Part 1 | When Life Doesn’t Go As Planned
Genesis 37 | April 12, 2026
Dr. Mark S. Hartman, Lead Pastor – SCBC
- Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (NIV)
1. GOD MADE YOU A SPECIAL PERSON. (Genesis 37:1-4)
- A. Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world.
- Romans 12:2 Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its mold.''(Phillips translation)
- B. Psalm 139:13-14 For God, You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.
- C. Joseph’s choice to be a person of character changed his destiny.
- D. How do you set your character to live a successful life? Every day look into the Bible to see what God says is right and wrong and choose right. Expect that choice to be tested for the rest of your life. Choose to do right no matter what it costs you and in the end your life soars.
2. GOD MADE YOU ON PURPOSE, FOR A PURPOSE. (GENESIS 37:5-11)
- A. Genesis 37:5-11 Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had; 7 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 Then his brothers said to him, "Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.(NASB)
- B. God has given to all of us two key purposes to accomplish: to love Him and to love each other with a whole heart.
- C. Within these two purposes, God gives to us assignments to accomplish;visions of what our life is designed to accomplish.
- D. How God reveals our Life’s Vision:
- Observe the talents God has given you.
- God always opens opportunities as a way of showing His direction.
- Revelation – Has God laid a special goal on your heart?
3. GOD CALLS YOU TO TRUST HIM WHEN LIFE DOESN’T GO AS PLANNED. (Genesis 37:18-28)
- A. No character and no dream is accomplished untested.
- B. Genesis 37:18-20 But his brothers saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
- C. God is sovereign. The word sovereign means that what God wills He will do and there is no power capable of stopping Him.