Unpacking the Life of Joseph: Lessons from Genesis 37

Amen. Appreciate that song tonight. Appreciate the instrumentation.

Amen. So I guess when you're playing the violin in that particular

song, you have to call it a fiddle, right? Yes. All right, it's

a fiddle. Yes. Just want to make sure I had my. My instruments

correct. You put in your Bibles. Turn to Genesis, chapter

Genesis 37 · chapter mention

37. Genesis 37. I want to tell on myself if anybody finds a yellow

piece of paper that looks like this. This is still old school. I

still write all my messages old school, handwritten in pencil.

It should say Joseph at the top, number one. I don't believe

I asked my wife. I don't. I don't believe that I've ever lost

a message before. I do not remember a time. I promise. I don't

remember a time that I've lost one of my written messages. I don't.

I would pay, honestly, I would. You know what I had to do,

and I could have gone back and, you know, I kind of do. My sermons

are more like a research paper to start out with. You know, you

kind of go through and. So I could have done some. But what I

had to do, what I really did was I went back and listened to myself

from last Wednesday, which is terrible, because if you listen to

yourself, it's like grading the. You know, against a chalkboard.

I went back and listened to myself so I could kind of listen

to what my notes were. And I love those notes. I worked hard on

those notes. There's many hours in those notes. So again, the

bounty, Brother John. I don't know. I'd probably pay. I mean, I

would pay $50 right now if I knew where it was at to anybody.

I mean, it might even be a little more than that. To me, they're

worth that. But find a little yellow piece of paper somewhere here

in the church building. Anyway, besides that, it's great.

Here we go. Joseph. And again, I preached on Joseph several years

back. It's been almost 10 years, and we've touched on him many

times since then. But I am going back and really flushing it

out and taking some more time and bringing out specific examples

of things that apply to us now in the life of Joseph. So a little

more intricate, a little more detailed when it comes to the life

of Joseph and those things in particular that stand out, that apply

to us. So let's look at Genesis, chapter 37, and let's begin

Genesis 37 · chapter mention

reading. And we'll begin reading in verse 11. And his brethren

envied him. But his father observed the saying. So remember,

he had had two dreams. So his brothers envied him. They hated him.

But his father, it says, observed the saying. In other words,

observed the dreams and what they had to say. Verse 12. And his

brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel

said unto Joseph, do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem?

Come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, here

am I. And he said to him, go, I pray thee, see whether it be well

with thy brethren and well with the flocks. And bring me word

again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron. And he came to

Shechem. And a certain man found him. And behold, he was wandering

in the field. And the man asked him, saying, what seekest thou?

And he said, I seek my brethren. Tell me, I pray thee, where

they feed their flocks? And the man said, they are departed hence.

For I heard them say, let us go up to Dothan. And Joseph went

after his brethren and found them in Dothan. And when they saw

him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired

against him to slay him. And they said one to another, behold,

this dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, and let us slay him. And

cast him into some pit. And we will say some evil beast hath devoured

him. And notice this saying again. And we shall see what would

become of his dreams. And Reuben heard it and delivered him

out of their hands. And said, let us not kill him. And Reuben said

unto them, shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in

the wilderness. And lay no hand upon him. That he might rid

him out of their hands to deliver him to his father again.

So Reuben was looking out for him. Reuben, the oldest son. And

it came to pass when Joseph was come into his brethren. That

they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors

that was on him. And they took him and cast him into a pit. And

the pit was empty. There was no water in it. And they sat down

to eat bread. And they lifted up their eyes and looked. And behold,

a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing

spicery and balm and myrrh. And going to carry it down to Egypt.

And Judah said unto his brethren, what profit is it if we

slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell

him to the Ishmaelites. And let not our hand be upon him, for

he is our brother in our flesh. And his brethren were content.

Then there passed by Midianites, merchants, merchantmen.

And they Drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph

to The Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. And they brought

Joseph into Egypt. And Reuben returned unto the pit. And behold,

Joseph was not in the pit. And he rent his clothes. Verse 30. And

he returned unto his brethren and said, the child is not. And I

whither shall I go? And they took Joseph's coat and killed a kid

of the goats and dipped the coat in the blood. And they sent

the coat of many colors. And they brought it to their father and

said, this have we found. Know now whether it be thy son's coat

or no. And he knew it and said, it is my son's coat. An evil

beast hath devoured him. And Joseph, without doubt, is rent in

pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his

loins and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all

his daughters rose up to comfort him. But he refused to be

comforted and said, for I will go down into the grave unto my son's

mourning. Thus his father wept for him. And the Midianites sold

him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, a captain

of the guard. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, again we pray tonight

that you would be with the message that you would be with again

this example that is set before us. And Lord, may we see the

good and the bad. And Lord, may we apply what the Holy Spirit

convicts us about, touches our hearts about. And Lord, may we yield

to you. And we thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Joseph's life.

There's so many lessons to be taught from it. Not just from his

life, but of course, from his brothers. From the story we have

here in Genesis, chapter 37. We find in verses 1 through 4 that

Genesis 37 · chapter mention

Joseph was favored by his father Jacob over the other sons.

And the Bible says why? The Bible says because he was the son

of his old age. I also reminded you last Wednesday night

that not only was he the son of his old age, but he was the son

of. Of Rachel, his wife, whom he loved. And he was the firstborn

of Rachel. And so also, by the way, he had, we see that he had been

given authority over his brothers. There's a lot moving parts.

And as you think about it, and as you think about what went on in

Joseph's life and his brother's life, we find again that

being the firstborn of his beloved wife Rachel, he made Joseph

a coat of many colors. Possibly. And I mentioned this to

you last Wednesday night, that this not Only did it have to do with

just Joseph loving him more, Joseph preferring him over his brothers.

And that is the primary interpretation because that's what

it says. But if you want to read between the lines and you see

that being the firstborn of his beloved Rachel, it appears as

though that Joseph may have been given the firstborn rites that

would have been given to Reuben, the firstborn of all of his

wives. And that is definitely part of it. Because if you go over

and you read considering Reuben and what he's done, that probably

is the case. We also see again, but if you do the cross referencing

between couple of chapters here, that Joseph apparently had

been given authority over his brothers. And why would the dad give

the youngest the authority over his older brothers? And so I'm

just saying some, the jealousy, the envy, the hatred was

absolutely conceived because of Jacob's preference for Joseph,

but also because of again, the birthright issue and some other issues

that probably were there as well. All that to say Joseph was

born into a dysfunctional family. I mean, this family was dysfunctional.

He was hated by his brothers. Why was he hated by his brothers?

Because Joseph's character, Joseph's character, Joseph was a

light that exposed his brother's darkness. It exposed his

brother's darkness. It pricked their hearts. Joseph was a man of

character. And his brothers were the opposite of that. They were

immoral, evil, so forth. We also learned that Jacob the dad was

a passive father. A passive father. And as a passive father,

he showed favoritism to the youngest and therefore also did not

correct his kids. A passive father will be a lazy father. The

Bible says we ought to train up a child the way they should go.

And when they're old, we will not depart from it. And to be a dad

who trains their child, understand, it takes time to do that.

It takes effort. It takes work to do that in order to train a child.

Amen. Takes effort. And we as dads need to take the effort to train

our children. All that you can go back and listen to like I did

sermon last week, Joseph's dreams. Then Joseph dreamed a dream,

two dreams, verses 5 through 11. And what we tried to get across

last Wednesday night was that God in the Old Testament spoke through

dreams and visions and many times spoke directly to the Old Testament

saints. And when God spoke to them or sent them or gave them a

vision or a dream, that was God's divine revelation. In the Old

Testament we talk about the divine revelation being the Bible.

This is the divine revelation. Amen. This is God's word to Us inspired,

inerrant, the very words of God found in this book. Amazing,

miraculous, powerful book, life changing book. Sharper than

any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul

and spirit and the joints and marrow. It's an amazing book. In

the Old Testament, God spoke directly many times to the Old Testament

saints. Or he spoke to them in dreams, or he spoke to them through

a vision. And what I'm saying is that was just as much the divine

revelation to them as this is the divine revelation to us. So when

Joseph received these dreams, the sheaves of his parents and his

brethren bowing down to his sheave and the sun, moon and stars

bowing down to him. It was all an indication from God. It was God's

divine revelation to Joseph and to the family that Joseph would

be the leader of the family. That it was Joseph who was going

to lead the family forward. It was Joseph that was going to bring

peace to the family of Jacob. Finally bring some peace to the family

that was so, so, so volatile and jealousy and anger and all the

things that wrapped up in Jacob's family's lives. And Joseph

was the one who was going to lead the family. This was given to

Joseph and therefore relayed to the family and should have been

taken as the divine revelation from God. Joseph's brothers were

filled with envy. Joseph's brothers were full of jealousy. They

found opportunity to equal the score. They seized upon it. How they

hated him. Think about this for a moment. Your younger brother

again. I have an older brother, four years older than me.

