Now Is Not The End Part 2 Series

Now Is Not The End Part 2

Scriptures: Genesis 39: 1-23; 40:1-23; Deuteronomy 28 1-14

Introduction:

This morning I will continue with part two of my series titled “Now Is Not The End”. Last week I began the series with an introduction on how we often allow what we are going through in the present, in the now, to overshadow where we are going, the end. We sometimes lose focus on where we are going because we have to deal with so much in the present that we begin to consider if it is worth it to fight it out to the end. In my message last week I shared with you three key points that will continue throughout the message today. The first point is that our now experiences do not define what the end will be. These now experiences are moments in time as we walk with God and change so rapidly that we must focus hard on God or we will get caught up in every changing now experience. The second point is that if we are pleasing to God, He will order (direct) our steps and lead us through all of the obstacles that will come our way as we are walking with Him. This point is critical because it forces us to come to the point in our relationship with God that we actually begin to hear and listen to Him. The last point is that every decision we make in our now experience will affect our future now experiences. The decisions you make right now will have an impact on future events that you cannot see. This is not a worry when we are making a decision according to God’s will who understands our future and all of its possibilities. Please keep these three points in the forefront of your minds as we continue with the life of Joseph.

In part one last week, we talked some about Joseph and his relationship with his father and his brothers. Last week we found out that Joseph was his father’s favorite son and his brothers hated him. They hated him even more after he shared two dreams that he had with them where they would one day bow down to him. Their hate grew to the point that when the opportunity came when they could be rid of him, they acted and sold him into slavery. When we left Joseph last week, he was on his way to a strange land, not knowing if he would ever see his father or little brother again. Not knowing if God was with him or if he had been forsaken. We will pick up the story this morning with Joseph arriving in Egypt and being sold to an Egyptian officer named Potiphar. Turn with me to Genesis chapter 39.

I. Joseph In Potiphar’s House

“Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his mater, the Egyptian. Now the master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge.” It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field. So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.” (Vss. 1-6)

Joseph had arrived in Egypt and was sold, probably at a slave auction, to Potiphar, the chief bodyguard of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. When Joseph was taken to Potiphar’s house as a slave, he did not start out in charge of the house but as a slave as everyone else. The thing that was different about Joseph was the God was with him and it was so noticeable that even Potiphar noticed it. When Joseph arrived in Potiphar’s house, his “now” was that where he had once been free, he was now a slave. Where in his previous life he could come and go as he please, he now had to come and go as he was told. It could be a fair assessment that he was probably depressed, angry and even afraid. But Joseph in that “now” had decisions to make. Remember what I said earlier, God will order our steps if we are pleasing to Him but we must choose to walk in the steps that He have ordered. Joseph could have mentally and spiritually shut down allowing that “now” to become his end, but he did not. Joseph made a different decision. At some point he realized that God was still with him and he decided that no matter where he was he would continue in his walk with God.