Sermon
Joseph
June 5, 2004
Pastor Donald Sheley

We commence this evening a series of messages that are going to be different than most of my preaching. As you know I love to take a passage and just go verse by verse, sometimes word by word, and we just kind of slowly work our way through a passage. That's called expository preaching, and we've done that for 40 years in our ministry here. But as I studied the ministry of Jesus and prepared a couple of our lessons on the parables, I realized that Jesus' ministry was basically made up of telling stories.

And we can remember a story, I think, much more readily than we can often remember theological facts, and so for the next few weeks we're going to read the stories from the Bible and much of our lesson will be scripture reading and you'll follow along, and as we move through the story we'll learn the lessons from these great men. And the one that I have selected for our first man to consider is the life of Joseph.

I was raised in a Christian home with five boys. And my father and mother were very attentive to our spiritual needs, and as a result, in the evening time they would sit down and read Bible stories to us. I still can see the Bible story book with all the children pictured on the front. And when it came to my opportunity to make the selection of the story, I always said, Mama, let's read the story of Joseph. Because I think this is one of the most fascinating stories in all the scriptures.

So I want you to turn with me in your Bible, because we're going to follow almost verse after verse. And what I have done for this series I have selected a new Bible which is the New Living Translation. And the only reason for doing this, it's written in story form. Most of our Bibles are translated word by word, a word by word translation. A paraphrased Bible is a Bible where it's thought by thought, and so the words will change, but the scholars who put them together wanted very much to put in our present-day vernacular, our present day language, the words of the text which most likely were heard by them in the same way. And so there will be some changes, but there is no change at all in the basic content of the truth that's in these verses.

So take your Bible. Our lesson begins in chapter 30 of Genesis. And it says in verse 22, Then God remembered Rachel's plight and answered her prayers by giving her a child. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. "God has removed my shame," she said. And she named him Joseph, for she said, "May the Lord give me yet another son."

Now remember Rachel was Jacob's wife that he had worked seven years for, in fact, he had worked fourteen years for her. Because when he went down to that strange country and he made an arrangement with Rachel's father that he would work for her for seven years. And that was agreed upon and them at the end of seven years Jacob waited for his wedding night so he could marry Rachel, but his father-in-law tricked him. And in the evening he put his oldest daughter in the tent who was named Leah, and when Jacob awoke the next morning he realized he had married the oldest daughter and not Rachel.

And of course that angered him very much, but the father had to explain, he said, in our culture, in our tradition, we always marry the oldest daughter first. So if you're going to take the second daughter you have to take the first one also. And so Jacob accepted that and as the result he worked seven more years for Rachel, the lady he really loved. And she had prayed for a child and God answers the prayer and the child's name is Jacob.

Now go with me to chapter 37 because here's where the story really starts to take place. You remember Jacob had been a part of a plot with his mother to trick his blind father into receiving the birthright. And with his blind father the result was that the mother arranged so that Jacob could be dressed in the furs of an animal because his brother Esau was very hairy, and that blind man when he questioned, and he was suspicious, but he went ahead and blessed Jacob. And it was Esau really who should have the blessing, and so Esau said when Dad dies I'm going to kill this guy. And so mom says to Jacob, you'd better get out of town. And so she sends him to a faraway country, to the country of her ancestors and there Jacob lives and that's where he finds his wife.

Now he's returned after some 20 years. And we're in chapter 37 now. He's back at home. It says, So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived. This is the history of Jacob's family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father's flocks with his half brothers, the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah.

In those days men married multiple wives and, of course, Jacob had four wives. And so there's Joseph out there in the fields with his half-brothers. And it says: But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. Now Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day he gave Joseph a special gift--a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because of their father's partiality. They couldn't say a kind word to him.

Now to be given that robe...it was a very gorgeous robe and it had long sleeves, and it flowed to the ankles. It was indicative of royalty. And so Jacob so loved Joseph that he gave him this beautiful robe, and here's this young kid walking around the house or around the tent with this beautiful robe, and his brothers hated him because his father had shown partiality to him above the rest of the kids.

One night Joseph had a dream and promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more. "Listen to this dream," he announced. "We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. My bundle stood up, and then your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before it!" "So you are going to be our king, are you?" his brothers taunted. And they hated him all the more for his dream and what he had said.

