God's Got This Series

God’s Got This

Text: Acts 7:9-16

Introduction

1. Illustration: God spared Joseph’s life, and through these adverse circumstances, that are recorded in our text, God is oversaw his safety. This is the sovereign purpose of God at work. The Midianites and the Ishmaelites only saw Joseph as a business opportunity when he was sold for twenty pieces of silver. Once the transition was made, Joseph was taken to Egypt and sold by the Ishmaelites and bought by Potiphar. God meant it all for good. This was all within the scope of God’s protective providence.

2. As believers, we must be mindful that we fit into the scheme of things and that things are happening that seem to have no rhyme or reason, yet God is certainly working behind the scenes.

3. Read Acts 7:9-16

Proposition: In the troubles we have in life, God is there making a way when there seems to be no way.

Transition: In Joseph’s life we see that…

I. God Was with Him (9-10).

A. God Was with Him

1. As Stephen continues his speech, he again shows the faithlessness of the Israelites and the faithfulness of God.

2. He moves now from Abraham to Joseph the son of Jacob. In vv. 9-10 Stephen says, “These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace.”

a. The patriarchs, or the sons of Jacob, were jealous of their brother Joseph.

b. First, they were only half-brothers as they were sons of Leah and Jacob’s concubines, and Joseph and Benjamin were sons of Rachel.

c. Jacob favored Rachel over Leah, and so, he also favored Joseph and Benjamin over his other sons.

d. However, they were even more jealous of Joseph because Jacob gave him “the coat of many colors,” which was the coat of a priest or a king, indicating that Jacob had chosen him to receive the birthright.

e. Another reason that they jealous of him was that he kept telling them about the dreams he was having, and in these dreams his brothers would bow down to him as well as his father and their mother.

f. For a father and mother and brothers to bow downs to a younger brother was unheard of in their culture.

g. So, you could say that Joseph was considered Jacob’s “special child.” For this reason, they sold him to be a slave in Egypt.

3. However, notice what Stephen says next, “But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles.”

a. We should also notice that in the last phrase of v. 9 through all of v. 10 God is mentioned three times.

b. First, God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles.

c. Second, he says that God gave him favor with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

d. Third, he says that God gave him unusual wisdom, the ability to see and understand things as well as the ability to act upon it, and so, Pharaoh made him governor of all Egypt, placing him as second in command only to Pharaoh himself.

e. This shows us that God works in unusual ways to help those who serve him and are faithful to him.

f. God not only does this for Joseph, but he also does it for me and you.

g. God is with us in our difficult moments, and he assists us when things get tough in our lives.

h. God will not abandon us, even when things look bleak, God will not leave us or forsake us!

B. The Lord is with You

1. There was a movie that came out several years ago called “The End of the Spear”. It is the story of five young missionaries who were killed trying to reach the Auca Indians in the jungles of South America with the Gospel. All five of these courageous and faith-filled young men were speared to death. I encourage you to see the movie, but it will raise some questions in your mind. How can God let that sort of thing happen?

a. These were devout, praying men of God. They had devout, praying wives who prayed for their safety.

b. They believed God wanted them to do this. They were not there to find gold, riches, or personal fame.

c. They were only doing this to reach yet another tribe with the glorious, saving Gospel, of Jesus Christ.

d. Many people have asked, “So, why didn’t God protect them? How could God just let them die?”