Alright guys, so we've had the Bible reading from Genesis 37, if you can just open back to Genesis 37.
We're going to go through the following chapters of Genesis as well, but as you realise that if you notice,
that chapter is really the beginning of the story of Joseph.
Joseph is mentioned in previous chapters of his birth, but this is really when we get into his personal story.
And I thought it would be such a good thing to go through the story of Joseph in a summarised form
because I think it really applies to the situation we're in at the moment.
The title of the sermon that I have for you this morning is New Beginnings.
So this is New Life Baptist Church in Sydney.
When I thought of the word New Life, I was thinking about the new life we have in Christ,
being born again, having that new man in you, and being able to live for the glory of God,
being able to do the works of God.
But when I'm thinking about New Life Baptist Church in Sydney, New Life can also apply to new beginnings.
We all go through hardship in life. We all go through difficulties.
We all get through depression. We get sad.
Unfortunately, this life is not always a bed of roses.
This life will always throw its curveballs and its challenges, and every now and again we just need a new beginning.
And in many ways, this church represents a new beginning for many of you.
Now if we look at verse number 3, Genesis 37 verse 3, I love the story of Joseph because he had many new beginnings.
So if we're going to learn about new beginnings, he's probably the best person to look at in the Bible.
So Genesis 37 verse 3, it says,
Now Israel, so that's Jacob, that's the father of Joseph,
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children,
because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colours.
Now the first thing I just want to throw out to you there, guys, is for parents, mummies and dads,
it's never a good idea to favour any child.
This was a mistake of Israel.
You know, don't get in the habit of thinking, oh, just because they're Old Testament saints,
just because God used them in a great way, doesn't mean they didn't make mistakes.
Many times you read the Old Testament, you're like, really? This person did that?
Like, you know, really? Moses killed a man?
You know, really? King David committed adultery?
You know, this was a mistake of Israel, this was a mistake of Jacob,
that he took a child that he favoured over his brethren.
And of course, if you're going to favour a child, how are the other children going to think?
I mean, if any of you guys that know, that have children,
you know you're not trying to favour any of them,
but it doesn't matter, you know, the other kids will always think, oh, that one's the favourite.
It's already there, instilled in the child's mind,
but if you're favouring one, how much more are they going to be jealous?
How much more are they going to grow bitter over Joseph?
But if we want to take a spiritual application of this,
us being children of the Heavenly Father, you know, God favours us.
You know, God shows His favour upon us, not because we're a respecter of persons,
but because we're in Christ. We're in His only begotten Son.
If you're saved, you have the righteousness of Christ imputed upon you,
and you are favoured in the sight of the Heavenly Father.
Above everybody else in this world that is unsaved.
Not because you're special, but because you're in Christ Jesus.
So if we take that spiritual application there, let's drop down to verse 13.
Genesis 37 verse 13.
And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not, my brethren, feed the flock in shechem.
Come, and I will send thee unto them.
And he said unto him, Here am I.
And that's what I love about Joseph.
You know, his father asks him, Look, I want to send you out.
And Joseph says, Here am I.
And I think as all of us, as children of the Heavenly Father,
we ought to be thinking of ourselves, making ourselves available to His sending.
Whatever we read in the Bible, whatever challenges we have in living a more godly life,
in going out and preaching the gospel, in being in church, reading the scriptures,
praying to Him, whatever instructions we see, keeping the commandments, keeping the laws of God,
we ought to say to the Heavenly Father, Here am I.
And this is just a picture of Joseph, an obedient son.
I'm not surprised that his father favoured him.
His other sons were getting into mischief.
But Joseph was always obedient and was always honest toward his father.
Look at verse 14.
He said unto him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren and well with the flocks,
and bring me word again.
And he sent him out of the veil of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
So we see the father send in Joseph.
He trusts that Joseph would go and bring an honest report of what was going on with his brethren.
Now you're saying, Why is he sending Joseph?
Just look at verse number 2.
Go back up to verse number 2.
It says, These are the generations of Jacob.
Joseph being 17 years old.
By the way, those are the rebellious years.
I mean, you might have a two-year-old, a three-year-old and go, Ah, they're really rebellious.
It's when they get into the teenage years and around this age,
when they're becoming mature-minded and they have those hormones raging in their bodies.
It's this age where you're kind of like, Do I really trust a 17-year-old?
But yet we see Joseph's attitude.
We see his behaviour.
And then what was it up to?
Verse number 2.
That's right, yeah.
So Joseph's saying that the brethren are up to evil, up to no good.
They're not doing the work that the Father has left them to do.
He reports back to Dad with that evil report, with a truthful report, that they're not doing the work.
So Joseph had a reputation that he was honest.
Even with his brothers that he loved, that he grew up with,
if they were disobeying Mum and Dad, he would go back and bring that honest report
so that the parents would be able to do something right, be able to correct their children.
He wasn't someone that gave half-truths.
He always gave an honest report of the events.
And this is what got his brothers angry with him.
