Genesis 37:1-36

Jesus, I was in a prison, now I'm gone. With your blood, my mercy done, hallelujah for the cross.

Fire strikes, fire death, the power of sin is overcome, it is finished, it is done. Fire strikes, fire death, the power of sin is overcome, it is finished, it is done.

Fire strikes, fire death, the power of sin is overcome, it is finished, it is done. Fire strikes, fire death, the power of sin is overcome, it is finished, hallelujah.

Thank you, Jesus, I was in a prison, now I'm gone. With your blood, my mercy done, hallelujah for the cross.

Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus, I was in a prison, now I'm gone. With your blood, my mercy done, hallelujah for the cross.

Now I'm gone.

Now I'm gone. With your blood, my mercy done, hallelujah for the cross.

Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah for the cross.

Hallelujah for the cross.

What a beautiful name

In the name of Jesus Christ

What a beautiful name

It is the name of Jesus

Didn't want heaven without us

So Jesus, you brought heaven down

My sin was great, your love was greater

Why could I separate you?

What a beautiful name

The name of Jesus Christ

What a beautiful name

The name of Jesus

What a beautiful name

Thank you.

You silenced the boast of sin and grave The heavens are roaring The praise of your glory For you are raised to life again You have no rival You have no evil

Now and forever and forever and you reign Yours is the kingdom Yours is the glory Yours is the name of the heart, yeah What a beautiful name what a beautiful name what a beautiful name

What a powerful name it is, nothing can stand again, what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus.

Because you have no rival, you have no equal, now and forever God you reign, yours is the kingdom, yours is the glory, yours is the name above all names.

What a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ, what a powerful name it is, nothing can stand again, what a powerful name it is,

the name of Jesus Christ, what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ, what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus.

The name of Jesus Christ, what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ, what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, what a

For you are raised to life again

And you have no right, you have no equal

Now and forever, God, you reign

Yours is the kingdom, yours is the glory

Yours is the name above all names

What a beautiful name it is

The name of Jesus Christ my King

What a beautiful name it is

Nothing compares to this

What a beautiful name it is

The name of Jesus

What a powerful name it is

The name of Jesus Christ my King

What a powerful name it is

Nothing can stand against

What a powerful name it is

The name of Jesus

What a powerful name it is

The name of Jesus

Ever-present name it is

The name of Jesus

What a wonderful name it is

The name of Jesus

A wonderful name it is

The name of Jesus

The wonderful name

The name of Jesus

Wonderful counselor

The name of Jesus

Mighty God

The name of Jesus

Everlasting Lord

The name of Jesus

Thank you

Woo

We bless you

Redeemer

Oh Jesus

We bless you

By the means of grace

And the hope of glory

Oh my God

Father of all mercies

We give you

We feed all your goodness

For how you love us

We give you

He praise you, creator, provider

He praise you, He praise you, redeemer

Oh, Jesus, He praise you

By the means of grace and the hope of glory

Almighty God, Father of all mercies

We give your thanks

For all your goodness

For how you love us

We give your thanks

All honor and glory forever

From now to the end of the ages

All honor and glory forever

The angel, the angel, for honor and glory forever.

Come now to the angel, the angel, almighty God, Father of all mercy, we give you hope.

Come now to the angel, the angel, the angel, for honor and glory forever.

Come now to the angel, we give you hope.

We give you hope.

So we give you things

So if we give you things

Because you deserve

So if we give you things

Because you deserve

So if we give you things

Because you deserve

So if we give you things

Because you deserve

If we give you things

Because you deserve

Because you deserve our things

Amen

Can we just lift them up right now

You deserve our praise

Don't stop

Come on

You deserve our praise

I'll have to live on forever

From now to the end of the end

From honor and glory forever

From now to the end

The end of the end

So honor and glory forever

From now to the end

He is the light of the end

From now to the end

He is the light of the end

Amen

This week I got a phone call

From New Zealand

From a friend of ours

Who served with Doors Ministries

I don't know if you remember Mallory

I haven't talked to her in a really long time

But she's one of those people

Who just speaks truth

She gives faith and encouragement

To other people

And she's so good at that

And we're talking about promises

That God gives us

You know

Do you ever have God drop a promise

In your spirit

You know like this

He's made this promise to you

And he's going to fulfill it

In his time

And she said these

Just things that are resonating

In my brain

As we worship right now

You know a lot of times

We think about

We're so thankful for our salvation

Yes

But what about

The fact that God

Never gives up on us

What about the fact

That God makes us promises

That he's fulfilling

That he's growing us

That he's drawing us to him

Even in the hard times

Or in the easy times

Whatever he's doing

And she said

The Lord is not a thief

Or a liar

So if he has made a promise to you

And he's made a promise

To everyone in this room

Because his word is true

Then he's going to do

What he said he's going to do

Right

And so that is the great love

That God has for us

That's the great love

That God has for us

That he

Fulfills

He was beginning And you gave your love free For his heart and nothing Jesus, my Jesus You carried the weight of the blood on his shoulders You stopped at nothing To prove you before us

Jesus, my Jesus, my Jesus It's extravagant It doesn't make sense We'll never comprehend The way you love us It's unthinkable Only heaven knows Just how far

You'd go To say you'd go To say you love us To say you love us To say you love us To say you love us And you don't believe On you and our son When you comfort us In your grace

And you need Jesus, my Jesus And with us We're all very generous And with us the God

You're extravagant, you don't make sense, I never comprehend, the way you love me, it's unthinkable, only heaven knows, just how far you go.

Just say you love us.

We have nothing to give you, but our great love for you, so right now we lay all before you, we sacrifice our praise to you right now.

