Genesis 37:1-36

Good morning.

Good morning, Frank family.

Good morning, Rhema family.

Is it too early?

My bad.

Come on.

I love y'all.

Thank y'all for being here.

We really appreciate you guys coming and worshiping with us on Sunday mornings.

You're already standing, so can we start by just giving God a praise?

Can we just give him a praise?

Clap your hands, lift your voices, dance if you got to.

Come on, shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

That's the word.

I didn't say that.

He said it.

Shout unto God.

It's okay.

I promise nobody's going to get you.

Shout unto God with a voice of triumph.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah to the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

He's worthy.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, God.

Hallelujah.

Don't stop now.

Keep that safe here.

Spirit break out.

Break our walls down.

Spirit break out.

Break our walls down.

Oh, Spirit break out.

Heaven comes home.

Our Father, all of heaven, Lord, your name sing loud.

Let this place hear us with grace.

Can you hear us?

The sound of heaven touching earth.

Our Father.

The sound of heaven touching earth.

Our Father.

Thank you.

Spirit, break it down

Break it down

Spirit, break it down

Heaven, come down

King Jesus, King Jesus

You're the name we're lifting high

Your glory

Shaking up the earth and skies

Revival

We want to see your kingdom be

Jesus, King Jesus

You're the name we're lifting high

Your glory

Shaking up the earth and skies

Revival

We want to see your kingdom be

We want to see your kingdom

Spirit, break it down

Break it down

Spirit, break it down

Let it come down

Spirit, break it down

Break it down

Break our walls down

Spirit, break it down

Heaven, come down

Come down

Spirit, break it down

Break it down

Break our walls down

Spirit, break it down

Heaven, come down

One, come down

Let it come down

To the incest

Son

Gil

I raise a hallelujah

In the presence of my enemies

I raise a hallelujah

Louder than my own belief

I raise a hallelujah

My weapon is a melody

I raise a hallelujah

To heaven

hope will rise And it's the feeling In the light Be strong praise and hallelujah And I've no idea the belief I realize it's Про Hard Achill in giving me insight

Hallelujah.

I watched the darkness of you.

Hallelujah.

In the middle of the sun.

Hallelujah.

I feel you want to hold on me.

I'm gonna sing.

In the middle of the sun.

It's louder and louder.

You're gonna hear my praises roar.

Up from the ashes.

The hope will arise.

The sadness is treated.

The king is alive.

Sing a little louder.

Can you pray to love my enemy?

Sing a little louder.

Thank you.

God bless you.

I am who you say, I am broken, not forsaken, I am who you say, You are fully, not against me, I am who you say, I am who you say, I am who you say, I am who you say.

I am who the Son who sits free, oh he's free indeed, I'm the child of God, yes I am.

In your children's place, there's a place for me, not much better pay, I am who you say, I am who you say, I am.

There's a place for me, I'm a child of God, yes I am, there's a place for me, I'm a child of God, yes I am.

I'm a child of God, yes I am.

I'm a child of God, yes I am, there's a place for me, I'm a child of God, yes I am.

I'm a child of God.

that he's going to rescue us, that he's going to rescue us. He says that he has rescued us. He says that he is rescuing us. This is an ongoing process. And so, he also says that when we praise him, he gives us his peace. Even in things that seem weird or maybe we're stagnant or maybe we're not. But we should ever be praising the Lord because he is our focus.

And when we focus on him, all conflict is gone, all offense is gone, all anger is gone, and all pain is gone because we see his face. And we see the vision that he has for us. And we see the great, great love that he has for us. He said in 1 Kings 8, 56, praise the Lord who has given his people peace as he promised he would. He doesn't lie. He's not a man.

He is the king of the king of the universe. So, as we sing this next song, as we've sung every song, you know, I'm thinking, yeah, you know, guys, I'm a child of God. Not just, yeah, I am a child of God. No, I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. Yes, I am.

We need to be singing. Yes, I am. There is so much power in knowing that you are a child of the king. You are a child of the king. Not a child of a man, a child of the king. And when we sing, I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.

And that is saying to God, thank you for the promise. Thank you that you give me peace. Thank you that you do for me when I don't deserve it. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for the gift of your son. I am your child. Yes, I am.

