Jacob's Favorite Child Series

“JACOB’S FAVORITE CHILD” Gen. 37:1-4

FBCF – 5/7/23

Jon Daniels

INTRO – Ever feel like giving up? Ever been so frustrated you just wanted to throw in the towel & just give up?

Sometimes, things start out really rough in our lives. Circumstances get turned upside down. Plans get rearranged & redirected. Disappointments & confusion sets in. It can get rough, & we just feel like giving up.

DR mission trip travel troubles last year.

- Email @ 2 AM en route to airport – flights canceled

- Went on to airport to try to arrange flights

- Back home & back to bed.

- Drove to New Orleans that afternoon (Jonathan & Shelle Cedotal!)

- Another 2 AM email – Flights canceled in NO. Rescheduled. Flew to Atlanta.

- Got to ATL. 6 of us not on next flight. Had to fly to NYC & spend night. Rest of group spent night in ATL

- Both groups flew to DR. Met up in Santo Domingo within a couple of hours of each other.

- Several of us lost our luggage. Got it 2 days later in middle of night, except my sister-in-law who didn’t get her luggage until the day before we left to come back home.

- Satan was pounding away at us. Salvo after salvo of heavy artillery from him. We got emails, texts, calls – folks telling us not to go.

- Week ended w/ us seeing over 400 patients in med clinic & some 70+ people gave their lives to Christ!

Aron Ralston is another guy who went on a trip that got twisted up pretty badly.

- Rock climber & mountaineer

- April 2003 – Climbed down into Bluejohn Canyon in Utah.

- A suspended boulder dislodged as he climbed over it, pinning his right arm to canyon wall. Stuck there for 5 days until he decided his only hope for survival was to cut his own arm off, which he did using a dull 2-in knife.

- Rapelled down 85 ft, hiked 6 miles out, until a family found him & called emergency personnel. Helicopter picked him up & took him to hospital.

Joseph’s life started out rough. Lots of disappointments & discouraging circumstances. Some unfair, cruel things done to him by his own family members. Sold into slavery. A rape accusation by his boss’ wife. Thrown into prison. Sat there for a long time after someone who was going to put in a good word for him forgot about him. You just can’t make this stuff up!

EXPLANATION – Genesis 37:1-4 (p. 31)

Sermon series for May & June – “From the Pit to the Palace” – Study the life of Joseph. Before we jump into the Scriptures, let me give you a few bullet points about Joseph:

- His is longest story in OT – 14 chapters – 25% longer than story of Abraham. Obvious that God wants us to know Joseph’s story.

- Greatest & clearest picture of Jesus in OT – One theologian found 101 connections between them.

- The truth of Romans 8:28 is all over Joseph’s life.

- Joseph’s life was a life of faithfulness to God in spite of all the trials & obstacles he encountered. A testimony to all of us.

3 explanation points of this passage of Scripture, then 3 application points for our lives today.

The Bad Report – v. 2 – Remember when you were kids & someone was a tattletale? Told on you for something you did. Even if they were right in doing that, it ticked you off, didn’t it?

v. 2 says, “Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.” We can be pretty confident that Joseph was justified in bringing this report of the actions of his brothers to their father. He was going to do the right thing, as we will see later on in his life. But just like you & me when someone tattled on us, it didn’t sit well w/ his brothers & alienated him from them. Definitely caused some bad blood between them.

The Beloved Son – v. 3 – Part of the reason there was bad blood between them was due to their father’s favoritism that he showed to Joseph. That favoritism was made plain by the gift of the beautiful robe. In OT times, everyone had a robe or cloak of some type – warmth, bundle belongings, wrap babies up, sit on it. Most knee-length, plain robes. But Joseph’s was probably similar to one worn by royalty. Set him apart – the symbol of father’s obvious partiality – the lightning rod of hatred from his brothers.

The Brutal Brothers – v. 4 – Pretty straightforward – “WE HATE YOU!” Hatred is a strong emotion. Leads to all kinds of irrational thoughts, words, & actions.