Meant it for good
Notes
Transcript
Meant it for good
Meant it for good
So fun to have Tanner join us this week!
Well hey all, we are in our 5th week of our BIG BUTS of the Bible series.
This will be my last message in this series as Kevin will close this out next Sunday!
But I wanted to talk tonight about my one of my favorite Big Buts of the Bible.
Genesis 50:20
This is one of my favorite sections of scripture because it truly show the sovereignty of God.
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.
This is the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors.
Many of you know Joseph as the son of Jacob whose name was Isreal.
Jacob was the son is Issac.
Now Jacob was part of this promise from God.
This promise that was handed down through the ages from Abraham all the way to Jacob.
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
This promised carried over all the way to Jacob.
Jacob has 12 sons and one daughter.
Now again in this culture, of you were not the first born tough Charlie.
Actually Joseph found himself as the 11th born.
Now Joseph was loved by his father greatly.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
As my brother being my parent’s favorite, I can relate to the hatred Joseph’s brother must have felt.
I’m kidding my parents tell me they don’t have a favorite.
*I do just want to say that Jacob should not have had a favorite.
Jacob was not being a good father here.
I think it is important to note that Issac had a favorite which did not turn out great and it was not Jacob and now Jacob has a favorite and guess what, it is not going to turn out great for him either.
Now lets put ourselves not in Joseph shoes as it is all too easy for us to play the victim in our victim culture.
But instead let us put the shoes on of the other 11th brothers.
All but two are older than you.
All of these siblings have fought for the attention of mom and dad.
I am guessing that you have done this as well.
I think it is common for us to want our parents to be proud of us.
We want their attention.
And when Mom and dad give it to someone else a younger brother it stings right.
It hurts.
That is what these brothers were feeling.
So when Joesph, the golden child comes in and says this:
He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
So when brother who is getting all the attention then tells you a dream that you his brother are going to bow to him.
Nope.
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!!
They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him 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 will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”
So Joseph comes up to his brothers.
Hey Bros— let me tell you about this dream I had, you guys were going to kill me, pretty crazy right.
I’m kidding that didn’t happen.
But this did:
And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors 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 bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, 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 let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.
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.
The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master.
Joesph would find favor with Potiphar.
And would eventually run the household.
From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
And based on that last sentence it is setting up the scene for some trouble.
After some time his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”
Yet Joesph did not.
He refused her.
But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority. No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do this immense evil, and how could I sin against God?”
Pretty noble of Joesph.
I mean he brought up some great points.
He let her down easy.
That should have been that!
Joseph’s life was finally wait...
Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her. Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there. She grabbed him by his garment and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside. When she saw that he had left his garment with her and had run outside, she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “my husband brought a Hebrew man to make fools of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could. When he heard me screaming for help, he left his garment beside me and ran outside.”
She put Joseph’s garment beside her until his master came home. Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to make a fool of me, but when I screamed for help, he left his garment beside me and ran outside.”
When his master heard the story his wife told him—“These are the things your slave did to me”—he was furious and had him thrown into prison, where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.
Well that did not go well, nor last long.
To where Joesph was back alone, abandoned.
I’m sure he was angry, sad, bitter.
BUT GOD
But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor with the prison warden.
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!
Could you image just saying something wrong to the king and you get thrown into Jail!
Back to the dreams:
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.
Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.
His brother’s did not recognize him.
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!
All is great until his father Jacob dies.
The brothers think he is going to come after them, since their dad is now dead.
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
Yet here is the understanding of Joesph.
He went from telling them his dreams to explaining the beauty of God’s plan.
But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 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. 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.
Yet when he did revel himself look at what he said.
So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
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 go not go our 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— which one are you?
Many people walk away when they are going through valleys.
Few stay on the course.
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, forgot.
He did believed in the Lord and trusted him.
Even in the bad times— can you still lean on God.
When the bad times hit practice journaling about it.
So when you being to put things together that doors were closed so others could open— write about.
So the next time you are alone in the valley and the time is terrible.
You have something to look at and you can trust that God is faithful!
Even during this time that is somewhat coming to an end with Covid-19.
What is something that God has taught you?
What big but God moment is coming up or maybe already has.
Maybe you need to find out what God has said no too so he can say yes to something else.
Reflect on where God has place you and be a light to those around you.
What does it mean to love people?
Lots of hatred in the world that we saw this week
Actually it was not in the world, it was here in the USA.
What does it mean to love people?
Let’s pray