DO YOU NEED TO FORGIVE SOMEONE? PART 3

PAINTING: JOSEPH DREAMS OF WHEAT BY:

OWEN JONES, 1868

As an adult I was plagued by memories of people  who  I felt mistreated me. The term mistreatment means different things to different people.Some of behaviors that I call mistreatment may even seem trivial to some people.Mistreatment can range from the lies told about you to others to harsh  physical abuse inflicted by someone.

The point of this conversation is, that the Lord requires us to forgive people who mistreat us. 
It is not easy and He'll help us erase hatred for 
these people. He'll soften our hearts if we seek 
His help.This is not something that the average person can not do alone.  Remember. we have 
Adam's sinful nature.  I pray this week's study encourages people to forgive their friends and
family that mistreated them in the past.

Today, I'll talk about Joseph. His brothers were 
so jealous him, that they sold him into  slavery. 

PAINTING: JOSEPH'S COAST BOUGHT TO JACOB

BY GIOVANNI ANDRE DE FERRARI,  C. 1640



LIFE LESSON:

JOSEPH'S DAD, JACOB GIVES  HIM A COLORFUL COAT.  THIS MADE HIS BROTHERS JEALOUS.


GENESIS 37: 1-4, 9-11

1 Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan

² This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock
 with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his 
father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.
³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. 
Also he made him a tunic of many colors.
⁴ But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated 
him and could not speak peaceably to him.

DEPICTION : JOSEPH DREAMS


LIFE LESSON :

JOSEPH'S GIFT WAS INTERPRETING DREAMS.  HE DREAMED THAT HIS FAMILY WOULD BOW DOWN TO HIM.


GENESIS 37: 9-11

 
⁹ Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”
¹⁰ So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?”
¹¹ And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

DEPICTION: JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY

GENESIS  37:18-20, 26-28

¹⁸ Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹ Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming!  
 ²⁰ Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”


²⁶ So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?  
²⁷ Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened.  
²⁸ Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

BIBLE ILLUSTRATION, 1900'S:


JOSEPH RULER OF EGYPT


LIFE LESSON:

JOSEPHS INTERPRETS PHARAOH'S DREAMS. PHARAOH DECIDES TO MAKE HIM RULER OF EGYPT. 

 GENESIS 41-37-41

³⁷ So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants.
³⁸ And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?”
³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.
⁴⁰ You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.”  
⁴¹ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”


LIFE LESSON:

JOSEPH SEES HIS TEN BROTHERS. THERE IS S FAMINE AND THE BROTHERS WANT TO BUY FOOD.
THE BROTHERS DO NOT RECOGNIZE JOSEPH.


GENESIS 42: 8-13


⁸ So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 
⁹ Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!”
¹⁰ And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.  
¹¹ We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.”
¹² But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
¹³ And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.”

PAINTING: JOSEPH WEEPS

BY OWEN JONES, 1868


LIFE LESSON:

JOSEPH REVEALS HIMSELF TO HIS BROTHERS.


GENESIS 45: 3-5,  13-15

³ 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.
⁴ And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.  
⁵ But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 

13 So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.”
¹⁴ Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.  
¹⁵ Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him.