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good morning certainly good to have this opportunity to spend a few moments together this morning in bible study and we're going to continue our journey through the book of genesis and we're going to be continuing as we made mention of a couple weeks ago following the life of joseph the 11th son of israel or jacob as he was known and as we left joseph last week we find that he was in prison because of his false at the false accusation of potiphar's wife so we see him there and you'll remember that joseph was 17 years old thereabouts when he first arrived in egypt sold there as a slave some years have have passed and we're going to find out in a moment what his current age is we'll we'll talk about that in just a moment but several years have passed since he was in egypt again he was a slave then he was the chief steward so to speak in potiphar's house one of pharaoh's officers now he's in prison the time doesn't allow us to uh spend a lot of time on the years that he was in prison but we do know that he while he was there he rose to a position of prominence and we know that he continued to have the ability through god's help to interpret dreams two of pharaohs attendance if you remember this was the prison where pharaoh's prisoners were kept his cup bearer or his butler and also his baker were there in prison and they over the course of time had dreams and joseph interpreted their dreams if you recall the cupbearer uh his dream revealed that he would be restored to his position in pharaoh's household that did occur and joseph said remember me or ask him to remember me when he was restored and also the baker his dream revealed that pharaoh would kill him and those two things came to pass so the scripture reveals that two years passed by after the butler was released from prison joseph spent two more years there then as time went on pharaoh had a dream and he couldn't find anybody to interpret it and i'm paraphrasing these passages out of genesis 39 40 and 41. and the butler or the cupbearer there in pharaoh's court said i remember a man in prison who could interpret dreams maybe you should call him so through the course of time that happened joseph was summoned to pharaoh joseph interpreted the dream and that's where we pick up our reading today you'll recall the nature of the dream that pharaoh had was about uh seven fat cows and seven skinny cows and uh it joseph interpreted the dream to mean that there's gonna be seven years of plenty in terms of food in the land and it followed by seven years of famine and uh indicated there that that egypt should be making preparation during those seven years of plenty to sustain them during the seven years of famine and ultimately joseph is set over that task and that's where we're going to pick up our reading today the the lesson is entitled pharaoh promotes joseph we're going to be looking at chapter 41 in our text today recall how we made mention last time of the training that joseph would had gone through in potiphar's house managing a household managing those sorts of things making provision we we we talked about the scripture that said where potiphar didn't know what he had except for the food that he ate joseph was in charge of everything and that was a training ground for him for this next task that he would have to undergo point number one in our lesson this morning joseph's appointment let's look at verses 37 through 45 of genesis 41. again picking up a reading where joseph had interpreted the dreams and had given advice to pharaoh concerning what should take place verse number 37 so the advice was good in the eyes of pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants and pharaoh said to his servants can we find such a one as this a man in whom is a spirit of god then pharaoh said to joseph inasmuch as god has shown you all this there is no one as discerning and wise as you you shall be over my house and all my people shall be ruled according to your word only in regard to the throne will i be greater than you and pharaoh said to joseph see i have set you over all the land of egypt then pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on joseph's hand and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck and he had him ride in the second chariot which he had and they cried out before him bow the knee so he set him over all the land of egypt can you imagine going from prison to being the second in command in the land it's hard to imagine isn't it but it doesn't not show god's blessings does it not show god's provision for those who are faithful to him i think absolutely yes both pharaoh and the servants here were pleased with joseph's advice regarding how to handle the famine pharaoh believed joseph to be the obvious choice to lead the effort he says so basically in his his rhetorical question he asked this question can we find such a one as this a man in whom the spirit of god one of the commentators says this about that's that question pharaoh suggests that it is most unlikely should a nation what nationwide search be for be made for a viable candidate for this ad hoc position he launched that it that a more qualified occupant for that office than joseph could not be found or could be found it demonstrates that pharaoh via his rhetorical declaration understood joseph skills joseph has no intrinsic ability that would explain his effective insight and counsel for pharaoh joseph is one who has been divinely equipped and gifted find it interesting that a pagan would would notice something like that in joseph other than if it had not been for his reputation i'm sure so pharaoh set joseph over this task he was officially released from prison and was made second in command in all of egypt to emphasize the power here that he that joseph was being given he says see pharaoh says see i have set you over all the land of egypt then he took his ring off and put it on him in a gold chain and apparel those sorts of things and to show his uh trust in and in the giving of authority to joseph another commentator says this is these tokens given in public would ensure obedience to joseph as he managed a complex task of saving and storing 20 percent of the crops of egypt for a predicted yet though yet unrealized famine we also know um well we stopped one verse too short because in verse 45 it says in pharaoh call joseph's name zaphnath pena and gave him a wife ashinath the daughter of uh potiphara priest of om so joseph went out over all land of egypt that's verse 45. so in addition to these tokens that he gave him he also changed his name to an egyptian name where i guess it would be more he would be more accepted by the egyptians that he would rule over point number two in our lesson joseph's plan for plenty let's look at verses 46-52 excuse me joseph was 30 years old when he stood before pharaoh king of egypt and joseph went out from the presence of pharaoh and went throughout the land of the of egypt now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly so he gathered up all the food for the seven years which were in the land of egypt and laid up the food in the cities he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them joseph gathered very much grain as the sand of the sea until he stopped counting for it was immeasurable and to joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came whom aznath the daughter of potiphara priest of on boredom joseph called the name of the firstborn manasseh for god had made me forget all my toil and all my father's house and the name