Embrace IT! (Genesis 37.18-36)
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Title - Embrace the Pit!
Text - Genesis 37.18-36
They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him.
They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer.
Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.”
But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.”
Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father.
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore;
and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.
Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed.
When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes.
He returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy is gone; and I, where can I turn?”
Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood.
They had the long robe with sleeves taken to their father, and they said, “This we have found; see now whether it is your son’s robe or not.”
He recognized it, and said, “It is my son’s robe! A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.”
Then Jacob tore his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
All his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father bewailed him.
Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.
Intro:
Freedom......
There is a difference between tolerating something....
vs...
…embracing the very same thing
and to embrace means that we....
Are Enthusiastic about or willing to accept something.....
the tension arrives when we suggest that we should willingly accept something unfavorable.
Pastor......
Why should I be enthusiastic about my experiential difficulty......
.....make it make sense!
(pause)
Well......
.....when we examine our spiritual journey
Our lives are designed with several different paths that are available to be taken
and I believe that while we are training/living through life's experiences on these paths
.......is where we become greater at displaying Gods glory.
(Pause)
And....
It would be phenomenal if very path in life never included trials........and disappointment
But........
........the truth of the matter is
........that's not oif options to embrace
(Pause)
Because.....
.......there are some paths that go through what we would call “The Pit!”
(pause and optional expound)
And.....
In my mind........the Pit can be seen as an intentional move by God.....
(Pause)
Freedom.........
.....I don't believe you can get through your pit experience
........without knowing God is intentional!
(Pause)
And the problem becomes......
Our reality is holding our pit.....
and......
Our Faith is holding our dreams.....
(pause)
And if God is so intentional why is it that my “reality” is so filled with negative circumstances....
........that are appearing to be so much bigger than my dreams!
(Pause)
And this is why folk call dreamers.........unrealistic......
(slight pause)
Because..........
...........what is happening seems to be taking presedence over what is supposed to be taking place
(pause)
But the one thing that I think is missing......
......or the thing rather that causes us to miss seeing the glory
......is spiritual blindness!
(Pause)
I believe that we miss seeing what we should see
because we............are looking with the wrong eyes!
(pause)
1 Corinthians 2.14 says......
"But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised."
(pause)
And so many of us.........are missing the movement of an intentional God...........
because we are unable to properly appraise our paths in our journey ..........from a spiritual perspective
(Pause)
And so when the “Pit” shows up on the path......
........we devalue the path all together
(pause)
And then........we say things like....
"This should not be happening...."
........why is this pit
........on a glory path?
In other words.......
We express our lack of understanding from our own perspectives......
And so what we have done is to.........
Normalize foolishness..........
and Ridicule the dreams....
(pause)
But.........if God deals with spiritual things.......
.........and if God is intentional
(pause)
if we are not careful......
.....we will begin jumping off supernatural paths
..........when really the pit
........represents a God who is being intentional.....
(Pause)
And so we never embrace what God is doing in our lives.........
because it does not look like what we are used to!
(Pause)
Let me help somebody....
If aint nothing foolish going on in your life..........
............check your life!
(Pause)
Because a God sized life getting primed to display the glory..........
........don't supposed to look completely normal!
(Pause)
How could we ever see the supernatural.........
if everything is natural.......???
(Pause and expound)
Look at it now......
They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him.
and so.....
They literally made plans to kill Joseph......
They recognized him........
.....and their motives spoke loud and clear.
(pause)
Freedom just because the glory attracts attention........
........does not mean all of the attention will be easily embraced!
(pause)
What is a Joseph supposed to do.........
......with being recognized with wrong motives!
(Pause)
What are you saying Pastor!
Everybody’s not going to get excited about when the Church begins transforming the City
..........and expressing Gods glory.
(slight pause)
Because what is recognized is what these brothers say among themselves when Joseph is walking towards them from the distance in verse 19.......
They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer.
The text says.....
"Here comes this dream Expert!”
(Pause)
Notice.........
.........they don't call him by his name Joseph
and.....
.......they do not refer to him based on their relationships as brother
(pause)
But instead.........
