Sunday, March 16 – Pastor Dereck Frymier

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TESTED

“The Testing of a Dream”

(James 1:2-4) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 

(Genesis 37:5-8 NIV) Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. 

(Genesis 37:19-20) 19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” 

(Proverbs 19:21) Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. 

1. The Test 

(Genesis 37:27-28 NIV) Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. 

(Genesis 39:6) So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. 

2. The Test

(1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV) No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 

(Genesis 39:7-12) Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” 8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. 11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. 

If you want to be used by God you have to be faithful in 3 areas of your life: 

1. First things 
2. Small things 
3. Things that don’t belong to you

3. The Test of

(Genesis 39:23) The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. 

(Genesis 40:14-15) But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.” 

(Genesis 40:23) The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

4.The Test 

The Hurt Cycle

Experience Hurt or Loss → Pain → Stay Offended → Bitterness → Anger → Resentment → Revenge 

Breaking free

Hurt → Pain → Choose to Heal → Refuse to Isolate → Extend Forgiveness → Move Forward with What God Has for Your Life 

(Genesis 45:4-8) 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.

What is the Holy Spirit speaking to you today?

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