Because he's making them look bad.
But really, Joseph wasn't doing anything wrong.
He was just being obedient to his father.
And so this is again why his father sends him out and says,
Can you please check on your brethren? Can you bring me back report?
Obviously the father wants a good report.
He wants Joseph to come back and say, Yeah, Dad, they're working hard.
They're working hard with a fox, and they're not embarrassing the family name or anything like that.
So let's look at verse 18. Let's see what happens.
Verse 18. So this is now the brothers of Joseph. Verse 18.
And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them,
they conspired against him to slay him.
And verse 19. And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
We won't go through the dream of Joseph today, but we read through that dream.
And then verse 20. Come now therefore, and let us slay him.
Think about this. This is your own family.
Your brothers saying, Let's kill him and cast him into some pit.
And we will say, Some evil beast had devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
You know, in your attempts to be a faithful and honest Christian,
in your attempts to just know the Lord more,
in your attempts to be able to preach the gospel to your lost family members,
don't be surprised if your family members turn around and hate you.
Don't be surprised if your best friends, the people that you love the most,
that you want to see saved, will hate you.
You know, all you want, you're excited. All you want is to be able to give them the gospel.
I've got good news. Salvation is by faith on Christ's death, burial and resurrection.
It's not of works. It's not of any church.
You know, you can have freedom. You can have liberty right now.
You can know 100% sure that your sins are forgiven and that you're on your way to heaven.
You want to give them that beautiful message, but they'll hate you for it.
You know, this is a spiritual book.
You know, this is not understood by the natural man.
You know, you give them such a beautiful message, and they think you're attacking them.
They think you're attacking their religion.
They think you're attacking their good works, when all you want to do is show them the way to heaven.
And in the same way that the brothers responded to him,
people will hate you just for standing up for the truth,
just for trying to live an honest, Christian life.
There's nothing that Joseph had done wrong.
It wasn't his fault that his father had favoured him.
Look at verse number 28.
So they take Joseph, you know the story.
They take Joseph, they throw him into this pit.
There's some arguments between the brothers, what they should do with him,
whether they should kill him or what.
But in verse 28,
They sell him into slavery.
This son, this 17-year-old man,
you know, who was a favourite of his father,
who was doing nothing but right by his family,
finds himself sold into slavery
and taken into a foreign land, taken into Egypt.
Do you think he expected that?
Do you think when his dad says, you know,
can I send you, he says here am I,
that he's going to find himself the next day as a slave?
Of course not.
You know, then this is life.
You know, life can be going well.
Life can be on track.
But all of a sudden that curveball comes.
All of a sudden that trial, that tribulation comes your way.
And all of a sudden you find yourself where you never expected.
You know, and obviously I would expect Joseph to be upset.
I would expect him to be afraid.
I would expect him to not know what his future holds.
You know, not know whether I'll ever see my father again.
Not know if I'll ever, you know, get married and have my own family
or anything like this.
You know, he'd gone from being the favoured son
to now being a slave on his way to Egypt.
Look at verse, chapter 37.
Genesis 37.
We're in 37, aren't we?
Yeah.
Well, let's look at verse 31 quickly.
Verse 31.
And they took Joseph's coat, so the coat that his father gave him,
and cured a kid of the goats and dipped the coat in the blood.
And they set the coat of many colours and they brought it to their father
and said, this have we found, know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.
So we see Joseph betrayed by his own brothers, right?
His brothers had sold him into slavery, had thrown him into that pit,
and in order to cover that up, they had to take that coat,
kill an animal, cover it with the blood,
and lie to the father that Joseph had been killed.
And let me warn you about lying.
You know, if you do something wrong, it's just best to come out and admit it.
Even if it's, you know, you might think I'll get away with it,
but what we see is that you've got to come up with another lie to cover that lie.
And if you've ever lied, we've all lied in our lives,
and especially, you know, probably as young people that have done foolish things,
you know that when you tell a lie, you've got to tell another lie,
and to cover that lie, you've got to tell another lie,
another lie, another lie, and then you've got this huge burden upon you,
and you're like, man, it'd just be easy if I just told the truth, you know?
And then eventually it comes out anyway.
So you might as well just tell the truth the first time, right?
You know, with our children, when we discipline our kids,
they get more in trouble just for lying.
You know, even if what they did might have been worse,
to us the lying is even worse.
You know, that they would lie to us or cover up something that was done wrong.
It's better if they just come out, tell the truth,
get that one smack rather than lie and then get five smacks.
That's what happens, by the way, with our family, okay?
It's worse when you lie. We're trying to teach them from a young age,
it's worse. It's worse for you.
It's a harsher punishment if you lie. Just tell the truth and admit to it.
So let's look at verse 36.
And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar,
an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
So we say he gets sold to Potiphar, obviously a slave,
but he gets sold, thankfully because God was with him,
he gets sold into a rich man's house.
Someone that is a captain of the guard,
he holds a high level within Pharaoh,
I'm assuming this isn't like an army, in Egypt's army.
So at least he goes to a place that he's going to be looked after.
He's going to have to work hard, but it's a place that he's going to be looked after.
Now we want to look at chapter 38.
Please go to chapter 39, Genesis 39,
because chapter 38 doesn't really cover much of Joseph at all.
We get to chapter 39 in verse number 1,
we pick up the story here, Genesis 39 verse 1.
And Joseph was brought down to Egypt,
and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian,
brought him out of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither.
And the Lord, pay attention to those words,
and the Lord was with Joseph,
and he was a prosperous man,
and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.
You know, in the difficulties in your life,
when things don't go according to plan,
if you're a child of God, if you're saved,
you can have the assurance, even though everything else is falling apart,
your finances, your relationships,
your marriage might be hurting,
your friends might be turning their backs against you,
your family may have sold you into slavery, if you will.
Things might be going so bad in your life,
but there's one assurance that you'll always have
that we see there in verse number 2,
and the Lord was with Joseph.
The Lord is with you.
Not just when things are going well,
but when things are going bad.
You know, when there's those trials,
and that means you can turn to him,
and sometimes he might feel like he's so far away.
But no, if you're a child of the king,
he is with you, okay?
He is with you, and he'll help you through those trials.
And many times, God allows these trials in our lives
just so we can draw ourselves closer to him.
Because I don't know if you find this,
I find that when life is going really well,
it's really easy, I tend to forget about God a little bit.
I start to put away the Bible.
Everything's going really well.
And then when the trials hit, you know, I need the Lord.
You know, where's that Bible?
Let me eat some preaching.
I need to get back on board.
Where's the Lord?
He seems so far away.
Let me reach out to him.
Sometimes we need those trials just to make sure
that the Lord is with us.
We maintain a close relationship with the Lord.
Verse number 5, so Genesis 39, verse 5.
And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer
in his house, and of all that he had,
that the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake.
And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had
in his house and in the field.
And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand,
and he knew not what he had, save the bread which he did eat.
And Joseph was a goodly person and well favoured.
You know, when you go through those trials,
you can come out of that in two ways.
You know, you either come out worse, or you come out even better.
You know, and we see Joseph, he was honest, he was a hard worker.
You know, he always tried to please his father.
And even when he's sold into slavery, into an unknown foreign nation,
an unknown family, he makes the best of a bad situation.
You know, Joseph says, it doesn't matter what's happened,
I'm going to have a new beginning here in Egypt.
I'm going to have a new beginning here in this house.
And the Lord is with him, the Lord blesses him, he works hard.
He basically, Potiphar, gives Joseph full control of the household.
You know, he sees that the Lord is blessing him,
he sees that Joseph is prosperous.
You know, he's come out of this pit, he's come out of this slavery,
and he's making a name for himself.
But he's away from his family, he's lost everything that he had before.
But we see the heart of Joseph.
He goes, no, no matter what situation I'm in,
I'm going to make the best of a bad situation.
And let me say to you, if you're in a bad situation,
you've just got to say, hey, I'm going to make the best of where I am right now.
And I'm going to see where the Lord can lead me,
I'm going to see how the Lord can bless me,
I'm going to see how the Lord will prosper me.
And if you have that attitude, we see that it's not just Joseph that's been blessed,
but Potiphar himself, Potiphar's family.
You know, the people that you interact with will be blessed
just by knowing you, just by working with you.
You can be a blessing to other people, even when things have gone sour for you.
I just ask, are you a blessing?
Are you a blessing to other people around you?
Think about that, when things go bad, are you the negative one?
Are you dragging everybody down?
And look, there's going to be that time,
there's going to be times that you are the negative one.
There's going to be times when you're depressed,
and you need to work your way out of that.
But you need to be the person that's positive.
You've got to be the one that says, you know what,
yes, it's a bad situation, but we're going to make the best of what we've got,
and encourage and bless other people around you.
If we want to be like Joseph, that's what Joseph was like,
that's how we have the new beginnings.
We make the best of that bad situation,
and we try to be a blessing to other people around you.
You know, when you're thinking of others,
when you're thinking of other people around you,
you're less likely to be selfish and self-centered,
and have that pity party for yourself.
Look at me, I'm in such a bad state.
When you look out for the needs of others,
you stop focusing upon yourself,
and you start focusing on the needs of others.
And that's what Joseph did.
He started to look, hey, I'm going to help Pofar.
It's not his fault, but I'm going to bless him,
and I'm going to try to work hard for him.
Let's look at verse number seven.
And it came to pass, after these things,
that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph,
and she said, lie with me.
But he refused, I love that about Joseph,
he refused and said unto his master's wife,
behold my master, what if not what is with me in the house?
And he hath committed all that he hath in my hand.
You know, this is just a warning, again,
when life is going well.
Joseph is back on his feet, serving the Lord,
being a blessing, in charge of the whole house.
You know, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, 12, it says,
wherefore let him that thinketh his standeth
take heed lest he fall.
