Never Give Up!

The Christian walk is not an easy one. In fact, it is a battle to be a strong Christian. It takes character, consistency, strength and courage to succeed. It also takes the attitude to never quit. never give up. Paul tells us in his letter to the church at Galatia in

Galatians 6:9–10 The Message

9 So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. 10 Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

So today we’re going to look at the life of someone who never gave up. So let’s look at the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis.

Genesis 37:2–11 NLT

2 This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. 3 Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. 4 But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him. 5 One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. 6 “Listen to this dream,” he said. 7 “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!” 8 His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them. 9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!” 10 This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?” 11 But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.

Joseph was young, strong and gung ho!

Joseph was the “dreamer” of the family. Sharing his dreams was not really the best thing to do and caused a lot of hardship for him.

Genesis 37:27–28 ESV

27 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. 28 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.

Joseph was hated because he spoke what God had shown him.

Genesis 39:11–23 The Living Bible

11 Then one day as he was in the house going about his work—as it happened, no one else was around at the time—12 she came and grabbed him by the sleeve demanding, “Sleep with me.” He tore himself away, but as he did, his jacket slipped off and she was left holding it as he fled from the house. 13 When she saw that she had his jacket, and that he had fled, 14 she began screaming; and when the other men around the place came running in to see what had happened, she was crying hysterically. “My husband had to bring in this Hebrew slave to insult us!” she sobbed. “He tried to rape me, but when I screamed, he ran, and forgot to take his jacket.” 16 She kept the jacket, and when her husband came home that night, 17 she told him her story. “That Hebrew slave you’ve had around here tried to rape me, 18 and I was only saved by my screams. He fled, leaving his jacket behind!” 19 Well, when her husband heard his wife’s story, he was furious. 20 He threw Joseph into prison, where the king’s prisoners were kept in chains. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph there, too, and was kind to him by granting him favor with the chief jailer. 22 In fact, the jailer soon handed over the entire prison administration to Joseph, so that all the other prisoners were responsible to him. 23 The chief jailer had no more worries after that, for Joseph took care of everything, and the Lord was with him so that everything ran smoothly and well.

Joseph was wrongly accused!

Genesis 40:1–23 The Living Bible

1 Some time later it so happened that the king of Egypt became angry with both his chief baker and his chief butler, so he jailed them both in the prison where Joseph was, in the castle of Potiphar, the captain of the guard, who was the chief executioner. 4 They remained under arrest there for quite some time, and Potiphar assigned Joseph to wait on them. 5 One night each of them had a dream. 6 The next morning Joseph noticed that they looked dejected and sad. 7 “What in the world is the matter?” he asked. 8 And they replied, “We both had dreams last night, but there is no one here to tell us what they mean.” “Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied. “Tell me what you saw.” 9 The butler told his dream first. “In my dream,” he said, “I saw a vine with three branches that began to bud and blossom, and soon there were clusters of ripe grapes. 11 I was holding Pharaoh’s wine cup in my hand, so I took the grapes and squeezed the juice into it, and gave it to him to drink.” 12 “I know what the dream means,” Joseph said. “The three branches mean three days! 13 Within three days Pharaoh is going to take you out of prison and give you back your job again as his chief butler. 14 And please have some pity on me when you are back in his favor, and mention me to Pharaoh, and ask him to let me out of here. 15 For I was kidnapped from my homeland among the Hebrews, and now this—here I am in jail when I did nothing to deserve it.” 16 When the chief baker saw that the first dream had such a good meaning, he told his dream to Joseph, too. “In my dream,” he said, “there were three baskets of pastries on my head. 17 In the top basket were all kinds of bakery goods for Pharaoh, but the birds came and ate them.” 18 “The three baskets mean three days,” Joseph told him. “Three days from now Pharaoh will take off your head and impale your body on a pole, and the birds will come and pick off your flesh!” 20 Pharaoh’s birthday came three days later, and he held a party for all of his officials and household staff. He sent for his chief butler and chief baker, and they were brought to him from the prison. 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his former position; 22 but he sentenced the chief baker to be impaled, just as Joseph had predicted. 23 Pharaoh’s wine taster, however, promptly forgot all about Joseph, never giving him a thought.

Joseph not only had a dream but God used him to interpret dreams!

Genesis 41:25–45 The Living Bible

25 “Both dreams mean the same thing,” Joseph told Pharaoh. “God was telling you what he is going to do here in the land of Egypt. 26 The seven fat cows (and also the seven fat, well-formed heads of grain) mean that there are seven years of prosperity ahead. 27 The seven skinny cows (and also the seven thin and withered heads of grain) indicate that there will be seven years of famine following the seven years of prosperity. 28 “So God has showed you what he is about to do: 29 The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout all the land of Egypt; 30 but afterwards there will be seven years of famine so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten and wiped out; famine will consume the land. 31 The famine will be so terrible that even the memory of the good years will be erased. 32 The double dream gives double impact, showing that what I have told you is certainly going to happen, for God has decreed it, and it is going to happen soon. 33 My suggestion is that you find the wisest man in Egypt and put him in charge of administering a nationwide farm program. 34 Let Pharaoh divide Egypt into five administrative districts, and let the officials of these districts gather into the royal storehouses all the excess crops of the next seven years, 36 so that there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come. Otherwise, disaster will surely strike.” 37 Joseph’s suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his assistants. 38 As they discussed who should be appointed for the job, Pharaoh said, “Who could do it better than Joseph? For he is a man who is obviously filled with the Spirit of God.” 39 Turning to Joseph, Pharaoh said to him, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, you are the wisest man in the country! 40 I am hereby appointing you to be in charge of this entire project. What you say goes, throughout all the land of Egypt. I alone will outrank you.” 41 Then Pharaoh placed his own signet ring on Joseph’s finger as a token of his authority, and dressed him in beautiful clothing and placed the royal gold chain about his neck and declared, “See, I have placed you in charge of all the land of Egypt.” 43 Pharaoh also gave Joseph the chariot of his second-in-command, and wherever he went the shout arose, “Kneel down!” 44 And Pharaoh declared to Joseph, “I, the king of Egypt, swear that you shall have complete charge over all the land of Egypt.” 45 Pharaoh gave him a name meaning “He has the godlike power of life and death!” And he gave him a wife, a girl named Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis. So Joseph became famous throughout the land of Egypt.

Joseph never gave up!