And it doesn't matter what's happening around us. We give you praise, God. So, right now, let's give God honor and glory and praise because we are children of God. Yes, we are. Right now, give it to him. Right now, thank him for that.

Because that's life-altering. That's direction-changing. That's trajectory-changing for each and every life in this room and the lives of the people who don't know him who will because we are walking in it.

Because we're going to walk in it, God. We're going to walk in that praise every day so that those people who don't know you say, hey, I want to know that Jesus.

I want to know that man, that man God, that God-man who gave up everything for you so that you could walk in that constant worship and praise, that freedom that you have because you're just saying, I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.

Thank you.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Whatever's in my mind, help me to see the good. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Whatever's in my mind,

Only me, I choose to say.

I choose to say.

Only me, I choose to say.

I choose to say.

Only me, I choose to say.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Whatever's in front of me, I'm gonna sing. Hallelujah. Sing that again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

We trust you, God. Whatever's in front of me, I'm gonna sing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We trust you, God. We trust you, and we hear all as you want. I'm gonna sing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

We trust you, God.

And we thank you, God, that we can.

We thank you, God, that we are not without hope, that we are children of God.

Yes, we are.

And we're going to step forward in that right now.

We're going to enter into a time when we hear your word.

We're going to receive that word.

We're going to be changed by that word because your word is alive, because it's real, because it's truth,

and because you love us so much that you want us to understand who you are and whose we are.

In Jesus' name.

Praise God.

And good morning, family.

Good morning, Rhema family.

Hallelujah.

We're so excited to be in God's house again.

We have another opportunity to praise and worship and fellowship with our God and fellowship with each other.

So for that, we are truly grateful on this morning.

Let's give God some glory on this morning.

Let's give him just a hand clap of praise.

Our great father is so worthy of our praise, and I just thank him that we have this opportunity again.

We want to welcome our visitors today.

Visitors, we are so graced with your presence today.

You can go anywhere.

You could be doing anything, but you've decided to fellowship with us, and we don't take that lightly.

So, Rhema family, if we can just give a hand clap of praise for our visitors on this morning.

Praise God.

Visitors, we ask that you would fill out the cards on the back of the seats.

We don't want to be intrusive, but we just want to connect with you a little bit more.

Make sure we answer your questions.

Make sure we just, you know, just love on you a little bit.

And if you could take those visitor cards and put them in the churches to the left and to the right of me, someone from our congregation will give you a call just to check in on you.

This is also where we receive our tithe and offering, so you can bring that up at your leisure.

So we just want to give God glory for our visitors and connect, and we want you to save the date, Rhema family.

December 15th is going to be our Christmas party.

There will be more details to follow, but save the date because we want to have everyone out here, and we want to enjoy each other.

Okay?

That's okay with you?

Praise God.

And I just want to give a special thanks to everyone who helped out with his ministries on this past Friday, bringing in, serving.

So just thank you, Rhema family, for being so diligent in your serving.

Yeah.

It is so much appreciated.

It does not go unnoticed, and it advances God's kingdom.

Love you.

Love you, too.

It's time we want to go ahead and dismiss our children.

Pre-K through fifth grade.

You can beat Miss Debbie to the door.

That would be great.

Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning, good morning.

And we're going to sort of tap the brakes a little bit this morning as well, too. But we've been going through Genesis. We've taken a few breaks in between to give you a little series. Last week, we had a standalone message really dealing with those children that foster and orphan children and how God calls us to step in in the gap and how God is the author of rewriting legacies in people's lives.

And we see that in our own lives, too, how God has rewritten a legacy in our lives as well, too.

I'm not going to mention any names or anything just to draw special attention.

But I will say there were several people who were moved and blessed by God's word last week, and I'm grateful for that.

But one of the cool things about it was I had Sarah and Tina come up to me afterwards, and they said, they introduced me to the couple.

And they said, listen, this couple, they've been visiting our church for some time now, but they've been praying about this.

And because of the message today kind of spurred some things on, they're signing up today, and they're saying, we're called to adopt.

And we want to be able to take one of those names off the wall back there.

So, I mean, how awesome is that when God moves in people's hearts?

And it's not just about giving a word.

It's not, amen, amen, amen.

It's about God bringing application to that word and moving in people's lives to where we are.

We get to be kingdom people, and kingdom people mean that we do things.

We don't just hear about the gospel.

We don't just listen to the gospel we can preach.