......they describe him with what they despise and discount
(Pause)
And they begin ridiculing him as a dreamer....
as he begins approaching them with this level of favor Jacob has put on him with this coat of many colors
(Pause)
Now wait a minute because........
Joseph is only a dreamer because God intentionally gave him a dream.
and.....
he only has this coat because his father Jacob gifted it to him.....
and so........
........when we think about it
.......we would love for them to call him by his name
.......or even better we would be flattered if they would put some respect on the relationship
(slight pause)
but if the worst thing you can call me.........
.........is what God made me to be
....and you only recognize me due to the favor thats on my life...
(slight pause)
I'm cool with that!
Freedom
........I don't know how you feel about it
......but folk can't hurt my feelings by calling me what God made me!
(pause and expound )
Watch verse 20......
Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.”
The brothers have made a decision.......
that looks like it has the potential to derail what God has drafted together with Josephs life.......
And they say to themselves.....
"Let's kill him, and throw him into a pit!"
(Slight pause)
Freedom........
These Pits - were holes that were dug for catching or holding rain water.
(Slight pause)
however.......
This is the dry season......
.which explains why the brothers had to go so far to find pasture......for the animals
(Pause)
And the brothers said....we will say...
"A wild beast devoured him. And Then let us see what will become of his dreams.."
In other words....
If we get rid of him.......we won't have to worry about those dreams coming true that he was talking about..
(Pause)
But here's what these brothers are failing to realize......
When you oppose who is a teammate or partner with God and Gods will.....
......you are picking a fight you can't win!
But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.”
Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father.
According to the text......
It looks like Reuben almost has the right motives......but the wrong action....
(Pause)
"Throw him into the pit.....but don't lay hands on him..."
(Pause)
And according to the text........he was looking for a chance to get Joseph back to his father Jacob......
But.......Reuben does he really need to go into the pit in the first place?
(Pause)
And so.....just because you mean well.........don't mean you have done enough!
......as a matter of fact
Reuben is really more concerned with receiving his fathers forgiveness as a result of him sleeping with his father's concubine.......
and later in Ch.49.4 Jacob even calls him “unstable as water!”
(Pause)
........Now you know that's bad!
(Pause)
And so.......Reuben you mean well............
but you still put a Joseph in this pit.........
..........in the middle of a wilderness!
(pause)
Church family......
You can't depend on Reuben's in your life.....
Because they only mean well.........
because they don't want to deal with the consequences of their own personal actions.....
Meaning......
They really don't love you as much as they love themselves.......
........they are as UNSTABLE as water!
(pause and expound)
Freedom......
All of verses 18-22 is happening.......
..........before Joseph even walks all the way up to his brothers in verse 23...
(Pause)
But in my spiritual imagination I'm curious concerning what the text does not say to us.....
(slight pause)
Because we know what the brothers are thinking........
(Pause)
..........but what is Joseph thinking.......?
Joseph.......
What's going through your mind as you are walking up to your older brothers?
And here's the thing about a powerful dream.......
.......the quieter it gets
.....and the more alone time you have
........the louder the dream becomes in your head!
(slight pause)
Freedom....
I have no..........idea
what's going through Joseph's mind
(Pause)
But what I do know is that the Bible never says.......
He saw them and turned back around.......
.....and said,
you know what!
.........I refuse to keep walking
........I'm out of here
Mmhmmm. Yea....
How do you walk in righteousness....
when you are walking.......... directly into wrong motives?
How do you display the glory..........when hatred is plotting against you before you even show up?
(Slight pause)
How do you get past the plot?
(Pause)
How do you still share the love of Christ......to folk who are digging pits all....over your life?
(Pause)
.....Let's see what happens to Joseph.....
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore;
and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
The text says......
As soon as he gets close enough........they lay hands on Joseph......
......They ripped the robe off him.....and they threw him into a pit, that has no water in it!
(Pause)
And so....Joseph is now repositioned........to the bottom of a pit.....
(Pause)
And so what is Joseph supposed to do now that......
....his world has been turned upside down by unrighteous motives......?
