[00:00:00] You.
[00:00:03] I am Rich Young iii. And this is an amazing thing.
[00:00:19] I'm here to facilitate learning the word of God on a fundamental level.
[00:00:25] So join me and let's grow together and build a relationship with our creator.
[00:00:31] And that starts now.
[00:00:42] Hello everyone, and welcome to an amazing thing. Thank you for joining me today.
[00:00:46] This is our midweek show where it's a continual Bible study lesson. And we'll take off here right where we left off last time.
[00:00:55] This is in the beginning, number eight, and it's entitled God's Purpose.
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[00:01:48] So we'll begin our lesson here. This is in the beginning, number eight, God's purpose.
[00:01:53] And we all need to be needing to find what God's purpose is for our lives.
[00:01:59] And so I'm gonna begin this with a verse that is a key verse to this lesson that we're gonna study. This is found in Romans, chapter 8, verse 28.
[00:02:11] And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
[00:02:19] Now, that's a promise directly from God if we have to love God and be called according to his purpose for this scripture to have a purpose in our lives. So we need to remember that as we go through this lesson here. Now, Jacob has 12 sons. And we'll take up on where we left off last week. This is Genesis 37, verse 3 and 4.
[00:02:41] Now, Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him.
[00:03:01] Now, his father loved him, his brothers hated him, and they couldn't speak peaceably to him or about him. So everything they said about Joseph or to Joseph had a tone to it. Now we know that this is dysfunction. And these people had dysfunction in their family, just as we have dysfunction in our families today. So dysfunction is not a good thing. And God here in this lesson and throughout his Word, will help us to correct dysfunction in our lives. And so we have to understand that, that it's not just because we feel a certain way or some something seems to be unfair.
[00:03:41] It doesn't mean that we should be unfair because of what's going on in our lives.
[00:03:48] This is Joseph having a dream. Here. This is found in Genesis 37, 7 and 8.
[00:03:54] For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheave arose and stood up right. And behold, your sheaves stood round about and made an obeisance to my sheaf. And their brothers said unto him, shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?
[00:04:17] And they hated him all the more for his dreams and his words.
[00:04:22] So Joseph was 17 years old when he had this dream. And he's constantly doing and saying things that fester the hatred that his brothers already have for him. And so now he's about to have a second dream. This is found in Genesis 37, 9, 10.
[00:04:38] And he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren and said, behold, I have dreamed a dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father and to his brethren. And his father rebuked him and said unto him, what is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to the earth? To you. You know that. So they all have the ability to interpret these dreams. And so his brothers hated him all the more. But his father kept that dream in the back of his mind for some reason. And you know, we come to a conclusion with these kinds of things and the things we think because of how we feel about somebody. If I love somebody, I'll take it and maybe find it amusing. But if I hate the person, it's going to stick in my gut for a long time. And so his father observed the. The. The. The. The saying and kept it in his heart.
[00:05:41] And so we'll continue here.
[00:05:44] Joseph's brethren. Now they're going to decide to kill him. We've had enough.
[00:05:48] This is found in, in Genesis 37:20. But let me set this up.
[00:05:57] Jacob sends Joseph out to sea to check up on his brethren. So obviously Joseph is a Tattletale, too, because his father sent him out to see what they're doing. And they see him coming from a great way off because he has that coat of many colors. Now we'll continue 37, 20 in Genesis. Come now, therefore, let us slay him and cast him into some pit. And we'll say some evil beast devoured him. And we'll see what shall become in his dreams.
[00:06:25] So now they decided they're going to kill him. Now. But the oldest brother in the family, Reuben, he tries to deliver them, deliver Joseph out of their hands. He says, now let us not cast him into some. Let's just not kill our brother. Let's just cast him into some pit, and we'll do them that way. Don't, don't. Don't kill him.
[00:06:46] And so he says this because he's planning to come back and rescue Joseph later. That was his plan. Now, Reuben, at this time, his position as the old elder brother in the family. And usually the elder brother has rights and privileges. He's the priest of the family. But now his influence and his reputation has dwindled because he had an affair with his father's concubine, his father's mistress, Bilhah.