We do the gospel.

We are people of justice, and we stand for justice, and so all those things.

And so today we get to chapter 37, and we're actually going to tackle chapter 37 a little differently today

because you're going to get to look at chapter 37 almost two weeks in a row or maybe three weeks in a row.

Who knows?

We'll just see how that goes.

But today I'm going to approach it just a little bit differently because all of you have been somewhere,

somewhere, sometime in your life where somebody has maybe stopped you and said, hey, Matt.

And you're like, I'm not Matt.

Oh, you look just like Matt, right, right?

I mean, remember when Chuck and Mandy were up here giving their testimony?

They said that David Drury looked like Vince Gill.

She thought he was Vince Gill, you know, for the longest time.

David, do you get stopped people thinking you're Vince Gill all the time?

Yeah, all the time, all the time.

Rudy gets stopped all the time.

They think he's Brad Pitt all the time, right?

Is that what it is, Rudy?

Yeah.

But, I mean, somebody thinks you look just like so-and-so, you know.

I guess years back, everybody would always stop me and say, you look just like Bruce Willis.

I'm like, what, all bald-headed men look alike or something?

I don't know.

I don't look like Bruce Willis.

You know, I don't get it.

I don't get it.

I would, like, get the picture.

No, no, no.

I'd like to have Bruce's money.

Yeah, yeah.

But, you know, you get all these people saying you look like somebody, mistaken identity, okay?

And that's kind of what's going to happen.

We get to chapter 37 in the book of Genesis.

And as we move in here, all the way through chapter 50, we're going to be reading the story about Joseph.

Joseph.

And he reminds us of somebody.

He doesn't remind us of Abraham.

He doesn't really remind us of Isaac.

He doesn't remind us of his father, Jacob.

You know, when it gets down to it, when we read about Joseph, he reminds us of Jesus.

Joseph looks a lot like Jesus.

Very, very similar to Jesus.

I'm going to point a few things out today.

And in chapter 37, and we're moving into the final division of the book of Genesis, the next 14 chapters, including this one chapter, is the final division and the central focus and attention is given to one specific person, really.

And that one specific person is Joseph.

And because he's given to Joseph, I think we need to take some time and really understand why and kind of dig into this a little bit.

I've got to move this because I'm going to step into this about five times.

It's quite remarkable, though, when you think about it, you know, that 14 chapters of the first book of the Bible are devoted to a single unique personality.

You know, I think about it this way.

There's more space devoted to Joseph than there is to Abraham, than there is to Jacob, than there is to Isaac, than there is to any other person that we find.

14 chapters.

We have the fall of man. We have the story of Noah and all of his family in there. We have the story of the great worldwide flood. We have the post-Diluvian area. We have the table of nations in chapter 10. We have the Tower of Babel in chapter 11. All of those incredible stories put together doesn't match the real estate given to this one single person. It's interesting. And so what is Joseph like? What is Joseph like?

And with one word, I'm going to say, Joseph is different. He's different. I know you've heard the saying, like father, like son. That doesn't really apply to Joseph. He is really nothing like his father in that aspect.

Joseph is almost flawless. Did you know if you read in the scriptures, there's nothing bad, evil, malicious, or wrong that is said about Joseph in all the scriptures?

It's interesting. You know, as a human being, he's nearly flawless, and he's very different from his dad. The Bible would call Joseph pure in heart. He is pure in heart. He's not like his dad who was manipulative. His dad was conniving. His dad, you know, we spent a lot of time on his dad. He's nothing like that.

Joseph was pure in heart. Now, many commentators and many researchers have looked at the life of Joseph and have come up with so many different ways that Joseph looks like Jesus.

Some have counted over a hundred different ways. We're not going to do that this morning because of time.

Some have counted over 50. We're not going to do that, obviously, because of time this morning.

But I want to show you just a few things in chapter 37 and outside of chapter 37 where Joseph is like Christ.

And I believe, as I was counting, this is the 50-second message that we have.

Again, we've taken some breaks in Genesis, but this is the 50-second message that we have had within the book of Genesis.

So you guys get a gold star for enduring all of this as we have studied through Genesis.

We have gone in-depth through Genesis.

But Joseph is important, and I thought it would be appropriate this morning to give you more of a sort of a devotional summary of Joseph's life

rather than our normal verse-by-verse study in chapter 37 so that when we meet next time,

we will go through 37 verse-by-verse and study it, but a little different angle, okay?

