Sunday, September 12th, 2021 • Mission Baptist Cincinnati
We began our Sunday Worship Service with congregational singing followed by our Adult Choir singing a hymn to Honor God. Afterwards a duet and a special singer sang to conclude the music service.
Pastor Kurt Lemke begins his sermon with a reading of the passage and a review of last week's message regarding what happened to Joseph at the hands of his brothers. Now, we continue the story with Joseph taken to Egypt as a slave. God blessed Joseph (and his owner for Joseph's sake) because of his attitude and continual trust in God. He was promoted to a position of prominence in his owner's house . Being an overseer when he was once a slave is an incredible thing indeed. But now trouble comes...
• The Lord Was With Joseph In WORKING
Joseph demonstrated the same faith that kept him when his brothers betrayed him into slavery. Joseph didn't lose faith in his God while in Egypt and was rewarded by God with a powerful position in his owners house! Joseph obviously worked hard for his master for years, gaining his trust. Now he was faithfully doing his duty to his owner when he is blindsided by Potiphar's wife. "She said, Lie with me." Joseph didn't hesitate to tell her he could not betray his owner and do this great wickedness and sin against God! She wouldn't take no as an answer and continued to try and seduce Joseph. He fled from her, but she grabbed hold of his robe as he fled. Her scorn in being rejected turned into an accusation against Joseph to hide her sin. She had his robe, and now she lied and told everyone that Joseph had tried to rape her. So how is this an example of GOD BEING WITH JOSEPH IN WORKING?
Joseph was thrown in prison. But again, Joseph lived his faith for all to see even while being falsely accused. In Genesis 39:21 we see that Joseph was once again blessed by God by him being favored by the keeper of the prison. This is an example for all of us, regardless of the circumstances, we need to continually trust in the Lord that his plan for our life will eventually happen if we just keep our eyes on the Lord! We are called to be Ambassadors for Christ, just as Joseph was.
• The Lord Was With Joseph In His Hour Of TEMPTATION
TEMPTATION is going to come to believers. These temptations come from the devil himself. He watches us closely and probably knows our weaknesses. In Joseph's case, Satan was most likely guessing at what Joseph would most likely be tempted by. There are no accounts in the Bible about Joseph actually sinning! The devil knew, however that men in power are almost always susceptible to sexual sin. Satan used Potiphar's wife to see if this "evil" would break through Joseph's determination to not sin against God.
Satan is definitely a slow learner, he tried the same tactics with Jesus! Christian, today we can tell the devil what God says about temptation and if we are faithful we can disarm this foolish accuser!
• The Lord Was With Joseph In SUFFERING
Christians will endure hardships and SUFFERING, but God has something far better for us and we are called to "stick with the stuff" and keep being faithful to the Lord in all things. Joseph is a great example of the kind of person we should be. The Bible declares that our suffering for him should be expected and will lead to crowns in Heaven.
Are you suffering today because of things you've done? God has a plan for you. He is the master of forgiveness and he is able to do for us what we can't possibly do. He will make us clean from our sin in his sight if we trust in the atonement that Christ paid for at the cross. Don't wait any longer to come to him, Jesus loves you!