(Insert your own own questions, verses, prayer requests, responses and insights at the end).
--1. There are only two kinds of people these days – Judah-types and Reuben-types.
What type of person or business person are you? Lost, saved by farith, coming closer to God, or drifting away from Him? What's your greatest fear, need, or longing today? Listen, on Joseph and his brothers some flaws and greatness are to be found but the story is indeed edifying. How in the world do their stories relate to my life, Kurt, to my spiritual experience and Christian walk.. or to my ministry?
You well know how people in the world categorize lots of types of people, but what about the Bible?
...and what about different spiritual temperatures of born again believers?
--2. Would you like to do a comparison of the Prime Minister, Vizer of Egypt Joseph, and Jesus Christ the Savior of the World?
Hint. There are more than 100 fascinating parallels between Joseph who was an illustration of Christ. Joseph was clearly an illustration of Christ Jesus -- the analogies are too numerous to be accidental. Both men are special objects of their father's love (see Gen. 37:3; Matt. 3:17). The Bible says...
"For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel."
"The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand." (See John 3:35; 5:20).
...and yet both were also hated by their Jewish brethren (Gen. 37:4; John 15:25).
--4. How did honest biz-man Joseph overcome temptation in his world, even when it came to dealing with those who hurt him the most?
Do you think he felt like forgiving his brothers? How would you forgive if you were in the same situation and didn’t feel like it.. or would you?
As an aside.. how many types of promises from God to people have been found in the Bible?
Have there been any promises made from angels or fallen angels.. to people?
How about any promises made from God to His dear Son?
Were there any promises made from that creepy fallen angel, Mr. Lu-Cifer (the devil)?
As Joseph did, have you like a pitbull been able to remember and hold on to God’s promises to the benefit of many… even when the circumstances get tough and cry out that it’s time for you to let go?
God deeply loves, guides,encourages and pragmatically assists His workers with their difficult tasks,and we today have good promises from Him to hold on to..like: “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).
What are five discipline-steps that will help you hold on to God’s promises and keep you from falling away?
Have you been enjoying fellowship both upwards and outwards enough..with growing believers to live balanced and strong?
Factoid: Where I was raised in California people go to a local church 2 out of 5 Sundays. I challenge you to go and take part more often..and to a healthy Bible teaching church.
Ask yourself, would there be shadows for us if there wasn't any light? Nope.
Have you kind of wondered how types, shadows, similitudes and illustrations differ from each other in the Bible? Have you ever known any believer or group to over spiritualize individuals, things or an application in the Old Testament into something God never intended them or it to be?
How could an example business person become ready for a great assignment? They could…
b. Ask God with specificity for discernment, insight, and wise right underling leaders regarding the future of the projects.. to help him with wise plans. In the multitude of wise counselors there is victory.
“Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls, but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.” Proverbs 11:14 (web)
--c. Want to stay close. Doing my best, I commit the rest – really don’t want to run out ahead of my Chief Shepherd’s lead or lag behind! No need for distractions, miss-sowing, apathy or passivity. Commit yourself wholeheartedly to the Lord—seek first His Kingdom and righteousness. And then expect Him to step by step direct and establish your plans.
--d. Gratefully and appropriately acknowledge the gifts God has given you. Thank, praise and worship Him from the heart, and give that to no other idol in His place.
--e. Even if some others recognize God’s presence in your life, His hand upon you, or the special talents He gave you to employ, do not broadcast these in a self-serving effort to gain respect. Like Joseph did, give the glory to the Lord.
--f. Educate yourself in the truth daily, and about how to better do your job ..in fully carrying it out to the end with excellence.
--g. Seek the practical good for others, knowing that God has placed you where you are to be a blessing for the people He loves and died for. Let Him give you His love for the people and do what it takes to protect them.
--h. Be level-headed showing genuine concern -- very fair in all of your dealings, especially when the circumstances are grim and deeply problematic.
--i. Hard smart work pays off. And although your exemplary service may propel you into some level of prominence, remember your founding mission as God’s servant. Be not self-seeking. Your life does not consist in possessions – in what your hard work gains for yourself.
--j. See no practical work as below you. Value the godliness of the myriad types of honorable work that society really needs to have done.
--k. Walk with the fruit, kindness and victory of the Spirit.. with quality-building, with wise investments. Choose to generously extend the fruit of your labor as widely as possible to those who truly need it, regardless of what you think of them as individuals.
--l. Minister to people at the point of their need! Accept the fact that God may bring you into a particular field of work under crisis or extremely challenging conditions. It’s not really my job to figure out who sinned to bring it on (it might just be from Adam’s sin, God knows). Just stay in God’s will with a paramedic’s attitude and tender approach, rather than a cop’s investigative approach,,,unless you’re actually working as a cop (BTW We love and support you). Police and detectives seek to get to the bottom of it so they can prevent it happening again, but a paramedic seeks to find out what’s broken, stop the bleeding, the pain, the damage.. so healing can start (with a city or nation, of course the application is somewhat different for God’s minister).
--m. Have courage that God will fit you for the task..and some of that fitting (polishing) will happen as you are in the middle of dong it.
--n. Lead the people in prayer with some fitting Scriptures daily. I like to start with praise worship, for the group of workers. It’s how we start our work depending on God, not on us. Accept the fact that sometimes people must choose what they regard as the better of two very unpleasant yet unavoidable situations.
--o. Being used to save souls and to save people from starvation is SO important – sometimes we work at both. We seek to feed em with food before we feed em with truth in love asking for a decision. Just believe that what you do.. will not only benefit those whom you meet, but will by faith have the potential to touch lives for many generations to come.
