Lessons from the Life of Joseph - Week 1, Day 1 - The Gospel Truth

welcome to our Monday's broadcast of the gospel truth today I am beginning a brand new series talking about lessons from the life of Joseph you know I know that a lot of people aren't excited about studying the lives of people in learning things from them but this is exactly what the scripture says over in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 it talks about that all of the things that happen to people in the Old Testament were written for our learning so that we through them might learn not to make the same mistakes you know typically people want to hear the the things that are the more exciting things it's kind of in a sense like food you know that you want to go straight for the dessert but if all you did was eat dessert man it could kill you in a short period of time you need to eat your vegetables your meat your different things like that and there sure there are things that are more exciting to some people than others but these truths from the lives of people are how I've learned things let me just share some of these verses with you out of first Corinthians chapter 10 let me start with verse 1 it says moreover brethren I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and we're all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and it all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ but with many of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness the point that's being made is that you know all of these millions of Jews some people estimate there was 3 million Jews or more that came out of the land of Egypt and he saying all of them came out all of them had the same opportunity they ate of the same spiritual meat they drank of the same spiritual rock Christ that followed them but with many of them God was not well pleased that's an understatement because actually the millions of Jews that came out of the land of Egypt there was only two Joshua and Caleb who entered into the Promised Land even Moses and Aaron didn't make it but an entire generation died in the wilderness and that wasn't God's will for them but it happened because of their choices they chose to disbelieve they chose to be afraid some people may think well we don't have any choice in all of those kind of things but you do we have a choice whether we become bitter or better your life is basically a sum total of choices that you've made now that needs a little bit of explanation because I'm going to be teaching from the life of Joseph and Joseph certainly had things happen to him that were not a direct result of his choices his brothers selling him into slavery his master in slavery accusing him of committing adultery with his wife and then putting him into prison there were things that happened to Joseph that were not of his choosing that he didn't directly cause to come to pass and I believe that that same thing is true of us we live in a fallen world and there's bad things that happen to good people but the way you react to these bad things and the choices that you make when you come into life's pressures totally determine the outcome and if you become bitter yes things may have happened to you that presented that opportunity but you had a choice to become bitter or to become better you could have kept a good attitude and this is one of the things see about Joseph that God has just used to speak to me I mean Joseph is one of my favorite characters in the whole Bible you know in my understanding going through Scripture I can only think off the top of my head of two people in the Bible two major characters in the Bible who were not rebuked and had some major character flaw shown in the scriptural account of their lives and that Samuel and Joseph everybody else Moses had some major problems killed a man thinking that was God's will he got angry and he did things and because of that God punished him and wouldn't let him go into the Promised Land you can look at David who committed adultery and murdered to cover up his adultery and you can go through just nearly every character you know in the New Testament Paul had some major problems he consented to the stoning death of Stephen the first Christian martyr and on and on you could go Peter of course was always sticking his foot in his mouth and saying and doing something wrong sometimes the only time Peter opened his mouth was to change feet he just was constantly doing things wrong and you see these people that God use them bless them and it shows the grace of God and there's great lessons to learn but Joseph is one of only two that I can think of that just did not have any negative shown in his life I'm not saying that he was perfect nobody's perfect but the scriptural account just shows him as a faithful person from the time that he was a young person seeking the Lord and of course Samuel was the same way and so this is what his talking about in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 it says all of the people that came out of the land of Egypt had the same opportunity but only two out of probably 3 million are more people who were able to persevere and enter into the Promised Land you know that's a shame and it's not because that was God's will they wasn't God's will for these people to die that was their choices it was the way they responded the things that caused all of this to happen so he goes on to say in verse 6 now these things talking about people that came out of the land of Egypt and actually this applies not just to that one specific instance but you could go to the life of Samuel David the Kings just on and on all of the things that were written about people in the Old Testament their relationship with the Lord and the way that God worked in their life and through their lives to others all of these things it says here in verse 6 were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted so the reason that we have such a law urghhh bible and that there is so much material in here is because god wrote these things down was very candid with the mistakes that people made and showed us things to the intent here's the purpose that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted in verse seven neither be ye idolaters as were some of them as it is written the people sat down to eat and to drink and to rose up to play neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand you know I could take every one of these things that's being said and turn over and show you the corresponding Old Testament example and preach on all of these things this is just summarizing this I'm wanting to get to the life of Joseph but I'm trying to show you that all of these things that were written in the Old Testament and specifically we're going to be talking about the life of Joseph these things were written for our benefit so that we could benefit and profit through this and learn some things you know there's some people that teach that you just really don't know what a person is going through until you've gone through something similar you can't really help a person if you haven't experienced the same thing and from that they teach that really you