 Amen. So keep your place there in Matthew chapter 1, so we're continuing our Christmas story series tonight before Christmas Day next Sunday. And tonight we're going to look, we've looked at John the Baptist, we looked at Elizabeth, his mother, we looked at Mary last week, and this week tonight we're going to look a little bit at somebody who hasn't mentioned all that much in the Bible, but Joseph. Joseph, the actual husband of Mary, obviously not the birth father of Jesus Christ as you know God, the Father is you know Jesus' father. But we're going to look at Joseph tonight, we're going to look at some things in his life, things about Joseph that are admirable, things that we can take from that admirable. And then we're also going to look at how God communicated with Joseph and see how we can apply that to our lives tonight. So look down at the Bible if you would at Matthew chapter 1 in verse number 19. So Joseph comes on the scene here, of course he is espoused as we went through in the last couple of weeks, he's espoused to Mary which in the Bible is, you know it's not the equivalent of engagement today, engagement today, in today's society means nothing, you know people don't take it seriously, engagement is kind of a different thing than a spousal. A spousal in the Bible was considered marriage, it was considered marriage but it was before the husband and wife came together physically as husband and wife. So Joseph as espoused to Mary finds her with child, she's pregnant and of course Joseph, you know that's a problem for most people, right in the normal world. But we see Joseph's character right away with how he handles this. We went through Deuteronomy last week with the law considering divorce and fornication and things like that during that espousal period. But in verse number 19 and look at how Joseph handles this situation. It says then Joseph her husband being a just man and not willing to make her a public example was minded to put her away privily. So as we talked about last week he would have been justified into bringing her before the elders you know that she had been in fornication before you know they came together in marriage. Look at verse number 20. But while he thought on these things, now of course God intervenes, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying, Joseph thou son of David fear not to take unto Mary thy wife for that which is conceived of her is of the holy ghost. And she shall bring forth the son and thou shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying behold the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth the son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted is God with us. Of course Jesus is God. Then Joseph being raised from sleep as did the angel of the Lord had bitten him, did as the angel of the Lord had bitten him and took unto him his wife and he knew her not. Of course that's a, they did not, that means they did not come together physically till she had brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus. So Joseph right away at the beginning he could have put her away, let's go back before the angel even talks to him. You know Joseph, when I think of Joseph he's not mentioned very many times in the Bible Matthew chapter 1, Matthew chapter 2 is kind of Joseph's debut in the Bible. You don't hear too much about him after that. But Joseph when I think about how his actions were here, what he was justified in doing but what he didn't do, what he didn't push forward doing, Joseph I kind of think of Joseph is just like when I think of a good man I think of Joseph. You know there's a couple of things. First of all he showed, he was going to show mercy to his espoused wife Mary. Before God even intervened he could have taken her publicly and put her away or divorced her as the Bible lays out in Deuteronomy as we went through last week. But he was, he was, he was a just man, he didn't want to do that. He was a merciful man, he was going to put her away privily meaning privately, quietly. He did not want to, even though it appeared she had betrayed him he did not want to harm her, damage her, things like that. He was just, he was just a good man. He was just a very merciful person. Turn to Luke chapter 6. So again just because he had the right to do so doesn't mean that he had to do it. Okay? Doesn't mean that he had to go through it. And the point I want to make here before we even get into the sermon, this is just his introduction, is this. The Bible teaches very clearly that forgiveness and mercy is always an option. Okay? Forgiveness and mercy is always an option. Look at Luke chapter 6 and verse 36. I'm going to give you two reasons why forgiveness and mercy are always options and especially when dealing with our brothers and sisters in Christ and who the Bible would call our neighbors, people that are not like enemies of God. You know forgiveness and mercy are the preferred option. Alright? Look at verse 36 of Luke chapter 6. I'll give you two reasons why. That you should always default to mercy and forgiveness. And that's what Joseph was doing here. He was just defaulting to maximum mercy when it came to Mary. Look at verse number 36. The Bible says be ye therefore merciful as your father also is merciful. So the Bible is saying here the first reason that you should show mercy is because God the Father showed mercy to you. You're like what do you mean? When did he show mercy to me? Well I don't know. How about when he sent his son to die for you? How about when you deserve to go to hell and he sent himself as the Son of God to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world including all of yours? So that is why that's the first reason you should be merciful because somebody was merciful to you. Because all you deserve, as we talked about this morning, all you deserve personally, all I deserve personally is to go to hell. That's what we deserve because we are sinners. We deserve that. So Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 7 is the second reason. So first of all, I mean that makes perfect sense. Somebody showed mercy to me, I should show as much mercy as possible to others. Alright? Look at Matthew chapter 5 verse number 7. Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 7. Now if that's not enough for you, here's another reason that you should show mercy. Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 7. Here's a selfish reason for you. You know here's a selfish reason that you should show mercy whenever you can. The Bible says blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. So the Bible is literally saying here if you are merciful you will get mercy. So what does that imply if you're not merciful? If you're not merciful that implies that your Heavenly Father is going to deal with you in a way. I'm not talking about losing your salvation or anything like that. I'm talking about just being chastised. You know your Heavenly Father dealing with you as a son. I'm talking about if you're not merciful to people you are not going to be granted mercy. That's what the Bible is saying here. Look at James chapter 2. James chapter 2. If you need more evidence on that, James chapter 2 and verse number 13 is extremely clear. James chapter 2. I'm going to wait for you to turn there. James chapter 2 and verse number 13. So number 1 you should be merciful. Joseph was showing mercy. He was a good man. He was showing mercy where he didn't have to. The law was on his side. He could have followed the law through as it was written but instead he aired on the side of mercy. Alright? I'm trying to convince you to do the same tonight. Look at verse number 13 of James chapter 2. It says for he shall have judgment without mercy that showeth no mercy and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. Now let me tell you some things that this says. Let me tell you what this doesn't say. It says he shall have judgment without mercy. Alright? So it's saying if you show no mercy, let's walk it backwards. If you show no mercy you're going to have judgment without mercy meaning judgment is there. Okay? Now what people will say today is C should never judge. Whoa. Like what are you talking about? That's not what that says. The Bible does not say don't ever judge anywhere ever. Okay? As a matter of fact in John chapter 7 the Bible says look judgment is necessary. Judgment is necessary. In James chapter 2 verse 13 what we're talking about here is two types of judgment. There's judgment with mercy and there's judgment without mercy. And the Bible is saying if you have judgment without mercy then you're going to receive less mercy. That's all it's saying. In both of those scenarios judgment was there. There's this wicked false doctrine that's going throughout Christianity today that says don't judge. It's not in the Bible. In John chapter 7 it actually says judge righteous judgment. If people would just think about these things what they're being told for five seconds just think about what it means to not judge. How many people have raised children or would like to raise children with no judgment? Raise your hand. I want my kids to have no judgment. Judgment simply means I brought it up this morning in first Kings chapter 3 verse number 9 when Solomon was asked by God what do you want ask me anything what would you like? You know what Solomon asked for? He said give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people. He asked for judgment and then he defines it in the very next words it says to discern between good and bad. So judgment all judgment means all to judge means all to judge a situation look I hope my children are very judgmental I hope they have very good judgment every single decision you make in your life is some kind of judgment this don't ever judge is ridiculous like you're just supposed to walk around like just thinking everything's great and you know it's the same thing with don't hate anything or anybody you must you know you must not extremely dislike is what hate means you must not extremely dislike anything or anyone what in the world you know what kind of person would tell you to not extremely dislike anything or anybody and have zero judgment on anything an extremely evil person would tell you that that's the kind of person. So look in James chapter 2 and verse number 13 we're looking at two types of judgment and the Bible is saying the best type of judgment is judgment with mercy right there's judgment without mercy and there's judgment with mercy and it's saying mercy is better mercy is the better option alright so look judgment without mercy is bad especially when it comes to our neighbors and our brothers and sisters in Christ God prefers mercy God prefers mercy turn to Proverbs chapter 25 even with by the way even with your enemies even with your enemies God prefers mercy I didn't say God's enemies because there's a difference between God's enemies and your personal enemies but look at Proverbs chapter 25 and verse number 21 and this is also repeated by Paul in Romans chapter 12 but we'll look at the original doctrine in the Bible look at Proverbs chapter 25 verse number 21 the Bible says this about your enemies now what a lot of people do is they'll make their personal enemies God's enemies that's elevating yourself to God's level and we ought not do that alright but look at Proverbs 25 and verse 21 the Bible says if a dying enemy that means your enemy be hungry give him bread to eat and if he be thirsty give him water to drink for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head and the Lord shall reward thee so look if you have somebody that just doesn't like you or is your personal enemy for one reason or another I mean first of all this works I mean if you have somebody to just like just despises you or you're in some kind of the first thing you're not you're not supposed to like return evil for evil you're supposed to their mean to you and you're just supposed to be nice back and you know what it's just going to drive them nuts is what the Bible is saying they're going to be like and it works it works just return you know evil comes to you and just return it with mercy and and what