Pastor Matt's Podcasts

In this chapter, we study Joseph's continuining pressure and testing on his brothers. The purpose of this is always redemptive, it is to get them to repent and to make sure their repentance is genuine. This is the way the chosen family of God qualifies to carry on the covenant.

When Joseph's brothers came down to Egypt to buy grain during the famine, Joseph had a choice. Though they didn't recognize him, he did recognize them. He could have shown mercy to them and forgiven them. However, God dealt with Joseph for several years already, teaching him to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly before God. He then began to place pressure on his brothers in order to push them to repentance, then test them to see if their repentance was genuine. There is much to be learned from this life lesson of Joseph.

Joseph had all the qualifications of a true leader, he was humble enough to hear the word of the Lord and bold enough to speak it.

Joseph's lesson in prison was the lesson of humility. He was sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused by Potiphar's wife, and thrown into prison. What is more, adding insult to injury, Joseph had to serve two of the kings servants who were in the prison with him. Though he was placed in charge of the prison itself, he had to learn the lesson of servant leadership. Again, all of this was to prepare Joseph to govern a nation to save the church (Israel).

The story of Joseph is very familiar to us all. However, when we study his life for application to the church and the members, it comes to new life. The first lesson, that of character, gives us a glimps into how the church is to respond to temptations.

Genesis 38 is a difficult Chapter to preach through. The story interupts the story of Joseph and picks up on the story of his brother Judah. As we study this section, it is important that we keep God's transcendent perspective in mind. God used Judah to keep the line of promise pure, though there are many mistakes made along the way. Nothing that has been done by you or your family that cannot be undone through repentance. Judah's life reveals that fact.

We can't understand the sufferings of life without a sovereign perspective. In this sermon we examine the betrayel of Joseph for God's purposes. The brothers did it to Joseph, the Hebrews did it to Jesus, we can expect the unfaithful in the church to do it to us. One thing is clear, we are to remain faithful, allow the work of the pain and suffering to do its work to grow and mature the church in order that it may continue to preach and teach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we begin studying the life of Joseph, we begin by introducing the purpose of Joseph's life. Israel and his sons were to carry on the promised seed, the seed of the New Testament church. The purpose of Joseph's life was to suffer at the hands of his brothers, yet it was to save those very same brethren that persecuted him. Joseph was faithful to his unfaithful brothers.
We can learn a lot from this as a faithful church, to those who are in the church that are unfaithful. The remnant must remain faithful, there will come a time of spiritual famine, the faithful church will have the word of God to feed those who had been unfaithful.

Jacob had problems his whole life. When he was called to go back to the promised land, we would think that all Jacob's problems would have been over and he could reap God's blessings. However, on the journey back, his beloved Rachel died, his oldest son Rueben had relations with Jacob's wife, and his father Isaac died shortly after Jacob finally got back to the promised land. Added to this was the fact that chapter 36 lists the wealth, increase and the power of Esau. Why does God give us problems? Why did God bless the line of Esau? This sermon helps give us part of the answer.

In this fourth sermon on the current spirit of the age, we look at the woke, or the neopagan worldview compared to the Biblical worldview. Although we have engaged in this battle for years, this last three years has revealed that, by in large, the church has failed in her task of defending the faith. We are to be the salt and light to the world and that requires us to be faithful to the word of God. Without the faithful teaching of the world on a dailing basis, our youth don't have the knowledge base to fall back on in order to battle against the spirit of the age. We have a big work ahead of us.