have to experience the same hurts the same pains as everybody else and the only way that you can learn is just through the school of hard knocks well let me say this and I believe you can learn by your own problems and by the things that come your way but you don't have to do that matter of fact there is actually a better way to learn and that is to learn by other people's examples and this is what this is saying that all of these Old Testament examples were written for our benefit so that we could learn through them you know I've actually written an introduction to some of our CBC materials and I tell people I said that you know there's it's obvious that you can learn by hard knocks the school of hard knocks but there's a better way and it's carries Bible College and then I began to start talking about the hundred of years of ministry experience that all of our instructors collectively have together and how that we share from our personal experience and that the students don't have to go out and make the same mistakes that we did you can learn by other people's mistakes you do not have to learn everything on your own and let me just say that this is why we see so many Christians matter of fact I'm convinced there's people watching this program right now that the reason you are probably going through some of the hardships and pain and suffering that you are is because we haven't taken the examples that were given us in the Word of God and we haven't learned by their mistakes we go out and reproduce the same thing I'm sure that there's some people watching this program right now that you love God and God loves you I'm not saying anything to condemn you but you decided that you would live your life your own way you've probably had sexual sins and things that cost you that hurts you you may be having physical problems marital problems because of this did you know you could have learned that through David through looking at what happened to him and the way that his children died because of his own sexual sins how it cost him wars and all kinds of terrible things and much much suffering see I'll learn through him and then I've learned that I don't have to go out and try it and experience it on my own to find this out I've see it I live vicariously through these people in the Word of God and on and on you could go you could find people that weren't faithful in their finances and because of its suffered and then when they trust God and their finances you see them begin to prosper and on and on so this is what it's saying the reason that these were given like in verse eight neither let us commit fornication and some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer I tell you murmuring is at epidemic proportions in our society today even among Christians you know you can take people that are morally good they aren't going to go out here in line stealing and commit adultery and do things like that and yet many Christians you go to talking about politics it's just like you flip a switch and immediately there's just nothing but murmuring and complaining now I'm not saying that we don't have an opportunity to voice our opinion and to say things are wrong and that they need to change I do that myself but I'm saying that your life shouldn't be characterized as a gripe err as a complainer and yet there's many Christians when it comes to politics when it comes to certain things they just look for the negative I mean they are the cloud behind every silver lining they are just going to see everything wrong that's murmurers and you could look at the children of Israel how that they murmured and they soon forgot all of the miracles that God had performed to get them out of the land of Egypt they forgot all of those things they forgot that God had divided the Red Sea they forgot that God had turned the water sweet for them and made it so that they could drink they forgot that God had brought water out of the rock and every time they had anything wrong it was just like they forgot all of the past goodness of God and they just focused on the negative and saw it in the worst negative life and what did that cause in their life well as a result that generation died out in the wilderness which was not God's will and never did enter into the promised land if you would study the word and see this and keep this in front of you I guarantee it would impact you on a daily basis and keep you from being a grapper in a complainer that's what all of these verses are saying the Word of God these stories about people in the Old Testament were given for our instruction so that we can learn through them and then it says this again in verse 11 now all these things happened unto them for examples and are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come so in verse 6 and verse 11 and all of those verses in between it says specifically that all of these things in the Old Covenant were written about people so that we could benefit so that we can learn through them so I say all of these things as ways of as a way of introduction to we're going to be talking about Joseph and Joseph is just a powerful powerful man of God there are very few people in the history of the world who have overcome as much adversity as Joseph overcame and have made as much of an impact not only upon one nation but upon multiple nations as Joseph did Joseph had greater problems and yet greater victories he had betrayal by his family he was unjustly accused not only by his family but then as a slave and then put into prison and I mean just terrible things some of the things I'll be pointing out in more detail was that it was he was 17 years old when God gave him these dreams and begin the process of showing him how he was going to use him and yet he was 30 years old when the first positive thing happened from the time that God spoke to him and for the next 13 years everything that happened to him was contrary to what he had received and was believing for everything was going against him and yet this man was able to maintain his faith in the Lord and keep focused upon God boy that's that's powerful right there and if that's all we did was talk about that that would be tremendous lessons that would help us matter of fact I'll just give personal testimony that you know back when the Lord first touched my life marks the 23rd 1968 I was 18 years old and yet for a number of years it was probably close to thirteen years similar to Joseph everything in my life looked like it was not going well I mean I had a lot of negative things happen and it other people as I was speaking for my faith and saying that God had called me to minister then I was going to have a worldwide ministry everything in my life looked contrary that and I'm telling you Joseph and the story of Joseph is one of the things that God used to keep me focused and to keep me going and to keep me heading in the same direction when everybody else was telling me it's foolish you ought to quit you ought to give up go do something else there was times that I felt that myself and yet I'd go to the word and people like Joseph God used them miraculously in my life and so I'm excited to share these things these are things that have changed me and I believe that this has the potential of changing you you know if you feel like God has given you promises it could be about healing it could be about prosperity could be about your marriage about your relationship about your children about your job about your career in all kinds of areas if you feel you've got promises from God and yet your circumstances don't seem to line up it doesn't look like you're healed it doesn't look like you're prosperous it doesn't look like your marriage is going to make it you have the temptation to quit and to give up and just say what's the use I tried I quit you know what you could take a lesson from Joseph and if you will receive these things that I'm going to begin to start sharing about Joseph I'm telling you this could change your life it's changed mine it's how God enabled me to stand against things when it looked like nothing was working and I believe that the same thing will work for you so let's begin this study over in Genesis chapter 37 this is where Joseph is comes on the scene yet it recorded his birth prior to this but in Genesis chapter 37 and in verse 2 it says these are the generations of Jacob Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah his father's wives and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report now I'm going to make a bigger deal out of this later on in this series but I want you to notice this right here it says he was 17 years old when these events took place and he was 30 years old when he finally stood before Pharaoh and then it was nine years after he was promoted to be the ruler over all of Egypt when his brethren came and he saw these dreams actually come to pass so altogether it was 13 years before the first positive thing happened in Joseph's life and it was an actual 22 years before he saw the dreams that God has is going to record right here come to pass now let me just ask a question and this is something C that I learned through the life of Joseph and I could apply this same thing to Moses to David just across the board I believe it's the way that God deals with this first of all God plants a dream in our heart or you could say a vision he places a desire a stirring just some kind of a knowledge that God has created us for something more he puts this dream this vision this goal on the inside and I believe that one of the reasons that God first of all starts with a dream in revealing a goal a vision to you is because in between the time that God calls us and when we see that calling manifest and things come to pass I can guarantee you there are going to be some trying times in between your call and the actual fulfillment of it now some people don't like to hear this but again if you go back to the Word of God and like we were talking about from first Corinthians chapter 10 if we use them as examples and say this is how God deals with people and this is how things work you can turn to every major character and from the time that God calls them until the time that they see the fulfillment of the vision that God has given them without exception there's always going to be hardship now I will disagree with some other people in the sense of saying that God is the one that causes the hardship I don't believe that God is the one who's making us suffer and causing hurt and pain in our life you are just swimming against the stream this whole world system is a fallen world it's not the way that God intended it to be you are going to have opposition Satan is going to come immediately to steal away the word I'm not saying God is the source of these problems that we encounter but I am saying that living in a fallen world with demonic opposition coming against us there is going to be resistance if you never bump into the devil it's because you're both headed in the same direction second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 12 says yay all those who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution if you aren't being persecuted if there's not resistance coming against you in things that look contrary to what God has called you to do it's because you aren't living godly if you are living godly I guarantee you you are going to bump into the devil if you never run into the devil that's because you're both netted in the same direction when you turn around and start swimming upstream it's going to take more effort there is resistance against you when you stream up swim upstream even an old dead fish could float downstream and sad to say this is what the average Christian is doing they just count them on their little inner tube and they're just going with the flow and they have no control of where they're going they're kind of like a pinball you just launch that ball and it just bounces off things and gravity pulls it down and and you know what they just don't have any more control over their life than a pinball in a pinball machine I'm telling you if you are going to fulfill God's will for your life God is the first of all going to plant a dream on the inside of you that's going to turn your attention turn your direction around you're going to start swimming upstream it's not going to come to pass without effort you are not going to have life just automatically fate make God's purpose for your will come to pass you are going to have to get a vision you are going to have to move in that direction there is going to be resistance and opposition and there is going to be some time involved and that's the reason that God starts with planning this dream in your heart and giving you a dream of something bigger better than what you're experiencing because you're going to need that dream you're going to need to hold on to those promises of God and it will have to give you strength and encouragement as you go through that time in-between when you say you know get the vision from God and then you say here it is this is the fulfillment there's going to be some rough times in between there and because of that God will always start with planning a dream in your heart so the very first thing about Joseph here is that God starts by putting dreams in his heart about what he has planned for him man I've just now set some things up to say some great things and we're out of time so I'll have to continue this on our program tomorrow we do have material on this I've got CDs and DVDs on this if you listen to our announcer he'll give you some information about how you can get this product and I really encourage you to please get this learn things by other people's mistakes and examples instead of having to do everything by the school of hard knocks please call or write today and then join me again tomorrow as we continue talking about Joseph you

Channel: Andrew Wommack

Views: 27,731

Rating: 4.8567777 out of 5

Keywords: Andrew Wommack, Andrew Wommack Ministries, Charis Bible College, God (Diety), Holy Spirit (Diety), Joseph, I Corinthians 10:1, The Gospel Truth, Biblical Principles, Bible, God's Word, Negative Believing, Children of Israel, Abundant Life, Dreams

Id: R5DZmpocJmM

Length: 23min 51sec (1431 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 29 2016