At points in my life I know and at points of his life he did

not like me very much. When I was in, you know, fourth, fifth,

sixth, seventh, eighth grade. I was one of those junior high kids

that, you know, my brother could not stand. I would, man, I

would. I was relentless in my torture of him and I would not, I

would not be quiet anyway. Lots of things my dad could also

reveal that I would do to my brother. I deserved most of what

all I got from him. I told you some of the stories and these brothers

hated him. Well, they hated him for the wrong reasons. We see

envy and malice will produce the temptation of evil deeds. Envy

and malice will produce the temptation of evil deeds. And we

have the older brothers who not only were tempted, but gave in

to the temptation. In verses 12 through 17 we have Joseph was

sent by his dad to Shechem. We know that from reading the story

previously that Jacob had bought some land in Shechem and there

he had dug a well in Shechem also Remember that's where Dinah,

one of the daughters, was assaulted and where some of the Joseph's

brothers went in and killed all the males of Shechem. So just

kind of remember that as we think about what's going on here,

when Joseph leaves to go to Shechem, it's about a two day journey

from Hebron where Jacob was living. And remembering as Jacob

makes this or as Joseph makes this journey, I believe that in some

ways that Jacob was concerned for the safety of the other brothers

because of what they had done in Shechem. And now they're, you

know, got their flocks in Shechem. So as he sends Joseph up

there, there must have been some trepidation about the brothers.

When he gets to Shechem, the brothers are not there, they're gone.

And the guy finds him in the field and says, hey, what's going

on? He said, I'm trying to look, trying to find my brothers.

I don't know where they went with the flocks. I'm summarizing

now. And he says, well, I heard them say they're going to Dothan.

And Dothan's another 12 miles north of there. And Dothan was a

place of the Bible speaks of. And also history tells us of Dothan

means two wells. Two wells. There was two apparently two water

wells there and two wells of water Wells, yeah, two wells of water.

There were also great fertile pastures there. This is a place where

there many would come to bring their flocks. There was also underground

cisterns here. We're speaking of this as the pit that Joseph would

have been thrown into. And I'll explain that here in a moment.

This is where he was at. In Dothan. In Dothan. Think about it

for a moment. He receives the dream. His brothers hate him even

more. Then as he continues to be the man of character. Joseph continues

to be a man of character. Young man, remember he's 17, a young

man of character, that his dad continues to give him responsibility

concerning his brothers. He leaves, goes to Shechem. His brothers

are not there. They have left and went to Dothan. He gets to Dothan.

I am telling you, there's a reason why all this is happening.

In verses 18 again we see the envy of his brothers. The jealousy

now is turning to violence. They said, behold, the streamer cometh

and they conspired to kill him. Think about that for a moment.

Again, here's blood relative and they're conspiring to kill him.

They wanted vengeance, understand? They wanted vengeance.

They were far from home. Nobody would Ever know? I mean, they're

now almost three days journey from home. Nobody would ever know.

I pointed out verse 20 when he said, when they said we'll see, he

said we'll see. Now what becomes of these dreams? God sent

dreams to people in the Old Testament and they were divine revelation.

You got to read between the lines a little bit. But no doubt

Jacob, as I said last week, no doubt Jacob understood because he

observed it. It said Jacob had been talked to by God. He knew how

divine revelation came. Do you not think the brothers did too? And

now they're being told by these dreams, by God's divine revelation,

that they are going to serve their younger brother. That's what

they said. You're saying we're going to serve you. You're going

to say mom and dad are going to bow down to you. And now what

they're saying is we'll see if this thing happens. At first they're

just going to kill him. Well, if he's dead, those things can't

come to pass. Or so they think. By the way, if there's nothing

to the dreams, then why go to all the effort? They did maybe. Ever

thought about that Again, if there was nothing to the dreams,

then Joseph was just prideful and arrogant. No, no, they were God's

divine revelation. Joseph understood that. I believe Jacob

understood it and I think the brothers did too. We'll find out

when we get to heaven. But there's no doubt Joseph did. And

then by the way, again you come to the conclusion, we'll see

what these dreams, if anything comes of these dreams, these dreams

were either not from God or they were from God. If they were

not from God, then nothing would become of them. But they specifically

say, we'll see what's going to happen about these dreams. And so

if that's the case, if they're God's divine revelation, and they

are, then it's useless to attempt to thwart God's divine revelation.

