Life of Joseph; Fulfilling God’s plan
Genesis 50:15-21
Prayer-
Introduction-
We are wrapping up a mini-series today on the life of Joseph.
We have looked at some of the things he went through in his life.
Some of the things done to him were deserved and many things were beyond his control.
Yet God instructed him and instructs us to persevere and live in the fact that He (God) will never leave us nor forsake us as we live our lives for God in this world.
We looked at the persecution of believers and the fact that bad things happen to good people because we live in a sinful world and it will be that way until Christ returns and guaranteed He will return!
We looked at dreaming big! Godly dreams happen!
If God is in it, dream bigger than what you yourself can do. If you can do it without God, it is not a miracle.
Yet, while dreaming, make sure you have God blessing upon it and guiding what you are doing.
We saw Joseph integrity- He determined that before he was in hard situations that he was going to do what was pleasing to God FIRST - even if no one else saw him or weather he was going to get caught.
Integrity is a lifestyle, it is not what you say, it is what you do and how you live.
Integrity is your faith in action. Don’t tell me…show me.
Last week, we looked at purpose- His life was a mess, but his faith and his relationship with God was organized and strong.
He had learned to depend on God.
He learned to stay focused on God and not the circumstance.
Today fulfilling God’s plan-
In your life
Through your life
2 separate things- Both with God at the center
Genesis chapter 50:15-21
Questions-
What are you willing to let God do in your life?
Do you give Him permission to do what He desires and not fight Him every step of the way?
What are you willing to let God do through your life?
Do you give Him permission to use what you are going through or what you have been through to help someone else who is struggling with the same thing?
After 17 years of not knowing exactly what God had intended for him in his life, but still knowing that God was in it, He is thrust into a ministry that is bigger than anyone could imagine.
He is 2nd in charge of all Israel and in a position of fulfilling the God-given dream to feed a nation of people.
Restore a relationship with his brothers who had wronged him.
Remember when all these things began to happen to the teenage Joseph? He said to the accusers- 39:9-
“How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God.” As Potiphars wife attempted to seduce him-He was more concerned what God thought than even what the accusers thought.
When he was imprisoned and waiting for God to release him, he was being used by God to interpret dreams- 40:8-
“Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”
He is brought to Pharaoh because of previous interpretations he had done and he says to Pharaoh 41:16-
“I cannot do it, but God will give Pharaoh the answer.” He was not going to let the glory of God be given to him- he was pointing the ruler of Egypt back to God.
Years later, Joseph is in charge of all of Egypt for food trade and meeting the needs of people on that side of the world.
His brothers are now standing before him… they do not even yet know that it is he.
The ones who had betrayed him, the very brothers who were willing to destroy his life, tried to kill him, sold him to thieves and vagabonds who would sell him as a slave for profit, those same boys who lied to his father of how he had died.
Joseph stands before them and has a heart of compassion- choosing to take the high road which is to let God be the judge and jury and he (by choice) would have a heart tender to the things of God and not personal revenge.
Through a series of test and by divine direction, his whole family including his ailing Father stands before him as a witness of God’s goodness, God’s mercy, God’s Grace, and God’s power of forgiveness.
Here is where his journey has taken us today-
Without hearing God’s direction, you will make bad decisions.
Without depending on God, you will give up at a moment when God may be ready to turn things around.
Many have given up just before God was ready to pour out his blessing upon them.
The two questions asked at the beginning of the sermon was
1. What are you willing to let God do in your life?
2. What are you willing to let God do through your life?
For a moment, we are going to look at answering those questions-
I. What are YOU willing to let God do in your life?
First, only you can answer that question-
If you are not willing to let Him in your life, He will not force Himself in your life because you have a choice.
You have the power to answer Gods call to let Him in or reject Him and keep Him out.
To give no answer, or be unresponsive to His call is to say no to the things of God
Joseph was willing to let God rule and reign in His life. What does that look like?
No matter who you are, relationships are critical to your existence as human beings.
God created you to have relationships with others, and with him.
He desires to be connected to you through his Son Jesus.
