Follow Up with Clay - 07.24.24

(Genesis 37:4) Being the younger brother and dad’s favorite gained him  a lot of abuse and hatred from his brothers. 

Genesis 37:6-7 - the dream

• “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.
• Joseph was 17 and his brothers hated him for saying that they would bow down to him.

Genesis 37:9 - the second dream, 

• “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ** how many brothers did Joseph have? 11.  Sun and moon could resemble his parents
• his father rebuked him for saying that he, his mother and brothers would all bow down to him.

Genesis 39 - Joseph is sold into slavery

• God blesses him to have great success under Potiphar (Captain of Pharaoh’s bodyguard)
• So he becomes the head of the household
• Until Potiphar’s wife wants to have sex with him. He gets thrown in jail.

Genesis 40 - Joseph is thrown into jail

• God blesses him and he becomes the chief of all the prisoners
• God allows him interprets pharaohs cupbearer’s dream as he will be restored and the chief baker’s as going to die.  
• The cupbearer forgot all about Joseph until it was convenient for him

Genesis 41 - Joseph interprets pharaoh’s dream. 7 great years with much 

abundance followed by 7 years of devastating famine.

• Joseph is made chief over Pharaohs house and ruler over all of Egypt  
• now Joseph was 30

Genesis 42 - Joseph feeds his brothers

• He could have treated them harshly instead give them grain and the money that they came to buy it with.

Genesis 43 - Benjamin is brought to Joseph 

• Joseph kills the fatted calf and feeds his brothers (remember they are in a famine, livestock would have been extremely rare)
• Joseph fills their sacks with grain and their money again
• Joseph sets up Benjamin as a thief so he can keep him close

Genesis 45 - Joseph reveals himself SURPRISE!

• Pharaoh hears about it and actually sends wagons to transport his father and family back to Egypt so they will be taken care of.
• God makes Joseph a father figure to Pharaoh. What a position!

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We talked last week with Frank that Joseph was born into a really messed up family, but God had blessed Jacob and made a promise to him

• (Genesis 35:11b) “A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you.”

Just because you may be born into a messed up family does not mean that you are not useful in God’s plan.

Since we don’t have all night, lets do the quick cliff notes version of the next 13 years of Joseph’s life

As his father’s favorite son, no doubt Joseph had heard his dad talk about God’s promise to him and being granted a dream may have given the younger brother more pride than he deserved. maybe even a chance to better his brothers. 

If that was’t enough, he had a second dream.

Well if having your brothers hate you is not enough, let’s just double down and tell your father that he will bow down as well

** being a bragger, even if you are right doesn’t usually end how we would hope **

So someone smarter than me did the math and figured out that Joseph has been in captivity for about 13 years and is now running the country

Bill Gates became a millionaire at the age of 31 in 1986, when Microsoft went public. 

Mark Zuckerberg became a millionaire at the age of 22 in 2006, when Facebook went public. 

Steve Jobs became a millionaire at the age of 23 in 1978, when Apple went public.

Elon Musk became a millionaire at the age 22 and a billionaire at 32

Warren Buffet took 23yrs to become a billionaire

All of those time lines are impressive, but I don’t think that any of that compares to being the #2 in all of Egypt whose GDP was $477b in 2022 and during the years of famine everyone else’s GDP would have been $0. So you could say that Joseph was pretty important, but unlike when he was 17, now he is not letting it go to his head.

Okay let’s keep going. Now he is 37.

Now Joseph could have reacted a lot of different ways, including being very vindictive.  Instead he is now the humble servant that he was not when he was only 17yrs old.

• Genesis 45:5 Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

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What do you think the catalyst was that got him to change his attitude from the prideful youth to the wise 30yr old?

1. Being thrown in a pit and expecting to die? 
• He would have plenty of time for self reflection there.

1. How about the trip to Egypt? 

• not knowing what was going to happen next

1. How about getting accused of rape and getting thrown in jail? He could have finally told God why? I had a good gig going here. 

OR was it when he realized that even in the midst of all the crap 

going on, the one true thing that he could count on was God.  The 

One that through every change in circumstance, never changed.

• God put him to work in Potiphar’s house and not breaking up rocks
• That’s a plus, for a little while
• God put him in charge of the prison instead of being chain up in the bottom
• And then they forgot about him

But Joseph stayed true to the righteousness that he knew:

* When Potiphar’s wife wanted to have sex with him (Genesis 41:9b) How then could I do this great evil and sin against God? 

• Note that he credits God, not Potiphar for putting him in that position.

* God gave him the ability to interpret dreams

• Of the cup bearer
• Of the chief baker

* But he never took the credit for such a thing

* (Genesis 40:8b) Then Joseph said to them, “Do not 

interpretations belong to God?

• And of Pharaoh’s dream he said

* (Genesis 41:16b) it is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a 

favorable answer

Joseph understood from a young age that God had a plan for his life.  He made the conscious design to follow God in righteousness even when it seemed all of the cards were stacked against him.

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Let’s bring this home to today

• How about that God allowed all of these things to happen to Joseph so that he would have to totally rely on Him and not his family.  Remember how messed up they are?
• How many of us have had a perfect life without some kind of crap?
• How many of us may have even had messed up families?  
• How many people have we heard about that want to blame their messed up lives on those messed up families? 
• Joseph had every right to do that.

The way I see it we have 2 choices:

Option A: We all have a decision to make, are we going to submit to Christ confess our sins and accept His loving grace that paid the price for our sinful life? 

Option B: Or are we going to just get mad and blame God or someone else for our failures and turn you back on Him?

Whichever you choose the work is not done

Option A: just like Joseph he continued to work in the path of righteousness that God had laid before him.  Never did he sit back on his laurels and rest in the good life, he continued to work and for His part God continued to bless him.

• Let’s fast forward to today
• (John 16:12-15) All things that are given from the Father, then the Son, Son will disclose to the Holy Spirit and then to us it will be given.  
• Never does it say that we will understand all at once v13 says He will guide us into all truth, it is a process that we must walk through daily.  How do we do that? It is not joke to say a lot of prayer and digging deep into His word.

Option B: you are not gonna like what is coming

* yes Dave I was paying attention Sunday morning:

• (Jude 1:14) “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”  There is a whole lot of “ungodly” (4 times) in there and a resolute perdition of ultimate judgement.

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Fortunately we have a hope and a promise of our own through Jesus and His sacrifice for us:

(1 Peter 2:9-10) 9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

Questions:

What can we do in our lives to persevere like Joseph did?

What struggle are you facing today that might cause you to give up?

I want you to talk about what is on your heart tonight that your group can pray for?

Who do you know that needs this group?