of the second he called ephraim for god has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction that's through verse 52. so joseph you remember upon revealing his uh the interpretation to pharaoh's dream he told him what should be done and basically they would set up these distribution centers the places where the grain would be kept during the years of plenty for preparation for when the famine came it would be more easily distributed to the people if it's already on site so to speak we find here in the very first passage that the scripture reveals that joseph is now 30 years old so doing the simple math there he entered egypt at 17 now he's 30 he's been there about 13 years give or take quite a bit a long time in a young man's life in these in this situation but joseph's plan um was was being carried out he went out went throughout the land of egypt traveled around he allowed him to survey both the task at hand and the in the gain of comp and to gain confidence of the approve and the approval of the egyptians joseph predicted there in pharaoh's dream egypt experienced the seven uh years of plenty scripture reveals the ground brought forth abundantly taking advantage of that abundance joseph stored up uh in his my in his plan would be to store up one-fifth of the crops from each of the seven years to prepare for the famine that would come later it says here the amount of grain was like the sand of the seeds it was immeasurable so in other words um he had plenty he was preparing well for the upcoming uh famine one of the commentators says this the description of joseph's execution of his plan to provide for the coming famine years notes that he stored the grain in nearby cities placing the granaries in centers of population made the most sense and demonstrated joseph's character as wise and discerning there would be there would be a ready source of personnel to service the granaries and yet distribution would not be a problem once the stores in each city could provide uh since the stores in each city could provide for the immediately adjacent countryside he was also the land was blessed but also joseph himself was blessed scripture reels here he had two sons uh one named manasseh and one named ephraim he gave these uh sons names that would extol the power and the the intervention so to speak of god uh manasseh that means for god has made me forget all the toil in all my father's house all that problems he'd had the last 13 years ephraim means for god has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction egypt point number three in our lesson joseph's plan for the famine we talked about his plan for the plenty now let's talk about his plan for the famine let's read verses 53 through 57. then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of egypt ended in the seven years of famine began to come as joseph had said the famine was in all the lands but in all the land of egypt there was bread so when the land of egypt was famished the people cried to pharaoh for bread then pharaoh said to all the egyptians go to joseph whatever he says to you do do it the famine was over all the face of the earth and joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the egyptians and the famine became severe in the land of egypt so all the countries came to joseph in egypt to buy grain because the famine was severe in all the lands after the years of plenty scripture here tells us that they ended and the years of famine began nevertheless the land of egypt was prepared because of joseph and pharaoh directed the people to him when they cried out for relief if anything our author says this shows the confidence pharaoh placed in joseph joseph collected grain during the years of plenty and he distributed grain during the years of famine one important point here to note i think as well and we'll get to this in our later lessons the famine was not just located there in egypt it was worldwide the scripture there tells us the famine was over all the face of the earth so all the countries came to joseph in egypt to buy grain because the famine was severe in all lands joseph did not really likely realize his efforts to save egypt from the famine would also save many others including his own family that however is exactly what eventually occurred we'll be looking at chapter 42 later god god remained in control joseph freely obeyed god and the descendants of jacob who previously treated joseph with contempt were saved because of his faithfulness one of the commentators says this joseph knew god's revelation boldly declared it to pharaoh and advised him to conform to what god was about to do it must also be added that once joseph was elevated to his position of responsibility he continued to live in faith power didn't corrupt him like it does so many people today and we people we in history that we know of joseph continued to faithfully follow god and to faithfully carry out his task let's think for a moment about the applications as we close pharaoh knew that joseph was the right person to lead egypt's efforts to prepare for the coming famine he could see the spirit of god at work in him although our circumstances are vastly different than joseph's we should strive to live so that others would see christ in us remember what jesus said in the sermon on the mount let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and do what glorify god in heaven if anything our words and deeds should point others to god and i think we have opportunity to do that in our everyday lives it doesn't take something as magnanimous as what uh happened to joseph here for us to demonstrate god working in our lives another application is this joseph's efforts to prepare egypt for the famine remind us of the need to obey god you know the word of god had come to pharaoh through that dream but yet it took pharaoh doing something about it and pointing joseph over the task to save the people if pharaoh had just took those words and done nothing with them what good would that have done the people would have perished because of the famine because they wouldn't have been prepared but because the word of god was heard and it was obeyed that's why they were blessed the same thing happens with us today and it always has happened with mankind's dealing with god god's word is always going to be there it's up to us to hear it and obey it you know james said in james 1 verse 22 don't be just hearers of the word we must be doers also thank you for your attention to these things this morning we look forward to more studies together in the future let's close it with a word of prayer heavenly father again we're thankful for this day thankful for your word thankful that we have the ability and reasonableness of mind that we can study read and study these things apply them in our lives that we may be better stronger christians more faithful more obedient to you we thank you for the life of joseph and how it's revealed to us we thank you for his faithfulness in that example help us lord to be faithful in that same way and that we show our life to others and give you the glory for all the things that we're able to do bless those that are not doing well father we pray for them those that are in hospitals and are recovering from surgeries we ask you lord to restore their health to them father we pray that you would be with our country as we continue to struggle with the pandemic pray that things would continue to improve and that we can be back to some normal sea of life as soon as possible thank you for loving us in christ's name we pray amen