AUG 14 (Day 3)

Recap

A few days ago I talked about Daniel, Yesterday Jim D. Talked about what a distinguished faith was though the Fruit of the Spirit and today I want to dive into a different story…Oh and By the way, what was on my heart to do when I first heard about Senior Bible Connection was that I wanted to teach VBS stories but to adults with the richness of their meaning…

SO in the next 15 minutes I hope to give you the story of Joseph, which spans from 17 years old to 110 years old.

So please allow me to run through the story of Joseph on High Speed

So first and foremost there is Abraham, Issac and Jacob.

Jacob has 12 sons that become the 12 tribes of Israel and one of these sons, the youngest is Joseph.

The story picks up in Genesis 37

Genesis 37:2–3 NIV

This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him.

So Joseph has this youthful arrogance….He is working with his older brothers

He brings a bad report about his brothers

and he knows that he has the favor of his father because his father gives him an ornate robe

So already in his life he is the youngest and sees himself as the authority of his brothers.

The situation gets even worse when he tells his brothers about these dreams that God has given him

Genesis 37:5–7 NIV

Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 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.”

And there are more dreams but we are on a time crunch.

But the thing to note here is that Joseph says: “Listen to this dream that I HAD”

Well his brothers had about enough of this little 17 year old punk of a brother so they threw him in a well…But instead of killing him they sold him into slavery to Egypt and faked his death…

It worked out for them, they got rid of their brother and they made a little money on the side…

So they took his coat of many colors that his dad made for him and they showed the dad…Here is the evidence…Joseph is dead

Now Joseph is in Egypt and he is working at the house of Potiphar, He was successful and good at managing his house.

But bad news. Potiphar’s wife had the hots for Joseph. She wanted to take him to bed. Which by the way was not uncommon to use slaves for sex in the ancient world.

So she tries to coax him into the bedroom and he runs off! She grabs his garment and shows it as evidence…

Look Joseph tried to make sport of me!

And instead of throwing him into a pit like his brothers, Potopher throws him in Jail…

All along in Joseph’s story its a miracle that he is alive

His brothers wanted to kill him but his brother Ruben intervened

Usually if a slave harms or attempts to harm a master it is immediate death,

But Genesis 39:21 gives us a clue as to why Joseph was saved

Genesis 39:21 NIV

the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

God has favor on Joseph

But lets keep going…

In prison he meets Pharaoh’s cup bearer and his baker and they both have dreams

Genesis 40:8 NIV

“We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

So I want to show you something…

The way the story of Joseph is crafted it is done intentionally to make you reflect on every part of the story…

The first thing he did when he had dreams was to announce

“Listen to this dream I had!”

Now he says…”Do not interpretations belong to God, tell me the dream”

So his youthful arrogance is beginning to wain…Now at least the Lord is part of the interpretations of dreams, but instead of pointing these men to God he points them to himself

Then years later Pharaoh had a dream that he could not interpret…It was about the coming famine that was going to be all over the ancient world.

And the cupbearer suddenly remembered…I met this guy in prison who can interpret dreams

and pay attention to this verse because again…The author of this story here is a genius

Genesis 41:14a ESV

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit.

They brought him out of the Pit!

Do you get it?

His brothers threw him into a pit

Potiphar threw him into a pit

But finally…The trajectory of his story is changing!

He is finally going to come out of the pit that was his life

So Pharaoh tells Joseph, I’ve had this dream and I want to know what it means

And you have to remember his answers before

1. I have had a dream

2. Interpretations belong to God, tell me your dream and now his third response to the dreams

Genesis 41:16 ESV

Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

Look at what it took for Joseph to get spiritual maturity

He was thrown into a pit by his brothers

sold into slavery.

You have to read the whole story but when he started he was 17 years old and now he is 30 years old

it took him 13 years of hell to get to the point where he said…Its not me…It’s the Lord

Here is the point: Somewhere along the line, due to life experiences, Joseph grew.

The faith he started with is not the faith he is going to end with

Its these difficult moments and these authentic moments in life that my generation needs to hear from your generation

I mean I look at you all and I see the saints of REC, spiritual giants

And you don’t get that way without falling in some pits

My generation needs your generation to tell us about the pits and what you learned.

let’s keep moving in the story

This is a story you might already know…The dream of Pharaoh is that there will be 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine.

Pharaoh gets put in charge of the kingdom…He is number 2 in command…

So another theme in his life plays out…

In Potiphar’s house the bible says that everything Joseph touched was successful

In prison it says God’s favor was upon him

And now over the whole kingdom, God is doing the same thing. Joseph is able to amass huge grain reserves and prepare for 7 years of famine

He saves Egypt but inso doing he begins to realize that God is doing something bigger in his life

Because guess what the famine does? The famine takes people from all over the world to Egypt to search for food and this includes his family…His brothers who almost killed him and sent him into slavery

This happens 9 years after Joseph becomes second in command and now he is 39 years old

Genesis 45:7–9 NIV

But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay.

At this point, arrogant Joseph is dead and there is a new Joseph there seeing the totality of God’s plan

He is like look…It wasn’t you who tied to kill me…You didnt even know what you were doing but it was all a part of God’s plan!

And when Joseph is probably 56 years old here is how he reflected on his whole life situation

Genesis 50:20 NIV

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

He summed up all of what God did in his life in a single sentence…

But because you can read this story in a single reading sometimes we miss the fact that it took Joseph 39 years to get to the point where he could say this

I have a few things that I want to point out

Joseph would have never made it if the faith he started with is the faith he ended with. What are the pits you have been thrown into in life? and how have they matured you?

The faith you started with is not the faith your ending with.

Faithfulness to God though the ordeals of his life allows him to have a place in Goshen where the Bible says his children and his children’s children can have a place to live. How has your life set a spiritual foundation for your next generation and if you can’t point to something then how will it?

Joseph was able to overlook past betrayals knowing that God had a bigger plan

What things in your life do you need to forgive or overlook?

Whatever disappointments happened in his life he began to see as God’s bigger plan?

Psalm 119:89–90 NIV

Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures.