Story of Joseph
Genesis 37:5-7, 9-11 NLT
5-7
One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. “Listen to this dream,” he said. “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!”

9-11
Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!” This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?” But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.“

Talk about a story laced with inside the circle thinking, and by nearly if not all the characters.
- The brothers were jealous and bitter.
- Jacob was being pretty open about who his favorite was.
- And Joseph himself was being super arrogant and prideful.

How can we know that? Look at the rest of the text sometime and you’ll see.
- Joseph constantly ratted his brothers out.
- He knew he was his dad’s favorite.
- I bet he loved prancing around in that coat.
- He was “feeling” himself, as the kids today would say.
Side Note: Be careful of falling in love with the spotlight because while it shines on you, it also reveals what is in you.

Joseph had a problem with pride. Think about it…Does the Bible talk about Joseph’s humility? His service to the family? Is there any documentation on his willingness to submit himself and put others over himself? I am not seeing it. In fact, I’d wager that the path Joseph’s life took was not a series of unfortunate events to a humble man, but rather a series of opportunities whereby God used bad situations to kill that pride in him.

Inside the circle thinking will get you inside the circle results.
What did inside the circle thinking look like in Joseph? Selfish. Ambitious. Vindictive. Arrogant. Victimization.

If all you ever wonder is why me then all you’ll ever get is woe me.

God has a better plan for your life, but, and this is a real big but,
God will also do whatever it takes to kill off anything in you that thinks inside the circle so that you can embrace your purpose outside the circle.

Think of Joseph again. The arrogance of not only reciting his dream to the entire family once, but twice, is unbelievable when you consider that God’s purpose for Joseph’s life was to serve others to save the entire nation of Egypt and surrounding areas. God gave him masterful abilities in strategy and planning, but also the abilities to implement and deliver, and all of it was for the benefit of other people, not himself! Yet look how satan tried to keep him inside the circle to stop his purpose.

When you compare 17 year old Joseph the dreamer to 30 year old Joseph the second in command in Egypt, you would hardly be able to recognize him! That’s what 13 years of circumstances used by God to eliminate inside the circle thinking will do to you. It will even give you the courage to face the very people who sought your destruction and started the wheels that led you to slavery, then prison, and rather than retaliate against them, you forgive them and honor them.

So what can we learn today from Joseph that will help us look outside the circle so that we can be a blessing to others like Joseph eventually was?

First:
1. God has bigger plans than what is inside your circle.
I often talk about the idea that when you face a situation where there is friction between you and another party, you should always look internally first to make sure that you aren’t the one that has the issue.

I think this is super wise advice, and a second good piece of advice is to always have someone with the 5 to help you see that in you. They know you, they know God, they love you, they love God, and they have your best interest in mind.

Why do you need them? Because blind spots exists and by definition, you cannot see them.
God gives you people to help identify in you what you cannot identify in yourself.

How would this story be different if Joseph had that? Joseph would have had that dream, and then rather than boasting about it at dinner that night, he would have told that 5 Friend.

That 5 Friend might have said, “Wow dude, God has some big plans for you, but rather than saying anything just yet, let’s spend some time praying about what it might mean.” (That is what Pastor Chuck did with me).
Joseph - “Bro, why? This is an awesome dream.”
5 Friend - “Look, you know I love you, I know you, I care about what happens to you, but since you got that coat from your dad, you’ve been a little ummm, how to say this…arrogant. Joseph, I know that is not who you are, but I am afraid that a dream like this might give people the wrong idea about you.”

Would we read a different story about Joseph if he had a friend like that?
Would we read a different story about you if you had a friend like that?

God had a bigger plans for Joseph than personal glory. That plan was always about others, not Joseph. Every gift God put in Joseph was for the day he’d rise to second in command. The strategy, the discernment, the ability to interpret dreams, to hear God and implement plans.

When you live as if what is in your circle is what God’s plan is all about, you miss God’s plan and everyone else misses out.

Your gifts are not for you. They are for me. They are for us.
Your life is not for you. It is for me. It is for us.

Proof?
1 Peter 4:10
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.

Jeremiah 10:23
I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.

Hopefully now you can see why Satan is so adamant that you live inside your circle. If he can get you focused on you then he doesn’t have to worry about you being a blessing to others.

In fact, it is a twofer for him because not only has he rendered your gifts ineffective, you actually work with him to create disunity through your own quest for personal glory. Satan is evil, but he isn’t stupid.

