But I'm here to finish off this series on Joseph. And so as we've seen plot twist, we've seen how God turns all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. So listen to that verse. It says that for good, it's not just for everybody, it's for those who what?
Who love him and are called according to his purpose. So you focus on first loving God and then understand your purpose and your calling in your life. And so this is the message to conclude the series on going back in order to go forward. And so we'll talk about it from especially Genesis 5020, Joseph said to them, do not be afraid.
Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good for what is now being done the saving of many lives. So then don't be afraid. I'll provide for you and your children and assure them, assure them and spoke kindly to them.
Let's pray. Lord, I just want to give you thanks for this story of Joseph. In many ways, there are so many lessons to be learned for us today as we look at this story. It's a great story.
And yet it is a story of how you can turn things for good. So I hope us to be willing listeners and especially the doers of your will for we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
So if you go to the previous slide, if you will, by the way, this is based on a book by Peter Cesaro. It's called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. I'd recommend that book to you. It's very good.
It talks about achieving balance in your life. It's putting God first in your life. If you get that right, everything else works. But this picture of the iceberg is so telling.
Because what it is talking about is you know, when you see an iceberg, this is an actual photograph that they took multiple pictures to see that about 10% is what you can see and about 90% is under the surface. And what is under the surface is usually what syncs ships. That's what sank the Titanic over 100 years ago. And so if you look at your display, your outward display of your personality, that's the top of the iceberg.
But you got to also look at what's underneath, what's underneath there. And really this is where God deals with you at the deepest part of your life. And so that's why I love the book. And that's why I love this story.
This story really wraps up the series on Joseph really well. And so I think that the next slide, please, Lauren, I appreciate it. And yeah, this verse I think summarizes probably if not the whole story of Genesis, but the whole story of the Bible. When you look at it, you know, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good what's now being done to watch this.
This is the key phrase, the saving of many lives, the saving of many lives. See, the story next to the gospel of Jesus, next to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, this story is probably the best illustration of how God turns things around and uses all things for good to those who are called according to his purpose. And so Joseph shows how the dreams can become a reality in our lives and especially how we can be most effective in what is God's most important agenda. You have agenda, you have, you know, your own ideas of what you want to do, but God has an agenda as well, and that's saving many lives.
So we will look then at Joseph, and this is a whole chapter in the book on going back in order to go forward. And I believe there are life transforming principles in this story that will communicate some things to you in a way that will be truly set free. I mean, that's the goal of the Bible. That Bible is a lot of stories about slavery and freedom.
And how can we live in total freedom? And remember this story, Genesis, all the first five books were written by Moses to the people of Israel who've been enslaved for 400 years. So for them, the idea of slavery, how do we get out of a slave mentality? That there is a slavery that wants to bring us back and that freedom is what comes and part of that freedom is the freedom to enjoy God's purpose for your life.
That he has a purpose, he has a dream for your life. So we go to the story of Joseph and you can read about it in Genesis 37 to 50, the 14 chapters there. And of course, you've heard the story, but just quick review, Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob because he was born to him in his old age and he was the child of his favorite wife, Rachel. And Rachel had died while giving birth to the last child.
The Joseph was 11 of 12, the 12th child was Benjamin. But then Joseph was the favorite son, but we read in Genesis 37, 3, that Jacob had given him what's called a one translation reads, a richly ornamented robe, or you might have heard the phrase, coat of many colors. But literally in Hebrew, the word means a coach that reaches to the extremities. It was an outrageous kind of a display that he was wearing.
And it was worn, it was very colorful so that you would show that you are part of the sort of the upper crust, the ruling class. So it's sort of like wearing a really nice, tailored business suit over against blue collar. That was kind of workers. And so Joseph was exempted from the hard labor in the field.
And we read in Genesis 37, verse 5, that God gave Joseph a dream. And so he wears this coat that reaches to the extremities, which exempted him from that hard labor. While his brothers were out there working in the fields. And he tells his brother the dream.
And you could just pitch it. Now he's a 17-year-old child. 17, I didn't get it. I didn't realize the iceberg that I was running in.
You could see that Joseph didn't get it either. So he goes, your brothers, you go, brothers, wait a minute. Let me tell you, I just had a dream. I got to tell you about this dream.
