Please stand for the reading of the Word . . .
Genesis 45
5 But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
I’d like to preach a message today entitled . . .
An Unexpected Tapestry
Shall we pray . . . you may be seated . . .
Introduction
Joseph’s story culminates with a revelation he’s had about how he got to Egypt . . . he even repeated this emphatically in Genesis 50 . . . to Joseph . . . this was a CORE TRUTH he discovered . . . he told his brothers . . . essentially . . . “What you did to HURT me . . . God TURNED AROUND . . . to BLESS ME” . . .
He realized . . . “God brought GREAT THINGS through AWFUL CIRCUMSTANCES” . . .
The Hebrew language paints Joseph’s statement like this . . . “My brothers . . . you WOVE evil into the tapestry of my life . . . tears . . . pain . . . suffering . . . sorrow . . . but . . . WITHOUT YOU EVEN KNOWING IT . . . God took what YOU wove . . . and turned it around and made it a BLESSING TO ME . . . it became an UNEXPECTED TAPESTRY!”
It’s like one of those pictures that looks one way . . . but when you look a little deeper . . . it’s totally different . . . you see something totally UNEXPECTED . . . *2 Pics . . .
It’s the SAME INK . . . SAME PAINT . . . SAME LINES . . . but . . . when you look a little deeper . . . it becomes a TOTALLY DIFFERENT PICTURE . . .
I’m telling you . . . my God has this problem . . . He things He’s God . . . and He’s OMNISCIENT . . . OMNIPRESENT . . . AND OMNIPOTENT . . . and because of this . . .
He has this UNFATHOMABLE . . . UNCANNY . . . UNMATCHED . . . ABILITY . . . to TAKE the very same circumstances the devil brings against you . . . and do something NOBODY EXPECTED . . . He makes them into something beautiful . . .
God knows how to bring the BEST THINGS . . . OUT OF THE WORST PLACES . . . and weave an UNEXPECTED TAPESTRY . . .
Let’s take a look at the tapestry of Joseph’s life . . .
At one time . . . Joseph was the youngest son of his father . . . Jacob . . . and the only child of Jacob’s favorite wife . . . Rachel . . . later on she had Benjamin . . .
Laban TRICKED Jacob into marrying . . . Leah . . . Rachel’s sister . . . FIRST . . . then he was able to marry Rachel . . .
And while Leah . . . his least favorite wife . . . had SIX boys . . . Leah had NONE . . . she was barren for many years . . .
Then . . . the Bible says in Genesis 30:22 . . . God opened Rachel’s womb . . . and she became pregnant . . . and gave Jacob a son . . . Joseph . . .
Now . . . during all the years of Rachel’s barrenness . . . while Leah was having all those sons . . . the Lord was working on Jacob . . .
By the time Joseph WAS born . . . Jacob had CHANGED significantly . . . he walked differently . . . he walked with a limp . . . because he had a God-encounter . . . God had TOUCHED HIM . . . and changed him . . .
God also changed his name from “Jacob” . . . meaning . . . “supplanter” . . . or . . . “manipulator” . . . and changed it to “Israel” . . . meaning . . . “prince with God” . . .
Jacob had started to walk in his CALLING . . . as a PATRIARCH . . . the namesake for the nation of Israel . . . the one through whom the Abrahamic Blessing would passed . . . from generation to generation . . .
Joseph was raised by a father who had BECOME . . . a MIGHTY man of God . . .
All of this . . . was part of the TAPESTRY of Joseph’s life . . .
You see . . . Joseph’s brothers were raised by a dirty-rotten-scoundrel . . . a liar . . . backstabber . . . betrayer . . . they had gotten their moral compass from JACOB . . .
But Joseph got his moral compass from ISRAEL . . .
And the eight older sons NOTICED how Jacob treated Joseph DIFFERENTLY than he had treated them . . . they saw it as FAVORITISM . . .
And they were JEALOUS . . . this was all part of the TAPESTRY of Joseph’s life . . .
Their jealousy turned to hatred . . . they wanted Joseph to go away . . . so . . . they began to scheme a wicked scheme . . . “EVIL” . . . is what Joseph called it . . .
They conspired against him . . . weaving into the tapestry of Joseph’s life . . .
They sought to kill him . . . this was another thread . . .
They threw him into a pit . . . this was another thread . . .
It was Reuben’s idea to put him there . . . he intended to go back and rescue him and return him to his father . . .
We’re not sure what his motives were . . . maybe to gain some of his father’s favor by rescuing Joseph? Nevertheless . . . this was another thread . . .
Judah suggested they sell him to some slave traders . . . this was another thread . . .
He was sold into Potipher’s house . . . more thread . . .
He was betrayed and lied on by Mrs. Potipher . . . another thread . . .
He was put in prison because Mrs. Potipher lied on him . . . another thread . . .
He interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker . . . yet another thread . . .
He was overlooked . . . yet another thread . . .
Pharaoh began to dream . . . the butler remembered Joseph . . . and Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams . . . another thread . . .
FINALLY . . . after years . . . Joseph was elevated to the palace . . . where he SAVED HIS FAMILY . . . and the rest of the world . . .
God took his brothers’ jealousy . . . conspiracy . . . homicidal tendencies . . . and wove HIS plans and purposes . . .
He took Reuben’s selfish suggestion . . . “why don’t we leave him in this pit” . . . and Judah’s greedy idea . . . “why don’t we sell him and make bank” . . . and wove in HIS plans and purposes . . .
He was working out a GREATER PURPOSE . . . an UNEXPECTED TAPESTRY . . .
God was setting it all up . . . for something GOOD . . . something NOBODY SAW . . . ONE THAT NOBODY EXPECTED . . .
Can I tell you . . .
God knows how to take the THREADS . . . WOVEN INTO THE TAPESTRY OF OUR LIVES . . . AND DO SOMETHING NOBODY EXPECTED . . .
What the devil meant for harm . . . when it looks like EVIL . . . DISASTER . . . TRAGEDY . . . REST ASSURED . . . GOD IS WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES . . . WEAVING AN UNEXPECTED TAPESTRY . . .
Now . . . it’s UNEXPECTED to everyone except God . . .
I love Jeremiah 29:11 . . . “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil . . .” the KJV says . . . “to give you an EXPECTED END” . . . it means . . . “to give you a future and a hope” . . .
God knows how to give you a FUTURE . . . and a HOPE . . . THAT NOBODY COULD’VE SEEN COMING . . . IF THEY JUST LOOKED AT THE RAW MATERIAL . . . THE FIRST GLANCE . . . AT THE TAPESTRY OF YOUR LIFE . . . LOOKED LIKE A DISASTER . . .
BUT GOD KNOWS HOW TO TAKE THE VERY SAME THREADS . . . AND GIVE YOU AN UNEXPECTED TAPESTRY . . . SOMETHING NOBODY SAW COMING . . .
Now . . . with Joseph . . . it goes back even further . . .
It goes back beyond Rachel’s barrenness . . . it goes back beyond Isaac . . . and it goes back to Joseph’s great grandfather . . . Abram . . .
When Sarai suggested to Abram that he marry Hagar . . . and in their impatience . . . he did so . . . the result was a kid named Ishmael . . .
This was a NOT Abram being FAITH-FUL . . . this was Abram’s biggest . . . FAITH-FAIL . . . and in just a short period of time . . . Sarah laid down the law and Abraham had to kick out Hagar and Ishmael . . . it wasn’t Hagar or Ishmael’s fault . . .
And through that ENTIRE SORDID STORY . . . the MISTAKES . . . the FAILURES . . . the MISSTEPS . . . GOD TOOK IT ALL . . . and used it to create an UNEXPECTED TAPESTRY . . .
How? Those slave traders that bought Joseph . . . go all the way back to . . . ABRAHAM’S GREATEST MISTAKE . . . they are called MEDIANITES or . . . ISHMAELITES . . .
If you reverse engineer all of this . . . you see the PROVIDENCE of God . . .
From the famine back to Pharoah . . .
From Pharaoh back to the butler . . .
From the butler back to prison . . .
From prison back to Mrs. Potipher . . .
From Mrs. Potipher back to Potipher at the auction block . . .
From Potipher at the auction to the slave traders . . .
And the slave traders were descendants of . . . ISHMAEL . . .
Had there been no ISHMAEL . . . there would have been no one to whom Joseph could have been sold . . . placing him in just the right place . . . at just the right time!
God took the GREATEST MISTAKE OF ABRAHAM’S LIFE . . . AND TURNED IT AROUND FOR GOOD . . .
No wonder the Bible says . . . “IF GOD IS FOR US . . . WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?”