Then Joseph had another dream and told his brothers about it. "Listen to this dream," he said. "The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!" This time he told his father as well as his brothers, and his father rebuked him. "What do you mean?" his father asked. "Will your mother, your brothers, and I actually come and bow before you?" But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father gave it some thought and wondered what it all meant.

Soon after this, Joseph's brothers went to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem (about 50 miles away). When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, "Your brothers are over at Shechem with the flocks. I'm going to send you to them." "I'm ready to go," Joseph replied. "Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along," Jacob said. "Then come back and bring me word." So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from his home in the valley of Hebron.

When he arrived there, a man noticed him wandering around the countryside. "What are you looking for?" he asked. "For my brothers and their flocks," Joseph replied. "Have you seen them?" "Yes," the man told him, "but they are no longer here. I heard your brothers say they were going to Dothan." So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan (another 50 miles) and found them there.

When Joseph's brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance -- Why? Because he's wearing that beautiful robe -- and made plans to kill him. "Here comes that dreamer!" they exclaimed. "Come on, let's kill him and throw him into a deep pit. We can tell our father that a wild animal has eaten him. Then we'll see what becomes of all his dreams!"

But Reuben came to his rescue. Now that's the oldest son, his oldest brother. "Let's not kill him," he said. "Why should we shed his blood? Let's just throw him alive into this pit here. That way he will die without our having to touch him." Reuben was secretly planning to help Joseph escape, and then he would bring him back to his father.

So when Joseph arrived, they pulled off his beautiful robe and threw him into the pit. This pit was normally used to store water, but it was empty at the time. Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they noticed a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking spices, balm, and myrrh from Gilead to Egypt.

Judah said to the others, "What can we gain by killing our brother? That would just give us a guilty conscience. Let's sell Joseph to those Ishmaelite traders. Let's not be responsible for his death; after all, he is our brother!" And his brothers agreed. So when the traders came by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver, and the Ishmaelite traders took him along to Egypt.

Some time later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the pit. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in anguish and frustration. Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, "The boy is gone! What can I do now?" Then Joseph's brothers killed a goat and dipped the robe in its blood. They took the beautiful robe to their father and asked him to identify it. "We found this in the field," they told him. "It's Joseph's robe, isn't it?"

Their father recognized it at once. "Yes," he said, "it is my son's robe. A wild animal has attacked and eaten him. Surely Joseph has been torn in pieces!" Then Jacob tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. He mourned deeply for his son for many days. His family all tried to comfort him, but it was no use. "I will die in mourning for my son," he would say, and then begin to weep.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, the traders sold Joseph to Potiphar. He was the execution officer for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard. Now over to chapter 39, the story continues.

Now when Joseph arrived in Egypt with the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, a member of the personal staff of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was the captain of the palace guard. The Lord was with Joseph and blessed him greatly as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did. So Joseph naturally became quite a favorite with him. Potiphar soon put Joseph in charge of his entire household and entrusted him with all his business dealings. From the day Joseph was put in charge, the Lord began to bless Potiphar for Joseph's sake. All his household affairs began to run smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished. So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn't have a worry in the world, except to decide what he wanted to eat!

Now Joseph was very handsome -- now remember, he's most likely around 28 years of age now. He's very handsome and he's well-built. And about this time, Potiphar's wife began to desire him and invited him to sleep with her. But Joseph refused. "Look," he told her, "my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do! He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I ever do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God."

She kept putting pressure on him day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. One day, however, no one else was around when he was doing his work inside the house. She came and grabbed him by his shirt, demanding, "Sleep with me!" Joseph tore himself away, but as he did, his shirt came off. She was left holding it as he ran from the house.

When she saw that she had his shirt and that he had fled, she began screaming. Soon all the men around the place came running. "My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to insult us!" she sobbed. "He tried to rape me, but I screamed. When he heard my loud cries, he ran and left his shirt behind with me." She kept the shirt with her, and when her husband came home that night, she told him her story. "That Hebrew slave you've had around here tried to make a fool of me," she said. "I was saved only by my screams. He ran out, leaving his shirt behind!"

After hearing his wife's story, Potiphar was furious! He took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners were held. But the Lord was with Joseph there, too, and he granted Joseph favor with the chief jailer. Before long, the jailer put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The chief jailer had no more worries after that, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him, making everything run smoothly and successfully.

