 Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. I am Joyce Kwamboka. I'm going to read the scripture from the book of Genesis chapter 37, verse 14. It says, then he said to him, please go, see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back what to me. So he sent him out to the valley of Hebron and he went to shake him. I repeat, then he said to him, please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back what to me. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron and he went to shake him. May the Lord bless the reading, and now we welcome our speaker, Elder Charrette of Piata. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Good evening once more, and good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to our virtual members. You feel welcome to be in the house of the Lord as we worship Him at this particular time. And so before we begin, may we just have a short word of prayer. Oh God Lord, we have come to you, we have come to worship you the way we are. Accept our worship and may you give us a listening ear to hear what you have for us, and a heart to receive what you have prepared for us. And after all that, we applied them in our life as we wait for the second coming, is my prayer in Jesus name, amen. He was 17 years old, and a son of old age of his father. He was loved by his father, and his father made for him a tunic of many colors. He had a special gift given by God on dream, and so on two occasions he received dreams, and he shared the dreams with his family. We get that in the book of Genesis chapter 37, verses 5. This is where he gives a just paraphrase. He point out to his brothers that they were in the field, and they were binding sheaves. And then his sheaves stood upright, and the sheaves of his brothers bowed down. And that caused him some commotion from the brother. They were not happy about that. And then the second incident now he received the dream also, and he shared it with the larger family now in the presence also of his father. That is in 37, the same book, Genesis 37, verses 9. And here at this point he now brings in the moon, the moon and the sun, and the eleven stars bowed down to him. And so he shared what he received with his family, and the brothers were really not happy with that, because it meant therefore that Joseph would reign over them. And that gift of dream together with the father's love combined together brought in a lot of hostility in the life of Joseph, in an environment that they were a crimonious environment. Relationship between his brothers were not good. They lived in the valley of Hebron, and he had brothers from mothers. From the house, from the mother layer there was Ruben, there was Simeon, Judah, Levy, Pisaka and Debulin, six of them. And in another house in the Zilpa was God and Asha. In the third house was Benjamin and Joseph himself. And on the third one Bilha was Dan and Naftali. And so that gives us a background of the environment that Joseph lived in. But in addition to that, he was also born in exile. He was born at a time when his father had drain away from his family because of the deception. And at this point we are also going to see that this element of exile also repeated itself in his life. And so what is the incident at Dofen? What is the incident at Dofen? And that brings me to our topic for tonight where we have beyond the Dofen experience a relaxed incident. And so we've seen Joseph is beloved, is a loved boy and is trusted. And ordinarily for a father, when you have a child, you trust. Whenever there's a task, whenever there's an errand, that is the boy or a girl you would be inclined to send in, to give duties, to assign duties. And so in addition to the love of the father and the good gift that he was given and the youthfulness that was in him, there was also the willingness in the life of Joseph to serve the agility of the youth. And so that brings us to today's text in Genesis 37. And we will read and thank you, my sister, for reading it well. And we will begin from verse 13. Verse 13. We said, and Israel said to Joseph, are you not, are not, are not your brothers feeding the flock in church? Come, I will send you to them. And so he said to him, here I am. We continue and verse 14. Then he said to him, please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks and bring back word to me. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron and he went to church him. There is the willingness of Joseph to be of service when he respond to his father that here I am. I see the willingness of a youth who is ready to help, to stand, to be ready to serve his father, to meet his father's need because the father needs somebody to send and then also there is the yearning in the heart of the father to know the welfare of his son. On the other side also, Joseph is also being driven by the desire to go and serve his brothers. How is he going to be our service to them by going to find out how they are in the field because Joseph himself, as you read back one early in the chapter 37, he had also been in the field grazing and so he knows he has an experience of life when you go to graze animals in the field. And so for two of them, he find himself a need to serve the father and also the need to serve his brothers. So there is a servanthood element being brought there in the life of Joseph and we will later on see how he helps his brothers and father at the same time. And so he is told to go to Shetchem which is about 50 miles from Hebron. When he goes, he does not find his brothers. He does not find his brothers but because of the care that he has for his father, he wants to give the accurate information and the update and also he wants to know the welfare of his brothers. He finds a way to ask somebody where his brothers are and then he is told that they are overheard. That we get that in verse 16 of the same chapter Genesis 37, 16 to 17. So he said, I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks. I am seeking. He need