It's useless. Amen. I mean, Saul could do whatever he wanted

to and trying to kill David, but God had already, I mean, Samuel

had already anointed David king, that he was going to be king.

God had already told Samuel to anoint David. He was going to be

the king. You, you can't thwart that. You can't deter God's

revelation. It's going to happen. God keeps his word always.

Always. So attempting to do anything about it was ludicrous.

Then Reuben, the oldest makes an effort to save Joseph. The firstborn

steps in and tries to save him and says, hey, let's don't kill him.

Let's just put him down into a pit here. And with the intention

of coming back and saving him. And I still believe here that Reuben

had lost the birthright because of what he had done with

one of his father's wives and committing immorality with her. And

then on top of that, again, Joseph being the beloved son of Rachel,

the firstborn. We know this, and I'm not going to turn there,

but you can look it up later. Genesis 49, verses 3 through 4. If

Genesis 49:3–4

you remember, when Jacob's about to die, he brings all of his

sons before him, and he gives them that blessing they're supposed

to receive before the father dies. And as he, as the firstborn,

Reuben comes to him, he says, you're as unstable as water. And

he says a few other things. And then he does confront him at

that point about him sleeping with one of his wives as he's about

to die. Maybe you should have done that back when it happened instead

of being a passive father. But he did plan to deliver him. Don't

kill him. Let's cast him into the pit. In Dothan, even today, there

are cisterns that are hewn out of the rocks. So you think about

these huge cisterns that have been dug into the rock, been chiseled

out of the rock. They're shaped like a bottle. So you would

have. You would have come up to a cistern. You would have looked

down in it. I don't know. You know, hoes would have been various

sizes. But let's say the hoe is, you know, six foot around. But

when you look down in it, it's, you know, it's shaped like

a bottle on the inside. So what? The point is this. If you throw

somebody down in there, they can't get out by themselves. You

can't crawl up the wall and then crawl up the angle. You know,

that's like a bottle. And they're still there today. A lot

of them still there today. And this is kind of what the scholars

believe he was thrown down to. And it does make sense, because it

does say, into a pit where there was no water here in Dolphin.

Impossible to escape on their own. Also something maybe you haven't

thought about was, do we. What was the reaction of Joseph? I mean,

he comes to his brothers, the brothers grab him, strip him of his

coat, tear his coat off, and then throw him into a pit. What was

the reaction of Joseph? Turn. I do want you to look at this turn

to Genesis 42, because sometimes we don't make this connection.

Genesis 42, and look with me in verse. Look back about verse 17.

Now, when Joseph again his brothers had come down to get food,

and Joseph is saying unto them, he spake to them, ye are spies.

In verse 14, send one of you back, go fetch your brother. Verse

17. And he put them all together in a ward, three days. He

put them in jail for three days. Joseph put his brothers in

jail for three days. And Joseph said unto them, the third

day this do and live, for I fear God. And if ye be true men,

let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison.

Go. Ye carry corn for the famine of your house, houses. But

bring your youngest brother unto me, so shall your words be verified

and ye shall not die. And they did so. Look at verse 21. And they

said one to another, here they are in prison. Ralph, we are very

guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his

soul when he besought us and we would not hear. Therefore is this

distress come upon us. So when his brothers are put into prison

by Joseph, they said, this has happened to us because when we heard

the cries of Joseph, when we heard the cry of Joseph, and there's

no doubt the 17 year old boy who was now attacked by his brothers,

ripped the coat off of him, threw him down in the pit and he

was crying to them. He said, we saw his soul, we saw the fear

of his soul, we saw the, the distress of his soul. And we did

nothing. We did nothing. And now you reap what you sow. It's coming

back our way. So it does tell us that Joseph didn't just go, okay,

throw me in the pit. No, no, he was crying out, he was fearful.

Seventeen years old, I couldn't imagine, could you? Shows

that his brothers were merciless, that jealousy and malice

had calloused them to the point that the 17 year old who cried

out to him, cried out to them. In verse 25 it says after they threw

in the pit, they sat down and ate. It's like, oh, okay, let's go

eat, guys. Just threw a brother in the pit, but let's go

eat. Not kind of how you read it. It's like it's no big deal. Wonder

if Joseph was still crying out down there in the pit as they ate.

Jealousy and envy are diabolical. Someone has said that

jealousy and envy. By the way, jealousy and envy are sister words.

