1. GOD MEANT IT FOR GOOD
GENESIS 45:4-8

2. So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please
So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.” GENESIS 45:4-8

3. JOSEPH’S PAST GENESIS 37:12-36 What happened in this story?
Did God have anything to do with it?
Did Joseph remember it wrong?
Is Joseph the dreamer just naive?

4. BROTHERS’ JUDGMENT
“It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.”
GENESIS 50:15-18
When history and memory belong to evil, then vengeance is to be expected.

5. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy
For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. JAMES 2:13

6. JOSEPH’S MERCY “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?”
GENESIS 50:19-21
When history and memory belong to God,
then mercy triumphs over judgment.

7. PAUL & JOSEPH
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. PHILIPPIANS 1:12-14

8. JOSEPH & THE CROSS
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” … Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. JOHN 12:27-33

9. FORGIVENESS
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” … LUKE 23:34 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” … ACTS 7:60