Sermon Central
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Life Of Joseph; Integrity Series
Contributed by Anthony Zibolski on Aug 17, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: Life lesson of Joseph by his integrity in the face of trials and difficulty
Life of Joseph; Integrity
Genesis chapter 39:6-23
Introduction-
We began last week a series on the life of Joseph. There are a lot of life lesson told in 13 chapters of Scripture on his life.
Last week, we saw that dreamers are persecuted. “Here comes the dreamer” is not a compliment.
People will tear you down if you dare to better yourself.
People will attempt to destroy your dream and want to put water on the fire and enthusiasm you have for something new and creative.
If you are doing things for God, it is no different.
If fact, if they are mad at God, they will hate the fact that you are doing something for God.
Deception runs deep
They plotted and tried to kill Joseph for expressing what he felt God was telling him.
We pick up this week with Joseph betrayed by his brothers, they could not kill him because of guilt, but sold him to Ishmaelites traveling in a caravan who took him down to Egypt to be sold. He is bought by Potiphar, an Egyptian official who was captain of the guards and very powerful. We see that Joseph adapts to being there and quickly is put in charge of the household of Potiphar.
The text this morning continues the problem of deception and what people won’t do to each other.
If you have not learned some life lessons, you are some to set this up.
Bad things happen to good people- you do not have to be in sin to have unexpected things happen from people you did not think would do such a thing.
Life is not fair- God never says that it is- He just says that he will be the judge and that we are to live our lives according to his word and be followers of Christ.
Joseph did not deserve this, but here he is and what is he going to do with it?
How is he going to handle it?
How is he going to let it affect his life and those that are around him?
Joseph had an anointing upon his life- people can see that he was someone special because God was in his life.
They did not have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in their lives yet because it is before Pentecost.
God Spirit fell on them and gave them the ability to do what God wanted them to do.
How much more do we have the power with God dwelling inside of us.
There was something different about Joseph- people could see it and they knew it.
You don’t have to tell someone you’re a Christian, they will be able to see it in your life.
There should be something different about you.
Now Joseph is in the household of Potiphar. He is being a blessing and he is being blessed.
Text- Genesis chapter 39:6-23
We again pick up that deception runs deep in people lives.
They will do what they want, with whoever they want.
They have no regard for other people’s feeling’s , they do not worry about consequences.
We are called to be different. We are called by God to follow God word and be an example of Christ living in us.
I. People desire what they cannot have
You cannot stop an adult person from doing what they want-
You cannot make someone be who you want them to be- because they are in control and run their lives.
They will give an account to God for their actions for things they have done and for things that they should have done.
There is a saying that says that a mistake repeated more than once is a decision.
Joseph could not stop Potiphars wife from desiring something that she was not suppose to have.
In fact, we see that after telling her no repeatedly, she ambushed him. She set him up to fall in a trap, a web that she created to catch an unwilling person to do something they were unwilling to do.
I believe that she got other staff to turn a blind eye to her evil plan.
If you have to sneak to do it, lie to cover it up, delete it so it cannot be seen, then you probably should not be doing it.
Potiphars wife, who we do not even know her name, did all these things to set up Joseph to be in a position of compromise and his trust and integrity tested.
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world- the lust of the flesh, the lust of their eyes, and the pride of life-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