You're extravagant, you don't make sense, I never comprehend, the way you love me, it's unthinkable, only heaven knows, just how far you go.

The way you love us. The way you love us. Only you cannot beg. Just how far you go. To say you love us. To say you love us.

To say you love us

If you need to come

Come on

If you need someone

To put hands on you

And pray over you

Tell someone

Don't stand there

Struggling

Let the body of believers

Be encouragement to you

Just like that phone call

From New Zealand

This is the community of Christ

This is the place

Where healing happens

This is the place

Where restoration happens

This is the place

Where encouragement happens

Don't stand in your seat

Fearful

Of needing someone

It's okay

Just come on

Here is all my love

It's yours

No conditions

You pull me close

I won't resist

You pull me close

I won't resist it

It's all my love

No conditions

You pull me close

I won't resist it

It's all my love

I won't resist it

Thank you God

For your extravagant

For your extravagant love

For us

That no matter where we are

Spiritually

Emotionally

Physically

That doesn't stop

That you don't stop

Pursuing us

That you don't stop

Loving us

That that doesn't alter

Or change

Or move

Thank you God

As we walk through our days

That you are

Drawing us to you

Open our eyes God

Open our eyes to you

Open our eyes to your face

Open our eyes to the great truth

Of the love that you have for us

Not pat you on the back

Oh Jesus loves you love

But that deep groaning

That the Holy Spirit is doing

On our behalf

Because of his great love for us

Thank you God

Taylor you know what I'm so excited about

What's that

Wearing my pajamas

Hanging out with my church community

And going to the church

Wide Christmas party

That's right

It's a Christmas pajama party

And the funnest thing we're gonna do

Is we're gonna

And to give To give to That's right For Hope Collective Closet And for our food pantry Starting up So bring an item to donate I'm super excited about it And we can't wait to see you there So please come join us At the church Wide Christmas party On Sunday December the 15th At 5.30pm And remember to wear your Christmas pajamas And bring your favorite Christmas appetizer Or dessert We'd love to see you there Come join us

Amen Amen I don't know that As long as I've been married I'll ever wear A matching sweater With my wife Nothing personal But I'm just not down With that But it looks good on you Yes yes We want you to be there At the Christmas party December the 15th At 5.30pm Bring a snack All that good stuff

And we're receiving And we're receiving And we're receiving Just instead of Bringing gifts And doing a gift exchange And this that and the other Two of the things That we're really Getting started For the new year In our office area That we're starting In our church Is a Stock to shelves For care portal For the care portal For Hope Collective And in that thing We'd like to have Some things on hand When things come across In the care portal That says we There's some needs Within the community So we're looking for Just some wipes Some baby wipes

Some infant sized diapers Some infant sized diapers All that good Doesn't matter What size Kids grow Okay so if you get One size They'll grow They'll either grow into them Or they'll be there One day soon But just some of those things And we're also Starting a food pantry Is here as well Because we have a lot of people That come in And asking for some Some food We don't try to hand them cash Or give them money But we would love To be able to give them Just some non-perishable goods To be able to help them Until we can maybe ascertain Some greater needs And we may be able To help them

And so bring something To bring them with And so bring something To either fill the food pantry Or the Hope Collective portal That would be That would be great Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Oh you know we don't We don't do birthday stuff A whole lot Because I'm going to forget Somebody's birthday So but it was brought To my attention That today we have Two birthdays here Unless I'm missing some others So we're going to sing You guys are going to sing Happy birthday We're going to make the birthday people Stand up How's that? James

James Cross Stand up Come on James Come on James Yes Yeah And John Perks John Perks Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah There you go And see if we were In student ministry We'd make you sing Happy birthday To each other And we'd just watch you You know It's kind of That embarrassing stuff But we won't do that We won't do that We'll sing And say happy birthday God bless you Okay ready Rob start us off Happy birthday To you Happy birthday

Happy birthday To you Happy birthday To you Happy birthday God bless you James and John Happy birthday To you Happy birthday To you Amen Amen We could have just said it Happy birthday Half of the New Testament James and John Never mind Anyway so Sorry Sorry Sorry Yeah Sorry

What's that Reese's commercial?

Sorry, not sorry.

So a couple other things.

Next Sunday, we have our foundations class.

If you want to know more about our church, want to get connected with our church, how we do church membership.

We don't actually do membership.

We do a covenant agreement.

It's next Sunday at 915.

We'll meet in the large children's room.

There is child care available if you do need that.

But we need you to email Casey at the church office at office at RhemaCommunityChurch.org.

Email her and let her know you need chocolate.

If you are visiting with us, please grab one of the visitor cards located in the chair in front of you and fill it out.

Put it in one of the churches here in the back, and we'll try to get back with you as quickly as possible just to connect with you.

If you were here last week and you filled one out and you did not get a letter, that's because Casey was on vacation.

So it's not Casey's fault.

It's my fault for not logging into her computer and trying to find it somewhere and send it.

But you will get a card this week from last week.

So it is coming.

Letters in the mail.

How's that?

So I just want to say thank you to that.

