P1 OVERCOME DEVASTATING REJECTION BY DOING THIS ZERO TO HERO JOSEPH

Zero to Hero, Part 1: Joseph – June 4, 2023
 
Intro: Sailboats
 
Intro Joseph
 
Crisis #1:
Genesis 37:13-14 (NIV2011)
13 Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied. 14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.”
 
Genesis 37:25-28 (NIV2011) 

25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
 
Joseph suffered devastating rejection
 
Genesis 39:1-4 (NIV2011)
1  Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. 2  The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
3  When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, 4  Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
 
Joseph set his sails:
Genesis 50:20 (NIV2011)
20  You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
 
He trusted God’s purpose for his pain
 
Romans 8:28 (NIV2011)
28  …we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
 
Crisis #2:
 
Genesis 39:6-8 (NIV2011)
6  Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7  and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” 8  But he refused.

Genesis 39:11-15 (NIV2011)
11  One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12  She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
13  When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14  she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed.
15  When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

Genesis 39:19-20 (NIV2011)
19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. 20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

Joseph suffered unjust retribution

Genesis 39:20-23 (NIV2011)
But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21  the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22  So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23  The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Joseph set his sails:

Genesis 39:9 (NIV2011)
9  No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?

Joseph feared God more than man