[00:07:15] And so everybody found out about it, and his position dwindled. And furthermore, this caused strife in the family because the woman he had an affair with is the mother of two of his younger brothers. So I can only imagine what kind of strife that brought when it was found out that he had done this thing. And so his position had dwindled and now he was on the outs of the priest of the family in the way they viewed him.
[00:07:43] And so. But we have to remember that committing a terrible act or a terrible thing in our lives doesn't. We can, you know, we can come back from that. And just because someone does one evil thing doesn't mean that there's no redeemable thing. And we should hold that over their heads forever. And we see that, that Reuben wants to save his little brother, so he's not all bad.
[00:08:06] And so now Joseph is going to be sold into slavery. This is Genesis 37, verse 26 and 27.
[00:08:14] And Judah said unto his brethren, what profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come now, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites. And let us not put our hands upon him. For he's our brother and our flesh. And the brothers were content with that. All they wanted was to get rid of him. They didn't necessarily want to kill him. But they wanted him out of their lives.
[00:08:36] And so Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites. And the Ishmaelites are the beginning of the Arab people. You remember, Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Where this is the people of the lineage of Ishmael.
[00:08:53] And later in the scripture, we'll read about what's going on in this present time and what we're studying now. This is, it's found in Genesis 42:21. It says that they, his brothers, saw the anguish in Joseph's soul.
[00:09:08] You know, that Joseph was so devastated. That was a breaking point for him.
[00:09:12] And you know, he was, was crying deep within his belly, crying. And so that's what Joseph was doing. And they saw that anguish, but they did it anyway. And so Joseph is sold for 20 pieces of silver. Let's read about that. This is Genesis 37:28.
[00:09:30] Then there passed by Midianite merchantmen, and they drew and lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph to The Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. And they brought him, Joseph, to Egypt. And so these Midianite merchantmen, they bought Joseph and they sold him again once they got to Egypt. So that's how Joseph got to Egypt. Joseph is devastated. And at the age of 17 now this, even though it's an evil act, this is the beginning of God bringing to pass the things that he's going to do in Joseph's life. So a lot of times we have things that go on in our lives and it seems devastating to us, but those things can be things that God is going to use to fulfill the plan that he has for us.
[00:10:19] And so remember, we have to be thankful for everything that happens to us. That is, if we love the Lord now and we are called according to his purpose, that is.
[00:10:28] So Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver, very much a type and shadow of Jesus Christ, who was sold for 30 pieces of silver. And Joseph's life, he sacrificed his life for others. And we're going to see that as this story progresses. But all the things that Joseph did are a type and shadow of what Jesus Christ will do.
[00:10:50] So God blesses Joseph. This is Genesis chapter 39, verses 3 and 4.
[00:10:56] And His Master Potiphar saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hands. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him, and he made him overseer of his house. In all that he had, he put it into Joseph's hand.
[00:11:16] God blessed Joseph and Potiphar could see it. And he said he found grace. So grace and favor is what that means.
[00:11:24] Joseph found favor in the. In Potiphar's eyes. And Potiphar was a very, very busy man. He was a businessman, part of the people who handle a lot of the things that happen in Egypt. But his wife was not very busy. She's married to a wealthy man. She's just lounging around all the time, probably.
[00:11:45] So Potiphar's wife attempts to seduce Joseph. This is found in Genesis 39, verse 7 and 9.
[00:11:52] And it came to pass after these things that.
[00:11:56] That his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph. And she said, lie with me.
[00:12:03] Now this is Joseph's response. There is none greater in this house than I. Neither have he, Potiphar, kept anything back from me but you, because thou art his wife. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Now this is an amazing thing. Remember at the beginning of this, these lessons, we see that there are two things that the whole. All the word of God deals with. My relationship with God, my relationship with my fellow human being. And we see that Joseph is living according to those two rules in his life, even way back, that far back. And so that's how Joseph conducts his life. My relationship with God, my relationship with my fellow human being. I can't do this to Potiphar and I can't sin against God. And so this is another example of Jesus Christ here.
[00:12:57] Joseph keeps his integrity. Okay, now let's continue in the story. This is Genesis, chapter 39, verse 11 and 12.
[00:13:05] And it came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business.
[00:13:10] And there was none of the men of the house there within.