And so that is also where we receive our gifts and our tithes and offerings.

more information about this. But next Wednesday, December the 11th, Golden Isles Elementary School has asked us to please come and pray over the school, walk through the school, lay hands on the school. There's certain things that they're asking us to lift up in the name of Jesus for the so they can close out the school year in a positive way. And so they're having some spiritual warfare going on and then they've asked for prayer. So we have done this for several years in a row. We didn't get to do it the beginning of the year. So they've asked us to do it now. So please come out and

join us. If you don't come here on Wednesday nights normally, that's okay. Just come out there Wednesday, 630. We will not have childcare here at the church because if you want to bring your children, let them pray. What a great example. You'll see them, how we pray over these situations in this school. It's a great witness. I think that's one of the last things I wanted to do before we dismiss the kids. But before we dismiss the kids, I wanted to let you know that after we celebrate communion today, we're going to give you

an opportunity to go. Maria, will you go ahead and make your way up here, please, ma'am? We're going to give you an opportunity to go over to our mission wing area, which is around the corner and it faces 341. These are some units that we have down here that for the last few years we have had. I'm going to grab Rob's mic, Greg. These are some of the units that we've had. Come on up here. And we have used it for team effort for the last several years. And team effort, we have been able to do long-term

missions with them. Team effort, their ministries has changed. And so a lot of the needs have changed. And so we're not sure if they're coming back anytime soon. So we've been praying. Your elder leadership has been asking the Lord, how can we utilize these units that are made for housing? And they have shower units. They have bunk beds. They have all these things in there. How can we really minister and serve to the community? And so we are beginning a brand new partnership with Saved by Grace. Saved by Grace has an office right down the road here.

And I don't want to tell you too much about it because I want to give Maria just a couple of minutes. Her counterpart, Donna, was supposed to be here today. But her mom got called for emergency surgery this morning. And so we're going to pray for Donna's mom this morning as well, too, who's in – her health is struggling right now.

And so – but Donna and Maria have a ministry, Saved by Grace, and they're doing some amazing things. And we're going to get a chance to partner with them and to be able to provide temporary housing for people who need a chance to get a breath in life, to get back on their feet again, to have a place to get a hot shower and a meal,

and to be able to be able to have safety for their family even as they try to reassess how to get my life back in line and allows us as a church to come alongside of them as well, too, and love on them and go through this.

So, Maria, again, we're going to open up at the end of service and go over to the mission wing.

And I just want to give you the opportunity to just walk through those two units and see how these ladies have decorated them and to pray over them as well, too, and pray over them.

Maria.

Thank you guys so much.

I have to tell you I'm a little bit nervous, but I'm also a little emotional this morning.

The rooms that you guys have graciously given to us has been our prayer from the beginning – well, actually from in 2016, whenever God lays Saved by Grace on our heart.

As you guys know, there's a lack of affordable housing here in Glynn County, and our homeless population is here.

It's out here on your highway.

It's out here in the wooded areas.

And there's really no place for people to go.

Our nonprofit serves those people that mainly live on Highway 341 at this exit.

Right now, we have – all of your motels that are here at this exit have families living in them.

These people pay anywhere from $230 to $400 a week for a motel room.

And that's a lot of money.

That could be rent money.

That could be a mortgage payment.

But these people struggle.

And so Saved by Grace is here to help them however we can.

These rooms will be used for people that are trying to transition out of homelessness.

We have single moms sleeping in cars with their children in the Walmart parking lot.

Some park at the hospital just for safety reasons.

We have – just this morning, I was telling Tom Riccio, coming from Exit 38 and getting off here at Exit 36, there were four people walking down this highway with a backpack and a sleeping bag looking for a place to stay tonight.

We all deserve a roof over our head.

We all deserve a place.

Thank you guys for allowing us to partner with you in these rooms. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to serve. I will tell you, we do have this one thing that we like to do. As Curtis mentioned, we are at the American, what used to be the American Patriot gun store down here on 341 is our office. Whenever people come in, whether they're a client or a volunteer or someone looking to make a donation, we have a box of cardboard. And we ask them to make a sign. So I want you to think about this. If today, a storm came through here or something, and we ask them to make a sign.

If something happened and you lost your home, and tonight you had to be without shelter, you or your family, and you had to fly a sign, what would your sign say? That sign is going to depend on you having a place to sleep tonight, and it's going to depend on your next meal. What would your sign say?

Thank you, Maria. Amen.

Grateful for the ministry of Saved by Grace and grateful for the opportunity to begin to partner with them as well, too, and see what the Lord does in and through this ministry.

At this time, we want to go ahead and dismiss our children. If you guys will follow Ms. Debbie.

Pastor, one more announcement. Saturday, summer 7th, we're having our children at the Christmas party here, so that's at noon.

Christmas party noon this Saturday. Yes.

This Saturday. So food, decorating cookies, all of a sudden, come on out.

Thank you. Thank you. Noon Saturday.

Yes.

My fault, Ms. Debbie. Thank you.

Thank you.

That's okay.

We don't need that.

My bad.

I talked too much this morning, so we'll slow in on that.

Good morning.

I feel like I've got to refocus again now.

This has been, you ever just have those weeks where things just, everything just seems to just be frustrating?

It's just frustrating.

And most of it's your own doing.

You know?

It's frustrating.

Then I get frustrated with myself for being frustrated with myself.

So I'm trying to refocus here now.

Grab your Bibles.

Turn with us to Genesis chapter 37.

We started last week to go through Genesis 37.

Again, this is our, if you're new to us, we do, we are walking through an expository study of the book of Genesis.

This is message number 54, I believe, in the, in our series, in a few breaks.

This will be the last sermon, last message in Genesis for a while because we are getting ready for the next three weeks.

So I'm prayerfully preparing a three-part series study and Christmas messages.

Again, sorry in the vein of forgotten announcements.

So I think one really cool thing that we need to say is Alyssa Beasley was just elected, voted.

How does that, is that, is that voted the right way?

Has won, has won.

She, two years, it was 2016?

17.

2017, 2017, she won the Miss Georgia for Miss America, and she went in the Miss America pageant, and she came in 12th.

I would have got 10th at least, but she did okay, but she got 12th.

And so now she won the Miss America, Miss Georgia, she's going to the Miss USA pageant now.