does the Bible say it will just heap coals of fire on their head it's totally true and in Matthew chapter six verse number seven the opposite of this is Matthew chapter seven look at verse number six turn back to Matthew chapter seven verse number six so the Bible is telling you like Proverbs like Proverbs has like the answer to everything the proverb Proverbs has how to deal with your friends how to deal with your enemies how to be in church how to find a wife how to you know all these different things every single how to handle your business everything is in the book of Proverbs it's it's it's the direction for your personal relationships on this earth and the Bible is saying when you have a personal enemy just return mercy and you're like yeah but I want to get him well that's how you get that's what the Bible is saying you're just going to return mercy you're not going to jump down in the in the ditch with these enemies with even you know bad people that are attacking you or whatever but look at Matthew chapter seven the opposite most of the time this is what people do in Matthew chapter seven look at verse number six most of the time instead of returning you know good for bad here's what people will do the Bible says give not that which is holy unto the dogs neither cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you I had somebody explain this verse to me this way kind of paraphrase it this way don't get down in the mud with the pigs because the pigs like it this is the people that get on you know get on social media and want to argue with people and you know just get down in the mud with all you know sometimes very bad people and you're not going to change everybody's mind but they like it they like that they get you engaged they like that they can pull you into their mess and look the Bible says it's going to rend you it's you're going to get hurt that way and you ought not do that don't cast what is holy unto the dogs you are holy you have the Holy Spirit in you and if you ever I mean this is a little bit different than Proverbs 25 or these are wicked you know dogs as the Bible says you know haters of God reprobates but don't get involved with even arguing or debating with people like that all right so look Joseph was a merciful man he was a good example of how you just grant mercy as a default okay that's all introduction that's not even the point of the sermon go back to Matthew chapter one and verse number 20 Matthew chapter one verse number 20 so Joseph he was he was a good man he was he was who God needed in this case you also know that he was right with God because every single command that God gave him throughout the life of before he Jesus was born and Jesus having to go to Egypt and bring Jesus back from Egypt he followed God he never questioned the Lord one time he just did what he was told and he was very obedient to God look at verse number 20 of Matthew chapter one so the Bible is saying here after you know he finds out that his wife is a spoused wife is pregnant it says but while he thought on these things behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying Joseph thou son of David fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife for that which is conceived of her is in the Holy Ghost now turn to Matthew chapter 2 and look at verse number 12 turn to Matthew chapter 2 and verse number 12 I just want to point out something that's consistent in how God communicates here with Joseph so he didn't just come and have an angel stand in front of Joseph he communicated to Joseph in a dream okay look at verse number 12 this is talking about the wise men that came from the east to visit Jesus after Jesus is already born he's a he's a young child at this point and of course they didn't go back to say by the way there wasn't there's no evidence in the Bible that there was three wise men people just think that because there was three gifts you know it fits with the nativity scene little idols and they go with three okay but there could have been ten who knows right look at verse number 12 and being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod they departed into their own country another way that's talking about the wise men going back they were warned by God how in a dream okay look at verse number 13 and when they were departed the wise men behold the angel the Lord appeared to Joseph again in a dream saying arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt that there and be there until I bring the word for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him of course after this Herod sends an order to kill all the children under two years old to try to destroy Jesus or destroy this Messiah that he heard was born and look at verse skip down for sake of time to verse number 19 just to prove my point after Herod's dead now this horrible thing was done Herod's dead of course they did not kill Jesus because God protected him by you know using Joseph to take Jesus and marry away look at verse number 19 though it says but when Herod was dead behold an angel the Lord appeared what in a dream to Joseph in Egypt so we see that God is using a pattern here he's communicating to the wise men Joseph several different times through dreams okay now as in my short times of pastor I have been asked this question several times and I'm going to answer it to you tonight from the Bible the question is can God can God talk to us through dreams that's the question all right now before I answer the question yes or no because it is a yes or no answer okay it is a yes here's the here's the answer I'll give you the answer yes yes he can and I'm going to prove to you from the Bible go to Genesis chapter 37 there is dreams there is people in the Old Testament Joseph in the New Testament the wise men in the New Testament being communicated to God by God in their dreams all the time probably the most famous one in the Old Testament is Joseph Joseph himself and I don't know if there's a correlation there between the name you know Joseph had a dream he was a dreamer of dreams the Bible said you know