A relationship with your creator is to be known by God himself. Those that wonder when they die if they would go to heaven or Hell do not have the right relationship with God.
Wondering if God really loves you is to not have the personal relationship with Him that God desires.
To be in a right relationship with God you can know that if you died this moment that in an instant you would be in the loving presence of Jesus Christ. You would not have a second thought of wither Jesus Christ loved you because you sense His presence in your life daily.
For God to reign, He has to be in charge. You have to have more of God than more of yourself controlling your life. (Repeat)
Illustration-(Anonymous)
As an adult I’d rather get a cavity filled than go to Chuck E. Cheese’s, but as a kid I enjoyed running around the ball pit, eating ridiculous amounts of pizza and celebrating birthdays with friends. Sure, I could have done without the singing stuffed animals, but the unlimited pizza, cake and soda made up for it. I remember walking to the soda machine to refill my cup during a friend’s party while we waited for her mom to cut the cake. A few of the girls in our group followed me, ready to give their bloodstream another shot of sugar.
Let’s make suicide sodas said one girl! What is that? You know, when you fill your cup with a little of each of the drinks in the machine. The idea of suicide soda intrigued me, so I decided to give it try. From my first sip I knew suicide soda was going to be the drink of choice for the rest of our elementary school parties. After all, why have one soda when you can have them all? Excess is best, right?
For much of my life, I filled my cup with as much as it could possibly hold. Like the little girl standing in line at Chuck E. Cheese’s, I craved control over the things that made up my life’s unique flavor. I held my cup tightly to make sure that whatever I wanted got in and whatever I didn’t want stayed out. And I said yes to whatever came my way because if I said yes, that meant more control over something.
But things have a way of catching up to us, and after trying to add and control so many things, my cup became so full that it slipped right out of my hands. Suddenly I lost control. All I could do was watch as the soda spilled all over me, drenching me in an unrecognizable, foul tang. Everything was out of my hands. (End quote)
Personal illustration-
Coming home from the church and Becky was on the front porch and PD our Westie was inside looking out at the screen at me and I said to Becky, you know PD would have more freedom if he would only listen better. Then immediately I thought and said, I bet that is what God thinks sometimes in our lives.
We would have more freedom if we only obeyed what the Lord has instructed us to do.
Freedom that is abused is just as harmful as freedom taken away.
For God to reign in our lives we need to stop filling ourselves with everything of our own choosing and begin allowing God to fill us with the things of God. You cannot be filled with God and filled with self. You have to allow God to empty self and fill that void with the things of God.
Joseph allowed God to do that in his life-
When he was going through a hard time, he knew God had his back.
When decisions needed to be made, He first sought God for the answers.
When he did not hear from God, he relied on what he already knew of God so that he was able to move forward even when the times were dark.
Are you willing to do that his morning? It is not that God does not want to do that in our lives, but that He gets so much resistance from us.
Daniel 6:26/ The King had a change of heart from self to God when he said these words-
"I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel; For He is the living God and enduring forever, And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, And His dominion will be forever.”
II. What are you willing to let God do through your life?
We won’t spend much time with this because if you do not allow God in your life, He will not be allowed to work through your life.
Each one of us has a journey and if God is going to get any glory and honor from our lives, it will be in the things that He has helped us through and how we use those situations to help others through and prayerfully avoid in their life.
Some call them intersections- those places that people paths cross and we even for a short time intersect with them- if we are open to let God work through you, it is those times that we will see God divinely bring people in our lives. Rosedale over the years has seen people healed of different things and move on to other places. It is a ministry, but it not our only ministry. God is calling people here to help people get to where they need to be by being transparent and allowing God to use them.
The message today is not by accident, you are not here by coincidence- God has something for us and are we willing to let God do what He desires to do in our lives?
You cannot hide a grateful heart-
You cannot hide the joy of the Lord and a forgiven lifestyle-
It will relate back to helping someone else that is struggling-
You will be sensitive to seeing through spiritual eyes the warning signs in others lives and desire with urgency to help them avoid meltdowns and get along side of them.
You will make time for the things that you feel are important.
Amen. Prayer.
