Title: Podium of Suffering
Contents
Worship on the 12th of Lent>> ----> Tuesday
Title: Podium of Suffering
Bible: Genesis 39:1-6
Quiet Prayer: Together
Hymn: 369
Representative Prayer: Brother Jeong Tae-ho
Title: Podium of Suffering
Bible: Genesis 39:1-6
Starting Point of the Word>>
This time, through the words of the text, we share grace together with the sermon entitled “The refinement of suffering.
When we look at the grace that God shows us through us, there are indeed many amazing things.
Among them, today, we want to realize the image of God's holy love that gives us refinement through difficult and difficult sufferings and through him.
Today's text is about the “Joseph the dreamer” that we are familiar with.
Joseph was born to Jacob, who was the grandson of Abraham at the time and the son of Isaac.
I had a dream since I was young, and because of that, I was shunned and teased by my older brothers.
However, God chose such a Joseph and chose him as a man of God who experienced “the trials of suffering.”
Because he was the son of Jacob, he was a son who did not prosper, and because he was a son who was born at a later age, his parents' love was different from others.
God chose such a Joseph, and he added to the difficulty of refinement.
Through the words of today's text, we should see how God has acted toward Joseph, and it should be a time to realize together what kind of trials of suffering He is adding to us even now for God's work.
Go to Word>>
What kind of God is the God shown to Joseph through the words of today's text?
First, it is “the God of refinement”.
God severely trained Joseph as a God of refinement.
Joseph's suffering today must be interpreted in the same sense as our Lord's suffering on the cross.
When we look at the Joseph mentioned in the text, he was hated by his brothers even though he did nothing wrong, and in Potiphar's house, God was with him, so his house had a history of prosperity.
It can be said that such a Joseph symbolizes the image of the Lord who bore the cross for us even though there was no sin.
Joseph received extraordinary love from his father.
For that reason, they were jealous and hated by their brothers, and moreover, these harsh brothers tried to destroy the younger brother who came to them on an errand from his father by throwing him into a waterless pit.
But one of the brothers wondered if it was even necessary, so they sold it as a slave to a Midianite merchant who just passed in front of them.
So Joseph had to live as a slave in another country without sin and unfairly.
From a worldly point of view, it is grievous and resentful.
If I had suffered this kind of suffering from people I didn't know, I would have endured it.
But now, Joseph's suffering was caused by his brothers and not by anyone else.
If there are some of us who are going through this kind of suffering right now, I hope that we will be able to hear the voice of God while thinking of Joseph.
Although Joseph suffered such injustice, he did not lose heart and became a person of refinement through all the injustices, so he was able to rise to the position of Prime Minister of Egypt, the most powerful country at the time.
We must realize that this refinement of suffering is meaningful to believers who believe.
The people God will use must know that he is refining himself like Joseph before he writes.
God enables us to endure great works through the trials of suffering.
That is why Jesus is also described as a servant of suffering.
According to Isaiah 53:3,
“He was despised and rejected by men, and he had suffered much, and was acquainted with suffering.”
Isaiah says:
And he goes on to say, "Surely he has borne our afflictions and borne our sorrows; but we thought that he was chastised, smitten by God, and afflicted."
said.
It means that he was able to become our savior because he was a man who knew the hardships of life.
That's why verse 5 says, 'By his wounds we are healed'.
Please believe that God is a God who refines in the place of suffering when he tries to use his loved ones first.
Second, the refining God was with Joseph.
God does not leave the saints who are undergoing trials of suffering, but He is with them to the end.
God never left Joseph.
For example, when Joseph was sold to Egyptian merchants, to be sold to Potiphar's house, and to be imprisoned and suffered hardships, God's providence was in his hands.
God swept and destroyed Joseph wherever he lived.
Joseph, who was sold to Potiphar's house today, worked hard there.
As a result, I gained trust from the owner, and I took charge of all the housework. And he said that God blessed the house and made it prosper.
All of this is evidence that God did not leave Joseph and was with him.
You have to believe that God is with your people even when they are in trouble.
So God is a God who is with us in the midst of suffering.
People mistakenly believe that God is with us only when there is peace.
As saints, when we are in trouble, we should be able to see it as a refinement and think of God's will.
If there are saints in hardship like Joseph, we must do our best to overcome reality, just like Joseph did.
Do not run away from reality, accept it as it is, believe that God is with you in that reality and do your best
Joseph believed that.
So, I did my best in the given reality without getting discouraged or sitting down.