And when does that happen?

In the spring.

That's pretty awesome.

That's that, yeah, amen.

You know, if it was me after 2017, I would have let my looks go, but she's obviously keeping her game up, and she's still in there.

So there you go.

Just congratulations.

That's awesome.

I know you're proud of her, and she has a great testimony in all that she represents as well, too.

We're just blessed by that.

So Genesis 37.

We began Genesis 37.

We were in looking at Joseph.

We were kind of – last week it was a story of Providence, and this is a story of Providence part two.

The PowerPoints are probably going to be messed up this week because Casey was out all week, and I put all of it together just as quickly as I could.

So there's nothing dynamic about it, and so that might be wrong.

That might be right.

We'll just give it a shot.

We'll just read and see where we go.

But last week –

is on Joseph. The scriptures give him a lot of time because Joseph is an important character. We spend a lot of time looking about how Joseph is a foreshadow or looks a lot like Jesus, the characteristics there. But the story of the patriarchs in, and we pick up with Joseph. But we talked about that this is a providence – a story of providence. And last week we said that providence in the Bible simply means sort of in a nutshell is that God takes ordinary

events, ordinary events and he arranges them. That's kind of the definition in a nutshell. Sovereign God superintending or arranging natural events for a predetermined outcome. That's providential. That's – and we talked about there's a difference between providence, providential, and miracle. Okay? Not the same. Not the same. Not the miraculous. Okay?

And as Joseph's story unfolds, we see that his story, it wasn't circumstantial at all. It was providential. All these things were providential.

We talked last week about how a lot of times we see in our lives that we see the providential hand of God has worked in our lives as we're able to look back in hindsight and we're like, oh, these things were not happenstance. God providentially worked these things in and through my life. And so it's not miraculous. It's God taking ordinary events and providentially working things out for an outcome that he's already predetermined. Boom. That blows your mind, doesn't it? Yeah. But that's God. That's how God works.

And then last week we talked about how Joseph, he shares these two dreams with his brothers and he shares these two dreams with his father. And his brothers loved the dream, didn't they? No. They're like, we want to kill you. Okay? They can't stand. His dad doesn't like the dream. Okay? But we need to understand that these two dreams, they have – you know, we understand the different meaning and everything.

And the first dream, there was – you know, Joseph said, my sheath, you know, stood up and yours bowed down and this, that, and the other. And so what are we all going to bow down to? We're going to pay homage to you, this, that, and the other.

But we also all have to understand that with one dream, grain is involved. And with one dream, in that, there was going to come into fruition where Joseph is going to divvy out all the grain.

Anybody who wants anything will come to him. Any percentage is going to be divvied out from him.

And the other one, the sun and the moon and the stars pay homage to this, that, and the other will all bow down.

And dad kind of interprets it.

And dad wasn't crazy about it, but it says that he kept this saying in mind.

He may not have liked the dream, but he didn't say the dream didn't have any merit to it.

Because if anyone understands what a dream might mean, it would be his father Jacob, wouldn't it, who had a dream himself when the angels spoke to him.

And he saw the angels ascending and descending.

And he said, name that place Bethel, the house of God.

God is here and I did not know it.

So in this second dream, when the sun and the moon, he says, bow down and all pay homage to the stars, pay homage.

That right there, there is a, the one dream, there's royal prerogatives in that as well too.

Because in Egypt, they were really big into astrology and all this.

And he ends up being second in command.

So you can see how there's some royal prerogatives in that dream as well too, where it could tie all these things together.

So all this has taken place.

All this has taken place and we, and we left off in verse 11, we pick things up in verse 12.

Now, his brothers went to pasture their, their father's flock near Shechem.

And Israel said to Joseph, are your, are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem?

Come, I will send you to them.

And he said to him, here I am.

So he said to him, go now and see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock and bring me word.

So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron and he came to Shechem.

Now it's quite common for people who are, you know, uh, grazing, herding flocks and this, that, the other to move from one pasture land to another.

That's a common thing, trying to find more lush ground, uh, greener grass areas and that kind of thing.

But Shechem, Shechem was a higher elevation and there would be certain times of year that there would be much more lean, uh, lush possibilities right there.

But you gotta, you need to remember, remember what happened at Shechem?

I mean, Shechem was the place where Simeon and Levi, two of the sons of Jacob, they had this massacre where they kill all the people because these.

Because he still owns property there. I still got land there. Take the flock up there. And he sends them up there to his land. But now he's sort of having second thoughts. I haven't heard anything from them. I know there's been bad blood up there. I haven't heard from the boy. And no doubt there's still some bad blood that exists between my sons and the Shechemites. I better send Joseph in his little fancy coat and see how they're doing. Check things out.

And we went through a whole dialogue about the code and what it represents and all that good stuff last week. And we won't dive back into that again. Verse 15.

And a man found him wandering the fields and asked him, what are you seeking? I'm seeking my brothers, he said. Tell me, please, where are they pasturing the flock?

And the man said, they have gone away. For I heard them say, let's go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. Now, Dothan is about 10 miles from Shechem.

Shechem is about, I think it's about 60 miles from Hebron, north of it. So it's all north.

And Dothan is very, very important because this is where all the caravan routes run through.

And this is, this is God's, again, God is providentially setting up all these things just in the right place.

So all these caravans run here. And this is important because they run to the Mediterranean Sea westward, all the way inward.

And it goes all the way down to Egypt.

Egypt. The trails run from Dothan to Egypt. So it's kind of interesting that God gets them from there and moves them on to Dothan right where he wanted them to be.

Verse 18.

And they saw him from afar and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.

And they said to one another, here comes this dreamer.

Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of these pits.

Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him and we'll see what will become of his dreams.

But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands saying, let us not take his life.

And Reuben said to them, shed no blood, throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him that we might, that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father.

Now, they see Joseph coming.

They remember the dreams.

But it's as if they're saying, you know, Joseph, I know you're a dreamer, but we're a realist.

We are realists.

And because we're realists, we're going to make sure that your dream does not come true.

And how are we going to do that?

We're going to kill you.

And Reuben, remember, Reuben is already messed up.

He's already lost his father's grace.

He went behind dad's back and slept with his concubine trying to usurp dad's authority.

Dad has already written Reuben off.

So Reuben sees this maybe as a chance to kind of get back in the good graces maybe of dad.

All the guys, no, don't, don't, don't kill him.

Maybe I might rescue him.

Look what they were going to do and I'm going to bring him back.

I'm going to restore all this.

He's going to win him back because, you know, he goes, no, we can't do this.

You know, see, it says seeking to deliver Joseph out of their hands.

And it says that he might rescue him out of their hands and restore him back to his father.

Verse 23.

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore,

and they took him and threw him into a pit.

The pit was empty and there was no water in it.

Now, why did they strip him of his robe?

You know, just immediately, okay?

Because, quote, that robe, that robe, now when it says that, it shows the focus of their disdain.

Doesn't it?

That robe.

That robe represented that special relationship that he had with that father.

That he had with that father that we never had.

That robe.

You know, dad didn't, obviously he's got that.

Dad doesn't love us as much as he loves him.

Look at that robe.

You know, and every time we see that stupid robe, it reminds us of this relationship that you have with dad that we don't have.

And so that's just this anger builds, this anger builds.

And so they strip him of it, and it says they throw him into a pit.

Now, the pit, the pit was a cistern, all right? It was a cistern. And if you've read through the Scriptures, you're familiar with the terms of cisterns. And if you go to, you really don't really understand a cistern unless you really were able to go to Israel. Has anybody ever been to Israel? And you see a cistern, and you see a cistern.

cistern for yourself and you're like wow that is absolutely crazy because cisterns were dug out of

the out of the ground okay and usually the ground in israel is rock solid you have to use a hammer

and a chisel and it would take weeks and months and months okay to hammer and chisel and sometimes

years to dig this cistern to hold water okay because in the middle east you know the scripture

says that the rain from heavens deuteronomy 11 uh god says i'll send the rains from heaven and i will

water the earth so in the ancient days you couldn't just walk over to your kitchen or turn the water

faucet on and get water okay it just didn't work that way you it was it was not not available they

didn't have an abundance of water in in in places like that unless you lived in a place where there

was a river that ran right through your community or something like that so every time that it was

it would rain they would build these diversion channels that would run into the cistern you dig

a cistern then you dig diversion channels to go into that cistern and that holds the water and that how

that's how you would supply your whole family the whole area and they they would also come back in

with it once they got the cistern dug they would come in with a plaster paris sort of kind of thing and

and try to make that make the whole ground of it solid and if you've ever been in a situation

uh there's a remote island we used to go to on a mission trip in one of the bahamas islands

where everything was supplied there you had housing but it was all by cistern water and so you had a

cistern that kept that big old big old crate that would catch the water and that's what your little

house supplied on so anytime you you know you used water there it'd be like this you know just a

little bit brush your teeth that's it and if it's unless it was brown you didn't flush it

okay you you left it in there for days because you only have so much that's probably more information

than you need right but but you only have so much water there's so much water and you didn't use it

for those luxuries we have you know we're teaching caroline how to potty train now she flushes 90 times

my septics could overflow any day i just know it is she's flushing i know i got it daddy i got it you

know but but there's one there was actually a cistern uh in uh in israel that they found that would

actually just to give you an idea that was found the size of it would hold 250 000 gallons of water

now that gives you that that's a big old that's a big old hole that's a big pit that's bigger than

somebody anybody got a swimming pool that's bigger than your swimming pool probably isn't it yeah

that's monstrous you know you got this huge hole in the ground but you hear about this it strikes a

um in my mind the scriptures like in uh jeremiah chapter 2 where jeremiah says that my people have

my people have committed two evils okay he says number one they have forsaken me they have forsaken me

the fountain of living waters and they have built number two they have built for themselves cisterns

i can hold no water and so um you can imagine how frustrating it would be in israel if you built a

cistern and only to have to begin to fill it with water and it's cracked and it's leaking out

every everything's leaked out you know whether you build a cistern it seems okay but then some seismic

activity takes place and it develops a crack and it's and it's useless okay it empties out but i love

that in jeremiah when he says god says my people my people have left me the fountain the artesian well

the fountain of living water and and and uh and they're they're drinking out of broken cisterns that

can't hold any water and for me it's it's a great time for us to remind us that there are so many of us

so many of us that that today that um our experiences can't hold water and we keep chasing one

experience after the next one thing after the next thinking that's going to satisfy us that's

going to make us happy that's going to be the thing but these things can't hold water and that's

why you continue to be frustrated that's why you have forsaken me okay and you have built for yourself

cisterns that can't hold water that's why you you put all these your marbles in this thing here and

you're like why do i still continue to be frustrated and frustrated because you have forsaken the artesian

well

you

so i read that and i think about that that passage in uh in jeremiah and so um

it hasn't rained so there's a huge pit and they throw him in there that's a great place for a prisoner

by the way he ain't getting out he's not getting out so they put him in there and what do they do let's

put him in there let's go eat a meal let's go grab let's grab a bite to eat we can't we can't hear him

down there going brothers please help me i don't hear nothing you know i heard nothing so verse 30 uh

