Season 4 Genesis 37:12-20 (Joyelle Lee)
To watch the replay of this study visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maRhIcK0NWw
or
https://www.facebook.com/highland111/videos/689469969367496
Joseph’s name: “to ADD or INCREASE.”
The Hebrew way is:
“Verbing” your name
What’s your name— so you can be VERBING your name in this world?
The One who made you is the ONLY one who can name you!
Isaiah 45:3
“And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness— secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name!”
Isaiah 49:15
“ can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child She has born? But even if that was possible, I would not forget you!
See, I have written your name on the palms of my hand.”
We get to know our name— by getting to know the PALM OF GODS HAND.
God’s HAND= His power & Presence
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“I REJOICE in your Word like one who discovers a great treasure!” (Psalm 119:162)
37:12
Soon after this, “soon after (his brothers & his dad all reprimanded him for sharing his God-dreams) “Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. 13 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,” said Joseph.
• (HEBREW: “I’M READY TO OBEY YOU”)
• Joseph KNEW his daddy loved him.
Obedience is a LOVE issue.
Obedience becomes NATURAL BYPRODUCT of receiving & believing the love of the Father—- for YOU!!!
Obedience is a love issue
Obedience becomes a natural byproduct of RECEIVING the love of God
• When you KNOW you’re loved— you’ll obey what the one who loves you asks you to do!
OBEDIENCE IS NOT:
⁃ An “action” but a “posture.”
(Pharisees)
(Obey God & leave all the consequences to Him!)
Romans 2:29: “No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.
(“Obedience w/out a surrendered heart is just legalism in disguise.”)
Think of OBEDIENCE:
⁃ as the alabaster woman
⁃ The bleeding woman
⁃ The tax collector beating his chest (Luke 18:13)
⁃ David, after Nathan confronts him
(All came to the SAVING KNOWLEDGE of God’s undeserved grace & love)
TRUE & Authentic obedience ONLY comes by way of SURRENDER
• “AN obedient heart- is the highest form of WORSHIP!” (Elisabeth Elliot)
• First time WORSHIP is mentioned = ABRAHAM/ISAAC sacrifice!)
(Involves AGONY, tears, loss, loneliness….)
2 chron 16:9
“The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose HEARTS are loyal (fully devoted) to Him”
• God IS looking for a LOYAL heart!
• a LOYAL heart is a ROOTED heart (abiding heart)
A ROOTED (abiding) heart develops FRUIT
(Striving vs. abiding)
⁃ The FRUIT is the tree’s way of reproduction.
⁃ IF SATAN can keep you from bearing FRUIT— he’s succeeded (at stealing, killing, destroying)
⁃ we PRODUCE fruit in keeping with repentance!
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37:14
“Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said. “Then come back and bring me a report.”
So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron.
15 When he arrived there, a man from the area noticed him wandering around the countryside. “What are you looking for?” he asked.
16 “I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Do you know where they are pasturing their sheep?”
17 “Yes,” the man told him. “They have moved on from here, but I heard them say, ‘Let’s go on to Dothan.’”
So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there.
• SHECHEM— a city Joseph’s brothers (Simon & Levi Gen 34) murdered the king & his son (raped full sister Dinah) & “killed every male.”
• SHECHEM— was called a “city of refuge” in future promise land! (A city in Samaria)
A city that was once UNSAFE, dark, evil, murderous. perverted… God has now turned into a “CITY OF SAFTEY/(refuge)”
THE BARN STORY- former KKK (God is taking back any grounds the enemy has claimed!!!)
THE LAND- represents hearts !!!
Joshua (later ) brought Joseph’s bones from Egypt & buried him in SHECHEM. (Full circle moment) (Joshua 24:32)
• DOTHAM (Just NORTH of Schechem)
• DOTHAM = THE PLACE God (LATER) opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant so that he could see the horses and chariots of fire surrounding them (2 Kings 6:17 )
The same place Elisha’s servant saw that GOD outnumbered the enemy— is the SAME place Joseph did, too!!
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• scholars say this “man” may have been an angelic messenger
The angel “LED” Joseph to Dothan (north)
The Holy Spirit “LED” Jesus into the wilderness for 40days/nights (MATT 4:1)
The Father “LED” Israelites into the Wilderness for 40 years
The God Who Sees “LED” Hagar to a well in a wilderness (Gen 16:7)
Not to BREAK them, but to MAKE them!
“God called your plans to save your life.
He sent you the other way to avoid unknown danger.
He fights battles you know nothing about.
His plan is better than yours.”
Deuteronomy 8:2-4 “Remember how the Lord your God LED you all the way in the wilderness these forty years,
(1) to humble and
(2) test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
(3) to cause you to hunger (WE WERE MADE WITH A HUNGER… for God) and
(4) then: to feed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone (the CREATED THINGS) but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (THE CREATED ONE)
(5) (to show you He alone is your provider & protector) “Your clothes did not wear out, and your feet did not swell during these forty years!”
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• SHECHEM & DOTHAM were N O R T H
Sometimes when we feel we’re “falling,” we’re actually “FALLING NORTH” into our Father’s will.
1 Peter 2:19-21
“For God is pleased when, conscious of his will, you patiently (A FRUIT) endure unjust treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good (“a well-doer; doing what’s right”) and endure it patiently (A FRUIT OF BEING ROOTED), this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
21 For THIS you’ve been CALLED— even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.”
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God’s redemptive plan always involves 4 stages of “being LED.”
• Dilemma
• Deliverance/ rescue (into difficulty)
• Development
• Destiny
1. DILEMMA- my current storm, Battle, sin “situation-ship.’
2. DELIVERANCE: Our worst lows are often a RESCUE MISSION on our lives (seal’s rescue video- example) (JONAH WHALE- ‘bad to worse.’)
3. DEVELOPMENT: (PREPARATION) (lonely- but NOT ALONE!) burning bush moments, mtg Identifier so I can know my identity, defects, lies, shame, guilt, bitterness— all removed in the FURNACE of development (THE WILDERNESS SEASON)
4. DESTINY - freedom/ promise land
There is no PROMISE without the PREPARATION (development) first!
(Heard this in middle of night)
YOUR WILDERNESS season isn’t a SET BACK, but a SET UP for a kingdom. COME BACK here on earth… as it is in heaven!
• Middle East Christianity
Views wilderness as the “place” to get a Word from the Lord!
It’s NOT to be avoided but embraced!
Israelites ASK In wilderness =
• “What is my (WORD) dabar in my (WILDERNESS) midbar
The wilderness becomes a place of BOTH UNION & COMMUNION W/ God!
Moses - burning bush in MIDBAR (wilderness)
Elijah- flees to MIDBAR (& hears still small voice/ A dabar)
Jesus- 40 days in MIDBAR fasting — his ministry began because of his time in midbar!
Paul - went to Arabia for 3 yrs after Damascus (Arabia is IN the MIDBAR)
Stephen- Persecution of first believers LED them to SCATTER & share the gospel !!
(Persecution precedes revival) corporate & personal!
(“Persecution is REVIVALS constant companion”)
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We are seeing Jesus through the lens of Joseph.
BUT ALSO….
Seeing satan through the lens of his brothers
(“All bitterness is SIMPLY unprocessed grief.”)
the brothers’ BITTERNESS opens the door to Satan himself!
HEB 12:15 — a bitter root troubles me but defiles many
(we’re too busy cursing them to recognize how God is using them.)
37:18
“When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance, & as he approached, they made plans to kill him.”
= satan
• this is literally the opposite of the PRODIGAL SON
Luke 15:20 “And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
= The Father
• satan made plans to kill Jesus in the WILDERNESS (Matt 4:6). “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “’He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone…”
• Amalakites made plans to kill Israelites in the WILDERNESS (Moses arms up- Aaron & Ur) (*EX 17)
John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in all its fullness.’
BUT GOD: plans to give you life & have it to the fullest (“excessive, superabundantly!”) In the wilderness!
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37:19
“Here comes the dreamer!” they said. (Behind his back)
⁃ “Dreamer” in Hebrew (ba-Al) means “MASTER, owner, lord”
⁃ Satan will ridicule & verbally ABUSE you for BELIEVING a God-size calling on your life- & for ACCEPTING your SPIRITUAL GIFT
This is a REPEAT STORY OF Moses & his siblings!
• Numbers 12:1-13 “Miriam and Aaron’ (MOSES’ siblings) began to talk against Moses:
“So they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard them!
“Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, he said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not AFRAID to speak AGAINST my servant Moses?
”The LORD was very angry with them, and he departed.
As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from leprosy.
When Aaron saw what had happened to her, he cried out to Moses, “Oh, my master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed.
So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!” (God sent Miraiam out of camp for 7 days to heal)
God is your DEFENDER! (Who are you, God, & what are you like?)
• “God removes people from your life because HE HEARD conversations you didn’t hear.”
⁃ it’s not rejection but protection!
Instead of objecting to where I am, it’s time I accept where I am so I can receive where He’s leading me.
• “We can hold TIGHTLY to God-sized dreams, but hold LOOSELY to HOW & WHEN He’s going to do it.”
His plan for me is far exceedingly BETTER than mine!
God does things in:
Unordinary,
unusual,
impossible,
unthinkable,
Unearning
Undeserving
unfathomable ways!
Expectations- premeditated disappointment
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37:20
“Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’
Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
⁃ Cistern- a solid rock (concrete) hole to store water— collected rain water.
⁃ “we’ll see what becomes of his dreams” ….
No devil in hell can snatch away Gods-dream over your life!!!
• Pharaoh tried killing all sons born to Israelites to keep them from multiplying!!
But no amount of human effort or strength can stop God’s plan!!!
We CAN mess it up by being a Jonah instead of a job— but if you choose to ABIDE—
• R O B E (repent, rely, obey, believe, embrace (cling)
• R O W (revere, obey, walk ) ….
⁃ Then… No devil in hell will strip or thwart God’s plans for your life— if you ABIDE!!!!
Acts 5:38
“So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!”
YOU may find yourself in a pit THIS MORNING….
Psalm 40:1-3
“ . I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair (“destruction”) -out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on a ROCK and MADE MY steps secure! He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, a
and put their trust in the LORD.”
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