God has a plan for your life!
1. Tribulations
a. We just talked about this a few Sundays ago
i. God wastes nothing - Romans 8 all things work together
ii. Ever hear it said "man I'm living the dream" only with sarcasm?
b. I feel like we need to tear into this a bit more
2. Joseph
a. was a literal man who literally lived his dreams!
i. Genesis 37:5 And Joseph dreamed a dream KJV
b. Was a man who was favored by his father but hated by his brothers
i. Genesis 37:23-24
23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; 24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. KJV
3. It Could Have Been Worse
a. UP!
i. His brothers hated him but it could have been worse
1. His father could have hated him
ii. They threw him into the pit but it could have been worse
1. They actually wanted to kill him
iii. He was sold to Ishmeelites but it could have been worse
1. He could have been left in the pit to starve - or worse
iv. He was sold to Potipher but it could have been worse
1. HE could have been forced to stay w/ the Ishmeelites
v. He was lied about by Pharoahs wife but it could have been worse
1. He could have been killed instantly or made a eunuch
vi. He was forgotten about in prison but it could have been worse
1. He could have been hanged on a tree until the ravens ate his eyes
4. Identity Theft
a. Just like Job, the brothers tried to strip Joseph of his "idenity" but could not.
i. What you wear or own is not who you are.
ii. they stripped Joseph of his coat - his outward garment of favor, (rlware - when others look on the favor of God in your life they cannot stand it - they will try to take away the evidence but they cannot remove enough to leave you naked because you are clothed with kingly garments, you are clothed with the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and not amount of nakedness can get rid of His favor on your life!
iii. It was not just that he had his fathers characteristics - he had his fathers love!
iv. That jacket was not going to fit him where God was taking him, he would outgrow it!
5. Speaking Of Outgrown Clothes
a. 2 Corinthians 5:1-8
5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with , hands 1 eternal2 in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked 3. 4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord 4 : 7(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. KJV
a. Adam was literally formed from the dust of the ground - our heavenly bodies are created differently than this
b. Our earthly bodies are temporary, our heavenly bodies are eternal
c. Whatever this means, Paul wanted it, and in his wording notes there is something "missing" or longed for from the time of death to the time of the Rapture . . .
d. He is here . . .but we are not there!
