FCA Meant for Good
Notes
Transcript
Meant it for good
Meant it for good
Hello!
My name is Zach Klundt, I am the associate Pastor at Freshwater Church.
I have been in Jefferson City for about a year now.
I’m married, I have three kids and high school was a long time ago for me and junior high was even longer ago.
I was a youth pastor for 5 1/2 years before coming here to JC.
I played basketball, football, and baseball through out junior high and school, and I can still probably smoke you all in a game of basketball.
I’m excited to be with you guys today to talk about Gen 50:20.
That is the Scripture that you all have been given today.
So Let’s read this:
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
This morning we are going to talk about how when things happen to us that we see as bad, it could be that God means those for good.
Let me tell you a little story:
Several years ago I interviewed for a job at a chruch and I was told no.
I got rejected and man, I was pretty upset by that.
It made me think, I wasn’t good enough, that I failed, that I would never get hired somewhere.
It sucked to be totally honest with you.
Because I had gotten my hope up for this job.
BUT 2 months later— that church ended up having to let go a ton of their staff and one of those positions was the one I interviewed for.—
Pretty crazy right— What was bad and hurtful for me God ended up using it for good, I got hired at a really awesome church and then ended up coming here to another really awesome church.
I think that you guys can probably relate to this.
Who here has had a bad day before?
Like you are getting ready to leave your house and a bird poops on you?
That is the start a pretty crappy day right.
Okay who here has had bad day but by the end of the day it turned out to be pretty good?
Like maybe you didn’t make a team but then half way through the day you get invited to do something that you would not have been able to do if you had made the team, that ends up being way better.
Maybe just maybe things that happen to us that we see as bad God can use those things for good.
This is one of my favorite sections of scripture because it truly show how God is always in control.
I believe that this passage is very applicable to us today.
We all have had something bad or unfair happen to us.
Something that makes us question the judgement of others.
It makes us wonder why on earth this is all happening.
It makes us hurt, we get down, angry, upset, depressed, dishearten.
We all know what it is like to have your hopes and dreams crushed.
Or maybe it is not your dreams that were crushed, as that may be too dramatic.
But we all know what disappointment feels like.
The story of Jospeh is one where he felt disappoint, loneliness, he was treated unfairly, yet in the end everything worked out exactly how it was suppose too.
So let’s read the passage again.
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
This is at the tail end of the story of Joseph— you may know this guy as Joseph and his coat of many colors.—
Joseph was 1 of 12— anybody with siblings here? could you image having 11 of them?—
He was the 11th born and in that day that meant that Joesph was pretty low on the totem pole.
In this culture, if you were not the first born tough Charlie.
Who are my first borns?— You are precious —
But Joseph was his father’s favorite— Not good—
Parents should not have favorites.
But any way Joseph’s dad had a favorite and it was Joseph and as all favorite children— Joseph got a coat of many colors.—
You can imagine how they went along the other 11 brothers.
They hated him.
Which if you were Joseph would you do anything to make your brothers hate you more?
Probably not, but Joseph had a dream.
So Joseph has this sweet colorful coat and then he has a dream and he tells his brothers about this dream:
He is like look— I had a dream and we were binding sheaves of wheat and we were all there and we all were binding sheaves and in the end your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed to it.—
OH and thenI had another dream where the sun and moon and 11 stars were all bowing to me.
His dreams were telling him that he was going to raise up and his brothers and mother and father were all going to bow to him one day.
This did not sit well with his brothers— so like any sensible sibling they planned to kill him.
You see in some families, it would be wise to not let the younger brother get a big head, as some siblings knock them down a few pegs.
Teach him that he is not all that and a bag of potato chips.
Maybe this is how the conversation started, lets teach him a lesson.
Then the crazy brother, you know the one who just takes it a little too far, where you want to tp someone’s house, he wants to light the TP on fire then throw it into the trees.
We all know the people I am talking about.
So they could have been thinking, lets beat him up and rip up that coat and teach him and dad a lesson.
Then someone in the back yells, WE COULD KILL HIM!!
So Joseph comes up to his brothers in the field one day— and they take him and throw him into a pit—
They decided to not kill him but instead they sold him to a group of travelers.
