God is still in the business of making good out of the mess!
Sermon Series: ๐๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ
Sermon #6: ๐๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ & ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐
Scripture Text: ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ณ:๐ญ๐ฏ-๐ฎ๐ฒ
Sermon Notes:
GENESIS 47:13-26 NLT
13 Meanwhile, the famine became so severe that all the food was used up, and people were starving throughout the lands of Egypt and Canaan.
14 By selling grain to the people, Joseph eventually collected all the money in Egypt and Canaan, and he put the money in Pharaohโs treasury.
15 When the people of Egypt and Canaan ran out of money, all the Egyptians came to Joseph. โOur money is gone!โ they cried. โBut please give us food, or we will die before your very eyes!โ
16 Joseph replied, โSince your money is gone, bring me your livestock. I will give you food in exchange for your livestock.โ
17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph in exchange for food. In exchange for their horses, flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and donkeys, Joseph provided them with food for another year.
18 But that year ended, and the next year they came again and said, โWe cannot hide the truth from you, my lord. Our money is gone, and all our livestock and cattle are yours. We have nothing left to give but our bodies and our land.
19 Why should we die before your very eyes? Buy us and our land in exchange for food; we offer our land and ourselves as slaves for Pharaoh. Just give us grain so we may live and not die, and so the land does not become empty and desolate.โ
20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. All the Egyptians sold him their fields because the famine was so severe, and soon all the land belonged to Pharaoh.
21 As for the people, he made them all slaves, from one end of Egypt to the other.
22 The only land he did not buy was the land belonging to the priests. They received an allotment of food directly from Pharaoh, so they didnโt need to sell their land.
23 Then Joseph said to the people, โLook, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. I will provide you with seed so you can plant the fields.
24 Then when you harvest it, one-fifth of your crop will belong to Pharaoh. You may keep the remaining four-fifths as seed for your fields and as food for you, your households, and your little ones.โ
25 โYou have saved our lives!โ they exclaimed. โMay it please you, my lord, to let us be Pharaohโs servants.โ
26 Joseph then issued a decree still in effect in the land of Egypt, that Pharaoh should receive one-fifth of all the crops grown on his land. Only the land belonging to the priests was not given to Pharaoh.
GENESIS 47:13 NLT
13 Meanwhile, the famine became so severe that all the food was used up, and people were starving throughout the lands of Egypt and Canaan.
GENESIS 47:25 NLT
25 โYou have saved our lives!โ they exclaimed. โMay it please you, my lord, to let us be Pharaohโs servants.โ
- Joseph was aware of Godโs presence, acted with integrity and accomplished Godโs plan.
Lessons #1:
JOSEPH WAS AWARE OF GODโS PRESENCE
GENESIS 45:5-8 NLT
5 But don't be upset, and don't be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.
6 This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years, and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
7 God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors.
8 So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh--the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt.
“You recite your problems more naturally than acknowledge the powers of heaven.”
“God is in this.”
- We cannot always see what God is doing.
Lessons #2:
JOSEPH ACTED WITH INTEGRITY
JOB 5:7 NLT
7 People are born for trouble as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.
JOHN 16:33 NLT
33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.
“A crisis has the power to cause us to rethink the things that are most important in life.”
GENESIS 47:25 NLT
25 โYou have saved our lives!โ they exclaimed. โMay it please you, my lord, to let us be Pharaohโs servants.โ
May the integrity of our life be a light that points others to our God.
Lessons #3:
JOSEPH ACCOMPLISHED GODโS PLAN
GENESIS 41:34-38 NLT
34 โThen Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years.
35 Have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just ahead and bring it to Pharaoh's storehouses. Store it away, and guard it so there will be food in the cities.
36 That way there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come to the land of Egypt. Otherwise this famine will destroy the land.โ
37 Joseph's suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his officials.
38 So Pharaoh asked his officials, โCan we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?โ
“One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.” — John Piper
NEHEMIAH 4:9 NLT
9 But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.
“God sees a Joseph in you.”
GENESIS 50:20 ESV
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
“God is still in the business of making good out of the mess.”