January 10, 2021

FROM THE DEPTHS…THERE IS GOOD
January 10, 2021
Pastor Jonathan Falwell

Can anyone share if there has been a time when you were wrongly accused of something? How did you handle it, and how did it make you feel?

Open:

During this past year, we have faced obstacles that have defied the experience of most of us. Now, the past six weeks has seen unsettled and horrifying times in America that even goes beyond the reach of Covid 19, and has caused thousands of Americans to ask if God still cares. As we look today at the life of Joseph, son of Jacob, we see the comforting truth that God will never leave His children, He cares for them and loves them. At the same time, He is holding all things in the universe together by His mighty power. Our God is awesome!

Key Verse: Genesis 50:20: “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good..”

Focal Passage: Genesis 39:1-2, 39:19-21, 50:20.

In the most difficult of moments, God is with you

• Read Genesis 39:2. What were some of the highs in Joseph’s life as he was growing up? What were some of the challenges he had faced prior to becoming a slave in Potiphar’s household?
• Can someone give an overview of Joseph’s years with Potiphar
• Based on what you know about the life of Joseph, how do you think he maintained an unswerving faith in God?
• Do you personally know anyone who has gone through as many times of tragedy, yet kept a faith in God that remained as strong?

When you are treated badly by others, God doesn’t abandon you

• Read Gen. 39:19b-21a. How did each of the three persons in this passage act? Could there have been deeper reasons that Potiphar reacted with fury? 
• Read 1 Corinthians 10:13. Joseph did not know this verse! How was he able to resist Potiphar’s wife?
• Had you been in the same set of circumstances as Joseph as he lived his life, do you think you would have given up on God? Why or why not?
• What would have been some of the natural reactions for a person in Joseph’s place? Where would such a strong faith come from?

God’s best should be our focus

• Read Gen. 39:23b. How did God reward Joseph during the two or more years that he was in the jail? What happened that could have defeated his spirit?
• Young Joseph seems to have had the same powerful faith that the David had in his younger years. Did this mean that neither man would face trials? What about Christians today: will we never have trials if we do right in a fallen world? Why or why not?
• Read Hebrews 13:5b. What is God’s promise here? Will His promises remain for us all of our days?

Close:

Sometimes we may think that life cannot get much worse—then another week goes by! We realize Satan is not about to leave any stone unturned that will bring disruption to our land if he can help it. So it has been again. Hopefully, what trials do is push us closer to God! He is with us, loving us, caring for our needs, and His arms are open as we run to Him. He will never leave us.

Joseph was a young man who seemed to have one trial after another, none of which were the fault of him living a riotous life. He seemed to come through each testing with an even more godly spirit. Yet who of us would have wanted to be Joseph? Did reading of his life put your life in perspective? No one in their right mind would have wanted to trade places with him.

His life, the challenges and the mountaintops, are so much more than most of us will ever experience. Although we might disagree with his telling his family that he had dreamed they would one day all bow down to him, we can’t find any time when he let sin rule in his spirit. And God used him time and again in mighty ways. What a great example of persevering he is!

What about you? Can you examine your heart in honesty, and see if you would have had the faith to have stood firm when everything around you shouted that God had left you on your own? Joseph never wavered in his faith in God. He could say as David wrote in Psalm 17:3, “You have tested my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tried me and have found nothing; I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” Would that we could all have the faith of Joseph.