Cross-cultural lessons from the life of Joseph: #3. – PQ – The “Promise Quotient”

Psalm 105, verses 16 to 22, tell us how Joseph stood in faith on God’s promises.

Moreover, He called for a famine in the land; He destroyed all the provision of bread.

He sent a man before them – Joseph – who was sold as a slave.

They hurt his feet with fetters; he was laid in irons.

Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.

The king sent and released him, the ruler of the people let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his possessions, to bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his elders wisdom.

Gen 37:5-11 – God’s promises to Joseph.

Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

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.”

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?” And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Gen 42:6 – God’s promises to Joseph fulfilled twenty years later.

Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.

Paul also stood on God’s promises for his calling.

Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go, for Paul is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.”

Paul stood on those promises in faith.

Acts 26:19: “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”

Cross-cultural lessons from the life of Joseph: #4 – CQ (The ‘Call’ quotient).

(Notice: Please ignore the reference at the beginning of the audio on our Facebook page, to Joshua. I have no idea how he jumped in there when it should be Joseph!!!)

In Genesis 45:3-8 we can see the impact of the call Joseph had upon his life:

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.

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. 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. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”

In Acts 9:15-16 we can see how Paul was radically changed by God’s call on his life:

But the Lord said to him (Ananias), “Go, for he (Paul) is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”