All right, I dreamt that we were out in the field and we were gathering sheaves of wheat. And then we got there. And all your sheaves bowed down to my sheaves. What do you think?
What do you think they would think? I mean, he was just blind to how he was coming off in this story. He just presented this. And it says that the brothers said to him, do you really mean to say that you will rule over us?
And they hated him for his dream and what he said, but maybe also perhaps of the way in which he said it, that he said it with his 17-year-old pride. Now you would think that when he sees the reaction, he sort of pick up on the social cues, you know, he just didn't get it because he did it again. He did it again and he goes, brothers, wait a minute. I had another dream.
Let me tell you about it. This dream was like that the sun, the moon, and the stars, they were all bowing down to me. What do you think? I was like, you don't get it.
You don't get how you're coming off, right? See the sun, the moon, and the stars, they are symbols, not only for Jacob and his wives and the brothers, but other rulers. And he's telling his dream to his brothers that they're all going to bow down to him. And the brothers tell the father and Jacob rebuked him for it.
Now we read in verse 20 that the jealousy built up to the point that they plotted against him. And actually they had plotted to kill him. They just had enough of this and this competition. And it built up to that point that this plot became known, but Reuben, the first born of the sons of Jacob, stepped in.
He said, look, don't shed his blood. Let's throw him in his sister. And we'll decide. And then it was Judah, verse 27 that said, why don't we just sell him into slavery and just make a profit, at least.
And then we'll just tell the story to Jacob. And we'll put blood on his coat and say that he was killed by a wild animal. And of course, they told him that story. And Jacob mourned the loss of his favored son.
And so we read as we read further on in the story that Joseph was sold as a slave to Potiphar, who was a part of the ruling class, one of Pharaoh's officials, and the captain of the guard. And after a period of time as a slave, Potiphar was so impressed with Joseph that we read that he elevated him to being in charge of the entire household. And then what happens next is Potiphar's wife attempted to seduce him. And when Joseph maintained his integrity, she falsely accused him.
And he was thrown in jail by basically this false accusation of her rejected woman. So while he's in prison, he interpreted dreams. He interpreted a dream of a cut bear and a baker, full of baker. I'm sorry to say, but it means that you're going to die actually.
And but he tells the cut bear you're actually going to be released. And then he said to the cut bear, please remember me to Pharaoh when you are released. And of course, we read in verse 23, the chief cut bear, however, did not remember Joseph. He forgot him.
So the cut bear, he forgets him, but we read three times in chapter 39, it says, the Lord was with Joseph. And that's significant. That is so important. His brothers, his master, the cut bear and the baker, hell forgot him.
But it said the Lord was with Joseph. And what's most important is that Joseph was with the Lord. See? And so in this book, emotionally healthy spirituality, Peter Cesaro is saying that emotional health and spiritual health go together.
And at the focus you give to your spiritual life, time, space. There's a rhythm of life. If you get the right rhythm, there's a do-reflect cycle. There's a work-rest cycle.
And you've got to get that balance in your life. We're not used to that in this culture. It's work, work, work, do, do. So we don't take time to stop, to reflect.
And so he says, that is how you maintain emotional health. Well, Joseph had many years where he could really reflect. And he realized amidst all of these trials that the trials were not, you know, that they were something as punishment, but it was actual preparation. Because he maintained perspective during those trials.
And it was not superior wisdom. It wasn't gifting. It wasn't abilities. It wasn't circumstances.
It wasn't even because of his dreams. But it was purely the grace of God. It was purely God was, he spent time. He took time to actually listen to God.
And God, what are you doing? He had hours, weeks, months, years, even, to think about that and getting to know God. To know him intimately. We talked about the still small voice that God is speaking into your hearts, that you need to get quiet enough to hear that still small voice.
And so while Joseph was in prison, we read in Genesis 41, this is where the plot starts to turn around, the twist. And Pharaoh was given two dreams. It bothered him. It was one, was there were seven fat cows that were eaten by seven thin cows.
And then there were seven heads of grain that were eaten up by seven dried up thin heads of grain. And then the cupbearer remembered. And he said, oh, there's somebody in prison who actually can interpret dreams. And his name is Joseph.
And so when Pharaoh summoned him, and he asked if he could interpret dreams. And this shows Joseph's change in perspective. And how he's totally God focused in his life. He said, Genesis 41, 16, I cannot do it.