the Bible says in Genesis 20 Jacob's ladder you know the vision that he saw was in a dream in verse number 37 you know he had this dream that he went to his brothers this is what got Joseph and all these trouble he's like you know he was the youngest brother and he went to all his older brothers he's like hey I had this dream that you're all going to serve me just kept bringing up this dream and so they all hated him and they all wanted to like you know kill him later on Genesis chapter 37 Genesis chapter 37 verse number 19 they got so upset with them this is what they said this brother said and they said to one another behold this dreamer cometh because all this trouble that was getting Joseph into it was coming from his dreams that he was having okay God was communicating to him through dreams these things happened they did end up serving him he ended up as the number two man in Egypt just right below Pharaoh right later on the reason he gets out of prison and he gets you know his brothers throw him into slavery and he goes into prison for several different things but he ends up interpreting dreams dreams were a huge part of Joseph's life just interpretations that God gave him you know visions that God gave him in dreams you know dreams were ways of God communicating to people all throughout the Bible Abimelech he even gave a even gave bad news in dreams Abimelech you know the the wicked you know the wicked son of Gideon he's like you know bad he communicated bad news to him he's like I'm you're dead in a dream there's a there's a message you don't want from God look but he God communicates through dreams in the Bible all the time so can God can talk to us through dreams yes yes he can but the question is this let's start here look at the Bible and let's have proper context to this turn to Hebrews chapter 1 turn to Hebrews chapter 1 the question is this how does he do it how does he do it how do I know if it's God I'm going to answer those questions for you tonight go to Hebrews chapter 1 and look at verse number one let's just do a real quick Bible study here and let me connect some dots for you but look we see lots of evidence in the Old Testament the New Testament about God communicating to people through dreams the question is can it communicate to me through dreams and I'm telling you yes he can and I'm going to show you from the Bible that this isn't my opinion this is what the Bible says and I'll explain it to you now look at verse number one of Hebrews chapter 1 the Bible says this God who at sundry times and in diverse manners what that says is several different times many different times and in diverse manners meaning many different methods and ways spake in time passed unto the fathers by the prophets half in these last days now remember we are in the last days okay Jesus himself told the disciples that we are in the last days so the disciples were in the last days okay I'm not going to predict Jesus coming tomorrow that's not what this is about the last days meaning the last half the last part we're not in the end times but we're in the last days that's just a phrase that is used even Jesus said it during the disciples time so look he had spake to the fathers by the prophets okay we get that this is the Old Testament hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he has appointed of all things by whom also he made the worlds so the Bible here is saying is that yes he spoke in time passed to the fathers by the prophets the prophets would get visions from God get messages from God and they would go tell the people Jeremiah Isaiah you name them all this is what they did they spoke the word of God thank God we have you know we have what God wants us to have in the Bible sitting in front of us but he says now he speaks to us by his son all right he speaks to us by who's the son by Jesus okay what is Jesus Jesus is the word John chapter 1 Jesus is the word and the word you know became flesh and dwelt among us is what we're going to celebrate next week is the birth of the Messiah and I like how it says in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2 it says whom he has appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds so what he's saying is Jesus is who God communicates through he communicates to us through Jesus by the way he also made the worlds through Jesus how did God make the world he spoke it so what God is saying here is that he communicates me just translate this for you he communicates to us today through his word that is what the Bible clearly says all right now I'm going to dig a little bit deeper into that in just a few minutes but turn to John 1st John chapter 4 1st John chapter 4 so you say I I dream something and I think that it was God talking to me how do I know if it was God well the Bible tells us how you can know if it was God and then I'll explain how God could actually you know communicate to you in your sleep in your dreams through his son okay look at 1st John chapter 4 and verse number 1 so the first thing is this the first thing is this the Bible is very clear that it might not just be God that communicates to you in in your dreams okay 1st John chapter 4 and verse number 1 says beloved believe not every spirit now spirit there being lowercase meaning every person or message that you receive but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world you say okay so it says try the spirits that means test the spirits okay so that means every message you get whether it be when you're awake or when you're sleeping you need to try those spirits test them to see if they're of God you say how do I do that well God tells us go to Deuteronomy chapter 13 God tells us how to do that all right God tells us how to test the spirits to see if they're of God go to Deuteronomy chapter 13 look at verse number one you say if there's a test I need to put these spirits to which God would tell me what the test is I'm going to show you go to Deuteronomy chapter 13 look at verse number one Deuteronomy chapter 13 verse number one because look we've talked about this before not every message