Some time later, Pharaoh's chief cup-bearer and chief baker offended him. Now the cup-bearer was the one who always ate the food before he gave it to the king to make sure it hadn't been poisoned, so he puts his own life at stake. Something happened with that cup-bearer and the baker that offended the Pharaoh. Pharaoh became very angry with these officials, and he put them in the prison where Joseph was, in the palace of Potiphar, the captain of the guard. They remained in prison for quite some time, and Potiphar assigned Joseph to take care of them.

One night the cup-bearer and the baker each had a dream, and each dream had its own meaning. The next morning Joseph noticed the dejected look on their faces. "Why do you look so worried today?" he asked. And they replied, "We both had dreams last night, but there is no one here to tell us what they mean." "Interpreting dreams is God's business," Joseph replied. "Tell me what you saw."

The cup-bearer told his dream first. "In my dream," he said, "I saw a vine in front of me. It had three branches that began to bud and blossom, and soon there were clusters of ripe grapes. I was holding Pharaoh's wine cup in my hand, so I took the grapes and squeezed the juice into it. Then I placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand."

"I know what the dream means," Joseph said. "The three branches mean three days. Within three days Pharaoh will take you out of prison and return you to your position as his chief cup-bearer. And please have some pity on me when you are back in his favor. Mention me to Pharaoh, and ask him to let me out of here. For I was kidnapped from my homeland, the land of the Hebrews, and now I'm here in jail, but I did nothing to deserve it."

When the chief baker saw that the first dream had such a good meaning, he told his dream to Joseph, too. "In my dream," he said, "there were three baskets of pastries on my head. In the top basket were all kinds of bakery goods for Pharaoh, but the birds came and ate them."

"I'll tell you what it means," Joseph told him. "The three baskets mean three days. Three days from now Pharaoh will cut off your head and impale your body on a pole. Then birds will come and peck away at your flesh."

Now Pharaoh's birthday came three days later, and he gave a banquet for all his officials and household staff. He sent for his chief cup-bearer and chief baker, and they were brought to him from the prison. He then restored the chief cup-bearer to his former position, but he sentenced the chief baker to be impaled on a pole, just as Joseph had predicted. Pharaoh's cup-bearer, however, promptly forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.

Two years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. In his dream, seven fat, healthy-looking cows suddenly came up out of the river and began grazing along its bank. Then seven other cows came up from the river, but these were very ugly and gaunt. These cows went over and stood beside the fat cows. Then the thin, ugly cows ate the fat ones! At this point in the dream, Pharaoh woke up.

Soon he fell asleep again and had a second dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain on one stalk, with every kernel well formed and plump. Then suddenly, seven more heads appeared on the stalk, but these were shriveled and withered by the east wind. And these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads! Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream.

The next morning, as he thought about it, Pharaoh became very concerned as to what the dreams might mean. So he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt and told them about his dreams, but not one of them could suggest what they meant. Then the king's cup-bearer spoke up. "Today I have been reminded of my failure," he said. "Some time ago, you were angry with the chief baker and me, and you imprisoned us in the palace of the captain of the guard. One night the chief baker and I each had a dream, and each dream had a meaning. We told the dreams to a young Hebrew man who was a servant of the captain of the guard. He told us what each of our dreams meant, and everything happened just as he said it would. I was restored to my position as cup-bearer, and the chief baker was executed and impaled on a pole."

Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once, and he was brought hastily from the dungeon. After a quick shave and change of clothes, he went in and stood in Pharaoh's presence. "I had a dream last night," Pharaoh told him, "and none of these men can tell me what it means. But I have heard that you can interpret dreams, and that is why I have called for you." "It is beyond my power to do this," Joseph replied. "But God will tell you what it means and will set you at ease."

So Pharaoh told him the dream. "I was standing on the bank of the Nile River," he said. "Suddenly, seven fat, healthy-looking cows came up out of the river and began grazing along its bank. But then seven other cows came up from the river. They were very thin and gaunt--in fact, I've never seen such ugly animals in all the land of Egypt. These thin, ugly cows ate up the seven fat ones that had come out of the river first, but afterward they were still as ugly and gaunt as before! Then I woke up.

"A little later I had another dream. This time there were seven heads of grain on one stalk, and all seven heads were plump and full. Then out of the same stalk came seven withered heads, shriveled by the east wind. And the withered heads swallowed up the plump ones! I told these dreams to my magicians, but not one of them could tell me what they mean."