to serve his brothers. Then verse 17 read and the man said, they have departed here for I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. So he is not the type that he sent and leaves a message, leaves a task in the middle without completing. He is a servant who is ready and he goes beyond the limit. He goes beyond the call, the ordinary call to find out where his brothers are. In an ordinary case, he would just go back to his father and say, I went to church him because he sent me to church him and they are not there. So he comes back. But Joseph, because of his servanthood, because of the life that he had, he feels for his brothers to go and provide for them. He's doing a good service to his brother. And so fast forward, he goes to Dothan, which is about 13 miles about 13 miles between church him and Dothan. So we move to chapter 39 of Genesis verses 19. So once he makes his way to Dothan, there's an element there in verses 19. So it was when he saw it was 37, sorry, 37 verses 18. Now when they saw him far off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Then they said to one another, look, this dreamer is coming. Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit and we shall say, some wild beast divert him. We shall see what will become of his dreams. But Ruben had it and delivered him out of their hand and said, let us not kill him, verse 22. And Ruben said to them, shed no blood but cast him into the pit which is in the wilderness and do not lay a hand on him that he might deliver him out of their hand and bring him back to his father. So they are in contention. They are not unified in making a decision. How do they punish him? I picked two learning from there that they don't have a uniform. They don't have a unanimous decision of how to punish him at a first hand because they don't seem to have a genuine reason why they should punish him. And then secondly, I see the hand of God providing for Joseph. The hand of God who now diverts their attention and they agree that he should not be killed. That is the assurance we get from Psalms 121 verse 7 to 8 which I will read. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil. He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and even forever more. We now see the hand of God in the life of Joseph that he has diverted the death that was to face him to another way which we will see. And then there's also a providential statement made by Ruben in verse 22 where he says that so that he gets him back to the father. We will underline that in our mind and see what comes up at the end of it. And so that is what happens in Dothan. So they make a decision and he sold to the Ishmaelites a group of traders who were on their way to Egypt. When he now lives that environment and on his way he had previously had some lessons how God had helped his father at the time when his father was in exile and how the God of Israel kept him and provided for him. And so these lessons became useful in his new life that he was now entering into. He entered into Egypt which was a country where people did not know God and there was a lot of activities that were not in line with what God wants us to do. But he gave himself the book from eternity past page 141 line 3 page 141 paragraph 3 indicate to us that he gave himself fully after having understood after having learned from the stories that his father gave him the life in exile. He now gave himself fully to the life of himself to God and he he said that the book father goes to say that he knew that the keeper of Israel would be with him. Israel we could use into interpret it into to Israel as a country and also Israel is father and we get that in psalms 121 verse 4 which are read behold he who keeps Israel shall never slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. So Joseph me understood that God who is the keeper of Israel would be with him in this new journey in this new Israel is like incidentally as we have seen that he was born in exile when his his father had ran away because of the deception that he deceived his family his brother Esso. So the exile of his father originated from was the the surrounding environment was hostility of the brother Esso and incidentally also Joseph is also going into to exile but this time is also his his brothers and the ones who have sold him into into Egypt and so Egypt is an environment which is corrupt but Joseph having grown and having understood who God is he remained faithful to God and he sold into into a into an officer called Potipha in Pharaoh's house in Pharaoh's leadership and so God is with Joseph and God remained with him and he prosperous the house of Potipha prosperous and his master get to know that he's aware that the blessings that I'm getting are related to Joseph Joseph is there is the reason behind all this blessing that I have and so being obedient he's obedient to his master to an extent that now the master delegates everything into his hands from a slave now to a level to a level where he is taken as a son of the house now ordinarily you would pick it that the pain that he had perhaps is cooling down is cooling down because the environment is supportive he has been adopted in a home and everything is running well and then some thought comes the devil the deceiver comes in through Potipha's wife who makes advances to Joseph moral sexual advances and Joseph because of the background that he had having said that he would remain faithful to God he does not yield to that but at this point he was in a dilemma he would either decide to commit sin or not but there were consequences but the response he gives is a response that we it's worth looking at he said that how can I sin do such sin to God so he looked at God first he looked at God first the thought that came to him when he was in dilemma was God so even our life beyond beyond Dothan when our life abruptly changes because of in an environment we were we are doing service but something happens that you find yourself your world