Points of Light
GTCOTR/081102
Turn to Genesis 45
Tell the story of Joseph (Genesis 30 - 50 … 110 years)
The father’s favorite son (Jacob’s & Rachael’s)
Joseph dreamed of the future
Joseph would tell on his brothers
Joseph was 17 years old (Gen 37:2)
Thrown into a pit by his older, jealous brothers
Sold into slavery by his brothers
Taken to Egypt and sold to Potiphar
Became chief steward of the house
Fled from Potiphar’s wife
Falsely accused of attempted rape
Condemned to prison
Became chief trustee in prison
Interpreted dreams of King’s servants
Two years passed - Joseph was forgotten
Brought before the King to interpret dream
Joseph was 30 years old (Genesis 41:46)
Joseph became chief steward/overseer of Egypt
7 years of plenty
2 years of famine
Joseph was 39 or 40 years old
Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt
Joseph accuses them of spying
Joseph takes Simeon as a hostage
Joseph demands Benjamin as proof
The brothers return to their father
The brothers return with Benjamin
Joseph hides his silver cup in Ben’s sack
Benjamin is caught with the cup
The brothers plead for Benjamin
Reuben offers himself for his father’s sake
Read Genesis 45:1-8a
1 ¶ Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
2 And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.
3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God:
Principles of Living taken from my 154 point sermon:
Point # 48. What may seem like a surprise to you is a plan to God.
Don’t you know Joseph was surprised !
How about Jacob, his father - Reuben his brother
Joseph was in the plan of God all along.
From the pit, to the prison, to the palace, all was according to the pre-ordained plan and purpose of God.
We do not have to understand it for it to be God’s will.
Point # 50. It’s the ordinary that prepares and qualifies you for the extra ordinary .
Joseph became great in the ordinary everyday life of a slave and in ordinary everyday prison. This qualified him for his extra ordinary life in the palace.
Become great in your ordinary.
It is the journey that prepares us with capacity for the destiny.
The journey is your friend.
Sometimes we must go through a place we do not want to be, in order to get to the place we do want to be.
Jesus on the cross
Women birthing babies
Men pleasing their wives
Point # 124. Learn the difference between having a problem and being a problem.
Joseph could have turned having a problem being a slave to Potiphar into creating a problem with God.
It’s alright to have a problem, but it’s not alright to be a problem.
Point # 133. What we are facing may not be punishment for our past, but positioning for our future.
Sure Joseph had irritated his brothers, but they were not in control of his life or his destiny … God was!
God was positioning Joseph for his future.
It looked like a pit
It looked like a prison
But it was actually a chariot of God
Point # 137. It may be bad now but trust me, you can make it worse.
Don’t add impurities to your refining process
Bad decisions, wrong decisions and costly mistakes are a part of the process, not the problem.
Don’t take a temporary situation and create a permanent problem.
Pitching a fit or sulking or giving up won’t help.
Right now may not be a good time to be depressed!
Point # 154. God does not first seek our permission before He upsets our plans.
If things are not going as you planned …
It may be the devil trying to destroy you
It may be poor planning on your part
It may be God ignoring your plans in favor of His Own
How can we know?
First Pray
Point # 140. Prayer is not a spice of life we sprinkle over our plan to give it a God flavor … prayer is the key ingredient through which we find the receipt for our life.
Then Obey
Obey the written word of God
Obey the known will of God
Obey the evident way of God
Point # 142. What we do with what we have shows who we are and what we believe.
Conclusion:
We cannot often determine what we go through, but we can control how we go through it.
We can only play the cards we are dealt
Forward is the way out of life’s troubles
God has a plan which includes your tomorrows.
Will you give your tomorrows to Him and trust Him right now?
Song: I went to the enemy’s camp and I sat down and watched TV