God has bigger plans than what is inside your circle. Again, look at Joseph.
- Loved by his dad. Had some dreams.
- Get’s thrown into a cistern and then sold by his brothers to slavers.
(Ishmaelites. Abraham’s impatience still wreaking havoc).
- Sold to Potiphar. Becomes Potiphar’s favorite.
- Excels in his house and becomes second in command.
- Potiphar’s wife gets handsy and accuses Joseph of impropriety.
- Get tossed into jail. Becomes the jailer’s favorite and set him as second in command.
- Interprets dreams for the cupbearer and baker and simply asks the cupbearer to tell pharaoh his plight to get him out.
- Cupbearer forgets about him for two years.
- Pharaoh has some dreams and the cupbearer remembers.
- Joseph interprets the dream and becomes second in command.

Goodness gracious. But did you notice some patterns? In every situation, God gave Joseph opportunities to learn how to manage his gifts and leverage them for the sake of others. God gave him humbling situations to kill pride and hone his skills.

YET Satan was also working. Notice how Joseph was always finding favor, like with his dad, being the favorite, like with his dad, being the right hand, like with his dad. While God was working inside the circle thinking out of Joseph, Satan was trying to put it back in.

He does this with you, too.

Burt something happened in Joseph at some point that made him shift from selfishness to selflessness. I can’t say with assurance what it was, but we can see in scripture when it was.

Genesis 41:16
“It is beyond my power to do this,” Joseph replied. “But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.”

I don’t know what happened in Potiphar’s house, or what happened in the jail house, but in the midst of the worst things that could happen to Joseph, he stopped thinking inside the circle and started thinking outside of it.

I wonder if Joseph connected the dots from his dream 13 years before to that moment. I wonder if he had an “ahh so that’s what the dream meant” moment. But I love that it came after his “what is inside my circle can’t do it” moment.

Listen to me friend, God has bigger plans than what is inside your circle, and the longer you stay in it, the longer it will be before God uses you to change lives. We have to kill the same things in us that Joseph had to kill.
Selfishness. Arrogance. Ambition. Vindictiveness. A Victim mentality. These are things that Satan is going to use to stifle our gifts and destroy our purpose.

While God has bigger plans for you than what is inside your circle, if you are going to kill those things like Joseph, you are going to have to realize that:

2. It was never about you
Thinking like this breeds selfishness. It breeds arrogance. It breeds ambition and victimhood and a slough of other things that keep you inside the circle.

It took a long time before Joseph realized it was not about him.
We not only see this in that verse before where Joseph realized only God could do what Pharaoh asked, but in his dreams themselves.

How?
Your dreams are always about you, but God‘s dreams are always about others. Your dreams are always about you inside the circle. God’s dreams are always about you outside the circle.

If God’s plans for you are always about others, it might make you think, well then, who is going to bless me? This is exacerbated by a past that involves severe abuse, neglect, and people who constantly took advantage of you.

I don’t mean to get on a “be a solid family” soapbox again, but the best thing you can give your kids is a strong godly marriage, and if you are single with kids, give them a strong godly family. Why? Because it is easier to shift your attention off yourself and onto others when you come from a situation where you all worked together to meet each others’ needs.

Y’all, THIS is what the body of Christ is for!
THIS is why you come to church. THIS is why you serve and give and engage.

It isn’t for stars by your name on the attendance sheet. It is because WE NEED WHO GOD MADE YOU TO BE! We need your gifts. We need your encouragement. We need what you bring to the table. And we need them regardless of whether you think you have anything of value to bring to the table!

You know why? BECAUSE IT ISN’T ABOUT YOU!!!

If you feel like you have nothing to bring to the table, then let me lovingly tell you you are dead wrong and that you are in a blind spot. God your Father doesn’t make duds and what he put in you from the foundation of the world is needed right now!

YOU ARE NEEDED.

This is why it is so important you are in a Christian community. When we are operating as God intended, while you are thinking of someone else, someone else is thinking of you. While you are blessing someone else, someone else is blessing you. While you are speaking life over someone else, someone else is speaking life over you.

Why would God set it up this way? It’s simple. The moment you start thinking it’s all about you, that’s the moment you stop building the Kingdom and start building your castle.

Just like Joseph, you begin to fall in love with the glory you’ll get in the dream rather than the satisfaction of being a part of the Kingdom.

By the way, godly glory is ALWAYS given away in Scripture.
- God gave his glory to Jesus (John 17)
- Jesus gave his glory to us (John 17)
- We live so that others give glory to God (Matt 5)
- We give glory to God (tons of verses)

But here’s one specifically:
Psalm 155:1
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, But to Your name give glory

Glory was never for us. It always belonged to him.

