God With Us Series

We continue our study of the Book of Genesis. The Book tells us about God and the history of Israel, God’s Chosen People, through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The story of Joseph began in Genesis 37. In that Chapter we noted that: Jacob loved Joseph more than the other sons. Joseph had visions of the future. Joseph’s brothers hated Joseph so much that they planned to kill him. But instead of just killing Joseph, they sold him as a slave to Ishmaelites going to Egypt!

We noted last week that Genesis 38 was a special lesson from God before continuing with the story of Joseph. Please open your Bibles to Genesis 39. Before reading our text this morning, let us together pray our commitment to God’s Word…….

Gen 39:1-6, 20-23……

And so, Joseph was sold as a slave to an Egyptian Official, the Captain of the Guard! Now, this is a big deal! Joseph could have been sold to an undertaker!

Joseph ending up working for an official of the Pharaoh is like you and me getting a job working with Bill Gates!

Take note, whenever something big like that happens in life, God is involved! Do we really think about God when something big happens in our lives? Do we praise the Lord when something good happens or do we just give ourselves a pad on the back?

And what do we note in verse 2? The LORD God was with Joseph! What does this mean that God is with a person??

When God is with a person, God protects, provides, brings joy, guides, and empowers!

The next question is, how did it happen? How did Joseph get blessed with the presence of the Lord in his life??

The Lord was with Joseph because God chose to be with Joseph and Joseph yielded to His presence!

God is God and can choose whatever He wants to do! And Joseph, created by God in the image of God had free will to choose. God could have ignored Joseph but He didn’t! Joseph could have ignored God or fought with God, but he didn’t! Joseph yielded to God!

The Lord was with Joseph because God chose to be with Joseph and Joseph yielded to His presence! And what happened because God was with Joseph?

We can note in verse 3, God’s presence in Joseph brought prosperity, success, and evidence of God’s existence!

Also, because of God’s presence, Joseph found favor in the eyes of one in authority. Look again at v4, The Pharaohs’ Official entrusted everything he owned to Joseph! And what happened to this man who entrusted the godly man Joseph?

Trusting a godly person will also lead to blessings!

And as noted in v20-23, even in prison, weren’t the results of having God’s presence in Joseph’s life the same?

No matter the circumstance, God’s presence will bring protection, provisions, joy, guidance, power, favor, and a testimony about God!

Don’t we desire all of these things in our lives?

Are you sensing God’s presence in your life?

Can we experience the same presence of God in our lives as God did to Joseph?

Similarly as with Joseph, we can have God’s presence in our lives if God chooses to do so and if we choose to yield to His presence!

Has God chosen to be present in our lives today or has He ignored us? Each one of us should memorize John 3:16! Has God ignored us? Say it with me, “For God so loved….

And the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 1 verses 18 and 23 states: This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him “Immanuel"-which means, "God with us."

God has chosen to be with people today through Jesus Christ! God has done His part to be part of our lives. God the Father allowed God Jesus Christ to become a human being on earth, to suffer and die for people’s sins, and revealed His power over death by raising Jesus from the grave!

You’ve heard the saying, “True Christianity is a relationship not a religion.” You know why this is true? It is because the God of Christianity desires a relationship with people and the gods of religions just desire people to bow down to them.

God calls all to decide on a daily basis to welcome Jesus Christ into their lives! Jesus states in Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”