Posts with the category “perspective”

ProvisionMatthew 6:26-33“Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?”“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory w...  Read More

ForsakenGenesis 40:23The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.Matthew 27:45-46From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”Joseph can’t seem to catch a break. He is steady, conscientious, and faithful....  Read More

TemptationHebrews 4:15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.Matthew 4:1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.During his time in Potiphar’s house, Joseph was hounded by daily temptation. Jesus, too, suffered under the pressure of tem...  Read More

Humility Philippians 2:6-8Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.In this, our final week’s study of the life of Joseph, we will revisi...  Read More

RedemptionGenesis 45:25-46:1So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And Isra...  Read More

ForgivenessGenesis 45:1-5Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his broth...  Read More

TestingGenesis 44:1-5Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack. Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said.As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donke...  Read More

BenjaminGenesis 43:1-2Now the famine was still severe in the land. So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”Genesis 43:8Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die.Genesis 43:29-30As he looked about and sa...  Read More

Week 5 - Monday: FamineGenesis 42:1-3When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons… “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.Genesis 42:6Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brot...  Read More

InfluenceGenesis 41:33-41; 46“And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the citi...  Read More

ProvidenceGenesis 41:28-32“It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will ...  Read More

Self-AwarenessGenesis 41:14-16So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”“I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answ...  Read More

TroubledGenesis 41:1-9Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.He fell asleep again and had...  Read More

RememberedGenesis 41:1, 14When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream…So Pharaoh sent for Joseph…“When two full years had passed…” I have to admit, I’m not a very patient person. I like to make things happen, pull the trigger, get things going. It drives me a little crazy to sit in a committee or among a group of people for the second or third time, only to discuss the same problems and br...  Read More

INTRODUCTION: The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPEN:  Have you ever had to watch someone close to you go through something horrific, yet the way in which they chose to navigate their ...  Read More

ForgottenGenesis 40:14; 20-41:1“… when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.”Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once ...  Read More

Thursday: Speak UpGenesis 40:8-19“We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened i...  Read More

Wednesday: EmpathyGenesis 40:4-7After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s ho...  Read More

PositionGenesis 40:1-4Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.I fi...  Read More

Freedom Genesis 39:20-23Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 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. The ward...  Read More

INTRODUCTION: The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPEN:  If you are willing to share, was there ever a crucible moment in your life, a difficulty that you endured, that ultimately helped...  Read More

ConvictionGenesis 39:19-23When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden...  Read More

AccusationGenesis 39:11-18One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 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.When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this He...  Read More

SeductionGenesis 39:6b-10Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me e...  Read More

TrustGenesis 39:3-6aWhen his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, 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. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian...  Read More

ProsperityGenesis 39:1-2Now 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.The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.There is a popular theology today that suggests you can tell whether the Lord is with you by what happe...  Read More

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The FatherGenesis 37:29-36Some time later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the cistern. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief. Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, “The boy is gone! What will I do now?”Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look ...  Read More

SilverGenesis 37:25-28Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime. Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him t...  Read More

The PlotGenesis 37:12-24Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.  When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will send you to them.” “I’m ready to go,” Joseph replied. “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said. “Then come back and bring...  Read More

Dreams Genesis 37:2-11Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their fat...  Read More

Hostility Genesis 37:2-4: This is the account of Jacob.Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. Whe...  Read More

2 Corinthians 4:18…we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.Most of us have sat in a classroom or attended a seminar where a presenter flashed an image on the screen and asked us to identify what we saw. Maybe you were shown a horse that, when turn...  Read More