is it 25 that we left off thank you then he then they sat down to eat and looking up they saw a

caravan of ishmaelites coming to gilead with their uh camels bearing gum balm myrrh and on their way to uh

to carry it down to egypt that's the caravan that i was telling you about

then judah verse 26 said to his brothers what profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal

his blood come let us sell him to the ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him for he's our

brother our own flesh they're so kind-hearted aren't they they're so tender-hearted and his brothers

listened to him then the midianite uh traders passed by and they drew joseph up and lifted him

out of the pit and sold him to the ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver they took joseph uh they took

joseph to egypt okay so you read that and you think well which group which group was it that got joseph

you know when you're reading that was it the ishmaelites or was it the midianites okay because

it says the ishmaelites are coming out and so they sold him to the midianites and then the

ishmaelites took him so which one was it it was both it was both and and this is how it worked if

you remember ishmael was what was the son of abraham uh through hagar okay um the egyptian handmaiden of

sarah midian was also uh one of the sons of abraham through his second wife keturah and so both children

both of them are children of abraham and both of them became a sizable nomadic nation okay but this

is the early stage kind of in the nuisance stage okay and so they're just a small group of people

and they're typically um typically when these caravans would travel and they do they would do

commerce business with a notable empire like egypt they would band together they'd band together so

that they would have more strength more bargaining power and they would form this alliance okay so

both of them were together the ishmaelites and the media and midianites and they they took joseph

down to egypt and that's just to clarify if you're if you're wanted through the scripture and you're

like well which one was it they got him but they says right here that they sold him for 20 pieces of

silver okay we've already talked about the foreshadowing of christ in this and how jesus was sold for 30

pieces of silver but you but that's important because that 20 pieces of silver that's the price

of a handicapped slave just a slave that's a word a handicapped slave you would get 20 pieces of

silver and that's what he was worth to them and that's the statement that they're they're making

they did not value joseph he was a young young young boy in great shape if they were really looking

for money they could have held out and got a price for him but it shows where their hearts had gone

to that was the price of a handicapped slave he's worthless to us let's at least get some spare coins

we're gonna have to tell a lie anyway to dad so let's let's at least get let's at least get some

coins for this thing verse 29

when reuben returned to the pit and saw that joseph was not in the pit he tore his clothes

and returned to his brothers and said the boy is gone and i where shall i go

then they took joseph's robe slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in blood you know if you remember

several weeks ago when we skipped ahead we looked ahead in in chapter 29 49 of genesis and the scene

was jacob was on his deathbed and he's prophesying over all the boys and you remember what he said

about reuben he said that reuben is like unstable water on his deathbed reuben is like unstable water

and that was reuben that was reuben he hates his brother he hates joseph and he wants him out of the picture but he really doesn't want to kill him and he leaves him there for a while

and then he comes back he's sort of going through all of this but see here's but here's the point this guy is so vacillating in his life that he now lacks the ability to exert any meaningful influence on anybody around him

no one's going to listen to him he's not influencing anyone they're actually influencing him he was reuben was supposed to be the old he was supposed to be the guy in charge he was supposed to be the oldest brother right

and so but he's not influencing anyone people around him are influencing him and the principle is this half-hearted godliness will can never withstand active wickedness

half-hearted godliness can never withstand active wickedness

i'm telling you if a person is not filled with conviction

um and and he and he lies down whatever he believes in and how he's and what's important to him and how he's supposed to behave all of a sudden he finds himself compromising because he never is walking in that conviction

you you with me on that he's half-hearted

it's it's lukewarm

it's lukewarm

revelation jesus says

i'm just about to spit you out

spew you out of my mouth

so he's sort of like yeah okay i don't know around the brothers and all this other stuff

and they end up swaying him and he doesn't and he tears he says what am i gonna do

where am i dad already hates me

and i'm the oldest brother now i let joseph

get gone

now i'm now i have no hopes of ever recovering

how will i ever get back into the family

so again

half-hearted godliness can never withstand after active wickedness and that sort of sums up his life

okay

but there's going to be more of him on the on the down the down the road

and again in verse 31 i want you to see

it says then they took joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped it in blood

so they take they take joseph's robe or his tunic

and they kill a goat some versions say

a young goat or a kid okay

and they dip the tunic in blood

so

how do they deceive their dad

by killing a goat

right

and they're going to dip the blood in there and this that and the other

does that ring a bell

i mean you know think about how did

how did their dad deceive his dad

killed a goat

remember

rebecca said hey you're you're too smooth skin

you need to go kill a goat

put those put those goat skins on

dad's half blind

he can't see you

but he's going to feel you

and you're going to feel like esau

you're going to smell

you're going to stink like goat feels

you're going to smell like esau

oh it must be you

it must it must be him

okay

and so

he does this

and so

dad

dad dad falls for it

and the point is this

listen

you know it's a principle that we should all

you know understand

you reap what you sow

you know a lot of us

are really quick to point out

a lot of people

other people's shortcomings

and their failures

and their faults

and their sins

and we recognize them so readily

in them

because that's the very thing that we're struggling with

ourselves

and we got a really hard finger this way

and it's not fair

it's not fair

let's wrap this up

they sent the robe of many colors

and brought it to their father

and said

this we found

please identify whether it's your son's robe or not

not our brother

it's your son

and I

he identified it

it is my son's robe

a fierce animal has devoured him

Joseph is without doubt

torn

to pieces

now he's going to believe that for 20 years

they're going to let him believe that for 20 years

that's just cruel

it's cruel

that's right Terry

cold-blooded

yeah

thus his father wept for him you know just a couple of things before we finish out this morning I would say number one be very careful about the people that you envy be very careful about envying other people who they are what they have what their status is what their position is but it seems like their influences and all this stuff because envy turns to jealousy like a time bomb

