Joseph is about to be reunited with his family and is faced with a choice between bitterness and blessing. We see how Joseph uses the power and authority that he has been given to bless those who have hurt him the most. This is a countercultural idea but one that is very close to the heart of our Heavenly Father. But the blessing doesn’t stop with Joseph. Joseph’s generosity has a ripple effect that will change the course of history for God’s people.

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God specializes in plot twists - taking the most broken family situations and writing completely different endings through the power of sacrificial love. In Genesis 44-45, we witness perhaps the greatest plot twist in Scripture: a family torn apart by jealousy, deception, and betrayal for over twenty years experiences miraculous restoration. Judah's willingness to sacrifice himself and Joseph's choice to extend grace transform a broken family into a restored one.

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God gently corrects his children to shape us into the people he wants us to become. Through our life experiences, God changes our hearts as we respond to his correction. Joseph’s father, brothers, and Joseph himself needed to change; and God patiently confronted them to help them grow. Together, let’s explore how we can respond faithfully to God’s correction in our lives.

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We live in a time in which we all struggle to wait on God. With modern conveniences, waiting has become almost foreign to us. Are you in a season of waiting right now? Are you waiting for God for answers about healing, a relationship restoration, a job opportunity, or perhaps just clarity about your next steps? Well, you are not alone. As we will learn from Joseph, God's timeline never matches our own, but his purposes are always worth the wait. Joseph's promotion wasn't mere luck or coincidence, but the culmination of years of faithful preparation for God's plan, just as Jesus waited and suffered death to fulfill the Father's master plan of salvation for humanity.

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Often we look at life working in a linear, predictable manner. We function under the assumption that if we do good things, we get good results. Conversely, we assume that if we do bad things we get bad results. If you are a believer, you can easily apply similar logic to your spiritual life. Our thoughts travel along the lines that if I do good things, God will bless me. Similarly, we conclude that if bad things happen to me then God must be against me. What happens to our faith when these perspectives get challenged? Today, in part 3 of our series on Joseph, we look closely at Genesis 39 and see Joseph’s circumstances running drastically different to our assumptions. The story of Joseph may cause us to realign our thoughts to God’s sovereignty and our attitudes toward Him and our circumstances.

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Every person is a work-in-progress. Our character remains under construction and will not be finished until Jesus completes his work in us. In Genesis 38, we receive the benefit of peering into the private life of Joseph’s brother Judah. We see his shortcomings, and we discover the seeds of change through God’s grace that will transform his character. This weekend, we can remember how God’s grace changes our lives and character.

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If God loves me, how could he let me hurt so deeply? Why should I keep trusting God when my life is such a mess? Questions like that hang over the story of Joseph’s life in the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 37, we find the bad beginning to Joseph’s story including a difficult family life, betrayal, kidnapping, and a murder plot. Through this painful beginning, Joseph found a way to endure. If you’ve been asking hard questions about God and your life, then Joseph’s example and faith will encourage you. This weekend we will learn about endurance from his example.

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To conclude our study through the first half of the letter to the Galatians, we find a description of our relationship with God…a whole new identity that includes intimacy with God, incredible privilege, and freedom. When you remember that God has made you his child and set you free through faith in Jesus, what new perspectives and opportunities will open up for you?

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What is so important to you that your life takes shape around it? The Book of Galatians teaches us we are made right with God by faith in Jesus alone. This weekend we find that not only are we made right with God by faith in Jesus (not our good works) but our spiritual growth is also fueled by our faith in Jesus (not our good works). While different values or objectives (including the achievement of law-keeping) attempt to dominate our lives, the central truth beating at the heart of every story is God’s love and our faith in his grace.

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How is your life aligned with God’s grace and the truth of the Gospel message? In our passage today, the Apostle Paul confronted the Apostle Peter over his failure to live out the Good News about Jesus. Our eternal life is not something that begins when we die but includes our new life right now. Let’s explore how the truth that we have been made right with God in Jesus is changing every part of our life and being.

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