has been turned upside down when we find ourselves in still that environment we remain faithful as Joseph remain because Joseph attention was on God anything that he met the first question was is it how is it in the eyes of God and that is that is a character that we should try not try we should aim at coping and adopting in our life so that beyond Dothan when things happen turn upside down you'll still remain faithful to God you'll still remain faithful to our redeemer you'll still remain faithful to our keeper ordinarily you would say that it was an issue between him and his master but he's looking at God so even in our situation when we find ourselves in such a situation it is not we should not be looking at our fellow human being that I'm going to do wrong to my fellow human being it should be I'm going to do wrong to God who has kept us alive up to the point we are beyond Dothan now first forward because his master trusted him and because of the pressure also of the wife that alleging that Joseph had committed sin Joseph find himself into prison now it's like you were in an environment you have suffered from your brothers and you found some ground some master who accepted you into their house when life is almost cooling at least coming to a level which is lightly bearable then something breaks it's like a heartache it's like you have hurt your finger your finger and it's just the other point of healing and then at that point when it's just at the point of healing something comes and peals off the skin again so it's like you felt heartbroken and that is the kind of life that Joseph find himself into that is recorded in chapter 39 so he goes into prison and because of the trust that he has he had some peace in his heart the peace that God gives to those who trust in him we get that in Isaiah chapter 26 verses 3 I'll just paraphrase him who trust him whose mind is trade on him he will give perfect peace to such a person so Joseph has some peace and then Joseph also get favors from the prison the one in charge of prison now this is the second time now we are getting favor he had initially had favor from Potipha's house and the second time we are now finding in prison where he get favors an assurance and a confirmation of what the book of Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 54 verses 10 54 verses 10 which says I'll just quote mountains though the mountains depart the hills be moved but my kindness shall not depart from you so because of God kindness because of God provision Joseph still find favor in the eye of the prisoner and so he is also given now in charge he is in charge of other prisoners then one day he wakes up and define two prisoners who had been brought into the prison who are employees of Pharaoh and they have been thrown in the battler and the chief and the chief and the becker and so their faces are are are are blooming he gets to inquire and then he is told they dreamt and and they want that interpretation now Joseph is in prison but he is concerned with also other people take yourself in such a situation he is in prison but instead of agonizing over him or trying to find his own solution he finds work in attending to other people now in the book blessing thoughts from the amount of blessing page 98 I'll just paraphrase he's saying that whoever allows his mind and heart to be the channel through the blessings of the Lord close to other people will in himself be blessed so we will find that the blessing that Joseph is doing in helping these other people acts as a key at the end of it all through which the door of prison is open for him and so beyond Dothan when our world changes we can still be of service to other people we can still use the blessing that God has given us to bless other people they still hope for us to serve our Lord to serve those who are in need provided the motive is to give service to those people we will never miss to get the blessing they will flow to us and the author of the book the book that I've just given thoughts from the amount of blessings in chapter page 98 he goes on to give an example that the rivers that comes from the hill that flows over land back into the sea they are abadden to the land over which they flow and this land the blessings as the river goes it lives behind the blessings over the land that it passes through so that at times when other areas are dry during summer by the by the river side they are green grass they are trees that never dries out that is given to explain how the benefits that we get when we serve other people which is beyond which is an environment we find after we have suffered in Dothan as we have seen with the life of Joseph and so he the the battler gets after Joseph has interpreted for him the dream he gets released but I also want us to look at one of the reasons why Joseph is seen why he went he was sold was the issue of dream so at home it was rejected by his brothers but here it is still useful so the blessing that God has given us we can still use them beyond the blessing they'll be acceptable to other people and for other people they may not be they may not be of use of use to them and so that benefit that Joseph did the service that he did became a point a springboard for his prosperity and honor that he got later in his life and so as I repeat that beyond Dothan we can still serve beyond Dothan we have not lost everything the blessing that God has given us is still with us and we can use it and so it goes forward that the prisoners are released and in prison the books from eternity past page 144 chapter line 2 still continues to say that God was preparing Joseph he was preparing him in the school of affliction for greater service and Joseph did not deny the need for use and so he was ready to be trained in that school of affliction so fast forward we move and the battler is released they are in the point of being released but Joseph makes some some comment there which I want us to have a look at in Genesis 40 verse 14 it says but