1/29 Sermon on the Life of Joseph, Part 3

At The Family Church here in Gainesville last Sunday morning, Pastor Philip Griffin continued his series he titles Upcycling: Trash to Treasure and which discusses the life of Joseph from the book of Genesis...and the lessons we can derive from it.  The scripture for today's message comes from Genesis 39:7-18 and is about Joseph's encounters with the wife of Potiphar, the Egyptian for whom he is bonded to serve.  Potiphar's wife continually approaches Joseph with the aim of sleeping with him...but he resists the temptation to comply with her desires, ultimately running away from her as she is holding on to his robe.  Pastor Philip, from the passage, came up with six steps for us to resist the diverse temptations in our own lives: just say "no", know that succumbing to them is sin against God, keep in mind that with resistance the temptations may increase, set appropriate boundaries, and as a last resort, openly flee them.  And if one is persecuted on account of resisting a temptation, then he or she can look for defense from God.  As for the robe, Joseph twice in his life has his stripped from him...but ultimately wears a king's robe, bestowed by God, and which he will never lose...

The title of this series refers to things that were once refuse, deemed generally worthless, but with love and care were turned into "something beautiful", as our pastor has said.  Throughout this series, up on the church's stage and on the wall behind it have been exhibited paintings and sculptures that were done using essentially trash...a good visual analogy to the transformational work that God can do with us if only we allow it.  As to the scripture for this message, I've presented it at the end of this article, again in the New International Version by way of Bible Gateway.  The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122 Street and holds its Sunday morning services at 9:30 and 11.  The sermons have all been saved on YouTube and you can see this one by accessing The Family Church video site on it...here is a link: [link]...

BIBLE PASSAGE FOR MESSAGE: GENESIS 39:7-18

⁷ and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”
⁸ But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. ⁹ No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” ¹⁰ And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
¹¹ One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. ¹² She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
¹³ When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, ¹⁴ she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
¹⁶ She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. ¹⁸ But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”