Sermon Transcript Tone Analysis

May God's grace and His mercy and peace be yours in the name of God the Father, God the Son - the image of the invisible God - and God the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Wouldn't it be great to replace all the anxiety, the Angst, stress - whatever you want to refer to it as - and all that relates to, or is the result of all those should haves and could haves?

You got any of those?

Am I the only one who has some should haves and could haves?

Wouldn't you rather be able to sleep soundly each and every night that God continues to give you, knowing that you are exactly where you are at and who you are to be, according to God's plan?

Wouldn't that be great, to have that kind of clarity?

Wouldn't you wish, wouldn't you like to be able to look back on your life, up to this point, and see God's hand in it all?

How you, as a guided woman, or as a guided man, or a guided teenager, or the kids - you know, younger - and how God has brought you to where you're at today, and being able to say, yep, yep, it all makes sense.

It all fit right into the plan.

Now maybe some of of you tonight would say yeah, I know that already.

I'm at peace with how things are now in this moment, in light of everything that has taken place in the past that has brought me to where I am at, right in this moment.

And then, perhaps, you'd have to admit that when you're caught saying that, that "yeah, it's all been according to God's plan," you might have to then come clean and say, well actually the truth of the matter is, it was really how I wanted it to be played out.

Right?

And that I've been busy, than saying "God, what I have wanted to have happen and take place up to this point, I'm just hoping and praying that you agree with it.

That it's also in line with what your plan has been for me."

For you - I don't want to leave you out of it.

And then, how about for Joseph?

For Joseph.

Because, the thing about the story of Joseph from Genesis - Joseph, one of those brothers - is that it was clear as crystal to him, when it came to God's plan for him and his life.

So let's look at his life.

You've probably heard, the first you've ever heard about Joseph was probably Sunday School, like I did, right?

For some of us, a long time ago, right?

That Bible story of Joseph and his brothers.

Or maybe you're familiar with Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, right?

Isn't that Broadway, wasn't it turned to Broadway?

And boy, what a fitting way to consider Joseph: The Dreamer.

And how he got that wondrous coat that was made for him by his father that only he received, and not his brothers, from his own father.

It was that dream coat that Joseph was gifted by, from his father, among other things that his brothers picked up on, and that did not make them happy campers.

If you know the story that's there in Genesis.

Because they just got frustrated by the favoritism that Joseph received from his father, that it drove them to the point of wanting to do away, literally, by murdering their little brother.

And so, they tossed him into an empty pit, as the story goes.

And while they plotted on how to murder him, one of the brothers said: Hey, well, you know what?

Maybe there's a better option to all this, and why don't we just sell him off into slavery?

And then why don't we just craft a story for Dad and say that "Well, Dad, we're sorry to tell you that a ferocious animal came and took your son out and he's no more."

And so off they went, letting their jealousy guide them in their plans.

And they had their little brother, Joseph, dragged off to Egypt in a cart, most likely.

Most likely with his hands bound and his feet left to be burning in the hot desert sands in that part of the world.

And so, then, as the story goes on from Genesis, Joseph eventually found himself in the home of a rich Egyptian as his servant.

His name was Potiphar.

And soon enough, it was Joseph - he must have been a handsome young lad, because it was Potiphar's wife who got the hots for young Joseph and decided "I want Joseph for myself."

But Joseph, we begin to see at this point of the story, was somebody who valued, or had as his values: character and also honor more than desire and comfort.

And so his was a clear, unapologetic "No."

She wasn't about to take no for an answer, because she knew what she wanted, and she was going to get it.

And then, when she found out she couldn't get what she wanted in Joseph, she lied.

And in so doing, she did what to Joseph's reputation?

Destroyed it.

Destroyed any shred of reputation that he had.

And so, from having been the favorite of his father, Joseph, here now, we find him with nothing.

He had lost everything at that point.

He lost his family.

He had lost his freedom.

He had lost his reputation.

Because, of course, Potiphar believed his wife and her word.

And so, Joseph found himself not in a pit, but in a dank, dark prison.

So there he is, sitting in prison, and what do you do when you're stuck in prison?

You've lost everything.

I suppose he, you know, was marking each day that took place, you know, so he could kind of keep track of time, just put that, you know, etched into the wall.

One after another, day after day.

But while he's there in that dank, dark prison, he manages to make some connections with some of his prison mates.

And he uses what God had gifted Joseph with: this ability to be able to interpret the dreams of others, and by so doing, being able to to give them a glance into their future.

Well, as Joseph did that for a couple of his prison mates, they came to a point where they were finally released - Joseph still there.

And all it would have taken, would have been one of those prison mates - whom Joseph had helped out by revealing to him a bit of his future - to have said something to Pharaoh or somebody out there in the outside world that would have been to Joseph's advantage.

But that doesn't help, that doesn't happen, because that one prison mate doesn't say anything to anybody.

No credit given to Joseph, and nothing changes.

Joseph remains forgotten in prison.

That might as well have been his tomb, his grave at that point.

But yet, for some odd reason there in that dark, dank prison, Joseph always seemed to have this flicker of hope, this faith that even if it was no larger than that of a mustard seed, allowed Joseph to be kept alive through it all.

And then the breakthrough comes, right?

Joseph then finds himself, now not with Potiphar, but in Pharaoh's presence.

And Pharaoh, if you know the story, is having these bizarre dreams and doesn't know what to make of it.

But Joseph has got this gift from God to interpret dreams and to give some prognostication with regards to the future.

Word of this gets to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh says, well, alright, let's see what he can do with this.

And God then allows Joseph to interpret one of those dreams of Pharaoh's, as having what?

Seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine.

That gets Pharaoh's attention.

And Pharaoh, then, becomes convinced that when Joseph then, and in interpreting the dream, also, advises Pharaoh: you should get somebody and put them in charge of having a food program to make sure there's store rooms and store places for the plenty you have now, so that when you don't have what you'll need, when that famine comes, you'll be in good shape.

And Pharaoh says, you're the man.

I want to make you the man in charge of that.

So, who should come a-knockin?

Who should come a-knockin?

To Egypt, when that famine arrives, finally, a famine that not only embraced Egypt, but also lands around Egypt, hungry and having nothing left to feed themselves?

But Joseph's brothers, who had done, what?

Sold him into slavery.

The same who were responsible for their little brother's days, weeks, months of misery in a pit, in a dark, dank prison, and the victim of others' lies.

And there's Joseph.

So, what to do?

Now, the thing at this point - you've got to keep in mind Joseph, he looks way more Egyptian than he did as a rural Palestinian because of the experience he had since coming into Pharaoh's court, so that left his brothers not recognizing who is standing before before them, but their brother is knowing why they were sent by their father.

We somehow, we got to get food or we're going to starve: us and our loved ones.

But Joseph, he knows who they are.

And he's got every reason to give them what they deserve.

I mean, wouldn't you?

Would I? But what he gives to them is what they don't deserve.

He gives them life.

He gives them life.

And more than the food that they came begging for - which Joseph not only gave them what they needed then and there - but even more, he gave them mercy.

Mercy, which came from Joseph looking back on all the places that he had been, and realizing where he was at now.

Just think of that.

It all caused Joseph to pause and to reflect where he had been: whatever played into having him looking up from the bottom of a pit where his brothers had thrown him, to being thrown into prison because of the lies of a seductress, rich and wealthy wife of a leader, an Egyptian leader.