I'm telling you it's like a time bomb and it's like a time bomb and it just sits there and it's waiting to detonate and you never you never know how it's going to explode you know it was James it says in chapter 3 that where envy and self-seeking exist there will be disorder in every vile practice every vile practice and they were so envious of Joseph and it exploded it exploded into a very rushed decision to

do away with their brother do away with their brother envy envy envy drove them to that let's just kill him

man what and it's just how we ended last week talking about how hatred hatred is a poison you see the steps James talks about that those steps that that sin takes us in

and it's just first it's just maybe an envy that has no no real it's not really moving me but I'm I'm envious of Katie she's I'm jealous of Katie about over something and the next thing I know Katie does something that just rubs me the wrong way because she's getting praise and she's getting something she she got a new car she's she's got she got this what's wrong

what's wrong with me I deserve that don't I I'm just nice of a person she is in fact if they knew some of the things I knew about Katie I'm just kidding Katie but then all of a sudden that envy turns into jealousy and then it turns into a time bomb and when it explodes it's hatred

and then you start thinking things man I hope she and her family fall on their face what I mean we laugh but that stuff happens that stuff happens and it doesn't happen overnight we allow that seed that seed of envy that seed that seed of sin to fester in

us and it grows and it grows and it just it kills us and then all of a sudden we did you you have to think it it doesn't say this but there has to be some point of somewhere along the line maybe it was when Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers who he is but at least some of the guys get together man what were we thinking somewhere within that 20 year period somebody had to say guys man dad is still burdened

he thinks that he thinks Joseph is dead what did we do how did we get to this point yeah he was a punk he drove me crazy but he didn't deserve that

you say one thing I'll tell dad you were in on it

and so half-hearted godliness is subdued by active wickedness every time rock paper scissors it cancels it every time

the second thing I want you to see in this is is the lesson from Romans 8 28 all things work together for good to those who love God

called accordingly to his purposes now we're going to follow that principle in Joseph's life and we typically view that from an analytical point of view

okay but and here we are analyzing Joseph's life thousands of years later so it's easy for us to look look at Joseph's life and say oh yeah

that's marvelous boy man that Romans 8 28 it works great all things work together for the good who love the Lord God and call accordingly to his purposes

now you think of it in terms of Joseph's vantage point

I'm being serious you know everything he had everything he know is gone

it's gone okay he's now being taken to a place he's never been to he has no idea

you

amazing how how Joseph clings to the Lord but that's the second principle that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and were called accordingly to his purposes not most things not so all things and it doesn't say all things work out the way you want them to to those who love the Lord and call accordingly to his purposes well I think that's in second opinions I wrote that it says it right there

just the way I want it to just the way I want it to and if God loves me he'll do it hmm again he said all his sons and daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and said no I shall go down to Sheol to my son mourning thus his father wept for him meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh the captain of the

guard to me to me that's a guard to me that's an interesting word right there in verse 36 meanwhile meanwhile it's like a novel isn't it meanwhile back at the ranch you know it's like when I was a little kid while I used to watch the Lone Ranger Tonto and the Lone Ranger and Tonto be out there meanwhile the Lone Ranger he's getting all the he's getting all the props man you just want to scream at the TV Tonto don't go

it's not going to work out well it's not going to work out well for you you know but meanwhile and it sounds like it sounds like a novel because meanwhile is always the more important story

is always the more God has Joseph right where he wants him meanwhile God has Joseph right where he wants him God providentially brought Joseph safely to Egypt

and he saw to it that he saw to it that he was sold to one of Pharaoh's chief officers Potiphar is called the captain of the guard which suggests that he is the head of Pharaoh's bodyguard in charge of all the official executions hmm very interesting and that brings a whole nother light when all the sudden Joseph we need to remember that when Joseph is going to be get things all haywired in Pharaoh's household

and his wife is accusing him of attempting raping her okay and and Potiphar who's in charge of all Pharaoh's executions says what to this man who's just put put his hands on my wife she claims

no let's just put him in jail what you're chief of all executions

but all things work together for the good

for those who love the Lord and will call accordingly to his purposes

you mean it's for God's good that I'd be in prison now

wouldn't it be for God's good if I was in Pharaoh's house and got to enjoy

the uh the blessings of a lonely woman

I mean I'm not going anywhere I'm in I'm in Egypt

that would be God's good wouldn't it

she's not going to tell

who's around

half-hearted godliness

will always fail in the midst of active wickedness

but the most important thing

wasn't that Joseph was connected with such a powerful man in Egypt

the most important thing was that

it tells us

I think it's in chapter 39 verse 2

where it says the Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man

in the midst of all that he became

the Lord was with Joseph

the workings of God's providence are indeed awesome

his providence

it's indeed awesome

and this ought to be a great source of encouragement to those of us who are

going through and living through

in a difficult circumstance in our life

you know

Jacob and Joseph never read Romans 8 28

but they they experienced the truth of it

and they saw the hand of God

what and what the hand of God could do

and if the

And see here's the beauty of it Curtis always thought of himself as just you know you ever have you ever when you were younger maybe I was the only one

maybe I was the only one but when I was young I thought I thought there was gonna be something special in my life I wasn't gonna just be ordinary maybe that's I don't know did anybody ever thought that I wasn't just gonna have just it's something special and I didn't know what that special

special was I searched for it in a lot of things I tried with I tried to win my mom and dad's love and I couldn't seem to do that we had such a dysfunctional family growing up I tried to do it with with with sports and and and this that the other win the favor of friends and this that the other and yeah okay played sports but it's just sports

and I wasn't I wasn't I wasn't like those people over there who are doing terrible things and and leading this crazy life I wasn't doing those things so I thought I was okay I thought I was okay but I was waiting for that something special I was waiting for that that that something special when and when am I gonna have that revelation that that something special

that when's that when's that when's that gonna come alive I thought I had some things figured out in life but meanwhile

Jesus arrested my soul

meanwhile God got a hold of me and showed me that he was that special thing in my life that I'd been searching for and everything else I had tried to fill it was a broken cistern

I lost water I lost water I lost water over and over again I continue to put water in that thing thinking now it's gonna hold

I got double bubble on it it's gonna hold

double bubble works man doesn't it come on

and so today

we celebrate meanwhile

we celebrate meanwhile because

while you and I were yet still sinners

meanwhile

Jesus died for us

meanwhile

Jesus paid a price that you and I could never

afford

and he did so by dying on a cross

and before he went to that cross

he celebrated the last supper with his disciples

and he said I

I have longed to celebrate this with you

brothers

this is my body

broken

for you

because you've been chasing a lot of things and you've even been chasing a lot of ideals about me

but meanwhile

I'm gonna piece it together for you

in the proper time and in the proper way

take

and eat

each of you

and likewise during

during the dinner he took the cup of redemption

the fourth cup

and he raised his glass

and he says a new covenant

I make with you

I give to you

I know that you understand

that the shedding of blood is important in this Passover

we have

each of you and so I'm going to ask you to prepare your hearts to receive communion today to take a few moments and bless God for those meanwhile events that you've had in your life that you may ascend the hill of the Lord as the psalmist says with clean hands and a pure heart and partake in communion and we celebrate communion in this in this fashion we'll ask you to come down

through the center aisles I'm going to ask the elders to come up this morning come on up as we prepare

and you'll come to the first station you simply have your hands out and a piece of bread will be broken off for you the body of Christ which is broken for you and then likewise you'll step to the next station

and you'll be instructed that this is the blood of the new covenant shed for you

and you'll simply dip the bread in and partake if you would like to break your own piece of bread off just simply hold your hand like this and we'll hold the bread for you in this matter

worship team come on come on up

let's just spend a few minutes in prayer preparing our hearts before we receive the invitation to come

God we thank you for the blessing

being able to be called sons and daughters

I thank you Lord for just the

moments in our lives that you arrest our hearts

so pray that we never get too busy or

too sidetracked to recognize those

so blessed this morning just

father how you

allowed me to

hear my three-year-old in her best

broken English try to sing

I am a child of God

yes I am

God I just

pray for that to come to fruition one day soon

and father that's what we celebrate

now as we partake in communion

each and every person who is a child of God is welcome to the table

let us meditate on you this morning Lord Jesus

amen

don't take me

okay

yeah

Thank you.

Let's stand. Won't you come?

Won't you come?

I will see you alone have rescued this life

Jesus, you have set me free

You alone took away all sin and disgrace

When you gave your life to ransom me

I am forgiven at the turn of the cross

I am accepted by the power of your love

My every stain is washed away

I am forgiven

Here I stand in the light of your glory and grace

For heaven's love and justice me

Now I live for the one who has called me by name

Who is risen and alive in me

I am forgiven at the foot of the cross

I am accepted by the power of your love

My every stain is washed away

I am forgiven

At the foot of the cross

I am accepted

By the power of your love

My every stain is washed away

I am forgiven

I've been praised at the firm of the cross

By the love and the mercies you have ravished on us

My every stain is what I've been doing

Here I stand in the light of your glory and grace Heaven's love and justice be

Now I live for the One Who has called me by name Who is risen and alive in me I am forgiven At the foot of the cross I am accepted By the power of your love My every stain is revealed

Every stain is washed away.

I am forgiven.

At the foot of the cross, I am accepted.

By the power of your love, my every stain.

Every stain is washed away.

I am forgiven.

God be praised.

I just want to remind you that I want to give you an invitation to come join us and pray over the mission wing.

And we're going to end this morning by giving thanks and praise to God, but also taking time out to pray for Donna's mom who's having surgery right now, saved by grace.

So, Father, we just give you thanks and praise for being the great healer that you are, Lord God.

I pray that you would give the doctors and the nurses that are ministering to Donna, Donna's mom, just wisdom, guide their hands, guide their minds, Lord Jesus.

I know she's had a lot of struggles over the years.

Her mom has had a lot of struggles.

And so, Father, I just pray that you would just be merciful.

Just be merciful, Lord.

Lord, we don't know all the ins and outs, but, Lord, you do.

I just pray that you would just comfort the heart of a daughter who's hurting for her mom.

And the choices that we have sometimes are not the choices that we want.

It's what life deals us.

And so, as a daughter, you never want to be told, well, your job is to be the power of attorney to make decisions.

I know that's what the world throws at us, but, Lord, you are the ultimate decision maker.

And all things rest in your hands.

So, again, we just pray for your mercy on Donna's mom and bring comfort to Donna as well, too, as I bring comfort to Maria as her friend's mom is hurting.

And I know that she grieves with her as well, too.

Father, I just give you thanks and praise for the days ahead of all the ministry that you're going to allow us to do with Saved by Grace.

Thank you, Lord, for being able to provide a roof over the heads for people and meals and conversation and the love of Christ.

God, thank you for challenging us to be the church.

Not to be a place, but to be the church.

Not to be a location, but to be the church.

Thank you, Lord, that we are forgiven and set free by your precious blood.

And we celebrate that today by saying thank you, Lord, for dying on a cross.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you.

Genesis 37:1-36

Scripture

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