But I want to give you some ways in which Joseph looks a lot like Jesus.

And there's a reason for this, this foreshadowing, as many scholars will call it.

Joseph is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ.

Now, why that's important.

Number one, Joseph was uniquely loved by his father.

Uniquely loved by his father.

That's the first thing that we see that unfolds in chapter 37.

Look at it in verses 1.

Jacob lived in the land of his father's soul journeys in the land of Canaan.

These are the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, being 17 years old, was pastoring the flock with his brothers.

He was a boy with his sons Bilhah and Zilphah and his father's wives.

And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.

Now, Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons because he was the son of his old age.

And he made him a robe or a tunic of many colors.

So the first thing that we see about this relationship between the father and son is the unique love that the father had for his son.

And he makes them this robe or this tunic of many colors.

And it's thought to be that this coat or distinguishing garment was something to bring honor to him or to give authority to Joseph.

And that's why it was given to him.

Now, when Jesus arrives on the scene and he's being baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, a voice comes from heaven from the father.

And he says what?

This is my beloved son.

My beloved son.

I have a unique love for my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

And also, if this tunic or this robe was a symbol of authority, well, again, it reminds us of in Matthew chapter 28 when Jesus says that all authority has been given.

It could be rendered seamless instead of variegated or many colors, seamless. And then when I read that, that it could be, it could be rendered seamless. I thought exactly what John, when John was saying that they were the crowd, the soldiers were gambling for Jesus's garment, for Jesus's tunic at the bottom of the cross. And when, and it says in there that the robe that, uh, that Jesus wore was a seamless garment sewn from the top to the bottom.

So we see a lot of the similarities in there with, with, with Joseph and Jesus. But at any rate, the first mark is that Joseph was uniquely loved by his father, Jesus uniquely loved by his father.

The second way that Joseph looks like Jesus is that Joseph was maliciously hated by his brothers, hated by his brothers. This follows the unique love that we see in chapter 37, verse four.

It says, but when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

He was hated. And that hatred grows and grows until the inevitable happens. And he's sold into slavery. And this lie goes back to his dad that he was killed out in the field.

And so, um, and that also is a, is a lot like Jesus. Okay. He was hated. Jesus was hated. The scripture says that he came unto his own and his own did not receive him.

And the Bible says that, that the common people heard him gladly. And because the, and so because they are hearing him gladly, um, he made sense to them. I mean, he was like a breath of fresh air.

He wasn't like, uh, these condemning tones that the, that the church leaders had coming from the sanctuary, but because they, they saw that the common people were hearing him gladly.

It formed this sort of envy with the leadership at this time. The, the religious leaders grew jealous of Jesus until the day that he's brought before the Sanhedrin and the trial.

And they have to bring false witnesses in on Jesus. They've got, they hated him so much. They've got nothing on him.

So they have to bring in these false witnesses to make things up about him. And then if you remember when Barabbas is offered to the crowd so that Jesus could be set free, what does the crowd say?

Crucify him. Crucify. They hated him. They despised him. So Joseph was uniquely loved by his father, Jesus, the same.

Joseph was maliciously hated by his brothers. We see that in the life of Jesus as well too. Third, Joseph was unjustly sold for 20 pieces of silver, 20 pieces of silver. Skip down in verse 26 of chapter 37.

Um, then Judah said to his brothers, what profit is it? If we kill our brother and can, 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, our own flesh.

Isn't that sweet of Judah? He's very kind, isn't he? And his brothers listened to him. Uh, then Midianite traders passed by and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit.

And sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20, uh, 20 shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

When Jesus was, was on this earth and he's, uh, doing his, his earthly ministry three and a half years goes on. And as this has taken place, he was very controversial.

Jesus was very controversial, but nonetheless, he was commanding these great crowds. He was drawing these great crowds and they were very interested in him, very interested in seeing him.

I mean, we read in John chapter six, it tells us because of the miracles that he was doing, but even though he was surrounded by lots of people, the, the, there was those who were closest to him though.

And that was his disciples, just like the ones who were closest to Joseph were his brothers, his brothers, 12 boys, 12 boys, 13, if you count Benjamin.

And so having 12 brothers around you, Jesus had 12 of his brothers, his disciples who were around him, those who were closest to him.

