Joseph Trust in the Lord
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Joseph’s Faith
03-28-2021
As we continue through Genesis
This morning we are brought to the account of Jospeh
Most of us have read this story and we have watched movies about the story of Joseph
What a great account Joseph is for us today
The account of Jospeh begins with his dreams
5 Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had; 7 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
It is important to note that the truth doesn’t become the truth until God says it
Here we see that God is sharing His plan for Joseph’s life
Joseph then tells his brothers which only leads to more and more division in the family
So much division that his brother set a plan to kill him
As they have thrown him into a hole, what seem like words of wisdom come from one of the brothers
Lets make a profit rather than nothing
25 Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.
Doesn’t sound or even seem like Joseph’s dreams are going to come true does it
But that isn’t truth because God spoke truth to Joseph in those dreams
Through out the entire account of Joseph
His faith remains strong
Joseph is then bought by a powerful man
Joseph is given power
Then it is ripped from Joseph
11 Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. 12 She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. 13 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, 14 she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. 15 “When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.” 16 So she left his garment beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she spoke to him with these words, “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make sport of me; 18 and as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.” 19 Now when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” his anger burned. 20 So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. 22 The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. 23 The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper.
Once again an opportunity for Joseph to waiver in His faith in God
To start to question and not trust the plan that God has given to Joseph through the dreams
Joseph once again stays focused on God and His plan
Working and just like before he is given power and given position
He is imprisoned with other people and just when it looks like he might be exonerated, it is smashed
23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Just when Joseph thought things would turn they are smashed again
I am betting most of us have felt like Joseph before, 1 step forward, 2 steps back
This is all an opportunity to get angry with God and to start to question Gods plan from the beginning but notice that Joseph doesn’t
He simply resolves to have Faith in God
He believes that God’s promise will still come true
We know the rest of the story of Joseph
38 Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?” 39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. 40 “You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.” 41 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck.
Joseph is made number 2 of all of Egypt
God begins to use Joseph
See God had positioned Joseph just where He wanted him so that when the time came, God would be able to save His chosen people
We know what happens right, the other 10 brothers come looking for food
They are given food but one of them has to stay back until they bring Benjamin back to show to Joseph
They eventually bring Benjamin back and Joseph reveals himself to his brothers
Joseph tells them
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying, 17 ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? 20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. 21 “So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
God knew all this would happen
God knew the brothers would sell him into slavery
God turned that into salvation for the nation of Israel
Throughout the entire account of Jospeh though
Joseph was given opportunity upon opportunity to question God and to stop trusting in God
No matter what happened, through it all Joseph continued to have faith in God
No matter the situation Joseph had faith in God
Church we are no different
We are given every opportunity to question God, to lose faith that God is who He says He is
Look at our country right now
It would seem that it is a 1 step forward and 2 steps back
It would easy and maybe comfortable to question is God really still in charge, or begin to question where God is in all of this mess we call a country
Nothing about the account of Joseph was easy for him
I bet he would tell us of the difficulties and betrayal of being sold into slavery, or how crazy it was to be imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit
I mean seriously
But Joseph trusted God no matter the situation
Church like Joseph we need to trust God no matter the situation in our lives
We need to trust God no matter who our president is
We need to trust the Lord no matter what the political climate is
We need to trust the Lord no matter the situation just like Joseph did
This is our message this morning
4 “Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.
Church as the Band comes up
We will move into our time of invitation
If you are here today and have never trusted the Lord to be your personal Savior
We would invite you down front to speak with someone
They will be able to show you through scripture that to accept that free gift that Jesus gave to us through His death on the cross we are to repent of our sin and trust in Jesus
Or maybe you are here this morning and have walked with Jesus for sometime, and have had a personal relationship with Jesus and due to our current situation have struggled to trust in Jesus
Would you come forward and repent and