Losing Our Identity
Genesis 42:5-10(N.A.S.)
5. So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also.
6. Now Joseph was the ruler over the land; He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to Him with their faces to the ground.
7. When Joseph saw his brothers he recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly. And he said to them, “where have you come from?” And they said, from the land of Canaan, to buy food.
8. But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him.
9. Joseph remembered the dreams which he had about them, and said to them, “You are spies; you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land.”
10. Then they said to him, “no, my Lord, but your servants have come to buy food.
Last week, we talked about the pit of destruction. We discussed we don’t to go close to the pit because inside the pit is the enemy.
Satan is in the pit, and He wants us to follow Him.
He wants us to commit spiritual suicide.
The pit represents a type of Hell.
Joseph was stripped of his coat of many colors and thrown into a pit.
The coat represented something he loved, which was given to him by his father.
The coat, which he loved, was taken away, and He was thrown into a place of darkness where their was no water.
His brothers were going to kill him, but instead sold him into Egyptian slavery.
Even though Joseph was in a place of darkness, the light of God intervened.
Through all the dilemmas that Joseph went through He never forgot the God of His father.
Joseph was raised out of the pit of destruction because Gods hand was on his life.
Joseph was taken from captivity of the pit and raised to new levels of his walk.
He went through trials and tribulations, but he overcame every obstacle that was placed before him.
Joseph was raised to second in command in Potipher’s house; every thing that he touched was blessed.
Potipher’s wife decided that she wanted Joseph; day in and day out she tried to seduce him.
There had been a standard placed on the inside of Joseph’s heart by his father.
The pit was coming against him, all Hell, the powers of darkness.
What did he do? He fled away from the pit.
James 4-7
Therefore submit yourselves to God, resist the Devil, and He will flee from you.
Joseph did not want to sin against his master!
Even through this pit experience Joseph held onto his integrity in God.
He was not going to lose his identity.
Even though he was thrown back into prison for a crime that he didn’t commit, he stayed true to God!
Look at the life of Jesus, He was a perfect man who never did anything wrong, but He still paid a price because He loved us so much.
Some people might say that bad things don’t happen to Christians; look at the life of Joseph.
When bad things happen in our lives, hold onto Jesus, don’t let go!
Remember what He has done in your life; remember what He has brought you out of.
You might say, “Pastor you don’t know what I’ve been through.”
Have you been listening to what Joseph went through?
He lost his mother at a young age. His own brothers had thrown him into a pit to die; he was ripped away from his father, Jacob, and Benjamin.
He was sold into Egyptian slavery. It’s time to get over our self pity and move on.
The reason that I preached this:
Dream1-6-06
I dreamed that I was preaching. As I am preaching, I notice a couple and their kids walk into the Sanctuary and sit down. As I’m preaching, I am literally demonstrating how to build a house, a spiritual house. I showed every one the foundation, and then I showed them the frame, how it was to go up. When I was done demonstrating, we were going to have a foot washing. I took my old truck down the road to get some good water. When I got back the couple and their kids were gone. I walked over to where they were sitting and notice that the man forgot his wallet. All of his Identity was in his wallet. I told my wife I knew that they would be back.
Interpretation
The couple is a couple who does not come to church nearly as much as they should.
They sit in the Sanctuary, a place of worship, healing and deliverance.
Their kids represent, Train up your child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from the ways there of.
I’m demonstrating how to build a house. In order to build a house, you need a solid foundation.
I showed them how the frame goes up! It’s my job as a pastor to train people how to build up their spiritual homes.
Foot washing represents being disciples, followers of Jesus, learning to do as He did.
I went to get good water, water of the Spirit!
I come back and the couple is gone, the man forgot his wallet, all of his identity was in it.
People who have come to this church God has spoken and performed miracles, where are they now?
They have forgotten where they came from.
Joseph had never lost hs identity, he ever forgot the dreams that God had given him.
He stayed faithful to God and God brought his dreams to pass.
He was second in command to Pharaoh, and Joseph’s brothers did bow to hi
Deuteronomy 7:1-11
"When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,
2 "and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
3 "Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son.
4 "For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
5 "But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.
6 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
7 "The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
8 "but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 "Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
10 "and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face.
11 "Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.
(NKJV)
Have we lost our identity, if God has given me a dream or miracle of any kind have I forgotten?
Am I doing things that I know I ought not?
We are losing our identity!
Pastor I can’t do it, I’m lonely, and my suggestion to you is get a deeper in your walk with God.
What does Philippians 4-13 say? I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
Closing
Hebrews 11:36-40
Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented--
38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,
40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
(NKJV)
Don’t forget whose you are, and where you came from!
I am a Pentecostal, I believe in speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance.
I believe in signs and wonders.
But most important I believe in Jesus!
Have we lost our identity?
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