But God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires. And that is a very different response from the 17 year old boy who was thinking mostly about himself and his own ego. He was saying basically it wasn't about credit to him. It was totally credit to God.
And so it says in verse 25 to 36, Joseph interpreted the dreams that God has revealed to Pharaoh what he's about to do. He's getting ready to have there be seven years of plenty. And there'll be seven years, followed by seven years of famine in the area. So if a no seven years of plenty would gather up grain, you would store it.
You will then become a world power. Nations will come to you. And then you will increase your wealth, your prosperity. You will be prepared for this and provide for many in the world at that time for that seven years of famine.
And so verse 39 to 40, Pharaoh said to Joseph, look, since God has made known all this to you and there was no one as discerning and wise as you, therefore you will be in charge of my palace and all my people are to submit to your orders. Right? And so Joseph was now elevated to the second in command. He was the prime minister of Egypt.
While the Pharaoh was still the ruler. And so Joseph's family came down to Egypt to buy grain during the time of famine and what did they do? They bowed down to him. So he's so part of that dream was fulfilled.
But then Joseph finally revealed himself to them. And when they confessed their sin, rather than responding in anger and vengeance, he said, Genesis 45, am I, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold him to slavery in Egypt, do not be distressed, do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here because it was to save lives. There's that phrase again, to save lives. He gets it, what it's all about.
And that God sent me ahead of you. It was not you who sent me here, but God, he made me the father to Pharaoh, Lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. And then of course, the Genesis 50 and verse 20, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good for what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So he's not rejoicing in his power or his position or that people are bowing down to him.
He's rejoicing that God is using him to save lives. So let's bring it down to you and me. How does this relate to your story? What is God saying to us today?
Well, at least five things, if you'd like to take notes, they will be up here on the screen. The first thing to do is to recognize this. God has a dream for your life. I mean, you may say that, I have a dream, but you know God has a dream for your life.
God, let God give you a dream. And that's what Pastor John has been talking about these last few weeks. There was a dream for your life, everyone. And God gave Joseph a dream when he was 17 years old.
So don't underestimate the dream of a 17 year old. You know? See, the Bible says in Joel 2, 28, that when the Holy Spirit poured out in power, which I believe is happening in our time in many ways, that your old men will dream dreams, that's me, but your young men will see visions. You'll have dreams too.
But see, at 17 years old, he was focusing on the wrong thing. See, he thought the focus of the dream was, you know, everyone bowing down to him. And I talk about this in my classes on leadership at Pillar College. I say, you know, there's a temptation of leadership that when people are actually listening to you or they're doing something that you want to get done in, and there's sort of this tendency to kind of enjoy the bow down to me kind of thing.
That's a leadership thing. But when he's reunited with his brothers 13 years later, and you see how he's matured spiritually and then emotionally, he says, look, you intended to harm me, but God used it for good for what? Now he gets it. Here it is, the saving of many lives.
And if you and I want to be useful for God, for saving many lives, we're gonna have to get over that bow down to be kind of thing. See, that's where we tend to focus. See, he's a mature man, Joseph is a mature man. He's emotionally mature, as well as spiritually mature.
That God's dreams for his life, they were not for his ego. It wasn't for his life would count for something. It was for the saving of many lives. That was God's purpose.
And so God's dream for your life, for my life, is that we would impact people, hopefully many people, for the saving of many lives. See, God wants to use you to impact people, many people, hopefully for salvation through Jesus Christ. So what do you dream of? Do you have dreams for different aspects of your life?
Do you have a dream for what you see yourself doing, let's say five years, 10 years down the road? You're thinking about that? Maybe you have all the dreams which you like to become a reality, you have dreams of a career, dreams of achievement, dreams of education, you know dreams of your walk with Christ, but where would you like to see yourself in those in your family in 10 to 15 years? Where would you like to see that?
Is there a dream for those years? And what God wants to do in your life? Those of us who were baby boomers who grew up in the 60s, remember one of the most memorable speeches of that era, Dr. Martin Luther King.
As I have a dream speech is certainly the banner message for him and for his dream. And even though he died young, that dream still lives on, that people would be judged not by the color of the skin, but the content of their character. Right? See that, and he paid the price for that dream.
He paid the price with his life. Can you say, I have a dream? I hope you have a dream for your life. If you don't, you need to start going to God and saying, what is that?
