Season 4 Genesis 39:6-10 (Joyelle Lee)
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Gen 39 6-10
“6 So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat!
Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, (Manuel labor at Potiphar’s house)
7 and (then after a time) Potiphar’s wife (Zule-ikha…Jewish records) soon began to look at him lustfully.
“Come and sleep with me,” she demanded. (not suggesting but demanding!!)
8 But Joseph REFUSED. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. 9 No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing?
It would be a great sin against God.” (Not Potiphar, not her, not himself— but GOD!)
10 She KEPT (this was persistent & constant), putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but….HE REFUSED to sleep with her OR be with her (‘NEAR HER’!!!)
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We’re going to flip this story right side up!!
Scholars focus mostly on Joseph’s integrity & Zule’s sin.
But how would Jesus have seen Zule? (We’re seeing Jesus through the lens of Joseph)
Sermons have said Zule was …
⁃ “a wicked prostitution who destroyed men’s souls”
⁃ “A lying sexual predator.”
⁃ A lying demonic prostitute’’
⁃ “A sleaze”
I AM ZULE
It’s also been said
⁃ “Zule had a LUST issue” because of her husband’s (lack of) private parts
⁃ Her husband Potiphar: “the Eunich” (no sex organs)
⁃ Gen 39:1 “…Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s ‘officials’ {SARIS (‘saw-reece’)- “a eunuch”} the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there
BUT…. Zule had a THIRST ISSUE, not just a LUST ISSUE
Jesus ALWAYS saw the NEED behind the SIN.
That’s why when we ignore the sin, we’re actually ignoring the needs of that person.
That’s the OPPOSITE of love! (Even though the world calls it “love”)
—————————————
What we’re seeing here is one person who’s PARCHED (ZULE)
And another who’s HYDRATED (Joseph)
What if: her need wasn’t about NOT being sexually satisfied— but about NOT being hydrated !!!?
BOTH Zule & Joseph weren’t “sexually satisfied” during these 11 years.
And yet… we see the one who had the Living Water (JOSEPH) was indeed SATISFIED!
Prior to this — Joseph spent time in an EMPTY CISTERN.
He spent time in Zule’s soul… to know what’s lacking in her!!!
God will put you in a place of empty to give you a heart of EMPATHY
(for a world who’s THIRSTY!!)
If we avoid our PITS, we’ll avoid our PURPOSE!
She had a LEGITIMATE need that tried to be met through ILLEGITIMATE means
Zule looked for water from a cracked cistern because she wasn’t given the LIVING WATER from the well of life
JER 2:13
“GOD said of his people; they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
SHOW WATER BOWL:
A cracked cistern on the throne of the heart
A spring of water on the throne of the heart
• Satan will Study your unmet needs as both a child & adult— playing on your desires & “drag” you away with his mirages of enticement OF faulty wells !!!!
Instead of seeking the Healer of my parched heart—
We seek an
EXTERNAL BROKEN CISTERN for an
INTERNAL THIRST
Zule’s “NEED” was far beyond just “physical.”
Every human heart has 4 basic needs:
Seen
Soothed
Safe
Secure
SHE WAS THIRSTY
For the water that’ll leave her “never thirsty again!”
(John 4:14)
“This WATER that I give will become in you a spring of water welling up (continually flowing & bubbling within)” ~ John 4:14
”It’s NOT sinful to be NEEDY (yes) — but it’s sinful when we look to IDOLS TO HAVE THAT NEED Quenched!
It’s a THIRST ISSUE!!
Mark 14 (the water carrier)
“ Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover, Jesus?” He sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man, carrying a jar of water will meet you— Follow the man with the water jug INTO the house where we’ll eat the Passover (the first communion)
the water carrier— led the disciples to the Living Water
the water carrier— led the disciples to receive “communion” w/ Jesus! (A place of RECEIVING forgiveness)
the water carrier— led the disciples to the One who washed their FEET with/ WATER (a spiritual cleanse of the worlds filth) (John 13:5). “Unless I wash your feet— you have NO part with me!”
He was a NAMELESS MAN— but of great significance !!!
Gods calling us to be water-carriers
Joseph was a water carrier!
WATER CARRIERS BRING YOU TO THE LIVING WATER
What kind of conversation did Jesus have with Joseph in that pit???
Jesus spoke to S, M, A— secrets they’d need to know when they got out!!
Secret treasures are given to you in your PIT— to share with the world when you get out! (Pick up your mat)
Maybe God led him to a DRY WELL— to reveal the souls & hearts of those he was leading him to!!!
Former Pit dwellers see past the sin— & straight to the NEED!
——————
Zule’s name= brilliantly beautiful; a lovely one”
Josheph KNEW this was her identity.
