God Is Cooking Your Dreams: When Your Faith Comes Under Fire

Sermon outline

A dream from God will always be tested, so read the fire rightly: it does not mean God has left you, it means He is preparing you, and your time is coming.

1. A life of faith is not a life without challenges

   Many Christians believe that a man or woman of faith will not have problems, and he calls that an erroneous belief. Jesus promised blessing in this life, but with persecution. In a faith and Word church it must be said plainly: your faith will be tested, tried and come under fire.

   Illustration: Young people want the BMW and the big-screen TV with no hassles. Everyone is excited when the baby comes, but not when the baby keeps you up until one in the morning.

   “With every blessing comes challenges.”

   • Mark 10:30

2. Behold, the dreamer cometh: every dream has a dream killer

   Joseph's brothers mocked his dream and plotted to kill him. Be selective about who you tell your dreams to, and speak to people who celebrate and build you up. Yet keep dreaming big, because God knew you before you were formed and you were born wired for success, and if He has said it, it is a done deal.

   Illustration: Relatives who do not serve God may not want you to succeed, because your better, happier life is a testimony against them.

   “Whenever you have a dream, you will have a dream killer.”

   • Genesis 37:19-20
   • Jeremiah 1:5
   • 2 Corinthians 4:18
   • Numbers 23:19
   • John 10:10

3. Fire means God is cooking your dreams

   Joseph had done nothing wrong, yet he was hated and sold into slavery. Sometimes you suffer simply because you are righteous. The rule of interpretation matters: do not read the fire as God leaving you, because He is with you in it and is not finished.

   Illustration: From the day he gave his heart to the Lord he met problem after problem and told Pastor Zubeda he just wanted peace, but with every challenge he grew. A small tree fighting for sunlight in a forest one day finds itself as tall as the tallest. When people ask where the money for your dream will come from, say, from the same place the fish and bread came from.

   “Fire is not an indication that God's finished with you. No, it means God's just begun cooking your dreams.”

   • John 6:9-13

4. When someone digs a pit for you, God sends a caravan of Ishmaelites

   The brothers thought the pit was the end of Joseph, but as they put him down God raised him out. It was not his own people who pulled him out but Ishmaelites. God may use someone you would never choose to bring your help, so do not write anyone off or fuss about the package.

   Illustration: Your own brothers and sisters may walk past you while a Muslim, a Hindu, a Jew or an atheist is the one God uses to bless you.

   “Whenever somebody puts you down, God will raise you out.”

   • Genesis 37:24-28

5. Here on earth you will have many trials: a balanced gospel

   Reading John 16:33 in the New Living Translation, he says a balanced gospel speaks of trials and sorrows as well as favour, mercy and grace. Jesus' answer is 'take heart', because He has overcome the world, and if He overcame, you will. The Christian life calls for endurance when you are tired.

   Illustration: In secular employment everyone spoke well of him; the slander began as soon as he became a minister. Nobody runs the Comrades Marathon without cramps: halfway, the mind has to carry an aching body. The Lord told him to seek His face early every morning, even when he begged for one morning off.

   “If he overcame, you'll overcome.”

   • John 16:33

6. Some trials are common to the whole human family

   God gives sunlight to the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust, showing mercy to the ungodly because He wants them to turn to Him. So do not compare yourself with a prospering neighbour. When a challenge comes, say, 'I'm a dreamer, my dream must be tested.'

   Illustration: Dream small like a boiled egg and that is the size of trial you will have; dream big like an ostrich egg and the trial is big too.

   “The bigger the dream, the bigger the trial. But the bigger the trial, the bigger the victory.”

   • Matthew 5:45

7. Other problems are attacks from the enemy to discourage you

   Most of a Christian's particular problems come from the devil, who uses people, but behind them is a spirit. If you refuse to be offended or discouraged you are fine, so keep your joy level high. God also uses these moments to set your loves in order, so that you love Him more than your car or your clothes.

   Illustration: Nine cars are parked together and only yours is broken into. He admits he once loved his car more than God. A man of God pushed a beach ball to the bottom of the pool, let go, and it popped straight up.

   “You can never keep a good man down.”

   • 1 Peter 5:8
   • Philippians 4:4

8. Popcorn will never pop in a cold pot

   Without fire nothing pops; when the heat is turned up you start to pop, you smell good and you feed many. People see him strike the rock but do not know his wilderness years, when friends forsook him and he was persecuted at work. The church needs Christians who endure and stick with a job or an assignment while God prepares them.

   Illustration: His generation grew up under apartheid and did not walk out of a job because they were treated badly. Moses came out of the wilderness a stutterer and God sent him to speak to Pharaoh.

   “When the devil turns on the heat, you will start to pop.”

   • Exodus 17:6
   • Exodus 4:10

9. Your time is coming: do not run before your time

   In the pit God sends an Ishmaelite, and in the prison He has a butler and a baker and a king who will hear your name. God hears the prayers nobody else sees. Wait for your time, because a platform that comes before its time comes without the grace to keep you; run for God, not for money, promotion or status.

   Illustration: When they started the church nobody wanted to know them. Once nobody wanted to listen to Joyce Meyer, and now everybody does. A man who gave him a hard time for years at work later found himself reporting to him.

   “If you run before your time you won't have the grace to keep you.”

   • Genesis 40:1-4
   • Genesis 41:9-14