(Pause)
Freedom.....
Have you ever walked.........directly into a bad motive?
(pause)
And the crazy thing is..............you're the only one that don't know!
Joseph............is just coming to do what his daddy told him to do.....
(pause)
But his brothers.............got a totally different plan!!
(pause)
And in my spiritual imagination I hear them saying......
"Get in this PIT..........Joseph!"
And the text does not say they lowered him into the pit......
.....but the text says........that they........
threw him into an empty pit......(pause)
Which means he had to FALL.............
all the way to the bottom of a place that he couldn't get out of.......
(pause)
Have you ever had a WRONG motive pick you up and throw you to the bottom.....?
(pause)
Joseph has to be asking the question........
"What in the world.............is happening to me?"
(pause)
And if that wasn't enough..........just like Joseph........
..........when wrong motives throws you to the bottom.............
.........they continue maneuvering on as if nothing had happened
(pause)
Question:
Joseph.........what do you do, when you are sitting at the bottom of a pit........and your brothers are in a comfortable place eating dinner, figuring out what to do with you next?
(Pause)
It's in the text.....look at it!
Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.
And so they have handled Joseph by throwing him into the pit.......
But now as they are eating.......they notice these traders traveling from Gilead to Egypt....
And according to verse 26.........Judah comes up with an idea....
Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed.
Judah says.......
"What good is it to just kill him and then have to cover it up?"
Because watch this Freedom......
even bad motives.......don't like to explain themselves!
(pause)
Judah says.........
"I think we should sell him to the "traders" and make some money off of him in the process!"
(Pause)
Look at it now.....
When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
And the text says...
Just about the same time they came up with this idea.........some traders came up and the bothers played...
"Let's make a deal"
(Pause)
And at this point in the text......Joseph's life is out of his control.....
(Pause)
And the motives of his brothers seem to be dealing with his life..........
and there is absolutely nothing he can do about the path his life is now taking....
(Pause)
And sometimes.....life can feel like.......everybody else is in control but you!
(Pause)
And sometimes.......life can feel like.......the folk doing wrong.........got the upper hand with your life....
(Pause)
But let me help somebody......
Because the text says......
"They pulled him up and lifted him.......and sold him for twenty shekels.....of silver"
(pause)
Don't miss this.......
The same brothers that threw Joseph down to the bottom............
are now......having to lift him up............out of the pit
(pause)
And even though they are selling him into slavery......
something greater is happening regarding the value on his life!
(Pause)
Look at it now....
37.29-36 (summarize and expound)
Reuben.......the eldest brother comes back to the pit........and loses it....
(pause)
Because he feels responsible for what may have happened to Joseph....
(Pause)
And the brothers immediately come up with a plan to dip the robe in blood.......
(pause)
and so...........now we got a bloody robe.......being presented to Jacob and a Joseph being sent off to slavery in Egypt...
(Pause)
And by all accounts...........the path that Joseph........is on
........seems to be heading in a trajectory that is entirely off the chain.....
(Pause)
But at the end of the day.....
EMBRACE IT!
(Pause)
And here's what EMBRACING IT looks like...
1. Accept where you are
You will frustrate yourself trying to act like the pit ain't real!
(pause)
And the last thing you need is people telling you that you're not in the pit.......when clearly that's where you are
Let me help you...
- acceptance does not mean failure
It just means...........you have come to grips with your present condition...
(pause)
2. Acknowledge how you got there
Let me help somebody....
- This is not an action that justifies placing blame......
But the reason this is so critical is so that you can have the wisdom necessary for your next fall....
- Because if I know how I got here this time......maybe I can see it coming in the next time!
(Pause)
And you got to be careful........because empty places can swallow you if you only complete steps one and two....
(Pause)
.....and that's why we teach ourselves to avoid accepting certain things......
.....because the last time we accepted and acknowledged the pit.......we got stuck....
(Pause)
But that was not the reason we got stuck!
The reason we got stuck is because we stopped too soon....
And that's when we start confusing where we are......with who we are..
(Pause)
Church family,
It's not until you shift to the third step that you can navigate as a total person and embrace wherever you find yourself.....