I shared with you a couple months ago, I shared my dream for what kind of person I want to be, the people I get to know and influence in my teaching at college or in the church or at Market Street Mission. And it's based on John four. I want to meet people outside the church walls. I want to meet them at the wells in our community.
Right? I want to cross over racial, social and religious barriers to meet with people. I want to accept people as they are, but help them become all God wants them to be. I want to deal with physical needs, as well as spiritual needs.
I want to speak to people about eternal life. And this we talked about is the most difficult step, but it's the most important is to deal with choices that led to broken relationships in their lives, deal with some of their pain, but then involve them in ministry right away, that people would become waterbearers for Jesus. And so God has used many things, actually there's many years of reflection on that whole story to really develop that. And that is my dream for my life, my work.
Maybe it's something like that, some phrases they really hit home with you as well. And I hope your dream is very clear for you as well. And that it will impact lives for Jesus, many, many lives. So recognize first, God has a dream for your life.
He does, he really does. So discover that dream. But recognize the dream is not for your success or your ego or your prosperity, it's for saving many lives. That's what he wants to do.
But notice that when Joseph received the dream, he was not prepared to receive the fulfillment of that dream. So you suppose God had granted the dream right away when he was a 17 year old who was rejoicing in this bow down to me kind of thing. It would have ruined him, right? It would have only added to his pride, to his insensitivity, to how he was coming off.
It was like that iceberg. He would have sung many relationships along the way. And so sometimes when we receive a dream from God, the Lord doesn't grant it right away because it might add to your ruin. It might not be for your benefit.
And so that comes to step number two, is to recognize that the dreamer has to be set free from his or her own pride, right? And so you go through a period of testing. And so Joseph needed to be broken. He needed to go through trials of rejection, slavery, imprisonment, isolation, to be prepared to receive his dream.
So when he was sold as a slave to Potiphar, it appeared everything was going contrary to his dream. And I imagine that would have been a real time, a disappointment, a real time when he had to evaluate, did I miss a turpet, your dream, God? Did I miss something here? See, we know the end of the story, right?
We go right to the end. We're sort of like people who read a book, but we have to go to the last chapter to see that, oh, they lived happily ever after. Okay, then we go back and read the story, but Joseph was living it. And as he was living it, I think he had to be going through a real shirning and stirring inside, you know?
It's like everything's going wrong. And I thought I had this dream and it was gonna happen, but it took years as a slave and a prisoner for Joseph to reflect on how arrogant he had become, how insensitive he'd been to his brothers and his father. What a fool he'd been. How could he thought that God's plan, how could he think that God's plan for his life was to be fulfilled for the sake of his own pride and his own ego and the bowing down to me?
See, God's calling wasn't for that. It was for his obedience and responsibility. So now where did Joseph learn these things? Did he learn these things in the soft life of Jacob's tent?
He wouldn't have learned it there. He learned it in the hard life of slavery in Egypt. Now again, think of how this would be read by the first people who read the story, who heard the story, right? The book of Genesis written by Moses was written to the people of Israel as they came out of their captivity in Egypt.
They had 400 years of slavery. And as they had this time in the wilderness, they're probably reflecting and saying, what purpose could that 400 years of slavery possibly have accomplished? Why did God allow this to happen? Why were we slaves in Egypt for so long?
So here's the answer. Like Joseph, it served to deepen their faith. And that happened sadly, and it's true, it's reality in brokenness. He needed to be broken.
Then he could be built up again in faith to be ready to leave Egypt and settle in the promised land. So their trials served to prepare them for their time in the promised land, to receive God's promise land for them in the purpose God had for them. And maybe today you're going through the same kind of process in your own heart. You're in a period of testing and you're asking, like Israel, like Joseph, what purpose could these things on going through now possibly serve?
Well, maybe God is using them to prepare you to be ready to receive his dream. But you like it. See, Paul says in Romans five, three to five, we rejoice in our sufferings. Why?
Because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he's given to us. See, nobody says to rejoice for your suffering, but you can rejoice in your suffering. God is gonna do things in those. And so getting back to that picture of the iceberg in your life, recognize that the majority, that there's a lot that's underneath that iceberg, that is sinking relationships, that you don't even realize that is sinking those relationships.
