Overview
Joseph is an example for leaders because no matter what situation he was thrown into, he trusted God and rose to the top. Sold into slavery by his own brothers, he ended up running Potiphar’s entire household. Framed by Potiphar’s wife and jailed for something he did not do, he was put in charge of the prison. Forgotten by the butler for two years, he went on to interpret Pharaoh’s dream and rule over everything in Egypt but the throne. Ken Tillman walks the record from Genesis 37 to Genesis 45 and draws one leadership lesson from it: God multiplies what we do, prepares us through what we go through, and sends us before others to preserve life.
Transcript
Joseph Rose to the Top No Matter the Situation
I’m really excited to share tonight on leaders are examples, and tonight I wanted to look at someone that no matter the situation, no matter what came up, he rose to the top. And it was because he trusted God, that God was going to deliver him from whatever he needed.
I’d like for you to turn to Genesis chapter 37, and we’ll start here. We’re going to do the movie version tonight. We won’t have time to do the book version. This is a long type of happening here, and we need to get through it pretty quick.
Genesis 37: Israel Loved Joseph More Than All His Children
But in Genesis chapter 37, verse 3, it says, Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
So here’s this young guy, and we’re going to — I know you guys know the record, so I can go through it a little bit. And if you don’t, you can read through this, and I’ll give you the high points of it so that we can get through it.
This young man dreams a dream. He’s 17 years old, and he tells his mom and his dad and his brothers that they’re going to bow to him, and that he’s going to be this big guy one day. And he’s already — his brothers don’t like him because he’s the young favorite one. So he’s already having that problem.
But his brothers are down feeding all the animals, and his dad sends him down to check on them and see how they’re doing. And his brothers decide they’re going to kill him. Well, they didn’t kill him. They just sold him into slavery.
Sold Into Slavery, He Still Spoke What God Told Him
So they take Joseph and they put him into slavery. They put him in a pit, and I’m sure whenever he was sitting in that pit, he’s probably thinking, huh, maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut and not told him about that dream. But he didn’t. He spoke what God told him, and he stood up for what God wanted him to stand up for.
And he ended up getting sold into slavery, and he ended up in Egypt. And when he got to Egypt, the captain of the Pharaoh’s guard bought him, Potiphar, and he was a slave under Potiphar’s house.
God Was With Joseph and Multiplied What He Did
But he did everything so wonderfully. And not only that he did everything wonderfully, but God was with him. And God multiplied what he did, and it was magnified.
And that’s what happens whenever we step out with believing: God will magnify what we do. God makes a way for us to be able to help people. And he’ll show us what we need to do to bless people, to lead them to where they need to be so they can get the deliverance they need.
And so Potiphar puts him in charge of his whole household, and he leads, he runs the whole house. And, you know, he thinks, oh, everything’s going great, right?
Character When Potiphar’s Wife Tempted Him
Well, after that, he gets going. Everything’s going really good. Then Potiphar’s wife decides she wants him. Here’s the guy. He’s doing his job. And then the wife says, oh, this guy’s pretty cool. Now he has this to contend with.
So Joseph says, no, I’m not doing that. The boss said, you know, I can do whatever I want, but I can’t do that. He had character. He had character in his life. He had a wonderful heart for God, and he did what God wanted him to do.
Well, he got trapped by her, and she rips his robe off, and she ends up framing him for something that he didn’t do. And then he ends up in jail, in prison.
He Never Claimed the Victim Card
Now, if anybody could claim the victim card, I think this guy could claim the victim card here, but he did not claim the victim card. It didn’t matter what you threw at Joseph. He always rose to the top.
He gets put in jail. He’s in the prison. And before you know it, the keeper of the prison puts him in charge of all of the people that are in there. And then not only that, he doesn’t look at anything that he does under his hand, because he knew that what he did, the Lord made it to prosper. He knew that God was working in this man.
And God can work in you that same way, to where people see God working in your life and they wanna be a part of that. They wanna have what you have. And it’s the Christ in you, it’s that love of God that you have, and that wonderful, like Bir was sharing, hospitality that we share with each other, that we see great things come to pass because of that love that we have for each other.
Interpreting the Dreams of the Butler and the Baker
Well, then he goes on. He’s in prison. Then these two guys get thrown in with him, and they’re Pharaoh’s butler and his baker. And the butler says, man, I had this dream. And Joseph says, well, I can tell you what it means. So he tells him, you know, oh yeah, well, you know, the king’s gonna put you back in. And then the baker was like, wow, that was pretty good. Well, what’s gonna happen to me? And then he tells him what’s gonna happen to him. And it wasn’t so good. He says, well, maybe I should have went first, but he didn’t.
So anyway, Joseph asks that the butler, whenever he gets put back in position, to remember him, and the butler goes back into his position and he doesn’t remember him for two years. He just forgets, goes back into his job, and Joseph is still there in the prison.
But then Pharaoh has dreamed, and the butler is reminded that, hey, oh yeah, I know this guy, he could tell you his dreams, what these dreams mean. So they bring Joseph in.
Genesis 41: A Man in Whom the Spirit of God Is
And Joseph takes the time to compose himself, and he does certain things because he knows the culture and the things that are gonna happen, and he wants to be his best for God. So he shaves, he does all this stuff. He cleans himself up and shaves, shaves off his beard and stuff, which is not normal.
