God Uses Problems In Our Lives To Bring Us To His Place

WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH

PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN

SERMON TITLE: GOD USES OUR PROBLEMS TO BRING US TO HIS PLACE

“For God so Loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth in Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18

TEXT VERSE: GENESIS 50:19 “AND JOSEPH SAID UNTO THEM, FEAR NOT: FOR I AM IN THE PLACE OF GOD.” If you’ve never been in God’s place, you’ve never been where you ought to be. Then in verse 20: “BUT AS FOR YOU, YE THOUGHT EVIL AGAINST ME; BUT GOD MEANT IT UNTO GOOD, TO BRING TO PASS, AS IT IS THIS DAY, TO SAVE MUCH PEOPLE ALIVE.”

Joseph was in a situation here. His brothers had thrown him in a pit to sell him to traders. They took his coat of many colors that his mother had made him and put goats blood on it and sent it back to mom and dad with the message that some beast had eaten him and devoured him. Joseph started off with some problems, didn’t he? He was the youngest son and all his brothers hated him. His father sent him on a mission and all of a sudden he’s thrown into a pit and his coat taken from him and his family thinks he’s now dead. That’s bad when you have jealousy there and you begin to lie. Joseph was a man like you and me. Later on, he was sold to the Ishmeelites as they came by. They sold their brother. All of a sudden he ended up at Potiphars house. Don’t you think he had some problems? One day he’s at home in the comfort of his mom and dad and the next day he’s been sold into slavery. He was in trouble but the Bible said that God was with him. It don’t matter what you go through tonight. God is always right there with you. Later on Potiphar took to Joseph and made him the head of his house. He put him in charge over everything. Potiphar went on a journey and Joseph was there running the house and Potiphars wife began to lust after Joseph and all of a sudden she wanted to lie with him. There’s another problem. But Joseph did not take heed to that whorish woman. He stood for God and God was with him and he told that woman this: He said, Potiphar has given me everything in this house except you. and I’ll not touch you. She began to beg and to cry and he ran and she ripped off his coat. First his brother rip off his coat and now this woman is ripping off his coat. He was always running from trouble. He was trying to get just as close to God as he could. But when Potiphar come home, she lied to him. See...jealousy...lies. You see where this is leading. She told Potiphar, look here’s his coat. The servant you brought into our home, he tried to lie with me. Potiphar got angry. He didn’t check in with Joseph. He just believed what she said. So he cast him into the prison. He was still having problems but the Lord was with him. Later on he interpreted some dreams for two boys and one of them ended up getting out of prison and went over to Pharaoh’s house as one of Pharaoh’s servants, I believe. Then one day Pharaoh had a dream and he wanted the dream interpreted. The servant said he remembered a boy in prison named Joseph that interpreted dreams. Pharaoh sent for Joseph and Joseph interpreted the dream and all of a sudden Pharaoh put him in charge of his house. I’m telling you all of that to say this: even though he had a lot of problems along the way in his life, God was always with him and he ended up in the place of God. He said: Fear not, I am in the place of God. Here’s what I want to cover tonight. How God uses our problems to bring us to His place. So many times we look at problems as a bad thing when sometimes they are really good things. You get to going through things in your life and you begin to wonder, why, why, why is this happening to me? But I want you to know that if you’re a child of God, God is with you. And God is bringing you and I to the place where God can use us best.