When things are going really well, you need to be careful,
because one bad mistake can cause you to fall.
You need to be aware of the situation.
And we have here, Pofar's wife
wanting to have an inappropriate relationship with Joseph.
Now, maybe Joseph could have got away with it, I don't know.
But again, we see his character, and he says, no,
that is wrong, that is not something that I can do.
I cannot betray my master.
Look at verse number 10.
Verse number 10, and it came to pass.
And by the way, this is probably,
this is Joseph's probably one major fault in his life.
And it came to pass as she spoke to Joseph day by day,
so constantly every day,
asking him to have that relationship with her,
that he hearkened not unto her to lie by her or to be with her.
But look at verse number 11.
And it came to pass about this time
that Joseph went into the house to do his business,
and there was none of the men of the house there within.
Now, I think Joseph should have realized this woman is a whore,
this woman is inappropriate,
there's no other people in this house right now,
and I think if he was just a little bit wiser in this moment,
he would not have entered that house himself, okay?
So he found himself alone with Potiphar's wife here.
And verse number 12,
and she caught him by his garment, saying, lie with me,
and he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out.
So when it comes to temptation, when it comes to sin,
one legitimate response to overcoming temptation
in your life is to flee,
to physically remove yourself from that situation.
If you're in a situation where your friends are tempting you
to get drunk, to take drugs, or whatever,
to look at women that are not your wife,
look at men that are not your husband,
you need to get out of that situation.
You need to physically remove yourself.
You need to flee from that.
We see that's what Joseph did.
He immediately said, I don't know how to overcome this,
I'm just going to get out of here.
He got out so fast that he forgot his jacket.
He left it behind.
She took that jacket or that coat that belonged to him.
And let's look at verse 19.
And it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife,
because she was saying that he tried to come and rape her.
She was trying to turn this against Joseph.
And it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife,
which she spake unto him, saying,
After this manner did thy servant to me, that his wrath was kindled.
And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison,
a place where the king's prisoners were bound,
and he was there in the prison.
So, I mean, he's got it going well.
He had that new beginning.
He makes a mistake going into this house with this whorish woman.
And he does the right thing.
You know, he doesn't give in to the temptation.
He flees from the sin.
You know, he does what's right in his master's eyes.
He does what's right in the Lord's eyes.
And where does he find himself?
In prison.
Again, hey, sometimes you're just doing the right thing.
Sometimes you're just going by life,
and yet again, life draws a new curveball,
a new trial, a new difficulty, a new tribulation.
You know, and it's like, what? I'm in prison now?
And again, I think we can all relate to just challenges we've had.
Maybe not the kids so much,
but if you've lived long enough,
you've gone through difficulties that you just go,
I don't know where this came from.
It's not my fault. Here it is.
It's on my lap. What do I do with it?
And again, we can get damned.
We can get discouraged.
But I don't think anyone here has been sold into slavery.
I don't think anyone here has been thrown into prison.
Unless someone wants to admit that right now.
I don't think anyone's been thrown into prison for a reckless past.
Unless you've gone through these difficulties,
you can do what Joseph does.
You can make a new beginning of a bad situation.
If you've gone through Joseph, and even worse,
then I'll forgive you if you're down in dumps and depressed
and can't get out of that.
But until you're sold into slavery in prison,
I expect everybody in this church, and myself included,
to be able to have that new beginning.
That's how difficult a situation can be.
Now, let's look at verse number 21.
But the Lord was with Joseph.
See that again?
In our difficulties, the Lord is with us.
And showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand
all the prisoners that were in the prison.
And whatsoever they did there, he was a doer of it.
And the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand,
because the Lord was with him.
And that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.
So do we see Joseph down in the dumps, depressed,
getting bitter about what his brothers did?
Is he getting bitter about what Potiphar's wife did to him?
No. He makes the best of a bad situation.
He starts helping in the prison.
The prison, what are they calling the prison?
The keeper of the prison looks at Joseph and goes,
wow, this guy's really prosperous.
This guy's a real blessing.
This guy's a hard worker.
He's in prison. He's locked up.
And yet he's still doing the best that he can.
He's trying to be a blessing to this prison keeper,
to the point that he's no longer really a prisoner.
He's running the things.
He's the manager of the prison.
And whatever they did, it was Joseph I did.
He was the one keeping...
And I'm sure we don't know much what's going on,
but I'm sure all the prisoners there are being blessed
by having Joseph as their prison manager, if you will.
But Joseph was a man of new beginnings.
He was a man of new beginnings.
And again, this church, New Life Baptist Church in Sydney,
is a new beginning for many of you.
I know it's hard...
Look, it's hard to be despised by the world
and to go through difficulties by the unsaved people
and the unsaved family,
but it's even more hurtful
when you've gone through difficulties with saved brethren,
when you've gone through difficulties with your own brothers in the Lord
who you love in the Lord,
who have been saved by the blood of the crucified one.
And we sometimes think that Christians
ought to have more mercy, more patience.