Many of them didn't understand what Jesus was doing, but one who was closest to him was Judas and sells him into the hands of the Romans for 30 pieces of silver.

Very similar, very similar in this.

falsely accused. Joseph didn't do what he was accused of doing. As we go on later on in this story, I'm going to fast forward a little bit. In chapter 39, he's taken into Egypt and he goes to Potiphar's house and he becomes one of the servants of Mr. Potiphar who's one of the princes there in Egypt. And Mr. Potiphar, he's away at work all the time, okay? And he's not at home. And Mrs. Potiphar, she's a very lonely, desperate housewife, okay? She's a lonely, desperate housewife.

And so Joseph, he's young, he's single, he's handsome. And you know the story, Mrs. Potiphar says, Joseph, come on, nobody's looking. Lie with me. No one's going to tell. I'm not going to tell. Mr. Potiphar's gone. I'm lonely. How about a little tension my way? Okay? And Joseph, you remember, says with integrity, okay, nobody physically, humanly might be looking, but God is looking. And in the scriptures, he says, how can I do this wickedness and sin against God?

It's God. And when he says that, at that point, she screams out and accuses him falsely of rape and accuses him falsely and which lands him in an Egyptian prison.

And very similar to Jesus, falsely accused of crimes he did not commit. As I said, when Jesus is brought before the Sanhedrin, they come up and they got to bring these false witnesses. And you know what they said about Jesus?

They said, this man perverts the nation. Speaking of Jesus, this man perverts the nation because he forbids people to pay taxes to Caesar. That was the accusation that they made towards Jesus.

And they said that because Jesus said, render under Caesar, that which belongs to Caesar, but render under God, without which belongs to God.

Jesus never said, don't pay taxes to Caesar. He said, render under Caesar, without which belongs to Caesar, but render under God, that which belongs to God.

On a side note there, he's looking at a coin. He's looking at a coin. And he said, whose image is on that coin? Caesar. It belongs to Caesar.

Then give to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar. You and I, the imago Dei, are made in the image of God.

What Jesus was saying is, look at you. Whose image do you bear? You are made in the image of God. So give to God that which belongs to God. You. You.

That's what he's getting at in this instance. But again, it's a false accusation. People take the truth and they twist it in order to make someone else look bad or to make less of Christ.

Well, we ain't got nothing on him, so we got to make up stuff on him. We ain't got nothing on Joseph, so we got to make up stuff on Joseph.

Everything that Joseph touched turned to gold. God's hand was on him. God was blessing Potiphar's house because Joseph was there serving.

Joseph, we'll see this later on, goes to prison and he's blessing him even in prison. Even in prison. The guards even recognize it.

And Joseph also was providentially placed next to two other criminals.

When you look at, we get to, well, we'll get to chapter 40. He's put in prison. He's there with two other men, the chief butler of Egypt and the chief baker of Egypt.

In this cell next to Joseph, two prisoners confined. And that rings a bell to us, doesn't it?

It brings us to the cross where Isaiah predicts and the gospels declare that Jesus was crucified between two criminals, one on the left and one on the right.

Luke chapter 23 tells us that.

But I also find it interesting that when Joseph was in prison, one of the prisoners was set free and exalted.

And the other prisoner was killed.

I find that fascinating because you look at the two that are next to Jesus.

One mocked and blasphemed Jesus and died in his sin, eternally separated from God.

The other one humbly cried out, Lord, Lord, please remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And Jesus says, surely I tell you that today you will be with me in paradise.

So we see that spiritually one died and spiritually one lives.

All these things are, are, are a, are a, uh, a scarlet thread that had been woven from Genesis to Revelation that all point to Jesus. It all points to Jesus. Joseph is a key character though. Joseph also looks like Jesus in the fact that, that Joseph was seemingly dead to his father, but he appears alive again, right? You know, uh, look at verse 32 in chapter 37.

And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it, uh, brought it to their father and said, this, we have found, please identify whether it is your son's robe or not. They knew it was his robe. You know, that's just, you know, you read these things. You're like, what a rascal, man. And notice how they don't say, is this our brother's robe? No, it's your son. It's not a brother. It's your son.

Is this your son's robe or not? And he identified it and said, it is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned his son. Many days.

His father thought he was dead. His father thought he was dead. And he continues to think he's dead until we get to chapter 45. And when the boys come back from Egypt and they need grain, okay. And Joseph reveals himself to them. And he says to them, go tell my father I'm alive.

And they have to, because they won't be able to get their brother Benjamin back unless they come clean. Right. And so, and so they come back to dad and they say, your son, Joseph, they don't say our brother, your son, Joseph lives. And it says that the Bible says that Jacob heard it. And it was like, his heart stood still. Like, how could this be? You know, he couldn't believe it. That which was dead is now alive. How could this possibly be? And it was uncovered how it could be.

But Joseph was dead to his father for a period of time, but then revealed to be alive. Jesus died on the cross and was buried, but he rose from the dead.

Peter says in Acts chapter three to the people who are gathered in Jerusalem, that you killed the Prince of life, but God raised him to life. But God raised him again. You killed the Prince of life, but God raised him from the dead.

Another way, another way, another way that Joseph looks like Jesus is that Joseph rightfully was in charge of everything.

He was in charge of everything. You know, as the story goes on in Genesis, it unfolds that he becomes the prime minister of Egypt and he pulls all the strings and, you know, effectively he works in proxy for the king of Egypt himself.

And he's rightfully in charge of everything. And there's a hint of that in chapter 37 and verse five.

It says that Joseph has this dream. And again, we'll discover in greater depth.

And it says that he told his brothers and they hated him even more. OK.

And verse six, he says, he said to them, hear this dream that I have dreamed. Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field and behold, my sheave arose and stood upright and behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaves.

And of course, they wouldn't like to hear that dream. You know, that's a great dream, Joseph.

Yeah, I love that dream, you know, but it was prophetic of what would happen and he would become in charge effectively.

Rightfully, he became in charge of everything and everyone.

And anybody who was in Egypt who wanted to eat food or get grain, the one who was in charge of doling it out and the percentage of doling it out, that grain was Joseph.

Jesus said, the father has committed everything into my hands.

I'm in charge of everything.

The father has given me.

Jesus was rightfully in charge of everyone and everything as well.

Jesus said, I am the bread of life.

I'm the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never hunger again, never thirst again.

Joseph looks a lot like Jesus.

And the last one I want to give you this morning is that everyone, everyone humbly bowed to Joseph.

Bowed to Joseph.

And again, as the story goes in chapter 37 of those dreams, he tells his brothers, he says in verse nine, he says, he says,

and he dreams still another dream.

He tells it to a...

and he says, he says, go, go, go.

Thank you.

brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream that you have dream? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come and bow ourselves down to the ground before you? That's exactly what's going to happen. That's exactly what happens within the text. In chapter 42, if you look in the text, it says that Joseph's brothers, when they saw the prime minister of Egypt, not knowing it was Joseph, bowed to the ground, bowed their face to the ground.

before Joseph. Prophetic. In verse 47 and 48, when Jacob comes to see him, it says he bowed, Jacob bows down, he bows his face down to the ground. It's the same language. So your brothers and I are going to bow down before you one day, Joseph? Yep. Pretty much. Pretty much. That's why I say Joseph looks a lot like Jesus. In Philippians chapter two,

verse 10, verse 10, it says that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father. Joseph looks a lot like Jesus in this whole scenario.

So why are we going through all this this morning? And why didn't we just study this verse by this is important? This is important. This is important for us to know the foreshadowing.

And I've only covered eight of the many, many things that we could go through. And you guys will probably hit me up later with emails and text messages. Man, you should have said this, you know,

Joseph looks like Jesus and you're right. There are a lot of them, but we go through this simply so that you'll find a lot in scripture and the evidence of the sort of the fingerprint,

so to speak of the Holy Spirit and the Holy writ of the scripture itself in this superintending of the writing of the text. And we have the very words of God given to us.

The whole Bible is filled with Jesus. The whole Bible is filled with Jesus. And I have people say all the time, you know,

well, why don't you, why don't you just study the, why do you study the Old Testament? And why don't you just study the New Testament?

We're a New Testament church, you know, you know, why, why is that? Because Jesus even said to the religious leaders of his time,

you know, search the scriptures for in them, you think you have eternal life, but these are they which testify of me.

These are they which testify of me. And another one I was going to give you this morning. I wasn't going to give you

because there's some, there's some discrepancies, I guess, or arguments one side or the other, but I think it's so good.