HOW CAN YOU FIGHT AGAINST THAT? RIGHT?
THE DEVIL THOUGHT HE HAD WIPED OUT ABRAHAM . . . HE THOUGHT HE WIPED OUT JOSEPH . . .
BUT NOT ONLY DID FAIL TO WIPE THEM OUT . . . IN ATTACKING THEM BOTH . . . WITH HIS BIGGEST . . . SEEMINGLY MOST SUCCESSFUL ATTACK . . . GOD SAVED ALL OF ISRAEL . . . WHO COULD’VE SEEN THAT COMING? IT WAS AN UNEXPECTED TAPESTRY . . .
I’M GONNA TELL YOU . . .
GOING BACK GENERATIONALLY . . . THE BIGGEST MISTAKES OF YOUR PARENTS . . . AND GRANDPARENTS . . . ALL THE WAY DOWN TO YOUR BIGGEST MISTAKES . . . ARE NO MATCH FOR THE GREATNESS . . . GOODNESS . . . AND GENIUS OF OUR GOD . . .
Romans 8:28 . . . says OUR GOD . . . “works ALL THINGS together for the good of those who love Him . . .”
Our God has the GREATNESS . . . THE GOODNESS . . . THE GENIUS . . . THE POWER . . . THE FOREKNOWLEDGE . . . TO WEAVE AN UNEXPECTED TAPESTRY . . .
Listen . . . when you fail . . . when you fall . . . when you TOTALLY BLOW IT . . .
When it’s your OWN FAULT . . . like Abram . . . or . . .
When it’s OTHER’S FAULT . . . like Joseph . . .
God knows how to TURN IT AROUND . . . He knows how to USE THE VERY THREADS THE ENEMY HAS SEWN INTO THE TAPESTRY . . . AND TURN IT INTO SOMETHING ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL . . .
What am I telling you?
I’m telling you . . . YOU CANNOT LOSE . . . YOU CANNOT BE DEFEATED . . . YOU CANNOT BE OVERCOME . . . you are a child of the living God . . . who created the heavens and the earth with just WORDS . . . STAND IN FAITH . . . WALK IN EXPECTANCY . . .
On our recent road trip . . . Valerie and I stopped at a cotton field . . . *2 pics of us . . . *Cotton ball . . .
Vance Havner, in his book, It Is Toward Evening, tells the story of a group of farmers who were raising cotton around Enterprise, Alabama . . . when . . . out of nowhere . . . the devastating boll weevil invaded the crops. These men had put all of their savings . . . dedicated all of their fields . . . and set all of their hopes in cotton. Then the boll weevil came.
Before long, it looked as if they would all go bankrupt . . . but farmers decided . . . "since we can't plant cotton . . . let's plant peanuts." Amazingly . . . those peanuts brought them more money than they would have ever made raising cotton. When the farmers realized that what seemed like a disaster . . . had actually made them rich . . . they erected a large and impressive monument to the boll weevil . . . a monument to the very thing they once thought would destroy them . . .
*2 Boll Weevil pics . . .
I’m telling you . . . God can take your MESS . . . and turn it into a MESSAGE of His hope and mercy . . . He can take your TEST can become a TESTIMONY of His love and grace . . . as David Huff said . . . your STUMBLING BLOCKS can become STEPPING STONES . . .
I’m telling you . . . we serve a God Who is UNSTOPPABLE . . . a God Who knows how to take what the devil meant for EVIL and TURN IT INTO SOMETHING GOOD . . .
To give you an UNEXPECTED TAPESTRY . . . one that NOBODY SAW COMING . . .
I want to challenge you today . . . walk in faith . . . know God’s gonna work something incredible out of your situation . . . you mistakes . . . what the enemy has done . . .
When Jesus was on the cross . . . it looked like an ABSOLUTE FAIL . . . but in Romans 1 . . . Paul said that what appeared to be the disaster of the ages . . . became the POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION . . .
Closing . . .
Let me encourage you . . . no matter what mistakes you may have made . . . no matter how bad they were . . . and no matter how bad others may have treated you . . . God is REWEAVING . . . the tapestry of your life . . .
I’m gonna open these altars . . . like this . . . if you want God to take those very same threads that have brought so much pain and sorrow . . . and REWEAVE your tapestry into something beautiful . . .
We serve a God who WORKS ALL THINGS TOGETHER FOR GOOD . . .