[00:13:14] And she, Potiphar's wife, caught him by his garment, saying, lie with me. And he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out. He ran off and she was holding on, so she pulled his garment off and kept that in her hand. Obviously, Potiphar's wife had made plans for this encounter because there's nobody else.
[00:13:34] This is an important household and they got servants, cooks, and different people that have jobs all around the house. None of those people are at work, just Joseph. So obviously she made a plan to do this kind of thing. And as aggressive as she was, this is obviously not the first time she's done this either.
[00:13:54] So.
[00:13:55] But Potiphar's wife did not anticipate that Joseph's refusal of her intimate encounter would go the way it did. Now she's afraid of what Joseph is Going to tear apart of her. So now she has to create a situation to where she can't be blamed for any of this.
[00:14:11] So she lies on Joseph. That's what she does. This is Genesis 39, 17, 18.
[00:14:16] And she spake unto Potiphar, according to these words, saying, the Hebrew servants which thou has brought unto us came in to mock me.
[00:14:26] And it came to pass that when I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment with me and got him out.
[00:14:34] So now what she's trying to do is she's deflecting this. None of this is her fault.
[00:14:40] So she says, that Hebrew that you brought in here, so it has nothing to do with me.
[00:14:47] The Hebrew tried to rape me, and you were the one who brought him in here. So Joseph is now at the end of the.
[00:14:56] His first subject that he's supposed to study for what God is going to bring forth in his life. Now he's been in Potiphar's house. He ran all of Potiphar's businesses, He grew Potiphar's businesses. And now he's become a master of business administration. But that's not all he needs to know for what God has planned for him in the future.
[00:15:19] So now Potiphar takes him and throws him into prison.
[00:15:22] This is Genesis chapter 39, verses 20 and 21.
[00:15:27] And Joseph's master took him and put him in prison in the place where the king's prisons were bound.
[00:15:33] And he was in prison. But the Lord was with Joseph, and he showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the prison keeper. He was taken to the place where the king's prisons were taken, the Pharaoh's prison. So obviously it was federal prison, not state prison.
[00:15:51] So that. But God was with Joseph even in that prison.
[00:15:56] So let's go ahead and read this. This is Genesis, chapter 39, verse 22.
[00:16:01] And the keeper of the prison committed in Joseph's hands all the prisoners that were in prison. And whatsoever did they did with it, Joseph was the doer of it. So the warden of the prison pretty much put everything in Joseph's hands. So Joseph is in prison, but now he's running the prison.
[00:16:21] And so we're gonna see that we don't see any frustration in Joseph. Not that we can read here.
[00:16:30] So there's no frustration in his speech or his action.
[00:16:34] So he's continuing to go through life. But cream always rises to the top, no matter what situation we're put in. And I'm gonna read this scripture. This is another New Testament scripture, but it Also applies to Joseph's life. This is Titus, chapter one, verse 15.
[00:16:52] And it says, to the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled, there is nothing pure. But even their mind and their conscience is defiled. So Joseph is epitomizing this scripture too. He's in prison. And so we should know that a lot of times people will bring their view with them.
[00:17:15] You'll find people that may be in work, in a certain job, and everything they do and say while they're at work is a complaint against the their manager or to the organization or whatever it is. Well, that defiled nature would be with them no matter what job they were doing. And so we can see that Joseph epitomizes this because we don't see him doing anything that would show his frustration or any defilement in his spirit at all.
[00:17:44] And so that's an amazing thing right there. We should remember that. And sometimes God will put us through things to correct that defiled nature that some of us may have. Okay, now, time goes by. Now the butler and the baker, they work for Pharaoh in Pharaoh's house, are put in prison. And the captain of the guard puts them in Joseph's hand. So the part of the prison that Joseph was in control of, that's where these two men were put.
[00:18:13] This is Genesis, chapter 40, verse 2.
[00:18:16] And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers and against the chief of the bakers. And he put them in the ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. So Joe, they put him in Joseph's cell block where Joseph was running it.
[00:18:37] And so now the butler and the baker both have dreams. Now we know that Joseph has a talent of interpreting dreams here.
[00:18:45] And so Joseph walks up, we just got through talking about the to the pure, there's nothing. Everything is pure. To the Father, there's nothing pure. This is what Joseph says to them.
