Sermon outline: This is an abbreviated outline with the complete sermon downloadable at the bottom of the post.

Text: Genesis 37:12–36

Title: “This Is Good?” or “God Has a Plan”

Introduction: Have you ever asked the question, “Who is in charge here?” When looking at the life of Joseph, one might ask the same question.

During WWII, a soldier angrily demanded, “Why doesn’t God stop this war!” A Christian soldier standing nearby answered, “Why should He? He didn’t start it.” People blame God for things in life that they don’t like. They accuse Him of the trouble that they find themselves in. Yet God has given to man both the privilege, and the corresponding consequence of choice. Man’s actions do not thwart or in any way diminish the sovereignty of God.

The pictures we will see in Joseph’s life are incredibly powerful. If any verse of Scripture speaking of Christ could also be applied to Joseph, our picture of Christ, it is John 1:11. It says: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

I. He Came Unto His Own (as part of God’s plan)

A. No reserve

B. No return

II. His Own Received Him Not (and God remains in control)

III. God’s Plan Moves Forward

Conclusion: Are you still asking the question, “Who is in charge here?” God is in control!

Has the providence of God escaped your observation? Are you frustrated and confused with circumstances that God has intended for your good?

Just as easily as we can see the life of Christ unfold before us in the life of Joseph, so we trust that the life of Christ is unfolding in us.

God was as much in control of Joseph’s life as he cried out in the pit as He later would be when he would rule from the throne in Egypt. God was in control when Jesus Himself was “despised and rejected of men.” Trust me, He’s still in control of your life.