remember me when it is well with you and please show kindness to me make mention of me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house when it is well with you from that statement I read that Joseph was calm Joseph placed himself to wait for the Lord at the appointed the right full time that Lord has appointed for him to be to be help if at all he was to be help he does not he wants the battler to first of all address the challenges that he has and then come and attend to him he remains patient in the queue he wants time the time to avail itself to him so that he gets help at the opportune time and most of the time when we find ourselves in the life after when we are living beyond the death and something has happened and you tend to be you tend to be greed you tend to be want to be served before that time comes and this is one of the reasons why we go break the systems we take shortcut and integrity is thrown away and we end up into antisocial behaviors deals, corruption that does not send good signal to the society and so Joseph beyond Dothan he is still calm he knows there will surely be a time but when it is well with you attend to me when it is well with you the other statement that he that is said there is mention my name to Pharaoh he wants his challenge his problem his grievance to reach to follow the right channel and reach the right person with and and the authority so that when time that time comes he be he be he be attended and at the end of that statement he is saying and get me out of this house that is the last part of verse 14 that statement is a statement of hope with some hidden hope written in it and so beyond Dothan when we our life we find our life living in Dothan there is some hope that God will reveal to us it will be silent in our heart spoken but people may not understand it but right down with our heart we know the faith that God whom we serve will surely help us and then something happens the battle goes it the story goes that the battle goes and he forgets about Joseph now it took about two years so the hope that had been kindled in Joseph went and died down and that confirms to us as we have been told and as we are told in the book of psalms the psalms say that how men would would forget about us psalm 60 he says it was 11 give us help from trouble for the help of man is useless so at that point the help that the battler would give Joseph was of no use because when he went he forgot about now the sting of that ingratitude having been of use to the the battler having been of use to his brothers having been of use to Potipha's house he still find himself the hope that he had kind of window but we are told that there was a divine provision that was preparing a room that was preparing a key through which the prison door would be open so fast forward we go and then ferro get a dream now this is the third almost the third of the fourth time the issue of dream is coming twice it came in his family and second it came in prison when he was addressing the battlers who appreciated it his brothers ignore and then at this point ferro is in need of help and then the battler also remembers remembers Joseph in in verse chapter 41 of Genesis verse 9 so the chief the chief battler remembers Joseph not to help Joseph but because ferro needs help so in the life beyond Dothan you will be forgotten the way Joseph was forgotten but God in his own way will not forget you in your life beyond Dothan and so as we have said ferro is in need to find out what is this dream all about and Joseph is able to clearly state the dream and then also give because it was a dream of the of farmer in which was coming the harvest and followed by farming and Joseph is able to reveal interpret it and for the more he also goes and give a description how work should be done it's like he's giving a job description of whether it's supposed to come and do what is supposed to be done within in the in the in the in in in in Egypt and so when he meets ferro ferro tries to bring the the glory to Joseph and Joseph says it's not I it's not me we find that in chapter 41 verse 16 we say so Joseph answered ferro saying it is not me God will give ferro an answer of peace and mind you he's saying this when he is in prison ordinarily you would expect that Joseph would use that ability to negotiate his release from from from prison and so in our life beyond Dothan they give that God has given we will still praise him for what he has done for us and we will also give glory to him as a way of witness to on now the strand taken by by Joseph is similar also similar to what Daniel took in Daniel 2 28 where he is saying to Nebuchadnezzar there is there is God in heaven who reveals secrets so Joseph after having attended to ferro and indicated all that was needed ferro said now you are the right man and now away from prison we had said that the divine provision was preparing a key through which the prison would be open and so Joseph is now risen to power he's in the charge of the country stores he's in the one charge of country stores so he has gotten favor so the favor this is almost the fourth of the third time we are getting God's favor over Joseph he got favors from Potipha's house he got favors in prison and is now getting favor from ferro ferro we see the consistency of God God's favor to his children even beyond when their life is beyond Dothan when they live a life after the Dothan incident so that also brings my mind to to the song 100 great is thy faithfulness where it says that morning by morning new masses I have seen all that I have needed thy hand have provided actually in the life that Joseph has has taken through God has provided for him so even as in our life beyond Dothan in the life beyond and an event that happened and turned your life upside down God's favor is still with us God's the consistency of God's favor is still with us and fast forward Joseph moves and he's blessed with a family and he has sons, manesae and everything and so he is fruitful