So he earned the trust of Potiphar and the chief of the prison.
God's will for refining Joseph so early will be revealed later.
In the words of Joseph to his brothers,
"God sent me here first to avoid today's famine and to save us."
is the word.
The brothers trembled for fear of Joseph, but Joseph's heart was not.
It is because they saw the sufferings of the past years as the refinement of God who created the self of today.
We need this kind of faith today too.
We must realize that the hardships that are given to us now are God's refinement that enables us to be able to carry out valuable tasks in a certain position in the future.
Third, God exalted Joseph, who passed through the stage, above others.
The sufferings of the past years given to Joseph were not the way down, but the way up.
For each tear that Joseph shed, he created an opportunity to rise one step at a time.
It was because Joseph accepted God's refinement with faith that he rose again without being frustrated even in the worst position.
The biggest crisis in the crossroads of Joseph's life was the temptation of Potiphar's wife.
How could I commit such a sin in the sight of God that I was able to resist the temptation that constantly approached me at a young and energetic age? It was the power of thorough faith.
That is the biggest lesson we need to learn today.
In terms of human desire, it was the easiest chance to advance and succeed.
But if Joseph failed in this process, everyone did it to the end.
Because he passed through this trials of suffering, God allowed him to stand before the king of Pharaoh, became the prime minister of Egypt, and saved his family during the famine, and he was able to do a great job of saving millions of people from famine.
Even today, we need people who have been trained like Joseph, who has passed this very process.
Joseph overcame the tests of <materiality>, <lust>, and <lust for honor>.
The reason that Joseph was able to overcome the temptation of Potiphar's wife was because he already had a personality that had been trained through numerous human trials.
If Joseph had not been a person who did not have such trials of suffering, he would have passed up when he met such a good opportunity.
When untrained people rise to a high position, they easily fall.
Therefore, we should pray for a person like Joseph to appear, and we should try to make it happen ourselves.
What did Joseph do when he became prime minister?
For seven years, when there was a good harvest, they did not waste it, and built warehouses in all directions.
And he bought the surplus food and piled it up.
After that, when there was a drought and famine came, the doors of the groves were opened wide and distributed to all the common people to avoid famine.
This rumor has spread all over the world.
When all the nations were in need, Egypt had no problems.
Rumors that rice could be obtained by going to Egypt reached Jacob's ears.
So Jacob urged the other children, 'Why don't you think about going down to Egypt to buy food?' Eventually, he went down to Egypt to find rice and met Joseph.
Tolstoy once said, 'He who has eaten bread soaked in tears knows the true taste of life'.
What would be a tear-soaked bread?
It refers to a character that has been strengthened through trials of suffering.
People of faith who have been strengthened through trials of suffering will have the courage and wisdom to overcome all kinds of hardships.
At the end of the speech>>
Organize your words.
If some of us are in the midst of suffering right now, please do not be discouraged.
We must believe that God is with those who are in the pulpit now.
God didn't leave me.
It's not that God has forsaken me.
You need to realize that you are currently refining to use yourself as a bigger vessel.
Job realized this too.
“He knows the way I go, and after I have been tested I will come out like gold.”
said.
You need to know that if a person goes down to the bottom, they are now going up again.
The Lord also went down to the tomb, but after that God picked him up and gave him the name that is above all names, so that he may sit on the throne of his heavenly Father.
I sincerely hope that with this kind of faith, we can end today's trials of suffering with victory.
I bless you in the name of the Lord that you may well endure the trials of hardship given to us in Lent with joy and thanksgiving, and that the resurrection will bring you true joy and glory.
United Prayer>>
We give thanks and praise to God who wants to be glorified because of our weakness.
Thank you for sending your only begotten Son, Jesus, to this earth to bear the cross for us because of our sins.
Think of your suffering on the cross at this time and let us lay down our sinful nature before God.
Logic Let the blood of Jesus Christ wash away our sins and make our lives only filled with the Spirit of God.
I hope to become a saint who becomes a grain of wheat.
Let us become a grain of wheat and plant a small seed of faith on the rock of faith.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Amen
The Lord's Prayer: Together
[Personal Prayer]
1. Let all the saints receive the filling of the Holy Spirit through the morning prayer meeting for Lent.
2. Help us to understand the deep meaning of Christ's suffering through the morning prayer meeting in Lent.
3. Let us lay our transgressions and sins before God and enjoy freedom from sin.
4. Let the fire of revival burn in our Church of Service through sharing and serving.