From the age of 17 until the age of 39, Joseph had not seen his loving father. In that time, he had been in a pit, worked for a man named Potiphar, spent time in prison, and then ascended to rule over Egypt with the Pharaoh. In this, one of the most emotional scenes of the entire Bible, the elderly father Jacob/Israel learns that Joseph is alive and travels to embrace and weep over reuniting with his beloved son. How did Joseph’s life go from a horror story to a happy ending? As we will study, he lived in God’s will, healed up at the soul level, and made it his life mission to be a blessing.
Trusting God in Troubled Times
Sermon #38 – How Can You Get Over the Past and Get On With the Future?
Genesis 46 – 47:12
Genesis 46:1-27
- The securest place to live is in God’s will
- You need to worship God along the way
- When you’re in the middle of life, especially a major life transition, it is more important than ever to get to church, to get to scripture, to get to prayer, to give, to be one who is meeting in God’s presence.
- God must be a priority
- We want faith to be something that exists generationally.
- The number one command on the Bible, it appears about 150 times is “fear not”
- The key is not the absence of trouble, the key is the presence of God.
- We want resolution, God wants relationship. We want God to make everything better, and God wants to take our relationship deeper. This is faith.
- Genealogies are important. Jesus knows our names. He writes them in his book of life.
- God knows people. God loves people. God knows you. God calls you by name.
- Genealogies show us that we should always be thinking and praying generationally.
- The whole point of genealogies is to think in terms of legacy.
- God’s will is primarily and firstly revealed in scripture.
- Prayer is where we talk to God and listen to God.
- The first thing is figuring out what God’s will is for this season of your life.
Genesis 46:28 – 47:12
- What happens here is a reconciling of a strained relationship (Joseph and his dad)
- It’s a foreshadowing of the forthcoming of the kingdom of God.
- Leave an open heart, an open hand, that if there would be an opportunity for restoration, for reconciliation, for reunion, that you would be the one who’d be willing to inconvenience yourself and make that possible.
- Love doesn’t keep a record of wrongs
- Make it your life’s mission to be a blessing.
- The theme of blessing, it appears roughly 80 Fmes in the book of Genesis. It appears more in Genesis than any other book of the Bible.
- Jesus brings us into the Father’s presence. He is our advocate representing us so that we are loved and blessed and served. He’s the mediator.
- Don’t seek the best, highest position. Accept whatever position God has appointed for you, and that is a good place for you.
- Humility literally means to know your place.
- Jesus says God’s people are to be shrewd, wise, discerning.
- You need a plan for both the spiritual and the practical.
- If you are a believer, you are a blessing and you have the spiritual authority and power to bless.
- God will bless you and change you
- There is hope because God is good