Sermon Tone Analysis

*/Close Encounters/*

*Part 11 of 11*

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*/“Joseph – Pursuing God’s Dreams … God’s Way”/*

*/Genesis 50:14-23/*

*/Sermon 1030/*

*/August 05-06, 2006/*

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*Main Theme:  /Our view of life is often much different than God’s – when they come in conflict, we must choose to trust in God’s providence for our future./*

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*(Gen 50:14-23 NIV)  "After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.

{15} When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" {16} So they sent word to Joseph, saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died: {17} 'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.'

Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father."

When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

{18} His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him.

"We are your slaves," they said.

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*{19} But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid.

Am I in the place of God? {20} You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

{21} So then, don't be afraid.

I will provide for you and your children."

And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

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*{22} Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father's family.

He lived a hundred and ten years {23} and saw the third generation of Ephraim's children.

Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph's knees."*

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*With these words, the account of Joseph’s life comes to an end in the Book of Genesis.

The end of a very unusual life – one filled with success, betrayal, disappointment, forgiveness, and restoration.

Let’s spend a few moments discovering some of the key events that comprised the life of this very unusual Biblical personality.*

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·        *The Story of Joseph …*

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o       *Joseph, the Apple of His Father’s Eye:**  **(Gen 37:1-4 NIV)  "Jacob*

*lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan./

{2} /This is the account of Jacob.

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./

{3} /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 a richly ornamented robe for him./

{4} /When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him."*

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o       *Joseph, the Dreamer**:**  (Gen 37:5-11 NIV)  "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?"/ {11} /His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind."*

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o       *Joseph Encounters a Virulent Dose of Sibling Rivalry:**  (Gen*

*37:12-13 NIV)  "Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem,/ {13} /and Israel said to Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem.

Come, I am going to send you to them."

"Very well," he replied."*

*            (Gen 37:18-21 NIV)  "But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him./

{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 heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands.

"Let's not take his life," he said."*

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o       *Joseph is Sold into Slavery:**  (Gen 37:25-28 NIV)  "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."*

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*            Imagine his thoughts:*

§         *Did my father know?*

§         *Did my mother know?*

§         *Will my brothers really take my life?*

§         *Where is God in all of this?*

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o       *Joseph’s Brothers Deceive Their Father:**  (Gen 37:29-35 NIV) *

*"When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes./

{30} /He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there!

Where can I turn now?"/ {31} /Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood./

{32} /They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this.

Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe."/

{33} /He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe!

Some ferocious animal has devoured him.

Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."/

{//34} /Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days./

{35} /All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.

"No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son."

So his father wept for him."

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o       *Joseph is Sold to Potiphar:**  (Gen 37:36 NIV)  "Meanwhile, the *

*Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard."*

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o       *God Provides for Joseph’s Success and Potiphar Entrusts Him*

*with All that is His:**  (Gen 39:1-6 NIV)  "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./

{2} /The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master./

{3} /When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did,/ {4} /Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant.

Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned./

//{5} /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.

/{6a} /So he left in Joseph's care everything he had; …” *

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o       *Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife:  (Gen 39:6b-10 NIV)  /{6b}/ Now*

*Joseph was well-built and handsome,/ {7} /and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!"/ {8} /But he refused.

"With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care./

{9} /No one is greater in this house than I am.

My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife.

How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"/ /*

*/            {10} /**And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her."*

*            (Gen 39:11-23 NIV)  "One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside./

{12} /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./

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*/            {13} /**When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,/ {14} /she called her household servants.

"Look," she said to them, "this Hebrew 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./