"Both dreams mean the same thing," Joseph told Pharaoh. "God was telling you what he is about to do. The seven fat cows and the seven plump heads of grain both represent seven years of prosperity. The seven thin, ugly cows and the seven withered heads of grain represent seven years of famine. This will happen just as I have described it, for God has shown you what he is about to do. The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout the land of Egypt. But afterward there will be seven years of famine so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten and wiped out. Famine will destroy the land. This famine will be so terrible that even the memory of the good years will be erased. As for having the dream twice, it means that the matter has been decreed by God and that he will make these events happen soon.

"My suggestion is that you find the wisest man in Egypt and put him in charge of a nationwide program. Let Pharaoh appoint officials over the land, and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years. Have them gather all the food and grain of these good years into the royal storehouses, and store it away so there will be food in the cities. That way there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come. Otherwise disaster will surely strike the land, and all the people will die."

Now Joseph's suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his advisers. As they discussed who should be appointed for the job, Pharaoh said, "Who could do it better than Joseph? For he is a man who is obviously filled with the spirit of God." Turning to Joseph, Pharaoh said, "Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, you are the wisest man in the land! I hereby appoint you to direct this project. You will manage my household and organize all my people. Only I will have a rank higher than yours."

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt." Then Pharaoh placed his own signet ring on Joseph's finger as a symbol of his authority. He dressed him in beautiful clothing and placed the royal gold chain about his neck. Pharaoh also gave Joseph the chariot of his second-in-command, and wherever he went the command was shouted, "Kneel down!" So Joseph was put in charge of all Egypt. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am the king, but no one will move a hand or a foot in the entire land of Egypt without your approval."

Pharaoh renamed him Zaphenath-paneah and gave him a wife--a young woman named Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis. So Joseph took charge of the entire land of Egypt. He was thirty years old. He must have spent eleven years in Potiphar's house; we know he spent two years in prison. He is thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And when Joseph left Pharaoh's presence, he made a tour - he took his job serious, didn't he?

He goes throughout the land a sure enough, for the next seven years there were bumper crops everywhere. During those years, Joseph took a portion of all the crops grown in Egypt and stored them for the government in nearby cities. After seven years, the granaries were filled to overflowing. There was so much grain, like sand on the seashore, that the people could not keep track of the amount.

During this time, before the arrival of the first of the famine years, two sons were born to Joseph and his wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis. Joseph named his older son Manasseh, for he said, "God has made me forget all my troubles and the family of my father." Joseph named his second son Ephraim, for he said, "God has made me fruitful in this land of my suffering."

At last the seven years of plenty came to an end. Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted. There were crop failures in all the surrounding countries, too, but in Egypt there was plenty of grain in the storehouses. Throughout the land of Egypt the people began to starve. They pleaded with Pharaoh for food, and he told them, "Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you." So with severe famine everywhere in the land, Joseph opened up the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. And people from surrounding lands also came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe throughout the world.

Now back home -- When Jacob heard that there was grain available in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why are you standing around looking at one another? I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down and buy some for us before we all starve to death." So Joseph's ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. Jacob wouldn't let Joseph's younger brother, Benjamin, go with them, however, for fear some harm might come to him. So Jacob's sons arrived in Egypt along with others to buy food, for the famine had reached Canaan as well.

Since Joseph was governor of all Egypt and in charge of the sale of the grain, it was to him that his brothers came. They bowed (remember those dreams) low before him, with their faces to the ground. Joseph recognized them instantly, but he pretended to be a stranger. "Where are you from?" he demanded roughly. "From the land of Canaan," they replied. "We have come to buy grain." Joseph's brothers didn't recognize him, but Joseph recognized them. And he remembered the dreams he had had many years before. He said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become."

"No, my lord!" they exclaimed. "We have come to buy food. We are all brothers and honest men, sir! We are not spies!" "Yes, you are!" he insisted. "You have come to discover how vulnerable the famine has made us." "Sir," they said, "there are twelve of us brothers, and our father is in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is there with our father, and one of our brothers is no longer with us." Isn't that an explanation of selling?

But Joseph insisted, "As I said, you are spies! This is how I will test your story. I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you will not leave Egypt unless your youngest brother comes here. One of you go and get your brother! I'll keep the rest of you here, bound in prison. Then we'll find out whether or not your story is true. If it turns out that you don't have a younger brother, then I'll know you are spies."

So he put them all in prison for three days. On the third day Joseph said to them, "I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you will live. We'll see how honorable you really are. Only one of you will remain in the prison. The rest of you may go on home with grain for your families. But bring your youngest brother back to me. In this way, I will know whether or not you are telling me the truth. If you are, I will spare you." To this they agreed.