And part of that is from your own pride. That's the first barrier there. But then the second barrier, and that's what I wanna focus on today, is to recognize that also there is a, that Joseph had to be set free from a failure pattern in his family. You need to be set free.
There are patterns of failure in your own family history. They call him family dysfunctions, and every family I think has them, we have them, we have them, we have them, we have them, we have them all the time. And one of the great exercises, now I did this when I was in seminary, and it was a great exercise. It was tough, and I actually wrote a letter to my daughters, and I reflected on it, and it's called a family genogram.
Now I have copies available, I asked if they would make copies of this available in the Welcome area. And so if on the way out, you wanna pick up a family genogram, I use this in pre-marital counseling as well, and I start talking about family relationships. See, and what you do is you write out a chart of your family, go back for your more generations, and put the names of your parents and grandparents in there, and then you describe, use three words of phrases to describe each one. And then what you do is you cross out those qualities, you say, I don't wanna bring that forward into my life for my family.
But then you circle those qualities that you do wanna bring forward, because you have role models, positive and negative, for your family. Each one of us has it, right? And so you need to do that, so that you can understand that part of what God is setting you free from. It's not just your own pride, but there are failure patterns that have been there.
You know, people, I hear people talk about generational sin, please don't believe that's ever permanent in Jesus Christ. Yeah, there are generational tendencies, but it's nothing permanent. Jesus can change anything, but you need to be aware of these things. So let's go to, if you will, to Joseph's genogram.
It's very complex. But if you look at his genogram, right, you see Abraham and Sarah, and you see there's a pattern here of failure. There's lies, there's sibling rivalry, there's favoritism, and an unhealthy marriage. All right, now you go to the next generation, you got Isaac and Rebecca, you have lies, sibling rivalry, favoritism, and an unhealthy marriage.
And then you go to the next generation, now you got Jacob, and of course, Jacob has these four wives, and he's got, well, two wives and two concubines. He's got these 12 sons, what do you have? You have two wives, two concubines, you got a bad marriage, you got lies, you got sibling rivalry and favoritism. But when you come to Joseph, you see that pattern's been broken.
He's got one wife, following the pattern of Genesis one and two. Goes right back to Genesis one and two multiple wives, people say, oh, there's multiple wives in the Bible. It never, listen, when you read the Bible, it's not one good time that ever worked well. In fact, the Hebrew word for a second wife is rival.
And so it produces that rivalry. And so when you read about it, it never works well. The original pattern, when Jesus is asked about marriage and divorce, he was right back to Genesis one and two, one man, one woman for life and children. That's God's pattern.
So Joseph has one wife, and he's got two children, right? He's got Ephraim and Manasseh, which means to forget, made, to forget, and fruitful in the land of suffering. Whether he forgets his family, I think what he's forgetting is I'm forgetting the pain. I still remember it.
Like people say, oh, just forgive and forget, you don't forget. What you do is you forget the pain. And it no longer causes you pain. You can reflect on it in a healthy way.
And you can say, now God uses it for good. So he's made to forget. And so then he speaks the truth of God to his extended family. And see, that family genogram exercise is wonderful exercise to go through.
And so he breaks this pattern in this generation. So think about the change that occurred in Joseph when he was finally reunited with his family. He could have gone right back to the patterns he was raised with, the patterns of lies and favoritism and competition, all of those things. And he could have said, you know, I told you so.
I told you about down here, you are, you're back down. He could have said, I'm blessed and you're not. So you go back and just deal with your own life. Just gonna forget about you.
He could have said, you know what? I had 10 years in jail. I'm gonna do the same for you. So you get the same blessing that I got.
I'm gonna put you in prison and see how you feel. He could have done all that. See? Or he could have just said, you know, go your own way.
I have my own family. I'm passive trauma. There's really nothing to talk about. But you know, you don't read one word of scripture that says that Joseph was bitter.
In any way, he goes back to go forward. And I can think of few examples in the Bible, of breaking that failure family pattern, that pattern of dysfunction, then the example of Joseph. Let me show you how that worked in my life. If you don't mind, this is a picture of the two that are getting married there.
That's my mom and dad over 72 years ago. And these are my grandparents. The only picture I have of all six of them together. And so I did the family genogram.
And you see the ones sitting down, my grandpa there. I already shared with you, he was my hero growing up. I call him liquid love. You know, I wrote words to describe.
