Trusting the King (Act 3 Scene 1d)

This is the text version of Sunday’s sermon – the audio version can be found on the PRV website if you are interested.

Note that the audio version is a lot cooler and more interesting then the text version as I tends to ad-lib a bit. 😛

Introduction:

We are an interesting place in God’s Grand Story – a place that will set the scene for one of the biggest climaxes in human history.

Leading up to this place, we have seen the King of Kings on His mission to dwell among humanity as their God and for them to be His people. We have seen Him call out Abraham in order to establish a people group who will draw the rest of the world to God – a people group who would be sold out for Him and His mission.

We have seen how while the second generation of this group obeyed and followed God, the third generation struggled with knowing God – choosing instead to do things their way… until finally near the end of his life, Jacob – now called Israel – gives up and lets God lead him.

Today we are going to be talking about the fourth generation.

What will happen to the mission of God? Will the people choose by God continue to follow Him? Or will they rebel and like Adam and Eve before them, choose to be their own ‘kings’ and ‘queens’?

Finishing Genesis

As you might have guessed, the 4th generation that we are going to talk about today is the children of Israel (Jacob) – all 12 of them…. Well, all 12 of them will come up in the story – but we will be focusing on Joseph as that is that the author of Genesis does.

I understand that a lot of people do not know the story of Joseph – nor how it ‘fits’ within the bigger picture. So I am going to start today of by telling you the story – it  won’t be word for word out of the Bible as it would take a while to read the last 13 chapters of Genesis….so instead, I am going to paraphrase the story and give you all the highlights.  Hopefully this will fuel your interests and you will go back this week and read the whole thing. =D

Learning to Trust the King

[at this point, I tell the story (outline below) while emphasizing the theme of ‘trusting the King’]

•    Joseph the Dreamer (sold by his brothers) – Genesis 37
•    Judah and Tamar – Genesis 38
•    The Wife of Potiphar – Genesis 39
•    Joseph Interprets Dreams – Genesis 40 & 41
•    The Brothers of Joseph Journey to Egypt – Genesis 42-47
•    Joseph Ascends in Egypt – Genesis 47
•    Manasseh & Ephraim – Genesis 48
•    Jacob Blesses His Sons and Dies – Genesis 49 & 50
•    Joseph reassures His Brothers and Dies – Genesis 50

Story Outline

•    Joseph the Dreamer (sold by his brothers) – Genesis 37

o    Favorite son of Rachel and Jacob
o    Two dreams

– Everyone else’s sheaves of grain bow down to his shelf
– Sun, moon and stars bowing down to him

o    Bothers tie him up and sell him to some merchants

– Reuben – the oldest brother tried to stop them
– Judah was the ring leader

•    Judah and Tamar – Genesis 38
•    The Wife of Potiphar – Genesis 39

o    Joseph is Potiphar’s manger

–  Ran the house and farm

o    Potiphar’s wife wanted to sleep with him

– Joseph ends up in jail
– Not dead, like he should have been

•    Joseph Interprets Dreams – Genesis 40 & 41

o    Joseph becomes an inmate manager within the prison
o    Two royal officials are thrown in there with him

– Cupbearer – dream

•    3 vines – Pharaoh’s cup – wine
•    Going to get his job back

– Baker – dream

•    3 baskets of bread on head – birds eating out of them
•    Going to be killed by Pharaoh

o    Pharaoh had a dream (2 years later)

– Seven fat cows and seven ugly ones
– 7 healthy heads of grain – 7 bad ones blown away by the sun

o    Joseph tells Pharaoh what the dream means
o    Is placed in charge of repairing the land for the famine

•    The Brothers of Joseph Journey to Egypt – Genesis 42-47

o    They needed food
o    Joseph ‘plays’ with them – testing them to see if they would sell Benjamin

– Keeps Simeon (the second born) in Egypt
– Sends the silver back with them
– Tells them to bring Benjamin back with them
– Finally after running out of food again, they come
– Joseph tries to keep Benjamin with him
– Gives up and tells his brothers who he is
– Israel his father comes to live with him

•    Joseph Ascends in Egypt – Genesis 47

o    Pharaoh gives them land to live on

– This allows them to grow into a nation without getting destroyed
–  Scary because it was not the land that God had given them…
– Trusting God even when it doesn’t look like what we thought it would

•    Manasseh & Ephraim – Genesis 48

o    Joseph had married a lady from Egypt

– The daughter of the priest of On (or Atum – the head sun god)
– She is brought into the people of God

•    The problem with Esau was not that he married a non-Jewish gal
•    But that he forgot about God and started following the Canaanites

o    Joseph’s sons becomes sons of Israel (Jacob)

– There is no tribe of “Joseph” because one of his sons take his place
– The trip of Levi becomes priests, so Joseph other son takes Levi’s place

•    Jacob Blesses His Sons and Dies – Genesis 49 & 50

o    The “firstborn” blessing is passed on to the fourth born son, Judah

–  Reuben – slept with his father’s wife
– Simeon and Levi – murdered an entire town

•    Joseph reassures His Brothers and Dies – Genesis 50

o    The family has peace
o    Forgiveness

Sub-Points:

•    Faithfulness to God no matter what
•    Dreams – God speaks to His people

o    Don’t always dismiss dreams
o    Listen and discern what folks around you are saying

•    The end doesn’t always look like we think it is going to look like

o    Joseph never thought he would be a ruler in Egypt – the big nation next door

•    Second chances to those who have been in prison

o    Sometimes you have to go through the storm
o    Kyle’s story?

One thought on “Trusting the King (Act 3 Scene 1d)”

Comments are closed.