Most people you say, oh, I’m gonna shave my mustache off, and it’s like, no, you’re not. The wife doesn’t like it like that. I don’t like it like that. But if I need to, I shave it when I need to. That’s beyond the realm of where we need to go.
Anyway, Joseph goes to Pharaoh and he interprets the dream for Pharaoh. And Pharaoh tells him that he is gonna be put in charge of everything that he has except for the throne, because of the way that he interpreted this.
Here’s a guy that came from being sold into slavery, accused of things that he didn’t do. He got put in prison. He lived in prison for how many years? I don’t know how long it was, but he was in prison for quite a while. And then whenever he got out of prison, he’s before Pharaoh telling him the dream, what his dreams meant.
And Pharaoh — this is what Pharaoh said in chapter 41 of Genesis, verse 37. It says, And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
How big of a deal is that? God can multiply the things that we do and bring us before great men and women to accomplish what God needs to do, if that’s what needs to happen. Or it can be that one person that you meet that gets deliverance. It’s not about who they are or where they’re at in the station.
A Leader Brings People Along to See the Greatness of God
But Joseph was put in this position so that he could save his people. And that’s what we wanna do. We wanna deliver people from the things that the adversary is promoting in this day and time. That’s what a leader does. He brings people along with him so that they can see the greatness of God the way that we see it. And that’s what we wanna do as wonderful men and women of God, as leaders, to be that example.
And after all of this, his brothers finally come back, because the famine has gotten so big in Egypt and all over the world. His brothers come and they don’t know that it’s Joseph when they come. And he plays a little bit of a game with them for a little bit, you know, trying to see what they are thinking and where they’re going with things. And it ends up that he reveals himself to his brothers and his father, and they come, and Joseph realizes that God has brought him, has put him in this position the whole way through.
God Is Preparing You for Something
Why do you think he was in prison for so long? I don’t know. Maybe it was because he needed to see how people really were, so that he could rule in a time where there’s famine and there’s people gonna be not so nice during this time. Maybe he needed to be a little tougher. I don’t know. I just know how things go.
And I know that God, whatever situation you’re in, God is preparing you for something. And if you walk with God and you move with God, He’ll be able to put you where you need to be. And that’s partnering with God. And Joseph partnered with God.
Genesis 45: God Did Send Me Before You to Preserve Life
And it says now in 45, he’s talking to his brother. He says, Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
God sends us before to preserve life, to bring people out of darkness back into the light of the truth of God’s word, so that they can see what God accomplished in His Son, that Christ in us, that wonderful gift that He gave us, His wonderful Son. And we get the awesome privilege of delivering people back from what the adversary is wanting to steal from them.
Do We Really Believe God Knows the End From the Beginning?
And as leaders, we can have that same character that Joseph had. No matter the situation, no matter where he was, he moved with God and he rose to the top. God saw that he prospered in all that he did because he trusted God.
Do we really believe that God knows the end from the beginning? Whenever we look at our lives and whenever we see things in our lives, do we really trust that God’s gonna deliver us in a situation? That’s being a leader, and knowing that God’s gonna be there for you, no matter what, and He’s got it all figured out.
And if we just stop and get peaceful and go with God, we’ll see the deliverance for ourselves and be able to bring others along with us. So that’s a little bit of what I wanted to share. Thank you.
Key Takeaways
- Joseph rose to the top in every setting he was put in, because he trusted that God would deliver him.
- Sitting in the pit he could have wished he had kept quiet about his dream, but he spoke what God told him and stood up for what God wanted him to stand up for.
- God was with Joseph and multiplied what he did, so that Potiphar, then the keeper of the prison, then Pharaoh put him in charge.
- He had character: he refused Potiphar’s wife, and when she framed him he still never claimed the victim card.
- Whatever situation you are in, God is preparing you for something, and walking with God is what puts you where you need to be.
- A leader brings people along with him so that they can see the greatness of God, just as God sent Joseph ahead to preserve life.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes Joseph an example for leaders?
No matter the situation and no matter what came up, Joseph rose to the top, because he trusted that God was going to deliver him. He spoke what God told him even when it cost him, he kept his character in Potiphar’s house, and God multiplied what he did. That is what a leader does: he brings people along with him so that they can see the greatness of God the way that we see it.
Did Joseph claim the victim card after he was falsely accused?
If anybody could claim the victim card, Joseph could. His brothers sold him into slavery, Potiphar’s wife framed him for something he did not do, and he was in prison for quite a while. But he did not claim the victim card. It did not matter what you threw at Joseph, he always rose to the top, and the keeper of the prison ended up putting him in charge of everyone in there.
Why was Joseph left in prison for so long?
Ken Tillman does not claim to know. Maybe Joseph needed to see how people really were, so that he could rule in a time of famine when people were not going to be so nice. Maybe he needed to be a little tougher. What he does know is that whatever situation you are in, God is preparing you for something, and if you walk with God and move with God, He will put you where you need to be.
Scripture References
Genesis 37:3,4; Genesis 41:37-40; Genesis 45:5
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Scripture quotations have been set against the King James Version. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
