Date: 04 Aug 2002
Time: 20:58:37

Comments

Joseph was a whiny brat and a tattletale! It is amazing to think that this is the same Joseph who was so obedient to God once he is sold into slavery. But this is, in a way the repeat of Esau and Jacob, Rebecca played favorites, we know the story and preached it. Jacob played favorites too, and because of it, his brothers hated him. God does not play favorites, He loves each one of us like we are the only one! He protected Joseph, not because of who he was, but because of his potential! I cannot believe no one else has contributed yet. The heat must be frying our minds! I really got a lot out of last week's Genesis discussion. God really used the info in the message today. I may stick with the OT for a while. It seems like I have preached, and they have heard the NT we are using now so many times they can tune me out. Besides, it is such a challenge to preach the OT. Toni


Date: 04 Aug 2002
Time: 23:18:43

Comments

Yes Joseph was a brat, but it seems to me he was also obedient, at least to his father. Verse 13 really struck me this time with the classic call and reponse, "Come I will send you to them" and Joseph responds "Here I am". I'm not sure I can preach that God protected Jospeh becasue he had a special plan for him. If God protected him because of his potential, why does God not protect all people? Is his life being saved by Reuben God's work, or simply human action? It seems to me that this is yet another case of God using the surprising people as a means of salvation. Again God chooses the younger over the older brothers, turning on its head the traditaional way of operating. I'm tossing up preaching about the call apect or preacing about how we deal with betrayal by those who "should" love us. Rob in oz


Date: 05 Aug 2002
Time: 05:13:10

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Rob, I believe that we all have potential in God's eyes! But to live up to that potential and to be used by God, we must be obedient to the will of God. Joseph was a very immature young man, spoiled and pampered, but he had been raised knowing God. When he was sold into slavery, God was his only security and he became faithful to God. He had a choice, and even through all the chaos he went though, he knew that all he had was the promise that God would always be faithful. God IS faithful, even when we are not!! Of course, I think I am getting ahead of the story and not preaching on this scripture. I will try to refocus! :-) If I have a brain surge, there will be more later! Toni


Date: 05 Aug 2002
Time: 12:03:45

Comments

What did Jacob's boys learn from their father? Lying? Sure. Using people? Yes. Treating family memebers with contempt? Yep. They learned all this, and then the next generation of Abraham's descendants had to deal with fractured relationships. Jacob's boys were merely "chips off the old block," it appears. -Dale in Chattanooga


Date: 05 Aug 2002
Time: 18:43:30

Comments

Playing favorites, something we are all guilty of doing at times in our lives. My husband's parents were masters of the game. However, since their death, none of the siblings have anything to do with each other. Talk about a fractured family! But don't we do that with each other in our churches and communities. We tend to gather in groups with those we like best, not remembering that God loves us all equally. I remember my mother telling me that the persons that are the most difficult to love are the ones that need love the most. Although Joseph was a brat, God loved him and proved his love by taking care of Joseph, just like we need to take care of each other. It is a difficult world out there and we MUST care for all in our world, even the persons that are difficult to love, like Joseph.

Mel in Texas


Date: 06 Aug 2002
Time: 08:19:32

Comments

Not only was Joseph a spoiled brat but he also thought he was better than anyone else. Well, at least his brothers. Remember the lections leave out an important part of this story. The dreamer has a dream that he is above all of his brothers. Then he tells them about it. Living in Nebraska, I see the same thing in "We are number One" regarding Nebraska football, then we wonder why other people don't like us or our team. I truly believe that we live is society that teaches us to yell "I number One" in many ways. Sports, size of business, as a Nation, etc., etc. Then we wonder why people don't like us. There seems to be a clear lesson from the fate of Joseph. When you yell, you are number one, you just might get sold into slavery. No, you will be sold into slavery. The Slavery of pride, preduice, and alienation from others. RevJCB NE


Date: 06 Aug 2002
Time: 10:15:02

Comments

I was in Atlanta once and I went to the MLK Memorial center. It was a wonderful experience. They have a film. And in it they enlarged the words of v.20 "Let us slay him and see what becomes of his dreams." It moved me. The assasination of Martin Luther King, jr. Just made his dream larger. So it was with Christ. And I know Joseph was obnoxious, but I found the comparison facinating. Rev. J