and he gets children and so beyond the life of beyond Dothan we can still we are still fruitful and in our affliction so it moves it goes forward this famine all along in in the country where Joseph's father lived and his father sent them they they get to know that this there is a there is food in it and he is sending them to go to Egypt and when they go to Egypt they now seek help from from from Joseph when they go to Egypt I want us to look at Genesis 42 verse 6 we'll just read it now Joseph was a governor over the land and it was he who sold all the people of the land and Joseph's brothers came and bow down before him with their faces to the earth Joseph brothers come they are not able to identify but Joseph is able to know them and we see them bowing down and earlier we had seen that one of the reasons why Joseph was sold was because of the issue of dream and that which his brothers read like how can you reign over us we get that in 37 chapter 37 of Genesis verses 5 to 7 so we find their brothers are actually accomplishing what they had opposed and what had made them sell their brother and so Joseph attends to them there is no revenge Joseph attends to them though he knows them and he knows the crime that they did against him the wrongdoings but he does not revenge they thought he lives the life proposed by in Romans 12 verse 8 19 which says vengeance is mine and so our life beyond Dothan we can still live without vengeance we can still be of service of those our brothers be who had changed our life at Dothan and so it goes and Joseph introduces himself his brother at one point the brothers get to become guilty in Genesis chapter 45 verses 5 they are guilty but Joseph is assuring them that do not be guilty for God sent me before to preserve life so beyond beyond Dothan we are still useful the brothers can still seek help from us and whatever happens at Dothan for us we see like it was a God hand God allowed it to happen and therefore there is no revenge and then it goes on and on and Joseph now gets to know that his father is alive and then in Genesis chapter 45 verses 9 he says hurry and go and hurry go hurry go up to my father and say to him that says Joseph your son God has made me Lord over Egypt God has made me Lord over Egypt Joseph is not saying that out of my own ability out of my own suffering have now been able to be the governor but he say God has made this is the first statement this is the first message Joseph is sending forward to his to his father and so in short Joseph glorifies God in whatever achievement whatever blessings that God gives him and so in our in in our life beyond Dothan whatever blessings that come our way whatever compensation that we we find it's not us we can still praise God we can still share his goodness of what he has done and incidentally whenever you get good things and say do you know I did this this and this many people will come and ask you and they'll ask you very many questions some of them you will not even answer but when you say God did it for me those questions never come because you have directed them to the giver of all who can answer and give them all that that they need and so that is an example that we can apply in our life beyond Dothan that the blessings that we have comes from God and so it continues until now Joseph Joseph father is brought and his family so when he's brought in chapter 46 was 30 the father says this that and Israel Israel say to Joseph now let me die since I have seen your face because you're still alive so whatever whatever things that Dothan took away from us from Joseph Egypt is now bringing them back is now the reunion is now coming and and that takes my mind to the book of Psalms chapter 34 verse 17 and 19 which says many are the afflictions of the righteous but God delivers them from all and so the books also say that the father lived about 17 years after having met Joseph somehow parallel because Joseph was again 17 when when he lost so God is able to restore to us whatever whatever Dothan may have taken from us and I'll just as we come to the close I'll I'll I'll read a quote from from eternity first book the book eternity first page 148 verse 4 which says an upright character is of greater worth than gold without it none can rise to a honorable eminence so beyond Dothan we can still remain faithful we can still take our integrity and that integrity will take us to a level that God has provided for us remaining faithful to God and and and being of of use to the humanity to the society whom we where we serve so the the righteous may lose ground you may lose your ground at Dothan and and life beyond Dothan becomes a life where you have not you you are not in tandem with what you had expected but God favors them to cover the lost ground we too can overcome beyond Dothan experience just like Joseph did overcome and we find that what what the experience of Dothan took away from us the families the reunion we come and and get it and so the time of deliverance will come as it did for Joseph in your Dothan experience do not give hope the keeper of Israel as had been promised and told to us will surely restore us to a life that is far much better than even before we reach Dothan may God bless us even as we ponder those words and may you be blessed may we rise up for a word of prayer our God Lord in heaven we thank you for who you are we thank you for your goodness and your provision and protection we have had your word help us to understand them help us to apply them in our life and be an example that beyond Dothan beyond experience that we may have that may have disoriented us you are still faithful and you never leave us alone and you are with us and that all that we may have lost we seem from an open eye that we may have lost you will surely restore and give us that is our prayer believing and trusting in that holy name of Christ God Lord we believe and pray amen and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now forever more amen God bless you