Speaking among themselves, they said, "This has all happened because of what we did to Joseph long ago. We saw his terror and anguish and heard his pleadings, but we wouldn't listen. That's why this trouble has come upon us." "Didn't I tell you not to do it?" Reuben asked. "But you wouldn't listen. And now we are going to die because we murdered him." Of course, they didn't know that Joseph understood them as he was standing there, for he had been speaking to them through an interpreter (he spoke Egyptian). Now he left the room and found a place where he could weep. Returning, he talked some more with them. He then chose Simeon from among them and had him tied up right before their eyes.

Joseph then ordered his servants to fill the men's sacks with grain, but he also gave secret instructions to return each brother's payment at the top of his sack. He also gave them provisions for their journey. So they loaded up their donkeys with the grain and started for home. But when they stopped for the night and one of them opened his sack to get some grain to feed the donkeys, he found his money in the sack. "Look!" he exclaimed to his brothers. "My money is here in my sack!" They were filled with terror and said to each other, "What has God done to us?" So they came to their father, Jacob, in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened.

"The man who is ruler over the land spoke very roughly to us," they told him. "He took us for spies. But we said, 'We are honest men, not spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of one father; one brother has disappeared, and the youngest is with our father in the land of Canaan.' Then the man, the ruler of the land, told us, 'This is the way I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take grain for your families and go on home. But bring your youngest brother back to me. Then I will know that you are honest men and not spies. If you prove to be what you say, then I will give you back your brother.'"

As they emptied out the sacks, there at the top of each one was the bag of money paid for the grain. Terror gripped them, as it did their father. Jacob exclaimed, "You have deprived me of my children! Joseph has disappeared, Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin, too. Everything is going against me!"

Then Reuben said to his father, "You may kill my two sons if I don't bring Benjamin back to you. I'll be responsible for him." But Jacob replied, "My son will not go down with you, for his brother Joseph is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children. If anything should happen to him, you would bring gray hair down upon my head." But there was no relief from the terrible famine throughout the land. So he said, "Go again and buy food." Now because time is almost gone, I'll have to just tell you the story.

Jacob says you've got to go down, but he fought that decision. I don't want to send Benjamin, and finally he says, all right, we're going to starve if you don't take Benjamin. So when they arrive with Benjamin it's almost too much for Joseph to take, so he arranges for them to have a feast in his house. And they are really disturbed because they think that maybe he's bringing them into his house because he's going to reveal to them that they have taken his money, so they immediately talk to the guy in charge and they tell their story to him and say, 'we didn't take it, but we brought it all back. We've even brought back twice as much for our next order.'

So Joseph sets them all down, and then they bring out Simeon who had been left behind. And as a result, of course, something interesting happens. When they sit down to the meal, Joseph sets them down according to their age. Now that should have said something to those guys. But to little Benjamin he gives five times as much on his plate -- because he's checking their jealousy. And then what he does, after the feast is over, he said, all right now, you'd better return to your father and take back your grain. But he said to his servant, now you put my special cup, my silver cup, in the bag of Benjamin. So he puts his own private, his king's cup, in Benjamin's bag.

So when they just are getting out of town, and by arrangements of Joseph, here comes the old Joseph's servants saying "Hey, the king has lost his cup! Who stole it?" "We didn't steal his cup!" "Well it's stolen and it's gone, you must have." So he sits them all down and they start going through the bags, and he starts from the oldest first by his birthday. They say, "Look at, the one who stole it, you can make him as your servant or you can kill him." And here they find the silver cup in Benjamin's bag.

So back to Joseph's house they go, and Joseph said you shouldn't have done this. And finally old Judah speaks up and he's really begging how, "You can't, you can't hurt my little brother. I promised my dad I'd bring him back. And if you don't let me take my brother back, his hair will turn gray and he'll be disgraced. And he just pleads with old Joseph.

And now we're at chapter 45. It says Joseph couldn't stand it any longer. Remembered now he's in his house, and he says to all of his servants, get out of here! And after all the Egyptian servants leave he said, I am Joseph, and he began to weep. He wept so loud that those servants standing at the door they wondered what happened, but when they realized that Joseph now was meeting his brothers after over 20 years...what a reunion that must have been.

