Joseph: Faith, Resilience, and Divine Purpose Unveiled

"Joseph was a person who is father favored because he was the son of his father's old age and he treated him especially he gave him a special coat and everybody said that's different why him why him so they weren't they weren't very pleased about Joseph and the way his dad treated him specially and then Joseph had a dream and he told the dream to his brothers and this is a 17 year old guy giving dreams to his brothers or in the 20s and probably 30s and they weren't very happy in fact the words in the scripture was they hated him even more they hated him even more and his dreams what was his dreams tell you what his dreams were he had to his first dream was there were 12 sheaves of like wheat grain standing and 11 bowed down to one and his brothers knew what that meant who does he think he is then he had another dream and there were 11 there was 11 stars and the Sun of the moon bowing down to one star and his dad and family his brothers knew what that meant bowing down to him who is this guy his brother's reaction was hate him even more his father actually note it says Jacob hid these things in his heart when things happen that you don't understand don't dismiss them hold him in your heart Mary had think mother of Jesus to Jesus" [00:05:20]

"so it came to pass when joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped joseph of his tunic the tunic of many colors that was on him that his dad had given him then they took him and cast him into a pit and the pit was empty there was no water in it and they sat down to eat a meal then they lifted their eyes and looked and there was a company of ishmaelites coming from gilead with their camels bearing spices balm and myrrh on the way to carry them down to egypt so judah said to his brothers what profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood come to the ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother and our flesh and his brothers listened then the midian midianite traders passed by so the brothers pulled joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and they sold him to the ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver" [00:07:56]

"And the Lord was with Joseph. And he was successful in the house of Potiphar. And he found favor in Potiphar's sight. He knows a slave. He's raised up. And Potiphar puts him over his own house. So all Potiphar has to worry about is his food on the table. Because Joseph was so successful. Hallelujah. The blessings of the Lord was on all that Joseph did. Hallelujah. Now, it also says of Joseph, I don't know if this is why Gareth picked me to talk about him. He said he was good looking, toned, and muscular." [00:09:14]

"And day after day says, come be with me. Come be very intimate with me. And day after day, Joseph did not listen to her. Joseph. said, how could I do this evil thing and sin against God? Sin hurts God as well as hurting us and the people whom we sin against. Sin does that. Joseph refused the offer of an illicit affair with this lady. He said, my master's kept nothing from me but you, his wife. How could I be disloyal to my master? And he refused the advances of this lady. He refused them. He remembered to be obedient to his master and loyal." [00:10:57]

"Joseph became successful in his master's house but he didn't let success corrupt him. He was careful about that and we are to be careful. As it says in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12, take heed lest you fall. Every temptation, God has provided a way of escape. Hallelujah. You know, sometimes we wish life was a bit simpler. You know how computers and machines have default settings." [00:12:21]

"so we have to run from it she wasn't happy about him running so when her husband came home she told her husband of how the hebrew slave not even his name the hebrew slave had come up and tried to molest her and devastating lie the husband reacted believed the wife and he cast joseph into prison on such an unjust accusation innocent joseph accused lied about imprisoned he was once rising high in the household and now he's down in the dungeon of prison but what happened in prison the lord was still with joseph so joseph he found favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison because of god's mercy towards joseph and then behold the keeper of the prison did exactly as his previous master had done to him he gave him complete free reign to organize the prison and he just trusted him why because god was with him not because of the man's great intellect and virtue but because of god's favor okay you know in life the smooth and bumpy parts of our lives and we are called to shine as lights as we work out our own salvation to do the will and to do the good pleasure of God that we may be blameless and harmless children of God in the midst of a perverse and crooked generation among whom" [00:14:24]

