Its wonderful to share with you once again. Today, we will be looking at Joseph, who, in the throws of overwhelming injustice, continued to do the right thing.
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Let us sing: Here I am to worship
Scripture Genesis 39:1-6
Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man; he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. So Joseph found favour in his sight and attended him; he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge; and, with him there, he had no concern for anything but the food that he ate.
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As we go into a time of prayer let us sing: In Christ Alone
Let us pray
Heavenly Father, the struggles and difficulties of life seem to be swirling all around me like a misty fog in the blackness of night, and at times I just don’t know which way to turn.
Father, at times I just feel like giving up and walking away from everything, and yet I know that in life, “giving-up” is not an option. Give me courage and strength to face the future with You, and to trust You to walk with me every step of the way, for I know that the Bible tells me that You are with me every moment of the day.
Give me the courage to take my eyes off the difficulties of life and to unreservedly anchor my faith in You. And Lord, from this day forward, as I step out into the unknown future, may I have the courage to put my hand into Your hand and not to fear, knowing that You will never fail me nor forsake me. Thank You, in Jesus' name,
Amen.
Please share with me the Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
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As Joseph offered all that he was to God let us sing: I will offer up my life
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Doing what is right
You’re out there doing the right thing. You’re honouring God when no one else around you seems to be honouring Him. And then all of a sudden, someone finds a reason to punish you for doing the right thing. The injustice of it all is … overwhelming. How do you react when that happens?
Well, let’s look at Joseph, son of Jacob back in the book of Genesis way back there in the Old Testament, this young man with great dreams had been sold into slavery. Dreams shattered, freedom gone, family done, in a foreign land, gone from being his father’s favourite to a common slave, owned by another man, that’s where Joseph was.
Now for most of us that would be enough to makes us give up. But Joseph, Joseph knew something intuitively, something that had, been put inside him by God – something that kept him going. And it’s that something, that you and I are going to discover for ourselves today.
We all have dreams that are shattered; we all have times in our lives when we need that special something from God, to keep us going; to help us nurture our dreams through the dark days. So, let us together, discover that special something. Let’s look at God’s Word and let’s look at it in two parts.
First part:
Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man; he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. So Joseph found favour in his sight and attended him; he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge; and, with him there, he had no concern for anything but the food that he ate. (Genesis 39:1–6)
So, what do you get out of that? Here’s what I learn. Joseph continues to honour God. Joseph continues to do what’s right. Joseph continues to use his natural giftings to the full, even though his circumstances have taken a terrible turn for the worse; even though he’d much rather be at home with his father and mother.
And as a result – God was with Him, even this heathen Egyptian Potiphar could see that. Turns out the young Joseph was a capable administrator – so, what happened as a result of Joseph doing what’s right, and using his gifts, despite what was happening to him? Joseph found favour in Potiphar’s sight and Potiphar put him in charge of all that he had. He became the overseer of Potiphar’s house. That’s not bad. That’s pretty good. But just as he was getting to the top of the roller coaster ride, you guessed it, there was a rapid downhill run.
Let’s look at the second part of what happened to Joseph here in Potiphar’s house:
Now Joseph was handsome and good- looking. And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not consent to lie beside her or to be with her. One day, however, when he went into the house to do his work, and while no one else was in the house, she caught hold of his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called out to the members of her household and said to them, “See, my husband has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us! He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; and when he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.” Then she kept his garment by her until his master came home, and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; but as soon as I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.” When his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, “This is the way your servant treated me,” he became enraged. And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. He remained there in prison, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love; he gave him favour in the sight of the chief jailer. The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.
When Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of doing the wrong thing, when all along, all he’d done was the right thing, that would be enough to have just about any of us throwing up our hands, looking God in the eye and saying to Him, “You have to be kidding right God? Are you just out to get me here? Do you really love me? What the blazes are you doing?
And yet again, a second time – just in case you or I missed it, just in case you or I think, Great for you Joseph, but when bad things happen to me, I’m just going to react badly, just in case we’re thinking this message isn’t for us, Joseph does it again. Joseph continues to honour God, Joseph continues to do what’s right, Joseph continues to use his natural gifting's to the full, even though his circumstances have taken a terrible turn for the worse again.
Things go from bad to worse, what happens to him simply isn’t fair – and even though this trip to prison was absolutely a necessary step to his dream being fulfilled, he had no way of knowing that did he? All he saw was the injustice and the pain, thrown into prison. But young Joseph does the same thing again. He honours God. He gets on and makes the best of his terrible lot and so the Lord honours that, the Lord is with Joseph. The jailer puts him in charge and even here in this prison, where he could have been rotting in self-pity, we’re told, because the Lord was with him, in whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.
Are you getting this?
We can be pretty silly about this you and I. Bad things happen to us. Unfair things happen to us. And our natural reaction is either to come out punching and destroy the people who did this to us, or to withdraw into our shell, and become all bitter and twisted about what’s going on. Am I right? Oh, and just to put the icing on the cake, we blame God, and we conveniently choose to forget that He loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to die for us so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life.
When bad things happen to us, we want to respond by doing bad things. But look at what happened to Joseph – twice in one Chapter God puts it there, first in Potiphar’s house, second in the Kings prison – just because God knows how hard it is to get through to us on this. Joseph honours God, he behaves well, and instead of using adversity as an excuse –– Joseph uses his natural gifts and in doing so discovers God–prepared, God–given opportunities right there in the adversity.
That’s the power of what God’s saying to you and me today through his Word.
God’s opportunities abound just as much in adversity as they do in the good times. Even if the whole world seems to be against us, God is for us. That’s why the Apostle Paul a few thousand years later wrote; if God is for us, who can be against us?
My friend, if you have a God–given dream in your life, you can be certain that adversity will come against you. Absolutely certain. That place of adversity is your opportunity to honour God. In fact, the very best time to honour God, is when no one else is. That’s what Jesus did. That’s what got Him crucified. Opportunities abound, no matter how dark the day may seem
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let us listen to the Staff Songsters sing: With All My heart
Please have a quiet time. Praying for yourself, family, church, community, country and our world. Take this time to rest and know that God in Jesus Christ is with us.
The Benediction
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
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