Sherard Romar: Good morning. We're talking about the story of Joseph today and I have titled my sermon, The Lord was with Him. I'm gonna start out by reading some scriptures to get started. We're gonna I'm gonna read from Proverbs chapter three verses five through six. It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. First Peter chapter five verses six through seven. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of god. So at the proper time he may exalt you. Casting all your anxieties on him because he because he cares for you.
In first Chronicles chapter 16 verse 11, seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually. Have you ever had a time where you were wondering what was going on? A moment where you question yourself or your situation. A moment where you could not understand what God was doing. Sometimes life does not go as we expected.
But scripture reminds us that God is still working even when we cannot see it. The story of Joseph. Throughout the story, Joseph's story, we we will see that God was always with him. We will also see that Joseph was a God fearing man and a man who showed faith. Joseph had a life of up ups and downs, and in the beginning in the beginning of his story, Joseph was also 17 years old at the time when these events started taking place.
So Joseph was the favorite of the 12 sons, and his brothers were jealous and hated him for it. Maybe for a few reasons, the coat of many colors that his father gave him, you know, showed him favor. I have two siblings. I've tattletale before. So he goes into the field and brings back a bad report to his father about his brothers.
Or maybe it was the dreams about them bowing down to him in the future. They wanted to kill him. And so his brothers had so much jealousy and hate in their hearts that they acted upon it. By attacking him and throwing him into an empty cistern. Now that's not love.
This is a shocking event that is taking place in Joseph's life. Your own siblings wanting to kill you and get rid of you. I would say his world was turned upside down that day. Have you ever had moments where there was an instant change and it was out of your control? Do you remember how you felt?
I have and I remember. In these moments, we must remember that the Lord is with us. And so his brothers are debating what they're gonna do. Are we gonna murder him? And so, no, we can't murder our brother.
This is our flesh and blood, but we we can we can sell them into slavery. And so, of course, there's not any any better, but they sell their brother into slavery to and send him to to Egypt. Now, I feel this is the destination of the whole story. It's the purpose behind it. And so Joseph becomes the slave of Potiphar who is a rich man.
The captain of the guard here, Joseph becomes successful in all that he does. The Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands, everything. And Potiphar saw this. He saw that the Lord was with him. And Joseph found favor by being put in charge of his whole household.
Of course, Joseph didn't do this on his own. The whole time again, god was with Joseph. In life, we may go through periods where everything's working out, and then something unexpected happens. It could be a day, days, or months where we're having this experience. The question is, what do we do in these moments?
Do we turn to God? Do we doubt? What we see what Joseph does which is continuing to trust in god and have faith. Now, while Joseph was in prison, the Lord was with him again. I mean, he has these ups and downs where he's back up and then he's down again.
But the Lord is with him the whole time making it I mean, it's a rough journey, but it gets better. And so he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. He was put in charge of all those held in prison and was made responsible for all that was done there. Now that's a lot. And while he was there, he interpreted two dreams.
He interpreted the dream of a baker. He interpreted the dream of a chief cup bearer. Now that's important. Why is that important? Because it got got word to pharaoh, and pharaoh was looking for someone to interpret a dream.
So the destination is getting closer to the whole purpose of the story. The whole purpose of the story of why Joseph had to take this journey. And sometimes we may be on a journey and we don't understand why we're where we're at. And we are asking all kind of questions. And I'm sure Joseph had plenty of questions too.
And so, Pharaoh sends for Joseph. Go get him. I need him to come interpret my dream. So it's pharaoh Joseph comes to pharaoh and he asked Joseph, can you interpret my dream? And Joseph says to him, I can't do it for you, but God will give pharaoh the answer he desires.
That is the answer of a God fearing man. Let him know, I am here because of God to deliver this message to you. You're only receiving this message today because of God. And in that, Pharaoh saw God was with him. Again, his presence is showing that he is following God and each person that he's come across has seen it and treated him as God wanted them to treat him.
So Pharaoh now is listening to Joseph and Joseph is telling him of the message that the Lord has given him to give to Pharaoh. And so Joseph tells him, you're gonna need a wise man to oversee this to make sure it's done correctly. Pharaoh asked, well, who has the spirit of God like that I can find? And so he chooses Joseph and puts Joseph over the overseeing. But he not only does that, he takes Joseph and he makes him in charge of his palace and all the people should submit to Joseph and all his orders.
He also put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. God's plan was in place the whole time. From the beginning, when he told his brothers the dreams. So him being put into slavery and being in Potiphar's house, from him going from Potiphar's house to the prison, and now being in front of pharaoh. This journey began with his brothers hating him, being thrown into a cistern.
His brother's plotting to kill him, being sold into slavery and being thrown into prison. Wasn't looking good, but he kept the faith and he kept he stayed according to the plan that God had in place. Now, why was this plan necessary? Well, this is the 12 tribes of Israel. They are the nation.
And at that time, there was a famine. And was the food able to reach where they were living at the time in Canaan? So they had to go to Egypt to find food so that they could survive. And so that the plan of God and that the the 12 tribes of Israel could build their nation. And so there are many times we may go through things where it feels like Joseph's life.
It may feel like there's no you you're up and then you're down and then you may be down for a while. And then those times again, have to remember, we're not alone. God is with us. In Hebrews 13 verse five, it says, for he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. In Joshua chapter one verse nine, it says, have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. In Isaiah chapter 41 verse 10, it says, fear not for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous hand.
It is important to remember these verses in times where we're experiencing hard days or tough times with mental or whatever it may be that you're going through. Leaning on the word of god is where we need to look for when we're trying to figure out what's going on. So God has a plan and in the ending of the chapter shows what that was for Joseph and his family. And he tells him in Genesis chapter 45 verses five through eight, he tells them the whole he understood the whole reason at this time. He says, and now do you not and now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because this is the time where they were in fear because they were thinking that Joseph was gonna retaliate.
And he says, do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you for you a remnant of on earth to keep a lot alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
So, so far what I would like to say is God's God has a plan for everyone. And sometimes we don't know exactly what that plan is. We know that one day we're gonna go to heaven. We want to go to heaven. And that is our that's what we're striving for.
That is the destination. And so I don't believe that Joseph could have changed anything that happened in this plan. He had to go through all of this for this to take place. For the the next stories to take place, it had to happen. And that is the power of God's plan even in our lives.
Sometimes things happen and we're wondering what's going on, but it's a part of the plan. And sometimes he just wants to show us we need to lean on him. The dreams that they hated was the blessing they needed. Another thing that is important that Jesus descended from the line of Judah. So in the famine, if something happens because Joseph doesn't go to Egypt and they don't get any food.
That plan is it's not the same. So it was it was important and it was going to happen. So the story ends with Joseph revealing himself to his brothers and reuniting with his family, bringing them to Egypt to live closer to him where they raised their family together. In the beginning, God's plan wasn't revealed to Joseph completely. With faith and believing that the Lord was with him, he was able to journey through.
We don't have to know what God has planned for each of us to follow him, to trust him, and to believe that he is with us. Romans chapter eight verses 38 through 39. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor heights nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our greatest hope is not simply that God will change our circumstances. Our hope is Jesus Christ who came to save us, walk with us, forgive us, and give us eternal life.
May understand what we are doing what what we are going through. So, you may not understand the chapter that you're living in right now but god sees the whole story. Keep trusting him. Keep walking faithfully. And remember he has not forgotten you.
Maybe today, you need to trust god again. Maybe you need to forgive someone. Maybe you need to surrender to a situation you can't control. Maybe you need to give your life to Jesus. Whatever God is speaking to your heart, respond to him today.