Sermon Outline

1. Can anything good come from this?
2. Lower Story – Our experiences
   1. Joseph’s family life
      1. Unhealthy family (Ge 37:3-4)
      2. Prideful child (Ge 37:2, 5-11)
      3. Brothers want to kill him but sell him instead (Ge 37:34-35)
   2. Joseph’s life in Egypt
      1. Falsely accused and sent to prison for crime he didn’t commit (Ge 39:13-20)
      2. Imprisoned – suffers for righteousness, and for refusing to sin against God and master.
      3. “Can anything good come out of this?” Yes! (Ro 8:28, HC 27)
3. Upper Story – God has a plan
   1. The plan is to bless the families of the earth (Ge 12:3)
   2. Sold to Potiphar (Ge 39:1-4)
      1. Joseph is a blessing to the house.
      2. Joseph suffers for being righteous
   3. Joseph in prison (Ge 39:21-23)
   4. Joseph in Pharaoh’s house
   5. In the Upper Story, God’s plan is able to make use of
      1. The weather to fulfill his plan to bless the world (Ge 41:53-57)
      2. The sin of others in order to bring about ultimate good (Ge 50:20)
   6. In the Upper Story,
      1. God gives us a picture of substitution with Judah for Benjamin (Ge 44:33-34; Php 2:3)
      2. God shows that even the worst of circumstances can be transformed into evidence of God’s goodness (Ro 8:28, HC 28)
4. Jesus is the fulfillment of the story
   1. During his life he was
      1. Hated by those who should have welcomed him (Jn 1:11)
      2. Like Joseph he was falsely accused and condemned (Jn 18:38)
      3. Suffers for righteousness (Ac 7:52; 1Pe 3:18)
      4. Elevated to rule so that we might live (Ge 50:20; Ro 10:9)
   2. So can anything good come from all this pain, suffering, disaster? The answer is a resounding yes, in Christ!