Her sinful (parched) heart was NOT her identity.
Perhaps he never saw her as anything or anyone but: “Brilliantly beautiful and the lovely one.”
he refused to see her as an object to get his sexual needs met— but as a woman of inherent worth,
value & identity that DESERVED to be treated with respect and honor
(how many LOVE our Joseph now??)
She wasn’t “verbing” out her name:(
—————
(4)(SATANS FAVORITE TOOL)
Kathy Lee Gifford story (A tabloid thought of a way to destroy her & her family & HIRED a woman to seduce her husband.) and it worked!
(Numbers 22-24)
Balaam was a non-Jewish sorcerer & prophet.
His reputation of being a great prophet was as great as MOSES!
King Balak(bay-lock) of Moab hired Balaam to curse the Israelites.
But he blesses them 4x
where cursing failed, Balaam knew what would take down the Israelites: idolatry & SEXUAL SIN
Moabite women were sent in to entice the Israelite men (who had Israelite wives)
This is SATAN’s FAVORITE TOOL FROM HIS TOOL BELT!!!
We must WAKE UP to this demonic plan on our lives!!!
Numbers 25:1 (https://biblia.com/bible/niv/Num%2025.1) says, “While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods…. And the LORD’S anger burned against them.”
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Rom 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”
Story of Exodus 3– turning the GIFTS of gold into a God (golden calf)
Aaron chose a calf because the Egyptians had a bull/calf idol they worshipped who was “responsible for creation.”
(They had only been out of Egypt for 15 days!!! )
Our idols are often representative of the culture we’re marinated in— bow down to & fully accept /embrace…. & we automatically think it’s OK in God’s eyes, too.
But it’s a DEMONIC PLOY.
Matt 15:9
“Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”
what in our culture; has told you is “okay” & “permissible & HYDRATING”: identity, same-sex marriages, porn, murder of babies, 50-shades-of-gray, gluttony, gossip, rage, music, movies, tv, news, politics, social media (what’s in your algorithms?)….
we’re being “EDU-TAINED!” - not just entertained.
My eyes begin to “adjust” to the darkness (STORY)
Heb 3:13
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”
• JOHNS VERY LAST SENTENCE (book of 1 John)
“Dear children, keep yourself from idols.”
ASK YOURSELF:
What inordinate affections have glory & power in my life?
And there you’ll find your THIRST problem.
—————
So…..How did Joseph do it? :
Joseph SAW Zule as a worthy & valuable human being who had a … “THIRST issue.”
Joseph KNEW his purpose as her water carrier!
Joseph knew he had the WITHNESS/ PRESENCE of God!
Maybe Joseph never viewed this as a temptation to resist for 11 years— but as a mission field to Water for 11 years!
STORY: death movie! (The HOLINESS of God to experience the LOVE of God)
⁃ The withness of God- reveals the holiness of God— which keeps us from sin!
Ex 20:20
“…. your fear (awe) of him will keep you from sinning.”
Joseph HAD
God’s “withness” (which is God’s holiness)
which is WHERE we experience God’s LOVE (in His holiness)
The Lord’s Prayer:
(Jesus never taught how to give a sermon!)
This isn’t a prayer to mindlessly recite back to God…
It is an INFRASTRUCTURE of HOW we should be praying.
1. Our Father, which art in heaven,
REFLECT
(Father — intimate— daddy, Abba, protector, healer, provider…)
2. Hallowed (holy) is thy Name.
REVERE (in the holiness we receive His love!!- The church lacks reverence, which is why the sheep don’t feel God's love!!!
3. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
REFOCUS (my heart to be a kingdom mindset)
(I come FROM a place of victory, not FOR victory )
(This is all temporary!)
4. Give us this day our daily bread.
REQUEST (are mana, just enough for today!)
5. And forgive us our trespasses (sins)
REPENT
6. As we forgive them that trespass against us.
RELINQUISH
7. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.
RESCUE
8. For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.”
REJOICE
1. Reflect
2. Revere
3. Refocus
4. Request
5. Repent
6. Relinquish
7. Rescue
8. Rejoice
Matt 26:36-44
• Jesus is praying — fell to the floor w/ sweat & blood & asked 3x if the cup could pass—
God didn’t take away the cup, but He….
sent an angel to STRENGTHEN JESUS— so that He could ENDURE ( Luke 22:43)
The question isn’t— “How do I say NO to this temptation….
The question IS… “can I TRUST the ONE who’s asking!?
“Until Jesus is enough for you, nothing else will ever be!”
This is a TRUST issue!
This is a LOVE issue!
This is a WITH issue!
This is a HOLY issue!
THIS…. Is a WATER issue