Summary of Living right when life goes wrong
Preamble
Brent starts with a story about an earthquake in Armenia. During the destruction a father searched for his son in the rubble of the school building. This father remembered that he promised his son he would always come back for him. The man dug for 38 hours and found his son. The son said he knew that the father would come because he had always promised.
Proverbs 20:6
To be a person of integrity is hard. To be a person who is faithful to his or her words.
Genesis 39
In this section of Joseph’s story we learn about a man named Potiphar. This man was an important man in Egypt, especially to the Pharaoh. Joseph was a slave in the house of Potiphar.
Joseph helped create wealth for his slave master
“The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered…”. And Potiphar noticed that whatever Joseph worked on did very well. Potiphar trusted Joseph with everything in the household and this helped Potiphar become more wealthy and successful.
Potiphar sees Joseph’s integrity
Potiphar turned over everything to Joseph. He gave Joseph control over the entire household because he saw Joseph’s integrity and faithfulness.
Joseph and his hotness
Genesis 39:7 – Potiphar’s wife takes notice of Joseph’s handsome appearance. She wants to go to bed with him. We can see that Satan attacks Joseph on lust and sexual desire, and not on his success in wealth. Yet Joseph refused these temptations. Joseph remained full of integrity.
Taboo 1: Porn
If you struggle with pornography and sexual lust, check out our Taboo message series “Taboo 1: Porn”Dealing with temptation
- Just because we resist temptation once doesn’t mean it will be gone forever. Temptation will continue.
- Avoid temptation by fleeing from the situation. Joseph avoided Potiphar’s wife. He set up parameters to keep out of those situations.
- We must flee (or run from) a situation that involves temptation. Joseph ran from Potiphar’s wife. He left everything and ran! He even left his cloak.
Genesis 39:17
Potiphar’s wife blames her own husband for bringing Joseph into their house. She spins a story of lies blaming Joseph for trying to assault her. Potiphar became angry. One interesting idea is that Potiphar was angry because he knew the story was false yet he had to avenge his house’s honour.
Being faithful takes perseverance
For 11 years Joseph was a slave and then in prison. As a slave he started over in his life. He was low and persevered and became the head of the household. Then he was imprisoned and he had to start over. He again is blessed by God and he prospered in the prison.
Faithfulness does not guarantee material success
Joseph is always second. God prospered Joseph enough but never allowed Joseph to be the top (the most wealthy or the most success).
How can we be like Joseph – have this supernatural perseverance
Our faithfulness is based on our belief in who God is and that He is with us. God might not remove us from a hard situation but he promises that he will always be with us. Trusting God in the light (a good situation) is nothing, trusting God in the dark (hard situation) is faith.
About this Message Series
This is a message in a series called Joseph: Living with integrity when life turns upside down. The goal of this series is to discuss the bible character Joseph. The series touches on various moments in his life, specifically focusing on his integrity. This series was started in November 2015.
About the Speaker
Brent is the lead pastor here at SouthRidge. He and his wife Pam were part of the original church plant.