The brother told their dad that he was killed by some tiger or lion.
Jacob, the Joseph’s father was devastated.
Joseph was eventually sold to Potiphar who was captain of the guards of Egypt.
In this season of Joesph’s life that was anything but stable God was with him.
Joesph would find favor with Potiphar.
And would eventually run the household.
And things were going well.
Pretty sweet!
Yet, Potiphar’s wife she had her eye on Joseph.
She threw herself at him multiple times but he kept ignoring her.
She wanted Joseph but he was an honorable man.
Pretty noble of Joesph.
Then one day she grabbed him by his clothes and begged him to sleep with her and he ran away from her— he literally tore his clothes off to get away and fled.—
The wife of Potiphar then claimed that he tried to make a move on her and Potiphar then threw him into jail.
To where Joesph was back alone, abandoned.
I’m sure he was angry, sad, bitter.
Bad things kept happening to him but God never left him.
He would gain favor from the warden of the prison.
The warden put all the prisoners under Joesph’s authority.
Who was also a prisoner.
But hey!
Look things are looking up for Joesph again!
All is well!
He actually got to do something he was really good at and interpret dreams for the King’s cup-bear and baker.
They offended the king so the king threw them in jail!
The dream they had pretty much boiled down to
The cup-bearer- in three days you will get your job back all will be great!
The baker: in three days time you will be dead- hung from a tree.
Ouch but also great news for the cup-bearer.
Joesph is like hey dude, don’t forget about me.
He forgets.
two years later:
Pharoah has a dream no one can tell him what it means.
The Cup-bearer is like oh yeah! I know a dude.
Joseph tells the dream!
Huge famine is coming, get ready!
Pharoah is like that is the best dream interpreting I have ever heard!
I put you in change of everything but me.
Joesph is overseeing all of the famine prep.
They are storing up tons of food.
And one day his brothers arrive into Egypt.
His brother’s did not recognize him.
They all bowed down to him making his dream come true by the way.
Joesph was not very kind to them at first.
Joesph test the brothers for a bit— they leave and come back.
He revels himself— they hug— the brothers are terrified but glad to see he is alive.
Joesph gets to see his family again!
And his family comes to live with him.
Ultimately saving his family during this famine.
All is great until his father Jacob dies.
The brothers think he is going to come after them, since their dad is now dead.
SO NOW THROUGH ALL OF THAT STORY WE GET TO the verse— Gen 50:20—
But lets back up a bit here.
He went from telling them his dreams to explaining the beauty of God’s plan.
19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
You all meant evil for me but God meant it for good.
Joesph knew this was all part of the plan.
Yet I don’t think it hit him until he saw his brothers for the first time bow to him.
Here’s the deal:
I think there are a couple of things we can take from this story.
Which if you want to read it all you can it pretty much picks up in Gen 37 and goes till the end of the book.
A couple things I hope we can take away from this story:
God knows where you are
If you have been or are in the pits God knows where you are.
You never have to wonder if God can hear you because he can.
I think Joesph felt this a lot.
In prison and slavery, wondering if God will ever listen.
He did.
2. Keep trusting through the valleys
It is really easy to give up when things are not going your way.
It is super easy to walk away from the Lord because it would just be easier to not believe in God then to have to deal with the reality that bad things happen to good people and bad people.
Many people walk away when they are going through valleys.
Few stay on the course.
Keep trusting God through them.
3. God is always in control
As Joesph was going to different places and being around all sort of things and being put in charge, the thrown into jail, forgotten.
He did believed in the Lord and trusted him.
And even as the rest of the Bible goes on and we see lots of ups and down, yet God is always in control.
God was always in control.
And it was in God’s control that he would send his son Jesus to die for the sins of the world.
To take on your sin and my sin and even though the death of Jesus was terrible God meant it for good.
So no matter how bad a day you are having now that God love you, God sent his son to save you from sin so that you can spend eternity with him when you repent and make him Lord of your life.
What the world means for evil, God means it for good.
And a relationship with his son is the best thing we can hope for or imagine.
Let’s pray