More humility, more meekness.
But sometimes when we go through difficulties
just with our fellow brethren, it can hurt them more.
It can hurt more.
And this church is a new beginning.
I hope you see this church as a new beginning.
I'm committed to this church
if you're committed to making this happen.
I want to be like Joseph.
I want Joseph to be in our mind,
as long as we're not slaves,
we can make the best of a bad situation.
Now, chapter 40.
We want to look at chapter 40.
Go to 41.
But chapter 40 is the story where,
if you guys know the story,
where Pharaoh sends his butler and his baker.
Yeah, that's right.
The butler and his baker to prison.
And then they dream dreams
and then Joseph helps them interpret those dreams.
You know, the butler is the butler
that was restored to Pharaoh
and the baker was put to death.
But Joseph was able to tell
the interpretation of these dreams
because God had given him the ability to do so.
So that's chapter 40.
You can read it in your own time,
in your house if you want to.
But let's get to chapter 41.
Chapter 41, verse 1.
And it came to pass at the end of two full years.
So Joseph was in prison for at least two full years,
maybe longer.
That Pharaoh dreamed and behold he stood by the river.
So we're not going to look at the dream
in any sort of detail.
Let's go to verse 15.
Verse 15.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
because what happened was the butler,
you know, sorry,
Pharaoh dreamed this dream
and nobody could interpret it for him.
He was bothered by the dream
and nobody could interpret it.
All the people that he had in the area
could not, but the butler remembered,
hey, there was Joseph.
There was Joseph in the prison
that interpreted my dream correctly.
And not just my dream,
but the baker's dream, you know.
And so he reminds, you know,
Pharaoh, there's this man in prison.
So Pharaoh takes Joseph
and brings him before him.
And verse 15.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
I have dreamed the dream
and there is none that can interpret it.
And I have heard say of thee
that thou canst understand the dream
to interpret it.
And Joseph answered Pharaoh saying,
and I love this about Joseph, right?
I mean, he's a successful man.
He's a prosperous man.
No matter what situation you put him in,
he's doing well.
But is he filled with pride?
Is he praising himself?
No.
Verse 16.
And Joseph answered Pharaoh saying,
it is not in me.
God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
You know, and I really,
I find it frustrating when I see
good Christian men, godly men,
lifted up in pride,
you know, for the abilities they have.
Whether it's just a teaching ability,
whether it's just wisdom,
whether it's organizing or running a church,
or just being a great leader
and having people behind them.
And then you see them lifted up in pride.
You know, this happens so many times.
They lift it up in pride and yet they,
then they fall.
They fall into some major sin.
You know, the Lord's hand of chastisement
is strongly upon him.
I've seen this over and over and over.
I've been a Christian for most of my life.
You know, I would say that four years old,
my mum gave me the gospel.
We've been in church pretty much my whole life.
You know, I've seen this in churches
or stories of other churches
where pastors and preachers
are lifted up in pride
and then they come tumbling down.
You know, and Joseph could be prideful
for all the success that he has in his life.
And yet he says it's not in me.
It's not me, Pharaoh.
It's God.
God gave me the ability.
God is the one that's going to answer your dream.
Verse 29.
Behold, so Pharaoh gives him the dream
and then Joseph, he starts to interpret the dream for him.
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty
throughout all the land of Egypt
and there shall arise after them seven years of famine
and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt
and the famine shall consume the land
and the plenty shall not be known in the land
by reason of that famine following
for it shall be very grievous
and for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice.
It is because the thing is established by God
and God will shortly bring it to pass.
Now, we see that the land of Egypt
is going to go through this major drought.
There's going to be a major shortage of food.
Probably many tens of thousands of people will die.
It doesn't just affect Egypt.
We see that it affects the surrounding nations
because later on we see Joseph's brother
having to travel into Egypt to buy food.
And then we sort of understand,
well, hold on, these difficulties,
these challenges that Joseph was put through,
that the Lord was with him,
it was leading up to this point.
We might not understand why.
Why in slavery?
Why in prison?
And yet what did we see from Joseph?
That he would make the best of a bad situation,
that he would always have a new beginning.
It doesn't matter what situation he's in.
And so he was the man that God was preparing
to help the nation of Egypt.
Yes, an ungodly nation.
But remember, you can be a blessing to everybody around you.
God can use you in a mighty way.
And it was him.
He was the one that was going to be brought to this situation.
Seven years of famine,
and was he going to make the best of a bad situation?
Yes, he was.
And by the way,
if you want to be someone,
and I see this in Joseph,
if you want to be someone that's promoted,
like in your workplace,
or just promoted in life in general,
you don't just come,
and this is something that I learned
from one of my managers in the past,
because sometimes I'd see problems in the workplace,
I'd see issues or things could be done better,
and I'd go to my manager with a problem.
I'd say, look, this is a problem.
And my manager once said to me,
you know what, Kevin,
finding problems is easy.
When you come with a problem,
you need to bring a solution.