Liquid love, he was faithful to God. He loved his family. It wasn't a bad word spoken by any family member. When I asked him questions about him and then my grandmother, Frida there.
But on the other side, this is the broken family part. See the guy standing is my namesake, Peter Aberman. But I had no relationship with him whatsoever. He got remarried.
This is my grandmother, Dale. They were divorced shortly after. They had their second child. And so, you know, I have no memories.
Because the second wife said, I want you to have nothing to do with your family. So the words I use for him is unfulfilled potential, broken promises. Everybody had tons of potential. He was good looking, he was athletic.
But he just never fulfilled that. And so there was a period in my life where I was a struggle. If you go to the next slide, and this is what I reflected on. See, there's the genogram of my mom and my dad.
And I get saved. I'm dramatically converted in 1971. And but then there's this battle between two grandpas. You know, it's party lifestyle.
It's kind of, you know, I'm not gonna fulfill my potential. I just wanna go out and just have fun. And you know, I could have gone down that road very easily. But I had to reflect on that and how it affected me.
See, my dad used his relationship, his non-relationship with his dad. I mean, he's just a blank slate. Actually, next weekend, let me see, yeah, next weekend I'm gonna go to upstate New York. My brother passed away a few months ago and we're gonna do a burial service.
I wanna see my half aunt who is Peter Ammerman's daughter. She's the only one left. And I wanna say, tell me about my grandfather. I know nothing about him.
Very little. Dad shared a little bit. He shared letters. But I knew him very little.
Tell me the good side. I'd like to hear a little bit more of the good side. And see, that's a tug that was in me for years. I didn't even realize it.
Until I just was set free from some of those patterns. And you need to do that. And so if you want to really go forward in your life, you need to know how to interpret your family history. And so next slide please.
There's part of the iceberg that is your family history. And it is impact, it's sinking relationships. And you're saying, you know, who do you sound like? Well, you sound just like your dad.
You sound like your grandpa. You sound like, I mean, yeah, it's in you. It's in the, you know, it's in your consciousness. It's in your bloodstream.
The pole, there's a pole to do it the way your family did it. But here's the good news. Next slide. If blood determines our families, blood also determines our new family.
See, the blood of Jesus changes our nature. It changes our failure patterns. Even our sins, it makes us part of a new family, the family of God. Amen?
See, the way I put it is sin rules, but Christ overrules. Okay, there's this tendency, but Christ overrules. He overrules that pattern. I do not have to repeat those patterns in my lifetime.
We are either a product of or a reaction to our upbringing, but we will always answer to it. And we need to recognize God's purposes in it. And so what finally determines the effects they have on us are our choices. Beginning with the first choice.
You choose Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, and you put him right there in the center. And then everything else works out from there. That's your foundation. So there's another principle though, and that's principle number four.
Hold on to your dream, even if things appear to get worse, because God is working. So at first Joseph might have thought, you know, I'm in slavery, I'm in Potiphar's house, things are really bad, but then he starts to get favor from Potiphar, he's elevated. And Potiphar was so impressed with him that we read in Genesis 39, he put him in charge of the whole household. Right?
See, when Potiphar's wife though comes along, she wants to seduce him. And so here's the proof of the change in Joseph's heart. I heard it said real integrity is how one behaves when no one is around. Right?
So Joseph answered verse nine, how then could I do what? This great wickedness, it wasn't a little thing, wasn't a great wickedness. And sin against God, not sin against Potiphar, but sin against God. Joseph learned not only to trust the Lord through the trials, but also that the Lord had to be the center of his life.
It's a God is my center. And I can only trust the Lord, not only was he able to trust the Lord, he was trustworthy before the Lord. So that's so different from this prideful, self-indulgent, indulgent boy of 17. So she falsely accuses him, and now his faithfulness appeared to be counterproductive.
She got him in further trouble. So he was falsely accused by a rejected woman and thrown in jail without a fair hearing. So again, now what God? You know, I thought it would get better and it's gotten worse.
Well, there were two purposes. You can read in the Bible. First purpose, why did this happen? Number one, he needed further refinement.
If you read in Psalm 10518, it says this, and it's a play on words, if you see it. It says Joseph was put in irons in prison. Well, the Hebrew literally for he was put as he, Joseph's soul, nephesh. His soul was put in irons in prison.
God used his trial to put iron in his soul. You ever see how steel is actually molded and shaped? It's a process known as extrusion. You know, if you wanna make jello, you just pour it in the mold, right?
You get jello. But if you want steel, you gotta heat it up really hot. And then when you wanna mold it, you gotta push it under extreme pressure into that mold. And the Bible says that God was using this time in prison to put steel into Joseph's soul.
He was being extruded. He was coming under tremendous pressure. And God was using that to put iron in his soul. So what kind of faith do you have?
You want jello? You just pour it in the mold. But if you want steel, sometimes it's gonna get hot. You're gonna have, it's gonna be under pressure.
And you're gonna be pushed, you're gonna be extruded to get steel in your soul. And what seems like sort of a, everything's going wrong kind of thing is God's way of putting that pressure in your life. And don't think that time is wasted time. He had 10 years at least in prison.
He had lots of time. And don't think it's just cause you're being punished for your sins. It may be God's way I'm molding you into a desired shape. So I can use you in a way, I wanna use you to accomplish God's plan for your life.
You know, you can believe God is with you in the time of blessing. But you know he's also with you in the time of testing? Now hold on your, how do you survive it? Hold on your dream.
Hold on your dream. See, there's a, the second thing that was doing in prison, was God's preparation to elevate Joseph's position. See again, there's that phrase that's repeated three times in Genesis 39, the Lord was with Joseph. Please, family, believe that no matter what you're going through God is with you.
See, Joseph was elevated in prison, even there. I mean, that's showed the kind of personality he had. He was winsome, he was God-centered. And so he was elevated to be in charge of the prison.
Then he interpreted the dreams of the cup air and the baker, Joseph told the cup air, remember him, but he forgot him, but the Lord remembered him. And that was important. And you know, you gotta keep holding onto that, that even in your trial, you gotta say, the Lord is with you. You know, you think about all the people that wrong Joseph, right?
His own brothers sought to kill him and then sold him in his slavery. A pot of far his wife lied about him and had him arrested thrown in jail. A pot of far lost faith in him and didn't believe he was innocent and a cup bear forgets about him and leaves him in prison. See, Joseph had a lot to be angry and bitter about.
But we don't read a single word in the Bible that he was ever angry or bitter. And maybe that's why he kept getting elevated in position every where he went. See, people saw in Joseph, here's a man I could trust. Here's somebody who we could just, you know, I can't be defeated.
He's struck down, but he's not totally defeated. He's not down for the count. He keeps getting up and he had confidence in one thing. The Lord was with him.
You two, all of you, not just my amen. All of you, he is with you. Please hold onto that, even when things get worse. So you hold on your dreams in the midst of the trial.
And finally, the fifth lesson is that finally when the dream comes true, receive your dream in the spirit of a servant. When Joseph got elevated to second in command, he's the Prime Minister, the most powerful empire in the world at this time. He reflected it in this way, not see I told you so, you know, not see how you do bow down to me. He said, you wanted to harm me, but God used it for good to save lives.
There it is, saving lives. That's the purpose for your life, my life, that's Joseph's life. God directed it all not only for his fulfillment in Egypt, but his fulfillment for Joseph and his fulfillment for the entire world at that time, saving many lives. And so he receives that in the spirit of a servant.
He doesn't make them bow down. He says, so then don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children and reassured them and he spoke kindly to them. And Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with his father's family and he lived a long life and a long, healthy, productive life.
And Joseph and his family lived together in peace. He was leading his whole family on how to break those cycles and how to live in peace because he was first reconciled to God by faith, delivered from his own pride, from his dysfunctional family pattern to work through the process and then forgive and reconcile with his brothers by the same faith. And he was elevated to the most productive part of his life, not just for his family, not just for Egypt, but the whole world at that same time by faith. And he'll do the same for you.
He's gotta go through the process, my friends. Recognize that God has a dream for your life. Take the time to really discover what it is. Recognize the dreamer has to be set free from his own pride that you're gonna go through a period of testing.
Recognize the dreamer also has to be set free from the failure patterns in your own family. See, do that family gene agreement and talk about it. To your wife, husband, kids, others and your family. Hold on to your dream even when things appear to get worse, because God is still working.
And finally, receive your dream in the spirit of a certain. Amen.