[00:18:57] Why are you so sad today? Now he's talking to men who've been thrown in prison, but he still is uplifting. And you know, when people are uplifted, they uplift others.
[00:19:10] So he's in prison, but we don't see any sign of his frustration still in this story.
[00:19:15] Now, the butler tells Joseph he had a dream here. This is Genesis, chapter 40, verses 9 through 11.
[00:19:21] And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph and said to him, in my dream, behold, a vine was before me. And in the vine were three branches. And it was through the budding of the and the blossoming shot forth clusters of grapes. Therefore brought the grapes and a cluster. Forgive my reading here. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand. And I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and gave the cup into Pharaoh's hands. Now, Jason, Joseph is about to interpret this dream. This is Genesis 40, verses 12 through 14.
[00:20:02] And Joseph said unto him, this is the interpretation of it. The three branches are three days. And yet three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head and restore thee unto that place.
[00:20:15] And thou will be delivered. Will deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand as you did before to the butler. That's what he says, the brother.
[00:20:24] So think on me when it shall come to pass, and show kindness, I pray thee, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh in the house. So when this is what's going to happen. In three days, you're going to be restored to your position. You're going to be brought back into Pharaoh's employ.
[00:20:41] But when you get there, remember me and tell Pharaoh that I'm not guilty in this place and help me to get out of here. And so, obviously, okay, I'll do it. And so now the baker has a dream also. And when he sees that the. That the butler's dream was good, he wants to tell it so he can have a good interpretation of his dream. This is Genesis, chapter 40, verses 16 and 17.
[00:21:05] When the chief baker saw the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream. And behold, I had three white baskets on my head.
[00:21:16] And in the uppermost basket there were all manners of baked meats for Pharaoh. And the birds did eat them out of the basket on my head.
[00:21:26] Now Joseph is about to interpret his dream. This is Genesis, chapter 40, verse 18.
[00:21:32] And Joseph answered and said, this is the interpretation of it. The three baskets are three days. And yet three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee and shall hang thee on a tree, and the birds shall come and eat your flesh.
[00:21:50] That was pretty bad news from him. So three days, the butler was going to be restored to his position.
[00:21:55] In three days, the baker was going to be hanged. And so now, this is just my observation of this story, but obviously somebody in Pharaoh's house had been getting sick off of what they ate and drank. And so when they got sick, Pharaoh said, what did you eat?
[00:22:12] And they said, well, I just drank a little of that wine and ate a little piece of that meat.
[00:22:17] And so Pharaoh said, you know, take the butler and the baker and lock them up in prison. Take two slaves and put them in prison, feed one of those slaves nothing but that meat. Give the other one nothing but that wine. Whichever one gets sick, we gonna hang the one responsible for that. We're gonna show these people. You can't just bring us anything in here. I got to make an example out of these folks. So they don't think they can bring just any kind of food in here and put it down before me and my family.
[00:22:46] So that's what they do. And so that's just my observation, but that's one reason why these things would, you know, they would turn out this way.
[00:22:56] So when the butler was restored back to his job, he really did remember Joseph. He was glad to get out and forgot about it. So we tend to look at this thing. Well, he forgot about Joseph.
[00:23:09] But we know that all things work together for good. To those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. So who made him forget about his dreams? And what Joseph had done, God made him forget about it. Because sometimes the fullness of time prepares us for a certain thing that's in our lives. And we have to go through all the tests and the teachings and the trials in order to be ready for it. Joseph still wasn't ready.
[00:23:35] This is Genesis 41, verses 1 through 4. And it came to pass at the end of two years.
[00:23:41] Pharaoh dreamed and behold, he stood by a river. And behold, there came out of the river seven well favored kind. A kind is a cow and fat fleshed. And he and they fed in a meadow. And behold, seven other kind came up out of the river, ill favored and lean fleshed stood by the other other kind, the cows on the brink of the river. And the ill favored lean kine did eat up the seven well favored fat kine. And Pharaoh walk. So he has a dream. And these he dreams. There's some cows by a river. And they're all fat fed, beautiful, beautiful. Whatever kind of cows we were, Hereford or Angus, or whatever kind it was, they were beautiful and fast, fat fleshed. Then some lean, starving looking cows came up, ate them up. Then Pharaoh woke up. And this was a dream that was very, very disturbing to Pharaoh. So Pharaoh now dreams a second dream. This is found in Genesis 41:5 7.