They're synonyms. The Bible actually will change them out in

many, many, many areas. Someone has Said that jealousy, envy

is a soul sin. It's rottenness to the bone. It'll eat at you if

you're the jealous one. If you're the one who's envying, it

eats at your bones. Solomon said it this way. In Solomon Ate

and verse six, he says, jealousy is as cruel as the grave.

Think about that. Jealousy is as cruel as the grave. Resentment,

Jealousy and envy is resentment against a person enjoying

success or advantage. Envy is when somebody, another person has

more or knows more, or can do more. You're jealous of that. It's

like when somebody makes 50 cents more an hour than you do and

you're jealous of them. It's crazy sometimes, isn't it? What people

get jealous over or envious over. You know, my car looks really,

really good until my neighbor gets a better car. And I'm like,

you know, mine doesn't have any pavement. So I'm like, I love

old silver. Old silver's my tr. Envy and jealousy will rot you

at the core. Envy and jealousy again are first cousins. They're

synonyms. It's the act of nurturing hostile feelings and actions

towards someone. First John 3:12 says that envy is devilish.

1 John 3:12

Galatians, chapter 5, verses 19 through 21. Talk about again that

Galatians 5:19–21

envy is the work of the flesh. Jesus. Jealousy is the work of the

flesh. And then if you turn, and we won't turn there. Romans,

Romans 1:29–30

chapter 1, verses 29 through 30 list envy end with some terrible,

atrocious. What we would think about as huge sins, including, oh,

man, so many things. Adultery, murder, Many, many other things.

That's the list God puts them in. I already mentioned again about

Saul and David. Think about again that in 1st Samuel 18, 5, 9,

and Saul, really the first time you see him with that jealousy

towards David is when David goes off and defeats one of the armies.

And he comes back and they're singing songs about David. They're

saying, David hath killed his ten thousands and Saul has killed

his thousands. David has killed his tens of thousands. Saul

had killed his thousands. And that's when the jealousy rose up

in King Saul. Didn't take long then. Saul was constantly after David

to kill him. Envy and jealousy. Mordecai and Haman remember

the story. We certainly. Again, I wish we had a lot more time.

In the Book of Esther, when it talks about Mordecai, the king asked

the question, hey, Haman, if you knew someone had saved the king

from being assassinated, what would you do for them? What would

you do for them? Oh, he said, I would put him in my chariot, and

I would put your crown on him, and I would let him go through the

city, and people would. Would bow to him, and I'd make, you know.

Well, he said, okay, Haman, go do that with Mordecai. Mordecai,

Mordecai. Had he read back in some history where Mordecai had saved

the king from a plot. And so here's Haman having to take Mordecai

around the city in the king's chariot and all these people. Anyway,

so what happened? Haman became jealous, envious, sought to kill

not only just Mordecai, but all the Jews. And it's crazy the

way that went on. But what eventually happened? The gallows

that Haman had built for Mordecai. Haman was hung on his own

gallows that he had built for Mordecai. Jealousy and envy will

eventually catch up with you. It'll catch up with you. Envy and

jealousy again leads to resentment and bitterness. It becomes

the master of one's life and can eat you at the core. We think

about in the New Testament, First Corinthians, we call it the

Book of Corrections. As Paul is correcting the church at Corinth,

he found many there who were envious. In chapter three, two and

three, talks about the people were divided, and they were saying,

well, I'm of Apollos, and I'm of this, and I'm of. I'm of this

person. And jealousy and envy had divided them. So much so that

in chapter 12 he talks about that God had given them gifts and

gifts to edify the church. And he lists out those gifts, and he

said, God had given you these gifts as he had decided. God decided

who got what gifts in the church. And they were all jealous

of each other. And in chapter 13, he says, Listen, you guys are

desiring the what you consider to be the greatest gifts. And he

lists some of those out. He said, but the greatest gift that

you should desire is love. Is love, man. It doesn't take long for

envy and jealousy to divide a church. How do we overcome jealousy

and envy? We confess it as a sin. 1 John 1:9. We mentioned this

1 John 1:9

Sunday, if we confess our sins, he that is God is faithful

and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

First Corinthians When Paul is addressing that envy and jealousy

in the church, he describes to them what love is. In First Corinthians

13, in one of the descriptions of love, he says, love envieth, not

envieth not love isn't jealous. How do we overcome jealousy?

How do we overcome envy? We do so by expressing and having love.