(Pause)
3. Trust God for the next move
Whenever you find yourself in a pit........it takes faith steps to go VERTICAL
(pause)
- Anybody can go horizontal...........meaning left to right......
(Pause)
...because Gravity is not against horizontal moves..
That's why everybody's always trying to reach to others to find comfort in difficult situations....
(Pause)
But whenever you got to go UPWARD.....to get out of something.........
......You need something that can lift you VERTICAL.......
(pause)
And the only thing I know that can overcome gravity..........
.......is the GLORY!
(pause)
Look at somebody and shout........EMBRACE IT!
Because watch this Freedom......
Nowhere in the text is Joseph seen.....refuting his journey through this pit.....
(Pause)
But something that we can't see.......
Something that we can't smell........
Something that we can't touch.........
.....is telling Joseph........
"EMBRACE IT......"
(Pause)
I don't know if you’ve ever
been in something............and you heard God say......
"Just calm down..........we got this!"
(Pause)
There's too much Glory around you for you to panic and get off track..........
Freedom..........
Stop.......calling the PIT.......FOOLISHNESS....
(Pause)
Because........
God is in this! (Repeat)
(Pause)
I came to talk to some folk........who were sitting at the bottom of the PIT......looking for a VERTICAL move!
(Pause)
Folk who always try to do what's right..........but keep ending up at the bottom of the pit!
(Pause)
All Joseph was doing...........was following Jacob's orders........
And now here he is.......in the bottom of the pit!
(Pause)
And it seems like.........everybody with the wrong motives......keep coming out on top.....
(Pause)
And you almost feel like..........you should just get as devilish as the other folk.......
(Pause)
But let me help you........because the only way to get out of this is to..........GO VERTICAL!
(pause)
(OPTIONAL - My God........it's so much more I want to give to you today!)
And..... at the end of the day............
Embrace the PIT!
(Pause)
Learn to take the good with the bad....>!!!!
(Pause)
Pastor..........how can a Joseph embrace a pit.........when everybody is calling him a dreamer?
Pastor......how is it possible to keep going.......when wrong motives.........keep trying to cut everything off?
(Pause)
Well.....I'm so glad you asked.....
Because the reason you got to be able to embrace the pit........
(Note for self: WALK AROUND......."Be Free!")
Is because........the PIT was not in the DREAM!!
(LONG Pause)
Don't miss it!
[Go back and read verses about the dream in 1-11]
(Pause)
Now let me help somebody..........
God didn't hide the PIT from you............
(slight pause)
But the reason you never saw it coming.......is because the PIT don't even matter....
(Pause)
But our problem is that we feel like the PIT.....is the end of the journey ......
(Pause)
But.........the PIT........is only.......embraced as a PIT STOP!
And that means.....
you can look at some stuff in your life and say,
“I only got to deal with you for a little while!”
(Pause)
And.......I don't care how realistic the pit is.......
(Pause)
At the end of the day............
..........God has another move behind Gods hand that just needs to be put in our paths!
(REPEAT and Expound!)
Look at somebody and holler......
(Pause)
"EMBRACE........it!"
(Pause)
Look at it now.....
Dreamers can't get caught up in what they do see in the natural....because something bigger already showed up in the super natural.....!!
(Pause)
And God had a PLAN.........before everything against you came up with a PLOT.....
(Pause)
And the same folk that put Joseph in the PIT.......will have to reach down.........and LIFT Joseph up out of the PIT!!!
(Pause)
And so.......all you got to learn how to do is.....
EMBRACE IT........
Because..... the PIT.......can't hold you but for so long!!!!
(Pause)
And...... the only purpose of the pit is....
....To hold you.....until God moves you!
(Pause)
Because........the God we serve......is INTENTIONAL...
And........no matter what it looks like.....
(Pause)
"EMBRACE IT!"
This ain't FOOLISHNESS.....this is a GOD who is INTENTIONAL.....
(Pause)
Look at it now.....
.......All......things.........are.........working........for.....
YOUR.........GOOD!
. ............CONCLUSION...........
