00:53:42.320 --> 00:53:46.280 people are struggling in their relationships in their finances in their 572 00:53:46.280 --> 00:53:51.920 business and you know their health and so for that reason it's even more 573 00:53:51.920 --> 00:53:58.480 important I'm offering a discount during this pandemic right now 40% off so if 574 00:53:58.480 --> 00:54:01.400 you've thought about starting a business you want to be able to work 575 00:54:01.400 --> 00:54:06.440 online from home be able to create a great income I have that as well so 576 00:54:06.440 --> 00:54:12.120 schedule with me prosper in all things calm and I'd love to talk with you if I 577 00:54:12.120 --> 00:54:15.880 can be praying for you you could just send me a note here on Facebook or 578 00:54:15.880 --> 00:54:19.480 anywhere else let me know you enjoyed this let me know if there's something 579 00:54:19.480 --> 00:54:23.320 you want me to cover or study as we go through this stuff here's something you 580 00:54:23.320 --> 00:54:28.320 want to know about how to hear the voice of God leave me a comment I promise I 581 00:54:28.320 --> 00:54:34.400 will read it I will pray for you I will integrate it into the study if there's 582 00:54:34.400 --> 00:54:38.320 any way maybe I'm not even thinking of it that I can serve you that I can be a 583 00:54:38.320 --> 00:54:44.000 voice of hope or encouragement during the season that is my heart absolutely 584 00:54:44.000 --> 00:54:49.320 so I'm going to close with prayer and blessings on your life and I want to 585 00:54:49.320 --> 00:54:54.640 thank you once again for being with me on this study so father I just thank you 586 00:54:54.640 --> 00:54:58.880 for this time I thank you for your word I thank you for all the examples in 587 00:54:58.880 --> 00:55:01.960 history from 588 00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:07.400 Genesis to Revelation and beyond in all the men and women of God throughout all history that you are always speaking 589 00:55:07.960 --> 00:55:13.720 That you are always preparing our hearts that you desire not religion, but a 590 00:55:14.600 --> 00:55:19.520 Relationship that you guide us that you direct us you are our Shepherd 591 00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:23.680 You lead us you provide for us you protect us 592 00:55:23.820 --> 00:55:29.300 You are good and you are loving and you never leave us you never forsake us 593 00:55:29.300 --> 00:55:36.440 I thank you for your word and I pray that whatever was spoken in this teaching today. I pray it brought hope 594 00:55:36.440 --> 00:55:43.180 I pray it brought encouragement. I pray that it raised up faith. I pray that it dispelled fear 595 00:55:43.180 --> 00:55:46.440 I pray that it gives soundness of mind 596 00:55:46.440 --> 00:55:51.240 You have not given us a spirit of fear, but a sound mind of love and power 597 00:55:51.240 --> 00:55:56.920 I pray that your people will rise up with a sound mind of love and power 598 00:55:57.260 --> 00:56:03.160 That they will not be like the spies that saw the obstacles saw the Giants and saw 599 00:56:03.620 --> 00:56:09.760 Themselves and God is small. They saw themselves as grasshoppers that we will not be helpless hopeless victims 600 00:56:09.940 --> 00:56:14.500 But that we will realize we are the sons and daughters of the Most High God 601 00:56:15.060 --> 00:56:22.900 That we have received your Holy Spirit that you have given us all authority that the power of life and death is in our tongue 602 00:56:22.900 --> 00:56:29.940 Lord God and that we will rise up and step up and be a voice of hope a voice of love and a voice of 603 00:56:29.940 --> 00:56:33.620 Service and an act of service Father God in this season 604 00:56:33.620 --> 00:56:41.020 I pray for anyone that needs peace that your peace that passes all understanding will guard their heart and mind in Christ 605 00:56:41.140 --> 00:56:46.500 Jesus I pray if their body needs a touch or a healing that you will heal them 606 00:56:46.500 --> 00:56:50.140 I pray that if they lack wisdom you've promised in the book of James 607 00:56:50.700 --> 00:56:56.500 That James one that if anyone lacks wisdom that they can ask and that you will give 608 00:56:56.940 --> 00:57:02.340 Liberally without finding fault. It doesn't matter your past when we ask God for wisdom 609 00:57:02.340 --> 00:57:07.980 He is faithful as we saw today. He's no respecter of people. He hears you 610 00:57:07.980 --> 00:57:12.020 He will respond to your hunger. He will respond to your desire 611 00:57:12.140 --> 00:57:16.420 He will most of all respond to your surrender father God 612 00:57:16.420 --> 00:57:23.740 I just pray that you move mightily in the voice of everyone listening to this recording now live and in the future 613 00:57:24.780 --> 00:57:27.540 Thank you for being here. I'm here every Tuesday morning 614 00:57:28.100 --> 00:57:30.580 730 the recordings of the ones before 615 00:57:31.340 --> 00:57:38.740 Are here if you want to go deep if you want to study how you can hear the voice of God in this season in 616 00:57:38.980 --> 00:57:40.380 this time 617 00:57:40.380 --> 00:57:42.060 Thanks for joining me 618 00:57:42.060 --> 00:57:45.740 We'll see you same time same place next week 619 00:57:46.420 --> 00:57:49.420 You