More Than Moments
From Creation To Covenant • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Do you ever view your life as a series of moments?
I do. And I often tell you the stories of those moments…
Ran a 5k — and prepared by drinking 20 oz of Mt Dew and eating 2 donuts
Car caught on fire — and I debated whether I should call 911 or not
Just 2 weeks ago at 11:00 gathering — part of the staging fell and scared me to death
It’s easy to fall into a trap where…
You define your life by these moments. God develops your life through these moments.
You become known (both to other people AND to yourself) as…
Smart
Dependable
Goofy
Frustrating
Don’t get me wrong… The moments matter…
But more than the mere moment, you need to develop a faithful vision to see the moment the way God sees it.
We’re going to spend our time today talking about a guy named Joseph.
He was the next-to-youngest son of Jacob (who we’ve been talking about for the past 3 weeks)
His life is chronicled in Genesis, from when he was a young boy…through a lot of difficulties…up to the point where God uses him to rescue both the Jewish people — and the rest of the world
And… If you are only looking at the moments, you might get a super skewed view of who Joseph was — so we’re going to look at FOUR MOMENTS and try to see them as God did…
God developed Joseph through the moments.
PRAY
From the outside, when Joseph was young, you could easily think he looks ARROGANT…
5 Joseph had a dream, — the dream was from God — and when he told it to his brothers, — who already hated him — 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.”
Joseph’s delivery may have lacked maturity — but the dreams he was describing came directly from God.
Some of us in this room have been carefully listening to God — and He’s been giving you increasing clarity about His purpose for your life.
Some of you have begun tentatively sharing those dreams with the people around you — but others of us HAVE NOT…because quite frankly…
We’re afraid people will laugh at us
We don’t have all the pieces figured out yet
We don’t want to sound arrogant
Don’t walk away from what God is starting in you just because it’s not fully formed yet.
Transformation takes time — and it happens in the In-Between and Behind-The-Scene moments of your life.
Going back to Joseph when he was just a little bit older — still a very young guy…
And looking in from the outside, he looks like a VICTIM…
Joseph’s brothers were out working in the field and Joseph went out to meet them. On his way, they saw him and began to form a plan…
19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “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.”
21 When Reuben — the oldest brother — heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 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.
28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
It might seem like Joseph was done. He had been betrayed by his brothers… He was sold as a slave and taken off to a foreign nation.
But God still had a purpose for him…
Some of you in this room might feel like your future is ruined…
Someone betrayed you…
Someone took advantage of you…
Someone abused your trust…
And because of it…
You’ve fallen from favor at work…
You’ve lost opportunities in your school…
You’ve lost control of your family…
If you’re going through a moment when it feels like you’re in the pit ALL BY YOURSELF…
Don’t assume God walked away from you… He’s using the pit to shape you.
The pit wasn’t a problem for Joseph.
The pit was the place where God shaped the person Joseph would become.
God wasn’t surprised by the pit. And God didn’t waste the pit…He used it.
There are PIT-LIKE moments in your life and even though Satan tells you those moments make you a victim, God says…
They are the places where He is shaping the person you are becoming.
Back in the text…
Joseph continues the journey to Egypt and is sold to a man named Potiphar — specifically he was purchased as a slave to serve Potiphar’s wife.
Potiphar’s wife didn’t exactly a high level of character and she had plans for Joseph to sleep with her, even though she was married to another man.
In fact, she would try to pull him into your bedroom but Joseph would escape her and run away.
However…when he ran, she grabbed ahold of the sleeve of his cloak and ripped it off of him.
She then used the cloak to tell a lie about Joseph’s actions…
And looking in from the outside, it looks like Joseph is caught up in a SCANDAL…
14 [Potiphar’s wife] called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew — Joseph — has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. 20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.
It might seem like Joseph made a weird choice…
He chose to run away from a temptation that he could have easily embraced.
He probably could have gotten away with it.
The culture around him might have even encouraged it.
But he chose to run instead…
Some of you in this room can empathize with Joseph right here…
You’ve been tempted by something — or SOMEONE
Money — pocket some of it
Power — grab some of it
Sex — get some of it
You could probably get away with it…
The culture around you might even encourage it…
But if you’re being tempted by something super sneaking and seductive right now…THIS IS WHAT YOU DO…
Don’t walk away from what God is starting in you…
Don’t assume God walked away from you…
Instead…
Run away from anything that threatens what God is forming in you.
I told you earlier that we were going to look at FOUR MOMENTS today…
In the 4th moment… Joseph looks FORGOTTEN…
He’s been in prison because of Potiphar’s wife’s accusations…
While in prison, God used Joseph to interpret the dreams of some people…
Pharoah
The chief cupbearer
The chief baker
He told the cupbearer that he would be getting out of prison and asked him to remember Joseph when that happened.
But then the last verse of Genesis 40 happens…
23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.
People might forget you… They might walk away from you…
BUT GOD NEVER DOES.
20b While Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him…
Through it all… Through the moments… Through the pits… Through the temptations… God WAS ALWAYS WITH HIM.
Church…
Your life isn’t defined by moments. God is developing you through them…and He walks with you every step.
INVITATION: Let Jesus walk with you
CHALLENGE: Look for what God is developing in you
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What “moments” have shaped how you see yourself?
What is one moment from your past that still shapes how you think about yourself today?
How have you seen God use an ordinary or difficult season—not just a single moment—to shape who you are becoming?
What would it look like to start viewing your life less as isolated moments and more as a developing process?
Where might God be starting something in you that still feels unfinished?
Is there a dream, calling, or area of growth that God has begun in your life that still feels unclear or incomplete?
What fears or doubts tempt you to walk away before that work is fully formed
What practical step could you take this week to stay faithful in that developing area?
How have you experienced “pit-like” moments—and what might God be shaping through them?
What is a “pit-like” moment you’ve experienced—betrayal, loss, failure, or disappointment?
Looking back, how did God use that difficult season to shape your character, faith, or direction?
If you are currently in a difficult season, what would it look like to trust that God is still present and working?
What temptations threaten what God is forming in you?
What types of temptations—money, power, comfort, relationships, pride—most threaten your spiritual growth?
What does “running away” from temptation look like in practical, real-life terms for you?
Who in your life can help you stay accountable and protect what God is developing in you?
Where do you need to remember that God is still with you?
Have you ever felt overlooked, forgotten, or alone in a difficult season? What did that feel like?
How does knowing that “the Lord was with Joseph” change the way you think about your own struggles?
What is one way you can remind yourself this week that God walks with you every step?