Date: 06 Aug 2002
Time: 12:19:04

Comments

Hi All. I seem to be getting a different message than some of you from this. Yes, Joseph came from a troubled family background. But we know that Jacob & Esau did have reconciliation, and I would not want our view of God's work to be lost in our understanding of family dynamics. Also, the scripture doesn't tell us Joseph had a sueriority problem- it tells us that Joseph had a dream, seen as from God. GOD is the one who showed Joseph a picture of him superior to his brothers, and it comes true, doesn't it? Let's look at God's work in this- I see God moving through others' envy, and the historical situation, and harvest & drought. And in this, God found one who was faithful and obedient- and created a people through his work. My series, beginning with today is "Desert Wars" and this is "Episode 1: Revenge of the Brotherhood." This is part of an epic story of God's calling a people to God's self. Preach it!


Date: 06 Aug 2002
Time: 12:20:13

Comments

that was superiority (unlike my spelling!)- and my name is Joe Bell, and I pastor in Gastonia, NC (just west of Charlotte)


Date: 06 Aug 2002
Time: 12:22:56

Comments

I am adding Genesis 50:20 to this weeks lesson, to talk about the reconciliation, you meant it for evil but God used it for good. Rev J


Date: 06 Aug 2002
Time: 18:14:12

Comments

Hi everyone. thanks for your thought provoking comments.

I'm picking the theme of "Killing the dreamer". It seems to me we have a long history of killing dreamers in society, people who threaten the status quo, people who call us out of our comfort zones (e.g. Christ, Martin Luther King, etc..) In contrast I beleive God calls us to dream (and live out) a better life for all, God's Kigndom.

I'm thinking of this theme whilst I also prepare for the funeral of a young man who committed suicide - perhaps the greatest "death of a dream". For to dream in life we have to have hope and a sense of the future, things that seem gone when someone takes their life. Rob in Oz


Date: 08 Aug 2002
Time: 01:45:45

Comments

Hi,

I am inclined to preach from this story of Joseph. The problems and discord in his family includes preferential treatment, pride, bragging, jealousy, anger, plotting, attempted murder, and enslavement. There is some discord among my church members. While the problems and discord between the church members, and in the homes of the members are not exactly the same, I can help the congregation recognize themselves.

I hope to point out their need for reform and to encourage them to treat each other better in the future and forgive each other for the past. I hope to raise up a Reuben to mediate between those in conflict.

I am considering having this message merge with the text from Matthew in which Peter began to sink in the stormy sea when he took his eyes off Jesus. So a rough outline of the sermon would be: troubles in the home of Joseph and the boys, help from Reuben, trouble in the families here, stormy trouble among the church members, Peter began to sink when he looked at the wind instead of Jesus so Jesus reached out and caught him, both Reuben and Jesus helped those in trouble, encouragement to be more like the helpers.

My question concerns whether or not I should try to pull these 2 stories together; is this too much of a stretch, does my combining them undermine the theology of either story, is comparing the help from Reuben to the help from Jesus accurate, etc.?

Leon<><


Date: 08 Aug 2002
Time: 13:16:22

Comments

Leon wrote is comparing the help from Reuben to the help from Jesus accurate, etc.?

I would say yes, however: I would rather use the comparison of Judah who made intercession for his not so deserving brother; with Judah's descendent Jesus, who makes intercession for all of us not deserving children of Jacob. weldiger MTS of WNC


Date: 09 Aug 2002
Time: 07:21:13

Comments

As long as we are discussing dysfunctional families, next week's Genesis is about Lot's incest with his two daughters.

D., the Supplier


Date: 10 Aug 2002
Time: 11:36:31

Comments

Hey! It says in verse 35 that all of Jacob's sons and daughters tried to console him after the loss of Joseph ... how come the daughters didn't have a share in the 12 tribes? Huh?

Daughter of Jacob kbc in sc


Date: 10 Aug 2002
Time: 20:52:36

Comments

"Whenever God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window." The line is from Sound of Music and it makes me think of God's involvment in lives, including the lives of Jacob's sons and ours as well.

MW in West ARkansas