I'm going to do it anyway. So I'm just going to say, I have searched the best of my ability. Okay. Later on, when Joseph is in

captivity and he's given the, he's given the job as the prime minister in Egypt. Okay. He is second in command over

everything, right? He's ruling, he's reigning. And the, and the, and the Egyptian, the Egyptian king

comes along and he gives Joseph a new name because he's not going to have his Hebrew name anymore.

He gives him a new name. You remember what that name is? Don't everybody say it at once.

Zephanephaniah. Zephanephaniah. Okay. And when you, when you, when you break down, there's a lot of

different definitions of what they believe Zephanephaniah means, but in the Egyptian language,

they believe what that means is savior of the world. Joseph has put together a plan where we're

going to save grain. We're going to save in the years of plenty because there is a, there is a famine

coming. He says, I'm telling you a famine is coming. Okay. Why do we need all these grain houses

being built? Joseph says, trust me, trust me, trust me. And all of it comes, comes in full circle

and it comes to be. And Joseph to in their world was the savior of the world. Does Joseph foreshadow

Jesus Christ? You had better believe it. That's why the scripture, that's why Genesis takes so much

time to show us the life of Joseph, to show us who he is in all of this. But even in Genesis and

Leviticus and Exodus and numbers and Deuteronomy, the writings of Moses and the Torah. Yes, yes,

yes, yes, yes. Absolutely. Because you see, after Jesus rises from the dead, he's.

slow of heart. Slow of heart. Didn't the Christ have to come and suffer? Didn't he have to, and to be able to enter into his glory? And it says, listen, it says, and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them all the scriptures and the things concerning himself. He goes back to Genesis. He go back to the writing of Moses. He go back to the prophets.

And he showed them how this one typifies me. This one predicts me. And this one is symbolic of me. Wouldn't you have loved to have been in that Bible study? I would have loved to have been in that. Say that again, Jesus. I didn't get that. Wow. It all points to him. It all points to him. It all points to him. It all points to him. And so really kind of leads us to kind of a follow up question for us this morning.

And I know this has been a little bit of a different Sunday for us this morning. We haven't really broke down all the Hebrew, the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But here's the thing. If Joseph looks a lot like Jesus, and can we agree on that, that we see some of the foreshadowing, the similarities on there?

I think the question for us this morning is, do you look like Jesus? And how is it that you do look like Jesus?

I had a good friend of mine text me this past week and say that the Holy Spirit was dealing with them.

The Holy Spirit was dealing with them last week.

And the message that God had brought forth to us last week, and she said, if I'm truly going to be a child of God, there are some things and some people that I'm not loving the way God is calling me to love them.

And I'm broken over that.

And Curtis, I feel ashamed.

And I told her, no, ma'am, never feel ashamed for the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

You feel ashamed when God convicts you and you do nothing about it.

Do nothing about it.

What is it, the worst thing you have is for good people to stand and do nothing?

You know, I forget how the saying actually goes.

Somebody else can quote it and do a lot better job than I can do on that.

But we praise God for those things.

We praise God.

That is the Spirit of God working in the people of God to make us more like the child of God that He desires us to be.

See, the conviction of the Holy Spirit is not something that we should be ashamed of.

It's not something that should repulse us.

It should repulse us in the way that I am so sorry that I was walking that way.

How could I allow myself to believe that and live that lie?

But I know better now.

And Bobby and I talk about this all the time.

Now, sometimes, you know, we got to get a butt whooping from the Lord to press the do better button in our life, right?

Sometimes some of us need to step up and press the do better button.

But it's the work of the Lord.

I'll just like, no, yes, but you got to get off your hind parts and do something too.

If there's a conviction being laid on your heart, then you know what?

It's a symphony.

We work together.

God works all things together for the good of the love of the Lord and call it equal to each purpose.

I know that.

Yes, the Lord does it, but he doesn't do it with sitting on your couch eating Doritos.

I've been waiting for this job.

I filled out applications.

Did you call?

No.

God's going to send it, though.

I want a change in my life.

I don't know why.

I don't know why all I do is get high track just terrible men.

I'll tell you why.

That's all you go to.

You continue to go back to that.

Well, you get the same nasty water.

If God is bringing about a conviction in your life, praise God for that conviction and walk in the newness of life.

