How many believers and young people rely on their friends and family to find support and fulfillment today? Unfortunately friends and family will always disappoint us and let us down. Only God and his word can satisfy our hearts and only God and His Word will never let us down.

Our family and friends will always let us down, that's the just the way it is. You're family and friends are not God and they are not the ones who created you. They don't know every single thing about you and what heart needs exactly to sustain you.

Okay, look with me now to Genesis 37:5-10. This is the story of Joseph and I want to show you guys how this point is in the Bible too. This is what it says,

⁵ Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

⁸ His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.⁹ Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”
Now look back at Genesis 37:5-8.
Look what happens to Joseph when he goes to tell his parents in Genesis 37: 9-10
"Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”
They don't realize though that God's word and promises are always Yes & Amen - forever. His word will never let us down. Those promises that he told you at retreat or wherever will come about because God cannot lie. God cannot lie. He can't tell you that you're going to minister to Africa and then never do it. He is bound by himself. He can't just change his mind even if he is God. God knows the plans he has for you and if he tells you a little bit about them he can't just be like hey just kidding! I got ya good! No, he doesn't do that. Let's go back to the story of Joseph. This is kind of a mashed up summary of his life out of different verses in the chapters to come. Read with me.
Now here's the thing God's promises and God's word sometimes take time to happen though. Yes he will never lie to you or take back any of his promises but it might take a little bit longer that you thought. Also God's promises and word will sometimes be put to the test. And I know that neither of these statements make you very happy to hear but  they're true. You may come back from that great experience with God where he was speaking to you but in the weeks to come you don't hear him or you don't feel anything. But here's the thing, Joseph never heard directly from God again. After the dream at the beginning of his adventure he didn't hear God again. But it is said throughout the story over and over that the Lord was with him. 
Through all of Joseph's trial and pain and waiting what God had promised him, God's word to him did come to pass and was fulfilled. Look at Romans with me.
Through all of Joseph's trial and pain and waiting what God had promised him, God's word to him did come to pass and was fulfilled. Look at Romans with me.

Even though God's words and promises take time, and test us through trials he will fulfill every promise in scripture as we wait on him. He has to.
 

Even though God's words and promises take time, and test us through trials he will fulfill every promise in scripture as we wait on him. He has to.

Close with general prayer for youth group. Pray for encouragement that God is always with students, for faith to believe God’s word, strength to stand strong when everyone else doubts, etc.

So I want you to imagine how Joseph is feeling right now.  Joseph is super excited to hear and finally experience God speaking to him. Now in the past he had heard stories about how God had worked in his Great Grandfather Abraham's life and in his Grandfather Isaac's AND in his Father Jacob's life; but now it was HIS turn. It was his turn to finally experienced all God was speaking and revealing to him.  So Joseph finally receives a revelation of his future and calling in God, just like we do like when we go on Mission trips or youth retreats and know we are hearing or seeing God's calling on our lives. You might just have an inner knowledge that God is going to use your life. You might not know what he is going to do with your life but you know it's going to be incredible. God has given you that peace that he's got you right where he wants you.

⁵ Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

⁸ His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

So Joseph has this dream from God and he's super excited. He might not understand it all but he's still super excited the the Kind of the Universe gave it to him. So he goes to his brothers, his friends, expecting them to be just as excited as he is. He's like "Hey guys! Look what God said. Look God spoke to me! Isn't that so cool?!" But they simply hated them all the more. They already didn't like Joseph since he was the baby of the family, at the time. His father had blessed him and simply adored Joseph. He gave Joseph the coat of many colors and just constantly doted on him. So even after that Joseph comes to them and tells them this dream, which basically means they will bow down to him eventually. This made them so mad. But think about it for a second, how many times do we get back from all these awesome experiences with God and run and tell our friends at school about it, and they don't seem to care or understand. They didn't experience it with you. Or even at youth group. Everyone at youth group gets back from an awesome retreat or trip and are all hyped up at first but then in the weeks to come everyone fades. Everyone goes back to normal life while you are sitting here cherishing what God did there. So this time you go to your family, because family has to support you right? They are required to love you right? 

Okay let's take a second and go back and think about how Joseph is feeling right now. So first off you go off and tell your brothers about this incredible, magnificent thing from God. But now, they hate you and want to kill you which older brothers usually want to do anyway but this Word from God made them hate him even more. So Joseph goes and tells his parents about what God said. But even then his parents were skeptical too! No one wants to be told that they are going to bow down before you one day.

Sometimes when people don't experience the same thing you did they have a hard time understanding what it was like or why you are so excited about it. How many times have you come back from a youth retreat or a missions trip with this great word from God on your heart of what he wants you to be one day or just a reassurance that he is going to use you. Your parents may be watching you and be thinking that these risks you want to take for Jesus are just too dangerous. Or say you want to give up going to college to be a missionary; but your parents are worried for you. They worry that this missionary thing won't sustain you in the future. You need to get a sustainable job first, something you can fall back on if this church thing doesn't work out for you. You are young and zealous for God. But your parents don't necessarily want you to live such a committed life for Jesus. They want you to relax and not get too crazy with this Christianity thing. They want you to think realistically.

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.… Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. … Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there…..From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. ….. and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” …And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house……Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined….When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream:…. So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh……The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.”

How many young people today give up on their walk and trust in God because His promise to them was not fulfilled right away - and they felt like God was going to let them down just like their parents, their friends, and everyone else. What if God thinks I'm crazy too? What if he wasn't actually telling me this? What if it was all just in my head?

I want to encourage you, though everyone else will fail you God never will and never can. Our God is limited because he cannot lie.

Romans 15:4

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

Even though God's word and promises sometimes take time and our put to the test; God will always fulfill his word and promises if we simply trust and wait on him. He has to.

When you look back at this verse, its amazing to see how God orchestrated time: so many years ago he put together Joseph's life so that we today could look back and be encouraged because God was always with Joseph and will always be with us. God has to carry out his word, so we have no need to fear.