that you receive in your life whether you be awake or sleeping not every opportunity that comes in front of you whether you be you know conscious or not you know guess who else is trying to lead you in this world the Satan is walking about on this earth as we saw in Job chapter one this morning he's walking around he's he's on the earth with his demons and he's trying to derail you he can't take away your salvation he can't make you go to hell but he can make you worthless he can get you into trouble he can get you into sin he can get you into things that you shouldn't be into to make you what unfruitful unprofitable in your Christian life that's what he wants and look if you're out here and you're being a profitable Christian if you're out preaching the gospel to people you're out getting people saved let me tell you something if you move from not being a profitable Christian to being a profitable Christian your life will change because you have a target on your back and I can't tell you how many times I've seen this because now the devil is trying to get you unprofitable unfruitful okay look at Deuteronomy chapter 13 verse number one the Bible says if there arise among you a prophet there arise among you a prophet just listen to everything he says no matter what I mean he's a prophet most people how do you know somebody's a prophet I mean everybody says they're a prophet if they're rising on you a prophet or look at this a dreamer of dreams and give it the a sign or a wonder now here's what's really interesting and the sign or wonder come to pass so here this prophet comes out and he says I had I have a vision from the Lord I have a message from the Lord and he said the Lord's going to give me a sign and look the sign happens the sign happens wherefore he speak unto these saying let us go after other gods which thou has not known and let us serve them then now shall not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God prove with you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul I will hear saying if you have some profit he comes out because guess who else is going to do great signs and wonders false prophets will do great signs and wonders the false profit that works for the antichrist is going to do great signs and wonders and the entire world is going to follow him so it's not the signs and wonders it's what he's actually saying the Bible says that these prophets are going to come and they're going to try to draw you away from the Lord and draw you into false gods false things against what the Word of God says and it says you know God is testing you God is you know that's a test for you as a Christian whether or not you will recognize that or not so all that to say this dreams can be good or they can be bad so we first need to understand that we need to understand okay and God communicate with me through my dreams and I'm going to show you how he does that in a few minutes but I first want to show you that dreams just like opportunities that come to you they can be good and they can be bad and they need to be tested against what against what God's Word says and how in the world could you test something against God's Word if you have no idea what it says this is how important it is to read the Bible this is how important it is that you be like the Bereans that we just learned about in Acts chapter 17 that you just you study yourself to see if these things are so you don't just sit and just listen to sermons you go home and you read the Bible and study the Bible say I don't know pastor said that is that what is that what this is is that what the Bible says look we need to study to show ourselves approved the Bible says look at verse number four Deuteronomy chapter 13 you shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and oh look at this obey his voice there it is you see how the Old Testament is no different than the New Testament obey his voice obey his word obey his son obey Jesus I just said the same thing like four times it's all the same thing verse number five and that prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death like that's what God thinks of false prophets okay because spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage to thrust the out of the way which the Lord God commanded thee to walk in so shall that put that evil away from the midst of thee so look we all know this look dreams can be powerful dreams can be powerful you can wake up from a dream I mean who's experienced this I mean you wake up from a from sleeping you wake up in the morning and like you feel completely different about something for like 10 minutes dreams are very very powerful I'm gonna explain to you why they're powerful but you need to understand you don't just wake up from a dream and be like that was really powerful I feel this way towards this now really strongly you must try that that message you must test that message because it could be good or it could be bad as we just saw we need to make sure that it matches God's voice as as the Bible just said try those spirits to see if they're of God look they might be they might be but look as soon as you start to understand the Bible really easy to figure out whether these are good spirits or bad spirits you mean good messages or bad things maybe they're things that were from your past that you shouldn't even be thinking about or shouldn't even be you know people that you've separated from that you you should stay separated from and you you had a dream for some reason about it look that's not a good thing you should be able to try these things all right whether they're good or bad so you need to test dreams are very powerful let me give you just a little bit of a testimonial I've had I've had many revelations through dreams well I don't mean biblical revelations where I'm writing scripture okay don't leave the church okay but the point is I've had many things that have come to me I have I have been thinking about things at work really stressed out about a project at work and and just having problems technical issues at work and I have literally dreamed the solution I have dreamed about something and I've woken up and I've tried it and it worked and look I'm telling you that's from God I'm telling you that didn't come from me that is a that's a blessing that's a blessing I remember I'll give you one specific example that sort of changed my life and it wasn't a dream but it was a it was a deep thought that just kind of seemed to come from nowhere I was literally in the middle of the pasture working on a fence post I was tamping a fence post how many people know what that means I had a railroad tie that I was putting in the ground and I was walking around this railroad tie tamping this dirt around this railroad tie and I had this huge project at work and also in this idea just I just thought of this idea on this project and this product this idea it turned into this massive success that turned into a patent for the company and guess what that idea and that patent helped me get a job when I moved to California that one thing that and I said from the beginning I was recently saved when that happened just a few years earlier and I said from the beginning because guess what I always prayed for creativity those one of my prayers that I always had if you have a you have a job and you want to do better at your job that's a great prayer pray for creativity you're a homeschooling mom pray for creativity why would God not answer that prayer so I always prayed for creativity I prayed for God to give me ideas to help solve problems all these types of things and look that was just an answered prayer that's all that was I literally I wasn't even thinking about work I was I was kicking dirt in a hole and just this just popped into my head it's just from it's just from the Lord that's all and I mean I'm not any more smart than anybody else it was just from the Lord that's all it was and it turned out that that turned out to be a great blessing in my life it helped get me to where I am today stand in here in front of you all so you can see these things it's definitely blessings can come from God into your mind okay that's the main point that you need to understand again you have to test it against the Bible to know if it's of God now turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 I love situations I love situations where science catches up to the Bible but let me read you a secular we have let me read you a secular explanation of what dreams are okay the question is the question is God communicated the prophets through dreams he communicated to Mary's husband Joseph through dreams does he communicate to us through dreams yeah I'm going to tell you yes he does and I'm going to tell you how he does it okay go to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and while you turn there again you're going to have many things come to you through dreams you need to test them to see if they are of the voice of God or not all right so we know that I'm going to give you some secular science on dreams there was a book written in 2011 and it was called dream it dream on it unlock your dreams and change your life it was by this this gal and she just shares all these insights about dreams all right but here's a description of what dreams actually are from this secular scientist she's a PhD or some scientist expert in in dreams okay but here's what she says I love when science catches up to the Bible all right because the Bible has all the answers in it she says this dreams are thoughts when you are dreaming you are thinking but on a much deeper and focused level than when you're awake think about it when you go to sleep the lights are off your eyes are closed and the world around you is shut out there are no distractions the mind doesn't stop working at this point whatever your stream of thought is as you drift off continues and begins to go inward as your conscious waking literal mind slips into a state of rest your deeper inner subconscious mind takes over so what she is saying here is just what are dreams dreams are thoughts I agree I agree many times you will dream about things if you're super stressed about something you'll have dreams about that you can tell that dreams are just their continuations of your thoughts so science has caught up to the Bible are you in Ecclesiastes chapter five look at verse number three Ecclesiastes chapter five look at verse number three the Bible says for a dream coming through the multitude of business let me just let me say that differently because what business means in the King James Bible is really busyness it means it means being profitable work that you're doing that's what that's what business as that word means to us so what that means for a dream coming through the multitude of business it says you know what that's saying dreams are thoughts and you're going to dream about what you're busy doing Solomon knew it you know this lady just caught up I don't know twenty five hundred years later or so probably more no you have more than that three thousand years later you will dream about things that you are thinking about the Bible tells us this now go to Joshua chapter one can God communicate to us through our dreams so you will dream about things that you're thinking about that you're busy doing meaning things that you're just you're feverishly doing and you're taking seriously you will dream about those things and according to that scientist you will dream about those things on a much deeper level again I agree how you know how you could you know possibly wake up in the morning and have a solution that you didn't have the night before is because your mind keeps going your mind keeps going even while you're sleeping look at Joshua chapter one in verse number eight so question is what are what are you thinking about what are you thinking about Joshua chapter one look at verse number eight how about this one what should you be thinking about this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth meaning you should be speaking God's word but thou shall meditate therein day and night that thou mayst observe to do according to all that