Joseph's said, after they had cried on each other's shoulders, he said, how is dad? He hadn't seen his dad in all these years. He said, how is dad doing? Dad is alive and well. He said a want you to quickly get back home and I'm going to send some caravans with you, and a want you to bring dad and all the family. I want you to live the rest of your lives with me here.

So when Pharaoh hears of it he said, yes, you bring them on down and we'll give them the best land in all of Egypt. In fact, we'll give them the delta land right out there in Goshen. It will be wonderful for their flocks.

So can you see those relatives all headed home after this? It must have been a traumatic, emotional experience. And they say dad! He won't believe it but the man in charge down and Egypt is Joseph. My son's alive - my son's alive. And old Pharaoh has sent up the moving van, the Mayflower, and all of the trucks were there -- all the wagons from Egypt, and he sent up his major officials. He wanted to make sure that everybody there in Jacob's little house in Cana gathered all their goods together.

But you know it's an interesting thing...during the famine the first year the folks came to Joseph and said, look at, we don't have anything to eat. So they gave him all their money. So he had all the money in all the banks of Egypt, and all the money now belonged to Pharaoh. The next year they're still hungry because the famine is lasting, so they said, well, we'll give him our livestock. So now Joseph takes all the livestock in Egypt and Pharaoh owns all the livestock. The next time when they come to ask for food they say all we have left is our land and ourselves, so Joseph buys all the land in Egypt and everybody in Egypt becomes the servant of the Pharaoh.

Now you talk about brilliant administrative... I mean, he owns all the money in all the banks, owns all the livestock in the Chicago stock exchange, he's got all the land, and he's got all the people as slaves. He says I'll make a deal with you -- when the famine is over all of you work on the land and you give back 20 percent to Pharaoh and you can keep the 80 percent. So now the Pharaoh owns all the money, all the land, all the livestock, and everyone is a servant. And when the famine is over Pharaoh is wealthy, and the family is back living with Joseph in Egypt.

Now I've written down 'Lessons for Living.' Parents - showing partiality is damaging to all the children in the family. Don't ever be guilty of it. That's what Jacob did. He showed partiality with Joseph and caused hatred in the family. Number 2, telling the truth can be costly. Joseph went home and said dad, these guys out here are messing up things. And they hated him for telling the truth. Always tell the truth though it may be costly. And Joseph found that God honored him when he told the truth. Number 3, keep your faith in the most trying situations. I mean Joseph is screaming in the pit, being dragged through the desert stands on his way to Egypt, but when he got down there he was still godly man, the godly boy, but he never lost his faith in the prison.

Avoid and run from temptation. It will always mess you up. Surely your sin will find you out -- that which is done in the closet will be shouted from the housetops. Avoid temptation and run from it. It's better to lose your coat than to lose your character, and that's what Joseph felt. And then I suggest patience in waiting for God's time. Remember he said to that cup-bearer, now when you get back into the palace tell the king about me. And he wanted to get out of there right then, but God was timing this because God was going to give Pharaoh a dream so he caused that cup-bearer to forget all about his promise for two years. When you're doing things right and godly, let God call the timetable -- always -- don't be impatient with Him.

Number 6; always forgive. I mean, can you imagine Joseph knowing the pain that he had suffered in prison and working as a slave all those years, but he had already forgiven, because when he named his first son Manasseh it implied I've forgiven and I've forgotten the past. You see you carry bitterness and it will steal you of all of life's joys and rob you of confidence in living. People who carry bitterness year after year ruin their lives. Joseph wasn't going to. They sold him, but he was going to make the best of everything. He's going to forgive. God will take care of the rest of it. Always forgive.

And lastly, kindliness is always godlike. Can't you see old Joseph squeezing those guys and hugging them? He hadn't seen them for 20 years, but when they are crying out to him -- Sir, you can't let us go home without Benjamin. It will ruin dad. And old Joseph's heart flowed with love. Now you understand why I like this story -- over and over. I say, God, if I could just be like Joseph. And you notice the key verse...and the Lord was with Joseph, and the Lord was with Joseph, and the Lord was with Joseph. May we so live our lives that God is always with us, and when He's with us, we'll all succeed. Amen? That's a terrific story, isn't it?

Father, we love Your word. Thank you for these blessed, wonderful stories in the Old Testament. And thank you for the example that Joseph left for all of us. The lessons his life teaches us. May under all conditions of life we serve You with godliness, forgiveness, kindness, so that our lives can be blessed by Your presence. I pray this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.