Title: The Story of Joseph
Introduction
This week in our E100 Bible reading challenge we read the story of Joseph.
The lesson of the story of Joseph is this:God reveals who He is through the stories of our lives.
The story of Joseph is the story of God. History is His Story. Through the story of Joseph God reveals a lot about Himself.
1.Through the story of Joseph God reveals to us He is All –knowing
A.God knows the future
He knew a 17 year old boy named Joseph was going to end up prime minister of Egypt. He knows what is going to happen to everyone of us
2.Through the story of Joseph God reveals to us He is all-powerful
A.God can do anything
One of the readings for this week was titled: From prison to promotion. God can do anything in our lives too!
3.Through the story of Joseph God reveals to us He is always present
“And the Lord was with Joseph”
A.God was with Joseph when he was sold into slavery
B.God was with Joseph when he was falsely thrown into prison
God is always present with us too (in both the good days and the bad days)
4.Through the story of Joseph God reveals to us He is all Holy
When Potiphar’s wife tried to get Joseph to go to bed with her
“How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God.” (Gen 39:9)
Illustration: take down the signs that say speed limit 55 miles per hour and put up signs that say Genesis 39:9
5.Through the story of Joseph God reveals to us He is all-loving
In Genesis 45:5
“And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”
In Genesis 45:7
“But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”
The story of Joseph is a love story from God
God loves people and makes a way of deliverance for them
God revealed who he is through the story of Joseph
God reveals who He is through the stories of our lives
John the Baptist said
But the reason I came was that he might be revealed to Israel. (John 1:31)
Maybe the reason you and I are here is for the same one… so that God might be revealed to others?
1. It starts with a dream!
A dream to be -someone who reveals God to others…
I’d prefer to have Joseph’s dream. Everyone coming and bowing down to me…telling me how awesome I am!
If you can reveal God to others they will come and tell you how awesome you are. If not here on earth then one day in heaven!
The greatest thing we can do for someone else is to reveal who God is to them. The greatest dream we could ever dream is to dream to be someone who reveals God to others. You can’t dream a better dream than that!
The world would argue they have a better dream.
A better dream is a dream to make lots of money every year and enjoy life for years to come.
Pharaoh: be careful what you dream for- in 7 years you might end up with nothing.
Do we have a dream to be someone who reveals God to others?
But I’m not a pastor? Neither was Joseph.
1. It starts with a dream
2. It requires a price
If we have a dream to reveal God to others- it requires a price!
Only God knows what that price is. But in the story of Joseph we do get some idea of the price
1.To reveal God as all knowing we have to pay the price of stepping into the unknown
2.To reveal God as all powerful we have to pay the price of walking in weakness
3.To reveal God as always present we have to pay the price of living where we don’t want to live
4.To reveal God as all-holy we have to pay the price of being around sinners
5.To reveal God as all loving we have to pay the price of forgiving our enemies
The great thing about Joseph is that he came to see that the price was worth it!
We become a better person for paying the price. We become a Joseph.
When you pay the price you get to experience God in new ways for yourself.
It’s easier to reveal something about God when you have experienced it first- hand yourself.
Everything Joseph revealed about God -He experienced first. Before Joseph interpreted the dreams that God gave to others-he interpreted his own dream from God . Before the nation came to live in Egypt – Joseph was living in Egypt
When you do pay the price God changes you in such a way that people don’t recognize you for who you used to be