is written therein for then shall thou make thy way prosperous and then not shall have good success so if God in these last days has spoken to us by his son through his word the Bible says we should be meditating day and night on that word and guess what you're going to dream about it you're going to dream about God's word you're going to dream about things that you've read things that you meditate on let me give you a little bit of an insight into how I write sermons you say I write three unique sermons every single week you say is it nice to get through Sunday night I'm kind of like yes I made it again I somehow preach two more sermons on Sunday but guess what Monday morning right away right away Monday morning what do I do I read I don't write any sermons on Monday I don't I hardly ever write anything down Monday but what I do is I'm going to read Acts chapter 18 at least twice as early as I can tomorrow morning why so I can think about it so I can meditate on it I'm telling you if I wrote a sermon I could probably sit down and write a sermon in in one day in just a couple hours but it wouldn't be that good why because I need I mean I like to think about it I like to read it and meditate about it I like to think about it think of applications about it you know I talked to my wife about it I'm like hey what do you think about this and then my wife says hey what do you think about this she's got you know things we talk what are we doing we're just talking about we're not letting the law depart from our mouth and we're meditating I'm meditating on these things and then I write some things down I kind of bust out a skeleton of an outline on Tuesday and then after I think about it some more sometimes I'm like yeah that doesn't really make much sense and then I kind of back things up and then I fill it out on Wednesday so like literally three days I'm saying it takes three days to write a sermon but that time is super important in order to get a good message because I like to meditate and look I've dreamed about things I've dreamed about God's Word I've dreamed about ideas to sermons I'm not saying that God is telling me some revelation that he's not telling you I'm telling you I'm dreaming about the same word of God that you have sitting on your lap right now but if you meditate on it it will communicate to you it will it will talk to you if you meditate on God's Word you will start putting those pieces of that puzzle together with things that are going on in your life you got some specific situation that only you know about that nobody else in the church knows about that you're going through or your family's going through or whatever and you're meditating on the Word of God but this is how important it is that you meditate on the Word of God because I don't know everything that's going on with you I don't know everything that's happened in your past and what's going on with you now that's why you need to meditate on the Word of God and then God will communicate through that word to you while you're awake and while you're sleeping it's very simple so does God communicate through us in our in our yes as long as you're thinking about the Word of God as long as you're meditating on the Word of God because that is how God communicates to us now if you if you decide that you had a dream and you wake up and you you decide that God gave you another book of the Bible that no one else has been given that doesn't pass the test that was not of God that was not of God Joseph Smith that's a false prophet okay those are false things so look God can communicate through you in your dreams it's just another way of you meditating on the Word of God that's all it is it's just your thoughts that's it now look a lot of people God can't communicate with a lot of people when they're awake much less when they're sleeping but if in order this is how you know this is how you know that that Joseph the man well he was a godly man he was a godly man that way when God did have a very specific message through the angel Gabriel for Joseph all right and that's why he never questioned it he never questioned it he tried those spirits they were of God they matched up with the voice of God and he knew that it was the Lord so yeah meditate day and night on God's word because look that's how God communicates with you God communicates through us look if you're hearing if you're here if you're awake and you're hearing audible voices you know you need to come talk to me all right because that's not what I'm talking about here I'm talking about meditating on the Word of God that we all have right here and then God will speak to you through this Word it's an infinite book it applies to you it applies to anyone who's ever lived and he will speak to you through it and if you meditate on it you will dream on it too and he will communicate through you and many times folks look I'm telling you many times the things that you're meditating on you will you will see things and you will connect things in your dreams it's an amazing thing which again shows the power of the Creator Jesus Christ that he created such intricacies in us that he can communicate with us in such great and wonderful ways so Joseph Joseph he was a good man and God was successfully able to communicate with him because he had a good bringing it back to the first sermon he had a good relationship with his heavenly father you know he had a good relationship with his heavenly father and I can tell you that I'm sure Joseph he and I'm sure these people God gave dreams to I'm sure they meditated on God's word just as Joe Joshua said that we should communicate on God's word and then you will dream about God's word and that may you know connect some dots for you in your life you know always testing always testing those things though against the word of God and how do you know the word of God you do the nine chapters a day challenge and you read the Bible cover to cover and you understand what God's word says and then it's easy to know whether it's God or not let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer