God Is With Us - The Life of Joseph, Part 2

well we're going to look to genesis chapter 37 and read the last few verses of that chapter we started last week in the beginning of the chapter and we're actually going to go further into some of the other chapters in this story it tells us this and it came to pass when joseph was come up unto his brethren that they stripped joseph out of his coat in his coat of many colors that was on him and they took him and cast them into a pit and the pimp pit was empty there was no water in it and they sat down to eat bread and they lifted up their eyes and looked and behold a company of ishmaelites from gilead with their camels bearing spicery and baum and myrrh going to carry it down to egypt and judah said unto his brethren what prophet is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood come let us sell him to the ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother in our flesh and his brethren were content and then there passed by midianites merchantmen and they drew and lifted up joseph out of the pit and sold joseph to the ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver and they brought joseph into egypt last week we started a series on the life of joseph and the first lesson we learned that he was his father's favorite son that his father had given him the birthright that belonged to his much older brother reuben and that we learned that god gave him two dreams showing that someday he would rule over his family and his family would bow down to him and because of all that his brothers hated him and at the end of the lesson we left joseph in a pit and so we want to revisit that scene as we start this lesson and look further into this story we read in verse 23 just a moment ago it came to pass when joseph was come up unto his brethren that they stripped joseph out of his coat his coat of many colors that was on him so the first thing i noticed this morning is that the brothers stripped joseph of his coat now last week we learned of course you've heard many times a coat of many colors have been plays and movies written about at different things but we learned that that coat represented the birthright it was a coat that was given to the one that was going to receive the birthright and so more than just being a colorful coat or some fancy thing it was a constant reminder to all of his brothers that joseph was going to get what typically belonged to the firstborn even though he was number 11 in a long line of brothers not anywhere near the top he was the one that was going to receive the double portion inheritance he was going to get a lot double what anyone else got and stripping him of this garment was their way of removing that offended coat from their site we'll just take it off i'm tired of looking at it every time he comes by it just reminds us you're getting more than the rest of us you're the favorite and so they thought well let's get rid of the coat and while doing that i suppose they were probably thinking they would rid themselves of this dreamer

who aspired to rule over them jesus told us this in john 10 10 he said the thief comes not but to steal and to kill and to destroy that is the agenda of the enemy that's what satan desires he desires to steal the dream that god has placed in your life he wants to kill and destroy the things that that god is doing and that god has promised you and that god is working in you and and he will try to strip away the birthright that you were promised when you became a child child of god i think it aggravates him probably more than anything else to think that you're gonna receive eternal life and to be in the presence of god forever and ever and he doesn't get to because that's your birthright you see satan was created first he was created earlier than humans and he was the pinnacle at that time of god's creation and he he rose and he got to walk in the presence of god and he was there he was the angel the bible says that covereth he was the one of worship and praise and singing unto god and he had this unique place in heaven and so the birthright that he aspired to of receiving the double portion and all those great things was taken from him and given to someone more worthy than he was hebrews tells us this in chapter 2 and verse 9 but we see jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death is crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of god should taste death from every man that sounds a little bit weird to us doesn't it jesus was made a little lower than the angels now that doesn't mean he was made less or that he was made not worthy or that he was made in a lesser way but what it does mean is this it said he was made a little lower for the suffering of death in other words he was able to die which the angels cannot do or will not do and so jesus was born to die and so in that sense he was made lower in a different way than the angels yet because he died as that perfect sacrifice for sin amen he is now exalted far above the angels he is crowned with glory and with honor in fact hebrews 1 4 says he is being made so much better than the angels 2 9 he said he was made lower than the angels in verse 1 1 4 it says he is made so much better than the angels well why so because he lived that sinful life sin less life and he died and he rose again to live forever more he was and he died and he rose again to live forever more so he has made so much better than the angels and here's what it says and because of that he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they and don't you know that just gets right in the devil's craw he was the one that had that high position and now he looks at jesus who was made to die and rose again and lives eternal and he says he receives the inheritance he is the beloved son but here's the best part of that whole thing but not only jesus obtained the inheritance peter says this in first peter 1 and 3 it said he hath begotten us unto a lively hope by the resurrection of jesus christ from

the dead so yes jesus did die and he rose again but because of that we have a lively hope and here's what it is we are given this inheritance that is incorruptible and it's undefiled and it fades not away and it's reserved in heaven for you soon and very soon we're going to see the king amen and what are we going to see we're going to see an inheritance that he has reserved for us no wonder the devil wants to steal it no wonder he wants to try to take it away because he ain't going to get it in fact he knows what his inheritance is going to be he's going to be cast in the pit and in a flame of fire and he is going to be bound and chains for eternity and he knows that's what's ahead for him and he'd much rather have what you're going to get and so he wants to take away your colorful code if you will and then paul said in ephesians he said that in the dispensation of the fullness of time jesus is going to gather together all in one all together in one all things in christ which are in heaven and which are on earth even him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance an inheritance wear the coat that god has given you for it's the promise of a heavenly birthright we've got something to look forward to don't let anyone strip you of your garment that he has allowed you to wear or anything or anything that would come in your life and the bible goes on it says and they took joseph and they cast him into the pit the pit was empty there was no water in it now i don't know if the brothers knew whether the pit was dry or not it doesn't say that they just cast them into pit and then it says as almost as an aside that it was empty and there was no water in it the bible doesn't say reuben had told them not to slay him and so perhaps they thought the pit which that word literally means a well or a cyst in fact the word is bore in the hebrew like you'd bore a hole into the ground either to find water or to make a cistern to keep water in so that's what that pit meant it was whether it was full of water maybe they thought it was and that well we'll throw them in there and you know most wells aren't 80 feet deep of water there's three or four feet in the bottom you go down to hit water and you stop so maybe they thought well he can just stand there in that water until he can't take it anymore maybe they knew it was dry and well we'll just throw them in there and we'll just let him starve i don't know what they thought but they just thought well we'll just put him really somewhere well no one would find him and i think in either case their intentions were to leave him there to die and then they could soothe their conscience say well we didn't kill him we just left him i don't know what happened to him satan would like nothing better than to put you in a place where no one can find you and leave you there to die but you know what god had a plan for joseph's life god had a purpose and he would see to it that joseph would not remain in a pit and can i say this morning

god has a plan for your life amen and no matter where you find yourself he's going to see to it that you're not going to remain in that place there are times when we find ourselves in low places but god will always the bible tells us make a way of escape keep your faith in him and he will bring you out keep trusting god keep believing and he will lift us out of that thing now i don't spiritualize everything we read in scripture i mean it is a spiritual book but i think you can get in trouble when every word you look at and everything you try to make a a specific spiritual application to where eventually you don't even make sense of the story that is taking place in fact some people do that in jesus day there was a jewish philosopher philo and most of his writings were analogies instead of looking at an actual history of what happened he tried to spiritualize the whole book of the old testament and so take this more if you will as a preaching point than solid theology but water in scripture often represents the spirit and joseph found himself in a dry place we often go through dry places spiritually don't we doesn't mean god's not with us it doesn't mean he's not there because he has promised he'll never leave us so he is there but there are times in our life we just can't seem to perceive or understand where he's at david said that you know i look on one hand he's not there i look on his right hand where he works he's not there i look behind and look about i can't find him oh that i knew where i could job said if i knew where god was i could find him and so we often go through this but here's the thing don't let the dry times dissuade you from following jesus christ keep living for god keep trusting him keep living for him goes on to say and they sat down to eat bread they lifted up their eyes and looked and behold the company of ishmaelites came and judah looks at his brothers and he says this what prophet is it if we slay our brothers word prophet there i look that up it's translated it means an unjust gain or a something for a personal advantage in a very negative sense what good does it do us so judah was essentially asking his brothers what's in it for us if we just let him die what will we get out of it and then he comes up with this idea you know if we sell him at least we can make some profit as we rid ourselves of him might as well get something out of it right it was judah's idea isn't it interesting that joseph was saved alive because of his brother's own jealousy and because of their greed as we'll see at the end of the story everything that was done to hinder joseph eventually works out to his advantage now it made no sense my brothers are going to sell me they're willing to because they're so greedy and they're only worried about what's in it for them and the profit that they can gain they're going to sell me instead of letting me die while i'm glad they're not going to let me die but all they're thinking about is lying in their pockets

and yet god was working things out in joseph's life i can't explain the things that you're facing today i don't know what you might be going through i can't tell you how god is going to put all the pieces together and make it all work out but what i can say is just keep trusting him just keep believing his word just keep following after him in the words of paul he said for the which cause i suffer things he said nevertheless i'm not ashamed for i know whom i have believed aren't you thankful in who you believe today aren't you glad you know you believe in jesus christ and he said and i am persuaded that he is able to keep that which i have committed unto him against that day i may not understand what i'm going through i don't understand the pit i may not understand why i'm being sold i may not understand all the things that are happening in my life but here's what i know if i am persuaded in whom i believe god will keep the things that i commit to him you see i think the problem is sometimes we commit something to him but then as soon as things turn a little bit bad we want to take it back right wait a minute god i'm not so sure about that now that i see commit it to him commit your life to his hands and leave it there and when you do he says you know what i will keep you and so they're passed by midian knights merchant men they drew lifted joseph out of the pit they sold him for 20 pieces of silver which was the price for a young boy or a teenager younger person not 30 like an adult so he was still pretty young in his life sold him for 20 pieces of silver i like the way this reads in verse 28 they lifted him out and sold joseph to the ishmaelites and they brought joseph into egypt verse 36 says this and the midianites sold him into egypt unto potiphar an officer of pharaohs and captain of the guard we're not going to look at verse chapter 38 because that is a whole different story that is stuck in between joseph's story their story about judah so when you go to chapter 39 and verse 1 it picks up the story again of joseph and it says then joseph was brought down to egypt and potiphar an officer of pharaoh captain of the guard an egyptian bought him of the hands of the ishmaelites which had brought him down hither i just read those three verses on purpose here's what i find out of see about them three times the bible tells us he was taken down to egypt in 37 28 it said they brought joseph into egypt in 37 and 36 it said they sold him into egypt in 39 it says and joseph was brought down to egypt and so it mentions that three times and although it's even apparent he's gone to egypt it even tells us that his purchaser was potiphar who was an egyptian of course he was he's from egypt right but he mentions that on purpose and i think he is trying to make a point but he also mentioned something else three times he said they sold joseph to egypt and they twice or three times he uses the phrase they brought him down the first verse that said they brought

him down the second time it says the ishmaelites which had brought him down in the last verse we read they said which had brought him down thither centuries later god would say this through isaiah woe to them that go down to egypt now i understand that there's a if you look at a map israel is up here in egypt's down there but he said woe to those that go down to egypt and stay on horses and trust in chariots because they're many and horses because they're very strong but they look not to the holy one of israel and neither seek the lord you see egypt in the bible is always typified as the world or there's things below about the world that we live in and god's people are not to look to egypt or look to the world we're not to look to them for help but we are to trust in god now we understand that the world is the place of our sojourning that's where we live right we're not out of this world yet we're still here in this world and it is where we live and so we have to live in egypt we have to live in this world in fact jesus himself the bible said was taken to egypt to escape the wrath of herod and so i can't tell us why he leaves us in egypt wouldn't it be wonderful if god would just take us to the promised land the minute you get saved man wouldn't that be great get baptized pin of your sins get the holy ghost and come up out of the water and just keep on going man wouldn't that be great i'm heading to heaven no he says nope i'm going to leave you in egypt the important thing is this that we are instructed paul instructs us in philippians 2 and 15 he said that ye may be blameless and harmless the sons of god without rebuke where in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world one of these days soon and very soon we are going to leave egypt one of these days we will enter into the promised land one of these days we're not going to be in egypt any longer in fact matthew took the words of the prophet hosea when it said when israel was a child i loved him called my son out of egypt now he was talking there obviously about the exodus when israel physically left as a nation left egypt but he applied them to jesus when jesus left egypt and came back to live in nazareth but that same type can be applied to the body of christ or the church one of these days he will call us out one of these days he will take us home and until he does that his instructions are very simply until then just occupy till i come stay busy in the work of the lord amen and keep busy in the things that are around you now or to be anybody else except joseph and we know that he's got dreams that god has given him and so we'd probably just end the story right there okay his brothers sold him took him into egypt you know he couldn't jump on a jet and be back home two hours later it just didn't happen it was a long distance and they probably thought you know what we're never going to see this guy again end of story we took care of that no more master

of dreams however the bible tells us something in chapter 39 and verse 2 that changes the whole story and that is this and that's really the theme of this lesson and the lord was with joseph you know what when god's with you it doesn't matter what else is gonna happen doesn't matter what goes through god is going to work things out the lord is with you you may feel you're in a pit but god is with you you may be lifted out of the pit think i'm getting out of this and end up being soul into egypt but god is with you and so the bible says that he was with joseph and joseph was a prosperous man in the house of his master the egyptian prosperous now that's an interesting word for a slave right he's a servant you don't think of a servant as being prosperous surely it was a sign of the blessings that fell not only on joseph but also on potiphar's house bible makes that very clear the fullness of this blessing you can see it if you look through that if you got your bible open there in genesis chapter 39 there's a word that is mentioned over and over and over again and that is all he talks about all the things that happened in joseph all the things that the lord made all that joseph did to prosper in verse 3. in verse 4 it said all that potiphar had he put it in joseph's hand and potiphar had made joseph the overseer over all that potiphar had the blessing of the lord was upon all that he had and potiphar left all into joseph's hand in verse 6. potiphar gives it to so you take care of it you'd be responsible for all of it and when that happened all of it was blessed it's significant because what it shows us is that joseph was already fulfilling god's promise to abraham that in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed you know what if you're serving god and you're giving him everything you go to work your your workplace will be blessed i believe that if you're living for god and doing what is right now if you're going in you complain and bid here and hey oh we won't go there let god bless you and he will bless those around you you know it's been observed that this story is really not about the success of joseph because a lot of things happen but it was it's really a story about god's faithfulness to his promises if god promises it he's going to do it and even though it didn't look like it joseph was prospering here's the thing you can prosper while you're living in egypt god can't touch you now i'm not necessarily talking here about physical things although that is true too but god expects us to bear fruit even while we're living in a dry and thirsty land now you think about it fruit just doesn't happen very well when it's dry does it when you don't get rain you go into a period of drought it's it's hard on the crops and things don't happen but we can live in an egypt that is dry and thirsty spiritually and yet we can bear the fruit of the spirit in our lives why not because of who we are but because we've got the holy ghost working in us and it

will allow that to happen regardless of the sin that is all around you you can be prosperous in fact paul said it this way in romans where sin abounds grace does much more abound so don't get discouraged when you look around you at neighbors or friends at the workplace or whatever and you look at me you say you know what everybody's just living this way and this is i'm i see this sin and i see that going on and that's okay prosper let god work in your life and god will do that because god is with us now knowing that god was with us did not exclude joseph from temptation joseph life and eve egypt was not just an unbroken progression of blessing and promotion and this is happening this isn't just getting better and better genesis 39 7 the story takes another turn because it came to pass after these things and everything's going good and everything's being blessed everything looks great but his master's wife cast her eyes upon joseph and said lie with me egypt and this is important for us to remember will always be a place of temptation the world will always be a place of temptation john said it this way in first john 2 16 all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the prize of life is not of the father but it is of the world so it's there and it's always going to be there joseph was a young man probably less than 30 years of age yet he understood the precariousness of curiousness of his situation in fact the bible says the temptation came day by day in verse 10. it said it came to pass as she spake to joseph day by day that he hearken not unto her to lie about her or to be with her so this temptation wasn't a one-time thing she said okay i'm not messing no it was daily every time he'd walk through the place every time nobody was around to hear it or whatever and she's there the temptation the temptation you know satan will put temptation after temptation before us and attempt to either wear us down or to catch us in a weak moment and and he he looks for opportunities and when he sees them he'll just keep throwing it out there over and over again and in joseph's case that temptation came in the most inopportune way an inter opportune time it came to pass in verse 11 about this time that joseph went in the house just to do his business do what he had to do and there was no one else in the house with them no one else around no one will know joseph no one will find out about it no one's going to know what's what's happening this time it was more than just words verse 12 says and she caught him by his garment grabbed a hold of him and said lie with me now joseph had previously refused in verse nine with these words how then can i do this great wickedness and sin against god how can i do that i ca i can't do that and sin against god the one that's blessing me and so he understood where he stood in god and he said i can't do that you know i'm not sure that he was necessarily concerned so much with what potiphar would do if he found

out and the prospect of losing his position he was more worried about god that ought to be where our concerns lie right yeah there's always going to be implications when you fall into sin it's going to affect a lot of other things but the most important thing is i want to please him right and so he wasn't concerned about those other things but he said i can't do this great wickedness because i would be sinning against god and he was acting out of more than just a sense of self-preservation he was acting out of integrity this is how i live he was not going to let the temptation interfere with his walk with god he understood as moses did that it would be better to suffer affliction than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and it is often when temptation comes when when no one else is around that true character comes out doesn't it i mean you're in a crowd and they all know what you believe and what you stand for it's it's easy to stand for it actually it's easier to do that when you're not with the crowd and the temptation come and here's what joseph did he did the only thing he knew to do he turned around and he ran he left his garment in her hands and he fled and got him out sometimes you just need to get you out when the temptation comes i'm getting out of here in the words of paul to another young man timothy he said this timothy flee also youthful lusts sometimes we can stand temptation on principle we do that sometimes i'm not doing that i know better than that and i'm not going to do it and we have the strength of character and we've prayed and we're on top and we just withstand it sometimes it is just that strength of character our own makeup will help us along in some cases or sometimes it's just a faith god you're gonna keep get me through this and we we pray and we seek him and he does it and sometimes we just need to run you see this isn't a game that we're playing with and none of us are such perfect holy wonderful creatures that we can face any temptation in the world and just stand there say go ahead you can't tempt me he's a master of deceit the devil will work away this is not a game we're playing and when temptation comes on strong there's no reward in sticking around just to prove that i can do it i'll show you i'm not going to bow to you satan sometimes you just need to get out remember you're still flesh i'm still flesh and we still have to contend even though we buried him the old man wants to come back and the temptation is there at many times and so you have to get out and joseph ran and most often many times we need to run as well now we shouldn't be surprised somewhat joseph's penalty because potiphar's wife told her husband a lie and sent joseph to prison now potiphar probably could have had him killed maybe he didn't because he really liked joseph maybe didn't because possibly stuff like this had happened before and he knew who i was his wife was i don't know what bible doesn't say in any case he ends up in prison can

you imagine how joseph felt i mean i got out of the pit i was sold as a slave i go in there a ranking officer of pharaoh in potiphar's house everything's looking pretty good and then potiphar entrusts everything he said he didn't have any idea what he had potiphar didn't even know the money he had joseph just took care of the ball he said i don't worry about anything the food on my table it's always there joseph takes care of all i don't have to worry about nothing i just go about do my thing i come home everything is good god's blessing all because of joseph joseph's thinking probably i'm on the top of the world right now his dream seems like well maybe it could be fulfilled i don't know what's going to happen and next thing you know he is in prison story goes from bad to worse here's what i find interesting in that in genesis 39 we read this earlier in verse 2 in verse 3 it said this and the lord was with joseph and he was prosperous man as in the house of his master the egyptian his master saw the lord was with him and the lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand verses 21 and 23 of the same chapter now joseph's in prison and here's what the bible says but the lord was with joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison the keeper of the prison looked not on anything that was under his hand because the lord was with joseph and that which he did the lord made it to prosper yeah his situation looked bad but you know what in every situation he falls into the lord is with joseph the lord helps him to prosper whatever situation you're in and wherever you find yourself just remember god is on your side they're there the story of potiphar they're there in prison god is with him and god is reaching out and helping him now there is something else that is an important lesson that we see god's faithfulness to joseph in prison is a response to joseph's own faithfulness to those around him joseph was faithful in potiphar's house as a steward of his house given the terrible situation he could have been he could have been very unruly he could have been very hard to discipline instead he faithfully served his master and given the pain of his circumstances why should he not betray potiphar why did he not do those things but he realized that if i am faithful in the things that god has put in my life even though i don't agree with or understand if i'm just faithful with where i am at god will be faithful to me jesus gave this principle and it will apply to every area of your life he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much be faithful whatever your hand the bible says in proverbs finds to do do it with your might you do that and god will bless and god will help you and so joseph's in prison and yet he is elevated to a place of leadership now he's in prison and the story takes another interesting churn he's there he is this position of

authority he takes care of the the prison master the guard there doesn't even have to worry about anything i'll just commit everybody to joseph and he'll take care of it for me make my job easily easy and so he trusted joseph gave him that position of second in command we think of here he's in prison but in genesis chapter 40 we see another twist in the story two men joined them in the prison and the bible tells us that it was the butler of the king of egypt or the pharaoh and his baker they offended their lord the king of egypt favor was wroth against his officers against the chief of the butlers and against the chief of the bakers and he put them in a ward in the house of the captain of the guard into prison the place where joseph was bound now what's that got to do with anything you know what god's working through that now we know the story so you know if this is the first time you read it like what's this got to do with anything what how does this matter but what we find is that god is constantly working in ways that we can't even figure out joseph sure couldn't he was the one going through it he had no idea what was going on in his life and so suddenly he's in prison and next thing you know the butler for the king of egypt and the baker are there in the cells and the captain of the guard charged joseph with them you take care of them joseph and he served them and they continued a season we don't know how long but they were there for a while in the ward we don't see or don't know if you don't know the story that god put them there to set up the next thing he was going to do in joseph's life and here's what we see again though even though joseph didn't know it and joseph didn't understand it joseph's faithfulness and god's faithfulness working hand in hand were working to bring the fulfillment of his dreams that's why you just need to be faithful and wherever you're at and whatever you're doing because you don't know what god's working on the other side we never know to this point in this story it's kind of interesting joseph had been the receiver of dreams he was the one that was the dreamer right but not the interpreter in fact we mentioned last week probably some of the animosity from his brothers was hey guess what i dreamed a dream last night i was out in the field and you guys all the sheaves were bound down and they said don't you understand that's you and you're expecting us to bow down were you that naive and then he tells about the stars and his father gets upset with him oh really so even your mother and i are going to bow down but at this point in the story joseph becomes the interpreter he understood and it was probably because if god was working in his life what that says is we need to grow through our situations grow in him grow in grace let god work in us and even in situations that look so bleak and so we can't figure out god can do a work in our lives and god will do a work chief butler told his dream to joseph he said in my

dream there was a vine before me and the vine had three branches on it and he said and all of a sudden they budded and blossomed shot forth and clusters of grape appeared on it he said pharaoh's cup was in my hand i took those grapes and i squeezed them i handed it to pharaoh don't know what that means that doesn't make sense i i can't figure out what's going on well joseph said well here's what it is those three branches are three days in three days pharaoh is gonna lift up your head and he's gonna put you back in your place and you're gonna again deliver pharaoh's cup into his hand after the former man when you were his butler he's going to put you right back in that constant communion with the king of egypt he's going to do that well the baker looks around said wow that's a that's wonderful what about my dream let me tell you the one i had one too he said i was in a dream and behold there were three white baskets on top my head and in the uppermost of the top basket there was all manner of baked meats for fair all kinds of things i had baked in all kinds of goods had it in there and all of a sudden the birds came down and ate it all what in the world is this talking about joseph said well here's the interpretation the three baskets they're also three days and in three days pharaoh is going to lift up your a little bit farther because he's going to hang you on a tree and the birds are going to come and eat the flesh from often i'd much rather been the butler than the baker so we see again that god was with joseph and allowed him to interpret those dreams so joseph looked at them and he turns to the butler and he says this but think on me when it's well with you when you're back there and you're holding the cup you're actually tasting the cup make sure nobody poisoned it before the pharaoh drinks it he said show me kindness i pray the end of me make mention in me mention it to pharaoh and bring me out of this house yet at the end of the chapter he's still in prison the butler goes back to his job the baker gets hanged on a tree and the butler forgets everything that happened he advanced but he left the one that interpreted his dream in prison the chief butler the bible says did not remember joseph but forgot him probably the only thing worse right than being sent to prison being left there nobody even remember you're there just go ahead and rot yet while his external circumstances had gone from worst to unbearable here's the truth god was working behind the scenes and that's for another lesson we'll do in another day but here's the thing even in our darkest and most disappointing moments god is with us you ever say say well what worse could happen what else could happen this is as bad as it's going to get and then something worse than that happens it's kind of where joseph was and in every sense that matters joseph wouldn't be on the breaking point if you will yet he survived how how did he do that the secret was not really his but it was god's

joseph survives because god remained committed to his purpose for joseph's life here's the thing god gave the dream god was going to see it through not because of who joseph was but because god said when i tell you something it's not a lie the dream is what carried joseph through our job is to be faithful because god will be faithful to us jesus made that promise in matthew 28 and 20 lo i am with you alway even unto the end of the world he is going to be there the promise of god's presence is not should not be read as a guarantee against trouble because we're going to go through things more often than not god's presence gets us through the troubled times rather than out of them yet as joseph life stove those treasures were there though those troubles were there because god was weaving together something and showing that when you look back joseph you're gonna see that i was there all through your life in everything that you did wherever you are whatever you face you know can know that god is with you and you will overcome and become the person god designed for you to be if you will stay faithful to god i look around this morning there's a lot of people that have been faithful for very many years you're still serving god i know you've gone through some things maybe probably a lot more than i even know about but i look today and i say you're faithful you know what and when you look back over your life you can see the handy work of god in it can't you aren't you thankful for that why don't you just stand and give him with thanksgiving so thankful god that no matter what we face no matter where we are god that you are there that you are working even if i'm in a place today and i really don't understand it i have this confidence lord that you are working and that you are on my side and that you will not leave you will not forsake i give you the praise the glory in jesus name thank you savior thank you savior well we'll take up joseph's story next week and until then let's take a break before we go into our morning worship time