And I love that.
I just thought, yeah, that's right.
When I see this issue,
if I don't have a solution,
I won't even bring it up,
because maybe it's the best that it can be right now.
But if I have a solution,
then my manager's going to listen to hear me.
And then when I had employees under me,
and they bring problems,
I would say the same thing.
Fine, come with me with your problems,
but I need you to come with a solution as well.
Okay?
And this is exactly what Joseph is.
This is why he's always promoted.
He finds an issue,
yeah, okay, this is an issue,
but we can fix it.
We can make this better.
We can be more efficient.
We can be more productive,
you know, with the wisdom that God had given him.
And look at verse 33.
Genesis 41, verse 33.
This is Joseph speaking.
So after he interprets the dream to Pharaoh,
he says,
Now therefore, let Pharaoh,
so he's advising Pharaoh,
he says,
Now therefore, let Pharaoh look out a man,
discreet and wise,
and set him over the land of Egypt.
Let Pharaoh do this,
and let him appoint officers over the land,
and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt
in the seven plenteous years,
and let them gather all the food
of those good years that come,
and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh,
and let them keep food in the cities.
And the food shall be for store,
and the land against the seven years
of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt,
and the land perish not through the famine.
And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh,
and in the eyes of all his servants.
We see here exactly how Joseph was promoted.
We see that he wasn't just a problem.
Hey, these are problems.
He goes, I have a solution, Pharaoh.
You need to appoint men.
We need to gather as much food
during these plenteous years
so we can then survive during this time of famine.
This impresses Pharaoh, wow,
not just an interpreter of dreams,
but a solution maker.
This guy's able to fix things.
Let's look at verse number 40.
Pharaoh says to Joseph,
Thou shalt be over my house,
the king of Egypt, the Pharaoh.
He says, You'll be over my house,
all my family, all my servants, Joseph.
You're in charge now, right?
And according unto thy word
shall all my people be ruled.
So really, Joseph's ruling Egypt, right?
Only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
I'll be the boss, but you take care of it.
I'll relax, I'll retire,
but Joseph, you're running things.
Only I'm the boss of you now.
Verse 41.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
See, I have sent thee over all the land of Egypt.
And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand,
a sign of authority,
and put it upon Joseph's hand,
and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen,
and put a gold chain about his neck.
Now, this is another new beginning for Joseph.
Another new beginning.
Things are just getting better and better.
I mean, it was good.
The favorite son of his father.
It was good back then, right?
And then so is slavery.
Then, you know, serving Potiphar
and being prosperous,
and in charge of Potiphar's house.
You know, he was a famous man.
He was a rich man.
He was a captain.
Then in prison.
You know, and forgotten there for two years.
You know, I mean, if you're in prison for two years,
surely you'd come to a point where you'd think,
the Lord's not here.
The Lord's not here.
He must have deserted me.
But no, he made the best of a bad situation.
He's remembered.
He's able to interpret this dream of Pharaoh,
and he's risen now to basically be the king of Egypt.
For all intents and purposes.
He's running the show.
You know, and this is a new beginning for Joseph.
So let's summarize now the story here.
We want to go through everything right now.
I mean, there's a lot more to tell,
and I'll touch upon a few little things here.
But I want to talk to you about
how to have a successful new beginning.
From the lessons that we see in Joseph,
how can we make sure that in our lives,
in this church,
but also just in your life in general,
how we can make sure,
once we go through difficulties and trials,
we can have a successful new beginning.
Number one, stay abiding in God.
Continue abiding in Him.
Continue maintaining a fellowship with Him.
Okay?
You don't need to turn there,
but Genesis 39 verse 2 said,
And the Lord was with Joseph,
and he was a prosperous man,
and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian,
and his master saw that...
Look!
And his master saw that the Lord was with him,
and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
Joseph maintained a close fellowship with the Lord.
He maintained, you know, time in prayer.
He maintained, you know,
meditating on the Lord and trying to please Him,
and always having his mind set upon heavenly things.
You know, it wasn't about this world anymore.
He was just seeking God.
He was seeking the kingdom of God first,
and the Lord was able to give him what he needed.
Number one, stay abiding in God.
Number two, stay reading His Word.
Read the Bible.
I know we tend to put the Bible aside.
You know, I don't know, maybe today you've not read it for days,
or maybe you've not read it for weeks, or even months.
It's collecting dust on your shelf, maybe.
You know, but not Joseph.
No, Joseph didn't have a Bible.
We have an advantage over Joseph.
We have all six, six books, you know,
of Kammai scripture available to us,
but I'll just read to you Genesis 41-38.
It said,
And Pharaoh said unto his servants,
Can we find such a one as this,
a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
Look at verse 39.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this,
there is none so discreet and wise as thou art.
Where do you think God's going to show you His wisdom?
Where do you think God's going to show you, you know,
what paths you're to walk and the knowledge that you ought to have
and being able to overcome difficulties in your life?
It's found in the scriptures.
Yes, you know, back then they didn't have the scriptures like we did today.
The Lord spoke to Joseph in a different way through dreams
and other, you know, methods of interpretation in the gifts that he had.
But today we have the scriptures.
We have everything available to us that we need in life in our hands.
And it's just our fault that we don't pick it up and read it enough.
It's just our fault that we can't figure out how to overcome the situation
because we've not spent the time.
Like, it's a big book and you might be like, I don't know.
Look, just start reading.
Just turn, just start reading.
Get into a daily Bible reading plan
and somewhere along the lines,
the Lord, just like Pharaoh said of Joseph,
the Lord will show you,
He shows you through His work,
through the knowledge and the wisdom that's contained in His book.
If we would only just pick it up and read it.
So number one was stay abiding in God.
Number two, stay reading His word.
Number three, if you guys want to turn there,
you might as well because you're in Genesis soon.
Genesis 41.
Genesis 41, verse 51.
Genesis 41, 51.
Number three is thank God.
Yes, thank God for your difficulties.
Thank God for your trials.
You know why?
You can't have the new beginning.
If you're going to have that new beginning,
you must have the trials first.
You must be cast down first and go,
you know what, I'm going to start again.
I'm going to make the best of a bad situation.
Genesis 41, 51 says,
and by the way, Joseph gets married,
an Egyptian wife,
and then he names his two sons.
Look at verse 51.
And Joseph called the name of the firstborn, Manasseh.
Look at why he says this.
For God said he have made me to forget all my toil.
Toil is like all my hardships.
The Lord have made me to forget all my toil
and all my father's house.
So all the great memories that he had of his father,
the Lord was able to help him
to not be depressed about that situation.
The Lord was able to help him forget all the troubles
and the difficulties that he had.
He was not a negative person.
He did not focus on just the negative things.
The Lord was able to make him,
obviously he didn't forget it.
Obviously it's still in his mind.
But it wasn't something that he was meditating on
day and night.
And quite often when things don't go according to plan,
especially when it's not your fault,
when you're the innocent party
and people have attacked you,
you can get into a state where you're just
constantly thinking about it,
thinking about it,
growing in bitterness,
growing in anger,
growing, you know,
just in that negative atmosphere
and you can get so down and depressed
but not Joseph.
He thanked God.
He was able to say,
God has helped me to forget these things.
Thank God for the difficult situations
that you find yourself in.
Point number four,
and look at verse 52 in the same chapter.
Thank God for your blessings.
You know, when you're going through tough times,
thank God for the blessings that he's given you.
Verse 52,
And the name of the second,
his second son,
called he Ephraim,
for God have caused me to be fruitful
in the land of my affliction.
So he recognises God has allowed me to be fruitful,
to be blessed.
You know, all these blessings and rewards,
this prosperity that I've had in my life.
And look, we've got no excuse.
We live in probably the best country in the world, Australia.
We have all the riches.
You know, it's easy.
You can get any job.
You can be the garbage collector.
You can be the garbage collector and earn a decent wage.
So I'm saying compared to the rest of this world.
You know, the rest of the world look at us
and they see us as rich.
They see us as prosperous.
You know, God has put us in this nation.
We shouldn't be complaining.
We have such great blessings here.
We have such great friends and contacts.
There are great churches that we can go to
and visit and learn from the word of God.
We have such great blessings.
So even when things are going difficult,
thank God for the blessings, not just for the difficulties,
but for the blessings as well.
And I love how he names his two sons that.
You know, one after the difficulties
and one after the great fruitful, you know,
blessings that he got from the Lord.
So number four, is that my final point?
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
My fifth point, Genesis 50.
Go to Genesis 50, verse 15.
Genesis 50, verse 15.
This is the final point
of having a successful new beginning,
and that is let go of bitterness.
Let go of bitterness.
Genesis 50, verse 15.
And if you guys know the story,
Joseph's family are suffering through this drought as well,
lack of food,
and then they come to Egypt and they meet Joseph.
They don't even realize that it's Joseph for a while
until Joseph reveals himself to them.
You know, there's a great reunion in the family.
The father comes.
He sees his brother Benjamin as well,
his full-blooded brother Benjamin,
and there's great peace amongst the family.
The whole family moves to Egypt
and they're better off than they were before.
But look at verse 15.
Genesis 50, verse 15.
And when Joseph's brethren saw that the father was dead,
they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us
and will certainly require us
all the evil which we did unto him.
By the way, guys,
if you've done something evil to someone in the past,
do you see how it's still on their mind?
They're still guilty over the evil that they've done.
And I would encourage you,
if you've done something wrong to someone in the past,
go and fix it.
If you have the ability,
go and say sorry.
It doesn't matter how long ago it was.
Otherwise, it'll be a burden on your heart,
even into the future.
And we see this.
Even after Israel passed away,
we see that the brothers just have this guilt,
and they're afraid.
They're afraid that Joseph will hate us.
They're afraid that Joseph will hate them.
Verse 16.
