Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, November 28, 2021

Pixels aren’t the big picture!

Today Pastor Michael is finishing up the story of Old Testament Joseph.  Using pixels (picture elements) as a guide, Michael is showing that a picture, zoomed in, at the pixel level, is hard to make out.  But zoomed out, the pixels become a great picture! 

As a summary, Joseph grew up with 11 brothers and 1 sister and, to his great chagrin, his pops showed favoritism to him.  Plus, he was having prophetic dreams, growing up.  Dreams that foretold he would rule over his brothers…not a good thing, if you’re one of his brothers!  So, the bros decided to sell him into slavery, a great option over murder, which they had considered!  And sold him to a powerful Egyptian.  Joseph busted it, earning a position in the household as manager of the household.  Not bad!

Then the plot twist! Being a handsome kinda fella, his bosses wife noticed that!  She was determined to get him into bed, but he didn’t capitulate.  She grabs his clothes one day, and she is mad, cause she’s turned down but accuses him of trying to accost her and he is sent to prison.  He keeps his integrity even in prison and is a model prisoner.  The warden notices how responsible he is and trusts him with more and more authority.  So, now, he’s literally in ways, in charge of the prison.  Different, weird and all that is as a segue to his life, but, it is what it is!  Growth is found in struggle, certainly!

One day, two new, high roller prisoners show up.  They are in Pharaoh’s court and these cats have had some weird dreams.  Joseph tells them he can interpret those dreams and those predictions turn out exactly as he predicted.  God at work, again!

Joseph is summoned by Pharaoh to interpret dreams because the butler, after two years, remembers that Joseph interprets dreams.  Joseph is in Pharaohs court and interprets Pharaoh’s dreams so good, he is appointed Prime Minister of Egypt.  Pharaoh’s dreams predicted seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of really bad times (famine).  Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of the entire shebang and Joseph puts grain away and during the really bad famines, Egypt did well and folks from all over the Middle East come to Egypt to get grain during the famine.

The promised land was also hit by the famine.  So Joseph’s family, back home, sent his brothers to go to Egypt to buy grain.  The brothers arrived in Egypt and had to appear before the Prime Minister.  Plot twist!

His brothers are bowing down to Joseph.  He recognizes them but they do not recognize him.  So Joseph tells them to go home and bring back their younger brother.  He binds Simeon and puts him in prison and tells them to go back home. They get home and explain to Jacob the entire story.  Needless to say, it’s turmoil.  Since the famine is still going strong, they have no food, so Jacob sends the brothers back with Benjamin, their younger brother to Egypt.

They all arrive back to Egypt and arrive back at Joseph’s house and Simeon is released.  Yet through all this, the brothers still don’t know this is Joseph, their brother.  They have a huge feast, then sends them on their way, sacks full of grain and put their money back in their sacks and they insert a special cup into Benjamin’s sack.  Soldiers are sent to intercept them and the soldier’s ask them what they are doing with Joseph’s silver cup.  They open Benjamin’s sack and the cup is found.

They go back to the city and PLOT TWIST (again)!

One of the brothers, Judah, offers himself in place of Benjamin.  At this point, Joseph finally reveals his identity to his brothers.  They are, needless to say, terrified.  But the things that happen to us, appear to be done by people that want to hurt us, so against us, yet we cannot see the big picture. 

It is God doing the work through the stuff that happens!  Can you even think of a more convoluted, crazy story than what happened to Joseph?  Yet it STILL worked out, thanks to God!

We live our lives down in the pixels, but there is victory in the bigger picture!

Today’s verses are found in Genesis 45:  4-8 and Genesis 50: 20.