Trusting God in Troubled Times
Sermon #34 -What Are 3 Common Tests for Your Testimony?
Genesis 39
Transition into Egypt (Genesis 39:1-6)
- Taken with iron shackles around ankles and neck
- Joseph has to learn Egyptian where previously only knew Hebrew
- Joseph goes from his fathers house to being a slave in the house of another man
Test 1: The Test of Success
- Joseph is auctioned off and sold to Potiphar
- The presence of God makes all the difference
- God was with Joseph and all that Joseph did succeeded; Potiphar made Joseph overseer over his house.
- Joseph was a blessing; Potiphar was a government official and entrusted everything to Joseph.
- The hardest test is the test of success; when you succeed people try to tear you down. Sometimes you feel entitled and forget God.
- Joseph is always in the second chair, he is under his father and then under Potiphar and later is under Pharoah. This does not undermine the impact one can have.
Joseph’s success is spiritual and practical
Big Idea: The majority of your ministry happens in the marketplace (where you go to work)
- We are here to be missionaries. Being on mission isn’t what happens across the world but across the street. All of God’s people need to have a missionary mindset.
Two themes:
- God’s presence in Joseph’s life and His providence over Joseph’s life. God has a plan. See God’s providence through the rear view mirror rather than the windshield.
- God’s presence goes with God’s people. The ministry of presence makes all the difference. It is the presence of God not the absence of problems.
How are you doing at living in the presence of God?
- At the top of the chain of command is the Lord. All the work we do is ultimately for the Lord for it is to Him we will give an account.
- God is with you in the common things.
“Nor is it needful that we do great things”- Brother Lawrence.
- God says do little things greatly.
- Jesus spent his first 30 years doing ministry in the small things, working with his dad as a carpenter. For 3 years he did ministry publicly.
- A private life with God leads to a public life for God. Whatever God has for you, spending time with God preparers you.
- Every time you seek to be in God’s presence there will be a test
Test 2 – Temptation Test (Genesis 39:7-10)
- Potiphar’s wife tries to get Joseph to sleep with her.
- Joseph is physically a slave but is spiritually free to say no. Potiphar’s wife is physically free but is a slave to her lust.
- Everyday Joseph has to make a conscious effort everyday to say no to temptation.
- Josephs family has a history of sexual sin. Great Grandpa Abraham had children with two women. His father Jacob had 12 children with four women. One of his brothers slept with his fathers concubine and another slept with his own daughter-in-law.
- You need to know the answer before you take the test.
***1 Cor 10:13 (when temptation comes, God provides the way out)
***2 Tim 2:22
***1 Cor 6:18
- Chastity before marriage, fidelity in marriage. Joseph holds to this.
- Young men learn from Joseph’s example of tremendous integrity and loyalty to God and those over him.
- You need to know who you are. All the cultures on earth will come to end and the Kingdom of God will endure forever.
- If you are a child of God, you live for the approval for only One.
- Temptation and sin are different.
***Hebrews 4:15 (Jesus empowers us to say no)
- When you are tempted, run to God.
- Temptation is ultimately a diversion from your destiny.
- Jesus takes the test for you and helps you pass the test the next time it comes.
Test 3 – Injustice Test (Gen. 39: 11-23)
- Potiphar’s wife tries to drag Joseph into bed with her and he again refuses. She then accuses him of raping her when she couldn’t get her way.
- Joseph is unjustly accused as a rapist and is put in prison.
- God is with Joseph; he runs the prison as a prisoner.
3 kinds of people in this world
- Wise (Joseph)
- Foolish (Potiphar)
- Evil (Potiphar wife)
- It doesn’t matter what people put on you, don’t let it in you.
- It only matters who He says you are.
What you need to live a life like Joseph
- Live patiently in God’s presence.
- Let God vindicate you.
- Let God.
Both Joseph and Jesus:
- Continually reject temptation as young men
- Rule as second in command
- Are betrayed by someone close to them
- Had their garments ripped off of them
- Are wrongly accused of wrongdoing and convicted of crimes they didn’t commit
- Are thrown into jail
- Experience God’s favor, love, and blessing
- Stayed in the presence did God and history has vindicated them