Human glory fades but godly glory satisfies, but until we are willing to embrace the truth that is isn’t about us, we will never find satisfaction God intended for us.

God has a better plan than what is inside your circle, and it was never about us.

One more point today that will help us internalize these two points.

3. What are you going to do about it?
I am trying to channel my inner Italian here.

When life gives you slavery, what are you going to do about it?
When life gives you false accusation, what are you going to do about it?
When life gives you prison, what are you going to do about it?

Now, you might not have had to face these like Joseph did, but the question remains.

What are you going to do about what you’ve learned over this series?
I’d like to offer you three things you can do about it.

1. Stop complaining about it.
What is it? It is whatever you are complaining about. Maybe it is your past, your problems, your current life situation. I realize this can be mean, but complaining won’t do a darn thing to fix whatever situation you are in.

So why do we do it?
Complaining is easier than taking responsibility and initiative. If you don’t like how your life is going, what are you going to do about it? You don’t get results from inaction. You don’t like where you are with God right now? Do something about it. You don’t like what is happening in your family? Do something about it.

Look back at Joseph.
He was attacked and thrown in a cistern and then sold into slavery. Did he get to Potiphar’s house and complain and gripe the whole time? We have no record of that. We do have this though:

Genesis 39:2-6
The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

We saw the same thing when he was in jail.

Joseph didn’t let his circumstances stop his service. He didn’t let the environment stifle his gifts.

I fully realize that your life right now might not be exactly what you want it to be, but if you will stop complaining (looking inside the circle) and start using your gifts, talents, and abilities (looking outside the circle), you might just find that it was your willingness to serve, not your expertise in complaining, that changes your environment.

2. Start asking better questions
When bad things happen to us, the first question is almost always, “Why?” We have no record of Joseph asking why. We do have other questions he asked though.

When Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him.
Genesis 39:9
How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

When he met the baker and cupbearer.
Genesis 40:7
Why do you look so sad today?

Notice…every question so far was the result of Joseph looking outside the circle. Always about others or how others would be impacted.

What are the questions to ask?
- How can I help?
- How can I pray?
- How can I serve?
- How can I use my gifts?
- How can I be a blessing?
- What is keeping me inside the circle instead of giving outside of it?
- How can God use my life to be a blessing to others?
- Is there anything inside my circle that is hurting outside of it?

When you are asking the right questions, it has an impact on those around you. The proof is that when Joseph asked the right questions, Pharaoh did, too.

Genesis 41:38
And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?

If you feel like you’re in a cycle right now where you are having to deal with the same issues, it just might not be Satan tormenting you. It might be God trying to teach you.

So the question you should ask is not, “Why am I here?“ The question you need to ask is, “What do you want me to do about it?”

3. Adjust your vision
I am convinced that learning stages are shorter when your Kingdom vision is stronger. If you are just looking at how you’re being affected/impacted/ whatever, your vision is short sighted and will always produce frustration.

But when you are focusing outside the circle, you’l find that God allows you to see what you never saw before, and in that process, you will discover satisfaction like you’ve never known, even if your surroundings aren’t exactly what you thought they would be.

Looking inside the circle will always keep you inside the circle because your feet always follow what you’re focused on. But if you’ll adjust your vision beyond the circle around your feet and look for ways to be a blessing, you’ll find satisfaction even in a storm.

So what am I asking of you today?

I am asking you to allow God to do what he wants to do in your life.
I am asking you to be okay with wherever God leads you.
I am asking you to evaluate your life and determine what is keeping you from God’s best.

God’s best is always outside the circle, but here’s what’s amazing.

If you let God direct your vision to what is outside the circle, you’l find that his best outside the circle takes up residence inside the circle, and you actually become something outside the circle for someone else.

What if you would allow God to work in you to the place where God uses you to change someone else forever?

THAT’S THE ENTIRE PLAN.

But it takes you being willing to look beyond the circle around your feet.

Do you want someone thinking like this about you?
Being willing to think outside the circle so you can be blessed?

The you need to do the same.
Someone out there right now is waiting for you to shift your focus outside the circle so their life is changed forever.

God what do you want me to do?

I want you to sign up to serve somewhere today.

I want you to give your gifts, time, talents, and finances to the Kingdom.

I want you to take all that junk from your past that you’ve hoarded inside the circle and drop them outside the circle today.

Whatever it is, let’s be like Joseph today and allow God to use us for the sake of the Kingdom.

Let’s pray.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?