"Joseph said when that happens will you remember me that i'm an innocent man who's done no harm okay and lo and behold the chief baker says well i had a dream as well and had three baskets on the head of all lovely uh pastries and the birds keep pecking at them what does that mean and joseph said well in three days time you're going to be hung and the birds are going to pick at your flesh he wasn't too happy and both things happened both things happened you know it's the way it goes but in all this in all this joseph had emphasized to the people that it wasn't him who had interpretation of dreams it was god who gave interpretation of dreams it's god who speaks so the chief butler goes to work for the" [00:17:58]

"king of pharaoh again and forgets so we find betrayed accused and now forgotten joseph forgotten time goes on pharaoh has a dream the king of egypt and he caused all his wise men all his magicians to interpret and none of them could but the chief butler said i know a man i know a man so they bring joseph out of prison wash him shave him give him some nice clothes to look nice and he goes and pharaoh said i've heard that you interpret dreams this is probably one of the most powerful men on earth certainly within probably a 500 not a thousand miles of where joseph is standing the man says i hear that you interpret dreams and he says no it's god it's god you tell me you tell me the dream and god will speak the words to you and uh that tells us that joseph didn't trust in his own wisdom but he trusts in his communion and fellowship with god in those difficult situations that's what he continued to do so pharaoh tells him his dream says i saw seven fat cows coming out of a river seven thin cows coming out of a river seven cows at the fat cows he said then i saw a stork and there were seven rich plump grain heads on their heads of grain on them and then there was seven very thin gaunt withered grains of head and the seven withered grains of head they ate the fat ones" [00:19:38]

"he makes him the prime minister of Egypt okay the prime god prime guy and Joseph was 30 years of age at this point so we were told he was 17 when he had his dreams and now he's 30 years of age don't know if you can remember when you were 17 and 30 seemed a long time in there ago a lot happens in your life and that's the time he'd spent going from being a dreamer of great promises going through an awful lot and then suddenly standing a man with good clothes and blessed and we're told what what Joseph thought about his situation because some people would have gone having been rescued from that situation they got well about time to what is I deserve better than that but that wasn't Joseph's thought no Joseph's thoughts were these one for God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house and all that happened and what was happened there and thus he named his first son that that's why we knew he thought those he gave his son that name and to his second son it gave him this name for God has caused me to be in the land of my affliction so that's what he called his two sons which are abbreviated to manessa and ephraim thank goodness hey imagine going out calling him in the morning you know all that you know so but that was what was on his heart and on his mind that god was with him hallelujah so seven years of famine come you" [00:21:24]

"And all the countries around come to Egypt, to Joseph, to be fed, to be fed, including his brothers, the ones who'd sold him, and the engineered circumstances that he had all his brothers to him, because they came, they tried to miss out one, and he wanted them all there. And he reveals himself, and his brothers are absolutely scared because of the evil they'd done. Absolutely scared. But Joseph brings repentance and reconciliation in his family. He doesn't use his power and authority and position to grind them down. He promotes reconciliation." [00:23:22]

"And his brothers, he tells his brothers, bring my father, everybody else up. And they all bow down. And so the dream that he had when he was 17 was fulfilled. When he was in his early 30s, probably 32 maybe. A long time for that dream to come true. And Joseph said, God has sent me before you to preserve life, to save your lives by great deliverance. It was not you who sent me here to Egypt, but God. Hallelujah. So everybody settles down, and there's a nice new life in Egypt, where there's plenty of water, and there's plenty of good. And there's plenty of grain, because Joseph organized it. Hallelujah. But then, 17 years later, we're told what happens after that. So he's probably about 49. His father dies. His father dies." [00:24:11]

"For they so sinfully were treating you cruelly. We beg you to forgive our sins. What did Joseph do? What was his reaction? He wept. He wept. Because he said, don't be afraid, for am I in the place of God? I'm not the one to judge you. You meant evil against me. But God meant it for good. God meant, what wonderful. He was overcome. He was overcome by the goodness of God. Not by revenge. Not by hatred. Not by the memories of what happened to him. But of the goodness of God. Because that was what God had been whispering to him all his life. I'm with you. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Others betray you. Others accuse you. Others forget you. I will not. God was with him." [00:25:09]