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Joseph Gen 39. Pastor Shane L. Johnson, D.Min. 7/18/10 New Life Church. An introduction from the last message on Joseph.
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Joseph Gen 39 Pastor Shane L. Johnson, D.Min. 7/18/10 New Life Church
An introduction from the last message on Joseph • Joseph will know great pain and suffering in his lifetime- Do you have a theology of suffering?- In other words, how do you explain it?- CS Lewis; pain is God’s megaphone to a deaf world • God will use this suffering to make of Joseph much more than the man he would ever be otherwise • God will use Joseph to be a pivotal person for millions of people • Joseph will only know some of this later on, and never all of it
1- The Lord was with Joseph • Was it chance that Potiphar bought Joseph from the Midianites? • He prospered because of the presence of the Lord in his life • The presence of the Lord was apparent to Potiphar • Because the presence of the Lord was apparent to Potiphar, he made Joseph overseer of his house- Lincoln; “If you want to test a man’s character, give him power” • Because Joseph was handsome, Potiphar’s wife propositioned him • “But he refused.”
2- How did he refuse? • He remembered the confidence his Egyptian master had placed in him- we too soon forget the goodness of God via the hand of others • He called the proposition what it was- “a wicked thing”- you cannot call sin what it is without making others upset • He saw it as a sin against God- all sin is ultimately against the Fatherhood of God • Though she was “unrelenting” he refused to be sexual with her or even be in her presence- Satan never lets up, 1 Cor 9.27- Joseph put up healthy boundaries • He left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house- why?- to have stayed one more minute would have been dangerous- God’s love for us always offers the way of escape- our love for Him determines if we will take that escape, 1 Cor 10.13
Some practical application • We live in a culture that enables, glories in, facilitates, and explains away, sin- we blame parents, bosses, presidents, pastors , spouses, children, police officers, anybody but ourselves • There is no longer any individual accountability- if all sin is personal before it is corporate, then we must begin with individual accountability • The 2 biblical responses to sin- resistance (James 4.7) and escape • Understand the process of sin, James 1.14-15