How do we do that? Well, God has a prescription for that. You

go to the doctor, you have something wrong with you. He provides

for you a prescription. You go to the pharmacy, you get it filled

and you take it. Well, God has a prescription for jealousy. And

it's the book. When we read our Bibles and we walk with the Lord

and we develop a greater love for Jesus Christ, it's really that

simple. That the love of Jesus shed abroad in our hearts will dispel

the darkness of envy and jealousy out of our lives. I would

remind you that God's word's always true. I mentioned this a moment

ago and I didn't give you the whole thing, but this is the kind

of, the chronological order of things. Think about this. So again,

Joseph went to Shechem, then he went to Dothan. And guess what?

Dothan happens to be a trade route. This is just coincident that

that happened. They don't kill him, but they toss him into a pit.

Reuben saved him. And then the Ishmaelites happened to come by at

the right time. I mean, that's a coincidence, but we don't. It just

happened to happen. And Judah makes the suggestion, hey, let's

sell our brother. Let's get some money out of this. Just in the

nick of time. All that just. It's just happenstance. It just accidentally

happened. No, no. Think about all the moving parts that had to

happen to. To get Joseph to the place where he would be sold

into slavery. That they had to be in the right city, the right part

of the country where those who would be traveling to Egypt would

come by. And that's exactly where they were at. And a group of

Midianites, Ishmaelites came by at that time in which they had

Joseph in the pit. And they're like, hey, look, there's some camels

coming. We know they're tradesmen. Let's sell Joseph to them.

No, no, this wasn't by happenstance. It didn't happen just

in the nick of time. No, God, all these moving parts. God absolutely

moved him to put Joseph in a position where he would be sold into

slavery, be sold like a common slave. I mean, when he got down to

Egypt, he would have been put on a block. As we think about it,

he would have. He would have been sold as just a common slave.

He was sold to Potiphar, a captain in Pharaoh's army. All this

put in position so that Joseph can save the entire country, save

his family, and save everyone. All in God's hands. All in God's

time. See, the brothers thought they were making the dreams

impossible. But they were only helping the dreams to come to pass.

Isn't that amazing? We'll certainly spend more time on that.

But I do love as we end tonight. Joseph said when his dad

said, hey, I need you. Hey Joseph, I need you. And he said,

here am I. I mentioned this last Wednesday night we hear of Abraham.

When God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 22 and Abraham said, here

am I didn't, you know, didn't hesitate. No, he just said, lord,

here am I. Whatever you want me to do. Joseph was such a young

man of character. He obeyed his father. He was smack dab in the

middle of God's will. Envy and jealousy of his brothers brought

about resentment. And I'm telling you, the love of Christ will

expel that resentment or that jealousy that's in your heart, it

will expel it. God's word will always come to pass. His will is

always sure. You can do whatever you may do to try to thwart

it, but God will bring about his will. By the way, why not just

follow it then? Why didn't these brothers just say, hey, our

brother had a dream. He's going to be leader of the family.

We're all right with that, God. Because you, God, are the God

of heaven. You're the God, the omniscient, all knowing one, all

powerful one. We just want to follow what you have to say. Aren't

we told to do the same thing? But many times we don't. These brothers

tried to thwart the will of God, block the will of God, but all

they did was move it forward. Move it forward, man. We get enough

of Jesus love in our hearts, there'll be no room for envy and

jealousy. No room for envy and jealousy. Is the love of Jesus something

wonderful? The relationship we have with Jesus Christ is the cure,

is the prescription pill for envy, jealousy and really, I know

it's a kind of a, you know, we have certain medications that are

kind of a, you know, a blanket medication that helps so many illnesses.

Can I tell you just the love of Jesus is the cure. Staying focused

on the Lord, walking with Jesus every day. And I'm telling

you, the one who is jealous and envious is the one who's hurting

the most. Hurting themselves the most. It's not hurting the one

you're jealous of. It's not hurting the one you're envious of.

You are the one who are hurting. Just come to Jesus, confess

it, lay it at his feet. He's the cure. And I love that God's word

always, always is fulfilled, always true. Let's all stand have

verse invitation tonight. Hymn 155 have thine own Way. Lord, Heavenly

Father, we love you and we thank you for this wonderful, wonderful

example that we have in the Bible in the life of Joseph. Lord,

may we be obedient to you as our Father. May we continue and walk

with you and develop that love for Jesus that we ought to have.

Lord, may we put aside envy and jealousy and other sins that

are in our lives. Lord, we thank you that your promises are

always true. Your Word is always true, and I'm so glad we can

trust you. In Jesus name, amen.