Passing the Pride Test

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Dream to Destiny • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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Dream to Destiny Week 1

Passing the Pride Test

Robert Morris

I first preached this series in 2003 and then again in 2011.

James said in 2003 that he thought I was preaching all my good messages

The church would grow and I was going to run out of good messages.

The Lord gave me this message the first time that I preached to our young adults

(I think there were 6) then I preached it as a series

Then I turned it into a series and then a book.

The young adults were named 1829 because the GP Campus was Shady Grove • And its former location was 1829 Shady Grove RD.

We needed to define an age limit because some older unmarried men

Were coming and looking for a wife. Church is a good place to find one

But that’s not the reason to come to church

So, I was thinking about people who were 18 to 29 and it dawned on me that

Joseph was 17 when he received his dream from God and 30

When he stepped into his destiny and

There were tests that he had to pass to not just step into his destiny,

But to fulfill it! So, this is for every age because if you’re still breathing,

You haven’t fulfilled your destiny yet!

And I started getting the tests like the pride test, then the pit test, the palace test, • The purity test, the prison test, the prosperity test, the power test,

The prophetic test, the pardon test, and the purpose test!

So, I knew it was God because they all started with the same letter!

So, I preached it in one night (10 points) to the young adults

And then I knew it was to be a series and it was for everyone!

I’m so excited so, if you’ve never heard it, you need to hear it!

And if you heard it in 2003 or 2011 or if you read the book,

You need to hear it again!

You will never fulfill your destiny completely • Until you pass all 10 of these tests!

Genesis 37:1–2

1 Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. ESV

Bilhah (Rachel’s maid) and Zilpah (Leah’s maid): I’m sure they were lovely girls!

Leah had 6 sons; Bilhah had 2; Zilpah had 2; and Rachel had 2; 12 sons

Jacob worked 7 years for Rachel but got Leah instead

He worked another 7 for Rachel and then Rachel was barren

Leah gave him 6 sons, then Rachel’s maid Bilhah gave him 2

Leah’s maid Zilpah gave him 2 then Rachel gave him Joseph and Benjamin

Genesis 37:3–7

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. 5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” ESV

How smart was this to tell older, bigger, stronger brothers this dream?

Let me remind you that they hate you! Remember 17?

Genesis 37:8–11

8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. ESV

Genesis 41:46

46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. ESV

So, he was 17 when he had the dream and 30 when he stepped into his destiny

But I’m also talking about fulfilling your destiny!

He didn’t fulfill his destiny until he was much older!

You’ll see the tests continue even after he start fulfilling his destiny

If you’re breathing, you haven’t fulfilled your destiny

You take the tests many times because God keeps giving us more influence!

1. God has a dream for you.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

God has a dream for everyone! God has a plan for your life!

• And God’s dream for you is bigger and better that your dream for you!

• That’s easy to prove, because God is bigger and better!

EVERY person has a dream from God! Joseph’s dream was from God!

• And every person has a destiny from God!

• The sad fact is that most people live with the dream instead of in the destiny!

These are character tests because your character supports your destiny

• The larger your destiny is, the deeper your character must be!

And God won’t let you step into your destiny if you’re not ready

• Because He loves you and doesn’t want you to fail!

With God, you never fail; You just keep taking the test over and over again!

• God doesn’t put “F” at the top of our paper. He puts “Retake”!

The first test is the pride test so if you think that you don’t need this one, • You need to listen carefully because you just failed it.

• Can you recognize pride in other people? Do you know why?

How can you know God’s dream for your life?

• How can you know God’s destiny for your life?

Numbers 12:6–8

6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lordmake myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” ESV

The key to knowing God’s dream for your life, is knowing God!

• Get to know the creator of dreams.

• Get to know the one Who can reveal it and fulfill it.

Psalm 103:7

He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.

The children of Israel knew His acts; Moses knew His ways!

• Israel knew how He acted. Moses knew why He acted, His ways!

• Get to know Him personally! Speak to Him every day as a friend!

Not all of your dreams are from God!

• How many men, over 40, played football in school?

• The Dallas Cowboys are not going to call!

2. Don’t brag about it.

This dream was from God! Joseph bragging about it was not from God!

• This is the only test I believe he failed the first time he took it!

• I think this is why he ended up in the next test, the pit test!

But his dream was from God. He misinterpreted it though.

• It wasn’t he was going to become a leader so his family could serve him!

• It was he was going to become a leader so he could serve multitudes!

Have you ever wondered why God gave him these 2 dreams and when he was 17?

• Because He knew pride was in his heart and

• He knew this was the best way to work it out of him!

He knew he would brag about it and get thrown into the pit and eventually prison

And if you’re in prison, you haven’t forfeited your destiny!

• You made some mistakes, but God still has a destiny for you!

• And we love you and you are part of our family!

We tend to make God’s dreams about our kingdom instead of His Kingdom!

• His brothers hated him for his dreams and his words

• They hated him for the way he talked about himself and maybe all the time!

Don’t brag about what you’re going to do! Pastor, let me tell you my dream! • Don’t boast about your destiny or you’ll never reach it!

• Learn to talk less and serve more!

Don’t brag about the call of God that’s on your life! Let me tell you my call!

• Don’t brag about what you’re going to do for God • Don’t brag about what you have done for God

• It’s really what God’s done through you!

Matthew 12:34

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Matthew 15:18

“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.”

Pastor, you don’t know what’s in my heart

• No, I don’t know everything, but I know some things

• Because you’ve been talking about yourself for an hour now!

If pride is in your heart, it will come out!

• Pride always wants to be heard

• Pride always wants to give an opinion

• Pride always interrupts because its opinion is more important!

Joseph brought a bad report of his brothers before he had the dream.

• Joseph had pride even before he had the dreams!

• The dream wasn’t his destiny

His destiny was to feed multitudes!

• If I show him feeding multitudes, that won’t bring the pride out

• But if I show him his brothers bowing down to him…

Is it possible that God knows that there is pride in your life,

• So, he gives you a big dream, and is now working humility in your life?

• He knew he would brag and then God could prepare him for his destiny!

Is it possible that you are frustrated with people

• Because you’re not walking in your destiny and they are?

• But it’s actually God getting you ready to walk in your destiny?

I am a person who thinks out loud. I think while I’m talking

• Some think before they speak. Some think while they speak.

• Some people think after they speak. Some people never think!

For some of you to stop bragging, you’re going to have to “Stop Talking”!

• I used to talk too much, and I asked Debbie to help me!

• I can’t tell you how many nudges I’ve gotten under the table!

3. Deal with the root of pride.

If pride is in your heart, insecurity, inferiority and inadequacy is in your soul

• Your soul is made up of your mind, will and emotions

• You have insecure, inferior, and inadequate thoughts, decisions and feelings!

With every new position comes new insecurities, inferiorities, and inadequacies

• We’re doing great and then we get a promotion or more responsibility

• And we feel insecure, inferior, and inadequate

The prince leaves the castle, disguises himself and wins her heart •Then He becomes the King, and she is the Queen

• How does she deal with insecurity?

She knows she’s married to the King and what He sacrificed to win her heart

• She deals with pride because she knows from where she came

I was born to a poor family and the King saw me from the castle,

• Left the castle, lived as a pauper, won my heart, and proposed!

Knowing I’m a child of the King takes care of my insecurity • Remembering I was adopted takes care of my pride!

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