Amen.

How much do we look like Jesus?

How much of you...

You're the light of the world. So let your light shine before men. Come on. Finish it out for me. Come on. Say it, angel. You got it. See my good works and glorify the Father. Thank you, angel. Next time I want you to say it louder like you mean it. Like Jill said, child of God, yes. Yes, I am. Yes, I am. I'm messing with you.

You know, you know, how much, how much of the light of the Lord do you really shine on a day-by-day, moment-by-moment basis? You know, when you get a full moon, you ever experience like a, I mean, a for real full moon? You're like, wow, look at that moonlight. That's amazing, isn't it? But see, that's a forest. The moon doesn't have any light.

It just reflects the sun. That's all it's doing. The moon has no light of its own. The moon is about a quarter of a million miles away, and it's shining the reflection of the sun's light coming back to us at 186,000 miles per second.

That's all it's doing is reflecting someone else's light. That's all your job is, and my job is as a church today, is to reflect someone else's light, and his name is Jesus.

How are you reflecting his light in your relationships, in the workplace, in your family place, in the four walls of here and beyond?

Come on. How are you reflecting the light of God?

You know, how is it that we are showing people that we truly are the child of God?

Hey, Rob, as you bring the team up this morning, can we, can we, can we change things up a little bit this morning?

And, uh, Shannon just looked at me real stressed, like, whoa, no, what are we doing?

No, I'm kidding. She didn't do that.

It's my attempt. It's a humor. It's small.

Come on up, worship team. Let's do this this morning.

Please.

Is it hot in here?

Yes.

The first comfortable Sunday in years.

Get behind me.

Oh, my word.

Hey, guys.

I love you.

Can we end, can we end today on a different song this morning?

Can we, can we go back to child of God this morning?

Can we do that?

Yes, we can.

Because I don't think everybody's saying it like they meant it.

I'm sorry.

Who, who, who led that besides you guys on the stage?

Who else, who's like, can you, do you mind singing it again?

That's fine.

I know you only had one in you.

You got two in you?

Yeah.

Okay, good.

Summer says real soon.

Yeah, yeah.

I can do it.

Thanks for putting me on this fly.

I'll get Angel to come up and sing it.

How's that?

Come on, man.

There should be joy in being a child of God, shouldn't there?

There should be, there should be passion in being a child of God.

There should just be an overwhelming gratefulness that we get to reflect the life of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

And if you are a child of God, you've got something to live for, you've got something to talk about, you've got something to share.

Every one of you guys should be, should be a brilliant, I want you to walk around and tell people this week, I'm a full moon.

I'm going to full moon you.

That's right.

I'm a child of God.

Let that go out on Facebook.

How's that, Bobby?

There you go.

There we go.

How to grow a church and influence people.

We're going to full moon them.

That's right.

Come on.

the day between you and the Lord knowing that the grace that is bestowed upon you, you could have never earned, you didn't deserve. The salvation that is given to you, you could have never earned, you didn't deserve. The love of Christ that is given to each and every one of us, we never earned, we never deserved. But because of Jesus Christ, who is scarlet-threaded from Genesis to Revelation, we are children of the

the Almighty God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's close this, David. Let's make this song of celebration this morning. Come on. Yes.

Amen.

His grace from the stone.

I know as a saint you've seen.

Jesus died for me.

Yes, he died for me.

My son says,

Oh, he's free in me.

I'm a child of God.

Yes, I am.

When my child is lost,

there's a place for me.

I'm a child of God.

Yes, I am.

I'm chosen, not forsaken.

I am who you say again.

You are for me, not against me.

I am who you say again.

I am chosen, not forsaken.

I am who you say again.

I am for me, not against me.

I am who you say again.

Thank you, Jesus.

I am who you say again.

I'm the child of God, yes I am.

In my Father's house, there's a place for me.

I'm the child of God, yes I am.

In my Father's house, there's a place for me.

Thank you, God.

That is as simple as acknowledging whose we are because of who you are.

We are your children, Father.

Yes, we are.

God, I'm asking you now to give us the grace for ourselves to continue to recognize that we are your children.

We are empowered by you to do good works in your name.

So, God, I am sending these people out today, asking you to use them mightily for your kingdom, in your name, in your will, for your glory.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Genesis 37:1-36

Scripture

Outline