People Make Messes, God Turns Them To Good! Series

I am holding in my hand one of the most expensive coffee in the world! This one is from the Philippines! Any guesses on how much per pound this type of coffee can cost?? - As much as $600 per pound! Why is this coffee so expensive? Coffee experts say that this coffee has a very unique and wonderful taste! The reason for the unique taste is due to this animal (show picture).

These civet cats know exactly when to eat the coffee fruits. The cats digest the fruit then excretes the coffee beans; yes extretes the coffee beans! Special collectors, like this Filipina (picture), gathers the droppings with the coffee beans, washes them, then the beans do get roasted, before packaging for sale. Anyone wants to try this coffee later?

I will only charge $10 per cup!

Here’s my headline for this coffee story: Animal makes messes, man makes millions! If man can take extrements and turn it into gold, can God take a bad situation and turn it into good? Joseph said to his brothers after being taken for dead in Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Here’s the headline from the Bible: People make messes, God turns them into good! God can turn a bad situation to good! Let’s learn the story of Joseph. Open your Bibles to Genesis 37. Remember that Jacob is Israel; Jacob loved Rachel who birth Joseph. Rachel died and so Joseph was special to Jacob. Let us read Genesis 37……….

Obviously we will learn more about Joseph in the future. Joseph became one of God’s heroes. But did Joseph, without a doubt, started out as a hero?

I think we can note that there was only one hero in our text this morning, and it wasn’t Joseph! Everyone did something wrong in this story in Genesis 37 except for one person. Who would you say was that person??

The only person in this story in Genesis 37 who we can not find fault is the anonymous stranger in v15. Out of the blue, this man comes forward and showed concern for the teenager Joseph and gave the information he needed! We don’t know this man’s name and we don’t hear anymore about him in the Bible!

Could God have left out this part of the story in Genesis 37? Don’t you think, unless it is brought up, many of us would have forgotten this man as we focus on Joseph and his brothers! But this man was important enough to God to put him in His Holy Word!

You know, I am a Star Wars fan. I was one of the first ones to line up to see the first movie in 1977! And when Elsa and I were given a trip to the Caribbean, we met the guy who created Yoda! I felt like I was meeting a King!!

Now, of course, we can not tell if this man who helped Joseph would be in heaven or not. But you know, I would be so thrilled to meet this man in heaven! I would love to hear him say, “Yeah, I was the man God cited in Genesis 37!” God gave this man special honor in being mentioned in Scriptures! What does this tell us? God cares about even the little things people do for good, even if no one knows about it! Can you relate to this man about not being noticed? Take heart, God notices your good works, even the little ones!

Now, let see if anyone of us can relate to Joseph. Was Joseph perfect? God doesn’t directly tell us. But let’s take a closer look at what he did. Look again at v2; Joseph told a bad report about his brothers to their father! Joseph was likely telling the truth! But did Joseph the teenager tell the truth in love or did he just straight out snitched, “They’re drinking, cursing, and fighting again!”

Is there a possibility of Joseph seeing himself better than his brothers? Could Joseph be reminding his father, in other words, boasting, that he is better than his brothers? No it is not directly stated, but Joseph could have had an ego problem! You see, every person has this problem, even those who become heroes. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, every person has a bent to be selfish.

Look again at v5-8………….

Joseph already knew that his brothers didn’t like him. Did Joseph really had to tell his brothers about his dream of ruling over them? Joseph took another opportunity to belittle his brothers! Then Joseph tells his mom and dad that they too would bow down to him.

Joseph should have kept that one to himself! Joseph was telling the truth but he was not telling it in love, which indicates his ego problem!