This last weekend at First Assembly Community Ministries, we started a 7-week series on the story of Joseph at the end of the biblical book of Genesis. The idea is that God has a dream for all of our lives, but it takes a while to get there. It’s a journey through a lot of different things!
Below, you can check out our notes, as well as the message. The message begins at 3:00:28!
THE JOURNEY THROUGH: Pride & The Pit
Genesis 37:1-11 ” Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2 This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, beingseventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad waswith the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. 5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, ‘Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.’ 8 And his brothers said to him, ‘Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?’ So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, ‘Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.’10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, ‘What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?’ 11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.”
Genesis 41:46 “Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.”
BIG IDEA: God has a dream for you.
AUDACIOUS DREAMERS
Pride can hold you back from walking into God’s desiredpurpose for your life.
Matthew 12:34 “ Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Genesis 37:13-24 “And Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.’ So he said to him, ‘Here I am.’ 14 Then he said to him, ‘Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.’ So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. 15 Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, ‘What are you seeking?’ 16 So he said, ‘I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.’ 17 And the man said, ‘They have departed from here, for I heard them say, “Let us go to Dothan.”’ So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. 18 Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 Then they said to one another, ‘Look, this dreamer is coming! 20 Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, “Some wild beast has devoured him.” We shall see what will become of his dreams!’ 21 But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, ‘Let us not kill him.’ 22 And Reuben said to them, ‘Shed no blood, butcast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him’ —that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father. 23 So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.”
LESSONS OF THE PIT
The pit teaches some of the most significant truthswe ever come to learn.
When you find yourself in a pit, ask yourself these questions–
1. What brought you to the pit?
2. What can you learn from the pit?
John 3:17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Genesis 37:31-33 “So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, ‘We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?’ 33 And he recognized it and said, ‘It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.’ ”
3. What is the purpose of the pit?
Jonah 2:1-2 “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. 2 And he said: ‘I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and He answered me. Out of the bellyof Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice.’ ”
Genesis 37:22 “And Reuben said to them, ‘Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him’ —that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.”
Psalm 16:10 a “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol…”
ACTION: What’s God’sdream for you?
