When Things Go Awry // Don't Miss God's Opportunities, Part 2

<p>The official statistics tell us that there are around 20 million slaves in the world today. Unofficially, the experts tell us it’s closer to 100 million. Staggering. But forget the statistics. Let’s just bring it down to one. Could you imagine, being sold into slavery? Can you imagine what that would be like?</p> <h4><span style="color: #ff9900;">Sold Into Slavery</span></h4> <p>Last week on the program we spent a bit of time travelling along the road with young Joseph, son of Jacob (or Israel as God called Him) way back in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. And it’s been an exciting journey of a young man who had big dreams for his life. Huge dreams – not born of himself, but given to Him, apparently by God.</p> <p>Have another listen, as he tells his father and brothers about the amazing dream God’s given him:</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.</em></p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?” So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. (Genesis 27:1–11)</em></p> <p>When we give our lives to Jesus – and even sometimes before we do that – God puts dreams in our hearts, dreams that almost always seem to be crazy and impossible – that’s