As Joseph served people in love.. go serve like that. God is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine so pray big (see Eph. 3:20).
As Joseph served people in love.. go serve like that. God is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine so pray big (see Eph. 3:20).
What are the keys to your personal success at home, in school, in business or elsewhere (see Psalm 1)?
Who is your closest friend on the horizontal plane, or your top business partner – what is their character like? Who or what are they committed to the most?
“Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ..” 2 Peter 1:4-8
![Amazing Luxor Temple in Luxor Egypt 1400 BCE. [407x612]](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/17/f9/db/17f9db6dc4d4d1b0ed5452a95361a0d3.jpg)
--9. Joseph was a well-prepared businessman for the king, having great acumen for excellent work. He was gifted in the area of dreams, and used that to bless God. No spiritual-compromise with him!
He was the reliever a comforter a problem solver during crisis and widespread poverty (Genesis 47:13-26). People want to survive. Joe was precisely organized (with strategic planning), straightforward, diligent, and humble in heart.. not corrupted or perverse at all. Joseph’s successful management of Egypt’s food crisis (Genesis 41:46-57; 47:13-26) saved the world. God made him both wise and discerning (Gen. 41:39). He was commonsensical, shrewd in business. His extraordinary abilities with respect to his relationship with the Lord and the locals did not operate in separate domains really. The Hebrew words for wise and wisdom (hakham and hokhmah) denote a high level of mental perceptivity, but also are used in regards to a wide range of practical work-skills including craftsmanship of wood, precious stones, and metal (Exod. 31:3-5; 35:31-33), tailoring (Exod. 28:3; 35:26, 35), as well as administration (Deut. 34:9; 2 Chr. 1:10) and legal justice (1 Kgs. 3:28). These skills are found among unbelievers as well, but the wise in the Bible enjoy the special blessing of God who intends Israel to display God’s ways to the nations (Deut. 4:6).
When you read the story of Joseph you can easily see that he was well respected among the Egyptian nationals around him.
The people he served really seem to feel and know how he cared about them -- check out their attitude towards him. Grateful!
Yes, Joseph had immediately gotten to the work with an inspection-tour (see Gen. 41:46), becoming an avid learner of Egypt's agricultural industry. As the nation's top administrator, Joseph’s career touched on nearly every practical area of the nation’s life. His office would have required that he learn much about legislation, communication, negotiation, transportation, safe and efficient methods of food storage, building, economic strategizing and forecasting, record-keeping, payroll, the handling of transactions both by means of currency and through bartering, human resources, and the acquisition of real estate. He went about the work to which Pharaoh had appointed him as if he was born for it. During the seven years of abundant harvest, Joseph had the grain stored away in cities (Gen. 41:48-49), and there was an effective redistribution of the workforce. When the people ran out of money, Joseph allowed them to barter their livestock for grain. This God-given plan lasted for one year during which Joseph collected horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys bringing all under the authority of the throne (Gen. 47:15-17). He would have had to determine the value of these animals and establish an equitable system for exchange.
When all of the livestock had been traded off, the people willingly sold themselves into slavery to Pharaoh. Literally. They sold him the ownership of their properties too (Gen. 47:18-21). Can you imagine how horrifically-tough must have been to see? Joseph wasn’t a perfect man—he let them do this to enter into Egyptian servitude (I’ll let God judge on this call, but we trust Joseph’s heart was right from the get go because we can see how he refused to ever take advantage of this people in their weakened state of powerlessness). Joseph made sure their properties were valued correctly in exchange for the seed for planting (Gen. 47:23). He enacted an appropriate enduring law so the Egyptians would return 20 percent of the harvest to Pharaoh -- it was all acceptable and above board.
Joseph’s primary interest was in glorifying God without cutting corners. He was enthusiastic and motivated to get the job done right while maintaining his faith and fervor.. yes, rather than taking interest in exploiting this opportunity for self and relatives. He blessed his boss, but another really cool part is how Joseph turned the work towards blessing the people. We often don’t see that with Governments in our day.
--10. Perhaps like Joseph needed to forgive his brother, there are some sinners and or saints that you too need to forgive?
--11. We all have dreams. Some believers experience a really unique dream though.. or a vision. A vision at night, that’s a dream.. but not like some normal dream.
Are there any family members that need your forgiveness and love? Are there any people that you need to test a bit..like Joseph did just to see if there was anything that verified true sorrow with repentance after wronging you? Prove all things, can't judge hearts, minds or motives, but consider their history, works and message. Past behavior often predicts future behavior..even inside the church-house.
Can you relate to Joseph? Have loved ones cut you off, or tossed you out? Did you break the law or house rules? Was it deserved? Forgive em--it starts as a simple choice, not a feeling. Is there someone who has deeply hurt or rejected you ..like for money etc?
--11. We all have dreams. Some believers experience a really unique dream though.. or a vision. A vision at night, that’s a dream.. but not like some normal dream.
Have you had a dream or a vision that you think came from God? What has He promised you that is in agreement and loyal with what the Bible teaches? You already know.. if it dies the death, and doesn’t ever resurrect, come alive, come to fruition.. then it of course wasn’t from God at all. Even if some think it was. Believer, we are to walk by faith in Christ, not by some lame presumption.--12. Five Steps to Be Faithful and Fruitful like Joseph.. Instead of all Backslidden.
How did it go with Joseph's big reveal (Gen. 45). Why did he wait so long to reveal himself?
- We see the revelation of Joseph's person in verses 1-3
- We see the revelation of Joseph's purpose in verses 4-16
"Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am Joseph; does my father still live?' But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence." Genesis 45:3
