Pt. 1 - The Favorite Son

Intro:

Illus. - Elon Musk’s favorite interview question: “What major obstacles have you faced in your personal or professional life and what steps have you taken to overcome them.” The correct answer to this question is more important to him than degrees or experience.

Finding someone who knows how to overcome tough things is truly a rare find. What’s even more rare is finding someone who overcomes great spiritual battles and not just the problems of the board room. When we do find a person like this, we should carefully consider that person’s life and see what lessons can be learned.

Tonight we begin our series on the life of Joseph: a man who overcame. As we will see, Joseph faced many difficult challenges and spiritual battles, and more often than not, these things came about not because of something he had done wrong, but simply due to the unfairness of life or the malice of others.

While Joseph wasn’t perfect, he gives a great example of how to face and overcome problems when they come our way.

We begin our journey by turning to Genesis 37 and looking at tonight’s message “The Favorite Son”

Part 1 - A Interesting Family Dynamic - Vs. 1-4

To understand Joseph’s situation, we must look back at how this unique family was formed

Jacob (Israel) had 12 sons by several different women. 7 from his first wife, Leah, 4 from two of Leah’s servant girls, and one by his, and favorite, wife, Rachel.

Explain the story of Laban, Lead, and Rachel. Emphasize that Rachel was barren

When Rachel was finally able to conceive, she bore Jacob’s last son, Joseph and then died.

It’s easy to see why Joseph was his father’s favorite. A son of his old age, from the woman he loved the most and is now gone.

It’s also easy to understand why his brother’s hated him.

shown preference by Jacob

told on their bad behavior

was the “choirboy”

This was a messed up family, but it wasn’t Joseph’s fault. If anything, it was Jacob’s fault.

The lesson is we need to pay attention to how we treat our different children and not be passive in how we raise them.

Part 2 - Dreams and Drama - Vs. 5-11

Here’s our first clue that Joseph was more than just Jacob’s favorite son, but that he was also favored by God

What do I mean “favored by God?” Not that God treated him the same way as Jaboc, loving him more at the expense of others, but doing special things in his life because Joseph’s heart belonged to God.

God blessed the person who seeks Him!

Joseph could have been wiser in how he shared his dreams, but he was simply excited about what God was showing him.

While God was blessing Joseph, the tension in the had reached the boiling point.

Part 3 - Why we should forgive - Vs. 12-28

This would be Joseph’s first major obstacle in his life - being sold into slavery. In fact, while other obstacles will pop up along the way, this event will dominate the entire story life of Joseph’s life. For years there will be a question of whether or not Joseph can forgive his brothers.

While the answer to that question will come eventually, this passage is a great reminder of what dangers lie before us when we refuse to forgive others.

The brothers resented Joseph and instead of handling is the right way, loving him and forgiving him, the held on to that anger. It went from not talking to him, to wanting to kill him.

Part 4 - Hope on the horizon - Vs. 29-36

The brothers return with a made up story and break an old man’s heart.

The shame of sin - we cover it up.

But Joseph is on the long journey to Egypt. Alive but lost and scared. We leave the favorite son in dark place, but we get the first hint at how God is still working - he’s placed in Potiphar’s house.

Joseph was probably still heart broken and reeling from this dramatic shift from where he thought his dreams were leading him, but I wonder, and I hope, that as he was traveling to his new home, he put his trust in God.

Conclusion & Invitation:

You will face obstacles - they will be bigger than you can handle. Don’t try and go it alone.

A prepared life will be a blessed life even when obstacles come. Be like Joseph and seek God. He will be able to work through the stuff you can’t see coming.

There’s always hope on the horizon.