And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying,
Thy father did command before he died, saying,
So shall ye say unto Joseph,
Forgive, I pray thee now.
So they're saying, hey, Joseph,
you need to forgive your brethren
for what they did when you were 17 years old.
But little do they know,
Joseph has forgiven them.
But it's just that guilt that eats them up.
Forgive, I pray thee now,
the trespass of thy brethren and their sin.
For they did unto thee evil, and now we pray thee,
forgive the trespass of the servants
of the God of thy father.
And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
And his brethren also went and fell down before his face
and said, Behold, we are thy servants.
Like, don't hurt us.
We'll serve you.
We'll be your servants.
And I love what it says in verse 19, Joseph.
And Joseph said unto them,
Fear not, for am I in the place of God?
You know, do you think I'm going to get revenge on you?
Is that my place?
No, that's God's place.
It's God's place to take vengeance.
I'll just read to you quickly,
just say where you are.
Romans 12, 19, the Bible says,
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,
but rather give place unto wrath,
for it is written, Vengeance is mine,
I will repay, saith the Lord.
You know, someone's done wrong to you.
You know, you can either choose to do one of two things.
You either grow in bitterness and get your own revenge.
But that's not your place.
It's the place of the Lord.
Vengeance belongs to the Lord.
You know, let God take care of business.
You know, you're going to rest the easiest at night
when you come to realise, you know, I'm a child of the Lord.
He loves me.
He knows the wrongs that people have done to me.
The Lord will sort it out.
The Lord has righteous judgment.
I don't have righteous judgment.
In fact, I could be the one that done something wrong.
You know, and I'm going to make things worse
if I go and get revenge.
It could be, maybe it's me.
The Lord knows.
You know, the Lord will either take care of business
here on this earth, balance the books on this earth,
or if you suffer for his name's sake,
you're going to get the rewards in heaven anyway
for suffering for his name.
You know, you win.
You know, if you just leave it in God's hands.
Otherwise, if you grow in bitterness,
and you know what bitterness is, it's just pride.
And one of my former pastors said,
he used to say this often, you know,
almost every service, not every service,
but very often in his preaching, he'd say,
bitterness does not hurt the person that you're bitter against.
You know, the person that you're bitter against
is going through life,
doesn't even realise you're bitter against them.
You know, that just, bitterness only hurts yourself.
You know, you're so prideful.
You're so blinded, and you're growing in this bitterness,
but your pride is so strong,
you don't even realise how much it's destroying you.
You know, and it's going to affect your whole life.
You're going to see the whole world with those bitter eyes.
You know, and I've seen this in people
where maybe in the past they've been hurt by somebody,
and then they can't make friendships moving forward
because they think, well, this person's hurt me,
everyone's going to hurt me.
Because every relationship they have,
they just, they draw back to that past incident,
and that's how they see the world now.
That's the lens, that bitterness.
And instead of that, it's like this attitude,
oh, I've got to hurt that person before they hurt me.
I've got to take advantage of that person
before they take advantage of me.
You know, bitterness is such a bad state to be in, you know.
Let God take vengeance.
Rest easy.
I sleep like a baby at night.
You know, and we've all been wronged,
but I sleep easy.
Oh, I've got to take care of it.
You know, however, maybe he already took care of it, you know.
I mean, part of his wife is probably burning in hell right now
for the sins she committed.
You know what I mean?
How much harder do you think the punishment ought to be
for part of his wife to have, you know, caused Joseph to be in prison?
You know, she's burning in hell, most likely, you know.
Sorry, you're back, you're on Genesis 50.
I've lost a bit of my...
What was I up to? Does anyone remember?
Ah, yeah, verse 19.
And Joseph said unto them,
Fear not, for am I in the place of God?
So he recognises, you know, vengeance, revenge, that's the place of God, not mine.
You know, verse 20.
But as for you, ye thought evil against me,
but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass as it is this day,
to save much people alive.
Now therefore, fear you not, I will nourish you, and your little ones,
and he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
You know, Joseph had every right to be bitter toward his brothers.
They're the ones that sought him into slavery.
You know, he had all right to seek revenge, in a way, right?
But no, he leaves that to God.
You know, he leaves it to God,
and we see the love that he can show to his brethren.
You know, when you leave it in God's hands,
even if a brother in the Lord has wronged you,
you know, when you leave it in God's hands,
you can still show great love toward that brother.
That's why God, you know, we read in the New Testament,
to do good to our enemies.
You know, because God will do bad.
You know, God will take revenge.
We can leave it in his hands.
And, you know, just in conclusion again,
just New Life Baptist Church in Sydney,
this is a church of new beginnings.
I just wanted to just clarify those five points again.
Number one, stay abiding in God.
Number two, stay reading his word.
Number three, thank God for your trials and difficulties.
Number four, thank God for your blessings.
And number five, let go of bitterness.
We learn that from Joseph,
and we see the great success that he was,
how he was able to press that reset button
and have that new beginning.
Okay, let's pray.