[00:24:45] And he slept and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of corn came up on one stalk rank and good and behold, seven thin ears blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.
[00:24:59] And these seven thin ears devoured the seven rank full ears.
[00:25:04] So now this is really, really disturbing to Pharaoh. Now he's troubled and he takes it to his wise men. He obviously these people, throughout all these ruling times in history, they always had a group of people that were the wise men, the magicians, the preachers, or whoever it was that would help him when things would disturb the counselors, if you will. And so he goes to them. None of those people can can interpret that dream for him. And the butler now remembers that two years have passed. He tells Pharaoh, Pharaoh, there was a man in prison. You remember when you put me in prison, I was innocent, but you remember when you put me in innocent, there was a man there who could interpret dreams.
[00:25:48] And I believe he's still there.
[00:25:50] And so they go and get Joseph. And so now the fullness of God's plan in Joseph's life caused this, this to happen at this particular time in this particular place.
[00:26:02] So like I said, we think sometimes we're ready for exaltation, but we're not ready.
[00:26:08] Potiphar's house was a school for Joseph to learn business administration.
[00:26:14] And now prison is a place now for educating Joseph how to deal with desperate people from every region of the world. You get coming to Egypt and cause some trouble, you end up in prison. And so Joseph had a mild disposition about him and he had to learn how to deal with tough people, rough people, and how and when to make an example out of people, like Pharaoh did with that baker.
[00:26:43] So Joseph had to learn in prison how to deal with those things. And so when he came out, he knew when to get rough and when to get tough because he dealt with desperate people. There Joseph is brought and interprets the Pharaoh's dream. This is Genesis 41:28, 30.
[00:27:00] What God is about to do, he showeth it unto Pharaoh.
[00:27:04] Behold, there come seven years of great plenty in all the land of Egypt. And there shall arise after the seven years of be seven years of famine, after the seven years of plenty.
[00:27:18] And Egypt's famine will consume the land. So it's going to be a famine. It's going to be seven years of plenty, then seven years of famine. And the famine will make you forget about all the great, the greatness of the seven years of plenty.
[00:27:33] So Joseph at B advises the Pharaoh, what should be done in this circumstance.
[00:27:39] First Timothy 3, 16. I'm going to go to another New Testament scripture to help us to see how this is. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. For in them, in doing so, you should save both yourself and them that will hear you.
[00:27:55] So Joseph is about to save the world because he was. Walk closely with God, for God shows him what he was about to do and, and how he's going to do it. We need to take heed unto God's word, not put the opinion of somebody but God's word.
[00:28:13] Joseph's advice to Pharaoh.
[00:28:16] It says that this is Genesis 41, 33 and 34.
[00:28:23] Now therefore, let Pharaoh look out, a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land and Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this and let him appoint officers over the land and take a 1/5 of the part of the land in Egypt during the plenteous times. And so now what they're doing is they're taking up, Joseph is telling them to take up 1/5 instead of 1:7.
[00:28:49] So therefore, not only would we have the ability to save ourselves, but we'll be able to sell to other people.
[00:28:56] And so again, when we think we're ready for exaltation, we're not ready. And God shows us that we're not ready. Now again, we're going to read this scripture.
[00:29:05] This is Romans chapter 8, verse 28. Once again.
[00:29:10] And we know that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord who are the called according to his purpose.
[00:29:19] And that's what the key is, his purpose.
[00:29:22] And God's purpose has to become our purpose.
[00:29:26] And so that's something that we should keep in mind when we should find ourselves in certain situations. We shouldn't gripe, we shouldn't complain, we should be patient that God is going to show us a way. And we'll be right back after this message.
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[00:30:05] God bless you. Keep listening, be amazing.
[00:30:22] Thank you all for being a part of an amazing thing. And remember, our end of the week show is where we answer your questions that you submit one of two ways. You can email those
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[00:31:04] Well everyone, that brings us to the end of our show today.
[00:31:08] I hope you found this show a blessing.
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